Arun Venugopal

Senior Reporter, WNYC News

Arun Venugopal appears in the following:

The Immigrant Experience: Pakistanis in America

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Faisal Shahzad, the suspect in the Times Square car bombing plot, is just one of approximately 650,000 people of Pakistani origin living in the U.S. For some details on the Pakistani diaspora, WNYC's Arun Venugopal spoke with Adil Najam, a professor of International Relations at ...

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Street Vendors Crave Dinner with the Mayor

Monday, May 03, 2010

I hesitate to bring up the Facebook cause "Mayor Bloomberg, take the Hero Street Vendors to Dinner" yet again for fear of seeming like some sort of lackey. After noting it during a discussion with Soterios Johnson, and then with Brian Lehrer, one might wonder what sort of secret pact I have with the vendors -- you give us constant mentions, we provide you with a lifetime's supply of pashmina scarves and snow globesOh, we have lots of little yellow cabs as well, you want those?

But if the temptation is great, that's simply because the stakes are so tangible, and so modest. Will the mayor return to Blue Fin, if not a Sbarro pizzeria? Having already honored the police officer who was alerted to the Times Square bomb by the street vendors, does he have it in his heart to honor the vendors themselves?

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Times Square Bombing Attempt: What We Know Now

Monday, May 03, 2010

WNYC reporters Bob Hennelly  and Arun Venugopal discuss the emerging details of Saturday evening's failed bombing attempt in Times Square, from the mysterious CT license plates; the hero street vendors and mounted police; and the newly-released surveillance video of a person of interest.

→ Were you in Times Square on Saturday evening? What did you see and hear on the ground? Tell us your story here.

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Takeouts: Time Square Bomb Attempt, the Biggest Airline in the World

Monday, May 03, 2010

  • TIMES SQUARE BOMB TAKEOUT: WNYC reporter, Arun Venugopal, spoke with tourists and street vendors in Times Square to find out the impact of the attempted bombing this weekend. He catches us up on the reactions, the resilience and on the fast moving police investigation. 
  • MONEY TAKEOUT: United and Continental Airlines are merging to become the biggest single airline in the world. Louise Story, finance reporter for The New York Times explains how this might affect the ticket price wars, and why it's likely to pass anti-trust tests.

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Vendors and Tourists Take Bomb Scare in Stride

Sunday, May 02, 2010

Times Square had a very close call this weekend. An SUV packed with improvised explosives failed to go off, but officials say that if it had, it may have caused significant damage to the surrounding area, which was filled with tourists. The police and federal investigators are currently examining the ...

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The Na'vi, Now on Broadway

Friday, April 30, 2010

Law lu oe-ru fwa nga-l new ziva’u awngahu.

Which is to say, it is clear to me that you want to come with us.

Toruk a-husahaw lu mi lehrrap. (A sleeping Toruk is still dangerous)

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Birth Control w/ Street Flava

Thursday, April 29, 2010

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"Promises, Promises" v. Billy Wilder's "The Apartment"

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

apartment

To compare the just-opened Broadway musical 'Promises, Promises' to its source material, the 1960 Billy Wilder film 'The Apartment,' is admittedly a bit unfair, a little apple-and-orangey.

More to the point, 'The Apartment' is one of the all-time great New York City movies, a film that beautifully captured an era's conflicting currents: rapid corporate growth and careerism, sexual liberation and sexual exploitation. That it can be classified a romantic comedy seems startling, given the suicide attempt it depicts and the constant melancholy that pervades the film. That's not only a testament to Wilder's craftsmanship and the acting of Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, but to the era itself, when audiences were sophisticated enough to juggle humor and deep pathos.

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City to Charge $300 Fee for Filming

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Film crews shooting in New York will now have to pay $300 for City Hall permits. These permits had been free since the city established a film office, something the city has proudly advertised. But officials with the Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting say with unprecedented budget cuts, ...

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The New Chelsea Look

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

This 30-something male accessorizes with a sheet of Bounce Outdoor Fresh.

'Nothing clingy about me, LOL'

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This Tattoo Rocks

Sunday, April 25, 2010

But it's kind of sad, because the guy can never actually look at it himself, seeing as it's on the back of his neck. Nor can he apprehend the look on people's faces, when they stand behind him in the elevator, staring at his nape.

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Signage and a Harlem Standoff

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

I was leaving a mayoral event uptown -- announcing the reopening of the Harlem School of the Arts -- when I caught sight of this sign for an old gas station. The lettering was unremarkable, but I loved how the vines had embedded themselves, something you don't often see in the big city.

I'd just taken my first shot, poking my camera through the chain link fence, when a voice stopped me.

'What are you doing?' the man asked. He was black, probably in his 60s, and he didn't look happy. Turns out he owned the gas station.

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420: Don't Smoke the Weed

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Marijuana lovers sang and preached the gospel of grass in Union Square on their high holy day of April 20. They did everything but light up (too many fuzz on the prowl, man). Snacking, however, was strongly encouraged.

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Just Cuz It Looks Like a Foot...

Monday, April 19, 2010

...doesn't mean it feels like a foot. Or possesses the sensual, full-bodied bouquet of a foot.

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Liu, de Blasio: Doormen's Union Making 'Fair Requests'

Monday, April 19, 2010

With the city's unionized doormen threatening to strike at midnight tomorrow if no contract deal is reached, some top elected officials are coming to their defense in negotiations with building owners. Comptroller John Liu says working-class wages have been stagnant in recent years and the ...

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A Sublime Sunday

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Beautiful day in the city, with tourists lining up in front of the flowers in City Hall Park.

flower girls 2

A minute later, this little guy went in deep, deep, deep...

flower boy 2

...and came out with a little gift for his mommy, who seemed none too pleased.

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A Space Shuttle for NYC?

Thursday, April 15, 2010

I've been to the Intrepid, on the West Side. It's huge, as aircraft carriers tend to be, and when you're standing up on that sprawling deck, it feels pretty neat. Only thing is, I was there for work. Would I have gone there otherwise? I'm not sure. The Intrepid has never been one of the tourist destinations my wife and I visit with our out-of-town family and friends. We're much more likely to go to Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, the Irish Hunger Memorial, the Empire State Building, or a Broadway show. If we're entertaining people who've been to New York a few times, we'll go to the High Line or the Cloisters.

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A Wet 'n' Wild Press Junket

Thursday, April 15, 2010

The city's Department of Environmental Protection is preparing itself for a public drubbing, come May. That's when hearings will be held by the Water Board in all five boroughs, over a proposed water rate hike of 12.9%. The rate is set to go up as of July, and one imagines that there aren't that many citizen-defenders of the increase lining up.

In anticipation of the criticism, the DEP is trying to build up goodwill for the multi-billion dollar projects it's undertaking. Yesterday a bunch of reporters and photographers were given a tour of the Croton Water Filtration plant, which is under construction in the Bronx and which has added $177 to the average household's annual water bill.

Bottom line of the press junket: Here are your rate hike dollars at work.


photos by Arun Venugopal

The Croton plant is in the Bronx, a few steps from the end of the No. 4 subway line. Right now, the nine-acre project zone is chaotic: Cement trucks drive in and out, along with front loaders, and there are about two dozen cranes looming over the site. In time, however, the $2.8 billion project will be invisible, as the filtration plant will be concealed beneath a driving range. The DEP says the plant's green roof--essentially the grassy lawns for all those golf balls--will be the largest in the city.

Water has been flowing through the area from upstate for years. In 1890, the New Croton Aqueduct was constructed, and that's been in use since then, having replaced the original Croton Aqueduct, which was completed in 1842. But the DEP says new, elaborate filtration systems are required to bring the city in line with federal EPA standards. The new plant will also have an ultra-violet irradiation system, to destroy giardia parasites and other evil things.

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Returning the Waterfront to the City's Forefront

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Remember the days when you zipped around town by way of the water? Neither do we. But if you've read books, you'd know that's how it once was, and Roland Lewis of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance says it can be once again.

"Let's imagine docks in every single one of ...

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City Council to Overhaul Recycling Rules

Monday, April 12, 2010

A slew of legislative proposals would mark the biggest expansion of city recycling in over 20 years. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more on the effort in the City Council.

REPORTER: If you're the kind of armchair environmentalist who wants to do their part but are too ...

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