Arun Venugopal

New York, NY —

The city is set to shrink its sprawling IT infrastructure. Commissioner Carole Post of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications says that by consolidating the data systems used by 40-plus agencies, the city can reduce costs and improve services.

Speaking at a data center in ...

New York, NY —

Two New York lawmakers are moving to prevent the governor's office from abusing access to the state police. State Sen. Eric Adams says he and Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries are proposing an investigation because of revelations that the Paterson administration may have inappropriately turned to state ...

(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

What's a food vendor to do when he or she has use the bathroom? Most of them slip into a cafe or restaurant lavatory and try to return to work quickly. But one ...

I swung by the auditions for the Brooklyn Ballet's first Summer Intensive, on Sunday. This is a program for young, hardcore ballet aspirants. BB's hope is that they can take its arabesques and changment de plieds to the farthest reaches of the borough, not just in traditional spaces but in storefronts, community centers, and parks -- i.e., not just where the gentry congregate. The best part was watching the kids in the picture above do their moves. Also, talking to the teenagers who sweat it out daily in hopes of getting to the American Ballet Theatre. You can listen to a few of them here. For a waffly guy like myself, it's hard to believe that youth and determination can be so clearly united. These kids know what they want.

New York, NY —

As of last month, when New Jersey signed it into law, there are 14 states that allow the use of medical marijuana. Some people think New York could be No. 15, and are watching as a bill winds its way through the state Senate and ...

What constitutes an act of terrorism? Is it enough to fly an airplane into an important building, in an effort to make a bold political statement against the U.S. government?

Interesting little item on OpenSecrets.org today, noting that it's now legal to carry guns into national parks. Sidenote:

Gun control advocates, meanwhile, spent a relative pittance in 2009 on federal lobbying efforts -- $180,000. Most of that came from a single organization: Mayors Against Illegal Guns. The decline in gun control advocates' lobbying power is striking: In 2001, the special interest area spent more than $2.1 million on federal lobbying efforts.

Friday was a busy day. Continued with my Oscar viewing blitz: 'An Education,' followed by 'Inglorious Basterds,' with a little MoMA and Gabriel Orozco sandwiched in. 'An Education' is a really good movie - they would do right to hand Carey Mulligan the Best Actress award. 'Inglorious,' was a different matter. It felt good and cathartic at the time - Jews kick Nazi tail - but there were so many holes in the film, and it felt so 'B-movie' in its ambitions that I'm inclined to think Tarantino's tittering over his many nominations.

... is not some hot Broadway production, nor the latest offering from the Met Opera. This past weekend, at least, it was the Bollywood blockbuster 'My Name is Khan,' starring Shahrukh Khan. This is meant to be the definitive non-Hollywood take on 9/11 and its aftermath, and the buildup to the film's release around the world has been intense (Shahrukh made a big worldwide stink when he was detained at Newark airport, last year -- great advance hype). It showed at just 120 theaters in the US, but earned more than $2 million over the 3-day weekend, making its per-screen average of $16,158 the highest of any release.

Immigration reform has been on the back burner in Congress but a group of New Yorkers wants to end that with a road trip.

New York, NY —

Immigration reform has been on the back burner in Congress but a group of New Yorkers wants to end that with a road trip. The group plans to visit towns across the state and pressure politicians to join in their cause. Kevin Kwok is one ...

Is it worth signing up for Notify NYC? That would be the city service that sends out email and text-message alerts (and Tweets!) whenever an emergency's afoot. It might be a public health alert, a nearby fire, or something decidedly mundane, like no street cleaning. I signed up a few weeks ago, after covering an event at which the Dept of Education announced the system would extend to school-related alerts.

'This is War. This is Brooklyn.'

This is a film with Ethan Hawke AND Richard Gere. That's some mean streets.

Having worked in the Indian media, I know how hard it can be to get hard data on smaller populations in the US. There's a lot about newer immigrant groups that stays at the anecdotal level - regarding health issues, social problems, political preferences - which have been quantified and updated for decades in the broader population.

New York, NY —

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is pushing back against reports questioning the integrity of the NYPD's crime reporting system, CompStat. The mayor challenges the accuracy of a recent survey in which former police officers said CompStat statistics were manipulated to maintain the impression of record low crime ...

A couple days ago I went to Long Island City and dropped by the offices of the Fortune Society, which helps former prison inmates re-enter society. Being an ex-con is hard enough at any time, but at this moment, with high unemployment, it's particularly tough. Even if you have friends or family, there's a good chance that some of them are out of work, too, and don't have the time or inclination to get your life back on track.

As I was saying on the Financial 411 today, anyone who's been around Mayor Bloomberg over the last month or so might've heard him make this bold and provocative claim about Wall Street incomes:

'Keep in mind, the average person that works in finance in New York City makes $70 thousand a year.'

If you're one of the search-and-rescue dogs who came back from Haiti last week, you eat heart-shaped cookies. But first you sniff them for explosives, crystal meth or gluten.

Such a good dog!

New York, NY —

Unemployed New Yorkers will no longer feel guilty hanging around the house, watching TV, now that the city has created a new show called "Job Hunt."

Each half-hour episode offers tips on how to navigate the job market, including this, from one expert:

"I had one gentleman ...

New York, NY —

A series of 111 recommendations has just landed on the desks of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn. The report was submitted by the NYC Green Codes Task Force, a panel of 200 experts that was convened last year with the purpose of ...