Arun Venugopal

New York, NY —

The City Council has chosen Christine Quinn to continue in her role as Speaker, but not without some controversy.

At a swearing-in event for the council and its new members, Brooklyn Councilman Charles Barron argued that he should be speaker. He said with the new council, ...

The city's Board of Elections appears to be moving into the 21st Century.

New York, NY —

The city's Board of Elections appears to be moving into the 21st Century. It's picked a company to supply electronic voting machines, which means New York City voters will be saying goodbye to those old lever machines. But elected officials and voting-rights advocates want the ...

New York, NY —

The city's new public advocate, Bill de Blasio, is looking to raise the profile of his office by empowering average New Yorkers. His new Community Organizing and Constituent Services Department is meant to train community organizers on how to create petition drives and other means ...

New York, NY —

Converts to Islam and other Muslims gathered in midtown this weekend for the first annual Winter Dowra.

REPORTER: The three-day immersion in Muslim theology and jurisprudence was aimed at those who may have been raised as Catholics or Hindus but who turned to Islam in recent ...

With just a few days to go, 2009 is on pace to be New York City's safest - at least since 1962 when the city started keeping reliable records.

The New York Police Department has told the federal government that it will need more money to protect the city during the trial of alleged terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

New York, NY —

The NYPD has told the federal government it'll need more money to protect the city during the trial of alleged terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Police commissioner Ray Kelly says the department has sent in a request for federal funding but wouldn't specify how much. He simply ...

New York, NY —

With just a few days to go, 2009 is on pace to be the safest year in city history -- at least since reliable records were kept. Overall, crime has dropped by 11 percent since last year. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says that, since 2002, the ...

Good cheer was in the air in Brooklyn today as an estimated 2,000 New Yorkers in need showed up for a free hot lunch at an event billed as the city's largest Christmas-day feast.

In addition to hot turkey meals and desert, attendees at the annual lunch at the Prospect ...

New York, NY —

It's billed as the largest Christmas-day meal in town -- a hot turkey dinner with fixings and dessert, served at the YMCA in Park Slope. Organizers say they expect 2,000 hungry New Yorkers -- far more than previous years -- but they also saw a ...

New York, NY —

As the state's Congressional delegation celebrates the Senate's passage of healthcare reform, Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Paterson continue to voice concerns. They say the bill as it's currently written will hurt the state by depriving it of hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicaid funds. ...

New York, NY —

City firefighters joined with Citymeals on Wheels to deliver lunches to the homebound elderly on the Upper East Side today. Bearing meals and flowers, three firefighters in full uniform made their way up to the 102nd Street apartment of 82-year-old Mamie Williams and her 100-year-old ...

New York, NY —

'Tis the day before Christmas, and for some New Yorkers, that means last-minute shopping, airport delays and hectic trips out of town. But for the 212 Mormon missionaries who call this city home, this is a season of intense faith, and a chance to bring ...

New York, NY —

Gov. David Paterson is standing by his decision to withhold state funding from New York's public schools in order to keep the state solvent through the end of the year. Education groups are suing the governor over the payments. Paterson filed a separate brief in ...

New York, NY —

The City Council overrode a mayoral veto to grant drivers a five-minute grace period for many parking violations. As Danny Ng hopped out of his car and into a restaurant near Canal Street yesterday - he said the new law is needed.

NG: Because a lot ...

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New York, NY —

Gov. David Paterson has signed an executive order protecting transgender state workers from discrimination in the workplace. The order is limited because it doesn't provide protection for those in the private sector. But the governor says today's signing should be seen as a stepping stone ...

New York, NY —

School parents and elected officials are holding rallies across the city today in protest against the MTA's plan to eliminate free student MetroCards. Council member Gale Brewer was at a demonstration on the Upper West Side and says that in addition to burdening parents with ...

New York, NY —

Gov. David Paterson is unilaterally reducing $750 million in state payments due tomorrow, and schools are set to be hit the hardest.

The governor says the measures are needed because of the failure of the legislature to adequately address the $3.2 billion state deficit. With ...