Arun Venugopal

Senior Reporter, WNYC News

Arun Venugopal appears in the following:

Bloomberg's Twitter Debut

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Feeling intimidated by Twitter? So was Mayor Bloomberg. But then he got a tutorial, from none other than Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter.

BLOOMBERG: My first tweet was just before but I did spend 45 minutes with him. Smart guy! Grew up in New York ...

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Como Se Dice 'First Tweet'?

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Feeling intimidated by Twitter? So was Mayor Bloomberg. But then he got a tutorial, from none other than Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter.

'My first tweet was just before, but I did spend 45 minutes with him. Smart guy!'

After letting his aides do it for him, the ...

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Housing Works Thrift is Expanding

Monday, August 10, 2009

Positive economic news isn't easy to come by these days, but apparently for all the job losses and foreclosures, a silver lining does exist: in the form of Housing Works. The combination thrift store chain and community AIDS organization is experiencing a 10 percent growth ...

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Bloomberg Plays Down Rift With Felder Over Grants

Thursday, August 06, 2009

Mayor Bloomberg is downplaying a controversy over how city money was allocated to two Jewish non-profits.

The issue pits the mayor against Councilman Simcha Felder, who claims the money was distributed in his name without his knowledge. The mayor says the $1.5 million was likely requested ...

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Big Buck Hunter Pro Championships

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Deer hunting season starts this Saturday in bars and restaurants across the city. That's when the world championships begin for a popular arcade game called Big Buck Hunter Pro. The person who racks up the most points bagging bucks with big racks gets $10,000, and ...

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De Blasio On the Ballot, Alan Gerson Off

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Councilman Alan Gerson has been bumped off the ballot. The city's Board of Elections decided this afternoon that he could not run again this fall, after finding errors in his filing. Gerson has represented District One in lower Manhattan since 2002.

Meanwhile, Councilman Bill De Blasio ...

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De Blasio Demands Reinstatement on Ballot

Monday, July 27, 2009

Brooklyn City Councilman Bill de Blasio joined with other elected officials to demand that the Board of Elections put him back on the ballot for public advocate. De Blasio's name was removed because of a typo in his most recent filing. Brooklyn councilwoman Letitia James ...

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Councilman Wants More Transparency in Schools as Swine Flu Returns

Monday, July 27, 2009

A city councilman is calling on school officials to be as transparent as possible this fall about the spread of the swine flu. Eric Gioia says providing more information to parents will help them once flu season starts again.

GIOIA: The way to prevent panic is ...

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Mayor Dismisses Calls for Chancellor Klein to Resign

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

City Comptroller Bill Thompson says School Chancellor Joel Klein is not fit to run the Department of Education and should step down. THOMPSON: We found the DOE has engaged in sloppy and unprofessional practices that encourage cheating and data manipulation. The Comptroller's office released an ...

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City Sells Pension Investments Linked to Iran

Monday, July 20, 2009

The city is selling off nearly $11-million worth of pension investments in two companies that deal with Iran.

The announcement from City Comptroller William Thompson follows similar efforts from Los Angeles and 15 states including New York state. Thompson says the investments were sold at a ...

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President Obama in NY Area Today

Thursday, July 16, 2009

President Obama is in the area today. He's addressing the NAACP convention, and he's hoping his popularity rubs off on some local politicians. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

REPORTER: President Obama will first head to the town of Holmdel, New Jersey. There he'll be stumping for ...

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Confirming Sotomayor

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

For some Latinos and members of the legal community, there's great excitement surrounding the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings.

Carlos Vargas-Ramos is with the Centro de Estudios Puertoriquenos, at Hunter College. He says it feels "terrific" to see a fellow Latino as a nominee.

And speaking as a ...

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NAACP Marks 100th Anniversary

Monday, July 13, 2009

The nation's largest and oldest civil rights organization marks its 100-year anniversary with a celebration this week here in New York City.

The NAACP's annual convention started over the weekend, and featured speeches from Mayor Bloomberg, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Charles Schumer. But many ...

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Campaigning for a Vanishing Office

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Is the office of Public Advocate about to disappear? That's been the buzz these last few weeks, with 40 percent budget cuts and noise from Councilman Simcha Felder, radio guy Curtis Sliwa and the likes, that it's worth shutting it down. So, is it?

We put the question to several ...

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Public Advocate: Do We Need One?

Thursday, July 09, 2009

One of the more high-profile citywide races taking place this summer and fall is the one for the Public Advocate's office. The contest has drawn some of the most well known politicians in town. But even as they make their case to the public, other ...

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Bernie Madoff Gets 150 Years for Ponzi Scheme

Monday, June 29, 2009

The sentence was handed down to convicted investor who defrauded thousands of clients to the tune of almost $65 billion. Federal judge Denny Chin handed down the maximum sentence to Madoff in a downtown courtroom. Madoff victims who attended the proceedings errupted in applause and ...

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Gay Pride Parade Marks 40 Years After Stonewall Uprising

Monday, June 29, 2009

The weekend marked the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising and thousands of people filled the streets for the annual Gay Pride parade. Drea Lewis has been attending the pride parade for about 10 years, and the big difference, she says, is how much more ...

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Mayor, Gov Push Renewal of Mayoral School Governance

Monday, June 29, 2009

Demonstrators opposed to mayoral control of city schools rallied in Harlem yesterday, just a few feet from supporters of the law. The dueling protests took place outside a school, where the mayor, the governor, and other officials urged the State Senate to get its act ...

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Protesters Dispute Iranian Election

Monday, June 15, 2009

Shouting "We condemn coup d'etat" and other chants, more than a hundred protesters gathered at Dag Hammarskjold plaza to dispute the results of the Iranian election.

Nazi Hajari came from New Jersey. She says there's no way Mir-Hossein Moussavi could have lost to the incumbent, Mahmoud ...

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From Billionaire to Plain "Mike": Candidate Bloomberg Evolves

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Are we seeing the subtle softening of Candidate Bloomberg? Check out the latest endorsement from the Bloomberg campaign. It's by Mohammad "Mo" Razvi, a well-known Muslim and Interfaith activist - and this is the first time I'm seeing anyone refer to him not as "Mayor Bloomberg" or "the mayor" or ...

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