Arun Venugopal

MTA chief Lee Sander has a nifty little gimmick he employs whenever he speaks in public these days. It's a crusty, cylindrical device that he hefts up in the air whenever he needs to impress upon people just how decrepit our subway system is. Sander spoke at an event organized by the Greater New York Construction User Council.

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MTA head Lee Sander says that while most of the public's attention is on the sharp fare increases that are likely coming their way, lower spending on capital projects will have just as profound an impact on the transit system.

And Sander told developers and construction ...

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Senator Kirsten Gillibrand continues her courtship of the public. Yesterday she met for nearly two hours with Hispanic elected officials concerned about her stand on immigration. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

GILLIBRAND: Thank you for your guidance. Thank you for your advice. I feel we will ...

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A group of Latino elected officials is refusing to back newly appointed US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand until she changes her positions on immigration.

REPORTER: The city and state officials, who met with Gillibrand Sunday, want her to renounce her earlier support for border enforcement and for ...

Could there be an aural pleasure greater than hearing Alex Trebek say your name? Eric Gioia, councilman from Queens, is likely asking himself just that, having attained Jeopardy! immortality (Giopardy?) during yesterday's show. The question--actually, the answer--was 'NYC Councilman Eric Gioia says 10 ...

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New York's education advocates are hoping they can get their hands on $1.6 billion of the federal governments stimulus plan.

Michael Mulgrew of the United Federation of Teachers says the union has put enormous pressure on local politicians to support the plan.

MULGREW: We have had thousands ...

Fox 5's Ernie Anastos with Mayor B (credit Edward Reed)

If you're the kind of public radio listener who actually watches a little local TV, god forbid, you may have noticed the steady drumbeat of news segments on the coming revolution of digital TV. 'Get your digital converter TODAY, or else...' - cut to shot of TV screen as primetime sitcom suddenly gives way to all-black - '...you COULD be left in the dark.'

Mayor Bloomberg joined the chorus today, reminding people that Feb. 17 is the last day when regular analog TVs will get a signal. The remedy, of course, is to either buy a brand-new digital TV - do it for America, viewers - or buy a relatively inexpensive digital converter box, about $40 to $70.

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The rollout of Senator-designate Kirsten Gillibrand moved forward yesterday as she and Governor Paterson had a photo-op and lunch, with now-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Afterward, Gillibrand held a news conference. WNYC's Arun Venugopal was there.

GILLIBRAND: My goal is to try to fill her shoes ...

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About 300,000 New Yorkers still use analog "rabbit ear" antennae to get their TV signals, according to the mayor. He stood with several local TV news anchors at City Hall to urge these holdouts to get digital signal converter boxes, before the February 17th deadline. ...

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First it was the city's revamped wedding bureau. Now the city's Tourism office in midtown is the latest to go high tech, with gleaming, interactive maps and more. WNYC's Arun Venugopal was at the opening.

REPORTER: The city will probably struggle to meet its goal of ...

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Now that we have a new president, what's next for the people who worked to get him elected? MoveOn is mounting a massive lobbying effort, hoping the president will enact its progressive agenda. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

REPORTER: MoveOn's four million members played a big ...

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Obama supporters are heeding the call of the president-elect and using Martin Luther King Junior Day as a national day of service and volunteering. Cathy Wolfson helped out at Sue Rock Originals, a nonprofit that makes clothes for domestic abuse survivors heading into the workplace.

Wolfson ...

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Call it Bagels for Barack. A chain of local bagel stores known as Bagel Boss is making a million bagels for the presidential inauguration.

Co-owner Adam Rosner says he'll be handing out all types of bagels for free.

ROSNER: Obviously the vanilla ice cream of bagels is ...

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New Yorkers are heeding president-elect Obama's call to volunteer today, to celebrate Martin Luther King Junior's birthday. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

REPORTER: About a dozen Obama supporters showed up on the 8th floor of a storage warehouse on Flatbush. They'd come to help ...

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Yesterday's plane crash highlighted the danger birds constantly pose to aircraft. But less known is how hard scientists work to prevent bird-related crashes. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

REPORTER: A big priority right now for investigators is to find out what kind of bird brought the ...

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Mayor Bloomberg is defending the city's spending on new stadiums for the Mets and Yankees, saying his administration fought hard to get the best deals possible.

The mayor says no one could've foreseen how much construction costs would rise.

BLOOMBERG: When those contracts were made, it was ...

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Mayor Bloomberg's bid for a third term has dodged a legal bullet. A federal judge threw out a lawsuit challenging the recent law extending term limits for him and other citywide elected officials.

Judge Charles Sifton says City Comptroller Bill Thompson, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, and ...

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Supporters - and critics - of Israel held rallies simultaneously yesterday in midtown Manhattan. On the West Side, below Times Square, hundreds of protesters waved red, black and green Palestinian flags while calling for an end to the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Thirteen-year-old Selay Lahori ...

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Congressman Anthony Weiner plans to run for mayor but right now he says it's too early to be campaigning.

But that didn't stop him from taking a few digs against the incumbent, Mayor Bloomberg.

He refuted the notion that Bloomberg had been a good fiscal steward, saying ...