Arun Venugopal

New York, NY —

It may feel like a late-summer day but it's ice skating season. The rink at Rockefeller Center opened for business today. Pam Simpson from Aberdeen declared the ice was "absolutely brilliant."

SIMPSON: I'm just so excited to be on Rockefeller Center and skating, because I've come ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Bloomberg has some advice for individual investors who think they can play the market: Don't.

The mayor says it's best to leave that to the experts.

BLOOMBERG: If you want to be a trader go to Las Vegas, buy some chips. That's exactly what you're doing. ...

New York, NY —

The city still has 6,000 of its 58,000 seats available in its pre-K programs, and wants parents to sign their kids up by the October 31 deadline. The seats are open to children who turn four by year's end. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein says pre-K ...

New York, NY —

With its 21 electoral votes, Pennsylvania is one of the most highly-contested battleground states.

And, with the McCain campaign’s decision to pull out of Michigan, the battle over Pennsylvania is likely to get even more fierce.

Today is the deadline for registering voters in Pennsylvania and yesterday ...

New York, NY —

Today is the last day for voter registration in Pennsylvania. Over the weekend, hundreds of New Yorkers headed out to the battleground state. WNYC's Arun Venugopal tagged along to North Philadelphia with some Obama volunteers.

REPORTER: The bus empties out in the 11th Ward of Philadelphia, ...

New York, NY —

The Bloomberg administration has been widely praised for its efforts in promoting bicycling. All across the city new bike lanes are being built and more riders are being drawn to biking. But one group of riders continues to be at odds with the city - ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Bloomberg says there's no telling how far Wall Street might fall, but he thinks the city can weather the storm with a combination of spending cuts and, possibly, property tax increases.

BLOOMBERG: I don't think we will get to the point of layoffs. I don't ...

New York, NY —

The financial crisis is likely to have a direct impact on many of the city's nonprofits, which rely on corporate gifts. Fran Barrett is the executive director of Community Resource Exchange, which works with hundreds of nonprofits, including soup kitchens and housing programs. She says ...

New York, NY —

The city's elementary and middle schools have received their second annual progress report cards from the Department of Education. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more. REPORTER: The progress reports suggest that the city's schools are doing far better this year, with half as many F's and ...

New York, NY —

In the wake of Lehman Brothers' collapse and the ongoing chaos on Wall Street, Mayor Bloomberg had a few words for a room full of reporters, namely- "Fear Not." WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more. REPORTER: As an extremely successful businessman who also happens to govern ...

New York, NY —

The NYPD started cracking down on motorists who block the box last week, but the measure has some police officers upset. Anthony Miranda of the National Latino Officers Association says traffic agents are not trained to stop moving cars and issue summonses, the way police ...

Arun Venugopal, WNYC reporter, covers the 9/11 memorial service in Lower Manhattan.

New York, NY —

Don't block that box. At noon today, the city made it much easier to ticket drivers who clog up intersections.

REPORTER: Earlier only police officers could hand out the $115 tickets, but over the summer the governor signed a law allowing all traffic enforcement agents to ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Bloomberg says the redevelopment of the World Trade Center is going too slowly...and he's asking Governor Paterson to dismantle the Lower Manhattan Development Authority, and give its tasks to the city.

He says the LMDC may have been a good idea at the time....

BLOOMBERG: And ...

New York, NY —

Gov. David Paterson says there may be more to those jokes Republicans have made at Barack Obama's expense where, they poked fun at his early work in Chicago's poor neighborhoods.

Paterson says he heard overtones of racial coding.

PATERSON: I think the Republican party is too smart ...

New York, NY —

New York voters are set to go to the polls in primary elections tomorrow. In Brooklyn, writer and activist Kevin Powell, who first made a name for himself on the MTV's The Real World, is running for Congress against Representative Ed Towns.

Campaigning in East New ...

New York, NY —

Supporters and opponents of Columbia University's planned expansion into Manhattanville presented their case at a public hearing this week.

Nick Sprayregen owns Tuck-it-away Storage, one of the two holdout businesses in the area. He says the process to determine whether the area is blighted has been ...

New York, NY —

The city's taking a swing at bullies in schools, with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein and Council Speaker Christine Quinn announcing a set of initiatives they hope will curb mean girls and rough boys.

Schools will be required to track and monitor all bias ...

New York, NY —

A New York State court is supporting Gov. David Paterson's directive to recognize out of state same sex marriages. A judge has tossed out a legal challenge to the policy. Susan Sommer is an attorney with Lambda Legal, which represented a same sex couple who ...

New York, NY —

All eyes will be on presumptive Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin as she makes her big speech at the Republican national convention tonight. But not Mayor Bloomberg. He says he’s got other plans.

BLOOMBERG: I actually am going to the theater tonight. To see Whoopi Goldberg ...