Arun Venugopal

New York, NY —

The city has opened its first Financial Empowerment Center, in the Bronx today.

It's meant to help low-income residents with financial planning, such as managing debt.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said a new study showed people continue to use check cashing services, even as banks try to increase ...

New York, NY —

A last-minute deal yesterday between the city and the state will keep Off Track Betting open and its employees working. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

REPORTER: Under the agreement, the city will no longer run the 68 OTB's that operate locally. They'll be bundled into a ...

New York, NY —

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is initiating legal action against the CVS and Rite Aid drugstore chains.

Investigators, with the attorney general's office say they found numerous products on shelves long after their expiration date at stores across the state. These included expired medicines, as well as ...

New York, NY —

The heat is causing disruptions to the power supply in isolated pockets around the city.

One resident of Sunnyside, Queens, a former sheet metal worker who would only give his first name. Jimmy says he is dreading another power outage like the one that hit his ...

New York, NY —

The city is hoping to speed up the cleanup of brownfields, through the creation of an Office of Environmental Remediation.

REPORTER: The agency is designed to help developers and communities go through the remediation of sites that were contaminated from industrial use. Jeff Kay heads the ...

New York, NY —

Despite Friday's arraignment of a veteran crane inspector on bribery charges, Mayor Michael Bloomberg says corruption is not widespread in the city's Department of Buildings.

BLOOMBERG: I don't think it is very prevalent. I do think that any case of it however is very serious and ...

New York, NY —

The city is giving away 250 empty barrels to homeowners in Queens so they can catch rainwater and hopefully avoid sewage overflows. The Department of Environmental Protection's Julie Stein says the homeowners snapped up the rain barrels.

STEIN: They're excited because southeast Queens is an area ...

New York, NY —

The Bloomberg Administration, in its ongoing campaign to limit the number of illegal guns entering the city, claimed another legal victory. As arguments were to begin in a Brooklyn federal court today, a Georgia gun dealer opted out of a trial. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has ...

New York, NY —

A Georgia gun dealer agreed to have its sales monitored.

The decision came a day before a trial was to begin, as the dealer, Adventure Outdoors had earlier rejected the terms of a lawsuit.

Ken Taber is a lawyer with Pillsbury Winthrop, which had represented the ...

New York, NY —

Motor vehicles are the leading cause of accidental death among New York's children.

That's according to a new child fatality report just issued by the city.

According to Health Commissioner Tom Frieden, fires are the second leading cause of accidental death, especially in poor neighborhoods.

FRIEDEN: There is ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Michael Bloomberg delivered the keynote address at the World Science Summit this morning, and used the occasion to defend his ban on smoking. He said the scientific data outweighed the criticism he got from the public at the time.

BLOOMBERG: And I can tell you, ...

New York, NY —

The Port Authority is pushing back the deadlines on three of the towers at the World Trade Center. The agency granted developer Larry Silverstein another four to six months to complete the projects, because Merrill Lynch may be moving in to the complex. Larry Coscia ...

WNYC reporters Bob Hennelly and Arun Venugopal discuss departmental charges brought against seven of the officers involved in the Sean Bell Police Trial.

New York, NY —

Seven police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell will face departmental charges. Pending internal trials, they could face a range of penalties, including dismissal.

Four of the officers involved in the shooting - including the 3 who went on trial - were ...

New York, NY —

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told members of the City Council that the NYPD was stretched thin due to low starting salaries, but said an arbitrator could change the salary structure this week.

Kelly spoke during budget hearings, and addressed the challenges of recruiting new officers with ...

New York, NY —

One of four people charged with running the prostitution ring used by former governor Eliot Spitzer, has plead guilty in federal court.

WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

Thirty-two year old Temeka Lewis was responsible for booking clients for the Emperor's Club VIP. Today she stood in federal ...

New York, NY —

The city and state may have to cough up $321 million to Goldman Sachs because of delays in rebuilding at the World Trade Center site.

WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

The hefty fines would include free rent - 64 years of it - as well as other ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the city's top priority is still the development of the West Side rail yards.

He's dismissed suggestions by Sen. Charles Schumer that the city should let the Port Authority take the lead in developing the Moynihan Station.

The mayor added that the ...

New York, NY —

Juveniles who get arrested on the weekend will no longer be at risk of remaining detained until Monday.

Starting next month the city is starting weekend processing for youth, which already takes place for adults. The city's criminal justice coordinator John Feinblatt said kids who commit ...

New York, NY —

Six locations around the city, thousands of protesters and nearly 200 arrests.

It was the opening round in a campaign of civil disobedience yesterday, organized by the Rev. Al Sharpton and members of Sean Bell's family.

Their goal is to pressure federal investigators into bringing civil rights ...