Arun Venugopal

New York, NY —

Lawmakers are asking Mayor Bloomberg to create an independent panel of health experts to help determine who exactly qualifies as a victim of 9/11. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

REPORTER: The 3 Representatives - Carolyn Maloney, Vito Fossella and Jerrold Nadler - say the process of ...

New York, NY —

Hindus across the city are celebrating the beginning of Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights.

The five-day festival marks the victory of good over evil and involves the lighting of lamps and the gifting of sweets. This evening, elected officials will gather with Hindus ...

New York, NY —

The city is on a re-zoning spree - in recent weeks major areas of Jamaica, Queens and Bedford-Stuyvesant have been rezoned, in order to encourage development.

REPORTER: This morning, with an eye on his legacy, Mayor Bloomberg gave a sense of just how big the change ...

New York, NY —

Congestion pricing may have grabbed the headlines in recent months but it's not the only way the city is trying to cut traffic and pollution. As part of Mayor Bloomberg's environmental initiative, known as PlanYC, the city is set to have 1800 miles of bike ...

New York, NY —

Immigrant advocates say Governor Spitzer is changing course on his plan to give illegal immigrants drivers licenses. Under a NEW proposal, the state would provide undocumented workers with separate I-D's from citizens or permanent residents. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

Immigrant rights groups are expressing disbelief ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Bloomberg's plan to haul the city's trash out on barges at Gansevoort Street has hit a major roadblock - Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. He wants the city to consider another location. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

Speaker Silver supports the idea of using barges to ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Bloomberg's plan to have the city's trash hauled out by barges on the Hudson is facing a familiar hurdle: Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Silver says the mayor's proposal to locate a waste transfer station on Gansevoort would place it in the middle of Hudson ...

New York, NY —

Construction on a new biotech center on the East Side is underway. Mayor Bloomberg and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver took part in a groundbreaking ceremony for the 700 million dollar Alexandria Center for Science and Technology.

REPORTER: Patrick Foye, with the state's Empire State Development Corporation, ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Bloomberg says the city would oppose any effort by the transport workers union to restore a dues checkoff. A judge rejected the checkoff after the 2005 strike and the union recently went back to court, seeking to get it re-instated. But the mayor says ...

New York, NY —

Two firefighters unions claim the fire department encouraged a cover-up of the investigation into the fire at the Deutsche Bank building.

REPORTER: Union leaders say higher ups at the department were told at a meeting to stop sending emails about the investigation. The unions have called ...

New York, NY —

A tiny patch of land in lower Manhattan becomes the nation's 74th National Monument in an elaborate ceremony today. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more on the African Burial Ground, the final resting place for thousands of New York slaves.

REPORTER: One of the things that construction ...

New York, NY —

Columbia University and Community Board 9 went before the City Planning Commission once again, with competing visions for 17 acres of West Harlem and what's known as the bathtub. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

REPORTER: The bathtub is the term given to the enormous area that ...

New York, NY —

Nassau County officials say they were misled into participating in federal immigration raids across Long Island, thinking they were only targeting gang members. Now they're calling on Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff to initiate an investigation. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

REPORTER: The raids resulted in ...

New York, NY —

Columbia University is one step closer to the approval of its West Harlem expansion plan. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is now backing it. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

REPORTER: Stringer gave his support on the condition that Columbia help him minimize gentrification outside the 17-acre ...

New York, NY —

Several weeks after it was created, the commission charged with studying Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan got work yesterday. WNYC's Arun Venugopal was at the first, contentious meeting.

REPORTER: Although outnumbered, opponents of congestion pricing were quick to take on supporters on the commission. Two Assembly ...

New York, NY —

The 62nd session of the U-N General Assembly continues today. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

President Bush didn't participate in yesterday's Climate Summit, but he'll be one of the first speakers today. He's slotted in between the leaders of Brazil and Ghana and well ahead of ...

New York, NY —

Crowds estimated to be in the thousands turned out on Dag Hammarskjold plaza near the UN to protest the appearance of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

REPORTER: Many of the protesters were with Jewish groups but the event also drew some Iranian Americans, including Mary Mirian.

MIRIAN: Throw ...

New York, NY —

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be blocked from visiting Ground Zero but he will get a chance to hold forth on his controversial views at Columbia University on Monday. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

REPORTER: The event was initially meant to be a speech by the ...

New York, NY —

The death of a 13-year-old carriage horse near Central Park has the industry calling for better safety conditions. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

REPORTER: Central Park South can get crowded, with carriages and horses sharing a narrow shoulder between busy traffic and a sidewalk full of ...

New York, NY —

HIV infection rates rose in the city for the sixth straight year among gay men under 30. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more on the latest report from the Health Department.

REPORTER: The increase was highest among young gay black men. They represent close to half of ...