Beth Fertig

Though classes won't start until next week, New York City's 80-thousand teachers are returning to work today.

It's been one week since the blackout. 

It's been one week since the blackout.

September is still a month away, and with it the start of the new school year. But the biggest changes in 30 years to the city school system are already well underway.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is trying to convince voters to drop partisan primaries..

City councilman James Davis's burial takes place Tuesday afternoon, following a funeral service and a symbolic march in Brooklyn.

Staten Island is considered the city's most middle class borough.

A class action lawsuit will be filed against the city on behalf of more than 500 disabled pre-school children.

New York's city water system is losing between 15 and 36 million gallons each day because of leaks in a huge water tunnel that runs from the Catskills to the Bronx.

It's estimated that the public schools of New York City receive more than 100 million dollars worth of gifts and contributions each year.

Today is the deadline for parents with children in the city's most troubled schools to choose where they'd like to transfer their children next fall. 

The mayor and his chancellor have come under fire from some of the same players who originally supported them.

A lawsuit challenging funding for public schools is now in the hands of the state's highest court. 

Mayor Bloomberg says he'll have to lay off 4,500 city workers by the end of June.

Mayor Bloomberg's education reforms are running into trouble in Albany.

Bars and clubs have until May first to get used to telling their patrons to put out their cigarettes. 

Chancellor Joel Klein is expected to announce next week whether he'll allow any more city schools to get an exemption from the new curriculum, which goes into effect this fall.

With New Yorkers growing more concerned about terrorism, parents may be wondering what their schools will do in the event of any emergency.

As the debate over whether to go war with Iraq drags on, New Yorkers are expressing themselves in the streets and in the corridors of City Hall. 

WNYC's Beth Fertig visited two Brooklyn high schools to hear how war is being discussed in the classroom.