Fred Mogul

Before heading out to a left-leaning phone bank staffed by volunteers from Organize for America -- basically the Obama campaign's alumni society -- one intrepid WNYC reporter asked another which groups to check in with on the other side, i.e., the GOP. If there are Democrats, independents, and liberals dialing ...

New York, NY —

Congressional Democrats are getting a lot of calls about health-care reform, especially if they oppose or are on the fence about the current bill. Here in New York, as many as five congressmen are opposed to the current health-care bill.

On a recent afternoon, about 60 ...

New York, NY —

The federal judge in a large settlement with World Trade Center workers wants to hear more from the attorneys later this week and from individual workers with health problems at a hearing next month. In the meantime, legal experts warn dissatisfied plaintiffs not to reject ...

Thousands of rescue and cleanup workers who sued New York City over damaging health effects of working at the World Trade Center following 9/11 have reached a settlement with the city.

New York, NY —

After years of fighting in court, lawyers representing the city, construction companies and more than 10,000 ground zero rescue and recovery workers have agreed to a settlement that could pay up to $657.5 million to responders sickened by dust from the destroyed World Trade Center.

WNYC's ...

New York, NY —

In an effort to reverse the spread of childhood obesity 20 city schools are promoting healthy eating by teaching students how to grow their own food, cook, and by painting murals of agricultural scenes. In Bensonhurst, Brooklyn at the Expeditionary School for Community Leaders, students ...

New York, NY —

Opponents of a proposed sugary beverage tax are escalating their fight against Governor Paterson. WNYC's Fred Mogul reports on the brewing ad war and the political fight ahead for the tax.

REPORTER: The American Beverage Association, a powerful trade group, launched both national and local TV ...

New York, NY —

American employees of the United Nations have won domestic partnership benefits for same-sex couples.

REPORTER: The UN has long deferred to employees’ native countries, so only workers from a handful of places such as Sweden and Spain have had benefits. But this week, the US State ...

New York, NY —

Biotech and pharmaceutical companies arrive in Albany today for their annual "advocacy day." At the top of the agenda for lobbyists is defeating a bill that would restrict what gifts drug companies can give doctors.

The Health Department wants to take several of the pharmaceutical industry’s ...

New York, NY —

Fewer New Yorkers are dying of drug overdose in recent years, according to a new City Health Department report.

In 2008, 666 people fatally overdosed, a drop of 25 percent from two years earlier. The study also suggests nearly a million residents of the city use ...

New York City's Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) is facing a $1 billion deficit.

New York, NY —

The city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) is facing a $1 billion deficit. The shortfall comes as the nation’s largest public hospital system confronts shrinking funding from Albany and Washington while the number of uninsured people is increasing.

Alan Aviles, the head of HHC, says many ...

Good news for supporters of a proposed state tax on sugary beverages: A new poll says 76 percent of city residents support it. The state Health Department on its website is touting the results of a new survey by Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

But only a couple weeks ago, state ...

New York, NY —

Doctors, nurses, and all administrators and staff at St. Vincent’s Medical Center will see their paychecks reduced for the next 120 days, in an effort to cut expenses and stave off bankruptcy. Two unions, SEIU 1199, and the New York State Nurses Association, say their ...

New York, NY —

This week New York City becomes one of the first areas to try to reduce the threat of rabid raccoons by capturing, vaccinating, tagging and releasing them. WNYC's Fred Mogul has more.

REPORTER: The first traps were laid yesterday. The Health Department says that the raccoon ...

New York, NY —

A West African folk remedy for morning sickness appears to contain toxic levels of lead and arsenic. After receiving a warning from health authorities in Texas, city health officials investigated and found the substance called "calabash chalk" in a half-dozen stores. Assistant Health Commissioner Nancy ...

We don't mean to sell it short, but the first blizzard of 2010 isn't, technically, a blizzard. Snowy, sure, but according to the National Weather Service, a storm is just a storm unless visibility is reduced to a quarter-mile or less and winds are above 35 miles an hour. And ...

As St. Vincent’s Medical Center fights to stave off bankruptcy, the Greenwich Village hospital appears to have one less option.

New York, NY —

As St. Vincent’s Medical Center fights to stave off bankruptcy, the Greenwich Village hospital appears to have one less option. Continuum Health Partners has retracted its controversial proposal to take over the hospital, assume its debts, and shrink most of its operations.

Continuum’s CEO says he's ...

New York, NY —

A Greenwich Village medical center is on the brink of bankruptcy for the second time in five years. Saint Vincent's asked for a lifeline from its fellow Manhattan hospitals. One of them replied with an offer, but it's an offer that's making many people in ...