Stephen Nessen

Barry Markman, a state employee for 29 years, says no layoffs please.

Unions are demanding that Governor Paterson reconsider his proposed 9,000 state job cuts to balance the state's ...

Bikers from across the city cycled to The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine at 112th Street to get their bikes blessed by Father Thomas Miller today, in the sixth annual blessing of the bikes.

Illegal injections are on the rise.

The Yankees had the first official home game of the season today and fans came out to see the team and the new stadium.

Marsha Nicol is a retired school teacher from Connecticut, and is hopeful she will get a ticket.

Devoted Yankee fan and Bronx resident Kareem Simmons, a 41 year old New York Transit worker, painted his head blue and white, although he didn't have a ticket, he was only stopping by on his way to work. He plans on seeing at least five games this season.

This is like the mother of all opening days, we have a new chapter in our lives here.

Another Bronx resident, James Chiominento, came to see the new stadium and try to score a ticket. He is wheelchair bound and the old stadium didn't have enough space for him, so he hasn't seen the Yankees play in years... but the new stadium has 506 wheelchair spaces, so he plans to change that.

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein

This morning at 8 a.m., a 30-foot humpback whale was spotted in a shipping lane near the Verrazano Bridge. While the Coast Guard cleared the shipping lanes, the humpback took a detour to Coney ...

The owner of a Brownsville fast food joint may have rode the wave of Obamamania a bit too far after he recently renamed his restaurant Obama Fried Chicken.

Despite protests last week, the manager, Mohammad Jabbar from Bangladesh, ...

The Mets had an auspicious win last night at the first exhibition game in their new stadium, beating the Red Sox 4-3.

Mets fans reveled in Citi Field's open space and surprisingly good ball park food on the promenade deck and various eateries.

Lifelong Mets fan Steve ...

As temperatures rose into the 60s today, New Yorkers emerged after the long winter to play. Taking in the sun in the West Village, Marcus Slade, 37, a chef and party promoter, taught us that trash talk is essential at the "Cage," the basketball court at West Third street and Sixth Avenue.

Students from the Brooklyn Waldorf School used today's good weather to stretch their legs and, thanks to their teacher Susan Phar, shed their winter gear. Six-year-old Zisi Blades and his friend Noah, "the Boa Constrictor," drew airplanes and a radio, tuned to WNYC, in the dirt at Fort Greene Park. Their classmates offered mounds of dirt to anyone that wanted one and prepared for this evening's "Scooter Olympics."

While the Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved fares and toll hikes by 25 percent and reduced service on trains and buses Wednesday, legislation by opposing Democrats is stalled in Albany. One of the more vocal state senators, is Carl Kruger of Brooklyn.

WNYC spoke with a few residents of his ...

At 7:44 a.m. the vernal equinox heralded in the first day of spring. It didn't feel like it, but at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden signs of spring were everywhere.

Uli Lorimer, the curator of the native flora collection at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, hacked down his Charlie Brown Christmas-like ...

The third climber from last summer's rash of New York Times building scalers has has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless endangerment.

David Malone, of West Hartford, Connecticut was arrested on July 9 for ascending to the 11th floor and draping a banner that depicted Bin Laden holding Bush like a ...

Jorge Lopez displays an I.D. card issued by the Consulate General ...

Mayor Bloomberg is trying to convince the state to relinquish control of Governors Island and Brooklyn Bridge Park to the city. Currently both parks are jointly funded by the city and the state, but in Governor Paterson's current fiscal budget there are no funds allocated for ...

Tibetan protesters

Hundreds of pro-Independence Tibetans and other supporters marched down 42nd Street from the United Nations to the Chinese embassy Tuesday. Wrapped in Tibetan flags and head bands they chanted slogans and carried black flags that read '50 years of Resistance,' in memory of the failed uprising 50 years ago that ended with the Dalai Lama fleeing in exile to India.

It’s that time of year when we spring forward… so don’t forget to set your clocks ahead an hour this Sunday when daylight saving time goes into effect.

And while you’re changing your clocks, the New York Fire Department wants to remind New Yorkers that it is also a good time to change the batteries in your smoke detectors.

Lieutenant Anthony Mancusso says smoke detectors are of no use if the batteries are dead.

More than 100 CUNY students are preparing for meetings tomorrow with Albany lawmakers to discuss Governor Paterson’s proposed $65 million budget cut to tuition aid and community college funding.

Like many students at Bronx Community College, Monique Lewis, 38, juggles work, studies and family. She is studying social work and has five children, the youngest is five and the oldest, 22. If the proposed funding cuts pass she may see her tuition rise by 15 percent or about $400.

Protest signs are held aloft at a rally May 8, 2003 in New York City calling for the repeal of the Rockefeller drug laws. (Getty)

At City Hall today, Council members heard suggestions on reforming New York's 36-year-old Rockefeller drug laws. Critics of the law say the mandatory 15-year sentence for a first time conviction for selling or possessing two ounces of a controlled substance is too harsh. Simone-Marie Meeks of the New York Academy of Medicine thinks reforms need to include integrating government and medical professionals.

The NYCLU provided a report citing criminologist Alfred Blumstein: “That with respect to drug offenses, the much higher arrest and conviction rates for blacks are not related to higher levels of criminal offending, but can only be explained by other factors, including racial bias.”

The last five remaining protesters emerged from New York University’s student center today after barricading themselves in the cafeteria Wednesday night.

Local students and city residents gathered outside NYU’s Kimmel student center today to show support. Some banged drums, others just chanted, “Solidarity.”

Drew Phillips a 22-year-old philosophy major at NYU was one of the last five protesters to emerge and said his student coalition, Take Back NYU!, felt helpless when the university did not respond to a letter written in September that called for more 'accountability and transparency' in the school's budget and funding. There demands are posted here.

Joe Baglio, November 4, 2006

Staten Island doctor Richard Lucente has been charged with illegally providing steroids to body builders, including one who had a heart transplant, and recently died of heart failure. ...