WNYC News

New York, NY —

It may be spring, but it might as well be Christmas at Radio City. The Rockettes kicked off auditions today for the 2009 Christmas Spectacular. Dancers from across the country came to test their mettle for a coveted spot in the legendary dance troupe known ...

New York, NY —

The head of the White House Military Office has apologized for authorizing a photo shoot of Air Force One, and a fighter jet, near the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Center site. Louis Caldera says, despite notification of local officials, the mission created, ...

New York, NY —

Women's rights advocates gathered today and passed out lilies in honor of the first piece of legislation President Obama signed, a restoration of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, making it easier for women to file discriminatory pay complaints. Local representatives including State Senator Diane ...

New York, NY —

State workers protested outside a Midtown fundraiser for Governor Paterson, saying his decision to lay off 9,000 workers is unfair, and unreasonable. Vernetta Chesimard, with the Public Employee Federation, says the governor should lay off his own staff, first:

CHESIMARD: He just wants to take it ...

New York, NY —

Disabled tenants say New York City's public housing agency is violating their rights by failing to properly maintain elevators. They announced a federal class-action lawsuit against the city. Phyllis Gonzalez lives on the 12th floor of the Chelsea Houses and relies on a wheelchair.

GONZALEZ: If ...

New York, NY —

Governor Paterson introduced legislation today that would make New York the fifth state to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. The bill is the same one introduced by former governor Eliot Spitzer in 2007, where it passed in the Assembly...but died in the Senate, ...

New York, NY —

It's April 15th and plenty of New Yorkers who waited till the last minute are rushing to get their taxes in on time. At the Farley Post Office on eighth avenue and 34th street, WNYC caught up with Walter Elliot, who was in the midst ...

New York, NY —

The family of a mentally ill man who was hospitalized after a confrontation with police this weekend say they will press charges against the NYPD.

Gamalier Reyes is schizophrenic. His sister Zully De La Cruz says he refused to take his medicine and his social worker ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Bloomberg was in Virginia Monday, to urge that state's lawmakers to close a loophole that allows private sellers at gun shows to skip full background checks. Bloomberg was joined by survivors and victims family members of the mass shooting at Virginia Tech. He unveiled ...

New York, NY —

Twenty-two people have been arrested for occupying a New School building near Union Square. The group wants President Bob Kerrey and the school's COO to resign.

But not all students at the university were happy with the protesters. David Eisenhauer, a senior who organizes around sustainability ...

New York, NY —

A whale spotted near the Verrazano Narrows Bridge this morning has headed towards more open waters near Coney Island. Spokeswoman Terry Frady with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says this is whale migration season and it's not unusual to see them in New York. ...

New York, NY —

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau unsealed a sweeping indictment of a fugitive Chinese businessman, who he says is illegally funneling money through New York City banks, to sell materials to Iran for making nuclear weapons.

MORGENTHAU: Seventy percent of the world's business is done in dollars, ...

New York, NY —

New York City is launching a nearly $2 million marketing campaign called the "Rainbow Pilgrimage" to attract more gay and lesbian tourists. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the conflict between gay New Yorkers and the NYPD that sparked the modern ...

New York, NY —

On this gorgeous spring day, students from the Waldorf School in Brooklyn are using today's good weather to stretch their legs and shed their winter gear. Six-year-old kindergartener Zisi Blades drew an airplane in the dirt in Fort Greene Park. He says he was saving ...

New York, NY —

In an effort to encourage transparency and accountability, Councilman Bill de Blasio has introduced legislation that would require all New York City recipients of federal stimulus funds to report exactly how the money will be spent, and what impact it will have on the economy.

DEBLASIO: ...

New York, NY —

Brooklyn district attorney Charles Hynes has indicted 43 people involved in what he calls a $2 million drug ring. The 26-year-old accused of running the sophisticated drug operation, Eric "Fat Eddy" Rodriguez, was arrested on March 20th when he was heard on a phone tap ...

New York, NY —

Orthodox Jewish leaders and the Brooklyn District Attorney's office are launching a new initiative to fight sexual abuse in their community, after a sharp rise in reported cases. DA Charles Hynes says the initiative is called Kol Tzedek, "Voice of Justice."

Hynes: In the book of ...

New York, NY —

City lawmakers say the Department of Education should follow the same standards as other agencies when awarding contracts. At a hearing today, lawmakers criticized the department for taking money away from the city's small businesses in favor of larger out of state companies. But the ...

New York, NY —

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the government may consider cost when deciding if Indian Point and other nuclear power plants must upgrade. Alex Matthiessen is president of Riverkeeper - among the groups that sued the EPA over the plants cooling system. He says ...

New York, NY —

A five-cent refundable deposit will be tacked on to the price of bottled water and other non-carbonated bottled beverages under Governor Paterson's budget proposal. The expansion of New York's bottle bill means consumers can get those five pennies back if they return their bottles to ...