News

Crime Up in High Income Neighborhoods

The Brian Lehrer Show

Airs weekdays at 10AM
Overall, the city says crime is down – but a recent New York Post article points to double-digit increases in burglaries in some of the wealthiest areas of town. Crime experts and local politicians weigh in. Plus, “Wikimania” in Egypt.

Gov. Orders Environmental Review of Gas Drilling

by Ilya Marritz

July 23, 2008
Governor David Paterson has addressed growing public concerns about an expected boom in gas drilling in upstate New York by ordering a full environmental review.

An open well pit in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, holds the sediment from a freshly-drilled well.

Natural Gas Drilling: Is New York Ready?

by Ilya Marritz

July 22, 2008
Many New Yorkers never imagined that the ground beneath upstate New York is packed with natural gas-- a treasure trove worth billions. But the gas is very hard to extract. And as WNYC has learned in a joint investigation with ProPublica, regulators have been actively promoting the safety of a gas extraction practice that has caused environmental damage elsewhere.
Slideshow: Drilling for Natural Gas

Subway Delays gets Worse: MTA

July 21, 2008
Subway delays have been steadily getting worse since the heyday of 2003, when 97 out of every 100 trains ran on time. Now that number has fallen to 91. But after years of complaining that they are being caused by track improvements, transit officials have found another explanation. WNYC's Matthew Schuerman has more.

I Am Whatever You Say I Am

On the Media

At the forefront of retail medicine are the many companies selling genetic testing over the Internet. Biomedical ethics professor David Magnus explains the stakes for consumers when we lose the right to hear the story our genes tell about us.

A prefabricated shotgun house rises in a Midtown lot near the Museum of Modern Art.

MoMa Presents an Exhibition of Pre-Fab Housing

by Siddhartha Mitter

July 18, 2008
With all the anxiety about mortgages and foreclosures, you might forget another part of the housing crisis: The need for affordable new housing in many parts of the country.

Slideshow: Pre-fab housing at MoMA

Citigroup Announces $2.5B in Losses

WNYC Newsroom

July 18, 2008
Citigroup released its second quarter earnings this morning saying it lost $2.5 billion over the past three months. It also laid off 6,000 workers.

Female bust purporting to be Holy Wisdom holding an orb and staff, Brooklyn Museum

Fake Art at the Brooklyn Museum

Critic Lee Rosenbaum Discusses Forgeries of Ancient Sculpture

July 18, 2008
One third of the Brooklyn Museum's Coptic art collection is fake. And the museum plans to highlight that fact in an exhibition early next year. But critic Lee Rosenbaum says that could be good news for museums and museum patrons.

Bloomberg Calls For New Poverty Measures

by Arun Venugopal

July 14, 2008
The Bloomberg Administration is calling on the federal government to change the way it measures poverty. Under the city's new method the percentage of New Yorkers considered poor would actually rise. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

TKTS booth opens in Brooklyn

by Anne Shreffler

July 10, 2008
New Yorkers no longer need to head into Manhattan to get cheap, day-of tickets to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. A new TKTS booth opened today at MetroTech in Downtown Brooklyn.

Clinton and Obama Speak Before Mostly Female Audience in Midtown

by Bob Hennelly

July 10, 2008
This morning in mid-town more than two thousand mostly female Democratic supporters gave Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama a rousing welcome. WNYC's Bob Hennelly was there.

Report: Complaints Against NYPD Unreciprocated

by Bob Hennelly

July 7, 2008
The standoff between the Civilian Complaint Review Board and the NYPD over what constitutes police misconduct has new life. WNYC's Bob Hennelly reports.

A cancer group takes a novel look at life, art and illness by reading Philip Roth's latest work, "Exit, Ghost."

Parsing the Prostate

by Fred Mogul

July 1, 2008
In the latest novel by Philip Roth, the main character grapples with the ravages of prostate cancer. The disease gives him incontinence and impotence -- and amplifies his reflections on aging. A prostate cancer group at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck gathered to discuss the novel, called "Exit, Ghost," and compare their experiences with those of Roth and his character.

A Breezy Commute

by Matthew Schuerman

July 2, 2008
A new ferry service for commuters to Manhattan started in Rockaway, Queens, in mid-May. It's the first of several ferry routes that Mayor Michael Bloomberg has pledged to subsidize. WNYC’s Matthew Schuerman looks at how it's been going.

Radio Rookies: Legal Emancipation

Teenagers are famous for getting into conflicts with their families over independence. But Radio Rookie Jordan Teklay didn't want to be a part of anybody else's family. He sought his freedom through the courts and became a legally emancipated minor.