The two-week strike by unionized employees of Verizon offset all of the hiring that occurred last month in New York City and pushed the city’s unemployment rate up slightly, according to figures released Thursday by the State Department of Labor. The city’s official unemployment rate rose to 8.7 percent in August from 8.6 percent in [...]
The Rent Guidelines Board has approved a nearly 4 percent hike for rent-stabilized apartments in the city, affecting some 1.1 million apartments by 3.75 percent for one-year renewals and 7.25 percent for two-year contracts, the New York Daily News reported. The hikes will take effect October 1. “It’s very disappointing,” said Jesse Duperon, who lives [...]
The Rent Guidelines Board will hold a final vote tonight on how much the tenants of more than one million rent-regulated city apartments will pay this fall. Board members are gathering at Cooper Union’s Great Hall at 5:30 p.m. to consider a hike of 3 to 5.75 percent for one-year lease renewals and an increase [...]
A new state law cracking down on illegal hotels is already getting results. The city says it has taken action against 15 illegally converted hotels since the law took effect two weeks ago. The mayor’s office released video of some of the residences located in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Investigators say the buildings were overcrowded, and [...]
Osama Bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader who orchestrated the September 11th terror attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, has been killed by U.S. forces, President Obama announced Sunday night. “The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda,” the president announced in a nationally televised address [...]
There’s a new housing scam to report. Bad landlords, reportedly lining their pockets with taxpayer dough for housing the formerly homeless — but in deplorable conditions. The public advocate told CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer it’s got to stop. “My kids are uncomfortable. Every day they tell me that they want to move. They see people [...]
Mayor Michael Bloomberg stood with 34 Americans on Monday who lost loved ones in Tucson, Virginia Tech and other gun-related tragedies to demand the federal government fix its “broken” background check system. “Every day, 34 Americans are murdered with guns – and most of them are purchased or possessed illegally,” said Bloomberg, who also co-heads [...]
Mayor Bloomberg started his second term vowing to take on illegal guns. And as he campaigns to win a third term, he’s trying to show voters that he’s serious about his fight. “We have to protect the people of this city today. And we’re not going to wait around for anyone else,” Bloomberg said. The [...]
The city’s largest landlord has secured desperately needed financing that could help steer it out of the red. Under a labyrinthine deal that federal and state lawmakers and city officials raced to complete in less than six months, the landlord, the New York City Housing Authority, will receive about $230 million for rehabilitating 21 developments [...]
A relative of two New York City politicians has pleaded guilty to charges that he embezzled $115,000 from a taxpayer-funded nonprofit group, then shared some of the ill-gotten gains with his lawmaking kin. Richard Izquierdo-Arroyo is the grandson of New York Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo and the nephew of City Council member Maria del Carmen Arroyo. [...]
