Listen Now

Facebook announced Friday that it will open an engineering office in New York early next year. The new office will mark Facebook’s first engineering presence away from the west coast, and the company is already accepting applications.

New York City Council member Ydanis Rodriguez gave an energy-charged press conference on the steps of New York’s City Hall today, describing in detail his arrest and the violence perpetrated on him by the NYPD, in chilling detail. Councilman Rodriguez's account of his arrest is a chilling reminder that the freedoms we take for granted are under renewed attack, and must be defended at all costs.

The Veterans Day National Ceremony is held each year on November 11th. The ceremony is intended to honor and thank all who served in the United States Armed Forces, with stirring parades and ceremonies to military exhibits and tributes to distinguished veterans. On a chilly but bright day, New York City pulled out all the stops to recognize the service that our veterans put forth, and to let them know their service to their country is not forgotten. The Veterans Day Parade has been an ongoing tribute in New York since 1929. Well over 25,000 people participate in the parade each year, making New York's parade the largest in the nation. The 2011 parade includes 27 active military units from all branches and six Medal of Honor recipients. General David Petraeus, now head of the CIA delivered remarks and joined in the memorial.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and President of Gotham Organization David L. Picket broke ground today on the largest new construction project in Manhattan under the Mayor’s New Housing Marketplace Plan. The project received significant state support of $520 million in bond financing and Low Income Housing Tax Credits The 550 West 45th Street project, which encompasses nearly the entire city block on Manhattan’s Far West Side between West 44th & West 45th Streets and 10th & 11th Avenues, will create 1,238 new apartments with 600 of those units expected to be permanently affordable to low-, moderate- and middle-income New Yorkers. The residential portion of the project which is slated to be completed in 2014 will also include approximately 15,000 square feet of new retail space, 17,000 square feet of open landscaped space and a below-ground parking facility for residents. It is estimated that the construction of the 550 West 45th Street development will facilitate the creation of approximately 2,900 construction and related jobs.

October 23, 2011 was not a a good day for white horse Charlie. Charlie “was not a healthy horse. We are very concerned that Charlie was forced to work in spite of painful maladies,” said Dr. Pamela Corey of the ASPCA.

Speaking at the offices of corporate loyalty and rewards company Next Jump, Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave an update to the groundbreaking initiative to build a new applied sciences campus in New York City. The mayor has been pushing hard to propel New York past Silicon Valley as the world's leader in technology. New York City is playing host to an increasing number of tech firms, including Twitter, Foursquare, Gilt and Yelp. There are just under 5,800 information technology companies in New york. Mayor Bloomberg today announced that the City has received seven qualifying responses to Applied Sciences NYC, the City’s groundbreaking initiative to build or expand a state-of-the-art engineering and applied sciences campus in New York City. Seventeen world-class institutions from around the globe, in some cases together with technology industry leaders, responded to the Request for Proposals, which seeks a university, institution or consortium to develop and operate a new or expanded campus in the City in exchange for access to City-owned land and up to $100 million in City capital. The proposals will be evaluated by the City as well as an Advisory Committee over the course of the next several weeks, with selection expected in January. After selection and a period of negotiation, the project could break ground as early as next year. Mayor Bloomberg made the announcement at the headquarters of NextJump, a New York City-based company that develops technology for corporate loyalty and rewards program and has about 120 employees, the majority of whom are engineers, and was joined by Deputy Mayor Robert K. Steel, New York City Economic Development Corporation President Seth W. Pinsky and NextJump CEO Charlie Kim.

Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s estate will hold an auction of his personal effects at the New York Institute of Technology, in New York City tomorrow, October 28th. The controversial doctor, nicknamed “Dr. Death” for helping sick patients commit suicide, died in June of this year at the age of 83 from a blood clot. Dr. Kevorkian was jailed nine years after his first suicide assist, in 1999. Kevorkian was sentenced to 10 to 25 years. By the time he was jailed, he claimed to have helped over 100 patients end their lives. The auction, which begins at 6 p.m on October 28th., includes over 100 items from the late Kevorkian, including his famous blue sweater, oil paintings, bulletproof vest, a doctor’s bag, and his famous Thanatron Machine used in more than 100 of his physician assisted suicides by terminally ill patients. At Kevorkian’s wish, profits from his estate, which is being sold by his niece Ava Janus, are going to help cure pediatric cancer.

Yelp is an online urban city guide that helps people find cool places to eat, shop, drink, relax and play, based on the informed opinions of a community of locals in the know. Yelp is the easy way to find, review and talk about what's great — and not so great — in your world. New York City Mayor Bloomberg today joined online review company Yelp to announce the opening of their new office in New York City. The new Yelp East Coast headquarters, located at 104 Fifth Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets, is already home to over 65 full-time employees – 20 of whom joined Yelp just this past month – and includes local and brand sales executives and a marketing team. The Mayor and Yelp CEO and co-founder Jeremy Stoppelman were joined by City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, New York City Chief Digital Officer Rachel Sterne, Mayor’s Media & Entertainment Commissioner Katherine Oliver and Economic Development Corporation President Seth Pinsky.

The New York City Economic Development Council (NYCEDC), in partnership with New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and industry experts, organized the first ever New York City Food Biz Expo, held at Baruch College, to connect and strengthen NYC’s food manufacturing industry and better enable local manufacturers to access new markets. Companies had the opportunity to set up booths as if they were at a larger trade show, with brokers, buyers, distributors and industry experts on hand.

Hearing protection: October is National Protect Your Hearing Month Representatives of the Lexington Hearing and Speech Center and retailer Sam Ash Music at 156 W. 48th Street offer up free hearing screening to mark the October observance of “National Protect Your Hearing Month''. The most important keys to hearing protection and hearing loss prevention are awareness and education. Teaching kids and teens about the causes, signs and life-long effects of hearing loss, and ways to protect their hearing, are crucial steps that need to be taken in schools, communities and homes across the country. Hearing loss is the third most common health problem in the US, experienced by approximately 36 million Americans, according to the American Academy of Audiology. Yet it may surprise you to hear that more than half of Americans with hearing loss are under age 65. Hearing specialists have become increasingly aware that virtually all genres of music, even classical, have the potential to produce noise-induced hearing loss, most of which is preventable and treatable. Sam Ash Music Store sponsored the Lexington Hearing and Speech Center mobile van to be parked outside of the music store to give free hearing screenings to anyone who wanted to find out if their hearing is impaired in any way.

Hearing protection: October is National Protect Your Hearing Month. Representatives of the Lexington Hearing and Speech Center and retailer Sam Ash Music at 156 W. 48th Street offer up free hearing screening to mark the October observance of “National Protect Your Hearing Month''. The most important keys to hearing protection and hearing loss prevention are awareness and education. Teaching kids and teens about the causes, signs and life-long effects of hearing loss, and ways to protect their hearing, are crucial steps that need to be taken in schools, communities and homes across the country. Hearing loss is the third most common health problem in the US, experienced by approximately 36 million Americans, according to the American Academy of Audiology. Yet it may surprise you to hear that more than half of Americans with hearing loss are under age 65. Hearing specialists have become increasingly aware that virtually all genres of music, even classical, have the potential to produce noise-induced hearing loss, most of which is preventable and treatable. Sam Ash Music Store sponsored the Lexington Hearing and Speech Center mobile van to be parked outside of the music store to give free hearing screenings to anyone who wanted to find out if their hearing is impaired in any way.

Members of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) joined by parents, community leaders, schools, consulates and elected officials, converged on the steps of City Hall today to announce the launch of the school-based Family Resource Center Initiative in each of the five boroughs.

At the steps of New York City’s City Hall, New York CIty Council members, community leaders, health educators, advocates and peple living with HIV/AIDS called on the importance of HIV testing in the Latino/Hispanic communitys to combat the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic among communities of color nationwide and in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund announced their nationwide Call For Photos effort supporting the Education Center at The Wall, a place on our National Mall which will insure that our military heroes’ stories and sacrifice will never be forgotten. The nationwide appeal took place on Military Island, in the heart of New York City’s Times Square.

35,000 marchers. Over 100 groups, including bands, floats and contingents. Nearly one million spectators. October 10, 2011, Fifth Avenue was transformed during the Columbus Day Parade, the world’s largest celebration of Italian-American culture. The Columbus Day Parade is a fun filled parade that gets bigger and better every year. Participants from all over the world march in the parade with great pride. The Columbus Day Parade has become a globally televised event with millions of viewers and over a half million spectators on the streets.

For the last three years, a few disgruntled parents, who have repeatedly disparaged the ethnic background and national origin of the school’s founding principal, staff and other parents, filed numerous allegations against the school in an effort to remove the principal and “shut down” PS184M. The DoE has acted on these complaints by opening investigations that have become a pretext for (1) interfering with cultural performances, (2) denying students an annual trip to China for which they had raised money, (3) disparaging and defaming the school to the press, (4) raiding PTA files containing personal information about students, (5) undermining parent voting, (6) siding with hostile parents who had threatened and intimidated other parents, and (7) selectively removing children of specific racial backgrounds from classroom activities to interrogate them about a cultural event. Even after allegations such as the ones regarding the China trip were known to be false and motivated by anti-Asian hatred, the DoE continued to punish Shuang Wen children and families with their brutal and misplaced enforcement actions.

Best Selling Author of "A Time To Plant" James Farmer, Contributing Editor for Southern Living Magazine  A Demonstration on Fall Decor and How to Create an Urban Herb Garden  

this isn't your father's somber day of reflection, I assure you; I hadn't stepped into a synagogue since my Bar-Mitzvah (out of fright), but Rabbi Perry Berkowitz made me a believer-and I never thought it would happen. I really enjoyed creating this story....