WNYC News

In four weeks, voters in New York City will vote for their next mayor. Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani maintains his big lead in the polls over former Governor Andrew Cuomo, with Republican Curtis Sliwa in third.

Katie Honan is a reporter for THE CITY and co-host of FAQ NYC podcast. She spoke with WNYC Morning Edition host Michael Hill about the shake up and all the latest in the campaign. 

Local farmers are reporting the first frost of the season, signaling the end of the growing season for most tender plants like tomatoes, peppers and string beans!   

Amelia Tarpey,  program and publicity manger for GrowNYC Greenmarkets, said it's last call for many summer varieties. Those range from the classic green beans to dragon tongues to noodle beans. 

Right now at greenmarkets, string beans are ranging from $3 to $9 per pound, depending on the farm and the variety of bean from your classic green bean to. Amelia also highlighted shelling bean season in this episode of In Season.   

The death of a 60-year-old woman who was run over by a pair of riders doubled up on an e-bike cruising in a bike lane outside the Brooklyn Navy Yard highlights a crisis that city officials have let simmer for years. That an more in this week's On The Way roundup of New York City transit news. 

City contractors hired to replace a crumbling, century-old elevated stretch of Riverside Drive West in Washington Heights walked off the job last year, leaving behind an unfinished construction site and hundreds of residents stuck in a public works purgatory.

The work began in late 2019, when the city transportation department hired the company Judlau for $101 million to replace corroding steel and decking along the Riverside Drive Viaduct, which towers above the West Side Highway between 153rd And 161st streets. The roadway, which was built in 1928 and last saw major repairs in 1985, had “limited remaining life,” city engineers said at the time.

The job was scheduled to take three years. But last year — when roughly three-quarters of the work was completed — the contractors abruptly abandoned the project, claiming the city delayed the start of work, refused to cover the cost of inflation and kept adding more work than what was required by the contract.

With four weeks to go until the election, Mamdani’s campaign is in a new phase as he seeks to protect his front-runner status: risk minimization. That and more in this week's Politics Brief roundup. 

Shea are performing in the annual Talent Is Timeless competition — a kind of "America's Got Talent" for city seniors. The borough competitions lead into a grand finale for the showcase at Washington Heights’ United Palace Theater on Oct. 16.

Columbia University was the epicenter of nationwide campus protests after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks in Israel and during Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza. Now, as the deadly war hits its two-year anniversary, a professor is trying to heal the divided campus through a simple concept: inviting students and staff to come to the table and listen to one another.

New York City’s “rat czar” Kathleen Corradi is resigning from her newly created role as the citywide director of rodent mitigation after just two years. Her role mainly consisted of coordinating with other city agencies like the sanitation department to streamline rat mitigation efforts. 

Acting Sanitation Commissioner Javier Lojan talked with WNYC's Sean Carlson about what work the sanitation department plays in fighting the city’s rat population. 

In this week's episode of On the Way, WNYC's transportation team goes over President Donald Trump's push to cut $18 billion in mass transit funding for New York City following the government shutdown.

In five weeks, voters in New Jersey will elect their next governor. 

The race couldn't be closer. Recent polling from Emerson College found Republican nominee Jack Ciattarelli and Democratic Representative Mikie Sherrill both polling at 43%, with 11% still undecided. 

Madison Fernandez covers the race for Politico. She joined Morning Edition host Michael Hill to talk through the latest on the campaigns.