WNYC News

Migratory birds can find an urban refuge right in the middle of Broadway, from West 60th to 168th streets.

Complaints to 311 about the ZIP code 10036 - which includes Times Square - have surged, compared to pre-pandemic levels. But according to recent data, violent crime in Times Square is the lowest it's been in a decade. 

Reporter Kenneal Patterson has been covering crime and quality-of-life issues in the neighborhood. She joins "Weekend Edition" host David Furst to talk about why people say they feel increasingly uneasy in Times Square.

What if Van Gogh's paintings came to life and you could walk through them into a world of flowers and sculpture? That's the fanciful idea behind "Van Gogh's Flowers," a new exhibit opening Saturday, May 24, at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. The interactive exhibit pays tribute to the Dutch painter with botanical displays and large-scale art. 

WNYC's Hannah Frishberg had a sneak peek ahead of the show's official opening. She joins Weekend Edition host David Furst for a preview.

Former NYC Transit President Andy Byford has been tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the long-stalled redevelopment of Penn Station, White House officials confirmed on Friday.

The project will put Byford at the center of one of the most high-profile construction projects in the country. MTA Chair Janno Lieber had previously planned to run the overhaul of the station, which is owned by Amtrak. But he was kicked off the project last month by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who said Amtrak would take control of the work.

Byford has worked for Amtrak since 2023, leading the agency’s push to build high speed rail networks — an initiative that has been partially defunded by the Trump administration. West Side Spirit, which broke the news Friday, reported Byford and Trump met Thursday at the White House.

In Sunset Park, the Center for Family Life supports 54 AmeriCorps volunteers who support kids and their parents with educational enrichment programs that serve some 800 children from 11 public schools. Federal funding from AmeriCorps typically covers a stipend for the volunteers, who mostly come from the neighborhood, as well as money toward their college tuition. But in April, the Center for Family Life learned that more than $200,000 of the program’s Americorps funding had been slashed for the remainder of this school year, and nearly $750,000 for next year.

The week is normally a joyous occasion where New Yorkers buy drinks for the visiting mariners as they take in the sights across the nation’s most important city. But this year’s event began with a vigil hosted by Mayor Eric Adams honoring the Mexican sailors killed when their towering sailboat struck the Brooklyn Bridge last week. This Sunday, members of the Mexican Navy will attend Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

To illustrate the major repairs needed in one of Amtrak’s East River tunnels, a top railroad official only needed to brush his hands along a piece of metal.

Randy Mastro, who was appointed in late March, has taken firm control of critical pieces of the mayor’s agenda: pushing for the return of ICE agents onto Rikers Island, delaying the destruction of a public garden on the Lower East Side popular among celebrities to make way for low-income housing for seniors, sparing small landlords from composting fines, and crafting a re-election year budget that defies the threats from Washington.

When the final bells of the school year ring next month, local parents may be sad to leave behind the steady routine of the school day and the fleeting conversations in the pickup line. But one thing they might not miss? The class WhatsApp chats, which can overload parents with information and, sometimes, endless gossip and speculation.

“Oh my God, it’s hell,” said one Brooklyn parent. “Probably once a week I’ll try to skim through, but there’s so much noise.”

She, like several parents interviewed for this story, asked not to be publicly identified out of fear of retaliation from other parents or her school community.

She’s among the thousands of New York City parents who are or have been in a school WhatsApp group chat. These group chats are holdovers from the pandemic, when many school communities migrated from class email chains to class WhatsApp chats to keep parents connected.

Most of the parents interviewed for this story said teachers and school staff weren’t in the groups, but they said they couldn’t confirm everyone’s identity in the chat. A spokesperson for The Department of Education said they were unable to comment for this story because the agency is not involved in chats.

The WhatsApp groups are not formally affiliated with the schools and range in size from single classrooms to entire grade levels – one for Brooklyn Technical High School serves nearly 1,500 freshmen and has over 350 parents, according to a parent in the group.

At their best, they are forums for fellow parents to share practical information about quaint school affairs: coordinating field days, chipping in for a gift for a teacher, or confirming graduation details.

But in practice, according to seven parents interviewed for this story, they can quickly become overwhelming, drowning participants in endless chatter about test scores, playground drama, rumors about teachers and sometimes things that have nothing to do with school whatsoever.

One parent described a lice outbreak in her daughter’s classroom, which sent the parent group into a tailspin as they deliberated about how to protect their kids from lice. She said her phone dinged for two hours straight with dozens of messages. Others described groups that clock over 100 messages a day.

Ironically, parents find school WhatsApp chats overwhelming for the same reasons they flocked to the app in the first place: it’s popular and makes chatting very, very easy.

Stephen “Demo” DeMaria has been building sets for “Saturday Night Live” since before the show even aired — he helped build seats for the live studio audience ahead of "SNL's" Oct. 11, 1975 premiere.

Over the decades, he ascended the ranks from set builder to “The Boss of The Carpenters,” as the 87-year-old Brooklyn native calls himself. His official title is foreman, and he oversees a team of nearly 50 carpenters who race to build the show’s sets every week. He works for Stiegelbauer Associates, the family-owned scenic shop that has also built sets for the "Today Show" and the "Late Show with Seth Meyers."

But after 50 years building sets for the show, he plans to retire this Saturday – after attending "SNL’s" 50th season wrap party, of course.