WNYC News

A federal judge has ruled that New York City’s jails need an independent manager to run them. Judge Laura Taylor Swain said a “remediation manager” will collaborate with correction officials until they make appropriate improvements. Martin Horn is a former New York City correction commissioner who ran city jails under the Bloomberg administration. He joined WNYC host Michael Hill.

A local magician has transformed an empty Carroll Gardens storefront into a speakeasy magic venue.

The intimate performance space is hidden behind Precision Clock & Watch, a fake repair shop at 449 Court St. It’s in the space that was home to P.J Hanley’s for 139 years until it shuttered in 2013.

The lobby is outfitted with various esoteric, old-timey objects including vintage suitcases and a ventriloquist puppet. Pass through red velvet curtains and you’ll find the small main show space. There, magician Greg Dubin has been swallowing needles and performing card tricks since April in a 90-minute show he calls “Magic at the Clock Shop.”

New York City’s Park Commissioner Sue Donoghue is stepping down at the end of the month, after leading the city’s parks department since the start of Mayor Adams administration.

She talked with WNYC's Sean Carlson about her tenure and what’s next for her. 

A cloud of uncertainty now hangs over the research projects that were disrupted and the researchers themselves. Academics who discussed their work with Gothamist said they worried about the incalculable loss of scholarship in fields touching lives around the globe. But they also are considering the next steps in their careers and how to pay the rent. Read the full story here.

Food writer Robert Sietsema says St. Mark's Place in the East Village is one of the most 'electric' streets in the city. Speaking with Weekend Edition's David Furst, he says with 63 restaurants along a 3-block stretch, there's lot of good food to choose from. 

Newark mayor Ras Baraka was arrested on Friday night by immigration officials during a chaotic confrontation at Delaney Hall, a newly reopened private prison contracted by the Department of Homeland Security as a holding facility for migrant detainees.

He was joined by three U.S. members of Congress conducting an oversight tour of the jail. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman was among them. Video shows Coleman, along with her colleagues, being pushed and corralled by federal officials. 

The morning after the incident, Watson Coleman joins Weekend Edition host David Furst to talk about what happened.

If you notice a lot of Orange and Blue around the city, that's because the New York Knicks are back at Madison Square Garden Saturday afternoon for game 3 of the conference semifinals against the Boston Celtics.

New York unexpectedly has a two-nothing lead in the best-of-seven playoff series. They won two road games up in Boston, and will try to take a commanding 3-0 lead on their home court. 

Sports Reporter Priya Desai joins Weekend Edition host David Furst to get us up to speed. 

While this is a local election, in a place as big as New York City, with 8.5 million people, more than 200 languages spoken, and income disparity and density that sees billionaires living down the street from public housing, there are many, many competing interests here that New York City’s mayor needs to balance. And what better way to get a sense of what New Yorkers want out of their next mayor, and what they identify as the key issues this election cycle than going out to the neighborhoods of New York.

For this edition of Word from the Curb we're at Judy’s – a bar/cafe here on one of the neighborhood’s main commercial drags. And we chose Southwest Brooklyn because so many of the issues that are at the forefront citywide this election cycle are happening right here. You want to talk about affordability? NYU’s Furman Center says more than a quarter of the local Community Board’s residents are rent-burdened. Want to talk about crime and subway safety? We’ll check in with residents three years after a rush hour subway shooting horrified the neighborhood. Want to talk about how we utilize public space in this crazy, crowded city? The neighborhood’s namesake park has been the scene of long-running tension between vendors and the NYPD and Parks Department in recent years. So there is a lot to unpack here.

WNYC producers Elizabeth Shwe and Jodi Malarbe recently talked with Sunset Park locals about what matters to them this mayoral election year. 

Here’s what some of them had to say:

This election year, All Things Considered is traveling to neighborhoods around the five boroughs and exploring how New York City’s electorate is shifting.

We’re calling it WORD FROM THE CURB. We’re talking with residents, community leaders and elected leaders about what issues matter to them locally. Our first stop is Sunset Park.

David Estrada is the executive director of the Sunset Park Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District. Lorena Kourousias is the executive director of Mixteca, a community-based organization working for Mexican and Latin American communities in Brooklyn. Tim Law is the founder of Chinese American Social Services Center, a non profit organization that helps connect Brooklyn residents to social services. All three talked with WNYC's Sean Carlson about the issues that matter to them ahead of the mayoral election.

This election year, we're going to neighborhoods to talk to locals, community leaders and stakeholders about the issues they think are important, and find out what changes THEY want to see from City Hall. 

We’re calling it WORD FROM THE CURB.

Third Avenue is one of the busiest and most dangerous arteries in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Passenger cars, huge tractor trailers and bikes fight their way through the intersection of 60th Street and Third Avenue below the rumbling Gowanus Expressway – while streams of pedestrians attempt to cross.

WNYC's Senior Politics Reporter Brigid Bergin and Transportation Reporter Stephen Nessen joined WNYC's Sean Carlson more about how important street safety is during this year's mayoral election.