WNYC News

Whoever said getting there is half the fun wasn't traveling in 2026.

With gas at four dollars a gallon and TSA lines wrapping around airports, travel has become an even more stressful experience than usual this year. So if you're on spring break, it's a great time to sit back, relax, and have a world-class New York staycation. 

WNYC's Hannah Frishberg joins Weekend Edition host David Furst to share some of the best ways to keep it local while feeling global. 

The political world is paying close attention to New Jersey and the special election to fill a congressional seat vacated by Governor Mikie Sherrill. 

Republican nominee Joe Hathaway and Democrat Analilia Mejia met this week in their one and only debate before election day on April 16. And the discussion got heated between the two. WNYC New Jersey politics reporter Mike Hayes joins Weekend Edition host David Furst with the latest.

Early in-person voting begins this Monday, April 6.

It’s budget season in New York City, and City Council Speaker Julie Menin is proposing a big hand out to the neediest New Yorkers. She wants to expand a program that offers half-prices rides on the subways and buses for low-income New Yorkers. But the pitch differs from Mayor Zohran Mamdani's signature campaign pledge to make the city's buses free for everyone, regardless of their income.

Fresh eggs are available year round at local farm stands. But they're also a sign of spring and new life, and important symbols for holidays like Passover and Easter.   

Amelia Tarpey is a Program and Publicity Manger for GrowNYC Greenmarkets. She said you can find pullet eggs, which are the first eggs laid by young hens, as well as quail and even turkey eggs at the markets. Right now at local farmstands, eggs are going for roughly $6 to $12 per dozen. 

State lawmakers are wrestling with proposals to scale back the state’s climate mandates, change the rules for auto insurance payouts in a bid to lower rates and other topics. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said there is still a lot of work to do. 

According to the New York City Department of Transportation, at least 17 people died in traffic on New York City streets in March, including 4-year-old Zachariah Padilla, who was struck and killed just north of Linden Boulevard in Brownsville. 

March also saw a major change to the city’s speed limits, with Mayor Mamdani announcing that the speed limit would drop to 15mph in 1,300 areas near schools across the city. 

The Department of Transportation has also rolled out new bike lane projects: on Ocean Avenue along the southeast side of Prospect park; on Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen; and at the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge. And they announced plans for more protected bike lanes and pedestrians spaces on Lafayette Avenue and 13th and Eighth Streets in Manhattan, and an expansion of the plaza at Astor Place. 

WNYC transportation editor Clayton Guse joined Morning Edition host Michael Hill to talk through it all.

The tiny migratory shorebird is the only endangered shorebird species that consistently nests on New York City beaches. In 1985, the tiny shorebird was listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act after hunting. After the bird was spotted nesting on Rockway Beach about a decade later, the Parks Department established the Rockaway Beach Endangered Species Nesting Area between Beach 39th Street and Beach 57th Street. WNYC reporter and Morning Edition producer Amanda Rozon went out to Rockaway Beach to catch a glimpse of the shorebird.  

Mayor Madmani pledged to create a Department of Community Safety during his first term as Mayor. He campaigned on the idea that it’d be a separate department, but ultimately created a Mayor’s office of Community Safety within City Hall in order to get the program off the ground. 

When announcing those details, he also announced that a veteran of the world of community and justice would be the Deputy Mayor for Community Safety. Her name is Renita Francois. She talked with WNYC's Sean Carlson more about her new role.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been in office for three months now, and we’ve been checking in with the new leaders on his team, to learn more about the administration’s priorities.

Lillion Bonsignore is the new commissioner of the FDNY. Her rise to the top of the department is somewhat historic. She joined the department in 1991 as an EMT and served as the Chief of EMS during the COVID-19 pandemic. She’s the second woman to be named commissioner, and the first EMT and the first openly Queer woman to run the nation’s largest fire department. 

She talked with WNYC's Sean Carlson more about how it's going so far. 

New York City’s first-ever Office for LGBTQIA+ Affairs will next month open under the leadership of civil rights attorney Taylor Brown.

Right now, Brown is an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Rights Bureau of the New York State Attorney General's office. When she takes over the office in April, Brown will become the highest-ranking openly-trans person in the history of New York City government. 

She spoke with WNYC's Morning Edition host Michael Hill about her plans, what "meeting the moment" means to her, and about what it's like to experience Transgender Day of Visibility in the public eye.