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Today's Gotham Gazette:
Illustration
Predicting 2009
Happy 2009! Read what's in store for the next 12 months.
Issue of the Week Illustration
New Year Politics
The extension of term limits uprooted the 2009 political landscape. Or did it? Many incumbents may now face challengers who hope anger over the extension will work to their advantage. Read More

Recent Articles:
  • Top Stories of 2008
  • From Wall Street to Taxi Stand
  • High-Stakes Test
  • Feature Commentaries Illustration
    Renaming New York's Strait
    No waterway belongs to New York City quite the way the East River does. But we've saddled it with a dull and misleading name. Erik Baard suggests an alternative. Read More

    Recent Articles:
  • Paying for the MTA
  • The Citizen
  • Advancing Rights
  • A Permanent Democratic Majority?










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    Today's Lead Stories

    Paterson Joins Governors Seeking $1 Trillion
    Gov. David Paterson has joined with governors of several other large states to ask the federal government to provide a total of $1 trillion of assistance to all 50 states over two years. The money would go to schools, public works projects and social services as well as tax cuts. The states are in such a serious state, Paterson said, that even $1 trillion will not prevent cuts “Our situation is so dire that even the greatest assistance from the federal government ... will still not alleviate us from the responsibility of some rather severe action,” he said. On Thursday, President-elect Barack Obama is expected to deliver a speech on his proposed economic program. For more see Economy Links in the News.

    Today's Lead Stories

    City Settles Suit Against Commissioner
    The city government will pay $225,000 to settle a lawsuit charging the former commissioner of the Department for the Aging with sexual harassment and discrimination, the city’s Law Department said Wednesday. The commissioner, Edwin Méndez-Santiago, had abruptly resigned on Dec. 12. Auritela Santos, who left her job as a secretary at the department in 2007, alleged she had been subjected to sexual remarks and said Méndez-Santiago had sex with subordinates in his office and sent her violent and threatening e-mails when she refused his advances. Neither the city nor Méndez-Santiago admitted any wrongdoing. During Méndez-Santiago's tenure, the administration pushed for a major reorganization of aging programs that many advocacy groups opposed. After Méndez-Santiago resigned, the administration dropped the plans. For more, see City Hall News.

    Today's Lead Stories

    Many Thanks!
    ... to all of you who contributed to Gotham Gazette's recent fundraising drive and helped put us on the road to Albany. Owing to your generosity and those of other funders, we soon will be providing enhanced coverage of the state capital and how the decisions made there affect all of us here. For those of you who still want to pitch in, please go here to make a tax-deductible contribution. And thank you so much for your support -- particularly in these difficult times.

    Recent Stories

    Federal Stimulus to Help State, A Week to Go, Year-End Break, Murders Up 5 Percent, Send Gotham Gazette to Albany, MTA Details Possible Fare Hikes, complete archive of lead stories.

    Today's Report
    New York's Retail Workers
    The recent holiday shopping season was a particularly difficult one for stores in New York City but retail workers had already been dealing with low wages and limited benefits, according to a report by the Fiscal Policy Institute. The report, "Low Wages, No Bargain," found that, of the 1.3 million city residents who earn $13 per hour or less, almost one in seven work in retail. More than 44 percent of store workers earn less than $10 hour. (read the full report)

    Recent Reports
    New York's Retail Workers, Keeping Kids Out of Gangs, Prevailing Wages for Affordable Housing?, Female Homicide Victims, more recent reports.

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