Category: Politics

February 19, 2010 / / Politics

Nola squints in the sunlight that has just spilled over the rooftops and illuminated Williamsburg’s McCarren Park in all its dewy spring splendor. Slipping her Chanel sunglasses down over her eyes, she sips her latte and makes a sweeping gesture toward the jogger-strewn park, its busy dog run, and the new high-rise condos that have sprung up along its borders.

“There is no way I’d be living here without my nurse hat, if you know what I mean. This place is going to look like Park Slope in a few years. They might dress like hipsters, but they’re just yuppies with vintage wardrobes.”

February 2, 2010 / / Housing
January 28, 2010 / / Politics

Beth Fertig, a senior reporter on education for WNYC, contextualizes this week’s public hearing at Brooklyn Technical High School where the Panel for Educational Policy voted to shutter 19 city schools.

January 27, 2010 / / Politics
January 14, 2010 / / Politics

Part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Race to the Top is a $4.35 billion grant program that rewards states that are making strides in turning around struggling schools and enhancing education standards. Here’s what some of the players in New York’s education system are saying about the state’s application.

January 13, 2010 / / Politics

Beth Fertig, a senior reporter on education for WNYC, continues her Reader in Residence series with us this month with her second of four posts about literacy and education in New York. The author of Why Cant U Teach Me 2 Read?, Ms. Fertig tackles the issue of federal education funding this week under the Obama Administration’s Race to the Top program.

January 7, 2010 / / Politics

An excerpt and note from journalist and author Beth Fertig, senior reporter on education for WNYC Radio, New York’s NPR affiliate, from her book, ‘Why Cant U Teach Me 2 Read? Three Students and a Mayor Put Our Schools To The Test.’

November 19, 2009 / / Housing
October 21, 2009 / / Politics
October 9, 2009 / / LGBTQ

Did you know that Brooklyn is the only borough of this great city that does not have a gay pride center? On Thursday, the steps of Borough Hall played host to a collection of Brooklyn heavy hitters to talk about plans to change that.