Beth Fertig

A federal program to extend free lunch to all kids has the city worried it could lose federal dollars to pay for other things.

An apprenticeship program in New York City helps lower-income and minority students break into advanced sciences. For one, the love of the stars was motivation to tackle the tough field of astronomy.

Since he took office, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has closed and consolidated schools, created hundreds of new ones and championed the use of data to measure performance. Washington Irving High School, scheduled to close in 2015, offers a window on the changes he's brought to the city's vast school system.

Ten years ago, a tree on a power line in Ohio touched off the largest outage in U.S. history. In New York City, many people were so relieved it wasn't another terrorism attack that in some places, a carnival atmosphere prevailed.

Most of New York City's one million public school students went back to class on Monday, a week after Hurricane Sandy struck. But dozens were flooded, damaged or without power and had to relocate to other schools.

The budget of a proposed World Trade Center memorial has surged to almost $1 billion. Beth Fertig of member station WNYC visits an aircraft hangar at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City where wreckage and artifacts from the fallen Twin Towers are being housed until the memorial plans are finalized.

Beth Fertig of member station WNYC discusses the Transport Workers Union, its pugnacious leader, Roger Toussaint, and the various pension, pay and health care issues that are at the center of the New York City transit labor dispute.

New York City's transit union called a strike Tuesday after failing to reach a deal with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The strike left more than 7 million people in and around the city looking for alternative ways to get around. Beth Fertig of member station WNYC reports.

Boats and helicopters are being used to search for people stranded by floodwaters in southwestern Louisiana. Sunday in low-lying areas of Vermilion Parish, less than 100 miles from the Texas border, rescue workers are hoping to remove the last of those who stayed behind. Beth Fertig of member station KRVS reports.

The New York Fire Department releases dispatch tapes from the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, along with transcripts of firefighters' oral histories recorded after the event. From member station WNYC, Beth Fertig reports.