Bill Gates and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced their half-billion-dollar pledge in Midtown on Wednesday.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which had already announced plans to raise fares and tolls in July 2009, now says it wants to increase them again in early 2011.

The Brooklyn shuttle is a one-person operation. At the last stop, the operator must walk the length of the train to reach the other end and begin the journey back.

When the Hudson’s water is good it is surprisingly good, but when it is bad, it’s not safe to splash on skin, according to a report by Riverkeeper, an environmental group.

Gov. David A. Paterson signed a law making union dues mandatory in perpetuity for all public employees who are covered by unions even if they opt not to join.

Wage violations at a sweatshop in Queens were so widespread, state labor officials said, that the factory cheated its workers of $5.3 million.

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, destroyed on 9/11.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to announce plans to award $30 million to hospitals and clinics that monitor and treat so-called nonresponders exposed at ground zero.

Representative Charles B. Rangel plans to ask the House ethics committee to examine whether he violated any Congressional rules by renting four rent-stabilized apartments.

The police are investigating how the head of a black doll ended up on the rear antenna of an unmarked police car on patrol in Harlem on Tuesday night, the authorities said on Wednesday.

The size of new buildings in an area of Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, known for the large, elaborate gardens in front of its brownstones will be limited by a zoning change passed by the City Council.

A nine-block section of Hudson River Park, skirting TriBeCa from Laight Street to King Street, opened to the public on Wednesday after a $16.3 million reconstruction.

The London architect Zaha Hadid designed the Mobile Art pavilion, which has already made a stop in Tokyo. The structure is made of lightweight panels that are packed in 51 shippable containers.

Drivers who assault traffic enforcement agents will face felony charges because of a change in state law that went into effect on Tuesday.

A federal judge on Wednesday upheld the corruption convictions of Sharpe James, the former mayor of Newark, and his onetime mistress.

July 23, 2008.

Katie Reider in 2006. This month she died of a rare tumor at age 30, leaving behind her partner and two young children.

A coalition of arts organizations has asked the city for $15 million that would go to so-called culturally specific organizations, serving blacks, Hispanics, Asian-Americans and American Indians.