Ailsa Chang

New York, NY —

With Republicans galvanized by a victory in Massachusetts and a new Supreme Court decision allowing corporations to spend freely on campaign ads, Democratic incumbents are heading into this year’s midterm elections with some frayed nerves. It doesn't help that on the horizon is the ethics ...

New York, NY —

The head of the New York Senate's Democratic Majority, John Sampson, says he'll address party members next week about a resolution calling for the expulsion of Sen. Hiram Monserrate. Sampson says he wants to proceed carefully.

"I'm a lawyer by training, and we just want to ...

Now that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling has removed limits on independent corporate political expenditures, reform advocates are pointing to New York City's campaign finance system as a potential model.

New York, NY —

Now that a U.S. Supreme Court ruling has removed limits on independent corporate political expenditures, reform advocates are pointing to New York City's campaign finance system as a potential model.

Ciara Torres-Spelliscy is counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU, which works for campaign ...

New York, NY —

Now that a special state Senate committee has decided that Hiram Monserrate should be expelled or censured, it's up to the full Senate to decide the Queens Democrat's political fate. WNYC's Ailsa Chang reports.

REPORTER: Majority Conference leader John Sampson says he'll definitely allow a vote ...

New York, NY —

Queens State Sen. Hiram Monserrate remains defiant after a special senate committee said he's "unfit" to serve in the senate and should be expelled or censured.

The committee has been investigating him since he was convicted for misdemeanor assault in October for dragging girlfriend throughout his ...

New York, NY —

Amidst reports that former Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford Jr. will run against Kirsten Gillibrand for U.S. Senate, some female lawmakers in Albany are speaking up for her. They say it's important to have women serve in the male-dominated Senate, where only 17 of the 100 ...

New York, NY —

Five upstate hospitals and nursing homes have been dumping pharmaceutical waste into the New York City watershed, according to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. He says the facilities in Delaware and Putnam counties have agreed to pay fines, and start programs to "take back" unused medication ...

New York, NY —

Lawyers for the man accused of the 1998 bombings of U-S embassies in Africa say the case should be thrown out because their client didn't get a speedy trial. Ahmed Ghailani joins a growing list of high-profile suspected terrorists facing charges in New York. WNYC's ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke kicked off the Census Bureau's 2010 road tour in Times Square today.

The Bureau will be driving a 46-foot trailer and 12 vans across the country to remind people to fill out and mail in their ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Wednesday named a new commissioner for the city's Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications.

Carole Wallace Post will head up Do-ITT starting next month. The department manages the city's 311 information line, its TV and radio stations, and its official website. She ...

New York, NY —

Mayor Michael Bloomberg administered the oath of office this morning to the City Council's five Republicans. They don't take office until January 1 but asked the mayor for the purely ceremonial gesture.

Bloomberg, a former Republican who calls himself a non-partisan Independent, says he happily obliged.

In ...

New York, NY —

A final report is due as early as next week from a special state Senate committee, convened to consider whether Senator Hiram Monserrate should be expelled or sanctioned. WNYC's Ailsa Chang reports.

REPORTER: For the last two months, nine senators have been combing through court documents ...

New York, NY —

Today is the fifth and likely last meeting of the special State Senate committee that will recommend whether Senator Hiram Monserrate should be expelled or sanctioned for his misdemeanor assault conviction last December.

Senator Eric Schneiderman, who heads the committee, says its members are reviewing a ...

Lauren Shapiro (Photos by Stephen Nessen)

When the Brooklyn Family Defense Project started two years ago, it became one of only three publicly funded law offices in New York City that have full-time social workers and “parent ...

New York, NY —

When it comes to cases of child abuse, sympathy clearly goes first and foremost to the children. But the parents also need help. Even those who are vilified for terrible acts. There’s a little-talked-about world of lawyers who spend their days defending parents who have ...

New York, NY —

A special New York Senate committee has one of its last meetings today to consider whether Senator Hiram Monserrate should be expelled for his misdemeanor conviction in October. WNYC's Ailsa Chang reports.

REPORTER: Monserrate was found guilty of recklessly injuring his girlfriend Karla Giraldo by dragging ...

New York, NY —

As President Obama formally accepted his Nobel Peace Prize in Norway on International Human Rights Day today, immigration advocates rallied in Lower Manhattan to say the president hasn't kept his promises for immigration reform.

Sister Elizabeth Butler emigrated to the U.S. from Ireland in 1948, when ...

New York, NY —

Federal prosecutors expect to file more charges against Najibullah Zazi who's accused of conspiring to make homemade bombs as part of an alleged terror plot. They've told a federal judge in a pretrial hearing in Brooklyn, that the charges will appear in another indictment. Zazi's ...

New York, NY —

A bill to legalize same-sex marriage hit the floor of the New York State Senate for the first time in history and was roundly rejected by a vote of 38-to-24. The margin was wider than many expected. Eight Democrats voted no, and not a single ...