Despite a hobbled economy and the budget pressures that follow in its wake, two developments last month have concretely improved the fortunes of New York's working poor and those on welfare: a hike in the minimum hourly wage for workers and an increase in the amount of cash assistance made available to welfare recipients. more>

"To be in an ambulance or a hospital, handcuffed, with a bag of saline solution and a guard, and to be experiencing the pains of childbirth – what woman in her right mind would try to escape?" asked Figueroa, a former inmate who gave birth while incarcerated.

VIDEO :: Legislation is being considered in New York that would allow mothers-to-be who are behind bars to have the right not to be handcuffed and shackled while they give birth. (Aug. 25) more>

UN Special Envoy to Haiti Bill Clin­ton is organiz­ing a trade conference to bring investors to the island nation, and has obtained commitments worth millions of dollars from friends around the World – from India to Ireland. Now, he says, it is time for the Diaspora to pitch in. more>

Nowhere has the truism that politics makes strange bedfellows seemed truer than in New York's 39th City Council district. The district takes in a wide swath of the liberal, gentrifying neighborhoods of Brooklyn's Brownstone Belt, including Park Slope, a lesbian Mecca and a hub of progressive Jewish life. But it also includes a slice of the Hasidic stronghold of Boro Park. more>

With New York State facing an unprecedented housing crisis, the state government has an obligation to establish and protect affordable housing for senior citizens and veterans, says State Assembly Housing Committee Chairman Vito Lopez.

AUDIO :: NY State Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D-53), who represents Bushwick and Williamsburg and is Brooklyn Democratic Party chairman, argues in favor of a contested plan to build affordable housing at the Broadway Triangle in Williamsburg. He talked with WNYC's Brian Lehrer on August 5th. more>