This article is part of NYC Street Signs, a product of the NYCity News Service at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism In 1888, the wealthy furniture-man-turned-politician James J. Coogan woke up a day after losing a mayoral election to discover a potent signal that his influence over the city had disintegrated. Someone, presumably affiliated with […]

Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part interview.  NEW YORK — Largely invisible — but essential — is New York City’s water supply system, stretching across 125 miles and delivering over one billion gallons of drinking water to nine million people. In his new book, Empire of Water (Cornell University Press), historian and public policy […]

The first native New Yorkers were the Lenape, an Algonquin people who hunted, fished and farmed in the area between the Delaware and Hudson rivers. Europeans began to explore the region at the beginning of the 16th century–among the first was Giovanni da Verrazzano, an Italian who sailed up and down the Atlantic coast in […]

There are people out there who have never seen The Princess Bride. They walk among us, holding down jobs, contributing to society, and generally living happy, semi-fulfilled lives. But whisper a perfectly-timed “mawage” in their direction during a wedding, and the resulting blank stare or awkward chuckle will expose an inconceivable pop-cultural blind spot. Someone failed them when they were growing […]

The agreement reached between the unions and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will not result in a fare increase, officials said. Updated: July 17, 2014 3:32 p.m. (AP) — Unions and managers of the nation’s largest commuter railroad on Thursday reached a tentative contract agreement, averting a weekend strike that stood to inconvenience hundreds of thousands of […]

Former Towson University gymnast Kacy Catanzaro has continued an impressive run on NBC’s American Ninja Warrior. She’s made it clear that she won’t let her diminutive frame (5’0″, 100 lbs) hold her back. With her incredible performance at the 2014 Dallas finals, she became the first woman to ever qualify for “Mt. Midoriyama,” a 70-foot steel structure that only […]

David Ossip, C.E.O. of Ceridian, Hires Collaborators This interview with David Ossip,chief executive of Ceridian, a human resources and payroll company, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant. Q. Tell me about your early years. A. As a young kid, I was typically at the bottom of the class in school. I needed a 40 percent to pass, and anything […]

Lessons on money and investing from a C Block financial adviser Every day, Curtis Carroll dons blue, state-issue jail garb. Every night, he sleeps in a cement cell. At 35, he has spent his entire adulthood behind bars, and there’s a possibility he’ll never leave: He’s serving a sentence of 54 years to life, for […]

This interview of John Donahoe, president and chief executive ofeBay since March 2008, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant. Q. What is the most important lesson you’ve learned about leadership through the years? A. You can’t change people. As a leader, there’s a real temptation to try to change people or help people get to where you want them […]

New York City’s free public bath program: making the “Great Unwashed” feelso fresh and so clean since the late 19th century. Made less for recreation than to remedy New York’s public health plights at a time when a survey found there to be only one bathtub for every 79 families living on the Lower East Side, public bathhouses were a great […]