Samir Ferdowsi

1 month ago | gothamist.com | Samir Ferdowsi |David Giambusso

NJ Transit officials said Saturday morning they will return to the bargaining table with union leaders a day earlier than previously scheduled, amid the historic rail strike that began just after midnight Friday. NJ Transit President Kris Kolluri said in a press conference that the meeting is set for 1 p.m. and the parties were “95 percent” of the way in making a deal with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

1 month ago | gothamist.com | Samir Ferdowsi |David Giambusso |Louis Hochman

If the NJ Transit strike has you worried about how to get in and out of New York City this weekend, the good news is that there are any number of ways to get yourself to the New York islands that do not involve a rowboat or swimming. The bad news is that NJ Transit says even stepped-up alternative services will just barely help account for its 350,000 daily rail riders, so it advises you to work from home if that’s an option.

1 month ago | gothamist.com | Samir Ferdowsi |Jessica Gould

Youth assistance groups, literacy programs, mental health services and other volunteer-driven organizations throughout New York are facing the prospect of closing shop — in some cases, instantly — as the Trump administration guts the long-standing AmeriCorps service network.

2 months ago | gothamist.com | Brittany Kriegstein |Samir Ferdowsi

News of Thursday’s deadly helicopter crash in the Hudson River, which killed six people, has reignited a fractious debate over the use of helicopters for tourism and travel over one of the most densely populated regions on the planet. The New York City metro area has experienced dozens of helicopter crashes since the 1960s, though they have become less common in the most recent decades, federal data shows.