MIDTOWN -- Activists made a splash Monday afternoon, "occupying" fountains across Midtown in a mass celebration meant to put the public back in public space.

About two dozen members of the group Time's Up! descended on fountains throughout the neighborhood, turning usually empty bodies of water into giant,...

MIDTOWN-- Forget painted blue walkways and multicolored beach chairs.

The Times Square of the future will feature dark, concrete flooring punctuated by small metal rivets designed to bring some of the grit back to the Great White Way, according to a multi-million-dollar redesign plan unveiled Monday night.

The...

MANHATTAN -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg flip-flopped on perp walks Tuesday, blasting the practice as "outrageous" two months after saying he had no problem with them.

Bloomberg's sudden change came to light as he was discussing the crumbling case against former IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, where the French politician...

MIDTOWN -- Butt out.

The city's controversial outdoor smoking ban starts Monday, with cigarettes now barred at city parks, beaches and pedestrian plazas, including Times Square. Violators will be met with $50 fines.

Critics say the law, which was passed earlier this year to minimize second-hand smoke exposure,...

MANHATTAN — The state legislature voted to pass an on-time budget in the early morning hours Thursday, overshadowing the opposition of hundreds of protesters whose voices could be heard ringing through the State Capitol's halls.

The State Assembly cast its final vote just after 1 a.m. on the $132.5 billion...

MANHATTAN -- No, he's not running for a fourth term. But with his poll numbers sagging to eight-year lows, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has taken to the airwaves with a new self-financed ad touting his efforts.

The 30-second campaign-style spot shows the mayor chatting at a work site, reading...

MANHATTAN -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made his official movie debut alongside Matt Damon in "The Adjustment Bureau."

The mayor appears about 37 minutes into the movie, which stars Damon as a politician running for the New York State Senate who falls in love with a ballerina played by Emily...

MANHATTAN -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg called on Columbia University to reinstate its ROTC program after a 42-year absence on campus.

Columbia, like other schools, had long objected to the program because they argued that the military's controversial "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy amounted to discrimination.

But now that the policy...

CITY HALL -- Could FacebookNYC be on the way?

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is in talks with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg about the possibility of creating a New York City Facebook site.

The mayor said he and Zuckerberg had recently met to discuss how the city could use the blockbuster social...

CITY HALL -- Dog owners could be sent to jail for chaining their pets outdoors for too long under legislation passed by the City Council Tuesday.

Under the new law, dog owners will be barred from tying their pets up for more than three hours during any 12-hour stretch.

Owners...

MANHATTAN -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo outlined his plan for the complete "financial reinvention" of the State of New York in a forceful and often funny PowerPoint-aided State of the State address Wednesday afternoon.

Less than a week in office, Cuomo outlined an "emergency financial reinvention plan" for the state that...

MANHATTAN -- The man behind the embattled CityTime project has been suspended without pay effective immediately, following allegations of fraud.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Comptroller John Liu suspended Joel Bondy, executive director of the Office of Payroll Administration, Thursday after four contractors were charged with stealing $80 million from...

CITY HALL -- Voting in your living room could be a reality next Election Day if Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Rev. Al Sharpton get their way.

Bloomberg and Sharpton led a coalition of elected officials and good government groups Monday calling for new legislation that would permit New Yorkers to...

MANHATTAN -- Three separate groups are preparing to sue if Cathie Black is granted a waiver to become the city's next schools chancellor, threatening to delay an already contentious battle over Mayor Michael Bloomberg's pick.

The groups, consisting of state lawmakers, city lawmakers and civil rights activists, say the deal...

MANHATTAN -- The Republican candidates for Attorney General and Comptroller have closed the gap behind their Democratic rivals and both races are now a dead heat, according to a new poll.

In the attorney general race, Republican district attorney Dan Donovan, who was down by seven points on...

DOWNTOWN -- Construction workers at the World Trade Center are wearing their opposition to a nearby mosque and community center on their hard hats, and several said they would refuse to build the proposed facility.

The round stickers seen on many workers at Ground Zero --...

On a crisp Sunday afternoon shortly before the election, Islem Good is still torn between the Democratic and Republican nominees. While she supports Barack Obama's economic policies, the self-identified born-again Christian from the Dominican Republic is troubled by the candidate's positions on abortion and gay marriage.

"Obama...