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WCBS 880's John Metaxas has just reported that TWU's executive committee has voted 38-5, with two abstentions, to resume subway and bus service as negotiations with the MTA continue. The trains and buses could be moving again within 12 to 18 hours. "Both parties have a genuine desire to resolve their differences,'' said Richard Curreri, head of a three-member state mediation panel had said earlier Thursday. "They have agreed to resume negotiations while the TWU takes steps to return its membership.'' A judge has already imposed a $1 million-per-day fine on the union for defying an order barring the strike...

Eyewitness News has learned that the TWU executive board has voted to end the transit strike. Thirty six members voted to end the strike, five voted against ending the strike and two members abstained from the vote. Here is the latest: the transit union has agreed to take steps to restore service to New York's buses and subways while both sides resume negotiations. At this point, there is no timetable for the restoration of service. State mediators devised a preliminary framework for a settlement of the MTA contract dispute. Mediators say the two sides have agreed to the deal, pending...

THE 9/11 terror attacks couldn't kill his business. No, the villains threatening to rob Jay Park of his livelihood are far more treacherous, selfish and insane. "It's dead — dead!" Park moaned from behind the counter of the ordinarily bustling Here and Now deli in Greenwich Village. Just one shopper dawdled among the shelves, then left without buying anything. An array of fresh flowers wilted from lack of interest. "We can't last a month like this," Park, the manager said. "In two weeks, we're going to be out of business." All over the city, the horror stories were too painful...

December 22, 2005 -- A furious Brooklyn judge yesterday threatened to toss transit-union leaders in jail for ignoring his injunction against a walkout — calling it a "distinct possibility." In a stunning announcement on the second day of the transit strike, Supreme Court Justice Theodore Jones ordered Roger Toussaint, head of Transport Workers Union Local 100, and union bigs Ed Watt and Darlyne Wilson to be in his court at 11 a.m. today. The hearing could result in "one or more of these persons being sent to jail," the judge said. "That is a possibility and a distinct...

Don't they look like they deserve a raise?

This afternoon, Mayor Bloomberg updated everyone on how New York City is coping with the transit strike. 1010 WINS has a nice summary of it on their site. Developments today include: -NYPD working 12 hour shifts (hello overtime!) and the traffic is being handled by the police cadets -LIRR handled an extra 45,000 riders this morning -There is now shuttle service at Kew Gardens, Forrest Hills and Woodside (lots of love for far away in Queens) -The zone system for the cabs is working -175,000 calls have come into 311 since midnight Is everyone ready for the fun commute home...

For the first time since 1980, the New York City public transit system is completely shut down due to a strike. Transit Workers Union head Roger Toussaint made the announcement shortly after 3:00AM local time. In addition, many commuter railroads shuttling passengers in from the suburbs may be shut down, as sympathetic union workers refuse to cross picket lines. I moved to New York in late 1979, a few months before the last transit strike occurred. Because most New York City residents don't have cars, the preferred method of transportation for strike-stranded city-dwellers was walking. Each weekday, my father picked...

Op-Ed Contributor Editors' Note: After this Op-Ed article went to press, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority revised its contract offer. Updated details can be found in this news story. THE Transport Workers Union, representing the city's nearly 34,000 subway and bus workers, is threatening to call a strike this Friday if the Metropolitan Transportation Authority doesn't sign a contract to its liking. Such a strike would be illegal: public employees in New York State are forbidden from walking out on the job. And not only would a strike be illegal, it would be unjustified. The authority is a generous employer by...

NEW YORK - A federal judge Friday upheld the police department's practice of randomly searching subway riders' bags, saying the intrusion on people's privacy is minimal while the threat of a terrorist bombing is "real and substantial." Police tightened security in the nation's largest subway system in July after the deadly terrorist attacks in London's underground. "The risk of a terrorist bombing of New York City's subway system is real and substantial," U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman said. The New York Civil Liberties Union had challenged the searches, arguing that riders were being subjected to a pointless and unprecedented...

The Maryland Transit Administration has eliminated the No. 8 bus stop in Towson on Chesapeake Avenue at its intersection with York Road. This is good news for nearby businesses that complained about excessive loitering and trash around the stop. But it is bad news for the general manager of Towson Commons, who is complaining about excessive loitering and trash now that the No. 8 bus stop has been moved to the front of his building at the corner of York Road and Pennsylvania Avenue. And that's not the half of it, said Harvey Brooks, who oversees the complex of restaurants,...

Breaking News

Informant in Iraq admits information about a terror plot against New York subway was a hoax, sources tell CNN. Details soon.

(New York - WABC, October 6, 2005) - A bus caught fire inside the Brooklyn Battery tunnel Thursday night about 250 feet north of the Brooklyn exit. Civilians exited on foot out of the tunnel and according to officials there were multiple injuries, though none of them serious. Three patients were being treated at the scene for smoke inhalation. The tunnel is shut down Brooklyn-bound only at this time. According to officials this is an accident and there is no suspicious activity involved. Again, there is no indication that this is in any way related to the subway terror threat...

New York's subway will be scanned by thousands of cameras and motion sensors under a high-tech strategy to counter the threat of terrorist attacks. The city has awarded a $212m (£118m) contract to defence firm Lockheed to run the security programme for the bus and the underground train network. The upgrade will also include enabling mobile phone signals on the subway. The authorities said concerns that this could help the detonation of bombs were outweighed by potential advantages. These include the ability of passengers to make emergency phone calls from 277 of the 468 underground stations. Pivoting cameras More than...

NEW YORK (AP) - A large majority of the city's registered voters support random bag searches of bus and subway passengers, according to a poll released Friday. In a Quinnipiac University survey of 1,601 voters, 72 percent favored the searches while 25 percent opposed them. Support was solid among blacks, whites and Hispanics. Random searches of packages and backpacks carried by people entering city subways began last month in the wake of the bomb attacks in London subways. The searches have raised some questions about civil liberties, and most of those polled, 55 percent to 38 percent, said government security...

Political correctness won't save any lives in the subway. So as I walk to the Broadway and Lafayette St. subway station last week, I prepare myself for wary cops at the turnstiles. I'm also thinking about the talk of racial profiling sweeping across the city. I remember a comment Jesse Jackson made some years ago about how when he walks alone at night and hears footsteps behind him, he's relieved when he turns to see white faces. I also recall a breakfast with Al Sharpton in Junior's Restaurant a dozen years ago. The reverend told me that because his mother...

In response to the recent London terror attacks, New York police officers are now conducting random searches of bags and packages brought into the subway. While Flex Your Rights takes no position on the usefulness of these searches for preventing future attacks, we have serious concerns that this unprecedented territorial expansion of police search powers is doing grave damage to people's understanding of their Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. In addition, as innocent citizens become increasingly accustomed to being searched by the police, politicians and police agencies are empowered to further expand the number of places where...

"UNCONSTITUTIONAL" Jul 25, 2005 4:00 pm US/Eastern Commuters in New Jersey were under a new level of scrutiny Monday as police started random baggage searches in response to two sets of bombings in London earlier this month. Commuters at Penn Station in Newark seemed unruffled. ``I think it's the way the world is today. I think it's pretty standard going forward, unfortunately,'' said Maria Parisi, of Brielle, a fashion designer, as she waited for a train to New York. Authorities pledged the inspections would be done randomly to prevent racial and ethnic profiling, but the American Civil Liberties Union maintained...

New Yorkers show tolerance on first day of bag searches on subways   By Jim FitzgeraldAssociated Press Writer 07/23/2005     NEW YORK (AP) -- It's generally not a good idea to pick a New Yorker at random, go through his things and slow his rush to the subway. Nobody needs another irritation on a hot, crowded, smelly commute. But city straphangers submitted calmly Friday as police inspected their bags and briefcases after the latest attacks on London's Underground. Some were skeptical, some were critical, but most said they were glad for the extra security. "It doesn't bother me,"...

The NYPD began educating passengers on buses and trains yesterday about ways they can help prevent terrorist attacks. During the morning rush, swarms of cops boarded Amtrak trains at Penn Station to pass out fliers urging passengers to "help us fight terrorism" by calling (888) NYC- SAFE and reporting suspicious activities. And cops on Amtrak trains bound for Washington were spotted offering tips on what to look out for. Inspiration for the idea came from police Sgt. Luis Piñeiro — who boarded a city bus after the July 7 attacks on London's transit system to reassure passengers and tell them...