Jennifer Peltz Posts

The city has agreed to pay nearly $600,000 to settle allegations that police wrongfully arrested a group of Occupy Wall Street protesters, marking the largest settlement to date in an Occupy-related civil rights lawsuit, the marchers' lawyers said Tuesday. The $583,000 pact involves 14 demonstrators who said police ordered them to leave but prevented them from doing so and arrested them in lower Manhattan early on New Year's Day 2012. The disorderly conduct cases got dismissed, according to the protesters' federal lawsuit, which argues they were arrested "for expressing their views."

Early Thursday, lawmakers overrode a mayoral veto early to make New York City the most populous place in the United States where businesses must provide workers with paid sick days. Advocates say workers shouldn't have to choose between their physical and financial health. And customers and colleagues shouldn't have to be exposed to employees who come to work sick.

Mel Wymore is a typical city council candidate in many ways, campaigning as a community board appointee, ex-PTA chair and founder of a roster of local organizations. But Wymore's community-leader resume has an unusual feature: He built much of it while he was a woman.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the city will appeal a judge's ruling that struck down a pioneering ban on big sugary drinks just hours before it was supposed to take effect.

Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling wrote that loopholes in the law "effectively defeat the stated purpose" of the rule.