The U.S. Department of Labor announced that unemployment fell from 9.4% in December to 9% in January. This is the lowest unemployment level since April 2009. Still, job growth was weaker than expected, with only 36,000 jobs created, "partly the result of severe snow storms that slammed large parts of the nation." more ›

As the five boroughs watch for another tornado, the NY Times profiles the team cleaning up trees from the last time we were hit. Turns out parks commissioner Adrian Benepe was urged to bring in an outside "hotshot" crew to help with damages, and yesterday the Tennessee team (of 21 men and 1 woman) was cleaning up downed trees in Prospect Park. more ›

The Bronx teen who was caught her in the crossfire of a gang shooting is on the mend and home for Christmas, after spending over a month in the hospital. 16-year-old Vada Vasquez was waiting for a bus with a friend on November 16th when she got caught in the line of fire between a baby-faced shooter and his intended target. The bullet entered her brain and she was kept in medically-induced coma for weeks. But now Vasquez is on the mend, and yesterday she spoke for the first time about the shooting: more ›

Larry Summers, current Obama White House economic adviser (and former Treasury Secretary under Clinton), appeared on This Week and said, "Everybody agrees the recession is over"—though unemployment could continue to climb. even though many experts predict unemployment could climb higher. The AP reports, "Summers says key indicators have shown that the economy is beginning to expand again and that job creation probably will follow... He acknowledges it will take 'substantial time' before the economy recovers entirely. But he says that 'what we can take satisfaction from is we've walked back from the brink.'" more ›

The Department of Labor released jobs data for November and it turns out the country "only" lost 11,000 jobs last month, bringing unemployment to 10%, after being at 10.2% for October. Now the Dow has jumped over 100 points on the news. more ›

The family of Vada Vasquez, the 15-year-old Bronx girl who took a stray bullet to the skull last Monday, declined their usual Thanksgiving feast this year, postponing it until the teen can eat again. But the five young men accused of involvement in the shooting were given a seemingly generous Thanksgiving meal in jail yesterday. Dinner included turkey with dressing, yams, steamed greens and carrot cake! more ›

The family of the 15-year-old girl who took a stray bullet to the skull last Monday has something incredible to be thankful for today: doctors expect the teen to make a full recovery. After performing brain surgery to remove the bullet from Vada Vasquez's skull, doctors put her in medically-induced coma and cautioned relatives that she would most likely suffer some degree of brain damage. But now surgeon Narayan Sundaresan believes that although the bullet damaged her left temporal lobe, the area of the brain responsible for speech, she still "can make a full recovery." more ›

The U.S. Department of Labor released the latest unemployment numbers, which have now finally hit the double digits and broken the "10% psychological barrier"—October's unemployment rate is 10.2%, the highest since April 1983, with employers cutting a "deeper-than-expected 190,000 jobs." more ›

The three major stock indices each fell over 2.5% today, erasing gains the Dow made over the month and leaving the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to fall 2% and 3.6% respectively for the month. The NY Times reports, "The drops were led by stocks in banks and financial firms, which investors abandoned in light of a Commerce Department report that showed consumers were still in distress. Consumer spending in September dropped by the largest amount in nine months, the report said, a dreary data point that met Wall Street expectations but reinforced the slow, halting recovery of the United States economy." more ›

NYU professor Nouriel Roubini, who predicted the housing bubble would collapse and the ensuing financial crisis, believes the recession is over, according to Bloomberg News. But "The economic recovery in advanced nations will still be 'anemic,' Roubini...said via satellite to a conference in Cape Town, South Africa. The economist said he’s “more optimistic” on the outlook for growth in emerging markets." He also "said this month that stock markets have 'gone up too much, too soon, too fast.'" more ›