[Update below] As rumblings of a "slowdown" "enhanced care" continue (seriously, the R train we took this morning was moving like a bus) the MTA and its largest union, Transit Workers Local 100, are set to return to the negotiating table. And though the last set of talks broke down because of leaks to the media, the Post today has some interesting details reportedly already agreed upon by the two sides. Most notably, when the contract is signed subway operators and conductors will be able to take three (paid) days off if they witness someone being hit by a train. more ›

Yesterday, the Department of Investigation released their long-awaited report on the alleged sanitation "slowdown" during last winter's Blizzageddon. And they ultimately found that there was no conspiracy to purposefully slowdown as revenge for department budget cuts. You can get the full report here. Thanks to it, one local politician may be facing contempt charges. more ›

Yesterday councilman Dan Halloran (R-Queens) was supposed to speak before a grand jury regarding his claims of a sanitation slowdown during last month's Blizzageddon. We say was because snow prevented much of the jury from making it to court and Halloran's appointment was postponed. But that didn't mean he didn't stop pushing his story, instead he went and talked to federal investigators. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg has largely scoffed at accusations that the Sanitation Department engaged in a purposeful "slowdown" during the Blizzaggedon, as retaliation for budget cuts in the department. But after one of the blizzard blame hearings in Manhattan Beach on Wednesday, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes ripped into Bloomberg for "blowing off" the public hearing. more ›

The next round of Blizzageddon blame hearings have inspired a fresh round of mea culpas: today, MTA officials admitted that mistakes were made during the Blizzard. In particular, transit officials told the City Council Transportation Committee that they failed to stop trains and buses, hundreds of which were later stranded in the storm, frustrating powerless commuters for hours. Five more public hearings about the blizzard response are scheduled in each borough over the next two weeks. But while some are admitting blame, Mayor Bloomberg is continuing to stick up for the Sanitation Department. more ›

People have been extra riled up and angry at the Sanitation Department over their underwhelming performance cleaning up snow and trash after the Blizzageddon a few weeks back. But maybe people have been too hard on them—after all, it's not like they went to Harvard or anything! Except, they did: several top sanitation officials who are being investigated for the alleged slowdown were sent to Harvard for training—and it was paid for courtesy of taxpayers. more ›

In a response to City Councilman Dan Halloran's claims that Sanitation workers confessed to intentionally slowing down during last week's blizzard, federal prosecutors have reportedly opened a criminal probe into the allegations. The Brooklyn and Queens DA's offices have also started their own investigations into the claims, but feds would investigate the possibility of statutes being violated by workers receiving overtime pay during an illegal job action. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg spent yesterday getting finger-wagged by angry taxpayers over the snow removal failure, and he let everyone know just how lousy he's feeling about it on his radio show this morning. "This year is not ending the way I would have preferred, but it's still been a good year. Nobody has a career that goes straight up," he glumly pronounced. He also added that the city's failure to plow the streets days after the blizzard was "character building." We're sure those disgruntled people stuck on unplowed streets are very pleased to know that this is all about your personal growth. more ›

Yesterday, allegations were bandied about that the city's Sanitation Department conducted a massive slowdown during the Blizzard clean-up as revenge for budget cuts. Today, many of those allegations are being reported as true: City Councilman Dan Halloran claims that a group of guilty Sanitation workers confessed the whole slowdown scheme to him. "They were told [by supervisors] to take off routes [and] not do the plowing of some of the major arteries in a timely manner. They were told to make the mayor pay for the layoffs, the reductions in rank for the supervisors, shrinking the rolls of the rank-and-file," Halloran told the Post. more ›

After rumors that the Transit Workers Union would "slow it down"—it being subway and bus service—yesterday during its "Day of Outrage," the jury is out on whether or not service was truly affected. One reader described, "The worst B/Q train service I can remember. Waited 20 minutes this morning, and the train was too packed to fit on. When another one finally arrived, it went half speed the entire way into Manhattan," yet another who must have slipped into a Bizarro dimension said, "My service this morning was actually noticably better than it usually is (on the F)"? more ›

Did your subway or bus commute seem a little slower than usual today? It's possible there really wasn't "train traffic up ahead"—apparently the Transit Workers Union wants to give the MTA (and riders) hell because the agency won't pay arbitrator-decided raises. And a text message last week suggested that workers were advised to "slow it down" today. more ›

The number of residential construction permits issued by the Dept. of Buildings in the first quarter of 2008 declined by 46% from the same period in 2007, indicating that the construction boom that has gripped the city over the last several years may be coming to an end. The decline was citywide, with fewer permits issued in all five boroughs, although the sharpest decrease occurred in the Bronx. more ›