Via is ready to paint the town blue — you can now get Via EVERYWHERE in New York City! In a congested city like ours, everyone can and should benefit from smart shared rides. Together with you, and loyal Via-istas, we all help built the most affordable and convenient way to get around all five boroughs. Now, whether you’re grabbing dim sum in Flushing, checking in on the tigers at the Bronx Zoo, or commuting from Staten Island, Via will get you there. Via New York operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

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A new program in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, offers free classes to women who don’t speak English but want to improve their language skills. For example, student Maria Luna wants to practice writing and speaking before taking the GED at the end of the year, but she couldn’t find someone to watch her three-year-old daughter.

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It’s called Mother to Mother, and in this program, both the English lessons and childcare are free. Sarah Wang, co-founder of the program, said it was also the perfect way for her to start teaching again after her son turned one. The kids play while volunteer teachers hold class a few feet away. It can be noisy at times, but Wang said the moms are used to it.

New bright red signs that reads “All Trucks Must Exit” have been installed along the FDR Drive in Manhattan to remind drivers that only passenger vehicles are allowed on parkways. The goal is to reduce the number of trucks that strike overpasses. New markings have also been painted onto the roadway to warn of low clearance. DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, said signs will be at critical locations along the parkway at the Harlem River Drive, on  155th street, 116th street, and 106th street.

About a hundred New Yorkers marched from East Harlem to Trump Tower on Sunday to protest the ongoing plight of Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Puerto Rican flags waved in the wind, but cheers were few and far between. The organizers of the march wanted it to be silent, because they said they are tired of shouting for the Trump Administration to do more for the island.  Have a listen to my audio story:  

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It’s one of Harlem’s oldest live Jazz bars. Paris Blues opened in 1969 and is still thriving at its original location on 121th street and Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. Owner Samuel Hargress Junior has been there ever since. This is one of the last old school spots to get a drink and casually listen to live music without a cover which makes Paris Blues one of the last hidden treasures to be found uptown. Paris Blues is still owned and managed by eighty one year old Samuel Hargress, and for many businesses in Harlem that is rare to see one that has not been affected by gentrification.

City Park Officials have approved plans to bring the first statue of woman into Central Park. In fact, the plan is for two statues together at 77th and Central Park West… of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, two pioneers in the fight for women’s rights.  Darnell Jefferson checks in on the project, and what people think about it.  

The statue is expected to be unveiled on another auspicious date in 2020, the 100th anniversary of the day women won the right to vote on a national level.

One week to the day after reporters and editors at the news outlets DNAinfo and Gothamist voted to join a union, their owner shut them down. The site was launched in 2009 by TD Ameritrade co-founder Joe Ricketts, DNAinfo was known for its on-the-ground neighborhood coverage in the 5 boroughs.

A statement from Joe read , “it was a difficult decision to discontinue publishing DNAinfo and Gothamist” “He says reaching this decision wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t one made lightly.” The announcement caught employees at both media outlets by surprise.  DNA was the best site for New York City neighborhood news coverage. WNYC’s News Director Jim  Schachter says “this now leaves a void left in the local news news ecosystem, which has drastically changed in the digital age”.

Prospect Park will be permanently car-free in January. The car-free change is scheduled to take effect Jan. 2, 2018.  It comes following the park’s first full car-free summer. During that time, the city studied effects of possibly making it permanent.

After more than two decades, Metrocards will be a blast from the past and is getting ready to swipe left on MetroCards.  For more than 20 years, the MTA has used the MetroCard but has decided it may be time for an upgrade. The MTA approved more than $500 million to bring in the next fare-payment system beginning late 2018. By 2020, all subways and buses will adopt the more modern payment system. Officials say the plan is to fully retire the MetroCard by 2023. Until then, riders will still be able to use it.