After six months of deadlock following the resignation of Marcus Cederqvist, the surprise candidacy of former State Sen. Serf Maltese quickly crystallized the selection process of George Gonzalez as the new executive director of the City Board of Elections. Though new in the top job, Gonzalez has been with the agency since the early 1980s, and says he has become very familiar with its ins and outs, as well as the criticisms that are often leveled at its operations.

A rare moment to engineer opportunity from crisis has come to the health care system in New York. Between health care spending that exceeds any other state's, a lagging economy and successive hospital closings, community health care groups and advocates are seizing what they see as an opportunity to reform health care delivery.

In 2002 Barry Grodenchik became the first to represent the new Assembly seat in Flushing. Then, in 2004 Jimmy Meng knocked Grodenchik out in the primary. Two years later, Meng retired and Ellen Young took over. After a bitter primary battle in 2008, Grace Meng—Jimmy’s daughter—snagged the Democratic line and the district.

In June, after months of discussion, the Chicago City Council unanimously approved Wal-Mart’s plan to build a store on the South Side of the city. This will be the company’s second store in Chicago, but the first time they negotiated with the city’s Federation of Labor on issues including wages and union construction. Wal-Mart disagrees that the agreement reached with the union can be called a negotiation, but many viewed the discussions as a positive change for the company that could serve as a model for other urban centers, New York included.

Fred Newman, the controversial psychotherapist, philosopher, playwright and political activist, has not been in the news as much as his onetime nemesis, Frank MacKay, the chair of the State Independence Party who once tried to boot Newman from the party over his beliefs.

In its early days, the movement consisted mostly of young people, often students or recent graduates. They came of age in the era of the civil rights and anti-war movements and their style was activist. Involvement in a cause was a matter of justice, and politics was a calling, not a profession.

On June 24, Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson joined City Hall for an On/Off the Record breakfast interview at the Woolworth Kitchen.

New York may have the highest labor enrollment of any state in the nation, but that does not make being a labor leader any easier these days. The movement is on the decline nationally. The economy still has not fully recovered and the city faces a multibillion-dollar deficit.

Much has been said about Charlie Rangel's problems: an ethics investigation, revelations of unpaid income taxes, a resignation of the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee, unflattering news stories and a loss of confidence by some in his Harlem district.

Kevin Sheekey is gone. Ed Skyler is going. Patti Harris is expected to follow soon enough'and that is just in the bullpen. The agencies have been going through their own turnover. And over on the Council side, there are 13 Council members who have been in office for just a few months.