cory booker

Newark mayor takes to Twitter to help amid Sandy

Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, N.J., took to the streets and the tweets over the last couple of days to help the city make it through Superstorm Sandy.

Booker spent much of yesterday and last night driving around in an SUV loaded with diapers, water, and other supplies for citizens in distress, personally enforcing curfew on some roaming teenagers, and coordinating crews to move the homeless to shelter. Along the way, Booker was communicating with citizens via tweets and direct messages:

When one man tweeted at Booker that a tree had fallen on his aunt's house, the mayor apparently sped to the scene:… Read more

Startup courts Millennials with social, crowdsourced news site

A startup with seed money from the likes of Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, Lady Gaga manager Troy Carter, and Oprah Winfrey hopes to create a successful mashup of a professional and crowdsourced news network, a social-media site like Twitter, and a video hub like YouTube.

"There are practical solutions to [create] more jobs, lower crime, [provide] better education," #waywire co-founder and Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker told TechCrunch. "If more people could find their voice and be part of the national dialogue, we could solve these problems."

#waywire, which plans … Read more

New York to curb dirty heat, use landfills for solar

New York City plans to restrict the use of dirty heating fuels, use its capped landfills for solar farms, and issue loans for green and energy efficiency upgrades to home owners.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the latest initiatives for PlaNYC, the city's sustainability plan, on Thursday at a press conference in Harlem.

It's part of the lead up to Earth Day, which is Friday, April 22, and also happens to be the anniversary of when PlaNYC was first announced, in 2007.

Over 132 initiatives grew out of "48 public meetings with 220 groups, yielding almost … Read more

Facebook CEO unveils education foundation

As expected, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled today the creation of "Startup: Education" a charitable foundation to "improve educational opportunities for young people in America." Its first project, to be announced later today on The Oprah Winfrey Show, is a $100 million donation to support the public school system in the troubled city of Newark, N.J.

Zuckerberg will appear on the syndicated talk show with Newark mayor Cory Booker and New Jersey governor Chris Christie, where they will announce the joint Partnership for Education in Newark.

"Mayor Booker and Governor Christie refuse … Read more

Zuckerberg pledges $100m to Newark, N.J., schools

In his first major act of public philanthropy, The New York Times reported late today that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to donate $100 million to the public school system in Newark, N.J., a troubled and crime-ridden city across the Hudson River from New York. The formal announcement will reportedly come Friday on Oprah Winfrey's talk show, where Zuckerberg will be joined by Newark Mayor Cory Booker and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who will formally cede some control of the Newark school system to Booker's municipal administration.

The article in the Times hints that it's … Read more