Free Republic

Patricia and Santana Bonilla live a half-block from the staircase to an el that had no trains Tuesday. The el stop is at Knickerbocker Avenue and Myrtle Avenue. Without the life of the city on its rails, the el was desolate at a place that is usually throbbing. In this strike, you follow the silent tracks into places where most are without money and find so many being strangled by landlords. The Bonillas are on the first floor of an old frame house on Himrod Street in Bushwick, in Brooklyn. The husband and wife are both 48, from Mexico and...

NEW YORK - Striking bus and subway workers agreed Thursday to "take steps" to go back to work while their union and the transit authority resume negotiations, a mediator said. The deal with the Transit Workers Union could pave the way for a resumption in service by Friday, if the union's executive board gives the final OK. The strike, the system's first in 25 years, halted service for millions. "Both parties have a genuine desire to resolve their differences," said Richard Curreri, head of a three-member state mediation panel. "They have agreed to resume negotiations while the TWU takes steps...