If Jack Kerouac were still alive, he'd be turning 88 today! The author and voice of the Beats made his way all over New York City during his lifetime (the Columbia Spectator just visited some of his old urban haunts)—but his life in Queens was never really well documented, even though he lived there for 12 years (leaving in 1955). more ›

The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning about infant slings today. The agency noted that babies under the age of four months do not have have much neck control, so they may suffocate from while in the sling. The sling-style carriers are popular, because they allow the babies to be close to the parents' chest and are not as bulky as other structured carriers—some parents even brag about not putting their babies in "conventional" strollers. more ›

Click through for more on last night's intimate National show at the Bell House. more ›

The head of the Port Authority implied yesterday there would be new price hikes on commuters soon, in order to fix crumbling city infrastructures. PA executive director Christopher Ward spoke to New York Building Congress yesterday, outlining the need for more money: "We need to find new creative pricing schemes that pull wealth out of that economy and reinvest in the infrastructure that we know we need today...The public does embrace the idea of paying for something. They just need to tangibly see it get built." There were no specifics about what might increase for commuters, though one possible proposal is for drivers to pay a premium to use fast lanes on bridges and in tunnels. more ›

After the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Grammy Award-winning singer Wyclef Jean's charity Yele Haiti received millions of dollars of donations before coming under fire for years of shaky accounting and reports that the nonprofit had given $410,000 to businesses tied to Jean. Now, according to Yele sources and tax documents, it appears that the former Fugee paid his personal assistant and mistress $105,000 in 2008—more than three times the salary of the program's director, according to Gawker. more ›

A couple of days ago Google unveiled their Beta version of a new Maps interface, which provides bike route recommendations across America. It's a vast undertaking, with a lot of nuances to factor in, but that didn't stop the Post from saddling up to nitpick Google to the max. (If we didn't know better, we'd think the Post has some sort of ax to grind with Google.) One day after it was launched, a reporter for the tabloid pedaled around and took Google to task for several shortcomings around NYC, such as: more ›

This spring-forward weekend will be a rainy one: According to Accuweather, "Streams and rivers already rising from melting snow and spotty rain into Friday will surge markedly over the weekend, leading to significant flooding in low-lying, unprotected areas. The storm at hand this weekend is the latest in a series of storms during the winter of 2010 to foil plans, slow travel, disrupt power, cause damage, and tax budgets." That's right, Mother Nature is plotting against us again! more ›

Earlier this month Charles Addams took over some space at the Museum of the City of New York with a fitting exhibit spotlighting the cartoonist's own depictions of the city. Over 80 drawings, cartoons, sketches, watercolors, and pencil sketches (some of which were never published), as well as examples of the artist’s personal ephemera are on view through May 16th. A little history: more ›

After thirteen long years, the driver of the black BMW that fatally struck Virginia Tech grad student Kristin Nemec has been sentenced to 3 1/2 to 7 years in prison. Jose Heras, who initially surrendered in 1998, later ditched bail and fled to Ecuador. Last month, he pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter. more ›

Add another name to the list of unexpected candidates considering running against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Mayor Bloomberg's longtime girlfriend Diana Taylor has reportedly been meeting with Republicans to discuss a possible campaign. The race has already seen a short-lived Democratic campaign by former Congressman and pundit Harold Ford Jr. and an already-canceled Republican run by Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman—not to mention a still pending Republican campaign by former Bush adviser Dan Senor, husband of CNN anchor Campbell Brown. So what's the deal with the city's unofficial First Lady? more ›

Are Canada geese fighting back at the NY Post? The plucky tabloid reports that a flock of the birds struck a Boeing 777 that left Newark for Hong Kong on Wednesday: "The pilot told controllers the geese hit the left wing of the craft, which was fully loaded with fuel for the 16-hour flight." And among the 301 passengers—a Post reporter! more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] High school students in Washington Heights and Elmhurst were stabbed in unrelated incidents this morning, according to authorities. A 15-year-old is expected to survive after getting stabbed with a steak knife 16 times in his back and arm in his Upper Manhattan school, while a Queens 17-year-old was cut inside Newtown High School in a separate violent confrontation. more ›

"Brooklyn, your table is waiting!" bellows Borough President Marty Markowitz as Kings County gets ready to kick off its seventh annual restaurant-week-esque extravaganza on Monday. The event runs through March 25th, and while the prix fixe dinner is two dollars more than last year, a three-course dinner for $25 still isn't a bad deal. Lunch is $20.10. You can see a list of the more than 175 participating restaurants here, as long as a little PDF doesn't scare ya'. more ›

In November 2009, retired NYPD detective Jose Arroyo, 48, met an unnamed 31-year-old woman at a Bronx bar. When she found out it was his birthday, she bought him a shot, which Arroyo misinterpreted as a sign that she was attracted to him. But the woman is homosexual, and she eventually became frustrated with Arroyo's advances, telling him, "I don't like boys." Surveillance footage from the bar then shows Arroyo slipping something in her drink, which investigators later determined to be Ambien. And when her girlfriend stepped outside the bar for a few minutes, she returned to find the victim gone. more ›