Extra, Extra

- A man was shot dead near Bowery and Rivington early this morning; it may have been the result of some dispute at a club
- iPod Subway Maps have been cease-and-desisted in NYC and San Fran!
- Hell almost freezes over: Mark Green will campaign for Fernando Ferrer!
- A downtown apartment co-op is reprimanding workers for speaking Spanish on the job; way to embrace the melting pot of New York
- Will the Fulton Fish Market ever make it to its new location? There's another lawsuit delaying the deal, in fact, implying the Mayor is opening the market up to the mob - zing!
- Babbo restaurant is now telling you what to do you on your weekends when you can't eat at there [via Newyorkology]
- A shout-out to our blog in Texas, Austinist, who will be holding their Local Music is Sexy concert this Saturday in some wet conditions
- And Gothamist would really like some panda bears to come to a New York zoo and have panda cubs; this is a picture of the DC panda cub, who National zookeepers are in awe of (also, we watched Julie Chen interview the National Zoo's assistant curator Lisa Stevens, holding the panda in this picture, and we wondered, "Is Julie Chen doing the panda segment 'cause she's Chinese?".. and Jack Black will be doing the voice of "Kung Fu Panda," the new animated film; Black isn't Chinese, but he is tubby)

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By Jen Chung in Miscellaneous on September 21, 2005 5:45 PM

Comments [rss]

cc

blah, blah, blah. el blaho, la blaha, los blahinos.

That Panda is so effing cute I could shit.

hijiki

"They were speaking Spanish because it's their native language, not because it's some secret code."

oh, do you work with them, espanol? what's wrong with requiring english to be spoken on the job? personally, i would expect the same if i were working in a foreign country.

Bre

Hey, thanks for mentioning the Austinist party! We're praying for only light rain and non-hurricane force winds. If any of you lovely people from the great Northeast are going to be in Austin for ACL, please come by and have a drink (or several) with us on Saturday!

NYCinephile

Sorry to disagree with you espanol...I'm familiar with a number of publicly held retail businesses that have clearly stated that English is the standard language in which business is conducted in the U.S.

Workers are free to speak whatever language they want when they're "off the clock", but are expected to meet an employer's standards for dress and conduct while earning a paycheck.

español

They were speaking Spanish because it's their native language, not because it's some secret code. (Spanish is so commonly understood, it makes a bad secret code anyway.) Imagine going to another country and having someone tell you that you aren't allowed to speak English with your other American co-workers.

Scott

Re: Spanish being spoken on the job...often, there is more to a story. Perhaps the workers are speaking in Spanish so as to exclude other employees from coversations? or perhaps to make racially charged or sexually suggestive comments about other employees or tenants, thus creating a hostile workplace. I don't know if that is the case or not...I'm just saying that would be a perfectly acceptable reason (and not politically in-correct or a culturally insensitive)reason for an employer to make such a demand. Responsible reporting requires finding out the reason for the employer to come up with such a rule. Yes,I know it was just a link to curbed.com.