Extra, Extra
- Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: shots fired by police at Blake and Vermont in Brooklyn, an escaped prisoner at East 112th St. and Madison Ave. in Manhattan, and a person under a train at Central Park West and 60th St. in Manhattan.
- Hassan Askari was invited to the State of the Union Address as the guest of Queens Congressman Rep. Joseph Crowley. Askari came to the aid of several Jewish people who were being attacked on the subway.
- A new Bronx courthouse is finally set to open, only three years behind schedule and $100 million over budget.
- Two classic dive bars in the East Village, Sophie's and Mona's, which date back to 1986 and 1989 respectively, are set to close.
- The Gowanus Lounge passes along a sad tale of a woman who returned to her Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn home and found it broken into and ransacked. The only thing taken? Her tiny dog Samantha and a pet carrier.
- The Glad Tidings Tabernacle Church, built in 1868 in the Romanesque Revival architectural style, is located on West 33rd St. in Manhattan. Go look at it quick because it's being torn down to make way for a 300 room hotel.
- With the state primary approaching, former Republican Gov. George Pataki is scarcer than Tom Brady before the Super Bowl.
- The manager of the city's two Scores strip clubs is beginning his four-weekend jail sentence for tax evasion.
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