Photo taken on Houston Street by EssG on Flickr

• From the Gothamist Newsmap: a jumper off the Verrazano Bridge in Staten Island, a hazmat in transit in Times Square and a shooting on 99th St in Queens.
  
• Instead of calling false alarms, Staten Island residents are rallying to protest cuts at a firehouse.
  
• The Daily News talked to the neighbor of the man who slashed a teen for putting their bookbag on his BMW. He said, "I get mad every day. But I can't go around beating everybody up."
  
• What a day for grifters: employees of fraudulent lawyer Marc Dreier's firm are screwed.
  
• In today's weekly address, President-elect Obama talked about what role the HUD and its new head Shaun Donovan will play in helping to get the economy turned around.
  
• Speaking of the prez-to-be, the White House can't offer the Obamas lodging before January 15 (but the future First Daughters' school term begins January 5!).
  
• Plaxico Burress made his first public appearance last night at a charity event designed to fill a large truck with clothes for the homeless. Hope they like sweatpants.
  
• Can Beyonce's "Single Ladies" be Rolling Stone's single of the year, even though it only came out recently?
  
• Gerritsen Beach is excited that butcher Brenman's has doubled in size.
  
• And an op-ed in today's Times explains that "hooking up is here to stay" because "you just hang out with your friends and hope that something happens."