Extra, Extra

Photograph by djwerdna on Flickr

From the Gothamist Newsmap: Police activity at East 115 Street & Pleasant Ave in Manhattan, a power outage at Rosedale Ave & Bronx River Ave in the Bronx and a water condition at 58th Pl & Maspeth Ave in Queens.
Time Warner Cable is giving its Staten Island customers a gift: The Staten Island Advance says from today through Sunday, "Staten Island customers [have] the opportunity to view all premium channels and their respective On Demand and Multicast offerings -- for free."
Eight people were rescued from a two-alarm fire in Brooklyn. The FDNY is investigating the fire, which was apparently suspicious.
Early this morning, two people were killed on the Garden State Parkway when a tree fell on their car. A grandmother and father were killed; two children in the backseat were injured.
The Pope's Christmas message mentioned the faltering economy: "In each of these places, may the light of Christmas shine forth and encourage all people to do their part in a spirit of authentic solidarity. If people look only to their own interests, our world will certainly fall apart."
A man wearing a Santa suit opened fire on a party in L.A.; six people were killed and the shooter killed himself.
City policy is changing to require shelters that provide beds to the homeless to also provide hot dinners and transportation, which some shelters can't handle.
An elementary school board voted against re-naming the Clear Stream Avenue Elementary School to the Barack Obama Elementary School.
And a Long Island fire company—with the help of a pub, supermarket and Newsday security officers— raised money and food to make a little girl's Christmas wish come true. Eight-year-old Amanda Campos had dropped off a letter to the firehouse saying, "This Christmas, I feel very sad. Because my family doesn't have money."