Despite his claim that he had kidney stones that were more painful than going into labor, John Gotti Jr. was denied bail yesterday as he awaits his racketeering trial to start this September. A judge in Manhattan federal court yesterday said that there was no amount he could set bail at that "can reasonably assure the presence of the defendant and the safety of persons in the community." The Daily News said that Gotti showed up in court "in greenish prison garb that resembled hospital scrubs" and the paper agreed with Junior's claim that stones were more painful than childbirth. Also taking Gotti's side was arch-nemesis Curtis Sliwa, who nonetheless seemed to take glee in knowing how much pain the mob boss was in. Sliwa said, "I'm hoping they come at a prolific rate ... He can't have enough pain." Gotti's lawyer said that they do not plan to appeal the bail denial and that he believes his client has now fully passed the stones while he's been behind bars.

A woman, last seen at a lower Manhattan office building on Tuesday night, is presumed to be dead, according to WCBS 2, which says the police are treating Eridania Rodriguez's disappearance as a homicide. A Gothamist reader mentioned on Contribute, "My building (2 Rector st) was completely shut down [Wednesday] with everyone evacuated. The story we got is that a cleaning woman didn't sign out last night and they had to shut it down to search for her. The family was apparently there this morning looking for her." A lawyer for Rodriguez's family says that the building's surveillance cameras caught her working, but did not capture her leaving the building. Also: "Relatives tell CBS 2 that the married mother of three, who was also a grandmother, didn't feel safe on the job and that a man who worked inside the building was scaring her. She had recently told her bosses she was going to leave her job because she feared for her safety."

The hailstorm that hit Yonkers on Monday definitely left a trail of destruction in Yonkers. Thanks to the 80 MPH winds, a tree fell into Jennifer Crespo's home's chimney, which then crashed into her 7-year-old son's bedroom. Thankfully, little Trent slept in the basement—his parents didn't want to move him since he looked so peaceful; the boy told the Daily News, "I would be dead, and my mommy would be crying a whole lot," while his mom wept, "I'm just so grateful my son wasn't in his bed because it's covered with bricks." And 89-year-old Grace Martini shared a photograph of her basement—filled with three feet of hail! The NY Times spoke to the National Weather Service's Joe Polina, who said El Nino and global warming weren't the culprits, "Normally, we do see thunderstorms, some of which do become severe in spring and summer, but this year, especially with the amount of rain, it’s been a little on the abnormal side." Further, "The culprit is the polar jet stream: a fast-moving air current that controls the movement of fronts and weather systems and is usually north of New York by summer, he said. This year, the jet stream has stayed on a southerly course, causing more storms to develop."

Ew, the Daily News uses the word "randy" to do so, but aw they tell us that the nearly 80 turtles who crawled onto the runway at JFK yesterday were there to make baby turtles! They were rudely interrupted however, when the "Port Authority workers rushed to the shell-covered runway about 8:30 a.m. and scooped up 78 diamondback terrapins." (According to WCBS 2, a "chorus of pilots" had radioed the tower to chime in about the "massive numbers" of turtles.) The breeding turtles, which are about 8 inches long and weigh 2 to 3 pounds each, were put into a pickup truck and moved back to Jamaica Bay. One Port Authority spokesman said, "Everybody had a good attitude considering it was turtles going off to hatch more turtles." And if they weren't, then what.... they get the Canada Geese treatment?

While Governor Paterson may have appointed Richard Ravitch as his lieutenant governor, Senate Republicans are stopping that, by way of a court order signed at 12:23 a.m. "after a petition from the leaders of the Republican-dominated State Senate coalition, Pedro Espada Jr. and Dean Skelos," PolitickerNY reports. A hearing will be held in Mineola, NY tomorrow, because Skelos sought the order in his home county. Skelos, who would be majority leader if the Republicans do control the Senate, said of Ravitch's appointment, "I think it's a publicity stunt and totally illegal." Ravitch, the former head of the MTA, was sworn in at 8 p.m. last night, just three hours after Paterson's announcement.