Rep. Peter King Blasts Coverage Of "Pedophile" Michael Jackson
Finally Skinny Jeans Get WSJ Treatment
Palin Couldn't Go The Hillary Clinton Route
Fireworks Dazzle Over The Hudson River
Steve McNair Slain Inside Tennesee Apartment
A man is in critical condition after being shot by an NYPD officer following a chase with cops early Saturday morning. Police approached 47-year-old Jesus Roldan in the Morrisania section of The Bronx around 3:45 a.m. Saturday when they noticed him "shuffling around with his waistband." Roldan quickly bolted and pulled out a gun as he was followed by the two officers along with an undercover trailing in an unmarked car. Officers said that they repeatedly told Roldan to drop the weapon, a claim backed up by a neighbor who spoke to investigators. Eventually Roldan changed course and faced officers, who again told him to put the gun down. When he didn't, one of the cops, a five-year-veteran, shot him three times, once in the torso and once in each arm. Police say Roldan has been arrested eight times since 1985 for robbery, weapons and drugs. A neighbor told the News, "It was loud and clear. I paid no attention to it because it's the Fourth of July."
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Former MVP quarterback Steve McNair was found dead inside a condo he rented in Nashville, TN yesterday, killed in what appears to be a murder-suicide with a woman he had been dating in recent months. The 36-year-old McNair, also known as "Air McNair," was found shot multiple times alongside 20-year-old Sahel Kazemi, who died of a single gunshot wound to the head. Police had not yet made an official ruling on the deaths, but a spokesman said, "At this moment nothing has been ruled out, but as far as actively looking for a suspect tonight, the answer would be no." The pair met while Kazemi was a waitress at Dave & Buster's and neighbors said that she had recently been seen coming home in limousines and had been driving an Escalade that she said her boyfriend had bought her. Kazemi had been arrested in that Escalade (registered to her and McNair) on Thursday for a DUI. An ex of hers told a local paper, "She did not deserve this. He was making her believe they were going to be together and everything would be perfect.” McNair, who led the Tennessee Titans to the Super Bowl in 1999 and retired from the Baltimore Ravens in 2007, leaves behind a wife and four children.
Last night, a two-alarm fire broke out at a site at N. 9th and Wythe Avenue in Brooklyn, apparently at the Rosenwach Wood Tank Company. Smoke could be seen from not only neighboring buildings but from the East Village as well. The fire was reported at around 9 p.m. and under control by 10:15 p.m. We've contacted the FDNY for details on what might have caused the fire.
Aw, we love this: A blind poodle was saved from a storm drain in Mastic Beach yesterday. According to Newsday, Maggie, a 13-year-old poodle who used to be a therapy dog for retired nuns, fell 12-18 feet into a storm drain. "A police officer and several civilians used a crowbar to pry open a 150-pound lid to the storm drain. Then emergency services officers used a large, expandable pole with a large net to scoop up the dog, carefully raising her to the surface." Maggie's owner Patricia Fogarty said she was at her sister's house for a BBQ during the time of the incident and was grateful to her neighbors for realizing that Maggie was trapped, "They showed good American spirit." And Maggie seems to be doing fine—it didn't seem like she was injured.
- Yankees 6, Blue Jays 5: Jorge Posada singled home Alex Rodriguez with the winning run in the bottom of the 12th inning, but the Yankees were left without starter Chien-Ming Wang, who left his start after 5 1/3 innings with what was later diagnosed as bursitis in his right shoulder. The Yankees won their second straight and ninth in 10 games. But Wang is headed to the disabled list, and the Yankees could call on the likes of Sergio Mitre to make a start Thursday in Minnesota. The bullpen could be taxed that day, but it appears up to the challenge. After David Robertson let in a run in the top of the sixth, the relievers slammed the door. Brian Bruney, Phil Hughes, Mariano Rivera and even Brett Tomko kept Toronto off the board.
- From the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting at 111th St and Lexington Ave in Manhattan, an armed robbery at a Citgo station on Rockaway Blvd in Queens and a possible explosive device on 164th St and Jerome Ave in The Bronx.
- A Nassau County man was arrested for selling fireworks to kids out of his aunt's house. Not only were fireworks confiscated from the suspect, the cops took the fireworks from the children.
- The DEA busted a drug cartel in The Bronx who had run over $30 million in heroin hidden inside brown teddy bears.
Tonight, the HudsonRiver will be the scene for this year's Macy's 4th of July Fireworks. Six barges are set up in the water between 24th and 50th Streets— at approximately 9 p.m., 45,000 shells will explode 1000 feet into the air and some will even skim the water. The best viewing spots along the Hudson (on the NYC side) are anywhere below 59th Street along 12th Avenue—but there are specific access points on 11th Avenue: 24th Street, 26th-30th Streets, 34th Street, 40th-44th Streets, 47th-52nd Streets, and 54th-57th Streets. There is very limited viewing north of 59th Street on the West Side; overall, patience is key! Here's street closure info and subway and bus travel tips from the MTA. And you can share your fireworks photographs with us by tagging them "gothamist" on Flickr or emailing us at tips(at)gothamist(dot)com .
After widespread reports last summer that Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls installation was damaging lots of nearby plantlife, the River Cafe has gone ahead with earlier threats and decided to sue New York's Public Art Fund and Eliasson to the tune of $3 million for an assortment of damages they say were brought on by their close proximity to one of the falls. Cafe owner Buzzy O'Keefe said, "There were 90 to 120 days of saltwater rain coming down on us. It ate up aluminum and steel. It short-circuited our electrics. We had fires on our roof. The paint was ruined, the awnings were ruined, our outdoor lights are broken, and a lot of our trees just couldn't take it. It's left the place destroyed. They did nothing." After initially denying that the waterfalls were causing any problems, the Public Art Fund did cut down the amount of time they were left on in half during through their run.
Joey Chestnut is now well on his way to a Kobayashi-like dynasty after winning his third consecutive Nathan's Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest. Chestnut jumped out to an early lead on his archrival Takeru Kobayashi and never looked back on his way to a new record of 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Kobayashi did everything he could to hold pace with Joey Jaws, setting his own personal record with 64 1/2 dogs—both men eclipsing the mark of 59 they both hit to send them into overtime a year ago. Chestnut even broke the 2007 record of 66 dogs that he set back when the old rules gave competitors an extra two minutes in regulation.
In this case, double-dipping doesn't refer to a George Costanza-like social faux pas—it's the more serious instance of a retired city worker who collects his/her pension PLUS pay from a new public job! The Daily News reports, "New city audits have found 39 city retirees double-dipping with new public jobs - and pulling in some $600,000 in improper pension payments," such as "a retired assistant district attorney collecting a $69,660 pension on top of a $99,100 consulting contract for the state courts... a retired police captain who earned $51,246 as a city teacher on top of a $55,622 pension and a retired teacher with a $55,882 pension who also worked an FDNY office job for $76,490." Nice work if you can get it! The News further explains that retired city employees cannot receive pension payments if they take "another city or state job, though some are allowed to do so if they obtain waivers." City Comptroller William Thompson said, "Immediate action ... is needed to investigate and recoup, if appropriate, any improper payments made to these retirees identified as possible 'double-dippers.'"
With Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan) looking to challenge Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in the 2010 Democratic Senate primary, much is being made of Maloney is doing so much to the dismay of the Obama administration. But Rep. Charles Rangel thinks President Obama should stay out of race—and the NY Times says the same in an editorial!
A fatal hit-and-run accident in Flushing left the victim's body in such bad shape, authorities had to obtain dental records to identify that it was 30-year-old Matthew Kim. Kim had returned to his Flushing home earlier Thursday night after going out for drinks with friends—the Post says that he was helping console a friend who had just recently lost his mother. Kim, a former architecture student who now worked in construction and taught Sunday school, was nearly decapitated after being hit by a driver making a U-turn while walking on 149th place. A person walking their dog at 3:30 a.m. spotted his body and told the News, "I couldn't imagine any human being leaving someone like that."
The Statue of Liberty's crown reopened to the public this morning after being closed down since 9/11, making today possibly the biggest reason to celebrate the Fourth inside Lady Liberty since she turned 100 and reopened from renovations in 1986.
In the warmup to today's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, yesterday there was the pachyderm vs. homosapien showdown over eating Nathan's Hot Dog Buns. And perhaps to no one's surprise, Ringling Bros. Circus elephants Bunny, Susie and Minnie ate 505 buns in six minutes—while Juliet Lee, Gravy Brown and Eric "Badlands" Booker could only chow down 143. Circus production manager Jason Gibson told the Daily News he was confident, "Our girls train every day. They eat 150 to 200 pounds of food a day. I knew they'd do fine," said Jason Gibson, circus production manager.
The new Bravo reality show NYC Prep has been ridiculed in many places, but it's mostly bringing shame to the schools where the students/reality show's players attend. In a NY Times Styles section article, parents are uttering things like, “Absolute garbage,” and "Like a bad ‘Dynasty’ episode," about the show that features spoiled teens (including ones who are amazed that teachers wants students "to, like, study during Christmas break") at private schools Nightingale-Bamford School, Dwight School, Birch Wathen Lenox School and the Ross School (in East Hampton) and public school (GASP!) Stuyvesant High School. Administrators are aghast while some parents are upset seeing the show's teens "spend most of their time scheming, partying, eating in expensive restaurants and shopping for $2,000 skirts." But the best quote is from the author of a private school guide, who says, "The schools on this show are all at the bottom"—top schools being Dalton, Brearley, and Collegiate—"There would never be a Brearley girl on this show." Thank goodness for snobbery!
