• From the Gothamist Newsmap: An aircraft alert at JFK Airport, a hanging in a park on Burnett St in Brooklyn, and a perp search at Macdougal St & Bleecker St.
• The U.S. Attorney's office accused two employees at the Administration for Children's Services and one at a non-profit foster care organization of embezzling over $1 million meant for needy children.
• City Councilman John Liu has raised over $3 million for a political campaign in 2009; while he hasn't stated what position he's running for yet, it might be for Public Advocate (maybe he really likes that van!).
• Arthur Weinstein, who "owned and operated some of the best clubs in history," died in Manhattan last week at the age of 60.
• The Brooklyn Museum plans to exhibit fake art sometime next year. "The museum said that a third of the sculptures in its small Coptic art collection were fake."
• Frankie and Johnny's on 45th Street, a former speakeasy turned steakhouse that opened in 1926 during the Coolidge administration, is closing.
• A look back at the '60s, when you could do New York on 5 Dollars a Day; a single room at the Hotel Chelsea ran $3 per night back then, they're now up to $220.

• From the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on 5th Ave in Brooklyn, a barricaded EDP on Grand St in Manhattan, and a hostage situation on 68th Drive in Queens.
• Mayor Bloomberg donated $150,000 to the State Independence Party--the man sure knows how to say thanks for help with his never-realized presidential campaign.
• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be coming back to NYC for this fall's U.N. General Assembly. Quick, SNL writers, come up with another digital short!
• Two septuagenarian friends took a roadtrip--on their scooters--across the U.S. along the Lincoln Highway. It took a month to travel the 3,400 miles.
• Those trying to bike down Prince Street this weekend were met with an obstacle, albeit a delicious obstacle -- still, shame on you Mr. Softee!
• NPR is canceling its Bryant Park Project broadcast. The NY Times reports that the last broadcast is expected to be on July 25th, and that it was "an expensive failure — the first-year budget was more than $2 million — and comes at a time when NPR is facing the same financial constraints."
• Rocker Brian Chase of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs branches out into food criticism with a long meditation on what makes Di Fara's pizza so "worthy of genius status."

Vodka that’s filtered through crushed gemstones? Made from water pumped from beneath a volcano? Distilled from the tears of orphaned baby elephants? (OK, so we made the last one up, but the other two are real.) C’mon, we’re all smarter than this, no? It seems there’s a new vodka every week resorting to increasingly comical gimmicks as they try to justify the $30 they’re trying to vacuum from your pocket. A few hundred years ago, King Jan III Sobieski took a stand against a similarly relentless tide and changed the course of history, becoming Poland’s most revered monarch in the process.

Today, the vodka that bears his name has a mission of its own: introduce people who have been bombarded by hype to a premium vodka that honors centuries of tradition, distilled exclusively from Polish rye and pure water from deep beneath Polish soil. Pure, real vodka the way it was meant to be, and nothing else. No bikini-clad models, no laughable production techniques, no fashion-designer bottles. We don’t claim to be the best just because we say we are. The people of Poland have made Sobieski the #1 premium vodka in the land where vodka was born; to us, that’s an endorsement that actually matters.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a double shooting on 31st St. and Tilden Ave. in Brooklyn, a double shooting on 147th St. and Northern Blvd. in Queens, and a fatal jumper at 1st Avenue and 72nd Street in Manhattan
• A man jumped to his death from the roof of his Bronx building after an argument with his girlfriend and mother of their two children led to her stabbing. She's in stable condition.
• The two maids enslaved and abused by their Long Island employers were awarded almost $1 million in unpaid wages and penalties by a judge.
• The federal judge in the Naked Cowboy vs. M&M likeness lawsuit paid a visit to the under-dressed troubadour in Times Square this week. No bills were exchanged.
• A former employee of the city's medical examiner office was sentenced to 15 years in prison for stealing millions of dollars in funds earmarked for post-9/11 work.
• People gathering at a vantage point in Tudor City to get just the right Manhattanhenge photos.
• A Queens baseball Little League has been named after Sean Bell, who was a passionate baseball fan.
• If the robbery note you hand to a bank teller threatening to shoot someone closes with "OK, thank you," there's a good bet she will not take you seriously.

• Sobieski Vodka, the #1 premium vodka from the land where vodka was born.
  
• Summer Restaurant Week, where you can eat famously from July 21-25 and July 28-August 1.
  
• Washington DC Tourism, where you can stay for as little as $99 per night and get 30% off.
  
• NYC Soundtracks, a new show on MSG that searches for the greatest subway musicians, beginning this Sunday.
  
• American Express, where you can get a $25 gift card for eating twice at a Summer Restaurant Week location.
  
• City of Men, the follow up to City of God, out on DVD right now!
  
• All Points West, the three day music festival at Liberty State Park.
  
• Campaign to Improve Assisted Living, uniting caregivers, residents, family members and advocates for quality service.
  
• American Apparel, where you can buy everything from T-shirts to swim wear.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A bank robbery on 205th St. and Linden Blvd. in Queens, a fatal trauma at 30 Rock in Manhattan, and a shooting on Ave. J and E108th St. in Brooklyn.
• A doctor missing since September 10, 2001--but last seen near Century 21--was added to the list of 9/11 victims.
• The city's Campaign Finance Board ruled against City Council member Melinda Katz's attempt to keep donations from the real estate industry to her campaign for city comptroller. New rules now restrict donations from real estate concerns.
• The New York Times' stock is at its lowest point ever (the company has over $1 billion in debt)--illustration here.
• The long non-working escalators at one of the Union Square subway station's entrances now have their hibernation shelter.
• A nurse claims the former Filipino ambassador to the United Nations enslaved her on the Upper East Side.
• And Vanity Fair's blog takes a stab at creating unflattering Photoshopped images of Fox News personalities. Expect Bill O'Reilly to take on Graydon Carter and the liberal media tonight.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a child struck by a a vehicle on Dean St., found ammo on 3rd Ave. in Manhattan, and a possible drowning at 138-46 Blvd. in Queens.
• Why can't NYU take a cue from the Ikea shuttle buses?
• The boyfriend of the high school student found dead after a party (the party's host was arrested for not cooperating) -- was arrested himself in a sweep of heroin dealers in Nassau County.
• Ted Koppel is joining BBC America's newscasts--his first will be later this week.
• The grandmother of the 5-year-old boy who was badly burned when he tried to burn down her apartment (she wouldn't let him go out and play with his friends) defended the child. She said it was a mistake by her grandson who's a little "on the rough side."
• Further "Top Chef" rumors: the new Cheftestants may be bunking on Bayard St. in Williamsburg.
• A former Queens prosecutor was sentenced to two years in prison for having sexual relations with two underage boys. One of them was the 15-year-old boyfriend of her daughter.
• And Barack Obama's daughter thinks Angelina Jolie is more important than her dad.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a fire victim on Fountain Ave. in Brooklyn, a shooting on Jersey Street on Staten Island, and a person under a train on the B and D Line at 167th St. in the Bronx.
• The man who shot the mother of his two children at a NJ YMCA was found in Brooklyn today. Investigators found Kenneth Duckett via a tip.
• Peter Cook was diagnosed as a self-absorbed egotist, but a court-appointed psychiatrist said the four-times-married Christie Brinkley could also use some therapy, given her terrible taste in men.
• Al Sharpton pleaded not guilty to charges related to when he was arrested for protesting the police shooting of Sean Bell.
• A two-year-old girl drowned in a backyard swimming pool in Huntington Station, Long Island.
• New York hospital surgical patients suffer from central-line infections at a rate 37% higher than the national average.
• New York magazine profiled the real estate agent who transformed Harlem.
• And an armed man disguising himself as a security guard robbed a Times Square Western Union branch of $500K and a bunch of Metrocards Sunday.