Apparently, Mayor Bloomberg uses the word unconscionable so much that the Times poured 969 other words into analyzing the verbal tic. According to the article, Bloomberg’s U-bombing is definitely excessive; he drops the heavy pejorative in situations that don’t merit it, like when a reporter dared ask him if his trip to Israel was calculated to woo Jewish voters. (“That’s unconscionable. You should be ashamed to ask that question,” he reportedly snapped.) And when a...
Continue Reading "Bloomberg's Favorite Epithet is Unconscionable"You are browsing the News category
April 30, 2008
Photograph of traders and specialists on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor by David Karp/AP The Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 2%, giving this explanation:Recent information indicates that economic activity remains weak. Household and business spending has been subdued and labor markets have softened further. Financial markets remain under considerable stress, and tight credit conditions and the deepening housing contraction are likely to weigh on economic...
Continue Reading "Federal Reserve Cuts Interest Rate to 2%"The historic – but not landmarked – Provincetown Playhouse in Greenwich Village could be the next building to make way for NYU’s ongoing expansion, which will devour six million square feet of space in New York in the next 25 years, if all goes according to plan. The theater is widely regarded as the birthplace of 'Off Broadway.' The local community board is open to NYU’s proposal (see renderings here), but some preservationists are trying...
Continue Reading "Provincetown Playhouse in Way of NYU Expansion"A noontime manhole fire has helped knock out some PATH train service tonight. WNBC reports the Christopher Street station was filled with smoke and evacuated, and the "fire damaged signals and power cables." Path service between 33rd Street and the Journal Square and Hoboken stations is suspended in both directions this evening and it's unclear if it'll be back up for tomorrow. The PATH stations at 33rd Street, 23rd Street, 14th Street, 9th Street and...
Continue Reading "Good Luck, PATH Commuters"Last week, the Post reported that an anti-war protester was arrested outside the 92nd Street Y, after allegedly assaulting a wheelchair-bound teenager. However, according to the NYPD, the protester, Gary "German" Talis was actually arrested for allegedly assaulting another individual--not the wheelchair-bound teen. Police from the 19th Precinct were called to the Y because two individuals were being disruptive during a talk with First Lady Laura Bush and her daughter Jenna. One of the Y's...
Continue Reading "Questions About Alleged Bush Protester Arrest"Between 2008 and the end of 2010, six New York City bridges will turn 100 years old, and the newly formed New York City Bridge Centennial Commission will be making sure they're adequately feted. The six centennial spans are the Madison Avenue, Manhattan, Borden Avenue, Pelham Bay, University Heights and Queensboro bridges. The celebrations were announced this morning by Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler and other officials at Tramway Park the base of the Queensboro Bridge....
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April 30, 2008
The New York Rangers are on the brink of elimination in their 7-game series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but Rangers forward and "enforcer" Sean Avery is on a much more serious brink. Avery was hospitalized at St. Vincent's Hospital early this morning around 3 a.m. for a lacerated spleen and he remains there this afternoon. Which means Avery will be out for the rest of the season. The Daily News had reported the much-maligned Avery...
Continue Reading "Rangers Forward Sean Avery Hospitalized"It's Double Weather Awareness Week! Not only is this Severe Weather Awareness Week it is also National Air Quality Week. New York doesn't get thunderstorms and tornadoes with the frequency and ferocity seen in the Southeast and Midwest, but last summer's tornado in Brooklyn is a reminder that tornadoes can and do happen here. No severe weather or air quality problems to worry about today. How about sunny and 60 degrees instead? Despite ending on...
Continue Reading "May Rain Tomorrow"Chances are you probably smoke pot, you are probably smoking it right now...at least according to the latest reports, which say that "the number of people arrested for small amounts of marijuana in New York City has increased tenfold in the past decade." More people get arrested for misdemeanor pot possession in our city than in any other U.S. city (the figure comes to about 97 arrests per day). The New York Civil Liberties Union...
Continue Reading "NYCLU Reports NYC's Pot Arrests Up "Tenfold""As many gamers play hooky so they can play Grand Theft Auto IV, critics of the video game are voicing their concerns. City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., who spoke out against the violent game that's set in NYC doppelganger Liberty City last year, told WCBS 2, "This game plays to old stereotypes about New York City. Today we're the safest big city in America, with the best police force. This game, if it was...
Continue Reading "Grand Theft Auto IV Arrives, to the Delight and Dismay"Photograph by NewYorkDailyPhoto on Flickr From the Gothamist Newsmap: A suspicious death at Columbus Ave between West 97 & West 98 in Manhattan, a hazmat situation at 56th St & Preston Ct in Brooklyn, and an officer shot at Broadway and Castleton in Staten Island. A 14-year-old boy pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of a Columbia graduate student. The grad student was fatally hit by a car, when trying to flee the...
Continue Reading "Early Addition"Yesterday, on the actress's 38th birthday, Uma Thurman's parents headed to court to testify in front of a Manhattan jury about their daughter's stalker. Jack Jordan, an unemployed pool cleaner, was called "delusional" by Robert Thurman (pictured), who Jordan began contacting in 2004; the email that set of the alarms was one received in February 2005, stating, “Today the center of my forehead is ticking now and then. I feel in love with your daughter...
Continue Reading "Uma's Parents Testify in Stalker Case"Spring is when the days are longer, cherry blossoms are in bloom, and the Rent Guidelines Board discusses this year's round of rent hikes for rent-regulated apartments. And this year's talks should be another doozy, as the RGB found landlord operating costs have risen 7.8% over the past year. This year, landlords will be asking for 10% hikes for 1-year leases and 15% increases for 2-year leases. Last year, rents hikes were approved for 3%...
Continue Reading "It's Time to Discuss Rent Hikes Again!"A strange event unfolded at WABC 7's studios on Columbus Avenue near Lincoln Center. A man wanted for attempting to kill his girlfriend in Virginia decided to turn himself in to WABC 7. Terry Lavern Leathers called the assignment desk, saying he was "wanted for a crime I did not commit." Leathers, 59, apparently hitchhiked to NYC because he was worried authorities in Virginia would "take a shot and kill me. My life was on...
Continue Reading "Wanted Virginia Man Surrenders in WABC 7 Lobby"Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis answered a $10 million lawsuit by releasing a video showing Ashley Dupre giving an assumed name AND claiming she was 18. Dupré, the hooker made notorious because of her connection with former Governor Spitzer, had sued GGW for the millions, claiming she was underage in a video the company released shortly after the Spitzer scandal broke. Here's how AP describes the new video:In the new release, Dupre appears...
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April 30, 2008
Photograph of the Rangers and Penguins in a first period fight (three roughing penalties were charged to each team) at Madison Square Garden by Julie Jacobson/AP Pittsburgh 5 Rangers 3: Ryan Hollweg has a fantastic moustache, but his idiotic penalty probably cost the Rangers their season. New York fell behind right out of the gate with Marian Hossa scoring only a minute into the game. The Rangers tied things up, but Pittsburgh went ahead...
Continue Reading "Last Night's Action: To The Brink"April 29, 2008
In time for this weekend's Sakura Matsuri (cherry blossom) Festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, the BBG's web manager Dave Allen created this video using photographs taken every 3 minutes between April 18 and April 26, 2008 (there were over 3,000!). And, per the BBG, the original music is by Jon Solo, a Brooklyn-based musician and producer....
Continue Reading "Brooklyn Botanic Gardens Cherry Blossom Time Lapse"There's a new game coming to town for cable subscribers who have been yoked to Time-Warner Cable or Cablevision out of necessity. New York City has finally struck a deal with Verizon to provide competing cable services throughout the five boroughs. Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert Lieber announced at a press conference, "This is a historic agreement that when approved for the first time will bring true cable television service competition in each in...
Continue Reading "Cable Competition Coming to NYC"It's not uncommon to hear about animals being housed in New York apartments -- not just cats and dogs, but tigers and monkeys, oh my. The latest animal house can be found in a 50-story luxury condo complex on the East Side. The NY Post reports on a building super named John Hyranyaz who's been mail-ordering baby chicks and, allegedly, holding them at 100 United Nations Plaza.The animals stay put in their makeshift, subterranean pen...
Continue Reading "East Side Chicken Coop Uncovered"Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is looking for a new driver, and The Daily News reports that he's resorted to the classifieds to find the perfect person for the job. The ad, which ran in Sunday's Daily News, stressed that the driver must be discreet, "a prerequisite ever since a former driver claimed Markowitz stashed wine in his black SUV and used emergency sirens to bypass traffic, among other abuses." The ad reads:The office of...
Continue Reading "Driving Mr. Markowitz"The idea sounds preposterous at first, but a pair of retired NYPD detectives believes that a gang of serial killers are responsible for the deaths of at least 40 young men across 11 states. All of the deaths have previously been determined accidental drownings, but Kevin Gannon, who worked the case of Patrick McNeill's disappearance 11 years ago, and Anthony Duarte believe that the Fordham Univ. student was one of the earliest victims of a...
Continue Reading "Retired Cops Suspect a Gang Behind Serial Drownings"Photograph of a young boy participating in Sunday's protest march by Stephen Chernin/AP Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers visited the site where Sean Bell was fatally shot by police officers. He was accompanied by people including Bell's friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, who were also fired at, and the Reverend Al Sharpton. Conyers said he spoke to U.S. Attorney Michael Mukasey and that he would work on strategy with the...
Continue Reading "Continuing Fight for Justice in Sean Bell Shooting"In response to complaints about out-of-scale development, the Department of City Planning is proposing a zoning amendment to six streets in Carroll Gardens. This would classify certain streets in Carroll Gardens as narrow streets for zoning purposes and “limit the size and configuration of new buildings and enlargements to more closely match the area's prevailing character.” Many of the 19th century homes have coveted deep front yards, thanks to the Brooklyn Law of 1846 that...
Continue Reading "Carroll Gardens Development May Be Curbed by Downzoning"Wall Street tycoon Dr. Mitchell Blutt is at the center of a Manhattan mansion controversy: He purchased two town houses east of his home on East 90th Street between Park and Madison in hopes of combining them into one giant abode. The NY Times reports that "three Romanesque Revival, four-story town houses," upon merging into one, would create a 17,000-square-foot mansion. The triple Brownstone residential combo is a rare one, and needless to say it's...
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April 29, 2008
Photograph of cherry blossoms on Roosevelt Island by lornagrl on Flickr From the Gothamist Newsmap: A large theft on Brighton Beach Avenue in Brooklyn, an armed robbery in Staten Island, and a car vs. building on Myrtle Avenue in Queens. A gay couple tried to get a marriage license in Oyster Bay--in an effort to raise attention for a same-sex marriage law--and were given a ticket for trespassing after spending about two hours at...
Continue Reading "Early Addition"Country singer Mindy McCready tearfully admitted to the Daily News that their story about her alleged 10-year affair with pitcher Roger Clemens was true. She said, "I cannot refute anything in the story." Although it's not exactly clear when they started their affair--yesterday's article suggested McCready could have been as young as 15 when they started dating--today's article says they didn't start an "intimate" relationship until McCready was a star (and presumably of age). McCready...
Continue Reading "Mindy McCready: Yes, I Had Affair with Roger Clemens"A member of the House Committee on Homeland Security will be releasing a report that alleges cigarettes sold on Indian reservations ultimately help fund Hamas and Hezbollah. The report, "Tobacco and Terror," from the staff of Republican Representative Peter King, illustrates how bootleggers could buy tons of cigarettes from Indian reservations, where cigarettes are not taxed. Here's a sample sentence from the report: “A motivated terrorist cell could generate sufficient funds to carry out another...
Continue Reading "Report: Black Market Cigarettes Linked to Terror Groups"On a day when construction workers who died on the job were being remembered and on the start of the Department of Buildings' Construction Safety Week, a construction worker was crushed under a front-end loader at site in Staten Island. According to the Staten Island Advance, the victim had been guiding the loader's operator as it was being backed out of Martha Street and Clove Road at 9:30 p.m. last night. And when the front-end...
Continue Reading "Construction Worker Injured by Front-End Loader"While there may be an uproar around Miley Cyrus's "topless" photo for a Vanity Fair shoot, it's possible that this photograph of Miley with "Achy, Breaky" dad Billy Ray Cyrus is more disturbing. Or maybe it's just because we have never seen a daughter pose like this with her father. Then again, there is a father who convinced his daughter to work at a brothel and gives her bikini waxes. Here's the Vanity Fair...
Continue Reading "More Creepy? Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus for Vanity Fair"Yankees 5 Indians 2: Maybe it was the cold temperatures, but the Yankees couldn’t do anything for the first five innings. They were no-hit through five, but the sixth proved to be the difference. Melky Cabrera and Derek Jeter reached on infield singles and after Bobby Abreu singled the Yankees had the bases loaded and no outs. A-Rod was hit by a pitch, driving in a run and Jason Giambi drove in a run with...
Continue Reading "Last Night's Action: The End Of The Road Trip"April 28, 2008
First she nabs Mariah Carey's old manager to represent her. Now Ashley Dupré, also known as "Kristen," the hooker who serviced former governor Eliot Spitzer, is suing Joe Francis and his "Girls Gone Wild" operation for $10 million in damages. She says the GGW video was taken when she was underage. People.com reports, "Dupré alleges that Girls Gone Wild representatives approached her while she was vacationing in Florida in 2003, offered her alcohol and...
Continue Reading "Spitzer Hooker Ashley Dupré Sues Joe Francis"John Bachman’s lithograph of Olmsted and Vaux’s design via Racontours. 150 years ago today the Board of Commissioners of Central Park chose the “Greensward plan” submitted by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux for the design of America’s first major urban public park. Except for the rock outcrops, the park is almost entirely man-made; the meadows were swamps until the designers had them drained and dumped tens of thousands of cartloads of soil to fill...
Continue Reading "Exhibit Highlights 150th Anniversary of Central Park Design"


