News: October 2009 Archives

Today's end-of-day links: Remember to fall back, sleep can make you tired, Yankee Stadium will be open tomorrow, Philly won't have a transit strike during the World Series, and more.

The Yankees face off with the Phillies tonight for Game 3 of the World Series. They headed to the city of Brotherly Love by way of a train from Penn Station—while fans cheered them in NY, there were Phillies fans ready to taunt them at the 30th Street Station. One Phanatic said, "This is a blue-collar town. We don't like people like A-Rod; guys like that who are on the covers of magazines. Our players put up the same numbers without all the glamour."

Miami knocked the Jets from the playoffs in Week 17 last season and delivered a 31-27 defeat in South Florida earlier this season. So the Jets, who finally ended a three-game last week against the lowly Raiders, have some extra motivation against the Dolphins at the Meadowlands.

In what's become an SEC tradition, the government agency decided to reveal details of its botched Bernard Madoff investigations late Friday afternoon. The SEC offered up a jailhouse interview with Madoff; the NY Times reports he "said that the young investigators who pestered him over incidentals like e-mail messages should have just checked basics like his account with Wall Street’s central clearinghouse and his dealings with the firms that were supposedly handling his trades," adding, "If you’re looking at a Ponzi scheme, it’s the first thing you do."

The woman accused of fatally beating her 4-year-old son was allowed to attend his wake yesterday. Myrna Chenphang was escorted from Rikers Island to the Robeson and Brown Funeral Home in Brooklyn to see Jayden Lenescar in an open casket; she was reportedly weeping. Chenphang and her boyfriend Steven Dadaille face second-degree murder charges for little Jayden's death.

The Giants are at a big point in their season. After a 5-0 start, built mostly against inferior teams, they have lost two straight to good teams. Now, they have to head down to Philadelphia for a game with the Eagles, the team that knocked them out of the playoffs at home last year. A win would restore confidence that New York is a playoff-caliber team while a loss, and the upcoming schedule, would threaten to send the team into a spiral. So the stakes are high and when you add in the fact that the Philadelphia crowd will be in a New York-hating frenzy, this should be a very good game.

The Daily News follows up on the Muslim woman who slashed her husband's throat, apparently over his lack of devotion to Islam and his forcing her to eat pork, wear short skirts, and drink. Rabia Sarwar's handwritten confession stated, "I did not sleep. I started thinking to kill him," and then she went to the kitchen to get a knife.

Things aren't looking good for political reporter Dominic Carter at NY1. Carter was put on leave when domestic assault charges were revealed, but now the station appears to be closing the door more firmly. NY1 General Manager Steve Paulus tells the Daily News, "At this point, we have no plans to bring him back. He's got a lot of personal issues to work through."

A few weeks ago, the Post reported that the economy had forced the annual Village Halloween Parade to downsize from 11 floats last year to just three (there were 20-25 floats in more flush years). But then this week, the parade said there would be a dozen—and the parade's director is giving credit to the Post for helping make it a real parade.

The off-duty police detective who fatally struck a pedestrian in the Bronx yesterday morning was charged with vehicular homicide, criminally negligent homicide, and DWI. Detective Kevin Spellman had been driving a Chevrolet into the Bronx intersection of W. 232 Street and Kingsbridge Avenue, hitting 67-year-old Drana Nikac. A witness said, "He had a red light. He went through a red light and he was speeding. He was speeding."

A new Marist poll showed that incumbent Mayor Michael Bloomberg leads challenger City Comptroller William Thompson by 15 points among likely voters, 53% to 38%. What's more, the poll notes, "Mayor Bloomberg’s action to extend term limits from two to three terms is not a deciding factor for 45% of voters. Although a large proportion of voters — 43% — says it makes them less likely to vote for the mayor, this number has not grown through the course of the campaign."

Firefighters have been fighting a 5-alarm fire at 3105 Bainbridge Avenue off East 204th Street in the Bronx. WCBS 2 reports, "Though firefighters arrived shortly after 3 a.m. to find only heavy smoke, it quickly turned into a conflagration. The fire could be seen for blocks, and smelled for miles."

• Bobcats 102, Knicks 100 (2 OT): A rally from a 21-point deficit and a 14-point margin at the start of the fourth quarter didn't give the Knicks anything more than a moral victory. They didn't lead until the second overtime, but some shaky defense gave the game to the Bobcats. Chris Duhon played 55 minutes. Danilo Gallinari had 16 off the bench, and Nate Robinson had 17 before fouling out. David Lee had the line of the game with 17 points and 18 rebounds. This game won't score any style points, but it did provide late drama. The Knicks open their home campaign Saturday against Philadelphia.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Knicks Drop A Heartbreaker"

Having to cram into a crowded subway car has been one thing these past few weekends as the MTA got to work on station and track renovations decreasing service on 18 of its 20 subway lines. But this weekend should be interesting, what with Halloween and the NYC Marathon in the mix.

The three major stock indices each fell over 2.5% today, erasing gains the Dow made over the month and leaving the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to fall 2% and 3.6% respectively for the month. The NY Times reports, "The drops were led by stocks in banks and financial firms, which investors abandoned in light of a Commerce Department report that showed consumers were still in distress. Consumer spending in September dropped by the largest amount in nine months, the report said, a dreary data point that met Wall Street expectations but reinforced the slow, halting recovery of the United States economy."

There are ominous forecasts flying around spelling trouble for New York City's special visit to Philly this weekend. Members of Transport Workers Union Local 234 in Philadelphia voted Sunday to authorize a regional transit strike as of 12:01 a.m. tonight if an agreement cannot be reached. SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority) spokesman Richard Maloney called the talks thus far '“constructive” but stopped short of saying any real progress was made," according to the Post.

Who knew former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani could feel threatened by an Independent candidate scoring single digits in the polls and running in… New Jersey? Giuliani, a supporter of Republican gubernatorial candidate and admitted fat guy Chris Christie, does seem a little threatened by Independent candidate Chris Daggett, though. He told the Post that Daggett should drop the race and stop stealing votes from the Republican side.

Good news for singles looking for singles in Manhattan this weekend: the intrepid reporters from the NY Post have crunched the data from the most recent census of NYC, and found that more than half of Manhattan residents are single. (For some perspective, if you include the other four boroughs, that rate drops down to 33.5%) And they sound really pumped about this "no roommate, no spouse, no family, no kids" utopia they've discovered.

The list of Rikers Island guards accused of abusing inmates continues to grow longer. Correction Officer Timothy Munroe, 24, of Brooklyn was indicted on charges of assault, falsifying business records and offering a false instrument for filing, among others, the NY Times reports.

One Brooklyn Heights resident alerted fellow neighbors about possible gang activity in the neighborhood this week, after spotting four unruly teenagers on Hicks.

Okay, fine—this story makes us feel a little more guilty for complaining about the subway's seemingly slower service (seriously, what's been going on?): Before Phillies pitcher Cliff Lee dominated the Yankees during Game 1 of the World Series, he took the subway to Yankee Stadium because traffic from Manhattan to the Bronx was terrible.

A man accused of murdering his son-in-law in Ramsey, NJ is claiming that he couldn't have committed the crime because he's too fat. William Ates, 65, is on trial for the 2006 shooting death of 40-year-old Paul Duncsak, who was shot six times in his NJ home, and who was in the middle of a bitter custody-dispute with Ates' daughter.

There are a handful of perks that come with being a Yankee fans: Having Jay-Z and Alicia Keys sing before the World Series, the finest (er, priciest) hot chocolate money can buy and even being able to catch the series while at sea.

Questionable behavior is no stranger to disgraced former top cop Bernard Kerik, who is sitting in jail in Westchester County waiting for his trial on corruption charges. But now the judge who revoked his bail is concerned with his behavior.

Last year around this time we got word that the East River State Park in Williamsburg would be shutting down for the winter months to save up some money. This year shows less signs of a stalled waterfront park, as the Daily News reports that a playground is being constructed and will open in Spring.

Pretty much an average day today as high pressure hovers over southern New England. More sun than clouds this morning and more clouds than sun this afternoon as the temperature heads up to near 60 degrees. Very pleasant for Winter Weather Awareness Week.

It's not the Ninja burglar—it's the "Pattern 16" burglar! Police are tracking down a 27-year-old, male burglar responsible for hitting 16 homes across Staten Island in September, after recently nabbing his female partner in crime.

When the Jane Hotel first entered the neighborhood, Community Board members say they were enthusiastic about the ballroom, having "visions of people reading from their new works in an elegant salon." While the March sisters may have found parlor readings of contemporary literature a satiating social experience, the Olsen twins represent the Jane's real clientele, and we're guessing they don't read much Murakami whilst making their late night rounds.

Earlier this morning, around 7 a.m., a woman was struck by a vehicle at West 232nd Street and Kingsbridge Avenue. The woman later died at St. Barnabas Hospital and now an off-duty police officer has been taken into custody.

With Sad Rat and Sad Panda making us all so sad, it's nice to have Happy Manatee around. Ilya was rescued from the cold clutches of New Jersey earlier this week, and flown down to the more manatee-friendly state of Florida yesterday. The NY Post reports that he is expected to make a full recovery, and a rep at the US Fish and Wildlife Service confirms: "He is safely home in Florida, and currently in a nice pool at the Miami Seaquarium."

A Staten Island woman was charged with attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a deadly weapon after slashing her husband's throat with a knife. The police say the devout Muslim woman was upset her husband did not follow Islam strictly, allegedly making her drink alcohol, dress in short skirts, and eat pork.

On Wednesday, it was reported that the latest John Gotti Jr. racketeering trial was experiencing internal problems because of Juror No. 7, a woman who allegedly enjoys "being escorted for cigarette breaks" and is happy to not be at work. Today, the Post is saying that the federal prosecutors' case is now in jeopardy of its fourth hung jury because of Juror No. 7's antics.

The Manhattan Bridge has been plagued with problems since it was constructed 100 years ago... and the ol' gal still isn't perfect after all this time. The NY Times reports that a $150 million project will soon be underway to replace all of the vertical suspension cables on the bridge, causing disruptions in weekend subway service (B, D, N and Q lines), closing the bikeway and even shutting down some traffic lanes... for the next four years. (The cyclists will have to share a pedestrian walkway.)

Last night, after an 11 minute takedown of Fox News, The Daily Show set its sights on our own mayoral race. Term limits turnaround? Check. President Obama's, uh, endorsement of Thompson? Check. And, yes, they did totally put Mayor Bloomberg next to a graphic of Richie Rich—and Jon Stewart did say they were the same height.

Hooters has added insult to injury. If it isn’t painful enough to wear those tight, little, crotch-riding orange shorts, waitresses at the restaurant chain also have to dip into their paychecks to pay for the uniforms - which is illegal.

Dominic Carter, NY1's senior political reporter and host of "Inside City Hall," appeared in Rockland Family Court, denying charges that he repeatedly assaulted his wife. And Marilyn Carter also told the judge that her husband did not beat her—actually, she says, it was a day laborer whose name she doesn't know.

So much for those parental consent forms! Two public school students, one in Brooklyn and one in Staten Island, were given the swine flu vaccine without signed consent forms. The NYC Health Department told the NY Times, "We are working to determine how this occurred, and to implement additional safeguards."

This Sunday, a 50-cent surcharge will be added to taxi fares, as part of the state's MTA bailout which was approved earlier this year. This surcharge is in addition to the existing surcharges, such as the rush-hour surcharge (Monday-Friday) of $1 between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and the night surcharge between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

• Yankees 3 Phillies 1: The Yankees gave AJ Burnett a lot of money this offseason to pitch in big games and he delivered on Thursday night. Burnett, who would have had a shutout with better defense, allowed only one run over seven innings and struck out nine. Pedro Martinez almost matched him, but he was touched up for two home runs, one by Mark Teixeira that tied the game at 1 and one by Hideki Matsui that put New York up 2-1.

Frank DiPascali, the "chief financial officer" for Bernard Madoff Investments, was denied bail by a judge yesterday, in spite of both the defense's and prosecution's arguments that DiPascali was cooperating. U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan was skeptical of that, "The only people he could cooperate with are in a prison in Butner or in the bottom of a swimming pool someplace." Ouch!

In February, NYC Transit installed video screens on the platform in the Myrtle-Wyckoff station in Brooklyn, showing the locations of every L train on the line, updated every 15 seconds. And now we know from the Twitter machine that the screens have arrived at Bedford Avenue. NYC Transit posted these photos, and we're told the screens have been installed at various points throughout the station.

After last night's Game 1 loss to the Phillies, the Yankees are hoping to even up the World Series. Now, manager Joe Girardi is benching Nick Swisher. The AP, which calls him the "slumping outfielder," says Swisher will be replaced by Jerry Hairston Jr. who "is 10 for 27 in his career against Phillies starter Pedro Martinez."

Things are not looking good for State Senator Hiram Monserrate. The NY Times reports that the Queens Democratic party is "expected to dump" him, after his misdemeanor conviction for reckless assaulting his girlfriend: "It is extremely rare for a party to seek to unseat one of its own incumbents, even those dogged by scandal."

A network of earth-loving organizations (Waterkeeper Alliance, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, and Friends of the Earth) descended upon 270 Park Avenue early this morning with a bevy of costumed demonstrators.

Last month the World's Fastest Nudist was just a mysterious, fanny-pack wearing man trotting through the boroughs, scaring young children, and posting videos on YouTube. After getting coverage both online and on screen — it even made it to the desk of Anderson Cooper — the veil has been pulled off: he's just another marketing tool, and we've all been duped.

According to the NY Post, NY1 senior political reporter and host of "Inside City Hall" Dominic Carter is due in Rockland County Family Court, because his wife had repeatedly accused him of "punching, choking and kicking her in their suburban home... Cops were called to the Carters' Rockland County house four times in the last two years for domestic disputes, police records show."

Good news! Just as the Marine Mammal Stranding Center was losing hope, Ilya the manatee has been rescued! 1010Wins reports he is currently "headed back to Florida aboard a transport jet after being rescued from murky waters near a New Jersey oil refinery."

While you were busy doing Sudoku at your temp job, industrious 19-year-old computer whiz Adeniyi Adeyemi was using his three month temp job to launch a $1.1 million fraud scheme, according to a 149-count indictment. During his stint in the IT department at Bank of New York Mellon in November 2001, Adeyemi allegedly stole personal identifying information from dozens of employees, using the information from more than 30 bank and brokerage accounts in their names. Over the next eight years he used the stolen identities to set up more than 30 fraudulent bank and brokerage accounts, prosecutors say.

What's really behind the bar at Brooklyn watering holes? Hopefully you'll never find out, but the Brooklyn Paper reports on some of the makeshift security systems barkeeps keep hidden from their patrons.

While game 1 of the World Series didn't end the way Yankees fans wanted it to, fans were happy to see legendary catcher Yogi Berra. During the pregame ceremony honoring the country's veterans (the MLB has been "welcoming back veterans" all season), Berra was accompanied to the mound by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden—and Yankees captain Derek Jeter gave both women a kiss on the cheek.

Earlier this month, celebrated Irish tenor Ronan Tynan lost his regular gig singing "God Bless America" at Yankee Stadium during the formerly forced seventh inning patriotism stretch. The Yankees cut him loose because he got caught making an anti-Semitic remark to a prospective apartment buyer in his building; when the broker told him not to worry because the buyers weren't Red Sox fans, Tynan replied, "I don’t care about that, as long as they are not Jewish." For good measure, he added that some Jewish women who'd seen the apartment were "scary."

Though former Fox 5 TV reporter Mike Sheehan originally said "neigh" to charges that he was drunk when he drove into a mounted police officer in March, yesterday he pleaded guilty to driving while impaired by alcohol. Sheehan drove into the horse and cop on Varick Street in Tribeca, leaving the cop with a bruised leg and the horse with cuts, bruises and scrapes; he refused to take a Breathalyzer test after the accident. In true Fox news style, Sheehan had claimed that the horse was actually to blame for colliding with him.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan is on the information superhighway—the leader of the New York Archdiocese has a blog called The Gospel in the Digital Age, where he tackles things like sexual abuse in the Catholic Church (today's entry is an op-ed he submitted to the NY Times, which declined it) and baseball—"It’s been hard for this bishop to be against angels, but fortunately that crisis of conscience has passed with the Yankees 5-2 victory last night over the Los Angeles Angels, giving them their 40th American League pennant and sending the Bronx Bombers back to the World Series."

What's this? Governor Paterson, who has repeatedly said he will run for governor next year, is reportedly going to "reassess" his chances of winning the race, if his approval ratings continue to suck. A Democratic source told the Daily News, "He's in it, he's planning to put the team together, but he's said if his numbers don't improve by the beginning of the year, he would have to reassess his campaign."

The woman who crashed a van full of foster children into oncoming traffic in Queens on Monday confessed to police that she smoked crack cocaine around 1 or 2 a.m., did heroin around 9 a.m., and drank one alcoholic beverage around noon that same day. Sheila Bethea, 45, also admitted to speeding, and told police she did not know 5-year-olds needed to be in car seats. (None of her passengers were even wearing seat belts.) Perhaps even more devastating is the revelation that the children were supposed to taken to their foster care appointment in a cab.

Yesterday, the city's program to give NYC school students swine flu vaccines began at 125 elementary schools. A 9-year-old at PS 157 in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn who received an injection told the Daily News, "My mom told me that the flu would hurt more than the shot...It felt a little bit sharp, and it kind of hurted." Aww.

An elderly Manhattan diamond merchant with business and health problems shot and killed his 78-year-old wife in their bed yesterday, and then fatally shot himself in the chest, according to investigators. Police found the couple in their Fresh Meadows home after co-workers at Green Bros. Jewelers reported that Morris Green, 76, hadn't showed up at his Fifth Avenue office. The jeweler's business had been hit hard by the economic downturn, and he faced crushing medical bills after a recent heart surgery. But at least one person who knew Green refused to believe it was suicide.

• Philadelphia 6 Yankees 1: The Yankees looked like a team totally overwhelmed by circumstances while Cliff Lee looked like Orel Hershiser in 1988. CC Sabathia was good, allowing only two runs, both solo shots to Chase Utley, but Lee was much better. He dominated the Yankees, going the distance and he probably would have had a shutout if Jimmy Rollins hadn’t airmailed a throw in the ninth. The Yankees bullpen imploded in the 8th and 9th with Phil Hughes and Brian Bruney the chief culprits. New York will have to hope for a better result against Pedro Martinez in Game 2.

New MTA Chairman Jay Walder was given a true New York welcome at his first transit authority board meeting today, when he and fellow board members were referred to as "a bunch of doody-heads" by a frustrated union leader.

Richie Notar, the co-owner of acclaimed sushi chain Nobu, took a pill and drank a glass of wine before his Monday night red-eye flight from LA to New York. Then he was "out for the count"—at least, from his point of view. But before the flight was over, he'd be trying to bite his way through a pair of flex cuffs. One witness from the flight gave this account:

Continue reading "Nobu Co-Owner Handcuffed After Freaky Flight Outburst"

NYC Transit's Nostalgia Train is back for tonight's game. According to its Twitter feed, "World Series: 4-car vintage 1917 IRT Nostalgia Special departs Grand Central 7:15pm to 161st St. Come join the fun. Go Bombers!!"

New troubles keep trumping old troubles in the already kinda-troubled John Gotti Jr racketeering trial. One juror was already excused because of some bad trades, but today the tabloids report that an anonymous letter has singled out Juror No. 7 for "diva-like behavior and a plan to push deliberations past Christmas."

If only the trapped rat had gotten this kind of attention from passers-by. Vimeo user "timmmyk" says he was walking to the subway yesterday evening when he "noticed a large group of concerned people standing around a sick hawk on top of a FedEx van on 48th St. between 5th/Madison. I was among a number of people who called 311 for animal control to rescue this beautiful majestic creature. As the bird flew to a higher perch on a UPS truck it glanced my right ear with its wing. Is that good luck?"

The insults keep flying in the pages of our beloved local rags in the build up to tonight's Game 1 showdown between the Yankees and "Frillies." The Post went out and interviewed "'Phil'istines" across Philly, only to come to the conclusion that, "If the Phillies are as soft as their fans, the Yankees could walk away with the Series in four with George Steinbrenner on the mound and Kate Hudson in the bullpen. These fans are softer than the bread their beloved cheesesteaks are served on."

Maybe this is just a sign that we need to hit the gym more often, but whaaa? This was the scene earlier today at fashion designer Charlotte Ronson's gym, where bitches were hitting the treadmills hard to fit into their slutty whatever costumes. (Hope they toweled down those machines afterward.) By the way—overheard on Bedford Ave in Williamsburg last night: "Well, I need to find loud panties because I'm going as a slutty bee!" Be careful out there Saturday night, people. [Twitpic via Guest of a Guest]

Good news baseball fans! The steady rain should be gone by this evening. Over 1.5 inches of rain has fallen since yesterday, but the storm bringing that precipitation is starting to head out to sea. A few showers are expected through the afternoon but they should diminish to a drizzle by game time. Temperatures will remain steady in the mid 50s through the evening.

Since Justice William Erlbaum found State Senator Hiram Monserrate guilty of reckless assault when he slashed girlfriend Karla Giraldo with a broken glass, but found him not guilty of intentionally slashing her, she wants the judge to lift the order of protection that prevents her from being with Monserrate. The Post reports that her lawyer wrote to the judge saying the couple would like to resume their "intimate relationship ... without further unnecessary interruption or delay."

NYU students: When they're not doing porn to pay tuition or collecting food stamps, they're occupying administration buildings and issuing manifestos. But it's almost the end of October and there hasn't been a single sit-in from the Take Back NYU rebels, who made the big time in February with a 40-hour occupation and a hilarious hit video. So where are they now?

Hate crime task force detectives Stephon Garland and Gregory Wilson, who are black, and detective Faisal Khan, who is Pakistani, were going door-to-door in Gravesend, Brooklyn, canvassing residents to investigate a possible hate crime. They were each wearing suits, and soon enough 15 members of the Shomrim Jewish Community patrol pulled up, accusing them of impersonating police officers. Things got heated, and white uniformed cops from the 61st Precinct arrived at the scene to handle the situation. And handle it they did!

   

The Yankees are headed to their 40th World Series, but they will have to beat the defending-champion Phillies in order to capture their 27th crown. The Phillies are battle-tested and have a lineup that can belt it out of the park. Four different hitters had more than 30 home runs and the Phillies made quick work of their first two playoff opponents, losing only two games along the way.

The Queens woman who steered a van full of foster children into oncoming traffic Monday night had alcohol in her system and a crack pipe in her... possession, investigators say. The horrific crash claimed the lives of two of the five children in the van, but driver Sheila Bethea, 45, survived. Yesterday prosecutors charged her with manslaughter, assault, and endangering the welfare of a child. One witness tells the Times the crash "sounded like a truck hit a building."

Remember when Caroline Kennedy was, you know, thinking about, you know, taking over Hillary Clinton's, you know, Senate seat? Governor Paterson seemed poised to appoint her but then she dropped out quickly and all these rumors about tax problems or issues with a domestic worker popped up...and it turned out the leaks were from Paterson's own staff! Well, nine months later, Paterson won't have to face heat over that, because the state's Ethics Panel doesn't think there's anything to it.

Ah, remember the Chase bank "fraud broad," who was busted back in July for siphoning over $100K from a millionaire's private account, then blowing it on shopping, partying, and rent? We kind of did forget, then the photo brought us right back. Yesterday, 26-year-old Robin Katz pleaded guilty to grand larceny committed during her time as a financial adviser at JPMorgan Chase. So will they throw the book at the buxom embezzler?

Perhaps it would have been nice to have had the mystery of the Washington Square Park tombstone prolonged until Halloween, but the case has seemingly been cracked! In just under a week the unearthed tombstone has been dusted off and, the NY Times reports, belongs to one James Jackson who died in September of 1799.

Last night, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Comptroller William Thompson squared off for their second and final mayoral debate. And it was a feisty affair, with just a week till the election: The Post called it a "Yankees basebrawl", the Daily News noted how they "pulled out all the stops", and the NY Times noted how Bloomberg "pound[ed]" Thompson. Some highlighted soundbites:

The NYC Health department is starting its swine flu vaccine program at 128 elementary schools today. According to WCBS 2, 40,000 doses were set aside for the students: "School nurses at those sites will administer the nasal spray vaccine starting Wednesday to students whose parents have signed consent forms. Nurses expect to vaccinate 15 to 25 kids per day, per school."

"The Empire State is being drained of an invaluable resource -- people," proclaims a new study from the Empire Center For NY State Policy. It shows that many New Yorkers are leaving the state in record numbers, and the move is looking to be quite taxing on the state. Between 2000 and 2008, 1.5 million state residents left for other parts of the U.S., leaving the state with a huge loss in taxable income. Nearly 80% of those who left were New York City residents.

With the World Series set for a Yankees-Phillies showdown, Mets fans really caught in between a rock and a hard place. Do they root for their bitter division rival or their hated crosstown rival? Decisions! As Jon Stewart said last night, "I hate the Yankees and the Phillies...I'm a Mets fan. So, for me, [Sunday night] was like watching your wife f--- the Yankees and the Phillies!"

Yesterday we noted that as renovations continue in Washington Square Park, a tombstone was unearthed by workers. Considering there are about 20,000 dead bodies under there, this is much more mysterious than creepy.

Former Mets GM and now-fired ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips is headed to rehab for sex addiction. His agent Steve Lefkowitz told the Post that the 46-year-old "really needs help, and this was the best way to do it." Phillips' relationship with a 22-year-old ESPN production assistant was revealed last week, as well as some tawdry details.

       

In the same way that Radiohead's seminal album OK Computer perfectly articulated the industrialized world's millennial unease, one Gothamist reader's photograph of a rat stuck in an Upper West Side sidewalk has become a universal metaphor for the pitfalls of urban living. We are all rats, trapped by the, um, race—until the city swallows us up and turns our death into a ridiculous website meme. Our inbox continues to pile up with submissions from readers around the world, who are immortalizing the poor rodent's passing with Photoshop.

For basketball fans in New York, the upcoming NBA season is really all about next year. July 1, 2010, to be precise; the exact moment when free agents like LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh hit the market. It’s a strange year because you won’t have much to root for and apart from a few core players; the Knicks and Nets will be willing to trade away players in exchange for cap space next summer. And don’t forget Knicks’ fans, former GM Isiah Thomas traded away the 2010 number one pick for Stephon Marbury, so the draft lottery isn’t a possibility.

Two girls have died from a horrible van crash in St. Albans, Queens that occurred at 5 p.m. yesterday. Both were foster children: The first, a 15-year-old, died late Monday night, and the other, a 5-year-old died at 4:30 this morning. The Daily News reports that driver Shelia Bethea, 45, "crossed the double-yellow line on Dunkirk St. in Saint Albans while going between 60 and 70 miles an hour, slamming her minivan into another van."

The notoriously Luddite NYPD—they still use typewriters for most paperwork—has a technological visionary in their midst. Though most people know the Internet is just a passing fad, crazy Capt. Kenneth Corey at the 76th Precinct in Brooklyn thinks it should be used to communicate with concerned citizens. So he frequently sends electronic mail, or "e-mail," to a growing subscriber list, informing them of local crime news. But is the NYPD brass going to stand for this? What do they pay spokesman Paul Browne for?

Thanks, Government! Last week the state gave Brooklyn Brewery a grant for $800,000 to help their $6.5MM expansion through Williamsburg. They money will go towards converting 13,500 square feet of vacant distribution space into a fermentation facility, and upping their production from 8,000 to 50,000 barrels a year. Brooklyn Brewery Founder Steve Hindy tells the Post “Support like this is vital to growing manufacturing jobs in New York City. These funds will enable us to complete a six-fold capacity expansion, adding 15 full-time jobs with benefits, and further expanding the Brewery’s green initiatives.”

With the Yankees about to play in their 40th World Series tomorrow night, the city is excited. Especially the NY Post and NY Daily News, which are going to town with numerous stories... and Shane Victorino gets the "Frilly" treatment on the Post's cover. One Post story is headlined: "Their fans are second rate & so is their city."

Not to be outdone by that measly $1 billion class action lawsuit filed against Greenhouse—the "eco-friendly" but allegedly black-unfriendly downtown nightclub—some other offended blacks have stepped up with their own $1.5 billion lawsuit! Greenhouse: the "big tobacco" of nightclubs. This new lawsuit is being filed today by Raqiyah Mays, a Kiss FM radio host, and three others who say that they were not let in "due to their race." Isn't it about time for Latinos, Hasidim, and Sikhs to get their piece of the Greenhouse bonanza?