Popular

After a witness told the NY Post that distraught pug owner Chrissie Brodigan shouted at NYC's first Hasidic cop, "You f---ing Jew, you're not even human," her employer suspended her without pay and may terminate her, pending an internal investigation. Brodigan, the VP for Online Media at Plum TV, tells us that after the Post's article appeared, Plum TV's CEO, Chris Glowacki, called her to say she was "lucky not to be fired immediately." (Several requests for comment from Glowacki have gone unanswered.)

A Greenpoint woman's altercation with a police officer over carrying her sick dog through the subway has put her out of a job. To recap: Chrissie Brodigan, a VP for Online Media at Plum TV, says that after she argued with Officer Joel Witriol while trying to carry her pug out of the subway, he arrested her, grabbed her breasts, and punched her in the back while saying, "If you're going to act like a woman I'm going to treat you like a woman." Other witnesses corroborated Brodigan's account, but one witness and an unidentified source told the Post that Brodigan yelled at Witriol, the city's first Hasidic officer, "You f---ing Jew, you're not even human. Jewish people think they own everything."

Upstate writer John Kuhner was visiting New York (his hometown) last week when his late night subway ride to Queens got even more tedious than usual. Around 5:30 a.m., a plainclothes cop entered his subway car at Roosevelt Avenue and ordered all seven male riders off the train. Like the others, Kuhner had made the mistake of putting his feet up, which is punishable with a $50 fine. He writes, "We were received by a group of police officers, six in all... who demanded our IDs and said they were going to run a check on us. It took forever for these six cops to get our names through to their computer, and the entire time all seven of us became more and more annoyed and difficult... I began to harangue the officers: 'This is ridiculous. The Law is for the resolution of grievances between citizens... This is a shameless revenue grab, and that’s why you, officer, won’t look me in the eye or even respond.'" Kuhner goes off on the cops like Patrick Henry on his sixth Sparks, and you can probably imagine how far his impassioned rhetoric got him. Read the whole indignant story here, which ends with one commenter sagely urging Kuhner to "take solace in the fact that by challenging this ticket... you will ultimately cost the city more than the $50 that they fined you."

Rep. Peter King (R-Long Island), who is eyeing a 2010 Senate run, posted a YouTube video in which he rails against the coverage of late music legend Michael Jackson. He says, "Let's knock out the psychobabble. He was a pervert, a child molester; he was a pedophile. And to be giving this much coverage to him, day in and day out, what does it say about us as a country? I just think we're too politically correct."

Pat Kiernan will be very happy: The Riese organization, operators of scores of NYC chain restaurants, is closing its 13 Dunkin' Donuts outlets on Friday and re-opening them as brand-new Tim Hortons on Monday morning. The Nation's Restaurant News' story suggests someone's maple leaf prophecy has come to pass. After being dropped from Riese's roster, Dunkin' released a statement yesterday that alleged, among other things, they're still awesome and "in the past five years 244 new Dunkin’ Donuts shops have opened in New York City." The company also explained that a 2004 lawsuit citing "health and safety violations" led to the "disenfranchisement" decision; Riese denies it and says a five-year contract expired. With Dunkin' dissed and Starbucks plugging away at yet another reformulation, expect an onslaught of free coffee promotions in the next few weeks from all sides, especially around Midtown. The announcement comes on top of previous news that Tim Hortons will open three more locations to be co-branded with Cold Stone Creamery in August, including one inside Cold Stone's flagship Times Square store. Tim Hortons is a megapopular Canadian coffee and snacks chain named for its founder, an NHL record-holder who died in a 1974 car accident.

An Israeli Army major, on vacation in New York with her family, was injured in the head when a giant rock smashed the windshield of the cab she was riding in on the FDR Tuesday night. The rock, allegedly dropped by two teens from an overpass near 71st Street, sent shards of glass into Gilat Raz's face above her left eye. Her 11-year-old daughter, Raz's sister and nephew were in the back and were unharmed. Raz, 41, tells the Daily News, "I've been driving in the West Bank, I've been in Gaza. I never imagined that New York would be where I'd get hit by a rock. It was scary how much I bled. The children were hysterical."

Yesterday, millions of people watched the Michael Jackson memorial—whether at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, at screenings around the country (including a few in NYC), or online. One woman in Times Square told the Post, "It's such a sad day, but it's nice to be with people who feel like I do," while another said, "This is like someone in my family has died. I've just been a wreck all week. I can't stop shaking." And the Reverend Al Sharpton delivered strong words at the memorial in L.A., telling Jackson's children, "There weren't nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with but he dealt with it," which brought Sharpton a standing ovation.

It was almost a year ago that a Times Square tourist happened to videotape a police officer's seemingly unprovoked assault on a cyclist during a Critical Mass group bike ride. The video, which depicts rookie cop Patrick Pogan slamming 30-year-old cyclist Christopher Long off his bike, sparked widespread outrage and ended up costing Pogan his job (getting caught filing a false police report didn't help his case, either). Long is now living in rural Wisconsin and working on a farm, but according to his lawyer, "There is psychological trauma, which explains why he is not living in New York City right now. It is a terrible experience for him to go through." So naturally he's suing the city, for $1.5 million, to help ease the pain.

Did the Wall Street Journal post an Onion News Network video by accident? Nope, they actually went to Williamsburg to "get the skinny on skinny jeans for men" (their words). The video is after the jump, and at 48 seconds in you'll meet the guy who started it all (how exciting!), he says he's been wearing skinny jeans "forever," but he adds that it only became a trend in 2003ish, after it was already a trend in the '60s, or sometime before Uniqulo started carrying them. But he was born in them. He also gives a big "WTF?!" look to the camera later on when discussing the charlatans who wear their skinny jeans with sneakers. Well, with a little help from Darwinism, the skinny jean set won't make it through the century, doctors have repeatedly warned against how they cause tingling thigh syndrome (especially when worn with uncomfortable shoes).

Get ready to see more of Sarah Palin around the continental U.S.: The Alaska Governor and former vice presidential hopeful says she will step down as governor at the end of the month, "We know we can effect positive change outside of government... It is my duty to always protect our great state. With that in mind, my family and I determined that it is best to make a difference this summer, and I am willing to change things, so that this administration, with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future, can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success." Politico reports, "Leaving office at the end of the month, [Palin] will be able to travel the country more freely without facing the sort of repeated ethics inquiries she’s been fending off since returning to Alaska earlier this year."

The NYCLU, the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, and Make the Road New York have released a report arguing that schools can create a safer environment without metal detectors and harsh discipline. The study, called "Safety with Dignity: Alternatives to Over-Policing Schools," is based on a year-long examination of six NYC schools with "at-risk" student populations that do not use metal detectors. According to the report, these schools have improved attendance, better student retention and graduation rates, and "dramatically fewer" criminal and non-criminal incidents and school suspensions than schools equipped with permanent metal detectors.

Remember how last year the City Council made a big stink about milk price gouging, calling on the Department of Agriculture and Markets to enforce price limits after a study showed that 86% of NYC retailers are breaking the law by overcharging for milk? The department regulates the price of milk with a monthly cost calibration, but many grocery store owners are unaware the law even exists. It's one year later, and Councilman Eric Gioia—who's running for public-advocate—is still crying over the price of milk. Though there's been an 83% drop in the wholesale price of milk in the past 18 months, some Manhattan stores are still charging as high as $6 a gallon. The Agriculture Department just can't get it together to publish the monthly threshold price on its website, and at a press conference yesterday, Gioia told reporters that the department's milk price enforcement is virtually non-existent: "We have a state agency that's not doing its job. The Department of Agriculture went from bad to worse." With an election looming on the horizon, you can definitely expect Gioia to milk this issue for all its worth.

With South Williamsburg supposedly still on their break from Hollywood, having been dubbed a no-film zone after too much action, the spotlight has turned to Greenpoint. But the NY Post reports that locals there are also getting riled up over the takeover, which brings a lack of parking spaces and too much traffic. A shopkeeper told the paper, "The thrill is gone. As far as I'm concerned, this is a nuisance. This is of no benefit to anyone around here."

Being criticized and questioned (by even her fellow Republican party members!) over her sudden resignation, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin fought back on Facebook and Twitter, saying, "How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country. And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make." Her lawyer is also threatening legal action over "defamatory" rumors that a criminal investigation might be afoot. Apparently the spotlight on her personal life was too much; Washington Post spoke to John Coale, the D.C. lawyer who "helped [Palin] establish a political action committee and has become her political consigliere of sorts." Coale said, "She asked me, 'Well, what do you think all this is? Why are all these people attacking me?' I said to her: 'Look, that's what happens. They did it to Hillary [Rodham Clinton], and Hillary just pushed through it. It's not going to really stop... You just have to ignore it and move on,' but he added, "she couldn't ignore the hits on the kids. She said, 'It brought out the mama grizzly in me.' She acted like a mother grizzly bear when her cubs were being attacked."

At long last, Gotham's police force has taken action to save the city from two reckless vigilante "superheroes" who have been terrorizing citizens with their lawless brand of street justice. Yesterday a group of doughty NYPD officers—fed up with the costly destruction unleashed upon our fair city by those masked outlaws "Batman" and "Superman"—spotted the two renegade freaks in Times Square and attempted to bring them to justice. According to The New York Post, officers tried booking the super-zeros on a charge of "performing in costume in public" without a license—but the only thing these two clowns were performing was civil disobedience.

Two uniformed cops who ejected a Red Sox fan from Yankee Stadium last summer when he tried to use the bathroom during "God Bless America" have cost NYC taxpayers some $20,000 in settlement money. But the good news is that Yankee Stadium will now allow attendees relieve themselves during the Seventh Inning stretch! You'll recall that last August, one Brad Campeau-Laurion refused to obey an NYPD officer who ordered him back to his seat when he tried to use the bathroom as "God Bless America" played. According to Campeau-Laurion, two officers then forcefully threw him out, with one of the officers telling him to "leave the country if he didn’t like it." In the wake of 9/11, Yankee stadium began requiring spectators to remain in their seats during patriotic songs, in some cases extending chains to block the ends of the aisles. But after a lawsuit filed by the NYCLU over "enforced patriotism," a settlement was reached yesterday whereby Campeau-Laurion gets $10,001 from the city, the NYCLU gets $12,000 for legal fees, and baseball fans are granted the liberty to micturate at will.

Last night, three police officers were hit by bullet fragments when, WABC 7 reports, "they tried to thwart an attack by a pit bull terrier in a public housing complex on the Upper East Side." The pit bull's owner, who police say deliberately set the dogs on the cops, was also hit by a fragment. NYPD spokesman Deputy Commissioner Paul Brown said, "The bullets fragmented and shattered. They were in the hallway, a very confined space."

Last night, Bill O'Reilly had two very vocal figures discuss Michael Jackson on his show last night—Rep. Peter King (R-Long Island), who blasted the media attention devoted to a "pedophile" "lowlife", and Rev. Al Sharpton, who told Jackson's children that there was "nothing strange" about their father. First, O'Reilly had King on; O'Reilly pointed out that Jackson was acquitted of molestation charges and that settling the other case "doesn't mean you're admitting anything" (which the talk show host knows about first hand). King responded:

Bill, I would say an adult male who sleeps with young boys is a child molester. If nothing else, he's molesting and abusing their psyche. How are those children going to possibly grow up normal after spending nights in bed with Michael Jackson? So — and I would say also there's not a daycare center in the United States that would be allowed to hire him...

Continue reading "O'Reilly Has Rep. King, Rev. Sharpton Discuss Michael Jackson"

By Jen Chung on July 9, 2009 6:31 PM 30 Vote 1 Vote

It's summertime in the city, whether or not the weather's caught up yet, and it's likely you are currently sitting in a freezing cold air-conditioned office. Yesterday NY1's Pat Kiernan Twittered about a USA Today graphic that claimed "2/3 of Americans say air conditioning a 'necessity'," which actually seems slightly low.

With President Obama in L'Aquila, Italy for the G8 Summit, three Greenpeace activists unfurled a banner on Mount Rushmore, next to Abraham Lincoln's likeness. The Washington Post reports, "The banner showed President Obama's face -- Greenpeace said it was an unfinished portrait, implying that Obama's legacy was in question -- and the words 'America honors leaders not politicians: Stop Global Warming.'" And soon after, the three climbers and other Greenepace activists were arrested.

Is Ellen Degeneres starting a boycott of growing burger chain Five Guys? This poorly-written flier says so! Eater found some of these stuck to the windshields of cars left on Waverly Place last night, but this is the first anyone's heard of night manager Carlos "Leo" Rivera's "discriminating views" of the neighborhood gays.

Before MTV made the full switch to becoming a universe inhabited by the Spencer Pratts and Tila Tequilas of the world, there was a strange moment in the late '90s when the network appeared to be at a crossroads. After years of serving as the launching pad for models-turned-VJs, one face on the network stuck out like a sore thumb when he arrived on the scene—Matt Pinfield's. Pinfield quickly made a name for himself as the only guy on the air who appeared to be completely serious and passionate about the music he played, as he would sputter off obscure punk references while engaging bands in ways they were unaccustomed to when dealing with MTV. He went from hosting the weekly alternative video show, 120 Minutes, to appearing on-air so often at one point that the Post joked they just give him his own daily block and call it "360 Minutes."

Move over geese, according to the NYC Aviation website, JFK airport was overcome with turtles today, 78 diamondback terrapin turtles, each weighing 2-3 pounds, to be exact.

Remember phone booths? Not pay phones, but the actual booths you got into in order to access that phone. Well, according to Scouting NY there are only four left in all of Manhattan! Because who needs privacy anymore? Well, maybe Clark Kent. But when movies film here they often have to recreate their phone booth scenes with props. Sigh, just another little thing dropping off the landscape of the city. This site has a great archive of pay phones and booths around the five boroughs, and Forgotten NY takes a nostalgic look back on booths of the past. If you want to see a rare booth in person the remaining ones are at 101st, 100th, 90th and 66th streets.

City officials and cycling advocates gathered in The Bronx yesterday to celebrate meeting the goal of adding 200 bike-lane miles in all five boroughs in three years. Dr. Thomas Farley, city health commissioner, was on hand to trumpet the health benefits of cycling; Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe praised the bike lanes connecting the city's parks and waterfronts; and DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan declared New York "the bicycling capital of the United States." The bike lane network is now the equivalent length of a bike lane running from New York City to Boston! The 200-mile initiative was launched after a 2006 report [pdf] determined that cyclists were safest in bike lanes and wearing helmets. The project cost $8.8 million, and included installing 6,100 bike racks and 1,000 guide signs. According to the DOT [pdf], there are now 70.9 miles of bike lanes in The Bronx, 138.9 miles in Brooklyn, 90.4 miles in Manhattan, 96.7 miles in Queens, and 27.6 in Staten Island. And besides helping cyclists, they make for great parking spots, too!

Today, on the eve of the G8 meeting in Italy, Pope Benedict issued an encyclical letter discussing the economic crisis, specifically noting the problems with greed. He wrote, "Profit is useful if it serves as a means toward an end. Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty."

Last summer Special Olympics made waves when they came out in full force to protest Ben Stiller's , after a challenge this season where Joan Rivers created a detergent ad called "Jesse James and the Midgets." The chairman of the conference told reporters, "Historically, the word 'midget' has been used to objectify people, like in the circus." He would like to see the FCC ban the word and has written an open letter to NBC. The president of the Little People's Long Island chapter told Newsday, "It's not acceptable to call people the N-word, just as it's not acceptable to call people the M-word. The chosen term now is LP, or little person." Little people have not made it onto Wikipedia's LP disambiguation page, where they hope to one day be listed alongside Launchpad McQuack.

Last night, the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks headed to the Hudson River. There were colorful displays, including smiley faces, cubes, Saturn shells and star dust, set off from six barges. Here are some photographs of the show—while folks along the East River were disappointed the show wasn't there this year, they could still see a bit of the pyrotechnics.

The Rosenwach Tank Company, which is almost the oldest manufacturer of wooden water tanks in America, was hit by a pretty severe fire on the evening of July 4th at their headquarters in Williamsburg, where they mill their cedar wood for New York's ubiquitous rooftop tanks. And according to local custom, everyone's blaming the hipsters. We stopped by the site on the morning after the two-alarm blaze and several women who reside nearby agreed that "young white guys" had been setting off fireworks near the Rosenwach property around 9 p.m.

A healthy marriage came from the age of free love! The Daily News reports that the couple from that iconic Woodstock image, which was like The Kiss in Times Square for hippies, are still together.