Earlier this year Queens Council Member Peter Vallone Jr. introduced a bill that would make it illegal to jump or climb a building (monument, statue, crane and bridge) 25-feet or taller. Yesterday the City Council unveiled bill No. 721, which The NY Times is calling the "anti-Spidey law." Following Alain Robert and Renaldo Clarke's climbs of the NY Times building earlier this month, the city is on edge over stunts. The Times notes that the......

What's a Mayor to do? When he's not trying to quiet rumors that he has a bad relationship with Albany, Mayor Bloomberg is still getting shafted by Albany. The NY Times describes the latest indignity: How a city proposal for bus-only traffic lane enforcement was shot down. The bill, which would have put cameras on the new rapid transit buses (the whole bus rapid transit system will be complete by 2011) to catch cars the......

Clearing up a legal gray area, state lawmakers have passed a bill regulating the sale of frozen dessert products made with wine, permitting the sale of ice cream and sorbet to anyone over the age of 21. The bill limits the alcohol content to 5 percent by volume and requires warning labels – even though it would take two gallons of wine ice cream or one pint of wine sorbet to equal one glass of......

The NY Sun has a status report on the proposed rocket train. Good news for rail riders, "the House passed legislation [The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act] requiring the federal government to solicit proposals for its financing and development." The plan has Bloomberg's full support, and would make the NYC to D.C. trip under two hours...but it will cost a pretty penny.New York was in full support calls for $14.4 billion in rail investment......

Make sure you’re sitting down: Because of a surge in visa requests, America is currently in the grips of a severe fashion model shortage. The problem is that professional good looking people from overseas have to apply for the same H-1B visas that pasty high-tech workers require. According to Politico, demand for the visas is double the 85,000 spots available in the category per year; in the fiscal year 2007 only 349 models from overseas......

City councilman and mayoral hopeful Tony Avella held a press conference today at City Hall to spotlight a pending council resolution urging the New York State Senate to outlaw force-feeding ducks and geese to produce foie gras. A bill to ban the practice is languishing in Albany, and Avella hopes his largely symbolic gesture will push it forward. Yesterday Avella told the Village Voice that though there are only two foie gras farms in New......

Photo via Jake Dobkin In a recent Guardian article the subject of the New York art world rejecting street art was touched upon, a topic that led to a bigger discussion on New Yorker's views on the medium. One New Yorker, Council Member Peter Vallone Jr., has proposed a new bill which will attempt to do what decades of efforts has failed to do: abolish graffiti. The NY Sun notes that the "legislation would......

Would-be Empire State Building jumper, Jeb Corliss (pictured), isn't in the clear yet. Last year's decision from Supreme Court Justice Michael Ambrecht to dismiss the charges against him was overturned yesterday when The Supreme Court Appellate Division decided to bring the case back to life. A four-judge panel unanimously voted, and the Manhattan District Attorney's office can now pursue its charge of reckless endangerment against Corliss for his 2006 attempted jump. The judges did reduce......

Queens Council Member Peter Vallone Jr. has introduced a bill that would have Evel Knievel rolling in his grave. If it becomes law, stunt men are going to have a tough time working on their craft in New York, as it would outlaw climbing and jumping off any structure taller than 25 feet; daredevils could get fined and spend up to a year in jail. Alain Robert is not going to be happy about this......

The plastic bags that New Yorkers walk away with after shopping have many functions in their 2nd lives - picking up dog poop, reuse as garbage bags, or even getting caught in trees - but there's one especially novel usage. In today's entry on the city's new plastic bag recycling bill, which awaits Mayor Bloomberg's signature, we learned that plastic bags can also be used as toys for children: The best way to reuse plastic......

Not everyone got an over-hyped "I'm Not A Plastic Bag" when it hit Whole Foods last year, so the powers that be had to step in and put an end to the bag's nemesis: The Plastic Bag! Yesterday, the City Council passed a bill, 44 to 2, requiring stores over 5,000 square-feet to offer recycling for plastic bags, as well as have bins where bags can be returned. And on the plastic bags stores give......