Maybe you've received a flier to see a show at Radio City Music Hall called Chinese New Year Splendor, which is promoted as a holiday celebration of China’s diverse cultural riches. But mixed within the traditional Mongolian dancing, orchestral music and Buddhist parables are dramatizations of the Chinese government’s oppression of Falun Gong, a qigong-based spiritual practice that is banned in China. And the show’s political content is prompting audiences to walk out by......

Photograph of Giuliani, with wife Judi next to him, speaking to supporters in Florida by John Raoux/AP After early results put John McCain and Mitt Romney in a "too close to call" race, McCain won the Florida primary. Rudy Giuliani, who once led national polls, looks like he'll finish in third place (though Mike Huckabee is a close fourth as of 10PM), which is actually his best finish after the primaries and caucuses in......

Over the weekend, Democratic and Republican caucuses were held in Nevada, bringing victory to Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney while John McCain won the South Carolina primary (the Democratic primary will be held next Saturday). While Clinton won in Nevada, Barack Obama's close second and his possible win of one more Nevada delegate than Clinton means that a Democratic front runner is far from certain. John Edwards, though, only managed 4% of the vote......

Photograph of Obama, Clinton and Edwards at the Nevada debate by Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Yesterday the three top Democratic contenders for the presidential nominations debated in Nevada. The debate wasn't as testy as previous ones, in part because Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were trying to maintain an aura of good will and love for the Democratic party - and not bicker over race or gender. Which meant that Clinton, Obama and John Edwards were......

Hillary Clinton proved the polls and pundits wrong with her New Hampshire primary win last night and dominated the front pages for a second day in a row. Clinton and John McCain, who won the Republican primary, are being called comeback...adults as New Hampshire polling centers had record turn outs. WNBC's Gabe Pressman writes that their wins are a defeat for pollsters and journalists who had written them off. Clinton chalked up at least......

While the United States' population grew almost 1% this year and is expected to top 303 million people at the end of 2007, New York State's population grew at less than one-tenth the rate, increasing only .08%. States in the Sunbelt, like Florida, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas, experienced much faster population growth. A negative byproduct of the disparities between New York and the rest of the country is that after every Census, Congressional seats are......

What is the lawsuit about, Kenneth? Dan Rather, the controversial former CBS anchorman best known for his strange pseudo-folksy “Ratherisms”, funny moments in the paths of hurricanes, and being mugged by someone who demanded “Kenneth, what is the frequency?”, is suing his former employer CBS, three of its executives, and its parent company, for $20 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages. He claims that they violated his contract by not giving......

COMEDY: This weekend marks the 9th Annual Del Close Marathon. Del Close, if you don't know by now, "was the driving force behind improvisational comedy in Chicago for over 30 years influencing Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Mike Myers, John Belushi, Chris Farley and the Upright Citizens Brigade to name a few." The annual weekend began after Del's passing in 1999. All Weekend // Various Times // UCB Theater [307 W 26th St] // $10 shows,......

Jerry Stahl, author of the critically lauded Permanent Midnight and I, Fatty, returns to New York to read selections from his latest release Love Without, a collection of short stories that's humorous, disturbing, poignant, and a must read for any lover of great fiction. In Love Without, you write about a young boy having a sexual encounter with an older woman. Did you have any similar encounters growing up? I wish. Though if I had,......

Now, almost 100 hundred people have grown ill after eating E.coli-tainted spinach, with 14 of them becoming "gravely ill." The NY Times reports the company suspected as a possible source, Natural Selection Foods of San Juan Batista, voluntarily recalled its prepackaged spinach and salad bags, "as well as prepackaged spinach it processes for numerous other companies, including Dole." That's a lot of greens - you can see all the brands Natural Selections Foods provides......

The Census Bureau just released a study that shows over 200,000 residents left the NYC area between 2000 and 2004. [You can read the PDF here.] The NYC metro area is represented by NYC, Northern NJ and Long Island; Los Angeles lost about 110,000 people and Chicago had a drop of over 60,000. People are heading south (Florida) and west (Nevada, Arizona...Idaho?), though there are increases in Maine and NH as well. Hmm, will this......

When we were little our parents would often tell us the same terrifying bedtime story: An old woman walks into a lawyers office demanding that they help her sue the criminals who have taken away all of her savings. The concerned lawyer asks the woman who could have done this to her so that he can help. She explains that she spent every one of her pennies on the Lotto because she had to......

Matthew Roth,
Bicycle Enthusiast, Time's Up ...

There are some days when you come home from work and really want a drink, and then there are those days when you need one. For Gothamist, this week was the latter. We’re not sure if it was the lost Fed-Ex package, the jammed copier or the infamous blue screen of death (oh PC we hate you) that pushed us over the edge – but we knew it was time to bust out the Gothamist......

Ricardo Dominguez, Artist and Electronic Civil Disobedience Pioneer...

Many Ask Gothamist readers have written to us recently with questions related to politics, current events, and the upcoming Republican convention and Presidential election. So Ask Gothamist is going to be bringing you non-partisan advice over the upcoming weeks and months about participating in the democratic process. Whatever your political leanings, it's a good idea to vote in the upcoming election, educate yourself about local and national candidates and issues, and make sure that your......

Boxer Mike Tyson was granted a license to fight in New Jersey yesterday, some six years after the state's Athletic Control Board rejected his last application. However, Gov. James E. McGreevey limited the locations where Tyson could have a match by barring him from fighting at any facility owned or operated by the state. McGreevey also said he would ask the board to review the decision. "The governor doesn't think Mr. Tyson has the......

Who could ever have predicted that Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau and talk show host Montel Williams would ever join forces? And that their cause would the legalization of pot? Morgy and Montel appeared together yesterday at a press conference, imploring the legalization of pot for medial purposes. Morgenthau said, "It should be available to those whose suffering would be eased by the use of marijuana. There is absolutely no reason for not using marijuana......

Ah, Fox, what would the world do without you? Fox is rolling out two new reality programs: One called "Swan" is basically like Extreme Makeover meets the Miss Universe pageant. The other is "Playing It Straight," where Jackie dates 14 men, who are a mix of hetero- and homosexuals; if she picks a heterosexual, they split $1 million, but if she picks a homosexual, the homo gets the money. Sadly, "Playing It Straight" is not......

Ghost Towns: Pictures of ghost towns in Arizona, California, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico | Ghost Town Gallery [via lightningfield]......