Results tagged “andreapeyser”

The assault trial of State Senator Hiram Monserrate has adjourned for the weekend after yesterday's dramatic testimony from his girlfriend Karla Giraldo. The victim explained inconsistencies with her initial accusations that she was attacked by Monserrate to her current version that a glass broke on her face by saying that she was so drunk that night that "my mind was in another planet." Despite her previous grand jury testimony saying she only had a couple glasses of wine, Giraldo said that she was so drunk that she could not remember banging on a neighbor's door looking for help or telling a doctor that Monserrate attacked her while being treated for the cuts that would leave her with 40 stitches.

After talking to the victim of the "skank blogger" last week, the Post's Andrea Peyser features a different kind of New York woman in her column today: The second ex-wife of City Comptroller—and mayoral candidate—Bill Thompson. Sylvia Kinard-Thompson, who married Thompson in 1999, says their relationship started to go south in 2002, when he was elected Comptroller, "I wasn't sure if he was going through a midlife crisis, stress of a new job. I was willing to work on it. You hit a bump in the road, you don't just bail out... [But by 2004,] he was starting to stay out. He was on trips longer than he should have... I asked him if he was having an affair. He never acknowledged that he was; he never acknowledged that he wasn't."

Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce completed his testimony before a grand jury yesterday, concluding two days recounting his involvement in the Plaxico Burress shooting mess last year. Pierce's lawyer sounded confident that the star's defense was as strong on the stand as it is on the field, recounting his testimony that he was helping "save the life of his teammate" by concealing the gun Burress shot himself with and returning it to the receiver's home after getting him to a hospital. His attorney seemed unconcerned with DA Robert Morgenthau's allusions that charges may be coming for Pierce as well, saying, "It was really clear once all the testimony came out that no one could have acted any differently." While the linebacker didn't talk to reporters, he's been all over Twitter discussing the case, saying he would "Draw a line in the Stand and see what side PEOPLE are on." Immediately after testifying, Pierce asked for directions to Giants training camp with bravado, tweeting, "Which way to ALBANY? someone just told me." Naturally the Post's Andrea Peyser was disgusted, thinking about the trip up I-87 bumping K-Ci and Jojo.

It's almost the end of the road for those cheap lawn chairs scattered throughout the Broadway pedestrian plazas. After incurring enormous vitriol from likes of NY Post columnist Andrea Peyser, who condemned "the flimsy furniture that littered the streets like a going-out-of-business sale," the Times Square Alliance is finally taking action to appease the haters. Some new signs have been placed around the car-free sections of Broadway to explain what the future holds:

Continue reading "End is Nigh for Controversial Lawn Chairs on Broadway"

In her closing arguments yesterday, prosecutor Leila Kermani told jurors that alleged cat killer Joseph Petcka, a retired minor league baseball player and sometime actor, is just a "washed-up, never-made-it-to-the-big-leagues athlete" and a "D-minus" actor. On Friday the 6'2" Petcka testified that Norman, the name of his then-girlfriend's 7-pound neutered and de-clawed tabby, "came and lunged at me, throwing me on my butt on the coffee table. Norman was biting into my hand." While he admitted to kicking Norman "hard," his lawyer insists "it was a tragic accident. It was not intentional." But Kermani showed jurors a photo of Norman wearing a Christmas bow and, sarcastically referring to the cat's teeth as his "fangs of fury," asked them, "How can this, knock over that?" The jury begins deliberations this afternoon; Petcka faces up to two years in jail if convicted in the animal cruelty case.

NY Post columnist Andrea Peyser interviewed Joseph Petcka--the 205-pound man on trial for animal cruelty after kicking his girlfriend's 7-pound cat to death (the cat had a broken leg, three broken ribs, broken teeth, and a lacerated tongue, plus a chest full of blood). She finds him "uncomplicated" and writes his "life devolved into tragi-comedy" because of the incident. Petcka tells Norman the cat, via Peyser, "I apologize, and I'm very sorry - I'm so sorry this happened between us," says he loves all animals, and tells his side of the story. Petcka, who now has a new girlfriend with "an awesome dog," ultimately gets this reaction from Peyser, "He killed a cat! Can't this guy get a break?"

When Super Sunday rolls around, there will be a lot of questions that will be answered. Will the Giants stop the undefeated season of the Patriots? How will Eli Manning perform in the biggest game of his career? And how Tom Brady's foot be? While there are clearly lots of other questions, one question that isn't so obvious is...who's the hotter quarterback. Is it the boy from New Orleans with Southern charm? Or is it the quarterback from California's Bay Area with the supermodel girlfriend?

The custody battle over Michelle Malakov, a 4-year-old who witnessed her father being shot to death at a Queens playground, continued in Queens Family Court. And the testimony of State Senator Diane Savino underlined how the dispute between the slain man's family and his ex-wife has gone almost full-tilt crazy. Queens dentist Daniel Malakov had been awarded temporary custody of his daughter for about a week. On October 28, he was dropping her off to...

The most famous new heiress these days is Trouble, the Maltese dog who was left $12 million in owner Leona Helmsley's will. To put this in perspective, Leona Helmsley gave a chauffeur $100,000, two grandchildren $5 million each (plus another $5 million each if they visit their father's grave at least once a year), and two other grandchildren nothing "for reasons which are known to them."

The Khalil Gibran International Academy––a new bi-lingual school dedicated to teaching children Arabic and instructing students about Middle Eastern history––received a new principal after the abrupt departure of its founder Debbie Almontaser in a flap over a t-shirt. The new interim principal is Danielle Salzberg, who is an Orthodox Jewish woman that has been working with the Dept. of Education to establish the Khalil Gibran school.

Peter Braunstein, the writer who was convicted of kidnapping and torturing a former colleague, is back to writing: He sent a letter to the judge, expressing his remorse. Last month, it took a jury about four hours to find Braunstein guilty of his 13-hour 2005 attack, and Judge Thomas Farber will be sentencing Braunstein on Monday.

Jane Larkworthy, beauty editor of W magazine, testified yesterday in the sensational trial of her boyfriend Peter Braunstein. Lawyers for Braunstein are trying to argue that when Larkworthy dumped Braunstein, it sent him into a 2-year tailspin of depression and mental illness so severe that when he sexually attacked a co-worker on October 31, 2005 while holding her captive for 13 hours, he was just acting out a fantasy (and therefore, cannot be found guilty). The prosecution believes that Braunstein had planned the attack meticulously and was of sound mind at the time.

One day is all it took. After it was revealed Republican Attorney General candidate and former Westchester DA Jeanine Pirro was under federal investigation for possibly wiretapping her husband - because she was worried he was cheating on her - it's revealed who the possible "other lady" in Al Pirro's life was: The 35 year old wife of the lawyer who represented Al Pirro in his 2000 tax evasion case. The Post calls Lisa Santangelo "a stunning brunette 20 years [Jeanine's] junior" while the Daily News calls her "elegant". Either way Santangelo is painted as a family friend (plus the Pirros and Santangelos live near each other) but Satangelo wasn't wearing a wedding band when the photogs descended. However, Santangelo's husband told reporters, "I stand by my wife. Due to the fact that there is an ongoing federal investigation, neither my wife or myself can comment. However, we have been friends with the Pirros for many years." And then his law partner issued a statement saying, "We emphatically deny that there was any affair."

The NY Times noted Cochran's New York connection:

Mr. Cochran helped pay a libel judgment against the Rev. Al Sharpton, erasing a political liability, "because," Mr. Cochran said, "New York needs Al Sharpton." Mr. Cochran was himself an occasional plaintiff. In 1997, Andrea Peyser wrote a column about Mr. Cochran's representation of Ms. Louima in The New York Post. "History reveals," Ms. Peyser wrote, referring to the Simpson case, that Mr. Cochran "will say or do just about anything to win, typically at the expense of the truth."

Continue reading "Johnnie Cochran Dies"