untitled photo of Williamsburg laundromat, by reverie103 at flickrToday on the Gothamist Newsmap: a car vs. building incident at the Nissan car dealership on Hylan Blvd. and Parkinson Ave. on Staten Island, a double shooting on East 91st St. in Brooklyn, and a homicide on 158th Ave. in Queens. Crime-fiction author Patricia Cornwell donated $1 million to the John Jay School of Criminal Justice, and then spent another $250,000 in preemptive explanation newspaper ads......

Photographs of a 7-year-old girl's battered body moved jurors in the Nixzmary Brown murder trial to tears yesterday. The prosecution showed crime scene photographs, featuring Nixzmary's dead body. The girl's stepfather Cesar Rodriguez is on trial for second-degree murder. Newsday thought it sounded like someone exclaimed "Jesus!" after seeing the pictures; other jurors covered their mouths. And with good reason: One of the pictures "showed bruised and scratched buttocks of the child with a spot......

An NYPD officer was arrested early Thursday morning by Middletown, NY police after a young girl came forward and accused him of repeatedly raping her while she was a student at the karate school where he taught. Trent Young is a married 39-year-old who has been with the NYPD for nine years. Middletown Police said that prior to becoming a police officer, Young was a schoolteacher. He is accused of sexually abusing a female student......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a home invasion robbery on Lincoln Ave. in Brooklyn, a hostage situation on Duane Ct. on Staten Island, and a sexual assault on West 153rd St. and Macombs Pl. in Manhattan. "Live Free or Die Hard" director Len Wiseman is slated to direct a remake of "Escape From New York," with Gerard Butler ("300") assuming the role of Snake Plissken, who was originally played by Kurt Russell. The Bronx......

- Brooklyn Papers talks to Brooklyn Beep Marty Markowitz who tells them they are biased about the Atlantic Yards project and updates them on his diet - An eighth grader tells The Politicker's Azi Paybarah that Eliot Spitzer's inauguration speech was positive but "mean" to George Pataki. How naive the young are - wait till you pay taxes, kid! - Speaking of Spitzer, good luck to him on trying to introduce gay marriage proposals......

- The New York City Fire Patrol, which has been around since before the FDNY, may cease to exist on October 1. Save the Patrol! - There is a good piece in the Times today on Green apartment towers rising in the city. All well and good, but we'll really start to get excited when buildings start retrofitting themselves to fit green standards. We'd love to see rain-catching gardens on most city rooftops. -......

- A 13-year-old boy drowned in Jamaica Bay yesterday on a day camp field trip. - Lakeside apartments available in Hell's Kitchen! Act now! - Oh, to be Young, Latino and Goth in the Bronx. Or to just be in the Bronx. - A 1974 cold-case murder looks like it has a suspect. The step-dad, natch. - An NYPD sergeant facing disciplinary action shot himself in Queens yesterday. - A 19-year-old cover girl died......

From the creepy news division: An NYPD officer was arrested for " New York Region > Police Say a Popular Officer Sought Boys in Chat Rooms" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/nyregion/03officer.html">attempting to engage minors in sexual exchanges over the Internet." And what's more, he was a youth officer, working with troubled youngsters in Queens. Officer Michael Costello's Internet activities were discovered when police were doing a routine investigation in Internet criminal activity; then Internal Affairs got involved. Officer Costello......