The wedding season is in full swing: Second week in a row where there are over 30 weddings in the NY Times Weddings & Celebrations section. Here we go: more ›

In the otherwise bucolic Brooklyn neighborhood of Dyker Heights (especially at Christmas with all the elaborate Christmas setups), a man was beaten and shot yesterday afternoon in what police believe was a road rage incident. George Fattakhov and a friend were driving around in their Lexus around 66th Street and 10th Avenue when the incident occurred. The passenger told the NY Times what happened:

As the two were driving through Dyker Heights, a shiny white Cadillac Escalade abruptly cut them off. Heated words were exchanged, but after a few moments Mr. Fattakhov drove off. As he and his friend drove away, they noticed the Cadillac following. At a red light, the driver of the Cadillac — described as a white man with a dark ponytail — jumped out with a bat and swung at Mr. Fattakhov’s car. more ›

Yesterday, a Manhattan judge sentenced 21 year old Rudy Fleming to life in prison without parole for his "unconscionable" actions in the murder of Nicole duFrense in January 2005. During an late night/early morning with, duFresne, fiance Jeffrey Sparks and friends and Fleming and his friends who were on a mugging spree, ran into each other. Fleming had taken duFresne's purse and pistol whipped Sparks, angering duFresne who said, "What are you going to do, shoot us?" One of Fleming's friends said that Fleming shot duFresne because he "was so mad" after she challenged him. more ›

If you've ever wondered how the highest profile skyscraper in the world was redesigned, wonder no more: The NY Times published a look at how architects cranked out the new design, with political officials peering over one shoulder, an anxious developer at the other, and the expectations of the NYPD looming. Besides enjoying the fact that Skidmore Owings & Merrill architects would turn to Lombardi's for their pizza runs ("three meals in a row, straight - 8 to 10 pies" according to the project mananger), Gothamist found this bit about the Freedom Tower's chief architect, David Childs, and the tower's original architect, Daniel Libeskind, fascinating:

:Mr. Childs and the architect Daniel Libeskind, who created the site's master plan, said that they never approached the level of contention they had reached while working on the original tower. As Mr. Childs and his team slaved away, [John] Cahill and [Stefan] Pryor made it their mission to keep Mr. Libeskind in the loop, and ultimately he called the design "even better than the tower we had before." more ›

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