In a truly inspiring example of personal transcendence, the Department of Transportation has shattered its previous record for potholes filled in a single fiscal year. Since July 1st, 2010, workers have filled 400,000 potholes (they had to count them all), besting the previous record of 395,000. The city budgeted $190.4 million for paving and pothole repair operations this year, then threw in another $2 million after the epic winter storms (plus another $40 million that kicks in in July). As you know, the DOT has been charting the pothole filling process with a series of whimsical posts on The Daily Pothole Tumblr, which is written by (we're not making this up) a circular chunk of asphalt with a smiley-face drawn on it, going by the name "Warmy." more ›

The Green Energy Council is sounding the alarm on "cold patch," a blacktop material used to patch potholes, estimating that the stuff leaches 240,000 gallons of toxic fuel oil into the soil or gets washed off into the sewage system or evaporates into the air our children breath. The president of the group tells the Post, "You're talking about an extraordinary amount of diesel fuel." Cold patch has been used to fill potholes for years, but there have been no studies on the health impact of its toxic runoff. The city DOT has been a major cold patch consumer, but they recently agreed to buy 5,000 tons of a new type of environmentally friendly biodegradable type of cold patch called GreenPatch. Oddly, the Post insists the DOT "had no clue" GreenPatch was eco-friendy until their know-it-all egghead reporter told the agency. more ›