Those federal rules that will prohibit international airlines from keeping passengers on tarmacs for more than four hours can't come soon enough: A Caribbean Airlines flight from Trinidad was stuck on the Newark Airport tarmac for six hours yesterday. Apparently the flight's destination was diverted from JFK Airport to Newark, but in the six hours passengers waited, they could have gone to JFK and come back to Newark again! more ›

After losing by considerable margins in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia primaries to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton unveiled an ad attacking her rival yesterday. The voiceover says:

Both Democratic candidates were invited to a televised debate here in Wisconsin. Hillary Clinton has said yes. Barack Obama hasn’t. Maybe he’d prefer to give speeches than have to answer questions. more ›

There is a lot riding on the NFC Championship Sunday. Yes, a trip to the Super Bowl may be the ultimate prize, but how about a whole lot of food or a place in a wedding party? And, look at the lengths that some “fans’ will go for victory, is it ethical to deprive someone of the ability to watch Seinfeld? None of that will matter on Sunday when the Giants take the field in frigid Green Bay. Brett Favre and the Packers are used to these types of conditions and as they showed last week, bad weather will not slow them down. more ›

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In spite of the reports, hypes and fears, there actually wasn't much snowfall in the city yesterday - just about an inch - though we did see some sleet that quickly melted. The suburbs got a few inches of snow, while much of the accumulation was in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. more ›

Icy conditions on Sunday caused a number of accidents, most notably a 15-car pile-up on Route 3/Meadowland Parkway in New Jersey. A dump truck had jumped a divider, and then cars, unable to avoid it, piled up behind it. There were over 28 injuries and two people died. It was announced that one of the victims was Jennifer Alexander (pictured), a veteran of the American Ballet Theater. Her husband Julio Bragado-Young, another ABT dancer, was... more ›

Above are Oliver, Scout, and Simon Little, three Brooklyn siblings currently without a home. Fortunately, they have a kind neighbor who leaves them food and water and has some outdoor housing in her backyard. The other day she found Simon on her windowsill, caught out in the rain and looking forlorn. With the arrival of winter and snowstorms, these cats need a home. We spoke to their human friend (who would love to take... more ›

NYC is #1 when it comes to air travel misery according to an FAA report of travel stats between January and April of this year. 38% of all flights at area airports––Newark, JFK, and Laguardia––were either delayed or cancelled during the period. If one's flight was lucky enough to simply be delayed, the average delay at Newark was 95 minutes, at Laguardia one was only put off schedule by an hour. These are the averages! Given the complicated dance of making connections to get to certain destinations, this strikes us as completely insane. more ›

In less than shocking news, New York City had the worst airport delays in the whole country. Not only are Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports very crowded, bad weather was also a factor making 2006 a record year for airport delays. more ›

It's freezing, it's Monday...and today is the most depressing day of the year. Happy Blue Monday, everyone! more ›

Supporters of gay marriage walked across the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday, in order to show opposition to President Bush's proposed Constitutional amendment that would define marriage. Only a few hundred people joined the march due to the bad weather, but that didn't stop a very sweet presentation. Newsday reports that Gus Archilla, 90, and Elmer Lokkins, 86, who have been together for 61 years received a check from jewelry company Love and Pride. Archilla and Lokkins were married three years ago in Canada. We also thought this quote from an 11 year old with gay godparents was great: "The people who are trying to stop lesbians and gay men from having legal rights in marriage are bullies just like the ones in my school. They are filled with fear, ignorance and hatred. I know we can stop these bullies." more ›

Two local goaltenders took the ice yesterday for their respective countries and both played brilliantly. The problem for the U.S. was that Henrik Lundqvist played a little better than Rick DiPietro and Sweden won the game 2-1. The U.S. certainly had their chances; two 5 on 3 power plays, but they were unable to score. The loss while disheartening does little to damage their hopes of advancing to the quarterfinals. Unless Latvia can win and make up a huge goal differential deficit, the U.S. should play Finland on Wednesday. more ›

Man, the college experience that we remember-- dorms that smelled like bong water, Coke in the soda machines, it's gone, man, just gone: NYU has decided to go ahead and ban smoking in all its residence halls by the beginning of the 2006 Fall term. A sensible move, perhaps, given the thousands of young lungs in the buildings, and the propensity of NYU students to accidently light their bunk beds on fire. What surprises us is how long it took-- according to the Washing Square News, the NYU Medical school banned smoking in its dorm more than 10 years ago. Presumably the doctors knew what was best in this case. Typically, the reaction from students to the new ban was mixed: more ›

Cubicle victims without windows near you who brought your own lunch or ate whatever your office offered: Take a walk outisde. It's beautiful, 70 degrees and sunny - it's almost like Mother Nature felt really bad about last week and decided that we need a pick-me-up. Thursday and Friday are also looking to be pretty lovely (we'll take partly cloudy!), so ride your bikes and have an al fresco dinner before the weekend, which is expected to be rainy. But fear not: That just means you'll have time to work on your Halloween costume then. more ›

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Lately, Gothamist has been seeing more dogs wearing shoes or booties, like these Watson's Pet shoes, in this bad weather - not to mention seeing dogs in coats and sweaters. Can any readers whose dogs are now shod tell us if they are working? Do your dogs like putting them on? Or do they complain and argue with you to wear a different outfit?
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Finally... the sun is back out and we can enjoy the true last days of summer starting... now. This weekend is looking fantastic especially if you were one of those who elected to enjoy a quieter city last weekend and stay home. Gothamist always loved doing that. more ›

Gothamist is still drying off from Friday's Seaport Music Festival performance by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. more ›

First things first: you could still probably brunch today without getting wet. Weather.com says the showers won't start until around 1PM. Plus, there don't seem to be any thunderstorms headed our way; "few showers" will become "showers" that give way to "rain." So if you've been following the wild Midwest severe storm outbreak with pangs of excitement, today will probably disappoint. more ›

You are camped out at the airport… waiting …hungry… tired. It is indeed nasty outside so the airline must be waiting for this patch of bad weather to clear. Or that’s what we are led to believe as we struggle to stay away from the Cinnabon stand. more ›

Note to self: think twice about running the air conditioner all summer long--and definitely scratch plans to purchase a plant light to help those herb seeds along. Gothamist is flummoxed at the Carlsbad, California police department's recent raid of a family home, where the purported marijuana-growers were doing nothing more than running the typical insane amount of appliances any normal suburban family does on a given day. Though they had planned a non-intrusive "fancy aerial infra-red surveillance" to confirm their suspicions, bad weather forced the officers to revert to the old battering ram. (Luckily Dina Dagy came home from work to let the cops inside.) more ›

My neighbor has a dog that barks all night long and keeps me awake. Is there anything I can do about it? more ›

Felix Salmon, Journalist more ›