What is it about people who abuse their significant others' pets? A 24-year-old construction worker David Wrigley was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals after crushing and squeezing the cats. more ›

Georgia, the runaway subway cat rescued by a Con Ed meter reader and two determined MTA track workers, is resting up not just from her 25 days in the subway tunnels, but from surgery yesterday to repair a fractured leg. The doctors at Fifth Avenue Veterinary Specialists waited until yesterday to perform the surgery because Georgia was dehydrated at the time of her rescue and they wanted her stabilized before they performed the procedure. more ›

Georgia's been on a lot of people's minds since news of her disappearance became public in January, but she is now safe at home. The black cat escaped owner Ashley Phillips' pet carrier while they were waiting on the platform at 59th St. for a 6 train, on their way home from the Humane Society where Georgia had just been spayed. She survived 25 days in the subway tunnels before being found and rescued. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a possible abduction on West 15th St. and Surf Ave. in Brooklyn, a water main break on Broadway in Manhattan, and an escaped prisoner at Bainbridge St. and Rockaway in Brooklyn.
• Jamaican-New Yorkers were worrying about friends, relatives, and countrymen as Hurricane Dean was bearing down on the island nation. Fortunately, Jamaica escaped the full brunt of the storm.
• Emily "Pemmy" du Pont Frick feels that its "a tragedy" that her mom is holed up in a sick home for the impoverished, but "This is what happens when you get old and run out of money." And that is apparently how you become and stay extremely rich, like Frick.
• A number of Brooklyn kennels, centered around Park Slope, are experiencing an outbreak of a dog-cough virus that makes canines sound like they are cats coughing up hairballs. That is just humiliating.
• A dealer at a used car lot in Champlain, NY heard one of his Pontiac's engines purring and it took a number of mechanics to retrieve the now-adopted black cat named Motor Oil from under the hood. WNBC has fantastic footage regarding the story.
• Marcos Diaz successfully completed his 60-mile, twice-around-Manhattan swim yesterday after approximately 22 hours. The feat of endurance was accomplished to raise funds for Dominican kids suffering from leukemia.
• A Staten Island woman was awarded $135,000 by her daughter's insurance company after she was attacked by a deer. A mounted deer-head trophy fell off the wall as the babysitting grandmother was retrieving a safety gate in the garage for her grandkids and received a large gash on the side of her head.

Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center more ›

Imagine a film festival without the, well, film. Sounds like a crazy idea, but that’s exactly what Andrew Jeffrey Wright envisioned when he came up with the International Flipbook Festival four years ago. The ingenious showcase of more than one hundred flipbooks has finished its tour of the UK and Philly to come to Brooklyn’s Secret Project Robot, hosted by Little Cakes. more ›

There is one pet that does not need a costume - the black cat. But as it happens, some cities (like L.A.) block black cat adoptions during the spooky season for fear that owners are just using them for seasonal prop purposes. The Daily News says that the city allows black cat adoptions, but screens potential owners more carefully. Animal Care and Control's director, Richard Gentles, says, "We don't want to lose an opportunity for a black cat to go into a good home." And ASPCA special agent Joseph Pentangelo suggested "Halloween curfews" for black cats, to make sure they're not harmed by tricksters. more ›

. The buyer might be a Russian billionaire, since people described him as "sounding Russian," or might not be, as writer Marc Spiegler comes across many possibilities. more ›

Gothamist loves this story: The big impressionist and modern art auction at Sotheby's last night did not disappiont, as a mysterious man bid $95 million for the famous Picasso, Dora Maar with a black cat. The NY Times says that witnesses say he sounded Russian and give further reasons why the bidder was an enigma:

He was obviously new to both Sotheby's executives, who would never have seated him in such a remote spot had they realized what a big spender he would be, and to the auction process, as evidenced by the relentless and unsophisticated manner in which he waved his paddle. (More seasoned buyers would have been more discreet and wily.) more ›

Next week will be the dueling impressionist and modern art auctions at Christies and Sotheby's, but the public gets the best of both worlds, as the works will be displayed in the auction houses this weekend. The big paintings are a van Gogh of Madame Ginoux (estimated to sell for $50 million) and a Blue Period Picasso of Germaine, both at Christie's, and Picasso's portrait of Dora Maar with a black cat at Sotheby's. You can browse the Christie's catalogue, and you'll need to register for Sotheby's, and it's fun to read the catalogue notes - it's a trip through art history. more ›

Earlier this week, a New Jersey raccoon decided to visit the big city and hitched a ride on a bus. The bus driver was taken aback when he saw the two-foot raccoon "walking up the aisle to the front of the bus" while driving along 11th Avenue in Midtown. The police helped out by apprehending the stowaway and taking her to Animal Control; a detective guessed, "It probably climbed into a window overnight, seeking shelter." Yes, with the murder rate going down, detectives are studying animal behavior. more ›

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Gothamist has wondered what the photo editing process is like at Yahoo! News. It seems that criteria categories include "busty," "cute," "scary," "bosomy," and "adorable." And we love that. more ›