After Mayor Bloomberg promised to cut up to half the teachers at 33 underperforming schools—and to give $20,000 bonuses to good teachers— during his State of the City address, the United Federation of Teachers has been busy. The teachers' union has threatened to go to court to block the firings and is on the offensive on Bloomberg's education reforms. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg gave his annual "State Of The City" address in the Bronx today—and while that speech was filled with "bombshells" and a glimpse at how he views his legacy, the star-studded video which introduced him kind of overshadowed much of that. After all, how often does one get to see Hizzoner awkwardly bop and jerk to his favorite musician and make-out partner, Lady Gaga? more ›

So, remember earlier today, when we all got our knickers into a twist over the news that Nanny Bloomberg was considering limiting our access to booze, in addition to salt, fat, cigarettes, and everything fun, ever? Well, we can all relax now, because it turns out the whole thing was just a big misunderstanding. THANK SWEET BABY JESUS, right? more ›

Gawd, when will Nanny Bloomberg just leave us alone to die of natural salt and giant portion-induced causes? Never, apparently, and now he's reportedly in the early stages of taking away the most precious vice of them all: alcohol. We must stop the madness! more ›

Yesterday, Newt Gingrich inexplicably took his working class rage over his increasing irrelevance in the Republican primaries out on Mayor Bloomberg, marking a line in the sand between those people who "buy the mayorship of New York" and those with $1.5 million worth of credit at Tiffany's. But that's no big deal to Hizzoner, who brushed aside the comment when asked by reporters yesterday: “Did he say something?" One source put it even more bluntly to the Post: “I don’t think he gives a s---.” more ›

It was only a month ago that Newt Gingrich arrogantly declared, "I'm going to be the nominee." Now, his campaign is going the way of the Cain Train, and he's grasping at whatever straws he can to try to get some momentum back. Just how desperate is he? He's inexplicably taking pot shots at Mayor Bloomberg. more ›

Despite the pleas of a thousand desperate tourists, Mayor Bloomberg will not allow the Wall Street bull, currently barricaded to stay safe from dastardly OWS protestors, to roam free. Looks like they'll just have to figure out how to take the subway back to Times Square. “The cops have to make a decision,” he told the Post. “If it looks like somebody’s going to deface it, they’ve got to be there. It’s just sad that there are people who might want to [vandalize] it." more ›

Well, that's a shame! For weeks Stanford and Cornell were the presumed neck-and-neck frontrunners to build a high-tech applied science campus in the city. But today the left coast institution sent out a press release announcing that it was withdrawing from the process immediately. Why? Because the school suddenly feels that "it would not be in the best interests of the university to continue to pursue the opportunity." more ›

It seems Mayor Bloomberg still gets a bit pissy if you question him about his perfect handling of Occupy Wall Street: during his weekly radio appearance this morning, Bloomberg was asked about the November raid on Zuccotti Park, during which several reporters were arrested and others were forcibly removed from the park. Bloomberg insisted that there was no media blackout during the early morning raid: "We didn't keep anybody from reporting, you just had to stand to the side. You don't have a right as a press person to stand in the way just in the interest of getting the story...the police [showed] amazing restraint. This is the greatest police department in the world. The number of times police fire their weapons here is so much less than any other police department." more ›

If Mayor Bloomberg really wants his plan to make it legal for livery cabs to pick up street hails to make it out of Albany, the TLC may finally have to do something about its horrendous treatment of the handicapped. Back in June the Mayor's plan got the go-ahead and just needed Andrew Cuomo's stamp. But now it seems the Gov is witholding approval unless the additional 1,500 highly-lucrative taxi medallions that would come with the bill are all required to be handicap-accessible. more ›

New Yorkers don't just love parks for their serenity or greenspace, but for the excitement of possibly breaking an arcane law while enjoying them. Eating a donut in a public playground without a minor? Enjoying a widely-sold, heavily taxed carcinogenic product? You're breaking the law! Add a new statute to the mix: it's illegal for buskers to perform within 50 feet of a monument or landmark. Finally, unobstructed views of the World Famous Garibaldi statue. more ›

After CBS 2 noticed an interesting quote Michael Bloomberg gave regarding education this week (in a hypothetical world, if he could—and he can't—he "would cut the number of teachers in half, but you would double the compensation of them, and you would weed out all the bad ones") the Mayor's office has been working hard to clarify just what he meant. Luckily, today at the announcement of a new Facebook office, Hizzoner got the chance and turned the tables, blaming the media, Capital reports. "Nothing I've said in Boston I haven't said for the last ten years," Bloomberg said. "I don't know why you have't paid attention." more ›

There is literally nothing we find more interesting than what current and former NYC mayors think about Occupy Wall Street. Obviously Mayor Bloomberg's bipolar responses to OWS have been well-documented, as he's wavered between damnation for any "class warfare" and respect for free speech. And Rudy Giuliani has made no secret of his hatred for “disgruntled bums” and “leftover hippies from the ’60s and ’70s.” Now, it's Ed Koch's turn to weigh in on OWS: "I’ve concluded the N.Y.P.D. acted superbly and made the people of the City of New York feel proud of the police officers’ professionalism under great provocation." more ›

[UPDATES BELOW] NBC reports that NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly and Manhattan DA Cy Vance are scheduled to make an announcement at 7:30 p.m. tonight—the announcement is "likely terrorism related." MSNBC's Meg Robertson reports that it's "confirmed" that the announced is terrorism related. We'll update this post as we learn more information. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott warned today that the city is facing “strong possibility” of a school bus strike next week, one which Bloomberg says would result in "chaos." Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union is threatening to strike over the city's plan to ask for bids for service to transport special education pre-kindergarten children for next school year. “So the union is threatening an illegal strike that would harm the education of more than 152,000 students if it doesn’t get its way. And that’s just outrageous,” Bloomberg said at City Hall earlier. more ›

Charity has always been important to billionaire Mayor Mike Bloomberg—in 2009, he handed out $254 million in donations, making him the country's fourth biggest giver. And he greatly exceeded that amount in 2010: Bloomberg gave more than $553 million in donations last year. His charitable organization, The Bloomberg Family Foundation, now has more than $2.7 billion in assets, and according to IRS filings, will donate all of it by Dec. 21, 2026...unless they don't. “That was the date picked by the mayor, [but he has] the absolute discretion at any time” to either extend the date or shut down earlier, spokesman Mike Marinello told the Post. more ›

Is Mayor Bloomberg having a multiple personality crisis? Just a week ago, Bloomberg was railing against Occupy Wall Street, saying the continued protesters were "really hurting small businesses and families," and calling reports of vigilante justice "disturbing." But this morning on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Bloomberg praised law-abiding protesters; and while he was reluctant to call OWS "a movement," he did say that OWS "is part of a much bigger thing we should be focusing on." Watch the segment (the OWS stuff starts at 13:15) below: more ›

Arturas Zuokas, mayor of the Lithuanian town of Vilnius, is a hero to those of us who frequent the city's bike lanes. If a luxury vehicle happens to obstruct them in Vilnius, he is not afraid to use his tank to enforce the law. We dreamed of a day when Mayor Bloomberg and Janette Sadik-Khan will plow over those giant tour buses on the Bowery, but it appears that Zuokas is taking his message to NYC. This video shows him slapping a sticker depicting a tank crushing a car on a Chrysler blocking a bike lane on Prince Street. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg is quite adept at verbal jujitsu when he needs to be—which has become quite clear in his bipolar responses to the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests. But he outdid himself today on his radio show: when he was asked about a bill that would ban hard-to-remove parking violation stickers, Bloomberg weaved into a metaphor which involved murdering your parents as he defended their continued usage. more ›

Every day, Mayor Bloomberg seems to be getting angrier and angrier at Occupy Wall Street protesters, whether it's because they're ruining tourism, making a mess, or hurting families. Today, he chastised OWS for how they handled the situation with the kitchen worker who was arrested for sexual abuse in the Zuccotti Park tents yesterday. Bloomberg was furious about a report that demonstrators kicked the man out of the park instead of calling police: "If this is in fact happening—and it's very hard to get good information—it is despicable. I think it is outrageous and it really allows the criminal to strike again making all of us less safe." more ›