The story of Ivaylo Ivanov just gets more and more strange. First, he calls the cops saying that he was shot in the hand only to admit that he shot himself. Next, the police investigate the situation only to find a cache of assorted weapons and pipe bombs at Ivanov's residence. Now the 31-year-old ex-con admits to defacing Brooklyn Heights with swastikas last year. Ivanov, who his lawyer says is Jewish, claims that the pipe......

There are some things needed while reporting for jury duty. Reading material, maybe some snacks, a lot of patience... but a sword and a dagger aren't on the list. But that's what a city employee, headed to Brooklyn Supreme Court, did bring. The Post reports that 40-year-old Vladislav Lisetsky, who works in the Human Resources Administration, brought in a cane that concealed not only a two and a half foot sword at one end, but......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water main break on Pacific St. in Brooklyn, an armed robbery on Jamaica Ave. in Queens, and a burn victim on West 165th St. in the Bronx. Spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy reportedly accomplished many feats during his life, but still died at his home in Queens, NY. A fight among members of a group of men, who were turned away from a Chelsea nightclub because they didn't meet......

Governor Spitzer has nominated Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Theodore T. Jones to a position on the NY State Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. You may remember Jones's name from such incidents as the Transit Strike of 2005. Jones is the one who fined the TWU $2.5 million and sentenced TWU president Roger Toussaint to 10 days in jail. Jones would be the lone black jurist on the Court of Appeals, since Pataki did......

Brooklyn Supreme Court's Justice Theodore Jones nailed the transit union with a huge $2.5 million fine yesterday, plus ordered the union to stop collecting dues, and the Transport Workers Union vowed to appeal the decision. The loss for the TWU could be over $7 million all told, since the TWU takes in $1.6 million in dues each month and the union cannot appeal the dues payment stoppage for three months. The TWU will now have......

Yesterday afternoon, Transport Workers Union president Roger Toussaint was sentenced to 10 days in jail, plus a $1000 fine, for his role in last year's transit strike. Though it's unclear whether or not he'll be appealing the decision (he has 29 more days to figure that out!), there are aleady murmurings of him becoming a labor martyr symbol, though Toussaint denies it. Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Theodore Jones said, "I said in December this episode......