The New York Supreme Court has determined that once arrested for a crime, you're supposed to spend no more than 24 hours before appearing before a judge.That's not the case in Brooklyn, where tight budgets have meant reduced hours for courts. Those arrested on a recent weekend waited an average of just under 31 hours. The Times reports that one construction worked who was arrested on a Friday for "tossing a lottery ticket to the ground" and refusing to show his ID, waited three days for a judge to tell him his case would be dismissed in 6 months for good behavior. "It took me three days," he said, "It was ridiculous." more ›

The MTA's favorite tune is unfortunately recorded on a broken record that keeps repeating itself: commuters need to pay more, but don't expect to see much in the way of improvements for it. The agency is saying that given the huge budget shortfall projected for next year, it's already contemplating another fare hike just three months after the last one went into effect. It would be nice if the next fare hike didn't leave odd amounts of unusable change stranded on Metrocards. more ›