Police in two states are trying to piece together the last 12 hours of slain Brooklyn cafe owner Josh Rubin's life, with Pennsylvania authorities working under the assumption that Rubin was killed elsewhere and dumped in an apple orchard outside of Allentown, while theories about Rubin's alleged money problems and drug ties continue to circulate. more ›

As authorities continue to investigate the death of Brooklyn cafe owner Josh Rubin, the Post's sources suggest the 30-year-old may have been dealing weed: "[Rubin] had been pressing his friends to buy large weights of weed... Rubin’s friends told investigators that he’d get them as much as a pound of pot at time, according to the sources." And Rubin's money problems are also being looked at. more ›

The mystery surrounding the gruesome murder of Brooklyn cafe owner Josh Rubin deepens today, with conflicting stories about whether or not he was in debt when he vanished, and a few more clues about how he may have disappeared. more ›

More details are emerging this morning about Josh Rubin, the missing Brooklyn cafe owner whose shot and badly burned body was identified last night, though investigators are still trying to piece together exactly what happened between the night of October 31, when Rubin went missing, and the morning of November 1, when his body was found. more ›

The Queens mother who was accused of holding her 3-year-old son in a tub of scalding water because he soiled his diapers was sentenced to 15 years in prison yesterday. Regina Cooper, 31, was verbally condemned by Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter for taking her anger out on a kid "who just wanted to be loved," in essentially the worst wording imaginable to any mom: "Regina Cooper unfortunately is the mother from hell. The defendant is sadistic and merciless." more ›

Late last month the shoe shine booth, located on 42nd Street near 5th Avenue and owned by the Bryant Park Corporation, was torched in the middle of the night. This morning we heard rumblings that the same exact thing happened, and Jerome Barth at the BPC just confirmed with us that around 1:30 a.m. someone set fire to the replacement booth. Sigh. more ›

A Rockaway Park mom was so furious that her 3-year-old had soiled himself that she held him in scalding water for several minutes, burning the child so badly his skin began falling off his body, Queens DA Richard Brown alleges. Regina Cooper, 30, "got upset" when she came home yesterday and was told that her son, Barkim Owens, had soiled his pull-ups. According to the DA, she "cursed at her son, stripped him of his clothing and placed him in the bathtub without testing the temperature of the water. She allegedly held him submerged in the water for several minutes while the child screamed, cried and pleaded with his mother to take him out." more ›

All of those counterfeit clothes the city confiscates used to go to the needy... but the NY Times reports that this past year city officials destroyed the new, unused clothing and footwear. more ›

After enjoying some NCAA basketball and drinks with a client at an Upper West Side barbecue restaurant one night last March, 31-year-old Lauren Sclafani was getting ready to leave when she was suddenly engulfed in flames. As "Great Balls of Fire" played on the jukebox, the bartender at Brother Jimmy's BBQ allegedly poured 151-proof Bacardi rum across the bar and lit it on fire. Which is usually harmless fun, except this time the flame blew black into the bottle, turning it into a "flamethrower," according to Sclafani's lawyer. more ›

A Katrina refugee who resettled in Texas following the flooding of New Orleans is suing a Manhattan hotel for $100 million, after she was nearly burnt to death in her room's shower. Ethel Tropez, a 79-year-old woman who had to resettle in Live Oak, TX after Katrina, was visiting NYC and staying at the Hotel Chandler on 31st St., near 5th Ave. more ›