Though he may have been MIA during this weekend's ferry crash, Mayor Bloomberg was ready and willing to serve his city's information line during a milestone call today. The 311 line, created by Bloomberg in 2003, continued growing in popularity this year, receiving over 18.7 million calls. That boosted the line's overall number to 100 million, and Bloomberg decided to celebrate by easing one operator's burden and answering a call. more ›

After allegedly responding to an Au Bon Pain employee's pleas to help a dying coworker with, "We're on our break, so there's nothing we can do," an EMT placed a call to her dispatcher to report a woman with "difficulty breathing." But according to a source who's heard a recording of the call, EMT Melisa Jackson was more concerned with covering her ass than getting help for pregnant 25-year-old Eutisha Revee Rennix. "Don't put my name in it!" Jackson allegedly told the dispatcher. more ›

As the classic song goes, 911 is a joke—but calling police precincts is even more of a laugh, according a little survey conducted by the Daily News. Over the course of a month, reporters called all 76 neighborhood precinct stationhouses across the city at least seven times and found that many of them need to work on their telephone manners. The tabloid gave 40% of them a ranking of "unacceptable" because nobody picked up within 10 rings on at least five out of seven calls. At one Bronx stationhouse, a uniformed officer twice picked up the phone and immediately hung it up after a reporter called from the waiting area. At the 104th Precinct stationhouse in Ridgewood, Queens, when a reporter asked to be transferred to Community Affairs, the phone rang 175 times before the caller finally gave up. And on two occasions at the 66th Precinct, the stationhouse's phone rang at least 50 times—then went to a busy signal. One anonymous cop explains that officers simply dread answering the phone, because "if you pick up the phone you are stuck with whatever ... is coming out of the receiver." NYPD commissioner Paul Browne says New Yorkers should just call 911 during emergencies. more ›