MUSIC: Come enjoy the Whitney after dark tonight as the museum's live showcase series invites Dan Deacon (pictured) to the stage. If you haven't seen Deacon before, get ready for some Casio keyboard electro-rock compositions and an art dance party. more ›

As of 8 this morning the starting points for this year's Idiotarod had already been changed twice. As with every year, the effort to dodge police and the scramble to find the most updated starting line is still underway, but the carts should be off soon...and we'll keep you updated. In the meantime, check out Team Danger Zone's ride! more ›

Thousands of cameras, license plate readers, radiation detectors, and street barriers to be installed downtown won't just observe and record the activity of vehicles and individuals, but will be programmed to sound alarms if they spot suspicious activity. The Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, patterned after London's Ring of Steel surveillance system, will place 3,000 cameras below Canal St., install 100 license plate readers at bridges and tunnels and around downtown, locate an undisclosed number of radiation detectors, and embed automatic traffic barriers in city streets. The system will be programmed to detect suspicious behavior. more ›

MOVIE: The new Hairspray has set up special Sing-A-Long screenings! They begin nationwide today, and there will be three right here in New York. If you don't like rowdy theaters, skip this one! more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a person struck by a police car at Canal St. and Broadway in Manhattan, an escaped prisoner at West 110th St. and 7th Ave. in Manhattan, and an amputation on Brewer Blvd. in Queens.
• A downturn in the markets will hurt more than those that work on Wall St. Mayor Bloomberg warns that a bear market will hurt the whole city as reduced tax revenues necessitate spending cuts.
• Woody Allen remembers filmmaker Ingmar Bergman in a Q&A with Time magazine.
• The Florida woman charged with abusing 11 adopted New York children managed to adopt eight of them in a four-month period in 1994, never once using her own name.
• The Gowanus Lounge looks at the feral dogs that used to reside in Red Hook, until they were rescued and spayed or neutered by an animal welfare organization.
• The Brooklyn Cyclones won the first politically-correct called baseball game in history against the home team Lowell Spinners in Massachusetts. Infielders were base persons and a vertically challenged stop. Errors weren't announced to spare the feelings of poor fielders.
• A Queens resident got in Mayor Bloomberg's face while on camera, telling him he can't take the borough for granted.
• Streetsblog clarifies the DOT's plan for bike traffic on 91st between 2nd and 3rd Aves., correcting misreporting by other media outlets that are getting the street's residents riled up -basically the DOT has no intention of painting or striping a bike lane on the street.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Canal St. between Baxter and Perry Sts. in Manhattan, a separate bank robbery on West 6th St. and Neptune Ave. in Brooklyn, and yet another amputation (that's the third reported this week!) on Gardener Ave. in Brooklyn.
• The Queens man, who drove his known-suicidal wife to the edge of an upstate cliff and then watched as she drove the minivan containing their two children over the precipice, received three years probation. His lawyer called it "a bad judgement call."
• Online feminism for the 21st century at Feministing.com.
• Gambino mob associate Robert DeCicco was shot four times while exiting a pharmacy in Brooklyn Tuesday.
• JFK's AirTrain broke down this morning, trapping 30 passengers inside the shuttle for an hour before they could be walked along a platform to safety.
• The New York Times has Pac-Man Fever, as did ten contestants competing in Times Square at the Pac-Man World Championship. The paper sardonically notes that no women were involved.
• On the 63rd anniversary of the D-Day invasion, the USS Intrepid moved from dry-dock to Staten Island, with much enthusiasm elicited from veterans and fans of the aircraft carrier.
• The Boston Globe thinks NYC is the place to be for anyone interested in good olive oil.

Ring, ring - the Straphangers have released their latest survey of subway payphone usability, finding that more 29% of subway phones (808 telephones were surveyed in 100 randomly selected stations) were non-functioning, with 28% non-working in the 15 most used subway stations. Those aren't great odds. But the most interesting thing that the Straphangers study reveals is that Verizon is no longer required to "keep any minimum number of payphones in working order," which means payphones will probably go downhill as the MTA thinks about cell service in subway stations. The NY Times asked Verizon about this, and a spokesperson said they try to address problems but, "people act out their frustrations on our phones." Yeah, maybe because they don't work! more ›

MUSIC: The Upper Crust are playing a proletarian downtown venue tonight! These four young nobleman will Rocque and Roll you with a polished AC/DC-esque sound. Do check them out, seriously. That is them to the right. We don't think we really need say anymore. more ›

The Times this morning has a story about air pollution in Los Angeles. The city and state have been very successful in reducing pollution from cars –ozone alert days reduced by half, but are growing concerned about the increasing levels of pollution from particulates. Particulates are fine particles, less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter that lodge themselves in your lungs and cause all sorts of problems. Particulate pollution is increasing because the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are booming, the ships and trucks that carry their cargo both run on diesel fuel, and, unlike with automobiles, the state of California doesn't have jurisdiction to set pollution limits. more ›

Christina Ray & Dave Mandl, Psy.Geo.Conflux more ›

It's only two days into the Chinese New Year, so here's some more information on the festivities in the city from NYC Visit. The Post looks at places to eat and shop in the Chinatowns of Manhattan, Queens (Flushing) and Brooklyn (Sunset Park). Some of their picks: Gum Fung (Main Street and 39th Avenue) for food and Flushing Mall (39th Avenue and College Point Boulevard) in Queens; Jade Plaza (6022 Eighth Avenue at 61st Street, [718] 492-6888) for food and Tien Lung Aquarium (5822 Eighth Ave., at 58th Street) in Brooklyn; and Mandarin Court (61 Mott Street between Bayard and Canal streets) for food and Great Wall of China (277 Canal St., between Broadway and Lafayette Street) in Manhattan. Citysearch has suggestions as well, including tomorrow's parade. Perhaps Gothamist will see you there, in the middle of the dragon dances. more ›