The pastor of a church that has housed Occupy Wall Street protesters is giving them two weeks to leave after a portion of a baptismal font went missing. "It was like pissing on the 99 percent," the Post quotes Rev. Bob Brashear of West Park Presbyterian Church as sermonizing. Around 60 protesters sleep between the pews every night, and Brashear discovered that the basin and its lid were missing before Sunday services, and demanded that they be returned later that day. Recalling the era of the crack epidemic, Brashear said that the drug addicts the church took in didn't steal the basin. "Not even the crackheads messed with that." more ›

Everyone's favorite Mark Twain-hating city councilman Charles Barron is upset that Libyan despot Moammer Gadhafi was killed at the hands of his own countrymen last month. "One person's horrible person can be another person's hero," he told the Daily News. Barron spoke at a memorial service for Gadhafi last week, presumably attended by representatives from Just for Men Gel and the treasurer of the Condi Rice Fan Club. more ›

Every year somebody goes too far on Halloween—a woman dressed as a slutty nurse gets drunk and actually performs an invasive medical procedure, or an area man slips actual eyeballs into that bowl of peeled grapes. There's a fine line! Putting a bloodied mannequin underneath a rider lawnmower in your front yard? BRAVO. But lynching a black scarecrow from a tree outside your home? That's a Hallowon't, and yesterday the NYPD was summoned to enforce a little taste in Brooklyn. more ›

An off-duty cop was caught in the crossfire during a shootout near a McDonald's in East New York yesterday afternoon, and Councilmember Charles Barron says enough is enough. "The governor and the mayor need to declare this a state of emergency," Barron said yesterday near the scene of the shooting, which happened around 4 p.m. in the McDonald's parking lot on Pennsylvania Avenue near Linden Boulevard. (We called that McDonald's yesterday afternoon and employees said they hadn't heard any shots fired.) more ›

During Governor Cuomo's speech last night at the Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators, Councilman Charles Barron and his wife, Assemblywoman Inez Barron, stormed up the aisle chanting "Tax the rich!" and "Shame on you!" at the governor. Cuomo was forced to stop his speech and, peering out from the podium, inquired, "How are you tonight, Charles?... I don’t see who it is, but I know who it is." Speaking to reporters after the dinner, Cuomo didn't seem shamed into changing his plan to let an income tax surcharge on New Yorkers earning over $200K a year expire. more ›

One parent who was present for Cathie Black's latest screw-up is defending the new Chancellor's bad jokes (video below) about Sophie's Choice and using birth control to solve school crowding...sort of. Tricia Joyce said the quotes are "out of context. You know if she was nervous it’s not an unusual thing to have said." However, she continued, "Was it in good taste? In my opinion, no." The Department of Education agrees, and has now released a statement: “Chancellor Black takes the issue of overcrowding very seriously. She regrets if she left a different impression by making an off-handed joke in the course of that conversation." more ›

As the City Council hearing over everything the city did wrong during Blizzageddon continues, Councilman Charles Barron accused City Hall of being too Manhattan-centric (well, duh). CityRoom reports he said, "They cleaned the bike lanes in Manhattan before they got to Brooklyn." To be fair, neither got much attention immediately after the storm, but the Post did note that some Manhattan bike lanes were clear even before side streets. Won't somebody please pay attention to Brooklyn?! Fortunately it looks like everything is clear now, so the city can (God willing) start on Queens. more ›

Before the holidays, there was much debate about the appropriateness of giving elementary school kids poetry with references to crackheads performing oral sex. City Councilman Charles Barron argued that 'Huckleberry Finn' was more offensive, since it included over 200 uses of the N-word. While nobody may want Barron to be their Governor, it seems as though the publishing industry was listening: Publishers Weekly announced the release of a new edition of the Mark Twain classic, which will leave out the N-word entirely. And that hasn't gotten anybody riled up at all. more ›

Tylibah Washington, a hip-hop artist and self-published author of the book Streets in Poem Form: A Compilation of My Thoughts, has outraged the principal at a public school in Canarsie who thinks her book was inappropriate for fifth graders. Washington had conducted a four-week writing workshop at PS 279, and on the last day she handed out copies of her book, which includes poems such as "Supa-Dupa!" (which contains a reference to a crackhead performing oral sex) and "Who's The Evil Axis?" (which says George W. Bush "loves war so much he gets an erection!"). more ›

With whispers of Walmart coming, opponents may have a new angle to fight off the retailer: Albany. The big boxer is reportedly eyeing a spot in East New York for its big city debut, specifically on a smallish-by-their-standards site that would not require them to get City Council approval (good, since Christine Quinn is not a fan). The catch? Developer Related, which Walmart is working with, doesn't own the entire property yet. more ›

With the announcement that Bloomberg's Schools Chancellor choice Cathie Black would serve with a second-in-command with extensive education experience, one would think that the controversy over her appointment would slowly roll to a stop. But no. Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and other city pols say they will file a temporary restraining order to Block her appointment, which Jeffries said state Education Commissioner David Steiner didn't want to approve anyway. "Commissioner Steiner appears to have made this decision in the back room with Mayor Bloomberg whispering in his ear. By all accounts he was not comfortable with the appointment of Cathie Black, but he appeared to bow from immense pressure from City Hall and the mayor's rich and powerful friends to strike a compromise that is not in the best interest of our children." more ›

The main takeaway from last night's New York gubernatorial debate: THE RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH. Of course, we've known that since 2005, because Jimmy McMillan has been making his Rent Is Too Damn High Party platform known to New York City for a while, but during the debate, heavily favored Democratic candidate Andrew Cuomo was compelled to chime in, "I'm with Jimmy, the rent is too damn high." more ›

Tonight is the lone debate in this year's governor's race, and it should be interesting, with Democrat Andrew Cuomo and Republican Carl Paladino joined by five third-party candidates—madam Kristin Davis who claims to have supplied former governor Eliot Spitzer with call girls; Libertarian candidate Warren Redlich; Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins; Freedom Party candidate and NYC Councilman Charles Barron; and Rent Is Too Damn High candidate Jimmy McMillan. The debate, held at Hofstra University, starts at 7 p.m.; according to Newsday, "The debate will be broadcast live on cable television stations News12 Long Island, NY1 News, NY1 Noticias and YNN. It also will be carried by National Public Radio stations and streamed live over news12.com, newsday.com, ny1.com and ny1noticias.com." more ›

Almost at the same time that Carl Paladino's television address was going out yesterday, Hofstra University and Newsday announced they would be holding the first (and only?) official debate of the 2010 NY gubernatorial race, and everybody was invited. Paladino was the only one of the seven candidates who hadn't agreed to the debate as of yesterday, though he has now, no thanks to Cuomo's shiftiness! ... So let's meet the candidates who aren't Paladino and Cuomo! more ›

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo had two problems with his attempt to mingle with potential voters at the 125th Street A train station: The rain and supporters of City Councilman Charles Barron's Freedom Party bid. Captial Tonight's Josh Robin reports, "Cuomo got entirely overrun by Charles Barron protesters and abandoned the subway stop gladhandling. The rain didn’t help either.” more ›

City Councilman Charles Barron says he has 43,000 signatures to get onto the statewide ballot in order to challenge the NY Democrats' "all-white" slate. According to the Daily News, a triumphant Barron said of his new party, the Freedom Party, "This party is a black- and Latino-led party that is open up to everybody. If we take care of blacks and Latinos, the state will be better off." more ›

Now that there's an app for that, City Councilman Charles Barron (running for Governor because all the other candidates are white) told the Daily News he thinks any attempt to ban the vuvuzela is racist. Even if he has no idea what they are. more ›

Outspoken City Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) officially kicked off his "protest" run for governor yesterday, by announcing the formation of the Freedom Party, an all-black party. Noting how Cuomo picked a white running mate and how the other state office nominees are white, the Daily News reports that Barron said, "Don't call us racists when we point out racism. This was supposed to be the post-racial society. Somebody should have told that to the New York State Democratic Party." more ›

City Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) announced yesterday he is starting a "protest bid for governor" because Democratic candidate Andrew Cuomo's running mate Bob Duffy is white and the rest of the Democratic state nominees are white, too (the situation prompted Cuomo to call the Reverend Al Sharpton). Barron told City Room, "The Democratic Party has taken our vote for granted for many, many years... This political blackout by Andrew Cuomo is outrageous, that he would be comfortable going with an all-white state slate." And don't call him a spoiler! "They already spoiled us by excluding us and having a statewide slate that looks like Mississippi in the 1950s. What am I spoiling? I’m going to be an empowerer. A vote for Cuomo is a wasted vote, because he’s already got it." more ›

Lawmakers, especially Brooklyn councilman Charles Barron, are upset about a private meeting yesterday between Attorney General Cuomo and Lt. Gov. Ravitch. Allegedly, the two top officials were discussing the possibility of a resignation by Gov. Paterson, as well as the state budget which Ravitch is helping to write. According to NY1, “Barron said such a meeting comes too close to crossing the line in terms of conflicts of interest, as Cuomo is likely to run for governor, and that the attorney general should remove himself from the investigation of Paterson.” He and other community leaders will hold a press conference today, calling for Cuomo to disinvolve himself from the probe into Paterson’s accused wrongdoing. more ›

"White, black and Hispanic undergraduates each comprise more than a quarter of the student body, and Asians account for more than 15%," said CUNY Vice Chancellor Gloriana Waters recently. The school loves to boast about its Crayola box student body, but faculty members come mostly in white. At a recent hearing on staff diversity, or the lack thereof, council members complained that of the university's 7,214 faculty members, only 12.3 percent are black, 8.3 percent are Hispanic and 10.5 percent are Asian, reports the Daily News. more ›

Just weeks after trouncing Councilman Charles Barron (D-East New York) to be re-elected as Council Speaker, Councilwoman Christine Quinn (D-Chelsea) stripped Barron of his position chairing the Higher Education Committee. In a near repeat of the 48-1 vote in the Speaker race, the Council voted 47-1 to demote Barron. In both instances, Barron cast the only vote in his favor. more ›

Councilwoman Christine Quinn was re-elected as Council Speaker yesterday in a lopsided, 48-1 victory over Councilman Charles Barron, who cast the only vote on his behalf. Though Quinn's victory doesn't come as a big surprise, AMNY reports that the scene inside City Hall became chaotic when a dozen Barron supporters gathered on a second floor balcony and heckled black councilmembers who didn't vote for the East New York politician with chants of "sell-out," "Uncle Tom," and "Charles Barron for speaker!" more ›

Students across the city left school early yesterday in a walk-out to protest the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's plan to stop giving students free Metrocards. The youngsters left school at 2 pm and gathered in front of the MTA's headquarters to demand that the agency find a way to fill its $400 million budget shortfall that won't force students to pay to commute to city schools. more ›

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn isn't sweating Councilman Charles Barron's announcement that he's running against her for Council Speaker. The Daily News reports that Quinn said, "I take all races seriously, but I am very, very optimistic that I will be reelected in January as speaker of the City Council." more ›

After telling the Village Voice he would be an "excellent Speaker" last month, controversial City Councilmember Charles Barron is expected to announce that he will challenge City Council Speaker Christine Quinn for leadership tomorrow. He tells the Daily News that he knows he's a "long-shot" but adds, "This is going to be done from the ground up. I think the speaker should be a facilitator, not a dictator." Barron has been in the news this week for his intense-for-a-groundbreaking ceremony argument with a CUNY trustee, whom he called a "sickening racist" and whom he wants removed. more ›

After getting into a public squabble with a CUNY trustee at a groundbreaking event on Tuesday, City Councilman Charles Barron wants him out. According to the Daily News, the controversial Council member told an audience at Medgar Evers College (a CUNY school), "The Board of Trustees has to change... This is a racist, rednecked right-winger who's sitting on the Board of Trustees. Make sure you write a letter and say he must be removed." more ›

In a ceremony earlier today, Mayor Bloomberg and other officials hailed the rebuilding of CUNY's Fiterman Hall, a Borough of Manhattan Community College building on West Street, which was badly damaged on September 11, 2001. However, more people may remember it for the part when City Councilman Charles Barron and CUNY trustee Jeffrey Wiesenfeld got into a shouting match that included "You shut up!" "You're a disgrace!" and "You're a sickening racist!" more ›