Senator Hillary Clinton was in New York for a pre-Mother's Day fundraiser yesterday, with daughter Chelsea on hand. The Caucus said it seemed like the "Chelsea-and-Hillary show" and it was quite the display of maternal love; an attendee asked Clinton how Chelsea changed her life, and the presidential hopeful said, "Being Chelsea’s mom has been the greatest experience of my life." Also present at the event were Representatives Nita Lowey and Charles Rangel. Rangel......

A Mercury Mariner hybrid SUV (leased by Rep. McNulty), a Cadillac DeVille (Rangel's ride), and a Lexus LS 460 (what Rep. Meeks leases) Representative Charles Rangel is proud of his leased-through-Congress 2004 Cadillac DeVille. And he even offers rides to constituents, so they can discuss issues. Rangel told the NY Times, "I want them to feel that they are somebody and their congressman is somebody. And when they say, ‘This is nice,’ it feels......

Today is the NY State Presidential Primary. If you're a registered Democrat or Republican, you can find your polling place here. The Republican ballot it pretty straightforward - choose a candidate. However, the Democratic ballot is a little more confusing, since you can also select delegates for a candidates. Additionally, the NY State Democratic primary awards delegates on a proportional basis. The Daily News has the best explanation of what this means:A candidate who......

Once upon a time, former President Bill Clinton only meant good things for Hillary Clinton's presidential bid. But now, his poorly received remarks in the past few weeks (a "fairy tale" here, a Jesse Jackson reference there), Hillary Clinton is left claiming her husband is sleep deprived and just human: "Well, I think it's human nature. I think that the spouses of all three of us have, you know, been passionate and vigorous defenders of......

After the national debate about race turned into the national debate about how race discussed in the Democratic presidential campaign, Senators and Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have declared a truce. The stir was caused by Clinton's remarks about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s efforts ("Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act...It took a president to get it done.") and when Obama criticized Clinton......

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is seeking the dismissal of a civil suit against her filed by Council Member Charles Barron's former chief of staff Viola Plummer. Quinn gave Plummer the boot when the councilman's aide refused to sign a pledge to compose herself while the City Council was in session. The City Hall drama all began when Queens Councilman Leroy Comrie refused to vote in favor of naming a street after black activist Sonny......

When Governor Spitzer announced he was dropping his controversial plan to offer driver's licenses to illegal immigrants yesterday, he was praised by his fellow Democrats. The NY Times notes that the decision won Spitzer "the kind of wide acclaim from elected officials that he could not win for the proposal itself." And that's gotta sting a little. Spitzer had first introduced a broad plan to allow illegal immigrants to get licenses, which caused outcry from......

Mayor David Dinkins, who preceded Mayor Giuliani in office from 1990 to 1993, had his appendix removed in an emergency surgery Friday when it was determined that he was suffering from appendicitis. Dinkins was actually visiting his doctor for a routine flu shot, when he complained that he had a sharp pain in his side. A CAT scan revealed the inflamed and infected appendix--a condition that can be lethal if the vestigial organ bursts. Dinkins......

Yesterday morning, Secretary of State Condolezza Rice visited Community School 154 in Harlem. Accompanied by Representative Charles Rangel, Rice, former Provost at Stanford, encouraged the students to dream big, “One thing that I want you to promise me is that you won't let anybody else tell you what it is you ought to be interested in. You'll find what you are interested in and you'll pursue it and you won't let anyone say 'Why......

New York City is in the middle of Fashion Week, and last night was Ralph Lauren's 40th anniversary as a designer. And, as Style.com reports, he "staged an extraordinarily lavish runway show and black-tie after-party in the Central Park Conservancy" last night. It was such a big deal that Mayor Bloomberg and his lady friend Diana Taylor stepped out! New York magazine's Show & Talk blog wrote this:Ralph himself seemed blasé. Standing by an......

Rep. Charles Rangel spoke with WNBC newsman Gabe Pressman Friday evening for an interview that will air Sunday morning. He told Pressman that New Yorkers shouldn't favor Giuliani just because he's from their area or showed some type of leadership in the hours and days after 9/11/01. Rangel attributes Giuliani's positive impression as simply the product of filling a vacuum created by an absent-for-hours President Bush. While the Congressman appreciates that temporary performance, he hopes......

You'd imagine that Kevin Burke, the chairman, president, and CEO of Con Ed, would want to attend at City Council meeting about the steam pipe explosion on July 18. But, no, Burke isn't showing up, which annoys many Council members. The Sun has a good look at the head of the city's essential and currently reviled utility. Though the Sun couldn't get a comment from Con Ed about Burke's absence (SVP of central operations William......

You may have many opinions of Senator Charles Schumer. A man who gives weekly press conferences by way of making the rounds on Sunday morning news shows, someone who will "put a bullet betweens the president's eyes," the senior Senator of New York, orchestrator of the Senate's shift back to the Democrats, husband of a recent Department of Transportation commissioner, imaginer of middle class couple the Baileys, cereal hog. But defender of hedge funds' and......

Congratulations to everyone graduating this month! As NYU's commencement was today, with speaker jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, we decided to list the many NYC commencement speakers, with help from The Chronicle of Higher Education (if we've missed any or gotten it wrong, let us know in comments): Barnard College: Anna Deveare Smith, playwright-actress CUNY Lehman College: Representative Charles Rangel CUNY Brooklyn College: Roberta S. Matthews, provost and vice president for academic affairs at Brooklyn......

President Bush visited New York City yesterday to encourage Congress to reauthorize his No Child Left Behind program. Bush gave a speech at the Harlem Village Academy school and praised its founder, faculty and students and emphasized the importance of the NCLB Act. Bush made it a point to visit all eight classrooms and shake every student's hand, prompting one student to tell the Sun, "I think it was the best day of my......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a building collapse on West 193rd St. in Manhattan, a car in the water at Ocean Ave. and Lincoln Rd. in Brooklyn, and multiple manhole fires on 45th St. in Queens. The NYTimes takes a stroll down one-time Indian trail now known as Jamaica Ave. in Brooklyn. Neighbors on Mulberry St. are so fed up with the Feast of San Gennaro that Community Board 2 recommended against approving organizers'......

Senator Hillary Clinton brought out a big gun in her fund-raising arsenal last night: President Bill Clinton, who introduced her last night, noting that they had met 36 years ago at Yale Law School. He said, "You will never find anybody who will do a better job of it than she will." It was their first major fund-raiser together, and tomorrow they'll be in DC for another event. About on million dollars was raised,......

In a meeting with attendees like Senators Schumer and Clinton, State Senate majority leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, Representative Charles Rangel criticized Governor Eliot Spitzer. He said that Spitzer's aggressive handling of Medicaid and health-care-industry issues is only making the problem worse and isn't helpful - and that the governor's proposed cuts are too deep. Rangel also asked that both the governor and Local 1199 union that represent hospital workers (Local 1199......

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, visited New York City yesterday. While the showiest part of their night may have been the presentation of a Global Environmental Citizen Award to the Prince from the Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment, we bet the most fun was had during the couple's visit the the Harlem Children's Zone. The Harlem Children's Zone, which includes the Promise Academy and other services and programs......

For politicians, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was busy as they made the rounds at a number of city events. Governor Spitzer, Lieutenant Governor Paterson, Mayor Bloomberg, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and Representative Charles Rangel all appeared at the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network's House Justice and also the Brooklyn Academy of Music's celebration. Paterson and Rangel emphasized that the Iraq war would have been opposed by King. Spitzer mentioned meeting the family......

It's busy today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water main break on Bergen Street in Carroll Gardens, a "fall victim in a hole" in Queens, a carjacking in Bay Ridge (and another one in Staten Island!), and an armed robbery with possible stabbing in Chinatown. Now that the Democrats have recaptured Congress, Charles Rangel is setting his sights on a new goal: standup comedy. Everyone likes the holidays: even rapists! Youngna Park, our little......

Yesterday, thousands of people walked down Fifth Avenue in to protest a police shooting against three unarmed men. Sean Bell was shot to death just hours before his wedding while his two friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, were wounded in a barrage of 50 bullets in less than a minute; undercover police claimed they saw a fourth man with a gun. The march was organized by the Reverend Al Sharpton, with the theme......

And by listen, we mean "listen to the expected news that Hillary Clinton will run for president in 2008." The NY Times reports that Hillary Clinton has been meeting with "top New York Democratic officials" to explain her 2008 plans and ask for their support when that happens. According to anonymous sources, Clinton has met with Representative Charles Rangel and State Democratic Party chair Herman D. Farrel Jr., and may meet with Governor-elect Eliot......

The conflicting interests of Columbia University and the West Harlem community continue to spawn new polemics from both sides, as the university inches ahead with its proposed 17-acre, $7 billion expansion. As the land-use contest heats up, so has the quest to find the perfect metaphor. The high-stakes name game begins with the conflicting designations of the territory in question. While Columbia has used the term "Manhattanville" to describe the area, which lies between 125th......

Yesterday morning, Mayor Bloomberg met with the family of Sean Bell, who was fatally shot when the police fired 50 times at a car carrying him and two of his friends hours before his wedding over the weekend. The Mayor also met with black religious figures, community leaders and politicians before a press conference where he said:It sounds to me like excessive force was used. I can tell you that it is to me......

If you’re hiking, consider charging up your iPod, as Seattlest finds out that a man lost during a hike was found by the glow of his iPod. That cleverness seems to be devoid in cops who were using police cruiser instant messaging clients - although we imagine IMs “so are you nakie” to be included in cop shows, just for realism. If only the cops were busting the Hummer-driving jerk who made a poor......

Congressman Charles Rangel is in the news again, but this time he's not upsetting Southern states - he's scaring the bejesus out of young Americans! He told CBS's Face the Nation that he will will propose legislation to bring back the draft. Why? Because it might act as a war-deterrent, as well as fulfill the need for more troops. There's no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded......

After his dis of Mississippi last week (he wondered why anyone would want to live there) and fallout from Mississippi politicians, Congressman Charles Rangel officially apologized. There is no excuse for my having said that. I am fully aware that every American loves their respective state and city and I'm afraid that my love and affection for New York got in the way of my common sense and judgment, and for that I sincerely apologize.U.S.......

If you were wondering how former mayor Rudy Giuliani feels after the thumpin' the Republicans took last week, wonder no more, because he's been facing it with the same, stubborn Rudy-vision that we all remember from his NYC mayoral years. The NY Times was on the scenefor a speech Giuliani made: In his first public comments about last week’s Democratic sweep of Congress, Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former Republican mayor of New York City,......

In no time flat has Congressman Charles Rangel upset people. Actually, the new head of the House's Ways and Means Committee may have upset a whole state. In Thursday's NY Times story about how New York politicians will head very influential committees in Congress, Rangel said while discussing how New York State gives up a lot in federal taxes but doesn't get much in return (whereas Mississippi gets much more in federal money than what......