Former NJ Governor and onetime EPA head in the Bush administration, Christine Todd Whitman, initially refused to appear before Congress to testify about the agency's post-9/11 assurances that air quality was safe in downtown Manhattan. A day later, she changed her mind and now says that she'll testify before a committee if its members insist upon it. "I am extremely proud of the EPA's work in response to the terrorist attacks on our nation on......

With the NJ Supreme Court decision that gay couples should have the same rights as heterosexual couples just one day old, it's still unclear whether or not New York will accept a NJ same-sex civil union or marriage, though it has with other states. Mayor Bloomberg said, "New York City has a policy of accepting bona-fide marriages from other jurisdictions. I've always believed it's not the government's business whom you marry." And City Council Speaker......

On Sundays, Gothamist runs opinion pieces on issues relevant to life in New York. The views expressed below are solely those of the author. This week a federal judge served up former Environmental Protection Agency chief Christine Todd Whitman with an entirely warranted wake-up call. While more than 5,000 residents, workers and students from Lower Manhattan have filed a class action lawsuit accusing Whitman and the E.P.A. of misleading them about the health risks involved......

Gothamist has been very excited for the premiere of Da Ali G Show's second season, because there is nothing like seeing bigwigs talking to an idiot - someone pretending very ably to be an idiot at that. But it was the NY Times' Virginia Heffernan's interview with Sacha Baron Cohen, the startlingly normal looking guy behind Ali G, Borat, and Bruno, that put Gothamist over the edge. Cohen describes some notable people's rapping style:And there's......