The news is grim for many gay rights supporters after the NY State Court of Appeals upheld the gay marriage ban - ceding a decision to the NY State Legislature (one of the most dysfunctional in the country!). The NY Times' news analysis calls this a "key setback" as other states deciding on gay marriage will look at this ruling:For now, at least, so-called marriage equality is the fight that both sides want to......

- New York magazine reviews what they predicted and what really happened with the Brangelina baby pictures - The NY Times revisits the pianist who was viciously assaulted in Central Park 10 years ago - The East River State Park might be all hype, especially after seeing this YouTube video [via Curbed] - Hey, Glenn Lingle must have the same upstairs neighbors as us! - Ooh, we dig this kind of beach home -......

When we woke up this morning, Gothamist hoped last night's Oscars were only a dream. Because the idea that Crash won still hurts our head so much that we haven't been able to really read all the nitty-gritty (because we know our eyes will start bleeding) - we can't believe we frigging liveblogged that shondah! Forget conspiracy theories about Jack Palance being wacked out and mistakenly reading Marisa Tomei's name as Best Supporting Actress in......

There are $11 movie tickets at some chains around town, but for one week, the Ziegfeld will be charging $12.50, a whopping $1.75 more than usual, when it premieres The Producers. Yes, $12.50. Is this because The Producers the Broadway musical started the trend of charging serious dough for theater tickets? And they are thinking that fans of the Broadway show will rush to see it the first week? Lame! Some exhibitors claim that with......

A lucky man survived a car crash and falling from the BQE yesterday. Nicklaus Emmanuel, a UPS loader, was a passenger in an Acura that "spun out of control from the left lane of the BQE just past the Cadman Plaza exit about 1:30PM." The smoky car continued to roll towards the guardrail, and when Emmanuel climbed out, he fell 30 feet to Furman Street, landing feet first. Feet first! The Daily News says he......

Excellent! Apparently it's normal to be in a foul mood over this descpicably humid weather! The NY Times calls it the "Grumpy Factor" - New Yorkers have been acting like wittle babies because it's so hot and sticky. A doctor tells the Daily News it's a "thermo inversion": "With little breeze, the polluted air sits stagnant, irritating eyes and making air passages more sensitive to pollen." Hmm, is that enough of a reason to call......

The two NY Daily News sponsored NYC spelling bee contestants didn't advance in yesterday's fourth round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Alexander Martin, a Dwight School eighth-grader, misspelled "dissilient" (it means "springing apart, specifically bursting open"; Martin spelled it "desilient") and seventh grader Rajdeep Chahal at MS 137 was stumped with "feuilleton" ("the part of a European newspaper devoted to light fiction, reviews, and articles of general entertainment"; Chahal spelled it "fuolyurtone"). Even though......

The Health Department is so worried that the Asian bird flu will hit New York that officials meet every two weeks to figure out a strategy on how to save the city. Basically, the fear is that the avian flu is "one crucial mutation away from turning into a monster malady," hyperbole courtesy the Daily News, and the dilemma is whether or not to stockpile the city with Tamiflu, the "only known treatment against bird......

After almost a year of bloggers (photo and non) worrying and snickering, plus at least two protests, the MTA and NYPD have finally decided that a subway photo ban is unneccessary! Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne says, "We are not pressing for a ban. Our officers will continue to investigate, and intercede if necessary, if the activity - photo-related or not - is suspicious," he said. The Daily News had a nice summary of......

An organizations representing taxi drivers is asking the Taxi and Limousine Commission to create a Manhattan-JFK $45 flat rate. Much like the JFK-to-Manhattan flat rate, cabbies are looking to make sure they get airport business, with the main concern being that livery drivers tend to rip off tourists at big hotels. Plus, the group argues that many people heading to JFK are confused, as they think there is an existing $45 rate already. Currently, if......

It's that time of year again: Landlords are tryin to increase the rents for stabilized apartments, of which there are about 1 million in the city. Tonight, the Rent Guidelines Board is set to hear the landlords' arguments, who claim that oil costs necessitate increases of 6.5% for one-year leases and 10.5% for two-year leases; to put that in perspective, last year the hikes were 3.5% and 6.5% for one- and two-year leases respectively. Gothamist......

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg announced $3 million health initiative to have city hospital offer the morning after pill. The Mayor said to the National Abortion Rights Action League, where the plan was announced, "I make this promise. As mayor, and as a private citizen, I will continue to do what I can to make a difference whether in the city, in Albany, in Washington or anywhere that the rights or our daughters, our sisters, our friends......

Ooohh... In 1905, when the original Police Headquarters was being built at 240 Centre Street, the NYPD may have buried a time capsule under a cornerstone, in hopes of it being opened on May 6, 2005. However, the posh co-op which now occupies 240 Centre Street is against, well, busting through some granite for what could be a wild goose chase. The president of the co-op board, Arthur Emil, says, "My answer is, 'No.' There......

While many people, in and out of the political arena, can find bad stuff to say about Mayor Bloomberg, there seems to be a problem with finding anything to say about the Democratic candidates who want to run against him. At least, anything to say that will stick with voters, and many Democratic leaders are worried about that. The NY Times quotes Reverend Al Sharpton's political director as saying, "People are saying, why should we......

Gothamist is so excited about the Museum of Modern Art's Christopher Guest tribute. Starting tonight, his films, including the ones he directed and co-wrote (A Mighty Wind, Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman), and The Big Picture), one he co-wrote (This is Spinal Tap), and one he starred in (The Princess Bride), and TV work (SNL skits and more). Tomorrow night, Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer are going to give some sort of......

Those drug dealers try to be so crafty: A drug ring that would smuggle cocaine in fish shipments and boxes of chow mein was busted yesterday at JFK Airport. The ring had used shell corporations and fake businesses to ship the goods to actual businesses that had nothing to do with the drug trade. Imagine if somehow the drugs weren't picked up and the cocaine was left with the frozen fish or in the boxes......

It seems that the Webby Awards will be held in NYC this year on June 6. Gothamist can hear the paparazzi making sure they have a premiere or model's birthday to cover that night. The Daily News notes that during the dot com boom, NYC tried to land the awards, and now, finally after a few years of dot com bust-imposed online-only awards ceremonying, the Webbies are live again:"The Webby hasn't gone away," said [Tiffany]......

The Daily News isn't just the rival to the NY Post or the paper behind fouled up Scratch'N'Win promotions: It's become the leader using subway riders' cameraphone pictures to catch sleeping subway clerks. Today's bust involves a photograph of a very slumped-over C train clerk at the 163rd Street station. According to the photographer, who took the picture at 2AM, the clerk was sleeping for at least 20 minutes, even with loud construction work going......

The wait is over. In the "awards the city makes up just because" news, the Department of Health has finally announced the winners of their Golden Apple Awards - their food safety awards! Newsday broke it down, with the Golden Applees including a Dunkin' Donuts in Flushing, Winchesters Pub in Bellerose, Carifesta Restaurant in the Bronx, a Blimpie in the Bronx, the Churrascaria Plataforma in Midtown, the Post House on East 63rd, Juice Generation on......

Gothamist was wandering down Greenwich Street in TriBeCa when we passed pet store Dudley's Paw. After cooing over the adorable stuffed animals dogs in the window, we noticed a gumball machine filled with "Liver Biscotti Dog Treats." Gothamist was intrigued, but we chalked it up to being what happens when you've got dogs whose owners have gourmet tastes. But the Daily News thinks it's big news, talking to the creator Brad Wilkinson who said the......

Finally some good news to talk about for NYU spokespeople: A Princetown Review says that high school kids' top dream college is NYU, beating schools like Harvard, Stanford, Yale and Princeton. Parents, though, chose Stanford as their top choice as to where to send their children and many, many dollars. Princeton Review says that NYC's crime reductions and situation in the best city in the world (okay, the best city in the world part we......

City health officials are wondering what's going on at Bronx Science High School, one of the city's coveted magnet schools: Hundreds of students were ill last week. The bathrooms and cafeteria are all being tested, as complaints of nausea, stomach aches, diarrhea, and vomiting have increased. (Hey, that sounds like Wednesday nights at Gothamist!) The Health Department thinks it's a viral illness: The medical director of the Office of School Health said, "It's unusual, and......

Once again, City Council Speaker and mayoral hopeful Gifford Miller talks about the proposed West Side Stadium. But instead of saying he'd block it, now he wants to move it to Queens. Miller claims that putting the stadium in Queens will strengthen NYC's chances of landing the Olympics, but Gothamist has a feeling that the IOC is attracted to the idea of having a stadium in the center of the city, versus the outer boroughs,......

Gothamist knew that the West Side stadium fracas would get nutty, but we didn't think that the Giants might be contenders as well. Apparently, the Giants are at an impasse during their negotiations with NJ over a new Giants Stadium in East Rutherford. Interestingly, NJ's Acting Governor Richard Codey had been crowing about the proposed $750 million complex, saying the Jets should consider staying in NJ. The Giants claim its intention is to stay in......

A Family Court lawyer in the Bronx was suspended for six months because of his crude remarks. The Daily News says that 67 year-old Robert Kahn had a "peppermint potty mouth":The lawyer, Robert Kahn, admitted that "he frequently consumed peppermint-ball candies in the courthouse and, when offering candies to adversarial female staff attorneys, consistently made sexually offensive comments," a state Appellate Division ruling released yesterday says. One of Kahn's crude candy comments: "Do you want......

In the NY Times' inaugural "Ink" column, Reverend Al Sharpton discusses his new diet. And better yet, photographer Ruby Washington gets this hot picture (right) of the Reverend Al on a Swiss ball, doing crunches. Now, that is motivation for Gothamist to get jazzercised. In more serious news, Sharpton has been asking people to stop listening to violent rap for 90 days, a ban to make people realize that this music only romanticizes crime. hip......

Just a couple blocks south of the much-coveted MTA railyards, two other rich dudes are fighting over the right to develop Pier 57. The Daily News calls it the "heavyweight real estate duel of the season" (we guess the DN thinks the Hudson Yards is the duel of the year), and gives some good background of the two developers, Roland Betts of Chelsea Piers (and Dubya crony) and Stephen Witkoff, a real estate developer, as......

The Daily News looks at some evidence that suggests Stuyvesant High School's current senior class is slipping. Okay, two pieces of evidence: (1) Not as many early college acceptances as they would like (Harvard has only accepted 4 students so far!) and (2) Stuy students were shut out of the Intel Science Talent Search finalists (and a half piece of evidence is that many sophomores seemed to be underperforming). What's interesting is that Stuy's Class......

Yikes: A 92 year-old woman was impaled on faucet for around six hours before being saved. Harlem resident Thelma Riley had slipped while taking a shower and, somehow, a faucet got stuck in her lower back. The Daily News says that even though she was yelling for help and banging on the walls, neighbors thought it was a plumber doing work; finally, two neighbors entered her apartment. Luckily, Riley was still conscious when found. Firefighters......

A judge has allowed the sale and redesign of 2 Columbus Circle, the bizarro building increasingly dwarfed by sleek skyscrapers. The Museum of Arts and Design had been fighting to get started on its new space for the past year, but various preservation groups filed a lawsuit to stop them from changing the facade of the Edward Durrell Stone building. Alternately called an icon of the Modern Movement and terrible 60s kitsch, the building was......