One of the zaniest police blotter items of the summer comes to us courtesy the NY Post, which reports on a roommate fracas fueled by "festering feline feces." Oleksandr Ilyin, 35, reportedly returned home to his Bath Beach apartment Wednesday evening to find a garbage bag full of kitty litter. Police say that upon seeing the scat he snapped, and dumped the dirty litter all over his two roommates' bedrooms. This is where your average disgruntled roommate would crack open a Tecate and sit down for a night of Metal Gear Solid I, but not our Mr. Ilyin. more ›

The NYPD was thrown into panic mode last week after a longtime NYPD forensics lab technician was suspended after allegedly falsifying drug-test results, meaning hundreds of cases' verdicts could be called into question. Mariem Megalla, who tested drugs in about 180 felony cases just this year, was suspended on Friday as the NYPD advised DAs to examine pending cases to see if she had done any forensics work. One source told the Post, "It could potentially be hundreds and maybe thousands of cases that need to be looked at because of how long she's been in the department." more ›

While it was previously reported that crack pipes were found in former Knick Dean Meminger's rented room in the Bronx, the NY Post spoke to an FDNY source who said, "We have not found a crack pipe in his room," though the source did acknowledge "at least one crack pipe was found in the building." A four-alarm fire started in the SRO—and later spread to other buildings— and Meminger was found unconscious by firefighters. He is recovering in a burn unit. more ›

Dean Meminger, the former Knicks great nicknamed "The Dream," is in a burn unit at Jacobi Hospital after suffering injuries from a four-alarm fire in the Bronx. The Fire Department is continuing to investigate the cause of the blaze, after reports that crack pipes were found in a building where the fire was started—and some of the crack pipes may have been in Meminger's rented room. more ›

As dozens of people remain homeless after a Sunday four-alarm fire destroyed homes in the Claremont section of the Bronx, now fire officials suspect the fire began from a crack pipe—and many crack pipes were found in a room of an SRO rented by former Knicks great Dean "The Dream" Meminger. Meminger, 63, suffered smoke inhalation and is in critical condition at a burn unit in Jacobi Hospital. more ›

If you make it through the this 8 bazillion word profile in the New York Observer on a crack-smoking hipster, please let us know how it ends. What we learned from a quick scan of the first page is that it doubles as a tip sheet for amateur crackophiles, and also bodegas sell crack kits! The code word at Crack Hipster's bodgea is: "Casaban." And if you say it, "you’re handed a brown paper bag containing the glass tube with a tiny bunched-up ball of steel wool at one end, and a little lighter. It costs $2.50." more ›

From Newsday: "With her 5-year-old and 4-month-old daughters nearby, an East Patchogue mother scuffled Saturday with a Suffolk police officer trying to seize crack pipes and hypodermic needles in her kitchen, Suffolk police said in announcing the woman's arrest on numerous criminal charges." Apparently she "jumped on his back and tried to deter him from taking possession." more ›

According to the Post, friends of Adam Goldstein say the celebrity DJ's relapse was recent and that he had promised he'd check into rehab. His erratic "behavior that so worried his West Coast manager and recovery sponsor that they jumped on a red-eye Wednesday night to confront him at his SoHo apartment Thursday morning... When they arrived, an agitated Goldstein stubbornly refused to see his manager -- but allowed the sponsor inside. That's when Goldstein lit up a crack pipe and popped pills in front of his horrified pal, investigators told The Post." He reportedly said he'd head to rehab after a Friday night gig in Las Vegas, but his body was discovered by the authorities—responding to his friends' call— on Friday afternoon. Other law enforcement sources told TMZ that the 36-year-old did not commit suicide but apparently "developed a dependency to Xanax and other benzodiazepines (a group of drugs used to treat anxiety) as a direct result of the plane crash a year ago. We're told AM (aka Adam Goldstein) developed a tremendous anxiety over flying -- something he had to do frequently for his job." Goldstein had survived a plane crash that killed four others and suffered severe burns. The ME's office autopsy was inconclusive and it is still working on the toxicology report. more ›