When it came to New Year's Eve countdown broadcasts, we were traditional and stuck with Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve. Which means we missed out on $275-million man Alex Rodriguez counting down with Carson Daly on Daly's New Year's Eve program. more ›

A sparkling new 700-pound ball, tons of confetti, and over a million people helped ring in the New Year from Times Square last night/early today. Mayor Bloomberg and police Police Academy valedictorian Karolina Wierzchowska, who also served in the Iraq War, hit the switch that brought the famous Times Square New Year's ball down. The Daily News called it a "shimmering pole dance," and it was the 100th time Times Square has had a ball drop to welcome the new year. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water condition at Surf Ave. and West 8th St. in Brooklyn, a car vs. building at 49th St. and 5th Ave. in Manhattan, and a fatality with a person under a subway train at Sutter and Snediker Aves. in Brooklyn.
• The editors at The New York Times apologize for asserting that Presidential candidate Ron Paul was allied with white supremacists and the American Nazi Party.
• Racked notes that the much-anticipated Uniqlo sample sale was a total bust because everything had already been sold in a pre-sale to PR types and members of the press.

Earlier this week, while in Grand Central Terminal we heard a familiar voice reminding us to “Mind the gap.” It turns out it was CNBC “Money Honey” Maria Bartiromo. Apparently Metro-North riders aren’t the only ones who are being reminded, as the Post reports that Long Island Rail Road commuters are getting similar reminders. The recorded messages were the brainchild of MTA board member Mitchell Palli. So apparently MTA board members do other things than raising fares, albeit of questionable benefit. more ›

Isiah Thomas may want two weeks to save his job, but for most fans have had enough. A group of fans delivered an eight-foot-high pink slip to the steps of Madison Square Garden yesterday calling on Jim Dolan to fire Thomas. And, the “Fire Isiah” chants were heard inside the building last night, despite the team winning easily over the Cavaliers. more ›

Entertainment Weekly’s #1 “smartest” Hollywood player, Judd Apatow, says “it doesn’t look good” for an end to the writers’ strike any time soon. The well-connected catalyst behind hits like Knocked Up has told the Toronto Star that the studios and producers are prepared to dig in and crush the union’s demand for payment for Internet downloads and movie streaming, “which are expected to become a big part of the industry in the coming years.”

It would cost very little money to end the strike and (the producers) are basically trying to create a way of paying people so that when the Internet explodes, they’ll wind up paying less than they do now to writers. And I don’t think they’re going to get away with it. The writers really failed to stand up for themselves with the DVD (in a previous contract dispute) and they feel terrible about it, and enough of them will not give up that it will have to be resolved in a reasonably fair manner.

Today, the Daily News put Amarjit Singh on its cover and asks New Yorkers to help him. Who is Singh? He was the cook at the Texas Smokehouse BBQ in Murray Hill until October 6, when a mentally ill man, Lee Coleman, stormed into the kitchen and grabbed four knives. Singh tried to stop Coleman, but Coleman slashed him in the head before heading outside to repeatedly stab pedestrian Susan Barron. Coleman only stopped when... more ›

Linda Stein's daughter says that her mother had been recently diagnosed with a brain tumor and was, according to the Daily News, "taking medication that caused severe mood swings." Stein was found bludgeoned to death on October 30, and her personal assistant Natavia Lowery was arrested for her murder on Friday. Samantha Stein-Wells said, "My mother didn't deserve this.... They had just found a brain tumor a couple of weeks before she was killed. Everyone... more ›

Evidence continues to be collected and associates continue to be questioned as the police try to solve the murder of "broker to the stars" Linda Stein. Stein, who managed the Ramones back in the day and had many famous friends, was found bludgeoned to death in her exclusive Fifth Avenue apartment on October 30. So far, the police have spoken to former business associates, her family, construction workers and building residents, as well as removed... more ›

Through some strange stroke of Manhattan Supreme Court scheduling, Ja Rule, Remy Ma, Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes all appeared in court yesterday (at different times) to face various charges. Ja Rule and Lil Wayne faced gun possession charges from separate incidents on July 22. The pair, who collaborated on a song "Uh Oh," also shared the same attorney, Stacey Richman. Richman said that Lil Wayne couldn't be guilty, because when his tour bus... more ›

As the city and state start to get to work on West Side redevelopment, the Mayor said that one entity won't be getting tax breaks if it moves. Mayor Bloomberg was asked if Madison Square Garden would continue to get $10.9 million in tax breaks if it moves West to the Farley Post Office building (that's what a map in the draft Environmental Impact Statement notes). Bloomberg decisively said, "Not if I'm mayor they won't. Madison Square Garden isn't going to move, and there's no reason to justify that." more ›

A homeless man was shot in the stomach by an off-duty transit police officer after he stabbed two people randomly in Murray Hill yesterday afternoon. The assailant, identified as 38-year-old Lee Coleman, was wounded and is in serious condition; he was charged with attempted murder, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon. more ›

The NY Times has a Section A, Page 1 article about a woman whose identity since the WTC attacks has been defined as a September 11 survivor but her September 11 story doesn't quite add up. Tania Head said she had been on the 78th floor of the north tower, still bearing some burns, and gave tours at the Tribute 9/11 Visitor Center. She also acted as president of the Survivors’ Network and said her fiance died in the south tower. But her supposed fiance's family and roommate never heard of her, no hospital has a record of treating her, and she was not employed by Merrill Lynch, the company Head said she was working for at the time. more ›

The season really gets underway this week so a lot of old favorites like The Simpsons, Heroes, and Boston Legal (along with some that shouldn’t be like The Batchelor) are back so you do know what to expect with them. more ›

Just five days after the Deutsche Bank building fire, two firefighters investigating the site at 130 Liberty Street were injured when a 300-pound piece of construction equipment fell from the 23rd floor. It turned out that a construction worker had lost control of a forklift; luckily a work shed broke the object's fall. more ›

As many people wonder about the state of the bridges in the New York City region, in the wake of I-35 collapsing in Minneapolis, the city's Department of Transportation is trying to reassure residents that our bridges are safe. Though many bridges meet the definition of "deficient" - 19% of bridges are in "fair" or "poor" condition, 15% meet the federal definition of "structurally deficient" - a DOT first deputy commissioner Lori Ardito says, "In New York, we do not have any bridges that are structurally deficient." more ›

In February rumors started to fly about Jimmy Fallon becoming the next Late Night host when Conan O'Brien leaves his current spot to take Jay Leno's spot. It's an after-hours game of musical chairs! (Though no one knows where Leno will end up, it is said he'll likely stay in the late night game.) NBC chief Rick Ludwin says that Fallon is now at the top of the short list for possible Late Night hosts. more ›

On Friday, Brooklyn blog Brownstoner was alarmed about a Clinton Hill resident on Grand Avenue who was painting a brownstone's archway white. Though the second comment wondered "are you sure it's not primer?", the comments thread turned into a heated debate about the rights of owners of buildings in landmarked neighborhoods, calling the painting a "disgrace" and a "mortal sin," and whether publicly outing the owner was appropriate. more ›

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. more ›

The NYPD has announced that both suspects in the Brooklyn traffic stop shooting of two police officers have been captured. Last night, Dexter Bostic was arrested as he and the other suspect Robert Ellis were walking along Interstate 80 near Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. more ›

The police department has launched a citywide dragnet to find suspects who fired at two police officers during a Brooklyn traffic stop early yesterday morning. 23-year-old police officer Russel Timoshenko was shot twice in the head while 26-year-old police officer Herman Yan was shot in the arm and chest. A surveillance video showed that the cops were shot before they had reached the driver and passengers in the car. The Daily News' Michael Daly describes:

Footage from the surveillance camera mounted outside the Little Red Riding Hood preschool shows the green BMW SUV pulling over. more ›

Well, there's nothing like having a barely-one-hour blackout on a sultry weekday to make you consider stocking up on flashlights, batteries, water, and maybe a Go Bag. Con Ed is still investigating the cause of yesterday's brief power failure to parts of the Bronx and Manhattan; Newsday reported "the blackout was caused when breakers opened at an Astoria substation and cut off power to stations servicing Yorkville and parts of the Bronx." It's unclear why the breakers were opened in the first place. more ›

Even though a Sunni insurgent group claimed yesterday that two captured U.S. soldiers had been killed, one of the soldiers' mothers hoping that her son is still alive. Maria Rosario Duran spoke to reporters outside her Corona, Queens home. She said, "I can't even imagine that he's not going to return alive, that I will never see him again." more ›

The new chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee says the NYPD thinks it's the NPD - the National Police Department. The Daily News reports that Democratic Mississippi representative Bennie Thompson is critical of the NYPD's tactics that stretch into other jurisdictions. He told the News, "While I understand that chasing down leads in other locales might help keep the city safe, I emphasized that the NYPD is not the FBI, that it does not have national jurisdiction." more ›

Chloroform. High-heeled shoes. A message written on the bathroom mirror. All these were things mentioned during the first day of Peter Braunstein's criminal trial, which proved graphic and upsetting. Braunstein's lawyers do not deny that the journalist attacked a former Women's Wear Daily co-worker in her apartment on October 31, 2005, by posing as a firefighter. But his defense team says that he's so mentally ill that his actions could not intentional and that Braunstein's brain "just broke." more ›

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Fresh out of college, Anthony Jeselnik moved to LA where he found himself working at Border's books, in debt, and feeling pressured to find a course in life. He decided that he wanted to write jokes for late night TV and shortly thereafter met with Leno's head writer Jimmy Brogan, who advised the young Jeselnik to pursue stand up. It took a year for Anthony to jump into the LA comedy scene, but since then he's been fully embraced and even made TV appearances on Jimmy Kimmel, Premium Blend, and Last Call with Carson Daly. Now the young talent's in New York, soaking up the city's atmosphere, and doing tons of shows, like tonight's 8 PM spot at Drink at Workat Rififi and his 10 PM spot at Check Your Cool at the Parkside Lounge. more ›

Families, neighbors, and others mourned Wednesday night's fire that gutted a 4-story Bronx home and claimed the lives of nine people, including eight children. Fire officials investigated the Highbridge section structure, which was home to twenty-two Malian immigrants and believed that a space heater on the garden floor bedroom overheated and caused the fire, which spread uncontrollably due to what the NY Times calls "the most basic of human oversights and seemingly innocuous events." The space heater apparently ignited clothes and mattresses. more ›

So what happens to NBC's late night shows when Conan replaces Leno in two years? The Times reports that, "One move is expected to involve signing Jimmy Fallon, a former star of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” to what is known as a holding deal. It would bring him back to the network and put him in position to be a prime contender for Mr. O’Brien’s job as host of NBC’s “Late Night” show, at 12:35 a.m." more ›

Brett Gelman's favorite jam back in the day was Eric B. for President. It's okay for me to make that reference Gelman, along with comedian Jon Daly , makes up the hip-hop duo Cracked Out. He also performs improv as part of Death by Roo Roo , is a member of the sketch group The The Brighter Side , and appears at venues ranging from Rififi to Comix. He's busy, is what I'm trying to say! more ›