• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water rescue at 23rd St. and the East River off Manhattan, a stabbing at 23rd St. and 4th Ave. in Brooklyn, and a shooting on Springfield Blvd. in Queens.
• The drunk off-duty cop, who plowed into an aspiring photographer taking pictures in a closed lane of the 59th St. Bridge, was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
• Authorities believe they may have found the body of artist Jeremy Blake, who was witnessed walking into the ocean off Rockaway Beach following the suicide of his girlfriend.
• Developer Bruce Ratner is closer to getting his tax-break subsidies, after negotiating with Mayor Bloomberg and the state legislature.
• Now that the "Mad Hatter" bank robber has been apprehended, NJ law enforcement can concentrate on capturing a new pair of bank robbers who fondle female tellers while in the course of their robberies.
• The cop who killed himself after murdering his 19-year-old girlfriend is being eyed in the murder of a man who was dating one of the cop's prior girlfriends.
• While undergoing an overhaul in Staten Island, the aircraft carrier Intrepid is being outfitted as a backup emergency command center in the event of another terrorist attack.
• Is it wrong to dress your cats as Hello Kitty? Gizmodo thinks so!

Developer Bruce Ratner has been letting the media know that construction will begin on the Atlantic Yards project. The controversial development will bring an arena for the Nets as well as commercial and residential space in the millions of square feet, as well as displace residents in its 22 acre footprint. Metro reports that for the first phase of prep work, a "temporary rail yard" will be set up on the eastern side so Forest City Ratner can build the arena on the western side. The work on the arena itself would begin in the fall. more ›

Developer Bruce Ratner has tapped celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz to photograph the development of the new New York Times building on Eighth Avenue. Why? To attract other tenants for the building. The Post calls the 700,000 square feet available in the building "an entire speculative building," and says the photographs, which will be taken periodically, will be plastered in the area. Could photographs by Annie Leibovitz really attract new tenants? Maybe photographs of cash, but if this becomes a trend, is Larry Silverstein going to hire, oh, Bruce Weber to photograph the the World Trade Center's Freedom Tower? more ›

Other bids to purchase Nets are from NJ developer Charles Kushner and NJ Sen. Jon Corzine (bid: $267.5 million) and NY investor Stuart Feldman ($257.5 million), who have said the Nets would stay in NJ. Ratner's bid is for $275 million. And as it's the only bid to bring the Nets to NYC, Mayor Bloomberg will be at today's ceremony, along with Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz. more ›