The Daily News reports that the cause of death is still unknown for a young minke whale that made its way to Brooklyn's Gowanus Bay. But the necropsy confirmed that the whale was a young female and that there were no signs of significant trauma. Now tissue samples of the whale will be sent to pathologists to conduct more tests. And someone at the Army Corps of Engineers emailed us to dispute what we wrote......

Sludgie the Whale was removed from the Gowanus Bay yesterday - and not without difficulty. The first time the Army Corp of Engineers tried to remove him, Sludgie slipped out of the knot and, as Newsday puts it, "plunged to the depths of the harbor, 30 feet below." The ACE's boat captain said, "It was a 'might knot' -- it might hold and it might not." Army Corp of Engineers: Can help get Intrepid......

Do you know the Latin root of the word 'solipsism'? Well, Robert Marsland from Madison, Wisconsin did. Marsland, who is 18, won the inaugural National Vocabulary Championship yesterday when he beat 49 other word-whizzes (warning, we got a headache reading the linked article) and had the correct answer for the word's root. For his mastery of the vocabulary universe, Marsland won $40,000 towards his college tuition. That isn't even enough for one year at Princeton,......

Republican candidate for Attorney General Jeanine Pirro continued to make her campaign appearances, and her daughter Cristine stood up for her. At a Manhattan fundraiser lasted night, the Daily News reports that Cristine "Kiki" Pirro, University of Pennsylvania senior, said, "While others may question her decisions, I love her for choosing to do what she thought was best for our family. You know, we've taken a lot of hits as a family, but we......

This morning, Jeanine Pirro kept her appointment to speak at the New York Hispanic Clergy Association and spoke out against the federal investigation into her possible plans to wiretap her lying and cheating husband (he's lied and cheated before, though it's unclear if there was any lying and cheating last summer). WNBC has footage of today's speech, where she says that she's fought to keep her family together, that she's disturbed by the leaking of......

The unveiling of the new buildings - Towers 2, 3, 4 - that will accompany the Freedom Tower at the redeveloped World Trade Center was met with excitement yesterday, proving there's nothing that beautiful computer renderings, a who's who of architects, and a healthy dose of optimism can't do. The NY Times updated its article about the announcement yesterday and also has an article about the pink elephant in the room: How slow progress......

A pair of homeless man have been arrested for starting the fire that caused the NYC's biggest blaze (this side of the World Trade Center). Leszek Kuczera, a 59 year old Polish immigrant, and another as-yet unapprehended homeless man were attempting to burn the insulation off copper wire by setting eight tires on fire, but the fire got out of control. Kuczera was arrested and charged with arson, buglary, reckless endangerment and petty larceny;......