Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez, as well as the Mets organization, made statements about the video of Martinez appearing at a cockfighting event in the Dominican Republic.From Pedro Martinez: "I understand that people are upset, but this is part of our Dominican culture and is legal in the Dominican Republic. I was invited by my idol Juan Marichal to attend the event as a spectator, not as a participant." From the Mets: "We do not......

Graphic from NYPost.com A video showing Mets star pitcher Pedro Martinez at a cockfight in the Dominican Republican briefly surfaced online, outraging some people. Cockfighting is a popular - and legal - sport in the Dominican Republic, but it's illegal in almost all of the United States. The Post explained that Martinez and Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal were "honorary 'soltadores' - the word used to describe the person who throws the animal......

We already covered the Super Bowl half time show alternatives, but what if you're not a football fan or your team didn’t make it? What if you don’t want to sit through a football game to watch commercials or if you hate Joe Buck and Troy Aikman? Well, don’t worry, there are some television alternatives for you if you don’t want to watch either the game or the countless hours of pre-game shows. If crime......

Yesterday, people gathered for the sixth anniversary of the fatal American Airlines Flight 587 crash in Belle Harbor, Queens. It was the second deadlist aviation crash in U.S. history, with 265 victims. Mayor Bloomberg led the ceremony, saying, "Once again, we have come together to remember all of them, and to share the sorrow that all of us feel." On November 12, 2001, the Dominican Republic-bound plane had taken off from JFK Airport; turbulent air......

It's a tie! Last month managed to tie 1947 as the warmest October in the 150+ years of Central Park weather observations. The last time the park had a record warm month was February 2002. The difference between sharing the record warm October with 1947 and breaking that old record was as small as could be. If the high or low temperature for any day last month been one degree higher October 2007 would......

Queens prosecutors announced yesterday that a teenager acting as a drug mule was arrested at JFK airport on Tuesday. Anthony Cruz, 16, was stopped by customs officials as he arrived on an American Airlines flight from Santiago in the Dominican Republic. X-rays of his body revealed 80 balloons of heroin with a total weight of 988 grams (nearly 1 kilo and more than 2 pounds). According to officials, the heroin was worth $500,000. Richard Brown,......

We were tempted this morning to throw up a pretty sky photo from the Gothamist Contribute pool and not write anything because there's not much weather to discuss. The week is starting out cool but will get warmer. By Thursday we should be seeing maximum temperatures in the upper-70s to around 80 degrees as the high pressure system that will dominate the weather this week moves further eastward. Skies are expected to stay mostly clear......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a large sinkhole on Nostrand Ave. and Quincy St. in Brooklyn, a large fight on Park Ave. and 129th St. in Manhattan, and a water rescue at the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island. The Daily Show is giving the green screen that is used to fake remote segments a rest and actually sending correspondent Rob Riggle to Iraq to file reports for the satircal news show. This......

Maybe there is good reason to try to stay off Forbes' list of 400 wealthiest people. The Manhattan DA's office charged a 24-year-old Russian national with an elaborate identity ring that targeted rich Americans. Igor Klopov recruited people in the U.S., via sites like Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com, to help him and he managed to steal $1.5 million from four people. But Klopov was nabbed during an attempt to take $10.7 million from Anthony Pritzker, of......

Your overstuffed kitchen drawer of take-out menus is minuscule compared to the menus Daniel Rayas collected over a four month period. Newsday has a fantastic profile of the Texan grandfather who moved to New York City to help care for his newborn granddaughter and found a flexible part-time job that has taken him all over the city. Looking to make some money to pay for room and board, Rayas responded to an ad on Craigslist......

The season series between the Mets and Yankees may be over, but the Brooklyn Cyclones and the Staten Island Yankees are just getting started. The two Class A Short-Season affiliates of the Mets and Yankees open their seasons today at Keyspan Park in Coney Island. While both teams were in the New York-Penn League playoffs last year, the Yankees had the best regular season record and they won the league championship last. The two......

The police are reportedly looking for three to four suspects wanted in the fatal robbery of a Queens bodega owner on Monday. Bolivar Cruz (pictured) died on Tuesday after being shot in the head by robbers suspected of holding up over 15 other bodegas in Queens over the past few months. The robbers managed to steal $300 from Cruz's store. The police have been questioning Michael Lane, 17, in connection with the incident, after the......

If you're a believer in the Sports Illustrated cover curse, things could get ugly for the Mets pretty soon (or better if you think the team's recent play is due to the cover). General Manager Omar Minaya is featured in a cover story this week about his journey from the Dominican Republic, to becoming the first Hispanic G.M. in the Majors (with the Expos), to his success with the Mets. The feel-good story details Minaya's......

Last night, a bodega owner in Queens was shot in the face during an attempted robbery. Bolivar Cruz, father of seven, is now in critical condition, and police suspect that the robbery might be connected to another robbery - and to many others in the area. Cruz was closing his Kennedy Mini Market at 131st Street in South Ozone Park when three men entered and shot him at 9:30PM. There was another robbery 10 minutes......

Yesterday morning, Mayor Bloomberg dedicated a memorial for American Airlines Flight 587, which crashed on November 12, 2001 in Belle Harbor, Queens. The Dominican Republic-bound plane had taken off from JFK Airport; turbulent air led the co-pilot to use the rudder to keep the plane up, but the rudder broke off. All 260 people on board - 251 passengers and 9 crew members - were killed when the plane crashed into the quiet residential......

Last month, it was revealed the Department of Education was investigating claims that teacher Johnny Cuevas vacationed with a student during spring break - and that school officials at A. Philip Randolph School tried to cover it up. Now it turns out that while Cuevas has been investigated, he was chatting up a 16 year old student online. From the Daily News:While Cuevas was under investigation for the trip, he allegedly started contacting a 16-year-old......

-Atlanta 102 New York 92: The Knicks missed a great chance to open the season at 2-0. Facing an Atlanta team that only managed to win 26 games last year. New York turned the ball over 17 times and never got the big basket they needed to make it a game. Eddy Curry had 20 points, but only 2 rebounds as he went back to displaying the lack of toughness we saw all too often......

They say that the best way to learn a language is by immersion, but what about a Spanish teacher who may have taken a student on a getaway to the Dominican Republic? The Daily News reveals that the Department of Education is investigating a teacher of doing just that - and the allegations are spurred by a fellow teacher who was staying at the same hotel. Apparently the teacher who saw teacher Johnny Cuevas and......

Two teenagers were arrested in connection to 11 year old Genesis Regalado's death on a Queens street Monday night. Genesis had been playing at a fire hydrant across from her house with other people when Jeffrey Matista allegedly fired at another teenager but shot Genesis in the head. The Post says a gang war over turf prompted the shooting - the 99th Street Gang versus the Calloway Street Boys. The Daily News says Matista and......

This was the type of game the Yankees hope they can play in October. Crisp pitching and some timely hitting resulted in a 3-1 victory over the Blue Jays Wednesday to bring the Yankees back to .500. Mike Mussina was dominant going 7 2/3 innings and allowing one run. The run wasn’t really his fault as Toronto got back-to-back hits on balls that probably should have been caught. Kyle Farnsworth came in and got two......

Say it ain't so! The United States has been eliminated from the World Baseball Classic. Great news for George Steinbrenner, bad news for US baseball. Last night in Anaheim (or Los Angeles as the Angels would have you call it), Mexico defeated the US, 2-1. In the loss, the US team only managed three hits off 8 Mexican pitchers. If you're scoring at home, that's a single by Junior Griffey, a double by Chipper Jones......

It’s a good thing they put the mercy rule into the WBC because if they hadn’t, the U.S. would probably still be hitting. Fired up from their defeat at the hands of Canada, the U.S. squad demolished South Africa 17-0 in a game that was shortened to five innings. Ken Griffey exploded for two homers and seven RBI’s while Roger Clemens gave up 1 hit while striking out six over 4 1/3 innings. The win......

Major League Baseball announced the 60-man US World Baseball Classic roster yesterday with several players on the Mets and Yankees named as possible team members. The US list includes Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Al Leiter, and Alex Rodriguez. The Mets have Paul Lo Duca, Billy Wagner and David Wright on the US players listed. While the 60-person list is a list of players that can play in the tournament, the eventual roster must be trimmed......

On November 12, 2001, as New York was still reeling from 9/11, American Airlines Flight 587 to the Dominican Republic took off and then crashed into the Rockaways. The crash killed all 260 people aboard the plane and five people on the ground. Yesterday, nearly four years later, the city released six proposals for a memorial. The proposals were selected out of 68 that were submitted. Two things about the memorial are certain: it......

July 14: Bastille Day at Paris Commune Celebrate Bastille Day, with a prixe fixe menu ($29.95) that includes choices like filet mignon with duck mousse, and salad nicoise. The cost of dinner covers an additional course for dessert: a ride along the Hudson River in a rickshaw-styled Petite Cab courtesy of Bicyclette Wines after dinner. 99 Bank Street, 212-929-0509. July 16, 17, 23, 24: Blue Crab Festival Join the gang at Bar Minnow from 11......

Yomaira Reynoso, Dancing Queen (and teacher)...

Gothamist Health wants to wish everybody a happy World Tuberculosis Day 2005! And when you go out tonight to celebrate, you can eat, drink, and be merry knowing that tuberculosis rates have reached an historic low with only 1,039 cases reported in New York City in 2004. This is a 73% decline since the peak of TB in NYC in 1992. Although the decline is something for our friends at the NYCDOH to be proud......

What can you do to recover from a day of stuffing yourself silly on Grandma's maple-glazed turkey, Dad's cornbread and oyster stuffing and Aunt Sally's pumpkin pie? Go on a noshing tour of the Lower East Side, of course! Big Onion Tours and the New York Historical Society present their Annual Post-Thanksgiving, Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour on Friday, November 26 at 1:00pm. This tour will make pit stops to sample traditional foods from the Dominican Republic,......

Partly cloudy, warm and humid. The chance of showers and thundershowers will grow through the weekend as a week cold front approaches. If you go out for a walk on Sunday you'll be most comfortable in the muggy conditions wearing light-colored, loose-fitting clothes. Sweat evaporates much faster from microfiber polyester than from cotton. The evaporation will keep you cooler so break out the high tech clothes. As reported on CapitalWeather Hurricane Frances has come......

The city may be up to its eyeballs in bureaucracy, but some departments are looking their bills over carefully. So carefully that they have charged five contractors for running for over $5,000 in unauthorized long distance calls to Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama and Florida from city offices in the Bronx. One contractor had been calling his mother in the D.R. The men were working for a company that was installing telephone and computer lines......