On March 22nd Lola Staar opened up her Dreamland Roller Rink inside the historic Childs Building on the Coney Island Boardwalk. The temporary rink was paid for by Glamour and Tommy Hilfiger, who sponsored a contest Staar won. At the time, Staar (real name Diana Carlin) hoped to move the rink into the former Washington Bath House after her time ended at Childs, but without sponsors helping out monetarily she's on her own to reopen......

Charitable food banks are also suffering from the recent increases in the cost of food. Last year food banks were being squeezed by the increased demand from the city's hungry, who were finding that rising rents, fuel costs, and transportation costs were limiting the income they had to devote to food. More and more people were turning to New York's charitable food organizations to make ends meet. As the cost of living continues to increase,......

A lawsuit filed Monday against the City Campaign Finance Board seeks to overturn a recently enacted funding law that opponents assert will just make the City Council richer - and whiter. The recently-enacted campaign finance restrictions reduces the contributions from companies who do business with the city by a whopping 92%. Translation: In a mayoral race, the individual limit on giving is now $400, versus $4,950; in City Council races, it's $250, down from $2,950.......

Now that you've torn through your presents and are making room for new gifts and purchases -- why not give a little back? Green Brooklyn reminds us that we have until December 31st to make tax-deductible donations (to claim on 2007 income taxes). They were particularly moved by the amount of work Habitat for Humanity has been doing for Brooklyn, they just completed their 9th home in the area -- all "constructed using state-of-the-art, eco-friendly......