A mother duck and her 11 newly hatched ducklings were reunited after some well-meaning New Yorkers tried to lead the newborns to safety, and ended up scaring the mother off in the process. Born in a nest in the middle of the Park Ave median, the mother tried to lead her ducklings into the tulips, but flew away when one local tried to help the ducklings over with her newspaper. City Parks Rangers attempted to lure the mother back after putting the ducklings in a basket, hoping their cries would attract her. It worked, and the Rangers led the family through traffic and into Central Park. And now there are baby ducks in the lake by the Boathouse! Check out the photos. more ›

Ugh: A Lake Beach in Southold, Long Island is closed due to "high levels of bacteria caused by waterfowl droppings and storm-water runoff." Luckily no one has reported any illnesses. It's unclear if officials will require the services of the Geese Police. more ›

City councilman and mayoral hopeful Tony Avella held a press conference today at City Hall to spotlight a pending council resolution urging the New York State Senate to outlaw force-feeding ducks and geese to produce foie gras. A bill to ban the practice is languishing in Albany, and Avella hopes his largely symbolic gesture will push it forward. more ›

• Spurs 99, Knicks 93 (OT): Normally, the Knicks do this in reverse. They fall behind big early, rally to make things respectable and pat themselves on the back. This game was worse. They blew an 18-point third-quarter lead and then didn't seem to care about the result when the game went to overtime. This is the second time they've lost eight straight. Will they have another eight-game skid before the season ends?
• Nets 104, Bobcats 90: Jason Kidd's line: 19 points, 11 rebounds, 13 assists and 0 answered questions after the game. He wasn't in the mood to talk despite the Nets' throttling of the Bobcats. Nenad Krstic, who started over Sean Williams, had only two points in 15 minutes. He'll need to recover from injury quickly if the Nets want to win more games.
• Ducks 2, Devils 1: Scott Niedermayer had an assist in his return to New Jersey as the Ducks finished their three-game romp through the New York area. Niedermayer played 13 seasons with the Devils, but the fans didn't seem to appreciate that tenure.

Former Ranger, Mathieu Schneider scored first and although New York tied things up at 1-1, they never got back in the game. The Ducks scored two times in the second to break things open and Todd Bertuzzi iced it at 12:13 of the third with his 12th goal of the year. more ›

Have you re-read the classic coming-of-age JD Salinger novel, Catcher in the Rye, lately? amNewYork takes a trip down memory lane, and 5th Ave, with a pair of Holden Caulfield-tinted glasses. Apparently people like the Central Park Conservancy historian get a ton of inquiries about the New York references in the novel. The most popular question, "Where do the ducks go in the winter?" Referring to the ducks in the Central Park pond that our... more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an unstable building on 118th St. and 2nd Ave. in Manhattan, a person burned on 130th St. and Park Ave. in Manhattan, and a shooting on Lafayette Ave. in Brooklyn.
• Maybe it's because we're lifelong NYC baseball fans who think the Dodgers still belong in Brooklyn, but we think Joe Torre looks goofy wearing an LA jersey. Maybe he should lose the tie.
• Citigroup's Charles Prince is ousted or jumping ship, depending on how you want to paint it. The mega-bank expects to write down another $11 billion in assets related to sub-prime loans.
• A fugitive being filmed by a Swiss documentary film crew making a movie about his involvement in a drug smuggling ring was unaware that cops might want to arrest him for his crimes from 20 years ago. Surprise! They were and did.
• Policy makers may be emphasizing preventative care and shunting patients away from emergency medical care, but hospitals are putting their money where they see the future is, by expanding their ERs at a record pace.
• South Carolina cold cocks Stephen Colbert's Presidential aspirations and New York magazine makes light of the disruption of the democratic process.
• More than a dozen people were hospitalized after exposure to chemical fumes on Staten Island.
• Mayor Bloomberg has apologized to the family of James Zadroga for deriding their deceased son publicly.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a home invasion robbery on Lincoln Ave. in Brooklyn, a hostage situation on Duane Ct. on Staten Island, and a sexual assault on West 153rd St. and Macombs Pl. in Manhattan.
• "Live Free or Die Hard" director Len Wiseman is slated to direct a remake of "Escape From New York," with Gerard Butler ("300") assuming the role of Snake Plissken, who was originally played by Kurt Russell.
• The Bronx GI who hired someone to shoot him in the leg so he wouldn't have to return to serve with his unit in Iraq was spared indictment on felony charges by a grand jury.
• The original home of The New York Times, at 113 Nassau St. between Ann and Beekman Sts., is being demolished.
• Former New York Met Jose Offerman, who was a Major League All-Star while playing with the Dodgers in 1996 and Boston in 1999, has been suspended indefinitely from the minor league Long Island Ducks after striking the opposing pitcher and catcher with his bat after he was hit by a pitch.
• An NYPD captain is on trial for dragging a subordinate officer by her hair to the backseat of a car where he allegedly punched her. An NYU security guard testified yesterday that he witnessed the attack on the female officer by the ranking officer she was having an affair with.
• New York magazine searches out the best lemonades in the city.
• The New York Times reports on the biology of sweating.

MOVIE: It's certainly not the kind of night for an outdoor movie, so we suggest sitting in the cool a/c and watching the 1978 classic Dawn of the Dead. "Gone is the possibility of mankind’s dominance in this sequel to Night of the Living Dead; the zombies are in control now, with a group of AWOL soldiers and TV producers on the run from the staggering hordes. A deserted shopping mall offers a safe hideout, as well as the setup for Romero’s savage satire on consumer culture." The early screening will be introduced by producer Richard Rubenstein, more info here. more ›

-Knicks 101 Boston 77: It’s hard to believe that this used to be a great rivalry. Two once-proud franchises that are now the laughingstocks of the NBA took the floor in Boston last night and the Knicks came away with an easy victory. Eddy Curry had a great game, but it is important to remember that he wasn’t playing against a center of note. David Lee provided a huge spark again off the bench, grabbing 13 rebounds and dishing 8 assists to go along with 11 points. more ›

-Knicks 118 Memphis 117 (Triple OT): New York almost wrecked their season in the first game. After building an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter, the Knicks let it slip away and found themselves in a contest of endurance. more ›

Sampaist is on the scene in São Paulo beginning this week to become the only ist south of the Equator. Editor Leandro M. Pinto leads the paulistanos down there. more ›

Ryan Owens, Musician more ›

The Daily News says that we're in for an old–fashioned winter. Though NYC won't likely see snowfall like last winter's 4 feet, meteorologists hesitate to guess how much we're getting, lest we take their word for it. One reason for the prognostication hesistation is that this season the area has been seeing more jet streams, leading to questionable weather. (We're just nodding our heads along as we try to bypass slush puddles.) The Mayor is probably devising a "sun dance" to summon warmer weather, as it costs $1 million to remove each inch of snow. more ›