When your time comes to move on to whatever celestial plane (or spot in the ground) in which you will spend eternity, you'd like to at least think the journey to your final rites would be a smooth one. Which is why Sandy McBeth-Tuitt is so appalled at this surveillance video captured of city workers dragging her brother's body across the floor, dropping him twice, and then down a flight of stairs to chuck him in their van. She has filed a suit against the medical examiner's office, and told the Daily News, "They treated my brother like he wasn't even a person, but garbage. They should be ashamed of themselves." more ›

A Bronx security guard got an unexpected shock during Friday night's storm, as lightning struck her buzzer just as she was pressing the button! Laverne Cook was working at an East Tremont apartment building, buzzing a resident in around 8:40 p.m. At that moment, lightning struck the gate. She told the Daily News, "The lightning struck the gate as I pressed the button. It threw me back. The current went through my right arm." more ›

Last night around 10 p.m., a fire broke out in a row of stores in East Tremont and grew to be a huge five-alarm blaze. More than 200 firefighters worked to put it out by 1 a.m. No civilians were hurt, but a few firefighters were injured. It's unclear what caused the fire. more ›

This is a bad trend: Days after an 11-year-old boy was shot in the chest after opening the door of his Queens home and a 3-year-old girl, in a car, was hit by a stray bullet in the Bronx, an 11-year-old girl's head was grazed by a bullet in the Bronx yesterday. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a severed limb on 55th St. in Brooklyn, a person fatally struck by a train near the East Tremont Station on the 2 line in the Bronx, and an armed robbery on Bradhurst and 147th St. in Manhattan.
• A mother brought her 15-year-old son to the hospital when she discovered him assembling what appeared to be a bomb in their home. The ER at Hoboken University Medical Center was evacuated when it was discovered she'd brought the device with her as well.
• One of Mayor Bloomberg's cars was stolen for the second time in 14 months. The 2001 Lexus, which is used by his ex-wife, was stolen out of a parking garage on East 58th and found in Inwood with a pair of parking tickets and without several bags of presents.
• The man who turned Zabar's into a food retailing phenomena, Murray Klein, died yesterday at the age of 84.
• An interesting preservationist drove his clunker BMW around Brooklyn and into Manhattan this week to publicize a meeting that concerns the possible destruction of Admiral's Row--a series of 150-year-old decrepit homes at the Navy Yard. The giant sign atop his beater Beamer reads "Mayor Moo Moo, you maroon!"
• A construction worker in the Bronx was killed today when a backhoe knocked him into a hole 10 feet deep.
• Racked estimates there were approximately 1,500 people waiting on line in the snow to get into the new Meatpacking Apple store. If you don't like lines, check out our post from yesterday that features many pictures.
• Today is the 66th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Two veteran detectives, Daniel Rivera and William Gonzalez (both 41 years old), were grazed by gunfire early this morning. One detective was wounded in the forehead and the other in the leg, during a shootout in the East Tremont section of the Bronx at Webster Ave. and 188th St. around 5:30 a.m. The two cops were in the process of serving an arrest warrant to 20-year-old Jermaine Taylor for questioning related to a Bronx bodega shooting. In the course of serving that warrant, gunfire was exchanged, the detectives were grazed, and Taylor was seriously wounded. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on 1st Ave. and 92nd St. in Manhattan, a car vs. building on Liberty Ave. and Elton St. in Brooklyn, and a body found on East Tremont Ave. in the Bronx.
• Looking to avoid damaging snail- and e-mail trails or records of phone conversations, aides to Gov. Spitzer who are being investigated in the State Police scandal investigation are allegedly conversing only in person while driving around in black sedans.
• When an uncomfirmed threat arose regarding terrorists driving box trucks packed with nuclear materials to be exploded as dirty bombs in NYC, the NYPD went on high alert. MTA police who man the security at many of the city's bridges and tunnels were just handed radiation detectors and not told anything about what to look for, or even the existence of a threat.
• In order to improve crime stats and make schools appear safer, public school deans are often forbidden to call 911. In the case of a medical emergency like a stroke, one would think that common sense would override that prohibition, but unfortunately it didn't for one young student.
• Bette Midler's husband was briefly manhandled during Fashion Week by security guards who didn't recognize him because he is not a celebrity.
• Leona Helmsley cut two of her grandkids out of her will because they wouldn't visit the grave of their father and her son at least once a year. The other two grandkids received $10 million each.
• A 368-block section of Jamaica, Queens was set to be rezoned today in order to turn it into an airport transit hub, with 3 million square feet of development including hotels and residences.
• If you live in Brooklyn, do you know which police precinct you're in? Brooklyn.com has a list of all of them with a map and direct telephone numbers.

Shocked family and friends are mourning the deaths of four people who died in a car accident on East Tremont Avenue near Commonwealth early yesterday morning. The police believe that the GMC Envoy was traveling at least 80 MPH (and witnesses think it was closer to 90-95 MPH) when it hit a utility pole and flipped over twice. The NY Times reports the car "hit the pole with such force that its roof was shorn off, three of the four people inside were ejected and the driver was decapitated." It's unclear whether there was alcohol involved. more ›

A terrible accident in the Bronx: Police believe that an SUV on East Tremont was speeding around 4AM when it crashed into a telephone pole and flipped over. 1010WINS says the vehicle was "ripped apart" at Commonwealth Avenue. Three men were ejected from the SUV and pronounced dead at the scene. A fourth passenger, a woman, died at Jacobi Hospital. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on East Tremont Ave. in the Bronx, two pedestrians struck on 42nd St. and 11th Ave. in Manhattan and one is likely dead, and another bank robbery on Myrtle Ave. in Brooklyn.
• A Queens car thief's plan of taking a dealer's SUV for a test drive and kicking the salesman out of the car would have worked beautifully if he hadn't surrendered his actual driver's license at the dealership before taking the car for a ride. He was arrested when he returned to the Potamkin dealership to collect his license. Two dozen police were involved in the ensuing foot chase.
• The M.T.A. is shockingly behind schedule on its anti-terrorism project schedule. No really, it's only completed two out of six scheduled "high priority" projects.
• A Park Ave. church is suing Con Ed for damage to its nearly century-old pipe organ after the utility allegedly let a damaged steam pipe vent damaging moisture into the instrument's fixtures for weeks.
• If you're a food blogger, there's a good chance that Mario Batali hates you. Just mentioning Batali yesterday was enough to evince criticism from some of our readers, so the NYC restaurant scene is apparently a contentious place.
• A Consumer Reports test named Hebrew National the #1-tasting dog in the land. Nathan's came in second with Boar's Head in third place.
• Any dual Sopranos-Lost fans should be reassured that the latter's shows don't intend to leave them hanging like David Chase. "Mobisodes" will be broadcast over Verizon's wireless network.
• Despite an approval vote by regulatory members last week, more than 100 neighbors packed into a Williamsburg Community Board meeting last night, halting the approval process of construction of a 24-story tower just off Bedford Ave.

- Employment and training incentives will promote increased employment and earnings or combine work activities with specific job training activities. For instance, exemplary attendance in elementary could earn $25 every two months, while exemplary high school attendance earns $50. Getting high scores on exams is worth $200-300, and things like going for check-ups or keeping a job would also be rewards. The city estimates families will earn $3,000-5,000. more ›

Last Thursday, all of the stations covered the tragic fire in the Bronx quite well and took the opportunity for some refreshers on basic fire safety. As expected, WCBS went way overboard creating a whole special set of graphics for the station’s coverage, complete with new lower thirds that used a different font which were ready by Thursday’s 5 p.m. newscast. For 6 p.m., CBS 2 needlessly sent anchor Jim Rosenfeld to the scene, as they tend to do with most big stories. more ›

- A Dodge Caravan hit three pedestrians on Neptune near West 24th in Brooklyn; a 68-year-old was killed. The Caravan's driver stayed on the scene.And two young women were injured in the East Tremont section of the Bronx. After the fatalities from two weekends ago, the Department of Transportation said, "[I]n the wake of several tragic accidents, it is clear that more needs to be done, and DOT is committed to taking further steps to make the streets as safe as possible." We'll see if that happens. more ›

The good news: Heroism may be contagious. Two men walking on Daly Avenue in the East Tremont section of the Bronx caught a three year old boy who fell from a fire escape - on the fourth floor. The NY Times on what Julio Gonzalez and Pedro Nevarez say:

The two men first saw the baby from across the Bronx street, dangling from a fire escape four stories above the sidewalk. His grip was growing weaker by the second. The two men saw only one choice: run over and try to catch him. more ›

It's an ending fitting for Broadway, except in this case, Broadway is East Tremont Avenue. The students at Lehman High School will be able to perform their high school musical, Chicago, when city officials intervened on their behalf. Their sob story about being served a cease-and-desist by the guardians of Chicago's rights and licensing struck a chord in the hearts of many who realized it would be a great press op: Saving the drama club hearts of youngster pitted against Broadway money men. We love a good story, too, but Lehman High School's actions seem more disingenous, for example, their 24 year old drama teacher Anthony Cerini transcribed the movie - plus found some stuff on the Internet and wrote some of the script on his own - for them to use in the musical. Well, then, hey, that's original material - but poor Fred Ebb must be rolling in his grave (hey, someone needs to get a quote from John Kander!) And just where is the music coming from? After we conducted an informal straw poll of drama club geeks, they were shocked and upset that Lehman never asked for permission, as that's what makes and breaks many high school productions each year (and why lots of schools do Peter Pan). more ›

- Friday night in Jamaica, Rowland Erby killed Wayne Fung with a bayonet because he thought Fung was flirting with his girlfriend. A bayonet? Serious? What's next? Shooting by musket? Terror by cannon? Bombing by balloon? At least Erby kept it in the right place, the attic. Erby was arrested at the scene and charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. more ›