The family of the cyclist killed by a flatbed truck driver in East Williamsburg last week is having a hard time getting an explanation from the NYPD about why the driver isn't being charged, but the media isn't. Although investigators have not told Mathieu Lefevre's parents that the driver won't face charges, the NYPD press office told us on Monday. And speaking to a Metro reporter, an NYPD spokesperson explained, "There’s no criminality. That’s why they call it an accident." more ›

The family of Mathieu Lefevre, the 30-year-old artist who was run over by a truck in East Williamsburg earlier this month joined Transportation Alternatives at a press conference today at 1 Police Plaza, calling on NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly to reinvestigate the case of Leferve, as well as other cyclist fatalities. On Monday we learned that no charges would be pressed against the flatbed truck driver who left the scene after killing Lefevre. He parked his truck just two blocks away and, according to the NYPD, "had no idea" that he'd hit someone. Lefevre's mother Erika says there were markings on the truck from the accident, which is why investigators decided to track down the driver. more ›

The NYPD's investigation into the fatal collision between a flatbed truck and a cyclist in East Williamsburg has come to a sadly familiar end. Investigators had been trying to track down the driver for several days after Mathieu Lefevre was killed at the intersection of Meserole Street and Morgan Avenue, just after midnight on Wednesday. After the accident, the truck was found legally parked and unattended a couple of blocks away on Scholes Street. The NYPD tells us they finally found the driver, and have concluded there was no criminality. more ›

An unidentified 30-year-old man was killed by a flatbed truck last night while riding his bike in East Williamsburg. According to a spokesman for the FDNY, the accident happened just after midnight, and the first ambulance arrived within three minutes. But the victim was pronounced dead at the accident scene, which is just a couple of blocks from 3rd Ward. more ›

A too-good-to-be-true offer of a free room in a Brooklyn apartment turned out to be how a man allegedly lured a Wisconsin woman to his East Williamsburg home, where he is accused of beating, chaining her to a radiator and raping her. John Hopkins, 45, was charged with rape, assault and unlawful imprisonment. more ›

How can you tell when you've been slinging drugs for too long on the same corner? When police are able to use Google Maps to identify you. NYPD set up a sting on a drug crew working near the Cooper Park Houses in East Williamsburg yesterday, busting seven dealers including three whose faces were captured in the Google street view. And the police did so in the guise of hipsters. "They were catering to the hipster crowd, among other customers," one law-enforcement source told the Post. more ›

A two-alarm fire broke out at 55 Harrison Place in Bushwick, Brooklyn around 4:48 a.m. this morning. According to WCBS 2, one person, who was "one of two people trapped by flames on the second floor," died while "Four other people were injured; three with minor injuries and one with more serious injuries." more ›

more ›

Photo: Food of the Future more ›

Brooklyn musician Michael Leviton and his girlfriend Leah Hayes have put their own apartment at center stage, after declaring their old hang, The Sidewalk Cafe, so over. They moved the scene to their East Williamsburg apartment at the end of 2006, calling it The Apartment. Now it's no longer much of a secret, and it may also be so over (though for different reasons). more ›

As a counterpoint to the tale of the mugging in pre-gentrification Bushwick (or East Williamsburg) in New York magazine, we bring you this mugging story from gentrified Park Slope. From the Morgan L station to the popular Grand Army Plaza stop, a woman gave a first person account of being mugged on Sunday with Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn. more ›

An assistant principal at P.S. 196 in East Williamsburg was arrested yesterday for slashing her live-in boyfriend with a pair of scissors. Danielle Capuano's boyfriend Alejandro Ruiz was also arrested in the domestic violence incident in East Elmhurst, Queens. Capuano was charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon. Ruiz was charged with assault for hitting Capuano in the head. more ›

EVENT: Into anime? It's your lucky weekend, the New York Anime Festival is in town! There will be previews, screenings and panels galore. Check out their website for more details. All Weekend // Jacob Javits Convention Center [655 W 34th St] // $30 day pass, $55 weekend pass SHOP: FIT and the Design Mavens come together for a 3 day shopstravaganza. Tons of designers we're not cool enough to have ever heard of will be... more ›

A Mutual Fund for Hipsters called The GendeX™ Thrasher Funds? It just can't be real...except it is. Advertised through a "dedicated email" from Daily Candy this morning means they have some cash to advertise -- but to prove their hipster-cred we may need to see some MySpace profiles. And surprise, surprise -- it looks like they have one (John Mayer is in their "Top 12" friends! Ironic or do their parents also work there?). Their... more ›

Yesterday morning, two men riding bicycles were killed in separate accidents. Both occurred in Brooklyn. Around 4AM, the a 26-year-old at Union Avenue and Ten Eyck Street in East Williamsburg was hit by an oil truck. WABC reported that he was cycling in the wrong direction. The cyclist, identified as Craig Murphy [sic] who is a member of RightRides, died at the scene. The truck driver was not charged. more ›

Kate Gilliam heads up Trees Not Trash, a group whose name pretty much explains it all. Gilliam builds planters, plants trees and makes her industrial neighborhood a little more green each day. Oh, and she's a seed bomber, too. We're betting East Williamsburg could use a lot more patches of nature, so help out by volunteering or going to their benefit show this Saturday. more ›

If you aren't at a BBQ, aren't watching the fireworks or a big budget summer movie...below are some options for you. Whatever you do, though, bring sparklers! more ›

A 23-year-old firefighter died from injuries sustained while responding to a fire at 146 Leonard Street in East Williamsburg. Daniel Pujdak, a 2-year veteran with Ladder 146, fell four floors from a bucket ladder and suffered serious head injuries; he was pronounced dead at Bellevue shortly after. Over 60 firefighters were needed to control the fire, which allegedly started because of a cigarette left on a window sill. more ›

THEATER: John Fugelsang, the son of an ex-nun and a former monk, declares war on right-wing evildoers in his one man comedy All the Wrong Reasons. Targets include sex, politics, Klansmen, stem cells and the drug war (which Fugelsang recently skewered on the Huffington Post.) Theater blogger What’s Good/What Blows raves: “…once he settles in to tell the story of trying to get through Orlando airport with an 1/8th of weed in his sock and another 1/8th in his girlfriend's bra, you're pretty much on the edge of your seat till the end. He even throws in some touching realizations. This is a great evening to take a date to.” - John Del Signore more ›

An excellent Hasidic outdoor advertising update: Back in January, we noticed that an East Williamsburg poster of an Orthodox Jewish boy had been been updated for the boy to look more Hasidic - and it was splashed with some Hebrew graffiti. It turned out the graffiti was part of the ad, which is trying to encourage the Hasids in the neighborhood to donate cars to Oorah, a children's charity. more ›

A few months ago we were walking on Lee Avenue in East Williamsburg, and noticed some strange billboard graffiti. It looked like someone had spraypainted a beard over the kid in the ad. At first, we thought it might be the work of Beard, a streetartist who had been putting work up recently, but on closer inspection, it wasn't so much a beard as just a straight crossing out of the face. more ›

The NYPD's Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating why 28 year old black man ran into the Belt Highway, where he was hit by a car. Eyewitnesses say that two white men "struggled with" and "forced" Michael Sandy into traffic on Sunday night. Given that Sandy's race and the fact he was in Plumb Beach, a gay cruising area off the highway, the police have been investigating the incident as a possible hate crime. The Post has this account:

At about 9:40 p.m., he was confronted by two young white men, who began looking through the interior of the vehicle before Sandy ran off toward the Belt, witnesses told cops. more ›

- And MILFs, get ready for October 14th - that's when the producers of the Hottest Mom in America are casting - check out the ladies in who showed up in Chicago more ›

On Monday, police were investigating a hit-and-run death on the West Side Highway. A man was hit by a southbound vehicle at West 12th Street at 3:45AM, and the police were trying to find out who was driving - and who the victim even was, as police didn't find any identification on the body. And now it looks like the victim was Brooklyn resident Josh Crouch. The Post reports that friends say he was headed to visit his girlfriend upstate (his packed bags were in his East Williamsburg apartment). Crouch had been "working as an emcee with the band Mindspray and also had a job at the restaurant Luna Park in Union Square." more ›

PARTY: FreeNYC holds their Bugjuice party again at Luke & Leroy's (which has managed to stay open post-Misshapes!) If you like reggae, funk, soul, hip hop and $3 vodka drinks...this is the place for you. more ›

- Borough Presidents should take the lead in encouraging civic engagement and private investment in parks to raise the level of safety and cleanliness. “Borough Presidents already play an integral role in building and repairing parks in their boroughs. The next logical step is for them to take the lead in creating more community stewardship to work with the Parks Department to ensure that each and every park is receiving the attention it needs,” DiPalermo said.You can read the Progress Report and past Report Cards here. more ›

2005 . . . 30,452,319 more ›

Momus, one of our favorite almost-famous rockers from the mid-1990s, has lately been blogging up a storm on Livejournal. He's been living outside NYC, but has been planning to return. Only one problem: he needs a place to stay: more ›