A number of politicians offered their support (though not 100%) of Mayor Bloomberg's Voldemort, aka congestion pricing, today. U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters appeared with Governor Eliot Spitzer and Bloomberg at a press conference today, with Peters saying, "This plan will keep the city that never sleeps from becoming the city that never moves." She also put some pressure on the state Legislature to approve the just submitted S. 6068, the NY State Senate's......

Beware the yo mama joke: After some "friends" were yo-mama-joking around at Newtown High School in Elmhurst, two students cut off the hair of another student. And the victim is a Sikh, whose religion requires long hair to be worn. Apparently Pakistani students Waqas Ali and Umair Ahmed had been joking with Sikh student Harpaal Vashar, although some other reports claim that they were trading insults. But Vashar's joke went too far, and Ahmed would......

As Mayor Bloomberg continues his full court press to bring congestion pricing in some shape or form to the city, the folks at Quinnipiac University conducted a poll to see what New Yorkers think. And even though 90% of the respondents think that city traffic is a pain, 56% oppose congestion pricing (37% support it). But what's interesting is how the boroughs differ. From Quinnipiac:Manhattan voters support congestion pricing 62 - 29 percent. Voters in......

As if it were any question, the NY State GOP will endorse Rudy Giuliani for President. GOP chairman for NY State Joseph Mondello is endorsing Rudy today in Manhattan, and he'll go to Albany for an event with State Senate Majority leader Joseph Bruno. Last week, Governor Eliot Spitzer endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton, but how likely do you think it'll be an actual Hillary vs. Rudy matchup in 2008? At any rate, NY State republicans......

We started the morning with some Giuliani-9/11 news, so here's some end-of-the-day Giuliani-9/11 musings. There's an awesome update to one of our favorite Rudy Giuliani stories - the story, or mystery, of why was the Office of Emergency Management's emergency center placed at 7 World Trade Center. Here's how it goes: Sunday - Giuliani appears on Fox News Sunday. Host Chris Wallace asks him why the city's emergency command center was put in 7 World......

There's nothing quite like religion and politics to get people worked up. In a debate Monday night at the New York Public Library, Al Sharpton seemingly combined both, saying, "As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don’t worry, that’s a temporary situation." The Mormon in question is Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Sharpton was debating with Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is......

It's time for to break out the "Con Ed Sucks" signs! The utility has requested to raise electricity rates 17%; the Post reports, "typical residential cusomer paying $70 a month would pay an extra $12 per month starting April 1, 2008." (The increase for businesses is slightly smaller, 10.7%.) Well, we guess those livery cab drivers have to be paid somehow! And fixing the Long Island City network, which Con Ed should have been doing......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A large fight at Heritage High School in Manhattan, a trench rescue in Queens, and a suspicious substance at Canal & 6th Avenue Aw, Hakan Yalincak, the NYU student who conned people out of millions, filed an ethics complaint against his lawyer; his lawyer's lawyer told Yalincak (who faces prison time), "You are the ultimate evil person. Have a good time in jail. Watch out for the bathrooms." Peter......

Yesterday, City Council members Robert Jackson, Larry Seabrook and John Liu introduced a resolution to formally apologize for NYC's role in slavery. According to the Empire Zone, Jackson hoped the resolution would "spur dialogue and interest among the new generation of New Yorkers who will lead us in the future" while Liu stated, "New York is the greatest city in the world, but let’s face it: The early foundation of this city was built on......

After the Sun mentioned the Mayor's upcoming Earth Day PlaNYC speech may include mention of a congestion tax, even more details about what the speech will include have come out. The NY Times says the Mayor is "expected to advocate more than 100 proposals," from cleaning up polluted sites to making buildings more energy efficient. The most controversial part of the plan is the congestion pricing idea. The NY Times says Bloomberg administration staffers......

Yesterday, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to uphold the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. Immediately, politicians weighed in with their reactions, including two notable presidential wannabes from our area. Senator Hillary Clinton calling it a "dramatic departure from Supreme Court rulings that upheld a woman's right to choose" while former mayor Rudy Giuliani said the Supreme court came to the "correct conclusion." Which the Daily News points out is a reversal from his 2000 position,......

While there's no video of Mayor Bloomberg's Inner Circle Dinner performance online yet (though there's a YouTube clip of someone taping the CW 11's New at Ten - complete with giggling at Mayor Mike), the Daily News' Daily Politics did post this commercial for "Mayor Poppins." Elizabeth Benjamin writes, "My favorite part is Mark Green, playing himself and uttering a line so quintessentially Mark Green it's scary." NY1 said the annual skit spoofed "issues......

The latest Quinnipiac poll about New York politics shows that the public is behind Governor Spitzer and his "Steamroller Style." Sixty-one percent say Spitzer's way is "good for the people"; by gender, men like Eliot a little more than women, with 63% men approving to 57% of women. (Men like a man who gets angry!) Interestingly enough, 59% of Republicans approve of Spitzer's attitude - probably because they are enjoying his fight with Assembly leader......

In week 2 of the NYC Department of Education's busted school bus route changes, parents are still complaining and the media is loving it. There's 5 year old Michelle Baum in the Post today, waiting outside in the freezing weather for her bus. And the hotline the DOE has been directing parents to seems to be just as bad: In yesterday's Daily News, there was 11 year old Eleanor Shanahan whose family was told a......

We'd describe recently resigned State Comptroller Alan Hevesi's expression (and posture) as "Worst Day Ever." Danny Hakim at the NY Times' Empire Zone blog says the two biggest bombshells from this morning might be that Hevesi now admits he never intended to reimburse the state for the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on chauffeuring his wife and that Albany County DA David Soares says, "Since attaining these convictions, we've received a number of......

...Al Pirro, who did not appear during wife Jeanine Pirro's concession speech for the NY State Attorney General race. Pirro, who had 40% of the vote to Andrew Cuomo's 57%, gave her speech to a crowd of 100 supporters in Manhattan. The Empire Zone says that her spokesman did not ask her why Al was not there. Huh, we guess even her staff knows some topics are off limits. The Post suspects this is......

Hilarious: The NY Times' election blog, The Empire Zone, reports that Chelsea Clinton's name wasn't found in the book of registered voters at the West 20th Street polling place: "The book containing her name was apparently forwarded to the wrong district, denying her the ability to enter a polling booth." D'oh! So she - and probably the other people in that book - had to fill out an "affidavit vote," ensuring that she would be......

That thud you heard this afternoon? The jaws of Jeanine Pirro's campaign staffers. It turns out that Republican candidate for NY State Attorney General Pirro is under state and federal criminal investigation. WNBC's Jonathan Dienst had the scoop: State and federal agencies were looking into whether Pirro eavesdropped on her husband, who she suspected might be cheating on her. (Well, he did father a love child a couple years into their marriage.) So she......