Governor Paterson was back at the scene of the crime today, attempting to wipe the slate clean and put the lid on what has been a disastrous campaign on his part of critiquing the "orchestrated" treatment of him from the media and how it illustrates that we are not in a postracial society. Paterson returned to the Errol Louis's radio show where he first made the remarks last week. Today he said, "I was wrong to get into an assessment of how the media views me. I do not think that race has anything to do with my poll numbers anything to do with my political issues in this day, and shouldn’t have said it. Straight out." more ›

With sources saying that Governor Paterson is having his first real doubts about whether he will actually go through with an election campaign next year despite such abysmal poll numbers, the governor lashed out at how he's been lambasted in the press, claiming that the movement to push him out has been "orchestrated" and is racially motivated. more ›

Fresh off her big night of wins in Ohio and Texas, Hillary Clinton spoke on CBS's Early Show and mentioned the words "dream ticket" in relation to the heated Democratic presidential race. Harry Smith told Clinton, "We talked to a lot of people in Ohio who said there really isn't that significant a difference between you two, and they'd like to see you both on the ticket." After remarking how "incredibly close" the race is, she said pairing up "may be where this is headed, but we have to decide who is on the top of the ticket, and I think that the people of Ohio very clearly said that it should be me." more ›

That's what Senator Hillary Clinton told Tim Russert on Meet the Press yesterday, but no matter what anyone says, race and gender are obviously factors in the hotly contested Democratic primary race. more ›

The NYPD detectives working the homicide investigation of Carol Simon have identified a suspect in her killing, although they are not publicizing his identity. Simon was shot as she was returning to her car where her son was waiting for her at a gas station. The killing occurred Saturday evening in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, as an argument between two men turned violent and one of the men pulled a gun. more ›

Today, Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Klein released the "first-ever" public school progress reports with letter grades. The reports are meant to give educators and parents a snapshot of how well schools are doing and empower them to keep improving. Mayor Bloomberg said, "With these Progress Reports, parents no longer have to navigate a maze of statistics to determine how their child's school is doing and how it compares to others. And our educators now... more ›

Central Park at night, by deenas at flickr more ›

REV. SHARPTON TO APPRAISE RUDI GIULIANI AT TENTH ANNIVERSARY RALLY & DISCUSS THE STATE OF POLICE BRUTALITY TODAY IN LIGHT OF GIULIANI'S FRONTRUNNER STATUS ON THE REPUBLICAN TICKET BY ANALYZING WHAT THE NATION MIGHT FACE IF GIULIANI IS ELECTED PRESIDENT AND OVER THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENTOther attendees include Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, who survived being shot by police officers last fall (their friend Sean Bell did not survive) . more ›

The Daily News has a few stories about the upcoming trial of three cops indicted in the shooting of Sean Bell, an unarmed black man killed by police hours before his wedding. After surveying readers, the News finds that most people think the verdict were generally fair, though more blacks and Latinos thought the charges should have been more severe, whereas more white respondents thought the charges were too severe. more ›

Just after the victory of Mathieu Eugene’s 10-candidate run for Brooklyn’s 40th Council District on Tuesday, questions regarding his residency in the Flatbush district have now put his official claim to the seat on hold. Elected candidates must reside in the electing district during the time of the election, but not necessarily during the time of filing for nomination. There’s the rub. So today at City Hall, the expectations and celebrations of a political newcomer were met with a big halt as Dr. Eugene announced that he will not be sworn in until he has established residency. more ›

At any rate, it seems that Spitzer's no-nonsense, desire for ethical politics (ha!) is what most the state needs, the wake of a various revelations and scandals. At least, until the first Spitzer era screw-up. But you have to hand it to a Governor who runs a 2-mile mile in under 14 minutes to start off his term. The NY Times' Clyde Haberman looks at how Pataki's first inaugural speech 12 years ago sounded a lot like Spitzer's call for change and the Daily News' Errol Louis notices the display of diversity at the inaugural. more ›

The Daily News' Ben Smith looks at a possible stumbling block for Rudy Giuliani's presidential hopes. And it would be a big one. With September 11 fire responders falling ill and memos about the Giuliani administration opening downtown earlier, in spite of EPA warnings, becoming a bigger and bigger story this year, some who hope for "Giuliani 2008" are concerned that Rudy could be vulnerable, the way John Kerry was when the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth emerged in the last presidential election. Smith writes:

Many of the workers who spent time near Ground Zero, including at least one of his top aides, have come down with respiratory and other illnesses doctors link to the air quality following the attacks. Giuliani and former Environmental Protection Agency chief Christie Whitman have traded blame over the fact that more workers didn't wear respirators. But it was Giuliani's old rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who helped organize research into the health impact of the towers' collapse. more ›

The Post reports that the police are investigating whether there's a link between the murder of Brooklyn teen Chanel Petro-Nixon and the NJ teen Jennifer Moore who was killed after a night of clubbing. Police have been showing a photograph of the suspect in Moore's murder, self-proclaimed pimp Draymond Coleman, in Petro-Nixon's Brooklyn neighborhood. In June, Petro-Nixon was on her way to an Applebee's to apply for a job, and she never made it home - her strangled body was found in a garbage bag days later. Moore had been strangled and was stuffed into a garbage bag as well. Another thing: Coleman is suspected of washing Moore's body with bleach to remove clues, and Petro-Nixon's body had a "chemical scar on her leg - possibly caused by bleach." A source tells the Post, "Until we get something concrete we can't rule anyone out." more ›

The latest news in the fatal shooting during a rap video shoot in Brooklyn is that Busta Rhymes may have witnessed his bodyguard's death. Police Commissioner Kelly announced as much yesterday, and other police sources are saying that Rhymes (born Trevor Smith) may have been playing "peacemaker" between some other rappers. Rhymes had been shooting a video for his song, "Touch It {Remix)," and there were a number of music stars on hand to do cameos - Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent and DMX; he originally told police that he was on set during the shooting, but the widow of Israel Ramirez says that Rhymes called her and said he saw it all. Most of the attention is being put on Tony Yayo (part of 50 Cent's crew) and Swizz Beatz (who has produced for Jay-Z and DMX) respectively, who may have had an argument. The Post has a who's who of some of the characters and a timeline of events while the Daily News's Errol Louis says Rhymes and other hip-hop artists should create a fund for Ramirez's chlidren, citing the "criminal irresponsibility of so many of the people who make money creating and marketing hip-hop music." more ›

In more serious news, Sharpton has been asking people to stop listening to violent rap for 90 days, a ban to make people realize that this music only romanticizes crime. hip hop music points out there are already other grassroots movements around this issue and is surprised that Sharpton is going to ask the FCC to regulate music. Gothamist is not as surprised, because even though Sharpton seems mellower, he's still a master of the media, and would naturally look for ways to maximize publicity. more ›