Do you sometimes want feel like your apartment or (wow) townhouse feels like it is right out of Washington D.C., not New York? Do you occasionally watch Gossip Girl and think "I wish my house was on this television box in front of me?" You might still have a shot! A Park Slope reader sent us a pic of this flyer which just showed up in his mail: more ›

West Virginia 60 Georgetown 58: Last night, West Virginia won the Big East tournament, defeating Georgetown. WVU's Da'Sean Butler is deemed "Da Man" by the Post—Butler had 20 points, including the game-winning shot with 4.2 seconds left—and he said, "It means the world to me. I grew up around this area.... That's my favorite team, the New York Knicks. I grew up watching this on television. To play so well here since I've been a freshman, it means the world to me." more ›

Georgetown 91, Syracuse 84: Top-seeded Syracuse waited until the third day to play its first game of the Big East tournament. It was a one-and-done. To make matters worse, Arinze Onuaku hurt his knee in the loss, but early signs point to the big man's being ready for the NCAA Tournament next week. Of course, the other story is Georgetown, which got 27 points from Chris Wright and its first win in three games this season against its archrival. more ›

• Too bad Knicks games aren't this exciting or well-played. The busiest -- and best -- day of the Big East schedule got started with Georgetown's record-setting win over Villanova, which is now squarely back on the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Hoyas won without any points from Roy Hibbert. Those tournament-record 17 3-pointers -- on 28 attempts -- helped more than cancel it out in a 83-62 win.
• The Hoyas will get the Moutaineers of West Virginia, which rode Joe Alexander's 34 points -- two of which came on a sick dunk over Stanely Robinson -- in its win over Connecticut. That game was the first in which won by the team in the darker jersey -- the lower seed. If Bob Huggins' team wasn't in good shape for the NCAA Tournament, it is now. The Huskies, however, lost a chance to help their seeding.
• The first night game had perhaps the most local flavor. Louisville has its share of New York players, and coach Rick Pitino was born in the city and went to St. Dominic's High School in Oyster Bay. Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon loves to recruit around New York and loves to bring his Panthers to New York. Maybe St. John's should get relegated, because the Panthers, including Brooklyn product Levance Fields perform better at the Garden than does the Red Storm. With Thursday's overtime win, they're now 4-0 there this season, with wins over Duke, St. John's and Cincinnati on Wednesday coming earlier.

The Legal Aid attorney who secretly videotaped his female colleagues while they changed clothes pleaded guilty yesterday to unlawful surveillance. Peter Barta, a Stuyvesant High debater and Georgetown Law graduate, attempted to have the felony charge reduced to a misdemeanor, saying in a letter, "I'm not asking for forgiveness, but an opportunity to earn it." He also said his behavior was "creepy, disrespectful, juvenile and stupid," and wrote, "I offer no excuse or justification for my action. My behavior was inexcusable." more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: falling debris on W 47th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan, a shooting on Broadway on Staten Island, and a suspicious boat at the Verrazano Bridge near Brooklyn.
• For a reason unrelated to terrorism, the U.S. Parks Dept. is going to keep the crown of the Statue of Liberty closed because it's a fire death-trap.
• Iranian President Mahmoud Amahdinejad's wish to visit Ground Zero was blocked due to security concerns.
• Leaping Labradors! Dogs competing for top dog dock jumping honors were jumping into a pool at Bryant Park.
• Money should start flowing quicker than spilled oil now that Julia Roberts stand-in Erin Brockovich has jumped into the Greenpoint oil spill pool.
• Despite objections from transit groups and the state comptroller, the MTA is prepared to propose a fare increase for commuters.
• Are New Yorkers in store for a second taxi strike?
• Filmmaker brothers Ethan and Joel Coen are attempting to pass off Brooklyn as the Georgetown neighborhood in Washington, DC. Mutual outrage will likely ensue.
• The vigil for recently deceased carriage horse Smoothie has been moved to the southeast corner of Central Park at the northeast section of Grand Army Plaza. It'll take place Thursday from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Representatives Anthony Weiner and Jerrold Nadler announced that they are introducing legislation to block a $20 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia. The Sun reports the pair stood in front of the Saudi Consulate, questioning the logic of the Bush administration's plan. Nadler said, "The folly of this arms deal is beyond belief. Saudi Arabia is the no. 1 exporter of terrorism in the world today." more ›

The Post got varying opinions from neighbors of Peter Barta, the Legal Aid lawyer accused of secretly videotaping his female colleagues. Barta was charged with four counts of unlawful surveillance and six counts of attempted unlawful surveillance after he allegedly planted a Sharper Image Security Camcorder Clock in his colleagues' offices to film them while they changed in their offices for the gym or court appearances. more ›

A Legal Aid Society lawyer was arrested yesterday for allegedly planting a clock with a hidden surveillance camera inside it in a female co-worker's office. WNBC reports that 32-year-old Peter Barta's distaff co-workers told police detectives that they regularly used their offices to change into work clothes (like a suit for court) or for after-work activities. Barta had videotape in his home of one of his workers with her breasts and buttocks bared. more ›

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! more ›

The rain may be keeping people in, but by the looks of theNY Times Weddings announcements, many local weddings were yesterday. more ›

Local teams may have been shut out of the NCAA tournament's Final Four, but New York is not without representation in Atlanta. Florida phenom Joakim Noah calls NYC home, as does Georgetown's Jesse Sapp. Neither played high school basketball in New York: Noah played for The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey and Sapp attended National Christian Academy in Maryland. Ohio State and UCLA are sadly New York City-free teams. more ›

It's officially spring, and that means lots of NY Times wedding announcements. Twenty-six, to be exact. more ›

After City Council recently passed a bill to regulate pedicabs, Mayor Bloomberg decided to wait a bit longer before signing it (however, he did sign three bills about nightlife safety). Angry pedicab owners seemed to influence the mayor, pleading that the bill would contradict the 2030 sustainable city initiative. Bloomberg has until March 30th to decide whether to sign, veto or leave it alone. If left alone, the bill would automatically become law. more ›

Is it going to be Florida’s year again? Can the likely #1 pick in this year’s NBA draft, Greg Oden, lead Ohio State to a championship? Is Georgetown ready to return to elite status? These questions and many more will be answered over the next three weeks as March Madness begins. more ›

Jaromir Jagr missed the entire third period because of a leg injury and his status is unknown heading into today's huge game against Carolina. more ›

The Islanders controlled the game for most of the first two periods and took a 1-0 lead off of a goal by Simon. But, the Rangers rallied and the newest Ranger, Paul Mara, scored off of the power play to tie the game at one. more ›

Take a Cab, Waifs, Ъзп. more ›

R.W. Apple, whose byline could be seen on articles about politics and hot dogs and had been the NY Times bureau chief in seven cities, died this morning in Washington, DC. His NY Times obituary (written by Todd Purdum) shows the amazing sprawl of his life and career:

Drama, and a lot of dash, followed Mr. Apple as night follows day. He was the pool reporter sent to the deck of the U.S.S. Forrestal in 1967 when a fiery accident nearly killed one of the ship’s pilots, Lieut. Commander John S. McCain 3d. From that incident he formed a lifelong friendship with the pilot, who went on to become a United States Senator. more ›

It was good. I did Oh, Hello, Invite Them Up, and last night I did a show that Eugene did for the first time in Brooklyn at a place called Union Hall. It was Todd Barry, A.D. Miles, Eugene, and myself. It was great. A really cool local Parkslope sort of crowd. more ›

So, it's been a little while since the last time we visited the Times Weddings and Celebrations by the Numbers but today there was no way we couldn't count 'em up. If you opened up the paper today you might have noticed that the familiar face of our very own Jen Chung and her new husband Jay Wilkins were the on top of the list of sixteen non-Vows weddings this week. more ›

For a week, the Syracuse Orange used a label of "overrated" to motivate their run to the Big East title. Now, as Big East champions, they'll sit and wait to see how much they helped their seeding with a win over Pittsburgh in the championship game. Last year, West Virginia, like Syracuse, sat on the Big East bubble entering the conference tournament. The runners-up got a seven seed, and Gothamist thinks Syracuse can do better than that. West Virginia clearly proved better than its seeding, and Syracuse could easily make the Sweet 16. more ›

Syracuse could have taken it easy after knocking off Connecticut, confident a win over the nation's top-ranked team secured them an NCAA tournament berth. Pittsburgh could have rested after taking care of archrival West Virginia in their quarterfinal game. Even with nothing meaningful to play for except a bump in seeding, both underdogs lived to fight another day in the Big East semifinals Friday. Syracuse rallied to top Georgetown 58-57, and Pittsburgh crushed second-ranked Villanova. The two teams play for the Big East championship on Saturday to cap what has been a upside-down tournament. more ›

Gerry McNamara won a national title in his freshman year at Syracuse and he wasn’t going to miss the tournament in his senior year. McNamara hit a game tying three-pointer with 10 seconds left to force overtime in Syracuse’s 86-84 upset over UConn in the Big East Tournament. more ›

If it wasn't a big enough spectacle before, the Big East tournament now has even more power to its punch. Starting today at Madison Square Garden, the league's top 12 (out of 16) battle it out for the conference's tournament title and the berth in the NCAA tournament that comes with it. Of course, most of the teams are playing for seeding, but a few are on the bubble. more ›

There is a nice doubles theme in today's Weddings and Celebrations. Couples who went to school together, couples who teach at school together, couples who work at AOL together, couples whose Filipino parents have the same medical professions, couples with the same number of divorces, even couples with the same number of kids! more ›

After beating Pitt at home three weeks ago, St. John's appeared to have a good shot to avoid the pileup that is the bottom of the Big East conference. Since then, the Red Storm have lost five straight, including Thursday's 64-41 loss at Georgetown. As Georgetown coach John Thompson III put it, St. John's had "a bad night." Whether the recent collection of bad nights will cost St. John's a chance at the Big East tournament remains to be seen, but if they want to change their fortunes, the Red Storm had better start playing better soon. more ›

The beginning of the year just isn't the time for lots of weddings, apparently. Anywho, since you know you've been waiting for them, here they are are, this week's Weddings and Celebrations, by the numbers: more ›