Police are looking for the driver who fatally struck a man on the Grand Central Parkway in Queens earlier this morning. A 65-year-old man who had gotten into an accident had exited his car to inspect the damage, and WABC 7 reports, "a passing vehicle struck him and kept going." more ›

Yesterday, the Department of Buildings' Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement had to do some physical enforcing yesterday, when he spotted a man beating his wife on the Grand Central Parkway. According to the Daily News, "Deputy Commissioner Eugene Corcoran was driving by as Ameer Khairullah, 54, attacked his wife, Bebe, and commandeered her SUV on the Grand Central Parkway in Jamaica Hills about 7:30 a.m. officials said." A police source said that Khairullah "punched the wife, dragged her out of the vehicle. And the car rolls over her leg and breaks it." more ›

A 32-year-old man died on Saturday when he was struck by two cars on the Grand Central Parkway near the Jewel Avenue exit in Flushing, according to the Daily News. The victim — whose name has not yet been released — was struck at around 4:40 am by a 2002 Buick. "I was driving along...then all of a sudden I had a bump on the car," one of the drivers told the tabloid. "And I thought, 'Oh, my God! That looked looked like a body.'" Moments later, the victim was run over by a 2002 Dodge. "I thought it was a mannequin," said the driver of the Dodge. "[He] was already...on the ground when I hit him. What could I do?" Both of the drivers remained at the scene and were not charged. more ›

It turns out that the driver of a Mercedes Benz had barreled through a red light on the Grand Central Parkway yesterday when it hit the Acura, killing the Acura's two passengers. And further, the driver did not have a license and had been smoking marijuana. more ›

This morning, two people were killed when a car crashed into their Acura. WCBS 2 reported the car "was split in half" with "mangled debris scattered all over the road, and the passengers were killed immediately. The driver of the other car, a Mercedes, was taken to the hospital. Now, WNBC says the driver has been arrested and charges are pending. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a partial collapse at Fleet Court and Woodhaven Blvd. in Queens, two pedestrians were struck on the westbound Grand Central Parkway at Queens Boulevard in Queens, and a stabbing on West 21st St. in Manhattan.
• All three area airports: Newark, JFK, and Laguardia, were thrown into chaos yesterday after a computer malfunction in the air traffic control system resulted in multi-hour delays, missed connections, and many unhappy passengers.
• Gov. Spitzer wants to crack down on the misclassification of employees as independent contractors, which is said to deny the state $175 million in payroll taxes annually.
• The New York Post looks at the phenomena of cats falling or jumping out of windows, for which the ASPCA treats feline patients about five times a week in New York.
• Are NYC sidewalk bike racks secure? This picture at Streetsblog seems to indicate that they are not.
• The 62nd St. replacement for an UES townhouse that a doctor blew up in a suicide attempt last year will be eco-friendly and is priced at $30 million.
• New York will be a testing ground for the Special Olympics organization's new Urban Strategy, which is an effort to attract more city kids to its programs.
• Hunts Points residents protested against the smells coming from a DEP wastewater treatment plant and the adverse health effects they claim it is causing. They say both are making life in their neighborhood unbearable.

Long Island resident Christopher Savini was charged with leaving the scene of an accident after he fled from yesterday morning's hit and run on the Grand Central Parkway that killed a man and injured a woman. Christian Melendez had crashed, while possibly speeding, into a guardrail (his Honda was not initially hit, as previously reported). The Daily News reports that Melendez's car was "perpendicular to the road and blocking two westbound lanes," and he and passenger Andrea Machiqua got out of the car to inspect the damage. Sources say the 28 year old Melendez, who had a previous DWI and a suspended license, had been drinking earlier and that alcohol was found in the car. more ›

This morning, one man is dead and a woman is seriously injured after a series of hit-and-run incidents. Christian Melendez's Honda had stalled on the Grand Central Parkway near Utopia Parkway. A car rear-ended them and sped off, so Melendez and a passenger got out of the car to check out the damage. more ›

We think there is still free access to Times Select articles today, so we urge you to read Dan Barry's column about the NY State Pavilion from the 1964 World's Fair. Here's the opening:

Once there were elevators gliding up the sides of the towers to reveal a city unfolding; now they are rusted in mid-rise. Once there were stairwells winding within those towers; now they are rotted through. The call for a better tomorrow, for “Peace Through Understanding,” is answered by the flutter and coo of its hidden inhabitants. more ›

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