A 46-year-old long distance swimmer from upstate New York attempted to break the world record for swimming around Manhattan—twice—a 57-mile jaunt that requires nearly 24 hours of nonstop exercise. more ›

Good news from the DEP! Our short Metropolitan nightmare of feces-filled rivers may be coming to a close. The DEP is starting to turn the engines back on at the North River wastewater treatment plant, which means that the raw sewage dump that has been going on since Wednesday's fire may soon be over. more ›

The new Willis Avenue Bridge finished its 110-mile journey today, and will soon be replacing the old bridge from 1901 (which connects 1st Avenue at East 124th Street in Harlem to Willis Avenue at East 134th Street in The Bronx). The bridge traveled on two barges, and this morning made its way underneath a number of the city's other bridges—including the Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. It will now be tied up to the shoreline of the Harlem River until it's installed on August 9th (it won't be ready for traffic until November). According to WCBS, the removal of the existing span will take place on September 20th. more ›

A body found in the Harlem River yesterday was identified as that of a woman who fell into the river on Sunday morning. WABC 7 reports that police pulled "the body of 20-year-old Anjelina Wills...from the water near Roberto Clemente State Park." Willis had attended a barbecue party with at least 100 other guests near the river at 147th Street; when the 20-year-old fell in, other partygoers jumped into the water to try to rescue her but were unsuccessful. Earlier this week, party's host told the Daily News, "No one knew who she was. I don't know who she was here with. She probably had some drinks and fell... She really didn't look like she could swim. I feel so sorry." more ›

After a woman fell into the Harlem River early Sunday morning, police are continuing their search. The search was suspended yesterday because of strong tides, and now it's feared the young woman has drowned. more ›

Police are looking for a woman who fell into the Harlem River earlier this morning. According to 1010WINS, "Apparently, there were a group of people tail-gate partying in a dark, secluded area off the Harlem River Drive. The woman fell in the river around 2:30 a.m. where a broken part of the 6-foot tall fence was and four other people jumped in to rescue her." Her friends had to be rescued themselves, as the Gothamist Newsmap notes multiple reports of people in the water being retrieved (for instance, at 3:17 a.m., "Reporting 2 Victims Were Extricated And There Are Still 2 Males And 1 Female MISSING"). The NYPD and Coast Guard are still searching. more ›

So much for the State Legislature moving forward on a plan to introduce $2 tolls on currently free East River and Harlem River bridges—opposition from State Senators (from even within his own Democratic party as well as other Democratic state and city officials) has forced State Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith's hand into delaying any sort of decision by demanding an audit of the MTA's finances. Wait, there was no audit of the MTA's finances before a deal would be made? more ›

With Governor Paterson and the State Legislature working on a deal to help the MTA's finances—by way of introducgin $2 tolls on the East River and Harlem River bridges—lawmakers who oppose the plan have been speaking out. Yesterday, City Comptroller William Thompson and other lawmakers, such as Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat and City Council members John Liu and Robert Jackson, held a press conference to counter the bridge-toll plan. more ›

NY State Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith voiced his support for $2 tolls on East River and Harlem River bridges, a proposal from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. However Smith did add, "If reducing the proposed East River Bridges toll results in higher fare increases, fewer service add-ons and layoffs, then it may not achieve the intended goals any toll would have to meet for it to be a prudent option." more ›

The only way to save Harlem for the benefit of its longtime residents is to economically cripple the neighborhood. So says Dr. James Manning of the ATLAH World Ministry church. He's proposing an economic boycott of the area in Manhattan between 110th St. and 155th St., from the Harlem River to the Hudson River. The plan is that once interloper businesses have been driven out via bankruptcy, Harlem will become a less desirable place to live for people like whites, rising rents will decline, and Harlem will have been purged of the problems that have been driving people out of their homes. more ›

A new Quinnipiac poll reveals that people may support congestion pricing - if they get something in return. And that something is better mass transit. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a person fatally injured under a train at 77th St. in Manhattan, a shooting at Neptune Ave and West 35th St. in Brooklyn, and a shooting on 133rd Ave. in Queens.
• A 24-year-old man killed his mother and brother and then dumped them in the Harlem River.
• Young teenagers are clamoring to learn about sex.
• Mayor Bloomberg feels that city parking placards are being abused and will start cracking down on their gratuitous use.
• A case 20 years in the making––the so-called "Pizza Connection"––was derailed and dismissed after decades of work. The prosecution of the $1.5 billion case was ruined when the defense revealed that all of the taped audio and video evidence was wiped clean.
• An investment group from Abu Dhabi has become the largest shareholder in Citigroup, following a large transaction approved by federal regulators. The middle eastern group replaces another individual as the largest stakeholder in the banking-investment firm: Prince Walid bin Talal of Saudi Arabia.
• They negotiated all night for 13 hours, but the union and producers could not come to an agreement. The Broadway strike continues. "Boo, Hiss!"
• Brooklyn goes Hollywood and Brownstoner.com has video.

Police officer Sean Sawyer was released and not charged after confessing to shooting an unarmed man in Harlem during a road argument early Sunday morning. The Manhattan DA's office claimed that Sawyer could have been acting in self-defense, because the other driver, Jayson Tirado, suggested he had a gun when he gestured and yelled at Sawyer. DA Robert Morgenthau said the "case is under investigation and is going to go to a grand jury. When there's a claim of self-defense, there is no immediate arrest." more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water rescue off West St. at Battery Place in Manhattan, missing children on Grimsby St. on Staten Island, and a DOA floater in the Harlem River off Manhattan.
• New Yorkers may have just seen their water bill rates hiked 11.5% three months ago, but officials are now saying property owners can expect a rate increase of another 18% as early as the start of next year.
• Idle speculation at Eater about the future of the Brooklyn Inn in Boerum Hill is not appreciated by the bar's manager. [Caution: strong language]
• Mayor Bloomberg worked out a tentative new contract with the NYPD detectives union that promises a 20% pay raise over the next four years via higher salaries. A first grade detective with more than 20 years on the force will be able to earn more than $118,000 a annually.
• Fare Wars II: The Taxi Strike's Back. NYC cab drivers will have another go at striking in protest of GPS devices in their cars this Wednesday.
• Newark Mayor Cory Booker has a special vested interested in improving living conditions for young people in his city. He serves as a Big Brother to three teen-aged young men, attempting to mentor them towards the straight and narrow.
• The Daily Intelligencer locates a rather large TBS billboard that will be salt in the wounds of disappointed Mets fans.
• A man was shot to death by the man he was playing dice with outside a building on West 131st St. in Manhattan this morning.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian was fatally struck on East 4th and Bowery in Manhattan, a child was shot on Blake Ave. in Brooklyn, and a shooting/homicide on Fish Ave and East Gunhill Rd. in the Bronx.
• The oldest living inmate in New York State is a Long Island surgeon convicted in 1978 of killing his wife. He'll turn 89 this week and concedes that divorce might have been a better choice.
• Thousands of participants retraced the steps of fireman Stephen Stiller in the Tunnel to Towers run today. Stiller died on 9/11 after running through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to fight the WTC fire.
• The Head of the Harlem Regatta was held Saturday, and crew teams raced from Yankee Stadium to Swindler's Cove on the Harlem River.
• The Broadway stagehands union and show producers have agreed to extend negotiations through this week, keeping the lights on along the Great White Way.
• We wonder if Beyonce Knowles feels that Nolita in Manhattan is getting more dangerous lately. She was sporting brass knuckles on her boots while dining at La Esquina last night.
• Seven people were injured when a car slammed into the front of a Staten Island city bus
• The French company that contracted with the MTA to produce 400 new subway cars is five months behind schedule on its deliveries without incurring any penalties, and even won a $700 million contract extension.

The 25-year-old man shot and killed by police Friday evening had a troubled history with the law and an official review of the shooting by the NYPD concluded that its officers acted properly. Plainclothes police approached Ronald Battle Friday night around 11 p.m., while responding to a complaint that two armed men were outside the Rangel Houses development on Harlem River Drive. Battle ran when he saw the police and attempted to enter one of the housing project's buildings where he lives. Unable to enter, Battle jumped over a fence. Cops say that Battle pulled a gun and when he refused to drop it one of the officers fired four shots at him, hitting him once in the back and killing him. A loaded 9mm pistol was found next to his body. more ›

Gov. Spitzer ordered the immediate inspection of the 49 deck truss bridges in New York similar to the Minnesota bridge that collapsed earlier this week, but city politicians are stressing that New Yorkers have nothing to fear from their bridges. Despite the fact that the majority of the city's bridges were ranked only fair to poor in their most recent survey, Mayor Bloomberg insisted that they are perfectly safe. In a radio address, the mayor actually pointed out that the condition of city bridges was improved from just a few years ago. "We used to have - about 10 years ago - we had 40 bridges that were rated poor. That is down to three." He also emphasized that the Brooklyn Bridge––the only major crossing to receive a ranking of poor––was only in need of work on its ramps and that the suspension bridge itself was in perfect condition. more ›

The 2007 FISA Rowing Tour USA makes a stop in New York City today by rowing around the isle of Manhattan. The last leg of the week-long rowing tour is a "Row Around New York" where participants will row 30 miles around the island. The boats began at 6 am today at Pier 40 (Houston St. and the Hudson River) and should finish there at around 5 pm. Participating rowers, there are 70 of them, hail from 17 different countries with ano additional 50 rowers from the New York area. more ›

Every morning, Bobby Fish parks his busted up maroon Dodge van at the edge of a Hess Express parking lot on West 207th Street. He unloads his signs and opens his Coors Light umbrella. “Bobby Fish,” the signs proclaim, “El Rey Del Ceviche.” People call him the King- it's not just his own posterboard. The King pulls a few lawn chairs out of his van and sets them on the sidewalk. Behind him, a Harlem River breezes makes plastic bags fly through the air or snag on the barbed wire coil running the perimeter of the nearby subway yards fence. Finally, Bobby Fish sets up a folding table and cutting board; he readies his cooler near the tailgate for a day’s work. Amidst all the Tupperwared fresh neon juices carted around in bicycle baskets, kids with $1 Poland Spring waters running into traffic at stoplights, and the spiral-peeled oranges in ziploc bags claptrap is Bobby Fish with the most improbable summer street food of all: the King’s cooler is filled with clams. El Rey Del Ceviche is one of the very last raw bar street vendors in New York- $1 a piece for iced, medium sized cherrystone clams on the half shell. With minimal condiments (hot sauce, lime), a few bushels, and a perpetual smile, he manages to stay busy all day. more ›

Around 2AM Sunday morning, a Dodge Caravan crashed into a light pole on the Harlem River Drive, killing 14-year-old passenger George Perez. Police say the van, which held a total of 10 people, was overloaded and that the 35-year-old driver lost control of the vehicle. The Caravan only holds 7 people. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a DOA floater in the Harlem River at Manhattan's 135th St., a homicide on Church and Nostrand Aves. in Brooklyn, and a jumper was up on the Williamsburg Bridge just before noon this morning.
• NYC local Steven Herbst won a Hall of Fame award at the International Whistling Convention in Louisberg, NC.
• When we wrote about former NJ Governor Jim McGreevey's life-sized nude photo he had on display in his bedroom yesterday, we were thinking along the lines of Robert Mapplethorpe. It's actually less artsy than that.
• A bronze statue of Andy Warhol will be installed in SoHo's Father Fagan Park on 6th Ave. between Prince and Spring Sts. next month.
• Jean-Georges Vongerichten has pulled lobster dishes from all seven of his restaurants' menus and many other restaurateurs are following suit or hiking prices as the lobster fishing industry is having a particularly bad year.
• A drunk driver killed a woman who was driving with her three children early this morning in Queens.
• Brooklyn's oldest restuarant, Gage & Tollner (est. 1879), closed in 2004 to make way for a T.G.I.Friday's chain restaurant, but the successor never caught on in the neighborhood and closed. Now residents wish the space could be filled by an old-school chop house; some place with history and a little class.
• NY Giant Michael Strahan's ex-wife is a little cash-strapped with their divorce entangled in the courts, so she had a yard sale to sell off her and her ex-husbands personal possessions while their daughter sold lemonade.
• Eater has pictures of the plywood coming off the old 2nd Ave. Deli to reveal the gleaming new Chase Bank branch underneath.

• Today on Gothamist Newsmap: A brush fire at 147th and Harlem River Drive, a truck stuck under the bridge at the West 231st and Broadway subway tracks in the Bronx, and a barricaded EDP on Staten Island
• College news: NYU protesters didn't storm the stage when the president of the Minutemen visited and Barnard's president is stepping down after 14 years (!)
• According to the Post, Peter Braunstein "has sat through the hearings in a wheelchair, typically slumped over, droopy-eyed and with his mouth hanging agape"

When it is done, Ms. Weinshall said, the Willis Avenue Bridge will be the most expensive bridge ever built by her department. more ›

Untitled, by Brunocerous. Tag yours with "gothamist" on Flickr if you want us to use them. more ›

Yesterday's steady deluge of rain (and at times, pouring) left a variety of problems yesterday. While the amount of rain that fell in Central Park was well below the record for November 8 (9.7 inches in 1977), the NY Sun notes that the 2.93 inches did not go unnoticed. Vendors and stores lost business, airports all had flight delays and the FDR and Harlem River Drive were flooded. Not to mention the subways. One Pace University student said, "I'm definitely going to have to skip math class this evening if it keeps up. The trains are slow and it's a huge inconvenience." Ah, the classic "the MTA was screwed up - that's why I'm late!" more ›

Police are looking for the driver of a cream-colored Lincoln livery cab in connection with the death of 15 year old Stephon Bacchiano on Halloween night. Bacchiano was hit by the car when crossing the Harlem River Drive, and the passenger stepped forward. She told police the driver said about Bacchiano, "He didn't belong on the highway anyway," and that the driver didn't stop. Bacchiano's mother said, "What goes around comes around. There's no way he will get away with this." more ›

Halloween has its scary sights and fun spooks, but it's also a night where lots of people pour onto the streets and tend to act a little crazy. more ›

On Saturday, the NY Times had a big feature about the NYPD aviation unit, which has helicopters for "rooftop evacuations, air-sea rescues and counterterrorism operations." And yesterday, one of those choppers was put in use when a woman jumped into the Harlem River. The 51 year old woman was weak and barely moving, so one of the aviation police officers hung onto the side of the helicopter and tried to pick up the woman. Officer Devin Buonanno actually ended up jumping into the water and swam the woman to shore. The woman was taken to a hospital for observation. more ›

On June 27, 1986, Keith Haring got a $25 dollar ticket for painting an unauthorized mural on a handball court on East 128th Street. A few months later, the Parks Department invited him back to finish it, and twenty years later, it's still there-- an iconic reminder of times past. Bonus fact: the piece is probably one of the most-seen in the entire city, as it sits a stone's throw from the Harlem River Drive. more ›