Photograph of MTA police K9 team by Diane Bondareff/AP Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced New York City will receive $153 million - up from last year's $61 million - in transit security grants. Wow - all we can do is remember Chertoff's 2005 remark, when trying discussing how security funding would be allocated, "The truth of the matter is, a fully loaded airplane with jet fuel, a commercial airliner, has the......

Yesterday, Governor Spitzer, Senator Charles Schumer, and Senator Hillary Clinton had a meeting with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael "[I have a] gut feeling...we are entering a period this summer of increased risk" Chertoff but were unable to convince him to raise New York's anti-terror funding. Secretary Chertoff repeated said the he was not there to talk about money, but Spitzer says, "he knew we were going to raise" the issue. Yeah - if......

There was a suspicious package in Times Square this afternoon. The NYPD shut down Times Square briefly as they investigated the object at 42nd and 7th Avenue. And the package turned out to be a red backpack forgotten by its Brooklyn owner. D'oh! The city has heightened its security after the London and Glasgow incidents, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff affirms that decision. He told the Chicago Tribune's editorial board, "I believe......

Yet another intriguing chapter in the life of former police commissioner Bernard Kerik: WNBC reports that he rejected a plea deal from the feds. The deal would have allowed Kerik to plead guilty to tax fraud and illegal eavesdropping - plus serve jail time - and in return, the feds would have dropped their criminal probe. And the probe includes quite a laundry list: "allegations of mortgage fraud, tax fraud, conspiracy to eavesdrop and making......

Concerned about a reduction in federal anti-terrorism funds, governors Eliot Spitzer of New York and Jon Corzine of New Jersey held a press conference yesterday at the Hoboken Terminal to urge Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to not reduce funds. Federal counter-terrorism aid to New York City decreased by almost half last year, while in New Jersey aid to six northern counties was increased but funding was slashed for the rest of the state.......

Remember how this summer, the Department of Homeland Security reduced the amount of anti-terror funding NYC would get? Sure, NYC was still getting most of the funding, but funds were being increased in less risky areas with, well, influential politicians. And then the press had a field day with how Homeland Security didn't think there were any national monuments or major buildings at risk? And then Homeland Security claimed that NY State and NYC didn't......

New York politicians on the Hill are doing their happy dance: The Department of Homeland Security will give $26 million in port funding for this year, which the NY Post reports is a 400% increase over last year's port funding. Remember how earlier this summer the DHS released it/s budget, and New York City's (and DC's funding) was cut by 40%? Granted, the overall DHS budget was lower, but when you drastically cut back on......

Oh, it's New York City's best friend, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, writing a NY Times op-ed piece to tell us "New York, You're Still No. 1." Well, that's the headline the Times copy crew designated for the article, which is Chertoff's way fo explaining why NYC got shafted in funding allocation for the Urban Areas Security Initiative. We outline his points:- NY still gets the most funding; in fact, its $124 million......

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he spoke to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff Thursday night and told him "for sure" that he disagreed with the urban area funding. On his radio show, the Mayor said, "I just think the ways they went about it was wrong. I think some factual things were wrong -- forget about the fact that they didn't have the right number of financial institutions or didn't know there were any significant targets......

The Department of Homeland Security cut the yearly antiterrorism budget for the "Urban Area Security Initiative" and New York and DC got the shaft, with their funds cut by 40%. New York City, which had received $207.6 million last year, will now get $124.5 million (DC went from $77.5 million to $46.5 million), while cities like Omaha, Louisville, Atlanta, and Jacksonville are getting more; ost notably, Jersey City/Newark got a 44% increase in funds,......

From his hospital bed, Governor Pataki has joined other politicians in opposing Dubai World Ports from taking over P&O Ports holdings in the U.S. Specifically the ports which serve New York and New Jersey. Senators Schumer and Clinton had been against the deal, along with Representative Peter King (Long Island, Republican) and NJ Senator Menendez, given the history of terrorist ties with the United Arab Emirates. But the Bush administration claimed "favorable" relations with the......

Since the Wall Street Journal broke news that the Transportation Safety Administration is considering to allow small knives and scissors on planes, some people are freaking out. For instance, take our former Police Commissioner (and almost Homeland Security Secretary) Bernard Kerik, who told Fox News, "I just hope this isn't a sign of the times, which is [that] four years after Sept. 11, [we've become] complacent and less vigilant." While the TSA says that the......

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced that a Homeland Security representative would be placed in New York in order for the police and feds to have "one voice." This move is seen as a way to address the should we freak out or not subway threat two weeks ago. Hmm, a couple months on the job and finally he realizes there needs a rep in one of the country's biggest possible terror targets - nice......

The MTA will be paying for the additional police presence in the subways, according to Mayor Bloomberg. Police overtime to put one police officer on every train is costing the city $1.9 million a week, and Bloomberg said, "Let me give some credit to the MTA. They're willing to do this. They have some money. The governor has pushed them," even though he hasn't been happy about the MTA's footdragging on spending security funds. During......

He's only been the Department of Homeland Security Secretary for a couple months, but Michael Chertoff is a real dumbass. Chertoff, you're not going to win any fans by saying, "The truth of the matter is, a fully loaded airplane with jet fuel, a commercial airliner, has the capacity to kill 3,000 people. A bomb in a subway car may kill 30 people. When you start to think about your priorities, you're going to think......

There are many stories that inspire and then tire us (Pale Male, we love you, but we're looking at you; the murder trial of Daniel Pelosi; Guy Velella), so it's tough to chose ones with staying power. Right now, Gothamist is loving the unfolding mysteries wrapped within riddles, hidden in enigmas in Bernard Kerik's life. It puts the pulled-from-the-bootstraps mythology of his rise next to the realities of patronage and what-Rudy-wants. Gothamist finds it amusing......

We'll finally see a New Yorker in the Cabinet, as President Bush has nominated from NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik as the new Secretary of Homeland Security. Kerik, who was police commissioner during September 11, 2001, is noted as being a "sharp departure from the usual button-downed mold of Bush appointees" (NY Times), as he's a high school dropout, was a NJ jail warden, ran the NYC Correction Department, admitted that he fathered a child......

With the convention winding down, the coverage is turning to Washington > Campaign 2004 > Tactics by Police Mute the Protesters, and Their Messages" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/02/politics/campaign/02protest.html?ex=1251777600&en=1eaf494b20b38aa3&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland">examine how the protests and police have coexisted these past few days. The NY Times goes through the NYPD's tools of the trade when dealing with protests, and Newsday looks at how protesters are able to inflitrate Madison Square Garden, in spite of the GOP's best efforts, like yesterday's AIDS'......

The Republican National Convention hasn't even started, but Gothamist feels like it has! We can't decide if it's because every other thing we read is about the convention or if it's just wishful thinking...probably some of both. We can't wait to head to the West 30s to check out the helmets with surveillance cameras the Department of Homeland Security outfitted the Federal Protection Service with - they look like slightly more modern welders. Homeland Security......

The NY Times has an interesting look at how Mayor Bloomberg has New York Region > Bloomberg Takes Latest Alert Seriously: No Salt" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/04/nyregion/04bloomberg.final.html?ex=1249358400&en=1e281fc3c895caf6&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland">been reassuring NYers about the recent terror alerts, the latest in a post-September-11 administration filled with terror warnings. Bloomberg has been shifting his tone a bit: Though still reminding NYers to "go about their business" and partake in the city, trying to lead by example by taking the subway and going to......

After Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told America that there may be terror attacks to thwart the upcoming election as well as the Republican National Convention here, Police Commissioner Kelly immediately assured New Yorkers that we're still pretty safe, saying "There is no specific information of a pending terrorist attack on the RNC or New York City." Commissioner Kelly trusts his information (and the NYPD is getting information from the various other federal agencies) is......

The second day of hearings about the events of September 11, 2001 in New York brought former mayor Rudy Giuliani, current Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to testify. But Rudy was the star, in spite of heckling from audience members (one exchange: A woman whose firefighter son died, yelled, "My son was murdered!" amongst others' angry comments to have 9/11 Commissioner Thomas Kean say, "You're simply wasting time at this point."......