Ah, now that the federal authorities are investigating some questionable donations made to his mayoral campaign, NYC Comptroller John Liu has started to return some of those possibly shady funds. A spokesman for Liu told the NY Times that about $20,000 has been refunded; the Times adds, "Much of that has been sent back to people connected to companies highlighted in an investigation by The New York Times in October into Mr. Liu’s campaign disclosure reports. The inquiry found that some people listed as his campaign donors insisted that they had never given money." more ›

Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott warned today that the city is facing “strong possibility” of a school bus strike next week, one which Bloomberg says would result in "chaos." Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union is threatening to strike over the city's plan to ask for bids for service to transport special education pre-kindergarten children for next school year. “So the union is threatening an illegal strike that would harm the education of more than 152,000 students if it doesn’t get its way. And that’s just outrageous,” Bloomberg said at City Hall earlier. more ›

As if we didn't already love urban explorer Steve Duncan (Undercity) enough, here he comes with another sweet video (filmed by Andrew Wonder) showing off a part of New York City we're generally too wussy to explore ourselves. Where'd he go today? Oh, the unused half of a subway station at Spring Street between Bowery and Elizabeth. more ›

Earth-friendly New Yorkers that drink beer at sporting events out of aluminum bottles are not only likely to yell at someone before the night is over, they also happen to be breaking the law. According to an obscure 1982 law, called The Bottle Law, aluminum bottles are technically illegal in New York. more ›

Okay, we know New Yorkers like exotic animals (Antoine Yates, anyone?), but are we really at the point where we've got kangaroos living in apartments? Because videos of a man with a kangaroo at a Third Avenue pet store—seems like the Upper East Side Unleashed by Petco—appeared on YouTube and it's pretty crazy. A man who was at the store with his dog filmed it and sounds pretty amazed by the sight of the adorable marsupial (his dog, though, is more interested in a fellow canine). more ›

Of course the people behind the time-suck games on Facebook are responsible for offline trash as well. Zynga, the developer of Mafia Wars and Farmville, went the illegal route for their latest marketing campaign, sticking fake dollar bills to the sidewalks of both New York and San Francisco. Yesterday NYC the Blog called attention to their tactics—which have been getting criticized by local blogs all week—noting it's unlawful to deface any street or sidewalk with printed matter, including advertisements. more ›

The Senate might have overstepped its bounds and broken the law when it voted to expel embattled state Sen. Hiram Monserrate, according to insiders and the disgraced Queens Democrat. After being acquitted on felony charges but convicted of misdemeanor assault charges for slashing his girlfriend in the face, the former cop has vowed to fight the ruling—and he might turn out winning. more ›

According to Councilman Bill de Blasio, the billboard industry is "synonymous with New York," and sure, billboards are always cause for a bit of fun and controversy in this city, whether depicting orgies or co-opting Woody Allen. But there have been some real game-changers lately—revenge billboards, billboards co-opting the President, and even an FBI's Most Wanted billboard. But with such rampant innovations spurring greater and greater feats of billboarding, it was inevitable those titans of advertising might find themselves falling toward the rough waters of appeals courts. more ›

Equinox gym has taken down the illegal and controversial ads that papered its Greenwich Village building. The advertisements—which pictured women and men in various stages of undress—spurred an immediate uproar when they were pasted up a week ago. Community members filed more than 80 complaints with the Department of Buildings and, since the Equinox in question is located in the Greenwich Village Historic District, the Landmarks Preservation Commission got involved. The upscale fitness center was threatened with $5,000 a day in fines if the ads weren’t removed. To the delight of the neighborhood, the giant, unwholesome images have now been peeled down — Curbed has before and after photos. more ›

We're guessing that somewhere in the Squatter's Handbook it says something about keeping quiet, not complaining, laying low... that sort of thing. The NY Post reports on one man who found himself a nice $2,500/month Williamsburg apartment... for free, because he didn't, like, tell anyone he was moving in. They report, the "squatter felt so at home that he called the city to complain about the heat," or lack thereof. When the NYPD showed up Tuesday, he started punching and kicking them! And as a grand finale to his squatting stint, while being taken away, he told the landlord that he was going to fucking kill him. more ›

If you hate waiting for a cab at the airport, then imagine how the cab drivers feel, waiting hours at a time in a holding pen before being allowed to pick up passengers at a terminal. Surely there is some way to match up the waiting passenger with the waiting taxi. No? Anyway, the Daily News reports that some drivers were paying their way to the front of the line. All whilst passengers just stood there like suckers, not bribing a soul in their own line. more ›

It's already illegal for cab drivers to use cell phones while driving—even hands-free—but that law's even more scoffed at than the city's futile jaywalking prohibition! So now the Taxi and Limousine Commission is taking on the seemingly impossible task of separating hacks from their phones, by proposing heavy new punishments for gabby cabbies. more ›

Astonishing. Graffiti artists are still doing the ol' "sneak into a museum and hang unsolicited work" trick. The latest, Mat Benote, fancies himself a "Fine Art Graffiti Artist" and has actually already pulled this stunt at the Guggenheim. His latest conquest was the walls of the Brooklyn Museum, and one of his minions wrote to tell us this is "the Cloak & Dagger style of graffiti art that he has become known for." So controversial! So... 2005! more ›

With most of Williamsburg's condos in purgatory at the moment, some are taking advantage of the empty spaces (particularly those gutter punks). Miss Heather informs us of a new gym that's opened up in the ground floor of the vacant 117 South 3rd Street condo, and the membership is only 29 bucks a month. Everyone wins! But wait, a tattle-tale tipster goes and ruins the deal, saying that while the building's retail space is rented to John Suarez, who is running a gym out of it called Cutting Edge, "there are many problems here." more ›

Remember when, in 2005, Banksy snuck in to museums and illegally hung his own work (video!)? Well, another artist has just done the same, catching up four years later—but at least he hit a different museum: the Guggenheim (Banksy got the Met, MoMA, the Brooklyn Museum, and American Museum of Natural History). more ›

Five French tourists got dragged on a crazy, high-speed chase after getting into an unlicensed livery van at JFK yesterday. The unwanted excitement started around 11 a.m. after Port Authority police spotted Ian McFarland, 57, hustling the newly-arrived French visitors from the Air France terminal to an unauthorized van. According to the Post, Officer Michael Bestany recognized McFarland as a "longtime steerer" of travelers to the illegal vans, and when Bestany reached into the vehicle to grab the keys, driver Khaalis Preacher floored it, knocking Bestany to the pavement, injuring his shoulder and knee. Captive tourist Gwen Dulugat, who injured her arm while trying to jump from the moving van, describes the high-speed chase that ensued: "It went very, very fast. We're going zoom, zoom, zoom. The police were fantastic. They were behind us all the time." Preacher led cops to East New York, where he finally crashed through the mechanical gate arm of a US Postal Service facility. The Post got great photos of the police, guns drawn, chasing down the two suspects and arresting them; the other tourists escaped with no injuries and an ultimate New York story. more ›

Some residents on Broadway will finally see the light! The NY Times reports that after several years of illegal wrap-around billboards that have covered windows in the19th-century Cushman Building at 174 Broadway, the Dept. of Building has finally removed the ads. The agency told the paper, “This is the first time the Department of Buildings has physically removed an illegal sign from a building." The OTR Media Group, who put up the sign, was repeatedly sent violation notices that have been ignored; "The department said that 517 violation notices had been issued to OTR-controlled locations citywide." Now, what about that illegal Snickers storefront ad? more ›

Yesterday Al Roker was called out for Twittering too much during his jury duty duties, even posting photos of potential jurors for the case, which common sense will tell you isn't a good idea. Today the NY Post reports that Roker acknowledged making "a mistake" but said it was "inadvertent." Fellow weatherman Sam Champion showed his support on Twitter, and he wasn't the only one. David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the state Office of Court Administration, seems to be happy that Al became a poster boy for civic duty, albeit only for one day (Roker wasn't picked for the panel). Bookstaver told the paper, "What's more important is this shows Al came to do his civic duty, and we're happy about that. It's a good example that nobody's exempt." The Daily News points out that he also claimed that Roker's actions weren't illegal, "despite a sign which says in no uncertain terms that taking photographs 'anywhere in the courthouse is strictly prohibited.'" Looks like some people are exempt from that one, eh Bookstaver? more ›

As we've learned with the illegal, non-permitted Snickers campaign, shuttered storefronts are perfect for cheap advertising. The NY Times now reports that companies are "taking advantage of all the abandoned retail spaces in urban areas, marketers are leasing them at cut-rate prices and filling them with their ads." They call it the poor man's billboard, and it can cost just $500 for a 3-month runs in prime locations (something that could cost $50,000 were it on a regular billboard). Some landlords even donate the space, especially if they like the message. For example, Conservation International's campaign compared the destruction of the environment with that of the economy. The windows carried messages like 'Our shopping districts are starting to look as barren as our rain forests.'" Note that the retail vacancy rose 11.2% in the first quarter, the highest since the early 90s. more ›

Today Brooklyn Based has some tips on growing the perfect garden...on your fire escape. The site eases cases of outdoor space envy by saying, "If you’ve got window sills, a fire escape or a stoop, you’re two months away from homegrown tomatoes and morning glory vines." One commenter quickly sounded his safety whistle with warnings of such an urban escape being illegal—but it's certainly been done before. In fact, earlier this month SustainBlog had a list of vegetables one could grow on their fire escape. more ›

After a day-long ticket blitz, the NYPD issued 9,016 tickets to drivers using their cellphones—all this in spite of the cops essentially warning people earlier this week that they'd be out in force. more ›

The Post is all excited and "EXCLUSIVE" in a "report" on campaign donations made by foreign models to Representative Anthony Weiner's mayoral campaign. Back in June, not long after Weiner made headlines by pushing for visa changes to make it easier for foreign models to work here, a fundraiser was held for his campaign at Merkato 55. According to the Post, the gala was co-hosted by an immigration lawyer whose firm represents some of the top modeling agencies, and several foreign models in attendance made donations ranging from $300 to $500. That's illegal—not because Weiner is rallying to their cause—but because they're not citizens. Weiner's spokesman says it was a simple mistake; they never even deposited the checks, which were returned months ago, and one the models doesn't actually recall attending the party (no surprise there). So why is the Post even talking about this? Because who can resist a headline like, "Weiner's Naughty Hottie$" Certainly not us! more ›

Councilman Bill de Blasio says that because the billboard industry is "synonymous with New York," the Buildings Department should ease up on issuing hefty fines for what he calls minor infractions. De Blasio tells the Daily News, "The fines given to one single billboard can go over $100,000, but the fines issued in the East Side crane collapses were a fraction of that. It's like the world turned upside down." The Buildings Department began cracking down on illegally installed billboards several years ago after community groups pressured the City Council to take action. A spokesman for OTR Media Group, one of the city's major billboard companies, says, "This is the same Buildings Department that should be cracking down on unsafe buildings." But department spokesman Tony Sclafani explains that "illegal signs can pose a danger to the public if not safely installed." The city is currently engaged in a legal battle with billboard companies over the City Council rules, which ad men say are too restrictive and lead to outrageous fines. more ›

John Deutzman over at My Fox NY is on the warpath over illegal hotels in the city, specifically the Marrakech, the Broadway Hotel and the Royal Park Hotel, which rent rooms to tourists but refuse to accept guests from New York. Why? Because these Upper West Side buildings, all owned by one Hank Freid, are actually zoned as permanent occupancy residential buildings, and Freid doesn't want any locals moving in and demanding a lease. After all, he already has to put up with guys like Franco Medina, a resident of the Royal Park for the past 32 years, who sheepishly admits to paying just $252 a month, while tourists pay as much as $260 a night. more ›

Tickets to the upcoming Bruce Springsteen/Billy Joel "Change Rocks" fundraiser concert for Barack Obama are being scalped (shocking!). Tickets already cost $500 to $10,000--and even though the latter are still available, scalpers are hiking up the prices to as much as $25,000! The Campaign Silo reports that ticket scalping breaks campaign finance laws, and "fans who use scalpers could be complicit." David Donnelly of Campaign Money Watch explained, "If someone purchases tickets for the express purpose of reselling them rather than to make a contribution to Obama or the DNC, they appear to be breaking the law." There are other ins and outs to the legality of ticket purchases, but the only legal way to do so is through Obama's website. The show, at the Hammerstein Ballroom, is one day after the final presidential debate, and it's rumored that Obama himself may make an appearance. more ›

Suffolk County on Long Island has become the first place in New York State where it's illegal to send text messages while operating a motor vehicle. Effective immediately, drivers spotted fiddling with their cell phones will face a $150 fine. Similar legislation has been passed in Nassau and Westchester counties but has not gone into effect, and a statewide law is still tied up in the legislature. In August, New York City Councilman David Weprin also introduced a bill that would make texting while driving illegal. The father of twin 16-year-old girls, Weprin said he was motivated by last summer’s fatal accident in the Finger Lakes, in which five girls in a sport utility vehicle died when the text-messaging teenage driver swerved into oncoming traffic. more ›

The confusion about public drinking continues! It's illegal, but Bloomberg created a huge gray area when in 2003 he declared that wine consumption at Central Park concerts was a-okay. Now Brownstoner focuses in on stoop drinking after a Park Slope man received a $25 open container violation ticket for enjoying a brewskie "after Biden's speech" when a patrol car with an observant cop came by. The officer "explained that if I was behind a fence or gate I would be ok. Since we don't have a gate, the set-back from the sidewalk didn't matter." The NYPD press office hasn't responded to our question about whether stoop drinking is okay yet, so we'll take that as a yes. Besides, in 2005 the NY Times all but encouraged stoop parties. more ›