Jen has already posted her Top Stories for 2007-- but here's the list according to you, the readers: By Comments* 1. Pet Food Recall After Cat and Dog Deaths, by Jen Chung (614) 2. Rev. John Carmichael, Church of Scientology, by Jen Carlson (312) 3. Wild Wednesday Weather, by Jen Chung (255) 4. Maple Syrup Was Better: Smell of Gas Covers NYC by Jen Chung (191) 5. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Mooninites Don't Scare......

Two sidewalk Christmas tree salesman are accusing the "company" they worked for last year of leaving them out in the cold on Christmas Eve, waiting for thousands of dollars in wages that never appeared. The yuletide stiffing apparently was in retribution for either 1) skimming sales revenue, or 2) talking publicly about the shadowy figure who allegedly is the kingpin of sidewalk Christmas trees. Last year, an experienced tree-seller and longtime employee of Kevin......

As expected, this morning people in the tri-state area waking up were greeted to a lovely looking blanketing of snow. But as pretty as it looks, it's being called a winter storm, since sleet and freezing rain are possible. The National Weather Service expect one to two inches of snow today, some areas could et up to four inches. What are you going to do today? See if the snow is good for snowballs?......

Will there ever be a point when there are stories about the Greenpoint oil spill cleanup, instead of stories about how big and dangerous the spill is? Representatives Anthony Weiner and Nydia Velazquez released the results of the first EPA study (first study ever after, what, 29 years!) of the Greenpoint oil spill, and they are pretty ugly. Here some excerpts from the press release: The original estimated size of the spill of 17 million......

The aftershocks of the explosion that destroyed 34 East 62nd St., which Dr. Nicholas Bartha blew up in a suicidal fit of pique directed at his former wife in 2006, continue to reverberate on the Upper East Side. The New York Times describes how neighbors are complaining to the Landmarks Preservation Commission that the proposed plans for its replacement fit neither the style nor the personality of the block. Instead of rebuilding the destroyed Victorian......

It's our favorite July 4th tradition, this side of smiley-face fireworks: The Annual Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, held at Nathan's in Coney Island. And this year's competition is particularly tantalizing: Current champion Takeru Kobayashi has been having jaw pains, while Joey Chestnut broke the hot dog eating record, by scarfing down 59.5 at a June event. So we shall begin our liveblogging, and Jen Chung and Tien Mao will be providing other commentary......

With lines of potential customers snaking around the block, New York's Apple Stores on Fifth Avenue and in SoHo opened their doors at 6PM for the launch of the iPhone, the unbelievably hyped multi-functioning personal accessory. Overall, the lines moved pretty quickly, as Apple employees just focused their efforts on letting customers buy iPhones and move out. The early customers couldn't use the iPhone demos, though later customers were able to try them out......

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us. Austinist has a chat with the ever-fashionable Golden Girl Rue McClanahan, and managed to catch some local fashionistas making......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an overturned auto on Father Capodonno Blvd. and Doty Ave. on Staten Island, a shooting on Manhattan's Sherman Ave. and a barricaded perp on Manhattan's East 23rd St. The upstate shootout that ended with two state Troopers dead and a house burned with the suspect inside? One Trooper shot the other, who was then killed from gunshot wounds to the face and chest. The legal system is not synonymous......

We have some exciting news to share with our readers - Jen Chung, co-founder, editor of Gothamist, and executive editor for all Gothamist sites, has won a Wired Rave Award! The Rave Awards look for people that are "innovators, instigators, and inventors" in their field, with Jen receiving the award for blogs (she's "The Town Crier"). Lest you think Wired hands the award out to anyone, Jen has some pretty good company. Some of......

If you happened to miss it this week, you should take a good look at Peter Meehan's exploration of New York barbecue. Aside from giving us enough 'cue porn to make meat lovers swoon and vegetarians squirm, Meehan provides a thorough overview of the barbecue landscape, including spots in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, and Wingdale, just a short ways upstate (sorry, Staten Island). He gives a special nod to Daisy May's BBQ, calling......

Gridskipper solicited picks for the city's ugliest buildings from eleven architecture-minded New Yorkers. The list includes Astor Place’s The Sculpture for Living building (which replaced a parking lot), the Queens Citicorp Building, the Pan Am Building (now the MetLife Building), the AT&T Building on Church St., the Cross Bronx Expressway and anything by Trump – but the Trump World Tower isn't really that ugly. Someone even mentioned the Hearst Tower. Wow. Gothamist thinks these structures......

It's that time of the year again: When Hollywood honors its moviemaking the way it knows (and not always in equitable ways, given that Alfred Hitchcock nor Robert Altman, to name a few, have never won Directing Oscars) and America gets to watch hours of pre-show hosted by idiots. Giving commentary for Gothamist this year, Karen Wilson, Margaret Harper, and Jen Chung. 7:06PM First thoughts: Gael Garcia Bernal is so cute. Ryan Seacrest is an......

Remember the old wall, some of which is now on display at Castle Clinton, the MTA found while excavating for the new South Ferry terminal? One of the archaeologists hired to document the seawall fractured her pelvis, lost two teeth and broke a toe when the trench collapsed, burying most of her in soil. The archaeologist, Alison Boles, filed a lawsuit against the MTA last week. The Post quotes her as saying "It's a very......

As Travis the cat contemplates the clouds over the Hudson (we understand he is quite the weather fanatic), Gothamist wonders if we need to dig out a sweater tonight. The rain and clouds of this morning have mostly been pushed away by a high pressure system that has slipped southward from Canada. As the center of the high parks itself over us the winds will also die down. Clear skies plus calm air adds up......

Torontoist visits the site of a new Frank Gehry structure, stalks "the elusive Bahamas streetcar", and watches Tom Green get surgery. Phillyist rejoices in the Phillies' wild card chances, mourns the injuries sustained by Eagles defensive end Jevon Kearse, and goes pirate on our asses. SFist notes that Guns and Roses were in town, that San Franciscans are taking over reality TV, and that the San Francisco Chronicle's skills of original nomenclature could use some......

Wow. Just wow. The Daily News today digs up some stupendous salaries being paid by the Department of Education to a slew of "private contractors" who have been brought in to help save the DoE money. Before we get to the actual money, here's how DoE spokesman David Cantor describes the costs to the News: "For a one-time charge of $17 million, we're implementing internal restructuring that will cut at least $200 million annually......

Some of the folks working on the neverending story that is the Moynihan Station (aka the new Penn Station) are starting to publicly complain about the politcal developement hell that it has become. In a letter to State economic czar Charles Gargano developers Steven Roth and Stephen Ross wrote that "the functional heart" of the station "will have its own independent utility... and therefore there is no reason to delay." In otherwords, even if......

Sometimes we really love it when the Daily News goes back to old stories. For instance, remember back in February when a Police horse got "spooked," ran a red light and crashed into a car and an SUV? After the accident it was clear that both the officer and the horse were going to make a full recovery and that the officer would be back on duty soon enough, but what of Ferguson the horse?......

And once again Moynihan Station has hit a bump in the road. The Times today has a story on the newest set of roadblocks for the oft-delayed station. After years of delays the problems plaguing the station can still be summed up in one word: Politics. We've been waiting for the Farley Post Office to be transformed into a grand entryway to the City in the manner of the Old Penn Station for some......

We -ists are an eclectic bunch, but there's a couple of things we all love: famous people, social causes, and wacky local facts. Join us as we starf**k, get virtuous, and learn across the -ist network! Austinist starts us off right by filling the famous person quota by interviewing Lewis Black, covers the social cause with a non-profit car sharing company, and gives us more wacky local facts than we can handle with Austin by......

Yesterday may not have been hotter than Monday, but when you've got stifling heat for two days straight, it's all around sucky. Add to that power outages on subways, at airports, and in neighborhoods, and you've got some very cranky New Yorkers. Parts of Queens had limited power last night and were asked to "lay off non-essential appliances" today, and the N/R/W trains were out for a while, and even City Hall turned off......

It's not just sailors that should be delighted today. Last night's red skies were a harbinger of three days of beautiful weather. Sunlight takes its longest path through the atmosphere at sunrise and sunset. If the sky is clear along that long path the green and blue portions of the sun's rays get scattered and absorbed by air molecules, leaving more yellows, oranges and reds. Since our weather generally moves from west to east, a......

President Bush was on Long Island earlier for the merchant marines graduation. And like a good Mayor (and Republican?), Mayor Bloomberg went to JFK Airport to greet the Commander in Chief. Now, the NY Times has captioned this AP Photo with:Bush Greets Bloomberg With a Backslap The president had a quick meeting with Mayor Bloomberg on the tarmac at J.F.K. International Airport before speaking to graduates of the Merchant Marines Academy in Kings Point,......

East Flatbush's 67th Precinct sees its share of crime, but early Sunday morning, there were five different incidents in less than five hours that had 10 injured people. Not only did a police officer told reporters, "The Six-Seven right now is a madhouse," the 67th has the dubious honor of being the number 1 precinct for shootings and shooting victims citywide. Here are the five incidents during the sultry night/early morning:- 12:05AM: Two men were......

Who knew that city employees' cars parked in city spaces deny the city $46 million in annual revenue? Schaller Consulting has issued a new study that shows more city workers drive to work because they get free parking, but if city workers "commuted by auto at the same rate as their private sector counterparts, 19,200 fewer vehicles would enter Manhattan each day." Which then translates into $46 million in meter revenue in the area from......

Yet another story about how social networking sites can be dangerous! And this one involves a Brooklyn man who posed as various female Facebook members' friends to get them to somehow give him nude pictures and force them to be his friend. The Post reports that 20 year old Elvin Chaung was charged with identity theft, computer trespass and tampering, coercion and grand larceny after it turned out he was using his Facebook account to......

New York magazine thinks New Yorkers need a reminder about the social contract - or at least how to lead life in a slightly classier way - so they've created "The Urban Etiquette Handbook." From David Cross explaining how not to alienate a celebrity, to guides for etiquette in City living (how do you make sure another resident of your building doesn't think you're a mugger), offices (do you invite your coworker to your wedding),......

After last week's claim from an upstate man who said Greenpoint warehouse fire suspect Leszek Kuczera was working for him during the incident, and therefore couldn't have started the 10 alarm blaze, Kuczera himself is coming around to this story. In a few interviews, the Polish immigrant maintained his innocence, saying he was hungover during the interrogation and thought the police were interested in him giving details about the warehouses. Kuczera says that he told......

New York-native and NYU graduate Nicholas Jarecki comes from some serious documentary making stock. His brother Andrew made Capturing the Friedmans and his brother Eugene won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance with the movie, Why We Fight. While in film school, Jarecki interviewed a number of film directors about how they made it big and in the process discovered a fascinating mentor in writer-director James Toback. In fact so much so, that he convinced......