Since state lawmakers have been dragging their feet, the Justice Department is asking a federal judge to make New York State move up its primary schedule. more ›

Back in September 2009, the FBI and NYPD raided Queens homes because of a plot to bomb the NYC subway system. While suspects were arrested—and later convicted—tensions emerged between the two agencies because a police officer showed photographs of "persons of interest" to an imam who tipped off suspects, forcing the FBI to act early. Now, numerous of NYPD detectives are being called to testify in front of a grand jury about the leaks. more ›

The pseudo-scandal surrounding Skins, MTV's latest drama, continues. After reports surfaced that the network was retooling an upcoming episode for fear of it being perceived as child pornography the network got the expected results: The Parents Television Council is asking the Justice Department to investigate and the show has "lost" one of its original sponsors, Taco Bell. We say pseudo-scandal and put that last bit in quotes since we're increasingly inclined to agree with folks in the comments that this is more a well executed publicity grab than a real thing (remember there was a similar fuss, which also led to an advertiser leaving, when Jersey Shore hit the boardwalk way back in 2009). Which doesn't mean we think it isn't interesting/depressing. more ›

A 19-year-old Oregon resident was charged with suspicion of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction during an attempted bombing at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland Oregon. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia and student at Oregon State University, was arrested by the FBI and local police when he tried to detonate a van full of what he thought were explosives, but in fact, the materials were a "mock bomb" supplied by the undercover FBI agents. more ›

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who was detained in Guatanamo Bay for his alleged bombing of the U.S. embassies in Africa and then moved to NYC for a civilian trial, was found not guilty on 284 terror-related charges and guilty of just one. The New York Law Journal reports, "Clearing the Tanzanian native of four conspiracies and the murder of 224 people in the near-simultaneous bombings of the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on Aug. 7, 1998, the jury in Judge Lewis A. Kaplan's courtroom shocked prosecutors and defense lawyers alike with its verdict." more ›

The Justice Department outlined an effort this week to review how the NYPD deals with New Yorkers who don't speak English. The Department insists this is a "routine audit" to see if the NYPD is complying with federal civil rights laws, and is looking at whether language barriers affect things like the filing of complaints or emergency calls. The government's letter to the NYPD stated, “We want to know what the N.Y.P.D. is doing well, and what it could do better." more ›

A day after federal investigators announced that there is "insufficient evidence" to pursue a civil rights case against the officers who shot and killed Sean Bell, relatives of the 23-year-old said they are after the officers' badges. "Myself and my family are going to do everything possible to see that these police officers are fired," said Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre-Bell. "There is a history of black men being killed by police officers, and something needs to be done ... We're hoping to eventually meet with President Obama, and that he'll do something, because this is a national problem." more ›

A top Justice Department official has refuted rumors that trials in lower Manhattan for accused 9/11 plotter Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his accomplices are out of the question. "We haven't made a final decision and it's not off the table," said Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler, adding that feds are "evaluating the venue that has already been announced by the attorney general" and weighing "other options," more ›

A week after the city was found to be at fault for discriminating against blacks and Latinos who wanted to become firefighters, a Brooklyn federal judge ruled that the city must pay damages to thousands of black and Latino applicants, and give jobs and retroactive pay to 293 others. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg was back in court for the third time in three months, giving a three-hour deposition in the second discrimination case he's had to deal with lately—this one brought by the Justice Department after complaints of unfair hiring practices from the Vulcan Society of black firefighters. The Times reports Bloomberg testified that he "did not recall receiving a report more than six years ago warning him about sharp differences in the passing rates between white and minority candidates for firefighter jobs." The mayor was not expected to testify until he went off about the case, unprompted, during his Congressional testimony in support of Sonia Sotomayor. The case may now head to trial this fall to determine if there was intent in the city's alleged negligence. A lawyer for the Vulcans said, “We’ve presented documents to him showing that the proportion of blacks in the Fire Department...is lower than the proportion that was in the Fire Department in the 1990s. (Bloomberg) dismissed that as minor differences — unimportant — at the same time that he said that he and the city have a great interest in expanding diversity." more ›

Less than a week before President Obama's visit to Saudi Arabia, the Justice Department has filed a brief before the Supreme Court urging justices not to hear a lawsuit brought by families of some of the 9/11 victims against the Saudi royal family. The lawsuit, which was formally filed by the families' insurance companies, contends that members of the House of Saud helped finance Al Qaeda preceding the 9/11 attacks. A district court threw out the lawsuit, finding that the Saudi royal family has legal protection under the Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act. The Justice Department says their filing had nothing to do with the President's upcoming visit, and was just "coincidental." (A spokesperson explains that the brief had to be filed soon because the Supreme Court is deciding whether to hear the case before their June recess.) Kristen Breitweiser, a leader of the families, tells the Times, "I find this reprehensible. One would have hoped that the Obama administration would have taken a different stance than the Bush administration, and you wonder what message this sends to victims of terrorism around the world." more ›

The news just gets worse and worse for Roger Clemens. A day after Congress asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Clemens lied about performance enhancing drugs in testimony, the FBI announced that it is leading the inquiry. Clemens is about to learn that you can’t intimidate the FBI with a 95-mph fastball. They won’t back down if you throw a piece of a broken bat at them. Glare at them all you want, it won’t deter them from their job. more ›

It looks like Roger Clemens didn’t convince any Democrats with his testimony in front of Congress February 13th. According to anonymous sources, a letter to the Justice Department has been drafted asking the it to investigate whether Clemens, and not McNamee, committed perjury during hearings in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Keith Ausbrook, Republican chief counsel for the committee, told reporters that he was unaware of the letter, indicating that at least for now, this is not a bipartisan act. more ›

All over the city, events were held to remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy. One of the biggest events was the Reverend Al Sharpton's annual forum at his National Action Network in Harlem, which attracted Governor Spitzer, Senator Schumer, former Mayor Dinkins and Mayor Bloomberg. more ›

Rudy Giuliani's good financial fortune derived from the formation of Giuliani Partners is leading to political misfortune, as yet another piece of lucrative business he conducted in the private sector has come back to haunt his candidacy. Recently, his involvement with Purdue Pharma--the producers of the painkiller OxyContin--has come under scrutiny. more ›

After being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice earlier this year over unfair hiring practices, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the number of black and Hispanic candidates has doubled in the past five years. Of the 4,000 applicants who scored highest on this year's entrance exam (22,000 took the exam, 21,000 passed), a third were black or Hispanic, up from 14% in 2002. The FDNY currently has just under 12,000 members; 666 are Hispanic, 337... more ›

As the NYPD Hate Crimes unit, as well as the FBI and Justice Department, investigates the noose found outside a Columbia professor's office, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly commented about the school's cooperation. Apparently the school only turned over surveillance videos after the NYPD provided a subpoena - three days after the noose was found on Teachers College Professor Madonna Constatine's office door knob. more ›

Yesterday morning, a swastika and a caricature of a yarmulke-wearing man were found in a building at Columbia University. This is the second hate crime in as many days found at the school's campus - a noose was found on the door of a Teachers College professor earlier this week. more ›

Another noose was found Thursday afternoon - and this time, it was outside the Church Street Post Office. Um, WTF is going on? more ›

A scary incident at a Penn Station subway station: A woman in a wheelchair rolled into a moving subway. The 50-something woman apparently lost control of her wheelchair; the Post reports that she hit an uptown 2 train "just as it began pulling out, and ricocheted into a pillar." Yikes! more ›

Today, Dexter Bostick and Robert Ellis will be arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court on charges related to the Monday shooting of two police officers during a traffic stop. Bostick and Ellis had fled NYC after the shooting, only to be captured days later in Pennsylvania. Yesterday, they were extradited from Pennsylvania, and lines of police officers watched them as they were escorted to and from the 71st Precinct in Brooklyn. Police officers are expected to appear at the courthouse also, in another display of solidarity with injured officers Herman Yan and Russel Timoshenko; Timoshenko continues to be in critical condition at Kings County Hospital after being shot twice in the face. more ›

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Fire Department, saying that FDNY exams in 1999 and 2002 discriminated against black and Hispanic candidates. Black and HIspanic candidates fail the exam at much higher rates, and currently, the blacks and Hispanics make up only 7.5% of the FDNY's 11,000 firefighters. The NY Times notes that the fire departments of LA and Philadelphia are more than 40% black or Hispanic. more ›

When we hear about the city's scuffles with foreign countries, it usually involves diplomats and scofflaw parking. Well, this time, the scuffle does involve diplomats, but now the city will be arguing why foreign countries should pay real estate taxes in front of the Supreme Court. The NY Sun sheds light on the city's case versus the Department of Justice: The city wants India and Mongolia to pay millions in real estate taxes because their missions are not "used exclusively for diplomatic purposes or to house top diplomats" - lower level employees live there. more ›

] Attractive young actresses who look great in a suit, beware: If you're cast as the new assistant district attorney to work with Jack McCoy, your character might come to some sort of strange end. Last year - yes, just January 2005 - Elisabeth Rohm(bot) left the show and uttered those classic words, "Is it because I'm a lesbian?" and Annie Parisse filled her shoes as ADA Alexandra Borgia. But that's nothing compared to dying from aspirating through your duct taped mouth in a car trunk with blood all over your face, to be found by your boss and other police officers. A poster on the Television Without Pity forum (though not the "Earthy European Sexuality: ADA Alexandra 'Bertha' Borgia" forum) asked if she was forced to leave the show because she was heterosexual. Good question - insurance policies at the DA's office must be crazy. We can't wait to find out who is cast next, so we can write fanfic about how they'll be written off! more ›

Yesterday, the Daily News reported that the Fire Department was starting a new advertising campaign to attract female and minority recruits. The U.S. Justice Department has been investigating the FDNY's diversity, and at a City Council meeting, the FDNY said its 8.6% of its 11,491 members are minorities and 0.2% are women. Yeah, that's not very diverse. The NY Times reports the ads will shower a softer side of the FDNY: "firefighter in civilian dress spending time with her daughter in a park, lieutenants at a backyard barbecue and firefighters playing basketball in a gym." And the Times also has a graphic showing that many of the minorities and women who apply to the FDNY drop out even before taking the exam. Maybe it's because the FX show Rescue Me (supposedly to be the most realistic depiction of a firefighter's life but with lots of dramatic license) is too realistic about the hazing? more ›

- The man who punched his neighbor because the neighbor's dog peed on his property, only for the neighbor collapse and later die during surgery, is now charged with murder more ›

Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, playwrights more ›

When I'm in a taxi going over the Brooklyn Bridge from the FDR Drive, I always notice a sign proclaiming the onramp to be the "Ari Halberstam Memorial Ramp". Who is this guy, and why did he get an onramp to a bridge named after him, of all things? more ›