A rendering for a building that will replace a Cooper Union engineering building has emerged (above). Designed by Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, the 440,000-square-foot mixed-use building will replace the brown tribute to banality that currently hunkers across from the historic 1859 Cooper Union Foundation building. The 51 Astor Place building is to be demolished; the fate of the connected Starbucks (between Third and Fouth Avenues) is uncertain. The Observer says the proposed building “will......

For the past few years, lawyer and NYU professor Burt Neuborne has been battling to be paid for work on a $1.25 billion settlement from Swiss banks to Holocaust survivors. Even though a judge awarded Neuborne his fees last December, the conflict is far from over: Now Neuborne wants interest on his fees. In 2005, Neuborne had submitted his time (8,000 hours!) on the case for payment, initially charging $5.7 million, which was later discounted......

An ongoing investigation of corruption and illegal practices in the Brooklyn South Narcotics Unit could jeopardize dozens, if not hundreds, of successful prosecutions of drug dealers. The possibility has arisen days after a sergeant and a detective were arrested for paying an informant with drugs and cash that they themselves had robbed from the addict. Another sergeant in the unit was also arrested for using NYPD resources to investigate the vehicle IDs of a drug......

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Holwell found that fast food restaurants do not need to make their calorie information more prominent. Last December, the Health Department had voted that national chain restaurants, which already have caloric information, should display that info on menus or menu boards. Naturally, the fast food industry protested, because it's very hard to order a Big Mac when it says "540 calories, 29 grams of fat"! And, crap, an Oreo McFlurry......

Mayor Bloomberg has been denying that he will run for President in 2008, steadfastly maintaining that he will be Mayor for two full terms. Except yesterday, the billionaire mayor told Fox News "You never know", which instantly sprinkled fuel on the "Is he or isn't he running?" fire. To accompany its Rudy Giuliani cover story, Newsweek has an article about Bloomberg's potential in 2008. His fortune is cited as a reason it'll be possible for......

This morning around 9 a.m., during the morning rush hour, a 16-year-old boy was stabbed in Union Square. Police say that the teen had gotten out of the subway and got into what WABC 7 calls a "verbal dispute" that caused the group to chase the boy towards his high school. (WABC also showed footage of his bloody jacket and backpack at the scene.) The group caught up with him outside 104 East 14th Street,......

Families of some September 11 victims have started an advertising campaign to express their unhappiness over the planned naming scheme for the World Trade Center Memorial. Last December, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the names of victims would be grouped by company or association. However, civilian employees would not have their employers listed while city workers, like firefighters, would have their companies listed. The names at the North Pool will have those at Tower 1......

Drivers who take the George Washington Bridge, you'll soon have a little green gecko in your sights every day! The Port Authority has agreed to allow Geico advertise on the George Washington Bridge for $3.2 million over two years. While that doesn't mean affixing geckos to the bridge itself, it does mean Geico billboards on the toll plaza, Geico signs on tollbooths, and having Geico's name appear on various Port Authority collateral and the......

Last December, Judge Richard Berman ruled that subway bag checks were constitutional. Naturally, the NYCLU appealed that decision, but today, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of bag checks. From the AP: In its written ruling, the appeals court noted that New York's subway system is an "icon of the city's culture and history, an engine of its colossal economy, a subterranean repository of its art and music, and, most often,......

Nancy Schwartzman, Filmmaker/Activist/Heeb...