Results tagged “letter”

It's been just over 6 months since the Hipster Grifter, Kari Ferrell, was introduced to the masses. Happy belated anniversary everyone — remember, we're all in this together, and it isn't ending anytime soon. Bucky at Animal, Ferrell's pen pal while she's in jail, just received his latest correspondence from Salt Lake City... and it looks like she's coming back to NYC.

Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau wants to hold a Queens tax preparer accountable for allegedly threatening to kill a prosecutor who's handling a grand larceny case against him. 54-year-old Jack Chang (not pictured) did a year in prison in the mid-'90s for funneling nearly $1 million from his clients to his own account; in April he was arrested on similar charges in a case that's being conducted by the same prosecutor who put him away the first time: Gilda Mariani, head of the money laundering and tax crimes unit.

A letter laced with rat poison was sent to a St. John's University law student yesterday. A St. John's spokesperson told the AP a "suspicious-looking" letter was received at the Queens campus on Monday: "The university was closed for Easter break, but some workers were there and accepted the envelope." Apparently NYPD "determined the substance was rat poison and didn't pose any direct danger to the workers." The investigation is ongoing.

A letter from Edgar Allen Poe apologizing for his drunken behavior in New York City is being made public for the first time. In the letter, sent in 1842, Poe attempts to explain the reasons for his unspecified "queer" behavior to publishers J. and H.G. Langley: "Will you be so kind enough to put the best possible interpretation upon my behavior while in N-York? You must have conceived a queer idea of me - but the simple truth is that Wallace would insist upon the juleps, and I knew not what I was either doing or saying." The explanation comes amidst Poe's attempt to sell an article to the Langleys (they passed), and his pitch is prefaced by the confession that he's "desperately pushed for money." (Those juleps don't come cheap, even by 19th century standards.) Now The University of Virginia has acquired the letter, which until last week had been in private hands, and will include it in an exhibition celebrating the bicentennial of the author’s birth. (Poe attended U.Va. in 1826, where his beer pong skills are still legendary.) [Via Maud Newton.]

A little before noon, the police were called to investigate a "suspicious package" at the NY Times Building. Apparently a letter contained a white granular substance, and the lobby was closed as a precaution. CityRoom explains that a letter had been sent to Andrew Rosenthal, the Times' editorial page editor: "The 13th floor, where the envelope was opened, was evacuated for several hours, but around 2:15 p.m. employees on that floor were permitted to return to their offices... Mr. Rosenthal’s executive secretary opened the envelope, and she and two other Times employees, including a mailroom worker, were being decontaminated as a precaution.

A new restaurant in Little Italy, Dolce Vita, has been trying to serve food that would make the tourist-flooded neighborhood "authentic" again, but according to an open letter posted on Eater, the other restaurateurs are jealous and trying to destroy them: "If you are the new guy on the block and not in everybody else’s back-pocket or part of Old Little Italy, you apparently do not have a prayer of making it. Police are sent to my establishment from these restaurant ‘ghosts’ regularly checking for a liquor license, or a sidewalk café license or what ever else citation they can come up with as soon as a whiff of a busy Dolce Vita is caught from around the block." The jeremiad goes on, but the moral is simple: You're asking for major agita trying to serve good food in Little Italy.

Today Starbucks all over are closing for 190 caffeine-free minutes. The blackout (hold the cream and sugar) is set for 5:30pm, so be prepared for a temporary Venti Soy Latte drought. Even more disturbing for Starbuckistas, however, is the sign above. The "Dear John" letter is from an 8th Street outlet (between 5th and University) and addressed to its loyal patrons. A closing Starbucks? Creepy, indeed.

dainty feet, by istolethetv at flickr