At 93, Ted Kheel could be resting on his laurels as a well-known labor lawyer and negotiator (the NY Times called him the "the most influential peacemaker in New York City in the last half-century"). Instead, he has been crusading, as his Nurture Nature Foundation explains, to address the "fundamental conflict between development and the environment." He has suggested that the subways should become free and will be releasing results from a study to prove why it can happen. (Photo by Roger Moenks) more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a triple shooting on East 21st St. and Caton Ave. in Brooklyn, a missing child on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, and a mass casualty incident at Castle Hill Ave. and the Cross Bronx Expressway.
• Many New Yorkers donned black this Thursday in solidarity with the Jena 6.
• Cops are looking for a man who applied for a job at the Duane Reade on 34th St. and 5th Ave., only to return to the store a few minutes later brandishing a silver-colored gun and demanding money.
• The Parks Dept. has officially ended the bid for a company to build a 26-acre water-park on Randall's Island.
• A 45-year-old bachelor is striving for independence from the bedroom in his parents' home, where he's organizing a campign for an independent Long Island Nation. He wants Brooklyn, Queens, and the rest of the island to break off not just from NYC, but to secede from the United States.
• A kayak and canoe ramp opened in the Idlewild Park Preserve on Jamaica Bay in Queens, but not all residents seemed that enthusiastic.
• Former NJ Governor Jim McGreevey was ordered by a judge to pay his ex-wife $2,500 a month in alimony.
• New York City and State have agreed on a set of safety protocols that will be enacted at the Deutsche Bank building in the next two to three weeks.

Mayor Bloomberg just hates congestion: He announced a plan to more aggressively go after drivers who "block the box" at intersections. The city describe box blocking as "driving into an intersection as the light is changing without room to continue through it, thus blocking traffic," and it seriously sucks. Mayor Bloomberg wants to allow all 2,800 traffic agents to issue tickets (for some reason, only a few traffic enforcement agents can issue them now) in a faster and more efficient way with handheld devices and increase the fine from $90 to $115. more ›

After pointedly saying that it was easy for drivers to move their cars during the midweek snow-and-ice storm and that parking tickets would stand, Mayor Bloomberg backtracked and said tickets issued for alternate side of the street violations on Thursday and Friday would be forgiven (the message is also there on 311). The Mayor begrudgingly said he was sorry during his radio program yesterday:

I’m sorry for the inconvenience to people, but you know you have to make decisions, and each of these storms is different......In retrospect, in some parts of the city there was not that much snow, and in other parts it probably really was an imposition. We did get a lot of calls and listened very carefully to what the Sanitation Department heard, to what our Community Assistance Unit heard, took a look at what calls came into 311.

Is it true that milk can cure what ails you? Maybe. Salon discusses advocates of the raw milk movement -- those who claim that unpasteurized milk from grass-fed cows may be the elixir of health, "capable of reversing chronic diseases from asthma to irritable bowel syndrome." The Weston A. Price Foundation is one of the leading promoters of raw dairy products. In 1939, Price penned "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration," which expounded upon the physical benefits of eating raw milk products and grass-fed beef. Many New Yorkers follow Price's lead, joining "raw milk clubs," where farm-fresh raw milk is delivered on a regular basis. more ›

- Fifty-eight percent of New Yorkers polled say they are prepared for an emergency that would require them to evacuate their homes and leave the immediate area for up to three days, yet 32 percent indicated that they don’t have emergency go bags ready with the necessary supplies to take with them. On the upside, 17% of people feel that they are more prepared than last year, so at least they feel good, even if they're going to be struggling in a waterlogged taxi. NY Times talks to a number of disaster preparedness experts, like 's National Center for Disaster Preparedness director Dr. Irwin Redlener, who says recent disaster have "not wake-up calls, but more like snooze alarms, where we get aroused briefly and then drift back to sleep." Fine - you got us: Gothamist bought a handcrank radio at Radio Shack, but we still haven't Ziplocked any cash or credit cards...we have a "maybe we're going somewhere" bag. more ›

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As the Michael Jackson not guilty verdict was announced yesterday, crowds gathered in Times Square and gasped, cheered, or just were dumbstruck. Many New Yorkers seem to believe he was guilty of something, and were surprised that he was found not guilty on all counts, but not that surprised that a celebrity was found not guilty. Some thought that the trial was a witch hunt, and one Bronx woman told the Daily News, "Michael, if you ever want to have any more babies, contact me." All in all, there was every opinion under the sun. Jackson friend Reverend Jesse Jackson did tell Matt Lauer on the Today Show that MJ should never share his bed with a young boy again; let's hope the Reverend's words ring true. more ›