The father who wanted to give up his 6-month-old baby out of desperation has told the police he wants to surrender. Carlos Rodas, 27, was overwhelmed when his 14-year-old girlfriend and the mother of the baby left him to care for their daughter, so he, his sister, and her boyfriend, a livery cab driver, worked out a plan for the driver to leave the baby at a Queens fire house. The story of the......

This morning's water vapor satellite image, complete with dry tongue of air from Georgia to Maryland, from the National Weather Service You might think that today's forecast, warm with a chance of a thundershower, is a harbinger of spring. You would be wrong. Mother Nature lives up to her cruel mistress moniker by dangling spring in front of us while all the while holding another cold snap in a gloved hand behind her back.......

After losing by considerable margins in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia primaries to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton unveiled an ad attacking her rival yesterday. The voiceover says:Both Democratic candidates were invited to a televised debate here in Wisconsin. Hillary Clinton has said yes. Barack Obama hasn’t. Maybe he’d prefer to give speeches than have to answer questions. Like why Hillary Clinton has the only health care plan that covers every American, and the only economic......

Hillary Clinton's February flop continued today as voters in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. turned out for Barack Obama by nearly two-to-one margins (in D.C. he won by 75% to 24%). According to exit polls, Obama not only did well with young voters, blacks and independents but, surprisingly, with certain demographics Clinton's been counting on: senior citizens, women and blue collar voters. Polls suggest 49% of those who voted for Obama were white and voters over......

It's another Tuesday test of candidates' appeal as D.C., Maryland and Virginia have primaries today. Both the Republicans and Democrats have primaries those three states, but most attention is being focused on the battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who are just about neck-and-neck in terms in delegate totals. Virginia is an open primary, which means independents can vote, which the Obama camp is excited about since he has done well with independents. At......

Photograph of Barack Obama at a rally in Virginia Beach by Rick Bowmer/AP Barack Obama won yesterday's Maine caucus, with about 57-60% of the vote to Hillary Clinton's approximate 40-42%. This makes Obama's fourth win in a row, after sweeping the Democratic contests in Louisiana, Nebraska, and Washington yesterday. About 8 inches of snow fell in Maine, but voters were still lined up outside some doors. Politico's Ben Smith writes:Obama's victory comes despite being......

Twice a year the Department of Sanitation sets up an electronic recycling event in each borough; in Autumn ’06 they collected 191 tons of electronics and 1,245 pounds of cell phones. It’s a step in the right direction, but for New Yorkers trying to save space in cramped apartments, these events are far too infrequent and inconvenient. So a huge amount of e-waste – 25,000 tons a year – ends up in landfills, where it......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Art in the Twenty-First Century (Sunday, 10:00 p.m., WNET 13) Four artists - Robert Adams, Mark Dion , Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle Ursula von Rydingsvard – who explore the intersection between nature and culture. Billy Crystal: The Mark Twain Prize (Monday & Thursday, 9:00 p.m., WNET 13; Saturday, 7:30 p.m. WLIW 21) Billy Crystal receives the tenth annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center in......

Did contemporary art and music come together for the first time in New York? The holy (or unholy -- if you're not a Velvet Underground fan) union can be traced back to, where else, Andy Warhol's Factory scene. So why is the Sympathy for the Devil: Art and Rock and Roll Since 1967 exhibit being housed all the way in Chicago? The NY Times takes a look at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago) show,......

Gov. Spitzer announced yesterday that illegal immigrants will be able to get valid New York State drivers licenses if they provide a valid and verifiable foreign passport. Spitzer hopes that the change, which reverses a four-year-old Pataki-era decision, will legitimize the 500,000-1 million undocumented immigrants who are driving in New York. In a repudiation of the federal government's stance, the governor said "We will not become part of what is propagated on the federal level......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: An unstable building on Jewlett Avenue in Staten Island, a jumper down in Brooklyn and a double bank robbery (Commerce and Bank of NY) at 80 Broadway in Manhattan. Four winning MegaMillions tickets were sold, but in NJ, Maryland, Texas and Virginia. The numbers were 8-18-22-40-44 (with MegaBall 11), and a lump sum payment would be about $48 million. The fugitive businessman who donated thousands to politicians, including Senator......

Early yesterday morning, Newark authorities arrested the sixth and last suspect in the schoolyard shootings of four Newark residents that left three dead. Eighteen -year-old Melvin Jovel was arrested in Elizabeth, NJ at his family's home. He surrendered and is now being held on $2 million bail. Newark Mayor Cory Booker said, "Through collaboration with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, the final suspect in this heinous crime has been arrested and the city is grateful.......

There's an excellent Vows column in this week's NY Times Weddings & Celebrations. It's the one for Fran Boyd and Donnie Andrews, two Baltimore residents whose difficult lives were the basis for the HBO dramas The Corner and The Wire. Boyd and Andrews were featured in a page one story in the Times last week, and the Vows column explains more of how they met and how they supported each other during prison sentences,......

Cops followed suspects in the execution-style killings in a Newark schoolyard below the Mason-Dixon line. Newark Mayor Cory Booker announced that two more arrests were made in connection to the triple murder of three young residents and the attempted murder of a fourth in a schoolyard two weeks ago. Twenty-four year-old Rodolfo Godinez, was arrested in Maryland early Saturday morning, and shortly after that, his 16-year-old Alexander Alfaro was found 20 miles away in Virginia.......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a person under a train at Prospect Park and Windsor Pl. in Brooklyn, an attempted bank robbery on Jerome Ave. in the Bronx, and a successful bank robbery on East 23rd St. in Manhattan. The Fire Dept. is responding to a scaffolding fire that broke out at the Deutsche Bank building, which is being deconstructed on Liberty St. downtown. One firefighter has already been evacuated from the building and......

Last night (a little less than a month after the release of his latest album Emerald City) we met up with John Vanderslice, who has been playing a unique brand of blog shows for a while now. The world wide (web) tour consists of filming, in collaboration with different blogs, his songs in different cities. For his New York stop, we took him up to the roof of the Hotel Chelsea where he performed one......

All too often, we read (and write) about horrible instances of traffic fatalities when motor vehicles fail to yield to pedestrians with the right of way. There used to be a simple solution to this problem, and it was known as the Barnes Dance. Although NYC traffic commissioner Henry Barnes didn't invent the concept, it became named after him in the 1960s by a City Hall reporter named John Buchanan. The Barnes Dance involved red......

Animal rights protesters held a rally outside the National Football League's Park Avenue headquarters yesterday to ask for quarterback Michael Vick's suspension from the league. Earlier, the Atlanta Falcons star was indicted on federal felony charges for dogfighting. Here's what the Department of Justice's press release (PDF) said:According to the indictment, the defendants were involved in an ongoing animal fighting venture based out of a property located in Smithfield, Virginia, from early 2001 through......

Yesterday was supposedly the luckiest day of the century and many people got married to better their marriage success odds. The Post has a feature on a couple who met while they were waiting for a 7 train - the wedding of Diana and Joseph Saporito included seven bridesmaids, seven groomsmen, 21 tables (21 being a multiple of seven) and Lucky 7 lotto tickets. The NY Times had a story about an unlucky fellow......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a missing child at Richmond Terrace and Franklin Ave. on Staten Island, a stabbing on Blake Ave. in Brooklyn, and a patient went missing at Parkway Hospital at 113 St. and 70th Rd. in Queens. Physicist Stephen Hawking is writing an adventure novel aimed at middle-grade readers called "George's Secret Key to the Universe." After-school programs at city schools, which help kids with academic tutoring and offer music and......

Early yesterday morning, a 26-year-old Brooklynite was killed when crossing Park Avenue South. Matthew Hopkins had been walking west on East 22nd Street when a car traveling south struck him at around 4:09AM; witnesses say the car didn't even slow down. Hopkins was pronounced dead at Bellevue at 4:30AM. Police are looking for a 1991 maroon Honda with damage to the front; call Crime Stoppers (800-577-TIPS) with any information. And the Post reports that Hopkins......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery at 59-23 Main St. in Queens, a partial collapse of a house being renovated in Wingate, Brooklyn, and a pedestrian was struck at Clove Rd. and Victory Blvd. on Staten Island. The idiot fan arrested at a Mets game the other week plead guilty to attempting to blind Braves players with a high-powered flashlight. His sentence: 15 days in jail and a three two-year ban from......

Today, the Sun reports that the State Legislature is considering a formal apology as well as to study the "feasibility" of reparations for New York's role in slavery. The apologies are "technically amendments to Chapter 137 of the laws of 1817 relating to slaves and servants — laws that imposed penalties on those who harbored runaway slaves." While many expect Legislature support for the apology bill (both Maryland and Virginia have formally apologized), some......

It's time go over this weekend's NY Times Weddings Announcements! Total Number of Weddings: 24 (including Vows column) Total Number of Same-Sex Weddings: 0 (but the Styles section had a feature about "Dinah Shore Weekend," aka "The L World") Youngest Bride: 22 Oldest Bride: 38 Youngest Groom: 23 Oldest Groom: 42 Biggest Age Difference: 11 years Number of Couples Where Bride and Groom Are the Same Age: 3 (25, 32, and 35) Number of Columbia......

Local teams may have been shut out of the NCAA tournament's Final Four, but New York is not without representation in Atlanta. Florida phenom Joakim Noah calls NYC home, as does Georgetown's Jesse Sapp. Neither played high school basketball in New York: Noah played for The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey and Sapp attended National Christian Academy in Maryland. Ohio State and UCLA are sadly New York City-free teams. Is your team still in the......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Iraq War Begins: Four Years Later (Monday, 9 a.m. MSNBC) MSNBC's looks back on their coverage of the start of the Iraq War all day. Dancing With the Stars (Monday, 8:00 p.m. WABC 7) This year's D-List celebs trying to defibrillate their careers by dancing are: Laila Ali, Billy Ray Cyrus, Clyde Drexler, Joey Fatone, Shandi Finnessey, Leeza Gibbons, Heather Mills, Apolo Anton Ohno, Paulina Porizkova, John......

Lots of Times Weddings Announcements today! Total Number of Weddings: 22 (including Vows column) Total Number of Same-Sex Weddings: 1 Youngest Bride: 25 Oldest Bride: 64 Youngest Groom: 26 Oldest Groom: 70 Biggest Age Difference: 13 years Number of Couples Where Bride and Groom Are the Same Age: 3 (ages 26, 29, and 34) Number of Cornell Graduates Married: 4 Number of University of Michigan Graduates Married: 3 Number of Brown Graduates Married: 2......

As much as I pretend to act like it, I am no working class hero. True, I've done a number of blue collar jobs. But that hardly makes me a member of the proletariat. My mom was a teacher and is now a counselor. My dad was a professor, then a high level government official, and is now a lobbyist. And they paid for my undergraduate degree at NYU. No matter how long I drive......

29-year-old artist Jacob Thomas has been putting pen to paper since he was a child, planting the seeds for what would become a full-time career. Hailing from Maryland, he did a four-year stint in the Coast Guard, where his creative talents didn't go unnoticed. He was asked to paint interiors of ships and design logos and other artwork for them, which in turn helped spur his own creative impulses. After several years in Pittsburgh, he......

Yesterday, thousands of people walked down Fifth Avenue in to protest a police shooting against three unarmed men. Sean Bell was shot to death just hours before his wedding while his two friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, were wounded in a barrage of 50 bullets in less than a minute; undercover police claimed they saw a fourth man with a gun. The march was organized by the Reverend Al Sharpton, with the theme......