Last week, an 88-year-old collapsed in midtown Manhattan. And almost an hour after 911 was called, an ambluance appeared... from Staten Island. Now the FDNY is investigating why exactly an ambulance so far away was dispatched. Police, who came to help the woman lying at East 55th Street and Lexington Avenue, called 911 at 3:24 p.m., and the ambulance arrived at 4:15 p.m. The Daily News explained what seems to have happened:Because the woman was......

A pregnant woman driving an SUV in Midtown went into labor and drove the car into a crowd at Rockefeller Center, near West 49th Street, yesterday afternoon around 2:30 p.m. Most of the crowd managed to get out of the way, but at least one pedestrian was hit (some reports say four were injured) and the guard rail was damaged. Apparently the woman told police she "became dizzy and disoriented" on her way to pick......

A manhole exploded near 113 East 39th Street around 4:25 a.m. Five buildings were evacuated, but no injuries were reported. The FDNY found high carbon monoxide levels near the building, and residents may be out of their homes for many hours. It's unclear what caused the explosion, but they are not uncommon. Of course, this incident took place just blocks from where a steam pipe exploded last year, killing one woman, critically injuring two people,......

Photographs by RGP on Flickr Last weekend, reader RGP saw two people dressed as Bugs Bunny and Elmo walking around 42nd Street in Manhattan. While the pair could have been out to bring Easter cheer to crowds, it seems unlikely since they were carrying Christmas stockings. RGP wrote they "came out of the subway and just kind of meandered around" and noticed "Elmo had 'I Love You!' painted in big white letters on his......

Grisly! A totally crazy video of a Midtown fight is on Live Leak. The person who posted it wrote:I was sleeping in my hotel room when people screaming in the street woke me up. It was around 5:30 AM, two groups of drunk peoples were fighting in the street. The guy with the white escalade run over a guy on the ground and run away ! I gave the video to the police. However......

Now that former mayor Rudy Giuliani is getting ready to officially throw in the presidential nomination race towel after his third place finish in the Florida primary, Giuliani watchers seem to be enjoying the chance to analyze his campaign's stunning collapse. Giuliani had led national polls and seem to be a strong contender last year, but when it came down to performing at primaries and caucuses, voters weren't very convinced. Some highlights from the......

A Brookings Institution study reveals that New York is a great place for walking, with 21 out of 21 walkable urban places. But Washington D.C. is the most walkable on a per capita basis while New York is ranked 10th, because New York is measured as the NYC metro area, including NJ, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. The study's author, Christopher B. Leinberger, admits there are issues with the methodology, namely that walkable places are weighted the......

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the......

Williamsburg's state park sort of opened back in May, with weekend-only entry times. The park will go full time starting July 3rd, just in time for the following days fireworks. There will be plenty of time to stake out some precious real estate for the extravaganza too, as the park will open at 10am on Wednesday. Come Wednesday evening, Northside Williamsburg will become the 50-yard-line luxury box for July 4th fireworks viewing in New York......

Recipe for a Cuban Molotov cocktail: Michael Moore, Harvey Weinstein, a documentary about U.S. healthcare and a federal investigation. No need to mix, because it'll stir into a frenzy on its own. Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore and his distributor, Harvey Weinstein, appeared at a press conference yesterday to question why the government is investigating Moore's trip to Cuba for his upcoming film, Sicko. The film, which premiered at Cannes and is scheduled to open......

Last night, a Staten Island resident was critically injured when a 19-year-old driver hit him on Mosel Avenue (it's the Staten Island incident on the newsmap). The SI Advance says that the driver, Leon Wilson, had been fleeing undercover police when he crushed 47-year-old Juan-Han Guan with the car. A source says that Wilson was driving around 100mph at one point. Guan's bike was described as being "embedded in the hood of Wilson's car, the......

Woe to the Segway commuter: A Brooklyn man who commutes from Brighton Beach to Midtown Manhattan has failed in his attempts to fight a $90 ticket he received while riding the contraption. Jonathan Gleich told the Post, "New York City wants to be green, but to me they're being mean. For me to get to work costs 15 cents instead of two bucks to take the subway. There are never delays, there are never strikes.......

There's been a flurry of activity on the openings front recently. Even if spring hasn't quite made it to town, these new spots are starting to bloom and shake off the winter blahs: - Insieme, the new restaurant from the folks at Hearth (Paul Grieco and Marco Canora, pictured at right), is scheduled to open on Monday. It will be serving an Italian menu, focusing on "uncomplicated food" and "sincere hospitality." If Hearth is any......

After Sunday night's melee that started at a high school basketball game at Madison Square Garden and spilled into Midtown Manhattan streets, MSG and Department of Education officials are examining the incident. The Garden may no longer host the Public School Athletic League's events, especially due to previous incidents of violence during PSAL games. The NY Times reminds us that there was a chair-throwing incident during a 1994 game (200 people were involved) and a......

The NY State Commission on Healthcare facilities recommended closing nine hospitals in the state in order to save $1.5 billion. Five are in New York City: St. Vincent's Midtown and Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan; Victory Memorial in Brooklyn; New York Westchester Square Medical in the Bronx; and Pakway Hospital in Queens. In addition to the recommended closures, the panel recommended that some facilities (ten of which are in the city) be merged with other......

Well, after a rainy couple of days it is nice to see the skies clearing just in time for the apocalypse. The apocalypse? Yes, Gothamist was made aware of a press release from a group claiming to be biblical scholars. The group predicts, with 98% confidence, that the "UN Plasa in Midtown Manhattan will be hit by a terrorist nuclear bomb between Thursday evening June 29th and Tuesday evening July 4th". The Poconos are looking......

AppleInsider reports that Apple is building a giant glass structure reminiscent of the discontinued G4 Cube as the entrance to its new store at the GM building: Construction workers last week began to assemble a giant glass cube, which will be set like a jumbo gemstone atop Apple Computer's upcoming flagship retail store in the underground concourse of the General Motors building in Midtown Manhattan. On Thursday workers operating a crane could be seen......

Well, New Yorkers definitely said something after they saw something: There were two scares in Midtown Manhattan yesterday, and luckily, they were false alarms. First, a Bronx man claimed to have a bomb in his belongings at Penn Station, leading other people to alert authorities. While Raul Claudio did not have actually have a bomb, there is some speculation his anger over the Amtrak ticket representative's failure to find his reservation (he was heading......

Hey, Upper East Siders, plan on waiting for the Second Avenue Subway a little longer! Because the MTA only received about $21 billion of the almost $28 billion they had requested from the state, construction plans for the Second Avenue Subway, downtown rail link to JFK, and LIRR link to Grand Central will be delayed, as will the planned uprades for various subway stations. The NY Times has the skinny on the stations:The 12 stations......

A private jet has crashed into a building after taking off from Teterboro Airport in NJ, causing a three-alarm fire. Teterboro Airport, at just 12 miles away from Midtown Manhattan, is operated by the Port Authority of NY and NJ. It's one of the busiest small airports, catering to corporate executives from the NY and NJ area whose jets cannot be flown from JFK, Laguardia and Newark. Authorities are investigating the accident; details are scant......

We know that Mayor Mike has already done his holiday shopping, but are you ready for Rosh Hashanah? If you haven't managed to pull together a meal that will make your family plotz, the New York Daily News notes that The Prime Grill, will serve a prix fixe kosher Rosh Hashanah dinner on Wednesday at 7:45 p.m. and Thursday at 8:45 p.m. For $95 per person ($175 for both nights), you and your family can......

As everyone who has stepped outside their apartments or headed to their offices, especially ones in Midtown Manhattan, at least once since last Saturday can attest, there have been a ton of police around. Newsday has statistics that break down the NYPD's policing strategy:- 11,867 officers and supervisors worked the convention every day. ("That is more than three times larger than the number of officers ever assigned to a presidential nominating convention. It's also more......

Ha ha ha - the NY Times reporter Michael Wilson investigates New York Region > 80 Sirens Wailing, but Do Not Panic: This Is Only a Drill" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/29/nyregion/29surge.html">those crazy processions of police cars, sirens a-blazing we've been seeing lately, writing:Since its debut about a month ago, it has quickly become one of New York City's hottest acts for those lucky enough to catch a free, unannounced performance. Call it "The Police Drive Fast! And......