Last night around 10:50 p.m., heavy smoke was reported at the landmark James A Farley Post Office on Eighth Avenue. Dozens of people were evacuated as the city's only 24-hour postal service branch was shut down so firefighters could locate the cause. ...

A truly strange set of robberies has been solved in Staten Island. Strange because many took place at funeral homes. Jacqueline Garbutt hit three funeral homes a number of times, stealing purses from mourning family members and even jewelry belonging to the dead as she posed as a mourner herself. Police nabbed Garbutt after surveillance images from grocery stores, convenience stores and pharmacies where she used stolen credit cards and checkbooks. Her first haul was......

Yes, we wrote MILF, because that seemed the best way to approximate the call for women to participate in the Hottest Mom in America auditions. Uh huh - hot moms in the NYC area will get to strut their stuff this Saturday at the NYC auditions. The search for the Hottest Mom in America is for some sort of reality competition. It's being cast in Dallas, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta and LA as well, though......

New York Magazine decides to look at the city in the year 2016 in terms of architecture and real estate development - and how that'll impact New Yorkers. It's a great look at how drastically the city could change in ten years, which is all overwhelming, exciting, and kind of scary, because for every rendering of glassy buildings, what does that mean for the neighborhoods? Are they plans for more affordable housing to meet......

It was a kinder and gentler time back when Donald Trump started to build Trump Place south of West 72nd Street and Riverside Drive. Sure, it was pure bombastic Trump, battling neighborhood groups and neighboring apartments to develop Trumpland, even if he was going to extend Riverside Park by 21 acres, but it was a time when we didn't know the phrase "You're fired" was just scary, not funny in a yooge way. Now, Trump,......

We're not going to sugarcoat it... We're getting screwed. Now is the time when we are supposed to be braking breaking out the flip flops flip-flops, trying out the new warm weather gear, fueling our mojo, and gearing up for the unofficial start of summer Memorial Day Weekend. But instead it's cold, it's grey, it's windy, it's "damp" and it's starting piss everyone off. The news doesn't get much better. It is supposed to......

A schizophrenic man jumped to his death in the Time Warner Center atrium at Columbus Circle yesterday. Glenn Moosnick climbed over the railing on the fourth floor, jumped over, and fell 50 feet in front of the Williams-Sonoma store. Some shoppers thought a bomb had gone off, while others were screaming for 911, as Moosnick was still alive, "He looked alive [afterward]. He wasn't screaming or anything." He later died at the hospital. Moosnick's sister......

With the election just over 42 days away, President Bush and Senator John Kerry make their way to NYC today, for fundraisers and a piece of the media spotlight. Bush has fundraiser tonight at the Sheraton at 53rd and 7th Avenue tonight and will speaking at the UN General Assembly tomorrow; Kerry is speaking at NYU and has a fundraiser at the Hilton on 6th Avenue and 53rd Street after an appearance on Late Show......

From the scary book of what people will do to get into a party: A 25 year-old man was found dead in a Midtown West apartment air shaft, after trying to sneak into a party Friday night. He had been kicked out a few parties at 336 West 37th Street, and apparently tried to re-enter through the air shaft and building fire escape - but lost his footing and fell many stories to his death.......

After conquering the West Village (with Po, Lupa, Otto, and Babbo) and Midtown West (Esca), Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich set their sights on Irving Place by taking over the former Irving on Irving space with Casa Mono, a variation on Spanish tapas bar. Gothamist checked out Casa Mono one evening to see that the Batali-Bastianich touch and name bring the foodies comin'.......

Inimitably elegant photo blogger, rion, tells us that Gothamist's favorite crank, Larry David, has been hanging out in Midtown West, with the likes of Mel Brooks. Then she mentioned a poster of The Producers with Larry David and David Schwimmer on it. As the wheels started to turn, we thought, "Hmm, this smells like an episode of Curb!" Of course, rion was ready for our barrage of questions and directed us to this link that......