Photograph John McCain surrounded by New York Republicans by Kathy Willens/AP John McCain's Straight Talk Express headed into Manhattan today, taking him to Grand Central Terminal where he got the endorsement of former governor George Pataki. McCain, along with wife Cindy, appeared with Pataki, Alphonse D'Amato, Joseph Lieberman and Rudy Giuliani as the Republican candidate appears to be leading in many Super Tuesday polls over rivals Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul. Pataki,......

Mayor Cory Booker unveiled new technology to help fight crime in Newark. The plan is called "Community Eye," and it will "marry audio gunshot-detection technology with a series of remote-control public surveillance cameras into a network," according to the Star-Ledger. Booker hopes to put 100 cameras and audio gunshot-detection machines to work, as the Newark Community Foundation has promised to raise $3.2 million for the effort. Booker said, "When all the cameras and gunshot......

The Newark police arrested a third suspect in the murders of three young residents. The third suspect is 15 years old, and he will be arraigned in Family Court on charges of murder, felony murder, attempted murder and other counts, according to the Star-Ledger. He is the third suspect in custody; another 15-year-old is was arrested on Thursday and as was 28-year-old Jose Lachira Carranza, who pleaded not guilty to the crimes. The police......

Yesterday, the principal suspect in the execution-style triple murder turned himself in to Newark Mayor Cory Booker. Booker was at a press conference to announce that another suspect, a 15-year-old, had been arrested when he learned that Jose Carranza would only turn himself in to Booker. Carranza's fingerprint was found on a beer bottle at the scene of the crime, and his photograph was picked out of a photo array by the shootings' only......

Newark authorities say that the lone survivor of an execution-style shooting that left her brother and two friends dead has picked out a suspect. Nineteen-year-old Natasha Aerial, who is still in the hospital after being shot in the head, selected a suspect from a photo array. The Star-Ledger reports that the suspect was included in the array because his fingerprints were among those found on a beer bottle at the schoolyard where the shootings took......

Yesterday, former NJ governor James McGreevey and his ex-wife Dina Matos McGreevey met in family court to hash out details of their bitter divorce. The McGreeveys accused each other of being unfit guardians for their 5-year-old daughter Jacqueline, and Family Court judge Karen Cassidy basically shamed them in court yesterday. She told them to use "common sense" and not expose the child to "non-age-appropriate activities." I know this is a little bit vague. But......

Concerned about a reduction in federal anti-terrorism funds, governors Eliot Spitzer of New York and Jon Corzine of New Jersey held a press conference yesterday at the Hoboken Terminal to urge Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to not reduce funds. Federal counter-terrorism aid to New York City decreased by almost half last year, while in New Jersey aid to six northern counties was increased but funding was slashed for the rest of the state.......

Congratulations, New York! You set the new record for peak electricity demand yesterday, with a record 13,103 megawatts at 5PM yesterday. Con Ed says that the previous record was 13, 059 megawatts on July 27, 2005, so, chew on that, July 2005. Of course, in spite of residents' and business owners' best efforts to conserve electricity (even the MTA cut its power load), there are some power outages across the city (mostly Queens and......

The tropical disturbance that was partially responsible for Saturday's rain is gone. The cold front that brought us the rest of the rain is still around, having stalled over the eastern Atlantic. As long as the front sits there we're in for cool, cloudy, rainy conditions. Right now the greatest chance of rain appears to be tomorrow night into Wednesday. We won't get nearly as much rain as over the weekend but the ground is......