The NYPD had a chance to arrest accused molester Steven Pappas in 2009—but blew it because they didn't believe the 12-year-old who said he'd been sexually assaulted by a man posing as a police officer. Until now. Yesterday, police arrested Pappas and accused him of raping a 15-year-old boy he tricked into his van last week by flashing a police badge. more ›

Air Force One missed the approach on its landing earlier today at Bradley Field, Connecticut, after what the FAA called "below the minimum" visibility forced the pilots to circle the airport once before successfully landing the aircraft. ABC News reports that "the attempt was not a touch-and-go or dramatic maneuver," but something that "happens all the time, even for commercial and military flights." more ›

Of course the L train was all "First!" in separating itself from the Craigslist masses. Always such a trendsetter. The train now has its own Missed Connections Twitter feed, which posts Best Of musings like: "so it was 4:30 in the a.m. on a Saturday night and you were in front of me with your fish tank." Another: "you complimented me on my rings and told me that I was 'absurdly gorgeous.' Then you got stuck in the train door." It's only been live for about 10 hours now, so probably about another 10 before you can pick up the book at your local Urban Outfitters, and another 10 after that before you're so over it. At that point, there's always Album Tacos (you're welcome). [via] more ›

The Missed Connections section on Craigslist has proven a muse to many, and most recently has inspired an artist to illustrate listings. Sophie Blackall says, "Every day hundreds of strangers reach out to other strangers on the strength of a glance, a smile or a blue hat. Their messages have the lifespan of a butterfly. I'm trying to pin a few of them down." Our favorite may be the one of the pigeon, where the listing was simply, "Are you scared of birds or something? Well, whatever the case, it was cute. Do you live on N7th too? We could hang out." more ›

A new website, Subway Crush, could mark the end of romantic quests like the one undertaken by Patrick Moberg last fall, when he created a website to find a cute girl he spotted on the subway. His efforts won him international fame, book and movie offers, and, yes, a date with the young lady. Oh, and plenty of derision. more ›

His record is pretty impressive, he's organized 70 "real dates," 19 of which turned into relationships that lasted over a year. The numbers could be higher but Ibrahim is selective on who he sets up.

He listens to their conversations, asks them a few questions and then, if he thinks they are suitable, explains his matchmaking services and asks for their number and e-mail. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a partial facade collapse on East 148 St. in the Bronx, two pedestrians struck on 72nd St. and West End Ave. in Manhattan, a body found on Pioneer St. in Brooklyn.
  
• A developmentally disabled woman on Staten Island depends on Social Security benefits to survive, but the SSA keeps declaring her dead.
  
• A three alarm fire injured one person on East 166th St. and Teller Ave. in the Morrisania section of the Bronx early Saturday morning.
  
• The Gowanus Lounge wonders if the C-Town grocery store in Park Slope is a vortex of lust based on Missed Connections.
  
• NYC Transit is reporting that ridership is the highest it's been since 1969. During 2007, 2.3 billion rides were taken on subways and buses.
  
• A massive scaffolding collapse in Midwood, Brooklyn left no one injured, but brought down power lines and crushed cars on both sides of the street.
  
• Stephon Marbury's season with Knicks is over after he underwent surgery for bone spurs.
  
• Angel Rodriguez, 12, and Michael Mumford, 13 are the heroes of the weekend. When they smelled smoke 1 a.m. Sunday morning from a blaze that began on the 5th floor of their East 21st St. walk-up; instead of racing directly from the 6th floor apartment where they were watching a movie, the boys knocked on every door in the 30-unit building alerting neighbors of danger.
  

Todd P is known around town as one of the hardest working men in D.I.Y. show biz. He created a scene out of avant garde bands, old buildings and some plywood -- and has given plenty of music lovers a place to hear good music for cheap, while sipping on a $2 beers and sweating in barely ventilated (or legal) venues. But what's this...Todd P is going on hiatus? To work on a print 'zine?... more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting at West 138th St. and Broadway in Manhattan, a triple shooting on Hunter Ave. in the Bronx, and a bomb threat at the intersection of Prospect and 5th Aves. in Brooklyn.
• Residents of Starrett City received a letter from the housing complex's owners that they intend to opt out of the state's subsidized housing program. One third of the 6,000 apartments at Starrett City are subsidized and the owners would have to pay the balance of a $234 million state-subsidized mortgage.
• The Gowanus Lounge wonders if another developer has struck oil on the Roebling oil field in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
• Forget the F train, judging from recent Craigslist "Missed Connections" items, the place to find love is on the commuter trains headed to and from the Hoboken train station.
• A rookie cop miraculously survived a four-story fall after crashing through a skylight yesterday. The officer had been searching for a prowler in Crown Heights, who got away.
• The Times Square subway station Record Mart is scheduled to re-open sometime in early October.
• Kenneth Boss, who was acquitted of charges in the killing of Amadou Diallo and reinstated as a police officer forbidden to carry a firearm, lost his legal bid to get his gun back.
• John Feal was originally going to donate his kidney to Paul Grossfeld, but a better match for his kidney was found. Now Feal is donating his kidney to another patient, whose spouse will donate a kidney to a third patient, whose spouse will donate a kidney to Paul Grossfeld. Doctors at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center will perform the transplant chain.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a partial collapse at Fleet Court and Woodhaven Blvd. in Queens, two pedestrians were struck on the westbound Grand Central Parkway at Queens Boulevard in Queens, and a stabbing on West 21st St. in Manhattan.
• All three area airports: Newark, JFK, and Laguardia, were thrown into chaos yesterday after a computer malfunction in the air traffic control system resulted in multi-hour delays, missed connections, and many unhappy passengers.
• Gov. Spitzer wants to crack down on the misclassification of employees as independent contractors, which is said to deny the state $175 million in payroll taxes annually.
• The New York Post looks at the phenomena of cats falling or jumping out of windows, for which the ASPCA treats feline patients about five times a week in New York.
• Are NYC sidewalk bike racks secure? This picture at Streetsblog seems to indicate that they are not.
• The 62nd St. replacement for an UES townhouse that a doctor blew up in a suicide attempt last year will be eco-friendly and is priced at $30 million.
• New York will be a testing ground for the Special Olympics organization's new Urban Strategy, which is an effort to attract more city kids to its programs.
• Hunts Points residents protested against the smells coming from a DEP wastewater treatment plant and the adverse health effects they claim it is causing. They say both are making life in their neighborhood unbearable.

There are plenty of videos on YouTube of the concerts that have been happening at McCarren Park Pool this summer. Forget brunch and the Sunday Times, the almost apocolyptic feeling abandoned pool parties have become a Sunday ritual for many (the crowd yesterday was insane, we're sure there are plenty of missed connections). more ›

LAist has so much fun this week! They go to E3, where they overhear the timeless remark "Man, this is where nerdy girls get laid." Is that a promise? They also give us this week's best CDs and make us realize that LA is the best place to use Zillow. more ›

Since we never were very selfish, we are psyched to share with you some tickets. FREE TICKETS. To a really great show, at a really great venue. more ›

This story tells us something we already know, people like looking for love on the internet. We didn't know, however, that people actually still used the missed connections section on Craigslist to find love. We shy away from looking there as much as we shy away from looking at the "could be perfect for us but we'll never know" stranger sitting across from us on the subway. Luckily, some less jaded New Yorkers weren't too scared to find eachother after a missed connection: more ›

Lauren Pavlakovich, Project Manager, Looking for Love more ›

We've all used Craigslist for something, even if to just pass some time seeing if anyone has spotted you reading your torn Murakami book on the F train in Missed Connections. Let's face it, it's a scary world inside that URL. Everyone dreads having to find an apartment share in this city with somene on Craigslist, and everyone dreams of finding that perfect no fee rental on it. more ›

So, with Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz's dream of finding a perfect slogan for Brooklyn comes the reailty that there's no one slogan that's good enough for the borough. Instead, the borough will use a variety of civilian-suggested slogans for different campaigns. According to the Daily News, "the Brooklyn Tourism Partnership will use several slogans - which range from the classy ('Brooklyn: Bridge to the World') to the wacky ('Brooklyn: The Tenth Planet') and possibly risque ('Do It In Brooklyn') - for specific advertising campaigns." Hey, aren't there only eight planets? more ›

And the hook-ups? Please, we predict a lot of "Hey, I live near your office...why don't you just stay over?" offers. But not to us - we're about to set up camp in our office. We have our WetNaps, Febreze and deodorant! more ›

Forget OPTO, the best reason to ride the L train might be its status as "the love train." American Express released survey results saying that New Yorkers claim the L is the "hot spot" for meeting new people. Among the 600 people questioned, 30% said the L was the best. Gothamist has a few theories of our own. First, the L is so crowded at certain times that you're virtually on top of your fellow passengers. If that's not good enough for an introduction, the L is great at transporting people to and from nightlife. from the Meatpacking district (gag) to the East Village to Williamsburg. Move enough drunk people back and forth and you're guaranteed a love connection. more ›