Mother Nature suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of humans this morning when a black bear was forcibly removed from a tree in New Jersey. We didn't realize it was illegal for animals to follow their instincts, and apparently neither did this cute critter, who was tranquilized and removed from the tree near Exit 8 on the New Jersey Turnkpike. Then police officers gathered around to stroke the bear's fur and take trophy photos that will surely enrage the bear once it awakens to find them all over Facebook. (Watching the live streaming video earlier, one Gothamist staffer asked, "Is it wrong I kinda want the bear to suddenly wake up and bite one of their heads off?") more ›

Are the country's geese now heading to our roads to possibly intimidate us humans against our anti-geese measures? A Megabus headed up the New Jersey Turnpike to New York had to make an emergency stop after a flock crashed into the bus' windshield, sending glass flying into the driver's eyes. more ›

Toll collectors on the New Jersey Turnpike were the subject of 550 letters of complaint in 2008 and 2009, including one from a woman who was told she'd have to be cuffed and strip searched after getting in the wrong lane and another driver who was told to "get on the road and die" by an attendant after attempting to pay his toll with a $20. Numerous collectors allegedly preferred a silent attack: spitting on their fingers before handing back change. more ›

Police have charged a Maryland man for the murder of his wife after he had claimed that the two of them were carjacked while driving home from Brooklyn along the NJ Turnpike. 26-year-old Serika Dunkley Holness was found in the couple's blue Honda Accord along the side of the road in Crumpton, MD with stab wounds and fractured ribs yesterday morning. 28-year-old Ryan Holness told police that a masked assailant carjacked the couple at a gas station along the Turnpike and had them drive him to Marlyand, where the supposed attacker bound him in duct tape and left him on the side of the road. A man who eventually helped him and called police said that Holness did not know how he got to Maryland and the carjacker had hit him in the groin. The couple, who were married in Jamaica two years ago, had a home in Brooklyn as well as in Maryland and were returning from a visit with Serika Holness's aunt in Canarsie. more ›

Yesterday afternoon, eight vehicles were involved in a fatal crash on the NJ Turnpike that "prompted police to shut down a 25-mile southbound stretch of the highway for hours," the Star-Ledger reports. Apparently a tractor-trailer hit a Buick, which had stopped in the right (southbound) lane: "The impact caused the 2004 Buick LeSabre to become fully engulfed in flames and shift to the center lane, where it triggered a chain reaction involving six other vehicles." The Buick's driver and passengers, five people in their 70s, were all killed. One of the other cars was a Jeep containing three men from NYC, all of whom were injured; charges against the tractor-trailer driver are pending. The highway's hours-long closure hit travelers heading to the Jersey shore and Six Flags Great Adventure. NJ Turnpike Authority spokesman Joe Orlando told the Star-Ledger, "I don't really remember one this bad...Now it's just a matter of trying to figure out what happened down there." more ›

THEATER: Continuing through the 29th, the East to Edinburgh Festival is showcasing some of the most adventurous American theater productions before they blast off for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Tonight’s your chance to witness one of the more colorful and timely selections: LA FEMME EST MORTE or Why I Should Not F%!# My Son. It’s a contemporary Phaedra adaptation that satirizes America’s celebrity obsession in the midst of war, featuring live music, “frenetic dance, fierce boxing, raw meat. Flash photography is encouraged. Be careful of blood splatter.” - John Del Signore more ›

Score: Gecko, 0, and People Tired of Ads, 1. more ›

The driver whose flatbed truck carrying bricks caused a deadly accident on the New Jersey Turnpike claiming four lives may have been fatigued while driving. WNBC 4 reported last night that driver Dimitrios Tseperkas had been driving for more than 12 hours by the time the crash occured on Monday. Tseperkas drove from Port Jefferson, NY to Maryland to pick up a load of bricks. And what's more, the weight of the bricks and truck combined could have been 500-6500 pounds overweight; witnesses say that the truck was unable to brake upon approaching a traffic standstill on the turnpike, so Tseperkas tried to swerve out of the way, which started to a chain of events that included a car being slammed into another tractor-trailer and Tseperkas' load of bricks falling onto another car. more ›

Four miles from the George Washington Bridge, a horrific accident involving a flatbed truck carrying bricks killed four people and injured four others on the New Jersey Turnpike - and a little 4 year old girls from Queens was the only survivor from her family's car. According to the NY Times, a flatbed truck hit cars during a traffic standstill, and then swayed from the shoulder and back across the highway lanes, pushing the car carrying the Christmas family of Astoria "under the trailer of another truck"; then the flatbed "careered over a guardrail and overturned, spilling its load of bricks onto a Toyota 4Runner S.U.V.," killing the driver, Norma Ryan of NJ. Theresa and Charles Christmas were killed, as was their 2 year old Victoria; 4 year old Theresa was taken to a hospital and is in fair condition (University Hospital in Newark says that psychologists and counselors will be helping her). The Toyota's three other passengers - Ryan's two children and Maria Rosado of the Bronx - were in critical condition. more ›

Are street or place or even lane. - And hey, one more anniversary this weekend. I've been your Gothamist Weekend Editor for one whole year now, huzzah! It wouldn't be nearly as much fun without all of your comments and tips (and corrections, I live for your corrections). more ›