For some people, celebrating New Year's didn't mean drinking champagne and wearing whimsical hats: It meant trying to deliver a baby! New York City's first 2008 newborns are from Queens: Kamiyah Alina Barrow was born at midnight at New York Hospital Medical Center in Queens while Isabella Sophia Sears was born about a minute later at Elmhurst Hospital Center. Baby Kamiyah, 8 pounds and 4 ounces, was born less than an hour after her parents......

Earlier this morning, an MTA bus collided with a school van transporting children in Fresh Meadows, Queens. Details of the accident are thin, but initial reports say that up to 9 people are injured, most of which are children. The collision occurred just after 8 a.m. when the Q46 bus struck the van. The FDNY says that two critically injured children were sent to Long Island Jewish Hospital with one other child. Three other children......

Yesterday afternoon, a gas explosion in a Sunnyside home burned a 67-year-old woman over 90% of her body. Six other people were also injured, as over 200 people needed to be evacuated and over a hundred firefighters responded. Kunta Oza, who lives in a three-story at 41st Street and 48th Avenue, is at New York Hospital Burn Center in critical condition. WNBC reports that she "sent her grandchildren outside as a precaution. The move might......

A number of people, after witnessing a cab driver clip a woman crossing Fifth Avenue yesterday morning, came to her aid as another driver chased the cab. The Post reports that the woman had been crossing Fifth at 85th Street when a cab "raced westward." A doorman at 1040 Fifth Avenue said the cab driver "was obviously going way too fast." This is a stretch of Fifth Avenue with a lot of pedestrians and tourists......

On Tuesday, a Con Ed executive faced a number of irritated City Council members seeking answers about the July 18 steam pipe explosion in Midtown. Senior vice president William Longhi said that the investigation could take another two or three months, but City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said, "You may not have all the answers and all the Ts crossed and all the Is dotted. I can accept that. But I cannot accept that you......

The family of Gregory McCullough, the tow truck driver who suffered third-degree burns over 80% of his body from the Midtown steam pipe explosion, had an emotional meeting with the man who helped him. Junior Suarez, a 27-year-old who works at an employment agency, broke down as he described McCullough's pain,"He was just screaming and screaming and couldn't stop screaming." McCullough's mother Tanya McCullough-Stewart said, "We were just thankful that someone was there to hold......

The family of the tow truck driver who was right on top of the steam pipe that exploded in Midtown spoke about 21-year-old Gregory McCullough's progress. His mother, Tanya McCullough-Stewart, told the NY Times he had opened his eyes for the first time last week, "They can’t tell us if he’ll be O.K. because his injuries are too severe. He is still in a coma but the nurses said he can hear us. So I......

Early yesterday morning, the Q65 bus was hit by a Nissan Maxima whose driver ran a red light at Booth Memorial Avenue and 164th Street in Flushing. According to the MTA, the "Maxima was heading east on Booth Memorial Avenue and entered the intersection through a red light. The Maxima struck the left front corner of the bus." And from the looks of the pictures and TV footage, it was a crazy crash. The......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a slashing in Queens, building collapse in the Bronx, and a 10-75 in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Twenty students from the New School and Pace got arrested yesterday after they occupied a US Army Recruitment Center on Chambers Street. Some good protest pix are also available. Our pal Tricia Romano devotes a full five pages to explaining the mysterious and seductive phenomenon that is Ultragrrrrl. Don't try to fight her......

Here's one for the friends of the Karen Savillo. The Daily News reports that Savillo was critically injured when a drunk driver hit the car she was riding in early yesterday morning. Alexie Quiles's Ford SUV "veered across two lanes before sideswiping" Savillo's friend's Yukon on the Long Island Expressway in Maspeth. The Yukon crashed into a concrete barrier and 41 year old Savillo's head hit the window. Quiles left his car, but two of......

The woman who was badly burned after the plane carrying Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle and flight instructor Tyler Stanger crashed into her 30th floor apartment finally left the hospital yesterday. Ilane Benhuri, who had the most serious burns among the people injured from the crash, had walked to New York Hospital with the help of her housekeeper immediately after the October 11 crash. She underwent operations and many skin grafts over the past month. After......

Yesterday, there was an alert about a stolen red Toyota Scion in Queens. And the driver was no ordinary car thief - it was the 12 year old son of the car's owner, who apparently left with his 7 year old brother in the car! Luckily pre-teen Kenny Rodriguez and his little brother Miguel Pepin were safe and sound when the police found them. But why drive off? Their mother, Carolina Rivas, tells the Daily......

Thirty-one year old Sukni Yoon was arrested and charged with assault, reckless endangerment and child welfare endangerment after he shook his two month old baby daughter so severely that she now has "irreparable" brain injuries. Yoon also hit Hyewan Yoon on the face and bit her leg "with enough force to leave teeth marks," according to the Queens DA's office. When the baby was brought to New York Hospital Medical Center, the staff called the......

A helicopter has crashed into a building on East 72nd. It was thought to be a small plane, but now reports say it is a helicopter. The helicopter seems to have crashed into 524 East 72nd Street, a residential apartment building. CNN is saying there are no reports of terrorism or hijacking. Update: Dan Dickinson says it smells like smoke three blocks away and that traffic is screwed. Update: NY1 is reporting that 3-4......

Sidewalks aren't only for pedestrians - they seem to be made for cars after they are hit by other out of control cars. Yesterday afternoon, an out of control Lexus hit two parked cars after spinning across two lanes on Lexington Avenue near East 62nd Street. The parked cars then hit a pedestrian on the sidewalk. The NY Post says the victim, a Venezulan tourist, was "slumped across the trunk of the car, her legs......

Andrea Bronfman, billionaire Charles Bronfman's wife, was killed yesterday morning by a livery cab driver making a left from Fifth Avenue at East 65th Street. The Post reports that Bronfman had been out walking her dog and just "stepped off the curb" when the cab hit her. Her injuries included pelvic injuries, a lacerated liver and broken ribs, plus internal bleeding, and Bronfman died at New York Hospital. Bronfman was active in numerous charities, including......