Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a home invasion robbery on 11th St. in Brooklyn, an unusual rescue on Selwyn Ave. in the Bronx, and a shooting on Rugby Rd. and Foster Ave. in Brooklyn. The 30-year-old homeless man charged with raping and torturing a Columbia student in her apartment in April was found mentally fit to stand trial. Negotiations between Thor Equities and several Coney Island boardwalk tenants are nearly settled, allowing many attractions......

Here we are - day two of the taxi strike by a group of taxi drivers upset with the changes that the Taxi and Limousine Commission has enacted. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which organized the strike, claimed that 90% of all drivers were on strike yesterday, but Mayor Bloomberg contradicted that claim, saying the strike had a "limited impact, if at all." To combat the strike, the city has added buses and......

Mayor Bloomberg announced that the city was prepared for the possible two-day taxi strike that some taxi driver groups have threatened for tomorrow morning, starting at 5AM. About 7,000 of the city's 44,000 taxi drivers (there are about 13,000 cabs in total) have reportedly promised to strike over new technology that the Taxi and Limousine Commission wants to install in all cabs. Some drivers' issues with the technology, which includes GPS tracking systems and......

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance said that it definitely will strike on Wednesday and Thursday to protest the city's plans to put new technology, including GPS systems, in all taxi cabs. NYTWA spokeswoman Bhairavi Desai said, "Leave the car parked at home or at the garage. No yellow cabs for hire." The city has said that the new technology, which also includes the option to pay by credit, is useful; for instance, the......

Remember way back in May when the Taxi and Limousine Commission announced plans to add a number of high-tech improvements to the cabs in our fair city? Yeah, well, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance does and they are still nonplussed about the whole deal. The plan, which would mean installing video screens, credit card readers and GPS in all the cities cabs, has been a stickling point for some hacks. Especially the GPS......

Strange and scary incident: A cabbie picked up a fare in Caroll Gardens around 8:45PM; the fare asked to be taken to Hicks and Pierrepont Streets in Brooklyn Heights, where he ended up stabbing the cab driver with a 6 inch knife. The Daily News reports that driver Mamnum Haq "slammed closed a safety partition in the taxi and sped up the block, trapping his screaming attacker inside the cab until screeching to a halt......

While protesting downtown yesterday, Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (which represents 4800 taxi drivers) said there may be a strike by taxi drivers in the future if the TLC continues to drag its feet over a fare hike. Taxi fares haven't been raised since 1996. - Currently fares start at $2 and increase 30 cents for every fifth of a mile; there is a 50 cent night charge. - According to......

The Taxi & Limosine Commission is looking at two possible proposals to increase taxi fares. With the fare increase in 1996, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance wants to "give drivers something," even though their proposal is different from the group that represents 13 taxi garages. Current: Initial charge is $2 plus 30 cents every one-fifth of a mile. Fleet owners' proposal: Increase initial charge to $2.50; with 30 cents for every one-sixth of a......