If only all crimes were this easy to solve. Last Friday, a woman robbed a North Fork Bank at 71st Street and New Utrecht Avenue in Dyker Heights. Now the police say she returned to the scene of the crime and returned the money yesterday. WNBC reports that apparently 48-year-old Catherine Kaczazanowski, who initially robbed the branch by passing a note to the teller, had a change of heart. Kaczazanowski gave most of the money......

NYC: Daily News Building, by wallyg at flickrToday on the Gothamist Newsmap: an injured police officer at Floyd Bennet Field in Brooklyn, a gas leak on South 8th St. and Wythe Ave. in Brooklyn, and a bank robbery at the North Fork branch on 87th St. and Broadway in Manhattan. The FDNY will be stationing a battalion chief at the Deutsche Bank building until it is fully dismantled. Someone in the Clinton campaign said......

A building that formerly housed the Jamaica Savings Bank is total landmark bait. It was even called "the finest Beaux-Arts building in Queens" by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. But now the building's current owner may stand in the way of the third attempt to landmark the building. Built in 1898, the Jamaica Avenue limestone building designed by Hough & Deuell has been up for landmarking twice - and denied twice, after rejections from the Community......

A homeless man was shot in the stomach by an off-duty transit police officer after he stabbed two people randomly in Murray Hill yesterday afternoon. The assailant, identified as 38-year-old Lee Coleman, was wounded and is in serious condition; he was charged with attempted murder, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon. Coleman's rampage began around 10:30AM. He first walked into a Starbucks on Second Avenue at 32nd Street and tried to take knives from......

This afternoon's temperature has been bouncing up and down as the sun struggles to come out behind the cruddy clouds. This morning's clouds were leftover from a bit of convective activity to our south last night. A line of showers is approaching the city from the west. Some of those showers may be intense, as they hit the city later this afternoon and into the evening. A high pressure system behind today's cold front will......

The NY Sun details Senator Hillary Clinton's fundraising agenda in the NY area. Most notably, she and former President Bill Clinton will be on a "48-hour, six fund-raiser blitz" in the Hamptons that includes events at billionaire Ron Perelman's East Hampton home and Entenmann's heir Robert Entenmann's North Fork vineyard. From the Sun:The Hamptons trip highlights just how crucial New York's wealthy donors are to Mrs. Clinton, and to all of the 2008 presidential candidates.......

Ask any kid who grew up on Long Island, and they could easily rattle off their favorite Entenmann’s desserts. For us, no contest, the Devil’s Food Crumb Donuts are as good as it gets. We’d eat off all the chocolate, sugar-coated crumbs first, one by one, and then save the naked donut for our final conquest. It somehow felt like two desserts that way. Maybe it’s all those fond childhood memories of sugar highs mixed......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a North Fork Bank was robbed on Union St. in Queens, a Sovereign Bank on Ave. A in Manhattan was also robbed, and a stabbing on Chauncey St. in Brooklyn. A man and his cow return to New York City after 68 years (it's a different cow). Al Sharpton doubts that poor minorities would be let out of jail on request, and is upset that Paris Hilton is getting......

Some more background on the twentysomething robbing relatives, Joe and Shemini Kirby, who were arrested for three bank heists this month. Friends tell the NY Post that the Kirbys had grown up in a Catskills cult, being "psychologically abused" in a "strange 'hyper-religious'" community. Joe Kirby was "kept him in line by doling out punishments like being locked in a closet or forced to stand naked in front of a group of adults." The Kirbys......

A follow up to the story about the relatively fashionable and young bankrobbing duo: It turns out they are brother and sister and have robbed a total of three places this month. And what's more, Joe Kirby and Shemini Kirby were arrested after the cops staked out a methadone clinic when Joe was getting treatment. The Daily News reports that 20th Precinct cops suspected that the robbers were drug addicts, and once they busted Joe,......

First, Rectangles closed and becomes a North Fork Branch, now this. The Post gets the props for being the first to break that the former Second Avenue Deli is going to be filled by another Chase bank branch. Earlier in the month the Villager ran with the story that the Deli was going to be filled by dental-chain Vital Dent and a food space. But that contract wasn't signed then, and we guess it......

Not to be “Debbie Downer” but the summer is almost halfway over. It’s not that we are looking at this in terms of the glass being half empty, but rather as a motivation to take advantage of some of the fun seasonal activities that like us, you might be saying, “I’ll get around to shortly.” We love summer in the city. Once you get past some of the offensive smells, the city seems to buzz......

After months and months of delays the Fulton Fish market finally left Manhattan and moved its entire operations to Hunts Point at the end of last year. So how has it been affecting local businesses? Eh, not so much. Though neighborhood stores like Twin Donut and the Blue Eagle Restaurant, not to mention the many surrounding mechanics and handful of banks, expected to see a boost in customers when the market came to town......

A shuttered 2nd Avenue Deli was an unfamiliar site on an otherwise regular Thursday - except that people knew that owner Jack Lebewohl was engaged in a kind of protest against his new owners, Jonis Realty, over a $9,000 increase in rent to $33,000 per month. The NY Times sets up the situation as an inevitable turn of the real estate market, with some interesting details: Some sort of rent increase was part of......

Yes, you read correctly. Gothamist has discovered the next best thing to come from Long Island since Mariah Carey . . . okay fine, since Entenmann's cakes (it’s like they are made with love). The find was made on a journey to the North Fork. We stumbled upon it since Harbes Farm was closed and we needed to drown away the sorrow that there would be no roasted corn dipped in hot butter on our......

Gothamist loved the NY Times article about how the new Commerce Bank in Chinatown has 7500 safe deposit boxes (while the usual branch will only have 500) because it basically tells people all they need to know about Chinese people: - They like money - They like safe deposit boxes - They like feng shui - They like dim sum - They like the number 8 - Lion dances are essential The article also notes......

Tomorrow begins New York Wines and Dines month, a harvest-time celebration of the agriculture of the Empire State. The main focus of this industry promotion is to bring attention to the state's increasingly attractive wines, but it incorporates other local agricultural products as well, and it's all backed up by some of New York's best restaurants. During the harvest month of October, dozens of local restaurants will feature New York wines on their menus, paired......

The end of summer is a bittersweet time for Gothamist. While it will be difficult to say goodbye to the things we love about summer � sunbathing in central park, barbeques and tube tops � the beginning of fall for a wine lover, is a very exciting time. Harvesting of the grapes typically starts in late September and continues into October. The tours and tastings offered by most vineyards take on added dimension at this......

Reminders about this year's Summer Olympics will grace Greek coffee cups. The iconic and beloved blue, white and tan/gold cups (the design is called Anthora) will get NBC-Olympic-coverage branded, which is the first change to the design since 1963 according to the Daily News. New Yorkers are split on the new cup (the "We Are Happy To Serve You" will stay), with a Greek hot dog vendor, Demetres Petridis, telling the DN, "If it's only......

Bank robberies are all the rage in New York, as the NYPD reports that bank robberies are up 148%. The Post reports that most robberies took place in Manhattan, and robbers' main weapons of intimidation (like bulletproof teller windows, visible video cameras, etc.) were threatening voices and notes. In order to scare banks into taking the NYPD's advice about robbery prevention more seriously, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly had police rank banks by the number of......