John D'Amato, a prominent Staten Island attorney, died of a heart attack yesterday; the 52-year-old had been jogging near his Dongan Hills home. D'Amato, a lawyer and lobbyist, had been appointed as the NYC campaign manager for Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign. (He had hosted a fund-raiser for Governor Spitzer's campaign last year, though.) The Staten Island Advance writes:

John D'Amato was a titan on Staten Island -- one of the most ambitious, aggressive and influential of the borough's native sons...He spearheaded the ongoing lawsuit against the alleged Saudi Arabian financiers of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and achieved a landmark $75 million national settlement from the maker of the painkiller OxyContin-- the Island's largest-ever civil case. And though neither fight was successful, he was a key player in the city's bid to host the 2012 Olympics and in the borough's controversial lobby for a proposed NASCAR track on the West Shore.

Local teams may have been shut out of the NCAA tournament's Final Four, but New York is not without representation in Atlanta. Florida phenom Joakim Noah calls NYC home, as does Georgetown's Jesse Sapp. Neither played high school basketball in New York: Noah played for The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey and Sapp attended National Christian Academy in Maryland. Ohio State and UCLA are sadly New York City-free teams. more ›

Is it going to be Florida’s year again? Can the likely #1 pick in this year’s NBA draft, Greg Oden, lead Ohio State to a championship? Is Georgetown ready to return to elite status? These questions and many more will be answered over the next three weeks as March Madness begins. more ›

When a judge threatens you with contempt when you don't show up for your own client's trial, one would think you'd try to get into court to explain yourself. But after not showing up for client Paul Cortez's murder trial on Monday, attorney Laura Miranda still did not appear yesterday, even after Justice Carol Berkman threatened her with a $1,000 fine and/or contempt. So Berkman fined her $1,000, found her in contempt, and questioned her motives. more ›

Today, jury selection begins in a gruesome murder case. After Thanksgiving 2005, a young woman was found with her throat slashed in her apartment. She was Catherine Woods, who moved from Ohio to NYC as an aspiring dancer and worked as a stripper to make ends meet. While she had been living with an ex-boyfriend from Ohio on the Upper East Side, the police zeroed in on another boyfriend Paul Cortez, a personal trainer and yoga instructor. Cortez (pictured) made a number of cell phone calls to Woods (from outside her building), which stopped after her death, and police say a bloody fingerprint found in Woods' apartment matched Cortez. After Cortez was arrested, a police source said that Cortez's diary described "cutting [Woods'] throat" because she wouldn't get quit stripping, in order to cleanse her. more ›

With weather advisories in effect, warning of storms and winds, city officials are contemplating what to do with Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons. From the NY Times:

The poor weather and heightened oversight could ground some or all of the 13 big balloons — 1 fewer than last year — that are set to fly today, starting at 9 a.m. In the best case, they could be flown so low as to practically be floats. In the worst case, as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg warned, the hapless helium-filled creatures could be pulled onto side streets and summarily deflated. more ›

Newsday reports that in Hillary Clinton's ongoing efforts to appeal to the state she represents in the Senate - and the rest of the country - she made it very clear that she was never, ever, ever a Mets fan. In fact, she said, "I cannot let stand that I have ever, ever been a Mets fan: Let's set the record straight. The Cubs and the Yankees -- those were my teams and remained my teams growing up and now in my mature years." Does Hillary have some sort of bias against mascots with huge, baseball heads? Or teams that people gravitate towards because they hate the Yankees so much? And does that mean she hates the Brooklyn Cyclones - and love the Staten Island Yankees (funny, as S.I. is the most Republican borough in NYC)? Who knew she supported the crazy spending ways of George Steinbrenner? We suppose Hillary needs to state some sort of team allegiance, but most politicians try to support both teams in their towns (not counting Rudy Giuliani). more ›

The ex-boyfriend and suspected killer of Catherine Woods - the fresh-faced aspiring dancer from Ohio who turned to stripping to make ends meet - kept a diary where he fantasized about cutting her throat. Yoga instructor Paul Cortez, whom the police suspected shortly after Woods's murder, apparently mixed teachings from the Bhagavad Gita and his dream of trying to save Woods from a sinful life. A police source tells the Post:

"He's talking a lot about Hindi gods and people cutting off each other's heads as sacrifices," said a source familiar with the chilling diary that cops found in the home of yoga-trainer suspect Cortez, 25. "He talks about cutting her throat. It's because she won't change her ways. She won't quit her stripping, and she's living a life of sin. more ›

The Giants did not have the same quantity of picks that the Jets did, but they managed to fill several needs. With Michael Strahan’s injury last year, the Giants’ lack of depth on their defensive line was exposed; adding Jason Tuck and Eric Moore should help to address that. Third down with one yard to go has been a situation that makes Giants’ fans queasy and hopefully running back, Brandon Jacobs will solve that. At 6-3, 256 pounds, he certainly has the size to. With their top selection, the Giants chose cornerback, Corey Webster. Webster will instantly become the cornerback in the nickel defense and protects the Giants from the potential loss of starter, Will Allen, after the 2005 season. more ›

Hopefully the loss to Detroit two weeks ago woke this team up a little bit and the Giants will not look past the Bears or take anything for granted. Although its hard to figure what this Giants team will do week to week, we at Gothamist feel like the Giants will win this one going away and easily cover the nine point spread. more ›

Loyal Gothamist readers will notice that there is little change in our rankings this week - there simply weren't many upsets or games involving top 25 teams last week. That will certainly change this weekend with several top matchups including LSU vs. UGA, Aub vs. Tenn, and Purdue vs ND. It will be a great weekend for college football junkies/coach potatoes! Naturally Gothamist will be watching every televised game from Noon until 2 am in order to provide you with rankings slightly more accurate than a dart throwing monkey! more ›

Justin S. brings us his 3rd weekly ranking of the NCAA Division 1A teams. No movement in the top 5 from last week's rankings. more ›

This morning Gothamist was reading an AccuWeather story on Hurricane Jeanne's likely path. We were saddened by the non-literate nature of the story more than its content. Jeanne's path is described as "somewhat uncertain," that a high pressure system will block a northward "escape path," and that Jeanne may "impact" Florida. Gothamist wonders, somewhat uncertainly, from what Jeanne is escaping when she impacts Florida. Maybe we are being curmudgeonly, but this sort of writing makes us cringe. More importantly, it makes us focus on the writing instead of the forecast. more ›

As some of the top teams begin to play each other (FSU-Miami), we can finally begin to gain some insight into how good (or bad) they are. Some teams are without comments this week - if you blow out a cupcake, there's not much to say about that. Also, as you will see, our rankings can fluctuate from week to week - unlike the "real" polls, just because you win doesn't mean you won't drop in the rankings if your performance is unimpressive. See last week's poll. more ›