Local news stations are reporting late this evening that an unverified radiological threat was made against New York City sometime Friday. The city's alert level remains at the long-standing orange level though. WNBC passes along a statement from the NYPD: "While the threat remains unverified, our counterterrorism posture, which is reconfigured daily based on intelligence from around the world, has been modified to include increased deployment of radiological sensors, including vehicle, marine and helicopter-mounted, as......

Late last month, after the death of his girlfriend Theresa Duncan, witnesses saw Jeremy Blake walk in to the water around Beach 102nd Street. The 35-year old East Village artist left a suicide note (along with clothes and a wallet) under the boardwalk at Rockaway Beach. His body was found on July 22nd off of Sea Girt, NJ, five days after he was last seen. Yesterday the body was identified as Blake's. Police spokesman Paul......

The New York Times takes a look at Rafael Martínez Alequin, who is the publisher of a small independent newspaper and recent evictee from the Blue Room, the room where press conferences are held in City Hall. According to the Times, Martinez Alequin has been antagonizing public officials for years with his questions: Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani once called him a “jerk” and an “embarrassment,” and City Council Speaker Gifford Miller asked him in 2005,......

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he spoke to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff Thursday night and told him "for sure" that he disagreed with the urban area funding. On his radio show, the Mayor said, "I just think the ways they went about it was wrong. I think some factual things were wrong -- forget about the fact that they didn't have the right number of financial institutions or didn't know there were any significant targets......

Whoa-- apparently the prolific and insanely talented NYC street artist Swoon has three pieces up at the Museum of Modern Art! Wooster Collective alerted us to the "Printmaking Now" show, which runs until September 18th: Oversized cut-out figurative prints by Swoon (American, b. 1977) appear on three walls of the Paul J. Sachs Prints and Illustrated Books Galleries. Printmaking is essential to Swoon's practice: the linoleum cut and woodcut techniques provide the bold lines......

Ever since bringing down seven clubs at the start of this month, the police have been cracking down on clubs, and clubowners are feeling unfairly targeted - not just from the police looking for drug dealers, but also from neighborhood residents. Clubowners say that the police are actually hurting the city's economy making them feel unwelcome while the police say the raids were prompted by community complaints. Ah, the double edged sword of gentrification -......

The Rangers needed a game like this. After a lackluster effort on Tuesday and with a game against first-place Philadelphia on Monday, the Rangers needed to rebuild their confidence. They did so and more, destroying Pittsburgh 7-1 in a nationally televised game. The Rangers got better as the game progressed. After the first period, the game was tied, but New York thoroughly dominated the second. Michal Rozival and Martin Rucinsky scored to give the Rangers......

In the mid-90’s it was the best local rivalry we had. Both teams were among the NHL elite and ferociously battled each other whenever they met. Then the Rangers fell on hard times and the Devils kept wining. Last night the two teams squared off at the Garden and when it was over New York had beaten New Jersey 3-1 and snapped their nine-game winning streak. Darius Kasparaitis got things going by delivering a vicious......

It was a night to pay tribute to one of the greatest hockey players to ever lace up skates, so it was fitting that another one of the all-time greats provided the winning goal. Long after the cheers for Mark Messier had died down, Jaromir Jagr scored just 14 seconds into overtime to give the Rangers a 5-4 victory over Edmonton. Perhaps the lengthy ceremony took something out of the Rangers because they started the......

Peter Sykora was openly campaigning to join the Rangers. He had watched their early-season success and he wanted to get out of Anaheim. His wish was granted Sunday and he immediately made his presence felt in the Rangers 4-2 victory over Calgary. Sykora scored a goal, had an assist and manned the point on the Rangers’ power play unit. The win puts the Rangers five points out of first place with about half the season......

One of the most hideous games of the year will not be remembered as such. The Yankees came from behind to beat the Mets 5-4 on a two run Jason Giambi ninth-inning single. The win was much-needed for the Yankees, but their problems will not be erased by it. Both teams had shoddy defense, but the Yankees', which has been dreadful all year, imploded again. Robinson Cano booted what should have been an inning-ending ground......

Temporary redemption. That's what the Yankees got last night as a split squad, defeated the defending champion Red Sox, 9-2. The Yankees were in control all night, taking an early lead in the 2nd inning. The fireworks, however, came in the 5th inning with Jason Giambi's 410 foot home run off of John Halama. Giambi's home run came chants from the crowd, which included, "Come on, Juicy!", "Let's go BALCO!" and the such. The home......

With that whole snow thing happening here in New York, it might be hard to think baseball, but down in Florida, baseball is in the air. Last week, pitchers and catchers showed up to Spring Training; this week, the position players are starting to show up as well. For the Mets and the Yankees, this means two big off-season stories are ready to take center stage. Carlos Beltran took his place on Tradition Field for......

The Yankees take their offense and their payroll to the post-season tonight as $180 million takes on $53 million. While those numbers might speak to the crazy finances of baseball, it doesn't matter at this point, all that matters are wins. Tonight, the Yankees play the Twins in the start of a best of five series. During the regular season, the Yankees took four of six against the Twins, including a three game sweep last......

In Boston over the weekend, the Yankees failed to clinch the AL East title and managed to lose two games to the Red Sox. In yesterday's series finale, Kevin Brown managed only two outs in his start, giving up 6 hits and 4 runs in the first inning. His Boston counterpart, Curt Shilling, only allowed 1 hit and 2 runs in seven innings of work. Boston won the game 11-4 (box score). Not everything went......

Breaking news: the Yankees are headed to the playoffs!! Okay, maybe that's not so "breaking" from a team that is expected to win the World Series, but it's news nonetheless. Yesterday, the Yankees made the playoffs for the 10th straight season. They clinched by beating the Devil Rays, 7-3 (box score). Now, all they have to do is win the AL East, something they look to do this weekend against the Red Sox. If......

There weren't many in the Bronx last night, but the people that did attend got to see the Yankees squander a perfect opportunity. They faced a lefty making his first start in the majors and the Red Sox lost to the Orioles. Gustavo Chacin of the Blue Jays is the first lefty to win his major league debut against the Yankees under Joe Torre. Chacin, 23, led the AL East cellar dwelling Blue Jays to......

The Yankees came into this past weekend's series with the Red Sox with more than a few questions in their rotation and the Red Sox arrived in the Bronx on a hot streak and only 3 1/2 games behind the Bombers. With this series now over, the Yankees picked up a game to up their AL East lead to 4.5 with two weeks left in the regular season and some confidence in their starters. Game......

It was the worst loss in the history of Baseball. Let that sink in. In over 100 years of baseball there has never been a loss as bad as the one the Yankees suffered from the hands of the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night. 22-0. It was the low point of the Yankee season. But, it only counted as one game in the standings. The next day the Yankees put it behind them and......

Kevin Brown looks like the Kevin Brown of 1996-98. Yesterday he had the best game of the year, pitching 8 shutout innings and getting his ninth win of the year. The Yankees were able to tag Barry Zito for three early runs and then cruise home behind Brown's pitching for the 5-1 victory. Kevin Brown struck out seven and allowed only four hits over the 8 innings. Barry Zito got into trouble in the second......

When Jason Giambi first came to New York, he struggled through April and then in dramatic fashion hit a Grand Slam in the rain against Minnesota in May to win the game. When Matsui came to New York, on opening day it launched a 5th inning grand slam to give the Yankees the 7-3 win. It is August and Alex Rodriguez has yet to have that moment, until last night that is. Alex Rodriguez hit......

When the game started it looked like it would be a typical Yankees-Orioles game. The Yankees hit Sir Sydney Ponson hard in the first inning, but only managed one run, on a Gary Sheffield RBI single. Jose Contreras was sharp the first two innings, sending the Orioles down in order. 1-0 Yankees after two innings. The next seven innings went south in a hurry for the Bronx Bombers. Melvin Mora hit a two-out two RBI......

What wins championships? Pitching, defense and timely hitting. Pitching, though is the main ingredient. The Yankees have the best record in baseball, but one glaring hole is the starting pitching. Last night Mike Mussina was able to right the ship for four innings, then the ship sank. Mussina gave up seven runs in six innings. In Mussina's last two starts, against the Mets and Tigers, he is 0-2 with a 9.82 ERA. In the two......

It was a game in July, but it felt like the middle of October. It is a game that you are going to have to watch to believe. It was a game that was for the ages. Last night's Yankees Victory over the Red Sox, more than just the completion of a sweep, it was a statement. The Yankees came into the series with a five and a half game lead over the Red Sox,......

This season, the Yankees starting pitching has some holes, which may get bigger with Kevin Brown out of the lineup. The 39 year-old starter experienced some tightness in his surgery repaired back last night after slipping during the first inning. Brown went on to pitch through the second inning, giving up four runs in the process. Brown's 7-1 record and 4.13 ERA, however, are deceiving. The Times reports that in his 4 wins against Tampa......

In last night's 11-2 loss to the Angels (box score), Jorge Posada was injured when he took a ball in the nose while on the basepaths. During the 2nd inning, Posada was running to 2nd base on a double-play ball when a ball thrown towards first by Angels shortstop Alfredo Amezaga struck him. The ball deflected off Posada's arm as he reacted and hit his nose, breaking it. Amezaga threw the ball side arm,......

Yesterday, the Yankees finally beat the Red Sox at Fenway, taking the 3rd game of the four game series, 7-3 (box score). Paul Quantrill got the win, after bailing out starter Jose Contreras in the third inning. A well rested Derek Lowe got the loss, giving up seven runs in 2 2/3 innings. Despite the victory, one has to wonder if it was the Yankees that performed well, or if it was the pitching......