The MTA's been planning to screw up your winter commute with consecutive subway shutdowns for a while, but we thought the Q train was safe—until now. Starting in January and lasting through March, there will be no Q train service across parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, so get ready to bundle up for your good pal the shuttle bus instead. more ›

The top post on Reddit this morning isn't a Rick Perry meme or a story about telepathic conjoined twins: it's a video of Keanu Reeves on the Q train, giving up his seat for another straphanger last summer. Why is this video suddenly popping today? Who are we to question the internet! more ›

Last night, a fire broke out on the roof of the signal room at the West 8th Street station in Brooklyn. Which means that the F and Q are suspended near the stop (more about the service changes below) today for crews to start repairs, because the fire was extinguished too late for workers to start last night. more ›

Not to be outdone by Catherine Zeta-Jones, famous person Jake Gyllenhaal took the subway with the regular people last night. This is him on the Q train, standing in such a way that it's like he knows someone is armed with a camera phone nearby. Also, he is wearing sunglasses, underground, on the subway, at night. Maybe covering up his tears? more ›

Not to be outdone by the V train's party, straphangers gathered on Friday night to bid farewell to the beloved, short lived W train on its last ride from Whitehall Street to Ditmars Boulevard. Over 75 riders drank pina coladas and sang along to songs like "Runaway Train," played by party organizer Bill Reese. He told the Post, "We are not going to protest because living well is the best revenge. So, we sing songs, it's like an Irish wake." Well, there was a bit of protesting, as W mourners booed the oncoming Q train at Union Square. more ›

The family of a woman fatally struck by a train Saturday morning is mourning her death. Shatonia Spencer, 23, was killed by a Manhattan-bound Q train at the Prospect Park station while she was attempting to cross the tracks. A station agent said she stopped to ask where to catch the trains to Manhattan, but went down the wrong stairs. Instead of going back up and crossing to the other side, she jumped onto the track bed and was attempting to scale the platform wall on the Manhattan-bound side when she was hit. more ›

Just weeks after a horrifying murder on the D train in which straphangers were locked in a subway car with the suspect until police arrived, a Gothamist tipster describes a scary — though thankfully less violent — incident on the Q train this morning in which commuters were locked in a car with an aggressive passenger in the 34th Street station. more ›

A tipster spotted this truck stuck under the Q train subway station on Avenue J in Midwood this morning around 8:45 a.m. We're told "the truck was all crumpled and the fire department had to come out." We're guessing at this point they're just waiting for a giant stick of butter. more ›

An off-duty firefighter got called into action Friday night when he ended up pulling a Wes Autrey and jumping down on the tracks to rescue a man who had fainted and was laying unconscious on the tracks just as an uptown Q train began pulling into the Union Square station. 30-year-old Adam Rivera, originally of Bay Ridge, had been out in the East Village getting Indian food with his girlfriend to celebrate their seventh anniversary. The couple was heading home to the Upper West Side when Rivera spotted 45-year-old Marco Delamo on the tracks. The firefighter out of Engine 10 in lower Manhattan told reporters, "People were panicking, but nobody was doing anything...I thought to myself, 'This is my job — I'm a New York City firefighter, and I have to do something...There was no time to be afraid. You can't waste time hesitating. You just move, and the thinking stops...Being right there in a position to help — that's why I joined the department." Rivera and two other men lifted Delamo to the platform before he was taken to St. Vincent's intensive care with head injuries. more ›

If the MTA's service cuts announced earlier this week do in fact go into effect, 1.3 million New Yorkers will be affected by the changes. During the press conference Thursday, MTA heads Elliot Sander and Dale Hemmerdinger encouraged straphangers to contact their reps in Albany as a last resort to bail out their 1.2 billion deficit. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver must have heard the call because yesterday he suggested a tax to help alleviate the burden on the MTA saying, "I am not afraid of a reasonable, responsible tax being part of the solution." The only additional good news following the announcement of cuts is that with the W train gone, plans are to extend the Q to Astoria. more ›

Stand clear of the platform edge and then some: A 14-year-old boy fell into the tracks at the Kings Highway subway station when the platform partially collapsed. Avi Katz was able to get away before the approaching Q train made it into the station. more ›

Hassan Askari, the Muslim college student who intervened in a violent subway attack against a group of Jewish riders, was honored at City Hall yesterday. The fight allegedly started when some thugs boarded a Q train yelling "Merry Christmas", prompting one of the Jewish riders to respond with a "Happy Hanukkah." Fisticuffs ensued, with one of the non-Jewish attackers shouting, "Happy Hanukkah, that's when the Jews killed Jesus!" One of the goons is also said to have exposed his tattoo of Jesus before the fight, because you know how Jesus was all about beating Jews. more ›

One of the ten suspects arrested in the Q train beating of a Jewish man during Hanukkah is saying that hate crime charges are completely uncalled for because he himself is Jewish. Joseph Jirovec Jr. was arrested two weeks ago after a group of Hanukkah revelers was beaten while on a the Q train after wishing happy holidays to other riders. Members of a crowd on the train took objection to the Jewish greetings and a beatdown ensued. In an encouraging twist, it was a young Muslim man who came to Walter Adler's aid. Hassan Askari was recently honored for his interfaith Good Samaritanism. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian was struck on Wythe and Metropolitan Ave. in Brooklyn, an overturned police car on Gun Hill Rd. in the Bronx, and a bank robbery on Austin Rd. in Queens.
• Joseph Jirovec, one of the teenagers accused of the Hannukah Q train hate crime, says that he and his friends were the victims. He said the fight began only after a racial slur was directed at one of his party and a knife was brandished towards them.
• A commission established by Gov. Spitzer is recommending that the SUNY system of public universities in New York be allowed to vary tuition from school to school and raise tuitions without authorization from the state legislature.
• A commercial laundry worker found a discarded fetus among bed sheets collected from a Brooklyn hospital.
• The father of a teenager testified that he didn't mean to shoot another young man when he pulled a gun on him at his home, but that he was attempting to protect his son and the gun went off when the other man tried to grab it from him.
• A 59-year-old Queens woman got her hair cut for the first time in 45 years.
• The MTA is increasing the frequency of service on the L train over the weekends starting tomorrow. Expanded weekday service on the 7 train is scheduled to begin Monday.
• Why don't pregnant women tip over? The Times reports.

Joseph Jirovec and Kimberly Babajko are two of ten people arrested in an attack that was initiated by a friendly greeting of "Happy Channukah!" aboard a Q train in Brooklyn last week. Both Jirovec and Babajko have criminal records for assaulting minorities and could face hate crime charges in their latest brush with justice. Both are scheduled to appear in Brooklyn Criminal Court today for the vicious beating they allegedly administered to Walter Adler, who was on his way home from a holiday dinner. Adler and his girlfriend were spared further injury when a complete stranger, Hassan Askari, intervened at his own physical expense. The young Muslim man was beaten alongside Adler. more ›

A woman shoved into the Brooklyn-bound Q train tracks at Union Square was saved by two bystanders on Monday night. Suzanne Trotman only suffered bruises as she was pulled from the tracks less than a minute before a train pulled in. Two people, a man and a woman, jumped into the tracks to help Trotman out. Trotman told the Post she 'got up really quickly," adding, "Good thing I didn't get knocked out... I kept... more ›

The story around the possible hate crime attack on a Q train the other night seems to be made for the season. Not only does it come while subway violence is a big topic, it also involves a group of Jewish subway riders being called "dirty Jews" and "Jew bitches" and attacked by people who cried, "Happy Hanukkah, that's when the Jews killed Jesus." And here's the kicker: The only person who stepped in... more ›

Police are investigating an attack on a Brooklyn-bound Q train as a possible hate crime. A group of people (WNBC says they were on their way home from Hanukkah celebrations) were called anti-Semitic phrases and then beaten up by another group of ten people at Canal Street. The Post has some more details: Apparently one of the attackers "made anti-Semitic remarks about Jews killing Jesus, saying, 'This is a Christian country.'" But the father of... more ›

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A Brooklyn family is mourning the death of 44-year-old Anthony Senisi Jr., after he was stabbed on the way home from buying some milk Saturday night. Senisi was attacked at Brighton Sixth Street and Brighton Fourth Terrace, near his apartment building. He walked home and collapsed in his 77-year-old father's arms, saying, "Daddy, call the police, someone hit me." more ›

Yesterday evening, a 19-year-old was fatally shot on a northbound Q train. According to witnesses, Trevell Belton was shot as the train pulled into the Avenue U stop. Belton collapsed on the platform, while the shooter and his friend ran away. more ›

We were fortunate enough to be at the Time Out New York Eat Out Awards last night to watch the winners of both the Readers' Choice awards, chosen by readers who made over 14,000 submissions, and the Critics' Picks awards, selected by the TONY staff. The coveted plates hang on restaurant and bar walls throughout the city. more ›

It's opening day on Coney Island's boardwalk and there's still time to hop on a D,F,N, or Q train to Stillwell Avenue before things get started. 11 a.m. marks the Blessing of the Rides at Deno's Wonder Wheel with a ribbon cutting and live music. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will break the ceremonial egg cream at 11:30 a.m. to open the rides and the first 100 people on the Cyclone get to ride free. The Coney Island Polar Bears will serve as a chorus at 2:30 p.m. in a live performance of an original piece of music titled "Save Coney Island." Theater lovers may want to drop by the Coney Island Museum at 5 p.m. for an adaptation of Herman Melville's "The Confidence Man" (tickets $10). And 12th St. and Surf Ave. is the place to be at 6 p.m. for the 2nd Annual Band Organ Rally. Full details are available at ConeyIsland.com. more ›

A 20-year veteran transit worker was clipped by a Q train yesterday around noon. Fifty-five year old Yakov Tesenter was near the Avenue U stop in Brooklyn on the Q. He was part of a team inspecting switches for repair, when he somehow got separated from the group. amNY reports that investigators are looking into whether the "flag man, who alerts oncoming trains that work crews are present," was at his post. more ›

Some good news for N and Q train riders: The snazzy new R160 trains successfully completed its 30 day test period. NY1 reports that an entire order of 700 new trains will be on the N and Q lines by the end of 2007. As for the R and W lines, you'll still have the groddy trains. more ›

Tales of voodoo and secret families are coming to light as police investigate the tragic drowning deaths of two Staten Island children, apparently at the hands of their father who then threw himself in front of a subway. After working a 3pm-11pm shift at a nursing home, Francoise Mercier found her 5 year old son and 2 year old son dead in a bathtub in their Daniel Low Terrace apartment at 11:40pm. A few hours earlier, her companion, Frantz Bordes, had thrown himself in front of a Q train at Church Avenue and was decapitated. Police found a suicide note on Bordes and more suicide notes at home, with Bordes claiming Mercier's family was using voodoo on him. Bordes' brother said that Mercier's mother used voodoo to cause his headaches, while Mercier's brother said that was untrue and that Bordes had threatened to kill the children before. more ›

A strange and sad case is unraveling in Staten Island. A mother returned home to find her 5 year old son and 2 year old daughter dead in a dry bathtub. Their father had been in charge of watching the children while the mother worked at a nursing home. And this morning, the Staten Island Advance reports that the husband killed himself by jumping in front of a northbound Q train in Manhattan Brooklyn. more ›