The Dow ended the day up over 276 points to 11,239.28, thanks to higher-than- estimated profit at mortgage underwriter Wells Fargo. Even Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rose over 15% today. The bad news: Consumer prices increased "at the fastest pace in 26 years", the FBI is investigating IndyMac for fraud and even usually "recession- proof" chocolate is hit during these harder times.......

City councilman and mayoral hopeful Tony Avella held a press conference today at City Hall to spotlight a pending council resolution urging the New York State Senate to outlaw force-feeding ducks and geese to produce foie gras. A bill to ban the practice is languishing in Albany, and Avella hopes his largely symbolic gesture will push it forward. Yesterday Avella told the Village Voice that though there are only two foie gras farms in New......

Rallies aren’t just for grassroots activists – moneyed developers can hold them too, as Bruce Ratner proved yesterday by financing an afternoon rally in downtown Brooklyn to support his beleaguered Atlantic Yards project. Organizers of the so-called “Brooklyn Day” event handed out free hot dogs and T-shirts to passersby in an attempt to drum up enthusiasm for the $4.2 billion project, though there were no free turkeys to fully evoke the Tammany Hall spirit.......

Reverend Billy climbed to the roof of the Pavilion building in Union Square last night around 6:30 p.m. to hang a banner reading: Not For Sale. While he was up there, he gave the passersby a lesson on why the historic free speech structure cannot be turned into a private, upscale restaurant; reminding people that the first Labor Day in 1882 took place there, and that one "shouldn’t have to buy a $15 appetizer to......

Somehow, race relations in Crown Heights, Brooklyn have taken a huge hop, skip, and a jump back to the 1980s, when tensions between African Americans and the Jewish community kept the city on tenterhooks. In recent weeks, attacks on young people, both black and Jewish, have driven people to protest in the streets. The Post headlines its article on a neighborhood protest "Jewish Blood Is Not Cheap," echoing the sentiment of one of approximately 300......

Many hundreds of people marched yesterday to push immigration reform into the election year spotlight. With rallies being held in other cities in the country and world, the marchers gathered at Union Square and then headed down Broadway to the the Jacob Javits Federal Office Building, where immigrations officials have offices. One demonstrator explained to NY1, "[May 1] is international workers’ day and in this country, as you may know, there are more than......

Olympics planners and San Francisco authorities made many attempts (making up the route as it went along) to prevent demonstrators from disrupting the Olympic torch's only North American appearance on Wednesday, they couldn't stop a torch bearer from the Bronx from expressing her pro-Tibet sympathies. Majora Carter, a 41-year-old environmental activist from the South Bronx, had tucked a small Tibetan flag up her sleeve, with the torch in the other. The NY Times described her......