Last year, the federal authorities had been looking for Esther Elizabeth Reed, a woman who faked her way into attending Harvard, Cal State and most recently Columbia University, by using a dead woman's identity. Reed was on the lam, but this past weekend's murders at a mall outside Chicago led the police to Reed, who had been living in the very same town the killings occurred. In 2006, while in NYC, Reed had applied for......

A former Goldman Sachs analyst pleaded guilty to insider trading charges yesterday. Twenty-eight- year-old Eugene Plotkin, with fellow Harvard graduate Stanislav Shpigelman who worked at Merrill Lynch and fellow Goldman analyst David Pajcin, have all pleaded guilty to an elaborate scheme that netted them almost $7 million. The trio had been charged back in 2006. Plotkin and Pajcin would get tips from Shpigelman about Merrill's big deals. Pajcin gave tips to his seamstress aunt in......

The supervisor on duty for the group of men at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station when track worker Marvin Franklin was killed by a G train has been demoted to the position of cleaner, in lieu of being fired. Investigators found that superintendent Lloyd London was the individual most culpable for the death of 55-year-old trackwork veteran Franklin, after he told two workers that he would stand as a lookout at the end of the station, but......

One of the most bizarre City Council elections will be taking place tomorrow. Brooklyn's 40th District gets its second special election to fill the City Council seat vacated by Yvette Clarke, who was elected to Congress. The first special election took place in February, with Mathieu "The Haitian Sensation" Eugene, the Clarke-endorsed candidate, winning handily. However, Eugene's residency was challenged: He told WNYC's Brian Lehrer right before the election that he did not live in......

The Post followed up its story about Esther Elizabeth Reed, the mysterious con artist who had used a number of identities, including one from a missing woman, while attending Columbia and other institutions of higher learning. Reed had dated some army cadets, and the father of one spoke to the Post about his suspicions. And it seriously sounds like something out of a TV show or movie. Fred Fleischman, whose son is a captain in......

Until last week, we were on our way to having the warmest April on record. We aren't complaining about the absolutely gorgeous weather of the past few days but the cool mornings lowered the average temperature enough that Central Park only tied with 1991 as the sixth warmest April on record. The first four months of 2006 have all been warmer than normal, making January-April the fourth warmest start of a year in Central Park......

One of these days Gothamist is going to look into how the myth that you can balance an egg on end only on the equinox got started. But not today. Anyway, astronomical spring arrives at 1:26 this afternoon with another red flag warning. Strong winds and low humidity are again raising the possibility of rapidly spreading brush fires. Ironically, today will be colder than about two-thirds of this past winter. Another fascinating winter fact: Even......

Lots for Gothamist to talk about today so let's start with the wind. It's windy, and will be getting windier as the day moves on. What's unusual about today is that the sources of the wind are far away. A high pressure system is building up in the Midwest. As that gains strength the pressure gradient between it and a stationary low pressure system over Nova Scotia increases. The steeper the pressure gradient the faster......

What's a Red Flag Day you say? It's nothing like a red letter day, and has nothing to do with godless commies. Red Flag warnings are issued when conditions are ripe for wildfires. With no rain in almost two weeks and hot, dry, windy weather predicted for today wildfires are not out of the question. There's not a lot of shrubs or trees in Midtown, but Gothamist would suggest not lighting a charcoal fire directly......

We are getting a sneak peek at summer today as warm air streams up from the Gulf Coast ahead of a cold front. Gothamist wanted to wear shorts to work today but we were not awake enough to actually find them. Anyway, the Weather Service and weather.com both think we'll get up into the mid-80s or warmer today. AccuWeather is being uncharacteristically conservative, only calling for a maximum temperature of 80. No matter what our......