• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Utica Ave. in Brooklyn, a triple shooting on West 166th St. in the Bronx, and an accidental officer shooting on Jamaica Ave. in Queens.
• Noted New York opera tenor Jerry Hadley has been removed from life support. Hadley shot himself in the head with an air rifle last week.
• Members of the band Radiohead are in town, mastering their latest album after a four-year hiatus.
• More proof that Ronaldo Martinez is helping New Yorkers stop smoking: the New York Times profiles the anti-smoking advocate, whose primary appeal to the cause is that he scares the bejeezus out of smokers with an electronic tracheal voicebox.
• A transit cop encountered a distraught woman on a Times Square subway platform, who said that she had been kidnapped, strapped to a couch, and repeatedly raped by various men over a five-day period.
• Mediabistro is reporting that someone got an advance copy of the latest Harry Potter novel and published photographed pages on the Internet.
• An animal protection group on Long Island is offering a reward to find the person who tied a dog to a tree, apparently doused it with gasoline, and then lit the animal on fire Monday. The dog succumbed to its injuries today.

Thanks to a vigorous anti-smoking campaign, the number of New Yorkers lighting up since 2002 has plummeted 20%. This amounts to 240,000 fewer smokers City puffers than there were five years ago. There are currently fewer smokers than ever in NYC history with about 18% of citizens doing the deed. In fact, there are only five states in the country with a lower smoking rate (CA, WA, ID, UT, and CT). more ›

Though more than half of all New York CIty smokers tried to quit smoking in the past year, 80% of them (about half a million people) lit up again within three months. While the average smoker tries to quit about 8-9 times before actually succeeding, nicotine replacement therapy has been shown to double one's chances. more ›

The Department of Health is rolling out a "two-pronged effort" to encourage New Yorkers to stop smoking. Prong one: Between now and May 15, smokers can get nicotine patches and/or nicotine gum for free by calling 311. Prong two: A new ad campaign with Ronaldo Martinez, who lost his larynx due to throat cancer. more ›