Because sometimes it's just too much of a hassle to open the silly things first, why not just take the whole safe and run? That's what a robber in Elmhurst did recently, wheeling the mini-fridge-sized safe he nicked from a residential building out on an office chair. And he has different disguises, to boot! more ›

Apparently the city's safety zone is between 5th and Park Avenues, from 77th to 84th Street. The patch of space was just deemed the safest neighborhood in the city, according to a WalletPop.com survey. They note that there's a 1 in 625 chance of becoming a victim here, and the Daily News points out that the area has the highest median home prices in the country, with an average household earning around $5 million. One resident told the paper, "I always find it very safe. I even have a uniformed police officer in my building 24 hours a day, seven days a week because an ambassador lives in my building." Well la-di-da. And of course when there is a crime in the neighborhood, it's going to be high profile. more ›

Papacitos, the wildly popular Greenpoint Mexican restaurant with the best vegetarian tacos in town, was the victim of a brazen robbery Saturday night. Co-owner Cody Utzman tells us that thieves broke into the establishment after it closed, hopping the courtyard fence and entering through the back. According to Utzman, the robbers smashed open the cash register and made off with a safe that had $10,000 inside, as well as the restaurant stereo and some employees' personal belongings. Police have dusted for fingerprints and are investigating the incident. more ›

NYC has kept its ranking as the metropolis with the lowest overall crime rate, as compared to 2008 stats from the 25 largest cities in America. The FBI’s Crime in the United States report asserts that violent crime decreased by four percent in NYC last year, outpacing a national decline. And according to NYPD Compstat data, crime was down an additional 12 percent citywide for the first five months of this year, compared to 2008 levels. Murders are down 21 percent, robberies are down 17 percent, and there have been 17 percent less rapes. But declines in felony assaults, while slightly down (1.6 percent) from 2008, have not kept pace with other reductions. Some downtown precincts, including those that police Greenwich Village, have reported a spike in assaults, and the NYPD has beefed up patrols in the area. Still, the report is great news for Mayor Bloomberg's third term hopes. In a statement, he praised the NYPD's "innovative policing strategies" and also attributed the decreased crime to his focus on getting guns off the streets. more ›

Robbers have decided to bypass the poor boxes and instead steal from Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens. The Post reports that thieves stole a heavy safe from the Holy Family School in Flushing, Queens. It's suspected that it's an inside job, since the thieves "were able to find the safe on the second floor in a locked closet" and "also seemed to know it recently had been filled with tuition money, which was to be deposited the following day." Plus they were able to remove the safe, which had $19,000 in cash and checks, without waking the sleeping nuns! Sister Dorothy Delaney said, "I hate to say it, but someone must have known where it was." Other Catholic schools have reported robberies; the Post say the police aren't saying whether it's a pattern. Last week, Mayor Bloomberg announced that he would attempt to turn some Catholic schools into charter schools. more ›

Even the police set up a "massive dragnet" to find a thief who tried to steal a safe from home in Staten Island's Todt Hill section, the thief still managed get away! The Staten Island Advance explained in spite of a "a helicopter with heat-sensing equipment as well as uniformed and plainclothes officers," the cops still lost track of a suspect who had returned to 70 Beebe Street to complete the task of stealing the safe. A cop reportedly said on the police radio, "I hear him in here! I can't find him! It's pitch black!" but the perp may have escaped by jumping out of a second floor window. The thief is also suspected in five other break-ins. more ›

A security firm run by former New York City police detective Bo Dietl has been hired by KFC to move the fast food chain's secret "Original Recipe" of 11 herbs and spices, which has been not been moved from its safe in corporate headquarters for 68 years. The single sheet of notebook paper, yellowed by age, lays out the entire formula, and was written in pencil and signed by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1940. more ›

It was the jalapeno all along. Yesterday the F.D.A. announced that after a three month investigation into a salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 1,251 people in 43 states, officials have finally been able to match the bacteria strain to a single Mexican-grown jalapeno pepper handled by a small Texas produce shipper. Fresh tomatoes were previously believed to be the culprit, and an F.D.A. warning against certain tomato varieties has cost growers an estimated $450 million. Oopsy! more ›

Although the F.D.A. has been unable to pinpoint the source of a recent salmonella outbreak that infected over 1,190 people in 42 states, officials have announced that all varieties of tomatoes currently in the fields and in stores are safe to eat. more ›

Everybody relax: New York grown tomatoes are perfectly safe to eat raw, at least according to the government. Yesterday the State Department of Agriculture tried to calm a jittery public with an announcement that a recent salmonella outbreak is not linked to tomatoes grown in the Empire State. At least 23 people have been hospitalized across the country, mostly in New Mexico and Texas, where the first fatality was reported yesterday. more ›

Streetsblog points out a handy new website called Ride the City that’s beta testing a version of Google Maps integrated with ideal cycling routes. The New York City site lets users plan a bicycle commute from point A to point B in any borough, choosing between the “safest” route along as many bike lanes and greenways as possible, and the “fastest” route which lets you plot the most direct course by bike. All known bike shops along the route also come up on the map. more ›

Members of the Park Slope Co-op are expected to vote to eliminate the sale of bottled water this spring. The proposal comes as the environmental costs of bottled water are being widely publicized, including a city advertising campaign encouraging people to forgo bottled water and drink from the tap. more ›