In March, simultaneous installations in two Chelsea galleries – one called The Assassination of Barack Obama, the other The Assassination of Hillary Clinton – were canceled “due to extreme legal pressures,” according to LVHRD. This morning the artist, Yazmany Arboleda, again attempted to hang his work in an empty storefront across from the New York Times building and got as far as putting up the name of the exhibit in the window before the......

Just a days before the Florida primary, someone gave the New York Times a 1998 NYPD memorandum advising Mayor Giuliani that the department felt locating the city's emergency command center in 7 World Trade Center was not a very good idea. The eight page memo was written by a panel of police experts with help from the Secret Service. Its conclusions were overruled by Giuliani and the command center was destroyed on September 11 as......

It appears that Judith Nathan, the current Mrs. Giuliani, may have been enjoying taxpayer-funded car service provided by the police while her affair with former Mayor Giuliani was unknown. Giuliani's admitted that he gave his girlfriend a security detail once their relationship became public because of possible threats against her, but it appears that Nathan was enjoying New York's Finest as a taxi service months before anyone even knew the two were involved with each......

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad headed to New York today, but not telling Iranian state-run TV, "The United States is a big and important country with a population of 300 million. Due to certain issues, the American people in the past years have been denied correct and clear information about global developments and are eager to hear different opinions." He added that the U.N. General Assembly was an "important podium" for Iran's views to be......

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is getting a lot of ink in our newspapers today after it was revealed that (A) he had requested a visit to Ground Zero - to lay a wreath, no less - and then shortly later that (B) the city had denied the request. Way to work fast, city agencies! Iranian mission to the United Nations says that Ahmadinejad still wants to go to Ground Zero, but the Daily News sends......

Maybe there is good reason to try to stay off Forbes' list of 400 wealthiest people. The Manhattan DA's office charged a 24-year-old Russian national with an elaborate identity ring that targeted rich Americans. Igor Klopov recruited people in the U.S., via sites like Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com, to help him and he managed to steal $1.5 million from four people. But Klopov was nabbed during an attempt to take $10.7 million from Anthony Pritzker, of......

President Bush is taking his No Child Left Behind Act education platform to Harlem today, with an afternoon visit to the Harlem Village Academies charter school on West 144th Street today. Yes, that's what all the traffic and security is for- as well as the lack of garbage cans. The school and Department of Education are proud that Harlem Village Academy was selected; founder Deborah Kenny tells the Sun, "We take in kids that are......

NJ Governor Jon Corzine may taken off a ventilator that has been helping him breathe since his Thursday night car accident on the Garden State Parkway. Yesterday, doctors removed fluid from his lungs (considered a routine procedure) successfully, and today, they will be performing another surgery to continue to clean up wounds from his left leg - when the femur broke, it punctured his skin. Corzine remains in critical but stable condition. His family......

If you come into contact with a $50 or $100 bill, check it carefully! The Secret Service says there's a lot more funny money floating around the NYC-metro area. WNBC has PDFS explaining what to look for on the bills ($50, $100); it's pretty to cool to see the differences. Since the Secret Service is pointing out printing differences, it looks like the paper is pretty close and has that metal strand. We've been stuck......

- If you're still buying baseball cards, you may have noticed that there are a couple of mistakes on the latest Derek Jeter card from Topps (full card pictured at left). The baseball card pictures President Bush waiving in the stands and Mickey Mantle in the dugout. Problem is that Bush wasn't at the game that day. Plus, everyone knows Bush is a Rangers fan and he would be flanked by tons of Secret......

A judge ruled that World Trade Center insurers do not have to pay an extra $700 million for current construction. Developer Larry Silverstein and his insurers had been arguing whether additional improvements to new buildings should be someting the insurers pay out. But U.S. District Judge Harold Baer decided that the money paid out should only cover what it would cost to build the original, pre-September 11 World Trade Center design. Silverstein is still......

An envelope filled with a white powder was delivered to former President Bill Clinton's West 125th Street office, causing the two floors of the building to be shut down yesterday afternoon. Most of the building was evacuated, but eleven people were quaratined as the police, fire department, FBI, Secret Service and Homeland Secuirty descended to the scene. A source told the Daily News, "An aide opened the envelope, and she went ballistic," when white......

Gothamist has decided to liveblog this year's Nathan's Famous July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest. Jen and Tien will be providing color commentary; Tien will also be attempting to eat hot dogs competition-style 12:00PM - Announcers say there are 15,000 spectators at Surf and Stillwell. Crazy! And the media loves the Takeru Kobayashi-Joey Chestnut matchup. And did you realize that there are 320 calories per dog with bun!!! Tien: Man, I hate George Shea.......

The NYCLU is working with the FBI as the federal agency investigates whether the NYPD violated civil rights of protesters during the Republican National Convention in 2004. The FBI only confirmed they did send a letter to the NYCLU, but luckily the NYCLU has a PDF of the letter here. The FBI is looking for Dennis Kyne, whose arrest was thrown out after "videotape contradicted" the police officer's account. Interesting - and we're sure......

Imagine the luck of the police when they arrested someone involved in an international identity theft ring. They sat down to lunch and watched Andrei Potupa, a 29 year-old Russian immigrant from Bensonhust, withdraw loads and loads of money. After Potupa inserted card after card with stolen account numbers and withdrew handfuls after handfuls of cash, the cops arrested him when he tried to exit the restaurant. He was found with $7,504 and 52 blank......

A man who works for the Department of Transportation was pulled over after drunk driving his car into a tree. That's a problem already - but then the police found various weapons, knives and drugs in the minivan, including a samurai sword and over 10 guns. Oh, and there was pinata and a sign that says "Hang Cheney," which seems like the least odd thing in the car, but the Secret Service came to investigate......

Next Wednesday will be the 60th session of the General Assembly and the 2005 World Summit at the United Nations. Which means New York City is gonig to be under some serious security and gridlock for three days. As it will be the "largest single gathering of world leaders in history next week," there's a hell of a lot of planning going on at the city and federal levels. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, "It......

- WTC news: In possibly another sign that the WTC rebuilding totally sucks, the president of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Kevin Rampe, has resigned today. NY1 says he'll still serve on the foundation, but this sounds sketchy to us. Additionally, an appeals court threw out a lawsuit against Motorola that relatives of firefighters killed during September 11 brought forth, claiming Motorola's faulty radios caused their deaths. - Identity alert: Computer tapes that held the......

About 49% of the population is still reeling from Senator Kerry's concession. Gothamist's own Doug Gordon (also of Planet Gordon) and his wife are in Boston, and were captured for the world to see on BBC News Front Page. He tells us, "All I can say is that there is nothing quieter than the sound of 10,000 people not saying a word." And we expect the Secret Service and FBI to be investigating many......

Sure, most people expected bus routes around Penn Station to be rerouted, and given the MTA's and the Mayor's earlier insistence that things would be pretty normal (yeah, right!) during the convention, it was inevitable there would be talk of rerouting subway service coming. Granted, the current plan is that four of the eleven entrances to Penn Station will be closed and any other disruptions would be prompted by the Secret Service, but Gothamist foresees......

The other night, when Bill Clinton went on Late Show with David Letterman to shill his heavy book, Gothamist was thinking about rumors that Clinton was weighing an offer to host Saturday Night Live. While Darrell Hammond's Clinton impression was great, the memory of Phil Hartman, playing a McDonald's eating, smooth talking Secret Service nightmare is burned in our memory. Whether it's stuffing a Sausage McMuffin in his mouth and almost choking (luckily Rob Schneider......

- The New York Times is sponsoring a welcoming party for the GOP, which will be a "Salute to Broadway." Mayor Bloomberg said this would be instead of "bad cocktail receptions" that are usually held. The Times, emphasizing their commitment to the arts (especially near their Times Square office), will be giving the 13,373 delegates and their guests tickets to musicals like The Lion King, Wonderful Town, 42nd Street, Fiddler on the Roof, Bombay Dreams,......

Yesterday, a car driven by a woman and three children broke through the security cordon outside the Mississippi arena where President Bush was speaking. One witness said after the car made it past the police barrier, police chased it, and the car jumped a curb, blowing two of its tires, and then crashed into the building: ""The whole thing just took seconds. I thought at once that this was an attack on the president." The......

First Lady Laura Bush visited France to formally usher the U.S. back into UNESCO; the U.S. left during the Reagan era, when we claimed that UNESCO was distributing anti-U.S. propaganda. French President Jacques Chirac took the opportunity to make nice with the First Lady, by giving her extravagant kisses on her hand. Mrs. Bush told reporters, "I think that was just French hospitality," but Gothamist can tell an annoyed/frightened smile from a mile. All......

President Bush showed yesterday, while visiting his parents at Kennebunkport, that one should not board a Segway while holding a tennis racket. Of course, that is the kind of thing our President is known for, so Gothamist shouldn't be surprised. We suppose at this point, instead of warding off imminent danger, Secret Service men are taking bets to see when the President will clumsy himself into the next black eye. [Via callalillie] Gothamist does......

The Post reports that First Twin Jenna Bush will be taking a class at NYU this summer. Nice! Gothamist guesses this is will be the first time Jenna interacts with a multitude of liberal Jews and Asians, having been at UT Austin, but don't worry Jenna, like Austin, there are tons of struggling musicians here looking for girlfriends. Gothamist does feel empathy for Jenna, as she's like any young person horribly embarrassed by her father......