Patients at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center are discovering a hidden cost of healthcare: the theft of their identities at the hands of a hospital employee. During a federal investigation, it was revealed that as many as 40,000 patients over the last five to six years had their names, phone numbers, and social security numbers stolen from hopsital records. An audit at the hospital confirmed that the information had been misappropriated. While no specific......

Eldridge St. Synagogue, by AllWaysNY at flickrToday on the Gothamist Newsmap: an overturned bulldozer on 65th St. and Metropolitan Ave. in Queens, vandalism to an NYPD vehicle at Newkirk Ave. and 31st St. in Brooklyn, and an armed robbery on 47th St. and Lexington Ave. in Manhattan. NYU is opening a foreign annex school in Abu Dhabi in a bid to expand intercultural awareness. No gays, Jews, or anyone who's visited Israel allowed, please.......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a foot pursuit on West 50th St. and Broadway in Manhattan, a missing person on West 110th St. in Manhattan, and a stabbing on Grove St. and Seneca Ave. in Queens. The 57-year-old man shot to death by a federal agent during a grenade sting this week was a career criminal. Authorities believe the proposed sale of what turned out to be an inert grenade was probably just an......

The laptop of a private consultant for the Financial Information Services Agency was stolen from a restaurant last night. The stolen computer could contain the personal financial information of as many as 280,000 retired city employees and the obvious concern is that the information could fall into the hands of identity thieves. The Daily News reports that the data could possibly include the names, address, social security numbers, and pension information of thousands of retirees.......

This video from Chase Trash, a blog formed by the Service Employees International Union, makes us want to curl up into the fetal position. It shows unshredded financial documents in the trash outside a Chase location. Chase Trash's Chase Monitor says:Check out this footage of bank account numbers and other personal information I found in the trash bags at Chase Banks throughout the Big Apple. That’s right, in trash bags on the curb outside......

Did you act quickly enough to get Donald Trump's social security number yesterday? The New York Department of State had posted commercial loan documents online that was meant to let lenders view the financial status of loan applicants. The problem was that anyone could search the site and social security numbers were associated with names, including the Donald's. Yikes, the identity theft possibilities were yooge! We're not sure someone could get away with stealing Trump's......

-Construction induced cracks (right) inspired some Ave. B tenants to evacuate. Twice. - Ratner's Atlantic Yards project is hitting some more community noise because a rooftop garden that was previously proposed for public use is now not so much. - Dan Doctoroff vows to never leave Bloombergs side. And in case you were wondering, Governor's Island is his next project. - An Upper East Side Blockbuster left reams of personal information including social security......

Someone on the Gothamist forums asked: Having just paid off a bunch of bills via my electronic banking account, I am left with various bills and documents in hard copy. I do have a shredder, and will shred them, but wondered if any of you had tips about what's a good way to dispose of these things - shredder or no shredder... Is it safer in the paper recycling bin of your apt bldg or......