Staten Island has HAD IT with the War on Religious Holidays That Have Been Secularlized To The Point Of Insipidity. So says the editorial board of the Staten Island Advance, who penned an article entitled "Bureaucratic Cowardice" in response to the DOT's decision to remove Christmas and Hanukkah decorations from the Staten Island ferry terminals. "It’s out of some warped sense of political correctness that the people in charge of places that attract a lot of traffic…seem to live in abject terror of offending a handful of cranks." Who's worse: litigious cranks or cranks on an editorial board? more ›

While we never expected that our efforts to showcase the awesomeness of Staten Island would seep through the stubborn skulls of New Yorkers overnight, it appears that we underestimated the city's prejudice. According to yet another super scientific dating website survey, only 8 percent of 1,000 Match.com users from Manhattan, the Bronx and Queens are willing to cross the water to Staten Island for a date. But a story in the Staten Island Advance may hold the key to understanding why the borough is given so little respect: the people who live there don't like it either. more ›

The Staten Island Advance didn't even have to leave the parking lot to break news this morning, when staffers called police after finding some luggage left behind by a truck driver who dropped off coupons for the Sunday edition. Investigators say the man, identified through photocopies of a resident alien card and a North Carolina driver’s license, is not on a terrorist watch list, but what he left behind at the Advance office—after changing his clothes—is a bit peculiar. Besides semi-literate ramblings about "my thoughts on being a sincere Muslim as the war on terrorist," police found the following in his leather briefcase and black canvas suitcase: more ›

A few weeks ago, the Staten Island Advance ran a front page story about the borough's "most wanted" fugitives. Now, one of them has turned himself in—because his mug shot was on the front page. Travis Jones, accused of shooting "another man over the score of a basketball game in Rosebank" (a game Jones wasn't even playing in!) was arraigned on attempted murder and other charges after surrendering at Staten Island DA Daniel Donovan's office. more ›

After news broke that Staten Island priest Rev. William Blasingame was accused of stealing $80,000 from his parish to fund his plastic surgery, Botox injections, prescription drugs, club memberships, and clothes, other accounts of his apparently unpriestly behavior have emerged. The Staten Island Advance rolls with this punch, "Days before a Staten Island priest was charged with stealing from his church, he pressured an 88-year-old partially blind and deaf woman into returning his former dog, which she had come to depend upon." more ›

The Staten Island Advance has been following the turmoil brewing between a Wiccan family and their neighbors. more ›

Two white Staten Island cops were indicted today for an incident last Halloween in which they allegedly handcuffed a black egg-throwing teen and drove him to a dark, secluded marshland he was stranded (the handcuffs were taken off). Initially, the cops were also accused of stripping him down to his shorts and kicking him. more ›

When Staten Island Mall shoppers saw a mother beating her 3-year-old son Tuesday afternoon, some followed her to "make sure she didn't leave," reports the Staten Island Advance. Eventually, the police arrested 33-year-old Yesenia Hausler with felony assault and endangering the welfare of a child. more ›

A dwarf bowling tournament planned for Staten Island bar Big Nose Kate’s has been cancelled after an unidentified scold alerted the media to the event, which was to be hosted Saturday by d-list celebrity dwarf minstrel Beetlejuice (pictured), an occasional guest on the Howard Stern show. In dwarf bowling, players take turns rolling a dwarf (wearing protective gear) on a skateboard down makeshift bowling alleys toward small pins. In exchange for his dignity, the dwarf/bowling ball earns more than $100 an hour, according to Beetlejuice’s co-manager. more ›

Everything's coming up rosé on Staten Island: on the heels of the new aquarium unveiling in the ferry terminal, plans for the island’s first vineyard are coming into focus. Borough President James Molinaro (pictured, right) has pledged $2 million for the project, which will establish a 2 acre vineyard and demonstration winery at the Staten Island Botanical Garden. more ›

Almost five years after the horrifying incident where the Staten Island Ferry crashed into wooden pilings at a pier, the city will pay $6.5 million to a man who lost part of his right leg. Shriram Agni was on the front of the boat when the ferry crashed, and his right leg was "sandwiched between collapsing seats." more ›

A landmark Tottenville home that caused a bitter fight between its owner and neighbors has entered a new stage of its existence: foreclosure proceedings. The Staten Island Advance reports John Grossi, who bought the 1869 Bedell House in hopes of razing it to build townhouses, is happy to let the bank have the building, "I won't put another dime into the property." more ›

Well, this explains a lot: The Center for Disease Control and Protection says this year's flu shot is only good for 40% of the flu bugs going around. Thanks a lot, new strains of flu viruses that are kicking people's butts! more ›

Everyone wants the subway to be cheaper - some are just a little more desperate about it. Michael Garetano decided to get crafty and rubber cemented a student fare MetroCard magnetic strip to a regular Metrocard. more ›

Staten Island singer/songwriter Ingrid Michaelson found fame through the small screen before hitting airwaves nationwide. Last year one of her songs was featured in the season finale of Grey's Anatomy (video), only to be followed by another one of her songs being picked up for an Old Navy ad (video). Needless to say she went from getting write-ups in the Staten Island Advance, to getting them in the NY Times. more ›

Commemorative sweatshirts and hats haven't been so popular since... the Yankees won the World Series in 2000! All around the region, Giants Super Bowl XLII Champions clothing and doodads attracted long waits and some empty hands. more ›

Picture it: You're not feeling well, so you go to your doctor's office, where you're told you're having a heart attack. And just as you're on an ambulance gurney, the receptionist asks you for a $5 co-pay! This is what happened to 76-year-old Staten Island resident Barbara Antonelli last month. more ›

Rudy Giuliani's poor showing in the presidential campaign has plenty of people giving their opinions on why it all went wrong. more ›

A Staten Island man arrived at his Clifton home to find four teen boys having sex with his 11-year-old stepdaughter and her 13-year-old friend. The stepfather called the police upon finding the naked teens. The boys, ages 16 to 18, were charged with first- and third-degree rape, first-degree criminal sexual act and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. more ›

For the past few years, the French game and humor site called Uzinagaz.com has been featuring an online video game which challenges players to prevent jetliners from flying into the Twin Towers. As the game progresses, the planes arrive with increasing frequency and eventually each tower collapses in a plume of digital dust. The tagline for the game, called New York Defender, says "Go beyond your powerlessness and use your mouse to fight back." more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a person struck by a train at 14th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan, a shooting on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn, and a shooting on Houston St. in Manhattan.
• Yet another reason to celebrate: today is the 110th anniversary of Richmond County joining us as the 5th borough of NYC. The Staten Island Advance features a picture of a general store with a wooden Indian in front of it to remind readers what the county was like at the time.
• Queens Crap hands out its annual overdevelopment award. Crappy New Year Councilman John Liu!

A Grinch has crossed state lines! Some NJ residents didn't receive their deliveries when a New Springville resident swiped packages from doorsteps during the holiday season. more ›

A woman was robbed in her Staten Island home by a man clad in black on Monday morning but authorities do not think it's the Ninja Burglar. A police source told the Staten Island Advance, "There are burglaries committed every day and everybody is wearing black out there." more ›

On Friday, dozens of birds fell out of the sky and died on a street in the Great Kills section of Staten Island. Residents grew concerned as, the Staten Island Advance reported, birds "flopped and twitched...as they breathed their last" (video here). One resident said the birds were flying "as if they were drunk" before falling to the ground. more ›

If you thought noticed a group of bicyclists playing dead on 6th Avenue near 33rd Street, your eyes weren't fooling you. Time's Up led a Bike Lane Action to "dramatize the fatal last moments of David Smith’s ride up 6th Avenue." Smith was killed when a passenger in a truck, parked in the bike lane, opened a door; Smith was knocked off his bike and into the path of a truck. more ›

Gross! A former assistant principal at I.S. 72 in Staten Island is accused of asking a 12-year-old student for massages - and then trying to buy her and her mother's silence with promises of private school payment! Lawrence Siegel was put in a district office job - not his usual gig at Rocco Laurie Intermediate School - while the Department of Education investigated him after a DOE parent support coordinator, per the Staten Island Advance,... more ›

Earlier this year, the city's new noise code went into effect, and the city has definitely been enforcing it on Staten Island's Kinborn Street. The Department of Environmental Protection has fined Lucie Liebman $1,000 for a noisy ice truck jingle. The thing is, Liebman doesn't have an ice cream truck! A Lickety Split truck had parked outside Liebman's house and sounded its jingle. The DEP sent two summonses to Liebman, before dropping off the hefty... more ›

We've admired the Wee Ninja from Shawnimals ever since we were looking for a visual to go with posts about the Staten Island Ninja Burglar. Wee Ninja is actually not a criminal in Shawn Smith's Ninjatown - Wee Ninjas only train, harvest Stealth Wheart, and fight the Wee Devils (or something along those lines). And now it turns out that there's an event at My Plastic Heart on Forsyth Street this Friday, Keep it... more ›

As authorities investigate the murder of Fire Marshal Douglas Mercereau, found in his Staten Island home with three bullets in his head Sunday morning, his wife Janet Redmond-Mercereau as a suspect, though the police have declined to officially name anyone as a suspect. The couple had been having marriage problems - the Post describes her as being "estranged," though living in the same house. Redmond-Mercereau, a teacher at Tottenville High Scool, called 911 around 8:30AM,... more ›

A "rising star" in the Fire Department was found with three gunshot to the head in his Staten Island home Sunday morning. The ME's office said that Douglas J. Mercereau's death was a homicide. It's believed that his 38-year-old wife, Janet Redmond-Mercereau, is a suspect (the Daily News calls her the "prime suspect"). She called 911 around 8:25AM on Sunday, saying she found her husband's body. The Staten Island Advance says the couple had "started... more ›