On The Square, by Ade in New York at flickr Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: shots fired by police at Blake and Vermont in Brooklyn, an escaped prisoner at East 112th St. and Madison Ave. in Manhattan, and a person under a train at Central Park West and 60th St. in Manhattan. Hassan Askari was invited to the State of the Union Address as the guest of Queens Congressman Rep. Joseph Crowley. Askari came......

Today we looked at Mayor Bloomberg's snacking habits. Was the banisher of trans-fat recently seen with an open bag of Cheez-Its on his desk? We'll likely never know (at least, not until his greasy fingerprint-laden desk set is back from the lab). While we await the results of the faux cheese traces, let's take a look at what some of our commenters had to say: WesTheYeTi calls out the loophole Bloomberg clearly created so he......

When we decided to check in on the status of the proposed bill to regulate New York’s exotic dancers, it was partially in the interest of pleasuring ourselves with some droll double entendres. But it seems you’ve got to get up pretty early in the morning to beat Daily News Bronx Borough Chief Bob Kappstatter to the pun: A bill that would license exotic dancers has been bumping and grinding its way ever so slowly......

After years of legal wrangling, the Appellate Court has backed the College of Staten Island and says that the CUNY school can deny official status to fraternity Chi Iota. But the battle may not be over, as the brothers want to fight this at the Supreme Court. Chi iota had applied for official status at CSI in an attempt to be the first Greek-letter organization on campus, but CSI denied their application, finding that the......

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a stabbing on Knickerbocker Ave. in Brooklyn, a shooting on East 166th St. and College Ave. in the Bronx, and a chain saw accident at Crystal Ave. and Wade St. on Staten Island Neighbors in Forest Hills, Queens banded together in order to save four black and white kittens, as the alley the animals called home flooded in this week's torrential downpour. The accompanying photo is priceless. While his......

After the Post went for the jugular with its "Stray-Rod" cover, the floodgates of gossip about the Yankees third baseman (and the leading vote-getter for the All-Star Game so far) have opened. The Daily News talks to some strippers and "strip club insiders" about A-Rod preferences. He allegedly followed one "well-toned, muscular" stripper named Monique from the VIP Club to the Hustler Club. However, another Hustler Club stripper says that Rodriguez would bring wife Cynthia......

Next for T&A: Albany style pork? We have to give Assemblyman Felix Ortiz props for thinking of creative ways to increase revenue, even if it's hilarious. The Post reports that the Brooklyn politician is proposing that strippers need to be licensed and have permits, or else they'll be fined as will any establishment that employees unlicensed strippers. The Post has details: In his bill sponsor memo, Ortiz said his proposal is meant to protect human-trafficking......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian was hit by a truck and killed in Chelsea and a bank robbery was foiled in Brooklyn Heights (more pix at Flickr). Most meta-muttonchop shot ever! Can't get enough? Fine, here's one more. A manager at the Park Slope Barnes & Nobles had a great idea for reducing crowding: banning strollers. What could go wrong? Dante's Inferno, Queens edition: "screeching elevated trains serving two lines roar overhead......

There's a rather wild NY Times article about how the Sunset Park strip club, Sweet Cherry, has managed to stay open, despite repeated attempts from the city to shut it down - it's like the Teflon Cherry. And these days, more and more strip clubs may have to shut down, due to proposed changes to the zoning law - the Times has a graphic of 21 strip clubs in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens,......

Apparently the Knicks have decided to embarrass themselves off the court for a change. GM Isiah Thomas has been accused of sexually harassing a female marketing executive who is no longer with the team. Anuche Browne Sanders claims that Thomas referred to her in a derogatory manner and made unwanted sexual advances on her. When she sought help from MSG President, Steve Mills, she was warned that Isiah would spread rumors about her. In addition,......

The man suspected of attacking a former coworker has been spotted in Cleveland. According to America's Most Wanted, Peter Braunstein traveled to Cleveland (NYC to Hoboken to Newark then a bus!) in early November, telling people he was a movie producer or writer from LA, visiting strip clubs, placing ads in the Cleveland Plain Dealer looking for a driver, and calling himself "Peter Bronson." Braunstein was spotted in Brooklyn in mid November, which is possible......

The Post ("BIZ BOOB BUSTS BANK FOR BABES") and the Daily News ($lap dance!) are having a good time at the expense of Robert McCormick, who apparently managed to blow through $241,000 in one drunken night of partying at Scores. McCormick, CEO of Savvis Communications and a 38-year old father of three kids, was in from Missouri and celebrating some business his company had just closed. Scores claims that after the tab hit $10,000, they......

Mick Stingley, Low-Rent Rock Critic...

The Javits Center is like the stepchild of the city's development projects: No one really cares - they want flashy architects or scary renderings of what a Jets stadium might look like. But now the Javits Development Corporation has selected an architect to design a new expansion, British architect Richard Rogers. Not only is he knighted, he designed the Centre Pompidou in Paris (with Renzo Piano) and the Millennium Dome in London, making Gothamist wonder......

Another look at the upscale strip clubs - no, make that "gentlemen's club" - populating Manhattan in the Times, which looks at the Penthouse Executive Club, Hustler, and Scores West Side. Some call Rudy Giuliani's efforts to clean up Times Square and rezone adult entertainment as the motivation for fancy clubs, although no one's denying that finding more outrageous ways to fleece happy men of their money with naked women and alcohol was hard. Besides......

With zoning pushing certain adult-entertainment establishments to the fringes of the city, the Daily News looks at the new crop of strip clubs opening on the West Side. west of 10th Avenue. Some worry that a new red-light district will emerge near the strip clubs; state Sen. Tom Duane says, "If a bunch of guys are in a strip club getting turned on, it's not like they're turned off the moment they walk out the......