Two days after telling a TV reporter that he would reach out to the Latino community by maybe having some tacos, East Haven, Connecticut mayor Joe Maturo is still getting criticized. Yesterday, the Hartford Courant called for his resignation in an editorial, "The Mayor Is An Idiot," and today, the NY Times has an editorial, "An Outrage in East Haven," asking for the same. more ›

Yesterday, the Department of Justice charged four East Haven, Connecticut police officers with "conspiring to violate, and violating, the civil rights" of Latinos: Sergeant John Miller and Officers David Cari, Dennis Spaulding and Jason Zullo are accused of "conspir[ing] to injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate various members of the East Haven community in violation of their constitutional rights... In some cases, the victims were handcuffed with their hands behind their backs when officers assaulted them." And what was the East Haven mayor's reaction? It's time for some Mexican grub! more ›

Last night, not only were there riots at Penn State over the firing of legendary coach Joe Paterno, Twitter users took the time to shame celebrity Twitter fiend Ashton Kutcher. Last night, the "Two and a Half Men" star and college football fan Tweeted, "How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste"—which sent the Twitterverse into a frenzy. more ›

Texas Governor Rick Perry has admitted he's a terrible debater, but tonight he reached a new low (or high, depending on your political persuasion) during the 10th (!) Republican debate. Here, just watch it—we don't want to ruin it for you: more ›

Yesterday, the NY Post reported that the FAA redrew the boundaries of Laguardia Airport's "safety zone" to allow for a huge trash facility. And since birds love trash, there are concerns that it'll become bird strike central, a la Flight 1549 (more fodder for the Post's war on birds). Which is why Flight 1549 hero Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger has waded into the debate. And he thinks this is "terrible." more ›

A diabetic woman who was caught smoking pot in the Lower East Side has won a $125K settlement from the city because police refused to let her administer insulin after her blood sugar rose to dangerous levels in lockup. Cops at the Seventh Precinct confiscated 30 year-old Jaime Rutkowski's glucose meter and her insulin, and only called EMTs after her blood sugar rose higher than three times the normal level. "Any endocrinologist will confirm that this is enough for a Type-1 diabetic to go into shock, slip into a coma, and die," her attorney tells the Post. Rutkowski was treated at Bellevue for the October incident, and discharged from police custody. more ›

Time magazine's editor-at-large and political analyst Mark Halperin appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe, where he called President Obama a "dick." And now he feels bad! Halperin Tweeted, "I want to offer a heartfelt and profound apology to the President and the viewers of Morning Joe.My remark was not funny.I deeply regret it." Ahh, the lamestream media. more ›

A Brooklyn woman who was presumably starting to decorate the walls of her TGI Fridays stole a NYPD license plate off a squad car and stuffed it down her pants. The Post reports that 53-year-old Beryl Duncan stole the plate off a car near Prospect Park, where cops were sent to dissolve a large crowd. A witness told the responding officer what Duncan had done, and when confronted, she denied it. This sort of flirtation worked brilliantly in 5th grade, but the technique does not age well. more ›

The 24-year-old pilot who made an emergency landing at Rockaway Beach—in spite of not getting permission for the landing—and explained that he did so because it "happens in Alaska all the time"—is not City Councilman Peter Vallone's favorite person. The Queens lawmaker wrote to the FAA, "Mr. Maloney must face the strictest punishment. A pilot who abuses the privilege of flying, at a minimum, should have his licenses revoked." The Queens DA's office is also launching a criminal probe into Maloney's antics. more ›

It must have seemed like a marvelous idea for a group of friends looking for a way to make some extra money, but the police arrested eight people and are seeking a ninth for committing insurance fraud by staging a three-car crash in the Bronx last summer. The cops found surveillance video (watch it below) from W. 168th St. and Cromwell Ave. in High Bridge which showed a rather slow-moving crash. The Post says, "In one particularly memorable scene, one of the drivers actually backs up for a do-over." Practice makes perfect? more ›

Lesson: Guns are dangerous. According to the Post's NYPD Blotter, "A bonehead playing with a gun in a Jamaica home accidentally shot herself in the foot, sources said. Jennifer Carr, 22, allegedly fired the .25-caliber pistol in a pal's residence on 157th Street near 107th Avenue at about 1 a.m. Oct. 2." Carr, who went to the hospital after the shooting and was arrested a month later for weapons possession, allegedly said, "I saw [the gun] and picked it up because I was curious. It went off and hit my foot." This is almost as embarrassing as shooting yourself in the leg at a nightclub. more ›

Sigh. When will airline passengers with nicotine addictions realize that smoking on a plane causes problems? Yesterday, American Airlines Flight 117 from JFK Airport, bound for Los Angeles, was diverted to New Mexico allegedly because a passenger was smoking in a bathroom. more ›

Forget it, Jake, it's Albany. The NY Times reports, "No one knows for sure how big the state work force actually is," because "the state has not one but two public payrolls," one controlled by the governor for state agencies and another for employees of public authorities, like the MTA, SUNY and CUNY systems, and judiciary—all of which have increased its workforce as the state has reduced its payroll. Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester) wants the authorities to disclose what they doing, "The state borrows less and less and hires less and less, and state authorities borrow more and more and hire more and more," and referring to the infamous figure who helped create the public authority system, "I’m sure Robert Moses was a nice man, but these are Frankenstein monsters." more ›

Cops arrested two men yesterday suspected of shooting and killing a 24-year-old, chucking their guns in trash can in front of a police precinct, then reporting to police that they were the victims of a shooting. Officers at the 73 Precinct in Brownsville spotted the suspects ditching their firearms inside a garbage can before entering the station house on Thomas Boyland Street just after 6:15 pm. more ›

Betsy Perry has resigned from the city's Committee on Women's Issues after her ill-advised post on the Huffington Post last week. Perry, a marketing consultant who was appointed to the panel by Mayor Bloomberg, had written about Mexico's bad rap, "Between the guns, drugs, kidnappings and swine flu, this poor country can't catch a break and, maybe it shouldn't." CityRoom has Perry's statement, which reads: "Rather than become a distraction to Mayor Bloomberg, I think it best if I resign from the Women’s Commission. I have enjoyed the work and the many fine friends I made and continue to be a great fan of the mayor’s and the wonderful work he has done for our city." While Bloomberg had called her remarks "inappropriate," he didn't outright fire her from the unpaid position, prompting criticism from mayoral hopeful City Comptroller Bill Thompson, who writes on his Facebook page, "[The] Mayor should have acted more swiftly to remove Betsy Perry from the NYC Committee on Women's Issues after her insensitive remark." (Thompson also held a rally outside the Mexican consulate over the issue.) more ›

Betsy Perry is a marketing consultant, but her byline on the Huffington Post notes that she's a "New York Commissioner for Women's Issues, appointed by Mayor Bloomberg." Her post today, titled, "Montezuma's Revenge: Can The Best Thing About Mexico Really Be Beverly Hills Chihuahua?" opines, "Nowadays the best PR Mexico has is the movie 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua.' Between the guns, drugs, kidnappings and swine flu, this poor country can't catch a break and, maybe it shouldn't." Which was pretty poorly received by readers (one comment: "Wow. Really? Someone with such a lofty title actually wrote this?") and the mayor himself; City Room reports that Bloomberg said, "Inappropriate would be the word that came to mind... I don’t know what she was thinking about." Perry told CityRoom she was embarrassed, "That’s the way I write. I have a sense of humor that obviously wasn’t funny. I’m appalled at myself. I couldn’t possibly insult anybody... I’m sorry that in any way I reflected badly in this wonderful mayor. I hope that I am forgiven." Still, Perry couldn't quite explain why Beverly Hills Chihuahua was great for Mexico since the movie takes place in...California (where Beverly Hills is). more ›

Let's take the Air Force One flyover incident into yet another day! Fox News wanted to calculate the cost beyond the $328,835 it cost to fly the Boeing 747 and fighter jets on Monday, so it asked Mayor Bloomberg's office "how much the city had to spend to deal with the panic." Apparently NYC 911 got flyover-related 97 calls (about a 15% increase) in an hour while Jersey City said it received about 13 calls. more ›

The evildoers of the MillerCoors corporation announced today that they will "remove caffeine and three other ingredients from Sparks alcoholic energy drink" after some people thought it was targeting youthful imbibers. "A coalition of state attorneys general had complained the stimulants reduced drinkers' sense of intoxication and were marketed to young drinkers." The other ingredients being removed are taurine [i.e. bile], guarana and ginseng. NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said this measure "will ensure that from here on out, these drinks are kept off New York shelves and away from New York consumers." The remaining Sparks will be sold (stock up!) and the company will cease production by January 10th, when a new, less-stimulating formula is dispensed. So feared is the old Sparks that one temperance crusader at the Center for Science in the Public Interest even declared it "a devil's brew." Sinners! Pour out your Satanic Sparks and open your mouths to the cleansing waters of non-energizing drinks. Or just clean the bathtub and start concocting a homemade recipe to get you through. more ›

America's favorite past time is also apparently when fans like to drink and go crazy! more ›

Proving that there's a market for oversize shredders, a homeless man discovered two copies of blueprints for Freedom Tower, aka World Trade Center Tower One, in the trash at Sullivan and Houston Streets. The Post puts Mike Fleming (a "homeless, recovering drug addict") on the cover and questions the security lapse, pointing out, "It's a good thing Osama wasn't walking through SoHo yesterday morning." more ›

The middle-aged men who tried to steal the Yankees' opening day bunting from an upper deck agree their actions were "stupid" but hope the Yankees drop charges. more ›

Two Yankees fans were nabbed on Tuesday night after they tried to steal the stadium's opening day bunting. John Bunjaporte, 41, and Kevin O'Rourke, 39, were seen allegedly trying to remove screws from the upper deck decorations after the home opener. more ›

Yet another example of foot-in-mouth syndrome due to the hours of punditry on TV, followed by an apology and suspension! Yesterday, while referring to Chelsea Clinton's campaigning on behalf of her mother, MSNBC correspondent David Shuster commented, "Doesn't it seem as if Chelsea is sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?" Yes, he totally said that. Or, as the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz writes, "Using a prostitution metaphor for the daughter of a presidential candidate is a surefire way for a journalist to get into trouble." more ›

We're sure that one Long Island father thought to himself, "If I can't use my for a urine test, I'll use my child's urine..." when he decided to take his 9-year-old out of school. The problem is, Suffolk police officers happened to be passing by the deli where the 36-year-old father and son were and became suspicious when they saw "the child fixing his pants and watched as the father poured something from a coffee... more ›

Note to public servants: Your embarrassing MySpace pages will get the tabloid once-over if you do something totally stupid. Last week, police officers Thomas Eliassen and Michael Danese were arrested after they stranded a 14-year-old boy who had been egging cars at a remote swamp. Now Eliassen's MySpace page, where he proclaims, "LET'S DO LINES OFF A STRIPPERS A--!!!", is getting attention from the boy's lawyer. The boy, Rayshawn Moreno, claimed the officers also made... more ›