After making parents insane from the admissions process, it seems that more and more private schools are then putting the screws to parents by asking them how much they'll donate. And don't think $200 or even $1,000 will cut it: The NY Times begins its story by describing how one woman, whose three-year-old son was at a $21,000/year private school, was approached:

[Rachael Combe] received an invitation from the head of the school to come by for a visit. She assumed the meeting was to discuss how her son was adapting to the school’s curriculum. more ›

Earlier this week, a pipe bomb was found in the driveway outside a Montclair, NJ home, and the street's homes were evacuated because, as the NY Times reports, "It turned out to be a foot-long, two-inch-diameter pipe packed with enough explosive powder and nuts and bolts to hurt and possibly kill someone." And a few months ago, a Montclair couple was arrested, accused by the feds of being Russian spies! What is going on with Park Slope West (or UWSNJ)?! more ›

People move to the suburbs because of the schools and the back yards and the "safety"—and besides, when they did live in the city, they spent every night snuggling on the couch with Netflix anyway. Towns like Greenburgh (right by Dobbs Ferry, and... Irvington) are just a short Metro North ride away, and you can always make plans to come into town to meet old friends for dinner and then cancel at the last minute. But don't be fooled! The suburbs aren't as safe as your traitorous married friends claim: Last year there was a panther roaming the Hudson town of Sneden's Landing (still at large!) and yesterday a coyote attacked a 56-year-old Greenburgh woman, who is now hospitalized in stable condition. Later—just to make sure everybody got the message—the coyote bit a pit bull. It wouldn't dare pull this shit in Carroll Gardens. more ›

Are the NYPD stepping on the toes of MTA officers? The NY Post reports that the NYPD has started sending some of their officers to police commuter trains as part of their anti-terror efforts — a move that has upset the MTA. more ›

This weekend, the NY Times detailed how a couple moved from their Brooklyn home in 2006 (making a big profit in the sale) to NJ when they adopted a baby from China... only to move back to Brooklyn this year when they realized as nice as NJ was, it still has high real estate taxes (which might be worth it if they had more than one kid) and everyone drives. Finola Keyes found their new home, a beautiful 5-bedroom Victorian in Prospect Park South on Brownstoner, over the summer and by September, they were back. They are even okay with the loss on their NJ home, given the markets; Keyes said, “In some ways it felt we lucked into this house, but I spent months stalking real estate Web sites. There was a lot of legwork and a lot of emotional energy.” more ›

The Atlantic is asking if today's McMansions are tomorrow's tenements in an article titled The Next Slum. It seems suburban developments nationwide are seeing the same problems the city streets are: druggies, homeless, grafitti, gang activity, broken windows, stray bullets, and even in Pleasantville copper wire is a commodity. more ›

In Following the Equator, Mark Twain wrote:

“In America the ice-storm is an event. And it is not an event which one is careless about. When it comes, the news flies from room to room in the house, there are bangings on the doors, and shoutings, ‘The ice-storm! the ice-storm!’ and even the laziest sleepers throw off the covers and join the rush for the windows.”

In spite of the reports, hypes and fears, there actually wasn't much snowfall in the city yesterday - just about an inch - though we did see some sleet that quickly melted. The suburbs got a few inches of snow, while much of the accumulation was in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. more ›

The way the local news was hyping today's storm (especially with their nifty, paranoid graphics!), we expected to see a few inches of snow by the time we woke up. But, no, the snow is expected to come around later this morning (the snow and sleet will make a NYC appearance around 11AM or 1PM, according to WABC). Even so, there are many school closings in the suburbs as local government and anyone else out... more ›

A couple of real estate agents are seriously deluded and declaring Montclair, NJ as "Park Slope West" (something The NY Times covered two years ago). They stand by their claim and the town's "urban-suburban setting" which boasts a theater, a museum, shops and even a "great commute". Suckers Prospective buyers are brought to the suburbs in a limo, and are wined and dined at the “Park Slope-style” restaurant, Raymond’s. Recently a curious Brooklynite and a... more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water rescue at Atlantic Beach Bridge in Queens, a fall victim onto the train tracks at West 42nd St. and 9th Ave. in Manhattan, and a car in the water on Bay and Edgewater Sts. in Staten Island.
• He didn't have to be shot in the back with a shotgun! Dick Cheney's heart problems continue. Seriously though, best wishes.
• Gov. Elliot Spitzer is going to be sequestered in a Brooklyn Marriott this weekend to hear it from fellow Democratic lawmakers. He'll eventually issue a mea culpa for resembling the party's mascot too closely and the Democrats will try to move on from there.
• "Wii. We need a Wii and world peace, but I'll take a Wii," said Mxxxxxxx Fxxxxx, 43, of Staten Island as she and her two daughters scoured Times Square stores for the red-hot Nintendo video-game console."
• Yep, immigrants are a drag on the economy: "In the suburbs north and east of the city, about 4 of every 10 doctors and more than one-fourth of college professors were foreign-born."
• "SELF" Magazine rated Long Island the second-healthiest region in the country. New York women ranked 8th in the 2nd annual ranking.
• Things to bring to a party: cake, wine, and not a knife to stick in your host's neck. The latter was the choice of one party guest, who surprised her friend with a sharp knife and a quick death.
• Brooke Astor's son Anthony and his attorney have been asked to surrender themselves on criminal charges.

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Art in the Twenty-First Century (Sunday, 10:00 p.m., WNET 13) Four artists - Robert Adams, Mark Dion , Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle Ursula von Rydingsvard – who explore the intersection between nature and culture. Billy Crystal: The Mark Twain Prize (Monday & Thursday, 9:00 p.m., WNET 13; Saturday, 7:30 p.m. WLIW 21) Billy Crystal receives the tenth annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center in... more ›

With the stock of affordable housing in New York City shrinking, and requirements that some city workers reside within the five boroughs and nearby suburbs, some unions are entering the real estate market to directly provide or subsidize housing for their members. The firefighters union recently announced that it was considering using some of its $7.2 billion pension fund to invest in real estate that would be used to provide affordable housing for New York's Bravest and their families. According to NY1, the union hasn't determined whether it would sell or rent to its members, but any development is still years in the future. more ›

About 14% of new police recruits have dropped out of the latest Police Academy class of over 1,000 recruits, and some are worried that the city's crimefighting programs will be hurt. Notably, "Operation Impact," which Police Commissioner Ray Kelly credit withs helping decrease crime by 25-30% by concentrating cops in those "impact areas" may be without more police officers. Kelly blames the attrition partly on the low starting salary of $25,100. more ›

Over an inch of rain fell on Central Park yesterday. That was our first rainfall in three weeks. Except for a slight chance of rain on Saturday it looks like there will be another week of dry weather ahead of us. more ›

The New York Times describes a trend towards families with multiple children and a lot of money opting out of moving to large houses in the suburbs like Westchester. Instead, they are buying multiple adjacent residences in Manhattan highrises and shaping their own 4,000 to 8,500 square foot homes in the city. The Times dubs them Mansions in the Sky. The floorplan above is the "after" portion from the Times graphic of a man who combined five apartments and a studio into one very large four-bedroom home. more ›

On the national level, sales of existing homes slowed by 17 percent in the second quarter of 2007, compared with the second quarter of 2006, while inventory swelled by 16 percent, according to figures provided by the National Association of Realtors. New homes fared even worse: they fell by almost 19 percent, according to Commerce Department figures. more ›

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a picture displaying the woes of cruising in a tacky limo on the streets of San Francisco. more ›

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(directed by Danièle Thompson) more ›

Banner week for SFist as the site's new editor introduced himself -- hooray for Brock! While the NY Times weighed in on SF's mayoral race, only SFist had the hard-hitting latest on candidate/activist Josh Wolf. Coverage of a protest vs. gentrification spawned a fantastic debate amongst SFist's readers. Finally, from the sublime to the ridiculous: video of a man that confused a Board of Supes meeting with "open mic night" and sang a custom version of Madonna's "Borderline" to a much-beleaguered board member. more ›

Blender has a list of 100 Days That Changed Music, and not surprisingly a good amount of them took place in New York. Here are a few, see any missing? more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on 101st Ave. in Queens, a boat in distress at the Gateway Marina off Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn, and an "unusual occurrence" on Wall St. in Manhattan.
• Brownstoner notes the arduous bureaucratic effort to get DUMBO landmarked, and developers' rush to build before that can happen.
• The NYPD is initiating TOMS––Total Order Maintenance Sweeps––aboard Metro-North and LIRR trains to deter terrorists commuting from the suburbs, after examining the methods employed in places like Spain and London.
• A 17-year-old kid was shot once in the head and once in the chest in an East Harlem KFC last night. He was declared dead at the hospital.
• A short film showing the anonymous street artist known as Banksy installing his own works inside the Metropolitan Museum, along with identifying placards.
• An upstate teenager from Brewster would've been working double duty with his fake ID if he had one, because the 15-year-old was arrested for driving while intoxicated, and driving.
• Ironically, the itinerant Madison Square Garden that destroyed Penn Station (the good one), could wind up ruining the proposed Moynihan Station at the Farley Post Office building as well.
• Republicans hope to regain an Upper East Side seat, once held by liberal Republican and former Mayor John Lindsay but since surrendered to Democrats, in a special election tomorrow.

Earlier this week, a man on Staten Island attempted to kidnap a second child in two weeks, sending police on a manhunt to find him. A Hispanic man, bald, around 40 to 50 years old and driving a white car, tried to use candy to lure a 10-year-old boy into his car on May 16 outside a Duane Reade; the boy ran home and told his parents. Then on Tuesday, he tried to grab a 14-year-old girl walking home from school, near Clove Road and Forest Avenue. She managed to get away, and helped the police develop a sketch of the would-be kidnapper. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Hillside Ave. in Queens, commercial robbery on 16th St. in Brooklyn, and a bomb threat on 70th St. and 2nd Ave. in Manhattan.
• We hope some Brooklynites' leases are ironclad, because getting tatooed with an image of your building is the new fashion.
• Mayor Bloomberg conjures the ghost of Teddy Roosevelt and the Bull Moose Party by suggesting the likeliehood of a third party candidacy for President.
• Students are sick after partaking in free samples of a milk-beverage product.
• Toll Brothers wants the Jehovah's Witnesses' Brooklyn waterfront property and we can only pray that the buildings will have ludicrous Splendido-ish names
• 7 line trains are set to run on a near-constant basis while the Yankees visit Shea Stadium..
• The federal government is paying a large sum of money every month to house homeless people and criminals in a building once owned by Vincent Astor on 45th St.
• Wild accusations and recriminations are flying not in the pages of the New York Post, but about it, and The New York Times observes; plus, many more pages of fun at The Smoking Gun
• Brooklyn is now officially the new suburbs as dangerous art is removed from a show in an effort to be "careful" and not offend sponsors.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: falling debris this afternoon on West 46th St. and 8th Ave. in Manhattan, an unstable building on Troutman St. in Brooklyn, and a dead body in the water off Manhattan's Battery.
• Reasoning it's not far and not hard to reach by water, Mayor Bloomberg thinks commuters will be happy to hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach on a ferry service from downtown Manhattan.
• A report from the Times Square Alliance claims that the area around the "crossroads of the world" contributes $55 billion annually to the city's economy and points out that this is more than the entire national economies of Panama and Bolivia combined.
• Not to be outdone by bored kids stuck in the suburbs with nothing better to do, more and more overstimulated city kids are reporting that what they like to do on the weekend is get "very drunk."
• Streetsblog went on a bike tour of the proposed Brooklyn Greenway and there's a link to video footage of the ride.
• A coalition of parents, bat manufacturers, and national high school sports associations are filing a class action suit to prevent the City Council's metal bat ban from going into effect this September.
• Advice to aspiring tv reporters, or current ones for that matter: when Busta Rhymes is being ushered into a courthouse for a hearing, do not whack him in the face with your microphone (with video).
• The New Yorker talks to the graffiti artist known as Banksy, who reveals that it's difficult to remain anonymous when Brad Pitt name drops you to the press.

Just when you thought that you might have put some distance between you and your folks, the Brooklyn Paper stirs things up with "the invasion of the suburban grandparents!" Now it makes total sense why developers are selling condos and buildings in up-and-coming neighborhoods at crazy prices: Not only will parents buy apartments for their kids, heck, they might leave their homes and move to the Big Apple too! more ›

Why did you decide to write about your formative years in New Jersey? Are you trying to provide inspiration to other young New Jerseyans? Or did NJ inspire you so much that you had to pay it forward? Wait, maybe that's the same thing. The decision to write about my formative years wasn't really anything calculated. I had been writing these short essays about growing up for a long time, mostly because I thought the stuff that happened was so funny - in a 'you can't make this shit up' kind of way. I never really thought to connect them, though I did think maybe there was a movie in there. But whenever I would tell people about my family - in a casual kind of way - they were always amazed, or fascinated, or frightened. So one day I thought that if I could find an emotional connecting tissue to hang the stories on, I'd have a book. more ›

The Nor'easter that drenched - and flooded - the Northeast with inches of rain has headed out. Many homes in the area were flooded and pummeled by winds; the NY Times adds that though the storm is gone, rivers are "still rising, swollen by the runoff of record rains." Residents in some suburbs were evacuated and thousands of people are without power: NY Governor Spitzer noted the devastation, while acting NJ Governor Richard Codey said that NJ "continues to operate under a state of emergency." Damages are expected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. more ›