There must be a lot of pot farms sprinkled nearby New York! In the same month as police found a Staten Island grow house with 376 plants and a New Jersey man with 58 plants, the NYPD and the DEA have busted a pot farm spread in and around seven houses in Wurtsboro with roughly 8,000 marijuana plants. According to police, the crop is worth about $8 million on the street. Good thing we're the pot arrest capital of the world, eh? more ›

The exhaustive search for the body of Laura Garza, the Brooklyn woman who went missing after leaving a Chelsea nightclub with a sex offender, has officially been called off. A fire coordinator told the Times Herald-Record, "This is the last day. We've pretty much exhausted the search crews." Many volunteer firefighters had been involved with the latest chapter of the search—in December, when Garza first disappeared, local state troopers saw their overtime go up 30%. Many of Garza's family members had come up from Texas and sworn that they will stay here until she is found. Recently, two of her brothers crossed paths with the parents of the man their sister was last seen with, Michael Mele, outside the jail where he is being held for probation violations. While no charges have been filed against him in the disappearance, police have said they still hope to go to trial, even if only with circumstantial evidence. One of he Garza brothers recently said of local authorities, “They’re not stopping and we don’t have words enough to say thank you to them." more ›

The second day of hunting season claimed one more life than anyone would have hoped for when a toddler was accidentally shot and killed inside her grandmother's trailer in Swan Lake. Edward Taibi of Howard Beach was arrested on charges of second-degree manslaughter after a stray bullet from his .300 Magnum rifle went through the trailer and struck sixteen-month-old Charly Skala in the chest. more ›

Three-year-old boy who disappeared from a Catskills campground on Saturday was found a day later. Daniel Niktalov, who lives in Forest Hills with his family but had been camping at the Swing Bridge Campground in Sullivan County, was found less than a mile away after "rescuers from three states" were involved with search efforts. more ›

The hunting season only started on Saturday, but one New Yorker is already in a lot of trouble after some pretty stupid moves. Rosebank resident Alfons Ndokaj was charged with unlawfully hunting a bear cub amongst a number of other violations. more ›

Borscht Belts were so last year! On an otherwise quiet President's Day, Governor Spitzer announced that he was authorizing the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe to build a casino in the Catskills. The tribe has been planning a casino in Monticello in Sullivan County for many years and the Mohawks agreed to "comply with applicable tax, labor, and health laws (so, things like cigarettes, alcohol and gasoline would be taxed). The deal would give NY State up to 25% of the casino's revenue from 3,500 slot machines, which the NY Times puts at "more than $100 million a year." The Post spins a bigger number: revenue of $4 billion over 25 years. more ›

Aw, the Daily News has a feature on - and photograph of - a tabby cat who survived last month's Greenpoint warehouse fire. Smokey, a male cat who suffered "burns and lost the tips of his ears and whiskers," is currently at BARC Shelter in Williamsburg. He was found by a volunteer in her Noble Street backyard in mid-May, and BARC's vet Dr. Elaine Felton says, "He looked worse than he really was. He looked terrible." Smokey looks so sweet - we hope he finds a loving owner to take him home. More: You can see how far Smokey has progressed, as BARC's blog had photos of the kitty on May 22 and May 25 (warning - it's heartbreaking because he looks bad, but it's great to see him looking good now). more ›