• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: multiple auto fires at 51st Ave. and 11th St. in Queens, a fatal double shooting on Watkins St. in Brooklyn, and a fatality under a train at 47th St. and Queens Blvd. on the 7 line in Queens.
• A 12-year-old boy was arrested for throwing two plastic bottles filled with an unknown chemical at two women with toddlers at a Queens playground. The four victims were taken to hospitals for minor burn injuries.
• An 82-year-old woman died during a fire in her apartment, which firefighters said was in the "Collyers mansion" style, i.e., stacked floor to ceiling with clutter and junk.
• A short film that is ostensibly about a Coney Island boardwalk hustler, but the sights and sounds of Coney Island itself are the real focus.
• Five out of 12 restaurants visited by the NY Post were found to be using trans fat oil to cook their french fries, despite the recent ban. Only the Moonstruck Diner would fess up and admit it.
• NPR investigates the hidden bee hives of New York City.
• Tammy Faye Messner succumbed to cancer Friday night after a long battle with the disease. Her son now runs an unorthodox (in the non-ecclesiastical sense of the word) church in NYC.
• After fierce criticism the first time around, the Parks Dept. is showing its redesign plans for Washington Square a second time this Thursday (7/26) from 4 pm to 6 pm at City Hall.

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. more ›

When the son of famed televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jay Bakker, made the decision to be a “gay affirming” pastor, his life was almost ruined for the second time. Financial backers dropped him, he had to let go of some of his staff, and churches he was scheduled to speak at pulled out. more ›

Premiering tonight on the Sundance Channel is a six part reality series about a tattooed, pierced alterna-preacher Jay Bakker, called . As the only son of TV evangelical preachers Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jay had a pretty troubled childhood what with the scandals over Jim's illicit affair and accounting fraud, the Bakkers subsequent divorce and Jay's descent into substance abuse. However, now Jay has his life more on track with a marriage and a commitment to running his church, Revolution which holds its non-denominational services in a bar. The series follows Jay's attempts to reconnect with his estranged father, care for his mother who's battling cancer and move Revolution from Atlanta to Williamsburg, Brooklyn when his wife gets into grad school. more ›

THEATER: A new multimedia opera called Violet Fire centers on legendary inventor Nikola Tesla, who not only claimed over 700 patents but also inspired basically the most wicked band ever. Part of the BAM Next Wave Festival, the show conceptualizes the inner life of the man whose famous “waking hallucinations” led to great breakthroughs in electricity (alternating current, hydroelectric power), wireless broadcasting (radio transmission), robotics (remote control), and mind-blowing guitar riffs. (Ends Saturday!) - John Del Signore more ›

Whether you're celebrating Christmas or compiling Best of 2005 lists for your blog this weekend, if you're sticking around the city there will be plenty to do. And of course the subways are now back to take you where you need to go...it's a Chrismukkah miracle! more ›

In case somebody is reading Gothmamist at the hour on a Friday... more ›

[Ed. note: Gothamist got our favorite music blogger, Coolfer, to take a break from his copious music industry watching and give us the scoop on this weekend's shows that might be of interest. Without further ado, straight from Coolfer:] more ›