Since the Mets' season is effectively over, pitcher Francisco Rodriguez headed to court today to surrender on charges of violating an order of protection for his girlfriend. See, a judge orders you not to contact your girlfriend after (allegedly) punching her dad, contact includes text messages like "Your parents are manipulating you like a marionette." more ›

What's up with the Yankees and text messaging? We always hear of A-Rod texting: checking in with manager Joe Girardi, flirting with Madonna, and even LOLing with Pete Rose. But apparently his infield neighbor and new all-time record holder for most hits in club history, Derek Jeter, loves getting down with some T9 as well. After Jeter broke the big record Friday night, reporters naturally checked in with his old manager, Joe Torre. When asked if he had phoned to congratulate his former rookie phenom, Torre said, "I didn't call him...I texted him. That's his favorite thing. I've got to get into that young stuff." Much like all of Jeter's other longtime acquaintances, Torre went on to shower him with praise in abundance. He said, "He's a special kid. The person he is, to me, means a great deal. That's really something to be proud of, the respect he has for the game and his teammates. He's a leader but not that 'rah, rah.'...He doesn't have the power I know that George (Steinbrenner) likes to refer to as a Yankee. ... Just the tenacity, the determination. He's not afraid to win." more ›

Continuing the "OMG, SRSLY" story of the Staten Island teen who fell into an open manhole while text messaging, 15-year-old Alexa Longueira has been speaking with the media about her ordeal. Apparently DEP workers left the the open manhole to retrieve some orange cones—and it took a little too long for them to return. She told WCBS 2, "It was just really gross and it was shocking and scary. Because of their careless mistake I got hurt... Regardless of whether I'm texting or not if there was a cone there I'm gong to see a big orange cone. I walk that sidewalk every day, I don't expect a big hole there." So, if there was a big orange, she TOTALLY would have seen it while texting, instead of the manhole, right? more ›

In the latest shocking exposé of raunchy teenage behavior on the the internet or cell phones, today's Daily News reports on the rising numbers of teens who use their phones to send scantily clad or nude photos, aka "sex messages," to one another. The new study says that 20% of teens take the photos and either text, e-mail or post them online. The numbers were equally high among both males and females. And while teenagers intend for their "sexting" to only be for the eyes of the recipient, would you believe that the study found that many of the boys tended to pass them around to friends? Bill Albert of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy said, "This to me is like a cyber tattoo." more ›

Officials at Stuyvesant High School told parents that they want to install metal detectors, but not because of concern that students are bringing weapons to school. The prestigious public high school simply wants to catch students who are breaking the Department of Education's ban on cellphones and are using them to text each other test answers. Principal Stanley Teitel said that the scanners would hopefully be installed during finals week in January. In the past, students at high schools that have metal detectors installed to combat them from bringing weapons in have griped about having their cell phones taken away, while students magnet schools like Stuyvesant can sneak them in unchallenged. more ›

In what has to be a new contender for the most contemporary crime story, a young man was arrested for making graffiti and three other charges after another rider on the N train in Astoria snapped shots of him on her cellphone scratching a window on the train and sending them into Crime Stoppers via text. The vandalism task force was able to connect the cellphone pics to 18-year-old Andrew Morello, who had previously been arrested this summer for tagging "Shelly" on a commercial vehicle in Queens. The NYPD delegated a Crime Stoppers line over the summer specifically for text messages and had previously arrested a driver whose license plate was captured after he hit a cyclist and left the scene of the accident. more ›

It's about time: The MTA will reportedly text and email customers about unexpected service problems starting this fall. Last August, wild weather brought the subway system--and the MTA's website--to a halt and left customers clueless, which prompted the MTA to look for text messaging and email alert providers. The MTA tells the Daily News riders will be able to choose which routes they want alerts for. Currently riders can subscribe to weekly service advisory notifications, but those are for scheduled service changes. more ›

After a Bronx building super confessed to killing his 14-year-old daughter over the weekend, some are wondering why he had partial custody of his daughter after other previous violent incidents. more ›