Given how cold it is, this story is amazing: A teen who had been skateboarding with friends in Elmhurst last night heard some crying and found a a newborn baby girl wrapped in a blanket, inside a brown paper bag, at the top of a dumpster. The temperature was below freezing. more ›

An argument escalated into arson and then a murder-suicide, all in front of a small child, in Borough Park early yesterday morning. After setting their apartment on fire, police say that Christopher Flynn shot his girlfriend Christina Scarabaggio and then turned the gun on himself. Scarabaggio's 4-year-old daughter Bianca Perez was found crying over her mother's body outside. more ›

With the economy acting as though it's on a roller coaster given concerns about credit and mortgage markets, NYC real estate brokers are feeling the pains. Some potential buyers who would have qualified before issues with the mortgage markets now find themselves struggling to get the loans they need and being asked to put more of their money down. However, we will say it's hard to be sympathetic to someone looking for a $3.3 million mortgage or someone who makes $500,000/year failing to get an $850,000 mortgage, which were two examples in the NY Times. more ›

Former Yankees shortstop and long-time announcer for the team Phil Rizzuto died this morning at the age of 89. Rizzuto played his entire professional baseball career with the New York Yankees after being selected by the team as an amateur free agent in 1937. He wouldn't play his first major league game with the Yanks until 1941, but then served as shortstop for 13 seasons, during which the Bronx Bombers won 10 Pennants and 8 World Series Championships. more ›

What do we make of the fact that the NY Times book critic Michiko Kakutani purchased a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at a NYC bookstore yesterday and was able to sift through its 1.8 pounds to write a review in today's paper? There are no true spoilers, just confirmation that there is a fitting ending (but if you are worried about spoilers of any kind, don't read the blockquote):

J. K. Rowling’s monumental, spellbinding epic, 10 years in the making, is deeply rooted in traditional literature and Hollywood sagas — from the Greek myths to Dickens and Tolkien to “Star Wars.” And true to its roots, it ends not with modernist, “Soprano”-esque equivocation, but with good old-fashioned closure: a big-screen, heart-racing, bone-chilling confrontation and an epilogue that clearly lays out people’s fates.

There's a fascinating obituary in the NY Times today for Harvey J. Weinstein (no relation to the movie producer). Weinstein died on May 13 at age 82 in Manhattan, and while he was once the head of the biggest tuxedo manufacturer, he gained a different kind of notoriety when he was kidnapped in 1993 by a man who worked at one of Weinstein's companies as a collar maker. more ›

When the Fire Department responded to a two-alarm fire around 1:30AM yesterday in Bedford-Stuyvesant, they discovered that a 31-year-old woman and her 4-year-old daughter. And the woman, Wanette Douglas, had been strangled and stabbed 17 times. more ›

If you tuned into WNBC last night at 10 p.m. you may have discovered that NBC’s The Black Donnellys has been canceled and in its place the supposedly funny Thank God You're Here. We loved the gritty drama and the fact that it was filmed on location in the city. As sort of the booby prize, we are getting the rest of the series online, but still that doesn’t really satisfy. more ›

Battlestar Galactica Marathon (Sunday, 6:00 p.m., WPXN 31) Five episodes of not the recent revival, but the camp Lorne Greene and Dirk Benedict show from 1978. more ›

Graffiti at 72 St. B/C downtown subway platform, NYC, 11 Jan 2007, by Carynsolly.
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A truly strange story unfolded yesterday after initial reports that a police officer had been shot at Sixth Avenue and Prospect Place in Brooklyn. It turns out that the husband of an NYPD officer shot at an unmarked police SUV carrying four cops. And the wife, police officer Jacqueline Melendez-Rivera, tried to cover up her husband's actions. more ›

- And will it rain tonight? Either way, have a great, safe time! more ›

The Beantown connection in Tuesday's and Wednesday's stabbing spree: A Boston judge allowed Kenny Alexis to be released of his own recognizance thought prosecutors wanted him held on $300 bail. From the NY Times:

The charges against Mr. Alexis in both of the Massachusetts cases were less severe than those he faces in New York. And in fairness to the judge, Mr. Alexis had shown up for two other court appearances, said David Procopio, a spokesman for Daniel F. Conley, the district attorney in Suffolk County, Mass. "He made two and missed two," Mr. Procopio said. more ›

On Sundays, Gothamist prints opinion pieces related to life in New York. If you want to submit one, email us! The opinions expressed below belong to the author, not to our site. more ›

- The NYPD is taking farebeating seriously: Two cops chased a turnstile jumper, only to have him take one officer's nightstick and hit him hard enough to crack his ribs; but they did manage to arrest him more ›

London will be the host city for the 2012 Olympics and millions of Parisians are muttering, "Zut alors!" and many NBC executives thinking, "Thank God, they speak the same language and the time difference isn't ") And above is Zaha Hadid's design for the Aquatic Center. more ›

Gotta love the slew of political news, both state- and city-wide that's trickling in. First up, it seems that Governor Pataki won't run for reelection. While you may be thinking, "Thank God," Pataki is actually eyeing national office. NY1 announced this news, but Pataki's office denied this. At this point, Pataki would be pummeled in reelection, because he's seriously sucked the past few years, so Gothamist feels the report has some weight - reelection would be embarrassing. more ›

More pet signs in Lost: Lost and Found Pet Posters From Around The World. And here's some information on how birds stay warm. But there is a drink called The Frozen Bird. This incident also reminds Gothamist of when kill the bird left us know about the found sock in Union Square.
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The Times Square Alliance has mucho information about New Year's in Times Square. Going to Times Square is not really Gothamist's cup of tea, but there are a lot of interesting things happening, like Kathy Griffin hopefully skewering celebrities, a wrap-up of the year's events by the Fox News Channel (ha!) and Lindsay Lohan performing for MTV - plus free confetti, balloons, pom-poms, glasses, etc. from the Alliance. It's also the 100th Anniversary of Times Square, so there's a special tribute between 11:05PM and 11:10PM. Here's the schedules of events. more ›

Buboo Kakati, Filmmaker more ›