drunkie the snowman, by brainware3000 at flickr Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an officer shot on Vandalia Ave & Ardlsey Loop in Brooklyn, a gas leak at Dongan Pl. off Broadway in Manhattan, and an aircraft emergency at JFK in Queens. The City's investigating whether its artificial turf fields are poisonous. The Brooklyn Paper finds Obama did get votes in many Brooklyn districts (here's the congressional district breakdown for all of NYC). Blogging by......

After a 16-year absence from the beauty pageant circuit, Miss Brooklyn returned this year -- which meant that maybe, just maybe, a Brooklynite would become Miss New York, or even Miss America. Of all the 17 to 24 year olds in Brooklyn, last week's pageant was only seven-strong, and the winner is causing a commotion in the borough. The Brooklyn Paper is reporting on the scandalous move of crowning a "queen who's not from Kings."......

The Miss Brooklyn Pageant is coming back to town this coming Saturday after a 16-year absence from the scene (and they've returned in the MySpace age). The winner of the night will advance to the Miss New York Pageant, having a shot at becoming Miss America herself. Kim Thomas, executive director of the Miss Brooklyn Scholarship Program, told The Brooklyn Paper that, “The face of Miss America has changed. We’re looking for someone outgoing and......

Map from The Brooklyn Paper The Brooklyn Paper has an interesting map showing how Brooklyn's donations to Clinton and Obama have changed over the past year. Gersh Kuntzman writes, "Just-released campaign finance filings that cover the second half of 2007 show that Obama made strong inroads into 'Hillary Country,' specifically turning Brooklyn Heights, Bay Ridge, Bushwick, Canarsie and Greenpoint from Hillary red to Barack blue." In total for Brooklyn, Obama has raised almost $600,000,......

On Friday, Gawker speculated that The Brooklyn Paper was in trouble after a tipster told them freelancers haven't been paid since last summer (a late freelancing check...unprecedented!) and perhaps more relevant, if true, that editor Gersh Kuntzman told staffers the "independent, family owned, locally-run" since 1978 paper is "undergoing some turmoil." We asked Kuntzman about the rumor, and here's what he had to say:"The Gawker story is a complete fabrication. The Brooklyn Paper, which just......

The Brooklyn Paper isn't the only one who has missed Woody Allen's "quirky, oh-so-New-York films." On the verge of releasing his latest movie, Cassandra's Dream (in theaters Friday), Allen talked to The Daily News about when he might bring his New York to celluloid again. Looking back at his original love letter to New York, we find out that at first he didn't like his 1979 movie Manhattan, thinking "If I can't do better than......

Their day in the sun ocean is just around the corner, but the Polar Bear Club of Coney Island may be in too deep with one donation they recently accepted. The Brooklyn Paper reports that in spite of the club "growling in the anti-Thor procession during the Mermaid Parade," the Polar Bears have "made peace" with Thor. Polar Bears president Lou Scarcella explained that when Thor took condos out of their plans for Coney Island......

Silver and gold are so last season, if you're a trendsetting criminal -- you know it's all about the copper these days. And where better to find it than in brownstone Brooklyn? The Brooklyn Paper reports:At least four heists of the once-cheap electrical conductor have been pulled off in Brownstone Brooklyn since June, and a few others were foiled when the cops caught the bad guys red-handed before they could make off with their ill-gotten......

Fort Greene’s Habana Outpost – the Brooklyn spin-off of Nolita’s popular Café Habana – bills itself as New York’s first “eco-eatery”. The indoor/outdoor flea market/café/artist community runs on solar power and rainwater-flushing toilets, uses biodegradable cups, and boasts a bike-powered blender to mix their smoothies and margaritas. Although the funky earth-friendly establishment shuts down during the winter months, they’ve left their clientele with a little parting gift to keep them warm until spring. Inspired by......

Riders hope that low grades for the G line will eventually lead to improvements, while plans are in place to make the G a more usable line. Despite being the two largest boroughs in New York City, there is only one train line dedicated to getting people from Brooklyn (2.5 million people) to Queens (2.3 million people). All other passages must make their way from one borough, through Manhattan (1.6 million people), and then on......

Kudos to The Real Deal for coaxing DUMBO-based designer Robert Scarano out of the shadows. One of the city's most reviled architects, Scarano has been scrutinized by Department of Buildings for his safety and zoning violations. Following a summer outcry, the agency issued stop-work orders on some Scarano sites. He's even being investigated by the NYS Department of Education, which oversees licensed architects, but there is currently no record of disciplinary action. Overseeing a whopping......

Hot on the heels of 6-year-old Natalie Shea being caught and fined for chalking up her sidewalk, a second chalker has been nabbed! This one, Ellis Gallagher, is older -- so his punishment was a bit more serious. Seriously! For chalk! The dusty, porous sedimentary rock that leaves markings which wash away in the rain. The Brooklyn Paper reports:The city’s crackdown on sidewalk chalk “vandals” is officially out of control! It was bad enough when......

Oh, no, is the city going to ban the purchase of Crayola Sidewalk Chalk? The Brooklyn Paper exposes the "new face of vandalism?": 6-year-old Natalie Shea, whose mother got a warning letter from the Department of Sanitation about the chalk drawings her daughter drew on their front stoop. The letter read, “PLEASE REMOVE THE GRAFFITI FROM YOUR PROPERTY. FAILURE TO COMPLY … MAY RESULT IN ENFORCEMENT ACTION AGAINST YOU.” In an article that almost......

The Brooklyn Paper has a sad tale of some Prospect Heights kittens. The ferals wandered into the back yard of the Pond family, who immediately fell in love, had them spayed/neutered, called them their own and named them Inky, Blinky, Mookie and Clyde.The Ponds grew so attached to their backyard kitties that they began treating them as if they were their own. They had the cats spayed and neutered. They fed them daily. When the......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a water rescue at Chambers and Water Sts. off Manhattan, an armed robbery on Rockaway Blvd. and 75th St. in Queens, and a shooting on Grafton St. in Brooklyn. LibrerDia Lectorum, one of the city's oldest Spanish language bookstores will be closing September 30th. The Manhattan store on 14th St. opened in 1960 and became a mainstay of Spanish literature in the city. A fire broke out yesterday afternoon......

Last month women were being attacked in Williamsburg, and now it's being reported the number of muggings have gone up significantly in the area as well (though muggings are not uncommon in the area). The Brooklyn Paper reports that the victims all seem to be...drunk hipsters (though they use the phrasing: slightly tipsy pub-crawlers and late-night subway commuters). Whatever you want to call these particular locals, Williamsburg's 90th Precinct officers say that this demographic is......

Did you hear about the new arts and music venue opening in Fort Greene? Well, chances are that all of the blood, sweat, tears and money (over $1M) that went into it may have been for nothing. Amber Art and Music Space was being built out of an old liquor store at Fulton Street and Ashland Place by three friends who are now being told they can no longer develop the space. At the end......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Sutter Ave. in Brooklyn, a water rescue off the Breezy Point Jetty in Queens, and a missing child on East 178th St. in the Bronx. Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum is upset that Coney Island native and Knicks star Stephon Marbury donated 3,000 pairs of his new Starbury basketball shoes to male high school basketball teams, while ignoring the female players. The Brooklyn Paper reports that the......

The NY Post reports on the ever-declining neighborhood of Red Hook today, with the area going through some changes that may make some suckers wonder why they just spent $800K on an apartment there. The Brooklyn Paper reported on the neighborhood last month as well, stating it "is in fact turning cold one year after New York’s gentrification guard branded it as The Next Big Thing." Of course, the "gentrification guard" had its eyes on......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a police-involved shooting at 149th St. and 3rd Ave. in the Bronx, an attempted sexual assault on 55th St. in Brooklyn, and a bank robbery on West 52nd St. between 7th and 8th Aves. Kenneth Eng, noted earlier this year for his controversial essay "Why I Hate Blacks", was arrested again by the Feds shortly after pleading guilty to harrassing his neighbors and threatening them with a hammer. The......

The Brooklyn Paper reports on an odd incident involving a bride in Park Slope. On Fourth Street (between Eighth Avenue and Prospect Park West) this past Sunday residents awoke to a woman in a wedding gown sleeping on a ledge of a brownstone. Police quickly arrived, but no one knew what to make of the mysterious woman...Cops carried the woman down from the ledge, and questioned her in Spanish and English. But witnesses said she......

After many false starts, Trader Joe's announced this week that the grocery store chain would be finally arriving in Brooklyn. The news was heralded by Brooklyn Beep Marty Markowitz, who was decked out in one of the store's highly visible Hawaiian print shirts and leading a steel drum band at Court St. and Atlantic Ave. The Brooklyn Paper reports that while the grocer will soon move into the landmark Independence Savings Bank building at Court......

The Brooklyn Paper is reporting on a local B&B with themed rooms in an 1860s Victorian mansion in Bed-Stuy. The Akwaaba Mansion, owned by Monique Greenwood and her husband Glenn Pogue, purchased the property in the mid 1990s and spent about $100,000 renovating it. The result is four suites decorated in African textiles and Victorian antiques. The MacDonough St. B&B also has a library, courtyard, garden and glass-enclosed porch. It even caters to fussy "salt-free,......

At around 11pm we got a text message from a friend at the Shepard Fairey opening in DUMBO, saying that the "Splasher got caught at the show tonight". So far the information we're hearing is that two guys attempted to set off a stink bomb at the show, but were stopped by security. It remains to be seen if the stink-bombers are the same guys who set off a stink bomb at the Faile......

Hold on, hold on. After yesterday's reports that City Councilman Domenic Recchia was working on a deal to keep Coney Island's Astroland amusement park in place for the 2008 season, it turns out that the negotiations may have hit a snag. AM New York reports that Astroland has not received a lease extension. Owner Carol Albert said, "Of course, if Thor Equities wishes to provide a lease, under reasonable terms, Astroland would be very......

Bruni puts in his two cents about the latest crop of contestants on Top Chef. Season three premiered earlier this week, and Frank has already highlighted some of his favorites, including CJ ("I've got a false testicle and I'm ready to cook." If only for that quote alone), Hung, and Lia. In a Times Op-Ed, The Zagats tout the idea of a culinary visa program to open up America's tastebuds to something beyond the lackluster......

Megan Montgomery was, apparently, the city's first personal chef for dogs (though were sure there are more than enough now). Preparing her meals in Downtown Brooklyn and using her dogs as guinea pigs, she's brought Dean & Deluca-esque dining to the doghouse. Her company is called Zen Chien Personal Chef Service for Dogs, and her menu choices sound like "people food": Mediterranean ground lamb, with whole wheat couscous, blueberries and fresh-grated squash; beefy macaroni with......

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! The Brooklyn Paper makes an examples......

- "The first rule of Milk Club is you don’t talk about Milk Club. The second rule of Milk Club is you do not talk about Milk Club." The Brooklyn Paper explores the raw milk movement in Brooklyn. - On his blog, Bruni illustrates how even the big time muckity-mucks can't get a reservation at "hot" restaurants without some investigation into how big time they actually are. - Tables for Two visits Rosanjin and explores......

Are F train riders finding the subway a little crowded these days? Maybe it's because the trains aren't coming as frequently as they should be. The Brooklyn Papers found that the F train wasn't close to its rush-hour frequency of trains every 4-6 minutes, but an average of 7-8 minutes apart in their sampling. While that may sound minor, think about how many people stream down the subway stairs every moment - a train......