Last month, a Queens kindergartener was handcuffed after a temper tantrum at PS 81, prompting his parents to threaten a lawsuit. Now a lawyer representing Dennis Rivera and his parents reveals they are filing a notice of claim against the city for $15 million. According to the notice, Rivera, who the Daily News reports as suffering from "speech problems, attention deficit disorder and asthma," suffered injuries to his wrists as well as psychological and emotional......

The Department of Correction has begun serving New York City’s 14,000 prisoners a healthier diet of fruit, fiber-rich cereals, skim milk and whole wheat bread. Sugar-sweetened beverages are forbidden, and soon unsweetened muffins will replace sweetened ones. Fried foods have been off the menu for years, and has city has drastically reduced the amount of red meat served, placing a greater emphasis on chicken, fish and tofu. “We have no choice but to eat what......

As the Stuyvesant community remains concerned over the health of two students and a coach who were seriously injured after a track team van crash, it now seems that the trip was not authorized by the school. The girls' junior varsity track team was headed to New Hampshire for the Dartmouth relays when their van hit a median and rolled over. Drivers passing by helped to hold the van so it would stop rolling......

Photograph of the Trump Soho this morning by Riccardo Sinti Work has been stopped at the Trump Soho construction site, the day after an accident caused one worker to fall 42 stories to his death. The FDNY says the workers had been filling wooden forms (one was a 20-foot-square section) with wet concrete when molds broke. Assistant Chief Thomas Galvin explained that the molds collapsed from the 42nd floor to the 40th, leaving a......

The architect who was in the construction site trailer crushed by 14,000 pounds of steel that fell 25 stories from a crane may never walk again. Doctors believe Robert Woo was likely paralyzed; his mother said, "He might not walk again...I've been telling him he's lucky to be alive." It is amazing Woo is alive - seeing photographs of the site, it's incredible he survived - but given the amount of construction and development......

Earlier this year, the city's new noise code went into effect, and the city has definitely been enforcing it on Staten Island's Kinborn Street. The Department of Environmental Protection has fined Lucie Liebman $1,000 for a noisy ice truck jingle. The thing is, Liebman doesn't have an ice cream truck! A Lickety Split truck had parked outside Liebman's house and sounded its jingle. The DEP sent two summonses to Liebman, before dropping off the hefty......

How windy is it today? So windy that windows are popping out of the rather new New York Times building at West 41st Street and 8th Avenue. What's the over-under on windows falling out of other new construction? The wind advisory is in effect until 7AM tomorrow. The Department of Buildings has asked "property owners, builders and contractors to secure all materials that could come loose due to the high winds, such as scaffolding......

A tour trying to turn left onto Broome Street from Bowery struck a 76-year-old woman yesterday morning. The bus, operated by Skyliner, was on its way to Atlantic City. The woman had been walking south on Bowery with her son when the bus hit her. Witnesses said the woman was hit hard by the bus, flying 15 feet. One witness told the Daily News, "I guess she wasn't paying attention." Maybe - but buses (one......

The Department of Housing Preservation and Development has compiled a list of the city's 200 most poorly maintained buildings and has told the owners they must be repaired in 4 months. Or else, the NY Times reports, the city will be able to overhaul them and force the owners to pay. On November 11, a Local Law No. 29, the Alternative Enforcement Program, went into affect to help the HPD to "enforce the correction of......

The Department of Education is charging a temp with stealing $50,000 in fake overtime. The tip off? When Tyrone Avila would claim he was working 85 hours a week - when he really supposed to work less than 40 hours a week. The Daily News reports that Avila had been temping as budget analyst for the DOE since 2001, but "he didn't start padding his time sheets until 2005 when his mother-in-law developed mental problems......

Governor Spitzer said that the NY State Department of Health's response regarding the Nassau County doctor exposed over 600 patients to hepatitis C and HIV was "unacceptably slow" and ordered an investigation. Dr. Harvey Finkelstein, an anesthesiologist, reused syringes and multiple-dose medicine vials between January 2000 and January 2005; some patients learned they had contracted hepatitis in 2005, but the state and Nassau County officials waited 34 months to contact other patients. It turns out......

Principal Tyona Washington of Canarsie High School opened up a piece of mail that contained a noose made out of string as well as a 2-page letter containing, per Newsday, "a common racial slur and words suggesting that a black person should not be running the school." The letter also referred to "white power" and had the signature of a white administrator, but police do not believe the letter was from that individual. Additionally, the......

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. Ndokaj shot and killed a 40-pound bear that was less than a year old in Sullivan County. The Department of Environmental Conservation was tipped off and later tracked Ndokaj at a Middletown taxidermist, where......

New York City is cracking down on the brazen theft of tons of goods that occurs right out in public, practically on a schedule. The Department of Sanitation noticed that the volume of recyclable paper it was collecting was down 2% from the previous year - and in parts of Manhattan's East Side, the decline in paper pick-ups was 25%. That prompted an investigation that found that out of state unlicensed haulers were sneaking into......

In the shadows of the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, residents of Greenpoint will soon be able to go on a nature walk. The Department of Environmental Protection, which operates the sewage plant, is officially opening the Newtown Creek Nature Walk this Saturday. The 800-foot nature walk along Newtown Creek, which took 9-years and $3.2 million to complete, is landscaped and features access points to the polluted creek. The Times even observed a school......

Yesterday morning, a dump truck and Toyota Camry going west on Atlantic Avenue had a deadly accident. The truck, which was filled with debris, jackknifed and overturned, crushing the Camry and its two passengers. Police suspect the Camry may have attempted to cut off the truck. The accident occurred at Atlantic Avenue near Washington Avenue, and a resident complained to the Post, "This intersection is insane. It's like they get the devil inside of them......

Yesterday morning, around 7AM, Queens resident Hope Miller was fatally hit by a truck turning right onto Houston Street from 6th Avenue. The driver, Roger Smiley, was fleeing the scene of an accident at Prince and 6th Avenue. Miller had been crossing Houston Street, near a construction site. 1010 WINS reported that the impact "knocked her out of her shoes." Smiley was arrested and charged with "leaving the scene of an accident, driving under the......

It wasn’t built on an old native burial ground, but two councilmen are up in arms over a Queens high school's location. The Department of Education failed to disclose that Information Technology High School in Long Island City, which opened in 2003, was built on the former location of the Gould Mercereau metal-plating warehouse – one apparently chock full of lead and petrochemicals. City Councilmen James Gennaro and Eric Gioia claim that the city exploited......

As Grub Street and others reported yesterday, a letter written last Thursday by Senator Chuck Schumer to Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Friedman may have prevented the forcible closure of the Red Hook Ball Field food vendors this past weekend. While this seems to be a small victory for the food purveyors, doubt remains whether the operating season for the newly food safety-certified vendors will end just after Labor Day, or at the end......

Those lucky Staten Island residents that take the Victory Boulevard bus route have scored a victory. Starting next month, 300 buses on the route will be outfitted with special transmitters that can turn traffic lights from red to green. The transmitters will send signals to receivers on a 2.3 mile stretch of Victory from Forest Ave to Bay St that includes 14 traffic lights. Transportation officials hope that the new system, which will start......

If you've ever tossed your junk mail into a sidewalk trash can, you better think again. The City Council is expected to approve a bill doubling fines for "illegal dumping" - and sanitation officials will be allowed to fine people if "identifying information" is found. So, if you dump a catalog and other junk into the trash, you could be be fined $100-300 for the first violation, $250-500 for the second violation, and $350-400 for......

A safety bar on Coney Island's Polar Express ride broke, causing a 15-year-old girl to be thrown from the ride. Lanique Watts was knocked unconscious (but regained consciousness by the time she got to the hospital), and one witness told the Daily News, "She fell out the car and just rolled down the hill. Everyone started panicking. It looked pretty bad. She was bleeding." She added that a worker had checked all the safety......

The Department of Transportation announced that Central Park's West Drive will be car free until 8AM starting on Monday, August 6. Per the DOT's press release, via Streetsblog: Beginning Monday, August 6th, the West Drive of Central Park between Lenox Avenue and the 7th Avenue Exit will be closed to motor vehicles for an additional hour (7-8am) during the morning peak period. Currently, the West Drive is open to motor vehicles between the hours......

Better make sure you've got your insect repellent ready: The Department of Health has found mosquitoes with West Nile virus in Flushing. No New York City residents have been been diagnosed with West Nile yet and Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden wants it to stay that way. He said, “West Nile virus has arrived in New York City, so protect yourself and your family. Wear insect repellent when you go outside and get rid of......

Hundreds of residents near West 97th Street and Columbus Avenue were evacuated when a retaining wall collapsed last night. The wall, at a three-block long construction site for the 808 Columbus Avenue development (which willinclude a big retail center with a Whole Foods), was next to 784 Columbus Avenue, which has 288 apartments. The "wooden" retaining wall fell, exposing 784's foundation. 784 Columbus Avenue's residents were taken to PS 163 as a temporary shelter; one......

That big empty cement pool in Greenpoint has become a landmark. The recently rejuvinated (but still dry) McCarren Park Pool was designated such by the Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday morning. McCarren was the 8th of 11 huge pools built by the Works Progress Administration, it was opened in 1936 with a dedication ceremony on July 31st of that year (making it the ripe old age of 71 in a few days). With an original capacity......

Mayor Bloomberg loves the arts and supports many arts and cultural institutions as a (billionaire) philanthropist. And yesterday, he made sure that NYC public school students get a chance to love the arts as well, by introducing ArtsCount, a way to make sure schools and their principals are offering arts programs "through accountability and quality improvement initiatives." Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said, "We demand results in math and English and now we are demanding the......

Who knew that some streets were off-limits to vehicles? The NY Sun takes us on a trip to East 91st Street between Second and Third Avenues, which was "zoned" as a "play" street and has been off-limits to vehicles since 1978. But now there's a fight brewing between residents and the city over the tranquility. The city wants to install a bike path on the street, to further expand biking options for New Yorkers. (The......

The city continued clean-up at the site of Wednesday's Midtown steam pipe explosion at East 41st and Lexington Avenue. Vanderbilt Avenue has been reopened, and Third Avenue was scheduled to be reopened today. Clean up of 42nd Street between Third and Park should be done by Monday, while clean up of Lexington between 42nd and 43rd should be done by the end of the weekend. Here's what the city said about the asbestos samples:The......

Ten people were indicted yesterday for taking part in a cash-for-grades scheme at Touro College. Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau explained that students - and even people who never even attended the school - would pay thousands of dollars to change their transcripts or to buy diplomas. The accused include a Touro admissions administrator, a Touro computer center head, and three city teachers who "bought" master's degrees. One concern of the Manhattan DA's office is whether......