The art world is breathing a sigh of relief today as the announcement of The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation's director stepping down was announced. For many, Thomas Krens has been more of a dictator than director; with a focus on franchising a "McGuggenheim" business over exhibiting modern art or focusing on the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building itself.The Guggenheim flagship -- one of New York's top tourist attractions -- was falling apart. (Its crumbling facade is......

Last year, the Toledo Museum lent the Guggenheim Museum the Goya painting "Children with a Cart" for the Guggenheim's Spanish painting show. But on the way to New York, the painting disappeared near Scranton, PA. The painting was eventually found, but now the FBI has arrested the tipster who brought the painting to them! Last November, a professional art transporter left the painting in the truck overnight while staying at a motel. The painting was......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on 155th Ave. and 79th St. in Queens, a bank robbery at the Chase branch on De Kalb and Bedford Ave. in Brooklyn, and a pedestrian struck at Hunts Point and Lafayette Aves. in the Bronx. The Guggenheim sent out a postcard inviting people to a seminar about Andy Warhol. The message on the reverse side is expletive-laced and describes Warhol and his fans in derogatory terms......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Beekman Ave. in the Bronx, a double shooting on Throop Ave. in Brooklyn, and a dead body in the water just south of the Bayonne Bridge off Staten Island. There was a breaking news story on a cop being shot and killed this morning at or near a Hilton Hotel on 31st St. in Manhattan. Details were conflicting and confusing (not unusual in a breaking news......

You may have noticed that the Guggenheim Museum has been shrouded in mesh netting lately, and it makes sense the museum would be undergoing some facade/maintenance work. The NY Times, though, has this amazing graphic showing the cracks in the museum's walls. The Guggenheim explains the restoration online (and with podcast- MP3) and also has an exhibit about "Restoring a Masterpiece." Don't worry, though - the Times reports the structure is "structurally sound." And......

Remember how last November, a Goya painting en route to the Guggenheim's Spanish Painting from El Greco to Picasso show was stolen? The painting, which belongs to the Toledo Museum of Art, was pilfered near Scranton, Pennsylvania outside the Howard Johnson the drivers were staying. There were concerns that the painting was nicked in an inside job, but luckily it was found in New Jersey, with the FBI calling it a "typical New Jersey......

The wonderful Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanic Garden opens this Saturday, and Gothamist urges anyone with a passing interest in NYC architecture to head up to the Bronx to see it. We went last year, and it was absolutely magical: The Guggenheim made out of huge mushrooms! The Brooklyn Bridge carefully constructed from twigs - with trains zipping on it! The lions outside of the New York Public Library! The NY......

- Hey, wacky junkie Jewels, last seen on the ground in the NY Times, talks to the Village Voice! - A small group of fans rallied in Queens as Jets President Jay Cross met with varius Queens politicos - people will take any reason to tailgate on a work day - The police bust a crack den across the street from the 92nd Street Y; and tomorrow, there's a 2PM program of Better than the......