In what seems to be separate incidents, NJ Transit and PATH commuters are facing a rough Thursday morning commute into the city. The NJ Transit issue is a downed wire just west of Newark Penn Station. Riders on the Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast Line, and Raritan Valley Lines have delays of at least 60 minutes. According to NJ Transit, Amtrak is working on fixing the problem but "commuters are encouraged to seek alternative transportation."......

With the winter weather causing more difficult driving conditions, last night a dump truck jumped a divider on Route 3/Meadowlands Parkway. Fifteen cars piled up behind it, causing hours of traffic issues. Twenty-eight people were injured, five were treated at hospitals, and one died. Route 3 was closed for 8 1/2 hours Sunday night until 6:30AM this morning, and residual delays are expected. Other accidents occurred in the icy conditions and a tow truck operator......

The family of late NYPD detective James Zadroga met with city medical examiner Dr. Charles Hirsch. Earlier this week, Hirsch determined that Zadroga, who spent 470 hours working rescue and recovery after the September 11 attacks, did not die from issues directly related to World Trade Center dust. Zadroga's family and the ME's office did not comment about the meeting, with the ME's office spokeswoman saying, "Dr. Hirsch gave his personal assurance to the family......

NJ Governor Jon Corzine told reporters that he will not use his e-mail anymore as NJ Republicans have filed a lawsuit demanding that Corzine's e-mails with ex-girlfriend and NJ union leader Carla Katz be made public. Corzine said, "We’ll go back to the 1920s, and have direct conversations with people." We'll guess his staff is also getting him books on Morse Code, smoke signals, and sending messages in bottles. Now that Corzine's getting healthy after......

Oh, the dangers of the interwebs. Recently crowned Miss New Jersey Amy Polumbo held a press conference yesterday to announce that she was being blackmailed into stepping down after someone sent packages of photographs where she's in possibly compromising positions to her and pageant officials. The pictures had once been posted on Facebook. Polumbo, who is a senior at Wagner College on Staten Island, said tearfully, "Being crowned Miss New Jersey was a dream come......

Given that news that Mayor Bloomberg had heart surgery before he was mayor was slipped into a Newsweek article, the Post suggests Mayor Mike was behind the leak. Strategists say that candidates rather have information out there in the open, versus than it coming out to bite candidate later. Republican strategist Dan Schnur told the Post, "This is the sort of thing Fred Thompson did" (Thompson announced his non-Hodgkin's lymphona - which is in emission......

NJ Governor Jon Corzine voluntarily paid the $46 fine for not buckling his seat belt in the crash that left him critically injured almost three weeks ago. Apparently state police superintendent Col. Joseph R. Fuentes was the one who issued the ticket, which included the fine and court costs. The spokesman for the state police told the Times, "It’s been a good amount of time since the superintendent issued a summons." Well, given that Fuentes......

The Big Apple Mystery of the Week: Why did NYC have bad CO (city odor) of natural gas with mercaptan yesterday? The malodorous bouquet freaked out people from all over Manhattan (even parts of Brooklyn) and parts of eastern New Jersey. The city's various agencies determined it was not a terrorist attack and that the odor was "not dangerous." So most of the blame fell to our neighbor, New Jersey. The city's Department of......

The New Jersey State Supreme Court ruled that same-sex same-sex civil unions are constituational, and therefore "must be afforded on equal terms the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples under the civil marriage statutes.” But the court said that the NJ government will decide whether it's "marriage," taking a stance similar to Vermont. The court's 4-3 ruling stated, "The issue is not about the transformation of the traditional definition of marriage, but about......

The big real estate news of the day is that the empty lot on the southeastern corner of West 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue - right near the movie theater on the south side of 42nd Street - will finally get developed. The NY TImes' coverage of the deal starts off with:A New Jersey developer plans to build a $1 billion office tower on the last parcel in the 13-acre Times Square redevelopment district,......

If it's a cold weather month, it must be time to ponder the ethical behavior of Bernard Kerik! The former police commissioner is being accused of accepting gifts from a family with mob ties. While Kerik didn't accept cash wrapped in a box and tied with a ribbon, apparently a construction company did $200,000 of renovations to his Bronx apartment for just $17,000. Man, if that's what you get when you're the head of NYC......

- The Morning News has a great interview with photographer Douglas Levere, as well as a gallery of his New York City photographs - A Queens man tried to kidnap a Queens woman yesterday; police do not think it is the same man who raped a 13 year-old - The NJ boy who ran away from home because he was afraid his parents would be angry over his poor report card was found under a......

The Nets haven't been this exciting ever, not even when they did make the finals. If it's not Brooklyn wanting/protesting them, it's the team's current performance. The NJ Nets fired Coach Byron Scott and put their assistant coach, Lawrence Frank, in as interim coach. Good to know the Nets have faith in someone who looks like he's 12, 14 tops. ESPN on some of Frank's challenges. A Q & A with Lawrence Frank. And vote......