You'll only be getting babes, not booze, when you go to Scores West: The State Liquor Authority has taken away the strip club's liquor license after police found prostitution at the Chelsea joint (the Upper East Side location is not affected). An SLA administrative judge wrote that prostitution was "open and notorious such that the licensee knew or should have known of its occurrence." more ›

Today marks the third annual Informal Presentation on the Art of Dance, a dance event put on by the Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Dancing Through Barriers Ensemble. The two troupes converge each year in a most unconventional space: The State Supreme Court of Manhattan! more ›

After years of warnings, the city's Off Track Betting business may be out of luck as Mayor Bloomberg said the city may pull its funding and let the gambling business close. He told the OTB Board of Directors, "The City simply cannot take dollars away from schools and hospitals to pay for a gambling operation. We have no business subsidizing betting parlors at the expense of City taxpayers, particularly at a time when we're asking all agencies to cut their budgets." And what's more, the board agreed and approved the shutdown! more ›

Yesterday, the Post reported about a strange and disturbing road rage incident in Red Hook last week. A woman was ultimately repeatedly hit by the driver of a Land Rover. more ›

The City Council voted 40-3 to end the tax breaks Madison Square Garden has enjoyed since 1982. It's estimated that the city has lost almost $300 million in potential revenue in subsidies to the "World's Most Famous Arena." more ›

Crews are working to remove oil from Long Island shoreline that spilled into the ocean sometime on Thanksgiving Day and started washing ashore. Surfers called the Coast Guard to report "tar-like balls of oil." A number of agencies, including the Coast Guard and NY State DEP, are working on the cleanup. The spill seems to be about 500 gallons of no. 6 oil, an unrefined bunker oil, and Newsday reports the samples from the spill... more ›

The State Public Service Commission is fining Con Ed $18 million for failing to meet reliability standards during the nine-day Queens blackout last year. PSC Chairwoman Patricia Acampora said, "Hopefully, this order today will send a message to Con Ed that they must be diligent in their efforts to maintain a reliable network, or they will face financial consequences." As far as we're concerned, it seems like Con Ed got off easy. Especially when they... more ›

As more cases of staph infections are being reported (a Newark public school security guard has MRSA, leading the school to be disinfected), parents are growing increasingly concerned about how schools are responding to the epidemic. Yesterday, school officials held a meeting at IS 211 in Brooklyn, the school Omar Rivera Jr. attended before dying from MRSA two weeks ago, to explain how it is dealing with the potentially deadly disease. more ›

Rensselaer County Clerk Frank J. Merola is unhappy with Gov. Spitzer's plan to issue drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. As an employee of the State, he has no legal discretion over whether he can ignore the plan once it's enacted, so he's filed a lawsuit to block the initiative in state Supreme Court in Albany. In a statement explaining his lawsuit. County Clerk Frank Merola alluded to a recent public opinion poll that showed widespread opposition to Spitzer's plan licensing plan.

“New York residents have stated loudly and clearly that we are not in favor of giving license to illegal aliens and all we get from the Governor are lectures on how we are wrong, and that if we were as smart as he was, we would understand and support this policy. Well, 72% of New York residents, including myself and a vast majority of County Clerks are not as smart as the Governor and I am filing suit to prevent this travesty of a policy from being implemented.”

Long time New York resident David Wain is currently on location in LA, working on his latest film, Little Big Men, starring Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott. Wain's been spending a lot of time in LA due to his career, but, don't worry, he doesn't plan on moving there anytime soon. In fact, the only place the star of Stella and The State plans on moving is Brooklyn. In this Gothamist Q and A, the director of Wet Hot American Summer and The Ten talks about what it's like to film in New York and Wainy Days, his foray into intentional Internet shorts on MyDamnChannel.com . more ›

No one thought congestion pricing would be easy but now some of the economic reality is sinking in. The MTA announced that it would need $767 million to upgrade service if people shift from cars to mass transit. more ›

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a burn victim on East 3rd St. and Beverly Rd. in Brooklyn, a shooting on Francis Lewis Blvd. in Queens, and a burn victim on 103rd St. and Park Ave. in Manhattan. Reps for the New York Philharmonic are investigating a planned appearance of the symphony in North Korea. Those excited by news of a George Clooney sighting in Brooklyn Heights yesterday can just go ahead and get giddy... more ›

How did we miss this? Last week, City Hall News had an interview with State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and it included this photograph of Bruno boxing! Bruno is, of course, riding relatively high as Governor Spitzer's reputation is tainted in the wake of Troopergate, and Bruno can play the unwitting victim of Spitzer's aides dirty tricks plotting. more ›

It's an Albany power play! During a State Senate meeting about the whole Troopergate mess, it turns out the state inspector general could have given Attorney General Cuomo the power to subpoena Spitzer aides, but didn't. The State Inspector General's office had been conducting its own investigation into the various allegations about the state police being used to discredit State Majority leader Joseph Bruno, but ended it, because the inspector general reports to Spitzer's chief of staff - a conflict of interest. more ›

(directed by Paul Greengrass) more ›

State Ethics Commission, long time no see! It's been about eight months since you found State Comptroller Alan Hevesi had violated state law, and now you're back on the radar with an investigation into Governor Spitzer's administration's conduct regarding use of the state police to track State Senate Majority Joseph Bruno. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg returned from Sun Valley's media mogul conference to stump for his congestion pricing program at three churches yesterday. And today he's headed to Albany, as the congestion pricing program will be discussed by the Legislature. The Bloomberg administration has pointed out that the federal Department of Transportation is pretty willing to give $537 million in funding to NYC if the concept of congestion pricing is passed by Albany lawmakers, but the deadline for that money is today. more ›

The New York Times makes note of Alan Hevisi's continued legal problems today. The State Comptroller is under fire by the State's Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, for perhaps illegaly financially benefitting from control of New York's $154 billion pension fund. The state doesn't manage the money itself; it shops the second-largest pension fund in the country (California's is larger) out to private managers, for very lucrative fees. Unsurprisingly, a lot of money managers are big political contributors. Investigators for AG Andrew Cuomo want to know if Hevesi benefitted from deals for state business with various financial companies. more ›

The NY Times reports that Governor Eliot Spitzer is working on an "ambitious and potentially expensive push to expand health coverage to nearly three million more residents." With 15% of the state's residents uninsured, universal health care was one of Spitzer's campaign promises last year. He has also openly criticized the state's health system, saying billions of dollars are pumped into a "broken system with no deliverables and no accountability." more ›

The New York Times notes an interesting and under-stressed part of Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan that would charge drivers $8 for entering a certain zone in midtown and lower Manhattan: the plan is also going to charge drivers $8 to leave midtown and downtown Manhattan. The Times seems to think that charging drivers to exit a proposed congestion zone is counterintuitive, prompting Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff to admit that congestion pricing has less to do with reducing congestion, than just getting people not to drive in Manhattan at all. more ›

We're getting reports of a blackout on the Upper East Side, from the East 60s up to Harlem, on Third Avenue (mostly about transit blackouts) and York Avenue in the 80s. Subway service is affected - the 4/5/6 line is down. A reader whose friend was at Randalls Island says a Con Ed station exploded. more ›

The State Legislature's regular session is supposed to end today, but Governor Spitzer is trying to orchestrate a deal with something for everyone: Congestion pricing (which the State Senate seems to approve but the Assembly hates), campaign reform (Spitzer's pet project, which the Senate hates), and raises for lawmakers (which the Assembly and Senate love). more ›

The State Assembly voted in favor of allowing same-sex marriages in New York. Newsday said it was the first time a gay marriage bill was "debated publicly in one of the houses of the State Legislature Tuesday." However, the bill is not expected to make it pass the Republican-controlled Senate. Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said, "We're not doing gay marriage by [tomorrow's adjournment], that's for sure." more ›

Get ready for even more intense campaigning in NY State: The State Legislature has approved moving its presidential primary to February 5 from March. Many believe a March primary is pointless, since the most influential ones are earlier in the year. more ›

It's difficult to know quite what to say about the huge transformations on the horizon for the Far West Side. That's partly because major negotiations and plans regarding the future of Madison Square Garden, the Farley Post Office, the Javits Center, the 7-train extension, and rezoning are taking place behind closed doors. Another reason is the uneven pace at which the planning proceeds-- years of plodding speculation followed by the sudden unveiling of a proposal, and merely a few months for public review before the deal is sealed. more ›

- The confusing question of elected-to-the-City-Council- but-not-sworn-in Mathieu Eugene's residency persists. Over a week ago, he told Brian Lehrer he hadn't moved into the 40th District, but now his people say he's been living since February 1. The Politicker spoke to a campaign consultant for Eugene who claims he's seen "a lease whose term began February 1 for 40-46 Argyle Road. I've seen a check written to the landlord dated February 1." Oh, like no one has ever backdated a check! Room Eight notes that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, backed by the 1199 union, is looking at the matter - and Eugene happens to be backed by the 1199, too. more ›

The State Appeals Court has found that the NYC Transit Authority - the NYC division of the MTA - is responsible for maintaining subway exits and entrances. The thing is, the MTA doesn't even own the exits and entrances. Still, the court found that the NYCTA is liable for injuries that a woman suffered while falling down steps at the Columbus Circle station back in 1995. Here's an excerpt of the opinion:

In the case before us, the evidence at trial was sufficient to establish that the stairway in question was used primarily as a means of access to and from the subway. Therefore, defendants had a duty to maintain the stairway or to warn patrons of any dangerous condition. So imperative is the duty to provide a safe means of access to and from the subway that such duty may not be delegated to another. Thus, even if the responsibility to maintain the stairway resides in another entity, defendants may not avoid their responsibility "to at least provide against injury to its passengers by erecting such barricades, or giving such warning, as [would] guard against accidents" (Schlessinger, 49 Misc at 506).

A look at some noteworthy television this week: more ›

Pink Ski Mask, by Webchango. Email your pix to photos@gothamist if you want us to use them. more ›