Results tagged “theus”

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a police officer was struck on Richmond and Wilson Aves. on Staten Island, there was a large fight on Franklin Ave. and Empire Blvd. in Brooklyn, and a double homicide on Furman Ave. and East 237th St. in the Bronx.
• The US Postal Service is expecting to process one billion individual pieces of mail today, three times the daily average. The busiest day of the year is expected to be Wednesday.
• Interboro Institute, the two-year commercial college, is going out of business due to financial and regulatory problems.
• Oysters used to be one of the most plentiful animals in NY Harbor. Now they're making a recovery in one of the most unlikely of places--the Gowanus Canal.
• The Metropolitan Museum received quite the holiday present when the estate of Diane Arbus presented it with the photographer's entire archives as a gift.
• The airline industry is seeking in court to block a passenger bill of rights that originated in New York due to horrendous service.
• The city's looking to combat the obesity of New Yorkers (we're less obese than the rest of the country) by increasing the number of permits issued to food cart vendors selling fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Collaborative sleuthing tries to dig up why the planned Brooklyn College dorm that used to be under construction seems to be going nowhere.

Does China make anything that isn't chock full of lead anymore? The US Product Safety Commission announced today that 43,000 Chinese-made fake teeth are being recalled because of very high levels of lead paint.

Last month, much-to-do between Mayor Bloomberg and the state powers-that-be resulted in a kind of agreement that congestion pricing in NYC should be considered and studied (after months of Mayor Bloomberg campaigning for it). And today, the U.S. Department of Transportation is expected to announce its support of NYC's plan.

(pic via Ear Farm)

"Some Time in New York City" was released in 1972 as John Lennon's third post-Beatles album (and his fifth with Yoko Ono). Critically and commercially the album didn't do well, especially compared to Lennon's previous albums. "Imagine" had just come out in the 1971, and comparatively this one was brash, loud and more reflective of his political and new geographical surroundings at the time, in Greenwich Village.

Twenty-nine workers died in construction accidents in New York during the 12 months ending September 30, marking a 61% increase over the previous year and a 5-year high, according to OSHA and the NYC Dept. of Buildings. Over half of the victims fell to their death, while falling material was the second most fatal cause.

Yesterday's decision by a federal judge to sentence controversial lawyer Lynne Stewart to 28 months in prison for charges in helping terrorist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman carry out his message was met by relief from Stewart supporters and overwhelming outcry from the government (which had hoped for a 30 year sentence) and many of the local papers. The Post, Daily News and the Sun all have editorials criticizing Judge Koetl's short sentence. From the Daily News:

Perhaps kindly Judge Koeltl was touched by the sight of Stewart, all her revolutionary bravado fled, blubbering that the end of her legal career "is like a sword in my side." Perhaps he was moved by the defense argument that Stewart, who is 67 and ailing, would die behind bars if a sentence of any reasonable length were imposed.

Continue reading "Stewart Sentence Fallout"

Since John Lennon and Yoko Ono documented much of their daily life, there is plenty of footage - and Lennon becomes the narrator of his own story. MSNBC says we get a "softened perspective on the musician-turned-activist-turned-icon" with this film, while Ono says this is an accurate portrait of her late husband.

- Some equipment is up to 30 years old. Schumer is looking for Senate funding for a new $60 million tower, before things go terribly wrong.

- The NY Sun has a pretty photograph of Cai Guo-Qiang's roof installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which will be up until October 29 this fall

Catholics love hearing the words "special dispensation" and who doesn't loving hearing the word, "beef"? It all comes together tomorrow, as the Archdiocese of New York (and the surrounding areas, as well as other parts of the country) is allowing Catholics to eat beef on tomorrow. For all you non-Catholics, on Friday during Lent, plus Ash Wednesday, Catholics aren't allowed to eat meat (fish is okay - sorry fishmongers!). But this is special: The Archdiocese of New York explained to AM New York, "Because St. Patrick is the patron saint of the diocese, the day should be celebrated as a feast day." A feast of beer and corned beef - and shamrock shakes! Here's a list of Irish bars in the city - let us know your suggestions.

Yesterday, Billy Wagner, the new Mets closer announced that he was dropping out of the inaugural World Baseball Classic. CC Sabathia of the Cleveland Indians is also stepping aside, which is potentially a bigger problem for the United States than Wagner not playing. The US team now only has 3 starting pitchers - Jake Peavy, Dontrelle Willis and Roger Clemens - potentially a problem considering all the rules on the books. Lucky for the United States, they only have three games in pool play.

After two weeks of winter sports competition, the 2006 Torino Games have officially come to a close. Winning the medal tally was Germany with 29 medals (11 gold, 12 silver, 6 bronze). Second was the United States, which had 25 (9, 9, 7), and Canada was third with 24 (7, 10, 7). The US total was its higest outside of the United States, where it had 34 in the 2002 Salt Lake City games.

Were you a little late for work this morning because of a bus? If so, don’t feel bad; you have a lot in common with an Olympic athlete. Johnny Weir went from second in the Men’s Skating to fifth apparently because of a change in the bus schedule. Weir’s complaints ring especially hollow when you consider that Evan Lysacek spent the day in the infirmary receiving IV fluids to overcome the flu and managed to go from 10th place to fourth. Even if the bus had been on time, it is doubtful Weir would have caught Yevgeny Plushenko who was flawless and captured the gold

Major League Baseball announced the 60-man US World Baseball Classic roster yesterday with several players on the Mets and Yankees named as possible team members. The US list includes Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Al Leiter, and Alex Rodriguez. The Mets have Paul Lo Duca, Billy Wagner and David Wright on the US players listed. While the 60-person list is a list of players that can play in the tournament, the eventual roster must be trimmed to 30 players the day before tournament play.

It is the most watched sporting event in the world and while the US has participated the last four times, they are still viewed as novices in the sport the everyone else refers to as football.

This weekend seems to be all about the music. Outside, in parks, on rooftops. It'll be everywhere, and here is where we would be if we were you...

Every May the United States Tennis Center in Flushing resurfaces its courts. This year, they've taken it a step further, changing the color of the courts to blue from green. They say it will help the visibility for players, spectators and television viewers. Gothamist thinks blue inner courts surrounded by green outer courts make for a hideous combination.

It's like Kinsey meets Madison Avenue! Ad Age reports that ad agency BBDO has completed a survey that shows 14% of cell phone users have "stopped in the middle of a sex act to answer a ringing wireless device." For some country specific stats, the Germany and Spain led with 22% of those surveyed stopping sex to answer the cell, while only 7% Italy's cell phone users would answer. The US is slightly above average, with 15% stopping sex to answer the phone. The survey was only within BBDO's direct marketing network, so agency executives could explain to clients, "You see, people love to feel important and answer their phones - let's do that text messaging campaign!" No word if Publicis, the agency behind the T-Mobile Sidekick ads with Snoop, Paris Hilton, Jeffrey Tambor, and other celebs, has done a similar survey.

The NYPD is being rocked by news that two former police officers were on the take from the mob, for their roles in eight murders. Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa were arrested in Las Vegas, where they moved after retiring from the NYPD, and charged with racketeering conspiracy, two attempted murders, obstruction of justice, money laundering and more. The US Attorney's office claims that Eppolito and Caracappa used their ties in the NYPD to smoke out rival gangsters for the Lucchese family; the NY Times wrote, "in 1986, they flashed their badges and kidnapped a mobster, threw him in the trunk of their car and delivered him to a rival, who tortured and killed him." Also, it seems that the feds tried to connect the pair to the mob in 1994, but that case fell apart because the mob informant wasn't a reliable witness; it seems that the current informant is better suited. The Daily News has a list of the murders the two ex-cops were allegedly involved in.

Yes, welcome back little boy, Christ child... NOAA has announced the return of the warm waters to the Eastern Pacific, though noting that this time, it's not as strong. "Weaker" is the decription that they use actually. The last El Niño, was in 1997-1998 when it seemed that everything and anything weatherwise was being blamed on the friggen thing. Rain? El Niño. Cold? El Niño. Warm? El Niño. Headache? El Niño.

Team USA roared into the semifinals of the Olympics today with a sound 102 - 95 victory over previously undefeated Spain. Team USA found their stroke from long range and nailed 12 of 22 attempts from three point land. For those counting at home, that's 55 percent.

Last year, the pair of Walsh and May went on a 90 match win streak, a mark that spanned 15 tournaments and only ended when May suffered an abdominal injury. It looks like that dominance has returned. Photos of the pair celebrating made Gothamist a little hot under the collar...wow!

The US men's rowing team, once the dominant team in the Olympics, ended their 40 year winless streak in the Olympics Sunday with a victory in the finals of the men's eight. With a winning time of 5:42.48, the US boat led from the start. At one point during the race, the Americans led by so much that the stern of their boat was at the bow ball of their closest competitor.

Look out world, Team USA might finally be "getting it". Team USA fought off an early 10 point deficit to take down Australia 89 - 79 yesterday in Men's Olympic basketball action. The vitcory pushed the American's record to 2 - 1 in round robin play. The US got big games from Allen Iverson (16 points in 23 minutes)and Tim Duncan and actually played some team defense for what seems like the first time in Athens. Duncan notched game highs with 18 points and 11 rebounds. He shot 7 of 11 from the floor and 4 of 6 from the charity stripe.

The US women - Natalie Coughlin, Carly Piper, Dana Vollmer and Kaitlin Sandeno - finished in 7:53.42, more than two seconds ahead of the old record and defeated China by more than two and half seconds. Germany won the bronze medal.

The US Means Basketball team lost a stunner yesterday to the tiny island of Puerto Rico 92-73, dropping its all time Olympic basketball record to 109-3. It wasn’t the loss itself that was so shocking, never mind that Team USA had beaten Puerto Rico five times in exhibitions since July, it was the manner in which they lost. Puerto Rico held the lead for 33 of the game’s 40 minutes.

Apparently Carmelo Anthony spoke too soon. The US Men's Olympic Basketball team was trounced earlier today by "European powerhouse" Italy. Just a week after Anthony, the youngest member of Team USA declared "We're guaranteeing a gold medal. We're bringing it back," the US suffered their worst exhibition loss since the NBA started sending players to the Olympics in 1992.

- Official BBQ thumbs-up for the 4th