The Wisconsin, Washington and Hawaii primaries have been going on today, and while John McCain is expected to further solidify his presumptive nomination, the Democratic race is tight as ever, with a Gallup pole now showing Clinton closing the gap on Obama after his string of eight straight victories. more ›

After the stunning Giants' Super Bowl win, people cheered like they hadn't seen a Super Bowl victory in 17 years! Throughout the city, folks were stumbling onto streets, chanting the names of players and even getting arrested. more ›

Top aides with the Giuliani for President campaign are declining January paychecks, while insisting that it's not because the former Mayor's organization is strapped for cash. Rudy Giuliani is currently stumping in Florida after very lackluster performances in the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. Iowa was not a surprise; Giuliani had written off the midwestern state as a poor use of time and resources. A very poor performance in New Hampshire had to have been a blow to his campaign though, as he campaigned extensively in the Granite State, although in fits and starts, which may have turned voters off. more ›

Rudy Giuliani's good financial fortune derived from the formation of Giuliani Partners is leading to political misfortune, as yet another piece of lucrative business he conducted in the private sector has come back to haunt his candidacy. Recently, his involvement with Purdue Pharma--the producers of the painkiller OxyContin--has come under scrutiny. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn, a high-angle rescue on West 18th St., in Manhattan, and a multi-vehicle accident on Farmers Blvd. and the South Conduit in Queens.
• Hoboken mayor David Roberts was apparently prescient to ask how many stops his SWAT team made on the trip back north--fearing more embarrassing photos of his police force as they returned from relief efforts after hurricane Katrina. Additional pictures of misbehavior have surfaced, this time featuring the town's police chief cavorting in Louisiana.
• Brooklyn native and former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson was sentenced in an Arizona court to 24 hours in jail and three years probation for drug possession and DUI.
• The 2nd Ave. subway got a boost from $1.7 billion in federal funding earmarked for the project over the next seven years.
• New Yorkers aren't just cooler and better looking than the rest of the country, they make a lot more money. The average Manhattanite made more than $2,800 a week in the first quarter of this year.
• Former mayor Rudy Giuliani recommended securing the U.S.-Mexico border via a "virtual" system that would alert authorities of crossings.
• The Washington Post has a guide on how to get to NYC that includes more than "practice, practice, practice." It could be valuable for people wanting to get back to NYC.
• A very helpful guide to long- and short-distance runs in Brooklyn from the Brooklyn Road Runners Club.

Rudy Giuliani has a new 1-minute ad proclaiming his credentials to run the country by way of his leadership in NYC. A full transcript of the ad is after the jump but the gist is that Giuilani turned New York City from an "unmanageable, ungovernable" economically depressed crime-ridden hellhole into "the safest large city in America," "the best example of conservative government in the country." Interestingly enough, there's no mention of 9/11. And at... more ›

A sophomore at New York University was found dead in his Water Street dorm room on Friday night. The Washington Square News reports that other residents were told about the death on Saturday and that the university did not send out an NYU community-wide email per a request from the deceased students' parents: "The family has asked that they be accorded the utmost privacy, and the university will do its best to honor its wishes... more ›

A freshman from New York University apparently committed suicide yesterday morning. The student, Allan Oakley Hunter III, jumped from the roof of University Hall, a 15-story dorm at 110 East 14th Street; his body was found in the courtyard. The Washington Square News reports that police were searching his room around 10AM yesterday morning and that his body was removed by 1PM. more ›

Whichever stadium/arena/field/theater/concert hall had the worst name, that title has been passed along. We're not sure what it was, but it now belongs to the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden. Not only is the official name obscenely long, but its short form, WaMu Theater, is just plain silly sounding. The Washington Mutual Theater has a much nicer ring to it, no? Madison Square Garden and Washington Mutual announced that they inked a long term agreement for the naming rights of the MSG venue formerly known as just The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Terms of the multi-year contract were not disclosed, but Cablevision and the Dolans probably padded their wallets pretty nicely. Maybe they can blow the money on the Knicks! more ›

The Washington Square News has brought the scandal involving now-former NYU College of Arts and Sciences Student Council president Meredith Dolgin to a new level with a Flash Scandal at CAS interactive. Want to know the timeline? Or background on the players? Or what's even being investigated (election impropriety, financial malfeasance)? It's there! more ›

Hundreds of Virginia Tech alumni, NYU students and other New Yorkers gathered for a candlelight vigil in Washington Square Park last night. Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, who had traveled to Virginia Tech earlier in the week, brought back a candle from a vigil there and used it to light candles last night. And today, many people are also wearing orange and maroon, Virginia Tech's colors, for "Orange and Maroon Effect" day to show support for the school. more ›

Yesterday, NBC News revealed that Virginia Tech shooting gunman Cho Seung-Hiu sent them a package of photographs, writings, and video - a "multimedia manifesto." The network turned over the materials to the authorities but also shared the package's contents during the evening news last night and on its website. more ›

With March Madness behind us and baseball upon us (Mets' home opener in progress!), a smoothing transition between basketball and baseball is necessary: like beer bracketology. The Washington Post conducted a tournament of head-to-head, single elimination, blind taste tastings over four weeks, in order to distinguish one beer above all other contestants as an MVB. more ›

It's been a tough week for Bernie Kerik. The former NYPD commissioner who had his bid to head up Homeland Security unceremoniously thwarted in 2004 amid allegations of shady dealings is now facing serious federal charges. The Washington Post reports today that federal prosecutors have informed Kerik that he is likely to be charged with multiple felonies, including tax evasion and conspiracy to commit wiretapping. This comes two weeks after Kerik refused a plea deal offered by prosecutors that would have required the former police commissioner to serve some time in prison. The wiretapping charge stems from an incident that would seem to straddle the categories Very Dumb and Plain Crazy, when Kerik and Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro were overheard planning to wiretap Pirro's husband in order to catch him engaging in an extramarital affair. Ironically, this conversation took place over a line that federal law enforcement had legally wiretapped. more ›

NYU College Republicans say they are happy with the reaction from their planned "Illegal Immigrant Hunt" at Washington Square Park. They wanted to start a controversy and discussion - and that they did, with hundreds of protesters and more members of the media than actual College Republicans playing the game (by one count, twelve showed up, one signed up). College Republicans president Sarah Chambers told the Washington Square News, "Sometimes, you have to be politically incorrect. Sometimes, you have to be provocative." However, NYU president John Sexton told the NY Times he was disappointed that the group put "sloganeering and trivialization of thought above true debate." more ›

After two days of deliberations, a federal jury sentenced Ronell Wilson to death for the 2003 killings of undercover detectives James Nemorin and Rodney Andrews. When the verdict was read, Wilson rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at Nemorin's widow Rose. This is the first death penalty sentence for a federal case in NY State in over 50 years. more ›

NY1 has a good look at the differing rules for cell phone use at two very different public schools in the Bronx. One is DeWitt Clinton High School, where classes are frequently overcrowded and there are metal detectors at the entrance. The other is Bronx High School of Science, the magnet school whose has seven Nobel Prize-winning (in physics) graduates. more ›

One Koran in the toilet is bad. A second Koran in the toilet, you got problems. Or a rash of copy cats Koran dunkings. At Pace University's downtown location, a Koran was found in a toilet at the library's bathrooom - the second Koran-in-the-toilet incident in recent weeks and the fourth hate incident spanning the NYC and Westchester campuses. Pace is investigating the incident, but the Council on American-Islamic Relations' NY chapter issued a statement saying, "We once again call on Pace University to take concrete measures to help educate the student population about Islamophobic bigotry and its negative impact on ordinary Muslims and on American society." more ›

Well-known radical lawyer Lynne Stewart was sentenced today to 28 months in prison. In February 2005, she found guilty of terror charges - she had smuggled messages from terrorist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman to his followers in defiance of prison rules. Stewart had been pleading for leniency, as she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, and before the sentencing, Stewart's lawyer Elizabeth Fink said, "If you send her to prison, she's going to die. It's as simple as that." The AP reported that Stewart smiled when she heard 28 month sentence; she had faced a maximum of 30 years in prison. The NY Times mentions that Judge Koetl acknowledged that there was "'no evidence that any victim was in fact harmed' by her actions" and noted her career as a "lawyer to the poor and the unpopular." Stewart will be appealing. more ›

As we sat down to write this week's Best of the -ists post, a car blaring "21 Questions'" passed by our house. And that started us thinking about how some of the best -ist posts out there have at their hearts questions, some of which are answered, and some of which are left open. Check out the Best of the -ists from this week, and see if you agree. more ›

The latest in the meandering renovation of Washington Square Park: The NY Times reports that State Supreme Justice Emily Jane Goodman has "halted" redesign, "saying the Bloomberg administration violated the City Charter by failing to notify the public about all of the proposed changes." And what's more, if the Parks Department will need to go through the approval process, starting with Community Board 2, all over again! Which means it's time for everyone to get their soapboxes and yelling voices ready - and for the city to consider disclosing all details to the public to avoid this kind of mess. The Washington Square Park redesign has gone through so many changes and issues - fountains moving, fountain water possibly being tainted, fences but no gates - that Gothamist looks forward to the redesign approval process do-over so we can reacquaint ourselves with the plan and start anew. more ›

- This weekend the Central Park Zoo, which just got a new curator, had its 15 millionth visitor! more ›

Brooklyn's own Senator Charles Schumer is supporting the effort to eliminate foreign ethanol tariffs to alleviate rising gas prices. While gas prices would only be lowered by 8 cents if it went through, he said, "But with prices as high as they are, every nickel helps." That's true, but if you can't even find a gas station, then you're using up gas to find one. The Washington Post problem of 830,000 cars and only 54 gas stations in Manhattan, as gas stations are going bye-bye as the land is snapped up by developers. The city's planning office is looking at ways to make sure gas stations can remain, such as special zoning for gas stations and repair shops. Hmm, might a gas station be deemed a landmark at a point? more ›

Phillyist notes a fistfight between local pols that leaves one man down for the count. Jehovah's Witnesses get a Philly contributor out of bed, things get a little geeky with a film festival and geeky gets taken to a whole new galaxy when they talk with the Dragon Queen of the Dark Kingdom. more ›

The Washington Square News has an interesting article about minority students' demands for a minority lounge. The lounge would be located in Furman Hall, the new building on Sullivan Street. Obviously, the idea of a racially-segregated lounge raises some interesting questions about discrimination and equal opportunity: more ›

“NYU is the largest private university in the United States and they are growing,” Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, told Community Board 2 Thursday night. “They are growing at a much faster pace than our neighborhood is. NYU has always been here. It should always be here. I don't think the Village would be the Village if NYU wasn't here. But I don't think the Village can stay the Village if it is predominantly NYU” more ›

At around 4:40PM yesterday afternoon, a music professor at NYU was stabbed in the chest and back by a random man on West 3rd Street, between Mercer and LaGuardia. The Washington Square News says that Joseph Church, who teaches at the Steinhardt School of Education, was attacked by 30 (or 32) year old Mark Davilla, who then used a screwdriver to stab Church. A witness says that after Church was stabbed, he chased Davila through Schwartz Plaza (where Stern Business School is) and some people helped tackle Davila. Police say Davila had an argument with a girlfriend earlier and believe the attack was unprovoked; the NYPD charged him with assault and posession of a weapon. This is totally crazy - there must have been tons of people around, as it was a decent day and the plaza usually has its share of people hanging out. Did you see what happened? more ›

NYU moved its career development center to the dorm in the space formerly known at the Palladium - the Palladium residence hall. The Washington Square News says there will be "a computer lab with 30 computers and laser printers, student and employer lounges, presentation rooms, recruiting rooms, wireless availability and a café with barstools and vending machines," plus "free faxing and copying, video conferencing for students studying abroad, and DVD-R technology for mock interviews." Hmm, will the DVD-R technology be used for reality show audition DVDs as well? Apparently company recruiters complained about the smaller facilities at 719 Broadway and at Washington Square. The jury is out amongst the student community, but we liked this quote from a student who lives at the Lafayette dorm: “It’s kind of far. I guess it depends on how good the café is.” Gothamist predicts she has a future in the restaurant industry. more ›

Damn, it's cold out there! Gothamist recently had a friend check weather.com before deciding whether to venture out of her home. News flash, folks: It's January! It's cold, finally! Put a coat on and let's rock: more ›

Marcia Baczynski and REiD MiHalko, Cuddle Party Founders more ›