A sparkling new 700-pound ball, tons of confetti, and over a million people helped ring in the New Year from Times Square last night/early today. Mayor Bloomberg and police Police Academy valedictorian Karolina Wierzchowska, who also served in the Iraq War, hit the switch that brought the famous Times Square New Year's ball down. The Daily News called it a "shimmering pole dance," and it was the 100th time Times Square has had a ball drop to welcome the new year. more ›

A look at some noteworthy programs this week: more ›

The Times Square Alliance is getting ready for New Year's celebrations. They have been testing confetti for "airworthiness" - an especially important step since there will be 7,000 pounds of confetti dropped onto revelers. more ›

The city is starting to brace itself for New Year's, with sanitation crews and the police at the ready. The weather is expected to break 50 degrees on Saturday, which means it won't be a New Year's Freezing Eve for once. Which also means insane crowds. (There is rain in the forecast, but that's supposed to clear up but hte evening). Have you rushed to the store to buy champagne, noisemakers, and low-fat food (for your resolutions)? What are you planning? Staying in, going to parties, heading to Times Square? Tell us! more ›

The Times Square Alliance has mucho information about New Year's in Times Square. Going to Times Square is not really Gothamist's cup of tea, but there are a lot of interesting things happening, like Kathy Griffin hopefully skewering celebrities, a wrap-up of the year's events by the Fox News Channel (ha!) and Lindsay Lohan performing for MTV - plus free confetti, balloons, pom-poms, glasses, etc. from the Alliance. It's also the 100th Anniversary of Times Square, so there's a special tribute between 11:05PM and 11:10PM. Here's the schedules of events. more ›