Approximately 85 undocumented workers are being fired from the high-end grocery delivery company Fresh Direct on the on the eve of the holiday season because their status as U.S. residents is disputed. Dozens of workers filed out of the company's Queens warehouse. Fresh Direct blamed a federal probe for the axing of almost a hundred workers. According to the Daily News, "management insisted it carried out the purge under pressure from federal authorities to crack......

Official crime statistics recorded by the city this year indicate that New York is on track to record fewer than 500 murders in 2007, the lowest number since reliable statistics began to be recorded in 1963. The trends recorded thus far this year, show that murders by strangers are also down dramatically. So far, there have only been 428 murders recorded in 2007––412 killings and 16 people who succumbed to injuries sustained earlier. According......

This weekend Kanye West's mother (and manager), Dr. Donda West, died after surgery - which the BBC is reporting was cosmetic (UPDATE: she was warned prior to getting the surgery). West was very close with his 58-year-old mother, often speaking publicly about their bond and even writing a song for her. Just this summer the two were at Borders to promote her new book, Raising Kanye. Kanye was in London when told of the death,......

You may or may not have noticed that it's Fashion Week -- either way, style is saturating the city right now more than ever, and we've asked Faran Krentcil to help us figure the whole thing out. She who holds down the fort at Fashionista.com fills us in on The Tents, the trends and the tricks. Oh, and she also recently poked fun at the hipster-chic in her short parody film: I Wanna Be A......

After a protest in East Harlem, baseball cap manufacturer New Era has agreed to pull Yankees caps from store shelves. A number of caps seem to refer to the Bloods, Crips and Latin Kings and became a controversy during a back-to-school shopping trip. Jose Rivera liked a Yankees cap with a gold crown on it and wanted to buy it for his son, but his son explained that he could be in danger for......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on Pennsylvania Ave. and Fulton St. in Brooklyn, a bank robbery on Co-Op City Blvd. in the Bronx, and a commercial high-rise fire on Broadway in Manhattan. An actor who once played a police lieutenant on L&O: SVU turned himself in to NJ cops today on suspicion of possession of child pornography. YouTube wants to subpeona comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in a lawsuit charging......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a large fight on Fordham Rd. and Jerome Ave. in the Bronx, police activity in the employee parking lot at JFK Airport in Queens, and a pedestrian was struck on East 57th St. and Madison Ave. in Manhattan. Donald Trump owns almost 20% of Brooklyn's Starrett City that his dad bought for him when he graduated from business school. He now advises lower-income residents of the development that "This......

Sometimes you get the luck of the draw. The rain we were expecting this weekend mostly stayed north of the city. Sticky weather will be here for the rest of the day and there will be a chance for showers and thunderstorms, some with heavy downpours, this afternoon and evening. A high pressure system will be pushing the humidity out this evening, so tomorrow will be sunny. Both today and tomorrow will see highs......

While Mayor Bloomberg may have given himself an A on his personal report card that determes how well he fulfilled goals of his administration, one blot on that report card is the recent rise in the number of homeless people in New York City. When he was elected, Bloomberg promised to cut the number of homeless people by two-thirds. Today, the number of homeless people in the city is at a 20 year high. The......

This week ended with the launch of the seventh and final Harry Potter installation. But while the world was consumed with Pottermania, it's important to remember that there were more serious things going on in the world, too - two of them in -Ist cities. Sampaist was shocked when a passenger jet crashed into the center of Sao Paulo, killing at least 200 people. The airplane, an Airbus A320, skidded off the runway at the......

EVENT: The New York Book Club at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum presents…"Breaking News: How the Associated Press Has Covered New York City". The panelists include "Hal Buell, longtime AP photo editor who put images of the Vietnam War in newspapers across America; Richard Drew, AP photographer who has covered New York events including 9/11; Edie Lederer, longtime UN correspondent and first woman to be the foreign chief of bureau; and Valerie Komor, corporate......

As Mayor Bloomberg continues his full court press to bring congestion pricing in some shape or form to the city, the folks at Quinnipiac University conducted a poll to see what New Yorkers think. And even though 90% of the respondents think that city traffic is a pain, 56% oppose congestion pricing (37% support it). But what's interesting is how the boroughs differ. From Quinnipiac:Manhattan voters support congestion pricing 62 - 29 percent. Voters in......

EVENT: BKLYN DESIGNS 2007 kicks off today. The design expo will not only provide the latest trends and lots of fabulous things for your home - but all day panel discussions, interviews and of course parties, after parties and much more. All Weekend // St. Ann's Warehouse [38 Water St, Brooklyn] // $12 per day THEATER: Porn star-cum-performance artist Annie Sprinkle returns to the New York stage with her artistic and domestic partner Elizabeth M.......

SCIENCE: The UnCoolKids have done it again, scoping out the science events around the city. Tonight is Café Scientifique: ”Café Scientifique is a monthly informal gathering in which scientists discuss ideas over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine with people of all backgrounds and professions. Making science accessible to anyone keen on learning, the cafés provide a unique opportunity for the public to discuss scientific trends and developments affecting and changing our......

Sigh. The fog has taken a bite out of what would have been a pleasant spring day. Instead of sunny and 65 it is foggy and 48. With any luck the fog and clouds should be gone soon. The sun should be out by mid-afternoon, which doesn't leave much time for warming. Highs today might reach 60. Tomorrow should be warmer –at least until the showers arrive in the late-afternoon. Enjoy the warm weather tomorrow......

There may be March Madness in the air, but East Village Idiot has the cure for New Yorkers who can't get behind the NCAA: March Radness, which take 64 disparate NYC moments/ people/ objects/ stores/ trends/ nonsense and sees who will reign supreme. Some key matchups are:Bloomberg Region - The U.E.S Crowd (seeded 7) vs. The B&T Crowd (10) - Trans Fat (1) vs. Rats at Taco Bell (16) Isiah Region - The Knicks......

Peter Marinello works for NARC (National Advertising Review Council). His job is to watch infomercials and review the accuracy of their claims. So if anyone knows if Beano works or if Xantax is for real, it's him. How did you get involved with NARC? I graduated as a Radio/TV major at NYU back in 1985 and worked at NBC Sports as a research analyst before going to St. John's Law School. So the plan was......

Okay, we sort of screwed up on yesterday's forecast as the storm stayed further north than everyone thought it would. Lucky for Gothamist the forecast for today and tomorrow is much easier: sunny, breezy and cooler. Today's high temperature depends on a heating by the sun vs. cold arctic air smackdown. Judging from the temperature and dew point trends it looks like cold arctic air is going to win. The forecast high of 35......

January 13: Seasonal Game Cooking Class Chef Franck Delatrain of Café Centro will be cooking up seasonal game in a two hour cooking class. The menu consists of: Chestnut and Celery Root Soup with Melted Leeks and Foie Gras; Sturgeon Saltimbocca with Sage, Smoked Duck and Beluga Lentils; Fresh Pappardelle Pasta with Wild Boar Civet, Apple Smoked Bacon and Black Trumpet Mushrooms; Grilled Quail with Golden Beets and Frisee Salad, Poached Quail Egg and Spiced......

The yellow awnings heralding the arrival of Park Slope’s latest addition emphasized the long arm of Manhattan dining trends, in this case the recent influx of burger joints dotting the city’s restaurant scene. Theoretically, the formula works: accessible, kid-friendly comfort-food in a prime location sure to attract hoardes of evening commuters. It worked for Smiling Pizza, the mediocre joint that has held court in the same intersection for more than 20 years. And it still......

Two months after Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village were sold by MetLife to Tishman Speyer for a record-breaking $5.4 billion, an epic review of the deal by Charles Bagli of the NY Times ties up loose ends and brings several underlying issues into sharper focus. Reading between the lines: The purchase is highly speculative. "Financial leaps of faith" about StuyTown's future value inflated the bidding well above a more soberly estimated price tag......

In 1941, Encyclopedia Britannica put out a little educational film called "The Arteries of New York City". As you can guess, it describes how transportation to, from and inside of Manhattan, works. The narration is ever so literal, describing that, "the main job of transportation in the city, is to carry people between three points: where they live, where they work and where they play." The narrator also explains that ,"year after year, these arteries......

- Just in time for Chanukah, The Food Section breaks latkes out of the archive. - Augie goes 2000 words deep at Gordon Ramsay’s new place. - Another beaut from Waiter Rant, enjoy. - Attention fans of Spanish cured meats. Alex from Despana tells us that the Salchichon Bellota is back in stock as of today. Head down (maybe call first to confirm, you know customs) and grab a sandwich if you are in the......

Yesterday we posted about the kindie rock scene in Park Slope, and today we discover...baby disco at Southpaw! As described on the site: a little sumpin’ sumpin for mom and dad – Southpaw just opened up the gorgeous secret downstairs chill zone – “down south” - and it will now be open at all baby loves discos as a parents only chill out zone with football games for dad’s, product testing and massages for......

(Photo by Sara Krulwich/The New York Times) Rachel Corrie was an American college student killed by an Israeli bulldozer while trying to block the demolition of Palestinian houses near a refugee camp in Gaza. (Israel officials claimed the demolitions were intended to stifle attacks along a road parallel to the Egyptian border.) Those who follow the New York theater world know all about the controversy that ignited earlier this year when New York Theatre......

Yesterday, there was an interesting NY Times article about new trends in retail store design. Namely, how some stores are eschewing big windows for more secretive look - and how Ruehl, an off-shoot of Abercrombie & Fitch for the post-college consumer, looks like a city townhouse. While there is Ruehl on Bleecker Street that sells accessories, most of the stores are in the suburbs. From the article:Intrigued by a store they cannot see into, consumers......

Fashion writer Adena Halpern made a name for herself with her "Haute Life" column in Marie Claire and decided to turn her love for clothing into a memoir, Target Underwear and a Vera Wang Gown. She takes readers through her various wardrobes choices, from the unfortunate to the invaluable, weaving her jobs and relationships into the fabric of her tales, including the title garments, which each play a major role. In chapters such as......

The last new Project Runway was practically two weeks ago, but thanks to Bravo rerunning it, we could relive it many times. It was full of twists: Two previously kicked-off winners got to reappear and fight for a place in the final four (well, besides Keith) and the outfit would have to be black-and-white and all the material had to be used - even scraps! It's debatable which spooked people more - Angela's "sad eyes,"......

With the release of more census data yesterday, a few other trends for NYC emerged: - NYC has the second highest median age - 35.8 years old, after SF's 39.4 years - and the third highest number of people over age 65 years, with 11.9% of the population clocking in over 65 (SF was first, followed by Philly) - New Yorkers wait a long time before getting married - And we have the third highest......

FASHION: This is an early one, fashionistas. The Brooklyn Public Library is hosting a round table discussion today on Fashion and Beauty trends. Come. Learn. Be pretty. 3:30pm // Central Library at Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn // Free ART: Graffiti artist Joe Joe Webb will unveil his newest collection of urban art at $treet Credit. Each image serves as a symbol for urban culture and materialism, with rare collector sneakers, money clips and brass knuckles......