Residents of Washington Heights and the Lower East Side may be noticing some production crews in their 'nabe this week, as filming begins for the redux of PBS's The Electric Company, which ended its series in 1977. The NY Times reports that the the show will be "refitted for the age of hip-hop and informed by decades of further educational research on reading." In addition, it will reportedly be accompanied by interactive online elements and......

After showing surveillance images of a man who allegedly sexually attacked a woman for hours before robbing her, police have made an arrest. Emerson Deno, 32, was charged with rape, criminal sex act, burglary, robbery and unlawful imprisonment. Deno followed the victim from the West 191st subway station to her apartment near West 190th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue around 5 p.m. last Friday. When she got to her apartment and started to unlock her......

Word is that many a ship are getting wrecked on the Hudson by the George Washington Bridge. Could Manhattan be drawing ships to shore with its sirens? Is this a marketing ploy for Lost? The Gay Recluse reports:"Those arriving in Washington Heights for the first time are often surprised to hear splintering, cracking sounds in the distance. The shoreline is rocky and treacherous for those unfamiliar with its jagged contours, and what you hear is......

Thick black smoke hovering above Washington Heights is apparently a common occurrence, but it is legal? The Gay Recluse has some photos of the area and says it's the result of "improperly maintained or outdated boiler systems," with one building in particular being a main culprit (671 West 162nd Street). Has anyone seen something similar, or worse? This certainly can't be helping with the rising asthma problem.......

When cops raided a suspected drug operation in Washington Heights last week, they found that the alleged dealers had a little business going on the side: a day care service. Police arrested Donald Crespo and Akwasiba Radellant not just for drug possession, but child endangerment because the fire alarms in the apartment were deactivated and pacifiers were dirty. One three-month-old child was in the apartment during the raid and has since been returned to her......

They’ll deny it, but most college students who write plays harbor some secret fantastic hope that their new opus will be hailed as the arrival of a fresh new voice and open on Broadway to triumphant acclaim. It obviously never happens, except when it does: 28-year-old Lin-Manuel Miranda, originally from Washington Heights, conceived the musical In the Heights as a sophomore at Wesleyan. After graduating, the show, a hip hop and salsa-inflected homage to his......

Demonstrating just how valuable free parking in New York City is, a rash of smash and grab thefts has struck areas in Washington Heights and the Bronx, where firefighters have had their car windows broken and parking placards stolen. Most of the thefts have occurred right outside of firehouses, usually when members are called out to a fire, according to the New York Post. The recent increase in placard jacking began shortly after Mayor Bloomberg......

Another pot farm bites the dust: A small fire in Queens led the Fire Department to over 200 marijuana plants growing inside a home. The FDNY wanted to inspect some smoking utility lines and entered another home at 61-20 Bleecker Street to turn off the electricity. When they got to Ridgewood home's basement, they found 217 pot plants, ranging in height from 2 to 6 feet, plus three illegal propane tanks. The home's occupant who......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a power outage on Country Club Rd. in the Bronx, an abduction on 89th St. and Amsterdam Ave. in Manhattan, and a stabbing on Decatur St. in Brooklyn. A buyer spent $54,000 to purchase a bottle of 60-year-old Macallan scotch at auction, bottled in 1926. Police responding to an accident call in Washington Heights were themselves the victims of a hit-and-run, when rear-ended by a speeding sedan. The driver......

Some police officers' routine patrolling became a big pot bust yesterday. Cops from the 105th Precinct smelled a pungent odor coming from a home on 269th Street in Floral Park and, once they got a search warrant, found a bumper crop of marijuana. There were more than 300 marijuana plants, growing lights, and 10 lawn bags of marijuana in the process of being dried. Three men, ages 23 to 48, were arrested and face......

Are the munchies a side effect of cocaine abuse? The NYPD busted a multi-million dollar drug ring where buyers could buy their cocaine and deli meats. The police found 4.5 kilograms of cocaine ($175,000 worth) and arrested 25 suspects. The Sun reports that the $4 million ring was operated out of establishments such as the Fiesta Meat Market in Washington Heights, billiards hall D.D. Café Billiard Sport, clothing store Yaharra (the headquarters), and bodega Broadway's......

If you live in Washington Heights, you'll want to stay indoors tonight. The Health Department will be spraying pesticide as a preventive bid against the West Nile virus. The Post reports that the spraying (of Anvil 10+10) will be at Trinity Cemetery between 8PM and 6AM. While there are no reported cases of people with the West Nile virus yet, the Health Department has been spraying parts of Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island this......

Yesterday saw tens of thousands of people celebrating the 25th Annual Dominican Day Parade on Sixth Avenue. The parade's organizer, Carlos Velasquez, told the Sun, "The crowd is getting younger and younger as they're learning the language and becoming a part of the city." The parade went up Sixth Avenue, from 36th Street to 62nd Street and Central PArk West. Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn marched amidst floats, dancers and diablos......

Residents of Washington Heights may be able to sleep a little easier soon. Police are talking to a "person of interest" in a pair of sex assaults where the attacker climbs up fire escapes, enters apartments through unlocked windows, and assaults sleeping women. The suspect is being investigated for incidents (possibly more) on July 19 at 4:45 a.m. and again on July 20 at 5 a.m. Both incidents occurred near West 175th Street and Broadway.......

Incase anyone was wondering just how many Starbucks there actually are in Manhattan, the answer is 171. For some inexplicable reason (perhaps to become the next big viral video star), New Yorker Mark Malkoff decided to hit them all up in just one day. On June 29th at 5:30am Malkoff makes his first of many purchases at 181st and Washington Heights, then for over twelve hours he travels by bike from store to store until......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a dead body in the water off of Houston St. on the west side of Manhattan, a shooting at Lincoln and Classon in Brooklyn, and a water rescue off Coney Island's Surf Ave. in Brooklyn. A young woman from upstate was crowned Miss New York last night. "An exhausted"-looking Miss NJ looked on, after two weeks of scandal and intrigue. Famed Central Park red tailed hawk Pale Male is......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: American Body Shop (Sunday, 10:00 p.m., Comedy Central) A spoof of the fakeality vehicle tweaking genre with former NYC Transit cop John DiResta as part of the ensemble cast. World Series of Pop Culture (Monday, 9:00 p.m. VH1) NY1's Pat Kieran hosts this trivia battle royal show starting its second season. The Bronx is Burning (Monday, 10:00 p.m., ESPN) The first part of an eight part miniseries......

Early yesterday morning, an 18-year-old was shot on the corner of Amsterdam and 161st in Washington Heights. Donovan Gilbourne had been waiting at a bus stop when he was attacked. WABC 7 reports that then he "stumbled to ...the West 163rd Street subway station...where he collapsed and died." Gilbourne had been with a friend, who was not hurt. The friend also found a cop to help, but Gilbourne died on the way to the hospital.......

With the $5.4 billion purchase of the Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village apartment complex by Tishman-Speyer, some longtime rent-stabilized tenants have been worried about whether they will be able to stay. Well, now tenants are complaining that Tishman-Speyer has been spying on them. Some residents have received non-renewal letters, with Tishman-Speyer explaining that since the tenants do not use their Stuy Town-Peter Cooper apartment as a primary residence, then their lease can be over. The......

We doubt they'll be paying livery cab drivers to park over dangerous-looking grates until they can be checked, but Con Edison is promising to check all 18,000 of its sidewalk grates after a woman plunged through one Thursday morning, landing close to a potentially lethal source of electricity. She was eventually rescued by two firefighters. The regional electric utility is still in the process of identifying electrical "hot spots" that have killed at least one......

A couple of years ago, Bryan Devendorf (drummer for The National) documented the band's trip to SXSW for us. We enjoyed it so much, we asked him to do it again! This time he documented their recent shows with Arcade Fire right here in New York, and even addresses those security guards at Radio City. Related: NYT's article "Sex, Drugs and Updating Your Blog" Fake Empire.mp3 (from The National's upcoming release, Boxer.) I wake to......

Today on Gothamist Newsmap: a barricaded emotionally disturbed person/stabbing on Parsons Blvd. in Queens, an overturned auto on Bushwick Ave. in Brooklyn, and a stabbing on Staten Island's Taylor St. City Councilman Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens) is a big fan of Tom Cruise's Scientology detox program that is being offered free to firefighters. He's done it and it made him feel "100 times better", which is pretty good. City Island residents contemplate life on the......

Christmas trees! That's what 700 marijuana plants look like when they were being hauled out by the DEA. WNBC has photographs and video of a pot bust in Washington Heights, and the plants just seem endless, like kudzu. It's the stuff Harold's dreams are made of. WNBC reported, "It took investigators several hours to remove all of the drug-related material from the location." Also, it was "unusual" for so many pot plants to be......

THEATER: Obie Award winner Adam Rapp has just unwrapped (sorry) his new play Essential Self-Defense at Playwrights Horizons. Set in a mean Midwestern town called Bloggs, the play has, fittingly, been generating big blog buzz. The “grim fairy tale” revolves around a disgruntled misfit “who takes a job as an attack dummy in a women’s self-defense class and finds himself mysteriously drawn to the repressed bookworm who’s beating on him. But all’s not well in......

DISCUSSION: What is the future of alternative journalism? Find out tonight as experts Elizabeth Spiers, Jeff Koyen, Bob Cox and Roxanne Cooper tell you all about what they foresee. If you don't know who those people are, then you probably don't care about the future of alt media anyway. 6:30pm // New York City Center Studios [130 W 56th St] // $7 THEATER: In the Heights is a breezy new musical about the Latino experience......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a large crowd on Prince and Lafayette at 4:45am, 10-75 at Broome and Attorney in LES, and a barricaded EDP in Midtown East. Greetings from Washington Heights: the Castle Village retaining wall that collapsed in May 2005 has finally been repaired. If your landlord is trying to evict you to turn the building into an illegal hotel, you might soon get some relief-- the city is changing the loophole......

Things are starting to pick up around here. The weather was nice, people were out leaving the cave from the post-New Years hibernation and getting back on their feet. It's still coming around, but the rock scene is starting to show some life as well... Matt & Kim Shake Up Studio B There was one show everyone seemed to be talking about this week, and that was the big Matt & Kim homecoming at Studio......

Yesterday night, a fire raged through a Washington Heights apartment building, killing one man. Apparently, hairdresser Ida Cocino had been practicing styling techniques on a doll and left her hair dryer turned-on on her mattress. The mattress caught fire quickly. The Daily News says that Cocino knocked on other doors to let tenants know about the fire, but "she left her door open, allowing the flames to spread into the hallway." An older man, Miguel......

Before you start wondering where you can get this expensive and potent pot, it turns out that the drug ring that offered it has been busted by the NYPD and feds. The Post reports that Purple Haze sold for $560 an ounce and got its name from buds with a purple stain; it also "contains highly elevated levels of THC." That must be some crazy toke. Orlando Torres, who operated the ring in upper Manhattan,......

It was a matter of time. After reports of people sickened by E.coli from food eaten at Taco Bells in NJ and Long Island, there are now reports of people sickened in New York City and other NY counties, as well as in Delaware, South Carolina and Utah. According to the NY Times, the NY State Health Department found the same virulent strain of the bacteria "present in patients who ate at restaurants on Long......