Last month, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Jose Antonio Vargas outed himself as an illegal immigrant in a NY Times Magazine story about his years trying to escape detection with fake documents and continue his successful life. He detailed how he was able to get a driver's license in Washington state, "The license is valid until 2016. This offered me five more years of acceptable identification — but also five more years of fear, of lying to people I respect and institutions that trusted me, of running away from who I am." Except now Washington has revoked his license. more ›

Charles F. Luce, who was Con Ed's chairman and chief executive between 1967 and 1982, died last week at the age of 90 in California. The Bronxville, NY resident died of prostate cancer. more ›

Okay Conor, we get it: you have cool friends. This week, during the Bright Eyes 7-night run at Town Hall, the band promised a special guest each night. So far he's brought out the likes of Lou Reed, Steve Earle, Jenny Lewis, Norah Jones and Ben Kweller. Each played a few songs of their own mid set before joining in jamming with the rest of the group. On the night we went, we were treated to a mini acoustic set by Ben Gibbard and a sit in by Nick Zinner, who among other songs, played the haunting Daniel Johnston cover "Devil Town." But as far as Bright Eyes goes, no matter what you think of the guy and his music, there's no denying that he always makes the extra effort to please his fans in NYC. Whether it be avoiding the larger, expensive venues, playing intimate shows or pulling stunts like this. Conor went out of his way to make each of these shows special, and as a fan, we really appreciate that. more ›

“Welcome to Brooklyn,” I said, even though we’d been in the borough for 4 hours already. A half dozen Hasidic children darted by. I saw perplexed expressions wash over my customers’ faces. We all stood there as if shell shocked, holding what remained of our Grimaldi’s slice and staring off at the desolate Floyd Bennett airfield. Countless Hasidic families roamed the grounds oblivious to the shameful pizza we’d just eaten. more ›

Forget about that lingering cough getting better today or tomorrow. The National Weather Service issued an air stagnation advisory today that will be in effect until Wednesday for the NYC, Rockland, Westchester, and Suffolk areas. Via AccuWeather:

THE NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION HAS ISSUED AN AIR STAGNATION ADVISORY FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES. more ›

If you can't bear the thought of eating hot food on a day like today and you've got a craving for oysters on the half shell, you might want to think twice. According to the New York Times, 74 New Yorkers have gotten sick eating raw oysters originating from the Pacific Northwest:

Both the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Food and Drug Administration have warned people not to eat the oysters, which are infected with naturally occurring bacteria that are most prevalent in the summer, when water temperature rises. more ›

Right now we feel like the bear climbing the mountain of previews, knowing that in a couple weeks we'll reach the top and see a whole slew of shows opening (at least, that’s how we like to sing the mountain-climbing bear song). We can hardly wait for later in March when everything’s in full swing, but there’s more than enough to keep us awash in Playbills…er, hand-folded programs…for now. more ›

Everett, Washington (population 97,000) is a tranquil town that hosts blue collar workers, beautiful scenery and, once a year, The Outdoorsmen Championship. Invented 14 years ago by a group of high school friends (of course), the event allows men to be men and boys to be boys. Perfect fodder for a film, no? more ›

Oh, coffee, oh, lifeblood of our city: Washington State coffee company, Political Grounds, best known from their humorous coffees, like "Say Howdy Saudi," "Roast the French," and "Infidels R Us," have added an NYPD styled coffee to their roster: "New York's Finest." The bag reads:

Ethiopian Harrar Mexican blend from our finest premium coffee region. You won't find Batman and Robin fighting crime here. But you will find Gotham's real heroes, protecting the worlds greatest city against the rodents of crime.

Because every election day need's a new football poll, here is this week's installment of the Gothamist Top 15 (last week's). Quite an interesting weekend, with the big three in Florida all losing. With six undefeated teams left, the BCS has some shaking out to do, especially if some of those teams pick up a loss. more ›

Not much August sun today, Gothamist has Gold Sounds in our head this morning. There is a decent chance of rain this afternoon. Whether that rain will be crooked or not we don't know. AccuWeather is predicting a a fifty percent chance of rain. The Weather Service point forecast for Central Park is calling for a zero percent chance of rain, but the zone forecast, calls for a thirty percent chance of rain. The difference? The point forecast is straight from the computer model, while the zone forecast is the meteorologists interpretation of the model forecast, current conditions, and his/her experience in forecasting similar situations. more ›

Ew: The Norwegian Sun Cruise line accidentally dumped 40 tons of raw sewage into Washington State waters: more ›