A Lower East Side woman was charged by the Queens DA's office for not delivering English bulldog puppies after customers paid for them. The Queens DA's office believes that Janet Goris never actually had any puppies when she advertised on various websites that she was looking for to find puppies a "loving home" and requested that interested parties only pay the shipping costs. Of course, the shipping costs were $300-400 a pop. more ›

The saga of the 80,000 gallons of diesel fuel stored in 60 Hudson Street continues to rage on. The building is a "telecom hotel" - telecom companies store their equipment there - and during the 2003 blackout, the fuel was used to run backup generators. But residents argue that the amount of fuel is dangerous, citing the fact that the old 7 World Trade Center had half as much fuel and may have collapsed because of its stored fuel. Apparently storing that much fuel is a city buildings code violation, but the city gave 60 Hudson a variance last year - perhaps because most of the fuel is stored underground, and then the above ground fuel is encased by fire resistant walls. No word on whether there's a fire-and-crash resistant ceiling, though. more ›

Tribeca residents are upset that 60 Hudson Street still gets to house 80,000 gallons of diesel fuel. No, this fuel is not for a very cold winter, but for back-up generators since the building is a "telecom hotel" - a place for telecoms to store their equipment. The thing is that the old 7 World Trade Center had 40,000 gallons of diesel stored in its basement, and many believe that's why it collapsed, so 60 Hudson's mother lode of fuel is such a hot topic. Residents are worried that the building is a terrorist target, and Congressman Jerrold Nadler says, "Housing this much fuel in a residential area is a stupid idea, not to mention irresponsible, reckless and life threatening. We are asking for trouble." The city's stance is different: Since most of the fuel is stored underground, and whatever fuel above ground is supposedly protected by being "enclosed by floor-to-ceiling fire-resistant walls," then it's all okay! Mayor Bloomberg said, "Congressman Nadler has discovered something that has been in the papers for an awful long time. There is fuel stored there. Fuel to run generators in case of an emergency." Way to explain things, Bloomberg. Anyway, Gothamist wonders how the 80,000 gallons of diesel would be moved out of the building: Would there were tons of barrels being rolled out? And we like that this topic is out in the public, because now we know where not to move. more ›