On Friday, dozens of birds fell out of the sky and died on a street in the Great Kills section of Staten Island. Residents grew concerned as, the Staten Island Advance reported, birds "flopped and twitched...as they breathed their last" (video here). One resident said the birds were flying "as if they were drunk" before falling to the ground. Residents were advised to stay in their homes as the fire department, police and as well......

The Health Department announced that a 41-year-old Brooklyn woman had tested positive for the West Nile virus. This is the first reported case of West Nile in the city this year. The woman was hospitalized on August 25th, after suffering symptoms like fever, headache, fatigue, weakness and muscle pain. Though it is possible she was exposed to West Nile outside of the city since she did travel in the weeks preceding her illness, the Health......

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......

Better make sure you've got your insect repellent ready: The Department of Health has found mosquitoes with West Nile virus in Flushing. No New York City residents have been been diagnosed with West Nile yet and Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden wants it to stay that way. He said, “West Nile virus has arrived in New York City, so protect yourself and your family. Wear insect repellent when you go outside and get rid of......

The Office of Emergency Management would like to remind you that for the next three days, New York City will be grosser than usual, with the heat index tipping 90 every day. But the professionals at OEM are on the case with such well-researched tips as,"Wear loose-fitting, light-colored clothing" and "Use an air conditioner if you have one." What would we do without our City government? But seriously, asthmatics should be extra cautious as......

City officials are wondering why dead birds have been found in Queens outside the Steinway Piano Factory and in a lot on South 4th in Williamsburg. WCBS 2 reported that over the past few days, 20 birds have been found outside Steinway's Long Island City factory. Authorities eading authorities to wonder if they were killed from a pesticide, all died from West Nile, or had flown into the side of the building. The Audobon's hypothesis:......

Some study from some university in some UK town, name ending in -ester or -ilshire or something, finds that fans of hip-hop music have more sex than other music fans. 38% of hip-hop fans in the study had had sex with multiple people in the past five years while only 1.5% of country music listeners had had more than one square dance partner. Also (we can see the angry comments now), more than 50% of......

+ City air unsafe for mosquitoes, asthmatics as the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene continues its shock and awe bombardment of the West Nile carrying buggers. Helicopters will be spraying parts of the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island with pesticide through Friday morning. Only one person has been infected with the disease this year compared with 14 last year. + Anorexic ladies, we feel your pain: skinny dudes have societal pressures too. + Overweight......

This may turn out to be the most boring weather week of the year. As Gothamist looks out our window we see a few fair weather cumulus over the Upper West Side. Those few clouds may be the most exciting weather we see all week. Clear skies and pleasant temperatures should prevail through Friday. Oh, some clouds may make an appearance on Wednesday, and again on Friday, but they won't be that much more extensive......

Oy, looks like Staten Island is the hot place for the virus set these days. Not only was there a rabid kitten running around the island (not to mention some rabid raccoons) but now the first case of the West Nile virus to be reported in the city this year has cropped up there. Last year there were 11 cases reported in the city, one which led to death. The 67-year-old first victim for......

- After another night with finicky to no power, the lights on Staten Island seem to be back on, but with this new heat wave the question is "for how long?" - One way to pitch in to prevent another round of massive power-outages is to try really hard to use as little power as possible: Turn off your AC and electronics when not at home, keep your thermostats no lower then 78, keep......

As if we needed another health scare, the city DOH was a buzz yesterday with talk of four meningitis-related deaths in Brooklyn over the past three months. The culprit, a strain of the bacteria meningococcus, is very treatable with antibiotics if caught early, and apparently doesn't discriminate, having put a high school freshman in the hospital and killing Professor X, a black nationalist rapper. The meninges are layers of soft tissue that cover the brain......

This story is totally eek-inducing. Three people have contracted the West Nile virus through organ donations - and two of them are in comas. The Department of Health says that the donor lived in the Bronx, near a park where there were West Nile mosquitos, and donors are not screened for West Nile. At any rate, the Department of Health says transmission of West Nile through transplantation is rare and only 11 people have tested......

- Three New Yorkers have been diagnosed with West Nile Virus; remember: no standing water on your property - The MTA accepted Bruce Ratner's bid to develop his metropolis of Nets basketball and luxury apartments in Brooklyn; the next two questions are will others sue to block the deal and when will Brooklyn Nets jerseys go on sale? - The Shake Shack will be open for another month, until early December! It's all about custard......

Partly cloudyish, high of 81. Miss me? Gothamist was illin yesterday morning, though the server was also conveniently timing out. Not much happening in weather news, other than the kinda-related first case of West Nile Virus occurring in Staten Island, where they are cranking up their chemicals for some hot mosquito-killing action. For some reason, mosquitoes are most active during dusk. So even though most boroughs seem bug-free (except for Queens, according to Frank Costanza),......

While this is not the Westinghouse competition of old (it's now the Intel Science Competition or something), a Stuyvesant senior from Queens, Yin Li, won the $100,000 Siemens Westinghouse Competition for his work in "using yeast to document how a previously discovered protein in mice nerve cells may help strengthen memory." His project was completed at a lab at Columbia University and Li told Newsday, "You'd be surprised at how similar human beings and mice......

The torrential rain we somehow managed through earlier will probably give us a mosquito- and motley-of-other-insects- filled summer. The city is naturally worried about West Nile but at present, there haven't been any cases, though the Health Department is trying to exterminate as many larvae as possible. The American Mosquito Control Association: Individuals enhancing the health and quality of life through the suppression o mosquitoes, other vectors and pests of public importance. Gizmodo is skeptical......

The Times reports that one prairie dog "has accounted for more than half the 34" reported cases of monkeypox cases in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin state epidemologist Jeffrey P. Davis says that the one prairie dog "was a super-transmitter if there ever was one. The prairie dog was moved quite a bit from a pet store to a household to one veterinary clinic and then to a second veterinary clinic before it died." CNN says......

The CDC says there are 37 cases of monkeypox, mainly in the Midwest. The skin lesions from monkeypos-infected prairie dogs are disgusting (here's a picture), which is another reason Gothamist never wants to touch anything that bears a passing resemblance to a rodent. A family in Wisconsin was just quaratined: "They said we can't leave until the scabs fall off the sores," said Tammy Kautzer, 28, of nearby Dorchester in central Wisconsin. "I only have......

There are reportedly 20 cases of monkeypox, a smallpox like virus though less deadly and infectious, found in the Midwest. The Times reports that "several patients in the American outbreak work for veterinarians or pet stores that sold prairie dogs and Gambian rats." Pet prairie dogs, okay, Gothamist knows what those are, though we're iffy on the idea of having them as pets. But Gambian rats? The article says these rats "grow to the size......