Results tagged “whiteplains”

Disgraced former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik was released from jail last night on $1.5 million bond and placed under house arrest as he awaits his February sentencing on various federal crimes. For the next few months, Kerik must wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and is not allowed to set foot outside his $2.5 million home in Franklin Lakes, N.J., except to visit lawyers, his church, and a hospital emergency room, if necessary. He's also allowed to meet with accountants fixing his fraudulent tax returns, but yesterday a judge denied Kerik's request to walk his children to school, telling him, "This is not home confinement with morning strolls and afternoon strolls."

In what must have seemed to Rudy Giuliani like a scene out of his nightmares, yesterday it was determined that there is officially a room where discussing 9/11 is off-limits—inside the courtroom of former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik's corruption trial. During a pretrial meeting in White Plains federal court, the judge told Kerik's team, "This is not about 9/11." Kerik was indicted of trading city contracts for free apartment renovations to his Bronx apartment from a mob-linked contractor.

Here we go: Park Avenue lawyer Madlyn Primoff, who was arrested earlier this week after forcing her squabbling children out of the car and driving away, now has a lawyer telling the press, "She wasn't abandoning her children. She expected to find her children." See, Primhoff had dumped the kids in downtown White Plains and told them to walk the 3 miles home to Scarsdale—but apparently she didn't really mean it because she drove around the block and couldn't find them! Primhoff reportedly picked up her husband and then started looking again, finding only the 12-year-old. A good Samaritan picked up the remaining daughter, 10, and, after stopping at Carvel to cheer the girl up with some ice cream, took her to the White Plains police station. Meanwhile, Primoff called the Scarsdale police about her missing younger daughter; Scarsdale cops, who say that Primoff didn't explain how the child went missing, told Primoff the girl was with the White Plains police. Primoff, who spent the night in jail for the incident, is free on bail and heads back to court next month.

A White Plains man used a remote access program on his laptop to monitor the suspect who stole it, resulting in his arrest last week. The laptop was stolen on September 4th after Jose Caceres left it on top of his car while he carried stuff into his home. Using the remote tracking, Caceres was able to monitor the suspect's internet use, which he says primarily consisted of studying the remarkable migratory patterns of the Black-tailed Godwit. Kidding—it was porn, all porn. When the suspect, 34-year-old Gabriel Mejia of White Plains, typed in his home address to replenish his porn supply, Caceres tipped off police, who arrested Mejia just hours later. The sting is reminiscent of last May's bust of two thieves in Westchester, which took place after the owner remotely used the camera in her computer to photograph the suspects.

The killing of Mt. Vernon police officer Christopher Ridley, gunned down outside of a White Plains courthouse, resulted in no indictments this week. The four men who killed him were Westchester County police officers, and the grand jury did not believe there was reason to proceed to a criminal trial.

Yesterday's fire at Lydig Avenue and White Plains Road in the Bronx ended up being a five-alarm blaze that tore through twelve businesses. Over 200 firefighters from 44 units were on the scene to fight the fire, which started around 8AM; the fifth alarm was called before 10AM, and the fire was under control by 11:39AM.

A four-alarm fire that destroyed at least 12 businesses in the Bronx has also caused some transit issues. Smoke at the Pelham Parkway 2 station is causing the 2 to bypass all stations between Wakefield-241st and East 180th, bypassing Gun Hill Road, Burke Avenue, Allerton Avenue, Pelham Parkway and Bronx Park East. The MTA says there are shuttle buses between stations and also suggests riders take other buses for the B, D, 4 and 6 trains.

Although Rev. Al Sharpton appeared with officer Christopher Ridley's family after the Mt. Vernon cop's death, advising people not to rush to judgment, questions about the shooting are turning in the direction of race and societal divisions. The Friday night shooting occurred when Ridley, off-duty police officer, tried to stop a fight and Westchester police shot at him.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an unsusual rescue on Laurel Ave. in Brooklyn, a school evacuation on Crescent Ave. in Queens, and an armed robbery on White Plains Rd. in the Bronx.
• A-Rod stays in NYC for 10 more years!
• Columbia University spares the Cotton Club.
• A City Council bill would make hanging nooses illegal, in addition to stupid.
• A teengager went stab-kill crazy on 13th St. when he assaulted three of his peers.
• Local service may be restored on Metro-North.
• If you're a New Yorker who needs to drive, here are some tips on how to do so more safely.
• Finger pointing in the UES scaffold plunge of two brothers.

A Brookings Institution study reveals that New York is a great place for walking, with 21 out of 21 walkable urban places. But Washington D.C. is the most walkable on a per capita basis while New York is ranked 10th, because New York is measured as the NYC metro area, including NJ, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. The study's author, Christopher B. Leinberger, admits there are issues with the methodology, namely that walkable places are weighted the...

John Gotti Jr. interrupted his lawyer and spoke with reporters after appearing at Federal Court in White Plains yesterday. Gotti, reacting to a 2006 story in the NY Post which claimed he was becoming a government informant, became angry and said that his family was scared of a possible mob hit:My family lives in fear as a result of this. What happens next? Tell me, what happens next? Does it make it all better if...

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was indicted in federal court yesterday and the U.S. Attorney prosecuting him pulled no punches describing his legal prey. "In meticulous detail, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia assembled count after count painting Kerik as a money-grubbing liar who tried to cover his tracks." Kerik allegedly had a mob-controlled contracting firm renovate his apartment for free, while telling city investigators that that same firm had no criminal ties....

A grand jury voted to indict former police commissioner Bernard Kerik on federal corruption charges yesterday and, this morning, he surrender to the FBI in White Plains. The indictment was sealed, but the 16 counts include charges of "conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, tax fraud and making false statements." The U.S. Attorney's office, which sought the indictment, and the FBI are giving a press conference now; U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York...

Just weeks after the New York Post milked a week's worth of coverage out of a 26-year-old's nude romp in the middle of the afternoon through Times Square, the paper heads back to the bare-naked well with yet another mentally disturbed male who wanted to lap the Square sans clothing. 44-year-old Antonia Alicata caught a Metro North train down to the city Thursday and then rode the subway to Times Square. Somewhere along the way, he shed his clothes and was caught on West 42nd St. by cops, as Alicata traversed the crossroads of the world without any clothes on.

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck at White Plains Rd. and 219th St. in the Bronx, an animal incident on Rochelle Pl. on Staten Island, and a hate crime at Columbia University in Manhattan. A tour of Jam Master Jay's studio, where the rap impressario was gunned down five years ago. A brief update on the unforgettable case where a man beat the bejeezus out of a grunting and yelping spin class...

Yay! It's that time of year when the Straphangers Campaign announces the winner of the annual Pokey Award for the slowest city bus service. And this year, there's a new award: The Schleppie, for least reliable service.

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on Waring Ave. and White Plains Rd. in the Bronx, a water rescue at the foot of East 79th St. in Manhattan, and a pedestrian fatally struck at Cropsy Ave. and the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn. A Jewish family had to have their housekeeper call animal control to report a five-foot-long snake in their Brooklyn driveway. The definitions of midtown and the stress of establishing boundaries. New...

If you take the Shuttle at Grand Central around 8AM on weekday morning, study this photograph and find this man - it's MTA CEO and Executive Director Lee Sander, and he'll be at the Shuttle platform tomorrow morning!

Yesterday, Con Edison removed the tow truck sitting in the crater where a steam pipe explosion ripped a 15' by 25' hole in 41st Street and Lexington Avenue. The utility will investigate the damage in hopes of getting a better idea of what caused the Wednesday night explosion. Other clean up crews were working on other parts of the damaged area. One contractor who will be washing the facade of a building told WNBC, "It's a mess. Blown windows and a lot of stuff like that."

Forty-six-year-old Maritza Suarez was run over by a cement mixer at the intersection of Morris Ave. and White Plains Rd. yesterday, in what the New York Post writes was a heroic effort to push her 17-year-old daughter out of the way of an oncoming vehicle that didn't appear to be slowing for pedestrians crossing the street. It indeed wasn't about to yield, because it struck Suarez, who was crushed underneath its wheels.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a church shooting on Schenectady Ave. in Brooklyn, a pedestrian struck on West 17th St. and Union Square West in Manhattan, and a water rescue in Raitian Bay between Staten Island and Sandy Hook, NJ.
• City Councilman Charles Barron's chief of staff, Viola Plummer, was suspended for six weeks from the City Council and by Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who she's also heckled, with a promise of reinstatment if she promises to behave herself. Plummer is in her 70s, but threatened another Councilman with assassination on a contentious vote.
• A grand jury in a federal court case voted to indict four alleged plotters that wanted to blow up JFK airport, kill thousands, and cripple the U.S. economy with a harebrained scheme to take out a pipeline that runs towards the airport.
• "...the red, white and blue leader of the Avengers was felled by an assassin's bullet on the steps of a New York federal courthouse." Captain America got capped, by Marvel Comics no less.
• A 21-year-old White Plains worker at the Rye Playland Amusement Park was killed when thrown from a gyrating ride. Gabriela Garin had changed shifts with another ride operator and then got on the ride to make sure visitors were properly secured, when her replacement started the ride.
• The new rules against noise and trans-fats go into effect tomorrow. Somehow we feel that NYers will remain louder, skinnier, and better looking than the rest of the country, regardless of what laws are passed.
• The City has a list of all the designated grilling areas around the five boroughs. The Parks Dept. says "Designated Barbecuing Areas," but frankly, we don't want to get into all that right now.
• We've pretty much given up on listening to radio, but this blog may point us to something it's possible we'll want to hear. Thank you New York Radio Guide.
• The Staten Island Advance points out that Mayor Bloomberg's ambitious plan to make all yellow cabs hybrid in a few years overlooks the livery cabs that service the outer boroughs. Car service owners and drivers would prefer to keep it that way.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting at 178th Pl. in Queens, a bank robbery at White Plains Rd. in the Bronx, and a homicide on West 157th St. and Broadway in Manhattan, and a water rescue off 88th St. near Gracie Mansion..
• The suspected killer of FDNY Chief Ray Downey's nephew, who was tracked to California, killed himself yesterday when cornered by cops.
• East River State Park opened today. Be one of the first to visit.
• $1,000 goes a long way: the cash handed to Richard Johnson at the NY Post continues to gain him press at the Times.
• Perhaps in an attempt to take the edge off moving it from Gramercy, Manhattan, to College Point, Queens, the City wants to pour $1 billion into the new Police Academy.
• A Long Island husband was arrested for allegedly murdering his estranged wife in a Long Island bagel shop.
• The original Star Wars was release this weekend 30 years ago.
• Vice President Cheney delivers the commencement address at West Point.

Today, the NY Post takes advantage of the built-in outrage of taxi fares by looking at how the new fares stack up. The fare increase, which went into effect yesterday, doubles the amount charged for waiting time from 20 cents per minute to 40 cents. So the Post made a couple trips:

[A] ride from Penn Station to the Metropolitan Museum of Art came to $18.50. The 5-mile, 29-minute midday trip would have cost $3 less the day before - an increase of nearly 20 percent.

Continue reading "Taxi Fare Hike: Fair or Not?"

A helicopter has crashed into a building on East 72nd. It was thought to be a small plane, but now reports say it is a helicopter. The helicopter seems to have crashed into 524 East 72nd Street, a residential apartment building. CNN is saying there are no reports of terrorism or hijacking.

Oh, its ticket for speeding when he was found going 51 mph in a 25 mph school zone in White Plains (remember that in July he was busted going 98 mph on I-95).

While Wal-Mart decided not to build a store in Rego Park last year, the NY Sun says the behemoth retailer working on surround then attack approach by opening up stores in just outside the city limits Last month a store in Kearny, NJ opened, and next up is one in White Plains that will be an "urban model." As in an urban model with "design elements that could be incorporated into a New York City store." Huh, does that include uncensored DVDs and controversial music or books? Here's what the store will be like:

The 179,731-square-foot Wal-Mart is split onto two levels, underneath a six-floor parking garage where customers can park for free if they spend more than $5. Special escalators will transport shopping carts between floors.

Continue reading "Wal-Mart Continues to Eye NYC"

A Bronx teenager was fatally hit by a Metro North train yesterday afternoon. Sixteen year old LaToya Jimenez was on her way to a job in White Plains when she somehow lost her balance, possibly fainting, and fell from the platform. Witnesses described her as seeming disoriented and that she did get up but fell again. Others believe she had been leaning over the platform.

In other words, we're paying them so let's make sure they are really at our beck-and-call.

"One doubles," a lady in line was ordering at the counter of Ali's Roti Shop. Is this some sort of code language that only Caribbeans know? How can you have just one doubles? It turns out that doubles is the essential snack food of Trinidad, and doubles is/are delicious. It starts with a small biscuit-sized disk of fried bread that is slathered with a thick chickpea curry and then topped with another round of bread. This finger sandwich of sorts may sound like a vegetarian dainty, but it packs a wallop. Especially if you ask for the hot sauce, and you should. The turmeric-colored bread is as soft and comforting as a pillow, and at first you might think you're taking a bite out of the Pillsbury dough boy. Then you hit the warming, earthy chickpea mixture, spiked with tamarind, cilantro, and cumin.