Twitter has been filled with pleas to help find Brooklyn resident Brianna Zani. The 21-year-old, who may be disoriented, originally went missing Tuesday night, leaving her wallet and cell phone in her Bushwick apartment. She was later found by police officers passed out in an alley and brought to Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn—where she promptly escaped. Last night a team of friends and family searched the surrounding area for her, with no luck, and have now set up a website with more information. Zani is around 5' 5", has blond hair (that she has just shaved off), blue eyes, and is wearing a green shirt with blue jeans. A friend tells us, "She's INCREDIBLY intelligent, clever, and one of the sweetest girls I've had the pleasure of knowing. Her disappearance and recent erratic behavior is not like her." They ask if you find her, to please call 911. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an explosion at Linden Blvd. and 220th St. in Queens, a homicide on Sedgewick Ave. in the Bronx, and a water main break on Prospect Place in Brooklyn
• Santa may have to bypass coalition troops stationed around the world today, but holiday presents will be appreciated even if they do arrive a few weeks into 2008. Newsday has a nice piece on gift-giving to troops and how to do it.
• U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner is in permanent campaign mode to become Mayor of NYC, as the office now seems to be a viable stepping stone for higher national office. Interesting fact: Weiner was a post-college roommate of comedian/news man Jon Stewart.

After responding to a woman's 911 call about a domestic dispute with her son, the police fired between 13 and 20 times at the son, who claimed he had a gun. The gunfire killed 18-year-old Khiel Coppin and it turned out he was only holding a hairbrush. Coppin had been arguing with his mother in their Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment, and when police arrived, came out to the window ledge, "screaming and acting irrationally," according to... more ›

The cops were looking for an alleged gang member in Bed-Stuy when they found something very disturbing - a 4-day-old baby in a Timberland shoe box. After arresting the 21-year-old they were looking for, police found the baby girl in an apartment that is described as filthy. Also found in the apartment was a loaded .45-caliber pistol, ammo, and a small amount of cocaine. Police arrested the 19-year-old mother for endangering the welfare of a minor. The baby girl and a 15-year-old in the apartment were turned over to the Administration for Children's Services. more ›

Let's paraphrase what we wrote yesterday: How is it again, with Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff and Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan riding their bikes, that NYC remains a bike-unfriendly city? Yesterday, two bicyclists died in separate incidents in Brooklyn and the Bronx. At 9AM, 18-year-old Luis Ramos was biking to his job at George's Spanish and American Restaurant when a woman opened her car door in his path on Flushing Avenue near Beaver Street. The Post describes that "Ramos slammed into the door, flew over his handlebars and fell into traffic, where a school bus ran over him." Ramos' brother Lucas had been biking about two blocks behind him and saw the police at the scene. He said, "I ran over to him to hug him. But the cops told me not to touch him." Ramos was pronounced dead at Woodhull Hospital and the police did not issue any summons. more ›

• Tody on the Gothamist NewsMap: a carjacking in Staten Island; a missing patient at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn; and a fatal accident in Queens.
• The Staten Island carjacking, which included a police chase, injured three people, including a child and a police officer. One suspect is in custody and police are on scene looking for a possible 2nd suspect.
• The fatal accident in Queens was a small school bus striking a 23 year-old woman in Richmond Hill. The bus had special-ed students from St. Joseph's - the students are uninjured.

Eep! An off-duty police officer was stabbed in the chest by another person at Kellogg's Diner in Williamsburg around 4:30AM yesterday with a folding knife. And what started this confrontation? According to the NY Times, when "one person bumped into someone from the other party on his way to the bathroom." Kellogg's Diner manager Theodora Fiotos told the Times, "Basically, they exchanged some words. They were yelling and screaming and pushing each other." more ›

It seems the meningitis bug that hit Brooklyn last March is still hanging around and causing trouble. So far this week, one person, Geraldine Stafford, has died from the illness while two other residents of her apartment building at 940 Gates Avenue in Bed-Stuy have been hospitalized. This includes a 12-year-old girl whom the disease has placed on a respirator at Woodhull Hospital. Meningitis is an infection of the meninges, which are protective layers which cover our brains and spinal cords. The infection typically starts elsewhere in the body, usually as a sinus or lung infection, and if left untreated, can have disastrous consequences. Now that we’ve sufficiently freaked you out, more sober health officials caution that only those in close, prolonged contact with those already infected need worry. And while authorities are not sure how the outbreak began, it may be related to a cookout last Saturday that the afflicted attended. more ›