New York News: The City Desk

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New York News:
The City Desk

Post NY news and pics here!

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EXTRA! Monster Fire In The EV!!

Four Alarm Blaze At Houston St. and Ave. A http://gothamist.com/2010/07/08/fire...larm_blaze.php

The Fire Department is fighting a 3-alarm fire that started just after 5:30 p.m. on the roof of a building at Houston Street and Avenue A. The fire enveloped the entire roof; there is scaffolding on the exterior, and MyFoxNY suggested that the renovation/construction work could have been the culprit.

Here's live video; it appears that the Fire Department has it mostly knocked down (it's not officially under control yet). However, Houston Street is closed between First Avenue and Avenue B.

Update: The fire was at 240 East Houston Street. A few weeks ago, this complaint was filed with the Department of Buildings: "SCAFFOLDING IS BEING INSTALLED ON THE SIDEWALK, THEY HAVE INSTALLED FOUR OF THE SUPPORTS ON THE PROPERTY OF 244 E HOUSTON WITHOUTPERMISSION AND THERE ARE NO PERMITS/PLANS POSTED FOR THE CONSTCTN"

Update: The fire was upgraded to a 4th alarm, because while the main fire was knocked down, there firefighters are still searching for pockets of fire.

Update: The Office of Emergency Management says, "The following street closures are in effect due to the 4 Alarm Fire. E. Houston St. is closed from Christie St. to Norfolk St. Essex St. is closed from Delancy St. to 2nd Ave. The M9, M14 and M21 Buses are being rerouted."

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gammablablog/

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gammablablog/

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jedman/

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...And we got fresh fire porn!!

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George Steinbrenner has died

From Bloomberg News: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-0...ies-at-80.html

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George Steinbrenner, Yankees' Win-or-Else Boss, Dies
By Laurence Arnold - Jul 13, 2010



George Steinbrenner, the mercurial and free-spending owner of the New York Yankees who presided over the restoration of one of the great franchises in professional sports after turning it into baseball’s version of a soap opera, has died. He was 80. He died today in Tampa, Florida, according to a statement by his family. He suffered a heart attack, the Associated Press reported. Major League Baseball is in the midst of its annual midseason break for the All-Star Game, being played tonight in Anaheim, California.

The man known as “The Boss” took baseball by storm in his 37-year tenure, helping to usher in free agency and multimillion-dollar contracts, changing managers 24 times and serving two suspensions. “We’d be winning games and he’d be semi-embarrassed because we’d win on a squeeze bunt or a base hit,” recalled Joe Torre, who spent 12 seasons as manager through 2007. “He wanted to mutilate people.”

Steinbrenner’s Yankees won two early championships, followed by a 13-year playoff drought during which his combustible personality overshadowed the team’s performance. The franchise regained its footing in the 1990s, fueled by Steinbrenner’s prodigious spending, and won four World Series in a five-year span through 2000, inviting comparisons to previous sports dynasties.

Seven Titles

In all, the Yankees won seven of their record 27 world championships during Steinbrenner’s reign, most recently in 2009, the first season after he turned over day-to-day operations to his youngest son, Hal. Steinbrenner’s Yankees lured the game’s top players with blockbuster contracts funded by the team’s league-leading attendance, global popularity and regional sports network. His aggressive business tactics widened the Yankees’ lead as baseball’s richest team while irking other owners.

“I’m going to miss him,” Marvin Miller, the former head of Major League Baseball’s players union, said in a telephone interview. “I don’t mean he was pro-union in any sense of the word, but he was clearly not of the school of the hard-line owners that felt the unions were treasonous.”

By 2005, the Yankees were the most expensive sports team ever assembled in North America, with a payroll of $208 million. They became the first baseball franchise worth more than $1 billion the following year in Forbes magazine’s annual rankings. In April 2010, Forbes estimated the Yankees’ value at $1.6 billion.

Caught Catfish

Steinbrenner helped establish that players were free agents, able to move teams and sign with the highest bidder, by plucking pitcher Catfish Hunter from the Oakland Athletics in 1974 with a five-year, $3.5 million contract, a record at the time. Two years later, he landed Oakland slugger Reggie Jackson, the biggest star available on the first open free-agent market.

During the second of Steinbrenner’s two suspensions from baseball, from 1990 to 1993, Yankee management led by General Manager Gene Michael stocked the franchise with future stars -- including shortstop Derek Jeter and pitcher Andy Pettitte -- who would lead the team to its most successful run of the Steinbrenner era. That core group of homegrown players led the Yankees to 13 straight playoff appearances, through 2007, and World Series titles in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2009.

New Stadium

After numerous threats to leave the Bronx for New Jersey or Manhattan if attendance didn’t pick up, Steinbrenner decided to build a new Yankee Stadium next to the one that housed the team since 1923. The new $1.3 billion stadium opened in 2009. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, today saluted Steinbrenner as “a champion who made New York a better place” and said flags at City Hall Plaza would be lowered.

George Michael Steinbrenner III was born July 4, 1930, in Rocky River, Ohio, the oldest of three children of shipping magnate Henry Steinbrenner and his wife, Rita Haley. His drive in sports and business was imbued early. “My father expected me to do well in everything,” Steinbrenner recalled. “He was a big man, a great athlete, and a fine student. He graduated from MIT near the top of his class and became the school’s only NCAA champion in track and field ever. That’s what I was up against. I was an only son, and I knew he was always watching.” Before turning 10, Steinbrenner used a loan from his father to buy baby chickens and went into business selling eggs.

Ran Hurdles

He attended Culver Military Academy in Indiana, then Williams College in Massachusetts, where he studied English literature and ran hurdles, as his father had. After serving two years as an aide to an Air Force general in Ohio, he indulged his love of sports as an assistant football coach at Northwestern and Purdue universities. He returned to the family fold in 1957 by joining Kinsman Marine Transit, the Great Lakes shipping company his grandfather and great- grandfather had founded in 1901.

He succeeded his father as company president in 1963 and, four years later, led a group that took over a bigger rival, American Ship Building. The resulting company was the largest grain carrier on the Great Lakes. “This was a rocket rise to wealth, but all the while part of his focus stayed on sports,” Roger Kahn wrote in his book on the 1978 Yankees. “In a sense, sport to George was like that beckoning green light Jay Gatsby saw and sought on a dock he could not reach.”

Basketball Bankruptcy

Steinbrenner bought a basketball team, the Cleveland Pipers, which went bankrupt when its league collapsed. He leaped into the big time in 1973, leading a group of investors that bought the Yankees from CBS Corp. for $10 million. Rich history aside, the Yankees were a .500 team at the time and hadn’t made the World Series since 1964. Though his initial investment was just $168,000, Steinbrenner would buy out his partners over the years to become principal owner.

Steinbrenner was indicted in 1974 on charges of making illegal contributions to President Richard Nixon’s re-election campaign. Pleading guilty to a felony and a misdemeanor, he admitted he tried to “influence and intimidate” employees of his company to lie about the donations. Avoiding prison, he was fined $15,000. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn banned Steinbrenner from the game for two years, then reduced the sentence to 15 months. Years later, President Ronald Reagan would grant Steinbrenner a pardon. Steinbrenner thanked his lawyers by doubling their $50,000 fee.

‘The Bronx Zoo’

In Steinbrenner’s fifth season, 1977, the Yankees won the first of two straight championships while enduring feuds among three outsized personalities: Steinbrenner, Jackson and manager Billy Martin. The team earned the nickname “The Bronx Zoo.”

After losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1981 World Series, the Yankees missed the postseason every year until 1995. Steinbrenner changed managers 12 times during the 1980s. The combative Martin alone was hired and fired five times over 14 seasons. One of his most destructive feuds was with legendary Yankees catcher Yogi Berra, who managed the team to a third- place finish in 1984. Sixteen games into the next season, Steinbrenner fired him, choosing to send an intermediary to deliver the news rather than do it personally.

Worst Mistake

So angry was Berra that he vowed never to step foot in Yankee Stadium while Steinbrenner was in charge. Steinbrenner patched the rift in 1999, apologizing at an in-person meeting. Berra’s wife, who attended the meeting, said Steinbrenner told Berra that the way he fired him was “the worst mistake I ever made in baseball.” Berra, 85, said in a statement today, “George and I had our differences, but who didn’t? We became great friends over the last decade and I will miss him very much.”

In 1990, Steinbrenner paid an admitted gambler, Howie Spira, $40,000 for damaging information about star outfielder Dave Winfield, with whom Steinbrenner was feuding. Commissioner Fay Vincent banned Steinbrenner from baseball for life, then reinstated him for the 1993 season. Steinbrenner grew incrementally more patient in his later years, the Yankees prospering amid the stability. Torre’s 12- year run as manager began in 1996, and Brian Cashman has been general manager since 1998.

‘Divide and Conquer’

Steinbrenner’s patience didn’t necessarily translate to softer treatment of the people under him. In a 2009 memoir, co- written with Tom Verducci, Torre said Steinbrenner governed with a “divide and conquer dynamic” that encouraged employees to denigrate others. Steinbrenner capitalized on the franchise’s popularity in 2002 by launching the Yankees Entertainment & Sports (YES) Network, a regional cable network built around Yankees programming. The Yankees owned 40 percent of the venture. In 2008, the network’s estimated $2 billion value surpassed that of the franchise proper.

In stepping back after the 2007 season, Steinbrenner named sons Hank and Hal co-chairmen of Yankee Global Enterprises LLC, the holding company of the team and its television network. He appointed daughters Jennifer and Jessica, and wife Joan, as vice chairwomen. On occasion, Steinbrenner poked fun at his image. In a 2004 credit card commercial, he appeared with his arm in a sling, ostensibly from having signed too many checks.

Raced Horses

He and his family spent summers at Kinsman Stable, his horse farm in Ocala, Florida, which produced six Kentucky Derby entrants. Steve’s Friend had the best showing, finishing fifth in 1977. Steinbrenner married the former Joan Zeig in 1956. Like their father, each of their four children graduated from Culver Military Academy.

Steinbrenner brought his passion for the military to the Yankees. At his behest, a sign was hung in the corridor leading from the clubhouse to the field. Each game, Yankees players read the words of Gen. Douglas MacArthur: “There is no substitute for victory.’ “I keep telling my guys, always remember that winning is everything,” Steinbrenner said in an interview on YES in 2005. “Winning is important. It’s a way of life.”

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Another Sad Passing: R.I.P. Harvey Pekar

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From Gothamist: http://gothamist.com/2010/07/18/vict...up_for_cir.php

Victim Gets $10MM to Make Up for Botched Circumcision

Mazel Tov? A Brooklyn federal judge has awarded $10 million http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/b...-rss&FEEDNAME= to the victim of a circumcision gone wrong, leaving his man parts "partially amputated." The settlement is ordered to be paid by the makers of the Mogen clamp, which was used to perform the procedure. Though it is advertised as the "preferred device of the more modern Jewish Mohel," the device has been involved in other partial amputations. The judge found that the device should have come with a warning, instead of the promised "risk-free procedure" in the instruction manual.

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From: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...4rcIAD9H1I7IG0

NYC City Hall renovation targets dangerous decay
By SARA KUGLER FRAZIER (AP)

NEW YORK — After rotting trusses, faulty wiring and sagging ceilings were discovered in New York's City Hall, the nearly 200-year-old national landmark is undergoing a major renovation that will displace the City Council and other operations for at least a year.

The city discovered deteriorating conditions during a minor renovation a few years ago, prompting a wider examination of the building, which once hosted Abraham Lincoln's body for public viewing and is one of the nation's oldest continuously-used city halls.

Officials found widespread failings and alarming decay: cracks through the trusses that support the roof, a rotting basement floor, wiring that was known to spark and dangerously sagging ceilings.

"It's gotten to the point where it's really bad," said Philip J. Kelly, the city official overseeing the project. "It has to be done. It's amazing no one's been hurt or there hasn't been a fire."

Recently, just before repairs were to begin in a City Council hearing room, a 10-foot-long, 6-inch-wide piece of plaster molding broke away from the wall and crashed to the floor.

The building was once the home of executive, legislative and judicial operations — including a criminal court and jail — but it is now primarily occupied by the offices of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Council and supporting operations for both.

The white Renaissance Revival-style building hosted viewings for the bodies of Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant after their deaths. It was illuminated one September evening in 1813, commemorating American victories in the war of 1812. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was welcomed with a party there upon his return from overseas in 1945.

The lower Manhattan building has also survived disaster, including a fire in 1858 during fireworks celebrations marking the laying of the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable.

Many of the crumbling elements date to the building's original construction.

When workers first eyeballed the renovation project, the cost was estimated at $65 million. But officials said the expense has shot up to $106 million as crews found more problems when they ripped into walls and ceilings.

The building's last major update was in the 1950s, when the exterior marble and brownstone were replaced with white limestone, and an elevator was installed.

That elevator will be replaced in the upcoming project.

The work also involves reinforcing the wood trusses in the roof — part of the original 1812 construction — plus repairing the roof and ceiling of the council chambers and adjoining rooms. A building-wide fire sprinkler system also will be installed.

The building is also getting more efficient lighting, heating and cooling controlled by a computerized building-management system, water fixtures and lighting that are activated by sensors, and solar panels on the roof. Officials acknowledged that the environmental retrofits are not the highest level of upgrades available, but said there are cost limitations on what can be done.

Crews began some of the work in 2008, starting on the west side of the building, where Bloomberg's desk is located. Engineers said the trusses would not last another winter without possibly failing, so the beams were reinforced with steel.

The renovations won't move the mayor from the west wing, where repairs are being completed without displacing staff. Heavier work is now concentrated on the building's east side, where the 51-member City Council meets and where many council offices are located.

The room that has housed the City Hall press corps since 1898 will be closed during the work; the media began moving this month to a temporary trailer.

During the construction, council meetings will be held at the old Emigrant Savings Bank building on nearby Chambers Street.

Hearings will be shifted to another office building across Broadway, where council officials recently settled into temporary offices. Speaker Christine Quinn said there have been a few hiccups — like telephone problems and adjusting to closer quarters.

"It's a little bit of an adventure for a year," she said. "We had no choice — the building is in structural disarray and it wasn't safe for us to remain there."

One headache that has added to the growing cost of the renovation: Crews digging behind the building discovered the remains of an 18th century structure the city believes was an almshouse that stood from the 1730s to the 1790s.

The area is now being dug by hand and supervised by archeologists. The dig has turned up the remains of other structures, including a water cistern and an icehouse. Evidence of daily life, including bone buttons, medicine bottles and ceramic egg holders, have also been found.

The city Landmarks Preservation Commission is overseeing the digging and will determine what to do with the artifacts.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

[Teslatron]

Man wearing Darth Vader mask and cape robs L.I. bank with gun, shoves customer to floor



A lot of robbers use force. This one used the Force.

A bandit decked out in a Darth Vader costume strolled into a Long Island bank yesterday - and walked out with a wad of cash.

The villain looked ready for Halloween, wearing the "Star Wars" scoundrel's signature mask and sweeping black cape.

He lost some authenticity points for a pair of camouflage pants.

The get-up struck one customer as so funny that he started joshing with the Darth Robber after he strode into the Chase bank in Setauket.

"The customer thought it might have been a joke, and not a serious attempt at a robbery," said Suffolk County police Detective Sgt. William Lamb.

But Darth wasn't kidding - and he wasn't going to be stopped by a non-Jedi Knight.

He won a "shoving match" against the incredulous customer before using his piece to order him to the floor, Lamb said.

And his weapon was no joke. He was carrying a pistol instead of a lightsaber.

Cops released a surveillance camera image yesterday showing Darth at the teller counter, loading bills into a bag, while the customer cowers on the floor.

The fake Darth made a quick-footed getaway, and the bank was still checking its drawers late yesterday to figure out how large his take was, Lamb said.

It was the second recent off-the-wall bank robbery. On Wednesday, NYPD cops arrested a man dubbed the "Bouquet Bandit," saying he brought flowers and potted plants into banks he robbed.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_c...t_li_bank.html

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From Gothamist: http://gothamist.com/2010/08/04/caro...d_for_shop.php

Caroline Giuliani Arrested For Shoplifting



Caroline Giuliani, the daughter of former NYC mayor and presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani and Donna Hanover, was arrested for allegedly shoplifting at an East 86th Street Sephora. The Post reports that the Harvard student "was taken to Manhattan’s 19th Precinct stationhouse for processing" while the Daily News says the 20-year-old "was caught at Sephora about 3:30 p.m., sources said. Surveillance video is being reviewed by police." A few years ago, it was reported that Caroline Giuliani was going by the name "Caroline Hanover."

Update: Will being a Giuliani pay off? The Post's and Daily News' sources say that Giuliani was caught shoplifting over $100 worth of items by store security and a salesperson. The cops were called, but by the time they arrived, the store employees found out the lowly shoplifter was daughter of "America's Mayor" and, according to the Post, they "apparently had a change of heart and declined to press charges. But by then it was too late, and the daughter of the man who built a reputation for being tough on crime was carted out in handcuffs."

A source said, "It was captured on camera. At some point the store indicated they knew who she was and that they were not going to press charges. The DA will decide whether to decline prosecution or not." A witness in the store told the Daily News, "She was a pretty girl with blond hair. She got carted off in cuffs by four cops, two were holding her really tight." We bet if she needed her insulin shot, the cops would have let her have it. Hanover went to the 19th Precinct, but Rudy Giuliani was not spotted—and Caroline Giuliani was given a desk appearance ticket for "petit larceny.".

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From: http://www.us.capgemini.com/news/cur...ews.asp?ID=840

NYC Has 667,000 Millionaires

Capgemini U.S. August 3, 2010 - New York, NY

Capgemini, one of the world's foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, today announced the results of the Capgemini 2010 U.S. Metro Wealth Index, which monitors populations of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs)[1] within the top ten United States metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). According to the Index, the population of HNWIs in the top ten MSAs increased 17.5 percent in 2009, the highest growth rate in the last four years. Those MSAs with the greatest HNWI population gains in 2009 were also those that had the largest drop in HNWI population in 2008.

2010 U.S. Metro Wealth Index

Capgemini's Edward Merchant, Solutions Leader, Capital Markets, for Capgemini Financial Services, explains the U.S. Metro Wealth Index and what it means for wealth management firms. New York City continued to top the Index and had more HNWIs than the next top three MSAs - Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C. - combined. California hosted three of the ten largest MSA populations of HNWIs, including Los Angeles (ranked two), San Francisco (ranked five) and San Jose (ranked ten). In addition, Houston (ranked nine) had the strongest growth rate in its HNWI population.

While many of the MSAs in the Index continued to occupy the same ranking as they did in 2008, Philadelphia moved up to number six in the ranking for 2009, pushing Boston to the number seven position. This change in rankings was due to the fact that Philadelphia was among the least impacted metros in terms of economic factors such as rise in unemployment, decline in real estate prices and per capita income. In addition, Houston moved up to the number nine ranking, pushing San Jose down to number ten.

"In today’s volatile market, the Metro Wealth Index serves as a resource for advisers and wealth management firms who are looking to understand the trends affecting high net worth individuals in specific U.S. markets," said Edward R. Merchant, Solutions Leader, Capital Markets, for Capgemini Financial Services. "Through Capgemini’s wealth management expertise and sizing capabilities, we allow firms to better understand the opportunities that exist in different regions and help shape their strategy accordingly."
The Capgemini U.S. Metro Wealth Index leverages Capgemini’s custom market sizing modeling capability and is designed to help wealth management firms understand the scale and potential of different markets in order to identify new growth opportunities or adjust an existing footprint in specific regions. Wealth management firms can benefit from such analysis as it provides details on the dynamics and growth of potential markets and client segments, as well as insights on future trends.

The complete results for the top ten U.S. MSAs are included in the visual below. Capgemini has more than a decade of market sizing experience through client projects and on the industry leading World Wealth Report. For more information on market sizing engagements, please contact wealth@capgemini.com.


2009 Rank by #HNWIs (2008 in parentheses) US Metro Area Adult Population (k) 2007 HNWI Population (k) 2008 HNWI Population (k) 2009 HNWI Population (k) 2007-08 HNWI Growth (%) 2008-09 HNWI Growth (%)
1 (1) New York
(15,438.388) 650.1 561.8 667.2 -13.6% 18.7%
2 (2) Los Angeles
(10,227.825) 253.3 208.2 235.8 -17.8% 13.3%
3 (3) Chicago
(7,602.357) 205.4 172.2 198.1 -16.2% 15.1%
4 (4) Washington D.C.
(4,347.736) 151.9 127.7 152.4 -15.9% 19.3%
5 (5) San Francisco
(3,530.694) 142.6 120.8 138.3 -15.3% 14.5%
6 (7) Philadelphia
(4,725.571) 106.3 86.7 104.1 -18.4% 20.1%
7 (6) Boston
(3,723.372) 107.9 89.4 102.3 -17.1% 14.4%
8 (8) Detroit
(3,554.006) 94.5 79.5 89.1 -15.9% 12.1%
9 (10) Houston
(4,450.611) 86.7 68.4 88.2 -21.1% 28.9%
10 (9) San Jose
(1,457.851) 80.7 69.5 86.5 -13.9% 24.5%

[1] HNWIs are defined as those having investable assets of $1 million or more, excluding primary residence, collectibles, consumables, and consumer durables.

Chart: High Net Worth Individual Population Grows in the Top Ten U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas. According to the Capgemini 2010 U.S. Metro Wealth Index, the population of HNWIs in the top ten U.S. MSAs increased 17.5 percent in 2009, the highest growth rate in the last four years.

[desertpunk]

From: http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2010...k-slides-away/

Flight Attendant Pops Emergency Chute, Escapes Plane at JFK
Aug. 9 2010
By Sean Gardiner

A jetBlue flight attendant upset because a passenger refused to apologize after accidentally striking him with luggage, allegedly spewed obscenities over the PA system, then activated and slid down a plane’s emergency chute before disappearing into a terminal at John F. Kennedy airport Monday, an airport official said.

JetBlue Flight 1052 from Pittsburgh had taxied to a stop at Terminal 5, Gate C around noon Monday when flight attendant Steven Slater, 38, was struck in the head with luggage that a passenger was trying to unload from an overhead compartment, according to an airport official with knowledge of the incident.

Slater demanded an apology from the passenger, the official said, but the passenger refused. The two argued before the passenger told Slater to “fuck off”, the official said. The official said that Slater then got on the plane’s PA system and directed that same obscenity at all the passengers and added that he especially meant it for the man who refused to apologize.

Slater is alleged to have then activated the plane’s inflatable emergency slide, grabbed two beers from the galley, then slid down the chute, the official said.

The attendant then ran from the tarmac into the terminal, the official said. He made his way to his car and drove to his residence in Belle Harbor, Queens, the official said. The official said that jetBlue officials waited until about 25 minutes after the chute was deployed before they notified Port Authority Police. The wait enabled Slater to make the getaway, the airport’s police force. Steve Stampley, a jetBlue spokesman, declined to comment on the alleged reporting delay.

Authorities picked the flight attendant up at his home on Beach 128th Street Monday afternoon and brought him to the Port Authority Police station at JFK airport for questioning. The official said that Slater was calm when arrested and remained calm throughout his interrogation and the booking process. He was charged with reckless endangerment and criminal mischief. He was awaiting arraignment Monday night. Attempts to reach Slater’s relatives were not successful. (No word on whether the flight attendant was one of the many former NYPD officers in jetBlue’s employ.)

Stampley said that jetBlue’s corporate policy prohibits the company from divulging information about crewmembers.

“At this time, we are working with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to investigate this incident. At no time was the security or safety of our customers or crewmembers at risk,” Stampley said.

Gawker unearthed what appears to be Slater’s MySpace page, which mentions overcoming alcohol and substance abuse, and includes comments about how he ‘loves to max it out with trips around the world, sometimes on a moment’s notice

[desertpunk]

From Gothamist: http://feeds.gothamistllc.com/click....85aa2bf5b796ff

Times Square Street Performer Gets Stabby


A silver street performer who dresses up like the Tin Man flew into a rage and heartlessly stabbed a tour bus hawker with a screwdriver last night in Times Square, cops and witnesses said. WABC reports that a City Sights New York employee was standing in front of the Toys R Us store when he got into an argument with the Tin Man around 7:30 p.m. The dispute culminated with the silver guy stabbing the victim in the arm, and one witness says, "There was blood everywhere."

"It was a scuffle going back and forth on the ground," witness Eric Jones tells the Daily News. "The silver guy got up and took off." The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, and police arrested Gerald Brown, 50, of Harlem, reportedly finding the bloody screwdriver tucked in his silver pants. "It was a turf beef," one cop tells the tabloid. And another witness says the Tin Man's just too territorial, explaining, "The Tin Man was arguing with Spider-Man last night. He said, 'You asshole, this corner is mine.' "

[desertpunk]

From: http://www.vosizneias.com/62562/2010...st-air-quality

New York, NY - Manhattan Has City's Worst Air Quality


New York, NY - A study released by the local Department of Health on Wednesday showed that major air pollutants are heavily concentrated in high-traffic areas in Manhattan and along highways during the summer in New York City.

The study, which used data from summer 2009, revealed that Manhattan has the worst air quality, especially in areas with lots of skyscrapers like Midtown and lower Manhattan.

The study showed high concentrations of elemental carbon, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone, released primarily from vehicles and buildings.

“It’s important to remember that all New Yorkers have a stake in improving the City’s air quality,” said New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley in a release. “Exposure to the pollutants evaluated in this report can cause grave health problems, including cardiovascular and lung diseases, and premature death.”

The report suggests increasing public transit efficiency and encouraging more bike riding as a way to reduce emissions

[desertpunk]

Gothamist: Westboro Hate Freaks Will Be In NYC Tomorrow

http://feeds.gothamistllc.com/click....82550025330de5



Fasten your seatbelts....

[3tmk]

BTW in case you haven't noticed there's an orange blimp over the city these days.

[desertpunk]

Originally Posted by 3tmk

BTW in case you haven't noticed there's an orange blimp over the city these days.

Al Qaeda? Or marketers?

[desertpunk]

CONAN!!

image hosted on flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nybble73/

[desertpunk]

Frank Gehry's IAC Building used for Vimeo light show:

[desertpunk]

From Gothamist: http://gothamist.com/2010/10/12/asse...h_westboro.php

Assemblyman Tried To Punch Westboro Hate Mongers

Yesterday the Westboro Baptist Church, the group that regularly protests at funerals of those who served in the military (prompting the father of a slain soldier to sue the church's pastor), had a few of its protesters in Brooklyn and Manhattan yesterday to spread its provocative gospel of "God Hates Fags," "Thank God For 9/11," and "Your Rabbi Is A Whore." At one location in Brooklyn, Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D) was so incensed he tried to punch out Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of the church's founder Fred Phelps. According to WPIX:

Hikind interrupted an interview Phelps-Roper was doing with PIX 11 News to slap the posters, saying "Come on!" Phelps-Roper shouted, "Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" while police supervisors grabbed the Assemblyman by the waist. "How dare you have those signs!" Hikind yelled. He then warned the Kansas group, "Just be careful the rest of your day in Brooklyn."

Hikind also called Phelps-Roper a "whore". Yeshiva World News reports that the Westboro protesters' minivan's tires were slashed: "They were seen a short while later getting their flat fixed at a local tire-repair shop. 'The only thing I’m sad about, is that all four of their tires weren’t slashed', Dov Hikind told YWN."

When the protesters arrived in Manhattan, one of the counterprotest signs they were were confronted with was "God Hates Signs."

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[Middle-Island]

Wow. That's the most I've seen anyone go at the Phelpses in some time. People should know they are all lawyers that live for prosecuting attackers -- just as much as they love protesting.

They came to Long Island several years back after the Mepham High (Bellmore, NY) football hazing involving the uh..."pine cone". But most importantly were met by a strong counter-protest that drowned them out. That's about the most you can do to them it seems. Make their effort seem like a waste as much as possible.