Free Republic

**snip** Congratulations to Luke Cook This week, the first Chick-fil-A restaurant in Lower Manhattan will open in the heart of the Financial District. The franchisee-owned restaurant, located at 144 Fulton Street next to Fulton Center Station, was designed to serve the downtown community and a variety of guests’ needs. With five levels, innovative ordering technology, seating for 140 guests and an open-air rooftop dining experience, the restaurant was built to serve guests stopping in for a quick meal, those looking for a place to sit and work, parents and caretakers dining with children, and guests hoping to enjoy a leisurely...

NEW YORK – A former top aide to Gov. Andrew Cuomo was convicted on corruption charges Tuesday at a trial that further exposed the state capital's culture of backroom deal-making. A federal jury in Manhattan found Joseph Percoco guilty of two counts of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and one count of soliciting bribes after deliberating for parts of three weeks. "Joseph Percoco was found guilty of taking over $300,000 in cash bribes by selling something priceless that was not his to sell – the sacred obligation to honestly and faithfully serve the citizens of New York," Manhattan...

A rookie Jets linebacker known as “Wild Man” was busted early Monday morning for a boozed-up, wrong-way crash with a jitney bus in the Lincoln Tunnel — and bragged about playing for the Gang Green during his arrest, authorities said. Dylan Donahue had a blood-alcohol level of .15 — nearly twice the legal limit — when he collided with the vehicle in the center, New Jersey-bound tube just before 2 a.m., sources said. A Port Authority cop witnessed Donahue, who was behind the wheel of a green Dodge Charger Hellcat, weave through traffic cones on the Jersey side and into...

Wealthy New Yorkers are furious that Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to open a homeless shelter in their ritzy Manhattan neighborhood.Dozens of wealthy residents packed into a community meeting to voice their anger over the decision to move 150 homeless men into the former Park Savoy Hotel, NY1 reports. The residents are concerned that the move will increase crime and decrease property values in their neighborhood on “billionaires row.”“How are these poor people, whose only livelihood is in one bag, deal with a $6 coffee and a $15,000 dress on the windows of Fifth Avenue?” asked one resident, a middle-aged man...

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Metro-North conductor Tom Moran left Manhattan Supreme Court with his wife after assault charges were dismissed Monday morning. Moran was charged with assaulting Metro-North police officers in Grand Central Terminal in August, after asking them to assist him in managing a drunk and disorderly passenger. He said the officers refused and apparently didn't appreciate his gesture of frustration. Prosecutors ultimately dropped the charges after surveillance camera video contradicted the officers' claims. The video apparently shows the officers attacking Moran. Watch the video here:

A mob of cyclists went the wrong way up a Manhattan street to reportedly attack drivers along the way. The cyclists pounded the car of an Uber driver at the very least five times, popping wheelies and cutting off moving cars.

Before Akayed Ullah returned home to New York from his native Bangladesh, and tried to blow himself up with a pipe bomb in a crowded Manhattan subway station, he had one last thing to do — an all-night bus ride by himself to help Rohingya refugees. After visiting relatives here in the capital city, Dhaka, he traveled across the country, slept in a mosque and under a tree, and passed out a few hundred dollars of medicine in the crowded refugee camps. “When he left, he seemed happy,” said his mother-in-law, Mahfuza Akhter. “But when he returned, he was so...

A leading Democratic fundraiser and close political ally of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have been a target of the alleged ring of Russian spies arrested yesterday by federal authorities. The president of the high-end tax accounting and financial advising firm Morea Financial Services confirmed earlier today that the alleged spy "Cynthia Murphy" was a longtime employee and a vice president at the company, which is located on lower Broadway in Manhattan. Federal and state campaign finance filings suggest that the little-known company manages the finances of one of New York's top Democratic financiers: Alan Patricof, a venture capital...

The nearly $30-billion Gateway program to overhaul Northeast Corridor rail lines between Newark and New York City, an array of tunnels, bridges and viaduct over wetlands has two main thrusts: rehabilitation and expansion. These objectives are deeply intertwined—the project team must build new structures in the huge effort before it can upgrade old ones. That’s why digging two 1.4-mile, 28-ft-dia train tunnels under the Hudson River—an estimated $12.9-billion project component—isn’t just an expansion job but a lifeline to free a pair of 107-year-old tubes heavily damaged by Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and in need of a rebuild. It’s also why...

Manhattan terrorist pleads not guilty Sayfullo Saipov, who is accused of killing eight people in New York City on Halloween, pleads not guilty to federal terrorism charges. Sayfullo Saipov, who is accused of killing eight people in the terror attack in New York City on Halloween, pleaded not guilty to federal terrorism charges Tuesday, reports Fox News. Saipov, 29, faces eight counts of murder in aid of racketeering, 12 counts of attempted murder in aid of racketeering, one count of providing and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State (ISIS) and one count of violence and destruction of...

An incident in which racist slurs were painted on a car near the Kansas State University campus last week was a hoax, and the man who painted the slurs has apologized. Riley County Police reported Monday afternoon that the owner of the car, Dauntarius Williams...

One of the greatest jazz albums ever made was recorded 60 years ago today. It's A Night at the Village Vanguard, a live date by saxophonist Sonny Rollins, featuring a muscular backdrop of bass and drums. It's not a carefully plotted concept album, nor a manifesto, but a document with the slangy nonchalance of a conversation overheard on the street, extemporaneous and unburdened. It's a slice of musical vérité that captures a true master of the form on a good day, in a generous and jocular mood. At 87, Rollins is an acknowledged eminence in American culture: Earlier this year...

"Shout 'Allahu Akbar,' because this strikes fear in the hearts of the non-believers." Who knew hijacker Mohammed Atta's parting words, discovered in his journal after the 9/11 attacks, would become a national punchline? The louder and more frequently jihadists around the globe shriek their signature battle cry, the more fervently multicultural apologists deny its meaning. They've transformed the Islamic supremacists' obvious and explicit call for violence into a bland utterance of peace as indiscernible and nonsensical as "Aloha Snackbar." With blood still fresh on the pavement in Manhattan after Monday's outbreak of Allahu Akbar-itis that took at least eight innocent...

Apparently, an active shooter and perhaps a truck attack going on NOW in lower Manhattan....

Dive Brief: The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has announced the completion of the state's first-ever diverging diamond interchange (DDI), located on Interstate 70, according to Equipment World. The DDI design eliminates left turns across oncoming traffic, improving vehicle flow and decreasing the chance of accidents. The agency also chose the DDI configuration because it could use the former interchange's cloverleaf footprint, reducing the impact of construction on the area. PennDOT said it modified the traditional DDI design slightly. Dive Insight: Design is one way transportation agencies are combating gridlock resulting from increased traffic. Other tools in DOT arsenals are...

In an age of careful branding, restaurateurs put a lot of thought into choosing just the right name. Rarely will they go to the trouble and expense of changing it. Yet the chef Tom Colicchio is dropping the name of his newest Manhattan restaurant, Fowler & Wells, after learning that it has historically racist connotations. The new name is Temple Court. Fowler & Wells, which opened last October, was named for a publishing company and scientific institute that once operated in a building on the same site in the financial district; that building was later torn down, replaced by Temple...

Bergdorf Goodman. Tiffany & Company. Louis Vuitton. Fifth Avenue in Manhattan is to shopping what Broadway is to theater, defined by the marquee names that for decades have occupied some of New York City’s most prized real estate. But lately, the avenue’s glittery window displays have been changing more quickly, as retailers have streamed in and out. Tourism has slowed while online shopping has sped up, making it harder for companies to justify the cavernous spaces and sky-high rents along the shopping strip.

It was a girls' day out for Hillary Clinton as she and two friends shopped along New York's Madison Avenue on Saturday. The former first lady was dressed in a navy blue ensemble, along with black flats, as she laughed and walked on the city streets with her gal pals. Flanked by three walking Secret Service agents and two Secret Service vehicles behind, Hillary was greeted by members of the public who seemingly showed support, taking selfies and giving hugs. The former Secretary of State stopped into Kate Spade, Asprey and a stationary store before getting into her car and...

Anti-Muslim protesters marching in Lower Manhattan Saturday were met by a larger group of counter-protesters who drowned them out with chants of their own. The two sides squared off in Foley Square, where ACT for America, a lobbying organization opposed to Muslim immigration, organized a “March against Sharia” - part of a series of nationwide marches the group organized Saturday. About 100 demonstrators carrying signs with anti-Islamic slogans — one reading simply “NO MORE MUSLIMS” — shouted against Sharia law, which ACT for America argues is threatening the United States. The organization is designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center...

An office tower is subject to forfeiture because revenue from it was secretly funneled to a state-owned Iranian bank in violation of a U.S. trade embargo, a judge ruled Monday. … The U.S. government had said the Alavi Foundation’s sole partner in the ownership of the 36-story Manhattan building was a shell company fronting for a secret interest held by the state-owned bank of Iran, Bank Melli. The Iranian government has been designated by the U.S. as a sponsor of international terrorism, an allegation it has repeatedly denied. …