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Man held in Fourth of July attack By Ira Kantor Sunday, July 6, 2008 A 20-year-old man was arrested Friday night for allegedly attacking a New York Yankees fan with a baseball bat after a Fourth of July fireworks display in Falmouth. According to police, officers responded to 153 Worcester Court after receiving a report about a fight in progress. On arrival, officers noticed several youths, including Robert Donald Correia of Falmouth, bothering a family in its car because the vehicle had New York license plates. Police said Correia and others accused the family of being Yankees fans. The family...

City EMS crews were hit with a surge in call volume last week leading up to the Fourth of July, forcing some 911 callers to wait as long as 80 minutes for an ambulance, EMS sources told The Post.

Drug dens, homeless shantytowns and prostitution are rampant in New York City's parks, a Post investigation found. Comparing the manicured lawns of Manhattan's Central Park to the barren, rat-infested eyesore of Spring Creek Park in Brooklyn, the disparity is shocking. While the Bloomberg administration boasts that parks are in better shape than they've been in four decades, an investigation of 70 parks over the last nine months found: * Clusters of homeless living in tents and small shantytowns in 10 parks, including Riverside Park near 148th Street in Manhattan. * Hookers brazenly plying their 24-hour trade, including at Printers Park...

New York is having a cannoli conundrum. The shell-encased treats at two of the city's top bakeries tested well above the Health Department's trans-fat limit that went into effect Tuesday, according to lab results commissioned by the Daily News. Veniero's, the popular East Village eatery where one cannoli contained trans-fat levels four times above the city limit, vowed Friday to pull the shells from the shelves until the supplier it deals with bans the bad-for-you fat. "I want to thank you for alerting me," owner Robert Zerilli said. Veniero's wasn't alone. The taboo fat was also found in a cannoli...

This vicious mugger has attacked six women and one man since April on the Upper West Side and West Harlem, police said yesterday. The thug targets his victims randomly and strikes in the early evening or early morning. He first punches his victim in the face, then demands cash and valuables.

Spitzer "actually enjoyed destroying people," said a former NYSE managing director, Richard Riker. "Spitzer's legacy is tarnished and trashed because of [the prostitution scandal that led to his resignation] and the Richard Grasso lawsuit suit." "[The Court of Appeals decision upholding Grasso's pay package] becomes part of the realization that Spitzer was no more than a legal lightweight who bullied and slashed his way through Wall Street using the power of his office," Riker said. Spitzer's personal reputation was already in tatters. Revelations that Spitzer had a years-long addiction to high-priced prostitutes - and that he might be indicted himself...

A teenager was fatally shot on the lower East Side during a bloody 12-hour stretch that left four other people in the city murdered, cops said Tuesday. Vincent Cruz, 17, of Washington Heights, was shot once in the head at about 2:10 a.m. Tuesday on Eldridge St. during a fight with a group of men, police said.

The city's murder rate is up nearly 8 percent this year - with surges in rapes and robberies as well, police statistics show. Nevertheless, the NYPD said the city's overall crime has dipped 3 percent so far this year. Through Sunday, there were 238 murders, compared with 221 during the same period last year - a 7.6 increase. Five additional murders have been reported since Sunday. The rise in deadly violence has been accompanied by a troubling 6.2 percent increase in rapes, as well as a 4.4 percent rise in robberies.

An antique cherry wood chair scorched to its springs by a fireball inside a Battery Park City apartment. Family letters and wedding invitations miraculously recovered from the rubble. A $2 bill pulled from a victim's bruised wallet that finally convinced his wife he was never coming home. These are the everyday objects of Sept. 11, 2001, all of which will end up in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

New blood: Violent gang life is passed down from parent to child BY VERONIKA BELENKAYA DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Sunday, June 15th 2008, 2:13 AM Warga/NewsA longtime member of the Lating Kings, here with his 4-year-old, says he wants to be a peacemaker and hopes his son follows suit. Newborn Blood, known as a Blood drop, is draped with beads and flanked by guns. Police later seized the pistols from the parents.  The images as chilling as they are heartbreaking: An infant with a semiautomatic handgun next to each tiny shoulder. A child no more than a year old...

Rev. Al Sharpton plans Bell protest at Yankee Stadium for All-Star Game BY JOTHAM SEDERSTROM DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Monday, June 9th 2008, 4:00 AM The Rev. Al Sharpton threatened Sunday to disrupt baseball's historic All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium next month unless the state passes new laws to curb police misconduct.A month after protesters blocked bridges and tunnels during rush hour, Sharpton said he wants to bring the outrage over the Sean Bell shooting to the national stage July 15 by targeting the midsummer classic. "We have plans to do the same at the All-Star Game," Sharpton said. "We...

The issue came up yesterday, when the mayor mentioned on his weekly WOR radio show that he had spotted someone exiting the subway with a bicycle just as he was getting on that morning for his commute to City Hall. "I don't run the subway system, I don't run the MTA, but if I did - if I had total power - I guess I'd say it's too crowded for bikes," the mayor said. -snip With an ambitious agenda to stave off climate change, the city is promoting pedaling by adding numerous bicycle lanes in all five boroughs. But the...

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The New York state Legislature has given final passage to a bill that would charge $250 for pet owners who don't pick up after their dogs in some parts of the state. That would more than double the current fine. Dog owners currently have to pay $100 if they don't pick up the poop. The change would apply to the five boroughs of New York City, Albany and Yonkers. The Assembly passed the bill Wednesday and the Senate had already passed it. A spokesman for Gov. David Paterson said the governor will review the measure.

Four New RFAs Issued Governor Paterson on May 8, 2008 announced the availability of $109 million in funding for stem cell research initiatives, with the issuance of four new Requests for Applications. excerpt http://stemcell.ny.gov/about_NYSTEM_staff.html

A Johnson Road resident has periodically been confronted with a bag of trash deposited in her driveway and it appears crows may have helped identify a culprit. Fed up, the resident called the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Department this week and reported the latest unwelcome gift. The resident reported that trash has been deposited in her driveway several times over the years... Arriving at the residence on Wednesday, Dow said he picked up a trash bag that had been dropped off and when he did so, part of a court summons fell out through a hole pecked out by crows. The...

The FBI issued a bulletin to 18,000 law enforcement agencies this week warning that al-Qaida has made new threats to use weapons of mass destruction against U.S. targets. ABC News reported late Tuesday that intelligence sources have confirmed that al-Qaida plans to release a new video on the web sometime tomorrow. U.S. intelligence believes the terror group will advise its "jihadists to use biological, chemical and nuclear weapons to attack the West." An FBI spokesman confirmed the threat "calling for the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) against civilians." The U.S. has no "intelligence of any specific plot or...

May 24, 2008 -- ALBANY - A veteran State Police forensic scientist hanged himself yesterday under circumstances shockingly similar to the suicide of another state police official just eight days ago Garry Veeder, 59, left a note in his Albany suburb home saying he was concerned about becoming a target of an internal probe regarding the handling of a high-profile case, the Albany Times Union reported. But sources said Veeder, who recently put in his retirement papers, was not implicated in the investigation by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is probing suspected political espionage by a rogue group of State...

New York Governor Pardons Slick Rick May 23, 2008, 3:35 PM ET Hillary Crosley, N.Y. Veteran rapper Ricky "Slick Rick" Walters received a full and unconditional pardon from New York governor David Paterson today (May 23) for the attempted murders of two men in 1991, apparently ending a long legal sega. Walters has already served approximately five years in prison and was released in 1997 on parole and discharged in 2000. But he faces deportation under a federal statute mandating the removal of a lawful resident alien upon conviction of an aggravated felony or a weapon offense. In 1995, an...

ALBANY -- A longtime forensic scientist for the New York State Police apparently killed himself today, marking the second time in less than ten days that someone connected to the agency has committed suicide.

Upswing In Recent Violence Has Communities At Odds Fears Of Riots Similar To 1991 Grip Residents NEW YORK (CBS) ― Police are mobilizing a massive presence in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn in the wake of increased tension between black and Jewish communities. Leaders from both communities have come together recently to preach cooperation among residents of the neighborhood where blacks and Hassidic Jews live side by side. But recent violence has showed that religion and race don't always mix. "I definitely feel [like there's unrest] because I see it everyday. I'm around here a lot and that's what...

Saul Bellow’s prophetic 1970 novel captured New York’s unraveling and remains a cautionary tale. As Bellow understood, the “anything goes” culture of the 1960s produced an “anything goes” city, where disorder and crime flourished, as in the Times Square of that era.Fear was a New Yorker’s constant companion in the 1970s and ’80s. We lived behind doors with triple locks, some like engines of medieval ironmongery. We barred our ground-floor and fire-escape windows with steel grates that made us feel imprisoned. I was thankful for mine, though, when a hatchet turned up on my fire escape, origin unknown. Nearing our...

May 17, 2008 -- Albany's dirty-tricks scandal seemed serious but straightforward at the outset: The Spitzer administration deployed state troopers and a credulous local newspaper reporter to put a hit on a political enemy. Then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer, implicated in a prostitution scandal, resigned in March - and his successor, David Paterson, asked Cuomo to probe reports of a "rogue" State Police unit that engaged in political espionage. . . . Whereupon it was revealed that e-mails and, perhaps, other evidence allegedly had been scrubbed from the BlackBerry and computer of a key figure in the probe - retired State Police...

NEW YORK - The Brooklyn Bridge is 125 years old this month and New York City is getting ready to celebrate. The city on Monday announced an array of activities including a special bridge lighting, concerts, lectures, film series and family events. The five-day festivities will kick off on May 22 with a performance by the Brooklyn Philharmonic at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn, and a Grucci fireworks presentation. The bridge connects Brooklyn and Manhattan across the East River, and is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the country. It will be lit up in an array...

Saul Bellow’s prophetic 1970 novel captured New York’s unraveling and remains a cautionary tale. Fear was a New Yorker’s constant companion in the 1970s and ’80s. We lived behind doors with triple locks, some like engines of medieval ironmongery. We barred our ground-floor and fire-escape windows with steel grates that made us feel imprisoned. I was thankful for mine, though, when a hatchet turned up on my fire escape, origin unknown. Nearing our building entrances, we held our keys at the ready and looked over our shoulders, as police and street-smart lore advised; our hearts pounded as we tried to...

The State of New York has been ordered to recognize homosexual "marriages" performed in U.S. states and foreign countries where the practice is legal. New York's highest court – the Court of Appeals – refused to review a lower-court ruling that ordered recognition of so-called foreign "same-sex marriages" performed outside the State of New York. Such unions must now be honored in New York if they were created legally -- for example, in Massachusetts or Canada. Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality says activist judges are now forcing homosexual marriage on New York citizens. "[T]his is a very...

<p>Sean Bell's fiancée, her mother and the Rev. Al Sharpton were arrested today along with dozens of demonstrators who blocked traffic throughout Manhattan to protest the acquittals of three police officers in the fatal shooting of an unarmed groom just hours before his wedding.</p>

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc has sued the state of New York, challenging a new statute requiring Internet retailers based elsewhere to collect New York sales taxes. Amazon, the world's largest Internet retailer, said in a complaint filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York on April 25 that the new law, passed by the state legislature in early April, was unconstitutional, vague and overly broad. Through its "Associates Program," the company pays unaffiliated Web site operators around the country a commission if they advertise Amazon on their sites. Those ads often allow consumers to click...

<p>The makers of a small, digital camera that attaches to the barrel of a gun say the device would have ended any dispute about what happened in the Sean Bell shooting.</p> <p>Now, a former Bronx homicide prosecutor who helped develop the Pistol Cam wants the NYPD to consider putting the audio and video gadget on its service weapons.</p>

The study by Queens College sociologist Harry Levin, titled “Marijuana Arrest Crusade,” accused police of purposely singling out minorities during the 10-year crackdown. It said that data provided by state Division of Criminal Justice Services showed that between 1997 and 2007, 52% of the suspects were black, 31% Hispanic, and only 15% white. The findings are further proof that “racial profiling is a fact of life on the streets of New York,” the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, Donna Lieberman, told a news conference.

A former staffer in a Bronx City Council member's office is under investigation by the Bronx District Attorney for allegedly running a housing scam that bilked more than a dozen constituents out of thousands of dollars, according to sources familiar with the case. The woman reportedly charged up to $2,000 with the promise that she could secure federally subsidized Section 8 housing. Under the federal program, the government covers up to 75% of rent for persons who can prove they qualify for the subsidy. Sources said that Councilwoman Maria Baez hired the staffer about two years ago, shortly after the...

Prospect Park Zoo's new cats purr-fect at playing hide-and-seek BY JESSICA DURANDO DAILY NEWS WRITER Monday, April 28th 2008, 4:00 AM Rosier/NewsProspect Park Zoo’s Pallas cat makes appearance. Just like typical house cats, Alexandra and Nicholas would rather sleep than entertain humans. The 10-year-old Pallas cats have been on exhibit for about a month at Prospect Park Zoo, but they rarely make eye contact with people who stop to look at them. Zookeeper Hulya Israfil, 27, said the wild felines from Central Asia are still getting used to their surroundings. "We're letting them take their time and hopefully they'll...

Could there be a calculated, cross-country plot to kill young college men, including some in Minnesota? It seems a little hard to believe, but two New York detectives say, they can prove it.

More protection against terrorists is coming to a subway station near you. Starting Thursday, special bomb teams, known as "Torch Teams," will be toting submachine guns and bringing bomb-sniffing dogs onto the platforms and into the trains. CBS 2 HD was out first thing Thursday morning on the lookout for these significant security measure improvements. It's a first for mass transit in the United States. NYPD officers, armed with rifles, submachine guns, body armor and bomb-sniffing dogs will begin patrolling the city's subway system thanks to a 50 percent increase in a homeland security grant.

April 23, 2008 Police believe they've found those responsible for the so-called "Ninja Burglaries" on Staten Island, but they're short of evidence, so they're turning to immigration authorities to throw the suspects out of the country. Investigators say they have closed the book on the so-called Ninja Burglar case,without making any arrests. Police sources say an effort is underway to deport a group of illegal immigrants from Albania. Investigators say they don't have enough evidence to charge them, but the men have been arrested for other burglaries in the past. A string of 19 burglaries began last May. The ninja...

In the battle against gun violence, every little bit helps. Microstamping, for instance. Last week, the Assembly passed legislation requiring gun makers to stamp codes on the firing pins of semiautomatic handguns delivered to New York dealers starting in 2010. The Senate should sign on, too. It's no crime-fighting panacea, but microstamping would enable police to identify guns by marks imprinted on the shell casings found at crime scenes. Authorities would be able to trace a gun back to its last legal owner, a lead that could help point the way to the perpetrator.

Graffiti arrests and complaints are skyrocketing as so called "taggers" treat city walls as their personal canvases, new police statistics reveal. The NYPD recorded and unprecedented 81.5 percent surge in graffiti-related complaints from 2006 to 2007. During the same period, graffiti arrests spiked nearly 28 percent. "We did an excellent job turning the tide against graffiti in the '90s and the beginning part of this century,"

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday called on the U.S. government to pay $150 million a year to cover medical bills for workers and residents whose health suffered due to the September 11, 2001, attacks. The federal government created a $1 billion insurance fund to help ground zero workers sickened by the toxic fumes and dust released when the World Trade Center was destroyed. The fund, however, has been hobbled by lawsuits and criticized for a lack of payments to sick workers. The request for the health payments was among the top priorities for the mayor, who provided...

The Pope used the structure of the great Cathedral as a symbolic framework for addressing the interior meaning of the Christian vocation and mission.

MYFOXNY.COM -- The NYPD's Harbor Unit, patrolling the East River near the United Nations as a part of security operations for the Pope's visit, rescued an apparently sick beaver from the water. The ever-vigilant harbor cops spotted the animal, which appeared to be having trouble breathing and struggled to swim, not far from the U.N., where the Pope was speaking. >>VIDEO: SCUBA COPS BRING BEAVER ASHORE >>VIDEO: OFFICER DESCRIBES BEAVER RESCUE Police Officer John Angus caught the beaver in a safety noose, pulled it aboard, and placed it in a bucket with water. Officers brought the beaver to shore for...

NEW YORK -- Two former city council staffers were arrested and charged Wednesday in connection with a budget scandal, sending shockwaves through City Hall. Federal law enforcement officials told WNBC.com that Asquith Reid and Joycinth Anderson face charges of mail fraud and money laundering for allegedly embezzling at least $145,000 that was supposed to go to an after-school tutoring program. Reid is the former chief of staff to Brooklyn Councilman Kendall Stewart and Anderson had also worked for Stewart. Investigators said the pair helped misappropriate taxpayer funds for their personal gain through an embezzlement scheme. "It was a part of...

Assembly Passes Comprehensive Legislative Package To Protect Citizens And Law Enforcement From The Nightmare Of Gun Violence Legislation Approved as April Marks First Anniversary of Virginia Tech, Ninth Year Anniversary of Columbine Killings **** For Immediate Release: April 15, 2008 Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Assembly Codes Committee Chair Joseph Lentol announced that the Assembly Monday approved a series of gun safety measures aimed at helping law enforcement officers track down illegal guns, keep guns out of the hands of felons and children, and ban advanced weaponry used to kill police officers. The 10-bill package has been passed by the...

REASON No. 100 to keep your kid out of public school: Desperate to save programs for gifted students, the Department of Education has decided to dumb down standards for getting into smart classes. Now, kids entering the realm of the gifted and talented don't have to score in the top 5 percent on an entrance exam - the top 10 will do. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said he's been forced into this bone-headed move because there aren't enough brilliant kids left to keep these programs running. And to this, I have to laugh.

Governor Paterson’s promising speech—and enormous budget A sex scandal drives the old governor out, and the new governor cuts through partisan politics to say what voters need to hear: change is imperative. “The days of spending like there’s no tomorrow end today,” the governor, who hails from the legislature, tells his former colleagues. “The good news is we’re not bankrupt. The bad news is we’re close,” he adds, continuing his refreshing straight talk. The editorialists are thrilled, seeing an upside to the previous officeholder’s embarrassing resignation. New York governor David Paterson in 2008? No: New Jersey acting governor Richard Codey...

Join us this evening on the "Glenn Beck Show" on CNN Headline News as three Vets for Freedom members discuss highlights from the tour, Vets on the Hill, and the Petraeus testimony. The message is getting to America, and with your continued support, we will ensure that America understands the truth of what is really happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. Move Out and Draw Fire!

What is good for the goose evidently isn't so good for the gander when it's New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine doing the honking about New York City's congestion-pricing plan. Leading up to yesterday's deadline for New York state lawmakers to vote on the proposal, Corzine weighed in last week by saying that he was dismayed by the scheme and would bring suit against New York if it went ahead with the proposal to charge motorists $8 and truckers $21 to drive into the most heavily trafficked parts of Manhattan; the N.J. governor was angry as well that the fees...

BUFFALO, N.Y. - A dozen leaders and members of a construction union were arrested Tuesday and charged with a decade of attacks against nonunion workers and their families, and prosecutors said some of the crimes were aided by the local's access to state motor vehicle records. The president of Operating Engineers Local 17, Mark Kirsch, was among those charged with extortion and racketeering after a five-year investigation. The union, headquartered in Buffalo, operates in six western New York counties. At job sites where non-Local 17 members were hired, union members caused more than $1 million in damage to more than...

Updated: April 8, 2008 05:26 PM EDT ALFRED, N.Y. (WIVB) - - Alfred University has cancelled all classes and closed the library per police request. ALFRED, N.Y. (WIVB) - - Police are on campus at Alfred University, investigating a report of a Hispanic male, possibly carrying a gun. He is described as wearing a green hoodie sweatshirt and carrying a back pack. Faculty and students are being advised to remain inside where they are, not to go outside. Update: The following email has been sent out to the campus: Alfred State College has been advised that the description of the...

Secret NYPD anti-terror plans would turn Ground Zero into Fort WTC - a bulked-up, battened-down, barricaded Ring of Steel, the Daily News has learned. Some 25 impregnable barriers and 13 guard booths would encircle the World Trade Center footprint under a draft plan circulated in late February. At least 24 blocks on eight major streets would be closed or restricted to traffic under the proposal, which has been reviewed in City Hall and at 1 Police Plaza and is still being revised. Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Browne wouldn't address any specifics in the draft plan. "No decision has been made...

A New York City cabbie who operates an extremist Islamic anti-American Web site that features violent images — including mocking the deaths of GIs in Iraq — says he’s doing the country a service by “exposing the truth.” Yousef al-Khattab, who runs RevolutionMuslim.com from his home in Queens, told FOX News that he also wants the U.S. to embrace Islam and Sharia Law, which prohibits alcohol and can include stoning to death or severe flogging for pre-marital sex and adultery. On any given day, log on to al-Khattab's site and a host of startling images appear: — The Statue of...

Politicians in an election year will do anything to not raise taxes in a form that they should be raised (i.e. raising a broad-based tax). That's why they frequently do what is happening in Albany: raise taxes on an arbitrary product consumed by a minority of citizens (i.e. cigarettes). Cigarette taxes should not be set at a given level for the sole purpose of raising revenue. If the elected officials want to justify a cigarette tax on the grounds that they impose negative costs on society, then so be it. Determine that level and tax it appropriately. But don't just...