While responding to a woman's call for help in a dispute with her boyfriend, a police officer ultimately fatally shot the man who refused to drop a large knife.

The incident occurred at an apartment building on East 83rd Street on the Upper East Side. A woman had flagged down a patrol car; according to police, the woman said "she and her boyfriend had been drinking, but he had become abusive." The police went to the apartment and found the boyfriend who would not drop the weapon and instead allegedly lunged at them.

The boyfriend was shot in the chest and was pronounced dead at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. This was an on-duty police shooting; there have been a number of off-duty law enforcement officers shooting people threatening them with weapons this past week.

Update: The AP has some more details. A cab driver actually flagged down the cops--the girlfriend had just been punched by the boyfriend after they had gone to a bar. The cops and girlfriend went back to the apartment for her to get some of her belongings.

[Spencer] Parris at first refused to open the door. Moments later, police said, he burst out wearing a T-shirt and boxer shorts, holding a 13-inch knife over his head and yelling, "I'm going to kill you."

One of the officers pulled the girlfriend into a stairwell while the other drew his gun and ordered Parris to drop the knife, police said. The man kept advancing, backing the officer into the end of a narrow hallway, police said.

Parris came within about three feet of the officer when he fired a single shot into the victim's chest.

Additionally, the girlfriend did tell police Parris "suffered from bipolar disorder and had previously threatened suicide." The NYPD considers this a justified shooting.

Starbucks has released the full list [pdf] of 600 ?underperforming? locations nationwide that will close between now and mid-2009; 10 of them are in New York City, with the majority clustered in midtown, two in Queens, one on Staten Island and one in Bay Ridge. Which means we?re left with a scant 225 Starbucks citywide ? so get out and support your local neighborhood Starbucks!

The closings will affect some 12,000 employees ? er, partners ? who have been gathered around the Starbucks Gossip blog to commiserate. Some comments are pretty depressing, like this reminiscence for beloved Starbucks #9930 in Fort Worth, Texas: ?To touch on special relationships. This store is truly an example. Ralph, the manager, considers the partners and customers his family and it is a painful ?separation.?? Pour a Grande out for poor Ralph. Other comments are depressing in a different way, like: ?Every store has unique characteristics, many have something that make it special. I'm wondering what traditions are being lost in the stores that are closing??

In a memo to employees last week, Starbucks C.E.O Howard Schultz explained the downsizing: "Poor real estate decisions that were made, coupled with a very troubled economy, convinced us that these stores would not reach acceptable levels of profitability." And no mention of Starbucks closures would be complete without reminding everyone that this is all just a normal part of Starbucks Phase Two. Read and weep or celebrate the full list of New York City Starbucks closures after the jump.Brooklyn
BAY RIDGE: 8414 THIRD AVE 8414 3RD AVE BROOKLYN NY

Manhattan
1675 BROADWAY MANHATTAN NY

400 MADISON AVE NEW YORK NY

1600 BROADWAY NEW YORK NY

46TH & FIFTH AVE: 565 FIFTH AVE NEW YORK NY

MADISON & 44th: 340 MADISON AVE NEW YORK NY

MACY'S 5TH FLOOR: HERALD SQUARE 151 W 34TH ST NEW YORK NY

Queens

8989 UNION TURNPIKE GLENDALE NY

ATLAS PARK: 8000 COOPER AVE GLENDALE NY

Staten Island
FOREST PROMENADE: 1756 FOREST AVE STATEN ISLAND NY

Photo courtesy doyoulikehiphop.

In NJ, a bicyclist is in critical condition after being hit by a deer. According to the AP, George Ljutich, who was cycling with Cynthia Mooney, in Hopewell Township when a car hit a deer, which then went flying into the Ljutich's and Mooney's path. The AP reports, "Ljutich was thrown from the bike and struck his head on the pavement. Mooney sustained cuts and bruises"--and they were both wearing helmets. There have been some other recent incidents where deer have collided into people in NJ, but a state DEP spokesperson said, "Based on what's known about deer behavior, there's nothing occurring within the herd right now that might explain these accidents."

Taryn Kapronica, stage name Bettie B. Goode, may be the sickest air guitarist in the region, but the Brooklynite's title has come with a hefty price: her toe. The Daily News says the winner rocked her U.S. Air Guitar Championships Brooklyn Regional performance at the Music Hall of Williamsburg so hard that her toe bent backwards and was later amputated! She told the paper that: "By the time I hit the ground and looked down, my toe was pretty much gone and just hanging from a thread." Blood dripping across the stage, she continued to play finish her air cover of Scorpion's "Rock You Like a Hurricane," saying "I just kept on air guitaring". The U.S. Air Guitar blog has an account of the incident, which took place on July 9th:

Then, it happened. Bettie B. Goode started her routine by jumping off the stairs you take to get from backstage to on-stage. She promptly ran up to the balcony, climbed over the railing, onto the plexi-glass awning above the soundbooth that is, presumably, there to prevent drinks from the balcony falling on the sound equipment ? that is to say, not meant to support the weight of a full-grown human being, no matter how slight or dainty her build. Bettie then ran over to the judge?s table where we all got a good look at her toe, which by then, was broken in half, bleeding, with white bone showing. She beat out the two technically superior contestants, but I mean... Bone was showing. She was declared the winner and promptly whisked away to the emergency room. Which just goes to show... In Air Guitar, sometimes when you win, you actually... are insane.

Kapronica added that she still plans to represent New York in the sixth annual U.S. Air Guitar Championships in San Francisco on August 8th. Now that's dedication! Another competitor dubbed Kapronica a "hero" having earned her place in "air guitar lore."

Photo via Kapronica's Flickr.

photograph by d_savage on Flickr

Today is going to be downright unpleasant and tomorrow even worse. A big high pressure system off the Mid-Atlantic coast is pulling hot and humid air into the region. Look for highs this afternoon in the mid 90s in the city and lower 90s in the suburbs. The heat and humidity have set off a heat advisory as well as an air quality alert. In response to the heat the city has opened cooling centers and the Salvation Army is opening their community centers to help people keep cool.

The humidity will slowly increase through tomorrow night. This means an uncomfortable night tonight as temperatures will only fall to the upper 70s in the city. Tomorrow will probably not be as warm as today but with the added humidity the heat index will be higher. Triathletes and Siren Music Fest goers beware! Drink plenty of water, wear light-colored, loose-fitting clothing and try to avoid the sun if possible are chief among may ways to beat the heat.

A cold front approaching Saturday may kick off a few showers late in the afternoon tomorrow. Cooler weather is expected on Sunday after the front's passage. Expect a high only in the upper 80s. Thunderstorms are likely Sunday night.

Today the little movie that could, The Dark Knight, opens on the wings of a cosmic hype that could make it the third biggest box office earner this year.

The first screenings began at midnight, continuing through the night, and many moviegoers were declaring it the best movie ever while still waiting on line to get in. The Observer talked to some fanboys (and girls) waiting for the IMAX screening at Lincoln Center last night; before it started Brandeis University student Andrew Litwin declared The Dark Knight "probably one of the most amazing movies I've ever seen."

Others, like funnyman Aziz Ansari, are already leading the backlash. Despite publicly announcing that ?if it were physically possible, I would fu*k this movie,? Ansari is now whistling a different tune in this Funny or Die video. Elsewhere, Vermont senator Pat Leahy dishes about his one-line cameo in The Dark Knight, in which he tells the Joker ?We?re not intimidated by thugs.? (Unlike Dick Cheney, the Joker?s reply is more elegant than ?Go fu*k yourself.? ? watch the clip here.) And Animal NY has photos of other movie posters artfully "defaced in a Jokerly fashion."

Photos via WireImage.

Did you hear a bone-chilling collective shriek coming from the Bryant Park this morning? It was just Miley Cyrus and her legion of tweeny-bopper fans piled into Bryant Park for an early morning concert courtesy of Good Morning America. To put some perspective on it, this was pretty much equivalent to the Bon Jovi concert in Central Park but for the underage set.

The 15-year-old wunderkind managed to put some age-appropriate clothes on for the early morning appearance, and performed a few tunes from her new album "Breakout," which will be released on the 22nd, but no "Hannah Montana" tunes (she left her Disney Channel persona and wig at home). Relive the magic at YouTube and GMA's website. Next Friday expect a slightly more mature crowd gathering for Feist, who is also playing the show's summer concert series.