City councilman and mayoral hopeful Tony Avella held a press conference today at City Hall to spotlight a pending council resolution urging the New York State Senate to outlaw force-feeding ducks and geese to produce foie gras. A bill to ban the practice is languishing in Albany, and Avella hopes his largely symbolic gesture will push it forward. Yesterday Avella told the Village Voice that though there are only two foie gras farms in New......

Dennis Gallagher, the married City Councilman representing Queens who was accused of raping a constituent in a drunken encounter last year, announced his planned resignation after pleading guilty to sexual abuse and forcible touching. Last summer, a 52-year-old woman alleged that she met Gallagher at a bar in Queens and after a night of drinking went with the Councilman to his district office, where he raped her. Gallagher's office was searched by police and DNA......

Queens Councilman Hiram Monseratte is alleging dirty tricks in regards to the burglary of his office late this week. While the Councilman and his staff were at a community meeting Thursday evening, someone broke into Monseratte's office. It wasn't a regular break in--all that was taken was a laptop belonging to his chief of staff containing campaign information and a box of envelopes labeled with Monseratte's imprimatur. The fact that no other valuable items were......