Get this woman a reality TV show! Christina Szele of Woodside, Queens created such a disturbance during a Jet Blue flight from JFK airport to San Francisco that pilots diverted the plane and landed in Denver, where federal authorities took her into custody. According to an affidavit obtained by the Smoking Gun, things started to go sideways after a flight attendant noticed Szele waiting on line for the bathroom with a book of matches and......

Photograph of memorial outside Heath Ledger's NYC apartment Gothamist learned that actor Heath Ledger was found dead in his SoHo apartment, cause of death unknown so far (but apparently the masseuse who found him called Mary-Kate Olsen before 911).Bostonist considered sending a link about the Super Bowl, but damn! The New Kids are reuniting!Although Sylvester Stallone is a native of New York City, his Rocky character lets many Philadelphians consider him a native son......

Knicks 89 Philadelphia 76ers 81: The Knicks enjoyed a team effort in defeating another struggling Eastern Conference team, the Sixers. Five players scored in the double digits, led by Jamal Crawford's 18 pounts and Zach Randolph's 16 points and 14 rebounds. Coach Isiah Thomas said, "We have good shot distribution, everyone feels part of the game, everyone gets to touch the basketball." Late in the fourth quarter, the Knicks' 10 point lead was cut......

Photo of Michael Strahan kissing the George S. Halas Trophy after the game by AP/David J. Phillip The Giants are going to the Super Bowl! Thanks to a 47-yard field goal in overtime New York defeated Green Bay on the infamous “frozen tundra” 23-20 to advance to Super Bowl XLII. It was a game of dramatic twists and turns and it produced some unlikely heroes. Start with Dominic Hixon who had several big kick......

While it may be beautiful now, yesterday's weather was awful enough to cause some holiday travel headaches for those flying out of area airports. Winds were gusting up to 47 MPH, and travelers arriving at LaGuardia had two hour delays, which wasn't bad considering arrivals at Kennedy and Newark had delays of four to four-and-a-half hours. A non-weather incident, though, caused a JetBlue flight from San Francisco to New York to be diverted to Denver......

Another gloomy day today. A bit of fog this morning may delay flights out of town. You may also have weather-caused delays if you're going to northern New England (ice and snow), Chicago-Detroit-Milwaukee (rain) and the front range of the Rockies from Denver northward (snow). If you're staying in town you can expect cloudy skies and mild temperatures with a high in the mid-50s. It won't cool off much tonight, making for a comfortable......

Devils 6, Flyers 2: After three failed bids to get Martin Brodeur his 500th career win, the Devils finally provided him some margin of error. They played stingy defense and lit the lamp six times en route to an easy milestone win. Brodeur joins Patrick Roy as the only netminders with 500 wins. Dainius Zubrus got the party started and added an assist. As happy as the Devils are for Brodeur, they're probably happiest that......

Sacramento 123 Knicks 118 (2OT’s); You weren’t dreaming, that really was Stephon Marbury playing defense. Marbury didn’t start, but he had a nice game off the bench as Isiah went to a three-guard lineup in the fourth quarter. With Crawford and Robinson sharing the point, Marbury took over at the two and did well. Eddy Curry had a huge game with 27 points including a game-tying rebound and layup with 10 seconds left in regulation,......

Rangers 4, Devils 2: Given New Jersey's recent dominance over its cross-river rivals, Martin Brodeur's picking up his 500th win against Rangers would have seemed appropriate. Jaromir Jagr and Henrik Lunqvist had other ideas. Lundqvist stopped 22 shots and Jagr added a goal and an assist as the Rangers on the Prudential Center ice. Even defenseman Marc Staal got into the act. Jamie Langenbrunner had two goals for the home team, whose fans eagerly booed......

The Mardy Collins era lasted approximately six minutes. Pushed into the starting lineup in place of Stephon Marbury, Collins sprained his foot halfway through the first quarter. And, Collins’ injury was just the beginning as Phoenix trounced the Knicks 113-102 while shooting 56% from the field. To make matters worse, Renaldo Balkman went down with an injury later in the game and had to be helped off the court. With Quentin Richardson out with an......

Knicks 97 Minnesota 93: Isiah Thomas was booed when he was introduced before the game, but the rest of the Knicks were cheered. And, when Nate Robinson pledged before the game that this team would win more games than in previous seasons that elicited the biggest cheers of all. Robinson backed up his pledge with 10 points in 16 minutes while Jamal Crawford had 24. Unlike Friday, the Knicks shot well from the charity stripe,......

If they want to, the Jets can trace the morphing of their season from disappointing to disastrous from their Week 4 loss in Buffalo on Sept. 30. Before that, their only defeats came against the Patriots and the Ravens. Those are nothing to be ashamed of. But now the team hasn't won since a Week 3 squeaker against the Dolphins, and, let's face it, everybody's beating Miami these days. The Jets will try it all......

The Daily News and NY Times both look at the life of Carol Anne Gotbaum, the New Yorker who died while in police custody at Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport over a week ago. She is portrayed as a vibrant woman and loving mother to three children who had become depressed in recent years. On Friday, September 28, Gotbaum missed a connection to Tucson (where she would check into alcohol rehabilitation) and become very upset......

Reuters is reporting that today New York was named "the U.S. city most vulnerable to a rat attack as warmer weather and aging infrastructure fuels rodent populations across the United States." At least we don't have to worry about earthquakes (yet)? Rodent management consultants Dale Kaukeinen and Bruce Colvin (self nicknamed the "rat pack") have determined this by assessing the rat problem in different areas. They look at 14 risks factors, including: age of......

The prominent Democratic party donor and California fugitive Norman Hsu's connection to New York City's New School is examined in the NY Times today. Hsu donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to national Democrats like Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, to governors like Eliot Spitzer of NY and Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania, and NYC politicians like City Council members Christine Quinn and John Liu and City Comptroller William Thompson. Hsu, who had been wanted......

18 years after its big screen release, and 171 years after Hans Christian Andersen penned the fairy tale...The Little Mermaid is ready for Broadway. Ariel & Co. will take the stage in New York starting November 3rd, and since mid-summer the musical has been out in Denver for a pre-Broadway engagement. The Colorado show took much criticism, however. With shots at the stage design ("visual incoherence"), choreography ("uninteresting"), song composition ("compromised with chaotic presentation"), costumes......

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has secured the votes necessary to purchase Dow Jones & Co., Inc. which includes The Wall Street Journal itself. The win comes after a lengthy proxy battle in which the Bancrofts––the family that has acted as stewards of the company from afar for more than a century––resisted a very generous overture from Murdoch. The Australian media tycoon eventually won the day by convincing a......

There's no session scheduled for the State Assembly Monday in Albany, but state senate leader Joseph Bruno took a break from barking back and forth with Governor Spitzer to draft a bill in an effort to lay claim to a half-billion dollars in federal funds targeted at improving transit. Senate Majority leader Bruno had the bill drafted and urged fellow lawmakers to convene in an effort to get the state's hands on $500 million in......

Yankees 8, Twins 0: On a night where the Yankees shut out the Twins, perhaps the best news on the evening was that Alex Rodriguez played. A day after straining his hamstring against the Twins, A-Rod returned to the lineup and went 0-4, but also started a double play in the 4th inning to help keep the Twins off the scoreboard. Chien-Ming Wang didn't have his best stuff, but he was still good enough to......

Rockies 6, Yankees 1: Teams that headed to Denver used to be able to look forward to three games of productive offense. The Yankees have instead gotten two runs and two losses in two games. Maybe it's the humidor at work. Maybe it's the top-heavy offense not getting help from the bottom part of the order. Whatever the reason, the Yankees dropped two games to the Red Sox in the past two days and will......

Twins 9, Mets 0: Jorge Sosa has had good starts this season, but this wasn't one of them. The defense has played near flawless baseball, but it didn't Tuesday. The Mets offense has had its ups and downs, but its efforts in this loss rank among the season's worst. The Mets managed four hits, got only one runner to second base and made Johan Santana, albiet an American League Cy Young Award winner, throw only......

In case you need a warm up for the Big Apple BBQ Block Party this weekend, newest NYC 'cue joint Hill Country NYC is scheduled to open on Friday, June 8th. The product of a collaboration between Robbie Richter, the man behind BBQ-NYC (pictured above with his brisket) and partner Marc Glosserman, Hill Country NYC aims to give diners the experience of Texas Hill Country barbecue without ever leaving Manhattan. Off the Broiler gives a......

A man being treated for a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis and who was advised by the Centers for Disease Control not to travel was briefly quarantined at Bellevue Hospital after he sneaked back into the U.S. in an effort to evade a travel embargo. He is now being detained under armed guard in an Atlanta hospital. The patient, who was in consultation with the CDC prior to traveling to Europe and scheduled to receive advanced......

Mavericks 92, Knicks 77: No one is surprised the Knicks lost this game to the 55-11 Mavericks, but the effort wasn't there again. Eddy Curry can take the accolades for a 22-point night, yet he made only four of 12 free throws. Even with a roster banged up enough to require Malik Rose to play 12 minutes, this effort didn't impress anyone. Most teams try to rise to the occasion when the league's best comes......

Today, there's a fascinating Op-Ed by Robert Sullivan about the state of NYC streets. Titled, "The City That Never Walks," Sullivan describes how NYC has "lost [its] golden pedestrian touch." ...yet, here in New York, we even have the debate over bicycle traffic backwards. We focus on drivers’ complaints about the bicycle commuter who races through red lights, rather than on the concerns of the mother biking her child around organic-food delivery trucks that......

Nets 112, Nuggets 102: No NBA regular-season game should be billed as a must-win, but Saturday's victory in Denver could prove to be the most important game this season for the Nets. As much as they hate to admit it, when they need to win, they rely on Vince Carter, who scored 40 points. Bostjan Nachbar's 22 went in the pleasant-surprise department, which also included this win on the heels of three heartbreaking losses. Rangers......

The Wrens Play for Planned Parenthood, The Knit Gets a Makeover Last Friday The Wrens headlined a benefit show for Planned Parenthood, celebrating the 34th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. The band played their usual Meadowlands-heavy mix of old songs, and made an announcement that it would more than likely be their final show supporting their now nearly 4 year old album. They will be working on putting together something new this summer.......

In unsurprising but still headline-generating news, Senator Hillary Clinton has declared herself in the 2008 presidential race this morning. She posted a message on her website, HillaryClinton.com. Here is some of her statement:I'm in. And I'm in to win. Today I am announcing that I will form an exploratory committee to run for president. And I want you to join me not just for the campaign but for a conversation about the future of......

NYC is a two time loser now! After the Republican party decided to have its 2008 convention in the Twin Cities, the city hoped to win the Democratic convention. But now the Democratic National Committee has announced the 2008 convention will be in Denver. Here's DNC Chairman Howard Dean's statement:The recent Democratic gains in the West exemplify the principle that when we show up and ask for people's votes and talk about what we......

So long as they win against the Raiders on Sunday, the Jets don't have to worry about strength of victory or any other complicated tiebreakers. Beat the team tied for the worst record in the NFL and make the playoffs. It's that simple. For the record, a loss put the Jets in need of plenty of help. According to the AP, they'd advance in one of the following situations: Jacksonville and Cincinnati lose or tie;......