Results tagged “House”

President Obama's been in office just eight months, and already the government is moving in to disarm the citizenry. Why, just the other day they raided Anthony Cortese's house over in Midland Beach, Staten Island, confiscating his weapons and dragging him off in handcuffs, all because he hadn't registered some of his firearms with Obama's thought police! Cortese says he's a big game hunter (he owns property up in the Catskills) and tells the Staten Island Advance, "I think it's absolutely horrible that in America, they would take away a man's hunting rifles. I have to fight to get them back."

Brooklyn prosecutors expect to meet next week with gotcha "journalists" James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles to view raw hidden-camera footage recorded by the duo at an ACORN office in Brooklyn, where they duped employees of the community organizing group into giving bad advice to Giles, posing as a prostitute with O'Keefe as her pimp. A spokesman for the Brooklyn DA tells the Daily News, "This is a first step, and there are possible criminal charges." As you probably know by now, the heavily edited video has become a rallying cry for drown-government-in-the-bathtub right-wingers, and yesterday the House of Representatives voted 345 to 75 to deny funding for ACORN. The vote came on a provision attached to a student aid bill; on Monday the Senate voted 83 to 7 to deny housing and community grant funding to ACORN. According to the AP, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described the latest allegations against ACORN as "horrible," but she still believes the group has many honest employees and stresses that it's up to House-Senate negotiators to determine whether the provision to cut funding remains in the final version of the bill.

48-year-old Calixta Guerrero was in her underwear in her Washington Heights apartment around 6 a.m. yesterday when police started pounding on the door. She told them she needed a moment to cover up, but cops shouted, "Open the f-----g door, right now!" So Guerrero complied, and was promptly forced to the floor and handcuffed. Good morning!

A Long Island guy is in major trouble after a perfectly innocent evening spent hanging with his 5-year-old son in a parking lot went terribly wrong, all thanks to some nosy cops. Christopher Grossman, 37, was spotted Tuesday night just chilling with the little man around 11:30 in a parking lot in Seaford, standing next to a car with the music "blasting." A Nassau County police officer decided to see what was up, and noticed that the car's interior was a disgusting mess, overflowing with trash, clothing, golf clubs, and bottles of anti-freeze and laundry detergent surrounding the child's car seat.

Today, the House of Representatives passed a bill, 328-93, that would put a 90% tax on bonuses from financial firms receiving bailout funds, such as AIG. One of the bill's cosponsors, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Manhattan), who proposed a 100% tax earlier, said, "I’m proud that the House has taken action to return these bonuses to the federal treasury... It would be morally reprehensible and fiscally irresponsible to allow millions to go to those who cost our country billions. Bonuses should be based on creating value, not destroying it."

"I opened my bedroom door and right in front of me there was a tire spinning at eye level," Long Island homeowner Jim Cordo told Newsday after a crazy car crash delivered a totaled Ford Mustang into the front of his house. After falling asleep at the wheel around 6:30 this morning, the driver struck a pile of firewood, sending his vehicle airborne and up over the hood of Cordo's car in the driveway. According to Cordo: "He went over my car and embedded himself into my house. It had to be airborne when it hit my car." Miraculously, no one was seriously injured, though the family's two orange tabbies are now missing. The driver reportedly apologized to Cordo and was not arrested or charged.

of cash left to keep operating. However, it's now a "race against the clock," because it appears it may fall short of the 60 votes needed to pass it as Senate Republicans have voiced opposition to the plan (they think the "Car Czar," appointed to oversee the plan, doesn't have enough authority). Rep. John Dingell (D-Michigan) said, "Without this bridge, we’re going to fall into the biggest calamity this country has known since the Great Depression. A terrible disaster looms."

Toxic vapors are intruding into Greenpoint homes, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is having difficulty assessing the problem because many residents will not allow their homes to be tested, according to a scary report in the Times today. The vapors in question are not wafting from the famous oil plume in Greenpoint's groundwater that went undetected until 1978, but are believed to be left over from other businesses that no longer operate in the neighborhood.

Looks like the evicted squatters of 59 Orient Avenue are trying to reclaim their abandoned home. Caroline Stanley of Flavorwire, a neighbor of the Williamsburg house, tells us: "We heard people trying to get in last night around 12 and called the cops. The fence has been like that for two days now and when I called 311 to report it to the DOB they claimed that two other complaints had already been lodged." The house, of course, is famous for being Clementine's home in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and the street made more famous by its real-life resident Michel Gondry.

As far as houses in New York City go, the one at the corner of Charles and Greenwich Streets may be the most coveted amongst city dwellers. The NY Times takes a look inside the home that so many have tried to peer into as they've passed by. Current owners, Ms. Bieler and Mr. Brodsky, "have been the stewards" of the house for the past 20 of its 200 years. The structure previously resided at a different address, on York and 71st Street, where it moved from in 1967 on a flatbed truck. Bieler purchased the home in 1988, but has never told anyone what the price was (the paper notes that in 1986 it went for $725,000). In 2000 Bieler and Brodksy hired an architect who revived the place, and he told them: “This isn’t a house renovation. This is like repairing a very, very old piece of furniture.” The Times has put together a slideshow of the home...try not to be too jealous as you click through.

After defeating an earlier version of the bill on Monday, the House of Representatives passed the $700 billion bailout package 263 votes to 171votes against (it needed 218 to pass), sending stocks up. The Senate already passed the bill on Wednesday and now just President Bush needs to sign off. Along party lines, the vote was: 172 yeas to 63 nays for Democrats; 91 yeas to 108 nays for Republicans. The NY Times reports that Rep. Zach Wamp (R-Tennessee) said, “Monday I cast a blue-collar vote for the American people. I am going to cast a red, white and blue-collar vote with my hand over my heart for this country, because things are really bad and we don’t have any choice. We’re out of choices and our backs are up against the wall." And CNBC has details on what's in the revised plan.

Word from Brooklyn's Cranberry Street is that the Moonstruck house (located at #19) has been sold after being on the market for just over two years. In that time it's gone from $5 million to $3.5 million; though there's no word on how much it was actually sold for, that's quite a deal for any Cher fan! Brooklyn Heights Blog notes that "the sellers of the home, architect Edwards Rullman and his wife Francesca, have owned the building since 1959. Rullman also served a 10 year term as a governor and a two year term as president of the Brooklyn Heights Association." Catch some glimpses of the house in the Moonstruck trailer.

Make sure you’re sitting down: Because of a surge in visa requests, America is currently in the grips of a severe fashion model shortage. The problem is that professional good looking people from overseas have to apply for the same H-1B visas that pasty high-tech workers require. According to Politico, demand for the visas is double the 85,000 spots available in the category per year; in the fiscal year 2007 only 349 models from overseas got the H-1B (for which there is no cure).

       

Every New Yorker realizes that 'moving day' can be a pain in the butt, so you'd think only two moves in over two centuries might not be that big of a deal. It is when one is moving the entire house for the second time. Hamilton Grange was the country home of Alexander Hamilton, who only got to live there a short time before that scurrilous character Aaron Burr shot him in a duel.

Earlier this year it was reported that 50 Cent wanted his ex-girlfriend, Shaniqua Tompkins, and their son out of his Dix Hills, Long Island home (a wish he had enforced by a judge). While 50 didn't live there, the deed is in his name, and he pays Tompkins $6,700 a month, including cash for her to find a new home for their son and her boyfriend (who has been living under the rapper's roof).

    

For those who can't decide between the suburban and the urban lifestyle, there's a simple solution: build a vinyl-sided house on the top of an old Brooklyn apartment building (which is way better than a trailer on Willoughby Avenue). This gem has been around for a while and is just East of Bedford on the southside of Williamsburg. While its residents most likely enjoy unobstructed city views from their rooftop abode, according to a Google satellite image they have not put any grass or astroturf up there to resemble a backyard...so no croquet or badminton just yet.

Some Capitol Hill offices received letters claiming responsibility for this morning's bombing in Times Square. WNBC reports that the letters, which arrived today, included a photo of the Army recruiting center "before it was bombed and...the words 'We did it.'"

Yesterday, Senator John McCain was welcomed and endorsed by President Bush. Bush referenced McCain's doubters and past history, "John showed incredible courage and strength of character and perseverance in order to get to this moment. And that's exactly what we need in a President: somebody that can handle the tough decisions; somebody who won't flinch in the face of danger."

The Village Voice has taken a page from MTV and begun to invade the cribs of rock stars. Okay, indie rock stars...who haven't quite broken out of their downtown bubble yet.

continues to embarrass the book publishing industry. Writer Margaret Jones, who told her publisher she was a half-white, half-Native American raised by a black foster family in South Central L.A. and former Bloods gang member, was exposed as Margaret Seltzer, white private school graduate from Sherman Oaks, California.

CNN, NBC, and the AP are projecting Senator John McCain will clinch the Republican presidential campaign, after winning the primaries in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island and clinching the 1,191 delegates needed. A source tells NBC that President Bush has invited McCain to the White House tomorrow and will endorse him. McCain will be having a victory party in Dallas tonight, complete with banner that says "1,191."

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a crime scene/hanging at East 13th St. and Shore Parkway in Brooklyn, a child mauled by a dog in the area of 91-43 Gold Rd. in Queens, and a possible escaped prisoner on Wards Island across from Manhattan.
• Asbestos removal at the Carroll St. F and G line station appears to be a non-issue. Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn received a note saying that air levels were fine and removal is not scheduled for the immediate future.
• The New York Aquarium's sharks at Coney Island are moving on up. They're upgrading their modest 90,000 cubic foot tank to a $67 million waterfront palace.
• The City is pursuing criminal charges against an 82-year-old buildings engineer for what they claim was perjury. A $.99 store whose designs he ok'd caught fire and rotten timbers allegedly resulted in the deaths of two firefighters.
• Did the Hell's Angels plan a 'Bay of Hogs' Long Island beachfront attack that ended in embarrassing failure during the 1960s? Apparently, after the Rolling Stones' concert at Altamont, some Hells Angels tried sailing to Mick Jagger's estate to kill him, but hit rough seas and fell overboard.
• The box office at Yankee Stadium opened this morning at 10 a.m., as the organization began selling tickets to games at the Bronx Bombers' final season in the House that Ruth Built, and that we mostly paid for when it was renovated.
• Bravo to Shannon O'Hanlon, the 9-year-old 4th grader from Queens who won yesterday's Fay Wray Scream-A-Like Contest at Film Forum in Manhattan. The contest was part of a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the original King Kong film.

It's weird when a Reuters story seems like something on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update:

Kenyan elders may impose a fine on U.S. presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, payable in livestock, after a photo of her rival Barack Obama in robes dragged their people into the race for the White House.

Tabloid reaction to Mayor Bloomberg’s announcement that he will not run for president is the usual study in contrasts. The Daily News’s Josh Greenman and editorial board haven’t missed a beat and are already clamoring for Vice President Bloomberg. Grossman says Bloomberg would be the perfect complement to an Obama candidacy by inspiring confidence with his unstoppable financial skills.

Roger Clemens asked for a chance to testify in Congress and now he had better be prepared to face the consequences of that choice. Congressmen Henry Waxman and Tom Davis have sent a letter to the Attorney General asking him to investigate if Clemens committed perjury or made false statements in his testimony to the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Ending months of speculation, Mayor Michael Bloomberg confirmed he will not run for president in the 2008 election. And he did it with an op-ed in the NY Times, titled, "I'm Not Running for President, but..."

Damien DeRose, aka Peasant, tip-toed into our playlist last year just before playing Gothamist House at CMJ. Hailing from Doylestown, PA, his small town sound has been calmly floating around this city with more and more frequency -- enchanting everyone within earshot. This Thursday he's back to play the Brooklyn Vegan show at Pianos (tix).

It looks like Roger Clemens didn’t convince any Democrats with his testimony in front of Congress February 13th. According to anonymous sources, a letter to the Justice Department has been drafted asking the it to investigate whether Clemens, and not McNamee, committed perjury during hearings in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Keith Ausbrook, Republican chief counsel for the committee, told reporters that he was unaware of the letter, indicating that at least for now, this is not a bipartisan act.