Times Square Shuffle, by ShhPeKo at flickrToday on the Gothamist Newsmap: shots fired and a large crowd at 98th St. and Rockaway Blvd. in Queens, a carjacking on Ave. Y and Nostrand Ave. in Brooklyn, and an overturned auto on 28th St. and 7th Ave. in Manhattan. The New York Post continues to discover the brave new world of "twisted sex play," commonly known as BDSM. The gentrification of Harlem is colorblind, to the......

Brenna Stewart, the daughter of convicted so-called "terrorist lawyer" Lynne Stewart, is to undergo psychiatric testing after she was charged with providing phony doctors' notes claiming she was sick to get days off from her job as a gym teacher. Ironically, the fake notes, at least one of which she submitted to attend the sentencing of her mother, could land her in jail for up to seven years. Stewart was busted last year when an......

A Bronx man was shot in the hand after exhibiting what could charitably be described as foolhardy behavior Friday. Perhaps we are too immersed in stories like Amadou Diallou and Sean Bell, but the story of a driver in the Bronx left us shaking our heads. After the man was pulled over once and then peeled out before police could exit their car, he was pulled over again, and then took off again. A short......

Let's go to the audiotape digital recording! A Bronx detective was indicted on perjury charges after claiming in court that he never interrogated a teen shooting suspect - only for the teen to reveal he recorded the interrogation. Back in December 2005, 17-year-old Erik Crespo was accused of shooting a man in a High Bridge apartment building. He was arrested and when Detective Christopher Perino interviewed him, he used an MP3 player to record their......

The Critical Mass Halloween Ride is tonight! If you go, get some good pictures! THEATER: Sam Marks’s new play The Joke peels back the thin gauze separating comedy from an open wound. Set in the last throws of the Catskills comedy circuit circa 1965, the story concerns the disintegrating comedy duo of Steady Eddie and Doug the Mug. Doug has let his envy of Eddie get the better of him and begins adding more of......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a carjacking at Tompkins and School Rds. on Staten Island, a person was killed by a 5 train at Bowling Green station in Manhattan, and an armed robbery at 51st Ave. and Northern Blvd. in Queens. Bidding closed at $2,600 for the new owner of the Seinfeld ASSMAN license plate prop on eBay. Another Mister Softee driver was busted for selling drugs out of his ice cream truck, this......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on 5th Ave. in Brooklyn, an electric shock at 25th Ave. and 49th St. in Queens, and a shooting on 101st St. and Columbus Ave. in Manhattan. Chazz Palminteri's stage and screen bildungsroman A Bronx Tale will appear again onstage this fall. The off-Broadway play was adapted to a 1993 movie featuring Palminteri, Robert De Niro, and screen newcomer Lillo Brancato. The latter is now facing......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a fatal fall victim at Clove Rd. and Hillcrest Terrace on Staten Island, a severed finger on East 38th St. and Madison Ave., and an animal rescue at 173rd St. in Queens. Sirius satellite radio (channel 85) will feature tribute broadcasts of performances by the recently deceased Beverly Sills tonight and tomorrow evening, at 9 pm and 8 pm, respectively. Shooting of the film adaptation of Jerome Robbins' ballet......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a double shooting at Willoughby and Throop Aves. in Brooklyn, a bank robbery on Queens Blvd. in Queens, and a water rescue off the North Channel Bridge in Queens. A Bronx man taking his 5-year-old nephew to the bathroom in an East Harlem park was gunned down in front of the child when accosted by thieves. A new safety group formed after 9/11 is proposing that skyscrapers include a......

A Bronx woman was killed last night after refusing a ring and proposal of marriage from her live-in boyfriend. Will Vega and Yesmin Reyes could already be considered common-law spouses. They lived together with their twin 14-year-old daughters and one-year-old son. When Reyes found out that Vega had just fathered his second child outside of their relationship, however, she said she intended to leave him. He responded with an engagement ring and a proposal of......

One would think that some New Yorkers were fresh off the boat, or at least had never seen the Seinfeld episode in which Kramer is refused his calzones after attempting to pay in pennies. Everyone knows that merchants frequently won't accept bills over $20 or other denominations; don't they? Apparently not! The New York Times has an article today over a man so incensed his local Chinese restaurant wouldn't accept pennies as payment––not for......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: A shooting in Brooklyn, a power outage in Queens, and scaffolding that fell on the 5 tracks - subway service on the 2 and 5 is messed up! A Bronx man pleaded guilty to terror plotting; Tarik Shah will serve no more than 15 years for offering to teach Al Qaeda operatives "how to wage jihad with hand-to-hand combat" New lawsuit to stop the Atlantic Yards lawsuit, on the......

The Hevesi probe (remember that?) is still going on-- and it has expanded to include Hevesi's Chief of Staff, who apparently was also abusing the state chauffeur services. City Comptroller Bill Thompson says the Department of Education's graduation rates may be inflated. The state agrees-- they say NYC's graduation rate is 43%, fifteen points lower than the City's estimate. A Bronx electrician took shelter from the rain at an Upper West Side newsstand. While......

A Bronx mother and son and a man filling in for the superintendent were bludgeoned to death by the woman's ex-boyfriend. Fifty six year old Gloria Valdez and her 36 year old son Carl were found in their basement apartment at 1029 Hall Place, with Polonia Peralta, who was subbing for the super while he was on vacation, in the hall. Police believe 38 year old Rafin Vellon attacked Valdez first, then her mentally handicapped......

+ Perspectives from nine Brooklyn residents about the Atlantic Yards in the Times City section- there's a lot of hope, sadness, and fear + Ha! When the state Department of Criminal Justice Services has a similar number to an 800-sex line, the Republicans find a way to make a smear ad + A Bronx family with quadruplets gets a bigger house, thanks to Habitat for Humanity + The tradition of hand-painted advertisements on buildings......

-- If you prefer the graffiti of yesteryear to the shit on the streets today, check out these clips from the 1983 documentary Forbidden Rebels. -- Sure, the dog has goggles, but where is his helmet? -- StreetsBlog has a map of the "bicycle fatality clusters" . Note to self: avoid biking in Park Slope at all costs. -- A Bronx mother-of-five was fatally stabbed at 6:30AM on State Street in Lower Manhattan: "The......

A Bronx 99 cent store's back room caught fire yesterday morning, and one firefighter was killed and four firefighters were seriously injured as over one hundred firefighters tried to fight a fire that consumed the whole building. A heavy AC unit on the roof fell through the building and into the basement, taking five firefighters into the basement as well, leaving them trapped under debris. The firefighters were eventually located after issuing distress signals,......

A Bronx teenager was fatally hit by a Metro North train yesterday afternoon. Sixteen year old LaToya Jimenez was on her way to a job in White Plains when she somehow lost her balance, possibly fainting, and fell from the platform. Witnesses described her as seeming disoriented and that she did get up but fell again. Others believe she had been leaning over the platform. Her father told reporters that she didn't have any medical......

A Bronx teenager was shot Washington Avenue in Clarement Village, the Bronx, early Sunday morning while walking in a group, and it seems that the gang meant to shoot another person in the group. Reports say that Samantha Guzman and three other friends had been heading toward a bus stop when they ran into a small group of men who were acting violently: Some say that the men had already been pistolwhipping someone else, and......

Thing #1: They will no longer man the anti-terror booths near "sensitive areas." The NYPD placed "Omega Booths" at 32 subway stations near underwater subway tunnels a few years ago, but now the NYPD will have police officers just ride the trains between the stations to observe the suspicious activity in order to cutdown on overtime costs, according to the NY Post. This also gives the Post reason to freak out: "That means ends of......

A Bronx woman's 2 year old daughter died in their cold apartment - and the mother is blaming it on the lack of heat. Accoding to the Daily News, Jasmine Morales says that her apartment was so cold that she wrapped her baby Jaylee in "a large, heavy fleece blanket in her bassinet," and now she thinks Jaylee suffocated. Morales says she made numerous complaints, including calling 311 and contacting Bronx borough president Adolfo Carrion's......

The killing of police officer Daniel Enchautegui (left)continues to be investigated, as the two suspects, Daniel Armento and Lillo Brancato, were charged with second degree murder. Police now believe that Armento, 48 years old, and Brancato, 29 years old, were searching for Valium when they broke into a Bronx home. Enchautegui, who was off-duty and at home next door, had heard the break-in. Police believe that Echautegui identified himself as a police officer, but was......

Joe Schumacher almost got an answer to the age old question "Why does the chicken cross the road?" but, unfortunately, a vehicle seemed to have gotten in the way at the northeast corner of Marcus Garvey Park. We can only assume the chicken was on the lam from a cockfighting ring or on its way to play some tic-tac-toe. RIP, unknown chicken, but you also remind us of the Cibo Matto song, Chicken. And in......

Gothamist was exploring various options for a birthday party, and we stumbled upon what might be the Holy Grail of parties: A Bronx Zoo Sleepover! Just look at what you would get to do:A sleep-over at the zoo is unforgettable, especially when it's above the world's greatest zoo exhibit - the Congo Gorilla Forest. An animal guest will welcome your child and friends to our private Congo Party Room. The birthday group will take a......

A Bronx man who moved to London has been feared dead ever since Thursday's bomb blasts. Michael Matsushita, who lived with his fiancee, usually took the Picadilly Circus line, but he did not show up at work. The Daily News said that Matsushita left New York because he was depressed over September 11, but the NY Times says a friend told the media that he left NYC in February 2001. Matsushita had moved to Australia......

Why does "Bronx" have to be prefaced with "The?" Why not "A Bronx" or, most reasonably, just plain old "Bronx?" Thanks, Blaney The Vatican. The Hague. The Netherlands. The O.C. The Bronx. Unless you are a cartoon character, you can probably name on one hand the number of locations worldwide that are prefaced with the definite article "the." How the Bronx found itself in such esteemed company as the Holy See and the only......