Results tagged “atlanta”

A man who was wrongly jailed on Rikers Island for 17 months has accepted a $145,000 settlement with the city because a detective misidentified his fingerprints. Dwight Gomas was residing in Atlanta in 2004 when he was suddenly arrested by U.S. marshals for an armed robbery at a Howard Beach jewelry store. Detective Eileen Barrett had matched a partial finger print from the crime scene to Gomas, whose prints were on file after his only prior arrest as an adult: driving with a suspended license in Brooklyn. Gomas maintained his innocence before a grand jury, but was indicted and couldn't make bail. Languishing on Rikers, his Legal Aid lawyer urged him to accept a plea offer of five years in prison, but he refused. Luckily, veteran detective Daniel Perruzzaa finally conducted a routine review of the fingerprints. He tells the Daily News, "When I looked at it, I said, 'You know what? This is a screwup; this is not his fingerprints." Oopsy! Gomas was released after 523 days in jail, but by then his girlfriend and their child moved in with another man. On the plus side, he pulled in $145K in less than two years on Rikers, so we're sure there's no hard feelings.

By now you've heard of the Nerd Herd, the team of four 12 to 14-year old St. Edmund's students who, this week, are headed from Brooklyn to the World Robotics Festival in Atlanta. With their motorized robot named Thingamajig, they won the championships here, and a spot alongside the Nation's best in Atlanta—but first they needed to raise the necessary funds to get there. After getting some press, vacuum inventor James Dyson stepped in to give them the monetary push they needed, but so did New York, and they ended up with an excess of $11,000!

Brooklyn's beloved smarties have been enjoying the spotlight lately, probably for the first time in their lives. The Daily News now checks in with the self-dubbed Nerd Herd, a group of friends at St. Edmund's Elementary School, as they embark on their journey to Georgia for the Robotic World Festival. After the kids won their spot at the fest, they feared they would be low on funds for the trip, but British vacuum inventor James Dyson chipped in with the rest of the money. The paper also notes that the school has now raised $11,000 on top of what they needed! Yesterday at their send-off celebration, 300 fellow students (including the cheerleading squad!) cheered the Nerd Herd on, chanted their name, and doled out endless high fives. 1/5 of the herd, Simon Shkreli, declared, "I'm so pumped up. Look at this—it's amazing."

The pressure's on now, Nerd Herd! Following all the press the talented troupe of teens got regarding the monetary deficiency keeping them from taking their rightful place at the Robotic World Festival in Atlanta next month, the donations have been piling up. Most notably, the giant $5K check presented to the little robotic engineers on Good Day New York this morning. The signature on it was that of British vacuum cleaner exec James Dyson, who told the Daily News, "These kids represent the future of engineering. They've demonstrated the essential traits: an inventive spirit and a healthy dose of perseverance." On top of that big chunk of change, reportedly over 40 people made donations by calling the school yesterday. The principal of their Sheepshead Bay school said, "Kids actually think being a nerd is cool now."

Here we go again: New Yorkers are leaving the city for Georgia. Or rather, Atlanta. The NY Post has the latest on the exodus, zeroing in on a family who live on an "above average" income but were still only able to live on Long Island while here...with one of their parents. "But when the family moved to Atlanta, Merritt and his wife found they were living far better on about the same income," saying "We went from struggling to having a great quality of life in just a few weeks." Real estate is, of course, a main factor here, with a 4-bedroom home going for around $275K in an Atlanta suburb, and property taxes about a 1/4 of what they would be in New York. So maybe the Real Housewives of Atlanta aren't really that rich after all? The paper also reminds that "between 2000 and 2005, 40,000 New Yorkers moved to Atlanta, according to the city's Regional Commission."

The NY Sun has an alarming headline today: "40,000 New Yorkers Flee State for Atlanta," a fact that may be harshing the "southern hospitality" vibe Georgia had going for it. The newcomers are calling their new hometown a "second-tier city," and one woman declared: "If my kids have a Southern accent, I will kill myself." Unsurprisingly, the ex-NYers stick together down there, going so far as to start their own MySpace group -- while one keeps a blog called Voted Off the Island. As for the Atlanta locals, they seem welcoming, as the director of the Gone With the Wind Museum noted: "Since 9/11, everybody in the country has bonded with New York." The upsides to the move come off as few and far between in the article, perhaps the only one being that you can buy a 4-bdrm house there, with a yard, for $275K. The downsides: no good pizza, bagels, and no Central Park.

• Rangers 4 Carolina 2: It was the perfect blend of the old and the new for New York on Thursday. Brandon Dubinsky got things started for the Rangers with a great backhand off of the pretty feed from Jaromir Jagr. Sean Avery came off the bench at the right time to grab the puck and score a goal right before the first period ended to make it 2-0. It was 3-2 in the third when Nigel Dawes fed Brendan Shanahan with a perfect cross-ice pass to make it 4-2 and clinch the win.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Another Big 2"

Kaki King (MySpace) is a guitar player and singer-songwriter from Atlanta, Georgia. She lived in Brooklyn for 7 years until last summer, when music started taking her on a permanent tour around the world. Her upcoming album is called Dreaming Of Revenge and will be released March 11th on Velour Records. King was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Score for the music she played in the Sean Penn film Into the Wild, and Rolling Stone Magazine has declared her the first and only female "Guitar God."

Knicks 113 Bobcats 89 Take a long look at this box score, because you probably won’t see another one like it this season. The Knicks won a laugher Wednesday 113-89, dominating Charlotte over the final three quarters of the game.

Governor Spitzer is facing opposition in his attempt to snuff out any Javits Center expansion by selling land surrounding the center to fill budget gaps. The administration still plans to renovate the convention center, but it will result in far less space than what was originally envisioned for the expansion, which would have cost between $1.8 billion and $3 billion. Senator Charles Schumer, Mayor Bloomberg and City Council speaker Christine C. Quinn oppose the land sale, which would effectively eliminate the possibility of any future expansion.

Thrashers 4, Devils 3 (SO): John Madden put the Devils up a goal with 8:45 remaining, but with 18 seconds to go, Atlanta's Marian Hossa got the equalizer. The teams went 10 rounds in a shootout before the Thrashers emerged on top. Eighteen seconds away from two points, and instead the Devils settle for one. This was the second straight overtime game for the Devils, who also play Saturday.

Beloved former Ranger Brian Leetch only made one mistake, mentioning Jim Dolan in his speech and the Rangers only made one mistake, letting Marian Hossa get free to score a goal. Hossa’s goal early in the second period put Atlanta in front and threatened to ruin Brian Leetch Night, but the Rangers recovered.

Sean Avery, placed on the top line with Gomez and Jagr got things started with a goal at 12:12 of the first period. Brandon Dubinsky scored a few minutes later and the Rangers never looked back. Jaromir Jagr capped the scoring in the third period with some hard work and a nice assist from Martin Straka who handed Jagr a replacement stick after he broke his original one.

Truck driver Alan Nelson of Colorado is used to making long hauls, but not without his best friend riding shotgun, a 23-pound reddish-colored Shiba inu named Sato. Nelson and Sato were reunited last Friday afternoon, after their separation became a news story and galvanized volunteers to search for the dog who ran off from a lower Hudson Valley rest stop.

Unfortunately for New York, Ryan Hollweg took a stupid boarding penalty and his five-minute major penalty combined with Martin Staraka’s holding penalty resulted in a 5-on-3 advantage for the Oilers. Edmonton converted and their second power-play goal of the game looked like it would hold up. But, Sean Avery drew a big penalty late in the third and with the goaltender pulled, the Rangers converted with six second left in the game, thanks to Chris Drury and after overtime, things headed to a shootout.

Jim Leyritz, who played with the Yankees, from 1990-1996 and then again in 1999 and 2000, was arrested early Friday morning after getting in a car accident in Broward County, Florida. Thursday was Leyritz's 44th birthday and he was presumably driving his Ford Expedition home early Friday morning when witnesses said they saw him run a red light. His car hit a Mitsubishi Montero driven by 30-year-old Fredia Ann Veitch. The woman was ejected from her car during the accident and died of her injuries after being taken to a hospital. Leyritz is being charged with DUI manslaughter and DUI property damage. He was released after posting an $11,000 bond.

Get to a phone, frugal foodies – New York’s winter Restaurant Week goes down next month, but reservations are being accepted starting today. And since these places tend to fill up fast, now is not the time to let any fear of commitment hold you back.

Rangers 5 Ottawa 2: The Senators may be in a funk of late, but they still have the best record in the Eastern Conference. That may not last for too much longer as the Rangers beat Ottawa soundly Saturday afternoon, scoring three goals in the first period and forcing a goaltending change. Everything seemed to work for New York as the power play scored twice, Brendan Shanahan had two goals and Blair Betts even got...

If CBS News Writers Strike, Democrats Will Nix Debate Several presidential candidates - Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson -have announced their intentions not to cross picket lines for a debate sponsored by CBS News on December 10th. The Writers Guild of America announced earlier this week that its members who work for the network’s television and radio operations at both the national and local level have authorized a strike vote. The members have...

In news that isn't coming as a surprise to anyone, Alex Rodriguez, the former and probably future Yankees 3rd baseman, was named the American League Most Valuable Player today. It was the third time Rodriguez was named the MVP, winning previously in 2003 with the Rangers and in 2005 with the Yankees. This past season, A-Rod set career high marks in runs scored (143) and RBI (156). He also led baseball with 54 home runs...

Second grader Justin Leith was found by a student in a restroom at PS 205 in the Bronx just minutes after he was excused from class complaining of a stomach ache. A second grader from a different class found Leith unresponsive on the floor of the bathroom and told his teacher, who alerted emergency services. The seven-year-old could not be revived, however, and was declared dead at St. Barnabas Hospital. There didn't appear to be any signs of trauma to the boy.

Here are some numbers for you today. The warmest October on record was in 1947, when it was 7.1 degrees above average. Through yesterday this October has been 7.3 degrees above normal. The next 5-6 days are expected to be average 10 degrees warmer than normal. So, although AccuWeather says some unseasonably cold air will arrive at the end of the month, it looks like this will become the warmest October ever recorded in Central Park.

After six games, the Giants are a playoff team. Considering how they started the season, that is amazing, but a 4-2 record doesn’t guarantee them much at all except the fact that they won’t lose 13 games this season.

The Giants are heading south to play Atlanta this evening and the Falcons won't have their star quarterback, after Michael Vick was caught running a dogfighting ring out of his Virginia home. It turns out that New York City might be the nation's dogfighting capital though. The New York Post reported yesterday that Bronx resident Ralph Reyes runs an unlicensed kennel out of the basement of a residential walk-up building on Valentine Ave. That's where he allegedly breeds and supplies American Pit Bull Terriers for fights to the death.

Tonight we will get a good measure of exactly what the Giants are. Heading to Atlanta and facing a bad team on the road is a dangerous spot, the potential is there to underestimate your opponent and ruin your chances at an easy win.