If you're one of those people that think the FBI has better things to do than investigate Roger Clemens, you have an ally in Washington DC. Congressman Anthony Weiner voiced his opinion on the investigation into Clemens. Weiner sent a letter to the Attorney General questioning the benefit of continuing the investigation into Clemens’ testimony to Congress, saying "Whether or not Roger Clemens may have committed perjury should not compete with real national security threats......

The announcement that six detainees in Guantanamo would be charged and tried for the September 11, 2001 attacks was welcomed by a number of parties, including the families of people who died on September 11. However, some would like to see a trial in New York and not in Gitmo. The Sun found some different reactions. Jim Riches a fire chief whose son died in the World Trade Center, said, "[T]hese people should be brought......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an explosion at Linden Blvd. and 220th St. in Queens, a homicide on Sedgewick Ave. in the Bronx, and a water main break on Prospect Place in Brooklyn Santa may have to bypass coalition troops stationed around the world today, but holiday presents will be appreciated even if they do arrive a few weeks into 2008. Newsday has a nice piece on gift-giving to troops and how to do......

Just because the 2009 elections are over 22 months away doesn't mean some interesting moves can't happen. Adolfo Carrion Jr. (pictured, on left), the Bronx Borough President, has decided to run for City Comptroller in 2009, making it a tough field and shedding light on the mayoral contest. Carrion, born in Lower Manhattan and a former city planner, Community Board district manager, and City Council member (here's his bio), was seen as a likely candidate......

We all knew the real estate bubble was causing insanity, but we should have known it's encouraged people to divorce. There's a NY Times Styles section article about some who wait until the market's at its peak to divorce - that way, they can benefit from an even bigger profit when selling their homes. There are quotes from Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker, who showed that couples with a drastic rise in net worth were......

While we're dealing with knowing that a lot of city traffic is caused by regular ol' New Yorkers, politicians are still concerned with truck traffic. Congressman Anthony Weiner released a study showing that truck traffic will increase by 83% by 2020, with truck traffic in Staten Island and Brooklyn doubling. Since 1998, truck traffic has increased by 30%, while car traffic has only increased by 8%. (On Staten Island alone, the number of trucks has......

Remember how this summer, the Department of Homeland Security reduced the amount of anti-terror funding NYC would get? Sure, NYC was still getting most of the funding, but funds were being increased in less risky areas with, well, influential politicians. And then the press had a field day with how Homeland Security didn't think there were any national monuments or major buildings at risk? And then Homeland Security claimed that NY State and NYC didn't......

The heated fight for Major Owens' Congressional seat gets hotter as City Council member Yvette Clarke has landed three important endorsements - two from big unions and the other from Congressman Anthony Weiner. Brooklyn's 11th District covers Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, and Park Slope, and the race has already attracted four would-be candidates (who would likely be elected to the seat in November): City Council members Clarke and David Yassky, State Senator Carl......

The great scourge of city trees, the Asian Longhorned Beetle, is making Congressman Anthony Weiner very angry. In fact, angry enough to say that President Bush has been "standing with the bugs"! The federal government gave $80 million to Chicago for their Asian longhorned beetle problem, but has ignored NYC's cries, which might mean a hefty bill for the eventual fighting and re-planting of trees. AM New York reports Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe as saying,......

The House of Representatives voted to reopen the Statue of Liberty's crown, which had been closed due to security concerns. (Today visitors can go to the pedestal, but that's it.) Congressman Anthony Weiner spoke before the House, "We figured out a way to open the Capitol. We figured out a way to open the Washington Monument. We figured out a way to open Hoover Dam." Good point, but he also said, "We need to break......

This is a dis on a grand scale (to NYC tourism, at least). Or it's a blessing in disguise. The U.S. Olympic Committee is not visiting New York City when it visits potential cities for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Cities the USOC is visiting: Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. One could say that the USOC already visited NYC before it selected it to be the 2012 US Olympic city bid, but, hey,......

It's deja vu all over again! In the recent Democratic mayoral primaries, runoffs were threatened and this year's was no exception as campaigns squirmed in too-close-to-call limbo. While former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer has essentially 40% of the vote needed to avoid a runoff, he's about 0.04-0.05% short of a perfect, unequivocal 40%, which translates to a handful of votes. And Congressman Anthony Weiner, who has 29%, will be demanding that every vote......

Okay, so it's crunch time for the Democratic mayoral candidates, with just hours until the polls open tomorrow and New Yorkers (hopefully) go and vote for a Democratic candidate. Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer received an endorsement from Reverend Al Sharpton yesterday, which helps his frontrunner status, but many polls show the Congressman Anthony Weiner is right at Ferrer's heels - and that Ferrer still might not be able to avoid a runoff. While......

It was the Democratic mayoral hopefuls' second-to-last-debate-gasp to get in some good punches, but it was actually kind of boring because the answers were 25 seconds. Former Bronx Borough President and frontrunner Fernando Ferrer, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Congressman Anthony Weiner mainly tried to attack the Mayor whose popularity with Democrats is confounding their campaigns. And with Hurricane Katrina very much the top story of the news,......

- Bob Denver passed away at age 70; Gothamist spent so many hours of our youth watching Gilligan's Island on Channel 5 that we really feel like we've lost a bumbling friend who looked great in the color red - The police have arrested a man in connection with the shooting death of a 10 year-old bystander in the Bronx - Lance Arthur explains why San Francisco is superior to New York City at The......

On what was surely one of the most beautiful "last day of the summer" in recent memory, millions of people celebrated in Brooklyn at the 38th West Indian American Day Carnival and Parade. While people with roots in the Caribbean were the main participants, they weren't the only ones: The NY Times reported that "four rabbinical students donned do-rags with the colors of the Jamaican flag." And Gothamist's favorite quote comes from Newsday, where......

The NYC public schools start this week and the Daily News looks at how they need to open smoothly in order for Mayor Bloomberg to prove that he's fixing the school system. There are 73 new small schools opening, but teachers have been without a contract for 2 years. Columbia professor Jeff Henig says, "You can put your money on the fact that the Democrats will have their antennae up," as in, if anything......

Today's NY Times Democratic mayoral hopeful profile of Congressman Anthony Weiner (the last one in the set of four) portrays him as "scrappy," "stumbling," and a possible "dark horse." It also mentions Weiner's "rough and tumble" Park Slope youth (we suppose it was rough and tumble thirty some years ago, versus the Starbucks and Barnes and Noble Babyville it is now... still, Gothamist would prefer to say "down at the heels"), not getting into Stuyvesant,......

The Campaign Finance Board's records show that Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields has not reimbursed her government drivers for driving her to campaign events. Newsday points out that Fields hasn't "paid for gas or parking used during those appearances" and that in the past week, only two of her many events were job-related. Fields' campaign manager, Chung Seto, claims that the drivers/city will be reimbursed, but she doesn't know why it's taking so long.......

Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields is featured in the third mayoral hopeful profile from the NY Times (which means we'll be reading about Congressman Anthony Weiner next week). The article notes that she's nice, "immaculately turned out," and, so far, not very firm when it comes to taking sides in a issue. The article is filled with examples of Fields's good nature but not exactly distinctive political career:When Percy E. Sutton, the Harlem business......

The first official Democratic candidate mayoral debate took place last night with all four candidates, including Congressman Anthony Weiner who had been passed a kidney stone earlier in the day. After that, we can only imagine the debate was a walk in the park! The NY Times has a transcript of the debate, but there's nothing like seeing City Council Speaker Gifford Miller get all pissy when asked if he would send his kids......

Gothamist learns something new everyday! In today's NY Times profile of City Council Speaker and mayoral hopeful Gifford Miller, not only did we find out his first name is Alan, it turns out that Miller is also the one who worked on the "investigation into vastly understated calorie counts in some of the city's best-selling frozen yogurt brands" a few years ago! Oh, to be living in those simple days again. The Times also says......

- City Council Gifford Miller's commercials are out, and Gothamist sees one advantage that Miller has over the candidates: He's got adorable moppets (even though they are dressed sort of the same - Gothamist is very anti-dressing your kids in the same or similar outfits because kids are individuals; let them dress the same when they are teenagers and learning to be sheep) that he can hoist onto his shoulders while campaigning - people think......

Last night, the mayoral would-be candidates, sans Congressman Anthony Weiner (because of stuff in DC) and the Mayor (because he didn't want to), debated the issues on NY1 in the first televised forum. The big topic of the night was how the Mayor's education plans are still failing the city's kids as well as how security measures like bag checks are not very effective. Ooh, we can't wait for campaign caricatures that show "Bag Check......

Last night, Gothamist headed to the mayoral forum held by Parks 1, the non-profit that is working to make NYC's parks the number one in the nation by trying to get the city goverment to commit 1% of the city's budget to the parks. (You can sign the pledge here.) Four of the potential candidates appeared: Former Bronx Borough President Ferando Ferrer, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, and former......

Newsday looks at the "issue" of our city's mayor decision not to disclose his weekend plans and how other mayoral hopefuls view this. Of course, they think it's crazy that the Mayor doesn't tell anyone what he does on the weekends and make it clear that they'll be giving everyone all the details. They tell Newsday:- "I have no problems publishing my weekend schedule. Even if I'm not in the city, you'll know if I'm......

Mayor Bloomberg kicked off his reelection campaign last night at BB King's Blues Club. His campaign workers made sure there were Latinos in the house, and the Mayor said:"I pledged to keep the city safe and clean and have our economy come back -- get it back on track -- and most important I pledged to reform our schools...And tonight, I can stand here and look you in the eye and say I'm keeping my......

With just over half a year to the party primaries, there are rumblings in both parties about what'll happen with their NYC mayoral candidate. NY1 reports the biggest news, that the Queens GOP may consider backing Thomas Ognibene, a former City Councilman, instead of Mayor Bloomberg. This comes after Ognibene's claims that the Mayor tried to give him a job to deter him from running against him. Mayor Bloomberg's campaign manager, "We hope that the......

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and the government, school, post officer, and financial markets are closed (city subways and buses run on weekday schedules, and there is regular garbage and recycling pick up, though). One interesting MLK Day event in the city is the 19th Annual Tribute to Martin Luther King at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The tribute includes performances by Melba Moore and Lilias White with the Brooklyn Ecumenical Choir of......

A poll shows that Mayor Bloomberg would lose to Fernando Ferrer, former Bronx Borough President, in next year's mayoral election. People favored Ferrer 53% to 42% for Bloomberg; since the Mayor's support comes mainly from whites and Manhattan, we can expect the Mayor to have more events in the outer boroughs. What's interesting is that even though they don't support him, 74% of those polled in the Marist College Public Opinion Poll believed the mayor......