Results tagged “injune”

Have a lot of buddies come to visit? Yeah, a lot of friends and a lot of people who just heard about me and come bringing food items and living supplies. They’re concerned with my well-being. People brought me Starbucks because I did that other video and I guess they thought that was funny.

The Dept. of Homeland Security is funding the installation of a number of anti-missile defense systems on commercial jets flying in and out of JFK Airport. The tests are the third stage of testing of a system that is already used by military aircraft. The defense system consists of equipment affixed to the bottom of the aircraft that electronically jams the heat-seeking component of shoulder filed missiles. The latter are referred to as man portable air defense systems, or MANPADs. The current test of the anti-MANPAD systems on jets is to see how the equipment holds up on the real world operating conditions of a commercial jet.

The NY Times is reporting that the Nets won't be playing in Brooklyn for the 2009-2010 season because the arena won't be finished until 2010. The Times attributes the delay to legal challenges. The most publicized lawsuit is the federal case brought by 13 property owners and tenants. The suit alleges that the taking of their property via eminent domain was unconstitutional. In June, a US District Court judge dismissed the case, finding that...

Okay, so we've heard about how Rudy Giuliani's mayoral administration billed his police security detail expenses - accrued during trips to the Hamptons, possibly visiting then-mistress Judi Nathan - to various obscure city agencies. And then there are reports that Nathan, now married to the former mayor, used her NYPD security detail to chauffeur friends and family. Naturally, now there's talk of the police security expenses of Giuliani's then-wife Donna Hanover. The Post's David Seifman...

During his weekly radio address yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg proposed that Governors Island be turned into the site of a sprawling public health institute that he would bankroll with funds from his own private foundation. After the city bought the island for $1 from the federal government several years ago, the former military site and Coast Guard station has been relatively underutilized. Bloomberg's plan envisions an institute that would draw health experts from around the world to work off the southern tip of Manhattan.

The Brooklyn Paper has a sad tale of some Prospect Heights kittens. The ferals wandered into the back yard of the Pond family, who immediately fell in love, had them spayed/neutered, called them their own and named them Inky, Blinky, Mookie and Clyde.

The Ponds grew so attached to their backyard kitties that they began treating them as if they were their own. They had the cats spayed and neutered. They fed them daily. When the Ponds vacationed, they had a cat-sitter watch over their frisky charges.

Sadly, their Cruella DeVil neighbor didn't fancy the felines as much. In June she began to trap the cats, who from time to time wandered into her yard, and disposed of them in Queens! After one week Mookie was the only one left. What did the neighbor have to say about this when confronted on the catnapping?

“When I saw five stray cats living in my backyard … I did extensive research to figure out how I could bring them to be sterilized,” said the neighbor. "All anyone could offer was to come and sterilize the cats. But I would have to first trap the cats and provide a space for them to recover from the surgery. I was not willing to do that. It was too laborious. I personally don’t think cats should be allowed outside to be exposed to cat AIDS, or to get maimed by other cats,” she said. “If I wanted a cat, I would have a cat and I would keep it in my house. “I didn’t destroy it,” she said. “I didn’t hurt it. I just wanted to lower the population of cats. I thought I was doing a service to the neighborhood.”

Seems like it might have been easier to trap them and drop them off at a local shelter. The director of Slope Street Cats says the cats will meet a grisly fate in Queens (they think they were dropped off in Floral Park) -- either starving, getting hit by a car or meeting "a nasty end." Perhaps the Ponds should have made them indoor cats.

In June of 1972 (just months after his divorce) Elvis Presley performed a 3-day run at Madison Square Garden. These shows were the first full concerts he put on in NYC, and the first since he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956. Excitement was in the air, and Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Art Garfunkel, all of Led Zepplin and half of The Beatles (John Lennon and George Harrison) were in the audience. Another notable name: some report Liberace was there and after seeing him in concert suggested adding flashy costumes into his act.

Are some teenagers behind those threatening letters to Goldman Sachs? The Daily News' John Marzulli received a four-page handwritten letter from the teens and their parents saying as much.

Police say a man suspected of a recent Brooklyn rape is connected to three other rapes in the past four years. Two weeks ago, a couple was in a parked car in Prospect Park when a man looked in their car with a flashlight. The boyfriend (an off-duty cop) got out to confront the attacker, a scuffle ensued and somehow, the couple got separated. The attacker caught up with the woman and raped her. Now, police say DNA evidence has linked the attacker to three other rapes.

Open House New York opens the doors to many New York spaces that you wouldn't likely ever see. Past tours have included 7 World Trade Center and the Lost City Hall Subway. Each October these tours are free, and throughout the year the series costs money. The Spring tours will include:

They say New York is home to a million stories, and so far this year, we've published 7021 of them here on Gothamist. So in case you missed any of those, let's take a little stroll back in time, and review the most significant stories the past 12 months, shall we? Here's part one of a semi-chronological look at 2006; part two will go up tomorrow:

The Civilian Complaint Review Board issued a report that finds many police officers are only getting "slaps on the wrist" versus actual punishment after the CCRB brings cases against them. For instance, 75% of police officer who are "reprimanded for such offenses as improper searches usually got instructions on improving their conduct," which is 34% higher than three years ago. The "lenient" punishment is doled out when the offenses do not involve weapons or physical force. The NYPD says that the ability of the public to call 311 and make unsubstantiated complaint has played a part in the increase, though the CCRB says that they didn't think the complaints were to retaliate against certain officers. The Sun offered this explanation of how the CCRB works:

After a complaint is registered with the board, investigators interview witnesses, the complainant, and any police officers mentioned in the complaint. The board, which is made up of five mayoral designees, five City Council designees, and three police commissioner designees, then makes a decision on the case and recommends a level of punishment. Punishment usually ranges from verbal warnings to a period of suspension, known as "command discipline."

Continue reading "Report Says Police Get Off Too Easy"

In June, it was determined the massive Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse fire in May had been set by homeless men looking for copper wire to sell, and Polish immigrant Leszek Kuczera was charged with arson. Though there had been some questions about whether Kuczera was involved, his case is being heard in court. The NY Times reports that deals have been discussed and, more unusually, the judge in the case took time to speak with the 59 year old defendant:

State Supreme Court in Brooklyn is no place to look for sympathy, but Mr. Kuczera has found it there. At a hearing yesterday, the judge overseeing his case conducted a long, private conference with the lawyers, then left the bench in full dress robes, walked across the courtroom and sat beside Mr. Kuczera at the defense table.

Continue reading "Greenpoint Warehouse Arson Suspect May Get Deal"

We hear a lot of things about the city being safer and various crime rates going down. But much of the time, it's more important to examine what's behind the numbers, and there's an good look at the city's crime statistics by Emily Vasquez in the NY Times today. Yes, crime is going down, but crimes by young people are going up and illegal guns continue to be a problem. Juvenile arrests increased 11%, whereas in the past the increases had been around 2%, and experts believe young people are more apt to respond with violence in seemingly trivial situations. David Kennedy at John Jay College's Center for Crime Prevention and Control explained, "What everybody sees is street rules saying if you’re dissed you have to do something. And what counts as being dissed is getting more and more minor.”

The Post reports that the police are investigating whether there's a link between the murder of Brooklyn teen Chanel Petro-Nixon and the NJ teen Jennifer Moore who was killed after a night of clubbing. Police have been showing a photograph of the suspect in Moore's murder, self-proclaimed pimp Draymond Coleman, in Petro-Nixon's Brooklyn neighborhood. In June, Petro-Nixon was on her way to an Applebee's to apply for a job, and she never made it home - her strangled body was found in a garbage bag days later. Moore had been strangled and was stuffed into a garbage bag as well. Another thing: Coleman is suspected of washing Moore's body with bleach to remove clues, and Petro-Nixon's body had a "chemical scar on her leg - possibly caused by bleach." A source tells the Post, "Until we get something concrete we can't rule anyone out."

The U.S. doesn't like the Hezbollah, and U.S. Attorneys certainly don't like Hezbollah TV, as they charged Staten Island TV salesman Javed Iqbal with providing customers with a Hezbollah TV station in a satellite TV package. The U.S. Treasury called Al Manar a terror organization earlier this year, leading to the feds to bust Iqbal. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies' Mark Dubowitz tipped the feds about Iqbal's transmissions, and then here's the Post's explanation of how he was found out:

In June, a "wired" FBI informant walked into Iqbal's Brooklyn office, asking to be hooked up to the "DISH network."

Continue reading "NYC Man Charged with Offering Hezbollah TV"

spot for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The NY Sun reports that Bloomberg and Quinn will have Lorraine Bracco as celebrity back-up at a cocktail reception at Millennium Park - and "Cosmopolitans, Manhattans, and 'Big Apple' Martinis" will be served. That's the way to a politician's heart - make 'em realize the bar scene in NYC will be better than in Denver or Minneapolis, the two other cities in contention. In June, the city tried to woo the Democrats - here's their itinerary.

In June, 17 year old Paul Zaccaria went missing during a jet skiing accident in Mill Basin. And yesterday, his body was finally found, just a few days after another teen, 16 year old Aristotle Plagianakos, was arrested and charged with recklesness, leaving the scene of an accident and speeding in connection with Zaccaria's death. The Daily News reports that there were discrepancies between Plagianakos' story and eyewitness accounts, and the NY Times says that some witnesses saw his water scooter hit Zaccaria's. Others say that Zaccaria had "fishtailed" and sprayed other riders before he was hit, perhaps raising the question whether Plagianakos was trying to get back at him.

DMX made his way back to a court in Queens where prosecutors contended he "violated the conditions" of earlier sentence, but this time, he didn't taunt the security officers with his bling. The judge adjourned his case until October 25, and the media and onlookers seemed to love his posing on the courthouse steps. In June 2004, DMX was arrested for trying to carjack someone at JFK Airport, and then to pass himself off as a federal agent to a parking lot attendant and crashed his SUV into the gate. While he admitted he was high on Valium, DMX avoided jail time only if his record was clean for a year. Cut to two more car incidents, including one where he crashed his car into a police cruiser (DMX says that one of the times he was trying to get his pregnant wife to the hospital to deliver their daughter, Praise). DMX said, "Of course I'm innocent. It's all ludicrous." Or is that Ludacris? Anyway, the Post says DMX was respectful in court, but how respectful are you when you wear a Phat Farm sweatsuit, even if it is your nicest one?

, a Lomographic competition and exhibition.

In June of 1776, five men - John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston - began drafting the Declaration of Independence. A final draft was sent to Congress on July 1, and it was ratified on July 4. However, Congress had made some revisions, much to the dismay of Jefferson, the primary author. For posterity, he immediately made several copies of the original text, underlining the sections that had been modified.

Due to our love of music, arts and everything visual, audible and touchable...Gothamist attends many events. We go, we learn, we feel happy/sad/enlightened and we report back to you. Prior to all of this going down however, we like to pick some events we intend to go to in the future and do a quick background or overview of what it's all about.