Hoboken PATH, 1998, by Triborough at flickr One hundred years ago today, the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad opened for business with one mission – to get the passengers to and from the various railroad terminals on the Hudson County New Jersey side of the river to or from Manhattan who would otherwise have to take ferries. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the PATH, the Port Authority is giving free PATH rides today between 6AM......

The Health Department revealed that cases of the flu have increased 19% since November. Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Frieden said urged New Yorkers who haven't gotten a flu shot yet to do so. In November, there was an average of 4,900 flu-related hospital visits; last week, there were 5,832. It's most critical that adults 50 and over (especially those over 65), children between 6 months and 5 years, people with chronic medical conditions, health care......

COMEDY: In November, shortly after the WGA strike sent SNL to reruns, the cast took the UCB Theater stage for an off-air show. If you missed that one, there's a chance to catch some of the cast doing stand-up at Comix tonight. The site says "sold out" but the people at the venue say they just added more tickets! So give a call and enjoy "An Evening with the Writers and Performers from Saturday Night......

Police arrested a suspect in the shooting of 11-year-old Tyshaun Falconer as he stood in the doorway of his parents' home in Springfield Gardens, Queens. The suspect is identified as 19-year-old Michael Peterson of Elmont, Long Island. Peterson allegedly went to the Falconer home and when Tyshaun answered the door asked for his older brother Tony. When the younger brother answered that he was not home, Peterson is accused of shooting him once in the......

In November, we wrote about famed realtor Barbara Corcoran advising home owners to ditch their lawns and gardens in favor of a concrete parking spot. Some homeowners really take this advice to heart and insist on wedging an extra parking space onto their property even when it's not very practical, or possible. Above is a cropped portion of a picture posted at Queens Crap. While this sidewalk-blocking parking job at 68th St. and Hull......

A plan is going to be submitted to the MTA's board for approval this week to spend $1.3 million to install a computerized monitoring system for the subway systems 300+ elevators and escalators. The purpose is to speed the response when elevators and escalators are out of service. Currently, the MTA operates a web page that is updated three times a day to inform riders when escalators and elevators are out of service, but it......

In November, Charlie Rose sat down with rapper and entrepreneur Jay-Z. The musician is originally from Brooklyn and late in the interview Rose queries about the expected success of the Nets once they move to Kings County. Jay-Z is very enthusiastic about the potential of the team and the virtues of the borough, as he prefaces every statement about Brooklyn with the words "we" and "ours." It is unintentionally comedic then when Rose immediately......

THEATER: In November, Tom Stoppard’s latest smash hit Rock ‘n’ Roll will transfer from London to Broadway (delighting Rushmore fans by bringing Brian Cox – AKA Dr. Guggenheim – in tow.) In the meantime, fans of our most intellectually dazzling living playwright can plug into Stoppard Goes Electric, an evening of three short teleplays that Stoppard penned for BBC early in his career. According to the Boomerang Theatre Company, which is producing the program, some......

The City Council unanimously reappointed four commissioners and appointed a new one to the Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday (via the NY Observer). Four of the five have ties to the outer boroughs. The newest, Diana Chapin, is the Executive Director of the Queens Library Foundation and a founding member of the Historic House Trust, which protects and preserves historic houses. She has served in various positions in the City Parks Department and was the Queens......

Brownstoner reports that the beautiful and strange Broken Angel building and lot are for sale. While the listing for Broken Angel and an adjacent lot is not online, Brownstoner saw a tearsheet:The Angel itself is at 4-6 Downing Street and sits on a 40-by-100-foot lot zoned for R6. At 13,000 square feet, the current building is actually overbuilt by about 4,000 square feet. The empty lot next door at 8 Downing is 20-by-100-feet. The......

In November, it was reported that, in spite of a lack of news, cell phone bids to wiring subway stations were still alive. But the Sun reports that they may actually be "dead in the tracks", as MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow isn't sure if the agency will pick a vendor:The service providers want riders to make calls while in the tunnels. The MTA has remained adamantly opposed to chatting in transit. "The position is customer......

For their upcoming November issue (The Art Issue), Vanity Fair is running what appears to be an epic photo story on Andy Warhol and the crew that made up the legendary Factory. Apparently Bob Colacello, who helped Warhol make Interview magazine what it is today, moved over to Vanity Fair in the mid 1980's. A connection for VF to the Factory folks that are still around - so hopefully there will be some real faces......

After Scott Fappiano was freed last week, after being in falsely imprisoned for 21 years (he was mistakenly convicted of raping a police officer's wife in their Brooklyn home), more questions are being raised about the way police evidence is stored/a>. Thought Fappiano had requested a pair of sweatpants be tested for DNA evidence in 1989, the technology back then wasn't able to read the small sample - and then the pants and sample were......

A few years back we experienced one of the most exciting concerts of our lifetime, and looking back now it's hard to remember if it ever actually happened. It was the early summer of 2004, and Franz Ferdinand was inching its way up towards the brink being one of the biggest bands in the world. They played two New York shows. One at the then recently reconverted music venue Webster Hall, and another at a......

It came as a surprise to Gothamist when we first heard this story. Apparently only half of the officers in the NYPD are wearing the newest bulletproof vests. Yesterday, a group of City Council members called on the city to add 18,000 more bulletproof vests that use the latest technology at a cost of almost $10 million. The group said the cost for the vests will be in the council's budget proposal on Thursday. In......

We noted in yesterday’s roundup of theatre in 2005 that at least in our optimistic eyes, last year had plenty of great shows. If anywhere like the same number of impressive plays and musicals appear in ‘06, it’d be hard to complain. But nonetheless, we do have a small wish list. -- For more affordable tickets. Even if it’s just making a certain number available for a low price at each performance, or making......

Rachel Sklar, co-editor and writer of FishbowlNY...