The Parks Dept. decided to throw in the towel on litigation that's been going on for three years and conceded to reevaluate its requirement that no more than 50,000 people could gather on Central Park's Great Lawn at one time. Aside from six allotted exceptions (per year) that include four reserved for performances by the Metropolitan Opera and the NY Philharmonic, the city's rationale for crowd-size restrictions was that very large crowds could damage the......

Today in Central Park a Save Darfur event will be taking place that aims to educate through speakers, music and more. The Save Darfur Now: Voices to Stop Genocide rally has an impressive list of people involved, so head up there and get involved yourself: Speakers Madeleine K. Albright (former United States Secretary of State) Joey Cheek (U.S. Olympic Team speed skater, Gold & Silver medalist) Irwin Cotler (Member of Parliament, Canada, Mount Royal) Larry......

Nice: Court papers have been released showing how the city successfully blocked protests in Central Park, most notably protests during the Republican Convention. You might remember from two years ago that the some of the city's excuses for not having the protests on the Great Lawn were to protect the lawn (which had been renovated) and that the police might not be able to secure the lawn. But it turns out everyone's conspiracy theories......

- Tonight gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson gets his final wish: his ashes will be shot exactly six months from his death out of a cannon over his Colorado compound. - The Times has an interesting story on a cryptosporidiosis outbreak(sounds like a Neal Stephenson disease to us) based around Geneva, N.Y.. The parasitic disease, which spreads through water and dirty hands, was somehow camping out in water tanks feeding into the Sprayground water park.......

It's a win for the Mayor, Commissioner Kelly, and the Central Park Conservancy: A judge agrees with the city and bars two protest groups from gathering in Central Park for a pre-Republican Convention protest. Two reasons stated: Groups had waited too long to file suit and security concerns. Manhattan Federal Court Judge William H. Pauley suggested other parks to protest in, like Van Cortlandt in the Bronx and Flushing-Corona in Queens, with Judge Pauley calling......