The alert about a "suspicious package" at JFK Airport said there were hand grenades in a piece of luggage. The JetBlue terminal was evacuated, only for the grenades to turn out to be World War II grenade replica paperweights. Next time, mail them! JetBlue is having an opening ceremony for its new Terminal 5 today. And yesterday, a Newark Airport terminal was evacuated after many "false positives" on a suspicious bag, which was eventually deemed......

The federal Department of Transportation has been looking to reduce congestion at airports, especially the NYC-area ones, but the Port Authority says auctioning departure and arrival slots would "have a severe negative impact” and “would be illegal without Congressional authorization.” The Port Authority said today it will deny any flights at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark that are result of government auction. Hmm, that sounds like a good way to reduce congestion!......

As the FAA tries to figure out ways to ease congestion at NYC area airports, air traffic controllers are signaling a potential growing problem at Newark airport. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association union says an airspace redesign as Newark has created confused pilots. The union says the new takeoff pattern at Newark Liberty International has caused pilots from a number of airlines to make wrong turns. NATCA union vice president Ray Adams said that......

After talk of flight caps to help ease airport congestion that leave many travelers very irritable, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced another policy to help ease airport woes. The DOT will let airports charge airlines based on the time of day and volume of traffic their planes are landing in. Previously, aircraft was only charged based on plane weight. The hope, per the USDOT, is that "airports would be able to spread traffic more......

The Thanksgiving Day and Thanksgiving Day Eve have emerged as some of the busiest travel days of the year. While the media shows shots of crowded airports and train stations on the Wednesdays before Thanksgiving (like today), the Bureau of Transportation Statistics says that when personal vehicle travel is included into calculations, "Thanksgiving Day is actually a heavier long-distance travel day [to and from a destination more than 50 or more miles away] than......

Realizing that air traffic congestion is terrible and will be even worse next week during Thanksgiving holiday, President Bush announced that the FAA is working on new ideas, plus military airspace will be opened up for five days to civilian planes. If using military airspace (the "Thanksgiving Express Lane") works well this time around, it may reopened for the Christmas holidays. The other measures the President announced were: FAA will focus on preventing delays......

Last night Top Chef began with a Quickfire Challenge consisting of everyone cooking Padma breakfast...we swear she thinks of the challenges when she's stoned (see: the onion cutting relay. C'mon!). After the "food awakening" they were in for a rude awakening. Sent to New York City, the contestants seemed genuinely happy when they saw the Manhattan skyline...but their dreams were dashed when they were held in New Jersey for a day at Newark Airport. Cooking......

Emergency newswires are reporting that Port Authority cops requested that the Emergency Services Unit hustle over to Laguardia's main terminal this afternoon - and with a cage - because there was a monkey on the loose inside the airport. The animal apparently arrived at Gate B6 on Spirit Airlines' Flight 180. We have so many questions about this incident. Was the monkey traveling as a passenger? Was it a helper monkey like Homer Simpson's Mojo?......

We don't know what 1010 WINS news reporter John Montone did to deserve such an assignment, but he was sent to research the state of the Porta-Potties designated for use by cab drivers at Newark International Airport. His report confirms that both in appearance and smell, the temporary facilities are nauseating. Cabbies have been complaining about the poor condition of the six temporary toilets that were installed in January, after the permanent bathroom was closed.......

Attention, frequent fliers: Terminal 7 at JFK Airport will get the area's first security express lane. For $100 a year, private company Clear Registered Traveler prescreens you and lets you zip through security quickly. After your boarding pass matches your government ID and special "Clear Card," you put your Clear Card in a kiosk which will then scan a fingerprint or your iris. You will also be scanned for explosives, but the process is supposed......

The FAA is going to be busy at Newark. Yesterday evening, a plane taxiing for take-off clipped wings with another plane that was being towed. The Port Authority said "the left wing of outbound Lufthansa Flight 403, a Boeing 747, and the right wing of a Continental Boeing 757 under tow bumped at about 6:30PM." No one was injured, and the 294 Lufthansa passengers were moved to another plane. Continental says its plane was empty......

Everyone has taxis on the mind! Mike at Google Map Mania let us know about this new Google Maps mash-up: The Taxi Fare Finder. We ran the imaginary taxi route of Mayor Bloomberg, going from City Hall to his East 79th Street townhouse and got a fare of just under $21 not including tip. The Fare Finder does have a disclaimer: Please remember that this number is estimated--many factors, such as traffic and weather,......

The announcement of yesterday's foiled terror plot still has the world reeling, especially in airports. Lines at Newark Airport spanned the length of terminals as news revealed the plot was to blow up 10 planes bound from England to the U.S., using liquid explosives in carry-on luggage. British authorities have arrested two dozen suspects, and what's more, the Bank of England released the names of 19 suspects, after freezing their bank accounts. While Mayor......

Totally odd timing for two strange crimes: Two retired police officers, one Port Authority and one NYPD, were shot by two people who work for or have worked for the NYPD. - Steven Vitale, a retired Port Authority officer, was shot to death as he and his wife were headed to a Chinese restaurant in Staten Island. Reports say that a car had been following Vitale, then an Asian got out and shot him many......

-City Council Speaker and "Proud Irish-American lesbian" Christine Quinn will not walk in next week's St. Patrick's Day Parade. -Newark Airport is getting a new security chief. -On the topic of airport security, the Delta terminal at Laguardia was evacuated yesterday after a guy walked away from a security checkpoint in the middle of a screening. -The jury foreman in the second Gotti mistrial says a retrail would be a waste. -Ground Zero Memorial......

- The Phoenix looks at the Village Voice's changes - including the missing Press Clips (last seen on January 31) - An advocacy group goes online for its outreach efforts to educate gay blacks and Latinos about crystal meth - Congratulations, Columbia - you have more dangerous professors than any other NYC school - The NYPD says it acted correctly in the case of the 7 year old beaten by her stepfather - Ugh: Planes......

Holy bajesus! The snow is coming down. We're assembling team Gothamist to give you full storm coverage all day-- but until we do our "Wonder Twins Activate" thing, please be patient. If you are able to get outside without killing yourselves, we'd love some pictures from around the city-- send them to photos@goth or tag them Gothamist on Flickr-- they will show up in our photo stream on labs. The one above is from......

We like records. True, we like the kind they call LP's that are the format of choice for old jazz recordings, and good white label grooves, but we also like records of the "unsurpassed measurement" type (thank you dictionary.com). The most recent local records of note that were broken according to our local NOAA office in Upton, NY Central Park: May 15, 2004 - A record rainfall of 1.16 inches was recorded breaking the old......

The Air Train that will connect from the LIRR and different subways to Kennedy Airport may be open by the end of the year. Originally scheduled to open last year, a fatal train crash during a test run in September 2002 delayed the project; the crash was apparently due to poor communication and excessive speeds. Over $2 billiion has been pumped into this project, which hopes to make traveling to JFK easier. NJ Transit's Newark......