JV and Elvis, the on-air duo who inhabit "The Doghouse" on 92.3 Free FM, had their suspension from CBS Radio upgraded to a firing. The morning show pair were suspended late last month after CBS received complaints about a show in which a prank call is placed to a Chinese restaurant, and lewd language and racial slurs were employed in an attempt at humor. It was the second time in a month JV and Elvis......

The NYC Transit Authority, a division of the MTA, resumed all subway track and tunnel work starting today. All non-essential work was stopped after the second transit worker death in five days occurred on Sunday. NYC TA president Howard Roberts and Transit Workers Union president Roger Toussaint have been working together to improve safety. Among the safety improvements is that supervisors will now have radios (it still boggles the mind that they didn't have them......

A subway transit worker was killed and another was seriously injured when a G train hit them at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Station yesterday afternoon. It seems that Marvin Franklin, a 22-year-veteran, was fatally hit when he and 37-year-old Jeffrey Hill went to pick up a dolly on another track. The G train's operator did see the men, but could not brake in time; Franklin was dragged by the train, while Hill was hit but is......

The next mayoral election may be more than two years off, but it's never too soon to start courting the union vote, especially when it's the Transit Workers Union. The men and women who make sure the trains run on time have the ability to derail any politician's campaign, so Democratic hopefuls took turns addressing the rank and file at a TWU "Save Our Union" meeting yesterday. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn spoke of her......

Where do the MTA's executive director and the TWU's president lunch? The Old Homestead! The NY Times reveals that Executive Director Elliot Sander ordered the rack of lamb while TWU President Roger Toussaint had the herb-rubbed roast chicken (what, no one ordered the Kobe Beef Hamburger?) and split the bill. If only we were a fly or a cow on the wall! We bet they discussed how much Pataki sucks, how the real time information......

Governor Spitzer has nominated Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Theodore T. Jones to a position on the NY State Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. You may remember Jones's name from such incidents as the Transit Strike of 2005. Jones is the one who fined the TWU $2.5 million and sentenced TWU president Roger Toussaint to 10 days in jail. Jones would be the lone black jurist on the Court of Appeals, since Pataki did......

If it's December, it must be time for Transit Workers Union news! Last year, we had a transit strike. This year, it's all about a voting for new union leadership. In the middle of the month, Transit Workers Union members mailed in their ballots to elect a president and other positions. While Roger Toussaint was re-elected to a third term (did the autographs set him over the edge?), the votes were so close in......

Yesterday, thousands of people walked down Fifth Avenue in to protest a police shooting against three unarmed men. Sean Bell was shot to death just hours before his wedding while his two friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, were wounded in a barrage of 50 bullets in less than a minute; undercover police claimed they saw a fourth man with a gun. The march was organized by the Reverend Al Sharpton, with the theme......

Surprisingly, TWU Local 100 president Roger Toussaint gets to keep his job. Speaking of getting lucky, remember when Natasha Lyonne got arrested for threatening to sexually abuse a neighbor's dog? She finally showed up for sentencing, and because she had already completed a rehab program and paid a $2000 fine, the judge dismissed the charges. Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a jumper down in Brooklyn, a " Male Down Elevator Shaft" on 77th Street,......

What a way to (almost) end 2006 - with an arbitrator making a decision about the MTA's transit workers' contract! And the decision is pretty anti-climactic - it's basically the deal that ended the strike last year, though it was later rejected by the Transit Workers Union, then passed but then denied by the MTA. Anyway, arbitrator George Nicolau said the deal was "the most just and reasonable" solution. From the AP:Both the Metropolitan......

A 20-year veteran transit worker was clipped by a Q train yesterday around noon. Fifty-five year old Yakov Tesenter was near the Avenue U stop in Brooklyn on the Q. He was part of a team inspecting switches for repair, when he somehow got separated from the group. amNY reports that investigators are looking into whether the "flag man, who alerts oncoming trains that work crews are present," was at his post. Tesenter is in......

MTA executive Gary Dellaverson has had some explaining to do. Last week, when discussing the possibility of a Metro-North strike, the MTA's labor negotiator told Metro, "Negotiation is about compromise," before joking about "putting needles in my Roger Toussaint doll." Oh, dear. am New York reports Representative-elect Yvette Clarke believes Dellaverson's remarks were insensitive and that he should resign or be fired, noting, "There's a cultural significance in respect to many cultures of the Caribbean......

Huh. Transit Workers Union president Roger Toussaint tells the Daily News that he had a "secret deal with the MTA really ended the walkout." Toussaint faces re-election to be TWU president this month and has been criticized by opponents for ending the strike before getting a contract. So we think it's pretty convenient for Toussaint to tell all now. From the Daily News:Toussaint said he kept the original pact secret because of the highly charged......

Last week, amNew York reported on Transit Workers Union president Roger Toussaint's ploy to raise re-election funds by selling various wares, including autographed pictures. Toussaint, though, wanted to dispute the public perception of him in the article, which had quotes from commuters outside of Penn Station. From today's AMNY:So the Trinidad-native challenged amNewYork to walk the streets with him on his turf -- working class, outer borough neighborhoods. The cheers from working men and women,......

One thing is for sure: Transit Workers Union president Roger Toussaint has a lot of chutzpah. amNew York reports that the union head is trying to raise money for his reelection campaign by selling things like rubber bracelets (that say NYC Transit Strike 2005 or United-Invincible 2006 - $5), $17.50 t-shirts (It's About Respect/NYC Transit Strike 2005) and the piece de resistance, autographed photographs of Toussaint during last December's transit strike ($2). You can......

Well, looks who is Mr. Helpful all of a sudden: MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow is opposed to service cuts the MTA was planning to consider in its budget. The service cuts, which were reported yesterday in the NY Times, would have been extensive, piling on many minutes of waiting time for subways and buses as service. Critics - including our readers - freaked out, and especially considering plans to increase the subway and bus......

The Transit Workers Union is set to vote on its leadership this fall, and a group of members wants to oust current president Roger Toussaint. Yesterday, the Daily News reported that bus driver (and the chairman of the local's Manhattan and Bronx division) Barry Roberts, track division chairman John Samuelsen and conductor Nat Cummings are running together. Roberts said of Toussaint, "He destroyed the workers' morale." Roberts also said many workers would have wanted to......

am New York reports that transit strike constract arbitration will start tomorrow, which is crazy. Because we're in the throes of crazy heat and stuffy subway platforms, and when the strike was on, it was cool (cold over the bridge) and we were holiday shopping. Nice for the MTA and TWU to work together so well and get this thing locked up quickly. Remember when the TWU members rejected the contract? And then the MTA......

It feels like 2005 again! TWU President Roger Toussaint and Straphangers Campaign attorney Gene Russianoff want the MTA to delay its vote on the West Side rail yards. The vote, scheduled for Wednesday, would consider the city's $500 million bid for the area Mayor Bloomberg hopes to turn into Hudson Yards. After the Jets stadium debacle last year, the rail yards were appraised at $923 million, which is why Toussaint and Russianoff are asking that......

Wow. The Transport Workers Union's headquarters on West End Avenue was sold for $60 million. Back in April, it was reported that the headquarters were worth $39 million, but that there was a $60 million offer. And clearly, the TWU decided the cash out. One source tells the Post, "This amounts to yet another miscalculation on the part of the MTA and Governor Pataki. They thought they could bust this union, but we are now......

- $500m spending cap for WTC Memorial? Not likely! - An 81 year old man was attacked and robbed in his Washington Heights apartment building elevator - Fox 5 went on the fritz last night - we think of it as slight justice for Rupert Murdoch effing up the channel 9 schedule - A Bryant Park webcam for those us stuck in our offices to envy those who get to leave - The skatebowl......

Transport Workers Union president Roger Toussaint enjoyed freedom yesterday, and showed it by defiant speech slamming the MTA's desire to restart contract talks and wanting to fight the Taylor Law. Toussain't point about the Taylor Law is picked up by the NY TImes, "The law doesn't have any consequences for employers who negotiate in bad faith or fail to resolve contracts in a timely manner." Oh, snap, Peter Kalikow! But Mayor Bloomberg is upset with......

MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow called the Transport Workers Union December 2005 transit strike a "criminal act committed against riders" and refused to revote on the post-strike offer that the TWU rejected then accepted. He also told the MTA board that he begged Transport Workers Union head Roger Toussaint to continue negotiatingduring pre-strike negotiations last December."I pleaded with Roger Toussaint not to leave. I begged him. I can't remember the last time I begged somebody to......

Transport Workers Union Roger Toussaint may be in jail, but that doesn't mean the union isn't trying to strongarm the MTA into re-offering the contract that the union accepted. Union officials are >floating the idea of "targeted slowdowns" if the contract isn't accepted, which is scary to Gothamist, as that means our weekend subway and bus trips could be even more unpredictable! But the MTA says the board won't approve the contract. At any rate,......

If you're going to protest going to jail after leading an illegal transit strike for three days, then you might as well with the Reverend Al Sharpton, teachers union head Randi Weingarten, and about a thousand other supporters. And according to plan, many members of various unions are starting to view Roger Toussaint as a martyr, versus the main guy who inconvenienced the city (well, it's him and MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow). Toussaint headed......

The Transport Workers Union president Roger Toussaint will kick off his ten-day jail sentence - for last December's three-day transit strike - by having a rally outside King's County Supreme Court at 4PM. Then Toussaint and his supporters - including the Reverend Al Sharpton and John J. Sweeny of the AFL-CIO - will march across the Brooklyn Bridge and head over to the Tombs, where he needs to report at 6PM. But supporters will also......

Even if you're going to jail for ten days (or less), you need to cut loose. Which is what Transport Workers Union leader Roger Toussaint did last night - he held a party, complete with DJ and tons of food at the Local 1199 headquarters. The Post's reporter sneaked in to observe the fun, hear Toussaint say, "Now I'm going on vacation," and see him dance, before being kicked out. The party started at 6:30PM......

Interesting fact about the fines imposed on the Transport Workers Union over last December's strike. The TWU can resume collecting membership dues (about $1.5 million per month) if TWU president says the union will never strike again. The thing is that TWU president Roger Toussaint has been pretty adamant about the right to strike, and it'd be unlikely he'd go for it... even though it seems like the union might want some sort of leadership......

Brooklyn Supreme Court's Justice Theodore Jones nailed the transit union with a huge $2.5 million fine yesterday, plus ordered the union to stop collecting dues, and the Transport Workers Union vowed to appeal the decision. The loss for the TWU could be over $7 million all told, since the TWU takes in $1.6 million in dues each month and the union cannot appeal the dues payment stoppage for three months. The TWU will now have......

The hearings to determine the Transport Workers' Union fine from the three day transit strike is just full of (weird) new tidbits. The TWU has been arguing that paying a $3 million fine, plus not receiving its union members' dues automatically each paycheck, would ruin them. The MTA says that the TWU's 80 West End Avenue headquarters are worth $39 million - and TWU treasurer Ed Watt said that there was an offer on it......