State senator Carl Kruger, an outspoken critic of Mayor Bloomberg’s plans for Coney Island, is now accusing the city of “extorting” $68,000 from the owner of Tatiana Restaurant and Nightclub, a popular Russian nightspot on the Brighton Beach boardwalk. Tatiana Varzar lost her restaurant in a massive fire in 2003 that authorities believe was caused by homeless people living under the boardwalk. The Post reports that Varzar has since used insurance money to reopen her......

In the wake of the horrific tiger escape resulting in one death and two injuries at the San Francisco Zoo, zoos around the country are examining their tiger exhibit set-ups. Tiger Mountain at the Bronx Zoo has the following set-up, per the Post:Tiger Mountain is surrounded by a moat about 10 feet wide and is enclosed by a fence that is 15 feet high and has a five-foot overhang. That means that the last......

For the first time since Tegla Laroupe in 1994 and 1995, the New York City Marathon has a repeat winner. Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia repeated her victory last year with a time of 2:25:05. Prokopcuka was so far ahead of 2nd place women's finisher Tatiana Hladyr that she was blowing kisses to the throngs of spectators as she approached the finish line in Central Park. Prokopcuka finished a full minute ahead of Hladyr. Deena......

Jelena Prokopcuka won her second ING NYC Marathon in a row, finishing at 2:25:05, while Marilson Gomes Dos Santos of Brazil won the men's race with a time of 2:09:58. Latvian Prokopcuka broke away from the other elite women's runners from the start of the race in Staten Island, closely following the women's pace-setter, and never gave up the lead. Tatiana Hladyr of the Ukraine finished second and Catherine "Catherine the Great" Ndereba finished......

Yesterday, one of the teenagers that mugged and terrorized people on a January 2005 night testfied that Rudy Fleming did not shoot Nicole duFresne by accident. Tatiana McDonald, who was 14 during the fatal mugging (she's now 16), told the court that the group of teens were bored after smoking marijuana and playing video games, so they decided "to start trouble." After trying to mug a man of his leather jacket and being scared away......

Three year old Brandon Aponte was returned to his parents after being kidnapped for 36 hours by 13 year old Tatiana Morales. Morales had taken Aponte from his father's Bronx tattoo shop on Saturday afternoon, setting off a hunt to find the pair. Two people called the police saying that Morales had been at a party in Flatbush, where she told the others that she was actually 21, her name was "Essence," and that she......

Little Brandon Aponte, who was kidnapped from a Walton Avenue tattoo shop where his father works on Saturday, was found this morning, along with Tatiana Morales who kidnapped him. They were spotted around 2AM in East Flatbush by police, and the 13 year old Morales was taken into police custody for questioning. The story was very weird. Yesterday, it was reported that Morales was a tattoo shop regular, possibly stripper from Detroit named "Essence," had......

One day after the US Men won the gold and silver medals in the halfpipe, the US Women did the same as Hannah Teter won the gold medal while Gretchen Bleiler netted the silver medal. The women fell one frontside 900 short of a sweep of the medals like the men had in the 2002 Games. Kelly Clark, the 2002 gold medalist fell on her final trick despite getting huge air in her run, ruining......

If you suffer from a nasty magazine addiction as we do, you will understand our initial attraction to Francine du Plessix Gray’s memoir, Them: her stepfather was Alexander Liberman, the magazine genius who served as editorial director of Conde Nast for decades. Being pretty much devoid of panache ourselves, we are alternately intrigued and repulsed by people who devote significant time and energy to crafting fashionable, larger-than-life selves. What is it like to take style......

Unlike the French Open, Americans are playing well at All England Lawn Tennis Club. Yesterday, Andy Roddick and Lindsay Davenport both marched through the round of 16 to the quarter-finals. Roddick, seeded 2nd for the tournament, defeated Alexander Popp in straight sets (7-5, 6-4, 6-4) while Davenport, the 5 seed, trounced Karolina Sprem in straight sets as well (6-2, 6-2). Jennifer Capriati and Serena Williams both advanced today in straight sets. Capriati beat Nadia Petrova,......

Emmanuelle Sim's and Tatiana Holman's fates are now joined: As the first New York City babies born in 2004, they are both visited by Mayor Bloomberg. The Mayor proclaimed, "This is the future of America. This is the future of New York City," as he held Emmanuelle; he also tried to visually convey the message by wearing his snazzy American flag sweater. Gothamist has always loved how babies look like blankets with little old......