
Chanukah is the festival of lights,
One day of presents?
Hell NO!
We get eight crazy nights.
Not gonna lie: If I weren't such a little atheist heathen, I'd totally throw myself a bat mitzvah just so I could sing this song every [...]
The Department of Education released details of a controversial space-sharing proposal for a Brooklyn charter and district school today, and it would allow the charter to remain in the building until 2015 and add five more grades of students.
The plan follows months of controversy about whether PAVE Academy Charter [...]

Photograph of Tiger Woods by Elise Amendola/AP
In a statement posted of his website, Tiger Woods has announced that he is taking an indefinite break from golf. I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has caused [...]

A year ago today, Bernard Madoff confessed to running a "giant Ponzi scheme." "Giant" to the scale of claiming that his investors—from the wealthy to charities, from banks to retired couples— were owed $60 billion that didn't exist. He went from his' [...]
TVNewser: Time magazine's Person of the Year will be unveiled Wednesday on the "Today" show.
WebNewser: Who said print is dying? [...]
Finally! The episode of Law & Order featuring the return of Benjamin Bratt as Detective Rey Curtis airs tonight. Here's a preview, showing Bratt and S. Epatha Merkerson:
The Department of Education recently announced its plans to close Christopher Columbus High School, but a teacher and professional developer at the school is arguing that Columbus deserves another chance.
Christine Rowland, who works at the UFT Teacher Center at the school, explains in a piece in the community section [...]

Colorful and controversial former Metropolitan Museum of Art director Thomas Hoving died in his Manhattan home yesterday of cancer; he was 78 years old. Hoving headed the museum between 1967 and 1977 and wrote in his memoir, Making the Mummies Dance and he [...]

Jason Bay Like a monster awaking from slumber, the Mets finally threw their hats into the free agency market yesterday, offering contracts to OF Jason Bay and C Bengie Molina. The Mets organization seemed groggy earlier this off-season; GM Omar Minaya [...]

Rachel Uchitel (left), Jamie Jungers Another day, another passel of Tiger Woods-related news! The most recent development is that TMZ spotted a van taking boxes from the superstar golfer's Florida home, but it's unclear where the boxes are going, what's in the [...]

Common sense would seem to dictate that when you start charging online readers for access to your content, you'll see a major decrease in traffic. Obviously, not every reader is going to take out his wallet when you start putting previously free articles behind a pay wall.' [...]
We can sum up all the nuttiness and overreaction to the Tiger Woods scandal with Hank Gola's column in Friday's New York Daily News. "We've heard condemnations from [Swedish golfer] Jesper Pa...
Continue reading "Jockbeat: Does Golf, With Its Rotten History, Have Any Business Investigating' [...]
Gino, an old school restaurant on the Upper East Side famous for its zebra wallpaper, chicken cacciatore, and "greatest generation" clientele, is in trouble. Profits have gone down by as much as 70 percent in the last couple of years, and owners and unionized workers [...]

This morning the body of 29-year-old drummer Troy Young (of the band Curious Mishap) was found dead, with a bullet wound in his head, inside of his Carroll Gardens apartment. NY1 reports that police are currently investigating the shooting death. They only discovered [...]
Image: NYCDOT
Today is a historic day for bicycling in New York City. Local Law 52, a.k.a. the Bikes in Buildings Law, took effect. People all over the city are talking to their bosses about bringing their bikes inside the workplace. And lots [...]

Christmas has come early this year for subscribers of The Associated Press, which just launched its new video delivery service. Now broadcast clients can have AP receive videos directly to their email through a Media Port file-based service.
No word yet on what sort of video [...]

The Health Department announced that this weekend's H1N1 vaccine clinics will be open to pretty much all New Yorkers, because demand for the vaccine has fallen from its peak a few weeks ago. The department sid, "This weekend’s five vaccine centers - one in" [...]
With the click of a mouse, you can now track the real mice infesting your neighborhood. The city's new Environmental Public Health Tracking Portal also gives you specific facts and figures about r...
Continue reading "Now You Can Be a Pest and Track Your Neighborhood's Rats," [...]If it's not cold enough for you outside, why not hit the ice? While the failed Polar Rink is closed after one year in business, all the usual suspects are open for skating season. Here's' [...]
The fact that this language has found its way back in the bill despite promises on the part of the [...]
I left Tennessee sunny and 63 degrees beautiful day all the way up into Ohio, it turned nasty on the 90 – 45 miles away from Erie PA. The snow started lightly but within what seemed like minutes, the roads were covered with snow and then came the blinding, blizzard [...]

On the afternoon of December 3rd, two men, Jesus Muñoz, 38, and Joseph Cartagena, 21, found a 2008 beige and gold Lexus parked on West 81st Street with the keys inside. But instead of counting their blessings and using their new-found wheels for a road [...]

Today, the House of Representatives "approved the most sweeping overhaul of the nation's financial regulatory system since the Great Depression," according to the Washington Post. The NY Times reports the vote, which was 223-202, created the Consumer Financial Protection Agency which would oversee [...]
"I drank apple martinis. I don't remember how many," cops say Jennifer Rivas, 25, of Staten Island told them when her Maxima crashed into a U-Store Self Storage at South Avenue Wednesday around 11...
Continue reading "Today's Alleged Drunk Driving Mother with Kids in Car" > ' [...]We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Gothamist.
NYC Extreme Local™, register any American Express® Card. Spend 3x. Get $50. See over 650 citywide participants at nycgo.com/x.
Equinox, where you can get a 3-day trial at any of the club's' [...]

It's a Friday afternoon a few weeks before the end of the year, but that hasn't stopped two New York-area papers from announcing moves at the tops of their mastheads.
The latest editor of The New York Observer, Kyle Pope, named Christopher' [...]

A nice story: One Wednesday, UPS driver John Piontkowski was driving and making deliveries in Randolph, NJ when he spotted a bank bag in the street—and inside was $5,200 in cash! The Daily Record reports, "Piontkowski found a Bank of America deposit slip in" [...]

Amidst the recent barrage of generally crappy bike-related news, here's some inspiring fare: early 20th century catalogue copy from the Chicago-based Mead Bicycle Company, which reminds that the pleasures and benefits derived from human-powered transport are as varied as they are timeless. [...]
"Bloomingdales' windows have a family-friendly, wholesome classic Christmas charm," says Haute Living Magazine, including a "'Dynamic Duos' window, where famous couples wait to greet Mr. and Mrs. ...
Continue reading "Andrea Peyser Denounces Bloomingdales' War on Christmas" > [...]
We learned from a guild memo to New York Times staffers yesterday that 74 editorial staffers have taken the buyout offers provided by the company.
And now, The New York Observer reports that New York Times Magazine editor Paul Tough is [...]
Viral videos are okay when they're for a good cause, right? City Harvest has a pretty neat one out where the star of the show is... the apple! Take a look:
Fittingly enough, the ad was filmed on an iPhone... but just how did they get all those other apples' [...]
Police say that the man fatally shot by police in Times Square yesterday was using a MAC-10 semiautomatic pistol that jammed; Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, "We're lucky the weapon jammed." Raymond Martinez fired two shots' [...]
Kennedy Airport. Twitpic via sawyerlex. War on Christmas season swung into full effect. In a holiday spirit, the Staten Island D.A. tried shame on shoplifters. A GOP Congressman moved to read a ...
Continue reading "Cheek, in Review: 7 Days of Runnin' Scared" >Don’t miss tonight’s episode of “New York Now” on WMHT Ch. 17. Among the highlights:
WMHT’s Matt Ryan sits down with the TU’s Jim Odato and Brendan Scott of the New York Post to discuss the conclusion of the Bruno trial.
Casey talks with state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli about the New York’s [...]
Click on the film stills for more details on reviews on this week's new releases and repertory screenings, which also include Invictus; The Lovely Bones; A Single Man; Slammin' Salmon;' [...]
New York Now will be taping its year-end roundup later this month and we wanted to include a segment from you, our loyal Capitol Confidential readers.
Remember those “senior superlatives” from high school? As a class, you voted on the hottest guy/ gal, most likely to [...]

Photo via Rina Katz's flickr Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that New York has so many cute Chihuahuas on their way from California! The bad news is that they're coming from overcrowded shelters after being abandoned' [...]
[Editor's note: This piece was originally published as an opinion column in the New York Post on Dec. 10.]
National math scores were released this week for 18 cities, including New York City, and we learned that our state tests are a complete sham. The National Assessment of Educational Progress, [...]

Yet another employee is suing the New York Post, accusing the editors and reporters at the tabloid of racist and sexual harassment. You'll recall that former editor Sandra Guzman filed a discrimination lawsuit in November, describing the Post newsroom as a male-dominated frat house' [...]

Anthea Disney, News Corp.'s EVP for content, will retire at the end of this month, the company said today.
After leaving Rupert Murdoch's company, Disney plans on schooling young women to become entrepreneurs with the Women's Enterprise Initiative that she founded. Murdoch, saying one [...]
Christine Rowland is a teacher and professional developer at the UFT Teacher Center at Christopher Columbus High School. She has been at Columbus since 2002.
On Monday, a team from the Department of Education walked into Christopher Columbus High School to announce that it would be closed. It was [...]

Two years ago, a "reputed" NJ mob boss who had been on the lam for 10 years was spotted at an Upper West Side bodega and then arrested to face to murder charges for the 1977 killing of John “Johnny Cokes” Lardiere. Yesterday, a [...]
Just a heads up: Tomorrow is Santacon. That's when all the madcap lads and lasses dress as Santa and hit the streets, flash-mobbing and binge-drinking and posing for group photos at landmarks. Sq...
Continue reading "Santacon Tomorrow" > [...]This was filed from Gotham Gazette’s Dana Farrington from City Hall.
Several members of the City Council want to force the city’s corporation counsel to report on civil lawsuits against the NYPD — an attempt to hold the police accountable for not only the number of them, but also [...]
This was filed from Gotham Gazette’s Dana Farrington from City Hall.
Several members of the City Council want to force the city’s corporation counsel to report on civil lawsuits against the NYPD — an attempt to hold the police accountable for not only the number of them, but also [...]
This morning's Times rounds up some of the further-out holiday-themed entertainments playing in New York now ("Come On, Santa, Put Your Clothes Back On"). Among these is Jeffrey Solomon's Santa Cl...
Continue reading "Q&A with Jeffrey Solomon (Santa Claus Is Coming Out): on GLSEN and Gay" [...]
Photo via cwbuecheler's flickr Residents of the Upper East Side are wondering if their respiratory problems are connected to subway work. Our Town reports on the recent complaints, pointing to one woman who says in the past two years her asthma [...]
This Christmas season, the MTA is planning a treat for all of us: service cuts! These were threatened during the last "Doomsday Budget" tsimmis, but relinquished when the fares went up. Now MTA is...
Continue reading "MTA Stocking Stuffer? May Shut M and Z Trains, "Dozens"" [...]
Katie Sokoler/Gothamist
After less than nine months in business, the ambitiously-designed sustainable seafood restaurant Harbour has gone down to Davy Jones. The publicist writes, "Yes, Harbour has closed. After much success but struggles due to their location, they have decided to" [...]

David Zinczenko is in a heap of trouble today after some eagle eyes noticed that this month Men's Health ran an almost word-for-word cover as its October 2007 issue.
But Zinczenko told Keith Kelly today that the self-plagiarism was intentional, and "it was only" [...]

After the Post's report that Eliot Spitzer allegedly is considering running for State Comptroller in 2010, the Observer's Steve Kornacki ponders the possibility: "Let's suppose he is. His chances of winning would be small and further embarrassment - for himself and for his" [...]
Chipotle founder, chairman and chief executive Steven M. Ells is bringing the heat to Greenwich Village. The "gourmet" taco and burrito czar recently bought the $11 million penthouse at 40 Fifth Avenue. Mr. Ells bought the 10-room co-op in Greenwich Village from psychologist Edwin Fancher, a [...] After introducing some yuletide sanity two winters ago, the city is back to sending a schizophrenic message to New Yorkers this holiday season: Please use mass transit, but if you choose to drive, we've made it easier by increasing the hours when cars are permitted on a section of Central' [...]

