On Wednesday, State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo crashed Fashion Week when he announced an indictment against the former superintendent of the 26th Street Armory. James Jackson had solicited bribes from fashion darling Marc Jacobs (pictured), who allegedly complied in order to secure the coveted armory space for his fashion shows. The Armory is considered a "community asset" whose space is to be used by the military and public. As of Wednesday, the designer was in......

A New York State appellate court ruled that under the federal concept of the "marriage recognition rule," which grants reciprocity to the bond of marriage formed in other states, it will recognize gay marriages solemnized in other states. As one of the largest states in the nation, this is a huge step for proponents of normalizing same-sex marriages. Gay marriages still aren't allowed in New York State, although a young mayor in New Paltz, NY......

With Martin Tankleff's recent release (after 17 years behind bars) and the appointment of none other than New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo as a special prosecutor in the murder investigation, there's more attention paid to who may or may not have been responsible for the murder of Seymour Tankleff and his wife Arlene in 1988. At the time, prosecutors pegged the cold-blooded killing on their 17-year-old son Martin, claiming that the distraught......

Today, Governor Spitzer is giving his second State of the State Address. Which makes us recall last year's State of the State. A year ago, everyone was all smiles on the podium as Spitzer delivered his first address [pdf]. It was going to be a new Albany, free of discord and full of bipartisan cooperation to benefit all New Yorkers. Senate Majority leader Joseph Bruno was on board (“This is our agenda. Tax cuts, no......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on 1st Ave. in Manhattan, a possible abduction at 183rd St. and Webster Ave. in the Bronx, and a homicide on Cedarcroft Rd. and Home St. in Queens. A student at Stony Brook University was arrested for falsely reporting to police that he had been robbed at knife point on the Suffolk County school's campus. The newborn found by skateboarding teens on a Queens dumpster has......

Albany county attorney general P. David Soares is taking another stab at the Troopergate scandal by issuing subpoenas for Gov. Spitzer's e-mails to and from his aides, as well as e-mails between aides. Troopergate centered around accusations that Spitzer and/or his top aides used state police to essentially spy on Spitzer's primary foe in Albany--state senate leader Joseph Bruno. The first Troopergate investigation resulted in the resignation of Spitzer's communications director Darren Dopp. The broad......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a stabbing on Monument Walk in Brooklyn, a stabbing on West 31st St. in Brooklyn, and a stabbing on Hughes Ave. in Brooklyn. Cops are looking into the death of a man who was found unconscious in the bathroom of the Knitting Factory. They're deeming the incident suspicious. A Columbia University hunger striker was carried off a couch after passing out from hunger. Meanwhile, a group of drunken students......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery at the Washington Mutual on Sheepshead Bay Rd. in Brooklyn, a worker fell into the water off Pier 11 on Governor's Island, and a bank robbery on 57th St. and Broadway in Manhattan. Additional charges could be in store for the woman who allegedly shot a Staten Island commune leader before fleeing to Philadelphia. Maya Rudolph is not returning for the new season of Saturday Night......

Carolyn Goodman, a clinical psychologist and civil rights advocate, died at age 91 at her Upper West Side home yesterday. Goodman's son Andrew and two other men, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney, were working to help blacks register to vote in the South in 1964 when they were killed by the KKK in Philadelphia, Missipppi. The murders later became the basis for the film Mississippi Burning, and the NY Times' obituary of Goodman explains......

Alan Hevesi recently hired a new lawyer and adopted an aggressive stance to battle accusations that he misused his position as New York State Comptroller, who oversees the state's $157 billion pension fund, for personal financial benefit. Last week, State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said he was investigating whether Hevesi used his tenure as Comptroller to financially benefit from the many financial firms that vie to profitably manage a slice of the enormous pension fund.......

Starrett City, the subsidized housing development in Brooklyn, was sold for $1.3 billion in February, but for the second time, the Department of Housing and Urban Development rejected the deal. The February sale needed to be approved by HUD, because Starrett City is the country's largest subsidized development, and shortly after the sale was announced, State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo got to work on blocking the sale. HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson called Starrett City "an......

Columbia University has agreed to let its financial aid office monitored for five years as well as pay $1.125 million to a national fund aimed at financial aid education for students and families in a settlement with the NY State Attorney General's office. In April, AG Andrew Cuomo revealed that financial aid officials at universities had recommended with one student loan organization, as the same officials held stock or other advisory positions at the loan......

After months of investigation from the State Attorney General's office, Columbia University has finally fired the director of undergraduate financial aid David Charlow yesterday. Charlow had been suspended last April when his "questionable financial ties" to a student loan company were revealed: Charlow was an adviser to Student Loan Xpress, owned stock in the company, and actively encouraged students to use Student Loan Express as a lender. Then the Post printed this excerpt from an......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a cyclist struck on Fresh Meadow Lane and 67th Ave. in Queens, a water rescue north of the GW Bridge in Manhahattan, and someone fatally jumped from a building on West 15th St. in Manhattan. The NYPD will boost efforts to get citizens to respect their authority by mounting Big Wheels Segways at beaches and parks this summer. Satellite radio duo Opie and Anthony have been suspended for laughing......

The executive director of Columbia's undergraduate financial aid office was suspended after the school - and NY State attorney general's office - found "questionable financial ties" to student loan company Student Loan Xpress. David Charlow sits on an advisory board for the company (as do two officials from UT Austin and USC who are also under investigation), and received stock options as compensation. The Higher Education Watch blog says that Charlow owned at least 7,500......

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has blocked the billion dollar sale of Starrett City. A group of investors had bid $1.3 billion for the federally subsidized 46 apartment building complex in Brooklyn, but two weeks ago, NY State Attorney General asked HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson to stop the sale. The lead investor, David Bistricer, has had a "sordid" real estate history in New York City. Secretary Jackson said that the group of......

The $1.3 billion deal for Brooklyn developer Berkshire LLC to buy federally subsidized Brooklyn housing complex Starrett City may be blocked by State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Cuomo announced that his office will enforce an injunction barring the lead investor David Bistricer from completing "certain real estate for life and will not permit the conversion of any of the property to cooperative apartments." Cuomo's statement......

...Al Pirro, who did not appear during wife Jeanine Pirro's concession speech for the NY State Attorney General race. Pirro, who had 40% of the vote to Andrew Cuomo's 57%, gave her speech to a crowd of 100 supporters in Manhattan. The Empire Zone says that her spokesman did not ask her why Al was not there. Huh, we guess even her staff knows some topics are off limits. The Post suspects this is......

...but the truth is, Andrew Cuomo still leads her by 19% in the State Attorney General's race, according to a Quinnipiac poll. The Post does headline the news as "Jeanine Nibbles Into Andy's Enormous Headline" since she imrpoved by 4%, from 52-29 to the current 50-31. If the scandal is improving name recognition for her, she'd need to have a Congressional page scandal to make any more headway. But now there's focus on a Rudy......

That thud you heard this afternoon? The jaws of Jeanine Pirro's campaign staffers. It turns out that Republican candidate for NY State Attorney General Pirro is under state and federal criminal investigation. WNBC's Jonathan Dienst had the scoop: State and federal agencies were looking into whether Pirro eavesdropped on her husband, who she suspected might be cheating on her. (Well, he did father a love child a couple years into their marriage.) So she......

Interesting statistical news from the Department of Education today regarding the state of our city's public schools. Under the so-called No Child Left Behind act 185,016 New York City students in 287 schools were eligible to apply to transfer from their underperforming schools this year - that's about a fifth of the students in the charge of the DoE. But while the number of children eligible is up from the 183,960 who were eligible......

Oh, Bloomie, Bloomie, Bloomie. Mayor Mike shot an arrow at State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer yesterday on his weekly WABC radio address. After Spitzer has moved to slow/stop/co-opt a number of his and Pataki's larger projects (read: The city's planned purchase of the West Side Rail Yards from the MTA and Moynihan Station) Bloomberg made it very clear that he thinks Spitzer needs to just let elected officials do their job: "The tendency when......

Now this was a primary. Ned Lamont defeated Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman in yesterday's Senate primary, 51% to 48%. Lieberman still plans to run in November's Senate race as a third party "petitioning candidate." A petitioning candidate with better website security, we imagine, after his campaign accused Lamont's of crashing their server, leading them to put up a statement:"For the past 24 hours the Friends for Joe Lieberman's website and email has been totally......

To few people's surprise, NY State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer was named the Democratic nominee this fall's Governor's race. And when you get the nomination, it's not just time to be kissy-poo - it's a time to get dirty. Some hilarious comments after Spitzer's nominations, via the NY Times:- Assemby Speaker Sheldon Silver called Governor Pataki's terms a "12-year-long plague." - Governor Pataki's office said, "After almost eight years as Shelly Silver's silent partner in......

In what seems like a move to be seriously outmatched, former wannabe candidate for Senate, current Republican party hopeful to run for NY State Attorney General Jeannine Pirro is setting her sights on sexual predators that lurk on MySpace. And she's issued a letter to MySpace owner Rupert Murdoch saying that a forum will be convened! We are sure Rupert took the letter and ate it and promptly called his NY Post editors to make......

The City and NYPD are trying to figure out a way for internet phone service providers like Vonage to let their customers tap into the actual 911, versus an ordinary police line, when they call 911. Currently, many internet phone service companies just route their calls to the phone line police officers use to call in sick. There's something terribly twisted about that. The City has asked them not to use that phone as the......

NY State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer managed to raise about $3 million at a fundraiser lunch in Manhattan, a few days after announcing he was going to run for Governor in 2006. One of Spitzer's platforms will be his attempts to reform Albany, but the NY Times notes that he's trying to seem more warm and fuzzy, too.He tried to address both issues in his speech, offering, for example, a jaundiced view of New York's......

Those horrible coins, touting to be "mined" from silver found at Ground Zero, will hopefully be no more as NY State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has obtained a court order suspending their sale. Thank goodness - these coins make us ill when we see those ads on TV. Calling them a "shameless attempt to profit from a national tragedy," Spitzer says the coins are a scam (Was it really silver mined from a vault from......

NY State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer says that as the law stands now, gay marriage is illegal. He said, "New York State statutes, do not permit same-sex marriages," because the wording is "husband and wife" on licenses. He is deferring to the courts to decide whether or not gay marriage is constitutional, and said in a press conference, “I’m obviously not going to begin to reach that ultimate legal conclusion, which is going to be......