The charges have been dropped against the two men who were arrested for trying to cash a dead man’s $355 social security check. Back in January, David Daloia and James O'Hare made headlines with their foiled scheme to capitalize on O’Hare’s roommate’s death by pushing his corpse in an office chair up to a Pay-O-Matic check cashing joint in Hell’s Kitchen. They were arrested en route after a detective spotted the visibly deceased third man.......

EVENT: The Greenwich Village Antiquarian Book Sale is going on all weekend, so now is the time to go searching for that first edition you've been wanting on your bookshelf. You'll also find out of print books, maps and much more! Friday through Sunday // P.S. 3 [490 Hudson St] // Three-day pass $12 ART: Monday's interviewee, James Top, shows off his work tonight at the opening of his first solo NYC show, titled......

Photograph of the Devils' Zach Parise battling with the Hurricanes' Scott Walker along the boards of the Prudential Center by Bill Kostroun/APDevils 5, Hurricanes 1: To be fair, Carolina was without three of its best players, but even a full-strength Hurricanes team would have had trouble with the Devils. New Jersey allowed only 22 shots the entire game and blew by Carolina for its seventh win in nine games. That makes them tied for......

Devils 4, Hurricanes 1: Martin Brodeur only needed to make 20 saves in this one. The Devils have now won seven of nine. Travis Zajac, Brian Gionta and Sergei Brylin all had goals, but it was Patrik Elias scoring the game-winner for the second straight time. They could have had six goals had they not hit the post twice. That fatigue-induced slow start is a distant memory for New Jersey, which leads the Atlantic......

The desperate antics of old-school Hell's Kitchen residents are still making news. James O'Hare and David Daloia were arraigned for forgery, petty larceny and other charges when they tried to cash in O'Hare's roommate's Social Security check - while O'Hare's dead roommate's body was in a chair outside the checking cashing place. Police believe dead roommate, Virgilio Cintron, died of natural causes on Monday, the day before O'Hare and Dalaia tried to pull the scam.......

Some time ago the New Yorker ran an amusing “Talk of the Town” feature on nightlife crusader Roy Den Hollander, who, unlike most nightclub scolds, isn’t fighting against excessive noise and loose morals – he’s out to put a stop to the scourge that is Ladies’ Night. And not because he disdains the ladies or the night, but because Den Hollander, attorney at law and self-styled pick-up artist, sees it as yet another way The......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an unusual elevator rescue on Washington Ave. in Brooklyn, a pipe explosion on Richmond Terrace on Staten Island, and a person fatally struck by an A train at Van Siclen and Pitken Ave. in Brooklyn. NYC already has 91,000 practicing attorneys, but we can expect a lot more. Nearly 11,000 freshly minted JDs sat for the bar this summer and more than 70% of them passed. A 63-year-old man......

NY Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni, he of the fast-food cross-country road trip (he swears by Chick-Fil-A, which has but one local outpost in NYU’s food court), has revealed more of his inner workings in a recent interview with website Refinery 29. For starters, Bruni eschews a big breakfast because of all his professional eating burdens throughout the day. On most mornings he strolls over to Levain Bakery and picks up a baguette with butter......

EVENT: White Castle is sponsoring an "over the top" (heh) event today at Port Authority...it's the 30th Annual White Castle Empire State Golden Arm Tournament of Champions. Over 100 ladies and gents will face off to become the arm wrestling champ! The event starts at 12:30 and the finals begin at 3:30pm. More info here. 12:30 and 3:30pm // Port Authority Bus Terminal [North Wing/Main Concourse at 625 8th Ave] // Free MUSIC: The Scotland......

Hornets 84, Nets 82: As much as the Nets appreciate the start to the season Antoine Wright has had, they probably don't want him taking their final shot at the buzzer. But Wright did just that after starting for Vince Carter -- out with a sprained ankle -- and the result wasn't pretty. Carter's injury will have him out the always mysterious "indefinitely," and the Nets will have to find offense elsewhere. Richard Jefferson (32......

Devils 5 Pittsburgh 4: New Jersey will benefit from this schedule when March rolls around. With the opening of the Prudential Center still over a week away, the Devils have played all their games so far on the road and with Wednesday’s 5-4 win over Pittsburgh, they have done so at .500. Aaron Asham scored the eventual game-winner with just under ten minutes remaining in the third period and Travis Zajac scored two power-play......

Cleveland 2 Yankees 1 (11 innings): Baseball has had many weird games and plays in its history, but it is hard to think of a more bizarre scene than Jacobs Field in the eighth inning last night. Swarms of mayflies descended on the stadium, disrupting play and perhaps affecting Joba Chamberlain. Chamberlain, called in to protect a 1-0 lead in the seventh was swamped by the insects and suffered an uncharacteristic bout of wildness. Two......

Where does one find the best falafel in New York? The Girl Who Ate Everything declares, and Ed Levine agrees, that it might just be at Taim. We'd definitely put it near the top of our list, as we do love Rainbow Falafel quite a bit as well. This year's pickle festival was apparently a huge success, with pickles and lines galore. The trick to making your food last longer is proper storage. Yes, if......

Londonist are starting to think their city is getting just a little bit too expensive, when even Christian Slater can't afford to go out there. And there's no escaping, as local singer Lily Allen discovered when she was barred entry to the US. The British mapping agency caused further bad karma, by blocking a 3-D representation of London in Google Earth. But the smiles returned to Londonist's faces as they interviewed Baroness von Reichardt,......

Some residents who have been living at the Hotel Chelsea for a short period of time (longer than 30 days, less than six months) received a letter this week. No, it wasn't tucked in a welcome basket, rather it was informing them they were expected to check out later this month. Signed by Glennon Travis, the new Director of Operations, the letter (at right - enlarged here) says the hotel has the recipients of the......

It was rainy during the Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular, but that didn't stop the breathtaking event that rumbled and lit up the sky. The rain may have even scared off some spectators, though there were still plenty who wanted great views of the 40,000-shell extravaganza. From the Daily News:One actual kid, Flory Joseph, 8, of the upper West Side, gave her mom an I-told-you-so look and said, "She didn't even want to......

Mets 1, As 0: It may have taken three weeks, but the Mets have finally won a series in June. In dramatic fashion last night, the Mets defeated the A's on a 9th inning double by David Wright. It was also the first time the Mets have won back-to-back games in 22 games. Both starting pitchers pitched magnificently, with Joe Blanton pitching 8 innings of scoreless ball for the A's and Orlando Hernandez going 7......

EVENT: BKLYN DESIGNS 2007 kicks off today. The design expo will not only provide the latest trends and lots of fabulous things for your home - but all day panel discussions, interviews and of course parties, after parties and much more. All Weekend // St. Ann's Warehouse [38 Water St, Brooklyn] // $12 per day THEATER: Porn star-cum-performance artist Annie Sprinkle returns to the New York stage with her artistic and domestic partner Elizabeth M.......

Knicks 103, Bulls 92: So much for the Knicks' home-court woes. They beat Utah on Monday, squeaked by lowly Charlotte on Wednesday and tripped up streaking Chicago on Friday. A pair of ex-Bulls pitched in. Jamal Crawford netted 28, and Eddy Curry scored 20. Suddenly, New York's won three in a row. Last Saturday's brawl probably isn't as much to credit as people might think, but if that's the reason for their streak, the success......

That Donald Trump. Just last week, there was all this attention about his hotel planned for Soho hitting a snag - well, actually many, many human remains - when a graveyard was found. The Department of Buildings issued a stop-work order and community groups criticizing the 45-floor Trump Soho Hotel rejoiced for the moment. And then Tara Conner happened. After a weekend of salacious gossip about Miss USA's wild behavior - underage drinking! kissing......

When Travis Taylor hauled in a 30-yard touchdown pass 2 minutes and 7 seconds into Sunday's game between the Jets and the Vikings, the New York sideline couldn't have been pleased. A week after being burned on big plays against the Bills, the Jets had blitzed, but the gamble hadn't paid off. The Vikings took advantage of single coverage and struck quickly at home. But that was the Jets' low point, and after the 26-13......

Terrifying: the entire lawn at Cadman Plaza has been astroturfed! [Via Brownstoner.] Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery in Staten Island, a suicidal member of service on the George Washington Bridge, and a perp search down by the Manhattan Bridge. Foreign tourists are bum-rushing New York because of the weak dollar: "For example, the Microsoft Zune player - a rival to Apple's iPod - sells for $442 in London but can be......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a car driving south on the northbound West Side Highway, a school bus accident on the Williamsburg Bridge, and an "escaped prisoner" in Queens. Hypocrites! Streetsblog spotted two NYC traffic cops double-parked for an entire lunch break. The average price of a condo in Dumbo is $1,116,541. Perfectly reasonable! Here's a stack of pretty NYC night pictures Dirty, but accurate: Grand Army Plaza from the air. [Via Curbed.] What......

The Staten Island DA's office is no longer charging two teens with a hate crime in the murder of Richard Salinas. The DA's office earlier said a trio of teens targeted the chef at an International House of Pancakes because he was Mexican, but now the DA believes the motivation was robbery alone. Daniel Betancourt and Travis King were indicted on murder charges. They and John Messiha stole $60 and a cellphone from Salinas while......

As Travis the cat contemplates the clouds over the Hudson (we understand he is quite the weather fanatic), Gothamist wonders if we need to dig out a sweater tonight. The rain and clouds of this morning have mostly been pushed away by a high pressure system that has slipped southward from Canada. As the center of the high parks itself over us the winds will also die down. Clear skies plus calm air adds up......

The Staten Island DA's office has made some ugly revelations in the murder of the Mexican immigrant Richard Salinas. The three teenagers who beat Salinas to death, only to rob him of $60, had decided to rob a Mexican man. ADA Alex Schapiro said of teens John Messiha, Daniel Betancourt, and Travis King, "The defendants were playing video games and decided to rob somebody. They wanted it to be a Mexican man and that's when......

A terrible, brutal robbery on Staten Island: A group of teenagers beat a man to death for $60 on Saturday night. Richard Salinas, a 33 year old father of two, was headed out to buy a phone card for his wife when teens John Messiha, Daniel Betancourt and Travis King attacked him on Van Pelt Avenue. The three teens were charged with crime. One neighbor in Mariners Harbor told the Daily News, "I've lived here......

After last year's mess of an awards show and this year's joke of nominations (where is love for Lauren Graham, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences?), we were going to swear off this year's Emmys. But then we realized Conan O'Brien was hosting, so we must watch and liveblog. And there's the hope of a good Steve Carrell bit, not to mention awkward reaction shots of Candy and Tori Spelling during the Aaron Spelling tribute.......

-- Life imitates Sleepless in Seattle-- but people still get more play in Brooklyn. -- Young professionals are flocking to post-college dormitory in Harlem. Prediction: suicide rate in Harlem is about to skyrocket. -- Here's a classic Travis Ruse shot of a cute girl at the Pacific Street station. -- It's Guiliani time: Rudy "seriously considering" run for president. -- Paaaaaaardon? Soup Nazi is opening 50 restaurants in Britain! -- High gas prices are......

On Sundays Gothamist runs opinion pieces relevant to life in New York and reviews of recent books and performances. The judgments expressed below are entirely those of the author. If I tried just to describe moment by moment the dynamic of the two characters’ interaction in Nerve , you might well get the impression that it’s basically an off-off-Broadway equivalent of a date movie, and that the main point is to see which of the......