LECTURE: NYU and the Department of Sanitation present a trash talk tonight, titled: Gotham and its Garbage: A History of the Department of Sanitation. The illustrated lecture will include an exhibition tour and status report on the DSNY Museum-in-the-Making (which we wrote about last year). Robin Nagle, Ph.D., DSNY Anthropologist-in-Residence, and Haidy Geismar, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, NYU will both be there to lead the discussion. 6pm (also this Sunday at 6pm) // 136 W......

The local newspapers tackled the sixth anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks in different ways. The Daily News offers most of its front cover to remember the day, while the Post gives some room to General Petraeus' Congressional testimony. The Post looks at how vibrant the Financial District is now, even after the devastating effects of the September 11, and the Daily News looks at how some families have decided to skip this......

Jim Riches is the Deputy Chief of the FDNY. He is one of the producers of Urban Legend, a video that doggedly questions the supposedly heroic actions of Mayor Giuliani on 9/11. We recently asked him a few questions about that, today's anniversary and the future of the WTC. How long have you been in the FDNY? 30 years experience in some of the busiest firehouses in NYC. Which firehouse are you working at now?......

Tonight is the Check Out singles event from Whole Foods Market Bowery and Gothamist. It'll be a fun time, with sounds from Terry Diabolik and DJ Never Forget of Finger on the Pulse and taste hot, spicy, and sultry foods from Chocolove, Rick’s Picks, 5 Boroughs Ice Cream, Coffee Lab Roasters and many more. In addition to the music and food tastings, there's a scavenger hunt, a raffle for various prizes, including two gift certificates......

Next Tuesday night, Whole Foods Market Bowery and Gothamist will be holding a singles event, Check Out. Attendees will rock to the sounds of Terry Diabolik and DJ Never Forget of Finger on the Pulse while they taste hot, spicy, and sultry foods from Chocolove, Rick’s Picks, 5 Boroughs Ice Cream, Coffee Lab Roasters and many more. Plus there's a raffle, scavenger hunt and much mingling! Register here (if you've already signed up, no need......

Twenty-three-year-old police officer Russel Timoshenko died yesterday at King County Hospital, five days after being shot twice in the face during a Monday traffic stop in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Doctors took him off life support after finding he had no brain activity yesterday afternoon. KCH director of trauma service and surgical critical care, Dr. Robert Kurtz, was visibly upset as he reported Timoshenko's death. From Newsday:Kurtz, who choked up, said the case "affected us emotionally......

A helicopter on an aerial tour of New York City crashed into the Hudson River yesterday afternoon. Luckily none of the eight people - seven passenger and a pilot - were injured. The Liberty Travel helicopter had only been in the air for a couple minutes, after leaving West 30th Street, before experiencing engine problems. According to the Post, chopper was "able to make a controlled landing then stay afloat using emergency inflatable pontoons."......

Hours after CBS decided to fire Don Imus yesterday afternoon for his comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team, Imus, joined by his wife, and the basketball team and coach, joined by university officials and others, met at the NJ Governor's mansion . This afternoon, Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer said :We, the Rutgers University Scarlet Knight basketball team, accept -- accept -- Mr. Imus' apology, and we are in the process of forgiving.......

There is tons of speculation all over the Internet about the Oscar nominations for films released in 2006. As an Oscars fiend, we're not going to digress about the calculus of vote-splitting. Instead, we'll point out a couple things we noticed: - Best surprise nomination: Ryan Gosling's Best Actor nomination for Half Nelson; Gosling plays a drug-addicted teacher in Brooklyn trying to help one of his students...it'll be on DVD in three weeks - see......

For politicians, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was busy as they made the rounds at a number of city events. Governor Spitzer, Lieutenant Governor Paterson, Mayor Bloomberg, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and Representative Charles Rangel all appeared at the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network's House Justice and also the Brooklyn Academy of Music's celebration. Paterson and Rangel emphasized that the Iraq war would have been opposed by King. Spitzer mentioned meeting the family......

A federal jury found Ronnell Wilson guilty of shooting two undercover detective in Staten Island three years ago. Detectives James Nemorin and Rodney Andrews were trying to buy illegal guns in a sting operation. Here is a description of the crime from the Post:Wilson and another man, Jessie Jacobus, had decided that they would rob Nemorin - although they realized he might be a cop - instead of selling him a gun. The two thugs......

Yesterday, people headed to to Battery Park City to sign one of the steel beams bound for Freedom Tower. Dina LaFond, whose daughter died on September 11, told NY1, "This is going to be part of the structure that's supporting the building. So those names are going to be forever inscribed in the way the building's actually holding up. It's not just the physics and steel that's holding the building up but people's ideas......

Our favorite bouncy souled upbeat Austin rockers, Voxtrot, are back with a new release and a few shows in our fine city. And since we "like you, like you" we have two tickets for you to their Monday November 6th show at The Bowery Ballroom. If you want them, then email us at GothamistContest (a) gmail dot com, and In ten words or less tell use why you're their biggest fan (get it? the name......

You know we love it. It’s the largest collection of delicious wines under one roof. For the wine novice who is looking to expand his palate to the experienced taster looking to find the next big thing, it’s the best way to support a great cause (City Harvest) and get all liquored up in the process. The P.J. Wine Grand Tasting is one of our favorite wine events of the year, partially because we get......

- Jersey is open! - Spitzer thinks that Bloomberg is lowballing the MTA with the city's $500 million offer for the West Side Railyards. - The 34-year-old president of LIC bed-behemoth 1-800-MATTRESS has passed on. - Alleged Halloween psycho-rapist Peter Braunstein has reconciled with his father. And now he "just wants to die." - You gotta love the NYPD Bomb Squad logo. - Inside a New York-based Spyware firm. - Only one more month......

It’s not everyday that you can celebrate the 700th birthday of anything. In fact, the Mona Lisa seems like a blushing teenager at only 500 years old. But 2006 marked an important anniversary for one of the great Chateaux of Bordeaux – Chateau Pape Clement. This vineyard, the oldest named in Bordeaux, harvested its 700th crop this year (the Chateau itself is pictured below). But how do you celebrate a 700-year anniversary? By this......

Finger on the Pulse, Deejay Collective...

On Sundays, Gothamist runs opinion pieces on issues relevant to life in New York. The views expressed below are solely those of the author. When you walk into the building where the Storm Theatre is located above a church parish, you’re instantly awash in a warm, light cloud of incense – not the obnoxious kind sold on the street, just a pleasant, comforting one. If you know a little about The Salvage Shop, you may......

Gothamist was chatting with a friend about getting some new checks, and we decided to head over to Checks in the Mail to look around. Maybe something with a New York City theme. However, the only NYC related checks were either the Statue of Liberty (in a series of four national monuments) or this check of rescue workers raising a flag at Ground Zero. Yes, it's true, you can get the now iconic Thomas Franklin......

Ashlee Simpson...

In the umpteenth story about the raging Manhattan real estate market, rental agency Citi Habitats reports that average rents for all sizes of Manhattan apartments are up for the first time since 2001 (Between November 2003 and April 2004: "Manhattan studio went from $1,625 to $1,676; a one-bedroom from $2,308 to $2,310; a two-bedroom from $3,231 to $3,393; and a three-bedroom from $4,403 to $4,531.") Gothamist will never cease to be amazed at the Manhattan......

Clay Shirky...