May 2, 2008
- Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on St. John's Pl. and Nostrand Ave. in Brooklyn, a bank robbery on Allerton Ave. in the Bronx, and an aircraft emergency at JFK Airport in Queens.
- A decade after his 2-day imprisonment made him a time lapse celebrity of the Interet, elevator captive Nicholas White speaks to WCBS.
- Pity the rest of the country for the recession it's suffering, but remember that those economic downturns tend to last twice as long, cut much deeper, and arrive as a lagging indicator in New York. In short, we're screwed.
- Al Sharpton will be closing down NYC next Wednesday, May 7th, in protest of the Sean Bell murder verdicts.
- Methadone is a prescription drug meant for heroin addicts to kick, but a 15-year-old girl overdosed on it after a classmate sold her some pills from his father's nightstand drawer.
- A film production assistant was briefly hospitalized after being struck by a plank of plywood that flew off a Manhattan construction site. Walter Wilkerson was irked at being plunked by plunging debris: 'I'm still mad about my coffee," which was spilled during the incident.
- Documentary filmmakers traveled to Japan to scrutinize the post-Mets life and career of Bobby Valentine.
- Oh, good - Barack Obama is going to cancel all his appearances on May 30 so he can see the Sex and the City movie!
- And Long Island City isn't developed enough for NYU to develop there, so residents can probably breathe easy for a year.
| 
A 27-year-old rookie police officer turned a drunken assignation into a felony rape charge earlier this week. Kevin Johnson allegedly met a number of women at a midtown bar Monday night and accompanied them back to the Gershwin Hotel, where the women were staying on East 27th St. They were visiting New York for a hairdressers convention, and Johnson reportedly had consensual sex with one of them.
The alleged rape occurred when Johnson, who works in Brooklyn, crawled into bed with a second woman and proceeded to have intercourse with her while she was asleep. At that point, another woman awoke and started screaming before calling 911. Johnson has been suspended and relieved of his badge and gun.
Johnson remained at the scene, where he was arrested. He was later charged with multiple counts of rape and sexual abuse. The cop was assigned to the 73rd Precinct in Brownsville, Brooklyn. He's currently suspended but released on a $10,000 bond.
The NY Times visited the corner of 61st Street and Amsterdam to find out what New York adolescent girls at the alterna-Beacon School think of "role model" Miley Cyrus. Recently the 15-year-old actress was caught flaunting her bare skin online and in print.
While some of the young ladies were fans (or rather, they "love-hate" her), the Vanity Fair photoshoot had them blurting out words like "whore" and "slut". There is, apparently, a fine line between dressing "sexy," as they consider themselves to do, and dressing like you're eight seconds from ecstasy ("her hair damp, her back bare, a sheet draped over her front").
“Is this who we’re supposed to be growing up to be?” asked the young woman. She wore sunglasses, a tight baby-T and short shorts over black leggings. “I don’t want to be that,” she said. “It’s sending a message that girls are supposed to be whores.”Another 15-year-old said that she could totally, like, care less about this Hannah Montana chick — "she and her friends act and dress the way they do because those choices help them express themselves." She added, “I smoke. I made that decision myself — I didn’t see someone doing it in a magazine and say, ‘Oh, I want to smoke.’” She then ran home to slam the door in her parents faces and...OMFG! Shouldn't the watchers of today's youth be more worried about this Gossip Girl show?Ms. Leibovitz, in responding to criticism, expressed much the same sentiments, adding, by way of apology, “I am sorry that my image of Miley has been misinterpreted.”
Advertisement: Gothamist Continues Below!
May 2, 2008
Even though it had been open less than a week Wildwood Barbeque, the latest addition to the burgeoning New York City barbeque scene, was mobbed with merry meatheads Wednesday night. Folks were queued up at the entranceway, as they waited to taste meats from Pitmaster Big Lou Elrose. Big Lou had been deputy pitmaster of Hill Country and has cooked many a barbeque competition. He's clearly just at home smoking with the Texas post oak...
Continue Reading "Carnivorous Crowds Pack Wildwood Barbeque"
Reader Rob J. sent us this photo taken through a window looking out on Sixth Ave between Charlton and Vandam, snapped right after a police officer was thrown from his horse. We're told the officer has a shoulder injury, the horse is okay and was brought to the stable, and there's nothing more to see here, folks....
Continue Reading "Photo of Zen: Mounted Officer Gets Bucked from Horse"
Photo by davidfg's flickr. On January 20th, residents of 475 Kent in Williamsburg were evicted from their apartments, which were deemed illegal, after the Fire and Buildings Departments found multiple violations (including a matzo factory housed in the building). Some of the evictees weren't going down without a fight, however, and have kept the incident in the public eye through everything from art shows to simply fighting the good fight. And while they spent...
Continue Reading "Welcome Home, 475 Kent"We would like to take a moment to thank this week's advertisers on Gothamist. This American Life, the Showtime Original Series, back with an all new season premiering May 4th at 10pm et/pt. The 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, where you can get inside the festival if you're a AMEX cardholder. AMEX New York Dish, where you can enter a chance for a $100 FastPass for the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party. Fuerzabruta, the new performance...
Continue Reading "Thanks to This Week's Advertisers"
Robert Downey Jr. finally gets his big paycheck job with Iron Man, adapted from Marvel’s comic book series. Hollywood-Elsewhere’s Jeffery Wells calls it underwhelming: “I was never twitching in agony, but the advance word had suggested it might lift me out of my chair. Forget it.” He’s also troubled by “the jingoistic get-the-dumb-terrorists plot that John McCain or Dick Cheney will be totally delighted by if and when they see it. That's supposed to...
Continue Reading "Weekend Movie Forecast: Iron Man vs. Mister Lonely"The following post is from our advertiser, This American Life on Showtime. This American Life, the Showtime Original Series based on the celebrated Ira Glass radio show, is back with an all-new season. Funny, dramatic and surprising real-life stories from the most extraordinary ordinary people in America come together in what Newsweek proclaims “a jewel of a TV series.” From a stand-up comedy camp for kids, to riding stables in a North Philly ghetto; from...
Continue Reading "Sponsored Post: This American Life on Showtime"
A new photography exhibit examining the shifting views of public and private space, Eminent Domain, opens today at the New York Public Library. Five photographers' recent projects "deal with the life of the city in terms of passage (of seasons and time, people and place) and exchange (between individual and collective, interior and exterior)." Thomas Holton photographed one family in Chinatown for two years, (photographs taken by the children are also included). Bettina Johae...
Continue Reading "Eminent Domain on View at the NYPL"
The four city officials who are assigned a security detail no longer have to pay the expenses on their taxpayer-funded official cars and drivers when they use them for personal excursions, according to a ruling by the Conflicts of Interest Board. The lucky protected ones are Mayor Bloomberg, Comptroller William Thompson, Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. In 2006, former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi resigned after admitting he assigned a government...
Continue Reading "City to Cover Car and Driver Expenses for Top Officials"
For her testimony against stalker Jack Jordan yesterday, The NY Times described Uma's appearance as being "pared-down," as she donned "a gray shawl thrown over black slacks and a black sweater. Her golden hair was carelessly knotted in back, with long strands hanging down both sides of her face. She wore no makeup and looked thin and hollow-eyed." Thurman testified that she was "freaked out" by Jordan's contact with her (and her family), including an...
Continue Reading "Uma Fears for Children; Stalker Takes the Stand"