When Staten Island Mall shoppers saw a mother beating her 3-year-old son Tuesday afternoon, some followed her to "make sure she didn't leave," reports the Staten Island Advance. Eventually, the police arrested 33-year-old Yesenia Hausler with felony assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Hausler apparently became angry when her son either wanted to play with a new toy or wanted to buy a new toy, and punched and slapped him so hard there......

THEATER: The salty, electric dynamo that is Elaine Stritch shows no sign of waning – about to turn 83-years-young, the show biz legend has kicked off 2008 with a reprise of her Tony-winning cabaret show. Backed by a six-piece band and performed in two acts for a dining audience at the newly restored Café Carlyle, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, co-written with the New Yorker’s John Lahr, is a hilarious, old-fashioned ride through star-studded post-war Broadway,......

SHOP: Tonight head to Dumbo for an “Evening of Cheer,” where three neighborhood events coordinated by the Dumbo Improvement District will be taking place. "The night’s events combine Dumbo’s monthly cultural event, First Thursdays, with extended shopping hours and promotions by local retailers and the illumination of the Empire Stores in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park by famed lighting designer Brendon Boyd." 6pm // Various location details here EVENT: Tonight some experts gather around to celebrate......

What’s worth watching on food-TV this week? We're definitely setting our DVR to record The Martha Stewart Show. She’s got a three great New York Italian chefs on today: Odetta Fada of San Domenico, Lidia Bastianich of Felidia and Del Posto, and pastry chef Gina DePalma of Babbo. On Tuesday she’s got cookbook editor Judith Jones, and on Wednesday, New Orleans chef Susan Spicer (Monday-Friday, 1pm, NBC). But the prime time highlight might be a......

Irene Boland, the co-author of Wind the World Over, works in the sustainability office of the EPA. Her office covers Region 2 (New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands) helps people pursue green living through their built environment. You can find out more about her office at the EPA on their website. Irene resides in Brooklyn, "under the BQE." How did you and your co-author, Vanessa Kellogg come up with the......

The man who breached security at JFK Airport on Tuesday, after entering the restricted areas by walking through the exit lane near security screening and caused two terminals to be evacuated as the TSA and other authorities searched for him, was arrested yesterday in Albany. Authorities say that William Contreras Ramos, who managed to board his plane to the state capitol, had a 4-inch razor in his carry-on bag and was charged with carrying a......

The Giants are heading south to play Atlanta this evening and the Falcons won't have their star quarterback, after Michael Vick was caught running a dogfighting ring out of his Virginia home. It turns out that New York City might be the nation's dogfighting capital though. The New York Post reported yesterday that Bronx resident Ralph Reyes runs an unlicensed kennel out of the basement of a residential walk-up building on Valentine Ave. That's where......

With the notable exception of Brooklyn, the Outer Boroughs are a veritable wasteland when it comes, to bánh mí, or Vietnamese sandwiches. Despite repeated forays, we've yet to find any decent versions in Queens. Those that do exist are served in restaurants, and every bánh mí fiend worth his Sriracha knows that restaurants never serve a good Vietnamese sandwich; it's simply not in their best interests to sell $3.00 entrees. As with many sandwiches, the......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a partial roof collapse on Union St. in Brooklyn, a person under a train at Coney Island and Brighton Beach Aves. in Brooklyn, and a slashing at Dyckman St. and Broadway in Manhattan. Artie Fufkin speaks! Paul Schaffer, who was the musical director of the Blues Brothers, keyboardist for Bill Murray's lounge singer character on SNL, and the bandleader for David Letterman's "The World's Most Dangerous Band" since 1982,......

Fifth Avenue was packed with revelers and performers during the 50th Annual Puerto Rican Day Parade. Celebrities, like "King" Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, were out in force, as were the politicians, including Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Eliot Spitzer, Senator Charles Schumer, Representative Jose Serrano, and Puerto Rico governor Anibal Acevedo-Villa. Bloomberg said, "I think the most impressive thing is that people love to be living here and be part of New York......

The Puerto Rican Day Parade is supposed to draw 2.8 million spectators to 5th Ave. in Manhattan this Sunday, making it one of the most popular annual parades in New York City. It's the 50th occurrence, so expect lots of enthusiasm from marchers, who will be heading north from 44th St. to 86th St. and entertained by Parade King Ricky Martin. The size of the event is amazing, considering that the estimated population of......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., WNBC 4) A look back at SNL in the 1990s with clips and interviews with former cast members. The Mormons (Sunday 9:00 p.m., WLIW 21) If you missed it last week on WNET, here is your chance to take a watch at this two part look at the Mormons which is a collaboration of two......

When a judge threatens you with contempt when you don't show up for your own client's trial, one would think you'd try to get into court to explain yourself. But after not showing up for client Paul Cortez's murder trial on Monday, attorney Laura Miranda still did not appear yesterday, even after Justice Carol Berkman threatened her with a $1,000 fine and/or contempt. So Berkman fined her $1,000, found her in contempt, and questioned her......

Yesterday was supposed to be the start of jury selection in the murder trial of Paul Cortez. But lawyers for Cortez, a personal trainer and yoga instructor accused of killing his girlfriend, didn't even show up. Instead, defense attorneys Laura Miranda and Dawn Florio faxed an excuse to Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Carol Berkman, who then said, "I'm supposed to believe this" and later "I'll have [Miranda] arrested." Apparently Miranda's excuse was that her mother......

A day after the Daily News reported that City College had allowed a campus center to be named after two controversial figures on its cover, complete with scorching editorial criticizing the school, City College's chancellor Matthew Goldstein had the sign taken down. The center was called the Guillermo Morales/Assata Shakur Community Center. Guillermo Morales was a radical for Puerto Rico's independence and made bombs, including one that killed four people at Fraunces Tavern in 1975.......

The New York Times takes a close look at the Essex Street Market, a Lower East Side institution that's been doing business since 1940. Although the market was only 60 percent full five years ago, its low rent and the steadily increasing income stream of many in the neighborhood have led to a rejuvenation. But not everyone who walks in the door is a LES trust fund hipster with extra cash to spare. Saxelby Cheesemongers......

Former president Bill Clinton remarked upon his neighbor Peggy Perez-Olivo's death. Perez-Olivo and her husband Carlos were shot in their car on a Westchester road last weekend. Police are still looking for a gunman, but Carlos Perez-Olivo, a recently disbarred lawyer, has been questioned as well (police have called his account an "unusual sounding" incident). Clinton, who lives three houses away from the Perez-Olivos in Chappaqua, simply said that Peggy "was a highly regarded teacher......

If you were wondering how former mayor Rudy Giuliani feels after the thumpin' the Republicans took last week, wonder no more, because he's been facing it with the same, stubborn Rudy-vision that we all remember from his NYC mayoral years. The NY Times was on the scenefor a speech Giuliani made: In his first public comments about last week’s Democratic sweep of Congress, Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former Republican mayor of New York City,......

There's an interesting story and graphic (above) in the Post today about public school teachers. Though the city has been attempting to hire more minority teachers, very few minorites are teaching students. Over 71% of public school students are black or Hispanic, but only 33% of the teachers are black or Hispanic. And recruitment of black and Hispanic teachers has dropped in the past years. Why is this a problem? Well, a 2004 National......

We know a lot of things have changed at Sesame Street since it ruled our world completely. You know, there's this segment called Elmo's World that focuses on the breakout monster Elmo, his goldfish Dorothy, and things like rhyming in his apartment. But it's a different world when smack is being smuggled in boxs of "Sing with Elmo" (an Elmo Boom Box!). The Bronx DA's office announced that authorities had busted a drug ring smuggling......

We know the scene so well. Friends sitting around, looking bored, perhaps stranded in some dark train station, and then Barcardi (rum) shows up. The group is almost instantaneously transported to a tropical paradise, clad with buxom blondes in bikinis and a steel drum band. The party has begun. We’ve seen the commercial too many times and maybe even threw a bash or two, making Captain Morgan our guest of honor. There is no question......

A couple more details about the rerouting of a JetBlue fight. JetBlue had its midnight flight from Newark to Puerto Rico early Sunday, but it ended up landing at JFK around 1AM: - The fist fight broke out amongst three female passengers - The fight broke out 70 miles over the Atlantic - The FBI is still weighing whether to press charges Let this be a lesson to everyone: Don't bring your aggro to the......

- A drunk college senior fell on the third rail for two minutes and lived to tell the tale. - Yankee Stadium might get a Metro-North station so Shea wants a direct LIRR connection. - Bloomie, for reals, reopen City Hall park. - Roach bomb + pilot light = boom. - The links are getting greener on Staten Island. - "Fat Nick" wants to go clubbing with his victim. - A flight to Puerto......

Strange, strange things happen on cruise ships. Yesterday, the Coast Guard tried to locate a man who reportedly jumped off the ship after an argument with his wife. The Carnival Legend was on its way back to NYC after a cruise around Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and Tortola, when witnesses say the man (who also had a child) jumped off a balcony en route from Tortola. The ship was docked in New York last night,......

It’s a good thing they put the mercy rule into the WBC because if they hadn’t, the U.S. would probably still be hitting. Fired up from their defeat at the hands of Canada, the U.S. squad demolished South Africa 17-0 in a game that was shortened to five innings. Ken Griffey exploded for two homers and seven RBI’s while Roger Clemens gave up 1 hit while striking out six over 4 1/3 innings. The win......

Could a "World" Baseball Classic really be called that without one of the world's best baseball nations? Probably not, which is why it's great to hear that Cuba will be playing in the inaugural WBC. President Bush, former owner of the Texas Rangers, stepped in to help solve the issue. Each team that plays in the tournament is guaranteed 1% of the net profit with escalating amounts as they advance and any winnings Cuba would......

Cesar Rodriguez, the man who beat his stepdaughter Nixzmary Brown, sparking a citywide investigation into children welfare services and lobbying for children's murder cases to require the death penalty, jailhouse interviews saying Brown was trouble and essentially deserved to be beaten. He said: "I would hold her up to the mirror and make her look at herself and I would say, 'Do you really want to live like this? Look at yourself. Talk to yourself.......

Major League Baseball announced the 60-man US World Baseball Classic roster yesterday with several players on the Mets and Yankees named as possible team members. The US list includes Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Al Leiter, and Alex Rodriguez. The Mets have Paul Lo Duca, Billy Wagner and David Wright on the US players listed. While the 60-person list is a list of players that can play in the tournament, the eventual roster must be trimmed......

It's the last moments of campaigning for the Mayor and his rival with the Amateur Salsa Dance team (they must have seen and loved Mad Hot Ballroom!) behind him. Expect Mike Bloomberg or Fernando Ferrer to pop up unexpectedly in your neighborhood this weekend, bearing bromides and media phalanxes. Mayor Bloomberg did, however, get the endorsement from the Mayor of Puerto Rico, which must burn Ferrer a little bit. With the polls showing that he......

Unless you’re luckier than we are, you pass the posters advertising The Odd Couple’s revival with a bitter harrumph. It’s starting previews today for an Oct. 27th opening to a run that’s been sold out since practically the first minute someone had the idea for casting Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. So why even bring it up, since those who have the tickets are sitting pretty and those who don’t are more or less S.O.L.?......