Photograph of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at their Democratic debate in Los Angeles last week by Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Yesterday, the Daily News and Newsday offered editorials endorsing Hillary Clinton for Tuesday's NY State Democratic Primary. While the News calls both Clinton and Barack Obama are "compelling choices," disagrees with both candidates' strategies for ending the war in Iraq and finds Obama inspirational, the News ultimately finds Clinton to be the "stronger" of......

Though there's a "tentative deal" for President Bush's proposed economic stimulus plan in D.C., Mayor Bloomberg thinks it's a bad idea. During a speech last night (accepting an award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors), he outlined why the package was a problem. From the NY Sun:The $145 billion proposal being negotiated centers around the idea of providing several hundred dollars in tax rebates to individuals and families in a bid to spur the economy......

Attention Gawker commenters: Nick Denton needs you to pick up his dry cleaning. Though it sounds too good to be true, it seems that eager young Gawker interns are working their way up the new media ladder on the strength of their smug observations, sarcastic bon mots and impassioned diatribes on all things trivial. Will the "first!" be the first to be hired? Yesterday cewebrity heartbreaker, CollegeHumor co-founder and Gawker darling Jakob Lodwick posted an......

Last October, a fire was started outside the Engine 34/Ladder 21 firehouse on West 38th Street. The fire was put out, but upon investigation, it turned out the ones who set it were firefighters from different firehouses! A surveillance cameras actually captured Michael Izzo and Richard Capece purchasing the gasoline at a gas station and later splashing the stationhouse's garage door and igniting it, setting off what was described as a fireball. The pair were......

Our warning about today's wicked winds was no joke; as you can see from the photo above our weather writer's vision of Christmas tree tumbleweeds has come to pass. There's so much dust and dirt whipping around on these 40 mph winds that protective goggles wouldn't be a bad idea. It's so windy there are a number of reports of falling debris from buildings (perhaps unsecured construction materials). And reader James tells us that......

Steven Sakai, the bouncer who went on a shooting rampage in front of Opus 22 in Chelsea last year, was found guilty of two other murders yesterday and acquitted in a third killing. From the accounts we've read, Sakai was his own worst enemy throughout the legal process, beginning with implicating himself in three killings as police questioned him about his role in the May 2006 shooting of four patrons outside the club where he......

The New York City Transit Authority, the MTA division that oversees the subways and buses, will be now split up the management of the subway lines and instead assign a manager to deal with a line or a number of lines. The NY Times spoke to NYC Transit president Howard Roberts Jr.:The goal, Mr. Roberts said, is to have 24 subway lines operating in many ways as 24 self-contained railroads. (The number may vary,......

Have you seen Sex and the City filming around town? Seems like some people are watching the cast of the 'ol show film the new movie every step of the way. The Times chronicled the madness and, OMG, talked to Carrie Bradshaw herself (who was hiding away in the basement of the Bryant Park Hotel). She had this to say of her on-the-job craziness: “I basically just look down between every take because it’s......

You know a story is going to be good (as in crazy) when it starts "It's a story as old as the drinking laws: A teenage girl convinces a man to buy her a bottle of alcohol." And that's how an article in the Staten Island Advance starts - and it keeps getting better. The leader of a S.I. civic association! Her 21-year-old son! A drunk 14-year-old - and the girl's angry mother! Frank Ammirato,......

“So which is the real Bernie Kerik? Is it the one who pleads not guilty before or is it the one who pleads guilty after he cuts a deal that he’s comfortable with?” - NY1 caller Dalton, from the Upper East Side, to "The Call" Those were the questions that cost NY1 reporter Gary Anthony Ramsay his job, after calling into his own station under a false name. The station deemed it an exceptionally poor......

What a bad idea: NY1 reporter Gary Anthony Ramsay apparently made a crank call to his station's live call-in program, "The Call," and now he's fired. The Daily News reports that Ramsay's crank call revealed his opinions about former police commissioner Bernard Kerik. A NY1 spokesperson told the News that the journalist who logged 15 years at the cable station "left New York 1 to pursue other options," but NY1 sources "said Ramsay committed journalistic......

First amNewYork outs the secret bars around town, and now the NY Post is revealing the up-until-now secret shows happening soon at UCB. The casts of 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live, both taking part in the WGA strike (as the actors are also writers), are bringing their shows to the stage. Each will perform new episodes live, in the small 150-seat theater -- 30 Rock on Monday the 19th and Saturday Night Live on......

A welcome break from the "what is this growing on my [insert body part here]" type of questions we're used to, Gothamist Health is happy to answer what all of our friends have been asking us for weeks: "Do I need a flu shot?" For most people, the answer is no, you don't need one. But the Department of Health released a statement yesterday suggesting that ALL New Yorkers go right ahead and take the......

Last November, a 22-year NYPD veteran who was fired after failing a drug test - because his wife put pot in the meatballs - was waiting to hear whether Police Commissioner Ray Kelly would reinstate him. Many months later, Kelly has given his word: Anthony Chiofalo remains fired. Chiofalo's wife admitted that she slipped pot instead of oregano into her meatball recipe because she wanted him to be fired from the force. Why? Because she......

A state regulator says that a steam valve was not working prior to the July 18 steam pipe explosion in Midtown. The Daily News reports that in 2006, a "steam trap" type of valve was installed, but some recent post-explosion tests showed it wasn't working. The valve is "supposed to drain water out of the steampipe to prevent a catastrophic condition called 'water hammer,' which causes water to slam into itself with incredible pressure."......

Mayor Bloomberg returned from Sun Valley's media mogul conference to stump for his congestion pricing program at three churches yesterday. And today he's headed to Albany, as the congestion pricing program will be discussed by the Legislature. The Bloomberg administration has pointed out that the federal Department of Transportation is pretty willing to give $537 million in funding to NYC if the concept of congestion pricing is passed by Albany lawmakers, but the deadline for......

A former client services associate at the Melville, Long Island branch of Morgan Stanley filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court claiming her old boss "tried to 'sexually assault her' with a pencil", stole her underwear, and complained to her about how his wife wouldn't give him oral sex. Lisa LaMacchia claims that a human resources official told her to "suck it up" after Richard Dorfman allegedly threw a file at her and called her......

Megan Montgomery was, apparently, the city's first personal chef for dogs (though were sure there are more than enough now). Preparing her meals in Downtown Brooklyn and using her dogs as guinea pigs, she's brought Dean & Deluca-esque dining to the doghouse. Her company is called Zen Chien Personal Chef Service for Dogs, and her menu choices sound like "people food": Mediterranean ground lamb, with whole wheat couscous, blueberries and fresh-grated squash; beefy macaroni with......

As of last night, Pier 54 became a temporary home for the band Cartel. Haven't heard of them? That's probably why they opted for this reality show/publicity stunt thing. Through June 12th they'll be recording their second album inside a partially transparent bubble. The stunt is brought to you by MTV, Dr Pepper and Epic Records - surprisingly David Blaine had nothing at all to do with it. You can check in live with the......

We started the morning with some Giuliani-9/11 news, so here's some end-of-the-day Giuliani-9/11 musings. There's an awesome update to one of our favorite Rudy Giuliani stories - the story, or mystery, of why was the Office of Emergency Management's emergency center placed at 7 World Trade Center. Here's how it goes: Sunday - Giuliani appears on Fox News Sunday. Host Chris Wallace asks him why the city's emergency command center was put in 7 World......

The NY Post reports that a 23-year-old woman was attacked when a man forced his way into her apartment last Sunday. The article states that around 8:10PM, the man pushed her into her foyer and punched her in the face when she opened the door. The woman's roommate appeared and started to yell; with both roommates screaming, the attacker left. The police believe the attacker meant to rob the apartment. A tenant in the building......

The NFL Draft starts at noon today and the local teams will have to wait a long time to pick. With the Giants at 20 and the Jets at 25, we probably won’t see a local team pick until well after 4pm. The time may benefit both clubs, because each has very distinct needs they need to fill today and tomorrow. The Jets have to find a defensive tackle who can fit into their......

There’s a little wine company that has been getting a lot of attention lately. Oriel Wines keeps on popping up in publications, wine cellars and conversations around the country. The reason behind the buzz is Oriel’s business model. Oriel hires top winemakers from around the world to create wines for them. They search out those whose style of winemaking reflects the terroir or personality of the region. Currently, Oriel is commissioning around 30 wines from......

It seems that alcohol and theater started off hand in hand. Just picture Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors being performed in the 1500's, audience slugging down pints (and probably chewing on drumsticks and meat pies!) - seems accurate, right? Never has a want for alcohol overcome us mid-play, but it's probably not a bad idea in some cases. Apparently there are theaters in London that serve alcohol, a growing trend of mixing pub culture with playhouse......

In a few hours, Mayor Bloomberg will give his annual State of the City address. But the cat is out of the bag, as everyone is abuzz about how he will be discussing a $1 billion tax cut. Property taxes will be reduced, the city's 4% tax on clothing and shoes over $110 would be eliminated (you would still pay the state (and MTA)'s 4.375% sales tax), and small businesses would get tax breaks, too.......

Leave it to the Australians to sorta confirm what everyone has suspected: Talking on your cellphone can distract you while you're crossing the street. Here's an abstract of the study by Julie Hatfield and Susanne Murphy of the New South Wales Risk Management Research Center:Research amongst drivers suggests that pedestrians using mobile telephones may behave riskily while crossing the road, and casual observation suggests concerning levels of pedestrian mobile-use. An observational field survey of......

Kids and technology can be a bad idea, as some are filming their beatdowns of classmates for YouTube. The Post reported about "cyberbashing" yesterday and found some videos from the NYC area. Basically, it's just sick: In one locally produced video, a mob of pupils from Lehman High School in The Bronx punches and kicks a freshman of Middle Eastern descent as he emerges from the Tremont East diner across the street. They then shove......

More pictures from the puzzling Black Label Bike Kill 4. It seems to have something to do with marauding hipsters. The High Line looks clean as a whistle as park construction is slated to begin. [Via Curbed]. The award for best Halloween guerilla marketing goes to Jack Spade, who arranged to have their SoHo store egged by cute little kids in costume. Ok, maybe not. Ghostbusting in NYC is a little less glamorous than......

Yesterday, someone wrote on Gothamist Contribute, "One of the winners at the cat show today freaked out and took off. By show's end, it still had not been found. Poor thing. Maybe expecting cats to stay put like dogs is just a bad idea." Ack! Luckily, Russian Blue "Evgeny Pushenko" was found this morning at 9:20AM. Evgeny, who was present for the “best of show” segment, slipped away from a judge and sent everyone......

-- Ixtayul visits David Island in the Long Island Sound-- apparently it used to host anti-nuclear missles. -- Diana Eng might have lost Project Runway, but she won the top prize at Yahoo Hack Day. Nerd! -- Amusing pictures sent to us today: Please no Pee Pee, Penis. -- Stuyvesant alumni are asking for federal funding to provide health care for students exposed to chemicals in the aftermath of September 11th. -- "Jewish Conscience"......