Photograph by catelinp on Flick The raccoon seen in a tree at East 88th Street and 1st Avenue ultimately died after the police tried to capture it. The Post reports the cops "bungled" the raccoon rescue operation, firing tranquilizer darts "deep in its body." Animal Control said the animal was euthanized because it would have been "difficult, if not impossible, to remove them." But some residents told the Post the police were joking about......

The Gothamist Newsmap indicated an "unusual incident"at 75th Street and 2nd Avenue in Manhattan yesterday. The Emergency Service Unit officers responded, but they reportedly "hung back a bit" because the unusual incident turned out to be a swarm of bees! A witness told WNBC the bees "were swarming all around like debris, a whirlwind type of thing," around a newspaper box for the Learning Annex. Jim Fisher, who volunteers at the Bronx Zoo, arrived......

The idea sounds preposterous at first, but a pair of retired NYPD detectives believes that a gang of serial killers are responsible for the deaths of at least 40 young men across 11 states. All of the deaths have previously been determined accidental drownings, but Kevin Gannon, who worked the case of Patrick McNeill's disappearance 11 years ago, and Anthony Duarte believe that the Fordham Univ. student was one of the earliest victims of a......

A construction worker at an East 67th Street condominium construction site fell to his death this morning. The worker had been installing windows at the 23rd floor, and he fell onto a 14th floor balcony. Buildings Department Commissioner Patricia Lancaster issued a statement saying, "It appears the nylon safety strap connecting the worker to the building failed. As part of our investigation, our team is now auditing the method the crews used to install the......

When Pope Benedict XVI visits NYC this month, one of his stops will be to a synagogue on Manhattan's Upper East Side. It will be the first time a Catholic pope has visited a Jewish temple on U.S. soil, although it will be Benedict's second visit to a synagogue as pope after a 2005 trip to his native Germany. The visit continues a movement for ecumenicism and interfaith dialogue that was strongly supported by the......

Interested observers who want to see Pope Benedict during his April visit to New York, but couldn't score tickets to his appearance at Yankee Stadium, will be able to glimpse the head of the Roman Catholic church's hierarchy as he cruises the city in the Popemobile. Pope Benedict will be taking the bullet proof bubble car from St. Patrick's Cathedral to a residence where he's staying on the Upper East Side April 19th. He'll also......

You'll only be getting babes, not booze, when you go to Scores West: The State Liquor Authority has taken away the strip club's liquor license after police found prostitution at the Chelsea joint (the Upper East Side location is not affected). An SLA administrative judge wrote that prostitution was "open and notorious such that the licensee knew or should have known of its occurrence." Back in 2007, a manager told police they could receive sexual......

Wildly successful young chef and restaurateur Michael Psilakis – whose Anthos is one of only two Greek restaurants in the world with a Michelin star – refined his talent not in culinary school but in the kitchen beside his Greek mother during his childhood on Long Island. After earning a business degree, he found himself drawn back to the food world, where he worked his way up from waiter to owner of the Long Island......

Nothing says romance like a public proposal in The Daily News. Marina Maiuri stood atop the Empire State Building (which is so "Sleepless in Seattle") to have her photo snapped by the paper on the observation deck; but she wasn't looking for love, she was looking to propose. The photo and article ran this morning, titled "Hey, Sean: Will you marry me?" Sean is her boyfriend of 18 months, and Marina "wouldn't trade him for......

In a few days the city will begin its promised crackdown on the glut of parking placards issued to civil servants. But according to Uncivil Servants, a website that documents illegally parked cars displaying city permits, employees of Park East, an Upper East Side synagogue, have been using bogus DIY parking placards for years. And since they don’t even work for the city, their privileges won’t be affected by the new rules. Uncivil Servants says......

After the startling Midtown robbery yesterday afternoon in which a man was beaten and robbed of $149,000 in cash on the street, the police are still looking for the suspect. The victim, Seton Ijams, a music management company executive, had just visited a Chase bank, and police believe it may have been an inside job. Ijams was "jumped" by the gun-wielding robber outside the Starbucks at 120 West 56th Street and then dragged along the......

Fingers are being pointed at a Queens psychiatrist who allowed David Tarloff to be released 10 days before he killed an Upper East Side psychologist and attacked another. Tarloff had been arrested after assaulting a security guard at St. John's Episcopal Hospital, and police say Dr. Reddy Bezwada's evaluation read, "The individual does not require further psychiatric treatment at this time." Based on Bezwada's report, a Queens judge allowed Tarloff to be released on his......

As David Tarloff is held in the murder of therapist Kathryn Faughey, the Manhattan DA's office is planning on showing how the crime was premeditated. Tarloff was charged with second-degree murder, second-degree attempted murder (when he slashed another doctor, Kent Shinbach), and first-degree assault. One imagines Tarloff, who is schizophrenic, might claim insanity, but the Post reports evidence, like "surveillance video showing David Tarloff scoping out an escape route," may give prosecutors a strong case.......

The man accused of slashing Upper East Side psychologist Kathryn Faughey to death and attacking another doctor was arraigned in court yesterday. And 39-year-old David Tarloff, a schizophrenic with a history of violence, made it quite an arraignment. Referring to his court-appointed lawyer Reginald Sharpe, Tarloff said, "I'm not stupid. I won't talk until I have a real attorney. I was a real attorney...He isn't an attorney. I saw his license. Look at him! He's......

Photograph of police escorting suspect David Tarloff by Andy Kropka/AP The police arrested a Queens resident for the murder of a therapist on the Upper East Side. David Tarloff, 39, apparently made "statement implicating himself" in the brutal death of Dr. Kathryn Faughey as well as the attack on Dr. Kent Shinbach, who Tarloff claimed institutionalized him in 1991. Tarloff, who is schizophrenic, has a history of violent crime. Faughy was "slashed 15 times......

Update: Police have arrested David Tarloff, a Queens resident and former patient of Shinbach's, for Faughey's murder. The Post reports Tarloff, described as overweight with a bald spot by neighbors, has a history of violent crime. Apparently fingerprints found on suitcases left at the crime scene led the police to Tarloff. Earlier: As the family and friends prepare to say good-bye at a funeral for psychologist Kathryn Faughey today, the police have been questioning a......

School teacher and aspiring novelist Matthew Thomas won the jackpot in the New York apartment lottery when he scored his Upper East Side studio apartment, around the corner from Elaine’s, for just $14,000. Literally; the man won the right to buy the apartment in a lottery that makes available a minuscule number of apartments to people with incomes under $49,625. The units are part of 24 Mitchell-Lama co-op buildings in Manhattan and most applicants wait......

Photograph of William Kunsman, a friend of murdered psychologist Kathryn Faughey, by Ed Koskey Jr./AP The police questioned a friend of Upper East Side psychologist Kathryn Faughey, who was brutally murdered in her office Tuesday night. William Kunsman, who resides in Pennsylvania, voluntarily went to a PA state police barracks in Bethelem for hours of questioning before he was released. The police have declined to say whether Kunsman is a suspect, but they were......

Update: The police questioned and released a man in Pennsylvania about the murders. The police apparently found the man, who had met Dr. Faughey and her husband at a guitar camp, by looking at Faughey's email. Earlier: The police released a sketch of the suspect in the murder of an Upper East Side psychologist and revealed more details about the Tuesday night crime. The suspect, described as a man in his 40s, about 5'9" and......

A psychologist was slashed to death in her office building at 79th Street and York last night. Another therapist was seriously injured; the suspect is still at large. Police believe that Dr. Kathryn Faughey was killed by a patient during a 9PM session. Dr. Kent Shinback, a colleague in the same practice, ran into Faughey's office when he heard her screaming and tried to stop the patient, but he was, per the Daily News, "slashed......

Yesterday, the Post reported about a strange and disturbing road rage incident in Red Hook last week. A woman was ultimately repeatedly hit by the driver of a Land Rover. According to police sources, on Thursday afternoon, the woman got out of her car to speak with 63-year-old Jeffrey Klempner, who was in his SUV at Columbia Street and Atlantic Avenue, "to talk to him about an earlier collision." Klempner "denied any wrongdoing," but when......

Some troubling news about yesterday's three-alarm fire at 200 East 72nd Street which left 19 firefighters and 14 resident injured. Apparently the fire alarm system had been undergoing repairs (there were complaints about "multiple false alarms" according to the Sun), which led to chaos. The building is "fireproof," and the FDNY says residents should have just stayed in their apartment, but many tried to leave the building. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer issued a following......

Earlier this morning, a fire started on the ground floor of an apartment building on East 72nd Street and Third Avenue, causing all 34 floor to be evacuated. Two firefighters were seriously hurt, while four others and thirteen civilians suffered minor injuries. The fire was seen in a newsstand and stationery store, according to WNBC. Rusty Pacheco of Grace's Marketplace, located next door, said, "The moment we heard the alarm next door and we saw......

Photograph of a Giants fan in Times Square by Johnia! on Flickr After the stunning Giants' Super Bowl win, people cheered like they hadn't seen a Super Bowl victory in 17 years! Throughout the city, folks were stumbling onto streets, chanting the names of players and even getting arrested. A thousand people flooded Times Square, reportedly jumping on cars and sitting on top of phone kiosks, but the Post says no one was arrested.......

While Plaxico Burress hasn't practiced much all year because of an ankle injury, now another injury seems to be hampering the Giants receiver. Burress is listed as "questionable" because of a left-knee injury that has bothered him on and off this season. The injury prevented him from practicing on Wednesday or Thursday. Yesterday, he was limited to a few individual drills. Joining Burress on the injury report is defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who has an......

A state judge has shot down Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to rent sports fields on Randalls Island to private schools because the administration failed to follow the legally required land-use review process when it made the deal. The plan was for private schools to pay $2.6 million a year for the next two decades in exchange for use of the renovated fields during peak hours from 3pm to 6pm. The Parks Department had agreed to contribute......

After a public scrutiny over police procedure when dozens of youths were arrested on their way to a gang members' wake, the Brooklyn DA's office has decided to drop the charges of 22 of the arrestees. Ten others will face charges. Last May, a number of young people were headed to the wake of 17-year-old Donnell McFarland, who police say headed the "Pretty Boy Family, a subdivision of the Bloods gang." The mourners wore t-shirts......

Staten Island Ferry, by General Erin at Flickr Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: missing children on 12th Ave. in Brooklyn, an overturned tractor trailer on the eastbound BQE in Queens, and an armed robbery on West 42nd St. in Manhattan. The contraband room at JFK International: it's like a freegan's vision of heaven. The clock atop the former Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower (now One Hanson Place) started ticking today at noon. A man was......

Are you ready to meet the Real Housewives of New York City? Bravo is spinning off their Orange County-based reality show with a look into the lives of some select East Coast ladies. The show will air March 4th, and The Daily News reports that the "stars" will be Bethenny Frankel, LuAnn de Lesseps (that's Countess, to you), Ramona Singer and Jill Zarin of the Upper East Side and Alex McCord of Cobble Hill.......

Last month, scaffolding holding two window cleaners outside a 47-floor building on East 66th Street collapsed, leaving one of the cleaners dead and the other, his brother, with massive injuries. Now, the survivor's doctors and wife are talking about his "miraculous" recovery, as he's alert and talking - and may even be able to walk in a year. Here's a list of what Alcides Moreno has been through, per the Daily News:- Fell 47......