Yesterday, the story was that a transit worker had been stabbed by four muggers, only to amazingly fight back and stab two of them. One died, one was wounded, another was apprehended, and a fourth was on the loose. But then, as more information was released, it seems that the man who died was not in the group of muggers but a bystander, perhaps even a Good Samaritan trying to help, who was caught......

It’s that time of year again when New Yorkers debate how much to tip the – deep breath – doorman, super, handyman, locker room attendant, trainer, baby sitter, dog walker, beauty salon, cleaning person, day care center, garbage collector, mail carrier, paperboy and parking attendant(s). Sewell Chan, the Times’s Man on the Web, has tied himself to the tipping post with a 1,780 word monograph on the subject, largely sourced from Doorman, a book by......

Tomorrow, a new state task force will convene to talk about the threat of mold to the health of New Yorkers and what can be done about it. The New York State Toxic Mold Task Force was formed at the urging of health experts, who are concerned that there isn't enough being done to combat an organism that wrecks properties and endangers the lives of tenants and homeowners. According to state senator Liz Kreuger representing......

ArtCal calls him, "the most controversial and downright interesting graffiti artist at large in the UK today" and whether or not you agree -- Banksy is decorating our streets, galleries...and even Brangelina's household walls. In New York he has pranked his way into the Met, MoMA, the Brooklyn Museum and the American Museum of Natural History. Recently it was announced that his images would be used to sell luxury condos in Williamsburg...and just yesterday......

Photograph the 2006 New York City Marathon finish line by CraigsPage on flickr Marathon fans, your time is here because this weekend, there are two 26.2 mile races in the city. In addition to the New York City Marathon on Sunday, Saturday is the USA Olympic Trials for the 2008 Olympic Men's Marathon. Saturday's Olympic Trials will feature the country's best long distance runners as they contend for the first spots on the 2008......

The 26-year-old Yale graduate who walked around Times Square naked on Thursday spoke to the NY Post, which made him its cover boy, about his experience. Josh Drimmer denied that it was a stunt and said - from his hospital bed at Bellevue - "It was an extreme panic attack brought on by days of not sleeping...I'm all right. Tell everyone I'm OK. I had a bad day." Good to know that Drimmer is better,......

Earlier this week, a Staten Island woman was arrested after she stabbed a 19-year-old suspected of stealing her son's iPod. A study released by the Urban Institute links a rise in violent crime between 2005 and 2006 to the proliferation of iPods. Though violent crime had been dropping up until 2004, iPod-envy started to spread. In New York, gadget-related crimes were a big news story in 2005: Though subway crime was dropping, iPod and cellphone......

The Smart car has arrived in the States, and measuring at 8 feet and 8 inches long and 5 feet wide, the miniscule vehicle got some big attention in the Big Apple this week. The car is around 3 feet shorter than the Mini Cooper, and could probably fit inside most of the gas guzzling SUVs in town. The 1800-pounder will hit the market stateside in early 2008, but will anyone want it? Business Week......

One of the most well revered and talented chefs working in the city these days is Daniel Humm at Eleven Madison Park. Humm first learned his trade working at a few top rated restaurants in his native Switzerland, and credits Gérard Rabraey at the Michelin 3 star Le Pont De Brent as his mentor. Now in New York, the chef (who will turn 31 at the end of the month) continues to develop his particular......

Earlier this month ASCAP was making headlines with their lawsuit against some of New York's (and the nation's) venues. To clear things up on how the company works, and why they do what they do, we asked the senior vice president of licensing and the director of general licensing some questions. How do you find out if bars/clubs/restaurants/venues are playing ASCAP bands without a license? First we know which establishments are licensed. ASCAP does not......

Anne Burrell has barely gotten any sleep in the last month. Almost all of her time has gone into the opening of the new West Village restaurant Centro Vinoteca. Its small, trench-style kitchen features a pass window that looks out onto the bar area; the dining room itself is spread out over two levels with about 75 seats total. 1960’s era Italian glass chandeliers hang over the tables (“They make me think of Lite-Brite,” says......

As many people wonder about the state of the bridges in the New York City region, in the wake of I-35 collapsing in Minneapolis, the city's Department of Transportation is trying to reassure residents that our bridges are safe. Though many bridges meet the definition of "deficient" - 19% of bridges are in "fair" or "poor" condition, 15% meet the federal definition of "structurally deficient" - a DOT first deputy commissioner Lori Ardito says,......

Summer always brings to mind certain culinary delights -- barbecue, corn on the cob, hamburgers and hot dogs, lemonade, and seafood, particularly anything you'd find at a New England clam shack. We're fortunate enough to live near Pearl Oyster Bar if we need a quick fix, but what about those for whom the closest decent lobster might actually be in New England? Send 'em a Lobstergram. The folks at Lobstergram sent us one to try......

With brick and mortar sales declining, and the future of the music industry uncertain - at least live shows are always dependable. Sure, there are a lot of venues closing, but how about the ones thriving? The NY Times reports on some of the big players in the New York venue scene. In New York heated competition among concert promoters has driven a building spree of small and midsize spaces over the last two years.......

Maybe it was just the red carpet, but most of the people we spoke to seemed particularly excited about the new digs for the James Beard Foundation Awards, black-tie affair held last night at Avery Fisher Hall to honor some of the country's best chefs, restaurateurs, and culinary professionals. Susan Ungaro, the President of JBF, noted that originally, James Beard had moved to New York to become an opera singer, but had to earn......

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions this week at DCist. Like the rest of country, we were floored by the news of so many dead coming out of Virginia Tech, and with so many of the victims and their relatives from the D.C. area, we felt it important to pay......

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, visited New York City yesterday. While the showiest part of their night may have been the presentation of a Global Environmental Citizen Award to the Prince from the Harvard Medical School's Center for Health and the Global Environment, we bet the most fun was had during the couple's visit the the Harlem Children's Zone. The Harlem Children's Zone, which includes the Promise Academy and other services and programs......

Children living in many city buildings, hankering for a midday snack and sticking their little fingers in between loose floor boards may find a tasty treat: lead paint chips! The Daily News reports today that about 900 of the buildings used to house homeless people, through Bloomberg's Housing Stability Plus program, have been found to violate lead paint regulations. About 700 buildings tested positive for lead paint while another 200 or so were highly suspected......

Did you realize that yesterday's methampetamine lab busts in the city and Suffolk County happened on National Meth Awareness Day? The things you learn! The Drug Enforcement Agency named the bust "Operation Red Fusion" and targeted the nine meth labs because they used the same online company to buy materials like red phosphorous. The DEA's Administrator Karen P. Tandy said, "The danger of meth labs has spread from Mid-America to Midtown. Meth labs are......

Even without the sleep-busting noise and window-covering grime that come from the passing traffic, living near a highway comes with other hazards. The Times reports today about a recent NYU study that found that children who live in the Bronx suffer from higher asthma rates thanks to the number of busy roads that tread so close to where they work and play. The study, which involved asthma-stricken schoolchildren wearing detectors that analyzed the air around......

In New York, “fresh peas” means the green kind—English, sugar snap, or snow—for which the prime season is spring. But down South, summer brings a whole other crop of legumes that are also called fresh peas (or shell peas). There are whippoorwills, zippers, and crowders; cream peas, butter peas, and lady peas (also known as purple-hull peas). Unlike other Southern specialties like grits and okra, these delicacies have yet to be discovered by chefs in......

Despite the fact that New York spends nearly $13,000 per public school student per year, the highest in the nation along with Jersey, those same students are consistently ranking in the bottom five for all fifty states. "In New York, it seems, the money isn't making its way to the teachers. In the last decade, teachers in the state saw average salary decrease 5 percent when adjusted for inflation, according to the National Education......

Bridezillas are bad, but this wanna-be groom takes the cake. Recent Police Academy recruit Kabeer Din tried to hire a hit man to kill his girlfriend. Din, who transferred to NYC after recently graduating from Baltimore's police academy, wanted to get married sooner while the girlfriend wanted to wait. The scheme was revealed when Din asked for help in finding a killer - the man he asked to help set him up with a hit......

- This week's New York has a story, not yet online, on the shocking and tragic execution-style murder of Tiesha Sargeant in which her drug dealing boyfriend admits to having sold $6,000 worth of weed the day of the murder. - What happens when the Department of Buildings decides the Bed-Stuy building you just bought a condo in is illegally built? "No bank will give a loan on this, you can't refinance or take......

He has been called “overrated,” “phony” and “not clutch” yet he is the best player to wear a Yankee uniform since Mickey Mantle retired. Will Alex Rodriguez ever be appreciated in this town? Yesterday, A-Rod delivered the game-winning single in the 10th inning to propel the Yankees to a 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay. A-Rod will always be the easy mark because he makes the most money and will never be Derek Jeter, but what......

Hundreds of thousands of people rallied across the country for immigration rights, from Los Angeles to Indiana, Atlanta to Madison. In New York, the crowd seemed to swell around 70,000, though some organizers believed there were 125,000. Nonetheless, streets - and the Brooklyn Bridge - downtown were filled with immigrants from around the world and supporters alike, making their way to City Hall for the rally, which included Senators Schumer and Clinton. There were......

So this photo came onto Contribute and it reminds us of something we've been wondering. Other than Gob, and the owner of this bugger apparently, does anybody actually, regularly, use a Segway? In New York City? Because for the life of use we don't understand why. Also, since you have to spend a few grand to have the honor of making a fool of yourself in one of these things, don't you think you'd......

This week at the movies, there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that the new releases are seriously scrapping the bottom of the quality bucket. How many weeks now has it been that we've had this complaint? The good news is that, as per usual, there's load of other fascinating movie related events In New York to sink your teeth into with relish. Someday soon someone should tally up the release record......

With apartment prices in New York quickly sailing north of $1500/sqft, if you're looking to buy a place, it might be time to start getting creative. For more than a year we've been thinking about the pre-fab housing revolution that's taking place around the United States. No longer are pre-fabs the ugly, cheaply built units you might remember from your youth. These houses are something else entirely: modern, airy, and modular, so they're easy......

The Crooners, Old-Timey Musicians...