At a breakfast forum this morning, Representative Anthony Weiner – a likely mayoral candidate – handed out a 5,000 word manifesto about how he would keep the city affordable for the middle class. The Sun has it that Weiner also used his half-hour speech to criticize the proliferation of big-box chains in New York, wondering, “What is the value of having a Wal-Mart on Queens Boulevard that wipes out economic development on the rest of......

Yesterday Representative Vito Fossella said he would make another announcement about his DWI arrest today, and it was quite the bombshell for the Staten Island GOP machine: He admitted to having an affair with retired Air Force Colonel Laura Fay and fathering a three-year-old daughter with her. Here's his statement: I have had a relationship with Laura Fay, with whom I have a three-year-old daughter. My personal failings and imperfections have caused enormous pain to......

Just because the 2009 elections are over 22 months away doesn't mean some interesting moves can't happen. Adolfo Carrion Jr. (pictured, on left), the Bronx Borough President, has decided to run for City Comptroller in 2009, making it a tough field and shedding light on the mayoral contest. Carrion, born in Lower Manhattan and a former city planner, Community Board district manager, and City Council member (here's his bio), was seen as a likely candidate......

Mayor Bloomberg has made ridding the city of illegal guns one of his administration's major issues (it's also a big part of his potential national platform). Last year, he, on behalf of NYC, filed two federal lawsuits against out-of-state gun dealers, after sting operations revealed that the dealers were apparently selling guns illegally. While some dealers have settled, others are fighting back, countersuing the city. The Bloomberg administration's sting operations involved two undercovers going to......

The city's last privately owned island was sold to the federal government for $2 million. South Brother Island, a 7-acre island (just west of Rikers Island), will be turned over to the city's Parks and Recreation Department and will remain, as amNew York reports, "significant nesting colony for several types of shore birds, including Egrets, Cormorant, and Night Herons." According to the NY Times, the deal, which was "brokered by the Trust for Public......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a stabbing on Monument Walk in Brooklyn, a stabbing on West 31st St. in Brooklyn, and a stabbing on Hughes Ave. in Brooklyn. Cops are looking into the death of a man who was found unconscious in the bathroom of the Knitting Factory. They're deeming the incident suspicious. A Columbia University hunger striker was carried off a couch after passing out from hunger. Meanwhile, a group of drunken students......

Mayor David Dinkins, who preceded Mayor Giuliani in office from 1990 to 1993, had his appendix removed in an emergency surgery Friday when it was determined that he was suffering from appendicitis. Dinkins was actually visiting his doctor for a routine flu shot, when he complained that he had a sharp pain in his side. A CAT scan revealed the inflamed and infected appendix--a condition that can be lethal if the vestigial organ bursts. Dinkins......

New York University is urging students who are feeling overwhelmed to contact the school's mental health facilities, a few days after one of its incoming freshman killed himself by jumping from the 15th-floor roof of his Union Square dorm on East 14th St. Eighteen-year-old "Trey" Allan Oakley Hunter III leapt to his death minutes after texting a goodbye message to his parents and brother. In an email sent out to students, university president John Sexton......

Even as Astroland is on the verge of losing its lease, City officials are looking to collect $200 million from various sources to overhaul the Coney Island boardwalk. The New York Post reports that funds are being sought from New York State, the federal government, and even Brooklyn real estate owners who will benefit from a refurbished seaside walkway. The sought-after $200 million will be used to replace a three mile stretch of boardwalk from......

Gov. Spitzer announced yesterday that illegal immigrants will be able to get valid New York State drivers licenses if they provide a valid and verifiable foreign passport. Spitzer hopes that the change, which reverses a four-year-old Pataki-era decision, will legitimize the 500,000-1 million undocumented immigrants who are driving in New York. In a repudiation of the federal government's stance, the governor said "We will not become part of what is propagated on the federal level......

Elected officials, including U.S. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, are speaking out against the proposed expansion of Fordham University's Lincoln Center campus, directly south of the performing arts complex. The school wants to add 1.5 million square feet of building space to the midtown campus, which includes an undergraduate college and its law school, between Columbus and Amsterdam Aves., nearly tripling the complex's size from the current 800,000 square feet. Fordam gets to avoid complicated issues......

Politicians and labor leaders held a rally at Ground Zero Saturday pledging to support efforts to get federal funding for first responders, construction workers, volunteers, residents, and students exposed to health risks during and after the 9/11 attacks. On the sixth anniversary of that day, three New York Congressman––Democrats Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler, and Republican Vito Fossella––will introduce the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. The bill would provide healthcare and monitoring to all the......

New York's senior Senator Chuck Schumer is known for his ubiquity on the talk show circuit, fighting for New York's share of federal dollars and the occasional tour de Brooklyn. He is also credited with helping the Democrats win back the Senate last year. So it's all very interesting that he told NY1's Inside City Hall that he'd be open to serving in a cabinet position, if a Democrat wins the presidency in 2008. But......

Usually married people, when not fighting, are pretty supportive their spouses, but that's not the case with Congressman Gregory Meeks and his wife Simone-Marie Meeks. Rep. Meeks is backing his congressional aide, Brian Simon, instead of his wife for the City Council seat being vacated by Leroy Comrie because of term limits. The seat for the 27th District represents parts of southeast Queens and Comrie started the movement to ban the N-word and was threatened......

We all knew the real estate bubble was causing insanity, but we should have known it's encouraged people to divorce. There's a NY Times Styles section article about some who wait until the market's at its peak to divorce - that way, they can benefit from an even bigger profit when selling their homes. There are quotes from Nobel Prize-winning economist Gary Becker, who showed that couples with a drastic rise in net worth were......

Rep. Charles Rangel spoke with WNBC newsman Gabe Pressman Friday evening for an interview that will air Sunday morning. He told Pressman that New Yorkers shouldn't favor Giuliani just because he's from their area or showed some type of leadership in the hours and days after 9/11/01. Rangel attributes Giuliani's positive impression as simply the product of filling a vacuum created by an absent-for-hours President Bush. While the Congressman appreciates that temporary performance, he hopes......

Did you know New York is #4 of America's Best Vegetarian-Friendly Large Cities? It's no surprise there are so many famous and not-so-famous veggies living here. Focusing on the former, PETA is holding another poll asking who the Sexiest Vegetarian worldwide is. This is their sixth annual sexy veggie contest, and has a list of 233 celebs competing for the title, including our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man Tobey McGuire. While the poll only includes Hollywood herbivores,......

The city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is urging New Yorkers to be careful of ticks while spending time outdoors, especially since many are traveling to forested and wooded areas. The DOH's report has helpful preventative steps you can take, as well tips on how to remove ticks. And this FAQ on ticks has more info about the nasty buggers. Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said, "While the number of tick related illnesses has fluctuated......

Last night, former mayor Rudy Giuliani got a huge round of applause after tearing another candidate a new one about September 11. The Republican presidential candidates were participating in a Fox News Channel-sponsored debate in South Carolina, and the moment came when Representative Ron Paul of Texas discussed September 11. The video is above (the pertinent part comes at about 1:40 in) and here's how the NY Times described it: At one point, one......

President Bush visited New York City yesterday to encourage Congress to reauthorize his No Child Left Behind program. Bush gave a speech at the Harlem Village Academy school and praised its founder, faculty and students and emphasized the importance of the NCLB Act. Bush made it a point to visit all eight classrooms and shake every student's hand, prompting one student to tell the Sun, "I think it was the best day of my......

It seems like, all across the network, folks were up to no good. Maybe it was all the green beer from last weekend... Gothamist spent the week writing about New Yorkers behaving badly: at the post office, at the Garden, and at the fertility clinic. Calvin Klein may not be misbehaving, but he's just a little dirty, and in a completely different way than some NYC kitchens. SFist had its share of misbehave-rs, too, like......

For politicians, Martin Luther King Jr. Day was busy as they made the rounds at a number of city events. Governor Spitzer, Lieutenant Governor Paterson, Mayor Bloomberg, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and Representative Charles Rangel all appeared at the Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network's House Justice and also the Brooklyn Academy of Music's celebration. Paterson and Rangel emphasized that the Iraq war would have been opposed by King. Spitzer mentioned meeting the family......

While we're dealing with knowing that a lot of city traffic is caused by regular ol' New Yorkers, politicians are still concerned with truck traffic. Congressman Anthony Weiner released a study showing that truck traffic will increase by 83% by 2020, with truck traffic in Staten Island and Brooklyn doubling. Since 1998, truck traffic has increased by 30%, while car traffic has only increased by 8%. (On Staten Island alone, the number of trucks has......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an all-hands high rise fire on 54th and 5th, a jumper down on 54th and 3rd, and an "armed assault in transit" on the J in Brooklyn. Aw, Ranger the NYPD dog who was injured in the line of duty, is > http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/488369p-411223c.html">going home to Staten Island - he's wearing a splint on his leg and his handler says Ranger is on a "high-protein" diet because they want him......

Former President Gerald Ford, who entered the Oval Office after Richard Nixon's resignation, died this evening at age 93 at his home in Rancho Mirage, California. His wife Betty gave a statement saying:My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age. His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country.Ford was the......

The conflicting interests of Columbia University and the West Harlem community continue to spawn new polemics from both sides, as the university inches ahead with its proposed 17-acre, $7 billion expansion. As the land-use contest heats up, so has the quest to find the perfect metaphor. The high-stakes name game begins with the conflicting designations of the territory in question. While Columbia has used the term "Manhattanville" to describe the area, which lies between 125th......

Remember how this summer, the Department of Homeland Security reduced the amount of anti-terror funding NYC would get? Sure, NYC was still getting most of the funding, but funds were being increased in less risky areas with, well, influential politicians. And then the press had a field day with how Homeland Security didn't think there were any national monuments or major buildings at risk? And then Homeland Security claimed that NY State and NYC didn't......

The NY State Commission on Healthcare facilities recommended closing nine hospitals in the state in order to save $1.5 billion. Five are in New York City: St. Vincent's Midtown and Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan; Victory Memorial in Brooklyn; New York Westchester Square Medical in the Bronx; and Pakway Hospital in Queens. In addition to the recommended closures, the panel recommended that some facilities (ten of which are in the city) be merged with other......

Congressman Charles Rangel is in the news again, but this time he's not upsetting Southern states - he's scaring the bejesus out of young Americans! He told CBS's Face the Nation that he will will propose legislation to bring back the draft. Why? Because it might act as a war-deterrent, as well as fulfill the need for more troops. There's no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded......

After his dis of Mississippi last week (he wondered why anyone would want to live there) and fallout from Mississippi politicians, Congressman Charles Rangel officially apologized. There is no excuse for my having said that. I am fully aware that every American loves their respective state and city and I'm afraid that my love and affection for New York got in the way of my common sense and judgment, and for that I sincerely apologize.U.S.......