The NYCLU has fired off a sternly worded letter to NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly demanding that police stop arresting children in public schools under the age of 16. The state's Family Court Act prohibits police from arresting kids younger than 16 without a warrant unless they've committed a crime. But according to NYPD data obtained in a Freedom of Information Law request, 309 kids under age 16 were arrested between 2005 and 2007 for offenses......

Is Peter Vallone Jr's favorite daredevil, Jeb Corliss, back at it? While he's facing misdemeanor charges from his 2006 attempt to jump off the Empire State Building (the Daily News notes that he's still fighting to get the charges tossed due to missing evidence), Corliss may already be planning his next move. He told The NY Post that he would "absolutely" take advantage of the new law passed that allows urban stunts like parachuting off......

Long Island waiters who provide a tantalizing description of the daily specials while omitting such vulgar details as price may have to change up their patter if a proposed law in Nassau County gets passed. Of course, resistance is coming from the New York Restaurant Association, which in recent years has failed to block regulations on calorie info and bans on artificial trans fat. The executive vice president of the group maintains, "It’s good business......

Suffolk County on Long Island has become the first place in New York State where it's illegal to send text messages while operating a motor vehicle. Effective immediately, drivers spotted fiddling with their cell phones will face a $150 fine. Similar legislation has been passed in Nassau and Westchester counties but has not gone into effect, and a statewide law is still tied up in the legislature. In August, New York City Councilman David Weprin......

Yesterday State Senator Jeff Klein, a Democrat from the Bronx, released his third annual "dirty dozen" list of New York City's most unsanitary restaurants, based on inspection scores and citations for pest problems. Unfortunately for celebrity chef Mario Batali, the press conference was held outside his Del Posto Ristorante in the Meatpacking District. The three star restaurant was hit with dozens of violations in June, including a citation for food that was "spoiled, adulterated, contaminated......

Traffic agents wrote nearly 700 summonses on Wednesday as part of the city's crackdown on drivers who block the intersection during heavy traffic. But despite the increased enforcement of the city's box-blocking law— which is now punishable by a $115 fine—New York's boxes are still all blocked up! The Post sent a reporter to hang out at the intersection of West 54th Street and Broadway yesterday, where traffic agents were not handing out tickets. There......

Looks like there's going to be a lot more ink put down on the whole public drinking debate, The NY Times has now talked to Kimber VanRy--the man ticketed two weeks ago for having a beer on his stoop. At the time VanRy said he would likely just pay the fine, but after all the attention he's now pleading not-guilty at a November court appearance.“I think this is a real gray area. I don’t think......

Kids returning to school Tuesday were handed pamphlets outlining Mayor Bloomberg's new "Respect for All" policy, intended to reduce bullying, particularly harassment in public schools based on ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability. Every principal is now required to designate a staff member to whom students can report incidents, with schools required to report complaints to the Department of Education within 24 hours. According to WNBC, an accounting of all the incidents......

The state law banning hand-held cell phone use while driving doesn’t extend to text messaging, something Councilman David Weprin, father of 16-year-old twin girls, would like to change fast. Motivated by last summer’s fatal accident in the Finger Lakes region, in which five girls in a sport utility vehicle died when the text-messaging teenage driver swerved into oncoming traffic, Weprin will introduce a measure today that would ban the sending or reading of text messages......

Encouraged by the passage of a law requiring chain restaurants in New York City to display calorie information for food and beverages, Councilman Domenic Recchia has introduced a bill that would require store owners to post signs or labels warning parents about bite-size foods that pose a choking hazard for children under the age of five. Recchia tells the Sun he was motivated to do something after a 2-year-old boy in his district died in......

Republicans in the State Senate introduced a bill this week that would protect minors, particularly transgender students, from bullies. But no one will take credit for sponsoring the bill, and it may disappear as quietly as it was introduced. A spokesman for the Senate majority leader Dean G. Skelos would not comment on the proposed law, telling the Times, “We are focused on property tax relief.” Similar legislation has been passed in the Democrat-controlled Assembly;......

Gotham Gazette has an in-depth look at potential pitfalls in the city’s new law requiring chain restaurants to prominently display calorie info on all foods and beverages. Namely, the Health Department does not conduct systematic testing to ensure that restaurants are not miscalculating – or misrepresenting – their data. Chipotle’s calorie info was previously disputed, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest found that Olive Garden’s cappellini pomodoro, posted as under 640 calories,......

It’s been over a year since the City Council passed a bill regulating pedicabs, but police have been unable to enforce the laws because of a lawsuit brought by the New York City Pedicab Owners' Association, which is just one of several pedicab organizations in the city. Consumer Affairs Commissioner Jonathan Mintz tells the Post that the group is trying to claim all the 325 available pedicab licenses for themselves. But Chris Marlow, a flack......

Earlier this year Queens Council Member Peter Vallone Jr. introduced a bill that would make it illegal to jump or climb a building (monument, statue, crane and bridge) 25-feet or taller. Yesterday the City Council unveiled bill No. 721, which The NY Times is calling the "anti-Spidey law." Following Alain Robert and Renaldo Clarke's climbs of the NY Times building earlier this month, the city is on edge over stunts. The Times notes that the......

Clearing up a legal gray area, state lawmakers have passed a bill regulating the sale of frozen dessert products made with wine, permitting the sale of ice cream and sorbet to anyone over the age of 21. The bill limits the alcohol content to 5 percent by volume and requires warning labels – even though it would take two gallons of wine ice cream or one pint of wine sorbet to equal one glass of......

The NY Sun has a status report on the proposed rocket train. Good news for rail riders, "the House passed legislation [The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act] requiring the federal government to solicit proposals for its financing and development." The plan has Bloomberg's full support, and would make the NYC to D.C. trip under two hours...but it will cost a pretty penny.New York was in full support calls for $14.4 billion in rail investment......

Make sure you’re sitting down: Because of a surge in visa requests, America is currently in the grips of a severe fashion model shortage. The problem is that professional good looking people from overseas have to apply for the same H-1B visas that pasty high-tech workers require. According to Politico, demand for the visas is double the 85,000 spots available in the category per year; in the fiscal year 2007 only 349 models from overseas......

City councilman and mayoral hopeful Tony Avella held a press conference today at City Hall to spotlight a pending council resolution urging the New York State Senate to outlaw force-feeding ducks and geese to produce foie gras. A bill to ban the practice is languishing in Albany, and Avella hopes his largely symbolic gesture will push it forward. Yesterday Avella told the Village Voice that though there are only two foie gras farms in New......

A maximum $100 fine doesn't seem to be stemming the rising tide of self-absorbed assholes who drive cars while blathering on their cell phones. Though a state law prohibits the use of a hand-held mobile phone while operating a motor vehicle, the number of violations has jumped fivefold in New York City since 2002, according to amNY. Last year almost 200,000 violations were reported....

86% of New York City store owners who sell milk are breaking the law by overcharging for their product, according to the “Milk Money” report released yesterday by the City Council. The 17-year-old law, intended to stop price gouging on what many believe to be a vital source of nutrients, regulates the price of milk with a monthly cost calibration. This month, store owners cannot legally charge more than $3.93 for a gallon, $2.01 for......

Smoking sports fans beware, Shea Stadium is cracking down on the nicotine set this season. While the Smoke-Free Air Act has been in effect for 13 years, security at the stadium has turned a blind eye to those lighting up -- but that's all changing. The Observer reports on one fan's encounter with the new guard:“A security guard told me I can’t smoke and then ripped off a piece of my ticket,” the 26-year-old fan......

In what will be the largest class action suit ever brought by New York restaurant employees, employees are suing Starbucks for violating a state law that prohibits management from receiving part of workers’ tips. At Starbucks, shift supervisors share the pooled tips with baristas, prompting a suit from former Forest Hills barista Jeana Barenboim, on behalf of at least 2,000 Starbucks baristas in NY who are owed at least $5 million. The lawsuit comes on......

Would-be Empire State Building jumper, Jeb Corliss (pictured), isn't in the clear yet. Last year's decision from Supreme Court Justice Michael Ambrecht to dismiss the charges against him was overturned yesterday when The Supreme Court Appellate Division decided to bring the case back to life. A four-judge panel unanimously voted, and the Manhattan District Attorney's office can now pursue its charge of reckless endangerment against Corliss for his 2006 attempted jump. The judges did reduce......

The incoming president of the Obesity Society has resigned amidst controversy surrounding his work on behalf of the restaurant industry. Last month Dr. David B. Allison (pictured), a professor of biostatistics and nutrition at the University of Alabama, drew fire from colleagues when he submitted an affidavit questioning the city’s new rules requiring chain restaurants to prominently display calorie information on their menus. The Obesity Society supports the requirement, which will go into effect at......

Queens Council Member Peter Vallone Jr. has introduced a bill that would have Evel Knievel rolling in his grave. If it becomes law, stunt men are going to have a tough time working on their craft in New York, as it would outlaw climbing and jumping off any structure taller than 25 feet; daredevils could get fined and spend up to a year in jail. Alain Robert is not going to be happy about this......

Photos from the Met's exhibition of Lee Friedlander's Work Art is often accused of being contrived, especially in comparison to nature. But some of New York's most well-loved natural landscapes are themselves largely artificial, so it's interesting to see an artist like a photographer double-back on a landscaper's craft. Photographer Lee Friedlander did exactly that with with a lens pointed at the work of Frederick Law Olmsted, the co-designer of Manhattan's Central Park and......

Snoop Dogg, in town shooting BET interviews last week, was caught green-handed with the drug he claimed to give up at age 30: pot. The rapper was busted outside of hotspot Lotus last Wednesday for marijuana possession, and was issued a desk appearance ticket. The Post reports that didn't stop Snoop from partying the very next night, with his 25-strong posse, at Serafina and the tapas lounge Lollipop (somewhere in between they ordered 15 pizzas,......

Today marks the third annual Informal Presentation on the Art of Dance, a dance event put on by the Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Dancing Through Barriers Ensemble. The two troupes converge each year in a most unconventional space: The State Supreme Court of Manhattan! Arthur Mitchell (himself a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet in the '50s and '60s) co-founded DTB after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr, and the......

Eldridge St. Synagogue, by AllWaysNY at flickrToday on the Gothamist Newsmap: an overturned bulldozer on 65th St. and Metropolitan Ave. in Queens, vandalism to an NYPD vehicle at Newkirk Ave. and 31st St. in Brooklyn, and an armed robbery on 47th St. and Lexington Ave. in Manhattan. NYU is opening a foreign annex school in Abu Dhabi in a bid to expand intercultural awareness. No gays, Jews, or anyone who's visited Israel allowed, please.......

The incoming president of the Obesity Society has filed a 33-page affidavit questioning the city’s new rules requiring chain restaurants to prominently display calorie information on their menus. Dr. David B. Allison (pictured), a professor of biostatistics and nutrition at the University of Alabama, cites a study indicating that dieters who get distracted by calorie information are more likely to overeat. And even if the daunting calorie details prompt diners to go for lower calorie......