Cops Defiant

BROOKLYN, NY — Four cops involved in a chase that ended with a Brooklyn tattoo-parlor worker’s claim that he was violated with a police radio antenna turned down unofficial offers to lay low inside their precinct house.

Instead, claiming they did no wrong, the 71st Precinct officers returned to their duties after the story broke Thursday, according to a police source. It was unclear whether the fifth officer involved, a transit cop, was extended the same offer.

71st Precinct Rookies Accused of ‘Violating’ Suspect

BROOKLYN, NY — A gang of rogue cops clobbered a Brooklyn man they saw smoking a joint, then violated him with a walkie-talkie antenna during a broad-daylight attack in a subway station, law-enforcement sources and the victim’s lawyer said yesterday.

The alleged attack, reminiscent of the 1997 police assault on Abner Louima, put Michael Mineo, 24, in Brookdale Hospital for four days.

Bloomberg Wins Fight to Extend Term Limits

NEW YORK, NY [AP] — Arguing that New York needs his financial skill to guide it through the crisis on Wall Street, Mayor Michael Bloomberg persuaded City Council to amend the term-limits law Thursday so that the billionaire independent can run for re-election next year.

The Varieties of Religious Parking

NEW YORK, NY — There are 43 holidays this year (some overlapping) on which alternate side of the street parking is suspended in New York City — 10 days in October alone. Some are national (Independence Day). But most are religious. There are so many that — for the first time in anyone’s memory — four religious holiday parking days just happened in a row: the two days for Rosh Hashana on Tuesday and Wednesday and three days for Id al-Fitr, ending today.

Mayor Announces Bid For Third Term

NEW YORK, NY [NY1] — Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced unprecedented plans today to change the city’s term limits law in preparation for third run for office.

Saying he is best prepared to handle the city through these tough economic times and wants to give voters a chance to let him to continue to serve, Bloomberg said he is asking the City Council to draft legislation to extend term limits.

Police: Officer in Taser Death Kills Himself

BROOKLYN, NY [ABC] — The NYPD lieutenant who authorized the fatal use of a taser stun gun on a naked Brooklyn psychiatric patient committed suicide at Floyd Bennett Field this morning.

Lt. Michael Pigot reported to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, where he took his life shortly after 6 a.m.

Bloomberg: Costly Oil Is Good

NEW YORK, NY [NYDN] — Most Americans are rooting for oil prices to plunge, but Mayor Bloomberg isn’t one of them.

“My great fear is that the cost of energy will come down rapidly and so low that we will forget the lessons we should have learned, and we’ll walk away from the environmental challenges,” the mayor said during a panel discussion at the Clinton Global Initiative in Midtown.

Kids, Can You Say ‘Cultural Diversity’?

CROWN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn — Now that nearly every museum is also a children’s museum — now that nearly every museum has programs that strive to lure the young — what do we seek from a museum that really is a children’s museum? And not just any children’s museum, but the venerable Brooklyn Children’s Museum, reopening this weekend after spending nearly $70 million on reconstruction, rethinking and redesign?

Chilul Hashem – Fake Parking Placard

QUEENS, NY [FOX5] — You may have seen the official looking placards on some car dashboards. Many of them seem to scare ticket writers away. But wait until you see what Fox 5’s John Deutzman found out went he checked out just one of those suspicious signs.

An Online Tool Meant to Simplify the Transit System

A number of public officials and the founders of Google assembled at Grand Central Terminal on Tuesday to announce the start of New York’s version of Google Transit, an online feature that they said would transform the experience of navigating New York City’s transit system, the nation’s busiest.

“It is a very complicated transit system, and it just got less complicated today with the advent of Google Maps for transit,” Gov. David A. Paterson said, noting that the subway system opened with 9.1 miles of lines in 1904, and that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority now serves a territory of 5,000 square miles.

The array of public officials present reflected Google’s economic might, particularly at a time when Wall Street’s convulsions have left the city and state economy reeling. Not only did the governor and leaders of the transportation authority attend the Grand Central news conference, but so, too, did Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler, representing the Bloomberg administration, and officials of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and of New Jersey Transit.

How the State Abused your Monthly Cellphone Tax

The cell phone bill says “9-1-1 Service Fee”: $1.20. You pay it every month to New York state.

But only 6 cents end up at a 911 center.

Enhanced Drivers Licenses Now Available

Beginning today, New Yorkers will have their chance to buy a drivers license that will allow them to cross the border without a passport.

The enhanced license will be another accepted form of identification when traveling by car or boat to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda.

Starting in June, federal law says all travelers will no longer be allowed to cross the border with just a regular license or birth certificate.

DOT to open archway under Manhattan Bridge

BROOKLYN, NY [NY12] — According to the Department of Transportation, the Manhattan Bridge will open it’s archway to the public for the first time in 17 years starting in 2009.

9/11 – 7 Years

Today, 9/11/08 marks 7 years to the terror attacks on our country, the attacks that claimed 2,974 lives.

The official city commemoration schedule, along with resource links can be found in the Extended Article.

911 to Accept Cellphone Videos

NEW YORK, NY — The New York Police Department opened a new front for tipsters on Tuesday, urging citizens to send in videos of crimes in progress.

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced the start of the program in the department’s Real Time Crime Center at Police Headquarters.

Sunday, Astroland Closing its Doors for Good

Astroland is dead.

The longtime operator of the fabled Coney Island amusement park confirmed today that the 46-year-old Coney Island icon will close its doors for good Sunday because a new lease deal couldn’t timely be reached.

Sun May Set for the New York Sun

Dear Readers of the Sun:

This morning I write to you about the future of The New York Sun, which is in circumstances that may require us to cease publication at the end of September unless we succeed in our efforts to find additional financial backing. The managing editor, Ira Stoll, who is one of the founding partners in the paper, and I have shared this news with our colleagues, and we would like our readers as well to be aware of the situation.