Bill Passed Authorizes Traffic Agents To Enforce “Block the Box” Violators

ALBANY, NY [NY1] — City and state officials are looking to up the ante on drivers who sit the middle of an intersection.

It’s already illegal to “block the box” –- but currently, only police officers are allowed to hand out tickets. However, today the State Senate and Assembly passed legislation that increases enforcement by giving traffic enforcement agents the right to ticket drivers, as well. They also want to double fines.

A Young Man From Omaha, Who May Perfectly Represent Brooklyn

BROOKLYN, NY — Moments before Yosef Abrahamson, 16, accepted an award for the essay he’d written in a competition sponsored by the Police Athletic League, an officer approached him to complain about his fedora. The hat, an essential wardrobe item for Hasidic men, was gaudy, the policeman told him, and what’s with all these kids today and their nose rings and their attitudes. A second police officer, overhearing the conversation, came over to steer away the first one, who reappeared a few minutes later to apologize. He’d never seen a Hasidic Jew, he told Yosef.

Jackson Heights City’s Parking Ticket Capital

A trip to Jackson Heights, Queens, will get you some great food, a colorful trinket – and likely, a parking ticket.

The neighborhood, along with adjacent East Elmhurst, is the parking ticket capital of New York, according to new numbers obtained by the Daily News.

More in the Extended Article.

Lawn Litter Woes? Call A Notary

Litter on your lawn? Call a notary public.

That’s what fedup homeowners may have to do if they want a new state law banning the dumping of menus, leaflets, handbills and circulars on their doorsteps and lawns enforced.

The law leaves enforcement to the Sanitation Department, which is planning to require complaints to be notarized.

New York City Braces for Heat Wave

NEW YORK, NY — If you haven’t installed your air conditioner yet, Friday might be the day to do it.

That’s because New York this weekend will be sweltering through a brutal heat wave, the first of 2008.

Daytime highs will soar above 90 degrees from Saturday to Monday, according to Accuweather.com. And the high humidity will make those afternoons feel as though it’s hotter than 100.

NYPD Officers to get Bigger Paychecks

NEW YORK, NY — Under a new contract, members of the NYPD will soon be getting a raise.

Officers in top positions can expect a raise from $59,588 to $65,382. New officers will now start at $35,000, a jump from $25,000.

Protesters Arrested at Bell Verdict Rallies

NEW YORK, NY — The Rev. Al Sharpton and nearly 200 demonstrators were arrested Wednesday as they blocked traffic at the height of the evening rush hour to protest the acquittals of three detectives in the 50-bullet shooting of an unarmed black man.

Police estimated that about 190 people were arrested, including Sharpton, two survivors of the shooting and the slain man’s fiancee. They lined up and peacefully put their hands behind their backs as police arrested them on disorderly conduct charges.

Patrols Pulled off Brooklyn Streets After Threat to Shoot Cops Exposed

BROOKLYN, NY — Dozens of cops were pulled off the streets in Brooklyn Saturday night after NYPD officials were tipped off to a plot to shoot patrolmen, police sources said.

Officers were taken off their foot patrols in East New York, and cop cars were positioned to block a route to the 75th Precinct stationhouse on Sutter Ave. for fear of a drive-by shooting.

The extraordinary measures were taken after a confidential informant – who works with the Brooklyn narcotics squad – told police around 6 p.m. there was a plan to shoot up the Brooklyn stationhouse, sources said.

Retail Gas Hits Record $3.50 A Gallon

NEW YORK (AP) — Rising gasoline prices tightened the squeeze on drivers Monday, jumping for the first time to an average $3.50 a gallon at filling stations across the country with no sign of relief.

Crude oil set a record for the sixth day in a row — this time closing above $117 a barrel — after an attack on a Japanese oil tanker in the Middle East rattled investors.

Assault On Rabbi Spurs Anti-Bias Rally

BROOKLYN, NY — Community leaders and elected officials from throughout Brooklyn gathered Thursday, March 27th at Borough Hall to denounce hate crimes in the wake of the beating of a rabbi in Park Slope.

Web Site Draws Cops’ Wrath

A new Web site is prompting outrage among many police officers.

RateMyCop.com lists cops’ names — some 140,000 and counting — as well as the badge numbers of many of them, and enables people to rate them.

That, say many law enforcement officers, violates their rights, in part because there’s little or no — policing — by the site of the information posted on it.

Paterson Sworn in as State’s First Black Gov.

ALBANY, NY — David A. Paterson, minutes after being sworn in as New York’s 55th governor, sought yesterday to woo lawmakers with humor, inspiring words about public service and a call for compromise in the face of a potential economic meltdown.

More pictures and videos of the speeches in the Extended Article!

Crane Collapse Barely Misses Manhattan Chabad House

NEW YORK, NY — The collapse of a construction crane that toppled a New York City townhouse and killed at least four people just barely missed the headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitch of Beekman-Sutton, home to Rabbi Shmuel and Raizel Metzger, and their two children.

Bloomberg Seeks New Outlet After Radio Show Shake-Up

There was the joke about shooting the police commissioner.

There was the defense of illegal immigrants, because who else “takes care of the greens and the fairways in your golf course?”

There was the concern that pushing them out of the country would make the United States a “piranha,” not a pariah, in the eyes of the world. And there was the description of a tree the Parks Department was cloning as being the one that “George Washington supposedly slept under and had an apple fall on his head, or maybe it was Newton, or one of those guys.”