The US Attorney’s office has jumped into the fight over the Taxi of Tomorrow by opening an investigation into whether the lack of wheelchair-accessible taxicabs in New York City amounts to a violation of parts of the Americans With Disabilities Act . Though one of the initial goals of the Taxi of Tomorrow program was “universal accessibility for persons with disabilities” the TLC eventually settled on a Nissan model that is not wheelchair accessible (versus the Karsan design, which is ), a development which irritated many . [ more › ]
Despite the fact that you can buy wine and groceries on Fresh Direct and in 35 other states, you still can’t do so in New York—public support be damned . Still, lawmakers are once again trying to make liquor store owners here miserable by introducing legislation that would finally let you buy vino at the Met (while throwing a few bones to the liquor stores). The issue could possibly come to a vote in the next month . [ more › ]
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Albany Considering Letting Supermarkets Sell Wine, Again
A fight inside a Lower East Side halfway house early Wednesday morning resulted in the stabbing of a 50-year-old man, and his murderer is still on the loose, the Daily News reports. Police “recovered a blood-spattered knife” on Attorney and Stanton streets, nearby the The Stanton House, which is on 190 Stanton. Bowery Boogie notes that a police helicopter descended upon the neighborhood, along with a “half-dozen squad cars…blocking the road between Attorney and Ridge.” [ more › ]
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Man Stabbed To Death In The LES, Suspect Still At Large
NY State bus driver crackdown, which has been going on since the March 12 fatal Bronx bus crash , has now caught city school bus drivers. According to WABC 7 , “The men, drivers in Queens, had reportedly been driving with suspended licenses, in one instance for more than 15 years. They were picked up by detectives with the Queens District Attorney’s Office for obtaining new licenses by submitting false names and different dates of birth and social security numbers to the Department of Motor Vehicles.” [ more › ]
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NYC School Bus Drivers Caught With Suspended Licenses
One of Charlie Sheen ‘s temporary goddesses, 22-year-old Capri Anderson (who you may remember from the Eloise Suite at the Plaza), has invited Charlie Sheen to serve her with the legal papers she’s expecting whilst she works the pole on Long Island next month. According to the Daily News , she’ll be at The Scene on April 15th and 16th, and has invited to actor to serve the papers to here there; his attorney says, “She wants to make it a PR event where she’s served at a strip club? Well we’re not going to accommodate her career. For her to say serve me while I’m stripping, it shows who we’re dealing with.” [ more › ]
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Charlie Sheen Declines Invite To Long Island Stripper Pole
Mayor Bloomberg has largely scoffed at accusations that the Sanitation Department engaged in a purposeful “slowdown” during the Blizzaggedon , as retaliation for budget cuts in the department. But after one of the blizzard blame hearings in Manhattan Beach on Wednesday, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes ripped into Bloomberg for “blowing off” the public hearing. [ more › ]
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Brooklyn DA Rips Into "Disengaged" Bloomberg
Due to a multimillion budget gap, Newark laid off 167 police officers (13% of its force) earlier this month. Since then, crime has increased there have been numerous carjackings —victims include a staffer in the NJ Attorney General’s office and a Newark school principal—and shootings (since Thursday, four people have been shot dead and six have been wounded). Now, Newark Mayor Cory Booker says that police will be at “full force” this weekend, claiming “dozens” more cops will be patrolling. While residents and activists say the decision to layoffs so many cops is why violence has roared back (back in April, Booker was touting how Newark had its first murder-free month since 1966 ), the Essex County prosecutor’s office says it’s unclear if the crime is related to the budget-tightening. Still, one resident of the South Ward, where many recent shootings have occurred, told the Star-Ledger, “This is happening every day. I have insomnia. How do people live like this?”
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After Police Layoffs, Newark Has Troubling Crime Spike
You’d lose stuff too if there were this many people going through your evidence at the same time (CBS). Did you commit a murder in New York City in the last forty years and never got caught? Might want to be careful where you leave your DNA. See, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office this year started a DNA-based cold case squad and is slowly working through the evidence from at least 95 of the city’s roughly 3,000 unsolved murders. When they can find the evidence bags, at least. Thanks to advances in DNA science genetic testing has become much easier to pull off. Where once it took lots of saliva or blood to make a match scientists now just need a nanogram’s worth of cells or body fluids. DNA at the scene of a crime doesn’t necessarily solve a case, but it does offer up new avenues for police to explore. Especially since 2006 when the number of convictions eligible for DNA collection was expanded to include some petty larcenies, giving cops a wider net of cons to fish through. The trick in New York is finding the evidence to search for DNA in the first place. Barry Scheck, the co-director of the Innocence Project (and recent guest star on The Good Wife ), tells the News that when the Project asked the city for DNA in 46 cases from 2004-2009 the genetic evidence in 27 cases couldn’t be found. So just think about how hard it is to find evidence more than a decade old!
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DA’s New Cold Case Squad Embraces DNA
Pedro G. Espada and dad Pedro Espada Jr., holding a possible future public servant Disgraced former State Senator Pedro Espada and his son Pedro G. Espada were released on $750,00 bail today after pleading not guilty to charges of embezzling more than half a million dollars from the Bronx nonprofit health care network they managed. According to a grand jury indictment returned yesterday, Espada used the non-profit Soundview, which the senator founded 30 years ago, to live a life of semi-luxury and finance his political campaigns. The Times reports that Espada allegedly used some of the money to pay for a lavish birthday party at his Mamaroneck home, replete with petting zoo, pony rides and a videographer. And you already knew about the $20,000 in sushi deliveries , but did you know about the Bentley? Prosecutors say Espada took $49,000 from Soundview for the down payment on a $125,000 Bentley. Sadly, he never bought the car because his credit application was rejected. Espada allegedly used a Soundview corporate American Express card to cover many of his personal expenses, like $100,000 worth of meals, window treatments for his home, and Broadway shows. According to the indictment, he also used Soundview loot to pay for a ghostwriter to work on a book project, and fix the air conditioner. Pork—you can use it for anything! “The indictment alleges that funds that could and should have been applied to purchase medical equipment and enhance health care services for an historically under-served population were diverted by the defendants for their personal use and to benefit friends and family members,” said United States Attorney Lynch in a statement . “In these difficult economic times, the charged crimes are all the more reprehensible.” And Attorney General/Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo, who has also filed a multi-million dollar civil lawsuit against Espada, told NY1 , “They were living high on the hog , as they would say, and they were, in a cruel twist of fate, in a really obnoxious perversion of intent, using funds that were supposed to go to provide health care for poor people, to live a luxurious, extravagant lifestyle.” Espada and his son Pedro G (whom you may recall from his brief stint in an easy $120K-a-year Senate job his daddy got for him) face a maximum of 10 years in prison for the embezzlement charges, five years for a conspiracy count, and a fine of $250,000 for each count on which they are convicted. So please, have some respect for the Espada family during this difficult time. “Today is a sad day for Soundview and a sad day for the Espada family,” his lawyer told the Times , with musical accompaniment provided by a trio of violinists so small they were imperceptible to the naked eye.
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Espada and Son Plead Not Guilty, May Face Decades in Prison
Like many of you, we were pretty amazed at the footage of the roof of the Metrodome collapsing after a heavy blizzard this past weekend. The Giants were supposed to play the Vikings there, but ultimately defeated them handily on Monday night in Detroit . But while the Giants may have moved on, the Vikings still have to deal with not having a home field; so in their desperation, they have begun asking their fans for help digging out the snowed-in outdoor field at the University of Minnesota campus stadium in time for Monday night’s Vikings game with the Chicago Bears. Conspiracy theorists take note: if you’re wondering who is to blame for the roof collapse, you can thank two NY-based firms who designed the roof and supplied the roof fabric.
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Metrodome Roof Was Designed By Two NY Companies