Some of the more, shall we say, refined residents of the Mount Morris Park Historic District in East Central Harlem were recently mortified when a new wine shop opened up with bulletproof glass and garish neon signage that would make the Whore of Babylon blush. This kind of thing may fly over in North east Central Harlem, but this is the MMPHD , people! As the president of the local community improvement association, Syderia Chresfield, told DNAinfo at the time , “It brings down everything we are trying to build up. I don’t like to use the word ghetto, but that’s what it is.” And so, after a lot of hassle, the owner has transformed the ghetto into fabulous. But is he a sitting duck? [ more › ]

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Harlem Liquor Store Nervous After Nixing Bulletproof Glass To Placate Gentrifiers

Three protesters were arrested and four issued summonses yesterday in Grand Central Terminal, where approximately 150 demonstrators formed a “flash mob” to protest President Obama’s signing of the National Defense Authorization Act [NDAA], a military spending bill that also authorizes the military to detain American citizens indefinitely without due process. Obama signed it in Hawaii on New Year’s Eve, and it hasn’t gotten that much attention in the media, but some people at least are a little alarmed about this, and they were expressing their outrage during rush hour yesterday. In this video, protester Lauren Digioia gets arrested around the two minute mark: [ more › ]

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Video: Cops Arrest Activist For Yelling About NDAA In Grand Central

Remember when that rascally governor of Arkansas told a MTV audience that he didn’t inhale marijuana smoke? Probably not because in 1992 many of us were still sucking Ecto-Cooler and slamming Pogs. But future-president Clinton admitted the faux pas in the first incarnation of MTV’s Choose or Lose, the network’s slogan for all things political, until now. Behold, the “Power of 12.” MTV President Stephen Friedman explains the change to Brian Stelter as coming out of the burgeoning cynicism amongst 18-29 year olds following Obama’s election. “They were so passionate, and then they hit this wall of the economy.” [ more › ]

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MTV Kills "Choose Or Lose," Embraces "Power Of 12"

Investigators are looking into whether human error , or perhaps a ” billion-to-one power surge ,” caused the horrifying death of a Madison Ave ad executive last week. The company that maintained the elevator, Transel, was performing maintenance on it hours before Suzanne Hart was killed. Transel’s spokesman says the company is cooperating with the investigation, but meanwhile reporters are digging into Transel’s track record: It seems another woman was badly injured in one of their elevators, and she’s suing. [ more › ]

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Elevator Company Connected To Freak Accident Being Sued Over Previous Incident

We’re less than 24 hours away from Shake Shack ‘s hotly anticipated Brooklyn debut ! As you can see from this video , the sign is up and workers are lovingly polishing each letter of that distinctive Neutraface font. The first Brooklyn Shake Shack will throw open its doors tomorrow at 11 a.m., and will feature three new Concretes available only in Kings County. We’ll have more photos and details from the inside later—just try and stop us. [ more › ]

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Shake Shack Brooklyn Sign Is Up, Doors Open Tomorrow

After Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled the FDA’s decision to make emergency contraceptive Plan B available to everyone (and lift the requirement for those under 17 to show a prescription) on Wednesday, President Obama had to defend the move. While insisting he didn’t make Sebelius block it, he said , “The reason Kathleen made this decision is that she could not be confident that a 10-year-old or an 11-year-old going to a drugstore should be able — alongside bubble gum or batteries — be able to buy a medication that potentially, if not used properly, could have an adverse effect.” [ more › ]

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Obama Pulls Sasha-Malia Card To Defend Restrictions On Plan B Emergency Contraceptive

Newt Gingrich is hosting a “town hall” meeting with the Staten Island Tea Party this afternoon, but one man won’t be attending: former Staten Island Borough President and Congressman Guy Molinari. “God help us if Newt Gingrich is elected president. I won’t vote for him. I love my country too much,” Molinari told the Post. Doesn’t the election of Newt Gingrich as President of the United States finally settle the issue of whether or not there is a higher power? [ more › ]

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Newt Gingrich Visits Staten Island Today, Former BP Says "God Help Us" If He Wins

Police are searching for an oddly-dressed man who shot at cops in Queens yesterday afternoon. Two uniformed rookie officers were patrolling in the vicinity of 76th Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights around 4 p.m. when they came in contact with the suspect, who they say was acting suspiciously and wearing a black trench coat with a fake beard, a hat and dark glasses. They approached him and asked for identification: “They kept asking him to take his hands out of his pocket, and after a struggle, he pulled [a revolver] out and just opened fire point-blank,” a source told the Post. [ more › ]

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Man In Fake Beard Shoots At Inquisitive Queens Cops

Always with the marching! Thousands of demonstrators, many of them union members, are currently marching on Broadway, from Herald Square to Union Square, where the march will continue down to Zuccotti Park. The late-afternoon protest comes on the heels of a smaller march last night from Bryant Park to the Sheraton Hotel, where police corralled protesters in a “free speech zone” and refused to let them disperse until President Obama was done speaking at a fundraiser. Now they’re at it again, and Mother Jones reporter Josh Harkinson says , “My office off Broadway is surrounded by police barricades, cop cars, and helicopters.” [ more › ]

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Yes, Another Occupy Wall Street March Is Happening Now

Around 8 p.m. last night some 100 demonstrators marched from Bryant Park to the Sheraton Hotel in midtown, where President Obama was giving a speech at a $1,000-a-head fundraiser . The march, which contributed to an already congested traffic situation because of the presidential visit (and the Rockefeller Center tree lighting !), was peaceful, but after the protesters arrived near the hotel, they were suddenly penned in by police, told they were in a “frozen zone” and not permitted to leave until after the president departed. [ more › ]

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Protesters Blast "One Percent President" Obama During $2.4M Visit To NYC