Two years ago, there was a $310 million proposal to transform the imposing Kingsbridge Armory into a shopping mall, but the plan was shot down by City Council subcommittees and criticized by others who were worried about whether employees would be paid a living wage. Today, Mayor Bloomberg will announce that the city will be accepting new RFPs to develop the long-abandoned site in his State of the City address (today at 1 p.m.). [ more › ]

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City Renews Push To Develop Abandoned Kingsbridge Armory

Governor Cuomo’s State of the State speech was chock-full of curious incursions into New Yorker’s privacy. And we aren’t just talking about the whole fingerprinting folks who want food stamps debate. Oh, no. Slipped in there amidst all that gambling talk was also a plan to make New York the first state in the country to collect DNA from anyone convicted of a crime here . And that includes misdemeanors like jumping turnstiles. [ more › ]

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Big Brother Cuomo Wants DNA From Jaywalkers, Farebeaters

Governor Andrew Cuomo gave his State of the State today, vowing to make 2012 the year “we must transform our government to once again become the progressive capital of our nation.” He proposed a $1 billion economic development package for Buffalo, which has the third-highest poverty rate in the country, abolishing the state’s requirements for fingerprinting food stamp recipients, deemed himself the “student’s lobbyist,” and pitched a slew of environmental and energy improvements. But Cuomo was also mum about transportation, spoke glowingly of legalizing gambling, declined to read his brief remarks on hydraulic fracturing, and announced an ambitious plan to build the world’s largest convention center at the Aquaduct Racetrack. [ more › ]

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Governor Cuomo Gambles On Gambling At State Of The State

Getting Bar/Bat Mitzvah’d occurs when a young Jewish person turns 13—but thankfully for us, trend pieces about Bark Mitzvahs happen every six years or less! A Bark Mitzvah , of course, is the “pseudo-traditional observance and celebration of a dog’s coming of age.” The NY Times drank from the Manischewitz bowl for a feature piece in 2004 , Dr. Ruth helped Elvis Best have his, and now the AP has video of one NJ family embracing it. So below, enjoy dogs in yarmulkes, and just imagine what Party Down could have done if they had been given a third season. [ more › ]

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Muzzle Tov: The "Bark Mitzvah" Dog Trend Rears Its Head Again

Because everyone has had a meltdown in a toy store before, check out today’s mid-day links: Penn State testimony, Sanchize gets some lovin’, Britney’s engaged again, and senior citizen flash mobs. Don’t forget to follow Gothamist on Twitter and like us on Facebook . You can also get the top stories mailed to you— sign up here . [ more › ]

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Early Addition: Penn State Coach Testifies He Saw "Severe Sexual Acts"

As huge, longtime fans of The National and Trey Anastasio , this is terrific news. The Phish guitarist is reportedly quietly working on a new solo album, and according to SPIN , he’s got some help from members of The National and Mates of State. [ more › ]

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Phish’s Trey Anastasio Working On New Album With Members Of The National!

One employee at the state’s Department of Transportation office in Buffalo took an unusual leave of absence: He went back to his native country of Somalia to be its prime minister. Mohamed Adullahi Mohamed spoke with the NY Times about being back in his war-torn homeland, “Every morning when I was brushing my teeth I heard bullets hitting the metal over my window. It was like, pop pop pop pop. The first day I was shocked. But after that I knew the bullets would not get through, so I continued brushing.” [ more › ]

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Ex-Prime Minister Of Somalia Works For NY State Department Of Transportation

TriBeCa’s bi-level Puerto Rican restaurant Sazon has been having problems with its neighbors since it opened but rather than continue work it out the restaurant’s owner is so fed up today he filed a multi-million dollar federal civil rights suit accusing the city, the State Liquor Authority and members of lower Manhattan’s Community Board 1 of discriminating against the restaurant because its customers aren’t “from this neighborhood .” Owner Genaro Morales explained to us that the suit was a last resort, ” we’ve made several attempts at mediating meetings with the CB and the community and nothing has gotten better .” [ more › ]

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Puerto Rican Restaurant Sues, Says Manhattan’s CB 1 Is Racist

Author Paul Jury , currently out with a book called States of Confusion , has put together this gem of a video to promote his tome. Here he takes a look at 50 State Stereotypes in 2 minutes. For New York, he says: “World’s 14th biggest city, 1st biggest ego.” That isn’t our only mention in the video, however, for New Jersey he reinterprets Jersey Shore ‘s G.T.L., saying the state is known for “Guidos, Turnpikes, and Leaching off New York.” [ more › ]

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Video: New York Has The Biggest Ego, And Other Stereotypes

If Connecticut is the land of steady habits, and California is the land of milk and honey, then New York is certainly the land of the (big) apple: apples are our state fruit, apple muffins are our state muffin, and everyone here is really rooting for Fiona Apple to make another record. But according to Crain’s, there’s an apple conspiracy afoot, and it involves one of Glenn Beck’s arch-enemies : China! [ more › ]

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Imports From China: Applesauce Conspiracy Afoot!