As a halfhearted cabbie strike made it easier to flag down a school bus than a yellow taxi during rush hour last week, the Big Apple did its best to keep moving forward. Hillary out-earned rivals Barack Obama and Rudy Giuliani in the city during the second quarter — and bested Rudy in a poll asking which candidate people would most like to have riding shotgun on a long road trip — but hit a speed bump trying to maintain her distance from former six-figure fund-raiser and felon Norman Hsu, who skipped out on bail.

A truck passing through Chelsea plummeted into a four-foot-deep sinkhole, while cops pulled over a tractor-trailer carrying 200 pounds of pot on the Whitestone Bridge. Mayor Bloomberg declared war on scofflaws who dump their garbage in public trash bins. The late Brooke Astor’s sanity circa 2000 was once again questioned, possibly negating her quasi-final will and testament. Leona Helmsley’s brother showed no interest in inheriting Trouble, the queen of mean’s $12 million Maltese, while a bite-and-run raccoon was on the loose in Prospect Park and pint-size sharks washed up on Long Island beaches. Early iPhone adaptors wanted to crank call Steve Jobs after he lowered the price $200. Pleathered PeTA patrols prowled the Fashion Week tents looking to trap fur fanatic Anna Wintour, while a family sued designer Cynthia Rowley over the sale of a Tribeca apartment.

Someone tried to blow up Sopranos star Michael Imperioli’s acting studio with a pipe bomb (no one was hurt). The Yankees maintained a lead in the wild-card race, as Roger Clemens rolled up his sleeve for a pre-pennant-drive cortisone shot. The Giants and Jets unveiled a chameleon-like new $1.3 billion stadium that morphs to match each Sunday’s home-team colors. And Brooklyn summer ended forever for Coney Island’s beloved Spider and Zipper rides, which were packed up and shipped off to their new home in Honduras. —Mark Adams