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Another Reason Not to Swim in New York Harbor: LEVIATHANS
Turns out there are tons of whales in and around the city's waterways. And they're making quite a racket.
Posted 09/18/08 in Daily Intel : Animanhattan
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New Yorkers Confused, Frightened by, God's Creatures
City dwellers display erratic, odd, and completely characteristic behavior when in nature.
Posted 08/13/08 in Daily Intel : In Other News
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A Portrait of the Monster As a Young Man
It was inevitable. Montauk Monster fan art.
Posted 08/01/08 in Daily Intel : Intel
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Monkey Loose at La Guardia!
Breaking! There's a monkey on the loose in La Guardia Airport! We repeat, monkey on the loose! The Times' City Room blog reports that the primate disembarked from Spirit Airlines flight 180 from "the Miami–Ft. Lauderdale area." It's running amok in the main terminal, but we suspect they'll catch it quickly: Based on its point of origin, we have to assume it's traveling down the moving walkway about ten miles per hour under the limit, and with its left blinker on. UPDATE: The Times was a bit monkey-happy on this one. There was a contraband primate on a flight, apparently, but it was never on the loose. Nonetheless, please continue to enjoy the above picture. A Monkey on the Loose at Laguardia [City Room/NYT]
Posted 08/07/07 in Daily Intel : It Just Happened
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What Animal Scares Jeff Corwin the Most?
Shark Week is an annual Discovery Channel tradition, and the network celebrated the institution's twentieth anniversary with a big Pier 60 party the other night. "We don't do toaster week or ostrich week," Discovery host Mike Rowe commented, although "twice as many people died from ostriches as from sharks, 250 died from toasters, and only eight died from sharks. (Somehow we don't think "Toaster Week" would deliver the same ratings.) We ran into Animal Planet star Jeff Corwin at the party — who famously had a terrifying run-in with an angry elephant — and we asked him about sharks and other scary animals.
Posted 07/20/07 in Daily Intel : Party Lines
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Don't Poke the Driver
And, every now and then, as you pull up alongside, a truck's erratic Manhattan driving suddenly makes sense. GillianLeigh's Photostream [Flickr]
Posted 07/09/07 in Daily Intel : Photo Op
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Lambs Can’t Hang in SoBro
Lucky Lady, the sheep who tried to escape a live market in the South Bronx this week, moved upstate this morning. Six (unnamed) chickens and Lucky Lady hitched a ride from the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals. They're on their way to Farm Sanctuary in Watkins Glen.
Posted 06/15/07 in Daily Intel : Photo Op
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Purge?
• The Times spots an interesting pattern in the turnover pattern at a Brooklyn community board: Each of the five members tossed out this week by Borough President Marty Markowitz was a vocal opponent of Atlantic Yards. [NYT] • A fire broke out at a stable in Chestnut Ridge, about 30 miles north of the city, killing two horses and eight ponies. Yes, eight dead ponies. Good morning to you too. [amNY] • Closing arguments have sounded in the Braunstein case, which went to the jury last night. The defense memorably insisted the hapless kidnapper's "brain broke," and the prosecution, well, didn't really disagree — but still found intent in his actions. [NYDN] • The latest restaurant added to the lawsuit over minimum-wage violations: Jay-Z's 40/40 Club, which joins the allegedly ultrastingy B.B. King Bar and Grill (wait, are they now just targeting musician-owned places?) and others. [Metro NY] • And five young Long Islanders had to be Tasered at Disney World; after getting caught spitting at patrons, the four teenage siblings and a friend had apparently decided on "jumping a cop" as the optimal next-step strategy. [NYP]
Posted 05/23/07 in Daily Intel : The Morning Line
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Gee, Man
• Friendly fire from fellow FBI men killed an agent in the middle of an operation in Readington, New Jersey. The Feds were taking down a gang of armed bank robbers, one of whom escaped and remains on the loose. [NYP] • David Bistricer of Clipper Equity, the thwarted would-be buyer of the Starrett City housing megacomplex, is back. This time, he cobbled together a camera-ready coalition: a lobbyist with Spitzer connections, an architect, and two black ministers. [NYT] • More awesomeness from Rudy Giuliani's traveling road show: The presidential candidate began a stump speech in California with a Godfather impersonation, then referred to his wife as "a civilian, to use the old Mafia distinction." Yeah, he's a shoo-in. [amNY] • Geese are driving ducks out of Central Park, so the city is bringing in border collies to drive out the geese. Before we make a "who's going to drive out the dogs" joke, let's pause and reflect on the fact that there's a company called Geese Police Inc. on the city payroll. [NYT] • And a strong contestant for the dumbest con ever: An unemployed Brooklynite siphoned off $3.6 million from a city account at JPMorgan Chase (by rigging up 604 individual electronic transfers), spent it through Jewelry TV, then tried to pawn the baubles for cash. [NYDN]
Posted 04/06/07 in Daily Intel : The Morning Line
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Someone, Think of the Children!
• The state budget is here — virtually on time! — and guess what provision made it in while everyone was busy arguing about hospital cuts? A program that makes 400,000 uninsured children eligible for near-free health care. [NYT] • Hillary Clinton set a record for pre-primary fund-raising, drumming up $26 million in the first three months of 2007. Her war chest now totals $36 million, with ten left over from the layup Senate campaign. Obama is at $20 million. And Chris Dodd apparently has subway fare. [NYDN] • Q: When does the Post become touchy-feely about animal welfare? A: When it helps torpedo a Giuliani. Turns out that in the seventies, Judith then-Nathan used to shill for a medical-supply firm that put surgical staples on live dogs during sales demonstrations. Ew. [NYP] • Today's USA Today profiles, in heroic prose ("tempers flare as forklifts dart"), the armed federal agents patrolling the Fulton Fish Market for illegal clams. It seems 750 probes into local seafood-smuggling operations were launched in the last year alone. [USAT] • And a new Arabic middle school will take up the top floor of Park Slope's P.S. 282, which put the nabe's parents in a somewhat un–Park Slope–ian nativist tizzy — with some threatening to pull their kids out. Thing is, it'll be an Arabic language school, not a madrassa. [MetroNY]
Posted 04/02/07 in Daily Intel : The Morning Line
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Caffeine Is It!
• City Councilman Simcha Felder has either great timing or way more power than we thought. Two days after he embarked on a public crusade to get caffeine content included on food labels, Coca-Cola did what he wanted. [AP via Newsday] • Ooh, a big twist in an otherwise uneventful election! Dr. Mathieu Eugene, the new councilman elected to replace Congresswoman Yvette Clark, has to prove that he actually lives in the district before he can legally take the seat. [NYP] • A five-judge state appeals court has unanimously upheld the constitutionality of New York's long-in-the-tooth Cabaret Law. (A lawsuit claimed that the dancing ban in bars and clubs infringes on free expression.) At least there are no plans to beef up the silly rule's enforcement. [MetroNY] • NYU's College Republicans got exactly what they wanted — scandal and press — when they staged a "Catch the Illegal Immigrant" game on campus. (The objective was to spot a student with an "immigrant" tag for a $50 reward.) The event drew 300 angry protesters instead. [NYDN] • And André Balazs isn't the only one bringing Beaver back to New York. For the first time in 200 years, the actual North American beaver is setting up camp in the Bronx River, a testament to a recent, $15 million cleanup. [NYT]
Posted 02/23/07 in Daily Intel : The Morning Line
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Hamptons Jury Upholds Volunteer's Right to Kvetch
It's official: You can kvetch all you want about any organization for which you're a volunteer — your local hospital, Greenpeace, the Democrats — and it's thanks to Pat Lynch. The former NBC reporter sued the Southampton Animal Shelter in 2005, saying it had violated her right to free speech when it fired her from her volunteer duties the year before. A jury sided with her this week, awarding her $251,000. Lynch had been walking the center's dogs and, troubled by conditions there — including how the animals were euthanized — she wrote letters to The Southampton Press expressing her concern, and filed a lawsuit against the shelter. Administrators let her go soon after. "It's a huge decision," her lawyer, Steve Morelli, told New York. "Volunteers don't have to be afraid to speak their mind as long as it's a matter of public concern and they're not disruptive." Good. But if Lynch didn't agree with the shelter's policies, why didn't she just walk away? "I love animals and I wanted to bring about positive change," she says. "When you volunteer, you don't leave your First Amendment rights at the front door." —S. Jhoanna Robledo
Posted 02/16/07 in Daily Intel : Intel
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PETA to Protest Florida Vacations
How do you say "It's on!" in Animal Kingdom–speak? As New York reported in this week's magazine, animal-rights activists were considering a protest of the Orlando, Florida, tourism bureau's plans to stage a "mini-Orlando" in Times Square tomorrow morning. Why? The stunt is set to include penguins, flamingos, and live gator-wrestling, and PETA doesn't think too highly of moving tropical animals to frigid New York — let alone wrestling them. Now it seems the activists weren't kidding: We've received a press release promising a protest at 8:30 a.m. Maybe they'll even catch Anna Wintour on her way into work!
— Tim MurphyPosted 02/14/07 in Daily Intel : The Follow-up
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Even the Raccoons Move to Brooklyn
Astoria: More and more folks are discovering the quiet charms of Hallets Cove, the East River tributary just a short walk from Vernon Boulevard. [Waterwire via Joey in Astoria] City Hall: Ever wanted to know what the old City Hall subway station looked like? Prettier than most others. And that's why it's closed. [Gothamist] Clinton Hill: Looks like the raccoons that have been plaguing outer Queens are now encroaching on Kings County, too. At least they're not buying up all the brownstones. [Brooklynian] Dumbo: Avant-tots, rejoice! A bunch of "old German hippies" will design a super-cool playground for the southern end of the waterfront Brooklyn Bridge Park. [The Brooklyn Paper] Inwood: The kids are climbing the walls at Intermediate School 52! Or is it just a really cool artist-student collaboration? [Wooster Collective via Razor Apple] Sunset Park: Locals force a stop-work order at 420 42nd Street, a site whose plans were "self-certified" by the twelve-story tower's architect. But will it last? [Brownstoner]
Posted 02/06/07 in Daily Intel : Neighborhood Watch
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Training for the Big Day
Groundhog Day is rapidly approaching, and today's Times detailed the training regimen Chuck, the Staten Island Zoo's groundhog, is undergoing to prepare for his weather-predicting premiere in three weeks. A photo from the zoo's website — highlighted this afternoon by Gothamist — shows that Chuck sees the date looming, too. Grooming a Weatherman for His TV Debut, and Hoping He Doesn’t Bite the Host [NYT]
Posted 01/12/07 in Daily Intel : Photo Op
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Caiman Island
• The 2008 battle lines are just being drawn, and already they look ugly. Richard Collins, a principal donor to Rudy Giuliani's political action committee, also turns out to be the main man behind Stop Her Now: a PAC devoted to tainting the presidential prospects of Guess Who. While not illegal, the situation is ever-so-slightly uncouth, especially as Collins has taken to describing himself as Stop Her Now's "chairman." [NYT] • Seems Mike Bloomberg may actually be overdoing the anti-cop stance after the Queens 50-bullet shooting. The mayor said that the cops should face a Queens jury — a reference to the Albany trial in the Diallo case; the statement didn't sit too well with the officers' families, since there aren't even any indictments yet. Everyone else kinda loves the Angry Populist Mike, though. [NYP] • The belt-tightening program for the New York State health industry, created by a Pataki-led panel, has finally released its report, and the plan would shut down five hospitals in NYC, eliminating 7,000 jobs. City Hall calls the proposal "reasonable," and Spitzer isn't commenting. The rest of us will try extra hard to stay healthy. [NYDN] • Not that anyone expected otherwise, but Coney Island's Astroland Amusement Park has been sold to a huge developer, Thor Equities. The original owners, the Albert family, will keep the octogenarian Cyclone. The rest of the park will close after the 2007 season for "renovations," which we somehow doubt include an expanded Shoot the Freak pavilion. [NYDN, amNY] • And, it wasn't exactly a crocodile in a sewer, but a two-foot caiman in a cardboard box is close enough. The cops found the "feisty," in their words, reptile abandoned on a Brooklyn street. In a lovely touch of local color, its jaws were kept shut via a double-knotted sneaker shoelace. [AP via IHT]
Posted 11/29/06 in Daily Intel : The Morning Line
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Andy Bugs Bill?
Andrew Cuomo appointed a former foe of Bill Clinton's to his transition committee, and "Page Six" insists the Clintons aren't thrilled. Casey Johnson threw a designer a Fashion Week party in exchange for a fur coat, didn't get the fur coat, and then complained about it. Nas cheated on, beat his ex-wife, according to the ex-wife. An unnamed New York Met may have fallen for a blonde stripper. Jessica Simpson lost out on a Vanity Fair cover and a Miu Miu campaign because of her hairdresser. Anderson Cooper went to Brazil, chatted up a good-looking man. Walter Cronkite's summertime chef is trying to write a tell-all book about him. Dan Aykroyd asked Jay McInerney to taste-test a bunch of wines he is producing. L.A. Clipper Elton Brand produced a Werner Herzog film. Liv Tyler likes South Carolina because she can smoke anywhere. Yahoo!'s Terry Semel could battle Jeff Zucker for NBC's top slot, says Cindy Adams. Looking for Christmas gifts for your PETA-member friend? Adopt a chimp! (Related: Boycott Pom brand pomegranate juice.)
Posted 11/27/06 in Daily Intel : Gossipmonger
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