Posted: Sunday, 11 May 2008 7:37AM

East Village 'Toy Tower' to be Dismantled This Week


NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A quirky artwork that has become a landmark in Manhattan's East Village is set to be dismantled in the coming week.

City officials say the so-called Toy Tower is rotting and has become unsafe.
Members of the East Sixth Street community garden where the tower stands plan to gather Sunday to say farewell to the idiosyncratic creation, which is included in some guidebooks to the area.

Local artist Eddie Boros built the 65-foot-tall tower out of boards he found on the streets, starting more than 20 years ago.

He garnished it with a plastic mannequin, religious statues and other objects. He died last year.


Original article here

FORT LEE (1010 WINS) -- It was a bloody mess for Jersey-bound drivers on the upper level of the GWB.

Several lanes were closed Sunday morning after thousands of vials of human blood spilled onto the roadway.

By JEFFREY GOLD - NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Internet service providers must not release personal information about users in New Jersey without a valid subpoena, even to police, the state's highest court ruled Monday.

NEW YORK (AP) -- New York City's "311'' information service will be expanded next month to include around-the-clock referrals for social services.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday that a team of 30 specially-trained operators will answer callers' social services questions. The United Way of New York City is a partner in the initiative.

The city also is launching a seven-language public outreach campaign about the wide array of information available through ``311.'' Examples include domestic counseling; food assistance; senior services; noisy neighbor complaints and graffiti cleanup.


Continued here

YAPHANK, N.Y. (AP) -- A Long Island postal worker has been charged with stealing credit cards from the mail and using them to pay for restaurant meals, clothes, computer equipment and power tools.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- The state comptroller's office has stopped nearly $13 million in questionable tax refunds from being paid out in just the first quarter of 2008 -- nearly as much savings as the office realized for all of 2007, according to an announcement Monday.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- A New Jersey sports field was closed Monday after tests of its artificial turf turned up unsafe levels of lead.

More here

Whatever happened to Faye Wray? Naomi Watts in one of the few New York movies to be made this millennium, King Kong

It's impossible to think of anywhere quite so spiritually entwined with film as New York. Down through infinite scenes of rides in yellow cabs and skyscraper horizons, the sheer length of its history with the movies has bled into the reality of the place, leaving much of the city (and in my experience, this isn't something New Yorkers are unaware of) feeling like a vast soundstage. But maybe that status is becoming a thing of the past - New York's role as the default setting for American film-makers is now dwindling into history.

Spotted here

NEW YORK (AP) -- A hospital said Friday that one of its employees may have stolen records containing the names, phone numbers and, in some cases, social security numbers of as many as 40,000 patients.

The scope of the theft at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan was uncovered by a federal investigation and an internal audit, the hospital said.

None of the stolen data contained private medical information, and hospital spokeswoman Myrna Manners said the hospital wasn't aware of any instance where a patient had become a victim of a financial fraud or some other scam because of the data thefts.

But a law enforcement investigation is under way and Manners said there is evidence the theft was linked to a ``larger criminal enterprise.''

Spotted here

By SANDRA HURLEY and PATRICK GALLAHUE

WELL TRAINED:Performance artists work yesterday as "subway stewardesses," dispensing complimentary snacks and hand sanitzer.

April 6, 2008 -- They love to ride and it shows!

A group of "subway stewardesses" took over the rails yesterday in a lighthearted protest over the MTA's recent fare hike and suspended service enhancements.

"The MTA should have some customer service," said "stewardess" Kae Burke, 21. "People listen to humans a lot more than outdated messages, especially when we look this good."

The cute quartet from Ridgewood, Queens, offered all the pleasures of flying the friendly skies on the N, L, E and No. 4 trains, rolling through the aisles offering complimentary water, juice, snacks, breath mints and hand sanitizer to straphangers.

Original article here

*courtesy of Straphanger

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Want to get a haircut for a good cause?

"Give Us Your Hair" is taking place Wednesday, April 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

NEW YORK (AP) -- An art student whose whimsical plastic animals inflate over sidewalk subway grates is drawing more attention to the lowly air vents than they've seen since Marilyn Monroe's skirt flew skyward in "The Seven Year Itch.''

The animals, made of garbage or shopping bags, lie crumpled up over the grates until an updraft from a passing underground train fills them with air.

``When I saw a piece of construction tape flying off this grate one day I got interested in what that wind could do,'' said the artist, Joshua Allen Harris, who is studying fine art at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.

Harris, 31, spent weeks developing his first animal, a polar bear made of white plastic bags. The bear became an Internet hit once an arts group posted a video of it inflating.

Spotted here

NEW YORK (AP) -- A retired police officer who screamed obscenities at a train passenger who was talking on a cell phone and who hit the hand of another passenger who intervened was acquitted Tuesday of misdemeanor charges stemming from the confrontation.

John Clifford, who is also a lawyer, was found not guilty after a two-day nonjury trial at which he acted as his own attorney. He had been charged with misdemeanor counts of attempted assault, disorderly conduct, harassment and attempted petit larceny and had faced up to a year in jail if convicted.

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Larry Stephen issued his verdict immediately after closing arguments: ``I see no crimes having been committed beyond a reasonable doubt. The case is dismissed and sealed.''

Spotted here

NEW YORK (AP) -- The city's drinking water must be tested to determine whether trace amounts of pharmaceuticals are flowing from residents' faucets, City Council members insisted Thursday in an emergency hearing called in response to an Associated Press investigation.

The city's Department of Environmental Protection tests its drinking water for hundreds of contaminants daily but doesn't inspect for pharmaceuticals, despite research showing minute concentrations of 16 drugs or byproducts in its watershed in upstate New York, including medications for infections, seizures and high blood pressure.

The GreeNYC logo shows a stylized apple with a stalk and a leaf. It bears a resemblance to Apple's famous logo -- a resemblance Apple says infringes on its trademark.

The city has applied for a trademark on the logo, but Apple has filed a formal opposition (.pdf) obtained by Wired.com.
The Cupertino, California, company calls for the trademark to be denied, claiming the city's logo will confuse people and "seriously injure the reputation which [Apple] has established for its goods and services."

• More here

NEW YORK (AP/1010 WINS) -- Still stumped by an explosion last month in Times Square, police are again asking for the public's help tracing the origins of a bicycle they believe was used by the bomber.

Police on Wednesday rereleased a photo of the blue Ross 10-speed discovered in a trash bin along the route they believe the hooded cyclist took following the March 6 pre-dawn attack on a military recruiting office.

Spotted here

BY BRIGITTE RUTHMAN REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

HARTFORD -- A mysterious disease that has killed hibernating bats in New York, Vermont and Massachusetts has reached Litchfield County.

State biologists announced on Friday they have found bats afflicted with a fungus called "white-nose syndrome" hibernating in unnamed locations in northern Litchfield County near the Massachusetts border.

By DAVID LEVINSKY
Burlington County Times

Families looking forward to taking trips to their favorite New Jersey parks, lakes and campgrounds this summer may have to look elsewhere due to the state's financial crisis.

Gov.

By DAVID B. CARUSO

NEW YORK (AP) — Parks officials hoping to promote public access to one of the city's least-used recreational zones — its waterways — have created its first formal network of kayak and canoe launches.