The bike ride along the East River between north and south Brooklyn just got a lot less treacherous. Having installed separated bike paths almost all the way from Greenpoint to downtown Brooklyn, the DOT has finally turned its attention to the last unfriendly piece of the puzzle: Flushing Avenue along the Brooklyn Navy Yards. What was formerly the only hairy section of an otherwise pleasant bike route is getting some big improvements this week, with bike lanes stretching all the way from Williamsburg Street West to Navy Street.

As an added safety bonus, the DOT has also installed Jersey barriers between Washington and Kent, giving cyclists additional protection, at least until some loaded driver mistakes it for a drunken occupancy vehicle lane.

Rafael Samanez of Vamos Unidos said of a judge's decision to block part of the law (here's a Q&A on the law), "It’s a good start, but it’s not enough. Whatever happens in Arizona eventually makes its way to New York." And associate minister of Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village told DNAinfo, "In the Bible, no rule is more often mentioned than welcome the stranger among you. This is a country built on the possibility that immigrants can come here and build a new life. Obviously you and I are not from here. That dream is not over."

But the marchers were met with a couple dozen pro-immigration-enforcement protesters. City Room reports that one Manhattan resident said, "There are illegals infiltrating every state; it’s not just Arizona. Do you think that they all stay in Arizona once they’re in? They’re everywhere," while one from Queens said, "The illegal aliens have devastated the work force, the economy in Arizona and for the United States. They are devastating our education, all the schools are overcrowded. They are devastating our health care and they are taking jobs away from American minorities and unschooled workers." However City Councilman Daniel Dromm (D-Queens) said that illegal immigrants are "taking jobs that Americans don’t really want."

The City Council rejected a total boycott of Arizona yesterday, but did allow Speaker Christine "Quinn to file a friend-of-the court brief on behalf of the Council supporting the federal lawsuit against the contested law, which calls for cops to check immigrants' legal status."

Coverage will extend between stations where stops are relatively close to each other and tunnels are wide enough, and will be strongest in wider tunnels with express and local tracks, because the signal needs room to spread out to be most effective. "That's how it works, that's the physics of it," Q-Wireless CEO Alex Mashinsky tells the Daily News.

Transit Wireless (the joint venture that includes Q-Wireless) has up to two years to outfit six stations to test the technology, then another four years to rig up the rest of the 277 underground stations. But it will only work if cell phone companies reach an agreement with Transit Wireless. "If consumers really want this, they are going to have to make some noise," he said. As if they needed any encouragement.

Cotterell, who was stabbed in the chest near the club at West 46th and 8th Avenue and found at West 45 Street and 7 Avenue, was pronounced dead that morning at St. Vincent's hospital. Two other men were also stabbed in the chest, but survived. The murder weapon was never recovered. Investigators made one arrest in February based on surveillance footage, but a grand jury would not indict the suspect.

Investigators say these men—who apparently share an affinity for the Yankees and an apprenticeship with an avuncular older gentleman—are "people of interest." The NYPD isn't saying how they became interested or how they obtained the photos, but they're asking anyone with information to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-TIPS. (Tips can also be text-messaged to 274637 then enter TIP577.)

When does the Republican party abandon 9/11? When it's time to provide $7.4 billion in medical treatment and compensation to first responders and residents sickened by the toxic dust after the September 11, 2001 attacks at the World Trade Center. Yesterday, the House's 255-159 vote (243 Democrats and 12 Republicans supported the measure; 155 Republicans and 4 Democrats voted nay) fell short of the majority needed to pass the long-debated James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2009. Republicans called it a "slush fund" and an "entitlement program." Rep. Anthony Weiner (D) slammed the partisanship in this rousing (and LOUD) speech.

Rep. Peter King (R-NY) claimed the Democrats were taking "cover" by asking for the high majority. The NY Times explains, "Democrats used rules requiring a wider majority for approval to prevent Republicans from offering amendments on the floor that would embarrass Democrats in an election year"—amendments like denying illegal immigrants sickened during 9/11 benefits—"Republican opponents of the legislation expressed concern over the $7.4 billion cost of the program. But Democrats accused Republicans of being callous and vowed to bring the bill back for another vote in the fall."

Weiner, in response to King, yelled, "The gentleman is wrong! The gentleman is providing cover for his colleagues rather than doing the right thing! It's Republicans wrapping their arms around Republicans rather than doing the right thing on behalf of the heroes!"

Here's the breakdown of where the money would go, via the Daily News: "The bill would spend $3.2 billion on health care over the next 10 years for people sickened from their exposure to the toxic smoke and debris of the shattered World Trade Center. It would spend another $4.2 billion to compensate victims over that span, and make another $4.2 billion in compensation available for the next 11 years." Rep. John Shimus (R-Illinois) said it was wasteful because it pays at a higher rate than Medicare, "What this is is enfranchising a bunch of New York City hospitals." Wait, isn't Medicare socialist?

Mayor Bloomberg said, "It was wrong for the overwhelming majority of Republicans to vote against the bill. and it was wrong for Democrats to bring the bill to the floor under rules that made passage so much more difficult." However, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), one of the sponsors, tried to remain upbeat; in a statement, she said, "Today’s vote showed that we have the support we need to pass the Zadroga Act, and we look forward to passing the bill with a simple majority when Congress returns from its August recess. We thank our colleagues in the New York delegation for their dedication to those who were harmed by the terrorist attacks on our nation. We will not rest until we finally provide proper care for ailing 9/11 responders and survivors, and fill the last remaining gap in America’s recovery from the attacks. Nine long years after the attacks, the living victims of 9/11 are still suffering. We must pass this bill. It is the least we can do as a grateful nation."

• Yankees 11 Cleveland 4: Through the first six innings it looked like a pitcher’s duel was in the works. But, the Yankees blew open a 2-1 game in the seventh with seven runs and things got silly from there. By the time it was over, Cleveland had a third baseman pitching while the Yankees had Marcus Thames at third base. New York heads to Tampa for a big showdown with the second-place Rays.


• Mets 4 Cardinals 0: Back home and back to winning series. The Mets got R.A. Dickey his first win in a month as he went 8-1/3 while striking out two. K-Rod came in for the final two outs and Ike Davis had the big hit with his 15th home run.

• From the Gothamist Newsmap: A suspicious package at 6th and 39th in Manhattan, 4th Ave & Baltic St in Brooklyn and a rescue on 69th Ave in Queens.
• The state raised testing standards and more than half of NYC's public school students failed their English exams and 54% passed the math exam.
• The NYPD busted a Crown Heights drug ring that sold heroin and crack under names like "Gucci" and "Now and Later." And one dealer brought his kid during a sale to the undercover.
• Steampunk: J.J. Abrams will be adapting the graphic novel "Boilerplate," about a robot during the Victorian era, into a film.
• The City Council approved the redevelopment planned for the Domino Sugar Factory site.
• So you wouldn't have to watch it, Jezebel liveblogged Obama's appearance on the View—and wonders about Snooki.
• Citibank will pay $75 million to settle the SEC's subprime case.
• Because her Governors Island show sucked this past weekend, MIA has promised a free show.

What kind of fraud did the senior Mezvinsky committ? Well, the kind that stems from Nigerian email scams: According to the Blotter, "Prosecutors say Mezvinsky used his connections to the Clintons and his son's social relationship with Chelsea to persuade people to give him money to participate in the scams. Mezvinsky traveled to Nigeria numerous times and ultimately lost more than $3 million as a victim of the scammers. Prosecutors say Mezvinsky fell particularly hard for what is known as the "black money" scam. Victims are told millions of dollars have been coated with black ink so the money could be smuggled out of Nigeria." He told the Des Moines Register, "The man later came out with a chemical, threw it on the money, and it all turned to $100 bills. He gave me 10 to have them tested back home. And they were real."

But about the wedding: Mezvinsky happily said to Inside Edition, "I’m a proud papa and I think the siblings are really excited. The family’s excited. We all hope we can get through this without getting teary-eyed and stand up…We have a lot to be thankful for. These two are wonderful human beings that have a sensitivity about life and have a warm regard for family, and that’s really what it’s all about, in the long run, is how you deal with your family and enjoy the moment and be thankful for that.”

DeMarco, a legal analyst for Bloomberg News, claimed that deliberation got so heated that fellow juror Fernandez flashed gang signs at her (Fernandez had earlier said she once dated a member of the Latin Kings). However, Fernandez, who says she and DeMarco had become close during the long trial and that she apologized after their spat, said she only raised her voice because DeMarco said, "The judge's instructions don't do it for me." She told the Post earlier this year, "She said it twice. I was so shocked I wrote it down in my pad. 'The judge's instructions don't do it for me.' I shouted, 'How in the world can we deliberate if the judge's instructions don't do it for you?'"

Marshall, 86, is still out on bail; his lawyers are reviewing the decision and may continue their appeal.

Politico's Maggie Haberman reported last night that Lazio's campaign manager—and good friend—Kevin Fullington was being replaced by a NY State GOP official, "It's a gut-check moment Rick Lazio -his primary rival Carl Paladino has gained traction and has a lot of cash to blow through, and has been gaining ground in the media narratives." (Fullington is remaining on the campaign in an "executive committee" role.)

For all of Paladino's gained ground in the media narratives—hey, who doesn't love a millionaire who forwards racist emails, has a love child, and loves to compare Obamacare to 9/11 and proclaim that he'd use eminent domain to block the "Ground Zero" mosque?—he says, "If we don't win the Republican primary, we're going to be gone at that point, because we're not going to be a spoiler to someone running against Andrew Cuomo and taking him down... Andrew Cuomo is the poster child for everything that the people don't want in government anymore."

Reader Seth took this photograph on the East River Greenway bike/pedestrian path near 72nd Street and says, "This path has been falling apart for years and the City has simply fenced off damaged areas instead of repairing them. This is one of many dangerous sections of the East Side Greenway that desperately needs to be repaired. Please call 311."

While Benjamin usually lived with Granquist, there were allegedly a few times Hesselberg would take the dog to her own home. The last time she did this she never returned with him, and broke off her three-year relationship with Granquist just days later!

According to SI Live, a judge just determined that Hesselberg is the established owner, after she proved that she cared for and fed Benjamin, on top of being the one who purchased his license and a microchip for identification. The poor guy is pictured on the site holding up his cell phone with a photo of his beloved puggle as the wallpaper :(

Last summer '80s film god John Hughes died after collapsing on a sidewalk in Manhattan. Since then, there have been some heartfelt tributes that have reunited his most celebrated of creations: the Brat Pack. And now the Film Society of Lincoln Center is hosting a two-day celebration of Hughes’s films, called “John Hughes: We Can’t Forget About Him.”

The series will take place September 19th and 20th at the Walter Reade Theater (tickets on sale August 5th), and will include screenings of Sixteen Candles, Pretty In Pink and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, as well as Planes, Trains & Automobiles and Home Alone. The centerpiece seems to be on the 2nd day, when there will be a 25th-anniversary screening of The Breakfast Club followed by a Q&A between Kevin Smith and cast members Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy. Wow, that's a big "eat my shorts" from Emilio Estevez.

Since the settlement talks between the House Ethics Committee and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) have either fizzled out or are too preliminary to be binding, the House rolled out the ethics charges against the long-serving Congressman. Politico reports, "The headliner allegations are that he improperly solicited money from corporate officials and lobbyists for the Charles B. Rangel Public Policy Center in New York, that he failed to disclose hundreds of dollars of income and assets on financial disclosure forms, that he maintained multiple rent-stabilized apartments in violation of New York City rules and failed to pay income taxes on a Dominican island resort home."

According to the Washington Post, the settlement talks failed. Plus Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said before announcing the charge, "Mr. Rangel... was given opportunities to negotiate a settlement under the investigation phase. We are now in the trial phase." But the Wall Street Journal says, "The settlement proposal is preliminary and could still be rejected by the 10-member ethics committee, which must approve or reject the agreement by a majority vote. That vote could take place Thursday afternoon."

And the NY Times says that Rangel's lawyers still hope to strike a deal, but "the two sides were unable to reach an agreement because Mr. Rangel would not agree to acknowledge that he misused his position as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee in early 2007 by helping to preserve a tax break for an oil executive who pledged $1 million to help build the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York."

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-California), who was on the investigations committee, said, "We are neither accusers nor defenders of our colleague, Mr. Rangel. We are here impartially. ... Our task is to determine whether Mr. Rangel's conduct met that standard" of upholding the public trust. If the trial continues to move forward, it would be the first trial of a House member since 2002, when James Traficant, Democrat from Ohio, was expelled for corruption.

The ride, according to Times Up, will be a "funky summer soul mobile party," but that doesn't mean the NYPD thinks everything is cool and groovy. Barbara Ross of Times Up! tells us they've been "getting some calls from the police," and assumes it is in regard to the cyclists' plan to visit the mayor's house. "We assured them that this is going to be a peaceful ride and we simply want to offer the Mayor some homegrown vegetables from the garden so he can enjoy one of the many rewards of having community gardens in NYC," Ross tells us.

Perhaps the Bloomberg will discover an affinity for urban carrots, but parks commissioner Adrian Benepe tells the Times he doubts the city will uphold the anti-development language: “The gardens have really thrived over the last eight years, but the city has to maintain its options.” FlatbushGardener.com encourages green thumbs to voice their disdain for the proposed rules (or, rather, lack thereof) on the city website prior to the public hearing on August 10th.

Icelyn Garcia, 25, a Brooklyn College accounting student, is suing the city in Federal court because she got arrested and spent a night in the tombs after getting busted for carrying her dog in the subway. With few exceptions, pets must be transported in the subway with a carrier, but Garcia was shocked when an officer detained her as she carried her poodle Louie into the 86th Street station on the R line.

Garcia claims she pleaded with the cop not to give her a ticket, and gave the dog to her cousin, who took it out of the station. But Officer Jessica Gavaras refused to let her off, and when Garcia took out her cellphone to check the time, Officer Gavaras allegedly snatched the phone away. Garcia stupidly tried to grab her phone back, and the two struggled in a tug-of-war over the phone that ended, where else, with Garcia in handcuffs. (One witness, Diane Velgado, says Garcia deserved to get arrested because she was shouting mysoginistic slurs at the female cop.)

Garcia was charged with disorderly conduct, and spent the night in Central Booking, AKA The Tombs. "A prostitute offered me a job," Garcia tells the Post. "There were women in there hiding drugs in their private parts. People were fighting. I've never been around that caliber of people in my life. I was embarrassed. I was humiliated. It wasn't right." You know, we were almost on her side until she started whining like a little princess.

Bell was killed while two friends were injured in a chaotic confrontation with police after leaving a Queens strip club in November 2006: Undercover police officers thought the men were armed while Bell and his friends didn't realize that the plainclothes police officers with their guns drawn were cops, so Bell drove into them, trying to escape.

Lawyer Sanford Rubenstein noted that while Bell's work history didn't provide high potential for lost wages, "his damages were elevated because he had two young daughters entitled to compensation for losing their father." Additionally, Newsday explains, "Survivors of police abuse - such as Abner Louima, who got $7.125 million - frequently receive more than death cases because they are able to collect for post-incident pain and suffering." However, Bell's fiancee Nicole Paultre Bell said that while the settlement was financially "reasonable...Nothing can replace their father."

The NY Times, who also pointed out a study that showed wrongful death suits are settled for an average of "about twice as much as for herniated disc cases and a third as much as for cases involving brain damage," spoke to a former lawyer in the city's Law Department, who said, "The city always tries to get away with paying as little as possible, and in the end it always caves in and settles, because it fears what the jury might award in such a high-profile matter. Make it go away: that has been the policy of this administration."

Joseph Guzman, who was shot 17 times, received $3 million but said, "Nobody wins in this."

According to this website, "the rooms of the Brokaw Mansion were huge and unusual for a house of that period, airy and well lit. The library had a seven-foot tall safe concealed behind a panel opened by pressing a hidden catch in the moldings." And that's not all, early on there was even a moat! It was enclosed with stone after a horse fell into it.

In 1946 the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) purchased the Brokaw Mansion (and later acquired two other related buildings)—it had been vacant for about 8 years at that point. Demolition of the buildings—by new owners Campagna Construction Corporation—began in 1965, and was started on a weekend so that officials wouldn't be able to stop it. Their destruction (along with that of Penn Station) played a significant role in advancing landmarks legislation in New York City. In 1962 the Landmarks Preservation Commission had already recognized the structures as landmark buildings—but there was no legislation to back up the Commission's authority.

The New York Times ran a scathing editorial called "Rape of the Brokaw Mansion" which "decried the ‘weekend stealth...[of] the despoilers’ who demolished these buildings and noted that if the city did not pass pending landmarks legislation there would be no landmarks left to save." In 1965, TIME ran an article called "The Gargoyle Snatcher," which shared an anecdote about Ivan Karp, founder of the Anonymous Arts Recovery Society. He allegedly offered to buy two copper finials perched on the roof of the mansion, but "was told by the wreckers that removing them with care was too dangerous and would slow up the job of razing the building. Said the sympathetic foreman, 'Sure it's a shame, but something should have been done about it before we got the job.'"

Bonus link: Here's an interview with someone who worked inside the mansion during the IRE years. In it he discusses what it was like inside, and recalls, "My office ended up to be what had been [George Tuttle Brokaw's wife] Clare Booth Luce's dressing-room. It was probably four times the size of my current office. It had an Italian marble fireplace in it. The safe that she kept her jewelry in became the petty cash safe."

After searching YouTube with the keywords "NYC Fight" and "NYC Street Fight," we found one confirmed fight in April (two out of the three that month are parts of the same fight, which seems staged), zero confirmed fights in May, and two fights in June. Which brings us to July, which has so far seen a total of eight fights posted to YouTube. If this trend continues, history will look back on the summer 2010 as the summer of the street fight video, Q.E.D. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the miserable disgusting heat may be a factor in this, but that's just speculation.

Thankfully, not all of these videos are depressing signifiers of civilization's asymptotic slide into voyeuristic barbarity! Here's a cute one of a doorman practicing Kung Fu on a subway platform:

Below, some more unsettling videos in the street fight genre.

Viddy this lengthy fistfight in tourist town, via NYC the Blog:

This one's called "A Guy Hits a Girl, Knocks Her Out Cold," or "People Suck":

Here's that ugly brawl at a Blockheads we posted over the weekend:

Can we interest you in a fight on St. Mark's Place today?:

And no street fight completist will want to miss the fight that recently spilled out of Max Fish on the Lower East Side. The video's been pulled from YouTube, but Guest of a Guest has a blow-by-blow.

A spokesman for New Yorkers for Economic Growth and Open Markets addressed the revenue-producing proposal, saying the sale of wine in grocery stores is "the answer staring everyone in the face." And as another wise man once declared, "Alcohol: the cause of and solution to all of life's problems."

After the building came under new ownership at the end of last year, many feared the lounge was doomed to eviction. In a disregard of its indelible mark on Brooklyn's gay history, Starlite was later denied landmark status, its last hope to avoid shuttering its doors.

Publicist Timothy Yates told the Times earlier this year, "It's a place I can come and not be bothered by homophobic people,” and an ex-manager explains that the lounge's appeal lay in the fact it was a safe place for all, not just gays. A letter on The Starlite Lounge website mentions both "plans for a fresh, new beginning for The Starlite Lounge" and a "pajama party finale," suggesting this closure may just be a power nap for a fabulous new beginning.

She writes, "Michael Grimm, a former Deputy U.S. Marshall and FBI Special Agent, is running in New York’s 13th Congressional District. This decorated Marine and Persian Gulf War veteran took on organized crime and Wall Street corruption as an undercover agent. As a current small business owner, Michael understands that real economic growth comes from the private sector, not government. He’ll represent New Yorkers with just as much integrity and courage as he defended them in the FBI and the Marine Corps."

Grimm, who faces Michael Allegretti in the Republican primary, told the Daily Beast, “I’m humbled that she has chosen to support me of the thousands of candidates that she is inundated with. I am very, very proud and very humbled," but one SI GOP board member said, "These are just circus antics that are being put on by a certain campaign. This race and this primary is going to be decided on the issues, not the circus-like antics. Sarah Palin is old news." You know what's circus-like? Nominating Vito Fossella.

Allegretti, who has the SI GOP's support, said, "I find it amusing that my Republican opponent has had to go from Washington to Alaska to find an endorsement. want to give some advice to Sarah Palin and I doubt she's ever taken the ferry from Manhattan to Staten Island, but you can't see Russia from the ferry, but you can see Brooklyn so I hope she gets a chance some time."

There's yet another manhole fire situation in downtown Brooklyn. According to Notify NYC (whose website is portentously down at the moment), emergency personnel are on the scene of a manhole fire at 55 Willoughby Street. "The FDNY has evacuated the surrounding buildings." More information as it comes, but you know the drill, there's probably a lot of carbon monoxide soiling the air and a bunch of guys standing around in reflective vests shooting the shit. Oh look, there they are:

Dan Lurie/Gothamist

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email us at info(at)gothamist(dot)com

Here's a big slice of awesome. New York Shitty has posted a "salute" to these two ingenious gentleman who transformed a bunch of NYPD barricades into public seating in Spanish Harlem. "The gent on the right claimed credit for this creation—and stated that the NYPD gives him plenty of guff about it," Miss Heather writes. "He told yours truly they come by regularly and roust him from his 'bench.' Because it is their property."

Next time the cops try that, we hope this guy tells them they need to show I.D. and a property voucher to get their barricades back.

• From the Gothamist Newsmap: Shots fired on Rockaway Blvd in Queens, a jumper down on Stratford Av in the Bronx and manhole fires at Willoughby Av & Jay St in Brooklyn.
• Vindicated former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod will sue Andrew Breitbart.
• When Chris Bosh rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, some traders heckled him.
• Free Wednesday afternoon concerts on the little pedestrian plaza/ island across from Lincoln Center until this September.
• Interactive sidewalk: A chalkboard was placed on the fencing outside a Brooklyn construction site.
• Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos are apparently moving from the fabulous Soho penthouse (their building neighbors include Samuel L. Jackson and Nick Denton) but can't decide whether to live uptown or downtown.
• A Frenchwoman was arrested for smothering her eight newborn children, whose bodies were found in a garden.
• Troy Aikman will be on Dancing with the Stars.

After seizing strategically vital territory in the theater district earlier this month, Danny Meyer's Shake Shack army continues to gobble up their portion under the sun. The restaurateur's insatiable lust for Shake Shack über alles is surpassed only by New Yorkers' lust for Shake Shack, and sources inside the Meyer camp have revealed that Meyer is now greedily eying Battery Park City, where he could plant the Shake Shack flag as early as January. As Meyer declared last year, "A hamburger stand is a very democratizing amenity." But Meyer's bring a lot more than just democracy to that desolate southwest region of Manhattan.

Meyer plans to occupy the old Embassy Suites complex at 102 North End Avenue with two other ventures in addition to Shake Shack. Under the auspices of his Union Square Hospitality Group, Meyer will also open his second Blue Smoke, the popular BBQ restaurant connected to the Jazz Standard. And as if that wasn't enough, Meyer plans to open a "new, yet-to-be-named fine dining restaurant" within the complex. Battery Park City, welcome to Meyerdise. The line forms on the right.

This week Longo was reunited with the squirrels he saved (sadly, one of them died), and released them along with their adopted sister, Baby Ruth—a squirrel rescued in Stuyvesant Town. She joins the brother and sister squirrel, Alvin and Grover, in a little tree house in Longo's backyard, and the rehabber explains what will happen next, saying, "they’ll stick around their house for months, maybe years. Ralph and his family will give them food and water for a while, till they seem not to need it."

And hopefully the red-tailed hawk that was spotted nearby will leave them alone!

He explained, "We have to an immigration law that everybody understands and that is enforced. And the ways to do it is very simple. It is four-pronged: You give permanent status, after [they] pay fines, learn English, whatever, to the 12 Million. You reduce the demand for labor from illegal immigrants by enforcing the laws that the companies cannot hire undocumented. And you can only do that if you give them the tools, which is a biometric Social Security card, probably nothing else. You make sure that we go and we provide visas for those that we want. And if you do those things, you have a strategy. If you don't do those things, it's not going to work."

When asked, "Is it not of a concern to you that 60 percent of Americans support the Arizona law, and a majority of New Yorkers also support it?" he responded, "I don't think 'concern' is the right word. I think it is shocking and terribly worrisome." And about the undocumented immigrants in NYC, "This city depends on these people. This country incidently depends on these people. You would devastate the national economy if by some magic, and that's the only way you would do it, you would find everybody who was here illegally and deport them."

Right now, a rally is being held at Cadman Plaza to protest Arizona's law. While a federal judge struck down parts of the law, one of the rally's organizers told NY1, "The judge's decision was really very limited. It's also temporary. It means that key provisions are actually going to go ahead, such as people being able to sue the police department if they don't enforce the law; workers are not going to be able to seek work in the streets, which is really important for people seeking day labor."

While most of us may consider it distasteful, and indeed foolish, to wear ones pants so low as to expose the underwear, as the Court stated in O'Gorman, "people can dress as they please, wear anything, so long as they do not offend public order and decency."... Moreover, "the Constitution still leaves some opportunity for people to be foolish if they so desire."

You can't argue with that. According to Penal Law §240.20(7), i.e. Disorderly Conduct, a person is guilty when of violating the law when he intentionally "causes public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creates the risk thereof when he creates a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act serving no legitimate purpose." But the offensive conduct must be "public in nature and must cause inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm to a substantial segment of the public." Apparently, Judge Franco isn't annoyed or offended by dudes who wear their pants around their knees, and he cites Wikipedia when delving into the style's "roots in this country's prison system where inmates are issued uniforms which are often too big and the wearing of belts is prohibited due to safety concerns."

While acknowledging that other towns and cities across America have taken action to criminalize sagging pants, Judge Franco points out that New York has no such legislation. So it's up to you, Albany. And indeed, State Senator Eric Adams has been confronting the crisis since April with his "Stop the Sag" campaign. But are PSAs enough? Clearly, we need tough new laws to, ahem, crack down on this fashion trend, and put offenders behind bars where they belong, or at least rehabilitate them on work farms out in Sag Harbor.

Samenga, 34, of Massapequa, was arrested November 14th after he crashed into another car. There were no injuries, but his blood-alcohol content registered .19 percent. (The legal limit is .08 percent.) In 1998, Samenga pleaded guilty to felony DWI in Nassau County, and in 2003 he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor DWI in NYC. He received probation in both pleas, and we're sure the sentencing didn't have "much" to do with the fact that his grandfather is retired judge Alfred Samenga Sr., who was appointed to the State Supreme Court in Nassau in 1985 after serving in District and County court for two decades.

Last week acting Supreme Court Justice Meryl Berkowitz sentenced Samenga to a third probation after he completed a six-month alcohol treatment program. Berkowitz's sentence recognized that he was "motivated towards recovery," but Berkowitz promised to send Samenga to prison if he relapsed. "She promised him on-the-record that any kind of slip and he's gone," his lawyer says. Hopefully that slip won't involve people dying—or at least not anybody important.

Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice tells CBS 2, "This is another example of how society and the judiciary just don't get it. Drunk driving kills and when you see cases like this you shake your head and say 'how can this be?'"