Opening statements were made in the trial of "misunderstood fan" Charles Nagel, who is accused of stalking Law & Order: Criminal Intent actress Kathryn Erbe in person, online, and in his blogging heart. Prosecutors read damning excerpts from Nagel's blog about Erbe, including some winning one-liners such as, "I want to look in her eyes and make love," "Obsession is only around the corner from love, but it is not a bad thing," "Kathryn is everything and everything is Kathryn," and "She's pretending she's better and the shower of love will never stop coming." more ›

Once a Jew-hating note scribbler, always a Jew-hating note scribbler it seems: Demetrios Apolonides was arrested by police yesterday on a hate crime charge of aggravated harassment for writing threatening, anti-Jewish notes on torn up vouchers and dropping them around Long Island. This isn't the first time Apolonides has done this dance though: it took the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force 16 months to catch him earlier this year for a similar crime. more ›

Is a Queens carousel going to get a new lease on life? Probably not, but it is going to have a starring role in The Sitter, a new movie with Jonah Hill currently filming around New York. The movie is said to be a loose remake of the 1987 movie Adventures in Babysitting, and a publicist involved told the Daily News that the Forest Park Carousel is "a major set piece for us." The 100-year-old city-owned carousel has been sitting dormant for two years as the Parks Department tries to find an operator to run it. Until that day, residents say they're excited it "will be showcased in a Hollywood film." Great, but can we all agree that any kind of remake of the near-perfect classic Adventures in Babysitting is a bad idea? more ›

Finally, water pollution is paying off dividends: thanks to a 2008 settlement between the city and the state due to pollution problems incurred during the upgrade of the Newton Creek Wastewater sewage facility, $7 million will now be allocated for waterfront improvements throughout the already super-polluted Greenpoint neighborhood. Residents will be able to weigh in on how to spend that money to improve the Greenpoint waterfront with the City Parks Foundation over the next weeks. more ›

Ah, the auto show. An American institution. Did you know the first modern automotive show was held on this day in 1900, at Madison Square Garden? (Not the asbestos one, the second one.) Do you think they had car show models back then? more ›

In one of the many victories that helped the Republican gain power of the House of Representatives, former FBI agent Michael Grimm beat incumbent Michael McMahon (D) to win the seat that was ceded to the Democrats when after Republican Vito Fossella's DWI and love child meshugas. Grimm told his supporters last night, "If I was Nancy Pelosi, I'd be scared. But I'm not Nancy Pelosi. I am a Marine. I was FBI. And I am the new congressman for the 13th District." more ›

You'll recall that back in August Grimaldi's landlord tried to evict the tourist-centric DUMBO pizzeria for falling $60,000 behind on rent. But a judge refused to enforce the eviction, and ordered the landlord to accept the late rent payments that owner Frank Ciolli insisted he'd been trying to give to the landlord (an old lady who lives in Florida named Dorothy Waxman). And now Ciolli wants payback, or something—the manager answering the phones over there couldn't care less. more ›

With the cost of a monthly MetroCard soon becoming an approximate gajillion dollars, the New York Times sheds some light on alternative forms of transportation. They're calling the PATH train the "last truly underground bargain of New York," with a single ride costing just $1.75 and a 30-day past costing $54. And the conductors actually get mad at those kids selling candy! One West Village resident said, “I like to think of it as a little neighborhood secret," and says he has abandoned the 1 train altogether. Now if everybody just moved to the west side of Manhattan between Christopher Street and 33rd Street, we'd all enjoy that savings! more ›

As you've wandered around the city on foot, trying to avoid the gum and the poop, have you noticed any blue and orange tokens paved into the ground? A tipster pointed them out to us, and wondered what they might be. They wrote: "I've seen them all over the city, and they seem to be permanent and not related to construction. This photo was taken on 65 and bway on the NE corner. The tokens have a number in the center and then a larger number on the surrounding ring, which looks to be an ID number." Could they be clues to some grand Freemasons-like conspiracy? more ›

Half the people who voted in the Presidential election two years ago didn't show up for yesterday's midterm election in NYC. But who can blame them, when the candidates were so boring compared to the glamorous unicorn-taming, rainbow-making President? Perhaps Virginia Moise, a 21-year-old student at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, said it best to the Daily News: "I don’t usually follow politics. I voted for Obama, but I haven’t paid attention lately." When asked to name a gubernatorial candidate, she replied, "David Cuomo or something." more ›

More artists are coming forward with bits and pieces of their stories about working on the Underbelly Project, whose existence was revealed to the world this past Sunday. Project curators Workhorse and PAC were understandably paranoid about any of the 103 artists talking to press about the project, both to preserve their desire for "a space in the world that collectors couldn’t contaminate," as well because of the illegal nature of the project, and the fact that the MTA would like to catch the two curators. more ›

From the looks of it, that Life After People show might not be so far off. The city has been overrun by bedbugs. We've got stink bugs, coyotes, opossums, raccoons, rats, snakes, gators and lice. And while those beasts have been content to stay out of human affairs (save for the occasional bite), termites are now determined to take out the power in Queens. Nature: nature's most dangerous killer. more ›

A juror in a $2.2 billion lawsuit against Citigroup was targeted by the bank's lawyers yesterday because her name appears in the credits for Michael Moore's powerful documentary Capitalism: A Love Story. Juror No. 6, Donna Romo-Gianell, doesn't appear in the film and has never met Moore; her scene, in which she's interviewed about being an unemployed person playing Santa, ended up on the cutting room floor. But even the subtlest Michael Moore taint was enough to make Citigroup's lawyers want her off the jury. more ›

Even though mall security allegedly called the attack on Angelina Pivarnick nothing more than a publicity stunt, there are now very real consequences for the Staten Island teen that is said to have assaulted the reality star drop-out (she's left Jersey Shore twice now). 19-year-old Kelsey Balzafiore was arrested Sunday and charged with misdemeanor assault, according to the NY Post. She's been issued a desk appearance ticket and will have to appear in court to face the charges. SI Live reports that she could face up to a year behind bars. more ›

Back in the spring, a tourist sidewalk lane magically appeared along Fifth Avenue, separating the chaff of idle skyscraper-gazers from the wheat of get-out-of-our-way natives. At first, rumor had it that it was a piece by British invader Banksy, but it was eventually revealed to be an Improv Everywhere prank. But in a new twist today, it seems the British are borrowing the idea to utilize in one of the busiest streets in London. more ›

Yesterday, the Knicks canceled their home game against the Orlando Magic and Madison Square Garden was closed due to an asbestos scare—while cleaning "asbestos-related materials" in the attic, some debris fell into the arena. Well, the NYC's Department of Environmental Protection declared it safe, with a DEP spokesman saying, "It doesn’t appear that any asbestos was disturbed." That must make the tourists who wanted to see Amare Stoudemire Dwight Howard so MAD!! more ›

TV and advertising executives saw a silver lining to the whole Charlie Sheen cocaine-fueled escort-romp fiasco last week, believing that it would "open up the show to a whole new segment of young viewers, the 17-to-23 crowd." And they were right: 13.6 million people watched Monday's Two and a Half Men episode called "The Crazy Bitch Gazette." Perhaps viewers were hoping to spot a flake of coke in Sheen's nose, a la Neil Young in the seminal The Band documentary The Last Waltz. more ›