Have you seen this - NYC Fire Kills 5, Being Probed as Possible Arson

NYC

A suspicious fire tore through a building that housed Guatemalan immigrants, gnawing gaping holes in the structure's backside, partially collapsing the roof and killing at least five people Saturday.

The early morning blaze at the Brooklyn building is being investigated as a possible case of arson because it started behind the door of the first-floor entrance to the building, New York City Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano said.

"That's not where a fire would normally start," Cassano said after surveying the devastation of the fire, which trapped residents and caused the interior walls to collapse. "That's why this is a fire that we are saying is very likely to be incendiary."

Four people in the building were injured, including an infant and a child who were tossed out the window by a woman frantically trying to save them. The infant was in critical condition with a fractured skull after bystanders below failed to catch him, officials and witnesses said. The other child landed on an awning.

At least one adult was hospitalized, and 13 firefighters were injured, none of them seriously, officials said.

The fire started at about 2:30 a.m. and flames quickly engulfed the three-story building on a busy commercial strip, consuming a ground-floor Japanese restaurant and two apartments on the upper floors. The stairwell between the floors collapsed, as well as part of the roof, trapping residents, according to fire officials.

As the fire raged, a woman held a baby boy out a third-floor window. Bars covered the lower half of the window, keeping the woman from climbing out, neighbor Juan Gabriel told The New York Times.

"She was screaming, 'Help me, help me,' " Gabriel said. Moments later, she threw the infant out the window to Gabriel and two other men.

In the darkness, the child fell to the ground, authorities said. She then tossed another child out the window. He landed on the awning below.

What spiders should i be afraid of on long island new york?

i live in nassau county long island new york and my girlfriend is terrified of spiders. do u know any spiders i should be aware of?

Find the truth all about New York City here - White House: No decision yet on moving 9/11 trial

New York City

Washington (CNN) -- No decision has been made on whether to change the current plan to hold the September 11 terrorist attack trial in a civilian court in lower Manhattan, White House officials said Sunday.

Last week, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other politicians expressed concern over the costs and disruption of holding the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four accomplices at a New York City courthouse.

David Axelrod, the senior adviser to President Obama, and White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Sunday that Obama believes the trial should take place in a criminal court instead of before a military commission, as permitted for some terrorism suspects.

However, Axelrod and Gibbs acknowledged that Obama and the Justice Department were considering moving the trial from New York City.

"We've made no decisions on that yet," Axelrod said on the NBC program "Meet the Press." Gibbs, speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," also said the location of the trial was under discussion, but he expressed certainty that Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks, "is going to meet justice and he's going to meet his maker."

Gibbs and Axelrod criticized Republican opposition to the plan to hold the trial in a criminal court, saying no one complained when the previous administration of Republican President George W. Bush put terrorism suspects such as "shoe bomber" Richard Reid on trial in U.S. criminal courts.

"Now we have a Democratic president and suddenly we hear these protests," Axelrod said. "What has changed between now and then that would cause people to reverse positions?"

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, told the CNN program that the Bush administration was wrong to hold terrorism trials on U.S. soil. Instead, trials for dangerous terrorism suspects should be held by military commissions at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility where they currently are held, McConnell said.

Obama intends to shut down the Guantanamo facility by transferring the roughly 200 suspects to the United States to stand trial or face indefinite detention, or to third countries. McConnell said Sunday he would fight that plan by trying to withhold federal spending for it.

"'I think that will be done on a bipartisan basis," McConnell said of congressional opposition, adding that "whatever domestic support they had for this is totally collapsing."

White House officials say the decision about any possible alternate sites to try Mohammed and the others will come from the Justice Department.

New York police estimated that the cost to the city would be more than $200 million per year in what could be a multi-year trial and that more than 2,000 checkpoints would need to be installed around Lower Manhattan. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said additional protection would have to be deployed for the city, not just "the core area of Manhattan."

Bloomberg initially supported the move, saying "it is fitting that 9/11 suspects face justice near the World Trade Center site where so many New Yorkers were murdered."

However, Bloomberg used different rhetoric last week when asked about a community agency's proposals to relocate the trial, saying he would prefer the trial be held elsewhere, perhaps at a military base where it would be easier and cheaper to provide security.

"It's going to cost an awful lot of money and disturb a lot of people," Bloomberg said.

On Thursday, several New York Democratic politicians urged the Obama administration to thoroughly re-examine locating the trial in downtown Manhattan.

Julie Menin, chairwoman of a city community advisory agency, proposed four alternative locations for the trial within the Southern District of New York: Governors Island, Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and the Bureau of Prisons jail complex at FCI Otisville. The latter three are in Orange County, New York, less than an hour from New York City, county executive Edward Diana told CNN.

Diana thinks the trials should not be held anywhere in New York, and definitely not in Orange County, which lost 44 residents in the terror attacks, he said.

"I've contacted my legal department and I'll tell you I'll do whatever it takes to stop those trials from coming here, even if it means closing down our roads," Diana said. "I'll sue the federal government if need be."

Diana said he'd be worried about the safety of Orange County residents if the trial comes there. Diana, who shot down an offer from Newburgh to host the proceedings in their new courthouse, said the suspects should not be tried in civilian courts.

But Newburgh Mayor Nick Valentine said the boost in media presence and police funding during the trial would help his "very poor, very urban" city. Newburgh's new $22 million courthouse is safe and has "every security you could want," Valentine said.

An alternate proposal at the West Point location has not been fully reviewed. A West Point spokesman said no one has officially requested a review of demands for such a trial, which would require in-depth study of legal and security concerns.

U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Dean Boyd said the Justice Department "can safely prosecute this case in the Southern District of New York while minimizing disruptions to the community to the greatest extent possible, consistent with security needs."

New York Gov. David Paterson will meet with the U.S. Marshal Service on Monday to discuss possible 9/11 trial locations in the state, Paterson spokeswoman Marissa Shorenstein told CNN.

CNN's Susan Candiotti and Ross Levitt contributed to this report.

Keep The 9/11 Trials In New York

New York City

With the news that the Obama administration is considering moving the trials of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other al-Qaida terrorists away from New York City, America's leaders need to be careful not to hand al-Qaida a victory that it failed to achieve on 9/11. The terrorist group's aim on 9/11 was not just to inflict death and destruction. Just as importantly, it sought to show that "America the superpower" was really a vulnerable, superficial and scared nation.

Al-Qaida's propaganda portrayed America as a stack of cards that would collapse after it was attacked. And after 9/11, America's enemies gleefully predicted a likely decline. The pro-Syrian Lebanese daily Assafir wrote that: "No one can yet predict whether the cataclysm in New York will lead to the fall of the American empire, or vanquish the world order that America dictated until 8:45, 11 September. All signs are that the day of reckoning is near."

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But on 9/11 America showed al-Qaida that the image it had of America was wrong. Rather than fleeing New York, Americans from all over the country flocked to the Big Apple to help the rescue efforts. New Yorkers showed a resolve that was admired across the world. Contrary to al-Qaida's predictions, Americans didn't buckle under the terrorist group's pressure.

Instead they joined the military, and Congress voted to take the war to al-Qaida in Afghanistan. New Yorkers and Americans vowed to rebuild the country and not to let al-Qaida change what the U.S. stands for in the world. America sent a message that it was not a house of cards but a nation of steel. In terms of propaganda value against al-Qaida, America's reaction was priceless.

Fast-forward to the present. Nine years after 9/11, as we're finally preparing to try some of those responsible for 9/11, the Obama administration on Friday asked the Justice Department to come up with alternative venues to New York City--the location it had originally decided on. This rethinking came at the urging of senior senators, and of New York officials concerned that the trial could go on for a long time and cost the city close to $1 billion in security and associated costs.

The concerns that prompted the calls for rethinking the location are legitimate. As New York City (and the country) works to pull itself out of an economic downturn, the financial and security burden these trials will place on New York is likely to be huge. Originally the location and the format (whether federal courts or military commissions), didn't matter as much as the fact that the U.S. finally began prosecuting the terrorists. Americans have waited long enough to see them face justice.

But once a decision was made by Attorney General Eric Holder in November 2009 to have the trials in federal courts in New York, financial and security concerns from New York City's perspective should no longer have been the only consideration. What also must be considered is the bigger picture of America's asymmetrical war against al-Qaida. And the reality is that changing the location of the trials, unless handled correctly, may hand al-Qaida a propaganda victory.

The message that al-Qaida may try to sell is that New York is still intimidated by the terrorist group nine years after the attacks. While previously terrorists including Ramzi Yousef and al-Qaida members who were part of the East Africa Embassy bombings were tried in New York City, today the U.S. looks afraid. It looks frightened of how al-Qaida might retaliate in New York to score political points (as if they are waiting for a trial to launch an attack). Nine years after firefighters rushed into the collapsing towers as people ran out--vividly demonstrating the heroism that defined America on that day--al-Qaida can try to claim that America is projecting cowardice.

The way the administration could diffuse such an accusation would be to change the location of the trials to another location within the Southern District of New York. Attorney General Eric Holder originally declared in November that the trials would take place in the Southern District--because that's where the biggest terrorist attack of 9/11 took place. The main federal court of the Southern District is in downtown Manhattan. And that's where everyone has assumed the administration meant the trial to be held.

But parts of upstate New York are in the Southern District. Newburgh, for example, where Stewart Air Base is situated, falls in the district. Indeed that's why terrorists such as Ramzi Yousef were flown into Stewart Air Base when they were brought to the U.S. for trial, as they had to be tried in the venue where they landed. (Both of New York City's main airports, La Guardia and John F. Kennedy, are in the Eastern District of New York and so couldn't be used.)

The administration needs to explain to the world that its commitment to trying the terrorists in the Southern District has not changed. The reality is that the powerful symbolism of the terrorists being prosecuted where they committed their crime--in the Southern District of New York--still stands. By saying this, the administration won't unwittingly give Osama Bin Laden any new footage for al-Qaida's next propaganda video. In the asymmetrical war against al-Qaida, America can still have the upper hand.

Daniel Freedman is director of policy analysis and communications at the Soufan Group, a strategic consultancy.

Read more Forbes opinions here.

How is life in New York city?

For anyone who lives there?

Karen Schmeer Killed in Hit and Run in NYC (Well, I never expected to see this)

NYC

Karen Schmeer, celebrated documentary film editor, was mowed down by three robbers trying to flee from New York's finest.

"Fog of War", is an Academy Award winning documentary that Karen Schmeer worked on. "Fog of War" is about Robert McNamara, for US Secretary of Defense. For "Sergio," Karen Schmeer won a best editing honors at the 2009 Sudance Festival.

Karen Schmeer was less than away from her home when she was hit by a 2010 Dodge Avenger. The car was driven by three people who had just stolen drugs at a local CVS.

Karen Schmeer was pronounced dead on arrival. The fatal hit and run occured on Broadway, near W.90th St., just before 8 p.m. last night as the three were making to make a quick getaway. They had stolen the allergy medication, Zyrtec, from nearby CVS.

What a tragic accident and loss of a great talent. May Karen Schmeer rest in peace.

Find the truth about NYC in this story - Famed Portland-bred film editor Karen Schmeer killed in NYC accident

NYC

FAST CHEAP AND IN CONTROL

How a young film buff from Portland saved a famous director's newest movie

This is the story of how a young woman from a small city went off to a somewhat bigger city and had an enormous impact on an important little film.

This is the story about how a famous filmmaker took advice from a novice editor with a bachelor's degree in anthropology.

This is the story of how a Lincoln High School grad who once pushed popcorn at the Movie House theater lucked into a job with the director of ``A Thin Blue Line'' and helped him figure out a way to finish his newest movie, ``Fast, Cheap and Out of Control.''

This is the story of Errol Morris, big-time director of documentaries, and Karen Schmeer , a twentysomething intern from Portland whom Morris credits with ``saving'' his film.

Morris you know. His films ``Vernon, Florida,'' ``Gates of Heaven,'' ``A Brief History of Time'' and ``The Thin Blue Line'' have stretched the bounds of the American documentary, opening it up to editorial speculation and suggesting that a coherent film can be stitched together as a crazy quilt of tones, film stocks and techniques.

``Fast, Cheap and Out of Control,'' which plays through Dec. 4 at Cinema 21, is an acme of his technique and his themes. Juxtaposing the stories of four apparently unconnected men -- a lion tamer, a topiary gardener, a mole-rat expert and a robot scientist -- the film is a kaleidoscopic meditation on what it means to be human and, specifically, what it means to observe, reshape and engage the world around us.

It's a movie built of a wild variety of images: footage from antique documentaries and Saturday-morning matinees, interviews with the principals, images shot with a seeming thousand of styles by cinematographer Robert Richardson.

At times, in fact, it almost feels random -- a charge that Morris vigorously denies. ``A movie doesn't have to have an ostensible subject matter,'' he says. ``That said, there was premeditation and deliberation here. There was intent.''

Morris says, however, that the film comes ``awfully close to pure montage,'' a string of suggestively juxtaposed images meant to evoke but never explicitly state a theme.

``The multiple formats make you aware of imagery as imagery,'' he says, ``but I can't imagine this film without the narration by the characters. The ideas come from the relation between what is being said and what is being seen. If there isn't a connection, it doesn't work -- and I can testify to this from empirical knowledge gathered in an editing room.''

That's where Schmeer comes in. Morris had been working on ``Fast, Cheap'' (which, he says, was ``not done fast or all that cheap -- though the `out of control' is true enough'') since the mid-'80s, though not really seriously until three or four years ago. At that time he marshaled his interviews, wrangled his miles of illustrative and metaphoric footage, and got frankly stuck trying to make a movie of it.

``There were times during editing,'' he confesses, ``when I feared it wouldn't come together.''

But Schmeer , who had begun working in Morris' Boston offices as an unpaid research intern a few years earlier, witnessed Morris' struggle and offered a solution. Having recently been promoted to a paid position as an assistant editor, she spoke up.

``There was a point where I was very concerned with where the film was going,'' she remembers, ``and I didn't want him to complete a movie that I didn't like. We were kind of inundated with visual material, but we were losing sight of the characters, which are really the core of his film.''

So where does a novice editor get the guts to speak up to a famous director? From the director himself, it turns out.

``The thing about Errol is that he really does listen to other people and he really does want to know what they think,'' Schmeer says from her Boston home. ``He'll ask anyone about the movie, and he'll use those ideas in his work. There was a 17-year-old intern in the office who he used to call `the voice of youth,' and he asked him questions all the time.''

True to his democratic nature, when he heard Schmeer 's critique of his work in progress, Morris listened. ``I credit Karen to a large extent with saving this movie,'' he says, ``with convincing me to make longer passages and not allow the visual style to overwhelm the movie.''

As a result, when the film's original editor, Shondra Merrill, left the project, Morris gave Schmeer the job -- even though her background was in, of all things, anthropology.

Morris says he wasn't at all anxious about handing over the editing reins of a film to a novice. ``I've had so-so experiences in the past with professional editors who have no idea what to do with my material,'' he explains. ``But I've hired a lot of people who had no experience, and they've gone on to successful careers as editors. Karen was a lucky find. She's very, very smart and independently minded.''

And she knows movies. While attending Lincoln High (she graduated in 1988), Schmeer

worked as a ticket taker and snack vendor at the nearby Movie House. ``I watched movies all the time,'' she remembers. ``It's part of the reason that I took a minor in film criticism (at Boston University). I loved the Movie House, and when I came to Boston I worked at a similar struggling art theater, the Coolidge Corner.''

After graduating from college in 1992, Schmeer looked around town for work and hit a lucky number: ``I saw a flier around Harvard for a filmmaker needing a research intern, and I had some research experience, so I applied.''

The rest, as they say, is history. Schmeer has moved on, just as Morris suggested she might, to a fledgling career as a film editor: She's working with another Massachusetts filmmaker, a woman who's making an autobiographical documentary about her father's mysterious death. And Morris' film, with Schmeer 's fingerprints all over it, is wowing critics and audiences alike. 

What is the closest ski mountain to NJ in New York?

We want to go a good mtn w. terrain. We've been everywhere in the Poconos and have been to Mtn creek atleast 100 times, and want to try somewhere new. we live in the Newark area, any good mountains in New York that are close?

Holly Northrop took this incredible image - Long Days

When I get bored, I surf New York City shots on the internet. I am going to share more New York City images like this one.

Long Days can be summed up by saying:Fifth Avenue | New York City | camera: Holga 120N | film: Arista 400



Want the location of the original New York City picture because many people never stop asking for it.

Can you say that this pic of New York City was worth your time?

NHL: New York Rangers 3, Colorado 1

New York

DENVER, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Marion Gaborik's hat trick, the 10th of his NHL career, powered the New York Rangers to a 3-1 win Sunday over the Colorado Avalanche, ending a five-game skid.

Gaborik scored the first three goals of the game, one in each period, and was assisted on two of them by Vaclav Prospal and Marc Staal.

Chad Johnson blocked 34 shots for the Rangers for his first NHL victory.

Cody McLeod ended Johnson's shutout bid with the final score of the game at 12:39 of the third period.

Craig Anderson had 31 saves in the Avalanche's third straight loss.

New York is being observed closer then ever: Marian Gaborik's hat trick lifts rookie goalie Chad Johnson, New York Rangers ...

New York

BY Michael Obernauer

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

DENVER - Marian Gaborik has exactly twice as many hat tricks as Chad Johnson has games of NHL experience. But the superstar and the rookie will be happy to share credit for the crucial two points the Rangers earned Sunday night.

Gaborik staged a sublime performance and Johnson one he will never forget, a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche that snapped the Rangers' five-game skid and gave the rookie goaltender his first NHL victory. Pressed into action for a second straight night because of Henrik Lundqvist's flu bug, Johnson barely missed a shutout - Cody McLeod broke that up with the Avs swarming 7:21 from the end - but he rebounded from an uneven performance in Phoenix the night before to make 34 saves.

Gaborik, meanwhile, had the game well in hand at the other end, scoring a goal in each period for his 10th career hat trick and his first since burning the Rangers for five goals on Dec. 20, 2007, with the Wild.

Gaborik got his first of the night when turned on the jets before his own blue line to skate onto a free carom, then let go a wrist shot on the move from the top of the right circle that beat Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson to the far side at 13:53.

Gaborik went one better, and gave the Rangers an even more rare 2-0 lead, 5:57 into the second. The winger circled the Colorado zone with the puck before having it knocked off his stick at the left wing boards, but as Vinny Prospal hopped on the puck, Gaborik bolted to the front, where Prospal hit him with a no-look backhand pass for a tap-in behind Anderson.

Meanwhile, Johnson made several beauties among his 12 first-period saves, and in the second, he stretched out to get his catching glove along the ice to rob Paul Stastny on two rebound tries at the left post.

He made two more stops on Stastny and on linemate Chris Stewart with Prospal in the penalty box in the third period. But Gaborik capped the hat trick and gave the visitors a 3-0 edge with a breakaway goal 10:43 from the end, taking a pass from Prospal - fresh out of the box for bumping Johnson and the goal net - and beating Anderson with a shot as he fell to the ice.

Why are many insurance companies different in New York?

As far as I know, many insurance companies are not licenced in New York state. If they are, I think there are separate companies set up to serve New York residents. There must be a reason for this.

Negative New York story - White House backs down on New York terror trial

New York

THE trial of the confessed mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the US will not go ahead in New York as planned, after the Obama administration bowed to pressure to move it.

But the White House is firm on another key plank of its policy for trying accused terrorists: it still wants Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four of his co-conspirators to face a civilian court.

Despite pressure from Republican Party critics and even fellow Democrats, President Barack Obama is resisting calls for a return to George Bush's policy of military tribunals.

When a lower Manhattan court was announced in November as the location for Khalid's trial, independent New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared it was "fitting" Khalid and his fellow accused terrorists should be tried just blocks away from the World Trade Centre site where so many citizens were murdered in 2001.

Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar.

End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.

A change of heart by Mr Bloomberg over the past few weeks has done most to force a rethink in the White House.

Mr Bloomberg now accepts that a lengthy trial in lower Manhattan, close to the financial district, would pose a security risk, cost too much and cause severe disruption to the city. Concerns have been gathering steam for weeks since New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly laid out the logistics of security to local politicians and business groups, and made it clear the trial markedly increased lower Manhattan's risk as a terrorist target.

The police chief's audience appears to have blanched at the prospect of constant police lockdowns, car searches, dog patrols and rooftop snipers.

One estimate of the cost of security and disruption was as high as $US200 million ($226.2m) a year for a trial that could last several years.

Mr Bloomberg remained behind the New York trial until last week, when he met a group of federal judges and one raised the issue of security.

After giving an assurance the area could be made safe, the Mayor reportedly changed his mind the next day, leaving the Obama administration without its strongest advocate.

A White House spokesman was quoted as saying: "I can acknowledge the obvious. We're considering other options."

The decision on an alternative is being left up to Mr Obama's Attorney-General, Eric Holder, who announced the New York location in November. At the time, Mr Holder said he opted to proceed in a civilian court in New York with full confidence that the case against the alleged conspirators would succeed.

Other sites being considered include the Stewart Air National Guard Base, north of New York City, and a federal jail at Otisville, lying 110km northwest of the city.

Another possibility is the disused prison in Mr Obama's home state of Illinois where his administration proposes housing remaining detainees of the Guantanamo Bay jail, in Cuba.

Mr Bloomberg was initially enthusiastic about a New York trial despite his Republican predecessor, Rudi Giuliani, who was mayor at the time of the attacks, leading a campaign against it.

Mr Giuliani had said Khalid and others should be treated as war criminals in a military court after they "declared war on us".

The Obama administration faces a further test over the next few weeks as two Republican congressmen promote legislation that seeks to block the financing of civilian trials for alleged terrorists.

Mr Holder has also received a letter from six senators calling for a return to the Bush administration's policy of using military commissions for terrorist suspects.

Mr Holder argues that civilian trials have legitimacy that military tribunals lack, especially after previous Supreme Court rulings.

Sordid New York news - In New York, Mix of Emotions Over 9/11 Trial Move

New York

nyt_text readability="69">

All the worrying about what a federal terrorism trial might mean to the city, or to New Yorkers themselves, is over.

So, too, is any meaningful debate on the social merits of trying Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 attack, and four other suspects in a civilian courtroom just blocks from where the plot was carried out.

Seventy-seven days after the Obama administration abruptly told the mayor and police commissioner that the trial was coming to Lower Manhattan, New Yorkers on Saturday absorbed the news that — just as abruptly — the government had apparently reversed itself.

Some New Yorkers said they were disappointed because the trial could have been symbolic of the city’s resilience and showcased the strength of the nation’s justice system. Others searched for words to express their angst over what would happen next, and when. Still others said they were relieved but confused over what, precisely, had prompted the sudden turnabout.

As a practical matter, holding the trial in New York posed the specter of a dizzying security lockdown — with roadblocks, checkpoints and rooftop sharpshooters — in the financial district and Chinatown.

That, said Mary Riches, 78, who lost her grandson Jimmy, 29, a firefighter, in the attack, reflected the reality that holding the trial at the United States courthouse in the heart of Lower Manhattan was “too dangerous.” If there were no other choice, she would accept it. But she preferred not to.

By equal measures, the turnabout angered her son, Jim Riches, 58, a retired deputy fire chief, for the simple reason that the clock was still ticking.

Seven years passed after the attack with no clarity on how the government would proceed, Mr. Riches said. Then, 10 months had passed since he first heard word that the Obama administration was studying the possibility of holding the trial in a civilian court instead of a military tribunal.

Mr. Riches said that all that time should have given officials enough room to assess the threats, form a plan to deal with them and understand the costs — and possible opposition.

“I’m a little angry,” he said. “This is another delay of justice, and the families have to suffer. I guess they feel it will cost too much money for security, but just get me another place where you are going to try them. This is going on too long.”

Money concerns were nowhere in the debate after the Justice Department announced on Nov. 13 its plans to try Mr. Mohammed and the four other 9/11 defendants blocks from where the World Trade Center had stood. In fact, politicians embraced it, some expressing glee at the chance to confront the suspects here.

But Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced last month that security costs would exceed $200 million annually, and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly outlined a plan to put Lower Manhattan on virtual lockdown. The idea then dissolved in the face of potential costs and disruption.

David N. Kelley, who was the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2003 to 2005, said that the government should not abandon the idea of a civilian trial, but that an analysis of threats and logistics must be done for any possible future site.

“We have the best criminal justice system in the world, and we should not run away from the logistical challenges posed by this trial,” said Mr. Kelley, now in private practice in New York. “We should find a way to make this work; we need to put Nimby-ism aside and find the best place to do that,” he added.

Across the city on Saturday, the issue seemed to be Topic A on people’s tongues. Reactions diverged from neighborhood to neighborhood.

Along a largely Muslim stretch of Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, many people declined to offer an opinion. One man said that the anti-Muslim sentiment he had sensed made him afraid to speak openly. He said it did not matter where the trial would be held.

“Personally,” he said, “I don’t think they’re going to get a fair trial.”

But John Rapaport, 57, who was having lunch at a halal restaurant, said the location was integral. He said a downtown trial would “show the entire world that we’re capable.”

And Majed Almontaser, who was making his way to the Masjid al-Farooq mosque, said that a Manhattan trial had sounded like a good idea.

Reporting was contributed by Colin Moynihan, William K. Rashbaum, Stacey Solie and Benjamin Weiser.

This one made me laugh: Agreement Signed With Pointstreak - New York City jokes almost always do.

I smiled when I saw this, testing_photos really does have a silly sense of humour Here's the location of the original New York City photo because you might be curious about it.

Can you say that this picture of New York City is worth looking at?

NYC found in the headlines Fatal NYC fire probed as possible arson

NYC

NEW YORK - A fire that tore through a Brooklyn building that housed Guatemalan immigrants, killing at least five people, is being investigated as a possible case of arson.

New York City Fire Commissioner Salvatore Cassano said Saturday's early morning blaze started behind the front door of the building. He said it's "not where a fire would normally start."

The 2:30 a.m. fire engulfed the building, trapping residents and causing part of the roof to collapse.

Four people in the building were injured, including an infant and a child who were tossed out the window by a woman frantically trying to save them.

One of the children, an infant boy, was in critical condition with a fractured skull suffered when bystanders below failed to catch him, according to officials and witnesses. The other child landed on an awning and was also injured. An adult was also hospitalized.

Firefighters hurt

Thirteen firefighters were injured, none of them believed seriously, in the blaze in the Bensonhurst neighborhood. The flames engulfed the three-story building on a busy commercial strip, consuming a ground-floor Japanese restaurant and two apartments on the upper floors.

As the fire raged, a woman held a baby boy out a third-floor window. Bars covered the lower half of the window, keeping the woman from climbing out, Gabriel said.

"She was screaming, 'Help me, help me,' " Gabriel said. Moments later, she threw the infant out the window to Gabriel and two other men.

In the darkness, the child fell to the ground, authorities said. She then tossed another child out the window. He landed on the awning below.

The area is home to a diverse population of Russians, Hispanics and Chinese.

What city is directly west of new york city?

i've never been to new york, and so i don't know this answer. google wont tell me anything.

Saturdays insanity: Outcry leads to a review of New York City as venue for 9/11 trial

New York

N EW YORK | A letter and a speech may have doomed plans to bring the Sept. 11 terrorism trial to downtown New York.

The letter, sent earlier this month to the White House by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, set a whopping $200 million-a-year price tag to secure the city during the trial — more than double the original estimate. The speech by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly detailed a planned lockdown of lower Manhattan certain to set new standards for gridlock.

The resulting political and public outcry forced the Obama administration to consider friendlier sites for the high-profile trial, even as the legitimacy of the New York Police Department’s security plan and its estimated cost went unchallenged.

The alternate locations, according to a Chicago Tribune report Friday, include Governors Island in New York Harbor, an Air Force base and a federal penitentiary near Manhattan.

White House officials seem to be backing off a pledge made late last year to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, and his four alleged co-conspirators in a courthouse in downtown Manhattan.

However, Justice Department officials cautioned Friday that no decisions had been made about moving the federal criminal trial out of New York City altogether — or to go even further and leave the five defendants in the hands of a military tribunal.

Should the trial remain in New York, Kelly insists his plan is necessary — a reality that started to sink in after his remarks before business leaders.

“The investment that the department would have to make … and the details of the plan itself, how it would’ve impacted the traffic in lower Manhattan,” he told reporters Friday. “That was the first time they heard it in one fell swoop, so to speak, and it raised their concerns.”

A congressional aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Saturday that the Obama administration proposed a $200 million fund to help pay for security in cities hosting the trials, to be included in the president’s budget being released Monday.

Since announcing late last year that New York would host the trial, the Obama administration has stumbled into a political fire that had burned the previous administration.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, New York and federal officials have quarreled over how much of the city’s security costs should be borne by Washington. New York officials, led by Bloomberg, have complained for years that the government does not pay enough of those costs. The Bush administration long argued they have to spread resources to protect the entire country.

The latest round of that long-running fight began when the Bloomberg administration circulated a Jan. 5 letter to reporters from the mayor to the Office of Management and Budget in Washington.

The letter put the cost of stepped-up security at $216 million for the first year after Mohammed and the others arrive in Manhattan from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. After that, the mayor said it would cost $200 million annually for as long as the men are detained in the city — mainly overtime for extra police patrols.

The Police Department had given an initial estimate of $75 million a year but later warned it could be higher. Officials said a second, more careful analysis produced the totals cited by the mayor, who warned the trial would strain the resources of the nation’s largest police department.

“As 9/11 was an attack on the entire nation, we need the federal government to shoulder the significant costs we will incur and ease this burden,” Bloomberg wrote.

The mayor left Kelly to explain the threat — and the extensive plans to thwart it.

“Given the unprecedented media attention the trial will attract, one concern is that terrorists may attempt to strike again in an effort to garner the publicity,” he said in the Jan. 13 speech to a police organization.

On Friday, Kelly told reporters that public backlash made it “unlikely” the case would go forward in New York City.

The Chicago Tribune contributed to this report.

What is the most fun resturaunt in New York?

Just wondering really, I want to do some pretty fun things before I die or whatever so it can be anywhere in New York and it so has to be fun. Thanks!!!

New York Times reports plan to move trial out of NYC

NYC



NEW YORK STATE -- It seems the trial of the accused mastermind of the 9/11 attacks will moved outside of New York City.

The New York Times is reporting the Obama administration is considering other options, however, no new location has been named.

The trial has been facing political backlash and city officials have been calling for a new trial location, saying there was fear the trial wouldn't be able to go forward if it stayed in Manhattan. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said the trial would pose a security risk and cost the city millions of dollars.

It's unclear where the trial would be moved to, but some suggest nearby military installations, like West Point.

It was last year that Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the trial would take place in Manhattan federal court. That announcement received heavy criticism and opposition.

Governor David Paterson joined New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in asking the Obama administration to move the trial outside of New York City.

Meanwhile, former Governor Elliot Spitzer says the venue doesn't matter, as long as there's a conviction.

"I think where it is matters much less than if it takes place and we get a conviction. I think that is what we as citizens care about. Justice should be done and we should prove to the world the rule of law works in the United States. We will punish terrorists," Spitzer said.

While New York officials are adamant about moving the trial out of their city, one mayor in the Hudson Valley says his city would be a good fit.

Newburgh Mayor Nicholas Valentine says Newburgh's new state-of-the-art courthouse means the trial would be secured more easily there than New York City. Many are concerned the location of the trial could be a possible terrorist target, but Valentine says Newburgh could benefit from the international exposure.

"Some municipality is going to be chosen. I'm just asking for a fair shake to be in the mix. And also say that in the end, with the tourists, with the amount of people coming here, and the amount of media coverage, Newburgh would truly be on the map and that's not a bad thing for our city," Valentine said.

Valentine also told us a federal aid package to pay for trial expenses would make it worth the effort. However, Orange County Executive Edward Diana made it clear he would be against the move to a city in his county.