Officials issued a warning about masked bandits marauding the city after six rabid raccoons were caught in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx. The Department of Health is also encouraging New Yorkers to be wary of “skunks, bats, stray dogs and cats and other wild animals” that appear “sick, disoriented or unusually placid or aggressive,” not counting costumed Club Animals though. |DOH|
The Constitution lives! The Maryland Transit Administration was considering a proposal to bug all its buses and trains in Baltimore and parts of D.C., but they’ve decided to back off due to privacy concerns—although the sheer illegality of it probably played a role too. The original proposal outlined the installation of microphones that could record all conversations by both passengers and employees, thoroughly driving this country into an Orwellian brick wall within earshot of the nation’s capital. |Baltimore Sun|
After scoring the the attendance records of City Councilmembers, the Post tallies up state legislative sessions absences. The state’s 62 senators only missed 1 in 10 meetings at most, while 14 of the 150 state assemblymembers skipped more than that. Queens assembly member Ann-Margaret Carrozza barely showed up a third of the time the chamber was in session.
Have you seen the hottest new fashion trend to hit the border? Weed pants! The stylish trousers have become a must have for edgy teenagers crossing into the U.S. from Mexico. Original and functional, they allow for the hands free transport of between three to five pounds of weed!
In contrast to my colleague’s positive take on Poster Boy’s latest work at Jajo Gallery, Jordan Seiler offers a more critical perspective: “PosterBoy’s transformation of the gallery space doesn’t address the underlying advertising and public space issues his work in public so effortlessly tackles….On top of this Aakash’s work looses its spatial relationships, merely becoming a way to hold PosterBoy’s billboards to the wall, albeit in an artistic fashion. I thought to myself, even more than most street art, this work just doesn’t work in a gallery setting.” |Public Ad Campaign|
Federal immigration agents brandishing weapons have conducted hundreds of illegal predawn raids in New York and New Jersey. A study by the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law found agents barging into homes without search warrants or consent, holding legal residents hostage while searching for incriminating evidence and rounding up “Latinos with civil immigration violations” rather than the dangerous criminals they were supposed to focus on, among other consistent violations of agency rules and the Constitution. |NYT|
Graffiti writer READER’s recent stint in New Orleans caught the eye of the Times-Picayune art critic Doug MacCash. Although “always ambivalent about reviewing graffiti,” the arts writer deems the illegal work “worthwhile.” Read more »
A couple of heroin addicts reportedly stole a fifth of NYC’s red light cameras, highlighting just how few there are to back up the NYPD’s pitiful traffic enforcement. 45-year-old Anthony Cintorrino and “29-year-old trust-fund baby Tara LaBurt,” were arrested for stealing 22 of the cameras, worth $88K, with a cherry picker and pawning them off for $18k to feed their drug habits. |NYP|
Here’s what the sky looked like over Yangshan, China on Wednesday during the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century. Despite some supernatural ramblings and “mini world war” prophecies, people in the Far East managed to hold it together.
Photos by Dennis Kruyt
After stirring up some slight outrage over a provocative billboard downtown, the Daily News targets a bloody window display on the Upper East Side. The gory scene at Barneys New York—two blood-spattered mannequins modeling Helmut Lang and ALC as they succumb to their apparent gunshot wounds—was meant to be eye catching, like the sexed up Calvin Klein ad on Houston Street . But instead of standing behind their display, as Calvin Klein did, Barneys cleaned up the bloody mess, blaming the display designers for crossing the line while creative director Simon Doonan was away on business.
Photos by Racked
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