Wow

In a Mystery, a Baby Black Bear Is Found Dead in Central Park

The furry black mass lay hidden under a bush near Central Park’s main loop, unnoticed, unmoving and partially concealed by an abandoned bicycle. A dog rustling in the brush drew the first eyes to the bush and a sight rarely, if ever, found in modern Manhattan: a baby black bear, dead.

A call to 911 followed and soon yellow police tape cordoned off the area near West 69th Street as detectives found themselves facing a mysterious crime scene on a sunny Monday morning.

How the animal, a three-foot-long female, got to that spot remained a mystery at day’s end: a cub, probably born this year, somehow separated from her mother and from anything resembling a natural habitat.

This story is so sad--I hope they find the driver who took three lives and injured another

Suspect named in hit-and-run crash that killed family

Police on Monday identified a suspect being sought in the Brooklyn hit-and-run deaths of a man, his pregnant wife and the baby she carried.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said police are looking for Julio Acevedo, 44, who he said had a DWI arrest last month. Acevedo was going at least 60 mph when the car slammed into the cab [emphasis is mine] carrying the couple to a hospital, police said. The baby, delivered after parents Nachman and Raizy Glauber were killed in the crash, died Monday, a spokesman for the religious community said. Isaac Abraham, spokesman for the family's Orthodox Jewish community, said the boy will be named and circumcised following religious traditions. He had initially been listed in serious condition hours after Saturday's accident, Abraham said. Neighbors and friends said the boy weighed only about 4 pounds.

YKWIA told me about the parents' deaths yesterday, and of the miracle that the child was born alive. I was so sad to hear this morning that the little boy died. My heart goes out to the family and to their community. I so hope the authorities find and prosecute the driver of the vehicle that killed them.

Unbelievable, yet apparently true

Woman Accused of Hate-Crime Murder in Subway Push

The woman, Erica Menendez of the Bronx, will be charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime, according to a person in the Queens district attorney’s office. When Ms. Menendez was taken into custody by police early Saturday morning, she made comments implicating herself in the crime when questioned by detectives, according to Paul J. Browne, the chief spokesman for the Police Department.

A law enforcement official said that Ms. Menendez had “told the cops it was an act against Muslims,” and cited the Sept. 11 attacks. The victim, Sunando Sen, was born in India and, according to a roommate, was raised Hindu.

Again?

Man Is Pushed to His Death Under Train in Queens

Earlier this month a man was pushed in front of a subway train in New York City and made headlines for a widely-circulated picture of him right before his doom. Now it's happened again--just over a couple of hours ago. This time, a woman mumbling to herself pushed a man into the path of a train; witnesses said the victim did not appear to notice her. The man has not yet been identified, and police are searching for a woman matching the description of the assailant.

Good

Central Park attack: Cops arrest man for rape near Strawberry Fields

The victim is in her 70s and has some choice words for what should happen to her attacker, which is quite understandable. I'm glad they have a suspect in custody, and hope that the woman will recover as well as she can.

How sad that this should happen over a relatively small dispute

Police Arrest Man in Burning Death of Woman

She fired him from a job moving some of her stuff after accusing him of stealing a VCR and a large cake pan. He claimed she owed him $300 and left an invoice she did not pay in November [although I've heard up to $2,000--still, not worth a woman's life, and in such a gruesome, painful demise]. And this was the result? So sad. Good that he is now in custody, though.

Sad that such a close-knit community must become wary of their own

Leiby Kletzky Killing Brings Doubt and Unrest to Local Community

Ben Herb, a Borough Park resident tells the New York Times, “Here in the center of Borough Park is where you have to be very careful. Most of your neighbors are Orthodox Jews with which children are comfortable. That, in itself, is a risk.

Parents like Herb feel that now more than ever, they must emphasize to their children how to react to an unfamiliar person regardless of their racial or religious background.

“My children don’t talk to strangers whether they wear a yarmulke or a do-rag,” Herb said.

In case you had not heard, 8-year old Leiby Kletzky, who had become lost coming back from a day camp, was caught on video getting into the car of Levy Aron, who later confessed to his killing after the boy's dismembered body was found in his freezer and in a dumped suitcase some miles away.

So sad. This child's life was ended in a most horrific way. Children are so easy to trust, so innocent, although in general less so in New York. But this was one of their own, and someone within the community, no drifter or such. I think those are the hardest predators to guard against, because they blend in better, no matter the community itself.

Wow

Man plunges 39 stories from NYC skyscraper — and lives: 'That's a miracle if I've ever seen one. He should be a goner,' witness says

A New York City man who plunged 39 stories from the rooftop of an apartment building has survived after crashing onto a parked car.

Witnesses and police said 22-year-old Thomas Magill jumped from the high-rise at West 63rd Street on Tuesday and landed in the backseat area of a Dodge Charger.

He broke both his legs and police said he was in critical condition.

The car's owner, Guy McCormack, of Old Bridge, N.J., told the New York Daily News he was convinced that rosary beads he kept inside the Dodge saved Magill's life. "Here's what saved him!" McCormack said as he took them from the car.

Brandon pointed me to this one

Ground Zero Mosque: Digging a Hole in the Soul of America

It is not insensitive to put a cultural center of any sort, that has a place of worship, anywhere in our city. This is what makes our country and our city great. As a nation that was founded by men and women who were being persecuted for their particular faith, we should know that the best path to finding freedom is finding freedom for others. We were formed as a pluralistic society and this means we welcome all religions. Islam did not attack the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, sick and twisted men did, who not only hijacked four airplanes but also hijacked a religion. Let us not stereotype the over one billion Muslims around the world because of the evil acts of a few. A decision like this one, to support or not support the construction of this center, defines who we are as a nation. It's at the essence of our values, our freedom of expression, freedom of religion and religious tolerance.

What he said...

I can't believe this is even a debate. Oh, wait, yeah, I forget, there are lots of paranoid yahoos out there.

Sigh.

In related news...

New York's Mayor Suggests To a Reporter That He Visit the Library (to read the Bill of Rights, that is). Birdie of LISNews.org included a great comment on the story in the New York Times City Blog: "As someone who lives and works in lower Manhattan, I’ve noticed that one’s hysteria over Park51 seems to be inversely proportional to one’s proximity to it."

:)

Remembering the Irish Potato Famine that drove so many out into the rest of the world

It's in Lower Manhattan and has been built with plants native to and building materials from Ireland. It's quite tranquil and lovely, especially considering it is built inside a major city. Thanks to Bill Hart for the link.

'Full-time libraries aren't as flashy as new baseball stadiums, but they leave the people of our city a whole lot richer'

Finally, High Bridge Public Library turns page on future

The residents of Highbridge, an isolated and forgotten hilltop neighborhood behind the new Yankee Stadium, finally have something to cheer more important than an Alex Rodriguez home run.

"We're getting our library back," Aida Davis, a 69-year-old great-grandmother, said, smiling.

Thanks, Steven.

A sad situation all around

Remember the TASER case in which a man plummeted to his death after being shocked on a ledge in New York City? Here is a follow-up.

The lieutenant who ordered the stun gun fired, a 21-year police veteran, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot today. It would have been his 46th birthday.

We all make bad decisions. The police are in a situation where that decision could turn deadly. I have to admit, my first reaction was how could anyone have ordered it. But he may have thought that the inflatable mat they'd ordered had already arrived, and it was just a 10-foot drop, so that would have absorbed the impact. I don't know the circumstances, really. I do know I have enough trouble with making minor decisions that I couldn't really be a policewoman or nurse or doctor or military person--or anyone who makes life and death decisions everyday. It's one of the reasons I'm a librarian. At worst, a book might suffer, or there is some sort of customer service fallout. No one dies because a librarian makes the wrong decision in carrying out his or her duty, unless it's some spectacular thing like a hostage situation or whatever. And I have great respect for people who do have to make those decisions every day.

Some decisions, I guess, you just can't live with. I don't know if it was the cost of another life or the potential of losing his career, or both, but Lt Michael Piggot made another decision, one that cost him his life, and my thoughts are with his family, friends, and fellow officers today, on what was his birthday.

To paraphrase YKWIA:

Why can't these people just shoot themselves and get it over with rather than mowing down countless others first?

Gunman kills 5 and then himself at Illinois college

The gunman, a former sociology graduate student, killed five and injured 18 (4 critically), before turning a gun on himself. He stepped out onto the stage of one of those big lecture halls and started shooting. He had a shotgun, two handguns, and plenty of ammunitition, doing a lot of damage in what amounted to a very short time. It was one of those introductory classes, so most of the students were probably freshmen and sophomores. And it wasn't a sociology class or teacher, either.

I just don't get that mentality, which is good, because usually if you can understand the crazies really well, it indicates you're crazy, too.

Speaking of crazy, there's the butcher knife hacking/stabbing death of a Manhattan therapist and the slashing of her office mate, with these new details...

Friend Is Questioned for Eight Hours in Killing of Therapist

He's not officially a suspect. I don't know who did this, but whoever did had their own brand of crazy to contend with. And what's with the fuzzy slippers and adult diapers?

Four lives are lost apparently due to the meeting of mental instability and a trivial trigger

An Ex-Marine Was Shooter of Two Officers

Motive unknown in New York City shooting rampage

David Garvin shot a Greenwich Village pizzeria employee, Alfredo Romero Morales, in the back fifteen times, then shot two police auxiliary officers--Yevgeniy Marshalik and Nicholas Pekearo, who were unarmed volunteers on patrol--before being gunned down by the regular police. Authorities believe that he plotted revenge for a friend's firing from the pizzeria. An ex-Marine less than honourably discharged from the service, Garvin had, according to a family member, displayed paranoid ideation over the last few years. He had nearly 100 rounds of ammunition on him. Scary.

The two officers who were killed will be given full police honours although technically it is not required for the auxiliaries. Also, there have been calls for changes that could make things safer for the auxiliary police force, such as uniforms that are markedly different from the regular police.

What a waste, and a shame, because it really looks like mental illness was involved.