Category — Newark, New Jersey

Last week the city revealed that it believed the majority of licensed taxi drivers have been involved in a scheme to overcharge passengers. More than 35,000 drivers were accused of charging in-town p….

Gov. David Paterson’s press secretary Marissa Shorenstein is resigning, making her the fifth top staffer to resign amid ethical controversies that threaten the administration. In a statement, Shoren….

It’s St Patrick’s Day, and in New York City, that means a parade, with participants decked out in kilts, and some in green body paint. The Ancient Order of Hibernians runs the nation’s biggest Irish….

Food aid for poor people with pets. Guest: WNYC’s Cindy Rodriguez. You can donate food at the Animal Relief Fund or at the Food Bank for New York City. More on this story here. ….

Hiram Monserrate, who was expelled from the state senate, has lost his bid to get his seat back. He lost to Democratic Assemblyman Jose Peralta in a special election in Queens last night. WNYC’s Ail….

Bloomberg is Irish today. Bloomberg’s cameramen travel well. Paterson and Gillibrand divorce. Tish James sues. City Hall is getting $150,000 worth of repairs. Paterson delays tax refunds. Silver doesn’t like that. Levy: “No other candidate in this race can match my record as a fiscal conservative.” Jay Schneiderman eyes Tim Bishop’s seat. Levy says  he’s a moderate on everything, like gay …

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John Edwards’ aide Andrew Young signs with Ari Emanuel. [LAT] Google TV is coming. [NYT] The Apprentice is coming back. [Variety] Roger Ailes doesn’t like people shooting at Glenn Beck from within “the tent.” [Newser via Media Matters] Republicans are still pressing their probe of tickler Eric Massa. [Politico] ABC is very close to signing Christiane Amanpour for This Week ; could happen …

Now, the Miami Times and the Associated Press have stories about how Gerald Posner plagiarized parts of one of his books from another book. Mr. Posner, if you can believe it, is going with this excuse once again: Posner said he scanned many documents and books he used for “Babylon,” including from “Clubland,” into a computer database instead of working with the documents all in front of him, as …

This morning David Paterson implied that Kirsten Gillibrand had thrown him under the bus when she said he should resign if the allegations against him are proven true. Matt Canter, a spokesman for Ms. Gillibrand, just emailed to reiterate the if portion of those remarks, and said she’s “hopeful” Mr. Paterson–who appointed her to the Senate–will be cleared in the two-fold ethics investigations …

Now that Jose Peralta is moving the State Senate, his Assembly seat will be up for grabs, which, notably and not really surpisingly, Hiram Monserrate has made noise about running for. Can Monserrate win Peralta’s seat? A breakdown from yesterday’s election seems to suggest not. The Senate district that resoundingly rejected Monserrate yesterday is made up of primarily three Assembly districts …

Yahoo! executives announced today that they have purchased Citizen Sports, a San Francisco based company that specializes in social networking and mobile applications for sports fans (judging by the company’s Web site, even if those fans happen to love….arena football!). From the press release: “Yahoo! is in a unique position to combine our deep expertise in content and aggregation technology …

George Lois, the legendary and former Esquire art director, is not a big fan of Esquire ’s covers today. “They’re just as bad as everybody else’s,” he told the Observer ’s Irina Aleksander this week. “They all believe in showing the most famous actor and that’s incredibly stupid. You go to the newsstand and all the magazines have headshots with ten or twelve blurbs all over it. It’s a cacophony …

The Association of the Bar of New York City doesn’t seem to think all that highly of the current process by which landlords cut formal, non-standardized deals with community groups—known as Community Benefits Agreements—to win approvals for planned developments. CBAs proliferated in recent years, particularly in the late real estate boom, as community groups and elected officials rushed to try …

Republicans are ratcheting up their unhappines about state Republican Party chairman Ed Cox over his refusal to get squarely behind G.O.P. gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio in favor of flirting with Democratic candidate Steve Levy. Maggie Haberman gets wind of R.N.C. displeasure, and Liz Benjamin got her hands on an angry letter from an unhappy upstate county chairman, and G.O.P. City …

It’s that time of the year again, (post football, pre NCAA basketball tournament, pre baseball) when the only competition New York TV watchers can agree on is… American Idol . During the week of March 8, Fox and CBS dominated the local ratings. At the same time, NBC failed to crack the top ten. And ABC barely made it, just managing to grab onto the final position. All hail the Idol .     (1 …

Chinese premier Wen Jiabao warned on Sunday of the potential for a double dip in the global economy. Given Mr. Wen’s position at the helm of the world’s fastest-growing economy, his concerns about the course of the recovery warrant serious attention. In his once-yearly press conference-which follows the adjournment of the National People’s Congress-the premier was stalwart in his defense of …

The last flack standing for David Paterson is, well, no longer standing for Mr. Paterson. Marissa Shorenstein, the governor’s top spokeswoman, resigned this afternoon, citing “circumstances that have led to my unwitting involvement in recent news stories.” Ms. Shorenstein was reportedly asked by the governor to call a woman who had broken up with one of his aides–who, she later learned, had …

Kent Swig, the New York developer whose fortunes this recession have dropped as fast as a boulder off a cliff, plans to rescue his flailing operation—and his creditors, to whom he owes about $50 million—by taking his company public, according to Crain’s New York Business : The idea is to pool some of Mr. Swig’s properties into a [real estate investment trust], distribute shares to creditors and …

How does 20 over-sized windows sound? And six bedrooms? And enough space to have an office that doesn’t appear to be used much? Check out this condo in the heart of hipper…

It was a busy lunch hour at East Side Social Club on Thursday, March 11: One banquet-size table was booked by actress Fran Drescher, there with her Cancer Schmancer foundation; another seated socialites Gigi Mortimer and Courtney Moss, celebrating the recent launch of Glamourpuss NYC, their new line of stretchy, fur neck warmers. Alas, the Transom can report no smackdowns. Glamourpuss guest Tory …

Sure, Vanity Fair slapped Michael Douglas on the cover of its April issue. Sure, the cover line may shout out that Mr. Douglas is returning into the role of Gordon Gekko. But the fact that Wall Street 2 is now being delayed to September? Graydon Carter is just fine with it, according to his spokeswoman, who spoke to Keith Kelly today. “We found out about the delay after the issue was already out …

Blue & Cream, the hip downtown boutique with locations in the Hamptons, has a couple of new t-shirts on sale. There is one showing a skull and hockey sticks instead of bones with the name “Avery” (as in Sean) printed along with his Rangers jersey number 16. Another has Mr. Avery’s visage printed in a “Wanted” poster with details like Resides: NYC; Height: 5′10; Weight: 195 lbs; Fights: Yes. His …

The New York Times has a front-page story today, written by Steve Lohr, about the myriad threats to privacy in the digital age. Included in the article is an anecdote about a M.I.T. class project in which two researchers analyzed some 4,000 Facebook profiles of students, “including links to friends who said they were gay.” According to The Times , the pair was capable of predicting “whether a …

The Park Avenue Armory’s sizable main hall was filled to the beams with Francorati on Saturday, March 13, when the Lycée Français de New York held its 11th annual fund-raising gala, honoring French finance minister Christine Lagarde-effortlessly elegant in a royal purple gown that matched the tablecloths. Actress Kelly Rutherford, whose daughter attends the Lycée, had just finished filming the …

Jose Peralta won a State Senate seat with 65.41 percent, Hiram Monserrate had 27.34 percent, and the G.O.P. guy trailed at 7.25 percent. Vito Fossella learned his lesson. Sharpton, an Obama ally and D.N.C. tool. “Democratic National Committee Chairman Timothy Kaine conferred with Mr. Sharpton this month on sending him to black churches and neighborhoods in politically important states to …

The night before the opening of Geoffrey Nauftts’ new play Next Fall , which premiered at the Helen Hayes Theatre on Wednesday, March 10, the cast gathered at a party hosted at the Royalton by Sir Elton John-who is, along with his partner, David Furnish, among the show’s executive producers. Sir Elton held court at a table in the back of the restaurant, with a huge cheese platter placed…

Secretary of the Treasury and Vogue star Timothy Geithner continued his charm offensive last night in a relatively long sit-down with Rachel Maddow. Mr. Geithner talked a lot about the “innocent victims” of the crisis, how he felt a deep “personal responsibility and obligation” to prevent another crisis, said bonuses made for a “crazy way to run a financial system,” and made it a point to …

Heavy rains and general transportation problems on Saturday, March 13, were not about to stop the annual GLAAD Media Awards on the seventh floor of the Marriott Marquis hotel. Hosted by a bubbly Alan Cumming, recently cast as Gutsy in the upcoming Smurfs film, the awards were honoring actress Cynthia Nixon and View host Joy Behar. “Barbara Walters would have been here tonight,” quipped…

No, he wasn’t wearing a black mock turtleneck, but yes, that was Steve Jobs in a tuxedo walking the red carpet at the Oscars. It was Mr. Jobs who claimed some kudos for Up , which won two gold statues, and who also marked the night by airing the first TV spot for the iPad, the latest offering from his Apple Inc. Mr. Jobs’ presence attracted an unusual amount of chatter for such a jaded crowd….