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Police investigate after a Target shopping cart pushed off a ledge by a group of teens in East Harlem allegedly plummeted four stories and landed on a woman’s head.
A woman was clinging to life Sunday after a shopping cart — pushed off a ledge by a group of teens in East Harlem — plummeted four stories and landed on her head, cops and witnesses said.
The 47-year-old woman was with a young boy when the red cart dropped from a walkway that connects a Target store to a parking lot near E. 116th St. and Pleasant Ave. about 5:45 p.m., cops and witnesses said.
Moments before, Carlos Vargas, 35, said he spotted the young hooligans pushing the cart near the fourth-level parking lot.
“Their friend was trying to stop it, saying, ‘Don’t do it!’ ” Vargas recalled. “But they didn’t care.”
“Whatever happens, happens,” Vargas said one of the teens responded before they launched the cart from the overhead walkway.
The cart bounced off a sign before landing on the unidentified woman below, witnesses said.
“Her son, a young boy about 10 years old, was on top of her crying,” Vargas said. “It was bone-chilling to see that.”
“It hit her in the head. She just collapsed,” said Orlando Campos, 30, who ran to help the woman as blood pooled around her head. “She wasn’t moving at all.”
Emergency workers responded within minutes and rushed the woman to Harlem Hospital, where she was in critical condition last night.
Police were reviewing surveillance footage to try to identify the suspects. No arrests were immediately made.
NEW YORK — The sexual-assault case against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is set to take a dramatic U-turn on Friday as prosecutors have come to question the credibility of the accuser. As a result, the bail and house arrest restrictions imposed on the French politician may be eased following a court hearing scheduled for Friday.
The alleged victim, a 32-year-old hotel maid from Guinea, was said to have lied repeatedly, according to a report in the New York Times on Thursday.
Benjamin Brafman, a lawyer for Dominique Strauss-Kahn, said: “There will be serious issues raised by the district attorney’s office and us concerning the credibility of the complaining witness”.
Prosecutors are reportedly expected to bring a number of revelations about the accusing maid’s past into light on Friday, including an alleged gang rape in her home country which she later admitted she made up, and an association with a man convicted of drug charges which has been recorded in a taped telephone call.
Brafman is likely to ask the judge during Friday’s hearing to end Strauss-Kahn’s house arrest and electronic monitoring in the light of the diminished credibility of the accuser.
Prosecutors, however, are not expected to ask for a dismissal of the charges against Strauss-Kahn, who faces a seven-count indictment at this stage.
Strauss-Kahn has been under armed guard in a Manhattan townhouse after posting a total of $6 million in cash bail and bond.
I can’t stop crying. We did it kids.” – Lady Gaga, on Twitter.
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“happy gays r here again !!!!!” – Rosie O’Donnell, on Twitter.
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“I have never been prouder to be a lifelong New Yorker than I am today with the passage of marriage equality.” – Cyndi Lauper, in a statement.
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“Time to celebrate!!! Marriage Equality for NYers! Its about… love!” – Ricky Martin, on Twitter.
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“It PASSED! Marriage equality in NY!! Yes!! Progress!! Thank you everyone who worked so hard on this!! A historic night!” – Neil Patrick Harris, on Twitter.
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“I’m thrilled about the news from NY. Marriage equality! Every day we get a little closer. What an amazing feeling.” – Ellen DeGeneres, on Twitter.
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“tonight we’re all New Yorkers! Straight & gay alike, let’s all celebrate marriage (hash)equality. The right side of history!” – Kathy Griffin, on Twitter.
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“Happy that New York passed marriage equality tonight. A victory for human rights. Progress.” – John Legend, on Twitter.
“congratulations!!!!!!!!! About time!” – Pink, on Twitter.
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“Alec! Now we can get married!” – Steve Martin to Alec Baldwin, on Twitter.
“Ok. But if you play that … banjo after eleven o’clock…” – Baldwin’s response.
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“I sing it every night, but now it has better meaning: `New York- concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there’s nothing you can’t do.’ 
As if I didn’t already have enough to celebrate and enjoy today. A big hug for New York from my lone hotel room in London.” – Darren Criss, on Twitter.
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“Way to go, New York. One people. One planet. One love.” – Alyssa Milano, on Twitter.
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“Proud to be FROM NY! – Lindsay Lohan, on Twitter.
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“Yay for Gay Marriage! NY, it’s about time…jersey we’re next! How you doin?” – Wendy Williams, on Twitter.
Parents always blame the sugar in junk food for making kids bounce off the walls, but could it actually be the color that’s to blame?
NPR reports that the Food and Drug Administration is meeting this week to examine whether artificial food dyes made from petroleum and used to enhance the color of processed foods might cause hyperactivity in children.
The use of food dyes has gone up fivefold over the past 50 years, and because of the suspected links to hyperactivity, some experts have called on the FDA to ban foods containing them — or at least require a warning label. They’re in everything from candy and popsicles to pudding, pickles, peas and mustard.
“Food dyes are added simply for their color to make foods fun. They serve no health purpose whatsoever,” says Michael Jacobson, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Jacobson says that there is substantial evidence showing that food dyes trigger hyperactivity in kids, and the CSPI thinks the FDA should ban eight of them.
But other experts question that conclusion (for example, Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York, says more studies are needed and that the current studies leave a lot of room for doubt).
Whether a link exists is of special concern to African-American families, one-quarter of whom live in neighborhoods where supermarkets are scarce but there are processed and artificially colored foods in abundance.
Sarah Palin spoke Thursday at the Long Island Association, a business group in New York. The event was notable for the fact that Palin invited the press–something she does rarely. And it was newsworthy in that she gave another sign she might actually run for president: News reports say she hinted with a smile that someone who is good at multitasking (“a woman, a mom”), as well as someone who’s already run for something (“a vice-presidential candidate?”) would be most qualified for the job.
During the event, in which Palin was interviewed by the Long Island Association’s president, she sounded off about presidential things–the deficit, whether or not to raise the nation’s debt ceiling and President Obama’s health-care reform law. And she weighed in on the debate over Obama’s citizenship, reportedly saying it is “distracting. It gets annoying. Let’s stick to what really matters.”
But if that’s what she really wants people to do, why did she crack a joke about Michelle Obama’s campaign to make it easier for women to breastfeed? When the conversation turned to the escalating price of gas and groceries, Palin reportedly said, “It’s no wonder Michelle Obama is telling everybody you better breastfeed your baby–yeah, you better–because the price of milk is so high right now!”
It may have just been an attempt to draw a laugh from the crowd over issues–childhood obesity and the medically proven benefits of breastfeeding–that are no laughing matter. But even though she followed up by saying “and may that not be the takeaway, please, of this speech,” it has become one of them. Headlines saying that Palin was mocking Michelle Obama’s attempt to make it easier for women to breastfeed have lead stories following the speech.
Who knows whether or not Palin will run for the nation’s highest office. But if she does, comments like this one do little to make her sound presidential. For one, even if it was a joke, Palin was making light of something that has to do with the future of this country–the health and well-being of its children. And even if Palin spent most of the talk discussing deficits, health-care reform and foreign affairs, it’s unnecessary side comments like these that will–whether she likes it or not–lead the news.
According to court documents, the Gambino and Genovese families have engaged in a multidecade conspiracy to influence and control the unions and businesses that work on the New York-area piers. According to court documents, Stephen Depiro managed the Genovese family’s illegal activities on the New Jersey piers, including the Genovese family’s long-standing conspiracy to extort ILA members each year during the Christmas period, when the longshoremen annually receive a portion of royalty payments paid by shipping companies using the ports of New York and New Jersey. Depiro and others allegedly conspired with his cousin, Nunzio LaGrasso, an associate of the Genovese family and the vice-president of ILA Local 1478 in Newark, to extort ILA members each year.
In Manhattan, 26 defendants, primarily from the Gambino family, have been charged in two indictments that include charges related to racketeering conspiracy, murder, narcotics trafficking, extortion, assault, arson, loansharking, illegal gambling, mail and wire fraud, and stolen property crimes.
Among the defendants charged are Joseph Corrozo, 69, who has served at times as the Gambino family consigliere; Bartolomeo Vernace, 61, a member of the Gambino family administration, who is also charged in Brooklyn; Gambino family captains Alphonse Trucchio, 34, and Louis Mastrangelo, 66; and Gambino soldiers Michael Roccaforte, 34,Anthony Moscatiello, 40, and Vincenzo Frogiero, 43.
According to court documents filed in the Manhattan cases, the criminal conductallegedly occurred for more than two decades, from the late 1980s to about 2010. Gambino associate Todd LaBarca, 39, is charged with the 2001 conspiracy to murder and murder of Gambino family associate Marty Bosshart. According to the indictment, Bosshart was murdered on Jan. 2, 2002, with a single gunshot to the back of his head, and his body was left on the side of the road in Queens. According to court documents, a cooperating witness consensually recorded more than 100 conversations with other members and associates of the Gambino family, including conversations with LaBarca about the murder. In addition, according to court documents, the cocaine and marijuana trafficking involved multiple thousands of kilograms of the illegal drugs.
Finally, an indictment unsealed in Providence charges two defendants – longtime boss of the New England
LCN Luigi Manocchio, 83, and LCN associate Thomas Iafrate, 61, – with extortion and extortion conspiracy. The extortion conspiracy allegedly spans almost two decades of illegal activity and involves the extortion of local pornographic bookstores and nightclubs, including the Satin Doll and the Cadillac Lounge, both in Providence.
In what U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder hailed as the FBI’s “largest single day operation” against organized crime, more than 800 state, local and federal authorities charged 127 individuals with mob-related crimes in four districts in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
More than 110 of the 127 charged defendants have been arrested, and will appear in federal court in the districts in which they are charged. The charges relate to a wide range of alleged illegal activity, including murder, murder conspiracy, loansharking, arson, narcotics trafficking, extortion, robbery, illegal gambling and labor racketeering, in some cases occurring over decades.
You pleasure diva or guy you, lol lol. All right let’s get serious, you are just so cute Scorpio. Planned to spend the holidays away from home. Could be a pleasure trip or visiting relatives. Money will be coming in and going out, but your savings will be intact so not to worry. There will be awards, and honors coming your way prior to December 31st. Smile and say thank you, why – because you deserve them all! To bad other folks don’t see or care to understand hard work does pay off, and you definitely have put your time in this year. You will be saddened about a close friend moving away, and it kinda abruptly, had no choice.
Get all your holiday shopping done prior to December 1st, because we will be entering Mercury Retrograde and no one like to see that Scorpion sting out – feel me. There will be a fund raiser coming up for the holidays and you will do an outstanding job, just one of your many awards and rewards. Holla!
This suicide will set a precedent in Internet and/or technology use law for some time to come. The young man that killed himself, allegedly jumped from the George Washington bridge because a night he had with another young man was streamed on the Internet thanks to a webcam his roommate set up.
According to the NY Times, the Rutgers freshman, Tyler Clementi, 18, left a note on his Facebook page the day he committed suicide saying, “Jumping off the gw bridge sorry.” His page has been kept up as a memorial. The incident even occurred just as Rutgers was launching their “Project Civility” campaign, replete with workshops and other events.
The roommate, Dharun Ravi, 18, of Plainsboro, N.J., and his accomplice who is also a student at Rutgers, Molly Wei, 18, of Princeton Junction, N.J., have been charged with two counts of invasion of privacy for using “the camera to view and transmit a live image. ” The maximum sentence for this crime is five years. Ravi was charged with two additional counts of invasion of privacy because this was the second live feed he tried. The other was the day before Clementi jumped, Sept. 21.
What do you think? Should the law be amended to increase the time for those who have been internet bullying, and using their camera pics and other devices for bad? This man’s family was embarrassed along with the memory of him. If he was gay, he wasn’t out of the closet and this is how he will be remembered. Can you think of something more awful? The memory of him has been tarnished forever…long after his death.
Terry McMillan’s long awaited sequel to Waiting To Exhale is called Getting To Happy, and it arrives in bookstores September 7th. McMillan is coming to town on Wednesday, September 8th. She is doing a booksigning that night at the Free Library of Philadelphia, 19th and Vine Streets.
Vanessa Williams is geared up for the new season of Desperate Housewives. Williams is joining the cast along with Actor Reggie Austin, who plays her basketball player husband. The new season kicks off September 26th. Williams looks amazing in the promos.
Eric Benet’s new album, Lost In Time, arrives in stores in November. The first single is Sometimes I Cry. The album features Faith Evans, Chrisette Michele, Ledisi and Eddie Levert.
Now speaking of Whoopi, she has a new book coming out called Is It Just Me. In the book, Goldberg says what’s on her mind. Goldberg even talks about style saying she loves being comfortable. The book comes out in October. Goldberg recently had to leave the London production of Sister Act to care for her mom who had a stroke.
Despite a little confusion, the number one movie for the past week was Takers. Idris Elba, T.I., Matt Dillion, Paul Walker, Michael Ealy and Chris Brown stormed the box office taking in almost $21 million. I hear there will be a Takers sequel. Takers Co-star Idris Elba is going to be the Honorary Chairperson along with Jimmy Rollins at this year’s Philly’s Men
The offer will start next summer and is part of an initiative the Federal Communications Commission cobbled together to get more U.S. homes connected to broadband.
One third, or about 35 million homes, don’t have broadband. That affects people’s ability to educate themselves and find and apply for jobs, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said.
“The broadband adoption gap in the U.S. is very large, and the costs of digital exclusion are high and getting higher,” Genachowski said.
The initiative, called Connect-to-Compete, also includes Microsoft Corp., which pledges to sell PCs with its Office software suite for $250 to low-income families. A firm called Redemtech is offering to sell refurbished computers for $150, including shipping.
For those who can’t afford those prices, Morgan Stanley is pledging to develop a microfinance lending program for community-based financial institutions.
People are still signing up for broadband, but growth has slowed in recent years. For those who still haven’t signed up, cost is a minor factor. Most say they’re simply not interested or don’t need it, according to a report by the Commerce Department based on Census Bureau data from last year.
To help address the lack of interest and computer skills, Best Buy Co., Microsoft and nonprofits such as America’s Promise Alliance and United Way are promising to support the initiative with training.
All major cable companies are standing behind the $9.95 offer, which will be valid for two years. The price doesn’t include taxes, but the companies are pledging to charge nothing for installation or modem rental.
The minimum download speed will be 1 megabit per second, less than one tenth of average cable speeds. Brian Dietz, a spokesman for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, said it will be up to the individual cable companies to decide what speeds they provide.
The NCTA estimates that about 5.5 million homes that don’t have broadband will be eligible for the offer. According to the Commerce Department study, 78 percent of households with school-age children already have broadband, making them far more likely to be connected than the average household.
The big broadband gap is between younger and older households: Only 45 percent of people older than 64 have broadband. Black and Hispanic households were less likely to have broadband, even when adjusting for income, according to the study.
Comcast Corp., the largest cable company and the country’s largest Internet service provider, is already offering broadband to $9.95 to low-income families, with a 1.5 megabit per second download speed. It offered to do that to get regulators to approve its acquisition of NBC Universal approved.
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