Bronx +Suspicious Package Explosion+

Bronx +Suspicious Package Explosion+ ESU was staging and Bomb Squad was enroute to the scene of a suspicious package at 181st Street and the Grand Concourse when the package exploded.

New York - Upstate Fire Departments Getting More Than $1 Million In Aid

New York - Several upstate New York fire departments will split more than $1 million dollars in federal grants, with Loch Sheldrake Fire District in Sullivan County getting nearly 264-thousand dollars of it.

The comes from the U.S. Department Homeland Security and from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, which helps firefighters and other first responders with equipment purchases and training.

Williamsburg +Bank Robbery+

Williamsburg +Bank Robbery+ 225 Havermeyer Straat bank robbery at the Chase Bank, PD calling for a level one mobilization, ECT requested, 90th PCT and Shomrim Williamsburg are doing a search.

Williamsburg +Marcy Ave Shut Down+

Williamsburg +Marcy Ave Shut Down+ Due to a 2nd alarm fire at 168th Marcy Avenue, FD Division 11 has shut down Marcy to Broadway and South 5th Street, fire is on the 2nd floor of a 4 stort 40x40 OMD.
Fire is DWH.

Queens Clearview Expressway Jumper Down Traffic Alert+

Queens Clearview Expressway Traffic Alert+ A major accident on the Clearview Expressway and 35th Avenue with a garbage truck vs a auto with one aided ejected and PD confirming that victim is likely or either is DOA, aided still on the scene, Highway Units for the A.I. Job, Squad also to respond, both directions of the Clearview Expressway is closed at this time.

U/D: 12:20
PD reporting this was a jumper off of the overpass and into oncoming traffic and was hit by a garbage truck, aided is in traumatic arrest and C.P.R. Is in progress.

Queens +Clearview Expw Traffic Alert+

Queens +Clearview Expw Traffic Alert+ Working car fire on the Clearview Expressway and the L.I.E., FD and ESU ariving now, all lanes subject to closure.

Williamsburg Land Battle Ruling; City Can't Condemn Waterfront Site

Williamsburg - A judge has ruled that the city cannot condemn land on the waterfront at Kent Avenue and North 12th Street in Williamsburg where TransGas Energy wants to build a power plant - and where the city wants to put a park.

The project sited on the property is for an electrical and steam plant, across the East River from Con Edison's 14th St. power plant.

The proximity would allow TransGas to send steam to Con Ed in case of a devastating winter power outage.

The state Board on Electric Generation Siting has considered the $2 billion project on the site since 2002, but the city initiated legal action last summer seeking to take over the site.

The 8-acre plot is part of a sweeping residential rezoning of the area adopted by the City Council in May.

The power plant is opposed by Brooklyn activists, City Hall and local leaders, who yesterday blasted Gov. Pataki for not killing the project. City Councilman David Yassky said, "the person with the silver bullet who can kill it is Pataki, and has refused to fire that shot."

Monticello - Feds Continue Review For Casino At Raceway

Monticello - Federal officials say they need another month to decide if plans for an Indian-run casino at the Monticello Raceway can move forward.

Northwestern NJ +Road Closures+

Northwestern NJ +Road Closures+ Due to icing conditions numerous accidents have occurred including one with a police officer that got hit by a vehicle on Route 202 near Route 80. Police Departments from the areas are closing down Route 80, Route 46 and several secondary roads in northwestern NJ.

Verezano Bridge +Shut Down+

Verezano Bridge +Shut Down+ The lower level of the Verezano Bridge Brooklyn bound by the Belt Parkway has been shut doun due to an MVA with an overturn vehicle, units responding to come in wrong way from Nrooklyn, minor injuries.

Lakewood +2nd Alarm Fire+

Lakewood +2nd Alarm Fire+ A large fire in Lakewood, NJ at Kosher World on Route 9 and E Kenedy Avenue.

NYC - End Of Strike Is Here

NYC - End Of Strike Is Here, The TWU has announced they are still in negotiation and no deal has been reached, but that they will end the strike and go back to work, so buses and trains will run again.

Woodbury - Development Master Plan Proposed With Battle

Woodbury - One side argues that building multi-family housing will be a environmental disaster, destroying views and rural charm while threatening groundwater quality.
The other side contends that efforts to control development in the area would discriminate against Chasidic Jews and contradict the town's own stated desire for more affordable housing.

The two arguments stem from Woodbury's proposed master plan, which is providing a sort of dress rehearsal for a likely battle between the town and neighboring Kiryas Yoel for control of stretches of undeveloped land in Woodbury.

The plan itself prominently discusses the prospect of Kiryas Yoel expanding and sketches several reasons Woodbury would oppose the spread of housing as dense as 20 condominiums per acre.

This week, a Nyack attorney who represents Kiryas Joel property owners, filed objections calling both the master plan and a related open-space plan "discriminatory and exclusionary." "The Town of Woodbury is trying to simply keep Kiryas Joel-type housing and residents literally out of sight," he wrote.

The arguments offer a glimpse of what the lawyers will be saying if and when Kiryas Joel and Woodbury wage a court battle for control of hundreds of acres of Hasidic-owned land in Woodbury, including ACE Farm.

New York City - Union Leaders Agree To Take Steps To Return To Work

New York City - Transit workers will take steps to restore service to New York's buses and subways while the union and transit authority resume negotiaitons after a three-day strike, and pending an OK from the TWU executive boarda. State mediator announced this morning.

New York City - Transit Strike Enters Day 3, The Union Feels The Heat

New York - Its the third day of the transit strike, and TWU President Roger Toussaint and MTA Chief Negotiator Gary Dellaverson both went to the Grand Hyatt in midtown Manhattan in middle of the night, but MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow is not.
There has certainly been an uptick of activity at the hotel overnight, the parties may have talked or may be talking.
Meanwhile, there is still no subway or bus service in New York City.

Queens +J.F.K. Aircraft Alert+

Queens +J.F.K. Aircraft Alert+ American Airlines flight 757 has a overweight landing problem 120 people on board and 5400.00 lbs of fuel, crash truck requested by pilot to be on standby, ETA 7 min.

U/D: 18:52
Plane has landed without an incident.

Manhattan +Heavy Traffic+

Manhattan +Heavy Traffic+ Heavy traffic through out the island of Manhattan, north and southbound of the F.D.R. Drive and the West Side Highway are backed up very heavy, also all streets going southbound, 2nd Lex, and 5th Avenues are backed up all the way to the 70's.

Borough Park +Armed Robbery+

Borough Park +Armed Robbery+ A male black and gray pants in his 20's armed with a gun has just robbed someone on 60th Street and 18th Avenue, NYPD from the 66th PCT and Shomrim units are doing the search.

New York - Pirro To Leave Senate Race

New York - Jeanine Pirro has decided to halt her struggling campaign for the Republican nomination to challenge Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2006 re-election bid and will run instead for state attorney general.

Brooklyn +Gowans Expy Traffic Alert+

Brooklyn +Gowans Expy Traffic Alert+ FD on the scene on the eastbound of the Gowans Expressway at the entrance to the tunnel with a bus leaking fuel on the roadway, delays through out the area.

Bronx +Jumper Up Triborough Bridge+

Bronx +Jumper Up Triborough Bridge+ ESU has in custody a possible jumper, he was up on the Tri-Borough Bridge, Aviation above and PAPD are there, causing heavy traffic problems.

Brooklyn +Pedestrian Struck+

Brooklyn +Pedestrian Struck+ Motor Vehicle accident with a pedestrian that was struck at 62nd Street and New Utrecht Avenue, Hatzolah on the scene.

NYC Enters Second Day of Transit Strike

U/D: 13:47
Justice Theodore T. Jones has found two striking transit unions in criminal contempt and ordered them to pay fines and their leaders to appear at a contempt hearing for the walkout that has left millions of commuters stranded.

Boston +Plane With Landing Problem+

Boston, MA - +Plane With Landing Problem+ A Midwest Flight has returned and is currently circling Logan Airport and has declaring an emergency, and
reporting problems with the landing gear problems.

U/D: 21:59
Plane has landed safely.

New Orleans - Volunteers Clear Out Synagogue

New Orleans - College students start cleaning up the Beth Israel Synagogue, since Hurricane Katrina flooded it with more than 10 feet of water three months ago, and is the only New Orleans synagogue that was completely destroyed during Hurricane Katrina.
The dozen or so students were among roughly 50 from across the country who have come to New Orleans to spend their winter break helping with recovery efforts at the century-old synagogue, that was left damaged by the storm.

The students, wearing face masks and gloves, hauled out to the synagogue's front lawn holy items as books, shofars and furniture

The items were sorted by what would be buried in Jewish burial grounds in another part of the city and what would be thrown out.

A dozen Jewish communities are donating more than 500 menorahs and dreidels to families who have lost theirs in the storm.

Brooklyn +Bank Robbery+

Brooklyn +Bank Robbery+ PD are calling for a level one mobilization for a bank robbery at the Washington Mutual Bank at 1101 Avenue J and Coney Island Avenue, they are looking for a M/B dressed in all black that past a note, Aviation is enroute to assist.

New York - Upper Level Transit Union Split Over Strike

New York - The international arm of the Transport Workers Union is stunned and angry that its Local 100, representing New York subway and bus workers, turned down a contract offer from management and ordered its members to walk off their jobs.
And they are considering taking over the local and seeking a settlement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, because they think the MTA's latest offer is fair and worthy of further consideration and negotiation.

Germany - Ex-Nazi Acquitted In 1945 Massacres

MUNICH, Germany - A former Nazi commander was acquitted of murder in three 1945 massacres in Slovakia after a court said Monday that there was no reliable evidence he was involved in the killings.
Ladislav Niznansky, 88, sat stone-faced as his acquittal on 164 counts of murder was announced in the Munich state court.

The charges against him were filed in connection with the slaying of 146 men, women and children in two Slovak villages and the later killing of 18 Jewish civilians after a failed uprising against Slovakia's Nazi puppet government.

Presiding Judge Manfred Goetzl cited contradictory evidence from witnesses as a reason for the acquittal, noting that some of them withdrew testimony given when Niznansky was convicted in absentia by communist Czechoslovakia in 1962.

Manhattan - Diamond-Grading Bribery Scandal Brewing

Federal prosecutors are gathering information about a bribery scandal at a diamond-grading laboratory in Manhattan that is known as the nation's most trusted evaluator of the quality of precious gems.

The Gemological Institute of America said it reported to federal law enforcement officials that a small community of diamond dealers had been trying to improperly influence employees of its Midtown laboratory, which assigns grades to diamonds for their clarity and color.
The institute replaced the executive who oversaw the lab and fired four employees who worked there, but has declined to say how many dealers were offering bribes or how many diamonds may have been fraudulently rated.

New York City's Transit Union Announces Citywide Strike

The New York City's Transport Workers Union Local 100 President, Roger Touissant has announced that the entire NYC Transit System all 30,000 New York City transit workers are on strike effective immediately, after failing to reach a deal with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority following days of bitter labor talks, shutting down nation's largest public transit system.

All Contingency plans are to take effect.

U/D: 15:56
A judge has imposed a $1 million-a-day fine against the TWU for striking.

Westchester, New Rochelle +Rock Cliff Collapse+

Westchester, New Rochelle +Rock Cliff Collapse+ At 112-116 5th Avenue a major rock cliff collapsed on to a building, Fire Department responding and EMS requested and utilities enroute.

Miami - +Plane Down+

Miami, FL - +Plane Down+ A smal sea plane with 17 sould on board has crashed off the coast of Miami Beach. Divers in the water recoverd six bodier so far.

U/D: 15:49
Three boats and also divers are in the water with at lease 12 people dead so far.

U/D: 16:52
The Coast Guard says that at least 14 people were killed in the plane crash off Miami Beach and that 20 people were on board.

U/D: 17:32
The Coast Guard says now that 19 of 20 people on board the plane that crashed are confirmed dead.

Manhattan +Henry Hudson Pkwy Traffic Advisory+

Manhattan +Henry Hudson Pkwy Traffic Advisory+ A MVA on the noerthbound of the Henry Hudson Parkway and 96th Street with 7-8 vehicles involved has FD closing downs some lanes, and requesting PD and EMS to respond, expect delays.

Williamsburg +Possible Jumper+

Williamsburg +Possible Jumper+ At the Brooklyn bound of the Williamsburg Bridge a jumper was up at the ledge, and was pulled in by workers of the bridge, ESU A-8 on the scene with the EDP in their custody, closing down traffic, EMS enroute to the scene.

Orange County - Affordable Housing Funds Available

The Orange County’s Affordable Housing Production Program has contributed over $10.1 million in US Department of Housing and Urban Development Program funds since 1992, and has now published a request for proposals for Federal HOME program grants and loans to construct or rehabilitate affordable rental and first time homebuyer housing.

The applications may be received from for-profit and not-for-profit developers.

I-D Theft In Rockland County Very High

Rockland County - The number of identity thefts is alarmingly high.

The Rockland County Intelligence Unit say that 361 people have been victims of I-D crimes this year, and Rockland soon may rank as one of the top I-D theft locations in the state.

NY State - Violent Crime On Decline

Albany, NY - New York state's crime rate dropped nearly three percent for the first six months of the year.
The FBI says violent crimes dipped slightly, while there was a 5.3 decline in murder and a 3.3 percent drop in property crime.
Gov. George Pataki says the FBI statistics show that New York is the safest large state in the nation and the sixth safest state overall.

NYC - Limited Transit Strike Begins Against Queens Bus Lines

Two private Queens bus lines serving as many as 50,000 commuters shut down early today, as workers went on strike after contract talks their union held with the city's transit agency again proved futile.

Queens +J.F.K. Airport Suspicious Package+

Queens +J.F.K. Airport Suspicious Package+ At the Jet Blue Terminal, Terminal #5 at J.F.K. Airport, PAPD on the scene with a suspicious package, NYPD ESU and Bomb Squad are enroute to building # 269 as the staging area.

U/D: 22:36
Bomb Squad has cleared the item, it all came from when a passenger was carrying a toy hand grenade in his carry-on bag, the terminal is being reoccupied.

Israel - Ariel Sharon Taken To Hospital

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is taken to hospital in Jerusalem after suffering a minor stroke and lost consciousness while working in his office.

U/D: 13:41
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is awake and conscious but confused, he suffered a minor neurological disorder, and he is undergoing now medical tests.

U/D: 12/19/05 12:32
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Monday in his first broadcasted remarks since suffering a minor stroke a day earlier that he had no plans to quit his position anytime soon. And Doctors say that the Prime Minister is unlikely to have another stroke and could be released from hospital on Tuesday.

Williamsburg - War On Metzitzah B'Peh Starting Again

New York City's Health Department decision to launch a public-information campaign warning people that the circumcision practice of Metzizah B'Peh - at a bris of a newborn boy in the jewish community - is dangerous, has lead to the Chasidic communities affected by this to be very upset.

Williamsburg Rabbi Moshe David Niederman, speaking for the Central Rabbinical Congress, put out a largely conciliatory statement that ends on this note:
"We have serious concerns about the Health Department's insistence on advising mothers of newborn boys concerning a religious practice. We believe that continuing the religious practice of metzitzah b'peh is highly safe. We will work with expectant mothers and fathers in our community to urge them to consult with their rabbis as they approach the blessed event of celebrating a bris for a newborn boy."
This doesn't quite seem over.