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New York Post •

Exclusive | Trendy NYC nabe sees 37% surge in rat sightings in 2026 — even as reports dip citywide

See more of our coverage in your search results. Rat-a-fooey!

Manhattan’s East Village is experiencing a rodent resurgence with a whopping 37.6% increase in rat sightings year over year — even as reports fell dramatically citywide this year, according to Big Apple public records.

Community Board 3 in Manhattan — comprised of the East Village, the Lower East Side, Two Bridges and swaths of Chinatown — saw the critters surging despite significant investments in trash containerization and other...
New York Post •

Exclusive | NYC’s cooling splash pads facing ‘outages’ in record numbers – with dozens of playgrounds affected

See more of our coverage in your search results. Spray it ain’t so!


The beloved spray showers used by tiny tots to cool off during the hot summer months in city parks have been reportedly out of service in record numbers at dozens of green spaces this summer – and parents are fuming.


Parks officials recently lamented that the city is grappling with “dozens of sprinkler outages” and the department has “very few staff resources for repairs,” according to emails from the agency obtained by...
New York Post •

Exclusive | Construction of jail in tony NYC nabe turns into potentially deadly ‘clown show’ with failling debris: records, locals

See more of our coverage in your search results. The city’s construction of a new jail in posh Boerum Hill has devolved into a potentially deadly “clown show” — raining rooftop concrete, buckets and sheet metal onto the street, according to records and locals.


The problem-plagued project, one of several jails being built around the Big Apple to replace decrepit Rikers Island, was recently slapped with its fourth stop-work order in two years for such violations as allegedly letting “dangerou...
New York Post •

Dilapidated FDNY firehouses plagued by huge leaks, collapsed ceilings, mold and more

See more of our coverage in your search results. This is a 3-alarm mess.


Struggling firefighters in Queens are waging a constant battle of collapsed ceilings, leaky roofs, mold plagues and other concerning conditions in their very own firehouses.


The Post toured three of the FDNY’s decrepit beachfront stations in The Rockaways Friday — each of which are in such severe states that they could collapse any moment, officials warn.


The firehouses — including one that stands on stilts and...
New York Post •

Exclusive | Empty NYC preschools cost taxpayers nearly $100M in rent alone: ‘Terrible execution’

New York City has shelled out nearly $100 million in taxpayer funds to rent more than two dozen buildings that were meant to house preschools — but have yet to open half a decade later, The Post has learned. 

The city is still footing the rent and utility bills for the 28 facilities — a $99.3 million-and-counting boondoggle blamed on the “terrible execution” of former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s ambitious universal preschool expansion.

“I don’t think it’s corruption. It’s incompetence,” a former ci...
New York Post •

Exclusive | NYC earmarked $400M for dozens of preschools that were never opened: records

New York City planned to shell out roughly $400 million total to renovate more than two dozen “ghost” preschool buildings that have been mysteriously sitting empty with no update from officials, The Post has learned.


Records show the city has already spent millions of taxpayer dollars on the 25-plus vacant sites, once designated to be built as pre-K or 3-K centers — though officials refused to reveal exactly how much has been poured into them so far.


The massive overall sum was earmarked t...
New York Post •

Exclusive | NYC never opened 25 planned preschools despite demand surge — and may not have even known one existed: records

Roughly 20 planned early childhood education centers in the Big Apple mysteriously sit idle as demand surges for universal pre-K and 3K seats close to home, The Post has learned.


More than 25 of 47 3K “initiative projects” at sites first earmarked under former Mayor Bill de Blasio are still unlisted on the official NYC MySchools directory — despite costly construction contracts, rent payments to private owners and official Department of Education signage posted outside some “phantom” schools....
New York Post •

Exclusive | Thieves nab 20 phones at one NYC concert — as expert warns music fans are targets of global network

Thieves stole 20 phones during a single Brooklyn concert, The Post has learned — as one expert warns it’s part of a growing trend targeting crowded music venues tied to an international black market.


Cops were called to punk band Hot Mulligan’s performance at the Brooklyn Paramount on Nov. 7 when a slew of unsuspecting concertgoers were seemingly pickpocketed– with the thieves turning off the phones so they couldn’t be tracked, officials confirmed.


No arrests have been made to date, but th...
New York Post •

Exclusive | Storied NYC high school football team forfeits games after numerous varsity players benched due to grades

These players are fumbling on the field and in the classroom.


The Midwood High School varsity football team – a historically successful team with multiple championship wins and NFL alums under its belt – was forced to forfeit multiple games after a group of players was benched mid-season due to bad grades.


The Midwood Hornets retroactively forfeited two games – against Midwood’s James Madison and Ozone Park’s John Adams high schools – on Oct. 25 and Nov. 1, respectively, after it was revea...
New York Post •

Exclusive | Central Park trail becomes central parking lot for NYC workers, official cars

It’s a Central Park-ing lot!


A recreational trail in Central Park meant for joggers and horseback riders has been taken over by city workers using it as a parking lot — with and without official government placards.


The 4.2-mile Central Park Bridle Path – which doesn’t even allow bicycles – has been full of city-owned cars such as police cruisers and private vehicles driven by municipal workers, locals said.


“It started out with a very small amount of cars,” 60-year Manhattan resident T...
New York Post •

Exclusive | New Yorkers hit with up to $4.2K in mystery fees as sneaky real estate agents flout new broker fee law: ‘Exploiting a loophole’

Well this is just un-FARE.


Sneaky New York City landlords have been using tricky tactics to get around a new law that bans them from charging broker fees to renters — hitting them with up to $4,200 in mystery charges, The Post has learned.


Prospective renters have reported being faced with thousands of dollars in “management” or “technology” fees — that look awfully similar to those previously charged by landlords to pay for real estate brokers.


“They’re exploiting a loophole in the law...
New York Post •

Exclusive | Unlicensed NYC boarder’s business still operating despite at least 3 dog deaths, grieving pooch owners say: ‘City has done nothing’

An unlicensed animal-boarding operation in a Park Slope apartment is still operating despite three dogs being killed by raging mutts while there, the dead pooches’ stricken owners allege.


“Everywhere I turned, I was told there’s nothing that can be done,” lamented one of the tragic Brooklyn dogs’ owners, who only gave her first name, Lindsay, to The Post.


The dog owner said her 4-year-old mixed pooch Penny was killed by a mutt at the boarding business in September, after three years of pre...
Patch •

NYC Nightclub The Box Settles Sex Harassment, Unpaid Wages Lawsuit

Read more: Sex, Drugs Forced On Women Employees At Exclusive NYC Nightclub: Lawsuit A former bottle server received an undisclosed amount in a settlement over her claims that the Lower East Side club's management allowed "customers to sexually harass and abuse her" and pressured her "to lure male customers to The Box so that they could be sexually serviced by others," according to court documents filed this week.

Male customers would be "serviced with sexual acts, sexual intercourse, drugs, and
Patch •

Sex, Drugs Forced On Women Employees At Exclusive NYC Nightclub: Lawsuit

NEW YORK CITY — Bosses at exclusive New York City nightclub The Box had a directive for what a former waitress should do for clients: "ANYthing they wanted."

The ex-bottle server contends in a recently filed federal lawsuit that she was physically, verbal and sexually harassed by a management team who not only allowed "customers to sexually harass and abuse her," but pressured her "to lure male customers to The Box so that they could be sexually serviced by others."

After recruiting male clie

Misinformation 'Superspreader' Dr. Mercola Owns Veterinarian's Popular Blog.

Bestselling “Forever Dog” author and veterinarian Karen Shaw Becker describes herself as the “most followed veterinarian in the world” on her website. But dog owners who read Dr. Becker’s blog may never know that the pet-focused website, “Bark & Whiskers”, is listed by Mercola as one of “six different product brands” of “Mercola Market” — and that Mercola’s founder is Joseph Mercola, ​​dubbed the “most influential spreader of coronavirus misinformation online” by The New York Times in 2021.

The
Patch •

Central Park Fest Caused $205K+ In Damages Before 2023 Mayhem: Records

Records obtained by Patch show the Global Citizen Festival — the marquee event of the nonprofit advocacy organization Global Poverty Project — has repeatedly been issued damage fees dating back to at least 2018 over "failure to perform its restoration obligations" in accordance with agreements with the city. The recurring damage, capped by the September 2023 festival's unusually high damage bill, has prompted the Central Park Conservancy — the nonprofit that oversees the park — to discourage sim
Patch •

BK Pedestrian Killed In Dump Truck Crash, Driver At Large: NYPD

The victim, Maria Piovanetti, 58, was pronounced dead at the scene at about 6 a.m. after medics found her laying in the intersection of Tilden Avenue and Bedford Avenue near Kings Theatre, police said. An initial investigation by the NYPD Highway District's Collision Investigation Squad found that Piovanetti was walking westbound from the northeast corner to the northwest corner on the marked crosswalk on Bedford Avenue when she was struck by a 2014 Kenworth dump truck traveling southbound on Be
Patch •

Patient Abuse, Deaths In NJ Psych Hospitals Detailed In New Lawsuit

The 99-page lawsuit, filed in federal court last week by advocacy group Disability Rights New Jersey, names New Jersey Department of Human Services Commissioner Sarah Adelman, New Jersey Department of Health Acting Commissioner Kaitlan Baston, as well as the respective agencies and the state of New Jersey as defendants, alleging state leaders did not do their jobs adhering to federal discrimination laws while caring for 1,150 patients around the state. “These abusive conditions involve patient-o
Patch •

Most Dangerous NJ Counties For Pedestrians: See The List

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's fatality analysis reporting system, the highest number of fatal pedestrian crashes reported in 2017 to 2021 — the years for which the most recent data is available — were in Essex County with 106 deadly hits. Camden and Bergen counties followed suit with 94 and 79 fatal crashes, respectively. The Garden State reported a total 916 crashes during those five years. Salem, Hunterdon and Sussex counties reported the least pedestrian cr
Patch •

Workplace Deaths In NJ Reach Highest Level In Nearly 20 Years

One hundred sixteen workers were mortally wounded in the Garden State that year, with nearly half of those deaths stemming from transportation-related incidents. Of those transportation-related incidents, 10 involved pedestrian vehicular incidents, 11 involved roadway collisions with another vehicle and 12 collisions involved a driver striking an animal or object on the side of the road. Related: NJ Temp Workers Say Tragic Car Crash Shows Urgent Need For Change Twenty-one more deaths were attrib
Bushwick Daily •

As Reports Of Hate Crime Rise in Bushwick, Activists Push For More Protections At Nightclubs

On a chilly April evening in Bushwick outside the Market Hotel, 23-year-old Maxwell Vice Tong exited the club with some friends after a show, only to be met with multiple glass bottles hurled at the crowd from a passing car. Quickly following the attackers on a skateboard to catch the license plate number, Tong watched in horror as one of the car’s passengers promptly hopped out with a gun in tow.

“We were standing outside of Market Hotel and we were very visibly the only queer people of color
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