It was an eventful but tragic evening in the outer borough of Kings County.
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Free money!

As part of its campaign against drunk driving, the city's Department of Transportation has launched a "Safe Rides Home" giveaway promotion with thousands of free taxi, livery, and public transit rides in honor of, what else, March Madness.

It's a part of this slightly oddly-named initiative called You The Man, which is intended to "resonate with all New Yorkers, and especially young men ages 21-39 -- a demographic overrepresented in alcohol-related crashes in the city," according to a press release sent out last week.

So, you know, be the man, dudes, and claim your free money!

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If an offensive advertisement fails, and you apologize for the offensiveness of the ad, what's the next logical step for the ad company? For Wodka Vodka, the answer apparently is to try and offend someone else. IN VERY LARGE LETTERS.

The thinking behind the madness: If making fun of Jews doesn't work, choose a different victim.

How about, um, hookers? (And, y'know, everyone who would prefer not to read "HOOKER" on the drive home?)

Yeah.

In November, the company that runs ads for the Vodka business, put up a large billboard that read 'Christmas Quality, Hanukkah Pricing.'

After wonderful feedback, they took it down.

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Boozers and bars are just ruining the East Village, neighborhood residents claim.

So the NYPD Ninth Precinct, which patrols the area, will deploy eight to 10 additional cops in the next month to combat "nightlife-related problems," according to DNAinfo.

The team will be sent out during the evening, to fight noise and unruliness (which apparently threaten the very fabric of East Village life.)

At a recent public safety meeting, Capt. John Cappelmann, who runs the Ninth Precinct, promised residents that the additional patrolmen will prevent people from having fun.

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Not in my backyard, strip club! Not in my booming-on-its-way-to-becoming-the-coolest-neighborhood-in-the-city backyard! Long Island City, that is. Elected officials and allegedly everyone in the blossoming Queens neighborhood on the other side of the East River (business, civic, AND religious communities!), are celebrating the latest obstacle for a strip club hoping to set up shop in the area.

Yesterday, the State Liquor Authority denied the club's application for a liquor license -- the second time for the business, known as Gypsy Rose (though it was apparently a different incarnation of the company the first time it tried).

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After three more people were found alive Sunday, at least 17 people are still missing from the Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that ran aground off the Italian coast Friday night. Francesco Schettino, the captain of the ship, has been arrested for, according to CNN, "investigation of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship while passengers were still on board." The New York Times said that his arrest was "amid concerns that the megaship had steered dangerously off course." [NYT, CNN]

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NOT PICTURED: His girlfriend, drinking vodka out of a salad spinner.

Ever notice that when you crack open your third bottle of wine, your boyfriend or girlfriend is uncorking his or her third bottle as well? This may be evidence of a broader trend among young couples, a new study finds. USA Today reports that researchers in Nova Scotia discovered they "were able to predict one partner's binge drinking based on the other partner's binge drinking." Don't worry, single binge drinkers, there's bound to be someone out there for you, and they're probably throwing a shoe at the TV of an airport bar as you read this.

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In what appears to be a case of Carrie Bradshaw-onomics, the New York Times reports that, even amid these current financial straits, Americans have been buying more things they don't actually need over the past year. But this doesn't mean anything is actually getting better in the economy. It's just that people can't resist giving themselves little presents.

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Esther Zuckerman

A war has been waged in the stroller-filled streets of the Upper West Side. The players: the Blue Donkey Bar and resident Tim Tomlinson. For now it looks like Tomlinson has won. A sign posted on the window of the recently shuttered bar on Amsterdam Avenue pinpointed the West 84th Street resident Tomlinson for its demise.

The bar was shut down by the police Wednesday, and on Friday owners struck a deal with the police that if they ceased business on their own accord, the charges against them would be dropped, owner Jim Goldsmith told us.

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When we heard the news that Betty Ford (the accidental First Lady married to the accidental 38th President of the United States) had died, we immediately thought of how George Carlin spoke of her in his last stand up special, It's Bad for Ya! In the above segment, Carlin brings up Mrs. Ford in a rant about how First Ladies "come along for the ride" and are "condescended to" in the White House. Of course, when Carlin remember's Ford's particular "assignment" as First Lady, he brings up what she's most known for in pop culture: being the founder of the Betty Ford Clinic. The drug and alcohol rehab center, frequented by numerous celebrities, is located in Rancho Mirage, California, where Ford lived the last years of her life.

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