We guess this is what you call bragging rights. On Monday, the fire department was called in to save an NYPD officer who got stuck in a tree while trying to rescue a cat in Queens. The firefighters laughed at the cop, and saved the cat first, but also published photos of their rescue paramedic teams training for crazy situations (i.e. not cats) on Randalls Island the same day.
FDNY/Flickr
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| Sam Levin |
| Mayor Bloomberg takes questions at 30 Rockefeller yesterday. |
Questioned about the findings and recommendations of the consultant's report yesterday afternoon, Mayor Bloomberg said that the city's record of responding to emergencies is better than ever and that his administration takes the report seriously.
That doesn't, however, mean he actually read it.
Pushed on some of the specifics of the 9-1-1 report at a press conference on the set of Saturday Night Live, Bloomberg ultimately blurted out, "I didn't even bother to read it!" as his press secretary tried to move along the news conference to a different question.
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Today, the mayor's office gave out hard copies of the city's controversial 9-1-1 report to reporters that asked for it. 
Sam Levin Snapshot of the cover of the 133-page 9-1-1 Report, which was given out today only in hard copy form.
The Voice stopped by City Hall late this afternoon to grab a copy of the 133-page consultant's report that examined the city's emergency response system. It has been a topic of much debate recently, with elected officials increasingly pressuring the mayor to release the report (which the city commissioned). Bloomberg has repeatedly refused, saying he would only release it when there was a final version.
The story first blew up when the New York Post reported in the beginning of April that the mayor was apparently waging an "all-out battle" to suppress the allegedly scathing report that said the city's emergency-dispatch system has deep flaws. Since then, a Manhattan Supreme Court Justice has ordered Bloomberg to hand over the report, arguing that City Hall can't keep it from taxpayers who paid for it.
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Newt Gingrich won the Republican primary South Carolina yesterday. The former House speaker won 40.4 percent of the vote with Mitt Romney trailing at 27.8 percent. Rick Santorum came in third with 17.0 percent. In his victory speech Gingrich targeted "elites." He said: "The biggest thing that I take from the campaign in South Carolina is that it is very humbling and very sobering to have so many people who so deeply want their country to get back on the right track -- so many people who are so concerned about jobs, about medical costs, about the everyday parts of life, and who feel that the elites in Washington and New York have no understanding, no care, no concern, no reliability, and in fact do not represent them at all." The next primary is in Florida on January 31. [NYT, CNN] 
Yesterday Jerome Isaac was arraigned on murder charges in Brooklyn Supreme Court for the death of 73-year-old Deloris Gillespie, who, in December, he allegedly sprayed with flammable liquid and set on fire in her elevator in Prospect Heights. He was caught on video doing all of this, which led rather quickly to police finding him. Of course, he also burned half of his face in the awful act, and, oh yes, he turned himself in to cops. But, apparently, he forgot that part because at his arraignment he announced, "If the video wasn't there, you would still be looking for me."
Surveillance video and a police sketch of the suspect in the Queens firebomb attacks that took place Sunday night have been released, and police are reportedly now questioning a person of interest. The attacks involved Molotov cocktails made from Starbucks bottles; they struck the Imam Al-Khoei Foundation, an Islamic cultural center, as well as two private homes, one of which is used as a Hindu house of worship, and a bodega, all in Jamaica, Queens. A fifth home, just across the Queens border on Long Island, may have been targeted as well.
Yesterday we brought you the tragic story of the five people -- three girls and their grandparents -- who died when a fire engulfed their Stamford, Conn. home. Now, Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia has told the Associated Press that the fire "fireplace-related," according to the New York Times. Pavia also said that there was no foul play. 
gigmasters.com The victims of the Stamford fire.
A large, dark plume of smoke billowed out of a building near Madison Square Park around 3pm this afternoon. The FDNY told us it was from a "defective oil burner" located in a building at 25th Street and Madison Avenue. Given the recent terror threat and significance of the weekend, an incident like this is bound to cause concern. The above picture was taken after the darkest, densest smoke had dissipated. [@nickgreene][ngreene@villagevoice.com]
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