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Sam Levin

The new "apple green" Boro Taxi, unveiled at City Hall this morning.

It's not lime green, not key lime pie green, not sea-foam green, nor is it chartreuse. Nope. The city's new taxi for upper Manhattan and the outer boroughs, unveiled this morning, is apple green.

The mayor's office emphasized this specific shade of green at a press conference at City Hall this morning by having a basket of green apples on site and one prop apple at the podium that speakers could hold on to and toss in the air if they wanted, to emphasize that this new taxi is in fact "apple" green -- a topic of much debate among reporters in attendance.

In front of the steps of City Hall, the mayor's office took the cover off a model of the new taxi, which looks a lot like the yellow taxis, only it's (apple) green.

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Sam Levin

City Comptroller John Liu, with State Senator Diane Savino (left) and City Council member Debi Rose at the Ferry Terminal in Staten Island.

City Comptroller John Liu took a trip to Staten Island today to criticize the city's management of new ferry boats that he says have been chronically out of service and have wasted taxpayers' dollars.

The announcement was a chance for Liu, who is expected to run for mayor in 2013, to get his name out on a transportation issue and appeal to the outer boroughs. But the comptroller also has a legitimate history with the topic -- he chaired the City Council Transportation Committee and convened several public hearings about the Staten Island Ferry before he became comptroller.

Liu's office argues that three "Molinari Class" vessels, which were put into service in 2005 and 2006, have been dysfunctional and have generated significant cost overruns. Liu also said he's not convinced that the city's Department of Transportation has any long-term plan to address this ongoing problems, which he says continue to impact commuters and waste public money.

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C.S. Muncy

Occupy Wall Street roared back to life yesterday, as protesters marched and attempted to re-occupy Zuccotti Park. They were met by police who closed the park and violently arrested occupiers. Head over to the account by the Voice's Nick Pinto, who was on the scene, along with photographer C.S. Muncy. In his piece, Pinto explains that "the day would become a sort of a condensed repetition of Occupy's history, as protesters marched, set up shop in Zuccotti Park, clashed with police, were arrested in significant numbers, and were ultimately re-evicted, as police forcefully dragged them from the public plaza and re-erected the barricades blocking off the park." As of 9:07 a.m. DCPI did not have a total number of arrests. [Runnin' Scared]

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www.academics.utep.edu

​If there's one things Staten Islanders love, it's prescription drugs. If there's another thing Staten Islanders love, it's prescription drugs!

That's according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who says the prescription drug abuse problem -- particularly with pain killers like hydrocodone -- in Staten Island has now achieved "crisis" status, as deaths from accidental overdoses has jumped nearly 150 percent since 2005.

"The prescription drug crisis on Staten Island has reached epidemic proportions, and it's time to take action before another tragedy strikes," Schneiderman says. 

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Right on the heels of the arrest of Comptroller John Liu's treasurer, another New York politician is wrapped up in some financial funny business. The Associated Press is reporting that the FBI is gathering information in order to decide whether to officially investigate the campaign fundraising of U.S. Representative Michael Grimm, a Republican from Staten Island. Grimm has faced increasing scrutiny since it was revealed that followers of Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto -- who in total contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars Grimm's campaign 2010 -- admitted to donating illegally.

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Staten Island Republicans opened their brand-new headquarters this weekend, and local leaders took the opportunity to defend Congressman Michael Grimm. The rep was recently accused of raising illegal funds by an article in The New York Times. Grimm gave a speech about his dog Sebastian, which brings back memories of Richard Nixon's "Checkers" speech. "He sneaks around the couch in my office, and he goes behind the desk where the staff can't see him, and he leaps with his fangs out and tries to bite the mailman right on the butt ... I tell my staff, 'It's OK, Sebastian thought he was delivering The New York Times!'" And the crowd went wild.

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Following in the vaunted footsteps of Paul the Octopus (RIP!), Grandpa is a spider monkey who lives at the Staten Island Zoo who has been instilled with the ability to, occasionally, choose a banana or tennis ball with the name of a winning sports team on it, thereby counting him among the ranks of so-called psychic creatures. Not that we're doubting his ESP, nor his, as the Daily News puts it, "Yoda-like eyes." His name is Grandpa, he must be wise!

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Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro has a new plan to inject some life into the American economy. He's told his staffers to affix the words "Buy American" to all constituent correspondence as part of a new "Buy American" campaign. This should work!

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Scott LoBaido, a Staten Island painter, describes himself as a "Creative Patriot." According to his website, his most ambitious works have been the world's largest version of the American flag (he claims) and a project where he painted 50 flags on one rooftop each state. He's also a religious Catholic and was so offended by the Brooklyn Museum's exhibition of David Wojnarowicz's "A Fire in My Belly," a video that features a shot of ants crawling over a crucifix, that he decided to take matters into his own hands. LoBaido painted a portrait of Brooklyn Museum director Arnold Lehman nude and sitting on the edge of a truly icky green toilet bowl and tried to hang it in the museum himself. He was removed by security.

But the portrait has found a new home -- in Staten Island Borough Hall.

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