Subway fares might be going up, The MTA's capital plan might be funded by debt, and the city's mass transit lines might be overrun by rats but hey, commuting in New York might not be all bad.

Boingo and Transit Wireless will start hooking up wifi in the city's subway stations over the next five years, according to an announcement today.

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Four police officers were injured in Sheepshead Bay early this morning in a shootout with a man who had shut himself after a dispute with moving company employees. The officers -- two of whom were shot in the calf, one who was shot in the thigh and ankle and another whose face was grazed -- were not seriously injured. The man, 33-year-old Nakwon Foxworth, barricaded himself in his sixth-floor apartment along with his pregnant girlfriend and 4-month-old son after threatening the moving company employees, one of whom called the police, with a gun. When Foxworth's wife and son escaped, police entered and the shooting broke out. "We're not certain about what the fight was about," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, according to the New York Daily News. "Obviously (Foxworth) was very hyper to say the least. He had a dispute with his lady friend and told her she couldn't leave. And when she just left and left the door open, he started shooting." [NYDN, CBS New York]

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Police are now looking for a group of vandals that worked Wednesday morning to let subway riders at thee stations across Manhattan and Brooklyn ride free. The group -- wearing masks, hoods and gloves -- chained open emergency gates, taped over the MetroCard readers and posted signs that read, "customers ride for free." According to the New York Times investigators are still trying to determine whether the group acted "as part -- or in sympathy with --" Occupy Wall Street or another protest group. "We don't know who is behind the incidents or what the motivation is," an NYPD spokesman said Saturday. On Thursday, reports emerged that about 20 stations across the city saw gates opened to protest MTA cutbacks. [NYT]

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MagicJosh12

FREE entry!

A group calling itself the "Rank and File Initiative" claimed credit yesterday for opening up more than 20 subway stations throughout the city for free entry.

Chaining open emergency gates at stations on the F, L, R, Q, 3, and 6 lines during rush hour yesterday morning, the anonymous activists posted signs designed to resemble MTA service-change announcements that read "Free Entry, No Fare. Please Enter Through The Service Gate."

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Sean Bell

NYPD detective Gescard Isnora has been fired for his involvement in the 2006 shooting of Sean Bell. Isnora initiated the firing of 50-shots that left the unarmed Bell, who was leaving a Queens strip club, dead on what was supposed to be his wedding day. Two other officers who fired shots and another who was at the scene are being forced to resign. Isnora testified in the Police Department's administrative trial that he thought Bell and a friend were going to engage in a drive-by shooting and that Bell's friend had a gun. One prosecutor argued that Isnora's actions led to "contagious firing." "The commissioner's decision to terminate Detective Isnora is extremely disheartening and callous and sends an uncaring message to the hard-working officers of the New York Police Department who put their lives on the line every day," Isnora's lawyer said, according to the New York Times. Isnora will not collect pension. [NYT]

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If you want to pick a New York neighborhood to stand for snobby elitism it's easy to turn to the Upper East Side. And though that's a broad stereotype, a new controversy is helping to reinforce it. The Times brings us the story of the residents of East 69th Street near Lexington Avenue, who are joining together to resist what they perceive to be an impending threat...subway station entrances. Um. Aren't subway entrances a fact of life in New York? As the Times explains, "a major thrust of their argument is that their blocks are simply too pretty" for what the MTA says are necessary installments for access to the station when elevators are built at the 68th Street 6 line stop.

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Two U.S. Army officers were killed at their desks in Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior Saturday by a junior intelligence officer. "We believe it was 100% linked to the Quran burning because of the religious background of this junior officer. He spent two months in a Pakistani madrassa,"
an Afghan counter-terrorism official told CNN. The Taliban has claimed responsibility, and has also attributed the attack to the Quran burning by NATO troops at Bagram Airfield. The burning prompted protests, which have killed at least 29 people and wounded around 200. Thursday, two U.S. soldiers were shot and killed at a protest. President Barack Obama wrote a letter of apology to President Hamid Karzai. [CNN, MSNBC]

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A lot of news this morning about our favorite thing to love, hate and love-hate: the subway system. So, what's new below ground? Oh, just your usual multitudes of people, crime and service issues. We'll rattle off some of the specifics. First up, MTA stats are showing that 2012 has been a boon for below-ground criminals. What NY1 calls "major subway felonies" have gone up 30 percent this January opposed to January 2011. As a point of comparison, 85 robberies occurred last month when only 64 did in same time frame last year. Why? NY1 has police saying it's because people are eying those shiny things on laps and in hands. That's right, people are looking to nab gadgets, so hold onto your iPhone tightly!

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Brace yourselves -- MTA plans at least 59 more nights of subway closures this year under its new FasTrack program. In total, that adds up to 413 hours of limited service on certain subway lines. Every month this year (except August and December) will see at least one major line shut down for repairs overnight during the work week.

Carmen Bianco, the MTA's senior vice president of subways, told the NY Daily News:

"We know it's an inconvenience to our customers and we apologize for the inconvenience. Hopefully, our customers will only have to walk a block, or two blocks at the most, to get alternate service."

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Reggie Allen is no criminal mastermind.

Cops say that 34-year-old Allen brought two loaded firearms -- including a Tec-9 semi-automatic pistol and a .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun -- into a crowded Times Square subway station on New Year's Day.

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