New York Daily News – by SHANE DIXON KAVANAUGH AND BILL HUTCHINSON

A millionaire hip-hop mogul has a bold plan to rid New York City streets of firearms: He wants to offer young gunslingers who turn in their weapons mentorships … and Beyoncé concert tickets.

Michael (Blue) Williams, the head of Family Tree Entertainment, has pitched the city’s first private-sector gun buyback program to NYPD brass and is waiting for Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly’s okay. Continue reading “‘Guns for Greatness’: Gun buyback program would reward New York’s young gunslingers with mentorship and Beyonce concert tickets for The Mrs. Carter Show”

Jail Cell DoorCBS New York

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Imagine, you go for a late-night stroll in the park, and you end up spending the rest of the night in a police station lockup.

Or, you ride your bike on the sidewalk, and you are handcuffed and arrested. Perhaps you take up two seats on the subway, and you end up receiving six months’ probation. Continue reading “Have You Ever Paid ‘The Petty Consequence’?”

LA Synced Traffic SignalsAuto Blog – by Zach Bowman

Los Angeles is moving forward with a plan to ease traffic congestion by synchronizing all of the city’s 4,398 stoplights. While smaller municipalities have followed similar plans in the past, LA is the first major city to take a stab at getting all of its lights to play nice together. If it works, the new system could increase average traffic speeds by 16 percent and reduce travel times by 12 percent. We imaging reducing the amount of time cars spend idling at a stop light should help reduce fuel consumption by a decent margin as well. Continue reading “LA traffic lights get in sync to ease congestion”

New York Post – by DAVID SEIFMAN, City Hall Bureau Chief

What’s good for the city would be good for the state, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday, recommending that his ban on jumbo-sized sugary drinks be expanded beyond the five boroughs.

Under a new law that takes effect March 12, restaurants and other food establishments regulated by the city’s Health Department are not going to be allowed to sell sugary sodas in sizes larger than 16 ounces. Continue reading “Bloomberg: Expand soda ban statewide”

Immigrant DetentionHuffington Post – by Elise Foley

WASHINGTON — Immigration and Customs Enforcement released some people from immigrant detention facilities across the country on Monday in response to looming federal budget cuts.

“In order to make the best use of our limited detention resources in the current fiscal climate and to manage our detention population under current congressionally mandated levels, ICE has directed field offices to review the detained population to ensure it is in line with available funding,” agency spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said in a statement. Continue reading “Immigration and Customs Enforcement Frees Detainees As Sequester Looms”

Mc Hammer ArrestedHuffington Post

MC Hammer is claiming he was a victim of racial profiling after he was arrested for allegedly obstructing and resisting an officer in Northern California.

The 50-year-old rapper took to Twitter to discuss the situation shortly after his release from the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin on Saturday. Continue reading “MC Hammer Arrested For Obstructing An Officer, Claims He’s A Victim Of Racial Profiling”

Karzai Us Troops OutHuffington Post – Reuters

KABUL, Feb 24 (Reuters) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai has given U.S. special forces two weeks to leave a key battleground province after some U.S. soldiers there were found to have tortured or even killed innocent people, the president’s spokesman said on Sunday.

The decision by Karzai could further complicate negotiations between the United States and Afghanistan over the presence of Americans troops in the country once most NATO forces leave by the end of 2014. Continue reading “Afghanistan’s Karzai Says U.S. Special Forces Must Leave Wardak Province Over Torture Allegations”

Poland Spring GasolineHuffington Post -by Dominique Mosbergen

Some Poland Spring water bottles may be contaminated by gasoline, the New Hampshire Department of Health warned in a consumer advisory published this week.

According to WMUR.com, state health officials said Friday that consumers who purchased 3- and 5-gallon bottles of Poland Spring water on or after Nov. 1 last year should check them for possible gasoline odors before use. Continue reading “Poland Spring Water Bottles May Be Contaminated By Gasoline”

Gateway of Edmond notice to tenantsAOL – by Graham Wood

Residents of an apartment complex in Edmond, Okla., are a bit taken aback after management sent around flyers threatening eviction for anyone who has police sent to their apartment, Tulsa TV station KWTV reported. “If police are called to your apartment for any reason, your lease will be subject to immediate termination,” the flyer reads. It’s an attempt by the complex, called the Gateway of Edmond, to clean up its image after being ridiculed for the amount of crime there, KWTV said. Continue reading “Oklahoma Apartment Complex Threatens to Evict Tenants for Police Visits”

Iran Captured Foreign DroneHuffington Post – by ALI AKBAR DAREINI

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saturday that it had captured a foreign unmanned aircraft during a military exercise in southern Iran.

Gen. Hamid Sarkheili, a spokesman for the military exercise, said the Guard’s electronic warfare unit spotted signals indicating that foreign drones were trying to enter Iranian airspace. Sarkheili said Guard experts took control of one drone’s navigation system and brought it down near the city of Sirjan where the military drills began on Saturday. Continue reading “Iran Says It Captured ‘Foreign Enemy Drone’ During Military Exercise”

<p> Janet Falk, public relations professional, rides the Roosevelt Island tramway with a Manhattan view behind her on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013 in New York. Falk applied for a public-relations job at a New York City law firm two years ago, but the recruiter told her she wouldn’t be considered because she had been unemployed for more than three months, Falk said. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)Yahoo News – by Jennifer Peltz, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Help wanted. Qualifications: Must already have a job.

It’s a frustrating catch for those out of work in an era of high unemployment: looking for a job, only to find that some employers don’t want anyone who doesn’t already have one.

But after four years of above-average joblessness in the U.S., efforts to bar such practices byemployers have met with mixed results. Continue reading “Unemployed complain they need a job to find a job”

Gun Owners StarbucksHuffington Post – by Bonnie Kavoussi

The Second Amendment may not have much to do with your daily cappuccino. But on Friday, some gun rights activists plan to descend on Starbucks, bringing the coffee chain face-to-face with the nationwide debate on gun control.

Starbucks does not prohibit customers from openly carrying guns in states where it is legal, and in an effort to show thanks for this policy, some activists have designated Friday, February 22, “Gun Owners Support Starbucks” Day. Continue reading “‘Gun Owners Support Starbucks’ Day Celebrated On February 22”

Climate Change Infectious DiseaseHuffington Post – by 

When Rick Ostfeld heard about the sky-darkening flocks of birds descending this winter on Hopkinsville, Ky., he couldn’t help but think of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds.”

“I remember watching it multiple times as a kid, just to scare myself,” said Ostfeld, a disease ecologist with the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y. Continue reading “Kentucky Birds, New York Rats Raise Disease Risks”

Bluefin TunaHuffington Post – by Joe Satran

Bluefin tuna just can’t catch a break. Weeks after it was reported that overfishing had reduced the Pacific population of the fish, which is popular in sushi bars, by over 96 percent, researchers have found trace levels of radiation still lingering in their flesh almost two years after the catastrophe at the nuclear plant in Fukushima, Japan. And the tuna they studied were caught off the coast of California, 6000 miles east of Japan. Monte Burke at Forbes writes: Continue reading “Bluefin Tuna Caught Near California Still Radioactive Years After Fukushima”

Seafood FraudHuffington Post – by Carey Polis

Oceana, an international ocean advocacy group, has released a report on national seafood fraud [pdf], and the results are disconcerting. The report, which is one of the largest on seafood fraud to date, found that one-third of fish was mislabeled. Continue reading “Seafood Fraud Study By Oceana Reveals Widespread Mislabeling Nationwide”

Mike Bloomberg Jerramiah HealyHuffington Post – by John Celock

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has not weighed in on the race to succeed him, but he is reaching across the Hudson River to offer support to a key ally in his war against illegal guns.

Bloomberg announced Thursday morning that he is backing Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy (D) in his race for a third term against City Councilman Steve Fulop (D) in the May nonpartisan election. Healy is a founding member of Mayor’s Against Illegal Guns, which Bloomberg started with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino (D). MAIG has taken center stage in recent weeks as gun control debates heat up in Washington and state capitols. Continue reading “Mike Bloomberg Endorses Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy”