On Monday the New York Times brought us some nasty details about the city's sewer system. New York City has a combined sewer system, meaning that both storm water and the waste from our apartments and businesses flow through the city's sewers and into waste treatment plants. When the...

By the time I got there, it was gone.

The World's Fair, you ask? Nope. I am referring to something far more unbelievable...

That's right: Queens once had an honest-to-God Parks Department-approved fountain named...

So, the so-called 9-11 Gang of Five will go on trial in a federal court as opposed to before a military commission. The bottom line question then has to be: Are you ready for the possibility that Khalid Sheik Mohammed or any of his fellow collaborators might walk free on...

In a letter to friends, F. Scott Fitzegerald wrote, "A writer not writing is practically a maniac within himself." Those bitten by "the bug" would agree, but what about writing as a soothing outlet for everyone? That is the idea behind the New York Writers Coalition, a Brooklyn-based non-profit...

Loving cabaret as I do, I'm used to audiences who genuflect at the feet of great elderly singers -- those vessels of wisdom and experience, whose wear-and-tear offers proof of lives fully lived. But in the world of rock, passing 50 is seen as a betrayal, and it can turn...

President Barack Obama just got back from visiting the Pacific Rim. While he did not solve the trade imbalance with China or Japan or win any allies for continuing the war in Iraq or expanding the war in Afghanistan, the good news is that at least he discovered a model...

A few weeks ago, I did an interview for What's the Deal?, an NBC New York series that investigates various quirky aspects of city life. The topic: the rarity of phone booths. This is one of those pieces that has tons of zoom-ins, so down a Dramamine...

Happy Tuesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for November 24, 2009 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.

1. Quick Hits

Twins catcher Joe Mauer wins the American League's Most Valuable Player award. A couple of Yankees finished 2nd and third, Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter.

Talk about streaky....

For many, the Staten Island ferry is not so much a form of transportation but rather a free, fail-safe way to entertain out-of-town guests: hop aboard, point out the Statue of Liberty, and wait in the Staten Island ferry terminal for the next boat back to Manhattan. But Staten Island...

On the emerald green front door of Stanley and Kathleen Rygor's 1890 cottage, there's a Claddagh knocker whose well-worn brass shows that it's no stranger to visitors.

"It is an honor to have you in my house," says Stanley, as he leads the way through the foyer. He doesn't...

Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its annual report on 'food insecurity' in America. What it showed is astounding. Forty-nine million Americans do not have dependable access to adequate food. That's nearly 15 percent -- or one of every 7 Americans -- who struggle to get enough...

There's obviously a lot to take out of this game, both good and bad. Are we excited that Eli played like a stud for the second straight game and appears to have conquered his historical second half swoon? Or are we worried sick about our defense, which repeatedly came up...

This is a good Monday. I'm sitting at my computer listening to the new Norah Jones album I downloaded, I got my appointment letter for teaching at NYU's Stern School next semester, and I got a timely response from the Lincoln Center Theater giving me a refund on two...

Mob prince Alphonse (Allie) Persico, who is serving life for the 1999 rubout of then-underboss William (Wild Bill) Cutolo, has been linked to the gangland-style slayings of two high-flying penny-stock promoters who were killed that same year in a Colts Neck, N.J. mansion where one of the men lived, Gang...

Tevye the Milkman, the working stiff Jewish Everyman from the shtetls of Russia, may not be one of Broadway's sexiest characters, but he certainly has been one of its most enduring. And one actor more than any other has embodied the role of the tradition-bound, world-weary, rich-man obsessed song and...

This week I had the pleasure of experiencing JetBlue and JFK's Terminal 5 - both of which I had heard great things about. Terminal 5 was a great deal more pleasant than many air terminals, feeling loungeier than the hospital mise en scène of Heathrow (minus their Terminal...

Each of John Gotti Jr.'s previous three trials has ended in a hung jury. Insiders say the jury may yet again be deadlocked. As a criminal defense attorney who has followed the case and once represented Peter Gotti, I'm apt to conclude that the defense strategy to not allow Junior...

The developer Extell is quietly pushing for big changes to its Riverside Center project, enclosed by 59th and 61st Streets, West End Avenue and Riverside Boulevard. The property was originally owned by Donald Trump and any future construction was bound by a Restrictive Declaration drawn up between Trump, the City...

Give it up for Ragtime, a sweeping, ambitious revival that, with the election of Barack Obama, carries added resonance. The musical, an adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's novel about early 20th-century America, is moving, stirring and not to be missed. Real historic figures, like anarchist Emma Goldman, Harry Houdini, Evelyn Nesbit...