By Marlene Naanes and Emily Ngo
mnaanes@am-ny.com

Michelangelo Franqui learned about the dangers of binge drinking last year when he woke up with his shins aching.

“My friends had to drag me up the stairs because I was passed out,” said Franqui, a 22-year-old from Corona, Queens, who has since sworn off heavy drinking.

And so Franqui wasn’t surprised at a city health department report released yesterday detailing just how dangerous binge drinking can be for New Yorkers — particularly when it comes to sex.

According to the report, heavy drinkers in the city tend to have more sex partners and are more likely to get sexually transmitted diseases. It’s a finding that common sense has long dictated: If you drink too much, you make poor decisions, including ones in bed.

“Everyone knows that moment when you wake up and regret what you’ve done,” Franqui said. “You just look at the person next to you in bed and regret it.”

According to the report, 15 percent of adult New Yorkers binge drink — defined as having five or more drinks in one sitting — at least once a month. In fact, a binge drinker is three times more likely than a nondrinker to have two to four sex partners in the past year, according to the health survey. Binge drinking men who have sex with other men are particularly at risk, doubling their likelihood of having five or more sex partners in the past year.

Continue reading "Report: alcohol fuels multiple sex partners, STDs" »

This guy has the courage to propose to his girlfriend on the court during a Houston Rockets game and then gets his heart broken in front of the crowd, mascot and basketball players.

Toppings at Daydream yogurt shop are one-of-a-kind concoctions. (Alison Joyce)

By Garett Sloane

Somewhere in Gwen Butler’s mind there is a cranberry doused in Grand Marnier. She thinks about passion-fruit caviar and how the juice-infused capsules would pop on the tongue.

Butler is obsessed with the next topping she might offer at her newly opened Daydream frozen yogurt parlor in the East Village.

“Sometimes you have to tell her when to stop,” says Gregori Pena, the chef at Daydream who is charged with executing Butler’s fantasies, which sometimes come to him via text message at 3:30 in the morning with missives like: “How about soaking the Craisins in a Grand Marnier syrup? To plump them.”

To stand out in the crowded fro-yo market, Butler developed the chef-driven yogurt concept that turns the simple craze into something more gourmet.

Continue reading "Daydream yogurt shop brings new flavors to city" »

By Jason Fink

Voters in Queens and Staten Island head back to the polls next month for special elections to fill three vacant city council seats.

An election will be held Feb. 24 for seats that were held by Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach), Hiram Monserrate (D-East Elmhurst) and Michael McMahon (D-Staten Island).

Addabbo and Monserrate were elected to the state Senate while McMahon was elected to the House.

The Feb. 24 contest will be non-partisan. Regular primaries and general elections for four-year terms will be held in the fall.

The winners of next month’s election will serve until Dec. 31.

By Jason Fink

A “heartbroken” John Travolta and his wife, Kelly Preston, broke their silence today, two days after the sudden death of their teen-age son, Jett, expressing gratitude for an outpouring of support.

“Jett was the most wonderful son that two parents could ever ask for and lit up the lives of everyone he encountered,” the couple said in a statement. “We are heartbroken that our time with him was so brief. We will cherish the time we had with him for the rest of our lives.”

The Hollywood couple remained holed up in their townhouse at the Old Bahama Bay on Grand Bahama Island, where the 16-year-old was found dead Friday morning.

Officials have said that Jett apparently suffered a seizure, collapsed and hit his head on the bathtub.

Continue reading "John Travolta, wife, mourn son's death" »

Mayor Michael Bloomberg stands next to remains of rockets, fired from the Gaza Strip, displayed at the police station in Sderot. AP photo by Ariel Schalit

By Jason Fink

Mayor Michael Bloomberg made a surprise visit to Israel today, where he expressed unequivocal support for the nation’s military action in Gaza and had a close call with an incoming rocket.

Traveling with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside), Bloomberg met with top Israeli officials as well as New Yorkers living in the town of Ashkelon. While touring a military building in Sderot, near the Gaza border, the mayor’s party was rushed to a shelter when a missile warning sounded. No one in the mayor’s party was hurt as rockets landed about a mile away.

Bloomberg was forceful in his defense of Israel, which yesterday moved ground forces into Gaza after days of air assaults, which the government says were a response to rocket attacks by Hamas.

“Governments have a responsibility to protect their citizens,” Bloomberg told CNN. “In New York City we would do nothing less than use all of our resources to keep you safe.

Arab and Muslim organizations condemned the remarks, accusing Bloomberg of ignoring the more than 500 killed in Gaza since the Israeli strikes began nine days ago.

Continue reading "Bloomberg, in Israel, shows support for Gaza strikes " »

Rick Warren shouldn’t give invocation at inauguration
Barack Obama’s civil rights blunder stands unchallenged by the rule of law. With no apology or change of heart by Obama, he invited Pastor Rick Warren, whose ministry preaches against equality before the law for gays and others under the guise of religiosity to give the invocation at Obama’s inauguration. Besides being yet another glaring argument for the principle that religion should be separated from government, Obama’s stance that he may legitimize and empower religious bigots by inviting the apostle of anti-gay bigotry is a giant step backward for civil rights and egalitarianism.
— Michael Meyers, executive director, New York Civil Rights Coalition, Manhattan

Israel and world news coverage is lopsided
Re “War to the bitter end,” Dec. 30: A day after you devoted half a page on Gaza, while allocating no more than 30 words to the killing of dozens of women and children in Afghanistan and totally ignoring a similar killing in Iraq, you devote a third of a page to state that Israel is still attacking Gaza, including a photo of Palestinians observing an explosion, then you allocate 30 words in the briefs to report the massacre of 180 innocent people in the Congo who were seeking refuge in a church. Either you consider that only deaths caused by Israel are newsworthy or you want to focus solely on Israel. One can’t help but come to the conclusion that you have your own agenda.
— Jacques Hakim, Manhattan

MTA, ATM: Opposites in more ways than one
We all know what an “ATM” is. It is just “MTA” backward. The only difference is that an “ATM” gives you money and the “MTA” just continues to take it away tenfold.
— Nancy Miller,Glendale

By Emily Ngo

At Twins Pub in midtown, there is no sign of the economic downturn. Bill “The Doctor” Leary is doling out beers and smiles just as he always has.

“People are out, being festive, drinking like always,” said Leary, a bartender at the pub.

Alcohol, alongside other vices like tobacco and gambling, is historically recession-resilient. As other sectors crumbled, their sales in New York have held steady, even increasing in some cases.

“I guess in hard times, people turn to that,” said Twins Pub patron Barry Sweeney, 50, who smokes and drinks despite the financial strain. “I could be saving $20 a day.”

More than 80 percent of American consumers spent the same amount or more on booze in 2008 compared to the previous year, according a Nielsen Company survey, which calls them “an affordable luxury.” Cheaper drinks are faring best. Value wine sales (those costing less than $9) increased 5.3 percent in the last quarter of 2008, Nielsen reported.

Some New York revelers are hardly opening their wallets at all. Traffic at MyOpenBar.com spiked to 100,000 visits in December, doubling since the previous year.

Continue reading "New Yorkers sticking to their vices" »

If you need some motivation, this video compiles 40 of the most inspirational moments in cinematic history into a two-minute clip — from “Braveheart” to “Rocky.”

(Photo by Jefferson Siegel)

By Marlene Naanes
mnaanes@am-ny.com

It’s not love — but rather money — that’s keeping Milton Sandoval and his wife married.

The tough economy is increasingly making it harder for many New Yorkers like Sandoval to afford a divorce, experts said. Couples are finding they cannot finance separate households with the loss of a job, reduced income or increased cost of living.

“You just don’t want to be divorced, and then you don’t have any more money,” said Sandoval, 30, a waiter who is living with his parents in the Bronx in order to save enough to divorce his wife of four years.

Sandoval said that he has been forced to take a second job in medical billing because the poor economy has drastically driven down his tips, typically the heart of a waiter’s income.

Couples “are stuck and they don’t like it,” said Karen Zager, a Manhattan psychologist who specializes in parenting and relationship issues. “They’re living together unhappily and fighting, which was driving them apart in the first place.”

“These are harsh measures for harsh times,” said Zager, who is counseling people on how to live amicably with their spouse until they can divorce.

Continue reading "In a rough economy, to divorce or not to divorce?" »

By Jason Fink

Grace Pak entered the world a mini-celebrity this morning, becoming New York City’s first baby of 2009 and scoring a hospital visit from Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Born nine minutes after midnight at New York Hospital of Queens, the six-pound-three-ounce Grace spent her first morning basking in the spotlight of TV cameras.

“She did it,” her father, Daniel Pak, told reporters. “I'm very happy.”

She is the first girl in her family, with three older brothers.

Continue reading "Baby girl is city's first of 2009" »

Ask.com shared with Urbanite dozens of top-searched 2008 queries in New York that address the most random, most embarrassing, most creepy, and most concerning aspects of city life. Here are 10 of the more interesting bits:

Is it illegal to spit on someone in NY?

Who is the Naked Cowboy?

How do I remove auto dealership decals?

Are M-80s illegal in NY?

How do I block my phone number?

Is it illegal to photocopy currency?

How do I induce labor naturally?

Is it illegal to street race in NY?

How can I stalk someone?

How do I pass a polygraph?

-- Aline Reynolds

By Jason Fink

A man in Queens walked into Elmhurst Hospital early this morning after being shot three times, police said.

The man, who was not identified, was still being treated nearly 12 hours after the shooting, which happened around 4 a.m., according to police, who provided no details about the incident.

A published report said the man was shot outside a bar in Corona and then walked nearly two miles to the hospital.

A police official said the man had been uncooperative and that police were waiting at the hospital today for a chance to interview him. Police said his condition deteriorated in the hours after the shooting.

No arrests have been made

Sanitation workers clean up trash in Times Square this morning. AP photo

By The Associated Press

One million revelers packed into Times Square plus a ton of confetti and countless noisemakers equals a whole lot of garbage - about 40 tons, according to the city Department of Sanitation.

Cleanup crews hit the streets shortly after midnight today following the 2009 ball drop. Sanitation spokesman Keith Mellis said 163 people worked until 8 a.m. to sweep up the party trash, and a new shift started at 11 a.m. to tidy the area.

Because of the wind - nearly 25 mph gusts throughout the city - the department wasn't quite sure how much trash was strewn about, but Mellis expected a little more than last year's 40 tons. The Times Square Alliance, which puts on the event, said about 1 million people attended.

The biggest cleanup challenge is shooing away the massive crowd so crews can begin work, Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty said.

"It takes a while," he said. "Last night was a windy night. There's probably confetti as far as the East River."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg was out early today praising the department's work and expressing optimism about 2009 despite the economic gloom of 2008.

"There were an awful lot of good things that took place in 2008," he said. "Fewer people went to bed hungry, fewer people slept without a roof over their head, democracy continues to work in this country."

This is why you wear a helmet.

The Metropolitan Life tower looms over the Shake Shack. (RJ Mickelson/amNY)

By Lana Bortolot
Special to amNewYork

The toy industry may have largely vanished from the neighborhood, but there’s still plenty of play going on in the Flatiron District.

Boasting some of the city’s most renowned restaurants and iconic architecture, and anchored by two neighborhood parks, Flatiron is shedding its wallflower reputation and becoming a downtown neighborhood of choice.

“We’re seeing a resurgence of blocks that were desolate after 6 p.m. now with new restaurants and different ground uses coming on line,” says Jennifer Brown, executive director of the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership, the area’s two-year-old business improvement district. “Everyone in the neighborhood is excited about the growth and that people are making it their home. It’s a really relevant neighborhood with a lot of access.”

The restoration of Madison Square Park, ringed by stately architecture, set the gears in motion here, and the improvements keep coming. The area has been spruced up with trees and other plantings, and a new pedestrian plaza around the Flatiron Building may eventually include a concession stand, and a flower or holiday market.

The BID’s social services program has addressed the quality of life issues that plagued the area for years with a dedicated Clean Streets and Public Safety program.

A mix of upscale national brands and independent businesses line the retail corridors of Broadway and Fifth, many of which cater to the home-design market. And now, a number of luxury condo conversions will ensure that those businesses thrive as Flatiron becomes a full-out residential neighborhood.

Though residents welcome the changes, there are concerns about the neighborhood losing its character and becoming another shopping mall or Meatpacking District. Community Board member Jennifer Kozel, herself a Flatiron resident since 1999, says that while most of the changes are good, others are “problematic.”

“As the neighborhood becomes more residential, there are more amenities and that’s very exciting if you live here,” she said. “But as some of the buildings are converted to other things, you whittle away at a district. Those changes can be rough because you change the nature of the neighborhood.”

The influx of residents into a traditional manufacturing district also creates a need for elementary schools, which Flatiron lacks. And as the area becomes more popular with young families, quality of life economics—especially in current conditions—will become more of a factor in deciding who can afford living here.

“It used to be that when you moved in, you could get a big space for cheap and that would compensate for having to send your child to a private school,” Kozel said.

Still, Halstead Property executive vice president Barbara Licalzi, who has lived in Flatiron since 1993, says there’s no lack of interest in the neighborhood.

“The saving grace of Flatiron is that we don’t have a lot of inventory and that’s what keeps it desirable and active.”

Continue reading "City Living: Flatiron" »

The Rev. James Miara gives communion at a traditional Latin Mass at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in the Bronx. (Alana Abel)

By Max J. Dickstein

When Benjamin Cirillo goes with his wife and infant daughter this Sunday to Church of Our Savior in Murray Hill, the service — a traditional Latin Mass — will be unfamiliar territory.

“I came into the Church as an adult, so I’ve still got a lot to learn,” said Cirillo, 28, a portfolio manager for a hedge fund. “I’m looking forward to following it page by page.”

Our Savior’s pastor, the Rev. George William Rutler, is making his church the third in Manhattan in the past year to regularly offer a Latin Mass.

In place of vernacular-language liturgy introduced by the Vatican in 1970, Rutler, in low-voiced Latin, will conduct a centuries-old Mass last popularly celebrated in the early 1960s. Pope Benedict XVI eased the Latin Mass’s revival in July 2007, when he scuttled a requirement that bishops review any parish’s request to perform it.

Continue reading "Latin Mass makes comeback in NYC" »