There are some residual delays on Metro-North this morning after yesterday's East Harlem building collapse that led to the suspension of all service in and out of Grand Central. The trains' speed restrictions were lifted at 6:30 a.m. and there may be 5-10 delays. A crowd formed in Grand Central as commuters waited out the suspension or devised alternate routes to get home as the New Haven, Hudson and Harlem lines were all down. But......

Above images from WNBC 4, below right image from WCBS 2; bottom left image from Peter Haskell/WCBS 880 A building collapse at 124th Street and Park Avenue has prompted the MTA to shut down all train service in and out of Grand Central Terminal. Metro-North's Dan Brucker told WCBS 880, "We don't know how long the closure will last. We have been told by the police not to have any trains run through the......

Die Romantik (myspace, website) is a guitar, drum and keyboard trio with a knack for weaving lush, elegant melodies that never lose the element of surprise. Brooklyn by way of France, the group has developed a local following that recently earned them a spot on the lineup for Malajube’s show at Bowery Ballroom. Their debut full-length album, Narcissist’s Waltz, was summed up by Stylus magazine thusly: “An album of sophisticated arrangements and lullaby melodies that......

We'd expect a lack of municipal fealty from most people in show business, but we were disappointed to hear that Al Pacino and Robert De Niro would be turning up a chance to shoot in the city in exchange for a building in Connecticut with a NYC backdrop behind it. The New York Post reported briefly that some scenes of the in-production film "Righteous Kill" will be posing scenes set in NYC in Stamford,......

Never leave home without it: City Councilman Hiram Monserrate is proposing a bill that would allow all NYC residents to have identification cards, regardless of legal status. The NY Times reports that Monserrate was inspired by New Haven's ID program, which gives residents a card they can use as a proof of residency to open bank accounts, card to use on meters, library card, and more. Though the plan attracted much outside criticism, the plan......

New Anchor, Same Old Tardiness There must be something about the morning shift at WABC. After just four days on the job as the permanent replacement for Steve Bartelstein, Ken Rosato, overslept and was late for the 5 a.m. edition of Eyewitness News. We think it is pretty safe to assume that he just overslept, since he probably hasn’t adjusted his body clock fully to the new hours, and that he wasn’t spending the night......

A transit authority committee reversed track on a move to ban alcohol on commuter trains after receiving a stack of petitions that were signed by thousands of riders who objected. Facing overwhelming opposition from their customers, the LIRR and Metro-North will continue to allow them to drink. The New York Times describes the opposition to the proposed booze ban as being a modern democratic uniter, linking different socio-economic groups in a common cocktail cause. We......

Hoorah! WNBC has a clip of Sue Simmons's Groundhog Impression, 2007 edition from yesterday's newscast. How did the WNBC anchor start imitating woodland creatures?Sue says her imitation of the groundhog face actually began before she came to New York, when she was a reporter in New Haven. On Groundhog Day one year, she ended a live shot with the groundhog face, and for weeks, people kept coming up to her asking for a repeat performace.And......

A train commute without a buzz? The MTA may look into banning alcohol sales on LIRR and Metro-North trains. The NY Sun reports MTA board member Mitchell Pally as saying, "They can have as many beers as they want as soon as they get home. I would prefer we don't let anyone drink alcohol on the train. If we're not ready to go that far … the least we can do is not make it......

I tend not to enjoy myself at rap shows. I've got nothing against Rap music and I'm no racist, but I just never seem to really get into it. There are some shows I've really dug. Wu-Tang a few months ago in New Haven was a total trip. Atmosphere always impresses me live (Yes, he's white and no, I'm still not racist.) Other than that, I've been disappointed by nearly every live hip-hop show I've......

If you are interested in urban planning, architecture, or real estate, The Stamford Review is a great read. It's a scholarly journal that deals with a lot of those issues, published in NYC and Stamford, CT. We got a copy of their spring issue (available as a free download at StamfordReview.com, which contained many intriguing pieces about the limits of growth in our city, and what is going to happen next. Larry Sicular, the......

Craziness on the weather front this morning. High winds have tipped over tractor trailers on the George Washington and Tappan Zee Bridges, closing both for a while this morning. In the Bronx, where wind gusts have been up to 68 mph, trees have fallen across MetroNorth tracks, delaying their Harlem and New Haven line runs. 1010 WINS is also reporting power outages in the Bronx, Westchester, New Jersey and on Long Island. How was your......

Gorman Bechard, Director and Screenwriter, You Are Alone, Novelist...

The freight train derailment in the Bronx that blocked Amtrak service yesterday and is causing problems even today was bad (Boston-bound passengers had to take shuttle buses from Penn Station to Grand Central, then take the Metro-North to New Haven to pick up an Amtrak there - totally sucks), but Gothamist is a little more freaked out about why PATH service was held up during last night's commute: A building with a sagging wall. The......

Gothamist cannot get enough of the story of Hakan Yalincak, the NYU senior who is currently in a New Haven jail on charges that he orchestrated a multi-million dollar check kiting scheme. Yesterday, he was denied bail after authorities found a counterfeit check, plus the same stock of paper Yalincak allegedly created a $25 million check from. It's totally a Frank Abagnale, the subject of Catch Me If You Can! Yalincak's defense attorney tried to......

There must be a movie in reporter Andrew Jacobs' NY Times article about what happens when Grand Central is closed for the night and trains to Connecticut and Westchester stop running. An MTA police officer, Stephen Nowicki, who works what is called the "lobster shift" tells Jacobs, "I can't tell you how many times I've seen grown men in tears." So brilliant. There's a whole vernacular for the people who miss trains - "Train wrecks,"......

Young Jean Lee, Playwright/Director...

The New York Times Styles section tries to deconstruct Lyric Benson and Robert Ambrosino's relationship, mainly focusing on the differences that emerged in the past year: Benson getting more acting work, her job as hostess at Balthazar, just being closer to her goal of success, while Ambrosino is painted as a strange, drifting figure, though a "king of New Haven," a little fish in the New York City pond. The Times includes many casual pictures......