Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

If you needed any more proof New York City breeds freaks and mutants, it’s here. Gothamist is reporting the City may have created its very own specie of ant.

(by Alissa Fleck)

A Columbia professor decided, earlier this year, to investigate the wildlife outside his 63rd and Broadway building rather than go on a tropical reconnaissance mission (budget cuts?), when he made a shocking discovery. The ant specie he found on the front sidewalk was new to North America, and likely the entire world, reports Gothamist. The jury’s still out on whether he’s disappointed about forgoing a tropical vacation to study city ants.

As of now, the new species remains unnamed, though the NY Post has lovingly dubbed it the “ManhattAnt.” Thirteen different species of ant already live in the City, but Gothamist reports it’s possible this species evolved to live in warmer, drier habitats. It’s also possible it literally “jumped ship” from another continent.

The professor who made the discovery is studying the diets of urban ants (urbants?) and has found they contain high levels of carbon due to increased consumption of corn syrup.  The more fascinating issue seems to be there is someone out there who studies the stomach contents of City ants.

Add this to the long list of terrifying things squeezing and scurrying out of the Concrete Jungle’s crevices.

Anthony Weiner. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

by Adel Manoukian

Anthony Weiner and his wife, Huma Abedin moved into a $3.3 million Manhattan apartment on Park Avenue owned by a wealthy Democratic donor Jack Rosen, according to NY Post reports.

After leaving the congressional seat that earned Weiner $174,000 a year due to his notorious sexting scandal, the couple made the drastic upgrade from their 875-square foot two-bedroom condo in Forest Hills worth $430,000 to their new 2,210 square-foot, four-bedroom, 3.5-bathroom home.

Weiner is jobless and Abedin makes about $155,000 a year as a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton so many are surprised that the couple can afford the rent on the place located at 254 Park Avenue South at East 20th Street. Real-estate experts say that the couple pays at least $12,000 to $14,000 per month while a Democratic fund-raising source speculates to the NY Post that the couple may be living there gratis, as Rosen is a close friend of the Clintons. Rosen has given money into Bill and Hillary Clinton’s election campaigns for years, even flying the Clintons in his private plane. He has also contributed thousands of dollars to Weiner’s financial reserves.

Abedin’s job forces her to face restrictions on receiving gifts and must disclose any financial dealings so her decision-making is not swayed by private interests. But an official who knows the couple denies the notion that Rosen would try to affect Abedin who could then influence Clinton.

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

One 9-year-old Bronx boy is sure to be traumatized for awhile following an incident last Wednesday. NBC reports a man, who appeared to be about 50, pushed the young boy into a wall after following him into his apartment and then robbed him, before making off on a bicycle. The boy, Jacky Saunders, had made a brief errand to a nearby bodega to buy soap for his aunt, and had about $19 in cash in his hand. The robbery took place in the Fordham section of the Bronx, and the perpetrator is still on the loose.

The NY Post is calling this just the latest in a string of crimes, targeting children, a so-called “kiddie crime wave.” Saunders is at least the fourth victim of a crime involving an adult robbing a child, since early July, reports the Post. A 2-year-old and 3-year-old, respectively, were recently robbed around the City of jewelry they were wearing.

—Alissa Fleck

Brooklyn State Supreme Courthouse. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

by Adel Manoukian

Levi Aron, the man who confessed to kidnapping, killing, and dismembering 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky last year pleaded guilty yesterday to second-degree murder and kidnapping charges. Aron will serve 25 years on the murder charge and 15 more years for kidnapping when he is officially sentenced on the 29th of August, according to the NY Post.

The diagnosed schizophrenic wanted to avoid a lengthy trial so he admitted to the crime Thursday afternoon in a ceremonial courtroom at the State Supreme Courthouse in Brooklyn. The judge asked him a series of questions pertaining to the violent crime.

The 36-year-old Brooklyn orthodox man said that he kidnapped Kletzky off the street on July 11 of last year as the boy was coming home from a religious summer day camp. Then Aron drove to a relative’s wedding upstate, leaving the boy in the car. Before his death, Kletzky was held in Aron’s Kensington apartment attic for a night. The next day, Aron fed the boy a sandwich, gave him muscle relaxants and pain killers, and then smothered him with a towel. Police later found some of the boy’s parts in Aron’s freezer and in a dumpster in Sunset Park, about two miles from Aron’s apartment.

State Assemblyman Dov Hikind told reporters he expects Aron to get a life imprisonment sentence on the the 29th, according to Gothamist reports.

The victim’s parents did not attend the hearing. Initially, deals after Aron’s arrest were not made and no plea bargain was set to be issued but they soon were at the request of Kletzky’s parents who could not endure the gruesome details of the lengthy trial.

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

Here’s one visit to New York that did not end well. Yesterday, a tourist from Barcelona was attacked by a man in a suit and tie in City Hall Park, reported Gothamist. The weapon of choice? A hammer. According to witnesses, the attacker—who supposedly “looked normal”—repeatedly struck the man with the claw end of the hammer.

The attacker, 43-year-old John Yoos, screamed about Nazis and various American presidents while striking the man, according to police. Witnesses took Yoos down to the ground and held him until police arrived. The victim suffered a fractured skill and defensive wounds, but is in stable condition according to the NY Post. His wife witnessed the whole disturbing incident.

The attack is reminiscent of another random act of violence two weeks ago on the Upper East Side, in which a crazed homeless man stabbed a young woman walking down the street. Hopefully this recent spate of summer violence calms down soon.

—Alissa Fleck

Grand Central Station. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

by Adel Manoukian

Apple is under scrutiny after State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office released an audit claiming the company had an unfair advantage when the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) let it secure a spot in the Grand Central Station.

In December of last year, Apple was allowed to open up a store in the iconic building’s balcony.

The audit states that the MTA and Apple negotiated a lease for over two years before the Authority asked other companies for proposals on the space.

Before that request was released in May 2011, Apple tried to get reimbursed by NYC taxpayers in July 2009 for the $2 million it had paid the restaurant Metrazur to occupy the space at Grand Central. This was rejected by the MTA. The audit claims that the MTA allowed Apple to set a hurdle for rival bidders–the authority required companies bidding for the space to pay $5 million upfront, something Apple was able to do, according to NY Post reports. This gave Apple the competitive edge, according to DiNapoli.

The State Comptroller performed the audit after a 2010 review of MTA real estate practices revealed issues and a second audit that year revealed that only two of the 12 recommendations to better their practices had been enforced, according to the comptroller’s office.

But MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota believes that the audit lacks accuracy and is “worthless” opinion, according to the NY Post.

Jeffrey Rosen, the MTA’s real-estate director wrote in a letter to DiNapoli’s office that the authority intervened in negotiations between Apple and the restaurant because it saw an opportunity to have the restaurant surrender its lease which ends in 2019 because Apple would pay a higher rent and generate more revenue for surrounding businesses. The MTA says that Apple is paying $1.1 million in rent, four times what the restaurant was paying.

The comptroller wants to have more oversight on public authority contracts worth more than $1 million so this is less likely to happen again.

Willis claims Pakistani beer—such that it was described in the police report—does not in fact exist. Yes, that’s her defense. The Brown University student’s defense lawyer, Stacey Richman, is arguing the particular kind of beverage exists, but not in the eight ounce can detailed in the complaint, says the Post. Furthermore, the beverage distributed by the brewery is in fact a non-alcoholic beer, according to inquiries with Pakistan’s only brewery.

Richman is demanding prosecutors produce the “beer” can or drop the charge, saying for all she knows it “could be a Sprite.” Willis will be in court on July 31, at which point her fate will be determined.

—Alissa Fleck

Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

by Adel Manoukian

If you’re a young woman taking the train, you may be filmed or photographed and not even know it.

John Zippy has uploaded 35 videos with titles like “Sexy Asian Girls” or “Hot Nerd Girl” onto his Youtube account and about 102 photographs of unsuspecting females on his blog entitled  “New York Subway Girls” since late February.

The 42-year-old man hides a camera in a Starbucks coffee cup to capture images of women he deems attractive, according to the NY Post.

Police figure they can do little to nothing about it as “intimate” filming of people without their consent can be brought to court but taping people in public is not a crime. Courts would have to decide what they consider “intimate” despite the invasion of privacy aspect since women are either sitting or walking in the videos and images.

Zippy understands that many people see this as “creepy”, as one of his videos shows what is up a blonde’s skirt as she reads a magazine, but he claims he does this for the sake of art.

“I have over the years had conversations with people…about how they saw the ‘most beautiful,’ ‘the hottest,’ ‘most amazing,’ ‘the finest’ woman on the subway followed by a vivid description worthy of a sonnet,” said Zippy in an email to the NY Post.

“I decided to try and capture this common occurrence in one place where people could share and comment in an open and nonjudgmental manner.”

Since news spread of this man, Youtube has taken down his account due to violations of the website’s nudity policy.

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

New Yorkers are no strangers to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Six years ago, then 64-year-old Michael Steinberg was on his way to work the night shift at the post office when things got a little dicey. He was at the 110th and Broadway station at 3 a.m., when a man approached him armed with two chainsaws.

The man, Tareyton Williams, calmly approached Steinberg, the NY Post reports, and began carving him up. Steinberg, slight in stature, reportedly begged Williams to accept credit cards and money, but the assault continued unhindered. Eventually Williams took Steinberg’s cards and money and left the station.

The saw, which punctured Steinberg’s lung, would have killed him if it went one millimeter deeper a doctor later told him.

Williams went to prison, but not before apologizing to Steinberg, who accepted. But Steinberg hasn’t forgiven everyone for the life-altering trauma—he has sued both Transit Authority and Five Star Electric Corp. for damages, blaming the two companies for the chainsaws being left unattended in the first place.

Neither of these companies has apologized to Steinberg. A judge let TA off the hook, the Post writes, but the case against Five Star begins today. Five Star maintains it’s not at fault for the incident.

Steinberg may have forgiven the insane man who attacked him, but the assault left him with extreme emotional trauma he cannot shake. He can no longer ride the subway or go to work; his life has been ruined, he says.

Equally worrisome is no one taking responsibility for what happened—how many more chainsaws must be appropriated as torture devices before leaving equipment unattended is considered unlawful?

—Alissa Fleck