Accidents and Disasters

'The Concert for Sandy Relief'

*UPDATE* Brooklyn Councilman Brad Lander Warns Real Estate Group to Halt Development Project Along Gowanus Canal

[UPDATE]: The Lightstone Group will continue its bid to build a 700-unit housing development on Bond Street along the Gowanus Canal despite concerns raised in a letter from Councilman Brad Lander yesterday, the company said in a statement released to the Voice. "The Lightstone Group is fully commi ... More >>

Brooklyn Councilman Brad Lander Warns Real Estate Group to Halt Development Project Along Gowanus Canal

City Councilman Brad Lander let national realty firm, The Lightstone Group, in on a little secret yesterday: it's not a great time to build along waterfront neighborhoods in the city right now! Lander sent a letter to Lightstone Group chairman and CEO David Lichtenstein urging the company to withdr ... More >>

NY State Liquor Authority Keep the Booze Flowing

Due to Sandy, Gov. Cuomo and the New York State Liquor Authority announced that they will take measures to help venues with liquor licenses in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, including extending license renewal dates, free license replacements, and New Year's Eve permits. [See More: The Best of Nate S ... More >>

Flood Zone, NYC

Bloomberg's push for development in the wrong places

Horror, Romance, and Artistry at the Japan Cuts Fest

The pop and the profound

The Scoundrel

FIGHTING SPIRIT

A Japanese village rebuilds with help from Chim↑Pom

Doomsday Clock, Still a Total Buzz Kill, Predicts Disaster

​The Doomsday Clock, a very appropriately named metaphorical timepiece that predicts the possibility of nuclear apocalypse, says that the world is a figurative minute closer to radioactive catastrophe than it was in 2010, the Los Angeles Times reports. The clock, run by the Science and Secur ... More >>

What It Was Like Inside the Washington Monument During Last Month's Earthquake

This video recently released by the National Park Service shows what it was like inside the Washington Monument during the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Virginia, sending vibrations up the Northeast coast, last month. It is unexpectedly scary!

Israeli Ambassador Airlifted Out of Egypt; Japanese Man Questioned About Air Force One Leak; State of Emergency Declared in Texas

Scenes from Springtime anti-Mubarak protests​Israel airlifted its ambassador out of their Cairo embassy after protesters swarmed the building, the Washington Post reports. Protests have been growing after the deaths of three Egyptian border guards who were killed by Israeli troops who say they ... More >>

Tornado Watch Issued for New York City

Wikipedia​The National Weather Service has put New York City and surrounding areas under a tornado watch until 8 p.m. this evening. The watch is also effective for counties in Connecticut and New Jersey. Along with potential tornadoes and hail, a "thunderstorm wind gust" of up to 70 miles per ... More >>

Charlie Sheen Visits Alabama to Help With Tornado Relief. For Real.

​So, it seems that Charlie Sheen is trying to help out after deadly tornadoes hit Alabama last week. He visited Tuscaloosa today (wearing a white University of Alabama hat) "to survey tornado damage" and meet with Mayor Walt Maddox, who's hopeful that Sheen's celebrity status will help with ra ... More >>

Top Chef Alums Rally to Raise Money for Japan

​Though Richard Blaise is busy parlaying his Top Chef victory into a stint shilling for the National Pork Board, some of his fellow reality show survivors are lending their names and food to a more philanthropic endeavor.

Tsunami Dog and Owner Are Reunited

via​Happy news! The dog that managed to survive for three weeks by clinging to the roof of a house after being swept up in Japan's tsunami has been reunited with its owner. The owner of the dog, whose name is Ban, found her at an animal care center in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, after seeing ... More >>

Bodies of Two Fukushima Workers Found; Teen Dies After Being Hit By Train

via NYDNAdrian Rodriguez​The bodies of two workers at Fukushima Daiichi missing since the earthquake and tsunami on March 11 have been found. Kazahiko Kokubo, 24, and Yoshiki Terashima, 21, were discovered in the basement of the No. 4 reactor; they appear to have suffered multiple traumatic injur ... More >>

Radioactive Water From Japan Plant Leaking Into Pacific; Arkansas Students Must Pull Up Pants

via Reuters​Officials say that highly radioactive water is leaking into the Pacific from a crippled reactor at Fukushima Daiichi. Water from a concrete pit has been seen escaping through a crack into the ocean; radiation levels in that pit have been measured at "1,000 millisieverts per hour, which ... More >>

SONIC RELIEF

Two benefits for Japan draw marquee names

Liz Taylor Late to Her Own Funeral; Earthquake Kills 74 in Myanmar; 100-Year Anniversary of Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

​• Elizabeth Taylor was late to her own funeral, because she asked to be. She was laid to rest in L.A.'s Forest Lawn Memorial Park yesterday in a ceremony that began 15 minutes late at her stipulation. Westboro Baptist, who'd threatened to picket, did not appear. Taylor shares a "large, mult ... More >>

Wyclef's Jean's Trouble With The Truth: A Recent History

​This weekend, the Internet was abuzz with reports from Wyclef Jean and his people that the ex-Fugee and former Haitian presidential candidate had been shot in the hand while campaigning for fellow performer Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly in Port-Au-Prince. Well, "grazed" by a bullet. Or was it ... More >>

Learn to Pickle and Help Out Japan

Brooklyn BrinePickle for a good cause​Many New York City restaurants are pitching in to assist with the crisis following Japan's tsunami and earthquake, and this week Brooklyn Brine will be holding a special pickling class, from which 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Doctors Without Bor ... More >>

80-Year-Old Grandma and Teenage Grandson Rescued After 9 Days in Tsunami Rubble

via​Here's another bit of good news from Japan: An 80-year-old grandma and her 16-year-old grandson were rescued after 9 days spent trapped under tsunami rubble in the kitchen of their collapsed home. The teen, Jin Abe, was finally able to climb out of the wreckage on Sunday and draw the atten ... More >>

Japanese Nuclear Crisis Continues; It's St. Patrick's Day; Employees Fired for Shrink-Wrapping Coworker

​• The nuclear crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Tokyo continues. Americans within 50 miles of the plant have been told to evacuate. The Japanese government has issued an evacuation zone of 12 miles, and says that those within 20 miles should "take shelter." Meanwhile, officials are s ... More >>

Mehtaphor Launches After School Program for (Precocious) Foodie Kids

Mehtaphor​Jehangir Mehta has been working with kids for a while, notably through his famed Candy Camp. So it shouldn't be surprising that he has a new venture for the young'uns aged 4 to 16 called Gastro-Kids After School Program, which begins this Friday at Mehtaphor. How perfect, too, sinc ... More >>

What Is the Red Cross Doing With Your Donations to Japan?

​Earlier today we were asked some questions about how organizations like the Red Cross are dealing with donations received for Japan. Specifically, how long do those text donations take to reach aid organizations? Are donations even reaching Japan, and will they? Gizmodo addressed the question ... More >>

Hurricane Rips Into a Haiti Still Waiting for Post-Earthquake Aid

Photo: Ariana Cubillos While Hurricane Tomas batters Haiti today, none of the $1.15 billion in aid pledged by the United States after last January's devastating earthquake has arrived. Ten months since the 7.3 magnitude quake killed 230,000 people and only weeks after news of a cholera outbreak, th ... More >>

Most Epic Tornado Video Yet: "We Are In the Tornado!"

This tornado video -- taken by Eric Meyers in Rice, Texas, from his car on Sunday as 125-mile winds tore through the area -- kinda makes the Brooklyn tornado guys look like amateurs, or, worse, a couple of wussy hipsters. "We are in the tornado" is the anti "Double rainbow all the way."

Drill Reaches Trapped Chilean Miners

​A rescue drill has made contact with the 33 miners trapped underground for over two months, the New York Times is reporting. A giant drill finished creating a hole through which to rescue the miners, though decisions must still be made about how much to enforce the walls before bringing the m ... More >>

Keeping Score on the Gulf: Fishermen Speak Up About Cover-Ups & Compensation

Slick business.​ The oil is no longer flowing and it's time for the people who make a living off the Gulf of Mexico's riches to return to the water. But for some, going back to work isn't as easy as it sounds.

First Tornado Hits the Bronx in 36 Years

via Daily News​On Friday night, for a 15-minute period, we were hunkered down in our windowless bathroom (just in case!) as our Twitter flashed "Tornado WARNING" from New York's Office of Emergency Management, NotifyNYC, and, of course, the National Weather Service. (A warning, for future refe ... More >>

Just How Bad Is BP's Undersea Gusher? The Spill Retrospective Chart

​On Tuesday, BP was supposed to begin testing the new cap over the Gulf oil leak that they say has the potential to stop the gushing flow. So we all waited around, biting our nails, crossing our fingers, and news-surfing for confirmation of success. On Wednesday night, what they said would be ... More >>

Breaking: Holy Crap, the Oil Leak in the Gulf May Be Contained

Unfortunately, capping the leak is probably not going to help this hermit crab.​Can it be? Dare we to believe? Say it's so! Brett Michael Dykes at Yahoo! News reports that "A tweet from the PBS NewsHour Twitter feed probably sums it up best: 'BREAKING: There does not appear to be oil flowing i ... More >>

Susan Spicer, New Orleans Chef, Sticks It to British Petroleum

​Famed New Orleans chef and cook book author Susan Spicer has filed a class action lawsuit against British Petroleum, Halliburton, and Transocean, Ltd. Entered in New Orleans Federal Court, the suit asks for both compensatory and punitive damages - as yet unspecified -- for the harm that has r ... More >>

The Other Gulf Oil Rig Quietly Spilling Right Now: Explained and Exposed

​Here's a strange one: a filing by Ben Raines at the Alabama Press-Register on Monday evening shows up online with a headline announcing "Another Gulf oil spill: Well near Deepwater Horizon has leaked since at least April 30." Some bloggers may have noted it. But why aren't we hearing anything ... More >>

BP "Top Kill" Might Actually Be Successful?

​Dare we to hope? The federal government's top oil spill commander (yes, apparently such a person now exists) Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen has said that the engineers who attempted the "top kill" have succeeded in stopping the flow of oil and gas into the Gulf.

The BP Oil Spill Disaster: It's Top Kill Time, Baby!

​The BP Oil Spill Disaster has been going on for quite some time now, but BP - when they're not busy possibly constructing horrific charts or ignoring incredibly apparent warning signs - thinks they have the answer: Top Kill, Live on TV!

About that Oil Leak in the Gulf: How Disastrous Is It?

​It turns out, we pretty much all see the oil spill in the Gulf as a major disaster, reports Pew Research. And that's sort of heartening, because the only thing worse than a ruptured well in the Gulf leaking 210,000 gallons of oil a day into the water and up onto the shores would be people run ... More >>

The Subway Sucks, But at Least It Isn't the DC Metro (Which Derailed, Again)

​OK, so our subways are getting more expensive and frequently out of service, but at least they're not as dangerous as the DC Metro. This morning at 10:13 a Red Line train derailed near the Farragut North Metrorail station. No injuries are reported, but at the writing passengers are still in t ... More >>

HEARTS ON FIRE

Capturing devastation one disaster at a time

Topper

Buildings Commissioner Resigns Amid Construction Chaos

Desert Bayou

All Wet

Bloomberg's man Dan Doctoroff has an answer for rising seas: more coastal condos!

Barricading the Storm

Why the White House Won't Release Its Katrina Papers

Flyover

Bush stands up Catholic schoolgirls in the Big Uneasy

Rotting Meat Still Litters Gulf Coast

Mississippi governor says federal Katrina response stinks

Morning Report 9/28/05
Barney Fife on Capitol Hill

Morning Report 9/7/05
The POTUS As Putz

New Orleans Via New York

Break out the beads for a little Mardi-Gras mayhem

Crash of Civilizations