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Brooklyn man accused of buying and selling kidneys

Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn called himself a "matchmaker," but his business wasn't romance. Instead, authorities say, he brokered the sale of black-market kidneys, buying organs from vulnerable people from Israel for $10,000 and selling them to desperate patients in the U.S. for as much as $160,000.

The alleged decade-long scheme, exposed this week by an FBI sting, rocked the nation's transplant industry. If true, it would be the first documented case of organ trafficking in the U.S., transplant experts said Friday. "There's certainly cross-national activity, but it hasn't touched the United States or we haven't known about it until now," said University of Pennsylvania medical ethicist Arthur Caplan, who is co-directing a U.N. task force on international organ trafficking.

» Yahoo [ Contribute: submit link / submit article ]

Bloomberg Apologizes For His Idling SUVs

Bloomberg ordered his drivers to stop the practice this week. The AP had observed the parked vehicles' engines running for long periods of time throughout New York City.

» WCBS [ Contribute: submit link / submit article ]

NYC On Track For The 2nd Coolest July On Record

WITH AN AVERAGE DAILY TEMPERATURE OF 71.6...CURRENTLY RUNNING 4.7
DEGREES BELOW NORMAL...THIS JULY IS ON TRACK FOR THE 2ND COOLEST
ON RECORD. BELOW AVERAGE TEMPERATURES HAVE OCCURRED ON 21 OUT OF
23 DAYS...WITH THE OTHER TWO DAYS BEING NORMAL. THERE HAVE BEEN
ZERO ABOVE NORMAL DAYS.

CENTRAL PARK HAS ONLY REACHED 85 DEGREES ONCE THIS MONTH...ON THE
17TH...AND HAS NOT YET REACHED 90 DEGREES THIS SUMMER. IF THIS
CONTINUES THROUGH THE END OF THE MONTH...IT WILL ONLY BE THE
SECOND TIME SINCE 1869 THAT 90 DEGREES WAS NOT REACHED IN JUNE OR
JULY. THE ONLY OTHER TIME THIS OCCURRED WAS 1996.

» Weather.gov [ Contribute: submit link / submit article ]

Project HYDRA Secure Super Grid: Attack-Proof Power Line Under NYC

American Superconductor Corporation and Con Edison, announced joint effort to develop and deploy a new system level solution that utilizes high temperature superconductor (HTS) power cable technology in Con Edison's grid in New York City. Code named Project HYDRA, this new technology is capable of carrying very large amounts of power while also being able to automatically suppress power surges. The Department of Homeland Security will invest in the development and demonstration of this technology to enable "Secure Super Grids" in the United States.

» amsuper.com [ Contribute: submit link / submit article / submit company ]

Curl Up With A Good Blog

Publishers increasingly turn to the web to find new talent - but they should be doing it more. Once upon a time, a writer would have to try to attract the interest of an agent in the hope they would submit their proposals to publishers and beg them a book deal. Now, however, it would appear to just be a simple matter of a writer posting their work online and then sitting back waiting for the offers to roll in.

Yesterday's announcement of this year's winners of the award for blogs turned into books, the Lulu Blooker prize, would have us believe that many publishers are perusing blogs with the aim of adapting them into books. The website eagerly claims, "Traditional publishing houses, ever in search of the next big name author, have begun to mine blogs and websites for new talent."

» guardian.co.uk [ Contribute: submit link / submit article / submit company ]

New York Sues Dell for Deceptive Business Practices

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is suing Dell, alleging bait and switch financing tactics, false advertising, and 'numerous other deceptive business practices relating to their technical support services, promotional financing, rebate offers, and billing and collection activity.' According to Cuomo himself, 'At Dell, customer service means no service at all.'

» state.ny.us [ Contribute: submit link / submit article / submit company ]

Lindsay Lohan sued; NYC photographer says she hit him with BMW

Lindsay Lohan and her mother have been sued by a New York City freelance photographer who claims the 'Georgia Rule' actress struck him with a BMW.

Photographer Giovanni Arnold claims he 'sustained severe and permanent personal injuries' when he was struck by the BMW on Ninth Avenue between 12th and 13th streets in Manhattan on March 13.

Arnold's attorney, Marc Mauser, said Tuesday that his client suffered injuries to both knees and was 'still getting medical treatment.' He said Arnold was seeking unspecified monetary damages 'for his pain and suffering and his lost wages.'

» AP [ Contribute: submit link / submit article / submit company ]

New York City Renters Cope With Squeeze

Property and Portfolio Research: The vacancy rate for Manhattan rentals is now estimated at 3.7%... It is expected to shrink to 3.3% by the end of this year and to 2.9% by 2011. Renters without high salaries… are squeezing in extra roommates or making alterations... The rents for one-bedroom apartments in Manhattan average $2,567 a month, and two-bedrooms average $3,854 a month, according to data from Citi Habitats. Because landlords typically require renters to earn 40 times their monthly rent in annual income, renters of those average apartments would need to earn at least $102,680, individually or combined, to qualify for a one-bedroom and $154,160 to afford a two-bedroom.

» nytimes.com [ Contribute: submit link / submit article / submit company ]

Home Prices Fall in Rich New York Suburbs Once Immune to Slump

MLS: The average price in Westport, Connecticut, fell 8.2% to $1.56 million in Jan.-April 2007, from Jan.-Apr. 2006.... In Chappaqua, New York… properties sit on the market an average of seven months before they sell, up from five months a year ago… The tightening of credit in response to rising subprime defaults has disrupted the real estate food chain… Prices fell as much as 18.8% this year in areas of… New Jersey, Connecticut and New York's Westchester County… Larchmont and Mamaroneck experienced a drop of 18.8% to $1.08m… In Bronxville, the slide was 12.4% to $1.34m. Home prices continue to climb in the wealthiest California suburbs, at a much slower pace.

» bloomberg

Judge says NY surveillance data can be made public

Six hundred pages of documents relating to intelligence that New York City gathered before the 2004 Republican National Convention should be made public, a federal judge ruled on Friday.

Judge James Francis of U.S. District Court in Manhattan struck down the city's attempt to keep the documents confidential, but agreed to keep them sealed pending a possible city appeal. The New York Civil Liberties Union and The New York Times had petitioned the judge to make the documents public.

» Reuters