Democrats and Republicans Pick Standard Bearers in Race for Silver’s Seat

The local Democratic and Republican parties have selected their candidates to run in the April 19 special election for the State Assembly seat vacated by former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver last November, when he was convicted of multiple corruption charges. The Democratic Party nomination has gone to Alice Cancel, a Lower East Side-resident who also...
Members of the Manhattan Democratic County Committee for the 65th Assembly District weigh their options for a candidate to succeed Sheldon Silver

Death from Above

In the decade and a half since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Downtown Manhattan community has endured civic calamities large and small: the DeutscheBank fire of 2007, Hurricane Irene in 2011, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012. There have also been more than a few near misses, consisting mostly of construction accidents that...

EYES TO THE SKY February 8 – 21, 2016

I was visited by Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, who, just like in Greek times, acted as a messenger of the gods. That’s how it came to be that when I looked out a picture window there were ribbons of glowing blue-green, pink and violet in clouds that had appeared above the hills to...
Bird's-eye view of the inner solar system on February 7, 2016 as seen from direction north. Going outward from sun, the inner planets are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. On this date, Mars is at west quadrature as seen from Earth, Mercury reaches its greatest western elongation seen from Earth, and Earth reaches greatest eastern elongation seen from Mars. Image via Solar System Live

Avant Kids

A glimpse of the intensively creative, wildly inventive ferment that is a core part of the curriculum at Blue School, in the Seaport District, was on display last weekend at Gibney Dance, on Chambers Street. Picture an intensely visual reinterpretation of Dr. Seuss, infused with elements of the Who’s rock opera, “Tommy,” all rendered in...

Little Kubricks

Seven students from Manhattan’s Youth’s film program have received the 2015 Peacemaker Champion Award from the PLURAL+ youth video festival, which is operated by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC). PLURAL+ selected 25 videos, out of more than 240 submissions from 59 countries worldwide, to receive the Peacemaker Champion Award. The Manhattan Youth entry...

Today in History February 4

211 – Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies at Eboracum while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians. He is famously said to have given the advice to Caracalla and Geta, his quarrelling sons: “Be harmonious, enrich the soldiers, and scorn all other men” and left the empire in their control. By the end of...
The Severan Tondo, depicting Septimius Severus, his wife Julia Domna, Caracalla, and the obliterated image of Geta