"New York-dwelling tech geeks rejoice: Pretty soon, you’ll be able to access Wi-Fi while lounging in the park.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, along with AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson, announced Thursday a five-year initiative to bring free Wi-Fi to 26 locations in 20 New York City parks across the boroughs. Today, AT&T Wi-Fi will be up and running in Battery Bosque (a garden in Battery Park), the north-end playground in Joyce Kilmer Park in the Bronx, and around the recreation center at Thomas Jefferson Park in East Harlem.
The other 23 locations will begin to pop up over the summer — Wi-Fi is even coming to the blighted grass of Brooklyn’s McCarren Park, where I personally plan to while the summer away.
The city has been getting increasingly digital of late, adding Wi-Fi to subways, car services and hotspots like Times Square (via AT&T as well). This new parks effort, however, is a part of New York’s Road Map for the Digital City, a plan unveiled in May 2011 to make the city more connected. AT&T, meanwhile, gets some badly-needed PR." - via Masahable
"Jigga adds 'Buffalo Boss' to his portfolio after investing the popular Brooklyn restaurant. Jay-Z has been a boss to many over the years, but being a Buffalo Boss is definitely a first. The Marcy Projects native has invested in the popular chicken wings restaurant Buffalo Boss.
Hov isn't alone in his new venture, his Mother Gloria, his sister Andrea and his cousin Jamar White have also put their money behind the Brooklyn eatery. Buffalo Boss, located on Fulton St. near Flatbush Ave in downtown Brooklyn, offers nine types of wings and free delivery. All their chicken is organic and hormone and trans fat free." - Via HipHopDX
Buffalo Boss - 554 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY (718) 624-2677
MANHATTAN — "A violent ex-convict charged with the gruesome murder of a woman found stuffed inside a suitcase on an East Harlem sidewalk told authorities he strangled the victim with an electrical cord before disposing of her belongings and dumping the body, prosecutors said.
Hassan Malik, 55, of East Harlem, was arraigned on charges of second-degree murder Tuesday, nearly a week after allegedly killing 28-year-old Betty Williams and leaving her body in a suitcase on East 114th Street.
Malik allegedly gave police a series of excuses for Williams' death, first claiming that he returned home to find her already dead in his apartment, and later changing his tale to say that she started a fight by hitting him on the shoulder with a frying pan, according to the criminal complaint.
Malik told police that he had been letting Williams stay in his apartment, and that he hit Williams twice on the back of the head with the pan in self-defense, the complaint said.
"The defendant then said that after striking her twice in the head with the frying pan she managed to wrap an electric cord around his neck but he ... was able to gain control of the electric cord, wrap it around her neck, and cause her to pass out. .. [he] stated shortly after she passed out he discovered she was dead," Malik's criminal complaint reads.
Malik "then admitted to discarding some of her personal belongings, packing her into a suitcase, and abandoning her in the street," the complaint added.
Prosecutors said he fled after dumping Williams' "partially clad" body, and had to be traced by phone records. They did not say where he went.
Sources said Malik is currently on probation after pleading guilty to attempted robbery for an incident in Manhattan in January. He was ordered held without bail Tuesday after prosecutors called him an extreme flight risk.
Williams' body was found near Rao's, a famed Italian restaurant, when a passerby unzipped the suitcase last Wednesday and Williams' leg popped out.
Malik's address is on Pleasant Avenue near 117th Street, just a few blocks from where the suitcase was found.
A neighbor of Malik's, who asked not to be identified, said he had seen Malik be taken out of the building in handcuffs before. The man, who's lived in the building for a decade, said the rumor in the building was that Malik was a former con man.
"He used to meet ladies on the internet, go to hotel rooms and rip them off," the neighbor said. "I was never frightened of him, he was such a friendly man."
The neigbor added that police camped out in front of the aparment building before arresting Malik on Monday. He said he saw officers taking boxes full of items from Malik's 4th-floor apartment. The neighbor said Malik told him he was from New Orleans when he moved in about nine months ago.
An aquaintence of Malik's said she was surprised by the allegations.
"We were so surprised. He always was so nice, he always said 'Hi, hello, how are you?' When we found out it was him from the word outside, I said, 'wow'," said superintent Flor Estin, 63, who works in the building next to Malik.
Malik's lawyer, Richard Ma, said his client was a drug counselor who lived with his family in the Bronx for 12 years before moving to Harlem earlier this year".
(AllHipHop News) Founding Roc-A-Fella Records member Kareem "Biggs" Burke was arrested today (October 15th) with 42 other people in a ring that allegedly controlled the marijuana market in New York City.
According to The New York Daily News, Burke has been a part of the ring since 1992. Federal prosecutors claim that Burke was part of a network that was headed up by Geovanny (Manny) Rodriguez Perez aka "Shorty."
Police accused Shorty's network of growing the pot down south, shipping it up north in tractor trailers and returning the proceeds to South Florida, according to Jim Hayes, a special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations For Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Police arrested Burke at his home in North Bergen, N.J. In addition to Burke, an advertising executive for High Times named Matthew Stang was arrested in an 18 month operation, which was dubbed "Operation Green Venom."
Agents confiscated $1 million in drug profits and 177 pounds of marijuana from the suspects as well.
"This isn't just a group that controlled one block, one neighborhood," Hayes said. "They dominated the wholesale marijuana market in New York for 20 years."
Burke helped co-found Roc-A-Fella Records in 1996 with Jay-Z and Damon Dash, after the pair had been turned down by several record labels.
They landed a distribution deal with Priority Records and released Jay-Z's classic debut album, Reasonable Doubt.
Kareem "Biggs" Burke and the others face 10 years to life in prison for allegedly distributing over 1,000 kilos of the drug.
