NY Maple Aroma Mystery Solved

To replace the tunnel Chris Christie called off

(NEWSER) - Michael Bloomberg is hatching a plan to build a subway tunnel under the Hudson River linking Manhattan to Secaucus, NJ. The plan is designed to replace the long-planned tunnel from New Jersey that Chris Christie killed when he came into office, and according to a secret memorandum obtained by the New York Times , it would cost about half as much as that project, because the city is already extending a tunnel near the waterfront. More»

Polling guru gives a post-mortem on last night's elections

(NEWSER) - The numbers are in, now it's time to make sense of them. Nate Silver breaks down last night's election results:

• Don’t blame Obama; Creigh Deeds and Jon Corzine were probably just weak candidates. In New Jersey, 57% of voters approved of Obama, but 27% of those supporters voted Republican anyway. In Virginia 20% of those who approved of Obama voted GOP.
• Democrats had turnout problems in Virginia; the voters who came out last night supported McCain 51-43 in 2008, a mirror image of that year's margin.

Plan calls for $8 fee to drive into Manhattan

(NEWSER) - Michael Bloomberg chose Earth Day to launch an ambitious, expensive and politically uncertain campaign to make New York City “the first environmentally sustainable 21st-century city.” The most provocative proposal: charging drivers $8 a day for entering Manhattan below 86th Street. More»

'Lone wolf' Jose Pimentel was 'hour away' from finishing first bomb: Cops

(NEWSER) - A suspected lone wolf terrorist has been charged with plotting to kill US soldiers and police with bombs he was building in his Manhattan apartment, according to law enforcement authorities. Jose Pimentel, 27, who goes by the name Muhammad Yusuf, intended to test three bombs in mailboxes before using explosives on soldiers returning home from Afghanistan and Iraq, said New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly at a press conference yesterday. He also planned to target NYPD cruisers, postal facilities, and a New Jersey police station, said Kelly. Pimentel allegedly told an informant that the bombings would show the public “there was mujahedeen in the city ready to wage Jihad," reports the New York Daily News. More»

Why go to all the trouble of buying a physical ticket?

(NEWSER) - Poker sites may be strictly verboten , but another kind of online gambling is starting to crop up: state lotteries. Minnesota has already begun selling lottery tickets online, even offering year-long subscriptions for its Powerball and Mega Millions games, USA Today reports. Several other states are considering following suit. A bill allowing online lotto sales has already passed a New Jersey Assembly committee, and another has been introduced in New York. More»