A New York City councilwoman wants a plaque honoring Michael Jackson placed at the Brooklyn subway stop where the King of Pop made the music video for “Bad,” the Associated Press reports. Perhaps Jackson’s name could even be added to the the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station, she says.

But don’t hold out Read more of this entry »

There are a lot of deals out there on airline flights, as there are on everything for used cars to dinners at the local pizzeria. But this one has to catch the eye: jetBlue is offering an “All You Can Jet” pass for $599.

It’s good for domestic flights from Sept. 8 through Oct. 8. But you have to buy the pass by this Friday. And you have to book Read more of this entry »

Gov. David Paterson swept into Tarrytown today to announce that the village train station would get $39 million in stimulus funds. That’s for new platforms, heated shelters, overhead covered walkways with benches and so on.

The governor gathered with a bunch of local Read more of this entry »

It’s been 15 years since my newspaper somewhat prematurely announced the end of the world.

The occassion was the accident in which a trucker, apparently running on too little sleep, slammed his rig into the side of the Grant Avenue bridge over Interstate 287, launching his 9,200-gallon propane tank into a White Plains neighborhood.

The resulting fireball was dramatic — almost apocalyptic, according to Read more of this entry »

Remember the Green Lane crossing, where drivers kept following their Global Positioning Systems even as the hi-tech devices told them to turn onto Metro-North’s railroad tracks?

Well, as work continues to make the path across the tracks more visible, the northbound ramp of Exit 38 off the Saw Mill River Parkway will close for two weeks Read more of this entry »

The ongoing road deck and joint repairs on the Tappan Zee Bridge — the costliest project in its 53-year history — will cost $25 million more than anticipated.

The state Thruway Authority had contracted to spend $150 million to replace 40 percent of the 3-mile bridge’s deck, but it found some support structures in worse condition than expected.

Ted Nadratowski, the Thruway’s New York division director, told me this morning that those connections had to be replaced, leading to the overruns and the $175 million price tag.

Nadratowski also said the metal construction plates will remain on the bridge until late October — a month longer than planned — because work has been delayed by bad weather this summer.

That won’t much of a difference to drivers because asphalt ramps leading to and from the plates have allowed the free-flow of traffic, unlike last year when the plates wreaked all kind of havoc.

Read more about this story tomorrow in The Journal News and LoHud.com.

I tend not to worry much about warnings that germs are everywhere because, well, germs are everywhere and they always have been.

But for those who do worry, here comes the latest weapon in the war on illness — The Sure Fit Transit Cover. It’s a slip cover that you fit over your airplane seat back to protect you from whatever nasties are crawling around in the fabric. Here, take a look:

Because who knows what diseases ran through the body of the last guy who sat there? Or the one before him?

Sure Fit calls the $14.99 item “the newest must-have item to ease fears of catching the flu” in a plane or on a bus or train.

How did we ever get by without it?

Five Amtrak routes are now included in Google Transit searches. So you can use the Google site to find your way, say, from New York City to Albany, if you can’t figure out how to get to directly to the Amtrak site. (www.amtrak.com.)

(Oddly, though, I was unable to find a public transit route from Yonkers to Albany, even though Yonkers is on Amtrak’s Empire line, one of the five now linked to Google.)

Still, it’s a start. The nationwide railroad says it plans to eventually have all of its routes available on the Google site.

Meanwhile, I gave the Google site a test run and found Read more of this entry »

The bus stop at Palisades Center mall in West Nyack will return to its former location at the bus shelter near the Bed Bath & Beyond store on Friday.

The bus stop was temporarily relocated during parking lot construction.

The temporary bus stop near Macy’s will no longer be served.

The mall is served by eight bus routes, including the Transport of Rockland (TOR) 59, 91, 92 and 97, the Tappan ZEExpress, the Clarkstown Mini Trans Routes A & D, and the Rockland Coaches (Red & Tan Lines) 20.