Piers Morgan got a shot at talking extensively with Alec Baldwin tonight about a little bit of everything– his acting career, his relationship with flight attendants, and yes, his politics. That latter point resulted in some of the most compelling parts of the interview, in which Morgan asked Baldwin what he thought of a potential mayoral run in New York City, and how much he had considered a serious career in politics.

Papa John’s is apologizing after a New York franchise handed a customer a receipt with a racial slur. Minhee Cho had ordered small pepperoni pie shortly after noon on Saturday, when she noticed the offensive missive sprawled on the receipt.

In a press conference today, Donald Trump revealed former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich came up with an idea for the reality television personality to offer apprenticeships to 10 children in poor New York City school districts. “I thought it was a great idea,” Trump exclaimed. “We’re going to be picking 10 young wonderful children and make them ‘apprenti.’ We’re going to have a little fun with it.”

Citing safety concerns, New York City’s police and firefighters confiscated potentially hazardous fuel cans and power generators from Zuccotti Park. “The gasoline & generators in Zuccotti Park posed a real threat of fire or explosion, particularly given the congested conditions,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office tweeted. Adding, “It’s illegal to store/use generators & fuel if it threatens public safety, so FDNY informed protestors that those items must be removed…Only goal was to keep protestors & public safe. From the start, we’ve done that in a way fully consistent w/the 1st Amendment.”

One thing you may have noticed about the Occupy Wall Street protesters if you’ve been down to lower Manhattan or have been watching videos from the demonstration is that they’ve come up with some inventive means of communicating amongst themselves. There’s the “silent wave” many do instead of loud applause, and there is, of course, [...]

The New York City school district is getting ready to revamp their sexual education programs, and Sean Hannity could not believe his eyes when he read what they would teach. On his program tonight, he warned parents that the compulsory class would teach “oral sex and mutual masturbation,” “porn stars, vibrators, and bestiality,” and a whole lot more, and examined the merits of this education with his panel.

Part of Texas governor Rick Perry‘s appeal, we’ll wager, is that he’s a relatable, no-holds-barred everyman who just also happens to be a politician. He tells it like it is, and has many of the same concerns as you do, American Republican Primary Voter. And that’s an image that is slightly at odds with, say, the well-shod if not well-fed milieu at New York Fashion Week, or Manhattan’s social and political fundraising elite.

Well, Business Insider got a look at the list of names expected to attend Perry’s fundaising events in New York City this week, many of which hail from Manhattan’s world of finance, philanthropy and politics.

Donald Trump has upped his woo-ing game. Yesterday, the real estate mogul met with Texas Gov. Rick Perry to talk jobs and grab a bite. And unlike when Sarah Palin was in town, he actually took the presidential hopeful somewhere nice. The two met at Trump’s Fifth Ave tower, and then headed out together to a nice dinner at Jean-Georges — plastic utensils, nowhere in sight.

New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg addressed New Yorkers around 9:30 a.m. ET today (in both English and Spanish) during a live conference from Coney Island. He urged New York City residents in mandatory evacuation zones to leave as soon as possible, as the MTA will completely shut down service at noon today. He also (and as a Floridian, I absolutely echo his concern here) advised everyone to prepare for the possibility that power may go out during and for some time after the hurricane. (Some suggestions for how to deal: Make sure you have non-perishable food items; plenty of water for drinking and, yes, flushing; wet naps or rubbing alcohol for hygienic purposes; a battery-operated radio and flashlight; cash, preferably stored in plastic; fully-charged cell phones).

New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg has announced a $127 million, three-year plan aimed at “reducing disparities” among young black and Latino men (and, we presume, young men who are both black and Latino and why do we keep discussing “Latino” as if it’s a race JESUS CHRIST) and the “rest of” the city’s population by, for example, creating job recruitment centers near housing projects and creating school progress reports that would specifically track Latinos and/or black students. Mayor Bloomberg will give $30 million to the plan via his foundation, with Liberal businessman and philanthropist George Soros matching that amount. The remainder of the funding will come from the city.

It’s official: Al Jazeera English has come to New York City. At midnight this morning (Or last night. Whichever floats your proverbial boat, really.), the network launched in NYC via Time Warner Cable, with plans to be available through Verizon FiOS soon. And you’ll recall that the network has previously announced that it would like to debut an English-language children’s channel in the near future as well.

New York City subway passengers are fairly well-known for their ability to deal with absurd situations without so much as batting an eyelash, but none of the passengers riding the 5 train yesterday afternoon were prepared to handle a screwdriver-wielding man taking control of their train.

The comparisons between the Watergate scandal and the current fracas threatening to engulf Rupert Murdoch‘s News Corporation may as of yet be premature, but one thing does tie them together: the dizzying number of people that may be involved. While most of the coverage has hovered over the British wing of the operation, Lawrence O’Donnell took a peek tonight at the American potentially involved, and suggested the secrets of Murdoch’s American operation may lie with one dubious source: corrupt former New York City police chief Bernard Kerik.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had some fun with the end of the world on his weekly WOR-AM radio show Friday, assuring New Yorkers that in the event of apocalypse, Judgment Day or other end-of-the-world scenario, New York’s alternate side of the street parking rules will definitely be suspended. Just leave your car where it is. Also, any parking tickets you may have gotten? Rip ‘em up. Fuggedaboutit:

Jack Delano, a native Ukrainian trained as a photographer, graduated from college into the Great Depression.

He couldn’t have had better timing.

At a time when nearly one-in-five people were unemployed, Delano appealed to the Federal Art Project, a New Deal program that, in an ongoing effort to put people to work, sponsored public art throughout the country. Eventually, over 5,000 artists created 225,000 works of art for the program.

If you enjoyed the original Rat Climbs On Sleeping Man On Subway video, you’ll be happy to know NYC Transit has served up a sequel–this time, video of one New York’s rattiest running underneath the seats on a crowded R train in mid-afternoon.

As the New York Daily News reports this morning, the entire spectacle was caught on camera by Brooklyn resident Nelson Gomez, who captured a rather remarkable scene:

In New York City, NY1 is the city’s respected local news channel and it’s premiere show, Inside City Hall often gets national politicians as guests. Yet the “Political Rundown,” a wacky weekly segment featuring radio personality Curtis Sliwa and political commentator Gerson Borrero seems like it would be more fitting on a morning zoo radio show than a distinguished political program. Although some of the topics discussed are local to New York, the craziness can be universally enjoyed.

No matter what you want to call this blizzard that has crippled the Northeast, the one thing everyone can agree on is that it is ruining the travel plans of many. In fact, for one New York City taxi driver the massive snow has even impacted his movement plans.

Over the course of 2010, we covered an array of politicians, authors, entertainers, media mavens, and others as they discussed their crafts and their industries. We enjoyed most of the panels, lectures, and debates we took in, while some of them fell short. Here, a rundown of our 5 favorites, followed by the 10 quotes that defined the year in New York City media panels:

A lot of people were upset when Mayor Michael Bloomberg named Cathie Black chancellor of New York City’s schools, and with fairly good reason—Black, the chairwoman of Hearst Magazines, has no experience working in the field of education. So education experts have decided to fight back the best way they know how: by trying to apply for Black’s soon-to-be vacated position at Hearst.

Remember last week when many New Yorkers were looking up at the sky trying to figure out what the hell they were looking at? Well, the objects were flying and were unidentified, ergo they were UFOs. Well a local news report from El Paso, Texas filed the following report with imagery of remarkably similar to that which was recorded in NY. The Texas news department added a nice touch in the following segment: a music bed lifted straight from the X-Files. Watch the segment if you dare.

As the music industry continues to crumble, major record labels can only afford to fund the bigger acts, leaving up-and-coming bands to find their own means of promotion. One band, Atomic Tom, took matters iPhones into their their own hands when they played a full song for NYC subway riders — using only their smartphones

At this point pretty much the only thing missing from this election season is an alien invasion. So, it’s perhaps fitting that yesterday afternoon a bunch of New Yorkers thought they were witnessing one. No really

Plans to build a mosque two blocks away from “Ground Zero” in lower Manhattan have started a fierce debate and opened some some emotional wounds from the terror attacks on September 11, 2001. The subject came up on Fox and Friends today, and a spirited, yet civil, discussion ensued between a New York Firefighter and a local Imam who presented the plans. Watch the clip and take a poll – after the jump.

Early this morning, a ferry boat crashed into a pier at the Staten Island Ferry terminal, injuring 60 people. NY1 reports at least ten major injuries, and the The New York Fire and Police Departments are looking into the as yet unknown cause of the crash. The total material damage of the crash is also still being assessed. UPDATE: Video after the jump