BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | Updated Wed., Jan. 8, 11 p.m. |  In a devastating blow to New York University, on Tuesday, State Supreme Court Justice Donna Mills ruled that the city and state broke the law by O.K.’ing the university’s plan to use three parkland strips for construction of its hotly contested South Village expansion scheme. read more here »

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | Updated Wed., Jan. 8, 11 p.m.  |  The news could be looking much better for embattled Astor Place newsstand vendor Jerry Delakas under a new administration. Arthur Schwartz, Delakas’s attorney, reported that Mayor Bill de Blasio was very sympathetic to Delakas’s plight when the vendor met him at a “public open house” read more here »

Corey Johnson, far left, was sworn in on Dec. 27 as the new District Three city councilmember, as two of his top aides, Louis Cholden-Brown, center, and R.J. Jordan, looked on. Until this past week, it was thought Jordan — who managed Johnson’s campaign — would be his chief of staff. Photo by Sam Spokony read more here »

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | The city’s new public bike-share system was still up and running on Friday morning — though it didn’t seem like anyone was riding. In fact, it didn’t seem that anyone was riding any bicycles of any sort on the city’s slush-covered streets following winter storm Hercules the night before. There were read more here »

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON With winter storm Hercules bearing down on New York City, the most critical question Thursday evening was whether public schools would be open Friday. Mayor Bill de Blasio, in a late-afternoon press conference, said that — as of right then, with snowfall not yet having begun — the plan was to keep the read more here »

BY SAM SPOKONY | The longtime commissioner of the city’s Department of Small Business Services will soon leave office to start his new job as a college professor  — but there’s still been no word from Mayor Bill de Blasio on who will replace him. Commissioner Rob Walsh, who was appointed by former Mayor Mike Bloomberg read more here »

BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | In an update on Jerry Delakas’s struggle to regain his Astor Place newsstand, the longtime vendor’s attorney, Arthur Schwartz, told The Villager on Saturday that discussions have recently ratcheted up to a whole new level. In the waning days of Mayor Bloomberg’s administration, in November, Delakas’s kiosk was suddenly padlocked by the city’s read more here »

ORIGINALLY POSTED, Fri., Dec. 27  |  BY LINCOLN ANDERSON AND SAM SPOKONY | The crowded Apple Store, at the busy intersection of Prince and Greene Sts. in Soho, was evacuated today, Fri., Dec. 27, due to a bomb threat. According to Detective Marc Nell, a New York Police Department spokesperson, police received a 911 call from the read more here »

BY SARAH FERGUSON |   On Saturday, a crowd of supporters gathered at the Children’s Magical Garden at the corner of Stanton and Norfolk Sts. to celebrate the winter solstice. They sang a traditional wassail to the garden’s 33-year-old apple tree, thanking it for its juicy and bountiful harvest. And gardeners invited people to throw “dream seeds” read more here »

BY SAM SPOKONY | Continuing more than a year of work that began when the Lower East Side’s vital Pathmark supermarket announced its closure last September, the Two Bridges Neighborhood Council on Dec. 19 released a guidebook aimed at connecting residents to local, affordable food sources. The NeighborFood Grocery Guide —published in English, Spanish and Chinese versions read more here »