Dominique Strauss-Kahn, formerly head of the IMF and once a hopeful for the French presidency, has reached a settlement with the New York City hotel maid he was accused of sexually assaulting in 2011.

Nafissatou Diallo had launched a civil case against Strauss-Kahn after the criminal case against him fell apart. Strauss-Kahn had counter-sued for $1 million, accusing Diallo of defamation.

The financial details of the settlement are to remain confidential, the judge in the case said. Strauss-Kahn had previously denied reports in a French newspaper that the deal was worth $6 million, the AP reports.

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This post originally appeared at Untapped Cities.

At Untapped New York, we’re dedicated to bringing you the best of New York’s cultural life and nightlife.

Previously, we shared our picks for the best hidden bars in the City.

Now we’re bringing your our list of the Top 10 Bars where artists have left their mark, from Upper East Side institutions like Bemelmans Bar and the King Cole Bar in the St. Regis to the trendy Ace Hotel, with a collage by street artist Michael Anderson.

Though a couple of cocktails at some of these bars might be a bit of a splurge, we think it’s worth it for the chance to soak up the atmosphere in these one-of-a-kind places.

After all, you won’t find these works of art anywhere else in the world.

Bemelmans Bar

In exchange for one and a half years of room and board for himself and his family, Ludwig Bemelmans painted the walls at the Hotel Carlyle Bar in 1947.

As a result, the bar was renamed Bemelmans Bar.

The murals depict Central Park throughout the seasons with a cameo by Madeline.

Bemelmans Bar is located at 35 East 76th Street in the Hotel Carlyle.

The bar has an entertainment calendar that is worth checking out, including performances by Woody Allen & The Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band (yes, that Woody Allen).

Alternatively, if you have children, or for the child in you, perhaps the bar’s Madeline’s Buffet is more appropriate.

Whether you are going to Bemelmans Bar to see jazz or to have a cocktail, you will be rewarded with Ludwig Bemelman’s only public work of art.

Murals on 54

Murals on 54 is located in the Warkwick Hotel’s former Raleigh Room, both of whose names were derived from Dean Cornwell’s works of art.

In 1937, publisher and Citizen Kane, William Randolph Hearst, commissioned Dean Cornwell to paint a mural for the restaurant at the Warwick Hotel, which he owned.

Cornwell painted the 1584 scene of Sir Walter Raleigh receiving his charter from Queen Elizabeth I and Raleigh landing at the lost colony of Roanoke.

Cornwell and Hearst reached a barter agreement for the murals. However, their agreement is a lesson in why one should never barter with an artist.

As a result of a dispute which arose from the agreement, Cornwell painted, what one journalist at the time described as “one of the most colorful spots in the City.”

Cornwell’s revenge art included a depiction of a man urinating on the Queen, another man urinating on Sir Walter Raleigh, and an American Indian without his pants.

Cornwell and Hearst eventually worked out their differences and Cornwell painted over one of his colorful additions. As a result of the controversy surrounding Cornwell’s creativity, the mural on the left side of the restaurant was covered for more than forty years.

The murals were recently restored and add to the ambiance of the restaurant.

Dean Cornwell was chosen by Hearst because of his reputation and his abilities. He was known as the Dean of American Illustrators.

Born in 1892, Cornwell worked his way through magazine illustrations (for Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, and Good Housekeeping) before becoming the President of the Society of Illustrators in 1922.

In the late 1920s, Cornwell began his career as a muralist. His commissions graced the Los Angeles Public Library,  the Detroit Athletic Club, Rockefeller Center, New York’s General Motors Building at the 1939 World’s Fair,  the Bethlehem Steel Company, the New England Telephone headquarters building in Boston, and  The 21 Club.

Cornwell died in 1960, but his work is still coveted. The Warwick Hotel was approached by The Museum of Modern Art, who wanted to purchase Cornwell’s murals for $100,000. Patrons at Murals on 54 are lucky the hotel declined the museum’s offer.

The Leopard at Des Artistes

The Leopard occupies the storied space at 1 West 67th Street, that once housed Café des Artistes in the 1917 George Mort Pollard Gothic designed Hotel des Artistes.

It was said to be the largest studio building in the world, when it was completed, and was the fifth studio building on the block.

The Café des Artistes was created to provide meals for residents of the Hotel des Artistes, many of whose apartments had no kitchens, but who would buy their own ingredients for the chefs to prepare.

In the 1920s, American illustrator, and Hotel des Artistes resident, Howard Chandler Christy, painted a series of nine murals, entitled “Fantasy Scenes with Naked Beauties,” on the walls of the restaurant.

In August 2009, Café des Artistes closed and in May 2011, The Leopard opened.

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Harvey Weinstein is in the dog house.

The Miramax and Weinstein Company co-founder's Greenwich Village neighbors are apparently fed up with the movie mogul's barking hounds.

According to the New York Post, Weinstein and his fashion designer wife, Georgina Chapman, let their beloved four-legged friends, Rocky and Myrtle, bark to their hearts’ content in the back yard of their $14.9 million, five-story, eight-bedroom townhouse on Bank Street.

Neighbors tell the Post, "The barking begins at about 8 a.m. and can span hours at a clip."

West 12th Street resident Richard Falcone told the paper, “He doesn’t give a damn — that’s his attitude." 

Falcone's wife, former New York Times food critic Mimi Sheraton, told the Post of her famous neighbors: "Graydon Carter told me that Harvey Weinstein is a very good neighbor ... Well, he may be a good neighbor on Bank Street, but his name is mud on West 12th Street.”

Sheraton described the dogs’ barking as “very loud and cutting," adding that "It’s just a lack of consideration. Instead of taking the dogs out and walking them they just let them out in the yard.”

Neighbors have reportedly tried everything to silence the yapping pups.

One neighbor purchased an ultrasonic bark-control device, others have posted handmade signs on trees, and some have even complained to the Department of Environmental Protection, the agency responsible for noise complaints — all to no avail.

“311 calls and all other so-called legal means have failed to get him to control his constantly yapping dogs," wrote a neighbor in a letter to the editor of monthly neighborhood publication, WestView News. "Only bad press could stop Harvey Weinstein from ignoring the grief he is causing his neighbors.”

SEE ALSO: The most appalling homes ever featured on 'Hoarders' >

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A woman ducked in during a segment of this morning's local NBC 4 New York to share she's Jay-Z's long lost sister.

Watch the NBC 4 reporter get videobombed below:

SEE ALSO: Three reasons to see "The Hobbit" today that have nothing to do with the film >

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New York State's Thruway Authority Board has selected a $3.14 billion plan to replace the Tappan Zee Bridge, the New York Post reported.

The plan was the least expensive of three finalists to build the bridge, which spans the Hudson River north of New York City.

It was submitted by Tappan Zee Constructors, a partnership between Fluor Enterprise and American Bridge Company, which built the original bridge, according to the Journal News.

That bridge, which opened in 1955, was designed to last 50 years. It is now six years past its projected lifespan, and is crossed every day by 138,000 vehicles, 40 percent more than it was designed to support, the New York Times reported.

It has no lanes or shoulders for emergency vehicles, and maintaining it over the next twenty years would cost between $3 billion and $4 billion, the Thruway Authority Board says.

The new bridge will meet environmental standards, support mass transit, and should take just over five years to build. It will have eight lanes and a pedestrian and cyclist path, and is designed to last more than 100 years.

According to The New York Post, the State is hoping for a $2.9 billion loan from the federal government to cover the majority of the cost. Construction would begin next year.

The bridge crosses the Hudson at a particularly wide point, making its design and construction more expensive. According to the New York Times, New York Governor Thomas Dewey chose the location because it fell just outside the domain of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, giving the State the right to construct the bridge and keep its toll revenues.

SEE ALSO: Here's The Ingenious $400 Million Plan To Deal With The Wrecked Costa Concordia

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New York's legislature continues to dither over whether to allow fracking in the Empire State.

According to a new report from research group IHS, the process is already keeping more than 44,000 New Yorkers employed.

The group details the jobs that extracting unconventional oil and gas creates in all 50 states, directly and indirectly.

These positions include drilling materials manufacturers and service providers as well as retailers who sell goods to oil workers and banks who process transactions.

Here are the totals for non-producing states:

Here's the detailed explanation of IHS' "linked state economies" formula:

...the sourcing of inputs for the development of unconventional oil and gas activity will impact states that do not have an unconventional oil or gas play within their borders. For example, the development of unconventional gas wells in Arkansas relies on bank, financial and insurance services in New York and professional services primarily in Texas. Capturing these connections highlights the indirect economic contribution even in states that lack unconventional oil and gas plays."

You can also see that even if New York decides not to lift its fracking ban, drilling in other states will cause Empire State employment to double by 2020.

SEE MORE: All The Reasons You Should Let An Oil Company Drill Your Backyard >

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The looming fiscal cliff has drawn a lot of attention to the tax rates that people across the country pay.

Proposals to raise rates on the highest-income taxpayers have gotten plenty of praise from the majority of middle-class Americans, a group hit hard by the recession.

But people who live in areas of the country where the cost of living is unusually high complain that these proposed tax hikes unfairly target them.

Among New Yorkers and other expensive-city dwellers, six-figure salaries may be far more common than they are in the rest of the country.

Yet the workers who earn those salaries pay much more for their basic expenses — and they're far less likely to call themselves "rich" than the residents of Middle America who look only at their inflated gross incomes.

How Our Tax System Penalizes People in High-Cost Areas

One of the key principles of the U.S. tax system is that people earning less than a certain base level of income shouldn't pay income tax.

Tax breaks like the standard deduction, personal exemptions, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and extremely low marginal rates for low wage-earners are all designed to allow income earners to make enough money to live on before the government starts asking them to pay taxes.

One major problem with those provisions, though, is that they largely ignore costs of living in calculating tax liability. No matter where in the nation you live or what your actual costs of living are, the figures for those deductions, credits, and tax brackets are the same. Yet when it comes to maintaining a certain standard of living, costs vary greatly.

One study from 2009 compared Atlanta to Manhattan, and found it would take more than twice as much money — $60,000 — for an average household to maintain a standard of living just above the federal poverty line than it would take in Atlanta, where $26,000 would get you by.

As a result, those who live in expensive areas such as New York City can end up having to pay income taxes even when they barely earn enough to make ends meet. Moreover, those who earn quite a bit more than subsistence wages can wind up taking a truly massive tax hit compared to those in cheaper locales.

When Looking Rich Isn't Being Rich

One focus of President Obama's tax plan is to characterize singles making more than $200,000 and couples making more than $250,000 as targets for higher tax rates. Opponents of tax increases have pointed to costs of living as one reason to set those thresholds at even higher levels.

(His most recent offer to congressional Republicans has pushed that top figure up to $400,000 — but the negotiations are far from over, and Democrats in the House and Senate will surely have their say, too.)

Yet many of the complaints in response from families making $250,000 or more turned out to be unintentional caricatures of the expectations of high-income individuals.

Back in 2010, when tax rate increases were first proposed, University of Chicago Law School professor Todd Henderson drew plenty of criticism when he made a blog post arguing that after he took care of essential expenses like paying a house cleaner and lawn-mowing service, as well as covering private school for his three children, his greater-than-$250,000 income is barely enough to scrape by. Ordinary Americans weren't persuaded, and criticized the professor for the entitled tone of the post.

Similar stories from Wall Street professionals after bonus cuts limited their earnings to just over the $250,000 threshold also found an unsympathetic audience among middle-class taxpayers. The woes of families who had to give up their annual ski trips to Aspen just didn't resonate with struggling households.

Nevertheless, just because those stories reflected unrealistic expectations of what a reasonable standard of living should include doesn't mean that tax rates fairly consider relative costs of ordinary living expenses.

There's no question that living in some parts of the country is more expensive than living in others. Yet with the exception of a few deductions that are larger in pricier parts of the country where deductible expenses are more costly, taxpayers don't get any recognition of that fact.

The most obvious problem with embedding cost of living adjustments into the tax rate system is that it would add another layer of complexity to an already burdensome set of tax laws. Having to account for geography would lead to all sorts of opportunities for abuse, as where you maintained your tax home would take on even greater importance.

One thing is certain, though. As long as tax hike proposals focus on certain income limits, expect those who earn incomes near those limits to argue why they should be different.

SEE ALSO: The 10 best US cities to become a millionaire >

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Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Bill Gross has more than doubled his holdings of municipal debt sold in New York, helping propel the world’s largest bond fund to its biggest investment in local securities in six years.

The $285 billion Total Return Fund, which Gross runs at Pacific Investment Management Co., boosted its New York state allocation to about a $3 billion market value in the quarter ending Sept. 30, from $1.4 billion as of June 30, according to a semiannual filing the firm released this month. It was the largest increase by amount among U.S. states.

Gross, 68, has been buying more New York debt as municipal sales in the state are set to outpace California’s for the second straight year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Issuance may get a further boost as New York borrowers such as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority finance rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy.

Wall Street’s home state offered “a combination of good credits, prices we liked and the fact that they were a very high percentage of what was coming into the market when we really liked the market,” said Joe Deane, head of muni investments at Pimco in New York. The firm oversees $66 billion of local debt.

Buying Crowd

Gross hasn’t been alone adding tax-exempts, which he recommended after the Nov. 6 presidential election on the view that income taxes are set to rise. Benchmark muni yields touched a 47-year low this month. In his December Investment Insight on Pimco’s website, Gross included “high-quality” munis on his list of picks.

The fund manager, who’s based in Newport Beach, California, was unavailable to comment, Mark Porterfield, a Pimco spokesman, said in an e-mail.

New York and its localities have sold $44.5 billion of long-term, fixed-rate debt this year, Bloomberg data show. The tally surpasses the $41 billion sold by California and its municipalities, typically the biggest borrowers in the $3.7 trillion muni market.

It would be unprecedented for New York issuers to outsell California’s for two straight years, according to Citigroup Inc. data starting in 1991. In that span, California issuers were the market’s top sellers in every year but 1998 until Governor Jerry Brown, facing budget deficits, slowed general-obligation sales since last year.

Trails Market

Issuers of the most-populous state still account for the largest muni allocation in the Total Return Fund, at $5.2 billion as of Sept. 30, from $4.4 billion the prior quarter.

New York debt has earned 6.1 percent this year, less than the 6.7 percent gain for the broader muni market and 8 percent for California, according to Barclays Plc data.

Investors are also drawn to New York because its pension system is one of the nation’s healthiest, said Pimco’s Deane. It had about 94 percent of the assets needed to meet promises to current and future retirees in 2011, compared with the median of 72 percent among states, Bloomberg Rankings data show.

Retirement obligations are “probably the single biggest difference in this industry from where we were 10 years ago,” Deane said.

Gross bought debt issued last quarter by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which oversees redevelopment of the World Trade Center. The agency sold $2 billion of taxable bonds in September. He has also added obligations of the Triborough Bridge & Tunnel Authority, which sold $1.2 billion of tax exempts in August.

2012 Performance

The Total Return Fund has earned 10.2 percent this year, beating 94 percent of its peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In 2011, its 4.2 percent return outperformed only 30 percent of rivals. On a five-year basis, he has beaten 96 percent of his peers.

Sandy struck Oct. 29, destroying or damaging 305,000 homes and 265,000 businesses in New York. President Barack Obama this month asked Congress for $60.4 billion to reimburse northeastern states for infrastructure repairs and personnel expenses, which Congress has yet to act on. The MTA, operator of the biggest U.S. transit system, may borrow as much as $4.8 billion though short-term notes next year to rebuild infrastructure.

Gross has directed 5 percent of his fund to local debt for three straight months, the longest stretch where muni borrowings have been that high a percentage since at least 2006.

In trading yesterday, yields on benchmark 10-year munis fell to 1.76 percent, the lowest since Dec. 18, according to a Bloomberg Valuation index.

--Editors: Mark Tannenbaum, Mark Schoifet

To contact the reporters on this story: Michelle Kaske in New York at mkaske@bloomberg.net; Miles Weiss in Washington at mweiss@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at smerelman@bloomberg.net

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The number of murders in New York this year fell to its lowest point in a half-century, mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday, celebrating the city's shattering of the old record.

A total of 414 homicides occurred in 2012, down from 515 last year, or about a 19 percent decrease, the mayor said at a ceremony honoring New York City police. That was the lowest figure since the start of data collection in 1963.

"The previous low in modern times was 471 murders back in 2009. So it's pretty clear we are going to shatter this record and shatter it by a lot," Bloomberg said.

"Murders are down almost 19 percent this year compared with last year. They are down 35 percent from where they were 11 years ago when our administration began."

The number of shootings in the city also fell to 1,353 this year, said Bloomberg, a long-time advocate for tighter gun laws.

In 1990, the city saw more than 2,260 murders -- meaning the number is now five times lower, according to police statistics.

"With the decrease in murder, New York's murder rate has fallen to 3.8 homicides per 100,000 residents. New York City has a far lower murder rate than other major American cities," city hall said in a statement.

Last week, Bloomberg announced that the city's prison population had fallen by a third from 2001 to 2011.

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In the “Money Mic” series, LearnVest hands over the podium to someone with a strong opinion on a financial topic. Today, one woman shares what it’s like to be disproportionately taxed based on her income — and how it’s holding her back.

If someone had told me as a kid in Louisiana that my husband and I would have a combined income of $250,000 a year in our late 20s, I would have been pie-eyed. It sounds like a crazy amount of money. But after taking into account taxes, debt and living expenses in New York City, we’re actually finding it difficult to meet our financial goals.

Why our taxes are nearly unmanageable

Last year, we paid $100,000 in taxes, which is almost exactly 40 percent of what we make. Even though we also paid $22,000 in student loan payments (we have about $145,000 in combined loans for my husband’s law school and my grad school), we don’t qualify for deductions — if you make more than $150,000 filing jointly, you can’t deduct student loan interest.

We also don’t get a deduction for home ownership — because we can’t afford to buy one. We’ve been saving for three years, and after another three years of diligent budgeting, we hope to have about $100,000, which would be enough for a 20 percent down payment on a home in a New York suburb with decent schools — the average “starter” home in these areas is about $500,000 — plus an extra $20,000 for closing costs and incidentals.

We’re in a weird place: We don’t have enough money to invest in a house or the stock market, which would get us tax exemptions. So we pay the full 40 percent of our salary in city*, state and federal taxes. People who are much wealthier can take advantage of tax loopholes, capital gains preferential tax rates and a larger mortgage deduction, so they end up paying only about 20 percent in taxes. For instance, in 2011, Barack Obama paid 20.5 percent in taxes. Mitt Romney paid 14 percent in taxes.

We find it ironic that we’d have to make more … in order to pay less.

If we’re being honest, it’s not only taxes that are killing us. Living in Manhattan is expensive — up to three times the cost of living in other cities — but I work for a private equities firm, and my husband is in securities litigation. This city is the industry hub for both of our careers.

We’ve discussed moving, but it’s unlikely that we would both be able to get jobs elsewhere. We rent a 1-bedroom apartment near our offices in a neighborhood where they go for $3,000 a month. We could move to a slightly cheaper outer borough, but we’re both called into our offices at odd hours, and we also work long days. So we pay for the convenience of living near work.

How things could get harder for us

We budget constantly. As an accountant, I’m always reviewing our spending and trying to find ways to cut back. We take the subway. We don’t buy name-brand clothes, and we don’t buy anything unless it’s on sale. We take only one fun trip a year and the most we’ve ever spent on that is $1,600.

My husband isn’t even putting money in his 401(k), so we can save more for a house. (I contribute to mine, but we have diverted all of our emergency fund to our house savings.) It’s something we argue about, but these are the choices we have to make.

Don’t get me wrong — our lives are good. We work very hard, and enjoy what we do, but I’m tired of people saying that we’re not paying our fair share. How much more are we supposed to pay?

Why the tax code needs to change

We both come from middle-class families and were taught that if you go to school and work hard, you can live the “American Dream”: own a house, have a family. It’s really all we want. We don’t live — or long for — an extravagant lifestyle.

Look, I know it’s relative. I realize there are families raising three kids on $50,000 that are just trying to put food on the table. My husband and I are very thankful for what we have. And we don’t begrudge paying taxes. We even understand why people think we’re rich. Compared to many people, we are.

We just can’t figure out how we’re supposed to make the “American Dream” work for us while giving away half of our income in taxes.

The tax code needs to change, and if it were up to me, I’d like to see the following:

• Adding a cost-of-living factor. The tax code should have a “factor” that takes into account location-specific costs, like average home price, the price of an equivalent bag of groceries, the average price of a car and the average cost of gas in a region. Once taxes are calculated, the factor would be applied to achieve greater geographic tax parity.
• Phasing out deductions and loopholes. If we lowered tax rates across the board, and cut the deductions and loopholes in the system (there are plenty of them to pick from!), we would put everyone on a more level playing field. I know it’s a touchy subject, but capital gains rates probably also need to be increased from the current 15 percent — even if it’s just a bump to 20 percent.
• Broadening the tax base. Right now, deductions and loopholes mean that many people don’t pay certain federal taxes. If we eliminated them as described above, more people would pay taxes that they owe. By no means do I think that families in dire circumstances should be asked to dole out money to the government. But if more families could help chip in a small portion of their earnings, it would work toward generating more revenue — and a little bit, spread across a large number of people, could go a long way.
• Lowering the tax rates. I’d be fine paying in the 30 percent range. And if my husband and I did make it to a point where we were making above $500,000, reasonable tax increases (35-39 percent) for this income would be acceptable.

There’s something really wrong with a system that considers us “rich” and not paying our fair share at 40 percent — but billionaires are only paying 20 percent or less.

Something is obviously broken.

We just hope it gets fixed soon.

*New York City is one of the few cities in the United States with city taxes.

More from LearnVest:

• Retirement Savings by Age: How Do You Compare?
• What Is the Fiscal Cliff and How Will It Affect You?
• Make the Most of Your Money With Free Bootcamp

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The race and/or religion of political candidates often plays a role in elections, but it is rarely invoked explicitly as a reason to vote for or against someone.

In a New York City city council race, however, race and religion are being cited completely explicitly.

New York City Council candidate Thomas Lopez-Pierre just sent voters an email with the following subject line:

Stop Mark Levine (White/Jewish) From Stealing Black/Hispanic Political Power

The email message then picks up where the headline leaves off:

Read all about it here: http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20121203/morningside-heights/mark-levine-launches-city-council-campaign-amid-racially-charged-attacks

I need your support with a $175 contribution (or lower amount) to help stop Black and Hispanic people from losing political power in Upper Manhattan by contributing to my campaign so I can win in the September 2013 Democratic Primary.

Lopez-Pierre has been citing race and religion as a reason to vote for him for a while now. The Wall Street Journal asked him about this a month ago. He was entirely unapologetic:

In an interview, Mr. Lopez-Pierre confirmed he opposes Mr. Levine’s candidacy, in part, because of the color of his skin.

“I oppose him because I support black empowerment, black and Latino empowerment,” Mr. Lopez-Pierre said. “He could be green. He could be Russian. I don’t care where he’s from. Harlem is a black and Latino community, and he’s not black or Latino. And I don’t care who he sleeps with, who he’s married to—he is not one of us.”

Mr. Lopez-Pierre denied that Mr. Levine’s religion was a factor in his opposition. But when asked why he repeatedly mentioned in his email Mr. Levine’s religion, he said he wanted to get media attention and because the word “Jewish” has a negative connotation in the black and Latino community.

“I don’t have a problem with his religion. I respect the Jewish religion,” he said. “I feel sorry for those people that will read this story and say, ‘Oh, he hates Jews.’”

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The south wing of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City was evacuated this morning after a possible gas leak, CBS Local reports.

The wing was ventilated to help remove a strong smell of gas, according to ABC7. Passengers were allowed back into the building just after 9am, MyFoxNY reports.

Buses to the terminal had been dropping passengers off on 10th Avenue and other nearby areas, but a tweet from a NJ Transit Twitter account suggests buses are returning to their normal routes.

The inbound Lincoln Tunnel has been experiencing a delay of around 30 minutes due to the incident.

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Morgan Gliedman, the Park Avenue-raised woman who became a tabloid star when her Greenwich Village apartment was raided in a bombing investigation, had her arraignment postponed on Monday — she was busy giving birth. 

And while the 27-year-old new mom was resting in New York's St. Luke's Hospital, the tabloids were busy uncovering her and her boyfriend's allegedly drug-riddled past and starting to explain away a suspected terror plot as the concoctions of "well-to-do junkies."

Gliedman and her Harvard-trained boyfriend Aaron Greene are being charged with felony possession of an explosive with intent to use and felony criminal possession of a weapon, but the New York Post's Jamie Schram, Larry Celona, and Dan Mangan report today that the couple was previously under investigation for stealing a man's credit cards and had already been in legal trouble for allegedly possessing marijuana and heroin.

"On Feb. 17, Gliedman, 27, met a man at Johnny’s Bar in the Village and went to his Midtown apartment,"reads the Post report. "Gliedman later took off with a backpack containing the man’s laptop computer, cellphone, wallet and credit cards — which she used to make purchases Gliedman later took off with a backpack containing the man’s laptop computer, cellphone, wallet and credit cards."

Gliedman and Greene had a run-in with the law five days later, when an officer reportedly saw Greene injecting heroin while sitting with Gliedman and another woman in a parked car.

"Cops found empty heroin bags on the floor, and marijuana and a digital scale with heroin residue in one of the women’s purses," the criminal complaint detailed. That might bolster what a police source told The Daily Beast's Michael Daly and Lizzie Crocker: "It looks like they’re junkies ... Well-to-do junkies, not terrorists."

It's a strange turn of events, but it appears that the terrorism explanation might be struck, even as authorities continue to examine the couple's explosive powder and books like The Do It Yourself Submachine Gun allegedly found in their possession.

"Indeed, in the first days of the investigation police reached the tentative conclusion that the explosives and weapons were just part of a drug-fueled, twisted sense of what constitutes cool," report Daly and Crocker.

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The newest craze for parents bent on spoiling their children is pricey organic lunches and dinners delivered right to the doorstep, according to The New York Post.

Though it sounds crazy to give an 18-month-old quinoa, the idea is expanding. Companies are cropping up for New York parents to help feed their toddlers organic baby food, including Juniors Fresh, Komi Organics of Brooklyn, and Mommy's Yummies.

And those brands will soon be joined by Petit Organics this spring, a baby-food delivery company that will be adding dishes for kids two-years-old and up.

Juniors Fresh offers meals that most adults would want to eat themselves, from a turkey slider burger stuffed with kale and barley to black bean quesadillas on the winter menu. Komi Organics has a "grilled arctic char and herbed quinoa with julienned red pepper and cucumber" (seriously) on its dinner menu, and Mommy's Yummies serves up couscous, chicken pilaf, and chicken paprikash dishes.

And they aren't cheap, either.

Deliveries of five lunches and five dinners from Komi retails for a pricey $180 price tag, clocking in at roughly $18 a pop. Mommy's Yummies charges $50 for three lunches and three dinners, or about $8 and change per meal, while Juniors Fresh asks parents to pay $38.95 for five meals, or $58.95 for nine.

Part of the expense is that ingredients are said to be locally sourced produce, fish, and meat, and all of the delivery services cook and prepare the food fresh. The companies were also all founded by women who stress healthy eating as a fundamental building block for early child development on their websites.

And according to The Post, it doesn't look like these takeout-for-tots companies will be going anywhere anytime soon — Juniors Fresh has reported a 500 percent increase in sales since last spring alone.

As The Post says, "only in New York."

SEE ALSO: These Are The Five Worst Fast Food Meals For Kids

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Wondering what to expect in NYC real estate in 2013?

A dozen agents, lawyers, mortgage brokers, property managers, and appraisers tell us what they think the year will bring. 

Here's what you need to know to swim with the sharks without becoming lunch:

1. Tight-fisted lenders, shrinking inventory, buckets of cash to send co-op, condo prices up

• Tight inventory will drive prices higher: “The challenges in getting a mortgage will continue to play out in 2013, keeping housing inventory very low as sellers with low or negative equity will opt to do nothing," says real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel. Construction lending remains tight. Low inventory (supply) is likely to press housing prices higher in 2013, bolstered by record low mortgage rates and improving employment rates (demand). "Renting or buying," says Miller, "the outlook is likely to be expensive.”
• The biggest year for all-cash deals EVER: A well-regarded mortgage broker who asked to remain anonymous says he has never before seen so many cash buyers. He expects the trend to continue and predicts that cash buyers will make up even more than the current 25 to 35 percent of the market.  He also predicts that it's the $3 million and up segment that will thrive in 2013. 
• A drought of starter apartments, and gradually climbing prices:“Prices will continue to rise gradually, possibly in the five to 10 percent range but there won't be any huge upswing," predicts real estate broker Ari Harkov of Halstead Property. “Foreign money will continue to flow in via cash deals and the entry level segment--$500k to $1 million--will continue to have extremely low inventory, with renters looking to buy and avoid paying increasingly high rents.”
• Aggressive buyers = higher prices: “We are heading for a very strong spring residential market," says  Doug Perlson, CEO of web-focused real estate firm RealDirect. "A lot of buyers missed out on properties due to competitive bidding and low inventory [this year] so we'll see much more aggressive buyers coming up in 2013. More aggressive buyers means higher average prices across the board....”
• Effects of higher tax increases for the wealthy: Federal capital gains taxes (what you pay when you sell an investment) are expected to increase at the top rate from 15 percent to at least 23.8 percent. This might result in wealthy buyers holding off selling their properties (out of shock), or even increases in ticket prices for those high-end units.
• International influx, and post-Sandy bargains downtown:“We expect strong interest from abroad, especially considering the political uncertainty in Italy and changes in real estate tax in the U.K.," says Victoria Vinokur of Halstead.   But she expects sales prices in certain downtown buildings to go down as much as 15 or 20 percent  post Sandy. 

2. Don't expect a break in rents just yet

“We may be near the top of the rental market price boom but I don't think there'll be much of a reprieve in prices," says Miller, the appraiser and market analyst. "Credit will remain tight, keeping many would-be buyers from taking advantage of low mortgage rates and keeping them in the rental pool. We'll also see a continued improvement in employment numbers in NYC which is another key driver in the rental market.”

Because there is a lot of money to be made in the rental market, buildings that were once meant to be condos are converting to rentals.

Andrew Barrocas, CEO of real estate brokerage MNS, cites 142 North Sixth in Williamsburg as an example.

“Some developers find that their building is worth more if it's sold as a rental building so they convert to rental and sell the building," he says. "And just about every new building coming on the market that's over 100 units is going to be rental.”  

3. The action tilts toward Brooklyn and Queens

What neighborhoods will join the popular club in 2013? Lots, according to our sources.

Barrocas is bullish on Brooklyn, particularly Greenpoint along the waterfront and all along the L train route in Bushwick for rentals. 

In Manhattan, says real estate agent Sharon McIntosh of the McIntosh Company, “TriBeCa sales will slow down because of super storm Sandy [but] continue to be a place for Wall Street singles and young couples. A neighborhood that will benefit from TriBeCa's slowdown is the East Village. Lots of new construction and the kinds of funky shops and restaurants that are quickly disappearing from Manhattan.”

Gary Malin, president of real estate brokerage Citi Habitats, sees a brighter picture for the so-called SoPo (South of Power) 'hoods.

"All downtown Manhattan neighborhoods will remain hot, especially the ones on the west side along the High Line," says Malin. At the same time, some sticker-shocked buyers will head "to the outer boroughs that are an easy commute....Astoria, Long Island City and Sunnyside in Queens are all poised for serious growth in 2013.”

In their latest blog entry entitled "Top NYC Neighborhoods for 2013 Real Estate Investment," the brokers at RealDirect offered many opinions including one linked to a hipster baby-boom.

“Greenpoint is ripe for massive growth as Williamsburg residents are starting to have children," says Perlson.  

RealDirect broker Kumar Laidley pegs Roosevelt Island as the next hot 'hood.

“With the announcement that Cornell is planning to turn the island into a state-of-the-art tech campus, Roosevelt Island went from sleepy bedroom community to the heart of NY's tech hub," says Laidley. "Brand new Four Freedoms Park has transformed a once neglected area into a breathtaking open space.” 

Another RealDirect broker, Leia Furer, made up a name for the neighborhood she thinks is hot: West TriSoHo-- “the lovely micro- neighborhood that runs from Spring Street to Vestry along Hudson Steet all the way to Hudson River Park..” She likes its cobblestone streets, cast iron buildings, proximity to the riverfront and the new shops and restaurants.

4. Mortgage rates low--and lenders lying lower

Interest rates will stay historically low, not increasing until unemployment rate falls to 6.5 percent, according to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. (It is currently at 7.7 percent.) However, getting financing will continue to be a major challenge for buyers.

One mortgage insider predicts that the amount of money lent out to buyers in 2013 will be the lowest of all time. People are dropping out of the mortgage business quickly but that means “the survivors are the best qualified. Now the right brokers are giving mortgages to the right buyers.”

5. Co-op and condos focus on keeping up with the Jonses--and off AirBnB

With a new crop of spanking new residential developments getting set to hit the market in 2013--resetting buyers' expectations yet again--co-op and condo boards may have to consider improvements to their buildings--and leveling assessments to do so--in order to remain competitive among buyers, says Malin. 

Staying competitive will also mean answering tough questions about disaster preparedness,  says closing attorney Adam Stone of Regosin, Edwards, Stone and Feder. 

“Purchasers will be asking questions about how the building handled the storm, whether mechanical equipment is housed at lobby level or below... how responsive the building was to its owners after super storm Sandy," says Stone.

Co-op and condo attorney Dean Roberts of Norris, McLaughlin & Marcus thinks that the prime issue for board members will be their personal vulnerability to lawsuits. 

“The Dakota case has created a new awareness of the potential liability that may go along with board membership," says Roberts. "Members must understand that standard Directors and Officers (D&O) policies do not cover all situations. I recommend having a managing agent or broker invite an expert in to explain to the board the limits, deductions and exceptions of their D and O.”

Robert Braverman, a co-op and condo attorney at Braverman Greenspun thinks personal safety concerns around short-term rentals are going to be the big issue.

“Condominium boards are going to become even more vigilant in pursuing illegal transient occupancy which has, unfortunately, reached epidemic levels with the increasing popularity of web-based rental services," says Braverman.

6. New construction projects get smaller, but the apartments get bigger, while concessions shrink

The condos that are being built now are “boutique condos”--smaller than what has gone before, according to Barrocas.

He cites several reasons.

There is a shortage of land to build on, it is challenging to get financing for the over-$100m you'd need for a large condo development, and the boom in the rental market makes rental projects extremely attractive, he says.

Stephen G. Kliegerman of Terra Development Marketing, agrees that “the majority of new product will be higher-end larger homes starting in the $2,000 per-square-foot range and climbing to well over $5,000. The focus will be on two-, three- and four bedroom residences of 1,500 to 4,000 square feet. The buyers will be New Yorkers who have weathered the recession...as well as foreigners searching for a safe haven for equity.”

Buyer resistance to paying the typical closing costs will continue, predicts Stone, in part because “the pre-2008 days of almost automatic instant equity gains are over…. At most buildings sponsors will continue to pay closing costs and include extras that were unheard of pre-2008.”

Still, Kliegerman says developers will be thriftier overall when it comes to concessions.

"I do not see developers offering any concessions in 2013," he says. "With inventories at such low levels and the demand for new development product incredibly high, developers have little reason to offer concessions in the current market.  Buyers should be more focused on securing the residence they most desire before prices rise as inventories for the next 24 months will remain low."

Real estate broker Mike Akerly of Akerly Real Estate, which represents a number of new Brooklyn developments, says the pent-up demand for new construction there shows no signs of easing.

"Our team has seen an incredible response to new condo launches," he says. At one Prospect Heights project his fall, "seventy-five percent sold in three weeks. At a new condo at 268 St. Marks Avenue in Prospect Heights  where we haven't yet launched sales, we have a list of dozens of buyers who have requested showings even before the drywall is up.”

A sizzling rental market will put more pressure on new construction supply.

"With the booming rental market, many sponsors are forgoing their condo declaration plans and moving forward with lease plans for their new buildings," says Akerly.

7. Fading tax abatements and smaller buildings extract big price in amenities

Since many of the new projects that are coming on line in 2013 have fewer than 100 units, these buildings won't have the footprint to support more lavish amenities.  Yet fitness centers, roof decks/outdoor space and extra storage room will remain popular. 

“Developers want to create a lifestyle and sense of community in their buildings, using the shared spaces to accomplish that. In individual apartments, washers and dryers have become de rigeur, even in rentals,” says Malin.

Bicycle storage is important in an increasingly bike friendly city. Gyms with a focus on core training, spinning and low impact aerobic training are here to stay and you'll see “an increase in the use of remote doorman systems as real estate tax abatements fade and developers and boards look for ways to reduce expenditures,” Kliegerman predicts.

8. Must-have contract provisions: Inspection rights, bed bug history and financing contingencies

Even if you are a highly qualified buyer, you still need a mortgage contingency in your contract allowing you to walk away with your deposit if you can't obtain a mortgage commitment.

Your lawyer should also negotiate a funding contingency which protects you after the commitment letter if the bank fails to issue you a mortgage for any reason that's not your fault, says Stone, the closing attorney.

"Lenders are taking hard looks at buildings' financials," says Stone. "We've had instances where the bank keeps sending the loan back for underwriting clearance on many issues that are beyond the control of the borrower and ultimately refuses to fund the loan."

Malin advises having a right to a thorough professional home inspection built into all contracts. 

In addition, bed bugs will still be something to be concerned about, notes Stone, so your attorney should include a contract representation as to no bedbugs or other vermin in the apartment or adjacent units.

9. More smokers will get smoked out

Second-hand smoke, drifting through vents and under doors, will be the new hot button issue this year.

According to Malin, Mayor Bloomberg's announcement of a new initiative that awards a $10,000 grant to community groups who  “convince residential buildings in their neighborhood to go completely smoke-free, will keep this controversial issue in the headlines in 2013."

SEE ALSO: 9 renovations you can make right under your landlord's nose >

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We see celebrity nightlife photographer Patrick McMullan's name plastered all over party publications like Page Six, Guest of a Guest, and New York Magazine, so we were excited when a recent Q&A with him popped up in Gotham Magazine.

McMullan, who has been documenting New York's social scene for decades, told the magazine that today, anyone can be a nightlife photographer.

He said:

All you need is a camera, or even a phone will do. I think it is always best to let people know you want to take a picture, for best results, but candids are so much fun. It's also good to tell them how the camera works in case it's a slow shutter.

McMullan also shared a composition tip:

A great party photograph has interesting people wearing interesting clothes and shows people having fun! It also makes you do a double take.

Check out the full Q&A at Gotham Magazine.

SEE ALSO: The 10 Best Bars In New York City

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Schools in Mamaroneck, N.Y. were locked down today after a man with a gun tried to get into Hommocks Middle School, NBC New York is reporting.

The unnamed man tried to enter through a side door but was stopped by a campus worker, who then noticed the man was carrying a gun.

The man said he came to the school to retrieve some clothes he left at the school's pool, according to The Journal News.

He reportedly told the campus worker who stopped him that he had a gun because he works as a security guard.

However, the incident ended peacefully after the campus worker told him he couldn't be on school grounds with a gun.

“The man made no threats and was described as pleasant,” Lt. Robert Kosiak told The Journal News. "When told he could not remain on school grounds, he immediately left the building.”

Despite the calm resolution, the school still canceled all evening activities and asked parents not to pick up their children until the end of the day.

Police will also reportedly be at the school tomorrow morning.

DON'T MISS: The Number Of Americans Who Have Been Killed By Guns Since Dec. 14 Is Horrifying >

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Politicians are so mad at a Westchester, N.Y. newspaper for publishing an interactive map showing the names and addresses of gun owners that they want to tighten up public information laws.

State Sen. Greg Ball and Assemblyman Steve Katz, both Republicans, announced Thursday they want a law making any information about handgun permits confidential, The Journal News reported.

The Journal News' map plots out names and addresses of registered gun owners in Westchester and Rockland counties.

However, readers can't search the map by name, "meaning an abusive ex-husband or former partner could not input a domestic violence victim’s name who is a permit holder and find out that person’s address," the paper has written in its defense.

That justification hasn't done much to appease an angry community, which was so upset by the map the News had to hire armed guards to protect its headquarters from all the threats the paper received concerning the map.

The News also tried to gather handgun permit information for Putnam County, but so far county officials have refused to release the data, saying it could cause a public safety issue.

But, as journalism industry blog Poynter noted Friday, public officials can't deny public records requests unless they deal with employment or medical records, ask for names of addresses to use for fundraising, or would cause "economic or personal hardship" to the subject of the request.

"New York law is fairly clear on this point," according to Poynter.

Under New York law, Putnam County legally has to turn over its records about handgun permit holders, state Committee on Open Government executive director Robert Freeman told USA Today.

“There are times when just saying ‘No’ doesn’t work,” Freeman told the News. “Anybody has the right to do what The Journal News has done.”

While politicians debate what changes should be made in the future, News President and Publisher Janet Hasson vowed to "aggressively pursue" the paper's request under current public record laws laws.

DON'T MISS: The Number Of Americans Who Have Been Killed By Guns Since Dec. 14 Is Horrifying >

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Good morning, AdLand. Here's what you need to know today:

Goodby, Silverstein & Partners opened up its first office in advertising mecca New York City. Its 15 to 25 employees (including two senior execs from San Francisco) are temporarily located at 7 World Trade Center while its office on Varick and Houston is being remodeled. Why the switch? Goodby himself told the New York Times, "we just lose so many people to New York. It's crazy not to access that." Now the shop might be able to retire the slide it placed at the end of its pitches to East Coast clients saying, "You call it distance. We call it perspective.”

MediaVest will be doing more at Mondelez. While it was already doing TV and print buying for gum, candy, and snack brands (including Wheat Thins, Oreos, and Ritz), it will start doing media planning and digital buying for gum and candy brands in April.

CP+B hired former R/GA employees Ben Smith and Becca Schepps to be ACD and senior copywriter and the main Boulder office.

After almost six years, Mike McGraw left his job as COO/managing partner at Publicis' Big Fuel. Just three months ago, CEO Jon Bond split as well.

Todd Anderman joined Thrillist Media Group as its president of sales, marketing and operations. He was previously the chief media and revenue officer at Jumptap.

24/7 Media hired Tom Comerford to be the product manager of its product management team in New York.

Previously on Business Insider Advertising:

• Everything We Know About The Super Bowl Ad Lineup So Far
• These Are Most-Loved — And Most-Hated — Brands Of The Year
• One Of These Hilarious Ads Will Be Doritos' Super Bowl Spot
• AD OF THE DAY: Pixar's Brilliant 'Monsters University' College Recruitment Video
• Supermodel Bar Refaeli Is Now A Go Daddy Girl
• 14 Incredibly Famous People You Never Knew Started In Advertising
• KFC Is Trying Really Hard To Make 'Couchgating' For Football Games A Thing
• Here's How They Filmed That Heartbreaking Ad In Which Fat People Talk To Their Newly Thin Selves
  

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The state of New York is fast approaching its legal borrowing limit, state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said today (via Capitol Confidential).

In an analysis of the state's debt burden, DiNapoli projects the state will have just $509 million of borrowing capacity by the end of SFY 2013-14.

Albany enacted a debt ceiling in 2000, at 4 percent of New York State Personal Income.

New York’s state-funded debt totaled $63.3 billion this year. DiNapoli says weak economic conditions have reduced personal income growth, which in turn has driven down available borrowing capacity.

DiNapoli proposes raising all state-funded debt to 5 percent of personal income, with a nine-year phase-in of the cap and a constitutional amendment to restrict the use of long-term debt to capital purposes.

SEE MORE: Three Myths About The Trillion Dollar Coin >

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