In a late night press conference Sunday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced New York City police arrested Jose Pimentel, a 27-year-old American citizen, for criminal possession of a weapon as a crime of terrorism, conspiracy and soliciting support for an act of terrorism. Motivated in part by continued U.S. presence in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the death of Yemeni cleric Anwar Awlaki, police arrested Pimentel as he was allegedly building a bomb. Government workers, returning military personnel, and elected officials were among the targets of his intended attacks, according to authorities.

In preparing for Hurricane Irene’s weekend arrival, communities along the East Coast prepared for the worst. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg insisted on Friday that New Yorkers "must, I repeat the word 'must,' evacuate beginning tomorrow and complete the process by 8pm tomorrow night." But his historic preparations turned out to be for a less-than-historic storm, at least in New York City. While all Americans are glad that the loss of life, property and infrastructure was relatively minimal, many people are now wondering: why was Irene so much less the threat we were told it would be?

For residents and tourists, New York’s Central Park is a much-loved haven from the noise of the concrete jungle. Thirty-five million people visit the park each year, but few of them know about Seneca Village, a community of African-Americans and Irish immigrants who lived there before the city created the park in 1857. This summer, New York City gave a team of archaeologists, students and historians permission to excavate parts of the park and uncover artifacts from the lives of the Seneca Village residents. Today, if you're lucky enough to be in New York, you can attend an open house at the site.

Barack Obama, as a senator then presidential candidate and now as president, has struggled with his political position when it comes to supporting same-sex marriage. As a candidate for State Senate in Illinois, Obama filled out a questionnaire and wrote, "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages." (White House officials have said he was really referring to civil unions.)

In 2004 when he ran for the U.S. Senate, Obama said he would fight for equality for gay couples, but not for gay marriage. And on the presidential campaign trail in 2008, the candidate told Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren that, "marriage is the union between a man and a woman." Since becoming president, Obama has had a strong track record on supporting LGBT issues and has said that his position on gay marriage is "evolving." Last night in New York City, speaking at the “Gala with the Gay Community,” gay leaders were listening to see if the president would come any closer to endorsing gay marriage. 

President Obama is in New York today to pay his respects at Ground Zero and meet with family members of victims of 9/11. Whenever the president is in town, the New York Police Department is on heightened security. But this time, they will be keeping the status quo. The NYPD’s 35,000 officers have been on alert since Sunday night when the White House announced Osama bin Laden’s death. Officers have been working overtime to protect subways during rush hour and have been commanded to be on the lookout for suspicious packages at landmarks. Police officials say there have been no specific threats against the city, but New York is still a prime target for terrorist attacks. 

Yesterday’s dramatic crash landing of a U.S. Airways jetliner into New York’s Hudson River, and the equally dramatic rescue, had many people glued to their television screens. Fortunately, no one aboard the plane was killed. But the news that a flock of geese may have caused the crash has a lot of people wondering just how worried they should be about so-called “bird strikes.” For that answer we turn to Patrick Smith, pilot and author of Salon.com’s Ask the Pilot.