Some Ticket Scalping Rules Are Changing

NEW YORK -- For decades, ticket scalping was a thing done in the shadows, but those days of ducking into alleyways and dodging police are fading fast.

New York is poised this week to become the latest in a string of states to ease or eliminate decades-old restrictions on the resale of tickets to sporting events, concerts and shows.

Under the proposed rules, the state would discard its long practice of capping prices for tickets sold on the secondary market.

Some old regulations would stay in place. Scalpers would still be banned from selling tickets within 1,500 feet of large arenas like Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium. Smaller venues would get a similar 500-foot buffer zone. Brokers who sell large numbers of tickets would still need to get a license.

But the change would, for the first time, make it entirely legal for average fans to scalp their seats on the Internet.

For better or worse, it would also allow anyone holding a hot ticket to a Mets playoff game or Broadway musical to sell them off for whatever buyers were willing to pay.

"If you have something to sell, you should be able to sell it for what it is truly worth,'' said Sean Pate, spokesman for the online ticket broker StubHub Inc., which lobbied hard for the change.

The state assembly voted for the bill Tuesday. The Senate is expected to follow suit, and Gov. Eliot Spitzer could sign the measure by Friday, when the state's old anti-scalping law expires.

New York is far from alone in its redrafting of scalping rules.

Minnesota tossed out its old anti-scalping laws this spring. The state previously allowed tickets to be resold only at face value.

A bill that would ease Missouri's ban on selling tickets to sporting events at more than face value passed the legislature and is now being considered by the governor.

Caught in New York by the Parksidegent

Tyra Banks and Jaslene Gonzalez

A-ROD'S A YANKEE DOODLE RANDY

HITS A STRIP JOINT WITH TORONTO BABE

- Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez stepped up to the plate with a mysterious, busty blonde in Toronto, as these intimate, exclusive photos reveal.
The cozy duo dined with two pals at a pricey steakhouse late Sunday night, then headed to a glitzy strip club before making their way to his hotel, where the pair ducked into an elevator and headed upstairs just after midnight.
Cynthia Rodriguez - A-Rod's wife and mother of their 2 1/2-year-old daughter, Natasha - was nowhere to be seen during the slugger's big night out on the town, which occurred the evening before the last-place Bronx Bombers' pathetic 7-2 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
And it came as Rodriguez took a room at Toronto's Four Seasons hotel - down the street from the Park Hyatt, where most, if not all of his Yankee teammates and coaches are staying during a three-game stint that ends tonight.

Tonylimo comments:
this is all BULL SHIT...the guy is a good looking dude, so let him have some fun !!!!!

.....least it wasn't a guy with him...lol

Manhattan Cab Robber Strikes Again?

NEW YORK -- The robber targeting taxis in Manhattan has struck again -- only hours after drivers' group and the Guardian Angels handed out fliers urging drivers to be on the lookout.

The latest holdup happened around 10:40 last night on West 39th Street near Seventh Avenue, in midtown. Police say the robber brandished a gun, took an undetermined amount of cash from the driver and ran off.

Investigators suspect he was the same man responsible for seven taxi robberies in the Chelsea, SoHo and Lower East Side neighborhoods since May 17.

The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers and the Guardian Angels crime-fighting group gave drivers copies of a police sketch of the suspect.

Police are asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.

Apple's retail notebook sales up 94 percent in April

Mac maker Apple Inc. saw retail sales of Mac units grow a solid 62 percent year-over-year for the month of April, which included a 94 percent spike in notebook sales thanks to solid MacBook and MacBook Pro momentum, as well as increased distribution

According to NPD data cited by UBS Investment Research analyst Ben Reitzes on Wednesday, U.S. PC unit growth for the month of April grew 14 percent overall, include a 19 percent rise in retail sales and a 30 percent surge in notebook sales.

"Checks for Macs have been solid, backing our 25 percent unit growth estimate for [the company's fiscal third quarter] which should also see support from recently updated MacBooks," the analyst wrote in a one-page memo to clients.

Reitzes added that iPod sales were down 3 percent for the month of April, but noted the "difficult compare" to the year-ago period in which iPod unit sales were up 33 percent.

"While below the 19 percent (9.6 million units) we are modelling for [the] fiscal third quarter, [the NPD] data doesn’t include international sales which could help support growth," he wrote. "We also believe new products later in the year should drive future improvement."

Long Island's Oldest Resident to Celebrate 112th Birthday

Long Island's oldest resident will soon celebrate her 112th birthday.

The party for super-centenarian, Fannie Greenberg, will take place on Wednesday, May 24, at The Regency at Glen Cove where she has resided for the past 9 years.

A super-centenarian is defined as someone age 110 or more. According to the Gerontology Research Group, there are 83 validated living super-centenarians in the world today.

Not only is Fannie Long Island's oldest resident, she is second oldest in New York state, the 13th oldest American and the 28th oldest person in the world.

Here's how folks at The Regency at Glen Cove describe her: She is an energetic senior that makes the most of every day. An extremely stylish woman, Fannie pays careful attention to every detail of her dress. After all, it doesn't hurt to look good!

With a jaunty hat perched on her head and a stylish scarf color coordinated to her suit, Fanny epitomizes the good life of Long Island's Gold Coast

Roger Clemens to NY

THE ROCKET HAS LANDED
Roger Clemens returned to the New York Yankees, making a dramatic announcement to fans from the owner's box during Sunday's game against the Seattle Mariners. At the end of the seventh-inning stretch, Yankees public address announcer Bob Sheppard told fans to turn their attention to the box, where Clemens was standing with a microphone. As the video scoreboard in right-center showed Clemens, who made the announcement himself.