BROOKLYN WEATHER: What’s it gonna do today?  Check here for Brooklyn weather.

SPRING FORWARD NEXT WEEK: Though Europe switched over on Sunday, daylight savings time
for New York (EST, GMT -7:00) takes place NEXT weekend. Set your clocks
ahead (spring forward) one hour at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 3, 2005.

CITY NEWS: As of Sunday, children age seven and younger must be buckled into a car seat in New York State. This is up from age four.

_There’s a growing blog community of New York City public school teachers. MildlyMelancholy, Judymoh, and others are sites where teachers can openly vent about what they really think and feel about their jobs.

_NYPD arrested 37 protesters,
members of Critical Mass, a group that celebrates cycling and other
non-polluting forms of transportation. Those arrested were charged with
parading without a permit. The city is going to court to demand that
these cyclists get a permit for their month protest. Earlier this year
a Federal judge said permits weren’t necessary.

_Friday March 25th marked the
anniversary of two tragic fires: the Happy Land Social Club fire in the
Bronx and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

_Thieves make off with $5 million in diamond heist at a diamond exchanges on West 47th Street.

_The City’s Department of Education sent out
test prep guides to NYC teachers filled with wrong answers, typos and
grammatical mistakes. The first big typo was right on the cover:
Mathematics Planning for the Forth Grade. "Tweed has no problem with
excessively criticizing teachers for failing to meet its picayune
mandates, but then it produces a test prep manual riddled with errors
and misspellings," said Weingarten, president of the United Federation
of Teachers. " The hypocrisy is stunning."

BROOKLYN BEAT: The Department of Education has instructed high-demand middle schools in District 15 to admit 20-40 additional applicants. Parents were outraged when in-demand middle schools rejected 550 qualified applicants."

_New York wants to reclaim the movie and TV production that’s been going to Candada and other lower-priced shooting locations by offering tax credits and other incentives. The city is hoping that the recently completed Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard will attract movie and television producers.

_ Workers at the Vox Pop Coffee Shop ("Books, Coffee, Demoracy") on Cortylou Avenue in Ditmas Park unanimously joined the
Industrial Workers of the World last week. The employees join a growing
movement of NYC retail workers, including Starbucks baristas, who are
striving to increase union membership in the industry. Check out the Vox Pop web site.

Early Saturday morning, an 85 year old retired Russian physicist was
run down by a car at Bay Avenue and Cropsey Avenue, an intersection
that is said to be one of the city’s worst. The elderly man had just
finished his daily four mile morning walk.  He died Saturday morning at
Coney Island Hospital.

IT’S MONDAY 3/28: Barbes presents "The Three Penny Opera (1931) at 7 p.m. 376 9th Street near 6th Avenue. Live music begins at 9 p.m.

THIS SOUNDS COOL: "Who’s fraid of Mike Nichols?" film series. March 31 – April 19th. This BAMCinematek program includes: "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe," "The Graduate," "Carnal Knowledge," "Angels in America, "Wit," and more. This Thursday, March 31 at 7 p.m. Q & A with Nichols following "The Graduate."

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5th Annual Brooklyn Jewish Film Festival. April 5 – 10. Stand up and Laugh: New and Classic Jewish Comedies at BAM.

Jean Luc Godard Festival at BAM a chance to discover and rediscover the masterpieces. April 21-26.

WORTH TAKING A LOOK:  The SECOND GRADE
ART SHOW at Starbucks. Seventh Avenue between 1st and Garfield Place.
The children’s Romare Bearden-esque cityscape collages will be up all
month. 

HERE/SAY:  "A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end… but not necessarily in that order." Jean-Luc Godard