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: City to get hybrid buses instead of those powered by natural gas.

_On Monday night in the rain, Ringling Brothers Circus elephants snarled up traffic as they came out of the Midtown tunnel and crossed 34th Street to Madison Square Garden for their annual crosstown walk.

_Mayor kicks off major pot hole repair  blitz attempting to fix damage caused by winter storms.

_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, Judysmoh, 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.

_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: Tenants of a burned out Brooklyn apartment building are suing the city saying that the FDNY was late to arrive to the blaze where two people died and that the fire hydrants were frozen.

-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.

Jury selection has been postponed in the $10 million malpractice case by the Brooklyn family of Yankel Rosenblum against Kings County Hospital.

IT’S TUESDAY 3/29:  When there’s nothing going on in the Slope, there’s always Barbes for some fun. Enjoy a SLAVIC SOUL PARTY! Matt Moran leads one of the best Balkan Brass Band anywhere.  

THIS SOUNDS COOL: "Who’s fraid of Mike
N ichols?" film series. March 31 – April 19th. This BAMCinematek program
includes: "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf "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.

Do you have any old super 8 reels lying around. Stuff you found and never saw. Buried family footage. Barbes is having a SUPER 8 EXTRAVAGANZA on April 14th.  Show up  anything you have providing it’s under 5 minutes long. Show up, sign up before the show or email them at super8@barbesbrooklyn.com

_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:  "Pretty women wonder where my secret lies, I’m not cute or built to suit
a model’s fashion size, But when I start to tell them, They think I’m
telling lies. I say, It”s in the reach of my arms, The span of my
hips, The stride of my steps. The curl of my lips. I’m a woman,
Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman. That’s me." Maya Angelou