Today’s Headlines

We are red-faced to admit this, but we missed CBS2's incredible coverage of the minor bus crash on Tuesday that apparently resulted from a driver who was distracted by a passenger. That passenger was a pigeon. Or at least that's what the bus driver is saying, given that the bird with the beef is now on the lam. (You're welcome.)

Let's talk about reckless drivers for a second. New York City speed cameras — which, remember, only operate at 140 schools, and only during school hours — caught millions of scofflaws over the last five years. But in 2017, 25,881 drivers received five or more tickets from a speed camera. Those are seriously reckless drivers.

Council Member Ruben Diaz spent much of the day saying that he's the victim (NYDN) because people are criticizing him for his three consecutive days of homophobic remarks. He rejected Council Speaker Corey Johnson's call for him to resign (NY Post). The Times offered a review of decades of Diaz's most repugnant comments. Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer will lead a protest against his anti-gay colleague on the steps of City Hall at 10 a.m.

We're a registered non-profit, so we can't endorse or criticize politicians, but we can cover their positions and statements. So in case you missed it, Council Member Ruben Diaz Sr. made remarks that were objectively homophobic and will likely lead to him losing leadership posts in the Council — and maybe his seat, as Jimmy Van Bramer suggested. So stay tuned.

Today will be a watershed moment in New York City cycling. Activists will rally at 4 p.m. outside the Midtown North precinct's W. 54th Street stationhouse to protest the treatment of cyclists after a captain was caught on camera tackling a rider on Ninth Avenue yesterday. The protest will also focus on the ongoing ticket blitz against delivery cyclists in the days after a cyclist was killed by a hit-and-run driver on Monday. Some people were even written up for riding without a helmet, which is not illegal — clear evidence of a precinct whose goal is to intimidate cyclists.

We were very happy to see the national media pick up on our exclusive story about Google's new Maps feature tipping off drivers to the locations of New York City's hard-fought speed cameras. NBC Nightly News did a web story and a video segment (alas, no mention of Streetsblog), both of which made a unmentioned case for public oversight, or at least debate, over who gets to decide what is in the interest of public safety and what is a private company just trying to make some money. The Daily News, Gothamist, Fox5NY, amNY and the New York Times also covered the controversy, with amNY and the Times giving us a hat tip, even.

Boy, the L train really stinks. No, seriously, yesterday's non-State-of-the-Union news was dominated by the gas fumes that forced the shutdown of the most-important train line in world history. The Daily News reported that two people actually fainted, while Gothamist gave something of a station-by-station aroma guide. The Post played it straight, as did amNY. The President did not mention it in his State of the Union address, but he did lie about New York's new abortion rights law.

As promised, our editor went on Arthur Schwartz's show on WBAI radio on Monday night and, objectively speaking, got the better of the Greenwich Village car owner and anti-14th-St-Busway agitator. But you don't have to believe us. Click here to listen to the stirring half-hour broadcast. (OK, so it's not War on Cars, but it's a good segment.)

Just in time for Sunday's Super Bowl matchup of the Patriots and the Rams, the New York Post delivered an epic analysis of why everyone hates, or should hate, Tom Brady. That said, it is likely that everyone except New England fans will hate him even more after the game.