• As Robert Morgenthau’s office starts a criminal investigation of the Deutsche Bank blaze that killed two firefighters, it turns out that the faulty standpipe had been deliberately cut — and recently. [NYP]
• The state gave sixteen city schools the dread “persistently dangerous” label yesterday, bringing the local tally to twenty-five. Teacher and administrators are not pleased. [NYDN]
• Turns out cigarettes are, like, an addiction or something. A new study from the city’s Department of Health found that most New York smokers have “failed to quit.” [NY1]
• Spitzer has signed a bill to levy massive fines against knockoff oldies performers with no connection to the original bands, thanks to the tireless lobbying of noted political guru Jon “Bowzer” Bauman of Sha Na Na. [NYP]
• The 21-year-old Queens guy who caught Barry Bonds’s home run plans to sell it at auction and hopes to make a half-million dollars. We know this because he actually held a press conference to say so. [NYP]
