An Honor for the Pope, and It Goes Well With Milk

Michael Falco for The New York Times A baker at Artuso’s Pastry Shop in the Bronx, Justine Gjyatina, worked on a batch of Pope Benedict XVI cookies on Monday, occasioned by the pontiff’s resignation announcement.

When Anthony Artuso heard the news of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation plans on Monday, what else could he do but order up a batch of pope cookies.

“So many people loved these cookies,” Mr. Artuso said, referring to a round cookie bearing the pontiffâ™s likeness that his family’s bakery in the Bronx made when Benedict visited New York in 2008. “We still get calls asking for them, but we only made them during the pope’s visit.”

Artuso’s Pastry Shop made the cookie thick and round - five inches in diameter - from the same shortbread dough used for the two-tone bakery classic known as the black-and-white.

“It’s basically the same thing as a black-and-white, but we put the pope’s photo on it,” said Natalie Corridori, a manager at Artuso’s.

Michael Falco for The New York Times Fresh out of the oven.

Back in 2008, the bakery, on 187th Street in Belmont, ! made perhaps 500 of them, mostly to sell at Yankee Stadium when the pope celebrated Mass there. (At the time, Artuso’s had a stand at the stadium, selling cookies during home games with players’ faces on them.)

“They sold out almost immediately â€" they sold like hot cakes,” Ms. Corridori said.

In fact, Mr. Artuso said essentially that the cookie was so perfect for the occasion that he had decided not to make it again. But given the momentous nature of the resignation, he decided to reprise the cookie. The price, $3.50 outside the stadium in 2008, has come down to $2 in the shop.

On Monday afternoon, things were hectic in the kitchen, where the staff had just finished a batch of similar cookies with Spider-Man’s face on them for a little boy’s party and an order had come in for a girl’s birthday cake decorated to resemble a bottle of lip gloss.

Ms. Corridori had the bakers make a dozen cookis and apply moist icing to the top. She then selected an online photograph of Pope Benedict and used a special pastry printer, loaded with food-coloring “ink,” to print his beneficent face onto round, thin sheets of icing that were then applied to the top of the cookies.

“I hate to take a bite out of the pope,” she said, pulling one of the cookies in half to sample it.

Artuso’s is one of many multigenerational Italian shops near Arthur Avenue in a neighborhood that was once heavily Italian. That has changed in recent years, as Albanians and Latinos have moved in.

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, shop owners were not exactly jumping on the pope-memorabilia bandwagon. The two main religious-item stores â€" Catholic Goods Center and Mount Carmel Catholic Book Shop, both on 187th Street, near Artuso’s - closed in recent years.

At DeCicco Brothers Novelties on Arthur Avenue, there were still two Pope B! enedict b! obblehead dolls in the window, left over from 2008. Giovanna DeCicco, whose family owns the business, sensed a sudden economic opportunity when a reporter expressed interest in them.

“The price was $25, but now, I don’t know,” she said with a slight smile.

At Artuso’s, Mr. Artuso said he was unsure how many cookies to stock.

“It’s all happened so quickly,” he said. “I think the neighborhood was really caught off guard. I know we were.”

Don\'t Worry, It\'s Just Part of a Communist Plot

Jaipal Singh/European Pressphoto Agency Fireballs are cool.

Don’t mind the fireballs in Queens and Brooklyn â€" they’re all part of the show.

The Police Department gave New Yorkers a heads-up on Monday that at two locations over the next two days â€" in Richmond Hill, Queens, on Tuesday and on Union Street in Brooklyn on Wednesday â€" there will be a “controlled explosion with a fireball effect” on the sets of a television production. The “controlled pyrotechnic” events will occur after dark both days, the police said, though the fiery effects may illuminate some of the surrounding area, as fire is wont to do.

Jake Goldman, a spokesman for the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, said they werefor the same show, “The Americans,” which runs on the FX network.

“Worth noting,” he added, “that the stunts come at a time when the local industry employs 130,000 New Yorkers and contributes over $7 billion to the city’s economy.”

It was not immediately clear how much money this week’s fireballs would generate for the city.

Caught (on Video) With Hand in Other\'s Pocketbook

The police are looking for a woman who was caught on video slowly stealing the wallet of a shopper trying on a pair of boots at the Century 21 store in the Rego Center mall in Queens.

The video, made Jan. 20 and released Monday, shows the thief, a middle-aged woman with a heavy build and long black hair, sneakily and persistently inching her hand toward the other woman’s pocketbook as the woman pulls the boots on and off, apparently too preoccupied to notice the heist, which took a full 30 seconds.

The thief is sitting behind the victim and appears to use a nearby mirror to check her surroundings. When she finally grabs the wallet, she casually places it in her pocket, looks around, and ambles down the aisle and out of the video camera’s shot.

The thief is wanted for grand larceny. Anyone who can help the police solve the crime is asked to < href="http://a056-crimestoppers.nyc.gov/crimestoppers/public/index.cfm">contact Crime Stoppers.

Another \'90s Fixture of Lower East Side Is Gone

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times Back in the day: the filmmaker Jim Jarmusch adorned the entrance of the Pink Pony in 2004.

Quietly, without fanfare, another onetime fixture of downtown’s East Side has shut its doors. This time it is the Pink Pony, the sprawling, welcoming cafe on Ludlow Street just south of Houston.

Glowingly lighted, lined with a hodgepodge of books and possessing an unsettling nonreversing mirror in one of its restrooms, the Pink Pony opened in the early ’90s alongside the rock bar Max Fish. The bar captured a fast retreating moment in the evolution - some may say devolution - of the Lower East Side, a tie when patrons read those books and flocked for documentary screenings and poetry nights.

The owner, Lucien Bahaj, a Moroccan-born Frenchman who took over the Pink Pony in 2001, said he closed it partly because of his health - he is 68 and diabetic - but primarily because the landlord wanted $20,000 a month in rent, up from the current $14,000. Mr. Bahaj said that while the landlord, Arwen Properties, had been reasonable and patient, and was merely asking for market rent, his cafe had come to seem out of step in a neighborhood sprouting condominium towers, boutique hotels, mixologists and sports bars.

“The main reason for all of this is not the health, and not the business going down; it’s that the neighborhood has changed,” said Mr. Bahaj, who also owns the 15-year-old restaurant Lucien in the East Village. “It’s the ability to carry on when the original clientele has moved elsewhere.”

The Pink Pon! y actually closed its doors for the last time on Jan. 31. Its death was reported Monday by the blog Bowery Boogie.

The shuttering of the Pink Pony is the latest in a series of closings of bars and restaurants that had sprung up in the messier and freer-wheeling ’90s and early aughts, before gentrification fully claimed the East Village and the Lower East Side. In recent years, the Lakeside Lounge and the Life Café, both on Avenue B, Mars Bar on Second Avenue and Banjo Jim’s on Avenue C have all closed.

The Pink Pony originally opened in the early ’90s. When Mr. Bahaj took it over, it became a tenant of Max Fish, which itself almost closed in 2011. But after Max Fish renegotiated its leae that year, Mr. Bahaj said he became a direct tenant of Arwen Properties. Reached by phone, a representative for the landlord said it had no comment.

Mr. Bahaj said he held on for as long as he could - “I resisted because of pride and because of connection to the community” - but then concluded that trying to stay open made little business sense.

Deadline to Fight Assessments on Hurricane-Damaged Homes

People whose homes were damaged by Hurricane Sandy can contact City Hall to challenge their property tax assessments, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Monday.

Responding to complaints by some homeowners that their tentative tax assessments had gone up, even though their homes were damaged in the storm, Mr. Bloomberg said the city would send someone to inspect damaged homes before it published its final property assessment rolls in May.

In January, when the city published its tentative property assessment roll for the 2014 fiscal year, it noted that it would inspect all storm-damaged properties that had been given a red tag by the Department of Buildings, signifying that they had been demolished, needed to be demolished or required major structural repairs before they would be habitable.

Owners of homes that were less seriously damaged have until this Friday to file damage reports to the Department of Finance, and their homes will also be inspected, according to Lauren Passalacqua, a spokeswoman for the mayor’s office.

Those owners whose homes were not damaged by the storm but who nonetheless wish to challenge their assessments can file formal appeals by March 15.

The mayor, speaking at a news conference at City Hall on food policy, noted that some New Yorkers whose homes lost value because of storm damage may still see their tax bills increase next year, as a result of the way assessed values are calculated. State law caps increases in a property’s assessed value - the amount to which property tax rates are applied - to 6 percent in one year and 20 percent in five years.

If market value increases faster than that, the assessed value lags behind the market value. The Finance Department said in January that it had identified 69 properties that were red-tagged by the Department of Buildings that neve! rtheless had their assessments increased. On average, the city reduced the market values of these homes by 26.4 percent, but increased their assessed values by 4.3 percent.

“The good part is you didn’t have to pay extra taxes then; now you have to pay them later on,” Mr. Bloomberg said.

Still, he encouraged homeowners who questioned their assessments to contact the city.

“There’s 3,500 houses that have already contacted us,” he said. “The final tax bill can be very different.”

Deadline to Fight Assessments on Hurricane-Damaged Homes

People whose homes were damaged by Hurricane Sandy can contact City Hall to challenge their property tax assessments, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Monday.

Responding to complaints by some homeowners that their tentative tax assessments had gone up, even though their homes were damaged in the storm, Mr. Bloomberg said the city would send someone to inspect damaged homes before it published its final property assessment rolls in May.

In January, when the city published its tentative property assessment roll for the 2014 fiscal year, it noted that it would inspect all storm-damaged properties that had been given a red tag by the Department of Buildings, signifying that they had been demolished, needed to be demolished or required major structural repairs before they would be habitable.

Owners of homes that were less seriously damaged have until this Friday to file damage reports to the Department of Finance, and their homes will also be inspected, according to Lauren Passalacqua, a spokeswoman for the mayor’s office.

Those owners whose homes were not damaged by the storm but who nonetheless wish to challenge their assessments can file formal appeals by March 15.

The mayor, speaking at a news conference at City Hall on food policy, noted that some New Yorkers whose homes lost value because of storm damage may still see their tax bills increase next year, as a result of the way assessed values are calculated. State law caps increases in a property’s assessed value - the amount to which property tax rates are applied - to 6 percent in one year and 20 percent in five years.

If market value increases faster than that, the assessed value lags behind the market value. The Finance Department said in January that it had identified 69 properties that were red-tagged by the Department of Buildings that neve! rtheless had their assessments increased. On average, the city reduced the market values of these homes by 26.4 percent, but increased their assessed values by 4.3 percent.

“The good part is you didn’t have to pay extra taxes then; now you have to pay them later on,” Mr. Bloomberg said.

Still, he encouraged homeowners who questioned their assessments to contact the city.

“There’s 3,500 houses that have already contacted us,” he said. “The final tax bill can be very different.”

Orange County Votes To Save Modernist Building

A controversial government building designed by the celebrated Modernist architect Paul Rudolph in Goshen, N.Y., hailed by some as architecturally significant and panned by others as an eyesore, will be renovated, not demolished.

Last week, the Orange County Legislature passed a proposal to renovate the 43-year-old complex by a vote of 15-6, the Times Herald-Record reported on Friday.

Preservationists have argued that the Rudolph building, which features protruding cubes and a corrugated, corduroy-like facade, is a prime example of Brutalist architecture.

The vote was a defeat for Edward A. Diana, the Orang County executive, who wanted to replace the county government’s main office building because it had been plagued by problems like a leaky roof, faulty ventilation system and mold. Several Democratic lawmakers and others had said the building could be upgraded at less expense.

The legislature’s resolution authorizes bonding $10 million to design the renovations. Democrats and Republicans had clashed over whether to renovate or embrace Mr. Diana’s fallback plan to replace two-thirds of the building and renovate the court section alone.

Russian Art Center Looks to the West for New Curator

As Russia’s power in the contemporary art world rises, it is beginning to draw curatorial talent from around the world. In the latest example, the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture in Moscow, a nonprofit art center opened in 2008 by the heiress and collector Dasha Zhukova, has chosen Kate Fowle, a British-born curator who has been working for many years in New York, to be its new chief curator.

Since 2009, Ms. Fowle has been the executive director of Independent Curators International, a New York nonprofit organization, founded in 1975, that trains curators and helps them organize traveling exhibitions. Before that, she served as a curator at the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing. Ms. Fowle will continue to serve as director at large of the New York organization, whose profile has risen over the last several years along with the international demand for roving curators.

The Garage, first located in a Constructivist-era landmark bus garage near the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, is awaiting a move next year to a new home, a derelict restaurant building in Gorky Park being redesigned by the architect Rem Koolhaas. At the Garage, Ms. Fowle will join the prominent Swiss curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist, who serves as the center’s international program advisor.

Syfy Plans Adaptation of Philip K. Dick\'s \'Man in the High Castle\'

Nicole Olivieri Panter The author Philip K. Dick in 1980.

A world in which the Allies lost World War II may not sound like a pleasant place,  but it is the basis of one of Philip K. Dick‘s most celebrated works and, potentially, a mini-series for cable TV’s Syfy channel. Syfy said on Monday that it was developing a four-hour adaptation of “The Man in the High Castle,” Dick’s 1962 novel of mysticism, alternate history (and alternate histories within that alternate history) and an early meditation on what is or is not real from the future author of “A Scanner Darkl” and “Ubik.”

Syfy said in a news release that its adaptation of “The Man in the High Castle” would be done by Frank Spotnitz, a writer and producer of “The X-Files” and “Millennium,” who will also be  executive producer on the project with Ridley Scott, the director and producer whose films include “Blade Runner,” an adaptation of Dick’s novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” The mini-series will be produced by Mr. Scott’s Scott Free Productions with Headline Pictures, Electric Shepherd Productions and FremantleMedia International. Mr. Spotnitz will write its first two hours and supervise the writing of the second two hours, Syfy said.

Isa Dick Hackett, a daughter of Philip K. Dick and a founder of Electric Shepherd Productions, said in a statement: “’The Man in the High Castle’ is one of the most highly regarded and influential novels my father wrote. It’s thrilling to be bringing it to life with such a talented, passionate team, and in a form! at that can do justice to the full scope of the material.”

No air date or casting information was immediately announced for “The Man in the High Castle,” but feel free to consult the I Ching while waiting for further developments.

Bail Process Varies by Borough, Analysis Shows

Jonathan Lippman, New York State’s chief judge, called last week for fundamental revisions in how bail is set. Among other changes, he would let judges take into account whether defendants pose a threat to the public, rather than only whether they are a flight risk.

An analysis by the New York City Criminal Justice Agency found wide variations in whether defendants in felony cases are released at arraignment, detained until bail is paid or denied bail altogether.

The proportion detained ranged from 44 percent in the Bronx to 62 percent in Manhattan. (It was 56 percent in Queens, 54 percent on Staten Island and 53 percent in Brooklyn).

The agency assesses each defendant’s likelihood of returning to court and either recommends they be released, cautions that they pose a moderate risk ofnot returning or suggests they not be released. How judges follow those recommendations also varied.

In the Bronx, 47 percent of the felony defendants rated as high risks were released anyway, compared with 20 percent in Manhattan (and 31 percent on Staten Island, 30 percent in Brooklyn and 24 percent in Queens).

Over all, in 2011, 8 percent of defendants who were recommended for release failed to return to court at the appointed time. Among those not recommended for release, 22 percent failed to return.

History of Early Christianity Named Best Scholarly Book in Arts and Sciences

It may be easier for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for an 800-page, heavily footnoted scholarly book about early Christianity to enter the best-seller list.

But since its release in August, “Through the Eye of the Needle,” Peter Brown’s sweeping study of the changing attitudes towards wealth among Christians of late antiquity, has become something of a commercial hit, selling some 13,000 copies and becoming Princeton University Press’s top-selling book of 2012. Last last week it added another feather to its cap, claiming the R.R. Hawkin Award, the Association of American Publishers’ top honor for a scholarly book in the arts and sciences.

“Peter Brown is a giant, but it’s still pretty remarkable for an 800-page, $40 book on a fascinating but fairly circumscribed topic” to sell so well, Rob Tempio, r. Brown’s editor, said via email, adding: “Brown is truly a magnificent writer, but I may be biased.”

The reviewers, however, have tended to agree, praising Mr. Brown’s deep research, vivid prose and bold interpretations while offering their own nods to the book’s contemporary relevance. (“How Christianity Spread; the One Percent and the Ninety-Nine Percent in Ancient Rome,” read the headline in The New Republic.)

Garry Wills, writing in the New York Review of Books, hailed it as “a masterpiece.” Peter Leithart, writing in Christianity Today, called Mr. Brown’s account of the church’s reconciliation with wealth “deliriously complicated,” leaving the reader in a “bewildered state of ambivalence.”

The Irish-born Mr. Brown, 77, teaches at Princeton University. He established himself as a major scholar with his 1967 biography “Augustine of Hippo.” It was followed in 1972 by “The World of Late Antiquity: AD 150-750,” which helped establish the idea of “late antiquity” while sharply challenging the reigning view, put forth in Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” that the rise of Christianity coupled with barbarian invasions resulted in a decisive “fall” of Rome, folowed by dark ages.

In place of rupture, Mr. Brown saw “continuity,” “synthesis,” and “transformation,” a process also at work in “Through the Eye of the Needle,” whose subtitle is “Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 A.D.” There, Mr. Brown traces how the church transformed itself into something like a welfare state by abandoning the notion that wealth was inherently sinful.

“Rather than denouncing the evil origins of wealth and insisting on its total renunciation,” he writes, the church’s “outreach to the poor, which had taken the form of care only for the destitute, slowly but surely changed its function so as to embrace the care of average citizens in times of stress.”

Public Grooming at the Met

Victor Kerlow

Dear Diary:

I’m guessing this is a first sighting: At the Metropolitan Opera on Jan. 19, during the matinee performance of “Maria Stuarda,” I saw just how much at home one audience member apparently felt.

At the intermission, the man, seated near me, was using his portable electric razor with no sense of impropriety at all.

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