Serpico Subpoenaed in Another Whistle-Blower’s Suit

Librado Romero/The New York Times Frank Serpico

In the four decades since the city formed the Knapp Commission to investigate sweeping charges of corruption in the New York Police Department, Frank Serpico, the police officer whose complaints led to the commission, has had no real contact with city or police officials.

For most of the past few years, Mr. Serpico has been living in a remote, single-room cabin in upstate New York.

But on Friday, Mr. Serpico, 77, opened his post office box in Stuyvesant, N.Y., to find a subpoena that will pull him into another whistle-blowing scandal involving the New York Police Department.

“I thought it was my Medal of Honor certificate, which I’ve been requesting for years,” said Mr. Serpico, who was awarded the medal after being shot in 1971 during a drug arrest in a Brooklyn building in which fellow officers did not provide immediate backup or medical help.

Instead the letter ordered him to turn over any documents or materials he might possess related to the trial of a city police officer, Adrian Schoolcraft, 38, who is suing the city in connection with an episode in 2009 that resulted in Mr. Schoolcraft being forcibly hospitalized and suspended from the force.

Mr. Schoolcraft, an officer in the 81st Precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, secretly recorded roll calls in the station house, which he said demonstrated that commanders were telling officers to downgrade reported crimes, to reduce the rate of violent crime in the precinct. After speaking publicly about this, Mr. Schoolcraft was taken from his Queens apartment and transported to a psychiatric ward at Jamaica Hospital and kept there for six days.

Mr. Serpico, who also once worked in the 81st Precinct, said he had given numerous news interviews since 2010 supporting Mr. Schoolcraft and comparing the younger officer’s case to his own. He said he had personally assisted Mr. Schoolcraft - who moved upstate and has gone through shaky emotional periods â€" both in person and on the phone.

“I tried to help him out and support him because I thought his case was legit,” said Mr. Serpico, adding that he has also assisted Mr. Schoolcraft’s legal team “on how the N.Y.P.D. treats whistle-blowers.”

The city’s Law Department confirmed that Mr. Serpico had been served with a subpoena as the city defends itself against Mr. Schoolcraft’s lawsuit.

“Based on reported comments by Mr. Serpico to media outlets, we have reason to believe that he may have information relevant to Adrian Schoolcraft’s lawsuit,’’ said Suzanna Publicker Mettham, a city lawyer. “As he is not a party, a subpoena was recently served requesting any relevant documents in his possession.”

A lawyer for Mr. Schoolcraft did not return telephone calls.

The city’s subpoena, in an odd mistake, identified Mr. Serpico at one point as Mr. Schoolcraft’s father.

“I guess they think I adopted him,” Mr. Serpico said.

He said he had no materials to turn over relating to Mr. Schoolcraft and added that he had planned to attend the trial anyway. While the subpoena did not order him to testify, both Mr. Serpico and his lawyer expect to be called to the stand - which he says will surely not help the Police Department’s case.

“They were never known for their genius,” Mr. Serpico said.

“It’ll be fun â€" I’m looking forward to giving my opinion,” he said, then sighed and added, “Forty years later, the beat goes on.”

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: August 6, 2013

An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to a subpoena issued to Mr. Serpico. He was ordered to turn over any documents or materials he might possess. He was not ordered to testify.

Serpico Subpoenaed in Another Whistle-Blower’s Suit

Librado Romero/The New York Times Frank Serpico

In the four decades since the city formed the Knapp Commission to investigate sweeping charges of corruption in the New York Police Department, Frank Serpico, the police officer whose complaints led to the commission, has had no real contact with city or police officials.

For most of the past few years, Mr. Serpico has been living in a remote, single-room cabin in upstate New York.

But on Friday, Mr. Serpico, 77, opened his post office box in Stuyvesant, N.Y., to find a subpoena that will pull him into another whistle-blowing scandal involving the New York Police Department.

“I thought it was my Medal of Honor certificate, which I’ve been requesting for years,” said Mr. Serpico, who was awarded the medal after being shot in 1971 during a drug arrest in a Brooklyn building in which fellow officers did not provide immediate backup or medical help.

Instead the letter ordered him to turn over any documents or materials he might possess related to the trial of a city police officer, Adrian Schoolcraft, 38, who is suing the city in connection with an episode in 2009 that resulted in Mr. Schoolcraft being forcibly hospitalized and suspended from the force.

Mr. Schoolcraft, an officer in the 81st Precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, secretly recorded roll calls in the station house, which he said demonstrated that commanders were telling officers to downgrade reported crimes, to reduce the rate of violent crime in the precinct. After speaking publicly about this, Mr. Schoolcraft was taken from his Queens apartment and transported to a psychiatric ward at Jamaica Hospital and kept there for six days.

Mr. Serpico, who also once worked in the 81st Precinct, said he had given numerous news interviews since 2010 supporting Mr. Schoolcraft and comparing the younger officer’s case to his own. He said he had personally assisted Mr. Schoolcraft - who moved upstate and has gone through shaky emotional periods â€" both in person and on the phone.

“I tried to help him out and support him because I thought his case was legit,” said Mr. Serpico, adding that he has also assisted Mr. Schoolcraft’s legal team “on how the N.Y.P.D. treats whistle-blowers.”

The city’s Law Department confirmed that Mr. Serpico had been served with a subpoena as the city defends itself against Mr. Schoolcraft’s lawsuit.

“Based on reported comments by Mr. Serpico to media outlets, we have reason to believe that he may have information relevant to Adrian Schoolcraft’s lawsuit,’’ said Suzanna Publicker Mettham, a city lawyer. “As he is not a party, a subpoena was recently served requesting any relevant documents in his possession.”

A lawyer for Mr. Schoolcraft did not return telephone calls.

The city’s subpoena, in an odd mistake, identified Mr. Serpico at one point as Mr. Schoolcraft’s father.

“I guess they think I adopted him,” Mr. Serpico said.

He said he had no materials to turn over relating to Mr. Schoolcraft and added that he had planned to attend the trial anyway. While the subpoena did not order him to testify, both Mr. Serpico and his lawyer expect to be called to the stand - which he says will surely not help the Police Department’s case.

“They were never known for their genius,” Mr. Serpico said.

“It’ll be fun â€" I’m looking forward to giving my opinion,” he said, then sighed and added, “Forty years later, the beat goes on.”

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: August 6, 2013

An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to a subpoena issued to Mr. Serpico. He was ordered to turn over any documents or materials he might possess. He was not ordered to testify.

Amazon Expands to Sell Art Online

A day after the news that Amazon’s founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos, is buying The Washington Post, his company officially entered another cultural arena: art. On Tuesday, the online retailer announced the start of Amazon Art, where customers can buy original and limited-edition art from more than 150 dealers and 4,500 artists, ranging in price from a $10 screen print by the up-and-comer Ryan Humphrey to a  $4.85 million painting by Norman Rockwell.

Amazon, which worked with Sotheby’s for a short-lived experiment selling art on the Web in 1999, will now vie with other, more established competitors in the online marketplace, including Artsy and Artnet. Amazon has sought to blunt some of that competitive pressure by partnering with Paddle8, an online auction site, among other players.

“Amazon Art gives galleries a way to bring their passion and expertise about the artists they represent to our millions of customers,” said Peter Faricy, the company’s vice president for the Amazon Marketplace.

Erik Fairleigh, an Amazon spokesman, said that the commission scale  is similar to what other sellers that use Amazon pay: between 5 and 20 percent, depending on the price of the artwork. Amazon is not providing an ironclad guarantee of authenticity, but Mr. Fairleigh said that the company is “working with prestigious galleries and dealers”  to ensure quality and would investigate any potential problems and “take appropriate action.”

A Call for the Unofficial Mayors of New York

Robert Stolarik for The New York Times Who’s in charge here?

After three terms of Michael R. Bloomberg as mayor, New York will elect in a new leader in November. But who really runs the city?

Some neighborhoods or streets have their own mayor, someone who wields influence, often without fanfare or recognition, and without pay. And these unofficial mayors help residents or members of their communities, be they geographic, religious, ethnic or virtual. Now, their time in the spotlight has come.

We are looking for a variety of unforgettable characters â€" young and old, poor and wealthy, loved and even loathed â€" to profile in photos, words and multimedia this fall. The person must be living and willing to be interviewed by The Times, and cannot hold elective office or work for the city.

Maybe it’s a fixer at your church, synagogue or mosque, or the loudmouth who runs the bocce league, or a 10-year-old community organizer who solved the rat problem on her block. Maybe it’s the head of a housing complex who went door to door with rescue workers during Hurricane Sandy or solves problems, no questions asked. Or maybe it’s just the smiley gaptoothed guy who knows everyone in the neighborhood and just his handshake on the stoop is a critical thread in the block’s fabric.

To nominate a leader in your neighborhood or community, please submit the following form.

A Call for the Unofficial Mayors of New York

Robert Stolarik for The New York Times Who’s in charge here?

After three terms of Michael R. Bloomberg as mayor, New York will elect in a new leader in November. But who really runs the city?

Some neighborhoods or streets have their own mayor, someone who wields influence, often without fanfare or recognition, and without pay. And these unofficial mayors help residents or members of their communities, be they geographic, religious, ethnic or virtual. Now, their time in the spotlight has come.

We are looking for a variety of unforgettable characters â€" young and old, poor and wealthy, loved and even loathed â€" to profile in photos, words and multimedia this fall. The person must be living and willing to be interviewed by The Times, and cannot hold elective office or work for the city.

Maybe it’s a fixer at your church, synagogue or mosque, or the loudmouth who runs the bocce league, or a 10-year-old community organizer who solved the rat problem on her block. Maybe it’s the head of a housing complex who went door to door with rescue workers during Hurricane Sandy or solves problems, no questions asked. Or maybe it’s just the smiley gaptoothed guy who knows everyone in the neighborhood and just his handshake on the stoop is a critical thread in the block’s fabric.

To nominate a leader in your neighborhood or community, please submit the following form.

Lindsay Lohan, Talk-Show Host

On the celebrity rehabilitation tour, “Chelsea Lately” is a halfway house on the way to Oprah Winfrey. And Lindsay Lohan, fresh out of rehab and promoting a low-budget curiosity of a film directed by Paul Schrader, gratefully filled in for Chelsea Handler on her E! talk show.

The cost of flopping is low on “Chelsea Lately” because it’s a small, self-mocking late-night comedy show that celebrates raunchiness and bad judgment. (One of the ads is for Hornitos Tequila.) A successful star turn there can’t wipe a bad reputation clean, but it can buoy a troubled celebrity’s confidence.

Ms. Lohan did a perfectly good job of replacing Ms. Handler and seems well on her way to the 12th step of show-business comebacks, a sit-down on “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” on Ms. Winfrey’s OWN network later this month. And the fact that Ms. Lohan is once again a welcome guest on talk shows - and not just the tabloids - is a testament less to the actress’s resilience than the public’s enduring fascination with failure.

There are so many stars who succumb to excess: James Gandolfini, 51, the star of “The Sopranos” died in June of a heart attack. Cory Monteith of “Glee” died of an overdose last month. It’s hard to watch Ms. Lohan joke about her record, even self-deprecatingly, and she was careful to add parenthetical disclaimers on either side of a punch line. She referred to her 90-day stay at a California rehab center as a “lovely, court-ordered vacation in Malibu.” She let the audience laugh, then added, “But, no, on a real note, it was really great and wonderful. It was.”

Ms. Lohan gets special attention because she was a promising, beloved child star (“The Parent Trap”) before she became a slow-motion train wreck. She hasn’t made a good film in years, and her recent career trajectory â€" a Playboy spread, a television movie in which she played Elizabeth Taylor and, now, “The Canyons,” an art film in which she plays opposite a porn star â€" has few high points. The public has spent the last few years watching her performances in courtrooms; now she is back onstage in the third act of celebrity repentance.

And she is pretty elastic in the part - mixing dutiful curtsies of regret with glimmers of saucy defiance. “How come when Kanye acts like an idiot, he gets a gold record, but when I act like an idiot, I get a police record?” she said.

There’s no comparison, actually, between narcissistic self-promotion and willful self-destruction. Ms. Lohan is less worrisomely thin now than she was before rehab, but her appearance is still disconcerting: she is a 27-year-old actress with the poofy lips and tight skin of an older woman trying to look young.

And in that sense, at least, she is well cast in her current role. This is not her first time on the comeback trail, and each return from the brink turns more fraught. When David Letterman interviewed Ms. Lohan in April, shortly before she was due to begin this latest rehab program, he sounded more like a truant officer than a comedian. She seemed startled and offended by Mr. Letterman’s brutal questioning but gamely tried to play along.

On Monday, she was in charge, bantering with a panel of comedians, and chatting with Dylan Bruce, a star of “Orphan Black.” Mostly, however, she tried, once again, to clear the slate. At one point, she picked up a newspaper with the headline “Lohan Needs Therapy.” She said sarcastically, “Yeah,” then tossed the paper behind her.

Ms. Lohan gave a pretty good performance on Monday, but it will be a while before audiences trust that she has actually changed her life.

New York Comedy Festival Sets 2013 Lineup

Performances by Wanda Sykes, John Mulaney and Whitney Cummings, and a conversation between Larry David and David Steinberg are among the highlights of this year’s New York Comedy Festival, whose organizers announced its 2013 lineup on Tuesday. The festival, which is now in its tenth year and is presented in association with Comedy Central and produced by Carolines on Broadway, will run from Nov. 6 through 10. Among the events that were announced is a performance by Ms. Sykes (of television’s “The New Adventures of Old Christine”) on Nov. 7 at the Beacon Theater. Nov. 8 will see performances by Nick Swardson, Bill Burr, Kathy Griffin and Ms. Cummings; and on Nov. 9, Mr. Mulaney (of “Saturday Night Live”), Jim Jefferies, Bill Maher and Anthony Jeselnik will perform at spaces including Town Hall, Carnegie Hall and the Beacon. The conversation between Mr. David, the creator and star of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and Mr. Steinberg, the veteran standup and host of Showtime’s “Inside Comdy,” will take place at Town Hall on Nov. 10.

Tickets for events can be purchased online at nycomedyfestival.com. A presale for Citi cardholders will begin on Wednesday at 10 a.m., and general sales for all shows will begin the following Monday at 10 a.m.

Serpico to Testify in Another Whistle-Blower’s Suit

Librado Romero/The New York Times Frank Serpico

In the four decades since the city formed the Knapp Commission to investigate sweeping charges of corruption in the New York Police Department, Frank Serpico, the police officer whose complaints led to the commission, has had no real contact with city or police officials.

For most of the past few years, Mr. Serpico has been living in a remote, single-room cabin in upstate New York.

But on Friday, Mr. Serpico, 77, opened his post office box in Stuyvesant, N.Y., to find a subpoena that will pull him into another whistle-blowing scandal involving the New York Police Department.

The subpoena, issued by city lawyers, compels Mr. Serpico to testify in a corruption lawsuit involving the Police Department.

“I thought it was my Medal of Honor certificate, which I’ve been requesting for years,” said Mr. Serpico, who was awarded the medal after being shot in 1971 during a drug arrest in a Brooklyn building in which fellow officers did not provide immediate backup or medical help.

Instead the letter ordered him to testify in â€" and turn over any documents or materials he might possess related to â€" the trial of a city police officer, Adrian Schoolcraft, 38, who is suing the city in connection with an episode in 2009 that resulted in Mr. Schoolcraft being forcibly hospitalized and suspended from the force.

Mr. Schoolcraft, an officer in the 81st Precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, secretly recorded roll calls in the station house, which he said demonstrated that commanders were telling officers to downgrade reported crimes, to reduce the rate of violent crime in the precinct. After speaking publicly about this, Mr. Schoolcraft was taken from his Queens apartment and transported to a psychiatric ward at Jamaica Hospital and kept there for six days.

Mr. Serpico, who also once worked in the 81st Precinct, said he had given numerous news interviews since 2010 supporting Mr. Schoolcraft and comparing the younger officer’s case to his own. He said he had personally assisted Mr. Schoolcraft - who moved upstate and has gone through shaky emotional periods â€" both in person and on the phone.

“I tried to help him out and support him because I thought his case was legit,” said Mr. Serpico, adding that he has also assisted Mr. Schoolcraft’s legal team “on how the N.Y.P.D. treats whistle-blowers.”

The city’s Law Department confirmed that Mr. Serpico had been served with a subpoena as the city defends itself against Mr. Schoolcraft’s lawsuit.

“Based on reported comments by Mr. Serpico to media outlets, we have reason to believe that he may have information relevant to Adrian Schoolcraft’s lawsuit,’’ said Suzanna Publicker Mettham, a city lawyer. “As he is not a party, a subpoena was recently served requesting any relevant documents in his possession.”

A lawyer for Mr. Schoolcraft did not return telephone calls.

The city’s subpoena, in an odd mistake, identified Mr. Serpico at one point as Mr. Schoolcraft’s father.

“I guess they think I adopted him,” Mr. Serpico said.

He said he had no materials to turn over relating to Mr. Schoolcraft and added that he had planned to attend the trial anyway, but now relishes the opportunity to testify - which he says will surely not help the Police Department’s case.

“They were never known for their genius,” Mr. Serpico said.

“It’ll be fun â€" I’m looking forward to giving my opinion,” he said, then sighed and added, “Forty years later, the beat goes on.”

Aug. 6: Where the Candidates Are Today

Planned events for the mayoral candidates, according to the campaigns and organizations they are affiliated with. Times are listed as scheduled but frequently change.

Joseph Burgess and Nicholas Wells contributed reporting.

Event information is listed as provided at the time of publication. Details for many of Ms. Quinn events are not released for publication.Maps of all campaign events since April »

Events by candidate

Albanese

Catsimatidis

De Blasio

Lhota

Liu

McDonald

Quinn

Thompson

Weiner

Group event

John A. Catsimatidis
Republican

10 a.m.
Participates in the AARP and Univision mayoral forum, at the Hunter College Assembly Hall on East 69th Street.

6:30 p.m.
Attends an invite-only campaign “friend-raiser,” at Leila Heller Gallery on West 25th Street.

8 p.m.
Attends the National Night Out Against Crime in the 104th Precinct, at Mafera Park in Ridgewood.

Bill de Blasio
Democrat

10 a.m.
Participates in the AARP and Univision mayoral forum, at the Hunter College Assembly Hall on East 69th Street.

12:30 p.m.
Tours Per Scholas, a nonprofit organization that provides IT job training to low-income individuals, and discusses workforce development with staff members and students, at Per Scholas on East 138th Street in the Bronx.

2:30 p.m.
Visits with healthcare workers, along with his wife, Chirlane McCray, at the Isabella Geriatric Center in Manhattan.

4:30 p.m.
Joins the New York State Nurses Association as it simulates how much longer it will take residents of Red Hook to obtain emergency care at nearby hospitals if Long Island College Hospital were allowed to close. Participating nurses will measure the time it takes them to travel in teams, starting in Red Hook, to nearby hospitals by foot, car and public transit. Mr. de Blasio, acting in his capacity as public advocate, will convene a news conference to discuss the experiment and the results at Coffey Park in Red Hook.

5:30 p.m.
Greets commuters during the evening rush at the Utica Avenue subway station, on Fulton Street in Brooklyn.

7 p.m.
Attends the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network’s weekly Brooklyn Action rally, at First A.M.E. Zion Church, on MacDonough Street.

John C. Liu
Democrat

7 a.m.
Greet morning commuters at the 145th Street subway station on St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem.

10 a.m.
Participates in the AARP and Univision mayoral forum, at the Hunter College Assembly Hall on East 69th Street.

12:30 p.m.
Greets seniors at the Mary McLeod Bethune Center, on Amsterdam Avenue in Upper Manhattan.

1:15 p.m.
Visits his second senior center of the afternoon, this time at the Wilson Major Morris Community Center in Upper Manhattan.

1:45 p.m.
Attends Elders Jubilee Awards luncheon, organized as part of Harlem Week’s Senior Citizen Day, at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building in Harlem.

4 p.m.
Stops by the first of seven National Night Out Against Crime events on his schedule, this one hosted by the 34th Precinct, at Fort Tyron Park in Upper Manhattan. Candidate’s itinerary has him attending at least one such event in each borough, covering a wider swath than any of his rivals.

4:40 p.m.
Attends his second of seven National Night Out Against Crime events, with the 79th Precinct at Von King Park in Brooklyn.

5:05 p.m.
Attends his third of seven National Night Out Against Crime events, with the 81st Precinct, at P.S. 309 in Brooklyn.

6 p.m.
Stops by his fourth of seven National Night Out Against Crime events, this time in the 68th Precinct, at Shore Road Park.

6:45 p.m.
Attends his fifth National Night Out Against Crime of the evening, with Staten Island precincts, at Midland Beach Turtle Circle.

7:45 p.m.
Attends his sixth of seven National Night Out Against Crime events, this time at the Rochdale Village Comunity Center in Queens.

8:45 p.m.
Finishes his day with his seventh visit to a National Night Out Against Crime, this one in Co-op City.

Joseph J. Lhota
Republican

10 a.m.
Participates in the AARP and Univision mayoral forum, at the Hunter College Assembly Hall on East 69th Street.

5:45 p.m.
Attends the Breezy Point Co-operative’s annual meeting, at the Co-op’s ballfield.

Christine C. Quinn
Democrat

12 p.m.
Holds a news conference to address the recent New York State Supreme Court ruling, obtained by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, striking down a City Council measure she had backed that would have required paying workers more than minimum wage for some jobs, at City Hall.

5:15 p.m.
Attends a National Night Out Against Crime event with Councilman Stephen Levin, at Brooklyn Borough Hall.

6 p.m.
Attends her second National Night Out Against Crime event, with Councilwoman Rosie Mendez in the Seventh Precinct in Lower Manhattan.

7 p.m.
Attends another National Night Out Against Crime event, her third of the evening, at the 46th Precinct’s event on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx.

Some of Ms. Quinn’s events may not be shown because the campaign declines to release her advance schedule for publication.

William C. Thompson Jr.
Democrat

7 a.m.
Greets commuters during the morning rush at the 116th Street subway station, on Lexington Avenue.

10 a.m.
Participates in the AARP and Univision mayoral forum, at the Hunter College Assembly Hall on East 69th Street.

11:25 a.m.
Addresses today’s expected release of annual test scores by the city’s public schoolchildren, outside of Hunter College on Park Avenue.

5:30 p.m.
Attends a National Night Out Against Crime, on Parade Place in Brooklyn.

6:30 p.m.
Speaks as part of a continuing “N.Y.C. Mayoral Candidate Series,” hosted by the Common Good, the civic organization founded by Patricia Duff, at 75 East 55th Street in Manhattan. Closed to press, and R.S.V.P. required.

Anthony D. Weiner
Democrat

12 a.m.
Continues his “Keys to the City” tour with a news conference announcing his plan to reduce alternate-side parking by 25 percent, at East 68th Street and Third Avenue.

8:30 a.m.
Addresses the CUNY Institute of Education Policy’s breakfast meeting, at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute in Manhattan.

10 a.m.
Participates in the AARP and Univision mayoral forum, at the Hunter College Assembly Hall on East 69th Street.

6:30 p.m.
Attends the first of three National Night Out Against Crime events tonight, this one in the 46th Precinct, on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx.

7:15 p.m.
Proceeds to his second of three National Night Out Against Crime events, in the 47th Precinct, on Grenada Place in the Bronx.

8 p.m.
Attends his third National Night Out Against Crime event of the evening, in the 49th Precinct, on Pelham Parkway in the Bronx.

Sal F. Albanese
Democrat

10 a.m.
Participates in the AARP and Univision mayoral forum, at the Hunter College Assembly Hall on East 69th Street.

6:15 p.m.
Greet concertgoers at the Juniper Valley Park Concert Series, on Italian Night featuring Chris Macchio with Tony Valenti, in Queens.

7:30 p.m.
Attends the National Night Out Against Crime in the 111th Precinct, at the Douglaston Shopping Plaza in Queens.

Adolfo Carrión Jr.
Independent

10 a.m.
Participates in the AARP and Univision mayoral forum, at the Hunter College Assembly Hall on East 69th Street.

5 p.m.
Attends a National Night Out Against Crime sponsored by the 46th Precinct, one of at least three mayoral rivals making appearances at this community-sponsored event, on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx.

George T. McDonald
Republican

10 a.m.
Participates in the AARP and Univision mayoral forum, at the Hunter College Assembly Hall on East 69th Street.

6 p.m.
Joins supporters at a volunteer appreciation event, closed to the press, at 232 East 84th Street in Manhattan.

Erick J. Salgado
Democrat

10 a.m.
Participates in the AARP and Univision mayoral forum, at the Hunter College Assembly Hall on East 69th Street.

Readers with information about events involving the mayoral candidates are invited to send details and suggestions for coverage to cowan@nytimes.com. You can also follow us on Twitter @cowannyt.

Laura Bell Bundy Joins ‘Anger Management’

Lionsgate Laura Bell Bundy

In the words of that future courtroom star Elle Woods: Omigod, you guys. Charlie Sheen has found his newest romantic challenge, at least for the fictional capacity of his FX sitcom “Anger Management,” and she will be played by Laura Bell Bundy, the Tony Award-nominated star of the “Legally Blonde” musical.

Lionsgate, the studio that produces “Anger Management,” said in a news release that Ms. Bundy, who played the law student Elle Woods on Broadway and has also appeared on television series like “Hart of Dixie” and “How I Met Your Mother,” will join Mr. Sheen’s comedy as Dr. Jordan Denby, the “new sex study research partner” of Mr. Sheen’s character. Ms. Bundy’s role is further described as “a brilliant psychologist whose recent divorce, fondness for alcohol and wild mood swings turn Charlie’s life into an emotional roller coaster.” (Given her qualifications she’s also surely familiar with the term projection.)

FX and Lionsgate have a 100-episode commitment to “Anger Management,” which in June parted ways with the actress Selma Blair. Ms. Blair, a veteran of films like “Hellboy” and “Cruel Intentions,” had played a sometime therapist of Mr. Sheen’s character who became his occasional lover. The two actors reportedly had a far less rosy relationship behind the scenes.

Ms. Bundy, who has been touring with the country music group Rascal Flatts, will start work on “Anger Management” this week, Lionsgate said.

In Performance: Young Jean Lee of ‘We’re Gonna Die’

The downtown playwright Young Jean Lee asks some darkly comic existential questions in her pop-music cabaret “We’re Gonna Die.” Charles Isherwood called the show a “bizarre combination of pop concert and autobiographical lament for the human condition” when it ran at Joe’s Pub in 2011. It’s now playing (through Aug. 17) at the Claire Tow Theater at Lincoln Center, and is also available as an album. In this scene, Ms. Lee performs “Henry,” a monologue about a painful breakup.

Recent videos in this series include Sala Iwamatsu and the puppeteer Veronica J. Kuehn (as Kate Monster) singing the number “The More You Ruv Someone” from “Avenue Q,” at New World Stages, and Rory O’Malley singing “The Twitter Song” from the musical “Nobody Loves You” at Second Stage Theater.

In Performance: Young Jean Lee of ‘We’re Gonna Die’

The downtown playwright Young Jean Lee asks some darkly comic existential questions in her pop-music cabaret “We’re Gonna Die.” Charles Isherwood called the show a “bizarre combination of pop concert and autobiographical lament for the human condition” when it ran at Joe’s Pub in 2011. It’s now playing (through Aug. 17) at the Claire Tow Theater at Lincoln Center, and is also available as an album. In this scene, Ms. Lee performs “Henry,” a monologue about a painful breakup.

Recent videos in this series include Sala Iwamatsu and the puppeteer Veronica J. Kuehn (as Kate Monster) singing the number “The More You Ruv Someone” from “Avenue Q,” at New World Stages, and Rory O’Malley singing “The Twitter Song” from the musical “Nobody Loves You” at Second Stage Theater.

Spotted With a Man Who Wasn’t Her Husband

Dear Diary:

My husband is not the passionate museumgoer that I am, so when I get the urge, I call our retired friend Dennis, who loves museums, and he and I meet for lunch and then spend the afternoon at the Met or one of the city’s other treasures.

One day, when Dennis and I were at the Museum of Modern Art, I saw a woman I thought I knew from the gym my husband and I belong to. She stared at me for a moment, too, but it was obvious that neither of us was sure, so no words were spoken.

A few days later, I saw the woman at the gym and I told her I thought I had seen her at the museum.

“I thought that was you, too,” she said. “But I didn’t want to say anything because you were with a man who wasn’t your husband.”

Which proves that you should always be with whom you’re supposed to be with, because someone is always watching.

Read all recent entries and our updated submissions guidelines. Reach us via e-mail diary@nytimes.com or follow @NYTMetro on Twitter using the hashtag #MetDiary.

New York Today: Cold Wave

Jabin Botsford/The New York Times No sweat: with the pleasant temperatures, it’s a good day to enjoy a nap outside.

Technically, there is no meteorological definition of a cold snap, but New York Today is hereby declaring one: Monday, with a high of 78 degrees, was the seventh straight day with a high temperature below normal.

Today (82 degrees), Wednesday (82) and Thursday (83) are expected to continue the trend.

Tonight it’s supposed to hit 66 degrees. (Turn off the air conditioner.)

We are on track for 10 days in a row â€" and 15 out of the last 16 â€" of abnormal coolness. The expected high this time of year is 84.

You will clearly not be shivering. Still, if we’re all going around feeling guilty about helping to cause global warming, we might as well take pride in this small accomplishment.

Congratulations, New York. Give yourself a mittened round of applause.

Here’s what else you need to know for Tuesday.

TRANSIT & TRAFFIC

- Mass Transit: No major delays. Click for latest M.T.A. status.

- Roads: O.K. so far. Click for traffic map or radio report on the 1s.

Alternate-side parking: in effect today but not the rest of the week.

COMING UP TODAY

- Tonight is National Night Out Against Crime. The mayor will speak at events in all five boroughs. Mayoral candidates will join block watches all over the city.

- At least 10 mayoral candidates are expected at a forum on the concerns of minority residents and the elderly at Hunter College this morning.

- In the comptroller’s race, Scott M. Stringer will talk about a plan to track all that government money going to Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts.

- An octopus’s garden may be out of reach, but you can peek at the oyster garden growing off Brooklyn Bridge Park courtesy of the students from the Urban Assembly New York Harbor School who are tending it as part of the Billion Oyster Project. 7 p.m. on Pier 6. [Free, R.S.V.P. required]

- “Stories in the Garden,” a reading series for kids, kicks off at the glorious Wave Hill garden in the Bronx, where admission is waived on Tuesday. [Free]

- Jungle Brothers, who helped turn hip-hop gently on its ear along with Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, and Zhigge play at Marcus Garvey Park off Madison Avenue and 122nd Street in Harlem at 7 p.m. [Free]

- Free outdoor movies this evening include the 2006 drama “Akeelah and the Bee” at Valentino Pier in Red Hook courtesy of Rooftop Films; “The Muppets” at Sherman Creek Park, 10th Avenue and Dyckman Street in Upper Manhattan at 8 p.m. with free popcorn; and “The Lorax” in Highland Park in Queens at 8 p.m.

- There are even free movies indoors: “What About Bob?”, the 1991 psychiatric comedy with Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss, screens at TriBeCa Cinemas at 8 p.m.(Doors open at 6:30 p.m.)

- The hip-hop-themed theatrical production of “King Kong” that played in Central Park Monday moves to Saint Mary’s Park in the Bronx. 8 p.m. [Free]

- There’s a talk and slideshow on backyard foraging and edible plants at the Mid-Manhattan Library at 6:30 p.m. [Free]

IN THE NEWS

- John C. Liu, mayoral candidate and city comptroller, was denied as much as $3.5 million in matching funds because of allegations of campaign improprieties. [New York Times]

- The governor wants people who owe more than $10,000 in taxes to lose their driver’s licenses. [NY1]

- A man is accused of stabbing a dog in Prospect Park. [DNAInfo]

- A salesman at a Lacoste store in Manhattan says he was fired after posting a photo of his paycheck on Instagram. [Gothamist]

- An amazing library hides in plain sight near City Hall. [New York Times]

- A-Rod, still playing major league baseball, hit a bloop single as the Yankees fell to the White Sox 8-1.

Michaelle Bond and E.C. Gogolak contributed reporting.

We’re testing New York Today, which we put together just before dawn and update until around noon.

What information would you like to see here when you wake up to help you plan your day? Tell us in the comments, e-mail suggestions to Andy Newman or send them via Twitter at @nytmetro using #NYToday. Thanks!