Harry Reid (Photo: Getty)

As the news broke that Nevada Senator Harry Reid was in a car accident, a major paper in his home state, the Las Vegas Review Journal, mistakenly identified the Democratic Senate Majority Leader as a Republican.

"U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, R-Nev., 72, was taken to the emergency room at University Medical Center in Las Vegas Friday afternoon following a traffic accident," the story initially said.

The error has since been corrected. Obviously, this was a fast breaking story and these types of mistakes happen. Unfortunately for those who report on breaking political news, "R" is right next to "D" on computer keyboards. The Observer reached out to Las Vegas Review Journal Editor Michael Hengel to see if he had any comment on the situation. As of this writing, he has yet to respond.

Mr. Reid was taken to the hospital after what appeared to be a rear-end crash on an Interstate that runs parallel to the Las Vegas Strip. According to New York Times reporter Adam Nagourney, Mr. Reid and his security detail are all "fine" and the Senator "walked into" the hospital.

Nevada Highway Patrol Office spokesman Jeremie Elliott told the AP six vehicles were involved in the apparent chain-reaction crash, including two Las Vegas police vehicles, two civilian vehicles and two Capitol Police vehicles.

View a screencap of the Google news result showing the Las Vegas Review Journal's original Reid lede below.

This is not to suggest that unsafe cycling is ever acceptable, but as more people take to bikes, and the city's population continues to grow, park pathways are bound to get busier. Action by users is important, but also be operators.

As it has done with Prospect Park, following another spate of high-profile injuries, the city's Department of Transporation and Parks Department have reached an agreement to change the arrangement of traffic lanes to make more room for bikes and runners and less for vehicles. The measure is meant to make everyone safer.

“Central Park is New York City’s recreational oasis and this redesign will provide park visitors with safer and wider paths to walk, jog or bike,” Parks Commissioner Veronica White said in a release.

"Central Park's signature drives will now have even clearer markings to help every park user have the best and safest experience possible," echoed DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.

In almost every place, the number of vehicle lanes will be reduced to make for wider lanes for bikes and joggers. The one exception is in the lower loop, where a defacto carriage lane exists and one must remain for cars. There, new dividers will be put in to try and separate bikers and joggers, keeping everyone separate and safe.

Will this prevent all injuries? Of course not. People need to pay attention and respect everyone. But as we see time and again, the power of the paint can be quite powerful.

Lindsay Lohan, American disaster.

Today the NYPD released surveillance footage of the Wednesday-night incident that left actress Lindsay Lohan accused of striking a pedestrian then leaving the scene. The video may be more useful in defending Ms. Lohan than prosecuting her. It shows a typical late-night street scene, several people milling around a parking area entrance. Ms. Lohan's vehicle noses through then leaves the frame and no one seems alarmed or concerned. Take a look:

WABC reports that the cops may know the video won't help the case:

Detectives acknowledged that the video does not clearly show Lohan's Porsche hitting 34-year-old Jose Rodriguez. Investigators say the video does show Rodriguez running after Lohan's vehicle as she drove away from the Dream Hotel.

While police seem certain alcohol wasn't involved in the incident, Mr. Rodriguez has insisted otherwise, claiming Ms. Lohan was slurring words and smelled of alcohol.

Ms. Lohan could face more trouble in California if she did indeed strike Mr. Rodriguez and leave the scene. She is still on probation for jewelry theft.

Lindsay Lohan (Getty Images)

We know everyone will be deeply shocked to learn this morning that actress and Worst Case Scenario of the Decade Lindsay Lohan has been arrested in Manhattan after police say she struck a pedestrian while parking her vehicle, then left the scene. TMZ, that Grim Reaper of celebrity gossip websites, tells us what happened after Ms. Lohan allegedly struck the 30-year-old male around 2 a.m. ET:

We're told one of Lindsay's passengers in the SUV got out and checked the vehicle for damage, and then LiLo and co. went inside the hotel.

We're told someone called police while Lindsay was inside ... and when she walked out of the hotel -- around 2:30AM ET -- officers arrested her.

TMZ goes on to report that Ms. Lohan was booked on misdemeanor charges of leaving the scene of an accident and released on her own recognizance.

The pedestrian was hospitalized. Police apparently say alcohol played no part in the incident.

TMZ speculates that this incident may end up causing the actress new troubles in California, where she is on probation for jewelry theft.

The bike is in better shape than its rider... and the law. (Streetsblog)

As if we needed another reminder about the need for the NYPD to investigate deadly vehicular accidents in New York City, Streetsblog recounts the tale of an accident earlier this week in East Harlem where a cyclist died. Not only was there no investigation, the NYPD’s own press shop was handing out conflicting reports to various media outlets.

Accounts differ as to how the crash unfolded. DNAinfo reported that, according to NYPD, the cyclist “was heading east with traffic on 108th Street,” and the cab driver “was traveling on 108th and had the green light … when the cyclist entered the intersection and was struck by the cab.”

Information provided by NYPD to both Streetsblog and Gothamist, however, indicates that the cyclist was traveling westbound on E. 108th (which is one-way eastbound) when he was hit by the cabbie, who was southbound on Park. The spokesperson we talked to described the crash as a “t-bone situation.” The cyclist’s age was reported by Gothamist and DNAinfo as 19, while NYPD told Streetsblog he was 18.

The victim of the accident was 19, and whether or not he was responsible for what happened, it will come as no comfort to the family that they will never know because the police department is not about to put their resources behind finding out.

And it seems unlikely they will any time soon. The mayor has been trimming the department more and more over recent years, and while he and Commissioner Ray Kelly deserve—and loudly proclaim—credit for keeping deaths both vehicular and otherwise down, the fact remains there is not enough money to go around.

If the decision is between more beat cops to keep 3- and 4-year-olds from getting hit with stray bullets and figuring out why someone died at an intersection, which course of action is the department really going to take?

Maybe if the media stopped covering these deaths as though the victims were reckless and at fault, public sentiment might turn in their favor, and thus the police would follow suit. But until that begins to happen, the victims, and their families, appear doomed to their anonymous fate.

Screengrab

Brooklyn resident Maria Tripp, age 47, was killed while crossing Atlantic Avenue late Thursday afternoon. Authorities tell NBC New York that Ms. Tripp was attempting to cross at the intersection of Atlantic and Ralph when she was struck by a westbound Chevrolet Impala driven by a Secret Service agent. Ms. Tripp was taken to Interfaith Hospital where she died from injuries to her head and body.

Ms. Tripp's brother, Alan Taylor, told NY1 News that his sister was hit by "a speeder" and that "a car came by speeding." Ms. Tripp "didn't know which way to move," said Mr. Taylor.

Mr. Taylor also said his sister was accompanied by a man and two children who the man pulled out of harm's way when the incident occurred.

The as yet unnamed Secret Service agent stayed at the scene and was reportedly cooperating with investigators.

Inspectors explore the accident. (Rob Bennet/WSJ)

Following today's warehouse collapse in Manhattanville that killed a construction worker, Columbia University released a statement expressing its sympathies for the family.

"First and foremost, our hearts go out to the family, friends and co-workers of the construction worker who was killed in this tragic incident, and our thoughts remain with the two other workers who were injured this morning and their loved ones," the university said in a brief statement.

The building was being taken down to make way for a public plaza that is part of the university's second phase, which remains years away. The scheduling of the construction work was not immediately clear—why demolish now to leave vacant for later.

A Columbia spokesperson declined to discuss the circumstance of the accident and whether the university shared any of the blame for what happened, though in the past a strict safety regimen at the site has been touted. The Department of Buildings said that its initial investigation determined that a structural beam had been cut, for reasons that remain unclear, which caused the rest of the building to come down around three construction workers who were trapped inside. Two of them survived.

“Once they cut that structural beam, the site became unstable and there was a collapse,” Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri told reporters at the site earlier today.

Columbia directed further comment to Land Lease, the international general contractor overseeing the demolition work. The firm hired Breeze International of Brooklyn to perform the job. Breeze had received two stop work orders on the project from the Department of Buildings for failure to notify the city that the work had commenced, but those violations were rectified shortly thereafter and the work resume.

Land Lease released a statement that recounted the details of the accident, noting that the building was between 80 and 100 years old and that Breeze had a full-time safety inspector on duty when the accident took place around 8 a.m. "We are working with Breeze, DOB and the BEST squad to determine how this incident occurred," the statement concluded, referring to the Department of Building's Building Enforcement Safety Team. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the deceased worker's family and the family of the injured along with all workers on site this morning."

This is not the first accident at the 17-acre Manhattanville site. Two years ago, a worker suffered a heart attack and fell down an elevator shaft during a different demolition project. Contractors promised to increase safety at the site following the incident, and workers said they were satisfied with the changes. That project was also handled by Breeze International.

Reporting contributed by Daniel Edward Rosen.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

Now, the Alliance has unveiled a new proposal that will give each group its own dedicated lane, cutting down the car lane from two to one and giving peds and bikes their own dedicated space. There will be space for running both ways and for both slow and fast bikes, a more even allotment on the street.

“We decided that the only workable solution was for each group to have a lane and only one lane, throughout the day,” Emily Lloyd, administrator of the park, told The Times. “There was consensus — I would say enthusiastic consensus.”

She told the paper that she expected drivers would be revving their engines in dismay, but as a meeting last night showed, it was actually the walkers and bikers who were more concerned. According to the Post, the overwhelming message from 100 or so attendees was that cars should be banned outright. “The long-term goal is a car free park and we won’t stop until we get there," one attendee said.

Eric McClure, head of community group Park Slope Neighbors echoed the call in a release sent out last night after the meeting:

We applaud the Task Force for taking steps to increase the safety of park users, and for doing so with deliberate care and consideration. However, the single biggest threat to safety in the park is the presence on the drives of speeding motor vehicles.  The well being of the countless walkers, runners and cyclists who use Prospect Park everyday is being compromised for the sake of a tiny minority, just a few hundred drivers a day, who invariably repay the privilege of taking a shortcut through the park by stomping on the accelerator.

Removing cars from the park drives should really be considered a prerequisite for solving the issue of conflicts between cyclists and pedestrians. The ongoing presence of motor vehicles in the park will continue to sow confusion over the usage of the car lane during car-free hours, and relying on the honor system to keep drivers confined to their one lane – the same drivers who routinely and nearly universally shatter the speed limit in the park – seems like a recipe for danger.

Ms. Lloyd did not rule out the possibility for a no-car park, the Daily News reported, saying that this was only a temporary fix, a response to the recent accidents, and that the issue would continue to be studied after the changes are made.

mchaban [at] observer.com | @MC_NYC

Costa Concordia (Getty Images)

The Carnival Corporation is having a pretty lousy January. The largest cruise line owner in the world has been hit with multiple lawsuits over the January 13 sinking of the Costa Concordia and Bahamian authorities are investigating the death of a passenger aboard the Carnival Fantasy.

Six plaintiffs filed the lawsuit and according to Bloomberg it states that they were "in terror of catastrophic injury, death, drowning" and were "placed in a situation where common sense said the vessel was sinking but the orders from the crew were to return to their cabins." The suit excoriates Carnival over retaining now-infamous Captain Francesco Schettino, noting that Captain Schettino had performed the maneuver that led to the wreck before and that Carnival "breached their duty of care" in allowing him to keep his position.

This is in addition to a separate suit filed two days ago in federal court by a Concordia crew member, Gary Lobaton. Mr. Lobaton is seeking class-action status and up to $100 million in compensation.

The death of the Carnival Fantasy passenger on Friday appeared to be an isolated tragedy but enough to keep the company in ongoing crisis mode:

The 26-year-old victim, whose identity was not released, fell from one of the upper levels of the ship's atrium to the lobby level late Friday night, Carnival Cruise Lines said in a statement Saturday. The ship was docked in Nassau at the time.

Bahamas police said the man was from South Carolina and that initial reports indicate he may have jumped. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

So times are hard for Carnival, yes, but several thousand recent passengers would say it's been a much tougher month for them.

[Bloomberg and MSNBC]

Costa Concordia (Getty Images)

The Costa Concordia foundered off the Italian coast on Friday, January 13. Some have tried to associate Concordia with the sinking of the Titanic nearly 100 years ago, but that's a reach; over the last 9 days the tale of the Concordia has become its own kind of tragicomic clown show, emphasis on the "tragic" part of the word. An exhaustively detailed list of ridiculous and sad elements of the disaster would already fill a book, so here are a handful:

• Captain Francesco Schettino's (Schettino, remember, is being held on suspicion of manslaughter among other charges) absurd list of possible reasons for taking the ship off-course: he was doing a nautical version of the fly-by, intended as a tribute to a retired captain on the nearby island of Giglio; he did it for ship's head waiter, even though the head waiter didn't request it; he may have wanted to please Giglio mayor Ortelli, who had gushed over a previous sail-by in August.
• The Moldovan dancer factor. This isn't a reference to an Eastern European talent show but to 25-year-old Domnica Cemortan, a translator who appeared to be the object of Capt. Schettino's affections. She was on or near the bridge and may have been providing an additional distraction to Schettino when the ship struck rocks just below the water's surface. Cemortan has defended Schettino in the press.
• Passenger tales of crew reaction and organization of the evacuation. The crew didn't react well and there was no organization. In this instance Titanic comparisons may be valid, as the crews of both ships reacted similarly.
• Today, along with news that rescue divers found a 13th casualty--tragically said to be wearing a life vest--came reports that there may have been stowaways on the ship. Franco Gabrielli, an official in charge of the rescue effort, told the press "There could have been X persons who we don't know about who were inside, who were clandestine." Apparently Costa Cruises security has holes as big as the gash in the Concordia, if Gabrielli is right.
• Until further ridiculous revelations come to light, this may be the cherry on the whole farcical sundae, for now: according to Reuters, Captain Schettino and the ship owners have formed a circular firing squad:
  

  Costa Cruises have said they were not aware of any unsafe approaches so close to the shore and have suspended Schettino, saying he was responsible for the disaster [...] Schettino has disputed that claim, saying Costa had insisted on the maneuver to please passengers and attract publicity.