From our correspondent Sarah Ferguson:

The irony couldn't be more clear. New York City police and their union, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, are suing the NYPD for spying on them at rallies and demonstrations held during their contract dispute with the city in the summer of 2004.

From the public health watchdog website Newsinferno, Jan. 16:

Many Believe Toxic Ground Zero Site Responsible for Growing Number of Deaths among Cleanup Workers
Last week we reported on the death of James Zadroga, a 34-year-old homicide detective who was believed to be the first New York City police officer to die from a respiratory disease caused by exposure to dust and toxic debris during his hundreds of hours of rescue and cleanup efforts at ground zero.

Glorify 'em as heroes and martyrs for war propaganda—then screw 'em. It's the American way. From NY1, Jan. 17:

Supreme Court Rules 9/11 Families Cannot Sue Over Faulty Radios
Families of New York City firefighters won't be allowed to sue over the radios the department used during the September 11th terror attacks.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court's decision which dismissed a lawsuit against the city and the radio manufacturer, Motorola. The suit alleged the radios were faulty and prevented responders from hearing evacuation calls while they were rescuing people from the North Tower.

From Newsday, Jan. 10:

The New York Civil Liberties Union sued the city on Tuesday, challenging restrictions on people's right to photograph public places after an award-winning filmmaker from India was blocked from videotaping near the MetLife building.

From Newsday, Jan. 11:

A criminal court judge in Manhattan has held that the city's main weapon in its campaign against the Critical Mass bicycle ride is unconstitutional.

It seems the NYPD has ben busy infiltrating bicycle rides in the name of the War on Terrorism for the past year and change. From the Dec. 22 New York Times—fortunately the front page:

Undercover New York City police officers have conducted covert surveillance in the last 16 months of people protesting the Iraq war, bicycle riders taking part in mass rallies and even mourners at a street vigil for a cyclist killed in an accident, a series of videotapes show.

Another turn of the screw. Shame on Judge Richard Berman. From the New York Daily News, Dec. 2:

Judge: Searches of bags in subway is constitutional
Random police searches of riders' bags to deter terrorism in the nation's largest subway system do not violate the Constitution and are a minimal intrusion of privacy, a federal judge ruled Friday.

By the way, a week later we're still trying to figure out what this was all about, and we note with trepidation that there have been no follow-up stories. WW4 Report's chief blogger became aware of the smell at around 7.30 PM Oct. 28 on Whitehall Street in the Financial District. It was still evident, although fainter, upon arriving by bicycle in the Lower East Side, some two miles uptown. The immediate association for this observer was butterscotch. Is it just us, or does anyone else think it might have been a clandestine test of a dispersal agent to simulate bio-chemical attack, such as have been held (overtly) in the city in recent weeks? Or, ominously, an actual attack with some kind of slow-acting bio-chem agent? From the NY Times, Oct. 29: