Undercover police have made an arrest on Broadway outside Lerner.

More details to come!

Update: Bwog asked a police officer on the scene for information about the incident, but was told that no details of the arrest could be released. Public Safety also tells us that it has not received any news on the situation.

Update 2: Public Safety confirms that someone was arrested while trying to steal from the bookstore.

Evidence: (1) There was actually a giant Earth on Low Plaza today, brought to you by Global Brigades, which will be holding information sessions with free food tonight in Earl Hall at 7:30pm and 9:00pm. (2) Gossip Girl is set up at on Claremont Ave. near 120th St., perhaps poised to shoot on campus. (3) A line of police cars showed up near 122th St. today for no explicable reason, perhaps looking for coyotes.

Free food, Gossip Girl, a spot on World’s Wildest Police Videos–what else is there to life?

Bwog has reports of a lot of cop cars blocking both auto and pedestrian traffic in the area of 120th Street and Amsterdam.

It is unclear why the blockade has been set up and where it begins and ends at this point. Updates coming shortly. 

UPDATE (7:51 PM): Officers tell Bwog that it’s a “suspicious package,” somewhere along 120th Street. An officer was overheard suggesting that the building at the corner of 120th and Amsterdam should be evacuated. The car blockade now extends from 116th to 121st Street along Amsterdam, and pedestrians are also being encouraged to use alternate routes. One Barnard student tells Bwog that she almost wasn’t allowed out of Plimpton. Photos and more updates to follow shortly.

UPDATE (8:16 PM): Police are searching under trashcans and cars between 120th and 121st Streets along Amsterdam. Pedestrians have been allowed on the east side of the sidewalk, but the west side remains closed.

UPDATE (8:54 PM): Blockades have been removed except for 120th between Amsterdam and Broadway, where the “suspicious package” now sits, its contents spilled onto the sidewalk like dissected cat innards. Uniforms told to keep people back, because the detective need some “privacy” to stare at the clothes.

- Photo by ESN

More action shots of traffic confusion after the jump.

Read more…

Around 3:30 PM, the men’s bathroom on the 5th floor of Butler (the one by the east elevator) was promptly closed, locked and surrounded by two police officers and a CU Security official. One B&W staffer overheard the policemen saying that an incident had occurred around 3 PM and heard the cops muttering the words “hate crime.” The staffer also reports that the police have not questioned any students on the 5th floor of Butler.  

Bwog just finished talking to the police officers and security official, who hastily doled out three “No comment”s and suggested we call Public Safety. Public Saftey, was “not at liberty to say anything.” According to the policemen and security official, they have no knowledge of any Univeristy plans to release a statement about the incident.

Check back as the story (maybe?) updates.

UPDATE 6:50 PM: Two more Public Safety officials just showed up to the bathroom, one of whom directed Bwog’s questions to James McShane and refused to comment. However, as Bwog was walking away, conversation started up again. The Public Safety official asked the policeman, “How were you guys even notified about this?” The policeman replied that someone had sent an email. “There’s a swastika on the wall,” he said.

UPDATE 7:11 PM: Another staffer tipped Bwog off to the fact that the second floor men’s bathroom has also now been locked. The staffer explains that he was in the bathroom, men rushed in and began photographing the wall of a stall. The men left, locking the door behind them. The third and fourth floor bathrooms remain open. Bwog’s been scurrying around Butler for ten minutes and has also noticed that inconvenienced male studiers are not pleased.

UPDATE 8:10 PM: About eight official-ish looking people with reporters’ notepads (including two cops) are standing around the second floor bathroom. A third B&W staffer reports that he saw the group looking at printed photographs of the fifth-floor swastika. Both bathrooms are now open, despite signs on their doors proclaiming otherwise.

Late last night, a couple former Columbia household names–Reggie Gossett CC ’06 and Illyana Mendez-Penate–found themselves on the way to prison after a party for the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a transgender rights advocacy group. The SRLP press release says members of the SRLP were trying to stop police officers from violently detaining a black man outside of the bar. Though the group was peaceful and “on the sidewalk,” two were still “violently arrested,” and after, the police sprayed pepper spray to disperse the group. The two are currently being represented by Dean Spade, BC ’97 and Columbia Law School lecturer.

SRLP is protesting their arraignment today at 9:30 at 100 Centre Street, but if you miss that and you want to get them out of jail, call (212) 335-9000 and ask for the early complaint bureau.

Update: Columbia Queer Alliance has just released an official statement condemning the SRLP arrests.

Here’s an addition to the list of fun prophylactics that currently includes bar scanners, NSOP party shut-downs, stricter RA rules, and chastising frats (more on that later)– Bwog hears the Lion’s Head pub underwent a police raid and fake ID roundup late last night. Will it never end?

The Daily News reported at 4:00 AM and Spec picked up later that the prime suspect in last Saturday’s brutal rape was apprehended in Queens at about 5:45 PM yesterday. Barnard students were notified by e-mail at 9:00 AM.

According to the article, “Robert Williams, 30, is a violent ex-con who attempted to kill his neighbor, beat a stranger on the subway and threw feces at prison guards.” 

Read all coverage here.

Manhattan poll takes calculated, er, “responsible” stance on expansion: city’s “success…difficult to absorb”. There’s always Bounty.

Mudd to get greener (does that mean less muddy, or more?)

Police rubber-stamp 11-block strike walk…

…but in opinion, we find self-conscious Iraq caution, and the same message with a lot more braggadoccio…plus, to top it all off, love is slaughtered by science. With V-Day and the aforementioned strike looming, we predict such selections will stay the course.