New York’s Five Boro Bike Tour: More than 32,000 ‘ride for Boston’

The Five Boro Bike Tour (BikeNewYork.org)

In another show of intercity solidarity, more than 32,000 riders were expected in New York City on Sunday for the Five Boro Bike Tour to help raise money for the Boston Marathon bombing victims.

Security at the tour, the largest cycling event in America, was increased in the wake of the bombings. Backpacks, saddle bags and hydration systems were banned from the 40 mile, car-free ride through the five boroughs, though water bottles and fanny packs were permitted. The finishing area on Staten Island was also limited to the tour's participants and volunteers, due to the enhanced security.

And according to CBSNewYork.com, organizers called off the pyrotechnics that usually mark the start of the race.

"I Ride For Boston" stickers worn by the tour riders were handed out in exchange for a suggested $5 donation, with 100 percent of the proceeds from their sale going to One Fund Boston, the charity launched after the attack.

Ken Podziba, president and CEO of Bike New York, said the response "from our heavy-hearted riders who want to be able to express their solidarity with Boston" was "overwhelming." The organization produced more than 32,000 "I Ride For Boston" stickers—or one for every rider.

[Related: Authorities search woods near Boston Marathon bombing suspect’s college]

“New Yorkers will never forget the generous support we’ve received from around the world during our city’s toughest times, and we never hesitate to repay that generosity when the need arises,” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a press conference ahead of Sunday's event.

On April 16, a day after the terror attack, the New York Yankees played Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline," a tradition at Boston's Fenway Park, over the loudspeakers at Yankee Stadium in honor of the marathon bombing victims.

Meanwhile, investigators continue to search various sites around Dartmouth, Mass., near where Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev went to college as authorities continue to look for evidence related to the attack.

Last week, federal officials told the New York Times and NBC News that Tsarnaev said he and his brother Tamerlan, who was killed during a gunbattle with police on April 19, originally had planned to carry out their attack on July 4. But the bombings allegedly were moved up because the brothers completed building their explosives ahead of time.

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NRA affiliate files lawsuit challenging New York's gun control laws

By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The National Rifle Association's affiliate in New York filed a lawsuit on Thursday challenging the state's new gun control measures, passed in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.

The state Rifle & Pistol Association charged that New York's laws banning assault weapons and limiting the size of ammunition magazines violate the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which protects the right to bear arms.

The lawsuit, filed in Buffalo federal court, also alleged that the law's "radically broadened" definition of assault weapons is unconstitutionally vague.

"This is an action to vindicate the right of the people of the State of New York to keep and bear arms," the lawsuit said.

It comes on the same week that backers of gun control in the Senate dropped their bid to re-impose a federal ban on assault weapons, a measure that had faced considerable opposition in both houses of Congress.

Democratic lawmakers instead opted to scale back White House proposals for sweeping gun-control measures, saying they would focus on a bill that penalize "straw purchasers" who help criminals to avoid background checks. That measure has broader support in Congress.

New York's gun control measures, known as the SAFE Act, were enacted in January, making New York the first state to pass tougher laws following the December 14 mass shooting in Newtown that left 20 children and six adults dead as well as the shooter.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, whose office will defend the law in court, declined to comment on the lawsuit but said in a statement that the law makes New Yorkers safer while "ensuring constitutional protections to responsible gun owners."

A spokesman for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who signed the law after the state legislature passed it within hours of its introduction, did not immediately return a request for comment.

The lawsuit is one of a handful of court challenges to the new regulations. But Thursday's complaint marks the first time that a group officially linked to the powerful NRA has weighed in on New York's new law.

Other plaintiffs in the case include gun dealers, other gun owner groups and several individual gun owners.

In addition to Second Amendment claims, the lawsuit alleged that the SAFE Act violated equal protection rights by allowing owners to load 10 rounds of ammunition into their guns at shooting ranges or in competition while limiting them to seven rounds when at home.

It also claimed that the law violates interstate commerce protections by requiring all gun sales to be made by sellers who are licensed and based in New York, thereby excluding out-of-state dealers.

The lawsuit was filed on the same day that Vice President Joseph Biden, who has led the Obama administration's effort to pass new federal gun control measures, joined New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at City Hall to call on Congress to adopt the president's proposals.

Colorado became the second state this week to pass stricter gun control laws since Newtown, expanding background checks and banning magazines with more than 15 rounds.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax, Editing by Scott Malone; Editing by David Gregorio)

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Dolphin, apparently healthy, swimming in New York's East River

By Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A dolphin swam up New York City's East River on Wednesday where it appeared to be doing fine despite straying from its more usual ocean habitat, officials said.

Until biologists get a closer look, it is hard to say whether it is a common dolphin, an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, a white-sided dolphin or a white-beaked dolphin, said Kimberly Durham, the rescue program director at the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation.

"I've seen some video of it swimming, and it seems to be swimming fairly strong," Durham said. It appeared to be swimming around a fairly large area of the river, which was an encouraging sign, she said.

"I do get nervous when I see a lone animal," she added, explaining that dolphins are social animals that typically do not separate themselves from their pods.

A biologist from Riverhead was planning to take a boat out on the river along with officials from the state's Department of Environmental Conservation to photograph the dolphin, identify it and to assess its health, Durham said.

The dolphin was first spotted on Wednesday morning.

Police said they were no longer on the scene after notifying Riverhead, which oversees the monitoring of marine animals that enter city waters.

In January, a sickly male common dolphin died after becoming stranded in Brooklyn's polluted Gowanus Canal.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Kenneth Barry)

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New York's Bloomberg faces test in Chicago political gun battle

CHICAGO (Reuters) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's push for stricter U.S. gun laws in the wake of the Connecticut school massacre faces a stern test next week in a messy Chicago special election where he has piled in with more than $2 million in political ads.

The outcome of the race is the first big election test since the Newtown, Connecticut, shooting of whether gun control champions such as Bloomberg and former U.S. congresswoman Gabby Giffords can use money, and the same tough tactics as gun rights lobbyists, to influence voters.

Gun control vaulted to the top of the U.S. political agenda after a gunman last December shot and killed 26 people at an elementary school in Newtown including 20 children.

Bloomberg is taking a risk by wading into the nasty and racially charged politics of Chicago, where critics have already complained the brash mayor is trying to buy an election nearly 1,000 miles from New York City.

The February 26 primary is to replace U.S. Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., who pleaded guilty in federal court on Wednesday to using campaign funds to finance a lavish personal lifestyle.

Jackson was a reliable vote in Congress for gun control measures but polls last month showed the seat could be won by Debbie Halvorson, who has an "A" rating from the powerful gun rights lobby, the National Rifle Association, and opposes an assault weapons ban.

The winner of the Democratic primary is likely to win the seat because the district is heavily Democratic.

Bloomberg's Independence USA political action committee, or PAC, has blanketed Chicago television with more than $2 million in ads attacking Halvorson's stance on guns and endorsing Robin Kelly, a candidate supporting gun control, according to PAC spokesman Stefan Friedman.

"Halvorson would have probably won this district if the gun control issue hadn't intervened," said Dick Simpson, a former Chicago city council member and political scientist at the University of Illinois, Chicago. "Whether she still can win it is unclear."

The district at stake is majority African-American and includes some areas ravaged by gun violence, as Chicago's murder rate reached the highest in five years. The district should be receptive to Bloomberg's message of gun restrictions.

But it also stretches south to the outer suburbs of Chicago where some white voters are in favor of gun ownership.

Halvorson is the only white candidate among the 14 Democrats still vying for the seat. The concern among some in the black community is that the black vote will split, allowing Halvorson to win the primary with only about a third of the vote.

There have been no public polls in weeks and both sides are touting private polls showing they are winning the gun battle.

Halvorson is fighting back, saying Bloomberg misrepresented her position on guns. She said that she supports registration of all firearms and background checks for gun purchases, but opposes a ban on assault weapons.

"(The commercials) are so over the top. They are unbelievable. They also are false, because they say that I am endorsed by the NRA, which I am not," Halvorson said.

The Illinois State Rifle Association, which is aligned with the NRA, said it does endorse Halvorson.

"I think that (Bloomberg) is trying to take advantage of a tragedy," association executive director Richard Pearson said, referring to the Connecticut shooting. "And I think that you hear less talk about victims and it's more about getting his agenda done."

Halvorson and Chicago city council member Anthony Beale, who is also vying for the seat, accused Bloomberg of trying to "buy" an election.

Bloomberg and his allies are unbowed by the criticism.

"The mayor has been clear that when these issues are in play, he believes it's a good use of time and resources to help educate the public about the candidates' position on them," Friedman said.

(Reporting by Renita Young; Editing by Greg McCune and Dale Hudson)

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