Jessica Latshaw, remember that name

She's good! She was "discovered" on the NYC subway playing for her car along with a bongo player she'd never met before. How serendipitous! According to the article found here she'll be performing January 14th at Local 269.

What a fresh new voice. Viva Jessica. It's rare that someone singing on the subway isn't annoying as hell so well done there.

Weekend news to drink coffee by

The New Jersey Jets have signed former troubled wide-receiver Plaxico Burress away from the New Jersey Giants. Let the trash talking begin!

The Jersey City Museum is not likely to open it's doors again. Sad.

A Yonkers woman was arrested after being spotted in the same Victoria's Secret she was banned from for pouring a vat of chili on a pile of underpants in April. One wonders where you get a vat of chili at the Galleria Mall.

A giant refrigerator was left on the subway platform at W 4th for several days.

Mets fans vs. Nationals fans and one big elbow to the chops:

So why does it smell different on the PATH as opposed to the NY Subway?

The New York Times (yes it's OK to burn one of your free stories per month on this one) takes a look at just what THAT smell on the PATH is that the MTA Subway doesn't seem to have. Maybe you have an idea about it even before you read the article. Maybe not but either way there is a distinct difference and it's both fun and maddening to try and figure it out:

There comes a moment for riders of the PATH train, a shared, unspoken experience when the air is pierced by a distinct odor.

Sometimes it hits while descending from the street to the station. Sometimes it strikes inside the train. Then just when the nose adjusts, another distinctive smell emerges as the train goes beneath the Hudson River.

Hat tip to Jersey City Desk reader 'Wicked Mouse' for pointing us to this story.

PATH trains into the WTC were delayed this morning, no problems found

Port Authority police were on scene this morning investigating a PATH train car, thankfully nothing was wrong.

We'd better get used to an increased police presence for the next little while folks. Killing Osama bin-Laden is sure to push some nutjob hellbent on revenge to do something stupid. Jersey City's fine police force is on a higher alert today as is the New York City PD. The Port Authority is obviously on a heightened alert after last week's Holland Tunnel shootout. We have to trust that everything that can be done IS being done and woe to those that aren't doing everything within the law to keep us all safer.

Taking the MTA subway this weekend? Leave time

Hoooo boy the subway is gonna be a mess this weekend as 14 of the 24 lines are being worked on and will have some kind of stoppage/delay/skipped stops this weekend. Work affecting the 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, A, C, D, F, G, J, Q, and S trains will slow down riders. Of course, Johnny has a leisurely afternoon planned in Gotham so this'll be just ducky.

For the full list you can check the MTA website here.

Good luck.

Snakes on a train?

Commuters taking the subway up to or from the Bronx might want to make doubly sure who is riding beside them. A venomous and very deadly Egyptian cobra (Hey, it seems ALL Egyptians are yearning to be free) has escaped from and or turned up missing from the Bronx Zoo. Zoo officials say they are confident the snake is somewhere in the reptile exhibit. Johnny is fairly certain it's not or what fun would writing this missive be?

Look, more hysteria:

The brownish cobra, with a uniquely large, broad head, is among the most venomous reptiles on the planet — its poison can kill a person in fewer than 15 minutes.

So check your bags and more importantly if the rider next to you on the 1 train offers you an apple, change seats.

What? Rats ride the subway for FREE?

Unlike Johnny they get to run around, climb on things and yes, climb on people. We have video courtesy of the NYC blog. Now, don't watch this if the idea of a rat climbing on you and waking you up be getting all in your grill may upset you. If not, HAVE AT!

There are rats in the subway lines in NYC -- Ya don't say

OK OK the article isn't pointing out in some shocked fashion there are rats in the NYC (and PATH) stations and lines. The article is a pretty good read kids, there are some things you'll learn, like rats call fall 40 feet and still hit the ground running. The NYC Metro folks say there aren't as many rats in the subway system as you'd think but really, whatever they have tried hasn't worked. Rat poison is only placed on the tracks but is often blown away by passing trains. Besides the experts say, rats at this point pretty much KNOW the third rail is electrified and avoid it so they don't spend a lot of time ON the tracks (Johnny's seen some permanently affixed to the tracks if you get his drift).

The biggest rats on the PATH system that Johnny has seen reside at the 23rd St. stop. They'll run up and down the stairs between the PATH and MTA lines down below. Make sure to say hi.

The golden keys will take you anywhere on the NYC Subway you wanna go -- all for the low low price of $27 dollars

But how, how can a mere citizen get the golden key that unlocks ALL the subway gates at all 468 subway stops all for just $27 dollars? Well you need to find the right person. More than likely it'll be a disgruntled former MTA worker but that's not the only place the golden keys come from. Read the NY Daily News on this expose where you'll hear delighted New Yorkers declare:

"I've been saving a lot of money. There are 468 stations in the city and you can use it at any one of them," said a Brooklyn man who says he obtained a key from a transit worker for $27, the same price as a one-week unlimited MetroCard.

Just don't get caught, the MTA golden keys can't help you in the clink.

Nicole Ferraro--Bitter much?

Nicole Ferraro wrote a screed published in the New York Times earlier this week in which she took to task those expressing public affection on the subway and in restaurants. Now, some can go to far but the amount of venom Ms. Ferraro relays is quite over the top for something that could also be seen as a positive thing in light of the wilding going on in say Times Square. People loving one another, holding one another and showing they really care for each other. How horrible is that? Johnny kisses the missus and holds her hand in public, newsflash, that's not stopping because you don't enjoy it.

Johnny you say, can you give us an example of the rant? Of course citizen:

"I have news for you, canoodling commuters: These are subways, not private gondolas. Consider the probability that the spot where you are kissing each other was just inhabited by snot-faced children and several people with swine flu."

Huh? Yeah Nicole, but just because they're kissing means NOTHING. Even if they simply sat in their seats reading a magazine it wouldn't change the fact that snot-faced children with swine flu (and maybe diphtheria) still were sitting in that seat previously. Don't yawn while reading the Jersey City Desk on your iPhone, a snot-faced kid was sitting in that seat and you could get germs (thanks for the concern trolling on your part Nicole).

You can read the whole rant here and tell us what you think. It's our opinion Ms. Ferraro should, in the words of John Riggins to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor long ago "Loosen up Sandy baby".

The NYPD has no idea, nor will they comment on why they're on a subway seat ticket binge

Yeah, we here in reality would say an unexplained rise of 17% on taking up two seats (whether the train was full or mostly empty) qualifies as a binge. The 17% increase when broken down is a full 1300 more tickets than they handed out the previous year. NYPD would neither discuss it or speculate as to the reason. We have one, greedy city fingers on your money. The MTA is running terrible deficits and suddenly they up the amount of 'nuisance tickets'? Come on, we'd have hoped the NYPD could cipher things better than that. It's clearly a money grab. Just admit it.

Unless of course honesty isn't the best policy as practiced by the NYPD.

When to pull the emergency brake on the PATH/Subway and when NOT to pull it

A very helpful refresher course in the NY Times on when you should and shouldn't pull the emergency brake. Pull it at the right time and the person hanging on for dear life between cars or stuck in the door may live through it. Pull it at the wrong time and you could be sitting in a car with a murderer. No, really.

We shouldn't have to tell you this but apparently we do---If you drop something on the PATH or Subway tracks, leave it go man

NOTHING is worth what happened to a 39 year old man at Central Park West and 110th street yesterday. He dropped his MP3 player on the tracks and jumped down to get it. It cost him his life and no doubt necessitated therapy to those on the platform who were, yes, wearing parts of him afterwards. Yeah, that was a disgusting way to put it but THINK McFlys of the world, IT'S NOT WORTH YOUR LIFE for anything lying on the tracks.

Plan on using the NYC subway system this weekend? Better read this

There will be a LOT of changes to the NYC subway system this weekend; skipped stops, trains running at different times, trains running on different tracks, it could be a mess. Your pal Johnny and the New York Post have you covered. Click HERE to check out the many many changes.

Dear New Yorkers, who the hell is driving your MTA trains anymore?

A few weeks ago a story broke that an MTA train operator with between 200-400 passengers on a LIRR (Long Island Railroad) double decker train from Port Jefferson L.I. to Hunter Point in Queens let a passenger take control of said train and the passenger was commandeering it at speeds up to 80 mph. Ronald Cabrera was the MTA operator identified as having let a friend drive the train. MTA officials say Carbera was questioned and relieved of his duties pending the outcome of an investigation.

Today we come to find out in comparison Cabrera showed excellent judgement since another MTA operator was allowing her EIGHT YEAR OLD child to run a subway train, a Lexington Avenue Express train on Sunday. Jules Cattie was a passenger who thought he overheard an operator passing along tips to a new driver until he actually saw, and snapped camera phone images of an eight year old driving the train.

"The kid was standing there with a female conductor behind him. A little, little kid standing there" Cattie said.

Simply amazing. Know what this latest event SOUNDS like to us? A mom who didn't have child care lined up on a Sunday and decided to bring the kid to work. Cheaper to bring the kid to work than do the right thing and leave him or her with the babysitter, a relative or a child care facility. It's not enough parents more and more often bring their kids into the workplace for a myriad of unacceptable reasons, snow day at school, kid too sick to be in day care, babysitter fell through etc. Look, you made the CHOICE to have the kid and now you want to put people's very lives in danger in letting your precious little choice run an MTA train because YOU are inconvenienced? Nice priorities.

According to the Current.com article:
Investigators confirmed on Tuesday that an unauthorized person was in the operator's cab as the subway traveled through Manhattan on Sunday

Throw the book at 'em.