Fire officials are investigating the cause of a blaze on St. Marks Place this afternoon. The fire, at St. Mark’s Comics at 11 St. Marks Place, began shortly after 1:30 and was declared under control about a half hour later. Officials said that one person sustained minor injuries in the fire but refused medical treatment. —Ian Duncan

The developer of 35 Cooper Square blamed a city-issued stop work order on a broken fence at the site and expects workers to return today. “It should be fixed this morning,” Jane Crotty, a spokeswoman for Arun Bhatia, who owns the property, told The Local this morning. “They will be back on the site this morning, and it should take about a half hour to fix, and then they will be back at work.” Ms. Crotty said that she expects full work to resume at the site once city inspectors approve the repairs.—Suzanne Rozdeba

Suzanne Rozdeba Workers with the American Red Cross earlier today at the scene of a small fire in Stuyvesant Town.

A small kitchen fire broke out in a woman’s apartment in Stuyvesant Town, just after 1 p.m. today, and was under control in 20 minutes at the building located at 535 East 14th Street between Avenues A and B.

Officials said that the resident of the apartment sustained minor injuries. She was treated at the scene for a minor injury, but refused to be taken to the hospital.

Three American Red Cross officials were also at the scene. The officials said the woman residing in the apartment turned down any assistance, saying she did not require it.

One person sustained minor injuries this afternoon in a fire at 535 East 14th Street. The blaze, which began around 1 on the eighth floor of a 13-story building, was under control in about 20 minutes. Reporters from The Local are on the scene and we will post a full report as soon as we have more details. —Suzanne Rozdeba

The Local has learned that Mike Zecchino, 63, has died after being found at his home with gunshot wounds, as reported yesterday. His name was misspelled in yesterday’s post, but has since been corrected. — The Local.

A reporter on the scene for The Local says that parts of East 10th Street were cleared between Avenues B and C shortly before 4 this afternoon and that firefighters have entered the fourth floor of a building by ladder. We are continuing to track the story.—The Local

This post has been changed to correct an error; an earlier version misstated the extent of the evacuation effort along East 10th Street.

David Gold Flames erupt as firefighters attempt to enter the 6th Street Kitchen around 7:30 this morning. A second blaze around mid-morning forced another evacuation for the residents of apartments above the restaurant.

Shortly after the tenants of a Sixth Street apartment building were allowed to return to their homes after an early morning fire, they were forced to evacuate a second time while firefighters put out a lingering pocket of flames.

The second evacuation, which occurred around 9:40 a.m., came after firefighters extinguished a blaze that gutted the 6th Street Kitchen, a restaurant located on the ground floor of the building at 507 East Sixth Street.

A Fire Department spokesman said that fire marshals at the scene came across areas that were still smoldering on the first floor. They called for several units to return. “It wasn’t a major operation. It was put out in about 20 minutes,” said the spokesman.

Paul Canetti, 27, who lives on the building’s third floor said that he had returned to his apartment after being allowed back inside by firefighters.

“Within 30 seconds of being in the apartment, we couldn’t breathe, so we said, ‘No, we will not stay here,’ ” Mr. Canetti said. “We went back downstairs. Within five minutes, we hear them radioing for firefighters to come back because the fire was still burning between the first and second floor.”

Mr. Canetti said he and other tenants were again forced to evacuate.

Around 1 p.m., Mr. Canetti said they were let back into their apartments. “The apartment is a war zone. It’s pretty terrible. Everything is knocked over and completely covered in soot.”

The American Red Cross was at the scene and gave disaster relief paper work to the tenants. “They said we should call them if we need a place to stay, and they would put us up in a hotel for a few days,” he said. “I think I’m going to take them up on that because I definitely cannot stay in my apartment.”

Suzanne Rozdeba Firefighters at the scene of a blaze at Kitchen, a restaurant on East Sixth Street. The fire was one of two this morning in the East Village that sent eight people to the hospital with minor injuries.

Eight people were treated for minor injuries after two separate early-morning fires that broke out in the East Village today, one that destroyed a restaurant on East Sixth Street, and the other in a bodega on Second Avenue.

The first blaze occurred at East Fourth Street and Second Avenue around 4 a.m. at the East Village Farm Groceries store, the authorities said. Seven residents of the six-story building were treated for minor injuries, officials said; all of the injured were taken to Beth Israel Hospital. The fire, which was confined to the first floor, was declared under control within an hour.

The second fire, at 507 East Sixth Street, occurred around 7:30 a.m. inside 6th Street Kitchen, a restaurant on the first floor. The authorities said that a firefighter sustained a minor injury while battling the blaze and was being treated at Bellevue Hospital.

Deputy Chief Robert Carroll told The Local that firefighters had to cut their way through the restaurant’s roll-down security gate before they could put out the fire.

The restaurant was all but destroyed by the blaze. “It’s pretty bad,” Chief Carroll said of the damage. “It’s all burnt out. We had to go in there, take the ceilings down, check for any hidden fire.”

Paul Canetti, 27, who lives on the building’s third floor and was with his girlfriend, told The Local, “I woke up at 7:30. We heard the beeps from the fire alarms. We started to smell smoke. We opened the front door, and you couldn’t see in the hallway. It was filled with smoke.”

After exiting the building safely, he said, “A couple minutes later, the fire trucks came. They cut the locks off the restaurant gate. When they lifted it up, the flames came shooting out.”

David Gold, 32, who also lives on the third floor, said, “We heard four, loud pops. They sounded like gunshots. That woke me up. Then the smoke alarm went off and we came down and called 911.”

Tom Claxton, 35, who was staying at a friend’s apartment in the building, said, “I heard this large, cracking noise, and then the fire alarm started. A few minutes later I smelled smoke. I panicked, grabbed my laptop and a couple of things and got out. I just got in last night from London, and this was my first night here. Most of my things are still in a suitcase upstairs.”

The authorities said that investigators are still trying to determine what caused both blazes.

Suzanne Rozdeba A firefighter surveys the damage to the 6th Street Kitchen.

Firefighters are investigating the cause of two separate blazes that broke out in the East Village this morning. The first fire, near Second Avenue and East Fourth Street, occurred about 4 a.m. and was placed under control in about an hour; the second blaze, near East Sixth Street and Avenue A, erupted around 7:30 and was placed under control in about 45 minutes. There were no immediate reports of injuries in either blaze; reporters from The Local are on the scene and will post a full report as soon as we have more details.—Suzanne Rozdeba

An East Village man has been named by the authorities as a supplier to five Columbia University students who were arrested earlier today and charged with running a drug ring. The police said that Miron Sarzynski, and his girlfriend, Megan Asper, were arrested Oct. 27 in Mr. Sarzynski’s apartment on East Sixth Street. In addition to drug charges for the pair, Mr. Sarzynski also faces kidnapping charges after the authorities said that he tried to hire an undercover officer to abduct a rival drug dealer.—Meredith Hoffman

New York University announced today that it would not be pursuing plans to build a 400-foot residential tower and hotel on Bleecker Street. The so-called “silver sliver” was an important element in the university’s “2031 plan” for expansion previously reported at The Local. Reportedly, architect I.M. Pei is expressing a preference to build on the Morton Williams supermarket site already owned by the university. — Kim Davis

Timothy J. Stenovec Firefighters extinguished an early morning blaze at Ageloff Towers.

Timothy J. StenovecThe fire was reported around 8 a.m. and declared under control about 45 minutes later.

Seven people were hospitalized with minor injuries this morning after a blaze ripped through a sixth-floor apartment of the Ageloff Towers on East Fourth Street near Avenue A, the authorities said.

Two people apparently suffered from smoke inhalation and all of the injured were taken to Beth Israel Medical Center. Officials said that there were no other injuries in the blaze, which occurred around 8 this morning and forced an evacuation of the 11-story building. The fire was declared under control at 8:45.

Dana Schwartz, a resident of the building, woke up early to go to the airport to fly to a wedding when she smelled smoke. At first she though it was her hair dryer, but then she heard a commotion coming from outside of her apartment.

“As soon as I smelled the smoke I heard pounding in the building and, like, a lot of people yelling,” said Ms. Schwartz, who is 24. “So I went out and one of my neighbors was looking out and I said, ‘There’s a fire we have to go.’ I came out and there were crazy flames coming out of the window.”

Ms. Schwartz ran with her luggage down the stairs and evacuated the building, where she was waiting for a family friend to come pick her up just minutes after the fire was extinguished.

“The scary part is over,” Ms. Schwartz said. “It’s scary not knowing what’s happening, but it’s fine now. I felt like it was under control.”

A woman who bystanders said was the resident of the destroyed apartment was accompanied by three children – one with bare feet – and was seen with a police officer trying to hail a cab.

Visibly shaken, the woman, who declined to speak with a reporter, huddled with the children while firefighters began gathering their equipment after they finished putting out the blaze.

Timothy J. Stenovec Detectives have continued working at the crime scene along East Seventh Street through the afternoon.

The authorities this afternoon identified the victim of a fatal stabbing on East Seventh Street even as detectives were still trying to determine a motive for the crime.

Police said that the victim, Christopher Jusko, was stabbed once in the neck about 5:30 this morning inside an apartment at 272 East Seventh Street. Mr. Jusko, who was 21, was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Timothy J. Stenovec Detectives are continuing their investigation into a fatal stabbing that occurred this morning on East Seventh Street.

Detectives are investigating a fatal stabbing that occurred this morning on East Seventh Street between Avenues C and D.

The police said that the victim is a 21-year-old man who was stabbed in the neck around 5:30.

The authorities have a taken another man into custody in connection with the incident.

Reporters from The Local are on the scene and we will post a full report as soon as we have more details.

Jenn Pelly The bomb squad was called to the New York City Marble Cemetery this morning after a report of a suspicious package.

Jenn Pelly Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly (right) said that the explosives could not have gone off because there was no detonator.

A volunteer at an East Village cemetery discovered a stash of old military explosives this morning setting off a chain of events that brought out the police department’s bomb squad and jarred nerves around the neighborhood.

At a news conference near the cemetery this afternoon, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said the explosives were potentially deadly but that there was no danger that they would go off because there was no detonator.

Commissioner Kelly said that the explosives – eight sticks of C4 – had originally been found last year by a caretaker at the New York City Marble Cemetery, on Second Street near First Avenue, who unearthed them and placed them next to a tree at the rear of the property.

“He placed the bag next to the tree,” Mr. Kelly said. “The bag stayed there up until yesterday.”

That’s when a volunteer at the cemetery found the explosives and asked the police to remove them.

In a separate incident, police officers also discovered two notes – a rambling note with religious overtones that was written on a sheet of paper and had been placed on a patrol car Sunday and another one written in chalk on the street in front of the cemetery that read, “I really hope one of you finds this.”

The authorities initially believed that there might be a link between the notes and the explosives but dismissed that possibility after investigating further and now believe that the incidents are unrelated.

“It would be difficult to tell when the chalk note was written,” Commissioner Kelly said. “We will look at cameras in the area to try to see if there’s any indication to who wrote that and when it was written.”

The authorities received a call about 10 a.m. this morning reporting that the package had been found in the cemetery on Second Street between First and Second Avenues. The cemetery, which is usually closed to the public, had been open during the weekend for the eighth annual Open House New York weekend.

The bomb squad was called to scene along with a police helicopter to search the area. Commissioner Kelly said that the police investigation is continuing and that the bomb squad would continue to search the cemetery for additional explosives.

Molly O’Toole Firefighters clear debris along St. Marks Place after a downed tree branch toppled a lightpole and struck a car.

Molly O’Toole Images of the debris on St. Marks Place. Normal traffic was expected to resume along the street later this evening.

Earlier this evening, a downed tree branch toppled a lamp post on St. Marks Place between Second and Third Avenues closing the street to traffic while emergency workers cleared the debris. No one was injured in the incident.

NYU Journalism’s Molly O’Toole interviewed the driver of a car that was struck by falling debris.

The driver, who declined to be identified, said that he was getting out of his car around 5 p.m. when passersby began gesturing toward him to move.

“People started yelling to get out,” the driver said. “I didn’t want to move but I finally jumped out and that was it.”

The driver told Ms. O’Toole that falling debris dented the roof of his car moments later.

The fallen branch also brought down a lamp post and exposed live electrical wires, the authorities said.

The police closed off the area to allow firefighters with chainsaws and other emergency workers to clear branches and other debris.

Normal traffic along St. Marks was expected to resume this evening.