Free Republic

The Wollman and Lasker rinks will not be closed after all, with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio suddenly folding to pressure to keep the ice rinks open. Sunday was destined to be the last day of the season the rinks would be open in Central Park. The mayor wanted to shut them down because they are run by the Trump Organization, whose contracts he has been trying to cancel in the wake of the Capitol riot.

Before Donald Trump became a celebrity, before he became The Donald, even before he was regularly pilloried in the pages of the old Spy magazine as a “short-fingered vulgarian,” New Yorkers knew his name thanks to one thing in particular. Not the in-and-out-of-bankruptcy real estate empire he inherited, or his flamboyant love life, but the Wollman Rink in Central Park. I do think his largely interchangeable opponents underestimate his appeal at their peril. What’s the Wollman Rink, you ask? It’s a skating rink at the south end of Central Park that, like just about everything else in New York City,...

When Donald Trump began testing the presidential waters in late February, it was easy to discard his efforts as nothing more than a public relations ploy. It seemed “The Don” was just looking for one more way to get the Trump name up in lights. Thus, like so many others, I was not impressed. Yet since that time, Trump has carved out a niche for himself politically and has not only proven his sincerity in considering a presidential run, but has also risen to the point of being the 2nd most popular candidate among possible GOP primary contestants. He has...

Would you like fired with that? Two employees of the city's ice skating rink have been fired for making a midnight fast-food run in a pair of Zambonis. An anonymous tipster reported seeing the two big ice-resurfacing machines chug through a Burger King drive-through and return to the rink around 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 10. The squat, rubber-tired vehicles, which have a top speed of about 5 mph, drove 1.5 miles in all. The Zamboni operators, both temporary city employees whose names and ages were not released by Parks and Recreation Department, had to negotiate at least one intersection with...

A Zamboni exploded Sunday night inside Peterson Arena in West Duluth, starting a fire at the ice rink at Wheeler Fields. About 30 people -- two broomball teams and a handful of fans -- were inside the building at the time of the explosion. One player was taken to the hospital. The extent of his injuries was not known. A small blast at 9:40 p.m. was followed by a larger explosion, which knocked the doors off the boards surrounding the ice surface onto the ice. Spectator Cade Ledingham, who was in the arena and witnessed the explosion, estimated that four...