Harlem

WOBURN - When Brittany Smith's longtime boyfriend sought entry to her Harvard University dormitory, allegedly for a drug deal, she handed over her electronic-access card, prosecutors said yesterday. But Smith did not stop at that, they said. She watched as assailants loaded the 9mm handgun used to kill 21-year-old Justin D. Cosby last May, according to prosecutors and court papers. After the slaying, she took the gun - allegedly handed to her by her boyfriend, Jabrai Jordan Copney - and hid it in a friend's dorm room, prosecutors said. Smith then hailed a taxi that took her, Copney, and two other suspects to South Station and paid their bus fare back to New York, said the prosecutors. Smith, an aspiring lawyer from Harlem, pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges of being an accessory after the fact of the murder of Cosby, a suspected drug dealer from Cambridge whose killing inside Harvard's Kirkland House dorm shattered the quiet of campus as students studied for final exams. Smith, a

The great fact/fiction divide in movies has existed almost as long as the medium itself. The split, like so many complicatedly interesting things, started in Paris. The Lumiere brothers terrified audiences by projecting the image of a locomotive coming at them. Thus was born the documentary. Georges Méliès, a former magician, took a different approach. He enchanted audiences by projecting images of imaginary places, like the surface of the moon. Enchantment beats terror every time (except maybe at the ballot box). Audiences have preferred fiction films to documentary ever since. The pull of the real is very strong, though, and few have felt its tug as much - or as memorably - as certain directors we normally think of as makers of fictional films. A prime example would be Jonathan Demme. The latest documentary from the winner of this year's Coolidge Award opens Friday, ``Neil Young Trunk Show.'' There's a long tradition of directors of fiction films getting their start as documentarians

High profile Riverton Houses apartment complex auctioned for $125M. The developer of a high profile middle-class Harlem apartment complex has lost ownership of the property after defaulting on the mortgage.

Ex-freshman Massa and Democratic kingpin Rangel spell political trouble for party. One is a former Democratic freshman little known outside his Corning-Olean-Pittsford, N.Y., district. The other, a 20-term Democratic kingpin from Harlem, is widely known to New Yorkers and anyone following tax legislation.

Ex-President Clinton, health and industry experts to detail school beverage efforts. The U.S. beverage industry has largely stopped delivering sugary drinks to schools and has replaced them with lower-calorie options, the head of the industry's trade association said Monday.

The U.S. beverage industry has largely stopped delivering sugary drinks to schools and has replaced them with lower-calorie options, the head of the industry's trade association said Monday.

In a classic Oscar upset, ``The Hurt Locker,'' a gritty low-budget movie about a bomb squad in Iraq, won best picture at the 82nd annual Academy Awards last night, beating out ``Avatar,'' the 3-D sci-fi extravaganza that with $2.6 billion in worldwide grosses is the most commercially successful movie of all time. As if that weren't enough drama, ``Hurt Locker'' director Kathryn Bigelow won the Oscar for best director over her ex-husband, ``Avatar'' maestro James Cameron. Her achievement was historic as well as personal: Bigelow is the first woman to receive the directing award in the history of the Academy Awards. ``There's no other way to describe it: It's the moment of a lifetime,'' Bigelow said upon taking the Oscar from presenter Barbra Streisand. She dedicated the statue to the men and women of the US military. In a much-expected win, Jeff Bridges received the best actor award for his portrayal of a boozy country music has-been in ``Crazy Heart.'' His first Oscar in five nominatio

`Avatar,' `Hurt Locker' lead expanded Oscar parade as 10 films vie for top honors. Academy Awards voters are expected to go very big or very small on their best-picture winner at Sunday's Oscars.

`Avatar,' `Hurt Locker' lead expanded Oscar parade as 10 films vie for top honors. Academy Awards voters are expected to go very big or very small on their best-picture winner at Sunday's Oscars.

Experts: New York's embattled governor faces legal minefield as misconduct inquiries unfold. Legal experts say the next few days and weeks could be the most dangerous yet for the embattled administration of Gov. David Paterson.

For tonight's Oscar broadcast, there are three big questions. Who are you wearing? ``Avatar'' or ``The Hurt Locker''? And: What time will it end? What does it mean that a virtually all-black movie made the final cut of 10 for the best picture Oscar this year and would surely have made the traditional cut of five? ``Precious'' has no white stars. Its nominated director and screenwriter are black, as is the author of its source material (in case you haven't heard, it's ``based on the novel `Push' by Sapphire''). The movie tells the story of an overweight, illiterate teenager, pregnant with her second child (both of which are her missing father's). It's grim and, up to a point, sad. It is also an off-kilter melodrama and a moving tale of unmoored, undereducated girls holding on to each other, lest they drift into ignorance or drown. Does its embrace by the overwhelmingly white Academy (the movie has 6 nominations) mean that ``Precious'' was made for white people? The movie's most vocifero

`Precious' dominates Spirit Awards with 5 prizes, wins acting honors for Sidibe, Mo'Nique. The Harlem drama "Precious" took the best picture prize as it dominated the Spirit Awards, winning four other honors that included trophies for stars Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'Nique.

Gritty drama "Precious" swept the top honors at the Spirit Awards, the movie industry's annual salute to the best of independent film.

Democratic Rep. Eric Massa says he will resign amid harassment complaint by male staffer. New York Democratic Rep. Eric Massa, facing a harassment complaint by a male staffer, said Friday that he is stepping down from his seat with "a profound sense of failure."

FOXBOROUGH - You couldn't swing a microphone stand on Route 1 the other night without hitting a fake rock star. At Showcase Live, bands mimicking Kiss and Rush were promising to rock and roll all night for the packed house. Less than a half-mile away at Fusion 5, U2 copycats were regaling the crowd with a note-perfect ``Angel of Harlem.'' At a time when a pair of tickets to a concert by the biggest rock bands can run in the hundreds of dollars, tribute bands are gaining newfound respect, drawing big crowds, and earning more money than ever. It used to be that tribute bands played bars for little more than free beer. Most paid homage to classic rock acts of the '60s and '70s - the Rolling Stones, the Beatles - and heavy metal bands like Judas Priest. But the sheer number and variety of tribute bands has exploded, branching out to modern-era acts such as Pearl Jam, the Dave Matthews Band, and even the Arctic Monkeys. And they're not playing for drinks anymore. Today's tribute bands are p

New York Democratic Rep. Eric Massa, facing a harassment complaint by a male staffer, said Friday that he is stepping down from his seat with "a profound sense of failure."

Latest upheavals in New York politics shake a state that's used to seeing rough play. The Empire State has a lot to recommend it ? Broadway shows, Niagara Falls, and baseball's World Series champions, the New York Yankees. But politics? As the locals would say, Fuhgeddaboudit.

Latino legislators urge black leaders to delay action to push NY Gov. Paterson to resign. A Latino Democratic state senator is urging black leaders to delay any action to push embattled New York Gov. David Paterson to resign.

Anti-war, anti-imperialist, anti-semitic, anti-social, racist: this year's Oscars best picture contenders have faced a barrage of criticism from groups and commentators eager to exploit the media frenzy surrounding the Academy Awards to draw attention to their causes.

Rangel steps down from tax-writing chairmanship, underscoring ethics worries for Democrats. Buffeted by ethics inquiries, veteran New York Rep. Charles B. Rangel stepped down Wednesday as chairman of the House's powerful tax-writing committee, delivering a fresh political jolt to a Democratic Party already facing angry voters.