The Hotel Carter must have cleaned up its act. Although the Midtown cesspool came in at No. 1 on TripAdvisor's list of the "dirtiest hotels in America" last year—the third time it had received the award in the past four years—it's nowhere to be found on the travel site's 2010 list. Congrats, though, to the New York Inn on 8th Avenue for landing the No. 6 spot. In the newly cleaned-up Times Square, it isn't easy finding a place that features drugged-up prostitutes, floors crawling with mice, and urine-soaked sheets. But it's good to see someone is keeping history alive. [TripAdvisor, previously]

A New York lawmaker has introduced a bill that would charge rich criminals $90 a day for room and board at state prisons. That means a stay at Rikers Island (left) would only cost a dollar more than a night at the Hotel Carter (right)—otherwise known as the worst hotel in America—where rooms are currently going for $89 a night. The extra dollar is probably well worth it. We're willing to bet that Rikers is both cleaner and safer. [Daily Finance]

One place you may not want to stick your parents on their next trip to town: The Hotel Carter off Times Square, which TripAdvisor.com has named the dirtiest hotel in America for the third time in the last four years. What did the hotel do to earn the distinction? The leaking ceiling, stained sheets, and bedbugs didn't earn it any points. Then there was that time a couple of years ago when a housekeeper found a woman's corpse stuffed under a bed. But who cares about an occasional dead body when the rooms there are only $130 a night? [NYDN, TripAdvisor]