Mayor Bloomberg may have been slow to update the decorations outside his East 79th Street townhouse, but he reports he's been better about keeping up to date on the inside. The mayor says he's converted almost all of the lights in his house to compact fluorescent bulbs," and "walks around his home to shut off lights [and] open windows." As for whether he drags newspapers, glass bottles, and other recyclables to the curb himself, he didn't say, but let's just assume he does until he says otherwise. [Newsday]

A tipster writes: "I saw Olivia Palermo at 7ish last night sucking down a cigarette in front of Forge on Reade St." Nice to hear she's a law-abiding citizen who has the decency to step outside to indulge in her habit, no? If you've spotted someone around town and you'd like to let us know about it, feel free to email us. [Previously]

A protest outside the New School turned violent this morning when students seeking the ouster of the university's president, Bob Kerrey, clashed with cops. According to the NYPD, 19 people were arrested in the melee. The department's spokesman, Paul Browne, also said the operation "was done in a very organized, orderly fashion," and the arrests were made in an "orderly fashion," although this video taken by an activist seems to dispute that account. Consider your faith in NYPD flacks shattered! [NYT/City Room]

• The publisher of the Los Angeles Times is defending his decision to put an ad disguised as a news story on the front page of the paper yesterday. [LAT]
• A Fox Entertainment employee has reportedly been arrested for stealing the personal information of other Fox employees. [TVN]
• NBC is developing a sitcom based on George Gurley's Observer column. [P6]
• Angelina Jolie, Victoria Beckham and Lauren Conrad were among the "most salable cover faces" for fashion magazines in 2008. The least? Nicole Kidman, Carrie Underwood, and Rachel Weisz. [WWD]
• Dylan Ratigan talks about his departure from CNBC and move to ABC. [BI]
• Speaking of covers, are struggling celebrity tabloids paying for them? [NYP]
• The Daily Beast, Tina Brown's website, will introduce ads shortly. [AdAge]
• Fox News chairman Roger Ailes and his wife, Elizabeth, have purchased another local newspaper in Putnam County. [Portfolio]
• NBC will air a "comedy showcase" featuring Jay Leno on May 19. [NYT]

Because God forbid there should be any time or place that isn't an opportunity for women to buy expensive make-up and skincare, Fred Segal has pioneered a vending machine—launching at their LA store but poised to go nationwide at gyms, airports, and nightclubs—that sells brands like Lancome and Bliss. Fine, but let's hope for more vending machines like they have in Japan, where a quick swipe of your credit card provides you with instant access to underwear, a live lobster or even a glimpse into your future. [Allure]

Even though striving to climb the company ladder, earn more money, boss more people around, and have a fancier title on one's business card is basically what everyone in corporate America is programmed to do, it turns out that being promoted, like literally everything else to do with work, is bad for you. The mental health of managers, say researchers, "typically deteriorates after a job promotion, and in a way that goes beyond merely a short-term change." Good think to keep in mind if you've been stuck in the same dead-end job for the last few years now! [MSNBC]

You didn't think Donald Trump was going to let the embarrassing mess over that failed condo development in Mexico go unanswered, did you? Just a few weeks after reports surfaced that dozens of people people lost millions buying into the Trump Ocean Resort Baja Mexico, comes word that the Donald has filed a $50 million suit against the project's developers for breach of contract and for "muddying the Trump name." As if that's even possible! [NYDN]

Ashley Olsen getting out of an SUV in Soho ... Orlando Bloom walking downtown ... Kim Kardashian leaving her hotel ... Michelle Trachtenberg drinking coffee on the set of Gossip Girl ... Uma Thurman covering her face with a magazine in the Village ... Michelle Williams and Spike Jonze walking together in Brooklyn ... Gerard Butler meeting up with friends in the meatpacking district ... Matthew Broderick taking son James to school in the West Village ... Matt Lauer walking down the street with a sling on his arm ... Whitney Port eating lunch at Philip Marie on Hudson Street ... Katy Perry shopping downtown ... Willem Dafoe dropping off mail in the West Village ... Paula Deen going into the Time Warner Center ... Kate Winslet walking by herself ... and Spike Lee and Bill Murray standing outside the Tribeca Grill.

So are publishing houses sensibly dealing with their beleaguered state by paying modest advances to talented, seasoned authors, rather than throwing huge sums of money at writing neophytes with famous last names in the (likely vain) hope that the ensuing cheap publicity will render whatever crap is stuck between the covers irrelevant? Don't be silly! Meghan McCain has just signed a deal in the "high six figures" with Hyperion, reports Leon Neyfakh, for a book about—well, it's not yet clear what it's about, probably because Meghan's agent Flip Brophy knew that having her client actually write anything wouldn't exactly help with the pitch. None of which is to imply, of course, that the collated thoughts of a 24-year-old spotlight-loving Republican—whose literary disquisitions to date include her noble acceptance of being a size 8 and what a bummer it is trying to date when your dad has lost the election—isn't exactly what the world needs.

• Anne Chandler Bass, the daughter of Oak Hill Capital Partners founder Robert Bass and the niece of Sid and Mercedes Bass, has sold her co-op at 956 Fifth Avenue. The buyer, Laura Winchester, paid $6.25 million for the two-bedroom apartment. [Cityfile]
• Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia and his wife Amber paid $15 million for a six-bedroom home in Alpine, NJ. They picked up the spread from entertainment manager Rob Walker. [NYP]
• Retired hockey player Edwin Westfall has put his five-bedroom house on Long Island on the market for $1.95 million. [Newsday, BGR]

Hockey's reigning bad boy Sean Avery turns 29 today. Mandy Moore is 25. Haley Joel Osment is turning 21. Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds 51. John Madden turns 73. Q-Tip turns 39. Actress Laura Bell Bundy is 28. Writer Paul Theroux is turning 68. Editor Kate Medina is 66. And Steven Seagal is 57. Weekend birthdays below!

• It looks like mischief runs in the family. Martha's daughter Alexis has been forced to pay $990,000 in back taxes and a $110,000 fine to the IRS, although she's blaming her accountant for the "mix-up." [NYP]
• Casey Greenfield gave birth to a baby boy the other day, but she still isn't saying who the father might be. [P6]
• Lindsay Lohan got a "post-breakup makeover" consisting of a new hair color and a new tattoo, in case you're keeping track. [People, NYP]
• Jennifer Lopez has so many wigs, she has an entire room devoted to them. Or so says Star magazine. [Star]

American Apparel Has Gone Too Far [Consumerist]

• Gwyneth Paltrow's efforts to redeem her good name continue, it seems: She's clearing out her closet for spring and auctioning off the items on eBay. Proceeds from the sale of her Jimmy Choo heels and Valentino handbags benefit the Robin Hood Foundation. [GOOP, SW]
• Victoria's Secret is facing several new lawsuits over "rash-inducing bras." [NYDN]
• Thanks to the recession, more and more women are turning up to salons for free trainee cuts, not surprisingly. [NYT]
• East 45th Street is "Paul Stuart Way" no longer. [NYP]

• The Beatrice Inn will probably reopen next week. [P6]
• Emporio officially opens tomorrow, but it's taking walk-ins this eve. [TSB, GS]
• It looks like the end is near for Soho's Café Noir. [GS]
• Details on the latest unmarked bar, not that you're going to find it. [GS]
• Shake Shack's summer schedule has arrived. [Eater]

Park Avenue Peerage was kind enough to upload an interview with Tinsley Mortimer from the March issue of Avenue magazine. And Tinsley was kind enough to shed a little light on her split—and subsequent reunion—with her husband, Topper:

Did some CNBC staffer forget to take off their mic before heading to the bathroom? It certainly sounds like it! A clip of some live toilet-flushing on CNBC earlier today is below.

The Tribeca Film Festival is only two weeks away, which means Robert De Niro's Greenwich Hotel must already be fully booked with attendees paying top dollar to stay around the corner, right? Not so much. It turns out plenty of rooms are available, according to the folks over at Hotel Chatter, who found run-of-the-mill rooms going for just $475 a night. Of course, if you've been following the hotel over the past few months, it's likely you saw this coming. [Hotel Chatter]

• The LA Times ran an ad designed to look like an actual news story on the front page of the paper today. Much criticism has followed, obvs. [ATD, E&P]
• The NYT is asking its reporters to come up with cost-cutting ideas. [NYO]
• A Chicago-based Good Morning America staffer was given the boot after he tried to put his nose job on his corporate credit card. [P6]
• The acquisition of the Wall Street Journal was a giant misstep for News Corp., but Fox News is making Rupert Murdoch some money. [Reuters]
• Cablevision's Jim Dolan earned a $12.5 million pay package last year. [AP]
• Time Warner's Jeff Bewkes raked in $19.9 million in 2008. [MC]
• The 15 top moneymakers on primetime television. [Forbes]
• Barely-living Blackbook is now refusing to pay some freelancers. [Jossip]

For the second time this week, Code Pink managed to crash a televised speech on the economy and unfurl one of their giant banners. This time the victim was Larry Summers, who was addressing the Economic Club in Washington when several people ran on the stage. ("He is a toxic mess!" one activist shouted.) And just how did these people slip past security and make it on to the stage in the first place? Well, there was no security on hand, apparently, although we're guessing that's going to change in the near future. [HuffPo, Fox Business]