Looks like you won't be hitting up the video slots in Queens anytime soon. The Buffalo-based company that was set to install the 1,000 machines at the Aqueduct Race Track—and contribute $370 million to the state's coffers in the process—has dropped out of the deal because they can't come up with the cash. The good news? Thanks to the recession, bus tickets to Atlantic City have never been cheaper! [AP]
If you were one of the dozens of people let go from Simon & Schuster in December, back when CEO Carolyn Reidy lamented that the company had "literally examined our budget line by line to find those areas large and small where we might further economize," you'll be particularly thrilled to hear that S&S imprint Scribner has dropped a ridiculous $5 million on Time Traveler's Wife author Audrey Niffenegger's second novel.
• Real estate magnate Murray Goodman has chopped more than $2.5 million off the price of his four-bedroom duplex at 960 Fifth Avenue (left), which he first listed for $32.5 million in January. He's is still set to make a handsome profit if he can sell it at the new price of $29.96 million: Goodman bought the apartment for just $1.41 million in 1981. [Cityfile, Sotheby's]
• Jason Epstein, a senior partner at the investment management firm Columbus Nova, and his wife Chloe, an agent at Stribling, have paid $4.6 million for a 17th-floor apartment at 255 East 74th Street. [Cityfile]
• Diane Keaton has put her 8,434-square-foot home in Beverly Hills on the market for $12.995 million. [Real Estalker]
Is Ruth Madoff facing indictment? What about the Madoff's two sons? And what will happen to Walter Noel and Bob Jaffe? Lucinda Sparks has some juicy detail over at The Daily Beast, including the unsurprising revelation that Bernie Madoff hasn't been the easiest guy for prosecutors to deal with. Says one source: "He is not reliable. He’s jerking everyone around. Every day he changes his tune about where the money went and where it is. He's trying to protect his family." [TDB]
Rupert Murdoch turns 78 today. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is turning 73. Joel and Benji Madden are 30. Sam Donaldson is turning 75. Famed attorney David Boies is 68. Finance exec Alexandra Lebenthal is 45. Real estate broker Robby Browne is 61. Jesse Jackson, Jr. is turning 44. Singer Lisa Loeb is turning 41. Terrence Howard is 40. Actress Thora Birch is turning 27. Bobby McFerrin is turning 59. Director Jerry Zucker is 59. Rapper Paul Wall is 28. Johnny Knoxville is 38. And Long Island's very own Joey Buttafuoco is celebrating his 53rd birthday today.
• What's Ashley Dupre been up to recently? She's been doing lots of yoga, which she credits with saving her life. And it also introduced her to Russell Simmons, who is now her "mentor" and is making her feel more "liberated." Is that the term they use these days? [P6]
• LiLo and Sam Ronson got in another fight outside a club. This one was caught on tape, however. [TMZ]
• Rumor has it Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel may be engaged. [NYDN]
• Breaking! George Clooney got drunk at a bar St. Louis last weekend. [NYDN]
• Following yesterday's stock market surge, some analysts see a comeback in the making. Believe it when you see it. [CNN]
• Investors pulled $11 billion out of hedge funds in February. [BN]
• Related: hedge funds may slash 20,000 jobs around the world this year. [DB]
• Even the junky little banks that should have never been given a piece of the bailout in the first place now want to give the money back. [NYT]
• Some 45% of the world's wealth has been destroyed over the past year, says Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman. [Reuters]
• Tim Geithner appeared on Charlie Rose's show yesterday. [BN]
• Quadrangle Group, the firm formerly headed up by Steve Rattner, has hired three new execs to help manage Michael Bloomberg's money. [DB]
• Good work if you can get it: Hedge find titan John Paulson has made about half a billion bucks since the fall shorting a couple of British banks. [BN]
Considering he's been confined to his apartment for the past couple of months, it's a bit of a mystery how Bernie Madoff managed to appear in court yesterday sporting such a healthy glow. Makeup? Self-tanner? Who knows, but it's nice to see that just because he's facing 150 years behind bars doesn't mean he's prepared to let himself go completely. [via Lettuce]
• The Chanel show at Paris Fashion Week was just as chaotic as it was expected to be. Photographers ended up in a scuffle when Kate Moss turned up and part of the set broke. [NYT, WSJ, NYT, WWD, Telegraph, Guardian]
• Roberto Cavalli has branched out into petwear. He's selling dildos now, too, apparently. [FWD, FWD]
• Earnest Sewn's Scott Morrison and Eleanor Ylvisaker have left the company. [WWD, FWD]
• An Italian fashion website tried to tape an interview with Anna Wintour three times during Milan Fashion Week. Denied each time! [Fashionologie]
Sure, Ed Skyler did a heroic deed last week tackling that would-be thief who tried to run off with a woman's cell phone. (Actually, it turns out it was a BlackBerry, not a cell phone, not that it really matters.) But does the New York State Senate not have more important things to attend to than to pass a resolution honoring Skyler for his "consummate courage and bravery while confronting a mugger in midtown Manhattan"? Apparently not! Be sure to read the resolution in its entirely to appreciate this waste of taxpayer dollars that would be sort of amusing if there weren't some slightly more important things to be thinking about right now. [NYDN]
• Richard Caring, the mogul who owns London's Le Caprice and Soho House, is taking over the Cafe Pierre and renaming Le Caprice New York. [NYT]
• Simon Oren is opening a bistro, bar and bakery on West 33rd St. [NYP]
• Barry Wine of Quilted Giraffe fame is working with Tishman Speyer to find a new restaurateur to take over the Rainbow Room. [NYO]
• Tavern on the Green has been sued once again. [Eater]
• Veritas on East 20th Street has unveiled a brand new menu. [TFB]
• You ask, Frank answers: "Is it considered poor manners to insist that a waiter write down an order instead of attempting to commit it to memory?" [NYT]
• St. Patrick's Day is a week from today. Zagat has a few bar ideas. [Zagat]
• Sales are up at McDonald's thanks to the recession. [NYP]
• Want some credit crunch cookies? They're "crisp and loaded with chips," although at $8, you may be better off sticking to Pepperidge Farm. [NYDN]
Remember those Merrill Lynch junkets to the Ritz-Carlton in Orlando, which the Orlando-Sentinel first revealed last month and which we reported on again last week? Yea, well, it looks like Merrill is now in a bit of trouble. The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program has confirmed that it is now looking into whether or the trips violated the law. [Orlando-Sentinel via BI]
The stock market was up big today! Hard to imagine, huh? The Dow closed up more than 375 points, its biggest gain since November, following encouraging comments by Fed chair Ben Bernanke, news that Citigroup had turned a profit during the first two months of '09, and hints that the government planned to reinstate rules governing short sales of stocks. Don't get too excited just yet: "Similar sharp rallies in September, October and November turned out to be fleeting, and the market has still not had two gaining sessions since Feb. 5 and Feb. 6." [Marketwatch, NYT]
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is enduring the most challenging stretch of his career for many reasons: His credibility took a hit before he even took the job thanks to his little tax issue, he's managing the nation's finances during quite possibly the bleakest moment in American economic history, and in recent weeks he's been isolated in a sad, lonely office where he's had to make do with a skeletal staff. One more reason why Geithner may have the worst job in the world (with the possible exception of Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit): When a disgruntled former employee of the IRS decides to sue the agency because it didn't give him a "riser for his computer monitor" or the larger cubicle he requested, and he suffers severe neck and back pain and emotional distress as a result, it's Geithner's name that appears all over the lawsuit. Poor Timmy. The full suit is below.
Bernie Madoff is expected to plead guilty to 11 criminal charges on Thursday, reports the Journal: "At a hearing Tuesday, Ira Lee Sorkin, Mr. Madoff's lawyer, said his client expects to plead guilty to a criminal information, or charging document that outlines the allegations against him, filed by the government with the court on Tuesday. 'Do you expect Mr. Madoff to plead guilty on Thursday?' asked U.S. District Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan. 'That's a reasonable expectation,' Mr. Sorkin said."
• Jon Stewart made fun of Jim Cramer and Cramer responded in kind. Then Stewart took another shot at the Mad Money host. And Cramer responded once again on the Today show this morning. Your turn, Jonny. [HP, MM, BI]
• Okay, so CNBC didn't see the economic collapse coming. But if we're handing out blame, we better not forget about the nation's newspapers! [NPR]
• Ratings for Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice have tumbled. [AdAge]
• More cuts at New York are rumored to be in the works. [Gawker]
• American Express has shuttered Travel + Leisure Golf. [WWD]
• Apple is launching an American Idol iPhone application. Finally! [THR]
• Equally exciting: Universal movies are coming to your Playstation. [THR]
Olivia Palermo's PR campaign to restore her good name continues! Hot on the heels of her chat with People, Palermo—accompanied by her publicist, naturally—took some time to complain to the LA Times about she's been magically transformed into a villain on MTV's The City. How could such a thing happen? "I'm a much nicer person, much more laid back and relaxed, not serious like they show me," she tells the paper. As for the suggestion she's a flighty young social who spends every evening out on the town, well, if you knew anything about her, you'd understand that's complete nonsense. She's a total homebody:
