• Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman is cutting employee benefits. [NYP]
• Former Self editor and Bernie Madoff victim Alexandra Penney has landed a book deal with Voice, an imprint of Disney's Hyperion Books. [NYT]
• A few photos of Michelle Obama from the new issue of Vogue. [HP]
• How SI's Selena Roberts landed the Alex Rodriguez steroid story. [NYO]
• Former NYDN editor Michael Cooke is leaving Chicago for Toronto. [CT]
• John Grisham is close to signing a big e-book deal with Random House. [WSJ]
• The Justice Department plans to investigate the proposed (and controversial) merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. [AP]

Here's something to be cheerful about amid the constant stream of bad news: After her prolonged absence from the social scene, Tinsley Mortimer is back! Tinz turned up at Bergdorf Goodman yesterday to celebrate Dior's spring collection. And she's now rocking bangs, too, which we totally appreciate since experts always recommend a new 'do when you're going through a divorce. Welcome back, darling. Truth be told, Patrick McMullan's website just wasn't the same without you. [WWD, previously]

It's a scary world out there what with the economy crumbling to pieces, corporate CEOs under fire, and popular resentment against Wall Street rising by the day. What do you do if, say, you're one of the few people who is actually making a fortune right now? Build up the walls around you, naturally! Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson filed an application with the Southampton Board of Historic Preservation and Architectural Review to "beef up" the landscaping outside the 10.4-acre estate, the one he and his wife Jenny purchased for $41.3 million in 2008.

Brace yourselves! As designers shrink their Fashion Week budgets, fewer celebrities will be paid to perch front row, smile for photographers, and pretend to be fans. Fashion's most high-profile show producer, Kelly Cutrone, isn't sorry, though, citing the contrivance of certain designer/celeb matchings: "The Miss Sixty show last season I thought was the least authentic show I'd really seen. I don't believe Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher were sitting around saying, 'What are you doing, honey? The shows are on. Let's go to Miss Sixty.'" Indeed! So we will assume that Cutrone won't be availing herself of any easy publicity by enlisting her reality TV cohorts Whitney Port and Olivia Palermo for her clients' shows.

Apparently Linda Wells, Jane Rosenthal, Rosanna Scotto, and Caryn Zucker—the wife of NBC chief Jeff Zucker—all work out together at Soul Cycle on the Upper West Side. ("Our classes are candlelit so you can't look around at everybody even if you wanted to," says Wells.) Glam, new agey ladies who get together weekly to sweat a bit and swap a few stories from the front-lines of fashion and media? When you see this form the basis of a new NBC sitcom, now you know where the idea came from. [NYO]

Paging Miss Manners! The recession is now eroding the very cornerstone of our society's system of etiquette: the willingness to pay for a business lunch. Literary agent Larry Kirshbaum says that people have turned into such tightwads, he's often reduced to conducting business over lunch at a cheap diner instead of Michael's and that one "top publisher" wanted to take him to McDonald's. "People are really afraid to spend money," he reflects. "Anything that smacks of too much fun or self-indulgence is being frowned upon." Well, it's understandable. A few slimmer expense reports, and the demolishment of Western capitalism will reverse itself in no time.

So you know how PETA is trying to get rid of horse-drawn carriages in Central Park and replace them with electric vehicles? It turns out that the initiative isn't just ridiculous, it's pretty fishy, too. Michael Gross points out today that the "prime mover behind the latest anti-horse gambit" is none other than parking garage tycoon Steve Nislick, the CEO of Edison Properties, who produced a brochure last year touting the Model T plan and projecting "a windfall for the carriage industry from the sale of its multi-million-dollar stables." Team up with PETA to get rid of the horses, force the stables to sell their property, and then convert the decrepit buildings into gleaming garages. This Nislick is clever! [Gripebox]

Add Wolfgang and Peter Zwiener to the list of restaurateurs facing a lawsuit filed by Maimon Kirschenbaum. The most despised attorney in New York restaurant history is now taking aim at Wolfgang's Steakhouse (and the Zwieners), slapping a class action suit against the company on behalf of employees at its Park Avenue and Greenwich Street locations. The suit accuses the Zwieners of failing to pay workers minimum wage and withholding overtime pay. It's basically the same suit that Kirshenbaum has filed against every other restaurant in town, a list that includes Nobu, Jean Georges, Le Cirque, Bouley, BondSt, Balthazar, Haru, BLT Steak, BLT Prime. The only bad news for Kirshenbaum is that at the rate he's going—and given the number of restaurants closing down these days—he'll probably be out of people to sue by 2011 or so. Maimon's latest legal offensive appears below.

You know who hasn't been so happy to see so many corporations shed their fancy private jets in recent months? The companies that manufacture them, not surprisingly. Cessna is now planning to run an ad campaign to counter the perception that flying private is a big waste of cash. Says the head of one industry trade group: "The vast majority of the time, these jets are flying offices, where people can conduct business and have confidential discussions that could never occur on a commercial jetliner." Isn't that what airplane lavatories are for? [WSJ]

In 1963, when Gloria Steinem posed as a Playboy bunny for a magazine piece, we're sure her dearest hope was that she'd pave the way for young female reporters to mount shocking exposés on contemporary hot button issues with the help of their decent bods. What she probably didn't predict was that those exposés would, nine times out of ten, involve going undercover at cosmetic surgery consultations. Melanie Berliet, who last year performed a slightly more original bit of girly stunt journalism when she worked as a naked sushi model, is the latest in a long line to submit her face and body to the scrutiny of plastic surgeons for our edification. As you'll be less than amazed to hear, the doctors recommended she have stuff done!

• Blythe Masters, JP Morgan Chase's head of global commodities, has lowered the price of her 6,800-square-foot townhouse at 150 Reade Street, which she listed for $14 million just last month. It's now on the market for $11.9 million. [Cityfile, Warburg]
• Linda Formo Brandes, the ex-wife of billionaire investor Charles Brandes, has paid $10 million for a 42nd and 43rd-floor duplex at 515 Park Avenue. [Cityfile]
• Interior designer Thomas Britt has put his 5,000-square-foot, 8-bedroom home in Water Mill on the market for $13.2 million. [Real Estalker]
• Where can you safely buy given the current market turmoil? Try Jamaica, Queens, says Massey Knakal Realty's Robert Knakal. [AFB]

The Journal reports that Ruth Madoff, the wife of Bernie Madoff, withdrew $15.5 million from a brokerage account in the weeks before her husband's arrest. Clearly, this must be a total coincidence since she knew absolutely nothing about the scheme. [WSJ]

It's a day that tabloids have been counting down to for months now—Jennifer Aniston turns 40 today. Others celebrating: Sarah Palin is 45. Jeb Bush is 56. Sheryl Crow is 47. Brandy is turning 30. Kelly Rowland is celebrating her 28th. Carey Lowell, the actress and wife of Richard Gere, is turning 48. BMG chief exec Barry Weiss is 50. IAC's Michael Jackson is 51. Interior designer Kitty Hawks is 63. British fashion designer Mary Quant is 75. Aubrey O'Day is celebrating her 25th. And Burt Reynolds is 73.

• Eight bank CEOs will appear in front of the House this morning to defend their use of billions in bailout money. Expect serious fireworks. [Reuters, BN, WSJ]
• Four top execs at Merrill Lynch took home $121 million in bonuses just before the firm was sold to Bank of America. [WSJ, BN, NYDN]
• More on the lukewarm reception to Tim Geithner yesterday. [NYT, BN]
• Credit Suisse reported a fourth-quarter loss of $5.2 billion. [BN]
• Both Goldman and Morgan Stanley have suggested that they want to give the government back the billions they took in bailout funds. [NYT]
• RBS is cutting 2,300 jobs. [Reuters]

• It's still unclear what set off Chris Brown and Rihanna's fight on Sunday night (and both have been tucked away in hiding since it occurred). Could it have had something to do with Leona Lewis? Paris Hilton? Was a sexually transmitted disease involved? One person Brown might want to consider explaining himself to is Jay-Z, who reportedly "hit the roof" when he found out about the attack and is now telling friends that Chris is a "walking dead man." [Star, OK!, Gawker, NYP]
• Mickey Rourke and Courtney Love have been secretly dating for the past three weeks. Sounds like a perfect match. [Telegraph]
• Prince Harry is in trouble for making racially-insensitive comments. [Sun]

Disgraced lawyer Marc Dreier stands accused of bilking investors out of $400 million and could end up spending 30 years in prison if he's eventually convicted of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud. But he isn't sitting behind bars for the time being. Last week a federal judge allowed Dreier to return home on $10 million bond, provided he hire round-the-clock security to keep tabs on him. So where did he go home to? Permit us to show you around! We found a Prudential Douglas Elliman video tour of the One Beacon Court apartment from 2007, which was filmed shortly before Dreier paid $5.425 million for the 2,900-square-foot pad (with massive terrace) on the building's 34th floor. Dreier has redecorated a bit since then—according to court documents, he has this Robert Wilson video installation featuring Salma Hayek hanging on the wall, for example—but you'll still be able to see it's a step up from Rikers Island.

• As you learned three weeks ago, Michelle Obama will appear on the March cover of Vogue. As for the magenta dress she wore for the Annie Leibovitz-lensed cover, it was designed by Jason Wu. [WaPo, WWD]
• A preview of the shows and parties planned for Fashion Week. [Style, NYM]
• Didn't get tix for the festivities next week? Try Craigslist. [NYM]
• It's still unclear what's going on with Olivier Theyskens and Nina Ricci. [WWD]
• Carine Roitfeld is designing a "youth-focused" edition of French Vogue. [FWD]
• Mandy Moore is shuttering her fashion line so she can focus on music. [WWD]
• Sales of wedding dresses and engagement rings are down. [WSJ]
• Georgina Chapman graces Harper's Bazaar's new issue alongside cheetahs and snakes, but not with other vicious animals like, say, her husband. [FWD]

Let's say you just launched a new product line, or opened a small boutique. You desperately need to advertise your company, but you don't have the cash to buy ads in magazines or plaster billboards across town. What to do? The website Public Ad Campaign created an instructional video that explains how to open up break open a New York City phone booth, remove the silly poster for Verizon or Burger King or whatever, and replace it with a poster of your own. Yes, of course, it's totally illegal—and you'll need a bunch of tools to do it—but as evidenced by the video below, it's not like passerby will pay you any mind while to carry out your guerrilla ad campaign.

Do you listen to satellite radio? Do you find Howard Stern's antics amusing? Do you have some spare change buried in your couch? Get to work. Unless Sirius XM finds a buyer in the next few days, the company will probably file for bankruptcy protection "within days." [NYT]

• After 36 years in business, La Goulue is closing on April 5th. [NYT]
• Justin Timberlake is not involved with Southern Hospitality. Got it? [People]
• Sasha Petraske's Dutch Kills is opening in the next two weeks. [Gothamist]
• Looking for a cheap V-Day dinner? How about White Castle? [B&B via Eater]
• A bunch of restaurants have removed peanut butter from the menu. [NYT]
• It's not going to earn any points for the food, but Travel + Leisure has named Delicatessen the best-designed restaurant in its annual design awards. [T+L]