Although the Jets gave their fans a partial reprieve from personal seat licenses by not including upper deck season ticket holders in the scheme, the Jets are charging PSLs for 2,000 of the best seats in the new, under-construction stadium. The Jets have launched a new TV ad to entice fans--and it includes a familiar face: Uh-huh: The Donald (Jets owner Woody Johnson is friends with him). Jets vice-president Matt Higgins tells the Post the......

Street illusionist-stunt fiend David Blaine embarked on his 60-hour project to hang upside over Wollman Rink in Central Park. While doctors say his head won't explode from doing The Dive of Death (as it's called for his ABC special), he could very well go blind. Last week, at a press conference with Donald Trump (Trump operates Wollman Rink), Blaine demonstrated his upside-down hanging skills. He told reporters he stopped eating a week ago, "I......

You can stop holding your breath! Real estate developer Donald Trump threw his hat behind John McCain last night on Larry King Live. He said he's known McCain for a while, "Also, this is not the right time for tax increases. And Obama wants to increase your taxes drastically.” Politico points out, "Well, maybe not your taxes. But certainly The Donald’s: Obama would repeal President Bush tax cuts for households making more than $250,000." (Trump,......

The New York Supreme Court has ruled that Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. must submit to a deposition by attorneys representing Donald Trump, who is suing Times business editor Timothy O'Brien and the publishers of O'Brien's book TrumpNation: The Art of Being The Donald. Trump is seeking $5 billion in damages because he says the book grossly underestimated his net worth at $150 million to $250 million, instead of the billions and billions he claims.......

Last week, it was reported that developer Donald Trump was going to buy TV personality Ed McMahon's home out of foreclosure, allowing McMahon to continue to live in it while paying rent. But now it turns out there's some competition for the $4.6 million mansion, with a second anonymous buyer emerging. Trump said, "I hope they take good care of Ed McMahon because he deserves it. The only reason anybody other than me would be......

You've heard about Ed McMahon's home being foreclosed in Beverly Hills? Well, now Donald Trump is swooping in to help out the former Tonight Show sidekick. Trump, who doesn't know McMahon--"I grew up watching him on TV"--told the LA Times it would be "honor" to lease the mansion to the 85-year-old, who defaulted on $4.8 million in mortgage loans with Countrywide (the house is a 6-bedroom, 5-bath home, bought in 1990 for $2.6 million). Details......

New York business leaders have been scrambling recently to find a mayoral candidate for 2009 who would be as business-friendly as billionaire Michael Bloomberg has for the last seven years. Today the NY Post reports that they may have found their man for '09: Mayor Bloomberg. The city term-limits law, which was created in 1993 and currently restricts elected officials to eight years in office, can be changed through City Council legislation, a charter referendum......

Yesterday Forbes magazine, in their annual ranking of the rich, declared New York City is no longer the billionaire capital of the world. Where have all the dollar signs gone? To Moscow, of course, who beat us out by 3 billionaires (they have 74 to our 71). Most of the big buck city dwellers are familiar names: Mayor Michael Bloomberg ($11.5 billion), publishing powerhouses Samuel Newhouse Jr. and Rupert Murdoch ($8.5 billion and $8.3 billion),......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a homicide on Boyland St. in Brooklyn, a person under a train at 116th St. and Douglass Blvd. in Manhattan, and a body found on West 91st St. in Manhattan. Martha Stewart is still mad over the public spat she had with Donald Trump in 2005 over her The Apprentice spin-off series. We bet she prepares a wonderful cold revenge dish. Police are searching for a man who attacked......

We think NYC area hospitals should be on alert: TMZ reports that Britney Spears is headed to NYC. Well, if not NYC, something close:"Spears left Van Nuys Airport at 4:00 PM PT this afternoon. We're told Brit Brit, Adnan and one other male passenger were on the plane. The plane is about to land at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. Next stop ... unknown."Coupled with earlier TMZ reports about Spears apparently needing treatment for "severe......

When the weather outside is frightful, the risks are likely predictable--in high-wind weather anyway. Early yesterday evening, witnesses report that wooden planks broke free from a crane and crashed onto Spring St. at the new Trump SoHo building, reportedly crashing atop several cars. A collapse of steel from a crane at the WTC site early last week crushed a construction trailer where an architect was seriously injured when pieces of steel demolished his workspace after......

On January 2, after seeing a young man have a seizure and fall into the 1 subway tracks at at the 137th Street station just as a train was entering the station, construction worker Wesley Autrey jumped in and covered the other man's body with his own. The train passed over them and a hero was born. Autrey repeatedly told the media that he didn't want his two young daughters to see the man,......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a scaffolding collapse on 5th Ave. and 115th St. in Manhattan, a stabbing on Franklin Ave. in Queens, and a homicide at 83rd St. and 4th Ave. in Brooklyn. The new Kaleidoscope Light Show is now on display at Grand Central Terminal's main hall. The Toshiba company returns to Times Square after being absent for several decades. The company signed a 10-year lease to capture the top sign spot......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck on 87th St. and Central Park West in Manhattan, a DOA in a tree off Woodhaven Blvd. in Queens, and a burn victim on 42nd St. and Vanderbilt Ave. in Manhattan. Sidewalk chalk outline artist Ellis G[allagher] was arrested by police and held overnight as he was being filmed by a PBS crew last week in Boerum Hill. Charges were dropped the next day and Gallagher......

Sure, there are worries about the credit market and subprime mortgage situation, but real estate brokerages around the city are basking in good news: Third-quarter Manhattan apartment closings were at the highest average price ever and home inventory tightened as well. The average price for a Manhattan apartment was $1.37 million and the average price for a condo is $1.6 million, with the different brokerage saying that it's anywhere from 16-38% higher than the previous......

Donald Trump held a press conference to welcome his yooge Soho condo-hotel hybrid this afternoon, and it was a Trump family affair: Donald, Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric were all involved in pointing out various aspects of the project. Trump said, "I want to thank all the protesters outside for making this project so successful." Well, even though the city approved the building, the protesters aren't stopping any time soon. Not only did they......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a possible abduction at the Mobil gas station off the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn, a suspicious death on Cornelia St. in Queens, and a pedestrian struck at Buffalo St. and Hylan Blvd. on Staten Island. The Dept. of Buildings declined to revoke permits for Donald Trump's planned 46-story Trump SoHo "hotel" on Spring St. near the Holland Tunnel. A State Bridge Task Force completed its inspection of New York's......

In a city whose mayor has made gun control one of his signature issues, it's no surprise that the number of registered gun owners has gone down. The Post reports that there are now 36,169, versus 38,000 last year. Permits that allow one to wear a gun on a holster (concealed) also dropped to 2,555, which the Sun says is almost 50% less than the 2004 number. Of course, there's now way to estimate illegal......

Yesterday Merv Griffin lost his battle to prostate cancer at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles at the age of 82. He received his first treatment for this in 1996 and in late July of this year it was publicized that the cancer had come back. In a statement on Merv.com his son Tony said: "My father was a visionary. He loved business and continued his many projects and holdings even while hospitalized. We take......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a large fight on Fordham Rd. and Jerome Ave. in the Bronx, police activity in the employee parking lot at JFK Airport in Queens, and a pedestrian was struck on East 57th St. and Madison Ave. in Manhattan. Donald Trump owns almost 20% of Brooklyn's Starrett City that his dad bought for him when he graduated from business school. He now advises lower-income residents of the development that "This......

MUSIC: Not long ago we saw the movie Once, and absolutely loved it. Busker meets girl, deep connection through music...you get the idea. Now the two main characters are touring and singing the songs from the soundtrack. The male lead was of course the singer of The Frames, Glen Hansard, and his female counterpoint is Marketa Irglova. Tonight they take the stage at Gramercy, so it's your chance to see them off the big screen......

Governor Spitzer nominated H. Dale Hemmerdinger to be Peter Kalikow's replacement as MTA Chairman. Hemmerdinger is a real estate developer with long and varied ties to New York City. He is the president of ATCO Properties and Management, which owns and manages two million square feet of residential, commercial, industrial, and retail space. A longtime backer of Democratic politians, Hemmerdinger's wife donated $40,000 to Spitzer's campaigns since 2000, and Mrs. Spitzer hosted a fundraiser at......

Forbes has put out their list of the Top 100 Most Powerful Celebrities, something to bicker about at the water cooler, no doubt. Here are some of the top-ranked New Yorker's and their earnings: Jay-Z at #9 with $83M David Letterman at #17 with $40M Donald Trump at #19 with $32M Sean Combs at #43 with $23M Derek Jeter at #50 with $28M Bill Clinton at #55 with $7M Regis Philbin at #64 with $21M......

Controversial plans for high-rise luxury condos at Coney Island have now been scrapped, with developer Thor revising its plans to instead include a glass enclosed water park and hotel space. The city's planning department was very concerned with condominiums being included in the plan, but Thor had argued condos would be critical in keeping the project profitable. Now Thor CEO Joseph Sitt explained, "This is our way of being responsible and putting out an......

There was a strange unmapped incident on the Gothamist Newsmap yesterday afternoon: "Founded [sic] Bones" in the Bronx. It turns out that a contractor found some bones - and a rusted gun - "embedded in cement," according to WNBC 4. Jim Bailey was knocking down a concrete wall when he discovered three bones. He told the AP, "When we knocked the walls down, we just noticed a piece of bone sticking up." WNBC has a......

A look at some noteworthy television this week: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., HBO) A television adaptation of the 1970 book about America's 19th Century ethnic cleansing of Native Americans. We think that this deserves a miniseries instead of a 135 minute movie to bring the story justice. The Blair Decade (Sunday, 9:00, WLIW 21) A look back on the career of Tony Blair, his rise to power and the bad......

Cabbies are worried about their safety after robberies on the Lower East Side The city's problem-laden high schools for pregnant girls are closing; check out this article about how one student was facing the difficulties of her school, which included teachers not showing up and student fights Culturegrrl speaks with William Griswold, the future head of the Morgan Library, who actually left the Morgan a few years ago, with stings at the Getty and......

We got ourselves a note in the inbox from the folks who run the Big Apple BBQ to let us know that Bubba FastPasses are currently on sale from now till May 25 for the June 9 & 10 event. Gothamist was all over this event last year; look for more great coverage and photos coming up soon. This year should provide a bit of a pre-show glimpse of what local pitmaster Robbie Richter has......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Lafayette and Broome in Manhattan, a missing child on Rochester Ave. and President St. in Brooklyn, and a shooting on East 183rd St. and Crotona Ave. in the Bronx. A self-admitted alcoholic gave shaky and erratic testimony this afternoon, but was positive that he never would have given his beneficiary a stupid name like "Rafra" in the trial of two men who were accused of......

We guess the power of Donald Trump can thwart even ghosts of people buried in the lot where he wants to build a yooge condo-hotel. Trump's Soho project was finally approved by the city yesterday afternoon. The Daily Intelligencer calls it the "last huff of Soho's industrial grit," and spoke to the Trump Soho critic, Andrew Berman of the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation, who had fighting words: "This is a case of the......