The 20-member New York Times editorial board nearly endorsed Barack Obama for president, but ultimately Times chairman and publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. pushed through a Clinton endorsement, anonymous sources have told The New Republic. The behind-the-scenes article echoes conjecture from New York Magazine that Sulzberger’s BFF gym buddy Steven Rattner, a major Clinton donor and former Times reporter, may have been the deciding factor. An unnamed Times staffer regrets the error: “We're on the wrong......

A Giant hooked up to a shock device, numerous wedding proposals and an American Idol audition all added to the collective fun know as “Media Day” at the Super Bowl. What else can you expect when nearly 5,000 reporters have to shake out stories from 200 or so football players and coaches. Ruben Droughns must be looking for something to do because he agreed to answer questions while holding two electrodes hooked up to......

What is it about Frank Gehry? When The Boston Globe reported this week that the architect (and a construction firm) is being sued by MIT, news organizations from Kansas City to Dublin reported the story. Does Gehry have a building in KC, too? Apparently, not, but he raised controversy there over an arena bid. Sound familiar?! The university filed a negligence and breach of contract suit, alleging design flaws in the $300 million Stata Center......

The Manhattan District Attorney's office announced that the Reverend David Ajemian was arrested on charges of stalking and threatening Conan O'Brien. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston placed Ajemian, a 46-year-old priest in Stoneham, Massachusetts, on leave. The DA's office says that Ajemian had sent letters (some on parish letterhead!) to O'Brien's offices at 30 Rockefeller Plaza and home, contacted his parents, and tried to attend tapings of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He was......

There was a NY Times City section about the uneasy equilibrium of dog owners and bicyclists in Central Park. Many a collisions occur between beast and bicycle, especially during off-leash hours. But we think there are actually lots of showdowns of park roads: Runners vs. Rollerbladers; stroller-pushing parents vs. runners; tourists vs. everyone. Which makes us wonder: Survey - Take Our Poll And in a weird bit of possibly unanticipated corporate synergy, the Boston......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a bank robbery on Canal St. between Baxter and Perry Sts. in Manhattan, a separate bank robbery on West 6th St. and Neptune Ave. in Brooklyn, and yet another amputation (that's the third reported this week!) on Gardener Ave. in Brooklyn. The Queens man, who drove his known-suicidal wife to the edge of an upstate cliff and then watched as she drove the minivan containing their two children over......

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg traveled back to his Massachusetts roots and gave the commencement speech at Tufts University. Bloomberg, who grew up in Medford, name checked various haunts in the hood, tried to seem with it by mentioning Busta Rhymes, Ali G, and Salma Hayek, and reminded kids to call their mother. He also discussed free speech, in what the Sun called a nod to the Minutemen incident at Columbia: The fourth lesson is, in......

Forget the Nets' win against Toronto last night, the big Nets news was about Jason Kidd's personal life. In surprising news, Jason Kidd filed for divorce yesterday from Joumana, his wife of 10 years, citing extreme cruelty. This comes after he filed a domestic violence complaint against her on Monday for mistreating their three children. The Nets point guard is accusing his wife of "kicking, punching and throwing things at him, threatening to make false......

Boston Celtics player and Brooklyn native Sebastian Telfair continues to deny he had anything to do with Fabolous shooting's outside of Justin's earlier this week. Earlier, the Post reported that Telfair's $50,000 necklace was stolen two hours before Fabolous was shot and a witness heard Telfair call someone "to take care" of it. Supposedly Telfair was just calling to ask for an escort because he was concerned about his and his fiancee's safety - i.e.......

"Cool" parents, watch out! The City Council is considering bring a "Social Host" law to NYC. The law makes parents responsible for any underage drinking in their homes, and, in fact, many other cities and states have social host laws as well. Parents can serve alcohol to their children (within reason, we'd imagine), while it would be illegal to serve alcohol to minors who are not their children. According to 1010WINS, there would be a......

- Informal talks between the Transport Workers Union and the MTA - Ken has another makeover to win Barbie back, but, ladies, will carrying a messenger bag and listening to Norah Jones really change things? - When your loved one loves Anderson Cooper - Mayor Bloomberg's other old man fight: Larry Silverstein's press release is a hoot - Johnny Damon thanks his former city with a full page ad in the Boston Globe -......

Here are this weeks Weddings and Celebrations, by the numbers: Total Number of Weddings: 33 Number of Heterosexual Weddings: 33 Average Age of Brides: 34 Average Age of Grooms: 36 Oldest Bride: 71 Oldest Groom: 74 Youngest Bride: 25 Youngest Groom: 25 Average Age Difference: 2.8 years Biggest Age Difference: 13 years Number of Older Brides: 5 Number of Older Grooms: 20 Number of Same-Age Couples: 8 Number of Native New Yorkers (State): 20 Number......

'Tis the season for presidential endorsements. The city's paper of record, The New York Times, bestowed an endorsement of Senator John Kerry for President yesterday, describing him as a man with a "strong moral core" and "not just a modest improvement on the incumbent," closing with: We look back on the past four years with hearts nearly breaking, both for the lives unnecessarily lost and for the opportunities so casually wasted. Time and again,......

Steven I. Weiss, Journalist/Blogger...

Ever since a college professor gave us A People�s History of the United States we have been big fans of Howard Zinn. Yes, fans, of an historian. Zinn recently spoke at The Progressive's 95th Anniversary Party and stated that he feels confident--well, I won't talk about the elections, because the important thing is social movements--I feel confident for a future of this country. We are going to see the emergence and growth of a great......

Apparently, it's all the rage to have a manservant. The photograph of Marvin Nicholson, Senator John Kerry's chief of staff, in the Times today is kind of disturbing (check out Wonkette's take on the dynamic) and funny, and the article is kind of great, noting that Nicholson tried to re-attach a button to Kerry's clothes with a stapler. But the most telling quote was: "Here in Youngstown on Tuesday morning, as rain threatened an outdoor......

The Washington Post had a field day when White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan told the White House press corps, "Good morning. The president had his usual briefings this morning and just recently completed an interview with the Sun, for a discussion of his upcoming visit to the United Kingdom." Yes, THE SUN, Gothamist's favorite British tabloid, which is where we find out everything we want to know about Kylie, Liam, Posh'n'Becks, Sadie'n'Jude, Chris'n'Gwyneth,......

Hell, if that wasn't an amazing game. Tough matchup, nice pitching by Pedro "Old Man Blocker" Martinez, great save by Mo' and a doozy of a home run by Aaron Boone (pictured, above, at left, going home to teammates; photo - NY Times). Now, it's the Fish. NY Times: Last Pitch Lands Yankees In World Series Jack Curry's analysis Mariano Rivera More coverage NY Post: Destiny Ka-Boone More coverage NY Daily News: Oh, Babe!......

Damn, the microfluidics lab at MIT is like a team out of Junkyard Wars - they built a robotic snail out of "unsophisticated gears, wiring and pieces of plastic." What are microfluidics? Well, Gothamist's first guess was something about "teeny tiny" and "liquidy," and the Boston Globe says we're right: ''microfluidics,'' which is the science of understanding how liquids behave on a very small scale. The hope is that understanding microfluidics will help scientists develop......

Boston Globe reporter Bob Ryan was suspended for a month without pay for saying he'd like to "smack" Joumana Kidd, wife of Jason Kidd, New Jersey Nets star, hypothesizing she was using four year old son, T.J to forward her ambitions: Ryan said: "I got theories with this last year, with this woman, this Joumana Kidd, who wants to be a TV star. She wants face time on camera. You know what, the great way......

The Pulitzer Prizes were announced today and the Boston Globe won for public service with its coverage of the Catholic priest sex scandal and the Washington Post and L.A. Times cleaned up with three awards each. Additionally, a film critic won for criticism: Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post.......