• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on 173rd St. in Manhattan, a robbery/assault on 13th St. in Brooklyn, and an aircraft emergency at JFK airport in Queens.
• Barnard at Columbia has a new incoming president, snagged from Harvard Business School.
• Don't miss the Super Bowl sitting in your local precinct's drunk tank. Get your Super Brawling out of the way early the next time someone pipes up about the Patriots.

The former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs, former deputy secretary of state under Reagan, and Pataki contributor John C. Whitehead will resign from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the World Trade Center rebuilding organization, today. Whitehead was placed in the role of LMDC chairman by Pataki four years ago, and has had a lot of troubles, given the issues with WTC leaseholder Larry Silverstein, government officials, government agencies and victims' families all squabbling. Whitehead said, "This is the toughest leadership job I've ever had. We've accomplished a lot. Lower Manhattan is a very different animal today than even before 9/11. I wish there weren't as many problems right now. But I'm 84, and I need to be relieved." We're on the fence about Whitehead - he's Pataki flunky, but the WTC rebuilding has been a terrible mess and you can't pin it just on Whitehead. more ›

The fifth "amazing bestest yet ever most ridiculous [insert other stupid and/or hyperbolic descriptor here]" season of the Apprentice premiered last night, and boy, do the contestants get dumber and dumber! Maybe not totally dumber, because Lord knows what Gothamist would be doing if we had to work with other people handpicked by Donald Trump and Mark Burnett, but you'd think that people who apply to be on the show would have seen previous episodes and learn from past fired Apprentices' mistakes. That said, The Donald displayed his usual weaknesses of being a sucker for anything that has to do with the Ivy League, brainiac organizations (Mensa), or accents (two new foreign-born contestants - it really is a global village) - and coming up with lame rewards (we think having a chat with Mayor Bloomberg at Gracie Mansion is better than the Wharton Club prize, but whatever!). The team captains were Tarek "Call Me Mensa" and Allie, a former U. Florida Gators cheerleader and Harvard Business School grad, and give them a Good Year Blimp challenge to drive memberships at a Sam's Club, they'll give you cruciating reality show drama! more ›

Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio, YC Media, authors, The Girl's Guide To Starting Your Own Business more ›

Dan Shanoff, Sports Columnist more ›

• How to have a fling with a 22 year old editorial assistant at age 42 (Suzy; see Demi Moore for the celebrity version) more ›

- Embark on an "exit interview" after a failed date, so women know how and where their "product" went wrong more ›