A hooker who set up a tryst with a man who answered her ad on Backpage.com was assaulted by him earlier this week. The Post reports, "the 37-year-old prostitute from San Pablo [California] met the unidentified john in a room at the Candlewood Suites late Monday afternoon... After asking the woman how much she charged, the madman pulled a hammer from his jacket and began bashing her over the head." more ›

The Bronx public school teacher whose past as a sex worker made her front page fodder announced her resignation yesterday. In the fall, Melissa Petro was bounced from teaching art at Public School 70 in Mount Eden to the rubber room, after an essay she wrote on being a Craigslist prostitute led to her picture being plastered on the dallies. The Department of Education was reportedly embarrassed by the incident, and was seeking to fire her for "conduct unbecoming" her profession. more ›

2011 has only just begun, but we've already found the best lawsuit of the year: NYC college student Hubert Blackman recently filed a $1.8 million claim against a Las Vegas escort service because his stripper didn't stay to cuddle with him. And because he now needs medical treatment for a mental condition related to the "tragic" incident. more ›

While on Don Imus' radio show, Governor Paterson said he had no idea that Eliot Spitzer liked hookers. According to the Daily News, the outgoing governor then brought up an incident where Spitzer "actually admonished an aide who commented about an attractive woman who walked by during a march." Paterson said, "If anything, I found him to be very professional, particularly when he worked with other women. I think he's really that kind of person who can kind of separate his kind of social life from professional. He has a real professional standard in that way and I think he still does." more ›

Melissa Petro, the teacher who was reassigned from duties as an art teacher in the Bronx to the rubber room after word of her sex worker past became front page fodder, has a MFA in creative non-fiction and has dabbled in open mic nights. Which means she's more than happy write and/or chat about being thrown into the rubber room. The 30-year-old has a new essay on the Huffington Post ("I have no regrets and have done nothing I'm ashamed of.") and an interview in Marie Claire ("Prostitution is a far from perfect occupation — I will be the first to admit that — but it is an occupation, and it is an occupation that many individuals choose."). She also gives this news flash, "Teachers have s-e-x. That is to say, individuals who work as teachers are still allowed to be sexual beings with adult lives outside the classroom." more ›

The city will navigate the Byzantine, 83-step process it takes to fire a teacher because having a teacher who blogged about her services as a Craigslist sex worker on city payroll is embarrassing! Melissa Petro was removed from teaching duties at PS 70 in the Bronx when the tabloids caught wind of her provocative past, but, since she was recently granted tenure, it's difficult to actually fire her. But now the Department of Education has leveled conduct "unbecoming a teacher" charges at the 30-year-old. more ›

Hey, remember Melissa Petro? She used to teach art at P.S. 70 in the Bronx until her Huffington Post essay about being a sex worker came to light. But now that she's been banished to the rubber room, she's had a lot of time to think...and complain on her Facebook page. According to the Post, Petro wrote, "Still in pieces after being interrogated yesterday by the [Department of Education]. Seriously, I feel like Kanye effen West." more ›

While most people are getting caught up in all of the negative aspects surrounding actor Charlie Sheen's coke-fueled frothing escapade, like sullying the good name of the Eloise Suite, there are a few stalwart Sheen fans who have found the silver lining in the incident. That would include CBS, who think that the high profile hooker-and-drugs binge may boost ratings of Sheen's hit show, Two and a Half Man. "They're quietly thrilled. They think it will open up the show to a whole new segment of young viewers, the 17-to-23 crowd. They feel like it's millions in free publicity," a network insider told the Post. Nothing gets the 17-23 crowd going like having a cocaine-encrusted face! more ›

The NY Times has broken this very important story about our former hooker-loving governor: Eliot Spitzer's application to join the Harvard Club of New York City was rejected: "This year, the Midtown club turned down Mr. Spitzer’s application for membership — a rare snub by the club — because officials there did not want to be associated with Mr. Spitzer and the prostitution scandal that forced him from the governorship of New York in 2008, according to a person told of the decision by Harvard officials." Maybe the club thought Client No. 9 would enjoy the reasonable rates for a Midtown hotel room! more ›

Aaron Naparstek, Streetsblog founder, has a personal blog post about that Park Slope institution, The Park Slope Food Coop. The food coop, which has flirted with banning bottled water and Israeli food products, makes $40 million a year, but has frustrated/ surly workers and the finest in community fliers. more ›

The Post is furious that former stripper and sex worker-turned-P.S. 70 art teacher Melissa Petro has tenure, which means that it will probably be near impossible for the Department of Education to fire her. Though Petro has been reassigned (she's doing administrative work somewhere), kicking her off DOE payroll involves 83 steps, and this Post editorial offers some of them: "Stage 1: Principal recommends firing. Stage 2: Committee reviews principal. Stage 3: Chancellor reviews committee. Stage 4: Hearing reviews chancellor." However, the paper is hopeful, "The Office of Special Investigations is reviewing her case, and city conduct codes and state regulations on "moral character" may prove grounds for firing." more ›

Melissa Petro, an art teacher at P.S. 70 in the Bronx, was reassigned from the school after writing about her past as a stripper and Craigslist sex worker in various online publications, including The Huffington Post ("I accepted money in exchange for sexual services I provided to men I met online in what was then called the 'erotic services' section"). Of course, Petro also performed as various open mic events, and there are videos! more ›

Oh, Ashley Dupre. It's been nearly two-and-a-half years since we first met you (via the relentless news media, of course). Back then, you were just an aspiring singer and a high-class call girl whose rendez-vous with a governor resulted in his resignation. Now, you're an aspiring singer who posed for Playboy, is the Post's sex columnist and just finished taking a course in... real estate. more ›

The Post got a hold of a letter that Community Board 2 sent to Manhattan DA Cy Vance, urging him to be tougher on prostitutes: "With sex workers on every corner -- which they are on every weekend night in the far West Village -- residents don't feel safe and are frequently disturbed." A police source explained, "They are getting arrested, and there is no long-term penalty." Last year, there were 183 prostitution-related arrests in the 6th Precinct, while there have been 59 this year so far—but cops caution, "as the weather heats up, so will the curbside sex trade." This is not a new complaint and two months ago, R&B singer D'Angelo was busted. more ›

Ashley Dupre, aka Kristen, Governor Spitzer's pricey escort, is weighing in on Tiger Woods' growing posse of alleged mistresses. She text messaged with the Post, complaining, "Here you have all these girls accepting gifts, money, trips from Tiger in exchange for sex -- all the while knowing he is married... And now they all can't wait to tell their stories in exchange for even more money from the tabloids? And I was the hooker? At least I kept my mouth shut." more ›

The right-wing smear campaign against community organizing group ACORN is having the desired effect; yesterday the Senate voted 83-7 to deny housing and community grant funding to the non-profit organization. The vote—prompted by last week's arrest of ACORN employees in Florida accused of falsifying hundreds of voter applications last year—came as an unflattering secret camera video shot in ACORN's Brooklyn office surfaced. The video shows two ACORN employees advising a young couple, posing as prostitute and pimp, how to falsify documents to get a mortgage and tax breaks for a brothel housing El Salvadoran teens. more ›

Ashley Dupre, who recently called (some? most?) New York City women hypocrites for looking down on her prostituting past, has now been in the NY Post two days in a row. Yesterday, the Post looked at her road to realization—with a sexy fashion shoot, of course (photo slideshow below, which is set to her second single!)—with the former high-class escort offering this pitch line, "Everyone likes an underdog story, and everyone likes a comeback. I'm the poster child for redemption." more ›

Two right-wing filmmakers have teamed up with Fox News to conduct a juicy hidden-camera exposé on the community advocacy group ACORN, a group conservatives hate because it receives government funding to help the indigent. According to Fox, filmmaker James O'Keefe, 25, dressed as a cliche pimp and sought housing advice at ACORN offices in New York. Joined by his partner Hannah Giles, 20, who posed as a prostitute, O'Keefe claims to have told employees he needed a house to run a brothel and help Giles escape an abusive pimp. more ›

A few days ago, Ashley Dupre, forever in the history books as former Governor Spitzer's expensive escort Kristen, complained about (some) women criticizing her for being a prostitute and questioned their moral compasses, saying they "still dive into relationships with wealthy guys who they don't love or even find attractive, but they stay in it because they have a nice home, a car and spending money...I know many women who target guys with money and use them to get these things." Which has totally pissed off some New York ladies! more ›

The Post (of course) has fun with former governor Eliot Spitzer's Today appearance: Regarding Spitzer's explanation about his hooker flings, "I have tried to address these gremlins, confront them," the Post says Spitzer made it sound "as if he were battling the furious furballs from the '80s horror flick." So the tabloid offers helpful visual aids explaining "This is a gremlin" and "This is a hooker," plus a graph comparing gremlins and hookers. The NY Times also mentions Spitzer's "gremlins" quote but leads with how the getting caught in the act did cross the Steamroller's mind. more ›

Lately, former governor Eliot Spitzer has been edging back into the public eye, perhaps beckoned by the siren song of public unhappiness with financial firms. He was, after all, the "Sheriff of Wall Street" during his Attorney General days, so he's parlayed that into a column for Slate, a Washington Post editorial, an appearance on Fareed Zakaria's CNN show and now a one-on-one with Matt Lauer on the Today Show. more ›

The Post reports: "A one-legged hooker was killed in Brooklyn after a john hit her over the head, causing her to fall backwards out of her wheelchair and slam her skull against the wall. Investigators believe she had been servicing a client in the hallway who then hit her on the head with a heavy object." Elizabeth Acevedo, 38, a homeless prostitute who lost her leg in a train accident, was found on Thursday morning at the Wyckoff Gardens houses in Brooklyn and died yesterday after being taken off life support. The Post adds, "She wore a prosthetic leg, but also used a wheelchair." Police are still looking for the killer. more ›

When a Girls Gone Wild video surfaced featuring Ashley Alexandra Dupre, aka the expensive hooker who serviced Eliot Spitzer, Dupre quickly moved to sue the GGW operation and founder Joe Francis for $10 million, claiming she was under 18 in the video. But then Francis fired back, by releasing a video showing Dupre saying she is over 18. Now her lawyer says she's dropping the lawsuit and will "focus on the positive." A statement released by Dupre's lawyer Richard Wolf said, "She has prospects for many exciting new projects, and is looking forward to starting a new chapter." more ›

Stone (who may or may not have left a rude voicemail on Spitzer's dad's phone calling Eliot a "phony, psycho piece of s---") has previously claimed credit for helping tip off the feds about Spitzer. Now he explains in much more detail how he figured out a "hot blonde" hooker had met with Spitzer. Excerpts of NYer article, via Page Six:

"She told me she had a very high-end clientele - she kept using the word 'high-end' - athletes, international businessmen, politicians . . . then she said, 'I almost had a date with Eliot Spitzer, the governor of New Jersey.' She didn't know much about politics. So I asked her, 'Did this guy have a beard?' [like whiskered Jon Corzine]." more ›

Ashley Dupré has become a "don't" in the world of scandalites for not parlaying her 15 minutes into some cold hard cash. NY Mag reports on her quick decline, saying that even market analysts "are now scolding the governor's hooker for not taking full financial advantage." Meanwhile, Silicon Alley reported yesterday that while there's still a possibility of a "low six-figure" offer from Georgi Vodka in the works, what's-her-name's story is going stale; seems her shelf life was about two weeks. more ›