The newly appointed commissioner of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications has saved $3,000 in taxes since 2005 by claiming residency in Florida—even though she has worked for city agencies the whole time. Longtime Bloomberg administration employee Carole Post and her husband have qualified for a homestead exemption, which is supposed to be granted to only full-time Florida residents, on their multimillion dollar West Palm Beach home, according to the Post. more ›

Just one day after a man attempted to explode an airplane before landing, Ivana Trump blew up at passengers before take-off, launching obscenities at children aboard the flight to New York and police officers. Her outburst caused a two hour delay for other passengers headed from Palm Beach International Airport to LaGuardia. more ›

Ruth Madoff may have signed a deal with the feds, giving up her homes and assets in exchange for $2.5 million, but does that mean she can keep a property tax rebate check for one of those homes? According to the Palm Beach Post, since the Madoffs' Palm Beach mansion was overvalued, the couple was issued a $13,800 rebate: "Ruth Madoff recently sent the uncashed refund check back to Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon, with a letter dated Aug. 23 asking that it be reissued in her name alone." A Florida tax law expert, Richard Rampelli, surmised, "She wants to have unfettered access to the money, clearly." Hey, Metrocards are expensive! Her attorney claims that the money will go "where it is supposed to go" and points out she is "obliged to assist the government in recovering any covered assets," but Rampelli thinks she could have just given the check to the government to deal with. At any rate, the check will not be reissued in Ruth's name alone—Palm Beach County Tax Collector "said the law requires her to write rebate checks to whoever paid the original bill - and in this case, both Madoffs' names were on the original check." more ›

U.S. Marshals seized the $11 million Palm Beach mansion owned by Bernard Madoff yesterday. This is the same mansion that was toilet-papered by a teen whose trust fund disappeared in the Ponzi scandal and the very same one that Ruth Madoff is trying to claim as her primary residence (yes, it can be seized). The marshals took an inventory and changed the locks, which took a long time; Marshals spokesman Barry Golden said, "There are more doors than we expected." more ›

You're never to young to be swindled by Bernard Madoff! The Palm Beach Post reports that the $50 billion-Ponzi scheme-man's estate was toilet-papered. The PB Post found out because the alleged perpetrators called them:

Some teenage boys called The Palm Beach Post newsroom Sunday evening to take credit for the prank - one they said was sanctioned by their parents. They said they were acting in retaliation after they lost their trust funds to the accused swindler. more ›

It's nice and exciting when your friends announce their engagements, but it seems like it's also a cue for you to start saving up. Forget buying them some congratulatory drinks and a wedding gift, as well as a shower gift - the real bank breakers are the bachelor/bachelorette parties and destination weddings. more ›

With the Yankees' win over the Red Sox yesterday that ended a 7-game losing streak, it seems that Yankees manager Joe Torre can breathe easily - for the moment. Torre answered questions about his job security before the game with aplomb, saying, "For me to say 'this,' 'this' or 'this,' I don't want to pawn it off and say it's not my fault. I'm in charge here. If you're going to enjoy the good times, you have to understand that to get there, you have to deal with some potholes." His players chimed in:

Jason Giambi: "I know in New York there's a lot of shock value. It's pretty ridiculous. This is a good ballclub. Joe can't control injuries; all he can do is put guys out there that want to play and want to win." more ›

Soft Ice Cream, by I'mJustSaying on Flickr. Tag yours with "Gothamist" if you want us to use them. more ›

Oh, the sacrifices people make for marriage. The Post suggests the embattled Pirros stay together because of money: Al makes it and makes sure Jeanine has $15,000 a month to live on. A source tells the Post:

"Jeanine loves the lifestyle that Al's income provides her. You can't believe how much money this lady spends," the source said. more ›

With obvious glee today's Times and Daily News went to task covering the Page Six payola scandal in greater detail. more ›

Vanessa Davis, Author/Cartoonist more ›

Drifts of two-three foot high snow! Unpaved side streets in the outer boroughs! Yellow-stained snow! Slush that will stain ruin your boots! Suspended subway service and packed train cars! It's the first snow in the city! more ›

Cuban Roast Pork with Mojo more ›

Areas with the least suburban sprawl: New York City; San Francisco; Boston; Portland, Ore.; Miami; Denver; Chicago; and Milwaukee. more ›

Our forecast: nice. more ›

Our weather: nice. more ›

With last week's release of Seabiscuit, the Palm Beach Post's sports writers come up a list of the best sports movies ever made. Not surprisingly, the list skews towards more recent films, but Gothamist was surprised to see how much we agreed with the selections. We were especially glad that Hoop Dreams, one of the best films ever made, period, made the list, thereby not getting the short shrift for being a documentary. The top ten: more ›

Gawker's gossip roundup leads with this Page Six itemabout Donald Trump's hard-on for coat-of-arms, which I yawned over when I was first reading Page Six, since it just seemed very typical and obvious that Trump would try to plaster his name, his brand, etc., anywhere possible. But I might be numb to this, since I get a bombarded with Trump related materials, living where I do. I'm glad we just got the coat-of-arms on Palm Beach resort materials - the coat-of-arms has not yet touched his shiny buildings. more ›