As the scandal around his mayoral campaign fund-raising grows, City Comptroller John Liu insists he's still running for mayor in 2013. He also said that his campaign treasurer 25-year-old Jia "Jenny" Hou, arrested for fraud, was not set up for a fall: "Jenny is a very capable young individual and she is capable as compared to anyone of any age. I’m not hanging anyone out to dry." more ›

Italy's Prime Minister, Silvio "The Knight" Berlusconi has resigned shortly following the passage of a budget designed to pull the country from the brink of financial disaster. According to Reuters, demonstrators have gathered at President Giorgio Napolitano's residence in Rome and are loudly heckling him with shouts of "resign" and "clowns"—one reporter on the scene notes that she has "never seen anything like this." more ›

Normally, Law & Order: SVU rips its stories from the headlines after they actually take place in the real world. But could it be possible that just this once, SVU predicted a scandal before it broke? Regular viewers may be struck by the similarities between the horrifying child abuse allegations against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky—accusations that legendary coach Joe Paterno knew about—and the crime tackled in the recent SVU episode "Personal Fouls." Here's the preview: more ›

Apparently, the virtue of Being Hot does not excuse Padma Lakshmi from Being Annoying, as evidenced by her behavior at this week's food-themed Moth reading. more ›

Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of human-rights abusing Uzbeki president Islam Karimov, has been axed from Fashion Week following public outrage over her family ties. But there's more to the story than what meets the eye. more ›

When is a lobster salad not actually a lobster salad? For the past twenty years the answer to that question was "When you buy it at Zabar's." But times they are a-changing. No less than Saul Zabar himself tells us that because of some complaining that started in New Orleans, the famous food store's "lobster salad" (which was technically made with crayfish) has been renamed "seafare salad." But we're getting ahead of ourselves. more ›

Carrying on in its long and fruitful tradition of ripping stories straight from the headlines, Law & Order: SVU is apparently planning an episode based on the real-life Arnold Schwarzenegger secret lovechild scandal that ended his marriage with Maria Shriver. more ›

Following the closure of News Corp-owned British tabloid News of the World after revelations that the paper hacked the cell phones of 9/11 victims, murder victims and dead soldiers, Rupert Murdoch has withdrawn the company's $12 billion bid to take over British Sky Broadcasting, the largest satellite broadcasting company in Britain. In a statement, News Corp's deputy chairman said, "We believed that the proposed acquisition of BSkyB by News Corporation would benefit both companies but it has come clear that it is too difficult to progress in this climate." more ›

Controversy continues to plague the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest held at Coney Island on July 4; but this time, it has nothing to do with Kobayashi vs. Chestnut, and everything to do with a female eater named Grace Lee. more ›

Last week, we reported that TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie spoke at a California event sponsored by Focus On The Family, a right-wing evangelical Christian group with a strong anti-homosexuality agenda, and we weren't the only ones who noticed. Now, following criticism from multiple parties, Mycoskie responds. more ›

A phone hacking scandal—which has mushroomed from hacking celebrities' cell phones to revelations that murder victims' and dead soliders' phone were also hacked and cops were paid off—at a Rupert Murdoch-owned British tabloid, News of the World, has proven so troubling that the weekly will shut down after Sunday. News International announced the impending closure today, and chairman James Murdoch, Rupert's son, said the proceeds from the final issue would go to good causes. more ›

30 Rock star (and the only man alive who would have a fire in his fishtank) Tracy Morgan is at the center of a major firestorm over allegations that he went on an ugly homophobic rant at a Nashville show. According to audience member Kevin Rogers's epic Facebook note, titled "WHY I NO LONGER 'LIKE' Tracy Morgan—A MUST READ:" more ›

As more insanely graphic Facebook message sex sessions between Rep. Anthony Weiner and Vegas blackjack dealer Lisa Weiss have been disclosed (Radar calls them "explicit and embarrassing" which is an understatement—here's a PDF), the question comes back to, "Why the hell was Weiner doing this, as a successful Congressman married to a smart and beautiful woman?" The answer is, of course, "For the thrills." more ›

Yesterday, coffee nerds had their knickers in a twist over rumors that beloved brand Stumptown had been sold to a mysterious "high bidder." Well, breathe easy, caffeine snobs, for today comes word that founder Duane Sorensen is still "very much in charge" of the company, though details are still a bit hazy. more ›

Coffee crisis! Maybe! Flatiron's favorite cuppa, Stumptown, is at the center of a highly caffeinated brouhaha over whether or not it's been sold. more ›

We're aware from briefly scanning heavily redacted documents that Mayor Bloomberg's perception of money is somewhat different than most non-billionaires. But yesterday, just hours before the leader in the city's $740 million CityTime boondoggle was arrested for taking $5 million in kickbacks, Mayor Bloomberg said on his weekly radio program that "we actually did a pretty good job here, in retrospect." Sure, they may have overshot the projected $68 million it would cost, but…no, that pretty much sounds like the exact opposite of a "pretty good job" to us. more ›

The Department of Education, meant to be one of the defining triumphs of Michael Bloomberg's mayoral career, has become a "fiscal black hole" with a serious consultant problem to the tune of $982 million, according to Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. That title comes after yet another consultant-related financial scandal came out of the department. Turns out the former Chief Financial Officer of the DOE, George Raab, and several consultants used their time their to plot Raab's exit to a private financial firm, according to a report [PDF] from Richard J. Condon, the special commissioner of investigation for the city schools. more ›

Where to start with this one? In a truly bizarre and disturbing sequence of events related to the alleged "Botox Mom" who supposedly injected her 8-year-old daughter, ABC and Good Morning America are getting caught up in a checkbook journalism scandal for agreeing to pay $10,000 for photos of the mom and her child. more ›

Last week we learned that power couple Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver have decided to separate after a 25-year marriage, and while the split initially appeared to be relatively drama-free, today Arnie dropped a bomb, admitting that he had an affair and fathered a child with one of his household staffers. While the affair took place a decade ago, Shriver only recently found out about it, prompting the announcement of the couple's separation. more ›

In the wake of allegations that fashion designer John Galliano uttered anti-Semitic remarks at patrons of a Parisian cafe last week (a video from months earlier show him telling someone "I love Hilter"), the fashion world has been brimming with observations and condemnations. Fellow successful designer Karl Lagerfeld was unsparing in his comments to WWD, "I’m furious, if you want to know. I’m furious that it could happen, because the question is no longer even whether he really said it. The image has gone around the world. It’s a horrible image for fashion, because they think that every designer and everything in fashion is like this. This is what makes me crazy in that story." more ›

Earlier today, Gawker ran a story on upstate Republican congressman Chris Lee in which he sent some photos of himself—one shirtless—to a woman he met on Craigslist. In the e-mails he also told her he was a divorced 39-year-old lobbyist (he's married and 46). Honestly, we didn't think too much of it because in the age of Elliot Spitzer and John Edwards (not to mention European politicians like Silvio Berlusconi) a married pol seeking extracurricular lovin' is about as surprising as a hangover after a heavy night of drinking. But apparently Lee isn't as jaded as we are. His resignation notice, effective immediately, is already up on his website. more ›

Here's a new dieting trick for anyone who doesn't have Al Franken on speed dial: every time you're about to eat something fatty, think of Brett Favre's penis. It's apparently been working for former Jets in-house sideline reporter Jenn Sterger; her manager, Phil Reese, says she's so stressed that she has "lost nine pounds. She was already in model shape before, so it's not good if those nine pounds just go missing." more ›

Rather than discuss former Senator Eric Massa's fondness for tickling and snorkeling, Esquire's Ryan D'Agostino decided to focus his profile of the fallen politician on a different potential scandal: a possibly fixed presidential election. According to D'Agostino's notes, Massa was informed by four retired generals that Dick Cheney had been attempting to convince General David Petraeus to run for president in 2012, and suggests that his colleagues turned against him when he wanted to go public with the information. That explains everything...except what happened the night he "took an Ambien and ended up walking to the Washington Monument at 4:00 in the morning." more ›

Scandal rocked the justifiably beloved Doughnut Plant on Grand Street this morning, when a frequent customer uncovered a shocking conspiracy: The establishment has for some time now been passing off decaffeinated coffee as caffeinated. A tipster tells Grub Street, "I confronted a woman working at the counter this morning with the rumor. She confirmed it, seemed kind of embarrassed, like I'd found out some big secret, and asked me if I still wanted the coffee I'd ordered. I’ve been drinking this coffee almost every day for a year, and it’s pretty upsetting." But there's a very simple explanation for all this! more ›