The Daily News looks at how the city taxpayers are "on the hook for $20 million," thanks to a Bronx surrogate judge. When people die without wills, the city has public administrators who handle their assets "until the court approves a settlement." While the PAs are supposed to invest conservatively, like in treasury bills, Judge Lee Holzman allowed two administrators invest $20 million in riskier auction-rate securities, which got hammered in this year. The city......

We've been following the fallout over the late Brooke Astor's will and estate for a while, but today's in-depth article in the NY Times about lawyer Francis Morrissey's numerous clients who put him in their wills is pretty damning. Morrissey was indicted (along with Astor's son Anthony Marshall) on charges if trying to, essentially, loot Astor's estate last month. The Times explains that he worked with two other lawyers, Wililam Forsythe and Peter Kelly, used......