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    Jessica Gusman

    Jessica Gusman

    Contributor

  • Lionel Pincus And His Princess

    One way to tell the story is to say that Mr. Pincus' two sons want to sell off their father's $50 million, 7,000-square-foot, 14-room duplex at the Pierre, where the monthly maintenance is over $27,000, and give the proceeds to charity. The princess, the type of person who can spend $6,508 of Mr. Pincus' money on towel warmers, wants it for herself. There are, according to years of documents obtained by The Observer, ferocious emails, unreliable letters and a failed agreement to give the princess the Pierre duplex, plus well over $100 million, if she limited her time with Mr. Pincus to four chaperoned meals and an outing per week.

  • Bloomberg On Gay Marriage Chances This Year: "Zero, Zero"

    As early as 2005, the mayor pledged to lobby the Legislature to enact marriage equality legislation passed twice since then by the State Assembly and actively pushed by Governor David A. Paterson. In a series of high profile appearances this year, Bloomberg has reiterated that commitment.

  • Fake New York Post: We're Screwed On Climate Change

    "WE'RE SCREWED" screamed the front page of alleged "New York Post," we picked up on the corner of 49th and 6th Avenue, from a guy who actually didn't look like the kind of person who would be selling the Post.

  • Mayor Bloomberg, The King Of Obscure Endorsements

    Billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg is likely to set another spending record in this year's mayoral race, but he appears to be aiming for a more obscure honor as well – the candidate with the most peculiar endorsements. Bloomberg's campaign released a lighthearted video this week featuring the mayor hounding a skeptical Matt Damon for his endorsement, arguing that it really could do him some good. Damon, a Boston native who now lives in Miami, has no connection to New York politics and arguably no influence over elections here.

  • Richard Fife, Gov. Paterson's Selected Campaign Manager

    Showing his intention to keep his job, Gov. David A. Paterson announced on Thursday that he had selected Richard Fife, a longtime New York political operative and a volunteer from Barack Obama's presidential campaign, to manage his 2010 election campaign. Mr. Fife had been set to run the United States Senate campaign of Representative Carolyn Maloney before she dropped her bid to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand, the incumbent Democrat, in next fall's primary.

  • 'Great Recession' Hitting New York Hard: Report

    A new report finds that while New York has been hit hard by the so-called "Great Recession," federal stimulus monies have buffered some of the worst effects of the economic downturn. The report, by Fiscal Policy Institute, estimates that the true unemployment rate in New York is quite a bit higher than the official 8.5 percent rate reported by government sources. FPI economist James Parrott says when you count workers who have simply given up on looking for work, and hourly workers forced to accept severe cutbacks in their hours, the rate is actually much higher, at 14.1 percent.

  • Jon Corzine Takes Lead Over Christie In NJ Gubernatorial Race

    Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine has for the first time gained the lead in the gubernatorial race among all registered voters, according to a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey Poll. Among all registered voters polled, Corzine holds a one percent lead with 41 percent for the governor and 40 percent for Republican challenger Chris Christie. Christie had a 4 point lead among registered voters in the August poll and a 6 point lead in July.

  • Number Of Uninsured New Yorkers Soars

    The proportion of uninsured New Yorkers skyrocketed by 2 percentage points in 2008, according to census figures released Friday. A total of 2.72 million New Yorkers were uninsured last year, which means that 14.1% of the state's population had no insurance at some point during the year. Based on the new U.S. Census Bureau data released Thursday, the percentage of uninsured adults aged 19-64 rose t0 19% from 17.2% in the previous year.

  • 9/11 Mourners Observe Moment Of Silence As Bells Toll

    Cold rain mixed with tears as mourners collected under umbrellas and a dreary sky Friday to mark the eighth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks with old rituals and a new purpose – honoring the spirit of those who rushed forward to help. Skies were gray in New York City, at the Pentagon and at the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 in a Shanksville, Pa., field, where now-familiar ceremonies honored the nearly 3,000 people who were lost. Friday was also the first time the anniversary was observed as a national day of service, following an order signed this year by President Barack Obama.

  • Couple Caught Selling Stolen Painting To Undercover Cop

    A Brooklyn couple was busted trying to sell a painting stolen off the wall of a Manhattan museum to an undercover cop, authorities said. Denis Ryjenko, 35, and his girlfriend, Natella Croussouloudis, 42, were arrested Sept. as they tried to unload a small masterpiece, "Himalayas," by the prolific early 20th-century Russian artist Nicholas Roerich.

  • 400 Year Old

    The victim: John Colman. Not much is known about him, much less about his murder. His body was hastily buried and has never been found.

  • Deutsche Bank Fire Memorial Service Boycotted By Bloomberg, FDNY, Media

    Mike Bloomberg boycotted the second memorial service yesterday for the two firefighters, Joseph Graffagnino and Robert Beddia, who died at the Deutsche Bank site, so the media boycotted it with him. Not a line about it appeared in any newspaper, and only Grace Rauh of NY1 bothered to report about it at all.

  • NY Lawmakers "Double Dipping": Take Pensions On Top Of Salary Pay

    When Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg retired last year, there were no sendoffs, no cakes and no serenades. Mr. Weisenberg, 75, a Long Island Democrat, "retired" last year but continued to work as a lawmaker and remained on the payroll. As a result, he earns $101,500 in salary and collects a pension of about $72,000, according to the comptroller's office.

  • Poll: New York State Government Broken

    A Quinnipiac Poll released today reveals that a large majority of New Yorkers believe that the state government is the worst or among the worst in the nation. Voters say 77% to 19% that the New York State Senate is dysfunctional. 49% of those polled believe that almost everyone in the State Senate should be thrown out.

  • Chris Christie's First Ethics Push In New Jersey Was Short-Lived

    Fifteen years later, Mr. Christie, a Republican, has a seven-year stint as United States attorney under his belt, his eye on the New Jersey governor's mansion and the same knack for turning ethical issues into political weaponry.

  • New York's Most Exclusive Office Building

    In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the Gobelins manufactory wove tapestries for Louis XIV, the absolutist French ruler, who espoused the theory of the divine right of kings. In the 21st century, you can walk up Madison Avenue, turn right onto 61st Street and enter a recessed cove well removed from the commoners' foot traffic. Pass through the doors and into the 40-foot-tall limestone lobby of 667 Madison Avenue, arguably the most exclusive office building in New York City, and you will find, on the wall behind the bow-tied concierge, one of those Gobelins tapestries.

  • Cameron Douglas' Girlfriend Busted For Smuggling Drugs Back To Boyfriend

    The girlfriend of actor Cameron Douglas was arrested Monday for allegedly trying to smuggle him heroin in a toothbrush

  • Li-ann Thio Cancels Visit To NYU Law School

    The Law School will therefore cancel the course on Human Rights in Asia and the seminar on Constitutionalism in Asia, which she had been scheduled to teach. This issue has been delicate and challenging since it brings into tension certain important principles and convictions that normally coexist in harmony and define our institutional identity.

  • Sex In The Sky: Most Scandalous Billboards In NY (PHOTOS, POLL)

    With Times Square, two major highways and many tall buildings, New York is home to the nation's most valuable ad space. It should be no surprise then that many of the nation's most scandalous billboards are found here in New York. Ranging from sexy to nasty and serious to humorous, billboards are one way to get many eyeballs on a product.

  • Governor Paterson Gains Popularity As Voters Shift Anger Toward Senate

    David Paterson's poll numbers have climbed slightly, for the second month in a row, as voters surveyed in a poll released today perceive him as having acted appropriately during the month-long State Senate squabble. Thirty-six percent of the 623 registered voters surveyed by the Siena Research Institute have a favorable impression of Paterson, up five points from a month ago, and 22 percent approve of the way he is doing his job, a two-point bump from June.