Earlier: If Julia Allison is A Media Whore, Does That Make Us a Media Pimp?

"Sick customer," MTA-speak for a subway delay caused by an ill passenger, was the No. 3 cause of disruptions between October 2005 and October 2006, an analysis of agency statistics shows. "You have women trying to get their bodies tight for the summer and they won t eat," said Asim Nelson, a Transit emergency medical technician based in Grand Central Station. "Not eating for three or four days, you are going to go down. If you don t eat for 12 hours you are going to get weak."

Skinny girls to blame for late trains? [AMNY]

I was sort of annoyed that the New York Times didn't interview me ... I'm sort of surprised no news producers have called me yet.

When we ran a party photo of Allison earlier in the week, we immediately received the following in the tipline:

Ew, please, do not give that attention-seeking girl any more of the coverage she so desperately seeks. We (Georgetown journalism students) were thrilled when she was suspended from the Hoya and given an F in our journalism course for plagiarizing one of her columns. Haaaate that she's screwed her way up here as well.

Baugher soldiered on, and it was in April 2003 that Lloyd Grove (then still at the Washington Post) wrote her up as sharing a table with Harold Ford. Mini-media celebrity began to accumulate almost immediately, with sex- or politics-commentary (or both) in various national outlets. In July 2003, Baugher (according to Post reporter Frank Ahrens) attempted to get out of paying for grapefruit at a hotel by throwing the Post's name around, claiming she worked for them. Confronted, Baugher said she was actually (and inscrutably) name-dropping the Hoya. In reality, Baugher had some early discussion about contributing to the Post's free Express tabloid, but nothing was set up yet. Regardless, after a few more laps around the media appearance track, Baugher quit the Hoya as of January 2004, supposedly because her sex column (in a Jesuit university's paper) couldn't be graphic enough to suit her tastes. Not long after, Julia Baugher became Julia Allison, decamped to New York, and began writing another sex column for another free paper.

And she's been riding the grapefruit train ever since. (Though it hasn't helped her get recognized by event photographer Patrick McMullan, who couldn't ID her for the pic at right.) In New York, Allison has a whole ecosystem of media industry horny toads to romp among, as opposed to those charming but rather conflicted political types. Eligible men are her favorite playtoy — and eligibility is very generously interpreted. Her habit of purring and flirting with taken or married men frequently brings the claws out from those menfolk's significant others. For a time, she even enjoyed a public companionship and rumored private dalliance with none other than Lloyd Grove. If you happen to be one of the few people who doesn't know about her affair with Harold Ford, she'll certainly fill you in — all the while wondering aloud if she really should go on Fox News again. And don't even get her started about when she dumped a guy in a Jamba Juice, after supposedly stealing him from away from his wife.

Allison's easy to spot at most any media party of consequence — she's everywhere, it seems — and she's famous for laying it on thicker than a toddler spreading peanut butter. She's so excited to see everyone she meets, she just loves you, you're so great, she really wants to be best friends, and so forth. All this is delivered along with self-deprecating complaints about her own bad habit of relentless self-promotion, but no matter how unsubtle the hint, she's not getting the message that she herself is sending. Who knows, perhaps dialing it down a bit might make that longed-for threesome happen sooner, or make that Silver Bullet finally obsolete.

Harold Ford's Ex Finds Fame on the Web [Radar]
[Photo: Nikola Tamindzic]

In other news, the sky is brown, our city's cabs are pink and the New York Yankees are on the march to the World Series.

The headline has been changed for the online version, unfortunately.

amNY Watch: Red with Anger [East Village Idiot]

We agree that, if nothing else, careless distribution of the papers adds to the litter and find the First Amendment rationale to be specious. Though to be honest, Post seems more peeved that it has to play by the rules and the other guys don't.

The Post and all its paid competitors are limited in how and where they can sell their papers on the subways. The freebies alone shouldn't be given a free pass to ignore those laws.

Especially when doing so creates a threat than can endanger the lives of thousands of straphangers. Now that the MTA has identified the problem, it's up to the agency to work out how to solve it.

And it's up to the NYPD to enforce the laws evenly and protect the public - before there's a real tragedy in the subways.

"The drain-clogging freebies were largely responsible for a massive flood in September 2004 that shut down much of the system, MTA board members said yesterday," reports the Post, who surely wants a piece of that market. Newspapers hawkers are supposed to stay off MTA property, but in their zealousness, they ignore the rules of engagement and descend onto the platforms, and worse, leave stacks inside stations, allowing the papers to drift off and into the drainage pipes.

What will the NYPD do about it? Absolutely nothing, apparently. "When the activity creates an obstruction or other safety concern police officers take action," says the deputy commissioner. "Otherwise we don't infringe on the distribution of the newspapers."

"I certainly hope it's not us," Lori Rosen, Metro spokeswoman, said while gesturing in the direction of AM New York.

MTA PAPER WAR [NY Post]

Yankees need a change [AMNY]

Why were all the tabloids being give away for free today? My West 4th station had people giving away AM NY, Metro, Daily News, and NYP. I thought a fight was about to break out. Was it: Information just wants to be free? You get what you pay for? If we hook the kids on a freebie of this Page Six stuff we'll have them for life? Or possibly all of the above? I turn to you for answers.

An answer from little old us? OK, fine. Our best guess is that it has something to do with pushing up May's monthly circ average with sponsored copies. (Although: Do newspapers care about the monthly averages? Or just the twice-yearly reports?) Anyone else catch the papers and see who's sponsoring them? If so, let us know. Meantime, we'll be heading down to West Fourth. A riot among rivalrous gangs of free-paper hawkers is something we totally want to see.

Earlier: Freepapers 2006: In Sprint to ABC Finish Line, 'Post' Gets Caught 'Roiding Up

Also, they're coincidentally the "homeless sleeping places" of tomorrow night.

City Unveils Pay Toilets of Tomorrow [amNY]

We always knew the freebie papers weren't just garbage — they're perfectly good for kindling, too. Also worth noting: When there's a track fire, there will be delays; and when there's delays, what better way to pass the time than with a free paper? Quite the vicious little circle they've got going.

MTA Blames Commuter Papers for Surge in Track Fires [NY1]

amNew York
Earlier:
Breaking: Abortion Banned, Bush to Lead NARAL Rallies
This Just In: Hair Grows

amNew York
Earlier: Gawker's coverage of 'amNew York'

The "am" Stands for About a Million [Copyranter]

Cause, really, what's the big whoop?

amNew York
Earlier: Breaking: Abortion Banned; Bush to Lead NARAL Rallies

amNew York [Newsday.com]