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breaking

The Times' Stealth Layoffs

The New York Times—reeling with the rest of the newspaper industry as advertising dollars and readers shift to the web—has completed its first ever newsroom layoffs. Editor Bill Keller told staff this morning that the newspaper had completed the cull of about 100 reporters and editors it began earlier this year. More »

breaking

Once Again, Life Rewards Assholes

Bear Stearns might lay off 10,000 employees as it's subsumed by JP Morgan. But it's the Wall Street kind of layoff, where you get nine months pay and one-third of last year's bonus. Why the hell are we bloggers again? [Dealbreaker]

obey

Shepard Fairey, Blind?

Shepard Fairey, a.k.a. OBEY, the artist and graphic designer who plastered the world with "Andre The Giant Has A Posse" posters and is perhaps the biggest thing ever to happen to wheatpaste, is reportedly going blind. Fast. One source says he could lose his vision by the end of the year. Bucky Turco at Animal NY has the scoop. Sad news.

breaking

Managing Editor Of Wall Street Journal To Resign After Murdoch Takeover

Rupert Murdoch's takeover of the Wall Street Journal has been swift and smooth—till now. Marcus Brauchli, the modernizer who sought to reconcile the storied business newspaper with its new owners, is reported to be quitting his position. Sources at the Journal tell Time that Brauchli is submitting a letter of resignation, with his departure to be announced as early as Tuesday morning. It's a surprise. More »

40-Pound Beaver Is Rescued From East River We can't actually improve on that headline. Kudos, City Room. But yes, a giant beaver was pulled to safety this afternoon by NYPD scuba units, who "were patrolling the United Nations in connection with the visit of Pope Benedict XVI and said the beaver appeared to be struggling to swim." Also: "It was not known if the beaver was male or female. ('It has pretty big claws,' Lieutenant Harkins said.)" [NYT]

breaking

BOSTON BANS BOTTLE SERVICE, WE BRIEFLY UNRETIRE WORD "DOUCHEBAG"

Lawmakers in Boston just banned bottle service, the preferred method by which douchebags imbibe their shitty vodka. Have we been wrong about Boston this whole time? Wait, Happy Hour is illegal there too. So no, we were never wrong. Phew! [Daily Swarm]

breaking

Tragic Kids TV Star's Heartbroken Boyfriend Found Dead

Natasha Collins—the British former model who starred in the TV show See It, Saw It, and who a coroner's report revealed was scalded to death in her bathtub in January while she had more than five times the lethal dose of cocaine in her system—left behind a fiance who went missing in London six days ago. His body was found today "in a remote spot at Paddington railway station. Officers said he was not struck by a train." The boyfriend, children's TV presenter Mark Speight, disappeared days after appearing at Collins' inquest looking "drawn and gaunt." More »

breaking

Katie Couric Leaving: Report

After barely 18 months on the job, Katie Couric is reported to be on the verge of leaving CBS. The Evening News anchor is costing her network $15 million per year, and she is likely to exit CBS well before her contract expires in 2011, possibly early next year, the Wall Street Journal is reporting. A parting of ways will mark the embarrassing end to CBS' big bet that viewers wanted to move beyond staid news anchors to sunnier fare, like Couric's fireside interviews and lighthearted banter. More »

breaking

Microsoft to Yahoo: Shit or Get Off the Pot

"Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) continue to play the cat-and-mouse game out in the open, even on the weekend: MSFT has send a letter to Yahoo board, and has set a three-week deadline for Yahoo to accept its current $31 a share offer or Microsoft will take its case to Yahoo shareholders. This could also mean a lower offer from Microsoft in case of a proxy war." More »

breaking

Breaking Political News

Richard took off for the day, just in time to miss the shocking news that nice young actress Heidi Montag is not registered to vote. Radar helpfully points her to voter registration sites so that she may help lead John McCain to victory. [Radar]

SIREN! OMG! The Clintons are making lots of money! Or... something? We don't know what it means but it's SHOCKING. [Drudge]

TUMBLR IS DOWN OMG! Where will former Gawker employees and their mothers express themselves? Twitter?!

news

CNN: "A Vest is Like an All-Day Hug"

Fantastic news! CNN Anchor Don Lemon was finally given permission by his new boss to wear a vest! Everyone at CNN is so excited about this that they spent like 20 minutes talking about how great vests are, and Lemon also showed off his reading glasses. Then he said an amazing aphorism that we are having embroidered on the dress shirt we've just torn the sleeves off of.

breaking

Page Six Shutters Web Site After Three Months

History is repeating itself. During the last internet bubble, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation used its Page Six brand to launch a new entertainment website, Pagesix.com. The property has had an even shorter life this cycle: Pagesix.com, which was largely independent of the newspaper's Page Six print column, is being shuttered immediately; it had been live only since December. The URL already redirects to the New York Post's main website, and the site's staff have had their access to email cut off. Managing Editor, David Boyle, told the site's Los Angeles staff. "Given the difficulty in the economy, it was not the right time for this launch," said Jennifer Jehn, one of the site's managers. A total of 18 editorial and support staffers will be let go and three reassigned within the New York Post. More »

Loren Feldman, who makes quirky tech commentary videos for 1938 Media, once made a video so brutal about Julia Allison that she admitted it made her cry. Here, for the first time, Feldman and his 'monster' meet face to face at SXSW. [www.1938media.com]

news?

Is Ashley Dupre 32?

New York reports that "two separate public identification records reveal that the only Ashley Youmans (the real name of "Kristen," a.k.a Ashley Alexandra Dupré) from the Jersey Shore (or anywhere in New Jersey) is actually 32." As we briefly mentioned earlier, we got an email yesterday that said, without supporting evidence, that "Ashley is 32 not 22." One of the reasons we didn't alert everyone to this fact was that all her old high school classmates quoted in the Daily News and the Post were between 22 and 23. Was she held back ten years or does everyone in Jersey lie about their age? Also, her mom made a point of saying Dupre wasn't 32 (or 42). Is that suspicious? It is a mystery! [NYM]

eliot spitzer

Eliot, We Hardly Spitz Ye: The 2-Minute Resignation

NY1 is covering Governor Eliot Spitzer's drive from his apartment to his midtown office like the white Bronco chase. It is a glorious day for New York, and the nation. Spitzer was accompanied on the walk from his home to his motorcade by his wife and Ted Wells—disgraced former Bush administration official Scooter Libby's attorney in that Plame thing. Gawker contributor Jim Behrle suggests that Spitzer also ought to be fined for having his "black SUVs driving like dicks in the bus lane." The motorcade just arrived at Spitzer's office, so we shall report on the contents of soon-to-be-former Governor Eliot Spitzer's resignation speech as it happens, after the jump. Update: All done! Video of the speech and our INSTANT RESPONSE, after the jump. More »

madness

Luv Guv Still Prolonging Inevitable

Eliot Spitzer is going to resign any minute now (or sometime in the next few hours). The resignation will be announced today, and will take effect next Monday. Last night the Times said, rather cryptically, that his wife wanted him to stay on (no reason why—she wanted him out of the house?), others report that Spitzer was holding off on a resignation until his lawyers could get federal prosecutors to promise not to charge him with anything. The New York Post can exclusively report that Governor Spitzer wanted to "set the mood" before his illicit tryst with an unknown "classical-music CD." Oh, and the Guv has enjoyed the company of hookers for ten years or so (or, as the Post puts it, he "has been hopping into bed with harlots for as long as a decade and traveled as far as Florida for steamy trysts"). He is a good tipper. A NY1 reporter just announced that the press gathered outside Spitzer's apartment are "waiting for the money shot." Update: An announcement will come at 11:30. At his apartment, at his midtown office, from room 871 in the Mayflower Hotel—no one knows! It might just be a letter, placed in an envelope with a thousand dollars cash and left on the media's dresser.