Good news: we have a drug czar! Bad news: his kid uses drugs, like everyone's kid. It's just like some movie!

Washington is a town that shuts down when it gets 2 inches of snow, so a couple million hope-junkies clogging the infrastructure has led to full-scale panic. Join us!

The annual tree lighting at Rockefeller Center takes place tonight beginning at 7pm. Fifth Avenue between 47th and 50th will be closed to traffic for much of the evening, so be sure to stay far from Midtown. Or go mingle with the tourists and make them feel welcome, assuming you have nothing better to do. [NY1]

The National Enquirer's John Edwards love child scoop turned out to have actually sold some extra issues! Funny how that works. The scandalous rag's August 11 issue claiming Edwards was paying $15k per month in hush money sold 738,000 issues—about 10% better than average. Unfortunately, the "tenfold increase in usual…

Hearty Defamer congratulations go out to the estimated 40,000 immigrants acquiring their American citizenship today in Los Angeles. And even bigger kudos for making it the kind of party those Liberty Island underachievers in New York only dream of:

[Photo Credit: Bauer-Griffin]

Every big website in the world suckles at the teat of traffic like so many piglets fighting over a bloated sow. But figuring out the whims of the traffic gods is not as easy as you might think. If the oldest magazine in the world hasn't cracked the code yet (see the pitiful performance of the The Atlantic's Britney…

Thanks to Bill O'Reilly, whose studio temper provided so much amusement last month, and the Craigslist advertiser who called to ask we remove pictures of him waving cash at online female admirers. Those two stories-plus other more worthy coverage of the Democratic primaries, the turmoil at the Wall Street Journal and …

1990s girl-next-door icon Sandra Bullock and her husband, who is some guy, were struck head on when a drunk driver veered into their car in Gloucester, Mass. last night. The driver's blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit at .20.

[tomuse.com] Could TechCrunch and Michael Arrington be searching for "dream team" blogging deal in light of Valleywag's surging traffic and fear of being dethroned?

Two weeks can make such a difference. [Portfolio and Sitemeter]

"Bridge officials set to slam brakes on FasTrak cheats," a San Francisco Chronicle headline warns. But the article smells like a PR campaign to convince drivers who zip through the gateless toll booths without a pass that something very, very bad is about to happen to them. "FasTrak cheats could face late-night…

Feast your eyes on the trailer for upcoming thriller Untracable. The high concept: "People visit a website that is livestreaming a murder — an increase in traffic speeds up the process of death." The film's erratic killer has "no vision beyond page views." [Filmoculous via Kottke.org]

Have you heard of Ron Paul? He is running for president. He has a blimp. He would like to abolish the government and bring back the gold standard. His internet fans are legion, and they are also nuts. Did we mention that they got him a blimp? And whenever Ron Paul is mentioned, on the internet, in just about any…

Macy's is closing nine stores in six Midwestern states, the department store giant said today. Don't worry, the legendary flagship Manhattan store and the crowds it draws will continue to plague every New Yorker trying to traverse Herald Square during the holidays. Or rush hour. Or lunchtime. Or in the rain. Or when…

OK, it's almost 2 p.m. on the Friday before Christmas. Time to do some last-minute shopping and head home, right? Maybe not. Traffic sucks even more than on most holiday weekends, thanks to an accident on 580 in Oakland. If you don't have one of those fancy GPS units that automatically updates you with the latest…

Each Friday, 'New York Times' deputy managing editor Jonathan Landman and NYT.com General Manager Vivian Schiller write an in-house email on the subject of The Future and The Internet and The Newsroom. This week: "The number of people coming to our website has really popped. The TechCrunch blog, a respected source, …

New York state's Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission met yesterday to brainstorm a couple plans to reduce traffic in Manhattan. Among the suggestions: banning taxi hailing, some wacky "no driving on days when your the last number of your license plate matches the date unless it's your golden birthday" plan, that…

The Chicago Reader cut more costs last week by firing four of its most experienced journalists. "Thousands of bloggers could type for a millennium and not come up with the kind of deeply reported story that freed innocent men," writes New York Times media columnist David Carr of the work of those fired. A millennium…