The New York Observer

Mention Joe Lieberman's name to a Democratic activist these days and you'll probably hear some variation of the question: This is what we get for letting him keep his chairmanship? It was last November, you'll remember, that Senate Democrats opted to hand Lieberman - who had just spent nearly a year championing John McCain's White House bid and savaging Barack Obama - the Homeland Security ... Full Story »

"I have the strangest allergy I’ve only discovered in the last couple years,” revealed petite wealth manager and socialite Alexandra Lebenthal, arriving Monday, Dec. 7, for the 12th annual Food Allergy Ball at the Waldorf. “I’m allergic to tomatoes. But not in the way other people are, where they get hives. I actually get a sore throat, strep throat, fevers, cold, and I’ll be sick for two weeks ... Full Story »

The fashionable thing to say, especially among those who haven’t been around long enough to know what they’re missing, is that New York has lost all its old charm. The wondrous character-driven businesses that once populated the magical, uneven checkerboard that was Old New York have all been snuffed out, along with the myriad of wondrous personalities that guarded them. But the children of the ... Full Story »

"It's just a building when it comes right down to it,” 91-year-old George Doty, the former Goldman Sachs managing partner, said last month. His firm had just started moving out of 85 Broad Street, its headquarters for the past three decades, and into a shiny new West Street tower. “Buildings, to me, don’t have a particular feeling. They’re just there. Like a car.” More like the Metropolitan ... Full Story »

To anyone closely watching the recent City Council elections, a small set of races took an interesting turn in the summer. The Independence Party of New York, typically something of a passive player in city politics, suddenly became actively involved in outer-borough contests, pushing hard for four or five candidates in the Democratic primary that had opponents supported by the labor-backed ... Full Story »

For a while there, it seemed as though every time you turned on a Toyota commercial or ate vegan food downtown, you couldn’t help but hear an atmospheric synthesizer and processed vocals telling you “we rock the party” or whatever. This was thanks to Moby. Love him or hate him, the bespectacled, very bald musician made techno mainstream. And then he went from being unlikely superstar ... Full Story »

ALBANY-Tom DiNapoli is in a bad place. It's not the fact that, as state comptroller, he's forced to preside over a state pension fund spiraling down with the overall stock market. Or that a recent poll showed that voters are inclined to pick "someone else" over him for a full term. Worse than any of that is the fact that he happens to be standing in Andrew Cuomo's way. As Mr. Cuomo moves closer... Full Story »

Want to know what the scene was like at Art Basel Miami Beach this year? The answer can be summed up in one word: bloated. The fair has been running for seven years, and its success has paralleled the contemporary art boom. The fair allows foreign dealers from all over the world to show art in the U.S., still the global art-buying sweet spot, and gives collectors a shopping mall of options ... Full Story »

Last week, Josh Cohen, Google News' senior business project manager, was in Washington, D.C., at a Federal Trade Commission-organized workshop titled "How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?" He appeared onstage before a crowd of journalists, entrepreneurs and F.T.C. policy lawmakers in a slate-colored jacket, white shirt and black patterned tie. Heavy navy cur-tains and an American flag ... Full Story »

Ted Harbert knows what it feels like to miss out narrowly on a top entertainment job at NBC. In the winter of 2000, Mr. Harbert was running NBC Studios in L.A. when network bosses passed him over (along with a field of other strong potential candidates) and announced that a young news producer named Jeff Zucker would be NBC's new president of entertainment. Some three years later, Mr. Zucker ... Full Story »

The Lovely Bones Running time 135 minutes Written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson Directed by Peter Jackson Starring  Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Stanley Tucci I’m no fan of Peter Jackson, but as much as I hated the 2005 remake of King Kong and all of those silly, overrated Lord of the Rings comic books, the New Zealand director’s trademark recipe of ... Full Story »

Evading the challenges of climate change—and the human responsibility to save the planet—is simple enough even for the laziest citizen. Pay attention only to the theories that support the comforting skepticism of the oil industry. Focus on a set of purloined emails that prove nothing except that scientists can be as unpleasant to each other as any other group of people. Get the “facts” from Fox ... Full Story »

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Time Inc.'s John Squires is making it official. The five-publisher strong alliance between Time Inc., Conde Nast, Hearst, Meredith and News Corp is starting work today on building the most comprehensive digital store for publishers. As the Observer reported in November, the company will prepare digital versions of magazines that can work on multiple platforms, from the iPhone to the BlackBerry ... Full Story »

Mary Mundinger doesn’t look like a controversial figure. A small, prim, 72-year-old lady with wispy white chin-length hair, she sat at a drafty table in Viand coffee shop on the Upper East Side on a tepid November Thursday afternoon and made a fist with her right hand, which she gently beat on the table. "I keep writing the same story," said Ms. Mundinger, softly, round blue eyes... Full Story »

Republicans in New York will have something in 2010 that they've lacked for years: a real opportunity to win. What they don't have are candidates. There's been talk for at least a year now that Rudy Giuliani or George Pataki (or both) might run for statewide office next year. In the right race, either of them could win-and, more importantly, carry down-ballot Republicans into office on their ... Full Story »

At the Mandarin Oriental on Monday afternoon, the city’s largest office landlord beamed rays of optimism onto its collective shareholders.  "We can regain absorption quickly when people start hiring again," said Marc Holliday , SL Green 's CEO. "We’re at 85,000 job losses now, but that can quickly reverse itself. ... It’s not going to take much, in my opinion, before you will see vacancy levels ... Full Story »

ALBANY—Former Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno has been found guilty on two counts in his federal corruption trial, and acquitted on five other counts. Jurors could not reach consensus on another count, Capital News 9 is reporting. From the Times Union : The 80-year-old Republican from Brunswick sat quietly as the jury of seven women and five men rendered its verdict about 4:15 p.m.: Guilty on ... Full Story »

For at least two years, the Bloomberg administration has been pushing--first privately, then publicly--to take over the governance of Brooklyn Bridge Park, offering to put more money into the new East River parkland in exchange for more control from the state. Now, the move has earned the tentative support of the local state senator, Daniel Squadron, a former aide to Senator Chuck Schumer who ... Full Story »

The first reviews of David Mamet's latest play— Race , which he also directed—are in. Despite (because of?) plenty of anticipation, the critics seem to agree that it's a disappointing effort. For one thing, Mamet's self-conscious shocking posture has grown predictable. Writes Elisabeth Vincentelli in the Post : Four-letter words are to Mamet what a vintage Bordeaux is to wine critic Robert ... Full Story »

A push to force a vote on a set of new commercial rent regulations has failed, at least for now. El Diario reported Monday that Councilman Robert Jackson is pulling his motion to discharge, a rare action that would force a vote on his commercial rent bill, the Small Business Survival Act. The bill would have established an arbitration process for all small businesses renewing their leases ... Full Story »

These days, there are three John McCains. One is the pride-driven defeated presidential candidate who hopes Americans will compare him to President Obama and realize the error of their ways. Another is a true-believer neoconservative, dedicated to using his Senate perch to push for aggressive military efforts in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. And then there’s the third, an unexpectedly ... Full Story »

Consider this the calm before the storm. After a record breaking Thanksgiving, the box office slowed down to a crawl on the first weekend of December, as The Blind Side blitzed passed New Moon to take the top spot with an underwhelming $20.4 million. Don't feel too bad for Hollywood though: with Invictus , The Princess and The Frog , Avatar and Sherlock Holmes all on the horizon, the twelfth ... Full Story »

Monday: Men of a Certain Age When it comes to original programming, TNT hasn't fared nearly as well as fellow cable netlet USA. That's because whereas the latter channel has succeeded by matching high concept fluffiness ( Burn Notice , Royal Pains , White Collar ) with up and coming actors (Jeffrey Donovan, Mark Feuerstein and Matthew Bomer), TNT relies on worn out genre templates and formerly ... Full Story »

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