The High Line is the fancy railroad track-park on the West Side of Manhattan that was lobbied for and coveted by celebrities and the rich. Now they've got it! And they'd like the neighbors to pay for it.

The sculptor who created the famous "Charging Bull" statue downtown has filed a lawsuit against Random House for putting a photo of the piece on the cover of A Colossal Failure of Common Sense, a new book about Lehman Brothers' collapse. Arturo Di Modica, the sculptor responsible for the work, says Random House didn't have his permission to use a picture. The only problem? Di Modica never had permission to put the statue there in the first place:

The only political news anyone (well, anyone in the White House press corps) cares about is the White House beer toast between Barack Obama, Henry Louis Gates and Cambridge cop James Crowley. Will a drunken brawl break out? Probably not.

The Pew Research Center is back with some groundbreaking news to share. Apparently, people who happen to be unemployed tend to nap a little bit more during the week than those who have jobs to go to every day. But people who work regular jobs from Monday to Friday typically nap a bit more on weekends. Crazy, huh? Then again, as the Times reports today, the study didn't really explain what a nap is: "The survey did not precisely define what constitutes a nap. Some people claim they are just resting their eyes when they are really snoozing. Others may doze momentarily when reading articles about demographic trends." [NYT]

Ruth Madoff gave up everything in exchange for a new lease on life and $2.5 million. Now a representative of her husband's victims would like that $2.5 million back. Along with another $42.5 million.

A couple of days ago, Vanity Fair contributing editor Vicky Ward reported that Andrés Piedrahita, Walter Noel's son-in-law and a senior exec at Fairfield Greenwich, recently took possession of a $30 million yacht, and has since been spotted cruising the Mediterranean. Piedrahita's response? He's just showing off the boat to potential buyers, silly.

Today in tastelessness: A TV actor who maybe likes to wear panties made for the ladies, and a movie actress secretly withdrawing from smack.

Ali Wise, the publicist and social fixture accused of hacking into another socialite's voicemail, is going to have plenty of time to work on her defense from now on. WWD reports today that Wise is longer employed by Dolce & Gabbana. (Unfortunately, the fashion house wouldn't "elaborate" on her departure, so we don't know the specifics.) Don't think she's sitting at home watching bad television and eating ice cream, though. Judging by the number of exclamation points, it seems like she was in a pretty good mood last night when she headed out to attend the Pete Yorn concert. [WWD]

Julianne Moore crossing the street in the Village ... Jennifer Aniston leaving her trailer on the set of The Bounty ... Russell Brand shopping in SoHo ... Elisabeth Hasselbeck eating an apple in the back seat of a Town Car ... Kim Kardashian walking under an umbrella ... Penn Badgley leaving Silvercup Studios in Queens ... Queen Latifah riding a bike in Central Park for her new movie, Just Wright ... Rihanna leaving an office building in Tribeca ... Hugh Dancy walking into MTV Studios on Times Square ... and Leighton Meester going to see Katy Perry perform at the Hammerstein Ballroom with boyfriend Sebastian Stan.

• A sixth-floor apartment at The Dakota, which is owned by an unidentified "Wall Street executive," has been cut for the third time since hitting the market in June 2008 with a $24 million price tag. The four-bedroom co-op is now listed for a mere $12.5 million. [Cityfile, BHS]
• Investment banker (and onetime deputy mayor) Peter J. Solomon is reportedly the buyer in contract to buy the former East Hampton estate of the late actress Mary Howard de Liagre. Solomon is paying "close to" the $22.5 million asking price for the estate, which includes a 3,500-square-foot home, 300 feet of waterfront, and a dock. [NYP, Sotheby's]
• Investor Enrique Foster Gittes has once again cut the price of his 13,000-square-foot mansion at 12 East 63rd Street. The six-floor townhouse, which Gittes bought for $8.8 million in 2005, put on the market for $28.75 million in April, and reduced to $24.95 million last month, is now on the market with Brown Harris Stevens' Paula Del Nunzio for $23.5 million. [Cityfile, BHS]

Hilary Swank turns 35 today. Restaurateur Keith McNally is turning 58. Lisa Kudrow is 46. The former bodybuilder and actor who is now the Governor of California is 62. Director Peter Bogdanovich is turning 70. Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, is 75. Director Richard Linklater is turning 49. Laurence Fishburne is 48. Park Avenue plastic surgeon David Hidalgo is 57. Former MTV exec (and now Oprah disciple) Christina Norman is turning 46. Ad agency CEO Chuck Brymer is 50. Food Network host Alton Brown is turning 47. Tom Green is 38. Vivica A. Fox is turning 45. Jaime Pressly is 32. Anita Hill is 53. And Paul Anka turns 68 today.

Jude Law has knocked up an unnamed lady-friend, Mel Gibson attacks someone in a club, George Clooney has an Italian "lapdance model" by his side, Mischa Barton's friends are worried about her and Amy Winehouse's dad fakes a heart attack.

• Jude Law's rep says that the actor recently found out that he's expecting a fourth child. The mom? She's "an unidentified former lover." Congrats? [EW, People]
• It was less than two weeks ago that Mischa Barton was put under psychiatric care after she going on a drug-fueled bender and suffering a breakdown. Now she's in NYC, putting in long hours playing a character with a drug problem. Maybe this isn't the best idea? [NYDN]

In his on-going quest to relentlessly shame Birther-sympathizing, race-baiting conservative talking heads, Jon Stewart introduced a hilarious new Daily Show competition segment last night called, "So You Think You Can Douche."

A Senate panel has issued subpoenas to Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank and others, to investigate whether or not company executives knew in advance that the economy-destroying mortgage-related securities they created were complete crap.

On Monday night Conan had William Shatner on the Tonight Show to conduct a dramatic reading of a particularly poetic prose passage from Sarah Palin's resignation speech. Tonight Shatner returned to conduct another dramatic reading of Palin tweets.

Look what popped up on Simon & Schuster's YouTube channel tonight! It's Glenn Beck, imploring the masses, including liberals, to buy his book so he can send his daughter to Obama's alma mater, that noted communist think-tank, Columbia University.

If you suspected that Ivy Supersonic, the Howard Stern groupie and self-described "fashion designer, entertainer, publicist, promoter, event planner, and animated character designer" wasn't the most balanced person on the planet, consider your suspicions confirmed. It seems she went off her meds recently, has been roaming the streets armed with a knife, thinks Ray Kelly is conspiring against her, and had to be sent to Bellevue by the police yesterday. [NYDN]

Our old friend Tionna Smalls just messaged us to say that she's partying at Taj on West 21st along with the Governor of New York, about whom Tionna says, "He need to get his ass home."

Meet Eric Gaskins, aka Fluff Chance, the man behind the blog, The Emperor's Old Clothes. He used to be a designer until the soulless world of fashion, led by Anna Wintour's boney cold shoulder, gradually sucked the life from him.