• James Gandolfini has gone into contract on a 3,000-square-foot duplex penthouse in the Fairchild building at 55 Vestry Street. The apartment had been listed most recently for $7 million. [NYP]
• Joan Raines has lowered the price of her seven-bedroom townhouse at 5 East 78th Street, which she recently put back on the market for $21 million. The 13,095-square-foot home is now listed for $18.5 million with Edward Lee Cave. [Cityfile, ELC]
• Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia and his wife Amber have paid $1.5 million for a plot of land next to the 12,000-square-foot home they recently acquired in Alpine, NJ for $15 million. [NYP]

There are some bloggers Gawker Media overlord Nick Denton simply can't stand to lose. Some can be drawn back into the fold with generous counteroffers. Some cannot. Emily Gould could not. And she paid.

Your favorite former prostitute from New Jersey will be breaking out the bubbly this evening. Ms. Ashley Alexandra Dupre is 24 today. Kirsten Dunst's celebrating, too. She's 27. Columbia University president Lee Bollinger is turning 63. Socialite Allison Sarofim is 41. Former Knicks coach Isiah Thomas is turning 48. Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer is 59. Socialite Cynthia Lufkin turns 47. Cloris Leachman is 83. Rapper Lloyd Banks is 27. Willie Nelson is turning 76. And David Miscavige, the head of Scientology and the only man who can give Tom Cruise orders, turns 49 today.

• Tyra Banks took the stand to testify against accused stalker Brady Green yesterday and explained how she's had to hire a bodyguard and driver as a result of the incident. She also said she's no longer jogging outside and has been forced to hire a personal trainer, but we're pretty sure she had one of those long before Green came along. [NYDN, NYP]
• After 13 years of marriage, Sean Penn has filed for legal separation from wife Robin, news that may not come as a huge surprise given his long list of rumored paramours, including Petra Nemcova, Helena Christensen, Ines Misan, Naomi Campbell and Natalie Portman. [P6, People, Extra]
• Liev Schreiber and Naomi Watts' son, Sasha, was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday night for respiratory issues. [People]
• Madonna supposedly wants a summer house in the Hamptons. But she can't find a place willing to put up with her horse-related demands. [P6]
• Meanwhile, baby Mercy's 24-year-old father is demanding full custody of his daughter, since Madonna lacks "good morals." [NYP]

A five-story building on the corner of Church and Chambers in Tribeca collapsed early this morning. No one was hurt, fortunately, although the photos are pretty dramatic. [NYDN, NYP]

• It looks like Chrysler will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today after last-minute negotiations with creditors failed to result in a deal. [BN]
• Good news: fewer Americans filed first-time applications for unemployment insurance last week. Bad news: personal spending is down. [BN, WSJ]
• UBS has eliminated 2,000 U.S. jobs as part of a round of job cuts. [DB]
• Hedge funder Phil Falcone has been sued by his former right-hand. [NYP]
• State Street Corp. is now under investigation by state regulators. [WSJ]
• Financier Danny Pang has been given $1 million bail. He'll be under house arrest, though, so presumably he won't be heading off to China. [DB]
• Changing AIG's name to AIU has done little to redeem the company's rep or distract from its previous failings, you'll be shocked to hear, we're sure. [NYT]

Capping the disaster that is the Heidi Montag/Spencer Pratt wedding, the plastic Hills couple had to wear oh-so-romantic face masks during their Cabo San Lucas "pre honeymoon."

Remember Vivek Kundra, the White House chief geek who nicked shirts from J.C. Penney in his youth? In 2000, four years after his arrest, Barack Obama's future chief indiscretion officer played political fanboy.

Gone are the days when the Wall Street Journal newsroom left brutal attacks on other media outlets to the Journal's rabid editorial page. Rupert Murdoch bought the paper to wage war, and it's happening.

The insular White House press corps is said obsessed with Beltway inside baseball. But it can also pander to the masses as well as any tabloid — or Hollywood studio.

The president finally let a few of these "newspapers" ask questions at his big TV news conference, and what happens? The New York Times asks a laughable question, and is mocked. Newbs.

• The Costume Institute Gala is a mere five days away. Fashion Week Daily has a roundup of who's going, who isn't, and what everyone will not be eating. (Chicken, in case you were wondering.) [FWD]
• The Observer on Alexandra Kotur, the "Viscountess of Vogue." [NYO]
• It seems some women are so addicted to the discount designer site Gilt Groupe that they're practically going bankrupt buying stuff they really don't want or need. [TDB]
• It's official: Madonna is attached to Louis Vuitton's new ad campaign. [Grazia]
• Isaac Mizrahi rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday. The market has been having a surprisingly solid week so far. Could the two be connected? We'll say yes, if it's okay with you. [Facebook, WWD]

Real Househusband Simon van Kempen doesn't spend all of his time shopping for pink pants and planning off-season trips to St. Barts. He's also the general manager of the crummy Hotel Chandler in Murray Hill, of course. So who actually stays at the hotel that Simon claims has an occupancy rate of 96 percent since "conspicuous consumption is out of favor at the moment"? The usual suspects, like "screenwriters and actors taking advantage of discounts offered to folks in the entertainment industry," as well as die-hard Real Housewives fans, some of whom have "refused to check out until they get my autograph or photograph." And who could blame them? [Chicago Sun-Times]

The National Republican Senatorial Committee launched a robo-call campaign directed at 100,000 Democratic voters. The call includes a quote from the former president talking about how much he loves Specter, the senator who yesterday switched to the Democratic Party from the Republican side.

Swine flu panic is just a week old and like most Americans you probably have only one thing on your mind: how can I make some sweet fast cash off this thing? Enter guerrilla marketing.

It's a horrible disease that threatens everyone's well-being! No, not the swine flu, silly — we're talking Twitter. Alan Meckler, Jon Fine, and Patrick Gavin were among today's victims:

...of the popular television program Lost, with The L magazine. [And Slate has a funny thing too.]

[Hopeful dancers audition for the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall today. Three of Getty's Keywords for this picture? "NY, Aspirations, Chance." Indeed. Image via TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images]

[Submit your own Gawker Stalker sightings to stalker@gawker.com] April 29 @ 3pm Spotted sitting on the "stoop" of his trailer.

What journalistic stratagems are employed when New York Times reporters go searching for the perfect source to illustrate their trend stories? The stratagem of "email everybody you know." What did you think it would be? Here, you can see Julie Scelfo's story shaping up in advance: