♦ Newsday is slashing 100 jobs. [Newsday]
♦ More on the cutbacks at CNBC and some cost-cutting measures at OK! [NYP]
♦ Bill O'Reilly is giving up his syndicated radio show. [NYDN]
♦ The New Yorker's Rick Hertzberg was ambushed by Bill O'Reilly operatives outside his apartment building. Confusion and hilarity ensues. [HuffPo]
♦ Oprah Winfrey was named the most powerful woman in entertainment as part of the Hollywood Reporter's "Power 100" issue. [THR]
♦ Neal Boulton, the attention-seeking former editor of Men's Fitness, is writing a book about life as a bisexual. [P6]
♦ Lauren Zalaznick says that NBC is not interesting in selling iVillage. [WWD]
♦ George Rush and Joanna Molloy are stepping down as daily gossips for the Daily News, but they'll stay on with the paper with a Sunday column. [NYDN]

The party for ASmallWorld—the one that featured protests by a group opposed to Lev Leviev's business practices—didn't bring too many socialites out in the rain last night. "The likes of Annie Churchill, Dalia Oberlander, Jennifer Creel, and Gillian Hearst Simonds stayed away—until the private post-event dinner at Serafina, that is," reports Fashion Week Daily's Ashley Baker. Judging by photos Adalah-NY directed us to this morning, it seems the protesters had a bit of trouble generating a turnout, too. [The Daily]

Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson walking into the Beatrice Inn ... Liev Schreiber leaving his apartment with a duffel bag ... America Ferrera and Becki Newton crossing the street on the set of Ugly Betty ... Sarah Jessica Parker sticking out her tongue while walking in the West Village ... Katie Holmes holding Suri while getting out of an SUV ... Adrian Grenier playing guitar with his band, The Honey Brothers ... and Shania Twain arriving at JFK.

As we noticed yesterday, certain quarters of the media seem to be under the impression that if, like a child covering his ears and shouting "lalalalala," they pretend that the scene down at the Miami Art Basel is as glitzy and cash-soaked as ever, people will believe it. "Recession schmession," crows Blackbook. "From the rumor that UBS would not tone down their annual dinner and gala—even amid scandal speculation—to the abundance of caviar on hors d'ouvre [sic] trays, it all smells like decadence to me." Well, it might smell like it, but to the dealers and artists actually trying to make money, "it's all about markdowns and modest expectations," reports New York's Alexandra Peers in a dispatch entitled "Kmart Special Time at Art Basel Miami."

Finding someone willing to rent the spooky loft where Heath Ledger overdosed hasn't been an easy job. Ten months after brokers first began quietly shopping Ledger's former apartment at 419-421 Broome Street—and five months after the official, $26,000-a-month listing was posted—brokers at the Corcoran Group have pulled it off the market. Photos of the three-bedroom loft are here. [Page Six, previously]

Getting rid of your fancy jets is the trend du jour in corporate America, haven't you heard? Well, here's one more company you can add to the list of Fortune 100 companies cutting back on the lavish perks afforded to senior executives: Bristol-Myers Squibb has put two helicopters and a Gulfstream jet on the market. Best of all? They match! (The color scheme is "Matterhorn white with Las Vegas gold and Flight blue accent stripes," in case you're curious.) It's comforting to hear that Bristol-Myers' CEO has never had to worry about parking the jet next to the helicopters and having them clash, and if you're in the market for a new fleet of aircraft, picking up a matching set will save you on a costly paint job. And it might just be the ideal option if you happen to be a Notre Dame fan.

Changes are afoot at IAC, the media giant operated by Barry Diller. AdAge reports that Diller plans to scale back the company's collection of online content properties and possibly sell off or shut down underperforming sites like 236.com. The man Diller tapped to head up online programming, Michael Jackson, is expected to stay at IAC. And the changes, you'll be happy to hear, should have no impact on Tina Brown's extravagant new site, The Daily Beast. [AdAge]

We're all used to having a phone provide every conceivable service, so naturally we've been wondering when it would start warning us we were about to get sick, too. The day has arrived! Well, kind of: A new program from cold-cure makers Zicam, currently on the T-Mobile G1 and coming to the iPhone, announces what percentage of people in any zip code have respiratory illnesses, and the symptoms they're suffering from. So on those days when you just sense it's a bad idea to leave the house and mix with other humans, your phone will not just be your companion, but your trusty enabler.

♦ Eve Weinstein, the ex-wife of Harvey Weinstein, has put her sixth-floor spread at 1133 Fifth Avenue on the market for $13.5 million. She bought the four-bedroom apartment with private elevator and Central Park views for $10.4 million two years ago. [Cityfile, Sotheby's]
♦ Eileen Ford, the founder of Ford Models and mother of Katie Ford, has slashed the price of her Tewksbury, NJ mansion by nearly 20 percent. It's now on the market for $6.5 million. [WSJ]
♦ Actors Garret Dillahunt and Michelle Hurd (best known as Laurel from Gossip Girl) paid $1.35 million for a one-bedroom apartment in Battery Park City's Riverhouse building. [BTL]
♦ Calvin Klein co-founder Barry Schwartz has put a three-acre plot in Miami on the market for $23.9 million, $9.4 million more than he originally paid for the Biscayne Bay property in 2005. [WSJ]

Which of Gossip Girl's little crew of over-made-up drama queens would you like to see on their very own show? Apparently the CW is planning to make a spin-off of the series next season, but no word yet on how it will happen. Our wild guess: Nate at Yale! Given that the producers must be grappling with how to continue the plot beyond everyone's graduation from Constance Billiard, and that Nate is no actual use to storylines now he's been of sexual service to all the female characters except Lily (and there's still time for that), it makes perfect sense. So long as it's not Jenny the Fashion Designer, we don't mind. [Reuters]

Why does Diane von Furstenberg totally adore Madonna? "Because she isn't just about building buzz, she's about building relationships." [DVF.com]

It's Amanda Lepore's birthday today! At least we think it's her birthday and we think she's 41, but she's been known to fool people before. Others celebrating today: Margaret Cho is 40. The New Yorker's Calvin Trillin is 73. Novelist Joan Didion is turning 74. Little Richard is 76. Knicks center Eddy Curry is 26. Child star Frankie Muniz turns 23. Actor Nick Stahl is turning 29. And model Shalom Harlow is 35. Weekend birthdays after the jump.

♦ People got Alex Rodriguez to open up about his relationship with Madonna. Or, you know, maybe not. The slugger claims that they're just "friends—that's it." He also says he's never been on a plane with her, despite the countless photos that clearly indicate otherwise. [People]
♦ Have Tea Leoni and David Duchovny reunited? Star reports they were spotted holding hands at a Tasti D-Lite on the Upper East Side and they've picked up a $7.5 million apartment in the East 70s. [Star]
♦ It looks like Harvey Weinstein and Scott Rudin may have buried the hatchet after Harvey publicly thanked Scott at the premiere of The Reader on Wednesday night. [P6]
♦ A London jury has found Boy George guilty of false imprisonment for having handcuffed a Norwegian male escort to a wall. [People]

♦ A bruising day in the markets is expected to follow the scary job news this morning: Employers slashed 533,000 jobs last month, making it the most jobs lost in a single month since December of 1974. [CNN]
♦ Merrill Lynch shareholders will vote on the bank's merger with Bank of America today. [DB]
♦ Things are getting worse for hedge fund king Ken Griffin: His Citadel Investment Group was down another 13% in November. [WSJ]
♦ Neel Kashkari says the TARP is working; he and Hank Paulson may be the only ones. [Bloomberg]
♦ Citi has closed on the sale of its German subsidiary to Credit Mutuel-CIC for $6.6 billion. [MW]

Good news for megayacht owners terrified to sail the seas this holiday season for fear of being attacked by rogue pirates. A company called Blackwater Worldwide says it has a 183-foot "security vessel" at the ready for any interested boatowners. The former Navy ship (left) comes with a helicopter, crew of 15, and three "commando-style inflatable boats," and has been used to protect cargo ships up until now. But we're pretty sure Blackwater will happily change course and link up Ron Perelman's Ultima III off the coast of St. Barts if he's interested. [NYP, previously]

♦ Mimosa yellow is the color of 2009. [Vogue]
♦ Massive discounts helped lead to a 15 percent boost in sales on Cyber Monday. [WSJ]
♦ Retailers are pulling out all the stops to lure customers to stores this holiday season. [NYT]
♦ Anna on the recession: "I see a lot of people in my industry who are over-reacting. Stores that are over-discounting, designers who are creating collections for the price and what sells rather than to reflect who they are." [Jezebel]
♦ Topshop is "definitely" opening in NYC by the end of March. Ha. [Glamour]
♦ Happy accidents: Lumigan, a drug used to treat glaucoma, makes your eyelashes longer and prettier, too. [MSNBC]

"Our show hits a nerve," Donnie Deutsch explained to a reporter from Success magazine when he asked to account for the appeal of his nightly CNBC talk show, The Big Idea. Apparently whatever nerve it was hitting wasn't the right one. TVNewser reports that the network has put Deutsch's show on hiatus, since "the idea of a 'success show' is not right in this economic climate." [TVNewser]

♦ What's restaurateur Florent Morellet up to these days? He's taking memoir-writing classes and thinking about opening a new restaurant. [GS]
♦ The good news/bad news about Tom Valenti's West Branch. [Eater]
♦ An update on the goings-on at Pink Elephant. [GoaG]
♦ If you happen to be interested in opening a bar on the Lower East Side, a couple of new spaces just became available. [GS]
♦ Recession? What recession? A 2.2-pound Italian white truffle sold at auction for $200K last weekend. [Reuters]
♦ Tomorrow marks the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition, a convenient excuse for bars to plan lots of special events, naturally. [NYDN]

It looks like there will be some additional drama at tonight's splashy "Champagne & Diamonds" party for the faded social networking site ASmallWorld and Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev. (ASmallWorld informed us this morning, by the way, that Harvey Weinstein will not be attending personally.) A protest is planned by a group that objects to Leviev's record on human rights. Says a rep for Adalah-NY: "It's truly a small world for Leviev, as his companies are simultaneously involved in destroying communities in Palestine, Africa, and New York City. We will protest this outrageous celebration of worldwide human rights abuses and economic catastrophe by Leviev and New York's elites, because it ridicules the losses of homes, jobs and security being inflicted on working people worldwide." Sounds like Annie Churchill, Jennifer Creel, Amanda Hearst, and Annelise Peterson are in for a treat! The full press release is after the jump.

You won't get a massive apartment for $2.5 million, but you can stamp your name on one of the city's most prominent landmarks for that amount. Two plaques attached to the famed fountain in Washington Square Park were unveiled today. They're dedicated to Larry and Bob Tisch, the late fathers of Jon, Andrew, Laurie, Steve, and Jim Tisch. Sounds like the Tisch family got a pretty good deal. Poor Steve Schwarzman had to cough up $100 million for a plaque the same size outside the New York Public Library! [Curbed]