Last week's LA Times article about the Tupac shooting of 1994 (occurring just two years before his murder), led to a lot of chatter about the rapper's death and those who may have been involved. The finger was now being pointed at Sean "Diddy" Combs, who maintained he was not involved. Today, The Smoking Gun calls the paper out by saying their scoop was a scam. Their main resource, James Sabatino (pictured), has likely fabricated......

Though the mystery has never been solved, many have attached Sean "Diddy" Combs and Christopher Wallace (Biggie Smalls/The Notorious B.I.G.) to the 1994 attack and 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur -- sparking an East Coast/West Coast rap war, leading to Biggie's 1997 murder and escalating the "no snitching" policy into law. The accusation even came from Tupac himself after the attack in 1994. Enter LA Times writer Chuck Phillips, who has been on the beat......

Some good news in the ongoing saga to save 1520 Sedgwick, better known as the Birthplace of Hip Hop. Today Senator Schumer, who has been lobbying on behalf of the tenants to preserve the building's affordability, announced that "the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development rejected the proposed sale to developer Mark Karasick because current rents could not be sustained if the sale had gone through." The move doesn't insure that the building’s owner......

Rudy Giuliani may have exited the presidential campaign, but that doesn't mean he's disappeared. For starters, we hope those Rudy Giuliani campaign staffers who gave up their paychecks feel good about this: According to the Washington Post, Giuliani's campaign paid his firm Giuliani Partners $60,000 in rent and paid Giuliani Security & Safety $300,000 for security. We don't understand why he stopped running - it's a perfect way to convert donations into revenue! Well,......

Mayor Bloomberg's trip to the University of Oklahoma to caucus with a bipartisan group of current and former politicians and grouse about Washington gridlock only fueled the fires of speculation that he is preparing a Presidential run. People are already strategizing about who his ideal running mate would be. Bloomberg is sticking to his (anti-)guns, however, and still claiming that he is not a candidate. But his pollster told the LA Times that our Mayor......

Armed with cheesecake from Junior's, Mayor Bloomberg headed to Oklahoma for the summit of Republicans and Democrats to discuss a third party White House run. Organized by former senators David Boren and Sam Nunn at the University of Oklahoma (which Boren is the president of), the group has been working since meeting last night . Here's some of Boren's opening statement:We have come together at a crucial moment. These are not ordinary times. For the......

A poignant week for LAist as they lose their trusted and amazing editor Tony Pierce to the LA Times, but what a blast his last week was. He shared his 25 Favorite CDs of 2007 and wrote a great review of just a good movie, No Country For Old Men. At UCLA, thousands of students celebrated the end of their quarter by running around campus in their undies (lots of photos in a two-part......

Oprah Winfrey introduced one of her favorite things people at what the NY Times called "the largest spectacle of the campaign cycle" - the Oprah for Barack Obama rally in Des Moines, Iowa. Winfrey said, "For the very first time in my life, I feel compelled to stand up and to speak out for the man who I believe has a new vision for America," and told the audience of 15,000 said, "I am......

Musical theater star and lounge singer extraordinaire Robert Goulet died yesterday of pulmonary fibrosis while awaiting a lung transplant in an L.A. hospital; he was 73. In the early 60s Goulet skyrocketed to fame through his performance as Lancelot in the smash Broadway hit Camelot. He soon became a seemingly timeless fixture on both the musical theater touring circuit and the Vegas strip – in 1982 he was proclaimed Vegas Entertainer of the Year –......

The LA Times invaded the Big Apple to investigate the amazing fund-raising power of Hillary Clinton in Chinatown. The leading 2008 Democratic contender was able to raise $380,000 during one April fund-raiser - and back in 2004, John Kerry was only able to raise $24,000. Of course, Chinatown is in Clinton's backyard, too. But the LA Times questioned how some donors, like dishwashers or servers, would be able to donate amounts between $500 and......

What’s worth watching on food-relatedTV this week? Tonight on No Reservations--in another repeat--(10pm on the Travel Channel), Bourdain goes to Brazil. ">Martha Stewart has Chef Tom Colicchio on Tuesday making Cornish game hens. The show airs Tuesday through Friday this week at 1pm (NBC). Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares is on Wednesday at 9pm (Fox). This week, Ramsay makes over Seascape in Islip, NY. The LA Times calls the show “noisy and dissident.” All the TV......

Thought Governor Eliot Spitzer and Senator Hilary Clinton appeared at a press conference to discuss health coverage of New York children, they had to answer questions about campaign donations they accepted from fugitive apparel executive Norman Hsu. Clinton received $23,000 from Hsu and announced that she would donate the money to charity after revelations that Hsu has been wanted in California for defrauding California investors since 1991. Hsu has fled to Hong Kong but......

Just last week Jeremy Blake's body was identified after being found off the coast of New Jersey. In July he and his girlfriend committed suicide one week apart from each other, and since then stories of their lives, fears and final days have surfaced. After the LA Times extensive piece, the NY Post recently published a lengthy article on the couple, who at the time were living in a converted rectory at St. Mark's Church......

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations continues tonight at 10pm on the Travel Channel. This episode features Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern exploring New York City. On Hell's Kitchen (Monday at 10pm, Fox), it’s the grande finale. Bonnie vs. Rock: who would’ve foreseen this matchup? If you missed last week, read the recap in the LA Times. Episode 7 of Top Chef airs Wednesday at 10pm (Bravo). Did you watch......

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? The third season of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations premieres tonight at 10pm on the Travel Channel. The first episode features his trip to Shanghai. Fox has Episode 9 of Hell's Kitchen, also on tonight at 9pm. Both Julia and Josh were kicked to the curb last week (but in a random act of kindness, Ramsay promised to send Julia to culinary school). Now three contestants remain. Read......

What’s worth watching on food-related TV this week? ">Martha Stewart has all new episodes this week (10am Monday-Friday, NBC). Monday her guests are Mario Batali, Michael Schulson and Scott Conant; on Wednesday it’s Rick Bayless, Sue Torres and Tom Douglas. Fox has Episode 7 of Hell's Kitchen on Monday at 9pm. Melissa’s gone, and six contestants remain. Read the latest episode roundup in the LA Times here. Gordon Ramsay has also adapted his BBC show......

The USDA may relax standards for organic foods, and allow 38 different spices, colorings and other nonorganic ingredients to be included in foods labeled organic, according to the LA Times. Organic food advocates are seeking to stop this action, calling it a blow to the organic movement and claiming that it caters to moneyed food producers who want the benefits of the organic label without any of the work involved. Food has to be grown......

Holy smokes! Giant fish on the MTA, Paris Hilton in jail, then out, then in again, Al Gore, goatses, blumpkins, Matt Damon, and baby art critics! It's been a busy week across the Ist-A-Verse, and here's a smattering of what's been going on. In Gothamist's neck of the woods, they found out that many things are possible: A man caught a 40+ pound fish off the Rockaways and took it home on the subway. Graffiti......

This week we'd like to congratulate the -ist network's Mother Hen, Gothamist's Jen Chung, who found herself a recipient of Wired Magazine's Wired Rave Award. If that doesn't sound terribly exciting, keep in mind another recipient was J.K. Rowling. Yep, that's right, the -ist network and Harry Potter now have something in common. Go us. Austinist has a chat with the ever-fashionable Golden Girl Rue McClanahan, and managed to catch some local fashionistas making......

We're guessing most of you are hungover from St. Patrick's Day. We are too. But still, we're going to muddle on through our green haze and give you (drum roll please...) this Week In -ists. We start with SFist which broke the -ist record for comments with nearly 500 comments on a post about our Mayor's girlfriend. She responded back on charges that she's not a "girl's girl" and, whoo boy-- the floodgates? They......

Bruni joins the chorus of unenthusiastic reviews for Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, awarding it no stars. The best he has to say is that chef/owner Tim Love "seems dedicated to getting first-rate cuts of meat" (which the kitchen then overseasons). The Eater boys are off by a star, having put their money on Tim Love's credentials and the assumption that Bruni's visits would improve over time. They didn't. Also at Eater, photos of the dining......

Julia Moskin sits in for Bruni again this week, gives two stars to the new dining room at the Morgan Library. It's eccentric, she says--open only during museum hours, which means that it only serves dinner on Friday nights, and even then only until 9pm. But "there's no institution that joins a menu and a museum as seamlessly." Also in the Times, Sarah Lyall's got an update on food in British school cafeterias, and the......

If you're the Republican mayor of New York City, who do you have breakfast with? Why, the Democratic candidate for Mayor of DC, of course! DC City Council member Adrian Fenty met up with Hizzoner this morning to discuss the Mayor's overhaul of the NYC public school system. Apparently Fenty may be interested in taking over the DC school system when he's elected (Fenty's the presumptive mayor), although Bloomberg's education record is decidedly mixed. Note......

Well, do a dance on Audrey Hepburn's grave - the Gap credits the black skinny pants with helping their sales last month, no small part due to the Audrey Hepburn and AC/DC commercial. One Gap manager in Staten Island tells the Daily News, "We can't keep them in. It brought in the mother, the grandmother, the granddaughter. Little kids come in and try on a size 0." And a mother who bought the pants for......

- Look for Grub Street, the just launched New York Magazine food blog, to have an interview with newly anointed NYT Dining editor Pete Wells on Wednesday. - An amusing read from the LA Times about “the Chicken that Killed Grandpa”. - Random Menupages.com restaurant of the day - Luzia's, Portuguese/Spanish on the UWS. Is it any good? You tell us. - File under an offer you cannot refuse. After the preview party for Lonesome......

Celebrate Ben Franklin's 300th birthday with the Bikini Bandits and Phillyist! (NSFW). Speaking of Mr. Franklin, send in a picture of Ben (or Ed Rendell) with a red tongue and win a free t-shirt. And they might have the next YearlyKos in Philly. You know who's going to be upset about those Bikini Bandits? The Houston school system. Houstonist also reports on some redevelopment shenanigans over a landmark theater. LAist's sex advice column on......

- Expect to see Chinatown Brasserie cozy up for its Frankie Close-up Wednesday. While we are not in practice setting the line on things like this, seems like a two star job. Just a question on which way it may lean. - One food blogger's answer to the tough question we have all hemmed and hawed about – “What’s your favorite restaurant in New York?” Can’t get behind La Esquina as a choice, but the......

- Think you know about Salt? This LA Times article featuring Zuni Café chef Judy Rodgers is a must read for any home cook who wants to see a big salty 180. (reg. may be required) - Wise man gets free grass-fed beef, ethical conversation ensues. - The first Pizza Hut in America…….cooler than the first Arby’s in NYC ? Heath and Danny don’t think so. - Contrary to reports elsewhere, Punch and Judy is......

Tomorrow, the City Council will be discussing regulating the pedi cab industry, which makes Gothamist realize we didn't know they weren't regulated - could we have been driving our own pedi cabs around Midtown all this time? Now that there are 300-400 pedi cabs in town, lawmakers want to make sure that drivers are pedaling safely. However, the city does like pedi cabs because they "don't draw howls from animal rights groups as do the......

Something named "Philth-Y" presents something we've all been waiting for: the Battle of the Blogosphere. Lay down your bets and put your money on either Fluxblog or Stereogum as they face off, armed only with their knowledge of mashups and downloads of the "next big thing". Which music blogger will prevail? We have no idea, but we're betting that Norwegian pop tart Annie is played at least 4 times throughout the night. Come meet......