Danny Shea of the Huffington Post is reporting that David Gregory has been chosen as the next moderator of NBC News' Meet the Press.

Mr. Gregory's name has been reportedly on a short list of possible replacements for the esteemed position since Tim Russert passed away of a sudden heart attack this past June.

When reached by Media Mob, an NBC News spokesperson said that the network "has nothing to announce."

Likewise, when contacted by phone, Mr. Gregory’s agent, Richard Leibner of N.S. Bienstock, said he could neither confirm nor deny the report.

It's been a busy week for Sean Penn. In theaters, the actor is generating Oscar buzz for his starring role in Milk and on the newsstand, he wrote the cover story for The Nation. If the Mr. Penn has his way, he just might bring an end to the U.S. embargo on Cuba.

In the December 15th issue of the magazine, Mr. Penn interviews Hugo Chávez and Raúl Castro, an assignment that seems designed to infuriate his critics on the right who despise the actor for his 2004 and 2005 fact-finding trips to Iraq and Iran, his attention-grabbing attempts to save survivors of Hurricane Katrina, and his friendship with Cindy Sheehan.  read more »

Via The Guardian: Import socialite, Brooklyn resident, model, clothing designer, Nylon columnist, and possibly desperate housewife Peaches Geldof will continue to expand her inorganic hipster brand with the release of Disappear Here, a new magazine she co-edits with James Brown (the GQ editor fired for including "the Nazis" in his list of the 200 most stylish men of the century).

Described by the pair as a "women's mag that appeals to men," the first issue--which will be distributed for free this Thursday at 50 record shops, bars, boutiques and clubs in London and New York--includes a column by British Socialist Tony Benn, prank ("wind-up" in British!) calls to the right-wing British National Party, Ms.  read more »

ALBANY—David Paterson said a list of nominees to replace retiring Chief Judge Judith Kaye, the state's top judge, was "disturbing" on first impression.  read more »

   read more »

ALBANY—He'd no longer be speculating on speculation, but David Paterson still won't say much about who he might appoint to Hillary Clinton's senate seat, except to praise her as she moves toward becoming s  read more »

Here’s City Councilman Kendall Stewart's nomination of a certain mayoral candidate for Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat.

Apparently, Britney Spears took a stroll on the streets of New York last night while her newsless, yet somehow touching documentary For the Record aired on MTV.

She updated her Twitter just a few minutes ago:

britneyspears I enjoyed a relaxing walk last night around NYC. Even though it was raining, it was a lot of fun! ~Britney

This might actually be the real Britney too. Her assistant Lauren, usually signs off on posts she writes, and Brit has been updating as herself for awhile now.

We dropped on you this morning the gong-rattling pronouncement that Manhattan is now a tenant's market by the two most important measures: rents (they're dropping across the board) and vacancies (they're up and climbing).

But there's more to the math.

According to The Real Estate Group New York, which released its November report just before sun-up (PDF here), the number of Manhattan apartment vacancies may be higher than signified. Why? Because some owners of higher-end rentals don't want everyone to know about all their vacancies: "[V]acancies, may actually be even higher than reported, particularly in doorman buildings, as many landlords are not releasing their full vacancy list."

Why would some landlords play their vacancies so close to the chest? More empty apartments might further drive down rents and demand of landlords ever more concessions and incentives to lure tenants.

Last week, Scott Heiferman, C.E.O. of Meetup, announced when and where candidates could announce their interest in replacing him as organizer of the New York Tech Meetup. So far, several candidates have stepped forward, including Greg Magarshak, founder of social media company Lucky Apps; Joe DiPasquale, founder of CollegeWikis.com and self-described Meetup fanatic; Rich Hecker, an organizer of Bootstrapper.com and co-founder of The Connectors Group, a new angel investment group, and Groupable.com, a site that works a lot like Meetup; Joshua Sherman, an organizer of Personal Democracy Forum and founder of BuycottForChange.org; among others.

What does the tech community think so far? The blogs are abuzz.  read more »