Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Dennis Hof sure is a generous man. The owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Nevada plans to offer hundreds of elected politicians across the country a little pick-me-up with a "government assistance program," which involves him mailing out what he calls "good time party passes" to every senator, congressman and governor in America. More

• The New York Blade, one of the two big gay and lesbian newspapers in New York City, has suspended publication and laid off most of its staff. [NYT]
• How many books can you possibly read about Bernie Madoff? Who knows, but there at least four books about him scheduled to hit stores this fall. [Crains]
• David Rohde, the New York Times reporter who was kidnapped in Afghanistan with his translator in November and released a couple of weeks ago, returned to the Times newsroom to a standing ovation yesterday. [NYT]
• James Frey's young adult novel has been sold to HarperCollins. [NYT]
• Wonkette editor Ken Layne has sold a book to HarperCollins, too. [NYO]
• The battle between CNBC's Dennis Kneale and bloggers goes on. [Dealbreaker]

• A second autopsy was performed on Michael Jackson over the weekend just as details from the first were revealed: Jackson was just 112 pounds when he died and his "emaciated body was riddled with needle marks and scars, and his head was virtually bald." In the meantime, his doctor, Conrad Murray, has denied giving Jackson any drugs right before his death and says he found a faint pulse when he first discovered him. Jackson's parents say they plan to fight for custody of Jackson's kids and for control of his estate. And plenty of people came out to celebrate Jackson's life at a couple of BET parties this weekend. And now you're all caught up. [NYP, LAT, WP, NYDN]
• Poor Jen Aniston. One minute she's happy and relaxed and supposedly dating Bradley Cooper and now Cooper says they're just "friends." [P6, NYDN]More

Rudy Giuliani has been trying to worm his way back into the public conversation the past few days. He penned an op-ed for the Times yesterday, jumping into the political mess in Albany by proposing, among other things, a constitutional convention to institute term limits on lawmakers and stricter campaign finance laws. But he didn't speak out because he's considering a run for governor in 2010. Don't be silly. It's because he cares about New York and fixing the political gridlock in Albany. ("This is done really out of frustration as a New Yorker," he explained.) More

Happy Birthday | New York's 107th mayor—and the most famous drag queen in the city's history—is officially a senior citizen. It's Rudy Giuliani's 65th birthday today. Others celebrating: Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes is turning 74. View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck is 32. Gladys Knight is turning 65. Kylie Minogue is 41. Mark Sanford, the Governor of South Carolina, is turning 49. And singer John Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 64 today.