Lil Kim

Last weekend, New York nightlife suffered another black eye with the gruesome death of 24-year-old Ingrid Rivera, a ticket agent for British Airways, who was beaten to death at the Times Square karaoke club Spotlight Live during Lil' Kim's 33rd birthday party. Syed Rahman, a 24-year-old barback, was arrested Thursday and charged with murder; he left her body on the roof of the club, where it was discovered by a maintenance worker. We wondered how many other nightclub patrons had met with tragic ends in the last 20 years. (One disturbing discovery: bouncers, who are supposed to provide some modicum of security, figure in a disturbingly high number of incidents.  read more »

Mary-Kate Olsen won't have to talk to the police about Heath Ledger's death after all. [NYDN]

Graydon Carter bought the lease on the Monkey Bar on East 54th Street. One of his partners told the Post, "It's just going to be a little bar in Midtown." Just like the Waverly Inn is a little bar in the West Village! [P6]  read more »

Scarlett Johansson is still talking about being friends with Barack Obama on the Internet. [Newsday]

The AP reported this morning that Simon & Schuster is suing rappers Foxy Brown and Lil' Kim, both of whom were under contract with the publishing house for books that were due several years ago. The deals were done separately: Foxy Brown got $75,000 in 2005 for what was supposed to be a memoir, and Lil' Kim got $40,000 in 2003 for what was supposed to be a novel.

According to Simon & Schuster's corporate spokesman Adam Rothberg, the lawsuits were not filed simultaneously for any particular reason.

"They're just two cancel-and-collects that happened at the same time," he said, adding that in both cases, Simon & Schuster had just "exhausted all other avenues on recouping the money on a manuscript that wasn't delivered.  read more »