Lost today amidst the news that New York State Senator Malcolm Smith, the state's first black senate leader, had been arrested on bribery charges was the fact that his Republican co-conspirator, Dan Halloran, is the first-ever open pagan to hold elected office in the United States, as Steven Thrasher entertainingly documented in a 2011 Village Voice article:

In response to a recent declaration by hip hop artist Lil Wayne that he doesn't like New York, Malcolm Smith, a Democratic state Senator representing Queens, appeared before reporters in Times Square today to demand an apology.

Lycée Français de New York honored Dior president Sidney Toledano at its 10th annual gala at 7 World Trade Center on Friday night. The event, which was co-chaired in part by by Olivier Sarkozy and his wife Charlotte, attracted Eric and Sandra Ripert (left), Robbie Myers, Bernard Aidan, Bettina Zilkha, Catherine Malandrino Glenda Bailey, Cathy Horyn, Kassy and Liya Kebede, Delphine and Reed Krakoff, Susan Fales-Hill, Yannick Noah, Virginia Smith, Alejandra and Jeffrey Kluger, Stacey Bronfman, Assouline and Martine Prosper, Fabrizio and Maryane Freda, and Veronica Bulgari. [PMc, FWD, WWD, NYSD]