MERRY MERRY I’d just like to say thanks to all the local businesses that put up Christmas lights—I’m not much of a Christmas person, but on these short, dark, and cold days, we need all the cheer we can get.

IN THE NEWS “A counselor in one of Manhattan Youth’s after-school programs […] was arrested Dec. 15 on charges related to child pornography. The counselor, Michael Dossantos, 22, of Astoria, Queens, is charged with possessing sexually explicit images of children, 4 to 16 years old.” (Tribeca Trib) ••• The New York Post reports that Natalie Portman wanted to rent an apartment on the market in River Lofts, but the seller doesn’t want to rent; Rachel Maddow checked the apartment out, too; another visitor was surprised to run into Meryl Streep in the building and titillated by the idea of seeing Gwyneth Paltrow’s storage space in the basement; and that Jim Cramer lives in River Lofts as does Karolina Kurkova. “But all is not peachy here: The condo board is suing developer Shaya Boymelgreen over shoddy-construction issues.” ••• “If you like the Square Diner, you better patronize it quickly,” [Bruce] Ehrmann said [at CB1’s meeting]. “Every office building near there is empty.” (Downtown Express)

AROUND THE WEB “John Novogratz and Tina Novogratz bought the six-bedroom, 4.5-bath condo at 39 Vestry St. in Tribeca from Penny Shane for $3.44 million on Nov. 24. The 4,400-square-foot Unit #1B is one of 16 in the building. Mr. Novogratz has been a senior managing director at Millennium Partners, an investment management firm in New York. He’s also worked with the Fortress Investment Group.” (Blockshopper) ••• Tom Otterness, whose frog-and-fly sculpture is outside P.S. 234, is selling new T-shirts, including the one at left, for $24 on his website. (Manhattan User’s Guide)