LAW
• Robert Morgenthau called a press conference in response to a “Page Six” item about him stepping down after 33 years: “I’m too old to retire.” The man is 88! [NYT]
• Big-time Mayer Brown partner Joseph Collins, who maintains offices in both New York and Chicago, has been indicted for fraud in the Refco case. [Above the Law]
• Which court is the worst “judicial hellhole” in the country? [Law Blog/WSJ]
FINANCE
• Rumor has it Bear Stearns is finally looking to fire our favorite pot-smoking CEO, James Cayne. It’s been this long, why now? [CNBC]
• Morgan Stanley wrote down another $5.7 billion in subprime loans and took its first ever quarterly loss, a mere $3.6 billion. No wonder John Mack isn’t taking a bonus. The bank turned to China to shore up losses, selling a $5 billion stake. [DealBook/NYT]
• Notoriously private Cerberus founder Stephen Feinberg was forced to show his face in court owing to a big deal gone bad. His previous thoughts on publicity: “We try to hide religiously. If anyone at Cerberus has his picture in the paper and a picture of his apartment, we will do more than fire that person. We will kill him. The jail sentence will be worth it.” So, Mr. Feinberg, does that directive apply to yourself? [Deal Journal/WSJ, Deal Journal/WSJ]
MEDIA
• Britney’s mom’s book on parenting has been indefinitely postponed. We can’t imagine why. But it hasn’t been canceled — so maybe there’s some hope for the Spears clan. [Media Mob/NYO]
• Pulitzer Prize winner Matt McAllester is leaving Newsday after thirteen years with the paper. Oh, and the Long Island’s tab finally settled that lawsuit where they inflated their circulation by around 100,000 copies between 2000 and 2004. [NYP, NYT]
• Time is dropping conservative columnists William Kristol and Charles Krauthammer. Karl Rove is still on contract, though, and the weekly is planning to sign slightly less blowhard-y National Review columnist Ramesh Ponnuru, in case anyone wanted to blame a liberal bias. [NYO]
FASHION
• Now’s your chance to own Prada. The company’s planning an IPO. [WWD]
• New designers are being added to Seventh Avenue’s walk of fame. We said walk of fame, people. [British Vogue]
• Gucci’s Unicef party will draw big celebs to Fashion Week. Oh, yeah, and charity is involved. [Fashionista]