Former U.S. Sen. Robert G. Torricelli has been dispensing left-over campaign money to causes near and dear to his financial and political interests.

Torricelli left office in 2002, after the Senate Ethics Committee admonished him for accepting gifts from a contributor. According to the New York Times, he then founded a lobbying firm, Rosemont Associates, whose clients include the government of Taiwan and the owner of Cablevision.

Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co., a major subprime lender, said Wednesday it would close 65 branches around the country and fire 1,600 workers as the mortgage meltdown continues to spread.

For at least two of the company’s directors, it must have seemed like deja vu all over again.

Richard Pratt and Bowers Espy were S&L regulators in the early 1980s as that industry was in crisis.

Delta Air Lines, emerging from bankruptcy, has named a former head of Northwest Airlines as its new chief executive, sparking speculation that the two companies might merge.

Google, which last year purchased YouTube for a whopping $1.65 billion, has unveiled a plan to make money from the site.

Ads now appear at the bottom of some videos, eventually disappearing if the users don’t click on them. In an approach similar to Google’s AdSense program, selected content providers receive a portion of the revenues.

GreenPoint Mortgage, the latest casualty of the mortgage meltdown, was once overseen by a director of Freddie Mac, the giant public company chartered by Congress to bolster home lending.

Thomas S. Johnson was elected to Freddie Mac’s board in 2004 when he was CEO of GreenPoint Financial, then parent of GreenPoint Mortgage. That year, GreenPoint Financial was acquired by North Fork Bancorp for $6.3 billion. Capital One acquired North Fork last year for $13.2 billion.

John Edwards, the candidate who has stacked his campaign on fighting poverty, was embarrassed once again last week by John Edwards the multimillionaire.

Edwards, who declared his candidacy from the decimated Ninth Ward of New Orleans, and who has repeatedly criticized foreclosures on mortgages held by victims of Katrina, is a major investor in Fortress Investment Group, one of the companies foreclosing.

Although the church wasn’t as full as many would have predicted, New York bluebloods turned out in force Friday to remember the late Brooke Astor, the 105-year-old widow of Vincent Astor.

Pallbearers were members of the U.S. Marine Corps. The ushers and the speakers held the positions of honor at the funeral, which took place at St. Thomas Church, at Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street.

Ushers included New York Public Library president Paul LeClerk and TV talk show host Charlie Rose.

In his toy recall crisis, Mattel CEO Robert Eckert has some experts on his board of directors who know about the importance of consumer trust.

Mattel, the largest toy company in the world, announced the biggest recall in its history this week. The toys were made in China.

Mitt Romney’s years at Bain & Company and Bain Capital are proving useful beyond the millions he is able to pour from his personal fortune into his presidential campaign.

Two of his finance co-chairs - Meg Whitman of eBay and David Brandon of Domino’s Pizza - have Bain ties.

The Washington Post noted yesterday that the campaign had attracted at least $196,000 in donations from Bain employees.

Romney personally loaned nearly $9 million to the campaign during the first six months of 2007.

The Ford Foundation announced today that Luis A. Ubinas, a director of McKinsey & Company, will be its new president.

Ubinas will succeed Susan V. Berresford, who is retiring after 12 years as president and 38 years with the organization.