U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy has told the Providence Journal that Bishop Thomas Tobin has banned him from receiving holy communion because of his stance on abortion rights.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas announced Saturday she would vote to allow the health care bill to proceed. Her assent gives the Democrats a 60-vote supermajority.

Tommy Hilfiger has sold his mansion in Greenwich, CT, for $20 million, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The Senate ethics panel admonished Sen. Roland Burris on Friday, but decided against pursuing ethics charges for the way he obtained an appointment to the Senate.

The Oprah Winfrey Show will end in September 2011, Variety reports.

In an interview airing Thursday on Nightline, Martha Stewart says her criminal prosecution and imprisonment probably cost her company more than $1 billion.

Rudy Giuliani has decided not to run for New York governor, The New York Times reports.

The Senate has confirmed President Obama’s nomination of David Hamilton to a federal appeals court, Associated Press reports.

Another way to see Muckety: Pedro Cruz’s video on the rise and fall of European empires. (View full screen.)

President Obama met with his half-brother, Mark Ndesandjo, Monday during his visit to China, reports the Associated Press.

Tom Daschle is leaving Alston & Bird to join DLA Piper, the National Law Journal reports.

Lazard Ltd. has named Kenneth Jacobs as chairman and CEO, Bloomberg reports. He succeeds Bruce Wasserstein, who died in October.

A body found in the Chicago River has been identified as Michael W. Scott, president of the school board, reports the Chicago Tribune.

CNN was so eager to get rid of Lou Dobbs that it paid him an $8 million severance package, reports the New York Post.

An interesting tally, as reported by Henry Blodget: Bloomberg employs more journalists (2,200) than the New York Times Co. (1,250) and Dow Jones (1,900).

An auction of items once owned by Bernard Madoff has raised more than $900,000, Bloomberg reports.

Billionaire Bill Gates said Wednesday that he believes that Wall Street pay is “often too high, but it’s a very tough problem to solve,” reports Reuters.

Former U.S. ambassador Peter Galbraith is in line to make millions of dollars on a Kurdish oil deal, reports The New York Times.

Lou Dobbs announced Wednesday that he is leaving CNN.

John J. O’Connor III, husband of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, died Wednesday, the Associated Press reports.

Blackwater execs authorized $1 million in bribes to quell criticism of company guards having killed Iraqi citizens, reports The New York Times.

Former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers Matthew Tannin and Ralph R. Cioffi were acquitted Tuesday of conspiracy and fraud charges, Reuters reports.

Ezra Levy, CFO of Boston Provident Partners, was arrested Tuesday on charges that he stole more than $1.3 million from the firm, Bloomberg reports.

CBS has hired wildly popular Tweeter Justin Halpern to adapt ShitMyDadSays to network television, writes Hollywood Reporter.

Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced Monday that she would not seek re-election, reports the Hartford Courant.

Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein is causing quite a stir with his comment that he is “doing God’s work.”

Red Sox owner John Henry has fired a fourth of the employees at his hedge fund, reports The New York Times.

Rupert Murdoch’s son, Lachlan, has set a record for real estate in Australia, paying $21 million for his new house, reports Silicon Alley Insider.

Federal prosecutors have charged 14 more people in the insider trading case revolving around hedge funder Raj Rajaratnam.

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik pleaded guilty Thursday to tax fraud, lying on a loan application and lying to government officials vetting his nomination to head the Department of Homeland Security.

Fortune magazine has chosen Apple chief Steve Jobs as CEO of the decade.

Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard CEO and an adviser to the 2008 McCain campaign, has announced that she’ll run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Barbara Boxer.

Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin will co-host the Oscars, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Billionaire Julian H. Robertson Jr. has won a bid to avoid tens of millions of dollars in New York City taxes, reports the New York Law Journal.

David Friehling, former accountant for Bernard Madoff, pleaded guilty to fraud charges Tuesday, Bloomberg reports.

Indicted financier R. Allen Stanford will no longer be addressed as “sir” in Antigua. The Associated Press reports that his knighthood has been revoked.

Twenty-three presidents of private colleges made more than $1 million last year, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome has bowed out of the California governor’s race, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates and police officer James Crowley were spotted Wednesday in a Cambridge bar, according to Boston TV station WBZ, apparently continuing their beer summit without the president.

Patricia Kluge, former wife of billionaire John Kluge, has put her Charlottesville estate on the market for $100 million, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Sam Zell said Wednesday that his investment in the Tribune Co. was “certainly the most amount of money I’ve ever lost in a single deal.”

Pfizer is handing out bonuses of $1 million and $1.2 million to two execs handling the Wyeth buyout, Dealbook reports.

Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme lost $21.2 billion of investors’ cash - as opposed to the oft-quoted $65 billion in paper losses - the court-appointed trustee overseeing claims said Wednesday, according to The New York Times.

Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother of the Afghan president, is paid regularly by the Central Intelligence Agency, The New York Times reports.

John M. Dowd, who has counseled John McCain and former baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti, will defend Raj Rajaratnam against insider trading charges, Bloomberg reports.

Former Packard Bell chief Beny Alagem has sold his Manhattan apartment at 15 Central Park West for $19.9 million.

Billionaire Nelson Peltz has become a director of Legg Mason after doubling his investment, Bloomberg reports.

Juanita Castro, the younger sister of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, reveals in a new memoir that she collaborated with the CIA to try to overthrow her brother, the Associated Press reports. She fled Cuba for Miami in 1963.

British comedy writer & actor Ricky Gervais will host the Golden Globes, reports Variety.

Melody Barnes, President Obama’s chief domestic policy adviser, on Sunday became the first woman to golf with him since he became president, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Madoff investor Jeffry Picower was found dead Sunday in the swimming pool of his Florida home, Bloomberg reports. Picower was accused of fraud by the trustee handling the Madoff case.

Frank McCourt has fired his estranged wife Jamie as Dodgers chief executive, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Saying there is no current need for an activist investor, Carl Icahn has resigned from the Yahoo board, Marketwatch reports.

Yul Kwon, a winner of reality show Survivor, has been hired as deputy chief of the consumer and governmental affairs bureau of the Federal Communications Commission, reports the Washington Post.

Hollywood encourages violence through its frequent portrayal of women as weak sex objects, actress Nicole Kidman told a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee Wednesday.

Raj Rajaratnam has sent a letter to investors, saying Galleon Group will close, the Wall Street Journal reports. Rajaratnam was arrested in an insider trading case last week.

A 32.01-carat diamond owned by the late Leonore Annenberg has been sold for $7.7 million, Associated Press reports.

In a column published in Fortune, former car czar Steven Rattner sharply criticizes auto execs - particularly former GM chief Rick Wagoner.

With the arrest of company co-founder Raj Rajaratnam, nervous investors are trying to withdraw more than a third of Galleon Group’s $3.7 billion in assets, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Former Goldman Sachs partner Donald Opatrny has sold his apartment at 15 Central Park West for $21.5 million, according to New York City real estate records.

The New York Times announced Monday that it would cut 100 newsroom jobs.

The name of hedge-fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam, charged last week in a major insider-trading case, also surfaced in a separate probe into fundraising for a Sri Lankan terrorist group, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Bernard Madoff’s Long Island beach house has been sold for $9.41 million, reports the Associated Press.

David H. Koch, billionaire and Libertarian Party benefactor, has donated $15 million to the National Museum of Natural History for a hall depicting human evolution, reports the Associated Press.

Abiding by a recommendation from the federal pay czar, Bank of America Ken Lewis won’t receive a salary or bonus for 2009, Bloomberg reports.

A federal judge said Thursday she would declare a mistrial in the criminal case against Abramoff associate Kevin Ring, the National Journal reports.

Bruce Wasserstein, the billionaire Wall Street dealmaker who held the top spot at Lazard, died Wednesday, reports The New York Times. He was 61.

Two victims of Bernard Madoff have sued the Securities and Exchange Commission for negligence, Reuters reports.

A jury has been selected to decide the criminal case against former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, reports Bloomberg.

U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler is resigning his congressional seat to head the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation, reports the Miami Herald.

Supermodel Heidi Klum has given birth to a daughter, Lou Sulola Samuel - her fourth child, reports the Associated Press. Klum is married to Grammy-winning singer Seal.

The Chicago Cubs filed for bankruptcy Monday, Bloomberg reports. The move was designed to help speed the team’s sale to the family of TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts.

Rush Limbaugh’s bid to buy the St. Louis Rams football team as part of a group is being opposed by the NFL players union, ESPN reports.

Foreclosures on high-end homes have soared, reports the Wall Street Journal.

George Soros has pledged to invest $1 billion in green technologies, Reuters reports.

Mary Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, is expecting her second child with her partner, Heather Poe, The Washington Post confirmed Thursday.

Anthony Marshall, the son of the late Brooke Astor, was convicted of charges relating to the theft millions of dollars from his mother. Marshall faces up to 25 years in jail, reports the Associated Press.

Herta Muller, the Romanian-born German novelist and essayist, has won the 2009 Nobel Prize for literature, reports The New York Times.

Beach Boy Brian Wilson has gotten permission from George Gershwin’s estate to complete a number of songs the composer left unfinished, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Anna Nicole Smith was investigated by the FBI for possible involvement in a plot to kill her husband’s son, the Associated Press reports.

Daniel, the Manhattan restaurant owned by chef Daniel Boulud, has been awarded three stars in the latest Michelin guide.

Naomi Watts tops the Forbes list of actresses delivering the biggest return on studio investment.

Conde Nast, which earlier this year closed Portfolio magazine, is ceasing publication of Gourmet as well, reports The New York Times.

Muckety received an award from the Online News Association Saturday for Outstanding Use of Digital Technologies.

A court-appointed trustee has sued four members of Bernard Madoff’s family for recovery of almost $199 million, The New York Times reports.

In a snub to Barack Obama and his hometown, Chicago was eliminated in the first round of voting Friday as the site for the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, whose company is under investigation on several fronts, will retire at the end of the year, reports the Wall Street Journal.

After clashes with his boss, Peter W. Galbraith, has been dismissed as deputy United Nations special representative for Afghanistan, reports The New York Times.

Richard Nixon’s son-in-law, Edward F. Cox, was elected Tuesday as chairman of the New York State Republican Party.

Former Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu was sentenced Tuesday to 24 years in prison for campaign law violations, reports the Associated Press.

Sarah Palin’s memoir titled “Going Rogue: An American Life” will be published earlier than expected, reports the New York Times. HarperCollins will release the book Nov. 17.

The trustee winding down Bernard Madoff’s firm told 60 Minutes that he will bring suit this week against the swindler’s two sons, his brother and a niece seeking $198 million.

R. Allen Stanford, accused in a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, was hospitalized with minor injuries Sunday after a prison fight, the Houston Chronicle reports.

New York Times columnist William Safire died Sunday, at age 79.

Movie director Roman Polanski, in Switzerland for the Zurich Film Festival, was arrested on a 31-year-old U.S. arrest warrant, Associated Press reports.

Justin Timberlake will star as Facebook’s first president, Sean Parker, in the upcoming Aaron Sorkin movie, The Social Network, reports Variety.

Former DNC Chairman Paul Kirk has been tapped to fill the Senate vacancy created by the recent death of Edward M. Kennedy.

New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner has agreed to sell a majority interest in the team to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, Bloomberg reports.

Jenny Sanford, estranged wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, has a deal with Ballantine Books to write an “inspirational memoir,” reports The New York Times.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will throw out the first pitch at Saturday’s Yankees game, reports USA Today.