Lois Pope with emcee Regis Philbin

Socialite Ari Rifkin got herself a walk-on part on CSI: New York, courtesy of leading man Gary Sinise, while 140-plus disabled veterans were treated to a Palm Beach event they otherwise couldn’t even think about getting in.

Of course, Rifkin paid a tad more than the vets for her goodies, bidding $16,000 at the urging of amateur auctioneer Regis Philbin (yes, he of Live with Regis and Kelly).

More than 500 Palm Beachers attended philanthropist Lois Pope’s yearly Lady in Red gala at The Breakers – one of the first fancy affairs in what’s expecting to be a season of economic discontent on the island.

(More photos after the jump)

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Tinsley Mortimer and Dabney Mercer at McCarty's

This being Thanksgiving weekend and all, young local society and their New York counterparts descended on Michael McCarty’s in Palm Beach Saturday night.

Spotted in the jam-packed wateringhole: Overexposed Manhattan socialites Tinsley Mortimer and Dabney Mercer, along with locals Mary Tobin, Tirzah Roberts, Elisabeth Munder and Frances Webster, among plenty more.

(More photos after the jump)

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It’s already billed as the first official outing of Madonna and A-Rod as a couple.

The Material Girl’s Sticky and Sweet show at Dolphin Stadium Wednesday night kicked off two hours late (because of traffic, the official line goes), but when the first riffs rang out in the sold-out stadium, the soon-to-be-divorced Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez was front and center.

And Madonna sang to him, locking eyes with the big third baseman as she intoned You Must Love Me.

Scattered in the stagefront crowd: Palm Beach rocker Rod Stewart and Latin songbird Paulina Rubio.

(photos after the jump)
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Stephen Asprinio, who parlayed appearances on Bravo’s Top Chef into an anchor restaurant in West Palm Beach’s Clematis district, is out at the joint he opened nine months ago.

The chi-chi eatery’s name, Forte di Asprinio, will remain, as will most of the personnel, including Executive Chef Mark Lieberman.

But the 27-year-old Asprinio tells me he won’t be seen at the Miami Beach-style restaurant for a long time. (Read more…)

Madonna arrives at the Signature Grand terminal at Miami International Airport for tonight's show. (Photo by Splashnews)

Madonna landed in South Florida about 1:33 a.m. this morning as she’s scheduled to take the stage at Dolphin Stadium tonight for her world tour-ending show.

The Material Girl stepped off her private jet parked near the Signature Grand terminal and disappeared in a Maybach on the tarmac.
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He did his duty, and she didn’t.

Just checked on the Nov. 4 voting records of Palm Beach’s two conservative celebrities, radio talker Rush Limbaugh and firebrand Ann Coulter.

It’s a mixed (Gucci) bag.

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The Oct. 21 traffic stop that may end up costing a Riviera Beach K-9 cop his freedom started like many others.

From his squad car moments after leaving a security detail at a Barack Obama rally, Officer Maurice Morris witnessed a motorist go through a busy Blue Heron intersection at a red light and nearly hit another car.

He pulled the woman over, according to court records.

In time, dispatch told him her driver’s license was suspended. A backup officer arrived.

What comes next, however, had Morris, 43, indicted and charged with bribery, fraud and sexual assault. He’s out on $25,000 bond and the PD placed him on administrative leave with pay.

Morris is accused of, among other things, using his power as a policeman to have sex with the woman. She’s a Haitian immigrant whose identity is being withheld because of the nature of the charges.

“To echo the words of Bill Clinton, my client didn’t have sex with that woman,” Morris’ attorney, Nicole Sauvola, told Page2Live Tuesday. “He’s a victim of her lies. She says the officer put his police dog in her bathroom then assaulted her. The dog is known to be the most vicious in Riviera Beach. Don’t you think the dog would have gotten loose if he heard someone screaming during a rape? We’re trying to find out whether she’s tried to do this before. She’s had a lot of traffic tickets.

“I can’t wait to take this s… to court.” (Read more…)

The producers of ABC’s reality show The Bachelorette were so taken by the West Palm Beach area when they came to cast male contestants last week that they’re on their way back to find their female star.

The show, which is scheduled to start airing next spring locally on WPBF-Channel 25, is about a woman’s search for the perfect man among of stable of 25 would-be studs.

The producers interviewed several dozen single guys from this area at CityPlace’s Hotel nightclub Wednesday in West Palm Beach, and return to the club for their bachelorette Friday night. (Read more…)

The battle for the assets of slain software executive Jessica Kalish just became more complicated.

Jessica Kalish (left) and Carol Anne Burger

A well-known feminist writer-therapist-new age guru, Wendy Hunter Roberts, Monday filed for her piece of Kalish’s estate.

Roberts contends she enjoyed “a very close personal relationship” with Kalish and a will that has yet to be found made her Kalish’s beneficiary.
Roberts joins Kalish’s mother and the family of Kalish’s killer, Carol Anne Burger, among those vying for what could amount to $1 million.

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Seems that Palm Beach bizman Thanos Papalexis is headed back to England. Here’s the story by my Palm Beach Post colleague:

By Susan Spencer-Wendel, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

WEST PALM BEACH — Thanos Papalexis, the 36-year-old Palm Beach playboy charged with murder in the United Kingdom, waived an extradition hearing this morning in federal court to get the UK immediately.

Papalexis told a federal magistrate judge that rather than try to argue the case here he wanted to go to England to fight the charges, “ludicrous as they may be.”

Papalexis is charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the March 2000 death of 55-year-old Charalambos Christodoulides in London. (Read more…)