The Palm Beach Post
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Goodbye Palm Beach, and thank you!

radaronline_logoIt’s hard to say goodbye when you’re having fun!

Yet, this is my last Page2Live entry.

On Tuesday, I became executive editor of Radar Online, one of the country’s biggest celebrity websites.

The sandbox I get to play in now is a lot larger, and the gig often will take me to Los Angeles and Las Vegas and New York City.

But I leave The Palm Beach Post and the readers who supported me with news tips, kudos and criticism for the past seven years with a heavy heart.

I love Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, and not just because it’s my home. There are few places in this country as quirky as Palm Beach, Stuart, Boca and Wellington. News people who work here know they’re lucky because, indeed, there never is a dull moment.

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Asleep at the desk: PBSO lieutenant catches up on sleep during classroom training

Rough day for Lt. Swank (Special to the Palm Beach Post)

Rough day for Lt. Swank (Special to the Palm Beach Post)

I’m told the snoring could be heard across the room!

To the right, fellow taxpayer, is Lt. Jeff Swank, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs executive officer!

And this cell-phone picture of Swank sound asleep obtained by Page2Live has been making the rounds among the chuckling rank and file.

How do I know he’s snoring?

Well, there’s a video, and the sound is quite clear.

I’ve been trying to get a hold of it, but I’m told by an insider that Internal Affairs head Capt. Larry Easton, to0, is hot on the trail of the footage.

Swank was among 70 local enforcement officials at a three-day class last week at the Hilton Palm Beach Airport.

The classroom training focused on the handling of police-involved shootings.

But Swank apparently got so bored he dozed off while fellow policemen, who must have been just as bored, snapped away with cell phones.

Swank’s I.A. squad, by the way, does investigate incidents in which deputies are “rude” during such training sessions.

Said PBSO Chief Deputy Mike Gauger: “Lt. Swank attends college after hours and he was called out twice the previous night.

“Things happen. I fall asleep at church sometimes!”

Today show Hoda’s new beau a Boca Raton lawyer?

Blumenkopf

Blumenkopf

Today personality Hoda Kotb has been trying her darnedest to keep her new man’s identity under the radar, but even her best isn’t good enough for Page2Live.

Meet Boca Raton lawyer and single dad of two Jay Blumenkopf, the corporate law guru who, sources say, has been sharing the NBC morning star’s life for the past six months.

With Kathie Lee Gifford on Today’s fourth hour Monday through Friday, the oft-imitated (on Saturday Night Live) but-never-duplicated Hoda has been squawking about how sweet and gentlemanly her “Jay” is.

Never, however, has she mentioned his last name.

But insiders at the New York/Boca lawfirm of Yoss LLP tell me Blumenkopf has been telling his colleagues he’s da man!

“You could say he’s pretty proud of himself,” one informant told me. “So he makes no secret of it.”

Hoda (right) and Gifford last November (Bruce Bennett/The Palm Beach Post)

Hoda (right) and Gifford last November (Bruce Bennett/The Palm Beach Post)

When I called Hoda, 46, in her New York City condo to confirm, what had started as a pleasant conversation was cut short when I brought up Blumenkopf’s name. Hoda’s publicist declined comment. And neither Blumenkopf nor his daughters have returned calls or emails.

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Sex at the Palm Beach Pops: Vulgarity rules in lawsuit against Maestro Bob Lappin

Lappin

Lappin

Put on your hip-waders for this one.

The federal lawsuit brought against Palm Beach Pops maestro and founder Bob Lappin by former orchestra general manager Jill Kaplan is oozing some serious sleaze.

With the case headed to a July trial, the revelations of sexual shenanigans at the highbrow orchestra — including late-night nudity and sex at the institution’s West Palm Beach office — are coming fast and furious.

And so is evidence that include receipts for battery-operated sex toys that the maestro allegedly bought for ex-underling Kaplan!

There are also depositions about the usage of such toys, the number of times the maestro received oral sex and public displays of affection in front of musicians.

“We are vigorously defending the claims,” said attorney Keith Sonderling, who represents both the non-profit orchestra and the 71-year-old Lappin.

Kaplan, 49, filed a federal lawsuit a year ago alleging that Lappin, who’s also the orchestra’s CEO, dangled the non-profit’s health benefits as incentive to keep her on the job so that they could continue their affair.

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Jennifer Ross returns as anchor of WRMF morning show

Ross

Ross

The mess at WRMF-97.9 FM is getting cleaned up.

Now that the former market leader has been bought by local broadcaster Dean Goodman, former morning star Jennifer Ross has been tapped to return Monday to the anchoring job she was fired from a year and a half ago, three sources told Page2Live.

With ratings sagging to historic lows in some categories of listeners, the woman who fired Ross, General Manager Elizabeth Hamma, finally gave the go-ahead for Ross’ on-air return.

New owner Goodman declined comment because he hasn’t received the blessing of the Federal Communications Commission for his purchase. Until then — could be three months — the Boston equity firm Great Hills still runs the station.

Neither Hamma nor Ross returned calls.

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