That little subway flood back in '04 that brought trains to a halt and commuters to a rage? Blame those freebie newspapers, the MTA says. Flooding on the tracks isn't an explicit result of poor drainage, you see; it's the fault of am New York and Metro, whose stacks of leftover papers often wind up on the tracks, increasing the chances of fires as well as floods. While the official MTA report isn't being released to the public (security concerns and all), it cites the launch of the freebie papers three years ago as the cause of a sudden spike in problems. The publishers, meanwhile, have been quick to react, pointing out that they don't distribute their bite-size news on MTA property. But what about the likes of Rupert and Mort's rags?

[MTA board member Barry] Feinstein acknowledged that purchased newspapers were also found on the tracks, but not at the same volume as free papers. "People are paying for those newspapers and they take them with them to work. They're not leaving them on the subway, they're not tossing them on the tracks," he said.

Well, except for those sponsored copies of the Daily News wrapped in J&R advertisements. It makes perfect sense how they make their way from seat covers on the R train to drain covers on the tracks.

Free Newspapers Blamed for Subway Flooding [Annie Karni, New York Sun]

• In Connecticut, when local CBS affiliate WFSB hosts the senate debates, don't expect other media to be allowed in to cover. [Hartford Courant]

• Metro sees more fallout from the top. [FBNY]

• Nicky Hilton and Entourage boyfriend Kevin Connolly split after rumors of cheating and two years of pretending he wasn't two feet shorter. [Us]

• Conde Nast and Rockefeller Center team up for a marriage gimmick usually reserved for the Today show. [NYO]

• Even tidal waves of criticism and hype may not keep Borat ahead of, ahem, Santa Claus 3. [Deadline Hollywood]

• At 47, it's about damn time Barbie got a makeover and started paying attention to breast cancer. [NYP]

• With all those budget cuts at the Times, it only seems fair to let reporters use their chlidren as photo subjects. And sources. [Gawker]

Per usual, we have found our daily dose of bloggers with more time on their hands than we have. The creative ways in which these people pass their days will never cease to amaze us or earn our utmost admiration.

Since counting the ad pages takes way too long, why not provide the next best measurement of success: weight. After all, many a fashion magazine are ritually weighed (although traditionally in the Fall), so why not take that trend to NYC's freebies.

We admit, we've weighed quite a few things in our time … but measuring the free dailies in ounces never even crossed our minds. But it crossed Animal's … and the results are amazingly intriguing.

Especially because at last check in, that was exactly the weights of Nicole Richie and Lindsay Lohan, respectively.

Weighing In: Am vs. Metro [Animal New York]

• Some have the audacity to call the Peter Jackson's upcoming King Kong – at three-hours long and costing $207 million — bloated. [NYT]

• What's worse than reading the live-blog of Patrick Fitzgerald's Valerie Plame-related indictments? Reading the live-blog of Patrick Fitzgerald's Valerie Plame-related indictments when there, uh, aren't any indictments. [E&P]

• For a newspaper that's supposed to represent freedom of information, Boston Metro sure makes it difficult to get interviews with their staff. But perhaps that's because their "staff" is composed of wire report copy and pasters. [Boston Phoenix]

• Both Spin and Vibe magazines are on the sale block, but don't tell anyone about it. We're also pretty sure this is where Nick Denton issues an announcement that Gawker Media is not for sale. [Radar]

• Cookie magazine may look a little too similar to Child magazine with its fur-wearing fat baby on the cover, but rest assured that when the new Conde Nast baby title debuts next month, the baby will have had some liposculpting. [WWD]

• Jann Wenner isn't just a magazine publisher, he's also an interior decorator. And, like everything else he gets his hands in, he's quite the anal interior decorator. [Lowdown]

• Will & Grace's top act Megan Mullally has secured distribution for her upcoming talk show in the country's top four markets. Unfortunately for viewers, her whiny, high-pitched Karen voice is not actually how she speaks. [AP

• Sean McManus will not eat, sleep or breathe until he pulls CBS News out of third place. [AP]