A TEMP solution for this problem is to hard-coded your offset fix in
wp-includesformatting.php:
// ***** 2011-03-08 TU 23:09 Use -5, if no offset returned *****
// $string_localtime = gmdate($format, $string_time +
get_option('gmt_offset')*3600);
$myOffset = (get_option('gmt_offset'))? get_option('gmt_offset'): -5;
$string_localtime = gmdate($format, $string_time + $myOffset*3600);