December 20, 2001
DOW RALLIES PAST 10,000 AS NASDAQ FALLS
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amStock markets added to gains again yesterday, as pre-holiday optimism goosed stocks back above 10,000. "We're in a Santa Claus rally buoyed by a string of positive economic announcements: housing...
LIZA GETS GEST-HOUSE IN MARRIAGE MERGER
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amLIZA Minnelli will soon find out if fiancé David Gest really loves her dog, Lily. The eccentric concert promoter - who has been at odds with canine owning neighbors in...
SELL TRAVELERS, NOT UMBRELLA
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amCitigroup's Sandy Weill is dumping part of the giant insurer he picked up during his '90s buying spree - but he's keeping the red umbrella. Traveler's Group has used the...
RETIREMENT? JACK IS BUSIER THAN HE EVER WAS!
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amJack Welch is having the time of his life. "This is a very nice program," he told The Post yesterday of his lazy days of retirement. "What's not to like?"...
ECHOSTAR DEAL IS UNDER FIRE
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amOpposition mounted yesterday against EchoStar's planned acquisition of DirecTV yesterday, as Andrew Cuomo and other political figures came out publicly against the $32 billion deal. The merger of EchoStar and...
SURPRISE! GATES IS DEAL'S BIG WINNER
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amBill Gates is the biggest winner in the mammoth cable TV deal - getting a long-coveted foothold directly in American households. Gates gets access into 22 million cable TV homes...
FOOL'SGOLD? DID CAROL BURNETT REUNION STRIKE A RICH VEIN OF NOSTALGIA OR...
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amTHANKS to Carol Burnett, classic TV stars are hot commodities again. When the ratings for Burnett's reunion special went through the roof last month - the one-hour CBS special became...
ABT SELLING THE FARM
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amAMERICAN BALLET THEATER THIS week, American Ballet Theater's Studio Company - a farm team of rigidly selected professional dancers ages 16 to 21 - gave a couple of performances at...
JINGLE CELLS: JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS: A TRIP TO RIKERS ISLAND AND SOME HANDY SURVIVAL HINTS
December 20, 2001 | 5:00am"Command and Control:Inside Rikers Island" Tonight at 10 on Court TV I HOPE never to be sent to Rikers Island, but if I ever wind up there, I'll know what...
'BUFFY' CREATOR BLASTS OFF
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amTHE creator of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" has got a new show on the way, a drama set in outer space for Fox slated to debut next fall. The show,...
DICK CLARK SUES GRAMMY GURU
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amAFTER a decade of backbiting, Dick Clark yesterday filed a $10 million lawsuit against Michael Greene, president of the Recording Academy, accusing him of preventing artists who appear first on...
CREED STILL TOP SEED
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amTHE rock act Creed continues to sit pretty at the top of the charts as "Weathered" rocked steady for the fourth week in a row. Creed - which sold 555,090...
NEW YEAR'SPARTY PLANS: HOT SPOTS FOR ALL-NIGHT REVELRY
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amTICKETS are going fast at the biggest and best venues in Manhattan for New Year's Eve. You can already cross Guastavino's off your list - it's sold out. To make...
NEW YEAR'S PARTY PLANS: 3 CHEERS FOR THE RED, WHITE & BLUE
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amTHE year will go out in a blaze of patriotic glory in Times Square. From the ball to the balloons, it'll be all about the good old U.S. of A....
POP A CORK WITH STROKES AT MIDNIGHT
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amNOT much can top my favorite musical New Year's Eve when, a few years ago, we drank smuggled champagne and toasted the upcoming year with Boy George and Culture Club...
NYERS WILL GET TO GO BIG GAME HUNTING
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amThe Big Game is coming to New York. That means New Yorkers won't have to trek to Connecticut or New Jersey for a chance at a multistate megajackpot. Lottery officials...
'MARTYRDOM' MORATORIUM: HAMAS HINTS AT CEASE-FIRE
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - A senior Hamas leader said yesterday the Palestinian terrorist group may halt its war of suicide bombings against Israel. "Hamas is studying the issue of suspending martyrdom attacks,"...
BRAVEST LET GIS KNOW WHY THEY FIGHT
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amFIREFIGHTER Joseph Higgins wears a memorial bracelet on his right wrist. It reads simply: "Lt. Timothy Higgins FDNY 9-11-01." Tim's body was found 16 days after the collapse of the...
DWI SARGE COPS A PLEA ; FACING A YEAR IN PAL'S SPEED DEATH
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amA former NYPD sergeant who killed his best friend in a drunken-driving wreck pleaded guilty yesterday in a Long Island courtroom to vehicular manslaughter and DWI. Michael Quinn - who...
'BOSTON STRANGLER' FAMILY TO SUE OVER MISSING ORGANS
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amRelatives of Albert DeSalvo, the man who confessed to being the Boston Strangler but later recanted, claim several vital organs were missing when his body was exhumed recently for DNA...
MUSLIMS BLAST CNN'S J.LO BLOW
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amMuslims are seething at CNN and MTV after the cable-TV giants teamed up to surprise sheltered Afghan kids with sexy, skin-baring photos of Jennifer Lopez and get their reactions on...
'CYBERPERVS' IN KID-PORN BUST
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amBrooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes has downloaded some cyberscum from the Internet, busting two Kings County men for allegedly trading kiddie porn via computer. One was also accused of soliciting...
B'KLYN POL: JEFFERSON WAS A PERV
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amEXCLUSIVE Calling the third president a "pedophile," an incoming Brooklyn city councilman said he wants to get rid of the Thomas Jefferson portrait in City Hall and replace it with...
L.I. TRIO NABBED AS DRUG CLAN
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amThree members of a Long Island family were busted for drug trafficking and money laundering after police raided their homes and cars and found submachine guns, narcotics and more than...
FED AID FOR N.Y. STUCK IN D.C. MUCK
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - The House and Senate remained stuck yesterday over how to write an agreeable stimulus bill for the economy, threatening plans for special tax breaks for lower Manhattan. If...
JEALOUS BEAU CUTS OFF TEEN'S EARS
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amA South Carolina man, apparently jealous because his teen lover talked with other men, flew into a rage and sliced off both the girl's ears with a steak knife at...
BLOOMY SNARES 4 OF RUDY'S TOP EXECS
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amMayor-elect Bloomberg yesterday dispelled rumors that he was sacking almost everyone in the Giuliani administration by re-appointing three commissioners and elevating an assistant commissioner. The incoming mayor also brought back...
SPITZER WARNS OF 9/11 CHARITY TELE-PHONIES
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amUnscrupulous telemarketers have turned tragedy into a financial windfall since Sept. 11 by soliciting donations for charities that get only a fraction of the money, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said...
STAR'S CROOKED-KIN ATT'Y SUSPENDED
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amActress Marisa Tomei's cousin, busted for swindling a bank out of $200,000, has been suspended from practicing law for a year. The Appellate Division's Second Department suspended personal-injury lawyer Jeffrey...
U.N. BIG BOOSTS BID TO SPARE BIN LADEN
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amThe chief U.N. war-crimes prosecutor yesterday lent her support to anti-death-penalty advocates crusading to spare the life of terrorist Osama bin Laden. Carla Del Ponte, appearing at a press conference...
POWER STRIP SPARKED FIRE AT ST. JOHN
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amOfficials at the fire-damaged Cathedral of St. John the Divine yesterday were praying that they will be able to reopen in time for Christmas services, as fire marshals said an...
VICTORIA HAS LOCALS' KNICKERS IN A KNOT
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amThe scantily clad models of Victoria's Secret are getting some Upper West Siders hot and steamy - with rage. Victoria's Secret is outfitting a new store on Broadway at 85th...
ESCAPED TERRORISTS ON RUN IN MOUNTAINS
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - A group of diehard al Qaeda fanatics staged a murderous uprising against Pakistani guards as they crossed the border yesterday - stealing weapons and escaping into the lawless...
IT'S OFFICIAL: KATIE INKS $65M DEAL
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amKatie Couric last night quietly signed a contract with NBC that will make her the highest-paid news person in TV history. The deal, first reported in The Post, is worth...
INTERIM WTC PARK WILL BE BUILT FIRST
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amThe head of the bi-state commission responsible for redeveloping ground zero yesterday promised a "two-stage" memorial to Sept. 11 victims, featuring a temporary park until a permanent structure is built...
SUPERHERO RUDY TO PROVIDE 'COMIC' RELIEF
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amEXCLUSIVE The city's own real-life super-hero is making his way into the comics. Crime-fighting Mayor Giuliani is writing the forward for an upcoming Marvel comic book inspired by true tales...
PARAFFINITO! FAMED WAX MUSEUM 'YANKS' YASSER
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amOne of New York's most controversial figures - the wax image of Yasser Arafat at Madame Tussaud's New York museum in Times Square - has disappeared. Last summer, despite angry...
NO BAIL FOR 9/11 SUSPECT IN VA.
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amThe man accused of being the would-be 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11 terror attacks was ordered held without bail yesterday after being flown under heavy guard from New York...
REGENTS-EXAM SHOCKER ; 25% IN CITY FAIL TO MAKE GRADE ON STATE TESTS
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amMore than one-quarter of the Board of Education's class of 2001 couldn't graduate because they flunked or failed to take the state math Regents exam, new state statistics show. And...
LAME-DUCK MAYOR LETS HIS COLD HEART RULE AGAIN
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amHAS the "dark side" of Mayor Giuliani, hidden since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, re-emerged just as he's leaving office? Leo Sacks, a parishioner at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church,...
FIRST SUIT FILED VS. 9/11 AIRLINE
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amThe widow of a United Airlines passenger who was killed when his plane smashed into the World Trade Center will sue the airline today - the first legal action taken...
JUDGE: BE PREPARED ; WARNS BOY SCOUT 'PERV' A PLEA MEANS JAIL TIME
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amThe accused pedophile scoutmaster of the Upper East Side's Troop 666 could be heading up the river - and not on a Boy Scout camping trip. A stern Manhattan judge...
FEDS: SCAM USED PACINO FLICK FOR TRAINING
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amInvestigators have broken up a "boiler room" operation that used the Al Pacino movie "Glengarry Glen Ross" as a training video for their would-be con men, officials said. In an...
$700M BUDGET SLASH ; RUDY, COUNCIL IN LAST MAJOR DEAL
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amCity Council members voted unanimously yesterday to approve more than $700 million cuts in next year's budget for a wide variety of services - from libraries to day care -...
COUNCILERS GET NEW LEASE ON POLITICAL LIFE
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amTerm limits may force them out of the City Council, but not all the members - or their staffs - will be departing city government. Thanks to a last-minute appointment,...
B'KLYN HS KIDS FLOCK TO SIGN UP FOR ROTC
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amThomas Jefferson HS in Brooklyn gets an "A" in patriotism for running one of the city's best military cadet programs - and its unit has become even more popular since...
COPS SAVE TRAGIC HERO'S SON
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amKimberly Moran lost her husband in the World Trade Center attack - and if it wasn't for quick action yesterday by two cops, she also might have lost her youngest...
EX-COP SHOOTER ARGUED WITH WIFE
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amAn 82-year-old retired NYPD detective had argued bitterly with his wife and stepson before he opened fire, critically wounding them and killing himself, Chicago-area police said yesterday. Detective John Madden,...
ANTHRAX PROBERS EYE AXED SCIENTIST
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amEXCLUSIVE Federal authorities looking for an answer to the murderous anthrax attacks are investigating a scientist who was fired from a company that has produced the deadly bacterium, it was...
TWIN TOWERING INFERNO FINALLY OUT
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amOne hundred days after terror attacks razed the Twin Towers, the main underground fires sparked by the collapse were declared extinguished yesterday. It's the longest-burning structural blaze in history. Dousing...
SLAMMER FOR STRIPPER: PLEADS GUILTY IN SLAY-FRAME PLOT
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amSwiss stripper-turned-student Line Grosjean was reunited with lawyer lover Sanford Asher in Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday - just before she pleaded guilty to scheming to murder his estranged wife and...
TRAITOR DODGES DEATH: REPORT - WALKER FACES 10 YEARS
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amTaliban rat John Walker will avoid the death penalty and could get off with only 10 years by sidestepping a treason charge, it was reported last night. Prosecutors are preparing...
COMCAST'S $72B WINS AT&T CABLE
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amComcast's Brian Roberts beat out a field of hungry rivals last night to acquire the cable assets of AT&T - which Roberts himself put into play with a hostile takeover...
LOVE FEST AT HIZZONER'S FINAL TOWN-HALL MEETING
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amMayor Giuliani last night made his final neighborhood house call at a Brooklyn town-hall meeting, where he got praise and love from the standing-room-only crowd - and mostly gave it...
ANNA NICOLE'S $474M SOB STORY
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amSANTA ANA, Calif. - Anna Nicole Smith broke down in tears yesterday, telling a federal judge she loved her late husband and that he promised her half his massive estate....
ANTHRAX MAILER MAY HAVE ARMY TIE
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amThe FBI believes the answer to the murderous anthrax attacks can be found at one of the nation's top military biological research centers, where significant quantities of the deadly spores...
IT'S A TUNNEL TIE-UP BANGED-UP RANGERS MAKE POINT VS. DEVS
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amRangers 2 Devils 2 If fits perfectly into the skeptics' Christmas timetable: Eric Lindros already out, knee instead of noggin, and a 40-year-old back knocking Mark Messier to the sidelines...
SAUNDERS FLIPS OVER KENYON
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amNET NOTES As coach of the U.S. entry in the Goodwill Games last summer, Minnesota's Flip Saunders saw the raw talent and unbridled emotion of Kenyon Martin. Last night, he...
KIDD HEROICS WHACK WOLVES
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amNets 117 T-Wolves 112 This was over. The Nets' lead was as solid as Gibraltar: 19 points with eight minutes to go. "Ladies and gentlemen, please walk down the ramps,...
YORK SNUB WOULD BE OLYMPIC-SIZE BLUNDER
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amHE was right there in the middle of everything positive again last night, just the way he has been ever since earning a spot on Broadway three seasons ago. That...
DOLLARS & SENSE: YANKEES INSIST THEY'RE HOLDING LINE ON SALARIES
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amThanks to the dollars that vanished due to players retiring and leaving via free agency and the Yankees' strong desire to backload contracts, their 2002 payroll won't significantly increase over...
DON: OUR BIG THREE ARE KEY
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amThe latest act of professional sports' greatest mystery is playing tonight at the Garden. "How Good Are the Knicks?" directed on an interim basis by Don Chaney, can be seen...
DOUBY'S 63 FOR GRADY A SURPRISE
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amQuincy Douby missed his first three shots yesterday, but then, as Grady coach Jack Ringel said, the senior "went absolutely berserk." The 6-foot-4, Hofstra-bound Douby wound up hitting 18 of...
COACH WANTS MORE 'O' FROM CAMBY
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES Knick coach Don Chaney likes what Marcus Camby brings to the team in the way of energy. Now he wants to see Camby bring more in the way...
MORA: NOT FEUDIN' WITH PEYTON
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amJETS NOTES With his team's playoff chances having been dashed for the first time since 1998, Jim Mora, coach of the 5-8 Colts, did his best yesterday to spin a...
CASHMAN SAYS NO TO CHAN HO RUMORS
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amClub officials shot down rumors making the rounds yesterday concerning the Yankees having interest in free agents Chan Ho Park and Kenny Lofton. GM Brian Cashman, who rarely comments on...
JINT GAME A TALE OF TWO RBS
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amDo it for Ron. OK, so that's not the battle cry the Giants take into Sunday's game with the Seahawks. But it would be helpful, at least to blunt some...
FASSEL OK WITH BAN OF BOTTLES
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amGIANT NOTES Jim Fassel is all for the new Giants Stadium ban on plastic bottles in the wake of ugly incidents in Cleveland and New Orleans. "I know [the bottles]...
BUBBA BELIEVES HE'S GOT BIG BAT METS NEED
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amBubba Trammell's quiet confidence could be felt all the way from Tennessee. Any day now he could return to the Mets to protect Mike Piazza. "If they started pitching around...
CURRAN GETS 800TH WIN
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amJack Curran picked up his 800th career win last night when Archbishop Molloy defeated Half Hollow Hills, 100-51, backed by Sundiata Gaines, who scored 15 points. The Stanners improved to...
TO HELL WITH THE HEX! HERMAN-ATOR AIMS TO SLAY JETS' CULTURE OF LOSING
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amThe direction of Herman Edwards' rookie season as an NFL head coach hangs in the balance in Sunday night's game against the Colts in Indianapolis. It could be a catalyst...
VAN HORN DOING PLENTY FOR NETS
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amYou watch the Nets play. You watch Keith Van Horn. The game ends and you say, "He was OK." Then you look at the stat sheet. Van Horn finished with...
ARNOTT CERTAIN A LINE WILL BE RECONNECTED
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amFor the umpteenth time this season, the A Line was broken up last night. The line's namesake believes that for the umpteenth time, it will be reassembled. Perhaps that's a...
BACK PAIN DOESN'T SIT WELL WITH MESSIER
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amThis fits just perfectly into the skeptics' Christmas timetable: Eric Lindros already out, knee instead of noggin, and an ailing Mark Messier trying to battle his way through his coach...
FATCATS LIVE ACROSS RIVER NOW
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amTHE surprise isn't so much that the Rangers were nine points ahead of the Devils going into last night's Garden confrontation, especially given that the Blueshirts had played five games...
KIDD'S SHOT IS SKYROCKETING
December 20, 2001 | 5:00amNET NOTES In the five games leading up to last night, Jason Kidd made 29 of 63 shots. That's 46 percent shooting. Normally, that is not a reason for a...