April 27, 2002
GDP: RECESSION CLOUD HAS LIFTED
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amHey, hey, America, we're booming. The United States' gross domestic product grew at an astounding 5.8 percent rate in the first quarter, casting off all fears of a long recession....
WE SCREWED UP - MERRILL CHANGES TUNE, CALLS E-MAILS 'DISTRESSING'
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amIt takes a big man to apologize - and embattled Merrill Lynch Chairman David Komansky lived up to his size. Komansky made a rare apology to shareholders yesterday, signaling that...
I'M CHEVY CHASE, A SITCOM STAR (AND YOU'RE NOT) IN NBC'S LINEUP OF SHOWS FOR THE FALL
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amNBC is looking for some new "Friends." NBC is hunting for a new a hit comedy that will replace "Friends" in 2003, when the long-running ends its successful nine-season run...
SHE SOUNDS RAITT WEARY
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amON her just-released disc, "Silver Lining," Bonnie Raitt seems to have forgotten the touch of gray in her copper top and that she's used up 52 years of her life,...
ROMANCE RATES
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amTHE much-hyped finale of "The Bachelor" finished second Thursday night behind the CBS hotshot show "CSI." The ABC reality show lassoed a robust 18.2 million viewers from 9 to 10...
MERRILY WE ROLL - AND RIDE, SLED AND SURF ALONG : COOL KID TRANSPORT FROM DAYS GONE BY
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amIf an object fits in with what Alex Shear calls "the three W's," then he wants it. "Wonderful, wacky, wow!" he explains, chattering on a mile a minute about streamline...
IN THE SWIM WITH RALPH'S WORLD
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amRALPH'S WORLD "At the Bottom of the Sea" Mini Fresh Records This second kid-friendly disc from Ralph's World, led by Chicago's Ralph Covert, is upbeat, lively and filled with enough...
A DOG'S LIFE
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amAs an actress, Jenn Rapp is not above crawling around a stage on all fours - if the part calls for it. And starting last night , the 28-year-old actress...
MAIN SQUEEZE
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amWant to make someone pucker up? Try a sprightly spritz of lemon. The sunny citrus fruit perks up everything from iced tea to marinades to tarts and sorbets. Its refreshing...
RUN FOR COVERS
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amLensman Henry Diltz has been shooting the stars since the late '60s - rock stars, that is. Legends such as Neil Young, the Byrds, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan have...
SLIP SERVICE
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amThe Bar Belles have a soft spot for mixologists who take inspiration from the world around them - no matter how kooky that world may be. When Steve Martin's delightfully...
DINNER PARTY CHEAT SHEET
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amVOICES CARRY Karen Hughes, the top aide to President Bush, has resigned her position. "I'm not sure I have my own voice anymore. I hear [Bush's] voice in my head,"...
BARBIE: SAPPHIC SCREEN STAR... AND OTHER DOLL-ICIOUS HIGHLIGHTS FROM ARLENE GROCERY FEST
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amThe suits at Mattel , the giant toy manufacturer best known for its Barbie dolls, don't have much of a sense of humor. They took one look at "Barbie Can...
MIKE STUCK IN 'PARK' : STILL LOTS OF VIP PASSES DESPITE NEW CRACKDOWN
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amSOME private citizens with political clout are wheeling around town with official city parking permits, even amid a crackdown ordered by Mayor Bloomberg. Former council Speaker Peter Vallone was given...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amIt was a bad hair day for everyone. An Idaho man was so displeased with his haircut, he tried to ram his pickup truck through the beauty-shop window. Paul Peyton...
CITY GETS ROLLING ON DOWNTOWN STREET FIX
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amThe city is fast-tracking a major project to repave 600 lower Manhattan streets - covering 37 miles - by June 1, officials said yesterday. The $11 billion milling-and-paving project has...
W. BANK RAIDERS FOIL BIG BOMB PLOT
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amJERUSALEM - Israeli troops yesterday seized three Palestinians preparing for a homicide attack on a major city. Israeli sources said interrogations of suspects seized during Israel's military sweep of the...
NEW CLASS OF HEROES: PORT AUTHORITY COPS REFILL TRAGIC RANKS WITH NYPD VETS
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amThe Port Authority Police Department, which lost 37 officers and commanders in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, took another giant step toward rebuilding yesterday when 83 new cops joined its...
BLOOMY STEPS UP TO BLESS B'KLYN BRIDGE CLIMB PLAN
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amGet those bridge-climbing boots ready. Mayor Bloomberg yesterday enthusiastically endorsed a plan that would allow adventuresome tourists to scale the suspension cables on the Brooklyn Bridge. The proposal was first...
SILVER WILL GIVE MIKE SCHOOLS IN EXCHANGE FOR TEACHER RAISE
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amAssembly Speaker Sheldon Silver vowed yesterday he'll block Mayor Bloomberg from grabbing control of the school system unless City Hall gives teachers "the pay raise they deserve." Silver, the state...
EBAY'S CEO WHITMAN WAS PAID OPTIONS WORTH $47.8M
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amMeg Whitman got a very generous pay package last year: salary of $241,256, bonus of $139,332 and stock options that could be worth a whopping $47.8 million - if the...
SUIT AIMS TO STOP NEW LIMELIGHT
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amChelsea residents want the Limelight to stay dark - and they've gone to court to keep the new owners of the notorious nightclub from getting a liquor license. In papers...
PAPER TRAIL TIES SAUDI $$ TO TERROR
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - The Saudi government paid more than $5,000 each to the families of 102 Palestinian homicide bombers - contrary to its denials that it ever does that - according...
TEEN OUT ON 100G BAIL IN TRAGIC BEER BRAWL
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amA Westchester teen who put his football teammate in a coma with one punch at a boozy party was released on $100,000 bail yesterday, after his lawyer argued it was...
SCANDAL CARDINAL SET TO FLY: OFF TO VATICAN BEFORE HE CAN TESTIFY: REPORT
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amBernard Cardinal Law is expected to be promoted and moved to the Vatican within the next month - before he can be deposed in a high-profile priest sex-abuse case, it...
FIREMAN FACES MARIJUANA RAP
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amA Queens firefighter was one of New York's highest when he was pulled over on the Grand Central Parkway and busted on a pot charge, cops said yesterday. When Mike...
COPS KICKED ME AROUND TOO: NEIGHBOR
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amA next-door neighbor of a Brooklyn woman who claims cops burst into her apartment, hauled her off to jail for two days and then let her go with no explanation...
WTC 'GRAND MALL' PLAN: HUGE RETAIL SPACE BY NEW PATH STATION
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amThe entire shopping mall that was lost in the World Trade Center attack can be rebuilt below the site, a top Port Authority official said yesterday. The 460,000 square-foot retail...
A WEALTH OF ADVICE FOR $59M 'WINNER': SHARE IT!
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amShare it, you cheapskate! After all, $5.9 million is plenty to live on. That's the blunt advice New Yorkers and New Jerseyans have for an Garden State man who apparently...
BUSH VOWS ISRAEL WON'T BE 'CRUSHED'
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - A day after the Saudi crown prince pressed him to rein in Israel, President Bush yesterday sent a strong signal of support to Israel, vowing: "We will not...
WRONG-WAY GRAY : EXPERT: DWI VICTIMS DIDN'T COME OUT OF THE DARK
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amIn bombshell testimony yesterday, a prosecution witness told a Brooklyn court that marks on disgraced ex-cop Joseph Gray's van - which struck and killed three pedestrians after a drinking binge...
EX-COP WON'T LET KILLER OFF HOOK
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amThe detective who busted Lamont Branch for murder nearly 13 years ago said the trail had gone cold until two crack addicts turned up to name names - but he...
FEISTY LOPES KNEW ALL THE ROPES
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amIf the pop group TLC is a knife, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was its edge. Lopes leaves a giant legacy in hip-hop - not just for her Grammy-winning raps and...
N.Y. FLOCK SAYS SHEPHERD HAS DESERTED THEM
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amGREGORY Gnoza wants to see the "Invisible Cardinal." Gnoza, 47, says his cardinal is "supposed to be" with his people, informing his people and leading them. "It's like Colin Powell,"...
MOUSSAOUI LAWYERS RIP FEDS
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - The feds want to execute alleged "20th hijacker" Zacarias Moussaoui for the Sept. 11 attacks "because no one else is available," Moussaoui's defense lawyers charged in court papers...
COPS NAB BRONX BOY'S 'SHOOTER'
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amTipsters led cops to bust a 24-year-old Bronx man and his girlfriend in a drug-war shooting that missed its intended target and wounded a 5-year-old boy walking with his family,...
FEDS REWARD DOWNTOWN BIZ WITH $33M
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amFourteen firms that agreed to stay put in lower Manhattan shared $32.9 million in federal handouts yesterday, part of a $500 million pool that could eventually benefit every company downtown....
BLOOMY'S GUN GAFFE RAPID-FIRE MAYOR SHOOTS OFF HIS MOUTH
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg, bite your tongue! Hizzoner's flapping gums raised a few eyebrows around City Hall yesterday when he said that if the NYPD harmed kids the way the public schools...
CITY PROBE EYES FIRM IN BLAST
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amThe owners of a Chelsea sign company didn't file reports on the chemicals that may have caused a building explosion Thursday that injured 32 people, officials said yesterday. Kaltech Sign...
SHRED-HOT ENRON BABES BARE ALL
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amA Playboy crew was in Houston this week to catch 10 of Enron's female employees uncovering their hidden assets. The crew snapped shots of the women who volunteered to pose...
R&B'S 'LEFT EYE' KILLED IN CRASH SUV FLIPPED IN HONDURAS SMASHUP
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amDays before hitting the studio with her old bandmates, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, the volatile, theatrical third of Grammy-winning R&B group TLC, died in a head-on car crash during a...
HIZZONER'S GAL PAL GOING TO WORK FOR GOV
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg's girlfriend has a new job as a top deputy to Gov. Pataki, sources said last night. Diana Taylor, 47, is quitting her job as chief financial officer of...
'LIBERTY' MEMORIAL PROPOSAL
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amA permanent World Trade Center memorial would be part of a new Liberty National Park that includes the Statue of Liberty, Ellis and Governors islands and Battery Park, in a...
EGAN CALLS ALL PRIESTS TO MASS MEET
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amAll priests in the Archdiocese of New York have been ordered to attend a meeting Monday where Edward Cardinal Egan will discuss the historic two-day Vatican summit and the proposed...
MARSHALS SIFT THROUGH CHELSEA BLAST SITE
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amThe shattered Chelsea industrial building rocked by a massive explosion drew crowds of gawkers who yesterday watched hazmat teams comb the building for clues to what sparked the blast. An...
NO DOUBT ABOUT NET WIN KITTLES TREY CRUSHES O'NEAL VICTORY VOW
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amINDIANAPOLIS - If there has been a bigger shot in Kerry Kittles' life, he could not recall it. If there has been a bigger shot in the history of the...
REGGIE COULDN'T KERRY GAME OFF
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amINDIANAPOLIS - Trying to guard Reggie Miller through a maze of screens and back picks is about as exhausting as anything Kerry Kittles has ever experienced on a basketball court....
H.S. STUD VISITS QNS. TOURNEY
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amLeBron James, the junior sensation from Akron, Ohio, who is considering turning pro before he gets out of high school, was at the IS 8 tournament in Queens last night,...
WILLIAMS ALMOST MISSES CHANCE TO WIN
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amINDIANAPOLIS - Aaron Williams wanted to miss. But he was too good at it. Oh, he missed his second attempt from the line with :00.8 left. The problem was, he...
HATCH TOOK MINI BREAK
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amJeff Hatch will be on the practice field today for the second day of Giants rookie mini-camp. The third round draft pick out of Penn. did not participate yesterday because...
GIANTS SEEK JENNINGS
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amA day after Dave Jennings was unceremoniously dumped as the Jets radio analyst, the Giants made a strong bid to hire their former punter to join Bob Papa and Dick...
VILLEGAS HAS BECOME RISING STAR
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amWhether it's the MetroStars' offense or defense that shines, Petter Villegas always receives accolades. The midfielder has emerged in his fifth season in the MLS as a star and is...
MCCLINE A STEP FROM BIG TIME
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amJameel 'Big Time' McCline said he used to carry as many as 65 guns. Now he carries a menacing jab, a powerful hook and the quiet determination of a man...
DO-OR-DIE DEVILS NEED SOME HEROES
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amTheir plight as desperate as it gets, this is where we learn the truth about these Devils, this team still aspiring to greatness, resembling one headed towards mediocrity. Their next...
PIAZZA GETTING ANTSY
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amMike Piazza told the cold truth last night. "I kind of feel like a shrimp cocktail, I've been under so much ice," the Met catcher said with a weary smile...
VINNY HITS GREEN FOR FINAL DEAL
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amWhen Vinny Testaverde first arrived as a Jet in the summer of 1998 he did so quietly, supposedly coming in as a backup quarterback to finish out the twilight of...
LOOKS LIKE I PICKED WRONG SERIES TO COVER
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amSOME guys get all the luck. Take Jay Greenberg, who not only gets to enjoy a vicious Islanders-Maple Leafs series, but the can't-miss column cartoon characters Pat Quinn and Mike...
PETTITTE FACES TEST TOMORROW
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amSEATTLE - If Andy Pettitte's elbow barks at any time during tomorrow's Safeco Field workout, the lefty is headed for another round of tests to determine what's wrong with the...
ONE TO REMEMBER LONE BREWER SINGLE MARS ESTES NO-HIT BID
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amMets 1Brewers 0 Shawn Estes was daring to go where no Met pitcher had ever gone before in the club's previous 6,428 games. Tom Seaver never pitched a no-hitter as...
BLAME SHEA BOARD
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amIt's not nice to fool with Mother Nature or baseball superstitions. In the fifth inning last night on the scoreboard at Shea a baseball no-no was committed as Shawn Estes...
CHEAP HITS, COSTLY LOSS PECA, KJ FELLED AS ISLES FALL
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amTORONTO - If the Islanders are to win their first playoff series since 1993, they're going to have to do it in seven games. And they may have to do...
ISLES AS AWFUL AS REFS
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amTORONTO - The Leafs got the Islanders high, got 'em low. Gary Roberts went 85 feet in the first period, forearms in front of him, to slam Kenny Jonsson's head...
ROG, YANKS ROAST M'S - ROCKET DOMINATES SAFECO SHOWDOWN
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amSEATTLE - Equipped with an electric fastball early, Roger Clemens dominated the Mariners last night at Safeco Field and proved why teammates love to have him on the mound. The...
'PEN-ULTIMATE ADDITION : STRICKLAND'S BEEN SIMPLY AMAZIN'
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amEven though the Mets had lost five of their last eight games entering last night, there was one major bright spot. Without the excellent work of the bullpen, the Mets...
NUMBERS CRUNCH NICK: TORRE SITS JOHNSON AGAIN
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amSEATTLE - It's not bad enough that big league pitchers have been eating up rookie Nick Johnson lately. Yesterday, a computer punched him out of the Yankees' lineup. After the...
YANKS, M'S RESUME BATTLE
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amSEATTLE - Small bites. It's one of Joe Torre's catch phrases, and usually it surfaces in the postseason, when every pitch is important. It's Torre's way of telling his players...
VAN HORN TORN BY SUCCESS
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amINDIANAPOLIS - Winning 50-plus games, the Atlantic Division championship and the top seed in the Eastern Conference: those were dreams Keith Van Horn and Jayson Williams shared during the 1997-98...
ROOKIES RELISH FIRST PLAYOFF EXPERIENCE
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amNET NOTES INDIANAPOLIS - They had heard all about the playoffs. No matter what you hear, no matter what people say to prepare you, you'll never even gauge the experience...
O'NEAL KEEPS TAKING SHOTS: INSISTS PACERS WILL CUT DOWN NETS
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amINDIANAPOLIS - Someone disrespects you, real or imagined, you disrespect them back. And that's what Jermaine O'Neal seems to be doing as yesterday he claimed he has "no doubts" that...
BERNIE'S BAT GETS HEALTHY
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES SEATTLE - There is a pulse in Bernie Williams' swing these days, but the muscle hasn't checked in yet. Going into last night's game against the Mariners at...
SWAP OF VERBAL JABS HEATS UP THE RIVALRY
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amTORONTO - The war of the words between the Islanders and Leafs gets better by the day. Prior to last night's Game 5 in the best-of-seven series that was tied,...
WOUNDED BUT DANGEROUS
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amTORONTO - It might still be a conspiracy. That's what Peter Laviolette, who knows that the twin killers of complacency and anxiety are out there along with the truth, believed...
JERMAINE EATS HIS BIG WORDS
April 27, 2002 | 4:00amINDIANAPOLIS - Jermaine O'Neal stood at mid-court before last night's game and hoisted the trophy he had just been presented for being named the league's Most Improved Player. The home...