December 21, 2002
MSNBC GETS A MERRY DISS-MAS FROM THE BOSS
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amNBC Chairman Bob Wright has no kind words for the troops at MSNBC - in fact he's got no words at all for the struggling cable news channel. In an...
GODZILLA PLANS TO HIT HOME RUN$ FOR MLB
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amThe Yankees got their man, but all 30 Major League Baseball teams will share in the take. The Yankees' signing Thursday of Japanese power hitter Hideki Matsui, nicknamed "Godzilla," to...
NIKE TRIPS UP FOOT LOCKER
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amFoot Locker's striking out. The athletic shoe and apparel retailer is being cut off by behemoth Nike, Inc. for wanting to carry more affordable shoes. In February, Nike will no...
HIT THE ROAD JACK : GRUBMAN FINED $15M, BARRED FROM ST. FOR LIFE
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amJack Grubman's career on Wall Street is over, but the former high-flying telecom analyst seems to have escaped doing jail time for his bull market cheerleading. Grubman, the former Citigroup...
FREEZE FRAMED : CHILLING STORY OF SOUTH POLE CANCER DOC READY TO ROLL
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amSUSAN Sarandon will star in an upcoming CBS movie about Jerri Nielsen, the doctor who battled breast cancer while trapped at the South Pole. The film, called "Ice Bound," will...
CRITICAL MESS: REVIEWERS CAN'T AGREE ON ANYTHING WHEN IT COME TO 'GANGS'
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amA movie 25 years in the making, "Gangs of New York" is finally here, and the verdict is - well - who knows? "The best picture of the year!" crows...
DINNER PARTY CHEAT SHEET
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amIn October 2001, a meatball, attached to no owner, flew from a dinner party table. My diving friend, Curley, caught it, but the meatball fell from his hand after Mick...
GOLD STANDARD
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amBars with self-conscious design schemes don't impress the Bar Belles. (We believe saloons should be made for drinking, not to inspire Cooper Union grad theses.) But we're willing to cut...
HEARTH-WARMING : TAKE YOUR FLAME TO THESE COZY FIRESIDE NIGHTSPOTS
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amSmoky bars will soon be a thing of the past, thanks to Mayor Mike, but at least you'll always be able to warm up in one of the city's many...
FREE FOR ALL
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amMenu venue Too broke to eat out? Well, if you head to the main branch of the library today, you can at least fantasize about being a gourmand. Check out...
HELLO BETTY!
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amIf you've been thinking about baking Christmas cookies, what are you waiting for - the return of "Betty Crocker's Cooky Book?" Well, dust off those baking sheets. The 1963 classic...
SAM IS THE MAN
December 21, 2002 | 5:00am"I was on a Missing Persian Case and prowling around Soho ... "His ex-girlfriend, a disappointed Tabby, wanted him back, but when I found him, in a little Italian bistro...
TREATS 'N' EATS: WHERE TO DINE WHEN HUNGER HITS DURING YOUR HOLIDAY TREK
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amThere are so many fun things to do in the city this time of year, where do you start? And where can you stop when you get hungry? Nothing will...
'MOB' RIVER RAT : DOCKS UNION BOSS SQUEALING ON GOTTI BRO
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amThe president of the city's powerful dock workers union is cooperating with the feds against Gambino boss Peter Gotti as well as other Mafiosi and politicians suspected of labor racketeering...
LAYOFF CLAUSE INCLUDED IN TRANSIT DEAL
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amSignificant concessions, including a new clause allowing layoffs, will help pay for a new labor contract for city subway and bus workers, a top MTA official said yesterday. "Layoffs are...
'SHIP' BUG DOCKS AT THIRD L.I. HOSP
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amThe "cruise ship" virus has struck another Long Island hospital, this time sickening 14 patients with symptoms of the Norwalk gastrointestinal virus. Central Island Healthcare in Plainview is the third...
ROADBLOCK GANG MUGS L.I. COUPLE
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amBrazen robbers on Long Island used their getaway car to set up a roadblock to target a pair of Good Samaritans, police said yesterday. Nassau cops say the young victims,...
EASY CONN., EASY GO FOR $215M
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amNew Yorkers flocked to Connecticut yesterday to try their luck at tonight's $215 million Powerball jackpot. "I feel lucky," said Fred Frias, 43, a Manhattan bus driver, after buying $50...
SHEIK-UP: WACKY ARAFAT AXES AIDE
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amYasser Arafat abruptly shuffled his aides dealing with Jerusalem in a move that leads Palestinian insiders to suspect he is acting erratically. Arafat fired the PLO representative in Jerusalem, Sari...
TRAGIC RESULTS : 'MEDEA' KNOCKING 'EM DEAD - ALMOST
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amBroadway's graphic "Medea" ground to a halt this week when an audience member passed out as Fiona Shaw - the star of the 2,500-year-old Greek tragedy - appeared onstage carrying...
COUP'S GOOD NEWS FOR W. AGENDA
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Trent Lott's loss is George W. Bush's gain, political analysts say. With Sen. Bill Frist of Tennessee set to be the next Senate majority leader, President Bush moves...
BUSH'S 'PALESTINE' VIEW : COMMITS TO STATE LIVING IN PEACE WITH ISRAEL
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amPresident Bush yesterday made his firmest statement on the Mideast in months, saying he was "strongly committed" to a Palestinian state living in peace with Israel. "I believe it is...
PARTY FAVOR: MIKE GIVES RUDY'S CIGAR PAL A SMOKE BREAK
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amIn a surprise move at the 11th hour, Mayor Bloomberg secured an exemption in his tough anti-smoking bill to accommodate a cigar fest sponsored by a pal of Rudy Giuliani's,...
'BLOOD' DUD TALKS HIS WAY INTO JAIL
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amA Long Island "Bloods" gang member who threatened an undercover cop on the phone was busted when the officer recognized his voice, cops said. Beginning a week ago, alleged gang...
PARTY OF LINCOLN: THE NEXT WAVE
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amSen. Trent Lott's decision to step down as Senate ma jority leader was "the right thing for the country, for the party and for the president, " says Ohio Sec...
'BOTOX' QUACK IS ONE SORRY SURGEON
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amA phony doctor sentenced to prison for maiming his clients said he and his fake-physician wife didn't mean any harm - they were just trying to help people "look good."...
'FRIST' IN THE HEARTS OF GOP
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - In between being a senator, running GOP fund-raisers, steering health-care legislation and being a heart-transplant surgeon, Sen. Bill Frist has also found time to visit Sudan to treat...
BURIED BABY WAS STILLBORN: BOYFRIEND'S DAD
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amThe Connecticut man who buried his girlfriend's newborn baby in his backyard was only trying to help the panicked teenager after giving birth to a stillborn, the young man's father...
WALL STREET WALLOPED WITH $1.4B PENALTY
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amWall Street knuckled under yesterday and agreed to cough up $1.4 billion and undertake sweeping reforms to end regulators' probes into investment banks' conflicts of interest. The hard-fought settlement covers...
BRONX CHESS NUTS ARE U.S. CHAMPS
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amA Bronx middle school is best in the nation at saying "Checkmate!" Sixth graders at MS 118 have won the national chess tournament held in Atlanta against fellow students their...
ED. DEPT. JOB WAR BREWING
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amSchools Chancellor Joel Klein is considering replacing civil-service workers with private firms to provide billing services for the Department of Education - a move that would cause a war with...
POST MAN DELIVERS FOR NEEDY
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amThe New York Post's distribution department and the Epworth United Methodist Church came together to sponsor the church's first annual canned food drive for the residents of the South Bronx....
WEIRD BUT TRUE
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amTwo suburban Chicago teens face car theft charges after making off with a car - and then taking a video of their joy ride, according to police in Buffalo Grove....
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amMANHATTAN An intruder broke into a Washington Heights apartment and tried to rob its tenant, but got away empty-handed, police sources said yesterday. The attempted robbery began Thursday at around...
HACKER HEIST HAD A 'KINK' IN IT: FEDS
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amA 24-year-old Queens man hacked into the computers of about 15 people and tried to steal their financial information by laying a trap at various Kinko's stores throughout the city,...
DR. LAURA'S MOM FOUND SLAIN AT CALIF. HOME
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amThe mother of sharp-tongued radio talk-show shrink Dr. Laura Schlessinger was found murdered in her Beverly Hills home, cops said yesterday. The badly decomposed body of Yolanda Schlessinger, 77, was...
LAWSUIT-WARY BROKERAGES NOT OUT OF WOODS YET
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amEven though the Wall Street investment banks' deal with law enforcement isn't yet set in stone, investors gleefully piled into brokerage stocks yesterday, believing the worst is over. But is...
SPENT TRENT QUITS GOP HELM :WILL REMAIN IN SENATE AS FRIST WAITS IN WINGS
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - A demoralized Sen. Trent Lott quit his leadership post yesterday, after his closest allies decided his seemingly racist remarks had mushroomed into a scandal dragging the Republican Party...
BROOKLYN SCHOOLS BIG QUITS
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amBrooklyn high school superintendent Charles Majors quit yesterday - two months after Schools Chancellor Joel Klein slapped him down for removing a popular high school principal. Klein reinstated Middle College...
MIKE WANTS TO SCRAP Q&A FORUMS
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amTOWN HALL meetings where voters get to question the mayor are a once-a-month tradition stretching back to the Koch administration. Not anymore. Mayor Bloomberg has held only two such meetings...
HILL: REPUBLICANS STILL HAVE LOTT OF EXPLAINING TO DO
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amSen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday charged that Sen. Trent Lott is an example of the Republican Party's "constant exploitation of race" - and she dredged up accusations that President Bush...
EAGLE-EYE COPS NAB QUEENS SLAY SUSPECT
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amTwo quick-thinking NYPD cops arrested a murder suspect yesterday after spotting his SUV while they were driving home from work. Officers Michael Isler and Albert Davide, both of the 103rd...
HIT-RUN TRAGEDY : CABBY SLAMS INTO 'CONFUSED' OLD GUY
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amA disoriented elderly Cuban immigrant was mowed down and killed by an unwitting taxi driver in Midtown early yesterday, cops and neighbors said. Saturnino Vega, 86, was hit at 4:50...
'BALLGAME' OVER: TED STAYS FROZEN
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amThe oldest daughter of baseball legend Ted Williams yesterday iced her efforts to take the late slugger out of a cryogenic morgue, leaving him forever frozen. Money woes forced Bobby-Jo...
RAGING RIVERS : TOSSES PEN AT CLERK'S EYE: COPS
December 21, 2002 | 5:00am"Can we talk?" is cops' question for Joan Rivers after the caustic comedian threw a hissy fit - and a marking pen - that struck a clerk in the eye...
RAPE HORROR AT SHEA 'SLUM' : THUGS DRAGGED, BEAT VICTIM: COPS
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amA Queens woman was savagely beaten and gang-raped for more than two hours in a "shantytown" alongside train tracks near Shea Stadium by a pack of homeless men, cops said....
GIVING THE LIE TO 'PEACE' BUSH: SADDAM'S DODGES PUSH US ON ROAD TO WAR
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush said yesterday that war with Iraq looks more likely, given Saddam Hussein's refusal to disarm cooperatively. Asked if he's on the path to war, Bush said,...
DA PROBER SUSPENDED
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amAn investigator with the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office was suspended yesterday after he was seen waving his gun around at an office party, sources said. Diego Rivera, 35, who has...
PIZZA-SLAY ROBBER DUCKS MURDER RAP
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amA girl who started the mugging that ended in the shooting death of a pizza deliveryman last year was convicted of robbery yesterday but acquitted of murder - a charge...
CHESS NUTS FROM BRONX SCHOOL ARE U.S. CHAMPS
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amA Bronx middle school is best in the nation at saying "Checkmate!" Sixth graders at MS 118 have won the national chess tournament held in Atlanta against fellow students their...
EAGLE-EYE COPS NAB SLAY SUSPECT
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amTwo alert NYPD cops arrested a murder suspect yesterday after spotting his SUV while they were driving home along a Long Island highway. Officers Michael Isler and Albert Davide saw...
BUSH SPEAKS TO IRAN
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday told young Iranians they'll have "no better friend" than the United States if they liberate their country. Bush's message was sent over Radio Farda, a...
HIGH WINDS CLOSE BIG A EARLY
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amDangerous winds from the storm that hit New York yesterday forced cancellation of the live card at Aqueduct minutes before post time for the second race, even though the surface...
AN 'A' MEMBER MAKES HIS RETURN
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amWhat was - and should still be - comes back to haunt the Devils today. Losing Bobby Holik, firing Larry Robinson, firing Kevin Constantine and hiring Pat Burns each shook...
PUNCHLESS BLUESHIRTS GIVE LUNDMARK A CALL
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amDETROIT - Our long nightmare is over. Jamie Lundmark has been recalled from Hartford. "You know, it was never a question of not wanting Jamie here," Glen Sather said yesterday...
YANKEES, RED SOX CHASE CONTRERAS
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amEven during the holiday season, the Yankees and Red Sox can't keep the peace. Cuban defector and free-agent pitcher Jose Contreras, whom a scout yesterday compared to Roger Clemens, is...
SPREE'S AT HOME
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amMILWAUKEE - Appropriately, Latrell Sprewell's yacht on Lake Michigan is called "Milwaukee's Best" - appropriate, because Sprewell's best always comes out on the basketball court when the Knick star plays...
'EYE' LOOKS TO BE MILLIONAIRE
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amAlthough she's never run a mile-and-a-quarter, With Ability will be heavily favored to win her second straight over Aqueduct's inner dirt track in today's Grade 3, $100,000 Ladies Handicap. But...
HOU AIMING AT .500 - AND THEN...
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amMILWAUKEE - Allan Houston's goal once was winning the NBA championship. Now his primary focus is the Knicks just getting to the .500 mark by February's All-Star break. Houston thinks...
AMAZIN'S LAND REAL MONSTER OUTFIELDER
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amTHE Yankees snared most of the headlines this offseason regarding power-hitting outfielders with their Godzilla grab, but you can book this: The Mets got the best bat of the winter...
JETS FISH FOR PLAYOFF SPOT : BEATING PATRIOTS JUST FIRST STEP
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amThe Jets insist that they are a vastly different team now then the one that seemed to be quickly falling apart earlier in the season when they were embarrassed by...
HERM NOT WILD FOR STEVE MARTIN
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amHerman Edwards emphatically denied yesterday that the Jets had any interest in DT Steve Martin, who was waived by the Patriots on Thursday. "None. Zero," Edwards responded when asked of...
CLEMENS, YANKS MAKING PROGRESS
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amEven at 40 years old, Roger Clemens still can push speed guns into the mid-90s with his fastball. But when it comes to getting a one-year deal hammered out with...
METS JUMP ON CLIFF : FLOYD GETS $26M DESPITE GLUT IN OUTFIELD
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amThe first cautious steps of the Fred Wilpon Era were followed by a gigantic leap of faith yesterday. Even Wilpon agreed that signing Cliff Floyd before the Mets dumped salary...
THIS OPPONENT'S 'BAD' NEWS FOR NETS
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amThursday night, the Nets battled Shaquille O'Neal, a 330-pound battering ram. Tonight things really get physical. An exaggeration? Hardly. Not when the Pistons come to town. The team that used...
PEY-ING ATTENTION ON D :JINTS CAN'T BE COWED BY COLT QB'S AUDIBLES
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amThey are not impressed. Now don't get this wrong. The Giants have all the proper respect for Peyton Manning, but they are not exactly shaking in their shoes at the...
PETERSON MAY NOT BE READY FOR INDY
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amBefore the Giants were finished practicing yesterday, Will Peterson exited the indoor bubble, wearing a knit hat and a downcast expression, and he walked slowly in the pouring rain, seemingly...
RED STORM FACING 1ST BIG TEST
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amWINSTON-SALEM - The record (5-0) is impressive - until you look at the list of opponents St. John's has beaten: Overmatched Stony Brook; pedestrian Fairfield; out-of-whack Fordham; intimidated St. Francis,...
NAKAMURA STAYING IN JAPAN
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amFor days, reports all over the world had Norihiro Nakamura coming to the Mets. Last night, the Japanese third baseman spurned them, perhaps because of news leaks about his decision....
LAPOINTE HITTING MILESTONE
December 21, 2002 | 5:00amAnd sometimes free agents pan out and stick around. When the Caps visit Nassau Coliseum tonight, Claude Lapointe will be playing his 500th game for the Islanders, who signed him...