December 27, 2002
RUSS BERRIE, TITAN OF TROLLS AND TOYS, DIES
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amRuss Berrie, founder of the toy company that bears his name, died suddenly on Christmas day. The cause of his death was heart failure, the company said in a statement....
UAL, UNIONS HEAD BACK TO THE TABLE
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amUnited Airlines - bankrupt but breaking records filling its planes - is ready to toss all labor contracts for cheaper overhead. The world's No. 2 airline is legally permitted to...
BLOWN AWAY AT HARVARD ; JFK JR. BIOGRAPHER AIMS PEN AT UNIVERSITY'S HISTORY
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amCONTROVERSIAL John F. Kennedy Jr. chronicler Richard Blow is hard at work on his next book - a history of Harvard University, one of the oldest and most storied institutions...
JOBLESS FALLOFF; BUT FILERS MAY ONLY HAVE TAKEN A HOLIDAY OFF
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amIn a puzzling surprise, fewer people showed up at unemployment offices last week to file jobless claims. The government said it was the first time in more than a year...
CLEAR CHANNEL CONCEALS LAYOFFS OF SOME TOP EXECS
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amClear Channel celebrated the holidays by firing some high-level executives at its struggling entertainment unit. Just a week before Christmas, the company booted the chief operating officer and four-person public...
STARR REPORT
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amSpy TV: 'Ghost' materializes on '20/20' Meet the man who helped bring down master spy Robert Hanssen. On tonight's "20/20," John Miller speaks exclusively with Eric O'Neill, who was a...
THINK TIME FOR HITLER IN 'MAX'
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amMAX A real talker.Running time: 109 minutes. Rated R (violence, profanity, sex). At the Angelika, Houston and Broome streets. THE mad playwright in "The Producers" says he wrote "Springtime for...
POLANSKI'S HOLOCAUST FILM HITS ALL THE RIGHT NOTES
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amTHE PIANIST The Holocaust, via Polanski.Running time: 148 minutes. Rated R (wartime atrocities and violence). At the Lincoln Square and the 19th Street East. AFTER directing five clunkers in a...
A BIG SAD WOOLF
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amTHE HOURS Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown.Running time: 114 minutes. Rated PG-13 (sexuality, suicide, mild profanity). At the Lincoln Square, the Union Square, the 72nd St. East....
HEAD IN THE SAND
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amIN SHIFTING SANDS THIS documentary about U.N. arms inspection in Iraq could be very pertinent as the Bush government prepares for war. It isn't. As written and directed by Scott...
A BAD EGG, 'SONNY' SIDE DOWN
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amSONNY Nic, how could you?Running time: 110 minutes. Rated R (sex, violence, profanity, drugs). At the Empire and the Angelika. ASIDE from his tour de force as the twin writers...
MOVIE FANS STAY HOME
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amDESPITE some minor glitches, Time Warner's much-ballyhooed video on demand channel option is keeping more New Yorkers inside this winter. The system has boosted the cable operator's revenues by 30...
REAL NICK KNACK
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amNICHOLAS NICKLEBY Astute adaptation of Dickens' classic is the family film of the season.Rated PG (nothing offensive). Running time: 132 minutes. At the Angelika and Lincoln Plaza Cinemas. DOUG McGrath's...
NIGHTSSHINING BRIGHT ; A LOOK BACK AT THE TROUPERS OF 2002
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amIRVING Berlin got it right: There's no people like show people.With egos as big and as fragile as McMansions, a daredevil's taste for the high-wire and an enviable ability to...
MIZ LIZ STILL STEALING SCENES AT D.C. GALA ; QUEEN FOR A NIGHT
December 27, 2002 | 5:00am"The 25th KennedyCenter Honors" Tonight at 9 on CBS/Ch. 2 THE story here is Elizabeth Taylor. The other Kennedy Center honorees are all distinguished in their own right, but only...
FIRST CITY: KILLER 'CHICAGO' RAZZLE DAZZLES
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amCHICAGO ½ Clever film adaptation of cynical Broadway musical. Running time: 108 minutes. Rated PG-13 (innuendo). At the Ziegfeld, West 54th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues. WITHOUT a doubt...
QUEENS MAN SLAIN AS WIFE WATCHES IN HORROR
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amA 36-year-old Queens man was shot to death in his home yesterday when an argument with another man turned deadly. Guy Curtis and his wife were in their Springfield Gardens...
'YEMEN' SCUDS BAGHDAD-BOUND
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - Scud missiles seized two weeks ago in the Arabian Sea were destined for Iraq, not Yemen, it was reported yesterday. The missiles were captured aboard a North Korean...
CRAZY KOREA 'CURES'
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amTHE great foreign-policy question of the last few months has been: Why did North Korea do it? Why did it proudly proclaim that it had broken its 1994 deal with...
KWANZAA APPEAL: RETURN SLAVES' BODIES
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amCity officials joined black activists to mark the first day of Kwanzaa yesterday by denouncing the government for delaying the return of 427 African-American slave cadavers exhumed from graves in...
HEY, BIG SPENDER, HERE'S THE AGENDA
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amHere's what the new Powerball winner might do with some of his $170 million windfall in West Virginia: * Settle most of his state's $250 million budget deficit. * Pay...
ISRAELIS KILL 9 IN ANTI-TERROR ATTACKS
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - Israeli troops yesterday shot dead at least nine Palestinians, most of them in raids conducted across the West Bank by disguised commandos. The highest death toll in weeks...
POLICE SUSPECT VILLAGE SUICIDE
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amA Manhattan man who failed to show up for Christmas dinner on Long Island was found dead with his throat slashed in his East Village apartment, cops said. The cause...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amHere's a guy who has a hip way of walking. When retired landscape gardener Ian Sutherland of Norfolk, England, underwent hip-replacement surgery recently, he had his doctor save the hip...
REBELS YELL AT ABE STATUE
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amAbraham Lincoln is returning to the capital of the Confederacy - to the dismay of relatives of Confederate soldiers. Days before the Civil War ended in April 1865, the president...
SCHWARZ BEGINS SENTENCE TODAY
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amEx-cop Charles Schwarz is expected to turn himself in at a Minnesota federal prison camp today, where he'll begin serving a five-year stretch for perjury. Schwarz was initially ordered to...
MAYOR TAPS OFFICIAL TO FIX CORRECTION
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amMartin Horn, the commissioner of the Probation Department, will take over the scandal-plagued Correction Department next week, Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday. "He is a known quantity, having done a superb...
MEGA MILLION WINNER - NO-SHOW
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amIt's still a $63 million mystery. The holder of the only winning ticket - purchased in Brooklyn - in the nine-state Mega Millions drawing did not step forward yesterday to...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
December 27, 2002 | 5:00am* MANHATTAN Two teenagers brandishing a small ax and a gun robbed three women in separate incidents in East Harlem, police said yesterday. Damien Calderon, 17, and Angel Rivera, 16,...
AMERICA'S 'MAD ARAB' SET TO SPRING INTO ACTION
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amA top-ranking Pentagon officer known as "The Mad Arab" and portrayed as a gung-ho Marine by Clint Eastwood is likely to play a key role in the Iraqi conflict, it...
2 BUCKS A 'FARE' DEAL, 8 OUT OF 10 RIDERS SAY
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amStraphangers say paying $2 for a bus and subway ride is a "fair" hike. In a Web survey conducted by the Straphangers Campaign transit-advocacy group, 77 percent of voters said...
BURNED-UP FIRE UNION IN COURT FOR JOB BATTLE
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amA judge is to decide Monday whether to grant the firefighters union an injunction keeping the city from cutting manpower at some engine companies. The city wants to cut the...
MARATHON PIANIST SAYS I LOVE YOU IN RECORD TIME
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amA New Jersey man spent 52 consecutive hours playing the piano, hoping to wow the record-keepers and woo back a former flame. John Conte, 39, finished his marathon session at...
6 YEARS OF SHAME FOR TOWN WHERE JONBENET DIED
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amIT WAS exactly six years ago while I was battling the simple exercise of breathing in the rarefied ski country of Boulder, Colo., 5,403 feet above sea level. I wasn't...
DWI HIT-RUN TWIST: DA: DRIVER SAID 'I WAS DRUNK' AFTER QNS. TRAGEDY
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amThe alleged hit-and-run driver who mowed down an elderly woman on a Queens street Christmas Eve admitted to a witness soon afterward that he was drunk at the time, prosecutors...
PELOSI CLOSES THE BOOKS: HISTORIC CAPITOL LIBRARY SHUTS TO MAKE ROOM FOR DEM'S AIDES
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - The only Library of Congress branch in the U.S. Capitol - which has helped lawmakers for generations - is shutting down to provide the new House Democratic leader...
'89 COMA CASE NOW HOMICIDE
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amCops are hunting for two suspects in connection with this week's death of a man who was beaten into a coma 13 years ago, law-enforcement sources said yesterday. Matthew Young,...
2ND QUEENS MAN EXPOSED AS NAZI CAMP GUARD
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amThe feds have uncovered a second suspected ex-Nazi guard living in Queens - six months after making moves to deport a friend and alleged fellow SS guard with whom he...
THOMPSON PAINT$ A BLEAK PICTURE
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amCity Comptroller Bill Thompson released his end-of-year report yesterday, and concluded that the city's finances and future are anything but rosy. Thompson said that because of the difficult budget situation,...
EXCLUSIVE: DUMB & DUMBER: CITY FIRES OFFICIAL WHO HATES NYERS
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amMayor Bloomberg last night abruptly fired the head of the city's customer-service office - after The Post alerted City Hall that the official had called New Yorkers and city workers...
COMING TO A 'HEAD': BURIED SKULL HOLDS KEY IN 'SOPRANOS' SLAY PROBE
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amEXCLUSIVE The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office believes it has solved a grisly 8-year-old mob murder with a blood-spattered cast of characters straight out of "The Sopranos," The Post has learned....
'BOOZY' PILOT LANDS IN TROUBLE
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amA Delta Air Lines pilot flunked a Breathalyzer test yesterday after he was yanked from a jet in Norfolk, Va., officials said. It was the latest in a string of...
NEW YEAR'S EVE REPRIEVE: APPLE HAS SEEN ALL ITS SNOW FOR 2002: FORECAST
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amYou can put away the snow boots and shovels - for a week at least. The city will welcome in the New Year before seeing any more snow, according to...
RISE IN CITY SLEIGH CASES
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amCatch it before it melts. With that in mind, city residents and visitors descended on Central Park yesterday to enjoy the day after the first White Christmas since 1969. Michael...
PERVERT CLOWN GETTING 2ND SHOT
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amA federal judge says a convicted pedophile has the right to perform as a clown for adults and kids at Playland in Rye. Yonkers resident Richard Hobbs, 48, was denied...
PREGNANT MOM AND TOT DIE IN S.I. FIRE
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amA pregnant Staten Island mom and her 3-year-old daughter died yesterday after fire broke out in their two-story frame house, neighbors and fire officials said. Samantha Romandino, 36, and her...
HIGHWAY COP HURT IN LIE CRASH
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amA Nassau County police officer was seriously hurt yesterday morning when a tractor-trailer jackknifed on the icy Long Island Expressway and slammed into his patrol car. Darwyn Byer, 43, was...
SHAQ SCORES IN MARRIAGE GAME
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amBEVERLY HILLS - Shaquille O'Neal has added a wedding ring to his three NBA championship rings. The 7-foot-1 L.A. Lakers superstar yesterday married Shaunie Nelson, his longtime love and the...
ALLIES POUND IRAQ SITES: U.S., BRITS DESTROY COMMAND CENTERS
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amU.S. and British warplanes patrolling the skies over southern Iraq yesterday destroyed military command and control centers, the Pentagon said. The U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the...
MEADOWLANDS MANIA ; GIANTS & JETS WILL BEAT ODDS, GET JOB DONE
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amTHE NFC playoffs have two entrances, but don't expect the Giants to slink in through the back door. Rather, they'll march right in through the front door by beating the...
THE FAN'S CORNER
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amJohn Gray is a gambling nut. He'll bet the quarters and halves of any game he's watching, just for the heck of it. That's why he guarantees victory as the...
HARRIS GETTING HIS FILL UNTIL KITTLES RETURNS
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amAll Lucious Harris has done in 12 starts for the injured Kerry Kittles is shoot .474 from the field, average 15.6 points and supply some typically tough defense. Harris has...
POWER FAILURE DOGS DEVS
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Safety First may be one reason the Devils' power play stands, or lays, dead last. There are plenty of possible reasons that New Jersey's extra-man squad has managed...
SOLVING YAO A TALL ORDER
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amPractice was over, so Allan Houston began working on his dribble drives toward the hoop. Over and over, he pounded into the lane, stopping and shooting over assistant coaches Tom...
CALM BEFORE STORM ; GIANTS, EAGLES LET GAME DO TALKING
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amIf ever there was a game where cooler heads would not prevail, this Giants-Eagles rematch figured to be the one, after real blood was added to the bad blood two...
STORM FACE HOLIDAY FESTIVAL TEST
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amAny self-respecting St. John's fan had to bristle at Matt Doherty's words. "I'll tell you what," Doherty said in November after his North Carolina Tar Heels had defeated Stanford to...
STAND UP AND CHEER ; FANS CAN HELP GIANTS AVOID ELIMINATION
December 27, 2002 | 5:00am"We need you to be loud; disrupt their offense. Be loud."QB KERRY COLLINS TO GIANTS FANS TICK . . . tick . . . tick. Twenty-four hours. Twenty-four hours to...
METS MIGHT INK MUELLER
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amIf you assume that conversations lead to contracts, then the Mets are much closer to signing third baseman Bill Mueller than they are shortstop Jose Hernandez. The agents for both...
NETS PACKIN' 'D' FOR ROAD AHEAD
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amThe streak shows 11 straight victories at home, five in a row overall. Offensive numbers are up, defensive numbers are down. Why are the Nets playing so well? Byron Scott...
EXEC: CLEMENS HAS DONE DEAL
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amRoger Clemens is already signed, sealed and delivered, one baseball executive said yesterday. Although official indications are that Clemens and the Yankees are still finalizing a one-year deal worth between...
JETS KNOW BRETT'S A TOUGH GUY ; HERM'S SEEN HIM RISE, SHINE AFTER A HUGE HIT
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amMemories can sometimes be fond, sometimes be haunting and sometimes be blank. For the Jets, who play the Packers in the regular-season finale Sunday at Giants Stadium, possibly with their...
FERGUSON HOPING FOR HOLIDAY GIFT SACK
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amJET NOTES Referring to the controversial "gift" sack that allowed Giants' defensive end Michael Strahan to break the NFL sack record in the 2001 season finale, Jets' nose tackle Jason...
RANGERS SEEKING FOCUS ; HARD TO FIND THEIR LEGS AFTER 2-DAY HOLIDAY LAYOFF
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amIt was Lou Lamoriello who over a Thanksgiving meal on the road a number of years ago uttered a dictum that is not only reflective of his own oft-times unique...
BRADWAY LOOKING ON BRIGHT SIDE
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amBEAT the Packers on Sunday and Jets general manager Terry Bradway can live with losing to the Bears. Beat the Packers and he can live with blowing that game to...
LAKERS EARNED CHRISTMAS COAL
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amTHE Maloof brothers were so excited about beating the Lakers they offered to mow the lawn of Chris Webber's judge. Following the game, the Kings' owners called Jack Nicholson and...
FLU BUG MAKES SHOCKEY A VERY SICK INDIVIDUAL
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amGIANT NOTES. Jeremy Shockey reported to work as usual yesterday but did not remain long at Giants Stadium, as Jim Fassel sent his rookie tight end home because of a...
RICE: TRADE IS IN PAST FOR ME
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amHOUSTON - Glen Rice is over it. Problem is, the Knicks won't be for a while, as Rice coyly hinted. When the Knicks traded Rice in August, 2001, they got...
LAYDEN MADE 'BIG' IMPRESSION; YAO TOUCHED BY SCOTT'S INTEREST
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amHOUSTON - Through a stream of Chinese words, Rockets rookie center Yao Ming suddenly stops in mid-sentence to make sure he's saying the name correctly? "Scott Layden?," Yao asks a...
BIG A LOOKING TO REOPEN AFTER CANCELING CARD
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amAdverse track conditions as a result of the Christmas Day winter storm led to the cancellation of Aqueduct's nine-race card yesterday. The track remained open for full card simulcasting from...
RANGERS SINKING FAST ; BLOWOUT LOSS TO PENGUINS EXPOSES BLUESHIRT HOLES
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amPenguins 6 Rangers 1 If pride goeth before a fall, pride has already taken a long walk off a short pier. Kind of like the Rangers. A sham of an...
TROTTIER STILL LACKS MASTER PLAN
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amELECTRIC shock treatments can work. Mike Keenan has been practically his own power and light company through seven NHL stops. The normally mild-mannered Larry Robinson got the lacquer out of...
MARCHAND'S MATCHUP OF THE WEEK
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amBill Parcells vs. Jimmy Johnson (Studio analysts) Neither ESPN's Bill Parcells nor Fox' Jimmy Johnson has the passion for sports television that a John Madden or Cris Collinsworth. But that...
5 QUESTIONS FOR MIKE TIRICO
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amThis week, The Post's Andrew Marchand talked with ABC/ESPN's Mike Tirico. The 36-year-old Queens native is the voice of ABC's golf and the host of ABC's NBA coverage. For ESPN,...
ESPN GOES TO ITS BENCH : HARDAWAY OUT, ANTHONY IN AT SHOOTAROUND
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amGood organizations admit mistakes and make corrections. Give ESPN's basketball operation some points in that department for replacing the struggling Tim Hardaway with ex-Knick Greg Anthony on its Friday night...
GIANTS VS. EAGLES MATCHUPS
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amThe Giants face the Eagles at Giants Stadium tomorrow afternoon. Big Blue can earn a wil-card playoff berth with a victory. Here's a look at tomorrow's matchups, and who The...
TROTTIER NEEDS SPEECH LESSON
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amELECTRIC shock treatments can work. Ask Mike Keenan, practically his own power and light company through seven NHL stops, or the normally mild-mannered Larry Robinson, who got the lacquer out...
TAKE A LOOK AT YAO, NOW
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amDon Chaney worked out Yao Ming last May in Chicago - one of only two teams granted such access before his ballyhooed first U.S. workout at Loyola University attended by...
SURVIVAL GAME: EAGLES ARE FINAL HURDLE IN GIANTS' PLAYOFF PUSH
December 27, 2002 | 5:00amDave Jennings says Saturday's Giants-Eagles matchup comes down to pressure. Not just the "win and they're in" pressure that has Jennings, the Giant radio analyst, calling this a "playoff game"...