January 14, 2003
GUESS WHAT? U.S. ECONOMY ISN'T AS LOUSY AS PROS THINK
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amTHIS column is going to make you feel better about the economy. Not much better, just a little. Washington reported last week that the nation's employment market was awful in...
FAO INC. DECLARES CHAP. 11
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amFAO Inc., owner of the FAO Schwarz and Zany Brainy toy-store chains, filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday. A Christmas without toys, as many parents pared back on holiday spending, was...
RELATED IN DEAL TO DEVELOP APT. TOWER FOR COOPER UNION
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amSo long, Swiss cheese; hello, glass and class. After dumping the cheesy-looking Rem Koolhaas hotel project proposed by Ian Schrager and The Related Cos., Cooper Union has now signed a...
AOL TW CENTER FILLING UP - HIGH-END RETAILERS RUSHING IN TO PAY UP TO $300 A SQ. FT.
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amA lot of retail brokers laughed when Related Cos. CEO Stephen Ross said a few years ago that the shopping atrium in the new AOL Time Warner Center at Columbus...
EMI, BMG BACK IN MERGER TALKS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amEMI and Bertelsmann's BMG have restarted merger talks, The Post has learned. The two companies, which failed in a proposed 2001 merger because of regulatory concerns, are involved in active...
MERRILL MOVES BANKING EXECS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amMerrill Lynch promoted Jeffrey Neal to chairman of its investment banking unit. Neal, 57, was previously chief operating officer of the investment banking group. Greg Fleming, 38, co-head of the...
PRICE TAG PUT ON PUFFY PLUG
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amCorporations can party with Puffy, but it's gonna cost 'em. Rap mogul Sean "P. Diddy" Combs is offering corporations several personal sponsorship opportunities - letting them beef up their hip...
PARSING PARSONS - HIS FUTURE AT AOL UNCERTAIN; LEVIN TIES CITED
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amCEO Dick Parsons could be the next one out the door at struggling AOL Time Warner. Although Parsons is the consummate corporate politician, he is too closely tied to the...
COMCAST EYES WAR WITH BET
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amA TV war is erupting over black viewers. Comcast, the nation's largest cable TV company, and black music programming giant Radio One are launching a cable TV network targeted at...
ISAACSON OUT AT STRUGGLING CNN
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amWalter Isaacson, chairman and CEO of CNN, stepped down yesterday to join a think tank. The move caught insiders by surprise, though there had been speculation for some time that...
NEW GUY WILL HAVE TO SOLVE FOX RIDDLE
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amNow comes the hard part: catching up with the new ratings leader, Fox News Channel. As one company insider put it, Walter Isaacson's departure "opens up a battle for the...
CURRENTS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amDOES the lack of a proper pillow ruffle your feathers? On the Queen Elizabeth 2, you can choose among nine kinds, offered by the ship's "pillow concierge service." And, if...
LITTLE 'ATTRACTION' TO 'MYSTERY'
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amTHE MYSTERY OF ATTRACTIONAt Tribeca Playhouse, 111 Reade St., at West Broadway. Call Smarttix, (212) 206-1515. ------ IN Marlane Meyer's dark comedy "The Mystery of Attraction," we're in Tarantino land...
HUNGRY HEARTS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00am* TERRI CLARK "Pain to Kill" [ 1/2] Mercury Nashville Terri Clark is no honky-tonk angel - just an earthy woman who sings about living life to the max. That's...
GYM-DANDY TIME TO JOIN
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amDON'T hold off on signing up for that gym membership any longer.Now's the time when health clubs offer discounts to lure in clients because of the New Year's resolution surge....
HOUSTON'S HEAVY BURDEN
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amHOUSTON, we have a problem: You're a heart attack waiting to happen. So says Men's Fitness magazine, which named the Texas city the couch potato capital of the nation -...
GOOD AS 'GOLD'
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amRYAN Adams may be a handful at times, but the former member of Whiskeytown has written some of the loveliest songs you'll ever hear - such as the melancholy "When...
MY HOLIDAY: MARISKA BUSINESS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amTALK about genes. Mariska Hargitay is the offspring of Jayne Mansfield, '50s American sex symbol, and Hungarian Mickey Hargitay, a onetime Mr. Universe. The 38-year-old multi-lingual UCLA graduate stars on...
INNCOGNITO
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amDavenport Hotel 10 S. Post St.; Spokane, Wa. 284 rooms; doubles from $159 (800) 899-1482, thedavenporthotel.com Almost 90 years after this Pacific Northwest palace opened to host such luminaries as...
STARR REPORT
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amHolly takes heart; Meredith's gotta go to Mo Daisy Fuentes, Nancy O'Dell ("Access Hollywood"), Nikki Taylor and WNBA MVP Lisa Leslie will all be attending Holly Robinson-Peete's third annual Super...
A SMALL VICTORY FOR JETS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amTHE Jets lost to the Raiders on Sunday - but they were big winners in the ratings game. Sunday's 30-10 Jets loss notched a 23.6 on CBS - the network's...
MEET ALI G... NASTY JEWISH BOY
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amSEX and graphic violence have been big for HBO - now it's going after race. Starting next month, HBO will air a new series starring a white Jewish comic who...
HITLER YOUTH'S A TOUGH SELL FOR CBS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amLOS ANGELES - CBS says it expects to have a difficult - if not impossible - time finding companies to advertise on its controversial miniseries about Hitler's teenage years. The...
DON'T LOOK FOR THAT BIG 'ALIAS'
January 14, 2003 | 5:00am'ALIAS" is punting on its big, mega-hyped post-Super Bowl episode starring Ethan Hawke. A spokeswoman for Touchstone Television, which produces "Alias" for ABC, said show creator J.J. Abrams was behind...
'WILLOW' GETTING HITCHED
January 14, 2003 | 5:00am'BUFFY the Vampire Slayer" star Alyson Hannigan - who plays the gay witch, Willow, on the teen hit - is getting married. Hannigan, 28, is engaged to former co-star Alexis...
PACK RAT: STOWAWAYS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amFLYING's a bitch unless you have the luxury of a first-class flat-bed seat with video-on-demand and caviar served on the hour. If, like us, you're stuck in the back of...
'MILLIONAIRE': A MIRROR?
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amWHY do women watch "Joe Millionaire"? What would the bra-burning feminists say? It sure looks like male chauvinism - and worse than the soft-core "celebrity" titillation shots that fill Maxim,...
SMEARS OF NEW YORK - FROM 'GANGS' TO IRAQ WAR, IT'S SCORSESE VS. U.S.
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amLET'S see: Martin Scorsese's new movie demeans Lincoln's efforts to save the nation, mocks the Union Army, sneers at volunteer soldiers, derides native-born New Yorkers, pours scorn on firefighters and...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amBROOKLYN * Police yesterday said that murder suspect Romeo Andre Neverson has changed his appearance - and they released a new photograph of him. Authorities have been hunting for Neverson...
WOMAN, 65, RAPED IN B'KLYN APT.
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amA 65-year-old Brooklyn woman was raped in her home last night by a screwdriver-brandishing pervert who forced his way into her apartment. The woman was entering the lobby of her...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amThe town of Bend, Ore., wants to make its public-transportation system more pleasant by banning "stinking" on city buses. Proposed new city rules would ban spitting, defecating, smoking skateboarding and...
FINDERS KEEPERS: STRAPHANGERS' LOST BOOTY ON BLOCK
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amIf New Yorkers' heads weren't tied to their shoulders, they'd probably lose them in the subway, too - along with fax machines, VCRs, TVs, pagers, camcorders, phones, violins, tambourines, saxophones,...
ARIEL BOUNCES BACK IN POLLS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's re-election campaign has rebounded sharply in the first polls since he was battered by charges of taking part in a $1.5 million loan...
50G BAIL FLAP OVER DEPORTED DRUNK DRIVER
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amA Brooklyn family may be out $50,000 in a Poconos drunken-driving case. Oleg Livshits' dad posted $50,000 cash bail - in $100, $50 and $20 bills that he brought to...
THROUGH THE ROOF - CITY HOMES GET $12,500 COSTLIER IN JUST 1 YEAR
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amThe median value of a single-family home in New York City and the suburbs skyrocketed between 2000 and 2001, new figures released yesterday show. The data from the U.S. Census...
DUMPED PLASTICS PROGRAM TO BE RECYCLED
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amRecycling is returning - sort of. Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty confirmed yesterday that the currently suspended plastics-recycling program will resume July 1, but at less cost to taxpayers. "We're not...
INSPECTORS: GIVE US UP TO A YEAR
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - U.N. arms inspectors yesterday said they need six months to a year to do their job. In a statement certain to complicate White House efforts to build an...
CIVIL RIGHTS FOR VICTIMS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amILLINOIS, Maryland, New York: The location doesn't seem to matter. The only time opponents of the death penalty really get worked up is when the penalty is being handed out...
FUME AT THE INN - HELMSLEY 'GAY FIRE' TRIAL BEGINS TODAY
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amThe so-called Queen of Mean is heading to court today to battle charges that she's biased against gays - in a trial that's promising to be downright, well, mean. Charles...
ST. JOHN'S HOOPSTER: 'VICTIM' ALREADY HURT
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amA lawyer for St. John's basketball player Grady Reynolds suggested yesterday that the athlete did not cause the knee injury to swimmer Rachel Seager last Nov. 17 during an altercation...
JOE'S LEAP OF FAITH - KICKS OFF RUN AS FIRST JEWISH PREZ CANDIDATE
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Sen. Joe Lieberman yesterday became the first Jew to run for U.S. president, saying that faith is the central element of his life but insisting he'll always "put...
CITY GETS COAL LUMP FROM YULE BIZ TAXES
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amBusiness taxes collected by the city took an unexpected $92 million dive last month, adding new financial strains to the city budget, officials said yesterday. "December is a big month,"...
MIRACLE TOTS HOME - DOCS UPBEAT ON SEPARATED GUATEMALAN TWINS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amLOS ANGELES - A pair of Guatemalan toddlers, born attached at the head, went home yesterday five months after a medical miracle successfully separated them. Seventeen-month-old babies Maria de Jesus...
DEF JAM SHOCKER - RAP LABEL PAID DRUG THUG FOR 'COP SLAY' FILM
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amDef Jam Records - the country's biggest rap label - paid $500,000 to a convicted cocaine kingpin to make a film about killing cops and his days running one of...
OK, COURT FANS, IT'S TIME TO PLAY 'FIND THE VICTIM'
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amPLEASE be sure to put young children and sensitive adults safely to bed before taking this quiz: Court fans, for whom do you feel sorriest? Is it hotel queen Leona...
FAMILY REUNION FOR SPERM MOBSTER, WIFE & TOT IN COURT
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amA jailed mobster, his wife and their toddler daughter - conceived while her father was behind bars - reunited in a Pennsylvania courthouse yesterday as the parents pleaded not guilty...
N.Y. TOP$ IN MALPRACTICE
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amALBANY - New York medical providers paid out a staggering $650 million in malpractice awards in 2000 - nearly twice as much as the next highest state, the state Medical...
HIP-HOP FANS ARE HOT TO BUY THE ULTRA-VIOLENT MOVIE AT THE CENTER OF THE FBI'S RAP-INDUSTRY PROBE
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amHip-hop fans are hot to buy the ultra-violent movie at the center of the FBI's rap-industry probe. Bootleg copies of the straight-to-video flick, "Crime Partners 2000," are already a big...
HE'LL BRING GOOD THINGS - KLEIN LINES UP GE'S WELCH TO AID SCHOOLS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amSchools Chancellor Joel Klein yesterday tapped retired General Electric titan Jack Welch - considered one of the most successful businessmen of his era - as chairman of his new academy...
JFK AIRPORT BOMB PLOT: GAS STATION, QNS. OFFICE ALSO TARGETS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amA chilling, painstakingly detailed plot by Muslim extremists to blow up a terminal at JFK Airport, a gas station nearby and a city clerk's office has been uncovered, authorities said....
TOKENS, TOO, MAY SOON TAKE A 'HIKE'
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amTokens may be on the way out as the MTA weighs a possible fare hike, officials said yesterday. MTA data show that just 9 percent of subway riders use tokens...
MOB RAT SQUEALS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amMob turncoat Michael "Cookie" D'Urso has taken the stand to help the feds round up more than 60 reputed mobsters - but no case can matter to him like this...
'SLAY BID' SHRINK DELAY
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amA lawyer for accused slaughter-bid shrink Richard Karpf yesterday declined to ask a judge for bail and canceled a court appearance. Karpf's lawyer, Glenn Morak, yesterday said he would delay...
PRIEST 'PERVS' AGAIN - ACCUSED L.I. MOLESTER BACK IN JAIL AFTER ALLEGED KID-PORN PEEP
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amAccused child-molester Father Michael Hands - the star grand-jury witness in the Suffolk DA's probe of how Catholic church officials handled child-abuse cases - is back in jail after he...
WHO, ME? - ROCK LEGEND IN CHILD PORN ARREST; WHO WOULD BELIEVE PETE'S KIDDIE-PORN BUST?
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amLegendary rock star Pete Townshend of The Who (above, right after being taken into custody), was hauled off by Scotland Yard detectives last night to face child-pornography charges. Townshend, 57...
9/11 'LIAR' IN CREDIT SCAM
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amA Qatar man, arrested after Sept. 11 for lying to investigators about calls to a number linked to terror ringleader Mohamed Atta, was running a credit-card scam in the United...
OUT OF SITE, OUT OF MIND AT GROUND ZERO TALKS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amAbout 700 New Yorkers had a chance to speak out before development officials at a hearing on the new design proposals for Ground Zero yesterday - and they talked about...
'JOE MILLIONAIRE' LEAVES JUST FIVE ALIVE
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amAND then there were five. Bulldozer jockey Evan Marriott, the phony millionaire of Fox's "Joe Millionaire," last night eliminated seven women out of the 12 who were still vying for...
$TRAPPED CITY GETTING SET TO DOWNSIZE RUDY'S POSSE
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amRudy Giuliani is losing more than half of his taxpayer-funded bodyguards, The Post has learned. Word that the impending cut comes on the eve of his visit to Mexico City...
50G BAIL FLAP OVER DEPORTED DRUNK
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amA Brooklyn family may be out $50,000 in a Poconos drunken-driving case. Oleg Livshits' father posted $50,000 cash bail - in $100, $50 and $20 bills that he brought to...
DEVELOPER SEEKS CITY BOND CASH FOR 7 WTC
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amDeveloper Larry Silverstein must spend more than half the insurance proceeds from 7 World Trade Center to pay off his mortgage on the destroyed building - forcing him to seek...
MTA TO BE FARE GAME AT HIKE EARINGS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amNew Yorkers next month will get a chance to tell the Metropolitan Transportation Authority what they think about proposed subway and commuter-rail fare hikes. The MTA has said it needs...
POLLING SERVICE 'CALLS IT' QUITS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Voter News Service, the national Election Day polling outfit that botched the last two elections, has gone kaput. ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and AP said...
NEW ABC SHOW IS 'SURVIVOR' OF CBS CHALLENGE
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amAfter an almost forensic study of worm-eating contests and exotic film sets, a federal judge has rejected the CBS network's claim that ABC's new celebrity reality show is a rip-off...
MAN NABBED IN 194G SCAM
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amA contractor has been charged with stealing more than $194,000 from a Queens bank in a fire-insurance scam. Louis Marando, 50, of Lindenhurst, the president of LMJ Construction in Brooklyn,...
PAL FREED IN BANKER SHOOTING
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amCops arrested an ex-college roommate yesterday in the shooting death of a young banker on the Lower East Side - but freed him hours later. The release of Forrest Bloede,...
GIVE US AT LEAST 6 MONTHS: U.N. INSPECTORS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - U.N. arms inspectors yesterday said they need six months to a year to do their job. In a statement certain to complicate White House efforts to build an...
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE - KNICKS' LONG-RANGE RALLY CAN'T CATCH BABY BULLS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amCHICAGO - Don Chaney didn't want to hear about the Baby Bulls being better than their record. To Chaney, the Bulls are one of the East's dregs whom his club...
D-PRESSING DAY
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amJET REPORT CARDQUARTERBACK:D Chad Pennington (21-of-47, 183 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT) had the worst game of his career. Was credited for all four turnovers, including two fumbles.RUNNING BACKS: C...
AGENT: CAMBY NOT PINING FOR TRADE
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES CHICAGO - Rick Kaplan, Marcus Camby's agent, said his client is not looking to be dealt and recent quotes about his unhappiness out west were exaggerated. Camby, if...
METS SIGN FELICIANO
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amThe Mets signed left-hander Pedro Feliciano to a minor-league contract yesterday and invited him to major league spring training camp. Feliciano, who ended the 2002 campaign with the Mets, was...
STORM CUTBACK HURTS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amThe coach's name befits his team. Jim Hurt, the St. John's track & field coach, hopes that the men's team isn't abolished at the end of the year as a...
ROG: RING'S THE THING - HINTS '03 MAY NOT BE LAST YEAR
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amRoger Clemens says 2003 will be his final season on the mound, but the Rocket wants to go out a winner on two different levels. He hinted that if the...
LAY OFF LEBRON'S RIDE
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amWHAT'S all the frenzy and fury about LeBron James flossin' round Akron, Ohio, in his new whip, a Hummer H2 purchased with love by his mother? Why are people so...
VINNY WANTS TO RETURN
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amVinny Testaverde said yesterday he has every intention of returning to the Jets next season, though he left the door open a crack. "My hope is to be back here...
K-MART HAS REGRET OVER KEITH DISS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amKenyon Martin did it once. He insists he won't do it again. What Martin did, and regrets, was going public with gripes after the Nets were swept away in Game...
READY TO ROLL MCDYESS - CHANEY EAGER BUT WARY ABOUT RETURN
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amCHICAGO - Don Chaney normally stays clear of invoking Antonio McDyess' name since his preseason knee injury, not wanting to use him as a crutch. But yesterday, Chaney, for the...
HARDWOOD TO HARD TIMES FOR PROVET
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amAs a freshman at Wadleigh, Kendel Provet made a name for himself as perhaps the next in the line of great New York City point guards. Last week, three years...
JETS FACING TOUGH CALLS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amJET NOTES The Jets have some difficult decisions to make on the future of some of their key players, beginning with guard Randy Thomas, fullback Richie Anderson and linebacker James...
CHANEY OF TWO MINDS OVER MCDYESS RETURN
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES CHICAGO - Don Chaney finally acknowledged he'd like to see Antonio McDyess return before the season ends. McDyess is beginning aggressive rehab on his knee with weights. "I...
CURTIS COMES CLEAN ABOUT ANKLE INJURIES
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amEveryone knew about the severe left ankle sprain that Curtis Martin suffered in the first game of the season, an injury that never fully healed. What no one outside the...
DEJECTION DOESN'T DAMPEN JET DREAM
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amThe Jets craved so much more than to see their season disintegrate in Oakland three wins short of a Super Bowl title. Judging from the words and depressed and bewildered...
HAVE TO BE CONFIDENT WITH CHAD IN CHARGE
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amSO it turns out the kid really does have a little Namath in him after all. One day after the most difficult day of his professional life, a few minutes...
JAGR'S PPG IN OT HAS ISLANDERS FUMING
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amOVERTIME: Capitals 4 - Islanders 3 WASHINGTON - You cannot be serious! That's what the Islanders were saying about a critical, holding-the-stick penalty which gave Washington a power play with...
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE - KNICKS' LONG-RANGE RALLY NOT ENOUGH TO TOP BULLS
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amBulls 101 - Knicks 94 CHICAGO - The perplexing question is: Why did the Knicks finally decide to play with desperation late in the fourth quarter last night after falling...
RUPP TO THE RESCUE
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amDevils 6 - Panthers 2 Big-time debut, biggest-ever Devil splash. Mike Rupp had plenty to celebrate. "It's been a great (23rd) birthday. It doesn't get much better than that," Rupp...
RANGERS ARE SAFE AT HOME
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amRangers 5 - Leafs 1 Could it be? A Glen Sather team going into passive alignment, sending only one player deep into the offensive zone while keeping four back? And...
CURTIS COMES CLEAN ON INJURY
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amEveryone knew about the severe left ankle sprain that Curtis Martin suffered in the very first game of the season, an injury that never fully healed. What no one outside...
OLEG GETS HEAD BACK IN THE GAME
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amHis concussion fears tested away by the Devils, defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky returned to the lineup last night after missing five straight. Still, after several rounds of tests, he isn't sure...
THE RANGER SHUFFLE: KARPA RETURNS AS REPLACEMENT FOR INJURED POTI
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amWhen an NHL player is placed on non-roster waivers, it doesn't mean the player is out of the organization if he goes unclaimed. It simply means he cannot play and...
HATS OFF TO SURGING ISLANDER OFFENSE
January 14, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - It seems that just about everybody's scoring goals for the Islanders. With 21 goals scored in their last four games, they have gotten offense in bunches from the...