January 27, 2003
CIBC DOWNGRADES TO SMALL SLICE OF HQ TOWER
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amThe longest-running guessing game in Midtown real estate just ended with word that CIBC World Markets will occupy less than one-third of its new headquarters tower. Brookfield Properties CEO Ric...
SEC'S ELIOT ENVY - FEDS PUSH BECKER CASE TO CATCH UP WITH AG
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amA case of G-man jealousy against Eliot Spitzer is emerging in the insider trading case of Holly Becker. Sources say the Securities and Exchange Commission is fast-tracking its prosecution of...
'TOMB' STONED
January 27, 2003 | 5:00am"Veritas: The Quest" Tonight at 8 pm on WABC/Ch. 7 [] ---- NAME this show, movie or video game and win $1 million: A young person with archealogist parents (at...
SUNDANCE IS IN 'TOON WITH PRIZE
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amA crowd-pleasing biography of cult cartoonist Harvey Pekar took the top prize at the Sundance Film Festival over the weekend. "American Splendor," a winning potpourri of fiction, archival footage and...
REAL TO REEL - HOW ANTWONE MADE IT TO H'WOOD
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amFOSTER homes, reform school, the streets and the Navy: hardly the usual path to become a Hollywood player. But that bumpy road is how Antwone Fisher got where he is...
STARR REPORT
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amPregnant with possibilities - but(t) she wasn't having any of it Christa Miller Lawrence, who's got roles on both ABC's "The Drew Carey Show" (as Kate) and NBC's "Scrubs" (as...
MIRACULOUS METAL - DOUBTERS ARE NOT WELCOME IN THIS NEW SERIES ABOUT HEAVEN'S UNSOLVED MYSTERIES
January 27, 2003 | 5:00am"Miracles" [] Tonight at 10 on ABC/Ch.7 ---- LIKE a real miracle, the TV show "Miracles" cannot be easily explained. It's simple enough to describe what the show's about. But...
'WHEEL OF FORTUNE' HAS MADE PAT SAJAK VERY RICH. SO WHY DOES HE NEED TO DO A TALK SHOW AGAIN? - FORTUNATE SON
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amA few months ago, Pat Sajak was in Nashville - where he began as a weatherman on the local news - when someone made a startling point: In nearly 30...
HAUTE STUFF! - SIZZLING PARIS LOOKS MELT FASHION'S DEEP FREEZE
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amWhile we were freezing here in New York last week, Paris was aglow with the sparkling creations of the world's most inventive designers. If the energy on the Paris runways...
DOG-EAT-DOG WORLD OF PIT-BULL WARS
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amTHE "backyard rollers" are amateurs who fight pit bulls to the death in basements and on the streets - and give everyone in the "sport" a bad name. That's according...
IRAQ-STYLE FOOD TRULY DISARMING
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amA VERY wise philosopher once said, "Before attacking your enemy, you should dine at his table." That's nice in theory, but on the eve of America's impending invasion of Iraq,...
SPITZER HOT TO GO AFTER 'BRIBE' POLS
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSTATE Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is "straining at the bit" to jump into the Legislature's unfolding bribery scandal, The Post has learned. Spitzer is closely monitoring the scandal and is...
'MOB' BOOKIE BUST
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amA bunch of sports bookies pulling in $25 million a year for the Gambino crime family were arrested this weekend in a series of raids that exposed a new wrinkle...
LOTTERY'S A CLA$$ ACT
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amThe New York State Lottery does a lot more than just make millionaires - it also offers college scholarships. "The lottery was initially conceived to support education in New York...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amDon't worry about how fat you get, guys - a combination bra-girdle invented for pregnant women can be used by men, too. The Bellybra, which supports the breasts, as well...
FINEST: KEEP COP-SHOOTING FIEND IN PRISON
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amA convict who left a young cop paralyzed in a Harlem shooting 25 years ago is up for parole - and outraged law-enforcement groups are furious he's even being considered...
MOB FUGITIVE IS SPOTTED IN LONDON
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amFeared Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger - suspected in 19 grisly murders - is now believed to be living it up in London. The longtime fugitive, wanted for questioning in...
9/11 VILLAIN WAS PEARL'S KILLER: MAG
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amThe coldblooded killer who beheaded Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl last year is a top al Qaeda terrorist whom the United States believes was a key organizer of the...
VAIN MARTHA GETS FOTO-FURIOUS
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amShe's lost $400 million, her reputation is tarnished and she could face criminal charges any day now - but Martha Stewart is much more worried about how she looks in...
ICY TEMPS EYED IN TWO DEATHS
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amThe Medical Examiner's Office is investigating whether two men whose bodies were found yesterday had frozen to death. One of the men, who may have been homeless, was found dead...
10 TO GET NOD IN SCHOOL SHAKEUP
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amMayor Bloomberg will continue his radical overhaul of the city's school system this morning by appointing 10 new local superintendents - replacing 40 current district heads. The mayor remained mum...
12 GAZA THUGS KILLED: ISRAEL
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - Israeli troops killed 12 Palestinians during an armored raid in Gaza City yesterday, before sealing off Gaza and the West Bank in preparation for nationwide elections. Tanks and...
FACE OF 'THE SLASHER' - SUSPECT ID'D IN LINEUP
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amA homeless man who brutally slashed an out-of-town college student on a Manhattan subway platform was arrested this weekend after the woman came back to town and picked him out...
WOMAN LEAPS TO DEATH AMID INFERNO
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amA 28-year-old Washington Heights woman died when she jumped three stories while trying to escape a blaze in her apartment building, police said. The one-alarm fire broke out at 10:49...
BYTE-ING THE APPLE - CITY PAYS TECH MAN MORE THAN PREZ MAKES
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amThe city's housing agency shelled out nearly $450,000 last year to a computer consultant whose earnings are seemingly immune to the continuing municipal fiscal crisis. Meet Rafael Naveh, the $437,272...
FORBIDDEN ISLANDS HAVE A GRIM HISTORY
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amTwo small, desolate isles near City Island are strictly off-limits to the public, but their weird pasts may have led four teens to try to explore them - and sealed...
MIRACLE MAN BILLY - SURVIVES CRASH ON DANGEROUS L.I. CURVE
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amIt's a "miracle" that troubled pop star Billy Joel survived a terrifying brush with death in a car on notorious "Dead Man's Curve" on Long Island, residents said yesterday. Joel's...
SAFETY FEAR FOR WTC SHRINE
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amA proposal to place the Ground Zero memorial seven stories below street level at the bottom of the World Trade Center pit would limit the size of crowds that could...
SWASTIKA SICKOS INVADE QUEENS
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amPolice hate-crimes investigators are checking possible links between the appearance of a swastika on the side of a Queens church and similar attacks on cars in Brooklyn neighborhoods. Last night,...
HALFTIME DAZZLER PROVIDES BIG KICK
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amTHE Super Bowl halftime show had Shania for the men, Sting for the ladies, and Gwen Stefani for, well, just about everybody. It wasn't that long ago that halftime entertainment...
MOB GEEZER SQUEALS
January 27, 2003 | 5:00am"Gangs of New York" came to life in a federal courtroom as a 79-year- old stool pigeon with nearly 20 murders under his belt made his debut performance on the...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amTHE BRONX * An emotionally disturbed man blasted himself with a shotgun after taking his wife and three children hostage, police said. The man, who was gravely injured, was threatening...
FRANTIC LAST CALL FOR HELP - MISSING TEENS TOLD 911: 'WE'RE TAKING ON WATER'
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amThe four teenagers feared drowned off City Island used a cell phone to make a desperate 911 call Friday night, saying their boat was taking on water - but were...
CRUEL 'SPORT' - COPS HUNT RINGLEADERS OF BACK-ROOM COCKFIGHTS
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amThey fight in dingy basements, the back rooms of bodegas, factories and abandoned buildings. Hundreds of dollars are spent on their breeding and training. Thousands are wagered on their battles....
U.S. SET TO FIGHT ALONE: POWELL
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - The United States is ready to attack Iraq on its own and will not be constrained by its wavering allies, Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday. Hours...
HERO PAIR STOP HIT-RUN SUSPECT
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amA van driver ran down a bicyclist in Manhattan and tried to flee the scene, police said - but was foiled by two quick-thinking men. The duo turned their car...
SINGER VS. SOUL-FOOD CHEF IN GRITTY LAWSUIT
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amA veteran Harlem activist, singer and soap-opera star is suing the owner of a famous soul-food restaurant, saying she was "bamboozled" into loaning him $50,000 to refurbish his eatery -...
MICROWAVE BOMB OUR SECRET WEAPON
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - The Pentagon says its latest deadly gadget - a precision-guided lightning bolt of microwave power - would be its most important weapon in a war with Iraq. The...
A BIG STINK RAISED OVER L.I. COMPOST
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amA Long Island village's compost heap is giving off a dusty stench that is causing respiratory problems, local residents claim. Even in the dead of winter, residents say, the smell...
CLASSROOM TAKEN FOR 529G RIDE
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amCall it the Big Apple's most expensive classroom. The city Department of Education spent more than a half-million dollars to move a portable classroom about 4½ miles from one Brooklyn...
DEMS CAN LEARN FROM ISRAEL ELECTIONS
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amJERUSALEM FOR the first 30 years of its 55-year existence, the government of Israel was in the hands of the Labor Party, whose leaders also dominated the political world of...
DEADLY ACCIDENT SNARLS DEEGAN
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amThe Major Deegan Expressway became a parking lot for several hours yesterday afternoon after a driver was killed in a two-car collision that he had caused, police said. Christopher Simmons,...
PA HUNTS THE E-Z RIDER - TOLL-BOOTH BANDIT RUNS UP 50G IN FEES & FINES
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSomewhere out there is a clever driver who may hold the world record for zipping through E-ZPass tolls without paying. This guy - or gal - owes the Port Authority...
KLEIN PLANS CLEAN $WEEP
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSchools Chancellor Joel Klein is trying to rein in millions of dollars in spending by custodians by centralizing the purchasing of all supplies, The Post has learned. The Department of...
19G IS TOUGH 'CELL'
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amThe Vertu has been billed as the fanciest, most expensive cell phone in the world - but at $19,450, New Yorkers are saying, "Sorry, wrong number." In the six months...
BULLET HOLE IN SEVERED HEAD
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amA human head found on the ice of a Long Island skating pond belonged to a man who had been shot, Suffolk County police said yesterday. The head was spotted...
'MAFIA' BOOKIES BUSTED
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amA bunch of sports bookies pulling in $25 million a year for the Gambino crime family were arrested this weekend in a series of raids that exposed a new wrinkle...
CATS, DOGS SLAIN FOR ATHENS GAMES: VETS
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amThousands of stray cats and dogs are being poisoned in Greece in a horrifying campaign to clean up the streets of Athens in time for next year's Olympic Games, it...
BURE MIGHT MISS REST OF SEASON
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - The Rangers originally were hoping to get Pavel Bure back by this weekend's All-Star break. Now, they may be fortunate if the Russian Rocket returns at all this...
GAELS OUT TO PROVE 'A' POINT
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amH.S. HOOPS: St. Mary's 69 Grady 42 Don't get Mamadou Diakhate wrong. He was happy to help his team win the state Federation "B" Championship last year in Glens Falls,...
JUDGES BETTER AFTER MEETING
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amH.S. HOOPS: Cardozo 87 - N. Bergen 65 Frustrated on the court, Cardozo's boys basketball team met this week to figure how the heck its once 18-1 squad lost three...
BLUESHIRTS GO DOWN FIGHTING
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amCapitals 7 - Rangers 2 WASHINGTON - By every definition imaginable, it was a lost weekend. Not only did the Rangers lose twice, but they lost at least one point...
AMARE'S FRUSTRATION TAKES HOLD
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amIn his Garden debut, Amare Stoudemire saved his best shots for after the game. The heralded Phoenix rookie, who's been a revelation in his first year out of high school,...
KEY TURNS JET SPEW TOWARD HACKETT
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSUPER BOWL CONFIDENTIAL SAN DIEGO - Even as kickoff for Super Bowl XXXVII approached here yesterday, Keyshawn Johnson couldn't resist launching another salvo at the Jets. This time the target...
THOMAS' STAR ECLIPSES SUNS
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amKnicks 106 - Suns 98 Kurt Thomas posted two season-highs yesterday - in rebounds and sportsmanlike gestures. The Knicks' volatile center raised his right hand a season-high two times after...
HOUSTON'S TOE COMES UP SORE
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES To go along with the Super Bowl Sunday theme, Allan Houston said he suffered "turf toe" in yesterday's 106-98 victory over the Suns and is concerned he could...
RAGING STORM EAGER TO HUMBLE HUSKIES
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amBLACKSBURG, Va. - Written on the blackboard in the St. John's locker room in Cassell Coliseum in big, block, bold, white letters were two sentences: GREAT ROAD WIN. GREAT CHARACTER...
A COUPLE OF SUPER FRIENDS
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - Time and friendship might heal even the most devastating wounds - like losing football's ultimate game. Either Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden or Raiders head man Bill Callahan...
RUNNING OUT OF TIME IN OAKLAND
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - Who knows who'll be wearing the Silver and Black next season? Age and the salary cap - football's version of the real-life certainties of death and taxes...
FOR ALL HIS TALK, JOHNSON IS MEANT FOR THIS STAGE
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - He walked onto the field for the first time in gray sweatpants, gray sweatshirt and a gray T-shirt, flipping a football to himself, taking a good look...
NOT-SO-SUPER PROMOS - WEEK OF HYPE MORE THAN ENOUGH
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amWHEN the NFL returns to its two-week build-up between the conference championships and the Super Bowl next year, will that make for more media absurdities or will it just spread...
ACHY HARRIS COULD GET NOD AGAIN
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amDENVER - It's not like they haven't seen this situation before. "It's been a long time," deadpanned Lucious Harris at the prospects of starting for the Nets, who expect to...
BARBER CUTS IMPRESSIVE FIGURE IN SECONDARY
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - He will not bow down or even ask for an autograph. No, Tampa Bay's Ronde Barber planned on competing hard against Jerry Rice and Tim Brown, the...
NOTHING NEW ON KIDD PLANS
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amNET NOTES DENVER - The Nuggets are a team that will have free-agent money to spend this summer. Jason Kidd ranks among the summer's free agent elite. So naturally, he...
MR. BUC COMES HOME - TAMPA LYNCH-PIN A CALIFORNIA BOY AT HEART
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - It still burns at John Lynch that he never got to play at Qualcomm Stadium back when it was called Jack Murphy Stadium. His Torrey Pines High...
BUCS BACK IT UP - SECONDARY THE DIFFERENCE IN SUPER WIN
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - Days before he took the field to confront a pair of living legends, Buccaneer cornerback Ronde Barber said "It's almost like an honor to go against these...
TAMPA RB GOES FROM THE PITTS TO THE TOP
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - The first time he touched the ball, Michael Pittman ran into the teeth of the Oakland defense and managed to gain one yard. One lousy yard. Given...
ABC LEAVES RICE UNDONE - FOCUS ON SAPP, NOT SIMEON A BAD CALL
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amABC did a good job on the things that counted most. ABC had a good picture telecast. No score-altering play left us wanting for answers. Nothing else, in the end,...
KEY RIPS JETS' HACKETT
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSUPER BOWL CONFIDENTIAL SAN DIEGO - Even as kickoff for Super Bowl XXXVII approached here yesterday, Keyshawn Johnson couldn't resist launching another salvo at the Jets. This time the target...
OAKLAND O-LINE RUSHED OUT OF S.D.
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - Quick beat big. Tampa Bay's front-line defenders stood up and rushed past Oakland's huge offensive line last night, regularly introducing themselves to Raider QB Rich Gannon. Oakland's...
CALLAHAN BOWS TO OLD FRIEND
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - In one horrifying third-quarter moment, first-year Raiders coach Bill Callahan must have known last night wasn't going to be his. Tampa Bay cornerback Dwight Smith picked off...
BUCS' WIN IS CHILD'S PLAY - BALL-HAWKING 'D' GIVES 'CHUCKY,' BUCS FIRST TITLE
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - Those were, indeed, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers appearing on your television set outclassing and utterly dismantling the Oakland Raiders 48-21 to capture Super Bowl XXXVII last night....
BUCS' BRAD NOT BAD AFTER SLOW START
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - Brad Johnson has heard himself described in unflattering terms so often during a hard-to-define career. He takes the criticism in stride. "You're not going to hear me...
ROBBINS CENTER OF RAIDER ATTENTION
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - Raider Nation was thrown into turmoil early yesterday when it was revealed that Pro Bowl center Barret Robbins had been ordered back to Oakland for going AWOL...
JACKSON THE PICK FOR MVP
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - If you had Dexter Jackson in the MVP pool, God bless you. However, if you are among the overwhelming majority who views the Buccaneers' defense as Warren...
GRUDEN GETS HIS REVENGE ON DAVIS
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - Hell hath no fury like a young genius scorned. On top of Super Bowl mountain, there was the 39-year-old wunderkind, hoisting the Lombardi Trophy that the 73-year-old...
NOW JOE J. CAN FOCUS ON HIS SON
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - Joe Jurevicius began to tick off the names, a roster of love and support that had helped get him through to Sunday, had helped bridge the empty...
MORE GRAY DAYS AHEAD FOR OLD SILVER & BLACK
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - There was a time when you could find flashes of consolation in locker rooms like this one, specks of hope mingled with the residue of failure. That...
IT'S ALL GOOD FOR LOMAS
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - This makes it all OK, Lomas Brown said. This makes all the gassers, all the laps, all the 100-degree days across all 18 NFL training camps worthwhile....
BUC DEFENSE PROVES ITS POINT - AND THEN SOME
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - This was simple, according to Simeon Rice. "They got schemes," he said of the Raiders offense, "but we got scheme-breakers." What the Buccaneers defenders did last night...
STING OF DEFEAT FINALLY BITES RICE
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - For once, Jerry Rice was on the losing end of a Super Bowl. "It's going to be hard to deal with but that's something that you have...
DISAPPOINTED BROWN: I'M COMING BACK
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - Tim Brown's sweet ride to the Super Bowl ended in bitter defeat. His only consolation was a one-sided final score, so Brown and his Raiders won't have...
PITTMAN AT TOP OF HIS GAME
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - The first time he touched the ball, Michael Pittman ran into the teeth of the Oakland defense and managed to gain one yard. One lousy yard. Given...
SAPP GUSHES: BUCS 'D' ONE OF NFL'S BEST
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - When the game was in its final moments, Warren Sapp was where he always wanted to be: Standing on top of the bench on the Tampa Bay...
RAIDERS' ROMO: THIS ONE HURTS
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - He looked exactly as you would expect he would look: bloodied, bruised, beaten up. Bill Romanowski's shoulder looked like a battlefield. His forehead was busted up. Eyeblack...
EMPTY GANNON BIG DUD
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - Rich Gannon looked more like the LVP than the MVP of the league last night. Bewitched, bothered and bewildered like never before, the Bucs turned Gannon into...
KEY GETS HIS RING - NOW JOHNSON WANTS NO. 2
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - Bill Parcells and Al Groh did Keyshawn Johnson a favor, after all. "I'm sitting here like, 'Yeah, man, I got a Super Bowl ring,' " Keyshawn said....
GRUDEN TIPS CAP TO DUNGY
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSUPER BOWL CONFIDENTIAL SAN DIEGO - Tony Dungy wasn't far from the hearts of a lot of the Buccaneers after they captured the Super Bowl title last night. The former...
RAIDERS LEARN OLDER IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - There was a time when you could find flashes of consolation in locker rooms like this one, specks of hope mingled in with the residue of failure....
BUCS' WIN IS CHILD'S PLAY - BALL-HAWKING 'D' HELPS GRUDEN DEFEAT EX-TEAM
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - The vibrant sights and sounds of the moment told the shocking story to the watching world. The Buccaneers had just scored a touchdown, and the manner in...
SUPER END TO WEEK OF HYPE - HOOPLA NO MATCH FOR BIG-STAGE BATTLE
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - As thousands of flash bulbs engaged simultaneously with the kickoff of Super Bowl XXXVII at Qualcomm Stadium last night, this entire week of hype, anticipation, parties and...
JON, BILL FRIENDS TO END
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - In one horrifying third-quarter moment for Raiders' coach Bill Callahan, the first-year head man must have known last night wasn't going to be his. Tampa Bay cornerback...
CENTER OF ATTENTION - ROBBINS SENT HOME BY RAIDERS' BRASS
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - Raider Nation was thrown into turmoil early yesterday when it was revealed that Pro Bowl center Barret Robbins had been ordered back to Oakland for inexcusably going...
OAKLAND LINED UP ALL WRONG
January 27, 2003 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - Speed beat size. Tampa Bay's front-line defenders stood up and rushed past Oakland's huge offensive line last night, regularly introducing themselves to Raiders' quarterback Rich Gannon. Oakland's...