April 10, 2003
IPO DOUBLE-VISION: AOL TW, CABLEVISION WEIGH PRE-OFFERING MERGER
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amCablevision and AOL Time Warner are in discussions about merging their cable systems ahead of a much-anticipated initial public offering, The Post has learned. Although the idea of merging Cablevision's...
IT'S PRET-TY MESSED UP : SHUFFLES MANAGEMENT AMID GROWTH CHAOS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amPret A Manger, the British sandwich chain that took a bite of the Big Apple only to wind up with indigestion, has overhauled senior management as it re-evaluates its expansion...
BEAR TO PAY UP TO $20M TO SETTLE BLECH SUIT
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amBear Stearns & Co. has settled a nine-year class action for as much as $20 million only days before the brokerage giant was due to face a federal trial to...
SCHRAGER SUITE DEAL: $15M ; CENTRAL PARK WEST DUPLEX WAS DESIGNED BY PHILIPPE STARCK
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amIAN Schrager has ac cepted an offer on his Philippe Starck-designed penthouse at 115 Central Park West. Sources say the hotelier, who put the 11-room duplex on the block last...
DISH WISH GRANTED; NEWS CORP.'S DIRECTV QUEST ENDS IN $6.6B DEAL
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amNews Corporation ended a 20-year quest to own a U.S. satellite TV provider yesterday when it agreed to buy a controlling stake in DirecTV. News Corp., which owns The Post,...
LAZARD BANK LANDS BRUCE BUDDY BIONDI
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amMichael Biondi is back on Bruce Wasserstein's team. Lazard said yesterday it hired Biondi as chairman of investment banking, reuniting him with Wasserstein, his longtime business associate, who now heads...
SPITZER TARGETS STREET IN BANKRUPTCY CONFLICTS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amCrusading New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has jumped into a congressional battle that would keep major investment banks from cashing in on advising bankrupt companies they already have relationships...
AMERICAN ICON$ ARE EXPECTED TO HELP REBUILD IRAQ
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amFamous American names like Pepsi, Madonna and Levi's could help fuel an overnight rebuilding of Iraq's devastated economy. Experts say Iraq's burgeoning youth population is hungry for well-known global brands,...
SADDAM FALLS; MARTS DO, TOO
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amSaddam's gang didn't show up for work yesterday, leaving Wall Street to struggle with its own bleak work on the recession. Analysts said stocks skidded following the victory march into...
RETAIL SALES STANK; HERE ARE THE EXCUSES
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amTODAY is excuse day. It's better known as "comp day," when retailers will report how poorly they did over the previous month. This is an important one, because Wall Street...
VILLAGE PEOPLE; SANDRA COUDERT
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amTHE LAST SUNDAY IN JUNE >The Century Center, 111 E. 15th St. TeleCharge, (212) 239-6200. 'THE Last Sunday in June" is the latest and freshest contribution to the phenomenon known...
CHER GOT BIG RATING, BABE
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amCHER pulled a big audience Tuesday - but she still got beaten by "American Idol 2." NBC's "Cher: The Farewell Tour" averaged 16.3 million viewers from 9 to 10 p.m....
STARR REPORT
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amFriday, the Rabbi talked to Barbara Barbara Walters says her exclusive jailhouse interview with killer rabbi Fred Neulander, airing tomorrow on "20/20," was quite different than her last jailhouse interview...
FILM FLACK ATTACK; PUBLICISTS ARE LATEST ON-SCREEN BADDIES
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amHOLLYWOOD has a new villain - and he wears Armani, lunches at Cipriani and has Page Six on speed dial. Three new movies are bypassing the usual Hollywood enemies -...
BLOWN AWAY; NET NEWS SHELL SHOCKED
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amSOMETHING astonishing happened during the Iraq war - the viewership of network evening news shows actually went down. For the first time during a national crisis, more people turned to...
'METEORA' STILL SOARING
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amLINKIN Park's "Meteora," is still sitting pretty at the top of the charts, but the White Stripes take the cake as their latest "Elephant" hit the No. 6 spot its...
STINK TANKS ; AS THE SMOKE CLEARS, BARS, UH, SMELL
April 10, 2003 | 4:00am"Bars smell bad. Really sleazy bars are much nicer when they have smoke than when they don't."Giulia Melucci HERE'S a new, distinctly New York condition: second- hand smoke withdrawal. When...
TEXAS GUY IS NO 'IDOL'
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amRICKEY SMITH, the 23-year-old from Keene, Texas, became the fifth person booted off "American Idol 2" last night. America had decided, after Tuesday night's live show, that Smith just didn't...
CITY COUNCIL FLAP OVER RACE 'SLUR'
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amA City Council member was accused yesterday of making a racially inflammatory remark after she addressed a predominantly minority audience as "you people" during a debate over a welfare bill....
$5.4 PERV-DOC DEAL: WOMEN SUED TOUCHY-FEELY MEDIC
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amMore than 50 women who claim they were groped by a lecherous doctor during mandatory pre-employment medical exams have snagged a $5.4 million sexual-harassment settlement - the largest ever in...
AUGUSTA MASTER ADAMANT
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amAUGUSTA, Ga. - The outspoken head of the prestigious Augusta National Golf Club came out swinging yesterday, saying protest or no protest, the club has no intention whatsoever of backing...
AMOROUS 'SPY' & FBI GUY; FEDS BUST UNDERCOVER LOVE DUO
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amLOS ANGELES - A Chinese-American "Mata Hari" was arrested yesterday along with her lover, a former FBI agent, and charged with possessing stolen documents she planned to send to China....
WEIRD BUT TRUE
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amA Missouri man auctioned the back of his head as advertising space and is now carrying a company logo for five years. James Nelson of Kansas City sold the space...
NO JAIL FOR MOM WHO KILLED BABY
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amA Brooklyn mother of three is expected to serve five years' probation for shaking her 7-week-old daughter to death. Francesa Johnson, 20 - who entered the foster care system in...
FIRE DEPARTMENT BUDGET CUTS CAN BE MINIMIZED
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amFire Department budget cuts can be minimized with a little help from the state, but no matter what happens, "there will be no layoffs of firefighters," Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said...
9/11 KIN GET LAWSUIT BREAK
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amALBANY - Family members of those who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks will have an extra six months to file wrongful-death lawsuits under a deal announced yesterday by state...
PROBE RAILS AT CRUMBLING STATIONS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amFour of the city's crumbling commuter rail stations have fallen through the cracks - not making the grade when it comes to maintenance and safety, the city comptroller said yesterday....
QNS. KITCHEN FIRE KILLS WOMAN, 77
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amA smoky fire that started in a kitchen left an elderly woman dead in her Bayside, Queens, home yesterday, authorities said. Shirley Baumser, 77, was found dead after the blaze...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amQueens Police yesterday released a sketch (below) of a man they say raped and sodomized a woman at gunpoint in Hollis. On Monday, according to police, the man in his...
YOUTH COUNSELOR CHARGED WITH MOLESTING THREE TEEN GIRLS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amA state Office of Children and Family Services worker was arraigned yesterday on charges he sexually molested three teenage girls in separate incidents at a home for juvenile delinquents on...
A NEW AGE OF WARFARE; THE MESSAGE TO OUR ENEMIES
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amWe fought the first post-modern war. In the final grudge match between Clausewitz and GI Joe, it was a shutout. And no other military on earth could have done it....
KID SERVICES ON MAYOR'S LIST OF CUTS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amMore than 400 workers who combat child abuse are on Mayor Bloomberg's ever-growing layoff hit list. "The child-welfare thing was particularly stunning," said Linda Schleicher of District Council 37's Local...
'MAFIA' COP'S 'INSIDE' STORY
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amAn undercover NYPD detective known as "Big Frankie" has revealed for the first time how he won the trust of Genovese mob capos by helping them break the law during...
THE NEXT FIGHT; APOLOGIZE FOR VICTORY?
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amEVEN as Marines and Iraqis worked together joyously to tear down that obscene statue of Saddam Hussein, pundits and policymakers wouldn't even pause to revel in the wonderment of a...
WE OWN THE SKY
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amI'M no general, armchair or otherwise, but it wasn't hard to see where this war was headed as early as Day 7. That is, toward an utter, unequivocal, beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt rout...
PUTTING 'GOOD BOOK' TO GOOD USE, SMITING THUG
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amRamona Pimentel believes she was saved from a screwdriver-wielding sex attacker by some divine intervention - in the form of the Holy Bible she used to bash the attacker's head....
APPLE SUES 4 TAX-LAX COUNTRIES
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amThey wanted billions of dollars to allow U.S. troops on their land, but the Turkish government apparently has no problem using U.S. land for free: New York City charges that...
BLOOMBERG HOT-LINES UP JOBS FOR CUNY STUDENTS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg is hiring college students part-time to staff his 311 citizen hot line while thousands of city workers face layoffs. Twenty-five City University students started as call-center representatives Monday...
CHENEY EXPRESSES 'GENERAL' CONTEMPT FOR EXPERTS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney struck back yesterday at the armchair generals "embedded in TV studios" who criticized a war plan that led to the fall of Baghdad in...
2 HURT IN TIMES SQ. CAB CRASH
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amA yellow cab made an impromptu stop yesterday when it crashed through a soon-to-be H&R Block storefront office in Times Square, hitting two people buying lunch at a food cart....
SYRIA IS 'HELPING RATS RUN'
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld charged yesterday that Syria is helping Saddam Hussein's henchmen flee the country following the collapse of Baghdad. Speaking at a Pentagon news conference as...
BIAS-ATTACK RAP DROPPED
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amQueens prosecutors yesterday dropped criminal charges against a lawyer who was accused - with her mother and reputed Mafia associate father - of a bias attack against an Asian-American woman....
PREZ'S BID TO AVOID DAD'S POST-WAR MISTAKES
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amNOW that the war in Iraq has been won, President Bush has a chance to show he's learned from his dad's mistakes. Bush's dad lost his 1992 re-election bid because...
AX-MAN MIKE SPARES HIS OWN FIREHOUSE
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg's hit list of eight fire-engine companies includes one just a few blocks from his tony Upper East Side home - but its doors won't be closing. A unit...
MIKE TO SMOKE OUT ILLEGAL BOOZERS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amSmokers who think they can stand outside a bar drinking, cigarette in hand, are in for a rude awakening. First Mayor Bloomberg pushed through an indoor-smoking ban. Then yesterday, at...
CAUTIOUS BUT SATISFIED BUSH: IT'S NO TIME TO GLOAT
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush watched intently on TV as exultant Iraqis dragged a bashed statue of Saddam Hussein through the streets yesterday and then said with quiet satisfaction: "They got...
HOMETOWN HERO - SADDAM-STATUE FLAG MAN A B'KLYN MARINE
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amAmerica's newest hero is a Marine from Brooklyn who became part of history when he draped the Stars and Stripes over Saddam Hussein's head. And Marine Cpl. Edward Chin's mother...
TRAGIC POOL OF TEARS; TOT-DROWN FOLKS TESTIFY VS. TOMMY
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amSANTA MONICA, Calif. - Two heartbroken parents wept on the witness stand yesterday, recalling the horror of losing their 4-year-old boy who drowned in a pool at rocker Tommy Lee's...
CHEERS OF VICTORY IN TIMES SQ.
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amNew Yorkers broke into cheers yesterday as they gathered in the cold drizzle in Times Square to watch on live TV the end of Saddam's reign of terror. With their...
ARABS GRIEVE, ISRAELIS REJOICE
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amThe fall of Baghdad provoked shock and disbelief in the Arab world, but was greeted with joy by Israelis and dissidents who stormed Iraq's London embassy. Many Arabs expressed hope...
FREEDOM IN BLOOM - CIVILIANS SHOWER FLOWERS AND LOVE ON LIBERATORS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amBAGHDAD NOTEBOOK A few days ago, Reuters reporter Sean Maguire was sleeping beside a running sewer expecting the worst. Yesterday, he rode into the Iraqi capital atop an armored personnel...
DEMS AT WAR - WITH ONE ANOTHER
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Democratic wannabes in the 2004 race against President Bush yesterday went to war among themselves over Iraq. The splits were clear when anti-war Howard Dean won applause from...
TORTOLA MAN HOME AT LAST
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amA wrongfully convicted Long Island man returned home yesterday from his Tortola island lockup, accompanied by his six cellmates - the pet cats who were his prison companions for three...
ONLINE PERV RAPED GIRL: COPS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amA Manhattan teen lured two underage Florida girls to New York after meeting them in an Internet chat room and had sex with one of them, law-enforcement officials charged yesterday....
'MONUMENTAL' DAY OF VICTORY - * MOB DESTROYS SADDAM STATUE * IRAQI U.N. DIPLO: HUSSEIN WHO? * LOOTING IN STREETS OF BAGHDAD
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amJubilant Iraqis stomped on a toppled statue of Saddam Hussein and dragged its severed head through the streets of Baghdad yesterday as the despot's regime collapsed in an orgy of...
BOMBERS, SPECIAL OPS PUNCH BUTCHER'S TIKRIT
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amBombs started falling yesterday in Saddam Hussein's back yard. Navy warplanes blasted at least two military facilities - a Republican Guard barracks and an army garrison - in Tikrit, the...
SADDAM'S A MYSTERY MAN - MARINES LOOK FOR HIM IN MOSQUE
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amU.S. Marines this morning were searching a Baghdad mosque where Saddam Hussein may have been hiding, it was reported. The search followed a gunfight between Marines and Iraqi gunmen -...
STAYING THE COURSE: I'LL 'DROP DEAD' BEFORE LETTING GALS IN: AUGUSTA BOSS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amAUGUSTA, Ga. - The outspoken head of the prestigious Augusta National Golf Club came out swinging yesterday, saying protest or no protest, the club has no intention whatsoever of backing...
NEW TRIAL IN GIRLFRIEND SLAY
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amA convicted murderer who's spent the past 15 years behind bars won a new shot at freedom after a federal judge found the defense lawyer dropped the ball by failing...
ON THE PATH TO RECOVERY
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amPATH service at the Exchange Place station in Jersey City will resume this June, nearly two years after the transit hub was shut down after the Sept. 11 attacks, the...
FLIP-FLOP ENVOY: IRAQ'S U.N. GUY SLAMS SADDAM
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amIraqi U.N. Ambassador Mohammed Al-Douri yesterday quickly jumped on the anti-Saddam bandwagon once it was clear the regime had been crushed. Outside the Iraqi mission in New York, Al-Douri did...
SADDAM'S A MYSTERY MAN : HE MIGHT BE DEAD, OR EVEN WITH RUSSIANS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amSaddam Hussein's whereabouts remained a mystery yesterday - but U.S. officials said there's growing evidence he's dead, even as rumors swirled in Baghdad that the dictator had taken refuge in...
'MONUMENTAL' DAY OF VICTORY:MOB DESTROYS SADDAM STATUE ; LOOTING IN STREETS OF BAGHDAD ; INTERIM LEADERS PLAN POWWOW
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amJubilant Iraqis stomped on a toppled statue of Saddam Hussein and dragged its severed head through the streets of Baghdad yesterday as the despot's ruthless regime collapsed in an orgy...
PUDGE PUNISHES METS TWICE IN 9TH
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amMarlins 3 Mets 2 MIAMI - In a somber Mets clubhouse last night, despondent players searched for answers and heaped blame on themselves. If there was no singular goat, Pudge...
FROSTY MOOSE PLAYS ROLE OF MR. WARMTH
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amON A night fit for neither man nor Moose, when fur- ther rain held off, but a thorough soaking was endured by those who forfeited the price of their tickets...
TIGER'S LEGACY JUST A MASTERS MIRAGE
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amAUGUSTA - When Tiger Woods won his first green jacket in 1997, his victory seemed to wipe away much of the lineage of racial discrimination that has haunted Augusta National...
GENO HAS HUSKIES PRIMED FOR 3-PEAT
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amATLANTA - Before taking the podium on Tuesday to discuss their back-to-back titles, Connecticut players were asked to remove their national championship caps. In truth, though, the NCAA would have...
LET THREEDOM SWING ; WOODS HUNTING FOR HISTORY, 3RD STRAIGHT JACKET
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amAUGUSTA - Tiger Woods' pursuit of an unprecedented Masters three-peat begins in earnest at 10:44 this morning as he tees off with U.S. Amateur champion Ricky Barnes and Argentine Angel...
ARNIE NOT HAPPY WITH CONDITIONS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amAUGUSTA - Arnold Palmer said yesterday that the rain-soaked weather has Augusta National playing like it's about 8,000 or more yards because of plugged shots and lack of roll in...
EMPIRE MAKER ARRIVES
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amEmpire Maker, who emerged from a close-knit pack of Kentucky Derby contenders to become the solid early choice with a 93/4-length romp in the Florida Derby, arrived at Aqueduct yesterday...
BUCK-SHOT KNICKS OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amIt's official now: The Knicks will go 30 years without a championship. The Bucks' 112-92 rout of the Clippers last night mathematically eliminated the Knicks from the playoffs, though they...
A 'PAT' ON THE BACK ; DEVILS CREDIT BURNS AFTER BEATING BRUINS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amGAME 1Devils 2Bruins 1 They'll be hard to upset now, these Devils, whose hard case behind the bench showed he can really coach a game. Martin Brodeur provided his 68th...
ALMONTE'S HOLDING DOWN FORT
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES The past two years, Erick Almonte was seen but barely heard during his brief stays with the Yankees in spring training. The kid remains quiet now that he's...
ISLES JUST SENS-ATIONAL: BLANK OTTAWATO COP OPENER
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amGAME 1Islanders 3Senators 0 OTTAWA - There was a brief feeling-out period, standard in the first game of a long playoff series, in which the Islanders smacked their opponents square...
JASON RIPS NETS ; KIDD: NO EFFORT IN LOSS TO LOWLY HAWKS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00am"Some people showed up, some people didn't. You can't single anybody out but as a whole, the team didn't show up."JASON KIDD Hawks 97 Nets 92 ATLANTA - For the...
HOWE'S STAFF MAY STRIKE 12
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amMET NOTES MIAMI - When Pedro Astacio, Grant Roberts and John Franco return to full strength, the Mets will have quite a dilemma on their hands. Art Howe and GM...
STEVENSON'S 1ST-SHIFT HIT IRKS BOSTON
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amBruins GM/coach Mike O'Connell said Turner Stevenson's game-opening hit "was bordering on a suspension." Stevenson didn't try to duck the question, or deny fault. The Devils' winger leveled Boston defenseman...
COACH AIDS BRUIN RUIN: O'CONNELL'S MOVES PLAY INTO DEVILS' HANDS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amIT is without a doubt Boston's power and glory, the first line that features Joe Thornton between Mike Knuble - yes, that Mike Knuble - and Glen Murray, the combination...
MUSSINA LEARNING TO WEATHER STORM
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amIt WAS a night fit for neither man nor Moose, a wet- blanket evening that soaked whoever paid up to $47 to sit uncovered in 38-degree chill and watch the...
SAVE YOUR CRITICISM : AGENT: BENITEZ ONE OF THE BEST
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amMIAMI -Armando Benitez might be pitching his final season in a Mets uniform, and it's sure to be an event every time out -whether he registers the save or not....
THE STREAK LIVES .., BUT DANEYKO'S ON BUBBLE WITH BURNS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amThe coach claims Ken Daneyko stretched his phenomenal playoff streak on merit last night. The all-time Devil figures he best not falter, or Pat Burns will end it on merit....
TORRE'S 1ST CONCERN: GIAMBI THE DH TO SAVE HIS LEGS, GIVE NICK TIME
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amIf Jason Giambi complained, he would get his way. If Giambi hated seeing his name penciled in at designated hitter, he wouldn't see his name there very often, if at...
NOW IT'S BURNS' TURN: DEVS' COACHING CAROUSEL DELIVERS PAT TO PLAYOFFS
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amIT'S easy to understand how the Rangers would be on their fifth coach in six seasons, but the Devils? What on earth is the explanation for a team that has...
OTTAWA TRASHIN' YASHIN
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amKANATA - Like it or not, Alexei Yashin is going to be the Islanders' most important player, outside of goalie Garth Snow, in this seven-game series against his former team....
LOOKING OUT FOR NO. 1: TOP SPOT IN EAST THERE FOR NETS TO TAKE
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amATLANTA - Just win. Two simple words, but they describe the Nets' solution as they seek their second straight No. 1 Eastern Conference playoff seed. And with five games remaining,...
OUT-IN-COLD KNICKS FEEL DRAFT COMING
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amLast night it was expected to become official. A Bucks home victory over the Clippers would mathematically eliminate the Knicks from the playoffs, ensuring a seat on the draft dais...
ALMONTE HOLDS DOWN FORT
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES The past two years, Erick Almonte was seen but barely heard during his brief stays with the Yankees in spring training. The kid remains quiet now that he's...
TRACHSEL WARY OF THIEVES
April 10, 2003 | 4:00amMET NOTES MIAMI - Steve Trachsel may have picked off consecutive baserunners in his last start but he doesn't think the Marlins will shy away from stealing bases all of...