April 17, 2003
BACK TO TRACKS - KOPPELMAN, GOLDMAN EYE AOL'S MUSIC PUBLISHER
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amFamed music entrepreneur Charles Koppelman is trying to get back into the business in a big way - teaming up with Goldman Sachs Group's private-equity arm to bid on Warner/Chappell...
KETCHUM GETS DISS AT NASDAQ
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amRick Ketchum has been bounced as president of Nasdaq with the appointment of Robert Greifeld as CEO and president yesterday. In an e-mail obtained by The Post, Greifeld introduced himself...
LILLIAN PACKING IT IN
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amSells catalog biz to Zelnick group for $60M Catalog retailing legend Lillian Vernon is stepping aside after selling out to a group of private equity investors that includes the former...
FLEET TRADER GETS TOSSED FROM NYSE
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amOne of FleetBoston Financial's traders in its specialist unit, Fleet Specialist, was placed on administrative leave Monday for inappropriate trading behavior, sources said. Trading floors sources said that as many...
FAO SEEKING GRAND FINALE
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amThe owner of FAO Schwarz has asked a bankruptcy judge for permission to close its remaining 158 stores - including the flagship on 5th Avenue - and hold going-out-of-business sales...
UNION OKS CUTS; AMERICAN SKIRTS BANKRUPTCY
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amAmerican Airlines touched down in a hard-bounce landing but avoided crashing in bankruptcy court last night after winning a tense labor standoff. The cash-strapped airline was ready to take refuge...
BIG SALE PUT GULFSTREAM EXEC ON ICE
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amThe long-time head of Gulfstream jets is out of a job - an abrupt departure that may have been triggered by his giant "fire sale" of used Gulfstreams at a...
ARTIST'S TRIBECA PAD NOW A MERE $5.9M
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amA piece of contemporary history has just gotten a little cheaper. Minimalist artist Ross Bleckner has lowered his asking price on the building that housed the Mudd Club, the famed...
PENSION TENSION DEFUSED AT WENNER
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amThe bitter fight over pension dollars that pitted Sports Illustrated editor Terry "Big Sky" McDonell against his former boss, Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner, is close to an out of...
APPLE DENIES A UNIVERSAL BID
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amApple Computer fueled further speculation about its intentions regarding Universal Music by putting out a statement yesterday denying it had bid on Universal - even though no one ever said...
FEDS LEAN ON FALLEN EX-CFO
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amProsecutors ratcheted up the pressure on disgraced WorldCom whiz kid Scott Sullivan yesterday, pounding him with four new charges that carry a maximum 120-year prison sentence. With Sullivan due to...
SULLIVAN FACES ADDED CHARGES
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amProsecutors ratcheted up the pressure on fallen WorldCom whiz kid Scott Sullivan yesterday, pounding him with four new charges that carry a maximum 120-year prison sentence. With Sullivan due to...
CAREMARK UNTOUCHED BY HEALTHSOUTH'S TIES
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amCAREMARK RX is lucky its stock isn't getting Scrushed because of the acquaintances it kept. Word has been getting around Wall Street this week about just how close that Birmingham,...
KEEP ON TRUCKIN'
April 17, 2003 | 4:00am"Luxury" and "pickup" are not two words generally found in the same sentence. Enter Ford's new line of exactly that -luxury pickup trucks. The F-150 line will turn heads. Could...
STARR REPORT
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amFrank's in the family way on 'Sopranos' Veteran tough-guy actor Frank Vincent ("Raging Bull," "Casino," "Wiseguys") has snagged a recurring role in the upcoming season of "The Sopranos." Details are...
OY VEY !CASTRO PASSED OVER
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amHBO has yanked Oliver Stone's documentary about Cuban dictator Fidel Castro - who recently executed three dissidents and imprisoned over 80 journalists in a bloody crackdown on his critics. Stone...
FOR 'WHOM' THE CHARTS TOLL
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amDESPITE truck loads of hype, the debut disc of Lisa Marie Presley (left) didn't land the top spot on the album sales charts this week. Presley's "To Whom It May...
HOW TO HEAR THE ALBUM
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amYOU might need to jump through a few digital hoops to hear Madonna's "American Life" album, which is playing on MTV.com through Tuesday at mtv.com/music/the_leak/madonna. If you click on the...
IT'S OFFICIAL: ROCK RULES IN BROOKLYN
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amWILLIAMSBURG'S rep as a cool music hot spot has gone national. Blender magazine has just named the Brooklyn neighborhood America's No. 1 rock 'n' roll town. (The rest of the...
CAGEY MADONNA
April 17, 2003 | 4:00am* MADONNA "American Life" [ 1/2] Warner Bros. Records WHEN they call Madonna the most savvy self- promoter in music, better believe it. This is a woman who never misses...
'IDOL' JUDGES JOLTED AS FANS KICK KIM
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amIN A vote that came as a surprise to the "American Idol" judges, all-American blonde Kimberly Caldwell of Katy, Texas, was booted from the Fox talent show last night. Caldwell,...
DIFFERENCE OF OPINION ON THE END OF 'ED'
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amLast Friday night's episode of "Ed" was the series finale. Or was it? NBC execs say privately that Friday night's episode was designed to work as the end of the...
CLASS OF 2003 - HOT YOUNG THINGS GRADUATE TO STAR STATUS
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amMake way for the next Meryl Streep. In January, the Sundance Film Festival was abuzz over 15-year-old Evan Rachel Wood, star of Grand Jury Prize-nominee "Thirteen," a heart-rending drama about...
BIG NOISE FROM ITTY-BITTY 'IDOL'
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amOF all the TV talent shows that have popped up lately thanks to the popularity of "American Idol," only "America's Most Talented Kid," seems to be turning into an instant...
A COLD DAY IN HELL FOR POLE DOC
April 17, 2003 | 4:00am"Ice Bound: A Woman's Survival at the South Pole" [* * *] Sunday night at 9 on WCBS/Ch. 2 ---- UNLESS you were stuck in the North Pole, you know...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amA neat-freak burglar broke into a house in Louisiana, took a shower, changed clothes and left a bowl of strawberries on the kitchen table, as well as $51 in cash....
SAGGING ECONOMY - PLASTIC SURGERY TAKES A DOWNTURN
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amMore than 6 million Americans chose a nip, tuck or a lift last year, but plastic surgeons say the anesthetized U.S. economy has taken took a sizable chunk out of...
LESSONS IN TERROR
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amTHE arrest Tuesday of veteran Palestinian terrorist Abu Abbas - mastermind of the notorious Achille Lauro hijacking - by U.S. forces in Baghdad is more than welcome surprise. It's an...
RAT PANICKED AS U.S. SWOOPED IN - ELECTRIFYING ACCOUNT OF ABU ABBAS' CAPTURE
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Terror mastermind Abu Abbas was desperately phoning Palestinian friends to help him sneak into Iran shortly before U.S. helicopters roared over his Baghdad hideout in the early-morning hours...
KIN GRIEVE FOR TRAGIC HOOPS TEEN
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amRelatives yesterday were mourning the basketball- loving teen who collapsed and died while playing hoops in a park near his Brooklyn home. Jimmy Cadet, 16, was stricken at about 7...
TEEN GETS 9 YEARS FOR SAVAGE BASEBALL-BAT MURDER
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amA 16-year-old Queens boy who beat another teen to death with a baseball bat was sentenced to up to nine years yesterday. Randy Rosario of Ridgewood, an eighth-grader at IS...
BLOOD 'N' BUTTS
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amTHE Law of Unintended Consequences has not stood idly by for Mayor Bloomberg's smoking ban. First came Philip Morris' decision to move its corporate headquarters out of town - just...
INCOME TAX MAY GET HIKE, SAYS MIKE
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg hinted yesterday that he's open to a hike in the city's personal income tax if Albany doesn't grant him a commuter tax. "People will leave this city if...
IT'S A 'SHADE' LESS DANGEROUS
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - The national terror threat alert was lowered yesterday from "high" orange to "elevated" yellow as major fighting in Iraq appears over. In New York City, the local threat...
V TRAIN AIMS AT B'KLYN
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amThe V train won't be just for Manhattan and Queens riders anymore. The Transit Authority is planning to extend the unpopular V line into Brooklyn as part of a larger...
COME ON BACK - CITY'S PLEA TO TOURIST SCHOOL GROUPS
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amNow that the war's virtually over and spring is in the air, city officials yesterday had a message for America's schools: Come back and pay us a visit. Cristyne Nicholas,...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amQUEENS * A suspect has been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting last month of a man the killer thought owed him money, the Queens District Attorney's Office said...
GIS RAID HOME OF 'DR. GERM'
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - U.S. Special Operations troops raided the home of Iraq's infamous microbiologist "Dr. Germ" yesterday as Operation Iraqi Freedom shifted to the hunt for Saddam Hussein's henchmen and weapons...
DEAD BOY'S FOLKS WANT TOMMY LEE TO PAY - AND SAY 'SORRY'
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amSANTA MONICA, Calif. - A lawyer for two heartbroken parents asked jurors yesterday to make rocker Tommy Lee pay $10 million - and say "I'm sorry" - for the drowning...
CLA$$-ACT BIZ BIGS PUSH VOUCHER PLAN
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amNew York's corporate titans support giving city parents vouchers - public funds to send their kids to private schools - as a way to better their education, the head of...
DETROIT LOOKS FOR IDEAS IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amCarmakers are doing the time warp and ripping a page from the auto history books for the designs and innovations they'll unveil tomorrow at the annual New York International Auto...
BUSH WAR BUDGET BEEF$ UP N.Y.
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush signed an $80 billion war budget yesterday that includes $700 million in federal counterterrorism money for big cities like New York. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge...
APPLE COPS TO JOIN BAGHDAD'S FINEST
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amCall it Baghdad Blue. The State Department is looking for present and former NYPD cops willing to help restore order in Iraq by rebuilding and training new police departments in...
PEERS' TEARS FOR GOOD GUY TV NEWSMAN DAVID BLOOM
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amHOURS before he was to die in Iraq, David Bloom had a kind of premonition. The sight of battle had changed him, hardened him. The smell of death rattled the...
FOWL PLAY MAY HAVE FINISHED SWAN PAIR
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amThe mystery surrounding the famous Central Park swans' fate deepened yesterday as the female member of the ill-fated pair was found dead near their love nest on the shore of...
DEM PREZ HOPEFULS RACE TO BURY THEIR HEADS IN THE SAND
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amAMERICA is elated over victory in Iraq, but anti-war Democratic presidential wannabes are sticking to their - for want of a better word - guns, fueling talk that the party...
AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS MAY BE PRIVATIZED
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg wants all the city's after-school programs to be run by private operators - if they're not eliminated entirely. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein plans to "outsource all of its...
CITY SEEING SARS - THREE NEW CASES BRING COUNT HERE TO 10
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amCity health officials yesterday revealed that three more Big Apple residents are suspected of having SARS - but insisted that they, like the seven other local victims, caught the bug...
'5TH PILOT' BOMBSHELL - MOUSSAOUI'S WILD 'WHITE HOUSE TARGET' CLAIM
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - The feds have switched their theory about so-called "20th hijacker" Zacarias Moussaoui and now allege he was supposed to be the pilot of a fifth hijacked plane on...
CIG-STAB SUSPECTS' DAD LED C'TOWN MOB
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amThe three siblings arrested and then released in the stabbing death of an East Village nightclub bouncer who asked them to comply with the city's new anti-smoking law are the...
DEAD KID'S FOLKS WANT TOMMY LEE'S $10M AND APOLOGY
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amSANTA MONICA, Calif. - A lawyer for two heartbroken parents asked jurors yesterday to make rocker Tommy Lee pay $10 million - and say "I'm sorry" - for the drowning...
RAGE OVER PORN-PROF AX BUNGLE
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amThe two computer techies who were canned after blowing the whistle on a New York Law School instructor's massive cache of kiddie porn are outraged the perverted professor is still...
HOODS STEAL MAN'S BIBLE
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amPolice on Long Island are looking for a gang of teenage thugs who attacked and beat a man and robbed him of the only item of value he was carrying...
PASSOVER EVOKES MEMORIES OF ANOTHER LIBERATION
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amThe Jewish celebration of Passover - which started at sundown last night - has a special significance this year because of Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to Rabbi Michael Shmidman of...
BIZMEN IN BIZARRE KIDNAP
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amA routine business meeting turned into a frightening kidnap ordeal for a man who was bound with duct tape and lowered through an electric trap door into an under-floor chamber...
SHOWER-SLAY 'PSYCHO' RAP
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amAn accused rapist who allegedly imitated the shower attack scene in "Psycho" was indicted in the fatal stabbing of a dancer and the slashing her roommate in their Queens apartment....
TOY-GUN TRAGEDY - QNS. COPS KILL 'DEATH WISH' MESSENGER
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amA Queens messenger was shot dead by cops during a tense high-noon standoff yesterday after he brandished a fake gun in what may have been a ploy to have cops...
COPS SEEK ACCOMPLICE IN CIG-STAB MURDER
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amA third person probably helped get rid of the knife that killed an East Village bouncer during a brawl with two blood-drenched brothers, police sources said yesterday. Jonathan Chan, 29,...
SAM LEFRAK DIES - FELLOW DEVELOPERS HAIL REAL-ESTATE LEGEND
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amSam LeFrak, one of New York City's most colorful builders and the man who shaped the destiny of neighborhoods from Queens to the New Jersey waterfront, died early yesterday from...
DOORMEN EXTEND STRIKE DEADLINE
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amThe strike deadline for thousands of city apartment workers has been extended by two days to midnight Tuesday to accommodate the Passover and Easter holidays, officials said yesterday. Local 32B-J,...
BUREAUCRAT CHARGED IN BRIBE SCAM
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amA manager at the city's Department of Design and Construction yesterday was busted on charges she took $48,000 in bribes to rig dozens of contracts for bidders. Teresita Sotto, 54,...
BIG DRUG 'BUSTS' - BUXOM STRIPPERS SMUGGLED 'ECSTASY': FEDS
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amAn international "ecstasy" kingpin, accused of using beautiful, busty strippers recruited from clubs like Scores to smuggle millions of mind-bending pills into U.S. cities, was hauled into federal court yesterday...
I'LL BOOST INCOME TAX IF I HAVE TO: MIKE
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg hinted yesterday that he's open to a hike in the city's personal income tax if Albany doesn't grant him a commuter tax. "People will leave this city if...
'BUSTED' DRUG LORD HIRED BUSTY STRIPPERS: FEDS
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amAn international "ecstasy" kingpin, accused of using beautiful, busty strippers recruited from clubs like Scores to smuggle millions of mind-bending pills into U.S. cities, was hauled into federal court yesterday...
PITCHING A FIR - ERRATIC HURLERS BOMBED BY JAYS
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amThe five-run ditch David Wells put the Yankees in was easily made up in an inning. The same couldn't be said for a one-run deficit in the middle of the...
HITCH CAUGHT IN A CATCH-22
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amSterling Hitchcock has been champing at the bit to get into a game, to just have a chance to prove his worth. Perhaps he was a little too eager, because...
JINTS SET DRAFT SIGHTS ON D-LINE
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amUnless something dramatic or wholly unexpected takes place, the Giants on April 26 will select a defensive lineman with their first-round pick in the NFL Draft. And they believe that...
SILENT SPRING - GIAMBI: SEASON OF WITHER WON'T GET ME DOWN
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amJason Giambi gets it. Late Tuesday night, Giambi stopped his Porsche outside Yankee Stadium when a small cluster of fans begged him to sign autographs. Giambi, who went hitless in...
'LEAST OF OUR WORRIES' - DEVILS CERTAIN BRODEUR WILL BOUNCE BACK
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amThe Devils' worst-case scenario seems the least of their troubles. They consider strange and unusual the thought that Martin Brodeur could actually lose his edge, lose his confidence and fail...
BASEBALL ONE PSYCHO AWAY FROM NIGHTMARE
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amONE of these days, the drunk in the tank-top and cut-offs is going to have a pen knife stashed in his sock. One of these days, the moron showing off...
ALLEYNE'S CHOICE UP IN AIR
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amRumors swirled throughout the season that Shagari Alleyne might not wind up at Rutgers, where he verbally committed last fall. The 7-2 Rice center, who was named to the Post's...
CHANEY: WE NEED CHANGES
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amLatrell Sprewell put it strongest, but most Knick players agree changes don't need to be made to make the playoffs next season, as long as Antonio McDyess is able. However,...
TRAGEDY SETS BACK MUTOMBO
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amNET NOTES INDIANAPOLIS - Dikembe Mutombo was sliding back into the Nets' rotation. Slowly, it was coming. Then family tragedy hit. Still, the Nets feel the 7-2 center can be...
NO-SHOW ISLANDERS FACE EX-STINK-TION
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amGAME 4: Senators 3 - Islanders 1 They hang by a thread, one game from their summer vacation. On the brink the Islanders stand, hell's bells clanging with one just...
ARMANDO SAVED BY BOBBY V?
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amMET NOTES PITTSBURGH - Did Bobby Valentine tip off Armando Benitez and thereby save the Mets? The former Mets manager and current ESPN "Baseball Tonight" analyst might have called Benitez...
LEAKY PEN COLLAPSES TO DOOM METS AGAIN
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amPirates 6 - Mets 3 PITTSBURGH - Hours before last night's game, Art Howe confidently and accurately predicted a decent outing from David Cone. Asked what he expected from the...
THIS TIME, THERE'S A SENS OF PURPOSE
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amGROWING pains are never listed on any injury re port. Teams can't lie about them, like knees and shoulders. When a club isn't ready to win, the truth is right...
NET GAIN = ZERO - FINALE VS. PACERS JUST LIKE 'PRACTICE'
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amINDIANAPOLIS - The Nets wanted to get in one, good, final prep before the playoffs. And, yeah, 50 wins would be nice. The Nets also wanted to prove to themselves,...
IT'LL BE THE BUCKS - NETS EYE PLAYOFFS AFTER HO-HUM FINALE
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amPacers 90 - Nets 83 INDIANAPOLIS - The season that seemingly began back when man was learning to walk erect finally is complete. So the Nets know at last who...
JETER'S MAKING PROGRESS
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES Slowly, Derek Jeter is working his way back from the dislocated left shoulder he suffered Opening Day. According to Joe Torre, Jeter will begin activity involving a bat...
POSADA COOLS AT WRONG TIME IN YANKS' LOSS
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amThe book on Jorge Posada has been a consistent and easy read: He'll start slowly, get hot when the weather does, and his switch-hitting bat eventually will make up for...
PITCHING A FIT - ERRATIC HURLERS BOMBED BY JAYS
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amBlue Jays 7 - Yankees 6 Perfect, David Wells wasn't. Neither was Sterling Hitchcock, a fellow lefty without Wells' publishing experience, lifestyle or music taste. Ditto Juan Acevedo, the closer...
ARMANDO SAVED BY BOBBY V? - TIP FROM 'FRIEND' HELPS METS
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amPITTSBURGH - Did Bobby Valentine tip off Armando Benitez and thereby save the Mets? According to a published report, the former Mets manager and current ESPN "Baseball Tonight" analyst might...
PIAZZA DOESN'T RECALL MAKING OBSCENE GESTURE
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amMET NOTES PITTSBURGH - Mike Piazza was televised flipping the bird in the moments following Sunday's four-game sweep by Montreal in San Juan. Apparently, replays of the incident make it...
ISLES' YOUNGSTERS IN PLAYOFF SCHOOL
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amThey're in a different kind of school, the kids on the Islanders' roster, getting a masters degree in the hockey arts. And the youngsters on the team are studying not...
OTTAWA SEEKS CURE FOR PREMATURE ELIMINATION
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amGROWING pains are never listed on any injury report. Teams can't lie about those, like knees and shoulders, all of which remain "day-to-day" in complete denial of casts and crutches....
WARD EXPECTS TO BE BACK
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amKNICK NOTES Charlie Ward, the longest-tenured Knick, has good vibes that he's part of their plans for next season. The Knicks could buy out the $6 million final year of...
GORDON MEMORIAL MAY 4
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amA public memorial will be held for Jim Gordon, Sunday, May 4, from noon to 2 p.m., at Putnam Valley High School, Peekskill Hollow Rd., in Putnam Valley, N.Y. Gordon,...
LOCAL FIGHTERS ARE ON A ROLL
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amTo get a boxing boost, Aneudi Santos hit the books. Sechew Powell hit the weights. Next Friday night, they both hope to hit a Foxwoods Casino ring ready to pummel...
ALLEYNE MAY SNUB RUTGERS
April 17, 2003 | 4:00amRumors swirled throughout the season that Shagari Alleyne might not wind up at Rutgers, where he verbally had committed in the fall. The 7-2 Rice center, who was named to...