September 25, 2003
FED STATS MISS HALF THE RECENT PRICE INCREASE
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON got it half right. In the consumer inflation report released by the feds last week, the government picked up only about half of the recent 15 percent increase in...
FREDERICK'S SHEDS SMUT IN NEW LOOK
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amFrederick's of Hollywood, best known for racy lingerie, is cleaning up its act. A retooled catalog to be launched in January won't feature the usual sexy lingerie. Instead there will...
VIACOM SEES PROFIT DROP IN AD SLUMP
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amMedia giant Viacom is having a tough time selling advertising in local markets. The company, home to CBS, MTV, Paramount Pictures and Simon & Schuster, lowered its revenue and earnings...
GAMECUBE TAKES BIG PRICE CUT
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amNintendo, trying to power up lackluster sales of its GameCube video game system, announced yesterday that it was slashing the price of the unit to $100. The price cut -...
NEW CFDA-VOGUE GRANTS TO BACK YOUNG DESIGNERS
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amYoung designers will be getting a lifeline in the form of a new grant announced yesterday by the Council of Fashion Designers of America and Vogue magazine. Beginning next year,...
BARNEYS BLDG. SALE BACK ON
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amThe "For Sale" sign is back for the office portion of the building that houses Barneys. Its owners tried to sell it more than a year ago but never hit...
MESSIER PAYMENT STOPPED BY COURT
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amA federal court in New York yesterday froze a $24 million severance payout to former Vivendi CEO Jean-Marie Messier. The order was made at the request of the Securities and...
ASHFORTH WARBURG DROPS ONE WELL-KNOWN NAME
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amASHFORTH Warburg, which began as the Albert E. Ashforth real estate company in 1896, will henceforth be known as Warburg Realty Partnership Ltd.Frederick W. Peters, the company's president, cited a...
MARKET GAS PAINS - INDEXES PLUNGE ON NEWS OF OPEC PRODUCTION CUT
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amBoth Wall Street and the U.S. economic recovery are reeling after a surprise move by the world's oil cartel. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which supplies a third...
SICKENED ADMAN FILES DENTSU-IT
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amA hall-of-fame advertising executive is in federal court with a novel pitch: He got fired because he had the World Trade Center cough. Steve Penchina said he got violently ill...
SURPRISE! NOW LANGONE URGES NYSE REVIEW
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amWho's the new social reformer at the New York Stock Exchange? Ken Langone. You may know him as the director most responsible for ex-NYSE Chairman Dick Grasso's mind-boggling $200 million...
STARR REPORT
September 25, 2003 | 4:00am"Living It Up! With Ali & Jack" co-host Jack Ford had to be crow- barred out of his dressing room yesterday after locking himself in - just before airtime. Ford,...
JOEY 'PANTS' SKIRTED BY RIVAL BARBARA WALTERS
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amBARBARA Walters bumped Joe Pantoliano from "The View" this week because the former "Sopranos" star's new CBS show competes directly against her long-running newsmag, "20/20." "The View" booked Pantoliano last...
LOSE THE PROFESSOR, SEND IN THE CLOWN
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amTHE HARLEQUIN STUDIES At the Signature Theater Company, 555 W. 42nd St., (212) 244-7529. Through Oct. 26. ----- BILL Irwin is an intellectual clown who worries constantly about the history...
'SQUARES' DECIDES TO AIR RITTER EPISODES
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amIN death, John Ritter's career seems to have gotten a second wind. The first of Ritter's final three episodes of "8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter," drew huge...
BILLY BACK ON OSCARS
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amBILLY Crystal is returning to host the Oscars after a four-year layoff. Crystal will emcee the first Oscar show ever held in February. Traditionally, the movies awards show is held...
PORN REBORN - FROM TV TO BOOKS TO MOVIES, SEX STILL SELLS; XXX MARKS THE SPOT
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amWHO says pornography is taboo? Not the world's hottest X-rated star, Jenna Jameson, who stands four stories tall on a billboard in Times Square. Or Val Kilmer, who plays the...
THE MOB SQUAD - 'SOPRANOS' VILLAIN ON RIGHT SIDE OF LAW NOW
September 25, 2003 | 4:00am"The Handler" [ 1/2] (two and one-half stars) Friday night at 10 on CBS -------- FRESH from a best actor Emmy for his role in "The Sopranos," Joe Pantoliano finds...
CELEBS LATEST POKER DRAW
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amTHE TV poker craze has upped the ante. A new show called "Celebrity Poker Showdown" has been set for Bravo early next year. The six-part series, hosted by Kevin Pollack,...
WATTS UP
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amNaomi Watts is being wooed by a big hairy ape named King Kong. The Australian actress ("Mulholland Drive") is the leading contender for the female lead in a new version...
'CHAMP' WINS
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amHip-hop star DMX's latest album, "Champ," topped the albums charts, selling 312,876 copies its first week out, according to SoundScan. It's DMX's fifth straight album to hit No. 1 out...
NADA SURF RETURNS TO THE BOWERY
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amIN an acoustic show last week, Nada Surf singer/guitarist Matthew Caws and drummer Ira Elliot mixed their own lush pop tunes with covers by the Flaming Groovies, the Ramones, the...
'COUP' DE CRASS - WHY WOULD ANYONE GET OUT OF BED FOR LIMP COMEDY 'COUPLING'?
September 25, 2003 | 4:00am"Coupling" [Half ] (one-half star) Tonight at 9:30 on WNBC/Ch. 4 ----- TWO NBC affiliate stations have chosen to bag "Coupling," NBC's "sex" comedy, because they thought it was too...
MOM BAGGED TODDLER: COPS
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amA 2-year-old girl was discovered inside a laundry bag at the feet of an unconscious woman in a Harlem subway station last night, police said. An MTA worker cleaning the...
WAR WORTH IT: IRAQI POLL
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - The war against Saddam Hussein was worth it, most Iraqis say in a new poll. Most Iraqi civilians say getting rid of Saddam was worth the trouble of...
CLARK'S BUBBLE; BURST BY HIS OWN MOUTH?
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amAT the turn of the last century, America had no greater national hero than George Dewey, the commodore who destroyed the vaunted Spanish fleet in just three hours without a...
PRIVATE BUS LINES IN THREAT
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amFour private companies vowed yesterday to cut bus service because the city has gone out of its way to "financially strangle" them. Green Bus, Triboro Coach, Jamaica Buses and Command...
MEN ADD TO LABOR PAINS
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amExpectant dads may mean well - but they're not really up to the task of supporting their women during labor, a new study reveals. Moms-to-be who have ongoing help from...
GERMANY'S NEW ATTITUDE A TEU-TONIC FOR BUSH
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amPresident Bush yesterday won Germany's belated pledge of help in Iraq as he and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder sang a friendly duet and agreed that their nasty squabble over the war...
BUTT-BAN BOMBSHELL - ANTI-CIG GROUPS EYED FOR LOBBY VIOLATIONS
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amALBANY - The state Lobbying Commission has begun investigating nine anti-smoking groups for possible legal violations in backing the state's sweeping new tobacco law, The Post has learned. The probe...
NATIONAL 'PASS' TIME - PRO FOOTBALL NOW TWICE AS POPULAR AS BASEBALL
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amCalling baseball the national pastime may be as outdated as calling a car a horseless carriage - the popularity of the sport for the first time has sunk to less...
CITY OPENS 'RIGHTS' HQ ON STATEN I.
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amThe city yesterday opened a permanent Human Rights Commission office on Staten Island, the flashpoint of a string of recent bias attacks. But Commissioner Patricia Gatling downplayed the notion of...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amCops in Arkansas got a double shock when they checked out an SUV parked by a reservoir - inside, they found a sleeping man dressed in a bra and panties,...
PULLING PLUG ON WATER AD
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amThe world's largest manufacturer of household water filters has agreed to yank a subway ad that a top city official equated to "fear-mongering in a city already replete with recent...
YANKEES STAFFER IN FOUL TROUBLE
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amThe Yankees' playoff push continued even after they clinched the AL East title as a team staffer got into a shoving match with a Chicago security guard, police said. As...
A BURIED SCOOP - NEWS ON IRAQ GETS HIDDEN
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amLOOKS like the Gray Lady is up to her old tricks again - distorting the picture in Iraq by burying good news and playing up bad. Just take a look...
SILVERSTEIN IN WTC RENT FLAP
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amWorld Trade Center leaseholder Larry Silverstein has accused his bankers of trying to "choke off" his cash flow, run him out of business and derail the rebuilding of lower Manhattan...
COURAGEOUS COP STOPS TRAIN CRASH
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amA gutsy Long Island cop prevented a train wreck - by pulling his patrol car onto the Long Island Rail Road tracks between an oncoming train and a tree that...
JURY AWARDS COP-MELEE FAMILY 500G
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amMembers of a rough-and-tumble Brooklyn family arrested during a tangle with cops at their home won the latest round yesterday when a federal jury awarded them more than half a...
POLS FEEL $$ HEAT IN ELEX PROBE
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amALBANY - The state Board of Elections yesterday widened its probe of two New York City lawmakers who failed to disclose "in-kind" campaign contributions from a Florida-based prison company. The...
HILL'S SLIP IS SHOWING IN LATEST 'PREZ' POLL
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Almost 70 percent of New York voters say Sen. Hillary Clinton should not run for the White House in 2004 - a sharp increase in the past few...
POLICE SET FOR SCHOOL TERROR
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amThe NYPD has created a special unit to thwart terrorists who are tempted to target city schools, it was revealed yesterday. Law-enforcement officials insisted they have gotten no specific threat...
MONUMENTAL THREAT TO DOWNTOWN
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amLower Manhattan's notable buildings and a Brooklyn church with world-renowned stained-glass windows have been put on a list of the world's 100 most endangered historic sites. The nonprofit New York-based...
LIEBERMAN LEADS DEM PACK HERE
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amALBANY - Sen. Joseph Lieberman continues to lead the pack of presidential hopefuls among state Democrats, but former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean is gaining ground, a poll shows. The Marist...
GITMO GI HELD AS A CYBER SPY
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - An Air Force translator at the terrorist prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was caught downloading secrets from the military's ultra-secure computer network and e-mailing the files to Syria,...
PETERSON PAL GETS REVEALED
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amThe other woman in the Laci Peterson murder investigation was fully exposed yesterday - after a Web site started charging $19.95 for more than two dozen racy pictures of the...
ROCK ON, BOTTOM LINE - VILLAGE CLUB GETS 1 MONTH EVICTION DELAY
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amThe bottom line is: The Bottom Line is still open - for now. The legendary Village nightclub was given a four-week reprieve yesterday after NYU agreed to postpone eviction proceedings...
PARTY IN GENERAL CONFUSION AS WOBBLY WES WEIGHS IN
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amSUDDENLY, it's war among the Democratic wannabes now that "The General" has jumped into the race - so tonight's debate in New York could get pretty hot as Wesley Clark...
TUSK FORCE RIPS FEDS ON ELEPHANTS
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amDumbo is being dissed in D.C., animal-rights activists claim. The Department of Agriculture, the agency charged with enforcing the Animal Welfare Act, "routinely looks the other way when Ringling Bros....
L.I. SCHOOL BIAS ATTACK
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amPolice on Long Island are investigating a bias crime at a high school that left two brothers injured in an attack by a group of white teens spouting anti-Hispanic epithets....
PERV DOC'S KIDDIE PORN STUNS COURT
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amJurors yesterday watched child-porn movies found on a Brooklyn man's computer, saw his photos of young naked boys and heard about a Mexican "safe house" where visiting American pedophiles enjoyed...
PEDESTRIAN KILLED BY TRUCK HAULING PORTABLE TOILETS
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amAn elderly man was accidentally crushed to death by a flatbed truck hauling portable toilets to Central Park for the Dave Matthews free concert, just hours before the band took...
JAIL VISIT LEADS TO CELL-ABRATION
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amHave you done it in a dungeon? This precious baby is living proof that Peter Paul - former partner to Spider-Man creator Stan Lee - has. Paul spent the past...
MAYOR, PUTIN GET FIRED UP
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg took Russian President Vladimir Putin to Randalls Island yesterday to watch rookie members of New York's Bravest and a squad of 20 Russian firefighters work out at an...
HIT MAN GETS 2ND BID TO SHORTEN SENTENCE
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amThere may be light at the end of the tunnel for a wannabe wiseguy who has succeeded in whittling down a life sentence for multiple murders - including the horrific...
SOUVENIR-SHOP SHAKEDOWN RAP
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amThe owner of a Midtown souvenir shop shook down four people to generate business for his store, prosecutors said yesterday. Shi Yong Wei, who was busted earlier this week on...
TEEN GUILTY IN BYSTANDER SLAY
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amA Brooklyn teenager was convicted yesterday of manslaughter and assault in the shooting of an off-duty correction captain that left an innocent bystander dead. DeJuan Brown, 17, was found guilty...
DAVE HITS IT OUT OF THE PARK MATTHEWS ROCKS AT LAWN GIG
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amOne-hundred thousand Dave Matthews fans can't be wrong. Central Park lit up last night as squadrons of eager folk-rock fanatics flocked to the Great Lawn - the site of some...
SUSPECT CITES 'REAL' COP BOMBER
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amA man accused of putting bombs and guns in a police officer's SUV says he knows who really did the deed - and claims the culprit is set to confess...
PETERSON PAL EXPOSED
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amThe other woman in the Laci Peterson murder investigation was fully exposed yesterday - after a Web site started charging $19.95 for more than two dozen racy pictures of her....
TWIN-SIS CROOKS - TEENS ROBBED BANK TO SAVE THEIR HOME
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amTeenage twin sisters who masterminded a brazen Oct. 2002 bank robbery testified yesterday they did it in a misguided bid to save their family home for foreclosure. Chelsea and Elysia...
JURY AWARDS 514G TO COP-MELEE FAMILY
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amMembers of a Brooklyn family arrested during a tangle with cops at their home won the latest round yesterday when a federal jury awarded them more than half a million...
THE SOUVENIR BIZ IS A JUNGLE
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amThe owner of a Midtown souvenir shop shook down four people to generate business for his store, prosecutors said yesterday. Shi Yong Wei is accused of using a gang of...
DAVE HITS IT OUT OF THE PARK - MATTHEWS ROCKS AT LAWN GIG
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amOne-hundred thousand Dave Matthews fans can't be wrong. Central Park lit up last night as squadrons of folk-rock fanatics flocked to the Great Lawn - the site of some of...
ARNIE & ARIANNA TRADE BLASTS
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amSACRAMENTO, Calif. - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and writer Arianna Huffington took off the gloves last night and fiercely slugged it out during a 90-minute verbal brawl filled with personal insults....
BOWERY BOYS CAPTURE HEART OF THE CITY
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amGETTING from CBGB's on The Bowery to Central Park is a snap for most New Yorkers, but it took the Dave Matthews Band more than 10 years to make that...
SPILL EMPTIES QNS. SCHOOL
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amHundreds of students were evacuated from a Queens elementary school yesterday morning after people inside the building began to feel ill effects of fumes from an ammonia spill, fire officials...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amMANHATTAN * Police are looking for this man (above), who they say robbed an East Harlem bank in August and attempted to loot three other Upper Manhattan banks this month....
FIRMS THREATEN BUS STOPS
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amFour private companies vowed yesterday to cut bus service because the city has gone out of its way to "financially strangle" them. Green Bus, Triboro Coach, Jamaica Buses and Command...
MONUMENTAL THREAT: GROUND ZERO AMONG 'ENDANGERED' SITES
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amLower Manhattan's notable buildings and a Brooklyn church with world-renowned stained glass windows have been put on a list of the world's 100 most endangered historic sites. The non-profit, New...
DEATH BLAST AT NBC HOTEL
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amA bomb blast killed one at the hotel that houses NBC News' Iraq headquarters in central Baghdad this morning, the network reported. The victim was a Somali national who was...
CLASSROOM EXTRA: THE FIRST NEW YORKERS
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amABSTRACT: Long before we lived here, New York State was home to the powerful Iroquois. Today's Classroom Extra takes a look at this Native American nation, which formed a powerful...
FEAGLES HOLDS ON TO OVERLOOKED JOB
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amGIANT NOTES The Giants might be 1-2 instead of 2-1 if not for Jeff Feagles, not only because of the expertise he's displayed with his punting ability. Feagles made a...
CUTS FOR BARBER - GIANTS WANT TO GIVE TIKI A REST
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amEric Studesville, the Giants' running backs coach, knows he must find a way to get Tiki Barber a break during games. But he asks for help with a simple question....
'EMPIRE' OUT OF GOLD CUP
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amEmpire Maker, the brilliant but fragile colt who's raced just once since winning the June 7 Belmont Stakes, was knocked out of Saturday's Grade 1, $1 million Jockey Club Gold...
DEVIL BACKUP SHINES
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amFoes long on memory and short on goaltending might find temptation among the Devils' offerings in the waiver draft a week from tomorrow. It is one of the side effects...
THANK YOU, MURPH
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amTHE best part? There was never one call that defined who Bob Murphy was, never a serendipitous collision of moment and mouth that will ever demand we summarize his career...
WOODY SAYS, 'NO EXCUSES'
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amJets owner Woody Johnson has been distressed by his team's third consecutive slow start, but he sounded completely upbeat yesterday as he watched his 0-3 Jets practice at Weeb Ewbank...
ISLANDER GOAL: CHOOSE FROM DIPIETRO, SNOW
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amThe most important job on the Islanders roster this season is still up for grabs. While the Isles are trying to mimic the Devils in just about every way, in...
SLATS' NEW RULES ROCK RANGER BOAT
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amCOLUMBUS - For the 2003-2004 Rangers, discipline is to be demanded not only on the ice, but off of it. And a club that has acquired so many of its...
IT NEVER GETS OLD - PARCELLS DOUBTS HERM COULD LEAVE LURE OF COACHING
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amWith the always entertaining and wishy-washy Bill Parcells coming to town Sunday with his Cowboys in his fourth tour of NFL duty, the topic of coaching beyond the age of...
GM'S CHOICES PUT JETS IN A BAD WAY
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amTUNA. Tuna. Tuna. In Hempstead yesterday, everybody wanted to ask the Jets about Tuna, as if a win over a run-down team Bill Parcells has coached for two games will...
CAN'T MOOSE-TER UP ENOUGH FOR 200 - MUSSINA COMES UP CHI IN FINAL BID FOR MILESTONE
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amWhite Sox 9 - Yankees 4 CHICAGO - Joe Torre gave Mike Mussina an extra day of rest so he wouldn't have been idle for six days when he starts...
BOSS RIPS PINIELLA FOR MATSUI BASH
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amCHICAGO - George Steinbrenner is miffed with old friend Lou Piniella. Piniella's recent comments that Yankee outfielder Hideki Matsui doesn't deserve the AL Rookie of the Year because he played...
PIGSKIN PROFIT
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amMINNESOTA at PENN STATE ESPN Noon Line: Minnesota -2. Angle: Minnesota is the worst 4-0 team in college football. Glen Mason's team has remained perfect by Tulsa, Troy State, Ohio...
SCOTT & NETS CENTER ON GLUT
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amFour into five won't go. That was among coach Byron Scott's decrees yesterday for the high-expectation Nets, who plan to enter training camp next week with four centers. And in...
TORRE TORN ON CONTRERAS
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES CHICAGO - Maybe if there was an additional three weeks left to the regular season Jose Contreras could pitch his way into Joe Torre's four-man October rotation. However,...
VINNY NOT AFRAID OF BENCHING
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amJET NOTES Quarterback Vinny Testaverde was asked yesterday about the possibility of being benched in favor of rookie Brooks Bollinger if the Jets' losing streak continued. "I don't make the...
FRED: WE'LL FIX MET MESS
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amMet owner Fred Wilpon emerged from self-imposed media seclusion yesterday, telling reporters the 2003 club was a "dismal failure." But the CEO promised significant additions to the club's pitching and...
AMAZIN' FINALE IS UP IN AIR
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amMET NOTES It's been a season that has needed comic relief, and Art Howe was able to provide some yesterday. The last-place Mets might have to play a makeup game...
IT'S TIME FOR USA TO GET PHYSICAL
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amPHILADELPHIA - When the U.S. women's national team faces some of the world's best teams, often the result is creative, free-flowing soccer, the kind of beautiful creativity that is an...
SLATS SETS NEW RANGER GUIDELINES
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amCOLUMBUS - For the 2003-2004 Rangers, discipline is to be demanded not only on the ice, but off of it. And a club that has acquired so many of its...
PAPINEAU'S GOAL: TO STICK WITH ISLES
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amJustin Papineau can do a lot of things on the ice, but there's nothing he does better - or more often - than score. Last night Papineau roofed his third...
NET LOSS FOR DEVS
September 25, 2003 | 4:00amIslanders 2 - Devils 1 Foes long on memory and short on goaltending might find Devilish temptation in the waiver draft a week from tomorrow. It is one of the...