January 27, 2004
PENTHOUSE STRIPS DOWN TO SOFTER SIDE
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amPenthouse, which hit the skids and went bankrupt after going hard-core, is being cleaned up for a $50 million makeover and relaunch this autumn. The new version will dump its...
IT'S TIME AGAIN TO ASK YOUR BANK FOR A MORTGAGE RATE CUT
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amIT'S time for another round of Pester Your Bank. Last summer, I suggested that readers call the bank that is holding their mortgage and, politely at first, ask for a...
PHILIPS TO LAUNCH A ROLL-UP E-NEWSPAPER
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amPaper or plastic? By next year, Philips Electronics and E Ink Corp. believe the answer will be plastic - a flexible sheet of "paper" that displays electronic text and can...
THRUST & PARRY ; HOLLINGER COUNTERS WITH 2-PRONGED ATTACK ON BLACK
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amHollinger International fired back on two fronts yesterday against ousted CEO Conrad Black's plans to sell his controlling stake in the company. The newspaper giant's corporate review committee met yesterday...
IBM, MICROSOFT RACE TO MAKE NEW ID TECH
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amIBM and Microsoft believe they've tagged the next big technology market - tiny transmitters attached to every product you buy. Both companies announced major pushes into radio frequency identification, or...
AMI HIRES ROGERS TO HELP DEVELOP MAG-INSPIRED TV
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amCelebrity tabloid Star is headed to television. To achieve the weekly's long-held dream, owner David Pecker is bringing in TV honcho Tom Rogers to work his development magic on the...
SPEYER GIVES BIG KISS TO THE LIPSTICK BUILDING
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amJERRY Speyer is adding another trophy to his company's Manhattan treasure chest: the Lipstick Building at 885 Third Ave., which Tishman Speyer has won in a fierce and secrecy-shrouded bidding...
BIG SEARCH FIRMS CASH IN ON BAN OF POP-UPS
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amThe titans of online search are battling pop-up advertisements, but their motives aren't completely selfless. New versions of search engines from Microsoft and Google, called toolbars, automatically block those ubiquitous...
REAL SAKS APPEAL: LOOKS TO STEAL BERGDORF'S CHIEF RON FRASCH
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amRonald Frasch, the chairman and chief executive of Bergdorf Goodman, is in talks to become the chief merchant of Saks Fifth Avenue, The Post has learned. A deal has yet...
DOW UP 134; HIGHEST IN 31 MONTHS
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amCash is flowing back to stocks again - sending prices to their highest levels in 31 months. Despite bumpy spots in the overall economy, bullish dreams prevailed yesterday as a...
NEW VIRUS OUTBREAK MAY SPELL MYDOOM
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amExperts are warning computer users about a virus dubbed "MyDoom," which has garnered the highest warning level from antivirus company Mc- Afee Security. "We've used this warning less than five...
MICROSOFT SETTLES WITH AN XBOX
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amMy kingdom for an Xbox. Mike Rowe, the Canadian teen who drew the ire of Microsoft because of his pun-inspired Web site, has settled with the software giant. The 17-year-old...
ON THE LEFT
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amIF you're a Left Bank-type but run screaming with claustrophobia from those cute little lodgings, consider the Lutetia, the closest thing to a palace hotel in St. Germain des Pres....
SPRINGS FEVER ; CITY GIRL LISA KEYS GETS LOST IN THE NATURAL CHARMS OF THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DESERT
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amPOSTCARDWE came to California's Anza-Borrego desert for nothing - literally. We came for wide-open space, for blissful silence, for a decided absence from the whiz and whir of Las Vegas,...
RAZZIES GET 'GIGLI'
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amTHEY may be over as a couple, but Bennifer still have to jointly live down the fallout from their legendary bomb "Gigli," which led the Razzie awards for the worst...
FOX PLAYS WITH 5-MINUTE DELAY ON LIVE SHOWS
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amFOX could be adding up to a five-minute delay to its live broadcasts - trying to stop profanity from getting out over the air. According to Broadcasting & Cable magazine,...
GOLDEN RETRIEVALS
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amThose moments we'll never forget.2. Mary-Louise Parker's breasts. The Best Supporting Actress winner got one of the evening's biggest laughs with her acceptance speech for "Angels in America." "Janel Moloney...
MAKING WAVES
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amSAY goodbye to your straightening iron. Tendrils, waves, spirals and curls were the hottest hair trends on the red carpet last night.Diane Lane, Queen Latifah and Sarah Jessica Parker went...
NO, NO, NICOLE : KIDMAN, DRESSED TO THE NINES, IS HARDLY A FASHION 10
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amFOR more than five years, Nicole Kidman has set the style standard by which other actresses at awards show are judged. Remember the tight red satin Gucci number she wore...
STARR REPORT
January 27, 2004 | 5:00am'Fat' opportunity Over 19 million people watched "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé" star Steve Bailey do his belly-jiggling "underwear dance" for a horrified Randi Coy last week (she couldn't bear...
BE VERY AFRAID: 'APPRENTICE' AIDES EVEN MEANER THAN TRUMP
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amIT'S not enough to just please The Donald. Any contestant who is serious about winning "The Apprentice" has to wow the man and woman who sit at Donald Trump's right...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amA man - furious he was busted in a police "sting" operation - protested by coming to court in a bumblebee costume. Kansas District Judge John Anderson was so buzzed...
FEDS BUST DRUG TRIO IN 7-SLAY PLOT
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amThree Bronx drug dealers have been busted in a plot to hire a hit team to rub out as many as six rivals - and the ex-wife of one of...
GLEN GETS HIS LINES STRAIGHT
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amMORE than $86 million of hockey talent was not quite ready to play when the puck dropped at a silent Garden at 7:08 last night. But no one could ever...
EERIE CANAL CROPS
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amYou probably wouldn't picnic along the banks of Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal - but someday, you may grow tomatoes there. A group of students at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture,...
L.I. TEEN IN DEC. SUV CRASH DIES
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amA Long Island teen has died as a result of injuries she received in the tragic car crash that took the life of one of her friends just before Christmas,...
CRIP NABBED WITH COP'S GUN
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amA gang member was carrying a .40-caliber Glock semi-automatic pistol belonging to a Pennsylvania police officer when he was arrested on Long Island, authorities said yesterday. Kawan Johnson, 21, was...
MEMORY LAPSE - TEEN-SHOOT COP CAN'T RECALL FIRING HIS GUN
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amThe cop who gunned down an unarmed teen on a Brooklyn rooftop is defending himself by saying the shooting was a split-second reaction to a door springing open - and...
STREET-SAVVY STRATEGY IS ACTIVISTS' ANSWER TO 'BLUE WALL'
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amIT'S called "securing the turf" and it's a streetwise tactic against police brutality. It doesn't prevent the brutality, but it helps activists see that justice is done in the courts....
PICKY PARTNERS WANT CHANGE OF FACE
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amLet's face it, love is not blind. And a new survey confirms what you might have already thought - most people would like to change at least one feature on...
ISRAEL DIGS UP TERRORISTS FOR EXCHANGE
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - Israeli soldiers disinterred the bodies of Lebanese terrorists yesterday in preparation for a massive swap of prisoners and human remains with the Hezbollah guerrilla group. The controversial exchange,...
UFT'S BEEF SPAMS; BULL-ETIN BOARDS TOPIC OF TEACHERS' 'E-RANTS'
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amSchools Chancellor Joel Klein invited teachers to e-mail him their concerns - and now he's getting a spamful of "e-rants" about bulletin boards, classroom assignments, unruly students, uninvolved parents and...
AL FRANKEN KNOCKS DOWN DEAN HECKLER
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amEXETER, N.H. - Wise-cracking funnyman Al Franken yesterday body-slammed a demonstrator to the ground after the man tried to shout down Gov. Howard Dean. The tussle left Franken's trademark thick-rim...
TERROR BIG GOT A VISA
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed received a visa to enter the United States weeks before the attacks even though he was under indictment for previous terrorist plots...
DOMESTIC DIVA'S PERFECT RECIPE - WOMAN-HEAVY JURY MIX BOOSTS DEFENSE
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amIt's the jury Martha Stewart wanted - eight middle-aged women are among the 12 New Yorkers who will decide whether the domestic diva goes to prison. Twelve jurors and six...
SANIT WOMAN CRUSHED ; MOM DIESIN 'ARM'OF TRUCK
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amA female sanitation worker was crushed to death by a mechanical arm on the truck she was working on in Brooklyn yesterday - the first woman in the department's history...
SUBWAY SAMARITAN GETS 'GRAND' REWARD
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amWho says nice guys finish last? Two weeks ago, Jeffrey Gilbert, 45, of Newark, took on a knife-wielding thug on a packed subway train - while everyone else in the...
HOWARD LASHES OUT AT CYBER 'SMEAR CAMPAIGN'
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amEXETER, N.H. - Former Gov. Howard Dean charged yesterday that unnamed opponents had unleashed a war of "dirty tricks" to try to stop him - including a forged anti-gay email....
CITY RESCUES STARVING DOG
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amFurious city officials are offering $1,000 reward to help catch the sadist who tortured and starved a Bronx dog for months. When they found the brown and white pit bull...
CITY'S STARS BOOST NEW 'ADOPT A SCHOOL' PLAN
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amRapper Jay-Z and Knicks star Stephon Marbury joined forces with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday in a city campaign to get business leaders to "adopt" public schools. Infinity Broadcasting answered...
MAYOR: GOV'S PLAN SHORTCHANGES CITY
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amALBANY - Mayor Bloomberg yesterday took aim at Gov. Pataki's proposed state budget, saying it won't provide enough relief for the city, relies on unstable funding for schools and even...
NO HANDS ON DECK - LOOKOUT 'PROBABLY PLAYING CARDS' WHEN FERRY CRASHED
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amA mate aboard the doomed Staten Island ferry that slammed into a pier in October, killing 11 passengers, was away from his post "probably playing cards" when the tragedy occurred,...
JUDGE NIXES LENDER LAW
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amA law barring the city from doing business with "predatory" lenders - enacted by the City Council over Mayor Bloomberg's objection - was invalidated yesterday. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael...
FIREHOUSE SIT-INS: SOMEONE LET US IN
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amSeven Williamsburg residents went on trial yesterday for occupying their neighborhood firehouse last May to protest its closing, insisting they weren't trespassing because a firefighter left a door open for...
SNOW JOKE - HALF A FOOT OF THE WHITE STUFF'S COMING
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amA major snowstorm is about to ambush the Big Apple today and dump at least six inches of snow before it ends tomorrow. "It will start off light during the...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amManhattan An Upper West Side man tumbled 10 stories to his death from his apartment building, police said yesterday. Robert Hermann, 68, was discovered in a rear courtyard of 230...
KLEIN VOWS TO END TEST 'SCRUBBING'
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amSchools Chancellor Joel Klein vowed a crackdown on any supervisors and teachers caught inflating grades on Regents exams. "There better not be any fudging on the Regents numbers," warned Klein,...
CLARK TOOK LOBBY $: RECORDS
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Wesley Clark, who claimed yesterday in New Hampshire that "I've never taken money from a lobbyist," took campaign contributions from nine lobbyists, records show. "I'm not part of...
BROKER'S STORY CHANGE MAY HAVE DOUG STAR DEFENDANT'S GRAVE
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amFederal prosecutors had a deal with Merrill Lynch lawyers to let Martha Stewart off the hook over her suspicious ImClone stock sale until rookie broker Douglas Faneuil changed his story...
IT'S 'VEX & THE CITY' FOR B'KLYN FANS
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amWhich is worse: Getting cancer or moving to Brooklyn? The latter, of course - if you're a character on HBO's "Sex and the City." Many Brookynites were stunned at the...
QUEENS COYOTE GOES WITH FLOE
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amA not-so-wily coyote landed in the doghouse with would-be rescuers yesterday after getting cold feet and refusing to hop to safety from a floating chunk of ice in Jamaica Bay....
ISSUES ESCAPE 'H'WOOD WES' - AND VOTERS ARE NOTICING
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amNASHUA, N.H. - Bounding down the sidewalk like a puppy on steroids, Gen. Wesley "Hollywood Wes" Clark was ambushed by a foe he was incapable of disarming: An actual voter....
MARTHA ALL DOLLED UP - FOR $185
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amIn she goes a plain Jane - out she comes the deliciously dolled-up diva of domesticity we know and love. Martha Stewart visited an ultra-posh West Village stylist at the...
MEMORY LAPSE; TEEN-SHOOT COP CAN'T RECALL FIRING HIS GUN
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amThe cop who gunned down an unarmed teen on a Brooklyn rooftop is defending himself by saying the shooting was a split-second reaction to a door springing open - and...
'TOUGH TONY' IN WEAPONS BUST
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amAn alleged Genovese wiseguy and popular Queens restaurateur was busted when cops stopped him driving without his seat belt and discovered he had a suspended license - as well as...
THUGS KIDNAP, ROB L.I. WOMAN
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amA Long Island woman making a cash drop at a Queens bank yesterday was forced back into her car at gunpoint by two thugs who drove her around, fondled her...
GUARD 'RAPES' SHELTER WOMAN
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amA security guard at a women's homeless shelter in Brooklyn raped a 27-year-old resident in a bathroom, cops said yesterday. Jason Williams, 27, followed the woman into the bathroom at...
SHOWDOWN IN NEW HAMPSHIRE DEAN GAINS ON KERRY IN LATE SURGE IN POLLS
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amMILFORD, N.H. - Wildly swinging polls showed Democrat John Kerry's lead shrinking thanks to late gains by Howard Dean, as unpredictable New Hampshire voters cast ballots in today's primary. "I'm...
DIGGING UP THE PAST; ISRAEL EXHUMES TERRORIST BODIES FOR SWAP
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - Israeli soldiers dug up the bodies of Lebanese terrorists yesterday in preparation for a massive swap of prisoners and human remains with the Hezbollah guerrilla group. The controversial...
CLASSROOM EXTRA:A 3,000-YEAR-OLD WHODUNIT
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amJealousy, power and greed could get you killed - especially in ancient Egypt. Today's Classroom Extra looks at one of the world's oldest murder mysteries. Tut-Ankh-Amun, better known as King...
WE'RE NO THIEVES: WOMEN SHOPPING MAD OVER STORE STING
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amThree women visiting New York on a shopping spree said they got more than they bargained for when they were busted in a shoplifting sting operation at an H&M store....
FASSEL MAY BE BALTIMORE-BOUND
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amHOUSTON - After getting closed out of every head coaching opening for the upcoming season, Jim Fassel may resurface in the NFL as a special assistant for his old friend...
JINTS INK COACHES; FORMER JAX ASSISTANTS REJOIN COUGHLIN
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amHOUSTON - The Giants are waiting until after the Super Bowl to make official the hiring of John Hufnagel as their new offensive coordinator. The offense is new head coach...
ECLIPSES TO MINESHAFT, 'CIDE'
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amFunny Cide, the celebrated New York-bred gelding who won last year's Kentucky Derby and Preakness before his Triple Crown bid was thwarted by Empire Maker in the Belmont Stakes, got...
JUST ONE MORE BLEEPING DENT IN BOMBER ARMOR
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amTHE machine gets another crack, the engine gets another ping. Aaron Boone went one way and his knee went the other last week while he was playing basketball, and now...
HOLIK'S NOT SORRY CENTER WON'T RETRACT'FUNDAMENTAL' SLAP
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amFundamentally, Bobby Holik has no regrets whatsoever; no regrets for publicly speaking his mind after Saturday's 9-1 humiliation in Ottawa, even if Glen Sather doesn't like it one bit. Prior...
JAMIE'S EAGER TO GET BACK
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amHe last skated with his teammates the night after Thanksgiving, a night Jamie Langenbrunner hoped to celebrate as his first return to Dallas since the Stars dealt him to New...
JASON DENIES HE GREASED SKIDS FOR SCOTT
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amWhen Jason Kidd first got the news of Byron Scott's firing yesterday, he knew what people would think: That it was all his doing. He said he has no control...
SATHER'S FUTURE IS RIDING WITH JAGR
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amANY big cheer for Jaromir Jagr in his Ranger Garden debut last night will provide no cheer to Glen Sather. Ultimately there will be no separation in the fans' eyes...
RESTED HOUSTON SAYS HE'S READY
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amIn lieu of a cure, the Knicks held Allan Houston out of practice yesterday afternoon to save his achy right knee. After this "ounce of prevention" tactic, Houston pronounced himself...
METS PICK UP SEDLACEK TO VIE FOR FIFTH SPOT
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amThe Mets added another arm to their fifth-starter derby yesterday, acquiring RHP Shawn Sedlacek from Kansas City for reliever Jaime Cerda. Sedlacek, 27, split last season with the Royals' Triple-A...
FOX TURNS VOLUME DOWN
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amSUPER BOWL CONFIDENTIAL HOUSTON - John Fox has often expressed what a wonderful experience the 2000 NFC Championship Game was. What's not to adore about the Giants' 41-0 thrashing of...
HERM NAMES JETS' NEW DEFENSIVE GURU
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amHOUSTON - Herman Edwards finally found his man, yesterday officially hiring Donnie Henderson as the Jets' new defensive coordinator. Henderson, Baltimore's defensive backs coach since 1999, said he plans to...
FRANK: FIRST, I'LL BE HONEST
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amThe comparison has made the rounds: Lawrence Frank, the diminutive pepper-pot redheaded coach of the Nets is a Jeff Van Gundy clone. "The comparisons are there because No. 1, we...
THIS MESS HAS BEEN THORN IN ROD'S SIDE
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amPHEW, for a while there, I thought the Nets' latest farce would never end. Not that Byron Scott's inescapable conclusion, or his eviction without so much as inhaling the scent...
TOO MANY DAYS OF SUPER HYPE
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amHOUSTON - The build-up to Super Bowl XXXVIII is only two days old and already that's one day too long. Keep this up and most of America will have dozed...
MORGAN: PANTHERS DESERVE BOWL BID
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amHOUSTON - Dan Morgan says he isn't any different than his Panthers teammates. He isn't fazed by point spreads, by yawning football fans, by experts who already have declared his...
KEY FOR CATS IS BRADY CRUNCH
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amHOUSTON - Tom Brady is a marked man. To the Panthers, Brady is America's Most Wanted Quarterback. "When you talk about that [New England] spread offense, you talk about what...
CALL PATRIOTS' BROWN A REAL SUPER 'DUDE'
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amHOUSTON - This is all you need to know about Patriots' veteran receiver Troy Brown: His well-stocked catalogue of skills and his versatility is such that he actually broke Bill...
FROM BOTTOM TO TOP ; LONG-TIME PANTHERS REMEMBER BAD OLD DAYS
January 27, 2004 | 5:00am"You remember the things you go through to get to this point."MIKE MINTER HOUSTON - They talk about it often. Sometimes they shake their heads in disbelief. Sometimes they share...
HUBERT ARRIVES ON FIRING LINE
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amNET NOTES Welcome to New Jersey, Hubert Davis. "It's not always like this, is it?" said Davis, 33, the ex-Knick, who yesterday signed a 10-day contract with the Nets after...
HOLD THOSE 'FIRE SATHER' CHANTS, FANS
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amRangers 5 Panthers 2 Fundamentally, those fans chanting for Glen Sather's dismissal are wasting their breath. Because well before the breath of fresh air that was last night's 5-2 Ranger...
SATHER IS SAFE FOR NOW
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amRangers 5Panthers 2 Fundamentally, those fans chanting for Glen Sather's dismissal are wasting their breath. Because well before the breath of fresh air that was last night's 5-2 Ranger victory...
BOONE DOWN: AARON FEARED LOST FOR SEASON AFTER BLOWING OUT KNEE PLAYING HOOPS
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amFrom ALCS hero to ACL casualty. The Yankees' season got off to a catastrophic start before it even began yesterday with news that Aaron Boone could miss the entire year...
BYRON'S GONE WITH THE WINS: STRUGGLING NETS GIVE SCOTT THE AX
January 27, 2004 | 5:00amOn Sunday, Lawrence Frank replaced Byron Scott on the sidelines for the final 13-plus minutes of the Nets' 110-91 win over the Celtics. Yesterday, Frank replaced Scott for good. Scott,...