February 19, 2004
CINGULAR CUSTOMERS WILL FOOT $41B BILL FOR AT&T
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amWOULD you change cell phone companies for nearly two thousand bucks? And could you get your spouse and kids to chuck their old phones and join you for, say, a...
GOLDMAN, BROOKFIELD BUTT HEADS ON HOT LOT
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amA heavyweight showdown is brewing over an empty lot next to Ground Zero that two downtown powerhouses covet as a site for a new skyscraper, The Post has learned. Goldman...
BLACK TRIED TO UNLOAD HOLLINGER BEFORE EXIT
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amWILMINGTON, Del. - Newspaper baron Conrad Black began discussing a transaction with Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay of the U.K. in early November - just before he stepped down...
-FORD SIGNS ON WITH CAA FOR MOVIE DIRECTING JOBS (M)-FORD HIRES CAA FOR DIRECTING GIGS (S, LCF)
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amTom Ford has signed with the Creative Artists Agency and charged his longtime friend Brian Lourd with finding movies for him to direct once he leaves his post as creative...
NEWSDAY OFFERED ABC HELPON CIRC.
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amThe group that tracks newspaper circulation has approached Newsday about revamping its counting procedures in the wake of a $100 million class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit accuses Newsday of inflating its...
CALVIN KLEIN TO LAUNCH NEW LINE
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amCalvin Klein has reached an agreement with G.A.V. Partners to produce a new line of women's clothes, priced just below the designer colletion. As previously reported in The Post, the...
SAKS FIFTH AVE. NAMES NEW MARKETING BOSS
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amSaks Inc. said yesterday that Terry Schaefer would join its Saks Fifth Avenue subsidiary, following the earlier resignation of the company's chief marketing officer. Sheri Wilson-Gray, Saks Fifth Avenue's chief...
THEY'RE FLOORED - NYSE SPECIALISTS FACE GRIM FUTURE AFTER SETTLEMENT
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amThings keep getting worse for floor specialists at the New York Stock Exchange. Their $240 million settlement with the SEC over floor-trading abuses is yet another blow - and some...
THAIN PUSHES BEST-PRICE RULE
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amBig Board CEO John Thain plans to tell a congressional panel tomorrow that revising or eliminating a rule on the New York Stock Exchange is not in the interests of...
REBEL VS. THE CLOWN - A FUNNY THING ABOUT THE AWARDS: VOTERS TEND TO BE ANTI-COMEDY
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amEVERYBODY loves a clown but Oscar voters. That longtime truism is getting a high-profile workout in the nail-biting Best Actor Oscar race between Bill Murray and Sean Penn. There's no...
INVASION OF PARIS - 'O.C.' STILL TO COME
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amWE'LL always have Paris - on TV - since table-dancing hotel heiress Paris Hilton seems to be everywhere these days. Hilton, fresh off of Fox's hit reality show "The Simple...
HERE'S JOHNNY - STERN'S STUTTERING COHORT NEW VOICE OF 'TONIGHT'
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amYES, it's true: "Stuttering John" Melendez, who ambushed celebrities for years on Howard Stern's radio show, will become the announcer for Jay Leno's "Tonight Show." Melendez, who's replacing announcer Edd...
NOT NEVER ON SUNDAY
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amIF you're trying to buy wine on Sunday, all is not lost in New York. Savvy Web site Manhattan User's Guide lists booze stores open Sundays, now legal as long...
STARR REPORT
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amJust shut up! If Regis Philbin's ultimate "Live" fantasy is an opening segment with a blessedly quiet Kelly Ripa - well, he's about to be living large. Ripa will be...
JUST KIDDING! 'CSI' STAR STAYING
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amIt appears that William Peterson's promise to leave "CSI" next year may not have been serious. Peterson's reps say the Hollywood maverick is making no plans to quit the show...
OZZY AFRAID OF DRUG ADDICTION RELAPSE
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amOZZY Osbourne's near- fatal accident last December has left him fearful of becoming dependent on painkillers - again - and wondering if he'll ever perform again. "I'm really frightened," Osbourne...
AT 'HOME' ON TOP
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amNORAH Jones can exhale. "Feels Like Home," the follow- up to her multi- Grammy debut, "Come Away With Me," is off to a rousing first week. New York's sultry songbird...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amGeorge Reiger is the world's biggest Disney fan - and if you don't believe it, just check the 1,579 tattoos that adorn his body featuring Mickey, Donald, Nemo, the 101...
GOP PICKS LONG SHOT VS. CHUCK
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amALBANY - State Republicans have picked a little-known politician from Orange County to challenge Sen. Charles Schumer, ending a months-long search for a candidate - whom some quickly labeled a...
KOCH'S FIRE BOSS SET TO BLAZE BACK AS EMERGENCY CHIEF
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amA former fire commissioner in the Koch administration is in line to become the next director of Mayor Bloomberg's Office of Emergency Management. Sources said Joseph Bruno, now a Brooklyn...
MARINES HEAD TO FALLUJAH
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - A force of battle-hardened Marines is about to take over control of the ultra-tense Iraqi city of Fallujah from the Army, and the commander warned Ba'athist terrorists yesterday...
PALESTINIANS SEEK INT'L POLICE HELP
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amThe Palestinians want international peacekeepers to help police the Gaza Strip once Israel evacuates its settlements, Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said yesterday. The European Union showed interest in the idea,...
'SHAKEN' BABY ON THE MEND
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amA 10-week-old Queens baby allegedly shaken and dropped by his father is in critical condition, but improving, authorities said yesterday. An assistant district attorney told the judge at the arraignment...
QUEENS POL TRIES TO MAKE A STEAL FOR NETS
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amYes, in his back yard. A Queens councilman showed up unannounced yesterday at a rally against a Brooklyn arena for the New Jersey Nets, and promptly offered his Long Island...
DAD'S DEADLY RAGE - KILLS LOVER, STABS SELF IN FRONT OF KIDS: COPS
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amAs two children watched in horror early yesterday, a Bronx man stabbed to death his live-in girlfriend and then slashed his own throat in a fit of rage over the...
5 BRAVEST HURT IN B'KLYN BLAZE
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amScores of firefighters struggled more than 10 hours and five were injured yesterday bringing this smoky blaze under control at a Brooklyn warehouse in the shadow of the Manhattan Bridge....
DEAN'S DONE
February 19, 2004 | 5:00am'I am no longer actively pursuing the presidency.' - Howard Dean WASHINGTON - Former front-runner Howard Dean abandoned his scrappy presidential campaign yesterday, but refused to throw his weight behind...
NOT TOO SHARP - ANTI-HS COP RALLIER BRINGS A KNIFE
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amA group of activists and students turned up at City Hall yesterday to demand that Mayor Bloomberg remove cops from 12 tough high schools - and one of them was...
FEISTY CARJACK GRANNY
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amA feisty 71-year-old woman critically injured by a carjacker in Queens may have may have tried to beat back her much younger attacker, family members said yesterday. "She looks like...
DA HYNES DENIES 'POLITICAL' INDICTING
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amBrooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes yesterday blasted allegations that he prosecutes his foes for political reasons - responding to an accusation made by a lawyer who ran against him. "It's...
TENANTS BLAST 'DEATH-GAS' SUPER
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amThe superintendent in charge of the Murray Hill apartment building where two men died from carbon-monoxide poisoning was overworked and unresponsive, angry tenants said yesterday. "This might not have happened...
B'KLYN N-DUMP TERROR FEAR
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amA vast plume of radioactive waste, drifting across Midtown and into New Jersey, could result from a single truck bomb or fire at a nuclear-waste dump on the Brooklyn waterfront,...
WEB BOY KIDNAP SHOCK
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amA 17-year-old California student surfing the 'Net got the shock of his young life when he saw his picture on a Canadian missing-children's Web site - and learned his mom...
MET FAN HAS A-ROD PLATES
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amHe owns the license plates a Yankee fan might die for, but don't expect Antonio "A-Rod" Rodriguez to give them up anytime soon. The fact he roots for the Mets...
FEDS PROBE COP - WEIGH CIVIL-RIGHTS CASE IN ROOFTOP SLAY
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amBrooklyn federal prosecutors have launched a civil-rights probe into the case of a white cop who fatally shot an unarmed black teen on a housing project rooftop. In a one-line...
HEVESI BLASTS 911 SERVICE CUTS
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amALBANY - State Comptroller Alan Hevesi yesterday criticized the Pataki administration for diverting 40 percent of the funds intended to enhance emergency cell phone service for budget relief last year....
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amMANHATTAN * A 37-year-old man leaped to his death off the George Washington Bridge yesterday, cops said. Stephen Case jumped off the bridge at about 1 p.m. and cops in...
WITNESS WEEPS AT SLAY TRIAL
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amA former gym employee broke down in tears yesterday as she recalled seeing her boss fatally shot and lying on the ground near the exercise equipment - the mistaken victim...
TERROR LIAR CONVICTED
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amA Brooklyn federal jury deliberated just two hours yesterday before convicting the driver of a suspected terror financier of lying to the FBI. Numan Maflahi, 31, faces up to five...
TYCO $$ MAN TAKES IT ON CHIN
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amManhattan prosecutors began punching holes yesterday in an ex-Tyco CFO's claims that tens of thousands of dollars in allegedly stolen "bonuses" were all on the up-and-up. On trial in Manhattan...
THE BATTLE FOR NEW YORK - EDWARDS AND KERRY DESCEND ON STATE
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amUnderdog John Edwards today is making the first beachhead in the Democratic battle for New York - as front-runner John Kerry's top backer in the state admits there's a real...
PARENTS TONGUE-TIED
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amCity educators are failing to provide proper translation services to thousands of non-English speaking parents - a violation of "equal access" laws, a survey released today charges. "Those with limited...
KIDS SUE HERO PILOT YEAGER
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amLegendary pilot Chuck Yeager is convinced his kids don't have "The Right Stuff." If they did, he says, they wouldn't be suing their 81-year-old newlywed dad to keep him from...
JAYSON'S ARSENAL - COP TELLS OF FINDING BIG SHOTGUN CACHE
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amSOMERVILLE, N.J. - Jayson Williams had an arsenal in his bedroom that included loaded guns and dozens of live shotgun shells, a cop testified yesterday, bolstering prosecution claims that the...
BURIED IN CEMENT - BODY AT QUACK'S HOME MAY BE VANISHED NYER
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amCops unearthed a gruesome secret yesterday from a concrete tomb in Newark where a notorious phony doctor once lived: the body of a woman believed to be a missing Manhattan...
COURT KOS CRECHES
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amA federal judge has ruled that a city can continue to ban the display of nativity scenes at its public schools - while allowing other "secular" holiday symbols, including Christmas...
CATCH-UP SCHOOLS EXPANDING TO CUT DROPOUT RATE
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amThe Bloomberg administration has launched a special $2 million program for 300 over-age ninth-graders who have fallen years behind in earning a high-school diploma and are in jeopardy of dropping...
REASON FOR MASS. ANXIETY
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amDEMOCRATIC underdog John Edwards now has two weeks to try to paint top dog John Kerry as a phony. That's the big worry for Kerry - it's a super-longshot to...
MARTHA MAYHEM - WITNESS RELIVES STOCK FRENZY AS SCANDAL BROKE
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amMartha Stewart's former top corporate lawyer told yesterday how the domestic diva's good-living media empire was sent into a frenzy when she was implicated in the ImClone insider-trading scandal. Advertisers...
B'KLYN LOCALS FEAR NUKE-DUMP TERROR
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amA vast plume of radioactive waste, drifting across Midtown and into New Jersey, could result from a single truck bomb or fire at a nuclear-waste dump on the Brooklyn waterfront,...
'JESUS' NAIL SALE - MEL'S DEAL LETS YOU BUY 'PASSION' SPIKES
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amReplicas of the nails used to hang Jesus on the cross have become the red-hot official merchandise linked to Mel Gibson's controversial new movie, "The Passion of the Christ." Pendants...
CYBER TEEN'S KIDNAP SHOCK
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amA 17-year-old California student surfing the 'Net got the shock of his young life when he saw his picture on a Canadian missing-children's Web site - and learned his mom...
CELLULAR 911 $$ MISUSED: HEVESI
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amALBANY - State Comptroller Alan Hevesi yesterday criticized the Pataki administration for diverting 40 percent of the funds intended to enhance emergency cell-phone service to budget relief last year. In...
ROCKAWAY MAN SURVIVES 7-FLOOR FALL
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amA 25-year-old man survived a seven-story fall off the roof of a Far Rockaway building last night, cops said. A pair of uniformed Housing cops doing vertical patrols at 51-49...
ISIAH EYES DAMPIER - AND DOLEAC
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amWith Isiah Thomas expected to strike out with Erick Dampier and Rasheed Wallace at today's 3 p.m. trade deadline, the Knicks still might add a new center - and an...
WALLACE DEFLECTS KNICKS' TALK
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amRasheed Wallace could not have been more politically correct. How about those Knicks and their interest? "It's just about Atlanta." Could you see yourself at the Garden next year? "Only...
FEEL-GOOD GRANT'S GUNNING FOR NO. 5
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amMET NOTES PORT ST. LUCIE - The man with the most potential in the Mets' fifth-starter derby hasn't been a regular starter since 2000. Then again . . . "It's...
A-ROD, NO, K-MAT, YES - DYNAMIC SS JUICES UP METS
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amPORT ST. LUCIE - Surely, A- Rod and the Yankees were playing a cruel joke on the Mets and their fans. The Mets are the ones desperately seeking a superstar....
U.S. TEAM IS MAKING NOISE
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amIS the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team the best in the world? Maybe not at the moment, but the way the team has been going, by the 2006 Winter Olympics...
-THOMAS HEARS PENNY OFFERS (LCF)-ISIAH HEARING OFFERS FOR HARDAWAY TRADE (M, S)
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amPenny Hardaway's inspired play since joining the Knicks on Jan. 5 has been a relevation to fans - and other league GMs. Suns GM Bryan Colangelo spent two seasons trying...
CONFIDENT NETS PLAN TO RETURN TO FINALS
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amNo, it was not a Joe Namath. Not even a Patrick Ewing "See Ew Sunday." It was Jason Kidd "just messing around" at the All-Star break. But when Kidd said,...
CHEERFUL BROWN 'EXCITED' ABOUT CLUB
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amTAMPA - Much has been written about Kevin Brown's temper, much more about his supposed aloofness. But the cheery man who walked through the Yankees' clubhouse doors at 8:53 a.m....
DEADLINE QUIET TIME FOR THORN
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amNET NOTES There was a time when the trading deadline meant the Nets would do something. Yeah, but there was also a time when the Nets stunk. So the Nets...
SJU SEARCH YET TO TAKE FLIGHT
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amWhen the embarrassing story broke that six St. John's players had gone to a strip club outside of Pittsburgh on the morning of Feb. 5, a Big East assistant coach...
BERNIE STILL EYES CF SPOT
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amYANKEE NOTES TAMPA - Bernie Williams will do whatever Yankee manager Joe Torre asks him, but he hasn't conceded the center-field job to free agent Kenny Lofton. "I will train...
RANGERS GLAD TO SEE ISLES
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amWhy, oh why, can't the Rangers play tonight's game 82 times a year? Variety may be the spice of life, but for the Rangers and their fans, they'll take a...
REYES DOESN'T HAVE A SECOND TO WASTE - MET PHENOM WORKING AT NEW ROLE
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amPORT ST. LUCIE - On a back field in Florida, tucked away from the throng of fans and front-office types, Jose Reyes reports for his daily education. He takes grounder...
DEVS EYE GONCHAR IN DEAL WITH CAPS
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amThe Devils are in Washington tonight to play a Capitals team that continued its fire sale yesterday. And the next part of the purge may include the Devs. Sources yesterday...
BOSS TELLS SOX: CORK RED WHINE - GEORGE BLASTS BOSTON OWNER'S SOUR GRAPES OVER RODRIGUEZ DEAL
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amTAMPA - Before the first pitcher popped a catcher's leather, the Red Sox and Yankees have their hands exactly where they belong: around each other's throats. With Aaron Boone's ALCS-winning...
NEVERENDING TORRE - JOE HAS HIS EYES ON 2005
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amTAMPA - Is it a second honeymoon sparked by the acquisition of Alex Rodriguez or a lull in a relationship that turned stormy last year and may do so again...
ST. JOE'S IS KEEPIN' THE FAITH
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amIf you're tired of what college basketball has descended to - fed up with murder at Baylor and lunacy at Texas Tech, quitters at St. Bonaventure and scandal at St....
MARTELLI TAKES SHOT AT DIGGER
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amSt. Joe's 72 - Fordham 54 Phil Martelli had a message for Digger Phelps. After last night's 72-54 win over Fordham, the St. Joseph's coach insisted his unbeaten team is...
KNICKS MAY BRING BACK DOLEAC
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amWith Isiah Thomas expected to strike out with Erick Dampier at today's 3 p.m. trade deadline, the Knicks still might add a new center - and an old face. Thomas...
ISLANDERS GET2 POINTS - BUT NOT FOR STYLE
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amIsles 4 - Penguins 3 Hey, the Islanders picked up two important points last night. How they looked getting them is another story. Because this 4-3 win over the pitiful...
RED STORM PUTS ONE IN WIN COLUMN
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amSt. John's 65 - Georgetown 58 When the embarrassing story broke that six St. John's players had gone to a strip club outside of Pittsburgh on the morning of Feb....
SHOW 'EM WHO'S BOSS - YANKS WIN BATTLE OF OWNERS, TOO
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amThe nastiness of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry climbed all the way to the ownership level yesterday. We found out Boston is no match for the Yankees there, either. The Red...
MUM'S THE WORD - SHEFF WON'T COMMENT ON STEROID CASE
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amTAMPA -- If Gary Sheffield knows what was in the envelope with his name on it that was found in the BALCO trash, the Yankees' right fielder isn't saying. "I...
RANK FRANK NO. 1 - KIDD 'TRIPLE' GIVES COACH RECORD 10TH WIN
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amNets 98 - Hawks 92 This was one time coach Lawrence Frank did not want his Nets to be lions. Frank, who has varied his pre-game speeches to cover virtually...
ISLES CONTROL PLAYOFF FATE
February 19, 2004 | 5:00amIn the next two weeks, the Islanders have a glorious chance to smash the playoff hopes of two teams chasing them in the Eastern race. With a pair of games...