May 11, 2004
WHAT ARE THEY SMOKING AT THE LABOR DEPT.?
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amDON'T get too excited about all those new jobs that were supposed to have been created in April. I'm not going to waste a lot of my precious space on...
BLACK'S FREEBIES - HOLLINGER PAID FOR BERGDORF TIPS, LIMO REFIT: SUIT
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amConrad Black's looting of his newspaper empire ran so deep that his wife even charged the company for tips to the doorman at Bergdorf Goodman, according to explosive new allegations...
RATNER WILL BUILD TIMES TOWER WITHOUT LIBERTY $$; TIMES BLDG. RISING
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amBRUCE Ratner has dropped his quest for low-interest Liberty Bonds to help finance the $850 million New York Times headquarters tower, and has begun building it with the expectation of...
PERFECT STORM - FEARS ON RATES, OIL PUSH DOW UNDER 10,000
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amWall Street has slammed into a brick wall, leaving most investors stunned and hedge-fund honchos scrambling to limit their losses. Economists said yesterday's plunge in stocks was largely a symptom...
MOSS SHAKING UP THE N.Y. MAG MASTHEAD
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amNew York magazine's new editor-in-chief, Adam Moss, began swinging the ax yesterday, turning again to his former employer, The New York Times, for replacement staff. Moss canned eight-year New York...
NYSE REPLY: APOLOGY? FUGGEDABOUDIT
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amOusted New York Stock Exchange chief Dick Grasso is unlikely to get that apology he wants so much from the Big Board. Grasso's offer to forgo an additional $48 million...
THEORY'S BOSS IS GIVING NEW LINES HELPING HAND
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amSome of the hottest new clothing labels - Joie, Alice & Olivia, Kulson and Iisli - quietly share a common thread: the backing of Andrew Rosen. Rosen, a third-generation garment...
WORLDCOM BILL FOR CITI: $2.65B
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amIn a massive coup for aggrieved WorldCom investors, Citigroup said yesterday it would set aside $4.95 billion to settle class action lawsuits and pay for other disputes involving the once-bankrupt...
SEC EYEING MADDEN'S TIES TO FIRM
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amThe relationship of Steven Madden to the footwear company he founded is under scrutiny by federal regulators, the company said yesterday. Madden, 47, resigned as chairman and chief executive of...
BUFFETT'S DOLLAR BET GOES BAD
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amWarren "The Oracle of Omaha" Buffett may have a crack in his crystal ball. The legendary investor bungled an $18 billion bet on a weaker U.S. dollar last quarter, and...
REPORTS' LOWDOWN ON LOW CARB
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amSUPERMARKETS are bulging with new low-carb products - and Consumer Reports weighs in on some of the most popular ones in its June issue, giving the lowdown on which work...
TONYS' 'WICKED' WAYS - MUSICAL HAULS IN 10 NODS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amIT'S a "Wicked" year on Broadway - the witchy new Oz musical conjured up 10 Tony Award nominations yesterday, the biggest haul of a critically lambasted season. Gunning for second...
'DREAMS' DASHED AS PARADE PASSES BY
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amTHE Tony Award nominators have consigned "Bombay Dreams" to the black hole of Calcutta. The $14 million musical about Bollywood that came to Broadway by way of London's West End...
FOX ORDERS 'O.C.' CLONE
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amCAN'T get enough of "The O.C."? Then wait until next year. Fox has asked the creator of the hit primetime soap, Josh Schwartz, to write a companion series. Strictly speaking,...
THE CURE FOR WHAT AILS YOU
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amGODFATHERS of goth the Cure will headline the summer musical festival Curiosa, which will arrive in New York on July 31 and Camden N.J. on Aug. 1. The mainstage lineup...
COUNTRY'S TOP CHEFS GET BEARDED
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amCHANTERELLE won Outstanding Restaurant at yesterday's James Beard Foundation Awards, and the chefs of Jack's Luxury Oyster Bar and Esca walked off with top prizes of their own. They were...
THE FAB FOUR - DIVAS TAKE CENTER STAGE FOR 'IDOL' FINALS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amDOWN the stretch they come in "American Idol." The four remaining finalists - all women, for the first time - will put on their best dancing clothes for disco night....
BEHIND JERRI'S WALKOUT
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amFORMER "Survivor" all- star Jerri Manthey is not handling rejection well. The wanna-be actress and three-time reality show star spent part of yesterday explaining why she stormed off the set...
TICKLED 'PINK' - ON THE SET WITH THE NEW INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amYESTERDAY was Steve Martin's first on the Manhattan set of "The Pink Panther," and the comedian has already fallen on his face. But such pratfalls are to be expected, since...
'QUEER EYE' FOR THE OLYMPICS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amGET out your shuttlecocks - badminton's coming to Bravo! The game is just one of the Olympic events that will be seen this summer on the network of "Queer Eye...
THAI TIME - CHAOTIC BANGKOK IS INCREASINGLY INTERESTED IN INTERIOR DESIGN AND A CLASSY NIGHT LIFE. CHRIS BUNTING REPORTS FROM ASIA'S NEW CAPITAL OF CHIC
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amA paradox to befuddle even Buddha: It's increasingly possible to visit Bangkok encing Bangkok itself. It's not as if the temples, floating markets and girls and boy-girls you've come to...
SOFT FOCUS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amIN the annals of techie coolness, Bushnell's new Instant Replay camera-binoculars might take the prize. According to the company, this gadget has 8X magnification and a 16MB flash memory card,...
RISING IN THE EAST - LUXURIOUS RETREATS ARE MULTIPLYING ACROSS ASIA. DAVID LANDSEL CHECKS INTO FOUR UNFORGETTABLE HIDEAWAYS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amNHA TRANG, VIETNAM The hotel: Ana Mandara Who should go: beach bums and spa junkies Most New Yorkers know Chinatown noodle shop Nha Trang only as the ultimate jury-duty lunch...
QUEENS TEACHER PLEADS GUILTY TO SPANKING KIDS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amThe former dean of discipline at a Queens middle school has pleaded guilty to child endangerment for separately spanking four teen students in his van, The Post has learned. William...
WILLIE SUTTON COP DIES - ARRESTED INFAMOUS BANK ROBBER
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amA streetwise cop who soared to fame by helping to nab Willie Sutton - America's most notorious bank robber - has died. Louis Weiner, 83, had been living in a...
LOOK WHO'S CRYING 'ABUSE'
May 11, 2004 | 4:00am'Would any critics of America like to spend time behind bars in any state between Morocco and Pakistan?' THE events in Abu Ghraib prison shamed America and our military. The...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amHenry Leonard and Vicki Plechner were heartbroken when they couldn't find their Siamese cat, Lilly, as they began a two-week, cross-country move from Tarrytown to Reno, Nev. So imagine their...
SCANDAL BOTHERS LIBERALS MORE THAN IT BOTHERS MANY ARABS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amI WISH my English were as articulate as his, but a slight accent whispers that he is from the Middle East. His name is Mouafac Harb, one of the two...
CANCER-FIGHTING BROCCOLI
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amEating vegetables like broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower may help fight colon cancer. Scientists found that a chemical called AITC is released when certain vegetables are prepared. AITC can both kill...
MOM CONFRONTS SLAY DRIVER
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amA grieving Queens mom yesterday stared down the lead-footed felon who killed her son during a police chase and told him about a second painful Mother's Day without the kind-hearted...
'BEACHED' BODY MAY BE SAILOR'S
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amThe decomposed body - missing its hands and feet - that washed up on a Long Island beach last weekend may be that of a sailor from an ill-fated ship...
BEYOND THE PALE - TRASHING THE TROOPS FOR POLITICAL POINTS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amTHE Abu Ghraib prison scandal is being used by many Democrats and Leftists to discredit the war in Iraq and the Bush administration's prosecution of the War on Terror as...
BLOOD BANKS ON RED ALERT
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amNew York faces a potentially life-threatening blood shortage this summer. The region's chief supplier is blaming the steep decline on the number of planned blood drives by companies, churches and...
'LIGHT'-WAIT BILL - MEASURE WOULD UP CIG AGE TO 19
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amALBANY - Get set for the next big cigarette fight: Lawmakers yesterday announced a push to raise the legal tobacco-purchasing age to 19. The current age to buy tobacco products...
KIN STARE DOWN BRINKS 'KILLER'
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amRelatives of a Brinks ATM repairman, who was beaten to death and stuffed into the trunk of his car, filled a row in a Westchester courtroom yesterday where his accused...
THREE IN BX. RENT 'SCAM'
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amThree Bronx residents - one of them a schoolteacher - were arrested yesterday and charged with bilking the city of more than $55,000 in rent subsidies, the Department of Investigation...
ESTÉE CRASHED THE BOYS' CLUB
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amIT WAS an invitation-only shindig, and I wasn't on the guest list. But it was as if Estée Lauder herself whooshed down on this city yesterday from parts unknown and...
WISHFUL STINKING - 'BAD-TALENT' SHOW FAKED LINK WITH TRAGIC-KIDS CHARITY
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amReality TV has been known to pull the wool over people's eyes, but this time, it may have gone too far. At a taping for the upcoming "bad talent" series,...
'OILY' FRENCH BANK TAPS EX-BUBBA ATTY
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - The French bank at the center of the United Nations' Iraq oil-for-food program has hired President Clinton's lawyer in the Paula Jones sex-harassment case to help it deal...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amBROOKLYN * Police are looking for an ex-con in connection with the shooting of man on a Brownsville street. Jason Marshman, 26, (above) is wanted for questioning in the wounding...
POL 'RAPE' SHOCK - TEENAGE INTERN ACCUSES POWELL IV
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amALBANY - A 19-year- old legislative intern has accused Harlem Democratic Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV of rape, high-level police sources said yesterday. Powell, 43, the son of legendary Harlem...
LAURA 'CAN'T BEAR TO LOOK' AT IMAGES
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - First Lady Laura Bush said yesterday she "can't bear to look" at the disturbing pictures of American soldiers humiliating Iraqi prisoners. "It's really, really sad. I mean, it's...
DRUNK NASSAU OFFICIAL CLAIMED HE WAS 'TOP COP'
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amA Long Island government official got himself in hot water when he was busted for drunken driving and pretended to be a high-ranking police officer, telling the cop who arrested...
TROOPS FLATTEN ONE OF RABBLE-ROUSING CLERIC'S LAIRS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - U.S. aircraft destroyed a Baghdad headquarters of renegade Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr yesterday, sparking vows of revenge attacks against U.S. troops. U.S. forces led by the Army's 1st...
GIFFIE URGES CUNY CORPS FOR DISASTERS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amCouncil Speaker Gifford Miller wants to enlist an army of City University students to help cops and firefighters in case of another disaster. "During a disaster, first responders may not...
500G WIFE 'SLAY' - INSURE-SCAM RAP
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amA Long Island insurance agent, accused of murdering his wife and claiming it was suicide, killed her to collect on a $500,000 insurance policy, prosecutors said as his trial began...
UH-OWE! GROCER WANTS BREAD FROM 'MIAMI VICE' STAR
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amLOS ANGELES - Actor and accused deadbeat Don Johnson is trying to weasel out of a $5,000 grocery bill, according to a Colorado supermarket that's suing the former "Miami Vice"...
COPS SEEK SLAY CLUES AT VICTIM'S UNIVERSITY
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amTwo detectives investigating the Brooklyn shooting death of college student Mark Fisher were on the Fairfield University campus yesterday, hoping friends of the popular sophomore had passed on details of...
PRINCIPAL PROBED IN PAY SCAM
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amA Brooklyn principal is being investigated over accusations of payroll abuses that include having a phantom teacher on the books and filing for overtime during regular work hours, The Post...
W. HAILS SUPER HEROES
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush held a rally yesterday on the White House lawn with the New England Patriots - Sen. John Kerry's hometown football team. Although he's a Texas sports...
IN-$OAR-ANCE - WORKERS PAY MORE FOR HEALTH PREMIUMS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amGetting healthy is making New Yorkers' bank accounts anemic. State residents are being forced to cough up more and more for their employer-sponsored health insurance - with their share of...
CIGARETTES HAVE BECOME THE LATEST CONTRABAND ...
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amCigarettes have become the latest contraband that visitors smuggle into the city's jail system, officials said yesterday. Corrections Commissioner Martin Horn told a City Council committee that while the smoking...
TEACH TAKES PLEA ON TEEN SPANKING RAP
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amThe former dean of discipline at a Queens middle school who was charged with taking four teen students out to his van and spanking them with his hands and a...
JUROR'S ABSOLUT JUSTICE - 'SIPPED' VODKA AT TRIAL
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amJustice is blind, but it may also have been blind drunk in the case of a Manhattan juror who admittedly sipped vodka throughout deliberations. "It was half-vodka, half-water," juiced-up juror...
MANSION SHOOT - FATHER, SON CLING TO LIFE AFTER ATTACK
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amShots rang out in a quiet, tony upstate hamlet yesterday when a gunman invaded the ritzy home of a popular restaurant owner and shot him and his son in the...
SLOW REACTION COST RIDER HIS LIFE: DA
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amProsecutors in Manhattan Supreme Court began their case yesterday against Michael Amuso who, they said, shot Louis Nixon dead on a No. 2 train because the victim was too sleepy...
IMMIGRANT KILLED IN QNS. BAR
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amA hard-working immigrant, only six months away from returning to his wife and children in Ecuador, was murdered yesterday at the Queens bar where he worked. Louis Cajas, 35, was...
LAURA VISIT BOO$TS SCHOOLS' SHELF LIFE
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amFirst Lady Laura Bush brought good cheer to eight Big Apple schools yesterday - announcing they've been awarded $5,000 grants to upgrade and expand their libraries During a ceremony at...
WARM WEEK IN STORMY CITY
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amThe good news is that it'll be warm all week long - the bad news is that it also may be a bit wet for the next few days. Mother...
GOP-FEST SECURITY TAB ROCKETS TO $76M
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amThe city's costs for security tied to the Republican National Convention are now expected to hit a staggering $76 million - or $29 million more than Bloomberg administration officials had...
SCARED OF MOB TRIAL - TEARY WIFE AVOIDS JURY
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amA woman broke down in tears yesterday, telling a federal judge she and her husband feared for her safety if she had to serve on a jury considering the fate...
HORROR DISCOVERY - CART-TRUCK BODY MAY BE FIANCÉE
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amA woman's corpse, stripped to its underwear and shot several times, was found in a Queens dump truck yesterday - and cops believe it's the body of a Canadian who...
TWO NEW POLLS FOUND AMERICANS BELIEVE DONALD RUMSFELD SHOULD KEEP HIS JOB ...
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Two new polls yesterday found Americans - by more than 2-to-1 - believe Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should keep his job despite the prisoner-abuse scandal. Democratic presidential candidate...
POL TAKES CITY TO COURT OVER SCHOOL TESTS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amA Queens councilwoman has taken legal action against the Bloomberg administration over snafus concerning the reading exams. Melinda Katz (D-Forest Hills) filed a petition in state Supreme Court, demanding changes...
GUY SEEKS DONORS FOR BRIBE DEFENSE
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amALBANY - A legal-defense fund has been set up for state Sen. Guy Velella, whose trial on bribery charges will begin on Monday. Despite the embattled lawmaker initially saying he...
'MOLDY' LANDLORD BIDS TO BOOT BIANCA
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amBianca Jagger's landlord is trying to exile her from Park Avenue - arguing she should be evicted from her home of 20 years because she hasn't been living in her...
EX-DEA BIG ADMITS STEALING FROM FEDS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amA former top-level DEA agent pleaded guilty yesterday to stealing $138,000 in government funds and using other agents as his personal gofers in a fledgling investigation business. Kevin Tamez, at...
W. 'DISGUSTED' BY LATEST PICS - WEIGHS RELEASE OF NEW ABU GHRAIB PHOTOS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - The Pentagon last night was agonizing over whether to publicly release all the gruesome Iraqi prisoner abuse photos and videos after President Bush saw more than a dozen...
BOY, 13, TOOK LOADED GUN TO SCHOOL: COPS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amA 13-year-old boy smuggled a loaded gun into his Brooklyn school yesterday and then ditched it before cops nabbed him, police said. Cops were called to IS 49 in Williamsburg...
POLL YESTERDAY FOUND PRESIDENT BUSH'S APPROVAL RATING HAS DROPPED ..
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - A CNN-Gallup poll yesterday found President Bush's approval rating has dropped to 46 percent, a new low. But he still led Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry by 47...
GUY SEEKS DONORS FOR DEFENSE
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amALBANY - A legal-defense fund has been set up for state Sen. Guy Velella, whose trial on bribery charges will begin on Monday. Despite the embattled lawmaker initially saying he...
FUZZY RENT NUMBERS COULD MEAN 7.5% HIKE
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amThe Rent Guidelines Board last night delayed a preliminary decision on rent hikes for a million rent-stabilized tenants, instead endorsing a "range" of possible increases as high as 5.5 percent...
CLASSROOM EXTRA: ROBERT GODDARD - ROCKET MAN
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amWhile the world marvels at the Mars rovers, Dr. Robert Goddard dreamed of sending rockets into space nearly a hundred years ago. In his autobiography, Robert Goddard wrote about an...
WORKER SLAIN IN QUEENS BAR
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amA hard-working immigrant only six months away from returning to his wife and children in Ecuador, was murdered yesterday at the Queens bar where he worked. Louis Cajas, 35, was...
KAZ GETS MOVED TO NO. 2 HOLE
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amMET NOTES PHOENIX - For the first time in a game he started this season, Kaz Matsui did not lead off last night. One day after coming off the bench...
AH, RELIEF! METS 'PEN DELIVERING
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amMET NOTES PHOENIX - Before the year, nobody was sure about the back end of the Met bullpen. Aging set-up man coming off a bad year in Mike Stanton. New...
NO CRYING FROM THIS KIDD
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amALL OVER town, baseball fans whisper about Derek Jeter, a lifetime .317 hitter, who will be sitting at .186 when the Yankees welcome their old friends from Anaheim tonight at...
AN AMAZIN' PUZZLE - STREAKY, INJURED METS A HARD TEAM TO FIGURE
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amPHOENIX - Twenty percent of the season is done, and the one certainty about the 2004 Mets is that nobody has any idea what kind of team they are. Consider...
BORREGO SHARP AT CHURCHILL
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amWorking at Churchill Downs yesterday morning, Borrego and Rock Hard Ten had their final tune-ups for Saturday's Preakness Stakes before flying to Baltimore today, while Little Matth Man, the rank...
WOUNDED ANGELS ARE STILL FLYING HIGH
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES Imagine the Yankees without Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Derek Jeter and Tom Gordon. Think they would be one game back of the Red Sox? Now consider that when...
GIANTS TALK TO WARNER
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amKurt Warner arrived last week for a fact-finding meeting with the Giants and if the quarterback and team hit it off, he could eventually become the veteran needed to accompany...
BROWN BACKS 'SHEED
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amFirst things first. Larry Brown doesn't want to sound like a typical sour-grapes coach the day after a loss, moaning about this call and that foul and sounding as if...
BIG BEN CREDITS NET HEART
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amPISTON NOTES Unlike his teammates, Ben Wallace played so hard and so well Sunday night. When his Pistons were finished being thrashed by the Nets, he had no words of...
CAPT. COURAGEOUS - DJ CALLS ON TOUGHNESS TO LICK SLUMP
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amMaybe this is what Joe Torre means when he talks about Derek Jeter's toughness. It's 11 in the morning Sunday and the Yankee clubhouse at Safeco Field is coming to...
LOCAL HERO - MARYLAND'S 'CANNON' GUNS FOR GLORY
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amBALTIMORE - Just as sure as the sun rises in the East, Maryland every year rolls out a fresh local horse and throws him up against the Kentucky Derby warriors...
'SMARTY' IS $5M BONUS BABY
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amBENSALEM, Pa. - Two days after nearly 5,000 fans turned out at 8 a.m. just to watch Smarty Jones gallop once around the track, Philadelphia Park was swept by another...
KITTLES TO DRAW BILLUPS IN GAME 4
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amKerry Kittles is ready. He has seen it before. Tonight, the role of Stephon Marbury will be played by Chauncey Billups. And Kittles will line up across from him, like...
TAUNTING IMAGES - NETS, PISTONS FLAPPING YAPS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amSupposedly, an NBA playoff series doesn't get interesting until the home team loses. Well, the home team has prevailed in the first three games of the Nets-Pistons Eastern Conference semifinals....
K-MART REMAINS IN RAGE
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amNET NOTES Kenyon Martin still wasn't happy. And if the Nets' defensive effort from Game 3 couldn't cheer him up, nothing will. Martin lives for defense. On his very first...
TAKING 1 FOR LEAGUE - SPURS & PISTONS NO - SHOWS ON ROAD
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amLOS ANGELES - And you thought the NFL was "One for All, All for One." That was until Camp David sent out that "make-these-series competitive-or-else" memo . . . and...
BURNS IMPROVING
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amWhile the Devils have remained silent on Pat Burns' colon cancer treatment, optimism is filtering through the organization. The word is that Burns' cancer was caught in its early stages...
BEST OF ENEMIES - COMING SUNDAY: ROG VS. MIKE, THE REMATCH
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amPHOENIX - It's still five days away, but the buzz has already started. On Sunday in Houston, the two heavyweights will face each other one more time. Mike Piazza vs....
TWILIGHT 'ZONA - GONZO ROCKS METS WITH THREE HRS
May 11, 2004 | 4:00amD'backs 12 - Mets 8 PHOENIX - If someone asks you to describe the Mets' performance last night, tell him to grab a thesaurus and look up synonyms for "ugly."...