December 18, 2004
OBAMA INKS 2-BOOK DEAL
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amAfter months of speculation, negotiation and a change of agents, Illinois Senator-elect Barack Obama has signed a seven-figure deal with Crown to publish two new books about his life. In...
CELEBREX HEART SCARE SINKS STOCK
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amPfizer's admission that its painkiller Celebrex could trigger heart attacks wiped out more than $25 billion of the compnay's stock value in just hours yesterday. Pfizer made its startling announcement...
MARTHA'S SALE HITS HER STOCK
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amShares of Martha Stewart's company sank yesterday after she gave a $8.3 million cash gift to herself while she's preparing to spend Christmas behind bars. The jailed founder of the...
HE'S 'GROTESQUE' ; SPITZER RIPS EX-NYSE CHIEF GRASSO & PAL LANGONE
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amEliot Spitzer tore into ousted New York Stock Exchange chief Dick Grasso, calling his behavior and that of former NYSE director Ken Langone "grotesque." Less than a week after Spitzer...
MY NEW HOME
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amCOUPLE WITH LIMITED SAVINGS SEEKS HOME, ASAP WHAT THEY BOUGHT: Sugar Hill one-bedroom, $345,000 SEARCH TIME: two months IT SOUNDS like the premise of a reality TV show: Two people,...
GIMME SHELTER
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amMurphy's moving THE bubbly should be flowing if Eddie Murphy gets the $30 million he's asking for Bubble Hill, the sprawling New Jersey estate he's owned for 18 years. Murphy's...
AULD LANG ... SIGH - WANT SOMEONE ELSE'S HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS? LET IT GO, LET IT GO, LET IT GO
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amNICK Bailey is pretty blessed when it comes to his apartment. After years of salivating over a friend's pad - a one-bedroom in a Brooklyn Heights mansion - he miraculously...
WARM AND FUZZY
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amRuth Fischl 141 W. 28th St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues (212) 273-9710 Sale: through Dec. 31 Open: Mon.-Thurs., 8 a.m.-p.m. Props once used in corporate events, set design and...
IT'S HOT IN HERE
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amCHEAP, compact and powerful, space heaters have long been a favorite of those in need of some extra warmth. But be cautious - space heaters have a reputation as fire...
NORVILLE LEAVING MSNBC
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amDEBORAH Norville is giving up her nightly MSNBC show to devote all her time to "Inside Edition." For nearly a year now, Norville, the veteran "Inside Edition" anchor, has also...
A SIS-BOOM-BLAH
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amWHEN one of the last Ramones standing - Marky - stepped onstage to accept the Icon honor at the College Music Awards wearing a cheap acoustic guitar, the final red...
'CSI' TRUMPS 'APPRENTICE 2' FINALE
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amDONALD Trump seems to be losing his King Midas TV touch. Thursday's three-hour finale of "The Apprentice 2" was seen by about 17 million viewers - nearly 40 percent less...
SEX IS THEIR BUSINESS
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amWHORE ½ (one and one half star) FACT and fiction co-exist uneasily in the movie "Whore," a look at sex-trade workers by the single-named director Luna. The documentary portion isn't...
ALLEY OOPS - 'CHEERS' STAR SAYS SHE DIDN'T KNOW SHE WAS FAT
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amONCE-svelte "Fat Actress" Kirstie Alley has a message for everyone staring at her massive girth - "Bring it." "I wasn't ever hiding in my room eating, but I was introverted,"...
LOVE COULDN'T BE VERSE - MEN MOAN NEW DATING BOOK IS KILLING ROMANCE
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amMEN just aren't into this book. That's the verdict on the new romance bible that's changing the rules for New York women and the men who date them (or just...
AS GOOD AS IT'S CRACKED UP TO BE
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amIt's easy to see why so many girls, after seeing "The Nutcracker" for the first time, dream of finding themselves up on the stage one day, putting their own icing...
ONE-STOP SHOPPING FOR HOLIDAY GIFT PROCRASTINATORS
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amThere are just seven days left until Christmas, so you know the malls and department stores are going to be crowded this weekend. It you still have gifts on your...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amTHE BRONX *** Police are asking for the public's help in locating a teenage runaway (above) who fled her Bronx home more than a year ago. Valerie Orlik, was 15...
CATHOLIC SCHOOL 'SICK-OUT' SPREADS
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amAdministrators at eight Catholic schools in the city scrambled yesterday to find replacements for teachers who called in sick to protest contract talks with the Archdiocese of New York. One...
END OF A SPY THRILLER ; BUSH INKS 9/11 INTEL OVERHAUL
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday signed a bill aimed at preventing a repeat of the colossal intelligence failures that ended with the devastating 9/11 terror strikes three years ago. The...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amTruck driver Juan Mata of Lockport, Ill., painted his house a brilliant fluorescent green - to get even with neighbors. Seems they complained to cops that the maroon semi-truck he...
BRIT PM'S MIDEAST PEACE PUSH
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - British Prime Minister Tony Blair will meet the new Palestinian leadership in the West Bank next week in the highest-level diplomatic visit since Yasser Arafat's death last month,...
JENNINGS TEAM 'SICKS OUT' AGAIN
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amThe closed-door prosecution of City Councilman Allan Jennings, which was supposed to wrap up yesterday, was abruptly postponed when Jennings' final witness called in sick, sources said. Members of the...
ACCIDENT SNARLS N.J. TURNPIKE
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amA fiery tractor-trailer accident closed lanes and delayed traffic for eight hours on the New Jersey Turnpike at Ridgefield yesterday. The tractor-trailer carrying bread was headed south around 7 a.m....
CRYING COLOMBO CROOK COPS PLEA
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amA weepy Colombo wiseguy, who turned for the feds when members of his own crime family shot him, delivered a teary mea-culpa at his sentencing in Brooklyn federal court yesterday...
IRAQ ORGY OF GORE - SICK MOB HACKS UPBODIES
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Iraqi rebels viciously massacred three foreigners in a grisly ambush in Mosul yesterday, in the latest atrocity carried out by pro-Saddam die-hards seeking to sabotage next month's elections....
'I OWE HIM MY LIFE' ; HERO RESCUES TOTS, EX & PAL FROM L.I. BLAZE
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amThank goodness he ran out of soda. That's what a Long Island mother, her two young children and a pal were saying after they were pulled from a burning building...
L.I. TEEN GUILTY IN FATAL DRUG & DRIVE
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amA Long Island teen who killed two friends in a drug-fueled car accident nearly a year ago pleaded guilty yesterday, agreeing to face up to seven years behind bars. After...
B'KLYN BABY O.D.'S; TAKES SITTER'S PILLS
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amAn 18-month-old Brooklyn baby was critically injured when he slipped past a nanny's improvised baby gate and gobbled 10 of her ailing husband's blood-pressure pills, authorities said yesterday. Little Percy...
AXED TEACHERS STILL GET $23M FROM CITY
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amThe city is spending $23 million a year to house teachers in regional offices as they await the outcome of disciplinary charges against them, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. He claimed...
COP SHOOTS DRUG SUSPECT IN VILLAGE
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amA female undercover cop chasing a suspected crack dealer through the West Village shot him through the door of a taxi after her gun went off by accident, police sources...
JFK AIRTRAIN PICKS UP SPEED ON SUCCESS RUN
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amInitially plagued by problems, the AirTrain to Kennedy Airport has soared in popularity a year after it opened, totaling nearly 9 million passengers and averaging 32,000 daily riders, officials said...
COP-RAISE RULING MIGHT LEAD TO LAYOFFS: MIKE
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amThe NYPD will have to cut its work force if an arbitration panel awards cops larger raises than the city has budgeted, Mayor Bloomberg warned yesterday. "If the arbitrator were...
MOM & TOT HIT ON QNS. BLVD.
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amA car that jumped a median along Queens Boulevard yesterday hit a mother and her 4-year-old son who were waiting to cross the deadly thoroughfare, sending the woman flying into...
FEDS LET MOB CANARY FLY
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amA mobbed-up dockworkers-union president caught a sentencing break yesterday in exchange for helping the feds win convictions at last year's trial of reputed Gambino boss Peter Gotti. Frank "Red" Scollo,...
SURVIVING THIS BIRTH TRULY A MIRACLE: DOC
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amThe little girl, prematurely ripped from her mother's womb, survived because of "divine intervention," a leading obstetrician said yesterday, calling the survival of the 8-month-old fetus a "miracle." "Certainly this...
GOLDEN FLEECE; WALL STREET BROKER NAILED IN $4.2M SCAM
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amLife was good for a well-connected, aggressive 30-year-old Wall Street stockbroker named Calvin Darden. He had a multimillion-dollar home on Long Island. Fast cars in the garage. A 20-foot long...
RAP KILLER'S EVIL SMIRK
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amA gunman in the botched Chelsea robbery that left rapper Freaky Zeeky shot in the gut and his friend dying smirked throughout his sentencing yesterday - even as he heard...
NEWBORN RESCUED AS FETUS SNATCHERS SLAY MOM
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amA newborn girl - savagely ripped from her mother's womb while the woman was being murdered - turned up alive and healthy yesterday in Kansas and was united with her...
SCHOOL BUS FLEES QNS. CRASH: COPS
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amA school bus collided with a car in Queens - but instead of stopping, the driver dropped the kids off at school and then returned to the accident scene, police...
THE SNAKE - GRANDDAD TEACHER, 61, A TEEN CHARMER
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amMeet "The Snake." This is the mullet-wearing music teacher from Franklin K. Lane HS fondly known as "The Snake" who stands accused of carrying on a three-year affair with a...
BEATLES ROCKIN' AT AUCTION
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amBeatlemania whupped the Stones at Christie's yesterday when a guitar gently strummed by George Harrison 40 years ago was auctioned off for a whopping $500,000 - while Keith Richards' electric...
'KERIK' A JAIL KEEPER - NAME TRIBUTE STAYS
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amMayor Bloomberg yesterday said former NYPD top cop Bernard Kerik "clearly had some mistakes in judgment in his personal life" but that he doesn't plan to change the title of...
DISTINGUISHED DAD A TOP-SHELF BIZMAN
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amCalvin Darden's alleged scheming stands in sharp contrast to his dad's solid reputation as one of the most prominent black businessmen in America. Calvin Darden Sr. is the senior vice-president...
SADDAM PAL SQUEALS; WILL HELP PROBE OF U.N. OIL
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - One of Saddam Hussein's most visible advisers is expected to meet with investigators to detail the massive Iraqi campaign to use oil bribes to win Security Council votes...
'KERIK' A JAIL KEEPER; NAME TRIBUTE STAYS
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amMayor Bloomberg yesterday said former NYPD top cop Bernard Kerik "clearly had some mistakes in judgment in his personal life" but the mayor doesn't plan to change the title of...
ARNIE HOUSE HAD COLLATERAL DAMAGE: SUIT
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amA California lawyer is accusing "Governator" Arnold Schwarzenegger of hiding troubles with the $7.5 million Pacific Palisades mansion she bought from him, according to newly revealed documents. Attorney Susan Loggins...
IRAQ MOB HACKS BODIES
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Iraqi rebels viciously massacred three foreigners in a grisly ambush in Mosul yesterday, in the latest atrocity carried out by pro-Saddam die-hards seeking to sabotage next month's elections....
THE SNAKE: GRANDDAD TEACHER, 61, A TEEN CHARMER
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amMeet "The Snake." This is the mullet-wearing music teacher from Franklin K. Lane HS fondly known as "The Snake" who stands accused of carrying on a three-year affair with a...
NEWBORN RESCUED AS FETUS SNATCHER KILLS MOM
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amAn 8-month-old fetus - savagely ripped from her mother's womb while the woman was being murdered - turned up alive and healthy yesterday in Kansas, where police arrested a woman...
ALONZO LIKELY WILL WIND UP IN MIAMI
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amGrizzlies 89Nets 84 MEMPHIS - Alonzo Mourning came to New Jersey to win a championship with Jason Kidd. Maybe, he'll wind up winning one back in Miami with Shaquille O'Neal....
UNIT GETTING CLOSER
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amRandy Johnson could be in pinstripes by this time next week. Despite a stumbling block yesterday and a few hurdles that still need to be cleared, an industry source said...
BIG BOOOOOOOO - GIANTS BRACE FOR CHILLY GREETING AS STEELERS INVADE STADIUM
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amThere is nothing quite as dispiriting for a home team as running through the tunnel, filled with passion for the game about to start, and sensing the environment is far...
VALENTINE SET TO HOLD COURT ON WFAN
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amThe wit and wisdom of Bobby Valentine is coming to WFAN. Valentine, the former Met manager, will host four shows next week on 660 AM. On Wednesday and Thursday, he...
FOUR QUARTERS OF MISERY
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amIT WILL be four quarters of misery today for the Giants, and especially for the Giants fans who bother to show up at Giants Stadium and watch the home team...
JINTS RUNNING FOR COVER
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amGIANT NOTES Only a cruel mind in the NFL office could have scheduled this game for the Giants. Here they are, gasping for breath when it comes to stopping the...
BARRETT PICK OF JET DBS
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amThere were times earlier this season when David Barrett wouldn't have minded a little silence, a little peace and quiet. The furnace-like verbal barrage he faced on a daily basis...
COACH K PRODUCES STAR-STUDDED CASTS
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amThis is the chicken and egg question in the world of sports: Does a great coach make great players or do great players make a great coach? Nowadays the answer...
MATHIS' IVY LEAGUE DREAM ; HAS COME TRUE
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amJarrett Mathis could have enrolled in college in the fall. He qualified academically and had scholarship offers awaiting from mid-majors like Vermont as well as low Div. I schools like...
METS GO SHOPPING FOR SOME STICKS ; TURN THEIR ATTENTION TO DELGADO, ALOU
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amOnce the Mets knew they had Pedro Martinez locked up, they immediately began turning their focus to other players who could fill other holes. "We'll still continue to work on...
JASON SET FOR BOOST IN MINUTES
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amNET NOTES MEMPHIS - The Nets got an early Christmas present last night - other than Vince Carter. They got more minutes for Jason Kidd. But just how many, coach...
MARBURY: BLAME SHOULD 'POINT' AT ME
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES PHILADELPHIA - Don't blame Jamal Crawford. Don't blame Lenny Wilkens. Blame me. That's Stephon Marbury's view on the ill-fated possession in Wednesday's heartbreaking loss to the Pistons when...
PAVANO: 4 YEARS, $40M
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amAll that's left for Carl Pavano is to be fitted for pinstripes. Pavano and the Yankees were putting the finishing touches on his four-year $40 million contract yesterday. According to...
NYRA TABS PASSERO AS NEW TRACK SUPER
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amNYRA, after being forced to cancel most of Thanksgiving Day card because of unsafe track conditions and following numerous gripes about turf courses, has appointed Frank Passero new track superintendent...
TRADE GIVES NETS VIN-NING ATTITUDE - MOST KNICKS THINK HE'LL ADD TO RIVALRY
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amPHILADELPHIA - Throughout the Knicks' locker room last night, players were saluting the Nets for their coup of Vince Carter. Then there was Jerome Williams, a former Carter teammate who...
VIN-NING ATTITUDE ; TRADE FOR CARTER GIVES NETS HOPE
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amMEMPHIS - The Nets landed a marquee talent, a box-office stud and a player the Knicks desperately coveted. He makes the Nets as athletic as ever, gives them essentially one-...
KNICKS SEE STARS - VINCE-TO-NETS A REAL STUNNER
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amPHILADELPHIA - The Raptors were intent on landing big rebounders in any Vince Carter package. The Nets obliged. Knick president Isiah Thomas wouldn't. Multiple sources yesterday said Thomas wasn't willing...
STEPHON DEFENDS CRAWFORD
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES PHILADELPHIA - Stephon Marbury stood by Jamal Crawford yesterday, saying people are expecting too much too soon from the 24-year-old guard. Crawford had a horrible outing last night...
JUST IN THE KNICK OF TIME ; HOUSTON'S SHOT LEADS TO OT WIN
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amOVERTIMEKnicks 11376ers 107 PHILADELPHIA - He's baaaaack. Allan Houston punctuated the Knicks' wild comeback and his own return by drilling a 3-pointer from the right corner with four-tenths of a...
THEY GET CARTER IN RAPTORS DEAL
December 18, 2004 | 5:00amMEMPHIS - One-fourth of a U.S. Men's Olympic basketball team will be playing in the Meadowlands. That should make Jason Kidd happy. The Nets yesterday added Toronto marquee superstar Vince...