December 28, 2004
BELTWAY BANDITS' STORM: $615B DEFICIT SNOW JOB
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amWHAT would you think if I told you that 2004's federal budget deficit was really $615 billion, which is about 30 percent bigger than you've read in the newspapers? Now,...
BEAMING BUYOUT SHOP - BLACKSTONE HOPES TO RAISE $500M IN IPO OF NEW SKIES
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amJust one month after taking New Skies Satellite NV private, Blackstone Group is already paving the way to take the satellite operator public again. New York-based Blackstone, which only completed...
TUNNEL VISION ON WEST ST.
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amTEMPERATURES are rising Downtown over Gov. Pataki's proposal to build an $840 million West Street tunnel that would sink the six-lane highway under a landscaped median. Local residents who didn't...
LOG ON & LUXE - SANTA REWARDS WEB SITES, UPSCALE SHOPS
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amBragging rights for who won the Christmas sales derby may have to be shared this year - among Amazon.com, Coach and the ubiquitous gift card. Merchants were still counting tallies...
FAO SHEDS GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amSanta blessed FAO Schwarz this Christmas - from sales of $20 custom-made cars to a $100,000 gift card. The sales were "beyond expectations," said one company insider. That's good news...
OIL SKIDS, FALLS TO $2.86 A BARREL
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amAmerica got a late Christmas gift - a whopping drop in oil prices. Crude oil skidded almost $3 a barrel here yesterday to $41.32 a barrel despite recent efforts by...
SIRIUS NUMBERS - DARLING RADIO DUO FACE A HUGE TEST IN '05
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amSatellite-radio services Sirius and XM said they rocketed past their year-end targets for subscriber additions - fueling optimism about the fate of the upstart industry. New York-based Sirius topped its...
RAINES' FAREWELL: $26M+
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amAlthough Fannie Mae chief Franklin Raines was fired for bungling its books, he'll get a $26 million parachute - not counting a monthly pension of $116,300 for life. The 55-year-old...
TIDAL TRAGEDY - OPRAH STAR SEARCHES FOR MISSING COMPANION
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amNATE Berkus, a celebrity interior designer and frequent guest on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," was safe and on his way to the U.S. embassy in Sri Lanka yesterday after his...
FILLING OUT THE 'LOST' FAT KID
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amDESPITE all the beautiful people trapped on the mysterious island on ABC's hit drama, "Lost," fans are increasingly obsessed with the back story of the lovable fat kid, Hurley. But...
RACE FOR WAVE TAPE
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amTV news execs are on the hunt for amateur footage taken of the deadly tsunami wave that washed over 10 nations Sunday. "There will still be, I think, the definitive...
TOUCH OF 'MONK' - TAKING A STAB AT HIS NEW GAL FRIDAY
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amIn her very first scene, Monk's new assistant kills an intruder with a scissors. That's how fans of "Monk" will first meet Natalie Teeger (Traylor Howard) when the series returns...
'CSI: MIAMI' SWAMPED
December 28, 2004 | 5:00am'CSI:Miami" is preparing an other special, 90-minute epsiode set around a huge fire in the Everglades, according to reports. TV Guide Online says the show is being filmed now for...
COVERAGE OF TSUNAMI THE REAL DISASTER
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amIF you were watching TV news over the past few days, it would be hard to know which story carried more weight: The incomprehensible devastation caused by the tsunami which...
DRINK & BE MERRY - PUTTING HANGOVER-PREVENTION PRODUCTS TO THE NEW YEAR'S TEST
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amEVERYONE pays on New Year's Day. Unless, that is, you don't drink - or are able to drink in moderation. But most people spend the next day semi-conscious, rehydrating to...
PREZ-RACE LOSERS $WEPT N.Y. STATE
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - New Yorkers flushed nearly $40 million down the drain backing John Kerry's failed presidential quest and the aborted bids of Howard Dean, Wesley Clark and other White House...
TOT DIES AFTER 'DRAG-RACING' CRASH
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amA Brooklyn girl has died of the massive injuries she received in an accident her family blames on drag racing. Amalya Mitchell, 4, died Thursday of organ failure and "traumatic"...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amMississippi cops followed the wrap - and now two young grinches face the rap. The boys, ages 14 and 12, stole Christmas presents from a family's home in Columbus but...
A NEW DIVIDE - DEMS VS. THE MILITARY ON IRAQ
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amIT will surely be difficult for many people of good will to reconcile the awfulness of the daily news coming out of Iraq - deaths of and injuries to American...
WOMAN SUES OVER 'NOTHING'
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amALBANY - A State Liquor Authority employee is being paid $82,789 a year to sit in an office and do nothing all day, so she passes the time by reading...
MENACING MISSILE IS AN 'ARAFAT'
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - Palestinians said yesterday they are developing their most advanced missile yet - and named it the "Yasser Arafat." The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claims the new Arafat missile...
MOB BIG IS STIR CRAZY - SOLITARY KILLING HIM
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amBonanno crime-family boss Joseph Massino, who weighs more than 300 pounds, wants out of his tiny solitary-confinement cell. The mob heavy complains the shower's so small, he feels like he's...
ROUGH SLEDDING - SNOW WREAKS HAVOC ON WEARY HOLIDAY TRAVELERS - BUT KIDS STILL LOVE IT
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amThe New York-area got hit yesterday with its first significant accumulation of snow this winter - ranging from a few inches in the city to nearly 9 inches on parts...
BERNIE BLASTS 'LOWLIFE' ACCUSER
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amEMBATTLED Bernie Kerik won't complain and won't explain about the step down from Homeland Security - but he will come out swinging with both karate hands against a man he...
NEW YORK MIGHT FACE WATERY END
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amIt hardly raised a ripple when it was reported over the summer, but news that a tsunami could one day hit New York is suddenly getting a second look. Several...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amMANHATTAN * An ambulance racing to the aid of a trauma victim in Midtown yesterday was hit broadside by a Jeep, whose driver and passengers got out and fled, police...
DEAD BABY FOUND IN L.I. CLOTHING-DONOR TRUCK
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amA newborn baby boy was found dead yesterday by employees of a Long Island recycling company who were unloading a truck of donated clothing, household goods and toys, cops said....
HERO DOC A SUICIDE - FAMOUS FOR KIDS' SURGERIES
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amA nationally-known pediatric heart surgeon who performed the world's first successful implant of a lifesaving miniature heart pump in a child in September, committed suicide over the holiday weekend. Dr....
MAN SLAIN LEAVING NIGHTCLUB
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amA mystery gunman opened fire on two ex-cons, killing one of them, moments after the pair left a popular Midtown nightclub early yesterday, cops said. William Clark, 39, and Troy...
QUAKE'S JOLTING EFFECT LEAVES THE EARTH RINGING
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amBecause of Sunday's gargantuan quake, planet Earth is ringing like a church bell. You can't hear it, but it's being measured at seismic stations around the world, including Columbia University's...
DUMB THIEF SHACK-LED
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amA dimwitted thief was arrested at a Long Island Radio Shack, when he attempted to return roughly $2,200 in Christmas gifts - which he stole from the same shop, cops...
WORLD'S NATIONS OPEN THEIR HEARTS AND COFFERS
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amCompassion swept across the globe yesterday as aid from the far corners of the earth began to pour in to the Southeast Asian region destroyed by a killer tsunami. U.S....
HORRIFIC END FOR BABY, GI - INFANT STARVES IN APT.
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amA 22-year-old Brooklyn Army private and her newborn baby were found dead on Christmas morning in their upstate apartment near a military base, investigators said yesterday. Relatives said Tameka Nicole...
SKINNY ON DIET PLANS: NO PROOF THEY WORK
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amPound for pound, it turns out that many popular weight-loss programs are not to diet for, a new study reveals. Researchers reviewed 10 well-known programs and found there was not...
RELL HAS CANCER - CONN. GOV UNDERGOES BREAST SURGERY
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amConnecticut Gov. Jodi Rell underwent surgery for breast cancer yesterday, after doctors detected the disease following a routine mammogram. The cancer was caught in its very early stages last week,...
'ELEVATOR' WIDOW RIPS KIDS' FOLKS
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amThe wife of a security guard who was burned to death in a Queens elevator has ripped the parents of the two young cousins charged with his murder. "If the...
'FALL' GUY FINALLY BACK IN JAIL - VELELLA RETURNS TO RIKERS
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amBye-bye, Guy. Guy Velella's get-out-of-jail free card expired yesterday, when the former state senator and crybaby crook turned himself in to serve the remainder of his sentence on Rikers Island....
START SPREADIN' THE BLUES - YANK ORGANIST LAYTON DIES AT AGE 74
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amEddie Layton, the beloved organist whose strains keyed up Yankee fans at the House That Ruth Built for 37 years, has died. The 74-year-old musician, a master of the 50,000-watt...
LIZA INJURED IN FALL AT HOME
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amLiza Minnelli was rushed to the hospital early yesterday after apparently falling out of bed in her Upper East Side apartment, cops said. The troubled 58-year-old entertainer was taken to...
WAVE OF FEAR AFTER HORROR - HEALTH-CRISIS ANXIETY AS DEVASTATED FAMILIES HUNT FOR LOST LOVED ONES
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amBodies washed up on south Asian beaches yesterday, sparking fears of cholera in the 10 nations where a massive earthquake and death waves left an arc of destruction that killed...
ROUGH SLEDDING - FEDS PROBE AIRLINE HAVOC SPARKED BY WHITEOUT CHRISTMAS
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amThe feds yesterday ordered an investigation into thousands of canceled flights and lost baggage that crippled two of the nation's largest airlines over the Christmas weekend. As US Airways and...
'ELEVATOR' BOYS HAVE HISTORY OF ARSON: DA
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amTwo Queens cousins who set holiday ornaments ablaze Christmas night in the hallway of a Far Rockaway apartment building - killing a security guard - have a history of playing...
WAVE OF FEAR AFTER HORROR - HEALTH-CRISIS ANXIETY IN DEVASTATED TOWNS AS DEATH TOLL REACHES 23,700
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amBodies washed up on south Asian beaches yesterday, sparking fears of cholera in the 10 nations where a massive earthquake and death waves left an arc of destruction that killed...
DRUNK LIZA HURT IN FALL: COPS
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amLiza Minnelli was rushed to the hospital early yesterday after a drunken fall in her East Side apartment, a police source said. The troubled entertainer was taken to New York...
NO HAPPY RETURNS FOR DUMB THIEF
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amA dimwitted thief was arrested at a Long Island Radio Shack when he attempted to return roughly $2,200 in Christmas gifts - which he had stolen from the same shop,...
TEEN HELD IN MOVIE MURDER
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amA 15-year-old has been charged with savagely stabbing a Queens man to death on Christmas Eve, prosecutors said yesterday. The teen, whose name was not released because of his age,...
BRAVEST NAB 'SLASH AND ROB' KID: COPS
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amSix firefighters who had just put out a blaze in a Brooklyn subway station helped police catch a 14-year-old boy yesterday after he robbed and slashed a livery driver, police...
BODEGA HERO FOILS GUNMAN
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amA Queens bodega clerk wrested a gun from a robber yesterday and then fired at the fleeing crook, who had just shot a co-worker, police said. The holdup man escaped...
'SCARY' PAST OF N.J. GOV'S WIFE
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amNew Jersey's first lady went public with details of her struggles with depression yesterday, telling a television interviewer that she once thought about putting her "baby in my microwave." Mary...
MANNING PHONES HOME
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amGIANT NOTES Following a 23-22 loss in Cincinnati, Eli Manning phoned his father Archie, which is not uncommon. This time, though, Eli had a specific purpose for the call. He...
WILL IT NEVER END?
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amGiants Report CardQUARTERBACKS: C+ Still too many bad throws for Eli Manning (19 of 37, 202 yards, 1 INT) but enough good ones to consider this progress. Six consecutive scoring...
COMPLETE FAILURES
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amJet Report CardQUARTERBACKS: F Chad Pennington (22-36, 252 yards, 1 TD, 2 TDs) didn't play well. Most of his statistical production came in garbage time. RUNNING BACKS: F Curtis Martin...
CARTER CLAMORS FOR NET RESULTS
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amAUBURN HILLS - From the moment he became a Net, Vince Carter has tried to blend in with the team. Yeah, just another ordinary, $12.5 million superstar hoping to be...
ABRAHAM A NO-GO
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amJET NOTES Though Herman Edwards sounded as if he's not ruling out having John Abraham ready to play Sunday in St. Louis, Abraham yesterday acknowledged that he'll miss his fourth...
PEREZ, METS NOT MEETING . . . YET - BELTRAN STILL TOP PRIORITY
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amA face-to-face meeting with Odalis Perez is not on Omar Minaya's immediate agenda. More and more, though, the Mets GM is pushing for a sit-down with the biggest free-agent prize,...
QB BRINGS ACHE GAME
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amTHAT is not Chad Pennington straining to push the Jets into the playoffs. It is Chad Painington. It has been the dirty little secret around the Jets, because no one...
STORM'S EPPERSON SUSPENDED
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amSt. John's will be without starting forward Rodney Epperson for tonight's game against Canisius in the Holiday Festival in the Garden after the university suspended the junior college transfer indefinitely....
ROCKETS ARE A WRECK
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amJIMMY Jackson got the call yesterday he didn't want to hear, and had no idea was coming. As the journeyman small forward was preparing to join his Rocket teammates on...
NO HELP WANTED - HERM: 'WE NEED TO GO WIN'
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amThe task that stands before the 10-5 Jets as they embark on their regular-season finale is quite simple: Win and they're in. There are other scenarios for them to get...
HODGE COOL TO IDEA OF BEING NO. 2
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amHOLIDAY FESTIVAL I know N.C. State swingman Julius Hodge well enough to know that what he said to me yesterday wasn't exactly the truth, the whole truth and nothing but...
KNICKS BEGIN TO MAKE MOVE
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amORLANDO - Jamal Crawford should watch and learn. Ball movement. The Knicks haven't always done it well this season. Until last night. Midway through the fourth quarter on their season's...
ISIAH AND STEPH SHARE TOUGH LOVE
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES ORLANDO - After last week's defensive debacle, after those two consecutive losses when the Knicks gave up 123 points and 114 points to Dallas and Boston, respectively, Isiah...
KNICKED UP - CRAW, PENNY BATTLING THEIR WAY BACK
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amORLANDO - At this rate, Jamal Crawford could be back before Penny Hardaway. Hardaway, who's been out since Dec. 4 with a partial tear of the right hamstring, suffered a...
SPREE IS SET FOR MSG
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES ORLANDO - Latrell Sprewell is back from his sore-ankle injury and is expected to be available tomorrow when the Wolves hit the Garden. That's always a risk for...
VIN-JURED - CRAMPING CARTER LEAVES OT LOSS
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amPistons 100 - Nets 90 AUBURN HILLS - The Vince Carter Era of the Nets could have started in better fashion. There was a loss. To the Pistons. And there...
JEFFERSON INJURES WRIST ON FLAGRANT FOUL
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amNET NOTES AUBURN HILLS - Richard Jefferson said his injured left wrist is back at square one. Jefferson had his legs taken out by Chauncey Billups on a flagrant foul...
BROWN LIKES THE LOOK OF NETS AFTER BIG TRADE
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amNET NOTES AUBURN HILLS - Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, Jason Kidd and the officials. Add them together and the Carter trade was a great deal for the Nets, said Pistons...
MARA TIME - AS SKID CONTINUES, GIANTS OWNER CALLS OUT PLAYERS, NOT COACH
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amWellington Mara admits he doesn't have the answer to what he believes is the most pressing question of the fading season: What in the world happened to the Giants following...
BROWN GIVES DEAL OFFICIAL APPROVAL
December 28, 2004 | 5:00amNET NOTES AUBURN HILLS - Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, Jason Kidd and the officials. Add them together and the Carter trade was a great deal for the Nets, said Pistons...