March 8, 2005
EDGAR TUNES UP - BRONFMAN PREPARES IPO FOR WARNER MUSIC
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amBarely a year after buying Warner Music Group from Time Warner Inc. for $2.6 billion, an investor group led by CEO Edgar Bronfman, Jr., thinks it's time to sell. Hoping...
PUTTING ON RALLY CAPS OVER JOBS GROWTH A FOOL'S GAME
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amTHE stock market reacted strongly - IN THE WRONG DIRECTION - to the latest employment report. If this column was on one of those nifty color pages, I'd have had...
BOEING BOSS IS FLUNG BY FLING
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amBoeing Co. yesterday sent Chief Executive Harry Stonecipher flying out the door, saying the married grandfather - an advocate of the company's tough code of ethical conduct - had an...
SHAREHOLDERS: EISNER COWED DISNEY'S BOARD
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amDisney shareholders are demanding the media giant's directors repay the company $262 million for failing to properly police the hiring and firing of Michael Ovitz. The total includes $129.8 million...
DOWNTOWN'S COMING BACK
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amALL by itself, Bowne & Co.'s new, 200,000 square-foot lease at 55 Water St. chopped downtown commercial availability from 12.9 percent at the end of February to 12.6 percent -...
HOLLYWOOD FIRM SUED OVER $7M SCAM
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amMark Burnett is charging a Hollywood product placement firm lied to the makers of Crest toothpaste, Levi's and Mars candy bars to get their products onto "The Apprentice" - and...
NO VERDICT BY EBBERS JURY
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amJurors weighing the fate of former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers finished their second day of deliberations without a verdict. They returned to the courtroom in Manhattan federal court to watch...
MARTHA'S CRITICS SEE DIM FUTURE FOR MAGS
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amMartha Stewart vowed yesterday to feed readers and viewers more "why" and a little less "how to" in her empire's magazines and TV shows. But looking for something more than...
MIRAMAX BOOKS BIG MOVES ON
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amJonathan Burnham is jumping ship from the Miramax Books unit that he's headed since its inception in 1999 to an imprint at Harper Collins. The move comes as the long...
CABLE SUIT SLAMS BOARD
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amThe latest episode of Cablevision's boardroom follies ended yesterday with a deeper mystery - will lawyers storm the castle while the king battles his rebellious son? The entertainment company's 79-year-old...
SUIT SLAMS CHUCK'S BOARD
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amThe latest episode of Cablevision's boardroom follies ended yesterday with a deeper mystery - will lawyers storm the castle while the king battles his rebellious son? The entertainment company's 79-year-old...
'AMAZING' NEW RULE: 8-YR-OLDS ELIGIBLE
March 8, 2005 | 5:00am'THE Amazing Race" has lowered its age restriction to 8 - and that's not a typo. It's the first time contestants under 21 are being allowed to compete in the...
'NAME' GAME; PLAY DISHES ABOUT SPOON-FED TV 'TALKING'
March 8, 2005 | 5:00am"They kept asking me, 'But Axl Rose was crazy, huh? He started a riot and went nuts on his supermodel girlfriend, didn't he?' It was likethey were throwing baitat me...
25 MIL 'EYES' FOR OPRAH PIC
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amOPRAH Winfrey transplanted her dominanace of daytime TV into prime-time Sunday night - helping to snare a huge audience for ABC. The Winfrey-produced movie, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," snared...
CABLE NEWS CRISIS: CAR-CHASE BAN
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amTHOSE high-speed Los Angeles car chases often seen on cable news could become a thing of the past - if California lawmakers get their way. Law enforcement groups there are...
BIG FAT MYTHS - SORRY KIRSTIE - NOT ALL BLACK MEN LUST AFTER CHUNKY CHICKS
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amPERHAPS the only person more desperate than Kirstie Alley to return to network television is her new co-star, Mark Curry. Who else but an out-of-work, moderately funny stand-up comedian would...
KIRSTIE IS IN 'FAT' CITY - SLIM CHANCE IT WILL STAY OFF
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amWILL Kirstie Alley ever be able to fit back into "Veronica's Closet"? The "Fat Actress" star stands a slim chance of peeling off pounds - and keeping them off -...
NOT ENOUGH SKINNY IN 'BIG-BUTTED'
March 8, 2005 | 5:00am"How to Lose Your Ass and Regain Your Life: Reluctant Confessions of a Big-Butted Star" Kirstie Alley Rodale, $23.95 Half a star Kirstie should have just stuck with the show....
GIRLS WILL HAVE TOYS - NEW CLASS SPICES UP EXECUTIVE PENTHOUSE
March 8, 2005 | 5:00am'MEN are trainable," confides porn director Candida Royalle. "You just have to stroke their egos. They don't ever want to feel inadequate." Her rapt audience of eight women giggles, swills...
STARR REPORT
March 8, 2005 | 5:00am'Mama's' NET gain Michelle Phillips helped raise a boatload of money for WNET/Ch. 13 Sunday night with her in-studio visit to dis cuss "California Dreamin': The Songs of the Mamas...
SEEING EYE DOG - BLINDNESS IS THE LEAST OF 'JUSTICE' WORRIES
March 8, 2005 | 5:00am"Blind Justice" Tonight at 10 on ABC/Ch. 7 (two and a half stars) JUST when you thought they'd gone through every severe handicap a cop can have and still go...
FULL BOAT
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amTHERE are vacations that energize you, clear your head, make you feel whole again - and then there are vacations that truly change your life. Last March, Chris Hinchcliffe took...
BIG BREASTS A BUST AS WOMAN SUES IMPLANT DOC
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amAn Upper East Side plastic surgeon, whose clients include Playboy centerfolds, is on trial for allegedly botching the boobs of a Wisconsin woman - by inserting giant silicone implants instead...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amYou can read, but you can't reek. That's the gist of a new law that bans people with offensive body odor from entering public libraries in California's San Luis Obispo...
INSANITY BID IN '03 SWORD SLAY
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amThe crazed Bronx man charged with slashing his wife to death with a samurai sword after she refused to let his cyber-lover share their bed will seek an insanity plea....
'LUCKY' COP SHOOTER CUFFED NOT SNUFFED
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amA California man fired a shot at cops chasing him along a Hell's Kitchen street yesterday - but cops managed to arrest him without firing back. "He's lucky that everyone...
BX. EX-COP GETS FIVE YEARS IN R.I. COKE-DEAL STING
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amA former New York City cop, who was arrested last year for trying to buy 10 kilograms of cocaine, has been sentenced to five years in jail, officials said. Jose...
LIVE FROM NEW JERSEY, IT'S PISCOPO FOR GOV
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amJoe Piscopo for governor of New Jersey? It's no laughing matter, says a grass-roots group of concerned citizens who call themselves "Run Joe Run 2005" and want the former "Saturday...
SHOT SUSPECT IS ACQUITTED
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amAn ex-con shot in the head while allegedly sticking up a Queens bodega will be free in months because a jury acquitted him of attempted robbery and ammunition possession yesterday....
DEM PHONE TRICKS; A FERRER PLOY TO GET FIELDS TO DROP?
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amSOMETHING weird happened here in New York last week that sheds light on the conspiracy theories Democrats love to throw around about how Karl Rove is the secret mastermind behind...
ITALY MAY END RANSOM DEALS
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amItaly may abandon its secret, controversial policy of paying huge ransoms for hostages held in Iraq, in the aftermath of last week's tragedy following the release of an Italian journalist....
GIVE US LEB-ERTY! PROTESTERS SLAM SYRIA IN MASSIVE BEIRUT RALLY
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amFreedom-hungry Lebanese yesterday staged their biggest display of "people power," with a massive demonstration in Beirut to demand an immediate end to Syrian occupation. A huge crowd, estimated at more...
BX. SHOVE VICTIM IS CRITICAL IN HIT-AND-RUN
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amA young man was critically hurt in when he was shoved into a Bronx street by two drunken thugs, then dragged 450 feet by a speeding hit-and-run driver, police sources...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amMANHATTAN *** A dispute inside a Greenwich Village club yesterday spilled out into the street and ended with one man stabbed twice in the back, authorities said. Sources said the...
BUSH PICKS U.N.-BASHER AS NEW ENVOY
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday tapped Undersecretary of State John Bolton - a "tough-minded" hard-liner who's an outspoken critic of the United Nations - as the next U.S. ambassador to...
COPS STOP BRUTAL JEWEL GANG
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amTwenty members of a ruthless street gang called the "Pink Houses Crew" were charged yesterday for a string of brutal jewelry heists that netted them $2.5 million in stolen goods...
SENATOR: HELP SOC. SEC. BY HIKING RETIRE AGE TO 68
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - An influential Republican senator wants to up the retirement age from 67 to 68, with a plan he says would help keep the Social Security system from going...
SYRIA WITHDRAWS FROM LEBANON
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amSyria began moving troops toward eastern Lebanon yesterday in what its leadership says is the first phase toward a complete withdrawal. Western news organizations reported that small units of Syrian...
MARTHA IS SURPRISINGLY FOOTLOOSE
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amMartha Stewart looked like a billion bucks yesterday, but her legs were missing a little something: her electronic ankle bracelet. All eyes, including those of hundreds of employees, and a...
'FAKE COP' SLAY WIDOW RIPS DA'S FATAL 'ERROR'
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amThe widow of a slain Long Island bank manager - whose alleged killer was on the street because the Queens district attorney helped him avoid deportation after an earlier armed...
SURPRISE! RANGEL JOINS TEAM BACKING STADIUM
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amThe fiercely contested West Side stadium plan won an important and unexpected ally yesterday - Rep. Charles Rangel, dean of the city's congressional delegation. Rangel's surprise support came at a...
VICTIM CUT OWN THROAT, SAYS HUSBAND'S LAWYER
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amA lawyer told a Long Island jury yesterday that his client was not guilty of murdering his wife - claiming the victim cut her own throat 14 times while she...
EVENT ALL 'HEART' & NO LOVE AS MIKE & GOPER STAY ICY
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amThe frosty relationship between Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council's top Republican was on display during a bill signing at City Hall yesterday. Councilman James Oddo (R-S.I.), who hasn't endorsed...
VOTE PANEL PLANS TO CUT ELECTION DAY HANG-UPS
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amThe city Board of Elections is accepting a helping hand to ensure that voters don't get a busy signal when they try to get through on Election Day. John Ravitz,...
CITY'S 'POOR' HEALTH ; LOW-$$WOMENHIT HARD
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amWomen who live in poorer neighborhoods have a life expectancy five years shorter than those in higher income neighborhoods - age 78 compared to 83 - according to a report...
JAIL NOT ENOUGH OF A GOOD THING - GIVE HER MORE
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amI'M STARTING a cultural movement - send Martha Stewart back to prison. Our tender American stomachs are just not safe from her kind. Looking as if she'd just emerged from...
BED AND BAWD; BOY'S KID BRO: I SAW JACKO MOLEST HIM
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amSANTA MARIA, Calif. - The chubby-cheeked younger brother of Michael Jackson's sex accuser yesterday testified in revolting detail how the King of Pop allegedly molested his sibling as he slept...
CLUB KING 'SINGS' AT B'KLYN TRIAL
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amChris Paciello, the Miami club king-turned-Mafia informant, testified publicly for the first time yesterday - detailing a life of crime that began in his teens in Brooklyn and secretly continued...
HUNG JURY RESULTS IN MISTRIAL FOR ZONGO SLAY COP
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amOfficer Brian Conroy's manslaughter trial ended in a mistrial yesterday after two holdout jurors decided he was a liar, but not a trigger-happy killer. After six days of deliberations, the...
PETRA RELIVES NIGHTMARE OF TSUNAMI SHATTERING HER BODY
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amMASHED by a killer tsunami, supermodel Petra Nemcova says she felt a tree crush the bones in her pelvis, then heard the final anguished cries of her boyfriend as he...
ARNIE'S GOLD RUSH - GOVERNATOR HITSTOWN TO RAISE $$
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amVisiting California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was as pumped up about the Big Apple as any tourist yesterday - on a day packed with shopping, sightseeing and schmoozing before he flexed...
LETHAL WEAPON ; SIS: BEAU HID GUN FROM COPS ON NIGHT HE MURDERED LILIANA
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amJust an hour before a jealousy-enraged Queens man blew away his teenage girlfriend, he managed to hide his gun from cops who stopped their car, her sister said yesterday. Police...
HEAD OF THE CRASS ; SCHOOLS SAFETY BOSS USES B-WORD TO BLAST PARENTS
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amThe head of the NYPD's School Safety Division is under fire from school security officers who charge that he called elementary school parents "bitches" who "need to be body-slammed." In...
JAIL BOSS NAILED; FACES 5 YRS. AFTER PLEADING GUILTY TO TAX RAP
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amThe former Rikers Island boss who used prison staffers to help renovate his home and to campaign for Gov. Pataki pleaded guilty to tax evasion yesterday in federal court, and...
AHNOLD'S N.Y. GOLD RUSH ; GOVERNATOR HITS TOWN TO RAISE $$
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amVisiting California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was as pumped up about the Big Apple as any tourist yesterday - on a day packed with shopping, sightseeing and schmoozing before he flexed...
SNIT HITS FANS; CABLE KOS KNICKS, METS
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amMore than 2 million Met and Knick fans can't watch their favorite teams - after MSG and Fox Sports New York networks were pulled from Time Warner Cable at midnight...
COOKIE D'OH! SILLY COP BUSTS SCOUT DAD
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amA bozo Brooklyn cop took a bite out of crime - by busting the dad of a Girl Scout for "not being properly licensed" as the child sold cookies. "It...
ZONGO JURY HUNG; MISTRIAL DECLARED IN KILLING BY COP
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amOfficer Brian Conroy's manslaughter trial ended in a mistrial yesterday after two holdout jurors decided he was a liar, but not a trigger-happy killer. After six days of deliberations, the...
RAPPER FOXY 'NAILED' OVER SALON-BILL FIGHT
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amRascally rapper Foxy Brown surrendered to police last night on a charge of assaulting a manicurist at a Manhattan salon last year after the worker charged her $20 for a...
BREASTS A BUST - GAL SUING OVER TOO-BIG IMPLANTS
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amAn Upper East Side plastic surgeon, whose clients include Playboy centerfolds, is on trial for allegedly botching the boobs of a Wisconsin woman - by inserting giant silicone implants instead...
LIL' KIM HIT BY BIG BANG - ANOTHER RAP 'PAL' SINGS ON THE STAND
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amLil' Kim once put her house up as collateral to bail out ex-Junior M.A.F.I.A. pal Antoine Spain on a gun charge - but yesterday, he provided stinging turncoat testimony that...
COPS COOKIE 'D' OH!' BUSTS SELLER SCOUT'S DAD
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amA bozo Brooklyn cop took a bite out of crime last week - by busting the dad of a Girl Scout for "not being properly licensed" as the child sold...
CLASSROOM EXTRA - WOMEN'S HISTORY EDITION - WILMA MANKILLER - FIRST FEMALE CHIEF OF THE CHEROKEE NATION
March 8, 2005 | 5:00am"I want to be remembered as the person who helped us restore faith in ourselves." - Wilma Mankiller. The first female leader of the Cherokee Nation was born Wilma Pearl...
NETS DESPERATE FOR A GREAT TRIP
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amQuickly running out of ammunition and precious time, the Nets travel to San Antonio tonight, site of the Alamo, hoping they're not making their last stand. The Nets have left...
STRAW STIRS AGAIN ; AIMS TO 'INSPIRE THESE GUYS'
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amBRAVES 5 METS 0 PORT ST. LUCIE - It all looked so natural. Blue cap, blue No. 18 jersey, gray pants, big smile. Maybe it's because after 15 years, Darryl...
CAMERON TAKES IT ONE SWING AT A TIME
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amMET NOTES PORT ST. LUCIE - For the second time in three days, Mike Cameron took batting practice, as the outfielder continues to progress ahead of schedule from the offseason...
JETS AFTER FIEDLER
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amThe Jets could have a new backup quarterback by the end of the week. They'll be visited by Jay Fiedler on Thursday and appear serious about bringing the Long Island...
WHERE'S PLAXICO? 'SICK' WR SKIPS JINT MEET;BIG BLUE SIGN QB MILLER
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amThe Giants were expecting a visit yesterday from Plaxico Burress, the physically-imposing receiver who looks great in a uniform and sometimes even looks great as a player on the field....
NOBODY'S JOKING ABOUT FIELDSTON ANYMORE
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amHIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOK Jon Lane has been at Fieldston since pre-school. Now he's a junior. That marks 13 years at the elite Bronx school. So he's got a unique perspective...
INSIDE ADDITION; MENACING MO RIGHTING KNICKS' SHIP
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amFollowing the Feb. 24 trade that brought Maurice Taylor to the Knicks, Herb Williams placed a call to Rockets assistant Patrick Ewing. Williams wanted to find out why Rockets coach...
NAZR SAYS HE WASN'T RIGHT FIT
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES Former Knicks starting center Nazr Mohammed doesn't want to hear team brass claim he wasn't a shotblocker, a low-post scorer or worth building around. "I thought I played...
IT'S GOOD TO BE THE KING
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amIF I ruled roundball . . . I'd make Herb Brown the Knicks' head coach and Lawrence Harvey Brown his lead assistant. . . . I'd replace John Chaney with...
WHERE'S PLAXICO? MISSES GIANT MEET WITH FLU; ; BLUE SIGN QB MILLER, K FEELY
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amThe Giants were expecting a visit yesterday from Plaxico Burress, the physically-imposing receiver who looks great in a uniform and sometimes even looks great as a player on the field....
FOREVER LINKED - AS BOONE BATTLES BACK WITH TRIBE, HIS SHOT HEARD 'ROUND THE RIVALRY LIVES ON
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amWINTER HAVEN, Fla. - The picture remains clear in the mind's eye. There is Aaron Boone flying around the bases, arms outstretched, soaring home after his blast for the ages...
JARET'S ALL WRIGHT IN OPENER
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amYANKEE NOTES TAMPA - In the non-heckler part of the Yankees' Grapefruit League slate yesterday, Jaret Wright made his first start during the Yankees' 3-1 loss to Cleveland at Legends...
INDIANS NO MATCH FOR RESTED RIVERA
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amTAMPA - It's probably proof that spring training is too long, or maybe proof Mariano Rivera is still so good. Rivera didn't throw all winter because he was mentally and...
ROLLIN' OUT THE RED SOX CARPET -SURPRISINGLY, GIAMBI TREATED WELL IN BOSTON'S SPRING HOME
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amFT. MYERS - It's March, not April. And City of Palms Park isn't Fenway. But last night Jason Giambi was first warmly embraced by Red Sox fans and then booed...
EVEN AS THE SPOTLIGHT BRIGHTENS, GIAMBI CONTINUES TO REBUILD IMAGE
March 8, 2005 | 5:00amFORT MYERS - Jason Giambi spoke with reporters for 20 minutes in the Yankees visiting clubhouse before last night's exhibition game with the Red Sox. Then he spent another 15...