March 17, 2005
SPITZER COULD GET AIG DIRT FROM STARR
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amWHITEWATER prosecutor Ken Starr was the first person to stumble upon dirt on AIG, but - like so much else - he did nothing with it. As you've been reading...
WOLFOWITZ GETS WORLD BANK NOD
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush gave top Iraq War architect Paul Wolfowitz new marching orders yesterday to take command of the World Bank. Bush said Wolfowitz - currently Defense Secretary Donald...
TWO'S A CROWD - REDSTONE: MAY BE PRIME TIME TO BREAK UP VIACOM
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amViacom's controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone said yesterday he is considering breaking up the media giant into separate publicly traded companies. The announcement followed the release of a report by an...
EX-OGILVY EXEC: I ALSO BILKED FEDS
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amAnother former Ogilvy & Mather executive pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to helping plot to overbill the U.S. government on a national anti-drug ad campaign. Raymond Simko, the former...
ZELL BID TOPS FOR VERIZON
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amSam Zell's Equity Office Properties will likely pocket Verizon's 1.1 million foot Bryant Park headquarters for much more than $500 million. "Verizon is still evaluating bids and does not have...
NEIMAN JUMPS 15% ON BUYER SEARCH
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amShares of Neiman Marcus Group jumped 15.1 perecent after the upscale retailer confirmed that it has put itself up for sale, in a move to capitalize on the white-hot luxury...
GRASSO SAYS: MY FLIGHTS OK
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amDick Grasso yesterday said he never misused the New York Stock Exchange's leased jet. The embattled former Big Board chairman said a controversial NYSE document included in a court filing...
EBBERS DENIES HE OWES $
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amDisgraced former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers wants a Manhattan bankruptcy court judge to toss out a lawsuit that demands he repay $408 million in loans he got from the company....
CIRC WATCHDOGS EYE CRACKDOWN ON FREEBIES
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amAfter a string of circulation scandals, the watchdogs of the publishing industry said they expect changes in the way newspapers and magazines account for problems in one category used to...
TOYS 'R' KKR'S AT $5.8B
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amAn investor group that includes Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Bain Capital and Vornado Realty Trust has clinched a deal to snap up Toys 'R' Us for as nearly $5.8...
OGILVY EXEC: I BILKED FEDS
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amAnother former Ogilvy & Mather executive pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to helping plot to overbill the federal government on a national anti-drug ad campaign. Raymond Simko, the former...
GRASSO SAYS FLIGHTS OKAY
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amDick Grasso yesterday said he never misused the New York Stock Exchange's leased jet. The embattled former NYSE chairman said a controversial NYSE document included in a court filing by...
REAL CHAMP; FAMILY TIES DROVE SUICIDE 'CONTENDER'
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amNAJAI Turpin paid a high price to secure a future for his daughter. He paid with his life. Turpin, 23, was the boxer from "The Contender" who killed himself on...
DORA THE BIG SISTER
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amIT's only four days and counting until TV's best-kept secret since "Who shot J.R.?" is revealed. Dora, the star of Nick Jr.'s "Dora the Explorer," is getting a younger sibling...
HOW TO DATE FOR FUN AND PROFIT
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amKEVIN Federline, Nic Cage's waitress wife and Mira Sorvino's unknown actor husband all have one thing in common: They married up. Now comes a new self-help book for people who...
STILL FEELIN' FITTY ATOP CHARTS
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amRAPPER 50 Cent massacred the competition for the second week in a row. Fitty's sophomore album ("The Massacre") held on to the No. 1 spot by selling 771,000 copies, according...
'MAKEOVER' FOR LONG ISLAND COP; WIDOWER DAD GETS DREAM HOME
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amTHE renovation team from the hit show "Extreme Make over: Home Edition" descended on a tiny house on Long Island yesterday - surprising the shattered family of a young Suffolk...
LAST NIGHT - 'MODEL' CATWALK CALAMITY
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amWE haven't seen the last of Sarah Dankelman, the long-legged babe who got the boot last night on "America's Next Top Model." Dankelman, 22, came up short on last nights...
STARR REPORT
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amThe fourth-season premiere of "The Shield," with new co- star Glenn Close, pulled in 3.9 million viewers Tuesday - up over 1 million viewers from last season's premiere. While the...
CREEPY-KID CURSE: SPOOKY 'RING' ACTOR HOPES TO BREAK KIDDIE-STAR HORROR HEX
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amHE'S the standout star of "The Ring Two" - but can David Dorfman escape the curse of the creepy child actor? Sad fates have befallen many kid stars of horror...
BLIND SPOTS - SNEAKING INTO THE CITY'S SECRET SCENES
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amWhen Doug Jaeger wants to launch an event that will have young, creative scenesters clamoring to get in, he does two things: he calls it a private party and tells...
CATWALK DREAMS DASHED - SARAH BLAMES LACK OF ADVICE FOR FALL FROM 'TOP'
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amWE haven 't seen the last of Sarah Dankelman,the long-legged babe who got the boot on last night 's edition of "America 's Next Top Model ." "I think that...
JAY WEIGHS IN ; LENO TOLD COPS: JACKO'S BOY ACCUSER MADE 'REHEARSED' CALLS SEEKING CASH
March 17, 2005 | 5:00am"Tonight Show" host Jay Leno told cops he received suspicious phone calls from Michael Jackson's young accuser, claiming to be a fan - but that they sounded coached and contrived,...
VETS MARCH FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amThis will be no ordinary St. Patrick's Day Parade for the soldiers of New York's own Fighting 69th Regiment. When the local National Guardsmen step up Fifth Avenue today, they...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amJosiah Johnson of Moorhead, Minn., has to make a big decision - either he quits drinking and driving or he replaces his vanity license plate. He figures the sheriff's deputy...
JURY $LAPS BOOB-JOB BLUNDERER
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amAn Upper East Side plastic surgeon is a real boob for botching a woman's breast job, according to a court verdict announced yesterday. Dr. Brad Jacobs committed medical malpractice, gross...
NOTHING HERE FOR HILL TO FEAR
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amSTATE GOP Chairman Stephen Minarik is exhorting the party faithful to open their wallets so that Republicans can "soundly defeat" Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton next year, with the result that...
LANCE: I WAS TOO 'OUI'K
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amMaybe the French wine is starting to get to Lance Armstrong. After saying Paris should win the 2012 Olympics over the Big Apple, and then flip-flopping when called out in...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amBROOKLYN *** A Crown Heights man has been arrested for shooting a teenager after the victim's companions attempted to rob him, authorities said yesterday. Dwight McMahon, 20, was charged with...
BROOKLYN FUROR OVER FED-JUDGE SECURITY
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amSecurity personnel are being siphoned from the federal courthouse in Brooklyn to protect judges in Manhattan, leaving their colleagues across the river at risk, the chief judge for the Eastern...
SCULPTOR: MY 'WALL' MUST STAY
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amThe New York artist who created "The Wall," a piece of outdoor art that's been affixed to a SoHo building for more than 25 years, took the stand yesterday and...
ATLANTA CASE BOOSTS BOOK
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amWhen Ashley Smith told the world Sunday that reading an excerpt from "The Purpose Driven Life" helped convince her captor, Brian Nichols, to surrender, the self-help book ranked No. 79...
LAND OF THE FREE; IRAQ'S DEMOCRATIC PARLIAMENT CONVENES
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Iraqis made history yesterday, as their first freely elected parliament in a half-century braved bomb blasts to convene its inaugural legislative session. The 275 freshly minted lawmakers, elected...
PATAKI'S $1.5B MEDICAID SCORE
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amALBANY - Gov. Pataki yesterday secured an additional $1.5 billion in federal funding for Medicaid, provided the state Legislature agrees to scale back the expensive health-care program for the poor....
DIALLO MOM RIPS FREDDY FLIP-FLOP
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amPolice-shooting victim Amadou Diallo's mother yesterday zinged Fernando Ferrer for saying her son's killing wasn't a crime, as she took the mayoral candidate to task for controversial remarks that have...
JETS ON OFFENSE WITH SUIT VS. CABLEVISION
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amThe Jets took off the gloves yesterday, launching a legal assault against Cablevision with a federal lawsuit that charges the company is violating antitrust laws to keep a stranglehold monopoly...
FERRER FLUB A BIG-TIME BLOC-BUSTER
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amANALYSIS Democratic mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer made a big-time blunder by trying to rewrite his position on Amadou Diallo's killing, political experts said yesterday. They said Ferrer's new assertion that...
ANOTHER TOP EXEC AT ED. DEPT. RUSHES OFF
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amThe city's Department of Education accountability chief is calling it quits after eight months on the job - following his predecessor, who left after nine months at the post. Joshua...
KILLER'S CELL WILL OVERLOOK CRIME SCENE
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amScott Peterson will spend his remaining days in a prison looking out on the San Francisco Bay, where he dumped the body of his pregnant wife, Laci. Within 10 days,...
KID-HEALTH HAVEN - CONNECTICUT RATES BEST IN NATION
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amIf you want to raise fit and healthy kids, the Nutmeg State's the best place to do it, a new study says. Connecticut has more safe playgrounds, the best phys-ed...
FERRER'S FUMBLE; DELIBERATE, OR DUMB?
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amFERNANDO Ferrer is either one of the most cynical fellows ever to seek Gracie Mansion, or one of the dumbest. Ferrer, the city's most prominent Hispanic politician and now running...
LUCKY VICTIM SURVIVED WORK-SITE 'SHOT' OF COFFEE
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amA worker took the witness stand yesterday and testified how he was shot in the head at a downtown construction site - in a fight over the morning coffee run....
FIND THIS TOT'S MA - BUS-STOP BABY
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amThis bright-eyed baby boy is flashing a wide, toothy grin, despite being heartlessly abandoned at a Bronx bus stop. The handsome 18-month-old toddler's photo was being distributed yesterday by detectives...
FDNY IRISH IS UP; BRAVEST 'BOYCOTT' ST. PAT'S PARADE
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amMore than a thousand of New York's Bravest are expected to boycott today's St. Patrick's Day Parade to protest of the FDNY's ban on firefighters wearing green berets while marching...
'POLLSTER' IN FLUSH TO JUDGMENT
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amA mystery pollster is trying to gauge whether the condition of school toilets would sway voters away from Mayor Bloomberg. Bronwyn Roantree, of the Upper East Side, said she recently...
FBI'S D'AMURO TO CALL IT A DAY
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amThe head of the FBI's New York office, a 25-year veteran widely recognized as an authority in international terrorism, is retiring at the end of the month, officials said yesterday....
THUGS STAB TEEN ON BRONX STREET
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amA 16-year-old boy was clinging to life last night after he was stabbed during a fight with three men on a Bronx street. The wounded teen was knifed twice in...
CON ED BOO$TS JUICE; RATES RISING NEXT MONTH
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amElectricity prices for New Yorkers are going up 2 percent next month and will rise another 3.3 percent in 2007, under a rate hike granted yesterday to Con Edison. City...
OUTAGE DECKS THE LEX - CHAOS ASTRAIN-SIGNAL CABLES FAIL
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amWater-damaged cables caused two separate power outages to the signal system along the Lexington Avenue subway line yesterday, creating commuter chaos throughout the day and stranding nearly 350,000 straphangers. A...
BUST IN '87 SLAYING OF INFORMANT
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amAn accused drug dealer is charged in the murder of a suspected informant who survived being burned, choked, shot and run over - only to be gunned down by hit...
'ANIMAL HOUSE' SUIT ; MUM FIREFIGHTER WANTS JOB BACK
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amA Bronx firefighter who was axed for keeping his mouth shut about allegedly getting oral sex inside the FDNY's infamous "Animal House" is suing to get his job back. Christian...
LOUIMA COP COULD GO FREE IN '06
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amEx-cop Charles Schwarz, convicted of perjury in the Abner Louima case, has been a model prisoner - and now he's getting his reward. Federal prosecutors have recommended the Bureau of...
JAY WEIGHS IN; LENO TOLD COPS: JACKO'S BOY ACCUSER MADE 'REHEARSED' CALLS SEEKING CASH
March 17, 2005 | 5:00am"Tonight Show" host Jay Leno told cops he received suspicious phone calls from Michael Jackson's young accuser, claiming to be a fan - but that they sounded coached and contrived,...
THE 'SACK' KING; SLEAZY STRAHAN HAD MULTIPLE MISTRESSES: WIFE
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amMichael Strahan had repeated trysts with two different mistresses in two different countries while his wife stayed at home and cared for their twin baby girls, according to new papers...
KILLER TO GO FREE IN BOTCH SHOCK
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amA convicted Queens killer will be freed decades earlier than expected, because of appeals and missteps, authorities said yesterday. Anthony Vitiello, 38, was sentenced to up to 54 years in...
BLAKE BEATS RAP; SLAY VERDICT A SHOCKER - EVEN FOR HIM
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amA jury yesterday found actor Robert Blake not guilty of murdering his estranged wife in cold blood - shocking even the tough-guy defendant, who openly wept and shook in his...
COP-KILL CON SEEKS WEB BRIDE
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amA convicted cop killer, now serving 25 years to life, is so sure he'll be paroled, he placed an Internet personal ad looking for a wife, The Post has learned....
LOVER ADMITS KILLING SWISS BANKER STERN
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amA French woman fatally shot investment banking mogul Edouard Stern "in the course of sexual relations," Swiss authorities charged yesterday. Stern, 50, was found dead in his Geneva apartment March...
FIND MY MOMMY, PLEASE; BUS-STOP BABY PUZZLE
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amThis bright-eyed, healthy toddler was abandoned at a Bronx bus stop - and no one can figure out why a woman who apparently had cared for him so attentively would...
A KISS FOR CLEARED 'DWI' TEEN
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amIn an incredible drama of love and forgiveness played out in a courtroom yesterda, the mother of a teenage girl who died in a car accident embraced and kissed her...
DEAD MAN'S KIN VS. IRA; VICTIM'S SISTERS ON D.C. CRUSADE
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and the five sisters of a man slain by IRA thugs attended a blue-ribbon dinner of Irish Americans last night - but didn't...
HUSBAND IN FIERY KIN-SLAY HORROR
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amA Lower East Side man tried to massacre his family last night - killing two and wounding two others - before setting the apartment ablaze and dying in a gas...
OUTAGE DECKS THE LEX ; CHAOS AS TRAIN-SIGNAL CABLES FAIL
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amWater-damaged cables caused three separate power outages to the signal system along the Lexington Avenue subway line yesterday, creating commuter chaos throughout the day and stranding nearly 350,000 straphangers. A...
COPS HUNT BUS-STOP TODDLER'S MOMMY
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amA bright-eyed, healthy toddler was found at a Bronx bus stop - and no one can figure out why a woman who apparently had cared for him so attentively would...
LOUIMA COP MAY GO FREE IN JANUARY
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amEx-cop Charles Schwarz, convicted of perjury in the Abner Louima case, has been a model prisoner - and now he's getting his reward. Federal prosecutors yesterday recommended the Bureau of...
VICTIM'S 'SHOT' OF COFFEE
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amA Colombian drywall worker took the witness stand yesterday, describing getting shot in the head at a downtown construction site in a fight over the morning coffee run. The snack...
PEDRO GOES THREE & OUT ; MET ACE YIELDS NO RUNS IN 2ND OUTING
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amMET NOTES JUPITER - It took a little longer than expected, but Pedro Martinez's second spring start was worth the wait. After his previous two attempts were rained out, Martinez...
RIVERA'S SORE ELBOW AWAITS BULLPEN TEST
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amYANKEE NOTES BRADENTON - Mariano Rivera will test his barking right elbow today with a game of catch and hopes to work in the bullpen tomorrow. "I will throw off...
FALCONER FLIES HOME WINNER
March 17, 2005 | 5:00am1ST RACE - Inner dirt winter meet, which ends tomorrow, has featured parade of perennial runners-up who finally found winner's circle. Falconer, who stumbled and dumped rider as favorite last...
DON'T PUT SKIS AWAY YET
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amSOME OF us may have our minds on golf, but since Mother Nature has provided the best skiing we've had in a long time we might as well take advantage...
RECURRING NIGHTMARE - LATE COLLAPSES SINKING KNICKS
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amIt was deja vu all over again for the Knicks, who after winning five of six games now are losers of two straight. Two consecutive games in which they've collapsed...
DEVS' BURNS ON MEND
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amFresh from marching with recuperating brother Pat Burns in a Canadian St. Patrick's Day parade, Robin Burns is trying to help hockey recover from its current coma. In a unique...
BACK TO DRAWING BOARD ; TRACHSEL SURGERY HAS METS SCRAMBLING
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amJUPITER - After mulling his options, Met pitcher Steve Trachsel will go under the knife. The righthander, who has been suffering from a herniated disc in his back, decided last...
ROOKIE HERE! KRSTIC'S MOVIN' UP
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amAll-Rookie Team recognition would be nice, Nenad Krstic says. But all he really wants is to continue improving. Well, Krstic should get the one while he's definitely doing the other....
FRANK: PACERS EXTRA RESILIENT
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amNET NOTES The Pacers' run of rotten luck and horrendous adversity continues as Jermaine O'Neal (shoulder) likely is lost for the remainder of the season. That news could be extraordinarily...
PANE & SUFFERING FOR BC'S WATSON
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amCLEVELAND - The story of Boston College guard Jermaine Watson just gets stranger and stranger. The Eagles' senior wishes it would become a non-story, and hopes a BC win today...
GORDON KEEPS MARCHIN' ON
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amBen Gordon and Kirk Hinrich made their names this time of year. Their stellar college careers led their respective teams to greatness, and just maybe they can do it again...
PANE & SUFFERING: EAGLES' WATSON STICKS BY STORY
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amCLEVELAND - The story of Boston College guard Jermaine Watson just gets stranger and stranger. The Eagles' senior wishes it would become a non-story, and hopes a BC win today...
GIANT PRESEASON SET
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amThe Giants have a geographic or personal tie in every one of their four preseason games set for this summer, as their four opponents have been set. Dates and times...
EPIPHANNY TRIES TO FOCUS
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amEpiphanny Prince may be awaiting an April 21 trial date for an assault charge last May, but the Bergtraum star is still expected to play tomorrow when the seven-time defending...
BACK TO DRAWING BOARD ; TRACHSEL SURGERY MUDDLES MET STAFF
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amJUPITER - Over the last four years, Steve Trachsel has started more than twice as many games for the Mets as any other member of their current rotation. But whether...
LIFE'S GREAT FOR GANSEY
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amCLEVELAND - Thomas Wolfe was wrong; you can go home again. And sometimes, if you live right, you get to go back in style. You get to go back like...
WHAM! CARTER SLAMS DOOR ON BULLS
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amNets 100Bulls 84 In the World According to the Nets, Circa 2004-05, there seems to be one overriding commandment: Thou Shalt Not Do Anything Easy. So after a superb team...
BIG BULLY CAN'T CRACK CARTER
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amApparently they don't have SportsCenter in Argentina. And if they did, Argentinian-born Bulls' forward Andres Nocioni either doesn't watch it, or could care less about Vince Carter's stature as the...
A LITTLE ADVICE FOR MR. SELIG ON HIS BIG DAY
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Our suggestion for Bud Selig's opening statement today: First let me thank you for inviting Paul Tagliabue and me to testify before this illustrious body. Oh, right, you...
JUICE, JUSTICE & AMERICAN WAY - SEN. MCCAIN TAKES AIM AT BUD'S TESTING POLICY
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain called Bud Selig, Major League Baseball and the Players Association liars yesterday after examining their new drug-testing policy. "I can reach no conclusion but that...
BABY STEPS - AFTER BIRTH OF FOURTH CHILD, BROWN CONTINUES TO STRUGGLE WITH COMEBACK
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amBRADENTON - In Kevin Brown's defense, the wind was blowing out before he did from the locker room without talking to reporters. He gave up seven runs and eight hits...
GIAMBI WAITS FOR NEXT HURDL
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amBRADENTON - Jason Giambi isn't searching for the next crisis because he knows it will eventually surface. His BALCO grand jury testimony leaked in December. Last week he was subpoenaed...
WILL REAL BC PLEASE STAND UP? EAGLES INSIST: WE'VE REGAINED OUR FIRE
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amCLEVELAND - Boston College followed a 20-0 start by losing its competitive fire - and four of its last eight games. Senior sixth man Jermaine Watson reportedly was injured after...
MCCAIN, CONGRESS TAKE AIM AT MLB 'ROID PROGRAM
March 17, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Sen..John McCain called Bud Selig,Major League Baseball and the Players Association liars yesterday after examining their new drug-testing policy. "I can reach no conclusion but that the league...