May 14, 2005

SINGING CANARY; FUND FOUNDER STERN SETS SIGHTS ON SIHPOL

Billionaire Eddie Stern doesn't mind giving less affluent investors a kick in the wallet. The 38-year old money manager, whose family built a $3 billion fortune by selling birdseed and...

HANK GETS HIS UNDIES BACK

Hank Greenberg can re-holster that legal six-shooter. The embattled former chairman of AIG has once again gotten his hands on his underwear and other personal property the insurance company had...

BLACK WANTS $6.8M REFUND FOR LEGAL BILLS

Pushy ex-publisher Conrad Black is demanding his former company cough up $6.8 million in legal fees he's run up defending himself from sweeping probes - involving the looting of his...

PLAZA OWNER SEEKS PARTIAL SALE

The new owner of the Plaza Hotel is seeking to sell all or a portion of his stake in the 300-room hotel to a luxury brand. Elad Properties, run by...

MARKET REPORT

It might be only a matter of time before your luxury building starts breaking out the Molton Brown soaps and the fluffy towels. Amid all the buzz about hotels like...

EAST END GERES UP

AFTER a long winter hibernation, Hamptons celebs are moving again - or at least considering it. Last week, Richard Gere surprised some local brokers as a walk-in customer in search...

LIGHTS FANTASTIC

Oggi Lighting 153 and 166 Bowery, at Delancey Street (212) 226-6444 Sale: Sunday-June 6 Open: 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Sale items will include Murano vases for $640 to $2,000 (reg. $800...

MY NEW HOME

NEWLYWEDS SEEK NEW HOME SEARCH TIME: 4 months THEY BOUGHT: East Village one-bedroom walk-up, $335,000 --- FOR newlyweds Anthony and Mackenzi Pergolotti, showing up to an open house too early...

'APPLE' POLISHER

THE APPLE TREE City Center, 130 W. 55th St., (212) 581-1212. Two performances today and one performance tomorrow. WITH "The Apple Tree" briefly replanted at the Encores! series at City...

RUN'S'HOUSE'CALL

RUN DMC's Reverend Run is back in the house for real. Well, reality that is. Run, one of the most influential hip-hop artists of all time, has landed an MTV...

SPACE CRAWL - WHAT IF WE INVADED AN ALIEN PLANET?

"Alien Planet" Tonight at 8 on Discovery * * * (three stars) HAVE you noticed the seismic shift? Serious science channels and those devoted to the study of real life...

A 'CLASSICAL' SERIES - NO KIDDING

NOT since that wonderful, old book, "My Little Bunny," has there been as sweet and gentle an amusement for babies as "Classical Baby" a four-star special from the Emmy-winning producers...

FISCHER PRICELESS

FISCHERSPOONER THE bad old days when Casey Spooner lip-synched to dance tracks for Fischerspooner are gone. The Brooklyn outfit is a real band now, with real chops, and it killed...

DINO-MITE! SUPERSIZE YOUR MUSEUM VISIT WITH ALL KINDS OF COOL STUFF

You probably think you know all about "Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries," the colossal exhibit opening today at the American Museum of Natural History. Sure, you've read about that 700-square-foot...

DESTINATION: DESIGN FROM AROUND THE WORLD IN NY

Need ideas on how to turn your drab digs into a Architechtural Digest-worthy palace? New York Design Week kicks off today - and we've got the scoop on the three...

CINEMA SHOPPING

The fifth annual Arlene's Grocery Picture Show winds up tonight and tomorrow. This truly-indie flick fest, which unreeled 80 films at one venue its first year, has expanded to 500...

WE'VE GOT GAME

STAR WARS EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH Format: PS2, Xbox Multiplayer: Yes Rated: Teen What's it about: Lightsabers, The Force, and epic battles from the movie and beyond. As...

HORSES GO BUGGY ON 14TH STREET

In New York's first stagecoach accident of the century, two horses led authorities on a wild and woolly chase yesterday, as they broke loose and charged pell-mell along 14th Street....

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Realtor Wendy Heath of Long Beach, Calif., is showing more than property to prospective homebuyers these days - she's posing in a fetching bikini in a giant billboard ad that...

RACKET RAP STICKS TO GOTTI JR.

A federal judge yesterday shot down John "Junior" Gotti's request to toss out racketeering charges filed against him - including one that he ordered thugs to rub out radio talk-show...

CHUTIN' FOR THE TOP AT CONEY ISLAND

Coney Island is bigger than Broadway - at least among architects. Nearly 900 competed to design a restaurant and park to be at the base of the long-defunct Parachute Jump....

DEM HOPEFULS DO BATTLE IN TV HARUM-SCARUM FORUM

The Democratic mayoral candidates squared off yesterday in a feisty joint television appearance that turned into a four-way free-for-all filled with potshots. The heated question-and-answer session - by far the...

NYU MARINE CLEARED IN 2 IRAQ SLAYS

WASHINGTON - A military investigator has cleared New York Marine 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano of murdering two suspected Iraqi terrorists and recommended that all criminal charges against him be dropped,...

YANKEE LEGEND PASSES - VENDOR FOR 50 YRS.

Manny Gluck, who never missed a day in 50 years of hawking programs at Yankee Stadium, witnessing such historic moments as Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series...

STONEWALL MIKE; CITY NOT PAYING FOR WEST SLIDE: MAYOR

Someone's gonna pay big time for the West Side wall disaster - and it won't be the city, Mayor Bloomberg declared yesterday. "This is private property," Bloomberg said. "And the...

'SNACK SHOOTER' GETS FIVE YEARS

A drywall worker who shot another worker in the head at a Greenwich Village construction site in a dispute over the morning snack run was sentenced in Manhattan yesterday to...

TAX-I TIMES FOR DJ; JAIL FOR BRAGGING IRS CHEAT 'CRAZY CABBIE'

A federal judge blasted DJ "Crazy Cabbie" for making bizarre on-air boasts that he didn't pay his taxes during the Howard Stern Show as he sentenced the radio personality to...

'VIAGRA DEFENSE' SICKO 'FESSES UP

In a last-minute change of heart, a convicted Long Island child molester yesterday took full responsibility for abusing two young girls, abandoning his defense that erectile dysfunction - and a...

HAUL TO THE CHIEF - 26G IN GIFTS FOR W.

WASHINGTON - President Bush last year accepted $26,346 worth of personal gifts - including a Trek bike, a shotgun and a gold bracelet for his wife from a New York...

EARLY-RISING DOUGH:BLOOMY SPENDS $10M

Chalk up nearly $10 million in early-bird campaign spending for Mayor Bloomberg - and that's not counting the TV ad barrage featuring endorsements from Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani that...

WORKER PULLED FROM HOTEL FIRE

A disabled desk clerk was carried from an Upper West Side hotel in critical condition yesterday after a fire trapped him in his room. Residents and employees who fled the...

JACKO'S FALL GUY - AXED LAWYER TAKES BLAME FOR BULLYING BOY'S FAMILY

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Michael Jackson's former lawyer seemed to be holding no grudges yesterday as he helped the Gloved One's defense by taking the blame for heavy-handed tactics used...

MIKE'S TAX FORMS SHOW $139M IN GIVE-IDENDS

Mayor Bloomberg upped his charitable contributions to $139.3 million last year, aides said yesterday as they released severely edited versions of his 2004 tax returns. Bloomberg gave $135.6 million in...

ARTIST 'RIGHTS' HAVE STATUE OF LIMITATIONS

A federal judge yesterday refused to order a SoHo commercial condo board to replace a famed minimalist aluminum sculpture it had removed from the side of its building. And Manhattan...

'STABBING' PASSENGER BUS-TED

A Brooklyn woman was charged yesterday with stabbing, biting and menacing a city bus driver. Charlene McEaddy, 44, boarded driver Francis Mittnight's bus in Bensonhurst at 12:30 p.m. Thursday without...

SIBLINGS SLAIN - LOVE TRIANGLE MAY OFFER CLUE IN STABBING OF A QUEENS WOMAN AND HER KID BROTHER

A young Queens woman - who'd been involved in a heated love triangle - and her teenage brother were bound in duct tape and brutally stabbed to death in their...

GIANTS CUT QB MILLER

The brief, almost non-existent Giants career of Jim Miller ended yesterday when the team reached an injury settlement with the veteran quarterback, who was signed to mentor Eli Manning but...

XBOX'S QUANTUM LEAP ; CONSOLE TO LEAVEOLD GAMES IN DUST

They're four years apart, but when it comes to fast-paced gaming, the original Xbox and the upcoming Xbox 360 might as well be in separate galaxies. It's the difference between...

SCANT TURNOUT IN VOTE FOR SCHOOL PANELS

Nearly two-thirds of all parent leaders eligible to select members for the city's 34 community education councils didn't even bother to cast a ballot, according to voting results released yesterday...

STREET JUSTICE FOR SLASHING SUSPECT

A furious mob delivered some hard-core street justice in the form of a vicious beating to a teenager who allegedly slashed a pretty young woman earlier this week, witnesses said...

KILLER CANDY - KIN BLAME THIS MINT FOR DEATHS - FAMILIES RIP COMPANY'S SWEET BUT DEADLY TREAT

The families of two little girls who choked to death say the candy that killed their daughters were Jumbo Mint Balls made by a Colombian company. "That killed my baby,"...

TEARS FLOW AS CANDY KIN UNITE FOR 2 LOVING KIDS 'IN HEAVEN'

The devastated families of two little girls who died after choking on the same type of mint candy two days apart wept in each other's arms yesterday as they consoled...

JACKO'S FALL GUY ; AXED LAWYER TAKES BLAME FOR BULLYING BOY'S FAMILY

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Michael Jackson's former mouthpiece came to his rescue yesterday by tearing into a family now accusing the pop star of molestation, and justifying hardball defense tactics....

SIBLINGS SLAIN ; LOVE TRIANGLE MAY OFFER CLUE IN STABBING OF A QUEENS WOMAN AND HER KID BROTHER

A young Queens woman - who'd been involved in a heated love triangle - and her teenage brother were bound in duct tape and brutally stabbed to death in their...

SIX INJURED IN HOTEL FIRE

Six people, including four firefighters, were injured yesterday in a blaze at an Upper West Side hotel that led to the evacuation of the 16-story building, authorities said. Firefighters were...

STONEWALL MIKE ; CITY NOT PAYING FOR WEST SLIDE: MAYOR

Someone's gonna pay big time for the West Side wall disaster - and it won't be the city, Mayor Bloomberg declared yesterday. "This is private property," Bloomberg said. "And the...

N.Y. MARINE IN THE CLEAR ; KILLING IRAQ TERRORISTS WAS JUSTIFIED: PROBE

WASHINGTON - A military investigator has cleared New York Marine 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano of murdering two suspected Iraqi terrorists and recommended that all criminal charges against him be dropped,...

TAX-I TIMES FOR DJ ; JAIL FOR BRAGGING IRS CHEAT 'CRAZY CABBIE'

A federal judge blasted DJ "Crazy Cabbie" for making bizarre on-air boasts that he didn't pay his taxes during the Howard Stern Show as he sentenced the radio personality to...

'FITTY' AVOIDS BEING CENT TO JAIL

Embattled rapper 50 Cent has dodged another bullet. "Fitty," who was charged with assaulting three people in Massachusetts last year, will avoid jail time as long as he stays out...

DEATH OF A STADIUM SALESMAN

Manny Gluck, who never missed a day in 50 years of hawking programs at Yankee Stadium, witnessing such moments as Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series and...

DOGS IN PARK HORROR ; KILLED BY ROTTWEILER

A rampaging Rottweiler fatally mauled two tiny, trembling pooches - one a champion show dog - in Central Park as their terrified owner watched helplessly. The grim episode unfolded late...

TAKE THAT, QAEDA ; U.S. MISSILE KILLS BIG

A senior al Qaeda operative has been killed by an air-to-surface missile fired from a CIA drone airplane in Pakistan near the Afghan border, officials said yesterday. Intelligence officials confirmed...

BUTCHER WRITING BLOODY CHAPTERS

Get ready for "Saddam Hussein: My Life." The Butcher of Baghdad has been using his imprisonment in an Iraqi jail to polish off his autobiography, it was reported yesterday. Saddam...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

BROOKLYN *** Police are trying to solve the murder of an unidentified man on an East Flatbush street corner, authorities said yesterday. The victim, who was not carrying identification, was...

HUNTING KIDDIE 'RAPIST'; PEEKSKILL PERV SOUGHT

Westchester cops triggered a nationwide manhunt last night for a fiend who repeatedly raped a 10-year-old girl over a period of three years, police said. Richard Bell, 68, of Peekskill,...

TAKE THAT, QAEDA; U.S. MISSILE KILLS BIG

A senior al Qaeda operative has been killed by an air-to-surface missile fired from a CIA drone airplane in Pakistan near the Afghan border, officials said yesterday. Intelligence officials confirmed...

FLEEING SUSPECT HAS GUTS - TOO MUCH GUTS

Long Island cops used the long arm of the law earlier this week - to drag a super-sized suspect out from under a porch. Acting on an anonymous Crime Stoppers...

DOGS IN PARK HORROR - KILLED BY ROTTWEILER

A rampaging Rottweiler fatally mauled two tiny, trembling pooches - one a champion show dog - in Central Park as their terrified owner watched helplessly. The grim episode unfolded late...

SIX FEAT THUNDER ; YANKEES BOMB A'S TO EXTEND WIN STREAK

Yankees 9Athletics 4 OAKLAND - Like he does everything else, Mike Mussina is quietly beginning to resemble the pitcher he has been across what is slowly evolving into a borderline...

CASHMAN: JASON NOT ON BLOCK

YANKEE NOTES OAKLAND - Brian Cashman scoffed at the notion Jason Giambi's return to the lineup last night was a showcase for his former team, the A's. "We are just...

YOURI'S BACK FOR METROS

MetroStars forward Youri Djorkaeff has heard all the cautious, patient talk from trainers and coaches, but he knows better. A veteran of the English Premiership, German Bundesliga and Italian Serie...

CAM TOUGH ; RED-HOT MIKE WON'T STOP WORKING

Cliff Floyd got off to a sizzling start that included a 20-game hitting streak, but yesterday afternoon was talking about the mental differences he encountered in following that tear by...

MEDIA'S KEPT OFF ROCKER

NEWARK - The John Rocker circus rolled into town here last night with everyone on high alert. On instructions from the Long Island Ducks, the Newark Bears' staff held reporters...

WINKY ALL SET FOR TRINIDAD

LAS VEGAS - A few days ago, Ronald "Winky" Wright played golf with someone described as a "Mandalay Bay honcho" and took him for $35,000. In that respect, it has...

PROFESSOR PEDRO - RIGHTY HAS PLENTYTO TEACH THE METS

By now, it's apparent that Pedro Martinez is still a phenomenal pitcher and a great drawing card. His start this afternoon against the Cardinals should bring thousands of people into...

DECISION CLOSE ON STRICKLAND

MET NOTES The Mets weren't willing to reveal their plans regarding Scott Strickland yesterday, but one of two things will likely happen by tomorrow. Either Strickland will be a Met,...

FLORES, PRADO GET PREAKNESS NOD

A pair of horses that ran up the track in the Kentucky Derby, Greeley's Galaxy and High Limit, will have new jockeys aboard when they try to turn the tables...

AMY BRINGS HOME 'LYCENSE'

1ST RACE - Darlington Guard gunned to front under Javier Castellano, opening daylight down backside tracked by 8-5 favorite Wistano, Cornelio Velasquez up, with King Umberto chasing outside. Entering turn,...

GOING FOR SIX - YANKS, TINO HOPE TO STAY HOT

GOING FOR OAKLAND - The Joy of Six. A week ago the Yankees were the worst team $200 million could buy. George Steinbrenner ripped them. Joe Torre called two meetings....

EXPERTS: MARTINEZ HR SURGE NO SHOCK

OAKLAND - Reggie Jackson knows a thing or 563 about hitting homers. Lee Elia is considered one of the best hitting gurus in baseball. And Don Mattingly understands hitting with...

OUT TO LAUNCH ; FLOYD FEASTS ON CARDS

Cliff Floyd stood in front of his locker before last night's game against the Cardinals and talked about the simple reason behind an ugly 2-for-22 skid and the recent death...

GOLD GLAV ; KOS CARDS WITH HELP FROM FLOYD HRS

Mets 2Cardinals 0 Tom Glavine wasn't ever at rock bottom, wasn't ever in the purgatory where Jason Giambi currently lives. But Glavine's 2005 numbers had been woeful, and they had...

MARTINEZ' HR STREAK ENDS AT 5

OAKLAND - Reggie Jackson knows a thing or 563 about hitting homers. And Don Mattingly understands hitting with the best of them. Both men agree they couldn't be more pleased...

JASON SNAPS 0-FER SKID

OAKLAND - Beginning last night, Jason Giambi had six games to show Joe Torre his bat still has life in it. And proving they are going to give Giambi every...

NO SHAME IN IT ENDING

TOO QUIETLY, but not in the least bit insignificantly, one of the greatest streaks in the history of sports came to an unceremonious and unfortunate end yesterday. When Tiger Woods...