May 23, 2005

RIPLEY COLLAPSE - TOUTED DEAL FOR TIMES SQ. MUSEUM FALLS APART

Believe it or not, Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum is not coming to Times Square - despite an expansive New York Times story claiming the deal was done. The...

KISS AND COLE LAWSUIT

A former employee of Kenneth Cole Productions said a female co-worker kissed her on the lips and another executive poked her breasts, while she was employed by the apparel maker,...

FLAP HITS TIME INC. BETWEEN THE, ER, EYES

Ads for an upcoming reality TV series, "Beauty and the Geek" on the WB network, were rejected by two weekly magazines at Time Inc. - People and Entertainment Weekly -...

SIHPOL JUDGE SLAPS DOWN SPITZER

The Manhattan judge presiding over the Ted Sihpol late-trading trial slapped down an attempt by Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to keep a key defense witness from the stand. Jonathan Macey,...

ALL MOONSTRUCK BY MOMIX'S 'LUNAR SEA'

MOSES Pendleton's Momix, celebrating its 25th year, is an odd fish. After all, how many dance companies derive their name from a brand of cattle feed? But odd or not,...

'SPAMALOT' WINS A LOT

'MONTY Python's Spamalot" won the Drama Desk Award for outstanding new musical last night, a strong indication that the hit Broadway show has solidified its standing as the front-runner in...

NETWORKS SNUB NY SHOWS IN NEW SEASON

THE networks announced their slates of new shows last week - and stiffed New York. Among all the new shows, only one will be filmed here - and that won't...

HAIR APPARENT - TRUMP MOVIE LEAVES LINDA LAUGHING

IF you're looking for a good laugh, look no further than tomorrow night's "Trump Unauthorized," ABC's horrible, laugh-out-loud TV movie that's supposed to depict the life of The Donald, but...

4TH DOWN AND LONG FOR TRISTA'S FIREMAN

RYAN Sutter, who made a bit of TV history when he married Trista Rehn in prime time at the end of the first season of the ABC dating show "The...

STARR REPORT

Chappelle fix Well, Dave Chappelle is nowhere to be found - at least not in the U.S., as far as I know - but the second season of "Chappelle's Show"...

AFTER A FASHION - HILFIGER'S 'APPRENTICE' FOR DESIGNERS

FOR fashion mogul Tommy Hilfiger, style may be king, but reality television is the new black. Hilfiger, one of the best-known apparel designers in the world, is hoping viewers will...

SEX AND THE JUNGLE - CANDACE BUSHNELL PENS A NEW MANTRA FOR THE 40-SOMETHING SET

LINE up the watermelon cosmos and get ready to be consumed by the complicated lives, loves and struggles of three fascinating friends: Victory Ford, Wendy Healy and Nico O'Neilly -...

SHIITES, SUNNIS IN BID TO END KILLING

Aides of tough-talking Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have met with a key Sunni group in a bid to quell the violence that has claimed at least 550 lives since the...

THE JACKO PACKO - SUPPORTERS PUT LIVES ON HOLD FOR TRIAL

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - They're still wacko for Jacko! A band of Michael Jackson's most loyal supporters - some traveling from thousands of miles away - have put their lives...

PARENTS CRY 'BIAS' OVER SCHOOL MOVE

Parents of students at a Bronx elementary school claim the city Department of Education discriminated against them by running roughshod over its own rules to relocate the school - and...

CUT$ TO HIT DROPOUTS

A Bronx drop-in center for dropouts is on the verge of dropping dead. Deep budget-cut proposals are threatening to force the transitional high school, known as CUNY Prep, to turn...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

BROOKLYN * A 17-year-old was arrested on weapons-possession charges yesterday - after he shot himself in the head in a Bedford Stuyvesant building, cops said. Witnesses told cops they saw...

HILL & BILL'S MANSION SKYROCKETS - VALUE OF POSH D.C. HOME SOARS TO $4.2M

WASHINGTON - The brick Colonial near Embassy Row that Hillary and Bill Clinton bought for $2.8 million in January 2001 is now worth $4.2 million, according to D.C. tax records....

KIN EYE SUIT OVER RIKERS SUICIDE

The family of a Staten Island man who hanged himself on Rikers Island last year plans to sue, alleging that the jail's staff failed to see obvious signs of a...

CHAPEL'S GROUND ZERO FOR HOPE

Parishioners packed the tiny St. Joseph's Chapel near the World Trade Center site yesterday as Edward Cardinal Egan dedicated the church as the Catholic memorial at Ground Zero. "This is...

PERVS' FREE VIAGRA - MEDICAID OUTRAGE

Medicaid is providing Viagra to nearly 200 of the state's worst sexual predators, under a federal program that has outraged local lawmakers, according to a new government report. Among those...

MCCAIN MADE PRO-LIFE VOW: MAG

A right-to-life leader claims Republican Sen. John McCain pledged to nominate only anti-abortion judges if elected president in 2000 - while George W. Bush had no abortion litmus test, the...

BALLET TALKS STRIKE WRONG CHORD

The bassoonist, harpist and glockenspiel players may strike the American Ballet Theatre's season opener tonight at the Met. Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians voted last week to...

JULIA'S DOUBLE-TAKE - ACTRESS STROLLS TWINS IN MIDTOWN

Here are Julia Roberts' adorable twins doing some New York City sightseeing in style. Little Hazel and Phinnaeus Moder, now 6 months old, seemed very impressed by our fair city...

LAWYER: CHOIR MAN MOLESTED CLIENT - & ME

A nationally known California law professor, representing a client who says he was molested at a prestigious New Jersey school, has reportedly come forward with the startling reason he took...

FRIENDLY FIRE RIPS FREDDY'S TAX PLAN

'FREDDY, your tax plan is a dumb idea and unworkable." Criticism from one of Fernando Ferrer's Democratic rivals? No, it's the gist of a message delivered personally by one of...

SCAM & RYE ON MENU, SAY IRATE BACKERS

Embittered financial backers have served a hotshot Lower East Side restaurateur with a $750,000 suit - calling him a scammer who plundered his business and left them in the lurch....

HEVESI: JETS BELONG IN QUEENS

State Comptroller Alan Hevesi yesterday said he'd rather see a new Jets stadium in Queens than on Manhattan's West Side. "No one has explained to my satisfaction why Queens isn't...

BRUNO SON TERRORIZED ME WITH HANDGUN: EX

ALBANY - The lobbyist-son of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno was accused last year by his ex-wife of "intimidating" her with a handgun - and asking if she had read...

4 SEASONS TRAGEDY - APT. FIRE KILLS CAPT. OF FAMED EATERY

A renowned waiter at the swank Four Seasons restaurant - beloved by powerbrokers, celebrities and wiseguys alike for more than three decades - was tragically killed in a sweeping fire...

BARRON TO 'FREE-FALL' FREDDY: DROP OUT AS FAVOR TO DEMS

Fernando Ferrer should drop out and back C. Virginia Fields for mayor, City Councilman Charles Barron said yesterday. "[He's] free-falling, and it's not going to stop," the Brooklyn Democrat said...

FATAL CRASH HAUNTS PAL WHO GAVE UP HER SEAT

The high-school senior who cheated death by suddenly backing out of a doomed Coney Island plane ride thanks God she's alive - but feels excruciating guilt over the pal's dad...

LAURA IN JEER-USALEM - KEEPS COOL AS HECKLERS HOUND HOLY TOUR

Hecklers mobbed First Lady Laura Bush as she visited sacred Jewish and Muslim sites in Jerusalem yesterday, forcing Israeli police to lock arms to hold back chaotic crowds while Secret...

'BABY' PERV LOOSE - TRACKED TO N.Y.

John Dallas Lockhart raped a 4-month-old infant and photographed himself during the heinous act, then went on the lam and vanished into Manhattan, where he's feared to be still preying...

HAUNTED BY KILLING - DA WANNABE LINKED TO MURDERER'S RELEASE

The dismemberment slaying of an upper Manhattan man in 2001 by a parolee freed in another murder investigation is coming back to haunt the Democratic candidate for Westchester district attorney...

FUND-RAISE TRIAL BARES STAR TREATMENT

LOS ANGELES - The trial of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's former fund-raiser has revealed the pampering demanded by Hollywood stars to attend political benefits. Cher, Diana Ross, Patti LaBelle, Muhammad...

PAST RAPS HAUNTING SUBWAY CROOKS

Spit on the subway, beat a fare or litter - and you risk spending the night in jail if you have a prior felony-arrest record, The Post has learned. Last...

KIN EYE SUIT IN RIKERS SUICIDE

The family of a Staten Island man who hanged himself on Rikers Island last year plans to sue, alleging that the jail's staff failed to see obvious signs of a...

DOCS TOLD ME TO TRY HIPPO MRI

Weeks after city politicians called for a law to prevent medical discrimination against obese people, a Brooklyn woman says she is practically dying because of the problem. A bedridden, 407-pound...

B'KLYN DENTISTS BID TO STAY ROOTED IN LANDMARK

Dentists in the just-sold Williamsburg Savings Bank building are calling the likelihood that they'll be pulled from Brooklyn's famous skyscraper a painful kick in the teeth. "This building has been...

SOUR NOTE FOR BALLET FANS

The bassoonist, harpist and glockenspiel players may strike the American Ballet Theatre's season opener tonight at the Met. Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians voted last week to...

HIT-RUN JAG RIPS WOMAN'S LEG OFF

A 20-year-old Brooklyn woman waiting for a bus yesterday was mowed down and her leg severed when a Jaguar jumped the curb, pinning her against a wall, police said. The...

'DESPERATE' DELIGHT - FANS HAIL FINALE

Some desperate Long Island housewives were left more than satisfied by the twisted turns of last night's season finale of their favorite TV show. "It answered all the questions -...

MAN SLAIN BUILDING IN POSH E. VILLAGE

A resident of a tony East Village building was shot execution style in the doorway of his triplex apartment yesterday, apparently by someone he knew, police sources said. The victim,...

TWO KILLED IN B'KLYN CRASH

A car overturned in Brooklyn early today - and initial reports said two people were killed and three critically injured. The fatal accident occurred just after 1:30 a.m. on the...

PENTAGON AIRHEADS - POISED TO $HUT DOWN BASE THAT SHIELDS NYC

The skies over New York and the rest of the Northeast could become more tempting for terrorists - because military planners might close the Cape Cod air base that's home...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

The crowd toasted the newlyweds with fresh-roasted coffee - but that's to be expected when your wedding is at Starbucks. Arthur Odle and Rebecca Lightfoot said they first met at...

GOD SAVED MY SON - WINDOW BOY ON MEND

Syeda Begum was as annoyed as any parent that her 4-year-old son was fooling around with the remote control - and overjoyed because it meant he was himself again. Anashul...

ELIOT DODGES STADIUM FRAY

ATTORNEY General Eliot Spitzer, the Democratic gubernatorial hopeful who has taken on controversial issues from reforming Wall Street to backing homosexual marriage, is refusing to take a stand on the...

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON PRESSED STATE LAWMAKERS TO LET NEW YORK'S WINERIES START SHIPPING THEIR PRODUCTS ...

Calling the issue a political "hot grape," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton pressed state lawmakers yesterday to let New York's roughly 200 wineries start shipping their products across state lines. Under...

'$ITH'-ING PRETTY

The concluding episode of George Lucas' "Star Wars" saga rewrote the history books with a light saber - selling a record $158.5 million worth of tickets during its first four...

POLS SEEK GREEN LIGHT TO DOUBLE 'RED LIGHT' CAMS

Lawmakers want to double the number of traffic-light video surveillance cameras keeping watch over city intersections, The Post has learned. Since 1994, when the Department of Transportation started setting up...

NEWSWEEK VOWS CURB ON SOURCES

Newsweek's embarrassed top editor said yesterday that the magazine would sharply restrict its use of anonymous sources. This comes as its retracted report of a Koran's having been flushed down...

BUSY AS A BEE

Now that spring has finally sprung, it's all work and no play for the bees. Read on to find out what these busybodies are up to. THE bees are busier...

'$ITH'-ING PRETTY - RECORD 4-DAY OPENING FOR 'STAR WARS'

The concluding episode of George Lucas' "Star Wars" saga rewrote the history books with a light saber - selling a record $158.5 million worth of tickets during its first four...

MOTTRAM FLIES IN KIDNEY 10K

It was not quite deja vu as Ramaala Hendrik and Meb Keflezighi raced to the finish line of yesterday morning's inaugural Healthy Kidney 10K in Central Park. Last November, Hendrik...

TURNSTILE CHUMPS

BUSY weekend. Let's get right to it, in no particular order, top to bottom, left to right, alphabetically, according to height and homeroom. Most Fascinating Just-The-Facts Analysis: To Michael Kay....

PAVANO PLOWING AHEAD

No matter how many times or ways the question was asked, Carl Pavano had the same answer. "I have to make good pitches against their hitters, that's all I can...

NO O'NEAL MAY SHAQ THINGS UP

MIAMI - Unable to practice yesterday, a despondent Shaquille O'Neal used a jewelry metaphor on the eve of the long-anticipated Heat-Pistons Eastern Conference Finals showdown. "I'm used to being the...

ALONZO: PISTONS AREN'T SO TOUGH

MIAMI - No matter if Shaquille O'Neal plays most of this series or not, Heat backup center Alonzo Mourning thinks there's enough chinks in Detroit's armor to advance to his...

GRAD AND GOOD - ONLY 18, CREAMER MOVES FROM HS TO LPGA HISTORY

They doused the schoolgirl already billed as America's Next with Spanish bubbly she's not old enough to drink. Paula Creamer, the youngest LPGA winner since 1952, reveled in yesterday's historic...

WISHING ON A STAR

BALTIMORE - With no Triple Crown on the line for the first time in four years, the June 11 Belmont Stakes is starved for star power. While a rematch between...

WOMACK MAN OF STEAL

When the Mets made the pitching change in the eighth inning, going to Roberto Hernandez, Tony Womack hustled off second base, back to the visitor's dugout at Shea. Womack wasn't...

YANKS HOLD HAPPY TEAM MEETINGS, TOO

Subway Series Confidential Joe Torre doesn't only call meetings when his club is in the toilet. Minutes after yesterday's stirring 5-3 Subway Series victory over the generous Mets at Shea...

AS USUAL, LIBS OPEN WITH THUD

Shock 78 - Liberty 71 So much for the new-look Liberty. They didn't look all that different in yesterday's season-opening loss than they ever have in the first game of...

BELTRAN MAY MISS BRAVES

Bad news for the Mets: Carlos Beltran appears to be questionable to face the Braves this week. After leaving Saturday's game against the Yankees early with a strained right quad,...

SERENITY IN A STORM

HE CAME from Japan billed as Godzilla, but the inner calm Hideki Matsui brings to the Bronx Zoo is the most remarkable thing about this multi-faceted, multi-continent star. He's really...

UNIT PONDERS EXTRA DAY OFF

If Randy Johnson's biggest problem is pitching with more than four days rest, Joe Torre is ready to address it. After Johnson pitches Friday night against the Red Sox on...

BATS SAVE ALEX'S HIDE

Nobody exhaled longer and louder than Alex Rodriguez when Hideki Matsui singled in two runs and Bernie Williams drove home another in the eighth inning yesterday at Shea Stadium. A-Rod's...

EIGHT OF FLUBS - REYES, WRIGHT LOSE HANDLE

Jose Reyes said he's never turned a bare-handed, pirouetting double play in his life. Why he attempted one in the eighth inning against the Yankees, we're still trying to figure...

MOOT BOOT - PEDRO WON'T DISCUSS BOMBERS

The last time he pitched against the Yankees, Pedro Martinez, then with the Red Sox, was serenaded by "Who's your daddy?" chants during Game 7 of the ALCS. He earned...

NYRA FIRES 59 CLERKS

NYRA decided to take action after 89 mutuel clerks called in sick on Preakness day in an apparent work action over a lack of a new signed contract. Fifty-nine clerks...

METS SLIP AND YANKEES SLIDE - MATSUI, BOMBERS CASH IN ON LATE MET ERRORS

The runners were on second and third with two outs in the eighth and the Mets up two runs. So there was little question that this was the game. Roberto...

STRONG WILL-ED - STILL GETTING USED TO NEW ROLE, BERNIE DELIVERS

JOE TORRE has always prided himself on doing what was best for the whole roster, no matter the powerful connection to an individual. So if Tino Martinez had to be...

SEEMED SO WRIGHT - A GOOD DAY GETS AWAY FROM THE NEW METS

A COUPLE of hours earlier, with the sun shining high in a blue spring sky, with Pedro Martinez still on the mound, with the thunder of 55,953 voices filling his...

MAKES BELMONT BITTER 'SWEEP'

BALTIMORE - Thoroughbred racing's annual rite of spring, in which the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner flushes his chance at Triple Crown immortality by losing the Belmont Stakes, has been...

ALL ABOUT ALEX - CROWD PLEASER WOWS 'EM

BALTIMORE - All is well in the world after all. The favorite won the Preakness, as they have repeatedly for 130 years, a record 115,000 fans shoehorned into Pimlico were...