July 11, 2005
INFLATION PRESSURE BUILDS ON RISING OIL PRICES
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amConsumer prices likely rose last month amid surging energy costs, raising concerns about the potential for further inflation, economists said. The consumer price index, a widely followed inflation gauge, is...
DRESSING DOWN - GUCCI MAKEOVER RISKS CHIC CACHET
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amGucci, which came to be synonymous with sex appeal over the past decade, is getting a makeover under a new management team, and the early results have some fashion insiders...
QUESTIONS FLY ON AMEGY BUY
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amLegal and ethical questions are continuing to mount over the conduct of Amegy Bancorporation's management during the negotiations leading up to its acceptance of a $1.7 billion takeover bid by...
KILLING TIME - STEP-BY-STEP 'MURDER' OF TED AMMON
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amHOORAY - true crime is back. No, I'm not celebrating the return of crime in the streets, but the return of great, true-crime original movies on Lifetime. "Murder in the...
MYSTERY BABY STRIKES AGAIN ON '4400'
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amA seemingly homicidal baby wreaked havoc on last night's episode of USA Network's "The 4400," one of the hottest sci-fi dramas on cable. The baby, named Isabel, is a mysterious...
ALL ROCK AND ALL AMERICAN - MELLENCAMP HITS THE BEACH
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amFOR John Mellencamp to get the kind of respect he's earned - outside his fan base - he should lie down in a coffin and die. Music's hipsters who move...
STARR REPORT
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amPeter's 'World' view Peter Jennings on last week's London bombings, as quoted by Charlie Gibson at the end of Friday's "World News Tonight": "We are all Londoners this week. And,...
ROCK 'N' ROLL 'IDOL' - IT'S MORE SHOWOFFS THAN SINGERS IN 'INXS' STAR SEARCH
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amIT'S official: Rock is dead. It must be, if this is how a major rock band goes about choosing its lead singer today - on a primetime game show. "Rock...
YOUR CHEATIN' START - HOT IN THE HAMPTONS: FLINGS THAT DON'T END IN MURDER, DIVORCE OR A TV MOVIE; TRICK & CHEAT DON'T GET BEAT
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amTonight, the only place to be in the Hamptons is home in front of the TV, watching "Murder in the Hamptons," Lifetime TV's soapy take on the 2001 slaying of...
B'KLYN FIENDS' JUNKYARD RAPE
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amA young woman was raped by two thugs who abducted her off a Brooklyn street and then drove her to a junkyard to brutally assault her, authorities said yesterday. Police...
HE LETS THE HEEL-ING BEGIN
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amCelebrity dog trainer Brian Kilcommons eyed my dog, a spunky pit bull prone to jumping like a circus animal and misbehaving. "She's a nice dog, but she's got no manners,"...
POOCH REFORM SCHOOL - SHELTERS TAP DOG GURU
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amThe city's animal-shelter system plans to turn its caged-up pups into model canine citizens - and it's hired one of America's top experts to do it. Dog trainer to the...
'4'MIDABLE FLICK
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amThe "Fantastic Four" rode to the rescue as the nation's No. 1 movie over the weekend - smashing Hollywood's 19-week losing streak at the box office. The red-hot flick, featuring...
BILL TAKE$ BITE OUT OF DOG OWNERS
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amALBANY - Dog bites are about to get a lot more expensive. Owners found guilty of allowing their pets to bite someone can be fined up to $1,500 - up...
9/11 KIN: MEMORIAL ONLY
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amCultural displays and political debates have no place at the World Trade Center site, relatives of 9/11 victims said yesterday. Just days after officials proposed to scale down the controversial...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amTHE BRONX * A man was killed early yesterday when he was hit by a subway train. A No. 2 train was heading into the Allerton Avenue station at 1:33...
MARTHA'S HORSE SENSE - REIN-ING DIVA TROTS OUT CARRIAGE
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amWhoa is she! Martha Stewart, who told Vanity Fair magazine she was no fan of home detention and her electronic ankle bracelet, appeared to rein in her doldrums briefly yesterday...
50 KILLED IN IRAQI WEEKEND CARNAGE
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amTerrorists killed 50 people in Iraq over the weekend, including more than two dozen yesterday when a man strapped with explosives blew himself up at a military recruiting center in...
-CELL OUT - TERROR-WARY COPS DISABLE TUNNEL PHONES; 'TERROR' CELLS KO'D IN TUNNELS
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amThe NYPD has disconnected cellphone service in all the city's vehicular tunnels since the London terror blasts - to prevent anyone from detonating a bomb, authorities said yesterday. Service will...
QNS. FIREFIGHTERS BRING BOMB TO HQ - SHOCKED COPS SAY BRAVEST WERE DUMB BUT LUCKY
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amFirefighters responding to a Dumpster blaze in Queens late Saturday discovered a small explosive device in the burning trash, but rather than call in the bomb squad, they brought it...
DRUG GUARD RECEIVES TEA BREAK
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amA Rikers Island jail guard who tested positive for cocaine should keep his job after providing evidence that he unknowingly drank Peruvian tea laced with the drug, a city administrative...
BOARDS OF EDUCATION
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amSome public-school students are finding it's no toil and trouble learning about everything from storms to sentence structure from Shakespeare's witches. "This is how children at this age learn -...
EX-PRIEST BUSTED IN COP TRAP WITH TEEN
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amA defrocked Catholic priest from the Bronx was arrested Wednesday after allegedly trying to bring a teenage boy to a motel for an erotic photo shoot, sources told The Post....
ASTRO-N.Y.-AUTS - QUEENS MAN & UPSTATE SKIPPER REVIVE SHUTTLE
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amWhen Discovery blasts off Wednesday - the first space-shuttle mission since the 2003 Columbia disaster - two gutsy New Yorkers will be in charge. Commander Eileen Collins, who hails from...
DENNIS IS 'TWO' MUCH FOR GULF - 2ND 'CANE IN 10 MONTHS POUNDS PANHANDLE
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amHurricane Dennis menaced millions of residents along Florida's Gulf Coast and in Alabama with vicious 140-mph winds and whipping rains yesterday - only 10 months after "Ivan the Terrible" pummeled...
DRENCH MENACE WILL MISS GOTHAM: FORECASTERS
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amHurricane Dennis will likely lose most of its steam by the time it makes its way to the Northeast, weather experts said yesterday. New York, which was pummeled last week...
BLOOMBERG IS BOSS IN TRANSLATION
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg can teach his Democratic rivals a thing or two about reaching all New Yorkers: He will hold his first "trilingual" press conference today in Chinese and Spanish as...
MARIAH'S PAIN OVER HOOKER SIS - SINGER PAYS FOR REHAB
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amAs sisters, they shared a hardscrabble Long Island childhood. One grew up to become a world-famous pop star, the other, an HIV-positive prostitute. The June 13 arrest of chart-topping songbird...
KILLER: I'M NO RACIST - MALL THUG'S BIZARRE TALE
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amHomeless sex fiend Phillip Grant denies he hates white people - even though he copped to the race-slaying of a Caucasian woman at a White Plains mall. "I have a...
DENNIS IS 'TWO' MUCH FOR GULF - 2ND 'CANE IN 10 MONTHS HITS PANHANDLE
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amHurricane Dennis menaced millions of residents along Florida's Gulf Coast and in Alabama with 120-mph winds and whipping rains yesterday - only 10 months after "Ivan the Terrible" pummeled the...
MAG IDS ROVE IN CIA LEAK
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Internal Time e-mails reportedly reveal that White House political guru Karl Rove was the magazine's source as it probed the outing of a covert CIA operative - but...
LAST NAVY SEAL IS FOUND DEAD
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amThe body of the last missing member of a four-man Navy Seal team attacked in Afghanistan last month has been recovered, according to broadcast reports. The body was found not...
RAIL TROUBLE FOR MTA OVER $3B
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amThe MTA's latest failure to get state approval on its $21.1 billion capital program could have serious repercussions for a $2.9 billion transportation-bond act that goes before voters in November,...
MARIAH'S PAIN OVER HOOKER SIS - REHAB-FUNDING DILEMMA
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amSultry songbird Mariah Carey, who's back on top with chart-busting hits, is now confronting a heart-wrenching new worry: whether she's become an enabler to her HIV-positive, prostitute sister. Last month's...
'BETRAYED' DA PROBED JACKO'S EX
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amLOS ANGELES - After getting burned by Michael Jackson's ex-wife Debbie Rowe on the witness stand, prosecutors ordered the LAPD to find out if Jacko had arranged a quid pro...
GAL SUING COLLEGE OVER 'RAPE'
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amA young Bronx woman, who claims she was raped by a male student at upstate Cazenovia College after a boozy night out, has sued the school, charging that officials there...
ROVE ID'D AS MAG'S SOURCE ON CIA LEAK
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Internal Time e-mails reportedly reveal that White House political guru Karl Rove was the magazine's source as it probed the outing of a covert CIA operative - but...
CRACKDOWN ON AUTO-INSURANCE SCAM DOCS
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amALBANY - The Legislature is seeking to penalize "medical mills" used in auto-insurance fraud. A bill headed to Gov. Pataki would allow the state to bar doctors and other health-care...
JITTERY IPOD FANS NIP IT IN THE 'BUD'
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amThe iPod's milky white earphones are the universal symbol of the popular music player - but now they are a symbol of fear as users do all they can to...
MAYOR A SITE BETTER THAN DEM RIVALS
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg can teach his Democratic rivals a thing or two about reaching all New Yorkers: his campaign Web site translates notices into 10 languages. That's better than his prized...
SILVER LOOKS SET TO BACK FERRER
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amFRONT-RUNNING mayoral hopeful Freddy Ferrer is close to winning the endorsement of the state's most powerful Democrat, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. The Manhattan-based Silver, who earlier this year described Ferrer's...
ALABAMA IS $WEET TO NATIVE DAUGHTER
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amBIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Amid the roughest week in her mayoral campaign, C. Virginia Fields tried to escape the chaos by heading to a warm reception in sweet home Alabama. Fields...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amThree Arkansas strippers were busted for spanking a trucker at his 31st-birthday bash and severely bruising his butt, cops say. Keith Lowery was injured after friends paid $25 for two...
CHERTOFF: TRANSIT STILL ON HIGH ALERT
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Gun-toting cops will flood mass-transit systems through today's rush hours, the nation's homeland-security chief said yesterday. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said "we'll see where we are" following...
BEEP WON'T REPLACE CANNED CONSULTANT
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amMANHATTAN Borough President C. Virginia Fields has "no plans" to fill the position left open by political consultant Joseph Mercurio's ousting, sources say. In the wake of revelations that a...
SLAY RAP IN BX. 'SIGN' DEATH
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amThe Bronx gunman who triggered a deadly chain reaction by shooting a driver whose car then hit a street sign that fell on and killed a pedestrian will face homicide...
SHARPTON DEFENDS FIELDS IN PHOTO FLAP
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amAl Sharpton defended beleaguered Democratic mayoral hopeful C. Virginia Fields over Photogate yesterday - by attacking her axed campaign strategist, Joseph Mercurio. Sharpton interviewed Fields during his WLIB radio show...
SCHUMER SEEKING NATIONAL PERV LIST
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amSen. Charles Schumer yesterday proposed creating a national tracking system for pedophiles. Complaining that far too many offenders go undetected because each state has different requirements for listing them, Schumer...
SPECTER: NO QUIT IN REHNQUIST
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - As President Bush readies to powwow tomorrow with Senate leaders to discuss his pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a top GOP senator says...
AFGHANI SHEPHERD AIDED SEAL
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amThe only known survivor of a four-man Navy SEAL team that was attacked in Afghanistan last month was saved not by a rescue team, but by a shepherd who stumbled...
TOUGH TO BE A FRAN FAN
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amMETSCASTER Fran Healy is the worst type of homer. He is not even loved at home. After 22 years in the booth, there is no connection between Healy and Met...
CHANNING GETS SOME PINE TIME
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amKNICK NOTES LAS VEGAS - Mark Aguirre, the Knicks' summer-league coach, has treated 6-11 Channing Frye as if he were an undrafted rookie free agent. The problem is, Frye has...
DÉJÀ VU AGAIN - FAMILIAR FEELING AS PEDRO, METS BURY BUCS
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amMets 6 - Pirates 1 PITTSBURGH - Even down to the final score, the Mets' last victory of the first half might have reminded you of their first victory of...
CASTELLANO OK AFTER SPILL
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amThird fatal breakdown in last week at Belmont occurred in fifth race, maiden special weight on yielding turf. Up and Down, 3-year-old filly from Randy Schulhofer barn, was moving well...
LEXINGTON GOES TO WOODLANDER
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amUnder a decisive ride by Edgar Prado, Woodlander won his third straight start taking yesterday's Grade 3, $100,000 Lexington Stakes at Belmont by three-quarters of a length over the fast...
GOIN' FOR JUG-ULAR - HAMILTON SEEKS BRIT REPEAT
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amST. ANDREWS - A year ago, as early-week practice rounds for the 133rd Open Championship were being played at Royal Troon on the West Coast of Scotland, Todd Hamilton was...
ROTATION IN ALIGNMENT FOR BRAVES
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amMET NOTES PITTSBURGH - When the Mets start the second half with four games against the Braves, they will be going with their four best starters. They'll also be giving...
WILLIE: CARLOS CAN DO
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amPITTSBURGH - In the first inning yesterday, Carlos Beltran ripped a two-run homer over the right field wall. The shot turned out to be Beltran's final hit of the first...
METS' CAN'T-MISS MILLEDGE LEAVES . . . LASTINGS IMPRESSION
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amDETROIT - Looking for the next Jose Reyes or David Wright? Looking for the next young addition to the New Mets? Lastings Milledge, 20, is your prospect. I found him...
CALL FOR PAUL - KNICKS COURT WESTPHAL TO BACK COACH
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amLAS VEGAS - In May, Knicks president Isiah Thomas flew to Los Angeles. Some thought Thomas was there to conduct a second interview with Phil Jackson. Not the case. Thomas...
LOCKOUT CONTINUES AS SIDES HUDDLE UP
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amIt looks as if the NHL lockout will reach its 300th day tomorrow, after all. Hopes for a tentative settlement had been pinned on today's league executive committee meeting, but...
SURGING YANKS - SIERRA PROMISES EAST TITLE AFTER BOMBERS ROLL
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amYankees 9 - Indians 4 The conclusion of the roller-coaster first half ended on an upswing for the Yankees, who entered the All-Star break after yesterday's 9-4 win over the...
RACE TO BREAK - GIAMBI AND CO. CAN KEEP BAILING OUT CABRERA
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amHERE'S the new plan: The Yankees don't care if Melky Cabrera gets a hit the rest of the season, as long as he can catch the ball in night games....
MUSSINA WILL OPEN RED SOX SERIES
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES The Yankees set their starting pitching rotation for the start of the second half against the Red Sox. The team announced yesterday morning that Mike Mussina will face...
SOME MO WORK - RIVERA CLOSES SERIES WITH TWO-INNING GEM
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amJoe Torre insists he never worried after Mariano Rivera opened the season by blowing his first two save opportunities against the Red Sox, never doubted the closer - who was...
AS BOMBERS CLIMB, SO DOES GIAMBI
July 11, 2005 | 4:00amThe ball jumped off Jason Giambi's bat, rising faster than his batting average. Or the Yankees' run up the AL East standings. His two-run shot in the fourth inning -...