July 28, 2005
KEEP THEM HONEST - INVESTORS BENEFIT FROM SARBANES-OXLEY, WEB
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amTHERE are two birthdays coming up in August that I'd like to mention in this column. (No, not mine. That's in May and I'll give you my sizes closer to...
NEW DOVE ADS STIR MAJOR SOAP OPERA
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amEveryone agrees that Dove's "real women" - six curvy non-models posing in white undies - are unusual pinup girls. But the consensus ends there. Since the campaign debuted this month,...
MICHAEL JORDAN IS SUING MCI FOR $8M
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amBasketball legend Michael Jordan - who earned $35 million last year in endorsements - is suing to squeeze another $8 million out of MCI's bankruptcy woes. Jordan originally landed a...
DEATH THREAT IN NYSE BATTLE
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amThe bitter legal battle over the New York Stock Exchange's future has turned ugly, with dissident seat-holder William Higgins getting a death threat, his lawyer said. Jay Eisenhofer, who is...
TIMES SQ. LIGHTS OUT AT MORGAN
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amFor the first time ever, Morgan Stanley turned off its giant Times Square sign during New York City's electricity shortage - and made a tidy profit helping out. The towering...
SANDY TO TROOPS: 'I'LL STAY AT CITI'
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amThe house that Sandy Weill built is going to have him around after all. The legendary dealmaker told staff yesterday in a company-wide memo that he will be staying at...
CELEB MAG WAR - DESMOND PUTS UP $100M FOR OK! LAUNCH HERE
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amRichard Desmond, the British publishing magnate who is attempting to extend his empire into America, has pledged to spend up to $100 million over six years to make his celebrity-friendly...
FEDERATED TO CLOSE 65 STORES: ANALYST
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amFederated Department Stores is preparing to announce the closure of as many as 65 stores to pave the way for regulatory approval of its acquisition of the May Department Stores...
'STEALTH' ROLE A BIG HEADACHE
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amTHERE'S suffering for your craft, and then there's Josh Lucas - who received not just one, but three concussions while filming the new sci-fi thriller "Stealth," out tomorrow. "When Josh...
CRAIGSLIST'S THEATER OF THE ABSURD
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amTHE postings you'll find at online bulletin board craigslist.org are a reliable source of hilarity - mostly the unintentional kind. But they get even more ridiculous when you ask craigslist...
SECRETS OF FIRST 9/11 MINISERIES
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amFILMING has quietly begun under a shroud of secrecy on ABC's ambitious miniseries about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The project - which has never been formally announced by ABC and...
BLAND OF OZZ - FEST OUTGROWS FOUNDER
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amTHE time has come for the great and powerful Ozz to come out from behind the curtain and take his final bows after a life forging metal music. At this...
COUP D'STEW - 'NET NUTS HACK 'FAMILY' FLICK
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amSORRY Stewie. The highly anticipated, uncensored "Family Guy" movie doesn't come out on DVD until September, but some Internet whizkids are already trading full-length, pirated copies of "Stewie Griffin: The...
STARR REPORT
July 28, 2005 | 4:00am41 steams ahead Tuesday's extremely high temperatures really raised the viewership for Ch. 41, whose "Noticias Univision 41" set a ratings record as the market's top-rated 6 p.m. newscast-among all...
'LAW FIRM' COURTS 'APPRENTICE' CROWD
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amSOMEBODY call a lawyer - quick! "The Apprentice," has been stolen and the perps are moving in-tonight. Legal eagle mogul David E. Kelley's new reality show, "The Law Firm," which...
FOR $100K, AN IMAGE CONSULTANT WILL SELL YOU . . . AN ACQUIRED TASTES; MY SO-CALLED LIFE, PURCHASED
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amJULIE Morgenstern tells people how to project a confident image - manage their time, organize their offices and homes - for a living. Yet when it came to her own...
NEW IKEA CATALOG THE SWEDE-EST
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amTHERE are a handful of annual and semi-annual events for which I, an obnoxious design snob, wait, breath bated, in a state of wild anticipation - like Paris fashion week,...
SWELTER SHELTER AT LAST
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amThe heat is gone and we'll have sweet relief for the next several days. After the Big Apple was sautéed one last time yesterday, thunderstorms - and a small cold...
MIKE FOR GOV? - MAYBE - BUT BETSY WOULD BE MAYOR
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amMIKE Bloomberg for governor? His demurrals notwithstanding, the idea suddenly is more intriguing today following Gov. Pataki's formal confirmation of several months' worth of Albany gossip - that he's decided...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amA 26-year-old vagrant was discovered naked in an Alabama cornfield, muttering that he "wanted to see the house where Forrest Gump lived." "He was . . . picking the corn...
AUTHORITY WANTS MORE BRUCE BUCKS
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amThe MTA yesterday called timeout in the fight over who should develop the Atlantic rail yard in downtown Brooklyn, giving developer Bruce Ratner 45 days to come up with a...
BUSTED CAR-INSURANCE BROKER WAS A LEMON
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amA disgraced insurance broker sold thousands of dollars in bogus coverage to unsuspecting motorists after he'd been stripped of his license, prosecutors said yesterday. Willie Fulmore Jr., 59, of South...
SADDAM'S SYRIA $TASH EYED IN TERROR
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - A fortune that Saddam Hussein earned from illicit oil deals with Syria during the U.N. oil-for-food program is gone from Syrian banks - and possibly being used to...
GUNPLAY SOARS IN WILD WEST APPLE
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amThe number of shootings across the city jumped by 70 percent last week, compared with the same week last year. The NYPD's Compstat figures show that for the week ending...
WEINER WOE OVER $$ RULES
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amA PATTERN of suspect fund-raising activities could end up costing Rep. Anthony Weiner big dollars in public matching funds. The city Campaign Finance Board is questioning Weiner about a range...
THE WINNER! - POST READER COPS 40G HUMMER
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amA jubilant Stephanie Dews celebrates in Midtown yesterday after claiming her brand-new, $40,000 Hummer H3. The lucky 31-year-old security officer from Brooklyn was chosen from among more than 24,000 entrants...
GOV: YES, I'M PA-TAKIN' OFF
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amALBANY - Gov. Pataki yesterday made it official that he will not seek a fourth term - and aides said he's now eyeing a 2008 presidential run. "We've done a...
PLAME 'RETIREMENT' STRICTLY VOLUNTARY
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - A liberal activist group yesterday said it appears that outed CIA agent Valerie Plame supplied the false information that she was "retired" when she bought two tickets to...
SHUTTLES SCUTTLED - FLEET GROUNDED IN EERIE ECHO OF FOAM DISASTER
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amNASA will ground future space-shuttle flights until it can explain why a large piece of foam insulation (shown above) broke off an external fuel tank in Tuesday's liftoff - the...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amQUEENS * Police yesterday released a photo of a man (above) suspected of holding up a Jackson Heights bank at gunpoint. The bandit was wielding a silver gun when he...
A CRUISE INTO TWILIGHT ZONE
July 28, 2005 | 4:00am'I CERTAINLY think it's fair to characterize this as suspicious." So said Connecticut U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor yesterday about the mysterious case of George Smith, who went overboard from a...
SUBWAY SECURITY IS GETTING $10M BOOST
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amThe MTA is planning to use $10 million of the $833 million in unexpected surplus money for this year to boost security in city subways. Katherine Lapp, the agency's executive...
MIKE AIDE, POLS METER BLEATERS
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg's transportation commissioner yesterday slammed the City Council for election-year pandering as it passed a bill to make parking meters free Sundays. "Could it be that the election-year calendar...
SEX-SHOCKED GRANNY SUES 'GRAND THEFT'
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amWelcome to the jungle, Mrs. Cohen. A city granny who bought her grandson a video game that promises murder and mayhem in a city of "gang trouble, drugs and corruption"...
NO VIRGIN SEX - MADAM INSISTS ALL GIRLS WERE VETERANS
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amThere were no virgins! Angry madam Julie Moya was hauled off to serve at least two years in prison yesterday - but first she insisted in court that she only...
LEGIONNAIRE'S PATIENT SUING
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amA kidney patient who caught Legionnaire's disease during his dialysis at a Westchester hospital has sued the facility. Stephen Burke, 64, remains severely ill after breathing bacteria-tainted air at Sound...
KEEP MRS. ROBERTS OUT OF IT: CHUCK
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Schumer yesterday pointed to his own wife to show why he thinks the right-to-life activism of Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' spouse should play no role...
WATCH FOR LEGI$LATURE TO RUN WILD
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amALBANY - Gov. Pataki's sudden transformation into a lame-duck leader - 17 months before he's slated to leave office - will prove costly to New York taxpayers. That's because a...
LIVING, BREATHING DOLL JUST A SILICONE SIREN
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amShe's cute, nicely built and can process data like an MIT grad, but she still leaves something to be desired. Meet Repliee Q1 - the most human-looking robot ever devised....
KIN MOURN JUMP-ROPE DEATH GIRL
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amFriends and family yesterday mourned a vibrant and happy 6-year-old girl who accidentally strangled herself with the most common of children's playthings - a jump rope. "She was a normal...
'JUNIOR' BEATS RAP ON PLOT TO WHACK FOE SLIWA
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amAttempted-murder charges for "Junior" Gotti - fuhgeddaboutit! The heir apparent to the late mob boss John Gotti scored a huge courtroom hit yesterday when prosecutors suddenly announced that he was...
HYDRANT-TOT DRIVER ARRESTED
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amCops yesterday busted an alleged hit-and-run driver and charged him with plowing into a 3-year-old boy playing in the spray of an open fire hydrant in The Bronx. Hector Rasuk,...
DAD ADMITS DAUGHTER RAPE
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amA 46-year-old Washington Heights man pleaded guilty yesterday to a heinous crime combining the worst of incest and pedophilia - repeatedly raping his 12-year-old daughter. The pervert's name is being...
CARNEGIE MAUL - PIANO WIZ SUES OVER ONSTAGE FIT
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amA young New Jersey pianist claims he was humiliated during his Carnegie Hall debut by a nasty competition chief who ordered him to play the wrong sheet music - and...
3 MORE HAVE 'SUPER STRAIN' OF AIDS VIRUS
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amCity health officials have identified three men whose HIV infections are "closely related" to that of a New Yorker with a drug-resistant "super strain." Two of the newly disclosed patients...
$100M SCORES SUIT - OWNER 'TERRORIZED'
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amThe owners of the famed strip club Scores say their predecessor has been waging a campaign of terror against them in a bid to reclaim the club, including making numerous...
SLUMLORDS BOO$T GIFF - 50G FROM 2 OF 'THE WORST'
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amTwo landlords on a list of the city's worst are among City Council Speaker Gifford Miller's most prolific donors, raising more than $50,000 for his mayoral campaign. The contributions come...
BROWNS MAKE A GREAT TEAM - NEW KNICK COACH'S WIFE TURNED HIS LIFE AROUND
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amHe's a basketball vagabond who saves failing franchises. She's the emotional anchor in the center of his life. And now, Larry and Shelly Brown are New York's first couple as...
6 KILLED IN CATSKILLS HORROR TRUCK CRASH
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amSix young people were killed in a horrific crash in the Catskills yesterday when their car hit a dump truck. "I saw a body hanging out the windshield - I...
ROCKAWAY SWIMMER DROWNS
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amA beachgoer drowned in the waters off Rockaway Park in Queens yesterday, cops said. The unidentified man was swimming near Beach 120th Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard early yesterday afternoon,...
HILLARY'S SUPREME DILEMMA
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amJOHN ROBERTS' Supreme Court nomination could be a wonderful chance for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton to have a "Sister Souljah moment" - to defy liberal activists by voting for him...
REALTY BITE$ BACK - N.Y. AREA AT HIGH RISK
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amIs the bottom about to fall out of the New York area residential real-estate market? According to the latest research tracking the 50 largest housing markets, the metropolitan area, including...
GOTTI RIDDANCE TO THE GANG - INFAMOUS MOB CLAN PETERS OUT AS LAST BOSS GETS 25 YRS.
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amGambino gang lord Peter Gotti was sentenced yesterday to 25 years in prison on charges that include a botched plot to whack mob rat "Sammy Bull" Gravano - dramatically ending...
MTA WON'T PLAY FARE WITH 'SUDDEN' MILLIONS
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amThe perennially cash-strapped MTA suddenly disclosed yesterday it has $833 million in new-found money to play with - and is thinking about using more than half of it to create...
FLEET GROUNDED - CHILLING FLASHBACK TO 'FOAM' DISASTER
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amNASA will ground future space-shuttle flights until it can explain why a large piece of foam insulation broke off an external fuel tank in Tuesday's liftoff - the problem that...
6 DIE IN CATSKILLS CRASH HORROR
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amSix young people from New York City were killed in a horrific head-on collision in the Catskills yesterday when their car veered into the wrong lane and slammed into a...
DEATH BY COP TASER - 'VIOLENT' QNS. DRUGGIE
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amA violent drug suspect died yesterday after a cop shot him once with a Taser stun gun inside a Queens station house, police said. Terrance Thomas, 35, of Rockville Centre,...
FEARS OVER SADDAM'S MISSING MONEY
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - A fortune that Saddam Hussein earned from illicit oil deals with Syria during the U.N. oil-for-food program is gone from Syrian banks - and possibly being used to...
DEATH BY COP TASER - SUSPECT'S MOM IN FURY
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amA violent drug suspect died yesterday after a cop shot him once with a Taser stun gun inside a Queens station house, police said. Terrance Thomas, 35, of Rockville Centre,...
INSURANCE SELLER A LEMON: DA
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amA disgraced insurance broker sold thousands of dollars in bogus coverage to unsuspecting motorists after he'd been stripped of his license, prosecutors said yesterday. Willie Fulmore Jr., 59, of South...
CAMP KIDS IN DEATH COLLISION
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amFive kids and a camp counselor were killed yesterday in a horrific head-on collision in the Catskills when their out-of-control car veered into the wrong lane and slammed into a...
PATAKI'S NEXT MOVE - IT'S NOT TO THE WHITE HOUSE
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amGEORGE Pataki has again proved himself an adept politician - because he was able to put vanity and the supplicating words of hangers-on aside and realize that his day is...
HARLEM'S KID-HELP ZONE - TARGETING ONE BLOCK AT A TIME
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amGeoffrey Canada believes it takes a village - about 60 blocks and counting - to save the poorest kids in Harlem. As president and CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone,...
'GRAND THEFT' ANGER - SEX SPARKS LAWSUIT
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amWelcome to the jungle, Mrs. Cohen. A city granny who knowingly bought her grandson a video game that promises murder and mayhem in a city of "gang trouble, drugs and...
INSURANCE MAN A LEMON
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amA disgraced insurance broker sold thousands of dollars worth of bogus coverage to unsuspecting motorists after he'd been stripped of his license, prosecutors said yesterday. Willie Fulmore Jr., 59, of...
COOLDOWN BRINGING SWELTER SHELTER
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amThe heat is gone and we'll have sweet relief for the next several days. After the Big Apple was sautéed one last time yesterday, thunderstorms - and a small cold...
BOMBER ROTATION HAS ONLY HIDEOUS OPTIONS
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES Aaron Small hurls today and Mike Mussina is scheduled tomorrow. But on Saturday, who knows? Joe Torre held off on naming a Saturday starter against the Angels, while...
FAILING LEIT - YANKEES FIND NO RELIEF ON STEAMY NIGHT
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amTwins 7 - Yankees 3 For seven innings, the Yankees couldn't scrape a run off Johan Santana. And for five of those frames, Al Leiter huffed and puffed and chucked...
BERNIE'S BLAST JUST MISSES
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amWhen Bernie Williams' towering shot strayed into foul territory near the right-field pole, any God-fearing baseball fan knew the eighth-inning comeback was over. "It was fair the whole time until...
BOMBERS IN NEED OF PAIN RELIEF
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amIF it's not quite a pyramid scheme, it's as close to one has could ever have been imagined by Joe Torre, whose pitching staff has devolved over the last couple...
BATS ARE SMOKIN' FOR WRIGHT, REYES
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amMET NOTES DENVER - The starting left side of the Mets' infield consists of the two hottest hitters on the club. David Wright and Jose Reyes have been scorching lately,...
CHAD'S PUMPED UP FOR JET CAMP
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amAt the end of a mentally and physically draining rehab, Chad Pennington is confident that New York's most talked-about right arm this side of Pedro Martinez is in pretty good...
HORSEMEN PROTEST SPA DETENTION PENS
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amSARATOGA SPRINGS - The first race hadn't even gone off yet and already the meet was in crisis, as the New York Racing Association was battered by criticism from horsemen...
TALES OF WO - TONY LIVING IN YANKEE NO-MAN'S LAND
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amJUST three more days until the trade deadline and the Yankees don't seem to have an asset to dangle in order to obtain a pitcher who hasn't been designated by...
LUNDQVIST JOINS FIGHT FOR RANGERS' NET JOB
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amOpportunity is attracting candidates. Now top Swedish goalie Henrik Lundqvist is expected to join the competition for the Rangers' No. 1 job, following yesterday's signing of 2004 first-rounder Al Montoya....
METROSTARS' COACH IS RIDING HOT SEAT
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amFor all their well-chronicled futility, the last time the MetroStars went into the all-star break with a losing record was 2002. Coach Octavio Zambrano was fired after that season, and...
MATSUI REMEMBERS NOMOMANIA DAYS
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES Hideki Matsui vividly remembers Nomomania. When Hideo Nomo took the mound for the Dodgers in 1995, Japan screeched to a virtual halt. All of his starts were on...
HIDEKI HASN'T FORGOTTEN ABOUT NOMOMANIA
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES Hideki Matsui vividly remembers Nomomania. When Hideo Nomo took the mound for the Dodgers in 1995, Japan screeched to a virtual halt. All of his starts were on...
LIBERTY HOLDING PAT HAND
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amOn Dec. 8, 2004, the Liberty removed the interim tag from coach Pat Coyle's title. On May 26, 2005, the team lost its first two games of the season, both...
A-ROD AT 30 - AND COUNTING
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amEven more amazing than the numbers Alex Rodriguez had put up before his 30th birthday yesterday was the fact that there is only one every-day position player - 22-year old...
HIDEOUS OPTION - BATTERED BOMBER STAFF HAS FLAWS & DISORDER
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amIf the Yankees weren't one game out of first place entering yesterday, their pitching situation would be a calamity. On second thought, it's still a disaster - albeit a second-place...
SECOND-HAND INFO - WILLIE'S WISE TO METS' CHASE OF PAL SORIANO
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amDENVER - Willie Randolph yesterday was asked if he had talked to GM Omar Minaya lately about the latest on the Mets' trade front. "I talk to Omar almost every...
CENTER OF ATTENTION - YANKEES DOUBT WINN IS WORTH COST
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amAFTER weeks of contemplation, the Yankees have determined that Mariner Randy Winn is not a full-time center-field answer for them. So even if they obtain him before Sunday's 4 p.m....
MEET OFF TO A ROUGH START
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amSARATOGA SPRINGS - Old Spa's 137th season stumbled badly coming out of gate. In addition to horsemen's revolt over conditions in detention barns, power outages caused many mutuel machines to...
NO TROUBLE AT TOIL - LEITER KEEPS ON PITCHING . . . . AND PITCHING
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amWHEN the game started, Birthday Boy Alex Rodriguez was 30. By the third inning, he was 40. When the game started, Michael Bloomberg was midway through his first term as...
COMETS ZAP LIBS' STREAK
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amComets 71 - Liberty 69 Collapse. Make that Colossal Collapse. With a chance to go three games above .500 and post its first four-game win streak of the season, the...
A-ROD NOT ON THE BALL FOR JETER
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amCommunication is the key to any relationship, but last night Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez resembled a married couple of mimes that had been sleeping in separate bedrooms for years....
HEAT CHOKE - YANKEES FIND NO RELIEF ON STEAMY NIGHT
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amTwins 7 - Yankees 3 For seven innings, the Yankees couldn't touch Johan Santana. For five innings, Al Leiter huffed and puffed and chucked 115 pitches merely to stay close...
DESPERATE METROS FIND GUTS, GET GLORY
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amMetroStars 3 - Dallas 2 Still reeling from the loss of league MVP Amado Guevara, still smarting after their ugly losses since his knee injury have put coach Bob Bradley's...
OMAR ISN'T SWEATING DEADLINE
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amMET NOTES DENVER - There are still a few more days until the trade deadline. So maybe that's why GM Omar Minaya isn't frustrated that nothing has happened yet for...
AMAZIN'S BUST OUT - MARLON, CASTRO TURN ON POWER
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amMets 9 - Rockies 3 DENVER - The slumping Met offense was sparked last night by its right fielder and catcher. But neither Mike Cameron nor Mike Piazza was in...
LARRY COULD MAKE ISIAH A DOUBTING THOMAS
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amLARRY Brown will stand at the podium today with the job he always wanted, only because he wasn't careful what he wished for. The Knicks, who just traded their best...
IT'S MADISON FLAIR GARDEN - KNICKS ROLL OUT RED CARPET TODAY
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amEAST HAMPTON - Larry Brown was struck with emotion and nostalgia yesterday, as his contract was finalized early last night. The Knicks announced Brown as their new head coach and...
YOU CAN'T LOSE - HUBIE: LARRY WILL MAKE KNICKS WINNERS AGAIN
July 28, 2005 | 4:00amThe Knicks quickly will become winners again under Larry Brown. That's what Hubie Brown thinks. "Larry Brown is the ultimate teacher-coach and one of the top quick-turnaround people in the...