August 4, 2005
DUMB DATA SETS RATES
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amIS there really a conundrum regarding today's interest rates, as Alan Greenspan has complained? Or is the Fed chairman just missing the reason he's been unable to force borrowing costs...
OK! IS SO-SO - NEW CELEBRITY MAG HAS A SHAKY DEBUT
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amBritish celebrity magazine OK! hit the U.S. shores today, promising to be "first for celebrity news" for Yanks. But as it butts heads with star-powered stalwarts People, Us, and Star,...
YOU'VE GOT A $3B AOL CHECK
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amTime Warner is shelling out some $3 billion to settle claims that investors were defrauded by the media giant's ill-fated decision to merge with America Online. The settlement marks a...
UNHAPPY RETURNS - HOME DEPOT STORE PUSHED PHONY CLAIMS: EX-STAFFER
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amA Home Depot store allegedly defrauded vendors by inflating what it charged them to cover the cost of defective or damaged merchandise, according to a former employee. Michael Davis, 38,...
CASUAL'S SALE AROUND THE CORNER
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amRetail Brand Alliance, the owner of Brooks Brothers and Adrienne Vittadini, is near an agreement to sell Casual Corner to Gordon Brothers, a liquidator, which may shut some stores and...
ADIDAS EYES ITS RIVAL NIKE
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amThe race is on to consolidate. Adidas's proposed acquisition of Reebok would give rise to a sports powerhouse, adding to the pressure not only on giant rival Nike, but on...
REEBOK SALE TO NET FOUNDING FIREMANS $685.5M
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amPaul Fireman's quarter-century in the sneaker business has been a $1 billion ride for him and his wife Phyllis. Since they conceived the Reebok empire on the floor of a...
PHAIR PHIRES UP FANS WITH A LUST OF TUNES
August 4, 2005 | 4:00am'SOMETIMES a cigar is just a cigar," mused Sigmund Freud. Then again, he never heard the shockingly sexual music of indie rock star Liz Phair. What's incredible about Phair, who...
GRETA GETTING BETTA
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amTHE July cable-news ratings book was a good one for Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren and CNN's Nancy Grace. Van Susteren's show, "On the Record," netted its best numbers...
GERALDO'S A DAD AGAIN
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amGERALDO Rivera is a father - again. The Fox News Channel anchor and his wife, Erica Levy, welcomed Solita Liliana Rivera Tuesday morning, according to tvnewser.com. The birth was mentioned...
STARR REPORT
August 4, 2005 | 4:00am'Feet' on the Ball It's interesting to note that Alan Ball, who created HBO's "Six Feet Under," wrote and directed the series finale, "Everyone's Waiting," which airs Aug. 21 (9...
'STARVED' FOR TOILET HUMOR?
August 4, 2005 | 4:00am"Starved" Tonight at 10 on FX (one garbage can) WHEN actor/writer Eric Schaeffer went to pitch "Starved" to FX, the meeting should have gone something like this: Studio boss: "OK,...
DR. PHIL $HOW - $75 MILLION DEAL FOR TV SHRINK
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amDR. Phil McGraw has landed a blockbuster, $75-million deal that will keep him on the air at least through 2014. The big-bucks deal, according to industry sources, would pay McGraw...
IT ROCKED, BUT CBGB SHOULD RIP
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amCBGB is a rock star past his prime - singing hits we've heard a thousand times and new songs we don't want to hear at all. Despite the heartfelt efforts...
TEEN'S TALE BOOSTS '88 FOLK KILLER
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amA suburban teen swears his father confessed to the grisly 1988 slayings of a prominent Long Island couple whose son is behind bars for the crime. In a sworn affidavit,...
VASEAN MOM'S FURY - FACES DOWN DWI CON
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amA heartbroken mother unleashed a torrent of white-hot hatred yesterday at the drunken driver who left her childless and inspired her to help toughen New York's DWI laws. "I hate...
TEACH: I'M SEX VICTIM BLAMES STUDENT
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amALBANY - In a stunning accusation, the lawyer for a Catholic-school teacher accused of having sex with students said yesterday that it was the teacher who was victimized and "taken...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amA Missouri woman was relaxing in the kitchen of her new home when a 41/2-foot boa constrictor slithered out from under the dishwasher. "I thought it was a toy, and...
RACIST WANTED TO KILL MORE: DA
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amA black rapist who allegedly killed a mother of two because he wanted "to kill a white person" regretted he couldn't kill more white people, Westchester prosecutors said yesterday at...
GIFF BACKS LANDLORD CRACKDOWN
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amCity Council Speaker Gifford Miller announced his support yesterday for a bill that would impose stiffer penalties for severe housing-code violations - a week after it was disclosed he had...
SPITZER TOPS BLOOMBERG IN NEW GOVERNOR POLL
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amALBANY - While Mayor Bloomberg is way ahead in his race for re-election, he'd be crushed if he challenges Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for governor next year, according to a...
HOTSHOT STOCKBROKEN - WALL STREETER-TO-THE-STARS GUILTY IN $7M THEFT
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amYoung stockbroker Calvin Darden had everything - personality, pedigree and brains. But he also suffered from massive greed. Yesterday, during a quick hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court, Darden - who...
DAD CHARGED IN DEADLY BX. CRASH
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amThe father of a 4-year- old boy who survived a horrific Bronx crash that took his mother's life has been charged with vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving, police said yesterday....
THOMPSON RIP$ PILOT ERROR
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amAdministration officials turned a tax-break program into an illegal slush fund for projects that included $7 million to a biomedical firm and $340,241 for an "anti-jaywalking campaign," City Comptroller William...
FROM DAISY TO DANDELION - JUDE'S NEW NO-NONSENSE NANNY LACKS WRIGHT STUFF
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amDoesn't look as if Jude Law will be falling back into bed with his kids' nanny anytime soon. Meet Mistress Meena, the matronly middle-European successor to the child-minder Law repeatedly...
PIRRO'S CHOICE - WILL SHE RUN A REAL RACE?
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amALBANY WESTCHESTER County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro is within days of making an announcement that will decide not only her own political future but - for many years to come...
OGNIBENE IS OUT ON MIKE'S WIN-WIN DAY
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg scored two easy victories at the Board of Elections yesterday, as Republican rival Tom Ognibene was tossed from the ballot and a challenge to the mayor's Independence Party...
GIVE THE DOG A CLONE - KOREANS CREATE FI-DUO
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amHere's something to set tongues and tails wagging: the world's first successfully cloned dog. He's Snuppy, a 4-month- old Afghan hound created by a team of scientists at Seoul National...
MERRY-GO-WRONG: CITY BID FAILS TO STOP CONEY SALE
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amTime is running out for the city to keep the historic, hand-carved Coney Island carousel from being sold off to another city. "The city has made a bid [but] it...
WEINER MAKES MAYOR BID OFFICIAL
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amThis just in: Rep. Anthony Weiner is running for mayor. In case New Yorkers didn't know that - despite the fact that he's been campaigning across the city for months...
GAG ON LOHAN DIVORCE - JUDGE BANS COURT PRESS
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amA Long Island judge barred the press from a bitter divorce trial between the parents of teen starlet Lindsay Lohan yesterday. Lawyers for Dina and Michael Lohan both lobbied to...
'CHOP-SLAY' PAL SHAKES WITH FEAR
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amA trembling, 16-year-old accused accomplice in a dismemberment slaying was ordered to remain in a New Jersey jail yesterday for allegedly helping his psycho pal dump the chopped-up body of...
HOWARD BEACH VICTIM'S PAL IN COURT FOR HOLDUP
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amA friend of the Howard Beach beating victim was arraigned on an indictment yesterday that charges him with gunpoint robbery of a straphanger on a subway car. Richard Wood, 20,...
HOFSTRA RAISING RUCKUS
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amLooking to avoid a legal ruckus over its students illegally trading music and movies online, Hofstra University has inked a deal with digital file-sharing giant Ruckus to offer cheap downloads...
THE REAL TARGET - IT'S NOT THE U.S. MARINES
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amIN Iraq yesterday a roadside bomb killed 14 Marines. Two days earlier, six Marines from the same outfit were ambushed and killed. Yet those Marines were not the terrorists' primary...
TEACHER CHARGED IN GAL'S RAPE
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amA Queens high-school Spanish teacher was arrested on rape and child-endangerment charges yesterday for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old female student, police said. Francisco Aguilar, 28, a substitute teacher...
9/11 KIN LIVID OVER 'LOONY' RAP
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amThe husband of a top aide to Mayor Bloomberg has angered 9/11 family members by referring to opponents of a cultural complex at Ground Zero as "loonier family groups," in...
50 CENT - YEARS DEALING CRACK ON STREET TAUGHT HIM HOW TO MAKE IT IN RAP
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amRapper 50 Cent says he learned everything he needed to know to make it in the music business selling crack on the streets of Queens. In "From Pieces to Weight:...
BOMBING KILLS 14 MARINES
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amFourteen Marines were killed yesterday when their vehicle was destroyed by a large bomb in the deadliest roadside attack suffered by American forces since the invasion of Iraq. The Marines...
LIB RADIO LOSES EXCUSE FOR LOAN-REPAY DELAY
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amAir America's foot-dragging on repaying $875,000 borrowed from a beleaguered Boys & Girls Club in The Bronx has nothing to do with a probe of the club's controversial loans, city...
LONDON BOMBS SHOCKER - HOW-TO ON INTERNET
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amPeroxide was one of the main ingredients in the explosives in last month's terror attacks in London - and recipes for using it to create devastating bombs are easily available...
SCHOOL-BUS CRASH DRIVER SUES CITY
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amThe driver behind the wheel when a school bus filled with sixth-graders flipped on a Belt Parkway off-ramp is suing the city for $2 million - for allowing his bus...
JURY GOOF WAS VERY DEFINITION OF FOOLISH
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amA Manhattan judge is spelling out her rationale for tossing a verdict in a $30 million NYPD sexual-harassment case - it's because a juror looked up a legal term in...
'PERV' CAUGHT IN OWN 'NET
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amA Brooklyn man who thought he was meeting a 14-year-old girl for a salacious rendezvous was busted when the teen turned out to be a horde of cops, authorities said...
SCIENTOLOGY CLINIC BAD MEDICINE: EX-WORKER
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amA SCIENTOLOGY-run "detoxification" clinic in Manhattan is endangering patients because of its leaders' strict adherence to the church's teachings, a whistle-blowing former employee has told City Confidential. The source, who...
'BIAS' VICTIM'S PAL ARRAIGNED
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amA friend of the Howard Beach beating victim was arraigned on an indictment yesterday that charges him with gunpoint robbery of a straphanger on a subway car. Richard Wood, 20,...
LONDON BOMB RECIPES ALL OVER 'NET, POLICE SAY
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amPeroxide was one of the main ingredients in the explosives in last month's terror attacks in London - and recipes for using it to create devastating bombs are easily available...
PLAYLAND HORROR - BOY, 7, FOUND DEAD IN WATER RIDE
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amA 7-year-old boy died yesterday on a water ride at Rye Playland amusement park. The death, the park's second in 15 months, occurred on Ye Old Mill, a relatively placid,...
NEW HIT FOR 'MOB' COPS
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amAnd the hits just keep on coming. The feds have charged the two reputed mob cops with taking part in yet another Mafia hit: the 1986 slaying of a international...
HOME STRETCHED - POST PIC EXTENDS MARTHA'S HOUSE ARREST BY 3 WEEKS
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amHighfalutin homebody Martha Stewart will be forced to spend a wee bit more time around the house these days - she was slapped with three extra weeks of home confinement...
TEACHER CHARGED IN TEEN RAPE
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amA Queens high-school teacher was arrested yesterday for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old female student, police said. Francisco Aguilar, 28, a substitute Spanish teacher at Cardozo HS in Bayside,...
POWER LINE TANGLES AMTRAK
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amAmtrak riders should brace for a bumpy commute today on the heavily-traveled route between New York and Washington. A power line went down last night in Levittown, Pa., shutting down...
NYPD DAILY CRIME BLOTTER
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amBrooklyn * A man and a woman were arrested for assaulting each other in Coney Island, authorities said yesterday. Sources said Raymond Moody, 45, and Antionet Gordon, 43, were hanging...
FIRE DIMS LIGHTS ON LOWER E. SIDE
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amA transformer fire on the Lower East Side last night injured two Con Edison workers and led the utility to reduce voltage in the area by 8 percent, a utility...
14 MARINES DIE IN SNEAK BLAST - IRAQ BOMB HITS VEHICLE FROM UNIT THAT LOST SIX IN AMBUSH
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amFourteen Marines were killed yesterday when their vehicle was destroyed by a large bomb in the deadliest roadside attack suffered by American forces since the invasion of Iraq. The Marines...
MERRY-GO-WRONG - CITY BID FAILS TO STOP CONEY SALE
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amTime is running out for the city to keep the historic, hand-carved Coney Island carousel from being sold off to another city. "The city has made a bid [but] it...
SPITZER TOPS MIKE: POLL
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amALBANY - While Mayor Bloomberg is way ahead in his race for re-election, he'd be crushed if he challenges Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for governor next year, according to a...
SOMETHING TO PONDER - JINTS MAY EXPAND ROLE OF TOP RETURNER
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amALBANY - Two Giants last season led the league in something positive. Tiki Barber's 2,096 yards from scrimmage was a well-documented achievement. Willie Ponder's NFL-high 26.9-yard kickoff return average was...
TIME FOR THE STAR TO CARRY HIS TEAM
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amIT'S time. It's time for the Mets to make their move. It's time for Carlos Beltran to start playing like the superstar he was advertised to be when the Mets...
TAYLOR WANTS HOPKINS AGAIN
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amMiddleweight champ Jermain Taylor was soaking in his Jacuzzi, watching "The Sopranos," the only show he watches, when the realization of attaining his lifelong dream hit him with such passion...
MARBURY EYES 2-GUARD SPOT
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amStephon Marbury may not get a chance to defend his claim he's the best point guard in the NBA. Because he may end up at shooting guard. Such a move...
GIAMBI AL PLAYER OF MONTH
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES CLEVELAND - Nine months ago the Yankees looked into ways to void the $84 million left on his contract after his BALCO grand jury testimony was leaked to...
LEETCH TO BRUINS; SCOTT WAITS IT OUT
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amThe deluge of unrestricted free agent signings continued yesterday, but Scott Niedermayer and Brian Rafalski continued waiting, which may become financially dangerous. Brian Leetch was one of the big names...
ACHY PLAXICO HITS THE PINE THIS TIME
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amGIANT NOTES ALBANY - Plaxico Burress impressed his new teammates and coaches by not missing a single workout after hyper-extending his knee during his very first training camp practice with...
PIAZZA DROPS TO 7TH
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amSinking like a stone through the Mets' lineup, Mike Piazza batted seventh last night for the first time since his rookie year with the Dodgers, 1993. "It's part of our...
CARLOS AT A LOSS - BELTRAN SAYS BOOS DON'T BOTHER HIM
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amMets fans didn't care it was a line drive off Carlos Beltran's bat. Didn't care it was scorched. When Beltran lined into a double play to right field because Miguel...
UPHOLDING LAW - MICKENS WANTS TO WIN MORE THAN START
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amWhile Ty Law's representatives and the Jets figure out whether the former Patriot will join the team, the Jets' longtime cornerback, Ray Mickens insists he is taking it all in...
MILBURY TRADES PECA AFTER SIGNING SATAN
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amThe Islanders will have a new captain this year. Mike Milbury was up to his old, bold and mad ways yesterday as the Isles' GM pulled the trigger on a...
PERJURY PROBE - CONGRESS EYES ANSWERS, MAY CALL NEW HEARINGS
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amCongress will investigate whether disgraced Oriole slugger Rafael Palmeiro perjured himself when he told a House committee in March that he hadn't taken steroids, the chairman of the House Government...
MCGRAW, CELESTIN EYE SPOT
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amJET NOTES Jon McGraw and Oliver Celestin are battling for a spot at safety, with two different perspectives. "It's frustrating, because I've been here a while," said McGraw, a fourth-year...
ISHII IN LIMBO AS TRACHSEL RETURN NEARS
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amMET NOTES Victor Zambrano only lasted 1 1/3 innings Tuesday, so the Met bullpen was stretched as thin as Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four. Although manager Willie Randolph wouldn't...
DEVILS NEID TO WAIT UNTIL TODAY
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amJust as the bidding ended, it became more vital than ever for the Devils to re-sign Scott Niedermayer. They learn the answer today. Just down the Turnpike, the Flyers -...
MILBURY TRADES PECA, CUTS DEAL WITH SATAN
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amThe Islanders will have a new captain this year. Islanders GM Mad Mike Milbury was up to his old, bold ways yesterday as he pulled the trigger on a truckload...
BULLPEN BLOWUP - HERNANDEZ, LOOPER CAN'T SAVE METS
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amBrewers 6Mets 4 Victor Zambrano's putrid outing for the Mets on Tuesday had a lingering odor last night. Both Roberto Hernandez and Braden Looper worked two innings Tuesday, in part...
MEDIOCRITY KNOCKS AT AMAZIN'S DOOR
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amTHIS is the way life is on The Road to Mediocrity. On a night when Pedro Martinez offered up seven gut-check innings and Mike Piazza hit a 430-foot bomb from...
NO RELIEF FOR PEDRO
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amIt was another one of those elbow-grease games for Pedro Martinez, who dug deep into his arsenal of pitches to get through seven smoldering innings last night against the Brewers....
PEDRO: MY GAS TANK WASN'T EMPTY
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amPedro Martinez said he had enough left in the tank to remain on the mound last night but would not dispute Willie Randolph's decision to pull him with a one-run...
GOLD AND ROSES GRABS 'CAB'
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amSARATOGA SPRINGS - Thunderstorm rolled in before start of fifth race, knocking out some electricity and causing track to be sealed and sloppy for sixth. Seventh race came off turf,...
CASHMAN: IT'S AL RIGHT NOW - GM, TORRE STILL HAVE FAITH IN LEITER
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amCLEVELAND - Brian Cashman believes Al Leiter has enough left to help the Yankees. However, the GM isn't making any long-term promises to the struggling lefty. "We will see," Cashman...
4 ½ BEHIND SOX AS TRIBE MAULS MOOSE
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amINDIANS 7 - YANKEES 4 CLEVELAND - The warning signs danced on the edge of the Yankee universe. Suspect starting pitching had deleted them from first place and their wins...
BOMBERS HAVE SINKIN' FEELIN' - 4 ½ BEHIND SOX AS TRIBE MAULS MOOSE
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amIndians 7 - Yankees 4 CLEVELAND - Seventeen days ago, the Yankees were in first place and believing they were good enough to put distance between them and the Red...
BOSS' BELLAMY ROAD IS TRAVERS POSSIBILITY
August 4, 2005 | 4:00amSARATOGA SPRINGS - Will George Steinbrenner's supercolt Bellamy Road - runaway winner of the Wood Memorial, who hasn't raced since finishing seventh as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby -...