December 21, 2005
370 LEXINGTON GOING ON BLOCK
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amIF you are annoyed about walking to work but have deep pockets, you can always buy a building closer to Grand Central Terminal. Right after the New Year, 370 Lexington...
BLACK BAILS TO U.K. FOR A HOLIDAY BREAK
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amConrad Black, the ousted newspaper tycoon facing criminal fraud charges, is in London after a judge agreed to relax the conditions of his bail. On Monday Black left Toronto, where...
CALPINE CHAP. 11 EXPECTED
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amTroubled California energy giant Calpine Corp. is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection possibly today, sources told The Post. Calpine, with $17.5 billion in junk bonds sitting in portfolios across...
TELECOM TYCOON NAILED ON $100M STOCK FRAUD
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amBrooklyn's own telecom tycoon Joe Nacchio was indicted yesterday for cheating with insider information to sell $100.8 million of his Qwest stock - while his investors lost a staggering $106...
MERC BID WON'T MOVE NYMEX TO A QUICK DEAL
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amDespite the frenzied buying and selling that takes place every day on the trading floor, the New York Mercantile Exchange seems like a tough place to hammer out a deal....
WEEK OF WORRY - CITY RETAILERS FEAR HOLIDAY HITS FROM STRIKE
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amAs strike-suffering New Yorkers worried more about commuting than Christmas shopping, retailers such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy's are in for a rough ride, entering the holiday season's home...
MACK COMEBACK AT MORGAN
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amA blockbuster fourth quarter that saw Morgan Stanley post a 49 percent jump in profit capped the latest stage of chief John Mack's plan to turn around the Wall Street...
'TIME'S UP NEW YORK' - EDITOR RESIGNS DAYS AFTER 'NEW WORLD' COVERAGE
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amTHE Native Americans are mad, and a chief is gone. Officially, the two have nothing to do with each other. At Time Out New York yesterday, Editor-in-Chief Joe Angio resigned....
KIRK JERKS GM $$
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amBillionaire Kirk Kerkorian is starting to unload some of his baffling investment in General Motors, pushing the stock toward a free-fall, and losing more than $650 million in six months....
WARNACO IN CALVIN DEAL
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amThe Warnaco Group, a firm that once sparred with Calvin Klein over the rights to make underwear and denim under the designer's name, yesterday said it had acquired the companies...
AL SHARPTON NIXES SITCOM
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amREV. Al Sharpton will not appear in a new CBS sitcom after all. Sharpton says that talks between his office and CBS' sister company, Paramount, to create a comedy called...
HOLY WAR - 'VIEW'S' STAR AND JOY DUKE IT OUT OVER RELIGION
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amA holy war broke out on "The View" yesterday between co-hosts Joy Behar and Star Jones during a discussion about religion. The argument was spurred by a clip of Barbara...
'TURTLE' DIES
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amDONNIE Carroll, the Dorchester rapper and inspiration for the character "Turtle" in Mark Wahlberg's hit HBO comedy, "Entourage," died over the weekend, reportedly of an asthma attack. Carroll, 39, who...
IT'S SPAMA-NOT - SMASH CAN'T CURRY AS MUCH BOX-OFFICE FAVOR
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amTHE Holy Grail is changing hands at "Spamalot." Acclaimed Shakespearean actor Simon Russell Beale was scheduled to take over the role of King Arthur from Tim Curry last night in...
'NIP'S' CARVER DOUBLE SHOCK
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amNOW it can be revealed: "The Carver," who terrorized the "Nip/Tuck" universe for the last year-and-a-half is actually two people: Dr. Quentin Costa and Det. Kit McGraw. Last night's two-hour...
FINE WHINE - LARRY DAVID ONLY WANTED A CULT FOLLOWING
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amWe should all have such flukes. That's how Larry David views the incredible fortune he has amassed as cocreator of "Seinfeld" and creator of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" on HBO. In...
BEST THINGS ON THE MENU - A COLLECTION OF THE FINEST DISHES OF 2005
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amAPPETIZERS & SOUP Mozzarella Bar Misto ......................... $30 Bond 45 (154 W. 54th St.) Cheesy in the best possible way is this abbondanza of buffalo, burrata, fior di latte and...
STARR REPORT
December 21, 2005 | 5:00am'Extra,' 'AH' excel Good news for both "Access Hollywood" and "Extra" in the ratings department. "AH" (Nancy O'Dell, Billy Bush) had its best week of the season for the week...
THEY'LL ALWAYS HAVE SHANGHAI
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amBOGIE would be proud of Ralph Fiennes, capping a year of remarkable performances by playing a world-weary nightclub owner who isn't as cynical as he thinks in the final Merchant...
LOW MEIN - MEET THE NEW MR. CHOW, SAME AS THE OLD MR. CHOW
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amTHE holidays bring a gold rush to high-end Chinese restaurants - Shun Lee West feeds 900 customers on Christmas Day - so what better week than this to launch Philippe,...
NO 'FUN' - IT COST $100M; IT'LL MAKE $10
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amSEE Dick flop. "Fun With Dick & Jane" casts a wildly mugging Jim Carrey and a mostly bored Téa Leoni adrift in a lame and shrill remake of a 1977...
DOZEN GET BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amAS a comedy, "Cheaper By the Dozen 2" doesn't have a lot to offer - the dog tramples through brunch and kids get s'mores smeared on their faces - but...
IT'S V END OF ROAD FOR STEAKHOUSE
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amV STEAKHOUSE is about to filet its last cut of Niman Ranch beef. Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten told The Post, "The revenues we were doing did not justify the cost of...
CHITA BONITA - SHE MAY BE A 'LIVING LEGEND,' BUT RIVERA'S STILL RED-HOT
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amYES, Chita Rivera says, smiling humbly. "Spamalot" star Sara Ramirez really did kiss her feet. Who can blame her? This, after all, is Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero - who...
SUBWAY-PUSH OUTRAGE - PSYCHO '99 KILLER GETS A NEW TRIAL
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amALBANY - The man who shoved Kendra Webdale to her death on the subway in 1999, spurring a law that allows for the court-ordered treatment of the mentally ill, had...
CABBY SOCKS WOMAN: COPS - RIDERS' TELL HORROR $TORIES
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amA cabby belted an Upper East Side woman in the face last night after she argued that she was overcharged on an eight-block ride, police said. The incident capped off...
TOUSSAINT'S MODEL - BUT MIKE WON'T PLAY PATSY
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amIN taking his members out on strike in the middle of the night - in open defiance of state law and the city's best interests - Transport Workers Union chief...
AROUND THE CITY IN '80 DAZE
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amThe city's last transit strike ended after 11 days with no one going to jail, nearly $20 million in penalties being imposed on strikers - and a settlement that both...
L.I. LEOPARD FIEND GUILTY
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amThe Long Island man who savagely beat his wife and chained her to a handrail - while his pet leopards roamed the house - pleaded guilty yesterday to a slew...
CARJACKERS TARGETING L.I. MALLS
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amPolice on Long Island are looking for a pair of carjackers who have swiped vehicles from customers at two malls - and cops say the thugs may be operating from...
BUSH BOUNCES BACK WITH PEACH OF A POLL - 47% APPROVAL RATING HIGHEST SINCE MARCH
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - The nation's confidence in President Bush is bouncing back to its highest level since March, following the successful parliamentary elections in Iraq and a plunge in fuel prices...
ALBANY CRACK SHOCK - GOV'S AIDE ARRESTED
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amALBANY - A longtime Pataki administration aide was suspended yesterday after being charged on Monday with possessing crack cocaine. Caroline Quartararo, 45, has most recently been serving as Pataki's $100,000-a-year...
SEXY PARIS' SLAY FEARS REVEALED
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amLOS ANGELES - Party girl-turned-crime fighter Paris Hilton feared for her life, believing the same thugs who brutalized "Girls Gone Wild" producer Joe Francis were coming after her, the soft-core...
HEY, TWU - MEET REAL SUFFERING WORKERS
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amTEN miles later, Hazel Pagoada ran out of good humor, body heat and the use of her feet. Her mind was going next. "Jesus Christ. I can't take it anymore!"...
BALLISTIC BLOOMY BLASTS THE 'SELFISH THUGS WHO DON'T CARE ABOUT PEOPLE & HAVE NO RESPECT FOR THE LAW'
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amMayor Bloomberg hit the boiling point yesterday. During a press conference at City Hall, Bloomberg - using the strongest language he has on any subject since taking office - lit...
'HEROES LAW' STAYS ON TRACK
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amALBANY - Gov. Pataki plans to push ahead with today's special legislative session to tighten penalties for assaulting cops and selling illegal firearms despite the ongoing transit strike, aides said...
CRISIS CENTER SPRINGS TO LIFE
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amAt the city's Office of Emergency Management command center beneath the Brooklyn Bridge, workers were glued to the TV until the wee hours of the morning yesterday, waiting for word...
SHRINKS PROBE PERVY PETER - SUICIDE WATCH FOR FIRE-FAKE SICKO
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amThe man prosecutors say is the crazed creep responsible for a horrific Halloween sex attack in Chelsea was having his head examined yesterday. Peter Braunstein, 41, is under suicide watch...
SCHOOLKIDS GET LESSON IN READING AND RIDING
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amHundreds of thousands of city public-school students strapped on skates, dusted off their bicycles, walked for miles in the cold, and hitched rides with desperate motorists to get to school...
BUSINESS DERAILED - STRANDED STAFFERS KEEP SHOPS SHUT
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amA lightning bolt of fear struck business owners all over the city yesterday as the devastating disruption caused by the transit strike became clear. Although business at many stores was...
OUTLAWS WILL STRIKE IT POOR - $1MIL-A-DAY PENALTY COULD BANKRUPT UNION
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amA judge yesterday imposed a $1 million-a-day fine on the union representing striking transit workers - a punishment that could drain the local's coffers by tomorrow, a union lawyer complained....
THE NYPD ESTABLISHED AN AROUND-THE-CLOCK PRESENCE ...
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amThe NYPD established an around-the-clock presence inside about 150 subway stations - one-third of the system - after Transport Workers Union members abandoned their posts early yesterday. Thousands of additional...
STRIPPER-SLAY CHARGES DUE
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amA fitness instructor yesterday was set to be slapped with murder charges for butchering his stripper ex-girlfriend - but grand jurors were thwarted by the transit strike. Instead, he was...
MOST OF US BLAME TWU: POLL
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amA sizable majority of New Yorkers believe the Transport Workers Union is to blame for the transit strike, according to a nypost.com poll yesterday. More than 72 percent of 5,894...
GOTTI IN BIZARRE LAWYER SWITCH
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amJohn "Junior" Gotti is firing the lawyer who successfully defended him against conviction on several major crimes - in favor of one whose client landed the stiffest sentence for the...
THEY'LL TAKE YOU FOR A RIDE - CAB RIDERS' HORROR $TORIES
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amGreedy hacks took advantage of the transit nightmare yesterday, overcharging consumers two- and three-fold, even as hotel rooms, rental cars and other services in demand due to the strike remained...
BAG-SNATCH 'FOOT DOC' GETS 3 YRS.
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amA Queens judge put her foot down in the case of a podiatrist wannabe who resorted to purse-snatching to pay for school - sentencing him to up to three years...
HUSTLING HOSPITALS STAY HALE & HEARTY
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amHospitals across the city struggled to treat patients in the face of the transit strike and used every trick in the book to keep running - from renting their own...
ROGER DODGES QUESTIONS ABOUT WHEN WORKERS WILL RETURN
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amTransit-union boss Roger Toussaint said yesterday he's ready to go back to the bargaining table, but wouldn't say when he'd order striking bus and subway workers back on the job....
WORKERS PICKET - BUT 1,000 CROSS LINE
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amTransit workers picketed in the bitter cold early yesterday outside a massive Coney Island train yard - demanding respect and better pay - right after getting the word to walk...
FALLING CABINET KILLS TOT IN B'KLYN
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amA Brooklyn toddler was crushed to death when a china cabinet fell on top of her during a heated argument between her parents, cops said yesterday. A neighbor said she...
PIRRO TO END RACE VS. HILLARY THIS WEEK - SWITCH TO AG COULD COME TOMORROW
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amALBANY - Hapless Republican Senate candidate Jeanine Pirro has moved up her timetable and will switch to the attorney general's race tomorrow or Friday, sources close to her campaign said...
SOY-MILK MOTHER CHARGED - 'SUFFOCATED BABIES'
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amThe Brooklyn mom of infant twins - whose sudden simultaneous deaths sparked fears of tainted soy milk - was charged yesterday with their murders, authorities said. Sources said the tragic...
NYERS STRIKE BACK - RAGE AT UNION WHILE TAKING TRANSIT WALKOUT IN 'STRIDE'
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amShivering, skating, waiting and sharing cabs, millions of plucky New Yorkers pedaled, plodded and prevailed in the first transit strike in 25 years yesterday by doing what they do best....
3 COPS HURT IN CRASH
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amThree police officers were injured early today when their patrol cars collided in Brooklyn, authorities said. The police cruisers were both responding to a call for assistance from a fellow...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amBrooklyn * A Bedford-Stuyvesant man was found murdered in an elevator, police sources said yesterday. Jason Jackson, 27, was waiting for the elevator car on the eighth-floor of the Tompkins...
SUBWAY SHOVE OUTRAGE - PSYCHO '99 KILLER GETS A NEW TRIAL
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amALBANY - The man who shoved Kendra Webdale to her death on the subway in 1999, spurring a law that allows for the courtordered treatment of the mentally ill, had...
KID IN CRUSH DEATH - FURNITURE-FALL HORROR
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amA Brooklyn toddler was crushed to death when a china cabinet fell on top of her during a heated argument between her parents, cops said yesterday. A neighbor said she...
STRIPPER-SLAY RAP DUE - TRANSIT STRIKE HOLDING UP GRAND JURY
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amA fitness instructor yesterday was set to be slapped with murder charges for viciously butchering his stripper ex-girlfriend - but grand jurors were thwarted by the transit strike. Instead, he...
'SOY-DEATH' MOM SUFFOCATED TWINS: COPS
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amThe Brooklyn mom of infant twins - whose sudden simultaneous deaths sparked fears of tainted soy milk - was charged yesterday with their murders, authorities said. Cops say that far...
AROUND THE CITY IN '80 DAZE: OUR LAST STRIKE
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amThe city's last transit strike ended after 11 days with no one going to jail, nearly $20 million in penalties being imposed on strikers - and a settlement that both...
NYERS STRIKE BACK - * RAGE AT WALKOUT *TAKE IT IN 'STRIDE' * TWU IS $LAPPED
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amShivering, skating, waiting and sharing cabs, millions of plucky New Yorkers pedaled, plodded and prevailed in the first transit strike in 25 years yesterday by doing what they do best....
VIN AWAITS FINAL BOW - HE'LL GET CHEERS, CLOSURE
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amIn a Jet season lost in injury and far too many losses, there's a bit of nostalgia to tend to before it ends. Vinny Testaverde will play again. When? We...
ONE CALL WAS ALL IT TOOK FOR PHIFER
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amGIANT NOTES Roman Phifer said he nearly left his football career behind while out of the game and living in Los Angeles. What did it take to get him back...
TROUBLED KNICKS SPURIOUS AT BEST
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amSPURS at KNICKS - Tonight 7:30 - MSG; ESPN (1050) As if the Knicks didn't already have enough problems. Losers of six straight, beset by injuries and owners (before last...
LAW EYES PRO BOWL
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amJET NOTES The Pro Bowl rosters are to be announced by the NFL tomorrow, and the Jets have a couple of players with an outside shot of gaining recognition. Defensive...
TIME FOR JOHNNIES TO PUT UP THEIR DUKES
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amDURHAM, N.C. - An open letter to the 2005-06 St. John's basketball team: Who do you think you are? When you - what was the phrase used in Bull Durham?...
FISTS FLY, BOUT SET
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amHasim Rahman and James Toney fought for free Monday night in Cancun. On March 18, they'll square off again, this time for the WBC heavyweight title. The fight is tentatively...
BRODEUR SETS RECORD STRAIGHT: HE'LL STAY PUT
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amForget that trade rumor, Martin Brodeur says. He insists he's not going anywhere - not Detroit, not Colorado nor anywhere else. The Devils' franchise goalie says he has a no-trade...
PEDRO'S TOE STILL HURTS
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amFor now, the Mets might want to hold on to their surplus of starting pitching - because Pedro Martinez revealed his right big toe is still hurting. Despite three months...
BLAKE WILL GIVE IT A SHOT
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amDEVILS at ISLES - Tonight - 7:00 FSN, FSN2; WFAN, WLIE Jason Blake will dress tonight for the first time since leaving the Coliseum ice on a stretcher eight days...
TRIO GRAND - NETS WIN 3RD STRAIGHT; 35 FOR VINCE
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amNets 99 - Clippers 85 For the first time in this consistently inconsistent season, the Nets have a three-game winning streak. Modest as it is, it's given them hope because...
JACKSON, MCINNIS ON BENCH
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amOnce again, F/C Marc Jackson and backup PG Jeff McInnis were conspicuously absent from the Nets' rotation. In a 99-85 win in which the Nets led almost wire to wire,...
LATE SPREE MAKES LOU A WINNER
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amDevils 3 - Rangers 1 Lou's Lightning struck, late and hard on the suddenly struggling Rangers. Better the Rangers than on themselves, the Devils figure. The results of inspiration -...
BOSS IS WATCHING
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amTHE only time before last night that Lou Lamoriello had been behind an NHL bench was in Boston on May 10, 1988 for the fifth game of the 1988 Wales...
JOHNNY HAS CENTER FILLED - GETS FOUR-YEAR, $52M CONTRACT
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amHow about Idiot's Delight? Johnny Damon, a self-proclaimed "idiot" has accepted a four-year, $52 million offer from the Yankees to play center field and ditch his signature Charlie Manson look....
ADDING IDIOT IS NO LAUGHING MATTER
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amThe punch line was: Bubba Crosby. You have to admire how the Yankees told their joke with such conviction. You know the one. Knock, knock and the guy who is...
SET-UP PLAN - BOMBERS BAG DOTEL TO BOLSTER BULLPEN
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amThe Yankees are gambling $2 million that Octavio Dotel's surgically repaired right elbow will allow him to significantly contribute to their rebuilt bullpen. Dotel, 32, and the Yankees reached a...
NO LAUGHING MATTER - START CROSBY IN CENTER? WHAT A JOKE
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amTHE punch line is: Bubba Crosby. It is hilarious. The Yankees sure do tell their jokes with conviction. You know the one: Knock, knock ... and the guy who is...
THIS TIME, DEVS BELONG TO LOU
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amTHE only time before last night that Lou Lamoriello had been behind an NHL bench was in Boston on May 10, 1988 for the fifth game of the 1988 Wales...
NETS ON THE RUN - REBOUNDS GET FAST BREAK GOING
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amThe equation is a simple one, one so basic any sixth-grade student could follow it, or any kid on the playground. Defense + Rebounding = Running. It's the formula the...
BRODEUR: I'M STAYING PUT
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amForget that trade rumor, Martin Brodeur says. He insists he's not going anywhere, not Detroit, Colorado nor anywhere else. The Devils' franchise goalie says he has a notrade clause, has...
PEDRO'S TOE STILL HURTING
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amFor now, the Mets might want to hold on to their surplus of starting pitching - because Pedro Martinez revealed his right big toe is still hurting. Despite three months...
DOTEL GETTING $2M DEAL
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amThe Yankees are gambling $2 million that Octavio Dotel's surgically repaired right elbow will allow him to significantly contribute to their rebuilt bullpen. And the 32-year-old reliever believes the hinge...
CLIPPERS' TURNAROUND FAMILIAR
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amNET NOTES If anybody could appreciate the turnaround the resurgent Clippers have made, it's the Nets. "I think what they've done is the same thing we did when we first...
BLAKE WILL GIVE IT A GO
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amJason Blake will dress tonight for the first time since leaving the Coliseum ice on a stretcher eight days ago. Blake suffered a concussion when he took a freakish spill...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
December 21, 2005 | 5:00amMove over, King Kong - Snowzilla is here. The 16-foot-tall creature, based on Godzilla, was made of snow and ice over four weeks by Billy Ray Powers and his kids...