December 23, 2005
AN OMAHA STAKE-OUT; BUFFETT JOINS GATESES, BONO FOR TIME COVER SHOOT
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amBERKSHIRE Hathaway boss Warren Buffett, the second-richest man in the world, ended up as an unheralded hand-holding extra on Time magazine's Persons of the Year photo shoot. The winners of...
SUN IN CIRC SWITCH
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amThe New York Sun, which has been struggling to find readers and advertisers, said it plans to drop out of the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The daily said it was...
UPSCALE CHOCOLATE MAKERS SAVOR GROWTH
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amFor generations, it's been cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve. That may be passé. A boom in luxury chocolates suggests the traditional Oreo for Santa may be giving...
BEAR'S BASHED; BANK HIT FOR $10M DAMAGES IN FRAUD CASE
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amBear Stearns will pay about $10 million in damages after a jury ruled that the Wall Street powerhouse gave bad advice to key players in a fledging boom-time Internet company....
TAKING TOMMY ; APAX TO PAY $1.5B; PHILLIPS MOVES FOR LICENSE
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amTommy Hilfiger, the struggling clothier, is close to finalizing a deal to be taken private by buyout firm Apax Partners for roughly $1.5 billion, ending months of speculation about the...
PRINCE REMARKS SHEIK UP SONY SHARES
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amWhen Saudi Prince Alwaleed speaks, people jump the gun. Investors went on a buying frenzy yesterday for Sony Corp. shares when they believed his off-the-cuff public remarks contained hidden meaning...
GROWING CITY; PRIVILEGED YOUTH COULD LEARN FROM BRONX 'KIDS'
December 23, 2005 | 5:00am"New York Voices: New York Kids: A Subway Ride Through Childhood" Tonight at 9:30 on WNET/Ch. 13 * * (two stars) WE are raising a generation of crybabies. That's the...
STARR REPORT
December 23, 2005 | 5:00am'Show' tunes 'em in "The Early Show," much like its network stablemate the "CBS Evening News," is closing out the year on a pos itive note. For the fourth time...
TAKE ALVIN AILEY PREMIERE TO HEART
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATRECity Center, 130 W. 55th St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues; (212) 581-1212. Season runs through Jan. 1. ALVIN Ailey American Dance Theatre is offering a...
AMBITIOUS, AMBIGUOUS
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amHere are excerpts from Lou Lumenick's Wednesday review of "Munich," which opens today. MUNICH **** (four stars)STEVEN Spielberg's least typical movie is a provocative, morally ambiguous thriller than follows an...
HORROR WIZARD FROM OZ
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amWOLF CREEK*** (three stars) Christmas evil.Running time: 95 minutes. Rated R (intense violence, gore, profanity). Opens Sunday at the Kips Bay, the Village East, the Loews 34th St., others. THOSE...
U.S. TV GETS 'UGLY'
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amENGLISH-speaking viewers may finally get to fall in love with Latina TV sensation "Ugly Betty." The popular Colombian telenovela - a shorter kind of soap opera with a beginning, a...
KOPPEL'S 'PRESS' TOUR
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amIT didn't take long. Ted Koppel will ap pear on "Meet the Press" this Sunday, a linchpin for NBC News, the archrival of his recent alma mater, ABC News. He...
'GRADUATE' DROOL
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amRUMOR HAS IT . . .* (one star) Under-"Graduate."Running time: 96 minutes. Rated PG-13 (incest jokes, crude humor, drug reference). At the Kips Bay, the Orpheum, the 84th Street, others....
FRENCH MYSTERY'S QUITE A FIND
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amHIDDEN (CACHE) *** ½ (three and a half stars) Somebody's watching.In French, with English subtitles. Running time: 117 minutes. Rated R (strong violence). At the Sunshine and the Lincoln Plaza....
PUTS YOU THROUGH WRINGER
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amTHE RINGER * (one star) YOU could make a very funny comedy about a guy who pretends to be retarded so he can win the Special Olympics, but "The Ringer"...
REALITY WON'T INTRUDE
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amTHE INTRUDER **1/2 (two and a half stars) I usually have nice things to say about French director Claire Denis' elliptical films. I even was kind to the baffling "Trouble...
CRASS-ANOVA; THE PASSION IS MISSING IN SITCOM-ISH TREATMENT
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amCASANOVA** (two stars) Dull rake.Running time: 110 minutes. Rated R (sexual content). At the Lincoln Square, the Empire, the Chelsea, others. DON'T confuse the 18th-century Venetian setting in "Casanova" with...
'ALIAS' BAD GUYS LIVE ON
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amFOR the good guys on "Alias," this season is the end of the road. But for the bad guys, it may just be the beginning. "There are versions of this...
SLOWPOKE - AHONTAS - RARE TERRENCE MALICK FILM IS A LONG BEAUTIFUL BORE
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amTHE NEW WORLD (two stars) A 70mm dose of Ambien. Running time: 150 minutes. Rated PG-13 (intense battle sequences). Sunday at the Lincoln Square, Broadway and W. 68th St. TERRENCE...
ART OF THE 'DEAL' - SECRETS BEHIND THE HIT GAME SHOW
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amNBC has a nice hit on its hands with "Deal or No Deal," the prime-time game show hosted by Howie Mandel that's airing all this week. "Deal," produced by reality...
'THREEPENNY' LAUPER
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amSHE'S so unusual - which is why Cyndi Lauper fans will be flocking to Broadway this spring to see her in "The Threepenny Opera." The '80s icon with the multi-octave...
THEY'LL DO THE 'WHITE' STUFF
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amBEATLES cover band the Fab Faux are really the fab five, because The Beatles were so extraordi nary you need five musicians to precisely replicate their studio sound, particularly in...
THEATER SQUEEZE; PRODUCERS LINING UP FOR CHITA'S STAGE
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amDON'T look up, Chita! The vultures are circling. With every theater on Broadway spoken for, the producers of four new shows, sensing that Chita Rivera's "The Dancer's Life" is going...
ALL ABOARD! STRIKE ENDS; * BUSES & TRAINS ROLL THIS MORNING * UNION CAVES IN AFTER JAIL THREAT * MTA OFFERS PENSION COMPROMISE
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amNo more freezing walks, no more being a sardine in Penn Station, no more Scrooging cabdrivers. It's o-o-o-ver! Facing the fury of straphangers, stupendous fines and the possibility of spending...
BITTER ENEMIES REACHED TRUCE OVER PASTRAMI SANDWICHES IN HIDDEN HUDDLE AT THE HELMSLEY
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amTransit workers put the brakes on their strike only after state mediators covertly huddled with union and MTA officials at the New York Helmsley Hotel in a clandestine tete-a-tete steps...
BIKING BRAVEST 'STRUCK' DOWN; POL'S SON SLAMMED BY BUS ON HIS WAY TO WORK
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amA firefighter riding his bicycle to work because of the transit strike was critically injured yesterday when he was struck by a bus, police said. Matthew Long, 39, broke both...
HOLY GIFTS GET B'KLYN SCHOOL'S STOCKINGS IN A TWIST
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amSt. Nick came early to a Brooklyn public school -and he brought Jesus with him. Students at PS 274 in Bushwick were treated on Wednesday to a holiday assembly sponsored...
PICKET-LINE CROSSER DIES
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amAn MTA worker who crossed the picket line suffered a fatal heart attack yesterday while on the job in Brooklyn, police said. Station cleaner Shirlyn Staton, 44, of Brooklyn, was...
QUICK STRIKE ; LATE SURGE PROPELS BLUESHIRTS
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amRangers 4Lightning 2 After it had ended, after the Rangers had reached back for a little bit more to avert an 0-4 homestand, you bet the Blueshirts didn't mind admitting...
HAPPY STRAPHANGERS ON MIDNIGHT EXPRESS
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amStrike-weary straphangers climbed aboard the first trains and buses early today, eager to resume their normal commuting routine. The No. 1 train left the 242nd Street/Van Cortland Park station in...
ALL ABOARD! STRIKE ENDS; * BUSES AND TRAINS ALREADY ROLLING * UNION CAVES IN AFTER JAIL THREAT * MTA OFFERS PENSION COMPROMISE
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amNo more freezing walks, no more being a sardine inside Penn Station and no more Scrooging cabdrivers. It's o-o-o-ver! Facing the fury of straphangers, stupendous fines and the possibility of...
BOY, 17, DIES AT DENTIST; TRAGIC L.I. SURGERY
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amA dental visit suddenly turned tragic when a Long Island teen went into cardiac arrest and died while being anesthetized during oral surgery. Luis Mora, 17, of Baldwin, was scheduled...
IT WAS ALL AN EGO TRIP FOR ROGER
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amTHE transit strike that ate Christ mas ended as pathetically as it began - with hopeless union representatives mired in the mess they created. Shortly before 5 p.m., Brooklyn Supreme...
TIMES TORMENTS
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amSADLY, it's time again for the world to weep and wail and gnash its teeth over the Neediest Cases - those unfortunates chosen by The New York Times during the...
SPITZER'S 'VENDETTA'; THREATENED ME AFTER I BACKED FOE: LMDC BIG
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amALBANY - Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has been accused of threatening Lower Manhattan Development Corp. Chairman John Whitehead for defending high-profile Spitzer target Maurice "Hank" Greenberg. The extraordinary charge was...
GOV IN SHOW OF 'FORCE'; 100 NEW 'TRAFFIC' COPS
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amALBANY - Following up on the passage of the "heroes law," Gov. Pataki yesterday announced the state will hire 100 state troopers to crack down on illegal gun trafficking. Pataki...
HOW TWU PENSIONS STACK UP IN APPLE
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amTransport Workers Union pensions may look generous to private-sector workers, but are roughly the same as those of other city employees, experts say. Nearly all TWU workers can retire at...
BIKING BRAVEST 'STRUCK' DOWN ; POL'S SON SLAMMED BY BUS ON HIS WAY TO WORK
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amA firefighter riding his bicycle to work because of the transit strike was critically injured yesterday when he was struck by a bus, cops said. Matthew Long, 39, broke both...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amMANHATTAN *** Police yesterday were searching for a woman who disappeared from her Harlem apartment last week. Jocelyn Baik (above), 41, who suffers from poor mental health, was last seen...
SAD GOODBYE TO SCHOOL OFFICER; HONORED FOR WISDOM & CHEER
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amMore than a thousand police officers, relatives and friends gave an emotional and spirited farewell yesterday to a beloved school safety officer who died after being punched, allegedly by a...
WORKERS FEAR THEY'RE THE RANK & VILE
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amMoments after the TWU finally decided to take its boot off the throat of New York commuters yesterday, the union rank and file expressed relief that they could finally pack...
U.N. DUCKS & WEAVES ON KOFI CAR
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amThe United Nations yesterday stonewalled press inquiries about the diplomatic discount granted to the son of Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the purchase of a Mercedes SUV. A day after Annan...
KIM'S-MAS GREETINGS; JAILED STAR THANKS FANS
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amImprisoned rap princess Lil' Kim urged her fans yesterday to "have fun for me" as she prepares for Christmas behind bars without clubs or Cristal. The hip-hop hottie spread a...
GALS 'STRIKE' ONE ANOTHER
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amTwo Brooklyn women landed in jail after getting into a fight Wednesday - over the transit strike. Tewyana Webb, 33, and Eboni McClain, 26, came to blows in their Williamsburg...
HARLEM CHOIR HOMELESS FOR HOLIDAYS
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amThe city Department of Education hit the Boys Choir of Harlem with a holiday eviction notice yesterday - severing ties with the legendary group and ordering it to vacate the...
JAIL FOR QNS.SIKH BEATERS
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amA Queens judge came down hard on five knuckleheads yesterday, sentencing them all to jail for their roles in a racially charged beating of a Sikh man last year. The...
HOUSING HONCHO BUSTED
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amA state housing official was busted yesterday for allegedly scamming thousands of dollars from a 9/11 fund intended to draw residents back to lower Manhattan. Mark Marcucilli, 49, fudged an...
COOKE KIN VOICE FURY AT GHOUL BONE COLLECTOR
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amThe family of late "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke yesterday said they were outraged that a ghoulish gang of body snatchers stole his bones and sold them before he was...
PIRRO LOSES HER $ITE AFTER JAB FROM GREEN
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amJeanine Pirro pulled the plug on her old Senate-campaign Web site - hours after Mark Green, who could face her in the race for attorney general, accused her of breaking...
ARREST IN CHILD-BEAT SLAYING
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amA 22-month-old Bronx boy is dead and his mother's jailbird boyfriend has been arrested for beating the life out of the tot, police said yesterday. Dee Jay Ellijah died of...
$125M DUE IN 9/11 AID; CONGRESS ENDS LONG STALL
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Tucked deep inside a massive defense-spending bill approved by Congress yesterday lies a hard-won nugget of aid for rescuers and construction workers still suffering from the after-effects of...
CHEAT SHEET TAPES ; PRINCIPAL, AIDE EXPELLED
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amA principal and her assistant have been ousted from a Brooklyn middle school after getting caught on tape shrugging off complaints that students cheated on an eighth-grade state social-studies exam,...
RESTAURANT SERVES UP TAB; SUES MTA AND TWU FOR LOSSES AFTER WALKOUT DERAILS ITS CHEW-CHEW TRAIN
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amIt's payback time. A Midtown restaurant has filed a prospective class-action lawsuit against the people who brought us the transit strike, seeking to force the Transport Workers Union and the...
MIKE: 'NO REGRETS' ON 'THUG' TALK
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amThe transit strike is over, but Mayor Bloomberg insisted yesterday that he had "no regrets" about the harsh language he used to characterize Transport Workers Union President Roger Toussaint and...
DEADLY DOG FOOD; POISONOUS 'GOURMET' CHOW RECALLED
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amA pricey line of gourmet dog and cat foods sold in New York have been recalled because they could contain a poisonous chemical that can destroy a pet's liver, leading...
DEFENDING IN-COP-NITO SPY TACTICS
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amPolice officials yesterday defended the practice of dispatching plainclothes cops to mingle in street demonstrations. They said it was a commonly used weapon to prevent crime and react to protesters...
'PERVY PETER' IS INDICTED
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amThe man prosecutors say is the crazed creep responsible for a horrific Halloween sex attack in Chelsea has been indicted and will be arraigned today, The Post has learned. Peter...
TAKE A GIANT RISK ; BIG BLUE WON'T FALL INTO SKINS' TRAP
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amTHE spread, Redskins -3, looks to be the trap of the year. It suggests the teams would be dead even on a neutral field, and that's nonsense. The linemaker is...
CLASSIC CASE OF ILL WILL
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amWITH apologies to Edwin Starr: Baseball, huh! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Good Gawd, say it again, ya'll . . . This World Baseball Classic already reminds us...
RAMBLING TIKI PUTS REDSKINS ON ALERT
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amGIANT NOTES During his franchise-record five straight games gaining more than 100 yards, Tiki Barber has carried the ball 138 times, the busiest stretch of games in his nine-year career....
PUMPING UP THE VOLUME; GIANTS SET FOR D.C. FANS' FURY
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amFresh off their victory over the Chiefs a day earlier, the Giants were able to sit back last Sunday and watch in amazement as the Redskins pummeled and humiliated the...
YOU CHREBET-CHA, HE'LL BE MISSED
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amThe bill of Wayne Cherbet's ball cap was, as usual, pulled tight over his eyes to keep the outside world at bay and out of his. Yesterday, however, there was...
NFC EAST IS A DIVISION OF BLOOD RIVALS
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amIT CAN BE confusing, if you think about it. You show up at Giants Stadium the first time, you put that wonderful blue helmet with the lower-case "ny" on the...
GRAND-IOSE IDEAS ; YANKS SET SIGHTS ON 1,000 RUNS
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amIT is the Holy Grail for major-league offenses. In the past 55 years, one team, the 1999 Indians, has reached 1,000 runs scored. The task is daunting, to average better...
BULL CLINTON ; PORTIS: 'ME AND TIKI' WILL DECIDE IT
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amASHBURN, Va. - Clinton Portis delivered the message decked out in a leather helmet, blonde pigtails, a small cowboy hat and Groucho Marx glasses, nose and mustache. Despite the comical...
ISIAH: KNICKS HAVE NO 'NY'; SAYS TEAM FEARS PLAYING IN N.Y.
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amIsiah Thomas said he did not ring in his second anniversary as Knicks president by "celebrating." Instead, Thomas commemorated the day by ripping the mental makeup of the club he...
N.Y. BOAT SHOW STEAMING INTO JAVITS CENTER
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amTHE New York National Boat Show hits town on New Year's Eve, giving a new meaning to a floating exhibit. The 101st show will be held through Jan. 8 at...
NETS' JACKSON EAGER FOR SHAQ ATTACK
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amMIAMI - Marc Jackson is looking forward to playing against Shaquille O'Neal. Now Jackson, the Nets' backup center, didn't say anything about wanting to play with a hair dryer in...
VINNY MAY PLAY MONDAY
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amJET NOTES If everything plays out the way the Jets would like it, Vinny Testaverde's swan song will come in Monday night's game against the Patriots, a team source told...
HE'S A CUT ABOVE ; FORMER COACH: DAMON 'NICEST GUY IN WORLD'
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amJason Giambi did it. Ditto Randy Johnson. So when Johnny Damon arrives at a Yankee Stadium press conference today, he will look as clean as the Board of Health. Gone...
ZEKE TELLS STEPH: 'WALK LIKE A MAN'
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES Stephon Marbury and Knicks president Isiah Thomas sat at a table under a basket, deep in conversation. During Wednesday night's embarrassing Garden loss to the Spurs, the hometown...
P.J. TALK FILLS HALL
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amWith speculation abound that Seton Hall coach Louis Orr is in his final season and new athletic director Joe Quinlan in need of hitting a home run as he tries...
BERNIE KNOWS WHAT THE DEAL IS
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amYANKEE NOTES Even though there wasn't a Yankees voice who didn't want Bernie Williams back, the club made no promises to the veteran switch-hitter to go with his new one-year,...
ROSE IN THE GARDEN?
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amIF the Raptors want to eradicate Jalen Rose's $16.9 million salary next season from their cap, they have but one viable option: Furnish the Knicks with the Nuggets' No. 1...
THE FAN'S CORNER
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amPaul Ellsworth is a rebel. First, a little back story: Until 2000, it was unlawful to get a tattoo in Massachusetts. But Ellsworth, from Winthrop, Mass., wanted a Jets tat....
SCRATCH IS LATEST PENALTY ON NYLANDER
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amTom Renney said that Michael Nylander took the coach's decision to scratch him from last night's Garden match against the Lightning "like a real pro." Nylander said it didn't particularly...
5 QUESTIONS FOR CHRIS FOWLER
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amThis week, NYP TV Sports' Andrew Marchand spoke with ESPN College GameDay host Chris Fowler. Fowler, 43, is the second winner of The Jim McKay, which goes to NYP TV...
AND THE WINNERS (AND LOSERS) ARE ... IT'S THE 'GOLDEN CLICKER' AWARDS!
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amLet's forego the usual introductions - where we reference the really big awards like the Emmys, the Oscars and the ESPYs (well, not them, really) - and get right to...
GLASS HUFF FULL - FOR NFL LEGEND, GIANTS VS. SKINS MEANS BAD BLOOD -AND GOOD MEMORIES
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amSaturday Giants at Redskins 1 p.m., Fox Maybe no one knows the Giants-Redskins rivalry like Sam Huff, who, of course, wore both teams' colors. When Huff - now a radio...
ICE-COLD ELI DUE TO GET HOT IN D.C. - GIANTS PASSING GAME CAN KILL SKINS AND CLINCH NFC EAST
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amCapturing a division title is rarely easy, which is why the Giants are expecting nothing less than a three-hour battle this afternoon in the latest renewal of those titanic Giants-Redskins...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
December 23, 2005 | 5:00amA moose that eluded officials for months was finally captured after it mistook the wail of a saxophone for a mating call. Connie Evenson of Sioux Falls, S.D., said that...