December 29, 2005
SHORTS FEEL THE BYRNE
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThe chairman of Overstock.com has emerged as a major supporter of a group aimed at stomping out short-sellers, who have had the online retailer's shares under siege for the past...
FRAUDSTERS TARGET BIRD FLU 'PIGEONS'
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amA new crop of stock market scam artists is hawking bogus, get-rich-quick schemes tied to companies working on a cure for the deadly avian flu, the National Association of Securities...
MATTEL'S BARBIE BURNER GETS $5.43M TO LEAVE
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThe toy executive who allowed wholesome Barbie to lose her popularity crown to the tarty Bratz dolls is getting $5.43 million to leave his job. Mattel said yesterday it would...
WEB AD $$ KEEP GROWING
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThe shift to online advertising is happening faster than some analysts expected, prompting at least one to boost his forecast for next year. The Internet ad market will increase 32...
HOLLINGER NIXES BID FOR SEATS BY BLACK
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amEven as Conrad Black prepares to fight racketeering charges that he looted Hollinger International, his holding company has demanded two seats on its board. Hollinger International immediately rejected the demand,...
WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE OF EXPLOITED GAS CONSUMERS?
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amSO, here's my final rant of the year: When the hell are gasoline prices going to come down? And why aren't our limo-riding politicians doing a single thing about the...
MY BLUE HEAVEN - CHRISTIAN GROUP UP IN ALMS OVER NEW TV SERIES THAT JOKES AROUND WITH JESUS AND SEX
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amDAMN you, NBC. Or words to that effect are coming from a religious watchdog group that does not like what they've seen on an upcoming network series, "The Book of...
REACHING FOR THE STARS! - JANICE GETS HER OWN SHOW
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amJANICE Dickinson wants to send a clear message in her upcoming Oxygen reality series, "The Janice Dickinson Project." "I'm sick and tired of Brazilian and Russian models from other planets...
FORGET CHEVY, FOX EYES LATE NIGHT
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amFOX is loading up to take another shot at a late-night show. The network, which in its 21-year history has tried at least twice before to cater to night owls,...
MSNBC STAYS THAT WAY, OK?
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amNBC hasn't decided if it will change the name of MSNBC, now that it's acquired a majority stake in the cable network from Microsoft. MSNBC has never seriously challenged Fox...
STARR REPORT
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amBad medicine? ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" pulls in around 18 million viewers a week and has transformed Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl and Patrick Dempsey into bona fide stars with...
MD. COP BURIED IN BROOKLYN
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amA murdered Baltimore police officer was laid to rest yesterday following a funeral Mass in the Brooklyn neighborhood where he grew up. Officer Adam Vazquez was honored by fellow cops...
SPITZER'S FAR AHEAD WITH DEMS
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amALBANY - Attorney General Eliot Spitzer would crush Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi in a Democratic primary for governor, while Andrew Cuomo has a wide lead in his party's primary...
BILL RING$ IN '06 FOR HILL
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Bill Clinton is asking his wife's supporters to dig deep for a "special year-end donation" - insisting she needs the campaign cash to "get this country going in...
N.Y.'S NEXT STRIKE: A MATTER OF TIME
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amWITH Tuesday's announcement of a contract deal between the MTA and TWU Local 100, transit workers must now decide if what they got was worth last week's strike. But that...
KIDDIE KITTY WOE - CHILD-CARE FUNDS DRYING UP
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amFederal and state funds for Mayor Bloomberg's growing child-care programs are drying up, and the city will likely soon have to pick up the financial slack, a watchdog group warned...
CLAW-SOME SAVE! - MAN KEEPS LOBSTER, 90, FROM POT
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amJust call him Santa Claws. A Long Island man paid more than $100 for a giant lobster yesterday, to spare the roughly 90-year-old crustacean from its likely fate - a...
'QUICKIE' QNS. MOTEL SHUT DOWN
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amA Queens motel notorious for offering quickie stays has been shut down after an undercover investigation found evidence that pimps and prostitutes - many underage - were running a thriving...
COPTS: U.S. TURNS BLIND EYE TO BIAS
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amAdvocates for Coptic Christians are charging the State Department with whitewashing charges that hard-line Muslims at the U.S. Embassy in Egypt are denying visas for religious reasons. "They have their...
WARM FEELING FOR NEW YEAR
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amOld Man Winter continues to lie low this week, with the Big Apple expecting extremely mild weather leading into the new year. Daytime highs over the next seven days are...
GOV JUMPS INTO ELIOT 'THREAT' FOE'S CORNER
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amALBANY - Gov. Pataki weighed in for the first time yesterday on claims that state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer threatened Lower Manhattan Development Corp. Chairman John Whitehead, with the governor...
CITY WARNS CONSUMERS ON CREDIT
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amConsumers spent an average of $763 each on holiday shopping this season - and charged a cumulative $120 billion on their credit cards, according to a report released yesterday. That's...
SUBWAY CRIME PLUNGED IN '05
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amSerious crime in the subways has plunged to half what it was in 1997 - transforming a violence-ravaged system into a safe place for millions of riders. The number of...
ALL HE NEEDS IS LOVE - EAGER WOMEN REPLY TO LONELY LENNON
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThey love Sean, yeah, yeah, yeah. A slew of women has responded to Sean Lennon's PAGE SIX plea yesterday for a girlfriend: some because they think he's sweet, some because...
CHELSEA 'GAY SLAY' FIRE VICTIM ID'D AS ISRAELI SHLOMY
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThe half-naked man found bound and strangled Tuesday in a burning Chelsea apartment was identified yesterday as a gay hustler about to be deported back to his native Israel because...
COP MOM'S GRIEF - HEARTBREAKING PRAYERS AT DEATH BRIDGE
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThe mother of a New Jersey cop killed in a bizarre bridge mishap wept uncontrollably yesterday at the accident site, where rescue teams continued to search for his body. Bichvan...
DOC OFFERS A REAL FAT CHANCE
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThe weight may be over for a select few. A New York surgeon wants to find the most obese people in Times Square on New Year's Day and offer 10...
COP'S 'ROB' PLAN - TARGETED DEALERS: DA
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amA Queens cop busted in Washington Heights with three buddies in a car full of guns and ski masks was planning to stick up drug dealers, prosecutors said in court...
SICK DICK'S FIGHT - CLARK'S LONG ROAD BACK FROM STROKE
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amDick Clark's camp yesterday admitted for the first time the debilitating effects of his stroke - that he's sometimes forced to use a walker, a cane and even a wheelchair...
IT'S EASIER TO 'PARK' HERE
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amDisabled New Yorkers will soon find city parks more accessible after improvements that were urged by state Comptroller Alan Hevesi. A five-year survey of dozens of Parks Department facilities by...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amQUEENS * Police are looking for the public's assistance in identifying and locating a thief (above) who has robbed banks in Ridgewood and Elmhurst, as well as in Brooklyn, in...
MTA'S BIG-BUCKS 'BLUNDER' BLASTED
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amBudget watchdogs charged yesterday that the MTA's new contract with the transit workers raids the pension fund to give them a huge one-time bonus payment at a time when it...
MILLION-$$ GREEDY GRAB - VEGAS SALON AMONG 1,000S OF BUSINESSES CAUGHT HOGGING FED AID
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Thousands of small businesses across the country - including a tanning salon in Las Vegas, a candy store in Illinois, and a golf course in Texas - wrongly...
'THRILLED' J.LO CREDITS POST IN EXTORT BUST
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amJ.Lo and her salsa sweetie are "thrilled" to have their stolen wedding video back - and they're crediting the NYPD and The Post for nabbing the thieves who tried to...
BABY BOOZE BUST - UNCLE 'LIQUORED' TOT
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amA boozing baby-sitter was arrested after he allegedly got one of two toddlers in his care staggering drunk, authorities said yesterday. The baby-sitter, Juan Reyes, 37, who is also the...
FEDS: FREE LOUIMA COP
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amProsecutors want a federal judge to reduce the prison sentence of the cop convicted of lying in the Abner Louima sodomy case. Charles Schwarz is serving 60 months behind bars...
DRIVER BUSTED IN CABBY'S CRASH DEATH
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThe hit-and-run driver who caused a fiery crash that killed a hardworking taxi driver was arrested yesterday after witnesses identified him in a lineup, police said. Freddy Romalchan, 27, of...
QNS. MOM KILLED AT HOME BY STRAY SHOT
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amA Queens mother-of-two who peered out her fifth-floor window early today when she heard noises on the sidewalk was killed by a stray bullet that went through her eye, police...
WARM WELCOME TO NEW YEAR
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amOld Man Winter continues to lie low this week, with the Big Apple expecting extremely mild weather leading into the new year. Daytime highs over the next seven days are...
L.I. TEEN A 'CRUISER BRUISER'
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amCops nabbed a Long Island boy who they say vented his troubled-teen spirit on a police cruiser. The East Williston teen attacked the car - shattering a window and ripping...
BOOST FOR BABES' BRAINS
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amIt's got a scary name, but a new brain-scanner could save the lives of newborn babies. The new portable scanner, named the MONSTIR by British scientists, will end the need...
COURT LOSS FOR 'SCUM' RAPE FIEND
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amUpstate child rapist Thomas Wallis, who has already been called "scum" and a "predator," now is going by a new nickname - loser. Wallis' appeal of convictions for rape and...
HELP TROOPS PHONE HOME
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amAMERICANS looking for a way to offer some holiday cheer to our troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan might want to consider the USO's Operation Phone Home - a program...
SLAIN MD. COP BURIED IN B'KLYN
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amA Baltimore police officer killed by his girlfriend's ex-lover was laid to rest yesterday following a funeral Mass in the Brooklyn neighborhood where he grew up. Officer Adam Vazquez was...
'SCUM' RAPIST LOSES APPEAL
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amUpstate child rapist Thomas Wallis, who has already been called "scum" and a "predator," now is going by a new nickname - loser. Wallis' appeal of convictions for rape and...
BURNED CHELSEA BODY ID'D AS ISRAELI MASSAGE HUSTLER
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThe half-naked man found bound and strangled Tuesday in a burning Chelsea apartment was identified yesterday as a gay hustler about to be deported back to his native Israel because...
MIDGET: 'BIAS' A TALL TALE - 'MOM PAID TO LIE'
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThe teen midget who testified that her Brooklyn neighbors were heartlessly tormenting her and her mom - likening them to munchkins from Oz - now claims her mother paid her...
BOARD OKS GRAND SLAM WAGER
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amN.Y. State Racing and Wagering Board approved new bet called "Grand Slam," which offers twist on pick 4. Developed by NYRA senior veep Bill Nader, Grand Slam requires bettor to...
NEW YEAR'S TIME TO HIT SLOPES
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amSKIERS and riders can start off the new year right by improving their skiing and racing skills at one of the many events that are taking place at ski resorts...
A-ROD'S ONLY 'AGENDA' IS WINNING
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amALEX RODRIGUEZ returns a call and walks a minefield, navigating between his euphoria and his trepidation. He is psyched by the Yankees' offseason moves, especially the signing of Johnny Damon,...
RANGERS REGROUP - STRUDWICK, NIEMENEN, ORR GET CALL
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amWHAT the Rangers were supposed to be at the start of the season is no longer relevant in assessing what they are now and where they go from here. For...
ABRAHAM MAY BE A GONER
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThere are many within the Jets organization who'd like to lock up defensive end John Abraham with a long-term contract after this season and allow him to flourish as a...
WHY NOT THE BEST? - JASON TO NETS: WE CAN JOIN NBA ELITE
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amNot too long ago, the Nets were on shaky ground, unable to get much past the .500 mark and struggling to set themselves apart in the weak Atlantic Division. Seven...
HERM PONDERS CHAD'S FUTURE
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amJET NOTES As this Jets season nears its merciful conclusion, questions about Chad Pennington's status were posed yesterday to Herman Edwards. Pennington, who's been out since Sept. 25 when he...
WEBSTER PUMPED FOR START
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amGIANT NOTES He remains a rookie, but Corey Webster doesn't feel like one. "It's a lot of weeks into it, it's very hard to feel like a rookie right now,"...
LEE GETS 'HOME' START GIG
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES ORLANDO - Larry Brown kept with his policy of starting guys with hometown connections last night in Orlando. As a result, rookie David Lee got the nod at...
RANGERS KICK ISLES IN HEART
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amRangers 6 - Islanders 2 Perhaps the only thing more disgusting than the Islanders' performance last night at the sold-out Coliseum crowd was Michael Strahan trying to plug his line...
DEVS DOMINATE - POWER-PLAY GOALS SINK CAPS
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amDevils 7 - Capitals 2 Challenged, threatened and even one banished, the Devils responded with a vengeance. They took out their frustrations and insecurities on the woeful Capitals last night,...
OH, THE PAIN! - CURRY INJURED, MARBURY AWFUL IN KNICK LOSS
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amMagic 105 - Knicks 95 ORLANDO - Eddy Curry got hurt again, Stephon Marbury played like he was hurt, and this crumbling Knick season continued last night on its cursed...
YASHIN NOT UP TO JAGR'S SNUFF
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amANOTHER day or two and Lou Lamoriello might be able to hire Steve Stirling as his head coach the way he first did 22 years ago at Providence College. For...
CALL HIM UNSTEADY EDDY
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES ORLANDO - It was sadly ironic. Before last night's tipoff, Larry Brown was bemoaning Eddy Curry's conditioning because of all the games he had missed due to two...
POINTED BARBS - FRUSTRATED LARRY LIGHTS INTO STEPH AFTER 0-FOR-7 FIASCO
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amMagic 105 - Knicks 95 ORLANDO - The Stephon Marbury-Larry Brown soap opera heated up again last night. While Eddy Curry got hurt again, Marbury played like he was hurt...
GOOD TIDINGS FOR STORM, NORM
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amSt. John's 51 - UMass 49 When St. John's coach Norm Roberts speaks about a subject dear to his heart, his voice takes on the impassioned resonance of a Sunday...
ELI NEEDS PASSING GRADE
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amTHE Giants will go as far as Eli Manning takes them. They know it. The Raiders and everyone waiting for the Giants in the playoffs know it. And he knows...
OLD MATES DON'T KERRY A GRUDGE
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amAmani Toomer was informed yesterday that old friend Kerry Collins is seeking "to exact a little bit of revenge" on the Giants. Toomer smiled and shook his head. "Did he...
WEIGHTY MATTERS - CURRY'S GOT TO GET RID OF FLAB
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amORLANDO - Eddy Curry has a new, live-in chef but also has the same old problem - a weight problem. Curry hired a chef from Detroit two weeks ago before...
BRADFORD TO BOLSTER METS PEN
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThe Mets yesterday officially signed Chad Bradford to a one-year, $1.4 million contract, reuniting the righty with the pitching coach for whom he had the most success, Rick Peterson. Pitching...
'WEIN' COOLER - STRUGGLING SWEDE SINKING ON ISLAND
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amIf you haven't noticed Mattias Weinhandl much this season, you aren't alone. Weinhandl, whose play this year has been good enough to land him on the side of a milk...
DEVS' DEFENSE STILL UP IN AIR
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThe Devils' big summertime defensive shore-up has washed away, leaving nothing but bills on the beach. The reprieve for Dan McGillis now looks to have been temporary. The defenseman signed...
EUGENE: MOST VALUABLE GIFT
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amDaryll Hill, last year's Holiday Festival MVP, was seated on the St. John's bench in street clothes because of a left knee injury. At least one player on the Red...
NYRA EYES PATAKI'S CASH PLAN
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThe New York Racing Association, which is days if not hours away from declaring bankruptcy, had a cautious reaction yesterday to Gov. Pataki's proposal to give NYRA a much-needed cash...
LAWRENCE ON POINT WITH STORM
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThe changing of the guard at St. John's has been put into fast forward. Suddenly we are looking at a team that no longer is the sole property of Daryll...
HAPPY TIDINGS FOR STORM, NORM
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amSt. John's 51 - UMass 49 When St. John's coach Norm Roberts speaks about a subject dear to his heart, his voice takes on the impassioned quality of a Sunday...
GIANTS GOING ON OFFENSIVE - UNIT KNOWS THE SCORE WITH DEFENSE HURTING
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThe quarterback hasn't thrown more touchdown passes than interceptions in a game in more than a month. The leading receiver hasn't caught a scoring pass since before Thanksgiving. The line...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
December 29, 2005 | 5:00amThievery is all in the family in Iowa. Police say they solved a 2001 bank robbery after 30-year-old Rodney Houghton II was turned in by his big sister Tricia Owens,...