January 23, 2006

REVAMPING FORD PLOTS GREEN FUTURE

If the Ford Motor Company has its way, the Model T of the next century will be recyclable. The beleaguered car manufacturer is working on a top-secret program - code-named...

CITY BUILDING TAX CUT TARGETS THE LITTLE GUY

Changes in the way some types of city residential buildings are taxed could save their owners about $90 million this year, The Post has learned. With the release of the...

MISSION: KITCHEN - SPENDING A DAY IN A CHEF'S SHOES

NEXT time you see an inexperienced, clumsy journalist attempting to cook a five-course meal, run for your life - but only after you've notified the local fire department. I'm one...

OFFICE BRANDING - EVERYONE CLAMORS AFTER THE COOL WORK NICKNAME

WHAT'S in a name? A lot, as it turns out - especially when we're talking about nicknames at work. When it comes to the office, everyone wants a cool moniker....

OFFICE READS

INSTINCT: TAPPING YOUR ENTREPRENEURIAL DNA TO ACHIEVE YOUR BUSINESS GOALS By Thomas L. Harrison Warner Business Books, $24.95 IS career success determined only by experience, or is it in your...

HOPE & COMRADE FAITH

EVER wonder what the Turkish Kelly Ripa would look like? No, we didn't either. But someone is worrying about it now - because the producers of Kelly's struggling sitcom, "Hope...

#%*!ING RATINGS - DOC EXPOSES SECRET BOARD AND ITS WORK

PARK CITY, Utah - Now that director Kirby Dick has launched a full frontal assault on the movie ratings board with his new film, "This Film Is Not Yet Rated,"...

'THE OFFICE' INTERRUPTED

'THE Office" - the new comedy that was just finding its feet after a year on the air - is ending its season early. NBC, the network that airs the...

'FRIENDS'-REUNION RUMOR KO'D

LOS ANGELES - NBC last night shot down rampant Internet rumors that the mega-hit sitcom "Friends" is making a comeback. The Web was buzzing over the weekend with the story...

DEALS ON MEALS AWAIT IN RESTAURANT WEEK

IT'S that time again. N.Y.C. Winter Restaurant Week - actually two weeks long - kicks off today with discounted weekday meals at 198 of the city's top kitchens. The event...

OEDIPUS WRECKS - MOM AND SON KILLERS BACK FOR SECONDS

MURDER! Greed! Incest! Grifters! Con Artists! Psycho-killers! All these things and more made up the disgusting relationship between Sante Kimes and her little boy, Kenny - two murdering, greedy, incestuous,...

STARR REPORT

A star is (Os)borne Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne gets his very own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Feb. 1. And, if you're wondering, yes - he...

DHARMA AT LAW - 'COURTING' DISASTER

WHY do the networks continue to make situation comedies like this? Maybe it's to bore TV critics to death. For me, that nearly happened while watching "Courting Alex," a near-death...

FITS TO A TEA - FOR N.Y.'S HIP, A NEW SCENE IS BREWING; STEEPED IN HIGH STYLE

SIP into something chic - afternoon tea. Last week, nightlife queen Amy Sacco launched tea service at Bette, her trendy Chelsea eatery. While her usual audience of club kids might...

KNOW YOUR OOLONG FROM YOUR DARJEELING

You may look the part, but can you order like a true high tea aficionado? Follow this primer, and you'll sip with the best of the British. There are four...

JFK 'ERR' PORT - WRONG MAN JAILED

A Bronx man returning from a three-week Caribbean vacation was cuffed by police at JFK Airport and tossed in the clink for nearly a week before bumbling authorities realized they...

'DIALYSIS FUGITIVE' BUSTED IN MARYLAND

A fugitive drug dealer with a bum kidney who used unwitting New York doctors to dodge the law has been busted in Maryland, The Post has learned. Terrance Cunningham, 37,...

WAR OVER WOODSTOCK - OWNERS SUE TO GET 'BACK TO THE GARDEN'

Thirty-seven years after 400,000 people turned on, tuned in and dropped out at Max Yasgur's farm in tiny upstate Bethel, N.Y., the road to Woodstock has wound its way into...

BUSH-ABRAMOFF PIX INTRIGUE

WASHINGTON - Unrevealed photos of President Bush with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff "suggest a level of contact between them that Bush's aides have downplayed," Time magazine reports this week. Time...

WAR BETTER THAN NUCLEAR IRAN: MCCAIN

WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain called Iran's nuclear ambitions "destabilizing" and "unacceptable," warning that military options are on the table. "There's only one thing worse than the United States exercising...

DAUGHTER NO FAN OF CASH FLICK

It's one of the hottest movies of the year, but one person surprisingly has refused to see the award-winning Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line" - the music legend's own...

ANDY $TUCK WITH AG TAB

Charlie King, who four years ago ran as Andrew Cuomo's Lt. Governor, has called on his former running mate to offer refunds on $1.2 million left over from that race...

ACS BIG VOWS TO REFORM - SHOCKED BY NIXZMARY

Calling Nixzmary Brown's death the most horrific child-abuse case he has seen in 25 years, the city's child-welfare chief yesterday promised more shake-ups in the agency blamed for massively bungling...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

MANHATTAN * An East Harlem man who slapped his young son in the face has been arrested for child abuse, police sources said. Alex Claiborne allegedly slapped his 5-year-old boy...

MOUTH TRAP - STERN WILL HAVE TO CLEAN UP HIS ACT ON SIRIUS; CURSES FOILED AGAIN FOR STERN

Howard Stern may be coming down with a Sirius case of the bleeps. High-level executives of the satellite broadcaster are developing an internal standards-and-practices document that will set boundaries for...

MOTHER IN 'LAW'

A beaming Mariska Hargitay takes a break on the SoHo set of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" to get a grip on her latest project - a bouncing baby...

RACE MESS ON L.I. - HAMPTONS COP SUIT

A Hamptons police sergeant plans to file a discrimination lawsuit against two current members and one former member of the Southampton Village Board, charging that they wrongfully delayed his promotion...

LIVING WHERE THERE'S ALWAYS A NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

Faye and Shlomo Cisner are a typical procreative Borough Park couple: They have eight kids, and more could be on the way. "It is a possibility," Faye Cisner. "Thank God....

BX. FIREHOUSE TO REMAIN OPEN

The FDNY assured Bronx residents yesterday that a firehouse that's been awaiting repairs for over a year would not be closed. State Sen. Jeff Klein and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, who...

SOHO FIRE BAFFLES BRAVEST

Fire marshals looking into the five-alarm blaze that tore through a historic SoHo building interviewed employees from a first-floor clothing shop, trying to figure out yesterday what started the inferno...

RAPE SUSPECT SHOT TO DEATH

A Harlem 19-year-old who recently had been charged with rape was shot and fatally wounded over the weekend outside a party at a Police Athletic League building, authorities said yesterday....

TV'S 'WEST WING' IS VOTED OUT

White House drama "The West Wing" is leaving office after seven seasons, network officials said yesterday. The final episode, a two-hour special, airs May 14. Fictional President Josiah Bartlet, played...

'DRUNK' L.I. MOM BUSTED IN WRONG-WAY ROMP

A Long Island woman was arrested yesterday morning after allegedly driving drunk on the wrong side of Sunrise Highway with her two young sons in the back seat. Elizabeth Perez,...

GUN THUG FACES 'HERO LAW' - STIFFER SENTENCE LOOMS FOR SHOOTOUT SUSPECT

Cop-hating thug Damian Henry is set to be the first perp in the city to face stiffer penalties for trying to kill police - under a new law spurred by...

SPITZER'S HIGH $OCIETY - RAKING IT IN FROM HAMPTONS ELITE

Old money, new money, Hamptons money and Hollywood money - every kind of wealth is doling out huge dollars to 2006 statewide candidates, financial records released last week show. Parts...

FERTILE GROUNDS - BABY BOOM IN BOROUGH PARK

Borough Park is the baby-boom capital of the Big Apple - a dozen kids are born there every day. The heavily Orthodox Jewish Brooklyn neighborhood recorded 4,523 births in 2004...

COWBOY COPS TERRORIZE AILING B'KLYN MAN: SUIT

A Brooklyn man with a faint heart says he called 911 after an intruder charged into his building, only to have cops shove a gun in his face - nearly...

WOMAN, 77, FOUND AFTER POST STORY

An elderly woman who disappeared four days ago was reunited early today with her son after an eagle-eyed medic recognized her picture in The Post's NYPD Daily Blotter yesterday. Esther...

DEM TO ANDY: GIVE BACK $$

Charlie King, who four years ago ran as Andrew Cuomo's lieutenant governor, has called on his former running mate to offer refunds on $1.2 million left over from that race...

CONDI'S REVOLUTION - RICE REFORMS FOR STATE DEPT.

OSAMA'S latest plea for attention suckered the media into blowing last week's real story: Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice's declaration of war on her dysfunctional department. In a speech at...

WOODSTOCK WAR A REAL BUMMER

Thirty-seven years after 400,000 people turned on, tuned in and dropped out at Max Yasgur's farm in tiny upstate Bethel, N.Y., the road to Woodstock has landed in federal court....

SWEET 16 MURDER - B'KLYN TEEN GUNNED DOWN OUTSIDE PARTY

A former choirboy was shot to death and his buddy wounded as the pair left a Sweet 16 party in Brooklyn early yesterday, cops and relatives said. Ronald Petgrave, 17,...

'MOVING' PICTURE SHOW - HEROES WEEP OVER 9/11 FILM

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Two former Port Authority cops consulting on Oliver Stone's not-yet-released "World Trade Center" say the flick has brought them to tears. The famed moviemaker tapped a...

ROACH-SPRAY FIREBALL LAWSUIT

Don't gamble on Black Jack roach spray, says a South Bronx man burned over 45 percent of his body while trying to kill kitchen bugs last July. José Calo, who's...

GOV SEEKS N.Y. $$ FOR ISRAEL HOSPITAL

ALBANY - A provision tucked away in Gov. Pataki's proposed budget would allow the state to help a Jewish group dramatically expand a hospital it runs - in Israel. If...

MYSTERY DEATH AFTER B'DAY BASH

A Brooklyn man who was out celebrating his birthday on Saturday was found dead in his apartment yesterday under suspicious circumstances, police sources said. Chonley Butler, who lived on Fulton...

MOMS, TOTS IN STATEN I. CAR CRASH

Two moms and their three babies narrowly avoided tragedy yesterday when their car crashed on the Staten Island Expressway. Rachel Boyer, 23, of Lakewood, N.J., was driving with her two...

LOWER E. SIDE SYNAGOGUE CAVES IN

The roof of a Lower East Side synagogue collapsed yesterday. No one was in the building at 89 Rivington St. - which housed the First Romanian American Congregation - when...

HILLARY LURCHING LEFT - VOTES WITH SENATE LIBS AT 96% CLIP

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton votes with her party's liberal leaders nearly 100 percent of the time - undermining her drive to the middle on issues like banning flag...

ANCIENT OATH FOR DOCTORS GETS UPDATE

The dean of a New York medical school has breathed new life into an ancient declaration, swearing in doctors with a rewritten version of the 2,405-year-old Hippocratic Oath. Antonio Gotto,...

BUG-SPRAY FIREBALL SPURS SUIT

A Bronx man is suing the makers of Black Jack roach spray, claiming he was badly burned last year when he was trying to kill bugs in his kitchen and...

CITY'S TWISTED SYSTEM TOOK MY BOY

LIKE an early Christmas present, the strange baby was plunked on Vivian Fiallo's doorstep on Dec. 13, 2003 - a 5-month-old infant so asthmatic, he had trouble breathing. Under Vivian's...

FIELDS' FAREWELL COST TAXPAYERS 40G

As the clock ticked toward the end of her career in elective office, C. Virginia Fields (left) sent out two farewell newsletters detailing her accomplishments as Manhattan Borough president. As...

PODCASTING 101 - KIDS GET PROFESSORS' LECTURES TO GO

College professors across the city are asking students to turn on their iPods, tune in to Internet "podcasts" and take notes. For years, professors have uploaded recorded lectures and PowerPoint...

'UNDERWORLD' OVERCOMES

Audiences in search of a bloody good time made the vampires-vs.-werewolves gorefest "Underworld: Evolution" the No. 1 movie in North America over the weekend. The poorly reviewed R-rated shocker, starring...

FLICK BRINGS TEARS TO 9/11 HEROES

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - Two former Port Authority cops consulting on Oliver Stone's not-yet-released "World Trade Center" say the flick has brought them to tears. The famed moviemaker tapped a...

STATEN ISLAND DA COULD TAKE ON PIRRO IN AG RACE

ALBANY - Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan Jr. will seek the Republican nomination for attorney general, potentially derailing Jeanine Pirro's effort to make the race, GOP insiders have told...

PATAKI FREEZES OUT GOP BOSS

GOV. Pataki's relations with state GOP Chairman Stephen Minarik have fallen apart and the two haven't spoken to one another for weeks, Republican insiders have told The Post. Pataki, the...

'LOLITA' REUNION - AMY, MARY JO AND JOEY IN TV TELL-ALL

LOS ANGELES - Joey Buttafuoco, Amy Fisher and Mary Jo Buttafuoco - the Long Island love-triangle figures who exploded onto the nation's front pages 15 years ago - plan a...

POWERBALL HITS $115M

The bad news is nobody won Saturday's Powerball prize of $103 million. The good news is the jackpot has soared to $115 million. Saturday's numbers were 3, 18, 39, 43...

FUNNY MONEY PUZZLE - 126G CLOUD FOR WELD MAN

ALBANY - Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld's campaign manager was once paid $126,000 a year from state welfare funds while doing what insiders say was political work for Gov. Pataki,...

TWU REBELS CALL FOR ROGER'S HEAD

The Transport Workers Union is at war with itself after the rank-and-file's stunning rejection of a new contract -- with cyberspace critics calling for president Roger Toussaint's resignation. TWU officials...

GRIEF & CHARITY - SCHOLARSHIPS NAMED FOR TRAGIC TEENS

In just a few weeks, cheerleaders from around the country will gather for the national championships in Orlando, Fla. But Lisa Appelbaum and Jillian Moor, co-captains of their New Jersey...

TEENAGER SHOT DEAD IN B'KLYN

A former choirboy was fatally gunned down and his buddy injured as the pair left a "Sweet 16" party in Brooklyn early yesterday, cops and family said. Ronald Petgrave, 17,...

N.Y. UPDATE FOR ANCIENT DOCS' OATH

The dean of a prominent New York medical school has breathed new life into an ancient declaration - he's swearing in doctors with his rewritten version of the 2,405-year-old Hippocratic...

KASAY STILL HAS A LEG UP - FORMER SEAHAWK POWERS PANTHERS

SEATTLE - He is the only remaining original member of the Carolina Panthers, surviving at a position where change is ever-present, where a few missed kicks at inopportune times can...

DAYTIME PROMISE DELIVERS

Daytime Promise, 3-year-old filly from Gary Contessa barn who rallied from far back to break maiden last out by 5 ½ lengths, was 4-5 making stakes debut going mile and...

PRIVATE VOW SINKS TO 10TH

The first round of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager conducted by Churchill Downs, with betting available at Aqueduct and OTB, opens Thursday and ends Sunday, a couple of weeks earlier...

IN NFL, REPLAY RULES

THE last thing the NFL would wish for itself is what it has done to itself. Its games now appear increasingly gimmicky, ponderous and slow - nothing like pro football...

NETS KEEP FOCUS AS THEY GO WEST

NETS at JAZZ - Tonight 9:00 - YES; WFAN 660 For the Nets, it is one thing to win eight straight at home and quite another to go 3-1 or...

ROBINSON: I CAN GET THE POINT

KNICK NOTES Although Stephon Marbury hasn't played during the Knicks' last three losses, he is still making a contribution, according to rookie guard Nate Robinson. "When I'm sitting with Steph...

MISSING MARBURY - EDDY SAYS KNICKS NEED STEPHON'S FIRE

Remember that six-game winning streak that got the Knicks back to within a glimpse of respectability and actually put them in the playoff hunt? Five straight losses later, it's just...

REIGN-Y DAY FOR 'HAWKS - FINALLY SUPER AFTER POUNDING PANTHERS

SEATTLE - The team that never wins the big one and rarely even plays in the big one finally won a big one and as a reward gets to go...

NEEDING TO BE GREAT, ALEXANDER COMES UP XL

Seahawks 34 - Panthers 14SEATTLE - Soft. It is not a word often associated with hard-charging running backs who get the tough yards and almost all the touchdowns. Selfish. It...

REIGN-Y DAY FOR 'HAWKS - POUND ON PANTHERS TO FINALLY FEEL SUPER

Seahawks 34 - Panthers 14 SEATTLE - The team that never wins the big one and rarely even plays in the big one finally won a big one, and as...

SNAKE TAKES BLAME FOR BRONCS' DEFEAT

AFC NOTEBOOK DENVER - Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer didn't sugarcoat a thing after yesterday's devastating 34-17 AFC Championship Game loss to the Steelers. "Even without the turnovers, if we lose,...

PANTHERS RUNNING ON EMPTY

NFC NOTEBOOK SEATTLE - The honorary captains last night for the Panthers were Stephen Davis and DeShaun Foster, their two injured running backs who were not in uniform for the...

SMITH-LESS IN SEATTLE - SEAHAWKS STYMIE STEVE

SEATTLE - You do not stop Steve Smith. You hope to deal with him as best you can, limit his game-changing plays and hope he doesn't single-handedly bring your defense...

MARSHALL RIPS KASPY

Grant Marshall left no doubt what he thought of Darius Kasparaitis, who was ejected for knocking the Devils' winger out of last night's 3-1 Ranger victory at the Garden. "Mostly...

DEVILS HIT A DEAD END - RANGERS KILL STREAK AT 9

Rangers 3 - Devils 1 Henrik Lundqvist is special enough that no dream is impossible for these Rangers, this season. But even though The King staked claim to his castle...

REJUVENATED DEVS HAVE NEW RESPECT

Their Streak from Nowhere is over, but the Devils say its effects remain. "It got us into the hunt," Jamie Langenbrunner said, "and into a place where teams aren't looking...

GIANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BEN AND ELI

DENVER - The Legend of Big Ben Roethlisberger continues to grow. He has a chance now to get the Steelers one for the thumb, finally, after 26 years. He goes...

COWHER POWER POTENT AGAIN

Steelers 34, Broncos 17 DENVER - Give Bill Cowher a pat on "The Chin." He deserves it. The Steelers head coach, before yesterday anyway, had become known more for his...

MEN OF STEEL SIMPLY SUPER - STEELERS TO MEET SEAHAWKS

DENVER - The Steelers are riding "The Bus" to the appropriately numbered Super Bowl XL in Detroit. They, too, are riding "Big Ben" and "The Chin" and yet another version...

COWHER POWER IS POTENT ONCE AGAIN

Steelers 34, Broncos 17 DENVER - Give Bill Cowher a pat on "The Chin." He deserves it. The Steelers head coach, before yesterday anyway, had become known more for his...

MEN OF STEEL SIMPLY SUPER - 'BURGH RETURNS TO THE BOWL

DENVER - The Steelers are riding "The Bus" to the appropriately-numbered Super Bowl XL in Detroit. They, too, are riding "Big Ben" and "The Chin" and yet another version in...

DENVER DEALS WITH DISAPPOINTMENT

DENVER - There are a handful of players on the Broncos who've hoisted the Lombardi Trophy as Super Bowl champions. Receiver Rod Smith is one of them, and knowing that...

BILL & BETTIS BEST BRONCS - THE BUS BARRELS TO MOTOWN

DENVER - They were crying, the rookie quarterback and the grizzled running back were, as the final moments of last year's AFC Championship Game ticked down. The Patriots were going...

PANTHERS' OPPOSITES ATTRACT

NFC NOTEBOOK SEATTLE - Panthers coach John Fox calls them "definitely the odd couple," yet adds "they're still very close." It's quarterback Jake Delhomme and star receiver Steve Smith he's...

BLUESHIRTS SHAKE IT UP - RENNEY LOOKING FOR SPARK

Even in the wake of breaking up his team's Jaromir Jagr-Martin Straka-Martin Rucinsky premium brand line early in the third period of Saturday night's eventual shootout victory in Boston, Tom...

GOING BACK TO 'D' REVIVED DEVS

Their Streak from Nowhere, Martin Brodeur says, sprouted from back-to-back defensive disasters. The main reason for the Devils' rise to respectability remains the addition of Patrik Elias. His season debut...

ON THE REBOUND - MCLAIN'S LONG TRIP FROM HOOPS STARDOM TO ADDICTION AND BACK

Gary McLain ran down the aisle of the Alexander Hamilton High School auditorium yelling, "Turn on the music, turn on the music." The music started and McLain began rapping: "Every...

ED FOUNTAINE'S DERBY DOZEN

HORSE Next race Jockey/Trainer ODDS COMMENT 1. First Samurai Feb. 4 Hutcheson Edgar Prado; Frank Brothers 12-1 Would feel more confident if Bailey liked him enough not to retire; worked...

PLENTY OF BREAKS FOR BLACK & GOLD

AFC NOTES DENVER - The Steelers made their own breaks yesterday en route to their AFC Championship victory over the Broncos, but were the recipients of some good karma early...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

A Chicago woman charged with drunken driving apparently wasn't too boozed up to makes fools of the cops who arrested her. Authorities say crafty Veronique Armour, 22, slipped off her...