February 17, 2006

CBS BOSS IS EYEING MOVIE BIZ

CBS boss Les Moonves is seeking to join the Motion Picture Association of America, an overture that is sure to increase speculation that the broadcaster has designs on launching a...

SNORTING BULL - MERRILL LYNCH TARGETING WALL ST. AGITATORS

Activist shareholders beware - the big bull is about to charge. Investment giant Merrill Lynch, hot off a huge deal with fund powerhouse BlackRock, wants to boost business by advising...

HOME DEPOT BOSSES CALLED IN WHISTLEBLOWER SUIT

The lawyer for a former Home Depot employee-turned-whistleblower suing the retail giant wants to drag the store's top executives, including chief executive Robert Nardelli, into depositions. The former employee said...

XM ROCKED BY BOARD QUITTER

XM Satellite Radio was slammed yesterday by the abrupt resignation of a longtime board member, who left warning of an impending "crisis" at the company unless costs are brought under...

HOME BUILDING BINGE FEEDS GLUT

The fastest home-building binge in 33 years is bringing new fears of a glut in new homes and not enough buyers. The government said yesterday that mild weather in January...

LEHMAN'S FULD BAGS $34.5M BUNDLE

The pay package of Lehman Brothers Chief Executive Richard Fuld proves that the old saw about "The rich getting richer" is no fish tale. Lehman disclosed late Wednesday that Fuld...

TARNISHED GOLD - OLYMPICS NO MEDAL WINNER FOR NBC RATINGS

NBC's Winter Olympics coverage is far from over, but advertisers are already grumbling about the less-than-stellar ratings. The numbers are disappointing enough that advertisers and their agencies are starting to...

ICAHN, TIME LOOK TO SETTLE

Corporate raider Carl Icahn is backing away from his plan to take control of Time Warner after lukewarm interest from investors. Icahn now plans to offer a smaller slate of...

MUSIC PLAYER RIPPED - AMAZON IPOD BOMB

Wall Street gave a thumbs down to Amazon.com's plan to create a copycat iPod so it can have its own legs in the digital music race. The big online retailer...

BRUCE LOSES JUICE - SET TO PASS ON BUY OF N.Y. OBSERVER

BRUCE Wasserstein's interest in the New York Observer is cooling, according to a source close to the situation. Allen & Co. is handling the sale for the Observer's founder and...

FORD TO OPEN ON MADISON

Designer Tom Ford is planning to open his first retail store on Madison Avenue to showcase his own branded merchandise - including sunglasses and a soon-to-be launched men's wear collection....

TIME IS PASSING FOR ICAHN

Corporate raider Carl Icahn is backing away from his plan to take control of Time Warner after lukewarm interest from investors. Icahn now plans to offer a smaller slate of...

HOME BUILDING BINGE - MILD JANUARY WEATHER SPURS NEW CONSTRUCTION

The fastest home-building binge in 33 years is bringing new fears of a glut in new homes and not enough buyers. The government said yesterday that mild weather in January...

SPITZER, GRASSO SET ELECTION-EVE FACE-OFF

Eliot Spitzer's road to Albany will take a detour through New York Supreme Court where the crusading Attorney General will rumble with deposed New York Stock Exchange boss Dick Grasso....

CBS CHIEF MAKES PLAY TO JOIN MPAA

CBS boss Les Moonves is seeking to join the Motion Picture Association of America, an overture that is sure to increase speculation that the broadcaster has designs on launching a...

DOG SLEIGH AFTERNOON

THE production notes for "Eight Below" give Paul Walker ninth billing, after Koda Bear, D.J., Jasper, Floyd, Sitka, Noble, Dino, and Apache. The U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team? No, the animals...

VERY SIMPLE SIMON

THOSE were the days - back in 1963, when the world and Robert Redford were young. Come to think of it, maybe 1963 wasn't so great: The Vietnam war was...

FAR FROM HEAVEN

THE Mexican shocker "Battle in Heaven" opens and closes with a fat middle-age guy receiving oral pleasure from a sexy young woman. He is Marcos (Marcos Hernandez), driver for an...

PREDICTABLE FILM HAS RYE TWIST

APPROACH lachrymose indies about reclusive authors named Holden with caution, even if they star Ed Harris and the "Elf" team of Zooey Deschanel and Will Ferrell. As it happens, Deschanel...

OOH-'LES'-'LES'

NEVER mind "One Day More" - "Les Miserables" is coming back for six whole months. Producer Cameron Mackintosh announced yesterday that Boublil and Schonberg's tuner-on-a-turntable will play a limited run...

FROM RUSSIA WITH CRUD

RUSSIA'S "Night Watch" puts "Terminator 2," "The Matrix" and "Underworld" through the shredder, then reassembles the pieces like a caffeine-wrecked film student at Pulp U who hasn't slept in a...

REVILE HITLER

SOPHIE SCHOLL: THE FINAL DAYS*** Anti-Hitler youth.In German, with English subtitles. Running time: 117 minutes. Not rated (disturbing images) At the Film Forum, Houston Street, west of Sixth Avenue. THE...

TRILLING SHOW BY HOT MEZZO

EVERY major singer seems to have one special season marking that move from the ranks of those who might make it from those who have made it. This seems to...

ONE BAD MUTHA - NOT EVEN SAMUEL L. JACKSON CAN SAVE INEPT THRILLER; DIRECTOR'S LIBERTIES WRECK 'FREEDOMLAND'

WHO would pick a tone-deaf hack like Joe Roth ("Christmas With the Kranks") to direct a rare Hollywood film dealing with race relations? Hint: Roth runs Revolution Studios, which is...

WOODY SLOW TO MEND

'WORLD News Tonight" co-anchor Bob Woodruff and ABC News cameraman Doug Vogt continue to recover from the injuries they sustained last month in Iraq. And Woodruff's brother, David, is preaching...

DUNCAN'S CHIC SPOT

THOSE in the loop have been able to catch alt-pop singer Duncan Sheik playing with other local musicians on the Lower East Side. The "Barely Breathing" artist (born in South...

'I CAN'T DECIDE' - SIMON STUMPED OVER WHO'LL BE THIS YEAR'S 'IDOL'

SIMON Cowell is too scared to pick a likely winner of this year's "American Idol." "You're not going to find 12 amazing singers this year," he told The Post yesterday...

ODD MAN IN - SANTINO A SHEAR FORCE ON 'PROJECT RUNWAY'

CALL it the miracle on Seventh Avenue. How else can you explain bad-boy Santino Rice's ascendance to the finals on "Project Runway"? The abrasive Rice, 30, of Los Angeles, survived...

STARR REPORT

Hey hey, Jorge Attention all "Lost" fans engaged in what seems to be perpetual hand-wringing over why Hurley (Jorge Garcia) never loses weight - although he's stranded on an island....

JUSTICE FOR LITTLE VALERY - MOM'S KILLER COPS PLEA

In a surprise deal, the man who abandoned little Valery Lozada on a Queens street after killing her mother last year pleaded guilty to manslaughter and reckless-endangerment charges. In a...

3 HELD IN SUBWAY 'COMA' BEATING

Police busted three suspects last night in the brutal beating of a man left comatose after he was hurled down a flight of stairs at a Lower East Side subway...

HEFTY-HANDGUN MURDER PLOT SHOT DOWN

A Long Island man jailed for attempted murder planned to blow away two witnesses with a cannon of a handgun "that makes Dirty Harry's pistol look like a water pistol,"...

BUS CRASH REAL - INJURIES BOGUS

A dozen Brooklyn residents falsely claimed they were injured last night after witnessing an accident involving a city bus, police said. The driver of a B12 bus tried to make...

QUEENS PERV GETS 4 YEARS

An FDNY firefighter's son was sentenced to four years in prison yesterday for sexually assaulting a 73-year-old woman in a Queens park last year. In a plea deal last month,...

UNDENIABLE BOOM - IT'S NOT JUST GOOD WEATHER

THE hard economic data leave little room for doubt: Following a fourth-quarter lull due to Hurricane Katrina, things are roaring again. Yesterday came news that housing starts reached their highest...

N.Y. POLS: SINK SALE OF PORTS TO ARABS

WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Vito Fossella led lawmakers yesterday in calling on the White House to scuttle the sale of New York's port operations - and five...

THE WORST PLAGUE - CORRUPTION KILLS

WHAT does a standoff between a Texas sheriff's department and Mexican soldiers over a drug bust have in common with the electoral victory of Hamas and the current government crisis...

MIKE'S SCHOOL DAZE - BLASTED BY CROWD

A rallying cry to New Yorkers to demand a fair share of school aid from Albany backfired on Mayor Bloomberg yesterday when irate parents blamed him for stalling two new...

BEEP'S 'ZERO' TOLERANCE

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer said he's going to call on the city's Independent Budget Office to get to the bottom of the rebuilding battle at Ground Zero. In a...

PATAKI'S APPENDIX REMOVED

ALBANY - Gov. Pataki yesterday was recuperating from emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix that forced him to cancel a political trip to New Hampshire today. "He's doing absolutely great,"...

COURT UPHOLDS GAY-NUPS BAN

ALBANY - A midlevel state appeals court yesterday upheld New York's ban on gay marriage, saying any changes in the law should be left to the Legislature, not the courts....

PETER JENNINGS WAY ON WAY

The Upper West Side street on which ABC News' headquarters is located is getting a second name - in honor of the late Peter Jennings. West 66th between Central Park...

MIKE, CHRIS TOUT LOBBY LIMIT$

Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn have joined forces to implement a rigid ban on all gifts to public officials in the wake of lobbying scandals in Washington....

ELECTRICIANS AGLOW WITH $1.5M IN PAY

Sixteen electricians who were paid as low-level technicians on a city contract will receive nearly $1.5 million in back pay, Comptroller William Thompson announced yesterday. In the largest "prevailing wage"...

FIERY LIRR TRAIN CRASH PUZZLES COPS

Police are trying to determine why a middle-aged Long Island woman drove her car past an LIRR grade crossing and onto the tracks of an oncoming train, killing herself and...

HAMAS PICKS 'MODERATE'

JERUSALEM - Hamas tapped a leader considered to be one of its more pragmatic members as prime minister, but Israel is on the verge of taking punitive steps against the...

CAT FIGHT TURNS DEADLY - COPS KILL VIOLENT PET OWNER

Cops fatally shot an eccentric cat lover on Staten Island yesterday after she attacked a neighbor who she believed had stabbed her beloved pet, cops and witnesses said. "They were...

KUSHNER IN PRISON FLAP

The feds in Jersey are fuming that rogue real-estate mogul Charles Kushner is being transferred from prison to a cushy halfway house a year early - just because he claims...

VIRGINS: QUIT BEACHIN' ABOUT OUR 9/11 LOOT

WASHINGTON - The Virgin Islands' non-voting member of Congress has spanked Rep. Anthony Weiner for mocking the $29 million pumped into protecting the resort paradise against a terrorist strike. "Hopefully,...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

MANHATTAN * Police are looking for the friend of a woman who was slain inside her Harlem apartment last December after appearing on "The Maury Povich Show." Cops said the...

BOBBY AUCTION IS SHORT AND $WEET

Selling Short paid off big yesterday as fans plunked down more than three-quarters of a million bucks for the late, great cabaret star's personal possessions. The prize item - a...

LET'S GIVE A NEW LIFE TO GHOST ISLAND

SEVEN minutes out of lower Manhattan, and I've landed in the downtown Twilight Zone. The clocks still run on Governors Island. The buildings appear recently painted. A schedule still adorns...

$CAM DRIVER KILLED GRANDMA

A Brooklyn man was convicted of manslaughter yesterday in the death of a grandmother who lost control of her car when he intentionally crashed into it to stage an insurance...

STATE NIXES COP KILLER'S PAROLE BID

ALBANY - The state Parole Division yesterday rejected convicted double-cop-killer Herman Bell's efforts to win his freedom, saying that to do so "would so deprecate the seriousness of this vicious...

PAY THE SLICE OF LOVE - AFFAIR WITH PAL'S MA

This is a love story with a moral: Don't dally with your friend's mommy or you might find a Valentine Day's card carved on your face. The characters: Elias Nazario,...

60 COUNCIL WORKERS FACE AX

Speaker Christine Quinn will soon hand out pink slips to as many as 60 City Council employees, The Post has learned. The firings, some of which could come as early...

GREEN MACHINE GETS HIT WITH 20G ELEX FINE

After more than four years of audits, the Campaign Finance Board yesterday imposed a $20,629 fine on Mark Green's 2001 mayoral campaign. Green's sizable $245,000 contribution to the Thurgood Marshall...

GUARDED OPTIMISM - NEW JAIL COPS GRADUATE

Family and friends cheered and cried tears of joy yesterday at a graduation ceremony for hundreds of rookie correction officers. "Today is an exciting day for the department as we...

BACKSTAGE 'PASS' OUTRAGE - SUIT SLAMS 'SEXUALLY OBSESSIVE' PRODUCER

A PROMINENT Broadway producer is so "sexually obsessive" that she can't keep her hands off actors in her productions, a blockbuster lawsuit charges. Dede Harris, the Tony Award-winning producer of...

CON ED HAD ITS WIRES CROSSED

Con Ed admitted yesterday it should have cut power seven years ago to live wires that sent enough stray electricity through a Brooklyn sidewalk to kill an 80-pound dog. The...

POOCH AUTHORITY - 'DOG'NET NOT FIRST FOR JFK

As the all-out search for a prized show dog who escaped baggage handlers at Kennedy Airport continued yesterday, Port Authority officials insisted Vivi, the 3-year-old whippet, was not getting special...

MASS. 'MURDERER' DADDY IN CHAINS - PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO SLAYING WIFE AND BABY

The British man cops say fiendishly blew away his American wife and baby daughter then fled to England was back in Massachusetts yesterday, bound like an animal in handcuffs and...

MOB 'NOSE' OUT OF JOINT - OFFICIALS BUST TOP BONANNO IN 2004 MURDER

The Bonannos will be looking for a new boss - again. Acting boss Michael "The Nose" Mancuso was arrested yesterday after he was indicted on charges of masterminding the murder...

JUDGE'S JOY AS JUNIOR'S JURY POOL WISES UP

A federal judge who expressed concerns about the seemingly low intellect of potential jurors in John "Junior" Gotti's case last summer can't stop raving about the superior smarts of candidates...

TIX-NIX JUDGE RIPPED - LAW LICENSE LIFTED

A former Parking Violations Bureau judge who used his inside knowledge to skirt $12,000 worth of parking tickets will now be driving with a suspended license - his law license,...

PBA PU$HED CUT - MAYOR: UNION OK'D COP PAY

A negotiator for the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association accepted an arbitrator's proposal that included cutting rookie cops' salaries during last year's bruising contract fight with the city despite a contrary recommendation...

TORTURED MAN BAFFLES COPS

Cops are trying to identify a tortured and severely beaten man who can write but not speak - and who was found standing with his hands bound by wire at...

FBI TIED ON AGENT TO HIT MAFIA BEAUTY

When Mary Bari walked into the Wimpy Boy Social Club in Brooklyn teetering on high heels and wearing a sexy tank top, she thought she was landing a cushy job...

CORTLANDT ST. STATION SETBACK

The MTA announced yesterday that the long-awaited reopening of the Cortlandt Street subway station on the No. 1 line - which had been scheduled for this month - will be...

HAIR-SALON MOM FINDS BABY DEAD IN CARRIER

A routine trip to a Brooklyn beauty parlor turned tragic yesterday when a woman suddenly found that her baby, whom she was carrying in a sling, had died, police said....

'100 BLACKS' FOUNDER TO RUN FOR STATE OFFICE

Eric Adams, a black NYPD captain who was often a vocal critic of the department, is retiring after 22 years to run for the state Senate, The Post has learned....

NYERS CIVIL? WHY, THANK YOU

Are we New Yorkers rude? Get lost, buddy! The Big Apple was named yesterday as one of the winners of the 2005 Civies, awards given by the group Americans for...

BUSH: CHENEY ON TARGET

WASHINGTON - President Bush said yesterday that Vice President Dick Cheney did "just fine" in explaining how he wound up shooting a 78-year-old friend in a hunting accident. "I thought...

NATALEE SUIT FILED IN N.Y.

The heartbreaking saga of the Alabama teen who disappeared on a school trip to Aruba last spring reached New York yesterday when Natalee Holloway's family filed suit in Manhattan Supreme...

4-YEAR-OLD TRIBECA BOY CHOKES TO DEATH ON PILL

A 4-year-old TriBeCa boy died yesterday when he choked while trying to swallow a pill, police sources said. Cooper Burkey had taken one pill in the presence of his mother...

DEM SUOZZI TO RUN VS. ELIOT

ALBANY - Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi has decided to challenge Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in the Democratic primary for governor and will make that announcement Feb. 25, a source...

GAL SUES OVER FRENCH 'DISS'

A young Manhattan woman says she was canned from a prestigious French bank for blowing the whistle on rampant sexual harassment there. "They made me feel like the bad guy,"...

N.Y. SETBACK FOR GAY NUPS

ALBANY - A midlevel state appeals court yesterday upheld New York's ban on gay marriage, saying any changes in the law should be left to the Legislature, not the courts....

$1.5M BACK-PAY POWER PLAY

Sixteen electricians, paid as low-level technicians on a city contract, will receive nearly $1.5 million in back pay, Comptroller William Thompson announced yesterday. In the largest "prevailing wage" settlement ever...

POLS: SINK PORT 'SALE' TO ARABS

WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Vito Fossella led lawmakers yesterday in calling on the White House to scuttle the sale of New York's port operations - and five...

MAN SEES SISTER DIE IN LIRR HORROR

A woman rushing to her church was struck and killed by a Long Island Rail Road train yesterday - as her brother looked on in horror, police and relatives said....

GOV ON THE MEND AFTER APPENDIX OP

ALBANY - Gov. Pataki yesterday was recuperating from emergency surgery for a ruptured appendix that forced him to cancel a political trip to New Hampshire today. "He's doing absolutely great,"...

PLEA IN '85 FIRE I. SLAY

A Long Island man was sentenced yesterday for murdering the son of a former aide to Gov. Mario Cuomo on Fire Island in 1985. Anthony Romeo, 42, pleaded guilty on...

TRIO ON GRILL IN SUBWAY BEATING

Police were questioning three suspects last night in the brutal beating of a man left comatose after he was hurled down a flight of stairs at a Lower East Side...

3 GRILLED IN SUBWAY COMA BEAT

Police were questioning three suspects last night in connection with the brutal beating of a man left comatose after being flung down a flight of stairs at a subway station....

STUDENTS FEEL THE FLUNK - FAIL-ALERT LETTERS RAISE PROMOTION-POLICY FEAR

More than a quarter of students in grades 4 through 6 are in danger of failing this year, despite a city promotion policy that found them prepared to move on...

KUSHNER INMATE OUTRAGE - 'ALCOHOLIC PLOY'

The feds in Jersey are fuming that rogue real-estate mogul Charles Kushner is being transferred from prison to a cushy halfway house a year early - because he claims he's...

PREZ: CHENEY ON TARGET - ACCEPTS HIS EXPLANATION

WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday said Vice President Dick Cheney did "just fine" in handling the explanation of how he accidentally shot a 78-year-old friend in a hunting accident. "I...

EMILY ARRIVES AS U.S. SAVIOR

URIN, Italy - When Emily Hughes reached Torino-Caselle airport yesterday afternoon, she received treatment usually afforded to foreign dignitaries. The 17-year-old figure skater from Long Island was met at the...

U.S. ICE DANCERS SEEK RARE MEDAL

TURIN, Italy - Tanith Belbin thought she might never get here. The ice dancer, who moved from Canada in 1998, became a U.S. citizen Dec. 31, a day after a...

ALLEN, GRIESEN MAY BE AMONG GIANTS TO LEAVE

There are a few things Will Allen believes he knows for sure. He plans on staying in New Jersey, no matter where his football path takes him. He's certain he...

FORGET ABOUT FRANCIS

HOUSTON - Before enthusiastically launching my hopeless quest to have more fun during All-Star weekend than Shaquille O'Neal, I have a thing or two to say about a team or...

CONSISTENCY KEY FOR SEESAW NETS

They beat Detroit and won in Miami. They lost to the Blazers and stumbled against the Bobcats at home. They won 12 straight at the Meadowlands. They dropped seven in...

KNICKS IN NEED OF MAGIC DEAL

Isiah Thomas' willingness to part with Jamal Crawford before next week's trading deadline is another admission the players he assembled is not a good fit with Larry Brown. One victory,...

MORE COMMON SENSELESSNESS

THIS meeting of the Common Sense Club is called to order. First, we'd like to salute ABC/ESPN for outstanding achievement in common-sense telecasting. It took until the Super Bowl -...

STORRS HILTON IS A HIGH-RISE ; UCONN CENTER COMING UP BIG

ON a team used to being swarmed by the media, UConn center Hilton Armstrong doesn't particularly stand out. The 6-foot-11, 235-pound senior is a big presence and an even bigger...

KEEPIN' IT WHEEL; BOSS BLASTS WBC, SELIG FROM GOLF CART PULPIT

TAMPA - George Steinbrenner will be 76 in July, has darkened his moss, is rarely seen in public, and speaks to the media as frequently as the Red Sox win...

MOOSE'S MIND ON PRESENT

TAMPA - Mike Mussina enjoys pitching for the Yankees and they love his professionalism. So it's highly likely Mussina will remain a Yankee after his contract expires following this season....

PLAYERS NOT IN STEP WITH LARRY'S TEMPO

KNICK NOTES There's a growing sentiment among some Knicks that Larry Brown is not taking advantage of the team's athleticism by using a more uptempo offense. According to one NBA...

SARATOGA JET ROARS AWAY

4TH RACE - Back Door Deal, 68-1 under apprentice Randall Toups, set pace down backside and around turn, chased by two betting choices, 7-5 Sartoga Jet and 9-5 Precise Action....

SNOWBOARDERS REMAIN GOLDEN

TURIN, Italy - Snowboarding continues to be America's turf here. U.S. snowboarder Seth Wescott added to the U.S. team's dominance in the sport, winning the gold in the first Olympic...

CHANGES GREET THE 'NEW' METS; LO DUCA READY TO FOLLOW PIAZZA - AGAIN

PORT ST. LUCIE - For seven and a half years, the Mets had perhaps the greatest hitting catcher of all time. Now, however, Mike Piazza is in San Diego, and...

NO MORE MOUND DOGS

TAMPA - Scott Erickson was last a proficient major league pitcher seven seasons and four organizations ago. Yet the Yankees - partially out of a favor to his friend Jason...

PEDRO SPORTS SOME DIFFERENT FOOTWEAR

MET NOTES PORT ST. LUCIE - He didn't wear the new shoe yesterday, but Pedro Martinez and his ailing right big toe continued to move forward. Following up on Wednesday's...

ERICKSON ADDED TO MINOR-LEAGUE STABLE

YANKEE NOTES TAMPA - Jason Giambi's recommendation got Scott Erickson a Yankees tryout yesterday. The veteran right-hander's bullpen performance in front of Joe Torre, Ron Guidry, Joe Kerrigan and Mark...

OMAR EXCITED AT CRAZY CLUBHOUSE

PORT ST. LUCIE - This is how much the Mets have changed under Omar Minaya's leadership: The players can't tell the players without a scorecard. As Pedro Martinez sat at...

GETTING ON BASE JOSE'S TARGET

PORT ST. LUCIE - The biggest test last year for Jose Reyes was whether he could stay healthy for a full season. He passed that one. But after playing in...

LEON LEADS LINCOLN TO FINAL

PSAL BROOKLYN SEMISLincoln 83Grady 76 Two years ago, Sebastian Telfair ran the point for Lincoln as the Railsplitters won their third straight title. Last year, it was Kevin White who...

TELFAIR'S BUDS: IT WAS MISTAKE

Danny Turner was always by his brother Sebastian Telfair's side when Telfair was on his way to becoming one of the best high school players at Lincoln. It was Turner,...

NO WORRIES

TAMPA - Relax, Yankee fans. Derek Jeter says he was kidding with infielder Miguel Cairo about getting old when The Post snapped the Yankee captain pointing to his right elbow...

AMERICANS BOUNCE BACK

TURIN, Italy - It's hard to say it was smooth, but at least it was energetic. Also obligatory was a 4-1 win over Kazakhstan last night in a contest that...

BUS STOPPED - WEIR MISSES RIDE, THEN TAKES FIFTH

TURIN, Italy - Johnny Weir missed his bus, then missed a medal. The flamboyant American figure skater crashed and burned in last night's free skate after entering the competition in...

BODE 'COULDN'T CARE LESS' ABOUT MEDALS

TURIN, Italy - Skiing bad boy Bode Miller does not care about his disappointing performance at the Olympics and is considering walking away from skiing. Miller said this in an...

RUSSIAN CAUGHT DOPING

TURIN, Italy - Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva yesterday became the first athlete caught doping at these Olympic Games. Pyleva was thrown out of the Olympics and stripped of her silver...

'MISS' MATCHES THREATEN HOCKEY

TURIN, Italy - Three games in, the women's Olympic hockey tournament finally starts tonight. Well, sort of. The Americans say they dare not look past the Swedes toward a third-straight...

ACHES & STRAINS - 'MATES SAY JETS BETTER OFF RELEASING FRAGILE CHAD

The Jets are feverishly attempting to come to an agreement with Chad Pennington to restructure the quarterback's contract before March 3, which marks the start of the NFL's new year,...

MARCHAND'S MEMO OF THE WEEK

To: Young Sportscasters From: Andrew Marchand Re: Dream Job CC: "SportsCenter" anchors Dear Young Sportscasters, Back in the day, the way to become a star at ESPN was through "SportsCenter."...

5 QUESTIONS FOR OREL HERSHISER

This week, NYP TV Sports' Andrew Marchand spoke with 1988 Cy Young Award winner Orel Hershiser. The former Dodgers ace, 47, was hired this week by ESPN as a baseball...

BRAND NEW JOB FOR ELTON - ALL-STAR WORKS FOR NBA TV, TOO

All-Star Elton Brand will be a correspondent for NBA TV this weekend in Houston. Brand, who grew up in Peekskill, will report on what All-Star weekend is like for a...

NATE SHOW - KNICKS' ROBINSON WON'T COME UP SHORT

Saturday NBA All-Star Slam Dunk 8:30 p.m., TNT Nate Robinson is listed at 5-foot-9 in the Knicks' media guide, but a 5-foot-7 reporter can look Robinson straight in the eyes....

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Like mother, like daughter. That's the case in Utah, where Chelsee Bushman, 22, gave birth to a 3-pound baby daughter and, just 90 minutes later, her mom, Sherri Callister, 42,...