February 27, 2006
OIL'S NOT WELL - BERNANKE'S INFLATION TAKE CALLED 'HALF RIGHT'
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amNew Fed chief Ben Bernanke may be staking his claim to being the nation's inflation fighter, but critical observers are charging he has yet to tell the whole story about...
FLORIDA FIRM SQUEEZES $$ IN RUDY DEAL
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amAn obscure Florida financial firm is set to reap millions of dollars if a deal between a small New York security company and Rudy Giuliani's consulting firm lasts three years....
OFFICE READS
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amNAKED IN THE BOARDROOM By Robin Wolaner Simon & Schuster, $14 IF the title of this book - and the idea of corporate nudity - doesn't get your attention, the...
O YEAH! THE BAND IS PRETTY HOT AT BOWERY
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amTHE buzz about the Bowery Ballroom Yeah Yeah Yeahs gig was deafening Friday night outside the Delancey Street's jewel box theater. Hipsters who haven't talked with a stranger in years...
'IDOL': NO WAY 'OUT'
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amNOTICE something different on "American Idol" this year? Host Ryan Seacrest's signature sign-off line "Seacrest out!" is, well, out. Without fanfare or comment, the phrase suddenly disappeared last week from...
MUCH A-DREW - NICK'S BRO DANCES OFF WITH 'STARS' TROPHY
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amIT'S no jive - Drew Lachey and Cheryl Burke danced into the winners' circle last night on the grand finale of "Dancing with the Stars" on ABC. The 29-year-old former...
FAMILY AFFAIR - IVANKA, DONALD JR. TAKE SEATS IN 'THE APPRENTICE' BOARDROOM THIS SEASON
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amJUST when you thought that you'd about had it with "The Apprentice" and all its imitators and look-alikes, along comes this season's "Apprentice" - and it's the best one yet....
STARR REPORT
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amHey, it's February How shocking that Tyra Banks-who, last fall, used her show to let America know she's naturally endowed-waited until the closing days of February sweeps to unleash her...
'OFFICE' STAR BRINGS REALITY TO SIMPSONS
February 27, 2006 | 5:00am'OFFICE" creator and star Ricky Gervais jokes that he may be terminally ill because he's been granted his fondest wish: to write and star in an episode of "The Simpsons."...
LOAN STAR - HOW TO GET A $30K NIGHT OF GLAM FOR $900; LUXURY FOR LEASE
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amTAKE a tip from Sunday's Oscar nominees: When you're going glam, don't buy - rent. Celebrities aren't the only ones who can be loaned or leased thousands of dollars worth...
WHEN CELEBRITY BLING FLINGS END IN LAWSUITS
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amAT least as far back as 1944, when jeweler Harry Winston lent diamonds to best actress nominee Jennifer Jones, Hollywood and fashion makers have enjoyed a symbiotic relationship - the...
FILM FANS MAD FOR 'MADEA'
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amA gray-haired granny in drag is the box-office queen - or, uh, king - as "Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion" was the No. 1 film in North America over the...
HEAVY LIFTING, ARMY STYLE - SUPPORTING THE TROOPS IN IRAQ
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amCAMP ARIFJAN, KUWAIT IMMENSE - there's no better word for it. The scale of our military's effort to support our troops in Iraq is a great American success story. And...
PORT DEAL ON HOLD 45 DAYS - POLS HAIL DELAY
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - New York lawmakers yesterday hailed a new deal that will delay for 45 days a United Arab Emirates company's controversial plan to take over the operations at six...
NEW PARKS RAI$E THEIR OWN GREEN
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amHudson River Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park and the new parkland planned for Governors Island all have something in common: They won't cost taxpayers a cent to maintain. The state and...
ISRAEL TAGS ABBAS AS 'IRRELEVANT'
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - Israel branded Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "irrelevant" yesterday, calling Hamas the real governing power and urging the international community to keep up its pressure on the militant group...
TRIBUTE HONORS 2/26/93 FALLEN
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amPolice, firefighters, Port Authority workers and victims' families gathered at St. Peter's Church yesterday to remember the 13th anniversary of the World Trade Center bombing, which foreshadowed the 9/11 attacks....
BROOKLYN CAMPUS GETS GYM-DANDY NEW ARENA
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amOfficials will cut the ribbon on a sterling new arena for Brooklyn's star basketball team today - and it's got nothing to do with the New Jersey Nets. Long Island...
ALL CLEAR AT ANTHRAX WORK SITE
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amTests on the Brooklyn workplace of a West African man who contracted anthrax returned negative for the bacteria yesterday, as the ill choreographer continued to fight for his life. Friends...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amTHE BRONX * A Bronx police officer was struck by a hit and run driver last night, cops said. The officer, whose name was withheld, was walking back to his...
QUINN BACKS ANDY
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amHoping to boost his support in the gay community, attorney-general hopeful Andrew Cuomo picked up the endorsement of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. "We could do no better in the...
I'VE GONE FROM HELL TO HEAVEN - STARVE KID'S NEW LIFE
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amTrapped in a small boy's body and punished for getting food, Keith Mitchell was one of four adopted children starved by his parents. Now happiness is a stocked fridge, a...
FIREBUG THEORY KO'D
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amInvestigators believe that the arsonist who killed four people after setting a Brooklyn building on fire last week did not spark the blaze to scare poorer residents away from the...
3 BRAVEST HURT IN BX. BLAZE
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amThree firefighters suffered serious burns in a Bronx high-rise blaze yesterday, FDNY officials said. The blaze, which began on the 24th floor of the Tracy Towers in Norwood, the borough's...
MIKE'S NEW FLA. DIGS
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amNext time Mayor Bloomberg is out of town for the weekend, he just might be relaxing at his new $9 million pad near Palm Beach. Hizzoner is buying a 10,000-square-foot...
'BAT' RAT FEARS SNITCH HIT - I GET THREATS, SAYS 'FAT NICK' COHORT
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amA Queens teen who allegedly helped "Fat Nick" Minucci and Anthony Ench beat a black man in a Howard Beach bias attack last year told cops he's being threatened for...
HILL HIRES BILL HAND - 'HAWK' COULD PROVIDE TOUGH CAMPAIGN TALK
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has enlisted one of Bill's former foreign-policy foot soldiers - who once demanded Democrats "think straight about war" - to toughen up her message...
'MAY HE REST IN PEACE,' SAYS GABBY 'GOUMADA' OF JOHN GOTTI
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amThe Dapper Don's stunning alleged mistress yesterday proudly posed for photographers in sexy skintight jeans and flashed a million-dollar smile as she coyly revealed details about her relationship with the...
SUOZZI OPENS WITH FAST JAB
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amA day after entering the gubernatorial race, Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi took a swipe yesterday at his foe, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. In Howard Beach, Queens, to accept an...
NIGHTMARE OF 'SLAVE' NANNY - BOOTED FROM HOME & U.S. AFTER $3.11-PER-HR. OUTRAGE
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amA Brazilian nanny says she has been swindled by a New Jersey mother of three who paid her slave wages as a live-in au pair and then tossed all of...
WIFE QUITS JOB WITH CITY POL
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amThe wife of Queens Councilman James Sanders has resigned as his $70,000-a-year chief of staff for her hubby. Andrea Sanders stepped down months after council officials launched a legal battle...
CROOKS 'CARTED' OFF TO PRISON - NYPD'S BAIT SNAGS THIEVES
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amThe bait is a cheap handcart (left) carrying groceries and $5 in a purse left on a subway platform. Cops watch nearby, waiting for a would-be thief to snag the...
HOLY SNIT: SEX-ED FLAP HALTS SCHOOLS
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amCity efforts to create hundreds of public-school seats by leasing closed Catholic schools has hit a stumbling block - the church is vehemently against having sex education in the buildings,...
COPS 'SMACK' KATRINA PAIR
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amTwo Hurricane Katrina victims living in a Brooklyn motel have been busted for dealing heroin, police sources said yesterday. David Townsend, 27, and Nicole Smith, 31, were nabbed in their...
GRISLY CO-ED SLAY - BODY FOUND BOUND
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amA violent sicko killed a gorgeous Manhattan grad student, covered her face in duct tape and then wrapped her naked corpse in a blanket before dumping it on the side...
SCHOOL-TRANSLATE DEAL
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amAn agreement to make schools provide more translation services to immigrant school parents will be announced today by Mayor Bloomberg, avoiding a threatened veto override by the City Council. The...
B'KLYN MAN SLAIN FOR WEDDING PENDANT: KIN
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amA quiet Brooklyn man was shot to death just three days before his wedding, possibly by someone who wanted his new diamond-encrusted cross pendant, grieving relatives said yesterday. Cops last...
CITY FUND IS SOARING
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amThe Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City raised $17.3 million last year, giving it its highest balance - over $30 million - since it was created in 1994. And...
NEW DETAILS CLOUD CASE IN COP SLAY
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amStartling new ballistics evidence threatens to derail the prosecution's case against an alleged cop killer who is also charged with wounding a second officer, The Post has learned. Allan Cameron...
NYERS GO POSTAL IN MISSIVES TO MIKE
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amDear Mayor Bloomberg: Do something! Frustrated citizens have bombarded Hizzoner with 60,000 letters and e-mails, urging him to fix problems they claim destroy their quality of life, according to correspondence...
ARSON PROBERS DISMISS 'ANTI-POOR' THEORY
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amInvestigators believe that the arsonist who set a Brooklyn fire that killed four people Friday did not torch the building to scare poorer residents away from the neighborhood, police sources...
NEW ARENA FOR B'KLYN CAMPUS
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amOfficials will cut the ribbon on a sterling new arena for Brooklyn's star basketball team today - and it's got nothing to do with the New Jersey Nets. Long Island...
DOUBLE PARKERS BEATING THE RAP
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amNearly 60 percent of all the double-parking tickets issued to commercial vehicles are dismissed, city figures show. But cops are still giving out so many summonses that they've been told...
$WEET CHARITY FOR CITY FUND
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amThe Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City raised $17.3 million last year, The Post has learned - bringing its total to more than $30 million, its highest balance since...
THIS TIME, HIS 'DWI' IS DEADLY
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amA 26-year-old drunk driver with a suspended license and a rap sheet for DWI killed two passengers yesterday in a Long Island smashup, police said. Joseph Lago of Ridge and...
BEAUTIFUL CO-ED FOUND MURDERED - BODY DUMPED NEAR B'KLYN HIGHWAY
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amA violent sicko killed a bright and beautiful Manhattan grad student, covered her entire face in duct tape and then wrapped her naked corpse in a blanket before dumping it...
GREAT KID IS SLAIN - BX. VAGRANT HUNTED
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amA computer whiz kid whom "everybody loved" and who had returned to New York from Ghana to get a good education may have been slain by a homeless man, police...
SUOZZI RISKS BEING DEM PARTY PARIAH
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amNEWLY announced gubernatorial candidate Tom Suozzi risks becoming a Democratic outcast if his long-shot effort helps the Republicans beat Eliot Spitzer in November, a top Spitzer ally has warned. Senate...
GOING POSTAL IN NYC - ANGRY MAIL FOR MIKE
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amDear Mayor Bloomberg: Do something! Frustrated citizens have bombarded Hizzoner with 60,000 ranting letters and e-mails, urging him to fix problems they claim destroy their quality of life, according to...
'EVERYBODY LOVED' TRAGIC BX. TEEN - VAGRANT HUNTED IN BUTCHER-KNIFE SLAY
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amA computer whiz "everybody loved" and who returned to the United States from Ghana to get a good high-school education may have been tragically slain by a homeless man wielding...
NO SUCH THING AS A 'FREE GIFT'
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amTHERE oughta be a real-deal National Sports Fans Appreciation Day, a day when all sports businesses join to salute fans for hanging in there, no matter how much garbage we're...
ACHIN' SHEFF SITS OUT
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amYANK NOTES TAMPA - Gary Sheffield missed yesterday's workout due to back spasms that he and the club insist isn't a big deal. "It bothered me [Saturday] but I kept...
'RON' ON THE RUN - SOUTHWEST WINNER ON HOT STREAK
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amOnly one prep race of major import on the Kentucky Derby trail was run over the weekend, Saturday's $250,000 Southwest Stakes going a mile at Oaklawn Park, rescheduled from the...
SMOLTZ RATES METS CLUB TO BEAT IN EAST
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amMET NOTES PORT ST. LUCIE - Tom Glavine speculated that his pal and former teammate John Smoltz might be trying to psych up his team or psych out a rival...
REGAL ENGAGEMENT PREVAILS
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amPair of 3-year-old fillies both coming off maiden victories finished 1-2 in yesterday's feature, $65,000 Busher at mile-and-sixteenth. Trendy Lady, stretching out from six furlongs in just her third start,...
SHOULDER LIKELY TO SHELVE STEPH
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amKNICKS at SPURS Tonight 8:30 - MSG; ESPN (1050) (s, lcf)KNICK NOTES SAN ANTONIO - The great Stephon Marbury/Stevie Francis backcourt experiment might be put on hold for the rest...
IRISH HAVE OWN FIELD OF DREAMS
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amA MERE 60 feet, six inches can stretch thousands of miles. A baseball team gathered at the James Joyce Pub in White Plains over the weekend, the Irish National Team....
BOMBERS: WE'RE NOT IDIOT-PROOF
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amTAMPA - When the Yankees were actually winning championships and not just vowing to do so, they were a button-down team that nevertheless made room for idiosyncratic characters like Paul...
GM: YOUNG SCORE INNACURATE
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amNFL COMBINE INDIANAPOLIS - Vince Young wasn't among the quarterbacks who went through a series of workouts yesterday at the NFL Scouting Combine, but his draft status was widely discussed...
MCKENZIE LEADS WAY FOR YOUTHFUL CLIPPERS
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amXaverian 54 Farrell 46 Jack Alesi admits that he occasionally has flashbacks to last year. "Sometimes I look down the bench and see the ghosts of Levance and Saiquon," the...
LUNDQVIST SAVORS SWEDEN'S GOLDEN MOMENT
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amTURIN, Italy - Henrik Lundqvist, Olympic gold medal winner, said it will take time for one of the two greatest realities a player can enjoy in a hockey life to...
PAVA-NO WAY FOR OPENERS - YANKS MAY PLACE CARL ON DISABLED LIST
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amTAMPA - The possibility of Carl Pavano starting the season on the disabled list isn't all that alarming. However, because he figures prominently in the Yankees' questionable rotation, the back...
NOW, LARRY ONE OF THE STOOGES
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amSAN ANTONIO - Larry Brown is no different than his players now. Overpaid, underachieving - stealing Knicks owner James Dolan's money. Isiah Thomas has assembled some mismatched pieces during his...
FROSTY FANS PUT TIX ON ICE
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amStrong winds and freezing temperatures were no match for optimism and enthusiasm yesterday at Shea Stadium, where hundreds of die-hard Mets fans bought tickets for games they hope will lead...
GIAMBI: RANDY LOOKIN' READY
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amTAMPA - What you read starting with the second paragraph comes with a warning: It's only batting practice in February. Yet, it was impossible to not be impressed by how...
U.S. SUCCESS DULLED BY OLYMPIC-SIZED FAILURES, MISDEEDS
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amTURIN, Italy - The Winter Games closed yesterday with Americans winning 25 medals, their most ever on foreign soil. It probably was the best campaign we fought here since Anzio...
ARRIVEDERCI, TORINO
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amTURIN, Italy - The curtain fell on the Turin Olympic Games last night with the flame extinguished and the Olympic flag passed to Vancouver for 2010. Last night's closing ceremony...
'NOVA'S RAY HURTS KNEE DURING LOSS
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amSTORRS - The Villanova basketball family has been down this gut-wrenching road before and it hopes not to go through it again. Guard Allan Ray of The Bronx today will...
JULIO HOLDS THE KEY TO METS' PEN
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amPORT ST. LUCIE - The second part of Omar Minaya's big winter gamble finally arrived in camp yesterday morning, and the Mets can only pray that their angst about Jorge...
NACHBAR ADJUSTS TO NEW PLAYBOOK
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amNET NOTES On the court, Bostjan Nachbar noted that his new team is very similar to his old team. Off the court, things couldn't be more different. "Comparing it to...
METS, CABLEVISION CLOSE
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amIf you are one of the nearly three million viewers who have Cablevision in the Tri-State area, it looks as if you will be able to see the Mets play...
VINCE HURTS HAMMY IN LOSS TO INDY
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amPacers 101 - Nets 91 With 3:06 remaining in the first quarter, Vince Carter drove to the basket from the left wing and aggravated his right hamstring. Carter came up...
NACHBAR FEELING ALL RIGHT AT HOME
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amNET NOTES On the court, Bostjan Nachbar noted that his new team is very similar to his old team. Off the court, things couldn't be more different. "Comparing it to...
PENNINGTON 'ANXIOUS' TO FIGHT FOR HIS JOB
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amAs rumors began flying that the Jets are candidates to trade up with the Texans and land the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft, which they would use...
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS - NETS WANT NO. 2 SEED
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amRichard Jefferson admitted yesterday what the standings have made obvious: Detroit has separated itself from the rest of the Eastern Conference. Run and hide? The Pistons have sprinted and vanished...
CITY GAME ALIVE AND WELL
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amALL day, all season, they'd waited for this moment, ached for this moment, even in those long, dark stretches when it seemed their season was careening toward the abyss. Somehow,...
A MAAC ATTACK - JASPERS, GAELS BATTLE IN RIVERDALE RUMBLE
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amTHEY tried to sell Storrs, Conn., as the capital of basketball America yesterday, the place where you had to be if you wanted a preview of the madness to come....
NUMBERS ARE ON SIDE OF PRIDE
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amTom Pecora isn't much into crunching numbers. The Hofstra coach knows his team has a legitimate shot at an at-large NCAA Tournament bid for the simple facts that the Pride...
MAAC DADDIES - JASPERS STUN GAELS WITH RALLY
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amManhattan 78 - Iona 74 Few gave Manhattan much of a chance to win the MAAC once star C.J. Anderson was suspended for the season and senior Kenny Minor missed...
IONA RUES BEING PUSHED TO THE BRINK
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amWhen the MAAC regular-season schedule came out, it seemed a fait accompli that the league championship would come down to last night's climactic tilt between Iona and Manhattan. It seemingly...
CONN JOB - NO. 4 HUSKIES SHOW NO. 2 'NOVA THEY'RE TOP DOGS
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amUConn 89 - Villanova 75 STORRS, Conn. - The blue and white Husky basketball came bounding out of the student section as the horn sounded in Gampel Pavilion and bounced...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
February 27, 2006 | 5:00amA new poll has named Psycho Path in Traverse City, Mich., and Divorce Court in Heather Highlands, Pa., the nation's weirdest street names. Other winners include: Tennessee's Farfrompoopen Road, the...