April 18, 2006
CLERKS MAY NOT BE SO NYSE IN SPECIALIST PROBE
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amREMEMBER this: Be kind to the hired help. If you ever get into trouble they are the ones who can put you away. Federal prosecutors are said to be employing...
NIKE CHIEF OF APPAREL QUITS JOB, JOINS IAC
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amMindy Grossman, the highly-respected executive in charge of Nike's apparel business, resigned yesterday to join IAC/InterActiveCorp., where she will oversee the company's retail businesses, including the Home Shopping Network. Nike,...
MIKE LIKES NET TV - EISNER BACKS TW BET
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amMichael Eisner, who famously reigned over the Walt Disney empire with an iron fist, is now playing on a much smaller stage. Eisner, who was forced out at Disney last...
SURPRISE SPOILER FOR VNU BUYOUT
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe head of a little-known investment firm is claiming victory against a band of the world's savviest buyout firms in the long-running battle over Dutch media giant VNU NV, owner...
BUZZ OVER BEAR - SHARES JUMP $2 ON RUMOR OF CHINESE BANK STAKE
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe stock of high-flying Bear Stearns popped more than $2 yesterday on rumors that a huge Chinese bank was close to taking a large stake in the investment firm, even...
MARKT GETS CORNERED - LANDLORD SPAT HITS 14TH STREET
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amWHEN Taconic Investment Partners, owners of the majestic office building at 111 Eighth Ave., bought a small corner of the Meatpacking District last fall, the last thing it expected was...
SKINNING SKILLING
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe government's top prosecutor in the Enron scandal lived up to his tough-guy image yesterday, slapping around Enron rogue Jeff Skilling with fierce rebukes of his ethics - and his...
PONZI PROMOTER - SEC HITS EVENT MAN IN $300M SCHEME
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe nation's third-largest promoter of music tours, sporting events and Broadway road shows was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with bilking investors out of $300 million. Jack Utsick,...
LATE CHEROKEE BID FOR MOSSIMO: $135M
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amDude, it looks like a bidding war. Casual clothing company Mossimo Inc. got a last-minute takeover bid yesterday from apparel maker Cherokee Inc. topping an earlier offer from Iconix Brand...
VNU BUYOUT ON ROCKS - 'LITTLE GUYS' FIGHT BACK
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe head of a little-known investment firm is claiming victory against a band of the world's savviest buyout firms in the long-running battle over Dutch media giant VNU NV, owner...
FEDS OFFER NYSE CLERKS DEALS IN SPECIALIST CASE
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amREMEMBER this: Be kind to the hired help. If you ever get into trouble they are the ones who can put you away. Federal prosecutors are said to be employing...
STARS AWAKEN ODET PLAY THAT FAILS TO SING
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amTHE centenary of playwright Clifford Odets, a key figure in American theater history, is certainly worth celebrating, and last night the Lincoln Center Theater duly celebrated with a production of...
ALLY SCORES BIG WITH FAMILY DRAMA
April 18, 2006 | 4:00am'ALLY McBeal" star Calista Flockhart is returning to series TV with a guaranteed pay day of at least $800,000 for less than six weeks' work. Flockhart will play an Ann...
OPRAH NIXES JEN'S HITCH
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amOPRAH Winfrey tele phoned pal Jennifer Aniston on yesterday's "Oprah" to quash tabloid rumors that Winfrey would spend $8 million to pay for Aniston's supposed wedding to boyfriend Vince Vaughn....
TIME FOR FLAV - APPARENTLY 'LOVE'S' UNLIKELY APPEAL BAFFLES EVERYONE
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amJUST like you, VH1 can't explain exactly how rapper Flavor Flav has become the king of cable TV - overnight. "It continues to be a mystery for me," says Michael...
'BIRD FLU' MOVIE SURPRISE ATTACK
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amABC announced its May Sweeps' bird-flu movie yesterday - which came as a complete surprise in a business nearly devoid of surprises. But that's just what the producers of "Fatal...
STARR REPORT
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amArcher's baby talk Anne Archer, who's been a Scientologist for 30 years, weighs in on the practice of "silent birth," which is getting a lot of attention now with Scientologists...
'IDOL' AD$ UP - TALENT SHOW RAKES IN $1.3 MIL FOR FINALE ADS
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amYOU can get that ad for a (very expensive) song on the upcoming finale of "American Idol." A 30-second spot on this season's "Idol" swan song will cost a stratospheric...
GO AHEAD, BLOW IT - THE TOP PLACES TO SPEND YOUR TAX REFUND THIS YEAR; TAX AND SPEND!
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amWHEN April hits, Uncle Sam doesn't so much giveth, as he does ruthlessly taketh away. Yet, oddly, sometimes he decides to returneth, in the form of big, fat refunds. What...
VOLKS AD IS SHOCK 'N' ROLL
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amIN the old days (i.e., about seven years ago), Volkswagen ads were musically charged affairs, with much head bopping of the "Da, da, da" variety. They featured cute twentysomethings lifting...
SNEEZY PASS - NATURAL CURES FOR SPRINGTIME ALLERGIES
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amSEASONAL allergies are nothing to sneeze at. And according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, in New York City, they're worse than ever. The group's 2006 Spring Allergy...
JACKO JUROR IN 2G E-SALE
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amA juror from Michael Jackson's sensational kiddie-sex trial cashed in his notes for more than $2,000 in an Internet auction that ended last night. Delivery driver Jeffrey Welbaum, 38, sold...
HULK STILL LOOMS - ANOTHER GROUND ZERO MESS
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amCOME the fifth anniversary of 9/11 this September, the hulk of CUNY's Fiterman Hall will yet loom over Ground Zero, looking just as blackened and macabre as it did on...
U.N. BACKS DOWN ON TEMPORARY TOWER PLAN
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amFacing stiff opposition, the United Nations has scrapped plans to put up a building that would serve as temporary headquarters during the $1.6 billion renovation to the U.N. complex and...
ELIOT LEADS DEM RIVAL
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - Eliot Spitzer maintains a commanding lead over gubernatorial challenger Tom Suozzi, Andrew Cuomo is well ahead of Mark Green in the race for attorney general, and "don't know"...
EASTER BUNNY THUMPS MALL MOM
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe Easter Bunny went hippity-hop to jail over the weekend - for beating up a mother in front of her family. It began when 280-pound Arthur McClure, portraying the Easter...
RUMSFELD'S JOB SECURITY - FIRING HIM LOSES IRAQ
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amWHAT'S the dumbest thing George W. Bush could possibly do right at this moment - the action that would, more than any other, suggest his presidency was and is all...
ROOFLESS PEOPLE - WHEELER-DEALER TO COLLECT 85G WHILE SON LOSES B'KLYN HOUSE
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amA mortgage lender who tried to buy an elderly Brooklyn woman's home on the cheap while she was alive is set to walk away with $85,000 of her money now...
SUICIDE THROWS RUSH HOUR OFF TRACK
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amMorning rush-hour subway service between Brooklyn and The Bronx was shut down for over an hour yesterday after an apparently homeless man jumped in front of a train at an...
'EXPECT' W. STAFF MOVES
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush's new chief-of-staff, Josh Bolten, set the stage for a staff shakeup yesterday by telling other White House aides that it was time to "refresh and re-energize...
MORE PUFFERS HEEDING BLOOMY'S SMOKE CIG-NALS
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amComplaints of illegal smoking in city bars, restaurants and other public places have plummeted 23 percent in the last year, The Post has learned. The city Health Department received 2,283...
GLASS & BLOOD FILLED STREET
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amJERUSALEM - David Menashe, 17, was working in the kitchen of The Mayor's Falafel shop in Tel Aviv's old central bus station when he saw a nightmare being repeated. Three...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amTHE BRONX * A teen was clinging to life early today after he was shot in the back of the head and dumped on a Longwood street, police said. Edward...
FEDS: BOOST SECURITY IN 2ND AVE. SUBWAY PLAN
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe feds are requiring that the proposed Second Avenue subway be built to the highest security standards - and they're attaching strings to $1.3 billion in financing, according to transit...
SICK PUPPY CAGED FOR KILLING DOG
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amA Brooklyn man who beat his mother with a vacuum cleaner and then hurled her beloved pit bull out a fifth-floor window was sentenced to two years in prison yesterday...
TRUE-BLUE ANGEL MOURNED - TEARS FOR SLAIN EX-COP ON S.I.
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amOne by one, Daddy's angels sent letters to heaven. Standing on the altar of a Staten Island church, Steven Vitale's three daughters read poignant notes to the fallen former Port...
MUM MOM JAILED - BODY UNDER PATIO
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amA Brooklyn woman who kept mum for seven years as the bullet-riddled corpse of her son's buddy lay rotting under her concrete patio broke down in tears yesterday as a...
530G TAX SCAM A 'FAMILY AFFAIR'
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amTwo crooked tax preparers were indicted yesterday for filing a slew of bogus returns and padding their pockets with over $500,000, authorities said. Ann Lewis, 59, and her daughter, Germaine,...
MIKE'S 'HEIR' PLAY - BIDS TO WOO EXEC
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg is taking an interest in the 2009 race to replace him - discussing with Time Warner honcho Richard Parsons whether he'd be interested in making a play for...
DOORMEN'S STRIKE LOOMS
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amDoormen and maintenance crews at apartment buildings throughout the city prepared to rally in solidarity today as one union leader predicted "a better than 50-50 chance" of a strike by...
'TERROR' MIGRANT GETS ALLY - POL, TRUMP SIS TEAM UP
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amLong Island Rep. Peter King has joined Donald Trump's federal-judge sister in urging top federal officials to block the deportation of a former Irish nationalist convicted in a "terrorist" attack...
MIKE FLIPS ON FOOD STAMPS
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amIn an unusual public reversal, the Bloomberg administration announced yesterday that after "further consideration" it had decided not to seek a federal waiver that would make it easier for single...
GOV, LIBBY HAVE A GOLDEN YEAR - EARNINGS SOARED TO $775,169 IN '05
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - Gov. Pataki's last year in office has turned out to be his best - at least in terms of family income. Thanks to an eye-popping Florida house sale,...
RUDY TO BE ARNIE $TAR
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Rudy Giuliani will star at a fund-raiser for California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at billionaire Ron Perelman's Manhattan mansion on April 30, sources said yesterday. The timing suits Giuliani,...
MOB COP TO WIFE: I'M NO RAPIST
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amMurderous mob cop Stephen Caracappa had a message for his wife after a Bronx woman claimed that he raped her 28 years ago. "It never happened," he told his spouse,...
CATNAPPER'S LETHAL PAST
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe Long Island man accused of snatching his neighbor's cat and taking it to a nearby shelter to be destroyed has a history of killing area cats, sources said yesterday....
HAMAS GLOATS - NEW PALESTINIAN GOV'T HAILS LETHAL TERROR HIT ON ISRAEL
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amJERUSALEM - The Hamas-controlled Palestinian government strongly defended a horrific terrorist bombing at a packed Tel Aviv restaurant yesterday that killed nine innocent people and wounded scores of others. The...
GOOD TIMES ROLL FOR GAY PARENTS
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Gay and lesbian parents and their kids sported rainbow-colored leis yesterday as they joined the fun with thousands of families in the chilly rain at the annual Easter...
COMPLAINTS VS. CITY COPS SOAR - UP BY 34 PERCENT SO FAR IN '06
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amPolice-brutality claims are up by a troubling 34 percent for the first three months of 2006 compared to the same period a year ago, according to the city's Civilian Complaint...
TRANSSEXUAL BEAT MA: DA - BROKE ARM IN DISPUTE OVER WILL
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amShe never had to work a day in her life, but this transsexual is no lady - she manhandled her 84-year-old mom in a bid to wring more money out...
KISSEL LIE TEST
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amPolice gave a lie-detector test to a prime suspect in the vicious murder of swindler millionaire Andrew Kissel soon after the slaying, a source told The Post yesterday. But the...
MAN KILLED IN LUMBER SLIDE
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amA 36-year-old truck driver died yesterday when he was buried under a pile of lumber he was transporting in Brooklyn. Wei Lin Wu, 36, of SoHo, was driving a flatbed...
SHOT TOT'S MOM RAGES AT KILLER - 'YOU'LL SEE BABY'S FACE EVERY DAY'
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe mother of a 2-year-old boy slain by a stray bullet in The Bronx on Easter Sunday issued a chilling warning to her baby's killer yesterday as police identified the...
EVEN PRIEST WEEPS FOR NYU KID
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amA priest wept openly yesterday as he gave the homily at the funeral of the NYU student fatally run over while fleeing four teen punks. "I never cry on the...
$7M IN FINES LEAVE TWU A TRAIN WRECK
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amA judge angrily struck back at the city's transit-workers union yesterday - slapping it with at least $7 million in penalties for last year's crippling walkout. "It is without question...
YANKEES A HIT WITH GALS - WOMEN FANS OUTNUMBER MEN: POLL
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amSure, guys like the Bronx Bombers - but gals absolutely love them. A new poll of New Yorkers reveals that the Yankees have many more women fans than male boosters...
WORKERS VOW TO GIVE DEVIL ITS DUES
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amDerailed but not defeated, many transit workers yesterday vowed to voluntarily pony up their union dues, after a judge nixed their organization's automatic-collection system as penalty for last year's strike....
TEEN WAS SEEN WITH NATALEE - HOTEL TAPE SHOWS ARGUMENT WITH MYSTERY MAN
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe Dutch teenager who's been detained in Aruba in the puzzling year-old Natalee Holloway case was seen with the Alabama honors student on the night she disappeared, her friends have...
COMPLAINTS VS. CITY COPS SOAR - 'BRUTALITY' UP 34% SO FAR IN '06
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amPolice-brutality claims are up 34.3 percent for the first three months of this year compared with the same period a year ago, according to the city's Civilian Complaint Review Board....
ROOFLESS PEOPLE - WHEELER-DEALER TO COLLECT 85G WHILE SON LOSES B'KLYN BLDG.
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amA mortgage lender who tried to buy an elderly Brooklyn woman's home on the cheap while she was alive is set to walk away with $85,000 of her money now...
EASTER BUNNY THUMPS MA
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe Easter Bunny went hippity-hop all the way to jail over the weekend - for beating up a mother in front of her family. It began when 280-pound Arthur McClure,...
BRONX BABY-SLAY SUSPECT GIVES UP - PARENTS NOW 'GRIEVING IN PEACE'
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe thug suspected of firing the shot that killed a 2-year-old Bronx boy on his way to Easter services gave himself up last night. Nicholas Morris, 26, walked into the...
PRIEST CRIES FOR NYU KID
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amA priest wept openly yesterday as he gave the homily at the funeral of the NYU student fatally run over while fleeing four teen punks. "I never cry on the...
POLICE SUED IN SHOOTING
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe family of a mentally ill teen is suing the city, claiming cops should not have shot him even though he was brandishing a knife. Angel Martin's mother had dialed...
COP SUIT IN TEEN SHOOT
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe family of a mentally ill teen is suing the city, claiming cops should not have shot him even though he was brandishing a knife. Angel Martin's mother had dialed...
SCARLETT JOSHING AROUND
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amScarlett Johansson and her boyfriend, Josh Hartnett, soak up the sun in Jamaica, where the bikini-clad babe looked right at home in the birthplace of the Bond girl. Goldeneye, the...
METS' OUTFIELD HOBBLED: FIRST BELTRAN, NOW FLOYD
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amMET NOTES Now the Mets are down two starting outfielders. While Carlos Beltran missed his second straight game due to a bad right hamstring, Cliff Floyd joined the banged-up crew...
FREE-AGENCY LOSING LUSTER - PICKINGS SLIM AS TEAMS TIE UP BIG STARS LONG-TERM
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amWE return for Week 2 of TMS, thus we avoided the one-and-done cancellation plight of "Emily's Reasons Why Not" while hoping for the longevity of "60 Minutes." Right now, though,...
NETS CAN SIT BACK AND RELAX
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe Nets already are reaping the rewards from their early season success, since their key players can be on the court as much - or as little - as coach...
JETS SIZING UP CUTLER'S ARM
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amWhat very well may be a window into the Jets' thinking for the NFL Draft opened when big-armed Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler revealed that Team Mangini told him how important...
'SAMURAI' SKIPPING KY. DERBY
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amFirst Samurai, winner of the Grade 1 Hopeful and Champagne as a 2-year-old last year, who began his 3-year-old campaign atop the Post's "Derby Dozen," will not run for the...
LAST HURRAH? - LARRY EXPECTED BACK - FOR FINALE, AT LEAST
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe Knicks announced yesterday that Larry Brown "is expected" to return for tomorrow's season finale in New Jersey, setting up a potential swan song to his tragic Knick stint. But...
STEPH: GET WELL, COACH
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amDespite their back-page battle of words, Stephon Marbury reached out to call ailing Larry Brown yesterday, offering his best wishes for his convalescing coach. Probably wise, since there's a chance...
COMEBACK KID GIAMBI NAMED AL'S TOP PLAYER
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES TORONTO - Twelve games into the season, Jason Giambi is showing last year's sensational second half wasn't a fluke. Noting his body hasn't felt this good in two...
YANKEE RIPPER - AS A-ROD GOES, SO GO BOMBERS
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amYANKEES at BLUE JAYS - Tonight 7:00 - YES; WCBS (880 AM) TORONTO - George Steinbrenner can't be happy with his Yankees' pedestrian 6-6 record. However, The Boss digs Alex...
SEEDY WAY TO FINISH AT MSG
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amBobcats 98 - Knicks 91KNICK NOTES And so the indignities kept pouring on the Knicks in their Garden finale last night. Booed by those few who decided to stick it...
SOFT CURRY OFFERS KNICKS LITTLE HOPE
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amAT least the Knicks' farce of season won't stain the Garden floor any longer. The home schedule came to a merciful end last night against the Bobcats, which in itself...
KNICK CIRCUS: NO MAS!
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amWHEN do we reach the part of the Knicks' irregular season when James Dolan, Isiah Thomas, Larry Brown and Stephon Marbury collide and/or conspire enough to merit a Law &...
STEPH CHEERS UP BROWN WITH GET-WELL CALL
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amDespite their back-page war of words, Stephon Marbury reached out to call an ailing Larry Brown before last night's home finale, offering his best wishes for his convalescing coach. Probably...
MARTINEZ ON A PED-ROLL
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amAs Pedro Martinez walked off the mound in the seventh inning last night, the right-hander put both hands over his head and pointed to the adoring Shea Stadium fans -...
FLUSHING FUN STILL FLOWIN' - PEDRO WINS 200TH; METS LEAD BY 5
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amMets 4 - Braves 3 In a bunch of ways, this win was like the first nine this year. The Mets were not intimidated by the Braves, or by all...
A DIVISION COLLISION - ATLANTA LOOKS TO SHAKE SLOW START AT SHEA
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amFor the Atlanta Braves, skeptics have become as much a part of the baseball season as the All-Star break and the trading deadline. Every season it seems people write them...
BELTRAN SITS IT OUT
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amMET NOTES Like the Braves, the Mets were missing one of their best players last night, as Carlos Beltran was not in the lineup for the second straight day. Beltran...
HEN VS. SENS
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amHe helped to get the Rangers to where they are today, and Henrik Lundqvist can bring the necessary stability and confidence to seal the deal this evening when he is...
SEEDY WAY TO FINISH SEASON
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amKNICK NOTES The Knicks entered last night in a dogfight for the lottery's top seed - not that it would do them much good if they got it, since they...
LALAS QUITS RED BULLS
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amThe first cleat dropped in Red Bulls' makeover of the MetroStars, when GM Alexi Lalas resigned to replace the late Doug Hamilton as president of the L.A. Galaxy. While assistant...
70 KNICK CIRCUS: NO MAS! - IT'S PAST CLOSING TIME FOR GARDEN'S CLOWNS
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amWHEN do we reach the part of the Knicks' irregular season when James Dolan, Isiah Thomas, Larry Brown and Stephon Marbury collide and/or conspire in a Law & Order script?...
MET MONEY PAYS OFF
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amBILLY WAGNER is both a closer and a symbol these days. He represents what the Mets can do and the Braves no longer even try. So maybe he embodies a...
BRAVE NEW WORLD IN NL EAST
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amTHE Braves needed a closer, too. Atlanta thought it was going to retain Kyle Farnsworth, who instead opted to set-up Mariano Rivera then stay with his homestate team. Plan B...
JERSEY WILL GET A LATE START
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amWhile the Rangers play host to Ottawa hoping to clinch the Atlantic Division with a win, and the Flyers skate against the Islanders hoping to take care of their own...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
April 18, 2006 | 4:00amA Canadian stowaway made it into the United States by hiding in a fertilizer truck - but customs officials aren't going to make her go back home. That's because she's...