May 9, 2006
WHY THE FEDERAL RESERVE SHOULD LEAVE RATES ALONE
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amTHE high price of gasoline is starting to kill the economy: More than 100,000 jobs would probably have been lost last month if Washington hadn't made some very optimistic assumptions....
B&N BOSS BOOKS BIG PROFIT $$ ON POWER
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amBarnes and Noble Chairman Leonard Riggio is getting out of generating power and back to generating book sales, but not before turning what appears to be a pretty penny. Riggio...
LEONA BUYS OUT PARTNER IN FIVE BUILDINGS
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amThe once combative Leona Helmsley, quietly working behind the scenes, has consolidated her power in what could be a step toward settling one of New York's major real estate family...
BEATLES LOSE SUIT VS. APPLE
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amApple Computer won a long-running court battle yesterday against the Beatles that will allow the computer giant to continue using the apple logo on its iTunes music store. But music...
REFCO ART IS BID UP - 2 DAYS' TAKE: $7.3M
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amHe may have cooked the books, but at least indicted Refco chief Phil Bennett has a good nose for art. His company's prized photo collection is fetching more than double...
AGITATOR TAKES BIG STAKE IN NYSE, BACKS THAIN
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amAtticus Capital, a hedge fund that doesn't shy away from boardroom drama, is now the New York Stock Exchange's second-largest shareholder. Atticus, with $12 billion under management, was busy last...
MORE BAD NEWS: ADS, CIRC PLUNGE - READERS KEEP FLEEING 'BULKED-UP' PAPER
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amThe slumping Daily News saw its total circulation fall almost 4 percent to 708,477 from 735,536 between October and March, according to new data released yesterday. While the News' readership...
WHO'S WHERE IN TIME'S HOT 100
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amThere were the top tables, and then there were the hot tables, at last night's Time 100 bash - to honor the most influential 100 people of the past year...
BUY-BUY BETSEY - DESIGNER JOHNSON TESTS WATERS FOR STREET SALE
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amThe designer Betsey Johnson has never been one to conform to the latest trends, but even this wild child of American fashion seemingly can't resist the lure of Wall Street....
TIMES CAUGHT STEALING AGAIN
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amFour paragraphs about Forbes magazine's search for an investor that appeared in The New York Times yesterday closely resemble passages from a London daily that ran the day before. Andrew...
BEATLES LOSE SUIT VS. APPLE OVER LOGO
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amApple Computer won a long-running court battle yesterday against the Beatles that will allow the computer giant to continue using the apple logo on its iTunes music store. But music...
CO-OP BLAME GAME - DIRT FLIES OVER CASTLE HILL WALL COLLAPSE SUIT
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amWITH this Friday's first anniversary of the calamitous Castle Village wall collapse in Upper Manhattan, the engineering firm the co-op complex hired years earlier to inspect and protect the 80-year-old...
NEW GEMS SHINE
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amCREATIVITY is the key to Peter Martins' New York City Ballet. The determination not to rest on the legacy of its founders, George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, has resulted in...
'WEST WING' CLIP EPISODE VETOED
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amNBC has yanked a "West Wing" retrospective that was supposed to air right before Sunday's series finale. Instead, viewers will see the series' pilot episode, which originally aired in 1999,...
'TODAY' SINGS
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amBARRY Manilow will kick off the "Today" show's annual summer concert series this Friday. The series will feature a bevy of A-listers, including Jimmy Buffett, Brad Paisley, Natasha Bedingfield, and...
HELLO, HAINAN CHINA'S HOTTEST BEACH PROPERTY
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amTHE People's Republic is known for a great many cultural and natural assets - beautiful beaches generally aren't among them. That's not because they don't exist, but because nobody was...
STARR REPORT
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amA Bronx tale These are exciting times for Louis Lombardi, better known to fans of "24" as computer geek Edgar Stiles, who was killed off in a poisonous gas attack...
GIVE ME A BEAK - ABC'S FILM AS LIKELY AS HITCHCOCK'S: BIRD FLU EXPERT
May 9, 2006 | 4:00am'It's like saying 'The Birds' could actually happen. I guess killer birds could come one day - anything can happen - but what are the chances?' THE piles of dead...
PATRIOT ACT - 'UNIT' FIGHTS THE FRENCH TO VERY END
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amYou have to love a show that's so disdainful of the French. "Little froggy took us to the cleaners," complains Jonas Blane (Dennis Haysbert), the leader of an American special...
HEAD OF THE CRASS - $50K FOR 200 POINTS: HOW RICH N.Y. KIDS ACE THE SAT; PAYING TO BREAK THE SAT CURVE
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amTHERE'S the tutor who was begged to come back after a client's father reassured him that his son's memory was much improved because he "had dried out in rehab." And...
PLAY-GRANCE THE SCENT OF YOUTH
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amSMELLS like Teen Spirit? Try Toddler Playground. To plug its 50th anniversary, PlayDoh, the aromatic modeling clay, has commissioned a cologne that smells just like . . . Play-Doh. Let's...
SHOOTING FOR A HIGHER SCORE - NEW VIDEO GAMES UNVEILED IN L.A.
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amIT'S a national holiday for video-game players, as the Electronic Entertainment Expo - or E3 - kicks off in Los Angeles tomorrow. The big news for gamers will be the...
TUTORING THROUGH THE TERRIBLE 2'S
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amTRIBECA-based tutor Karen Quinn began to suspect that her job was far too stressful - for her as well as her clientele - the day that one of her students...
LYMPH AND SEPARATE
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amIT'S not just a fashion statement - it's also allegedly good for your health. The Brassage is a totally new kind of bra which uses LETflowTechnology, small "comfort cushions" sewn...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amSTATEN ISLAND * A Greenridge couple was busted for using stolen credit cards to buy thousands of dollars worth of electronics they intended to ship to Russia, law-enforcement sources said...
DEM POLS RIPPED FOR DELAYING CONS' DNA
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - Assembly Democrats came under fire yesterday for delaying efforts to require all convicted criminals to submit DNA samples to a state database. "It would appear to be a...
A HELI-VA HIGH FLIER -SNAZZY CHOPPER FOR PREZ
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amPresident Bush's successor won't be chosen for two years, but he - or she - is already assured an upgrade above first class when flying to the White House lawn....
NEO-NAZI ALARM AT L.I. SCHOOL
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amThree teen neo-Nazis set off a scare at East Hampton HS yesterday when word got out that they were planning to attack minority fellow students. Cops said the three, not...
BOY SCOUT LEADER OFF TO PRISON
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amA former Bayside scoutmaster stood in court yesterday and admitted to straying far from his oath of trustworthiness by sexually abusing two boys for years. Ronald Occhipinti, 46, told Acting...
NYERS' PUMP PREDICTIONS
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amThe next big gulp you hear will be coming from irate motorists grudgingly pumping $4-a-gallon gas. At least that's what drivers here predicted they'd be shelling out by Memorial Day,...
RENT HIKE FURY - TENANTS IN FOR A $HOCK; OUTRAGE AT RENT-HIKE
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amTenants in 1 million rent-stabilized city apartments will be socked with rent hikes larger than last year's, thanks to a decision last night that sparked outrage. The Rent Guidelines Board...
BRUNO GIVES FASO A BOOST
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno dealt Republican gubernatorial hopeful Bill Weld a major blow yesterday, promising to make sure Weld's GOP opponent, John Faso, gets on the September...
LATEST ROSLYN '$CAM' - DAY CARE IN DOO
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amThe Long Island whistleblower who uncovered the Roslyn school district's massive corruption is now targeting its new Board of Ed president - charging that his wife has a sweetheart deal...
RUDY'S CORNY STRATEGY
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Rudy Giuliani yesterday threw his support behind a plan to extend ethanol subsidies - a move that could boost him in Iowa, the state that holds the first...
FEDS LAY OFF GOTTI PALS
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amProsecutors have agreed to postpone a planned grand jury grilling of witnesses for John "Junior" Gotti until after the former mob leader's upcoming retrial on racketeering charges. Fending off accusations...
'PARK-ING' RESTRICTIONS
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amBikers, joggers and people who just want to take a leisurely stroll in Central Park and Prospect Park will soon have fewer cars to contend with. Starting June 5, cars...
DUBYA'S DILEMMA - WHY SINKING POLLS NOW?
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amTHE great national experiment in cognitive dissonance continues. It's been only a week since the revelation that economic growth in the first quarter of this year was nearly 5 percent...
BRUNO IS COURTING GAY VOTE
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, who once referred to homosexuality as an "abnormal lifestyle," yesterday made his first appearance before a statewide gay-rights group. Bruno's election-year appearance before...
PREZ'S PICK TO HEAD CIA SPOOKS HIS FOES - AIR FORCE GEN. HAD ROLE IN WIRETAPS
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush tapped Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden as his new CIA director yesterday, setting the stage for a big battle in Congress over domestic wiretapping and the...
RAP BUTT-SHOT CASE CRACKED
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amRapper Jamal "Gravy" Woolard was shot in the butt by a member of his own entourage - who fired a wild shot in the direction of bullet-plagued radio station Hot...
DOCS GET BLOOD FROM A STONE
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amAn operation to relieve pressure on the brain of ailing Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards was "a complete success," and the rocker has been able to speak with his wife,...
CITY EYES NEED FOR MORE FIRE MARSHALS
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amIn the wake of the suspicious fire at a Brooklyn warehouse last week, the Fire Department is looking into hiring more fire marshals. The number of fire marshals has dropped...
GI GETS 12 YRS. FOR QNS. SLAY
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amA Queens Army private who fired a gun into the night sky and fatally struck a mother of two peering out her window will serve up to 12 years in...
MINORITIES SUE FDNY
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amTwo EMS workers - one black and one Latino - are suing the FDNY, charging that promotion to its highest ranks is restricted to white firefighters. Lt. Frank Andino, an...
BIAS-BEATING KID COPS PLEA
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amOne of the accused ringleaders in the racially motivated beating of a black man in Brooklyn last summer will do no more than a year in jail after copping a...
CELEBRITY MOLES BORO-ING UNDER B'KLYN'S HOPES
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amWHO says movie stars are a waste of human flesh? On the very day a 4-year- old Brooklyn girl's savage murder made front-page news, some of the hotshot celebritantes who...
MIKE: KICK-ASH COPS ON CASE
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amBar owners who illegally allow smoking should follow the rules, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. After The Post reported that patrons in many Astoria bars were lighting up, Hizzoner said health...
D'AMATO IS HAILING SPITZER AS NEXT GOV
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amFormer Republican Sen. Al D'Amato all but endorsed the Democratic gubernatorial front-runner as the "next governor" at a crowded political event. D'Amato made the comments at a fund-raiser for state...
MIKE'S BIG CHILL FOR WTC SHRINE CHIEF
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amUnder fire for her management of the Ground Zero memorial, Gretchen Dykstra yesterday failed to win a vote of confidence from her old boss, Mayor Bloomberg, who has been stewing...
DEAD COP HAD HEART TROUBLE
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amA 31-year-old cop who collapsed and died while trying to bust a shoplifting suspect on the Upper East Side in January died from cardiac arrhythmia, the Medical Examiner's Office said...
TWIN PEAKS OF PAIN FOR BROTHERS
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amWhen Saul and Sheldon Siller of Brooklyn say they each feel the other's pain, the 19-year-old identical twins are not kidding. Their parents and doctors were stunned when the twins...
GIRLFRIEND'S EX EYED IN LIVERY-CAR MURDER
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amA man gunned down in the back of a livery cab Saturday morning in Harlem had just left his girlfriend's Bronx home after waiting hours for her to come home,...
'SORRY' TIME FOR $OROS DA
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - The beleaguered upstate DA who was bankrolled by billionaire George Soros has backed off his explosive comments that the U.S. drug war is designed to give law-enforcement personnel...
RANDY GIVES KID FREE PASS - 'UNIT' DROPS 100G CHILD-SUPPORT SUIT
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amYankee hurler Randy "Big Unit" Johnson has mysteriously abandoned a legal demand that his love child's mother repay nearly $100,000 he laid out in day-care expenses, The Post has learned....
PALS IN WAR AND PEACE
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amIt's not just a band of brothers anymore - America's military is now turning out a generation of blood sisters, and few are tighter than Roseanne Addeo and Asheley Wicklow....
PERV LINK EYED - N.J. HASID ATTACKED
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amCops are probing whether the abduction and sexual assault of a young Orthodox Jewish woman in South Jersey is linked to similar sick attacks in Borough Park. A man driving...
SHOT GRANDMA'S COURAGE - TRIED TO SAVE TOT FROM LUNATIC
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amA Brooklyn grandmother was clinging to life yesterday after trying in vain to protect her 3-year-old granddaughter, who was gunned down in a hail of bullets by a drunken madman...
TEEING OFF ON GOLFER - DUFFER CLUBS FOE
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amA New Jersey man was charged with assault yesterday for beating an opponent on a Newark golf course - with his No. 5 and No. 6 irons. "Apparently things became...
'FLASHER' CHEF UNZIPS MOUTH
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amA degenerate Manhattan chef who was caught in the raw flashing a subway rider - who snapped his picture and posted it on the Internet - can't seem to keep...
STATIONS IN RAIL BAD SHAPE
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amMany Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road stations in the Big Apple are shoddy and unsafe, despite the millions of dollars the city pays the MTA for maintenance, according to...
ZABAR IN ZAP FLAP - KILLS E. SIDE FARM MART
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amA proposed green market on the Upper East Side has bought the farm - thanks to a scorched-earth campaign by high-end grocer Eli Zabar and some local residents. Community Board...
ISRAEL WARNS IRAN - YOU, TOO, MAY FACE OBLIVION
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres yesterday delivered a chilling warning to Iran's hostile leaders: Your country, too, can be destroyed. "They want to wipe out Israel ....
CAR FLIP KILLS QNS. WOMAN
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amA Far Rockaway woman died yesterday morning when her car flipped over after she lost control of it on a Queens street, police sources said. Toniquia Wilson, 23, (right) was...
MURDERS IN APPLE RISE 5% - GUN VIOLENCE SOARS
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amMurders have jumped nearly 5 percent so far this year in the Big Apple, fueled by a recent spike in gun violence, police statistics show. With more than a third...
RUDY'S CORNY IOWA STRATEGY
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Rudy Giuliani yesterday threw his support behind a plan to extend ethanol subsidies - a move that could boost him in Iowa, the state that holds the first...
NEO-NAZI ALARM AT HS IN HAMPTONS
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amThree teen neo-Nazis set off a scare at East Hampton HS yesterday when word got out that they were planning to attack minority fellow students. Cops said the three, not...
ANOTHER '$CAM' IN ROSLYN
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amThe Long Island whistleblower who uncovered the Roslyn school district's massive corruption is now targeting its new Board of Ed president - charging that his wife has a sweetheart deal...
BLAINE'S PAIN - MAGIC MAN MEETS WATERLOG WATERLOO AS BREATH BID FAILS
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amWater-bubble boy David Blaine, wrinkly as a raisin and dangerously dehydrated, was pulled out of his fishbowl at Lincoln Center last night after holding his breath for seven minutes and...
TOUR TEENS INJURE COP
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amThree Virginia teenagers on a school trip to Manhattan were busted after they lobbed cans of paint from the roof of a Midtown hotel, sending one cop to a hospital...
DEMS HIT FOR DELAY ON DNA - DATABASE FIGHT
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - Assembly Democrats came under fire yesterday for delaying efforts to require all convicted criminals to submit DNA samples to a state database. "It would appear to be a...
DOCS GET BLOOD FROM A STONE 'I'M
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amAn operation to relieve pressure on the brain of ailing Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards was "a complete success," and the rocker has been able to speak with his wife,...
FOR SHAQ, A GAME MOST FOUL
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amMIAMI - It was the quietest 20-point night of Shaquille O'Neal's career - on and off the court. The usually gregarious Heat center refused to talk to reporters after his...
NET OPENER A REAL ONE-DER - HOLD OFF HEAT AFTER HUGE LEAD CRUMBLES
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amGAME 1: Nets 100 - Heat 88 MIAMI - As the final faint echoes of the national anthem fizzled out in American Airlines Arena here, the Nets were up double...
WAGNER EXPECTS A RUDE RECEPTION
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amMET NOTES The creative Phillies fans, fresh off a weekend spent mocking Barry Bonds and his pursuit of Babe Ruth's home run total, are warmed up and ready to fire...
ACE BANDAGE - PEDRO PERFECT REMEDY FOR METS' AILING ROTATION
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amThere will be a lot of focus on Mets closer Billy Wagner tonight as he makes his return to Philadelphia, but the real relief for Willie Randolph comes in the...
MELKY GETS READY TO SUB FOR SHEFFIELD
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES Hours after Gary Sheffield's bothersome left hand was examined by a Manhattan specialist yesterday, Melky Cabrera was shifted from center to right field at Triple-A Columbus last night....
BRODEUR LOOKS AT NEW MASK
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amRALEIGH - After giving up six, Martin Brodeur was ready to give up his mask. The Devils goalie was leaning toward changing his mask of nearly two years last night...
HOME LOOKIN' - BONDS, AT 713, BRINGS BABE CHASE TO FRISCO
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amSAN FRANCISCO - Barry Bonds returned home yesterday one home run shy of tying Babe Ruth for second on the all-time list, hoping he's regained the swing that made him...
GLAVINE REWORKS DEAL WITH METS
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amThe restructuring of Tom Glavine's contract will likely keep the revitalized lefty in a Mets uniform through next season. While Glavine will not lose any money in the deal, he...
BRODEUR FINALLY GOES UNMASKED
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amRALEIGH - After giving up six, Martin Brodeur gave up his mask. The Devils' goalie switched his headwear of nearly two years last night before the team's crushing 3-2 overtime...
LATELY, IT'S UP & AT 'EM FOR RILEY
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amMIAMI - Pat Riley awoke at 3:30 a.m. yesterday morning, leaving his Coconut Grove home and driving to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast and small talk on his way to AmericanAirlines...
AMERICAN IDLE - BONDS SITS OUT WIN, TAKES 713 INTO TONIGHT
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amSAN FRANCISCO - About a dozen kayakers braved the cold of McCovey Cove here last night, hoping they'd get a chance at history. Come back tonight, fellas. Barry Bonds returned...
AL EAST ELITE TO MEET AGAIN - FIRST PLACE IS ON THE LINE AS SOX HIT BRONX
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amDay cannot become night. Black is never white. And no matter how much hype is attached to a Red Sox-Yankees series, May isn't October. However, that doesn't mean the three-game...
IT'S ABOUT TIME THE BOMBERS DROP DAVID
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amTHE Yankees have to droppy Papi. They need to brush the beast back. They need to pick out one of David Ortiz' chins and let a little music dance across...
JERSEY'S READY FOR PRIME TIME
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amNET NOTES MIAMI - No way a No. 3 seed is ever Cinderella. But then, no way a No. 3 seed gets ignored in national coverage the way the Nets...
CHANGE(UP) DOES MOOSE GOOD
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amTHE Tuesday Morning Shortstop wants to take you to one of the most important Tuesdays of this baseball season, especially around these parts. Innocently enough, it was Tuesday, Feb. 28....
JEFFERSON IFFY WITH ANKLE SPRAIN
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amNET NOTES MIAMI - Richard Jefferson had a walking boot on his right foot and was propped up on a pair of crutches. He answered what he could - except...
NET OPENER A REAL ONE-DER - HOLD OFF HEAT, BUT JEFFERSON INJURED
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amGAME 1: NETS 100 - HEAT 88 MIAMI- For three quarters last night, the Nets whipped the Heat in all aspects of the game. The Nets led by more than...
PLAYOFFS NOW HAVE PURPOSE - NETS BELIEVE THEY BELONG
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amMIAMI - There was hope last year. This year, there are expectations. So the Nets, who already have won a playoff series, simply feel so much better equipped, mentally and...
DEV-ASTATING - JERSEY STUMBLES IN OT
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amGAME 2: (OT) Hurricanes 3 - Devils 2 RALEIGH - This was devastating Devils heartbreak, and heart has long been their most important commodity. Riding the euphoria of going ahead...
HEARTBREAKER - DEVILS STUMBLE IN OT
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amGAME 2: (OT) Hurricanes 3 - Devils 2 RALEIGH - This was heartbreak, even by Devils standards. After Eric Staal forced overtime with three seconds left, Niclas Wallin scored 3:09...
HOME LOOKIN' - BARRY SITS TIGHT AT 713, STILL MUM ON '07 RETURN
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amSAN FRANCISCO - Barry Bonds had no response to a published report that he will keep playing after this season. The report quoted Bonds' agent, Jeff Borris, as saying he...
DEVS CATCH 2ND WIND
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amRALEIGH - They absorbed their "caning" in stand-up fashion. The Devils did not attempt to downplay reality, only remedy it last night. "Losing 6-0 is unbelievable. We need to play...
JAGR GOES UNDER KNIFE
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amJaromir Jagr's left shoulder should be recovered for the mid-September opening of training camp following surgery at St. Vincent's yesterday that was completed without complication. Jagr, who sustained a dislocation...
RILEY RISIN' EARLY THESE DAYS
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amMIAMI - Pat Riley awoke at 3:30 a.m. yesterday morning, leaving his Coconut Grove home and driving to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast and small talk on his way to AmericanAirlines...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
May 9, 2006 | 4:00amFlorida state legislators don't agree with poet Joyce Kilmer's famous line, "I think that I shall never see/A poem lovely as a tree." They think billboards are even lovelier -...