May 20, 2006

BUDWEISER BUYS ROCK

Anheuser-Busch confirmed yesterday it will acquire iconic Pennsylvania brewer Rolling Rock from Belgium-based InBev SA for $82 million as it struggles for growth in a rough-and-tumble domestic beer market. The...

HEDGE FUND FLIGHT - SARANAC SINKING

Saranac Capital Management, a hedge fund whose superstar trader boss started the operation with almost $3 billion in client cash, is shutting down. Saranac, launched with great fanfare in December...

GREENSPAN: MEDICARE'S DANGEROUS

Former Federal Reserve boss Alan Greenspan yesterday labeled Medicare as the largest looming problem facing the U.S. and said it was "very dangerous" to the nation's economic health. Speaking at...

A THREE-WAY EXCHANGE

The global competition between Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange continues to resemble a chess match, with each side racing to block the competition's next move. Yesterday, the Nasdaq...

CONAN GETS EMMY CALL - 'LATE NIGHT' FUNNYMAN TO HOST AWARDS SHOW

CONAN O'Brien will return this year as the host of the 2006 Emmy telecast. O'Brien, the host of NBC's "Late Night," served as the show's host four years ago, the...

NO BLOCK PARTY AT RADIO CITY

CALL the Roots show at Radio City Music Hall Thursday and Friday a successful failure. True to the Roots' reputation as hip-hop thinkers, the Philadelphia outfit asked why live rap...

'INVENTOR' GURU: NO JONES FOR SIMON

THE creator of ABC's "American Inventor" blames Simon Cowell for his show not becoming a blockbuster - even though it's been renewed. "I was a little trepidatious going in," Peter...

NOT EVIL, JUST STUPID

SEE NO EVIL[Zero stars] IT'S hard to believe that the distributors of "See No Evil" were so afraid of what critics would say about their movie that they refused to...

G.I. BONDS - WAS WAR VET KILLED BY ARMY BUDDIES?

Another soldier . . . thinks their behavior was spurred on by months of fighting and killing in the war. THE consistently good "48 Hours Mystery" which rarely fails to...

SEASON'S READINGS - WITH NEW TITLES COMING, SUMMER'S ALREADY BOOKED; HEY, GOOD BOOKIN'

MAYBE it's because the days are longer, but summer always seems like the right time to catch up on reading. But with so many books coming out, by big names...

SALES

DIESEL, DSQUARED, MARTIN MARGIELA 495 Broadway, eighth floor, between Broome and Spring streets; (646) 613-8457 Sale: May 23, 24. 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Spring collections from the three designers now discounted...

PICTURE PERFECT - GREAT NEW BOOKS FOR BUDDING READERS

FOR the youngest readers - and, especially, pre-readers - every picture sells a story. No wonder picture books are always in demand at bedtime, storytime and nearly every other time...

HE'S A BELIEVER

LEAVE it to a Monkee to write about . . . evolution? Micky Dolenz - former drummer (and wiseguy) of the '60s sitcom's prefab four - enters the kids' book...

'JACKO' MA TRIAL

LOS ANGELES - The mom of Michael Jackson's kiddie-sex accuser will have to stand trial for allegedly cheating taxpayers of $8,000 in ill-gotten welfare, a judge ruled yesterday. Janet Arvizo,...

MAYOR IN PBA $LAP

Adding to his lengthy list of jibes at the police union, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday described PBA leaders as "a little bit duplicitous" for claiming his administration is responsible for lowering...

B'KLYN BEAU'S DEADLY RAGE

A Guyanese immigrant accused of killing his girlfriend in her mom's home two years ago - just weeks after paying $9,000 to bring her to Brooklyn - took the stand...

FRAUD-FIGHT CASH BOOST

The city's Department of Consumer Affairs is getting more teeth. The Bloomberg administration is pumping more funds into DCA, the relatively small agency responsible for protecting city consumers, to create...

MIKE: INSURERS WILL GIVE US 'FREEDOM'

There's little reason to worry that insurance companies will try to stiff the Port Authority out of nearly $1 billion needed to build the Freedom Tower, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday....

FOURTH REICH - IRAN LAW LABELS JEWS; DISGUST & HORROR AT EVIL PLAN

Concerned U.S. officials and Jewish groups yesterday demanded answers from Iran after a shocking report that Tehran's radical leaders passed a Nazi-style law requiring Jews and Christians to wear identifying...

PAINT-CAN PINHEADS EXPELLED

Color them booted. The three Virginia teens who allegedly threw paint cans off the roof of a Midtown hotel, injuring a cop and hitting several police vehicles, have all been...

TOMMY 'GUNS' - HILFIGER DRESSES DOWN AXL IN BRAWL

Tommy Hilfiger really showed his "Appetite for Destruction" yesterday when he pummeled Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose in a dispute over a VIP table at Rosario Dawson's birthday party,...

SKUNK DRUNK KILLER - READING OF '.30' A STUNNER

A pill-popping New Jersey man had a shocking .30 blood-alcohol count when he got behind the wheel and mowed down two teenage girls, prosecutors revealed. Eugene Baum, 44, had a...

GUNMAN LOSES SHOT AT DODGING TRIAL

Mauser-packing parolee Cedric Rooks was lucky once - one midnight last September, when he dodged 77 bullets in a dramatic police shootout spanning the courtyards of two East Harlem housing...

ELIOT HANDS BACK 'DIRTY' $$

ALBANY - Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (left) is returning a whopping $124,445 he received from a major New York law firm indicted this week on charges of illegally engineering class-action...

SUV SLICES INTO PIZZERIA

A Brooklyn pizzeria (above) was turned into a drive-through when an out-of-control SUV smashed through the storefront yesterday afternoon, briefly pinning a deliveryman's legs and startling a senior citizen into...

TOOTH SQUAD - STUDENTS: SCHOOL KNEW OF DENTAL SCAM

Students at a New Jersey dental school embroiled in a growing cheating scandal dropped a bomb yesterday - they claim their teachers knew they were falsifying paperwork. At least 20...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

MANHATTAN (s, lcf) * A knife-wielding man (above) has robbed several Upper East Side deliverymen of cash, food and their bicycles after ordering the chow from vacant apartments, police said...

'ECSTASY' GUARD DUO COP PLEAS

A pilot and a master loader in the Air National Guard fessed up to a brazen scheme to smuggle millions of dollars of ecstasy into the country in a military...

'GROPE' POL'S PUBLIC PANTING

ALBANY - An Assemblyman from Rockland County had stunned onlookers at a bar by putting his hands down the pants of a man some time before he suddenly resigned this...

TRIAL NIXED FOR PSYCHO TOT STABBER

A knife-swinging schizophrenic who stabbed a 10- month-old girl in her stroller in Washington Heights last fall is too crazy to stand trial, a judge ruled yesterday. Manhattan Supreme Court...

DOO-WOP BOP - LEGENDS WANT FAKES PUNISHED

Some of the greatest names in doo wop were singing the blues yesterday at City Hall over "impostor groups" that are landing gigs around the country by masquerading as them....

MCCAIN BRAVES MAD RAD GRADS

Sen. John McCain got a hostile reception during yesterday's New School graduation when dozens of students and faculty turned their backs on him in protest and shouted, "You're full of...

NEW KID RAP FOR 'PERV' COP

A Bronx cop - already under investigation on charges he raped a teen family member - was arrested for trying to seduce a friend's 12-year-old daughter, prosecutors said yesterday. "I...

GOV DOE$ D.C.

WASHINGTON - Gov. Pataki went to Washington this week to try to get big-bucks grants for New York energy projects - and possibly help his chances of attaining the White...

UFT PUSH IS OUT'CLASS'ED

A Manhattan Supreme Court judge ruled against putting a class-size referendum on the ballot yesterday, delivering a huge blow to the city teachers union's newly launched $1 million push to...

CELLPHONE PINPOINTS CRASH DUO

A wily Westchester woman let her fingers do the walking after her car tumbled down a 30-foot embankment and left her trapped in a remote area with her elderly, seriously...

LOVE IT OR HATE IT, EPIC OPENS WITH BANG - RED-HOT 'CODE' $TRIKES LODE

"The Da Vinci Code" opened in theaters across the country yesterday, bringing the controversy swirling around the widely popular page-turner to a broader audience - and very likely heating up...

PLAYING TWISTER WITH JERSEY WHIRL

Wild-weather watchers would call it the funnel of love. A funnel cloud moved over New Jersey yesterday, passing over a high school in Elizabeth before heading north to Bayonne, where...

ELEVATOR HORROR IN BX. BUILDING

A man's legs were severed early today as he tried to escape from inside an elevator packed with revelers leaving a party in The Bronx, police and witnesses said. The...

DRIVER'S A 'FORGE' SCOURGE

A lead-footed Brooklyn driver found himself in double trouble yesterday after city inspectors busted him for trying to use a forged Department of Transportation letter to get out of a...

GOV'S D.C. POWER PLAY

WASHINGTON - Gov. Pataki made a stealth trip to Washington this week to lean on the feds to provide big-bucks grants for state-of-the art energy projects in New York. Pataki...

SHOT AT POLS

Throwing the spotlight on disreputable gun dealers might provide "a little bit of backbone" to legislators, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. The mayor said there is a bill before Congress that...

JERSEY WHIRL WATCH

Wild weather watchers would call it the funnel of love. A funnel cloud moved over New Jersey yesterday, passing over a high school in Elizabeth before heading north to Bayonne,...

CAN'T MISS PETTY-NESS

NASCAR A sense of parity has enveloped NASCAR, despite the fact only 10 drivers are within the 400 points of first place required to clinch a berth in the Chase...

IMBRIALE TO PINCH-HIT AT MIKE

With Tom Durkin at Pimlico to call the Preakness for NBC, longtime track announcer John Imbriale returns from his retirement to call the live racing today and tomorrow. Fans are...

RAIN STOPS AS TRAIN STARTS - NOTHING CAN DAMPEN FANS

The tarp was peeled off the infield at 6:11 p.m. last night. Three minutes later, it was rolled back on. But soon enough, the field was ready to play. And...

SHEFF COULD TAKE BP

SUBWAY SERIES CONFIDENTIAL On a day the Yankees lost another outfielder, they received a small dose of encouraging news on Gary Sheffield's injured left hand. After being examined by Dr....

KNICKS CHAT WITH BROWN

The Knicks yesterday reopened lines of communication between the front office and coach, with team president Isiah Thomas talking by telephone with exiled Larry Brown and his agent Joe Glass,...

SHEFF OK'D FOR BP

On a day the Yankees lost another outfielder, they received a small dose of encouraging news on Gary Sheffield's injured left hand. After being examined by Dr. Charles Melone yesterday,...

IT'S SURGERY FOR PAVANO

Considering Carl Pavano missed almost a year with injuries that didn't require surgery, it's hard to believe he will bounce back quickly from an operation to remove a chip from...

FLYING HIGH AS A WRIGHT - DAVID'S DRIVE IN 9TH FIRES UP METS

Mets 7 - Yankees 6 After David Wright swung and connected, he hopped as he headed to first. With two out in the bottom of the ninth and Mets on...

MAKING MOST OF ANOTHER CHANCE

LOOK, David Wright was just as angry at himself the other night in St. Louis as you were. Fans forget that sometimes. A guy strikes out with the bases loaded...

HEILMAN, PEN MIGHTY

After schooling the Yankees last night, Aaron Heilman revealed he's a student of Yogi Berra's wisdom. It was the ultimate irony. Heilman worked three perfect innings of relief from the...

ACE VERSUS ACE - MUSSINA, PEDRO DUEL IN GAME 2

Mike Mussina against Pedro Martinez today is the marquee pitching matchup of this weekend's Subway Series at Shea Stadium. But don't expect Mussina to turn cartwheels. "We always see Pedro,"...

FLYING HIGH AS A WRIGHT - DAVID'S DRIVE IN NINTH FIRES UP METS

Mets 7 - Yankees 6 David Wright hopped as he headed to first after he hit it. Moments earlier, Wright was at the plate in a tie game against Yankees...

3 MORE YANKS HURT

SUBWAY SERIES CONFIDENTIAL The Yankees' injuries don't come one at a time anymore. Now they come in threes. During last night's 7-6 Subway Series loss to the Mets at Shea,...

PAVANO FACING ELBOW SURGERY

Considering Carl Pavano missed almost a year with injuries that didn't require surgery, it's hard to believe that he will bounce back quickly from an operation to remove a chip...

FOR RIVERA, 'GOOD PITCH' PRODUCES BAD RESULT

"Things didn't go the way I wanted ... but the only way to come out of it is to keep fighting."MARIANO RIVERA Mariano Rivera turned and watched David Wright's fly...

NIGHT OFF FOR FLOYD

When Cliff Floyd entered the Mets' clubhouse yesterday afternoon, the media was gathered around Jose Valentin, who took Floyd's place in the lineup last night against the Yankees. Floyd, in...

A PAIR OF ACES - MUSSINA HAS BEEN SAVIOR FOR BOMBERS

Mike Mussina against Pedro Martinez today is the marquee pitching matchup of this weekend's Subway Series at Shea Stadium, but don't expect Mussina to turn cartwheels. "We always see Pedro,"...

A TALL DISORDER - UNIT'S BIG PROBLEMS COME AT BAD TIME

JEREMI Gonzalez served his purpose in the Subway Series, punching bag to the stars. Gonzalez's greatest strength these days is that he is not Jose Lima. Which is as hollow...

IT'S SURGERY FOR PAVANO - BONE CHIP IN RIGHT ELBOW HIS LATEST WOE

Considering Carl Pavano missed almost a year with injuries that didn't require surgery, it's hard to believe he will bounce back quickly from an operation to remove a chip from...

NO HOLDS BARRED - RIVALS HAVE PLAN TO RACE PAST BARBARO

BALTIMORE - The desperate search to find a way to topple hot favorite Barbaro in today's Preakness Stakes dominated the backstretch buzz in the final hours leading up to post...

THE WRIGHT GUY FOR THE JOB

IT'S EASY to forget David Wright is still only 23 years old, that he's still only had one full season as a big leaguer, that for all his precocious skill...

PEDRO'S GETTING UP TO SPEED

On the Mets' last road trip, Pedro Martinez told bullpen coach Guy Conti he finally felt like his arm was through with spring training. In other words, maybe you ain't...

NAY-ROD SLIPSHOD ONCE AGAIN

While Randy Johnson's night consisted of him flushing a four-run lead and Mariano Rivera gave up the gamewinning hit in the Mets' 7-6 victory over the Yankees, Alex Rodriguez's performance...

YANKS MUST AVOID DESPERATION DEAL

ONE June Saturday afternoon during the 2002 Subway Series, the Yankees' Enrique Wilson found himself playing right field for the first time in his career and turned a second-inning fly...

REST GUESS - TURNAROUND MAY BE ASSET, NOT LIABILITY FOR DERBY WINNER

BALTIMORE - Barbaro has enjoyed nearly two weeks of R&R at the idyllic Fair Hill training center in the rolling hills and forests of northern Maryland, where the Kentucky Derby...