June 17, 2006

NYSE TRIAL & 9,000 ERRORS

Attorneys for two New York Stock Exchange traders told a jury yesterday that their millionaire clients would have made so little loot cheating investors on the Big Board floor that...

AOL CUSTOMER'S NIGHTMARE REPLAYED ON 'NET

Only months after AOL got hit with whopping fines for refusing to let customers quit when they want, the Internet service appears to be holding them hostage again. The flap...

PLUCKED PEACOCK ; NBC SELLING CUT-RATE ADS AS RATINGS DECLINE

After ad sales plummeted in the last "upfront" market, NBC is cutting more deals with advertisers for fall shows at lower rates in hopes of holding sales steady this year....

BAD GIRL WITHOUT BOUNDS

GRETCHEN WILSON WITH country music wrapped tight in the blondage of artists like Faith Hill, Lee Ann Womack and "Idol" beauty Carrie Underwood, Nashville's bad girl - Gretchen Wilson -...

OVER THE 'TOP'; BLIND MAN'S QUEST OUT OF THIS 'WORLD'

"Touch the Topof the World" Tomorrow at 8 p.m. on A&E * * * (three stars) THE conquest of Mount Everest by a blind man is undeniably a great achievement,...

BRIT CAN'T SHOOT HOOPS

A repeat of "CSI" attracted more viewer interest than Britney Spears Thursday night. A pregnant Spears' tear-filled interview with Matt Lauer, which aired on "Dateline" from 9 to 10 p.m.,...

ANIME-ZING! JAPANIMATION NATION HEADS TO ANIMENEXT

ANIME - it's more than Pokemon. In fact, this peculiar (if not flat out geeky) genre about the exploits of wide-eyed buxom heroines, equally doe-eyed heroes, giant machines, time travelers...

DOUBLE TRAGEDY; CRASH TEEN'S HS PAL DIES A DAY LATER

Already stunned by a car crash that killed one student, a Long Island high school is reeling from the death a day later of a second boy - who was...

HIZZONER'S EGO BOOST

All that speculation about his running for president is strictly fanciful - but also mighty flattering, Mayor Bloomberg conceded yesterday. "Anybody that says when somebody says you should be president,...

CITY MULLS AN OTB CASH-OUT

The city has decided to hire a consultant to determine whether it makes sense to sell the Off-Track Betting Corp., The Post has learned. OTB Chairman David Cornstein said the...

HILL IN PUSH FOR PRIVACY

WASHINGTON - Promoting herself as "an expert on the perils of losing your privacy," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday pushed for a "privacy bill of rights" and a White House...

'SEE TEDDY SWEAT' AT Q&A FOR KID BOOK; TYKE MAKES 'SPLASH'

SHOULD have brought a life vest and snorkel, Teddy. Sen. Ted Kennedy was having a ball reading to a captive roomful of New York City third-graders yesterday when suddenly a...

MAYOR STICKS WITH MEMORIAL

A day after getting briefed on options for cutting costs on the Ground Zero memorial, Mayor Bloomberg said he and Gov.Pataki have agreed that the original design should be retained....

SYMBOLIC HOUSE VOTE BACKS WAR

WASHINGTON - The House yesterday cast a symbolic but politically charged vote to back President Bush and reject setting a date to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. The 256-153 tally...

'JUNIOR' PIQUE AT RAT LEAK - BIDS TO GRILL POST REPORTER OVER SCOOP

John "Junior" Gotti's lawyer is angry about reports of his client breaking omerta, the Mafia oath of silence, and offering to rat out his crime family - saying Gotti now...

PIRRO SNUBS GOP GOV PICK FASO

State Attorney General hopeful Jeanine Pirro all but abandoned her party's choice for governor yesterday, refusing to endorse John Faso after his upset win at the Republican convention two weeks...

ROBBERY REHAB ORDERED FOR DIM PICKENS

Billionaire Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens' ne'er-do-well son is fishing for trouble. A New York judge overseeing Michael Pickens' bungled stock scam trial ordered the 52-year-old into rehab yesterday...

RESTAURANT 'BRIBE' BUST

Four Brooklyn restaurateurs have been arrested for offering $100 to $200 bribes to undercover agents who posed as Health Department investigators, officials said yesterday. Jian Fang Ren of the China...

SHELLFISH-SICKNESS OUTBREAK

City health officials are investigating an outbreak of food poisoning caused by contaminated shellfish. Three people were stricken with Vibrio parahaemolyticus bacterial infection after eating shellfish in Manhattan. Illnesses include...

'RACE WAR' KILLER; TOLD OF HUNTING MALL FOR 'TYPICAL' WHITE

The black man who brutally stabbed a white stranger in a White Plains mall claimed he was fighting a "race war" in a confession tape played in court yesterday. Phillip...

'OBSESSED' QUEENS RAPE-SPREE SUSPECT NABBED

A homeless man who tried to rape a Queens teen early Tuesday only to be tricked into letting her escape struck again just 15 minutes later and raped a 34-year-old,...

SECURITY IDIOTS IN NEW DISS; SLAM NYC PLANS

WASHINGTON - Top New York officials hit the roof yesterday when the Department of Homeland Security claimed the Big Apple isn't ready for a disaster - after slashing its anti-terror...

TORTURE RAP IN PUPPY PLUNGE

A man has been charged with leaving a puppy to die a slow death after it mysteriously fell from a fifth-story roof in Hell's Kitchen. Aram Ortiz, 27, was charged...

ISRAEL KILLS GAZA TERROR BOSS

Hours after Palestinian terrorists backed away from a new truce, Israel killed a Gaza Strip commander of the Islamic Jihad group last night. Imad Yassin was responsible for recent Qassam...

MIKE TO GREET BUSH AT JFK

They clash on everything from stem-cell research to Homeland Security funding, but Mayor Bloomberg plans to greet President Bush at Kennedy Airport on Monday when Bush arrives to deliver the...

GET TO WORK, GEORGE; SERVE, OR ELSE: JUDGE

It's raking - or Rikers. That's a Manhattan judge's ultimatum to kooky crooner Boy George, who wants to sew, sing and powder-puff his way out of the five days' community...

MIKE'S 'FAILURE' ON SCHOOL PROMOTIONS

Two years after being the first students affected by a city policy to retain failing children, fifth-graders today are underperforming at about the same rate they were as third-graders, according...

LEAPER MOM KILLS BABY GIRL

A young mother upset about her boyfriend jumped with her 14- month-old daughter off a New Jersey bridge yesterday, killing the child and critically injuring herself, family members and authorities...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

MANHATTAN *** An off-duty sanitation worker was busted for drunken driving in Midtown, police said yesterday. Paul Brown, 37, was arrested Thursday at the corner of 57th Street and First...

TAXI TYCOON PAYS $25M FARE FOR MEDALLION BATTALION

Call him the 25-medal- lion-dollar man. Taxi fleet owner Gene Freidman snatched up all 54 medallions the city auctioned off yesterday with a record bid of $477,666.50 for each flimsy...

WRECK DRIVERS COME OUT ALIVE

A pair of drivers survived a horrific crash in Brooklyn yesterday that flipped over a sport utility vehicle and trapped its driver inside, witnesses said. The cars collided at 61st...

'CHEM-SPLASH SICKO' BUSTED IN GAL-PAL ATTACK

Police busted a Queens man yesterday for a horrifying attack in which he splashed drain cleaner into his girlfriend's face and left her badly disfigured, sources said yesterday. Joseph Sterling,...

I'M DOING 'TIME': SEX BABE ; 'MADAM' & EXEC

An alleged high-end madam made bombshell claims yesterday that Time Warner's top financial officer was her "sugar daddy" - showering her with gifts, clothes, cash and even helping her buy...

CHOKED WITHIN INCH OF HER LIFE - G-MOM WHO CRACKED 'MOB FED' CASE LURED TO 'HIT'

The gutsy single mom who helped prosecutors crack the case against accused FBI mob mole Lindley DeVecchio was found choked and left for dead early yesterday in a remote section...

PORN-SHOP HOLDUP SPREE

Cops are searching for a ski-masked gunman who has been knocking over adult video stores and hotels in Queens and Manhattan in a three-month robbery spree. The bandit wanted in...

TAMED TIGER SLINKS HOME; WOODS MISSES FIRST MAJOR CUT AS PRO

From the outset of the opening round, Tiger Woods didn't look like he was ready to represent at a member-guest at Winged Foot this week, much less compete for the...

'CHEM-SPLASH SICKO' ARRESTED IN GAL-PAL ATTACK

Police busted a Queens man yesterday for a horrifying attack in which he splashed drain cleaner into his girlfriend's face and left her badly disfigured, sources said yesterday. Joseph Sterling,...

'TIPSTER' SLAY TRY ON G-MOM; 'MOB FED' BUSTER CHOKED, LEFT FOR DEAD

The gutsy single mom who helped prosecutors crack the case against accused FBI mob mole Lindley DeVecchio was found choked and left for dead early yesterday in a remote section...

'AFFAIR' IN VAN SUICIDE; 'OTHER GAL' TALKS TO COPS

The Staten Island man who allegedly helped his wife plunge to her death from a scenic cliff in a minivan carrying their children was keeping a mistress on the side...

DORRIAN BRO BEHIND BARS; SERVER ROUGHED UP PATRON: COPS

A member of the infamous pub-owning Dorrian clan - recently embroiled in the Imette St. Guillen murder - was busted yesterday after a patron at one of the family's taverns...

TEEN SUBWAY STABBERS LOOSE

Police are trying to locate two teen thugs who knifed a teenager aboard a Brooklyn subway as he was heading to school. Cops said the suspects attacked the 16-year-old victim...

FLOYD MAY GO ON DL

MET NOTES The letters "LF" haven't been next to Cliff Floyd's name for the past nine games. Now, the Mets are considering putting the letters "DL" next to his name....

GAZA TERROR LEADER KILLED

Hours after Palestinian terrorists backed away from a new truce, Israel killed a Gaza Strip commander of the Islamic Jihad group last night. Imad Yassin was responsible for recent Qassam...

DOG 'TORTURER' - 'ABANDONS' PUP TO DIE IN PLUNGE

A part-time manager at a tony West Side restaurant has been charged with leaving a purebred puppy to die a slow, torturous death after it mysteriously fell from a fifth-story...

DAD-ULATION FOR POP PITT

Adoring moms have dubbed dreamboat Brad Pitt the nation's dream dad, according to a new Father's Day survey. Cookie Magazine polled 1120 moms on its Web site, asking them to...

TAXI MAN'S $25M FARE

Call him the 25-medallion-dollar man. Taxi fleet owner Gene Freidman snatched up all 54 medallions the city auctioned off yesterday with a record bid of $477,666.50 for each flimsy piece...

HEART BERN ; WILLIAMS HR LIFTS YANKS; DONNIE OFFERS A-ROD RX

Yankees 7Nationals 5 WASHINGTON - The Yankees may have gotten more out of Bernie Williams' game-winning home run last night than a victory. Williams' fourth hit, a solo blast with...

T.J. GETS BEAMED UP THANKS TO KYLE'S BALKY BACK

YANKEE NOTES WASHINGTON - Say hello to T.J. Beam, a 25-year-old right-hander who joins the Yankees today while Kyle Farnsworth's balky back forces him to the sidelines but not the...

TALLY NO! KNICKS NIX LARRY TRIP TO LONDON

"Big Ben" will have to wait for Larry Brown. And we're not talking about Ben Wallace. In another crazy twist to the Knick soap opera, Brown revealed yesterday that he's...

THERE'S NO REST FOR NETS' KRSTIC

The Nets would like to see Nenad Krstic rest this summer. Krstic wouldn't mind it, either. But the young Serbian center feels an obligation to play for his national team,...

STRANGE TIME IN A STRANGE PLACE

IN HIS dreams, he had envisioned a different walk up a different fairway, a different exit to this U.S. Open, a perfect ending more befitting his knack for good story-telling....

LIBERTY NEED TURNAROUND

Before the season began, coach Pat Coyle believed it would take her new-look Liberty 10 games to put everything together and start playing like a team. Last night was the...

JOE NOT MOVING A-ROD

MET NOTES WASHINGTON - Before Joe Torre served his one-game suspension last night, he toyed with the idea of moving Alex Rodriguez's frigid bat into the No. 2 hole against...

'SUGAR' LOOKING SWEET

Spun Sugar is the starting highweight as she heads a talented field of seven today in the Grade 1 $300,000 Ogden Phipps Handicap at Belmont. The Todd Pletcher trainee is...

SHEA HEY FOR METS; NL LEADERS HAPPY TO BE HOME AFTER AMAZIN' ROAD TRIP

There was joy in the Mets' clubhouse yesterday. After winning nine of 10 games on an 11-day road trip, the Mets returned to Shea Stadium to face the Orioles last...

GIANTS DEFENSE LOADED WITH WEAPONS

The promise issued by Giants defensive coordinator Tim Lewis was not standard but certainly was packed with intrigue. He did not vow that his revamped unit will be dominating, but...

CURTIS CARRIES ON ; JETS RB WON'T SLOW DOWN

It wasn't the words that said the most about how Curtis Martin feels entering his 12th season, the first coming off a significant injury. It was the fire in his...

LIBERTY 'NOT COMPETING'

Comets 72Liberty 58 Before last night's game, Carol Blazejowski seemed pleased with how the Liberty were doing. Asked about the status of the coaching staff of the 2-7 squad, the...

REYES BEATEN IN RACE

Jose Reyes' world class speed was in a race against a soft liner headed for short left field. If Reyes could make the diving catch, Aaron Heilman's horrid seventh inning...

HEART BERN ; WILLIAMS CARRIES YANKS PAST NATS

Yankees 7Nationals 5 WASHINGTON - When Bernie Williams was brought back this past winter, there were some who believed the Yankees' hearts were getting in the way of their heads....

SPANK AARON ; BIRDS BOP HEILMAN AS METS' STREAK ENDS

Orioles 6Mets 3 First came the "Awwwwwww," then came the "Booooooooo!" The sounds of the crowd summed up another awful night by Aaron Heilman - and the end of the...

KEEP AN EYE ON FURYK

NOTEBOOK The man to watch this weekend at the U.S. Open is Jim Furyk. Furyk, a former U.S. Open winner, sits two shots out of the lead through two rounds...

LAST TWO HOLES SINK UPSTART FERRIE

Kenneth Ferrie was smiling outside, but when it came time to address how his lead vanished, his inside came out. "I'll cry if I gotta talk about it. OK, deep...

TOP DOLLAR - STRICKER NEEDS TO CAST IN ON LEAD

Steve Stricker needs the money. And he will be the first to tell you how far winning the U.S. Open would take him in terms of inching up the money...

OGILVY IS AT BEST IN BIG EVENTS

Unlike the tunnel-visioners, Geoff Ogilvy likes to peek. He likes what he's seen so far at the U.S. Open. "It helps to watch the leaderboard," Ogilvy said yesterday. "You have...

TOP DOLLAR - STRICKER NEEDS TO CASH IN ON LEAD

He needs the money. And Steve Stricker will be the first to tell you how far winning the U.S. Open would take him in terms of inching up the money...

DUVAL, COLIN ENJOY RETURN TO LEADERBOARD

IF YOU were following the group that featured David Duval and Colin Montgomerie yesterday, you'd have sworn it was the late 1990s instead of 2006. Back then, Duval and Montgomerie...

TALKING TRADE: RUMORS: YANKS TARGETING SORIANO, HUDSON

WASHINGTON - The Braves and Nationals clubhouses were buzzing yesterday - and it had nothing to do with those teams losing touch with the sizzling Mets in the National League...

FERRIE SINKS NEAR END

He was smiling outside, but when it came time to address how his lead vanished, Kenneth Ferrie's inside came out. "I'll cry if I gotta talk about it. OK, deep...

SPRAINED ANKLE MAY EARN FLOYD TRIP TO DL

MET NOTES The letters "LF" haven't been next to Cliff Floyd's name for the past nine games. Now, the Mets are considering putting the letters "DL" next to his name....

KNICKS MAKE BROWN CANCEL TRIP

Big Ben will have to wait for Larry Brown - and we're not talking about Ben Wallace. In another crazy twist to the Knicks' soap opera, Brown revealed yesterday he...

MONTGOMERIE, DUVAL ENJOY RESURGENCE

IF YOU were following the group that featured David Duval and Colin Montgomerie yesterday, you'd have sworn it was the late 1990s instead of the 2006. Back then, Duval and...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Uncle Sam isn't paying his bills. The utility company in San Antonio, Texas, says it has sent Fort Sam Houston shutoff notices for delinquent payments and is now warning that...