July 2, 2006
NEW MASTER$; PRIVATE-EQUITY TITANS DOMINATING WALL ST.
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amLegendary dealmaker Henry Kravis and his fellow billionaire buyout barons are forging a new gold rush on Wall Street. Flush with hundreds of billions of dollars in investor cash, Kravis...
HOFSTRA BIZ SCHOOL PICK HAS CLOUDS OVER CAREER
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amAppointing a dean is not usually grist for this column's mill, but when Hofstra appointed Salvatore Sodano to run its Zarb School of Business, well, that's just too good to...
NY'S AD BIZ FEELIN' THE LOVE
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amAlbany ò Madison Avenue. State lawmakers, after watching more than $1 billion in TV commercial production business flee the state to less expensive locales, passed some $28 million in tax...
HOW TO FIGURE BASIS OF REINVESTED DIVIDENDS
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amDear John: How do you figure the basis of shares bought with reinvested dividends? I'm told that averaging costs - as with mutual funds - is not correct. R.R.Dear R.R.:...
BIG BANKS SUCK UP FOR PIECE OF ACTION
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amPrivate-equity firms have become so powerful they have Wall Street's biggest investment houses worshipping at their feet - and cutting their fees just to get in on these lucrative deals....
KIDS CRAWLING THE CATWALK
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amWith four children under 5 years old and a fifth on the way, Jennifer Rosenblum's time is a precious commodity. But in mid-July, Rosenblum, 34, will leave her Hamptons' summer...
UNIVISION BUYERS MAY SEEK FLIP
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amJust because a private equity-consortium bought Univision doesn't mean it'll own it for long. Over the last few years, the frothy deal environment has prompted private-equity firms to eschew the...
NETS GAIN - NBA TEAM HOSTS BBQS TO BOOST SALES
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amThe New Jersey Nets are out to bolster their bottom line one backyard party at a time. The team, whose season-ticket sales have lacked the vitality of its on-court success,...
FOURTH OF JULY POPS IN THREE CITIES
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amWELL, the 4th of July will be less deafening this year. Last year, Mariah Carey was the star attraction and raised the noise level at Macy's annual fireworks extravaganza to...
FUNNY GEICO CAVEMEN GREEN WITH ENVY
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amWHO do you like better: The cavemen or the lizard? When it comes to commercials for Geico, I prefer the cavemen. The spot in which a spokesman for the insurance...
THE DON'T MISS LIST
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amDRAMA Brenda's milestone Chief Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) investigates a murder at a highpriced restaurant on "The Closer." Among the suspects are a slimy investor and her husband, an ambitious...
REEL GOOD - LINDA STASI PREVIEWS THIS WEEK'S BEST MOVIES
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amGONE WITH THE WIND (1939) Sunday,6 p.m.,TCM The smoke coming off the screen isn't just from the rockets' red glare; it's also from the Civil War sparks going off between...
I DON'T OWN TIVO, TIVO OWNS ME
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amI DON'T know about you, but I'm starting to frighten myself. In a raw, reflexive form, I've become a puppet to the technology that surrounds me. My toys are my...
FROM SQUARE ONE HE'S WATCHING ALL 64
July 2, 2006 | 4:00am'CHESS, like love and music, has the power to make men happy," said the great German master Siegbert Tarrasch. He might have added that, like love and music, it may...
HOT SEAT - JIM GAFFIGAN
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amBEWARE comedian Jim Gaffigan's animated laser-shooting nipples. Because they just got a development deal. Sort of. Called "one of the funniest people I know" by Conan O'Brien, this multi-talented, Meisner-trained...
HOT LIST - WHAT WE'RE OBSESSED WITH THIS WEEK
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amMovie mania Can't decide whether to watch "The Devil Wears Prada" or "Superman Returns" this weekend? Us, neither. See both. Déjà vu Nothing gets between Kate Moss and her Calvins....
PIRATE OF THE FRENCH RIVIERA - AWAY FROM PAPARAZZI, FANS AND GOSSIP, JOHNNY DEPP CLINGS TO 'SIMPLE AND CALM' IN PLAN DE LA TOUR
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amPLAN DE LA TOUR, FRANCE - Ask the locals at the farmers market, and they'll shrug. "Perhaps my daughter knows him," offers one resident of Plan de la Tour, a...
CASH'S GRAVE SONGS
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amJOHNNY CASH "American V:A Hundred Highways" (four stars) Lost Highway/American ON Johnny Cash's posthumous "A Hundred Highways," you hear the Man in Black facing the end with courage and acceptance...
THE BEST OF 2006 (SO FAR) - SIX MONTHS IN, NEW ALBUMS ARE ALL KILLER AND NO FILLER
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amCOME January, historians will start weighing in on 2006, but music fans already know how the chapter on pop's going to read. This year may not be huge on quantity...
VISION QUEST - THE LONG, STRANGE TRIP OF 'A SCANNER DARKLY'
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amBE cool. You're not tripping. "A Scanner Darkly" really is an animated film, and that dude on-screen is actually Keanu Reeves - not just a cartoon. Opening Friday, "A Scanner...
TOBY OR NOT TOBY? TURNS OUT MEMOIRIST YOUNG ISN'T REALLY HIMSELF
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amIN "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People," Toby Young charted his spectacular failure in the New York media world - and wound up selling a quartermillion copies of his...
'NET FLIX NATION! VIRAL VIDEO CREATES UNLIKELY GENERATION OF STARS
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amNOT long ago, two Chinese college students donned basketball jerseys in their dorm room and filmed themselves lip-synching to the Backstreet Boys. Five years ago, it would have been a...
PARTY HAVEN - ANIMAL SHELTER BECOMES THE NEW HOT SPOT
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amANIMAL Haven, a Queens-based animal shelter founded in 1967, is turning out to be more than just a hotel for pets-to-be. It's becoming a go-to place for party animals -...
BANG-UP BIZ FOR BRAZEN CROOKS; FIREWORKS SELL OPENLY ON BX. STREET
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amPyrotechnics peddlers are hawking fireworks in broad daylight on a Bronx street corner, despite a citywide crackdown leading up to the Fourth of July. "Whenever you're looking for fireworks, just...
'TERROR BALLOON' BUST IS A BRUISER
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amA Manhattan face-painter and balloon-animal maker said overzealous cops tackled him off his bike, shoved two guns to his head and threw him in the slammer for more than four...
JOLIE-PIX TRICKS; CAM SEIZED, 'PHOTO THIEF' EYED
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amCops in Massachusetts seized a digital camera and memory stick sent out for repair by Angelina Jolie's brother as investigators tried to unravel the mystery of an e-mail to celebrity...
EMBITTERED MADAM ASKS HER 'CLIENTS': WHERE'S MY $UGAR NOW?
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amThe Brazilian beauty accused of running a high-end brothel for a host of well-heeled johns says her wealthy friends have now all "abandoned" her for fear of being exposed -...
COLLEGE KID SHOT IN B'KLYN DRIVE-BY
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amA promising college student who dreamed of attending medical school was critically wounded in a drive-by shooting in Brooklyn yesterday - and relatives and neighbors are convinced he was hit...
BLACKOUTS BY BLOOMY; MIKE IN DENIAL ON ENERGY
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amAS the July Fourth weekend kicks off summer, thoughts are turning to beaches, blankets, barbecues . . . And in New York, better add blackouts to the list. When the...
JUDGE RIPS INTO CITY LEASE DEAL
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amA STATE Supreme Court judge has accused a senior city official of lying to try to cover up a questionable lease. In her decision last month blocking the deal, Judge...
HUE CREW LIGHTS UP BIG APPLE
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amFive new colors and 25 new fireworks will debut during the city's Fourth of July display. The funky hues of lime, lavender, lemon, peach and aqua and a bunch of...
BILL'$ KIDS TAKING OFF; $128M GRANT PROPELS APPLE GRADS
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amBill Gates' $128 million gift to city schools in 2002 may be a drop in the bucket compared to the $31 billion Warren Buffett has promised to kick in to...
TRAGIC TEEN LEAPS TO DEATH
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amAn apparently homeless teen who claimed to have been abandoned by her mother leaped to her death from the rooftop of a 10-story Bronx building yesterday, cops and residents said....
'CRANE' DELAY AT FREEDOM TOWER
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amWork stopped on the foundation of the long-delayed Freedom Tower yesterday after a labor dispute sent crane operators into an apparent strike. Spokesmen for the union representing heavy-equipment operators refused...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amBROOKLYN *** Cops are asking the public's help in locating this missing 15-year-old girl (above). Kwana Downes, 5-foot-3 and 120 pounds, was last seen on June 20 at 11 a.m....
KERIK TAKES A BASHING FROM BEST MAN
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amEx-Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik's best man became his worst critic yesterday when he lashed out at his old buddy. "It's a sad event when somebody, especially somebody who's a public...
BUSH GAZA PUSH; 'FREE THE ISRAELI!'
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amJERUSALEM - Israel yesterday rejected Palestinian demands that it free more than 1,000 prisoners in return for the release of an Israeli soldier it is holding hostage - as President...
TEARS FOR TRAGIC L.I. BOATER
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amThe 43-year-old Long Island man killed Friday in a tragic boating accident died "doing what he loved," a shocked neighbor said yesterday. Alexander Keen, who had a wife and 2-year-old...
B'KLYN DAD BLOWN AWAY BY LOVESICK NUT: COPS
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amA devoted Brooklyn dad carrying birthday presents for his 22-year-old daughter was gunned down outside her Bedford-Stuyvesant building, cops said yesterday. Police arrested Vincent Bouknight of Monroe Avenue on charges...
'MOB COP' READY FOR LONG HAUL
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amA lawyer for mob cop Stephen Caracappa said his client is bracing for a legal war in the wake of a federal judge's bombshell decision to throw out the disgraced...
'ABANDONED' HOMELESS TEEN IN BRONX SUICIDE LEAP
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amAn apparently homeless teen who claimed to have been abandoned by her mother leaped to her death from rooftop of a 10-story Bronx building yesterday, police and residents said. The...
MOB-COP JUDGE IS 'PUSHING ENVELOPE'
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amThe judge who set the mob cops free on a technicality is considered a great legal mind who is never afraid to push the envelope, but is firm in his...
YOUNG MET STARS RE-WRIGHT SHIP
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amA big reason for the Mets' four-game losing streak was the quiet bats wielded by Jose Reyes and David Wright. Yesterday, those bats woke up. Reyes and Wright - the...
JERSEY CRASH KILLS 3 QNS. GIRL, 2, DEAD
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amWhat was supposed to be a fun-filled holiday weekend for a Queens man, his friend and her daughter ended in tragedy when the trio died in a metal-twisting car wreck...
TEEN SHOT IN BUNGLED DRUG BUST
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amA 16-year-old was shot in the leg by a plainclothes police officer during a buy-and-bust operation gone awry in Brooklyn yesterday, police said. Bullets started flying in the hallway of...
COPYCATTY COULTER PILFERS PROSE: PRO
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amConservative scribe Ann Coulter cribbed liberally in her latest book, "Godless," according to a plagiarism expert. John Barrie, the creator of a leading plagiarism-recognition system, claimed he found at least...
JERSEY CRASH KILLS 3; QNS. GIRL, 2, DEAD
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amWhat was supposed to be a fun-filled holiday weekend for a Queens man, his friend and her daughter ended in tragedy when the trio died in a metal-twisting car wreck...
SOAP DISH ON 'MY OLD FLAME OSAMA'; 'BIN LADEN' TV CHARACTER
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amOsama bin Laden is coming to a soap opera near you. A woman who says she was the terrorist's unwilling mistress a decade ago and who is now a writer...
WHAT A HARD DISK SHE HAS
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amThe computer seized from the alleged West Side brothel operated by accused high-class madam Andreia Schwartz is yielding "tons" of information on the risqué business, sources told The Post. "We...
FANS TAKE WRIGHT TURN; DAVID OUT$ELLS DEREK
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amNew York baseball fans have found a new Mr. Right - David Wright, that is. The Mets' handsome, 23-year-old third baseman has dethroned perennial favorite Derek Jeter as the city's...
150G SUIT OVER 'BAD' HAIRCUT
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amA customer is getting snippy with Bergdorf Goodman hair stylist John Barrett. The celebrity barber, whose prices run up to $900 for a treatment, ruined the hair of Department of...
PALS' $4M FIGHT OVER PUPPY LOVE
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amTwo friends who once roomed together in TriBeCa are now in a $4 million catfight over a dog named Ollie - with one charging the other with extortion for failing...
BRAVEST MEDICS WELL SUITED
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amThe FDNY's 2,800 medical- emergency responders will soon be outfitted with space-age hazmat suits as their day-to-day uniforms. Each outfit of tan jacket, pants, boots and gloves will cost $1,300....
BLOODIED BOY SUES IN STREET-THEATER GAME
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amA Manhattan scavenger hunt landed a Tennessee tourist in the hospital with a smashed face, according to the teen's mom, who is suing the theatrical company that runs the game....
HUE CREW LIGHTS UP OUR LIVES
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amFive new colors and 25 new fireworks will debut during the city's Fourth of July display. The funky hues of lime, lavender, lemon, peach and aqua and a bunch of...
OUR GREAT BITE HOPE FOR U.S. VICTORY - HOT-DOG CHOW-LLENGER
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amCheck out the new hot dog in town. Some believe Joey Chestnut, 22, may be the United States' best hope this July 4th for taking the hot-dog-eating crown from fivetime...
OLD COACH BALKS ; ISN'T RUSHING TO RENALDO'S DEFENSE
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amRenaldo Balkman's South Carolina coach, Dave Odom, was as stunned as anyone by the controversial selection of his player by the Knicks with the 20th pick in Wednesday's NBA Draft....
MIDDLE MEN GIVE SOME RELIEF
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amHERE's one thing we've noticed in every single league in which we play: At least half the teams are grossly over the projected maximum innings allowance for pitchers. We're over...
WATERFOWL SEASON'S UP TO YOU, N.Y.
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amA WATERFOWL- hunting task force is being set up on Long Island that will use hunters' input to determine hunting-season dates. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will...
MIKE AND DOG'S JOKE WAS ON YOU . . . IF YOU BOUGHT THEIR 'SANDMAN' RANT
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amTHERE'S nerve, and then there's gall. And then there's colossal gall - the kind regularly manufactured by Mike Francesa and Chris Russo, a.k.a. the Skipper and Gilligan. After the Mets'...
HIS NAME'S HIS GAME; AMERICAN SPEED BATTLES F1'S BEST AT INDY
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amFormula 1 driver Scott Speed is trying to shake the "Americans can't drive" stigma. And true to his name, it's not taking too long. "Every American that has gone over...
PACT WITH THE DEVILS; ELIAS SPURNS BLUESHIRTS' OFFER
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amThere was one player and one player alone on the free agent market worth the contractual riches of a pre-cap NHL, and that was Patrik Elias. Late last night, he...
FEELING THE STRAIN' GROIN COULD KO MOOSE
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amSUBWAY SERIES CONFIDENTIAL The early indication was that Mike Mussina's right groin Problem, which limited him to four innings Friday night, wasn't that serious. However, Mussina will get a stronger...
PINSTRIPES ILL-FITTING FOR THESE GUYS
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amRANDY Johnson reverted to has-been status again yesterday before a national TV audience and a Yankee Stadium full house. For the Big Unit, it was one giant step backward after...
WILLIE'S A HIT IN DRIVE TIME
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amTHIS was on the drive back to Jersey late Friday, maybe an hour-and-a-half after his baseball team had looked positively punchless on the opening night of the last Subway Series...
FRIGHTENING TRIP; BOSS STUMBLES, NEARLY FALLS, AFTER YANK LOSS
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amIn a frightening scene, George Steinbrenner nearly became the Yankees' latest disabled-list casualty yesterday. Steinbrenner, who will turn 76 on the Fourth of July, tripped down three steps outside the...
INVASOR ROMPS IN SUBURBAN
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amThe suddenly potent team of trainer Kiaran McLaughlin and 18-year-old jockey Fernando Jara, who won the June 10 Belmont Stakes with Shadwell Stable's Jazil, took their second historic Grade 1...
TUFFERTIGER THE TOUGHEST
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amFIRST RACE - Glitternmepporridge gunned up rail to take lead under Edgar Prado, was soon hooked by Sinkwich, Eibar Coa up, and those two waged furious duel opening up on...
UNIT SHRUNK ; BY MET BATS ; AMAZIN'S ROCK RANDY, SNAP FOUR-GAME SKID
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amMets 8Yankees 3 In order to pitch for the Yankees these days, you do so with a safety net made of threadbare string. Run totals aren't reaching double digits. Big...
RANGERS TAKE THRIFTY APPROACH
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amOn the first day of free agency, the Rangers remained consistent to their new era, less-is-more philosophy by signing Carolina's workmanlike, 29-year-old center Matt Cullen while other teams granted marquee...
ANNIKA'S OPEN DOOR ; WORLD'S TOP PLAYER POISED FOR ANOTHER MAJOR MOMENT
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amNEWPORT, R.I. - With the fog having lifted and the dust having settled at the U.S. Women's Open, some semblance of normalcy has been brought to order on the stately...
AILING PEDRO MAY SKIP NEXT START
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amPedro Martinez is questionable for his next start due to his ailing hip flexor, the Post has learned. Whether or not Martinez makes his scheduled start tomorrow in the opener...
CASH & BURN; CAP DOESN'T STOP SPENDING LUNACY
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amONE summer and one day of triple-capped free agency has proven that there is no such thing as an NHL idiot-proof system, try as hard as the myopic league power...
CAP OR NOT, PLENTY STILL CASH & BURN
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amONE summer and one day of triple- capped free agency has proven that there is no such thing as an NHL idiot-proof system, try as hard as the myopic league...
UNIT SHRUNK - AMAZIN'S ROCK RANDY, SNAP FOUR-GAME SKID
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amMETS 8 YANKEES 3 Deep Purple's "Smoke On The Water" flowed from the center-field speakers as Randy Johnson readied himself for the Mets and the next-tolast Subway Series game by...
ENDING ON THE WRONG TRACH
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amThe finish for Steve Trachsel was better than the beginning. Then again, the finish could have been better too, considering Trachsel had to leave the game with an injury. Trachsel...
BASEBALL RISERS & SINKERS
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amONE reason the Mets are dominating the NL East is because a player who actually was worse last year than Kaz Matsui has replaced Matsui so splendidly. Who could have...
FEELING THE STRAIN - GROIN COULD KO MOOSE
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amSUBWAY SERIES CONFIDENTIAL The early indication was the right groin problem that helped limit Mike Mussina to four innings Friday night wasn't that serious. However, Mussina will get a stronger...
FLIRTIN' WITH .400 - GWYNN SAYS TWINS' MAUER HAS LEGIT SHOT
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amSOME numbers don't lie. Bat .400 for a season and you attain baseball immortality. Not since Ted Williams batted .406 in 1941 at the tender age of 22 has that...
THE THREE STOOGES - COMEDY OF ERRORS WAS REAL PAIN IN THE KNICK
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amIT ISN'T just that the Knicks are a bad basketball team, or that they are among the worst organizations in all of professional sports. They're also bad theater, comprised of...
PAK BACK ON TRACK - S. KOREAN, FINALLY OVER 3-YEAR SLUMP, IN OPEN CONTENTION
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amNEWPORT, R.I. - Se Ri Pak declared rather emphatically that her game is back last month when she captured the McDonald's LPGA Championship, the second of four women's golf majors...
DEVILS TO KEEP JAMIE
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amPatrik Elias will have his choice of assignment in the free-agent marketplace that opened yesterday, but Jamie Langenbrunner was locked up by the Devils before he could test the waters....
SPEZZA DELIVERY: SENS' YOUNG STAR SHOULD GET OFFER SHEET
July 2, 2006 | 4:00amOTTAWA Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, one of the richest men in Canada and therefore quite naturally one of the hardest of hard-liners in the NHL, has instructed his management to...