July 4, 2006

FARING WELL - HANK'S GOLDMAN PARACHUTE LANDS: $18.7M

New Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's transition to civil service got a bit more comfortable as the former Goldman Sachs chieftain walked away with an $18.7 million cash bonus for his...

SAGGING SALES MAR GM'S MAKEOVER PLANS

Ignoring perks of $1,000 in gas and free loans to buy U.S. car brands, consumers keep picking imports such as Toyota - raising the stakes for General Motors' makeover gamble....

BERNANKE'S BIG MISTAKE - JOBS REPORT MAY SHOCK FED

THIS Friday is when the Federal Reserve will know a little better whether it made a mistake last week by raising interest rates for the 17th consecutive time in two...

REBELS OF HOLLYWOOD - MAVERICK FILMMAKERS COME IN FROM THE 'EDGE'

TO kick off a month of independent films by filmmakers who play(ed) by their own rules in a world where cash is king, TCM airs their first original in-house produced...

MARIA IN THE AFTERNOON

CNBC's Money Honey, Maria Bartiromo, has filmed a pilot for her own syndicated talk show. It is believed that the yet-untitled talk show, produced by NBC, will focus on "women's...

KATIE SLIPS INTO CBS

CBS has begun trying to woo viewers back to the evening news with a new marketing pitch featuring outgoing newsman Bob Schieffer promoting anchor gal Katie Couric. The ad that...

HOW TO READ YOUR JOHN HANCOCK

Handwriting analyst Sheila Kurtz of Graphology Consulting Group explains the secrets of signatures - starting with the nation's most famous * John Hancock - The first person to sign the...

'GREEN' POWER IS A BREEZE - ECO-FRIENDLY PLAN

Con Ed is making it easy to be green. You can now choose whether your electricity comes from nonpolluting wind- and hydro- power plants instead of coal and nuclear sources....

B'DAY BASH FOR BUSH AND NATION

President Bush celebrates the nation's birthday today by hailing hero troops at Fort Bragg - including an amputee going back to combat - and then celebrates his own 60th birthday....

LIEBERMAN EYES INDIE BID

Democratic 2000 vice-presidential nominee Joe Lieberman - facing a tough primary for Senate re-election because he backs the Iraq war - yesterday said he'll run as an independent if he...

HAMAS' DEADLINE FOR ISRAEL

JERUSALEM - Three terrorist groups said Israel must begin releasing Palestinian prisoners today, hinting they would kill the soldier they kidnapped if their demands are not met. But Israeli officials...

MARINE'S GRIT AFTER BROOKLYN SHOOTING

When the Marines charged into Baghdad in spring 2003, Edwin Rodriguez was with them every step of the way. But it wasn't until he was back in Brooklyn that a...

SLAY-SEX RAPS FOR SOLDIER - IRAQ FAMILY'S HORROR

WASHINGTON - A former U.S. soldier who had been discharged for a "personality disorder" was charged yesterday with the rape and murder of an Iraqi and the coldblooded execution of...

TOP POLS ZARQAWI'S 'CELL' MATES

Slain terror chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's captured cellphone had the phone numbers of senior Iraqi ministry officials and Sunni legislators, an Iraqi lawmaker claimed yesterday. The numbers were found stored...

HOSPS SLASH DEATHS - MEASURES SAVE 300+

The city's 11 public hospitals have saved an estimated 332 lives by instituting safety measures that have cut the patient mortality rate by 10 percent since 2004, officials said. All...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

BROOKLYN * Bomb squad cops rushed to locations around Park Slope after at least nine suspicious packages were reported during a short span of time yesterday. The reports of abandoned...

BABY SHOCKER - NEWBORN'S BODY FOUND IN B'KLYN GALS' CLOSET

Detectives are questioning a 20-year-old Brooklyn woman after discovering the body of her newborn girl stuffed in a bedroom closet inside the family's Sheepshead Bay apartment yesterday. Investigators said the...

CORZINE CALLS FOR A CRISIS SESSION TODAY

Embattled New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine will convene an emergency session of the Legislature today to try to pressure lawmakers into settling a budget impasse that has shut down the...

DROWN ANGUISH - VICTIM'S GAL BOLTS INTO SURF

Anguished relatives and friends of the teenage boy lost in the strong currents off Riis Park over the weekend walked into the waters where he disappeared and wept yesterday -...

JAIL OFFICER'S SHOOTING BUST

A city correction officer was arrested in Brooklyn yesterday and charged with shooting a man in the backside while negotiating the price of a car, police said. Carey Cohen, 46,...

MIDTOWN BUS HORROR - ELDERLY WOMAN IS DRAGGED & KILLED

An elderly woman enjoying a stroll in the holiday sunshine was fatally struck by a city bus and dragged under its wheels just a block from her Manhattan apartment yesterday,...

BRAVEST 'BLASTED' - 'BLOWS OFF FINGERS WITH FIRECRACKER'

An off-duty firefighter lost at least three fingers on his right hand when he lit a powerful firecracker in the kitchen of his Brooklyn home - and it blew up...

LIL' KIM LEAVES JAIL AS A 'HIPS'-HOP STAR - HER 'BIG' EXIT AFTER 10-MONTH STRETCH

Lil' Kim got a whole lot larger in the big house. The hip-hop hottie who bears the moniker Notorious K.I.M. looked more like her rap mentor, the Notorious B.I.G., when...

NOW SHE'S REALLY A 'HOMEGIRL'

Before arriving yesterday at her New Jersey home, Lil' Kim's driver took a detour past a scenic lookout off the Palisades Interstate Parkway. It was the last nice view she'll...

BABY SHOCKER - BODY OF NEWBORN IN B'KLYN MOTHER'S CLOSET

Detectives early today were questioning a 20-year-old Brooklyn woman after discovering the body of her newborn girl stuffed in a bedroom closet inside the family's Sheepshead Bay apartment. Investigators said...

OFFICER SLASHED IN SUPERMART DRAMA

A cop was viciously slashed across the face as he tackled a berserk man who had held two women at knifepoint in a Brooklyn supermarket yesterday, cops said. The 33-year-old...

HAMAS SILENT ON HOSTAGE

JERUSALEM - Terrorists holding an Israeli soldier captive said today they would give no further information about him because Israel had ignored a deadline to release Palestinian prisoners. Israel responded...

IRAQ HERO'S SIS AND PAL TURN TRAGIC DEATH INTO A NEW LIFE

'I feel like my brother is saying, 'Here's somebody who is going to take care of you.'' - Arlin Urbina THREE months after her brother was killed in Iraq, Arlin...

BABY SHOCKER - NEWBORN'S BODY FOUND IN B'KLYN MOTHER'S CLOSET

Detectives last night were questioning a 20-year-old Brooklyn woman after discovering the body of her newborn girl stuffed in a bedroom closet inside the family's Sheepshead Bay apartment. Investigators said...

NASA: HOLD THE FOAM! - SHUTTLE LAUNCH PLAN UP IN THE AIR

A 3-inch piece of foam that fell from the foam insulation on space shuttle Discovery's fuel tank had NASA managers scrambling to determine whether they could safely launch today. "Right...

LO DUCA PUTS DOWN DUKES - METS CATCHER: TIFF WITH A-ROD 'OVER WITH'

Maybe he'll call for one high and tight next week at the All Star Game. But Paul Lo Duca declined to answer any questions yesterday about his spat with Alex...

THANKS, YANKS! - BOMBERS SET STANDARD FOR AL DOMINATION

BLAME the Yankees. The AL dominated inter-league play in 2006, and the roots of how this happened are about a decade old. "My theory is that the existence of a...

HURRAY-ROD - SLAM TURNS ALEX'S JEERS INTO CHEERS

CLEVELAND - Alex Rodriguez refused yesterday to discuss what Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca said to him Sunday night. Lo Duca apologized to A-Rod for yelling at the Yankees third...

YANKEES ENTICED BY POWER OF JESUS

CLEVELAND - Seduced by what many believe to be Venezuelan prospect Jesus Montero's enormous power, the Yankees signed the 16-year-old catcher to a $2 million contract Sunday. They also have...

DRAFT PICKS TOP NETS' SUMMER SQUAD

The UConn connection of point guard Marcus Williams and power forward/center Josh Boone, drafted in the first round at Nos. 22 and 23 last week, plus last year's first-round pick,...

THREE MO SAVES FOR 400

YANKEE NOTES CLEVELAND - Three saves shy of 400, Mariano Rivera could not believe he was on the verge of becoming the fourth reliever to reach that milestone. "I have...

'CONTENDER' LOOKS TO BE APTLY NAMED

DWYER STAKES For a time last spring, trainer John Ward's colt Strong Contender ranked high on the list of Kentucky Derby hopefuls despite having made just two starts, both of...

ON THE CHIEN - TRIBE ROOKIE OUTDUELS WANG FOR WIN

Indians 5 - Yankees 2 CLEVELAND - Having pitched his way into the third spot of Joe Torre's rotation, Chien-Ming Wang is no longer a curiosity at the back end....

DIAMOND DOUBLE-STANDARD

MAYBE it's natural law, given that Joe Torre has won four World Series and guided the Yankees to the playoffs in each of his 10 years in The Bronx while...

NOT QUITE MAINE MAN ON MOUND

Pedro Martinez, he most certainly was not. On Fireworks Night, John Maine was no dud, but he didn't exactly set the world on fire either in an 11-1 loss to...

CALF-TRUTH OR EXCUSE BY SOLER?

MET NOTES For a team that entered last night's game with an 11-game lead in the NL East, the Mets sound like a franchise that needs to improve its lines...

METS FAIL TO SPIT OUT PITT - SORRY SHEA OUTING AS BUCS BOMB AMAZIN'S

Pirates 11 - Mets 1 There was no shame, or reason for grave concern, when the Mets were swept by the red-hot Red Sox in Boston. There was no shame,...

WILLIE VICTIM OF DOUBLE-STANDARD

MAYBE it's natural law, given that Joe Torre has won four World Series and guided the Yankees to the playoffs in each of his 10 years in The Bronx, while...

MAINE'S CALLED UP TO START

MET NOTES For a team that entered last night's game with an 11-game lead in the NL East, the Mets sounded like a franchise that needs to improve its lines...

BACK ON THE BLOCK - THE POST'S LOOK AT THE CITY'S SUMMER GAME

It's July 4 and tonight the sky will fill with explosions of light and noise, but down here at street level things have already been blowin' up for a few...

MENSAH & SIENA PART WAYS

Kojo Mensah doesn't know where he will play basketball next season, but it won't be at Siena, where he was the second leading scorer as a sophomore last season. Mensah,...

BEHAVING BADLY ROLLS HOME

Only four fillies and mares answered call for yesterday's Grade 2, $150,000 Genuine Risk Handicap at six furlongs, thanks to presence of Bob Baffert's 5-year-old mare Behaving Badly, shipping in...

NO DROUGHT ABOUT IT - SORENSTAM ROUTS HURST IN PLAYOFF FOR FIRST OPEN TITLE IN 10 YEARS

NEWPORT, R.I. - The suspense that engulfed the 18th green at Newport Country Club some 18 hours earlier was as long gone as the fog that suffocated this striking place...

CUP FEVER - WARD SECOND 'CANE TO JOIN BLUESHIRTS IN THREE DAYS

Back in the 90's, when Neil Smith was general manager on Broadway and acquiring one former Edmonton Oiler after another, he famously said, "What; should I be trading for Sharks,...

WITT & WISDOM: ISLES GET TOUGH

He isn't Zdeno Chara and he isn't Ed Jovanovski, two of the sexiest free-agent defensemen who were available on the open market. But Brendan Witt may be exactly what the...