July 12, 2006
DOUBLE-DEALING - UBS BANKER TAKES $5M BITE OF CLIENT'S SPIN-OFF
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amThe chief investment banker for H. J. Heinz pocketed as much as $5.5 million in profit after investing in one of the ketchup giant's divestitures - a deal that could...
SILVERSTEIN NIXES DEAL - CHINESE DELAYED TOO MUCH; SILVERSTEIN KILLS DEAL AT 7 WTC
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amLARRY Silverstein allowed them four strikes - now they're out. It took two delays before the touted Chinese group, Beijing Vantone, finally signed a term sheet for a China Center...
BIG BET BY TRUMP ON SLOTS IN PHILLY
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amDonald Trump is doubling up his bets in hopes he'll be picked by officials to open one of Philadelphia's first slot palaces. Trump and his partner - former Philadelphia 76ers...
$11M IN RED INK FOR SOROS AFTER BET ON BIOTECH WRECK
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amBillionaire investment titan George Soros' big bet on a little pharmaceutical company has cost him handsomely. Valentis, a biotech developing a cardiovascular treatment, dropped almost 80 percent yesterday, sticking the...
UPS WORKER WINS $1M IN BATTLE WITH MERRILL
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amA former UPS employee involved in a battle with his former Merrill Lynch broker delivered an expensive shot across the bow of the firm, winning nearly $1 million plus legal...
CASINO WORKER IN SMOKE SUIT
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amA former casino floor supervisor diagnosed with lung cancer has filed suit against one of Atlantic City's biggest casinos, charging its owners with failing to protect him from the second-hand...
MORE BAD VIBES AS 21 STAFFERS PURGED
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amA secondary round of axings at Vibe yesterday added another 21 heads to the original bloodbath. The new layoffs added award-winning Design Director Florian Bachleda and Managing Editor Lori Yacavone...
MOGULS DESCEND ON SUN VALLEY
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amSUN VALLEY, Idaho - As they have for 24 years now, the business world's biggest-name media and technology moguls began jetting into this storied playground for the rich and famous...
SUIT SAYS SOROS RIGGED GM BLDG. BIDS
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amBillionaire investor George Soros rigged the bidding during the August 2003 auction sale of the GM Building - cheating a New York real estate investor out of owning one of...
PAIRED WITH PIANIST, COSTELLO'S AIM STILL TRUE
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amOVER his enduring career, Elvis Costello has been a genre-jumping pied piper who has led his fans on musical sojourns as diverse as new wave, classical, country and opera. At...
PLAYING AN EXTENDED RUN - 6 PLAYS, 8 ½ HOURS, 1 TIRED TROUPE
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amTHEY may not carbo-load, but the actors in "Druid Synge" sure do stretch - emotionally and physically - before each 8 1/2-hour marathon performance. And if you think it's hard...
BERNHARD-BITTEN - SURLY SANDRA'S TANTRUMS LEAD THEATER TO HOLD RITUAL CLEANSING
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amA few critics, reviewing Sandra Bernhard's recent off-Broadway show "Everything Bad & Beautiful," complained that the usually ferocious stand-up comic had lost some of her edge. Maybe they should have...
STARR REPORT
July 12, 2006 | 4:00am"Extra" co-host Dayna Devon and husband Brett Moelleken, parents of 10-month-old Emmi, are expecting a baby boy in January, Dayna tells Us Weekly. Speaking of "Extra," Chris Isaak co-hosts with...
SUMMER CAMPY - 'TALENT' STOMPS OUT 'DANCE' AS REALITY'S NEXT BIG HIT
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amTHE Gong Show" never had it this good - nor was the competition so fierce. And we're not talking about the battles between the contestants on two of TV's most...
'DREAM' MACHINE - 'NIGHTMARES' DEFY EXPLANATION
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amTHE plot is so fantastic that it might seem absurd to ask, "Why?" As in: Why is the William Hurt character, a professional hitman, sent to assassinate the CEO of...
CALM 'VIEW' SANS STAR
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amFORMER "American Idol" cutie Kellie Pickler will sub on "The View" next Monday - as the ABC gabfest continues its revamp in the wake of Star Jones' messy departure. In...
JIMMY'S BODY FOUND (NOT HOFFA. THE OTHER DISAPPEARING GUY)
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amJUST in time to make summer seem truly tropical, Jimmy Rodriguez is back. His former Jimmy's Downtown at 400 E. 57th St., perplexingly dark for two years, reopened last week...
SPANISH HAM? THAT'LL DO, PIG - BELLOTA PORK FINALLY HEADS TO U.S.
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amBLUE-FOOT chicken, meet the black-hoof pig. Jamon Iberico de bellota is finally coming to town, making carnivorous cognoscenti squeal with giddy anticipation. Bellota is the beluga of ham - made...
NEW YORK FOOD LOSES AT U.S. OPEN
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amTHE U.S. Open Tennis Championships at Flushing Meadows, one of New York's most prestigious events, has got a new caterer - from Chicago! Now it looks like Ed Brown, the...
HE'S A SAINT OF SCIENCE - HEADS FREE BX. ENGINEERING SCHOOL
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amIn the hardscrabble Hub of The Bronx, dozens beg passers-by for spare change - and one elderly man asks them if they would like to take a free electrical-engineering course....
POOR-BOX PILFERER NABBED
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amA dumb Long Island crook was busted after he tried to burglarize his local church - and left his wallet behind, police said. "It would make our job a lot...
GOTTI LIVES ON WAGES OF SIN: FEDS
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amJohn "Junior" Gotti may claim he's out of the mob but he continues to live large on cash he raked in over years running the Gambino crime family, prosecutors argued...
NYPD DAILY CRIME BLOTTER
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amMANHATTAN (lcf) * Cops yesterday released this picture (above) of a note-passing bandit who attempted to rob the Bank of America at 25 West 51 Street on June 28th. He...
IT'S BUY-BUY BABY - DOCS SEND SHOPAHOLIC TO THE MALL
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amJUST who's the crazy person here? How about Antoinette Millard? Antoinette, you'll remember, is the phony princess of Saudi Arabia who royally screwed American Express out of $1 million in...
MIKE'S SLIP OF TONGUE
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amCouncilman David Yassky - the only white candidate in a racially charged Brooklyn congressional contest - was all smiles for the second time after Mayor Bloomberg cheekily called him "congressman."...
BUTT HEAD JOEY - JAIL FOR GUN RAP
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amVeteran jailbird Joey Buttafuoco pleaded no contest to weapons charges in California yesterday that will land him behind bars for as long as a year. Buttafuoco, best-known for his 1992...
PREZ FLIPS ON GITMO GOONS
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - In an about-face, the White House yesterday said prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and in U.S. military hands anywhere are entitled to Geneva Convention protection. The move came in...
HILL IN 9/11 BUSH SLAP
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday accused President Bush of playing politics with the approaching fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by planning solemn "photo ops" instead of protecting...
SAMARITANS OK AFTER TRAGEDY
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amThree good Samaritans exposed to deadly meningitis when they gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dying baby at a New Jersey mall were found to be in good health yesterday. The...
'WILD' FIREBUG GETS 20 YEARS
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amA Brooklyn man had barely tasted freedom before he went wild - stabbing and punching a woman and then setting her home on fire as he calmly smoked a cigarette...
N.Y. TRANSIT SECURITY IS PUMPED UP
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amThe NYPD flooded the city's transit system with extra cops and boosted random subway searches yesterday after deadly rush-hour bombings on Indian commuter trains. "We take a terror attack in...
BREATHE EASIER WITH NEW BUSES
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amThe red sightseeing buses seen around the city will now not only will show off landmarks - they'll do it without polluting the air. The Gray Line New York Sightseeing...
GRIM TIDINGS IN BLOATED BUDGET
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - The election-year budget deal secretly hammered out by Gov. Pataki and state lawmakers last month boosts state spending by a massive 12.9 percent, four times the rate of...
COPS: GAS GRIFT A PREMIUM CON - ELIOT NAILS 2-STATE FUEL-SMUGGLE RING
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amA brazen bunch of Brooklyn bootleggers were busted yesterday on charges of smuggling gasoline from New Jersey to New York - driving away with tankfuls of illicit profit, authorities said....
PREZ IN PUSH ON N-POWER
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush is vowing to push for nuclear energy around the world at the upcoming G8 summit in Russia - as a way to bring down the price...
DEP COP SLAPPED WITH BRIBE RAP
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amA city DEP police sergeant was arrested yesterday for allegedly attempting to shake down a man facing DWI charges by promising to fix the case for $30,000. Roger Rotella, 28,...
LILLO EYES OWN TRIAL
July 12, 2006 | 4:00am"Sopranos" screw-up Lillo Brancato and his alleged accomplice in the shooting death of a cop are likely to be tried separately if statements they made to investigators after their arrests...
BIG MAC ATTACK - MCCAIN SLAMS 'PREZ' PATAKI
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - Gov. Pataki yesterday took it on the chin from old nemesis and possible 2008 presidential primary opponent John McCain, who mocked the governor's low poll numbers at home....
'BRIBE' POL WON'T QUIT
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amBribery charges will not stop Brooklyn Assemblywoman Diane Gordon from continuing her run for re-election this fall, her supporters said yesterday. Friends and family of the embattled lawmaker refuse to...
RAMPAGE KILLER HAD N.J. BIZ WOE
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amThe New Jersey man who shot and killed his two sleeping sons, then himself, was buckling under the pressure of a failed business, officials said yesterday. "We're pretty confident that's...
'WEB BET' BOOT - HOUSE OKS BAN
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Americans would be barred from using online gambling sites under a bill that passed the House yesterday. The House passed an Internet-gambling ban by an overwhelming vote of...
'JIHAD' HEROIN FIEND NAILED
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amA powerful Afghani drug lord who boasted that he was waging jihad on Americans by flooding New York's streets with heroin pleaded guilty to federal drug charges yesterday. Haji Baz...
RAVISHING BEAUTY RAVAGED BY BLAST
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amRecent college grad Jennifer Panicali was just walking to her job in Central Park Monday morning when all of a sudden she was catapulted into the street - a torrent...
TIMES' CRIME SLIME - 'TREASON' HEARINGS
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - The New York Times came under heavy fire yesterday for disclosing a secret program that tracks terror financing - with a top Treasury Department official calling the leak...
KID-KILLIN' GUNS - CHILD A WEEK SLAIN IN CITY
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amAt least one child a week is killed by gunfire in the city, according to a report released yesterday. The report by the Children's Defense Fund found that New York...
EYE ON MOB 9/11 FRAUD
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Heartless mob thieves and scammers made off with more than $40 million in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks even as the Twin Towers smoldered, a witness...
EX-WIFE RIPS KI$$'S PAL
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amA former manager of the rock band KISS, who spent 10 years on the lam rather than pay a $2 million alimony and child-support tab, was hauled into Manhattan Family...
PAL SOLD JACKO OUT: ATTY.
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amA former gay-porn producer tricked a Japanese company into giving him nearly $1 million for the rights to a Michael Jackson tune and concert tour, Jacko's ex-lawyer testified yesterday. Zia...
'DOC' PHONE IS 'ON CALL'
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amNew Jersey researchers want a cellphone to be your nurse. Bell Labs is working on "telesensing" technology that could someday bounce radio waves off your body to measure vital signs...
HONEY, I BLEW UP THE HOUSE - DR. BOOM'S WIFE SAYS: 'IT'S TRAGIC'; EXPLOSIVE WOE FOR EX
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amThe shell-shocked woman whose bitter divorce ended in an Upper East Side fireball said yesterday she was devastated by her wacko ex-husband's apparent decision to blow up the four-story townhouse...
GEST'S BED IS STRAIGHT - LIZA'S EX LIKES TARTS WITH WHIPPED CREAM, PAL SAYS
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amSorry, boys - David Gest isn't gay. "He likes African-American women," said Gest's bodyguard, Imad Handi. And the estranged producer hubby of Liza Minnelli likes to do his pretties' pleasing...
PATH FIEND LEFT TRACKS IN MONTREAL
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amMONTREAL - The suspected ringleader of an al Qaeda plot to blow up PATH's Hudson River tunnels was nabbed five years ago for trespassing on a Montreal train track, it...
COURT FINDS HASIDIC BROTHER VS. BROTHER TOO MUCH BOTHER
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amA state appellate court yesterday declined to get involved in the ugly battle over control over the Satmar Jewish sect - saying the First Amendment bars judges from "inquiring into...
CASTING A 'NET' FOR B'KLYN APTS.
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amSome 2,500 people showed up at a meeting last night to get information on snaring an apartment in the planned $3.5 billion commercial and residential development in Brooklyn that includes...
N.J.'S LATE SHOW - NEWARK AIRPORT WOE
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amPassengers flying into Newark Airport have a 45.5 percent chance of facing an arrival delay - more than any other airport in the country, according to a new Web site...
COPS: GAS GRIFT A PREMIUM CON - N.Y. NAILS 2-STATE FUEL-SMUGGLE RING
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amA brazen bunch of Brooklyn bootleggers were busted yesterday on charges of smuggling gasoline from New Jersey to New York - driving away with tankfuls of illicit profit, authorities said....
BANK THIEF IS ROBBED POST-HEIST
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amSometimes even bank robbers aren't safe on the streets. One of them was mugged in Brooklyn by a thief who got away with his loot. The bizarre chain of events...
LIBERTY MEDAL AWARDS - GIVE HEROES A BIG SALUTE
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amThe Big Apple's unsung heroes help make our city the greatest in the world, and now The Post is again inviting readers to help find and honor these selfless New...
ON EVIL TRACK IN 2001 - PATH PLOTTER'S ARREST
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amMONTREAL - The suspected ringleader of an alQaeda plot to blow up PATH tunnels was nabbed five years ago for trespassing on a Montreal train track, it was learned yesterday....
SLAIN OVER $ WOE - CLUE IN N.J. RAMPAGE
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amThe New Jersey man who shot and killed his two sleeping sons, then himself, was buckling under the pressure of a failed business, officials said yesterday. "We're pretty confident that's...
SHOTGUN BUTTHEAD JOEY OFF TO JAIL - 1-YR. SENTENCE ON AMMO RAP
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amVeteran jailbird Joey Buttafuoco pleaded no contest to weapons charges in California yesterday that will land him behind bars for as long as a year. Buttafuoco, best-known for his 1992...
ANNA-REXIC TURNS BOUNCY INTO BONY - SCARY SKINNY LOOK ON COURT
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amAnna Kournikova has gone from doubles to singles. The once-curvy tennis star and pinup girl showed off a frighteningly thin new physique over the weekend at a tennis tournament in...
BRONX CLASSIC - YANKEE STADIUM MAY GET '08 GAME
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amPITTSBURGH - The 2008 All-Star Game appears headed to Yankee Stadium. It's about time. This is an idea that just makes too much sense. The Midsummer Classic would offer a...
THE MISSING SYNC - AIKMAN: 'OFF' SEASON HURTING ELI'S PROGRESS
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amTroy Aikman said yesterday that one of the major reasons why he's gearing up for his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame is that he was surrounded by...
JASPERS COACH ON RECRUITING ODYSSEY
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amBarry Rohrssen was hours away from hopping a flight to Pittsburgh to attend Five-Star Camp, where he would spend two days before heading to Georgia for the Nike Peach Jam...
GARDEN LANDS PRO LACROSSE
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amThe National Lacrosse League has been around for 20 years and finally has a team in New York City. Kind of. The new team, which will begin its first season...
FIGHT OFF-SHORE DRILLING
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amIN a move that certainly would be detrimental to the marine waters off the Atlantic Coast, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to allow offshore oil and gas drilling, a...
ARTISTIC FELLA FAVE FOR BIG M PACE
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amArtistic Fella, the top-ranked standard-bred horse in North America, was installed as the 7-5 morning-line favorite for the $1 million Meadowlands Pace on Saturday night at Meadowlands Racetrack. Trained by...
ISLES SNAG SIMON
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amThe Islanders are fast becoming a team not many opponents will want to play against. Isles GM Neil Smith continued collecting snarl from the free-agent market yesterday when he signed...
STALEY WINS WNBA'S FIRST 3-POINT CONTEST
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amNOTEBOOK This is Dawn Staley's final season, or so she says. But that didn't stop her from winning the first WNBA 3-point shooting contest as part of yesterday's All-Star Tuesday...
TBS MAY PICK OFF LCS DEAL
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amAs expected, at least one league championship series will stay on non-cable television. Yesterday, Fox announced a seven-year deal with Major League Baseball to air one LCS, the World Series,...
BARBARO OK AFTER SURGERY
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amThree days have passed since Barbaro underwent the latest round of surgery on his broken leg after developing "life-threatening complications," and the Kentucky Derby champ seems to be holding his...
LEE ON FAST-FORWARD - YOUNG KNICK MAKIN' MARK IN VEGAS
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amLAS VEGAS - David Lee won't have to worry about playing time next season. The Knicks 6-foot-9 forward won't have to worry about Isiah Thomas playing aging veterans Maurice Taylor...
ROOKIE POINT GUARD 'PASSING' NET MUSTER
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amNets coach Lawrence Frank was describing the point guard. "He has great vision in terms of understanding. He's one step ahead of the play, able to see things develop before...
BROKEN NOSE CAN'T SLOW DOWN ROBINSON
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amKNICK NOTES LAS VEGAS - Nobody can ever question Nate Robinson's toughness. Despite breaking his nose on Monday, Robinson refused to shut down his summer league - and last night,...
JETS EXTEND RAMSEY
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amPatrick Ramsey, one of four players with a legitimate chance of starting at quarterback for the Jets this season, yesterday signed a one-year contract extension worth $2.1 million. Ramsey will...
SELIG SAYS DRUG POLICY 'WORKING'
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amBud Selig defended baseball's steroid program yesterday, saying the current policy is working and vowed to keep baseball on the forefront of fighting human growth hormone usage. "I really think...
NEW WORLD OF EXPECTATIONS
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amTHESE Mets aren't going to make the folks in Vegas sweat nearly as much as they did in 1969. Back then, if you walked into a casino in February or...
RIVERA SAVE IS AMERICAN MADE - LATE AL RALLY RUINS NATIONAL TREASURE BY BELTRAN, WRIGHT
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amAmerican 3 - National 2 PITTSBURGH - Give it up, National League. You have no chance. And now the Mets have no chance to grab homefield advantage in the World...
GORDON: I'D RETURN TO BRONX IN A FLASH
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amALL-STAR NOTES PITTSBURGH - Tom "Flash'' Gordon loves being the closer for the Phillies. He wants to help that fading franchise turn it around. That's why he signed there as...
WRIGHT ON TRACK - FELLOW ALL-STARS HAVE HIGH PRAISE FOR DAVID
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amPITTSBURGH - Two years ago, a baby-faced minor leaguer snuck into the National League's All-Star clubhouse in Houston to meet his idol Scott Rolen. That young player started at third...
YOU BET-METS - JETER: 'THEY DESERVE THAT RESPECT'
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amPITTSBURGH - You bet the Mets deserve to be the favorites at the All-Star break to win the World Series. They still have to go out and prove it on...
WINNER TAKES ALL - '08 CLASSIC MAY BE BRONX BOUND
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amPITTSBURGH - The 2008 All-Star Game appears headed to Yankee Stadium. It's about time. This is an idea that just makes too much sense. The Midsummer Classic would offer a...
A DECADE OF 'W' - LADIES' NIGHT OUTLASTS EXPECTATIONS, AIMS HIGHER
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amDespite sagging attendance figures and microscopic television ratings, the Women's National Basketball Association is holding its 10-year anniversary celebration this week at the Garden in conjunction with tonight's All-Star Game....
SPORTS BOOKS READING THE SIGNS
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amBETTORS in Las Vegas hoping to hit the jackpot have made the Mets Amazin' favorites to win the World Series. Ya Gotta Believe, right? Willie Randolph's first-place machine is the...
FELLOW STARS: DAVID'S GOT ALL THE WRIGHT STUFF
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amPITTSBURGH - Two years ago, a baby-faced minor leaguer snuck into the National League All-Star clubhouse in Houston to meet his idol Scott Rolen. That young player started at third...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
July 12, 2006 | 4:00amThere is only one candidate running for governor in Alaska who really knows how to get out the vote - a golden retriever. The campaign was supposed to be a...