August 26, 2006
A BALLY HIGH - HEDGE FUND LOOKS AT AILING FITNESS CLUB'S BOOKS
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amBally Total Fitness is giving its largest shareholder a peek at its internal financial projections and other confidential information - the latest sign that the bloodied health club chain may...
IRS FLAGS CPA'S TAX RETURN
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amAccountant, audit thyself. Global accounting giant PriceWaterhouseCoopers is under IRS investigation for deductions it took on its employee pension plan and the IRS is looking at profit movement between PWC's...
TWO NEW MAGS SHUT BY HEARST
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amHearst Corp. shut down two of its newest maga zines, Shop Etc. and Weekend, yesterday, claiming the numbers just didn't add up. Insiders said the move affects about 70 staffers....
STERN LACKEY'S BREW HA-HA
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amARTIE Lange is ready to step into the starting lineup. The comedian, who's made a name for himself backing up Howard Stern on his radio show the past five years,...
ONE YEAR LATER - 'TRUE LIFE' STILL DEALING WITH KATRINA'S DEVASTATION
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amTHE best and worst thing I ever did in my life was to drive a tractor-trailer filled with relief supplies to Mississippi and Louisiana one week after Hurricane Katrina hit....
SALES
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amBILLION DOLLAR BABES The Altman Building, 135 W. 18th St.; bdbinvite.com Sale: today, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Hot designers such as Anya Hindmarch, Vivienne Westwood, sass & bide, up to 80...
YOUR INNER CHILD WANTS HIS OWN CLOTHES
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amLISA Kidner and Sam Knee met over a bubblegum pink vintage Playgirl T-shirt. The couple, authors of the new book "Vintage T-shirts," met in 2000 at Portobello Market in London...
EURO FORCE GETS SOME BACKBONE
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amJERUSALEM - Europe pledged nearly 7,000 troops to keep peace in Lebanon, ensuring that the 15,000-member force called for by the U.N. will become a reality, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said...
NEW STAR WARS - EVEN MICKEY MAD AT MOVE TO TURN PLUTO INTO A DWARF
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amLet the galactic struggle begin! The scientific Supernova that downgraded Pluto to second-class planetary status set off inter-stellar spasms of recrimination yesterday with scientists and perplexed little kids alike grappling...
'JEWS' JABBING BACK AT JACKIE
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amNow Jews for Jesus is trying to convert Jackie Mason's lawsuit. It went to Manhattan federal court yesterday to try to block the comic's legal attempt to get it to...
BAIT & 'SWITCH' - CROWDED SCHOOLS HALT TRANSFERS
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amMore than 10,800 city students applied this summer to flee their failing public schools under federal law - but only 6,451 were given the option to leave, the city Department...
MOM OF LONG ISLAND LO-LOTTO: N.Y. 'PREYS' ON ADDICTS
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amThe mother of the Long Island woman who blew $2.3 million in stolen cash on lottery tickets blasted the New York Lottery yesterday - for "preying" on addicts. "Lotto is...
IT'S COLD WAR ON LONG I. - HAMPTONS AC SLAP
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amJust when you thought the Hamptons had run out of ways to indulge. The Long Island Power Authority scolded East End shopkeepers yesterday for wasting energy by keeping their front...
BIG IDEA FOR AIRPORT - FEDS WOULD ALLOW MORE LARGE JETS AT LAG
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amMore big jets could be headed for La Guardia in the next few years under a proposed federal rule that would boost the number of people using the airport without...
KARR SAID 'I DID IT' IN 1997 - FRIEND'S SHOCKER
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amA former classmate of John Mark Karr says the little-girl-loving perv once confessed to killing JonBenet Ramsey - saying "I did it" - and now the woman has told prosecutors...
RODNEY GETS RESPECT
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amRodney Dangerfield's finally getting "respect." The estate of the comic, who died in 2004, yesterday got the legal go-ahead to review his namesake nightclub's books. Widow Joan Child filed a...
MA: IN-LAW MENACED SLAY VICTIM
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amThe mother of a man found gunned down in his million-dollar New Jersey home said yesterday his then-father-in-law once threatened him. Sophia Duncsak told The Post that a nearly bankrupt...
DWIERS WEAR A SWEAT BAN
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amLong Island's most dangerous DWI offenders are being targeted by new ankle bracelets that can detect the booze in their sweat. Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice and state Sen....
OK FOR BOGUS-RAPE SUIT - $10M FOR CYBERSEX JAIL TIME
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amA Columbia Ph.D. candidate wrongly accused in a sensational rape case a decade ago can go ahead with his $10 million wrongful-prosecution lawsuit against the city, two Manhattan assistant DAs...
FAKE-COP PERV IN QNS.
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amThis masked, knife-wielding thug posing as a cop sexually assaulted a woman in Queens, law-enforcement sources said yesterday. The suspect woke up the 37-year-old victim, whose identity was not released,...
'RETIRED' GOTTI'S CASH GRAB - COLLECTION BID ON PRISON TAPE
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amAn imprisoned John "Junior" Gotti directed a mob associate to start collecting his old debts and to consider holding a fund-raiser for him in 2003 - four years after he...
ADA SENT TO ANGER CLASSES
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - State Sen. Ada Smith - sometimes called the "Wild Woman of Albany" - will be forced to undergo an anger-management program she says she helped fund after being...
HIT-RUN SLAY IN CHELSEA
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amA man was killed by a hit-and-run driver last night when he crossed against the light along a busy stretch of Ninth Avenue in Chelsea, police said. The unidentified man...
WEST SIDE CLUB SHUT
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amCops shut down the club Spirit last night - one of the beleaguered clubs on the wild row of West 27th Street between 10th and 11th avenues. The order came...
QUEENS SNIPER ATTACKS - GUNMAN HURTS 5
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amFive people were injured last night in four separate shootings when a deranged driver with a gun took a violent tour across several neighborhoods in Queens - targeting victims at...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amMANHATTAN * Two hoods were busted for assaulting a bicyclist and robbing his bike on the Upper West Side, police sources said yesterday. Chevez Providence, 18, and Tyrek Johnson, 17,...
MAD MIKE IN 'BRIBE' DIATRIBE
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amFirms that do business with the city and also make political contributions are engaged in "bribery or graft," Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. The mayor's harsh attack came on his weekly...
IT'S A COLD WAR IN THE HAMPTONS
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amJust when you thought the Hamptons had run out of ways to indulge. The Long Island Power Authority scolded East End shopkeepers yesterday for wasting energy by keeping their front...
WRATH ON THE WRIST - ADA IN ANGER CLASS
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - State Sen. Ada Smith - sometimes called the "Wild Woman of Albany" - will be forced to undergo an angermanagement program she says she helped fund after being...
FOXY'S 'STICKY FINGERS' - BOUTIQUE SAYS DIVA STOLE TWO $400 BELTS
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amHip-hop's delinquent diva Foxy Brown may soon have a larceny rap - and we're not talking about her next album. Cops are investigating claims made by an upscale Greenwich Village...
L.I. LO-LOTTO MA RIPS STATE
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amThe mother of the Long Island woman who blew $2.3 million in stolen cash on lottery tickets blasted the state yesterday - for "preying" on addicts. "Lotto is the biggest...
EUROPE ADDS SOME MUSCLE IN LEB FORCE
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amJERUSALEM - Europe pledged nearly 7,000 troops to keep peace in Lebanon, ensuring that the 15,000-member force called for by the U.N. will become a reality, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said...
DWIERS TO WEAR A SWEAT BAN
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amLong Island's worst DWI offenders will soon wear ankle bracelets that might detect booze in their sweat. Nassau DA Kathleen Rice and state Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. announced the purchase...
A COLD WAR ON LONG I. - HAMPTONS AC SLAP
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amJust when you thought the Hamptons had run out of ways to indulge. The Long Island Power Authority scolded East End shopkeepers yesterday for wasting energy by keeping their front...
$$ TRAIL TO 'AIR AMERICA' KIDS CLUB
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amThe indictment of state Sen. Efrain Gonzalez is the tip of a massive corruption probe into taxpayer-funded programs, including the scandal-scarred youth group that lent $875,000 to launch liberal radio...
37G 'LOOT & BUY' SPREE FOR BX. POL - SENATOR PLUNGED ON YANKS TIX & VACATIONS: FEDS
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amA veteran state senator used a charity he founded as his personal piggy bank, dipping into its coffers to pay for Yankees tickets, clothes, tuition, rent and a vacation club...
TWISTER TERROR FOR L.I. TOWN
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amA tornado ripped through Massapequa on Long Island yesterday, with winds clocked at 60-70 mph and quartersized hailstones falling. Countless trees were damaged, but miraculously, homes were left unscathed. National...
WHAT A YAHOO! - FIRED TOM VISITS 'NET MOGUL PAL
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amJust days after Paramount axed Tom Cruise with a stunning public rebuke, the star and his baby's mama, Katie Holmes, made a public show of dropping in at the Yahoo!...
POLS BLAST COLOR-CAST
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amOutraged city lawmakers lashed out at CBS yesterday, calling on the "Tiffany Network" to pull the plug on the next installment of "Survivor" because it groups contestants by race. Members...
HILL'S HEAVY HAULING TO AID LEFTY LAMONT
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday jumped off the sidelines to throw the full weight of her monstrous political machine behind antiwar Democratic darling Ned Lamont - a move...
DEVELOPERS' GARDEN PATH
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amThe developers chosen to convert the Farley Post Office into Moynihan Station - a plan that could also call for the relocation of Madison Square Garden - said yesterday that...
MAYOR ZINGS MEDDLERS
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amButt out! That was the advice Mayor Bloomberg gave yesterday to Eliot Spitzer, the front-runner in the race for governor, and all other would-be elected officials when it comes to...
ANDY TAPS ELIOT ADMAN
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amDemocratic state attorney general front-runner Andrew Cuomo has quietly hired Eliot Spitzer's unconventional ad guru to produce spots for his own campaign, The Post has learned. Jimmy Siegel's first piece...
FOR-JET ABOUT IT - GIANTS STOMP SLOPPY RIVAL
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amGiants 13 - Jets 7 If Eric Mangini had his way, the Jets might be running laps around Giants Stadium through dinnertime tonight. The rookie head coach, known to send...
'J. LOAD' ON ROAD TO BACKUP QB JOB
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amNOTES Jared Lorenzen got more than a quarter and a half last night to convince Tom Coughlin that he is capable of being the Giants backup quarterback and, given the...
STALE DELIVERY - BIG BLUE UNIMPRESSIVE IN VICTORY
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amEli Manning last night second-guessed himself for not tucking the ball under his arm and running more often in the Giants 13-7 preseason victory over the Jets. Now, no one...
KURT CAN PROGRESS AT BRISTOL
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amNASCAR The NASCAR "postseason" is two races away and the 10-driver Chase for the Nextel Cup is just about locked in. Though 19 drivers are still mathematically in the hunt,...
RED BULLS' BUDDLE SETTING GOALS
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amFour games into Bruce Arena's tenure as Red Bulls coach he's still looking for his first victory, and his struggling team will be searching for a goal tonight against Real...
BERNARDINI CLASS OF 137TH TRAVERS
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amSARATOGA SPRINGS - It's Travers Day at the Old Spa, the best single-day racing card at the best thoroughbred race meet in America. In the spotlight: the 137th running of...
A-OK-ROD: ALEX BACK IN LINEUP
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES ANAHEIM - Alex Rodriguez was back in the lineup last night at third base when the Yankees opened a three-game series against the Angels. A-Rod, who didn't start...
WESTERN STING - SEATTLE SLIP WON'T GET YANKS DOWN
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amANAHEIM - To say the euphoric feeling that engulfed the Yankees after sweeping five from the Red Sox in Boston had dissipated into a cobalt blue Southern California sky would...
JOSE FOR MVP - WILLIE'S RAVIN' OVER REYES
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amDavid Wright and Carlos Beltran have been touted as MVP candidates from Flushing. Yesterday afternoon, Mets manager Willie Randolph campaigned for a third-party candidate: Jose Reyes. Indeed, with the remarkable...
COUNTING ON CARL: PAVANO MAY START
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES ANAHEIM - It's possible Yankees right-hander Carl Pavano made his final minor-league rehab start last night for Columbus. Though the original schedule calls for Pavano to make one...
COFIELD TACKLES THE JOB ONCE HE GETS ON THE FIELD
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amNOTES Barry Cofield last night started at defensive tackle for the Giants, replacing William Joseph. Judging by first impressions, it may be difficult to get the rookie from Northwestern off...
STRIFE OF BRIAN - BANNISTER, METS SEE 11-GAME HOME STREAK END
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amPhillies 4 - Mets 3 The first three hitters for the Phillies ripped singles off Brian Bannister last night, bringing the NL's leading home-run hitter, Ryan Howard, to the plate....
LAST FLOP - SACRIFICE DOOMS YANKS IN NINTH
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amAngels 6 - Yankees 5 ANAHEIM - They took another day off the calendar but there is no getting around it: The Yankees are struggling. While a 6-5, bottom-of-the-ninth loss...
CORNER BACK - A-ROD RETURNS TO YANKS' LINEUP
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amANAHEIM - Joe Torre went to each end of the roster spectrum to alter his lineup last night against the Angels at Angel Stadium. From the penthouse, Torre welcomed third...
EUROPEAN VOCATION - TRIP HELPS SMITH TRANSITION TO NEW POSITION
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amGIANT NOTES The third preseason game is a time for veterans to fine-tune their skills as the last true test before the start of the regular season. It is also...
WILLIE TOUTS REYES AS MVP
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amMET NOTES David Wright and Carlos Beltran have been touted as MVP candidates. Yesterday afternoon, Met manager Willie Randolph campaigned for a third-party candidate: Jose Reyes. With the remarkable combination...
AN OLIVER TWIST: PEREZ MAY START
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amMET NOTES When Willie Randolph said today's Mets starter "might be Oliver," he was asked to clarify. Triple-A lefty Oliver Perez and long reliever Darren Oliver were the two top...
ASSESS REHEARSAL - PLAYING TIME COULD OFFER LINEUP HINTS
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amSure, there's one more preseason game remaining for the Jets after last night's exhibition against the Giants at the Meadowlands. But last night was to come as close as the...
DEEP ENDS - IN BATTLE FOR BACKUP SPOT, DES S-TUCK WITH EACH OTHER
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amThe phone calls came almost immediately after Justin Tuck heard the news. The Giants, with the last pick of the first round, selected Mathias Kiwanuka, a defensive end from Boston...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
August 26, 2006 | 4:00amThis police dog didn't take a bite out of crime, he took a bite out of a crime-fighter - a police chief. Pat Miller, the top cop in Ventura, Calif.,...