November 21, 2006
VACATION: The blog is off
November 21, 2006 | 5:15pmHappy Thanksgiving. See you next Monday, when we hitch up the wagons and head off to the Southwest! You'll get a full a week full of live reports from Vegas'...
TRANS FAT FIGHT'S ON - MEDIA STIR POT: MCD'S CEO
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amTHE chairman of McDonald's will eventually get rid of trans fat from his company's food, but that doesn't mean slim Jim Skinner thinks the matter is anything but a public...
TRULY HIGH TIMES - BIG $ FOR SQ. TOWERS
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amReaffirming the ongoing frenzy for city office buildings, two Times Square area towers are selling at sky-high prices. As The Post first reported, Boston Properties has contracted to sell 5...
LSE REBUFFS NASDAQ, AGAIN
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amThe Nasdaq Stock Market made it official yesterday: It wants a union with the London Stock Exchange - even if the Brits don't. Nasdaq's $5.1 billion bid for the 71...
LEGAL EAGLES ARE BROADWAY BOUND; PARK AVE. LAW FIRM MOVES TO B'WAY
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amWHILE some chuckle heads continue to deny that downtown is really, really hot, another powerhouse firm has decided to head there from Midtown, bringing 60 high-income lawyers with it. Law...
REIT PAY DIRT - BLACKSTONE LEADS REAL ESTATE RAIDERS
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amThe bold $36 billion bid by private equity giant Blackstone Group for real estate behemoth Equity Office Properties signals that America's most-moneyed dealmakers are ready to jump into the red-hot...
PAYLESS TO STEP IT UP WITH LELA ROSE FLAIR
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amDesigner Lela Rose is known for creating $2,100 dresses like the embroidered burlap number that is currently on sale at Neiman Marcus. Come next fall, though, Rose will be playing...
CHAVEZ DUCKS 6 BILL$ - U.S. INVESTORS BURNED
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amVenezuela's Hugo Chavez may have to give back some of his oil cash to a handful of Ohio investors claiming he's stiffing them and others on $6 billion in IOUs....
DONNER 'SUPE II' REDO HAS MARLON & MORE
November 21, 2006 | 5:00am'SUPERMAN II" (1980) is almost universally regarded as the best film about the Man of Steel - but now fans can satisfy their curiosity about whether it might have been...
KELLY CRIES: 'I DON'T KNOW WHERE THAT HAND'S BEEN'
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amMEMO to Clay Aiken: Keep your hands off Kelly Ripa. Ripa went on an uncharacteristic morning rant about Aiken putting his hand over her mouth on live TV to shut...
HIGH-WIRE CIRQUE A GARDEN REGULAR
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amA piece of Las Vegas is coming to New York - Cirque du Soleil is setting up an annual show at Madison Square Garden. Starting in November 2007, an untitled...
EXTRA TONY - MOB OPERA ADDS HOUR
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amTHE final season of "The Sopranos" has been super-sized. The mob opera has quietly added another hour to its final season - due to start next spring. Series co-star Steve...
THE DATING BLAME
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amYOU won't have to be Uri Geller to see who's bending the metal on Lifetime's upcoming reality series, "Gay, Straight or Taken?" Each week an available woman will go on...
HISTORY REPEATED - PLAY FAILS KEY TESTS AS A FILM
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amNICHOLAS Hytner's "The History Boys" was shot in five weeks between his acclaimed London and Broadway productions of Alan Bennett's play about precocious British schoolboys. So it's not altogether surprising...
STARR REPORT
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amEx marks the spot Kevin Federline showed up in Burbank yesterday to tape an episode of NBC's game show, "1 vs. 100." Federline, the soon-to-be-exhusband of Britney Spears, was on...
FRENCH MISSUS - DENEUVE'S FINE ASH ADORNS 'NIP/TUCK'
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amASHES to ashes" now has a whole new meaning. You can thank "Nip/Tuck." Tonight (10 o'clock on FX), an aging French beauty will make a very unusual request of the...
WEEKEND IN SOFLA - THE TRENDY PERSON'S LITTLE ADDRESS BOOK
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amPARTY What was once Liquid is now Snatch and Suite. Suite is the clubby one (think bottle-service). The doorstaff is choosy, Saturdays are best (14371439 Washington Ave.). Also, Mokai -...
AWAY FROM IT ALL - 10 THINGS TO LOVE ABOUT MIAMI BESIDES SOUTH BEACH.
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amTHIS is not another one of those stories that tries to convince you that Miami, aka The Mainland, is "hot," whereas South Beach is tired. The city of Miami Beach...
A TOUCH OF GLASS - A CLASSIC YEAR FOR HOLIDAY WINDOWS; TAKING GREAT PANES
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amAFTER last year's motley movie tie-ins - the misguided "Phantom of the Opera" salute at Bloomie's, "The Polar Express" derailment at Macy's - we started bracing for the worst from...
JAY WALKING - JIGGA WHAT? COMEBACK DISC HAS 99 PROBLEMS
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amTHE Midas touch that earned Jay-Z the crown to the realm of rap is more tarnish than gold on his first post-retirement album, "Kingdom Come" - officially out today. Adversity...
SIGHT SITES - PARADE-WATCHING TIP: IT'S ALL ABOUT LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION.
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amORIGINALLY, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade commenced at 145th Street in Harlem and made its way down to Herald Square. Nowadays, the parade is about one-third the original length, starting at...
LOOKING BACK AT A 'MIRACLE' - NICE JEWISH BOY FROM NEW YORK LANDS ROLE, MEETS SANTA, MAKES GOOD
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amYEARS before it became a fixture on TV, "Miracle on 34th Street" made Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade nationally famous. "Nobody in California had heard of Macy's in those days, and...
GOV SNUBS POLS' SECRET 'BRIBE' BID
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amALBANY - Gov. Pataki has rejected a secret plan to raise the pay of state lawmakers in exchange for giving the governor several pork-barrel projects and more charter schools, and...
CITY LOO-KING FLUSH WITH JOY
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amNow you can take a tour of New York - just by going to the bathroom in Times Square. The city yesterday unveiled 20 top-of-the-line private stalls on Seventh Avenue...
SCARY VIET LANDING FOR BUSH
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amPresident Bush touched down with a thud on his first trip to the Vietnamese city once known as Saigon. Air Force One popped six tires landing in Ho Chi Minh...
COPS ZERO IN ON L.I. BANK THUGS
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amPolice on Long Island have released a composite drawing of one of two brazen masked bank robbers - who locked two bank clerks inside a vault, telling them to "pray...
BABY-SHAKE FIEND JAILED
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amA Bronx man was sentenced yesterday to four years behind bars for shaking his ex-girlfriend's daughter into a coma. Carlos Hatch, 33, apologized during the sentencing at Bronx Supreme Court,...
'GREEN' LIGHT - CITY PLANS $30 MIL S. BRONX OVERHAUL REBIRTH:
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amOne of the city's poorest and grittiest neighborhoods will be getting bike paths, tree-lined medians and even a kayak launch under a South Bronx Greenway plan announced yesterday by Mayor...
POLL BOOST FOR HILLARY
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton laps the field in the 2008 Democratic race for the White House, a new poll shows. Among Democratic voters, 33 percent want Clinton in...
THE BEST ENEMIES - RUDY'S FOES MAY BE BIG HELP
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amTHE negative line on Rudy Giuliani's presidential bid is that he's too liberal for Republicans. When GOP voters find out he has a record of being pro-choice and has supported...
OH, BOYA! GOYA FOUND
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amA masterpiece by Spanish artist Francisco Goya - stolen in Pennsylvania two weeks ago en route to the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan - has been found, the FBI announced yesterday....
GAS-STATION 'NIGHTMARE'
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amA knife-wielding teenager was caught wearing a Freddy Krueger mask after committing two Brooklyn robberies in quick succession, cops said yesterday. The trouble began about 9:15 p.m. Saturday, when Monroe...
B'KLYN KEEPS FAITH
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amLong Island College Hospital Don't close our hospital! That's what stunned Long Island College Hospital staffers, patients and neighborhood leaders said when they heard state officials are deciding whether the...
RANGEL'S DRAFT MET WITH CHILL
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi smacked down Rep. Charles Rangel's renewed push for a military draft before the powerhouse Harlem pol could even introduce his controversial legislation. Newly...
MONEY-LAUNDERER COMES CLEAN
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amAn international money manager accused of catering to wealthy criminals in New York and around the globe 'fessed up yesterday to agreeing to launder drug cash. Martin Tremblay, 43, of...
CHANCE TO HEAR TRUTH IS MISSED
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amO.J. SIMPSON got away with slaughtering two people. Now he's getting away with it again. Almost alone, I had supported the airing and publication of "If I Did It," in...
'DR. BOOM' IS RIPPED IN SUIT
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amA Manhattan couple whose apartment was destroyed in an explosion caused by a suicidal sicko has filed suit against the demented doctor's estate. Michael and Ann Conry's lives "have been...
SADISTS 'FUN' DAY IN COURT
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amA sadistic killer who burned, beat and raped a college student said yesterday that stabbing his lawyer in an unsuccessful courtroom escape attempt was "the most fun" he's ever had....
TOP COURT SUBTRACTS $3.7B FROM SCHOOLS
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amNew York's top court yesterday dealt city schools a massive blow, reducing by as much as $3.7 billion a year the additional education aid the state owes them. In a...
RAPIST'S RETREAT - COWARD REFUSES TO HEAR HIS VICTIM
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amA spineless ex-con slithered out of a Queens courtroom yesterday to avoid the furious words of the woman he raped during a 2005 crime spree that included three bank robberies,...
'WRONG MAN' IN MONEY - LAW FIRM PAYS 900G
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amA prominent law firm agreed yesterday to pay $900,000 to a man wrongfully convicted of rape after it bungled his compensation claim against the state. Lee Long, 46, who was...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amBROOKLYN * A man was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting after leaving a party in Brownsville, police said yesterday. Dwayne Thorpe, 20, of East New York, left the...
'KRAMER' SHOCK RACIST TANTRUM - OLD PAL SEINFELD 'SICK' OVER MELTDOWN AT CLUB
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amMichael Richards, who played Jerry Seinfeld's goofy neighbor Kramer on "Seinfeld," exploded in a bizarre, racist rant during a stand-up comedy routine, hurling slurs at two black men in the...
'GUST' PASS FOR PARADE
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amIt looks like the weather will be a breeze for Flying Ace Snoopy and other giant balloons parading through the air in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - but keep...
GYPSY CURSE ON BOR-'RAT'
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amTwo Romanian Gypsies who appeared in the "Borat" movie have hit 20th Century Fox with a $30 million lawsuit for allegedly conning villagers into participating in the comedy. Nicole Todorache...
NEW DEM BOSS PLOTS SEN. WIN
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amALBANY - A Queens state senator with close ties to Mayor Bloomberg was selected yesterday as Senate Democratic minority leader. Sen. Malcolm Smith, who takes over on Jan. 1, will...
A YULE LOG-ON $PREE - N.Y. WEB-BUY BINGE
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amYou've got presents! New Yorkers plan to spend a whopping 70 percent of their holiday budgets purchasing gifts from the Web, according to a new poll by AOL/Zogby. Overall, Gotham...
QUEENS IS NERVOUS
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amParkway Hospital Elderly residents of Forest Hills, Queens, said they would fear for their health if Parkway Hospital were to close. Estelle and Norbert Chwat, both 82, depend on Parkway,...
2 PLEAD IN TV 'TERROR'
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amTwo men are charged with providing material support to terrorists by using a Brooklyn business to feed customers satellite broadcasts of a Hezbollah-run TV station. Javed Iqbal, 42, of Staten...
HOSPS FIGHT BACK - TELL STATE: DON'T PULL OUR PLUG
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amBig Apple hospitals insisted yesterday that talk of their demise has been greatly exaggerated - after reports surfaced that state officials are considering shutting down many of them. About a...
HOSP FIRES TAX-CHEAT EXECUTIVE
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amBankrupt Victory Memorial Hospital fired its No. 2 executive - on the same day The Post inquired about his record as a convicted tax cheat. Victory confirmed that it dismissed...
UNION BOSS 'BUS'TED IN MOB EXTORT SCAMS
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amDisgraced school-bus union President Salvatore "Hotdogs" Battaglia was nabbed on racketeering charges yesterday for allegedly shaking down nonunion companies and a Queens medical center. Battaglia, an alleged Genovese crime family...
LIVERY PERV ABUSES WOMAN, 80
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amAn 80-year-old Bronx woman was sexually assaulted by a livery driver who picked her up, police said yesterday. The victim told cops the driver pulled over in the East Tremont...
HILLARY CLOBBERS OBAMA: POLL
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton laps the field in the 2008 Democratic race for the White House, a new poll shows. Among Democratic voters, 33 percent want Clinton in...
TEAM CUOMO TAKES SHAPE
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amAttorney General-elect Andrew Cuomo yesterday tapped a host of prominent state and national officials to make up his transition team, headed by former state Attorney General Robert Abrams. "We want...
KILLER'S 'FUN' DAY IN COURT
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amThe sadistic killer who burned, beat and raped a college student said yesterday that stabbing his lawyer in an unsuccessful courtroom escape attempt was "the most fun" he's ever had....
O.J. BOOK DEAL GETS AX - 'TELL-ALL' AND FOX SPECIAL ARE SCRAPPED AS HONCHOS SOUR ON TASTELESS 'JUICE'
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amO.J. Simpson's explosive new book, "If I Did It" - and an accompanying TV sit-down in which he "hypothetically" details how he brutally murdered his wife and her pal -...
MORE HEAT ON NIXZMARY DAD
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amBrooklyn prosecutors yesterday fine-tuned their case against alleged killer dad Cesar Rodriguez, filing an amended indictment that accuses him of failing to seek medical attention for little Nixzmary Brown after...
ROADSIDE-SHOOT WIFE DIES - HUBBY'S TALE 'UNUSUAL': COPS
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amA neighbor of Bill and Hillary Clinton who was shot in the head in a mysterious roadside shooting in Westchester died yesterday as authorities released a sketch of the man...
WOMAN, 80, A VICTIM OF SEX ATTACK
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amAn 80-year-old Bronx woman was sexually assaulted by a livery driver who had picked her up, police said yesterday. The victim told cops she had been waiting at a bus...
'NIGHTMARE' HITS B'KLYN GAS STATION
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amA knife-wielding teenager was caught wearing a Freddy Krueger mask after committing two Brooklyn robberies, cops said yesterday. Monroe Broadnax, 16, and two accomplices confronted worker Khalid Mehmood, 39, at...
RAPE SHOCK IN VILLAGE
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amA young woman trying to hail a cab in the heart of Greenwich Village was jumped by a stranger who lurched out of a dark sedan and dragged her into...
ROADSIDE-SHOOT WIFE DIES - HUBBY DESCRIBES GUNMAN
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amThe bizarre roadside shooting of a Westchester couple claimed the life of a Chappaqua woman who was the neighbor of Bill and Hillary Clinton yesterday, as authorities released a sketch...
GOOD PLAN GONE BAD
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amJETS REPORT CARDQUARTERBACKS: D Chad Pennington (19-of-35, 162 yards, two INTs, 42.8 rating) looked sharp at times, but his two INTs deep in Chicago territory were the difference.RUNNING BACKS: D...
MANGINI'S MAN - MISTAKES WON'T COST PENNINGTON HIS JOB
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amThe radio lines were burning yesterday. The catcalls the day after the Jets' 10-0 loss to the Bears were for Chad Pennington's scalp. You can make a valid argument that...
WHIT DRAWS A TOUGH TASK - MUST STEP UP AND WATCH ELI'S BACK
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amJACKSONVILLE - For all his bluster, bravado, bold words and outrageous comments, Bob Whitfield last night anticipated feeling just like any other backup player suddenly thrust into a role of...
GLAVINE FREE TO SIGN WHEREVER HE WANTS
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amTom Glavine is now a free agent, even if he only has two desired landing spots. As expected, the Mets declined the $14 million option on their 40-year-old lefty yesterday,...
METS GREET ALOU - ONE-YEAR DEAL FINISHES FLOYD'S STAY AT SHEA
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amThe official signing of Moises Alou yesterday signaled the end of Cliff Floyd's Met career . . . but not necessarily that of Lastings Milledge. The Mets announced the signing...
BCS FAILINGS BEG FOR PLAYOFF SYSTEM
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amFROM Gainesville to South Bend and Fayetteville to Los Angeles, there is teeth-gnashing and hand-wringing. How could this happen? You lose, you drop - it's the cardinal rule of college...
NO SECOND-GUESSING OF ONSIDE KICK
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amJET NOTES After sleeping on it, Eric Mangini yesterday insisted that, if he had to do it all over again, he still would have called for the controversial onside kick...
FROZEN ASSET - IDLE DARIUS COSTING RANGERS
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amCAROLINA at RANGERS - Tonight - VS.; WEPN (1050 AM) It is costing the Rangers approximately $16,285 of space cap a day and $114,000 of cap space a week to...
SAY IT AIN'T CO - JETER MIGHT TIE MORNEAU FOR AL MVP
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amHow close was the AL MVP voting that will be announced today? Throughout baseball yesterday an unsubstantiated rumor buzzed the landscape that Derek Jeter and Twins first baseman Justin Morneau...
LILLY AWAITS YANK OFFER
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amThe Yankees don't know if Andy Pettitte wants to pitch again. If he does, they will certainly talk to the classy lefty. However, the Yankees are making sure they have...
BULLS FOUR-LORN - TOP SCORERS' FAILING HAS CHICAGO AILING
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amHAVING begun the season bad to the bone, trampling the Heat in Miami by four score and twenty or so, the Bulls lost their next five on the road, including...
CLIFF'S STILL NOT READY
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amNET NOTES SEATTLE - Well, at least the Nets will be able to enjoy Cliff Robinson's company on this Western Conference road trip. Because they almost certainly won't be able...
BURRESS BOMBS WITH NON-TACKLE
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amGIANT NOTES JACKSONVILLE - Plaxico Burress seemed to be in the middle of almost everything the struggling Giants offense tried in last night's 26-10 loss to the Jaguars, and much...
SAD ENDING - LATE COLLAPSE DOOMS NETS
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amSonics 99 - Nets 87 SEATTLE - They had energy. They had effort. And they had Richard Jefferson. But the Nets didn't have a victory here to start their road...
JAGUARS ARE MANN-EATERS - HEADLIGHTS BLIND ELI IN BIG DEFEAT
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amJaguars 26 - Giants 10 JACKSONVILLE - From behind the closed door, the shrill sounds of Tom Coughlin berating his team could not only be heard, but also felt, his...
BANGED-UP BLUE DEFIANT
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amGIANT NOTES JACKSONVILLE - The Giants headed into last night's game against the Jaguars at Alltel Stadium knowing they would be forced to play without several key starters. Although they...
VAN GUNDY BELIEVES FANS' BOOS HELP THE KNICKS
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES Isiah Thomas delivered his strongest rhetoric yet on urging the Garden fans to treat the road team with the same hostility they often save for the Knicks. Ironically,...
SITTING UGLY - MARBURY, FRANCIS BENCHED DURING KNICKS LOSS
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amRockets 97 - Knicks 90 Not only did Isiah Thomas' Knicks sustain another loss last night to the Rockets, but the coach also sustained a loss of faith in his...
HOME DOGS - KNICKS LOOKING LIKE VISITORS IN OWN GARDEN
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amIsiah Thomas delivered his strongest rhetoric yet on urging the Garden fans to treat the road team with the same hostility they often save for the Knicks. Ironically, Jeff Van...
TALL ORDER - EXPECTATIONS ALWAYS HIGH FOR CURRY
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amMaybe it would be different if Eddy Curry had lived a different life, if he'd had a different experience, if he was one of those late-blooming teenagers who don't know...
BOONE TOWN - JOSH NEARING NETS' DEBUT
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amSEATTLE - If you want to see the 2006-07 Nets, mark down Dec. 2 on the calendar. That should be as good a date as any. There are no guarantees,...
RJ: I'D PLAY IF I HAD TO
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amNET NOTES SEATTLE - Had the recent games carried real importance, Richard Jefferson claimed he would have played. And while last night against the Sonics was only Game 10 in...
GIANTS NEED MORE THAN JUST FLASHES
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amJACKSONVILLE - Eli Manning needed a big game last night. He needed to inspire his team, carry his team whenever it needed carrying, get his team believing in him again...
TALL ORDER - GREAT EXPECTATIONS DWARF CURRY
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amAT the end of another empty evening at Madison Square Garden, at the conclusion of another failed comeback for the home team, Eddy Curry sat fastened to the bench, carefully...
VAN GUNDY: 'ROCKET HATE IS IN'
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES Jeff Van Gundy held court for about 18 minutes with the New York media before tip-off, at one point giving his usual woe-is-me rant. Van Gundy was his...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
November 21, 2006 | 5:00amPolice evacuated a three-square-block area in Gainesville, Fla., after a small black object was found attached to the underside of a woman's Jeep. Bomb technicians, using a robot, checked out...