July 14, 2007

LA GRANDE APPLE

MAYBE it's because France's new administration has been getting Sarkozy with ours, or maybe it's just that July 14 happens to fall on a Saturday, but this year New Yorkers...

THE PLATTERS THAT MATTER

MICHAEL HEARST "Songs for Ice Cream Trucks" This CD of new songs for ice cream trucks by Brooklyn-based indie rocker Michael Hearst is less an album than a group of...

WHAT'S UP

TODAY MAD HOT MERENGUE: Mama loves to mambo - and the kids will, too, after today's Latin-themed Kids Day, part of the Midsummer Night Swing series at Lincoln Center. Kids...

TRIP SIPPYS IN THE CITY

PAUL Godwin was in his back yard south of San Francisco the other day, stuffing streamers and confetti into a cannon - and wondering whether he and his bandmates could...

CRAIG WHOLE AGAIN

CBS will allow "Late Late Show" host Craig Ferguson to finish his nightly monologue in peace, after all. Following The Post's story blasting the move, CBS has dropped its experiment...

E! GOES TO THE DOGG

HIP hop king Snoop Dogg will host his own reality show on E! The "hilarious and heartwarming new series" (E!'s words) will premiere later this year. Cameras will follow Dogg...

UNFOCUSED

FOR reasons I hope never to understand, two - 'count 'em two! - new series premiering tomorrow night on Lifetime start with dream sequences. Neither are necessary and both are...

MIKE FIRES ON HOUSE

Mayor Bloomberg lashed out at federal lawmakers yesterday for refusing to give police departments broader powers to trace illegal guns. "You couldn't write this stuff in a book," Bloomberg said...

CITY TO DEVELOPERS: 'ROCK' THE W. SIDE

Developers are being told to think big - a "Rockefeller Center for the 21st century" - if they want to build over the 26-acre West Side rail yards, city officials...

MAYOR EYES SARGE SURGE

The new contract deal the city reached with police sergeants for a pay hike topping 24 percent should help the NYPD get more people to apply for that job, Mayor...

TURKEY VS. HAWK

The Upper East Side's beloved hawk, Pale Male, was the target of a cruel attack yesterday when a construction worker pummeled him with rocks - and now bird lovers are...

COP BARES MUSICAL COMEDY AT SLUTTY SCORES

As lap dances go, this was a marathon. Two lucky johns spent 90 minutes trapped in locked, private booths - hiding with their topless, stripper "dates" - while vice cops...

SHEFF STIRS UP PENNANT 'RACE'

Former Yankee slugger Gary Sheffield blasted skipper Joe Torre for favoring white players and bashed former pal Barry Bonds for violating his trust and dragging him into baseball's steroid scandal....

N.J. PAGEANT BIGS WANT BLACKMAILER'S BLOOD

Furious Miss New Jersey pageant officials say they are determined to find the blackmailers who hatched a twisted scheme to knock a pageant queen from her throne. "This isn't over...

'7' A TWIN PEAK FOR LENOX HILL

The stork lucked out this week - it delivered seven sets of twins at a hospital on East 77th Street. The seven moms gave birth at Lenox Hill Hospital to...

COPS JEER THUGS

A Brooklyn court erupted in a roar yesterday as the gunmen accused of cold-bloodedly shooting two police officers - leaving one critically wounded - were led away in handcuffs after...

QUEENS OF 'CARD' SHARPE

A day after Newark Mayor Sharpe James was indicted for treating the city treasury like his personal piggy bank, the names of the women whom he allegedly wined and dined...

'GRANNY BEATER' IN NEW RAP

As if he didn't have enough strikes against him in the book of life, the brute who allegedly beat and robbed two elderly Queens grandmothers is now accused of breaking...

CONEY IS. 'WHEEL' OF FORTUNE

For the right price, developer Joe Sitt can add the landmark Wonder Wheel to his portfolio of Coney Island real estate. The developer is now closing in on an $11...

H.S. PLOT IN DIARY OF DEATH

Chilling words in a notebook revealed a plot by two Long Island teenagers to attack a high school with bullets and bombs on next year's anniversary of the Columbine killings,...

BODEGA GAL: CATCH KILLERS

The tearful daughter of a slain Queens bodega owner yesterday pleaded with police for arrests in the case, as cops investigated the latest store stickups in the area. "I want...

'GIRL-GRAB' FIEND GIVES HIMSELF UP

The creepy perv who attempted to force himself upon a 7-year-old girl in Queens last week - only to be scared off by a dog - turned himself in to...

JUDGE IS DYNO-SORE AT GYNO $$ DODGER

It was double disaster for the "Dyno Gyno" yesterday as federal officials lobbed another charge at him for hobnobbing with a drug dealer and a judge threatened to jail him...

DIRTY-JUDGE PLEA

A disgraced judge on Long Island copped a plea yesterday, admitting in federal court he laundered money for low-level mobsters. David Gross, a Nassau County District Court judge who continued...

SCHWARZEWOOFER

She's the Incredible Hulk of hound dogs. Wendy, a whippet, was born with a genetic defect that caused her to be "double muscled," leaving her with a bulked-up, jacked-up body...

HERE'S THE LONG & SHORT OF IT ALL

They may be worlds apart in terms of height, but to meet, they didn't have to travel very far. The world's tallest man, Bao Xishun, 7-foot-9, shook hands yesterday with...

POLS ARE THE PITS

WASHINGTON - Public approval of the Democratic-controlled Congress has plummeted recently and has now sunk below even that of President Bush, according to a new poll. Hitting rock bottom, Congress...

BLOOMY'S 'JUNKET' DEFENSE

Mayor Bloomberg yesterday told people to lighten up after Gov. Spitzer rapped him for skipping town for a mogul's meeting in Idaho instead of staying home with the federal deadline...

PARIS' JAIL PERKS ARE PROBED

After showering Paris Hilton with perks - like her own cellphone and brief trip home - the L.A. Sheriff's Department is finally deciding to investigate whether it went too far...

CLINTON'S WALL ST. TAX SLAP

WASHINGTON - White House hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday called for sharply higher taxes on investment fund managers - a slap at Wall Street businesses in her own backyard....

HILL WHISPERS: DUMP THE DEBATE ALSO-RANS

WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton and John Edwards came under fire yesterday after they were caught unaware on an open microphone conspiring to cut the lesser-known Democratic candidates out of debates....

'ILLEGAL RX' EYE ON 6 WRESTLERS

At least six professional wrestlers, including former champ Lex Luger and current star Rey Mysterio, were implicated in a federal investigation of a Georgia doctor indicted for illegally prescribing painkillers...

'SEX DOC' GROPING FOR TRUTH

A psychologist accused of groping a prospective employee says the only place she was touched is in the head. "It's five years later, and I'm still flabbergasted that I'm being...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

THE BRONX Police are asking for the public's assistance in finding a woman who kidnapped her daughter from the girl's Bronx Park South foster home five days ago. Lillian Lacart,...

WIERD BUT TRUE

A Seattle canine has been stripped of his right to vote. Duncan M. McDonald, an Australian shepherd-terrier mix, for the past three elections had been sent absentee ballots. ***** Jane...

REMEMBER THE POWER OF TOWERS

IF the state and city go through the trouble of invit ing bids and ideas for the West Side rail yards, and spend years negotiating and fending off inevitable lawsuits,...

LOTTERY RESULTS

NEW YORK Midday Nos. Fri.: 843; Lucky Sum: 15 / Midday Win-4 Fri.: 0116; Lucky Sum: 8 / Evening Nos. Fri.: 578; Lucky Sum: 20 / Evening Win-4 Fri.: 4382;...

ACCOUNTABILITY ABCS

It's fashionable these days to drop the A- word, accountability, when talking about public education. But one Brooklyn charter school is getting a first-hand lesson in what the word really...

'PROTECTING' BRUNO

It's a sad day, indeed, when one of New York's most powerful political figures decides he has to steer clear of the State Police because he can't trust them not...

PEACE PRETENDERS

So, what does a Nobel Peace Prize win ner say when she addresses an inter national peace conference? How about: "Right now, I could kill George Bush"? Believe it or...

PRINCE OF PROPAGANDA

MICHAEL Moore set out to make a movie attacking the American insurance industry and ended up attacking the American character. By the end of his movie "SiCKO," his plaint is...

PLAME CLAIM SEEN AS LAME

REP. Tom Davis, ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is puzzled by the House Intel ligence Committee's claim that Valerie Plame Wilson has been consistent in...

HANDS OFF THE HANDGUNS: MIKE'S SHOT AT REFORM

I constantly read of politicians spewing their mantra about gun control ("Pols Go 'Post'al Against Gun Lobby," July 11). Keeping predicate felons in prison without parole would certainly have kept...

FAREWELL, YELLOW ROSE OF TEXAS

Although Lady Bird Johnson was understandably overshadowed by her husband during his political career, in her own unassuming way, she has left behind her own proud legacy ("Lady Bird Johnson,...

BLACK BAGGED

Dethroned press baron Conrad Black could spend decades behind bars after a jury yesterday found him guilty of looting millions from investors in his Chicago newspaper company and of sneaking...

FALLEN MOGUL MAY HAVE TO KISS ASSETS GOODBYE

Conrad Black's planned appeal isn't the only legal battle he still has to face. With yesterday's guilty verdict, government prosecutors are seeking to seize tens of millions of dollars worth...

VIACOM BOSS SOUNDS OFF

SUMNER Redstone fi nally showed his face at Sun Valley yesterday, and the wait was certainly worth it. The Viacom and CBS chairman flew in specifically for a meeting at...

BIG TEST FOR GATTI

ATLANTIC CITY - When we last saw Arturo Gatti in the ring, he was getting pulverized by Carlos Baldomir, a hard-hitting Argentinean who pounded Gatti for nine rounds before the...

AILING RED BULLS GLAD TO BE HOME

Rarely can a team in first place at the halfway point of the season say they're limping into their break, but that's the case with the MLS' Eastern Conference-leading Red...

'TELL' MAY SET PACE

Tell All may not be the favorite in tonight's $1 million Meadowlands Pace, but with Canada's top driver, Jody Jamieson, and the coveted rail post position, he should have something...

BOSS' 'CLASSIC' PLAYS POKER

Wide-open field of 10 older horses goes mile over Widener turf course in today's Grade 3, $100,000 Poker Handicap. George Steinbrenner's Classic Campaign, beaten favorite last two races for Bill...

FUNNY CIDE RETIRED AT 7

Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide, the popular New York-bred gelding who became a national folk hero when he bid for the Triple Crown in 2003, has been retired...

HONDO: FOUR!

With only $1 million coming his way for the start, it was asking a little too much of Rawjah to shut down the mighty Rays last night, so Hondo ended...

SPORTS SHORTS

MLB: Cuban wants Cubs Add Internet billionaire and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to the list of potential Cubs buyers. "I submitted an app," Cuban said in an e-mail to The...

SUMMER OF '77

Remember the sizzling, scintillating summer of 1977 when Billy Martin's Yankees stormed past the Red Sox and went on to capture their first World Championship in 15 years by beating...

SUTTER SUITS DEVS' FUTURE

The welcome of Brent Sutter, in so many ways, was the start of something new, something Newark, the Second Empire of Devildom. He essentially declared their first dynasty done. "I...

ISLANDERS SIGN TWO COACHES

The Islanders yesterday hired former Blue Jackets head coach Gerard Gallant and John Chabot as assistants to Ted Nolan. Gallant scored 211 goals for Detroit and Tampa Bay, then coached...

LOOK WHO'S BACK IN TOWN - IT'S LJ!

When Larry Johnson's back forced him to retire in October 2001, there was no news conference, no fanfare, no going-away party for one of the most popular Knicks in recent...

KNICKS' LUXURY TAX A WHOPPING $45M

What's worse than a 33-49 record? Having to pay $45 million in luxury tax on it. The Knicks were hit yesterday with a whopping luxury-tax bill - a 100 percent...

RICKEY AN AMAZIN' STEAL

Among the first Mets Rickey Henderson greeted yesterday was star pupil Jose Reyes. It didn't take long for Reyes to crack a smile. "Now we're going to be tricking the...

HENDERSON DELIGHTED BY NEW 'DREAM' JOB

When there was a lull in the press conference introducing Rickey Henderson as the Mets' new first-base coach yesterday, Henderson spoke up. "Y'all speed it up," he said good-naturedly. "We've...

MINAYA, RANDOLPH DENY RIFT

Willie Randolph and Omar Minaya sat side by side at the press conference. The issue, though, is whether the Mets' GM and manager are really together. The Mets announced their...

SLUMPING LO DUCA COMING UP SHORT

Paul Lo Duca still has that short swing, it's just not very sweet these days. The Mets catcher last night endured another hitless game, running his latest slump to 0-for-17,...

METS' MAINE MAN LEFT SEEING RED

John Maine doesn't deserve a pass, and neither does Ruben Gotay. Maine as a starting pitcher and Gotay as a fielder were bad last night. as exasperating and disappointing again....

JUST VIN, BABY

The owner said he wanted Vince Carter back. Carter said he wanted to be back. But in world where changes of mind and uniform are only an extravagant offer away,...

NETS SIGN MAGLOIRE; MOORE LOST TO KINGS

The Nets said goodbye to two big men while preparing to welcome another. Free agent forward/center Jamaal Magloire last night agreed to a one-year deal with the Nets shortly after...

GLASS HALF PHIL

TRENTON - A few hours before Phil Hughes took the mound here last night, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman cautioned everyone not to get caught up in results. This rehab...

RAYS HIT 'EASY' PLANHARD

ST. PETERSBURG - Remember all the talk about the Yankees not playing a team with a winning record for almost a month after the All-Star break? Recall how so many...

GIAMBI TALKS TO MITCHELL

Jason Giambi finally had his day in front of former Sen. George Mitchell yesterday, becoming the first player known to cooperate with the investigation into steroid use in baseball. Major...

DESALVO TO GET ANOTHER SHOT

ST. PETERSBURG - It looks like Matt DeSalvo is going to get another chance to prove to the Yankees he has what it takes to be a big league pitcher....