February 14, 2009
VPL
The human body was the clear theme at this underwear affair: "Exquisite Corpse" was stamped on the invite, and the show's centerpiece was a screen bearing the image of a...
BUFFALO 'BEHEADING'
An upstate TV exec who set up a channel promoting Muslims as peace-loving people was stressed about his failing business in the days before he allegedly chopped off his estranged...
INVESTIGATOR: PLANE FELL FLAT ONTO BUFFALO HOUSE
A commuter plane that smashed into a house was pointed away from the airport it was trying to reach, investigators said Saturday, noting that it apparently fell flat. Flight data...
ADAM LIPPES
Color. It's not so easy to find this season with the projections of doom and gloom. But, the good thing is that Adam Lippes gets this -- and went overboard...
VENA CAVA
What was going on at Vena Cava? Usually the epitome of elegant, youthful minimalism, the girls behind the line seem to have taken ill-advised inspiration from the mid-90s. Think Sydney...
HUGH JACKMAN WANTS 'INTIMATE' OSCARS
Hugh Jackman says he knows the Oscars ceremony isn't about him, but he'd better enjoy it all the same. "Celebration is the key. I'm certainly going to have a good...
NY TO GET AT LEAST $24.6B FROM FEDERAL STIMULUS
A state analysis released Saturday shows New York stands to get more than expected from the federal stimulus package, with at least $24.6 coming to the state over two years....
'Idol' Fix: Wannabes Discover Sex Sells, Take Advantage
You know "American Idol" is in full swing when we get our first scandal, and this year, the recently booted "ringer" Joanna Pacitti is the salacious winner. Not only is...
WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO EXERCISING HUSBAND TO DEATH
CHARDON, Ohio A woman has pleaded guilty to reckless homicide for exercising her 73-year-old husband to death in a swimming pool, repeatedly refusing to let him leave the water. Surveillance...
Omar talks Livan, Pedro
PORT ST. LUCIE -- Omar Minaya explained the signing of Livan Hernandez today as a low-cost chance to bolster the Mets' pitching depth while making it clear that the club...
LI TEACHER PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO BOY SEX
A Long Island teacher pleaded not guilty this morning to charges of having sex with a 15-year-old boy who he picked up online and possessing child pornography, authorities said. Jason...
Castillo hitting leadoff?
PORT ST. LUCIE -- Don't be surprised if the embattled Luis Castillo is batting in the leadoff spot in place of Jose Reyes this season. Jerry Manuel is strongly considering...
MY $600-A-MONTH PRISON
I love it because I pay less than $600 a month for a charming one-bedroom apartment that I've maintained for 35 years, right in the heart of the West Village....
THE MADNESS OF RENT STABILIZATION
As Wall Street stumbles and jobs are lost like old gloves, diehard New Yorkers hope the economic downturn reveals at least one silver lining: out-of-control rents might finally fall. But...
K-Rod: Mets 'team to beat'
PORT ST. LUCIE -- Another year, another Met predicting an NL East championship. This time around, it was new closer Frankie Rodriguez who told reporters here this morning with a...
Box Office: Is Jason Keeping the Wolf from Hollywood's Door? Nonsense!
I stopped doing Saturday updates a while ago, but I really have to respond to Steve Mason at Big Hollywood once again asserting that "Although America is suffering through its...
Livan Hernandez signed
PORT ST. LUCIE -- The Mets today added veteran right-handed Livan Hernandez to the mix for their No. 5 starter job. Hernandez, the half-brother of former Met Orlando Hernandez, signed...
AS THE WORLD TURNS
With just a few weeks remaining until the start of the World Baseball Classic on March 5, it's time to break down the double-elimination opening round. This week, it's Pool...
AFTER LONG JOURNEY, N.J. NATIVE CUST FINDS HOME WITH ATHLETICS
THIS was back in 1997. Jack Cust, a high school senior, was invited to a workout at Yankee Stadium. He was so impressive that George Steinbrenner flew Cust and his...
CC DOWNPLAYS BRONX OPT-OUT
TAMPA - CC Sabathia said the opt-out clause in his contract that allows him to leave the Yankees after the 2011 season wasn't designed as a specific avenue to escape...
NEW WITNESS FOR BONDS' TRIAL
SAN FRANCISCO - Federal prosecutors plan to call Barry Bonds' former personal shopper to testify at his trial next month that she saw the slugger's personal trainer inject him. Prosecutors...
WIDEOUT MARKET LOOKS THIN
The NFL's free-agent signing period begins Feb. 27. In a three-week series, Post staff writers Paul Schwartz and Mark Cannizzaro analyze this year's class, position by position. Today: Defensive backs...
SECOND-RATE GROUP OF DEFENSIVE BACKS
The NFL's free-agent signing period begins Feb. 27. In a three-week series, Post staff writers Paul Schwartz and Mark Cannizzaro analyze this year's class, position by position. Today: Defensive backs...
NO JETS INTEREST IN VICK
The Falcons yesterday acknowledged publicly for the first time that they want to trade the rights to suspended quarterback Michael Vick. Don't expect the Jets, who are quarterback-challenged after the...
NHL CONSIDERS PLANS TO INCREASE SCORING
Scoring. In the NHL, it's all about increasing scoring even as every coach in the league focuses primarily on reducing scoring. So they change the rules. They change the interpretation...
COMEAU GLAD FOR 2ND CHANCE
Playing alongside two of the players the Islanders have staked their future on is a long way from being banished to Bridgeport, and Blake Comeau has been on both sides...
MARTIN A BIG HIT ON THE ICE
Picking pucks over hardballs or pigskins wasn't that hard, Devils defenseman Paul Martin said. "I enjoy hockey more. It's a little more exciting than baseball. And I was better at...
KRYPTONATE AIMING TO SPOIL SLAM SEQUEL
Nate Robinson, who this week revealed he has an alter ego known as "KryptoNate," will try to sap the powers of "Superman" tonight in the All-Star Weekend's Slam Dunk competition....
HARRIS GIVES NETS DEVIN-E INTERVENTION
The 24 wins. The development of rookie Brook Lopez. The decent crowds despite the team history and an economy weaker than A-Rod's steroids defense. But the biggest surprise for the...
JERSEY GUARD MAKING NAME UNDER SELF
KANSAS coach Bill Self has been called a lot of things in his career - "master motivator," "tireless recruiter" and, up until about 11 months ago, "the guy who couldn't...
WATCH OUT FOR 'NOVA IN THE BIG DANCE
From the school of, "Even the Blind Squirrel Finds an Acorn," we remind you that last season Pittsburgh was our sleeper pick to win the Big East Tournament. This year's...
JOHNSON BEGINS PURSUIT OF FOURTH STRAIGHT CUP TITLE TOMORROW IN DAYTONA
Joey Logano will make history tomorrow, simply by running in the Daytona 500. Jimmie Johnson has a chance to make some history of his own, but he has nine months...
MARGARITO PROMOTER STUCK BETWEEN ROCK AND HARDENED SUBSTANCE
TOP RANK promoter Bob Arum has been in boxing more than four decades, but it's doubtful he has ever had a week like the last seven days. In the midst...
PUBLIC HANDICAPPERS LOOK TO BEAT THE ODDS
IN THE frigid grip of this long winter, when it's below freezing and Aqueduct looks like Arctic Downs, horseplayers are forced indoors to do their handicapping. And that, inevitably, means...
ED FOUNTAIN'ES STAKES SPOT PLAYS
SAM F. DAVIS Tampa Bay Downs, 10th race. Grade 3. Purse: $225,000. Mile-and-a-sixteenth, 3-year-olds. Post: 4:48 p.m.LOWDOWN: Free Country showed a strong late kick winning both his starts for Ken...
REELING RED STORM GIFT-WRAPPED FOR MARQUETTE
Pick a Big East coach, any Big East coach, and chances are he has been disgruntled with his team's conference schedule, which means, of course, that the league did a...
TWO KILLED IN SI CAR CRASH
A Valentines Day horror rocked a Staten Island family this morning, when a livery cab driver and his wife were killed after a pair of thugs who were speeding from...
CONGRESS OKS STIMULUS DEAL
The $787 billion stimulus package cleared Congress yesterday and will be waiting on President Obama's desk when he returns from a weekend in Chicago. The massive spending package cleared the...
REEL IDIOTS CAUGHT IN MOVIE-CAM '$CAM'
Two Queens crooks posing as filmmakers starred in a live remake of "Dumb and Dumber," trying to hawk a rented $72,000 movie camera rig on Craigslist for a fraction of...
SLEAZY DOES IT IN SAUDI SEX SUIT
A Jordanian woman has filed a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia's mission to the United Nations, claiming an official repeatedly exposed her to "egregious" and "perverted" sexual harassment that included groping,...
JAYSON'S WIFE EYES DIVORCE
It's "Unhappy Valentine's Day" for former New Jersey Nets star Jayson Williams. The 6-foot-9 ex-NBA player was slam dunked by his wife, Tanya Young Williams, last night in a bombshell...
BIG BEN'S OLD HOME FORECLOSED
The home foreclosure disaster has just clamed a new victim - the childhood home of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, according to a published report. The house in Dillon, SC,...
BLOOMY BLASTS RICH TAX
Charging that it's "easy to rile against the rich," Mayor Bloom berg warned yesterday that the income-tax increases being con sidered for the wealthiest New Yorkers would drive them from...
RONETTES SINGER FOUND DEAD
Ronnie Spector's sister Estelle Bennett, one of the Ronettes singing group, was found dead Wednesday in New Jersey. She was 67. Police found her dead in her apartment in Englewood,...
DAD DEFENDS 'LOVABLE' CHRIS
At least Chris Brown still has the support of his dad, who described the troubled rapper as a "lovable young man." Clinton Brown - speaking for the first time since...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
Officials in Eagle, Colo., thought they had an anthrax attack at the county sheriff's office when a letter arrived covered in white powder. But after some tense moments and a...
ALEX ADMITS TO 'MISTAKES'
CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Alex Rodriguez addressed his reported steroids use - and received a standing ovation from an adoring crowd - last night at the renaming of the University...
YANKS VETS HAVE TAINTED STAR'S BACK
TAMPA - There is a feeling around the Yankees that they have gone through this before, that they are experienced at the baseball version of toxic waste cleanup. They are...
ELIOT GAL'S CLOTHES 'HOOK'
Gov-loving hooker Ashley Dupre has gone from the cathouse to the catwalk. The high-priced call girl who brought down Eliot Spitzer a year ago appears yesterday in the front row...
PICKLER STICKLER FOR TAMED MANE
'DON'T You Know You're Beautiful" may be the title of the first song on Kellie Pickler's new album, but just so everyone else knows it, too, the "American Idol" finalist...
HI/LO
Inside the designer's lair: James Coviello is Anna Sui's knitwear designer. Coviello is good with his hands - he's a self-taught milliner and former assistant at jeweler Erickson Beamon -...
HEY, GET RED-Y!
WHO says all fashion people are heartless jerks? In a valentine to all women, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week kicked off yesterday morning with The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection 2009, an...
WU HOO!
WE told you Fashion Week was going lowbrow. Sure enough, while everyone was waiting with bated breath to see if First Lady Michelle Obama might show up at Jason Wu's...
O'S A-ROD DOUBLE STANDARD
President Obama is disappointed that Alex Rodriguez didn't tell the truth until after he was caught ("Alex Drops A-Bomb," Feb. 10). This, of course, qualifies him for a positon in...
BLAZE-VERDICT FUROR
The widows of two firefighters killed in the 2005 Black Sunday inferno burst into tears in court yesterday as a jury cleared two Bronx tenants of causing the heroes to...
FLIPPY WITH GILLY: NEW SEN.'S 'PRINCIPLES'
Why would anybody wonder why the ratings of politicians are in the sewer ("Flip-Flopping With Kirsten," Editorial, Feb. 10)? Judging from the 180-degree turnaround by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, she almost...
ABERCROMBIE'S NOT COOL
Abercrombie & Fitch's quarterly profit plunged 68 percent as wallet-conscious teens shunned its high-priced stores to seek clothing at lower-priced rivals. Despite a quarter that "will go down in history...
SHRINK-RAPT NATION
When the going gets tough, Americans hit the couch. As the economy tanks, weary souls hunt for psychiatrists more than any other type of doctor, according to a recent analysis...
BUSINESS BRIEFS
Welfare PNC Financial Services said it has awarded bon uses for 2008 to its top officers, including $3 mil lion for CEO James Rohr, becoming the larg est recipient of...
BUFFETT BUYS FROM TIFFANY
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway agreed to buy $250 million of debt from Tiffany & Co., the world's second-largest retailer of luxury jewelry. The bonds will pay 10 percent annually, Tiffany...
LADY COP IN '$$ LAUNDER'
Federal agents have arrested a veteran NYPD cop on charges of conspiring to launder more than $230,000 in drug money. Prosecutors say Yaniris Balbuena, 31, was the longtime girlfriend of...
OCTO-DOC GAVE GAL BRU$HOFF
A would-be mother who went to the same in vitro fertilization specialist as Octomom charged yesterday that he treated her badly, then dumped her as a patient "when all of...
FOUR FINANCERS FREEZE FORECLOSURES (FOR NOW)
Four banks at the center of the financial crisis yesterday said they would freeze foreclosures until next month as they await President Obama's plan to keep struggling borrowers in their...
HEROES WITHOUT HEADLINES
With things going so well in Iraq, the embed count is nearing zero. FT. LEAVENWORTH, KAN. THE Missouri River runs brown in the winter. Standing on the western bluff, you...
SAVED BY GOV'T?
OK, things aren't going well. Good people are losing their jobs. Every day the deficit is looking more and more like the Great Pit of Carkoon - that giant hole...
CITADEL TO OPEN FUNDS TO WITHDRAWALS
Citadel Investment Group LLC, the $13 billion hedge-fund firm run by Kenneth Griffin, plans to allow clients to make withdrawals from its two largest funds after freezing them last year....
GRIM FATE FOR SEPT. 11 WIDOW
In the years between the attacks on the World Trade Center, which claimed her husband's life, and Thursday's plane crash in Buffalo, which claimed her own, Beverly Eckert devoted herself...
GIMME, LIBERTY
John Malone's Liberty Media is offering Sirius XM a bridge loan of several hundred million dollars to help the nearly insolvent satellite-radio company pay off debt that matures Tuesday, The...
CAN EXCELLENCE SURVIVE THE UFT?
New York's successful charter-school movement faces a most serious test: Can it survive unionization? Last month, teachers at two city charters run by KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) - arguably...
THE 'SHUT UP' DOCTRINE
With the mega-pork, er, stimulus bill done, Democrats will now turn to regulating political speech they don't like. That is, they're revving up to resurrect the so-called Fairness Doctrine. Created...
FIREFIGHTERS BLAZING TRAIL AS CITY OT KINGS
Members of the Fire Department accounted for a quarter of the city's top 100 overtime earners last year, but not a single cop made the list, according to figures released...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
Brooklyn * A drunken New Jersey motorist flew into a rage after a fender bender on the Williamsburg Bridge, ramming the other driver with his car and threatening to urinate...
NEWSDAY EDITOR HENLEY HITS THE HIGHWAY
Newsday Managing Editor Debbie Henley is stepping down after five years at the Long Island paper. Henley joined Newsday for her second tour in 2004 as assistant managing editor, and...
NORTH CAROLINA JOINS BOFA BONUS ROW
The bonus-payment flap at Bank of America has CEO Ken Lewis crossing swords on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line after North Carolina's attorney general yesterday jumped into the fray....
PAULSON WINS BET VS. LLOYDS
Paulson & Co., the hedge fund run by billionaire John Paulson, may have made as much as $67 million in 25 minutes yesterday as Lloyds Banking Group lost about 5.9...
MADONNA COURTS KIDS
Madonna and Guy Ritchie are making it legal in Manhattan - their child-custody agreement, that is. In papers filed yesterday, the divorcées asked a Manhattan Supreme Court judge to make...
DISASTER'S TOLL
The 44 passengers who lost their lives on Continental Flight 3407 came from all walks of life and all over the world. Below are just some of the victims' stories:...
TRUMP DUMPS BOARD SEAT
Trump Entertainment Resorts founder and Chairman Donald Trump resigned from the board over disagreements with bondholders' decisions and actions. Trump said in an e-mail that his investment is "worthless to...
HOCKEY GAL WAS FIGHTER
For fearless hockey player Maddy Loftus, there was nothing worse than sitting on the sidelines. Loftus, 24, of Parsippany, NJ, who was on fatal Flight 3407, was raring to play...
'THE NEXT THING I KNEW THE CEILING WAS ON ME.'
The world came crashing down with little warning for Karen Wielinski when Continental Connection Flight 3407 slammed into her house. She and her daughter narrowly escaped death, but her husband,...
JESSICA'S BELLY LAUGH
No, Dallas Cowboy Tony Romo isn't having an off season meeting with his offensive line - he's out for a date in New York with gal pal Jessica Simpson! The...
FLIGHT ATTENDANT BEAT BREAST CANCER
One of the flight attendants killed in the horrific turboprop crash in Buffalo was a breast-cancer survivor who worked the ill-fated flight despite feeling sick because she couldn't wait to...
ILL-FATED FAMILY PERISHES TOGETHER
Twelve-year-old Shawn Mossop was always smiling, loved video games and was learning how to play the guitar. The bright youngster from Bloomfield, NJ, boarded Flight 3407, eager to begin a...
PATERSON SHOWS P.R. GURU THE DOOR
ALBANY - Talk about shooting the messenger. After drowning in the polls and getting pounded by negative press, Gov. Patterson is replacing his $175,000-a-year communications director, Risa Heller, it was...
DOOMED PLANE'S ICY DEATH SPIRAL
Minutes before a commuter plane nose-dived into a house on its approach to Buffalo and burst into flames, killing 50 people, the flight crew noted "significant" ice buildup on the...
AFGHAN ENVOY BUSTED
An Afghan diplomat beat his wife with a belt and shoved her down a flight of stairs in their Queens home - then assaulted her again when she returned from...
SPACE JUNK'S ETERNAL THREAT
The crash of two satellites has generated an estimated tens of thousands of pieces of space junk that could threaten other satellites for the next 10,000 years, experts said yesterday....
TORRE 'SADDENED' BY RODRIGUEZ NEWS
LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz. - Asked how long a drug cloud would hover over baseball, Joe Torre peered into the past. "I don't know how long the Black Sox scandal lasted,"...
SHOOTOUT L EXTENDS RANGER STRUGGLES
SUNRISE, Fla. - The Rangers missed all four attempts in the shootout to fall 2-1 to the Panthers last night. Richard Zednik scored the only goal in the shootout, and...
NEW BOOZE BUST FOR EX-YANK LEYRITZ
Former Yankee slugger Jim Leyritz - who is awaiting trial for killing a young mom while allegedly driving drunk - has been busted again for allegedly boozing before getting behind...
GIANTS TAP JACOBS AS FRANCHISE PLAYER
There was never any argument that running back Brandon Jacobs isn't one of the most important pieces in the Giants' franchise. Now, it's official. The Giants yesterday slapped Jacobs with...
GARCIA: I '100 PERCENT' EXPECT TO BE IN ROTATION
PORT ST. LUCIE - If all goes according to plan, good friends Freddy Garcia and Johan Santana will not be staying at each other's house on road trips anymore. They...
AMARE BELIEVES SUNS ARE SETTING
PHOENIX - Western Conference starting power forward Amare Stoudemire was under a glaring spotlight yesterday, with the Valley of the Sun hosting tomorrow's All-Star Game and his Suns ready to...
BAD SIGN: METS FACILITY NEEDS HUMILITY
PORT ST. LUCIE - The sign is unmistak able, hanging as it does right above the portal connecting the clubhouse at the Mets' minor league facility to the wide green...
IT'S CONFIRMED: JOHAN WILL SIT
PORT ST. LUCIE - Confirming an exclusive report by The Post earlier this week, the Venezuela Baseball Federation announced yesterday that Johan Santana will sit out in the World Baseball...
LEBRON'S 'TRIPLE' TAKE
PHOENIX - LeBron James said the NBA statisticians blew it by taking away his historic triple-double at the Garden 10 days ago. King James recorded the first 50-point triple-double since...
ISLES CONTINUE TO TINKER
Like the captain rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, Islanders coach Scott Gordon continues to change lines in hopes of finding some success before the end of the season. But...
PETTITTE: I'M NOT ON MLB'S LIST AND DON'T WANT TO HEAR WHO IS
TAMPA - Alex Rodriguez has been outed as a steroids user, but there are 103 others who tested positive during Major League Baseball survey drug tests in 2003 who haven't...
SPORTS SHORTS
NBA: Heat deal Marion to Raptors Hours after Shawn Marion's last-second dunk lifted the Heat past the Bulls, he was traded yesterday to the Raptors in exchange for Jermaine O'Neal,...
FIRING BLANKS: CLEM, DEVS STOP BRUINS
Just as Scott Clemmensen joins Martin Brodeur in the Devils record book, Brodeur joins the team in regular practice today. Clemmensen became the only Devils goalie other than Brodeur to...
EYE-'WITNESS'
THE iconic photo still haunts nearly 41 years later. Amidst the bedlam on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lies mortally wounded, his stunned, horrified...
MORE 'ME' FOR LEARY
FX has renewed "Rescue Me" for a sixth season, ordering 18 additional episodes of the Denis Leary series. "Rescue Me," which kicks off its fifth season April 7 (10 p.m.),...
COMEDY'S NEXT CHAPPELLE
COMEDY Central could have its next Dave Chappelle. Demetri Martin's new series, "Important Things with Demetri Martin," premiered to 2.4 million viewers Wednesday - the network's best premiere since "Chappelle's...
HOME FREE!
THIS is the midwinter break of our discontent. At least that's how it feels for many families, whose shrinking budgets make leaving town - or living it up locally -...
FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE...
IF you feel like splurging - well, reasonably - snag tickets to one of the following shows for $20 or less. * Today marks the debut of The Irondale Project...
CAT'S ALL FOLKS!
REGARDLESS of how your Valentine's Day turned out, if you live with a dog or cat, you experience unconditional love - the kind most humans are unable to feel or...
RAG & BONE
The super hot design duo behind Rag & Bone have mastered the art of sticking to what they do best: tailor, tailor, tailor. Season after season, they turn out collections...
COSTELLO TAGLIAPIETRA
Those were some grave, serious women that Costello Tagliapietra sent down the runway: hair pulled up into pompadours streaked with Manic Panic, hands on hips and pallid make-up on expressionless...
YIGAL AZROUEL
There was definitely something for everyone at the Yigal Azrouel show this season. The runway was littered with made-to-fit dresses, pin-studded leather jackets, stovepipe jeans paired with blanket cardigans (a...
All-Star Ramblings
By MARC BERMANPHOENIX - I love Wilson Chandler and what he stands for. He's playing tonight in the Rookie-Sophomore Challenge. Tomorrow night, he'll assist Nate Robinson in the Slam-Dunk contest.I...
NICOLE MILLER
She's spinning a web and, tangled though it may be, it's a good look for her. Nicole Miller has written a new page in her design history. The new Nicole...
TiVo Alert: 31 Days of Oscar Day 15, Man, Superman and Mitchell Leisen
And then there's the theory that MacMurray's frankly sex-object character in "No Time for Love'' is loosely inspired by the real-life lover of the film's gay director, Mr. Leisen. Glagow-based...
ABAETE
Having cited "Les Incroyables" (post-French Revolutionary gentlemen who dressed in extravagant garb) as her inspiration for fall, Abaete designer Laura Poretzky's show was off to a super start: tailored-to-fit jackets...
CHARLOTTE RONSON
Hollywood's favorite sapphic superstars - the ever-shrinking Lindsay Lohan and the carefully coifed Samantha Ronson - shut down all rumors of a possible lovers' quarrel by cozying up to each...
MALONE OFFERS BRIDGE LOAN TO SIRIUS XM
John Malone's Liberty Media is offering Sirius XM a bridge loan of several hundred million dollars to help the nearly insolvent satellite-radio company pay off debt that matures Tuesday, The...
BCBG MAX AZRIA
Drape, drape and more drape. Dresses with criss-crossed fabric, draping on the bias, dropped waists, drapey sleeves -- the list goes on. The designer who stands for something is so...