May 3, 2014

Jon Favreau took a lot of heat to prep for 'Chef'

When Jon Favreau swung by “Top Chef” for a guest-judge stint last year, he found himself lacking in discernment. “Everything the contestants were making tasted amazing to me,” he tells...

Trumping Texas

Pity Gov. Cuomo didn’t take Rick Perry up on his offer to debate. Turns out our governor could have put some tough questions to his Texas counterpart about his alleged...

College race-baiting

Anyone who wonders why the people of Michigan concluded they needed a state constitutional amendment to ensure their public schools didn’t discriminate against people on account of race needs only...

Lily Allen takes no prisoners in 'Sheezus'

You've heard of Yeezus — now make way for “Sheezus.” After five years of silence, British singer Lily Allen has finally returned with her third album, and — with tongue...

US warns of hotel attack in Nigeria's Lagos

The United States has warned its citizens of a plan to attack one of two Sheraton hotels near Lagos, Nigeria's main commercial hub which attracts many foreign business people and...

'Princeton Mom' wants you to win over your mother-in-law, too

Susan Patton — aka “the Princeton Mom” — gained notoriety for imploring young women to lock down their future husbands while still in college. The thing is, once you snag...

This week's couple: Food for thought

Pairing Charles and Aisha together was tricky, especially since they both have particular dining habits: Charles, 36, is a pescetarian with a host of food allergies. Meanwhile, 35-year-old Aisha doesn’t...

From blogger to author NJ teen pens baseball history tome

He is a 15-year-old ninth-grader at Golda Och Academy in West Orange, N.J., who has interviewed President George W. Bush, Hank Aaron, Yogi Berra, Sandy Alderson, Eddie Einhorn and Billy...

Sweet Harlemite seeks a man with a take-charge attitude

Kasheena, 27 When she’s not at work as a hotel manager, she wants to be with a guy who will call the shots. Thin ice: Kasheena enjoys watching figure skating...

If Cher could 'Turn Back Time,' she wouldn't

Before Madonna and Gaga, before Bey and Björk, there was Cher. She’s always been a singular sensation, thanks to her deadpan humor, uncommon contralto and fierce, take-no-prisoners fashions. Even now,...

Gia Coppola proving her worth with 'Palo Alto'

Believe it or not, Gia Coppola, 27, had never seen her grandfather’s most famous film until recently — when James Franco got her to watch it. “My family had already...

Tanaka's strong outing boosts tired lineup behind him

The line drives began booming unexpectedly off Tampa Bay bats early and often, and it was almost as if that was Hideki Irabu on the mound and not Masahiro Tanaka,...

It's time for the Rangers' top line to Stepan up

PITTSBURGH — He skates between two of the best players in the world, so Derek Stepan knows the pressure is on. Stepan centers a line with Rick Nash and Martin...

Dave Franco bros out, gets naked in 'Neighbors'

Dave Franco knows exactly what his fraternity pledge name would have been: “Vertically Challenged.” Luckily, what the 5-foot-7 actor — starring as a loutish frat brother in Friday’s rowdy comedy...

Pierce, Garnett ‘ready’ to lead in do-or-die Game 7

TORONTO — After the Nets lost exactly a year ago Sunday to the Bulls on their home floor in Game 7 of their first-round series, general manager Billy King stood...

While we weren’t looking, hope sprung in Iraq

In one of those ironies of history, with President Barack Obama’s foreign policy in disarray, some relatively good pieces of news are coming from places that Obama turned his back...

Red Bulls set for FC Dallas — and possible conference lead

The Red Bulls will head down to FC Dallas for a blistering afternoon game Sunday knowing a draw will run their unbeaten streak to four, but hoping for a win...

Fresh legs pushing Vigneault's boys through playoff marathon

PITTSBURGH — A football team with two No. 1 quarterbacks in reality has none. A hockey team with two No. 1 goaltenders has a controversy. But a playoff team with...

Johnson makes the most of his shot with Jeter taking a rest

Kelly Johnson was signed because he could hit from the left side and with power. But after a good start, the third baseman hadn’t had much playing time, as switch-hitter...

11 with links to al Qaeda being questioned in MH370 probe

Members of a violent cell of al Qaeda-linked terrorists are being questioned in connection with the disappearance of Flight MH370, according to several British press reports. International law enforcement agencies,...

Mel Brooks: 10 things you never knew about 'Blazing Saddles'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKayG1TrfuE Mel Brooks’ outrageous western send-up “Blazing Saddles’’ was truly groundbreaking — and wind-breaking, during the famous campfire bean-eating scene — when it hit theaters 40 years ago. Though it...

'Mutual interest' in Wayne Gretzky running Capitals

PITTSBURGH — In the District of Columbia, the presidency awaits Wayne Gretzky … if Capitals owner Ted Leonsis recognizes the need to restructure the front office of his drifting franchise,...

Did Teixeira get his groove back?

Perhaps it is possible. Maybe Mark Teixeira can be counted on again. One of the Yankees’ biggest question marks coming into the season, the oft-injured, oft-slumping first baseman stood alongside...

Correspondents' dinner gives DC an excuse to loosen up

WASHINGTON — On at least one night a year President Barack Obama and the journalists who cover him try to find something nice — and something funny — to say...

Game 7 experience could be Nets' ace in the hole

TORONTO — The words were meant to be conciliatory and not condescending, praiseworthy and not patronizing. But hey, what was Reggie Miller going to do, apologize for being old? Slap...

In new '24,' Jack Bauer goes from hunter to hunted

Jack Bauer was always meant to live another day, it turns out. When we last saw him, in the series finale that aired May 24, 2010, Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) was...

California Chrome wins Kentucky Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A horse with a humble pedigree. A couple of working stiff owners. A 77-year-old trainer with his first Kentucky Derby horse. Even Hollywood couldn’t have made this...

Serby’s Sunday Q&A with... Mike Mayock

NFL analyst and former Giants safety Mike Mayock took a timeout before next week’s NFL Draft to chat with Post columnist Steve Serby. Q: How easy or difficult is Johnny...

Giants’ first pick will give hint to concerns about Beatty

For all their issues, it wasn’t long ago the Giants figured they had answers to two important questions: the identities of their starting offensive tackles. Now they cannot be so...

Behind-the-scenes feuding marring ‘Golden’ moment

LAS VEGAS — It might be more intriguing than Saturday’s matchup between Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana for the WBC welterweight championship. Certainly, the stakes could be just as high...

YES Network avoids addressing team's pinstriped loafers

Why does baseball, as played by the Yankees on YES, remain such a closely guarded secret, a national security issue? Why is the baseline between home and first so often...

Suspected drunk driver kills Michael Jordan's caddy

One of Michael Jordan’s caddies was struck and killed by a drunken driver in the Hamptons on Friday, The Post has learned. Neil Fyfe, 29 — who has caddied for...

The possibly catastrophic new contract with NYC's teachers

“Trust, but verify,” a great man once said — sound advice for judging government in general, and municipal labor relations in particular. So flash back to Thursday’s grip-and-grin in City...

Opinions on Manziel vary wildly heading into draft

The NFL hasn’t had a quarterback prospect this hotly debated since Tim Tebow. Everybody, it seems, has a fervent belief about Johnny Manziel — and rarely do those beliefs meet....

Jets won’t rule out drafting a QB

Jets general manager John Idzik pulled a stunner at last year’s draft when he selected quarterback Geno Smith in the second round. Could he do it again and take another...

What Obama could learn from Reagan on taming Russia

When given briefing books full of policy details, Ronald Reagan usually found better things to do. Just before a 1983 economic summit, he confessed to his chief of staff that...

Tanaka moves to 4-0 as Yankees top Rays

The Yankees arrived in The Bronx on Saturday still bleary-eyed after a marathon loss to the Rays that stretched into Saturday morning. Though it was just Masahiro Tanaka’s sixth major...

Despite pain of dad's murder, Kerr became a champion

Imagine going to sleep. Imagine the lingering thoughts you have before your mind gives out, before the world goes black. Imagine tomorrow. Imagine a day in which the world is...

Axl Rose's insane solution for exterminating moths

During a break in Guns N’ Roses’ years-long “Use Your Illusion” tour, singer Axl Rose was at his Malibu home with his two assistants when a moth got into the...

Men in Derby-bound bachelor party find corpse in RV

A dozen friends heading to the Kentucky Derby for a bachelor party discovered a dead body en route to the Run for the Roses. The group was headed to Churchill...

Rail that caused NYC subway derailment was brand new

The subway rail that snapped and caused an F train to derail, injuring 19 passengers and stranding hundreds underground, was installed just weeks before the accident, the MTA said on...

10 terrifying drone facts, er, fictions from ex-Bush advisor's new novel

Frustrated with the success American drones are having in decimating their ranks, an Islamic narco-terrorist called the Qazzanis plot revenge — by killing pilots who fly the craft from a...

The 10 best game 7s in New York history

TORONTO — So we get a second trip to bountiful in five days, which is about as much as any reasonable sports fan can ask, right? Two Game 7s in...

Putin's plan to reclaim the old Russian empire

When I was a child and Soviet dinosaurs roamed the earth, a potato chip ad dared Americans “Bet you can’t eat just one!” That about captures President Vladimir Putin’s lip-smacking...

Slur-loving schools chief called employees 'white devils': suit

A Westchester superintendent routinely slammed his employees with racist profanity, making life in Greenburgh School District a real “bitch,” workers claim. That’s Ronald O. Ross favorite slur -- according to...

Hillary Clinton should be worried as Benghazi coverup unravels

Make it go away! That was the message of the Obama administration and their friends in the media for the past two years, and now we know why: Benghazi is...

'Love is not the answer': The sex secrets of a rabbi

When he was a 22-year-old newlywed hired to be a rabbi at Oxford University, Shmuley Boteach was as surprised as anyone by his unintended vocation: love guru. Students caught up...

How NYC's gay bars thrived because of the mob

Who’d have guessed that, as far back as the 1930s, it was the mob who would give homosexuals a place to mingle, hook up and eventually coalesce as a movement...

Activist investor buys NY mansion for record $147M

An activist investor has just bought the most expensive residential property in the country. Barry Rosenstein, hedge fund manager of Jana Partners, is paying $147 million for a property on...

Condoleezza Rice won't give commencement address after Iraq War protests

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has decided against delivering the commencement address at Rutgers University following protests by some faculty and students over her role...

Hondo walks the Wacha

Hondo reeled in his fourth straight winner Friday night, bagging a beauty with the Marlins to slash the accounts payable to 555 brocks. Saturday: Mr. Aitch will go with Wachamacallit...

Why Tough Mudders are getting horrible cases of diarrhea

LAS VEGAS -- It turns out the toughest obstacle of a Tough Mudder-style race might not be dodging live electrical wires, hoisting logs or leaping over a wall of flames....

V. Stiviano: Sterling's racist remarks weren't his first to me

ABC US News | ABC Business News V. Stiviano says Donald Sterling's racist comments on an audio recording leaked to the public were not the first by the Los Angeles...

Cabby guilty in 2011 rape of passenger

A taxi driver was convicted yesterday of the knifepoint rape of a woman who had flagged him down to take her from Williamsburg to her East Village apartment and fell...

Actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr. passes away at 95

LOS ANGELES — Efrem Zimbalist Jr., the son of famous musical parents who established his own lasting celebrity in two of television's most popular series, "77 Sunset Strip" and "The...

How you can beat Hollywood’s government censors

Hannibal Lecter. Freddy Kreuger. Jason Voorhees. Charles Manson. Jeffrey Dahmer. Ted Bundy. Hollywood loves a homicidal monster. But what happens when an evil being exposes the monstrosities of malign government...

IRS knocks off mom & pop shop

FLINT, MICH. Earnest moralists lament Americans’ distrust of government. What really is regrettable is that government does much to earn distrust, as Terry Dehko, 70, and his daughter Sandy Thomas,...

New York City can’t afford the teachers contract

The United Federation of Teachers decided to wait out Mike Bloomberg, and this week that strategy paid off handsomely — as Mayor de Blasio gave the union everything it demanded....

The better team finally shows up when it counts for Nets

You could see it in DeMar DeRozan’s eyes, hear it in his voice: the Raptors were cooked in the layup lines. They had no idea what they were getting into....

Vigneault’s Rangers crew up for the ‘challenge’ vs. Penguins

PITTSBURGH — It was kind of like that old tastes great/less filling lite beer commercial. Because when Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals had ended on Friday night with...

Hit parade hasn’t begun in The Bronx

These are the ones that hurt. When the scoreboard taunts you with Bal 3 Min 0, which means you started the night as the first-place Yankees, and left the Stadium...

Commissioner Selig: I have Amazin’ faith

DENVER — Bud Selig still believes in the Mets. As part of his farewell tour — he is due to retire in January — the commissioner on Friday was at...

Yankees’ Tanaka: ‘I’m not satisfied’

Masahiro Tanaka has exceeded almost all expectations in his first five major league starts. Perhaps the only one not overly impressed is Tanaka himself. Before the Yankees’ 10-5, 14-inning loss...

No ‘power’ for Rangers in OT win

PITTSBURGH — Alain Vigneault interrupted his questioner. “You know what, our power play, it’s a brand-new series,” the Rangers coach said before his team beat the Penguins, 3-2 in overtime,...

'Poker princess' gets probation for role in $100M gambling ring

She was dealt her best hand yet! “Poker princess” Molly Bloom avoided jail time when he was sentenced Friday to a year probation after admitting to being a key player...

Woman gives birth in taxi, another in back of ambulance

A woman went into labor while riding in a yellow taxi Thursday night — and gave birth to a healthy baby boy thanks to three quick-thinking Port Authority cops who...

Police shoot man who aimed loaded gun at them

Cops shot a man in Brooklyn Friday night after he pointed a loaded gun at them, police said. Three plainclothes officers on patrol in Bedford-Stuyvesant saw the 24-year-old man just...

Former Mets masseuse charged with sexual abuse

A former Mets massage therapist was charged with sexually abusing two female trainees at his swanky East Side salon, according to court papers. One of the alleged victims, who slapped...

Modell’s president hits back at sister-in-law over spending

The gloves have come off in the court battle between the CEO of sporting-goods empire Modell’s and his brother’s widow, with the New Jersey exec calling his Upper East Side...

Two city jail officials out as commish shakes things up

Two top city Correction bosses are leaving the department amid a “major shakeup” by new Commissioner Joseph Ponte — who is under fire following a rash of assaults at Rikers Island,...

Labor leaders back de Blasio health-care overhaul

Labor leaders endorsed Mayor de Blasio’s vague plan for a health-care overhaul Friday, buying his claims that it will save the city $3.4 billion in new contracts with union workers....

High taxes make NYers wait longer to earn financial 'freedom'

ALBANY — Congratulations, New Yorkers: You can now keep your own money for the rest of the year. A study by the Tax Foundation, an independent tax-policy research group, shows...

Daily Blotter

Manhattan ■ A Bronx teen was nabbed with more than 400 decks of heroin at the Port Authority Bus Ter­minal, law-enforcement sources said. Naheem Glenn, 17, was loitering at the...

Yankees waste chances as they drop extra inning game to Rays

It took nearly six hours, had a pair of wild rundowns, as well as two late-inning comebacks, but in the end, all the Yankees had to show for it was...

Lyndon Johnson tried to seduce DC journalist

WASHINGTON — Former President Lyndon Johnson tried to seduce a famous political journalist. Washington Star columnist Mary McGrory politely refused Johnson’s pitch for a liaison in summer 1964, Politico magazine...

Wheeler battered around as Mets fall to Rockies

DENVER — Curtis Granderson hit a shot into the right-field seats and had a two-hit game. Other than that, the Mets will want to erase this latest Mile High beatdown...