February 23, 2003
BULL'S EYE
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amSNOOZE LIVES UP TO NAME The Daily Snooze had what looked like a nice scoop plastered on its front business page last Monday. Headlined "Battle heats up again for Apollo...
STOCKS? BONDS? TRY ON OAKMARK FOR BOTH
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amALMOST two full months into the year, and it's still impossible to say whether stocks or bonds are the better investment choice. Such a time calls for a balanced fund,...
CITY GOES FROM ORANGE TO WHITE
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amSo, is everyone in New York freaking out about being on Orange Alert?" a friend from England asked me this week. "No, no," I replied. "We're all frolicking in the...
HIGH NOTES & LOW NOTES
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amDuck and cover: At Beck's unannounced Valentine's Day show at Maxwell's, the rosy-cheeked artist channeled the love with a medley of Nelly's "Hot in Herre," the Tom Tom Club's "Genius...
STARR REPORT
February 23, 2003 | 5:00am'Six Feet Under' shoot: The undertaking You can imagine photographer Gregory Crewdson's surprise last year when the avid "Six Feet Under" fan tuned into an episode of the HBO drama...
NEW SCHOOL VS. OLD SCHOOL
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amIt's easy to find fault with the Grammys (the nominees aren't daring enough; the show can be a snooze). But this year is a perfect example of how well they...
ONE DAY, $100... THAT'S WHAT WE GAVE DESIGNER ALICE ROI TO DRESS US
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amFashion designer Alice Roi describes her own style as "grungy" - and it fits. Today she has on a pair of jeans, a poofy Northface coat and black-and-white clogs. "You...
REMEMBERING FASSBINDER
February 23, 2003 | 5:00am'He was everything - the sweetest, the most generous, the most understanding. On the other hand, he could be so destructive," Hanna Schygulla said of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the prolific...
BAGS, BELTS AND BEYOND
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amAlek Wek may be a gorgeous, world-famous supermodel - but she's anything but jaded. She lives in Brooklyn instead of Manhattan, orders ginger ales instead of cosmopolitans, and chooses to...
TRY HAVING A SALAD, KIDS
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amTHE fat kids whose lawsuit against McDonald's was thrown out of court are back on the Mac Attack. The kids maintained, in a new suit last week, that they had...
GIVE BLOOD
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amLAST week the city reached a red alert - literally. Our available platelet and blood supply reached a dangerously low level. Reason? Sixty percent of the American population is eligible...
AND TOTO TOO?
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amIT was a scene out of The Wizard of Odd. Last week in New Zealand, a gigantic Rhodesian Ridgeback dog blew away in a tornado. Britz the dog, and the...
YOU'VE GOT E-MAIL
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amTHE picture in this column last week was worth about 4,000 words. From Gerty Agoston: "To make fun of potentially protective biohazard suits and gasmasks is a kind of pseudo-sarcasm...
FLAG $$ FUROR
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amTHE Mayor's Office of Management and Budget has just purchased $11,069.20 worth of small American flags for the Veterans Affairs Department. From a Canadian company! Jordan Barowitz in the mayor's...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amAn elderly bank robber tried to raise cane in an Oklahoma heist, but the tables turned on him instead. Kenneth Ray Dean, 71, tried to rob the BancFirst Expressway bank...
PEEVED PREZ ON JUDGE VOTE: GET ON WITH IT!
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amPresident Bush had an edge of anger in his voice yesterday as he pressed Democrats - led by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) - to stop blocking his historic nomination of...
HOW MYSTERY MAN REACHED IN TO SAVE ME FROM CLUTCH OF CERTAIN DEATH
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amErin Marie Pucino doesn't know who snatched her from the jaws of death in the Rhode Island nightclub inferno. But to her, she was holding on for dear life to...
BUSH'S TOUGH WORDS TARGET DICTATOR'S ROCKET RACKET
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amPresident Bush made it clear yesterday that Saddam Hussein can't avoid war by destroying his illegal long-range missiles - as just ordered by U.N. inspectors - because those missiles are...
WEATHER IS WORST EVER
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amHowling winds and leftover showers were expected to rip through the metropolitan area today, leaving an oddball combo of freezing slush and rays of welcome sunshine. Showers are expected to...
BARGE PUMP EYED IN S.I. GASOLINE-DEPOT INFERNO
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amInvestigators combed the Staten Island waterfront yesterday looking for clues in the explosion of a gasoline-laden barge that killed two workers in a spectacular blaze. They said they were looking...
FEMME FOES IN RAP RIVALRY STAGE IS SET FOR AN EVE-LIL' KIM FLARE-UP
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amTwo of the biggest female performers in the rap-music world have fired salvos in a new feud that might cause some offstage tension at the Grammy Awards at Madison Square...
TRAGIC BRIDE LONGED FOR WEDDING DAY IN THE SUN
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amAspiring model Leona Swiderski dreamed of a beach wedding on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, attended by a handful of friends who would watch her walk down the sand...
MELT & WILD IN THE STREETS
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amHeavy rain plus melting snow equaled serious flooding for the city yesterday, causing mini-lakes on major highways and sewer backups. More showers are expected today as temperatures climb into the...
SHOPPERS FLEE AS TOYS 'R' CRUSHED
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe snow-covered roof of a Maryland Toys 'R' Us crashed down on top of shopping parents and children yesterday, injuring eight people, including a 3-year-old, as heavy rain waterlogged an...
EVIL BLAKE A MURDEROUS MADMAN: BONNY LEE KID
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amLOS ANGELES - The adult daughter of Robert Blake's slain wife doesn't mince words in slamming the jailbird-actor and accused murderer. "He's just a horrible person, a madman; You can...
COPS PUT HEAT ON N.Y. HOT SPOT
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amCops raided a popular Chelsea nightspot early yesterday to clear a crowd of more than 750 revelers who were blocking fire exits while waiting to get in, officials said. The...
VICTORIA GOTTI
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amBAHAMAS BLAST: As a native New Yorker, I really wish I could boast of having endured the fourth-largest blizzard in New York history last week. Really. I would have been...
FLARE-UP BURNS CON ED WORKER
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amA Con Ed worker checking a steaming manhole in Brooklyn was badly burned yesterday after he lifted the cover and a tongue of fire lashed him in the face, officials...
GRIEF-STRIKEN OWNER HAUNTED BY TRAGEDY
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe owner of the Rhode Island club that burned to the ground Thursday erupted into tears yesterday, saying he tried in vain to get people out of the burning nightspot....
DI SÉANCE ON PAY TV HITTING A DEAD END
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amProducers of a televised séance being advertised as a bid to "contact the spirit" of Princess Diana seem to be struggling to make a viable connection with the living. A...
DEBATING WAR & PEACENIKS
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amJUST one day before the blizzard hit, the city was hit with another snow job - either the largest anti-war protest since the Vietnam War, or the smallest. It all...
SAD WRINKLE ON BOTOX PARTIES
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amBotox parties can cause more wrinkles than they remove, an expert warns. Manhattan doctor David Becker says that in the hands of untrained practitioners, Botox can cause some patients to...
FORMER HOSTAGES SLAM 'SHIELDS FOR SADDAM'
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amAmericans held hostage in Iraq in the months before the Gulf War have an urgent message for a group of peace activists in Baghdad offering themselves as human shields: Get...
INSANE WORK CONDITIONS: GUARDS FOR MENTALLY ILL CRIMINALS LEFT HELPLESS
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amThey've been beaten, stabbed, kicked, choked and scalded while serving the medical needs of killers, cannibals and rapists the courts have deemed criminally insane. But New York state mental-hospital security...
OUR FORGOTTEN WAR WIDOWS LOSE $$ AND HOMES AS BRASS IGNORE PLEAS
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amThey died as heroes in Afghanistan at the beginning of the war on terrorism, but a year later, their widows are struggling to make ends meet. Wives of U.S. Marines...
NEW RULES PUT 'GOOD' SCHOOLS TO THE TEST
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amSome public schools currently considered to be performing well could find themselves closer to the bottom of the class under new testing rules in President Bush's "No Child Left Behind"...
POWELL HAS THE GOODS ON IRAQ
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amJERUSALEM. EPHRAIM HALEVY, former head of Israel's Mossad spy agency, has no doubt Colin Powell is right about Iraq playing host to al Qaeda terrorists. Halevy, speaking on Israeli state...
'CHRISTENING' PRESENT WAS BROKEN NOSE
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amGreg Kolvenbach had his nose broken by an inmate soon after he began guarding the state's criminally insane eight years ago. "I was told it was my christening," said Kolvenbach,...
COPS PUT HEAT ON CROWDED N.Y. HOT SPOT
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amCops raided a popular Chelsea nightspot early yesterday to clear a crowd of more than 750 revelers waiting to get in who were blocking fire exits. The Roxy, at 525...
TOYSHOP TERROR : ALL SURVIVE AS TOYS 'R' CRUSHED IN ROOF COLLAPSE
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe snow-covered roof of a Maryland Toys 'R' Us crashed down on top of shopping parents and children yesterday, injuring eight people, including a 3-year-old, as heavy rain waterlogged an...
'PERV' RABBI BEHIND BARS FOR SABBATH
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amA New Jersey rabbi spent the Sabbath in a Rikers Island jail cell yesterday after he was arrested for arranging an online tryst with a 13-year-old girl - who was...
BUSTA RHYMES TARGET
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amCops aren't sure whether rap star Busta Rhymes was the target in a late-night shooting spree that left his vacant SUV riddled with bullets. The shooting occurred Friday night outside...
'MAINSTREAM' USEFUL IDIOTS
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amTHE antiwar group Not In Our Name has attracted a lot of attention in recent months by publishing a "statement of conscience" in newspapers across the country. The organization purchased...
STEADY SNOW A SAVING GRACE
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amLet it Snow, let it Snow, let it Snow. The Islanders have a little reward system in their locker room for playing with a sort of passion bestowed after each...
RANGERS NOT THINKING TOO FAR AHEAD
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amDENVER - They've won two games. With 18 to go, they need about 13 more to have a realistic shot at making the playoffs. So let's for the moment hold...
UNLIKE PAST, GIANTS' CAP FITS
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amThere is no need for a flashing neon sign to call attention to the Giants as they step up to the line for Friday's start of the NFL's free agency...
THEY'RE FREE TO $PEND - JETS SET SIGHTS ON BIG RECEIVER
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe Jets' present and the future all revolve around Chad Pennington. They believe they can finally get back to the Super Bowl, and soon, with their bright, young, fiery franchise...
BYRON'S KIDDING HIMSELF
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amONCE again, Byron Scott, the Knicks' off-sight consultant, has been kind enough to carve out time from his hectic agenda to evaluate Latrell Sprewell's professionalism. Let's give it up for...
SULTAN OF SPRING PIAZZA LOOKING LIKE MONSTER MIKE OF OLD
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amPORT ST. LUCIE - The booming voice from the crowd says it all as Mike Piazza launches a line drive that thankfully does not cross paths with any human beings...
HEAD OF THE CASH ; AT LEBRON'S SCHOOL, DOLLARS MAKE SENSE
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amEvery dunk is another dollar. Every 3-pointer is another dime. LeBron James is the most prized basketball prospect ever, and he's Akron's prodigal son. He's also big business. As James'...
JOE MAKE THE HALL? YOU 'VET' HE CAN NEW PANEL MAY BE TORRE'S TICKET IN
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amTAMPA - Those close to the Yankees say George Steinbrenner has simmered for years about how much credit Joe Torre has received for this great era in team history. The...
INJURED NICK NEEDS HAND WHITE, ZEILE TO THE RESCUE
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amTAMPA - The Yankees won't know the extent of Nick Johnson's left wrist injury until tomorrow. However, Joe Torre feels more secure with what he has behind Johnson this season...
A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE FEELING-BETTER WARD CAN'T HELP FROM THE IL
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amSACRAMENTO - If Don Chaney could have done it over again, Charlie Ward would likely be on the active roster. Instead, the Knicks are without their productive backup point guard...
TORRE TO TALK TO WELLS ABOUT EPHEDRINE USE
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amYANKEE NOTES TAMPA - It may have the same effect as talking to a wall, but Joe Torre plans on chatting with David Wells about using ephedrine. Wells said Friday...
KEON-DOLEAC IS NO CONTEST
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amSACRAMENTO - The Kings signed the athletic 6-11 shotblocking Keon Clark. The Knicks signed Michael Doleac. Even in the free-agent market, the Kings creamed the Knicks. Clark, filling in for...
'SECOND' IS FIRST IN 75G BEST TURN
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe last time Second In Command was seen under silks in New York, he was beaten 23 lengths by Super Fuse in last November's Huntington Stakes at the Big A....
UCONN FANS GET JIMMY
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amSTORRS, Conn. - The fans in the student section at Gampel Pavilion began cheering "Jimmy! Jimmy! Jimmy!" until they got what they wanted yesterday. Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, who had...
JEFFERSON WORKING TO BE COMPLETE PACKAGE
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amUtah coach Jerry Sloan was discussing how hard work and the desire to excel in all areas is what sets certain players apart. "Look at 90 percent of the players....
STORM CAN'T STOP PUMPED-UP UCONN
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amConnecticut 77St. John's 69 STORRS - Since St. John's beat Connecticut to win the Big East Tournament championship in 2000, the programs have surged in different directions. So it was...
MET LONGSHOT REVEALS HIS 'DIVINING' MOMENT
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amPORT ST. LUCIE - From Russ Johnson's eyes, his fight to make a major-league club pales in comparison to the fight between God and Satan. The little-known utility infielder, acquired...
ALOMAR LOOKS FOR ASSISTANCE FROM PAL
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amMET NOTES PORT ST. LUCIE - For more than a year now, Roberto Alomar has unsuccessfully campaigned for the Mets to hire an advisor or a liaison for players. Though...
FIRST SHOT RUINS DAY FOR TIGER
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amPACIFIC PALISADES - Saturday is always considered "moving day." It's usually a day when Tiger Woods moves up the leader board and gets in position to win on Sunday. Yesterday...
CHARLES IN CHARGE - HOWELL'S UP 3 AT RIVIERA
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amPACIFIC PALISADES - It's validation day. Charles Howell III, seeking the second victory of his career as the Nissan Open enters its final round today at Riviera, has never won...
PROBLEM SWEPT UNDER THE DRUG NHLPA NIXED PROPOSAL TO START EPHEDRINE TESTING
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amDENVER - More than a year ago, the NHL proposed a testing program for ephedrine to the NHLPA. According to league counsel Bill Daly, the NHL wanted the results to...
TONYA PROVES RINKY-DINK IN RING
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amMEMPHIS - Tonya Harding might want to rethink this boxing thing. The fallen figure skater lost her pro debut on the undercard of Tyson-Etienne last night in Memphis, dropping a...
QUICK WORK FOR MIKE - TYSON SCORES KO IN 49 SECS.
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amMEMPHIS - Heeeee's baaaack! Mike Tyson may or may not have been sick with the flu last week, and whether the fresh tattoo that covers the left side of his...
GORDON'S CALLS MADE CHARMING COMEDY
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amNEWS of Monday's passing of longtime Rangers and Giants play-by-player Jim Gordon gave rise to readers reaching out to recite their favorite "Jim Gordonisms." Here are a few: "Vickers centers...
THERE MAY BE BIG BUCKS IN YOUR TACKLE BOX
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amIF I were you, I would go into your basement, garage or wherever it is you keep your old tackle boxes and start going through the stuff you considered junk....
CHARLES IN CHARGE: HOWELL'S UP 3 AT RIVIERA
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amPACIFIC PALISADES - Today is validation day for Charles Howell III. He enters today's final round of the Nissan Open at majestic Riviera Country Club with a three-shot lead over...
WHAT ABOUT KLITSCHKO? UKRAINIAN FIGHTER WANTS HIS SHOT AT LEWIS' CROWN
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amMEMPHIS - Vitali Klitschko thinks he deserves the next shot at Lennox Lewis' heavyweight championship, regardless of the outcome of last night's fight between Mike Tyson and Clifford Etienne at...
THE INSIDERS: THE POST TAKE YOU BEHIND THE LOCKER-ROOM DOORS
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amWhitey throws in his '2' sense worth Whitey Ford, who surely wasn't Chairman of the Bored when he and Mickey Mantle painted the town in pinstripes, isn't about to take...
7TH ANNUAL LOOK AT THE NEW YORK SPORTS SCENE...FOR BETTER OR WORSE
February 23, 2003 | 5:00amThese are the best of our guys. These are the worst of our guys. Love 'em or hate 'em, this is the way we see 'em in Part One of...