February 10, 2004
NY GIFT BLDG. IS BEING SOLD
IN a deal that reflects the rising fortunes of Madison Square Park and its surroundings, the Japanese owners of the handsome New York Gift Building at 225 Fifth Ave. are...
BIG BOND MARKET INVESTOR THREATENS WAR OVER INTEREST RATES
THINGS are getting nasty on Wall Street. The biggest private investor in the bond market thinks Alan Greenspan is like Barney Fife, the bumbling TV deputy sheriff. And this investor...
LOOK OUT, STEVE! - GATES, EISNER JOIN UP TO CLOBBER JOBS IN DIGITAL WAR
Call it the Axis of E-video. Disney aligned itself with Microsoft yesterday by announcing it would use the software maker's digital-media format when the studio offers its movies online. The...
WRANGLER'S NEW BRAND TARGETS URBAN COWGIRLS
Wrangler is looking to lasso a more urbane crowd with a new line of jeans. Called Wrangler 47, for the year Wrangler was founded, the line could provide the first...
BLACK PULLS PLUG ON HOLLINGER.COM
Conrad Black is taking all his marbles and going home. The disgraced media baron shut off the Web site for his disputed company, Hollinger International. It was the latest stunt...
AMEX CRASHES - ITS COMPUTERS, THAT IS
Miracles can happen even at the American Stock Exchange - it broke down for half the day but still hit a new high. The embattled Amex began yesterday's session in...
DAVID SAITY TO FOLD TENT
After 38 years, David Saity Jewelry, known for its Native American designs, is closing its doors for good. Saity, who sold pieces worn by Celine Dion and members of the...
EISNER FIRES RETURN SALVO AT DISSIDENTS
Michael Eisner is getting worried and has finally drawn his sword for a duel - hiding behind a ring of loyal directors. The head of Walt Disney is jetting off...
TW DREAM SUITE - CEO PARSONS GETTING $25M PERK-FILLED OFFICE
Call it the Richard Parsons Project. Though Time Warner cost shareholders billions of dollars with its disastrous merger with AOL, the Time Warner chairman is about to move into the...
'HOME,' SWEET 'HOME'
* NORAH JONES "Feels Like Home" [] Blue Note Records The mystery of Norah Jones - and who, exactly, are the 8 million devoted admirers who purchased her debut album...
JOEY SEEKS NEW FAMILY - FIRST DETAILS ON 'FRIENDS' SPIN-OFF
THE final episode of "Friends" isn't even in the can yet but they're already casting its spin-off, "Joey." In the new show, Matt LeBlanc continues his role as Joey Tribbiani,...
GRAMMYS STAY ABREAST
THE Grammys didn't need Janet Jackson after all. More than 26 million viewers tuned into the 46th annual awards show Sunday night. That's about six percent better than last year....
PRIMARY COLORS - HOW STARS OF TV INFLUENCE THE VOTE
RAISING money is the all-important mantra of any political campaign - and that's where celebrity endorsements can help. "I think [celebrity endorsements] are helpful as a fundraising draw - donors...
'PRESS' SCORES
BUSH met the press and nailed the show's highest ratings in years. Sunday's edition of "Meet the Press," which featured an interview between President Bush and host Tim Russert, was...
STARR REPORT
Taking a closer look The History Channel has appointed a panel of noted historians to investigate the controversial documentary, "The Guilty Men," which implicated then-Vice President Lyndon Johnson in the...
'IDOL' TALK ABOUT THE NEXT HALFTIME SHOW
THOSE crazy kids at "American Idol" could headline the Super Bowl halftime show next year. A cleaned-up haltime show featuring performers from Fox's hit talent show is a possibility, according...
Fake it no more! The $7-a-pop gizmo that could save your sex life
IT'S three inches long, covered in bumps and doesn't look like anything you'd want to see in bed. But the inventor of a new sex aid has made a fortune...
PROGRESS WINS! - NETS PLAN COULD BENEXT OF MANY TRIUMPHS
NEW York's genetically litigious, anti-development curmudgeons just won't learn. Having taken beating after beating since they scuttled Westway in the name of saving striped bass, the enviro-fascists must be going...
WOMAN STRANGLED IN HER PARKCHESTER APT.
A woman was found mysteriously strangled inside her Bronx apartment yesterday, police said. Sarah Mobley, 48, was discovered by her niece, lying face down in the bedroom of her first-floor...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
Toilet paper became a "weapon" at a Nebraska prison - where an inmate escaped by using a wad of it to make a fake gun. Michael McGuire shaped a pistol...
POSITIVE SIGNS FOR HARLEM LEADERS
The Rev. Calvin Butts and members of the Abyssinian Baptist Church yesterday unveiled a new billboard campaign to promote positive community and family values in Harlem - and counter negative...
NEW '9/11' FOILED - SAUDIS BUST PILOT IN PLOT VS. ISRAEL
Saudi authorities have arrested a fighter pilot under suspicion of planning to crash a jet in Israel in a Sept. 11-style terror attack, it was reported yesterday. The pilot had...
STATE-BIZ FIRMS IN BRIBE RAP
ALBANY - Two Brooklyn companies awarded more than $7 million in state contracts have been suspended from further work because their owner is accused of attempting to bribe federal inspectors,...
GUARD GUILTY IN SLAY OF DAD
A Queens jury convicted a former correction officer yesterday of beating her stepfather to death based upon handwritten notes she left at the crime scene listing items she'd need for...
AL QAEDA'S CHIEF OPERATIVE IN IRAQ WANTS TO LAUNCH NEW ATTACKS ...
WASHINGTON - Al Qaeda's chief operative in Iraq wants to launch new attacks on the country's Shiite Muslims to provoke a civil war that would plunge the country into chaos,...
PATAKI GIVEN TONGUE-LA$HING
ALBANY - Schools Chancellor Joel Klein yesterday charged that Gov. Pataki's proposed budget would move city schools backward, telling lawmakers that "in New York City, we need more resources." Testifying...
DEAD COP HAD HEART DISEASE
An NYPD Emergency Service sergeant who collapsed and died while answering another cop's calls for help had coronary disease, the Medical Examiner's Office said yesterday. Sgt. Keith Ferguson, 38, had...
SCANNER TO SAVE S.I. LIVES
Staten Island University Hospital received a $500,000 state-of-the-art digital mammography machine yesterday - cutting the wait time from three or four months to just three or four weeks. "Early detection...
CITY PUTS BITE ON SICKO PET ABUSERS
People who torture, beat or starve their pets could be the ones who end up in a cage - thanks to a new effort by city animal-welfare officials. Spurred on...
KOZ TAKES GAMBLE BY NOT CALLING WITNESSES
Ex-Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski plans to rest his defense today without calling a single witness - and without taking the stand himself. The stunning strategic decision - made even more...
LOTTO-FEUD HUBBY DIES
The Long Island man who sued his wife because she ran off with their $25 million winning Lotto ticket died early yesterday following a short battle with lung cancer. Ken...
LAURA AWARDS AN 'OSCAR' FOR A GOOD CAUSE
First Lady Laura Bush visited New York's Fashion Week yesterday to support Heart Truth, which raises awareness about women and heart disease through a collection of red dresses. She was...
QUEENS KID, 16, TAKES FIVE-STORY PLUNGE TO AVOID LOCKUP
A 16-year-old Queens youth was so desperate to avoid being sent back to a juvenile detention center that he leapt from a fifth-floor window - critically injuring himself - after...
MIKE JOINS PAROLE FIGHT
Add Mayor Bloomberg to the list of people who want convicted cop-killer Herman Bell to remain behind bars. Bloomberg wrote to the chairman of the New York state Parole Division...
AIDING TERROR - WEB FIEND OFFERS DATA ON NYC AND FED TARGETS
The NYPD and the feds are fuming over Web sites that provide maps and aerial photos of potential terror targets and the names, addresses and phone numbers of top government...
FEDS SHOOT BROTHERS IN FUNNY-MONEY RAID
Secret Service agents executing a warrant for counterfeit money shot two brothers who struggled with them during a raid at their Harlem apartment early yesterday, authorities said. Robert Carjaval, 27,...
STATE SENATE OKS BILL TO SLAP REPEAT OFFENDERS
ALBANY - The state Senate yesterday passed a bill designed to crack down on repeat misdemeanor offenders like the suspect in a recent series of rapes that terrorized the East...
KLEIN ORDERS PRINCIPALS TO BOOST SECURITY
Chancellor Joel Klein has ordered principals to draw up new plans to improve safety in their schools. The campaign must include input from students and parents as well as staff,...
GRANDPA'S BUTCHER GETS LIFE IN CAGE
A Manhattan sicko who once raped his own pre-teen stepdaughter was sent away to life in prison yesterday for killing his grandfather so he could loot his bank account -...
PARENTS RIP HOLD-BACK PLAN
Parents rebelled yesterday against Mayor Bloomberg's new policy of holding back third-graders who do poorly on high-stakes math or reading exams. Opposition to ending "social promotion" for third-graders exploded during...
NO SLAY RAP FOR FED IN 'WRONG CAR'
Cops yesterday said they don't plan to file charges against the federal customs inspector who fatally shot an alleged carjacker during a struggle in Brooklyn early Sunday. Martin Carrington, 38,...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
BROOKLYN * Cops released this sketch of a man suspected of raping a girl in Brownsville. The assailant, who has a distinct mole on his left hand, got on an...
IT'S NO TIME TO RAISE TAXES: BUSH
WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday sent a rosy economic report to Congress predicting 2.6 million more jobs this year - and charged that his Democratic rivals want to raise taxes...
MIKE: SMOKERS? WHAT SMOKERS?
Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday he didn't know people were illegally smoking cigars at a Wall Street gala he attended - even though a witness revealed partygoers were lighting up right...
KERRY SHELLS DUBYA - TARGETS PREZ'S MILITARY SERVICE
Democratic front-runner John Kerry yesterday escalated his attacks on President Bush's Vietnam-era military record and suggested Bush isn't fit to be a wartime commander in chief because he never served...
COP-SHOOTING SUIT TOSSED
The city and an NYPD cop dodged a very expensive bullet yesterday as a federal jury tossed a $600 million lawsuit filed by a paraplegic who was shot in the...
GUN GROUPS SNUB APPLE
Two pro-gun organizations are canceling their first planned conference in the city because they're upset that an official denounced some of the National Rifle Association's views as "reprehensible." "If supporting...
DIVA PRISON-BOUND - DWI DIANA WILL SWAP 5TH AVE. CO-OP FOR DANK CELL
Booze-plagued Diana Ross will swap her luxurious Fifth Avenue co-op for a tiny concrete jail cell after pleading no contest to drunken driving yesterday. The 59-year-old Motown legend was sentenced...
TISSUE TESTIMONIES PUT THE BAWL IN DIVA'S COURT
MUST have been some plum pudding. Planet Martha turned from a trial of fact into a full-blown catharsis session yesterday - as both witnesses called to testify against Martha Stewart...
WTC TRIAL STARTS WITH BATTLE 'CRY'
A lawyer for Ground Zero developer Larry Silverstein choked up yesterday as he described the impact of the 9/11 attacks in front of a federal jury, accusing the Twin Towers...
FASHION WEEK'S GLAM SLAM - OSCAR-NIGHT STYLE IN THE OFFING
It's less than three weeks until Oscar night. Female nominees: Do you know where your gowns are? If you're lucky (or, rather, if you've hired a smart stylist) they would...
JAYSON HOUNDED - SIX PUP LOVERS BOOTED FROM JURY POOL
SOMERVILLE, N.J. - The story of Jayson Williams shooting his Rottweiler guard dog to death led a judge yesterday to bounce six prospective jurors from the ex-NBA star's manslaughter trial,...
JOHN'S ECO-PALS GOT WIFE'S GREENBACKING
A environmental group that has run TV ads boosting Democrat John Kerry yesterday acknowledged getting funds from a foundation headed by his wealthy wife, Teresa - but denied that played...
FALLING BRICKS INJURE BX. BOY
A 10-year-old boy was seriously hurt after being struck on the head by bricks that fell from the top of an apartment building as he walked home from school in...
POOCHES & CREAM - BEST RISE TO TOP AT WESTMINSTER
Who's the best dog in America? Will it be Coco, the Norfolk terrier from England? Josh the happy-go-lucky, slobbering Newfoundland from Flemington, N.J.? Or will it be the Maltese with...
DA SOUNDED NO ALARM IN FDNY PENSION PROBE
The FBI's probe into the FDNY's disability pension system comes after the Brooklyn DA dropped a similar 21-month investigation, sources told The Post yesterday. The district attorney's rackets division had...
'ANGELS' GO TO HEAVEN - BEST-BUDDY BROOKLYN BOYS KILLED IN TRUCK NIGHTMARE
Two best friends were dragged to their deaths under a dump truck that slammed into them on their way home from elementary school - as horrified witnesses screamed at the...
PUDDING ON A SHOW - MARTHA MEMORIES MAKE AIDE WEEP ON STAND
The memory of Martha Stewart's Christmas plum pudding drove her faithful assistant to tears yesterday as she offered testimony against her boss, bringing the knife-edged trial to a bizarre halt...
TOP JUDGE AIMS AT JURIST IMPRUDENCE
The state's top judge yesterday announced reforms to clean up judicial elections - and said more are coming. In her annual State of the Judiciary speech in Albany, Chief Judge...
FLEEING TEEN'S 5-STORY PLUNGE
A 16-year-old Queens youth was so desperate to avoid being sent back to a juvenile-detention center that he jumped from a fifth-floor window - critically injuring himself - after cops...
TONY'S RUFF DAY - 'SOPRANO' LOSES AT W'MINSTER
Tony Soprano got whacked - at yesterday's Westminster Kennel Club dog show. The pig-tailed Maltese with the big mobster name, Champion Christman Tony Soprano, failed to make the cut for...
HARLEM HONORS ALTHEA
One tennis legend paid tribute to another in Harlem last night. Billie Jean King joined former Mayor David Dinkins in honoring the late Althea Gibson at an event sponsored by...
SHOW'S OVER FOR 'VIRTUAL' MUSIC
Man triumphed over machine at the opera last weekend - minutes before curtain time - when a small performing company and the musicians union agreed to ban the kind of...
BRONX BOY SMASHED BY FALLING BRICKS
A 10-year-old boy was seriously hurt after being bashed on the head by bricks that fell from the top of a building as he and pals walked home from school...
KOZ GAMBLES IN NO-WITNESS PLAN
Ex-Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski plans to rest his defense today without calling a single witness - and without taking the stand himself. The stunning strategic decision - made even more...
DA MAY CHARGE TEAM JACKO OVER MOM'S 'KIDNAP'
The district attorney prosecuting Michael Jackson on child-molestation charges is considering bringing obstruction and witness-tampering charges against two of Jacko's handlers, sources told The Post. Jackson was arrested in November...
2 BOYS IN TRUCK HORROR - BEST BUDDIES KILLED ON WAY HOME FROM B'KLYN SCHOOL
Two best friends were dragged to their deaths yesterday under a dump truck that slammed into them on their way home from elementary school - as horrified witnesses screamed at...
EX-WIFE OF CARLIE'S 'KILLER': LET HIM FRY
The ex-wife of the man suspected of kidnapping and killing 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in Florida thinks he's guilty - and hopes he gets the death penalty. "I believe it was...
SHOW BUZZ
IT didn't take long for Judith Nathan Giuliani to be noticed amid the masses at First Lady Laura Bush's presentation at the Bryant Park tents yesterday. Soon after arriving, Mrs....
'NYPD' THROUGH - TV 'BLUE' STREAK ENDS NEXT YEAR
"NYPD Blue" is turning in its badge next season. The veteran ABC cop drama, which premiered in 1993 and immediately shattered TV taboos, will end in spring 2005 after a...
CLASSROOM EXTRA: BLACK HISTORY EDITION - LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL
Before the civil rights movement kicked into high gear, Thurgood Marshall's legal muscle broke the wall of lawful segregation. Read about this important civil-rights giant. When noted personalities of the...
DOG TALE SWEEPS 6 FROM JAYSON'S SLAY TRIAL
SOMERVILLE, N.J. - The story of Jayson Williams shotgunning his Rottweiler guard dog to death led a judge yesterday to bounce six prospective jurors from the ex-NBA star's manslaughter trial,...
HE SHOULD FRY - EX-WIFE OF CARLIE'S 'KILLER' SAYS HE DESERVES DEATH
The ex-wife of suspected child killer Joseph Smith believes he kidnapped and murdered 11-year-old Carlie Brucia in Florida and hopes the ex-con gets the death penalty if he's found guilty....
PIRATES STUN PITT IN 2 OTS
DOUBLE OVERTIME: Seton Hall 68 - Pittsburgh 67 Andre Barrett and Carl Krauser went back-and-forth in a battle of Bronx rivals with last night's Seton Hall-Pittsburgh game hanging in the...
ISLES HAVEN'T OVERACHIEVED
DENVER - The fact that teams like Anaheim and Minnesota were able to do so well in last year's playoffs is not lost on the Islanders, who are looking to...
CLOSING THE DEAL - COUNT ON YANKEES RE-SIGNING MO SOON
Based on what happened the last time Mariano Rivera entered spring training a season away from free agency, there is a good chance the Yankees and the All-Star closer will...
STEVENS NOT SURE WHEN HE'LL RETURN
PHILADELPHIA - It will be five weeks tomorrow since Scott Stevens last suited up for a Devils game. While the captain is encouraged that he is making progress from post-concussion...
FRANKLY PERFECT - DETROIT BIGGEST TEST YET FOR NETS' 7-0 COACH
Just another mundane, ordinary, life-or-death game. Ho hum. The Nets, in terrorizing eight straight opponents, including seven under Lawrence Frank's coaching watch, have caught some breaks: They faced Philadelphia without...
K-MART'S WEEK JUST GOT BETTER
NET NOTES Kenyon Martin has added another honor: Player of the Week. The forward, voted to the All-Star team last week, yesterday was named the Eastern Conference player of the...
LOOIE ASSISTANT JOINS STORM STAFF
St. John's thought it had left its basketball team sufficiently staffed after coach Mike Jarvis and his son, assistant coach Mike Jarvis II, were fired on Dec. 19 and no...
HALL, ORR SET SIGHTS ON NCAA
Seton Hall coach Louis Orr said a team's character can be measured not only by how it responds to a big loss, but also by how it follows a big...
NOT DONE-HAM YET - BUT MIKE'S JOB STILL IN JEOPARDY
The GM meetings continue outside Las Vegas, and until further notice, the hunt for a goaltender to supplant Mike Dunham as No. 1 remains a publicly stated priority for the...
KNICKS HAVE THE CHIPS - FLUSH WITH TALENT, ISIAH'S DEALING
DEALING from weakness, Isiah Thomas was able to obtain Stephon Marbury when the Knicks were sinking out of the standings, because he was willing to relinquish draft picks, youth and...
-GRADY BOLSTERED BY WHITE'S RETURN (M)-WHITE BACK FOR GRADY (S, LCF)
Grady coach Mark Seltzberg already had a good team without Jamel White. After all, Grady won 15 league games and earned the No. 2 spot in the PSAL playoffs, which...
RED STORM ADDS LOOIE ASSISTANT
St. John's continued to get its house in order yesterday, holding preliminary discussions on hearings for five of the six players involved in Thursday morning's sexcapade in Pittsburgh, adding a...
NEW FACES AS METROS OPEN CAMP
The MetroStars' ongoing search for attacking players continues, and has led to them bringing Peter Ofori-Quaye to training camp today in Florida. Once regarded as a rising star in Africa,...
KNICKS HAVE .500 DREAMS
Rarely has the break-even point been a goal for the Knicks, mediocrity something to be striven for. But then again, rarely have they been in a hole as deep or...
COLLISION COURSE - KNICKS, NETS HEADED TOWARD PLAYOFF CLASH
THEY are on a collision course, don't worry. You can sense it. You can sniff it. Sometimes, that's all it takes. The Knicks and the Nets have already done what...
BIG DEAL IN WORKS - ISIAH HAS THE CHIPS TO GET MOHAMMED OR DAMPIER
Dealing from weakness, Isiah Thomas was able to obtain Stephon Marbury when the Knicks were sinking out of the standings, because he was willing to relinquish draft picks, youth and...