January 27, 2005

HERE'S A POP QUIZ TO CHECK YOUR BUSINESS NEWS SAVVY

GET out your pencils. Today we're going to have a pop quiz on business topics - and I am using that term loosely. Pass it and you're an MBA -...

FAO SCHWARZ CHIEF WELCH SAYS FAREWELL

The head of toy retailer FAO Schwarz - who took it through two bankruptcy ordeals in just one year - is stepping down. Jerry R. Welch, 54, had overseen the...

WRATH FOR KAHN - DISCORD OVER MAY EXEC SEEN 2 YRS. BEFORE OUSTER

Nearly two years before Gene Kahn was ousted as chairman and chief executive of the May Department Stores Co. in a surprise shakeup earlier this month, top-level management alerted board...

MINSKOFF WOOS FOODIE FAVE

Edward J. Minskoff told Professional Women in Construction yesterday he is in "serious discussions" with Whole Foods for 55,000 square feet on the street level of his new downtown residential...

SHYNE'S DEF JAM SCRAM

Imprisoned rapper Shyne is looking to bolt from Universal Music's Island Def Jam Records, where last year he signed a multimillion-dollar joint venture deal, after clashing with IDJ boss Antonio...

BEYONCE STARTS CLOTHING LINE

Beyonce Knowles has signed her first licensing agreement to produce a line of apparel for young women, the R&B diva said yesterday. The Tarrant Apparel Group, which makes clothes under...

PECKER PLANS SPRING CELEBRITY MAG ROLLOUT

American Media CEO David Pecker is working on a secret launch of a new celebrity lifestyle weekly, The Post has learned. Meanwhile, rumors are swirling that a European suitor is...

SIMMONS GOES INTO REFUND BIZ

Russell Simmons' financial services company, UniRush, and Intuit, the maker of the Turbo Tax software, plan to jointly launch a Web site today designed to make it easier for young...

NYSE MULLS PLAN FOR EARLY-MORNING TRADING

New York Stock Exchange traders could score big by investing in alarm clocks - they may soon start working two hours earlier. The head of the Big Board wants to...

NO SNOW JOB FOR PARIS

No thanks - Paris Hilton won't get a rise out of the economy, says Treasury Secretary John Snow. Snow turned down a request to hire the hot hotel heiress as...

WRATH OVER KAHN AT MAY

Nearly two years before Gene Kahn was ousted as chairman and chief executive of the May Department Stores Co. in a surprise shakeup earlier this month, top-level management alerted board...

DEF JAM FEUD - RAPPER SHYNE WANTS TO EXIT L.A. REID'S LABEL

Imprisoned rapper Shyne is looking to bolt from Universal Music's Island Def Jam Records, where last year he signed a multimillion-dollar joint venture deal, after clashing with IDJ boss Antonio...

NYSE MULLS PLAN FOR EARLY A.M. TRADING

New York Stock Exchange traders could score big by investing in alarm clocks - they may soon start working two hours earlier. The head of the Big Board wants to...

PUMPING UP ARNIE - LIGHTWEIGHT VERSION OF GOVERNATOR'S STORY

ARNOLD Schwarzenegger's has had one hell of a life. In fact, the man who went from an Austrian women-groping, body-building, steroid-taking, Kennedy-marrying, marijuana-toking action hero to governor of California is...

'ARISTOCRATS' HAS THE HOI POLLOI IN STITCHES

PARK CITY, Utah - "The Aristocrats," the most talked-about - and probably the funniest - film at the Sundance Film Festival, is so filthy, it cannot be fully described in...

'BRIGHT EYES,' DIM DEMEANOR

IT'S all about timing. Take the sudden success of Bright Eyes, who's playing at Town Hall this week. In the heat of pop-tart art that dominated music for the last...

STARR REPORT

Cough it up, dude Always keep in mind that things aren't always what they appear to be - especially on reality shows. Case in point: Last week's episode of "The...

P.D.Q. GETS HIS (N.Y.) PHIL

PDQ Bach's sober half is getting a new gig - with the New York Philharmonic. Peter Schickele - commentator, composer and cutup - will host three "inside looks" at the...

CARSON'S LAST REGRETS UP IN SMOKE

JOHNNY Carson died in the hospital, surrounded by his wife and two sons, People magazine is reporting. Carson, who died last Sunday at the age of 79, passed away at...

GANGSTA AT THE TOP OF HIS GAME

THERE'S a new Game in town. Dr. Dre protégé The Game, a k a Jayceon Taylor, crowned Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart this week, selling nearly 587,000 copies of his...

MELODY LINGERS - LIP SYNC AND BOWL BOOS SHOW UP ON 'ASHLEE' SHOW

ASHLEE Simpson gets to relive her "Saturday Night Live" lip-syncing horror show all over again for the next two weeks. Last night's season premiere of MTV's "The Ashlee Simpson Show"...

TOO MANY MEN, TOO LITTLE PRIME

ONE of Tara Reid's image challenges is her tendency to be photographed with a different himbo - chiefly heirs and athletes - every month. Lately, she's even outdoing pal Paris...

LUXE LANDS DOWNTOWN - AS POSH REAL ESTATE ROLLS OVER LOWER EAST SIDE, LOCALS LAMENT LOST BARS AND PRICEY CHICKEN

JASON Gordon, a 27-year-old book publicist whose blog, ProductshopNYC, covers the downtown music scene, says he knew the Lower East Side was over when "one of my mom's friends had...

CONDI CONFIRMED - BUT 13 SENATORS VOTE NO

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted yesterday to confirm Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state, with New York Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer both endorsing her for the post....

WEIRD BUT TRUE

An estranged hubby took out a full-page newspaper ad costing $17,000 to ask his wife for forgiveness. "I can only hope you will give me the chance to prove my...

31 FEWER GOOD MEN - MARINES PAY FREEDOM'S PRICE

YESTERDAY, our country lost 31 patriots at one blow. A Marine Corps transport helicopter went down in the dark in western Iraq. There were no survivors. While the crash is...

'NEW' HILLARY'S STRANGE SECRET

EARLIER this week, Hillary Clinton gave a speech that had jaws dropping cross the nation. The New York Times ran the story on Page One, and pundits far and wide...

FERRY'S NEW GUY SETS SAIL

The Guy V. Molinari - the first Staten Island ferry named after a living official - made its maiden voyage yesterday, with the former borough president himself and Mayor Bloomberg...

POL: MAKE REPORT CARDS CARRY 'WEIGHT'

ALBANY - A Brooklyn state lawmaker wants to require schools to grade kids on their weight in addition to their academics. Under legislation introduced by Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, schools twice...

BLOODY KNIFE FRENZY - BEAU STABS GAL: COPS

A Queens man in a jealous rage stabbed his girlfriend after catching her on the phone with another man, then plunged the knife into his chest, police said. Erroll Watson...

L.I. RX PLAN PITCHED TO CITY

Nassau's discount-prescription card has been an "amazing success," and New York City could easily set up a similar program, the county's comptroller said yesterday. Testifying before the City Council's Health...

SHARON REBUKES WORLD ON HOLOCAUST

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz with a sharp condemnation for the world that "didn't lift a finger" to stop...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

QUEENS * Police yesterday released a photo of a woman (above) who held up a Laurelton bank, making off with thousands of dollars. The unidentified suspect walked into a Bank...

31 DIE IN IRAQ COPTER CRASH - DEADLIEST DAY FOR U.S. TROOPS

A U.S. Marine helicopter crashed in severe sandstorms in western Iraq yesterday, killing 31 troops on the deadliest day for American forces since the war began. Six other U.S. servicemen...

MYSTERY OF B'KLYN BLIZZARD BODY

Police are investigating the death of a Brooklyn livery driver whose body was found yesterday in a car buried in a snow bank. John Sperenza, 70, was discovered at 10:30...

BUSH GIVES WARNING TO IRAN & SYRIA

President Bush yesterday bluntly told Iran to butt out of Iraq's historic elections coming up Sunday - and warned Syria against doing anything to destabilize Iraq. "The Iranians should not...

TIMES STALLS ON METRO DEAL

The New York Times is delaying its controversial bid to buy a stake in a free daily newspaper that has come under fire for alleged racism and discrimination at the...

MR. SOFTEE PLEDGES CONES OF SILENCE

Mister Softee is going soft on the city's plan to ban the ice cream truck's trademark jingle. Last year, Mayor Bloomberg proposed to ban the jingle as part of a...

AMBULANCE HITS BICYCLIST

A Queens ambulance rushing to a medical emergency slammed into a bicyclist yesterday, police and witnesses said. The collision - which totaled the rescue vehicle and left the rider hospitalized...

N.J. GOV: I'LL SOCK JOCK WHO CALLS MY WIFE CRAZY

New Jersey Gov. Richard Codey yesterday came out swinging at a shock jock who suggested on the air that the state's first lady was "crazy" because she once suffered from...

THESE SPECTACULAR STALLIONS CAN BE HARD TO TAME

THE massive Sea Stallions that lift brave Marines across the bloody Iraqi battlefields are like a marvelous thoroughbred: breathtaking, powerful - but sometimes unpredictable. In Iraq during the war, I...

MILLER GETTING KEY MINORITY ENDORSEMENTS

City Council Speaker Gifford Miller is about to get endorsements from several of his minority and outer-borough colleagues, giving a boost to his mayoral campaign, sources told The Post. Miller...

BEEP RIPS MIKE ON MINORITY JOBS

Without mentioning the mayor's name, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields yesterday painted the Big Apple as a city in which minorities and those who live outside Manhattan aren't included...

WOULD-BE INSURANCE BOSS MIA FROM PANEL

ALBANY - Gov. Pataki's choice to head the Insurance Department was a no-show at 75 percent of meetings of the Assembly Insurance Committee last year, official records show. Former Orange...

HOSP DRIVER RAPED - BY VAN STOWAWAY

A female ambulette driver was carjacked and raped yesterday by a man who apparently sneaked into her vehicle as she was dropping off a patient at a Long Island hospital,...

WTC 'NAZI'-CRACK PROF TO SPEAK

An upstate college that once offered a job to a would-be terrorist bomber has invited a professor who likened World Trade Center victims to Nazis to head a panel discussion....

QNS. MAN'S ROCKY TIME NEARS END

A first-time offender who was busted in 1999 for trying to smuggle cocaine in his shoes yesterday became the first convict in Queens County to get a reprieve in the...

CRUSADE VS. RICE FREEZING OUT BLACK DEMS

IT'S not just Republicans who are livid at how Democrats have ripped into Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice - so are plenty of black Democrats, who say their party now...

COPS SHOOT DISTRAUGHT BX. TEEN

Bronx cops shot an emotionally disturbed teenager who tried to stab them with a kitchen knife, authorities said yesterday. Police were called to the Castle Hill apartment of Nicholas Martin,...

GIRL'S KIN TO SUE OVER PLOW DEATH

The family of a 10-year-old girl who apparently was killed by a snow plow outside her Brooklyn apartment, is looking to sue the city, their lawyer said yesterday. "As soon...

PAROLEE KILLS QNS. MAN: COPS

An ex-con - released from prison just months ago after serving 15 years for shooting three people - killed a man he mistakenly thought was dating his girlfriend, police and...

@#$! YOU, JUAN, CRIES VICTIM TO LANDLORD

A Queens tenant, slashed to within an inch of his life on the orders of a greedy landlord, cursed out the convicted mastermind yesterday as he was sentenced to 44...

BILL'S 'FORE' PLAY STOGIE - CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR

What's Bill Clinton - on the mend from quadruple bypass surgery - doing with that big, fat stogie in his mouth? The former president raised eyebrows as he played 18...

SENATOR 'SLUGGO' IN ACTION - BILL WOULD HIDE BUSTS

ALBANY - A Brooklyn state senator, recently charged with punching a city traffic agent in the face, has quietly introduced legislation that would bar public access to some arrest records,...

TY, TY AGAIN FOR JUROR - KOZ-TRIA HOLDOUT S BACK

She's ba-aaaack! The Tyco embezzlement trial's notorious "holdout granny" - whose bizarre hand gestures spiraled into last year's mistrial - returned to court yesterday for opening statements in the retrial...

MURDER INC. RAP - LABEL DUO WASHED THUG MONEY: FEDS

Two hip-hop mogul brothers who adopted mobster John Gotti's name and turned Murder Inc. into a platinum-selling label stayed true to the moniker, forming a brutal alliance with a drug...

KELLY TAKES HEAT OFF HOMELESS IN 'C' FIRE

The fire that crippled A and C subway service for the next nine months may have been deliberately set by someone other than a vagrant and is being investigated as...

WRONG-MAN INMATE SUES FOR $22M

A Bronx man who served 17 years for a murder he didn't commit yesterday slapped the city with a $22 million suit. The sole witness who testified against Don Taylor...

HEARTBREAK OF PREGNANT FDNY WIFE AS HUBBY FIGHTS FOR SURVIVAL

FIREFIGHTER Eugene Stolowski is fighting desperately for his life in the face of horrible injuries from the "Black Sunday" Bronx fire, and his wife, Brigid, is seven months pregnant -...

O.J. MAN HOOKED - 'MADAM' HIRES SHAPIRO

The accused Upper East Side madam has lawyered up - hiring no less an attorney than former O.J. Simpson legal eagle Robert Shapiro to fight charges she ran a multimillion-dollar...

SUICIDAL WACKO KILLS 10 IN L.A. - TRAIN HITS CAR HE PARKED ON TRACKS

A deranged, suicidal man drove his SUV onto railroad tracks yesterday, triggering a crash that killed 10 people when a Los Angeles commuter train smashed into the vehicle, derailed and...

A TOWERING TALENT - ARCHITECT JOHNSON DEAD AT 98

Philip Johnson, the owlish and legendary dean of U.S. architecture who defined American modernism with his see-through skyscrapers and revolutionary Glass House, has died at age 98. Johnson, who underwent...

LUCKY FIREFIGHTERS WERE AT THE END OF THEIR ROPE

Two firefighter buddies who survived Sunday's fatal Bronx fire have one another - and a 10-foot rope - to thank, the retired fire-chief dad of one of the heroes told...

UNION AND POST LAUNCH FUND FOR COMRADES' KIN

The New York Post today is launching a special Uniformed Firefighters Association fund to help the families of the three city firemen killed in the line of duty last Sunday,...

HERALD SQUARE SLASHER GETS 25 YEARS

A knife-wielding maniac was sent to jail for 25 years yesterday for randomly stabbing four strangers in Herald Square last May. It's a miracle that all of José DeJesus' victims...

SUICIDAL WACKO KILLS 11 IN L.A. - TRAIN HITS SUV HE LEFT ON TRACKS

A deranged, suicidal man drove his SUV onto railroad tracks yesterday, triggering a crash that killed at least 11 people when a Los Angeles commuter train smashed into the vehicle,...

'PUNCH' POL IN ACTION - BILL WOULD HIDE BUSTS

ALBANY - A Brooklyn state senator, recently charged with punching a city traffic agent in the face, has quietly introduced legislation that would bar public access to some arrest records,...

CONDI CONFIRMED - BUT 13 VOTE NO ON STATE PICK

WASHINGTON - The Senate yesterday confirmed Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state, with New York Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer endorsing her for the post. But, in a...

1ST PRISONER ESCAPE OF '05

A prisoner escaped from police custody in The Bronx last night after he slipped out of his handcuffs and barged out of a transport van, police said. The man ran...

4 CITY KIDS IN NATIONAL SCI FINALS

Four Big Apple high-school students are among 40 teen geniuses nationwide who will vie for $530,000 in scholarships as finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search, competition officials announced yesterday....

BOGUS BUCK TEENS - 'PRINTED OUT' $$

Three Long Island high-school kids deserve an F in counterfeiting: The homemade bills they printed were so pathetic, they made Monopoly money look genuine, cops said yesterday. But one of...

CRAZED STABBER

A Queens man in a jealous rage stabbed his girlfriend after catching her on the phone with another man, then plunged the knife into his chest, police said. Erroll Watson...

SHE'S BA-AAACK! - 'JUROR NO. 4' AT KOZ RETRIAL

The Tyco embezzlement trial's notorious "holdout granny" - whose bizarre hand gestures spiraled into last year's mistrial - returned to court yesterday for opening statements in the retrial that her...

HEAD OF THE CRASS - 'WTC NAZI' PROF INVITED

An upstate college that once offered a job to a would-be terrorist bomber has now invited a professor who likened World Trade Center victims to Nazis to headline a panel...

WATER SNAFU AT POSH HOTEL

Le Parker Meridien hotel is in hot water after a bottle of water given to a guest reportedly had ammonia in it. Kenneth Klinger, 51, ordered the water with room...

'BOSS' TWEED AND THE TAMMANY MACHINE

Today's lesson takes a look at one of New York's most infamous characters who was also one of the most corrupt politicians in history, William "boss" Tweed. You've probably heard...

BOGUS BUCK TEENS - 'PRINTED OUT" $$

Three Long Island highschool kids deserve an F in counterfeiting: The homemade bills they printed were so pathetic, they made Monopoly money look genuine, cops said yesterday. But one of...

'@#$% YOU, JUAN!' - TENANT'S LAST LAUGH

A Queens tenant, slashed to within an inch of his life on the orders of a greedy landlord, cursed out the convicted mastermind yesterday as he was sentenced to 44...

MYSTERY OF BLIZZARD BODY

Police are investigating what killed the Brooklyn livery cab driver whose body was found yesterday in a car buried in a snow bank since last weekend's blizzard. John Sperenza, 70,...

ARIEL SLAMS THE FAILURE TO ACT ON HOLOCAUST

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon marked the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz with a sharp condemnation for the world that "didn't lift a finger" to stop...

POST HELPING LAUNCH UFA $$ FUND TO AID KIN

The New York Post today is launching a special Uniformed Firefighters Association fund to help the families of the three city firemen killed in the line of duty last Sunday,...

METS' SPANISH SOUNDTRACK IS HIT WITH REYES

When the Mets open spring training in three weeks, there will be a distinct Latin flavor about the team and that's something that excites the team's Dominican shortstop, Jose Reyes....

PITCHING STILL KEY TO SEASON

AFTER a dizzying offseason in which they seized Carlos Beltran and Pedro Martinez, missed out on Carlos Delgado, re-energized what had been a demoralized fan base, and angered the rest...

BELTRAN LIKES THE LINEUP

Carlos Beltran doesn't second-guess Carlos Delgado's decision to spurn the Mets for the Marlins, but Beltran gladly defended his own team yesterday. Beltran took issue with Delgado's notion the Marlins...

COLLINS' HEALTH, POSSIBLE TRADE NOT MOVING FORWARD

NET NOTES OAKLAND - The guy the Nets have at power forward, Jason Collins, was questionable for last night here with a sore hamstring. The guy they want to back...

DARK DAZE - INCONSISTENCY NETS PROBLEMS

OAKLAND - There have been worse mid-point records by the Nets. Just not too many recently. So even though extenuating circumstances lurked at every turn, the 15-26 record that the...

ISIAH VOWS TO FIGHT ON

Approaching the longest skid in Knick history, team president Isiah Thomas yesterday vowed his skidding club won't give up on the season and settle for the NBA lottery. However, Thomas...

HILLS ARE ALIVE - WITH BARGAINS

IF you did not have skiing on your mind prior to last weekend, you do now. It's amazing what a foot or two of snowfall can do when it falls...

CRAWFORD COULD BE KNICK KEY

The Knicks are mired in a seven-game slide, and tumbling toward utter implosion. Jamal Crawford - arguably their greatest hope for any long-range turnaround - is defending like his man...

HOLMES WANTS TO PUT FOREMAN ON THE GRILL

Larry Holmes hasn't given up his quest to lure George Foreman into the ring for a fight, though both former heavyweight champions are deep in their 50s and look more...

HOU TOPIC OF RETIRE TALK

Knick President Isiah Thomas raised the possibility yesterday of Allan Houston retiring if he's unable to get healthy this season. "I think Allan has to make that decision himself in...

RAMS FEELING GROWIN' PAINS

Dereck Whittenburg bristled at the word. "No," he said, this is definitely not a "rebuilding" year for Fordham. "Building," Whittenburg said before last night's game against Temple at Rose Hill...

METS' TRADE FILLS 1ST BASE AT LAST - GET MIENTKIEWICZ IN RED SOX DEAL

According to Omar Minaya, Doug Mientkiewicz probably is the final major piece of what you'll see from the Mets on Opening Day. Yesterday evening, Minaya announced a trade for Mientkiewicz...

TIME FOR NHL POWER PLAY - MODERATE OWNERS COULD PUSH DEAL

THIS is the central question: Are there enough moderate NHL owners, and do they possess enough power to push Gary Bettman, the hawks on the Board and, ultimately, the league...

NYRA AXES 6 SIMULCAST OUTLETS

The New York Racing Association has notified six additional simulcast outlets that it is terminating their contracts, effective Jan. 31. The action is a follow-up to last week's announcement, when...

DOUG: NOT HAVING BALL

Following too many questions about the infamous piece of World Series memorabilia still in his possession, new Mets first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz finally snapped. "We should be talking about the...

NETS HOPE TO CATCH 7-FOOTER ELDEN CAMPBELL

NET NOTES OAKLAND - The Nets lost one big man, Jason Collins who sat with a strained right hamstring that will undergo an MRI today. But they could be adding...

FORDHAM PULLS OFF SHOCKER

Fordham 54 - Temple 47 The Fordham student section tried to storm the court last night at Rose Hill Gym, only to be rebuffed by security. They wanted so much...

NETS BATTLE PAST WARRIORS - SCALABRINE BURIES GOLDEN STATE

Nets 113 - Warriors 99 OAKLAND - Eight was enough. With another injury, this time to Jason Collins who sat with a strained hamstring, the Nets were as deep as...

OWENS TO FLY LIKE AN EAGLE ... IF TRAINING STAFF OVERRULES DOCTOR

PHILADELPHIA - Terrell Owens has not been cleared for the Super Bowl but will play nevertheless, if the Eagles can clear their consciences to put him out there. Owens only...