March 2, 2005
ROD STEWART TO KICK OFF STREET BENEFIT
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amMusic, money and fine dining are hooking up to benefit Lower Manhattan, restaurateur Giuseppe Cipriani and jeweler De Grisogono announced yesterday. Each month, chart-topping musicians will stop by Cipriani's historic...
'MEMOGATE' PUSHED DAN OUT EARLY: LES
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amCBS chief Les Moonves, says that Dan Rather might have stuck around behind the anchor desk for a 25th year, had the newsman not been at the center of "Memogate"...
THIS JURY WILL MAKE BERNIE PAY
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amTHE funniest line to come out of Bernie Ebbers' trial yesterday was when Judge Barbara Jones told the jury - including a man in the second row in dark glasses...
EX-YES CEO SETS NEW $ FIRM
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amFormer YES Network CEO Leo Hindery is launching a private investment firm that will specialize in the media industry. InterMedia Advisors will have such luminaries on its advisory board as...
FOUNDER OF CITI QUITS CORCORAN
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amCITI Habitats founder Andrew Heiberger is resigning as president to pursue development opportunities. But Heiberger will remain involved in the company's integration with The Corcoran Group with the title Senior...
TOP EXEC QUITS BLOOMBERG AFTER MANAGEMENT SHUFFLE
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amTHE brain drain continues at Bloomberg L.P., the information and media giant founded by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In the latest high-level departure, David Wachtel, who was in charge of the...
BLIND MAN'S BLUFF - EBBERS: I 'JUST DIDN'T SEE' $2B DISCREPANCY
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amIt's a wonder nobody stole Bernard Ebbers' chair out from under him. The former WorldCom CEO testified yesterday at the $11 billion fraud trial that he failed to notice during...
MARTHA'S PUBLISHER QUITS MAG
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amMartha Stewart Living Omnimedia's long-time publisher, Suzanne Sobel, resigned suddenly yesterday, clearing the way for new faces to begin trying to sell the company's embattled magazines to the advertising community....
DOLANS DIVIDED - FATHER, SON DUKE IT OUT IN MEMOS OVER VOOM
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amThe family feud at Cablevision has escalated, with father and son putting out dueling memos over the future of the money-losing satellite-television service Voom. In a memorandum to employees and...
MARTHA LOSES ED.
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amMartha Stewart Living Omnimedia's long-time publisher, Suzanne Sobel, resigned suddenly yesterday, clearing the way for new faces to begin trying to sell the company's embattled magazines to the advertising community....
SETTLING AN OLD SCORE
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amTHE Red Orchestra was the name the Nazis gave to a Berlin resistance group - labeled traitors and communists by the Gestapo - that fought Hitler from 1933 to 1942....
VILLAGE SQUARES
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amI'M often asked: "Why don't you review more restaurants in the West Village? What have you got against all those charming bistros and cute trattorias?" Well, most places in the...
TV GURU TYLER TO OPEN UP
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amTV chef Tyler Florence has been taking a lot of ribbing from peers who don't have cameras in their kitchens. "He's not a real chef, but he plays one on...
SHTICK 'N' SPAM - PYTHON NUTS GO CRAZY FOR MUSICAL
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amFIRST came the Trekkies, then the "Rocky Horror Show" and "Lord of the Rings" nuts. Brace yourself now for the Spamheads - the Monty Python fans who throng Shubert Alley,...
PLAY SIMON SAYS - NEIL'S 'REWRITES' MAY HIT THE STAGE
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amMANY of Neil Simon's most popular plays have been autobiographical. "Brighton Beach Memoirs, "Biloxi Blues," "Broadway Bound" were drawn from his childhood in Brooklyn and his coming of age at...
GUNNING FOR ROB & AMBER
March 2, 2005 | 5:00am'BOSTON - Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich may have conquered "Survivor," but they could get clobbered by the competition on "The Amazing Race," which began last night on CBS. "I'm...
STARR REPORT
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amRivers of ratings Joan Rivers and Melissa Rivers led TV Guide Channel to its best ratings ever last Sunday during their red-carpet Oscars coverage. Their pre-Oscars show, "Joan & Melissa...
SNIFFOWICZ - 'NYPD' GOES OUT WITH ANDY ON TOP
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amNICE work today - and yesterday and all the preceding days, too, over the course of 12 great seasons. "Nice work today" - those were the last words uttered by...
BUY ME - 'RUNWAY' FASHIONS HIT AUCTION BLOCK
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amYou have until 9 tonight to bid on outfits like the one shown here from last week's "Project Runway" finale on Bravo. The dress, one of the 12 creations designed...
'JURY' TO THE LETTER OF THE 'LAW'
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amJust when you thought there was no room left for yet another "Law & Order," here comes another "Law & Order" - proving once and for all that Andy Warhol...
SOUL SURVIVOR - ROCKER JUANES BRAVES THE BAD TIMES AND RISES TO GLORY
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amEVERY morning, Colombian rocker Juanes says a prayer of thanks for his enormous blessings: two multi-platinum selling albums, nine Latin Grammys, sold-out concerts, a loving wife, a healthy baby girl...
CHAMPAGNE TASTE, BEER BUDGET
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amTHINGS are looking up for foodies whose palates outclass their pocketbooks. In recent weeks, high-end eateries including The Modern, Aquavit and BLT Fish have opened lower-price alternatives, whether next door...
COPS HUNT CAGEY PARROT PIRATE
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amLong Island police - armed with surveillance photos - are searching for the perpetrator who pirated a pair of parrots from a Petco in Patchogue. The unidentified man broke a...
TERRORIST VS. TERRORIST
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amOSAMA bin Laden gets it. The terror-master understands that the campaign of bombings and assassinations has backfired in Iraq, erasing popular support for Islamist fanatics and unleashing the forces of...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amThere's got to be an easier way than this to get a drink and a smoke! A Wisconsin woman dug up her ex-boyfriend's remains and swiped a pack of cigarettes...
GET A FARE DEAL - FIND OUT IF MONTHLY METROCARD IS RIGHT FOR YOU
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amStraphangers who buy monthly MetroCards should count their trips and keep the number 45 in mind. Here's how the new MetroMath works: A typical month has 21 workdays - or...
GREEN LIGHT FOR YELLOW-CAB TECH
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amThe city has started the process of bringing its 12,787 yellow cabs into the high-tech age, The Post has learned. The Taxi and Limousine Commission put out a request yesterday...
MIKE: NO VOW ON TAX HIKES
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amRead Mayor Bloomberg's lips: no promises when it comes to possible tax hikes. "Nobody could prudently predict what would go on in the future," Bloomberg said when asked at a...
'B'-SIEGED GOV SEES HIS FISCAL GRADE $LIP A NOTCH
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Gov. Pataki's handling of state finances during his tenure has earned him an overall B grade, according to a leading conservative group. The Cato Institute, which yesterday released...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amMANHATTAN * An off-duty rookie cop last night busted a man he saw molesting a 5-year-old girl on a subway train, police said. Edel Sanchez, who graduated from the Academy...
KEEP RAPIST ON ICE
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amRAPIST Alex Kelly wants out - early. He's applied for parole half way through his 16-year sentence for the rape and sodomy of a 17-year-old girl. Apparently, he feels that...
TRAGIC WENDY'S KIN PLEA
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amALBANY - The brother of a man killed during the 2000 Wendy's massacre in Queens yesterday joined with state Senate leaders in calling for the restoration of the death penalty....
CITY TRYING TO RETURN $13M
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amIt sounds like the typical New York City scam: Call this number and you'll collect as much as $50,000. Only this time, it's legit. In fact, it's the City of...
CONDI BLASTS SYRIA - LINKS IT TO BOMB
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday there was "firm evidence" that terrorists based in Syria helped plan last week's bombing in Israel - "and the Syrians have a lot...
DEATH FOR UNDER-18S KO'D
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amA sharply split U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday that states cannot execute murderers under the age of 18 - sparing the lives of dozens of young killers, including convicted Washington...
FEDS PROBE STERN PAL'S SIRIUS CASH WINDFALL
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amInvestigators looking into insider-trading allegations in the blockbuster deal between Howard Stern and Sirius Radio are checking out reported boasts by the shock jock's limo driver that he profited from...
QUEENS FATHER SLAIN - DRUNK PUNK BUSTED
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amA Queens man on his way home from work fixing school buses was beaten to death early yesterday in front of his home by a drunk teenager looking for a...
LEONA'S 'DEATH THREAT' - AIDE'S CHILLING CLAIM
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amHell hath no fury like Leona Helmsley scorned - her former chief operating officer said he received death threats and had his home ransacked after he allegedly led on the...
SNOW & FREEZING TEMPS MARCH ON
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amIt's two weeks to spring, but Old Man Winter refuses to loosen his grip on the Big Apple. There's a 30 percent chance of snow today, and tomorrow's temperatures won't...
STREET-VEND 'GRAFT' COPS TURN IN GUNS
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amTwo NYPD detectives under investigation for allegedly participating in a peddler graft scam were stripped of their guns and badges yesterday and placed on modified assignment, law-enforcement sources said. The...
OH, GHALI: EX-U.N. BIG RIPPED FOR OILY TACTICS
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali worked against U.S.-backed sanctions against Saddam Hussein - and even had an Iraqi Ba'athist advising him on Middle East policy, a former U.N....
MIKE'S STADIUM FLIP: I'LL CONSIDER QUEENS
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amIn a surprising new twist, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday said for the first time that he would "consider" the possibility of an Olympic stadium in Queens instead of on Manhattan's West...
DAD NEVER HIT SAMURAI KID: BUDDY
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amThe ex-partner of a retired NYPD cop allegedly killed with a samurai sword by his stepson says he was a great dad who "never laid a hand on" his son....
SLAY-VICTIM SISTER'S ANGUISHED SEARCH
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amThe sister of a Chinese food deliveryman savagely beaten and stabbed to death a year ago told a jury yesterday how she frantically pounded on the door of the Queens...
DIS-CREDITED 'ROYAL' IN COURT
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amShe didn't leave home without it, and now prosecutors want pretend princess Antoinette Millard to go to jail because of it. Millard, 41 - an alleged con woman who once...
FOSSET'S HIGH DRAMA - TURBULENT AIR SCARE
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amAfter two scary hours of flying blind, Atlantic turbulence and endless, ear-splitting noise, Steve Fossett was racing across the Middle East last night in a bid to become the first...
'SANTERIA FIRE' KILLER PLEADS GUILTY
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amA Bronx woman admitted yesterday she killed a client who came to her for a Santeria-like cleansing ritual - which went horribly wrong when the victim burst into flames. Mildred...
B'KLYN SHEIK IS LINKED TO QAEDA CAMP
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amJurors in Brooklyn got a chilling insider's look at life at an al Qaeda training camp - complete with two visits from Osama bin Laden - as the ringleader of...
LOVER DUMPED KILLER COP
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amThe cop who fatally shot his longtime girlfriend before putting a bullet in his head had been arguing with her over another woman - who had already dumped him, police...
OH, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! DON'T LET FREAK FOOL YOU
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amSANTA MARIA, Calif. - Pass the Kleenex, Jacko's having a moment. And don't forget to remind him to watch his mascara. It was Michael Jackson's turn to cry. And he...
JACKO IS BLUBBER BOY - TEARS UP WHILE WATCHING SELF TALK ABOUT KIDS
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amA trembling Michael Jackson quietly wept in court yesterday as prosecutors at his kiddie-sex trial played a controversial video in which he openly talked of sleeping with young boys. As...
LANDLORD: I KILLED MY TENANT
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amA Queens landlord admitted fatally beating a 64-year-old tenant, pleading guilty to manslaughter in exchange for a 17-year sentence, prosecutors said yesterday. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said the landlord,...
KOBE SETTLES SEX SUIT - $$ DEAL DUE BY WEEKEND
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amThe final buzzer has sounded on the civil lawsuit brought against basketball star Kobe Bryant by the Colorado hotel worker who accused him of rape two years ago, a published...
BIG TROUBLE FOR LIL' KIM AS EX-PALS ROLL OVER
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amLil' Kim's one-time friends - members of the hip-hop band Junior M.A.F.I.A. - will become rats by testifying against the racy rapper in her perjury trial, prosecutors said in opening...
NICOLE DIED FOR SMILING - 'SLAY' CREEPS PICKED ON HAPPY VICTIM
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amHer happiness doomed her. Slain actress Nicole duFresne had a smile on her face as she strolled a Lower East Side street after a night of partying - and it...
1ST SHOTS IN NEW RAP WAR - 'FITTY' IN THE CROSS HAIRS
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amCops fear a new war has broken out in the trigger-happy world of hip-hop after gunmen sprayed 50 Cent's offices with gunfire and shot a rival rapper's sidekick outside a...
BUS-TED - BLOODS BEAT DRIVER - AND HE'S CHARGED; BEAT-UP BUS DRIVER IS CHARGED
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amTwo teen gang members beat a Bronx bus driver so badly, he wound up in the hospital - where cops shocked the battered man by filing charges against him because...
QAEDA 'CAMP' WITNESS IN B'KLYN
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amJurors in Brooklyn got a chilling insider's look at life at an al Qaeda training camp - complete with two visits from Osama bin Laden - as the ringleader of...
SURVIVOR CAN'T RECALL MADISON AVE. MURDER
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amThe man who was shot in the head in last month's Madison Avenue love-triangle slaying remembers nothing of the horrible attack that left his fiancée dead, police sources said. Victim...
MEET LOB-ZILLA - 22-LB. ANCIENT CRUSTACEAN
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amHe's a lobster, but he'd make a whale of a meal. But don't start melting butter or putting on your bib: the massive, 22- pound crustacean, plucked from the icy...
DOGS ZAPPED ON FIFTH AVE.
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amCon Ed repairmen are checking defective cables near a Fifth Avenue building after alert doormen reported seeing several dogs getting shocked yesterday. Anthony Purcell and Carlos Valencia, who work at...
E!GADS - TV TRIAL A MOCK-ERY
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amJust when you thought the trial of Michael (No Nose Nannette) Jackson couldn't get any weirder than it already is, it did. Last night, E! began airing "The Michael Jackson...
QNS. CARJACKER STEALS SUV - AND TWO LITTLE GIRLS
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amA Queens toddler and her sister were taken for a terror ride last night when a thief snatched their mom's SUV with them still inside, police said. The kids, 3...
AN ANGEL IN IRAQ
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amMargaret Hassan was a champion of the Iraqi people long before the current conflict. Her dedication cost her her life. When Iraq was hardly a household word to most Americans,...
LINDSAY BARES ANGUISH
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amTeen queen Lindsay Lohan says her hard-living, lawbreaking dad has absolutely no right to claim a share of her earnings, because "he didn't do anything for my career." The sexy...
'FREE' . . . BUT NOT EASY - CAP-LIMITED JINTS MUST BE PRUDENT TO FILL THEIR HOLES
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amThe high-stakes bidding war began at midnight and really gets cooking today, when the NFL's free agency signing period commences and the Giants make their first stab at improving a...
TOWERS OF TRUTH - PADRES GM ADMITS HE SUSPECTED CAMINITI WAS ON 'ROIDS IN SAN DIEGO
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amTAMPA - For the first time in this steroid-suffocated spring, we have a lone voice of contrition emanating from the wilderness. For the first time, in the middle of a...
ROENICK TO UNION: I'M SORRY
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amTORONTO - Mutiny averted. Even loose cannon Jeremy Roenick apologetically jumped back aboard the Good Ship Goodenow, still headed who knows where, just more uniformly. Roenick yesterday admitted exclusively to...
STEROID POLICY TAKES EFFECT - TESTING UNDER NEW PLAN COULD BEGIN AS SOON AS TOMORROW
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amAs representatives from Major League Baseball and the Players Association hammer out the final details of the new steroid testing policy, testers can begin their descent on Florida and Arizona...
BOY IN THE BUBBLE - RANDY CAN'T AVOID QUESTIONS ABOUT HEALTH
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amTAMPA - Randy Johnson thinks this is a New York thing. He shakes his head and figures this is just another big-city intrusion, like a cameraman asking him questions on...
NET 'FOOLISHNESS' IRRITATED ALONZO
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amAlonzo Mourning felt stuck in "foolishness," a situation he is glad to escape in Miami, where he'll continue his quest for an NBA title. Mourning signed with the Heat yesterday,...
BROWN DAZZLES IN FIRST OUTING
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amTAMPA - Kevin Brown couldn't wait to pitch again, and now we see why. A volunteer for yesterday's intrasquad clash, Brown worked two scoreless innings and struck out three, allowing...
ALMONTE'S PICKOFF MOVE HAS RIPPLE EFFECT
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amDennis Canale has no shortage of talent at Xaverian, with baseball players from throughout the area trying to attend the school that won the CHSAA title a year ago. Former...
GARY BREAKS HIS ICY GLARE
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amGARY Bettman's leadership of the NHL might in itself be an oxymoronic concept, but the fact of the matter is that - likely for the first time throughout the months...
BOSS MAY WORK ON GARY PACT
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amYANKEE NOTES TAMPA - George Steinbrenner wouldn't reveal anything from his recent conversation with Gary Sheffield, but the Boss indicated he might do something about the disgruntled slugger's contract. "We'll...
YEARN TO LEARN PUTS CARTER AT HEAD OF CLASS
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amWhile shooting free throws as yesterday's Nets practice came to an end, Vince Carter was informed he had earned NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Month honors. Seven weeks after...
TINY TIM NO MORE - THOMAS STEPS UP FOR KNICKS
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amTim Thomas represented all that was wrong with the Knicks. Obscenely overpaid. Underachieving. Defensively deficient. The biggest enigma of an enigmatic franchise. There is a renaissance happening now with the...
JETS READY TO START SHOPPING
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amThe NFL's free-agency period opened as midnight struck last night, making for open season on unrestricted free agents around the league. At the moment, though, all seems quiet with the...
THE SPECIAL AGENTS - CAP-LIMITED JINTS MUST BE PRUDENT TO FILL THEIR HOLES
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amThe high-stakes bidding war began at midnight and really gets cooking today, when the NFL's free agency signing period commences and the Giants make their first stab at improving a...
ISIAH DEFENDS DEAL
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amIsiah Thomas, amidst a public relations tour to defend Thursday's two trades, took digs at the departed center Nazr Mohammed yesterday. Stung by criticism of Thursday's deals that sent Mohammed...
THE CAT'S MEOW - AMID THE STAR-STUDDED METS, FANS FLOCK TO VETERAN GALARRAGA
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amPORT ST. LUCIE - One time in Montreal, somebody stole Andres Galarraga's car. Didn't matter. "He came in that day smiling," said former Expo teammate and current Met teammate Scott...
UNIT WON'T GO AT CALF-SPEED - JOHNSON: 'NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL'
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amTAMPA - The Big Unit has what he insists is a small injury and not a big issue. Randy Johnson won't be starting the Yankees' exhibition opener tomorrow afternoon against...
FRAGILE FLOYD HIT BY PITCH IN SCRIMMAGE
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amMET NOTES PORT ST. LUCIE - Cliff Floyd hasn't exactly been the most durable Met in his two years in Flushing. So when the Met leftfielder limped out of yesterday's...
VICTOR-Y WON'T BE EASY - PASS OR FAIL, ZAMBRANO WILL BE LINKED WITH KAZMIR
March 2, 2005 | 5:00amPORT ST. LUCIE - Each time Victor Zambrano goes to the mound, he takes Scott Kazmir with him. They will always be linked, and now the Mets can only pray...