November 22, 2006
Isiah ready to bench Francis tonight
November 22, 2006 | 5:33pmBy MARC BERMANMINNEAPOLIS - It should come as no surprise that Isiah Thomas said at this morning's shootaround at Target Center he's about to make a starting-lineup change in the...
Pennington
November 22, 2006 | 3:40pmBY JAY GREENBERGI guess I should never be surprised. When the team loses, the quarterback gets blamed. But the best defense in the NFL, probably its best defense in many...
MOINIAN TAKING 475 FIFTH AVE.
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amJOSEPH Moinian is in the middle of due diligence to buy 475 Fifth Ave. for a cool $162 million. The 1925-era wedding cake tower has 250,800 feet and sits on...
NYSE DROPS INSIDER CHARGES AGAINST SPECIALISTS
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amEighteen months after federal authorities arrested 15 New York Stock Exchange traders, prosecutors yesterday dropped charges against five of the remaining six indicted Big Board pros. The dropping of charges...
CRUEL YULE CUTS ; LAYOFFS SET FOR SONYBMG'S URBAN MUSIC UNIT
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amSonyBMG is set to announce a dismantling of its Sony Urban Music division that will hand pink slips to a large number of employees just in time for the holidays,...
INVESTOR FRENZY KEEPS WEB GIANT FLYING
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amGoogle's young and famous founders are celebrating their stock's stratospheric rise past $500 - but some on Wall Street think the pair's big dream is to be worth as much...
TOP LAZARD BANKERS GET TO CASH OUT SHARES
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amAfter hearing his troops grouse about paltry pay deals, Lazard boss Bruce Wasserstein is letting a select group of wealthy investment bankers sell some of its stock in the firm...
SIDES TALK TURKEY UP TO NFL NETWORK DAY
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amNew York-area cable subscribers may have to get by with the NFL's two nationally broadcast games this Turkey Day, as a deal with Time Warner Cable and Cablevision to carry...
AT FINISH, BOSS' KIN GET REINS
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amALBANY - A special panel named by Gov. Pataki recommended yesterday that Excelsior Racing Associates, a partnership led by New York Yankees partner Steve Swindal and casino developer Richard Fields,...
O'NEILL LIT FIND SPARKS A FURY ; MAGS, PUBLISHER EYE RARE STORY
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amA literary frenzy might soon be erupting over a newly discovered, previously unpublished short story written by theatrical titan Eugene O'Neill. "The Screenews of War," one of the few short...
SUICIDEFAMILY SUESGRACE
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amTHE family of a Florida mother who killed herself after appearing on bombastic TV host Nancy Grace's CNN show has slapped her with a lawsuit. The suit claims the fist-pounding,...
'MAKEOVER' STAR HURT ON SHOW
November 22, 2006 | 5:00am'EXTREME Makeover: Home Edition" carpenter Ed Sanders needed some emergency repairs of his own after nearly chopping his hand off last Saturday. Sanders was helping renovate the home of 9/11...
ROSIE RIPA'S KELLY; CLAY CRACK ANTI-GAY
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amROSIE O'Donnell weighed in on the Clay Aiken/Kelly Ripa feud yesterday, accusing Ripa of being "homophobic." Ripa had been upset Friday during her show when Aiken covered her mouth with...
'AMERICA'S' DUMBEST
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amA double-murder suspect profiled on "America's Most Wanted" last Saturday, found a prison cell instead of love when he posted his picture on a dating Web site. Calvin Bennett, 26,...
PHONE HOME, JERSEY BOYS
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amWITH the movie of "Dreamgirls" about to be released - and getting fantastic word of mouth - can a big-screen version of an other Broadway blockbuster about a famous singing...
STARR REPORT
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amDavid guest nips Jay Michael Richards and his mea culpa on Monday's "Late Show," delivered via satellite, helped David Letterman beat Jay Leno's "Tonight Show" in the overnights, a rare...
CLASSROOM EXTRA - NEW YORK - THE EMPIRE STATE
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amNew York - The Empire State Often called New York state to distinguish it from super-metropolis New York city, it became the 11th state to ratify the Constitution on July...
TECHNO FUN - GADGETS THAT SHINE BRIGHT THIS SEASON
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amBelkin TuneTalk stereo for iPod video, $70 iPod nano RED Special Edition, $249, $199 iPod shuffle, $79 The Belkin iPod accessory (above left) features two omni-directional microphones for stereo sound,...
MOVIE MAGIC - SPECIALS AND BOX SET DVDS
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amKING KONG There's 13 more minutes of heart-stopping action in Peter Jackson's extended version of last year's remake. (Universal, $35). THE LORD OF THE RINGS New double-disc editions include the...
TOY WARNINGS FOR CHRISTMAS
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amWith the holiday season upon us, the New York Public Interest Research Group yesterday issued warnings to parents about hazardous toys. Suspect toys included: * Hot Wheels Rev-Ups Speed Shifters:...
ACADEMIA'S PLAGUE OF LAME 'LEADERS'
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amDID some weird plague rot out the spine of every college president in America? These higher-education leaders seem be competing to see who can be the worst coward. Columbia President...
BUSH RIPS 'VICIOUS' MURDER
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday condemned the assassination of a prominent Lebanese leader as "the vicious face of those who oppose freedom," and demanded Syria and Iran stop undermining the...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amMANHATTAN * Police yesterday were searching for a would-be thief who tried to rob an Upper West Side bank. The unidentified suspect (above) fled empty-handed after attempting to stick up...
VOTE GROUPS SCREAMING AT SCREENS
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amSeveral good-government groups came out yesterday against ATM-style voting machines that the city Board of Elections may buy to replace the machines now in use. The state Board of Elections...
POL CALLS TO SPARE AX IN ROCKAWAYS
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amCongressman Anthony Weiner yesterday railed against the state closing one of two hospitals in the Rockaways. Reacting to word that either Peninsula or St. John's Episcopal would be recommended for...
10 YRS. FOR HIP-HOP COP
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amA renegade NYPD narcotics officer was sentenced in Manhattan to 10 years in prison yesterday for a scheme to stick up drug dealers - the very people he should have...
L.I. 'CRAIGS-LUST' BUST
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amCops on Long Island busted a young woman they say is a hooker - after meeting her online as the result of a Craigslist advertisement. Undercover Nassau County detectives arranged...
HOLIDAY GRAVY TRAIN - THANKSGIVING FEAST FOR $833
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amAt Café Gray, they might as well call it Break-the-Banksgiving. Well-heeled diners should be prepared to fork over $833 to join the city's most expensive Thanksgiving celebration. The all day...
SCHOOL NO-BID PACTS RAPPED
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amFacing a hostile City Council panel, officials from the city Department of Education yesterday defended a jump in the number of no-bid contracts handed out by the agency since it...
SCHOOL-BUS UNION WOE
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amNational labor leaders moved yesterday to take temporary control of the 15,000-member city school-bus drivers' union after its president stepped down amid federal racketeering, extortion and bribery charges. Local 1181...
VILLAGE REELING AFTER CAR RAPE - 3 MYSTERY MEN SOUGHT
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amA lightning bolt of terror struck through the heart of Greenwich Village yesterday as word spread that a woman had been whisked from a neighborhood street and raped by a...
HIDDEN CAM NAILS DOCTOR
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amA doctor, two nurses and several aides from a Queens nursing home were arrested yesterday and face charges after a hidden-camera investigation revealed chronic patient neglect, authorities said. A secret...
THIS BRINGS BACK GREAT MAMMARIES
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amTHIS urgent medical news comes as a relief to the underprivileged and underendowed. Breasts are back. In case you didn't notice they were missing, New York, hooters are on the...
'S*M*A*S*H' HIT MAN DIES - H'WOOD MAVERICK ALTMAN WAS 81
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amLegendary filmmaker Robert Altman, the irreverent and fiercely independent director behind such classics as "M*A*S*H," "Nashville," "The Player" and "Gosford Park," died yesterday of complications caused by cancer. He was...
CHINATOWN IS BOOKED SOLID
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amLooking to borrow a book? Don't count on it being in stock in Chinatown - the tiny library branch is busier than any other in Manhattan. Figures released yesterday at...
IT'S GOING TO RAIN - ER, CATS
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amGrab an umbrella if you're heading to tomorrow's Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade - the weather is shaping up to be a real turkey. "There's a likely chance of rain during...
LILLO'S LAWYER SEEKS A TRIAL
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amA lawyer for "Sopranos" actor Lillo Brancato claimed yesterday he's ready for trial and doesn't want his client languishing in prison. Joseph Tacopina said he was confident Brancato "will eventually...
RANGEL BOOSTS CROWLEY
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Powerhouse Rep. Charles Rangel is pushing for fellow New York Democrat Joseph Crowley to become his political protégé on the influential House Ways and Means Committee. Rangel, the...
'ART' DROVE 'KRAMER' KRAZY - PALS: PERFECTIONIST FILLED WITH #$%ó RAGE
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amMichael Richards - lovable and goofy as the hipster-doofus Kramer on "Seinfeld" - is actually a ticking time bomb of rage who refuses to let anything stop his "art," friends...
ART ATTACK ON B'KLYN IKEA PLAN
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amClaiming Ikea is paving over a historic dock to put up a parking lot, the Municipal Art Society is suing the Swedish furniture giant to cease its plan for a...
REV. RIPS VOODOO GALL
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amMTA labor negotiator Gary Dellaverson stepped in deep voodoo last week when he joked about "sticking pins in my Roger Toussaint doll" - leading to cries by officials and civil-rights...
BAKER GROUP'S IRAQ STRATEGY ALSO WOUNDED
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amSO MUCH for the argument that America should make nice to the thugs who rule Syria and Iran in hopes they'll help out on Iraq. The assassination of Pierre Gemayel,...
VIOLENT ENCOUNTER - MYSTERY WOMAN'S EVIDENCE
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amThree days before a beautiful young stripper was slashed to death in her Upper East Side apartment - allegedly by her love-crazed ex - a neighbor saw the pair arguing...
HOSP URGE TO MERGE - B'KLYN PAIR PARTNERING UP AMID CLOSINGS
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amAmid reports of hospital closings citywide, two Brooklyn hospitals, New York Community and New York Methodist, are planning to merge, The Post has learned. Community is one of a dozen...
RUDY'S 2ND STEP TO PREZ
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amRepublican 2008 front-runner Rudy Giuliani inched closer to jumping into the race yesterday by registering a presidential exploratory committee with the Federal Election Commission. Giuliani sources described the filings as...
ELIOT EYES EXEC WITH MTA LINK$
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amA leading candidate to be the next MTA chairman is an executive at a company that holds more than $198 million in contracts with the agency - including work on...
LIFE FOR RIVER RAT IN GAL SLAY
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amAn angry Manhattan judge sent a city garbage-truck driver to prison for 25 years to life yesterday for the "evil" Laci Peterson-style murder of his ex-mistress, who was nine months...
CSI: CHAPPAQUA - POLICE PROBE HOME OF BILL'S SLAIN NEIGHBOR
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amDisgraced lawyer and Clinton neighbor Carlos Perez-Olivo came home yesterday to recover from the mysterious roadside shooting that killed his wife, as detectives spent hours inside his house taking pictures...
'SERIAL' SLAUGHTER - STRANGLING EYED IN 4 SLAYS AS ATLANTIC CITY STEPS UP HUNT
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amATLANTIC CITY - Authorities here are hunting for a suspected serial killer who prowled the outskirts of the gambling mecca preying on young women. All of the victims - whose...
'SCHOOL SQUEEZE' PROTEST
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amA city plan to squeeze a new elite magnet school into a Harlem building already housing an elementary school got a boisterous thumbs-down last night from parents and politicians, who...
COURT THROWS A PERV CURVE
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amALBANY - After the state's top court ruled that his administration illegally kept sex predators jailed past their prison terms, a "deeply disappointed" Gov. Pataki said he'll call a special...
GOV PAC$ UP AND MOVES FOR PREZ BID
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amALBANY - On the day New York Republicans suffered their worst electoral disaster in decades, Gov. Pataki transferred almost $2 million in campaign cash to his Virginia PAC for a...
FIERY DWI DEATH CRASH ON W. SIDE
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amA speeding drunken driver caused a fiery rush-hour crash on the West Side Highway yesterday, killing a woman and injuring three other people, police said. The inebriated man was driving...
412G HEIST IN MIDTOWN
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amTwo gun-toting bandits held up a Diamond District office in a brazen daytime robbery yesterday - making off with more than $400,000 in precious stones and $12,000 in cash, police...
DAD DEAD IN BED FOR THREE YRS.
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amA mother and son walked into a Brooklyn station house yesterday - and made the stunning disclosure that the body of the family patriarch had been rotting on a bed...
MAKING THE CUT - TOMKAT'S FIVE-TIERED WONDER TOOK THE CAKE
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amTomKat had their cake - and ate it, too. Sticking to tradition, Tom Cruise, 44, and wife Katie Holmes, 27, cut the cake at their wedding reception - a five-tiered,...
FIERY DEATH CRASH - W. SIDE H'WAY SPEED DEMON DRUNK: COPS
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amA speeding drunken driver caused a fiery rush-hour crash on the West Side Highway yesterday, killing a woman and injuring three other people, police said. Michael Rush, 31, of Harlem,...
HIP-HOP COP GETS 10 YEARS
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amA rogue cop was sentenced to 10 years in prison yesterday for a scheme to stick up drug dealers. Donald Medard, 30, formerly of the 104th Precinct in Maspeth, Queens,...
MYSTERY WITNESS IN UPPER E. SIDE STRIPPER SLAY
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amThree days before a beautiful young stripper was slashed to death in her Upper East Side apartment - allegedly by her love-crazed ex - a neighbor saw the pair arguing...
DOUBLE N.J. TRAIN TRAGEDY
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amA man was struck and killed early yesterday by an NJ Transit train that was sent to pick up passengers stranded after the train on which they were originally riding...
CRISIS SESSION AMID COURT'S PERV CURVE
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amALBANY - Hours after the state's top court ruled yesterday that his administration illegally kept convicted sex predators locked up past their prison terms, a "deeply disappointed" Gov. Pataki said...
TURKEY BOWLS COULD COOK UP SWEET REDEMPTION
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amPete Gorynski has replayed much of his team's title game loss to Xaverian in his mind, but instead of just looking ahead to next year, he's preparing for another critical...
N.J. TRYING TO SIZE UP BEAR FACTS
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amTHE fight for a bear hunt in New Jersey has not ended with a number of groups filing a court motion on Monday. One group, Safari Club International, is questioning...
TEXAS IS THE REAL MCCOY
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amTHINGS haven't gone quite the way they expected at Texas. Even without Vince Young, the defending national champions were planning on a repeat. Ohio State took care of that in...
HEELS WARY OF GONZAGA
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amGonzaga coach Mark Few sat at a table in the Marriott Marquis - being grilled about his basketball team's fight against the mid-major label, and about their preseason NIT semifinal...
JOHNSON'S ENGINE IS STILL RUNNIN'
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amJimmie Johnson awoke from a deep sleep three weeks ago with a smile on his face. He had just dreamt he had won the NASCAR Nextel Cup. That morning's alarm...
TALL ORDER FOR CARTER
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amNET NOTES SEATTLE - Cliff Robinson was in street clothes with a sprained knee. Nenad Krstic was in deep foul trouble. So Vince Carter, at 6-foot-6, said he asked to...
WHY WE SNUBBED JETER FOR AWARD - WRITERS DEFEND THEIR AL MVP VOTES
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amJoe Cowley placing Derek Jeter sixth on his American League MVP ballot didn't cost the Yankee captain the award. Even if the Chicago Sun-Times writer had put the shortstop atop...
UNIT, PAVANO STILL IN YANK PLANS
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amYou can be excused if your view of the Yankees' rotation has only Chien-Ming Wang and Mike Mussina in focus today. However, GM Brian Cashman says Randy Johnson and Carl...
TRUST OF BRAVE GM KEY ISSUE FOR GLAV
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amIt's business, not personal. At least, that should be John Schuerholz's hope if he wants to bring Tom Glavine back to Atlanta in 2007. After a season in which the...
KIDD: IT'S GUT-CHECK TIME
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amSEATTLE - Jason Kidd has seen this before. And it always gets to him. He has seen the maddening inconsistency of the Nets - not just from game to game,...
TAKE THAT! RANGERS CRUSH 'CANES
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amRangers 4'Canes 0 If it's appeared at different times this season that the Rangers were in need of a wakeup call, then last night's 4-0 triumph at the Garden over...
OH MORNEAU! DEREK LOSES - BRONX BIAS STRIKES JETER
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amMAYBE it's best that Derek Jeter get a preview of what's in store for him across the next 15 years. Maybe it's best that we get it on the record,...
PAUL SCHWARTZ' GIANT REPORT CARD - CALL IT UNIFIED FAILURE
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amQUARTERBACKS F What a mess for Eli Manning (19-of-41, 230 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs). First throw (short swing pass) hit the ground, and it didn't get much better. At...
OH MORNEAU! DEREK LOSES - TWIN BEATS CAPTAIN FOR MVP
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amDerek Jeter hasn't had to swallow much garbage in his career. But finishing second in the AL MVP race to Justin Morneau likely required an ocean of flavored water to...
A MANN DOWN - ELI NEEDS TO LEAVE PROBLEMS IN THE 'PASSED'
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amTom Coughlin actually sounded as if he wanted nothing more than to be accommodating, to uncover the one or two gems to turn Eli Manning and his slumbering offense into...
PIERCE: WE NEED GUYS HEALTHY
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amGIANT NOTES The numerous and damaging injuries to hit the Giants are getting to linebacker Antonio Pierce. Usually willing and able to break down a game and offer detailed analysis,...
GIVE HIM A PASS - CHAD BASHERS SHOULD BE INTERCEPTED
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amLeave Chad Pennington alone. Enough already with the knee-jerk reactions on the radio call-in airwaves and in other so-called expert corners of sports analysis. Where were the exasperated "we can't...
COWBOY CRUISE
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amTHE spread is as big as a Thanksgiving Dinner and it's enough to give you pause, since the Bucs, though 3-7, are not a doormat-type NFL team. However, the math...
TRENDSETTERS - THE TOP PLAYS
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amFALCONS (-3) VS. SAINTS 1 p.m. Atlanta has covered six of its last eight following a loss and the home team has covered four straight in this series. Saints have...
BACKCOURT BLUES - MARBURY-FRANCIS PAIRING ON ITS LAST LEGS
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amMINNEAPOLIS - Stephon Marbury is unhappy with Isiah Thomas. But it's not the same type of unhappiness he had with Larry Brown. Yes, Marbury is steamed at Thomas for his...
BLUESHIRTS DEAL FOR VET
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amLet's hope that the Rangers traded for 29-year-old Brad Isbister to provide a veteran presence that's been missing in Hartford and not to somehow become a reclamation project on Broadway....
BUCKEYES' BIG TEST - POST POLL: FIESTA BOWL NEEDS ND-USC WINNER
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amThe mystique of Notre Dame and Southern Cal football shone through in an nypost.com internet poll on who should play Ohio State for the National Championship. Readers to the tune...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
November 22, 2006 | 5:00amAn art exhibit at a shop in Oberlin, Ohio, created quite a fuhrer. The display, in the window of a hardware store, was of a group of Nazi gingerbread men....
Marbury needs a new partner
November 22, 2006 | 3:45amBy MARC BERMANMINNEAPOLIS - The Knicks took today off to let tempers subside and avoid the obvious questions on whether the Stephon Marbury-Steve Francis tandem needs to be abolished.Marbury and...