February 25, 2003
COOPER OUT AT GQ : WORKING ON BOOK ABOUT LIFE AT CONDE NAST
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amLegendary men's magazine editor Art Cooper rocked the magazine world yesterday, saying he would step down from his beloved GQ. Cooper, 65, spent two decades building the title into an...
WAR WORRIES ROCK STOCKS: DOW, NASDAQ DROP 2% AS CONFLICT WITH IRAQ LOOMS
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amAs the U.S. heads into war, investors are heading for the hills. After gaining ground last week, stocks took their biggest tumble yet yesterday amid growing concerns that a war...
A GRAM SLAM FOR EMI, SONY, UNIV'L
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amThree of the Grammy Awards' biggest-winning executives were on top of the world yesterday - but just for a little while. EMI's Bruce Lundvall, Sony's Don Ienner and Universal's Jimmy...
FEDS: COST OF GAS IS HARDLY UP (YEAH, RIGHT)
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amTHE only thing worse than having to pay so much for gasoline and heating oil is having the government pretend that prices haven't gone up very much. Washington, in fact,...
TPG MAY TAKE STAKE IN BANKRUPT UNITED
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amTexas Pacific Group, a private equity firm with a knack for investing in troubled airlines, is kicking the tires at bankrupt UAL Corp.'s United Airlines. TPG held its second meeting...
B OF A LIKELY BANKING ON N.Y. TOWER
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amTHERE is a ray of hope for Larry Silverstein and others wondering when they'll next see a tenant big enough to support development of a large new office tower. Multiple...
STARR REPORT
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amYeah, SURE you don't watch . . . The family of the late J. Howard Marshall II, the oil millionaire otherwise known as Anna Nicole Smith's late husband, has a...
TWO TO TANGO ; EMILY LAMBERT DIDN'T WANT TO GO; JOSEPH COLITTO DID. WILL THEIR RELATIONSHIP SURVIVE?
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amFOREIGN AFFAIRS SHE SAID Joe's a good boyfriend. He remembers my birthday, buys the occasional rose and puts up with a lot. But when he wanted to take a cruise,...
CATCH A CAB TO BIG APPLE BOATS
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amDRIVING RANGESAVVY New Yorkers know they can begin their cruise vacations at the West Side Highway. May through October, the 2,124-passenger Carnival Legend will begin eight-night, round-trip cruises to San...
SHIVER HIS TIMBER ; BROADWAY'S NEWEST MEMBER HAS A BALL IN 'TAKE ME OUT'
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amIT isn't the nudity Daniel Sunjata minds, or playing a gay baseball player - it's just, well, those on-stage showers. That, and the theatergoers who whip out their binoculars. "Presumably,...
GO, FISCH!
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amFISCHERSPOONER "#1" Capitol Records Fischerspooner suffers from the problem that plagues most techno/dance outfits - its sound is repetitive. But its brand of music differs from European synth/pop bands and...
THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB ; ON A DISNEY CRUISE, FAYE PENN FACES HER FUTURE AS A MOM
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amFAMILY WAYAS we motored toward Port Canaveral from the Orlando airport, our guide pointed out the Disney Magic cruise ship docked a few miles away. The kids on the bus...
THE DIRT ON TERROR BOMB THREATS; NO NEED TO PANIC
February 25, 2003 | 5:00am"Nova: Dirty Bombs" Tonight at 8 on wnet/Ch. 13 IN "Bowling For Columbine," Michael Moore's ironically scary documentary, he maintains that one of the reasons Americans are so trigger happy...
OY VEY! FIDDLER PUSHED OFF THE ROOF BY RISK OF TERROR
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amTHE spiraling costs of insuring against the risks of terrorism have put ABC's planned production of "Fiddler on the Roof" on hold. The three-hour musical, starring Victor Garber from "Alias,"...
WHAT IF...
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amQ: I keep hearing about how cheap Europe is, but every time I go to book a trip, all the good deals are gone. A: That'd be because everyone else...
RAVE FOR REEVE
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amEVEN in his immobilized state, Christopher Reeve delivers the strongest performance in tonight's episode of "Smallville." The former star of the "Superman" movies first appears about 30 minutes into the...
JAILED BLAKE'S WARNING TO LENO: QUIT THE JOKES
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amACCUSED killer Robert Blake is hopping mad at - get this - Jay Leno. A visibly angry Blake bares his soul in a jailhouse interview tomorrow with ABC's Barbara Walters,...
'WEIRD' THE WORD FOR 'JOE'-ZORA REUNION
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amLAST night's follow-up to "Joe Millionaire" promised to let us know if the magic was still alive for its star couple - but all viewers got was the kiss-off. After...
CURRENTS
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amHOLLAND America's newest ship is its biggest, has the line's first disco and largest spa, and an impressive reservations-only restaurant. But it's the elevators that are the most astonishing. The...
HIGH NOTES & LOW NOTES
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amWhat is Yayo?: During his blast of "Lose Yourself" with the Roots, Eminem wore a T-shirt urging the world to "Free Yayo." Yayo is a slang term for cocaine, but...
WHOOPING IT UP: ON A RIVER BARGE IN TEXAS, BETH PINSKER SETS HER SIGHTS ON BIG BIRDS IN PRISTINE WATERS
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amSTANDING on the deck of a slow-moving barge, binoculars primed, I was having a crane. These nearly-extinct giant birds are the big game on this bird-watching safari along Texas' inter-coastal...
CITY HS ATTENDANCE FIGURES MAY BE FUZZY MATH
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amAttendance is up slightly in the city's public high schools - but the figures, which Mayor Bloomberg recently touted, may not be all they seem. That's because this year's attendance...
HOMELESS CENSUS UNDER WAY
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amMore than 1,000 volunteers fanned out across the city early today to count the homeless as part of a controversial city plan to gather information about those who live on...
CUNY NIXES SMACK AT PATRIOT PROF
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amThe CUNY trustees yesterday granted tenure to a Brooklyn College history professor who ripped the school's post-9/11 forum for promoting hatred against America - overruling the college's appointments panel, which...
IT'S THE PITS; HOW TO KILL DOWNTOWN
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amIF the Ground Zero gods are with us, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. and the Port Authority will miraculously change their minds about choosing Daniel Libeskind's design over the one...
ABORTION GAL GETS LIFE IN BEAU SLAY
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amA woman who claims she accidentally executed her boyfriend after he demanded she abort their child was sentenced yesterday to 25 years to life. The mother of murder victim Anthony...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amA Santa Fe art exhibit is best appreciated sitting down - it features hand-painted toilets. "It's a fun, silly way to raise water awareness," said Ouida MacGregor, a member of...
THICK-HEADED THESP TAKES IT ALL PERSONALLY
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amWHEN veteran television producer John Parsons called me, I was extremely flattered. "Steven Seagal wants to talk to you. He wants to do a movie with you," Parsons said. A...
DONORS GIVE HS NEW FIELD
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amMurry Bergtraum HS today gets a new $4 million state-of-the-art athletic field, thanks to private philanthropy. The Lower East Side field contains a rubberized running track and artificial turf for...
MOVING MAN IN JEWEL-HEIST BUST
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amA sticky-fingered moving man filched $51,000 in family heirlooms from a Long Island woman on his first day at work, cops said yesterday. Michael Legette, 35, of Bohemia, a new...
RETREAT TO BLATHER
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amIN one of the most extraordinary editorials ever published in an American newspaper, The New York Times on Sunday publicly and even proudly abdicated all political, moral, social and journalistic...
TAKING 'NOTE' UPTOWN ; HARLEM MUSICAL QUEEN SET FOR A NEW HIT
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amVy Higginsen is no stranger to milestones. In 1970, she was the first woman with a radio show in prime time, noon to 4 p.m., on WBLS. She also wrote...
W. TO GOVS: TAX CUT WOULD $AVE STATES
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush told the nation's governors yesterday that the economy - and lagging state revenues - would get a boost if Congress passes his tax cut. "I believe...
SUPREMES: N.Y. LAWS NOT KOSHER
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amALBANY - The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday refused to consider reinstating New York's kosher laws, leaving an upset Gov. Pataki promising new legislation to address the situation. Saying he is...
BLDG. REPAIRS TO START NEAR WTC
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amRepair work will start soon to fix a jagged gash across the front of the mold-infested Deutsche Bank building, but the company said no final decision has been made about...
'ELECTION' DAY IN B'KLYN, BX.
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amIt may not feel like the political season, but voters today are heading to the polls for special elections in The Bronx and Brooklyn. Voters have from 6 a.m. until...
'BIO' VANS JOIN N.Y.'S TERROR FIGHT
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amALBANY - The state this spring will begin distributing 113 terror-busting vans to law-enforcement agencies, a top Pataki official said yesterday. New York City will receive 17 of the special...
CAROUSING STATE DORM AUTHORITY SCAMMER GETS JAIL
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amHe looted his employers for more than $400,000, spending it on poker, plumbing and prostitutes - but now he's bound for prison. A Manhattan judge yesterday sent Michael O'Connor, 43,...
MEDIA TAKES THE RAP AS HIP-HOPPERS POLISH IMAGE
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amVoices from the hip-hop industry vowed yesterday to stop their infighting so the mainstream media has nothing more to complain about. "All the beefs stop today, all the crap stops...
MOBSTER RANT: I'M 'FED' UP
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amIn an angry courtroom tirade, reputed mob boss Peter Gotti accused prosecutors of using him as "window dressing" in their racketeering trial - and ranted that the feds are secretly...
ARIEL BUILDS HIS GOV'T ; PRO-SETTLER PARTY ADDED TO REGIME
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon hammered out a deal to form a new government yesterday - bringing into his coalition one moderate party and one that champions Jewish...
JFK HEIST HAUL: $2.1 MILLION
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amThe haul from Sunday's armored-car hijacking at Kennedy Airport may run as high as $2.1 million, law-enforcement sources said yesterday. That new tally, after early reports that the armored car...
MTV RAP SCRAP ; TIMES SQ. CONTEST STIRS 'RIOT'
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amTimes Square turned into a war zone yesterday morning when thousands of angry young rappers clashed with police after MTV canceled a widely promoted talent contest because too many people...
'SAMMY' TIED TO 'ICEMAN' COP HIT
February 25, 2003 | 5:00am"The Iceman" cameth - on orders of "Sammy Bull." At least that's what New Jersey authorities charged yesterday, accusing jailed mob turncoat Salvatore "Sammy Bull" Gravano of masterminding the 1980...
L.I. HIT-RUN WITNESS ALSO FACING TRIAL
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amThe star witness in the Hamptons hit-run death of a migrant worker faces trial next month for a stomping attack on a panhandler in South Carolina, The Post has learned....
SEAGAL A LEADING MAN OF LIES, SAY WITNESSES
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amMartial-arts master Steven Seagal is a "delusional" liar, witnesses testified yesterday in defense of a reputed wiseguy accused of trying to squeeze millions out of the action-flick actor. "His ability...
JACKO TV FIGHT GOES TO COURT
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amMichael Jackson has opened a new front in his battle against a documentary on his bizarre life - going to London's High Court to prevent a TV production company from...
MING-SIZED BED: APPLE HOTEL OFFERS A REAL WOW FOR YAO
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amEXCLUSIVE It's a bed fit for a Ming - Yao Ming, that is. A Manhattan hotel is doing its best to accommodate the Houston Rockets' 7-foot, 5-inch, 296-pound basketball sensation,...
SADDAM STICKS TO HIS MISSILES: DEFIANCE OF U.N PUTS HIM AT BRINK
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - A defiant Saddam Hussein yesterday said he's "committed" to keeping his Al Samoud missiles, despite U.N. orders to destroy them - setting up a potential trigger point for...
DRIVERS GA$-PING: FUEL TOPS $2 IN CITY AND IT'LL GET WORSE
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amThe price of regular gasoline has topped the $2 per gallon mark in Manhattan. And the fateful uptick to $2.04 here is only a harbinger of the brutal nationwide price...
HOUR OF RECKONING DAYS AWAY AS BUSH POSSE CLOSES RANKS
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amTHIS really is the endgame. President Bush made that clear yesterday when he vowed to work with the U.N. Security Council "in the days ahead" with an emphasis on days...
FOUR GIS DIE IN KUWAIT CHOPPER CRASH
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amFour U.S. soldiers were killed when their Black Hawk helicopter crashed during night exercises in Kuwait, the U.S. Central Command said last night. The helicopter went down about 30 miles...
QUEEN SUES PARK AVE. CO-OP
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amMaybe the queen should try Queens. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is suing a ritzy co-op building at 550 Park Ave., where her monarchy owns three pads to house Canadian diplomats,...
NORAH'S B'KLYN NEST: HUMBLE PAD IS GRAMMY QUEEN'S CASTLE
February 25, 2003 | 5:00am--- EXCLUSIVE --- Let Britney Spears keep her Hollywood mansion. Pop music's true darling of the moment, five-Grammy-winner Norah Jones, 23, still lives in the same $1,400-a-month, two-bedroom Williamsburg apartment...
BLACK LEADER JABS REV. AL
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amDemocratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton's role as an African-American power-broker came under light-hearted attack last night from a black civil-rights organization. In a spirited-but-friendly debate with Congress of Racial Equality...
FIRE HOME RAIDED ; R.I. CLUB OWNER IS STONEWALLING: COPS
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amPolice have raided the home of one of the two stonewalling brothers who own the Rhode Island club where an inferno, touched off by a band's pyrotechnics, killed 97 people....
BLITZ DERAILS SUBWAY CRIME
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amMajor crime on the subway has dropped to its lowest level in 34 years - the result of a giant crackdown on fare-beaters, transit officials said yesterday. The blitz of...
TEACHER NABBED IN RAPE OF GIRL
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amA teacher at a Queens junior high school raped a 12-year-old special-education student at least seven times over a two-month period, police said. Chatindra Jawahir, 37, of Ozone Park, was...
TWIN BLASTS ROCK CHINA UNIVERSITIES
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amTwo explosions within minutes of each other rocked two of Beijing's top universities early this morning, injuring at least nine people. The cause of the blasts at Qinghua University and,...
FIRE HOME RAIDED: R.I. CLUB OWNER IS STONEWALLING: COPS
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amPolice have raided the home of one of the two stonewalling brothers who own the Rhode Island club where an inferno touched off by a band's pyrotechnics killed 97 people....
MAN DEAD, PAL HURT IN L.I. DRIVE-BY
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amPolice on Long Island are looking for a gunman who killed one man and critically wounded another in a drive-by shooting that may have been a case of mistaken identity....
QUEEN'S ROYAL CO-OP FIGHT
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amDealing with New York's fussy co-op boards is enough to test anyone's patience - even the queen of England's. Queen Elizabeth II came to the end of her royal tether...
SADDAM STICKS TO HIS MISSILES: DEFIANCE OF U.N. PUTS HIM AT BRINK
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - A defiant Saddam Hussein yesterday said he's "committed" to keeping his Al Samoud missiles, despite U.N. orders to destroy them - setting up a potential trigger point for...
KUWAIT TROOPS ON ALERT AFTER PLOT CRUSHED
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - U.S. forces in Kuwait went on heightened alert yesterday following the arrest of three men plotting a terrorist attack on American troops and alarming intelligence reports that Iraq...
BUTCHER: I'M UP FOR DEBATE, W.
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Saddam Hussein yesterday challenged President Bush to a war of words - an international debate on live TV - but the White House rejected that as "not a...
PEACENIKS PREDICT COUNCIL VICTORY
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amCity Council opponents of a war against Iraq said yesterday they have the votes to enact a resolution condemning a U.S. war against Saddam Hussein without U.N. approval. "We're confident...
SEHORN AWAITS WORD ON HIS GIANTS FUTURE
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amThe clock continues to tick for Jason Sehorn, the Giants cornerback who is in extreme danger of not being a part of the team for much longer. "I don't want...
DOWN HOME RETURN
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amReeling from a Western trip gone astray, with the eighth seed fading fast from view and another lottery staring GM Scott Layden in the face, the Knicks get Yao Ming...
BENCH MARKS NOT HIGH FOR NETS
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amIt's hard to call any February game a must-win, but that's pretty much what tonight's tilt in Cleveland amounts to. The Nets have admittedly been in a funk since the...
SWING CLEANING : BURNITZ' NEW STROKEGETS QUICK RESULTS
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amPORT ST. LUCIE - Few hitters are more reticent about publicly discussing their craft than Jeromy Burnitz, even after a day like the Met right fielder put together yesterday. Burnitz,...
WILLIAMS MAKING HIS POINT
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES You can take the candy away from Frank Williams to get him in better shape but you can't teach point-guard poise. In his two games since being activated,...
TEAMMATE HONORS TRAGIC MINOR-LEAGUER
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amMET NOTES PORT ST. LUCIE - Met pitcher Pat Strange returned Sunday night after flying to Springfield, Mass., for the birth of his son, Brian Cole Strange. The baby was...
THE USUAL SPRING IN BERNIE'S SHOULDER
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amYANKEE NOTES TAMPA - Bernie Williams doesn't need a calendar to know what time of year it is. All he has to do is check with his shoulders. "They are...
HOLIK COMES HOME ; BOBBY: NO REGRETS
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amIT IS the paradox within Bobby Holik that he would leave behind a totalitarian regime in search of freedom - we're talking about the move from his Czech homeland to...
HOLIK COMES HOME: BUT DEVS HAVE EYE ON TRADE SCENARIOS
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amThe Devils can effectively, if not mathematically, void James Dolan's Ranger playoff guarantee and prompt a paper blizzard of GM resumes into the Garden. They should, for the first time...
PECA & ISLES REVISIT LEAFS
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amIslander captain Mike Peca returns to the scene of the Toronto crime tonight. For the first time since Darcy Tucker wrecked Peca's knee April 26 in Game 5 of the...
IT'S NOT TOO EARLY FOR SIGNS OF HOPE
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amPORT ST. LUCIE - My two-week journey to Neverland Ranch came to a close yesterday as the Mets beat the Mets, 6-4, in an intrasquad game highlighted by Jeromy Burnitz'...
DRAFT DRAWS DREW'S IRE
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amTAMPA - He will be going across the street soon, not to Raymond James Stadium, home of the Super Bowl champs, but to the Yankees' minor league complex next door....
HENSON COULD BE GRID GREAT
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amTAMPA - Drew Henson said he would have been a "great" NFL quarterback had he stuck with football instead of becoming a full-time baseball player. He actually said that belief...
RODRIGUEZ SEES GOOD SIGNS
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amH.S. GIRLSMLK 59Canarsie 46 When Will Rodriguez' Martin Luther King team lost to undefeated powerhouse Bergtraum by 36 in the Manhattan Borough Championship last month, the coach worried about how...
V'S LEGACY LIVES ON
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amThey would sit for hours, the black basketball star from Washington, D.C., and the white, Italian coach from Queens, and talk about how they had come to a school in...
OFF TO A QUIET START ; MATSUI'S YANKEE DEBUT NO BIG DEAL
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amTAMPA - It would have made for a sexier story had Hideki Matsui crushed two homers high into the blue sky. Or maybe turned in a diving catch. Perhaps thrown...
JUDGE STERN CLOSES EYES TO OAK FLAP
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amAT a recent Wizard shoot-around in L.A., drive-by enforcer Charles Oakley had to be restrained by a chain of coaches and players in mid-pursuit of (temporary) Clipper conductor Alvin Gentry....
SEHORN AWAITING FATE
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amThe clock continues to tick for Jason Sehorn, the Giants cornerback who is in extreme danger of not being a part of the team for much longer. "I don't want...
MING MAN HITS APPLE: ROCKET CENTER SET FOR GARDEN PARTY
February 25, 2003 | 5:00amBOSTON - He is The Dynasty. The Next Big Thing. The NBA's Savior. And tonight he'll play the league's biggest stage. For the first time, Yao Ming will play on...