December 9, 2003
HOLIDAY STOCK ADVANCES FOLLOWED BY A BAH HUMBUG
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amDO you want to hear the good news first, or the bad news? Since we are nearing the holiday season, I'll give you the good news first: Despite Wall Street's...
MORT EYES BLACK'S HOLLINGER STAKE
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amBeleaguered newspaper baron Conrad Black is in talks to sell his controlling interest in Hollinger International to Mort Zuckerman, The Post has learned. If Zuckerman, a real estate mogul who...
YANKEENETS IS PULLING THE PLUG
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amThe principals in the YankeeNets holding company agreed to unwind their partnership yesterday, ending years of acrimony among the partners. As part of the deal, the Community Youth Organization, the...
COKE JUMPS ON MUSIC DOWNLOAD BANDWAGON
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amCoca-Cola still wants to teach the world to sing, but this time, they're charging for it. The soft-drink giant announced yesterday that it will launch an online music store in...
WORLDCOM'S SULLIVAN GETS FEB. TRIAL DATE, COURTROOM SETBACK
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amFallen WorldCom financial whiz Scott Sullivan lost a bid yesterday to have his multibillion-dollar fraud case dismissed, and is now staring down the barrel at a February trial. Manhattan federal...
CONSERVATIVES SPANK NAUGHTY ABERCROMBIE
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amA conservative group took another swipe at teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch yesterday, with a full-page advertisement in USA Today that chastised the company's board for allowing the use of...
ELLIMAN UPS MAD AVE. SPACE
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amDOTTIE Herman, whose acquisition of Douglas Elliman this year lit a fire under Manhattan's high-end residential brokerage business, has upped the ante with a big commercial lease expansion. Douglas Elliman...
TW CABLE TO PLUG IN AN ONLINE PHONE PLAN
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amTime Warner CEO.Dialing up competition in the local phone market, Time Warner Cable announced yesterday that it was partnering with MCI and Sprint to provide telephone calls through its cable...
VERSACE PLANS TO STREAMLINE RETAIL, MANUFACTURING
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amA restructuring plan aimed at returning the debt-strapped Versace to profitability is in the works. The plan, fashioned by interim chief executive Fabio Massimo Cacciatori, is to be presented to...
THE BONUS IS BACK ; AFTER SLUMP, BANKERS GET AVERAGE 10% PAY LIFT
December 9, 2003 | 5:00am'Tis (finally) the bonus season for bankers to be jolly. With the holidays around the corner, there's only one question on everyone on Wall Street's mind: How much money will...
DOW TESTS 10K LEVEL; ADDS 102
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amAs a sign of better times ahead, Wall Street is dancing again toward a new high of 10,000 in the blue-chip index. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped yesterday to...
DOW JONES UNION FLIP-FLOPS ON CONTRACT SUPPORT
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amPeter Kann, the chairman and CEO of Dow Jones, just found out he has not quelled union unrest at the troubled media giant after all. Only weeks after the bargaining...
SEC LOOKING AT MFS MARKET TIMING
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amThe Securities and Exchange Commission has told Massachusetts Financial Services, the 11th-largest mutual fund company in the United States, that it could face civil charges for failing to disclose market-timing...
THE BEST AWARDS MONEY CAN BUY
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amHOLLYWOOD'S "open secret" is a secret no more. It's the not-so-hidden truth about the Golden Globes, the movie awards extravaganza airing every January on NBC that attracts the industry's stars,...
A NEW PLATTE-ITUDE ; THE SECRETS TO A GREAT SKI TRIP - BIG SNOW, SECONDHAND CHAIRLIFTS AND A GUY NAMED LAZLO, WRITES EVELYN KANTER
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amDRIVING RANGE SKI resorts out west may boast about in stalling more six-person chairlifts, but the big news at Ski Plattekill, in the Catskills town of Roxbury, is a new...
STARR REPORT
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amDéjà vu - again If you "Average Joe" fans out there had the nagging feeling that you'd seen the show's resident "hunk," Jason, before . . . you'd be right....
FAST AND FURIOUS
December 9, 2003 | 5:00am* THE OFFSPRING "Splinter" ½ Columbia There are no ballads on Offspring's latest, "Splinter." On this one, as on their previous six albums, the adrenaline-charged SoCal punks play the Vs...
OFFICE AS A LACTATION LOCATION : SOME MANHATTAN COMPANIES MOO-VELOUS FOR MILKING MOMS
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amPUBLIC relations exec Sonya Rendigs does it in the ladies' room. Scientist Katie Brennan found an empty office and did it there. And when writer Diane Brady needed to pump...
FIRESTONES GO FLAT
December 9, 2003 | 5:00am'BACHELOR" lovebirds Andrew Firestone and Jennifer Schefft, who planned on marrying, have called it quits - just days after "Bachelorette" stars Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter tied the knot in...
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT; CODY GIFFORD AND PAULA ZAHN'S DAUGHTER ANCHOR KIDS NEWSCAST
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amTHE microphone does not fall that far from the tree. Frank and Kathie Lee Gifford's son, Cody, and Paula Zahn's daughter, Haley Cohen, have been hired to anchor a new...
JACKO'S MOM AND POP SPEAK UP
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amMICHAEL Jack son's parents will appear Friday on ABC's "20/ 20" in a deal brokered with Britain's ITV. The exclusive interview with Katherine and Joe Jackson was conducted by Daphne...
SCI FI SUES NASA
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amLAWYERS backed by the SCI FI Channel slapped NASA with a lawsuit today, alleging that the space agency is part of a conspiracy to cover up a 38-year-old UFO incident....
DETAILS OF TRISTA WEDDING
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amIT appears Ryan Sutter lost a major argument with his fu- ture wife Trista Rehn - the whole wedding was pink. Sutter and Rehn, who famously met on ABC's "The...
HUNKY JASON BEATS 'JOES'
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amHUNKY beat humdrum in last night's finale of "Average Joe." Comely Melana Scantlin chose studly California waiter Jason Peoples over goofy Manhattan trader Adam Mesh in the finale of NBC's...
CAPTAINS OF VIDEO: CHEAP DVD PLAYERS MAY BE WORTH THE BATTLE
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amDVD players that retail for 30 bucks or less are expected to be this year's Tickle Me Elmo - something everyone wants but can't find anywhere. The $29.99 KLH DVD...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amBrooklyn The fatal shootings of two men in the parking garage of an East Flatbush apartment building late Sunday was possibly drug-related, police said yesterday. The victims, Alonzo Holloman, 28...
LIBESKIND PUSHED GROUND SMEAR-O
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amArchitect Daniel Libeskind launched a political-style name-calling campaign against a rival design team to undermine its chances of being chosen as Ground Zero master planner, according to one of Libeskind's...
BUSH'S MEDICARE WIN: ; DEMS STRIKE BACK
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amYESTERDAY, George W. Bush signed into law a massive expansion of the federal government's "safety net" first created during the Depression by Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of the New...
W. USHERS IN NEW MEDIC-ERA
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday signed into law a massive Medicare overhaul that will help 40 million seniors pay for their prescriptions. "Our government is finally bringing prescription drug coverage...
N.Y. POL IN $1B PUSH FOR POWS
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - A New York congressman is trying to force the White House to allow 17 Gulf War ex-POWs to collect a $1 billion court judgment from Saddam Hussein. "This...
CHUCK JABS FEDS OVER FLU SHOTS
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amSen. Charles Schumer said yesterday he wants the federal government to guarantee that enough flu vaccine is produced. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said America is facing a critical shortage of the vaccine...
SCHUMER KEEPS GOV OPTIONS OPEN
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amSen. Charles Schumer repeatedly refused yesterday to rule out a run for governor in 2006 if, as expected, he wins re-election next year. "Who knows?" Schumer responded when asked about...
'POODLE PUPS' CALLED TO TYCO TRIAL
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amProsecutors in the Tyco trial, unable to track down the elusive decorator known as the "poodle lady," have subpoenaed two of her co-workers to testify about her. Interior decorators Jill...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amBack in September, when California held a beach-cleanup campaign, 40,000 volunteers were issued special trash bags touted as environmentally friendly because they were made of biodegradable cornstarch. Officials believed the...
JAIL GUARD QUITS IN SEX SCANDAL
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amA veteran correction officer has resigned after admitting that he paid a female inmate $20 to perform a sex act in the holding pen of the Queens courts, authorities said...
CANADIAN PLOTTED TO KILL ISRAELIS IN AMERICA
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - A Canadian born in Gaza was trained by Hamas to assassinate Israeli VIPs in the United States, Israeli investigators said yesterday. Jamal Akel confessed he was also told...
CO-OP OWNERS: PUT COUNCIL'S PET BILL TO SLEEP
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amCo-op owners yesterday accused the City Council of biting into their rights by proposing legislation that would make it easier for tenants - especially seniors - to keep pets. The...
2ND MAN COPS PLEA IN QUEENS GANG RAPE
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amThe second of five men charged with savagely raping and robbing a woman in Flushing Meadows Park last year pleaded guilty yesterday as his three remaining cohorts defiantly refused to...
TRAGIC FED WAS BEATEN
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - The genitals of Bronx-born federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna were beaten savagely before he died and his body was discovered in an area where people go for sexual trysts...
SPECTOR'S EX: HE'S A DIRTBAG, NOT A KILLER
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amLegendary record producer and alleged murderer Phil Spector got some words of support from an unlikely source yesterday - the ex-wife he once threatened to kill. "I have never seen...
GUERRILLAS FACE WMD DILEMMA
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Saddam Hussein's insurgent loyalists could be holding on to missing chemical or biological warheads - but refusing to use them because they don't want to prove President Bush...
GROPINATOR CHARGED IN LIBEL SUIT
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amLOS ANGELES - A Hollywood stuntwoman sued California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and campaign aides yesterday, claiming they smeared her with a "calculated act of character assassination." Rhonda Miller's lawsuit stems...
NEW DJ KNOCKS KASEM OFF CHARTS
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amCasey Kasem is about to be dethroned as radio's countdown king. Kasem, 71, whose name has been synonymous with the weekly "American Top 40" radio show since he launched it...
CONGRESS SIGNS UP TO HELP SLAM SPAM
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Congress yesterday passed the first national effort to block unwanted e-mails - approving hefty fines and jail time for spammers who continue to target recipients who tell them...
REV. AL'S 200G CUT; CITY SETTLES UP FOR 1991 KNIFE ATTACK
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amThe city agreed yesterday to pay $200,000 to Al Sharpton, who claimed cops failed to protect him at a 1991 Brooklyn rally where a drunken white man plunged a 5-inch...
'MISSION FROM GOD'; DEATH-LEAP TEEN'S LAST MESSAGE
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amBefore his death dive inside a Times Square hotel, a troubled New Jersey teen changed his cell-phone voice-mail to say he was on an out-of-state "mission from God" and not...
PERV PIANO PROF MOLESTED 3 YOUNG B'KLYN GIRLS: COPS
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amA 65-year-old Queens piano teacher was charged yesterday with sexually abusing three young female students while he was giving them private lessons in their Brooklyn homes. Malcolm Brenner - a...
CITY STUDENT WINS $100G SCHOLARSHIP
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amA Stuyvesant HS senior won the $100,000 scholarship grand prize in the prestigious Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science and Technology, it was announced yesterday. Yin Li, 17, who plans...
JILTING JOE, GORE SIDES WITH DEAN
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amIn a slap at 2000 running mate Joe Lieberman, Al Gore will go to Harlem today to throw his support behind Howard Dean for president in a bid to play...
E. VILLAGE WOMAN RAPED ON APT. STAIRS
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amA 25-year-old East Village woman was raped at knifepoint in the stairwell of her apartment building when two teenaged thugs accosted her as she returned from work early yesterday, police...
1 DEAD IN B'KLYN STREET SHOOTOUT
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amA brazen daylight shootout on a busy Brooklyn street yesterday left one man dead and another hospitalized with multiple bullet wounds, police said. The gunfight occurred about 2:55 p.m. in...
'HOOK' HANDS FINGER 'THUG'
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amHe was hog-tied, gagged, blindfolded, beaten, slashed across the throat, stabbed in the chest, set ablaze and left for dead, but this man miraculously survived to tell his story yesterday...
KLEIN NAIL$ UNIONS
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amAn analysis unveiled by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein last night shows that school maintenance repairs done by outside contractors are 46 percent cheaper than work done in-house by unionized laborers....
THE MICK IS A HOME RUN ; FANS SWING FOR FENCES IN MANTLE AUCTION
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amBaby boomers hungry for a Mantle on their mantle scored bigtime yesterday as an estimated $5 million of mementos from The Mick hit the auction block. Scores of Mickey Mantle...
CORRUPT EX-COP FINGERS LIEUTENANT IN DRUGGIE RIP-OFFS
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amOne of two rogue detectives caught stealing $169,000 from a drug ring has implicated an NYPD lieutenant in the burgeoning scandal and confessed that he himself committed rip-offs for about...
SIDS EYED IN BABY'S DEATH
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amA 5-month-old girl died of apparent sudden infant death syndrome after being found unconscious in her family's Brooklyn apartment, police said yesterday. The baby, whose name was not immediately released,...
OZZY BADLY INJURED IN BRIT CRASH
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amOddball rocker-turned-TV-star Ozzy Osbourne was undergoing emergency surgery in Britain last night after suffering serious injuries in an all-terrain-vehicle crash, his rep said. "During examination, doctors found that Ozzy had...
B'KLYN MAN SLAIN OVER 'BUMP'
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amA Brooklyn man was killed by a gunshot over something that most New Yorkers handle by saying, "Sorry" or, "Excuse me," police said. Omar Carino was entering the Liberty Food...
FAN SLAM: YANKEE TIX TO SOAR BY UP TO 35 PERCENT
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amFoul bawl! That's what you'll be hearing from Yankee fans now that the World Series losers plan to hike ticket prices by up to 35 percent, The Post has learned....
TERRIFYING WEB; SAMURAI 'KILLER' INTO SPIDEY & KINKY SEX
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amThe crazed Bronx man who slashed his wife to death with a samurai sword was a "self-taught" martial-arts fanatic and Spider-Man fan who wanted to allow another woman into their...
NO. 7 SPARKS BIDDER-SWEET MEMORIES
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amTODD ULITTO looked around him for one second, then two, waiting to spy if someone raised their arm, nudged the number higher. No one had. He listened for the magic...
JERSEY GIS' BRO MISSING IN N.M.
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amA former New Jerseyan whose two brothers are serving in Iraq has disappeared in Taos, N.M., less than a month after he moved there to be near his mother. Rory...
NEW B'KLYN SWASTIKA OUTRAGE
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amFor the second time this month, anti-Semitic insults were found drawn on a wall in a Brooklyn school yesterday - the latest in a wave of bias incidents to hit...
HOWIE PALS SHOW TRUE 'BLUE' COLORS
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amAntiwar comedians raising campaign cash for Democrat Howard Dean last night blasted President Bush as a "piece of living, breathing s - - -"at an angry X-rated fund-raiser in New...
SHARK-BITE GIRL SURFS THE CITY
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amBethany Hamilton, the brave 13-year-old surfer who lost her left arm to a shark, is visiting New York for the first time, and while she's enjoying the snow, she misses...
THE MICK IS A HOME RUN; MANTLE MVP GOES FOR 275G AT AUCTION
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amBaby boomers hungry for a Mantle on their mantle scored big time yesterday, as about $3 million worth of mementos from The Mick hit the auction block. Scores of Mickey...
JACKO BANS QUIZ OF HIS KIDS
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amLOS ANGELES - Social workers want to interview Michael Jackson's children, but have been stymied each time they visited Neverland Ranch, sources told The Post yesterday. The child-welfare investigators have...
BUSH USHERS IN NEW MEDIC-ERA
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday signed into law a massive Medicare overhaul that will help 40 million seniors pay for their prescriptions. "Our government is finally bringing prescription-drug coverage to...
GORE JILTS JOE,SIDES WITH DEAN
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amIn a slap at 2000 running mate Joe Lieberman, Al Gore will go to Harlem today to throw his support behind Howard Dean for president in a bid to play...
MAN VANISHES IN MIDTOWN
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amA Hoboken accountant has been missing since noon Saturday, when he left his wallet in a Manhattan taxi cab, police said. Ethan Novick, 25, was last seen when he was...
EX-COP FINGERS LIEUT. IN DRUGGIE RIP-OFFS
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amOne of two rogue detectives caught stealing $169,000 from a drug ring has implicated an NYPD lieutenant in the burgeoning scandal, and confessed that he himself committed rip-offs for about...
CLASSROOM EXTRA: WE LOVE THAT BLACK BOX
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amDon't just watch TV - learn about its history at Manhattan's Museum of Radio and Television. Television is one of the most amazing inventions of all time. It's not quite...
MOM BURIES DAUGHTER 19 YRS. AFTER PA. SLAY
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amThe family of a Brooklyn woman who mysteriously vanished 19 years ago was finally able to eulogize her yesterday, weeks after she was discovered to have been murdered and buried...
GIANT REPORT CARD:A LOSS, OF CORPSE
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amQUARTERBACKSIt had to happen sometime. Kerry Collins (5 of 14, 62 yards, 1 INT) went down and out with a sprained ankle and might miss the rest of this messy...
ACHIN' IKE WANTS TO PLAY
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amGIANT NOTES Ike Hilliard knows how to play in pain, considering he's done just that for nearly his entire seven-year career with the Giants. He's currently hobbled with a swollen...
IT'S TIME FOR JESSE TO STRUT HIS STUFF
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amThe guy's got the looks to make it big, got the smile and the demeanor and he's sure got the name. Who wouldn't want Jesse James Palmer slinging the football...
JETS REPORT CARD: QUITE A LETDOWN
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amQUARTERBACKSChad Pennington (15-of-29, 155 yards, 1 INT, 53.1 rating) hardly had a chance as he was sacked five times. He also had at least three passes blatantly dropped. Still, he...
METS FEELIN' FINE BE-KAZ OF MATSUI ; HE'S NOT A-ROD, BUT HE'LL DO
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amFRED Wilpon reached nearly 7,000 miles to Japan rather than deeper into his pocket. The Mets owner invested three years and about $20 million in Kaz Matsui, and now he...
K-MART, JEFF KEEP NETS ; MOVING FORWARD
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amShowering with a hair dryer is not a swell idea. The Giants will not reign as Super Bowl champs next month. The Nets win when Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson...
WILPON SAYS MORE AMAZIN' MOVES ON HORIZON
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amSo the Mets have Kazuo Matsui. Now what's next? While the Mets have filled a huge middle-infield hole, they still have plenty of re-tooling to do. Still, that may not...
SONIC BOOM'S A BUST
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amIF a writer can't get an easily checkable, exceptionally vital fact correct in a prickly news story rampant with purportedly contentious conversation between a coach and his players and his...
SJU STUDENT SECTION NEEDS MOUTH-WASH
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amSOME of the students who fill the stands in Alumni Hall aren't basketball fans. They are punks - foul-mouthed punks who must be blind when they look in the mirror...
IT DOESN'T GET ANY EASIER FOR ISLES
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amWhile Saturday's win over Chicago snapped a seven-game losing streak, the Islanders are not suggesting they can see a light at the end of the tunnel. Judging by the quality...
ABRAHAM LIKELY TO WAIT 'TIL '04
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amOne day after the Jets' most humiliating loss of the season, if you can believe it, their plight took a turn for the worse. The Jets haven't made it official...
JAPANESE STAR PROVIDES REYES OF HOPE AT SHEA
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amA few days ago, Mets coach Matt Galante was talking to manager Art Howe. The conversation turned to Kazuo Matsui. "Art saw Matsui in Japan," Galante said yesterday, "and he...
TOUGH TEST FOR FRIARS
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amJIMMY V CLASSIC Providence coach Tim Welsh was listening to a couple of reporters at Big East media day in November tell him what an exciting season it should be...
ALL-STAR IMPORT HAPPY TO HAVE LANDED AT SHEA
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amHis hair was slightly spiked and light brown, not yet orange, or orange-and-blue, and he wore a wide smile as he stepped off his flight from Narita and walked through...
MCDYESS RIPS KNICKS
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amLOS ANGELES - With the Knicks on a four-game losing streak heading into the Staples Center slaughterhouse tonight, Antonio McDyess spoke out yesterday, charging that his teammates don't seem bothered...
LINDROS COULD PUT CAP ON JAGR TRADE
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amSO when fourth-line center Pascal Rheaume is healthy enough to rejoin the Ranger lineup, what will become of fourth-line center Eric Lindros? Or will No. 88 be in Washington by...
COLON DEAL MAY HELP PETTITTE
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amBASEBALL ROUNDUP The Angels were close to making a contract agreement yesterday with Bartolo Colon which both further accentuated the Yankees' need to re-sign Andy Pettitte and provided a clearer...
WELLS INKS MINOR PACT WITH YANKS
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amThe Yankees offered enough potential dollars to keep David Wells away from the Padres. Now San Diego may offer Kenny Lofton enough certainty about playing time to keep him away...
SHEFF SURPRISE! FREE-AGENT SLUGGER BALKS ON HIS DEAL WITH YANKEES
December 9, 2003 | 5:00amYou know how Gary Sheffield was sealed and delivered to the Yankees. Well, it turns out he is not signed and doubt has emerged if he will end up in...