December 23, 2003
DURST INKS DEAL FOR BOFA MOVE
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amBANK of America has signed a long-awaited lease to be the anchor tenant in Douglas Durst's new, $1 billion One Bryant Park - a 20-year, 1.1 million square-foot deal that's...
COURT MAY SALUTE FUND'S FAO PLAY
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amA bankruptcy court judge is expected today to approve a private equity fund as a tentative buyer for the FAO Schwarz toy chain, a person familiar with the situation said....
XMAS INN-JUSTICE - GORHAM'S NEW OWNERS DUMP STAFF FOR REMODEL
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amLuxury real estate developer Richard Born said he was closing Midtown's Gorham Hotel, a move that will leave 61 workers out of jobs for the new year. Born will be...
SALES UP AS XMAS NEARS
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe nation's shoppers continued to spend at an increasing rate in the week heading into Christmas, according to data released yesterday. Consumers charged $11.3 billion on their Visa cards in...
WATCH THIS! MOVADO TO BUY EBEL FOR $47M
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amMovado Group reached an agreement yesterday to buy the Ebel luxury watch brand from LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton for roughly $47.3 million in cash. LVMH, the luxury conglomerate controlled...
COUGH IT UP, DICK - REED WANTS $$ BACK; GRASSO MAY SUE FOR IT ALL
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe New York Stock Exchange is bracing for a battle with former Chairman and CEO Dick Grasso to get back some of the millions he was paid as well as...
GRASSO BANKED ON A BACKWARD TECH PLAY
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amONE day back in the mid- 1990s, I was sitting on the leather couch in the opulent office of New York Stock Exchange Chairman Dick Grasso, who was preaching to...
CIBC PAYS $80M IN ENRON DEAL
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amCanadian Imperial Bank of Commerce agreed to pay $80 million to settle SEC allegations that it helped former energy giant Enron Corp. inflate profits and hide debts. The SEC also...
SHMITT A TOP-NOTCH STOCKING STUFFY
December 23, 2003 | 5:00am* STUFFY SHMITT "Other People's Stuff" [] Realistic Records Stuffy Shmitt's "Other People's Stuff" is the best album you've never heard of, and if "American Idol" has taught us anything,...
EATING TO LIVE - NEW BOOK SAYS 14 'SUPERFOODS' KEY TO A LONGER, HEALTHIER LIFE
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amTHE secret to longevity lies in the supermarket. According to "SuperFoods Rx: Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life" (William Morrow, $24.95), some foods will not only improve your life...
KOSHER CHRISTMAS - JEWS, TOO, CAN ENJOY THE HOLIDAY
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amIF you're Jewish, there's lots more to Christmas this year than kung pao chicken and a movie. The day has practically evolved into a full-fledged Jewish cultural holiday, replete with...
BACHELOR AIN'T SINGIN' NOW
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amBACHELOR Bob was in hiding after "The Bach elor" producers slapped him with a lawsuit for promoting his album without permission. The suit claims that Guiney asked on three different...
STARR REPORT
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amHarvey's wallbanger General Electric has pulled a lighting ad from Paul Harvey's syndicated radio show, heard here on WABC (770 AM), after receiving complaints from listeners over Harvey's comment that...
BACHELOR BOB AIN'T SINGIN' NOW
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amBACHELOR Bob was in hiding yesterday after "The Bachelor" producers slapped him with a lawsuit for promoting his new album without permission. The suit claims that Guiney asked on three...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe key to happiness - and sanity - for women may be to spend their entire lives single, new research suggests. A poll of 4,500 men and women found gals...
9/11 TIME'$ UP - 90% FILE CLAIMS AS VICTIM-FUND DEADLINE PASSES
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe deadline passed last night for 9/11 victims to apply to the special federal fund for compensation - and, thanks to a last-minute rush, better than 90 percent did, officials...
THE TRUTH IS, WE'RE ALL LIARS
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amAmericans are honest about one thing - they lie, cheat and steal every now and then. Folks admit switching price tags, cheating on taxes and even blaming innocent co-workers when...
U.S. NABS FIVE MORE KEY IRAQIS
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - U.S. forces arrested a general in Iraq's former intelligence service and busted four Iraqi cops suspected of being spies for the Ba'ath Party yesterday. The military identified the...
RED INK DROWNS CITY TAX CUTS
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amMayor Bloomberg is going to have a hard time making good on his pledge to lower property taxes if a new report on the city's finances turns out to be...
DIPLO DEFENDS 'O$AMA' CLERIC
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amA Yemeni diplomat yesterday defended a cleric countryman who pleaded innocent in Brooklyn to charges he bankrolled Osama bin Laden. Sheik Mohammed Al Hasan Al-Moayad, who entered his not-guilty plea...
NEWEST MARY MAKES A QUEEN-SIZE SPLASH
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe biggest queen in England's history - weighing in at 150,000 tons - rules Brittania's waves. The Queen Mary 2, the largest and most luxurious passenger ship ever to sail...
DEAN LEAPS TO TOP SPOT IN S.C. POLL
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Howard Dean has surged to the top in a new South Carolina poll, giving him an important advantage in a state where his opponents had once thought he...
KARATE KIDS WHACK WISE MEN IN B'KLYN: PRIEST
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amA gang of karate-kicking hooligans smashed two of the Three Wise Men in a Brooklyn church's Nativity scene, police and church officials said yesterday. The victims of the vicious attack...
EX-WORKER'S SUIT VERSUS YANKEES STRIKES OUT
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amALBANY - The Yankees got some help off the bench yesterday when the state's top court refused to hear an appeal from a former team employee who claimed he was...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amBROOKLYN * A 30-year-old man was hospitalized yesterday after being shot on a Flatbush street, police said. The man walked into Kings County Hospital at 4:15 a.m. and was in...
GRINCH PINCHED - LED TEEN GANG THAT TRASHED YULE DISPLAYS: COPS
December 23, 2003 | 5:00am"Somebody slit Frosty's throat," pulled a hit-and-run on Santa's sleigh and broke Rudolph's legs - and now Long Island cops say they've bagged the Grinch who did it. Brett Berrick,...
PHONY COP BUSTED ON L.I.
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amA 48-year-old man was busted for allegedly impersonating a police officer and threatening to arrest an elderly man unless he paid him $100, Long Island cops said yesterday. Jeffrey Halpern...
MONICA HARASS RAP FOR EX-PROF
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amA former professor who teased a student by referring to her as Monica Lewinsky and making salacious references to the intern's affair with Bill Clinton could be liable for sexual...
FLYING THROUGH AIRPORT LINES
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amHoliday travelers were shocked to find they didn't hit any turbulence when checking in at Big Apple airports yesterday, despite the Code Orange security boost. Passengers who expected long lines...
CITY AGENCIES TO OFFER TRANSLATORS
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amMayor Bloomberg spoke for eight minutes yesterday entirely in Spanish as he signed a law requiring city social-service agencies to provide translators in six languages. Despite the mayor's heavy English...
PLAYERS FIRED UP - TONY CLUB SUING TO STUB OUT CIG BANS
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe Players Club, a 115-year-old establishment on Gramercy Park South, is expected to file a lawsuit today challenging the state and city anti-smoking laws. Executive Director John Martello declined to...
CITY SLASHES CRASHES - TRAFFIC FATALITIES HIT A SIX-YEAR LOW
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amCity streets have gotten a lot safer for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists. There have been 317 traffic-related fatalities this year - down 15 percent compared to last year - bringing...
ARABS BESIEGE EGYPTIAN PEACEMAKER
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - Egypt's foreign minister, on a visit to Israel in pursuit of a new Mideast cease-fire, was attacked and injured by Muslim extremists at the Al Aqsa Mosque in...
GOV DROPS VACATION SECRECY
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amALBANY - Gov. Pataki revealed yesterday that mega-millionaire Manhattan real-estate developer Earle Mack provided the deluxe vacation for him and his wife in exclusive St. Barts last month. But while...
FAMILY REUNION SLAY - MOM DEAD, BROTHER HURT IN B'KLYN HORROR AMBUSH
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amTwo attackers opened fire on three people as they left a family reunion at a Brooklyn nightclub early yesterday, killing a young mother and seriously injuring her teenage brother and...
BOXLEY SEX PLEA - SILVER'S EX-COUNSEL DODGES JAIL IN RAPE CASE
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amALBANY - A former top aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver yesterday entered a surprise plea to settle a rape charge against him and will have to register as a...
9/11-FUND DEADLINE PASSES WITH 90% IN
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe deadline arrived last night for 9/11 victims to apply to the special federal fund for compensation - and, thanks to a last-minute rush, better than 90 percent did, officials...
BIZARRE PET-SHOP SLAY TALE
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amThugs taunting pet-shop puppies set off a chain of events that included a street mugging and a gang assault that ended with the store manager fatally stabbing a teen, it...
FEDS NAIL COCAINE GANG
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amDominican drug lords used code words such as "pretty girls" and "invitations to Sammy Sosa's birthday party" to refer to cocaine when distributing about 25 kilograms a week in the...
MEDICAID PLAN 'SAVES BILLIONS'
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amALBANY - A state Senate Medicaid reform proposal would save the city hundreds of millions of dollars over the next five years, the Legislature's top Republican claimed yesterday. Senate Majority...
5G REWARD IN HOSPITAL COP'S SLAY
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amFriends and colleagues of a Brooklyn hospital officer who was found dead, his throat slashed, following an apparent sex tryst are offering a $5,000 reward to catch his killer. The...
IN THIS TOWN, IT'S JUST A HEIGHTENED STATE OF HUBBUB
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amYOU call this terror? A man in a crimson suit, smelling vaguely of smoke and lunch, stood planted between Saks Fifth Avenue and the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree - the...
UNION MAN INDICTED IN $2M SCAM
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amA bookkeeper has been indicted in Manhattan on charges he stole $2.4 million in one of the largest embezzlements in the history of corruption-plagued District Council 37, New York's largest...
EMINEM'S 'RACIST' RANTS TO BE RELEASED
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amEminem fans will get to hear some of his lyrics that are at the center of a rap-world racial storm - after a Manhattan judge yesterday loosened a temporary restraining...
THUG CHEATS DEATH - KILLER GETS LIFE AS B'KLYN JURY SPLITS ON EXECUTION
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amAn evil cocaine kingpin - who blew away a witness about to finger a member of his Brooklyn drug gang for murder - was sent to the slammer for life...
'SLAY' SHOTGUN FOUND IN TRASH
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amA shotgun recovered near a trash compactor at an East New York project is believed to be the weapon that killed a 19-year-old teenager Saturday night, sources told The Post....
CALIF. QUAKE KILLS 2 - TREMORS ROCK BUILDINGS FROM L.A. TO S.F.
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amA powerful earthquake rocked California's central coast yesterday, sparking fires, crumbling buildings and killing at least two people near its epicenter in San Simeon. The 6.5-magnitude temblor struck at 11:16...
PASSPORT THREAT VS. NO-TOUR JACKO
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amLOS ANGELES - Prosecutors are demanding that Michael Jackson surrender his passport if he doesn't use it for a promotional tour to Britain, officials said yesterday. Jackson's lawyer and Santa...
LOTTERY 'WINNER' SUES FOR $63M
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amAll he wants for Christmas is $63 million - plus interest. A Brooklyn man has filed suit against New York Lottery, claiming he won last year's Mega Millions drawing on...
'MONICA' HARASS RAP FOR EX-PROF
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amA former professor who teased a student by referring to her as Monica Lewinsky and making salacious references to the intern's affair with Bill Clinton could be liable for sexual...
SISTERS FOUND DEAD IN QNS.
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amTwo elderly sisters were found dead yesterday after their neighbors complained of a foul odor coming from their Queens apartment, police said. Building management called police, who arrived at 1...
MIKE TO BOOT THE BAD KIDS
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amViolence gripping the city's schools today is epidemic, with teachers and students being routinely attacked in the classroom and halls, and parents being left worried sick about the phone call...
EDGY CITY MOVES TO ORANGE+
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe NYPD is beefing up anti-terror efforts at concert halls, sports arenas, theaters and other places where large crowds gather as the city turns a deeper shade of orange than...
'FAKE COP' NABBED IN L.I. SCARE STORY
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amA Long Island man was busted for allegedly impersonating a police officer and threatening to arrest an elderly man unless he paid him $100, Nassau cops said yesterday. Jeffrey Halpern,...
PISTOLS & PASTA - TWO SHOT AT FAMED EATERY
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amA pair of gunmen calmly walked up to the bar at world-famous Rao's Italian Restaurant in East Harlem last night - and opened fire on two men who were drinking...
DEATH WAS ON THE MENU - PATRON WHACKED AT FAMED EATERY
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amA 67-year-old gunman calmly walked up to the bar at world-famous Rao's Italian Restaurant in East Harlem last night - and opened fire, executing a man who was drinking there,...
RESTAURANT TO THE SUPERSTARS - ULTRA-TRENDY HOT SPOT DEFINES 'EXCLUSIVE'
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amRao's - the 10-table East Harlem eatery with food so good, some would kill for it - exists in a realm beyond trendy and exclusive. To get a table, even...
MOSQUE ATTACK - ARABS BESIEGE EGYPTIAN PEACEMAKER IN ISRAEL
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - Egypt's foreign minister, on a visit to Israel in pursuit of a new Mideast cease-fire, was attacked and injured by Muslim extremists at the Al Aqsa Mosque in...
FAMILY REUNION SLAY -MOM DEAD, BROTHER HURT IN B'KLYN HORROR AMBUSH
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amTwo attackers opened fire on three people as they left a family reunion at a Brooklyn nightclub early yesterday, killing a young mother and seriously injuring her teenage brother and...
DOHERTY PROMINENT ON RED STORM'S LIST
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe list of candidates to replace Mike Jarvis next season as the coach at St. John's is a long and impressive one and it includes former North Carolina and Notre...
A CALL FOR HELP
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amGIANTS REPORT CARDQUARTERBACKS: C- Call Tom Coughlin. Say this for Jesse Palmer (18 of 32, 190 yards): He's eager. Accurate with short stuff but not enough arm on deep throws....
IT DOESN'T GET EASIER FOR ISLES
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amTrue, there were some errors that still need to be fixed after the Islanders' hang-on-for-dear-life 5-4 win Sunday in Washington, with some forwards hanging on the ice too long before...
EXPECT OFFSEASON UPHEAVAL FOR JETS
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amJETS fans should take a long, hard look at several players on Sunday in the team's 2003 finale at Miami, because they'll be seeing them for the last time. At...
PIRATES OUT TO MAKE HAY IN THE SWAMP
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amThis six-game homestand will reveal much about what kind of team Seton Hall really is, especially with the Pirates hosting Ohio State and DePaul on consecutive Saturdays. But if the...
NEWEST NET FACING REAL TALL ORDER
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe Nets added a real snake yesterday. Actually, three snakes, three alligators and a Rottweiler. The menagerie is owned by Mikki Moore, a 7-foot-0 ex-Piston signed by the Nets to...
DOUBT THAT THOMAS CAN FIX THIS MESS
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amTHERE has always been some thing lurking beyond the smile, a touch of wise guy, a dash of con man, a little street hustle. That's the only reason Isiah Thomas...
SLATS' PONIES NOT IN MONEY - RANGERS' BIG GUNS MISFIRE
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe talk with Glen Sather following yesterday's morning skate at the Garden got around to how Marc Savard was given 28:11 of ice by Bob Hartley in Atlanta's 4-1 victory...
GIANTS KICK OFF COACHING SEARCH - COUGHLIN'S THE FIRST TO BE INTERVIEWED
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amErnie Accorsi, the Giants' general manager, confirmed last night that yes indeed, he conducted an interview yesterday with Tom Coughlin, not in Florida but in the New York area. John...
DINGED-UP DEVS WARY OF POST-HOLIDAY GRIND
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amTo Martin Brodeur and the Devils, this holiday break is the calm before the crush. When they return to action Friday, playing host to the Islanders, the Stanley Cup champs...
LAYDEN TO REST AS KNICKS TAB ISIAH - REPLACES SCOTT AS PREZ; CHANEY COULD BE NEXT
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amIsiah Thomas is in, GM Scott Layden's out and Don Chaney could be next. In his first day with the Knicks, Thomas, the former Pacers coach and Raptors prez, proclaimed,...
METS KEEP STRICKLAND
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amThe Mets wanted Scott Strickland back and yesterday they got the right-handed reliever to return two days after he was non-tendered a contract so the club wouldn't have to go...
QUANTRILL RAVES ABOUT BROWN AS TEAMMATE
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amBad loser. Good teammate. That's Paul Quantrill's scouting report on Kevin Brown, a Dodger teammate for the past two seasons. "Kevin Brown is a teammate I like," said the veteran...
SPREWELL & DOLAN ARE READY TO RUMBLE
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amLatrell Sprewell said he's ready for James Dolan, and James Dolan is ready for Latrell Sprewell. Sure, Scott Layden's firing and Isiah Thomas' hiring as president of basketball operations is...
HO-HO-HOPE AT MSG - KNICK FANS SHOULD THANK SECRET SANTA LAYDEN
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amINGENIOUS! To think, all this time Scott Layden was masterminding his own demise in order to get the Knicks that incredibly elusive point guard. It doesn't get any more resourceful!...
WALSH WARNS THOMAS - SAYS ISIAH SHOULDN'T ADD COACHING DUTIES
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES Pacer GM Donnie Walsh spoke with Isiah Thomas yesterday and advised Thomas not to take on both president and coaching duties with the Knicks. Thomas would not rule...
HICKS STANDS FIRM ON A-ROD DEADLINE
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amRangers owner Tom Hicks, who announced a deadline of 5 p.m. EST today to complete a trade of Alex Rodriguez to Boston, has told people involved in the talks that...
WALSH WARNS THOMAS - FORMER PACER PAL SAYS ISIAH SHOULDN'T ADD COACHING DUTIES
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES Pacers GM Donnie Walsh spoke with his former coach Isiah Thomas yesterday and advised him not to take on both the president and coaching duties with the Knicks....
SCOTT'S NOT BITTER: PAL
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amNuggets assistant GM David Fredman, Scott Layden's closest confidant in the league, spoke with him yesterday morning and claims the fired GM is not bitter about the timing of his...
PIRATES HAVE LAST LAUGH - ROLL ON OFF-NIGHT BY ANDRE
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amSeton Hall 73 - Davidson 50 Seton Hall guard Andre Barrett missed a pair of 3-pointers in the waning seconds of last night's game against Davidson, chuckling ruefully as his...
HOLIK, DUNHAM SQUEEZE BRUINS
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amRangers 4 - Bruins 2 It was what it was - a reasonably solid, workmanlike victory for the Rangers over a Boston team that's spiraling toward the Blueshirts in the...
FORT WORTH BOWL PICK
December 23, 2003 | 5:00amBoise State (Spread record: 7-5) vs. TCU (Spread record: 5-7) Opening line: Boise State -10½ The Fort Worth Bowl makes its debut tonight with the second-best combined record of any...