April 12, 2004
N.Y. BUSINESS INSURANCE COSTS DROP
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amStruggling local businesses are getting a break on the high cost of insurance, with premiums dropping this year as much as 20 percent. New York businesses got socked with quadrupled...
ROO$Y BOOK DEAL - SEC EYES $8M FDR PAPERS IN HOLLINGER PROBE
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amThe Securities and Exchange Commission is zeroing in on a New York rare books dealer as part of its wider investigation into financial shenanigans at newspaper giant Hollinger International, The...
HARD ROCK BUYS PARAMOUNT FOR $125M
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amThe Hard Rock Hotel chain has signed a contract to buy Ian Schrager's Paramount Hotel in Times Square for $125 million, The Post has learned. Hard Rock made an offer...
HE'S ON THE TAIL OF RATS
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amTHAT lowly rat in the subway tunnel is probably looking for love. Rodentologists say that rats have sex up to 20 times a day, but that's a minimum, says Robert...
'INTIMATE APPAREL' A FITTING DRAMA
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amINTIMATE APPARELAt the Laura Pels Theatre, 111 W. 46th St. Through June 6. Roundabout Ticket Services, (212) 719-1300. ---- VIOLA Davis reminds us why theater exists - as does "Intimate...
BURNING SPEARS HOT TO TROT
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amBRITNEY SPEARS --- FROM her debut as an out-of-control Lolita in a Catholic schoolgirl's uniform to Saturday's Meadowlands gig, Britney Spears has never escaped the clutches of the Sisters of...
'IDOL' SINGERS ARE GOOD, I SWEAR!
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amSIMON says that when reality bites, it's good for water cooler buzz and even better for ratings. Last week's "American Idol" was rife with bad performances and even a missing...
STARR REPORT
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amKelly's sub order With Regis Philbin on vacation this week, Kelly Ripa is holding down the fort with different co-hosts. First up is hubby Mark Consuelos (today), and tomorrow it's...
ROCCO'S ROLLING - NEW SEASON ONE HOT DRAMA
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amThere's nothing like bringing a star to his knees to reel in the audience. --- 'THE Restaurant" is back, and it's bigger and badder than ever. Yes, rock-star chef Rocco...
PATAKI'S SENATE PICK IN TROUBLE
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amLONG-SHOT Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Howard Mills is close to losing potentially vital Conservative Party support, The Post has learned. Conservative Party insiders say that Nassau County ophthalmologist Marilyn O'Grady,...
BAD-RAP CONTRACTOR SUES CITY FOR $2M
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amA Long Island contractor busted last year on charges he scammed a Queens couple out of $200,000 in a check-forging scheme - only to have the charges dropped - has...
TOTS IN WHEEL DANGER - PARENTS RIP TONY STROLLER
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amNew Yorkers who bought what they thought was the Rolls-Royce of baby strollers fear they've wound up with the tot-toting equivalent of a Ford Pinto - with potentially dangerous consequences....
WEIRD BUT TRUE
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amKids on an Easter egg hunt in Flint., Mich., found something else - two loaded handguns. Making things worse, the weapons were found on the grounds of an elementary school,...
-30% OF AMERICANS SPRING INTO DIET PLANS (M)-AMERICANS HAVE WEIGHT EXPECTATIONS (S, LCF)
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amAmericans are sick of being called fatties - and 30 percent plan to go on a diet this spring, a new poll shows. Of that number, women are apparently more...
SPRUCE-UP FOR COUNCIL CHAMBERS
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amCity Council Chambers, the historic second-floor room where the legislative branch of city government conducts its official business, needs a makeover. Plaster chips fall from the ceiling during public hearings,...
ARIEL ON CRUCIAL D.C. VISIT
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amIsraeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon leaves for Washington today in hopes of winning support from President Bush for a plan to "disengage" Israel from the Palestinians. Sharon was reported ready...
'POP' ARTIST JANET REMAINS BREAST IN SHOW AFTER 'SNL' GIG
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amJanet Jackson's acting like a big boob on TV again! The breast-baring pop princess spoofed her infamous Super Bowl stunt, and also the Sept. 11 hearings on "Saturday Night Live"...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amBROOKLYN * A dispute involving three men on a Bedford-Stuyvesant street ended with two of them being shot yesterday, police said. The victims, ages 36 and 39, were both hit...
KERRY TAKES COMMUNION AMID CONTROVERSY
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amDemocrat John Kerry - a pro-choice Catholic whose abortion views have prompted some Catholic leaders to say they want to bar him from Communion - yesterday received the sacrament during...
$7.5M SUIT OVER FAMED ART FOTOG
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amCharges and countercharges are flying in the art-photography world, with the son of pioneering lensman Ralph Eugene Meatyard suing a powerhouse Manhattan gallery for $7.5 million over "missing" prints. Christopher...
UN-SMOKING GUNS - 9/11 & THE AUG. 6 MEMO
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amWORLD news exclusive: Here's what a newly revealed document dated Aug. 14, 2001, had to say about the threat posed to the United States by terrorists: "Our military superiority will...
-DRUNK DRIVER HITS THREE B'KLYN YOUTHS (M)-THREE INJURED IN BROOKLYN DWI: COPS (S)
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amThree young men were rushed to the hospital early yesterday morning after being struck by a drunk driver on a Brooklyn street, cops said. Kwan "Kenny" Mui, 17, Peter Tse,...
FATHER OF BELLEVUE 'RAPIST' SPEAKS
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amThe father of a man accused of raping a 13-year-old girl at Bellevue Hospital said yesterday that he was a good son - but insisted that "I don't know his...
WE SHOULD HANG TOUGH: POLL
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amA new poll says the majority of Americans think the latest spike in Iraq violence means the United States should get tougher militarily - not retreat. The CNN-Time magazine poll...
KIN PRAY FOR U.S. HOSTAGE - EXECUTION-THREAT DEADLINE PASSES
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amRelatives of an American contractor's worker held by Iraqi guerrillas prayed for his release yesterday - amid reports that nine other foreign hostages had been freed. Family members and friends...
CRASH KILLS 3 BOYS - ON CHURCH RETREAT
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amThree Long Island teens on an Easter religious retreat in the Poconos died early Saturday when their SUV slammed into a tree and burst into flames. The boys, two 14-year-...
-WILD-TURKEY TROT HAS CITY POLICE ON HOP (M)-FOWL PLAY AS WILD-TURKEY TROT KEEPS COPS HOPPING (S, LCF)
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amCops and firefighters were hopping faster than the Easter Bunny yesterday, trying to catch a wild turkey that caused Thanksgiving-like traffic jams on a major highway. The bird - dubbed...
CRASH KILLS 3 BOYS - PA. RELIGIOUS RETREAT ENDS IN FIERY HORROR FOR L.I. TEENS
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amThree Long Island teens on a religious retreat in the Poconos were killed when their SUV slammed into a tree and burst into flames. The boys - 14-year-olds Omar Abdelmonem...
ROAD-RAGE ATTACK - DRUNK FIREMAN PUNCHED PASSENGER IN CAR: COPS
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amA drunken firefighter pretending to be a cop ordered a car to pull over on a Staten Island highway yesterday - and then punched one of the people in the...
BORDER WAR - GOVS IS. IS OURS, BROOKLYN CLAIMS
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amThey'll take Manhattan - or a piece of it, at least. A community board representing part of the Brooklyn waterfront is demanding that Mayor Bloomberg redraw the centuries-old border between...
TOKENS MELT INTO HISTORY - BLAZING END FOR 45M SUBWAY COINS
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amForty-five million obsolete subway tokens will go out in a blaze of glory this week when the coins are finally melted down after outliving their use. New Jersey-based M&M Scrap...
AMAZING GROSS - 'PASSION' RETURNS TO NO. 1 AT BOX OFFICE
April 12, 2004 | 4:00am"The Passion of the Christ" got a boost in the box office yesterday as many decided the holiest day in the Christian calendar was a good time to see the...
JAYSON LEGAL TEAM TAKES A LONG SHOT
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amJayson Williams' manslaughter trial resumes today with a judge weighing a demand by the ex-NBA star that the case be tossed out because of alleged prosecutorial misconduct. Legal observers believe...
BRIDGE CELL HELL - BICYCLIST SHOT AS HE DEFIES PHONE ROBBER
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amA mugger yesterday fired two bullets into a defiant student who refused to turn over his cellphone, cops said. Even after Marcin Muchalski, 26, had been shot once, he grimly...
HOUSE OF CARNAGE - L.I. MAN STABS WIFE & HER MOM TO DEATH AS KIDS COWER: COPS
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amA Long Island computer programmer, who was known to his neighbors for his violent outbursts, went berserk yesterday morning and stabbed his estranged wife and mother-in-law to death while the...
MAD HATTERS TAKE FIFTH
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amEaster celebrations around the city ran from the religious to the ludicrous yesterday, but all celebrants were undaunted by the unseasonably cold weather. The holiest day in Christianity, Easter commemorates...
VELELLA TAPS ELEX CASH FOR BRIBE RAP
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amALBANY - Bronx state Sen. Guy Velella, facing a trial next month on bribery charges, has quietly taken $280,000 from his campaign re-election committee to pay for his legal defense,...
CITY HEEDS THE CULL OF THE WILD
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amTired of hauling tigers and monkeys out of Big Apple apartments, the city is helping to create a special agency to handle the thousands of wild animals that turn up...
B'KLYN DMV SIGNS DON'T POINT WHERE THEY AUTO
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amTrying to get to the Department of Motor Vehicles in Downtown Brooklyn can drive motorists up the wall - thanks to a bum steer from street signs around it. Myriad...
FIEND'S DEATH DANCE - CHILLING GIRL-SLAY DETAILS
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amThe man charged with murdering a 14-year-old Bible-toting Catholic schoolgirl and then dumping her body in a trash bin in Brooklyn confessed he "danced all night" after the grisly slaying...
I'D 'HAVE MOVED MOUNTAINS' TO STOP 9/11: W.
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amPresident Bush yesterday said there was no "actionable intelligence" in the CIA memo on al Qaeda that he got a month before the Sept. 11 attacks, and no specifics about...
DEAD RATS HUNG ON L.I. LAWN
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amDead rats and mice were found hanging from crosses on the lawn of a Long Island home in a shocking Easter eve crime that police are investigating as a possible...
NETS' ARENA WILL 'WORK' WONDERS
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amTHE naysayers, whiners and professional "no" people will whine and say nay. But I offer 10,000 incontrovertible reasons why the planned Nets basketball arena in Downtown Brooklyn is not just...
CALL A SUB: TEACHERS DITCH MORE CLASSES
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amForget about students playing hooky - teachers are cutting classes in alarming numbers. A total of 879,481 absences were recorded in the 2003 school year, a jump of 8 percent...
CRASH KILLS 3 BOYS - ON RELIGIOUS RETREAT
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amThree Long Island teens on a religious retreat in the Poconos died early Saturday when their SUV slammed into a tree and burst into flames. The boys - 14-year-olds Omar...
BROOKLYN MAN KILLS WIFE, SELF
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amA married couple was found dead in a Brooklyn housing project last night in an apparent murder-suicide, police said. Tammy and Jeffrey Johnson, both in their 30s, were discovered in...
CRAZED KILLER HUBBY - STABS WIFE, IN-LAW: COPS
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amA Long Island computer programmer, known to his neighbors for violent outbursts, went berserk yesterday and stabbed his estranged wife and mother-in-law to death while the couple's two children and...
JAYSON'S DEFENSE TRYING A LONG SHOT
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amJayson Williams' manslaughter trial resumes today with a judge weighing a demand by the ex-NBA star that the case be tossed out because of alleged prosecutorial misconduct. Legal observers believe...
FIGHTING IN FALLUJAH AS TRUCE CRUMBLES
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amThree U.S. Marines were killed in combat west of Baghdad, officials said today - and fighting started again in anti-American hot-spot Fallujah, as an informal truce between U.S. troops and...
IRAQ - WHAT TO DO: DROP THE HAMMER NOW
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amNORTHERN IRAQ ON Saturday, Iranian agents ambushed an American convoy on the road between Mosul and Akre in Iraq. The attack did not go as planned: Our troops responded sharply,...
ART WAR OVER VINTAGE FOTOS
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amCharges and countercharges are flying in the art-photography world, with the son of pioneering lensman Ralph Eugene Meatyard suing a powerhouse Manhattan gallery for $7.5 million amid accusations of disappearing...
BRIDGE CELL HELL - CYCLIST SHOT AS HE DEFIES PHONE ROBBER
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amA mugger yesterday fired two bullets into a defiant student who refused to turn over his cellphone, cops said. Even after Marcin Muchalski, 26, had been shot once, he grimly...
BIG THREE EMERGE AFTER WEEKEND WINS
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amGoing into Easter weekend, this year's Kentucky Derby - now just 19 days away - was a race in search of a favorite after a series of from-the-clouds upsets in...
IT'S NO LIE: CBS DECISION PAID OFF
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amBECAUSE ya never know . . . What seemed to be CBS's most wasteful and tedious minutes from its weekend Masters coverage turned out to be its most significant. Saturday,...
ISLANDERS RELYING ON NASSAU MAGIC
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amThe noise, the rumble and the mystical postseason aura unique to the old barn will begin to swirl well before the game even starts. The pre-game roar has been known...
MOOSE BAGS NO. 200
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amJorge Posada wanted some time alone with Mike Mussina before yesterday's game. "We hadn't sat down and talked in a while and I thought it would be good if we...
SHEFF SERVES UP PAIR OF BIG HITS
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amIt seems to be almost a rite of passage. A big star comes to the Yankees and begins his career in Pinstripes by struggling. It was true of Jason Giambi...
CLIFF-BANGER - FLOYD OUT, PIAZZA HURT IN MET WIN
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amMets 4 - Expos 1 SAN JUAN - The scoreboard at Hiram Bithorn Stadium lied yesterday. It said the Mets won, but in reality, getaway day in San Juan was...
SEEKING DEKE - LENNY WANTS MUTOMBO BACK
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amNEW ORLEANS - A loss to the Hornets tonight will make the Lincoln Tunnel Series official - Knicks-Nets in the first round Sunday. However, if the Knicks beat New Orleans,...
DERMARR MAKES CASE
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amKNICK NOTES NEW ORLEANS - Knicks boss Isiah Thomas recently guaranteed Allan Houston will be on the playoff roster spot whether he's ready for this weekend's Game 1 or not....
DIRE FOR DEVS - MUST SUCCEED IN SWAMP
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amThis building the Devils want demolished was nothing short of their Stanley Cup last spring. This year, it must be their survival. Home-ice is their last hope. They set the...
GORDON GETS MO'S THANKS
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES While Mariano Rivera earned a save in yesterday's 5-4 victory over the White Sox, setup man Tom Gordon earned Rivera's gratitude. In the seventh and eighth innings, Gordon...
NYC GETS FIRST LOOK AT KAZ
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amSAN JUAN - After hearing the buzz for months, New York finally gets its first glimpse of Kaz Matsui today. The Japanese shortstop will make his Big Apple debut in...
A ROUGH FIRST START FOR MIKE
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amMET NOTES SAN JUAN - Moving Mike Piazza to first base was supposed to preserve his health, not threaten it. But in yesterday's 4-1 win over Montreal, Piazza made his...
IN THE MICK OF TIME - MATURITY AND HUMILITY LEAD TO GREEN JACKET
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amAUGUSTA - It had to go in. It simply had to. There was no other way for one of the most thrilling Masters in history to end. No other way...
YANK FANS CRY: 'HUBBA, BUBBA' - NEW HERO RALLIES CLUB
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amYankees 5 -White Sox 4 Thanks to Bubba Crosby, the Yankees can breathe a huge sigh of relief today. On second thought, it's still pretty frightening that a $184 million...
CROSBY OFFERS HOPE TO SLUGGISH BOMBERS
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amHE makes $301,400 - tip money for a Yankee. He lives in a Manhattan hotel because his future is uncertain. He has more home runs than Alex Rodriguez and Derek...
ZACH ATTACK NEEDED
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amWHILE THE Devils organization promotes its own particular variation of "Where's Waldo?" by providing such scant information about Scott Stevens that the team's players and coach are constantly pestered with...
KIDD, NETS GET SCARE - OK AFTER KNEE TWEAK
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amNets 89 - Sixers 75 The only drama in the Nets' 89-75 triumph over Philadelphia yesterday came watching Jason Kidd hyperextend his already-sore left knee, and seeing Kenyon Martin take...
PHIL WIPES OUT MAJOR FLAW - MICKELSON BACK-NINE 31 CAPTURES MASTERS TITLE
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amAUGUSTA - Ridicule Phil Mickelson no longer. Empathize with him as the lovable loser in major championships no longer. Remind him of his failure to win a major no longer....
RJ SET TO PLAY FOR USA
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amNET NOTES In an Easter Sunday game dreadfully short on true news, SF Richard Jefferson was the hot topic beforehand because of recent comments he made (questioning the wisdom of...
FRANK-LY, BENCH A BIG STRENGTH
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amTamar Slay and Zoran Planinic jogged onto the court to bring the rarity to reality yesterday. With 10:29 left in the second quarter, the Nets had five reserves on the...
DEVASTATED ELS TIPS HIS CAP TO PHIL
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amAUGUSTA - For most of the afternoon in yesterday's scintillating Masters final round, it looked as if Ernie Els were going to finish the day needing only a PGA Championship...
DEVASTATED ERNIE GAVE FINAL ROUND BEST SHOT
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amAUGUSTA - For most of yesterday's scintillating Masters final round, it looked as if Ernie Els was going to finish the day needing only a PGA Championship to complete his...
WOW, WHAT A FINISH! - BACK NINE AS DRAMATIC AS EVER
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amAUGUSTA - There was a theory floating around this week that all the changes to Augusta National over the last two years would make the course so difficult it would...
AILING TIGER 'IMPROVING'
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amNOTEBOOK AUGUSTA - Sound the alarm. Tiger Woods is 0-for-his-last-7 in major championships. Yesterday's final round wasn't one to remember for Woods, who felt so ill early in his round,...
SERGIO CAN'T BE IGNORED
April 12, 2004 | 4:00amAUGUSTA - Sergio Garcia carded six consecutive birdies (on holes 12 through 17) yesterday en route to a final-round 66 and finished in a tie for fourth with Bernhard Langer...