December 20, 2005
CLEARING SOME THINGS OFF MY DESK BEFORE THE YEAR-END
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amDISNEY is thinking of opening smaller theme parks. Despite all its distractions, Time Warner is interested in Cablevision at the right price. A shareholder is looking to hook Benihana up...
GLASSY BUILDING CLASSES UP NABE
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amALL it takes is one good new project to turn a swath of cityscape around. Ever since Axel Stawski's glass-wrapped office building went up at 505 Fifth Ave., the blocks...
AOL-GOOGLE COURTING DISASTER: ICAHN
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amIt didn't take long for Carl Icahn to rattle Time Warner's cage over its planned partnership with Google. Icahn, the billionaire financier who is waging a proxy fight at Time...
DOLAN DEBACLE - CABLEVISION'S $3B DIVIDEND PAYOUT SCOTCHED
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amLate last week Cablevision executives were wrapping up their road show, trying to entice investors to buy bonds that would finance a special $3 billion dividend - a one-time payout...
PRO SEES DOW DIVE IN '06
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe stock market prophet who correctly predicted that the Dow Jones industrial average would hit 10,000 in the late 1990s sees U.S. stocks falling by as much as 25 percent...
STORES CUT BACK ON HOLIDAY HELP
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amFewer employees on the shop floor this holiday season could mean longer lines for customers, according to government data, and that could have a negative impact on retail sales, some...
HEDGE CLIPS CLIENTS - FUND CUTS WITHDRAWALS
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amCentrix Capital Management, a $700 million Colorado-based hedge fund, is limiting customer withdrawals from its main portfolio. Centrix took the unusual step to keep institutional investors from fleeing the fund...
MERC-Y BID FOR NYMEX?
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe Chicago Mercantile Exchange is sniffing around buying a piece of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Merc has submitted a letter to the Nymex board expressing interest in a...
'LOST' STAR ALL FIRED UP
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amA star of the hit ABC show "Lost" who was recently busted for driving drunk asked cops to shoot her in the head. Michelle Rodriguez and another "Lost" star, Cynthia...
NO BACKING DOWN - RANDAL: ONLY ONE 'APPRENTICE'
December 20, 2005 | 5:00am'APPRENTICE" winner Randal Pinkett stuck by his guns yesterday - defending his decision not to share his crown with runner-up Rebecca Jarvis. "I didn't expect [Donald Trump] would hire me...
'WING' REPAIR AFTER DEATH
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amNO decisions will be made this week by the writers and producers of "The West Wing" on how to handle the death of co-star John Spencer. A spokeswoman for Warner...
FARE PLAY - GAME SHOW IN THE BACKSEAT OF 'CAB'
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amFREQUENT passengers in New York City taxis are accustomed to surprises. But until recently, climbing into a cab, and then discovering that it is actually a mobile game show, had...
TIME TO GET IN TUNE WITH THE HOLIDAYS
December 20, 2005 | 5:00am* MARTIN SEXTON "Camp Holiday" [****] (Four stars) Kitchen Table Records In a genre where everybody is either trying to twist holiday songs into what they aren't or polishing them...
STARR REPORT
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amHe's had his Phil "Dr. Phil McGraw," who's big on advising families how to interact with each other, needs to practice what he preaches. McGraw tells the January issue of...
TV 'JUSTICE' CLEARS ACCUSED MURDERER
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amA&E's "American Justice" is credited with helping to free a man from prison who was wrongly accused in 1998 of raping and murdering his mother-in-law and raping his 6-year-old niece....
OUTLOOK 2006 - 10 HOT TRIPS FOR THE NEW YEAR, FROM THE DEEP SOUTH TO THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amADMIT it - what you really want for Christmas isn't another handbag , tie or Banana Republic gift card - it's a life exotic. You want money to travel with...
WATCH OUT! 5 CONCEPTS THAT ARE CHANGING THE WAY WE TRAVEL
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amBUSINESS-LIKE Economy class isn't dead, but increasingly, it sure seems like it. A global shift towards all-business class service has been taking place, including travel from New York to London...
TRAGEDY'S WAKE - SPIELBERG'S TAKE ON MUNICH OLYMPICS MASSACRE IS CONTROVERSIAL - AND BRILLIANT
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amMUNICH (four stars) Spielberg's best since "Saving Private Ryan." Running time: 167 minutes. Rated R (violence, sex, profanity). Opens Friday at the E-Walk, the Tower East, the Village East, others....
BLACK WISE MAN STOLEN AGAIN
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amLong Island cops are investigating a possible hate crime - the theft, for the second straight Christmas, of the statue of Balthasar, the black wise man, from a church's Nativity...
STRIPPER SLAY BREAK - BLOODY PRINT MATCHES BEAU'S
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amA bloody fingerprint found near the body of murdered stripper Catherine Woods has been matched to her former boyfriend Paul Cortez, the prime suspect in the savage Upper East Side...
MAYOR HINTS AT PENSION CUTS FOR NEW CITY STAFFERS
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amNew city employees had better get ready for reduced pension benefits no matter what happens in the transit talks - where pension costs are a key sticking point, Mayor Bloomberg...
VICTIM PARTIED HEARTY AFTER CREEP CAUGHT
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe woman held captive allegedly by Peter Braunstein in a Halloween sex attack emerged from her social exile to hit a holiday dinner party on the day he was caught...
CITY NUR$ING S.I. HOSP HOPE
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe city put up another $3.75 million yesterday to help Staten Island University Hospital build a $25 million emergency room - as Mayor Bloomberg noted that the fast-growing borough remained...
RUFF TIMES OVER - ALL PUPS NEED IS HAPPY HOME
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amTwo pooches found abandoned in a Harlem park are ready to go home in time for the holidays. "They're bubbly and bouncy and ready for their forever homes," said CherylAnn...
ARIEL TO LEAVE HOSP
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amIsraeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered no permanent damage as a result of a stroke he had over the weekend and should be released from a Jerusalem hospital today, doctors...
W. READS CHUCK & HILL THE (PAT)RIOT ACT - DEMANDS EXPLANATION FOR SENATE NIX OF LAW RENEWAL
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday slapped Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer for blocking renewal of the Patriot Act, saying they need to explain their opposition to New Yorkers....
GOV OPENS FIRE IN SHELLY SHOWDOWN
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amGov. Pataki yesterday shot down Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's bid to tie legislation affecting legal gun dealers to the governor's proposal for tougher penalties against crooked gun traffickers and those...
LATINS LIMP LEFT - JUST LET THEM LEARN
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amLOOKS like the voters of Bolivia have chosen Evo Morales as their next presidente. Evo's a pro-narco pal of Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro. His campaign included a pledge to...
SMOKE RISES AMONG TEENS
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe steady decline in smoking by teens may be over, says a new study. For the first time in 10 years, cigarette smoking among a key teen study group has...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amBROOKLYN * Police are trying to unravel the mystery surrounding the death of a woman whose body was found on the shoreline in Brighton Beach. The corpse, bearing no identification,...
BUSMEN'S 'HOLIDAY' IN QNS. LEAVES RIDERS COLD
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amQueens commuters schlepped, took livery cabs and bummed rides from relatives as they scrambled to deal with a strike yesterday at two private bus companies. "It sucks," said Cindy Chan,...
EXPEL KLEIN: PRINCIPALS UNION
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amJill Levy, head of the principals' union, urged yesterday that the city fire Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. Levy spoke as her Council of School Supervisors and Administrators released results of...
'BOY' COKE CASE ON HOLD
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amEighties music icon Boy George won't face the music on drug-possession charges in the Big Apple until next year. Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Patricia Nuñez put off the next court...
LE SLAP APRES LE KIDNAP - JUDGE: CAN'T TRUST FRENCH ABDUCT MOM
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe French mom who once enlisted her entire hometown to hide her daughter from the kid's New York dad cried like a baby yesterday - as an upstate judge slammed...
STERN PAL IN $CAM - SHOCK JOCK STOCK CROCK
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe former president of Howard Stern's accounting firm is in some Sirius trouble for deviously buying stock in the shock jock's new satellite radio home just days before the deal...
CAR SERVICE DRIVES UP JFK FARE TO $300
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amIn what may be a case of prohibited price gouging related to the transit strike, a Queens car-service company says it will charge a $300 fare for a passenger traveling...
ODDFATHER 'CHIN' DIES BEHIND BARS - DODGED JAIL FOR YEARS WITH NUTTY ACT
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amVincent "The Chin" Gigante has hung up his bathrobe. The Genovese mob boss who for decades avoided jail by shuffling around Greenwich Village streets in a bathrobe pretending he belonged...
MURDER INC.STER TAKES RAP
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe lone casualty in the feds' probe into rap label Murder Inc. was sentenced yesterday for a string of shady bank deposits aimed at keeping bank regulators at bay -...
A JOLLY BAD FELLOW FLIES HOME - BRAUNSTEIN EAGER FOR N.Y.
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amMEMPHIS, Tenn. - A disturbingly jovial Peter Braunstein was shackled and shipped back to New York last night under armed guard - apparently eager to face charges he masqueraded as...
SUNY FINDS HEAD UNDER ITS NOSE
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe search for the next chancellor of the State University of New York came to anticlimactic end yesterday as trustees settled on acting Chancellor John Ryan. Ryan, who had previously...
'BOY'S' COKE CASE ON HOLD
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amEighties pop icon Boy George won't face the music on drug-possession charges in until next year. Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Patricia Nuñez put off the next court appearance for the...
'88 SLAY SHOCKER - MY DAD IS L.I. COUPLE'S REAL KILLER: TEEN
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amA soft-spoken teen drew gasps yesterday as he testified that his dad was the real killer of a Long Island businessman and his wife - a sensational crime that's been...
'WILD' MAN'S SICKO SEX NIGHTMARE
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amLOS ANGELES - "Girls Gone Wild" producer Joe Francis yesterday faced down the man who allegedly invaded his home and forced him at gunpoint to make a sexually explicit videotape....
9/11 MEMORIAL GROUP SEEKS POSTAGE-STAMP TRIBUTE
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe World Trade Center Memorial Foundation has launched a campaign to persuade the Postal Service to issue a commemorative stamp in time for the memorial's 2009 opening. Foundation officials hope...
'REASON' FOR TRAGIC SCHOOL PUNCH
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe 12-year-old Brooklyn girl who allegedly socked a school-safety agent who later died was fighting for a classmate's right to come to a party, a friend said yesterday. The girl,...
FIRE EVACUATES RADIO CITY AUDIENCE
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amA fire in a storage closet caused Radio City Music Hall to be evacuated yesterday as a performance of its "Christmas Spectacular" was just beginning. Flames shot out from the...
A JOLLY BAD FELLOW FLIES HOME - FIRE-FIEND GLEE TO BE IN N.Y.
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amMEMPHIS, Tenn. - Big-mouthed monster suspect Peter Braunstein chewed a wad of gum as he was shackled and shipped back to New York last night under armed guard - looking...
PATAKI STICKS TO HIS GUNS - OPENS FIRE ON SILVER
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amGov. Pataki yesterday shot down Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's bid to tie legislation affecting legal gun dealers to the governor's proposal for tougher penalties against crooked gun traffickers and those...
EXPEL KLEIN: PRINCIPALS' UNION CHIEF
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amJill Levy, head of the principals' union, urged yesterday that the city fire Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. Levy spoke as her Council of School Supervisors and Administrators released results of...
SCHOOL BIG'S 'SEIZURE' RAP
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe superintendent of citywide special-education services will be reprimanded for directing subordinates to ignore subpoenas to testify about the future schooling of an autistic boy who suffered a classroom seizure,...
CITY GIVES S.I. HOSP A $HOT IN ARM
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe city put up $3.75 million yesterday to help Staten Island University Hospital build a $25 million emergency room, as Mayor Bloomberg noted that the growing borough is the only...
LONG, STRANGE TRIP WITH A STRUNG-OUT SEX MONSTER
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amTHE fire fiend shot blanks this time. The great and powerful Peter Braunstein could barely keep his head aloft as the Continental jet whisked him out of Memphis. His head...
TRANSIT STRIKE RAILROADS CITY - SUBWAY UNION WALKS OUT OF TALKS, DESPITE WINNING CONCESSIONS FROM MTA
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe city's transit union called for a strike early today after failing to reach a deal with the MTA following days of bitter labor talks, ensuring that 7 million bus...
JOLLY BAD FELLOW - 'FIRE PHONY' GRINS IN TALK WITH COPS ON FLIGHT HOME
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amSuspected Halloween sex fiend Peter Braunstein chomped on a wad of gum as he was shackled and shipped back to New York last night - acting as if he couldn't...
HELP TROOPS PHONE HOME
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amAMERICANS looking for a way to offer some holiday cheer to our troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan might want to consider the USO's Operation Phone Home - a program...
RADIO CITY AUDIENCE EVACUATED BY BLAZE
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amA fire in a storage closet caused Radio City Music Hall to be evacuated yesterday as a performance of its "Christmas Spectacular" was just beginning. Flames shot out from the...
PARTY DEATH PUNCH - SCHOOLGIRL HIT GUARD OVER BANNED BUDDY
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe 12-year-old Brooklyn girl who allegedly socked a school safety agent who later died was fighting for a classmate's right to come to a party, a friend said yesterday. The...
'WILD' MAN'S ORDEAL - IDS SEX SUSPECT
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amLOS ANGELES - "Girls Gone Wild" producer Joe Francis yesterday faced down the man who allegedly invaded his home and forced him at gunpoint to make a sexually explicit videotape....
'POST'-9/11 TRIBUTE URGED - GROUP SEEKS MEMORIAL STAMP
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe World Trade Center Memorial Foundation has launched a campaign to convince the Postal Service to issue a commemorative stamp in time for the memorial's 2009 opening. Foundation officials hope...
'SLAY' BEAU IN SEX BUST - EX ACCUSES TRAGIC STRIPPER'S PAL
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe prime suspect in the savage murder of stripper Catherine Woods was busted on a sexual-assault charge last night after a woman he dated last year told cops he had...
TEEN PINS '88 L.I. SLAY ON HIS DAD
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amA soft-spoken teen drew gasps yesterday as he testified that his dad was the real killer of a Long Island businessman and his wife - a sensational crime that's been...
FALLOUT IN KID'S SEIZURE - SCHOOL BIG SCOLDED
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe superintendent of citywide special-education services will be reprimanded for directing subordinates to ignore subpoenas to testify about the future schooling of an autistic boy who suffered a classroom seizure,...
TALKS STRETCH TO END OF LINE - MTA & UNION DUKE IT OUT IN MARATHON SESSION TO AVOID DISASTROUS STRIKE
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amTransit workers and the MTA negotiated up to the 11th hour last night to head off a strike that Mayor Bloomberg said would be "reprehensible." The two sides spent the...
JUST NOT ENOUGH
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amJet Report CardQUARTERBACKS: A Brooks Bollinger (28-42, 327 yards, 2 TDs, 106.0 rating) played his best game as a pro. His only mistake was one intentional-grounding penalty. He deserved a...
ROBBY'S STRESSED OUT - DEVILS COACH STEPS DOWN
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amIf this chaos doesn't create cohesion, the Devils go down the drain right along with the soup they're already in. They've done it again to Larry Robinson. This time, the...
FOR A CHANGE, RANGERS HAVE UPPER HAND
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amDEVILS at RANGERS - Tonight 7:00 MSG, FSN; WFAN, ESPN Tonight at Madison Square Garden the Rangers host the Devils for the teams' fifth meeting this season, but it's not...
CURRY'S LIKELY TO MISS SPURS
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES While Eddy Curry sounded cautiously optimistic that he could be ready to return from the sprained left ankle when the Knicks host the Spurs tomorrow, Larry Brown did...
BOLLINGER NEEDS WINS, NOT STATS - JETS QB NOT ASSURED OF '06 ROSTER SPOT
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amOne of the very few feel-good stories of this 3-10 season for the Jets has been the emergence of Brooks Bollinger, who has come from being a third-string quarterback with...
CALLING FOR REINFORCEMENTS
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amIn need of reinforcements after a spate of injuries, the Giants yesterday tried to fortify two positions when they signed veteran linebacker Roman Phifer and young tight end Matt Kranchick....
AMAZIN'S AX ISHII, KEEP ZAMBRANO
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe Mets yesterday cut loose one of their 2005 starters, but they have no plans of jettisoning another potential free agent. The club announced the predictable release of Kaz Ishii...
COURTING DOTEL - YANKS ONE OF FOUR TEAMS AFTER RELIEVER
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amBrian Cashman's offseason goals were to rebuild the Yankees' bullpen and find a center fielder. Last night, the Yankees GM was in a fight with the Indians, Mets and Red...
THE BOOK ON BLUE - SURPRISE! VEGAS [LOVES] SKINS
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amHere's how Las Vegas explains the Redskins being favored by 3 points over the Giants for Saturday's game: "This is probably a slight overreaction to how good Washington looked [Sunday...
GIANT TASK: WIN AND THEY'RE IN - CONTROL DIVISION DESTINY VS. SKINS
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amThe Surprise Express that is the Giants' season rolls Saturday into Washington pointed towards the NFC East title and even greater bounty. Intent on derailing the express are the reborn...
DOUBTING THOMAS - ISIAH ADRIFT AS KNICKS' PREZ
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amAS someone once splendidly stiffed by Peter Kalikow during his transitory overcast ownership of The Post, I urge Transport Workers' envoys to make damn sure they're properly inoculated against highbrow...
FRAGILE KYLE UNSTEADY FIX FOR THIS PEN
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amREARRANGE the letters in Kyle Farnsworth's name and I believe you spell "Mark Wohlers" or "Jay Witasick." The centerpiece to an altered Yankees bullpen, therefore, is another strapping, fireballing righty...
NETS HOPING TO RIDE MOMENTUM TRAIN
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amCLIPPERS at NETS - Tonight - 7:30 YES TV; WBBR (1130 AM) Five times in this up-and-down season, the Nets have won back-to-back games. The first four times, they lost...
U! S! OY! ISLES' DIPIETRO AWFUL
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amLeafs 9 - Isles 6 TORONTO - It will be Rick DiPietro's net at the Olympics, but last night it belonged to everybody. The Islander goalie, who was named to...
COURTING DOTEL - YANKS, TRIBE SQUARE OFF FOR RELIEVER
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amBrian Cashman's offseason goals were to rebuild the Yankees bullpen and find a center fielder. Last night, the Yankees GM was in a fight with the Indians for right-handed reliever...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
December 20, 2005 | 5:00amAn Indiana cafeteria worker thought it odd a fourth-grader would pay for his lunch with a $20 bill - until it turned out the money was counterfeit. Cops busted the...