July 27, 2006
COME CLEAN, BEN! - WHAT HAS PLUNGE TEAM BEEN UP TO?
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amFEDERAL Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke revealed that the secretive Plunge Protection Team meets several times a year, but he dodged a congressman's inquiries about what the group does and whether...
MARTHA RALLIES - MAG AD SURGE PROMPTS SHARES TO JUMP 10%
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amAt least yesterday, everybody loved Martha. Martha Stewart's company Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia took a giant step toward winning back the confidence of investors when it reported a surge in...
BUYER SCRAPS DEAL FOR REFCO'S CURRENCY UNIT
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amBankrupt trading giant Refco has again scrapped a deal to sell its currency-trading business, leaving $103 million in customers' cash frozen. Refco's previously announced deal to sell its 17,000 currency-trading...
CLOTHES MAKERS TAKE HIT
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amApparel makers Liz Claiborne and the Jones Apparel Group yesterday reported steep declines in second-quarter earnings, the result of weaker consumer spending and department store consolidation. Large apparel firms have...
GOOGLE'S COMING CLEAN OVER CLICKS
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amGoogle wants to come clean on click fraud. For the first time, the Internet search giant is disclosing to advertisers the number of bogus clicks it detects but doesn't charge...
ABOMINABLE SNOW JOB COSTS MERRILL
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amA defrocked stock broker who infiltrated the Windham Mountain ski rescue patrol to steal their $4.7 million in savings probably faked dozens of his own rescues just to win their...
FAIRFAX $UES FUNDS
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amCanadian insurance giant Fairfax Financial Holdings is seeking $5 billion from some of the biggest and most powerful hedge funds on Wall Street for illegally driving down its stock price,...
TRUMP MAG PUBLISHER TO MAKE OTC PLAY
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amThe private investors behind Trump Magazine and Poker Life are rolling the dice with an over-the-counter stock play that is expected to go off imminently. Premier Publishing Group, the publisher,...
GIMME SHELTER
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amSLIDING DOOR GWYNETH PALTROW is looking to spend more time - and money - on this side of the pond, now that she's buying property in the Hamptons. Sources say...
'AMERICAN GIRL' DOLLS UP FOR TWO MOVIES
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amONE of the very popular American Girl dolls - which have been turned into a successful TV movie franchise - is going to be made into a feature film for...
CALIF. DREAMIN' ON OPENING NIGHT
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amYOU might call it a San Francisco treat. And, like myself, you could well have left your heart - well, part of your heart, perhaps the odd ventricle or so...
THE NEW BOSS SOUND
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amAND you thought your karaoke-loving office mates were just wasting their time. Now, they could become national celebrities. CBS is developing "The Singing Office," a reality show in which karaoke...
CRYIN' WOLFGANG - MOSTLY MOZART MARKS ITS 40TH YEAR
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amBY the time Mozart was 40, he'd been dead for five years. Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival turns 40 this summer, and it's never been livelier. This year's edition -...
AT OZZ, IT'S BEAUTY & THE 'FEST
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amSOARING vocals, symphonic strings and a Depeche Mode cover aren't what you'd usually expect to find at Ozzfest, the ode to all things metal, but that's exactly what makes Lacuna...
TEEN ANGEL - SECOND CHANCE TO CATCH THE SUMMER'S MOST-SPIRITED MOVIE
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amSOMETHING very interesting is happening at ABC Family - once the home of programming so bland-on-bland that it made the Hallmark Channel look deep. Then recently, "Family" got religion. Or...
SUPER FREAKS - REAL PEOPLE WITH REAL DELUSIONS
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amIn a world without phone booths, where's a superhero supposed to change? It's a dilemma faced by a group of superhero wannabes in tonight's onehour premiere of "Who Wants to...
STARR REPORT
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amDebbie Matenopoulos' return to "The View" Tuesday, seven years after being canned, spurred some viewer interest, at least in the tristate area. National ratings for Tuesday's episode aren't available yet,...
GREEN CARD BLUES - WHILE A NATION DEBATES, ONE LIFE TURNS TO FARCE; FOR ONE IMMIGRANT, PINTS, PROPOSALS, NO HOPE
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amOVER the past six months, Tzanko Tchangov has asked about 30 women to marry him. This is an estimate, since, in all fairness, many of the proposals have been made...
SMALL STEP - FIGHTING 'TOE-BESITY,' AT $6,250 PER FOOT
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amAFTER years of trekking the streets of New York in super-fashionable stilettos and boots, 25year-old Brooklynite Zorana Richardson's toes were looking bad. "One of them started getting really big," Richardson...
BACK TO BAGHDAD - THE NEW STRUGGLE IN IRAQ
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amWHEN I visited Baghdad in March, there was no civil war. There is no civil war in Iraq today. But it's beginning to look as if there might be one...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amMANHATTAN (lcf) * Police say these men (above) are serial thieves who mugged at least four people in Chelsea at knifepoint between June 21 and July 4. All the victims...
ANDY, SPITZER TAKE ON PIRRO
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - Democrats Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo joined forces yesterday to counter Republican Jeanine Pirro's claim that she's "like Spitzer" and best suited to replace him as state attorney...
'PLAN B' BUZZ AROUND JOE
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amIT'S the final stretch for Sen. Joe Lieberman's Connecticut Democratic primary on Aug. 8, but everyone is already plotting strategy in case he loses to anti-war rival Ned Lamont -...
JAVITS DEAL OK
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amThe renaissance of the far West Side took a big step forward yesterday when Albany lawmakers approved a $1.7 billion expansion of the Javits Convention Center, including a 1,500-room hotel...
RUDY PREZ TIMBER, GOV DEAD WOOD: POLL
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - New York Republicans overwhelmingly agree on two things: Rudy Giuliani should run for president and Gov. Pataki should not, according to a poll released yesterday. Lame-duck Pataki, according...
ARENA FUROR ABOUT 'TIME'
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amBrooklyn activists are calling a technical foul over the timing of public hearings on the Atlantic Yards plan - saying the scheduling was done to "disenfranchise" the public and limit...
PARK PLAZA 'HEAT' - WASH. SQUARE-OFF
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amA controversial plan to renovate Washington Square Park was dealt a huge setback yesterday when a state judge ruled that the city Parks Department obscured details about redesigning the historic...
WTC FILM TO BOOST CHARITIES
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amFive percent of the first five days of ticket sales for Oliver Stone's movie "World Trade Center" will be donated to the 9/11 memorial, it was announced yesterday. Three other...
GRIM DAY FOR ISRAEL IN LEB - HEZBOLLAH AMBUSH KILLS EIGHT SOLDIERS
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amJERUSALEM - Israel suffered its darkest day of the two-week Lebanese war yesterday, when eight soldiers were killed in an ambush that turned into fierce six-hour battle inside a Hezbollah...
'PERVY' PETER'S TRIAL DUE
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amA Nov. 20 date has been set for the kidnapping and sex-abuse trial of accused fire fiend Peter Braunstein. The former fashion and media writer is facing 25 years to...
UTILITY WILL AT LEAST TURN ON THE CASH
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amCon Ed agreed yesterday to make it easier for blackout-hit Queens residents to claim cash compensation for spoiled food and medicine, Mayor Bloomberg announced as nearly all power was restored...
HOTTER THAN POTTER - ACTOR'S NUDE STAGE DEBUT IN LONDON
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amHARRY POTTER is going to be waving his other wand. Daniel Radcliffe, the 17-year-old star of the hugely popular "Harry Potter" movies, will play the role of an emotionally disturbed...
DEADBEAT POP: NOT A WEASEL
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amAn absentee father who reaped the rewards of his daughter's estate says he's not a bad dad - he's just trying to look out for his other children. "The money...
CHEAT SHOT AT SUOZZI
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amDemocratic gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer yesterday accused rival Tom Suozzi of needing "Cliffs Notes" to get through their debate. The comment from Spitzer came a day after the pair's first...
MOM'S $$ OPENED DOORS
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amHis mother's third marriage assured Anthony Marshall a blueblood lifestyle - but he's grown old in Brooke Astor's philanthropic and social shadow, and his own scandalous second marriage helped erode...
AIRTRAIN SOARS - RECORD RIDERSHIP PACKS KENNEDY-BOUND SHUTTLE
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amThe AirTrain carried a record number of passengers to and from Kennedy Airport last month, surpassing the ridership figures originally projected for the service when it opened in 2003, officials...
$ERIOUS JUICE FOR CON ED'S BONEHEAD
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amKevin Burke, the embattled Con Ed chairman who relocated Queens into the Third World, could make a bundle off his company's stocks, thanks to the blackout. Con Ed's stock closed...
TRUMP TO TEE OFF VS. WOMEN
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amDonald Trump is stepping outside the boardroom for his next project: defeating two of the world's top female golfers. He'll team up with golf legend Tom Watson in a progressive...
QNS. CAR-THEFT RING DEMOLISHED
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amA ring of Queens luxury car thieves was brought down after a yearlong investigation that began with a single cellphone number, prosecutors said yesterday. The caper fell apart after two...
65G HEIST BY MAN OF 'LETTERS'
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amA postal clerk was busted yesterday as the "inside man" for a robbery team that pulled off a $65,000 heist in the Brooklyn branch where he worked, prosecutors said yesterday....
AUDREY DRESS IN BID & 'BREAKFAST' - TIFFANY'S FROCK COULD FETCH 125G
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amThe celebrated black evening gown that couture designer Givenchy created for Audrey Hepburn in the classic romantic heartbreaker "Breakfast at Tiffany's" will be sold at auction. The iconic dress will...
APPLE WILL TALK MORE RAIL ESTATE
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amThe MTA yesterday agreed to meet with the city to reach a deal on the West Side rail yards site, once slated for a new Jets stadium. Even though the...
NOW BROOKE ASTOR IS FREE FROM THE CLUTCHES OF HER ONLY SON
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amShe helped countless people with her tireless philanthropy, and now Brooke Astor is getting some help herself. The ailing 104-year-old matron of New York society has been taken to a...
B'KLYN BRIDGE FOLKS STOP LEAPER
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amConcerned New Yorkers kept a potential jumper from leaping off the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday, buying time for cops to pull him to safety. Police said the unidentified man climbed out...
NAVY ID FIASCO HERE AS LAPTOPS GET LIFTED
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amTwo Navy-owned laptops containing sensitive personal information on about 31,000 recruits from New York and New Jersey have been stolen, officials said. They were grabbed from Navy recruiting offices in...
COPS SMASH GRAFFITI KING
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amThe career of "SMASH" - the "king of subway graffiti" in New York City and the No. 1 target of transit cops for months - has been derailed following his...
DEADBEAT JAB DAD OWES 60G
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amFormer boxing champ Zab Judah was busted because he owes about $60,000 in back child support, The Post has learned. He was arrested Sunday at Madison Square Garden, where he...
OHM, MY! S.I. IN DARK FOR HOURS
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amElectricity went out for 60,000 Staten Island residents yesterday afternoon as Con Edison's tenuous grip on its crumbling power grid slipped yet again - leaving part of the borough in...
GAL WALLOPS BROOKLYN 'BURGLAR'
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amA furious 21-year-old woman whose Brooklyn home had been burglarized was restrained by cops yesterday after she sucker-punched the handcuffed suspect, according to authorities. Lizette Arocho confronted the unidentified thief,...
GRIM DAY FOR ISRAEL IN LEB - NINE SOLDIERS KILLED IN CLASHES WITH HEZ
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amJERUSALEM - Israel suffered its darkest day of the two-week Lebanese war yesterday, when nine soldiers were killed, including eight in a well-planned ambush that turned into fierce six-hour, house-to-house...
'DWI' COUPLE IN BRIBE BUST
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amA speeding drunken driver out with his wife after visiting a Manhattan strip club was busted trying to bribe cops, police said. Marc Douglas, 22, and wife Monica Lopez, 34,...
IT'S ONLY FARE: MTA DELAYS TRANSIT HIKE
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amHere's an MTA delay no one can complain about: The fare hike planned for January will be put off until at least September 2007. Straphangers have the still-booming real-estate market...
'CLUB GIRL' VANISH - FAMILY 'FEARS WORST'
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amA New Jersey teen vanished after a night of partying and underage drinking at a trendy Chelsea nightclub, authorities said yesterday. Jennifer Moore, 18, left the Guest House nightclub at...
QNS. CAR-THEFT RING SMASHED
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amA ring of Queens luxury-car thieves was brought down after a yearlong investigation, prosecutors said yesterday. The caper fell apart after two of the accused thieves wrote a fake check...
IRAQI PM TO U.S.: 'OUR FATE TIED TO YOURS' - CHEERS & SNUBS ON CAPITOL HILL
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri alMaliki yesterday told Congress that Iraq is the "front line" in the war on terror and thanked America for its sacrifices to topple Saddam...
THE 5TH ANNUAL LIBERTY MEDAL AWARDS - TIP YOUR HATS TO HEROES
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amOdds are you know a New Yorker who makes a difference. Well, we'd like EVERYONE to know. We are seeking candidates for the fifth annual New York Post Liberty Medals,...
FEDS' 'KHAT NIP' - $10M DRUG RING
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amThe khat's out of the bag. Federal agents have busted 44 alleged members of a massive drug-smuggling and distribution network they say supplied the nation with a highly addictive East...
AIRLINE IN 9/11 $$ DEAL - WITH 32 FAMILIES
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amAmerican Airlines has agreed to settle claims by 32 families of 9/11 victims for alleged security failures that enabled terrorists to seize control of two of the jets in the...
OHM, MY! NOW S.I. IS LEFT IN DARK
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amElectricity went out for 16,000 customers on Staten Island late yesterday afternoon as Con Edison's tenuous grip on its crumbling power grid slipped yet again and up to 60,000 people...
BONDS' TRAINER BACK ON STAND - LIKELY TO KEEP QUIET AGAIN
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amBarry Bonds' personal trainer is expected to appear before a federal grand jury in San Francisco this morning, and his lawyers say he'd rather go back to prison than testify....
'SCAT' SHOWDOWN LOOMS IN SANFORD
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amSARATOGA SPRINGS - After two summers in which the New York Racing Association ran just two of its three traditional stakes for 2-year-old colts at the Old Spa, dropping the...
BELTRAN BACK TO STEALING
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amMET NOTES After a 38-game drought, Carlos Beltran finally tried to steal a base yesterday. And he swiped two. Beltran, who last attempted a steal on June 11 against the...
MORE MOTION MAGIC WITH MASSOUD
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amFIRST RACE: Graham Motion, whose runners showed flat-bet profit last three summers at Spa with all of his winners coming in turf routes, picked up where he left off with...
A BLESSING IN DISGRACE - PLAYOFF DISASTER MOTIVATES GIANTS
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amALBANY - The clock hasn't even started ticking here at training camp, but when it does, when the dog days kick in and the heat and humidity rise, when muscles...
GOMEZ AWARD ADDS TO DEVILS' DILEMMA
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amThe Devils' salary-cap quandary is certainly persistent, and all the result of a few mad moments last summer. And it doesn't seem that president Lou Lamoriello will get an easy...
STINKER OF A WIN FOR TUA
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amThe crowd at Manhattan's Hammerstein Ballroom booed lustily last night after a first round more boring than Day 2 of the NFL draft. That says it all about David Tua's...
D'BRICKASHAW, 2 OTHER PICKS OK JETS DEALS
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amWith the entire team due into Eric Mangini's first NFL training camp as head coach today, the Jets last night got some significant orders of business taken care of, agreeing...
YANKS SNARE THE TOP CARD - GIAMBI HOMER COMPLETES SWEEP OF TEXAS
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amYankees 8 - Rangers 7 ARLINGTON - Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees didn't escape Texas in a getaway car driven by Jason Giambi with Shawn Chacon in the front seat....
BACK KEEPS FARNSWORTH OUT
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES ARLINGTON - For at least the third time this year, Kyle Farnsworth's balky back prevented Joe Torre from using the $17 million reliever. Ready to ask Farnsworth to...
SAL PSYCHED FOR PINSTRIPED CHANCE
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amARLINGTON - Sal Fasano understands the No. 26 Yankee uniform he donned last night may not last long. Yet, that wasn't going to sour Fasano's outlook last night when he...
OMAR NEEDS TO USE RESTRAINT
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amTHE BALL thwacked off Jose Valentin's bat, and Valentin immediately thrust his fist in the air and let out a joyful yelp, because driving in a gamewinning run never grows...
GREAT SCOTT! PROC'S STAYIN' - RELIEVER DEEMED UNTOUCHABLE AS DEADLINE NEARS
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amARLINGTON - He doesn't have Philip Hughes' future. His past suggests journeyman. But it's Scott Proctor's present that has quickly carried him into the rarefied place in the Yankees' organization:...
VALENTIN WINS MAINE EVENT - WALK-OFF SINGLE DECIDES 10-INNING PITCHING DUEL
July 27, 2006 | 4:00am10 INNINGS: Mets 1 - Cubs 0 It's not very often that Willie Randolph comes out to the mound and doesn't take a pitcher out. He did that yesterday. He...
TRADE DEFICIT - SOME YANKEES DEALS WERE COSTLY
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amTHIS is the time of year when fans and media demand action. Do something, anything, now. There is worry if the Mets have the right pieces for a playoff rotation....
CAMP MANGINI NOT BUILT FOR FUN
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amHaving participated in the offseason practices, the Jets' veteran players already have a pretty good idea about what to expect from Eric Mangini's first training camp as an NFL head...
TUA PUNCHES RETURN TICKET
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amTake away a man's passion and the effect can be crushing. David Tua was sitting around his house in New Zealand like an extra in the movie "Night of the...
BOMBERS JUST WON'T GAMBLE WITH PROCTOR
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amARLINGTON - He doesn't have Philip Hughes' future. His past suggests journeyman. But it's Scott Proctor's present that has quickly carried him into the rarefied place in the Yankees' organization:...
A NAGGING KNEE FORCES JASON TO DH
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES ARLINGTON - Jason Giambi knows why most of the balls he hit recently went straight up instead of over fences: a barking left knee. "My knee has been...
PRIOR IS RIGHT ON THE MARK
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amMark Prior hasn't been mistaken for a guy walking around with a winning lottery ticket the last few years. He's been down on his luck, riddled with a laundry list...
DEVILS FEELIN' PINCH
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amThe Devils' salary-cap quandary is persistent, and all the result of a few mad moments last summer. And it doesn't seem that president Lou Lamoriello will get an easy pass...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
July 27, 2006 | 4:00amA club-wielding chimp is on the loose in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The pugnacious primate vanished after being spotted whooping it up in someone's back yard Monday. The Ventura County Star...