January 7, 2005
A LABEL TO 'BOWL' YOU OVER
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amYou'd think the chances of people using a toilet-bowl brush to clean themselves is rather small, but despite the odds, one such brush carries a "Do not use for personal...
SEC RISK CHIEF LOST MONEY ON ENRON
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amThe government's chief watchdog for spotting companies cooking their books turned out to be a personal investor in the scandalous Enron. Charles Fishkin, 44, the Securities and Exchange Commission's chief...
DOUBLE FEATURE - GREY TO HOLD CREATIVE, FINANCIAL REINS OF PARAMOUNT
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amViacom named talent-management bigwig Brad Grey to head its Paramount movie studio yesterday, a move likely to repair relations between the studio and Hollywood's creative community. Grey, owner of management...
DISCOUNTS HURT STORES' PROFITS
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amHeavy discounting boosted sales in December, providing a last-minute surge in holiday shopping, but also raising concerns about fourth-quarter earnings, analysts said yesterday. Sales at stores open at least a...
FIRM SETS SUPER PROMO OF 'LONGEST YARD' REMAKE
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amIn a move to get as much exposure as possible during the Super Bowl, Paramount is promoting its remake of "The Longest Yard" by stenciling the movie's logo on the...
CLARKE'S TO OPEN NEW PUB AT 4 WFC
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amP.J. Clarke's, the Midtown watering hole founded in 1884, has lined up a second location at the Merrill Lynch Building at 4 World Financial Center, taking over the ground level...
GAS PUMP LUMPS - PRICES MAY SKYROCKET TO $2.30 BY SUMMER
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amNew Yorkers face a second straight summer of record high gasoline that could cost over $2.30 a gallon. Experts say America's refineries haven't expanded their facilities in 30 years and...
SALES STEADY AT TOYS 'R' US
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amToys 'R' Us held its own against Wal-Mart Stores and other big discounters during the holiday season, by keeping prices competitive and inventories lean, analysts said yesterday. Toys 'R' Us,...
MARSH EXEC PLEADS GUILTY AND WILL TALK
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amAn executive at Marsh & McLennan Cos., the insurance broker at the center of the Eliot Spitzer bid-rigging probe, pleaded guilty to felony charges yesterday and promised to spill his...
CONDÉ GETS CONNED - BACK-OFFICE MANAGER ALLEGEDLY EMBEZZLED $5.9M
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amTHE richest man in New York City may be a little lighter in the pockets. S.I. Newhouse Jr.'s Advance Magazine group was stung by a $5.9 million embezzlement scheme. Shortly...
COOKE IN DAILY NEWS STEW
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amMort Zuckerman, the owner of the Daily News, has to nobody's great surprise tapped Michael Cooke, the Chicago Sun-Times editor in chief, to be the latest chief editor at the...
STARR REPORT
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amBarbara's big getBarbara Walters is returning to "20/20" next Friday - to present her interview with President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. It's the couple's first joint interview since...
NBA'S SHOT AT LOVE
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amSACRAMENTO Kings guard Doug Christie and his wife, Jackie - famous in the sex-scandal scarred NBA for their closeness - are in talks to become reality-show stars. The couple -...
TOO MUCH STUFFED INTO MEAT OF THE STORY
January 7, 2005 | 5:00am'THE Green Butchers" is a flawed black comedy about two buddies who open a butcher's shop in a small Danish town. Customers are few until, through a bizarre series of...
AWFUL MURDER FLICK NOT WORTH FILM IT'S SHOT ON
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amTHE most disturbing scene in "Murder-Set-Pieces" is one we know all too well - that heartbreaking shot of the scarred towers burning, the plumes of smoke reaching to the sky....
IN TUNE WITH WORLD MUSIC
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amLOOKING to broaden your cultural horizons in the new year? Take a musical trip overseas by checking out a folk-tronic chanteuse from Argentina - Juana Molina - or the Paris...
PENNY CRONE RETURNS TO CH. 5 ROOTS
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amVETERAN reporter Penny Crone is returning home to Ch. 5. Crone, who spent 14 years at Ch. 5 before jumping to Ch. 2, will join the "Good Day New York"...
RAZORLIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amTHREE of the four Razorlight guys sport a really good variety of "Scooby Doo"/Bon Jovi rock shags. A live version of the Cure's "Boys Don't Cry" won Robert Smith's approval....
'RAY' OF HOPE FOR DIRECTOR
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amTHE Ray Charles biopic "Ray" gained in the Oscar race yesterday after scoring a nomination for helmer Taylor Hackford in the bellwether Directors Guild of America awards. "Ray" edged out...
OUT OF 'VIEW' - AMBER DUMPS DAYTIME TALKER WITHOUT LAWYER BY HER SIDE
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amAMBER Frey won't be hawking her new book on today's "The View" as scheduled - because she suddenly withdrew from the famous morning coffee-klatch show yesterday. Amber pulled out when...
'NOISE' IS OFF - STATIC STORY MAKES AWFUL THRILLER
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amWHITE NOISE (one star) I see a dead movie. Running time: 99 minutes. Rated PG-13 (violence, disturbing images, language). At the State, the Chelsea, the New York Twin, others. IF...
TONY ALTERATION - PRIZE MAY GO TO A NEW CAST
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amHERE'S an added incentive for Harvey Fierstein to knock the matzoh ball out of the park as Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof": a Tony Award. A plan is afoot...
FILM PICK
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amJoshua Marston's "Maria Full of Grace," voted best first film of 2004 by the New York Film Critics Circle, unreels Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at the American Museum of the...
ROCK PICK
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amSinger-songwriter Steve Earle will be interviewed by director Jonathan Demme ("The Silence of the Lambs") at the New York Public Library (Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street). Tickets are $10. Call...
MARY'S HOT PICKS
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amDon Byron and the Symphony Space Adventurers Orchestra celebrate the fifth anniversary of "Contrasting Brilliance" tomorrow night at 8 at the Symphony Space Peter Jay Sharp Theater (2537 Broadway, at...
'PRETTY WOMAN' BUYS RUMMY LAND
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amActress Julia Roberts reportedly has purchased 32 acres of land in Taos, N.M., from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The 37-year-old Oscar winner bought the land - worth an estimated $3.5...
BOMB KILLS 7 GIS - GUERRILLAS HIT PALS OF TRAGIC BRAVEST
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amSeven members of Manhattan's Fighting 69th were killed in northwest Baghdad yesterday when a roadside bomb exploded under their armored vehicle - a blast exactly like the one six weeks...
MAGI MIKE REIGNS ON KINGS DAY
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amHundreds of children lined the streets of East Harlem yesterday to watch the Three Kings, a couple of camels and Mayor Bloomberg celebrate the Nativity. Three Kings Day, which is...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amThe top prize in this year's Wacky Warning Label Contest goes to a toilet brush with a sticker reading, "Do not use for personal hygiene." In second place is a...
POL SLAMS KERIK'S 'RACIAL PRO-FIRING'
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amA city councilman charged yesterday that "racial profiling" by Bernard Kerik and Rudy Giuliani in the late 1990s led to more than 100 black correction officers being arrested or fired...
VELELLA A MAN WITH NO APPEAL
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amALBANY - Disgraced former state Sen. Guy Velella yesterday lost his final bid to get out of jail early. Without comment, the Court of Appeals - the state's top court...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amTHE BRONX * A 23-year-old man was shot dead by two gunmen early yesterday as he was walking with his girlfriend on a Co-op City street, police said. Corey King...
LABOR PACT ON SCHOOL PROJECTS
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amA new labor agreement between the city and a major construction union promises to keep tradesmen with criminal records from working on school building projects. The agreement, announced yesterday by...
NEW PRESIDENTIAL PUP INAUGURATED
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - It was puppy love at the White House yesterday when First Dog Barney met his new playmate Miss Beazley - another black Scottish terrier who's a miniature carbon...
WHEN POLS ATTACK - PITCHER THIS: ENRAGED JENNINGS PEGS TV REPORTER WITH 'FASTBALL'
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amMaybe embattled City Councilman Allan Jennings is wasting his time as a legislator - a local TV reporter says he should be hurling for the Mets. As seen in these...
MAYOR CAPS OFF 3 KINGS DAY
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amHundreds of children lined the streets of East Harlem yesterday to watch the Three Kings, a couple of camels and Mayor Bloomberg celebrate the Nativity. Three Kings Day, which is...
DYING WORDS - BANKER TOLD HOW FAKE COP GUNNED HIM DOWN
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amA bank manager gunned down on a Long Island street lived just long enough to tell how his own murder went down, police said yesterday. Detectives were hunting for his...
UNION: NO WAL-MART HERE
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amCiting accusations of union-busting, low pay and no health benefits, labor leaders flocked to City Hall yesterday to try to block a Wal-Mart superstore from opening in the city. "The...
PARTY HOOCH DUNNIT - COPS NOW QUIZ KIDS
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amWestchester cops, who busted two parents for letting their teenage daughter throw a boozy New Year's Eve bash, have started interviewing the underage partygoers, looking to bolster their case against...
CABS WEATHER HAIL $TORM - TINY DIP IN RIDERS AFTER HIKE
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amHigher taxi fares caused virtually no change in ridership in the past seven months, but resulted in an increase in revenues for drivers and fleet owners, officials said yesterday. Preliminary...
DUBYA'S AG PICK KEEPS HIS COOL DURING DEMS' GRILLING
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - U.S. attorney-general nominee Alberto Gonzales fended off Democrats during his confirmation hearing yesterday - and brushed aside Sen. Charles Schumer's insinuation that he'll be the next Supreme Court...
DANISH TOT LATEST CASE OF 'KIDNAP'
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amInterpol and Danish police have launched an investigation into the disappearance of a tow-headed 3-year-old boy they believe survived the tsunami - only to vanish from a hospital with three...
WAREHOUSE-SLAY OFFICER'S TRIAL POSTPONED
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amThe trial of a young plainclothes cop who fatally shot an unarmed craftsman in a Chelsea warehouse has been postponed until Feb. 9 as both sides wrangle over what his...
$TORMY WEATHER - CABLE CHANNEL AXED GAL, 42, IN 'SEX' PUSH: LAWSUIT
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amA storm of controversy has engulfed The Weather Channel, after a 40-something former anchor accused network brass of washing her out of a high-ranking job to make way for a...
LONG TRESSES DOOMED WOMEN
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amLong hair proved fatal to scores of women when a tsunami struck the southeastern coast of India. Many woman in villages in the Tamil Nadu province were unable to escape...
MIKE EYES 2ND TAX REBATE
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amHomeowners will get another $400 property tax rebate this fall if Mayor Bloomberg has his way. Bloomberg, who is up for re-election in November, said yesterday he would like to...
BIKER COP IN PROBE - 'ADVISED' HOT-WHEELS RING
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amAn NYPD detective is under investigation for possibly giving advice to several members of a motorcycle-theft ring after the suspects learned they were targets of a Police Department probe, The...
COPS KILL JEALOUS SHOOTER
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amA misunderstanding among three janitors at a Queens college ended in violence yesterday, with a jealous lover shot dead by cops after a chase while his victim lay in a...
MIKE CHALLENGES RACIST-FLOAT RULING
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amThe Bloomberg administration is fighting to overturn a federal court ruling ordering the city to reinstate a cop and two firefighters fired for riding a racist float in a Queens...
DOOR MAN IN HEISTS - ROBS POSH PADS: COPS
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amA popular but sticky-fingered doorman at the prestigious Sutton Place complex was using tenants' keys to sneak in and out of their apartments - where he stole more than a...
SICKO STAR'S TOUCHY-FEELY ROMPS WITH YOUNG BOYS: PROSECUTORS
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amLOS ANGELES - Michael Jackson's prosecutors have amassed a mountain of deeply disturbing evidence against the purported pedophile - underage smut and liquor in his bathroom, eyewitness accounts that he...
$1B NOW - OR THOUSANDS DIE: KOFI MAKES URGENT PLEA FOR CASHAS HE WARNS TRAGIC TOLL WILL DOUBLE
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amThe United Nations asked world leaders yesterday to hand over $1 billion in cash immediately for emergency tsunami aid - warning the death toll could double if they didn't. U.N....
TWO-FACED ABBAS WANTS PEACE TALKS
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - Yasser Arafat's heir apparent, Mahmoud Abbas, said yesterday he was ready to open peace talks with Israel - despite his denouncing the "Zionist enemy" two days before. Abbas...
COURT BASHES SPECIAL-ED TUITION PERK
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amA legal loophole that has forced the city to shell out millions of dollars annually to send learning-disabled children to pricey private schools was tightened yesterday by a Manhattan federal...
POL RIPS KERIK 'PROFILING'
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amA city councilman charged yesterday that "racial profiling" by Bernard Kerik and Rudy Giuliani in the late 1990s led to more than 100 black correction officers being arrested or fired...
$1B NOW - OR THOUSANDS DIE - KOFI'S URGENT PLEA FOR MONEY
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amThe United Nations asked world leaders yesterday to hand over $1 billion in cash immediately for emergency tsunami aid - warning the death toll could double if they didn't. U.N....
45 PERCENT OF AMERICANS DONATED: POLL
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amNearly half of all Americans have contributed money to the tsunami relief effort, a new poll shows. And almost three-quarters have prayed for the victims and their families. So far,...
GONZALES COOL DURING DEM GRILLING
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - U.S. attorney-general nominee Alberto Gonzales fended off Democrats during his confirmation hearing yesterday - and brushed aside Sen. Charles Schumer's insinuation that he'll be the next Supreme Court...
WAREHOUSE-SLAY COP TRIAL DELAYED
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amThe trial of a young plainclothes cop who fatally shot an unarmed craftsman in a Chelsea warehouse has been postponed until Feb. 9 as both sides wrangle over what his...
ACCIDENT SPILLS OIL INTO EAST RIVER
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amA tugboat hauling a fuel-filled barge up the East River ran aground under the Hell Gate Bridge last night, the Coast Guard said. The barge then leaked home heating oil...
BOMB KILLS 7 GIS - GUERRILLAS HIT PALS OF TRAGICBRAVEST
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amSeven members of Manhattan's Fighting 69th - which tragically lost two local firefighters to a roadside bomb in November - were killed yesterday when a bomb exploded under their armored...
ABBAS CALLS FOR NEW TALKS
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - Yasser Arafat's heir apparent, Mahmoud Abbas, said yesterday he was ready to open peace talks with Israel - despite his denouncing the "Zionist enemy" two days before. Abbas...
EVEN CHUCK BUCKS HILL ON BID TO NIX BUSH WIN
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton made a grandstand political play yesterday, breaking from most of her fellow Democrats - and her state's senior senator, Chuck Schumer - when she...
SICKO STAR'S TOUCY-FEELY ROMPS WITH YOUNG BOYS: PROSECUTORS
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amLOS ANGELES - Michael Jackson's prosecutors have amassed a mountain of deeply disturbing evidence against the purported pedophile - underage smut and liquor in his bathroom, eyewitness accounts he "licked"...
NEW PRESIDENTIAL POOCH - BARNEY GETS PUP PLAYMATE
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - It was puppy love at the White House yesterday when First Dog Barney met his new playmate Miss Beazley - another black Scottish terrier who's a miniature carbon...
HE GOT GAME: BOGGS BAGS BIG HITS IN AFRICA ON SAFARI TRIPS
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amHis baseball exploits made him a Hall of Famer this week, but Wade Boggs' current claim to fame is as a "Great White Hunter" - a serial killer of exotic...
WAITING GAME - METS SWEAT OUT BELTRAN'S CHOICE
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amA general feeling persists within the baseball industry that Carlos Beltran will return to Houston. The ticking clock favors the Mets. And all those involved continue to worry about the...
MONSTER CHALLENGE - JETS FACE DAUNTING TASK VERSUS SURGING BOLTS
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amDaunte Culpepper and Vikes face Packers on Sunday. See inside. Getty Images Saturday Jets at Chargers 8 p.m., ABC Like a coach preparing for a game, ESPN's Merrill Hoge spent...
WAITING GAME - METS STILL IN BELTRAN STAKES
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amA general feeling persists within the baseball industry that Carlos Beltran will return to Houston. The ticking clock favors the Mets. And all those involved continue to worry about the...
BRONCOS AREN'T AS WILD AS COLTS ARE
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amHow do the Broncos, who gave up four touchdowns by the half of last January's 41-10 first-round playoff loss in Indianapolis, propose to do better in a rematch against a...
'WE'RE GOING THERE TO WIN' - JETS MAP PLAN FOR VICTORY IN SAN DIEGO
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amThe Jets walked out of their indoor bubble yesterday, having finished their final practice before tomorrow's wild-card playoff game against the Chargers in San Diego. There wasn't a lot of...
BETTMAN STILL FIDDLING WHILE NHL BURNS
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amTHE amateurs running the Never Hockey League were good for another laugh yesterday, slipping on yet another banana peel while they double-runner themselves and their sport into obscurity. Finally figuring...
PACK HAS SHOT TO GO FAVRE
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amJust because he's so great at it doesn't mean he enjoys it. Just because Brett Favre specializes in fourth-quarter heroics and last-minute highlights doesn't mean that's what he craves. No,...
N.Y.'S A BAD DATE FOR THE BOAT SHOW
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amIF RECREATIONAL boaters spend over $2.4 billion in New York, why is it that the New York Boat Show always seems to get the worst dates at the state-run Jacob...
THE (RE)MATCH GAME - JET 'D' CAN FILL IN OFFENSIVE BLANKS VS. BOLTS
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amTHERE are plenty of things wrong with the Jets right now, from Chad Pennington's BBQ'd wing, to Paul Hackett's unimaginative, weapon-wasting play-calling, to Herman Edwards' odd defense of his team's...
HERM'S IFFY ON CHREBET
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amJET NOTES The status of both defensive end John Abraham and receiver Wayne Chrebet remained cloudy as of yesterday afternoon following Jets practice. Coach Herman Edwards, who earlier in the...
THE FAN'S CORNER
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amLast time we talked with Rob Kuhn, he was reminiscing about his days as a quasi Dead Head. He didn't follow the band around like some of the other fanatics,...
METS DEAL WILSON TO TIGERS FOR PROSPECT
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amThe Mets did announce a player acquisition yesterday - just not one involving an All-Star centerfielder. Dealing from their catching surplus, the Mets shipped Vance Wilson to Detroit for minor...
BREES STAY COOL FACING TOUGH CRITICS
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amSAN DIEGO - The thing is, there never was a question about whether Drew Brees would be able to straighten himself out and reverse the dreadful course he created for...
ISIAH CUED UP PENNY OPERA
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amIt was Isiah Thomas' call to put Penny Hardaway on the injured list after he asked for a trade because he wants a bigger role, according to sources. Hardaway, who...
IN THE FOLD - YANKS, UNIT FINALIZE CONTRACT
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amThe Yankees reworked the final year of Randy Johnson's contract to turn it into a three-year deal worth $48 million, leaving a physical Monday in New York as the last...
ISIAH MAY LOWER BOOM ON LENNY
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amTHERE will be another Knick anniversary coming up one week from today - Lenny Wilkens' shotgun marriage with Isiah Thomas. Wilkens may not be around to celebrate Jan. 14 if...
NETS NEED LOT OF HELP
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amYou can't have everything, but right now the Nets would like some defense. And some size. And some confidence. And some toughness. And some . . . You get the...
MORE TOTE PROBLEMS? YOU BET
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amNot good day at Big A. Track was sloppy, sealed on cold, wet, miserable afternoon, making for succession of lopsided victories. Then new United Tote system, source of myriad complaints...
GARNETT TO BLAME FOR WOLVES' WOES
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amCOMING off last season's breakthrough, third-round playoff indentation, in addition to the relatively costly retention of free agents Troy Hudson, Trenton Hassell and Fred Hoiberg, the Timberwolves were considered legitimate...
ISIAH MAY BE PENNY SAVER
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amIt was Isiah Thomas' call to banish Penny Hardaway to the injured list after his trade demand, according to sources. But Thomas said he's not shipping him. Hardaway, who said...
5 QUESTIONS FOR JOE THEISMANN
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amThis week, NYP TV Sports' Andrew Marchand spoke with ESPN NFL analyst Joe Theismann. Theismann will work the Seahawks-Rams playoff game tomorrow on ABC. Q: Do you have any desire...
MARCHAND'S MEMO OF THE WEEK
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amTo: Mike Thompson 1050 ESPN Radio program director From: Andrew Marchand Date: Jan. 7, 2005 Subject: Dan Patrick Show CC: George Bodenheimer, ABC Sports/ESPN President,Bruce Gilbert, ESPN Radio's GM Is...
ANNA MAKES TV PITCH - BENSON'S WIFE MAY HOST REALITY SHOW
January 7, 2005 | 5:00amThe wife of Mets pitcher Kris Benson is in discussions to do a reality series on VH-1, ITAL NYP TV Sports END ITAL has learned. While both Anna Benson's agent...