January 11, 2005
I'M WORRIED ABOUT MY RETIREMENT; YOU SHOULD BE, TOO
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amTHERE have been so many trial balloons floated lately on the issue of Social Security reform that you'd think the Macy's Thanksgiving parade went a little long. The latest, of...
$WEET CHARITY - MAYOR MIKE PLANS TO OFFLOAD MEDIA EMPIRE
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amMayor Michael Bloomberg may be getting ready to sell his financial information giant to fund a mammoth philanthropic effort after he quits public office. Bloomberg L.P. - the media and...
FEDS NET AOL PAIR ON FRAUD CHARGES
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amSix former executives from Time Warner's America Online unit and the now-defunct PurchasePro.com were indicted yesterday on federal fraud charges for allegedly participating in a scheme to falsely inflate earnings....
LAY PUTS HIS CASE ON WEB
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amMonths ahead of his criminal trial, Ken Lay, the disgraced former CEO of bankrupt energy giant Enron, is beginning a pro-active cyber-defense. Lay, the poster child for corporate fraud, is...
NEWS CORP. BUYING OUT FOX
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amNews Corp. plans to take full control of Fox Entertainment, having offered yesterday to buy out the portion of Fox it doesn't already own for about $5.9 billion. The announcement...
AD FIRMS ARE CRANKING UP COPY FOR NEW AIRFARE WARS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amDelta's radical plan to compete with low-fare upstarts is bad news for the industry's bottom line but good news for the ad business. The day of the announcement, Delta Air...
BIG RENEWALS BUOY MIDTOWN MARKET PLAYS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amA trio of big new lease renewals powerfully displays the singular strength and diversity of the Midtown market. The renewals, all signed years before the existing leases expire, reflect a...
MAGS POST 1ST YEAR OF AD GAINS SINCE '00
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amThe magazine-publishing industry last year recorded its first growth year since 2000, ending the year up 11.1 percent in revenue to $21.4 billion, while pages were up 3.8 percent to...
CONDÉ TAPS INSIDER FOR TRAVELER EDITOR
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amTom Wallace, the new editorial director of Condé Nast, yesterday made his first appointment when he tapped his longtime No. 2 to fill his old post as editor in chief...
WHY CBS MAY HAVE TO LOOK OUTSIDE
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amAs CBS' news division tries to bounce back from the damage of its ill-fated, faulty reporting on President Bush's National Guard duty, the network could look outside for a new...
SCANDAL DOESN'T HIT ADS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amWhile CBS suffered a black eye after a sharply critical report found serious flaws with its news division, advertisers don't seem likely to flee its lineup. The report concluded that...
ANN TAYLOR EXEC LEAVES AFTER SALES SLUMP
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amAnn Taylor Stores said yesterday that its senior executive in charge of merchandise and design had left the company after less than two years in the job. Jerome Jessup, who...
DISCOVERING SOFTER SIDE OF 'CSI: NY'
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amCBS brass has a message for "CSI: NY" - lighten up, people! CBS entertainment chief Nina Tassler has ordered the show's producers to take the Wednesday night show out of...
WATCH OUT - '24' HITS GROUND RUNNING - FASTER
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amSUNDAY'S fourth-season premiere of "24" earned the show its best-ever numbers - generating plenty of watercooler buzz along with its 15 million viewers. "I think our core audience was looking...
TSUNAMI BENEFIT CONCERT EXPANDING TO 2 HOURS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amNBC is likely to add a second hour to Saturday's live telecast of "Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope." The concert, which will air across all of NBC's cable channels...
STARR REPORT
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amFormer "Wonder Years" star Danica McKellar, a real-life mathematics prodigy, will guest star on "NCIS" next month (sweeps!) as a computer expert who witnesses a murder in the apartment across...
'EYE' 2 'EYE' - GAL PALS NO MATCH FOR FAB 5
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amHERE'S a TV maxim you can not refute: The original is always better. It was true for "Survivor" and "The Apprentice," and it is true for "Queer Eye for the...
CURRENT AFFAIR - RAFTER ADAM BONISLAWSKI HITS GEORGIA'S RAGING RAPIDS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amA WHITE-WATER rafting guide has two main duties: to get his charges down the river intact and scare the hell out of them along the way. To this end, a...
EROTIC EXOTICA - PUCCI MEYER MCGILL GETS A LESSON IN THE BIRDS AND THE BEES
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amIN the Galapagos, it's all about sex. A slick sea lion rose and bellowed at a competitor approaching his harem. A coal-black frigate bird puffed out the vermillion pouch at...
GET REAL - READY TO BE A REALITY TV STAR? THE SECRETS TO WOOING CASTING AGENTS; SECRETS FOR ACING THE REALITY TV APPLICATIONS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amThe people who cast reality TV shows have seen it all - from naked women jumping out of airplanes to old men running around in yellow underwear. But if you...
TRICK QUESTIONS - AND ANSWERS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amDon't be intimidated by the questions you'll find on the online applications for reality shows. Here are some sample answers to tricky ones. * "EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION" What makes...
JUDGE SPEAKS FRANK-LY - HOT-DOG 'HOOKER' SEX TESTS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amTwo Long Island women busted for allegedly turning their hot-dog truck into a hooker wagon were ordered by a judge yesterday to undergo testing for sexually transmitted diseases. Catherina Scalia,...
KERIK UP FOR A FIGHT - 'GOOD WILL PREVAIL'
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amPHOENIX - Disgraced former NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik vowed yesterday that a string of recent scandals won't bring him down - because "only the strong survive." In his first public...
DOCTOR IS OUT: PERV'S MED LICENSE YANKED
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amALBANY - A Bronx-based doctor who admitted to performing oral sex on a patient against his will has been stripped of his medical license by the state, officials said yesterday....
'WAVE' OF DOUBT FOR U.N. - POLS FEAR AID BUNGLE
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Leading members of Congress said yesterday that devastating internal audits released by the United Nations deepened suspicions about corruption and mismanagement of the Iraq oil-for-food program, and raised...
CANCEL INAUGURAL FE$T: DEM
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Rep. Anthony Weiner wants President Bush to cancel next week's inaugural party-fest and use the $40 million to give soldiers in Iraq extra pay or better equipment. In...
PANEL OKS WEST SIDE REBUILDING
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amAfter weeks of intense negotiations, a City Council panel yesterday approved a revised plan for the redevelopment of Manhattan's far West Side that saves the city $1.3 billion and increases...
'I LOVE YOU, DAD' - TEARFUL SERVICE FOR SHOT BANKER
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amHundreds of mourners packed a Long Island church yesterday to bid farewell to bank official James Gottlieb, the "quiet, gentle, loving man" who was gunned down last week by a...
ALBANY CHAOS OVER REFORM
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amALBANY - The first day of "reform" with the legislative process in Albany yesterday resulted in chaos. Democrats were howling as the GOP-run state Senate prepared to enact new rules...
BOXED IN BY BIAS - WHY CBS LET FLAWED BUSH REPORT AIR
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amTHE most astonishing passage in the bombshell 234-page report on CBS News' disgraceful fabricated-memos story about George W. Bush's long-ago military service is its weakest passage. It comes when the...
ANIMAL CRACK PUTS MAYOR IN THE SOUP
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amMayor Bloomberg got into some monkey business at the Bronx Zoo yesterday that left him in hot water with several Bronx politicians. During a press conference in front of a...
OIL SPILL EMPTIES SCHOOL
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amMore than a thousand students and faculty were evacuated from a Bronx school yesterday after an oil spill sent 38 children and three adults to hospitals, where they were treated...
FOWL PLAY IN BX. BASEMENT
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amFirefighters investigating a water leak in a Bronx apartment building discovered a breeding center for illegal cockfights in the basement, authorities said yesterday. Firefighters from Ladder Co. 46 found 10...
MAN FINDS HIS BROTHER SLAIN
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amA 52-year-old Bronx man was found dead in his apartment yesterday with eighteen stab wounds, police said. The victim's brother was being questioned by detectives, but a law-enforcement source said...
BUS STRIKE LEAVES 70,000 WHEEL-Y FRUSTRATED RIDERS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amThousands of Brooklyn and Queens commuters were left stranded and scrambling for ways to get to work yesterday after drivers with two city-subsidized bus companies went on strike. The work...
UNION BACKS GIFTED-CHILD SCHOOL PLAN
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amThe head the city's teachers union yesterday backed a City Council bill that supporters claim would quadruple the number of seats for gifted and talented public-school students. The legislation would...
DEAN AIMS FOR TOP DEM POST
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Howard Dean will make it official he's running for Democratic national chairman as early as today and allies say he now believes he can win the Feb. 12...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amWater levels in a well near Christiansburg, Va. shifted by at least three feet after the devastating Christmas weekend earthquake in south Asia, researchers report. About an hour after the...
$2M BAIL FOR EX-CON MIDTOWN 'SLASHER'
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amBail was set at $2 million yesterday for the homeless man cops say went berserk with a pocket knife in Midtown last week, stabbing five people in two days. Jesse...
ANOTHER BLOODY BRONX SLASHING
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amCops are investigating a third slashing yesterday in a Bronx neighborhood where two women, including a Sunday-school teacher, were viciously attacked by a boxcutter-wielding thug over the weekend. In the...
BOYFRIEND INDICTED IN NANTUCKET SLAY
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amDisgraced former Wall Street exec Tom Toolan was indicted yesterday for the brutal stabbing death in Nantucket of his ex-girlfriend - self-made millionaire Beth Lochtefeld. The murder weapon was never...
CRAZY SHADE OF WINTER - APPLE TO NEAR 70 degrees AS L.A. GETS SOAKED
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amIt's just a little over a week old, but 2005 is already setting weather records. New York City is on track to hit temperatures approaching 70 degrees this Thursday, while...
MIKE TO 'STATE' HIS PLAN FOR DROPOUTS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amTens of thousands of dropouts and older students unlikely to graduate high school would get a second chance under a new program Mayor Bloomberg is announcing today in his fourth...
MORE BOYS LISTED FOR JACKO TRIAL
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amAs many as seven more boys with alleged sexual tales involving Michael Jackson may be asked to testify in the fallen superstar's molestation case, it was reported yesterday. Santa Barbara...
TOUR DE FORCE BOO$TING APPLE - VISITS BY FOREIGNERS RISE FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 9/11
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amTourists came to the Big Apple in record numbers last year - with international visitors up for the first time since 9/11, according to new figures released yesterday. A total...
TEACHER-SEX OUTRAGE
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amSeveral city teachers and administrators have beaten sexual-misconduct charges - one on a technicality - and the taxpayers are still paying their salaries, education officials said yesterday. They reviewed the...
HEARTBROKEN QNS. MOMS SEEK TOUGHER DWI LAWS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amThe mothers of two Queens boys mowed down last October by a drunken driver brought their heart-wrenching crusade for stricter DWI penalties to City Hall yesterday. On Oct. 22, 2004,...
ICEBERG STRAIGHT AHEAD!
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amA giant iceberg the size of Long Island is on a collision course with a floating glacier in Antarctica - and it could cause a smash so big, it will...
AUDIT RIPS S.I. DA'S OFFICE OVER BUNGLE$
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amThe Staten Island District Attorney's Office overpaid employees, bungled comp-time payments and issued a "questionable" $20,000 check to former DA William Murphy for unused vacation time, an audit charges. City...
JURY PROBES EX-BILL AIDE'S 'SOCKS DOCS'
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - The criminal probe into why former Bill Clinton aide Sandy Berger illegally sneaked top-secret documents out of the National Archives - possibly in his socks - has heated...
RATHER'S BIG MISTAKE WAS PLAYING RAH-RAH BOY FOR FAULTY REPORT
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amHe basically was a talking head. While CBS News anchor Dan Rather narrated the discredited report about President Bush's military service, he had little to do with preparing the story,...
2G BOUNTY ON GI'S 'KILLER' - HUNT FOR BAR-SLAY SUSPECT
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amCops believe they know who fatally shot a soldier back from Iraq outside a Brooklyn bar and yesterday offered a reward for the gunman's capture. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly released...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amTHE BRONX * A Throgs Neck resident called police after a bullet pierced the front door of his fifth-floor apartment Sunday night, police said. Police said the gunfire occurred around...
CONDIT'S U-TURN - CHANDRA POL NOW DENIES HAVING AFFAIR WITH TRAGIC INTERN
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amFallen ex-U.S. Rep. Gary Condit has defiantly denied under oath that he had a steamy affair with doomed intern Chandra Levy - flying in the face of allegations from police...
DA EYES RAP VS. KILLERS FREED BY FEDS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amThe Brooklyn District Attorney's Office may prosecute a pair of reputed mobsters on state murder charges after a federal appeals court upheld a decision releasing the men. Carmine Polito and...
COPS ID SUSPECT IN GI SLAY
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amCops yesterday identified a man suspected of flying into a rage and fatally shooting a soldier talking to the suspect's girlfriend outside a Brooklyn bar. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said...
AMBER 'VICTIM TOUR' LANDS HERE - SHE CAN EVEN SPELL (WITH SOME HELP)
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amC' MON, Amber. I'm really a lot of fun when you get to know me. Her blue-green eyes puffy from apparent lack of sleep - or was it tears? -...
OIL AUDITS STIR WAVE OF DOUBT FOR U.N.
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Leading members of Congress said yesterday that devastating internal audits released by the United Nations deepened suspicions about corruption and mismanagement of the Iraq oil-for-food program, and raised...
MORE BOYS EYED FOR JACKO TRIAL
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amAs many as seven more boys with alleged sexual tales involving Michael Jackson may be asked to testify in the fallen superstar's molestation case, it was reported yesterday. Santa Barbara...
BX. DEM TO CHALLENGE GOTBAUM
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amAn African-American assemblyman with ties to the Bronx party organization says he'll enter the Democratic primary to challenge Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum. Michael Benjamin told The Post he decided to...
NO DASH-ING OFF TO RIO
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amDamon Dash won't be flying down to Rio for the multimillion-dollar sex-assault case against him, a judge has ruled. In a decision made public yesterday, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Leland...
BX. OIL-SPILL SCHOOL EVACUATED
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amMore than a thousand students and faculty were evacuated from a Bronx school yesterday after an oil spill sent 38 children and three adults to hospitals, where they were treated...
ICEBERG CRASH TO ROCK ANTARCTICA
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amA giant iceberg the size of Long Island is on a collision course with a floating glacier in Antarctica - and it could cause a smash so big, it will...
STREET SHOOTER - EX-CON GUNNED DOWN IN B'KLYN
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amA 24-year-old ex-con who was a suspect in a recent shooting was gunned down in broad daylight in Crown Heights yesterday - leaving the Brooklyn neighborhood in panic as police...
THIRD BRONX SLASH - VICTIMS RELIVE ORDEAL
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amCops yesterday were investigating yet another vicious slashing in the Bronx neighborhood where a thug had just attacked an elderly Sunday school teacher and a teenage girl, who said the...
BUSH BASHERS GET CBS NOOSE - * 3 EXECS AND STAR PRODUCER FIRED * SCATHING REPORT MOSTLY SPARES DAN
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amCBS News fired four staffers yesterday after an independent investigation concluded that shoddy, corner-cutting journalism led to the airing of a botched "60 Minutes" report claiming President Bush got preferential...
A WHOLE LOTTA SHAKING GOING ON
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amOur planet Earth gets hit with about 500,000 earthquakes a year. Thankfully, most are too small to even be felt. Here's how we measure all the shaking going on around...
'SOCKS DOCS' PROBE - JURY EYES BILL AIDE
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - The criminal probe into why ex-Clinton aide Sandy Berger illegally sneaked top-secret documents out of the National Archives - possibly in his socks - has heated up and...
KERRY AIDE'S CALL HELPED DIRT DEVIL
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - One of Democrat John Kerry's top strategists, Joe Lockhart, made a phone call to help Dan Rather's producer get documents that could damage President Bush during the campaign,...
GOWN AND COUNTRY - 1ST PEEK AT BUSH GALS' BALL DRESSES
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Sexy is the word for the low-cut gowns picked by Bush twins Jenna and Barbara for their dad's second inaugural festivities next week. The good-looking college grads, who...
'KID SEX' TEACHERS STILL ON CITY PAYROLL
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amAt least five city teachers and administrators have beaten sexual-misconduct charges on technicalities, and the taxpayers are still paying their salaries, education officials said yesterday. They reviewed the history of...
UNION BEHIND GIFTED-KID PLAN
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amThe head the city's teachers union yesterday backed a City Council bill that supporters claim would quadruple the number of seats for gifted and talented public-school students. The legislation would...
PATRIOTS PROWESS - COLTS TRY TO BREAK THE CURSE AT FOXBORO
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amINDIANAPOLIS - The Colts are back again on the Patriots' iron-willed, irony-resistant, door. In November 2003 at the RCA Dome, Indianapolis rallied from 21 down to one yard from victory...
DAUNTE'S BEEN VIKES' LIFELINE
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amIn another year, there would be so much more of a buzz around Daunte Culpepper, so much more focus on his brilliance, so much more praise for what he brings...
'DOG' HAS HIS DAY - WILLIAMS WILL KEEP KNICK STARTING ROLE
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amAt last, Lenny Wilkens is poised to make a bold decision that could bruise egos. Looking for more bite to the starting lineup, the Knick coach will likely keep Jerome...
STEPH'S SHOOTING FOR STARS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES Isiah Thomas can play for .500 this season. Stephon Marbury will still play for the Knicks' first championship since 1973. Players were caught off guard by the Knick...
UNIT WALKS ON SNITTY STREETS - JOHNSON HAS RUN-IN WITH CAMERAMAN
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amThe day before his official initiation at Yankee Stadium, the Big Unit acted more like a big jerk. In a bizarre scene witnessed by this Post reporter, the notoriously ornery...
RANDY ALREADY IN WHITSON TERRITORY
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amAS first impressions go, this was spilling a carafe of red wine onto your blind date's white dress. It was picking your nose during a job interview. For now, Randy...
CAIRO'S 'EXCITED' AT HIS NEW JOB
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amMiguel Cairo is officially a Met. And the former Yankee sounds pretty pleased about that. "I'm excited about joining the Mets," Cairo said in a statement yesterday. "I like the...
NETS LOOKING AHEAD TO 'BIGGER' THINGS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amThe Nets will surely welcome the big presence of Brian Scalabrine when he finally returns from injury. Meantime, coach Lawrence Frank insists the team can more than get by with...
CASHMAN: BOMBERS NEVER PUT IN BID ON CARLOS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amThe Yankees never bid for Carlos Beltran, general manager Brian Cashman explained yesterday, not because they did not consider the switch-hitting center fielder an elite player, but because even George...
METS BEAT YANKS AT OWN GAME
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amTHE Mets were no better than Carlos Beltran's third choice. And what does that matter? Sports are about what actually happens. The Yankees had Albert Belle signed, which meant Bernie...
BELTRAN FITS FINE - AS NEW MET QUIETLY ACES PHYSICAL, CLUB KEEPS PURSUING MORE DEALS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amCarlos Beltran didn't enter into any altercations with local cameramen, so the physical he underwent yesterday in Manhattan is unlikely to merit too many headlines. No matter - Beltran's simple...
NETS LOOK AHEAD TO BIG THINGS
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amThe Nets will surely welcome the big presence of Brian Scalabrine when he finally returns from injury. Meantime, coach Lawrence Frank insists the team can more than get by with...
RIVERSIDE DRIVE IS MEMORY LANE
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amIT had been longer than I care to remember since I last parked my car on Riverside Drive and walked the 75-yard course that sloped and curled from 145th Street...
WHAT ELSE IS NEW: ABRAHAM'S STATUS IN THE AIR
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amIt's always a slippery slope when criticizing a professional athlete about the extent of an injury, which makes the John Abraham situation a touchy one for the Jets at the...
STEEL ONE - REASONS TO WIN? JETS HAVE FIVE THAT CAN KEEP THEM ALIVE
January 11, 2005 | 5:00amThere are a number of reasons to be cheerful if you're a Jets fan regardless of the difficult AFC divisional playoff matchup the team faces with the Steelers Saturday in...