August 26, 2003
WHY THE ECONOMY MAY APPEAR WEAKER
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amTHE U.S. economy could begin to look weaker when September's numbers start coming out. But it will probably only be mired in the same extremely slow, no-jobs growth trend that...
IRS STILL WANTS $1.5B FROM VU
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amThe IRS says it is owed $1.5 billion plus interest in back taxes from Vivendi, the company said yesterday. The disputed tax payment stems from the 1995 sale of Seagram's...
MUST-SEE VIVENDI - EXECS BACK EXCLUSIVE MERGER TALKS WITH NBC
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amThe long-running auction for Vivendi Universal's entertainment assets is finally nearing an end. Vivendi management is expected to recommend to the company's board of directors today that it enter into...
READERS' PIECE OF THE PIE
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amThanks for all the pizzas. We almost got more pies than we could handle from people who managed to get their mortgages adjusted by their banks - at little or...
WALL ST. RUMORS SPARKED AFTER EXECS LEAVE GIANT HEDGE FUND
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amTwo high-profile executive exits from one of the world's largest hedge funds have sparked massive investor speculation about what's going on inside the $10.3 billion Clinton Group. Weeks ago, Bill...
LABRANCHE FIGHT GOES TO HEARING
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amThe New York Stock Exchange and one of its largest trading firms, LaBranche & Co., will duke it out in a hearing panel today about the Big Board's right to...
IT IS BATTLE OF THE BOARDS AT WARNACO
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA battle between shareholder activist Daniel Loeb and Warnaco Corp. took a mysterious turn yesterday, when a posting on the Yahoo! Finance message boards inexplicably disappeared. Loeb, who has been...
CA MOVES TO SETTLE ACCOUNTING SUITS
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amBeleaguered software-maker Computer Associates International will settle all outstanding litigation regarding its alleged accounting fraud, the company said late yesterday. The firm will take a charge in the current quarter...
LABRANCHE BATTLE HEADS INTO HEARING
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amThe New York Stock Exchange and one of its largest trading firms, LaBranche & Co., will duke it out in a hearing panel today about the Big Board's right to...
FUND EXITS FUEL STREET RUMORS
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amTwo high-profile executive exits from one of the world's largest hedge funds have sparked massive investor speculation about what's going on inside the $10.3 billion Clinton Group. Weeks ago, Bill...
VA-VA-VA-VROOM
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amONCE upon a time, before cars were designed by computers and wind-tunnels and churned out by robotic assembly lines, they were individually designed and hand-crafted, and oh, so fast and...
BORDER PATROL: POST FASHION MAVEN LIBBY CALLAWAY GRABS HER CREDIT CARDS AND HEADS FOR TORONTO
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amAMERICAN shoppers seem to be wary about visiting Toronto - even though the Canadian dollar is only 70 cents to that of the U.S. We're talking an automatic 30 percent...
OH, DEM DEMOCRATS
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amMSNBC to air Dem presidential hopefulsLiberals to sound off on MSBCDems to battle for White House live on MSNBCMSNBC will broadcast a live debate among Democratic presidential candidates on Jan....
COFFEE, NO DESSERT
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amRocco's flimsy finaleTHE ratings for Sunday's finale of "The Restaurant" looked more like coffee than a gourmet pastry. About 7.9 million viewers tuned in for the last episode of the...
STUDIOS DEVELOP A 'PASSION'
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amAT least four American distributors are said to be interested in acquiring "The Passion," the controversial Mel Gibson-directed drama about the last 12 hours of the life of Jesus Christ,...
MIGHTY 'WIND' - ZEVON'S LAST FACES DEATH WITH HUMOR AND SORROW
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amWARREN ZEVON [* * * *] "The Wind" Artemis Records ------ A year ago Thursday, doctors gave Warren Zevon just three months to live. Diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, the...
FAKE BANDS COME ALIVE
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amLIFE will imitate absurd art during this year's New Yorker Festival when the fictional folk bands from the film satire "A Mighty Wind" play Town Hall.Christopher Guest's "mockumentary" centered around...
NETWORKS LAY OFF 9/11 SPECIALS
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amWITH the second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks only three weeks away, TV networks have planned nearly no special programming to commemorate the horrible events of that day. Here in...
'RING' LEADERSNEAK PEEK AT PART 3 OF TOLKIEN TRILOGY
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amEAGER "Lord of the Rings" fans today will get their first extended look at "The Return of the King," the hotly anticipated final installment of the blockbuster movie adaptation of...
KICK IN THE DUFF
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amHILARY DUFF "Metamorphosis" [] Hollywood/Buena Vista Records I never "Metamorphosis" I didn't like - and that goes for 15-year-old Hilary Duff's solo CD. On this 13-song disc, the pretty teen...
JIGGY OVER IGGY
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amMTV's Video Music Awards invade New York's Radio City Music Hall on Thursday and bring some ultra-cool shows for all sorts of music fans.The Stooges - reunited with madman Iggy...
FLAME OUT! - LINDA ISN'T HAPPY WITH HOW GAY TV TURNED OUT
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amTHE other day, a colleague in the office said she really got a big kick out of watching "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy" because she thought the men were...
SPORTS SOAP - A NEW SERIES ABOUT DRUGGIE, ANGRY ATHLETES - AND THEY CALL IT FICTION
August 26, 2003 | 4:00am"Playmakers" [* * * *] Tonight at 9 on ESPN ------- SHOWS about sports have had a lackluster history on TV. Now, a new show called "Playmakers" - ESPN's first...
STAR TREK: CANDID CAMERA
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amEVERY year during Toronto's gargantuan film festival (going down Sept. 4-13 this year), hordes teens with cameras and autograph books stand outside the city's Four Seasons Hotel to catch a...
BLOOD DONORS NEEDED
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amWhen Alan Polinsky realized the blackout made it impossible to work at his computer-programming job, he took the day off, and donated desperately needed blood platelets. The 55-year-old Brooklynite hopped...
HAMPTONS DIARY
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amDIVORCE lawyer Raoul Felder was at the annual Sag Harbor Volunteer Fire Department Carnival Saturday, when his 10-year-old niece, Lily, got him to join her on the bumper-car rides. After...
HERO EMT HELPS KID BREATHE EASY
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amWENDELL O'BRIEN - Community Medal nominee ---- Wendell O'Brien was due back at his job as an FDNY emergency medical technician when last week's blackout hit - but his wife...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA Kansas meat-lover has made history by being the first person to eat a hamburger in each of the state's 105 counties. It took Bill Bunyan three years to complete...
DUBYA TROUBLE? - NO, WISHFUL MEDIA THINKING
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA PAGE-ONE Washington Post article summed up this week's conventional wisdom perfectly: "The president no longer enjoys the aura of invincibility that surrounded him only a few months ago ....
KERRY PLAYS UP HIS WAR EXPERIENCE TO VETS
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Sen. John Kerry ripped President Bush before a veterans group in Texas yesterday by stressing that he fought in a war and Bush never did. Kerry, a Democratic...
DEFIANT MIKE IN ISRAEL
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg arrives in Israel today and plans to ride on the same Jerusalem bus line that was struck last week by terrorists, vowing they "are not going to stop...
QAEDA GHOULS: U.N. HIT WAS OURS
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - A terrorist group connected to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network yesterday claimed responsibility for the truck bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad - confirming U.S. fears...
BOND BATTLE WILL BA$H US
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amThe war between Gov. Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg over a $2.5 billion bond sale could cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars if it drags on, a top city official...
SMUT KING TURNS THE SCREWS
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amEmbattled smut king Al Goldstein is fighting to get charges that he harassed an ex-personal assistant tossed. A Brooklyn judge yesterday gave defense attorney Charles DeStefano more time to submit...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amMANHATTAN * A Wollman Skating Rink employee was robbed yesterday as he left Central Park to make a bank drop, police said. The 33-year-old man was carrying a bag containing...
REGISTRATION RELIEF AT LAST FOR EARLY-BIRD PARENTS
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amParents for the first time will be able to register their students for classes two weeks before the official opening of the fall session, under a new policy implemented by...
9/11 CHEATS GET WARNING
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amScam artists who tried to use a national tragedy to pull a fast one on the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. have been given a chance to come clean - but...
HARLEM'S PERV 'PIED PIPER' TO ROT
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA man prosecutors call the Perverted Pied Piper of Harlem will likely spend his life behind bars after his young sex-assault victims begged the judge to throw away the prison...
BLIND MAN'S MIRACLE - STEM-CELL TRANSPLANT GIVES HIM SIGHT BACK
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA 47-year-old man who was blinded at the age of 3 can see again, thanks to a revolutionary stem-cell transplant operation. Mike May - who feared he would live in...
PUFF 'ROUGH STUFF' - GAL 'BEATEN' BY BOUNCER SUES FOR $5M
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA petite Queens woman is suing P. Diddy for $5 million, claiming a burly bouncer at his Manhattan restaurant tackled her to the pavement and dragged her down the street....
PANEL VOTES FOR NONPARTISAN ELEX
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg's Charter Revision Commission voted 8-2 last night to clear the way for voters to establish nonpartisan elections starting in 2009, in what would be the most sweeping reform...
DOC $OCKED FOR SELLING 'SICK' NOTES
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA Brooklyn doctor was fined $100,000 by the state for selling phony sick notes to city transit authority employees, The Post has learned. In settling the state Health Department case,...
PATAKI BOO$TS ARNOLD
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amGov. Pataki plans to throw a $1,000-a-head Manhattan fund-raising bash for Arnold Schwarzenegger, in hopes of pumping up the actor-turned-candidate's bid to be California's next governor, officials said yesterday. While...
DOWNTOWN HS SET TO OPEN DOORS
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA new high school catering to students who live near Ground Zero is finally getting its downtown digs. The New Millennium HS will open on Sept. 8 in a 33-story...
10,000 SING THE BLUES AS FEW HIT HIGH NOTE
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amMany sang but few were chosen at auditions for "American Idol" yesterday, where long-shot dreams of pop vocal stardom drew thousands of young people from around the country to Manhattan....
POWER WOES AT STARRETT CITY
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amAbout 15,000 residents of Brooklyn's Starrett City were in the dark for almost two hours yesterday. Nine people stuck in elevators had to be rescued by firefighters, said a spokeswoman...
'WRONGFUL' DEATH KIN SUING CITY
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amThe family of a Washington Heights man who died after an altercation with cops is filing a $50 million lawsuit. Jose Mateo's family filed a $50 million notice of claim...
SNACK SERVICE IS A NET LO$$ FOR SPECTATORS
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amThere will be plenty of food to eat at the U.S. Open - but you're going to need a small fortune to buy it. In the open-air dining area, tennis...
FANS FAULT MUNCH MEANIES - OUTRAGE AS GUARDS SEIZE OOD AT GATE
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amRiled U.S. Open revelers launched a munchie mutiny yesterday after overzealous security guards barred them from bringing in food - then tossed their confiscated gourmet goodies in the garbage. "It...
FAIL-SAFE TEACHERS - MOST PASS WHEN THEIR KIDS FLUNK
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amTeachers aren't being held accountable for their students' dreadful performance, according to new job ratings obtained by The Post. Nearly all the city's public school instructors - more than 99...
'PEN'-PAL FUROR - ACTIVIST BARRED OVER 'IMPROPER' RELATION WITH CON
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA leading inmates advocate was reprimanded and stripped of her privileges in the state's 71 prisons yesterday for engaging in "an improper personal relationship" with a convict serving life for...
ANTI-MIKE PAINTING TORN DOWN
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA huge banner of a grinning, gun-toting Mayor Bloomberg plugging a New Yorker in the back - in the middle of his "I love NY" T-shirt - was yanked off...
SECURITY THAI-UP STALLS TOP PLAYER'S ARRIVAL
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amUS OPEN NOTEBOOKTHAI champ Paradorn Srichaphan nearly had to hail a cab to get him to yesterday's Open - after a security-conscious driver from his hotel didn't recognize him and...
SHOCK TWIST IN COURT 'SCAM'
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA city employee who was arrested last week for stealing $2.5 million earmarked for needy Family Court litigants managed to land her sensitive job despite a long history as an...
DA RIPS SUIT BY GARSON
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amBrooklyn DA Charles Hynes has asked a judge to dismiss an unusual lawsuit filed by embattled jurist Gerald Garson that claims prosecutors do not have the right to charge him...
JUDGE: NO TO NOACH RUN
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA federal judge has torpedoed former City Councilman Noach Dear's bid to run for his old seat in this year's election. Brooklyn's Chief Judge Edward Korman ruled that the city's...
PATAKI TO PUT SOME GOP MU$CLE INTO ARNOLD'S CAMPAIGN
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amGov. Pataki plans to throw a $1,000-a-head Manhattan fund-raising bash for Arnold Schwarzenegger, in hopes of pumping up the actor-turned-candidate's bid to be California's next governor, officials said yesterday. While...
TO YOU, GENEROSA - PELOSI TOASTS ASHES OF WIFE IN BAR WHERE THEY MET
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amDanny Pelosi last night brought dead wife Generosa Ammon's cremated remains to the place where they fell in love - the bar at Manhattan's Stanhope Hotel - ordered her favorite...
PERV 'PIED PIPER' TO ROT
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA man prosecutors call the Perverted Pied Piper of Harlem will likely spend his life behind bars after his young sex assault victims begged the judge to throw away the...
CITY SUED IN ARREST DEATH
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amThe family of a Washington Heights man who died after an altercation with cops is filing a $50 million lawsuit. José Mateo's family filed a $50 million notice of claim...
AFTERMATH PROVES AS DEADLY AS THE WAR
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amWinning the peace is almost certainly going to be deadlier than winning the war. The number of U.S. troops who have died in Iraq since President Bush declared an end...
CAB HITS FLEEING CIG 'THIEF'
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA young man was struck by a taxi on the Upper West Side last night as he apparently fled from a newsstand after stealing a pack of cigarettes, police sources...
'QAEDA' GHOULS: U.N. HIT WAS OURS
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - A terrorist group connected to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network yesterday claimed responsibility for the truck bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad - confirming U.S. fears...
MAG BIG HAS BINN NAUGHTY: LAWSUIT
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amHigh-living Hamptons magazine publisher Jason Binn is mixing business funds with pleasure - improperly using company money to pay for prostitutes and more than $18,000 a month in personal costs,...
CEMETERY OKS WTC HEADSTONE
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA Connecticut cemetery has reportedly reversed itself and will allow the family of a man killed in the World Trade Center attack to place a replica of the Twin Towers...
BLIND MAN'S MIRACLE: STEM-CELL TRANSPLANT GIVES HIM SIGHT BACK
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA 47-year-old man who was blinded at the age of 3 can see again, thanks to a revolutionary stem-cell transplant operation. Mike May - who feared he would live in...
BOMBERS BAG BIRDS - PETTITTE WINS 16TH WITH HELP FROM SORIANO'S BIG BAT
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amYankees 5 - Orioles 2 There are a few locks in life: politicians lie, the Red Sox never will win another World Series and Yankee Stadium fans will boo Jeff...
YANKS KEEP ON JUGGLING THE ROSTER
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amGabe White was the scheduled addition to the Yankees' bullpen. That will happen tonight when the lefty veteran comes off the DL. However, the club received a surprise yesterday when...
PETE LETS RECORD DO ALL HIS TALKING
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amOPEN NOTES Pete Sampras won a record 14 Grand Slam titles but never a Grand Slam, or a French Open like Rod Laver. Hence, the Sampras-Laver debate on who's the...
HERE COME THE SAWX - CASHMAN SHUFFLES PEN IN PREPARATION
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amTHE Yankees are bracing for the coming hurricane. Plywood is covering the windows. The essentials are stored. The nametag Yankees brought Gabe White to the Bronx yesterday and Felix Heredia...
TEARFUL EXIT - WEEPY PETE SAYS GOODBYE
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amPete Sampras cried more than his 9-month-old son last night. Overcome with emotion during his 30-minute retirement ceremony at the U.S. Open, Sampras bawled like a baby, dabbing at his...
GIAMBI, BOONE BANGED UP
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES Thirty minutes apart, Jason Giambi and Aaron Boone walked out of Yankee Stadium with different body parts smothered by compression wraps after being injured in last night's 5-2...
STIFF BACK SIDELINES MCGRADY
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amSAN JUAN - Tracy McGrady was down for last night. But he's not expected out of the Olympic qualifying tournament for the U.S. McGrady, Team USA's top scorer at 14.5...
IVERSON'S HOT HAND SPARKS USA ROMP
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amUSA 111 - Canada 71 SAN JUAN - OK, so maybe the U.S. was looking ahead to tonight's grudge match with Argentina for the first quarter or so. After all,...
PATERNO, BOWDEN TAKE NEW LOOK AT OLD PROBLEMS
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amBecause Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden are well into their 70's and have been coaching at their respective schools for more than 25 years, we are quick to assume that...
'CANES TAKING BROCK OF THEIR SEASON
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amThe pain and humiliation of a 34-29 loss at Washington in 2000 became the catalyst for Miami's climb to the pinnacle of college football. Before they were upset by Ohio...
WIDEOUTS ARE NOT WORRIED
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amChad Pennington out, Vinny Testaverde in? No problem. At least that's the word coming from the guys on the receiving end of the ball. "I don't feel like the quarterback...
ROAD GETTING ROUGH FOR U.S. HOOPSTERS
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amSAN JUAN - To Jason Kidd's way of thinking, what's awaiting Team USA in the Olympic qualifying event here this week is as simple - rather, make that as difficult...
HILLIARD HITS STRIDE - JINT WR BACK IN TOP FORM
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amIke Hilliard is back. If you don't think he's fully healed from the shoulder separation that knocked him out for the season last October, maybe you weren't watching him scorch...
BACKUP QBS TO TAKE CENTER STAGE
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amGIANT NOTES Jim Fassel said yesterday that he is "pretty sure" Kerry Collins will not play in the preseason finale Thursday in Baltimore. Backups Jesse Palmer and Jason Garrett will...
LINDSAY BEATS FOOT FAULT
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amTwo days before Lindsay Davenport's U.S. Open debut, the pain shooting through her injured foot forced her to retire from a match. Hours after her opener, she planned to soak...
METS' REBOUND A GLOVE STORY
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amIn the first inning of his first game as a Met, Tom Glavine watched left fielder Cliff Floyd botch a double by Chicago's Moises Alou and get roundly booed by...
HERE COME THE SAWX
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amTHE Yankees are bracing for the coming hurricane. The plywood is being placed over the windows. The essentials are being stored. They are gobbling up as many solid arms as...
FENWAY FINALE FOR ROCKET?
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES Roger Clemens is well aware of what Sunday could represent in his Hall of Fame career that will end after this season. However, until he gets past the...
ERRATIC RUBIN IS OUSTED
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amChanda Rubin came into the week one of the world's top 10 players, a contender to win this wide-open U.S. Open. But yesterday the enigmatic American's forehand was wide, her...
'SECONDS' FIRST IN GLENS FALLS
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amSARATOGA SPRINGS - When trainer Chris Clement entered three fillies in yesterday's Grade 3, $100,000 Glens Falls Handicap at a mile-and-three-eighths over the inner turf course, those who assumed Clement's...
WAIVER SURPRISE - YANKS GET HEREDIA; OROSCO LIKELY GONE
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amGabe White was the scheduled addition to the Yankees' bullpen. That will happen tonight when the lefty veteran comes off the DL. However, the club received a surprise yesterday when...
ARGENTINE PLAYER DONE BRAGGING
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amTRIALS NOTEBOOK SAN JUAN - Ruben Wolkowisky was not going to set himself up as Patrick Ewing again. Wolkowisky, Argentina's backup center with NBA experience in Boston, Dallas and Seattle,...
HUSAK'S BACK FOR 2ND STINT
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amJET NOTES The Jets yesterday signed journeyman quarterback Todd Husak as insurance, though they're still uncomfortable with their backup situation behind Vinny Testaverde. Husak spent time with the Jets last...
FISH IS DISCOVERING HOW TO REEL IN FANS
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amOPEN NOTES Mardy Fish, who just last year was looking in from the outside at the world's Top-100, has already established himself as one of the ATP's more popular and...
'SECONDS' UP IN TIME AT THE SPA
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amSARATOGA SPRINGS - When trainer Chris Clement entered three fillies in yesterday's Grade 3, $100,000 Glens Falls Handicap at a mile-and-three-eighths over the inner turf course, those who assumed Clement's...
HERE COME THE SAWX - CASHMAN SHUFFLING PEN IN PREPARATION
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amTHE Yankees are bracing for the coming hurricane. The plywood is covering the windows. The essentials are stored. The nametag Yankees brought Gabe White to The Bronx yesterday and Felix...
BOMBERS BAG BIRDS - SORIANO'S HR, 3 RBIS BACK 16TH FOR PETTITTE
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amYankees 5 - Orioles 2 There are a number of locks in life: Former President Bill Clinton lies, the Red Sox will never win another World Series and the Yankee...
VINNY & HIS JETS - CHAD-LESS GANG GREEN NOT READY TO THROW IN THE TOWEL
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amA year ago, Vinny Testaverde was the fall guy. Now the Jets' season rests on his right arm. "I know Vinny," Wayne Chrebet was saying yesterday of the new Jets'...
GRACEFUL EXIT - PETE KNEW HIS TIME WAS UP
August 26, 2003 | 4:00amPete Sampras wore a black sports jacket and a gray dress shirt to his retirement news conference. Only a dark tie would've made Sampras look as if he was at...