November 1, 2006

Opening Night

By FRED KERBERMarcus Williams was the object of affection for many media types at the morning shootaround as he prepped for his NBA debut. Outwardly, he looked and sounded about...

Pickup of the Week

It's getting to the point of the season where surprise finds don't happen frequently on the waiver wire, barring injury.But there is one guy this week that may have been...

LIVEBLOG/ISTANBUL: One of your finest visas, please

Greetings from beside the Bosphorus, in not-sunny-at-all Istanbul. (They now have a Harvey Nichols, and apparently, they imported the London weather as well).What a country, Turkey. Am sipping Domaine Ott...

Mighty Bulls could ruin Knicks draft again

By MARC BERMANBy MARC BERMANMEMPHIS - Opening night in the NBA Tuesday was not necessarily a good night for Knick fans. The fortunes of the Bulls directly effect the Knicks'...

NYSE TECH FLOORS BOFA SPECIALISTS

One of the largest specialist firms on the New York Stock Exchange is coping with a technology disaster that threatens to relegate it to dead last among the Big Board's...

THE REAL DEAL - MERGERS HIT HIGH OF $331B

A string of multibillion dollar leveraged buyouts including the $5.4 billion deal for Stuyvesant Town helped make last month the biggest October ever for global mergers. The volume of announced...

SOMETHING THEY CAN CROW ABOUT

IN what some might call a $2.2 billion yawn, CB Richard Ellis yesterday announced its long-whispered deal to take over Trammell Crow for $49.10 a share. But while it might...

NAKED IN THE HEDGE - FUND IN SHORT-SELL PROBE

The Securities and Exchange Commission is ready to bring charges claiming a major New York hedge fund and several of its principals violated key short-selling rules, The Post has learned....

KNICKS GIVE COSTLY LESSONS IN LOSING

The Knicks are finally headed to the top of a league - the high-priced ticket league. Despite its disastrous laughingstock season last year, the team is opening its new campaign...

APPAREL FIRM REINVENTS ITSELF TO WIN OVER MACY'S

Soon after Federated Department Stores agreed to acquire the May Department Store Company in March 2005, Castle Hill Apparel, a mid-sized Seventh Avenue firm, faced the threat of becoming as...

WARNING SIGNS - BILLBOARD BIGS BRACE FOR BATTLE

Big outdoor ad companies are battling the city over tough new regulations targeting illegal billboards. The city is facing at least three lawsuits challenging its limits on outdoor ads, including...

MORT BLOWS NEWS' FUSE - STAFF FEARS RESPONSE BY 'PANICKY' PUBLISHER

THE typically demoralized newsroom of Mort Zuckerman's Daily News sank to new lows with the word that the paper had lost its once mighty lead over The Post in daily...

LIBERAL RADIO'S D-DAYS

The broke and battered Air America Radio network may get a new owner by Thanksgiving. Court documents approved yesterday in Manhattan Bankruptcy Court say the liberal talk and news radio...

POOLEY LOSES OUT AT FORTUNE

In move that one insider described as "a lightning bolt out of the blue," Eric Pooley was removed as the top editor of Fortune and replaced by Andy Serwer, a...

9/11 CHEF HAPPY IN NEW WORLD

FIVE years after 9/11, Michael Lomonaco has a window on the world again. The Central Park and skyline view is stupendous from Porter House, the fine new steakhouse in Time...

NOW IT'S MAI TIME IN TRIBECA

* Mai House186 Franklin St. (between Greenwich and Hudson streets); (212) 431-0606 Starters: $9 to $13; entrees: $18 to $28 Restaurateur Drew Nieporant (Nobu, Montrachet) and Bao 111's Michael Bao...

$5 DINNER, AND MAYBE A CALLBACK

STARVING artists unite - you have nothing to lose but your rumbling stomachs. The Paramount Hotel has a meal deal for you called "Headshots for a Handout." On the fifth...

NOT ONE FALSE NOTE

ROMANTICO (three stars) IN an era when almost all documentaries are shot on ugly digital video, Mark Becker's "Romantico" is beautifully realized on old-fashioned film. And that's only part of...

'LIGHTS' DIM HOPE FOR 'STUDIO'

'FRIDAY Night Lights" scored some points Monday night, taking over the timeslot usually reserved for the ailing "Studio 60." "Lights" snared roughly 8.3 million viewers Monday night, about 1 million...

DRIVING WHILE ANTI-SEMITIC - MEL RANTS AGAIN ON NEW 'L&O'

MITCH Carroll hates Jews. "Are you a Jew? You're a Jew, right? I should have known they'd stick me in a room with a Jew cop!" rants Carroll, a fictitious...

MISSING MARISSA - DON'T YOU HATE IT WHEN YOUR GIRLFRIEND GETS KILLED?

CALL this the "no spoiler" alert "O.C." column. Why? Because now that so many new shows - like tonight's Season Four premiere - are released online before they ever hit...

STARR REPORT

Kief: '24' flick a go Fox's "24" doesn't return until January, but the show's rabid fans (including me) can look even further beyond to the "24" movie. That, too, will...

SEX ON THE BRAIN - WHY WOMEN, MEN REALLY ARE OF TWO MINDS

'IS not a problem that a woman have smaller brain than a man?" Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen asks this question in his new movie, "Borat" - enraging a group of...

3 BANDS, 1 REASON TO ROCK

THE music at Webster Hall and Irving Plaza on Monday wasn't as memorable as a spaghettiwestern composer Ennio Morricone's famous theme, yet the two shows, featuring three upcoming bands, amounted...

EGOS HAVE LANDED

TWO critics' darlings were cut down last week, and both are behaving in ways that tell us a lot about who they really are. Backstage at the Booth, home to...

PIRRO'S DRIVER HAD 150G MEAL TICKET

ALBANY - Jeanine Pirro paid a county-provided driver about $150,000 in overtime over two years when she was Westchester DA - expenses justified by claims he missed meals while chauffeuring...

SALUTE TO EVERYDAY HERO COP

AFTER more than four decades as an NYPD cop, Lt. Phil Panzarella sometimes acted more like Howard Stern than Dr. Joyce Brothers when dealing with hostage-takers. "Listen, you f -...

W. HITS KERRY 'INSULT TO GIS' - STUDY OR 'GET STUCK IN IRAQ,' SEN. TELLS STUDENTS

WASHINGTON - President Bush unleashed a guns-blazing assault on Sen. John Kerry yesterday for telling young students they will "get stuck in Iraq" if they don't get an education. "The...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

MANHATTAN * A knife-wielding thug was arrested at the Union Square subway station last night after a cop witnessed him stabbing another man, police said. A cop standing on the...

CITY PLANS $LAP FOR WAR PAINT

A City Council plan to increase fines for vandalizing war memorials got a thumbs up from City Hall, but the Bloomberg administration wants it expanded to include all public monuments....

MIKE TO GUN-PERMIT HOLDERS: 'PACK' IT IN

ALBANY - The city should slash the number of people who are allowed to carry concealed weapons, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday. "We've taken a look at it to see whether...

MIKE RIPS 'RUN-OVER COP' JUDGE

ALBANY - Mayor Bloomberg slammed a judge's ruling on a teen accused of running down a cop while intoxicated, saying yesterday that freeing the youth without bail is an "irresponsible...

PIRRO LUNCH BRAKE$ - DRIVER'S 150G OT

ALBANY - Jeanine Pirro paid a county-provided driver about $150,000 in overtime over two years when she was Westchester DA - expenses that were justified by claims that he missed...

COMMITTING SPERMICIDE

A New York-based research team is developing a male contraceptive that has no known side effects and won't interfere with a man's sex drive. The drug, Adjudin, works by preventing...

NIXZMARY GIVES LASTING LESSON - CHILD-ABUSE CALLS SKYROCKET

New Yorkers can't forget little Nixzmary Brown, whose death broke the city's heart. Because of Nixzmary, the number of child-abuse complaints filed here in the last fiscal year soared 20...

BABY-SCALD SITTER: SLAY AN ACCIDENT

A deaf woman charged with scalding a 1-year-old baby to death last year told a Brooklyn jury yesterday the horrific tragedy was an accident. "I turned on the warm water,...

CITY BOOST FOR A 'GLITZY' CONEY

City officials who control the future of Coney Island say the latest renderings for a $1.5 billion, Vegas-glitz amusement area are right on track. Joshua Sirefman, interim president of the...

TEACHER: I DIDN'T SOCK COP

The Bronx teacher charged with punching a cop arresting a student insisted yesterday he never laid a finger on the officer. Adhim Deveaux, 35, a math teacher at Taft HS,...

VICTIM ID'D KILLER WITH DYING WORDS

With his last, gasping words, a Queens college student fingered his former roommate as the man who stabbed him and clubbed his mother with a baseball bat, said a neighbor...

LIMO DRIVER IN 'GRAND THEFT CELEB'

Owen Wilson isn't the only one to allegedly steal Kate Hudson away. A West Side limo company says a former driver has been poaching its celebrity clients, including Hudson and...

HITLER YOUTH H'WEEN SHOCK - BROOKLYN HS GIVES BOY DAS BOOT FOR SICK-OR-TREAT

A student at a Brooklyn high school named for a prominent Jewish educator faced a blitzkrieg of trouble yesterday when he arrived dressed as Adolf Hitler for Halloween. Walter Petryk,...

'THE TIME IS RIGHT' - BARKER TO GIVE UP HOSTING

"The Price Is Right" host Bob Barker will shout his last "Come on down" in June. After 35 years as host of the popular game show - and 50 years...

COUGHER BUS-TED BY DRIVER

If you cough, you gotta get off! That's the philosophy of one city bus driver, according to a Wall Street banker who claims he was ejected for coughing. Michael Goga...

BEAT GOES ON - BEST & WORST HOSPS FOR CARDIAC OPS

New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center has the lowest death rate for heart surgeries performed in the state, a new report shows. But Montefiore-Einstein Medical Center in The Bronx has...

CORKER OF A RACE TILTS TOWARD GOP

WASHINGTON - Republican Senate nominee Bob Corker has opened an eight-point lead over Democratic rival Harold Ford Jr. in Tennessee - a must-win for the GOP to hold on to...

FIRE 'BRAND' MA'S FURY AT TORTURE - CALLS SON'S EX 'A BAD, BAD GIRL'

The mother of a Brooklyn man allegedly branded like a bull by two thugs lashed out yesterday at his jailed ex-lover - calling her that "bad, bad girl." "Why, why,...

PRINCE WILLS' OYAL MISFIRE

Prince William lost a powerful machine gun during firing practice at Britain's elite military school, Sandhurst, where he is training to become an officer. The royal was to spend Friday...

MADONNA: I OFFERED DAD $$ TO HELP HIM RAISE TOT

Madonna says she offered her adopted baby's biological father money to raise him - and that he refused. "I offered that in court when I met him, and he didn't...

'BABY-SHAKE' DAD - INFANT CLINGS TO LIFE

A 2-month old girl was fighting for her life yesterday after suffering apparent brain damage when her father allegedly shook, hit and bit her in a fury because she started...

3 'STRIKES' & CAPT. IS A LOUT: BX. COP'S ATT'Y

The high-level Bronx cop suspended for allegedly talking blue to a subordinate made smutty passes at another female cop at his precinct - and a third woman at a different...

FIGHTING MEN FIGHTING MAD AT 'DEMEANING' DEM

Local veterans who fought in wars from Iraq to Vietnam were up in arms yesterday over Sen. John Kerry's remarks that kids who don't get an education will wind up...

PREZ SLAMS RANGEL AS BATTLEFIELD $LASH FOOL

WASHINGTON - Rep. Charles Rangel came under attack from the GOP yesterday as someone who wants to slash funding for "troops on the battlefield" - just a day after the...

SOURCE MAG OWES AXED EDITOR $8M: JUDGE

A judge yesterday ordered The Source magazine to shell out $8 million in damages to a former editor wrongly fired after filing a discrimination complaint. "That's a huge verdict on...

LIFTOFF-WEIGHT BLUNDER LED TO '05 CRASH

The pilots of a corporate jet that overran a Teterboro Airport runway on takeoff last year put too much weight toward the front of the plane - making it impossible...

SLAP-&-PICKLE LAWSUIT

The legacy of the Lower East Side landmark Guss' has turned sour for two rival pickle peddlers, whose dispute over the historic name landed in federal court yesterday. Patricia Fairhurst,...

HEALTH ALARM AS BOSS FAINTS - GEORGE NOW 'RAISING HELL'

Yankee Boss George Steinbrenner suffered another health scare when he collapsed Sunday while watching his granddaughter perform in a college play in North Carolina and was rushed to a hospital,...

EXEC'S NIGHTIE SHIFT - DID LINGERIE STRIP: SUIT

A top Verizon executive repeatedly reached out and touched himself in front of a female employee while dressed in women's lingerie, court papers charge. Cheryll Harrell, 53, says that over...

PILOT: WHAT GOOF? - 'FALSE' STORY OF NEWARK LANDING

The blundering pilot of a Continental jetliner who landed on a taxiway at Newark Airport tried to cover up his astonishing mistake by telling an air-traffic controller, "I just cleared...

SALUTE TO RUBENSTEIN AND WIFE

Five New York "power couples" were named "Living Landmarks" last night for their outstanding contributions to the city. PR legend Howard Rubenstein and his wife, Amy, were among those honored...

TEACH DENIES SOCKING COP

The Bronx teacher charged with punching a cop arresting a student insisted yesterday he never laid a finger on the officer. Adhim Deveaux, 35, a math teacher at Taft HS,...

BIG JETS BUMP WINGS ON TAXIWAY

A taxiing Lufthansa 747 clipped wings with a Continental Airlines jet under tow at Newark Airport last night - the second mishap on the airport's taxiways in four days. Nobody...

'FLEECED' ON FLIGHTS

Cops busted a fraud ring disguised as a travel agency after scammers bilked nearly $300,000 from unsuspecting victims who thought they were getting cheap airline tickets, authorities said yesterday. The...

'RACIAL TAUNTS' AT BLACK COP

Four people were arrested in Queens yesterday when an egg-throwing incident turned into a melee with a small crowd hurling racial taunts at a black detective trying to arrest a...

CREW'S WEIGHTY BLUNDER CAUSED TETERBORO CRASH

The pilots of a corporate jet that overran a Teterboro Airport runway on takeoff last year put too much weight toward the front of the plane - making it impossible...

CAR KILLS BOY

A 13-year-old boy was killed by a car last night as he tried to cross the busy Harlem River Drive. Two other kids made it across, but the victim slipped...

SLAP-&-PICKLE LEGAL BATTLE

The legacy of the Lower East Side landmark Guss' has turned sour for two rival pickle peddlers, whose dispute over the historic name landed in federal court yesterday. Patricia Fairhurst,...

IRAQ'S NEW SECRET POLICE - MILITARY GOV'T MAY BE BEST ANSWER

WE went to Iraq to overthrow a police state. Through a combination of stubbornness, naivete and noble intentions, we've replaced it with another police state - more violent, more corrupt...

TV STARS HAVE A COSTUME BALL

Life was really boo-tiful yesterday in morning TV land as a bevy of stars aligned to celebrate Halloween in all its garish glory. The standard morning-show uniform of smart sophistication...

SOUTH CAROLINA - THE PALMETTO STATE

On May 23, 1788, South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the Constitution. It was also the first state to secede from the Union on Dec. 20, 1860. The...

PIRRO DRIVER'S 150G MEAL TICKET

ALBANY - Jeanine Pirro paid a county-provided driver about $150,000 in overtime over two years when she was Westchester DA - expenses justified by claims he missed meals while chauffeuring...

PILOT: WHAT GOOF? - DIDN'T ADMIT ERROR

The blundering pilots of a Continental 757 who missed the runway and landed on a taxiway instead were slow to 'fess up to their incredible mistake when a Newark controller...

'INSULT TO GIS' - STUDY OR 'GET STUCK IN IRAQ,' DEM TELLS STUDENTS

WASHINGTON - President Bush unleashed a guns-blazing assault on Sen. John Kerry yesterday for telling young students they will "get stuck in Iraq" if they don't get an education. "The...

TUA BACK ON TRACK FOR TITLE

After a two-year layoff, former heavyweight contender David Tua is on the road to regaining his old form. Tua has won his past three fights and feels "like I'm 34...

KNICKS' SAVINGS COULD CONTINUE

As it turns out, the Knicks did have a decent case against Larry Brown, otherwise commissioner David Stern would have ruled it a slam dunk and ordered Knicks owner James...

ROBINSON MUST WAIT ANOTHER TWO GAMES

NET NOTES Cliff Robinson apologized, the Nets took him back. But the incident still is not over. Not for two more games. Robinson, suspended five games by the NBA for...

'ME TO YOU' DRILLS BUG COLES

JET NOTES The Jets call the on-field chemistry between their quarterback and receivers a "me to you factor," and they've been trying to improve it lately. It's a term more...

WHEN IT REIGNS, IT SCORES; HIGH-FLYING NETS HAVE LOFTY GOALS

The team is upbeat, quietly confident. "Undefeated, it feels great," said Richard Jefferson on the eve of the season opener with a logic that defies dispute. The Nets, favorites to...

BERNIE MAY GO BYE-BYE

A year ago it was a lot easier to predict Bernie Williams was going to remain a Yankee. Now, the beloved Yankee icon can't be sure he will return for...

RETURN TO METS AN OPTION FOR GLAVINE

While Barry Zito is the premier left-handed free agent out there, the lefty the Mets have had for the last four years can be locked up to a one-year deal....

RED-HOT ISLES RISE ABOVE .500

Islanders 5Blackhawks 2 When the Islanders started the year on the West Coast with three straight losses, the thought that they would be over .500 going into November was a...

KNICKS SINGING DIFFERENT TUNE - ISIAH NEEDS TO HIT HIGH NOTES

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Here is the challenge Isiah Thomas assumes this evening when his Knicks - and we do mean his Knicks - step on the floor at the FedEx...

KNICKS SINGING DIFFERENT TUNE - DESPITE CRITICS, PLAYOFFS POSSIBLE

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Knicks ship sets sail tonight along the banks of the Mississippi River, facing the Grizzlies one block from famous Beale Street, home of blues and barbecue....

SURGERY SETS BACK JEFFRIES

KNICK NOTES MEMPHIS, Tenn. - When Knicks forward Jared Jeffries was informed two weeks ago he'd miss six-to-eight weeks of the NBA season with a fractured left wrist, he vowed...

JETS DANCE AROUND THE MARTIN ISSUE

An unopened letter sat on a stool in front of Curtis Martin's locker yesterday morning, another reminder he's nowhere to be seen these days. Very soon, a forwarding address will...

BEAR IN MIND - RISING GIANTS STILL NOT NFC'S BIG DOG

The Giants at 5-2 are undeniably building momentum but it is difficult to characterize them as dominant, even during this current winning surge. Victory No. 2 in the streak was...

TIM LEADS QUEST FOR WEST - HEALTHY DUNCAN THE DIFFERENCE FOR SAN ANTONIO

Hats off to Larry! Go figure, Brown is officially done with Steve Mills long before Paul McCartney is officially done with Heather Mills. Having sounded out executives, coaches and scouts...

KASTOR'S ONLY NYC GOAL: VICTORY

All your senses say one thing, but New York City marathon favorite Deena Kastor says another. Seeing her effusive smile plastered on city subways and buses, hearing race director Mary...

YASHIN SHOWING NEW FIRE ON ICE

If anyone has benefited the most because of new Islanders head coach Ted Nolan, it's likely Alexei Yashin. The center has been a spectacular bust since signing a huge 10-year...

STRUGGLING RANGERS HAVE HAWK EYE

ANAHEIM - One of Tom Renney's most admirable traits is the loyalty he gives to his Rangers players. After last season, it's understandable for the head coach to have begun...

DEVILS IMPRESSED WITH ODUYA

The opportunity was the result of necessity, but Claude Julien says Johnny Oduya has made the most of it. The Devils coach now rates the Swedish rookie among his top...

INJURY FORCES 'DUBAI' GOOD-BY

IT'S IN THE WORKS LOUISVILLE - The Breeders' Cup Sprint lost its second starter in two days when Darley Stable's 4-year-old filly Dubai Escapade, trained by Eoin Harty, was withdrawn...

CHAMPING AT THE BIT - BERNARDINI IS PRIMED TO MAKE RUN AT GLORY

LOUISVILLE - In what was definitely his final workout for Saturday's $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, and possibly the final work of his brilliant career, the mighty...

NYRA MUM ON $19M OFFER

As of yesterday, the New York Racing Association had yet to respond officially to the offer by the state's NonProfit Racing Association Oversight Board, tendered Monday, to release, with conditions,...

COUNTDOWN TO THE BREEDERS' CUP

The Post continues its profiles of each of the eight Breeders' Cup races to be run Saturday at Churchill Downs. The Countdown spotlights potential nice-price winners as handicapped by reporter...

ZITO: 'SUN' MAY SHINE ON CLASSIC

LOUISVILLE - Nick Zito, usually the most cautious of men, went out on a limb yesterday and offered a bold prediction for the Breeders' Cup: Bernardini, the likely odds-on favorite...

YANKS WILLING TO PAY TO SHIP SHEFF

For the right return the Yankees may be willing to do something they dislike: pay part of a salary for a player on another team. According to industry sources, the...

NYRA STILL MUM ON $19 MIL OFFER

As of yesterday, the New York Racing Association had yet to respond officially to the offer by the state's Non-Profit Racing Association Oversight Board, tendered Monday, to release, with conditions,...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Floridians may soon be singing, "Eat you later, alligator." Sunshine State wildlife officials have recommended that homeowners be allowed to kill nuisance alligators on their property. And after they've put...