December 9, 2006
BUZZ LIFTS CITI - STOCK RISE ON BREAK-UP, EXEC SHUFFLE RUMORS
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amRumors that Citigroup could be broken apart or that key executives might be on their way out pushed the shares of the beleaguered bank higher yesterday in frenzied trading. Investors...
EX-MAY STORES' SALES OFF 20%
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amSales at former May Co. stores that were recently converted to the Macy's format potentially saw a "sickening 20 percent sales plunge" in the recently reported quarter, according to one...
WARNER MAY BID FOR EMI
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amNearly six months after calling off its merger talks with EMI, Warner Music Group is considering resuming its negotiations with the London-based music company, The Post has learned. Although CEO...
DRAFT EXEC OUT IN COLD AFTER WAL-MART MOVE
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amThe head of new business for DraftFCB is leaving his job after Wal-Mart fired the ad firm and barred it from participating in a new agency search. Tony Weisman, who...
SANTA'S KID - WENDT AND MCCARTHY DOLE OUT SOME CHRISTMAS CHEER
December 9, 2006 | 5:00am'Santa Baby' is a pretty nice movie. WHERE has George Wendt gone? He's gone to the North Pole, where he's playing Santa Claus in this new made-for-TV movie premiering tomorrow...
BOYS 'R' US - IT'S A MAN'S WORLD AT THE CITY'S NEW GUYS-ONLY SPAS; A NEW MANSCAPE
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amSEEMS like it's harder and harder for a guy to hang out with the guys. First male bastions like McSorley's went co-ed, the next thing you know Brenda Starr's allowed...
MCCAIN TO DROP IN ON BLOOMY
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amArizona Sen. John McCain, the front-runner in the GOP field for president in 2008, will meet privately with Mayor Bloomberg in Manhattan tomorrow night, The Post has learned. McCain and...
50-SHOT VICTIM'S 'WIFE'
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amSean Bell's grieving fiancée can now legally carry his name. "It's a great feeling," said Nicole Paultre Bell after a Brooklyn Civil Court judge granted her wish. The change is...
PRO PREDICTS MORE HOSPITAL-ECTOMIES
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amThe bloodshed for struggling hospitals is far from over, the head of the state hospital-downsizing commission said yesterday. Stephen Berger, chairman of the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the...
HILL'S 'HEAD START' PROGRAM: A $14M WAR CHEST
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Clinton has a war chest of more than $14 million to launch a presidential campaign, more than any other potential Democratic rival, it was revealed yesterday....
EYE ON 'NUKE CIGARETTE' IN SPY'S MURDER - 007-STYLE GADGET THEORY
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amIn a real-life James Bond caper, ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko may have been poisoned with a radioactive cigarette, British investigators said yesterday. That would explain how Litvinenko got a dose...
GRAZIE TO ITALIAN 'PIZZA' COP
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amItaly's mob-busting chief of police was honored by the FBI yesterday for his "visionary" approach to international crime fighting that began with New York's famous "Pizza Connection" case. FBI Director...
COPS SHOOT MAN IN QNS.
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amA gun-toting man was shot by police in a Queens parking garage last night, authorities said - making it the fourth such police shooting this week. The latest shooting took...
RATNER TO 'COURT' ALBANY FOR ARENA
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amBruce Ratner's controversial plan to bring an NBA arena to Brooklyn is heading to Albany, where it faces a full-court press. The Empire State Development Corp. yesterday approved Ratner's plans...
UNION SQ. SLAY RAP ON BOY, 16
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amCops yesterday charged a 16-year-old East Harlem boy with the murder of a fellow teen during a bloody melee involving about 50 high-school students in Union Square. Francisco Baez, of...
'PERV' RABBI IN SHUL SHOCKER - VICTIMS SAY YESHIVA HID KID 'ABUSE'
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amA Brooklyn yeshiva covered up a rabbi's long history of child molestation and threatened parents and children who tried to end the abuse, it was charged yesterday. Officials of Yeshiva...
RULING NICKS JUDGE
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amA Bronx judge was too lenient on a doctor who allegedly botched a penile-augmentation surgery, an appeals court has found. In a decision made public yesterday, the state Appellate Division...
N.Y. DEMS: WE'LL LICK 'RAIL' SPLITTERS IN '07
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amNew York Democrats vowed yesterday to restore $2 billion for a new rail link connecting Kennedy Airport to lower Manhattan after Republicans put the kibosh on it. As first reported...
CHAUFFEUR AND TELL - HEVESI DRIVER & AIDES TESTIFY
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amALBANY - The state-paid driver who chauffeured Alan Hevesi's wife testified yesterday before a grand jury, along with two other aides to the scandal-scarred state comptroller in the "intensifying" investigation,...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amMANHATTAN * A man was nabbed for breaking into an East Harlem deli and snatching the cash register, police sources said yesterday. Michael Monteleone, 44, of The Bronx, allegedly busted...
SLAY-JURY JAM
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amJurors in the Long Island trial of a man charged with slaughtering his sleeping stepdad last year with a samurai sword failed to reach a verdict yesterday - after Round...
COPS: DJ SHOT OVER A GRUDGE
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amCops think a grudge against a hip-hop disc jockey - and not the robbery of his gold and diamond necklace - likely led to the attack that left him critically...
DEATH RAP VS. PILOTS - BRAZIL CALLS L.I. CRASH MEN 'INCAUTIOUS' BUT LETS THEM GO
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amOn the last day of their 10-week detention in Brazil, two Long Island pilots were charged for their alleged role in a midair collision that sent 154 people to their...
A 'TRUCE' IS DUE IN COLD WAR
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amIt's going to start feeling more like autumn in New York again - not January in Moscow - as yesterday's bitter cold and ferocious wind disappear in the next few...
TACO BELL TOLL SURGES TO 221 - SICK REPORTS EYED AS E. COLI
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amTaco terror went into overdrive yesterday as the number of New Yorkers reporting E. coli poisoning after eating at Taco Bell restaurants skyrocketed to 221 - including two Long Island...
CASKET MA: 'LIFE IS OVER'
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amThe mom of a 6-year-old killed on a Brooklyn street by a truck carrying caskets says her "life is over" without her son, the family's attorney said yesterday. Maria Vega...
AMBUSH GUN IS 'FOUND' - W'CHESTER WIFE SLAY
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amA gun has been found near the Westchester site where the wife of a disbarred lawyer - a neighbor to Bill and Hillary Clinton - was mysteriously shot and killed,...
VELVET UNDER FOUND - 75ó DISC WORTH 155G
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amA rare copy of the Velvet Underground's first finished album - bought for 75 cents at a Chelsea street sale - fetched $155,401 last night on eBay. The 12-inch LP...
KID TOOK GUN TO SCHOOL: COPS
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amA 12-year-old Long Island boy was arrested yesterday for bringing his father's semiautomatic handgun to his school, police said. The student at Oregon Middle School took the gun and a...
LONG ISLAND 'SCAMMER' SCAMMED
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amAn accused Long Island scam artist got a taste of her own medicine. Stacey Renz, 32, a mental health counselor from Huntington, was arrested after stealing $772 from a patient...
BRANGELINA'S FLOCK
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amBrad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Hollywood's hottest couple, blew into frigid New York yesterday with two of their children, Maddox (holding mom's hand) and Zahara, in tow. Jolie, a U.N....
MAGICAL FINISH ELUDES KNICKS
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amIn Madison Square Garden history, never has there been a week like the second one of June, 1994. The odor of champagne from the Rangers' Stanley Cup triumph lingered as...
BOO GOTTA BELIEVE - ISIAH: KNICKS 'ON RIGHT TRACK'
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amBucks at Knicks - Tonight 7:30 - MSG; ESPN (1050) Ultimately, Isiah Thomas is right. Knicks fans "don't see it, the way [he] sees it." Where Thomas sees a light...
JEFFRIES COULD PLAY TONIGHT
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES Though Steve Francis has no idea when he might return to the Knicks' lineup, there was a feeling Jared Jeffries possibly could make his season debut tonight against...
ISLES SEEK HOME EDGE
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amPanthers at Isles - Tonight - 7:00 FSN2; WBBR (1130 AM) The Islanders will try to salvage something tonight from their three-game homestand that concludes with a visit by the...
ONE MOVE FILLS MANY HOLES
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amTHE signing of Andy Pettitte is about putting a lefty into the rotation who has proven he can win in all of the vital cauldrons associated with being a Yankee:...
ANDY NEVER CLOSED DOOR TO THE BRONX
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amTHIS was just a few days shy of three years ago, and The Post's Steve Serby was talking to Andy Pettitte inside his house in Deer Park, Texas. Fifteen hundred...
FAMILIAR FOE FOR STORM
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amST. JOHNS at NIAGARA - Today - 4:00 ESPN; (1050 AM) It might not be fair to call it a road test for St. John's today, more like a road...
DETERMINED DEVIL - BRODEUR'S GOAL: KEEP PLAYING
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amThe goaltending streak hit 20 games last night, and Martin Brodeur said he's ready to keep it going past a quarter-season in Boston tonight. "The body feels good. There's always...
RANGERS SET TO HIT THE ROAD
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amRangers at Senators - Today 3:00 - MSG; WABC (770 AM) Rangers center Michael Nylander became stuck in traffic on the West Side Highway at about 8 p.m. Thursday night....
YANKEES SEEKING GLOVE AT FIRST
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amYANKEE NOTES With Andy Pettitte joining fellow ground-ball specialist Chien-Ming Wang, the Yankees have shown an interest in slick-fielding first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz. Even though Mientkiewicz is a left-handed hitter...
MARTIN WINS NO. 3,000
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amThe Eddie Martin Jr. watch is finally over. The 43-year-old jockey who, after being stuck at career win 2,999 for nearly two weeks, reached the 3,000 victory milestone in the...
OVER TIME, LOSS WILL HELP NETS
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amCELTICS at NETS - Tonight - 7:30 YES; WFNY (92.3 FM) The day after the night before, the coach kept claiming it was his fault, the players said it wasn't,...
TAYLOR BUOYED BY HOME EDGE
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amLITTLE ROCK, Ark. - It is being billed as a homecoming for Jermain Taylor, but it's reunion weekend for Kazzim Ouma, which brings into question which fighter will be more...
PETTITTE BACK IN PINSTRIPES - LEFTY A YANK AGAIN; MAYBE ROCKET, TOO
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amBrian Cashman reached into recent Yankees history yesterday and made perhaps his best move since wrestling control of the dysfunctional organization a little over a year ago. He brought Andy...
MASKED MARVEL - MARTY HITS TWO MORE MILESTONES
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amDevils 2 - Flyers 0 That ladder of all-time great goaltenders is rapidly running out of rungs for Martin Brodeur to climb. This was another legend-maker for Brodeur, who took...
THE 'P' WORD GETS ROOKIE IN HOT WATER
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amJET NOTES Eric Mangini already has forbidden his Jets players from talking about the playoffs. Apparently, "the 'P' word" isn't the only thing the head coach has made off-limits to...
TROY STORY - BUCKEYES QB HEAVY FAVORITE FOR HEISMAN
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amThere was no need to rent a billboard in Times Square or contact a marketing guru to launch an over-the-top Troy Smithforthe-Heisman campaign. Ohio State knew what it had after...
SHORT-SIGHTED - NOTHING'S LIKELY TO SURPRISE THE GIANTS, THANKS TO EX-PANTHER
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amThere is no such thing as a perfect football game, of course, but what the Panthers' defense did to the Giants in last season's playoff massacre sure comes close. Zero...
DEALING WITH LOS - IMPROVED JETS SECONDARY OUT TO KO J.P.
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amJ.P. Losman passed for 328 yards on Sept. 24, when the Jets beat the Bills, 28-20, in Orchard Park. Though the Jets were happy to get the win, they weren't...
SPECIAL TEAMS FAR TOO ORDINARY
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amGIANT NOTES It's not too late, but time is running out for the Giants' special teams to come up with something truly special. A unit that often dominated last season...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
December 9, 2006 | 5:00amAn Indiana teenager arrested for shoplifting filled her pockets with so many items that her weighted-down pants dropped to her ankles as she tried to run from the store, police...
A New Fantasy Titan
December 9, 2006 | 3:21amIt sure looks like rookie Vince Young has captured the same magic he had in college.In two straight weeks, he has engineered game-winning rallies in the fourth quarter, against a...