March 23, 2004
JAYSON INVITES JURY TO HOUSE
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amSOMERVILLE, N.J. - Jurors might get to tour Jayson Williams' massive mansion if a judge approves his request for a mid-trial field trip to the room where he gunned down...
APPLE BOXERS GET SHOT ON TUBE
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amThere's no question the sport of boxing is hurting. So, in an effort to raise the popularity of the sport and reform it to the giant it once was, Lou...
REAL-ESTATE WEB SITE TO LAUNCH
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amNew York's residential real estate market is so hot that one firm is introducing a Web site with up-to-the-minute information. This week, Brown Harris Stevens, Manhattan's oldest real estate company,...
GOLDMAN AIDE DENIES THEFT
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amA former Goldman Sachs secretary accused of stealing almost $8.1 million from her former bosses said that two of them gave her $2 million as "a reward for being me."...
‘RAISING’ TRIBECA CURTAIN
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amTHE Kate Hudson dramedy "Raising Helen" will be the opening-night attraction at the third Tribeca Film Festival on May 1, organizers announced yesterday. John Corbett and Joan Cusack co-star in...
THERE’S NOT NEARLY ENOUGH OF ‘MORE’
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amMOREAt the Union Square Theatre, 100 E. 17th St. (212) 307-7171. ---- ONCE again, a talented person tortures herself with the eternal worry, "Why not more?" Now Yeardley Smith reflects...
‘STAR WARS’ ‘TOON RETURNS
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amTHE 'toon version of "Star Wars" begins its rocket-fueled finale this week. But the series creator, Genndy Tartakovsky - best known for the animated-action series "Samurai Jack" - never thought...
ROBBERY AT NEW FILM’S PARTY SITE
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amA Lower East Side party hall was robbed yesterday - just hours before a bash celebrating the premiere of a new robbery caper film starring Tom Hanks. At around 3:30...
FROM HERO CLERIC TO A BUTCHER
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amTwenty years ago, Sheik Ahmed Yassin was regarded as a soft-spoken Islamic cleric whose leadership of a Gaza Strip-based Muslim group from his wheelchair made him a moderate alternative to...
IT’S ABOUT TIME: L.I. MOM
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amJoanne Schillinger didn't get any warnings about the antidepressant drug prescribed to her then-12-year-old daughter - except that she might gain a few pounds. It wasn't until her daughter's suicide...
NEW RAIL CARS BACK ON TRACK
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amThe MTA resubmitted a controversial bill to a state board yesterday in the hope the panel will give the green light for accelerated purchase of 120 Metro-North rail cars. The...
MERCY FOR MOB – JUDGE OKS PLEA FOR HIT MAN WITH BAD TICKER
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amA federal judge reluctantly accepted an elderly mob hit man's 15-year plea deal following back-to-back calamities that convinced the judge he'll "surely die in jail." Last week, Judge Frederic Block...
GOT ANY GRIPES? JOIN THE WAR PROTEST
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amWILL the real anti-war parade please stand up? Watching the TV news coverage of Saturday's protest march in midtown, I had the feeling the reporters and camera crews were not...
JET LOSS, JET GAIN
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amOnce the 2004 season begins, the Jets have to hope this offseason has not been as damaging as last offseason. Sure, the Jets haven't had their roster raided the way...
SUICIDE WATCH FOR RX USERS
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amDoctors who prescribe popular antidepressants should keep a close eye on their patients for signs that they're thinking about suicide, U.S. health officials said yesterday. The Food and Drug Administration...
GI JOHN’S NEW AD HIGHLIGHTS WAR RECORD
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - John Kerry yesterday launched a new TV ad showing video of him as a young soldier in Vietnam and stressing he "fought for his country," as the Democratic...
ARNIE MUST CEDE ‘LIBEL’ PAPERS
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amLOS ANGELES - A judge yesterday ordered California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to turn over campaign documents to a stuntwoman suing him for libel, but the jurist stopped short of ordering...
DOUBLE-LIFE BANK ROBBER TO GET 9 YRS.
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amA beloved Long Island Little League coach who moonlighted as a bank robber copped a plea yesterday to land a nine-year jail term. Stephen Trantel, 38, of Rockville Centre pleaded...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amMANHATTAN * One student was injured and two were arrested at Park West HS yesterday after an argument turned violent. Police said a 16-year-old was stabbed once in the chest...
A COUPLE OF SERIOUS COACHES
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amBill McNally takes the playoffs seriously. "This is it," the Poly Prep boys basketball coach said. "You have to pull out all the stops." He's not kidding. McNally's team will...
METS TAKING SHAPE – LOOKS LIKE THREE ROSTER SPOTS STILL UP FOR GRABS
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amPORT ST. LUCIE - Slowly but surely the Mets' 25-man roster is shaping up. When the Mets broke camp in February, they had 61 players on the major-league side of...
HUBBA BUBBA! CROSBY MAY STICK
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amEXHIBITION: Yankees 13 - Tigers 3 LAKELAND - Bubba Crosby couldn't have opened the Yankees' eyes wider if he applied pliers to the lids and lifted them. When camp opened...
LAKERS SAY KOBE MAY SIGN HERE
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amKNICK NOTES Isiah Thomas will be competing against 28 other teams for free agent Kobe Bryant this July, so odds aren't good. But the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday some...
KNICKS PLAY THE PAIN GAME
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amTHE bumps are more pro nounced at this time of the year, the bruises deeper, the aches far more painful, because the stakes are so much higher. Suddenly, the Knicks...
GOODMAN’S BIG GIG – CSFB BUYOUT STAR STAYS HOME TO RUN NEW DIVISION
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amCredit Suisse First Boston announced yesterday the creation of a new alternative-investment division, to be headed by superstar leveraged finance star Bennett Goodman. Goodman, who had planned to leave CSFB...
‘ALICE’ ON ‘THE O.C.’
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amHOLY Moses - TV's "Alice" will celebrate Passover on "The O.C." Linda Lavin will guest-star on next week's episode of the hot prime-time soap as Sophie Cohen, mother of Sandy...
N.E.R.D. POWER
March 23, 2004 | 5:00am* N.E.R.D. "Fly or Die" [ 1/2] Virgin Records (three and one-half stars) The revenge of the N.E.R.D. lies in the band's huge musical vocabulary. With two of its three...
FINAL POSE – TIME TO PICK ‘TOP MODEL’
March 23, 2004 | 5:00am'AMERICA'S Next Top Model 2" has reached the end of the runway. And that means it's time to pick a winner from among three finalists (out of an original field...
ANGRY JUDGE LETS LARRY OFF
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amThe judge overseeing the World Trade Center insurance trial stopped just short of calling Larry Silverstein a liar yesterday, saying he didn't believe the developer's testimony in a contempt-of-court hearing....
THIS GUY’S CERTAINLY NOT THE SHARPEST TOOL IN THE SHED
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amPEOPLE accustomed to having a silver spoon in their mouth so often vicariously thrill to the taste of a tin plate. If ever there was a case of an uptown...
DICK’S TALL TALE – CLARKE GOOD; BUSH BAD
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amRICHARD Clarke is the greatest man who has ever strode this planet's surface. I know this because I have just read his book, "Against All Enemies." Some might suggest that...
SPRING FORWARD – WHY SUFFER WINTER’S UNWELCOME ADVANCES WHEN WARMER CLIMES ARE JUST A SHORT DRIVE AWAY? DAVID LANDSEL REPORTS
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amMiddleburg, Va. WHY NOW? Horses, green grass, clean country living FOXCROFT Road does more than just lead intothis good-looking town. It seems to lose itself on the way, winding as...
BLOOMBERG BOOSTING BUCKS FOR 3RD-GRADERS
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amMayor Bloomberg will more than double the spending on third-graders this summer to help them pass high-stakes exams. The move, part of the new policy ending social promotion, also means...
PELOSI CHARGED IN AMMON SLAY – FACES JUDGE ON L.I. TODAY
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amLong Island contractor Danny Pelosi has been indicted in the brutal 2001 murder of financier Ted Ammon, the Suffolk County district attorney announced yesterday. "An indictment has been filed by...
‘DWI’ JUDGE A RACE CASE
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amProsecutors trying Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Donna Mills on DWI charges revealed yesterday that they plan to tell the jury about how she allegedly accused cops of arresting her because...
FRIENDS TO THE END – FAMILIES MOURN 4 IN FATAL L.I. CRASH
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amIt began as a regular Saturday night for the well-loved, ambitious group of close Long Island friends - two brothers, a girlfriend and their pal going for a bite to...
GOP: WE CAN’T AFFORD KERRY
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Republicans yesterday created an Internet "spendometer" for Democrat John Kerry and claimed he'll cost taxpayers an extra $1 trillion - and counting - over the next 10 years....
A MARRIAGE OF BLUE COLLAR & GREENBACKS
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amShe was his "working man's dream." He was her "tool-belt kind of guy." Cool, ethereal Generosa Ammon introduced Danny Pelosi to the '21' Club. The hard-drinking, tattooed Pelosi took her...
ST. JOHN SHOOTER’S NEW SLAY BID: DA
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amA man awaiting a third trial on charges of shooting a St. John's football star is on trial for an unrelated attempted murder. Prosecutors said yesterday that on March 20,...
MATSUI MANIA ON DECK FOR YANKEES – YANKS EXPECT FAN FRENZY IN JAPAN
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amLAKELAND, Fla.- Derek Jeter knows what it's like to live in a fish bowl, to have countless eyeballs follow his every move, to have people he has never seen before...
IT’S A DEAL – MARIANO TO SIGN NEW CONTRACT
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amLAKELAND - He never wanted to leave and now Mariano Rivera won't have to. According to several industry sources the Yankees will announce today that their closer has agreed to...
SPEAR GETS MESS TWO-GAME BAN
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amFirst, Pittsburgh's Martin Strbak checked Mark Messier from behind. Then, Messier speared Strbak, drawing a match penalty. Yesterday, the National Hockey League finished the matter by hitting Messier with a...
BOMBERS PLAY LIKE CHAMPS – VS. TIGERS
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amLAKELAND - It's only March and it was against the pathetic Tigers. However, yesterday the Yankees looked like the team everybody expects them to be this year. Alex Rodriguez turned...
HUBIE THE MAGNIFICENT
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amDO you realize when Hubie Brown (70) and Lenny Wilkens (66) coach against each other tomorrow night they'll be the two oldest men on the bench not appointed by a...
KNICK HOPES COULD BE GOING … GOING … GROIN
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amKnicks 96 - Hawks 84THE tattoo on Penny Hardaway's left arm speaks of optimistic times and better days. "The Storm is Over," the message insists, a tempestuous ride that's taken...
PPR MOVES TO BUY LAST 30% OF GUCCI GROUP
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amFrench retailer Pinault-Printemps-Redoute yesterday offered to buy the shares of the Gucci Group that it doesn't already own, allowing it to move to complete its long-awaited $8.8 billion buyout of...
WARNER NEAR HIRING ISLAND BIG
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amWarner Music is close to a deal to hire Island Records' Julie Greenwald, The Post has learned. Greenwald is expected to be named to a senior post within Warner Music's...
FANS TRY TO REVIVE ‘ANGEL’
March 23, 2004 | 5:00am'ANGEL" fans are hoping for a miracle to save their favorite show. But just in case a miracle doesn't come along, they've taken matters into their own hands. In just...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amAfter listening to testimony in a murder case, Baltimore jurors returned to the jury room to find that they were victims - a thief had snatched their cell phones and...
RIDE-BRIBE POL PAYS THE PRICE
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amALBANY - Assemblyman Roger Green yesterday was sentenced to three years of probation for cooking up phony travel expenses. Green submitted false expense vouchers in 2001 and 2002 after accepting...
BUTTAFUOCO BACK IN THE CAN FOR L.A. INSURANCE SCAM
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amLOS ANGELES - Former Long Island Lothario Joey Buttafuoco pleaded guilty to auto-insurance fraud yesterday and immediately began serving a one-year jail term. With good behavior and Los Angeles County's...
JUDGE STEAMED OVER BUGS
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amLawyers for a Brooklyn judge accused of receiving bribes argued yesterday that the Brooklyn DA's office had no right to bug the jurist's robing room, partly because an informant said...
GASOLINE A ‘$OAR’ POINT FOR DRIVERS
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amGasoline prices are already hitting summertime levels - with a gallon of unleaded reaching $1.743 yesterday, just four-tenths of a cent off the all-time high, federal data shows. Prices will...
HAMAS: MAKE AMERICA PAY – CALLS FOR REVENGE AFTER SLAY OF SHEIK
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amThe Hamas terror group yesterday blamed the United States for Israel's assassination of its leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin and called on Muslims around the world to attack America. Police officials...
‘FIT’ TO BE TRIED – $1.1M WORKOUT LAWSUIT
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amA Manhattan couch potato got more than he bargained for when a drill-sergeant fitness trainer worked him out so hard that he wound up in the hospital with damaged kidneys...
OUT OF THE LOOP-Y – VEEP RIPS EX-ADVISER’S 9/11 CLAIMS
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - The White House yesterday launched a furious counterattack against former terrorism adviser Richard Clarke, saying he was out of the loop and has got the facts wrong in...
MIKE’S HUSH-HUSH FRIST TRYST
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amMayor Bloomberg had an unannounced private meeting with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist at City Hall yesterday to talk about homeland-security funding and the upcoming Republican National Convention. The hush-hush...
ST. JOHN’S ‘SHOOTER’ IN NEW SLAY-ATTEMPT TRIAL
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amA Long Island man awaiting a third trial on charges he shot a St. John's football star is passing the time with an unrelated attempted murder trial - for shooting...
TUSSLING TWINS FORCE JET TO LAND
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amA New York-to-Florida flight made an emergency landing in North Carolina after two passengers - twin brothers - got into a loud and ugly fistfight over possession of the arm...
FORMER L.I. POL HIT WITH DWI RAP
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amA former Long Island congressman spent the night in jail after he was busted for allegedly driving drunk in the Hamptons, cops said yesterday. Daniel Frisa was pulled over Sunday...
‘OUTSTANDING’ TAX ASSESSOR AXED FOR BREAKING PROPERTY RULE
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amThe managing tax assessor for Brooklyn - a city employee for nearly 20 years - has been canned for buying property in the borough without permission. The Finance Department said...
PREGNANT WOMAN WOUNDED IN QNS.
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amA woman, five-months pregnant, was shot in the stomach early this morning in her Queens apartment, authorities said Police did know what triggered the 12:35 a.m. attack in which the...
CLASSROOM EXTRA: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amAntonia Pantoja used education to escape a life of poverty. Her life's work was encouraging others to do the same. While many children are lucky enough to have little to...
TOPSY-TURVY TOURNEY
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amThe madness has only begun. Wait until later this week when the scoreboard in the Trans World Center gets shorted after Alabama-Birmingham and Kansas light it up. Or if you...
KC-GIANTS IS 1ST PREP
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amNot surprisingly, this is Tom Coughlin's take on preseason games: "My approach to the preseason is we try to win every game we play. It's much easier to teach and...
ISLES’ BACKLINE IS NO LONGER ‘D’-PLORABLE
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amAdrian Aucoin was named the NHL Defensive Player of the Week yesterday, while the other five members of the Islanders' rearguard - along with goalie Rick DiPietro - all are...
NO SHOCK AND AWE
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amHis first reaction was one of surprise, but in a good way. Receiver Amani Toomer listened intently as his new head coach, Tom Coughlin, yesterday conducted his first team meeting....
ROBERTS WANTS TO TURN UP HEATER
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amMET NOTES PORT ST. LUCIE - You may see a little extra from Grant Roberts today. The Met right-hander, who's vying for the fifth starter's spot, has excelled this spring,...
MRI NO WORSE, BUT KIDD NO CLOSER TO RETURN
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amThe results of Jason Kidd's second MRI were finally determined yesterday and while the outcome was fairly positive - no structural damage was found - Lawrence Frank wasn't particularly overjoyed....
LENNY’S FOUL PLAY – WILKENS WAFFLES OVER BULLS FINISH
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amThe Lenny Wilkens Waffle continues. Gathering yesterday for the first time since Saturday night's disastrous ending in Chicago, Wilkens and Shandon Anderson were still giving differing views on what took...
INJURY-BUGGED – JOHNSON FORCED TO STEP UP AFTER HARDAWAY’S HURT
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amSo now the Knicks' playoff push depends upon . . . DerMarr Johnson? In an incredible spate of horrible luck, Penny Hardaway, during last night's 96-84 victory over the Hawks,...
-NEW PLAYERS ENTER VIDEO-GAME SPACE (M)-BIG BOYS AIMING AT ONLINE GAME MARKET (S, LCF)
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amVideo games are like an indie band that just performed on MTV's "TRL" - suddenly, everyone's a fan. At the Games Developers Conference, which opened yesterday in San Jose, Calif.,...
RETAILERS PUSH NEW DRESS FOR SUCCESS
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amDresses, especially in flirtatious and feminine styles and bright colors, are poised for a comeback this spring, after years of neglect, retail executives said. Once a staple of a woman's...
BALL-DROPPING BARGAIN – LEASE THE STORE, GET AERIE FOR FREE: 1 TIMES SQ. OWNERS
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amEVER since Time Warner closed its last studio store in October 2001, the vacant three-level retail box at the base of ball-drop tower 1 Times Square has been an embarrassment...
-ART-HOUSE SPLIT: FOUNDER BOLTS FOR FUND (M)-ART-WORLD REBEL SPLITS TO LAUNCH FUND (S, LCF)
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amDaniella Luxembourg, the art expert who turned the staid art world upside down, is breaking out on her own to create an art investment fund for billionaires. Investors who ante...
SLAYING THE PAST
March 23, 2004 | 5:00am'CYCLE of violence" is the most common cliché about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The assassination of Hamas founder and "spiritual leader" Sheik Ahmed Yassin is seen as Israeli retaliation for the...
COUNTDOWN TO GAZA FIEND’S DESTRUCTION
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amJERUSALEM - At 4:30 a.m. yesterday, Ariel Sharon got the word he had been waiting for in the private "situation room" at his Negev Desert farm: Sheik Ahmed Yassin, surrounded...
CITY SEIZES HS FILES IN FED PROBE
March 23, 2004 | 5:00amCity lawyers are collecting student records from Brooklyn's Lafayette HS as part of a federal probe to determine whether the school violated the civil rights of Asian immigrants who were...