July 15, 2003
MY OWN CLOSE CALL WITH A NEW YORK TIMES CORRECTION
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amI came one clever sidestep away from having a very embarrassing correction in The New York Times. Today I'm going to tell the story of how - a long, long...
DILLER THRILLER ; BARRY MAKES UP WITH ARCHRIVAL SUMNER FOR VIVENDI DEAL
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amBarry Diller is talking with longtime arch-enemy Sumner Redstone about teaming up to acquire Vivendi Universal, The Post has learned. Under a plan being discussed, Viacom would get the only...
CENTURY 21 MORTGAGE FOR SALE
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amTHE owners of the bankrupt office tower at 22 Cortlandt St., home to the Century 21 department store, might soon have new mortgage holders to contend with. Current lenders Lincoln...
CABLEVISION ACCOUNTING PROBE COULD DAMAGE ITS BID FOR VUE
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amA recently launched investigation of accounting problems at Cablevision could derail the cable giant's role in a group bidding for Vivendi Universal Entertainment, sources told The Post. The problem at...
VIVENDI KO'D MALONE'S BID FOR SOLO TALKS
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amJohn Malone's Liberty Media sought exclusive talks with Vivendi about two weeks ago but was rebuffed, The Post has learned. Sources say Malone tried to get exclusivity in talks for...
MGM GIVES ULTIMATUM
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amMGM gave Vivendi an ultimatum yesterday: give us more info or we'll walk. MGM said in a letter to Vivendi yesterday that it would raise its bid for VUE, but...
ROILING TIMES TAPS KELLER AS MR. FIXIT
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amThe troubled New York Times tapped veteran inside man Bill Keller as its new top editor. The move comes more than two months after the scandal of disgraced reporter Jayson...
WHITTLE GETS EDISON FOR A MERE $174M
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amAfter suffering a $1.9 billion wipeout of his company's market value, Chris Whittle is taking his for-profit Edison Schools off the stock market. Whittle said yesterday he arranged with a...
CSFB MAY LOSE TOP EXEC PEEK
July 15, 2003 | 4:00am-Jeffrey Peek, a top executive at Credit Suisse First Boston and onetime leading candidate for the presidential post at Merrill Lynch, is in serious talks to leave the executive suite...
SPITZER TARGET: SEC - SPITZER'S DEMAND: REJECT CURBS ON STATE PROBES
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amDemands Donaldson blast curbs on state probes Eliot Spitzer threw down the gauntlet yesterday, challenging SEC chief William Donaldson to repudiate pending legislation that would curb the power of states...
TIMES' BAD TIMING; LAUNCHES YET ANOTHER PROBE AS KELLER NAMED EDITOR
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amOn the day it named a new top editor, The New York Times launched yet another investigation of the performance of one of its reporters. This time the reporter under...
COZ SHOWS UP AT AMERICAN MEDIA HQ FOR PECKER DISS
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amSteve Coz appeared in the American Media headquarters yesterday for the first time in two weeks - and apparently has neither quit nor been fired but has most definitely been...
HOME RULES
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amAIR-CON on the fritz? Book a room somewhere fun and play tourist. Hotel deals are everywhere; check out this one from the owners of the literary-chic Mansfield (12 W. 44th...
HYPER ACTIVE
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amPARIS takes the concept of shopping for the home to unexpected heights with the revamped 10-story home furnishings emporium at Printemps, the French hyper- department store on Boulevard Haussmann. The...
GO WITH THE GLOW ; ... BUT 'SCULPTED TAN' DOESN'T PAN OUT
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amTHE latest gimmick in tanning is more than simply getting a glow - it's about contouring and shaping. Touted as safe, quick and non-wrinkling, the sculpted airbrush tan at the...
BOOTED OFF 'BRO' WARTS AND ALL
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amA CHAIR-flinging fit of rage that got a "Big Brother 4" contestant booted from the show and caused his housemates to hide in terror will air on tonight's episode. Producers...
HOLD YOUR NOSE; 'QUEER GUY' STARTS WITH DIRTY UNDIES
July 15, 2003 | 4:00am"Queer Eye for the Straight Guy " Tonight at 10 on Bravo 1/2 ROLL over Steppinfetchit, here comes your gay equivalent. "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," premiering tonight on...
ON TARGET; CHRISTINA & JUSTIN'S TOUR TASTE SIZZLES; ARNOLD TURNER/WIREIMAGE.COM
July 15, 2003 | 4:00am* Justin Timberlake & Christina Aguilera "Justin & Christina" RCA/Jive/Target "Justin & Christina," a CD being marketed exclusively through the Target department store, is guaranteed to be mocked for excessive...
MUSIC BY AND OFF THE BOARDWALK!!!
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amTHE Siren Music Fest is Saturday - kicking off at noon with the Pattern and closing 13 bands later at 8 p.m. with Scots pop-rockers Idlewild (see www.villagevoice.com/siren). But if...
THE STARR REPORT
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amSpike TV - Jolie's 'GDL' chat ends abruptly Yes, that was "Tomb Raider" star Angelina Jolie you saw on yesterday's "Good Day Live" - but only for about 45 seconds...
MARRIAGE WOES FOR WOOLERY
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amDESPITE the rosy picture of domestic tranquility seen on Chuck Woolery's Game Show Network series "Naturally Stoned," the reality is: He's battling to save his marriage. Woolery, 62, and wife...
LAST CHANCE TODAY FOR KEITEL IN CUSTODY CASE
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amIt's D-Day for Harvey Keitel - deal or dish. If the "Mean Streets" star can't settle his child-support battle with Lisa Karmazin by this afternoon, he'll have to take the...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amQUEENS * Detectives are probing the murder of a man who was gunned down early yesterday while standing near his home in the Jamaica section, authorities said. Shomari Johnson, 28,...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amA church has banned its star act from an upcoming fund-raiser after it found out the band sang songs about oral and anal sex, abortion and incest. Bob Schneider and...
DEMS RISK '04 TO CALL W A LIAR
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amTHE liberal/ Democratic/media assault on President Bush has "gained traction," as the politicos say. Some ostriches on the Right want to pretend otherwise. They ought to know better. The weeklong...
KING OF THE CASTLE - $45M AOL PAD'S MYSTERY BUYER UNMASKED
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amThe buyer of the $45 million AOL Time Warner Center condo - who shelled out the highest price ever paid for a residence in New York City - is reclusive...
EX-RUDY AIDE TO JOIN GOV TEAM
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amALBANY - Gov. Pataki plans to name Adam Barsky, one-time budget director to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, to a senior-level state post, sources said yesterday. Barsky will be named deputy...
A RAILY CHEAP RIDE - $2.50 WEEKEND TIX ON LIRR, METRO-NORTH
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amPassengers will be allowed to ride Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road trains within the city limits on the weekends for only $2.50 starting in January under a new MTA...
ABU & YASSER MAKE NICE
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amLONDON - Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen - who threatened to quit last week over his power struggle with Yasser Arafat - said yesterday he had settled his differences with...
DOWNTOWN DECEIT; CONFLICT DRIVES PAPER'S VIEWS; STEVE CUOZZO
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amThe New York Times has set about punishing its errant reporters not merely by printing corrections, but by running book-length antidotes - like yesterday's about music mogul Steve Gottlieb -...
BUSH MAY SEND TROOPS TO LIBERIA
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday said he's willing to send a "limited" number of U.S. troops to help restore peace to the violence-torn African nation of Liberia, but they'd only...
CAB-SLAY MOM GETS 15 TO LIFE
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amA young mother, convicted of luring a cabby into a deadly robbery trap with promises of sex, was sent to prison for 15 years to life yesterday. Rosa Ocasio, 23,...
GIFFORD PUTS 500G IN BANK
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amCouncil Speaker Gifford Miller is expected to add $500,000 to his 2005 campaign war chest in fund-raising reports to be filed today. Miller, who previously had more than $1 million...
PROBE OF COPS' BUBBLY BONUSES
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amYou're not wearing your seat belt? I'll drink to that. Nassau County cops may have had an extra incentive over the Memorial Day weekend to ticket drivers not buckled up...
GOLF-CART TEENS RAISE HOLE-Y HELL
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amThree Long Island teenagers rode roughshod in a golf cart through a private club yesterday, tearing up two greens and flipping the cart over, police said yesterday. Ryan Cook, 17,...
MANHATTAN MAYOR GIVES B'KLYN A BRONX CHEER
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amIT WAS about the time that Mayor Bloomberg was scheduled to address an insurance group at the posh Waldorf-Astoria yesterday morning. Anna Rodriguez, clutching daughter Tiana, 7, firmly in hand,...
WTC GRAVE CLASH - CEMETERY NIXES TOWER REPLICAS
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amThe parents of a man killed in the World Trade Center terror attacks want to place a replica of the Twin Towers next to his headstone - but the Catholic...
CHUCK FAVORS MORE TROOPS
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Sen. Charles Schumer said yesterday he's willing to support sending more U.S. troops to Iraq, but he isn't calling for them yet. "If it takes more troops to...
TWIST IN MALAYSIA 9/11 MEET
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - An expert on al Qaeda now says it was Ramzi Binalshibh - and not Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - who chaired a key terrorist meeting in Malaysia in January...
ARI THERE YET? FLACK FLIES OFF
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - White House press secretary Ari Fleischer's wife Becki showed up for his final briefing yesterday - and heard her husband get a tough goodbye grilling on Iraq's nuclear...
HARLEM KIDS IN NEW SCHOOL
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amMayor Bloomberg welcomed dozens of fifth-graders to a new charter school in Harlem yesterday - in a building where school bureaucrats once worked. "We said we would put children first...
BUSCEMI WALKS; NO JAIL IN FIREHOUSE PROTEST
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amMr. Pink has been spared a jail cell. "Reservoir Dogs" star Steve Buscemi and 11 others, busted protesting the closing of Engine 204 in Brooklyn's Cobble Hill in May, were...
NONPARTISAN MIKE WANTS ELEX CHANGE
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amFacing growing criticism from Democrats over his plan for nonpartisan elections, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday strongly defended the proposal and suggested there be no delay in bringing it before city voters....
BASTILLE DAY BOWLERS TAKE STREETS BY STORM
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amTHE French of New York yesterday threw a festive ball-busting contest to celebrate Bastille Day. It was Veuve Clicquot champagne's 13th annual petanque tournament, pitting 50 of the city's finest...
'DWI' TRAGEDY; DEA WORKER NABBED IN BRONX MAN'S DEATH
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amA subway motorman crossing a Co-Op City street in The Bronx shortly after midnight yesterday was struck and killed by a drunken driver, police said. David Torres, 37, was pronounced...
TEEN COUPLE'S RAPE HORROR
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amA Saturday night of fun at Coney Island ended in terror when a teen honors student and his girlfriend were kidnapped at gunpoint and driven around Brooklyn and Queens for...
PLUMBER FLUSHED UP THE RIVER
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amThe No. 1 man in a toilet scam that flushed almost $1 million from the city was sentenced yesterday to three years in the can. Wiping tears from his eyes,...
G.I. 'PREDATOR' - MARINE RUNS OFF WITH 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL: BRIT COPS
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amAuthorities in Europe have launched a manhunt for a decorated U.S. Marine veteran of the Afghan war who ran off to France with a 12-year-old British schoolgirl he met on...
DUBYA STANDS BY HIS SPIES
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - A defiant President Bush yesterday said he gets "darn good" intelligence from his spymasters, despite the furor over his State of the Union Address, in which he mistakenly...
HAMPTONS DIARY
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amRANDY SCHINDLER, the ousted owner of Hamptons magazine, spent the night in jail after partying with the Parrotheads at Sunday night's Jimmy Buffett concert at Southampton College. He was busted...
7TH HELL: MIDDLE GRADE HAS MOST FLUNKERS
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amThe city's seventh-graders were the worst performers in public elementary and middle schools last year - with 20 percent of the class required to attend summer school because they flunked...
REWARD FOR HERO 'SPIDEY'
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amA day after scaling a Bronx building's facade to rescue relatives from a burning house, the fearless Spider-Man is getting a $1,000 reward from a stranger who was touched by...
KEITEL'S LAST CHANCE IN CUSTODY CASE
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amIt's D-Day for Harvey Keitel - deal or dish. If the "Mean Streets" star can't settle his child-support battle with Lisa Karmazin by this afternoon, he'll have to take the...
TEACH BUSTED IN GUN SALE
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amA Brooklyn teacher surrendered to police yesterday on charges of selling an illegal gun. Patrick Nelson, 35, a special-education substitute teacher at Prospect Heights HS, was charged with criminal facilitation,...
NO-CLASS UNION DUMPS FURNITURE - UFT TRASHES PRICEY GOODS AS SCHOOLS GO WANTING
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amThe teachers union left behind mounds of expensive office equipment and furniture when it moved to pricey new headquarters - and yesterday, the stash was being trashed or peddled on...
COP, LOVER IN 'SLAY-SUICIDE'
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amAn Internal Affairs Bureau lieutenant was found shot to death near the body of his slain girlfriend yesterday - in what a senior NYPD official said appears to be a...
COP AND GIRLFRIEND IN 'MURDER-SUICIDE'
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amAn Internal Affairs Bureau lieutenant was found shot to death near the body of his slain girlfriend yesterday - in what a senior NYPD official said appears to be a...
B'KLYN YOUTHS' DEADLY WAR OF WORDS
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amA daylong argument between two groups of youngsters on Sunday resulted in the death of a Brooklyn teenager, police said yesterday. Robert Perez, 17, and several friends spent most of...
PITCHER WAS ASLEEP ON JOB
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amNewly acquired minor league pitcher Joselo Diaz overslept and missed a start when the Vero Beach Dodgers were - ironically enough - facing the St. Lucie Mets a month ago,...
MIKE'S SWEET KNICK DEBUT ; OUTSHINES LAMPE IN SUMMER PLAY
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amBOSTON - Mike Sweetney looked ready to battle for the Knicks' starting power forward job with a 20-point, eight rebound outing. Maciej Lampe looked ready for the minors - the...
ALONZO: JASON'S WHY I'M A NET
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amNET NOTES Jason Kidd was staying, so Alonzo Mourning wanted to get aboard. That decision by Kidd played a major impact in directing Mourning's decision. "Jason wants to win. He's...
RANGERS INK DE VRIES FOR DEPTH ON 'D'
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amProblematic long-term contract considerations aside - four years at $13 million - the Rangers did annex a pretty good support defenseman yesterday in 30-year-old free agent Greg de Vries. A...
METS' BRASS PASSED ON A.L. STAR LOAIZA
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amCHICAGO - Met fans can add this nauseating tidbit to their season of indigestion: It's bad enough the Mets have spent most of the season in last place, and have...
STARS' HOWARD OFF TO MANCHESTER U.
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amYesterday the MetroStars lost their best player, Jersey-born keeper Tim Howard, to Premier League champion Manchester United. They replaced him the same day with Jonny Walker, an American expatriate looking...
ANOTHER CLASSIC DEBACLE FOR MLB ; STUNNED ZITO SCRATCHED FROM STARS TO MAKE ROOM FOR ROCKET
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amCHICAGO - Another year, another All-Star Game, another public relations snafu. Roger Clemens' fans don't care, however, because the pending Hall of Famer was an 11th-hour selection to tonight's Midsummer...
BASEBALL GETS IT ACE BACKWARDS
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amCHICAGO - This time it counts, but not for Barry Zito. In one of the stranger pre-game All-Star happenings, the Oakland ace was gonged off the All-Star squad yesterday and...
LOSSES TAKE THEIR TOLL ON MYSTICS' HOLDSCLAW
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amChamique Holdsclaw was recently selected to start her fifth straight WNBA All-Star Game, leads her team in scoring and leads the league in rebounding. But when asked to describe how...
ARMANDO RESIGNED TO CHANGING ADDRESSES
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amALL-STAR NOTES Peppered with trade questions, Met closer Armando Benitez has a stock answer: Let it come. "I wouldn't be surprised," Benitez said yesterday during an afternoon news conference before...
LEARNING TO SHARE ; MUNIZ, PAULK KEEP DOOR CLOSED FOR CYCLONES
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amThe phone buzzes in the Brooklyn bullpen, and Robert Paulk and Carlos Muniz peek down the bench at each other. One of these co-closers will soon get loose, preparing to...
BYE, BYE BURNITZ: METS SHIP JEROMY TO DODGERS FOR PROSPECTS
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amCHICAGO - In the clearest sign yet that they are in full rebuilding mode, the Mets yesterday traded Jeromy Burnitz to the Dodgers for three minor leaguers. Interim general manager...
METS SHIP JEROMY TO L.A. FOR PROSPECTS
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amCHICAGO - In the clearest sign yet that the Mets are in full rebuilding mode, they traded Jeromy Burnitz to the Dodgers for three minor leaguers yesterday. Interim general manager...
N.J.'S NO. 1 SPARKLES
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amBOSTON - The Nets' first-round draft pick, Zoran Planinic, already looks like a clear upgrade over Anthony Johnson. The team needs a backup point guard to Jason Kidd - and...
CYCLONES STORM BACK FOR VICTORY
July 15, 2003 | 4:00amCyclones 5Doubledays 4 All summer, they've talked about wins and championships in Brooklyn. And proof of those priorities, which usually rank behind player development in the low minor leagues, spilled...