March 1, 2006
SEATTLE SLAM - STARBUCKS TO DUMP HEAD OF MUSIC BUSINESS
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amStarbucks is pushing out the head of its music unit, which has become an increasing powerful marketing tool for the record industry, The Post has learned. The impending move comes...
PERMIRA DROPS ITS BID FOR VNU
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amEuropean buyout firm Permira Advisors has scrapped its planned offer to buy Dutch media giant VNU NV, leaving a slimmed-down group of private-equity firms vying for the owner of Billboard...
NBC OLYMPICS BARELY MEET LOW EXPECTATIONS
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amNBC's Olympics coverage barely delivered the television ratings promised to advertisers, setting the stage for a much tougher round of talks come the next Winter Games. The network guaranteed that...
MORGAN PAYS $8M FOR PURCELL'S BILLS
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amMorgan Stanley shareholders pushed out chief Phil Purcell, but they are still paying for his secretary. While Purcell's $44 million goodbye kiss was well-documented, a recent proxy filing revealed that...
LOOSE-LIPPED FINANCE BOSS SINKS GOOGLE SHARES
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amGoogle yesterday suffered the biggest intraday fall in its short life, and closed at $362.62, a far cry from its $475.11 peak less than two months ago. The 7.1 percent...
IRRATIONAL EXUBERANCE - PUBS GO FOR THE GREEN$PAN
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amIRRATIONAL exuberance is gripping the book world as publishers get ready to dangle big bucks to try to reel in the memoir of former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. First-round...
TOWER STAR SEARCH - 'PERFECT' LOCATION; WTC STARS
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amHALLE Berry and Bruce Willis are taking over the futuristic 25th floor at 7 World Trade Center for so long, developer Larry Silverstein can't even get respected in his own...
THE DOWNALD
March 1, 2006 | 5:00am'THE Apprentice" returned to mediocre numbers Monday. The fifth-season premiere averaged 9.7 million viewers - the show's lowest rating ever for an original episode (excluding Thanksgiving night). It also finished...
CH. 13 DUMPS PANELED
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amCH. 13 has yanked a panel discussion on the Armenian genocide that includes genocide deniers. The discussion was scheduled to air April 17 following "The Armenian Genocide," which documents the...
'JOEY' TO THE WORLD! - JACKMAN WANTS TO BE A B'WAY 'PAL'
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amTHERE'S a rumor flying around that Hugh Jackman, musical theater's numero uno leading man, is planning to return to Broadway in a revival of "Stop the World - I Want...
FUR BRAWL - PARIS AND NICOLE BEGIN SHOOTING 'SIMPLE LIFE 4'
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amEVEN archenemies have to honor their iron-clad contracts when it comes to TV. Here's the first look at former best-pals-turned-foes, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, who were forced to work...
STARR REPORT
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amCharles in charge? A very Nixonian moment on Monday's episode of "24" when President Charles Logan (Gregory Itzin) asked advisor Mike Novick (Jude Ciccolella) to get down on his knees...
DON'T GO CHANGING FOR ME - SPRINGER-STYLE 'SPYING'
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amA&E's newest reality series, "Spying on Myself," is supposed to help people find out why someone else doesn't like them, is mad at them, doesn't like their spouses, personalities, clothes,...
CITY SLACKER - 'FREE RIDE' PICKS UP 'CURB'S' IMPROVISATIONAL COMEDY
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amIT was once the freshest look in sitcoms - but not any more. "Curb Your Enthusiasm" did it first. Then came "Arrested Development" and later, "The Office" (the American version...
SIN & YANG - HOW TO BALANCE N.Y.C. NIGHTS, HEALTHY LIVING
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amEVERY day in New York is a marathon of healthy and unhealthy living. You spend your nights downing beers with friends and your mornings filled with yoga classes and exercise....
MEGA MEGU - RESTAURANT, LIKE MENU, MAY BE TOO BIG TO HANDLE
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amTWO years after it brought the world's most baffling menu to TriBeCa, Japanese mammoth Megu is taking its act uptown. Megu Midtown will open next month in Trump World Tower,...
ON THE SIDE - DE POSTO BRINGS OUT ITS 'BARBARIAN'
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amNOW we know where Mario Batali got some of the money to blow on his $10 million restaurant in the Meatpacking District. Corporate raider Henry Kravis has emerged as a...
IT'S A COOKOUT - THROW A DINNER PARTY AT A N.Y. RESTAURANT
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amGOING out to eat would seem to be pretty circumscribed: sit, order, wait for food to arrive. But in New York - where kitchens have been crammed into the tiniest...
'DON JUAN' WIDOW IS STILL MAD ABOUT HIM
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amVICTORIA GOTTI is getting tired of the way her son's trial has slipped into a nasty soap opera with allegations of wife cheating and illegitimate children. "My husband, Johnny, was...
'BLACK-EYE BANDIT' - GAL NABBED IN FOUR HEISTS
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amA woman's two-day Harlem bank-robbery spree ended yesterday when cops caught the hooded, black-eyed bandit fleeing a bank empty-handed, police said. Mary Robinson, 44, was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt...
KILLER GUILTY OF TEEN'S RAPE
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amA pervert who is already locked up for murder pleaded guilty yesterday to raping a 16-year-old Queens girl during a weeklong crime spree following his release from prison in 2002....
CITY HALL 'PARK' ROW
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amCity lawmakers yesterday blasted the Bloomberg administration for allowing thousands of illegal parking tickets to be issued to commercial vehicles, knowing that those tickets would ultimately be dismissed. "When we're...
THE SEWERS OF BABYLON - U.S. TROOPS BUILDING HOPE
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amBAGHDAD OUR Humvees splashed through troughs of sewage, between ponds of filth that covered several acres. Shanties crowded on accidental islands fringed with stands of reeds. A stall selling brilliant...
SOME OK A TRANSIT PACT
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amTransit workers finally have a contract - that is, the 3,100 bus drivers and mechanics not represented by Roger Toussaint and Transport Workers Local 100. The MTA yesterday ratified the...
EX-POLL WORKER 'ABUSED' PUP
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amA former Board of Elections worker with a lengthy rap sheet was busted yesterday on charges of animal cruelty for nearly starving his pit bull to death, the ASPCA said....
DOCS SAVE ONE LEG OF CRASH TEEN
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amDoctors managed to save the left leg of a Queens teen who lost his other limb when a maniac driver sent a van slamming into him, pinning him against a...
BRUNO WARNS MIKE - SCHOOLS 'TAX HIKE'
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amALBANY - Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno yesterday warned of sky-high tax hikes if a judge's order to boost city school funding by billions is enacted, and urged Mayor Bloomberg...
HIP-HOP HITS SMITHSONIAN
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amHip-hop is history, at least to the Smithsonian. Officials at Smithsonian's National Museum of American History hit Midtown yesterday to kick off a new initiative to gather donated hip-hop objects...
GOV SUFFERS AB INFECTION
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amALBANY - Gov. Pataki's doctors at New York Presbyterian Hospital yesterday said he's running a temperature and being treated for an infection in his abdomen, the result of the burst...
STADIUM'S JUMPING JERK TO SKIP JAIL
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amThe crazed kid who leapt from the upper deck of Yankee Stadium and landed on the safety net behind home plate last summer may score a legal home run. Scott...
RABBI EXPELLED FROM SHUL - CLAIMS CONSPIRACY IN SHOCKING SEX SCANDAL
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amA prominent New York rabbi has been booted from his shul in the wake of a scandalous sex suit, The Post has learned. Disgraced Rabbi Mordechai Tendler - scion of...
PORT FIRM BACKS ILLEGAL ISRAEL BOYCOTT
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - The parent firm of the company seeking to run New York's and other U.S. ports enforces the Arab boycott against Israel - and that could be a deal-breaker,...
'BLACK-EYE BANDIT' - POLICE NAB WOMAN IN BANK ROBS
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amDetectives last night were questioning a woman suspected in three bank robberies in upper Manhattan - including two heists yesterday and one Monday, police sources said. A woman wearing a...
NEWS WINS LICENSE TO $TIFF
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amThe "winners" of the Daily News Scratch 'n Stiff game won't get their "winnings" after all. Bronx Supreme Court Judge George Salerno has disposed of the multimillion-dollar class-action civil suit...
BILL VS. HILL ON DUBAI - EX-PREZ LAUDS EMIRATE
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Former President Bill Clinton rallied to defend the United Arab Emirates yesterday - splitting with his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who's fighting to block a firm owned...
TAXIS' VICIOUS CYCLE - AT WAR VS. PEDICABS
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amTaxi-industry leaders demanded yesterday that city officials end the "free ride for the unregulated pedicab industry. "The pedicabs are inherently dangerous," Joseph Giannetto, director of business development for the Metropolitan...
HIGH DRAMA IN FLATBUSH FIRE
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amA desperate woman climbs over a balcony railing to reach the helping hand of a fireman in a tower ladder yesterday, as suffocating, black smoke fills a Brooklyn apartment building...
PAL'S LAST WORDS TO SLAIN COLLEGE GAL: 'ARE YOU GOING HOME?'
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amShortly before beautiful Manhattan grad student Imette St. Guillen was brutally murdered, her best friend called on her cellphone to try to coax her into going home and ending her...
CONTRACTOR DID BANG-UP 'BILKING' JOB
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amAn unlicensed Manhattan-based contractor-from-hell snookered at least seven clients out of $176,000 - taking the money as a down payment, but doing shoddy work or no work at all, prosecutors...
GAL CLEARED IN NYPD CLASH
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amThe half-sister of a 12-year-old girl struck and killed last year by an off-duty cop has been cleared of any wrongdoing in a clash with officers after the horrific accident,...
MIKE BLASTS W.'S BUDGET
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - In the nation's capital to lobby for more federal aid yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg delivered a backhanded slap to President Bush for his "shortsighted" housing budget and blasted political...
MOB-TRIAL SHOCKER: EX-BOSS OFF 'GORGEOUS' RAT LIST
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amRats! The feds shot down any hope of seeing their star witness - ultimate Mafia turncoat Joseph Massino - during the racketeering trial of his former underling, reputed acting Bonanno...
COP UNIONS IN CIVIL WAR OVER CONTRACTS
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amThere's a war being waged among the city's police unions over bargaining tactics less than two weeks before the detectives union votes to ratify its contract. Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President...
TRAGIC 'EXILE' - SLAY-SUICIDE BOY SIBERIA-BOUND
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amA tragic 6-year-old Long Island boy who told a 911 operator about his parents' grisly murder-suicide could wind up being shipped to relatives in Siberia. Police yesterday said Arthur Astashkevich's...
SPERM SISTERS - 11 MOMS BOND OVER SHARED 'DONOR 401'
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amSome women find friends at book clubs or church socials, but the Internet is spawning a new kind of sisterhood - between women who share the same sperm donor. A...
MOTORIST SLAIN - HASID WAS SEEKING PARKING SPACE
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amA Hasidic man returning from prayers was gunned down early yesterday as he hunted for a parking spot on a Brooklyn street - sending his van crashing into other cars...
'JUNIOR' ORDER: STRICTLY 'PERSONAL' - RAT: HE WANTED SLIWA TO SUFFER
March 1, 2006 | 5:00am"I want it personal. I want him to know we can get our hands on him at any time." Those were the chilling words uttered by John "Junior" Gotti as...
BUSH ON ASIA ADVENTURE - FLIES TO INDIA, PAKISTAN AMID STRIFE
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - President Bush flew off yesterday on his first-ever trip to India and Pakistan hoping to promote business deals and democracy - but Muslim protesters in Bombay were shouting...
'PRISONER' JUDGE BIDS FOR LIBERTY
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amA former judge, who has been confined to a nursing home, made a dramatic appearance in Brooklyn Supreme Court yesterday, as lawyers representing his relatives proposed plans to lift the...
NYPD DAILY BLOTTER
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amMANHATTAN * Cops made a grisly discovery on an East Harlem street yesterday when they found the torso of a suspected drug dealer in one plastic bag - and his...
'MLK SNIPE SPARKED SCHOOL RACE ATTACK'
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amAn alleged racial attack on a group of Catholic schoolgirls on a Brooklyn basketball court last year began when one of the victims ridiculed Martin Luther King Jr., a lawyer...
ANNA LOOKS SUPREME - DAZZLES AT HIGH COURT
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amFormer Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith got a supreme makeover just in time for her latest court appearance - and she has never looked better. Modestly dressed in a sleek,...
GUNG-HO L.I. GI IS KILLED
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amA Long Island soldier who was so anxious to serve his country that he got parental permission to join the Army at 17, has been killed in Iraq, officials said...
'BLACK-EYE BANDIT' - POLICE NAB WOMAN IN 3 BANK ROBS
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amA woman's two-day Harlem bank-robbery spree ended yesterday when cops caught the hooded, black-eyed bandit fleeing a bank empty-handed, police said. Mary Robinson, 44, was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt...
'ROYAL' KILLER IN JAM - FACES JAIL FOR SKI TRIPS
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amThe Long Island-born boyfriend of Great Britain's 17-year-old Princess Beatrice is in a new legal jam - because of a luxury ski trip he recently took to France that may...
BARRY'S 'DRAG' BUNT
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amThe scariest-looking woman on the planet isn't really a woman at all - she's Barry Bonds in drag. The strapping San Francisco Giants slugger had his teammates in stitches yesterday...
TRAGIC SIBERIA 'EXILE' - FOR SLAY-SUICIDE BOY
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amA tragic 6-year-old Long Island boy who told 911 about his parents' grisly murder-suicide could wind up being shipped to relatives in Siberia. Police yesterday said Arthur Astashkevich's surviving relatives...
DIVORCE IS EX-RATED $PANKING - WIFE TIES UP S&M NUT'S CASH
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amHe's been whipped and humiliated by Lady Sage, the Ohio dominatrix on whom he allegedly lavished tens of thousands of dollars by embezzling from a cardiac charity. Now, it's his...
BLACK BRAVEST SUES CITY
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amAn African-American firefighter has hit the city with a lawsuit, alleging a nearly decade-long pattern of discrimination and harassment that included the placement of a hangman's noose on his gear...
DAILY NEWS '$TIFF' OK'D
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amThe "winners" of the Daily News Scratch 'n Stiff game won't get their "winnings" after all. Bronx Supreme Court Judge George Salerno has disposed of the multimillion-dollar class-action civil suit...
SENIORS STOKING HALL'S NCAA FIRE
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amSeton Hall 72 - Cincinnati 62 In the final minute of Seton Hall's 72-62 victory over Cincinnati, Kelly Whitney left the floor to a standing ovation. Seconds later, Donald Copeland...
'NOVA'S WRIGHT HAS FRIEND IN PA.
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amVILLANOVA - This night will be special - lots of tears - but it will be hard for Senior Night to replace the most cherished night Jay Wright has had...
KNICK FAITHFUL FED UP
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amAfter watching their team lose 20 of 22, Knick fans are mad as hell. And yesterday, they vented their venom. Team president Isiah Thomas was the main target of those...
REYES SHOWS PATIENCE AT PLATE
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amMET NOTES PORT ST. LUCIE - As the Mets' leadoff hitter, Jose Reyes was effective yesterday with his selectivity and stubbornness. In the Mets' first intrasquad game, Reyes had two...
KING OF THE HILL - JUST ANOTHER BIG DAY FOR TEAM PEDRO
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amPORT ST. LUCIE - The Mets completed their workouts and funneled from the various diamonds across the sprawling Tradition Field complex to move in unison toward the clubhouse. One Met...
ORANGE MAY BE WAVE OF FUTURE
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amHS HOOPS: Jefferson 83 - Stuyvesant 42 Keith Spellman thought about going somewhere other than Jefferson before he started his freshman year. It would have been hard for him not...
MARTINEZ FEELS GOOD ON MOUND
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amPORT ST. LUCIE - Considering that Pedro Martinez is behind in his work right now, yesterday may have been his most significant day of Mets spring training yet. Bothered by...
KIDD GETS A BREATHER
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amNET NOTES MINNEAPOLIS - The Nets were off from practice yesterday. Good thing. Jason Kidd was just about going on fumes. Kidd, the Nets' captain who turns 33 this month,...
NETS STILL EYING HELP
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amNETS at T'WOLVES Tonight - 8:00 YES; WBBR (1130 AM) MINNEAPOLIS - The Nets aren't having any luck trying to land Jersey guys. As the chance of landing Paterson product...
DARYLL, SUMPTER ON THE REBOUND
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amCollege NotesTHE DECISIONS of two former New York City prep stars to return for their senior seasons in college - both because of medical circumstances - means that St. John's...
BIG STEP UP FOR SANTANA
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amThese aren't baby steps Edgar Santana is taking; these are leaps. Santana will make his first main-event appearance on March 9 at the Manhattan Center as part of a Broadway...
DOLAN TO PLAYERS: ISIAH, BROWN ARE HERE TO STAY
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amMEMPHIS - The embarrassing basketball outfit known as Team Titanic reached its next port of call here in Memphis, hard by the Mississippi River. The Knicks owner, James Dolan, gave...
MATSUI'S KNEE IFFY
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amYANKEE NOTES TAMPA - Hideki Matsui said his puffy left knee isn't a problem. However, the Yankees left fielder didn't participate in yesterday's intrasquad game and could be held out...
HUGHES THAT GUY?! - ROOKIE IMPRESSES DURING INTRASQUAD
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amTAMPA - The Yankees' present, recent past and future gathered at Legends Field yesterday under a perfect blue sky that provided the ideal backdrop for the first game action of...
HALL'S DEFENSE KEY TO NCAA BID
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amTwo weeks ago, Seton Hall seemed destined for the NCAA's Big Dance. But somewhere, somehow, the Pirates got lost. Since taking the reins at the Hall, Louis Orr has molded...
OLYMPIC ISLES CHARGED
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amRick DiPietro's confidence is sky-high since returning from the Olympics and a tournament he proved he can play with the best hockey players in the world. Alexei Yashin found his...
CHAD: 'I FEEL GOOD' - TALKS WITH JETS TAKE 'POSITIVE STEPS'
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amMIAMI - Every day from 8:30 in the morning until sometime into the early afternoon, Chad Pennington toils in the mind-numbing world of rehabilitation, one that includes stretching, bending, flexing,...
DIPIETRO CAN'T SAVE ISLANDERS
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amCanadiens 5 - Islanders 3 So much for starting the post-break schedule with a bang. Rick DiPietro was too tired to start the game last night, too run down from...
HAPPY RETURNS FOR STORM, WILDCATS
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amCollege Notes THE DECISIONS of two former New York City prep stars to return for their senior seasons in college - both because of medical circumstances - means that St....
GIAMBI GRATEFUL FOR CHANCE
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amTAMPA - In the eternal sunshine of Jason Giambi's spotless mind, the 2004 season and the ensuing winter storm that lasted nearly into the next summer are now only the...
LOU EYES TRADING DEADLINE
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amLou Lamoriello's actions in the next eight days will speak louder than his words. His estimate of the Devils' chances at the Stanley Cup will determine whether he goes on...
LABOR TALKS STALLED
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amWith the NFL's cash-producing television contract, fairminded revenue sharing, everyone-can-win parity, and lofty status as the most-watched sport in America, the league would never kill the golden goose by languishing...
UNRETIRED ALEXANDER RELEASED BY BIG BLUE
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amIt turns out Brent Alexander did not retire last week, as the Giants announced, and he intends to continue his career. It won't happen with the Giants, though; yesterday, they...
WEIRD BUT TRUE
March 1, 2006 | 5:00amA formal gala at the Milwaukee Art Museum turned horribly wrong as martini-fueled guests began climbing onto the art, projectile vomiting and passing out. In one jaw-dropping move, four men...