Daily News (New York, NY) articles from August 2007

Daily News (New York, NY) archives from August 2007

Webkinz: Big money lessons for little kids.
August 1, 2007

Spitzer OKs tax credit for working poor.
August 3, 2007

Leonard Lief led college for 22 years.
August 3, 2007... Aug. 3--Leonard Lief, the founding president of Lehman College and an Elizabethan scholar, died Monday, the college announced yesterday. Lief, who was 83, died at the Willow Towers residence in New Rochelle following a lengthy struggle with...

New York Times now inch & a half narrower.
August 7, 2007... Aug. 7--The Old Gray Lady is a little skinnier these days. In a bid to cut costs, The New York Times debuted a print edition yesterday that is 12 inches wide -- about 1-1/2 inches narrower than before. The new paper looks nearly...

Not fare: State ripped off MTA's funds, officials say.
August 8, 2007... Byline: Pete Donohue Aug. 8--The MTA, which is considering a fare increase to meet ballooning expenses, was cheated out of an estimated $1.9 billion over more than a decade because of state budget shenanigans, according to experts. ...

Daily News, New York, Clem Richardson column.
August 10, 2007... Byline: Clem Richardson Aug. 10--CONSERVANCY DIRECTOR LEADS $150M REDO OF TRACT: It was a fortunate day when Marianna Koval made her way to the Brooklyn Promenade and gazed down at the decrepit piers and warehouses that lay between her,...

Daily Candy's e-mail fights to stay in with the in-crowd.
August 12, 2007... Byline: Phyllis Furman Aug. 12--Back when she was launching DailyCandy seven years ago, ex-New York magazine writer Dany Levy would do anything to get attention for her upstart e-mail newsletter. "I used to stand in Penn Station and...

Bad home loans cause high finance tremors.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Greg Wilson Aug. 13--The worldwide economic turmoil is the frightening part of a sequence that began with ordinary Americans who got in over their heads trying to buy a house. Along the way, mortgage payments are passed up the...

If your mortgage lender goes bust... don't panic!
August 13, 2007... Byline: Andrew Nusca Aug. 13--Those risky mortgages of recent years dragged down plenty of homeowners, but now they're taking out many of the huge lenders that underwrote them. Big names like HSBC, Countrywide and even Citigroup have...

Merv Griffin, entertainer and businessman, dead at 82.
August 13, 2007... Byline: David Hinckley Aug. 13--Merv Griffin, a big band singer who struck it rich twice as a nice-guy talk show host and the creator of "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune," died yesterday of prostate cancer. He was 82. Griffin was...

Mortgages test Muslim faith.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Brad Mielke Aug. 13--Most New Yorkers leave their finances in the hands of brokers, bankers and planners, but Muslims often turn to their religious leaders. Soulemaine Konate knows: As imam of the 1,500-member Masji Aqsa...

Perfect stock market timing would be great if it really worked.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Phyllis Furman Aug. 13--They sound more like the inventions of Looney Tunes, but five characters created by researchers to identify investor profiles could tell you a lot about yourself. Are you trying to be Peter Perfect, the...

Daily News, New York, Moneyzone column.(Column)
August 13, 2007... Aug. 13--GOSSIP OVER SUBSTANCE: Celebrity worship trumps political discourse at the water cooler, a new survey found. Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and other pop starlets topped the survey with 27 percent choosing them as the hot topic of the...

New York company buys stake in Integra.
August 14, 2007... Byline: Mike Rogoway Aug. 14--Integra Telecom Inc. plans to announce today that New York investment firm Warburg Pincus will acquire a $245 million stake in the Portland company, buying out some of Integra's initial backers and giving...

New contract has boro exporting solid waste by railroad car.
August 15, 2007... Byline: Bill Egbert Aug. 15--All Bronx trash is now being run out of town on a rail -- instead of by road. In a bid to reduce truck traffic in the asthma-plagued borough, the city announced yesterday that the more than 2,000 daily tons...

Stewart, Colbert on YouTube's talk list.
August 15, 2007... Byline: Jose Martinez Aug. 15--YouTube wants answers from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. The popular video-sharing site is pushing to question the hosts of "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" as part of a defense against a $1...

Daily News, New York, David Hinckley column.(Column)
August 16, 2007... Byline: David Hinckley Aug. 16--Any radio or TV station thinking of hiring former WFAN morning man Don Imus knows he comes with baggage. But some of that baggage is stuffed with cash. That's why, even though everyone is maintaining...

Daily News, New York, Albor Ruiz column.(Column)
August 16, 2007... Byline: Albor Ruiz Aug. 16--Fancy eateries and expensive condos are rapidly sprouting up in Bushwick. The Brooklyn neighborhood is being turned into a "hip" and "fashionable" area that is out of the financial reach of its own people. ...

Activist wants to bring trolley back to downtown Brooklyn.
August 16, 2007... Byline: Rachel Monahan Aug. 16--A local activist is seizing on sizzling downtown development as an opportunity to combine his dreams of restoring trolley service and reopening a historic tunnel. Bob Diamond, president of the Brooklyn...

6 colleges from Empire State in mag's top 50.
August 17, 2007... Byline: Erin Einhorn Aug. 17--Six New York universities, including Columbia, Cornell and NYU, are among the 50 best schools in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report. Princeton won the magazine's top honor for the eighth...

AG targets home health care fraud.
August 21, 2007... Byline: Joe Mahoney Aug. 21--ALBANY -- Investigators want 60 home health care agencies in New York City and its suburbs to surrender information about billings and workers' credentials as part of an intensifying state probe into Medicaid...

Locals fume as response times rise.
August 21, 2007... Byline: Bill Egbert Aug. 21--Local officials are fuming over the city's decision not to reopen a Bronx firehouse despite a serious increase in response times to the neighborhood. More than a year after the city closed the decrepit,...

Plastic bag overload? Gov't sez return them.
August 22, 2007... Byline: Brian Harmon Aug. 22--Whether they're under the bathroom sink, headed for the trash or stuffed in a kitchen drawer, the government wants you to return your plastic bags to the store. Suffolk County Legislator Wayne Horsley...

Demoted school leader makes impassioned plea to get her job back.
August 22, 2007... Byline: John Lauinger Aug. 22--The Huntington school board has called an emergency meeting tomorrow night to take up the controversial demotion of a popular principal, the Daily News has learned. Last week, Superintendent John Finello...

Daily News, New York, Lisa Colangelo column.(Column)
August 22, 2007... Byline: Lisa Colangelo Aug. 22--AUTUMN IN NEW YORK MEANS NEW JOB POSTS: The August deadline for most city jobs has passed, but there's no reason candidates can't get a jump on tests coming up this fall. Starting Sept. 5, several jobs...

I do, in business and at home.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Elizabeth Lazarowitz Aug. 27--Even after nearly a decade in business together, Shakoor and Marissa Watson, the husband-and-wife team behind Brooklyn bakery Shakoor's Sweet Tooth, find that being together 24/7 isn't exactly a piece...

Amid tougher scrutiny, even homebuyers with good credit find hurdles.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Lore Croghan Aug. 27--Mike Hooks didn't suspect anything was amiss when his lending officer left a message on a Friday morning late last month. He was all set to close on a house in Pelham Bay, the Bronx, the following Tuesday....

Think before you act on '08 hike: state controller to MTA.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Pete Donohue Aug. 27--The state's top fiscal watchdog wants the MTA to slam the brakes on its plan to hike fares and tolls by more than $300 million next spring. "The MTA should put New York's commuters first," said Controller...

Brooklyn couple launches business supplying Broadway with unmentionables.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Elizabeth Lazarowitz Aug. 27--When Lori and Alan Kaplan got a call last summer about 25 near-naked men set to plunge into the waters off Manhattan, they knew just what to do. The husband-and-wife owners of lingerie retailer...

Daily News, New York, Moneyzone column.(Column)
August 27, 2007... Aug. 27--SACKING PRODUCTIVITY: Fantasy Football may be extraordinarily more expensive than you think. According to consulting firm Challenger Gray & Christmas, employers lose up to $435 million a week due to fantasy sports. The might...

Baby gear rentals make travel easier.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Tracy Connor Aug. 27--Traveling with little ones can mean packing lots of toys and equipment. It's the dilemma every traveling parent faces: What gear must you schlep on the plane and what can you live without? Strollers,...

When stocks stagger, focus on the basics.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Phyllis Furman Aug. 27--Think you don't know what value investing is? Anyone who's waited for months for a big-screen TV or a Gucci handbag to go on sale before buying it knows something about value investing. These...

Klein defends paying kids for good grades.
August 28, 2007... Aug. 28--When schools chancellor Joel Klein was a child and did well in school, he was rewarded with a raise in his allowance. Years later, Klein's childhood rewards could translate into an allowance for all of the city's students. The...

Smaller is better, city's betting.
August 28, 2007... Byline: Tanyanika Samuels Aug. 28--It's that time of year again. With the inevitable mix of reluctance and excitement, more than 182,000 young Bronxites will be heading back to public schools, and an additional 33,000 will be returning...

Croton gets contractor at last.
August 28, 2007... Byline: Bill Egbert Aug. 28--The city is finally getting its head above water with the troubled filtration plant being built under a Bronx park. After getting soaked with $4.78 million in fines over a missed deadline for the contractor...

Development complaints on the rise.
August 29, 2007... Byline: Jotham Sederstrom Aug. 29--Construction complaints dialed into the city's 311 and 911 hotlines have soared in development-obsessed Greenpoint, Williamsburg and downtown Brooklyn. From a crane collapsing onto Metropolitan Ave....

Calling Education Dept. help line? Good luck.
August 29, 2007... Aug. 29--Answers can be hard to come by at the city's community school district offices, a survey by Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum found. Fewer than a third of daytime calls to the city Education Department's help centers were answered by...

City defends runoff dumped into sewers at controversial water plant project.
August 29, 2007... Byline: Dorian Block Aug. 29--More than 1 million gallons of water are being pumped out daily at the site of the giant underground water filtration plant project in Van Cortlandt Park, according to official documents. And yesterday,...

Next stop for Brooklyn pool: Bronx?
August 30, 2007... Aug. 30--Brooklyn, take your last dive in the floating pool this weekend. Next summer, it will be docked in a different borough -- most likely the Bronx, the Daily News has learned. "The Parks Department plan is to have the floating pool in...

Famous locals help launch city tourism drive.
August 30, 2007... Byline: Warren Woodberry Jr. Aug. 30--The city kicked off its first five-borough tourism campaign yesterday featuring a star-studded lineup of locals touting New York as a welcoming place. Mayor Bloomberg unveiled the Just Ask The...

No replacement yet for education policy panel.
August 31, 2007... Byline: Rachel Monahan Aug. 31--Brooklyn parents lost their representation on an official schools panel last March, and haven't had a voice since. Borough President Marty Markowitz has yet to designate a successor to Martine Guerrier,...

Midwest got recovery cash, but boroughs still waiting for funds.
August 31, 2007... Byline: Elizabeth Hays Aug. 31--What are we, chopped liver? More than three weeks after severe flooding and a tornado devastated parts of Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island, distraught residents are still waiting for President Bush to...