York Post

IT'S a nasty sight, the carrion crows descending to feed upon the entrails of what was once a vigorous newspaper. And it's hard to imagine, after this evisceration, that the New York Post can be brought back to anything resembling journalistic life.There's a dishonor roll attached to this sad event that's worth looking at. It reads: Murdoch, Kalikow, Hoffenberg, Hirschfeld -- the names of the money men who in less than 20 years stripped the nearly two-century-old paper of its self-respect.

The Maryland State Police have taken steps to remind officers of proper behavior when providing security at Camden Yards after a report said two troopers asked New York Yankees players for autographs during Sunday night's American League Division Series opener. The report from the New York Post said troopers, assigned to provide security around the Yankees dugout, asked Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher for autographs during the ninth inning of the Orioles' 7-2 loss. Greg Shipley, a spokesman for Maryland State Police, said he could not confirm troopers had asked for autographs but said the MSP is investigating the claim and has "reacted as if it did happen.

NEW YORK -- No one alive has more experience handicapping the Preakness than former Baltimore resident Rose Hamburger, who at the age of 105 touts horses for the New York Post under the moniker "Gamblin' Rose."She has seen all 11 Triple Crown champions, beginning with Sir Barton in 1919."I'll bet you never saw a woman 105," Hamburger said recently, her eyes sparkling as she greeted a visitor to her three-room Greenwich Village apartment. "Would you like a little sherry?"Dressed colorfully, made up impeccably, Gamblin' Rose asked her live-in companion to pour her guest a bit of sherry.

PHOENIX-- --Once again, we meet at the intersection of sports and politics, and once again I'm going to ignore the glaring "Don't Walk" sign and cross right over into my first Super Bowl stream of consciousness. If you haven't already noticed, Hillary Clinton's New York Giants are down here in John McCain's backyard to play Mitt Romney's New England Patriots, and the latest ESPN poll shows that Hillary's team is preferred by a solid majority of America's football fans. The New York Post went so far as to declare the Giants "America's Team" in Sunday's editions, and if you can't believe the New York Post, well, I think we've got a serious crisis of national confidence on our hands at a critical time in our country's history.

Baltimore County can survive without Chief Behan. It just doesn't seem that way.At last we have a president who is on-line.India is (A) a coming super-power; (B) disintegrating or (C) both. Choose one. Choose three.For a measly $45 billion this administration can wrap up the S&L mess and move on to the banks.The New York Post story is a New York Post story come true.

The New York media had more fun at the Orioles' expense yesterday in the wake of Tuesday night's brawl with the Yankees and the Orioles' terrible slump. A few samplings:Former Sun writer Buster Olney, New York Times: "Not running )) out ground balls and fly balls is something the Orioles are doing very well these days. Making bad decisions is something the Orioles are doing very well these days. If it could be said that Baltimore is out of contention for the AL East title, that the Orioles are dead, then everybody at Yankee Stadium was having a good time dancing on their grave."

Mary Lillian Wills, 82, who won an Academy Award in 1962 for her costumes in "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm," died Feb. 13 in Sedona, Ariz. She designed costumes for more than 50 major films.Robert Herman, 82, a physicist who began his career by predicting radiation echoes from the origin of the cosmos and later developed a field called traffic sciences in which statistics can be used to predict traffic jams, died of lung cancer Feb. 13 in Austin, Texas.Archer Winsten, 92, who spent half a century writing movie reviews for the New York Post -- but only, he insisted, because he found the job a pleasant enough alternative to actual work -- died Friday in Moreau, N.Y.Pub Date: 2/23/97

WASHINGTON -- A lot of romanticism is being spread around over the latest circus involving the New York Post, wherein a real-estate operator with no interest in journalism grabbed the tabloid in bankruptcy court and fired a large chunk of the editorial staff, whereupon the deposed staffers in effect seized the paper.It is, to be sure, a helluva story made all the juicier by the rebellious staff turning out a first issue lambasting the new prospective owner from Page One to the want ads. Even the lofty New York Times, which is to the New York Post what caviar is to a hot dog, has waxed positively poetic about the development, quoting Dylan Thomas in commending the rebels for their determination to "rage, rage, against the dying of the light."

Anthony Dapolito , 82, a community activist who battled for parks and services in Greenwich Village and surrounding areas of New York City for more than half a century, died Wednesday, a day before his 83rd birthday. Mr. Dapolito was the longtime owner of the bakery Vesuvio, which his parents, Neapolitan immigrants, opened in 1920. He delivered bread in a horse-drawn wagon until the family got a truck in 1937. Mr. Dapolito was elected in 1950 to Community Board 2, which represents Greenwich Village and other areas.

NEW YORK -- The New York Post, which was supposed to be sold to real estate developer Abraham Hirschfeld last Friday, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday.Attorneys for Peter Kalikow, the paper's current owner, who is involved in personal bankruptcy proceedings, said the newspaper took the action, with Mr. Hirschfeld's consent, to prevent spurned bidder Steven Hoffenberg from interfering with the paper's operations.The 192-year-old newspaper, founded by Alexander Hamilton, didn't publish yesterday because of a near-revolt by its staff, prompted by Sunday's announcement that Mr. Hirschfeld planned to fire 272 workers.

If the Gray Lady didn't have enough problems battling industrywide woes, now she has Rupert Murdoch to worry about. The media billionaire has made no secret of his desire to take aim at The New York Times once his News Corp. acquires Dow Jones & Co. and its flagshipThe Wall Street Journal in a $5 billion deal expected to close this fall. Murdoch said during an earnings conference call last week that he wanted the financial newspaper to have "more coverage of national, international and nonbusiness news ... all to better compete with The New York Times and other national newspapers."

They seemed to pity the "rich, handsome" baseball player who reportedly stepped out on his wife and into a strip club with another woman. Alex Rodriguez got caught. And the New York Yankees are at an all-time low under manager Joe Torre this late in the season. Those poor, rich Yankees. During the early innings of ESPN's Sunday night baseball game between the Yankees and Boston Red Sox, commentators Joe Morgan and Jon Miller talked about the unfortunate timing of A-Rod's alleged infidelity, how the already-struggling Yankees now must also deal with this so-called off-field distraction.

If the scandal was, as gossip writers themselves might say, delicious, then the fallout was to die for. As soon as the news broke last week that Jared Paul Stern, a gossip columnist for the New York Post, was being investigated by federal authorities for allegedly trying to extort a small fortune from a California billionaire, the mud slinging began. New York's other newspapers, particularly The New York Times and the Daily News, have feasted on the revelations about Stern and have gleefully uncovered additional dirt about him, his boss, Richard Johnson, and the Post.

Dr. Thomas W. Langfitt, 78, former head of the Pew Charitable Trusts, died Sunday of miliary tuberculosis at his home in Wynnewood, Pa. Dr. Langfitt was president of the Pew trusts from 1987 to 1994 and chief executive of the Glenmede Trust Co., which handles the trusts' assets, from 1987 to 1995. He also served as chairman of the University of Pennsylvania's neurosurgery department from 1968 to 1987. After he retired from Pew and Glenmede, Dr. Langfitt, a 1949 graduate of the Johns Hopkins University medical school, became president of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

NEW YORK - The Vatican has expelled six New York priests either accused or convicted of sexual abuse, including one man who was convicted of sodomizing a teenager in an upstate church rectory. Joseph G. Zwilling, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York, said yesterday in a phone interview that all six men had lost their pensions and that they could no longer perform church sacraments. "They are no longer priests, period," he said. Defrocking is the harshest penalty the Roman Catholic Church can impose on a priest.

Thanks to Jayson Blair, Howell Raines and several of their colleagues at The New York Times, it would be relatively easy to compile a Times-only list for this year's report on the worst moments in American journalism. But as another famous, unindicted co-conspirator once said, "It would be wrong." Well, OK, maybe it wouldn't be wrong. I mean, just look at the year that was on West 43rd Street: Blair's serial fabrications. Raines' arrogant reign and forced resignation. Publisher Arthur Sulzberger's bullying The Washington Post into leaving their partnership at The International Herald Tribune.

They seemed to pity the "rich, handsome" baseball player who reportedly stepped out on his wife and into a strip club with another woman. Alex Rodriguez got caught. And the New York Yankees are at an all-time low under manager Joe Torre this late in the season. Those poor, rich Yankees. During the early innings of ESPN's Sunday night baseball game between the Yankees and Boston Red Sox, commentators Joe Morgan and Jon Miller talked about the unfortunate timing of A-Rod's alleged infidelity, how the already-struggling Yankees now must also deal with this so-called off-field distraction.

The fate of Baltimore's ailing convention and tourism trade was entrusted last week to a woman with a scant history of promoting cities or landing conventions. She is a newcomer to Baltimore, a stranger to crab cakes and parking zones and sirens on Mondays. Yet, the selection of former U.S. Commerce Department official Leslie R. Doggett as the next president of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association was almost universally hailed as a strong step forward for the battered agency.