NY COAT DRIVE EXTENDED 01/05/2009 06:28 PM There's more time to care - and to donate winter coats to those who need them. New York Cares is extending its coat drive through Friday, Jan. 9 because the rough economy has hit with a double whammy - fewer garments have been collected, but... MADOFF WITH THE GOODS 01/05/2009 04:55 PM Ho-ho-no! Prosecutors today hauled arch-swindler Bernard Madoff into court in a bid to get the Ponzi schemer immediately locked up after learning he had mailed more than more than $1 million in jewelry to his sons on Christmas Eve. But Madoff... 'JUNIOR' GOTTI SEEKS BAIL 01/05/2009 01:48 PM John A. "Junior" Gotti has asked to be freed on bail while he awaits a New York trial on racketeering charges. Gotti's lawyers submitted papers Monday in Manhattan federal court saying he deserves to remain free because he quit organized crime a... TEEN GETS 18 YEARS FOR HALLOWEEN MURDER 01/05/2009 12:23 PM WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - A teenager has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for killing a suburban New York security guard who tried to break up some Halloween mischief. Westchester County Judge James Hubert imposed the second-degree murder sentence... QNS. SLASHER HUNT 01/05/2009 02:04 AM A man crept into an elderly Queens woman's home through an open window yesterday and viciously slashed her, robbed her and fled in her car, authorities said. Vivian Squires, 86, a grandmother who lives in Jamaica, was asleep in her bed when an... EGG 'AIRSTRIKE' 01/05/2009 02:14 AM An Israeli man was busted in Midtown for throwing eggs at protesters who were demanding an end to the Gaza Strip attacks, police sources said yesterday. Ido Alima, 22, was seen hurling the eggs from a 10th-floor window at his apartment building... GRAN GETS BOOT FOR CHRISTMAS 01/05/2009 02:15 AM Government grinches stole Christmas from 16-year-old Florentyna Ciroch. The teen says customs agents detained her beloved Polish grandmother at Newark Liberty Airport and hauled her off to a jail for three days before shipping her back to Europe... PLEA IN LI BOSS MURDER 01/05/2009 02:23 AM A Long Island man yesterday pleaded not guilty to charges that he fatally shot his boss and stuffed the body in a car's trunk. James Caldwell, 49, of Mastic Beach, was held without bail on a second-degree murder rap for the slaying of towing... CONEY BOSS EYES MORE LAND 01/05/2009 06:49 AM Mayor Bloomberg's plans for revitalizing Coney Island are in jeopardy as a controversial developer who owns most of the amusement district is now planning to expand his vast portfolio of boardwalk land rather than sell it to the city, The Post has... CITY IN UNHEALTHY AD DEAL 01/05/2009 01:24 AM The city has signed a $3 million contract to advertise antismoking and other health messages in phone booths, although it already gets free advertising in bus shelters and public bathrooms. The contract, made public last week, allows the... HAIR-DYE SUIT A PUBIC PROTEST 01/05/2009 02:22 AM A pubic-hair dye company claims it was bushwhacked by a rival that stole its trademarked, thong-shaped logo. Betty Beauty Inc. - maker of "specially formulated color dyes for the hair down there" - also accuses Smart Beauty US Inc. of illegally... FIREMAN: I'M NY'S LUCKIEST 01/05/2009 02:07 AM A firefighter who cheated death when a third-floor porch collapsed beneath his feet during a massive Brooklyn blaze says he's "glad to be alive." "It was like a whirlpool sucked me in," said firefighter Andrew Sheirer, 26, who suffered shoulder... TRIAL IN FDNY DEATHS 01/05/2009 02:10 AM Two tenants and a building manager who allegedly constructed a deathtrap by dividing up a Bronx tenement go on trial today in the deaths of two firemen. The "Black Sunday" fire of Jan. 23, 2005, claimed the lives of Curtis Meyran, 46, and John... NARCO COP 'ROID SLAP 01/05/2009 02:16 AM A veteran NYPD narcotics lieutenant who spent three years protecting Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has been suspended for failing a drug test that showed he had steroids in his system, The Post has learned. Lt. Edward M. Montemurro, who was... FUMING MAD 01/05/2009 06:37 AM A Long Island couple whose wedding celebration evaporated in a cloud of carbon monoxide is still furious over unpaid expenses for the ruined reception. George and Sharon Quenneville of Albertson filed papers in Queens Supreme Court last month to... SUPPORT FOR BUS MATRON 01/05/2009 02:19 AM The matron charged with leaving a severely disabled man strapped into his seat in a freezing-cold bus isn't the only person to blame, a co-worker insisted yesterday. "The driver never told anyone in the office, so the driver left him on the bus... ONE MAN'S WILD-GOOSE PLACE 01/05/2009 06:19 AM Gary Lundquist loves his Canada geese - even if public attention on his one-man bird sanctuary ruffles his feathers. Lundquist has been feeding the migrating birds for years at his Westchester home (pictured), but bristles at the publicity he... COURT IN OB-SESSION 01/05/2009 01:37 AM Practice doesn't necessarily make perfect. An elderly Manhattan lawyer, banished from the legal profession for stealing from clients, could spend his golden years in prison - because he refuses to stay out of the city's courthouses. At an age... SLAY RAPS IN CRANE TRAGEDY 01/05/2009 02:52 PM A contractor in charge of making sure an Upper East Side crane was raised safely was so "reckless and negligent" that the crane toppled, killing seven people last year, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said. The contractor, William... FAREWELL TO NEW YEAR KID 01/05/2009 02:26 AM Family and friends of a Long Island boy who died after a New Year's Eve drinking binge bade goodbye last night to "the greatest kid around." Garrett Quedens, 14, lay in a white suit in an open casket decorated with blue roses as two flat-screen... FISHY NUPTIALS FIASCO 01/05/2009 02:21 AM A proud father wanted the best for his daughter on her wedding day, but the fairy-tale event turned into a $100,000 fiasco that ended with the blushing bride kneeling over the toilet vomiting the night away from alleged food poisoning. Simon... RIDERS ASK: HEY, MTA, WHERE'S 7? 01/05/2009 02:05 AM Queens residents and business owners are irate at the MTA for temporarily halting weekend service on the No. 7 train. Track upgrading that began this past weekend is to go on for eight more Saturdays and Sundays. Riders feel stranded. "The 7... HOSP DRUG 'ABU$E' 01/05/2009 02:00 AM Seven New York hospitals operated a $50 million Medicaid scam through unlicensed drug-treatment programs that admitted patients who weren't addicts, gave kickbacks for referrals, and even lured street people into medical beds with beer, according...