KRISTEN FINDS A NEW FUN GUY

Is it fair that the MTA is going to hike fares twice in 18 months?

• A NEAR ESCAPE AT RIKERS

  By REUVEN BLAU

  Three Rikers Island guards have been suspended after a suspect came within a few hundred feet of walking out of the facility without being questioned, The Post has learned. Nikholas Dadiani, 32...more >

• SCHOOL BLOW FOR PARENTS

  By YOAV GONEN, Education Reporter

  An essential resource for parents struggling to navigate the city's school system is on the chopping block, The Post has learned. Education officials have proposed cutting more than one-third...more >

• BIRDBRAIN HAS WINGS CLIPPED

  By STEFANIE COHEN

  A passenger on a flight from Guyana was charged with smuggling 13 finches into the country to use in singing contests, authorities said. Customs agents noticed bird feed in the luggage of Terrence...more >

• ROGUE REF SCAM 'SMALL' TALK

  By STEFANIE COHEN

  He's too little for the big house. That's what the family of Tommy Martino - the 5-foot-5 bagman for rogue NBA ref Tim Donaghy - claims in letters to Brooklyn federal Judge Carol Amon...more >

• BUTT KICKERS

  GATES JOIN$ MIKE'S ANTI-CIG EFFORT

  By DAVID SEIFMAN, City Hall Bureau Chief

  Adding immense firepower to his unyielding war on smoking, Mayor Bloomberg teamed up yesterday with someone even wealthier than he is - Microsoft founder Bill Gates - to pump an extra $375...more >

• GOV PULLS SWITCH ON DEATH CELL

  By BRENDAN SCOTT, Post Correspondent

  ALBANY - The Paterson administration has put to death one of capital punishment's last vestiges - the execution chamber known as the "death house." The Department of Correctional...more >

• 'SOTHEBY'S LOST MY ART'

  By JENNIFER FERMINO

  An Italian author has filed a $32 million lawsuit accusing Sotheby's of losing his 16th-century painting. Giancorrado Ulrich sent a painting he believed to be "Rest on the Flight into...more >

• LETTER-BUG TELLS ALL ON MASSIVE CELEB FORGERY

  By STEPHEN LYNCH

  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - but don't tell that to the city's memorabilia dealers and publishers. The literary world is steamed over a forthcoming book by Upper West Side...more >

• BONES AT SI MOB 'HAUNT'

  By KATI CORNELL & STEFANIE COHEN

  An FBI search team descended on a famous "haunted" Staten Island mansion yesterday, locating possible remains of 2005 mob hit victim and Bonanno associate Robert McKelvey, sources said...more >

• CRANE SUIT BY EX-COMMISH

  By SALLY GOLDENBERG, AP

  A former city official plans to sue the city for damages to his Upper East Side apartment in the May 30 crane collapse that killed two men, The Post has learned. John Odermatt, who served as Office...more >

• 'TRAIN'ED ACTORS

  ROMEO & JULIET PAIR ARE A RAIL INSPIRATION

  By V.A. MUSETTO

  "O, Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo?" On the No. 1 train, of course. Most mornings this summer, Peter Vack and Troian Bellisario board the No. 1 train outside Vack's Upper...more >

• $1M SALMONELLA SUIT ON A ROLL

  By DAREH GREGORIAN

  A woman has filed a $1 million lawsuit against a lower Manhattan restaurant she says served her a salmonella sandwich. In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Barbara Reiss says she was one...more >

• BLACK DOLL'S HEAD ON COP CAR

  By MURRAY WEISS and ANDY GELLER

  The NYPD is investigating how the head of a black doll ended up on the radio antenna of an unmarked police car carrying two white cops. Harlem residents and state Sen. Bill Perkins are up in arms...more >

• GRIMALDI'S PIZZA $HUT

  By RICH CALDER and BEN SIMON

  World-famous Grimaldi's Pizzeria under the Brooklyn Bridge was temporarily shut down by authorities yesterday for owing the state nearly $100,000 in taxes. State Department of Taxation and...more >

• ST. NICHOLAS TO RISE AGAIN

  By TOM TOPOUSIS

  A deal has been reached with the Port Authority to rebuild St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which was destroyed on 9/11. In exchange for construction funding - which includes $10 million...more >

• DOORMAN'S 'BORDELLO HELLO' GAL

  By AUSTIN FENNER, LEONARD GREENE and LAURA ITALIANO

  The sexy model girlfriend of Park Avenue's millionaire doorman once worked as a "greeter" at a brothel - but insisted yesterday she never knew about the raunchy goings-on there. "...more >

• CENTRAL AIR

  BALLON RIDES TO GIVE PARKGOERS A REAL HIGH

  By JEREMY OLSHAN

  For 25 bucks, the city will get you high in Central Park. Starting tomorrow, a helium balloon ride will carry a pilot and four passengers at a time in a wicker basket on a slow and silent journey...more >

• STRANGLEHOLD ON WRESTLER

  By SAMUEL GOLDSMITH

  Raging pro wrestler Jim "Sandman" Fullington was sent back to the slammer yesterday after his criminal past prevented his arraignment in Yonkers court. Fullington is charged with felony...more >

• NO CHOICE BUT TO KILL COP: KELLY

  By PETER COX

  Cops who gunned down a bible-clutching, pistol-waving madman in front of his three kids were given no choice but to fire, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said yesterday. "They had no alternative...more >

• A BROADWAY 'HIT'

  YOUTUBE LOON: EX IS OUT TO GET ME

  By LORENA MONGELLI and DAREH GREGORIAN

  The curtain has come down on her marriage, but YouTube yeller Tricia Walsh-Smith refuses to get off the stage. The daffy divorcée held a press conference yesterday at The Palace Hotel, where her...more >

• RUDY DUO QUITS GOP TEAM

  By FREDRIC U. DICKER and MAGGIE HABERMAN

  Two Senate Republican committee staffers with ties to Rudy Giuliani quit yesterday amid a brewing GOP war over the demotion of a top operative close to the ex-mayor. Operatives Matt Coleman and...more >

• $126M MEGA WINNER IN NJ

  AP

  The Garden State has spawned a new millionaire. Lottery officials say a single winning ticket for Tuesday night's $126 million Mega Millions drawing was sold at Newark's AJ Seabra...more >

• BATTLE OVER CELEBRITY SPA

  By KATI CORNELL

  Two founders of a bohemian-chic spa in Mexico that counts "Dark Knight" star Maggie Gyllenhaal as a client are warring in a Manhattan courthouse over control of their slice of heaven...more >

• DOLLY BLOWS IN

  Post Wire Services

  BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Hurricane Dolly slammed into the South Texas coast yesterday with punishing rain and winds of 100 mph that blew a 17-year-old boy off a seventh-story balcony on South Padre...more >

• BARACK GIVES HEARTY SHALOM

  PRAYS AT WESTERN WALL IN ISRAEL

  By CHARLES HURT in Jerusalem and ANDY SOLTIS in New York

  Barack Obama paid a solemn predawn visit to Judaism's holiest site today, bowing his head in prayer at the Western Wall. He 5 a.m. visit was unannounced by the campaign, although dozens of...more >

• CANCER DOC'S CELL WARNING

  AP

  The head of a prominent cancer-research institute issued an unprecedented warning to his faculty and staff yesterday to limit cellphone use because of the possible risk of cancer. The warning from...more >

• RANGEL: I WOOED DONORS

  By DAPHNE RETTER

  WASHINGTON - Rep. Charles Rangel asked House investigators yesterday to determine whether he broke the rules when he sent letters on congressional stationery to business leaders about an educational...more >

• MAC ATTACKS DEM'S PLEDGE TO MEET MAHMOUD

  By CARL CAMPANILE, Post wires

  John McCain yesterday ripped Barack Obama's willingness to meet with the leader of Iran, who has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." The McCain campaign, attacking Obama on a...more >

• HOU$ING HELP ON FAST TRACK

  By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, AP

  WASHINGTON - Congress is moving quickly to pass a housing package that aims to help 400,000 strapped homeowners avoid foreclosures and prevent Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from collapsing. Momentum...more >

• FITTY SUES TACO

  By KATI CORNELL

  50 Cent is suing Taco Bell, claiming it parlayed a media stunt into an ad campaign. His lawyers accused Taco Bell of false advertising by circulating a letter addressed to Fitty asking him to "...more >

• DESPERATE MOM KILLS SELF OVER FORECLOSURE WOES

  AP

  TAUNTON, Mass. - A 53-year-old wife and mother fatally shot herself shortly after faxing a letter to her mortgage company saying that by the time they foreclosed on her house, she would be dead...more >

• 'TYPICAL' KIDS ALL SMILES FOR DADDY O

  By MAGGIE HABERMAN

  That's one happy family! Barack Obama and his wife and daughters made their People magazine debut this week, appearing in a relaxed family pose as part of a photo spread. The Obamas are a...more >

• DRIVER AT 9/11 MEET: FED

  AP

  GUANTANAMO BAY - A Guantanamo prisoner on trial for war crimes was so close to Osama bin Laden that he attended a meeting of top al Qaeda aides the day of the Sept. 11 attacks, a former FBI agent...more >

• OLD COOT'S LUTE

  KARADZIC PLAYED IN MADHOUSE

  By DUSAN STOJANOVIC and KATARINA KRATOVAC, AP

  BELGRADE, Serbia -- Radovan Karadzic sent word he plans to defend himself against U.N. genocide charges, but his fellow Serbs were more enthralled with details that emerged Wednesday about his secret...more >

• BATMAN WENT BATTY 'FOR WIFE

  BALE ERUPTED AT MOM'S 'OUTRAGEOUS' INSULTS

  By LUKAS I. ALPERT

  Batman star Christian Bale doesn't rush to the aid of a damsel in distress only in the movies. His hotel-room dust-up with his mother and sister started when his mom insulted his wife - causing...more >