ALLEGED BANK ROBBER DIES IN SHOOTOUT

Were you or anyone you know affected by the Bernie Madoff scam?

• MYSTERIOUS SYRUP SMELL IS BACK

  ASSOCIATED PRESS

  The mysterious sweet smell is back! The city received more than 30 calls in a few hours on Monday night, with callers reporting a maple syrup-like odor in the air. Most of the calls came from...more >

• CONSTRUCTION OFFICIAL CHARGED IN WTC TOWER WORK

  ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Manhattan prosecutors say they've indicted a construction official who used to work on a condemned skyscraper across from ground zero. The district attorney's office says Robert Chiarappa...more >

• RAZING THE ROOF

  REALTY WOES FINALLY HIT HOME IN MANHATTAN

  By ALIYAH SHAHID and LEONARD GREENE

  The Manhattan housing market, that bulletproof bellwether of residential real estate, is finally taking its lumps, according to new reports that show sales are down, listings are up, and sellers...more >

• MAKING DAD PROUD

  TEEN'S 'NYU' ESSAY GETS KILLER 22 YEARS

  By ALEX GINSBERG

  A Brooklyn teen's personal account of her father's senseless murder was heart-wrenching enough to get the killer put away for 22 years. Now, Rena Senisi is hoping her story can also...more >

• LI MAN ACCUSED OF STABBING PIT BULL

  ASSOCIATED PRESS

  MIDDLE ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Long Island man is accused of felony animal cruelty after police say he fatally stabbed his family's pit bull. Suffolk County police say 35-year-old Lamont Yarborough...more >

• 'MAYDAY' ANGUISH FOR BLACK SUNDAY WIDOW

  By DENISE BUFFA and ANDY GELLER

  The widow of a brave firefighter killed on Black Sunday sobbed uncontrollably yesterday when her husband's desperate cries of "Mayday!" were played in a hushed courtroom. Curtis...more >

• BINGEING UPS HIV RISK

  By DAVID SEIFMAN

  Heavy drinking might be responsible for more sexual HIV transmission than illicit drugs, according to a new study by the city's Health Department. The study found that people who abused...more >

• MODEL SNARED IN UGLY WEB

  FIGHTING GOOGLE OVER 'SKANK' BLOG

  By DAREH GREGORIAN

  A former Vogue cover girl is standing up to cyber bullies - fighting to unmask the anonymous cowards who've turned to the Web to ruin her reputation in the modeling business with a "Skanks...more >

• CRANE BOSS IN CHEAP TROUBLE

  REFUSED TO MAKE $400 FIX: DA

  By LAURA ITALIANO and TOM TOPOUSIS

  Last year's fatal East Side crane collapse could have been prevented had the rigger in charge replaced some old, worn-out polyester straps with new ones costing just $50 each, an outraged...more >

• CONGRESS PROBES HOW SEC BLEW IT

  By JENNIFER FERMINO

  The SEC for years ignored red flags that Bernard Madoff's steady rate of returns were too good to be true, lawmakers said yesterday at a congressional hearing in the $50 billion fraud case...more >

• ALBANY POLS STILL SUCK

  By FREDRIC U. DICKER

  ALBANY - A good-government reform group that four years ago branded the state Legislature the most dysfunctional in the nation declared yesterday, "Albany remains broken." NYU Law...more >

• GOP NOTE SPURS CRY FOR PROBE

  By FREDRIC U. DICKER

  ALBANY - Senate Democrats yesterday demanded a criminal probe of a bombshell memorandum showing Republicans plotting to use their state-funded Senate staffers for campaign purposes. "...more >

• HOSP 'SCAM'BUSTERS

  STAFFERS BLEW LID OFF MEDI'FRAUD'

  By CARL CAMPANILE

  Two hospital workers helped uncover an alleged Medicaid drug-treatment scam that prosecutors say has cheated taxpayers out of $50 million, The Post has learned. The heroic whistleblowers in...more >

• PATERSON GETS PERSONAL IN VETTING CAROLINE

  By BRENDAN SCOTT and FREDRIC U. DICKER

  Gov. Paterson has asked Caroline Kennedy and the other dozen or so candidates vying for Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate seat to complete a deeply personal 28-page questionnaire by tomorrow to...more >

• ARAB FLIER GETS 240G OVER SHIRT BAN

  By JENNIFER FERMINO

  A JetBlue passenger who was forced to cover up a T-shirt that read, "We will not be silent" in Arabic and English before boarding a cross-country flight won a $240,000 settlement from...more >

• ELIOT'S ECON GURU LEAVING

  By TOM TOPOUSIS and MAGGIE HABERMAN

  Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer's handpicked economic-development czar, who has overseen projects that wound up mired in delays and cost overruns, is stepping down as president of the Empire State...more >

• GOTTI IN BAIL BID

  By BRUCE GOLDING

  He didn't make it home in time for Christmas, but John Gotti Jr. is hoping to get sprung from jail while he waits to be tried a fourth time on racketeering charges. In court papers filed...more >

• MIKE'S BACK IN OUR 'HOLEY' LAND

  By DAVID SEIFMAN

  Back from visiting Israeli cities facing terrorist missiles, Mayor Bloomberg returned to one of the more mundane tasks of his job yesterday by filling a Brooklyn pothole. "It was, so far...more >

• BX. MARINE KILLED IN AFGHAN

  By NEIL GRAVES and BRIGITTE WILLIAMS-JAMES

  The family of a Bronx Marine observed New Year's Day in tragic fashion, learning that he had been killed in Afghanistan. Lance Cpl. Alberto Francesconi, 21, died in Helmand province, where...more >

• MAKING DAD PROUD

  TEEN'S 'NYU' ESSAY GETS KILLER 22 YEARS

  By ALEX GINSBERG

  A Brooklyn teen's personal account of her father's senseless murder was heart-wrenching enough to get the killer put away for 22 years. Now, Rena Senisi is hoping her story can also...more >

• MYSTERIOUS SYRUP SMELL IS BACK

  ASSOCIATED PRESS

  The mysterious sweet smell is back! The city received more than 30 calls in a few hours on Monday night, with callers reporting a maple syrup-like odor in the air. Most of the calls came from...more >

• CONSTRUCTION OFFICIAL CHARGED IN WTC TOWER WORK

  ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Manhattan prosecutors say they've indicted a construction official who used to work on a condemned skyscraper across from ground zero. The district attorney's office says Robert Chiarappa...more >

• RAZING THE ROOF

  REALTY WOES FINALLY HIT HOME IN MANHATTAN

  By ALIYAH SHAHID and LEONARD GREENE

  The Manhattan housing market, that bulletproof bellwether of residential real estate, is finally taking its lumps, according to new reports that show sales are down, listings are up, and sellers...more >

• BLAGO-APPOINTED BURRIS DENIED SENATE SEAT

  ASSOCIATED PRESS

  Roland Burris announced Tuesday he was rejected for Barack Obama's Senate seat, in a bizarre rainy-day scene on the Capitol grounds as lawmakers awaited the gaveling of the 111th Congress into...more >

• 'I'M SORRY, JETT'

  TRAVOLTA'S LAST WORDS TO SON

  By CLEMENTE LISI, AP

  John Travolta, his eyes filled with tears, bade his son an emotional farewell at a Bahamian hospital, hugging the teen's lifeless body and telling him, "I'm sorry, Jett,"...more >

• EL LOCO CHOKE-O: LEFTY HALTS OIL AID OVER MONEY WOES

  By PAUL THARP and DAVID K. L I

  Leftist anti-American Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is acting a lot like a profit-driven capitalist. Chavez suddenly shut down a free heating-oil program for poor Americans - intended to...more >

• MILKY WAY'S NEW STARDOM

  AP

  WASHINGTON -For decades, astronomers thought the Milky Way was weaker than Andromeda. Not anymore. The Milky Way galaxy is larger and spinning faster than was thought. Scientists mapped the...more >

• BLAGO'S PICK: LET ME SERVE

  AP

  CHICAGO - Defiant and upbeat, Illinois US Senate appointee Roland Burris said yesterday that upon arriving in Washington, he plans to tell Democratic leaders: "I'm here to take my seat...more >

• SEN. STUART SMALLEY IS AFFIRMED

  AL DECLARED WINNER

  By DAPHNE RETTER in Washington and MAGGIE HABERMAN in NY

  Minnesota officials told former Not Ready for Prime Time Player Al Franken yesterday that he's good enough, smart enough - and, gosh darn it, enough people liked him to send him to Washington...more >

• 1ST-'CLASS TRIP FOR O GIRLS

  MALIA & SASHA ARRIVE AT DC SCHOOL WITH MAMA, SECRET SERVICE IN TOW

  By GEOFF EARLE, POST CORRESPONDENT

  WASHINGTON - First Daughters-elect Malia and Sasha Obama went off to their first day of school in Washington yesterday - accompanied by an armed Secret Service detail. Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7...more >

• OBAMA WANTS BUBBA BUDDY FOR CIA BOSS

  By GEOFF EARLE, POST CORRESPONDENT

  WASHINGTON - Barack Obama plans to tap Leon Panetta, who brought order to Bill Clinton's administration, to run the CIA, according to transition sources. Panetta, an eight-term California...more >

• BAM $OUNDS THE ALARM

  By CHARLES HURT

  WASHINGTON - Barack Obama yesterday described the economy as "bad and getting worse" while promoting an $800 billion stimulus package he hopes Congress will pass soon after he takes...more >

• DCERS TO HAVE A BALL

  AP

  WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama is adding a Neighborhood Ball to the list of inaugural parties planned for two weeks from today. In announcing the plan, Obama said in a statement he...more >

• NO ONE'S LAUGHING AMID ALL THESE DOUBTS

  By SCOTT W. JOHNSON

  YESTERDAY, the Can vassing Board presid ing over the recount in Minnesota's Senate election declared Democrat Al Franken the winner over incumbent Norm Coleman - by 225 votes out of nearly 3...more >

• PALESTINIANS SAY STRIKE ON UN SCHOOL KILLS 30 IN GAZA

  ASSOCIATED PRESS

  GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Palestinian medical officials say the death toll from an Israeli airstrike outside a United Nations school in the Gaza Strip has risen to 30. The attack occurred about 10...more >

• UN-FAIRWAY TO GO DEAF

  By RITA DELFINER

  Golfers who use thin-faced titanium drivers may risk damage to their hearing, researchers said. An ear, nose and throat specialist and colleagues at Norfolk and Norwich University in Britain...more >

• FRENCH KISS AND NO-TELL

  'KOZY AIDE'S BABY MYSTERY

  By BEN MACINTYRE

  PARIS - "My life is not a novel," says Rachida Dati (right), the glamorous, Muslim-born French justice minister who, at 43, has become a single mother and refused to identify the father...more >