June 16, 2005

A woman in her 50's vacationing in South America was touring a chocolate factory when its owner asked, ''Who wants to be covered in chocolate?'' The spunky gal, who'd had a bit to drink -- or so the story goes -- obliged. She woke the next morning to find she had, not a hangover but, lo and behold, extremely soft skin. ''It was amazing,'' said John Scharffenberger, a chocolatier in Berkeley, Calif., who retells the legend every chance he gets. ''The results lasted for weeks.''

The superintendent of the Yonkers school district was indicted on Wednesday on charges that he lied and tampered with records during an investigation by the city's inspector general into a school hiring, the Westchester district attorney's office announced. The indictment against the superintendent, Angelo Petrone, a 30-year veteran of the school district, came one day after the city's mayor, Philip A. Amicone, announced that he had asked for Mr. Petrone's resignation.

John Madden will join NBC's ''Sunday Night Football'' in 2006, completing a sportscasting journey in which he has analyzed games for all four major broadcast networks, starting with CBS 26 years ago. Madden, the former Oakland Raiders coach, became available when ABC decided not to renew ''Monday Night Football'' after the coming season and NBC acquired the Sunday prime-time package.

Article on landmark brownstone building at 941 Madison Avenue, between 74th and 75th Streets; building's facade, because of New York City's preservation laws, will be retained as part of revised version of new entrance to Whitney Museum expansion designed by Renzo Piano; photo (M)

For most of the season, Jason Giambi has been booed harshly by the demanding fans at Yankee Stadium. Their disenchantment with him even became part of a skit on ''Saturday Night Live.'' Reported admissions of past steroid use by Giambi are part of it, but the biggest reason was a batting average of .238 and four home runs entering the interleague game with the Pittsburgh Pirates last night. The boos rumbled again across the field when Giambi struck out in the fifth and eighth innings. But Giambi unleashed wild cheering from the 48,828 fans in the 10th, when he crashed a two-run homer into the upper deck in right field off Jose Mesa to give the Yankees a come-from-behind 7-5 victory that involved a bit of grit and a little luck.