June 15, 1999

FIDELITY BOSS CAN BANK FUNDS' GAINS

AFTER three years, Ned Johnson is finally smiling. The chairman of Fidelity Investments, the nation's biggest mutual fund firm, can afford to be happy - literally. You see, Johnson, whose...

WILL SMITH SPINS RECORD DEAL WITH UNIVERSAL MUSIC

Will Smith is a certified music mogul. The rapper turned TV star turned box office powerhouse has struck a deal to start a new record label for Universal Music. Overbrook...

FURMAN'S LIVENT RUN ENDS AFTER YEAR

Roy Furman has taken his final bow as CEO of bankrupt Broadway production company Livent. Furman and President David Maisel plan to exit the embattled business June 25. Livent Executive...

BRA-HA-HA MAKES YOU WONDER ABOUT WATER

"Sara Lee is just trying to squeeze us out of business because we have a bra that women really feel good wearing."ANN DEAL, President of Water Bra The giant Wonderbra...

THE DOUGH IS RISING:SARABETH INKS NEW DEALS

Nobody doesn't like Sarabeth, except maybe Sara Lee. The driven, 55-year-old muffin-baking grandmother may prove a worthy opponent for the baked-goods conglomerate and other confectioners as a result of deals...

MR. WHIPPLE IN AD DEJA VU

"We talked for years about bringing him back from retirement."MIKE NAZZARO, Procter & Gamble brand manager The latest trick to make TV commercials work? Bring back the old classics. Companies...

WOBBLY WEB STOCKS MAY WISE UP WALL ST

Internet stocks plummeted again yesterday, signaling that the days of slapping "dotcom" on the end of your company's name and getting Wall Street to give you billions might be coming...

'TODAY' ADD-ON HAS A NEW 'VIEW'-POINT: NOW THREE WOMEN WILL SAY SEE YA 'LATER' ON NBC

WE'VE known Florence Henderson as a musical star, sitcom star and commercial star. Now, she'll will be able to describe herself as an NBC News regular again. Henderson, who was...

STROKE FELLS 'BLUES' STAR TAYLOR

RON Taylor, the creator and star of the Broadway musical ''It Ain't Nothin' but the Blues,'' suffered a stroke Friday and will be out of the show for four to...

TV TICKER

9's got game WWOR/Ch.9 is back in the sports game. After losing the Mets to Ch.11 this year, Ch.9 has acquired the rights to air Giants preseason football games in...

'60 MINUTES' GETS FIFTH MAN

CBS White House correspondent Scott Pelley is expected to join the network's highly rated newsmagazine, "60 Minutes II," as The Post reported last March. Pelley - who is still hashing...

MORLEY SAFER ON PUB CRAWL ...AND MARTHA STEWART REHEATS SEGMENTS FOR THE FOOD NETWORK

VETERAN "60 Minutes" correspondent Morley Safer is going to host at least six hour-long specials about great restaurants and bars for the Food Network. The primetime show, called "Legendary Hangouts"...

H'WOOD VISITS THE NELSONS

THE life and times of singer Ricky Nelson are becoming fodder for a TV movie. VH1 has begun production on an original movie, "The Ricky Nelson Story." Based on the...

KUWAITI HOST $LAMS WWF

A FORMER Kuwaiti television talk-show host filed a $1 million lawsuit against the World Wrestling Federation yesterday for showing footage of an American wrestler yanking him out of his chair...

MOVIE GROSSES:CINEMATIC HUMOR HEADED TO THE TOILET

THE scientific word for it is 'coprophagy,'' but since the $55 million opening of 'Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'' has forced the issue, we might as well call...

IS YOUR JOB KILLING YOU?

IS your job affecting your health? Maybe, according to recent studies that have found a link between certain jobs and potentially fatal conditions such as heart disease. Careers such as...

TRAVELER'S UPDATE

Yes, VirginiaThree-hundred military re-enactors will converge on Colonial Williamsburg to kick off the summertime events surrounding the 300th anniversary of the town's founding. The festivities begin this Saturday and Sunday,...

CHILI PEPPERS BACKWITH A VENGEANCE

*CALIFORNICATION Red Hot Chili Peppers Warner Bros.The L.A. alt-rock scene has evolved and revolved through many different forms in this last decade of the century, and the Red Hot Chili...

THE FIRST LADY'S LITTLE PROBLEM: CARPETBAGGING IS AN AFFRONT TO OUR REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY

Hillary does not want to join us.She will agree to live with us only if wesend her to Washington. We are no morethan a launching pad. H illary Clinton's lack...

DOCS: ECSTASY DRUG MAY FRY BRAIN

Ecstasy, the illegal "hug drug" of choice for ravers around the world, has been shown to do long-lasting damage to the brains of lab monkeys, new research shows. In a...

I'M EATING CROW - AND LOVING IT!

I WAS wrong. I retract, I apologize. I am now a born-again Knick fan. I have found the old religion of hit the open man and never give up. I...

TRANSIT BOSS VOWS E-Z WAY TO PAY

The chief of the Transit Authority said yesterday anE-ZPass-type card is headed to the subways - eliminating the need to swipe through the turnstiles. TA President Larry Reuter told The...

WE'RE THE CRAZY ONES FOR LETTING THEM OUT

THE accused psycho stabber has a lot in common with the psycho shover. It seems they both spent decades as walking, shrieking billboards, demonstrating the failure of 25 years of...

BIRTH-BOTCH GIRL WINS $76M

A severely brain-damaged girl has won a whopping $76 million from a Manhattan jury that decided doctors at Harlem Hospital had botched her delivery 12 years ago. The award to...

PSYCHO SLAY SUSPECT SERENADES BROOKLYN COPS

The deranged woman charged with fatally stabbing a 76-year-old Brooklyn man for no reason sang and flirted with cops after her arrest, police said yesterday. Olga Maisonet, 41 - who...

B'KLYN DESERVES MORE: GOLDEN

Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden threw a beanball at Mayor Giuliani yesterday, calling the city's plan for a Class A-level Mets farm team in Coney Island "an extraordinary waste." Golden's...

SQUEEZED-OUT COP BIG WON'TSAY BAD WORD ABOUT SAFIR

The outgoing NYPD chief of department, who was pressured into retirement, declined to criticize Police Commissioner Safir yesterday. But Chief Louis Anemone described the Abner Louima torture case as the...

FAMILIES OF VICTIM AND SUSPECT BOTH SLAM 'SYSTEM'

The family of Brooklyn stabbing victim Guo-Xi Li blasted the mental health-care system yesterday - and the alleged killer's family echoed the charge. Miao Zhen Li, the 76-year-old man's daughter,...

HIZZONER WILL BID TO UNSEAT 'MAYOR' GREEN; EXCLUSIVE

Mayor Giuliani intends to change the line of succession so Public Advocate Mark Green doesn't take over for more than 60 days if Giuliani steps down early, The Post has...

SCAM LAWYER GETS 3 TO 9 YEARS

A lawyer who cheated a family of senior citizens - including a war hero - out of $2 million was sentenced to three to nine years in prison yesterday for...

PICK OF THE GLITTER WILL BRIGHTEN COURTSIDE

The Knicks will be seeing stars in the NBA Finals. That's because a galaxy of cheering celebrities, who've been New York fans through thick and thin, will be cheering them...

COCKY DUO MAY FACE LONG STRETCH IN PENAL FACILITY - WIFE CHARGED LOVER'S IMPOTENCE CURES TO HUBBY'S INSURANCE: DA

The lover once "wound up in the emergency room with an erection that didn't go away." SOURCE CLOSE TO THE CASE Prosecutors say a Bronx woman took infidelity to new...

PLENTY O' KNICKS TIX IN OVERBLOWN DOME - BUT YOU'LL BE A FAR SIGHT WORSE OFF THAN AT COZY MSG

SAN ANTONIO - If traveling Knick fans believe they're lucky just to get a ticket to the Alamodome for the NBA Finals, they should think again. Tickets are a hot...

TA'S IN ORBIT OVER ITS NEW BUS-TRACKER SYSTEM

The Transit Authority is looking to outer space to let riders know precisely know when their buses will arrive. Beginning in November, The TA will use satellite technology that tracks...

HILLARY BILLS TAXPAYERS FOR TRIPS TO APPLE

The White House acknowledged yesterday that taxpayers are picking up the tab for Hillary Rodham Clinton's frequent New York jaunts - but insisted the trips are official First Lady business....

VALLONE TAKING HEAT OVER LEAD-PAINT BILL

City Council Speaker Peter Vallone came under intense pressure yesterday to rethink a controversial lead-paint bill under fire from his own council members and from two rivals in the race...

BUSH REJECTS ABORTION 'LITMUS TEST' FOR JUDGES

NEW CASTLE, N.H. - Republican front-runner George W. Bush pledged yesterday he won't have an anti-abortion "litmus test" for potential Supreme Court justices if he's elected president. "There will be...

SUBWAY 'SLEEPER' WAS SOME 'BODY'

For nearly five hours, thousands of riders failed to detect that the man was dead. A dead man rode a jampacked subway train for nearly five hours yesterday during the...

BILL MADE HIS LAWYER LIVID: BOOK

President Clinton's top Sexgate lawyer became furious when he heard Clinton would argue he didn't have an affair with Monica Lewinsky because they had only oral sex, a new book...

G.W. BUSH HAS WAGER FOR PATAKI

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Texas Gov. George W. Bush last night issued a double-our-bet challenge to Gov. Pataki for a wager on the Knicks - to add to their bet on...

KOSOVARS JEER YUGOS, CHEER U.S. MARINES

WASHINGTON - U.S. Marines arrived in Kosovo yesterday to a hero's welcome from returning ethnic Albanians, although NATO troops still faced sniper fire from retreating Serbian forces. Meanwhile NATO's standoff...

S. KOREA SINKS N. KOREA BOAT

The fishing war between the two Koreas turned violent today when South Korea said it sank one of three North Korean torpedo boats that penetrated a bitterly contested portion of...

PLENTY O' KNICKS TIX IN OVERBLOWN DOME - BUT IT'LL BE A FAR SIGHT WORSE THAN COZY MSG

SAN ANTONIO - If traveling Knick fans believe they're lucky just to get a ticket to the Alamodome for the NBA Finals, they should think again. Tickets are a hot...

CATHOLICS SLAM GINGER SPICE

Furious Catholic leaders yesterday slammed former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell for pushing safe sex and birth control. The controversy erupted as Halliwell toured Manila as a UN goodwill ambassador. The...

MARIAH'S SINGLE DAYS MAY BE OVER

Wedding rumors we're flying last night about sexy songbird Mariah Carey and her Latin crooner sweetheart Luis Miguel. The couple was holed up in Manhattan's Four Seasons Hotel, where staffers...

S.I.'S BABY BOMBERS SET TO PLAY BALL

"We have ballplayers who in three or four years will be playing in The Bronx." JOSH GETZLER, CO-OWNER OF STATEN ISLAND YANKEES Baseball fans can go to the ballpark and...

JUDGE: TUNNEL CLUB CAN REOPEN

A state judge yesterday cleared the way for Peter Gatien's Tunnel nightclub to reopen reversing a five-month city effort to close the club, which officials called a drug supermarket. Padlocked...

SIMMS FEELS EWING'S PAIN QB RECALLS HAVING TO WATCH SUPE XXV

PHIL SIMMS, the former Giants quarterback turned broadcaster, has been captivated by the Knicks' surprising playoff run just like everyone else in the tri-state area. "Heck, I don't know anybody...

GIANTS RELEASE WOOTEN

The Giants got younger and hopefully better yesterday, releasing veteran defensive back Tito Wooten. With the move, the Giants saved $1 million on the salary cap. The ineffective Wooten's departure...

SABRES CARRY WAIT OF CITY

BUFFALO - They are a young team with a solid organizational infrastructure that should stand the Sabres in good stead for a number of years to come. They have a...

SPURS HOPING HEW ARENA FINAL-LY NEAR

Spurs hoping new arena Final-ly near Did you hear the one about the franchise owner who tried to turn a possible championship season into a push for a new, taxpayer-financed...

WITH ALL DUE APOLOGIES TO MY ABA FRIENDS ... THESE KNICKS ARE DESTINED TO WIN

SAN ANTONIO - As much as it hurts my ABA-molded-and-moldy heart to forsake George Gervin, James Silas, Billy Paultz, Larry Kenon, Angelo Drossos, Mark Olberding, Coby Dietrick, Wayne Witt, Johnny...

DAVE ACTING BOSS-Y YET GARDEN'S TOP SNAKE HAS ESCAPED HEAT

There is a word that perfectly describes Checketts' behavior in all this. Steinbrennian. THE morning after the Knicks' stirring Game 6 victory over the Pacers, the one that put them...

NOT BEST BUT STILL FIRST

IT SEEMS we have been waiting for the Yankees to play to expectations as long as we have waited for Bud Selig to make his ruling on Darryl Strawberry public....

ISLES ACTUALLY HAVE A PLAN

WITH THE possible exceptions of being chairperson for a Claude Lemieux testimonial dinner or set-up man for Brent Fedyk, the toughest job in hockey is to be an Islander season-ticket...

KINGS' REFUSAL GAVE RANGERS ZIGGY

Had the Kings included center prospect Justin Papineau in their final offer, Ziggy Palffy wouldn't be headed to the Rangers, The Post has learned. In fact, Islanders GM Mike Milbury...

LIBERTY RIP INTO DARSCH

With everyone focused on the return to New York of Queens' Chamique Holdsclaw last night, lost in the hoopla was Washington Mystics head coach Nancy Darsch coming back to the...

'DAC: LEITER, COOK DIDN'T GET ME AXED

Last Sunday night, exactly 24 hours after he had been fired by Steve Phillips as the Mets' pitching coach, Bob Apodaca sat in front of a TV set at his...

PALFFY-TO-RANGERS NOT FINALIZED YET

It's not red alert, but as of last night, the Islanders and Rangers had yet submited the Ziggy Palffy blockbuster deal to commissioner Gary Bettman for approval. Apparently, Cablevision executives...

OSCAR, FELIX SET FOR WAR

Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad may not exactly live up to its advance billing as "The Fight of the Millennium." But it does figure to be the best fight of...

KNICK FEVER HASN'T HIT VEGAS

New York fans might be in love with their miracle, underdog Knicks, but Las Vegas certainly isn't. "The Knicks have all those injury problems and the Spurs have won 10...

POPOVICH, SPURS MARCH TO THEIR OWN BEAT

SAN ANTONIO - Greg Popovich came to the NBA as a product of the Air Force Academy and a resume that included a head coaching job at basketball powerhouse Pomona...

ADMIRAL TAKES ONE FOR THE TEAM

SAN ANTONIO - On the surface, it all seems so simple regarding David Robinson and Tim Duncan, two most recognizable landmarks in this town not directly associated with Davy Crockett...

HOUSTON'S ON TOP OF WORLD

Oh, baby! Allan living out dream SAN ANTONIO - When Allan Houston says he is blessed he is not just talking about basketball. He is talking about the circle of...

SPENCER TAKES TURN AS 'THE MAN' IN LEFT

YANKEE NOTES Shane Spencer is getting his wish. And Joe Torre is hoping Spencer's wish turns into a blessing for the Yankees. Standing before his stall in the clubhouse, Spencer...

BO REPLACES OLERUD, PIAZZA AT SAME TIME

MET NOTESBOBBY BONILLA Plays 1B, bats fourth. CINCINNATI - Bobby Bonilla has had trouble finding room in the outfield, so last night Bobby Valentine started the struggling former star at...

LJ TO BE GAME-TIME DECISION

NBA FINALS NOTEBOOK SAN ANTONIO - Larry Johnson did not practice yesterday. He will not practice today. He's not officially out of Game 1 yet, but it appears likely the...

AVERY JOHNSON HAS HIS DAY ... FINALLY

SAN ANTONIO - Avery Johnson was talking about "defining moments" in a player's career. Christmas Eve, 1990, was suggested to him. "That," Johnson stressed, recalling the night he was told...

BOMBERS ARE SURE STREAK WILL COME

To a man, the Yankees keep waiting for what they believe to be the inevitable - The Streak that turns the American League East race into a runaway. Each time...

'ONE' FOR THE MONEY OPENERS KIND TO KNICKS

When it comes to Game 1's of a playoff series, the Knicks get up for it right away. As the eighth- and worst-seeded team in the Eastern Conference, the Knicks...

JUAN GONE CRAZY 'BOUT ROOK MATEO

Texas' super prospect Ruben Mateo already has Juan Gonzalez' vote as baseball's next superstar. ''I see a lot of young players, but Ruben is special,'' the Texas slugger said before...

SPENCER TAKES TURN IN LEFT FIELD

YANKEE NOTES Shane Spencer is getting his wish. And Joe Torre is hoping Spencer's wish turns into a blessing for the Yankees. Standing before his stall in the clubhouse, Spencer...

DARSCH'S CREW 'CLAWS LIBERTY

Mystics 83 Liberty 61 It was as much ex-Liberty coach Nancy Darsch's night as it was Queens' Chamique Holdsclaw's. Some will focus on the "female Jordan," but the tag in...

BOMBER BLAST FROM THE PAST: IRABU, CHILI TOO MUCH FOR TEXAS

Yankees 8 Rangers 2 The comparisons are unfair and unrealistic but they will be here all season. The World Champion Yankees of 1998 have become the worst enemy of the...

BOBBY V SEES ORANGE OVER REDS' SHIRT GRIPE

CINCINNATI - The rivalry between Bobby Valentine and Jack McKeon took a new nasty turn yesterday, as McKeon again resorted to gamesmanship while Valentine shot back at him for doing...

BOONE BLAST MAKES QUICK WORK OF TURK: OLERUD, PIAZZA RESTED IN MET LOSS

Reds 8 Mets 4 On Sunday, Turk Wendell's body language told the story. A fist thrust violently toward the sky indicated the Mets were victorious in a one-run game with...

WEEK ON BENCH DIDN'T ICE CHILI

Chili Davis called his recent interleague vacation ''a blessing in disguise.'' The Yankees' 39-year-old designated hitter got splinters and some winks in during the team's recent six-game trip to two...

IRABU REIGNS OVER RAIN-GERS ; RIGHTY'S PERFORMANCE EXCITES TORRE

In any language, it's tough to pitch effectively when you're looking over your shoulder. It's tough for a starter to remain confident when a language barrier makes it difficult for...

VG WOULD LIKE TO WIN TITLE FOR RED

ABSTRACT: "People I respect have the utmost respect for (Holzman) and he was always there to give a kind word when we were struggling." Jeff Van Gundy Jeff Van Gundy...