April 14, 2000

'SAFE' OLD STOCKS ON AN OILY SLOPE

SO, you think Old Economy stocks are safe? Investors over the last few weeks have come to understand that many so-called New Economy companies are nothing more than wishful thinking...

BAKER'S AFTER COLE'S CROWD

Watch your back, Kenneth Cole. Ted Baker is moving in on your territory. The British maker and retailer of hip womenswear and men's apparel that's favored by Tom Cruise and...

READY TO RUMBLE! - GREENSPAN, LEVITT SQUARE OFF OVER LINKING MARTS

Don't be surprised if the World Wrestling Foundation schedules a new program called Smackdown: The Battle of the Septuagenarian Regulators. Alan Greenspan, 75, and Arthur Levitt, 69, are fighting over...

REPORT SAYS ONLINE BROKERS OUT OF TOUCH

Online brokerage firms like Ameritrade and Christos Cotsakos' E*Trade are in danger of losing market share because they are not paying attention to what their customers want, according to an...

GIVE US OUR CASH! - CELEBS WANT BANKS TO PAY FOR GIACCHETTO SCAM

Celebrity investors allegedly ripped off by Hollywood money manager Dana Giacchetto are demanding that three deep-pocked banks - including Chase Manhattan - cough up the looted millions. Giacchetto is accused...

THIRD EXEC JUMPS FROM TROUBLED BRIDGE

Financially troubled Bridge Information Systems - the No. 3 information data provider behind Reuters and Bloomberg - just lost another top executive. Douglas McIntyre, the president and CEO of Future...

HILL PITCHES HER PLAN IN THE ALLEY

Hillary Clinton pressed the flesh with the Downtown digerati yesterday and for the first time laid out her plans for sustaining the growth of Silicon Alley. "What we need is...

NASDAQ OFF THE TRACK; DROPS 92.85

The Nasdaq composite was nasty again yesterday, taking its fourth consecutive tumble - which left it a whopping 27 percent below its high. After rallying in a big way -...

GUNS: WHAT DO YOU TELL THE KIDS? - ONE YEAR AFTER H.S. MASSACRE

UNLESS you plan to stop watching TV altogether next week, you will be seeing a lot of news stories marking the one-year anniversary of Columbine. And you will again have...

THE LONELY LIFE OF A PORN STAR

YOU would expect the story of an Oklahoma housewife who became a porn star, to make a fascinating documentary, and despite inadequate editing and overreliance on bad background music, "The...

A 'PICNIC' BASKET OF OLD-TIME LOVE

WHEN I was little, I remember hearing about a scandalous movie called "Picnic" which hinted that people who weren't even married had sex. Whatever that was. With Kim Novak, whoever...

'28 DAYS' PLAYS SOBRIETY FOR LAUGHS

FOR a Hollywood comedy about alcohol rehab starring Sandra Bullock, "28 Days" is much less mawkish and predictable than you might expect. Director Betty Thomas (a former "Hill Street Blues"...

KING 'THONG' - SISQO TELLS TALE BEHIND HIT

WITH the giant success of "Thong Song" - one of the hottest novelty songs in rotation on MTV - some might think Mark "Sisqo" Andrews, the vocal king of Dru...

LIVELY 'PARTY' CAPTURES FLAVOR OF ROARING '20S

IT'S the Jazz Age. The '20s. Black and white musical idioms are mixing as intimately and outrageously as blacks and whites themselves. The clatter of Fitzgerald and Stein and Picasso...

SITTING PRETTY - THE OBVIOUS CANDIDATE TO REPLACE KATHIE LEE IS MRS. PHILBIN. SO WHY ISN'T SHE SAYING ANYTHING ABOUT IT?

WILL she or won't she? Regis Philbin's wife Joy seems to have first dibs on the job everyone in TV seems to want right now - replacing Kathie Lee Gifford...

SYMPHONY IN MOVEMENT

ST. Petersburg's Eifman Ballet, a newly installed resident dance company at City Center, is nearing the end of its three-week run in New York. And the run has amply demonstrated...

THE STARR REPORT

Of Paramount import Insiders at Paramount are buzzing that "Real TV" host John Daly is about to be replaced - perhaps by NBC Sports commentator Ahmad Rashad. Ratings, the usual...

'NAKED' IS BARELY WORTH THE TIME

A YOUNG woman has sought refuge and perhaps glory at the home of a glib, romantic novelist. She wants to be the heroine of a novel; he wants a romantic...

ON THE 'MONEY'

THE premise of "Where the Money Is" is enough to make you groan - Paul Newman plays a veteran bank robber who feigns a stroke to get out of jail...

'FAITH' IS A KEEPER

WHEN Huey Lewis sings "It's Hip to Be Square" (currently on the soundtrack of "American Psycho"), he could be referring to Edward Norton's hugely entertaining directing debut, "Keeping the Faith."...

HARD TO BE CRAZY FOR 'PSYCHO'

BOTH trite and heavy-handed, "American Psycho" is satire for the sanctimonious: a misfiring black comedy oddly reminiscent of all those bad 1990s movies about strippers getting killed at bachelor parties....

COMING OF AGE IN CANADA

BLAME Canada? Not if you've seen "Set Me Free" ("Emporte-moi"), a lyrical and beautifully acted export from our neighbors to the north. Young Karine Vanasse is extraordinary as 13-year-old Hanna,...

'EAST IS EAST' KEEPS IT ALL IN THE FAMILY

A huge hit in Europe - and winner of a British Academy best-picture award - "East Is East" is "The Full Monty" of 2000, a fresh, funny and poignant film...

'WILD' BEHAVIOR AT 'PARTY'

IN the new musical "The Wild Party," Mandy Patinkin gives an intense and frightening performance as Burrs, a gin-swilling, psychotic vaudeville clown who beats his girlfriend. But for many of...

CARIBBEAN 'THIRD WORLD COP' COPS OUT

THIRD WORLD COP 1/2 THIS gunplay-filled Jamaican movie was a monster hit on the Caribbean isle, but the acting, camera work and writing are all crude and amateurish, even by...

TONY CALLS 'CONTACT' MUSICAL

THE Tony Award administration committee yesterday ruled that "Contact" - Susan Stroman's self-described "dance play" - is in fact a musical. The ruling means that "Contact" can be nominated for...

LOUIE-BLACKMAIL SUSPECT NABBED

THE feds have busted an Arizona man who allegedly tried to blackmail Louie Anderson by claiming the TV funnyman once propositioned him, authorities said yesterday. Richard John Gordon, 31, of...

A STRANGE SILENCE ON THE MIDDLE CLASS - WHY BUSH AND GORE ARE TURNING THEIR BACKS

PERHAPS you remember the middle class. Its members are the folks who, in Bill Clinton's words, "work hard and play by the rules" - and they have been whipsawing between...

IRAN CLAIMS 4 JEWS ADMITTED THEY SPIED FOR U.S. AND ISRAEL

Four Iranian Jews have confessed to spying for the United States and Israel and have asked for clemency, a judicial official said at the opening of their controversial trial yesterday....

BUSH'S ANTI-POVERTY PLAN

Taxes * Cut the lowest tax rate from 15 percent to 10 percent. The new rate would apply to the first $6,000 of taxable income for single adults, the first...

'SHAFT' STAR: I BEAT BREAST CANCER

Actor Richard Roundtree - who played tough-as-nails private eye Shaft - has revealed he suffered from breast cancer. "I was thrown by the diagnosis. I had never heard of a...

PUZZLE OF BROKEN 'DERAIL' TRACK

A broken track that brought a crowded Lexington Avenue subway train to a grinding halt Wednesday night passed an inspection by the Transit Authority just last week, officials said. The...

MALE MENOPAUSE MAY BE NO MYTH

DON GELLES was 50 when he started experiencing hot flashes so severe, he would wake up in the middle of the night soaked in sweat. "I would suffer these mood...

LEO CAUGHT IN MEDIA SHOWER OF POMPOSITY

OH, YES, there is no question that Leonardo DiCaprio is a spy for Saddam Hussein. But if I am wrong, it's absolutely certain he is working to rewrite the Constitution...

JERRY 'SEINS' ON DOTTED LINE SO HS KIDS GET SCHOLARSHIPS

Jerry Seinfeld, who's gone from fear of commitment to quintessential family guy, yesterday said he'll provide full college scholarships for five high-school kids every year. The announcement of the Jerry...

PAUL MAY FADE TO BLACK AFTER HIS NEXT MOVIE

Paul Newman has stunned film fans by revealing he's about to retire from the movie business. The 75-year-old Hollywood great - whose latest film, "Where the Money Is," opens today...

JUST SUE IT! BO'S GIVING NIKE A CASE OF THE BLUES

Who doesn't know Diddley? Nike, that's who, as legendary guitarman Bo Diddley says in a suit filed in Manhattan federal court. Diddley says the sneaker company didn't give him squat...

BUSH EMBRACES GAYS - SORT OF

WASHINGTON - Republican George W. Bush met with gays yesterday for the first time since launching his presidential bid - and said it made him "a better person" but didn't...

EAGER BIDDERS POUNCE ON JOCELYN'S GEMS

Jewelry buyers went ape for a collection of jungle-themed baubles auctioned off yesterday by cosmetically recrafted lioness Jocelyn Wildenstein - who made $1.5 million from the Sotheby's auction. As she...

TWO-PARTY POLITICS FOR MAYOR'S AIDE AND WIFE

HILLARY Rodham Clinton and the Democratic National Committee apparently have no beef with Mayor Giuliani's campaign director, Bruce Teitelbaum - at least when it comes to his wife, Suri Kasirer....

BILL WON'T BEG, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN HE'D NIX A PARDON

WASHINGTON - President Clinton said yesterday he won't ask Al Gore for a Sexgate pardon if the vice president succeeds him - but stayed mum on whether he'll refuse one...

BILL ADMITS HE'S DUCKING WHOLE ELIAN MESS

WASHINGTON - President Clinton acknowledged yesterday he wants "to stay out" of the raging controversy over little Elian Gonzalez, which he has dumped squarely in Attorney General Janet Reno's lap....

POLICE ARREST 'SCARFACE' IN MOM-AND-TOT STICKUP SPREE

A scar-faced parolee was the sicko who terrorized three moms in Queens by pointing a gun at their kids' heads and offering them a grim choice - your money or...

CITY NIXES USING CANCER-LINKED SKEETER SPRAY

The city will not spray the controversial pesticide malathion this summer even if there's another West Nile encephalitis crisis, Health Commissioner Neal Cohen said yesterday. Last year, officials approved its...

DORISMOND'S KIN DEMAND ANSWERS IN AUTOPSY LEAK

Bitter accusations over news leaks from Patrick Dorismond's autopsy report flew in a Manhattan courtroom yesterday, with city officials insisting they were not the source. "We have not released information,...

RUDY WANTS TO BE THE AX MAN FOR FEDERAL AND CAP-GAINS TAXES

Mayor Giuliani yesterday unveiled his Senate agenda, starting with cuts in the federal-income and capital-gains taxes - a position he said puts him at odds with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Speaking...

JUDGE SIDES WITH HEVESI ON WORKFARE BIDS

Comptroller Alan Hevesi scored a big victory in his brawl with Mayor Giuliani yesterday when a judge agreed the city "corrupted" the contracting process by awarding a $104 million deal...

STARS ADD VOICES TO PROTEST CHORUS

MIAMI - It was Hollywood meets Little Havana as movie star Andy Garcia and singer Gloria Estefan joined hundreds of protesters riding an emotional roller-coaster here yesterday. The two Cuban-American...

NEW PROBE: DID PUFFY PERJURE?

Prosecutors have launched another probe into Sean "Puffy" Combs - convening a new grand jury to investigate alleged witness-tampering and whether he committed perjury to hide his role in a...

FEDEX POT RING IS DELIVERED A BLOW

The feds yesterday smashed a ring that used FedEx boxes, trucks, planes - and corrupt company employees - to ship 170 tons of marijuana worth $140 million to New York...

LEVY LIVID OVER SEX ATTACKS - VOWS ACTION AT HARLEM SCHOOL

Heads are going to roll at the Harlem school where alleged sexual attacks occurred recently on kids as young as 7 years old, interim Schools Chancellor Harold Levy said last...

VOLPE MOVED TO MEDICAL PRISON

Confessed Abner Louima sodomy cop Justin Volpe has been transferred from a lockup in Manhattan to a federal medical prison, sources told The Post. Volpe earlier this week was taken...

THE MOB LAUGHS AS JUSTICE IS TRAMPLED

MIAMI. THE war has begun and the rebels have won the first battle. It wasn't hard to notice the smell of victory in the humid Miami air. On Northwest 22nd...

JUDGE: ELIAN CAN'T LEAVE U.S. YET - BUT FEDS STILL WANT HIM GIVEN TO DAD IMMEDIATELY

A federal judge slammed the brakes on Elian Gonzalez's return to Cuba - ordering yesterday that the tug-of-war kid stay on American soil while the two sides duke it out...

DUFF: PERELMAN'S BEHIND VICIOUS PRANKS

Patricia Duff said yesterday she's the victim of a long campaign of dirty tricks masterminded by ex-husband Ron Perelman - but his lawyer said she's just a victim of her...

SHRINK: YOUNGSTER'S 'HOSTAGE' VIDEO A SHAMEFUL EXPLOITATION

Elian Gonzalez's videotaped message to his dad, insisting he won't go back to Cuba, shows a coached performance by a child who's saying what his Miami relatives want to hear,...

DORISMOND'S FAMILY WANTS ANSWERS FOR AUTOPSY LEAKS

Bitter accusations over news leaks from Patrick Dorismond's autopsy report flew in a Manhattan courtroom yesterday, with city officials insisting to the slain man's family that they were not the...

ALBANY POLS OK HIKES IN AID FOR STUDENTS

ALBANY - Lawmakers agreed yesterday to the largest increase to the state's chief college financial-aid program in more than a decade. Under the deal, more students - public and private...

VERY UNDIPLOMATIC DUO $CAMMED HOTEL: FEDS

A mother-son team of grifters tried to cheat the United Nations out of tens of thousands of dollars by claiming he was an ambassador for a non-existent mission in Hawaii,...

MOVIES READY TO ROLL - ONCE THEY HAVE AN ENDING

Producers of the upcoming TV movie about the Elian Gonzalez story were glued to their seats yesterday as the red-hot case took new twists and turns. The four-hour movie, which...

CABLEVISION'S METRO MADNESS GIVES HOOP FANS NOTHING

AS witnessed in the recent John Andariese ticket case, violation of Cablevision/Madison Square Garden internal corporate policy can lead to harsh punishment. Clearly, there was no room for Andariese to...

WHEN IT RAINS, FISH POUR

MOTHER Nature threw the gamut at us this week, from 70-degree weather to a mini snowstorm, and a lot of wind, with some rain thrown in for good measure. In...

MIKE LIKES MIKE - JORDAN INTERESTED IN SJU'S JARVIS

DESPITE Darrell Walker's positive effect on the Wizards as interim coach (no team plays harder when down 20 points), I'm still inclined to believe Michael Jordan is leaning toward hiring...

KNICKS TO WATCH SCOREBOARD NOW

KNICK NOTES TORONTO - There will be a lot of scoreboard-watching tonight and over the next few days as far as the Knicks are concerned. When they left Miami dejectedly...

'DON'T PASS ME BY' - DAYNE IS GREAT, AND COULD BE A GIANT

Pass him up at your own risk. He will not be the first running back picked, nor the second, and quite likely not the third. Fine with him. Downgrade him...

TIME TO BE IN-VINCE-IBLE - SPREE MUST TAKE CARE OF CARTER

TORONTO - The playoffs don't start until next weekend, but for the Knicks, Game 1 of the first round begins tonight in Toronto against Vince Carter. Yes, it is time...

TYSON FIGHT MIGHT BE POSTPONED AGAIN

LAS VEGAS - Mike Tyson may be about to say arrivederci to his scheduled May 20 fight against Lou Savarese in Milan, Italy. Amid rumors that Tyson had not been...

VARGAS HAS OSCAR ON BRAIN - VARGAS SEES OSCAR BOUT IN HIS FUTURE

LAS VEGAS - Mirealgo. That is Spanish for "I see something," or "I zee zomezing," as first articulated by Max Schmeling before he fought Joe Louis the first time. Schmeling...

'PEGASUS' CAN DELIVER WOOD

Fusa: From the name of Fusao Sekiguchi, a venture capitalist and thoroughbred owner from Japan. Ichi: (Pronounced "ee-chee") Japanese for "No.1." Pegasus: In Greek mythology, the great winged horse so...

DEVILS HOPE YOUNG GUNS COME UP BIG

This is a sign of a team being rebuilt on the fly. For the first time in years, the Devils went into the playoffs with four rookies in the lineup,...

AS METS FAIL, REED TURNS INTO STOPPER

PHILADELPHIA - Everybody is the ace when they take the ball from Bobby Valentine, but it gets heavier when the Mets have lost five of six, and three in a...

EXERCISE RIDER HURT IN FALL

Mariana Makarova, 35, an exercise rider for John Kimmel, suffered a fractured thoracic spine as a result of an accident on the Belmont training track yesterday morning. She is being...

RAVENS KEEP SOARING

St. Ray's 7 - Xavier 1 If St. Raymond's 7-1 win over Xavier yesterday was any indication of what to expect from the Ravens this season, the rest of the...

IN THE END, JETS COULD CATCH A GATOR

Keyshawn Johnson is gone. Jets fans, as disturbed and disillusioned as they might be, must come to grips with this. Now the focus is on the most crucial draft in...

SEGUI WOULDA COME BACK

The guy who should be playing first base for the Mets was the designated hitter for the Texas Rangers last night at Yankee Stadium. David Segui would have been the...

JETS MOVE UP TO 12TH

The Jets last night continued their record assault on the NFL Draft's first-round board, making a trade with the 49ers to further improve their first-round positioning. As it is, they...

MURRAY REFUSES TO LAUNCH ROCKET

THERE WAS Mike Vernon, generous as always while on Meadowlands playoff ice, leaving it enraged last night, screaming at referee Kerry Fraser for reasons only he can know. Better that...

GAME'S BIGGEST BARGAIN - EL DUQUE DESERVES KEYSHAWN MONEY

AND to think Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez was once considered overpaid. That was just over two years ago when he first joined the Yankees in March, 1998, as a Cuban...

BROSIUS IS SORELY MISSED

Scott Brosius says he's itching to get back and, considering the way Clay Bellinger and Alfonso Soriano have played in his absence, the third basemen's return can't come soon enough....

PETTITTE PROTESTS, THEN ACCEPTS, GOING ON DL

Andy Pettitte's legs shook constantly as he sat at his locker before last night's 5-1 Yankee win over the Rangers and talked about going on the disabled list for the...

NOT PRETTY, BUT DEVILS TAKE IT

The Devils dodged bullets last night. Mike Vernon missed them. Anything but convincing, the Devils took advantage of what they were given, opening the playoffs with a 4-3 victory over...

WORRELL ANSWERS FANS' TAUNTS WITH GOAL

Since getting his head in the way of Scott Niedermayer's intentional stick swing on March 19, Panthers enforcer Peter Worrell has made himself Meadowlands Enemy No. 1. Just moments after...

CATCH A RISING STAR - JORGE'S 3-RUN TRIPLE, 'D' BOOST BOMBERS

Bases loaded. Tie game. Kenny Rogers on the mound. Would he walk in the winning run? The possibility was almost too delicious to entertain last night, but Jorge Posada stole...

IRRITATED EYE SHELVES TINO

YANKEE NOTES Tino Martinez, bothered by irritation in his left eye, left in the sixth inning of the Yankees' 5-1 victory over the Rangers last night. One day after hitting...

PAYTON SPEED BURNS PHILLIES - DARING DASH LIFTS AMAZIN'S

PHILADELPHIA - The potential that's been rumored about forever is being unleashed every day. The Mets needed some sort of spark and Jay Payton gave it to them last night....

COOL-HAND RICK BRINGS WARMTH TO MET SEASON

PHILADELPHIA - It's still colder than a Turk Wendell tribute at a Rickey Henderson testimonial dinner. So, please, chill out about the way the Mets have been playing. You can...

VALENTINE COMES TO RICKEY'S DEFENSE

MET NOTES PHILADELPHIA - After being left out of the starting lineup last night, Rickey Henderson spent part of pre-game workouts in the dugout instead of getting prepared with the...

PETTITTE SEES RED - ANDY'S UNHAPPY AS TORRE DECIDES TO SHUT HIM DOWN

Andy Pettitte's legs shook constantly as he sat at his locker and talked about going on the disabled list for the second time in his career. The lefty admitted "patience...

RICO FINDS SWEET LIFE IN PHILLY

PHILADELPHIA - He hit .278 with 24 homers and 102 RBIs last season. At first base, he ended the year with 49 error-less games. Sounds like a former Met first...

SITTING RICKEY'S POUTING AGAIN

MET NOTES PHILADELPHIA - After being left out of the starting lineup last night, Rickey Henderson spent part of pre-game workouts in the dugout instead of getting prepared with the...

PANTHERS TAKE PRESS-URE OFF WORRELL

Perhaps concerned that Peter Worrell would take a hit to the helmet by a reporter's pen, Panthers coach Terry Murray kept the left wing back at the team's hotel during...

RUSSIAN ROCKET CAN BE LETHAL WEAPON

THE battle with the Panthers may eventually turn on what goes on between the Devils' ears, though with so many important new personalities having been added to the team, the...

DH SPENCER PREFERS POWER OVER AVERAGE

YANKEE NOTES Shane Spencer can't decide if it's better to rack up the early RBIs with home runs or get "a bunch of singles." The beefy right-handed designated hitter seems...