June 8, 2000

SEC OFFERS AMNESTY TO BIG 5 FIRMS

After playing hardball with the Big 5 accounting firms for months over violations of auditor independence rules, the Securities and Exchange Commission threw a slow, easy pitch over the plate...

SETTLEMENT TALKS BOOST MP3.COM'S STOCK 45%

MP3.com stockholders and CEO Michael Robertson sang a happy tune yesterday as shares in the embattled music Web site crescendoed 45 percent on the news the company is days away...

KARAN FIGHTS SWEATSHOP CHARGES

Donna Karan says she will "vigorously defend" herself against a lawsuit claiming that New York workers who sew her designs labor under sweatshop conditions. Five workers at a Midtown factory...

M'SOFT HOLDERS: NOBODY CARES! ! STOCK GAINS AFTER JUDGE GIVES WORD

Microsoft gained $4.6 billion in value yesterday, as shareholders thumbed their noses at a federal judge's plans to break the software giant in two. Believing the break-up to be priced...

SALON CUTS 20%, FIRES 13; SITE HIT BY DOT-COM BOMB; 3RD TO SLASH STAFF THIS WEEK

The dot-com blade swung again yesterday for the third time this week, slashing Salon, a scoop-driven Web magazine. The company, which lost $18.3 million on revenue of $8 million in...

COMPANY PLANS HARD SELL ON SOFTWARE

It's full-steam ahead for Microsoft. Bill Gates set course yesterday to carry on, regardless. Never mind the four-month limit the judge gave them to draw the dotted line. Microsoft will...

SHARING THE ROAD SAFELY

THERE are more than 205 million vehicles on America's roads today, ten percent more than ten years ago and they all seem to be traveling directly in front of you...

A RETURN TO THE DARK PAGES: SAD ORPHAN TALES RESULT IN HAPPY BOOK SALES

The Bobbsey Twins they're not. If anyone could do with a little Harry Potteresque magic, it's the Baudelaire orphans, the luckless heroes of Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events."...

THE STARR REPORT

Claman victory It wasn't exactly the ancient city of Jericho, but when the walls came tumbling down in Fort Lee, CNBC anchor Liz Claman was ready. Claman was anchoring "Today's...

KELSEY'S NOT HAPPY

KELSEY Grammer is slamming "Frasier" producer Paramount and NBC for not telling him the show was being moved back to Tuesday nights this fall. "It did come as a surprise,...

YOU CAN EAT TO THE BEAT ; DINNER IN A DISCO? LATEST NIGHTLIFE CRAZE IS SOMETIMES HARD TO SWALLOW

A curious new trend is creeping clumsily into clubland - the transformation of traditional nightclubs, dance dens and lounges into "full-service" hotspots that serve food. The club/restaurant hybrid seeks to...

NATIVE AMERICAN MUSIC GOES MAINSTREAM

POLKA music may no longer be the narrowest category in the Grammy Awards. Now there's an award for best Native American music album in the folk field - bringing the...

THE 'INVISIBLE MAN:' SEE HIM:SERIES IS PERFECTLY CLEAR

"The Invisible Man" Series premiere Friday, 8 p.m., Sci Fi Channel 1/2 TOMORROW night, Sci Fi begins a whole new series based on a series of great old movies, "The...

ALL FOR SHOW AND SELL ; WEB-SHY PHOTOG IN INTERNET 'GALLERY'

SURFER gURL was looking to price a new TV on the Web, but ended up in eyestorm.com, which resembles an online art gallery, pondering a purchase of a Helmut Newton...

'BLUES'-TO-NEWS GIRL HITS THE AIR; TWITCHY TV PROS GIVE EX-ACTRESS CHILLY RECEPTION IN FIRST OUTING

ANDREA Thompson likely had no idea she would be stepping into a snakepit when she decided to chuck her acting career for TV journalism. And now that the blonde actress...

BIG NEWS ; AN AMERICAN SUMO WRESTLING WITH RAP

HE'S big in Japan.Well, he's big altogether, but Konishiki, a former champion sumo wrestler dubbed The Dump Truck, is relatively unknown here. The Hawaiian-born 37-year-old hopes to change all that...

B'KLYN BYSTANDERS WOUNDED

A feud between two Brooklyn teens escalated into a shooting that seriously wounded two bystanders - including an 18-year-old who took a bullet near her eye, cops said. The fight...

KOSOVO WAR DOC'S CONVICTION TOSSED

Serbia's Supreme Court threw out the terrorism conviction of a Kosovar doctor whose arrest drew international protests, lawyers in Belgrade said yesterday. The court said Dr. Flora Brovina, an ethnic...

TAXICAB KILLS A DOG-WALKER ON WEST SIDE

A popular Manhattan dog-walker was struck and killed yesterday by a taxi after he dashed across the middle of West 58th Street, police said. Residents who knew Terry Brown, 46,...

ELIAN RAIDERS DIDN'T TRUST MIAMI COPS

The federal agents who swooped in to grab tug-of-war kid Elian Gonzalez in a controversial Miami raid claim they considered local cops an "assessed risk" who could have tried to...

COUPLE CHARGED IN $1.5M SCAM

A Queens couple has been charged with running a businesslike $1.5 million credit-card-scam operation, stealing the identities of thousands of people in Queens and on Long Island. Ismael Irizarry, 28,...

ROCKER: I MIGHT THROW IN TOWEL -CONSIDERING CAREER AS A STOCKBROKER

Peevish pitcher John Rocker may be ready to throw it all in - and trade the bullpen for the bull market. "There's plenty of things I can do besides deal...

GOOD AND BAD NEWS ON READING SCORES

More elementary and junior-high students passed their city reading tests this year - but a majority still fail to meet standards. About 41 percent of the nearly 300,000 students in...

*NSYNC DOES A MITZVAH FOR YOUNG GIRL

Boy vey! The super-hot boy group *Nsync broke from their sellout American tour to sing at a private bat mitzvah party. Rachel Colburn couldn't believe her eyes when her favorite...

BUNNY HOPS INTO ACTION VS. ILLNESS

TYLYN JOHN is a Playmate on a mission. Miss March 1992 is no longer posing for Playboy centerfolds, or partying the night away at Hugh Hefner's sumptuous mansion in L.A....

MICHELANGELO CLASSIC IN FOR A SEE CHANGE

First, they gave Michelangelo's David a fig leaf - now he may need glasses: Laser images of David's face show he has optical problems. "The gaze directions of his eyes...

THESE DEEDS WOULD MATCH MAYOR'S WORDS

THE meeting between Mayor Giuliani and Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer at City Hall yesterday is good for the city. It was two government executives talking policy after not meeting...

N.J. BRIDGE TOT'S BODY FOUND IN PASSAIC RIVER

Police divers found the body of a 15-month-old baby in the Passaic River yesterday after a frantic three-day search for the New Jersey toddler, who was allegedly thrown off a...

LAZIO'S BANKING ON GOP MONEY MATRON TO BRING IN BIG BUCKS

Republican Senate candidate Rick Lazio has tapped the top-notch campaign fund-raiser who raised millions for Gov. Pataki and former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, The Post has learned. Desperate for quick cash,...

STATE SENATE OKS HATE-CRIMES BILL

ALBANY - The GOP-controlled Senate yesterday overwhelmingly approved a "hate crimes" bill that would grant gays special legal protection for the first time in state history. The measure, expected to...

ISRAELI P.M. LASHES OUT AT FOES ; VOWS 'MORE EFFECTIVE' GOV'T

JERUSALEM - An angry Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak vowed yesterday to form a new, "more effective" government next week, after three of his coalition partners deserted him and voted...

SAD BUTT TRUE: SHE 'BOUGHT' IT UPON HERSELF

IN a sober courtroom where slang terms for breasts are entered into the record with abandon, you want to laugh. But this case just makes me sad. Mary Gale is...

'BIBLE BELTED' TEACHER RUNNING AGAINST NYDIA

A Bronx public-school teacher who was axed for leading her students in prayer is running for Congress on the Right to Life line. Mildred Rosario, 45, says she will fight...

ROCKER MIGHT TAKE A WALK - HOTHEAD CONSIDERING WORK AS A STOCKBROKER

Peevish pitcher John Rocker may be ready to throw it all in - and trade the bullpen for the bull market. "There's plenty of things I can do besides deal...

FDNY TRIES TO ID INFLAMMATORY AOLERS

The Fire Department has subpoenaed records from America Online to uncover the identities of two city emergency medical technicians who posted "totally improper" information on an AOL chat board. The...

QUEENS NOW RULE WHERE KINGPINS ONCE REIGNED: WOMEN ARE RUNNING DRUG RINGS AFTER FALL OF COLOMBIAN CARTELS

GAIL MATTHEWS seemed every inch the doting grandmother. The 56-year-old retiree lived quietly in her modest condo in Fort Lauderdale, tending to her hibiscus garden and spoiling her infant granddaughter....

THE BOSS' NEW SONG TOUCHES ON DIALLO SLAY

ALBANY - Bruce Springsteen returns to New York City next week with a "stinging" new song inspired by the killing of Amadou Diallo, The Post has learned. Called "American Skin,"...

THREATENING PHONE CALLS HIT DMX ACCIDENT VICTIMS

The women involved in a car accident with platinum-selling hip-hopper DMX were threatened yesterday after The Post reported cops wanted to question him for leaving the scene of the crash....

RUDY: I TRIED TO APOLOGIZE TO DORISMOND'S KIN

Mayor Giuliani revealed yesterday that he has tried twice to apologize in person to relatives of police-shooting victim Patrick Dorismond - but backed out because the family wanted a lawyer...

GOP TAPS BLACK WOMAN FOR RICK SEAT

WASHINGTON - In a surprise move, Republicans are tapping a black woman to run for Rick Lazio's House seat in Suffolk County - and they claim she's ahead in polls....

CLINTON'S 'TALK' PALS DO HIS DIRTY WORK

WE'VE long known that the White House employs private investigators to look for dirt in the private lives of people critical of Bill Clinton. But now we know that the...

IT'S WEDDING-BELL BLUES FOR B'KLYN 'BONNIE & CLYDE'

Two soon-to-be-wed Brooklynites aren't just partners for life - cops say they're also partners in crime. Dorrell Mainer, 39, and fiancé Kevin Rainey, 41, were arraigned yesterday on charges of...

NEW 'SOFT-MONEY' ADS BOOST GORE

WASHINGTON - The Democratic National Committee yesterday unveiled a new soft-money ad designed to help Al Gore - in spite of Gore's vow to hold off on such ads until...

CONSUMERS MAY YET PAY IN THE LONG RUN

Not everyone is convinced that the breakup of Microsoft will be great for consumers. Consumer advocates have long insisted that splitting the company into separate operating and software divisions will...

I DIDN'T KNOW DOC BUST-ED MY RUMP ; DANCER TESTIFIES IN IMPLANT CASE

A former go-go dancer testified yesterday that she didn't realize her Park Avenue plastic surgeon had used breast implants for her butt-enhancement operation until the surgery was behind her. When...

RIVAL SAYS CORZINE CAN'T BUY JERSEY SENATE SEAT

The Republican candidate for the New Jersey Senate says rival Jon Corzine's millions won't buy him the election. "What is truly dangerous about Jon Corzine isn't the fact that he...

MUD HENS' NEST A-TWITTER FOR AWOL HURLER

MAUMEE, Ohio - The biggest on-field attraction at last night's game between the Richmond Braves and the Toledo Mud Hens was the Shriners and their vintage sports cars. The Girl...

LOWEY: ABORTION-PILL RULES ENDANGER DOCS

WASHINGTON - Pro-choice advocates yesterday feared that the Clinton administration's plan to allow sale of the RU-486 abortion pill not only is too restrictive, but could also put doctors' lives...

POLICE EYEING CYBERSEX SLAY SUSPECT IN '80S 'MISSING' CASES

The Kansas man under investigation as the nation's first cybersex serial killer was a suspect in the disappearance of three women and a baby 16 years ago - but cops...

YOU CAN'T TRUST MICROSOFT: JUDGE - ORDERS SPLIT OF SOFTWARE GIANT INTO TWO UNITS

Microsoft must be split in two because it is "untrustworthy," a federal judge ruled yesterday in a landmark decision that the world's largest software maker immediately vowed to appeal. "A...

SURPRISE! BOB HOPE GOES HOME

A week after he was hospitalized for intestinal bleeding, a frail but smiling Bob Hope stood and waved to cameras yesterday and then was sent home from the hospital. The...

BAILEY: O.J. LIE TEST WOULD RAISE $3M 'REWARD'

O.J. Simpson would take a lie-detector test to raise a $3 million reward to solve the murder of his ex-wife, lawyer F. Lee Bailey said last night. "That's the only...

EX-CBS EXEC CLARK DEAD AT 82

Blair Clark, who managed Eugene McCarthy's 1968 presidential campaign, was a pioneering CBS News executive and served briefly as associate publisher of The Post, is dead at age 82. Clark...

STRAY BULLET MAY LEAVE BROOKLYN WOMAN BLIND

A Brooklyn teenager was in danger of losing her sight after she was shot yesterday by a youth who was aiming for someone else. Rasheeka Murray, 18, was in serious...

KNOBBY IN DOUBT FOR WEEKEND

YANKEE NOTES MONTREAL - While the Yankee lineup has finally shown signs that it has found a level of consistency for the first time this year, there is a good...

UPBEAT BELL NOT LETTING SLUMP GET HIM DOWN

MET NOTES Chestine Bell's son has done what she taught him. From the emotional high of Shea's Opening Day, when he hit the game-winning homer with his mother on hand,...

BELL NOT LETTING SLUMP GET HIM DOWN

MET NOTES Chestine Bell's son has done what she taught him. From the emotional high point of Shea's Opening Day, when he hit the game-winning homer as his mom looked...

METS GANG UP ON O'S: STARS, ROLE PLAYERS CONTRIBUTE IN ROUT

Mets 11 Orioles 3 If the Mets are going to dethrone the Yankees - not this weekend, but at the end of the season - it will take a special...

EXPECT TO SEE MORA MEL: HE FIGURES TO BE MAIN FILL-IN FOR ORDONEZ

Rey Ordonez returned to New York from Miami yesterday and had a new splint put on his fractured left wrist. The timetable for his return appears to be around the...

GLEASON POWERS CTK

CTK 2 Molloy 1 It doesn't take a whole heck of a lot to make the CHSAA playoffs. Sure, some good teams don't make it, but if you have a...

MR. LEGITI-MET

Any New York baseball fan worth the mustard on his hot dog can pinpoint the exact date the Yankees went from second-raters to (seemingly) perrenial champions: Jan. 3, 1920, the...

THE MATCHUPS

FIRST BASE -- Tino Martinez, underappreciated for his glove, has a big defensive advantage on Todd Zeile. But the new Met first baseman has provided a much larger power/run production...

GAME ONE ; BROSIUS DOUBLES YANKS' PLEASURE

JUNE 4, 1999 Yankees 4 Mets 3CHARISMATIC was chasing the Triple Crown at Belmont and the Knicks and Pacers were playing Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals the next...

GAME THREE ; LEITER DENIES SWEEP

JUNE 6, 1999 Mets 7 Yankees 2AL LEITER, who was never a big supporter of fired pitching coach Bob Apodaca, contributed seven innings of one-run pitching as the Mets beat...

GAME TWO ; BOMBERS' SURGE BRINGS AMAZIN' PURGE

JUNE 5, 1999 Yankees 6 Mets 3WHILE the action on the field was hot and included Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez throwing his mitt with the ball stuck in the webbing...

GAME FIVE ; FRANCO CAPS MID-SUMMER CLASSIC

JULY 10, 1999 Mets 9 Yankees 8ONE of the best games of the summer played in any city. And when Mariano Rivera unleashed a 95-mph fastball that cut the strike...

GAME FOUR ; PIAZZA BLASTS OFF ON ROCKET

JULY 9, 1999 Mets 5 Yankees 2IN THE opener of the three-game set, it was Leiter and Clemens again and the result was the same. Leiter gave the Mets eight...

GAME SIX ; IRABU HAS ANSWERS FOR YANKS

JULY 11, 1999 Yankees 6 Mets 3HAVING already lost their first three-game series to the Mets in three years of interleague play, the Yankees turned nervously to Hideki Irabu and...

AMAZIN' ALFONZO A PRO'S PRO

He wouldn't even consider doing it. He wouldn't compare himself to Derek Jeter. When the question was asked, he took it as a compliment, then answered it the way he...

JORGE BECOMES QUITE A CATCH!

YOU want to fit in with the Yankees, you follow the strict code of conduct established by the veterans and enforced by clubhouse cops such as David Cone. Do not...

TOM: METS ARE TERRIFIC

To Tom Seaver, history is a beautiful part of baseball. He says you judge franchises by using hindsight and examining the results. But he says you must grab history. "If...

SUBWAY SERIES TRIVIA

1. Before the Yankees hosted the Mets in the first official series between the two teams in baseball history, who were the last two New York squads to face off...

BELL READY FOR BRONX CHEERS

Once a Blue Jay, Derek Bell knows all about Bronx baseball fans. He knows he will hear all about his hitting slump and he can't wait. "Hey Bell, you couldn't...

ELEVEN SET FOR TEST OF THE CHAMPION

Call it the "Rodney Dangerfield" Belmont Stakes, because it gets no respect. With Kentucky Derby hero Fusaichi Pegasus and Preakness champ Red Bullet MIA's, along with every other Grade 1...

JETER APPLE OF NEW YORK'S EYE

NEW York's baseball eyes will be riveted on Yankee Stadium this weekend. Six times a summer the rest of the major leagues can drop dead as far as Yankees and...

HEAT'S ON APTITUDE

IF Donald LaPlace, New York's oddsmaker, is on the money, as he usually is, thousands of Americans are going to plunge millions of dollars on a recent maiden graduate to...

BERNIE NEVER GOT BASEBALL E-Z PASS: WILLIAMS BATTLES EVERY DAY TO OVERCOME HIS MANY FLAWS

Bernie Williams is a speedy runner who struggles to steal bases, a Gold Glove outfielder with a habit to throw - and throw poorly - to the wrong base and...

PGA PLAYERS CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW

Forget the shoes. It must be the eyes. Golfers have a new adversary in the constant struggle to improve their game and master a course. His name is Dr. Mark...

'STICK A FORK IN JAYSON': NBA CAREER LOOKS OVER AS LEG INJURY WORSENS

What was said publicly concerning Jayson Williams' Nets career was ominous enough and gave little hope that he will play in 2000-01. But what was said privately was even worse...

SATHER PLANS ON KEEPING, THEO, VALERI

While the Rangers will have to wait until a week from Monday before they can officially begin negotiations with Kevin Lowe in order to bring him here as their head...

MCGOVERN GOIN' TO PEBBLE

BUICK NOTES Jim McGovern, of Oradell, N.J., led a group of 20 golfers into the U.S. Open after yesterday's completion of play at sectional qualifying, which had been suspended by...

GOLDEN BOY PLANS ALL-OUT ATTACK

Oscar De La Hoya says things have changed since he lost a decision to Felix Trinidad last September. His words, however, haven't changed much. De La Hoya, on a conference...

DEVILS DARE TO BE GREAT

Only the elite of the elite win Stanley Cups this way any more - the way the Devils can tonight. Only dynasties beginning their domination have beaten the defending champions...

BRANCA GOES TO BAT

Imagine once being able to hit a ball 500 feet to the adulation of a crowd, but now not being able to manage a single day sober. Imagine once being...

THANKFULLY, NYRA WON'T GO TO NEW DRAWING BORED

ANALYSISTHIS year's Belmont Stakes doesn't have the Kentucky Derby winner, Fusaichi Pegasus. It doesn't have the Preakness winner, Red Bullet. But yesterday morning the Belmont had one thing the Derby...

STEVENS, NOT BRODEUR, DESERVES MVP AWARD

THEY will come in tonight attempting to become just the third team in 19 years to win an elimination game in the Finals and if they do, if the Stars...

IN NEW POST SPORTS WEEK: DOC'S DOWNFALL

Former Met teammate Keith Hernandez thinks Dwight Gooden could have been one of the best pitchers ever had he stayed clean, New York Post Sports Week reports in this week's...

BROADWAY COMES TO BELMONT

Members of the casts of five Broadway shows will be on hand at Belmont Park tomorrow to perform selections from their respective productions. Racing fans can enjoy selections from "Annie...

FRUSTRATION TAKES TOLL ON HULL

IRVING, Texas - He was hockey's answer to Charles Barkley, always candid and outspoken, bursting with more quotes than Bartlett could ever provide. Remember how only a few years ago...

DUVAL: IT'S WINNING TIME - SEES BUICK AND U.S. OPEN AS CHANCES TO END DROUGHT

David Duval has made enough money already this season to live comfortably for more than a few years. Entering today's opening round of the Buick Classic at the Westchester Country...

CONE GETS AMAZIN' NEWS: STRUGGLIN' STARTER TO STAY IN ROTATION, HURL VS. METS

MONTREAL - David Cone emerged from a 12-minute meeting with Joe Torre and Mel Stottlemyre late yesterday afternoon and maybe for the first time in his life, had nothing to...

THIS CUP'S FOR DEVIL FANS

AS the Devils just go to show you once every five years, if it's not one thing while they are winning the championship, it's another. In 1995, the Stanley Cup...

JOE STICKS WITH CONE FOR SUNDAY

YANKEE NOTES MONTREAL - Joe Torre divulged yesterday that David Cone will start against the Mets, his former team, in the finale of a three-game Subway Series at Yankee Stadium....

FRIEND SAYS JAYSON'S ALL DONE

What was said publicly concerning Jayson Williams' Nets career was ominous enough and gave little hope that he will play in 2000-01. But what was said privately was even worse...

BRING ON THE METS ; YANKS SWIPE 5 BASES AS DUQUE DIPS EXPOS

Yankees 7 Expos 2 MONTREAL - Is it safe to say the Yankees are ready to launch the type of run they have used to win two straight AL East...