June 9, 2000

VANGUARD IS SUED FOR USING S&P 500 INDEX

McGraw-Hill filed a lawsuit against Vanguard Group yesterday to keep the mutual fund giant from launching its new Vipers exchange-traded funds. On behalf of its Standard & Poor's unit, McGraw-Hill...

ENERGY COSTS COULD PUSH FED TO RAISE RATES

IS the government ready to admit that energy prices have risen sharply? That is the most important question for investors today, when the latest producer inflation number is disclosed, and...

SUIT COULD SHUT DOWN VANGUARD'S S&P INDEX MUTUAL FUNDS

Vanguard Group has been hit with a lawsuit that could put its blockbuster S&P index funds in peril of being shut down. McGraw-Hill filed suit yesterday to keep Vanguard from...

P&G SACKS CEO, SOCKS DOW

Procter & Gamble cleaned house yesterday, firing its top executive after a year and a half of disappointing profits and a 50-percent drop in its stock price. The maker of...

TISHMAN SET TO BUILD WESTIN IN TIMES SQ.

They don't call it the "Crossroads of the World" for nothing. Climaxing a hard-fought campaign to nail down $180 million in financing for its dramatic new Westin New York Hotel...

TRUMP'S NEW SQUEEZE - MAY NEED A NEW PARTNER IN GM BUILDING

Donald Trump may have to find another partner for the General Motors building or cough up the cash to buy the rest on his own. Struggling Conseco is looking to...

STICKING WITH BILL - HEAD HUNTERS CAN'T HOOK M'SOFT TECHIES

Is this Redmond - or Waco? The Feds may be circling, but the Microsoftians were standing by their man yesterday. Some employees are looking for the door. But recruiters in...

JULIO JR. WANTS OUT - IGLESIAS, EPIC FIGHT OVER ALBUM RELEASE

Like his brother Enrique, Julio Iglesias Jr. wants to prove he can sing. And he'll fight to prove it. Enrique Iglesias silenced Howard Stern by showing up at his show...

INDUSTRY STANDARD ADDS NEW MAG

Dot-com companies are looking shaky, but the magazines that herald the Internet economy are still expanding. Superheated ad pages are behind the surge. In the latest move, The Industry Standard,...

HEY GATES, LOOK WHAT MCNEALY'S DOING

As Microsoft is being hacked in half, McNealy has announced that his company is integrating its applications, operating system and hardware products. As chief critic of Microsoft, which got in...

TINA'S SEXGATE BOOK MAY GET AX

Tina Brown's Talk/Miramax Books was under increased pressure today to cancel a book by controversial ex-cop-turned-journalist John Connolly that delves into the sex lives of investigators for Sexgate prosecutor Kenneth...

JON BON JERSEY - HE'S A ROCK STAR. HE'S A MOVIE STAR. BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY, JON BON JOVI JUST WANTS TO GET BACK HOME

IN ITS 17 years of existence, the band Bon Jovi has managed to selling an astonishing 80 million albums. But just as remarkable is the success that the leader of...

MORE OR LESS, IT'S STILL BARYSHNIKOV DANCING

MIKHAIL Baryshnikov in his early 50s is in many ways remarkably like Mikhail Baryshnikov was in his early 20s. When I first saw him in 1967, totally unknown but already...

'GONE' AND FORGETTABLE

'GONE in 60 Seconds" is Hollywood's latest trip back to the future.It revisits the heyday of car-chase movies - the 1970s and 1980s - as enthusiastically as "U-571" introduced young...

WILL'S LABOR'S 'LOST'

FROM Julie Taymor's brilliant "Titus" to Michael Almereyda's gimmicky but leaden "Hamlet," this has been a year of ambitious Shakespeare movie adaptations. Kenneth Branagh's version of the early comedy "Love's...

'RAPE' RATING IN FRANCE MAY OPEN DOOR TO U.S.

'RAPE Me" - a sexually explicit road flick that's been called an X-rated "Thelma & Louise" - will be playing in French cinemas this month complete and uncut, thanks to...

RAVE ABOUT 'GROOVE' AND THE TECHNO SCENE

GROOVE 1/2 This enjoyable and occasionally exhilarating attempt to remake "American Graffiti" for the techno/chemical generation contains too many weak performances and predictable lines to succeed, but it's probably the...

TAKING IT TO THE STREET

SOME of the pimps interviewed in "American Pimp," the amusingly flippant foray into documentary filmmaking by brothers Albert and Allen Hughes, are so absurdly stereotypical, with their over-the-top clothes and...

POWERFUL 'SUNSHINE' MORE THAN FIENNES

'SUNSHINE, " a three-hour saga from Istvan Szabo, the Oscar-winning Hungarian director of "Mephisto" and "Colonel Redl," should really have been a miniseries - though its sex, nudity and one...

THE STARR REPORT

Trading a Barb? It's contract time for Barbara Walters, and rumors are flying regarding her future at ABC. Despite all the hand-wringing - and Walters' reported dissatisfaction at not having...

ONLY (GAY) MAN ON THE ISLAND? ...OR IS 'SURVIVOR' THE NEW 'WILL & GRACE?'

'SURVIVOR" has dethroned "Will & Grace" as the funniest show on TV about homosexuality. The CBS summer series wrested the title away a few minutes into its second episode Wednesday...

'SURVIVOR' THE FITTEST IN FACE-OFF WITH REGIS

THE island castaways of "Survivor" have overtaken "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" as America's most popular show. Wednesday night's "Survivor" steamrolled "Millionaire" in head-to-head competition - marking a rare...

LAUGHS TO BANK ON

DAME Edna rules! The mauve-haired Australian superstar has proved to be the biggest box-office draw on Broadway this year. Her one-woman show, "Dame Edna: The Royal Tour," has racked up...

WHO KNEW A MOVIE COULD SINK THIS LOW... A HOLE LOTTA %&#!!

"On Hostile Ground" Sunday on 8 p.m. on TBS GUESS the movie and win over $1,000,000: Young people on floats are in danger of being swallowed whole - but the...

NOW THE 'EARLY SHOW'S' TOO LOUD

THE city has been ordered to measure how loud outdoor music performances staged by CBS' "Early Show" are - because a the posh Sherry-Netherlander Hotel says the early-morning shows are...

GREEK ASSASSINS SLAY BRIT DIPLOMAT

Two Greek terrorists on a motorcycle assassinated a British diplomat yesterday in a drive-by shooting during Athens' morning rush hour. The duo, suspected members of an elusive guerrilla group called...

BARAK EVICTS JEWISH SETTLERS

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak yesterday wrestled with his worst political crisis while taking steps to calm the Palestinians on the eve of next week's peace talks in the United...

'RARE' WHALE POSES PUZZLE IN ROCKAWAY

The body of a baby pygmy sperm whale washed up on the beach in Far Rockaway yesterday, surprising marine-life experts who say the species is rarely, if ever, seen in...

BUS KILLS WOMAN JUST BLOCKS FROM TOUR TRAGEDY

A woman was pinned under a private bus and killed in Midtown last night, cops said - the second bus fatality in the neighborhood in three weeks. The tragic accident...

BX. COPS LEFT SCENE WHERE MAN LAY DYING

A Bronx man was found murdered in his apartment some 16 hours after cops had banged on his door in response to a report he was in trouble - and...

SUIT: 'MILLIONAIRE' DEAF TO DISABLED

A hearing-impaired schoolteacher is suing TV's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," claiming the hit quiz show has turned a deaf ear on his plea to compete. Peter F. Liberti...

NICOLE'S SEETHING SIS - BLASTS O.J. ON LIVE TV - HE CALLS SHOW TO GIVE HIS VERSION OF LIE TEST

O.J. Simpson and his slain wife's sister traded bitter accusations on live TV yesterday - with Denise Brown calling the disgraced grid great a murderer and a "pig." The stunning,...

ROCKER MERELY A MINOR CELEB - BACKS OFF BLUFF, ACCEPTS DEMOTION

Major-league loudmouth John Rocker reported to the minors yesterday - carrying his own bag, bunking at the Holiday Inn and facing a curious crowd of 6,000 fans. Backing down from...

LAZIO MADE A DIFFERENCE - HIS HOUSING REFORMS MEAN BETTER LIVES FOR 200,000 NEW YORKERS

HILLARY Clinton says she wants the Senate campaign to be about issues, not personalities. But it may not do her much good. Consider one issue of particular moment in New...

DISFIGURED KIDS WIN BATTLE VS. ADVERSITY

DON'T be frightened to look at the face of 14-year-old Denise Lehane - she has been looking at that face in the mirror since she was 9 months old. Denise...

KID'S BARNEY BOOK IS 'BOOBY'-TRAPPED

A Long Island mother of four is purple with rage after her daughter found an erotic photograph and dirty words in a book featuring Barney the dinosaur. "Mommy, how come...

TEEN SOBS FOR BABY SHE THREW IN RIVER

A New Jersey teen accused of throwing her 16-month-old child off a bridge showed her remorse by crying when told his body was found tangled in debris in the Passaic...

GOTTI IN-LAW'S BAIL DEAL SHOT DOWN

A Brooklyn federal judge has overturned an $18 million bail deal for Gotti kin Carmine Agnello, saying the reputed Gambino crime family soldier can't be trusted outside a prison cell....

GOV GOING ALL OUT FOR RICK - AS HE NEVER DID FOR RUDY

Gov. Pataki is helping Rick Lazio's campaign - and looking to control it - in a way he never did when Mayor Giuliani was the Republican candidate for Senate, party...

CITY, STATE PROBE PATIENT DEATH AT ABORTION CLINIC

City and state officials are investigating the mysterious death of a 26-year-old woman shortly after she had an abortion at a Brooklyn clinic, The Post has learned. Nicey Washington went...

BRAVE SHRINK SAYS HIGH-STRUNG HURLER WILL BE BACK

John Rocker will stick it out in baseball and be back in the major leagues - if he can get a grip on his emotions and his pitches, the Atlanta...

EGAN LEADS ST. PAT'S FUNERAL FOR EX-TREASURY SEC'Y

Archbishop-designate Edward Egan officiated at his first St. Patrick's Cathedral funeral yesterday, a Mass for William Simon that drew mourners from the worlds of government, finance and Hollywood. Egan delivered...

RUFF GOING FOR BOMB TEAMS AT AIRPORTS

Nearly half of the explosives-detecting K-9 teams at the three major New York area airports failed their annual certification test - and the fall guy was the human half. A...

LYING LOUIMA COP FEARED POLICE RETALIATION

A cop who admitted lying about what he saw the night of the Abner Louima torture said he was scared other officers would retaliate if he ratted on his brethren,...

DMX INSISTS HE'S GETTING A BUM RAP

Hip-hop superstar DMX - sought by cops for allegedly leaving the scene of an accident - angrily insisted last night he is "totally innocent." "An important and fundamental premise of...

HILL MAKES GRAB AT BILL'S 'TV GUIDE'

HILLARY Rodham Clinton's campaign has turned to one of her husband's most trusted television image-makers. Sheehan and Associates, a nationally recognized firm, boasts it has "coached" more presidents, vice presidents,...

LET'S SEE IF ATLANTA'S CASTAWAY CAN SURVIVE

THE new CBS hit show "Survivor" is kind of a buff version of the No. 7 train to Queens. So John Rocker should be signed up immediately to join the...

DOC RE-BUTTS DANCER - ATT'Y: SUPERIOR POSTERIOR IN PIC

Jurors in the case of a go-go dancer vs. the plastic surgeon who used breast implants for her butt-enlargement surgery should read between the tan lines, the doctor's lawyer suggested...

'CELIBATE' SINEAD IS OUT OF THE CLOSET

Pop star Sinead O'Connor - who created a sensation when she became a priest and gave up sex last year - has dropped a brand-new bombshell, confessing: "I'm a lesbian."...

DORISMONDS: NO REV. AL? NO RUDY

The family of police shooting victim Patrick Dorismond said Mayor Giuliani can forget a meeting unless he agrees to include their lawyer and the Rev. Al Sharpton. "We stand firm...

MET & YANK FANS TRAIN THEIR SIGHTS ON SUBWAY SERIES

Fasten your seat belts. The Subway Series express streaks off tonight for Yankee Stadium and Game 1 between the city's biggest sports rivals. The Bombers and the Amazin's split the...

KEYBOARD KIDS BOMBARDED BY SEX PREDATORS

LEAH WALDMAN, a 14-year-old Manhattan schoolgirl, says she's getting plenty of unwanted sexual advances. But they're not coming from the wolves at school or on the street. Leah is being...

ALBANY UPS CITY BORROW LIMIT BY $4B

ALBANY - State leaders yesterday reached agreement on a plan to increase the city's borrowing limits - guaranteeing resources for scores of needed projects. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said the...

GORE'S E-MAILS 'LOST' - VITAL YEAR'S WORTH GONE

WASHINGTON - The missing White House e-mail controversy took a new twist yesterday with the revelation that a year's worth of messages from Vice President Gore's office might be lost...

HELLS ANGELS SET TO SUE OVER POLICE RAID

The Hells Angels are suing the city for $5 million, claiming they're bedeviled by the NYPD. The motorcycle club filed a notice of claim, the first step toward a lawsuit,...

RABBI HURT KID OVER MILK: COPS

A Queens rabbi was arrested yesterday for breaking the thumb of a 13-year-old Yeshiva student who had taken too much school milk, police said. Authorities said the incident occurred April...

NICOLE'S SEETHING SIS BLASTS O.J. ON LIVE TV - TRADE BARBS AFTER HE CALLS IN ABOUT LIE TEST

O.J. Simpson and his slain wife's sister traded bitter accusations on live TV yesterday - with Denise Brown calling the disgraced grid great a murderer and a "pig" after he...

BRONX COPS FACING HEAT FOR LEAVING SLAY SCENE

Cops responding to a 911 report that a man was being attacked knocked on the victim's bloodstained door - but left without getting inside. Some 10 hours later, the man...

COPS NAB BLOOD IN TEEN'S SLAYING

An 18-year-old Brooklyn gang member was busted last night for the murder of a Greenville, N.C. honor student. Andre Brown, 20, was arrested by detectives from the Brooklyn North Gang...

DEVILS IN PARTYING MOOD :FEELING FESTIVE WITH CUP SO NEAR

The Devils' captain, the inspiration for their stirring rise from the ashes of a season gone wrong, stood on the threshold of the pinnacle of his career. Last night, he...

ROBINSON'S HOOTIN' AND HOLLERIN' PUSHED THE DEVILS' BUTTONS

THE HOCKEY Hall of Fame can have it now, because Larry Robinson never planned on using it and knows he's probably in trouble if he ever has to again. Besides,...

ANTICIPATION MOUNTS FOR MAGIC MOMENT

THERE'S something unique about a potential Cup-clinching game played on home ice. It's the anticipation. It's the noise. From the moment the puck is dropped, almost without pause, an undercurrent...

SUBWAY BATTLE LIKE STARING INTO A MIRROR

IT'S finals week across the country, so why not try your hand on a one-question final exam in preparation for the Subway Series. Name the major league baseball team that:...

STARS STAY CONFIDENT

He could feel its aura. With the Stars facing elimination last night in Game 5, Mike Modano was well aware that the Stanley Cup would be in the Meadowlands Arena...

NUNNALLY HEADING TO JAPAN

MET NOTES In some ways, one could understand Jon Nunnally's frustration, but on another level, Nunnally was remiss to think this turn of events wasn't possible. The Mets' former reserve...

LOST LETTERS TO SOUNDOFF

TIME for another installment of "Letters to Soundoff We've Never Received." Dear Soundoff: Red marks around my neck? What marks? Oh, these? They're nothing. Must've cut myself shaving.Myles BrandOffice of...

PHILLIPS STEPS UP FOR LIBERTY

In the absence of Rebecca Lobo, who missed all of last year and remains on the injured list, free agent Tari Phillips has stepped in and given the Liberty an...

THIRD JEWEL REAL BAFFLER ; BUT NO-STAR CLASSIC OFFERS A CHANCE TO SCORE AT WINDOWS

IF YOU have trouble making heads or tails of tomorrow's Belmont Stakes, join a line that stretches from Belmont Park to Bay Meadows. The 132nd running of one of the...

YA GOTTA HACK SHAQ ; PACERS LET O'NEAL GET AWAY WITH MURDER

LOS ANGELES - Excuse me, but didn't any of the Pacers coaches watch the seven-game Sumo Series between the Blazers and the Lakers? What were they thinking about going into...

IT'S WITH ABILITY IN EASY FASHION

With Ability broke sharply and was never seriously threatened as she drew off to a seven-length victory over Subito to win the $80,150 Fashion Stakes at Belmont yesterday. Ridden by...

LOVE LIKES TO KEEP PLAYING

CLASSIC NOTEBOOK Because of the Jack Nicklaus influence, many golfers have taken the week off prior to playing a major. Tiger Woods still subscribes to that strategy. But more players...

GO FOR THE 'GLOBAL' GOODIE ; LONGSHOT IS PRIMED FOR BELMONT STUNNER

In the last 20 years, just four favorites have won the Belmont Stakes. That trend will continue tomorrow when a big longshot, Globalize, scoots to the lead on the far...

'NEXT RUFFIAN' AIMS TO REMAIN PERFECT

A quarter-century ago, the mighty Ruffian kicked off her eventual sweep of New York's filly triple crown, now called the Triple Tiara, with an 81/4-length romp in the Acorn Stakes...

METS-YANKS: LET THE BATTLE BEGIN: SERIES HAS APPLE SIZZLIN'

Yo, New York baseball fans, these three are for you. Listen long enough to the mouths wearing Yankee and Met uniforms and you get the impression the Subway Series is...

METS-YANKS: LET THE BATTLE BEGIN - THEY'RE RIGHT ON SCHEDULE

BY raising standards, the Mets and Yankees have lowered tolerance. They have become so good that there is no acceptance of them being bad - ever. The first third of...

JAPANESE JOCK INVADES N.Y.

The New York jockey colony will get an exciting new addition when 29-year-old Masayoshi Ebina, one of the top guns in Japan, begins riding here June 27. Ebina, who rides...

OFFENSE CLEANS UP FOR MOUNT

H.S. BASEBALL The Mount 11 CTK 8 Throughout the playoffs, Mount St. Michael's pitching allowed it to advance. Yesterday, the Mountaineers finally let their bats do the talking. "We had...

PAULSON PICKS UP VALUABLE STROKE

Dennis Paulson came within one stroke of his first PGA Tour win last year, losing the Buick Classic in a one-hole playoff to Duffy Waldorf. Paulson might have bought himself...

DAVIS STAYS COOL & CALM

Davis Love III is tied for second after one round of the Buick Classic at the Westchester Country Club. Big deal. Try to excite him about that and you'll have...

SUMMERTIME & FISHIN'S EASY

THE bite continues. This season has really been amazing, with almost every summer species of gamefish providing consistently good fishing along the North and South Shores of Long Island. The...

SORE-ARMED KNOBBY UNSURE IF HE CAN GO

YANKEE NOTES The Yankees are listing leadoff hitter and second baseman Chuck Knoblauch as day to day after an MRI on his left forearm yesterday revealed an inflammation that was...

STADIUM START NOSTALGIC FOR LEITER

The local story is almost too perfect. Growing up in Bayville, N.J., Al Leiter wore orange and blue. He was a Met fan, who would one day be a major...

TYNER BRACES FOR THE BRONX

He thinks he knows, but he also knows that he really doesn't know all there is about what he's about to experience, starting tonight and continuing through the weekend. Jason...

METS, YANKS SPITTING IMAGES

IT'S finals week across the country, so why not try your hand on a one-question final exam in preparation for the Subway Series. Name the major league baseball team that:...

LOWE TO DECIDE TODAY

Kevin Lowe will make a decision today whether to accept a revised offer he received yesterday to succeed Glen Sather as Oiler GM, or to officially leave the Edmonton organization,...

DEVILS' LAUGHTER DIES AT 1:11 IN THE MOURNING

ALL THE laughter died in sorrow. It was 1:11 in the morning and 6:21 of the third overtime period. The party that was just waiting to explode would not, not...

PATIENCE VIRTUE FOR FALLING STARS

THE Stars were in no hurry. Not to create chances, to score goals. Especially not to begin summer. "We feel like if we can make them have to wait longer...

DEVILS STAR STRUCK ; DALLAS JOLTS JERSEY IN THREE-OT THRILLER

3 OVERTIMES Stars 1 Devils 0 The Devil throats that crave Cup champagne have turned dry and tight, from both exhaustion and the trouble they face. Now the comeback his-...

DALLAS REMEDY: STEADY EDDIE

This time, Ed Belfour had the right prescription. In 106 minutes and 21 seconds of flawless goaltending last night, Belfour not only turned away 48 shots, he turned away a...