June 21, 2000
THE RUMOR WAS RIGHT - BASS IS ON PROWL FOR HOTEL CATCH
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amSOMETIMES rumors do turn out to be true. Last week this column reported - as an afterthought, I must admit - that the stocks of Hilton and Starwood hotel chains...
NEWS CORP.'S SKY GLOBAL TAKES FLIGHT
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amNews Corporation yesterday unveiled long-expected plans to spin off its worldwide satellite operations into a new publicly-traded company to be called Sky Global Networks Inc. An initial public offering for...
GUCCI SAYS NO TO ARNAULT
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amBernard Arnault has two new headaches: the collapse of talks that would have given him a graceful exit from Gucci and the abrupt cancellation of the IPO for his Internet...
PARIS POLICE PROBE PINAULT PAPER CAPER
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amFrench police reportedly found employees shredding documents yesterday when they searched the Paris offices of Pinault-Printemps-Redoute and the Pinault-owned holding company, Artemis. The police were investigating Lafa, a wood-and-furniture company...
ALLIANCE PAYS TOTAL $3.5B FOR BERNSTEIN
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amAlliance Capital, a mutual fund firm, is buying Sanford C. Bernstein Inc. for $3.5 billion. The deal, which was announced after the closing bell yesterday, will create a money management...
BT SAYS TO ISP-AY UP - PHONE CO. CLAIMS 1977 PATENT FOR HYPERLINKS
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amDon't click that link! British Telecom is claiming ownership of the humble hyperlink, bedrock of the World Wide Web - and it wants you to pay. BT has asked Scipher...
FRENCH KISS-OFF FOR GIANT MERGER - SEAGRAM, VIVENDI SINK UNDER PRESSURE
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amWall Street and Europe gave a thumbs-down yesterday to French media conglomerate Vivendi's deal to swallow Seagram. Investors dumped shares of Seagram and the two French companies involved in the...
DEAL LEAVES FATE OF MEYER, DILLER UNCERTAIN
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amMon Dieu! Ze French are coming to Hollywood and leaving the future of Seagram's entertainment honchos up in the air. At a press conference yesterday detailing the ins and outs...
GRUNER + JAHR INKS INC. DEAL
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amThe auction for Inc. magazine officially ended yesterday, with Bertelsmann's Gruner + Jahr Publishing besting Time Inc. for the magazine known as the bible of small business. G+J bought the...
DOT-COM-OTION AT BARNEYS AS TOP SUITS SKIP
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amIn a blow to CEO Allen Questrom's comeback plans for Barneys, four of the store's top buyers are leaving to join a dot-com. Longtime Chelsea Passage head Lisa Gorevitz, menswear...
BACK FROM THE DEAD WITH A BOOK
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amDAVID Blaine, the death-defying magician who was buried alive for seven days in a Plexiglas coffin, is auctioning off the rights to his first book, "Mysterious Stranger." Blaine, who likes...
LESCURE READY FOR HIS CLOSE-UP
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amWill Hollywood start switching to French flicks? The newest studio king in Tinseltown is Pierre Lescure, a Parisian-based television executive who'll oversee Universal Studios, while his company holds a giant...
JUSTICE MIGHT SOON 'RAIN' SUPREME OVER MICROSOFT
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amA reluctant Bill Gates could soon be going all the way - to the Supreme Court. The federal judge in charge of the Microsoft antitrust trial, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson,...
THE RUMOR WAS RIGHT: BASS IS ON PROWL FOR HOTEL CATCH
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amSOMETIMES rumors do turn out to be true. Last week this column reported - as an afterthought, I must admit - that the stocks of Hilton and Starwood hotel chains...
DOW SINKS ON PROFITS WORRY, TECHS GAIN
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amBlue-chip stocks took a beating yesterday after investors became worried that profits wouldn't be as good as expected. The fears became real for investors in Honeywell and General Motors, both...
SULTRY ESCA-PADE
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amESCA ½ 402 W. 43RD ST. (AT NINTH AVENUE) (212) 564-7272 'A GREAT meal is like great sex," my friend Lady X remarked at the start of dinner at Mario...
NOTHING NEW IN THIS BOY'S BARRIO
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amAS made-on-a-shoestring movies made in the South Bronx go, this coming-of-age effort is neither the best nor the worst. Val Lik, a 21-year-old émigré, has overextended himself by not only...
LOU HITS HIGH NOTE
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amA COUPLE of songs into his Beacon Theatre show, Lou Reed sang his jangly, impressive search for satisfaction song called "Modern Dance." It was sexy as its melody swayed and...
SPARKLING FORTH WITH MORE BANG FOR THE BUCK
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amWHEN we were kids, we lit up sparklers on the Fourth of July.Now that we're adults we get our sparklers out of a bottle and they light us up. Nearly...
CITY SINKS BOATHOUSE RESTAURANT MANAGERS
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amTHE proprietors of the idyllic Park View at the Boathouse restaurant in Central Park have lost out on a chance to renew their lease with the city, The Post has...
GLOVER'S HACK ACT TO SHOWTIME
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amACTOR Danny Glover, who blasted city cabbies last year for refusing to pick up African-Americans, is now in the driver seat himself. Glover, a one-time cabbie in San Francisco, is...
BASQUE IN OLIVA'S STYLE
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amOLIVA 161 E. HOUSTON ST. (AT ALLEN STREET) (212) 228-4143 HERE'S a recipe for success from the creators of Oliva: Take one Spaniard and one Belgian - co-owners Eduardo Fontan...
COPS HIT THE ROAD FOR A GOOD CAUSE
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amTHE espresso cups will be shaking in Little Italy tonight as more than 2,000 bikers roar into town. High atop those hogs are a bunch of cops with a cause:...
THE STARR REPORT
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amAttorneys at boreDavid Letterman reportedly has banned attorneys from his audience - because they're too boring. The New York Observer says that for years, the city's top law firms secured...
GET IN 'LINE' FOR AIDS BENEFIT
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amOK theater fans, this one won't be here for almost a year, but you can bet that once the New York Times gets around to making the "official" announcement, you...
NEW BLOOD ON 'BUFFY'
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amYOUNG actresses are lining up for a shot at playing a "little sister" on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." A new character named Dawn, aged between 10 and 15 years old,...
HOW WILL 'SOPRANOS' COPE WITH MONSTER MOM GONE?
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amMOTHER'S Day will never be the same for Tony Soprano. And that's probably a good thing. If you know anything about Tony's relationship with his mom, then Mother's Day must...
A BRIDE MARRIES FOR 'SEX' ...JUST LIKE SHE PROMISED
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amWEDDING bells will be ringing this year on the white-hot HBO show, "Sex and the City." Our photographer grabbed these shots from the the set of "Sex" showing Charlotte (played...
'CHICKEN' DELIGHT
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amCHICKEN RUN ½ With its clever references to the great POW movies, and excellent voicing by the likes of Mel Gibson and Miranda Richardson, this triumph of claymation about hens...
THE PROBLEM WITH CAMPAIGNS TODAY: IT'S NOT THE MONEY
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amTHE Republican U.S. Senate candidate from New Jersey, Bob Franks, thinks he has a winning issue against his Democratic opponent, Jon Corzine: money. Although the point was of little use...
SANCTION THREAT OVER SANCTUARY FOR SLOBBO
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amAny country that offers sanctuary to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic - the Butcher of the Balkans - will face international penalties, a Hague war crimes tribunal spokesman said yesterday. The...
U.S. GETS LESS FOR HEALTH-CARE BUCK
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amThe United States spends the most of any nation on health care - but ranks only 18th for best overall care, the World Health Organization said yesterday. A WHO report...
2 NABBED IN IMMIGRANT HORROR
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amTwo suspects have been arrested in the deaths of 58 Chinese illegal immigrants found in an unventilated truck in the British port of Dover, authorities said yesterday. The truck's driver...
NEW DANGER FOR ULSTER PEACE
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amNorthern Ireland's brittle peace is in new danger after the province's largest pro-British paramilitary group threatened to end its six-year ceasefire. The outlawed Ulster Freedom Fighters said yesterday they would...
FUHRMAN WILL ADVISE ON O.J. TV MINISERIES
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amTainted cop Mark Fuhrman has been hired as a "crime-scene consultant" for a CBS miniseries chronicling O.J. Simpson's 1994 double-murder trial. "American Tragedy," based on Lawrence Schiller's 1996 best seller,...
RAIN, CHECHEN AMBUSH STALL RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amA Russian soldier was killed and two others wounded in another ambush by Chechen rebels, government officials said yesterday as bad weather plagued Russian efforts to end rebel resistance. Muslim...
JUDGE DEALS A BREAK TO KING OF CLUBS
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amNightlife impresario Peter Gatien's Tunnel dance club should have its liquor license restored, a Manhattan judge has ruled. Administrative Law Judge Akiva Tessler decided that the State Liquor Authority failed...
SHOE PRINCE INDICTED AS A FRAUDULENT HEEL
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amShoe designer Steve Madden was sporting a stylish pair of federal indictments yesterday after prosecutors in Manhattan and Brooklyn charged him with securities fraud and money laundering. "He was the...
LOBBYISTS SWEEP UP BIG BUCKS - $12.7M SPENT TRYING TO INFLUENCE THE CITY
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amThe city's lobbyists reported another banner year in 1999, raking in a record $12.7 million - two years after Mayor Giuliani declared it was a waste of money to hire...
FONDA: I'LL FOREVER BE SORRY FOR 'HANOI JANE'
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amJane Fonda has come out begging for forgiveness - once again - for her rabid support of the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. The estranged wife of Ted Turner...
STAR POWER DOESN'T EQUAL BRAIN POWER
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amJANE FONDA wasn't the first Hollywood airhead to attempt to practice politics without appropriate training. And you can bet your Regis Philbin tie that Hanoi Jane won't be the last....
RUDY SPLITS WITH GW BY TARGETING GUN-MAKERS
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amNew York City isn't Texas, Mayor Giuliani declared yesterday, after firing the first salvo at gun manufacturers by hauling them into federal court - a move that's not allowed in...
DAD, RENO URGE COURT: LET ELIAN LEAVE ALREADY!
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Elian Gonzalez's dad and Attorney General Janet Reno yesterday asked a 12-judge appeals court to reject the latest legal maneuver by the boy's Miami relatives, and let Elian...
NET STAR CAUGHT OFF-GUARD AS GUNMAN SWIPES 150G CHAIN
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amNets star Stephon Marbury was robbed of his flashy $150,000 diamond-studded gold necklace by two men - one armed with a gun - after leaving a Manhattan nightclub early yesterday...
JAILED MOM RIPS LOW BAIL FOR L.I. JUDGE WHO SET HERS
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amA Long Island mother accused of shooting her boyfriend says she's rotting in jail because she can't pay the $250,000 bail set months ago by Judge Paul Kowtna - who...
BABY MELTS HEART OF STONE - SHARON & HUBBY ADOPT TEXAS TOT
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amSuperstar actress Sharon Stone - heartbroken over several miscarriages - has adopted the 4-week-old child of a Texas schoolgirl. The sexy blond star and her second hubby, San Francisco newspaperman...
SOME SLACK FOR LOUIMA COPS? - FEDS: HIT 'EM HARD, BUT CUT SOME TIME
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amFederal prosecutors are asking a judge to give the three cops convicted in the second Abner Louima trial only a small break when they're sentenced next week, court papers show....
PREZ NOT BUYING BRIT HOME: WHITE HOUSE
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - President Clinton wants to do a Madonna and set up a second home in Britain when he exits the White House, a British paper claimed yesterday - but...
COUPLE CONQUERS MOUNT DMV
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amALBANY - An upstate couple's love of the Adirondack Mountains turned into a Department of Motor Vehicles story from hell. Lorrie and Jamison Deapo of Liverpool were stunned last month...
SHOEMAN MADDEN FEELS THE FEDS' PINCH
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amTO the teenagers and twenty-somethings who buy his funky platform shoes and spiked heels with the single-minded avarice of Imelda Marcos, Steven Madden is close to being a deity. When...
NUKE DRIVES GONE FOR UP TO 6 MONTHS
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - The lost-and-found Los Alamos nuke-secret computer drives may have been missing for six months - and the FBI is suspicious of scientists at the lab, sources said yesterday....
5 INDICTED IN PARK SPREE AS ANOTHER WALKS - FOR NOW
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amFive suspects in the Central Park outrage were indicted yesterday - but a sixth man was sprung from jail after prosecutors chose not to present a case against him to...
EX-PALS SAY SKAKEL CONFESSED - TESTIFY KENNEDY KIN BOASTED ABOUT SLAY
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amSTAMFORD, Conn. - A former classmate of Michael Skakel testified yesterday that the Kennedy nephew charged with killing Martha Moxley bragged, "I'm gonna get away with murder - I'm a...
LAZIO DENIES SEEKING OK TO BE PARTY POOPER
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Rep. Rick Lazio yesterday denied he'd asked for the OK to vote against the GOP's budget to help in his Senate race against Hillary Clinton - although he...
LATEST POLL SHOWS RICK & HILL RUNNING DEAD EVEN
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amA new poll showing Rick Lazio and Hillary Rodham Clinton in a dead heat was released yesterday - as the Senate candidates took opposing stands on marching in Manhattan's Gay...
GORE MAKES WRONG 'MOVE' ON TENANTS
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Vice President Al Gore, under fire from a poor Tennessee woman who rents a run-down house on his 70-acre estate, yesterday mistakenly claimed the family had moved out....
BUSH: I WON'T STOP EXECUTION UNLESS PARDONS BOARD ASKS
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amWASHINGTON - Texas Gov. George W. Bush is under pressure to stop tomorrow's execution of convicted killer Gary Graham, but aides say he'll step in only if the state pardons...
JERSEY RABBI FACING DEATH IN WIFE-SLAY
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amA New Jersey rabbi, accused of killing his wife so he could pursue an affair with another woman, was indicted yesterday on death-penalty murder charges. Rabbi Fred Neulander is accused...
ROCKER: I'LL BE ON NO. 7
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amHey, who's that foul-mouthed guy in a Braves cap fighting all the purple-haired kids and foreigners for a seat on the No. 7 train? John Rocker, that's who! The New...
50 HURT AS B'KLYN SUBWAY TRAIN DERAILS
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amThree cars of a subway train jumped the tracks in downtown Brooklyn last night, injuring 50 people and disrupting service throughout the borough. Two passengers were seriously hurt in the...
LOBBYISTS $CORE BIG IN BID TO WOO CITY
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amCity lobbyists reported another banner year in 1999, raking in a record $12.7 million - two years after Mayor Giuliani declared it was a waste of money to hire a...
BLOOD, BROKEN GLASS & SCREAMS IN THE DARK
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amDarkened subway cars filled with screams as passengers were thrown to the floor, windows burst, and bloodied straphangers rushed to help one another in last night's B-train horror. "The train...
SCORES HURT AS B TRAIN DERAILS
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amA subway train derailed in Brooklyn last night, injuring up to 84 people and disrupting service throughout the borough. It was unclear early today how the accident would affect rush...
EGAN GOES TO WORK ON PRIEST SHORTAGE
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amAn "upbeat" Archbishop Edward Egan began the first day on his new job yesterday by holding more than three hours of talks with top aides. Concerns about the shortage of...
DELTA CLEARED IN DRUG-RAPE CASE
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amA Delta Air Lines flight attendant who claims she was drugged and raped by a co-worker can't seek damages from her bosses, a Brooklyn federal judge ruled yesterday. Judge Jack...
NETS' STAR GUARD PICKED CLEAN: MARBURY IS ROBBED OF 150G NECKLACE
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amNets star Stephon Marbury was robbed of his flashy $150,000 diamond-studded gold necklace by two men - one armed with a gun - after leaving a Manhattan nightclub early yesterday...
L.A. BIGS BACK COPS IN WAKE OF LAKER RIOT
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amLOS ANGELES - Angry city officials defended their cops yesterday - the morning after roving mobs trashed downtown under the noses of hundreds of LAPD officers. Still fuming from violence...
RUDY: WE CAN'T PLAY AROUND
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amMayor Giuliani yesterday said the riots in Los Angeles prove the need for stationing cops in riot gear at big games in New York. "Every major sporting event that we...
METROS SET FOR UNITED
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amIt wasn't too long ago that the MetroStars were D.C. United's whipping boys. Now, it's the MetroStars' turn. The 'Stars (7-7-0, 21 pts.) look to make it three wins in...
IT'S TIME METS MAKE MOVE TO FIRST CLASS
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amTHIS is the time for the Mets. It is no longer good enough to be the apprentice, no longer good enough to be the other team in New York and...
KYLE COULD BE NEXT RANGER COACH
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amKevin Lowe, a lock for the job had he wanted it, is staying in Edmonton. So, too, is Craig MacTavish. There's John Paddock, who surely wants the assignment, but if...
N.J. HUNTERS ON DEER BINGE
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amTHE application period for New Jersey's deer permits not only was extended, but the number of permits issued almost doubled in some cases, according to the state's Division of Fish...
NEW OWNERS WANT DEVILS TO KEEP LOU
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amWith this weekend's draft as an obvious target for making an impact with news, the Devils' new owners are believed to be closing in on convincing Lou Lamoriello to stay...
ISLES' OFFICIAL NEW OWNERS VOW TO PAY FOR TALENT
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amThe Islanders are off food stamps. That became official yesterday when the NHL Board of Governors unanimously approved the recent purchase of the club by Long Islanders Charles Wang and...
KINGS OPEN AT ST. JOHN'S
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amFor these young Blue Jays' prospects, call it a baseball internship in New York City. The Queens Kings, currently the Blue Jays' New York-Penn League (short-season Single A) affiliate, play...
KEY FOR LIBERTY? IT'S CRYSTAL CLEAR
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amAs a former NBA head coach, the Liberty's Richie Adubato likes to compare many of his current players to those in the NBA. To Adubato, forward Crystal Robinson is a...
CLASSIC LOOK AT MOE BERG, CATCHER & SPY
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amHe arrived in Zurich in December of 1944 concealing a handgun, a suicide pill and a secret mission. He was to determine, after listening to a lecture by Werner Heisenberg,...
LAKERS ARE NOT FIRE PROOF
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amLOS ANGELES - Following the Lakers' first NBA (that's Nothing But Arson) title in 12 model years, I found myself - along with various members of the Fortune 500 -...
IN THE END, PICK CLOSERS
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amIn shooting for today's $43,413 pick 6 carryover at Belmont Park, keep one thing in mind. It was obvious over the last weekend that the early lead was not the...
NETS NEED NEW TRAINER
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amThe Nets' off-season makeover continued yesterday as Ted Arzonico, the head trainer for the past eight years and a member of the organization for 11 years, resigned his position "to...
STRAWBERRY'S NEW KID A JEWEL
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amBOSTON -There hasn't been a whole lot for Darryl Strawberry to smile about this year. He failed a drug test in January and was suspended from baseball for a year...
LA POLS BACK COPS ON RIOT RESPONSE
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amAngry Los Angeles city officials defended their cops yesterday - the morning after roving mobs trashed downtown under the noses of hundreds of LAPD officers. Still fuming from violence that...
TIME FOR METS TO STEP IT UP
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amTHIS IS the time for the Mets. It is no longer good enough to be the apprentice, no longer good enough to be the second team in New York and...
SCHILLING: I LOVE N.Y. ; CURT WOULD OK TRADE TO METS, YANKS
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amIf the Yankees or Mets are looking to add an All-Star pitcher to their respective starting rotations - and they both should be - they need look no further than...
KNOBBY RIDIN' OUT THE STORM
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amBOSTON - The hecklers here are not the least bit bashful, especially when the Yankees are in town. They arrive early, their tongues sharpened and ready for battle, their spirits...
HAMPTON SHRUGS OFF NO-WIN NIGHT
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amLast night, Mike Hampton did what he's done for the past month: pitch well enough to earn a win, but somehow not get the victory. He had his last two...
PETTITTE & POWER: ANDY GEM PLUS THREE YANK HRS TOP PEDRO
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amYankees 3 Red Sox 0 BOSTON - Measured against the circumstances, the Yankees delivered their best performance of the season last night at Fenway Park. Make no mistake, the task...
TRADE WINDS & BOSS BLOW INTO BOSTON
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amYANKEE NOTES BOSTON - With George Steinbrenner on hand to watch his Bombers beat the Red Sox 3-0 at Fenway Park last night, Yankee trade speculation swirled. And the latest...
DL TRIP? KNOBBY WOULDN'T THROW FIT
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amBOSTON - One day after the Red Sox put Troy O'Leary on the disabled list due to personal reasons caused by a nasty divorce, Chuck Knoblauch was asked if his...
BOMBERS DEAL LEYRITZ TO DODGERS FOR THE VIZ
June 21, 2000 | 4:00amBOSTON - Jim Leyritz's second tour of duty with the Yankees ended late last night when the seldom-used veteran utilityman was dealt to the Dodgers for infielder Jose Vizcaino -...