October 3, 2000

FINANCIALLY CHALLENGED DOT-COMS GET HELPING HAND

Christmas is coming, and the burn rate's getting hot, please put a penny in the dot-com pot ... One company seeing an opportunity in the stricken e-commerce sector is search...

SOFT SHOE, HARD SELL: TROUBLED STEVE MADDEN PUTS EMPIRE ON BLOCK

Steven Madden is sporting a new platform: a possible sale of the company. The hot shoe company, whose founder was indicted on stock fraud and money-laundering charges this year, has...

AOL TO FCC: WHY DOES DISNEY HAVE OUR MAIL?

Disney and AOL-Time Warner are at it again. America Online urged Federal Communications Commission officials to take immediate action against Disney for sending confidential documents about the Internet giant without...

ARNAULT COULD BID FOR ALL OF SOTHEBY'S

Is luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault finally ready to bid for Sotheby's - lock, stock and barrel? Arnault is said to be talking with representatives of Sotheby's board about buying...

TOMMY WAS SMART TO SKIP BRYANT PARK

TOMMY Hilfiger was a no-show at Fashion Week, leading to sniping that he was keeping a low profile and trying to save money because of his struggling business. But while...

WARNACO'S BLUES

Investors took yet another whack at Warnaco stock yesterday, reacting to news that the maker of Calvin Klein jeans and underwear will lose money this year - not profit as...

NAPSTER SEES A RAY OF HOPE

Napster launched the fight for its life yesterday - and got a surprisingly warm reception from a court many thought was packed against it. In a crowded courtroom, judges grilled...

HUNTER BAGS GOOD BIZ IN THE DOT-COM DOMAIN

LIKE any good business breakthrough, the success of Silicon Alley churned up a batch of happy side effects. Think of The Industry Standard, and all the other magazines fattening on...

COPING - WITH CLASS - THIS 'MODEL PATIENT' SUFFERS IN STYLE

ONE NIGHT, Karen Duffy was George Clooney's date at the 1995 Emmy Awards. The next day, she was at her doctor's office with an explosive headache. The pain, it turned...

STARS BROUGHT TOGETHER BY FATE

'SOPRANOS" star Kathrine Narducci and actor Michael Rispoli seem fated to be mated on screen. They play an unhappily married Staten Island couple in "Two Family House," a wonderful romantic...

THE THAIS THAT BIND ; BANGKOK FEST HAS TASTE OF OF NEW YORK

BANGKOK, Thailand - I traveled halfway around the world to a film festival in this Asian city - and what did I find? New Yorkers! The fest is run by...

1,001 WONDERS IN YOUNG VIC'S 'ARABIAN NIGHTS'

IMAGINATION. Sorcery. The magic by which a few properties and costumes, undergoing sudden transformation into, say, the inside of a cave, can snatch us up into the story and carry...

LOUNGE SOUND WITH CLUB BEAT

SAINT Etienne's first single in the U.K. was a cover of Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" mixed with a dance club beat. That was back in 1991,...

TRAVELER'S UPDATE

Hudson hoopla If you're looking for some old-style, outdoor fun, head to the Hudson Valley this weekend. * The Harvest Fair at Montgomery Place in Annandale-on-Hudson celebrates the property's agricultural...

KICK START; 'TITANIC' DIRECTOR LAUNCHES HIS KARATE CUTIE

"Dark Angel" Tonight at 9 on WNYW/Ch. 5 HAVING spent too many hours in Chinatown at the old Sun Sing Theater watching far too many Hong Kong martial arts/sci fi...

THE STARR REPORT

Mathis frames lifein documentary "Judge Mathis" is going cinema verite later this month. The Oct. 27 episode of "Judge Mathis" (noon on Ch. 11) will feature a specially filmed documentary,...

GAMES RATINGS STAY DOWN UNDER

NBC is recovering from a 17-day hangover - the end result of airing the lowest-rated Olympic Games since 1968. The games, which averaged a cumulative 13.8 rating in prime time...

'BUFFY' TEAM HAS BLOOD TIES

EAGLE-eyed viewers might have experienced an eerie sense of deja vu while watching last week's season premiere of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." It could have been that Dracula (Rudolf Martin)...

HERCULESIS LOSTIN SPACE

"Gene Roddenberry'sAndromeda" Saturday night at 7 andSunday night at 1 a.m. on WPIX/Ch. 11 Zero stars IF you loved "Star Trek" and "Star Wars," you'll hate "Andromeda." It's the latest...

'WARNING' A NEW DAWN FOR GREEN DAY

GREEN DAY "Warning" Reprise Records In rock, one of the biggest artistic battles is between intellect and instinct. Older, wiser and a lot more mature, Billie Joe Armstrong's band, Green...

ADWATCH

CANDIDATE: Rick Lazio TITLE: "Bill" LENGTH: 30 seconds. PRODUCER: Mike Murphy AIRING: Statewide, starting Sunday SCRIPT: Jerina: "My lifelong goal was to go to work." Brian: "I've always wanted to...

'DWI' CAR VEERS BACK TO OWNER

The first person to have his car seized under the city's new drunken-driving policy finally got his vehicle back yesterday - but not without nearly being driven crazy first. Pavel...

KID-PSYCH POLL: ADULTS DON'T GET IT

Most adults grossly underestimate the number of kids who suffer from mental problems, a new study shows. In a survey of 923 adults, the National Mental Health Association found that...

DOC'S VANISHED WIFE SMEARED BY LAWYERS IN SLAY-TRIAL OPENING

On Day One of his murder trial, a prominent plastic surgeon wasted no time dirtying up the wife he's been accused of killing - smearing her, through his lawyer's opening...

THUG HOLDS KNIFE TO BABY

A ruthless thief put a knife to an 11-month-old's throat as he robbed the baby's horrified mother in a West Side elevator yesterday, police said. Authorities said the 34-year-old mother...

TEEN DROWNS OFF CONEY I.

A Bronx teen drowned off Coney Island yesterday. Police said the 16-year-old boy was swimming with friends at about 12:20 p.m. when a current pulled him further out into the...

BULLY PULPIT BACKFIRED ON LAZIO

MARGOT HENTOFF, who is voting for Rick Lazio, has a definite impression of his inner nature. "He reminds me of one of those typical weak, wussy dentists from Long Island,"...

CHENEY FIRM TO RETRIEVE KURSK DEAD

Russia has signed a deal with Dick Cheney's former company to help recover the bodies of the 116 sailors lost in the submarine Kursk. The Russian firm that designed the...

LENNON KILLER MAKES BID FOR PAROLE TODAY

The deranged fan who stunned the world when he shot dead John Lennon 20 years ago will ask a state parole board today to set him free. Mark David Chapman...

TOO CUTE TO BE TRUE

THE little old lady was a ringer. Last Wednesday, as Al Gore waxed rhapsodic on Medicare in Altoona, Iowa, 79-year-old Winifred Skinner stepped out of the crowd with a story...

MEETING EGAN A BLESSED EVENT FOR LAZIO

RICK LAZIO enjoyed a private huddle last week with one of the city's most important leaders - Archbishop Edward Egan. Lazio and his wife, Patricia, met with Egan in his...

NEW TOOLS HELP DOCS SPOT TUMORS EARLIER

Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women between 40 and 55 - and the most common form of cancer in America. A new case of breast cancer...

MEDICARE-BOO$T BILL AIMS TO CURE ILL HOSPS

The city's private hospitals - still bleeding from 3-year-old Medicare cuts - would get a $586 million shot in the arm under a bill introduced yesterday in the Senate. Lawmakers...

KID FROM BROOKLYN NOW PLAYS FOR THE ENEMY

Never accuse Rich Aurilia of leaving his heart in San Francisco. The Brooklyn native and star shortstop for the Giants will see more than a few familiar faces cheering him...

WWF BIDS TO ESCAPE AGENCY'S HOLD

The World Wrestling Federation cried foul in court yesterday, charging a Hollywood talent agency with trying to slap an illegal hold on the WWF's new XFL football league money. The...

HUGS & TEARS AS KIN CONSOLE ONE ANOTHER IN B'KLYN SLAYING

In the Brooklyn courtroom, the women were on opposite sides - one who had lost her vivacious social-worker daughter to a coldblooded killer, the other whose son was accused in...

SHOWDOWN SHAM WILL FOLLOW THE SCRIPT

WHAT you will not see during tonight's presidential debate: * There will be absolutely no podium-jumping. No man, under any circumstances, shall move in the direction of his neighbor. Rick...

'SPICEY' KIDNAP TALE A FARCE: BOOK

A scandalous new bio claims Spice Girl Victoria Adams and her British soccer-star hubby, David Beckham, faked the story of their son's attempted kidnap to get Beckham off a speeding...

SCHUMER'S SLICK SOLUTION TO ENERGY CRISIS IS SUE OPEC

OPEC's stranglehold on the U.S. energy market has some elected officials calling for an age-old solution: Drag the cartel of oil-producing nations into court. Sen. Charles Schumer, testifying at a...

THE NO-HAIR CLUB FOR MEN

MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. IT WAS just the way John Capps likes it. It was Saturday night, the climactic finale of his 27th annual Bald-Headed Men of America convention. All the...

BURGLAR LINKED TO QNS. CHURCH '$CAM'

A drug-abusing ex-con has emerged as a key figure in the bizarre case of a retired pastor accused of embezzling up to $2 million from his well-to-do Queens parish, The...

2 TOP RUDY AIDES QUIT

Two key aides to Mayor Giuliani have resigned. Ed Ferguson, the $150,500-a-year chairman and executive director of the Trade Waste Commission, left quietly Friday. So did Claude Millman, the $122,000-a-year...

DIRECTOR WANTS TO SHOOT INTO OUTER SPACE

Oscar-winning "Titanic" director James Cameron - who once proclaimed himself "King of the World" - now wants to be Master of the Universe by traveling into space. Cameron is planning...

RICK RIPS PALESTINIANS, BLASTS BILL OVER MIDEAST

Rick Lazio yesterday blamed Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians for the recent violence in the Middle East - and charged that President Clinton's "silence has been deafening." "I think it's...

N.Y. PROTEST DECRIES MIDEAST 'SAVAGERY'

Chanting "Long live Palestine!" and "God is great!" hundreds of protesters demonstrated outside the Israeli Consulate yesterday - decrying what they called Israel's "savagery" in fighting rioters. "We're horrified," said...

DON'T CONFUSE PRIESTS WITH MONEY MANAGERS

NO MATTER how the Queens church scandal is resolved, we can draw one conclusion: Don't trust your priest or pastor alone to take care of parish money - for his...

KERIK TELLS RECRUITS: BRIDGE COMMUNITY GAP

Mayor Giuliani swore in "the most diverse" class of police recruits in history yesterday - as top cop Bernard Kerik told the wannabe officers they must develop a trusting relationship...

NEW YORK WAGES BATTLE OF BAY - YANKS AND METS GO WEST TO TAKE ON A'S & GIANTS

New Yorkers' wishes for a Subway Series slam head-on tonight with Californians dreaming of a Battle of the Bay. It's New York vs. San Francisco, Atlantic vs. Pacific. Bagels vs....

BASEBALL FANATICS PUTTING THEIR FAITH ON THE BASE-LINE

Big Apple fans are breaking out their lucky talismans in hopes of conjuring the ultimate World Series matchup. "It would be very special," Yankee fan Christian Cafiero, 24, said of...

NO DEBATING IT: TONIGHT IS CRUCIAL

BOSTON - Win tonight's Beantown debate and the odds are pretty good that you win the White House. Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush have barely met -...

SLOBBO STILL DEFIANT AMID CRIPPLING PROTEST STRIKES

A defiant Slobodan Milosevic came out swinging against political opponents who shut down much of his country in a general strike yesterday, denouncing them as Western puppets and warning that...

FIEND HOLDS A KNIFE TO BABY AS HE ROBS MOM

A weeping young mom last night recalled watching in terror as a sicko thug put a knife to her baby's throat yesterday before robbing her and fleeing. "What are you...

BIG-SPENDING SCHOOL BOSS HIT IN NEW AUDIT - ALSO BROKE BID RULES, HEVESI SAYS

A city audit blasted embattled Brooklyn School District 15 Superintendent Frank DeStefano yesterday for ignoring bidding rules and spending up to six times more than permitted on lavish conferences. DeStefano...

ANNA NICOLE CRIES IN COURT

Buxom blond bombshell Anna Nicole Smith bared plenty of tears in a Texas courtroom yesterday as her lawyer denied she was a gold-digger who married her late 90-year-old hubby for...

DEFENSE SMEARS DOC'S SLAIN WIFE

On Day One of his murder trial, a prominent plastic surgeon smeared, through his lawyer's opening statement, the wife he is accused of killing as a promiscuous cocaine addict. "You'll...

COPS SAVE FAMILY FROM FIRE

Six hero cops risked their lives last night as they scrambled up a fire escape and dodged flames roaring out of windows to save a Bronx family trapped on the...

TORRE AND VALENTINE: SAME BUT DIFFERENT

JOE Torre is not one of the managers who would have fear of being invited to a panel discussion with Bobby Valentine. The Yankee manager commands up to $35,000 for...

IN N.Y., JUSTICE IS SERVED

IF it isn't his best season in professional baseball, it certainly is one of the best. From a production standpoint, David Justice has seldom been as consistent, as dramatic or...

HOW BENNY GOT HIS GROOVE BACK

DURING spring training, her husband wasn't himself, Niela Agbayani says. There was an emptiness in Benny. She could hear it when she spoke with him. Do you want go see...

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: YANKEE AND MET PLAYERS RECALL THE GREATEST GAMES OF THEIR LIVES

The players say, right off the bat, that it's impossible to choose just one, but in their next breath they rattle off vivid recollections about their very favorite baseball game...

SUBWAY TO HEAVEN: YA GOTTA BELIEVE THIS IS THE YEAR THE METS AND YANKS MEET IN WORLD SERIES

The October of our dreams, the October of our prayers, has Mike Piazza eyeball-to-eyeball with Roger Clemens again, for the championship not only of New York baseball, but all baseball....

HOT TEMPERS & HOME COOKIN' ; METS-GIANTS PRELIMS WERE TASTY APPETIZERS

If this NLDS is like the regular-season series, it will be a classic. The Giants won the season series, 5-3, but three of those wins came without Mike Piazza in...

GIANT REPORT CARD

QUARTERBACKSSo this is what happens when Giants need Kerry Collins (17 of 36, 197 yards, 2 TDs, 3 INTs) to pick them off the scrap heap? Not pretty. Fumbled a...

THE MVPS: BITTER RIVALS PIAZZA & CLEMENS ARE N.Y.'S FINEST

HE came. He beaned. He conquered. Such is the story of Roger Clemens' 2000 season as his career returned from the living dead to earn the title of Most Valuable...

KERRY'S SLIPPING BACK IN RANKS

GIANT NOTES After his worst game of the season Sunday, Kerry Collins has dropped into a pedestrian quarterback rating of 77.7 and for the first time saw his completion percentage...

KENYON'S NET GOAL JUST D-LIGHTFUL

Kenyon Martin scored a lot of points yesterday. No, not in a game. But in the eyes of his new Net teammates, his bosses and fellow U. of Cincinnati alum...

IF DEREK DOESN'T ANSWER BELL, TIMO, DARRYL MAY

MET NOTES SAN FRANCISCO - There is no way manager Bobby Valentine can be slow with this hook. Derek Bell will likely start, but he is a prime candidate to...

FURIOUS FASSEL GOES ON OFFENSIVE

This was not the day to ask about the flight or the food or the weather. Jim Fassel spoke and when he finished, he stepped down from the podium and...

BENITEZ TURNS INTO MET HIGH-CHEESE WIZ

The scene was fitting. When the Mets beat archrival Atlanta 6-2 last Wednesday at Shea to clinch the NL wild card, Armando Benitez was on the mound doing what he...

WILSON'S NFL DREAM ON TRACK

Marcus Wilson was pretty fast, but he decided he wanted to get faster. So he joined the track team and ran the 4x100. "It started off as just something to...

WHO'S BELL OF THE BALL?

SAN FRANCISCO - They know what they've gotten themselves into at Pac Bell. The Giants shared the best home record this regular season with the Mets, going 55-26 in their...

THE ROCKET RETURNS TO SCENE OF EJECTION

The last time Roger Clemens pitched in a post-season game in Oakland, the five-time Cy Young Award winner left the Oakland Coliseum under police security. It was 1990 and Game...

VG'S ABCS STILL START WITH 'D'

Jeff Van Gundy is tied to the axiom that rebounding and defense win championships. So it was not surprising that Van Gundy yesterday was reluctant to make any "predictions" on...

LARUSSA GRABS ANKIEL IN GAME 1

ST. LOUIS - Darryl Kile has always been known for his knee-buckling curveball; but on the eve of the NLDS between the Cardinals and Braves, it was St. Louis manager...

KNICKS: LUC NEWS GOOD

Did somebody say "misdiagnosis"? Following an MRI yesterday on Luc Longley's injured right knee, the Knicks gave an entirely different - and more optimistic - diagnosis and timetable for the...

BRAVES FILE NO. 162, ZERO IN ON GAME 1

ST. LOUIS - Clearly, Atlanta was stunned at being one strike away from a win in its final regular-season tilt and losing 10-5 to Colorado. And yes, the Braves were...

PRESSURE'S ON BONDS

SAN FRANCISCO - When it comes to the playoffs, no player owns a choke-like-a dog history like Bobby Bonds' kid. The Mets' greatest nightmare, though, is right around the corner....

CHAMPS DOWN FOR THE COUNT: JOE LOOKS FOR CONSISTENTPUNCH, NAMES CHUCK DH

YANKEE NOTES OAKLAND - When Chuck Knoblauch arrived at the Coliseum three hours early for yesterday's workout, Joe Torre was already ensconced in his office putting together a lineup for...

SEASON SERIES AN A'S-KICKIN' ; CHAMPS FLEXED MUSCLES VS. OAKLAND

The Athletics enter the postseason on a winning roll and with a better record than the slumping Yankees. But when the teams met for their three series, it was a...

CHAMPS MUST TURN IT ON OR FEEL WRATH OF GEORGE

OAKLAND - Hit the switch. Or spend the winter waiting for George Steinbrenner's truck to back up to Yankee Stadium and cart away more than one familiar face. That's the...

NEW DEVIL STEVENSON: EX-MATES HAB-NOTS

From the greatest franchise in NHL history, Turner Stevenson has moved to the current Stanley Cup champ. The burly right-winger figures the Canadiens' great days are behind them. "They're continuing...

CHAMPS DOWN FOR THE COUNT: STAGGERING BOMBERS IN TROUBLE

OAKLAND - The Yankees go into the playoffs on one knee, taking an eight count, praying Roger Clemens gives them enough time tonight to finally clear their heads. The young,...

IT'S NOW OR NEVER FOR REELIN' YANKS: DON'T DROP IT, ROGER

OAKLAND - Roger Clemens, you hold more than a baseball in your right hand tonight when you walk to the mound to stare down the A's at Oakland Coliseum. You...

NBA GOVS CUT ISIAH A BREAK

THE NBA's Board of Governors yesterday voted to give Pacer coach/CBA owner Isiah Thomas a one-year grace period to peddle the minor league. Had more than one-quarter of the 29...