January 23, 2001

INSIGNIA'S MR. BIG DOES IT AGAIN

THAT was a doozy of a deal Insignia/ESG Vice Chairman Bob Alexander pulled off for Lehman Bros. last week at 1 World Financial Center. Bigger than the additional 460,520 square...

BLOOMBERG WANTS MORE; SEEKS TO EXPAND SPACE AT OLD ALEXANDER'S SITE

Vornado Chairman Steven Roth is re-working the blueprints of his planned tower on the old Alexander's site to accomodate Mike Bloomberg, who wants to take an extra 100,000 square feet...

CIBC ON BRINK OF 300 MAD. LEASE

Financial services company CIBC is close to nailing down a lease for 300 Madison Ave., The Post has learned. The deal is moving full steam ahead even as companies, including...

BUSH NAMES POWELLAS NEW FCC CHAIRMAN

It's official! Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Powell was named the agency's chairman yesterday by President George W. Bush. The widely anticipated appointment had been expected for weeks as the Bush...

LITTLE BROWN PUBLISHER LATEST MERGER VICTIM

The AOL Time Warner buzz saw reached into the company's book division yesterday and chopped down Little Brown Publisher Sarah Crichton. She is being replaced by Michael Pietsch, who is...

HEADS ROLL AS THE PURGE KICKS IN AT CNN

Day one of the CNN layoffs got off to a brutal start. Many of the Cable News Network's well-known on-air personalities were the first victims of the company's push to...

LUCY UNRAVELING WEB, SEES ; ITS FUTURE IN STORE

Lucy.com has had a change of mind: E-tailing on the Web is not cheap and revolutionary after all. The women's fitness apparel merchant is closing down its Web site -...

CONVERSE IS TRIPPED UP IN CHAP. 11: LOW POINT FOR MAKER OF HIGH-TOPS

Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers could become a relic of the past, as the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in a decade. Burdened with debt...

KLEIN CAN SHOP HIS BRAND NOW

Looking to drop a cool billion dollars? Look no further than Calvin Klein Inc. With Linda Wachner now under control, Klein may be able to sell his company after all....

CALVIN AND LINDA KISS AND MAKE UP

The trial between Calvin Klein Inc. and Linda Wachner's Warnaco, expected to be a bloody mess of a fight, was over before it started in federal court yesterday morning -...

GOLDBERG'S ENEMIES LIST: PART 2

In yesterday's column, John Crudele described how he received a death threat. Here's some more of the bizarre story. I WAS being told by my underworld source, "Joe," that someone...

OPERA'S BARENAKED LADDIE; BUT SOPRANO DAVID WALKER'S FULLY CLOTHED AT THE WEILL

DAVID Walker sings soprano, but deep down he's all man.That much was clear when he sang Monteverdi's "Coronation of Poppea" completely nude in London last fall - a performance hailed...

CHARMED, I'M SURE ; YES, VIRGINIA, THERE REALLY IS A "NEW SOUTH"

NORFOLK'S the sort of place you'd miss if you didn't know better. It's not the most obvious spot for an artistically inclined, historic gem of a town; the cities surrounding...

HELL ON HEELS: 'HEDWIG' STAR MAKES HIS MOVIE-DIRECTING DEBUT - IN DRAG

PARK CITY, Utah - Making "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," one of the hottest tickets at the Sundance Film Festival, was a drag in more ways than one for John...

RIPELY REALIZED 'ORCHARD'

THE CHERRY ORCHARDTheatre 80, 80 St. Marks Place. Through Feb. 25; (212) 598-9802. CHEKHOV'S final play, written in 1904, was "The Cherry Orchard" - a very involving work of mood...

BUZZ

Live safer,eat fish Women who eat fish several times a week can significantly reduce their risk of stroke, a major new study reveals. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in...

NOT JANIS, NOT BAD

JOSH JOPLIN GROUP "Useful Music" ½ Artemis Records It took a little time coming but the first breakout band of 2001 is the Josh Joplin Group - a four-man outfit...

THE STARR REPORT

'Blues' host Burns: 'I'm not bitter!' Outgoing "Blue's Clues" host Steve Burns, who raised some eyebrows with his comments upon leaving the Nickelodeon kids show, says his words were misinterpreted....

NASTY CUSTOMER; ATTENTION SHOPPERS: KILLER IN THE MALL IN 'BLACKOUT'

"Blackout" Tomorrow at 9 p.m. on WCBS/Ch. 2 1/2 IF there's one thing I hate, it's being caught in a blackout at the mall when a psycho killer is on...

JOKING DOWNEY MASKS PAIN: LAWYER

LOS ANGELES - Robert Downey Jr.'s joking demeanor on the outside masked fear and uncertainty on the inside, his lawyers said yesterday as they prepared to defend him against felony...

SEX BEATS BRAINS; WHY 'TEMPTATION ISLAND' IS HOT AND 'THE MOLE'S' MIND GAMES ARE NOT

WHAT on Earth are these people doing in France? I just couldn't get that question out of my mind as I watched the first two episodes of "The Mole" on...

TRAVELER'S UPDATE

The colors of Manet The first major survey devoted to the still-life paintings of the French master Edouard Manet opens at the Walters Art Museum on Jan. 28 in Baltimore....

GOOD GOLLY! WE'LL MISS MOLLY ON 'SNL'

MOLLY SHANNON, "Saturday Night Live's" favorite armpit-sniffing schoolgirl, is taking her plaid skirt and high-tailing it off the show. The 36-year-old comic, an "SNL" regular since 1995, yesterday announced that...

SETON HALL SURVIVOR SHOWS TRUE GRID

Ken DeShawn Simons, a badly burned survivor of the deadly Seton Hall University dorm fire, was unable to watch last year's Super Bowl. But this year, he'll be tuned in...

ABC'S OF FOOTBALL X'S AND O'S

Well, it's almost Super Bowl Sunday, and while most of the city has caught Giants fever, not everyone has been swept up. Incredibly, some New Yorkers have never even seen...

DUBYA'S RUNNING START ; NOT HIS DAD'S WHITE HOUSE

THE new administration is hitting the ground running - imposing a moratorium on the thousands of pages of new regulations ordered up in recent weeks by the outgoing administration, sending...

BRIGHT SMILES MAKE BRIGHT FUTURES

Psychologists say they can determine people's futures by the way they smile. Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco studied college-yearbook photos of women, and predicted their lives...

JACKIE-PEE WEE STATUE NOT EVEN AT 1ST BASE

IN SEPTEMBER 1999, Mayor Giuliani invited me to participate in a City Hall press conference announcing that the city would be erecting a statue to honor Jackie Robinson and Pee...

KERIK KICKS AROUND KIOSKS ; HE'LL FIX UGLY NYPD BOOTHS AT EMBASSIES

Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik's NYPD beautification program has gone international. Kerik has ordered that all the battered wooden police booths outside embassies and missions to the United Nations and the...

SLASH VICTIM BATTLES BACK ; NEVER LET SUBWAY ATTACK IN '96 KEEP HER DOWN

MAY MAY LIU has never blamed anyone for the slashing attack on a crowded subway platform that left her face in shreds. She's never criticized the Transit Authority or blasted...

BALKANS SYNDROME FALLOUT ; DID NUKE-TIP SHELLS CAUSE MYSTERY NATO ILLNESSES?

THE first crisis facing incoming Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld may be triggered by the mounting concern over our use of nuclear-tipped weapons. British,...

GOV AIDE IN LINE FOR TOP FEDERAL N.Y. PROSECUTOR

Gov. Pataki's top lawyer is the leading candidate to replace Manhattan U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White under the Bush administration, sources told The Post yesterday. James McGuire, who has worked...

BLACK VOTERS A CHALLENGE FOR HEVESI

Even after a surprise appearance alongside the Rev. Al Sharpton last week, city Comptroller Alan Hevesi may face the toughest battle of the Democratic mayoral wannabes to win over black...

'PUFFY' TRIAL RAPPER IN CAR CRASH

The suspected triggerman in the club shooting involving Sean "Puffy" Combs was arrested yesterday for driving with a suspended license when his Mercedes-Benz collided with a Jeep in Chelsea, police...

PEACE TALKERS GET CRACKING IN THE MIDEAST

JERUSALEM - Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams concluded their first full day of talks in four months yesterday - while leaders made separate appeals to the new American president. Talks...

CLINTONS UNPACK FOR THEIR NEW LIFE

Ex-President Bill Clinton spent his first weekday after packing it in at the White House unpacking at his Chappaqua home yesterday. He and his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, spoke briefly...

LEVY: BOOST OUR FUNDS OR LOWER THE STANDARDS

Schools Chancellor Harold Levy wants state education officials to consider rolling back the tough new Regents exam requirements - unless Albany coughs up more dollars for city students. "If we...

N.Y.-BOUND JESSE IS MUM ON AFFAIR

The Rev. Jesse Jackson will hold a prayer service in Harlem tonight as part of his Wall Street Project to push for diversity in the financial sector - less than...

PA HIT WITH SPEEDING RAP ON TOLL HIKE

The Port Authority is racing the clock to get a controversial toll hike approved before New Jersey Gov. Christie Todd Whitman leaves for a post in the Bush administration, a...

JACKSON'S STOCK DROPPING ON WALL ST. LIKE A FAILED DOT-COM

IT TOOK only three days for Jesse Jackson to be "healed" and to return to public life. A miracle? Heck, no! After all, the man has a lucrative franchise to...

PROBE CLEARS GOV'S AIDE

ALBANY - A two-year investigation into whether a top aide to Gov. Pataki traded contracts for campaign contributions has been closed, and there will be no charges. In an unusual...

TIPSTER SPOTTED FELONS ON TV'S 'MOST WANTED'

Saturday night was not all right for the Texas escapees captured in Colorado yesterday - that's when their mugs were aired on Fox TV's long-running reality show "America's Most Wanted."...

W. EYES MOVING EMBASSY IN ISRAEL

President Bush has told his staff to start looking at how to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to fulfill his campaign pledge, officials said...

RUDY TO STATE: UP SCHOOL AID, KILL ED BOARD

ALBANY - Mayor Giuliani urged state lawmakers yesterday to link any increase in state aid for city schools to the abolishment of the Board of Education. Citing a recent court...

MIRACLE MET HERO AGEE DIES OF A HEART ATTACK

Tommie Agee, a signature player on one of New York's most memorable championship teams - the 1969 Miracle Mets - died yesterday at age 58 of a heart attack. Agee...

QNS. CROSSING GUARD DIES FROM INJURIES

A beloved Queens crossing guard died yesterday from head injuries she received after being knocked down by a school van, police said. Betty Davis, 62, was walking to her post...

BUSH BARS ABORT AID IN FOREIGN PROGRAMS ; 1ST BIG MOVE COMES ON ROE ANNIVERSARY

WASHINGTON - President Bush chose the explosive abortion issue yesterday for his first major policy move - and first reversal of ex-President Bill Clinton - by restoring a strict abortion...

BEWARE THESE RAVEN LUNATICS ; BALTIMORE POLICE CAR IS THEIR LATEST 'HIT'

TAMPA, Fla. IT COULD be taken as a metaphor that yesterday afternoon, on its way to the Baltimore airport to connect with the flight that would take the Ravens to...

CITY FINALLY PUTS PARKS 'FEES' ON PAPER

The Giuliani administration for the first time has drafted regulations, and a price list, for groups that want to hold large-scale events in city parks, The Post has learned. The...

NADLER, RABBI BEHIND PARDON FOR '81 BRINK'S-SLAY SUSPECT

A Manhattan congressman and his rabbi played a crucial role in President Clinton's controversial pardon of former Weather Underground member Susan Rosenberg, aides said yesterday. Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon of...

NOW IT'S 'MALEVOLENT 2': TEX. ESCAPEE KILLS HIMSELF AS COLO. COPS NAB 4 OTHERS

Forty days on the lam ended yesterday for five armed and dangerous escapees from a Texas prison - Colorado cops caught four of them, and another killed himself. Two more...

HARLEM SCHOOL BOARD IS STRICTLY CON EDISON

The Harlem school board - saying it can turn around its struggling classrooms - is fighting Chancellor Harold Levy's plan to privatize one of its failing schools. "He should experiment...

WENDY'S KIN FURIOUS AT KILLER'S SENTENCE

In a development that has outraged families of the seven Wendy's massacre victims, the gunman who did most of the shooting will get life in prison, while the alleged mastermind...

NADLER BEHIND LETHAL-HEIST PARDON

A Manhattan congressman and his rabbi played a crucial role in President Clinton's controversial pardon of former Weather Underground member Susan Rosenberg, aides said yesterday. Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon of...

KNICKS TAKE AIM AT BUCKS

MILWAUKEE - The Knicks' 100-point record-setting defensive streak is in jeopardy tonight. Serious jeopardy. The Knicks, coming off a bubble-bursting loss Sunday vs. Indiana, face the broiling Bucks tonight at...

DONOVAN SERVICES ARE SET

The funeral service for former Knicks GM Eddie Donovan is set for 10 a.m. Thursday at Gallaway and Crane, located on 101 South Finley Avenue in Basking Ridge, N.J. Visitation...

NETS NEED TO BEST THE WEST ON FIVE-GAME SWING

Two would be nice, three would be better. One would be awful, none would be a disaster of biblical proportions for the Nets. And that is essentially how they look...

ALLEN, ALLAN BATTLING FOR STAR SPOT

KNICK NOTES MILWAUKEE - Tonight's Ray Allen-Allan Houston showdown at Bradley Center could determine which player winds up on the All-Star team as a reserve guard for the Eastern Conference....

MODELL MADE THE ONLY LOGICAL MOVE

TAMPA - Only a Raven lunatic could possibly believe that if the team that now plays in Baltimore had remained the Cleveland Browns, it would have made it to Tampa...

IN THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE ; RANGERS IN PLAYOFF BATTLE WITH CAROLINA

RALEIGH - Down here, big games are customarily associated with North Carolina State Wolfpack and Duke Blue Devils college hoops. But even though it is just the third week of...

A-ROMA OF FEAR LINGERING IN AIR

LONDON - Accumulating points while steadily setting the pace has come fairly easy so far for Roma, longtime leader of Italy's Series A. But from here on the championship takes...

HE'S THE UNKNOWN SUPERSTAR

The scenario has played out probably thousands of times. Ray Corrigan is on the basketball courts near his parents' apartment in Rockaway, taking jumpers long after the sun has gone...

CARRUTH GETS MAXIMUM SENTENCE

Former NFL player Rae Carruth yesterday received the maximum sentence - at least 18 years, 11 months in prison without parole - for plotting the fatal shooting of his pregnant...

AGEE WAS ALWAYS AMAZIN' ; FORMER METS HAVE FOND RECOLLECTIONS OF FALLEN TEAMMATE

Maury Allen, a longtimePost baseball writer, coveredTommie Agee during hisheyday with the Mets.HE began his Mets career in 1968 by taking a spring training opening day pitch in the head...

MARATHON WILL DETERMINE NATIONAL CHAMPION

In explaining America's precipitous drop from atop the world distance running scene, those around the sport have blamed subpar competition(s) state-side, insufficient paydays and lack of visibility as three of...

ISMAIL: I'M READY TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES

TAMPA - It's lonely out there on the Ravens' flank, where time hangs heavier than a Trent Dilfer ball on the hands of a wideout who has caught only 49...

ISLE GREATS CALL FOR MILBURY'S JOB

Several former Islanders from the Stanley Cup dynasty years have either met or held telephone conversations with Mike Picker, the top envoy to the club's owners, to demand that general...

RAVENS HIT TOWN IN ATTACK MODE

TAMPA - The Ravens arrived in town yesterday with a predictable edge to their demeanor. They've been cocksure all year, so why wouldn't they descend on Super Bowl week exuding...

BEEZER: GET ME OFF ISLES

Desperate to escape from Islander hell, goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck has told confidants that he wants to be traded to a playoff contender before the March 13 trading deadline, The Post...

TOOMER: JINTS WILL PASS TEST

TAMPA - Look deep into the eyes of Amani Toomer and you see another big game on the horizon for the Giants wide receivers. Yes, he knows all about the...

WOODSON WANTS RING, NOT CAMEO THIS TIME

TAMPA - Rod Woodson is going to the Hall of Fame. There's little question about that. After all, the Ravens' safety, in his 14th season, leads all active NFL players...

JESSIE: WE'RE JUST STARTING

TAMPA - Jessie Armstead stepped to the podium and introduced himself to the national spotlight of Super Bowl week yesterday, and though this may be his first time in the...

BARROW SAYS JINTS MAY BE GOD'S SQUAD

TAMPA - Mike Barrow poses as a linebacker, but he is really a preacher. And he was on a roll last night, saving souls and the Giants. Barrow showed up...

SAM WON'T PERFORM FOR MEDIA CIRCUS

TAMPA - Enough. Sam Garnes is not really looking forward to Media Day, which arrives today and marks the official start to a week filled with excess and endless talk....

PLAYING THE GAME ; BARBER, SEHORN RELISH SUPER SPOTLIGHT

TAMPA - Tuesday of Super Bowl week is always Media Day. "I get a day off?" Jason Sehorn wondered last night. "I got to talk for a couple of hours...

SHANNON'S TONGUE HAS LOST SOME BITE ; RAVENS' TE WON'T BAD-MOUTH JINTS

TAMPA - Shannon Sharpe is back in the Super Bowl two years later, with a new team and a new punching bag, the Giants. So not surprisingly, his table at...

LAKERS IN BLAH-LA-LAND

AS evidenced by the Lakers' inability to take the Heat despite 65 points from Shaq and Kobe, the disharmony between maestros is masking LA's actual life-threatening problems. Evidently there's no...

STREAKING RANGERS ALIVE & WELL ; KO 'CANES TO STAY UNBEATEN IN FIVE

Rangers 5 Hurricanes 2 RALEIGH - Rangers . . . ALIVE! The season that only a week ago was on the verge of disaster is suddenly and very much in...

TIKI EXPECTS TO RESUME ROLE AS PUNT RETURNER

Tiki Barber was not wearing his protective cast on his left arm yesterday, a sign that the fracture that has limited his play is healing. Barber, however, did wear the...

FORDHAM 'D' HELPS STORM TAME 'CANES

St. John's 67 Miami 63 The only reason Shareef Fordham is at St. John's is because he was relentless in his recruitment of the school. Fordham called St. John's coach...

HOLMES-COOKING LIFTS JASPERS

Manhattan 85 Fairfield 71 There was 12:37 left in last night's game, and Manhattan's 13-point lead over Fairfield was about to be whittled down to a miniscule five. So Jaspers...

HERMAN-ATOR HIRES BILLS 'D' CHIEF

TAMPA - New Jet coach Herman Edwards yesterday made his second key hire in as many days - giving former Bills defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell the same post with Gang...

RAVENS TERRORIZE TRAFFIC EN ROUTE TO SUPER BOWL

TAMPA - One of the Ravens' team buses got into a minor traffic accident yesterday en route to the Baltimore airport, causing a bit of a stir. The bus apparently...

CLARK LEADS WAY FOR STORM'S 'CDE'

St. John's associate head coach Kevin Clark was a Division III All-American post player at Clark University. He knows the intricacies of playing down low. He knows that no two...

JASPERS AIM FOR SOLID FINISH

The theory says that it's not how you start but how you finish that matters. Bobby Gonzalez knows that, of course, which is why he's not in panic mode regarding...