June 20, 2001

CLASH WITH SOLLY SENDS HIRSCH PACKING

Peter Hirsch, co-head of global interest rate and derivative products at Citigroup Inc.'s Salomon Smith Barney unit, left the firm Monday after differing with management over how to run the...

SUBURBAN OLIVE GARDEN TO SPROUT IN TRENDY CHELSEA

Olive Garden, the middle-American chain of cheap Italian eateries, is planting itself in the middle of one of Manhattan's hippest residential neighborhoods. The 8,500-square-foot restaurant will open this year in...

GE-HONEYWELL MERGER LOOKS ALL BUT DEAD

The General Electric-Honeywell merger appears all but dead. European Union antitrust officials have said they plan to "formally" recommend that the deal be blocked, according to several reports last night....

ANDERSEN FINED $7M - SEC SMACKS FIRM IN WASTE MGMT. AUDIT MESS

Arthur Andersen LLP agreed to pay a whopping $7 million penalty for writing inaccurate audit reports over several years for big trash hauler Waste Management Inc., according to the SEC...

BOTTEGA'S BIG BOOT - FOUNDERS OUT, GUCCI EXECS IN AT LUXE BRAND

Domenico De Sole has virtually wiped the slate clean of executives who were at Bottega Veneta before his Gucci Group acquired the company in February. Most notable among the missing...

REPORT: FT EDITOR WILL RUN THE BBC

The editor of the Financial Times will reportedly step down within a few weeks as the rumor spreads that he is headed to the top spot at the BBC. Richard...

TINY SWATCH GETS A REALLY BIG PITCHMAN

Basketball king Shaquille O'Neal is doing a multimillion-dollar deal with watch giant Swatch to design a new line of the world's thinnest watch. He's also going to star as its...

23 ARE CUT FROM STAFF @ MONEY

Steve Case is in "Show me the Money.com" mode. A week after AOL Time Warner spent $68 million - plus "incentives" - on Business 2.0, Time Inc. has revealed it...

HOTEL DELMONICO GOES ON THE BLOCK

POTENTIAL buyers are salivating over the prospect of getting their hands on the suite old gray mare - the Hotel Delmonico at 502 Park Avenue and 59th Street. The partially...

GASP! ANALYST OWNS UP TO BAD TECH TIP

Somebody check to see if Hell has frozen over. Jeffrey Camp, No. 1-ranked internet analyst for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter admitted he was wrong and apologized for touting a tech...

MAD MARTHA BOILING OVER BIO

MARTHA Stewart is on the warpath. The once cozy relationship she had with her Connecticut neighbor Chris Byron has suddenly turned cold. It is not shrubbery that is drawing her...

SOROS CUTS FROM STAFF OF BLUEFLY.COM

George Soros is tightening his grip on his floundering fashion Web site Bluefly.com, firing a third of its staff and slashing marketing costs. About 32 people will be let go....

POCKET REELS IN PAPERBACK CHIEF

Carolyn Reidy, the president of Simon & Schuster's Adult Publishing Group, has raided Phyllis Grann's Penguin Putnam for a new paperback guru. Louise Burke, who had been running the New...

FROM 'THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS' TO 'THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES,' MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ IS ONE ... HIGH-OCTANE HONEY

MICHELLE Rodriguez wasn't fazed by the out-of-control car-racing scenes in "The Fast and the Furious," but she's petrified about performing live on a New York City stage. "I am definitely...

VIROT FINALLY GETS ITS CHEMISTRY RIGHT

VIROT [ 1/2] 52 E. 41ST ST. (DYLAN HOTEL) (646) 658-0266 ----- IF you think there's an end in sight to the restaurant boom, you weren't at Virot last Saturday...

MADONNA MANIA MAKES STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

THEY have a winner! The German Web site offering a ticket to a sold-out Madonna concert in Berlin in exchange for sex picked 26-year-old "Aaron" from Frankfurt after being deluged...

ISLAND RESPITE IS HOT, HOT, HOT

ISLAND SPICE [ 1/2] 402 W. 44TH ST. (BETWEEN NINTH & 10TH AVENUES) (212) 765-1737 -------- BEFORE Hell's Kitchen was hot, Island Spice was heating up the neighborhood. This Caribbean...

STARR REPORT

Broadcast news: NBC back in top spot The "NBC Nightly News" has reclaimed its coveted "most-watched" status for the week ending June 15. CBS, which finished first in the caveat-riddled...

HAPPY CITARELLA STORY

THERE'S no good help in the Hamptons. So says Joe Guerrera, the owner of the upscale Citarella gourmet markets, who pays tens of thousands of dollars to import Manhattanites to...

WHERE'S THE BEEF?

THE world's largest meatless barbecue takes place tomorrow in Union Square Park. Boca Foods is firing up 50 feet of grills to cook their soy-based products, including 1,000 pounds of...

SHOWTIME FOR GLICK & SLICK - TWO HOSTS WITH THE MOST JOKES

"You Don't Know Jack" [ ] Tonight at 8 and 8:30 on ABC/Ch. 7 *"Primetime Glick" [ ] Tonight at 10:30 on Comedy Central ------------- IT'S purely a coincidence that...

DOWN, BUT NOT OUT, IN BRAZIL

SAUDAD DO FUTURO [] Tuneful Brazilian musical documentary. Running time: 94 minutes. In Portugese, with English subtitles. Not rated (vulgar lyrics). At Film Forum, Houston Street, between Sixth Avenue and...

THE MOVABLE FEAST - TAKE YOUR PICK OF PICNICS

SUMMER is supposed to be a time of carefree dining. But the work involved in whipping up a picnic can easily turn you into a basket case. The secret is...

TV BIG COPS DRUG PLEA

BURBANK. 'THE West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin pleaded guilty yesterday to drug charges, but dodged jail time and could even get the charges wiped out. Cops busted Sorkin April 15...

WHINING OVER PRICEY RED

AMARONE is a very rich, dense, high-alcohol, dry Italian red that gets its intensity from being made from dried grapes - raisins, really - and frequently costs $40 and up....

OPEN RATINGS IN ROUGH WITH TIGER

NBC's U.S. Open ratings were down from last year. The probable reason? A suddenly fallible Tiger Woods. Numbers for NBC's weekend coverage were down 7 percent in households compared to...

'BOOM!' A STAR IS BORN

RAUL Esparza never met Jonathan Larson, the late composer of "Rent," but he got to know him by talking to Larson's parents and friends and watching him in home movies....

JUST SAY NO! - DOCTORS WANT TO BAN THOSE STICKY 'SCRIPT DRUG ADS

DOCTORS are trying to get TV ads for prescription drugs - those commercials that popularized such phrases as "oily discharge" and gave Bob Dole a high-paying job after leaving politics...

COALS DIE OUT FOR GRILL

AFTER only a few uneventful months in business, the Grill on the Park has closed. Not surprising, since hardly anyone knew it had opened in the first place - or...

LI'S NEW FLICK IS DEFINITELY NOT KID STUFF

HIGH-flying Hong Kong action star Jet Li is warning parents to keep their kids away from his new flick. "I ask that you please do not take your young children...

TRUMP'S TOWER GLITTERS WITH CELEB POWER

Not only is the new Trump World Tower the tallest and priciest residential building in the world, it's also the most star-studded. With prices as high as $38 million for...

COPS' TECHNICAL FOUL - PLAYING MIDNIGHT HOOPS WAS HER CRIME

COPS call Shavon Moultrie a criminal, but in this city, the 17-year-old found that breaking the law is the only way to succeed and stay straight. Her crime was her...

CARNEGIE SUSPECT IN BIG EASY

The missing suspect in the Carnegie Deli murders was spotted in New Orleans yesterday, police sources told The Post. New Orleans cops issued a bulletin last night seeking the public's...

DRUG LORD GOES WAY OF MCVEIGH

Murderous drug lord Juan Raul Garza - apologizing "for all the pain and grief" he caused - yesterday became the second person to be executed by the federal government since...

MORE METERS TO BE TRUCK BEATERS

A new program in traffic-clogged Midtown that forces truckers to pay for parking is set to expand. Commercial trucks parked for free in all of Midtown before 47 "muni meters"...

NEW YORK POST: FROM JUNE 20, 1893

"Lizzie Borden's Case," read The Post's front-page story about the suspected ax murderess, accused of killing her father and mother. "'There may be that in this case which shows that...

MACE ACCIDENT INJURES 13 AT SCHOOL

An 11-year-old girl accidentally sprayed her Brooklyn classroom with Mace yesterday, sending 13 people to the hospital, police said. The student was pulling out the canister when the noxious fumes...

WORST PART: SEEING THE LOVED ONES LEFT BEHIND

THE only time you don't feel like working this job is when you see the little ones. They stand there, sometimes, the wee boys wearing their daddy's fire hats or...

FEDS PRESS CASE TO HAVE EMBASSY BOMBER EXECUTED

A terrorist follower of Osama bin Laden should be executed because he will "kill again," even behind bars, a federal prosecutor told a jury yesterday. Prosecutors launched their case against...

HILLARY PAC$ THEM IN FOR COZY DINNER

WASHINGTON. HILLARY CLINTON has quietly cranked up her formidable fund-raising machine once again, hosting intimate dinners for donors at her Embassy Row mansion. Last week, a handful of Democrats dined...

A NEW HUE FOR KETCHUP

For Heinz, 57 could soon refer to how many colors of ketchup it makes. The condiment maker reached for the rainbow last year after deciding red ketchup wasn't cutting the...

DITZY DONNA'S STRATEGY FUND-AMENTALLY FLAWED

A QUESTION bewildering the tender sensibilities of New Yorkers: Is Donna Hanover one egg roll short of a pu-pu platter? In the immortal words of Dan Quayle - it's a...

BOY LIVED WITH PACK OF DOGS

In a modern retelling of the tale of Romulus and Remus, a 10-year-old Chilean boy lived for two years in a cave with a pack of wild dogs who foraged...

WEB PERVS WOO 20% OF ONLINE KIDS

One in five kids who regularly use the Internet get unwanted come-ons from sex perverts, a shocking new study has revealed. And some computer-safety experts believe the number may even...

RIPKEN FINALE TIX SO HOT, THEY $IZZLE

Tickets to see the Iron Man bow out of baseball are turning into gold. The Baltimore Orioles' Cal Ripken Jr., who holds baseball's record for consecutive games played, made it...

DA PROBERS GRILL COUNCIL GOP LEADER

A top Republican official snared in wiretapped conversations with a construction consultant indicted in a corruption probe was questioned by prosecutors for nearly five hours earlier this month, The Post...

ETAN PARENTS CAN NOW SUE SUSPECT IN '79 DEATH

Etan Patz - the SoHo boy whose cherubic face was seared into the American consciousness as the first poster child for missing children - was officially declared dead yesterday by...

AMY'S DAD TELLS OF BODY-I.D. TRAUMA

Looking weary and sad, the father of slain social worker Amy Watkins yesterday testified about the day he walked into a medical examiner's office in Brooklyn to identify the blood-soaked...

OH, HEEL! HURTIN' HIZZONER TO MISS GOLF DATE WITH TIGER

Mayor Giuliani will have his eye on the Tiger today. Giuliani and golf great Tiger Woods will join forces at the Buick Classic Golf Tournament at the Westchester Country Club...

POLS THREATEN RUM-TAX 'REVOLT' OVER VIEQUES

A Puerto Rican rum revolt is brewing after angry U.S. lawmakers threatened to nix millions of dollars that the island gains from taxes on rum sales in retaliation for Puerto...

PROBER RAMS INTO FORD - CALLS REPLACEMENT TIRES WORSE THAN FIRESTONES

Ford Motor Co. is replacing the suspect Firestone tires on its Explorers and other vehicles with brands that may be even more dangerous, a congressional prober charged yesterday. Rep. Billy...

GREEN RIPS MAYOR ON DIALLO PROBE

Mayor Giuliani "subverted" the NYPD's internal investigation of the four cops who shot Amadou Diallo, Public Advocate Mark Green charged yesterday. Green said NYPD records examined by his office indicate...

BASHING BACK AT BULLIES - SUIT OVER '78 GYM-CLASS BEATING FINALLY IN COURT

A former Bronx student who suffered a brain hemorrhage and partial paralysis after claiming he was severely beaten in school is finally getting his day in court - 23 years...

FRIENDS RALLY FOR CANCER VICTIM FERRARO

Former Rep. Geraldine Ferraro's political pals yesterday hailed her fighting spirit and said it will help the gutsy pioneer take on her toughest opponent ever - incurable blood cancer. Ferraro,...

INTERN-CASE REP TURNS CAMERA SHY

WASHINGTON - Rep. Gary Condit, the California congressman at the center of the missing-intern mystery, pulled a disappearing act of his own. The Democrat was listening to witnesses testify before...

BRITNEY HOAX CRUSHED MOM

Britney Spears' mother spent an anguished night thinking her daughter was dead after a Dallas radio station broadcast a hoax report that the pop queen was killed in a car...

TEAM RUDY OBJECTS TO WAR-CHEST IN$INUATION

Mayor Giuliani's divorce lawyer yesterday blasted Donna Hanover's attorney as "reckless" after she suggested the mayor might be using leftover campaign cash to feather his love nests with Judith Nathan....

COULD BE LIGHTS OUT FOR GATIEN CLUBS

In what could be the death knell for Peter Gatien's nightclub empire, state officials are scheduled to act today on an administrative-law judge's ruling granting them legal authority to yank...

CITY TEACHERS RIP REGENTS TEST SCORING

City science teachers yesterday charged that state educators dumbed down the scoring of this year's high-school biology Regents exam. They said students who got fewer than half the answers right...

TEACHER GUILTY IN TEEN-SEX RAP

A Queens high-school teacher got no jail time after pleading guilty yesterday to sodomizing a 15-year-old female student - who revealed her horrifying secret four years after it happened. Mark...

TEARFUL FIRE KID'S CONFESSION

The 13-year-old boy who accidentally started the Father's Day blaze that killed three firemen told probers in a gripping statement how he watched in fear as the flames grew and...

L.I. TEACHER BOILS OVER 'WITCH' HUNT

A Long Island teacher filed a million-dollar lawsuit against her school district yesterday, claiming administrators on a witch hunt are trying to boot her because of rumors she's a black-magic...

PARKS BIG: SEWER LIFE WOULD BE GATOR-AID

Who needs the Everglades? The gator on the lam in Central Park belongs in his real "natural habitat" - the city's sewers, a top environmental official said yesterday. "That alligator...

AL IS WARNED: LAY OFF JESSE - FELLOW BLACK LEADERS LIVID OVER MLK JAB

Black leaders yesterday warned Al Sharpton he's taking a big risk if he keeps going after Jesse Jackson. They spoke after Sharpton, who aims to run for president, trashed Jackson...

GOP WINS HOUSE SEAT IN VA. SPECIAL ELECTION

WASHINGTON - Republicans won bragging rights for President Bush yesterday as they took over a swing congressional seat in Virginia, in a special election where race was key. Republican state...

LAW GUARDIAN A VETERAN OF CUSTODY WARS

The newly appointed law guardian representing the Giuliani kids during their parents' split is a veteran of one of the city's nastiest and most highly publicized divorce cases. Jo Ann...

POST AIDS KIN

The New York Post today kicks off "The Astoria Fire: Post Heroes Fund," a drive to help the families of the brave firefighters who gave their lives in the Father's...

'KID NAPPING' IN STOLEN VAN

A crook had an unexpected passenger yesterday when he stole a van being used as a schoolbus - an 8-year-old boy asleep in the back, said cops. The crook stole...

BLOOMBERG TAKES 'SAFE' STANCE ON MAYORAL DUTIES

Michael Bloomberg yesterday stuck by his statement that most of the mayor's job isn't about visiting fallen city workers or rushing to local disasters. "The good news is the city...

'SPIDER-MAN' BUGS OUT AGAIN

The acrobatic mugger dubbed "Spider-Man" continued bugging out in court yesterday - this time by threatening to eat his judge's children. "I'm Mike Tyson," Omar Waftalim Triplett, 23, muttered to...

FBI-CHIEF HUNT: AND THEN THERE WAS ONE

WASHINGTON - President Bush's search for a new FBI chief to replace Louis Freeh is now down to one man - veteran federal prosecutor Robert Mueller - but new candidates...

READERS SNAP UP CHANCE TO NAME GATOR

The alligator spotted slinking around a Central Park lake apparently went into hiding yesterday as Post readers came forward with a mouthful of snappy names for the creature. Some thought...

PRIVATE BUS LINE PUTS BRAKES ON S.I. SERVICE

A private company will end its express bus service between Staten Island and Manhattan on Monday, leaving as many as 2,200 riders scrambling for other transportation. Academy Bus Tours, which...

AL HUNGERS TO OUST JESSE - BIDS TO BE NATION'S NO. 1 BLACK LEADER

WASHINGTON - The Rev. Al Sharpton wants to be America's No. 1 black leader, and he thinks now is the time to elbow the Rev. Jesse Jackson aside - after...

TV HONCHO COPS A PLEA IN DRUG BUST

BURBANK, Calif. - "The West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin pleaded guilty yesterday to drug charges, but dodged jail time and could even get the charges wiped out. Cops busted Sorkin...

IRISH DUMP PLAN TO USE BILL AS PITCH MAN

Ireland has a no-nonsense message for Bill Clinton: Erin Go Back! The government had considered asking the ex-president to help promote the Emerald Isle's sagging tourism industry. But the idea...

MEXICAN STANDOFF OVER TOP-DOLLAR TOWELS

The president of Mexico has a lust for fine linens - but the public says the embroidered towels he bought for $443 apiece are an outrage. President Vicente Fox also...

CYCLONES WIN OPENER

NY/PENN LEAGUE: Cyclones 2 - Jammers 1 JAMESTOWN - With Dodger great Carl Erskine looking on last night, the Brooklyn Cyclones triumphed in their debut - the first pro baseball...

ALL-IS-WELL METS ARE ON A ROLL - RUN STREAK TO 3 AFTER CLEANING AIR

So many times throughout this disastrous season, so often throughout this train-wreck of a year, the Mets were on the verge of putting together a winning streak or building much-needed...

URBINA-TO-BRONX APPEARS DEAD

DETROIT - All signs last night said the deal that would have brought Montreal reliever Ugueth Urbina to the Yankees for D'Angelo Jimenez and Brandon Knight is dead - with...

ROG WANTS TO MAKE PEACE WITH PIAZZA

DETROIT - Roger Clemens is looking to smooth things over with Mike Piazza. Appearing on the Yankees' pre-game show on WABC radio last night, Clemens said that if he and...

YANKEES SET TO BOLT MSG

Today could be the beginning of the end of the Yankees' 13-year relationship with the MSG Network - and the beginning of an even more lucrative future for the Bronx...

PAULSON LIKES TAKING BACKSEAT

The car salesman has never done much business at the company showroom. The defending champ has done all of his here. The Buick Classic that opens tomorrow at Westchester Country...

DEC SEMINARS ARE GREAT PLACE TO LEARN

THE New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and local fishing experts will once again team up to offer an opportunity to learn more about fishing at the DEC's fifth...

MAJOR PLAYERS GET RIGHT BACK AT IT

Playing in a tournament the week after a major represents many different emotions for players. Some, like Tiger Woods, don't go near a golf course in the days following the...

WOODS BRINGS BUZZ TO WCC

There were no Tiger Woods sightings yesterday, but the reverberation of his impending presence at this week's Buick Classic was clearly felt around Westchester Country Club. Woods, making his first...

CHARLOTTE'S WHITE MAY BE NETS' PICK TO GO FORWARD

Four high schools, one prep school, a season of academic ineligibility and one year at Charlotte. Rodney White is ready for the NBA draft. "He was a very talented kid...

HALL'S DALEMBERT INTERESTS KNICKS

Uh-oh. With the NBA draft approaching in a week, the Knicks have interest in another project center who speaks French. Seton Hall's 6-11 shot-blocking sophomore center Sam Dalembert, a Haitian...

CAL GAVE THE GAME ALL HE HAD - RIPKEN ANSWERED BELL EVERY DAY

MY toe hurts. My neck is killing me. My finger is swollen. I can barely walk on this ankle, much less play baseball on it. Look at this elbow. Just...

GARCIA CAN RIVAL TIGER

TIGER is in their heads. In Tulsa, Tiger may even have gotten into Tiger's head. From a shaky start, Woods played without confidence he could beat his own expectations of...

HARMONY NO FACTOR IF TEAM STINKS

THEY'RE just one big happy Flushing family here at Shea. All is right in the Mets' world. That was the word last night before the Mets took on the Expos....

BOBBY V: LET'S SPEAK UP

MET NOTES Outbursts like the one Armando Benitez had Monday - when he took teammates to task for anonymously ripping Timo Perez in the media and airing their dirty laundry...

DENY STAY OF BAFFERT BAN

Trainer Bob Baffert's request for a stay that would allow him to continue training while he appeals a 60-day suspension for a disputed drug positive was denied yesterday by the...

HARMONY NO FACTOR WHEN TEAM IS 32-39

THEY are just one big happy Flushing family here at Shea. Yes, all is right in the Mets' "American Beauty" world. At least temporarily. That was the word last night...

YANKEES KNUCKLE UNDER - TIGER TRICKSTER BAFFLES BOMBERS

Tigers 7 - Yankees 1 DETROIT - In a pitching world dominated by macho hurlers who want to push speed guns into triple digits, a knuckleball pitcher is considered a...

TIGHT-LIPPED UGIE: 'I'M STILL AN EXPO'

Company mergers have been done more quickly. Governments have changed regimes with greater efficiency. So, as of last night, Ugueth Urbina remains in Montreal - and for who knows how...

DR. DONNIE ARRIVES TO CHECK SICKLY BATS

YANKEE NOTES DETROIT - Last week Joe Torre decided David Justice's sick swing could use a tutorial from Yankee great Don Mattingly, who has morphed into a part-time organizational hitting...

HAMSTRUNG PAYTON CLOSE TO RETURNING

MET NOTES Jay Payton, who has been on the disabled list since May 8 with a strained right hamstring, has come along faster than expected, and could start a minor-league...

ALL-IS-WELL METS ON A ROLL - RUN STREAK TO 3 AFTER CLEARING AIR

Mets 4 - Expos 1 So many times throughout this disastrous season, so often throughout this train-wreck of a year, the Mets pointed toward this game or that, saying this...

URBINA RENEWAL ON HOLD - YANKS WARY OF UGIE'S ELBOW

DETROIT - Until the Yankees' medical staff is convinced Ugueth Urbina's right elbow is OK, the deal between the Expos and Yankees that was agreed to Sunday night is on...

CREAM OF THE CROP

Post picks for Buick Classic at Westchester Country Club: 1. TIGER WOODS: Sure he hasn't played well here in two tries, but Tiger's got his ego to deal with, and...

ANGRY BAFFERT FIGHTS BAN

Trainer Bob Baffert, who is appealing the 60-day suspension handed down Sunday by the California stewards a year after one of his horse's urine tested positive for a trace of...

BOBBY'S GLAD AIR'S CLEARED - HAS NO PROBLEM WITH BENITEZ RIPS

Outbursts like the one Met closer Armando Benitez had Monday afternoon - when he took teammates to task for anonymously ripping Timo Perez in the media, and airing their dirty...

RAINES SAYS UGIE WILL BE FINE HERE

While nearly everyone is tiring of the never-ending Ugueth Urbina-to-the-Yankees saga, the delay isn't having an impact on the primary subject; at least that's what his teammates and coaches say....