August 10, 2001

AILING OVITZ TV DIVISION LAYS OFF 18

Mike Ovitz' empire continues to unravel. Ovitz' ailing Artists Television Group laid off nearly half of its staff yesterday as the super-agent-turned-entrepreneur aggressively searches for a white knight to save...

CNN WILL START ITS DAY FROM THE GROUND UP

J. Lo could soon be shaking her famed booty outside the new CNN street-level studio when CNN launches a new morning show. The all-news cable network is developing a new...

OLD MONEY RULES FISHERS ISLAND

TWO hours from Manhattan is an exclusive and idyllic little island that is suspended in time. Fishers Island has the charm of a Martha's Vineyard or Nantucket without the swelling...

BOND BUST FOR 'CHERRY PICKING'

Beleaguered money manager Alan Bond was busted again yesterday - this time on charges he cheated clients out of tens of millions of dollars to pay his lawyers. Bond is...

PINK SLIPS AT GAP - 1,600 JOBS ARE SLASHED AMID SLUMPING SALES

The Gap has slashed 1,600 corporate staffers worldwide - far more than previously announced. The company, whose CEO is Mickey Drexler, originally said it planned to cut 5 to 7...

TALKS COLLAPSE - M'SOFT AND DOJ STILL PLAYING HARDBALL

The hourglass is running down on Microsoft. Settlement talks between the two sides in the antitrust case are reportedly going nowhere, the new DoJ point man is a tough guy,...

ABERCROMBIE IS HOT - NOT!

Shares of Abercrombie & Fitch plummeted yesterday on news the company's comparable-store sales fell 14 percent in July. Abercrombie's stock dropped $6.15, or 17 percent, to close at $29.99. Though...

SMALLER BANKS BEGIN ATTACKS ON NYC RIVALS

Investors are reaping huge windfalls from a pack of small banks gnawing at the heels of New York's giant banks. With meteoric stock gains of up to 182 percent, this...

FLOOZ SAILS INTO A SEA OF CYBERWOE

Flooz, the Alley's ailing online currency, was in big trouble last night. E-tailers across the country stopped taking the digital ducats, which are usually awarded to people as part of...

STARR REPORT

Backstreet Boy's mom: A.J.'s betterConnie Chung has snagged an exclusive interview with Denise McLean, the mom of Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean, who entered a rehab facility to battle alcoholism and...

IT'S PUKEY, NOT SPOOKY

THE OTHERS [ 1/2] Nicole's performance is not to die for. Running time: 105 minutes. Rated PG-13 (haunted-house shocks). At the Empire, the Lincoln Square, the Coronet, others. --------------- POOR...

'OSMOSIS' UNABSORBING

OSMOSIS JONES [ 1/2] Mostly unfunny semi-animated comedy. Running time: 93 minutes. Rated PG (gross humor). At the 42d Street E Walk, the Lincoln Square, the Battery Park 16, others....

'TURANDOT' FALLS FLAT

THE TURANDOT PROJECT []THERE are probably just enough moments of behind-the-scenes acrimony to make this documentary about the 1998 Zubin Mehta/Zhang Yimou production of Puccini's "Turandot" in Beijing's Forbidden City...

THIS HORROR SHOW DOESN'T RAISE A HAIR

SESSION 9 [] THERE is one main problem with "Session 9" as a psychological horror movie, and it's a big one: The film isn't remotely scary. That's a shame, because...

'AMERICAN RHAPSODY' WINDS UP OUT OF TUNE

AN AMERICAN RHAPSODY [] Starts well, ends up from Hungary. Running time: 102 minutes. Rated PG-13 (moderate violence). At the Quad, the First and 62nd. --------- 'AN American Rhapsody" is...

IN THE HERE & 'NOW' - AT AGE 28, R&B'S MAXWELL FINDS IT'S TIME TO GET REAL

IN the decade that followed the 1984 murder of Marvin Gaye, many speculated the tragedy also marked an end to mainstream R&B. The genre was barely breathing by 1996, when...

MODELING BECOMES ELEKTRA: AGENCY SIGNS A PAPER DOLL

THE newest model in town is paper-thin - literally. Elektra - a buxom superhero who normally graces the pages of a self-titled Marvel Comics series - has signed a modeling...

THINGS FALL APART

Dinner with Friends Tomorrow night at 9 on HBO ½ IT'S impossible not to be moved by "Dinner with Friends," especially if you've ever been married. Like the Pulitzer Prize-winning...

'GUY' SAME OLD GUFF

ALL OVER THE GUY [] BEWARE of indie movies like "All Over the Guy," with characters who dump on mainstream movies - in this case, the vastly more entertaining "Inside...

'I FEEL FOR MOM WHO KILLED KIDS'; ROSIE TELLS SAWYER HOWSHE SUFFERED

ROSIE O'Donnell gave an anguished interview to "Good Morning America" yesterday - saying the Columbine tragedy nearly pushed her over the edge. O'Donnell also said she has "overwhelming empathy" for...

'42ND STREET' SHUFFLE - DID HIT MUSICAL'S DESIGNER STEAL FROM '80 SHOW

THE hit revival of "42nd Street" likes to bill itself as a new production for a new millennium. But when it comes the show's sets, by designer Douglas W. Schmidt,...

STAR POWER FOR 'THE OTHERS' EYE-OPENER FOR YOUNG DIRECTOR

WHEN Chilean-born director Alejandro Amenabar wrote the goose-pimply fright flick, "The Others," he envisioned it as a low-budget, Spanish-language film set in South America. Then along came Tom Cruise and...

NIKON KIM USES THE NEWSES

RED faced cable news executives were back-peddling yesterday after "Sex and the City" star Kim Cattrall turned a string of live interviews into a commercial for a Nikon digital camera....

SLEAZY AS 'PIE' : IN ITS OWN VULGAR WAY, THIS SEQUEL IS A SIDE-SPLITTER

AMERICAN PIE 2 ½ Side-splitting sequel to the raunchy 1999 teen hit. Running time: 104 minutes. Rated R (sexual content, language, crude humor). At the 42d Street E Walk, the...

VETS: STOP CHOPPING DOG TAILS

The World Congress of Veterinarians is calling on all pet doctors worldwide to stop surgically trimming the tails and ears of show dogs. "Anything they can cut off, they will,"...

WILL VALLONE GRAB HIS CHANCE? - HEVESI IS ON THE ROPES

RIGHT now - this very weekend - Peter Vallone has an unparalleled opportunity to seize control of the mayor's race and ensure his own place in the run-off following the...

DISABLED MAN TO AIR GRISLY WEB 'FOOTAGE'

A disabled man says he's going to end the agony of de-feet - by chopping off his two mangled limbs with a guillotine during a graphic Internet broadcast. Paul Morgan,...

THREE CAR DEALERS FINED 20G OVER ADS

ALBANY - Three city car dealers, accused of misleading advertising, agreed to pay the state $20,000 each, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced yesterday. Spitzer said the three advertised low finance...

KIDDIE-PORN BLITZ ROLLS INTO CANADA

The massive kiddie-porn crackdown called "Operation Avalanche" is roaring into Canada, where as many as 2,000 Internet perverts could be collared soon, officials disclosed yesterday. On the heels of 100...

FLA.'S HARRIS IN NEW VOTE FLAP

Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris - embroiled in last year's presidential election mess - was allegedly registered to vote in two different counties for nearly seven months. Harris filled...

SIS TELLS HERMIT'S SAD STORY

The estranged sister of sausage-and-egg hermit Irwin Rose told The Post yesterday she was "shocked" by her brother's bizarre life and lonely death - not to mention his non-kosher diet....

OUSTED KIDS LOSE IN PRIEST RIFT

'IT'S the worst type of priest God could've put on this earth." That's what Jackie Jaime thinks of Father James Kelly, who's trying to evict 900 kids from two day-care...

JAIL DEAL FOR RABBIS IN HOLOCAUST $CAM

A Brooklyn federal judge reluctantly agreed to a plea deal yesterday in which two Brooklyn rabbis - one a former adviser to then-Mayor Ed Koch - will serve 33 months...

GROWING LIFE IN LAB

Embryonic stem cells form in the first few days after an egg is fertilized with sperm and researchers believe they can be a "human repair kit" - made to grow...

CHANDRA'S MOM REFUSED CONDIT HUG

WASHINGTON - Chandra Levy's mother rebuffed Rep. Gary Condit when he tried to hug her at the end of a tense meeting earlier this summer, Susan Levy revealed in a...

BLOOMBERG'S NORTHERN EXPOSURE

Michael Bloomberg for mayor, eh? That was the message from a telemarketer who's been dialing New Yorkers to gauge Bloomberg's support, saying she works for a Canadian firm under contract...

NEW YORK POST FROM AUG. 10, 1893

"The scarcity of currency was very great again today and the money brokers' offices were thronged with customers who were selling their hoards at big premium. It is a matter...

SMILES AND TEARS FOR NYPD LEGEND

FATHER Pete Colapietro, before entering St. Patrick's Cathedral yesterday, was sporting a jaunty straw homburg hat. "Jack gave it to me and I figure on this day he would like...

TORRICELLI ACCUSER: HE WANTED ME SLAIN

WASHINGTON - The key witness in the federal corruption probe of Sen. Robert Torricelli claimed the senator "tried to have me killed," it was reported yesterday. "I tried to help...

TRASHED 20G RING RESCUED

Sal Licata was just trying to be helpful when he threw out crumpled tissues from fiancée Stacey Chaffey's night table - not knowing that one contained her $20,000 diamond and...

TRAGIC FAMILY IS LAID TO REST

Hundreds of mourners with hearts as heavy as the August air packed a Brooklyn funeral for the victims of an accused DWI cop yesterday and heard Mayor Giuliani promise justice...

MOYNIHAN PLUGS OLD PAL FERRER FOR MAYOR

Fernando Ferrer's mayoral hopes got a lift yesterday with an endorsement by former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan during a campaign stop outside City Hall. "I've known him for the longest...

'WAVE' BYE: 1 DAY LEFT OF TORTURE

One more day. Just one more day of sweating like a roasting pig on a spit. The heat and humidity will stick - literally - to New Yorkers again today...

CARJACKERS FACE DEATH - MURDER 1 CHARGE IN SAMARITAN-SLAY

Two suspected carjackers who allegedly executed good Samaritan Rupinder Singh after he gave them a ride could face the death penalty after being indicted yesterday on first-degree murder charges. Darshen...

STERN STANDS BY HIS SPRINKLERS

City Parks Commissioner Henry Stern refuted charges yesterday that nearly half of the city's playground sprinklers were out of service during this week's record heat wave. Stern insisted that 90...

COP STOPS HIGHWAY RAPE

A highway cop, checking out an apparently stalled van, interrupted the rape of an 11-year-old girl yesterday morning, police said. Officer Jeff Ferrara of Highway 1, collared a 37-year-old Bronx...

GRAY WILL FACE VICTIMS' KIN IN COURT

DWI cop Joseph Gray will face his victims' devastated family at an arraignment today after being indicted on manslaughter, drunken-driving and other charges that could land him behind bars for...

$7,500 DEAL IN 660G SCAM SUIT

A Manhattan woman who allegedly looted $660,000 from her elderly husband's charitable foundation has to pay only $7,500 in restitution, the state attorney general's office said yesterday. Meanwhile, the estate...

11-YR.-OLD ACES HS REGENTS

Danny Zhu is only 11, but his latest accomplishment puts half the city's high-school graduating class to shame - he got a nearly perfect score on the math Regents. The...

WHITNEY'S BRO IN JERSEY DRUG BUST

Whitney Houston's brother Michael - his speech slurred, his eyes dilated, his teeth grinding - was busted in New Jersey with a small stash of drugs in his car after...

U.S. OFFERS CHINA 34G IN 'SPY' CRASH

The United States has reportedly decided to pay no more than $34,567 to Beijing to cover costs related to a Navy spy plane that was forced to land in southern...

EXECS FINED IN SCHOOL-LUNCH SCAM

Two Long Island food distributors and three of their executives have been ordered to pay $4.23 million in restitution for rigging bids on more than $200 million in contracts awarded...

CANCER HORROR AT MRI HOSP

Just days after a 6-year- old boy died in a freak accident during an MRI scan at Westchester Medical Center, the hospital is facing new trouble over the agonizing death...

EXES IN BITTER BOTTLE BATTLE

It's a true case of sour grapes. A Manhattan millionaire says his ex-wife has denied him visitation, so now he wants custody - of their wine collection. Roger Yaseen says...

LYING PREZ NOW IN 'MIDDLE' OF NOWHERE

READ his lips. He lied. George W. Bush said during his campaign, and publicly reiterated as recently as May, that he believed using embryonic stem cells for research purposes was...

SHARON KEEPS HIS COOL IN HEAT OF CONFLICT

JERUSALEM. PRIME MINISTER Ariel Sharon was in the Israeli Defense Ministry compound in Tel Aviv, getting continuous updates on yesterday's bombing. First, it was four dead and 12 wounded, then...

GOTTI IS RUSHED TO HOSP

Cancer-stricken John Gotti has "taken a turn for the worse" and was whisked to a Missouri hospital yesterday as family members rushed to his side. Gotti, 60, in the terminal...

5 IN FAMILY FALL TO MIDEAST FIEND: SURVIVORS MOURN KIN AFTER PIZZERIA HORROR

JERUSALEM - Three young children and their parents died when a suicide bomber blew up a pizzeria - sending tables, chairs and mangled bodies flying through the room in a...

BUSH OKS $$ FOR LIMITED RESEARCH

WASHINGTON - In a defining moment of his presidency, George W. Bush last night backed limited federal funding for the "brave new world" of stem-cell research that may cure many...

LEWINSKY ART SPURS TONGUE-LASH

Is that a tongue sticking out of Monica Lewinsky's mouth - or is it something out of an X-rated movie? That's what everybody's wants to know about a Florida art...

DUBYA IN TEXAS

President Bush spent Vacation Day 6 on his sun-scorched ranch getting ready to reveal one of the major decisions of his presidency - whether to okay federal funds for stem...

NEW CHARGE IN DEADLY DRAG RACE

A Long Island man who took part in a drag race that killed the other racer - as well as a father of two who was innocently driving by -...

CANCER HORROR AT MRI KID'S HOSPITAL

Just days after a 6-year-old boy died in a freak accident during an MRI scan at Westchester Medical Center, the hospital is facing new trouble over the agonizing death of...

MR. SOJO RISES UP AGAIN: DOUBLE IN 9TH RALLIES YANKS OVER D-RAYS

Yankees 4 Devil Rays 3 ST. PETERSBURG - Bernie Williams calls him "El Mejor," Spanish for "the best." Roger Clemens is demanding bobble-head dolls in his honor. And Joe Torre...

TORRE'S LIVID OVER LILLY SUSPENSION

YANKEE NOTES ST. PETERSBURG - Ted Lilly was suspended for six games yesterday for a pitch that didn't even prompt an ejection. The Yankee rookie left-hander was nailed with the...

WHAT PERSPECTIVE? THE KNEE-JERK RESPONSE TO TRAGEDY

THE job-related death, last week, of Vikings lineman Korey Stringer kicked off another national "perspective" festival among players, GMs, team owners, coaches and the media. Of all the hackneyed and...

GETTING AN EARLY READ ON VICK

GREENVILLE, S.C. - The Southern sun is in a screaming rage. The humidity clings to your skin like a moth on a sweater. No wonder the Falcons can't wait to...

ANGLERS HEAT UP ; FISH STILL BITING DESPITE RISING TEMPS

Blues, fluke, porgies and sea bass kept things cool for the inshore anglers, while those heading to the deep blue found some hot yellowfin action to go along with the...

JETS' BECHT WAS VICTIM OF MICHAEL THE MAGICIAN

Jets' tight end Anthony Becht vividly recalls his Michael Vick moment - and it's not exactly one he'd like to remember forever. Becht was playing for West Virginia on Nov....

SUMPTER BRINGING BIG GOALS TO 'NOVA

Curtis Sumpter has big plans for when he gets to Villanova. "I want to win four Big East titles and at least one national championship," the Bishop Loughlin star said...

GORDON ANSWERS CALL FOR LB HELP ; BACK WITH JETS . . . INSTEAD OF COLTS

JET NOTES The Jets welcomed an old friend back to the roster yesterday when they re-signed linebacker Dwayne Gordon to a one-year deal. Gordon had been released early in the...

ELBOW KEEPS FRANCO OUT

John Franco's tender left elbow kept him out of the eighth inning yesterday. Franco, who had ice on his elbow after the Mets' 4-3 win yesterday, said the injury isn't...

BENCH BURNS BREWERS

It's not too often that a starting pitcher bats in the top of an inning and doesn't take the mound again. But that's what happens when you have the roster...

VANCE SHOWS HIS WORTH - AGAIN

The question used to be: Is Vance Wilson good enough to be the Mets' backup catcher? Now, people are asking: Is Wilson good enough to start for the team? Of...

LEITER: AL BE BACK ; LEFTY LOOKS AHEAD AFTER SCORCHING WIN

Mets 4 Brewers 3 When Al Leiter has spoken about retirement in the past, he has said next year could be his last. The travel and the time spent away...

STEVENS: DON'T MISS THE 'POINT'

SARATOGA SPRINGS - The fact that Gary Stevens, the regular rider of Point Given, has accepted the mount on Jim Dandy winner Scorpion for the Aug. 25 Travers in the...

CUT-RATE METS AMAZIN' BARGAIN ; CUT-RATE METS ARE A BARGAIN

IT'S a well-known fact that if you get a group of monkeys together and allow them to pound away at typewriters for long enough, eventually one will write "Ulysses." It's...

SANTANA: I WON'T MISS BEAT ; HERM SAYS WR WILL BE FAST AS EVER

While Santana Moss was enduring his own personal battle last week with a left knee injury that would require surgery and severely hamper his rookie season, Korey Stringer was suffering...

WOODRUFF GAVE RUN-AROUND TO HITLER

It's been 65 years since John Woodruff shocked Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany when an African-American runner won the first American gold medal of the historic 1936 Olympic Games. "I wasn't...

FIRST . . . DO NO HARM ; JINTS HOPE TO GET THROUGH INTACT

FOXBORO - The secret about preseason was uncovered long before last year. All the Giants did was further expose what most everyone either strongly suspected or already knew. "As we...

HAMILTON: BILLICK'S A CROCK ON 'HARD KNOCKS'

GIANT NOTES FOXBORO - Many Giants yesterday shook their heads and commiserated with the plight of the Ravens after hearing that running back Jamal Lewis was lost for the season...

RARE SAVE MAKES WHITE'S DAY

Rick White knows that since he's pitching on a team with Armando Benitez and John Franco, his chances for picking up a save are pretty slim. But that doesn't mean...

KNICKS SET TO TRADE RICE, WARD

The Knicks have been shopping Charlie Ward and Glen Rice for over a week in a four-team deal that could materialize as early as today, The Post has learned. Awaiting...

YANKS' JUSTICE REWARD: DAVE'S BIG BAT BOOSTS BOMBERS

ST. PETERSBURG - David Justice was in the middle of his nightly press debriefing Wednesday, talking about his third home run in three games. The Yankees had just destroyed Tampa...

LILLY BAN LEAVES TORRE LIVID

YANKEE NOTES ST. PETERSBURG - Left-handed pitcher Ted Lilly was suspended for six games yesterday for a pitch that didn't even provoke an ejection. The Yankee rookie was nailed with...