January 25, 2002

DATEK IN SCAM SETTLEMENT

Datek struck a deal with prosecutors yesterday to settle a long-running investigation into improper trading practices at its day-trading division. Datek Online Holdings sold off its Datek Securities day-trading business...

CRATE & BARREL SETS OPENING ON BROADWAY

Home retailer Crate & Barrel is dropping into its second Manhattan location, where it will soon perch atop the quirky Angelika Theater. The Northbrook, Ill.-based category killer completed a deal...

BORDERS IS LEAVING PARK AVE.

The shelves could soon be bare at the Borders Books on Park Avenue. The retailer - a kissin' cousin of Kmart, which created the chain - is shopping its store...

BIG KMART DEBT LIST: SMALLER CREDITORS WILL TAKE PROFITS HIT

Damage from Kmart's bankruptcy is starting to ripple through the consumer-products sector. Vendors being hit worst are those doing most of their business in the fourth quarter - sellers of...

ALAN: WE'VE TURNED CORNER

Alan Greenspan's good-news groove is tickling Wall Street. Just minutes after the Federal Reserve chairman shed his year of pessimism in favor of bullish hope, investors plunged back into stocks...

MORT'S WEAKLY READER

REMEMBER in the olden days when weekly magazines actually appeared weekly? The latest magazine to shrink is the embattled U.S. News & World Report, owned by Daily News ownerMort Zuckerman....

REVLON SWITCHES TO AD AGENCYDEUTSCH, FIRES KBP

Ron Perelman has found that breaking up is hard to do - but he doesn't have any qualms about cutting ties over at Revlon. First he axed longtime spokesmodel Cindy...

THE FOOL MONTE: UMPTEENTH VERSION OF DUMAS' CLASSIC BUCKLES WHEN IT SHOULD BE SWASHING

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO 1/2 You can count on snoozing.Running time: 131 minutes. Rated PG-13 (swordplay). At the E Walk, the Union Square, the Cinema 1, others. THIS is...

'METROPOLIS' NOT A HARD CEL

METROPOLIS Japanese anime.Running time: 105 minutes. Rated: PG-13 (violence). At the Empire and the Sunshine. MOST young American moviegoers wouldn't think of going to see something by Akira Kurosawa or...

ADDICTED TO TV? - DON'T LAUGH. SCIENTISTS NOW SAY THAT WATCHING TV CAN BE AS HABIT FORMING AS PILLS AND BOOZE

MY name is Adam and I'm a TV addict. I know this because of an eye-opening article in the February issue of Scientific American. The article - titled "Television Addiction"...

UNMEMORABLE

A WALK TO REMEMBER The bland leading the bland.Running time: 103 minutes. Rated PG (mild cussing). At the Empire, the 84th and Broadway, the First and 62nd, others. ABOUT as...

'MOTHMAN' HAS HOLES

THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES 1/2 Creepy but ultimately unsatisfying thriller.Running time: 119 minutes.Rated PG-13 (ominous mood,but nothing offensive). At theLoews 34th Street, Kips Bay,Magic Johnson, others. FOR about half its length,...

NOT MUCH NEW OUTSIDE THE BOX

STORYTELLING Yawn. Todd ("Look at me, I'm outrageous") Solondz strikes again.Running time: 87 minutes. Rated R (graphic sexuality, profanity, violence). At the Lincoln Plaza, the Angelika. 'STORYTELLING," another mean-spirited black...

'SPIRITUAL MINDED' KRS-ONE IS DETERMINED TO BE . . . LIGHT IN THE DARK

LAWRENCE Krisna Parker, professionally known as KRS-One, is an integral part of the evolution of rap and the maturing of the hip-hop nation.The seminal rapper, now 37, is one of...

JAY-Z AND R. KELLY WILL JOIN FORCES

RAPPER Jay-Z and R&B star R. Kelly make unlikely bedfellows - they also could make for a Grammy-winning combination. With the announcement this year of a new Grammys category -...

STARR REPORT

'80s flashback proves a 'Show'-stopperFox's "That '80s Show" was critically thrashed - but that didn't stop viewers from tuning into the show's Wednesday-night premiere, where it finished second in total...

FROM BARD TO WORSE

CYMBELINEAt the Lucille Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher St. Through Feb. 24. Call TeleCharge, (212) 239-6200. THE four late romantic dramas of Shakespeare are riddled with wild, improbable twists of time,...

KING OF SMARTS: AN ORIGINAL, SIX-HOUR MINISERIES ABOUT A BIG OLD HOUSE WITH ALMOST NO RESALE VALUE

"Stephen King's Rose Red" Sunday, Monday and Thursday on WABC/Ch. 7 at 9 A few months ago, ABC sent out three video cassettes of "Stephen King's Rose Red," along with...

TOO MANY COOKS

AMERICAN ADOBO 1/2YET another film that explores the travails of a transplanted ethnic group using food as a metaphor, "American Adobo" is marinated in clichés and mawkish dialogue. The adobo...

'ROOF' CAN'T GET OFF GROUND

EVERYTHING about "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" is up in the air.A much-touted London revival of the Tennessee Williams play was to have transferred to Broadway's Cort Theater this...

TV PLAYMATE HUNT N.Y-BOUND

CALLING all wannabe Playmates! Playboy is looking for women 18 and over to be photo-tested for a two-hour network reality-TV show tentatively titled "Who Wants to be a Playboy Playmate,"...

SHOCKER: FOX CHASING CONAN

FOX wants Conan O'Brien to host a late-night talk show, according to TV Guide. Fox execs are "all over" the 38-year-old O'Brien, whose "Late Night" deal reportedly ends in September,...

BILL FIRES BACK AT U.S.-BASH POWWOW

Former President Bill Clinton sprang to America's defense yesterday when a conference on Islam at New York University turned into a bash-the-United States fest. Clinton's presidential foundation co-sponsored the gathering...

MARBURY MUM ON POSSIBLE MOVE TO GARDEN

Before Stephon Marbury was shipped to Phoenix last summer by the Nets, he knew he was being shopped. According to a source, Marbury told one member of the Nets' family...

LIVING WITH TERROR

JERUSALEM THERE'S nobody here. Oh, sure, there are millions of Israelis here, going about their daily lives as their government and military make grim tactical and strategic preparations for what...

GI WOUNDED IN RAID AGAINST TERROR NEST

WASHINGTON - Up to 15 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters were killed and an American soldier was wounded in a furious pre-dawn firefight in Afghanistan yesterday - underlining how much...

'JOHN LOVES AMERICA' ; DAD BACKS TRAITOR AT VA. HEARING

The father of American al Qaeda collaborator John Walker Lindh opened the emotional legal drama over his son's future yesterday, proclaiming that the teen who pledged allegiance to Osama bin...

CALIFORNIA AIRHEADS UNFIT TO RAISE LETTUCE

WHEN King Rat gets fitted for a dress to serve his time in the slam, his parents should get a little sentence themselves. Like a padded cell. Like most, I...

POLS: CLOSE ARAFAT'S N.Y. OFFICE

The Upper East Side offices of Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority should be closed down immediately and the group branded a terrorist organization, several lawmakers said yesterday. And a resolution has...

NEW YORKERS LESS TERRIFIED

ALBANY - New Yorkers aren't as worried today about another terrorist attack as they were two months after the World Trade Center's destruction, a new poll yesterday showed. The Quinnipiac...

FEDS BLAST AUCTION-CON APPEAL BID

Antitrust prosecutors slammed Sotheby's tycoon Alfred Taubman in court papers yesterday for trying to have his price-fixing conviction thrown out. Taubman, convicted last year of conspiring with arch-rival auction house...

KIN SAY LET THERE BE TWIN TOWER LIGHTS

Relatives of the victims of the World Trade Center attacks yesterday hailed a proposal for two "Towers of Light" to be beamed from lower Manhattan as a tribute to the...

BUSH WANTS $38B TO COMBAT TERROR

WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday called for $38 billion to fight terror on U.S. shores, with financial help going to the cops, firefighters and rescue workers who make up the...

THE CAMP X-RAY LIBEL

IN at least one supremely important way, the United States is treating its al Qaeda prisoners at Camp X-Ray far better than is required by the Geneva Convention: It hasn't...

CRACKDOWN ON INSURE SCAMS

State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer launched the first strike in his war against auto-insurance fraud yesterday, rounding up 20 people suspected of helping to drive the city's insurance rates through...

J-SCHOOL DEAN IN BLOOMY FLAP QUITTING

The dean of Columbia University's graduate journalism school - who sparked controversy by agreeing to monitor content at Mayor Bloomberg's news service - yesterday announced he'll leave the school in...

POSH 'PUSHERS' NAILED ; DRUG DELIVERY RING SERVED YUPPIES: DA

Authorities have busted a Queens drug-delivery service that catered to high-end customers in some of the city's most affluent neighborhoods, law-enforcement officials said yesterday. The million-dollar-a-year operation, which sold "ecstasy,"...

FIRM'S FAKE 'FDNY' IS MARK OF SHAME

A Brooklyn souvenir hawker is still raking in the bucks selling unlicensed FDNY merchandise - despite being repeatedly warned to stop in the wake of Sept. 11, a Post investigation...

W. TO KEEP $20B PROMISE: REBUILD BOSS

The head of the city-state redevelopment panel yesterday said President Bush has assured him New York will get the entire $20 billion in post-Sept. 11 federal aid "in due course."...

B'KLYN BISHOP SHUTTLED 'SEX' PRIEST

While serving as a top Catholic Church official in Boston, Brooklyn Bishop Thomas Daily transferred a priest who allegedly admitted molesting seven boys to another parish - where the priest...

HOW MARIAH CAN TUNE UP HER TROUBLED SONG CAREER

Can Mariah be saved? Mariah Carey is hoping that a cameo appearance on "Ally McBeal" and singing the National Anthem at this year's Super Bowl will bring her fans back...

'ZUCCHINI BANDIT' FACES DEPORTATION

An 11th-hour deportation order kept the so-called Queens zucchini bandit in the cooler last night. Fulton Guevara, 33, served about seven years in prison for using a zucchini he pretended...

MARIAH EYES CHEAP DEAL TO 'CAREY' ON CAREER

Fallen pop princess Mariah Carey is in talks with fabled Def Jam records for a two-album deal at $3 million to $5 million per album, a source told The Post...

TORT-URE CHAMBERS ; 'BRIBE' JUDGE LOCKED LAWYER IN ROOM: DA

Judge Victor Barron brazenly locked a lawyer inside his chambers while he demanded a $250,000 bribe to approve a multimillion-dollar civil case settlement, authorities said yesterday. The judge was busted...

HARLEM SOCIALITE'S KILLER GETS LIFE

A stern Manhattan judge threw away the key yesterday for a 37-year-old crackhead who raped and murdered an 82-year-old Harlem socialite - then claimed his DNA was at the scene...

'GROPE DOC' HAD NO MED LICENSE, SAY PROSECUTORS

Manhattan prosecutors say an unidentified man got more than he bargained for on his latest visit to his Washington Heights "doctor" - who groped his genitals. Adding insult to injury,...

KING HS PROBED FOR 'NO SHOW' IDS

Gov. Pataki's schools-investigation panel wants to know why scandal-plagued Martin Luther King HS provided ID cards to students who weren't registered. "The [governor's] commission is looking into why students who...

'TEMPLE' OF GLOOM SETS TONE FOR HEARING

Nancy with the laughing face didn't show up at yesterday's Enron hearing in Washington. Lawyer Nancy Temple had her stony face in place as members of the House Energy and...

ONE-LEGGED BIKER VS. 300-LB. TRANSSEXUAL

In a bizarre hate-crime case, a one-legged bike messenger went on trial in Manhattan yesterday for allegedly beating up a transsexual on a crowded uptown No. 2 train. The bike...

BOOZY BOMBSHELL ; PALS GOT LIZZIE STRAIGHT AFTER L.I. CRASH: SOURCE

Lizzie Grubman's friends spirited her away from the scene of her notorious Conscience Point nightclub accident last summer and spent hours trying to sober her up - including putting her...

BROOKLYN TOT DROWNS IN TUB

An 11-month-old Brooklyn infant drowned in a bathtub yesterday when he was left alone by his baby sitter, police said. Brigida Gonzalez, 50, said she left little Kevin Martinez in...

ISRAELI COPTERS HUNT, KILL HAMAS BIG

JERUSALEM - Israeli helicopter crews killed a Hamas commander and two of his fighters in the Gaza Strip yesterday. Ali Daker Hamdan, suspected by Israel of killing four of its...

ENRON SHREDDER: MY LIPS ARE SEALED

Minutes after Enron's axed chief auditor took the Fifth Amendment at a congressional hearing yesterday, his former colleagues blasted him as a rogue partner who launched the massive shredding of...

SCHOOL-BUS KIDNAP ; DRIVER TAKES KIDS ON 6-HR. FEAR RIDE: COPS

A normally meticulous school-bus driver took 13 Pennsylvania children on a six-hour interstate odyssey yesterday before giving himself up, police said. Nobody was hurt in the incident. School-bus driver Otto...

AMERICA'S BEST PRESSED

Stop the pants presses! Regis Philbin has been named the Best Groomed American of the Year. The nattily dressed TV personality took top honors in a poll conducted by 4,000...

LOST CAT RETURNS FROM GULLIVER'S TRAVELS

A plucky cat named Gulliver - who disappeared from his Michigan home six years ago - has made a miraculous return. Gulliver vanished from rural Northport in 1996, and his...

DURST IS A REAL NUT JOB: SHRINK

Real-estate heir Robert Durst could mount an insanity defense when he returns to Texas to face charges of beheading and chopping up his elderly next-door neighbor, a top forensic psychologist...

MAYOR WARY OF PATAKI'S BUDGET PLAN

In his first public comments on Gov. Pataki's proposed budget, Mayor Bloomberg gave a cool response to the governor's offer to enact a city cell-phone tax and to funnel $200...

DEMS CITE LAZIO FOR POLL FAULT

Democrats are charging former Rick Lazio's camp with illegally releasing polling data about his possible political comeback. They cite news articles about a poll predicting a strong showing from Lazio...

SCIENTISTS 'CELL' ALZHEIMER'S RX

Scientists say they've found a new way to use gene cloning to cure Alzheimer's and other diseases - without the use of human embryos. The cells, found in the bone...

KNICKS TWO MUCH: CHANEY GAINS FIRST WIN STREAK

Knicks 96 Suns 91 With 3:48 to go, a smile crossed Allan Houston's face. He had just threaded a pass to Clarence Weatherspoon, cutting to the basket along the left...

SCOTT EARNS STAR NOD AS NETS JOLT ROCKETS

HOUSTON - The Nets officially earned Byron Scott a weekend in Philadelphia. And he's grateful. Scott clinched the right to coach the East All-Stars in three weeks when the Nets,...

DUKE BELTS BC

Duke 88BC 78 CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - When the undefeated season went up in flames Jan. 6 with a stunning loss at Florida State, the nation looked to see how...

THOMAS' BIG GAME ERASES KNICK DOUBT

Two weeks ago, Don Chaney was livid with Kurt Thomas. He singled out his hot-headed forward for costing the Knicks a game in Houston. Clearly, Thomas has responded. With the...

NETS LACK STAR POWER AFTER KIDD

NET NOTES HOUSTON - Jason Kidd will be a lock for the for the All-Star Game in three weekends. After him, despite having the best record in the East most...

PENN-IES FROM HEAVEN ; PITTSBURGH, PHILLY WILL FATTEN YOUR WALLET

WHEN the AFC Championship Game went up on the board at Steelers -7½ over Patriots, it seemed like an easy call. Then the number climbed slowly but steadily throughout the...

PAIN-FREE MESS STILL ON SLOW ROAD BACK

Mark Messier practiced without pain for the second straight day, but the Rangers aren't plotting The Captain's immediate return. "The way I'm thinking, anything before the All-Star break would be...

N.J. BILL MUST BE DEFEATED

SPORTSMEN'S rights and scientific wildlife management would be dealt a damaging blow if New Jersey Assembly Bill 479 becomes law. Sponsored by Assemblyman Christopher Bateman (R - Morris and Somerset),...

DEVS KNOW ONE WIN SAVES LITTLE

ATLANTA - Few Devils fooled themselves. Victory over the Panthers Wednesday was required for survival, but only brought them to another imperative. Weary after being marooned by fog in Fort...

FAN STRIKES BACK - FLEURY HEARS IT FROM ISLES AFICIONADO

Theo Fleury apologized in Wednesday's Post for the gestures he made to the Coliseum fans after Tuesday night's 5-4 Rangers win, which cost the explosive winger $1,000 in fine money....

SLASH SHOOTS FOR SUPER SPLASH

PITTSBURGH - There are four quarterbacks left standing. Young Tom Brady is fast becoming a New England legend. Mobile Donovan McNabb may be the most fearsome weapon in the NFL....

AT LAST, IT'S PAYBACK TIME FOR 'SUGAR' SHANE

Who knows how many millions it cost Shane Mosley that he didn't throw more punches against Vernon Forrest in the 139-pound Olympic box-offs of 1992? Oscar De La Hoya went...

RAMS NOT BAFFLED BY MCNABB MAGIC

When the Rams last tried to cage an elusive Eagle named Donovan McNabb, they got what they expected: A shifty quarterback capable of slipping through the tightest cracks. As the...

NO SURPRISE HERE: REFS DROPPED BALL

STAN KASTEN had no comment regarding Stu Jurisprudence's 3-game suspension of reputed conscientious objector, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, for retaliating against elbows courtesy of Rocket headhunter Kenny Thomas (also suspended for three...

GIANTS LAND READ TO BOOST SPECIAL TEAMS

Jim Fassel spent a few days in Mobile, Ala., at the Senior Bowl researching and interviewing candidates for the opening on his staff for a special-teams coach. That position has...

STOP THE STUPIDITY! C'MON, FELLAS, IT'S ONLY A FOOTBALL GAME

THE 36th Super Bowl, this year on Fox, is two weeks away. Not much time for Fox's nationally celebrated and generously remunerated "A Team" to cease its habit-formed and unyielding...

BOGEYMAN SPOILS TRYON'S FIRST DAY ON THE PGA TOUR

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Four girls, ages 13 to 15, giggled and whispered to each other as Ty Tryon walked up the 18th green yesterday, the final hole of his front...

JARVIS, CUFFE ARE OK

St. John's coach Mike Jarvis said he spoke to Kyle Cuffe on the bus ride home from Wednesday night's 75-70 loss at Connecticut and believes the talented power forward understands...

DEVILS ADD RAFALSKI INJURY TO INSULT

Thrashers 4Devils 2 ATLANTA - Scant hours after GM Lou Lamoriello issued his no-comment comment that everybody's safe until something happens, nobody looked secure, and everyone appeared vulnerable. Unmitigated disaster...

RUINED AT COLISEUM; ISLES BLOW 3-1 LEAD, FALL TO PENS IN OT

OVERTIME Penguins 5Islanders 4 Not all the barbed wire and chain link in the world can protect an Islander lead these days. The boos rained down from the Coliseum crowd...

ISLES WASTE ANOTHER CUSHION, FALL IN OT

OVERTIME Penguins 5 Islanders 4 Not all the barbed wire and chain link in the world can protect an Islander lead these days. The boos rained down heavy from the...

DON SPARKS WIN WITH HALFTIME BATTLE CRY

AS RECENTLY as Monday, the Knicks didn't have so much as a pulse, much less a friend. The only thing they did right all day was try to hide their...

AMAZIN' AIDE BOSOX BOUND?

Met assistant general manager Jim Duquette is reportedly on a short list of candidates for the GM job with the Red Sox. And although the new Boston ownership group has...

SCOTT GETS STAR NOD AS NETS TOP ROCKETS

Nets 103 - Rockets 98 HOUSTON - The Nets officially earned Byron Scott a weekend in Philadelphia. And he's grateful. There will be no W.C. Fields-like cracks from Scott, who...

DEVIL OF A DREAM

IT'S quiet at the Garden, which is another way of saying the Knicks are in town. My eyes are shut, but I'm not napping. It's quiet enough for a nap,...

SCOTT: STAR COACH TOPPING ON THE CAKE

HOUSTON - Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were among the reasons Byron Scott never got to an All-Star Game in 14 seasons as a player. Jason Kidd, Kerry Kittles,...

STEPHON MUM ON POSSIBLE MOVE TO GARDEN

KNICK NOTES Before Stephon Marbury was shipped to Phoenix last summer by the Nets, he knew he was being shopped. According to a source, Marbury told one member of the...

KNICKS TWO MUCH - HOUSTON, KURT HELP GIVE CHANEY FIRST WIN STREAK

Knicks 96 - Suns 91 The Knicks have got their mojo back and embattled Don Chaney has his first two-game winning streak as their head coach. It took seven weeks...

JEKYLL & HYDE KNICKS HAVE CHANEY IRATE

Knicks GM Scott Layden was in Boston last night to scout Duke's Jason Williams, a potential No. 1 lottery pick. For one wonderful night in Toronto Wednesday, the Knicks didn't...

SPREWELL, CAMBY SHOW TRUE COLORS

In a maddeningly inconsistent season for the Knicks, nobody has been more maddening or inconsistent than Latrell Sprewell or Marcus Camby. Both have been as up-and-down as a Stephon Marbury...

SPREE AND CAMBY SHOW THEIR VALUE

It was during the Knicks' eight-game losing streak that swingman Latrell Sprewell and center Marcus Camby showed how valuable they are to the team. It's no coincidence that while the...

BELL NOT RINGING - BOSTON COLLEGE STAR IN SHOOTING SLUMP

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Troy Bell would rather have it this way than the way it was when he first arrived at Boston College three years ago as an unheralded...