March 13, 2002

TRICON FAST FOOD EMPIRE GROWS

Long John Silver's and A&W All American Food restaurants are joining fast food forces with KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. Tricon Global restaurants inked an agreement to purchase Long...

PERRIN UNDRESSES - CELEB DESIGNER WILL SHUT $-LOSING SHOP NEXT MONTH

Christina Perrin is going out of fashion. The designer, known for her red carpet gowns worn by starlets Leelee Sobieski and Charlize Theron, is closing the doors to her business...

DIDDY RUN AWAY FROM DOWNTOWN?

LOOKS like P. Diddy is gearing up to abandon Downtown. The music and fashion star put down a deposit for the sprawling penthouse of the luxurious Residences at the Ritz-Carlton...

INTIMATE BRANDS TO RETURN TO LIMITED

It looks like lingerie will be back at the Limited, Inc. A special committee of independent directors at Intimate Brands, parent to Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works stores,...

NEW CANTOR HOME - TRAGIC WTC BOND BROKER GOING TO E. 57TH AND LEX

Bloodied but resilient bond brokerage Cantor Fitzgerald, which lost 658 employees in the World Trade Center attack, has found a new Manhattan home, The Post has learned. Cantor Fitzgerald yesterday...

RODALE MOVE IS NOT ORGANIC

RODALE has raided Time Inc. to for the revolving-door job as editor-in-chief of its turbulent launch, Organic Style. The magazine is the brainchild of Maria Rodale, a vice chairwoman of...

ANDERSEN NEAR DEAL WITH FEDS

Arthur Andersen, faced with a potential criminal indictment over collapsed Enron Corp.'s audits, is working feverishly toward a settlement with regulators and prosecutors as it holds last-ditch talks to be...

MIDWEST LOWLIFES FIND THEMSELVES 'AGAINST THE WALL'

BACK AGAINSTTHE WALL 1/2 Off-the-wall cult drama.Running time: 94 minutes. Notrated (violence, profanity, sex).At Anthology Film Archives,Second Avenue and SecondStreet, through Monday; (212)505-5181. JAMES Fotopoulos is an underground filmmaker with...

MOVING 'ASPHALT' A TALE OF NOMAD LAND

YELLOW ASPHALT 1/2 Drama in the desert.In Hebrew and Arabic, with English subtitles. Running time: 87 minutes. Not rated (brief violence). At Film Forum, Houston Street, between Sixth Avenue and...

A BAD (DOPE) DEAL

"Guilt By Association" Tonight at 9 on Court TV 1/2 IN the '80s, in an attempt to stop the crack epidemic that was sweeping the country, Congress implemented mandatory drug...

'WORLD' STAYS ON COURSE

KEVIN Zraly's "Windows on the World Complete Wine Course" has long been one of the best books on wine. No other book is as clear and direct in laying out...

THE TREATS ARRIVE LIKE CLOCKWORK AT IMPALA OR:

Impala Cafe 1/2 132 W. Houston St. ESCARGOT to go? Well, maybe not. But everything else on Impala Cafe's enlightened bistro menu is fare game for takeout. Yet this casual,...

FAT CITY ; RETRO FOOD IN A MERRY MILIEU

Théo 1/2 325 Spring St. THÉO offers one-stop shopping to scenemakers of every stripe and zip code. Jonathan (Bond St.) Morr's sexy new place is equally convenient to SoHo singles,...

HE'S ONLY PAID HALF DAVE'S $ALARY... SO, WHAT ABOUT JAY?

CBS's megabucks deal with David Letterman might wind up costing NBC money - if Jay Leno has anything to say about it. Dave's gigantic new salary - a king's ransom...

STARR REPORT

And the nominees are . . . Ch. 4 led the way by snagging 38 nominations yesterday for the 45th Annual New York Emmy Awards, announced by Maury Povich and...

POUTY LUPONE BACK ON BOARD

FOUL-mouthed Broadway diva Patti LuPone was in full damage-control mode yesterday, telling sympathetic reporters that she planned to report for work at last night's performance of "Noises Off" and denying...

MEYER'S REALLY SMOKIN'

OTHER than Pearson's in Jackson Heights - and perhaps Virgil's in Time's Square - Gotham has come up woefully short on great barbecue fare. We got a glimpse of the...

SH-SHAD TO THE BONE

CAPISTRANO has the swallows. We have shad.The fish is now migrating up the Atlantic coast, swimming back to spawning grounds in the St. Lawrence.That's a sure sign of spring that...

TED: MAKE 'NIGHTLINE' 60 MINUTES

TED KOPPEL and his producers are pushing an hourlong version of "Nightline" - even as the show's very existence is being threatened. Sources say a plan to expand the nightly...

CNBC'S MATTHEWS BLASTS KOPPEL

CNBC host Chris Matthews ripped into ABC's Ted Koppel yesterday - accusing the embattled 'Nightline" host of "mailing it in." Matthews, addressing the Cable Television Public Affairs Association in Washington,...

'MARTYR' PRIEST SLAIN ON ALTAR - L.I. REV. AND WOMAN KILLED DURING SERVICE

A gunman stalked into Our Lady of Peace Church in Lynbrook, L.I., yesterday with a rifle under his coat, and opened fire - blowing away a beloved Catholic priest delivering...

BLOOMY & SILVER IN SECRET TALKS ON ED. BOARD'S FATE

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has been meeting secretly with Mayor Bloomberg in an effort to reach a compromise on control of the city schools, The Post has learned. Word of...

MALCOLM X AUCTION BEING PUT ON HOLD

A controversial auction of a historical collection of Malcolm X's speech drafts, notes and personal letters was put off yesterday amid concerns about ownership of the material. Butterfields, a San...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

A cross-dressing Texas man accused of molesting a 4-year-old girl will be allowed to dress as a woman at his trial next week. Judge Denise Collins said the court could...

EGAN: WE'LL TELL COPS PERV PRIESTS' NAMES

The Archdiocese of New York is making a major policy change - and will now tell law-enforcement officials about Catholic priests accused of molesting children. But the archdiocese will inform...

TRAGIC CLERIC WAS A LIVING SAINT TO REFUGEE FAMILY

Vonekham Guthrie remembers exactly what she said to the Rev. Larry Penzes the day she graduated from college. "I told him he did a good job - a good job...

BIZ DEAL HAS STRIP CLUB SCORES BUSTING OUT ALL OVER

Scores, New York's reigning flesh palace, will bare its name in more Manhattan neighborhoods now that a publicly traded company has acquired its brand name. The controversial topless temple, frequented...

KIDS PRAY AT HOUR OF DEATHS

IT was about 11 a.m. when the simple world of 10-year-old Sylvia Camaj got "dark." Sylvia, a fourth-grader at Our Lady of Peace School didn't hear the gunshots, but she...

DAD SEES SON SLAIN IN RENT FIGHT

A simmering dispute over rent turned deadly yesterday when a 25-year- old man was fatally shot in front of his horrified father in a Brooklyn apartment building, police said. Israel...

JUSTICE HAS LAST LAUGH ON DESPICABLE MURDERER

THE murderer had grown cocky. Andrea Yates peeled back her lips. And she laughed. It was minutes before the jury's verdict was announced in the case of the mother who...

$450M JACK-POT - GE TYCOON'S SCORNED WIFE SEEKS HALF HIS FORTUNE

Call her the $450 million foxy lady. The jilted second wife of former General Electric Chairman Jack Welch outfoxed her tycoon husband in the battle of the sexes and now...

TEACHERS UNION STARTS TO TALK 'STRIKE'

The frustrated leadership of the teachers union is finally using the "s" word. The possibility of a strike was seriously discussed for the first time by United Federation of Teachers...

MIA GULF WAR PILOT HIGH ON BUSH'S LIST

WASHINGTON - President Bush plans to make a major push to solve a decade-long mystery over the fate of a Navy pilot whose plane was shot down over Iraq on...

BETTER PRAY FOR RAIN UPSTATE TO AVERT DROUGHT EMERGENCY

City officials said yesterday they are ready to declare a drought emergency in New York in as little as two weeks if the weather stays dry at upstate reservoirs. "If...

TEARS FOR MOM, TOTS KILLED IN BROOKLYN FIRE

Tortured cries broke the silence yesterday in a Harlem church where hundreds mourned a family - including three children - killed in a blaze last week. Six-year-old Shmar Green was...

POL'S BRONX CHEER FOR CABLE GIANT

Refusing to telecast Yankee games to Bronx fans is "unconscionable" and "incredibly greedy," a senior Bronx lawmaker said yesterday. Guy Velella, a Republican state senator, blamed Cablevision for the standoff...

MCCALL PIC DRAWS FIRE FROM CAMP ANDY

ALBANY - A photo of state Comptroller Carl McCall firing an M-16 rifle while at an Israeli military center is the "smoking gun" proving his trip was political, a rival...

DOG-MAUL DEFENDANT: BEAST WAS 'GENTLE, LOVING'

The woman whose massive dogs fatally mauled a Long Island native described one of her killer pets as "loving and affectionate" during testimony in Los Angeles yesterday. Murder suspect Marjorie...

CALIF. 'ANGEL OF DEATH' ELUDES CHAIR

A respiratory therapist who proclaimed himself the "Angel of Death" dodged execution yesterday by pleading guilty to fatally poisoning six elderly patients in southern California. Efren Saldivar, 32, who once...

COLOR-CODE ALERT SYSTEM NOW IN PLACE

WASHINGTON - America is now on "yellow" alert and faces a "significant" risk of new terror attacks, but it's two steps below an all-out "red" alert, homeland security chief Tom...

POLL: MIKE'S MIDDLIN'

Mayor Bloomberg is scoring a 50 percent approval rating from New Yorkers - but many are taking a wait-and-see approach to the new mayor. A Marist College poll released yesterday...

FIFTH TEEN DIES AFTER L.I. HORROR WRECK

A Patchogue teenager, hurt in a bizarre Suffolk County auto accident last week, died yesterday, bringing the crash's death toll to five. Deidre Tooker had been in critical condition since...

ED STANCIK, SCHOOLS PROBER, DIES AT 47

Schools Investigator Ed Stancik, whose exposés of community school board corruption, teacher sexual abuse and bureaucratic incompetence led to sweeping reform of the Board of Education, died yesterday of heart...

O.J.'S EXPERT WITNESS JOINS JAYSON'S TEAM

A renowned forensics expert has joined the team defending ex-NBA star Jayson Williams against charges he killed a limo driver and then tried to cover up the crime with two...

MAYOR MULLING LAYOFFS

Mayor Bloomberg yesterday called layoffs part of his "backup plan" to balance next year's budget - if he doesn't get help from the state and federal government and unions. Bloomberg...

SCHOOLKID WAS PACKING HEAT: COPS

Cops busted a 15-year- old student for bringing a loaded gun to his Brooklyn high school on Monday, authorities reported yesterday. Victor Madera was arrested after officials at Progress HS...

KEY DEM PROBED IN BRIBE SCANDAL

A top assemblywoman is under investigation in the burgeoning bribery and kickback probe that forced a Bronx judge to abruptly quit the bench after he began cooperating with prosecutors, The...

'TONY SOPRANO' WHACKS HIS MARRIAGE

James Gandolfini, the burly star of "The Sopranos," has filed for divorce from his wife, Marcy, The Post has learned. His publicist, Stan Rosenfield, said Gandolfini initiated the split. He...

'REBUILD' CZAR WANTS QUICK START FOR 7 WTC

A new 7 World Trade Center should rise from Ground Zero as soon as possible now that major differences that threatened the project have been overcome, lower Manhattan's rebuilding czar...

GROUND ZERO GIVES UP 13 MORE BODIES

The World Trade Center ruins gave up the remains of 13 people, including 11 firefighters, yesterday, in what many hoped marked a period of accelerated recoveries in the last major...

HOSP $LAMMED FOR LIVER-DONOR DEATH

A liver donor received "woefully inadequate" care at Mt. Sinai Medical Center after a risky transplant operation that saved his brother's life but cost his own, a state probe has...

DARRYL STRIKES OUT AGAIN IN REHAB

Looks like it's prison stripes again for former Yankee pinstriper Darryl Strawberry. The troubled ex-slugger spent his 40th birthday behind bars yesterday after he was booted from a court-ordered residential...

BLOOMY OFF TO WIN D.C. DOLLARS

WASHINGTON - Mayor Bloomberg comes to Washington today to court Republican lawmakers who could be obstacles to New York getting financial help from Congress. Bloomberg decided to make a dramatic...

BUSH: TERRORISTS SAW TOO MUCH SPRINGER

WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday said the Sept. 11 terrorists must have gotten the idea that America is "soft" by watching too much of "The Jerry Springer Show." Springer's TV...

TROOPS 'SEIZE OBJECTIVE AREA'

U.S. and Afghan forces claimed control of the fought-over Shah-e-Kot valley yesterday, saying they accomplished most of their goals in the final push of Operation Anaconda against al-Qaeda and Taliban...

POSTAL ANTHRAX UPDATE

Lawyers for a postal union were back in court yesterday, asking a Manhattan federal judge to order more anthrax testing at the giant Morgan mail-processing facility. Government lawyers oppose the...

GOV VS. EGAN ON 'THE PILL' BILL

ALBANY - Gov. Pataki yesterday vowed to sign a controversial women's health-care bill, even as Edward Cardinal Egan called it an "outrageous violation of religious liberty." Pataki urged lawmakers to...

AL QAEDA ON THE RUN

WASHINGTON - U.S. and Afghan government forces stormed Taliban and al Qaeda hideouts in the final push of Operation Anaconda yesterday, sending routed terrorist fighters running for their lives toward...

U.N. BACKS CREATION OF PALESTINIAN STATE

The United Nations early today passed a U.S.-sponsored resolution calling for the creation of a Palestinian state - hours after Israel launched its biggest offensive in decades. The Security Council...

SHOT MENDS BRITTLE BONES

An easy, once-a-year treatment could reduce the effects of osteoporosis in women past menopause, doctors say. Annual intravenous injection of a drug called zoledronic acid increases spine and hipbone mineral...

ANOTHER 41 KILLED AS NEW TERROR FRONT OPENS

JERUSALEM - Thirty four Palestinians and seven Israelis were killed yesterday as Israel launched its biggest offensive in decades - and Arabs opened what may be a second bloody front...

PLANS AFOOT TO REBUILD UNDERGROUND WTC MALL

The shopping mall beneath the World Trade Center will be rebuilt at the site before buildings are put up, officials said yesterday. John Whitehead, chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development...

6 HEROES' REMAINS UNEARTHED

The remains of six firefighters were carried out of Ground Zero on flag-draped stretchers yesterday - after they were found in rubble from the trade center's south tower. The remains...

GREEN LIGHT FOR 7 WTC

A replacement for the destroyed 7 World Trade Center should rise from Ground Zero as soon as possible, now that major differences that threatened to stall the project have been...

SCHOOL PROBER STANCIK DIES OF HEART FAILURE

Schools Investigator Ed Stancik, whose exposes of community school board corruption, teacher sexual abuse and bureaucratic incompetence led to sweeping reform of the Board of Education, died yesterday of heart...

DARRYL STRIKES OUT AGAIN IN DRUG REHAB

Looks like it's prison stripes again for former Yankee pinstriper Darryl Strawberry. The troubled ex-slugger spent his 40th birthday behind bars yesterday after he was booted from a court-ordered residential...

BREAK FOR N.Y. IMMIGRANTS

WASHINGTON - The House moved last night to ease the rules on illegal aliens who want to stay in the country - helping 100,000 or more New Yorkers who want...

AMAZING ONCE-A-YEAR SHOT CAN MEND BRITTLE BONES

An easy, once-a-year treatment could reduce the effects of osteoporosis in women past menopause, doctors say. Annual intravenous injection of a drug called zoledronic acid increases spine and hipbone mineral...

HIZZONER: LAYOFFS A 'BACKUP PLAN' FOR 2003 BUDGET

Mayor Bloomberg yesterday called layoffs part of his "backup plan" to balance next year's budget - if he doesn't get help from the state and federal government and unions. Bloomberg...

HOW'S MIKE DOING? LET'S JUST SAY OK: POLL

Mayor Bloomberg is scoring a 50 percent approval rating from New Yorkers - but many voters are taking a wait-and-see approach to the new mayor. A Marist College poll released...

CLUTCH KENYON ENDS NET SKID

Nets 86 Raptors 84 With the Nets and Raptors tied at 84, the Meadowlands clock wound down under five seconds. Trying to shed a four-game losing streak, Jason Kidd spun...

KNICKS GIVE AWAY ANOTHER: SIXERS BATTLE BACK FROM 20-POINT DEFICIT

Sixers 104 Knicks 96 With the 76ers trailing by 18 points, Dikembe Mutombo jostled with NBA Player-of-the-Week Kurt Thomas. He locked Thomas' arms underneath the basket, spun him around and...

CHANEY'S GANG SINKING DEEPER INTO MUCK

THE good news? The coach didn't get extended. By this point, honestly, neither can be the frustration, a 20-point third-quarter lead with a path cleared to the Sixer basket by...

BOARDERS SET TO BRING THEIR BEST

THE 2002 U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships, the premier snowboarding event of the year, is primed to get underway tomorrow at Stratton Mountain, Vt. More than 500 male and female riders...

RICHTER HOLDING RUDDER

In the midst of all the chaos and urgency that have swarmed around the Rangers during their run at the postseason, there has remained a calm. His name is Mike...

RICE STEAMIN' HOT FOR CHSAA CROWN

H.S. HOOPS Jason Wingate has something in common with most of his teammates. Few people thought he could play at Rice. "Ever since I was young, I wanted to play...

ROCKET TAKES A HIT ; LINER NAILS CLEMENS ON RIGHT FOOT

Blue Jays 3Yankees 0 DUNEDIN - Already stuffed with All-Stars, Yankees trainer Gene Monahan's room added another yesterday when Roger Clemens took a shot by Toronto's Dave Berg off his...

COLEMAN'S STAR RISES DOWN SOUTH

Growing up in Coney Island, Jason Coleman got used to playing in the shadows of his teammates. Eric King, now at St. John's, got more recognition at Lincoln than Coleman....

SOME BODIES HAVE TO GO ; METS' BACKUPS VIE FOR THREE SPOTS ON ROSTER

Royals 15Mets 8 HAINES CITY - With spots on the Mets' bench few and far between this year, the jockeying for jobs continued in earnest yesterday. The lineup in the...

HAMMERIN' HANK STILL SWINGING FOR THE FENCES

AT 9:30 in the morning I'm walking through the extraordinary new "Baseball As America" exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History with the game's all-time home run king, Hank...

ROBBIN' RIVERA ALL BUT SEALS HIS FATE ; FESSIN' UP NOT ENOUGH TO SAVE HIS CAREER

DUNEDIN - He worked in an area loaded with high tech security and an army of guards. But the reason Ruben Rivera wears the worst tag in baseball - thief...

KNICKS HAVE NO INTENTION OF BRINGING IN SHOWTIME

KNICK NOTES A day after Magic Johnson told The Post he'd love to run the Knicks, the team said it had no interest in bringing in the ex-Lakers star to...

ROBBIN' RIVERA ALL BUT SEALS HIS FATE: RIVERA WROTE OWN DEATH SENTENCE

BLIND item: Before playing for Joe Torre's Yankees, what ex-Bomber fathered a child with a teammate's wife? That's for you to answer. Believe it or not, after the initial shock...

ROBBIN' RIVERA ALL BUT SEALS HIS FATE: DUROCHER PAID DEARLY FOR RIPPING OFF BABE

Derek Jeter isn't the first Yankee great to be victimized by a sticky-fingered teammate. He isn't even the most famous. A young, scrappy shortstop by the name of Leo Durocher...

CALHOUN'S HUSKIES WON'T DOG IT AGAINST HAMPTON

Pardon Jim Calhoun if he's wondering what this first-round fuss is all about. Year after year, it seems, some highly regarded, highly seeded powerhouse gets wiped clear out of the...

STORM HOPES HATTEN HEAVES HEAVY HEART

Marcus Hatten has done it all for St. John's this season. Now he'll have to do it in the NCAA tournament with a heavy heart. Hatten's maternal grandmother, Letha Berry,...

QUAKERS KNOW NO FEAR

Don't feel sorry for Penn as it embarks on the NCAA Tournament in pursuit of title dreams. Don't view Penn as the tiny David about to take on the daunting...

ACHY LEITER PLAYS IT SAFE, SKIPS START

MET NOTES HAINES CITY - When Al Leiter woke up yesterday, his right hip flexor was still sore. He didn't throw from a mound as he had previously hoped, but...

MARTIN, JEFFERSON IN SHOVE AFFAIR

A losing streak sets in and frustration rises. Along with tempers. Just ask the Nets. According to several league sources claiming knowledge of the incident, Net forwards Kenyon Martin and...

MALHOTRA SHIPPED TO DALLAS

The Rangers made a trade last night. No, they didn't get tougher, grittier, bigger or more defense-oriented. And no, they didn't get Pavel Bure or Tom Poti. Not yet, anyway....

KARL'S JUST MOUTHING OFF: SCOTT

NET NOTES It was just George being George. That was Byron Scott's reaction to controversial comments made by Bucks' coach George Karl, published in the April issue of Esquire. Karl...

THERE'S NO QUICK FIX FOR PUTRID KNICKS

THE Knicks, hot off blowing a 15-point lead in Los Angeles, came home last night extending themselves the benefit of the doubt that they still will give their all for...

KURT KEEPS COMING UP BIG

As they waited for play to resume following a third-quarter timeout Sunday at Staples Center, Shaquille O'Neal and Kurt Thomas stood next to each other in the lane, the Knicks...

ON COURT, IT'S BATTLE VS. STUPID NET TRICKS

David Letterman leaned over his desk a little bit and asked Jason Kidd about the Knicks. "Who?" Kidd said during his Monday night appearance on the Late Show. Kidd can...

CREAKS CAUSING CONCERN

YANKEE NOTES DUNEDIN -There is a growing concern over Ramiro Mendoza's neck and Rondell White's rib cage. Mendoza was unable to pitch yesterday and was downcast in the clubhouse. "I...