July 6, 2002

RED, WHITE & BLUE CHIPS ROCKET 324

Stocks exploded to triple-digit gains as relieved investors returned from a terror-free July 4th and put their money back to work. Blue chips soared more than 300 points, racking up...

JOBLESS RATE TICKS UP; 94,000 LAYOFFS

Our economy added virtually no jobs in June, raising new concerns of a fragile recovery - possibly even a relapse. The latest employment figures from the government yesterday showed that...

IN THE 'BIG' HOUSE: FOUR LOCALS LOCKED UP FOR 'BROTHER 3'

FOUR New York-area contestants will vie for the $500,000 grand prize when "Big Brother 3" debuts Wednesday. CBS officially announced the 12 "Houseguests" yesterday, among them New York marketing rep...

INKY PLOT SINKS SPANISH FLICK

TATAWO [Half a star] THERE are beautiful bodies and ornate tattoos aplenty in this baffling Spanish film, but plotting is obviously a nebulous concept to writer-director Jo Sol. It's tempting...

OSCAR HALF IN THE BAG - HOLLYWOOD'S WINNERS AND LOSERS - SO FAR

IT'S comforting to know the second half of the year - when most Oscar hopefuls pop up - is invariably better than the just-ended first half, which has been littered...

SUMMER'S HOTTEST TOYS ...

OK, so it's not exactly Christmas. But just because the 90-degree heat is enough to make Santa sweat off a few pounds doesn't mean you can't enjoy some new playthings....

... AND COOLEST TUNES - NEW CD'S BOUND TO PLEASE THE WHOLE FAMILY

Talk about tuning into your inner child! Three recent albums of kids' music come from unlikely sources - indie artists who usually make music for adults. The payoff? Music for...

DINNER PARTY CHEAT SHEET

Dinner Party Cheat Sheet reminds everyone to drink responsibly this holiday weekend - especially if you're flying an Airbus A320. FLYING HIGH Two America West pilots were found to be...

CAFE SOCIETY - CORNELIA STREET LANDMARK CELEBRATES 25 YEARS AS AN EGGHEAD OASIS

In 1977, when Robin Hirsch and two other artists opened a cafe in a tiny storefront on Cornelia Street, they had no idea that, 25 years later, it would still...

OLIVE IT UP

SO, it doesn't have the panache of the Algonquin, where the literary sots known as the Round Table used to gather. But Olives, the lobby bar in the W Union...

PARKLIFE

George-town This weekend is your last shot to catch Washington: The American Revolution, a verse-play in Central Park about the founding father's exploits during the Revolutionary War. Presented by Inverse...

MUSHROOM SERVICE

What's in a name? If it's portobello, the difference between being loved and left behind. Prior to the '80s, when the mega-mushrooms were first dubbed for a marketing campaign, they...

WACKO FOR JACKO

The self-proclaimed King of Pop will appear before his court tonight at "Thirty Years of Magic," a tribute party to Michael Jackson being thrown by his fans at Webster Hall....

SEX ED - LEARN SOME LESSONS IN LUST AT THESE KINKY SUMMER CLASSES

You want to get hot and heavy with your summer fling? Like, really hot and heavy. If so, you may need a few new tricks up your sleeve to close...

WALL ST. SWOON BATTERS BUDGET

THE stock market tumble is hitting the city with a double whammy, increasing pension costs and tearing into tax revenues just as Mayor Bloomberg struggles to close multibillion-dollar budget gaps....

DEAD-KID KIN GIVE FROM THE HEART

MONTREAL - A 2-year- old Canadian boy at death's door will now live because the family of a New Jersey 5-year-old who died this week made a wrenching sacrifice and...

METS OWNER GOES DEEP FOR CITY'S UNSUNG HEROES

Mets co-owner Fred Wilpon says The Post is belting a home run by going to bat for the city's unsung heavy hitters. "The Post's Liberty Awards are a big hit....

TRAGIC BEAUTY FLED TERROR

LOS ANGELES - Angelic "daddy's girl" Victoria Hen (right) emigrated from Israel to the United States with her family 12 years ago to escape the fearsome threat of Mideast terrorism....

WACKY PILOTS' 'RECKLESS' RAP

Two pilots accused of flying in a restricted zone near Kennedy Airport on the Fourth of July and aiming their planes at NYPD helicopters were charged with reckless endangerment yesterday...

GIULIANIS STILL CAN'T FIND EXIT TO SPLITSVILLE

It's shut up or put up time for Donna Hanover and Rudy Giuliani after an appeals court yesterday denied Hanover's bid to delay their sensational divorce trial. In a case...

TRUE HEROICS CAME IN PILOT'S UNIFORM

EX-Yankee Jerry Coleman was a Marine pilot flying the skies of Korea half a century ago when he heard the distress call come over the radio. "Mayday! Mayday!" "When you...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Denver's official city cable channel has a new line-up of sorts. Starting July 25, the station will run a "sin bin" program featuring the mug shots of cuffed prostitutes and...

FAMILY MAN LIVED AND DIED FOR LOVED ONES

LOS ANGELES - Yaakov Aminov couldn't worry about the talk of a terrorist attack on July 4 - not when a longtime friend needed someone to drive him to Los...

COUNTDOWN ON SADDAM - TOP-SECRET BUSH PLAN BARES U.S. RESOLVE

WASHINGTON - A top-secret leaked military document yesterday offered new proof that President Bush means business about going after Saddam Hussein and Iraq. The draft U.S. military plan calls for...

BAGHDAD AGAIN NIXES INSPECTIONS

WASHINGTON - Iraq yesterday balked at a deal for the return of U.N. weapons inspectors as the U.S. State Department charged that Saddam Hussein's regime is just stalling. President Bush...

POOR LITTLE 'CHIN' KIN: LET ME GO, I NEED $$

Mob boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante's high-rolling son cried poor in a bizarre bid for leniency, blaming stiff bail conditions for getting him "fired" from a shipping company that the...

JULIA TAKES LICENSE - OFFICIAL SUMMONED FOR LATE-NIGHT PAPERWORK MINUTES BEFORE MARRIAGE

Julia Roberts and her soon-to-be husband held hands and kissed as they signed their marriage license in a secret midnight meeting shortly before they exchanged vows. The rendezvous soon after...

COPS HUNT ASSASSIN OF B'KLYN SLAY WITNESS

Police are hunting a thug they believe is responsible for cold-bloodedly murdering a Brooklyn murder trial's star witness outside his Bedford-Stuyvesant home last week. Trevis Ragsdale, 19, is the suspected...

TRAGIC SIBLINGS KILLED BY TRAIN

A teenage brother and sister died under the engine of a New York City-bound Amtrak train Thursday night when they were hit walking on the tracks. Martin Torres, 17, and...

SUPER SLUGGE WILLIAMS DIES - RED SOX GREAT, 83, WAS LAST BALLPLAYER TO BAT OVER .400

Ted Williams, one of the greatest hitters in baseball history - a Red Sox player even Yankee fans could respect - died in a Florida hospital after a heart attack...

STATE EDUCATION BIG WANTS REGENTS EXAMS PUT TO TEST

A member of the state's top education board wants an outside probe of New York's Regents exams amid charges of politically correct editing of literary passages and botched test scoring....

IDIOT'S BANK HEIST WENT BUST: POLICE

There have been dumb crooks before, but probably few as clueless as accused bank robber Leonard Wood, cops say. NYPD Major Case Squad detectives say they easily nailed Wood as...

FIEND'S SICK PATH TO MURDER - NEIGHBORS DESCRIBE BIZARRE BEHAVIOR OF FLAG-HATING GUNMAN

The man who attacked an El Al ticket counter and killed two people Thursday was a closed-mouthed Egyptian immigrant, born on the Fourth of July, who left a string of...

MAGNA CUM FRAUD - SUNY OSWEGO'S CORPORATE-SCANDAL GRADUATES

Call it Scandal U. Upstate SUNY Oswego boasts a gallery of high-flying corporate alumni - but business students might not want to follow in all of their footsteps. One 1983...

'CHEATING' BEAU SLAIN

A Bronx woman who caught her boyfriend in bed with another woman stabbed him to death with a kitchen knife, police said. Ruby Clayton, 29, is charged with murder for...

TAXICAB PLOWS INTO MIDGET, DELI

A taxi driver struck a midget with his cab last night, claiming "he didn't see her" as she walked past him across Seventh Avenue. Clara Bailon, 41, was mowed down...

TEACHER 'HANDREADER' GETS FINGER

A Brooklyn high-school principal has installed a high-tech attendance tracking system requiring summer-school teachers to clock in and out at a machine that reads their handprint - eliminating paperwork and...

L.I. CHURCH TAKES FIREWORKS POUNDING

An illegal Fourth of July fireworks display on Long Island sent a huge shell careening around a church parking lot - blasting through two church windows and into two cars,...

TRAGIC KIN KILLED BY TRAIN

A teenage brother and sister died under the engine of a New York bound Amtrak train Thursday night when they were hit while walking on the railroad tracks. Martin Torres,...

'SAD SACK' BANDIT'S HEIST WENT BUST: COPS

There have been dumb crooks before, but probably few as clueless as accused bank robber Leonard Wood, cops say. NYPD Major Case Squad detectives say they nailed Wood easily as...

WILD WIN FOR BACSIK

MIAMI - Mike Bacsik was struggling early in his first major-league start last night, seemingly incapable of holding a 2-0 lead the Mets had given him before he took the...

PHILLIPS PLOTS COURSE

MET NOTES MIAMI - Steve Phillips arrived in town yesterday, prepared for a "debriefing" with the coaching staff prior to the All-Star break. More than any meeting, the Mets GM...

ROCKET'S NOT FIRING TOMORROW

YANKEE NOTES Not wanting to risk losing Roger Clemens for an extended period, Joe Torre won't start the right-hander tomorrow in the final game of the three-game series with the...

HISTORY NOT ON MACHO UNO'S SIDE

In the late 1970's, three straight 2-year-old champions - Seattle Slew, Affirmed and Spectacular Bid - proved their true mettle by winning titles again as 3- and 4-year-olds. Of the...

WAR EMBLEM POINTED TOWARD RUN IN HASKELL

War Emblem, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness whose bid for the Triple Crown was ruined when he stumbled badly at the break of the Belmont Stakes, will make...

VOLPONI ROLLS

For the second day in a row at Belmont Park, it paid to disregard a horse's last race when handicapping the feature. In Thursday's Tom Fool, Left Bank, coming off...

WILLIAMS DEAD; LEGEND LIVES ON - HE WAS TOUGH, SENTIMENTAL ... AND THE BEST

THE great Ted Williams spent most of his final years in a mansion on a hill in Hernando, Fla., a prisoner of his fame and fading health. John Henry Williams,...

BOMBERS GET WEAVER - DEAL LILLY, PROSPECTS IN 3-WAY TRADE

The Yankees acquired one of the best young pitchers in baseball, Jeff Weaver, in a three-way trade announced by a thrilled GM Brian Cashman at 12:35 this morning. Cashman sent...

EL DUQUE, YANKS SLAY JAYS

Granted, it was against a couple of bottom-rung teams - the Blue Jays and the Mets - but the numbers on Orlando Hernandez, post-disabled list, gleam with optimism. In 10...

JETER SAYS HE'S OK TO PLAY TODAY

At 3 p.m. yesterday, Derek Jeter, wearing a T-shirt, jeans and shades, walked into Yankee Stadium. Fans waiting for autographs studied his gait. Jeter didn't move with the usual confident...

METS GO BACSIK TO FUTURE - ROOKIE COULD BE START OF ROTATION YOUTH TREND

MIAMI - Mike Bacsik was the test subject last night. You could also call him a spot starter, which is the Mets' preferred description. Bacsik is a candidate for a...

CAUTIOUS TORRE WON'T LAUNCH ROCKET TOMORROW

YANKEE NOTES Not wanting to risk losing Roger Clemens for an extended period, Joe Torre won't start the right-hander tomorrow in the final game of the three-game series with the...

EL DUQUE PUTS UP - SIX SHUTOUT INNINGS HELP YANKS SLAY JAYS

Yankees 6 - Blue Jays 3 Granted, it was against a couple of bottom-rung teams - the Blue Jays and the Mets - but the numbers on Orlando Hernandez, post-disabled...

JETER'S KNEE JUST FINE - EAGER TO GO, BUT TORRE UNSURE ON RETURN

At 3 p.m. yesterday, Derek Jeter, wearing a T-shirt, jeans and shades, walked into Yankee Stadium. Fans waiting for autographs studied his gait. Jeter didn't move with the usual confident...