July 12, 2002

HOT 'SOPRANOS' LOOK GIVES CACHE BLOWOUT JUNE SALES

Glitz and glam are coming out this fall. But many shoppers have jumped the gun and, taking a fashion lead from Carmela Soprano, are shopping at women's retailer Cache. The...

EMBATTLED TELECOM DROPS DIVIDEND

As part of last-ditch efforts to stave off bankruptcy, WorldCom has scuttled plans to pay a $72 million dividend to shareholders of its MCI Group unit. But people close to...

'TAX TRICKS' IN STORE? - N.J. GOV. BLASTS RETAILER AFTER LAYOFF THREAT

Macy's and Bloomingdale's are using sneaky accounting tricks to avoid paying taxes in New Jersey, says an angry Gov. James McGreevey. His attack against the giant retailers' parent, Federated Department...

THE GAP MAY BE STARTING TO TURN ITSELF AROUND

The Gap looks to be on the road to recovery, but the true test is just around the corner. The retailer, which operates Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy stores,...

NORWOOD SEXES UP MARRIAGE

MANDI Norwood, the sexy onetime editor of the shuttered Mademoiselle, says she is close to wrapping up her book, "Sex and the Married Girl," and her agent is already exploring...

FOLKSY DOLLY GETS DOWN-HOME IN THE CITY

DOLLY PARTON ----------- WITH bigger than big hair, a cinched waist and Catwoman nails, Dolly Parton might seem like a human embodiment of Barbie - but despite her cartoonish appearance,...

THE STARR REPORT

'Scrubs' star Faison operates in style Donald Faison, who stars as good-natured surgical intern Turk in NBC's "Scrubs," celebrated his 28th birthday in style the other night at Suede. Faison...

THERE'LL BE TEARS WHEN BILL KNOCKS AT THE DOOR

"Door To Door" [ ] Sunday at 8 on TNT ------ WARNING: If you have a tendency toward depression, crying jags or overall weepiness due to PMS, HRT or SAD,...

SEE 'MY WIFE,' PLEASE

MY WIFE IS AN ACTRESS (Ma Femme Est Une Actrice) [] Perfect summer art-house fare. In French, with English subtitles. Running time: 93 minutes. Rated R (full frontal nudity, profanity)....

'CROCODILE HUNTER' HAS ANIMAL MAGNETISM

THE CROCODILE HUNTER: COLLISION COURSE [ 1/2] So bad, it's good. Running time: 90 minutes. Rated PG. At the Loews Lincoln Square and others. ------------ POSSIBLY the most unintentionally hilarious...

ONCE WAS ENOUGH, THANK YOU

NEVER AGAIN [] Shouldn't have happened once. Running time: 97 minutes. Rated R (strong sexual content, graphic dialogue, language). At the Angelika, Houston and Mercer streets. ---------- WRITER-DIRECTOR Eric Schaeffer...

SELDES CUTS LOOSE AS OLD-TIME MOVIE VAMP

PLAY YOURSELFThe Century Center, 111 E. 15th St. Call Telecharge, (212) 239-6200. Through Aug. 4. ------------- FORGET those Dames, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, currently the toast of London. Our...

ALL THE NUDES

SEX AND LUCIA 1/2] Sexy but pretentious melodrama. In Spanish with English subtitles. Running time: 129 minutes. Not rated (full frontal male and female nudity, language, sexuality). At the Sunshine...

DRAGON ITS FEAT

REIGN OF FIRE [ 1/2] Well-shot but badly written tale set in a future ravaged by dragons. Running time: 105 minutes. Rated PG-13 (violence). At the Empire 25, the Loews...

SHAKESPEARE SHOWING ERRORS OF COMEDY

COMEDY OF ERRORSAt the East 13th Street Theater, 136 E. 13th St. Through Sept. 1. Call Telecharge, (212) 239-6200. --------- THERE is a secret to farce: The more firmly grounded...

FULL STOP FOR 'MONTY' - PRODUCERS SET TO TAKE IT OFF BROADWAY SOON

'THE Full Monty," a popular and critically acclaimed musical that has been on the boards only a year and a half, will close within the next few weeks, its producers...

'CHILD' NEVER GROWS UP

SINCE the interplay and interweaving between African and African-American cultures are potentially fascinating, one cheered the prospect of a collaboration between Jawole Willa Jo Zollar's Urban Bush Women - one...

AND NOW IT GETS UGLY - 'AMERICAN IDOL' JUDGE SIZES UP THE FINAL 10

ALL 10 finalists are in place and the niceties out of the way - now "American Idol" enters its final phase. "This is where it starts to get ugly," says...

SWEET DREAMS - ROBERT PLANT'S FOUND NIRVANA

AS the voice of Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant redefined the scope of rock music. On "Dreamland," his new solo record out Tuesday, he dusts off old rock songs for a...

CREEPING TOM: HANKS GOES DARK IN GLOOMY GANGSTER EPIC

ROAD TO PERDITION You'll want to see it - but prepare for some heavy sledding. Running time: 119 minutes. Rated R (graphic violence, profanity). At the Ziegfeld, the Lincoln Square,...

2 FEARED DEAD IN 'DRUNKEN' SPEEDBOATING TRAGEDY

A speeding motorboat driven by a drunken teen crashed into another boat last night off Queens, hurling several people into the pitch-black water, authorities said. At least two people were...

MONSTERS KILLED BOY OVER BUCK

In a shocking confession, the coldhearted killers of a troubled Brooklyn teen said they savagely beat and stabbed the boy to death in a vacant building because he stole a...

ISRAEL TO PUT ARAFAT 'HEIR' ON TRIAL

JERUSALEM - Israel will hold a public criminal trial for Marwan Barghouti - whose popularity among Palestinians is second only to Yasser Arafat - for attacks against Israelis, the Justice...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Think elderly bingo players are simpletons? Think again, because they really have faster and more accurate minds than young people, a study says. "Bingo players, whether young or old, were...

THE POLITICS OF EASY ANSWERS

FOR 70 years now, each major political party has presented the voters of the United States with a different explanation for the condition of the country. These explanations are bereft...

JURY HEARS TOT-STARVE HORROR

Picture a little girl, just a couple weeks shy of her 5th birthday. Now picture her weighing only 15 pounds - the average weight for a 6-month-old. This is the...

GOTTI BRO BOOTS MOUTHPIECE CUTLER

It's hard to lose the family baggage when you're up against the law and your name is Gotti. As his new legal tangle played out in Brooklyn federal court yesterday,...

NEGLECT SLAYED THIS KID

PATRICK BHOLA, just 13 years old, is dead because nobody cared. Some people on Greene Avenue in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood knew about the dead boy way before the cops were...

SON OF SAM: I WAS DEVIL'S SOLDIER

ALBANY - "Son of Sam" David Berkowitz told state officials earlier this week that he was "a soldier for the devil" when he carried out his horrifying killing spree, according...

TYCO TYCOON PLAYS WITH LUXURY TOYS WHILE INVESTORS WAIL

Corporate disgrace hasn't cramped the high-rolling lifestyle of Tyco's ex-CEO, L. Dennis Kozlowski. While the shamed fat cat awaits a Manhattan trial for tax evasion - and Tyco's stock remains...

TERROR PROBE NAILS 'FAKE-ID MILLS' IN QNS.

Gov. Pataki said yesterday a terror-related probe has resulted in the arrest of 225 people - many on the streets of the city - for producing thousands of fake identification...

LIBERTY HEROES ARE NEVER OUT OF FASHION

Nomination forms / Page 26Fashion designer Nicole Miller labels The Post's salute to unheralded heroes, The Liberty Medal Awards, a perfect fit. "The awards are a great idea," she said....

PIZZA MAN ESCAPES CAPTORS IN KIDNAP DRAMA

The kidnapping of a Queens pizzeria owner ended dramatically yesterday when the victim managed to escape by jumping out a window and two suspects were arrested trying to pick up...

BRUNO CATCHES HELL

State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno was on the hot seat yesterday for suggesting that it's no longer a high priority to pass a bill mandating that clergy report child...

AL QAEDA COUNT IN U.S. MAY BE 5,000

WASHINGTON - The feds said yesterday that as many as 5,000 al Qaeda operatives and sympathizers are in the United States, and Attorney General John Ashcroft said an unknown number...

FLATBUSH HAITIANS GO FOR GOV

Gov. Pataki yesterday continued to make inroads with Democratic groups - holding an endorsement rally with Haitian-Americans in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. "I am very proud of the courage...

EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES FOR WHIZ WHO MADE $125M A YEAR

Before scandal struck and L. Dennis Kozlowski resigned, the Tyco International CEO was one of the nation's highest-paid executives - a corporate titan who once made $125 million in a...

B'KLYN WOMAN LIVING IN FEAR OF FREED EX

A Brooklyn man walked out of court scot-free yesterday after spending eight years in prison for allegedly setting his girlfriend on fire - leaving her family fearful for her life....

'SLAVE FIRM' EXECS ARE MCCALL DONORS

CARL McCALL is trying to become the state's first black governor - which makes it almost unbelievable that he's taken $142,000 in donations from executives of an insurance firm targeted...

SCHWARZ JURY LOOKS FOR THE MEANING

Jurors in the Charles Schwarz trial left court yesterday without reaching a verdict on their third day of deliberations, after asking for a dictionary to look up specific words in...

PEACEMAKER SLAIN - BX. GRANDPA TRIED TO BREAK UP FIGHT

A beloved Bronx grandfather "who helped everyone in the neighborhood" was pistol-whipped and shot to death yesterday while trying to break up a street fight between two women, police said....

CRITICS 'C' END OF LEVY

Outgoing Schools Chancellor Harold Levy is getting a mixed review on his finals - he passed but with mostly unremarkable "C" grades, according to a Post survey of educators and...

STOX ON QUEASY STREET IN LATE-DAY TURNAROUND

Wall Street went for a wild roller-coaster ride yesterday, plunging to new lows, then recovering as bargain hunters regained their appetites. On the heels of a three-day share-buyers "strike," the...

'DWI' COP FACES BIKER SLAY RAP

An NYPD cop faces seven years in the slammer after he was slapped yesterday with an eight-count indictment accusing him of running down and killing a Brooklyn motorcyclist while driving...

COPS STUDY SLIP CASES: NYPD FORMS TASK FORCE AFTER YET ANOTHER ESCAPE

Flee-bitten NYPD officials - red-faced over another embarrassing prisoner escape yesterday - announced the formation of a task force to address the issue of securing prisoners. "The numbers are too...

TRAGIC, TANGLED TRIAL ENDS IN SLAY CONVICTION

A Brooklyn man was convicted of murder yesterday - even though a key prosecution witness was shot dead before he could testify and three other witnesses said they were bribed...

SNIFFING OUT THE KILLERS

With financial backing from American Jews, Israel will import and train dozens of attack dogs - the latest weapon to fight homicide bombers, Interior Minister Uzi Landau said yesterday. The...

SLAYING RAMPAGE - CON FIRST KILLED SIS, THEN HIS EX: COPS

The grad student who was kidnapped by her violent ex-boyfriend was found dead in an empty Brooklyn lot yesterday. Cops said they found the brutalized body, tentatively identified as Donna...

COP-BEATING TAPER TAKES HIS OWN BUST

The man who videotaped California cops beating a teen suspect was himself arrested yesterday - inside Court TV's Los Angeles studios while waiting to go on "Catherine Crier Live." Mitchell...

ENVIRO-RALLY RIPS 'TOXIC' STEWART

COLONIE, N.Y. - Piling on to Martha Stewart's woes, environmentalists yesterday began nationwide protests claiming that her Kmart product line is toxic. The groups, led by Greenpeace, object to the...

CONDIT CAN DUCK, BUT CAN'T HIDE

Now you see me, now your don't! That's the game Rep. Gary Condit was playing yesterday as he tried to hide his face from a Post photographer on Capitol Hill....

ABDUCT-KID'S MOM: HELP ME FIND HIM

Unable to sit idly by while police search for her missing 4½-year son, a desperate Camille Colvin yesterday began handing out fliers to help locate the youngster and his father....

ANOTHER MIAMI 'HIGH' FLIER

It's starting to look as if pilots in Florida think the cockpit is a crocked-pit. A week after two pilots were fired for allegedly being high on booze when they...

DEADLY POLIO RECIPE READY FOR DOWNLOAD

A synthetic but deadly polio virus can be concocted from mail-order materials and a genetic blueprint available on the Internet, according to a report in Science magazine. Eckard Wimmer, a...

METS BOSS SUES PARTNER WHO BALKS AT SALE

Mets co-owner Fred Wilpon came out swinging yesterday against his partner, filing a lawsuit to force Nelson Doubleday to sell his half of the club to Wilpon at a price...

NBA STAR CHARGED IN GUN RAGE

Philadelphia prosecutors yesterday slam-dunked 76ers superstar Allen Iverson with a slew of criminal charges linked to his alleged gun-toting search for his wife last week. Iverson, 27, faces up to...

ACTION, LIKE WEATHER, RUNS HOT & COLD

IT appears that the heat wave had a positive effect on fluke fishing, with many areas seeing improvements over what had been a lackluster season until the past week or...

YANKS, YOU'RE WELCOME - VISITS BY BOMBERS FILL OWNERS' POCKETS

CLEVELAND - Baseball owners complain about the way George Steinbrenner spends money, but when it comes to playing host to his Yankees, those owners are tripping over themselves to have...

SUMMER TEAM ADDS LINCOLN STAR

KNICK NOTES Former Lincoln High star Jamel Thomas is wearing the jersey his cousin Stephon Marbury always wished to don. It likely is temporary, but Thomas can live his Brooklyn...

KNICKS MAKE JAMES CENTER OF ATTENTION

Clarence Weatherspoon will need no introduction to 7-1, 285-pound center Jerome James if the Knicks acquire him from Seattle as a free agent. When the Knicks visited Seattle on April...

LEBRON GAME IS NOW AFOOT - NIKE, ADIDAS DUKE IT OUT FOR JAMES'

Remember the days when the most important decision a high school basketball star made was what college he was going to attend? While most of them still do, there is...

LET'S SLAY TWO! - TIGERS AND DEVIL RAYS MUST DIE - AND THEY'RE NOT ALONE

GOING, going, gone. That's baseball's favorite call. It takes on a whole new meaning now with Czar Bud's declaration the wolf is at the door for two major teams, the...

SIX-MAN ROTATION THE PLAN, FOR NOW

YANKEE NOTES CLEVELAND - Joe Torre isn't locked into a six-man rotation, but because he doesn't want Jeff Weaver or Orlando Hernandez to possibly face a long stretch of inactivity...

NETS' SCOTT TURNS PAGE - INITIATES PLAN TO MAKE TEAM BETTER

This year began this week for Byron Scott. The Nets coach has placed New Jersey's near-miracle season firmly in the rearview mirror and now gazes straight ahead, trying to formulate...

BOMBERS PAY WHEN THEY VISIT

CLEVELAND - Baseball owners complain about the way George Steinbrenner spends money, but when it comes to playing host to his Yankees, those owners are tripping over themselves to have...

INDIANS DUMP MANUEL

CLEVELAND - Charlie Manuel learned a lot about baseball from Billy Martin when Martin managed Manuel in Minnesota. Yesterday, Manuel borrowed a page from the feisty Martin's book and forced...

TELFAIR TRAIN NOT SLOWED BY WEAK CAMP

ABCD NOTES Sebastian Telfair can do no wrong - literally. He's had a subpar session at the adidas ABCD camp at FDU in Teaneck, culminating with a reckless game in...

WILPON SUES DOUBLEDAY

Mets co-owner Fred Wilpon came out swinging yesterday against his partner, filing a lawsuit to force Nelson Doubleday to sell his half of the club to Wilpon at a price...

PHILLIPS CAN'T WASTE TIME

THE METS are between a clock and a hard place. They want to give themselves as much time as possible to get back into contention in 2002, yet recognize time...

ROBBIE RIPPING IT UP - RBI DOUBLE SPARKS 8-RUN EIGHTH AS METS TOP PHILS

In the unfamiliar position of not being at the All-Star Game, Roberto Alomar relaxed at his home in Florida this week. Alomar refrained from throwing or hitting, opting to clear...

PETTITTE COMES UP BIG

Yankees 7 - Indians 4 CLEVELAND - If it wasn't for good news these days, the Yankees wouldn't have any news at all. Prior to the All-Star break they acquired...

LEITER'S LEFT ARM DOESN'T LET HIM DOWN

Al Leiter didn't earn a win for the Mets' 9-1 rout of Philadelphia last night at Shea Stadium. He was already in the dugout by the time the Mets surrendered...

FONZIE: I WANT TO STAY WITH AMAZIN'S

MET NOTES If Edgardo Alfonzo has it his way, the Mets won't trade him. "I would like to stay here," Alfonzo said after the Mets' 9-1 win over the last-place...

HARD TIMES START ROLEN AWAY IN PHILLY

Last month, Scott Rolen was seemingly on the trading block, apparently in the Phillies' doghouse, and very much in the dumps. After turning down a pair of $140 million contract...

PHILLIPS HAS NO TIME TO WASTE

THE METS are between a clock and a hard place. They want to give themselves as much time as possible to get back into contention in 2002, yet recognize time...

ROBBIE RIPPING IT UP: RBI DOUBLE SPARKS 8-RUN EIGHTH AS METS TOP PHILS

Mets 9 Phillies 1 Roberto Alomar will one day be inducted into the Hall of Fame. His amazing resume will include a stint in Flushing. Will his time with the...

METS FOCUS ON FUTURE: BUT CHANGES LOOM IF CLUB CAN'T IMPROVE

In the Mets' clubhouse, the nameplates over the locker stalls are differnt, but thoughts are the same. If this Met team doesn't play better - and fast - the names...

OWNERS AND UNION BACK AT THE BARGAINING TABLE

Baseball's labor talks resumed yesterday in New York following an All-Star break dominated by talk of strike, steroids and stalemate. The meeting was ongoing as of early last evening, with...

BACSIK STAYS IN ROTATION, FOR NOW

MET NOTES With Steve Trachsel still suffering from a strained upper back, Mike Bacsik will continue in the Mets' rotation, starting against the Marlins Monday at Shea. "It's a real...

WHERE ARE YOU, BUD? COMMISIONER BLOWS OFF FOX AFTER STOPPING ALL-STAR GAME

Angry Fox officials couldn't believe baseball commissioner Bud Selig "inexplicably" left a post-All-Star Game interview Tuesday night. "We thought an audience that invested an entire evening deserved an explanation why...

5 QUESTIONS FOR PHIL SIMMS

This week, The Post's Andrew Marchand caught up with Phil Simms. NFL training camps open in less than two weeks, and the 46-year-old Simms is preparing for his fourth year...

MARCHAND'S MATCHUP OF THE WEEK

Met Fans vs. Yankee Fans It can be the middle of July at Shea, the Mets are beating a team like the Brewers in the seventh inning, and a large...

'OPEN' SEASON ON TIGER: FOES AIMING TO STOP WOODS' 'SLAM' DANCE

With the rainy conditions, the small bunkers, the odd bounces, the intimidating rough, the slow greens and the sudden wind changes, uncertainty will creep into golfers' grips at the 131st...