August 28, 2002

ANDERSEN SETTLES FOR $40M

Enron shareholders have reached a $40 million settlement with Andersen Worldwide SC, the organization of international companies with ties to the shamed Arthur Andersen LLP. Sources familiar with the ongoing...

TECH TROUBLE IN H-P EARNS

A weak earnings report issued by computer giant Hewlett-Packard after yesterday's closing bell may have set up the stock market for another struggle today. Yesterday's action was marked by concerns...

TARGET THINKS IT'S A SWELL IDEA TO SELL ROWLEY-DESIGNED GOODS

Target is getting Swell. The hip mass merchant has signed a deal with fashion designer Cynthia Rowley and creative partner Ilene Rosenzweig to create a collection of lifestyle products and...

FORMER JUPITER BUILDING GETS ASTRONOMICAL PRICE

AN Israeli group has purchased the former Jupiter Media Metrix building for a record-setting conversion price of $42 million. The group now intends to convert the 11-story building at 21...

EX-EXEC TO KEEP $42M FRUIT LOOT

The former Fruit of the Loom chief who help drive the company into the ground will be allowed to keep some $42 million the company loaned him. In a settlement...

WORLDCONNED - GRUBMAN'S FINGERPRINTS ON INSIDER IPO SALES

Congressional investigators released startling Salomon Smith Barney internal documents yesterday, revealing that scandal-scarred WorldCom top execs got huge amounts of coveted IPO shares and suggesting former hot-shot analyst Jack Grubman...

NICOLE GETS $8M PAD NEAR MARTHA

Manhattan can say "G'day" to saucy Aussie Nicole Kidman now that she's bought her own Downtown pad. The former spouse of Tom Cruise just plunked down more than $8 million...

ROSIE RIVETS MAG STAFF

ROSIE O'Donnell had to march back into the offices of her troubled namesake magazine Monday to try to get the staff on track. By one account, a highly emotional Rosie...

STARR REPORT

Into the Woods with USA's 'Rudy' Volatile James Woods is sounding off again - this time about his role as ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the upcoming USA biopic about Rudy's...

WHAT A LONG, STRANGE TRIP IT IS . . .

CORPUS CALLOSUM [] A head movie for the new millennium. Running time: 93 minutes. Not rated (nudity). At the Film Forum, Houston and Varick streets. ------- THE star rating system...

MILLER DIDN'T EVEN SAY IT'S ALL OVER; NINE-YEAR HBO RUN ENDS WITH WHIMPER

DENNIS Miller's next rant will be his last. Miller ends a nine-year run on HBO on Friday night. But unlike most shows that have been on the air that long,...

SOME BIG FAT FLOPS

WITH $63.3 million in the bank so far, the $5 million "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" has embarrassed some summer films with far bigger stars. "The Adventures of Pluto Nash,"...

FOX ADDS TWO-HOUR 'IDOL' WORSHIP SHOW

FOX will wring an extra minute of fame out of "American Idol" with "American Idol in Las Vegas," a two-hour special airing late next month. The special will feature a...

YOU CAN DO IT! - GIVE SOME QUICK & TASTY DISHES A SPIN

TOO busy to shop for groceries every day? Does your personal food pyramid consist of five kinds of takeout? "The Can Opener Gourmet" can help. Laura Karr's spiral-bound paperback promises...

FANS GAME FOR ETHNIC CUISINE

WHILE pro tennis players rush the net, thousands of fans are jamming the lines in the U.S. Open's Food Village. "We're even busier than last year," says Food Court chef...

SPLITTING HAIRS - EARLIER 'HAIRSPRAY' DIRECTOR WANTS CUT OF PROFITS

YOU know a show's a hit when someone comes out of the woodwork to claim a piece of it. Rob Marshall - who directed three early readings of "Hairspray" before...

'GREEK' CHIC - LITTLE FLICK SET FOR TOP SPOT AFTER 20 WEEKS

CALL it a big fat Greek smash. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," the summer's sleeper hit, may well celebrate Labor Day weekend by being crowned No. 1 at the box-office...

INDECENT EXPOSURE: TWO DAYS BEFORE SEPTEMBER 11, PBS WANTS YOU TO FEEL SORRY FOR THE CAPTURED TALIBAN TERRORISTS

PBS, your timing couldn't be worse. Two days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks is no time to air a new documentary that is supposed to make...

'HAVE I GOT A MEAL FOR YOU': THE TRUTH BEHIND EATERIES' BIZ-BOOSTING SALES PITCHES

IN the dog days of August, restaurants go the extra mile to stir the foodie press and drum up business. Sure, we're thrilled over the latest fusion menus and chefs'...

COPS KILL MAN WAVING FAKE GUN IN BED-STUY

A confrontation yesterday over how much orange juice a Brooklyn church kitchen served the hungry ended with cops fatally shooting a man - who was brandishing a fake gun, police...

CUOMO'S COLLAPSE

FUTURE candidates would do well to study Andrew Cuomo's campaign for the governorship of New York state - if they want lessons in how NOT to run for public office....

WEIRD BUT TRUE

A rock fan has collected 39,000 grasshoppers to win tickets to see an Elton John show. Brandy Elliott, 26, of Saskatchewan, Canada, won a contest held by Z99 radio, beating...

MISSING KID IS LIKELY WITH DAD IN CHINA

Police believe that a Chinese-born artist who disappeared with his 41/2-year-old son last month during a scheduled two-hour visitation has made it to his homeland with the boy. Rui Guo,...

HERO FIREFIGHTER WHO RAN THROUGH THE BROOKLYN BATTERY TUNNEL TO HELP WORLD TRADE CENTER VICTIMS - AND DIED AT GROUND ZERO - WILL BE HONORED

A hero firefighter who ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to help World Trade Center victims - and died at Ground Zero - will be honored with a 5-kilometer run....

EVEN READERS WERE AMAZON.CONNED

Michael Pellegrino's make-believe act as a mob insider was so authentic, he even conned his most important judges - the readers. The Mafia wannabe received some warm praise from Amazon.com...

FANS STRIKE BACK - BLAST PLAYERS IN POST WEB POLL

Enraged baseball fans took a swing at crybaby players yesterday, blaming the greedy athletes if a strike is called Friday - and vowing to attend fewer games next year if...

AUCTION OFFERS HENDRIX EXPERIENCE

A guitar twice set on fire by Jimi Hendrix is expected to fetch $600,000 at auction next month. The rocker burned the Stratocaster Sunburst during a 1967 London show and...

MIKE INKS LAW RECOGNIZING GAY MARRIAGES

Gay couples who are married abroad or who have civil unions in other states will now be officially recognized by the city, under a bill signed yesterday by Mayor Bloomberg....

BAD NEWS BREWS AS HEINEKEN HIJACKS MCENROE

U.S. OPEN NOTEBOOK Heineken hit the bottom of the barrel in blurring the line between "media alert" and shameless p.r. stunt yesterday. Reporters covering the U.S. Open were given handouts...

HE HEATS UP THE CITY'S SPIRIT WITH HIS SKILLET

Freddy "Sez" Schuman is as much a fixture in Yankee Stadium as the players' familiar pinstriped uniforms. Schuman, 77, walks through the stands during all Bronx Bombers home games, armed...

ONLY THING HE'S GUILTY OF IS BEING A LITTLE BRAT

TODAY in superior court in Norwalk, Conn., Michael Skakel is no longer on trial - but justice is. Skakel faces heavy duty time in the can for the murder of...

STREETS RENAMED FOR BROTHERS

Two brothers who died rescuing victims at the World Trade Center have been remembered by the Long Island town where they grew up - with two streets named in their...

WOMAN QUIZZED IN GIRL'S TRAFFIC DEATH

The devastated family of a 5-year-old Brooklyn girl who was killed by a car as she fled a barking dog bid her a tearful farewell yesterday, as cops grilled a...

MISSING FISHERMAN'S KIN TO SUE

The family of one of four fishermen lost in treacherous seas off Long Island during a June shark-fishing tournament is suing the event sponsor for $10 million. Relatives of Robert...

COMMISH: DON'T SUSPEND 'PERV' DOC - BOOT HIM

ALBANY - State Health Commissioner Dr. Antonia Novello yesterday appealed the suspension of a Queens doctor found guilty of sexual abuse - saying the penalty isn't tough enough. Novello's rare...

MORE WORK, MORE PAY: BLOOMY TELLS POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS

Cops and firefighters demanding salary hikes should take a lesson from the city's teachers, who agreed to work harder and longer in exchange for more money, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday....

CRISIS MOUNTS AT JERUSALEM SITE HOLY TO JEWS & ARABS

JERUSALEM - A wall of Jerusalem's Temple Mount, the bitterly contested holy site that helped trigger the Palestinian uprising, is in danger of collapse, the city's mayor and archaeologists warned...

NEW YORK'S SAT DISGRACE - STUDENTS' AVERAGE IS 20 BELOW U.S. MARK

New York state high-school students score lower on the SAT exams than the national average and their counterparts from neighboring states, the College Board revealed yesterday. New Yorkers - on...

DOWNTOWN BUSINESSES GET INCREASE IN SEPT. 11 RELIEF

Struggling small businesses in lower Manhattan will be able to get bigger federal grants to help them recover from the Sept. 11 terror attacks, officials said. The expanded World Trade...

I'LL 'SHOOT' AGAIN AFTER SLAY TRIAL, BLAKE SAYS

Robert Blake isn't quite finished in Hollywood. In a jailhouse interview with CNN's Larry King, the 68-year-old former "Baretta" star said he'll be back in front of the cameras after...

PENN STA. ROLE FOR MOYNIHAN

Mayor Bloomberg yesterday named former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan to the agency overseeing the $800 million conversion of the Eighth Avenue Post Office into a new Penn Station. Joining Moynihan...

DEHYDRATED MAGIC MAN UNDER-WATERED

Illusionist Criss Angel emerged pale and shaking yesterday after being submerged for 24 hours in a water tank - and promptly collapsed to the ground. The daredevil had just exited...

MIND-NUMBING NUMBERS HIT LOGIC OUT OF THE PARK

Baseball labor stories are filled with as many dollar signs as baseball stories told from the dugout are laced with expletives. The numbers are numbing, too complicated to make any...

BOOK PROJECT PRESERVES WTC VICTIMS' LIFE STORIES

The first in a series of tribute books documenting the lives of individual 9/11 victims was presented yesterday to Katrina Marino, the widow of Kenny Marino, a firefighter from Rescue...

STRAPHANGERS STRANDED 3 HOURS

Some 400 frustrated straphangers were stuck underground in an East River tunnel for nearly three hours yesterday when the brakes on a Brooklyn-bound train suddenly jammed, transit officials said. The...

SLIPPING CUOMO SLAMS HIS 'DO-NOTHING' FOES

Andrew Cuomo yesterday slammed his two opponents - charging Gov. Pataki is playing politics by not having a plan to rebuild Ground Zero and that Carl McCall has accomplished nothing...

PEOPLE WHO ADMINISTER THE SAT EXAMS DROPPED A BOMBSHELL YESTERDAY

The people who administer the SAT exams dropped a bombshell yesterday by suggesting high schools nationally are inflating students' grades. The College Board noted that the percentage of students given...

REAL KIN TRAIN SIGHTS ON CON MAN

The Gambino family is hopping mad that a con artist has billed himself as "Michael Gambino," a supposed grandson of mob boss Carlo Gambino, to hawk a novel about loyalty,...

N.Y. POL: I FATHERED SOME LOVE KIDS, TOO

ALBANY - Another candidate for state-wide office went public with a personal secret yesterday, declaring he too had fathered children out of wedlock. Green Party candidate for governor Stanley Aronowitz,...

WIFE-STAB THUG JUST OUT OF JAIL

A suspect shot and killed by cops in Brooklyn while holding his wife hostage at knifepoint had been released from jail only hours earlier on just $500 bail for a...

'DONAHUE' DEBUT DRAWS FEW VIEWERS

The ratings for TV vet Phil Donahue's new talk show are almost too low to track. The ratings for "Donahue" scored a .1 rating last Friday - that means fewer...

2 'LOST' 9/11 MEN FOUND

Two men feared dead in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center have miraculously been found alive in area hospitals. The heartbroken families of Brooklynite Albert Vaughn, 45,...

ABE ORDERED AWAY FROM CARL & MORGY

Parking-lot magnate and parolee Abe Hirschfeld has been ordered to stay away from gubernatorial hopeful Carl McCall and Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau, court papers show. The pair are two of...

OH, BROTHER - SECURITY BIG HIRES KIN AFTER 'FREE' COPS WERE BANNED

The head of U.S. Open security has found a special way to combat any threat to the tennis championship - hiring his brother. The Post has learned that USTA security...

OLYMPIC HURDLE CLEARED - CITY MAKES THE CUT FOR SHORT LIST TO HOST 2012 GAMES

New York City's dash for Olympic Gold was right on track yesterday after the competition to become the nation's nominee for the 2012 Games was narrowed down to the Big...

SKAKEL PEN PALS - FRIENDS' NOTES TO JUDGE BARE HORROR CHILDHOOD

In a bid for leniency, lawyers for Michael Skakel yesterday submitted 90 letters to the court from friends, relatives and clergymen detailing the abuse the Kennedy cousin suffered as a...

PUBLISHER IS HOOD-WINKED - FIRM SUCKERED BY PHONY MAFIA SCION

A small-time con man duped Simon & Schuster into bankrolling and publishing a book about the mob by allegedly lying that he was the grandson of Carlo Gambino - the...

LIBERTY BOND $CANDAL - GOP DONORS GET MOST OF $340M, GROUP SAYS

The bulk of $340 million in tax-exempt "Liberty Bonds" earmarked to rebuild downtown went to a handful of companies that donated a combined $500,000 to state Republicans, a report yesterday...

B'KLYN POL TO CUT DEAL IN 'BRIBE'

A Brooklyn city councilman charged with shaking down a developer for more than $1.5 million is set to plead guilty to bribe-conspiracy charges and serve nearly four years in prison,...

BUSH TO SAUDI: SADDAM THE 'MENACE' MUST GO

WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday told the Saudi ambassador that Saddam Hussein "is a menace to world peace," but said he's made no decisions on military action, the White House...

BLOODS BOSS CONVICTED AT LAST

The ruthless leader of the Bloods and two of his henchmen were convicted in Manhattan federal court yesterday of racketeering and murder-conspiracy charges after a marathon trial. Omar "OG Mack"...

ROCKER RAPS EX WITH $UIT

Star supergroupie Bebe Buell has been slapped with a libel suit after blasting her ex-hubby rocker as a lazy, no-talent cheat in her tell-all tome. Guitarist Francis "Coyote" Shivers is...

FORMER RUDY AIDE IN LONG-DISTANCE RESCUE

It's 2:30 a.m., raging floodwaters are dragging away cars outside your home and the phone lines are dead - so who do you call? If you're ex-Deputy Mayor Tony Coles,...

FROM BIG BUCKS TO BIG BRUISER

At 30, Gina Sorice seemed to have it all - a six-figure job, a wine collection and all the Jimmy Choos and Manolo Blahniks to tickle her fancy. But then...

POLS PIG OUT AS AFRICA STARVES

It's feast or famine at the Earth Summit. While starving children line up for handouts in the shantytowns of Johannesburg, South Africa, delegates to the world conference just blocks away...

COPS KILL MAN WAVING FAKE GUN ON BED-STUY STREETS

Two Brooklyn cops yesterday fatally shot a man who refused to drop the realistic-looking fake gun he was brandishing, police said. Ernest Prather, 39, was pronounced dead at Woodhull Hospital...

CAPRIATI RIPS WILLIAMS' DAD

Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena, ripped Jennifer Capriati before the U.S. Open started. Capriati's first-round 6-0, 6-0 rout of Bethanie Mattek yesterday showed she's ready for the Williamses...

LEITER STILL HOPEFUL ABOUT AGREEMENT

MET NOTES MIAMI - As of about 4 p.m. yesterday, Mets player representative Al Leiter believed that there would be no strike Friday. "I have more of a personal hope...

TORRE: WE WON'T LOSE OUR FOCUS

YANKEE NOTES BOSTON - Joe Torre saw his first-place club split the eight games leading up to last night's 6-0 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park - and...

MO NEEDED BREAK FROM VALENTINE

MIAMI - Even beyond the ballpark, Mo Vaughn needed a little time away. After sitting out a game Sunday for the first time since April 20, Vaughn flew to his...

AMAZIN' TURNABOUT: METS MAKE WINNING LOOK EASY

Mets 10 Marlins 5 MIAMI - John Thomson finally won in a Met uniform, but his legs couldn't quite carry him to a complete game. Even though the right-hander was...

HAVE A HAPPY ENDING

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Once more into the breach. The final week of the summer stand is upon us; six more days to pad your wallet or at least break even....

POCHMAN CAN'T COMPETE FOR JOB

Giants kicker Owen Pochman learned a tough lesson this offseason. He felt the twinge of a slight quad muscle strain but instead of resting for a couple of days, Pochman...

SHAKY MARAT STILL SAFIN SOUND ; BARELY ESCAPES GUTSY KIEFER

Throughout the fifth-set tiebreaker, after more than four hours, the wounded warrior Nicolas Kiefer staggered, limped, buckled, winced and finally collapsed onto the hot Ashe Stadium Court in a pool...

COMBAT PROTESTERS

ANTI-HUNTING activists who disrupt legal hunters and anglers are breaking the law. It is hunter harassment - and it is illegal in all 50 states. Fanatical animal-rights activists have been...

GARNES BREAKS THUMB

JET NOTES Jets strong safety Sam Garnes broke his left thumb during practice yesterday and won't be able to play in Friday's preseason finale against the Eagles at Giants Stadium....

DEAL WON'T END GAME'S PROBLEMS

CRUNCH time literally will describe the hours after the counterproposal the owners have expected from the players since Sunday finally arrives and the numbers go to the accountants. They will...

ABRAHAM'S IN A RUSH TO OPEN VS. BILLS

There was an added bounce in the step of the entire Jets' defense yesterday with the presence of John Abraham in uniform practicing. It appears that Abraham, the Jets' Pro...

JESSE GETS CHANCE AT BEING TOP BACKUP

The Giants might be leaning toward Jesse Palmer as their second string quarterback. With Kerry Collins (left shoulder tenderness) being held out of tomorrow night's preseason finale against the Ravens,...

THIS TIME AROUND, THERE'S JUST NO BUZZ IN BEANTOWN

BOSTON - It was the Yankees vs. the Red Sox. And it wasn't. The games were still important to both teams. Maybe. Fenway Park was full, yet the emotional tanks...

HEWITT STILL FUMED AT ATP

Defending U.S. Open champion Lleyton Hewitt wouldn't predict yesterday that he'd take another championship - but he did predict he'd win his war against the ATP, and accused the men's...

SHAKY MARAT STILL SAFIN SOUND: SABATINI SHOWS FAITH IN ANNA

US OPEN NOTEBOOK Unlike Anna Kournikova, Gabriela Sabatini was a tennis beauty who actually became a Grand Slam threat. Yesterday, the dark-haired Argentine was at the U.S. Open, presenting Tracy...

FOR NOW, STRIKE WON'T PUSH DREW TO GRIDIRON

Drew Henson will not call an audible - at least not yet. Casey Close, Henson's agent, said the Yankee prospect has no NFL plans even if there is a lengthy...

FEUD AT FENWAY TAKES BACKSEAT: BOOMER'S BRILLIANT AMID LABOR UNREST

Yankees 6 Red Sox 0 BOSTON - With a very real threat that the players will strike Friday hanging in a crisp New England night, David Wells further advanced the...

ONE THING IS CERTAIN - UNCERTAINTY

MIKE Stanton is a good guy, especially for those of us in the media. He is bright, witty and accessible. So folks who regularly cover the team make it over...

BOOMER'S BRILLIANT AMID LABOR UNREST

Yankees 6 Red Sox 0 BOSTON - Going with the theory that grown men involved in a $3.6 billion industry can find a way to split an ocean of glue...

FEUD AT FENWAY TAKES BACKSEAT: LABOR WAR DWARFS YANKS - SOX RIVALRY

BOSTON - Only the men who run (ruin) baseball could take the buzz out of a late-season Yankees-Red Sox series at Fenway Park. New England's living room was supposed to...

HEWITT, VENUS WORTH THE WAIT

Hopefully, the defending U.S. Open champions brought a good book to Flushing Meadows yesterday. Venus Williams and Lleyton Hewitt had to wait out the 4½ hour marathon between Marat Safin...

SABATINI SHOWS FAITH IN ANNA

US OPEN NOTEBOOK Unlike Anna Kournikova, Gabriela Sabatini was a tennis beauty who actually was a Grand Slam threat. Yesterday, the dark-haired Argentine was at the U.S. Open, presenting Tracy...