July 6, 2003

KRAFT A DROPOUT

Philip Morris, er, Altria, can't seem to catch a break. About two years ago, the company split its tobacco and food units so their food products wouldn't be tainted by...

INVESTORS' SUITS NOT A SLAM-DUNK

When 10 major Wall Street firms signed an unprecedented $1.4 billion settlement with regulators over analysts' conflicted research, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer made it clear the real financial...

WATCH OVER ME

Here, take my watch. Increasingly, the rich and formerly rich are selling their luxury wristwatches - a Patek Philippe from the 1940s recently fetched a record $4 million. "They're realizing...

SPOT US A $20

Confusion and slower cash-register lines can be expected - thanks to our colorful new $20 currency due this autumn. So the Secret Service is hitting the road this summer to...

INSIDE SCOOP HAS KELLER WINNING EXEC EDITOR JOB

According to one source at the New York Times, "It's a lock - Keller is going to get the top job." That answers the guessing game inside the Gray Lady...

CULTURE SHOCK - ART INSTITUTIONS HIT HARD BY DROP IN FUNDING, ATTENDENCE

While city budget cuts for arts organizations weren't as deep as feared and the economy appears to be rebounding, the pain is far from over for museums, performance halls and...

STARR REPORT

'Crime' pays off in hotline help NBC's "Crime & Punishment" is at it again - spiking the number of calls to help hotlines, much as it did in its premiere...

WACKY AKI

AKI Kaurismaki, the Finnish filmmaker who has achieved god-like stature among his followers, is getting a 14-day, 13-feature retrospective at BAM Rose Cinemas. Be advised: Kaurismaki's acerbic deadpan humor and...

STAR POWER & STRAY PUPS

Celebrities often support worthy "pet" causes with their money and time, and many stars adore animals. And in the coming week, look for many boldface names who'll be using their...

HIGH NOTES & LOW NOTES

Everyone loves Gumby: Willie Nelson will create music for the upcoming "Gumby" movie, according to Licensing Book trade mag. Heat Licensing, owner of the Gumby property also wants to hook...

DUDES AND A DIVA - TOPPING THIS MONTH'S HOTTEST CDS: THE REVIVAL OF AN ALT-ROCK LEGEND

1. Jane's Addiction "Strays" There was nothing shocking about the making of Jane's Addiction's "Strays," the L.A. band's first new studio album in more than a dozen years. Guitarist Dave...

WHERE TO EAT AFTER ... THE BASEBALL EXHIBIT AT THE AMERICAN FOLK ART MUSEUM

What better time than July to ruminate on our nation's most treasured sport? At "The Perfect Game: America Looks at Baseball" exhibition at the American Folk Art Museum (45 W....

SHOPAHOLIC - I DARE YOU: CAN DESIGNER CYNTHIA ROWLEY PUT TOGETHER A GREAT LOOK FOR ONLY $100?

She may be an upscale, sophisticated fashion designer, but Cynthia Rowley also calls her Hamptons house a "surf shack," drives a red 1965 Ford Galaxy convertible and calls her 4-year-old...

COLOR ME BAD - YES, DREW BARRYMORE DID THIS DELIBERATELY

What's up with Drew Barrymore's makeup? The "Charlie's Angels" star strutted down the red carpet in London last week with ghastly white-powdered eyes and hot red lipstick - looking more...

FAKING IT - BIG HAIR IS IN - AND YOU CAN GET IT IN JUST TWO HOURS

Length matters. Once considered high-maintenance and a reflection of outmoded male ideals of femininity, glossy, waist-length hair is suddenly in - thanks in no small part to the latest technology...

SHOP LIKE A PRO - FROM MARC JACOBS TO CLUB MONACO: SINFULLY CHEAP SUMMER STUFF

It's summer sale time - and shopping for bargains in the city is easy. Well, at least it is if you know where to look. Last week, we went in...

SPIKE TV - AN EXERCISE IN FERTILITY

Sorry boys, it's too late. TNN, the cable network that has at least temporarily been prevented by Spike Lee from being called Spike TV, is in the throes of a...

AMERICAN BRIDAL - IN "CUPID," IT'S A MARRIAGE-HUNGRY WOMAN - NOT SIMON COWELL- ISSUING THE REJECTION

No one literally gets shot with an arrow from a winged cherub in "Cupid," but 25-year-old Lisa Shannon is on a serious quest to find love. She's the Detroit copywriter...

HIT LIST - SIX REASONS TO TUNE IN

BEST MANNEQUIN AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL Tuesday, 8 p.m., UPN/Ch. 9 And then there was one. Three out of 10 of the contestants in supermodel Tyra Banks' modeling-talent show have...

FOR LOVE OR MONEY - NETWORKS AIM INSULTING REALITY SHOWS AT YOUNG WOMEN

Are young women really this stupid? The networks seem to think so. They've trotted out so many vapid reality shows aimed at young women lately that you would think that...

DONOR-CRISIS HOSPS GAMBLE ON BAD ORGANS

Desperate patients at New York transplant centers are being offered "high-risk" and sometimes infected livers and kidneys because of a severe shortage of organ donors, The Post has learned. NYU...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Some might say Tom Majewski is making a big stink in his quest for history. He's so enthralled by the history of rural Illinois that he digs out old outhouse...

IRON MIKE: I'D JUST LIKE TO DIE

Mike Tyson has a death wish. The former heavyweight champ says he hates his life so much that he's "just lookin' forward to goin' to the other world." The stunning...

IRAQIS ATTACK IRAQIS - ROADSIDE BOMB KILLS 7 U.S.-TRAINED POLICE CADETS

Suspected Saddam Hussein loyalists killed seven U.S.-trained Iraqi police cadets yesterday and wounded dozens more in an explosion, the latest attack aimed at derailing U.S. post-war help for Iraq. The...

HOME-WRECKING AFFAIR BEGAN AS WORK OF CHARITY

Polo-playing playboy Bruce Colley met lover Kerry Kennedy Cuomo through the charitable work of his wife Ann, who heads the philanthropic efforts of millionaire money manager Louis Bacon, friends of...

HUBBY NABS 'RAPIST' IN RESTROOM

A heroic husband thwarted the attempted rape of his wife early yesterday when he caught an attacker in the middle of the sexual assault in the bathroom of a Queens...

MAN RAY HIT WITH HUGE TAB

The posh Chelsea restaurant owned by Bruce Colley is facing a legal showdown with a former manager who claims he was stiffed out of tens of thousands of dollars. Mauro...

MOTORMOUTH LIZZIE DISHES DIRT FOR RADIO

Lizzie Grubman is back to the beach and putting a p.r. princess' spin on hot Hamptons life for Blink 102.7's afternoon show. Grubman's first five-minute rundown of East End gossip...

KERRY CRUSHED BY BIG KISS-OFF * BEAU'S DENIALS HURT * CHEATER'S COLD FEET * 'NOT A FLING TO HER'

A "smitten" Kerry Kennedy Cuomo is hurt that her playboy lover Bruce Colley continues to publicly deny their affair and has proclaimed he still loves his wife, Ann, their friends...

INFERNO LEAVES FAMILY HOMELESS

A Brooklyn family was burned out of its home early yesterday in a two-alarm fire that required more than 100 firefighters to battle. Twenty-eight units were called to the blaze...

PROBER RED HOT OVER BUSH'S IRAQ URANIUM 'LIES'

A former U.S. ambassador, who was hired by the CIA to investigate reports that Saddam Hussein bought uranium from Niger, has gone public with his anger that his findings discrediting...

W. PLEDGES LIBERIA'S DICTATOR IS OUTTA THERE

WASHINGTON - As he heads off to Africa tomorrow, President Bush is vowing that he won't take no for an answer if Liberia's brutal ruler Charles Taylor refuses to yield...

TRIO OF LOBBYISTS GIVES TO SPEAKER, GAINS FROM COUNCIL

IT'S coming up dollars for three lobbyists who raised campaign funds for City Council Speaker Gifford Miller. Clients of the trio won large handouts when the council distributed millions last...

'NET NUTS THREATEN WORLDWIDE HACK ATTACK TODAY

Hack or hoax? Today's the day computer hackers say they will invade the Web in an attempt to deface as many sites as possible in six hours. Organized by an...

AMMON'S SLAY FEAR - TOLD HIS FAMILY: WIFE 'IS GOING TO KILL ME'

Shortly before he was murdered, millionaire Ted Ammon told his sister that his estranged wife Generosa wanted him dead. "I think she's going to kill me," he said. "Ted told...

ALARM BELLS OVER PAROLE-SKIP PERVS

Convicted rapist David McFadden prowled the streets of Brooklyn last Tuesday morning for a victim, and eventually pounced on a 12-year-old girl trying to catch the B12 bus home after...

PALESTINIAN KILLED IN GAZA BLAST

An explosion near an Israeli army checkpoint in the Gaza Strip killed a Palestinian man yesterday, endangering a fragile cease-fire vital to the U.S.-backed "road map" to peace in the...

GUEST SLAIN AT HOLIDAY BASH

A wild, all-night Fourth of July party turned into a deadly street brawl in Brooklyn that left one man shot dead during a heated face-off between guests and a group...

POWER SHORE-TAGE HITS N.J.

The bright lights of Seaside Heights went out yesterday, leaving residents and partiers in the sweltering Jersey Shore vacation spot all dressed up with nowhere to go. The power outages...

ARE YOU CLUELESS? - KNOW THESE 100 WORDS TO SHOW SMARTS

It is incontrovertible, educators say, that even the most loquacious students could stand to expand their vocabulary, but the latest lexicon offered by dictionary makers is more tempestuous than expected....

WHITE'S FAN 'BASS' BUYS UP CDS

Barry White fans, heartbroken over the 58-year-old soul singer's death Friday from kidney failure, headed out in droves yesterday to scoop up his CDs and remember the smooth-voiced king of...

'I THINK SHE'LL KILL ME' - AMMON TOLD OF WIFE FEAR

Shortly before he was murdered, millionaire Ted Ammon told his sister that his estranged wife Generosa wanted him dead. "I think she's going to kill me," he said. "Ted told...

WHITE'S FAN 'BASS' SCOOPS UP CDS

Barry White fans, heartbroken over the 58-year-old soul singer's death Friday from kidney failure, headed out in droves yesterday to scoop up his CDs and remember the smooth-voiced king of...

WHALE OF A FIND OFF LONG ISLAND

A giant piece of whale blubber was spotted yesterday off the southern coast of Long Island - one of several whale pieces that have been seen in the area since...

SWALLOW VICTORY IN PASTA EATS

On the Fourth of July, it was Nathan's hot dogs. Yesterday, a lineup of men tried to eat as much spaghetti marinara as they could swallow in eight minutes. "Take...

HAMPTONS DIARY

THE stars in the Hamp tons really do only come out at night - but they're hard to spot. East Hampton officials are doing something about it, drafting a resolution...

ZOO PREDATOR KILLS BALD EAGLE

Call it a national tragedy. A bald eagle, our national symbol, died on Independence Day at the National Zoo in Washington after being attacked by a mystery animal that broke...

DIAL FOR DOLLARS: CELL-BAN FINES NET $3M

Talk is cheap, but not if you're driving. Ticket-blitzing New York City cops have helped the city collect about $3 million already this year from drivers who violated the state's...

MAN RAY HIT WITH A HUGE TAB

The posh Chelsea restaurant owned by Bruce Colley is facing a legal showdown involving a former manager who claims he was stiffed out of tens of thousands of dollars. Mauro...

KERRY CRUSHED BY BRUCE'S KISS-OFF * BEAU HAVING COLD FEET

A "smitten" Kerry Kennedy Cuomo is hurt that her playboy lover Bruce Colley continues to publicly deny their affair and has proclaimed he still loves his wife, Ann, their friends...

FLIERS LOSE IN CLAIM-BLAME GAME

If your valuables went missing at the airport this holiday weekend, don't count on being compensated any time soon. A mass of red tape has tangled up the processing of...

SLATS WAS SHOT DOWN - KARIYA, SELANNE REJECTED RANGERS

ON the day before Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne signed in Colorado, Glen Sather offered the blood brothers what amounted to a blank check to bring their act to Broadway,...

NETS NOW HAVE TO PLAY WAITIN' GAME WITH JASON

And so now the Nets will wait. Jason Kidd, aware of what the Nets will offer and have provided him the past two years, visits the Spurs in San Antonio...

ON THE LINKS

PRICE LEADS EURO OPEN Phillip Price shot a 5-under-par 67 yesterday to take a three-stroke lead after three rounds of the European Open at The K Club in Straffan, Ireland....

A SWING AND AMISH - UNIQUE BAT MAKER SEEKS WOOD LIFE IN MAJORS

GOD'S COUNTRY - The old, gray barn sits on a hill behind a simple white house. It looks like any other barn until you enter and see the Amish craftsman...

HIP WOES SIDELINE MONDESI

YANKEE NOTES As expected, Raul Mondesi wasn't in Joe Torre's lineup yesterday due to a strained right hip flexor muscle. When the slumping right fielder returns was something the manager...

GLOVE STORY

The baseball and softball equipment company Akadema (www.akadema.com) was started in 1997 in Garfield, N.J., by brothers Lawrence and Joe Gilligan and began national distribution in 2000. It has been...

CURSE? WHAT CURSE? - SWAGGERING SOX BASH LIKE BABE

HERE'S the worst part of the Yankees' humiliating 10-2 loss yesterday to the Red Sox. They were out-worked. Imagine that. Out-muscled, out-hustled, out-swaggered. Back-to-back Boss' birthday blowouts. That is not...

SKY MESA RETURNS

Undefeated Sky Mesa, one of three powerhouse 2-year-olds of 2002 along with Vindication and Toccet sidelined so far this year because of injury, becomes the first of the trio to...

MINESHAFT ROLLS TO SUBURBAN WIN

In one of the most impressive performances seen at Belmont Park in many summers, 3-5 favorite Mineshaft, under confident handling by Robby Albarado, turned back a challenge from reigning Breeders'...

RAMIRO STARTS OVER

Forget about the offense for a minute. After all, everybody already knows the Red Sox can hit. "The big story," Trot Nixon insisted, "was Dozer." That would be Ramiro Mendoza,...

ROBIN'S MIRED IN THE MUCK

Robin Ventura is the first to admit that right now his swing isn't good, and even Joe Torre has acknowledged that the third baseman is in a slump. But this...

YANKS' WOES START WITH 'O'

Red Sox 10 - Yankees 2THE Yankees' biggest worry is no longer overworking Mariano Rivera. Halfway through this series against Boston, the Yanks suddenly have more pressing issues. With an...

CLEMENS RIPPED - ROCKET'S RED GLARE TURNS TO SOX, ORTIZ AFTER HOMER BARRAGE

Add another chapter to the fierce Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. After the Red Sox punished Roger Clemens and the Yankees, 10-2, in front of a sweltering crowd of 54,948 at Yankee...

NIXON IS ROCKET'S BIGGEST LAUNCHER

You probably don't understand how Trot Nixon owns Roger Clemens. You're not alone. "I don't know. I can't explain it at all," Nixon said yesterday after throttling Clemens yet again...

PIAZZA: THIS CONTRACT NOT MY LAST

Mets 6 - Reds 2 CINCINNATI - As Mike Piazza prepares for a 2003 return, fans who want to see the Met catcher playing three years from now may be...

METS WAKE UP LATE - NO-HIT FOR SIX, THEY RIP REDS

CINCINNATI - You wouldn't know it by today's box score, but the Met offense was dead in the Ohio River for six innings last night. Reds' right-hander Danny Graves, a...

TWINS ARE INTERESTED IN BURNITZ

MET NOTES CINCINNATI - The Twins have had internal discussions and are targeting Mets outfielder Jeromy Burnitz as one of two or three potential acquisitions this month, a source said....

ELYVS PRESSES ON - YANKEES PROSPECT EYES RETURN TO BRONX

FINALLY, Elvys Quezada feels fully prepared to pitch. In those afternoon group bullpen sessions with his fellow Staten Island Yankees, the kid from 196th Street can show the breaking pitches,...

DON'T GET BURNED BY FIRES

KNOWING the most likely causes of fires on board your boat can save lives, including your own. A new study released by BoatU.S. Marine Insurance said the leading causes of...

YANKS HAVE FULL PLATE OF PROBLEMS

JUST imagine. The Yankee worry to open this four-game set against the Red Sox was Mariano Rivera being overworked. Halfway through this series, the Yanks now have a buffet of...

BOSTON GETS CLEMENS' GOAT

Until this season, Roger Clemens has had little trouble against Boston, beating his old club the same way he beat up the rest of the American League. But this series...

ROGER'S ENEMIES LIST LED BY NIXON

Manny Ramirez came into yesterday's game with a .178 career average against Roger Clemens. Nomar Garciaparra was at .179. And then there's Trot Nixon. Boston's right fielder continued his torrid...

MENDOZA SHINES IN BIG SPOT

Ramiro Mendoza asked for it, got it and then took advantage of it. After being granted his first start in more than two years, the Yankee castoff silenced his former...

BOSOX BULL 'DOZA - RAMIRO, SOX KO YANKS & CLEMENS

Red Sox 10 - Yankees 2 By 9 a.m. yesterday, Yankee Stadium and Yankee employees were on Boss Alert. Rumored to be dropping by The Bronx after spending Friday -...

AND JUSTICE FOR ALL - BIG EAST, METS DESERVED THEIR FATES

WHILE justice might not always be swift, it does have a way of eventually getting there. And it sure seems poetic. The Big East conference is currently taking on water,...

PIAZZA: I'M NOT DONE - SAYS HE'LL KEEP PLAYING BEYOND CURRENT CONTRACT

CINCINNATI - As Mike Piazza prepares for a 2003 return, fans who want to see the Met catcher playing three years from now may be encouraged. For the first time...

BARANOVA FINALLY STEPPIN' UP

Elena Baranova knew it would take some time before she became comfortable with her new team after coming to the Liberty before the season began. She just didn't know it...

METS HAVE REYES SIT ONE MORE

MET NOTES CINCINNATI - Jose Reyes was not in the starting lineup for the third straight game last night as manager Art Howe is not convinced the 20-year-old rookie is...

MLB MIDSEASON REPORT

Oh, to sum up the first half. Well, the Mets stink, yet the Tigers just might be the 1962 Mets. George Steinbrenner and Joe Torre really dislike each other, but...

BASEBALL TAKES SHOW ON ROAD - MLB GETS INTO CONCERT BUSINESS

Road Trip is taking on a whole new meaning. We've learned that Major League Baseball will embrace a new audience by sponsoring Ozzfest 2003, Lollapalooza 2003, and 34 Clear Channel...

PLAYING THE RATING GAME

A Web site recently published its list of the most overrated players and entertainers in history. It sparked debates and spawned other lists, such as ones of underrated players. As...