November 5, 2003

CHERRY LANE LEADS FIELD OF DREAMWORKS UNIT SUITORS

DreamWorks Music Publishing is likely to be acquired by New York-based Cherry Lane Music Group, The Post has learned. The sale of the music publishing unit would complete DreamWorks' exit...

WAL-MART TO OFFER ONLINE MUSIC SHOP

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, has told the music industry it expects to unveil an online music store this month, The Post has learned. The company is still finalizing deals...

SCRUSHY IS BUSTED ON 85 COUNTS

Richard Scrushy, former head of HealthSouth Corp., was indicted yesterday on 85 criminal counts for a scheme to inflate the income of his company by $2.7 billion. The founder of...

PAINTER SLONEM FLIES TO W. 10TH

PAINTER Hunt Slonem - known for his whimsical nature, aviary works and portraits of ladies like Sharon Stone, Georgette Mossbacher and Anne Richards - has decided to fly the coop...

EMBATTLED TYCO PLANS TO AX 7,200

Dennis Kozlowski's greed cost Tyco investors billions, and now the company is throwing 7,200 employees out of work. Tyco International, which Kozlowski ran like his own personal piggy bank until...

LUXE IN FLUX AS GUCCI DUO QUITS

The star management team that rescued Gucci Group from near bankruptcy and turned it into a dominant force in luxury goods said yesterday that they would leave the company over...

CHANGE IS COMING - NYSE REFORMS MAY GO FURTHER THAN REED PLANS

John Reed's plan to overhaul regulation at the New York Stock Exchange - set to be unveiled today - may be just the first step in efforts to overhaul how...

DEUTSCHE NEW TARGET IN SPITZER FUND PROBE

Eliot Spitzer held the spotlight for a second day of hearings on mutual fund scandals with news that he's now going after the world's biggest bank - Deutsche Bank. The...

BING BANG: WRITER LANDS BOOK DEAL, ACTION FIGURE

GIL Schwartz, in his day job as the chief spokesman for CBS Inc., has been under the gun lately as the Viacom-owned network backed away from airing the controversial docudrama...

OCT. JOB CUTS SOAR 125%

October job cuts jumped a stunning 125 percent over September for the largest month of firings in a year - ending a five-month streak of job improvements. Companies announced in...

ALL EYES ON FORD'S NEXT MOVE

The Tom and Dom show is coming to an end - and the extremely wealthy dynamic duo is expected to go their separate ways. While DeSole is likely to retire,...

OCTOBER'S JOB CUTS SOAR 125%

October job cuts jumped a stunning 125 percent over September for the largest month of firings in a year - ending a five-month streak of job improvements. Companies announced in...

U.S. SET TO TRY FRANK YET AGAIN

Get ready for "U.S. vs. Quattrone Reloaded." Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jim Comey filed legal papers yesterday revealing that the government will retry Frank Quattrone, the fallen CS First Boston banking...

JUDGE HEIDI - AMATEURS VIE FOR KLUM'S SUPERMODEL EYE IN BRAVO'S 'PROJECT RUNWAY' CONTEST

'PROJECT Greenlight," meet "Project Runway." Miramax TV and the producers of "Project Greenlight" are developing a new reality show in which 10 amateur designers will compete to show off their...

COUP ON A COUP D'ETAT

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED [] (three stars) Running time: 74 minutes. Not rated (violence). At Film Forum, Houston Street, west of Sixth Avenue. Through next Tuesday. ---- IT...

CLOWNS, CAMELS AND GOING THROUGH HOOPS

BIG APPLE CIRCUS At Damrosch Park, behind Lincoln Center. Through Jan. 11, 2004. Phone (800) 922-3772 or log onto bigapplecircus.org for ticket info. ---- THE Big Apple Circus, which sets...

FOX SENDS 'SKIN' CRAWLING AFTER JUST THREE SHOWS

FOX has cancelled "Skin" after just three episodes. The show, a modern-day "Romeo & Juliet" parable, averaged less than 6 million viewers - despite heavy promotion during Fox's post-season baseball...

DIFFERENT STROKE

YANKEES star Bernie Williams let his guitar, and not his bat, do the talking yesterday when he visited "Live! with Regis and Kelly." Williams, making his first musical performance on...

CHEF'S RETURN IRONED OUT

MORIMOTO is returning to New York. Philadelphia restaurateur Stephen Starr - best known in these parts for enticing "Iron Chef" Masahuru Morimoto away from Nobu - is about to sign...

IT'S TRIAL & ERROR - ROSIE'S SHOW IS OUT OF CONTROL

SWAMPED by her trial and thwarted by a star who will not let her bring in a new director, Rosie O'Donnell has lost control of "Taboo," her $10 million Broadway...

ON WITH THE CHOW - SURPRISE: THE FOOD NETWORK TURNS 10

AND they said it wouldn't last. A decade ago, the Food Network started out on the 31st floor of a Midtown Manhattan office building, with a fake oven and a...

STARR REPORT

She's all grown up Amanda Bynes, who segued from Nickelodeon's "The Amanda Show" to The WB's "What I Like About You," seems to have a new love in her life...

ABOVE 'AVERAGE' START FOR JOE

TV's latest dating reality series, "Average Joe," got off to an better-than-average start this week. "Average Joe" bowed to an average of 11.1 million viewers last Monday night, according to...

RIPA'S POP TRIGGERS FCC RULE ISSUE

KELLY Ripa has landed ABC in hot water with New Jersey Republicans. GOPers have filed a complaint with the network and the FCC demanding that ABC provide their campaign equal...

ITALIAN DRESSING - DOMINIC WORTHIER THAN ITS NAME

Dominic Restaurant / Social Club [* *] (two stars) Greenwich St. (between Jay and Harrison); (212) 343-0700 ---- DOMINIC Restaurant / Social Club needs either a new name or a...

'FLAVOR' IN FAVOR

"Flavor" by Rocco DiSpirito [* * *] (three stars) ---- Rocco, Rocco, Rocco - he's just too delicious, isn't he? Smiling broadly from the cover of his new, lavish cookbook,...

NEO CON: THIRD TIME FOR 'MATRIX' NO CHARM

THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS (one and one half stars) Neo nutsy. Running time: 129 minutes. Rated R (sci-fi violence, brief sexuality). 'WHERE is this going?" asks a character in "The Matrix...

NEW 'REAGAN' DEBATE - GOP RIPS SHOWTIME FOR TAKING SERIES DUMPED BY CBS

The Republican Party yesterday blasted pay-cable channel Showtime for agreeing to air a miniseries about Ronald and Nancy Reagan, after it was axed by its sister company, CBS. "Misleading a...

SLAIN COUNCILMAN'S BRO DEFEATED

Geoffrey Davis lost by a mile in his bid to capture his murdered brother's City Council seat, according to election returns last night. Davis, a Democrat whose brother James was...

WISING UP IN IRAQ - THE TOUGH NEXT STEPS

WHILE our occupation of Iraq is going vastly better than the media suggests, there is certainly room for improvement. But doing a better job requires taking unpopular measures and weathering...

VOTERS SHOOT DOWN MIKE'S VOTE REFORM

Mayor Bloomberg's personally bankrolled plan for nonpartisan elections went down to resounding defeat last night. With all precincts reporting, an avalanche of no votes crushed the mayor's proposal, 70 percent...

DEAN STANDS BY 'POOR WHITE' VOTE

Howard Dean last night refused to apologize as rivals blasted him at a Democratic debate for saying he wanted to court Southern whites who sport Confederate flags on their pickup...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

David Alan Waters is a blooming idiot - all he had to do to stay a free man was plant 10 chrysanthemums in the yard of Minnie Becton, the 99-year-old...

COLD-CASE BUST IN '92 BX. GUN SLAY

Thanks to the NYPD Cold Case Squad, a 30-year-old man was behind bars last night for murdering a woman on a South Bronx street more than a decade ago, police...

BUSH RIDES WINNER IN KY. DERBY

A Republican romped to a landslide win in the Kentucky gubernatorial election last night in a race that Democrats had vowed to turn into a referendum on President Bush's economic...

LEECHES GOOD RX FOR ARTHRITIS

Relief from arthritis of the knee may be just a bloodsucking leech away. Scientists say the grotesque creatures can reduce swelling and stiffness in the joint. For years, leeches have...

GOV TAPS DONOR FOR TOP COURT

ALBANY - Gov. Pataki yesterday nominated a major campaign donor - a Manhattan lawyer who, along with his wife, has contributed more than $140,000 - to serve on the state's...

TEAMING UP - NEWS CORP. GIVES 100G TO 100 BLACK MEN

News Corp. yesterday presented a $100,000 check to 100 Black Men of New York City, strengthening the eight-year partnership between the media company, which owns The Post, and the community...

SHELLS IN HEART OF BAGHDAD

WASHINGTON - Pro-Saddam death squads launched a second mortar attack at U.S. command in central Baghdad yesterday, wounding three coalition personnel. As the security situation in many parts of Iraq...

MYSTERY WEAPON ZAPS TANKS

The Army is investigating whether pro-Saddam insurgents have a new mystery weapon that can disable the powerhouse M1AI Abrams tank - while leaving only a pencil-size hole in the hull....

PALESTINIANS NAB DUO IN YANK SLAYS

JERUSALEM - Palestinian Authority police arrested two prime suspects in the bomb ambush that killed three American security guards in the Gaza Strip last month, it was reported yesterday. The...

EX-CITY BIG IN SUICIDE SCARE

Federal agents arrested ex-city official Russell Harding amid fears he was about to kill himself - only days before going to trial on child pornography and embezzlement charges, his lawyer...

LIBESKIND'S LOUSY RULES - PLANNERS TRY TO EASE GUIDELINES

Development officials are working to ease master planner Daniel Libeskind's design guidelines for Ground Zero office towers, fearing they are too restrictive and could drive top architects away from the...

ALZHEIMER AIDE IN SHOCK 'DRUNK' BUST

A drunken "caregiver" has been arrested after cops found the 78-year-old Alzheimer's patient in her charge wandering the streets of Yonkers, police said yesterday. Collette Horkan, 32, was charged with...

JOBS AT STEAK - WORKERS WALK AT '21' AND LA CARAVELLE

Workers at two of the city's top restaurants yesterday walked off their jobs - forcing the two establishments to cancel lunch for their regular customers. Members of the Local 100...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

QUEENS * A teenager was arrested early yesterday in the shooting of a man on a Jamaica street, police said. According to cops, Gavin Smith, 18, was arguing with the...

COPS HUNT FLEEING VON DUTCH-MEN

Shoplifters wearing New York Yankees attire hit a Long Island mall, making off with more than a thousand dollars worth of fashionable Von Dutch hats. The bandits grabbed the goods...

IT'S SO PATHETICALLY BAD THAT IT'S HYSTERICALLY FUNNY

IT WAS one of the funniest tapes I had ever received from a TV network. It was a special promo reel sent over early last month for "The Reagans," a...

NEW SCHOOLS BRIDGE WAY TO COLLEGE

New York City will open ten "early college high schools" that will allow motivated students to earn a high-school diploma and two years of free college credits at the same...

ANALYZE THIS HOTEL - FIRST PEEK AT DE NIRO'S LANDMARK TRIBECA PLAN

This is the first look at the new luxury hotel planned for TriBeCa by movie star Robert De Niro. The actor and his partner, developer Ira Drukier, hope to break...

DESIGNER CHOLESTEROL: DRANO FOR THE VEINS

A synthetic version of "good" cholesterol, injected into arteries, cleared them of plaque like "liquid Drano" and reduced artery disease in just six weeks, says a breakthrough new study that...

'THE END' IN DUMBO - MOVIEMAKING MORATORIUM IN TRENDY B'KLYN NABE

The city is yelling, "Cut!" to filming on the waterfront in Brooklyn. After months of complaints from residents of DUMBO - the hot, artsy neighborhood under the Manhattan and Brooklyn...

TED'S ESTATE TAKES $10M SLAP AT DANNY

Ted Ammon's estate has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit - for more than $10 million - against Danny Pelosi, the man currently targeted by a Long Island grand jury in Ammon's...

CLUB CLASH LEADS TO PARK SHOOTING

Two men were wounded yesterday in a drive-by shooting near Bryant Park after a beef in a Midtown club, police said. Troy Smith and Meischan Mamby, both of The Bronx,...

BUSH LEADS THE WHOLE DEMOCRATIC FIELD IN NEW POLL

President Bush's ratings have slipped but he still beats every Democratic 2004 wannabe - and now leads struggling contender Wesley Clark by a stunning 19 percentage points, a new nationwide...

RANKING COP'S TALE OF SHOOTING

A police lieutenant testified yesterday to firing six shots at a mentally ill man who had charged him with a hammer in 1999 - but gave an account of the...

CHURCH 'CHORUS' KO'D - STARVE LAWYER TELLS WORSHIPPERS: ZIP IT

Church leaders loudly proclaiming the innocence of the parents of four allegedly starved New Jersey boys have been told to shut up by the embattled couple's own lawyer. The unidentified...

MONTEL TRIED TO FLY HIGH: COPS

TV talk-show host Montel Williams landed in a joint custody battle with security at a Detroit airport Monday night - over his personal pot stash. The ex-Marine-turned-TV-host was fined $100...

BUSH SALUTES TRAGIC CHOPPER GIS

The 15 furlough-bound soldiers killed when their Chinook helicopter was downed by Iraqi insurgents died for "a noble cause," President Bush said yesterday. In his first remarks specifically about the...

TOM FORD QUITS GUCCI - FASHIONABLE WOMEN AGHAST

They were rending their leather trench coats and gnashing their perfect teeth on the Upper East Side yesterday as Tom Ford, the high priest of logo handbags, announced he was...

CREWMAN SAYS PILOT'S A LIAR - TELLS FERRY PROBERS: HE NEVER FAINTED

A mate aboard the ill-fated Staten Island Ferry that smashed into a pier last month told investigators that the boat's pilot was "standing erect during the entire incident" and never...

GEEZER PULLS HIS GUN ON MUGGER

A pistol-packing, 80-year-old Bronx man was arrested on gun charges after he tried to turn the tables on a mugger who beat him and stole his Social Security money, authorities...

VICTIMS' FAMILIES GET NO ANSWERS

FOR more than three grueling hours, the widow sat clutching her husband's chain, hoping and praying that the congressional hearing into the Staten Island Ferry crash would yield some answers....

POL RAGES AT CITY OVER MISSING WITNESS

A congressional hearing assembled to look into last month's deadly Staten Island Ferry accident turned into a shouting match between lawmakers and city officials over who was supposed to testify....

VIDEO GUN LOONY APPEARS IN COURT

LOS ANGELES - An enraged 64-year-old man who shot a lawyer in front of horrified lensmen was charged with attempted murder yesterday. William Strier was also charged with making criminal...

A BOUNCING BABY BOY FOR DADDY DAVE

It's a bouncing baby boy for David Letterman! The beaming "Late Show" host revealed last night his girlfriend Regina Lasko has given birth to a son. The proud parents named...

HOUSE OKS 911-CELL BILL

The House yesterday OK'd a bill that, if passed, might have saved the lives of four teens who drowned off City Island. The bill would make it easier to pinpoint...

BOY JOY FOR DADDY DAVE

David Letterman isn't the only one who can make a great delivery. His girlfriend, Regina Lasko, upstaged the late-night comic by delivering an adorable baby boy just before midnight Monday....

FIANCÉE'S AGONY OVER SLAIN GI

The 15 tragic GIs killed in Saturday's chopper attack in Iraq included an Army sergeant on his way home to marry his sweetheart and another soldier heading to see his...

PELOSI: LET'S DEAL - HE'LL TALK TO AMMON JURY - BUT ONLY WITH IMMUNITY

Slay suspect Danny Pelosi is willing to testify before the special grand jury looking into the murder of millionaire Ted Ammon - but only if he's granted immunity, The Post...

GIRL-MARRY COP BACK AT WORK

The NYPD cop who was arrested and suspended for seducing an underage Oregon girl is back at work, The Post has learned. Officer Matthew De Gennaro, 32, went on "modified...

EVICTED WOMAN LEAPS TO DEATH

A 55-year-old woman jumped to her death from her 27th-floor Murray Hill apartment yesterday - a day after she was evicted. The woman, who was unemployed but had recently worked...

ANALYZE THIS HOTEL: FIRST PEEK AT DE NIRO'S LANDMARK TRIBECA PLAN

This is the first look at the new luxury hotel planned for TriBeCa by movie star Robert De Niro. The actor and his partner, developer Ira Drukier, hope to break...

CLUB ARGUMENT LED TO PARK SHOOTING

Two men were wounded yesterday in a drive-by shooting outside Bryant Park after a beef in a Midtown nightclub, police said. Troy Smith and Meischan Mamby, both of The Bronx,...

NEW 'REAGAN' DEBATE: GOP RIPS SHOWTIME FOR TAKING SERIES DUMPED BY CBS

The Republican Party yesterday blasted pay-cable channel Showtime for agreeing to air a miniseries about Ronald and Nancy Reagan, after it was axed by its sister company, CBS. "Misleading a...

MONTEL TRIED TO FLY HIGH, SAY COPS

TV talk-show host Montel Williams landed in a joint custody battle with security at a Detroit airport Monday night - over his personal pot stash. The ex-Marine-turned-TV-chatterbox was fined $100...

'CROOKED' EX-CITY BIG HELD IN SUICIDE SCARE

Federal agents arrested ex-city official Russell Harding amid fears he was about to kill himself - only days before going to trial on child pornography and embezzlement charges, his lawyer...

TWO BUSTED IN SLAYING OF BRONX MEN

Two teens were arrested yesterday in the shooting deaths of two Bronx men outside an Eastchester housing project on Monday, police said. Apolinar Roque, 18, and Marlon Henry, 19, both...

REBOUNDING RUPP IN MIDDLE OF DEVILS' SURGE

Cut down to size by his coach, the biggest Devil is rebuilding his standing and his confidence. His Stanley Cup-winning goal almost seemed to be working against Mike Rupp in...

'REINA' GETTING RACIER

Riding the rail every step of the way from post 1, even-money favorite La Reina dueled for the early lead through solid fractions (:23.2, :46.3), was passed by 5-2 second...

TRUTH HURTS NETS - LIST OF INJURED SWELLS

No, it is not beginning to feel like Byron Scott's first season with the Nets, an injury-cursed mess. At least not yet. But entering the fourth game of the interminably...

EVANS IN LIMBO WITH JETS

Josh Evans was reinstated by the NFL yesterday, thus ending an eight-game suspension for his repeat violation of the league's substance abuse policy. Now the question is, can he show...

BEARIN' DOWN IN THE COURTS

THERE was a time when, during hunting season, all we did was hunt. These days, we find ourselves in court as much as in the field - but to protect...

OTHELLA EARNS A CURTAIN CALL

The forgotten power forward of training camp was the key to pulling out the Knicks' first victory in Monday's slopfest in Orlando. And now Othella Harrington has supplanted Clarence Weatherspoon...

DON KNOWS WHO'S BOSS - NEW YANKS COACH MUST IMPRESS GEORGE

"You don't get out of here alive." -DON MATTINGLY Don Mattingly understands whom he works for. Fourteen years of playing for George Steinbrenner leathered Mattingly's skin. "You don't get out...

MATTINGLY'S WIFE KNOWS TIME'S RIGHT

ANY HUSBAND will tell you, it is the wife who knows what's best for us. Here's yet another example. The phone rang last Tuesday at Don Mattingly's Evansville, Ind., home....

SPURRIER STIRS UP CHAOS IN CAPITAL

IN the aftermath of the Redskins' latest debacle, a 21-14 loss to the Cowboys in Dallas, Steve Spurrier stood before the media and declared, "I don't see any finger pointing,"...

STATS BAFFLE CHANEY

KNICK NOTES Before we get too excited, remember the Knicks lead the league in defense because they have played the Magic in two of their three games. The Magic only...

SPIN DOCTORS NO CURE FOR BIG EAST ILLS

THE Big East Conference did what it could yesterday to spin a happy tale and assuage concerns that the defections of Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech to the ACC...

VAN GUNDY KEEPS KNICKS IN HIS HEART

JEFF VAN GUNDY knows how good he had it. He knows how hard the Knicks played for him, how willingly they allowed themselves to be coached, how they took him...

METS CASTING WIDE NET FOR 'EVALUATORS'

The Mets yesterday continued their search for GM Jim Duquette's assistants, interviewing their second candidate and preparing to interview a third. Marlins superscout and director of international operations Fred Ferreira...

JETER'S THUMB SURGERY ON HOLD

YANKEE NOTES Derek Jeter doesn't know if the left thumb injury he suffered in Game 1 of the ALCS against the Red Sox will require surgery. "The verdict is still...

JEFF SAYS YAO'S GOTTA GET NASTY

Yao Ming is such a gifted talent, so prodigious in both size and skill, that he's made the Rockets his team in just over a year. Now, says coach Jeff...

ZO'S COMEBACK PLEASES EWING

NET NOTES To Patrick Ewing, the Nets could not have picked a better center for their title quest than Alonzo Mourning. To Mourning, the Rockets could not have picked a...

VAN GUNDY'S ROOTS STILL IN THE GARDEN

JEFF Van Gundy knows this will all be different come Jan. 8, the night he will make his official homecoming, at the Garden, against the Knicks. The Nets may be...

NEW MARK FOR MESS - CAPTAIN PASSES HOWE WITH PAIR

Rangers 3 - Stars 0 For a quarter-century, work ethic and victory have been synonymous with his name and his game. So how appropriate for Mark Messier to pass Gordie...

NUMB NETS RUN OUT OF GAS - FRANCIS' SPURT RALLIES ROCKETS

Rockets 86 - Nets 75 As the game head toward the stretch run, the vigor and dynamism levels of the Nets were somewhere between tree stump and corpse. Blame it...

ROGERS' THUMB ALSO DISLOCATED

NET NOTES After just four games of the always interminably long NBA season, injuries and ensuing consequences are stacking up on the Nets. And Byron Scott revealed yesterday that Rodney...

A TALE OF 2 SEASONS: BIG BLUE THINKING PLAYOFFS, GANG GREEN MAKING TEE TIMES

BEST MOMENT Kerry Collins firing 14-yarder to Ike Hilliard for a TD with 3:39 remaining to seal a victory in Minnesota. Giants usually lack that killer instinct, but they got...

GROIN, GROIN . . . GONE - DUNHAM SIDELINED FOR RANGERS-STARS

On Saturday, after the Rangers had defeated the Canadiens 5-1 in Montreal, someone asked Mark Messier what he had thought of Mike Dunham's work in the victory. The captain's response...