February 25, 2004

KAMALI SERVES UP OILS, YOGA AND LAVENDER TEA

Designer Norma Kamali is taking New Age to a new level. To complement a line of wellness products like lavender cream and olive oil exfoliant introduced in September, Kamali's Midtown...

GREENSPAN WARNS ON MORTGAGES

The bloated portfolios of mortgage companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae could cause a "very serious" financial crisis, Alan Greenspan warned yesterday. The Federal Reserve chairman said the lenders have...

M'SOFT LINES UP WITH NAPSTER TO FIGHT OFF ITUNES

In the battle over digital music, Microsoft may be forced to play kingmaker - or else be reduced to a pawn. There are dozens of online music stores that back...

MORE BIG BOXES OPEN IN CHELSEA

BIG box stores continue to gobble up space on 23rd Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues. The latest arrival: appliance giant P.C. Richard, which has taken 40,000 square-feet on the...

GOLD-MINE SACHS - CEO PAULSON JOINS JPM BOSS IN BIG-BUCKS CLUB

The bull is back - and Wall Street CEOs have the dough to show for it. Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson cleared a whopping $21.4 million in 2003 - a...

TOP GOLDMAN EXECS TAKE $$ AND RUN

Goldman Sachs is throwing fortunes at its top execs - and they're still leaving. That may be because those at the top of Goldman already have fortunes. Since the firm...

LABOR PAINS AT DOW JONES - SCRIBES STAGE 20-MIN. WALKOUT AS CONTRACT TALKS LOOM

LABOR unrest continued for Dow Jones Chairman Peter Kann when hundreds of unionized employees walked out en masse yesterday afternoon at the Wall Street Journal, Barron's, the news wires and...

SWAPPING PARTNERS - NEW BIDDER JUMPS INTO BED WITH PENTHOUSE

The Penthouse empire may not be sold out from under Bob Guccione tomorrow as expected. A new group of investors is stepping up at the last minute to replace a...

EMINEM SUES APPLE OVER COPYRIGHT

Rap superstar Eminem says he is being ripped off by Apple and MTV for illegally using his hit song "Lose Yourself" for a commercial for Apple's music download iTunes. The...

FLEET MAY BE BARRED

FleetBoston Financial's mutual fund unit may be barred from managing funds - a serious blow to the firm, which is in the process of being acquired by Bank of America....

SEC VOTE BAD NEWS FOR NYSE

Four SEC commissioners and Chairman William Donaldson voted unanimously to adopt a rule proposal that, if approved, would change the way stocks are traded on the nation's exchanges. While the...

S&P DOWNGRADES DOW JONES

The Wall Street Journal - which did a series of articles critical of corporate credit-rating agencies - got its own credit downgrade slap yesterday. Standard & Poor's, the largest of...

SEC AGREES TO DISAGREE ON TRADING RULE CHANGE

Four SEC commissioners and Chairman William Donaldson voted unanimously to adopt a rule proposal that, if approved, would change the way stocks are traded on the nation's exchanges. While the...

BOOB BOWL JUST WON'T GO AWAY

JANET Jackson's halftime bra-haha appears to have cost her and Justin Timberlake a pair of high-profile jobs. Singer Lena Horne has forced Jackson out of a proposed ABC movie where...

STELLA PASTA STELLAR - WELCOME ITALIAN IN THEATER DISTRICT; VICTORIA WILL

OSTERIA STELLA [] (two stars) 135 W. 50TH ST. BETWEEN SIXTH & SEVENTH AVENUES (212) 957-5050 ---- OSTERIA Stella is the Theater District's best new Italian restaurant in ages. It's...

PER SE CHIEF ALL FIRED UP

THOMAS Keller, whose newly opened restaurant, Per Se, suffered damage in a kitchen fire Sunday, is hoping to have it up and running again soon. "I think it's going to...

SOUNDS GOOD, BUT WILL MIKEY LIKE IT?

MOTHER Nature, meet your worst nightmare. We can only imagine what hallucination led to one of the more bizarre kiddie foods to turn up on supermarket shelves: applesauce mixed with...

BATTING AROUND 'CAGE' - PRODUCERS TRY TO GET GRAMMER IN 'FOLLES'

THEATER producers seem hellbent on bringing Kelsey Grammer to Broadway. Last month, the producers of "The Producers" were hoping to nab him to replace Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock. But...

'IDOL' ARRESTED ON DUI CHARGE

'AMERICAN Idol" wannabe Donnie Williams was arrested on suspicion of driving drunk Monday after he allegedly raced by a marked police car at over 100 mph. Williams was stopped at...

PLACIDO'S LITTLE TAQUERIA NO FISH OUT OF WATER

PAMPANO TAQUERIA [ 1/2] (two and one-half stars) 805 THIRD AVE., DOWNSTAIRS FOOD COURT (BETWEEN 49TH & 50TH STREETS); (212) 751-5257 ----- CHEAP Eats always smiles when big- ticket eateries...

STARR REPORT

A quiet exit . . . So that's where she is. Jane Clayson, late of CBS News, has married, left the network and turned down a lucrative job offer, according...

OH, 'NAPPY' DAYS - 'STORIES' TUGS AT HEARTSTRINGS

"Happy To Be Nappy And Other Stories Of Me" [* * * 1/2] (three and one-half stars) Sunday at 6:30 p.m. on HBO ---- UNLESS you were born without the...

'FIANCÉ' SCORES AS 'SEX' SELLS

THE finale of "Sex and the City" snared big numbers Sunday night on HBO - while Monday's finale of "My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé" was a huge winner for Fox....

TEEN TITANS - 'ONE TREE HILL' VERSUS 'THE O.C.'

SUDDENLY, there is a horse race for the hearts and minds of the teenage viewers. "The O.C.," which debuted with a bang last summer, is the hottest young drama since...

MASA AND COMMANDER - WHY THIS CHEF WANTS YOU TO PAY $300 FOR SUSHI

MOVE over, Nobu - there's a new sushi chef in town. The intimate restaurant Masa, on the fourth floor of the new Time Warner Center, is luring the city's seafood...

EDWARDS TO BUSH: HEY, DON'T FORGET ME

Byline: By DEBORAH ORIN Washington Bureau ChiefStruggling to keep his Democratic presidential bid alive, underdog John Edwards yesterday told President Bush to stop trying to anoint John Kerry: "Not so...

KIN RIP DRIVER AS CON ED WORKER DIES

The Con Ed worker run down while checking an electrical hot spot at a Queens intersection has died of his injuries, and his relatives are furious. "I want that kid...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

That new traffic officer - what a dummy! That's what they're saying in Santa Clara, Calif., where cops are using a former department-store mannequin for traffic enforcement. The dummy, dressed...

COPS NAB DRUGSTORE COWBOY

A graduate student at St. John's University School of Pharmacy has been charged with stealing prescription drugs from a Long Island pharmacy and selling them to a middleman to be...

DEMS REBEL VS. 'AUTHORITY'

ALBANY - Two powerful Democrats, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Comptroller Alan Hevesi, called for an overhaul yesterday of New York's public authorities, many of which Gov. Pataki controls. "Authorities...

SENIOR MOMENT HIGH COURT HITS YOUNG WORKERS

The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a federal law that protects older workers from employers favoring younger workers cannot be applied in reverse. The court ruled that workers in their...

OSAMA GUARDS FACE U.S. TRIAL

WASHINGTON - Two Guantanamo Bay detainees who served as Osama bin Laden's bodyguards were charged yesterday with terrorism and will stand trial in U.S. military tribunals. Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al...

COURT SPARES KILLER

ALBANY - The state's top court yesterday commuted yet another death sentence, the third time out of three appeals that a killer was spared his life since New York's capital-punishment...

BIN LADEN'S NO. 2 VOWS ANOTHER 9/11

WASHINGTON - Osama bin Laden's top deputy launched a new taped diatribe against President Bush yesterday and threatened more Sept. 11-style attacks on the United States. Ayman al-Zawahiri, a former...

PRECIOUS STONES TOPS IN OLD MONEY

Old still gets the gold when it comes to rock 'n' roll. The Rolling Stones - who've played together for more than 40 years - head the list of top...

ISRAEL'S 'FENCE' WARNING

Palestinian terrorists are developing artillery powerful enough to shoot over a security fence and reach Israeli towns, Israel's secret service chief told legislators yesterday. The militant groups are also trying...

PROBERS SWOOP ON S.I. FERRY

City investigators raided a Staten Island Ferry as part of a sweeping probe aimed at rooting out misconduct aboard the vessels - a move that stems from last fall's deadly...

PET DETECTIVES - APT. COMPLEX OUT TO EVICT ANIMALS

ALBANY - There's a bounty on Fido's head! The owner of the Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town apartments is paying for tips about illegal pets in the massive housing...

FUMES SICKEN B'KLYN STUDENTS

More than two dozen students were sickened yesterday by a cloud of noxious fumes released in a Brooklyn school. Coughing, teary-eyed students at the School for Global Studies, a junior-senior...

QUEENS SHUT-IN DIES IN FIRE

A tragic pack rat yesterday died in a blaze that may have been sparked by a candle in her overstuffed Queens apartment, authorities said. The 60-year-old woman was inside her...

PREPPY BANK ROBBER HITS UPPER E. SIDE

A dapper hood tried to rob two Upper East Side banks in less than an hour yesterday morning - and made off with a small amount of cash from one,...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

MANHATTAN * A 22-year-old man was shot in front of a Morningside Heights building, police said yesterday. The victim was shot once in the abdomen by one of three assailants...

GHOUL'S GALLERY OF 9/11 PHOTOS

A retired Manhattan firefighter, on trial for stealing grisly "souvenirs" from Ground Zero, kept a macabre collection of body-part photographs from the tragedy - including a gilt-framed portrait of himself...

ORGANS SAFE IN DOPEY MIX-UP

There was high anxiety for a suspected pot dealer after she unwittingly claimed two boxes of human tissue for transplants instead of a pair of packages containing marijuana plants at...

DON'T BLAME JEWS, EGAN BESEECHES CITY CATHOLICS

Edward Cardinal Egan issued a blunt reminder to New York Catholics that Jews are not to blame for the death of Jesus as Mel Gibson's controversial film "The Passion of...

MORE HOMES TO GET 'NET THAN CABLE

More people will have home Internet access than cable TV by year's end, according to a surprising new study from a Web research firm. Manhattan-based eMarketer, which researches and analyzes...

BUSH: PUT GAY-WED BAN IN CONSTITUTION

President Bush yesterday delighted his conservative backers by calling for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, saying that's the only way to protect "the most fundamental institution of civilization"...

RETELLING THE AGE-OLD STORY: VIOLENCE SELLS

THE other night, a co-worker who found out I'd seen Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ" berated me for just watching that "disgusting anti-Semitic movie." This despite the fact...

WRONG-GUY 'KILLER' 'MOCKED' VICTIM

A long-time friend and confidante of an accused Long Island hit man testified yesterday that his bumbling buddy admitted to killing an Amityville gym owner - then savagely mocked the...

GIFFIE TO TALK UP RENTER REBATE

City Council Speaker Gifford Miller will use his State of the City speech today to propose extending Mayor Bloomberg's property-tax rebate for homeowners to renters, The Post has learned. Details...

TRAGIC L.I. TEEN WAS COP'S SON

Dozens of grieving NYPD cops filled a Long Island funeral home yesterday to mourn the death of a tragic Long Island high-school wrestler killed in a car driven by a...

3RD BABY ABANDONED IN S.I. SHOCKER

A baby wrapped in a blanket was found abandoned yesterday in a Staten Island hospital - the third deserted newborn to turn up in the city in barely 24 hours....

HEY, WHAT ABOUT ME? EDWARDSINSULTED BUSH RIPS ONLY KERRY

Struggling to keep his Democratic presidential bid alive, underdog John Edwards yesterday told President Bush to stop trying to anoint John Kerry: "Not so fast, George Bush. You don't get...

DRESSED TO KILL - I HID JAYSON'S ARMANI SLAY SUIT: WITNESS

'[Jayson] wanted me to get rid of his clothes.' -Witness John Gordnick SOMERVILLE, N.J. - A key prosecution witness in the Jayson Williams trial testified yesterday how he hid the...

COPS GO TO GET QUACK

The NYPD is flying two detectives to Costa Rica today to hunt for fugitive quack Dean Faiello. The detectives will meet with Costa Rican authorities and State Department officials during...

LADY, STOP THINKING OUTSIDE THE (WITNESS) BOX

MARTHA, you're making a mistake. If I were you - if I were a billionairess with piggish manners and a sense of entitlement as deep as my bank account -...

IT'S J.NO! OUT OF 'JERSEY GIRL' PROMOS

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have a new movie coming out - but you'd hardly know J.Lo was in it from the ads that all but ignore her role. With...

-MARTHA CLAMS UP - WON'T TESTIFY IN 15-MIN DEFENSE (M)-MUM'S THE WORD - MARTHA GAMBLES, WON'T TAKE STAND (S, LCF)

Get ready for Martha Stewart's latest creation - the 15-minute defense. Martha Stewart won't be taking the witness stand at her supercharged trial. Instead, she'll stage a defense today that...

POL BOSS SUES 'BRIBE' JUDGE

Political powerbroker Ravi Batra yesterday filed a defamation lawsuit against embattled Brooklyn Judge Gerald Garson, claiming the jurist smeared his reputation by falsely accusing him of being involved in a...

LANDLORDS: MTA IS 'SHAFT'ING US

Building owners along a posh Midtown block are up in arms over an MTA plan that would put a ventilation shaft in their neighborhood, arguing it would cause air pollution...

PARENTS PLEAD FOR MISSING STUDENT

A 21-year-old college student has vanished, and her frantic mother yesterday asked the public for help finding her. "We are breaking up over this - our hearts are breaking up....

DRUG COUNSELOR ODS IN POSH HOTEL

A 50-year-old drug counselor died of an apparent cocaine overdose in a room at the posh New York Palace hotel in Midtown, cops and his family said yesterday. Bruce Ehringer...

MU$CLING IN ON N.Y. - GOV. ARNIE RAISES BIG BUCKS IN APPLE

Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday made his first trip to New York since being elected California governor, raising big bucks and engaging in lighthearted ribbing of the Empire State. The Governator headlined...

GAY GO-GO QUACK - DEATH DOC NOW A STRIPPER IN SEEDY COSTA RICA CLUB

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - The plastic-surgery quack suspected of killing a pretty financial analyst during a botched operation has been openly living a wild gay lifestyle here - working...

HARLEM CHARTER GETS THE AX

State University trustees voted yesterday to shut one of the city's first charter schools because of poor academic performance. Staffers at John A. Reinsenbach Charter School in Harlem cried after...

-PARENTS TO GRADE KIDS' SCHOOLS (M)-POLL TO LET PARENTS GRADE ED. CHANGES (S, LCF)

The Bloomberg administration will hire a firm to poll nearly 100,000 moms and dads of public-school kids to rate the new parent coordinators and other Department of Education initiatives implemented...

VILLAGE BOARD: BAR ANY NEW BARS

The community board representing the East Village and the Lower East Side passed a resolution last night, telling the committee that reviews liquor-license applications to reject all of them in...

REV. AL'S FAT WALLET SPURS FED ELEX PROBE

The feds are demanding the Rev. Al Sharpton answer a number of questions about problems with his campaign-finance reports, The Post has learned. In a letter, the Federal Election Commission...

STATE ED. BIG BLASTS MAYOR

A top state education official last night slammed Mayor Bloomberg's new policy to end social promotion by holding back third-graders who flunk standardized exams, charging it's academically unsound and would...

MAN SLAIN NEAR QUEENS SCHOOL

One man was shot dead and two others wounded last night just outside a Queens school where a basketball game was under way, police said. Terence Burt, 35, and two...

WOMAN DIES IN FIERY BRONX RITUAL

A 41-year-old woman died in a Bronx apartment last night during a religious ceremony that went horribly wrong, law-enforcement sources said. The woman, Minerva Perez, caught fire and then smashed...

DEMOTION IRKS MUTOMBO

KNICK NOTES SACRAMENTO - Dikembe Mutombo, revealing that Isiah Thomas told him the club was "going in a different direction," was removed from the starting lineup, giving Nazr Mohammed his...

ISLES PLAY WAITING GAME - AND TIE

Isles 0 - Bruins 0 This was The Late Late Show. The Islanders had to wait nearly 90 extra minutes to start last night's game because of ice problems, then...

NETS AREN'T TAKING STREAK FOR GRANTED

Might there be, perhaps, some nifty slogan or message scrawled inside the Nets' locker room that alerts them, once again, not to look ahead, to focus on the task at...

POWER'S ON AT YANKEES CAMP - GIAMBI STEALS SHOW FROM A-ROD, JETER

" It was fun, the fans got into it, and it was great." -JASON GIAMBI TAMPA - They came to see Alex Rodriguez work next to Derek Jeter and left...

PEDRO HAS NO HARD FEELINGS

FORT MYERS - He was chatty and he was charming and he was altogether chipper, which was a little different from the last time we saw Pedro Martinez, a little...

RED SOX FIT NOMAR JUST FINE

FORT MYERS - The Red Sox ghost of shortstops past and present ambled out of the clubhouse wearing a T-shirt celebrating the Patriots' Super Bowl championship, a designer pair of...

GODARD GIVES ISLES MUSCLE

The most important player to rejoin the Islanders' lineup this week was not returning from a fractured ankle, as Mark Parrish was attempting to do last night against Boston. In...

RIVERA HAS HALL ON MIND

TAMPA - It could hurt his negotiating position for a contract extension, but Mariano Rivera said yesterday he wants to enter the Hall of Fame as a Yankee. "I didn't...

STRAWBERRY FAILS TO SHOW

YANKEE NOTES TAMPA - When Darryl Strawberry was hired by George Steinbrenner to be an organizational hitting instructor, one of Strawberry's jobs was to be in big-league camp. But when...

STORM PRESSED TO KEEP PACE

In the heat of the game they are indestructible warriors, playing on grit and guts. All five St. John's starters played 30 or more minutes Saturday night in a 54-53...

METS GET 1ST LOOK AT 'KID K'

PORT ST. LUCIE - Junior year in high school was when you knew Scott Kazmir was special. That's when the Houston prodigy tossed three no-hitters and a one-hitter. Consecutively. Behold...

BOSS: LET ALEX, JETER PLAY BALL

TAMPA - George Steinbrenner repeatedly implored the media to back off on Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter yesterday, simultaneously urging Jeter to take the lead in welcoming A-Rod aboard. While...

EDWARDS SPARKS DOUGLASS TO WIN

PSAL PLAYOFFS: Douglass 55 - Madison 49 Frederick Douglass High School's Priscilla Edwards was extremely patient waiting for the game to come to her during yesterday's PSAL second-round playoff game...

A-ROD, SCHMAY-ROD! LEITER'S HEARD ENOUGH

PORT ST. LUCIE - There is talk of politics in Al Leiter's future. That would be wonderful. You've got to love Leiter because he is not afraid to say what...

JETS FALL SHORT IN BID FOR BAILEY

Eager to begin a whirlwind off-season upheaval, the Jets tried to intercept cornerback Champ Bailey from the Broncos. Within hours after a report that the Jets had offered defensive end...

SATHER TO STEP DOWN AS COACH

Confronted with his team's complete collapse under his direction from behind the bench, Glen Sather has decided to step down as coach of the Rangers following a meeting yesterday with...

LINDROS GETS OK TO WORK

Eric Lindros will begin light off-ice workouts today at the Rangers' practice rink after being cleared to do so yesterday in Montreal following a consultation with neurologist Dr. Karen Johnston....

DEVS GEAR FOR SABRES

Despite all the documented goal-scoring problems, despite tension between the team and head coach Pat Burns, despite the ongoing absence of Scott Stevens, who will miss his 23rd game recuperating...

MUTOMBO SENT TO KNICK BENCH

"Thirteen years, I'm getting tired of it. I'm getting tired of this [garbage]." -DIKEMBE MUTOMBO SACRAMENTO - The Nazr Mohammed era began last night, the Dikembe Mutombo era may be...

MARBURY LOOKS TO PHOENIX

KNICK NOTES SACRAMENTO - Stephon Marbury doesn't expect to be booed tonight when he plays his first game in Phoenix since the Jan. 5 blockbuster that landed him at the...

STRAWBERRY A NO-SHOW AT CAMP

YANKEE NOTES TAMPA - When Darryl Strawberry was hired by George Steinbrenner to be an organizational hitting instructor, one of Strawberry's jobs was to be in big-league camp. But when...

SATHER SET TO QUIT AS COACH

Confronted with his team's complete collapse under his direction from behind the bench, Glen Sather has decided to step down as coach of the Rangers following a meeting yesterday with...

'SPLITTERS WIN DATE WITH B&G

Tony Pena spent Monday's practice running sprints and apologizing to his teammates. He began last night's second-round PSAL playoff game on the bench. "I had to pay for what I...

NETS, FRANK KEEP THE STREAK ALIVE

Nets 86 - Raptors 74 As another victory was nearing, Lawrence Frank last night wandered a bit too far out toward center court and was admonished by referee Eddie F....

SJU WEARS '85 AND SCORES 53

UConn 71 - St. John's53 If ever there was a night to turn back time, this was it. Wallowing in its worst season ever, an undermanned St. John's team was...

ISLANDERS EARN POINT AFTER DELAY

Isles 0 - Bruins 0 It was The Late-Late Show. The Islanders had to wait nearly 90 extra minutes to start last night's game because of ice problems, then had...

TIM HITS 33, BUT KNICKS FALL TO KINGS

Kings 107 - Knicks 99 SACRAMENTO - The Knicks had a new Tim Thomas and a new starting center. But they received an old result in this loud barn, pummeled...

ON WITH THE SHOW - BIG-TOP BOMBERS START WITH A BANG

TAMPA - There was the calm and the storm. There was Alex Rodriguez working at third base in an empty Legends Field early yesterday morning followed soon after by a...

SUNS READY TO ROLL DYESS

KNICK NOTES SACRAMENTO - Tonight, the Knicks could get a first-hand look at why Antonio McDyess was not the savior former GM Scott Layden fantasized about. McDyess, whom the Knicks...

WITH CRUZ, 'ROOS LEAP BAYSIDE

PSAL PLAYOFFS: B&G 56 - Bayside 52 Tyrell Cruz limped around on the sidelines during most of the third quarter yesterday, looking as if he was barely able to stand,...