May 26, 2004

RANDOM CHANGES IN THE WORKS

A year and a half after a major and surprising reorganization that merged commercial imprint Ballantine with the more literary Random House, the Bertelsmann-owned publisher is again making changes. Daniel...

OBSERVERS POKE HOLES IN KRISPY KREME CARB STORY

Dr. Atkins isn't Krispy Kreme's only problem. Krispy Kreme yesterday reported its first loss as a public company, and its officials continued to blame many of its problems on the...

HE WON'T GO AWAY; GRASSO'S SHADOW STILL LOOMS OVER WALL STREET

The real outrage, by some accounts, is that the ghost of Dick Grasso is still haunting the New York Stock Exchange. While Grasso dug in his heels yesterday for a...

THE PUBLIC SHOULD BE OUTRAGED - NOT GRASSO

DICK Grasso's delusional self-defense, outlined in The Wall Street Journal yesterday, would be laughable if it weren't so pathetic. Grasso's defense for arranging payment to himself - from a not-for-profit...

CANTOR RE-UPS AT E. 57TH DIGS

CANTOR Fitzgerald has extended its current 80,000 square-foot lease on the third and seventh floors at Charles Cohen's 135 E. 57th St. address to March 31, 2005. The trading firm...

SEE DICK KVETCH - GRASSO SAYS HE'LL SUE SPITZER; WANTS ALL THE $$

Former New York Stock Exchange Chairman Dick Grasso crawled out of the woodwork yesterday to mount his defense. Grasso, who is being sued by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer...

RALPH PAYS $250M+ TO BUY BACK CHILDREN'S LICENSE

Polo Ralph Lauren has reached an agreement to buy back its children's license from the S. Schwab Co. for as much as $252.1 million in cash, The Post has learned....

A.G.'S CASE LOOKS LIKE A GOOD ONE: EXPERTS

Eliot Spitzer's suit against former New York Stock Exchange boss Dick Grasso looks pretty strong, legal eagles say. "If this goes to a jury, the initial argument -that this was...

NEW SNOOZE LOOKS LIKE OLD ; MASTHEAD SHIFT SHUFFLES DECK, BUT DOESN'T DEAL NEW BOSS

THE deck has been shuffled at Mort Zuckerman's embattled Daily News, but there are few signs of new life at the paper. Editorial director Martin Dunn, who returned to the...

NASD BARS EX-MERRILL ANALYST

The NASD fined former Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Phua Young $225,000 and suspended him from the industry for a year for writing glowing reports of Tyco International and Honeywell...

CA BIDS $10M TO END PROBE

Embattled Computer Associates said yesterday it offered $10 million in a bid to end a two-year federal probe of its accounting practices - although it likely will need to up...

CA PUTS UP $10M TO SETTLE

Embattled Computer Associates said yesterday it offered $10 million in a bid to end a two-year federal probe of its accounting practices - although it likely will need to up...

BEAUTIFULLY ACTED 'SIGHT' WORTH A VIEW

SIGHT UNSEEN ½ (two and one half stars)At the Manhattan Theater Club, Biltmore Theater, 261 W. 47th St.; (212) 239-6200. WITH the revival of "Sight Unseen," Donald Margulies' abrasive, spiked...

CORNER ROASTERY WON'T STEER YOU WRONG

ROLL-N-ROASTER (two stars) 64 THIRD AVE. (AT 11TH STREET) (212) 614-2333 THERE'S something about Roll-n-Roaster that draws you to the new budget beefery on its East Village corner. Through the...

GAY CHANNEL COMES OUT

MTV has finally got its Gay TV. "This was either the worst-kept secret in television or the longest-awaited promise to a very loyal and important television audience," MTV Networks chief,...

A MIGHTY WIND; VENTO FRESHENS MEATPACK DISTRICT

VENTO TRATTORIA (two stars) 675 HUDSON ST. (212) 699-2400 'HI, would you watch my pugs?" the guy juggling dogs and cell phone asked the doorman outside bustling new Vento Trattoria....

ON THE SIDE - ANOTHER NOBU FOR YOU

THERE's finally some good news for those in search of a Nobu reservation. After much banter about a possible move uptown, a lease has just been signed by the Nobu...

'48 HOURS' ENDING FOR LESLEY

'48 Hours" is literally drop ping its anchor when it returns this fall. The CBS newsmagazine will no longer be anchored by Lesley Stahl, who still could return as a...

GONE PHISHING

PHISH fans were floundering at news that the band will split up after its summer tour. The jam band's co-founder, Trey Anastasio, posted the news on www.phish.com yesterday. "We all...

WARDROBE MALFUNCTION - MADONNA'S BORING NEW COSTUMES ARE NO LONGER IN 'VOGUE'

MADONNA's blond ambition is fading to bland. That's evident from these exclusive photos of her costumes for the "Re-Invention" concert tour, which kicked off Monday night in Los Angeles. The...

BURNED BY 'CHEF'S'; SHUTTERED SHOW SKIPS OUT ON CHECK

WHAT'S on the menu this week at "Chef's Theater"? Turkey, that's what. The poorly reviewed cooking-and-cabaret show at the Supper Club in the Edison Hotel shut down this weekend at...

STARR REPORT

Goin' Hollywood There's more to CNBC president/ CEO Pam ela Thom as-Graham than meets the eye. Graham has also au thored three mystery books - and the movie rights for...

JILTED GIRL BOLTS 'BACHELOR'

THE bloom is off the final rose ceremony. Just as this year's "Bachelor" star, Giants' quarterback Jesse Palmer, and his new girlfriend were ready to plan a new life together,...

Correction Date: 05/27/2004

Correction: - In yesterday's story about a murder in Brooklyn, an incorrect address was given for the crime scene. The correct address is 221 Legion St. in Brownsville, police said....

SHOPLIFTER KILLS RITE AID WORKER

A shoplifting turned deadly in Brooklyn yesterday when a crook stealing razors stabbed a well-liked Rite Aid assistant manager who caught him in the act, police said. Rodney Inniss, the...

SUICIDE FEARS FOR S.I. AUTHOR HELEN DEWITT

Author Helen DeWitt, who wrote the acclaimed novel "The Last Samurai," has vanished from her Staten Island home after e-mailing a friend that she was feeling depressed, police sources said...

JUST SHEA NO - SCREWBALL FAN SET TO NIX DEAL

The nutty fan who's facing up to a year in jail for disrupting a Mets game earlier this month took a swing yesterday at a prosecution plea offer of 30...

HUSBAND KILLS WIFE AND SELF

A Brooklyn man who was in the process of divorcing his wife fatally shot her - then torched their house and shot himself to death last night, cops and neighbors...

BRAWLING RAP VS. 'MEAN' LOHAN KIN

The victim of a brawl at teen queen Lindsay Lohan's Long Island home last weekend has filed a criminal complaint claiming a man slugged him while he was trying to...

SELF-DEFEATING HATE; BUSH-BASHERS BEWARE

PRESIDENT Bush may have a secret weapon in this election: Monica Lewinsky. Relax, relax - it's not what you're thinking. Democrats and their allies don't seem to have absorbed the...

PATRIOT 'MISSILE' BLASTS KERRY; BUSH AD HITS FOE ON TERROR LAW

WASHINGTON - The Bush campaign yesterday launched a new TV attack ad blasting John Kerry for voting for the anti-terror Patriot Act and then speaking out against it. "John Kerry?...

AL QAEDA'S 'GROWING' ARMY OF HATE

WASHINGTON - The al Qaeda terror network has been "fully reconstituted"after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and now has an army of 18,000 fanatics in 60 nations, according to a...

SUMMER HOT TIME FOR TERROR: FEDS

A nationwide terrorist advisory will be issued by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security today, warning Americans to be on heightened alert during the summer season of high-profile...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

BROOKLYN * A Manhattan man attacked a handyman, stole his bag of tools and tossed it over a bridge railing in Park Slope, law-enforcement sources said yesterday. Juan Martinez, 33,...

SHELTER NEIGHBORS ON PATROL

A Brooklyn neighborhood group founded in fear of a battered women's shelter has become a security force. The Concerned Citizens of Carroll Gardens - a group formed in opposition to...

BID TO 'FREE' ARAFAT; ISRAEL WANTS DEAL

JERUSALEM - Israel is willing to free Yasser Arafat from the two-year siege of his headquarters in exchange for the Palestinian leader's promise to end terrorist attacks from the Gaza...

EASY RIDERS - APPLE FIRMS VIE TO IMPROVE WORKERS' COMMUTES

Some bosses will do anything to get people to show up for work - even if it means letting them stay at home. LexisNexis, which operates databases of media articles...

CITY SET TO 'SOUND OFF' ; BILL WOULD BAN THOSE @#$%! CAR ALARMS

The City Council will soon move forward with a proposal to ban car-alarm sirens from city streets, officials said yesterday. After months of examining and tinkering with several proposals -including...

LOBBY POWERHOUSE IN 'FORGERY' PROBE

ALBANY - One of the state's most powerful lobbying firms is being probed for submitting what may have been "false documentation" to the state Lobbying Commission, The Post has learned....

'HAMMER' SACKED ; EX-GIANT ADMITS TO COKE CHARGE

The "Hammer" could land six months in the slammer after being nailed on another drug charge. Former New York Giants star Keith "Hammer" Hamilton pleaded guilty in a New Jersey...

END OF THE LINE - TOKEN BOOTHS FACE EXTINCTION AS MACHINES TAKE OVER

Subway-booth clerks are heading the way of the tokens they once sold. Station agents of the future will be assigned to work outside the booth and retrained to help riders...

B'KLYN BRAWLER CUT EAR TO EAR

A Brooklyn man was slashed in the throat from ear to ear during a vicious fight in the doorway of a Williamsburg pita restaurant, cops said. The fight was so...

HORRIFIED BRITS JUST KENT STAND THIS EUROTRASH

If there's an equivalent to trailer trash in the British royal family, it would no doubt be the surly Princess Michael of Kent. The Czech-born socialite, whose links to royalty...

HUBBY NAILED IN 'SUICIDAL WIFE' SLAY

A jury convicted a Long Island man of killing his wife - dismissing his claims she committed suicide. Eric Rose claimed his wife of 15 years, Wendy, took her own...

ED. BIG: 'UNDERCLASS' LOOMS

New York City is in danger of becoming home to a "permanent underclass" of unemployable high-school dropouts, a state official has warned. Nearly one-third of city public-school students drop out...

LATEST POOP FROM YOUR LAWMAKERS

CONTRARY to popular belief, your City Council is no impotent body of individuals limply trying to get up the stamina to satisfy your desire for a better, cleaner, quicker city....

BLOOD BROTHER CUTS DEEPLY

SHE has the figure of a former model and wants you to know she loves her husband as much today as the day they got married. "Actually, I love him...

SLAY SUSPECT IN RAGE AS EX TESTIFIES

John Lennon - not the late Beatles singer but the accused drug-dealing murderer - erupted in court yesterday when his former lover told jurors he blew away a friend with...

TELLS BLACK NYERS: 'GO TO COLONIES'

A prickly British princess sparked a tempest in a trendy West Village eatery when she lobbed a racist insult at a noisy table of influential black New Yorkers, fuming, "You...

FRENCH MONKEY WRENCH AT U.N.

WASHINGTON - France is demanding changes in the U.S.-British resolution seeking U.N. support for the June 30 transition to Iraqi rule, officials said yesterday. But this time, U.S. officials say...

CANNIBAL CASE HAS JURY WOES

Maybe it was the mention of dismemberment, or maybe it was the reference to the soup made from the victim's bones. For whatever reason, 11 out of 12 prospective jurors...

DOUGH-DO BIRD BANK 'ROBBER'

He didn't take the money and run. Nope, taking a page from Woody Allen, this bungling New Jersey bank robber waited for a taxi to arrive. And not only did...

NEW BONANNO BOSS A REAL BEAUTY: MOB EXPERT

A 44-year-old beauty parlor owner known as "Vinny Gorgeous" is the current acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, a mob expert testified yesterday. Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano of The...

BLITZ HITS JETS ; MSG LEADS LOBBY BID

Opponents of a West Side football stadium rolled out the big guns yesterday in their battle to block the $1.4 billion project, by hiring a high-powered lobbying firm and forming...

SHOPLIFTER KILLS BOSS AT DRUGSTORE

A shoplifting turned deadly in Brooklyn yesterday when a crook stealing razors stabbed a well-liked Rite Aid assistant manager who caught him in the act, police said. Confronted by the...

LET RAPISTS ROT IN JAIL: GOV

ALBANY - Gov. Pataki yesterday said the brutal rape of a 15-year-old Staten Island girl by her mother's paroled-rapist boyfriend shows the need for a law to keep sexual predators...

GENEROUS MIKE'S $15M FOR CHARITY

Mayor Bloomberg quietly donated $15 million to small cultural and social-service organizations in the city last year, sources said yesterday. In each of the past two years, the mayor had...

FAMILY BUTCHERS - KIN OF FAKE DOC HELPED IN SURGERY: VICTIM

The medical clinic of a former doctor arrested for performing surgery without a license was a family operation - with his beauty-queen wife and architect brother acting as his "medical...

'NIGHTMARE' FIND - PARK CORPSE LIKELY SLAIN JUILLIARD COED

The nude body of a young woman believed to be missing Juilliard School drama student Sarah Fox was discovered yesterday in a densely overgrown area of an upper Manhattan park...

SCUBA HUNT FOR MISSING S.I. COP

Police scuba divers yesterday searched the waters off Staten Island for a colleague who has been missing since Saturday. The vehicle belonging to Officer Ronald Shepard, 35, was spotted at...

'EMBEZZLE' CASE EYED IN DRAKE SHOOTING

NYPD probers are trying to determine if there's any link between the recent arrest of a Drake Business School exec and the rush-hour subway shooting of the school's CEO on...

WEIRD TRAFFIC-COP CAR HEIST

A traffic agent was injured while writing tickets in Queens yesterday when a crazed man stole his city car and struck him with it while driving away, cops said. The...

FEDS WARN OF BIG SUMMER TERROR ATTACK

Americans could face a major terrorist attack this summer, according to a published report. Federal officials will today release a nationwide terrorist advisory based on new intelligence - deemed highly...

MAFIA'S 'GORGEOUS' DON - NEW BONANNO BOSS RUNS SALONS

A 44-year-old beauty-parlor owner known as "Vinny Gorgeous" is the acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, a mob expert testified yesterday. Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano of The Bronx took...

LIZ BATTLE OVER 'NAZI' PAINTING

LOS ANGELES - Elizabeth Taylor is trying to muzzle a family that claims she owns a valuable painting that had been stolen by the Nazis some 60 years ago. Taylor...

BLOODY STABBING VICTIM STUMBLES INTO CAFE

A bleeding man who had just been stabbed interrupted dinner for dozens of stunned patrons of the Manhattan eatery Da Silvano's sidewalk cafe last night. The man, who witnesses said...

GANG OF STUDENTS PUMMELS BX. TEACH

A Bronx teacher was viciously beaten up by a gang of unruly 12- and 13-year-olds in the cafeteria of a Parkchester school, cops said. The 51-year-old teacher - whose name...

JACQUES TURNS DOWN RANGERS

TAMPA - The Panthers' decision to fire GM Rick Dudley and replace him with the once-and-future Mike Keenan has quite likely cost the Rangers a coach. A source close to...

BLOODY STABBING VICTIM STARTLES DINERS

A bleeding man who had just been stabbed interrupted dinner for dozens of stunned patrons of the Manhattan eatery Da Silvano last night. Christopher Schenone, 20, ran downstairs from an...

SLAY SUSPECT IN RAGE AS TESTIFIES

John Lennon - not the late Beatles singer but the accused drug-dealing murderer - erupted in court yesterday when his former lover told jurors he blew away a friend with...

HANDS OF FRIENDSHIP - SADDAM'S TERROR VICTIMS THANK BUSH

WASHINGTON - Seven Iraqi men whose right hands were chopped off on Saddam Hussein's orders at Abu Ghraib prison yesterday went to see President Bush - to thank America for...

'AMERICAN IDOL' SHOWDOWN - NO STOPPING BARRINO AFTER COMEBACK

IF FANTASIA Barrino isn't voted the 2004 "American Idol" after last night's battle of the divas, then Sir Elton John, the gapped-toothed Queen of England, might have been right when...

'AMERICAN IDOL' SHOWDOWN - SCORE THIS VICTORY FOR THE FAVORITE

'AMERICAN Idol" finalists Diana DeGarmo and Fantasia Barrino will both likely end up with record contracts, but only one was clearly set to walk off with the show's crown after...

HIGH-NOTE ENDING: FANTASIA FANTASTIC AS DIANA'S A DUD

Diana DeGarmo and Fantasia Barrino sang their hearts out last night, as viewers got their last look at the two "American Idol" finalists before casting their votes for the ultimate...

CARMELA 'WHACKED' - HAIR'S THE NEW EDIE

Edie Falco has gotten the chop: A haircut so radical, Tony Soprano would put out a hit on the hairdresser. The star who plays Carmela on the smash HBO show...

IGINLA LIGHTS FLAMES' FIRE

GAME 1 Flames 4 Lightning 1 TAMPA - The first game of this Stanley Cup Finals matchup of no-name teams was dominated by one of the biggest hockey names on...

BIRD BASHERS - LIEBER'S ARM, BOMBER BATS PULVERIZE O'S

Yankees 11 Orioles 3 BALTIMORE - Jon Lieber is turning into the best $3.5 million George Steinbrenner ever spent. Signed to a two-year contract prior to last year even though...

JETER CAN'T BLAME LACK OF TRYING

YANKEE NOTES BALTIMORE - Everybody has a theory as to why Derek Jeter is batting .189 after going 1-for-6 in last night's victory over the Orioles. However, a lack of...

RETOOLED LIBERTY IN FOR A SHOCK

The times they are a changin' around the Liberty these days. Going into the third game of the 2004 campaign tonight against the WNBA defending champion Detroit Shock, they face...

GATTI: I'LL FIGHT FLOYD

Arturo Gatti wants to make one thing perfectly clear: He isn't afraid of Floyd Mayweather Jr. or any other fighter in the talent-laden, 140-pound division. In fact, Gatti said beating...

RIVALRY'S UNFUL-PHIL-ING : THESE NL EAST FOES CAN'T TURN UP HEAT

THE MANAGER wasn't going to pump the series, or the coming couple of weeks, because that simply isn't his way, and it was unfortunate. Not only are the Mets finally...

WINNING ATTITUDE DRIVES PHILLIES TO TOP

The age-old axiom, in sports as well as in life, is that nothing breeds success like success. Over the past two seasons, the Phillies have stockpiled players with winning backgrounds...

THE GLOVE IS OFF - JOE TRIES DH THERAPY FOR STRUGGLING SHEFF

BALTIMORE - Yankee manager Joe Torre said Sunday that the lineup he had on the field was the one he was going to go with, outside of filtering Enrique Wilson...

CARDOZO STAR GOING SOUTH

As Dwayne Johnson led Cardozo to the PSAL championship game, his head coach, Ron Naclerio, would tell anyone who would listen that the senior was a Division I player, even...

PSAL CROWN IS HOLY GRAIL FOR MONROE

Mike Turo's Monroe team was the only team in the PSAL A Division to go undefeated in league play and earned the top seed in the playoffs which begin today....

PISTONS STILL CELEBRATING BLOCK PARTY

PLAYOFF NOTES INDIANAPOLIS - Pistons center Ben Wallace, the league's king of blocked shots, knows a great rejection when he sees one. And for him, Tayshaun Prince's "Swat Heard 'Round...

ELLIOTT IS STILL RIDING HIGH

While Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones still has a week and a half to prepare for the June 5 Belmont Stakes, it's business as usual for his jockey,...

FLY FISHING TO SOOTHE TROUBLED WATERS

FISHING for therapy, be it physical or mental, goes back more than 2,000 years and today it is being used to help heal the sick and to raise money for...

'SMARTY' MAY PASS SPA FOR HASKELL

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Monmouth Park's racing season, set to open Saturday with the biggest prizemoney in its history, is in the catbird's seat to snag the biggest draw in the...

SKIP AWAY TOPS HALL INDUCTEES

Long before there was "Smarty," there was "Skippy," and yesterday the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., announced that three-time champion Skip Away was elected...

ARTEST CAN POINT AT HIMSELF

INDIANAPOLIS - The only statement Ron Artest has made in the Eastern Conference Finals is with his two middle fingers. His late-fourth quarter gesture puts him under the NBA gun...

FINALS OPEN AMID GARY'S LABOR GLOOM

TAMPA - Repeatedly citing a league-commissioned audit by Arthur Levitt for which the accountant and his people were paid close to $1 million by the NHL as "irrefutable and unassailable,"...

'TEN' HAS A CHOPPY WORKOUT

Rock Hard Ten, considered the top threat to thwart Smarty Jones' Triple Crown bid in the June 5 Belmont Stakes after finishing second in the Preakness, worked a herky-jerky four...

INJURED REYES SUFFERS SETBACK

Jose Reyes might not be back with the Mets on Friday after all. Reyes was scratched from last night's Single-A St. Lucie game against Clearwater due to what was termed...

METS 'IN MARKET' - WILPON SAYS CLUBSET TO SEEK TRADES

"If the team performs well - and I certainly hope it does - [GM Jim Duquette] will be on the lookout for how we can improve the team."-FRED WILPON Fred...

HOWE WON'T TAKE BARBS LYING DOWN

MET NOTES Yesterday afternoon, Art Howe defended himself against charges of lying to reporters with a soliloquy about his integrity. Responding to a question about whether Jose Reyes or Kaz...

SJU STEPS UP CITY RECRUITING

When Ricky Torres helped lead St. Raymond's to a January victory over eventual state champion Mount Vernon at St. John's, he figured it would be one of few - if...

WILPON WILLING TO TRADE

Fred Wilpon sees the future of his Mets franchise, and he envisions his club as a buyer this July. That's right: It looks as if the Mets will try to...

FALL-ING INTO PLACE ; METS' WIN OVER PHILLIES HAS PLAYOFF FEEL

Mets 5Phillies 0 The unseasonably chilly Flushing air made it easy to dream. And with Steve Trachsel - supposedly the Mets' No. 3 starter - again pitching like an ace,...

IN MIDST OF MAGIC, THERE'S ALWAYS MIKE

IT'S been too easy to forget what we've had in our midst these last few years, while Mike Piazza toiled amid the tumbleweeds and dust storms at Shea Stadium. His...

BIRD BASHERS - LIEBER'S ARM,BOMBER BATSPULVERIZE O'S

Yankees 11 Orioles3 BALTIMORE - Jon Lieber is turning into the best $3.5 million George Steinbrenner ever spent. Signed to a contract prior to last year even though the Yankees...

FLOYD'S BAT STIRRING THE DRINK

"They've got two hitters in the middle of their order nobody in baseball likes to pitch to. They'll hurt you." Phillies manager Larry Bowa said that yesterday afternoon, hours before...