July 6, 2004

NYC OFFICE LEASES SLOWLY WARMING UP

DESPITE brokers' optimism, the leasing market - Midtown as well as downtown - runs warm but not hot. Wall Street, the locomotive that pulls the train in every strong market,...

IMPATIENT WITH FED, RATES ARE DROPPING ON THEIR OWN

DON'T look now, but interest rates are declining. Yeah: Declining! Not the rate that the Federal Reserve controls - the so-called Fed funds rate, which last week moved up one-quarter...

FORD FAVORS FILM, NOT FASHION

Tom Ford has set up a production company in Los Angeles to actively scout for movie projects, and he has told friends that he is not planning another foray into...

MEXX ADDS STORES, STYLE IN CLAIBORNE RETAIL PUSH

Liz Claiborne is poised to expand its chain of Mexx specialty clothing stores as the apparel giant seeks new areas of growth. Four new Mexx stores are scheduled to open...

NEW MEANING TO TV DINNER

TALK about the food channel. The newest thing on the gadget market is a refrigerator with a cable-ready TV built into the door. Or a TV - with a refrigerator...

STARR REPORT

Hair's the story "Joey" co- star Drea de Matteo will make a special appearance Thursday in Times Square for a 40th anniversary Head & Shoulders event featuring celebrity stylist Jason...

'RACE' RAVE - 'AMAZING' DOESN'T EVEN BEGIN TO DESCRIBE THIS WACKY GROUP

The Amazing Race 5" [*** 1/2] (Three and one-half stars) Tonight at 10 on CBS HOW do I love thee? Let me count the teams. This season of "Amazing Race,"...

'REAL' NICE RATINGS

THE latest edition of MTV's "The Real World" was real-ly big. More than 3.8 million viewers tuned into the San Diego installment's season finale last week, according to cable ratings...

LINE OF FIRE - 'RESCUE ME': SAVING SURVIVORS OF 9/11

THE rookie firefighter, decked out in about half of his heavy FDNY safety gear, stands baking in the hot sun just off 121st Street and watches as a bunch of...

AL-JAZEERA SEEKS INVESTORS IN BID TO SELL STOCK

AL-Jazeera, the controversial Arabic news channel, is planning to become a publicly traded company. The Qatar-based broadcaster, which is terror mastermind Osama bin Laden's network of choice and has aired...

WHO LOVES YA, VING?

HE'S bald, he's back and this time around, Kojak is black. The USA Network is producing a revival of "Kojak" starring Ving Rhames as the hard-nosed, lollipop-licking cop "who loves...

THEY'VE GOTTA HAVE IT - SPIKE'S WIFE AND HER CO-WRITER ADD COLOR TO CHICK LIT

YOU'VE watched the outrageous rich-girl antics of Paris Hilton and maybe even read "Bergdorf Blondes." Now comes a new glimpse at the spectacular wealth of the Upper East Side -...

TROUPE'S NEW SHOW IS A TOSSUP

PILOBOLUS Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth Ave., at 19th Street; (212) 242-0800. Season runs through July 17. IN Elizabethan times, so I am told, summer was traditionally heralded by village idiots...

SENIOR MOMENTS - SEASONED ACTRESSES ARE AMONG SUMMER'S PRIME ATTRACTIONS

PERHAPS the most delightful surprise in "Spider-Man 2" is the sight of Peter Parker's Aunt May - played by 76-year-old Rosemary Harris - hanging from a skyscraper by her cane...

CABBIES PICK MEDALLION MAIDENS

Forget the swimsuit competition, these beauty queens might want to figure out the fastest way from Midtown to JFK. This month the New York Federation of Taxi Drivers will kick...

CURSING LIKE HILL - BIO BARES FOULMOUTHED CLINTON'S VICIOUS SIDE

Hillary Rodham Clinton may have grown up in middle-class suburban Chicago, and graduated Wellesley and Yale Law School, but she swears like a sailor and can slice up enemies with...

CROOKS' BUCKS IN CHUCK'S COFFERS

ALBANY - Sen. Charles Schumer has accepted thousands of dollars in campaign donations from convicted criminals, The Post has found. Only after told of the donations by The Post did...

CHUCK RIPS WEB 'SPAM SCAM'

A Web site that claims to be a national do-not-e-mail registry is actually a spam scam, Sen. Charles Schumer said yesterday. Schumer said the site, ethicalemail.com, tells consumers it can...

10 DIE AS U.S. BOMBS TERROR HOUSE

At least 10 people were reported killed in Iraq yesterday when U.S. warplanes blasted a suspected terror safe house in the embattled Sunni bastion of Fallujah. Four 500-pound bombs and...

SUBWAY SAMARITAN - RUSHED TO HELP MODEL

Most subway riders fled in panic after a man shot Monica Meadows - but Ashley Ruprecht ran to the model, wrapped a sweatshirt around her wound, "and pushed with all...

SHARON EKES OUT 'WIN'

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon barely survived a no-confidence vote yesterday, as security around him was intensified because of fears of violence due to his plan to withdraw...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

They briefly had to rein in the July 4th parade in downtown Brighton, Utah, when two young bull moose crashed the celebration. The massive critters came trotting up the street,...

2 BUSTED IN NASSAU DRUG-STORE BOMBING

Two Long Island men set off holiday fireworks, then exploded a home-made bomb outside an Oceanside drug store that ripped open its rear door early yesterday, cops said. Police on...

QNS. SLAY BUST - STRIP-CLUB 'SHOOTER'

Cops have busted a 26-year-old Queens man and charged him with the fatal shooting of a strip-club manager during a street altercation four months ago, The Post has learned. Joseph...

SLAY MOST FOWL - 6 DUCKS KILLED

Parks officials are hunting a Queens quackpot who snapped the necks of six defenseless ducks nesting under the Flushing Meadows boathouse. There's no suspect yet, but officials said the senseless...

DIDDY'S 'PARTY' POLITICS

It was diamonds, stars - and politics - at Sean "P. Diddy" Combs' annual White Party in the Hamptons as the rap mogul-cum-actor used a massive July 4 bash to...

TEACHERS ENDORSE KERRY - EDWARDS ADDS NEW VEEP TWIST

WASHINGTON - John Kerry yesterday picked up an endorsement from a powerful teachers union, but kept mum on the question dogging him at every campaign event: whom he's going to...

HARLEM RALLY TO RIDE JOEL OUT ON A RAIL

Outraged Harlem residents today plan to protest kid killer Joel Steinberg's presence in their neighborhood by carrying a casket symbolizing his dead 6-year-old adopted daughter, Lisa, past his halfway house....

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

THE BRONX * An argument between two men inside a Kingsbridge Heights eatery turned bloody when one stabbed the other early yesterday, police said. The trouble began inside the Shalon...

HAMPTONS DIARY - PARIS AND RAGING NICK IN 'FIREWORKS' DISPLAY

WILL Nick Carter's jealous rage doom his relationship with Paris Hilton? That was the question being bandied about at the Star Room early yesterday morning after the two were seen...

MARINE ALIVE: THUGS - VOWS TO GIVE UP MILITARY, CAPTORS SAY

Iraqi militants yesterday said the U.S. Marine hostage reportedly beheaded over the weekend was actually alive and had been moved to "a place of safety" after he promised not to...

MOTHER OF ALL LAWSUITS - AX FOR 'PREGNANCY'

A Brooklyn woman has sued her former boss and their firm for $1 million, saying he maliciously fired her because she was pregnant. Annel Lene, 31, says she was working...

CLASSIC HOT WHEELS - FIRE RUINS COMMISH'S '69 DODGE

Wayward fireworks caused a freak blaze that badly damaged a New Jersey police commissioner's classic car - wheels he used when courting his wife. But Dennis Quinlan, the top cop...

FIREBOMB HORROR - L.I. MOM DIES, KIDS & HUBBY CRITICAL

A 26-year-old Long Island mom was killed early yesterday when a firebomb was smashed against her apartment door - just a month after her SUV was destroyed in a suspicious...

'DRAG RACE' CRASH KILLS 3 IN JERSEY

A suspected drag race claimed the lives of three young men and left another person critically injured yesterday after their car struck a utility pole at high speed in Paterson,...

NYPD RIPS BRAVEST-DISS COP

The NYPD yesterday tried to distance itself from the remarks of a now-retired cop who called city firefighters "amateurs" on a nationally televised documentary aired last week. Deputy Commissioner Paul...

COP BULLET HITS BOY IN WHEELCHAIR

A police officer pursuing a man who had just robbed a shoe store in Park Slope shot and wounded a 12-year-old boy sitting in his wheelchair in front of his...

MATTRESS INFERNO - BLAZE WRECKS B'KLYN FACTORY

Lightning struck a Brooklyn mattress factory yesterday, causing the city's biggest fire of the year, a spectacular six-alarm inferno that gutted the building and injured 11 people. Thick gray smoke...

CABDRIVERS' PAGEANT TO HAIL 'QUEEN'

Meter, meter, on the wall, who's the fare-est of them all? The New York Federation of Taxi Drivers wants to know - and is planning a beauty pageant this summer...

PRESIDENT PEDALS CLEAR OF PEEPING PRESS

WASHINGTON - A day before his 58th birthday, President Bush took to the mountains yesterday to ride his bike over rugged trails at a heavily wooded Secret Service training camp...

CHUCK'S TAINTED BUCKS - CONS' CASH IN COFFERS

ALBANY - Sen. Charles Schumer has accepted thousands of dollars in campaign donations from convicted criminals, The Post has found. Only after told of the donations by The Post did...

PREZ PEDALS CLEAR OF PEEPING PRESS

WASHINGTON - A day before his 58th birthday, President Bush took to the mountains yesterday to ride his bike over rugged trails at a heavily wooded Secret Service training camp...

BIO BARES THE CURSE OF HILLARY

Hillary Rodham Clinton may have grown up in middle-class suburban Chicago, and graduated Wellesley and Yale Law School, but she swears like a sailor and can slice up enemies with...

TRAGIC FAMILY ROCKED AGAIN AS CRASH GIRL, 4, DIES

A grief-numbed Westchester couple yesterday lost their third young child to injuries sustained in a horrific car crash last week. Little Jesenia Ascensio, 4, died of massive injuries around 12:30...

3 DEAD AS 'DRAG' CAR SLAMS POLE

A suspected drag race claimed the lives of three young men and left another person critically injured yesterday after their car struck a utility pole at high speed in Paterson,...

COP'S STRAY BULLET - TARGETS B'KLYN CROOK - HITS WHEELCHAIR KID

A police officer chasing a suspect in a Brooklyn shoe-store robbery yesterday shot and wounded a wheelchair-bound 12-year-old boy, cops said. Eduardo Vidals, who has been paralyzed since birth, was...

FIREBOMB HORROR - L.I. MOM DIES, KIDS AND HUBBY CRITICAL

A 26-year-old Long Island mom was killed early yesterday when a firebomb was smashed against her apartment door - just a month after her SUV was destroyed in a suspicious...

ID IN SLAY OF INNOCENT B'KLYN TEEN

This is the man who shot and killed a 17-year-old Brooklyn youth - an innocent victim struck by four bullets Sunday as he stood on a Canarsie street, police said...

NETS EYEING HELP FROM SUMMER SQUAD

While Kenyon Martin lines up visits to potential suitors such as Denver, Utah and Atlanta, the Nets hope to find gold - or at least one rotation player - through...

THREE DIE IN N.J. 'DRAG RACE' CRASH

A suspected drag race claimed the lives of three young men and left another person critically injured yesterday after their car struck a utility pole at high speed in Paterson,...

EXPANSION FOR GAY HS IS $TALLED

The Bloomberg administration might be having second thoughts about promoting an experimental high school serving gay and lesbian students. The Department of Education's budget halts the planned expansion of the...

MATTRESS INFERNO - LIGHTNING BLAZE WRECKS BROOKLYN FACTORY

Lightning struck a Brooklyn mattress factory yesterday, causing the city's biggest fire of the year, a spectacular six-alarm inferno that gutted the building and injured 11 people. Thick gray smoke...

$PIDEY SWINGS TO SALES RECORD

"Spider-Man 2" soared high over the Tinseltown competition during the holiday weekend and broke box-office records by racking up an estimated $180 million in ticket sales since it opened last...

RIDING A SEE$ORE - PLAYGROUND ADULTS GET TIX UNLESS WITH KIDS

The NYPD has stepped up its enforcement of an obscure rule barring adults from the city's 950 playgrounds unless they're with a child, a Post investigation has found. The rule...

WEASELS BLOCKED U.S. PROBE OF U.N. OIL SCAM

"I am duty-bound to bring the matter to the U.N. Security Council." - Benon Sevan (left), in a letter to Mohammed Al-Douri (right) regarding dirty deals in the oil-for-food program'...

HAMMERIN' HIDALGO SETS MET HR MARK

MET NOTES PHILADELPHIA - At this point, it will become surprising when Richard Hidalgo plays a game and does not hit a home run. Hidalgo went deep in his fifth...

ART'S MOVE WOULD HAVE BEEN BRILLIANT - IF ONLY...

PHILADELPHIA - It worked, all the way up until it didn't. Art Howe pushed back Tom Glavine's start one day to save him for the Phillies and the Mets swept...

HEY, DOLANS: WE'RE SMARTER THAN YOU THINK

IT'S probably too late for the James Dolans of New York sports to get it, but we'll give it a try: Derek Jeter made a torpedoes-be-damned catch against the Red...

COYLE SEEKS HELP IN COACHING DEBUT

On winter nights, Rutgers Prep girls basketball coach Mary Coyle-Klinger would call her more famous twin sister and ask for help. "Stop by a practice, Patty, or come see us...

WONDER AGAIN BEST IN N.Y.

After a disappointing campaign as a 4-year-old, the 5-year-old mare Wonder Again seems poised to join the ranks of other top turf fillies trained by Jimmy Toner after a rousing,...

METS NOT PHIL OF THEMSELVES - MUST FOCUS ON 1ST-PLACE FOES

PHILADELPHIA - Lately, the calls have been coming in more frequently to Art Howe's telephone. "I guess I'm getting a lot more popular," Howe said before adding, "but it's mainly...

CAM MAINTAINS HIS GOOD CHEER

MET NOTES PHILADELPHIA - When he walked over to his locker yesterday, all Mike Cameron could do was wave a miniature blue-and-orange pom-pom. "This tells you all you need to...

KNICKS NEED SIGN-&-TRADE TO GET JAMAL

The agent for Jamal Crawford told The Post yesterday that the Knicks' mid-level exception will not be enough to land the Bulls' combo guard. In citing the marketplace changing since...

TOM TERRIFIC ONCE AGAIN

PHILADELPHIA - It worked. Art Howe pushed back Tom Glavine a day for the Phillies, the team the Mets began last night only two games behind, and they swept the...

FEELING THE STRAIN - PULLED MUSCLE, SLUMP CAN'T DETER A-ROD

"I am seeing the ball very well." -ALEX RODRIGUEZ Alex Rodriguez's abdominal muscle problem was not bad enough to keep him out of the starting lineup last night against the...

TORRE GOES THROUGH WITH PROTEST

YANKEE NOTES After watching the replay countless times, Joe Torre changed his mind and will go through with the protest he filed Sunday when Jorge Posada was called out by...

GLAVINE GLOW FLICKERS OUT - TOM COMES UP FLAT IN PHILLY

Phillies 6 - Mets 5 PHILADELPHIA - It was all set up for the Mets, the victory seemingly already counted, the continued march to first place apparently inevitable. Tom Glavine...

HEY, DOLAN - LISTEN UP! - JETER'S SHEA CHEERS PROVE APPLE FANS ARE SMART & CLASSY

IT'S probably too late for the James Dolans of New York sports to get it, but we'll give it a try: Derek Jeter made a torpedoes-be-damned catch against the Red...

RANGERS RETAIN RENNEY - 5-11-0-4 COACH KEEPS JOB

Glen Sather has eliminated some of the uncertainty surrounding his Team Nobody Knows. The Rangers actually have themselves a head coach for 2004-05, presuming there is an NHL 2004-05. Tom...

TORRE GOING THROUGH WITH PROTEST

YANKEE NOTES After watching the replay countless times, Joe Torre changed his mind and will go through with the protest he filed Sunday when Jorge Posada was called out by...

THE BOSS CAN'T BE VERY HAPPY

So how did George Steinbrenner react after the Yankees were beaten over the weekend in the Mets' first Subway Series sweep ever? Not well. Even though the Yankees had only...

UMP DEALS SWIFT JUSTICE AFTER YAN BUZZES ALEX

Alex Rodriguez' eyes grew as big as saucers as Esteban Yan's pitch came straight for A-Rod's head. Rodriguez hit the deck, and before he'd even gotten off his backside, plate...

BACK ON TRACK - YANKS STOP SKID WITH POWER, PITCHING

Yankees 10 - Tigers 3 Hours before Alex Rodriguez broke out of an extended slump and led a band of angry Yankee bats into a hitting orgy against the Tigers...

LUMBER & LIEBER - YANKS STOP SKID WITH POWER, PITCHING

Yankees 10 - Tigers 3 Home runs knifed through the thick Bronx air as the Yankees put the Tigers in an early grave. Detroit pitchers issued nine walks to help...

GIAMBI GETS BACK IN SWING

Even though an intestinal parasite is still sapping Jason Giambi's strength, even though he can't work out and claims some mornings he can barely get out of bed, he sure...

CHEERLEADER CAM FAILS IN THE PINCH

MET NOTES PHILADELPHIA - When he walked over to his locker yesterday, all Mike Cameron could do was wave a miniature blue-and-orange pom-pom. "This tells you all you need to...