July 24, 2004

GIMME SHELTER

MR. POLO'S GROUNDS LIFESTYLE fashion guru Ralph Lauren, who became a billionaire stitching polo players onto the garments of middle-class shoppers, has expanded his clubby Carnegie Hill place. Sources tell...

SEA MIGHT - HATE THE HAMPTONS TRAFFIC? TRY A 6-BR JERSEY SHORE HOUSE

IF it's dinner-party cachet and run-ins with Puffy that you're after, the Hamptons are the place to be. If, on the other hand, it's just a simple day at the...

HOME SHOPPING CLUB: NOW YOU CAN MAKE COOKIES

Felissimo Design House 10 W. 56th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues (212) 247-5656 Sale: through July 31 Open: Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m.-6 p.m./Fri., 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Merchandise is discounted up...

GRAND JURY EYES NEWSDAY NUMBERS

Federal prosecutors have convened a grand jury as part of an ongoing investigation into inflated circulation at Newsday and its sister paper Hoy, The Post has learned. Former Hoy publisher...

MICROSOFT PUTS SLATE ON BLOCK

Slate, the eight-year-old online magazine backed by Microsoft, is on the block. A half-dozen media companies are said to be taking a look, including the New York Times Company and...

UP, UP AND AWAY

About 125 hot-air balloons will be sailing through the air in a stunning display of color at the New Jersey Festival of Ballooning this weekend at Solberg Airport in Readington,...

THE NEXT SPINAL TAP

In a regular battle of the bands, cracking up the audience would mean you were doing something seriously wrong. But that's the whole point of tonight's Battle of the Funny...

READING BETWEEN THE LINES: GETTING GUYS TO HIT THE BOOKS

Can you really take a guy who writes a book called "The Stinky Cheese Man" seriously? Jon Scieszka likes to think so, even if one of his biggest influences is...

SWEDEN'S HIVES ARE BUZZIN' WITH ENERGY

THE HIVES DRESSED up in Colonel Sanders duds and dancing like chickens on a hot plate, the very hyped Hives played a high-octane showcase at intimate Irving Plaza on Wednesday....

FRENCH FILM OPENS FEST

AGNES Jaoui's French comedy "Look at Me" will open this year's New York Film Festival on Oct. 1. Winner of the screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival, it co-stars...

MASK GANG SLAY - BANDITS KILL CLERK IN B'KLYN ROBBERY

Three masked men burst into a Brooklyn discount store yesterday and killed a man and viciously beat up another during a botched robbery, police said. Tino DeCorato, 22, was gunned...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Ziggy Zablotny was on a charter fishing boat off Tybee Island, Ga., when he landed a big one - or, more accurately, a big one landed on him. A 30-pound...

PELOSI'S STUN-NING SLAY CLAIM

No stun gun was used in the slaying of East Hampton millionaire Ted Ammon, a lawyer for accused killer Danny Pelosi said yesterday - a claim Pelosi's defense hopes will...

RONSTADT MAKES A NEW BOO-BOO

Linda Ronstadt once again sang the praises of "Fahrenheit 9/11" filmmaker Michael Moore during a concert - and again some angry fans headed for the exits. In California on Thursday,...

L.I. BIG DODGES JAIL IN GROPING

A former Nassau County official copped a no-jail plea to lesser charges yesterday after being accused of putting a London vacation on his county credit card and fondling his young...

2G SLAP ON THE FANNY ; 'SORRY' FOR MARTHA COVER-UP

Douglas Faneuil yesterday cashed in his crucial testimony against Martha Stewart for a light sentence - a $2,000 fine with no jail time or probation - for originally having kept...

BREAK-IN THUGS BLAST BX. COUPLE

A Bronx couple was brutally gunned down in front of their teenage daughter by a pair of heartless thugs who forced their way into the family's apartment, cops said. Osmond...

TWO CHARGED IN GREEN CARD SCAM

A pair of scammers collected tens of thousands of dollars from Caribbean immigrants by promising them green cards they never delivered, prosecutors charged yesterday. The victims were members of a...

HILL'S A-POPPIN' UP ALL OVER BOSTON

WASHINGTON - It may be John Kerry's convention but Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton may end up being the second most closely watched politician in town. Besides her prime-time speaking role...

ALBANY POLS $TUMBLE TOWARD ED. DEADLINE

The leader of the state Senate yesterday said for the first time that he does not expect the Legislature to meet Friday's court-imposed deadline reforming how it funds schools. "Practically...

FEDS TAKE FINAL WHACK AT BIG BONANNO MASSINO

An unrelenting stream of mob turncoats in the Bonanno family created a "nightmare" for reputed boss Joseph Massino, who must finally pay the price for murdering his way into power,...

DOMESTIC DIVA FORKS OVER $30,400

Martha Stewart is a bit poorer this week after she coughed up $30,400 in fines and other costs that the mega- rich lifestyle guru was or dered to pay as...

WOMAN HELPS CATCH RAPE SUSPECT

A home-invading rape fiend who allegedly burst into women's bedrooms and assaulted them in Westchester County was behind bars yesterday - after cops interrupted his final break-in try and chased...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

STATEN ISLAND *** The family of a Mariners Harbor woman who disappeared almost a month ago is appealing for the public's assistance in finding their missing relative. Barbara Marmor (above),...

MORE 9/11 REPORTS ON THE WAY

WASHINGTON - The 9/11 commission will soon issue three additional mini-reports, reviewing terrorist financing, weak border security and potential deadly gaps in transportation security, an official said yesterday. The reports...

DEAD BABY IN B'KLYN TRASH TRUCK

Sanitation workers in Brooklyn made a horrific discovery yesterday when they found a dead newborn baby in the back of their garbage truck. The two-man crew spotted the lifeless little...

CITY SEEKS TO TOSS SUIT OVER SLAIN POL DAVIS

The city has quietly paid the estate of slain councilman James Davis $50,000 -a payment it hopes will persuade a judge to throw out the family's multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the...

COURTNEY TURNS SELF IN TO LAPD

LOS ANGELES - Rock bad girl Courtney Love surrendered to L.A. cops yesterday on an assault rap and posted bail, exactly two weeks after blowing off the court date. Love,...

KERRY TELLS OF HIS 'WEST WING' BIRTHPLACE OMEN

DENVER - Returning to the town where he was born in the "West Wing" of an Army hospital, Sen. John Kerry yesterday began his march to the Democratic convention in...

NEW AGONY OVER BRIT; KIN HEAR GRIM SLAY TALE TODAY

Investigators today will tell the family of missing New Jersey teen Brittney Gregory how she was killed - and the prospect of more news about her death left the pretty...

SALT LAKE 'LACI'; EERIE UTAH CASE OF MISSING PREGNANT WIFE

A lying husband, a pregnant woman and her sudden disappearance. In a Salt Lake City version of the Laci Peterson saga, Utah has been shaken by a convoluted tale of...

SANDY 'BURGLAR' ; VETOED ATTACKS ON BIN LADEN

Time after time in the Clinton years, then-National Security Adviser Sandy Berger was reluctant to approve military strikes against Osama bin Laden or al Qaeda, according to the 9/11 commission...

WHEN BISHOPS FEAR TO LEAD

A TASK force of Catholic bishops, headed by Wash ington, D.C.'s Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, is now engaged in the prickly examination of what to do about Sen. John F. Kerry:...

BUSH SEEKS BLACK TIES; 'DEMS TAKE YOUR VOTE FOR GRANTED'

President Bush yesterday urged African-Americans to ask if the Democratic Party takes them for granted as he made a pitch for black support at the Urban League - while admitting...

LADY HANGS SELF IN CENTRAL PARK

A woman in her 30s apparently hanged herself from a tree in Central Park last night, cops said. A startled jogger found the unidentified woman hanging from the tree in...

DEATH SCARE ON QNS H'WAY ; DRIVER SURVIVES SLAB COLLAPSE

A motorist miraculously survived a freak accident yesterday after a 60-foot concrete slab fell from an overpass and onto the Grand Central Parkway, officials said. Dimitrios Godosis, 46, drove his...

RODRIGUEZ ENTERS RIVALRY FOR GOOD

BOSTON - As the ball hopped off his bat, Alex Rodriguez knew he'd just done something splendid. He knew Manny Ramirez was never going to catch up with it. He...

BIG UNIT TRADE TALKS STUCK IN NEUTRAL

YANKEE NOTES BOSTON - With one week to the trading deadline, the Diamondbacks and Yankees aren't close to a deal that would bring Randy Johnson to The Bronx. "Right now...

STICK FORK IN SAWX

BOSTON - There will be no flags raised by the Red Sox this year. Unless you count the white ones raised by ace Curt Schilling and closer Keith Foulke on...

A-ROD'S KNOCK ROCKS THE SOX ; SINGLE IN 9TH EXTENDS YANKS' LEAD

Yankees 8Red Sox 7 BOSTON - While Alex Rodriguez' biggest hit as a Yankee sailed toward the Green Monster, the Red Sox were dropped on a gurney with a red...

FOULKE PLAYS THE FOOL AGAIN

Keith Foulke was signed for games like last night. His failure only deepened the gulf - and magnified the difference - between the Red Sox and the Yankees. The Boston...

MILLAR'S HR TRIO WASTED

Kevin Millar dissed Red Sox fans in a Boston paper yesterday, then backed up his characteristic brash talk with a three-homer night. But knowing how Bostonians are, he's still on...

ORTIZ HAS YANKEES' NUMBERS

Joe Torre and David Ortiz are normally on opposing sides, but they shared a moment at the All-Star Game. For once, Torre was thrilled that an Ortiz home run helped...

ASHADO'S GOT 'JAYNE' LINED UP

Going into the June 26 Mother Goose Stakes at Belmont Park, such was the reputation of trainer Todd Pletcher's standout 3-year-old filly Ashado - six wins in nine starts, five...

SOX NOT GOING AWAY

BOSTON - The temp tation is to say the Yankees are going for the kill this weekend at Fenway. That makes for a good headline, but nothing could be further...

WHAT A HEEL: SHANE ON DL

MET NOTES In the Strangest Injury of the Year contest, the Mets may have a winner. Shane Spencer was forced to go on the 15-day disabled list yesterday after he...

LIBERTY READY FOR 'HALL' OF A GAME

Nearly lost in the commotion revolving around the Liberty's move across town from the Garden to Radio City Music Hall was that the team was slowly making its way up...

FOR DEREK, ALL HANDS ON DECK - JETER, GIAMBI IN LINEUP VS. RED SOX

BOSTON - You really didn't think Derek Jeter was going to miss the challenges presented by Fenway Park, the Red Sox and Curt Schilling, did you? After missing two games...

CAPTAIN FORCESWAY INTO GAME

BOSTON - The scars are still visible from the last time, from the night Derek Jeter went chasing a Trot Nixon foul ball and didn't stop until he somersaulted into...

DAMON: SOX GOTTA SWEEP

Johnny Damon zigs when others zag. Beyond the cosmetic fact that he wears his hair long and sports a thick beard in the dead of summer while his Red Sox...

NOTHING'S LEFT ; OPTIONS FEW FOR METS' PEN

Here's the thing: The Mets know they need to add another reliever to their struggling bullpen. Here's the problem: Right now, there doesn't appear to be much out there to...

RODRIGUEZ ENTERSRIVALRY FOR GOOD

BOSTON - It took 95 games. It took 116 days. Finally, here was a ball sailing off Alex Rodriguez's bat, zooming all the way to the left-field fence at Fenway...

MILLAR'S 3 HRS WASTED IN LOSS

BOSTON - Kevin Millar dissed Red Sox fans in a Boston paper yesterday before backing up his characteristic brash talk with a three-homer night. Knowing how Red Sox fans are,...

A-ROD'S KNOCK ROCKS THE SOX ; SINGLE IN NINTH SPARKS YANKS

Yankees 8Red Sox 7 BOSTON - Alex Rodriguez has been a Yankee since February. Last night he earned his biggest pinstripe. Remember A-Rod's first trip to Fenway Park in April?...

BIG GAMES ARE OLD HAT TO SHEFFIELD

BOSTON - Gary Sheffield never had to answer for his big-game credentials, the way some new Yankees have had to. He won himself a ring on his own once, remember,...