October 2, 2004

BACK FROM THE DEAD; CONWAY'S OUSTER BOOSTS PEOPLESOFT/ORACLE COMBO

The decks appeared cleared yesterday for a resolution of the bitter, 16-month battle PeopleSoft Inc. has waged against a takeover bid from Larry Ellison's Oracle Corp., after PeopleSoft abruptly dumped...

BLACK HITS BACK; FILES LIBEL SUIT

Deposed press baron Conrad Black is doing what he does best - filing another lawsuit. This time, the former head of Hollinger International is filing another libel suit, with his...

MARKET REPORT

Yes, we're all tired of hearing that the average price of a Manhattan apartment is more than $1 million. A bunch of market reports are about to come out and...

MY NEW HOME

EMPTY NESTERS SEEK CITY PAD What they got? 2-bedroom, 2-bath on the Upper East Side, $695,000 Search time: three months IT'S not as if Jack and Donna Erlichman didn't enjoy...

SCHOOL SQUEEZE - P.S. I LOVE YOU: NYC FAMILIES CRAM IN TO GET TOP SCHOOL DISTRICTS

BACK in 1998, when Bonnie Hirsch was pregnant with her first child, she went looking for an affordable apartment on the Upper East Side. At one potential pad - a...

GIMME SHELTER

Now, let her Ripa HYPER-PERKY entertainment-machine Kelly Ripais already looking to bail out of the tranquil Hamptons home that she and husband Mark Consueloshave just built. Maybe. The over-exposed actress/talk-show...

HOME SHOPPING CLUB: ORANGE CRUSH

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Store Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street (212) 570-3894 Sale: through Oct. 31 Open: Sun., Tues.-Thurs., 9:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m./Fri., Sat., 9:30 a.m.-8:45 p.m. Decorative arts, jewelry,...

JODI HAS 'GOOD DAY'

FORMER NBC anchor Jodi Applegate is joining "Good Day New York" after a stint in Boston. Applegate began on MSNBC before moving over to NBC to co-anchor "Later Today." She...

THE 'MANDY' MAN CAN

BARRY MANILOWThe theater-in-the-round production comes to the Nassau Coliseum on Tuesday and to Madison Square Garden Thursday. WITH a weird mix of self-deprecat ing humor, everyman style and campy stagecraft,...

BESTSHOT; 'MADNESS' OF A WIFE DRIVEN TO MOW DOWN HER CHEATIN' HUBBY

"Suburban Madness" Tomorrow night at 9 (four stars) WHAT is it about women named Harris and the doctors they love? Or should I say, the doctors they kill? Or both?...

FLIGHTS OF FANCY - BARF BAGS AND CASHMERE EYESHADES NOW ON SALE AT JFK

WHAT do you buy just before you board a plane? Most frequent fliers take what they can get: tabloids, Godiva chocolates, $5 paperbacks, duty-free liquor and cigarettes. But the brand-new...

TALK IS CHEAP - FREE, ACTUALLY

Maybe no one told them not to talk to strangers. For the last two years, Liz Barry and Bill Wetzel have sat on the city's streets next to a sign...

MEET THE DEEDLES ... AND OTHER FOLKS MAKING THE COOLEST SCHOOL-AGE TUNES AROUND

Kids' music has never been hotter - especially in this city. Grown-up nightspots like Joe's Pub are playing host to a crowd that's years younger than the drinking age. CD...

ONBOARD WITH SKATEBOARDING

If you're under 20, you already know how much the skateboarding has infiltrated pop culture. You watched MTV's "Jackass" and wear DC sneakers. You play "Tony Hawk Underground" on your...

ONLINE RADIO REALLY CLICKS

It's the perfect marriage between music and computers - and perfectly legal, too: It's Radio KOL, an online radio station just for kids. More than 1 million of them -...

COPS NAIL PAIR AFTER 3 WOUNDED IN B'KLYN SHOOTOUT

A Brooklyn shootout ended with three people wounded yesterday after police responding to an unrelated call encountered two gunmen and opened fire at them, sources said. Three cops were responding...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

A surfer in San Clemente, Calif. couldn't believe it when the swell he was riding turned out to be a whale. "All of a sudden I just felt, wow, this...

OSAMA'S RIGHT-HAND THUG RANTS ON

WASHINGTON - Ayman al-Zawahiri, the second in command of al Qaeda, issued a new audiotape yesterday, calling on "young men of Islam" to attack Americans, Jews and Western interests throughout...

CITY $$ MAY SINK FERRY BOSS: DA

A ferry boss charged with manslaughter could be putting himself in hot water by letting the city pay for his lawyer, prosecutors in the Staten Island Ferry crash case cautioned...

HOUSE REPORT RIPS U.N. ON OIL-FOR-FOOD

WASHINGTON - A congressional report yesterday blasted top U.N. officials for lax oversight of the Iraq oil-for-food program, charging that warnings from its own inspectors that Saddam Hussein was scamming...

HOMEOWNER-REBATE QUERIES TAXING 311

Homeowners are swamping the city's 311 number to make sure their $400 property-tax rebate checks are in the mail. Mayor Bloomberg said the system logged more than 110,000 calls yesterday,...

MOMSTER TOT-KILLERS: BLAME DAD & THE DEVIL, NOT US

The mother of the Harlem toddler beaten to death says her lesbian lover did the awful deed - but insists demons made her do it. In a jailhouse interview, mom...

ORGY IN THE COURT: SCALIA'S GONE WILD

The most conservative judge on the U.S. Supreme Court says Americans should relax the body politic by having more orgies. "I even take the position that sexual orgies eliminate social...

MACHETE THUG HACKS QNS. MAN

An elderly Queens man who plays the lottery every morning was severely hacked by a machete-wielding thug yesterday as he emerged from a coffee shop where he bought his daily...

L.I. DRUG FOOLS IN DATE WITH DISASTER

Lucky cops on Long Island didn't have to chase a car full of bad guys who had just ripped off a drug dealer and shot him - the crooks came...

FAITH AND LUCK TEAM UP IN PLAYOFF-DUCAT RACE

Yankees fans lined up at the stadium yesterday for a shot at being part of the team's postseason glory - as tickets for the division and league championship series went...

GUY'S 'KIN' GETS EASY PASS

Now they're both out of jail. The ersatz "brother-in-law" of disgraced ex-Bronx state Sen. Guy Velella was released without bail yesterday on grand-larceny charges connected to his plum state job....

NETWORKS WERE THE REAL WINNERS

TV viewers watched the first presidential debate in huge numbers - with NBC and Fox News Channel the big winners. A total of 62.5 million viewers tuned in for the...

ISRAEL SAYS HAMAS USING 'U.N.' TRUCKS

JERUSALEM - Israel released surveillance video yesterday showing Palestinian terror squads using "U.N."-marked vehicles to transport deadly homemade rockets. The video footage, taken by an Israeli military reconnaissance drone over...

KIN OF DEAD TOT WANT DAY-CARE LAW

The parents of the 7-month-old Queens boy who died at an understaffed day-care center are pushing for a law that would make information on day-care centers readily available. Maria and...

SLICK FRENCH MOVE OVER TUG-OF-LOVE N.Y. GIRL

A 4-year-old New York girl at the center of an international custody battle was placed with a foster family in France yesterday in defiance of court orders demanding she be...

FRENCH TWIST IN W.'S ATTACK ; MOCKS KERRY FOR GIVING WEASELS A SECURITY 'VETO'

MIAMI - A combative President Bush yesterday took off the gloves and accused John Kerry of giving France "a veto" over America's security as the president sought to bounce back...

KILLER GEEZER ; B'KLYN SHOCK OVER 60ISH THUG IN GRANNY-SLAY

People in Rachel Paliseno's close-knit Brooklyn neighborhood are incensed and baffled when they see the police sketches of the two men - one of them in his 60s - wanted...

VUITTON PUTS LEGAL KNOCK ON NEW 'KNOCKOFF' BAG

Fashion heavyweight Louis Vuitton launched a new legal offensive yesterday in its war against alleged knockoffs of its trend-setting handbags. The litigious French firm and its star designer Marc Jacobs...

CHAT'S ALL FOR PERVERT; ADMITS LURING PHONE TEEN

A 27-year-old man who preyed upon teens calling a sex-chat line pleaded guilty to luring a 16-year- old upstate girl to his East Harlem apartment yesterday. Meanwhile, an investigation continued...

JEN TO JEWS: 'SORRY' - RIPS 'APPRENTICE' EDITING

The "Apprentice" contestant who was fired twice this week - once on TV by Donald Trump and again in real life - has apologized for making a disparaging remark about...

UNDER PREZ-SURE; N.J. TEACH FACES 'AX' FOR BUSH PIC

A New Jersey public-school teacher claims she was bushwhacked by her principal yesterday when he ordered her to "get out" of the building after she refused to remove a photo...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

QUEENS ***Police are looking for help in identifying a woman (above) whose lifeless body was found on a Woodside street two months ago. The mystery woman was found on the...

BUSH PICKS UP AFTER STUMBLE

MIAMI - John Kerry won his first debate with President Bush - but the question now is how many votes he'll win as a result. Quickie polls showed little if...

B'KLYN DEM BOSS SLAPS BACK AT DA

What the Brooklyn DA calls grand larceny and extortion is nothing but "politics," borough Democratic boss Clarence Norman is claiming in a bid to have charges against him dismissed. District...

METROSTARS EYE 'STRONG FINISH'

Chicago had been their nemesis and Columbus the team they're chasing, but it's fitting that two of the MetroStars' last three regular-season games are against archrival D.C., starting with tonight's...

'FINE' LIVING: MARTHA'S 30G PENALTY

Martha Stewart is paying for her crime - $30,400, to be exact. That's the financial penalty and fee imposed on Stewart as part of her conviction and sentence for lying...

NEW KNOCK ON PRICEY 'KNOCKOFFS'

Fashion heavyweight Louis Vuitton launched a new legal offensive yesterday in its war against alleged knockoffs of its trend-setting handbags. The litigious French firm and its star designer Marc Jacobs...

MACHETE THUG HACKS QUEENS MAN

An elderly Queens man who plays the lottery every morning was severely hacked by a machete-wielding thug yesterday as the old-timer left a coffee shop where he bought his daily...

LIBERTY FALL IN ANOTHER HOLE

GAME 1Sun 61Liberty 51 Keep digging yourself into holes, and sooner or later you'll find yourself stuck in a pit too deep to climb out of. The Liberty have spent...

PESSIMISM NOT IN LIB PLAYBOOK

The Liberty claim they thrive on doubt, and insist that being counted out simply spurs them on. And with everything they've faced in this tumultuous season, there are few who...

DAYNE: 'I'M READY TO GO'

GIANT NOTES Ron Dayne thought he was going to play last week until his calf injury acted up on Sunday and he was forced to sit out the Giants' win...

FIEDLER BACK ON HOT SEAT AGAINST JETS

All Jay Fiedler, a tough and resilient kid from Long Island, has done as a Dolphin is win almost twice as many games as he's lost. That alone should earn...

JINTS THINK BIG PLAY

Amani Toomer saw what the Colts did to the Packers' secondary when Peyton Manning & Co. put up 45 points and scored five touchdowns through the air last week. Green...

RETURN TO THE RING ; TRINIDAD SAYS HE'S SET FOR MAYORGA

Some might question why Felix "Tito" Trinidad would choose a dangerous opponent like Ricardo Mayorga as his first foe after nearly 2½ years away from the ring. It wasn't that...

TAKING IT EASY ON ALLAN

Knicks president Isiah Thomas is sick of the skepticism surrounding Allan Houston and his conserva tive knee rehab. "Allan Houston is not as big question mark in my mind as...

ISIAH: WE CAN RULE ATLANTIC ; HEALTHY HOUSTON IS THE KEY

Isiah Thomas has two words for Nets new owner Bruce Ratner. "Thank you," the Knicks president said yesterday. "They kicked the [bleep] out of us last year." The Nets kicked...

KAZ GETS START AT 2ND BASE

MET NOTES Kaz Matsui said yesterday that if the Mets had told him before the season began that he would play second base - and not shortstop - he still...

PURDUE QB OUT TO KO THE IRISH

SOUTH BEND - Purdue quarterback Kyle "The Knockout" Orton is a promoter's dream. Consider the possibilities of hyping K.O., who said he'd rather puke than throw an interception. Orton has...

BOBBY V RETURN OK WITH PIAZZA

Omar Minaya's first day on the job did not include hiring a new manager for the Mets. Instead of flying Bobby Valentine in from Japan or anything of the sort,...

'FLOWER' KICKS OFF BIG B DAY

Belmont Park today hosts its most important afternoon outside of the Belmont Stakes, an 11-race card featuring four Grade 1 prep races for the Oct. 30 Breeders' Cup at Lone...

FINAL AUDITION - BROWN'S LAST PLAYOFF SHOT

TORONTO - While Joe Torre and the AL East champion Yankees had their eyes on Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez last night at SkyDome, they will be glued to the mound...

GIAMBI EXPECTED ON POSTSEASON ROSTER

YANKEE NOTES TORONTO - At 5 p.m. yesterday, Joe Torre sure sounded like a man who was going to put Jason Giambi on the Yankees postseason roster. "He is a...

MATSUI IS FLAWLESS AT SECOND

MET NOTES Kaz Matsui said yesterday if the Mets had told him before the season began that he would play second base - and not shortstop - he still would...

ARM HAMMERED ; SHOULDER WOES KO EL DUQUE

BLUE JAYS 7 YANKEES 0 TORONTO - The only season that matters for the Yankees opens Tuesday at Yankee Stadium with Game 1 of the ALDS. While the identity of...

KEVIN PITCHIN' FOR ALDS ROLE

TORONTO - Joe Torre will have his eyes on the mound today when Kevin Brown faces the Blue Jays. Brown, who couldn't get out of the first inning last Sunday...