February 3, 1999
POLO'S NET STUMBLES 13% IN QTR
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amPolo Ralph Lauren is firing 250 people and closing nine stores in the wake of a 13.3 percent drop in quarterly profits. The job cuts, which are about 5 percent...
SOROS ADVISER FRAGA TO HEAD BRAZIL BANKING
February 3, 1999 | 5:00am"Brazil needed somebody with more authority."ALEX BAYER, Kafan FX Informaiton Services Brazil tapped a close adviser to George Soros to become the country's new Alan Greenspan. Arminio Fraga, previously the...
EX-DONNKENNY EXEC RUBIN COPS TO FRAUD
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amRubin inflated the company's worth by instructing employees to use fictitious journal vouchers and phony invoices for sales that never occurred.Former Donnkenny CEO and Seventh Avenue bigwig Richard Rubin faces...
DON'T SELL HIM SHORT; PEROT NETS HIMSELF $876M WITH COMPUTER IPO
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amFlamboyant billionaire H. Ross Perot got another $876 million richer yesterday. His computer services company, Perot Systems Corp., stormed Wall Street with an initial public offering that tripled in value...
VICTORIA'S SECRET SEES WEBCAST BLOWOUT
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amThousands of Wall Street types won't mind staying a little late at the office tonight for a little "equity research." That's because one of the most-anticipated webcasts ever - the...
DISNEY MOVIE SKED HALVED
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amDisney will reduce its slate of pictures to 18 from a high of 36. Disney's movie studio is going back to basics. The House of Mouse will produce fewer action-adventure...
NEW YORK'S FIERY ART DIRECTOR IS OUSTED
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amTHE short but volatile run of New York magazine art director Mark Michaelson is over. He was out of a job as of Friday. Michaelson's departure ended months of stormy...
M'SOFT EXEC ADMITS EVIDENCE 'MISTAKES'
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amABSTRACT: WASHINGTON, D.C. - A government lawyer, in a searing courtroom confrontation, accused Microsoft Corp. of doctoring videotaped evidence at its antitrust trial yesterday and asked a company executive if...
A LUXURY FOR THE PALATE
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amRestaurant Review Cena 12 E. 22nd St. (212) 505-1222 'WE didn't do that in our lives," the woman in the banquette tells her friend over lunch at Cena, as they...
PEDESTRIAN FARE WITH AN ASIAN FLAIR
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amRestaurant Review Republic 37 Union Square West THE couple dining at the next table look bewildered. Ice cream was delivered. Just as their spoons were poised to dig in, the...
HALL MONITOR
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amSomewhere, the late Huntz Hall is smiling. Turner Classic Movies has acquired TV rights to the "Bowery Boys" series (1946-58), a 48-film collection featuring the rascally exploits of Slip Mahoney...
TOUCHY OLLIE'S SHOW RUBS THE WRONG WAY
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amABSTRACT: Ollie North leaves a lot to be desired as a talk-show host, but he must have felt like Aladdin's lamp Monday night. He kept getting rubbed on "Equal Time,"...
TALE OF FORBIDDEN LOVE IN WARTORN SOUTHERN ITALY
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amMovie Review 'PIZZICATA" is word made up from the names of two dances: the Pizzica (dance of love) and the Tarantella (dance of death) and both music and dance figure...
CHATTY KATHY'S CREDIT NO GOOD ON UPN'S 'DILBERT'
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amKATHY Griffin, the spunky redhead from NBC's "Suddenly Susan," also plays the voice of caffeine-riddled Alice on UPN's new animated series, ''Dilbert" - but you'd never know it. A contract...
IDOL WORSHIP MIGHT BE IDLE ; WHAT EXACTLY DO WE WANT FROM CELEBRITIES?
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amAt 40, Sharon Stone has matured into an old-fashioned star; she's a paragon of what becomes a diva most. She's the AmFAR spokeswoman, the very private Mrs. Phil Bronstein of...
ACTORS EQUITY RIPPED BY BRITS
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amABSTRACT: Actors Equity is under fire for restricting the free exchange of British and American stage actors. A report put out yesterday by the British Council - England's equivalent of...
CITY CRIME RATE IS DOWN AGAIN
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amNew York's stunning drop in crime continued in the first month of this year, with police recording a nearly 17 percent decrease in total crimes and a 13 percent drop...
GORE LOSES TO BUSH OR DOLE: POLL
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amVice President Al Gore would lose to GOP front-runners Texas Gov. George W. Bush or Elizabeth Dole if the election were held today, a new survey shows. "Not only is...
LOLITA'S DAD BEGS FORGIVENESS FOR HIS GIRL; AMY'S DAD PLEADS FOR FORGIVENESS; EXCLUSIVE
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amANY WAY you say it, the name Amy Fisher glows like Chernobyl. Impeachment, O.J. Simpson and Amy Fisher are in the lexicon of history forever, whether we like it or...
HYDE SEES LIGHT AT END OF THE TUNNEL
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Chief House prosecutor Henry Hyde yesterday said the impeachment trial may wrap up as early as next week as pressure mounted to dispose of the Monica mess. Asked...
KOSOVO REBELS AGREE TO PEACE POWWOW
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amChances for a cease-fire in Kosovo brightened yesterday as ethnic Albanian rebels said they would attend a peace conference, and U.S. intelligence officials made the case for NATO to monitor...
QUICK 'CANES TEST FOR DEVILS
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amComing off their 2-2 Meadowlands draw with the Red Wings on Monday, the Devils will face a second consecutive challenge to their ability to handle an up-tempo, speed-driven, transition team...
IT'S WAR $ PIECE OF RUDY'S MIND - RIPS BUDGET AS PATAKI AVOIDS HIM
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amALBANY - Mayor Giuliani and Gov. Pataki brought their war here yesterday, giving each other the cold shoulder after Giuliani accused Pataki of dropping a budget bomb on the city....
RIGHT PRICE PUTS VICTIM IN MIKE'S C0RNER; FEE MIGHT HELP KEEP TYSON FREE
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amROCKVILLE, Md. - One of Mike Tyson's victims plans to show up in court to help keep the troubled fighter out of jail - although he admits the boxer has...
'GREEK TRAGEDY' KILLER SOBS: I DIDN'T PLAN IT
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amThe confessed killer of a New Jersey model set the foundation for a temporary insanity defense yesterday by tearfully insisting he didn't plan the grisly decapitation murder. During a long,...
CRITICS HIT $3.5M TUCKED INTO PLAN FOR SCHOOLS PROBE
February 3, 1999 | 5:00am"[Funding for the Moreland act commission] appears like an attempt to create a huge bureaucracy." DEPUTY MAYOR JOSEPH LHOTA ALBANY - Gov. Pataki has quietly asked the Legislature for $3.5...
WHY YOU WON'T BE EATING YOUR OUT ON VALENTINE'S
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amSome of New York's best restaurants will have a heart on Valentine's Day and break an ancient rule of the business - never open on Sunday. St. Valentine's Day falls...
OUSTED UNION LEADER FLOATS ON $1.5M 'CHUTE
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amGus Bevona - one of the country's best-paid labor leaders, who resigned as doorman's union president to settle a lawsuit - walked away with $1.5 million in "golden parachute" deals....
U.S. EXPANDS IRAQI MISSILE HITS
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amU.S. warplanes widened their undeclared war with Saddam Hussein yesterday by attacking Iraqi missile launchers that have been moved into range of ships off the Kuwaiti coast. American jets, mainly...
JUDGE RAILS AND JAILS DRUG KILLERS
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amOne of the city's deadliest crack lords was sentenced to 150 years in prison yesterday by a Manhattan judge who snarled at him, "You make me sick." "Listening to you...
DOCS DELIVERING BABY BOOM ; FERTILITY BOOSTERS YIELD 20,600 TOTS
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amMore than 20,600 babies in the United States were born with the help of fertility techniques in 1996, a newly released report shows. Women using various medical techniques made 64,036...
SCIENTISTS SILENT AS FIRMS ; PICK UP THEIR LAB TAB
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amMany scientists "don't perceive . . . a potential conflict of interest because they think they are incorruptible."DR. ALLAN DETSKY Scientists seldom reveal financial ties to companies whose products they're...
VERNON'S DEPOSITION A SNOOZE FOR SENATE
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Vernon Jordan parried questions yesterday about his alleged efforts to buy Monica Lewinsky's silence, leaving House prosecutors frustrated and senators bored. But NBC News reported that Jordan did...
GOP - AND PAT: CLINTON PLAN JUST DOESN'T ADD UP
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - Top Republicans blasted President Clinton's Social Security plan yesterday as phony because it uses ''double-counting'' - and Democratic Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan said they're right. ''The Social Security...
JURY: ANTI-ABORT WEB SITE WAS THREAT
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amA federal jury in Portland, Ore., yesterday ordered anti-abortion activists to pay $107 million in damages in a landmark case that tested the limits of free speech on the Internet....
STATE 0KS WHOPPING RATE HIKES FOR 5 HM0S
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amThe state has granted rate hikes to five HMOs - double-digit percentages that hit hardest those who pay for their own policies and those who co-pay for drugs. Although only...
HOOP KID'S MOM CRIES OUT: ; 'WHY, GOD, WHY?'
February 3, 1999 | 5:00am"I know I have to accept death - but not in this manner, not in this manner!"ROSEMARY BENNETT, MICHAEL'S MOTHER Friends and relatives streamed into a Brooklyn funeral home yesterday...
SINGER VEGA LENDS HER VOICE TO ; ANTI-STALKING CAUSE
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amFolk singer Suzanne Vega joined the chorus for anti-stalking legislation yesterday - recounting her own moments of terror for an Albany conference. The Grammy-nominated guitar-strummer said she has been stalked...
FEDS NAB MANHATTAN DOCTOR IN DRUG SALES
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amFederal drug agents busted a Manhattan doctor yesterday on charges of selling prescriptions for synthetic heroin and steroids to people who resold them on the street. Drug Enforcement Administration agents...
MARY JO HELD HEART-TO-HEART MEETING WITH AMY'S MOTHER
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amMary Jo Buttafuoco is "close to forgiving" Amy Fisher for shooting her in the head - after a tear-filled, seven-hour meeting with the "Long Island Lolita's" mom, Fisher's lawyer said...
FIRST LADY IS CHAT'S MEOW IN BROOKLYN - WOWS GUESTS AT ROUND-TABLE TALK
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amFirst Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton hosted an Oprah-style discussion with struggling parents at a Brooklyn YMCA yesterday - while carefully avoiding talk of her political future. Mrs. Clinton visited Brooklyn...
KIDS BUSTED IN SCHOOL HOLDUPS
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amThree youths have been charged with a series of stickups in Brooklyn schools, police said yesterday. Cops said the boys used a toy gun, but traumatized teachers insist the gun...
CIA CHIEF: BIN LADEN COULD ; STRIKE AGAIN AT U.S.
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - CIA chief George Tenet yesterday warned that terror boss Osama bin Laden is on the hunt for American targets and could strike again "at any time." "There is...
JORDAN NOW ADMITS PREZ ASKED HIM TO GET MONICA JOB
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amWASHINGTON - First Pal Vernon Jordan yesterday conceded that he helped Monica Lewinsky get a job because President Clinton asked him to - a switch from his original account, sources...
PALS & KIN BID SAD FAREWELL ; TO SLAIN HOOP KID
February 3, 1999 | 5:00am"In our hearts, he will always be the best."ERICA FLORES and CLAUDUSIA TRANQUELLE Michael Bennett, the 14-year-old athlete stabbed to death after a school basketball game, was remembered as "good...
SO, DID BILL SPILL BEANS ABOUT HILL? - HINTS SHE WILL RUN FOR SENATE
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amPresident Clinton last night raised the volume on speculation his wife might run for the Senate, saying, "It's highly likely that I will increasingly be known as the person who...
CON NABBED IN LAUNDRY SLAY
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amA paroled robber was arrested last night in the brutal slaying of a mother of two shot in the head during a robbery in a Brooklyn laundromat last year, police...
DOWNED-HOG DAY IN CANADA: BELOVED CRITTER IS DEAD
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amABSTRACT: Fate cast a cruel shadow over Canada's Groundhog Day yesterday. The groundhog was dead. Wiarton Willie expired of natural causes Sunday night at the ripe old age - for...
VAIL BATTLE OFF TO ROCKY START
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amTHE Alpine World Championships at Vail, Colorado, wasted no time in keeping with tradition as bad weather postponed races on Monday, ensuring the continuation of a 30-year oddity. No Olympics...
MUCKLER NOT WHIPPIN' MAD
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amIt was nothing like the last time. On Dec. 20, after an embarrassing team performance the previous night in Toronto, coach John Muckler put the Rangers through a punishing 45-minute...
BOSS REWARDS CONNORS
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amOnce Bernie Williams was signed in late November for seven years at $87.5 million, the Yankees had retained almost all of their player roster from its memorable 1998 season. Now...
BULL-HEADED GLENN WAS DESTINED TO FAIL
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amLONDON - Unpopular anyway since mismanaging England's World Cup adventure, Glenn Hoddle faced his final curtain call yesterday before the massed ranks of media he had always been wary of...
STAR WON'T GET PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amFormer Bears star Walter Payton is the latest celebrity to join the list of those who desperately need new livers. When hard-boozing baseball legend Mickey Mantle got a liver transplant,...
ESPRIT DE CORPSE RANGERS - AND FANS - IN DEAD ZONE
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amThe team that captured the imagination of this city for the greater part of the decade ... has become simply a hockey team again - a boring hockey team, at...
IT PAYS TO RIDE WITH THE BEST
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amIn any form of gambling it pays to play the percentages. How often do the Jets cover the spread against a home dog on artificial turf? What is David Cone's...
PALFFY'S AGENT TO FILE GRIEVANCE OVER 46G
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amDETROIT - Ziggy Palffy and Islander management are embroiled in another contract dispute. Paul Kraus, Palffy's agent, is in the process of filing a grievance with the NHL Players Association,...
THOMAS VOLUNTEERS FOR OAKLEY'S ROLE
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amFor years, driving through the lane against the Knicks was about as easy as driving through the Holland Tunnel at rush hour. But in the offseason enforcer Charles Oakley was...
WALTER'S CRY FOR HELP ; HALL OF FAME RB NEEDS NEW LIVER ; PAYTON FEARS FOR HIS LIFE
February 3, 1999 | 5:00am"Hell yeah, I'm scared. Wouldn't you be scared?"WALTER PAYTON A tearful Walter Payton, once a fearless football player, stared into the face of America yesterday and acknowledged he is frightened...
PAUL MELLON DEAD AT 91
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amPaul Mellon, the legendary thoroughbred owner-breeder whose Rokeby Stable included 1993 Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero, died Monday at his estate in Upperville, Virginia. He was 91. Mellon, the son...
SHORT AND SOUR ; JETER'S AGENT, YANK GM SWAP HEATED WORDS
February 3, 1999 | 5:00am"All I know is I made the last offer, so the one that should be surprised and baffled that they have heard nothing is me."BRIAN CASHMAN Silence certainly is not...
CAMBY OUT OF ROTATION - FOR NOW
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amWith the Knicks about to open the regular season Friday in Orlando, two of the biggest question marks surrounding the team - Patrick Ewing's health and coach Jeff Van Gundy's...
ZIGGY REGAINING GOAL-DEN TOUCH ; RIDES HOT STREAK INTO MOTOR CITY
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amDETROIT - Ziggy Palffy has been back 17 games now, but only in the last two or three has new coach Bill Stewart seen vintage Ziggy. That Palffy's timing was...
CASSELL: NETS WILL RULE
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amPerhaps he won't be confused with Larry Flynt or James Carville, but Nets guard Sam Cassell enjoys stirring things up himself. For instance, early last season he threatened to boycott...
SAY A PRAYER FOR SWEETNESS
February 3, 1999 | 5:00am"I would say this: if anybody can beat it, he'll beat it, I'll tell you that."MIKE DITKA ON WALTER PAYTON DEATH knocks on everyone's door, and doesn't care if you...
BURRELL'S NEW JERSEY WILL SAY 'NEW JERSEY'
February 3, 1999 | 5:00amScott Burrell, a 6-foot-7 veteran forward, agreed last night to sign with the Nets, his agent, Sean Holley, said. Holley would not reveal terms of the deal, but it's believed...