January 26, 2000

NYSE SPECIALIST FIRM EYES LINK WITH ECN

One of the biggest specialists on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange is considering an alliance with an upstart electronic stock trading network. In the latest sign of...

BRILL LOSES WITT & LESLEY STEVENS TOO

MORALE is slumping as more senior staff defect from Brill's Content - even as founder Steve Brill continues to staff up his much ballyhooed e-commerce venture, set to launch later...

BOO SCARES OFF 10% OF EMPLOYEES TO CUT COSTS

Online retailer Boo said toodle-oo to a chunk of its employees yesterday. The heavily-hyped website, primarily financed by LVMH chief Bernard Arnault's Markas Holdings, laid off 30 full-time and seasonal...

SHUT-EYE ON THE RED-EYE: CARRIERS RACE TO GET BIZ PASSENGERS INTO BED

Executives will be able to do more deals in bed than ever before. Airlines are scrambling to install flying bedrooms -- with free pajamas and reading lamps thrown in --...

MUSIC LABELS PARTNER IN DANCE PORTAL

The Tommy Boy and Strictly Rhythm music labels are taking a spin with Internet Music Corp. to build a new dance portal. The Internet Music Corp., parent company of AKA.com...

TAE BO GURU MAKES PEACE WITH EX-MANAGER

Fitness guru Billy Blanks, the man at the center of the $200 million Tae Bo exercise empire, is taking measures to pump up his public image. He's settled a nasty...

MORE VENATOR-TURE: EX-WOOLWORTH TO FIRE 1/3 OF STAFF

Venator Group will fire 3,700 workers, about a third of its staff, and close 358 underperforming Foot Locker, Champs and Northern Group stores in the U.S. and Canada. This round...

SABLE'S LOOKING FOR A PUBLISHER

RENA Mero, the blond bombshell formerly known as pro wrestler Sable, is hoping to become the queen of all media. She's shopping for a publisher for her book, entitled, "Busting...

EARNINGS BOOST BATTERED DOW

A rash of strong profit reports across industries yesterday helped the markets recover from Monday's nosedive. The Dow jumped 21.72 to 11,029.89, but is still sitting on a year-to-date loss...

NATURAL-FOOD FEUD : WESTERN TOFU TITANS NOW POISED FOR A NYC SHOWDOWN

TWO warring and expansion-driven natural-food market chains are bringing their nationwide feud to Manhattan. Wild Oats and Whole Foods, ranked first and second respectively (this week, at least) in number...

A TREASURE IN A BIT O' BLARNEY

IF the Irish Treasury seems an odd name for a restaurant, indeed it wasn't the owners' first choice for their new Midtown spot. They would have called it the Bank...

YO, SHELLY! WHERE'S THE FIRE?

'MAKE the fish well-done, dear. I don't like it raw.""Don't worry, we'll grill it exactly the way you want it." Rated on sheer niceness, Fireman's of Brooklyn deserves eight stars....

TREASURE AT THE MINT

SOME playwrights are overlooked in their lifetimes, others unjustly forgotten after their deaths. A few are both. One of these is the English playwright Harley Granville-Barker, a contemporary and friend...

THEATER TIX FROM THE COMFORT OF YOUR HOME

NEW Yorkers and tourists last night gave a standing ovation to a plan from TicketMaster to let customers print their own ducats over their home computers. They predicted the new...

WHY THIS LOSER IS LAUGHING...

DON'T feel sorry for Brian Fodera. Last Thursday night, an estimated 32.5 million people saw the 24-year-old Brooklyn native become only the second contestant in the history of "Who Wants...

SLUGGING IT OUT OVER 'GIRLFIGHT': STUDIOS HOT FOR B'KLYN TEEN TALE

PARK CITY, UTAH -- A charming little indie film about a Brooklyn teen who takes up boxing has suddenly become the hottest property at Sundance, with Fine Line, Miramax and...

IT ALL ADS UP TO TRASH: STUDIOS PUSHING PRODUCT ON A CAPTIVE AUDIENCE

VIDEO junkies suffering from advertising overkill have a new name for movie previews -- trailer trash. With more and more films vying for attention, Hollywood studios are cramming video releases...

LOOKS LIKE IT'S L.A. FOR WILLOW BAY

CNN's "Moneyline New Hour" anchor Willow Bay could be heading to Los Angeles -- for good. CNN officials say that if Bay moves to L.A. with her husband, Walt Disney...

MAKE WAY FOR THE TV OF CRUELTY

HAVE you ever happily gone on a vacation to an island paradise with a group of your best friends, only to find that you had actually booked yourself into hell...

TORTURE IN PARADISE: THE BIG RATINGS IN PUBLIC HUMILIATION

A NETWORK bidding war is underway for the rights to a Dutch game show that is being called a combination of MTV's "The Real World" and "Who Wants to Be...

HAIL-HITLER POL GAINS IN AUSTRIA

Austria's far-right leader, Joerg Haider - who once praised Adolph Hitler's employment policies and called the Nazi SS "men of character" - is poised to become a major player in...

40-FLOOR FREE FALL ELEVATED HER FEAR

Shamika Peterson is lucky she's afraid of elevators. The 20-year-old data-entry clerk said yesterday that because of this fear, she was able to walk away after being taken on a...

A FINE TIME FOR OUTRAGE: HILLARY'S FANS NOW THINK PERSONAL QUESTIONS ARE A NO-NO

Those Hillary supporters, led by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who denounced those "cheap personal questions" that were thrown in Mrs. Clinton's face by an upstate radio shock jock are probably right...

EX-HOSTAGE HAILS BURMESE CAPTORS

The 10 heavily armed Burmese rebels who seized a Thai hospital were polite, "very good" young men -- but terrified their hostages by juggling hand grenades, a freed captive said...

SUBS TO TAKE AUSTRIA DIVE IN BID TO FIND NAZIS' LOOT

Mini-submarines from a Maryland company that salvaged debris from the Challenger and TWA Flight 800 disasters will search an Austrian lake next month for Nazi gold and Swiss bank files...

FISH AND OLIVE OILS CUT COLON CANCER: STUDY

Scientists have proven for the first time that a diet rich in olive or fish oil can protect against colon cancer. A new study, whose results were published yesterday, says...

GAYS MAKE FEDERAL CASE OF PARADE BAN

Gay activists fighting to march up Fifth Avenue on St. Patrick's Day head to Manhattan federal court next week to claim the city violated their constitutional rights by refusing to...

DIALLO JUDGE NIXES BAN ON COURT CAMERAS

ALBANY -- The judge presiding over the Amadou Diallo case tossed out the state ban on cameras in courtrooms yesterday, citing "great public interest" in the trial of four NYPD...

PARKS TRUCK RAN OVER MY PET POODLE, SUIT CHARGES

An Upper West Side woman says she's suing the city because maintenance workers in Central Park ran over and killed her beloved poodle while she watched in horror. Sallie Okamoto,...

GARDEN ADDRESS WILL BE E STREET IN JUNE

The Boss is back -- and New York's got him. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are set to kick off a 24-city tour that will conclude with a...

EXPERTS: HOME DONE IN TARA-BLE TASTE

It's a house fit for a kingpin. The $5 million mansion prosecutors are moving to seize from Carmine Agnello and Victoria Gotti is one of the flashiest properties on Long...

BRADLEY'S SLOW TO THAW IN N.H. STOP

HUDSON, N.H. -- Bill Bradley, hitting the trail in the Granite State against a resurgent Veep Al Gore, got off to a slow start yesterday as he tried to get...

DOUBLE TROUBLE FOR BUSH & GORE IN N.H. TONIGHT

BEDFORD, N.H. -- The 2000 presidential candidates will face off tonight in a doubleheader that could feature the campaign's hottest debates. First, the Republicans star in what could turn into...

SHOW-STOPPERS AT RUDY CIRCUS: PROTEST OVER ANIMAL TREATMENT

Two animal-rights activists talked their way into City Hall yesterday and disrupted a Mayor Giuliani news conference promoting the Ringling Bros. circus' 130th annual Big Apple show. "The elephants can't...

HOSP DOCS NO LONGER THE YOUNG AND THE REST-LESS; EXCLUSIVE

The decade-old Libby Zion Law -- enacted to prevent deadly mistakes made by overworked doctor trainees -- may finally have enough teeth to do the job, experts say. Buried in...

FIRST LADY HAS A BAD 'AIR' DAY, TOO; EXCLUSIVE

A North Carolina congressman is accusing Hillary Rodham Clinton of appropriating a government jet that was scheduled to take a congressional fact-finding mission to Latin America. Rep. Cass Ballenger (R-N.C.)...

FUND DRIVE FOR B'KLYN STATUES

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce is setting up a fund to help restore religious statues desecrated in a recent spate of attacks in three neighborhoods. "It doesn't matter what your...

VOICE FROM THE GRAVE CRIES OUT FOR FORBES

MANCHESTER, N.H.IN a state where the battle cry is "Live free or die," the ghost of old Bill Loeb can still pack a killer punch. Until his death in 1981,...

EUROPE FREEZE$ AID TO MOSCOW

The European Union yesterday suspended financial assistance to Russia in protest over Moscow's brutal military offensive in Chechnya. In the first major action taken by the West, EU ministers decided...

'GOTT'-CHA! COPS NAB DON'S KIN: VICTORIA FEELS THE PINCH AS HUBBY'S NABBED IN STING

Dapper daughter Victoria Gotti stands to lose her multimillion-dollar mansion -- after cops busted her loose-lipped husband on racketeering charges in an elaborate sting operation. Reputed wiseguy Carmine Agnello was...

FLYING COOP IS CALLED 'SUICIDE' FOR MOB CANARY

A Gambino family "friend"-turned-canary has apparently ditched federal protection to collect on loan-shark debts in his old haunts -- and it could cost him his life, law-enforcement sources said. Willie...

PROBED RABBI BOO$TED HEVESI

A Brooklyn rabbi under scrutiny for his role in securing day-care vouchers from the Giuliani administration has turned up as a major campaign contributor to City Comptroller Alan Hevesi. Campaign...

DAVE GETS SOME HEARTY ADVICE FROM PATIENTS

Heart patients and doctors are giving David Letterman their own Top Ten lists of what life is like after bypass surgery. It ain't all laughs. But it could improve your...

PRESIDENT PINES FOR THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

WASHINGTON -- Frigid weather, long nights of farm talk with potential voters, pumping the flesh -- the Iowa caucuses make President Clinton a little winsome. As he was walking out...

EVERY DELAY IS ANOTHER DAY OF 'CHILD ABUSE'

THE tug of war over little Elian Gonzalez has become a case of child abuse. It started just after he was plucked from the waters off Florida that claimed his...

BELICHICK BEGGED JETS FOR JOB HE FUMBLED AWAY

A desperate Bill Belichick crawled back to the Jets at the 11th hour, practically begging Robert Wood Johnson IV for his head-coaching job back -- but the new owner decided...

MY KID STAYS IN CUBA: RAFT SURVIVOR'S EX

A Cuban father said yesterday he'll keep his daughter with him, even though the girl's mom -- a survivor of the Elian Gonzalez boat tragedy -- wants the child with...

ELIAN TO SEE GRANDMAS: RENO SETS DATE AT HOME OF FLA. NUN

Cuban tug-of-war tot Elian Gonzalez will finally get to see his grandmothers today in a private get-together in Miami -- as federal officials ordered the boy's relatives to bring him...

TWO BADLY HURT, 70 LEFT HOMELESS IN BROOKLYN FIRE

Two people were in critical condition and 70 were homeless last night after a fire -- which may have been started by kids playing with candles -- ripped through a...

SHE EN-GENDERS OWN WOES, THEN BLAMES OTHERS

HILLARY, Hillary, Hillary. She just doesn't get it. And probably never will. Hillary Clinton was up to her tired, old tricks yesterday, blaming things beyond her control for all the...

HILL: HAIR'S WHY FOLKS HATE ME

ALBANY -- First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday said some people despise her because she is a woman who takes stands on the issues -- or maybe they just don't...

WHAT AN ICE SURPRISE!

The snow goeth, the iceman cometh. Today should be icy, blowy and slushy after a sneaky nor'easter dumped 4 to 6 inches of snow on the Big Apple yesterday, closing...

THE PRESSURE'S ON BILLET

The harsh reality of being a freshman point guard is that there will be nights when you are painfully reminded that your former status as a high school star means...

MCLEAN GETS HIGH MARKS AS BACK-UP

PITTSBURGH - Kirk McLean is serving not only by sitting and waiting, but by getting points for the Rangers when Mike Richter requires his monthly day off from work. It...

PUT 'STRAIN' ON YOUR BRAIN

Horseplayers have a wealth of statistical information at their fingertips for handicapping races, from several different methods of speed ratings (Beyer, Ragozin, etc.) to detailed breakdowns of trainer patterns and...

GOOD TIME TO TAKE YOUR DAUGHTER TO THE SLOPES

FROM a dismal beginning this season, ski areas are seeing Mother Nature transform their mountains into the best conditions we've had since the winter of 1995-96. The nor'easter that raced...

TYSON: UNION JACK IN THE BOX

LONDON -- Shake the hand that shook the hand of Mike Tyson. And yes, it still has all five fingers on it. Tyson spoke to reporters he hasn't exchanged a...

SNOW KOS KNICKS-WIZARDS

With their recent stops, starts and postponements, the Knicks have failed to get onto a major roll, unless you consider the train they rode yesterday to flee snowbound Washington after...

SHOT, STABBED, SURVIVED!: TITANS' EVANS RISES ABOVE GANG YOUTH

ATLANTA -- Rookie defensive end Jevon Kearse, affectionately known as The Freak for his incredible skills, was sitting high atop an NFL throne yesterday, surrounded by a wall of reporters...

ISLES CAN'T QUACK UP VS. DUCKS

By stopping their six-game skid on Saturday, the Islanders have temporarily frozen their Space Mountain-like freefall into the NHL abyss. So tonight, in the shadow of Disneyland, the Islanders (a...

CASEY TAKES IT DAY AT A TIME

SEATTLE -- He was not the first choice and he knew that. The entire planet knew that. He was hired at a bargain-basement price. And he endured a start that...

DON'T SELL HIM SHORT: RAM MLB FLETCHER THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD

ATLANTA -- His arrival here is as much a storybook tale as that of Kurt Warner, the most unlikely quarterback to start in a Super Bowl. London Fletcher as the...

NETS FEAR ERUPTION OF MT. PAYTON

NET NOTES SEATTLE -- It's bad enough that the Nets have to face Gary Payton in his own building tonight. Add to that the fact they're facing Gary Payton after...

NFL'S FINEST GIVE GROH RAVE REVIEWS

ATLANTA -- Positive reaction continued to come in about the Jets' promotion of Al Groh to their head-coaching job. At yesterday's Super Bowl XXXIV annual media day, it was a...

DORSETT MAKING NAME FOR HIMSELF

ATLANTA -- Anthony Dorsett looks back on his father's career and wonders how any one athlete could be so lucky. A national championship in college, a Heisman Trophy, a Super...

PHIFER: MY HEART STILL WITH RAMS

ATLANTA -- He won't be suited up in bright blue and yellow at the Georgia Dome, fighting the ultimate battle with his old friends when the Rams play the Titans...

BUZZ OFF, BOZO!: JETER -- I'D SHUN FOUL-MOUTH ROCKER

TAMPA -- John Rocker, consider yourself officially warned: Pray that you never have to share a clubhouse with Derek Jeter. "I wouldn't sit in the same room with him," the...

'SUPERMAN' CARTER WAS BLIND AT BIRTH

SUPER BOWL NOTEBOOK ATLANTA -- Rams defensive end standout Kevin Carter is a Superman freak and he was asked about that yesterday and revealed a super tale. Carter was blind...

DEREK KEEPS COOL AS TALK$ CONTINUE

TAMPA -- The Yankees' minor-league office in Tampa, a one-story cinderblock building that fronts a stretch of workout fields, is pregnant with The Biggest Contract in the History of The...

ODELEIN ITCHIN' FOR DEAL FROM DEVILS

s answer is "no comment," Lyle Odelein is believed to have asked the Devils to trade him. A member of Canada's 1996 World Cup team, it is believed the 31-year-old...

STEVENS IN SO. CALIFORNIA REHAB CENTER

PITTSBURGH -- Kevin Stevens, whose Rangers No. 17 jersey was hung in the visiting locker room here last night as a symbol of support by his teammates, was admitted yesterday...

STORM SURVIVES RUTGERS

St. John's 61 - Rutgers 57 Rutgers forward Joel Salvi caught the ball in the lane and went straight to the basket for a dunk that would have made it...

ON ICE, RANGERS JUST CAN'T LOSE

Rangers 4 - Penguins 3 PITTSBURGH -- They had left their legs and thinking caps somewhere else on the itinerary of what away from the rink was a troubled and...