February 8, 2000

E*TRADE LOGS IN AT 540 MADISON

Long-vacated retail space at 540 Madison Ave. is finally getting an occupant -- after two-years. E*Trade will move its operations to the high-visibility, multi-level corner in March, The Post has...

TIAA-CREF IS SLAMMED

COLLEGE campuses are about to start looking like the 1960s again -- but it isn't going to be the students who are marching in the streets. This time, it's the...

REALTY CHECK: HIGH A-SPIRE-ATIONS AT TRINITY REAL ESTATE

IMAGINE a glittering new tower with a piece of Manhattan sky all to its lonesome, an architectural wonder not hemmed in by giant neighbors and thus visible from afar. Trinity...

GUCCI TAPS M&A EXPERT; EYES NEW FASHION BUYS

Gucci is gearing up for a major shopping spree -- with yesterday's appointment of a mergers and acquisitions czar, and more than $2 billion to spend. Gucci Group NV named...

TECHS DRIVE NASDAQ TO A NEW HIGH

Technology stocks continued a rally that brought the Nasdaq composite index to a new record yesterday, but blue chips faltered. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 58.01 to 10,905.79, especially...

STOCK WATCH: PHILIP MORRIS MAY BE BARGAIN

With everyone and his brother suing the tobacco industry, a lot of investors have kicked the habit and stripped their portfolios of what was once a sure year-to-year winner: Philip...

POLO, NBC GET HITCHED:LAUREN HOPES TO BOOST SAGGING FORTUNES

Nostalgia-meister Ralph Lauren has finally grabbed the attention of .com-obsessed Wall Street. Shares of long-suffering Polo Ralph Lauren stock jumped 15 percent yesterday after the designer announced a joint venture...

MAXIM REVVING UP ITS WEB SITE WITH MULTIMEDIA

Maxim magazine is dressing up its Web site -- including videos of the girls in its swimsuit issue. Premiering on Valentine's Day, the relaunched site will unload a slew of...

SANTANA LAUNCHING CLOTHING LINE

Add Carlos Santana to the list of musicians with their own clothing lines. Carlos by Carlos Santana will hit national chains like J.C. Penney and Sears this fall. Miami-based Dino...

ESSENCE ON BLOCK ; NEEDS CASH TO BUY VIBE, SPIN MAGAZINES

Essence Communications, which has been vying for a chance to buy Vibe and Spin from Miller Publishing, has put itself in play. The company has also held talks with Time...

EX-CEO OF MATTEL SCORES LIFETIME PENSION

Ousted Mattel chief Jill Barad is taking home a cushy severance package -- but she could have done a lot better. Her termination package, after letting the company's stock hit...

STEWART'S LIVING WITH 221G TAX BILL

Paying back taxes is a good thing -- that's the word state officials sent Martha Stewart as they ordered the high priestess of homemaking to fork over hundreds of thousands...

HACKERS KO YAHOO! SITE FOR 3 HOURS

A hack attack knocked Yahoo! off the Internet yesterday, leaving befuddled execs of one of the Web's busiest sites unable to explain how they were victimized by a common type...

THEY NOAH THEIR STUFF

CD REVIEW GOOD MORNING MIDNIGHTRaving Noah Clever Dik MusicIf the Clancy Brothers grew up on the boardwalk of Asbury Park and had to cut heads with South Side Johnny, Little...

OBSESSED WITH FOOD: MAKEUP ARTIST KAT JAMES REVEALS THE DEPENDENCY THAT ALMOST RUINED HER HEALTH - & HOW SHE BEAT IT

MAKEUP artist, Kat James can recall with vivid clarity the most humiliating moment of her life. James was a 5-foot-6-inch, 170-pound makeup artist. "I was supposed to do the makeup...

WILL WE HAVE A WOMAN V.P.?

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Geraldine Ferraro, the only woman to run for veep, is betting that Elizabeth Dole will follow in her footsteps in 2000 - and she loves the idea...

WHAT PRICE VICTORY? 'SCREAM' COSTLY FOR MIRAMAX

THE past weekend's huge $35.2 million opening of "Scream 3" -- the best ever for Miramax -- could have come at a very steep price. By my rough calculations, the...

OSCAR WATCH

Today The Post offers its fifth article of predictions for Oscar nominations, which will be announced a week from today. THE race for Best Director is usually linked to the...

TRAVELER'S UPDATE

Late season lift With a little advance planning, lift tickets for Aspen Mountain and Snowmass -- usually $36 a day -- can be had for as little as $19 a...

CHAMBER CONCERTS TO BENEFIT CHARITIES

IN May, the Orion String Quartet will present Beethoven's complete string quartets in six free concerts at Alice Tully Hall. The Orion String Quartet, the quartet-in-residence of the Chamber Music...

WHY FLICK IS RATED R

PARENTS who plan to take kids to Leonardo DiCaprio's "The Beach" this weekend may want to consider the drugs, profanity, nudity and violence that earned the film an R rating....

THE STARR REPORT

'Howdy' takes 'Walk' "Howdy Doody" and the show's late host, Buffalo Bob Smith, have Burt Dubrow to thank for today's induction into NBC's Walk of Fame at The NBC Experience...

GARDEN TO BE MARC ANTHONY'S FORUM

LATIN music marvel Marc Anthony may have exploded in popularity recently, but he's no overnight success. The hometown Anthony, 31, is a triple-threat entertainer -- he has starred on Broadway...

'TWENTY-ONE' CUTS PRIZE $$

'TWENTY-One" is slashing its early-round prize money -- because too many people are winning too much scratch too easily. The show will also feature tougher questions, making the booty harder...

GOLDBERG IS A PUSSYCAT

On TV, wrestling star Bill Goldberg is a menacing 285-pound, tattooed tornado. But in real-life, he's a pussycat --a pussycat lover, at least -- who has quietly become one of...

CAN LEO STILL ROAR? 'TITANIC' STAR HITS'THE BEACH'

TWO years after Leonardo DiCaprio sailed into teenybopper superstardom on "Titanic" comes "The Beach" -- a dark adult drama full of drug use and violence. Given the movie's mature themes...

INFOMERCIAL WITH A BANG ; NRA BUYS AIRTIME ON CH.9 TO RECRUIT NEW MEMBERS

THE National Rifle Association really knows how to scare up new members. Literally. The NRA has a half-hour infomercial that's so hair-raising, I almost joined the organization after seeing it...

CHARLIE SHEEN TO REPLACE MICHAEL J. FOX ON 'CITY'? IF THE PRESIDENT CAN'TGET HIS KID A JOB...

BY now you know -- unless you come from a bizarre religious cult where TV is banned -- that DreamWorks and ABC are scrambling to find the perfect replacement for...

BOARD OF ED & CUNY JOIN TO GET STUDENTS SET FOR COLLEGE

The Board of Ed and CUNY are expanding a desperately needed program to help city high school kids get a head start on their college education. The two agencies -...

MISS USA: KEEP PAGEANT PURE

The newly crowned Miss USA yesterday said women contestants who are divorced or have had abortions have no place in the pageant. "I think the Miss USA pageant should be...

CLINTON BUDGET PLAN BOOSTS AL AND NEW YORK

WASHINGTON - President Clinton yesterday unveiled a $1.84 trillion budget packed with Vice President Al Gore's campaign promises - and big bucks for states like New York, where the first...

FEMININE & FOXY

Looking feminine for Fall 2000 does not necessarily mean looking retro -- at least according to yesterday's roster of designers. French expat Catherine Malandrino's brand of femininity is just a...

MADONNA SAYS NO SIRE TO GAY PAL

Madonna is desperately hunting for the man who'll father her next child -- but she's rejected her best friend, openly gay actor Rupert Everett, as the sperm donor. The Material...

CLINTON FATIGUE FOR DEMS ; IT'S WHY HILLARY CAN'T GET A REAL CHEER EVEN FROM HER OWN PARTY

PURCHASE 'THE excitement is so thick," said Sen. Chuck Schumer as he took the stage here a few minutes before Hillary Rodham Clinton formally announced her run for the Senate...

GAFFE'S IN TUNE WITH REST OF HER PROGRAMS

WHATEVER happened to "New York state of mind"? It was a conspicuously unscripted moment in a day so hyper-controlled, Hillary's hair could have withstood a hurricane intact. It came right...

SUNY KIDS COULDN'T PASS CITIZEN TEST, SURVEY SHOWS

ALBANY -- Nearly half of SUNY students would fail the American history test given immigrants, a shocking new survey shows. Forty-five percent of the 800 State University students surveyed last...

SKAKEL: LET PUBLIC INTO MY 'JUVENILE' SLAY TRIAL

Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel will be in juvenile court today for an arraignment on charges he murdered neighbor Martha Moxley nearly 25 years ago. Because Skakel was 15 when the...

BROKE IRAQIS SELL THEIR BODY PARTS

Thousands of desperate Iraqis are trading their body parts for cash to pay bills during the hard times of United Nations sanctions, Arab diplomats said last night. The ghoulish trade...

MACHETE MAN KILLS WIFE, SELF AMID B'KLYN INFERNO

A Brooklyn father slashed his wife's throat with a machete during a heated argument yesterday, then killed himself by setting a fire in the family apartment, investigators said. Before starting...

PUFFY FRETTED LOPEZ WOULD TAKE RAP

Rap impresario Sean "Puffy" Combs' main concern after getting busted fleeing a Midtown hip-hop club shoot-'em-up was his superstar girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez, court papers released yesterday show. Combs "repeatedly, spontaneously,...

KEEPING UP WITH CATHOLIC-BASHING JONESES

WHEN Al Smith ran for president in 1928, not everybody was ready for a Catholic commander-in-chief. "I would rather see a saloon on every corner than a Catholic in the...

HILLARY'S 'HIGH' NOTE? ; RUDY SLAMS 'DRUG' SONG PLAYED AT RALLY

Mayor Giuliani put politics to music yesterday, blasting Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign for playing a Billy Joel song that he said promoted illegal drug use. Giuliani attacked the first lady...

AMTRAK'S TOP COP TAINTED

The Long Island Rail Road's former police chief -- who left under a cloud a year ago for personal use of agency property -- has resurfaced as Amtrak's top New...

YUGO HONCHO ASSASSINATED

A machine-gun-toting assailant killed Yugoslavia's defense minister last night in a Belgrade restaurant. Pavle Bulatovic, 52, a trusted aide to President Slobodan Milosevic, died at the Belgrade military hospital where...

SADIST'S SHADOW STALKS TRIAL OF HIS THREE EX-BUDDIES

THE shadow of Justin Volpe hung all over Brooklyn federal court yesterday. The disgraced ex-cop -- locked away in a federal jail cell for up to 30 years -- was...

DOCS REMOVE 'IRREGULAR' KIDNEY FROM SPIELBERG ; DIRECTOR WON'T SAY IF IT WAS CANCEROUS

Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg had a kidney removed in a sudden operation after his doctor discovered an "irregularity" on the vital organ during a routine physical examination. The 52-year-old director...

COLUMBIA VICTIM TOLD PALS KILLER GOT 'BIZARRE'

Columbia dropout Tom Nelford thought his girlfriend was cheating on him, and he had been acting paranoid in the days before he murdered her and killed himself, sources said yesterday....

'SPIDER-MAN': FINEST ARE ; REALLY THE DUMBEST

The robbery suspect dubbed "Spider-man" after he eluded police by jumping from a 19th-story window to another building says, "New York cops are stupid" and "would never have caught me,"...

NEW POLL HAS MCCAIN CALIF. DREAMIN'

A new California poll yesterday showed that insurgent Republican John McCain has slashed George W. Bush's lead in half in the key primary state as the two rivals launched a...

ALBRIGHT FLACK QUITS TO RAISE HIS INFANT

WASHINGTON -- James Rubin, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's flack, is trading diplo-speak for baby babble. The State Department spokesman announced yesterday he is leaving the Clinton administration in April...

BRADLEY TO TAKE SHOT AT REBEL FLAG

Democratic challenger Bill Bradley today takes a detour to Republican turf -- with a stop in South Carolina to blast the GOP over the Confederate flag and racism. The surprise...

LOUIMA'S NEW TESTIMONY HINTS THERE MAY HAVE BEEN A WITNESS

Police torture victim Abner Louima revealed surprising new details about being sodomized in a Brooklyn station house bathroom yesterday, as the second trial in the case got under way. Louima,...

SLUGS TRACED TO COP GUNS ; OUTCOME CRUCIAL FOR DIALLO-SLAY DEFENDANTS

ALBANY -- The four cops accused of murdering Amadou Diallo were hit with damaging ballistics evidence yesterday, as a police expert started putting their names on the 29 bullets recovered...

FANS: 'REALLY NICE GUY' WAS NO GANGSTA

Rap fans mourned the death of Big Pun last night -- calling him a pioneering, positive force in the hip-hop world. "I think he was an incredible M.C. [rapper]. What...

HIP-HOPPER BIG PUN DIES ; LATINO CHARTBUSTER WAS ONLY 28 YRS. OLD

Super-sized hip-hop star Big Pun, who injected hot Latin rhythms into rap music and went double platinum with his debut album, died suddenly yesterday at the age of 28. The...

LAZIO MAY TAKE ON MAYOR AFTER ALL

Long Island Congressman Rick Lazio said last night he may challenge Mayor Giuliani in a GOP primary for the U.S. Senate nomination. "If I get in this, I get in...

RADAR MAY SOLVE FLT. 261 MYSTERY

Radar might have picked up a piece of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 falling to the ocean about four miles southeast of the plane's crash site, investigative sources told The Washington...

GUNMAN WOUNDS EX AND TAKES OWN LIFE AT COLLEGE

A Mount Vernon woman was wounded by an ex-boyfriend who followed her yesterday to Westchester Community College, fired a bullet at her, and then took his own life. Joy Thomas,...

IT'S A BOY FOR GERE AND GAL PAL

Actor Richard Gere and his pretty woman have a son. Homer James Jigme Gere was born in Manhattan two days ago to the 50-year-old superstar and his sultry actress girlfriend...

NCAA PUTS BARKLEY ON HOLD: WANTS MORE INFO ON FROM SJU

Two days after St. John's coach Mike Jarvis and athletic director Ed Manetta Jr. blasted the NCAA for forcing the school to declare Erick Barkley ineligible, the governing body for...

FOR A CHANGE, LAZIO ENJOYS LIFE ON ROAD

LONDON - Certainly, Lazio enjoyed its afternoon trip to Torino on Sunday, racking up its first victory on the road in two months, a 4-2 waltz that took the Rome...

KAREEM: PATRICK DOESN'T DESERVE BOOS

THERE is passage in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's new book, "A Season on the Reservation," where he writes about his personality which has largely been misunderstood by the general public. While reading...

CONE'S EAGER TO START ANEW

With just nine days until he must report to Tampa, David Cone felt antsy, humbled and embarrassed yesterday. "You always feel antsy because you worry about the physical part, about...

COKER EAGER TO TAKE GAME TO NEXT LEVEL

Ask Monique Coker about playing Division I college basketball next season and she doesn't flinch. "I don't expect to be shocked by how good the players are or what I'll...

SKILLS INJURY BENCHES RICHTER ; WILL MISS RE-OPENER VS. JERSEY

The player the Rangers could least afford to lose is lost for one game due to an injury he suffered over the weekend in a skills competition. Mike Richter injured...

SKILLS INJURY BENCHES RICHTER: DEVILS THRIVE WITHOUT A TRUE CHECKING LINE

This is the way the game should resume after the All-Star break, Devils-Rangers, home-and-home. By the time this marvelous bit of scheduling is complete tomorrow, the season will be two-thirds...

FOGGY JONSSON NOT READY TO RETURN

Butch Goring had expected Kenny Jonsson to be in the lineup tonight. But 10 days after suffering the third concussion of his career, the Islanders veteran defenseman is not ready...

THE UNKINDEST CUT ; CAMBY'S SURGERY PLACES KNICK SEASON IN JEOPARDY

Marcus Camby goes under the knife today to find out officially if his season -- and the Knicks' season -- is over. And it looks bad. Very bad. A diagnostic...

CHREBET, COLTS' ELIAS CHARGED AFTER FIGHT AT JERSEY SHORE BAR

Jets receiver Wayne Chrebet and Colts running back Keith Elias have a court date next month after a rowdy after-hours confrontation outside a Jersey Shore bar. Detective Sgt. David Szalkowski...

RILEY'S GOTTA REBUILD ; HEAT NOT GOING ANYWHERE WITH CURRENT ROSTER

DESPITE the Heat's 29-17 record, Pat Riley can't delay much longer from renovating his roster. If the idea is to honestly compete for a championship this season, Miami's decision-maker must...

JINTS TRYIN' EVERYTHING TO BEAT CAP

There is no time to waste when it comes to navigating a way under the NFL's salary cap of $62.5 million, which is why the Giants and GM Ernie Accorsi...

MSG TABS WOMAN TO SUB FOR CLYDE

Doris Burke will become the first woman to analyze an NBA game on a regional network when she does tomorrow night's Knicks-Bucks game on MSG. "I'm thrilled," said the 34-year-old...

LJ'S INJURY A FAMILIAR ONE

CHARLOTTE -- Lost amidst the horrifying news of Marcus Camby's damaged knee was Larry Johnson's injured foot. LJ, who also injured himself Sunday vs. Miami, will be shut down until...

ERICK COULD SUE ST. JOHN'S

Erick Barkley could possibly go to court to have his eligibility upheld if the NCAA doesn't rule in his favor today, sources told The Post. St. John's was forced to...

PADRES GET A SPONSOR

Sports fans, get ready for more clutter. The San Diego Padres sold sponsorship to its 2000 season yesterday to a local Indian tribe for a reported $1.5 million, becoming the...

DARIUS' DAGGER FEELS TREY-MENDOUS

SYRACUSE -- Seton Hall's Darius Lane had just missed a pair of free throws with 2:31 left in the biggest game of his life. He knew he could've just cost...

HALL OVER FOR 'CUSE STREAK ; SHARPSHOOTING PIRATES DENY ORANGE NO. 20

Seton Hall 69 Syracuse 67 SYRACUSE -- When Ryan Blackwell's last-ditch runner fell off the rim and to the Carrier Dome floor, it took the last undefeated record in the...

KNICKS FEELIN' SPRAIN ; HOUSTON HURTS ANKLE IN LOSS

Hornets 95 Knicks 85 CHARLOTTE -- Allan Houston needed X-rays on his sprained left ankle after last night's 95-85 loss to the Hornets, needed to be taped by trainer Mike...

GM LAYDEN SHOPS FOR BIG-MAN HELP

KNICK NOTES CHARLOTTE -- Knicks GM Scott Layden has told one agent that he's investigating 15 different free-agent big men to replace Marcus Camby. Layden has contacted the agent for...

BARKLEY CASE TAKES TURN ; NCAA PROBING TRUCK SWAP THAT WAS TRADE-UP

Two days after St. John's coach Mike Jarvis and athletic director Ed Manetta Jr. blasted the NCAA for forcing the school to declare Erick Barkley ineligible, the governing body for...