August 24, 2001

GRUNTAL IS UP FOR SALE - AGAIN

New York-based Gruntal & Co. is on the block - again. Gruntal, one of the nation's oldest independent regional brokerage houses, is quietly shopping for a buyer, say people familiar...

HEARME.COM: NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE LISTENED

It's gone rather quiet at HearMe.com. The Internet telephony startup announced it will close its business operations and pursue a sale of its assets on July 30. Last week, it...

IT'S WAR IN THE HAMPTONS!

ANOTHER line was drawn in the sand between a Hamptons summer resident and town officials. This time, the line was actually removed by the angry officials. Southampton Town Supervisor Vincent...

NYC JOBS EVAPORATE - PROS BRACED FOR MORE LAYOFFS BY BATTERED STORES

New York City is not faring well as businesses lay off - and retail, already feeling the brunt, may be the next to be hit hard. "Retail is steady at...

BILL'S DEAD LETTER FILED - DECEASED PEOPLE ON M'SOFT SIDE

They see dead people. Microsoft's lobbyists goofed by faking a grass roots campaign against the government's antitrust case - including sending letters from deceased people. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff...

CA FIGHT ADD$ UP - WYLY-WANG BUST BUDGETS IN BOARD BATTLE

Whether it's just mogul ego or a righteous fight, the cost of the nasty proxy fight at troubled Computer Associates is running wild. As much as $25 million - half...

NIKE ROLLS OUT MATERNITY LINE

Taking a clue from pregnant women's workouts, Nike is launching a line of maternity duds for the gym. The sneaker and sportswear giant signed up celebrity designer Liz Lange -...

TWO UGLY CHARACTERS TELL... WHY SHE'S PRETTY AND THEY'RE NOT...

"The Human Face" [ ] Sunday-Monday, 9 p.m. on TLC ----- THAT face! What makes one person beautiful and another ugly? What makes us want to kiss one face, and...

'GHOSTS OF MARS' LOST IN SPACE

JOHN CARPENTER'S GHOSTS OF MARS [] Bad sci-fi retread. Running time: 98 minutes. Rated R (gore, violence, language). At Chelsea Cinemas, Union Square, Kips Bay, others. ----------- THE curse of...

JUST ONE WORD FOR THIS: PLASTIC

BUBBLE BOY [ 1/2] Mostly dumb road comedy. Running time: 84 minutes. Rated PG-13 (sex jokes, ethnic jokes). At the Loews 84th, Chelsea Cinemas, Village East, others. ---------- THERE'S good...

'JAY': FUN & DUMBER

JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK [ 1/2] Foul-mouthed, intermittently hilarious road comedy. Running time: 104 minutes. Rated R (constant foul language, sexual humor). At Loews E Walk, 84th Street....

THROW 'CATCH' BACK

SUMMER CATCH [Half a star] Offensively bad teen movie that makes a bore of both baseball and sex. Running time: 102 minutes. Rated PG-13 (crass sex jokes). At the Loews...

SPELLBINDING 'JADE' - WOODY'S 'CURSE' A BLESSING FOR SLEEPY SUMMER SEASON

THE CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION [ 1/2] Play it again, Woody. Enormous fun. Running time: 103 minutes. Rated PG-13 (sexual references). At the Empire, the Lincoln Square, the Village...

'FIGHTER' CONNECTS

FIGHTER [ 1/2]Running time: 91 minutes. Not rated. At Lincoln Plaza. ------ POWERFUL, provocative and often surprisingly funny, this may be the year's outstanding documentary. It bears witness to the...

IRISH GET AYES OF THE FANS

CRANBERRIES IT'S easy to forget that there's more to Irish pop than Bono. At the Bowery Ballroom Wednesday, the Cranberries raised their Celtic flag to signal that they're still alive...

YOU'LL NEVER BELIEVE WHO WAS GOING TO PLAY AL BUNDY ... SECRETS OF 'MARRIED WITH KIDS'

COSMO Kramer as Al Bundy? It could have happened. Actor Michael Richards was among those who auditioned in 1986 for the lead role in "Married With Children." And his failure...

BACK ON BOARD - TRAIN SINGER'S ON THE DADDY TRACK

YOU might remember Train from a few years back, when it hit the big time with the song "Meet Virginia" - a tune so powerful, it tagged the group as...

SALSA SINGER SPICES UP 'LUPE'

LA LUPE: MY LIFE, MY DESTINYAt Theatre Four, 424 W. 55th St. Performed in English Tuesday and Wednesday; in Spanish Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. --------- AN atom bomb did...

SHANNEN: 'WE WEREN'T PAID TO BE BUDDY-BUDDY'

TABLOID tempest! Shannen Doherty has few more unkind words for the people associated with her old job, "Charmed." That includes her former co-star Alyssa Milano, TV titan Aaron Spelling and...

GAME WILL ROCK YOU, STALK YOU

THE phone rings. It's after midnight. You awaken, panicked, thinking it's a call from a friend in need. Instead, it's a biophysics professor from the University of Chicago calling to...

STARR REPORT

Les is more: Moonves eyes 'BB3' CBS honcho Les Moonves says the network is "seriously considering" another season of "Big Brother," based on the success of "Big Brother 2." "It's...

'MONTY' ACTRESS IS DEAD AT 78

BROADWAY actress Kathleen Freeman, who appeared in "The Full Monty" and hundreds of television shows and movies, died here yesterday afternoon at age78. She battled lung cancer for a year,...

CONDIT MAY GIVE ABC RATINGS WIN BY A HAIR

CONNIE Chung's interview with Gary Condit could propel ABC into a photo-finish prime-time victory in summer ratings. Although fast-national numbers from last night's Chung/Condit sitdown won't be available until today,...

DRUG COPS BUST APPLE'S FUGITIVE 'POT KING' IN FLA.

Big Apple potheads are in for a real downer. One of New York's top three marijuana suppliers - a longtime fugitive who's funneled tons of grass into the city each...

NEW YORK POST FROM AUG. 24, 1977

"A federal judge in Miami today ordered Mafia godfather Carmine Galante to jail for refusing to answer a grand jury's questions. The grand jury wants to quiz Galante about mob...

BABY BRONX BOMBSHELL EXULTS IN PAGEANT GLORY

Miss Teen New York Gloria Almonte is thrilled she took first runner-up at the Miss Teen USA contest - but she really just wants to meet the pop group Hanson....

TASK FORCE SEEKS OUT DOPE DEALERS NEXT DOOR

Marijuana dealers come from all walks of life. A drug task force charged with bringing down the movers and shakers in New York's booming pot business has in recent years...

'CON' VOYAGE TO CRUISE $$

A former worker at the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island has been arrested and charged with scamming 25 of her fellow employees out of $27,000 for a Caribbean cruise...

BROOKLYN MAN CONFESSES TO KILLING HIS 'NASTY' WIFE: COPS

A Brooklyn man, charged with killing his wife and 6-month-old baby, told police a family quarrel escalated into a knife-slashing battle, authorities said. "She's nasty. She always talks to me...

KILLER GUARD'S APPEAL BACKFIRES AS SENTENCE IS BOOSTED

A former Long Island jail guard convicted of beating an inmate to death got a shocking answer to his appeal of an 11-year sentence - when a judge gave him...

RAP HOST O.J. SET TO SLAY 'EM

Florida is getting ready for a killer hip-hop show tonight - as O.J. Simpson hosts a star-studded rap concert. The shamed football great will introduce such acts as Wyclef Jean,...

AMTRAK TUNNELS ARE A RAIL MESS

Amtrak hasn't provided enough money to make "urgent" fixes in its six underwater railway tunnels connecting to Penn Station, according to a state Senate committee report. Among the problems in...

VALLONE ONE FOR THE AGED

PETER VALLONE - senior party animal. Who knew? Vallone held forth yesterday in - what else? - a senior-center lunchroom on Staten Island. A week on the campaign trail, and...

SAD MUSIC: MAN LEAVES 40G VIOLIN IN TAXICAB

If you find a $40,000 fiddle in a cab, you're eligible for a reward - no strings attached. Dale Norton, 53, hopes the violin is found before he flies home...

LIDDY 'DUMPS' KAN. WITH EYE ON N.C.

WASHINGTON - With Sen. Jesse Helms out of the way, Elizabeth Dole inched closer yesterday to running for his seat, by taking her name off Kansas voter registration rolls. Dole...

ISRAEL RAIDS TOWN AFTER BOY IS SHOT

JERUSALEM - Israel sent armored vehicles into the flashpoint city of Hebron for the first time in five years yesterday after a Palestinian sniper wounded a child and his brother...

MISSING QNS. STUDENT: PLEASE COME GET ME!

A Yale student from Queens who vanished mysteriously last month while studying in South Africa tearfully called her frantic mom yesterday from there, saying, "Please come and get me." Glory...

GIRLFRIEND & 2 OTHERS NABBED IN L.I. SLAYING

A Long Island woman enlisted a new boyfriend, her teenage daughter and her son-in-law to help murder her live-in boyfriend by holding him down and giving him a fatal overdose...

RUDY IS RILED AT HEVESI'S 'TEFLON'

Mayor Giuliani believes Alan Hevesi has been getting a "free pass" in the race for City Hall - something the mayor single-handedly tried to put an end to when he...

COP CREW HOT ON TRAIL OF TOP FELONS

The NYPD has launched a "super-fugitive" squad to round up the city's 100 most violent criminals - and detectives have already busted six of the top felons in the first...

'POWER' OUTAGE IN CONN.

Powerball ticket sales have been suspended in the border town of Greenwich because cops in the wealthy suburb say frenzied New Yorkers wanting a piece of the megajackpot are clogging...

CORRECTION! SEX CLOWN'S BACK IN JAIL

A circus clown convicted of sexually abusing a boy he was training to follow in his floppy footsteps has been ordered back to jail because he was freed on bail...

MOM MUM ON DEAD TOT

The medical examiner's office has ruled the death of a 2-year-old Queens girl a homicide - and the tot's mother is refusing to speak to police, authorities said yesterday. Sidney...

ASIANS EYE OWN PROBE OF H.S. BIAS

A civil-rights group is conducting its own probe of "Asian-bashing" at Brooklyn's Lafayette HS and other city schools - and vowed to take legal action to stop it. The Asian...

NYPD PLANS SPECIAL HONORS FOR MARSHAL SLAIN DURING EVICTION

The NYPD wants to help provide a special sendoff for a beloved city marshal who was burned alive while trying to evict a Brooklyn tenant. Deputy Chief Tom Fahey said...

FAMED AUTHOR MAAS DIES AFTER SURGERY

Best-selling author Peter Maas, who chronicled the Mafia through the eyes of mob stoolies Joseph Valachi and Salvatore "Sammy Bull" Gravano, died yesterday. He was 72. Maas, an investigative reporter...

FEDS COLLAR SLAY FUGITIVE

A man accused of shooting dead two Oklahoma hotel workers in a cold-blooded robbery was arrested in The Bronx yesterday. Donald Grant, 25, was busted in his sister's apartment on...

LIBERTY LOONY'S WOEFUL LANDING: IT'S TORCH AND GO FOR BUSTED STUNTMAN

A French stuntman had his wings clipped yesterday after cops hauled him in from a precarious perch - dangling by his parachute from the torch of the Statue of Liberty....

NEW SPRAY DAY IN CENTRAL PK.

The city will be dousing Central Park with insecticide Monday, after postponing a mosquito spraying that had been scheduled for early today. Five test pools of mosquitoes and three birds...

BRONX'S 1-HIT WONDER - DANNY'S GEM PUTS TEAM IN U.S. FINAL

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Keep on cheering, New York. The magical victory bus rolls on for Danny Almonte and the Bronx Baby Bombers. Before a wildly enthusiastic "home" crowd, the Rolando...

ON-AIR BLAME GAME DIGS HOLE EVEN DEEPER

ANALYSIS WASHINGTON - Rep. Gary Condit may have done himself more harm than good in his dramatic media blitz. Condit's efforts to remove himself from suspicion in the disappearance of...

CONNIE CHIPPED, BUT DIDN'T CRACK HIM

YES, Connie, as long as you're asking, I am disappointed! Connie Chung raised the issue near the end of last night's interview on ABC when she asked Gary Condit if...

MIKE TOUTS HIGH-TECH GADGETS FOR NYPD

Republican mayoral hopeful Mike Bloomberg yesterday called for a high-tech NYPD, with all cops packing trendy Internet pagers and stun guns to cut down on police shootings. "Police officers are...

3 MURDERED ON CITY STREETS IN 4 HOURS

Three people were murdered yesterday in less than four hours in separate incidents in Brooklyn, Queens and The Bronx. The spurt of violence brought to six the number of people...

SMOKERS CAN GAIN YEARS WITH EVEN A TEMPORARY HALT: DOCS

Here's good news for smokers who've tried to kick the habit and failed - giving up butts for even a short time can improve your life expectancy, scientists say. But...

TRASH CAM'S 'DIRTY' VIDEO

Cops in South Carolina set up a hidden camera to catch people illegally dumping trash - but they ended up recording raunchy sex instead. The camera in Anderson County caught...

DUBYA IN TEXAS

President Bush hit the links before 7 a.m. yesterday, joking about his poor golf game as he marked Vacation Day 20. "So, I won't be a professional golfer," laughed Bush,...

'HEARTY' HELP IN FOLIC ACID

Doctors believe folic acid can help prevent repeat heart attacks in people with weak cardiovascular systems. The vitamin is found in liver, fish and green vegetables, and is often recommended...

AMTRAK'S TUNNELS A RAIL MESS

Amtrak hasn't provided enough money to make "urgent" fixes in its six underwater railway tunnels connecting to Penn Station, according to a state Senate committee report. Among the problems in...

DANNY DOES IT AGAIN! KIDS REACH U.S. FINAL

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Keep on cheering, New York. The victory bus continues to roll for Danny Almonte and Bronx Baby Bombers. Behind a thunderous "home" crowd, the Rolando Paulino All-Stars...

MOM MUM IN HOMICIDE OF GIRL, 2

The medical examiner's office has ruled the death of a 2-year-old Queens girl a homicide - and the tot's mother is refusing to speak to police, authorities said yesterday. Sidney...

HE WRITES TO VOTERS, BUT NO HINT OF APOLOGY

WASHINGTON - Rep. Gary Condit, in a letter to his constituents, offered no apology yesterday for his reported affair with intern Chandra Levy or for his foot-dragging during the police...

HE SKIRTS ISSUE OF SEX WITH CHANDRA - STORMS OUT AFTER CONNIE INTERVIEW

Rep. Gary Condit dug in his heels and refused to reveal details of his relationship with missing D.C. intern Chandra Levy in a combative TV interview last night that had...

LIBERTY LOONY'S WOEFUL LANDING - IT'S TORCH AND GO FOR BUSTED STUNTMAN

A French stuntman had his wings clipped yesterday after cops hauled him in from a precarious perch - dangling by his parachute from the torch of the Statue of Liberty....

'I DIDN'T KILL HER,' SAYS SLIPPERY POL - SIDESTEPS MOST OF CHUNG'S QUESTIONS

Rep. Gary Condit dug in his heels last night and refused to reveal details of his relationship with Chandra Levy in his first TV interview since the Washington intern went...

YANK GM: PICKIN'S ARE SLIM

ARLINGTON - Do the Yankees have enough talent to hold off the Red Sox in the AL East? They better because there isn't much of a chance that serious help...

STERLING EFFORT - HITCHCOCK STEPS UP TO SNAP YANK SKID

ARLINGTON - Sterling Hitchcock and the Yankees found out something about each other last night in the fifth inning of a close game. Hitchcock regained some of the confidence that...

BANGED-UP BLUE MAY SIT EIGHT STARTERS VS. JETS

GIANT NOTES ALBANY - The nagging injuries that have filled this Giants training camp are reaching a worrisome rate. Adding Jason Sehorn to the long list of walking wounded, there...

ROOKIE PITCHER'S DEBUT FAR FROM ROCKY

After Rockies pitcher Jason Jennings' ninth-inning drive cleared the right-field wall and hit the Mets' 1986 World Series banner for a home run - seemingly mocking how far the defending...

MRI ON WRIST BOLSTERS YANK TRADE RUMORS

ROBIN Ventura has heard plenty of trade rumors during his career, and the sheer volume combined with the lack of an actual trade has made him rather disinclined to believe...

A-ROD RATTLES MET CAGE AGAIN

MET NOTES Although Alex Rodriguez likely will never play with the Mets, he will always be linked with the team. Last night, GM Steve Phillips responded to Rodriguez' latest comments...

POWER'S MILBRETT NAMED MVP OF FLEDGLING WUSA

Tiffeny Milbrett swears that she's being honest when she insists that she didn't expect it. "Seriously, it's always a surprise," the Power star said yesterday, hours after the Professional Soccer...

FIT TO BE KING - BONDS WORTHY OF BREAKING HR RECORD

A theory is alive and breeding that insinuates that if Barry Bonds sets the single-season homer record, then the milestone will be cheapened. The most common reason offered is that...

IT'S OFFICIAL: METS STINK - LOSS NO. 69 IS ONE MORE THAN LAST YEAR

If the 2001 Mets know how to do anything, it's embarrassment. They are well practiced at it and do it right. Last night, the Mets made it official. They are...

CHREBET COOKIN' AGAIN

JET NOTES Turn the Wayne Chrebet alarms off. The Jets' top receiver, who missed Wednesday's practice with a knee contusion, returned to the field yesterday, looked sharp in his routes...

JETS DEAL FOR SAINT RETURNER

Sure, Santana Moss remains on the shelf for about half the season with a knee injury, but don't fear, Jets faithful. The Jets injected hope into their dormant punt-return game...

'PLEASURE' TRIES AGAIN

SARATOGA SPRINGS - She did it before, but can she do it again? In both the past two summers Beautiful Pleasure, the champion older filly of 1999, set the pace...

POINT GIVEN: IT'S LOVE HIM OR HATE HIM

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Depending on which wise guy you listen to, Point Given should be either 1-2 or 20-1 for tomorrow's 132nd running of the $1 million Travers Stakes (ESPN,...

X-GAMES GO BANG, CRASH, CH-CHING FOR DISNEY

THE X-Games, while not as sexually or profanity charged as WWF telecasts, nevertheless remind us of the WWF in that if right-headed adults knew exactly what a network - in...

MLB, ESPN & ANGELS: YANKS FOR NOTHING!

WHILE crash-to-crash coverage of the X-Games continues this weekend on three networks - ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 - Sunday's game between the Yankees and Angels, both in the postseason race,...

BIG BUCKS FOR BLUES - L.I. SOUND CONTEST SET TO REEL 'EM IN

THE $25,000 top prize will no doubt act like a magnet drawing an armada of boats to Long Island Sound this weekend for the "Greatest Bluefish Contest on Earth." Bluefish...

JASON'S PRESEASON FLUSHED - BUT JINTS' CORNER MUST WAIT TO GET HIS KNEE IRRIGATED

ALBANY - At best, Jason Sehorn will have 14 days for his troublesome right knee to heal. Two weeks to ready himself for the bright lights of Monday Night Football...

OL' RING AXIOM: THE FIX IS IN

SO NOW the United States Attorney's Office in Las Vegas is in on the dirty little secret that anyone who knows how to watch a boxing match has known for...

SAMPRAS' FINAL SET MIGHT BE 2002

If Pete Sampras' 2002 season is as mediocre as his current year, don't be surprised if he retires, according to his coach Paul Annacone. The 30-year-old Sampras, who has not...

ALMONTE: THE 16K KID

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - The legend grows. Orel Hershiser pitched 59 consecutive scoreless innings in 1988. He knows all about perfection. As he was walking out of Howard Lamade Stadium last...

BAM-TINO: DEAL ME IN

YANKEE NOTES ARLINGTON - Knowing how cautious the Yankees are with injuries, Tino Martinez is going to have a hard time convincing them his strained left groin will allow him...

LOSS STILL STINGING MUSSINA

ARLINGTON - Mike Mussina still isn't talking about getting beat, 8-1, by the Rangers Wednesday night. Twenty minutes after the latest show of non-support from his mates at the plate,...

ROD RATTLES MET CAGE AGAIN

MET NOTES Although Alex Rodriguez likely will never play with the Mets, he always will be linked with the team. Last night, GM Steve Phillips responded to Rodriguez' latest comments...

NO RELIEF IN SIGHT - PICKINGS ARE THIN FOR LISTLESS YANKS

ARLINGTON - Do the Yankees have enough talent to hold off the Red Sox in the AL East? They had better because there isn't much of a chance that serious...

ANOTHER RUSCH JOB - METS LEFTY ROCKED HARD BY COLORADO

Rockies 10 - Mets 0 With the calendar still turned to August, the Mets already have more losses than they did all of last year. Their latest dismal day transpired...

RED-HOT DESI FINDS FREEDOM BETWEEN LINES

Desi Relaford has done almost everything right this season. He's hit, fielded and run tremendously. The only thing he's gotten wrong is his future. Relaford thought he would be a...

BENITEZ MAKES BELIEVERS WITH SOME AMAZIN' RELIEF

Maybe a club-record four straight saves brought out the mischievous side of Armando Benitez, who was squirting clubhouse workers at Shea with a huge water gun yesterday. But Benitez says...

THE FULL ALMONTE - MAESTRO OF MOUND IS JUST A KID OFF IT

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - The legend grows. Danny Almonte, Americas' baseball sweetheart - both North and South America - was showing off his brilliant arm before last night's do-or-die game for...

BIG EAST '01 - IT'S A DYNASTY IN THE MAKING

For the longest time, the Big East was a lot like Heather Locklear. The league managed to look darn good year after year, even though there were several programs, like...