March 24, 2004

Correction Date: 03/26/2004

Correction: * CORRECTION: In Media Ink on Wednesday, we misidentified the parent company of Crown Publishers, which is the new book outlet for the Wall Street Journal books. Crown is...

RIAA HITS COLLEGE CAMPUSES WITH SUITS

The music industry slapped 532 individuals with lawsuits yesterday as part of its ongoing efforts to snuff out illegal file-swapping. Included in the action by the Recording Industry Association of...

STEEL THE BOSS - RUST-BELT BET PAYING OFF BIG FOR WILBUR ROSS

Investor Wilbur Ross is beginning to look like the wise man of Bethlehem. Ross, a bankruptcy expert who bet big on rusted American steel companies, is reaping the rewards of...

BAR 55 OWNER LUTZ BUYS HALE ACADEMY BUILDING

BAR 55 owner and active Harlem property owner Queva Lutz has anted up $5.5 million to buy the former Hale Academy Foundation building on Central Park North. Lutz, who never...

-SNACK COS.: BIG IS BEST (M)-SNACK MAKERS PUSH JUNK FOOD (S, LCF)

Snack-food makers are plotting ways to keep us hooked on chips and pork rinds, including new label warnings saying, "Eat less - walk more." The world's leading producers of salty...

SITE SEEKS TO DOMINATE PORN VIEWING

For porn on the Internet, .xxx could mark the spot. The international body that regulates the Internet is considering whether to turn .xxx into a new "top level" domain, like...

WINDOWS UPGRADE APPEALS TO M'SOFT

Microsoft spent the night trying to broker a last-minute settlement with European regulators, but it still has a final defense - upgrades. If Microsoft stretches out the appeals process long...

DEALERS FRET AT ART BOTTLENECK

The art market is booming, but auction houses are fretting because there are not enough top works available for their rich clients. Although paintings and other treasures are fetching record...

HE'S LAN-GONE - GE DISS LATEST BLOW TO OUSTED NYSE BIG

Former New York Stock Exchange compensation committee chief Ken Langone was booted off another compensation committee yesterday - the latest setback in a string of bad luck since Langone was...

HORROR MASTER KING AIMS PEN AT BOSOX

The Boston Red Sox face a hex waiting to happen, now that horror-meister Steven King is both rooting for and writing about the club. King, one of the most darkly...

TRADER ARRESTED IN STOCK SCAM

Federal agents arrested an American Stock Exchange trader yesterday for allegedly stealing from his firm, sources told the Post. Dan Emmenegger, a trader at Susquehanna International Group, was arrested at...

NEW RIAA SUITS HITS CAMPUSES

The music industry slapped 532 individuals with lawsuits yesterday as part of its ongoing efforts to snuff out illegal file-swapping. Included in the action by the Recording Industry Association of...

WSJ BOSS MAKES KILLING - STAFF WORKING WITHOUT CONTRACT FOR MORE THAN A YEAR

PETER Kann, chairman and CEO of the Wall Street Journal, saw his compensation rise 58 percent last year to $2.15 million, including a $540,000 bonus. That hike has raised the...

PHILLY BACK IN 'WORLD'

'THE Real World" is going back to Philadelphia after all. After days of tense negotiations, several high-ranking Pennsylvania politicians - including the state's governor, a congressman and Philly Mayor John...

PYTHON'S 'LIFE' RESURRECTED

LOOK out, Mel - here comes Monty. In what its producer describes as an "antidote" to Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," Monty Python's controversial biblical spoof, "Life of...

THERE'S A NEW SPICE ROUTE TO THE EXOTIC EAST

THE SPICE MARKET [ 1/2] (two and one-half stars) 403 W. 13TH ST.; (212) 675-2322 ----- THE Spice Market makes dining in the malodorous Meatpacking District at 10 p.m. fun....

HOOP IT UP - TOURNEY TENSION BRINGS BACK FANS

COLLEGE hoops is back. Audiences are flocking back to the NCAA March Madness tournament - now at its halfway point - which has been dominated by underdogs. Ratings are up...

'JOHNNY' ON THE SPOT

JOHNNY GUITARAt the Century Center for the Performing Arts, 111 E. 15th St. Telecharge, (212) 947-8844. ---- THE 1954 film "Johnny Guitar" was known in old Hollywood circles as a...

ONO, IT'S NOT OPEN REALLY

ONO restaurant at the Gansevoort Hotel may be serving food, but it's not really open. Instead, a spokeswoman reports, the new Meatpacking District hotel is having its food catered to...

STRANGE BREAD FELLOWS - NEW YORKERS NOSH IN UNLIKELY PLACES

SOME food combos are no-brainers. Peanut butter and jelly - yes. Soup and soap - no. Or so you'd think. Dining abounds in the darnedest places these days, making for...

WAITER, DEAL US IN

RESTAURANT food tastes even better when you've scored a meal with a deal. Here are a few to consider. Uncorked: Even though March (405 E. 58th St., [212] 754-6272) has...

FATHER KNOWS BEST - CLOONEY'S TUNE: SEND MY DAD TO CONGRESS; CLOONEY SINGS POP'S PRAISES

"On the one hand, [Nick Clooney] can raise a lot of money. But the Republicans are going to hammer him with the liberal thing." -Patrick Crowley ---- George Clooney has...

BLUE BOY - KENNEDY'S DOCUMENTARY SHOCKS

"A Boy's Life" [***] (three stars) Tonight at at 7:30 on HBO ---------- DESPITE their vast wealth, the Kennedy family doesn't seem to have lost touch with regular people. Maybe...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Show and tell became smoke and tell when a 4-year-old Indianapolis boy brought $7,500 worth of crack cocaine to school and told pals it was flour. "Obviously, [his] parents aren't...

LARRY'S TURN IN WTC BATTLE

Just a day or two after the Twin Towers fell on 9/11, a friend warned World Trade Center landlord Larry Silverstein that he "was facing a major [insurance] problem," the...

QNS. MOTHER SHOT DEAD BY LOVER: COPS

The boyfriend of a Queens mother of three was arrested yesterday for allegedly shooting her to death in the basement of her home, police said. Kimberly Clark-Gardner, of 129-8 142nd...

PAROLE COPS LOSE SUSPECT

A Bronx man who was hauled into jail for an alleged parole violation slipped out of Bronx Central Booking yesterday and went on the lam, authorities said. Juan Gonzalez, 24,...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

BROOKLYN * A Brownsville woman slashed her boyfriend with a boxcutter during an argument in their apartment, authorities said yesterday. Yolande Makha, 31, slashed the hand and fingers of Edward...

S.I. 9/11 MEMORIAL 'FACES' FLAP

Many unhappy families of World Trade Center victims are refusing to participate in Staten Island's 9/11 memorial after hearing that some preliminary sketches of the victims don't look like their...

WHAT'S ISRAEL SUPPOSED TO DO?

JUST once, I'd like to hear all of those who are now so furiously condemning the assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin answer a simple question: How do they suggest that...

HEALTH UNIONS TOP LOBBY CASH FLOOD

ALBANY - Lobbying expenses in New York hit a record high $112 million last year, led by a whopping $11 million spent by the politically powerful health-care unions, new statistics...

U.N. STALLING IRAQ GOV'T PROBE OF $ECRET OIL ACCT.

WASHINGTON - U.N. bureaucrats are stonewalling requests from Iraq's new government for records from the scandal-plagued oil-for-food account set up in Saddam Hussein's handpicked French bank, officials said yesterday. The...

TEENS TEASED TRAGIC GORILLA

The 300-pound gorilla shot dead after it escaped the Dallas Zoo and injured three people had been cruelly taunted only minutes before by a pair of teen punks, authorities say....

S.I. FERRY CAPTAIN 'DRUNK' ON JOB

A soused Staten Island Ferry assistant captain, who was suspended three months ago for not reporting an arrest, flunked a Breathalyzer test while working on the dock, officials said yesterday....

'CLYDE' GUILTY IN B'KLYN ROB-SLAY

A jury yesterday convicted the "Clyde" in a Bonnie-and-Clyde team that robbed a Ukrainian couple at gunpoint in Brooklyn, killing the husband. Joseph Johnson, 27 - a convicted robber and...

UNION RAT CHEWS OUT COURT OFFICE

Court officers picketed Brooklyn Supreme Court yesterday - with a giant inflatable rat by their side - demanding pay raises. The officers have been without a contract since April. They're...

TWIST IN GRID SLAY - COPS SQUEEZE 3 PALS

Police are putting the squeeze on local toughs who may have information in the killing of Mark Fisher - a popular sophomore at a Connecticut college who was murdered on...

THOMPSON BOO$TED BY RUDY COUSIN

In his next run for office, City Comptroller Bill Thompson can honestly say that's he endorsed by Giuliani - Catherine Giuliani, that is. The cousin of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani...

PAKISTANI GENERAL PROMISED TO ALERT THE TALIBAN TO MISSILE ATTACKS ON AFGHANISTAN ...

Years before Sept. 11, a top Pakistani general promised to alert the Taliban to missile attacks on Afghanistan - one of several incidents in which Pakistan thwarted U.S. efforts to...

ISRAEL'S HIT LIST REVEALED - FIERY NEW HAMAS LEADER RIGHT ON TOP

JERUSALEM - A fiery Palestinian hard-liner claimed the leadership of Hamas yesterday and vowed to increase attacks on Israel - even as Israel put him and other members of the...

BALL'S IN JAYSON'S COURT

SOMERVILLE, N.J. - A judge yesterday rejected Jayson Williams' request that he be acquitted - without having to mount a defense - of manslaughter and cover-up charges in the fatal...

LOOK OUT BOWL-O - DROPPED BALL TARGETS COPS

A bowling ball dropped from a 17th-floor balcony narrowly missed two uniformed cops and a parole officer in the courtyard of a Brooklyn housing project, officials said yesterday. The stunned...

CITY SUED OVER AIDS 'TATTLETALE'

A Queens woman is suing the city for $50 million, charging she was tormented by a welfare-agency temp worker who sneaked a peek at her private case file and then...

COURT TOSSES JUDGE'S RULINGS

A state appeals court yesterday tossed all of embattled Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Marylin Diamond's rulings in a civil case involving JPMorgan Chase, finding she failed to disclose her financial...

HEVESI WANTS INSURANCE BODY TO OPEN BOOKS

ALBANY - State Comptroller Alan Hevesi announced yesterday that he's taken the unprecedented step of issuing subpoenas to force Gov. Pataki's Insurance Department to turn over information about one of...

FRENCH CONSULTANT TELLS KERRY: BE LESS GAULING

WASHINGTON - A French-born marketing guru has a pointed warning for Democratic wannabe John Kerry: You come off as way too French, mon ami. "The whole French connection is 'off-code,'...

IRON MIKE BRAWLERS OFF HOOK

The men who brawled with Mike Tyson at the Brooklyn Marriott last year won the fight in court yesterday. Samuel Velez, 22, and Nestor Alvarez-Ramos, 25, smiled as they left...

CABLE-BOX FIX FOR TV PORN STORM

Sick of your kids watching porno channels? The cable TV industry - bowing to growing federal scrutiny of indecent programming - said yesterday it will supply free equipment to subscribers...

TYCO JURY IN 'CRIMINAL INTENT' STRUGGLE

Four days into deliberations, jurors in the Tyco embezzlement trial appear to be wrestling with a question that could clear either or both of the company's two fallen honchos -...

PREGNANT MOM SLAIN IN QUEENS

A pregnant Queens mother of three was shot to death yesterday in the basement of her family home - and stunned relatives said they believe her boyfriend is the killer....

MYSTERY-MOBILE - 'POLICE' CAR HASN'T MOVED IN 8 MONTHS

A mysterious car with a city investigator's placard on its dashboard has been abandoned on a lower Manhattan street for the past eight months - and the city has done...

JUDGE ON ROCKS - DRUNK AS A SKUNK, JURY TOLD

A judge accused of smacking a Rolls-Royce into parked cars while driving drunk was so boozed-up on Scotch "that she reeked of alcohol and she couldn't stand," a Bronx prosecutor...

PRESIDENT BUSH YESTERDAY SAID HE'S WORRIED ABOUT THE HAMAS THREAT TO HIT AMERICA ...

WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday said he's worried about the Hamas threat to hit America in retaliation for Israel's assassination of terror chief Sheik Ahmed Yassin - but defended Israel's...

CITY RECRUITING NEW MARSHALS

For the first time in 15 years, the city is recruiting for a job that can pay more than $100,000 a year and doesn't require a college degree. If you...

SCAN PLAN SLASHES VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS

The city has helped restore order at its 12 most dangerous schools - by using same-sex scanners, authorities said yesterday. Boys and girls now form separate lines entering those schools,...

HER HONOR'S DEFENSE A DISHONOR FOR JUSTICE

AND you thought the O.J. Simpson trial was over. In a mean, little courtroom in The Bronx, a defendant is trying to get off on a drunken-driving rap by claiming...

CAR RUNS DOWN 2 B'KLYN BOYS

Two 8-year-old Brooklyn boys were injured - one critically - when they were struck by a car while returning home from school yesterday, police said. The accident occurred at about...

RANGER VICE ON ICE - PIGGY TEAM EXECS HARASSED WOMEN, CHEERLEADER CHARGES

Madison Square Garden officials encouraged underage Ranger cheerleaders to go out drinking with them, blasted them for being "the ugliest girls in the NHL," cut off their free cookies so...

15 OF 32 DISTRICTS 'NEED IMPROVEMENT'

Nearly half of the city's public school districts aren't making the grade, new figures show. Fifteen of the city's 32 districts are listed by the State Education Department as in...

LOST CHANCES TO KILL OSAMA - CLINTON BACKED OFF THREE STRIKES FOR FEAR OF HITTING CIVILIANS

WASHINGTON - President Clinton had at least three chances before 9/11 to try to kill Osama bin Laden - but never took his shot, a new congressional report revealed yesterday....

BLUES WALLOP POOREST NYERS WHERE THEY LIVE

Residents of the city's low-income neighborhoods suffer the highest rates of emotional distress, new Health Department figures show. More than 9 percent of people living in East Harlem, Greenpoint, Williamsburg/Bushwick,...

COP UNIONS: BRASS DOWNPLAYING CRIME RISE

The two largest police unions yesterday urged Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly to conduct a citywide audit to determine if department higher-ups have been fudging crime statistics. Pat Lynch, president of...

CAR MOWS DOWN KIDS IN B'KLYN

Two young boys - "inseparable" best friends - were injured yesterday when they were struck by a car while playing in a Brooklyn street after school, police said. The accident...

BOTCH KILLER GUILTY - SHOT WRONG MAN

A love-struck hit man who was gunning for his girlfriend's hubby - and mistakenly took out the guy's best friend behind a Long Island gym instead - was convicted of...

MAN ESCAPES PAROLE POLICE

A Bronx man who was hauled into jail for an alleged parole violation yesterday slipped out of Bronx Central Booking, authorities said. Juan Gonzalez, 24, was nabbed by three parole...

9/11 MEMORIAL 'FACES' A FLAP

Many unhappy families of World Trade Center victims are refusing to participate in Staten Island's 9/11 memorial after hearing that some preliminary sketches of the victims don't look like their...

HEVESI SLAPS SUBPOENA ON STATE INSURANCE DEPARTMENT

ALBANY - State Comptroller Alan Hevesi announced yesterday that he's taken the unprecedented step of issuing subpoenas to force Gov. Pataki's Insurance Department to turn over information about one of...

CITY WORKER REVEALED WOMAN'S AIDS SECRET: SUIT

A Queens woman is suing the city for $50 million, charging she was tormented by a welfare-agency temp worker who sneaked a peek at her private case file and then...

'DEADBEAT DAD' IN STUNNING WIN

An upstate woman who thought she had finally reeled her deadbeat husband back to New York for justice got a nasty shock yesterday - after a judge made a surprise...

CASE AGAINST PELOSI - NEW EVIDENCE HIGHLIGHTS DA'S GORY SLAY TALE

Revealing chilling details of the savage murder of millionaire financier Ted Ammon, a prosecutor yesterday said that Danny Pelosi zapped the victim with a stun gun and bashed him in...

DEAD NEWBORN IN S.I. YARD

A newborn baby girl was found dead in a Staten Island back yard last night. The dead baby, who sources said was just 1 or 2 days old, was found...

GARSON 'BRIBE' VID - GIVES BACK 1G, THEN ACCEPTS IT

A secretly recorded video shows embattled Brooklyn judge Gerald Garson trying to turn down an alleged bribe before relenting and stuffing the money in his desk. The video, which was...

JETS SET TO SCORE W. SIDE STADIUM

The city, the state and the Jets are on the verge of announcing a deal to build a riverfront football stadium on the West Side of Manhattan. "They could do...

NEWBORN FOUND DEAD IN S.I. YARD

A newborn baby girl was found dead in a Staten Island back yard last night. The infant, who sources said was just 1 or 2 days old, was found in...

CLASSROOM EXTRA: WOMEN ON THE BEAT

Over the past 100 years, women in the NYPD have gone from corsets and handbags to the highest ranks of the force. Women in the NYPD have come a long...

CITY TO MARSHAL FORCES - YOUR CHANCE TO JOIN

For the first time in 15 years, the city is recruiting for a job that can easily pay more than $100,000 and doesn't require a college degree. If you think...

TWIST IN GRID SLAY

Police are putting the squeeze on local toughs who may have information in the killing of Mark Fisher - a popular sophomore at a Connecticut college who was murdered on...

CAL CAN'T - ST. JOHN'S SHOULD FORGET CALIPARI

I WANT to believe what the Rev. Donald Harrington told me one gray afternoon last month when he spoke so earnestly about the future of St. John's basketball. I want...

LUCIOUS PROVING A POINT

NET NOTES CHICAGO - Lucious Harris' scoring was up again. His rebounds were power-forward worthy. But it was leadership that set Harris apart for the Nets last night. "Lucious Harris...

NO KIDDING AROUND - THORN 'CONCERNED' THAT JASON WON'T RETURN

Nets 84 - Bulls 81 CHICAGO - There are matters of far more importance to the Nets these days than a meaningless March game like last night's 84-81 win over...

'I'M TRYING MY BEST' - WOODS WON'T ADMIT HIS GAME IS SLIPPING

PONTE VEDRE BEACH, Fla. - Tiger Woods, fresh off his tie for 46th at Bay Hill, a tournament he won the previous four years, arrived yesterday at the Tournament Players...

JET BRASS TONGUE-TIED

The fact that the Jets failed to sign John Lynch and opted for Reggie Tongue raises some significant questions about who in the organization really wanted whom? Was this Herman...

A DOWD-FUL THEORY - BASEBALL LAWYER CLAIMS BOSS BACKED ROSE'S BID TO CLEAR OWN WAY TO HALL

"That is an absolute fabricated lie." -GEORGE STEINBRENNER John Dowd, whose report 15 years ago led to Pete Rose's gambling-related baseball banishment, claimed to a sports management class at George...

PENNY'S THOUGHT: I'LL PLAY TONIGHT

KNICK NOTES Penny Hardaway vowed late Monday night that he would play despite suffering a right groin strain, and he stuck to his guns yesterday. "I actually feel a lot...

ZORAN MISSED CHANCE

NET NOTES CHICAGO - Zoran Planinic is frustrated about his playing time. But the Nets rookie is more frustrated with himself than with the coaching staff that keeps him on...

LUCIOUS GETS POINT - SHOOTER RUNS OFFENSE WITH KIDD OUT

CHICAGO - For virtually his entire NBA career, Lucious Harris was told, "Shoot, shoot." After all, that's what a shooting guard does. Suddenly, though, his role on the Nets changed....

ISLES ON GUARD FOR SPRING SLIDE

The six games remaining in the regular season are by no means a cakewalk for the Islanders. In fact, the team should be wary of the current home stretch -...

A YANKEE FOR LIFE - IT'S OFFICIAL: MO INKS NEW PACT

SARASOTA - Soon he will be like Yogi, Guidry, Reggie and Mattingly, one of the Yankee greats who comes to spring training so all the young prospects can touch and...

RANGERS REJECT TALK OF TANKING

The Rangers went into last night's Garden match against the Penguins 26th overall, one point behind Phoenix in the league standings and thus one point ahead of the Coyotes in...

'EITHER YOU CAN PLAY, OR YOU CAN'T; I JUST CAN'T' - AILIN' ALLAN MAY BE OUT FOR SEASON

Allan Houston says he won't rush back from his latest knee injury, even if it potentially means watching the Knicks miss the playoffs. In a clear and disturbing sign that...

NOT AVERAGE JOES - DESPITE THEIR SUCCESS, HAWKS STILL LACK RESPECT

Only in Philadelphia do they believe in the St. Joseph's basketball team. To the rest of the nation, this might as well be Rocky trying to punch his way to...

STEVENS BACK ON ICE

Hope isn't lost yet. Scott Stevens has been skating for two days in his comeback from post-concussion syndrome. Devil GM Lou Lamoriello indicated that Stevens is making progress toward a...

ART REYES-ES HIS HOPES

MET NOTES VIERA, Fla. -The news on Jose Reyes continues to get better. The prized second baseman, recovering from a strained right hamstring, took batting practice yesterday from both sides...

DON'T CALL CAL - NOTE TO ST. JOHN'S: FORGET ABOUT CALIPARI

There is a quiet groundswell of support growing among fans of the St. John's basketball program to turn its future over to John Calipari. I WANT to believe what the...

METS CLOSING IN ON ASSISTANT GM HIRE

"I'm hopeful by Opening Day to have someone in place." -MET GM JIM DUQUETTE ON SEARCH FOR NEW NO. 2 FRONT-OFFICE SPOT VIERA, Fla. - Within the past year, the...

BERNIE'S GAME TO MAKE RETURN

YANKEE NOTES SARASOTA - Bernie Williams is expected to get his first taste of live action since his emergency appendectomy when he participates today in a minor league game in...

JINTS AWAIT COUSIN'S VISIT

Looking for a third cornerback to serve as a nickel back, the Giants are expected to receive a visit today from Terry Cousin, the former Panther DB. Cousin, 29, was...

PENNY STICKING TO HIS PROMISE

KNICK NOTES Anfernee Hardaway vowed late Monday night that he would play despite suffering a right groin strain; yesterday, he stuck to his guns. "I actually feel a lot better...

ROBERTS ROCKED IN SPRING STUNNER

Mets 9 - Expos 5 VIERA, Fla. - Maybe the decision was becoming too easy. After four innings last night, Grant Roberts had essentially made the Mets' choice for them....

BEATEN RANGERS REJECT TANK TALK

Penguins 5 - Rangers 2 And so, in order to carve something positive out of this lost season, the Rangers must continue to do what they did last night, must...

METS CLOSE TO NAMING GM AIDE

VIERA, Fla. - The Mets are moving closer to finding an assistant general manager to aid GM Jim Duquette, with the process potentially being completed in the next two weeks....

NO SIXTH SENSE FOR CONTRERAS

YANKEE NOTES SARASOTA - Jose Contreras was brilliant for five innings last night against the Reds. But then came the sixth where he tired, struggled and was eventually replaced by...

RED-HOT DIPIETRO IS PERFECT AGAIN

Islanders 3 - Capitals 0 Now if Rick DiPietro can stay aflame like this through the playoffs, the Islanders will have an awesome chance of winning their first series since...