June 23, 2004

FASHION SKINNY: NOW NUDE IS OLD

The nearly naked looks once favored by pop stars like Christina Aguilera and television shows like "Sex and the City" are giving way to more demure styles that feature far...

420 LEXINGTON GETS A NEW PLAN ON SEVENTH FLOOR

NEW Plan Excel will move into 54,179 square feet on the entire seventh floor of the Graybar Building at 420 Lexington Ave. from approximately 30,000 square feet at 1120 Ave....

WAL-MART'S WAR - RETAILER TO FIGHT FEMALE WORKERS' SUIT OVER PAY

Socked with the biggest-ever lawsuit over lopsided pay for women, Wal-Mart is fighting back with plans that could stall the legal fight for years. The world's largest retailer said it...

PUBLISHERS PILE ON BANDWAGON FOR BUBBA BOOKS BOOM

Alfred A. Knopf isn't the only publisher that stands to profit from all the hoopla surrounding the publication of Bill Clinton's "My Life," released yesterday. In publishing's version of piling...

SBC COULD SPEND $6B ON NEW HDTV NETWORK

In the growing battle between phone and cable companies, SBC Communications released the latest salvo with a plan to test a new network that could bring high-definition TV into millions...

ADELPHIA NEAR UBS, QUADRANGLE TERMS

Adelphia Communications Corp. is close to retaining UBS and Quadrangle Group to advise the bankrupt cable TV operator on a possible sale, sources told The Post. According to sources familiar...

CLINTON EXCERPTS SWEPT UP - GOOD HOUSEKEEPING JOINS PEOPLE ON MEMOIR REPRINTS

GOOD Housekeeping is the latest magazine to jump on the juggernaut for Bill Clinton's "My Life" autobiography. The magazine is doing "second serial rights" - which is basically how the...

TELEGRAPH TWINS - BARCLAYS PAY $1.3B FOR HOLLINGER'S U.K. PAPERS

The U.K.'s billionaire Barclay brothers have finally grabbed control of the London Daily Telegraph - but the long-running drama at Hollinger International is far from over. Sir David and Sir...

CORCORAN DEAL FEEDS N.Y. RIVALRY

The slugfest among the city's largest real-estate brokerage firms continues, with the Corcoran Group announcing yesterday its takeover of Citi Habitats. The latest deal has Corcoran - a subsidiary of...

'HAIRSPRAY' HOLDS UP PRETTY WELL

HAIRSPRAY[ 1/2] (Three and One-half stars)Neil Simon Theater, 250 W. 52nd St.; (212) 757-8646 THAT feel-good "Hairspray" has just spritzed up in preparation for its third year on Broadway. And...

MOVE OVER MARTHA

GHOSTLIGHT[ 1/2] (Two and One-half stars) Graham crackers. Running time: 80 minutes. Not rated (sexual references). At the Pioneer, East Third Street and Avenue A. A number of Martha Graham's...

SO GROOVE V - JEAN-GEORGES EATERY GOES FOR BAROQUE

V STEAKHOUSE [] (Three stars) TIME-WARNER CENTER FOURTH FLOOR 10 COLUMBUS CIRCLE (212) 823-9500 MALL-PHOBIC types who have it in for the "Restaurant Collection" at the Time-Warner Center will hate...

NO-LAPALOOZA

JUST call it Lollapa-looser. Citing poor ticket sales, Lollapalooza, the 13-year-old summer rock festival, which included two New York dates, has been canceled - just three weeks before its scheduled...

'GOOD' TIME TO BOOGIE

THAT mysterious dancing old guy from the Six Flags theme park commercials turned up yesterday in Times Square - and got down with the hosts of "Good Morning America" for...

SLIGHT 'CHICKS' - WASHED-OUT SCRIPT SINKS WAYANS' DRAG COMEDY; 'WHITE' LACKS COLOR

WHITE CHICKS [**] (Two stars) A pale comedy. Rated PG-13 (crude and sexual humor, language and some drug content). At the Kips Bay, the Loews 34th Street, others. SHAWN and...

CARAVELLE DUO INTO TRUMP

DONALD Trump's potential new tenants are certainly no apprentices. In fact, Andre and Rita Jammet - who recently shuttered venerable La Caravelle after more than 40 years - are about...

'SEX' SCORES ON TBS

THE sanitized version of "Sex and the City" has cleaned up so far on TBS. Reruns of the randy HBO series - now minus nudity and profanity - averaged roughly...

'J'PARDY' STREAK CONTINUES

ANOTHER night, another win for "Jeopardy!" phenom Ken Jennings. Jennings, the Salt Lake City software developer, was victorious for the 15th consecutive night last night, beating out law school student...

STARR REPORT

SCI FI Night sweats Funny how these things happen . . . SCI FI officials are furious over the "accidental" disappearance of a screener videotape containing clips from the network's...

HANK AND FILE - 'HONKY TONK' HITS EVERY NOTE OF LIFE AND DEATH

"American Masters Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues" [****] (Four stars) Tonight at 8 on WNET/Ch. 13 WHEN Hank Williams yodelled,women leapt from their chairs in ecstasy. Some threw their babies...

RIVERS RUN FROM E!

JOAN Rivers, the red-carpet queen of barbed one-liners, is expected to abdicate her throne at E! for a job at the TV Guide Channel. Sources tell The Post that Rivers...

GIS' 'SPOKES'MAN - L.I. CYCLIST'S EPIC RIDE TO AID TROOPS

An East Hampton bartender is planning to cycle 4,200 miles from Montauk to San Francisco to raise $1 million for wounded soldiers returning from Iraq. Chris Carney will set off...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

Fear and paranoia have struck the horticulturists of Burlington, Vt., where a cat burglar is making off with prize flowers from the city's best gardens. In one recent heist, a...

58 WOULD-BE BOMBERS NABBED

JERUSALEM - Israel has caught 58 potential bombers so far this year - reducing the number of deadly attacks by 75 percent compared with 2003, officials said. "The pressure is...

MCGROOVY RATINGS - N.J. GOV JUMPS IN POLLS AMID TAX WIN

New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, fresh off winning approval of his controversial "millionaire's tax" on Monday, got another boost yesterday from a poll of Garden State voters. McGreevey earned a...

SICKO GETS LIFE - KILLED L.I. TEEN NEIGHBOR

It took more than eight years, but the fiend who strangled a 16-year-old Long Island cheerleader on Mother's Day is finally serving time for the crime. Stephen Manolis, 44, was...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

MANHATTAN * A 22-year-old man was shot and critically wounded when a thug accosted him on a Harlem street, cops said yesterday. The man was shot in the shoulder, hip...

HORROR PLEAS IGNORED - BYSTANDERS WOULDN'T HELP SEX-ATTACK CO-ED

The petite Hofstra University student who was abducted, raped and beaten in a horrific five-hour ordeal near the Long Island campus desperately pleaded with passers-by for help as she was...

STILL DODGING OVER 1ST 'DATE'

So what's the real story? Bill Clinton told a grand jury under oath that his torrid affair with Monica Lewinsky began in "early 1996." But in his memoir, "My Life,"...

MIKE AIDES SNUB CITY ED. PANEL

Mayor Bloomberg's office boycotted a City Council Education Committee hearing yesterday - and then flunked the council for passing a symbolic resolution opposing his stricter promotional policy for third-graders. Deputy...

DEMON BEASTS BEHEAD AGAIN - QAEDA MURDERS S. KOREAN HOSTAGE

WASHINGTON - Al Qaeda ghouls in Iraq yesterday cut the head off the helpless South Korean hostage who had pleaded in a heart-wrenching videotape that "I don't want to die"...

THIS DIRTY RAT MAKES GANG KILLERS LOOK GOOD

HE WAS the sixth of the seven deadly sinners - informers who were trying to make the Bonanno mob a memory. James Tartaglione, a one-time capo in the outfit, was...

JUST TWIN AND BONES - MARY-KATE TREATED FOR ANOREXIA

Bone-thin Mary-Kate Olsen - half of the famed Olsen twins - is being treated for anorexia at a private health center, it was revealed yesterday. The 18-year-old actress checked into...

THOUSANDS AT REBBE'S GRAVESITE

Thousands of Lubavitch Jews made a pilgrimage yesterday to the Queens gravesite of "the Rebbe" - Rabbi Menachem Schneerson - on the 10th anniversary of his death. With prayer books...

BLOCKBUSTER BILL'S THE HOTTEST TICKET IN TOWN

HE WAS bigger than Elvis, Madonna and possibly a majority of Beatles. Heck, he was even bigger than Hillary. The crowd started arriving on Fifth Avenue at noon. On Monday,...

TEACHER WEB SEX SCANDAL - 'PREDATORS' NABBED

Internet sex stings have snared two New York City teachers, prosecutors said yesterday. In one case, a married parochial-school instructor allegedly tried to lure a girl to a science lab...

MOORE'S THE PITY - FAHRENHEIT'S FICTIONS

For all its clever slickness, Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" does not stack up to such brilliant but evil art as Leni Riefenstahl's propaganda films for Hitler. But it is art...

WRONG FOOTED 'RAPIST' - AMPUTEE IN 'HIT PLOT'

A double amputee ac cused of raping a 78-year-old woman in a Brooklyn nursing home has been charged with trying to hire a hit man to whack the bedridden granny,...

LAURA-TERESA COOKIE CONTEST

WASHINGTON - First Lady Laura Bush yesterday told an online campaign chat that she won't be debating Democrat John Kerry's wife Teresa - just competing with her on cookie recipes....

DIRTY DOC GETS 90 DAYS FOR GROPING DISABLED PATIENTS

The groping doctor of Metropolitan Hospital was sent to jail for 90 days yesterday - and faces deportation to his native Peru - after pleading guilty to three sex attacks...

EVIL SHEIK'S JIHAD LAWYER POSES THEAT WORLDWIDE, FEDS CHARGE

Radical defense attorney Lynne Stewart unleashed danger on the world when she helped a jailed terrorist spread messages of hate from his prison cell, prosecutors charged yesterday in their opening...

RIDE-BY KILLER - CYCLIST SHOOTS TEEN ON L.I. PORCH

A 15-year-old girl was killed when a gunman riding a mountain bike opened fire on her and two friends as they sat on a Long Island porch. Dianna Correa, who...

FIRST-TIME SCHOOL PARENT COORDINATORS MAKING THE GRADE

A whopping 96 percent of the city's rookie parent coordinators received satisfactory or excellent ratings on their first annual report cards from principals, preliminary returns obtained by The Post show....

U.S. POUNDS 2ND TERROR SAFE HOUSE

WASHINGTON - U.S. military forces continued their campaign to eradicate the al Qaeda-linked terror group commanded by Abu Musab Zarqawi yesterday, launching a "precision strike" on a safe house used...

MATCH BOY IS OFF THE HOOK - TOO YOUNG FOR CHARGES IN APT. FIRE

A 5-year-old boy who started a Harlem blaze by playing with matches won't be charged because he's too young and the fire was accidental, authorities said yesterday. But Savion Herndon...

FAMILY-RAPE GIRL 'HAS MIND OF 5-YEAR-OLD'

A 13-year-old motherless girl, whose father and two brothers are accused of raping and sodomizing her in their Brooklyn home, has "the mind of a 5-year-old" child, a neighbor said...

'OZ' SONG 'RAINS' IN MOVIE-THEME POLL

People still are over the moon about "Over the Rainbow" - 65 years after Judy Garland's rendition of Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg's song first thrilled moviegoers in "The Wizard...

GOP SPOILS KERRY DAY OFF IN D.C.

WASHINGTON - Sen. John Kerry yesterday canceled a day on the campaign trail and went back to the Senate in hopes of voting for veterans' health care, but Republicans pulled...

DEADBEAT DOC'S KIDS' 'LAVISH' LIFE

A jailed deadbeat doctor yesterday said the teenage children he is accused of financially neglecting live "lavish lifestyles" and are well taken care of. Dr. Gregory Berk admitted he had...

TEENS R STILL BARRED FROM '9/11'

Movie honchos yesterday refused to drop the R rating from Michael Moore's political hot-potato, "Fahrenheit 9/11" - rejecting calls from the feisty filmmaker that kids should be able to see...

HAMPTONS DIARY

REPUBLICAN restaurateur and adman Jerry Della Femina this week sent out invitations for his July 4th party that featured pictures of President Bush and John Kerry. Written above each image...

BUSH: PAPERS PROVE THERE'S NO 'TORTURE'

WASHINGTON - President Bush yesterday said, "I have never ordered torture" because it's "not a part of our soul" as the White House released documents about the treatment of prisoners....

ALBANY HANGS MIKE'S $400 REBATE PLAN OUT TO DRY

Chaos and inertia in Albany are jeopardizing Mayor Bloomberg's $400 tax rebate for Big Apple homeowners. The Republican-controlled Senate yesterday agreed to end its six-month legislative session without giving the...

HOOPS PLAYER SLAY SUSPECT

A former player in a fabled Harlem basketball league has been identified as a suspect in Monday's fatal shooting of a college-bound Bronx teenager, Rodney Wade, and wounding of his...

CRASH KILLS BEST PAL OF CYCLE RIDER

Motorcycles brought them together and, tragically, it was a motorcycle that ripped them apart. Killian Breen and Justin Soluri, 20-year-old best friends from Long Island, were riding together when they...

MOB GEEZER FINALLY GETS FIRST FELONY

A reputed capo in the Genovese crime family was sentenced yesterday - at age 63 - for his very first felony: attempted weapons possession. Anthony "Tough Tony" Federici, who last...

'SOPRANO' DOC - FEDS' MASSINO TALE RIGHT OUT OF HIT SHOW

FBI agents' colorful brushes with reputed mob boss Joseph Massino could give scriptwriters for "The Sopranos" a run for their money, an investigator who has spent years watching the Bonanno...

COPS GET 'DROP' ON SUSPECT

A Long Island crook who robbed three gas stations got towed away by cops - because he dropped his wallet at the scene of his last robbery, police said. Robbery...

WATTS ONE OF B'KLYN'S OLD-TIMERS

Derran Watts, who first joined the Cyclones for the team's playoff run two years ago, yesterday recalled his first impressions upon arriving in Brooklyn. "It was a little overwhelming," Watts...

SICKO GETS LIFE IN L.I. NEIGHBOR'S 1996 SLAY

It took more than eight years, but the fiend who strangled a 16-year-old Long Island cheerleader on a Mother's Day is finally serving time for the crime. Stephen Manolis, 44,...

N.Y. BANS PETS GONE WILD

There will be no more tigers moving into Harlem or anywhere else in New York, under a new law passed by the state Legislature yesterday. The law, which would be...

FAMILY-RAPE GIRL 'HAS THE MIND OF A 5-YEAR-OLD'

A 13-year-old motherless girl, whose father and two brothers are accused of raping and sodomizing her in their Brooklyn home, has "the mind of a 5-year-old" child, a neighbor said...

SUBWAY SLAY - CHAOS ON NO. 1 TRAIN AS 2 THUGS OPEN FIRE

Terrified commuters fled from the subway into the streets of Chelsea last night after a man was shot and killed aboard a train as it pulled into 23rd Street, police...

SUBWAY SLAY - CHAOS ON CHELSEA TRAIN AS THUG OPENS FIRE

Terrified commuters poured from the subway into the streets of Chelsea last night after a man was shot and killed aboard a train as it pulled into 23rd Street, police...

STATE TO EXPAND DNA DATABASE

ALBANY - The number of criminals who must give DNA samples to the state will soon expand dramatically under a last-minute deal worked out late last night between Gov. Pataki...

4-DRUG SEDATION KILLED 'FIRST WIVES' AUTHOR: AUTOPSY

Author Olivia Goldsmith died of complications from anesthesia during plastic surgery at a prestigious Manhattan hospital, which already has been fined for violating state health rules in the case, the...

FREDDY SHOCKER - $$ LINKED TO VELELLA SCANDAL

The probe of jailed state Sen. Guy Velella uncovered evidence linking mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer to key players in the influence-peddling scandal, according to bombshell documents obtained by The Post....

WRONG-FOOTED - LEGLESS 'RAPIST' IN HIT-PLOT BUST

A double amputee accused of raping a 78-year-old woman in a Brooklyn nursing home has been charged with trying to hire a hit man to whack the bedridden granny, the...

PLEAS IGNORED - RAPE CO-ED: BYSTANDERS WOULDN'T HELP

The petite Hofstra University student who was abducted, raped and beaten in a horrific fivehour ordeal near the Long Island campus desperately pleaded with passers-by for help as she was...

FREDDY SHOCKER - VELELLA PROBE LINKS $$-RAISER TO GOV'T LOAN

Investigators probing jailed state Sen. Guy Velella uncovered evidence linking mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer to key players in the influence-peddling scandal, according to bombshell court documents obtained by The Post....

ALBANY SLAPS REBATE - MIKE'S $400 GIVEBACK PLAN HUNG OUT TO DRY

Chaos and inertia in Albany are jeopardizing Mayor Bloomberg's $400 tax rebate for Big Apple homeowners. The Republican-controlled Senate yesterday agreed to end its sixmonth legislative session without giving the...

RED-HOT METS A-FIVE & KICKIN' - BACK OVER .500 AFTER FIFTH WIN IN ROW

They haven't occupied this position very often, so you would think the Mets, now a grand total of one game over .500, would revel a bit at finally attaining a...

STATES AIM HIGH IN BID TO MAKE HUNTING EASIER

NEW York and New Jersey have movements afoot to improve hunting opportunities while getting more people involved in the shooting sports. In both New York houses, the Senate and Assembly...

DEVS MAY PUT GOMEZ ON BLOCK

Draft time is trade time, and once more, Scott Gomez' name has been filling the air. Devils GM Lou Lamoriello has long resisted trading the 1998 first-rounder who has become...

'SPOON HAD PLANS FOR LIBS

Teresa Weatherspoon's 38-year old legs may not get her up and down the court as fast as they used to when she was an All-Star guard for the Liberty, but...

GRIFFEY JR. IS SAVORING THE MOMENT

When Ken Griffey Jr. arrived at Shea for yesterday's game as the newest member of the 500 home run club, he found the ceiling in the visiting clubhouse covered with...

THE RINGLEADER - SILER ATHENS-BOUND AFTER PAYING HIS DEBT

When he heard the ominous clang of the steel bars closing, Ron Siler Jr. still didn't think his Olympic boxing dreams could have just been locked away. No, it took...

HOWE: NO SOFT SPOTS IN SCHEDULE

MET NOTES Well, Art Howe was almost correct. He was a bit shaky on the facts but accurate in his portrayal of the upcoming stretch of games as incredibly demanding...

THERE'S A CATCH TO PIAZZA'S PLAY - TIME BEHIND PLATE AFTER STRUGGLING AT FIRST

It's been about six weeks since Mike Piazza turned into a first baseman almost exclusively, other than his turn at designated hitter when the interleague schedule recently arrived. That made...

MIKE, AMAZIN'S CAUGHT IN A BIND

AFTER being a first baseman, for better or worse, for virtually five straight weeks, Mike Piazza was behind the plate last night for the fourth straight game, basically because the...

SHOCKEY HAS FOOT SURGERY

GIANT NOTES Jeremy Shockey underwent surgery yesterday on his right foot and is expected to miss the first two weeks of Giants training camp, which begins July 29. Shockey opted...

OUT WITH BUM SHOULDER, BUT DL'S UNLIKELY

BALTIMORE - Saying he was "swinging with one arm" during the Dodger series, Yankee right fielder Gary Sheffield was out of the starting lineup last night after an MRI in...

RESTO TRYING TO SAVE FACE

A little over two months ago, junior welterweight Jeffrey Resto appeared to be verging on stardom. Several analysts labeled him as one of the top 40 up-and-comers in boxing. But...

NETS LOSE GRITTY SLAY TO 'CATS

The Charlotte Bobcats wanted youth. They wanted upside. They wanted talent. They wanted inexpensive. They got all that in the Nets' Tamar Slay. As expected, the Bobcats grabbed Slay, the...

SAME OLD KNICKS - ISIAH CAN'T SWING ANY PRE-DRAFT DEALS

The Knicks didn't get anything out of yesterday's expansion draft, nor will they get much out of tomorrow's draft of college players. The Knicks select 43rd today, and team president...

ISIAH: TELFAIR WILL MAKE IT

Isiah Thomas guided the Indiana Hoosiers to an NCAA championship before the Pistons drafted him, but that doesn't mean he thinks that everyone should take the same path to the...

EX-LIBS GET LAUGH AT GARDEN

Sparks 65 - Liberty >49 The Liberty's latest loss last night against Los Angeles didn't just fall out of the ugly tree - it hit every branch on the way...

MIKE, AMAZIN'S FACING CATCH-22

AFTER being a first baseman for virtually five straight weeks, Mike Piazza was behind the plate last night for the fourth straight game, basically because the Mets left themselves no...

WATTS SHEDS SOME LIGHT ON BROOKLYN

Cyclones 4 - Renegades 3 Derran Watts, who first joined the Cyclones for their playoff run two years ago, yesterday recalled his first impressions upon arriving in Brooklyn. "It was...

'O,' YEAH! MOOSE OK - MIKE'S STRONG IN MOUND RETURN VERSUS ORIOLES

Yankees 10 - Orioles 4 BALTIMORE - Mike Mussina passed his first live test last night, and the Yankees hope his right groin injury no longer is a strain on...

GINTER, MET 'PEN SLOW GRIFFEY JR.

Ken Griffey Jr. arrived in Flushing still basking in the afterglow of his milestone career 500th home run in Sunday's win. The Mets saw to it that he didn't get...

SHOULDER PUTS SHEFF ON SHELF

BALTIMORE - Saying he was "swinging with one arm" during the Dodger series, Yankee right fielder Gary Sheffield was out of the starting lineup last night after an MRI in...