September 23, 1999

TOBACCO STOCKS GET BURNED BY FED LAWSUIT

The value of five top tobacco stocks fell by $4.1 billion yesterday after the U.S. government filed a long-expected suit against the industry. The suit, for tens of billions of...

SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES WHEN YOU CALL B&W

The Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation loves you. Really, it does. The Internet has been buzzing about a pre-recorded message that greets callers when they ring up the customer service...

300 COULD LOSE LEASE AT NY LIFE

There's a ticking time bomb at New York Life Insurance Co. as close to 300 employees wait to hear if their jobs will survive a cost-cutting program. The nation's fifth-largest...

BOO DEBUT OVERDUE; FASHION SITE TAKING ITS TIME DRESSING ROOM

Where in the world is Boo.com? Since May, the eagerly anticipated fashion website has been written up in Vogue, Fortune Magazine, the Washington Post and a host of other newspapers...

HOLLYWOOD'S A-LIST CRAVES HARRY POTTER

"I know Steven is interested - but so are a lot of other guys." SPIELBERG SPOKESMAN Hollywood's hottest directors are battling each other for the chance to take on a...

DELLA & JAMES GET HITCHED

Jeff Bezos is strolling down the aisle with Della & James. Amazon.com is buying 20 per cent of the wedding-gift registry business as both companies seek to extend their reach....

CANDIE'S GOES SOUR: RESTATES EARNINGS; UNDER SEC PROBE

Candie's has been betting that racy ads with Alyssa Milano, Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman will boost sales - but it's going to take more than vamping to fix the...

PET-FOOD MOGUL PARTS WITH PET PROJECT

Leonard Stern is a driven competitor with a net worth estimated by Forbes magazine at $2.4 billion derived from his Hartz Mountain pet food empire, real estate holdings and Stern...

VOICE UP FOR GRABS STERN PUTS PUBLISHING EMPIRE ON BLOCK

Pet Food king Leonard Stern stunned the publishing world by hanging out a for sale sign on his Stern Publishing operation - which includes the Village Voice. Industry sources speculate...

SHE MAY BE GREEN, BUT SHE KNOWS BLUES

ROCK REVIEW SHANNON Curfman is an able guitarist and an authoritative singer who's able to pack her notes with punch and plenty of rough passion. Some might also call her...

SUNDAY MORNING SHAKE-UP CLAIMS THE CREATOR OF SAM & COKIE SHOW

THE longtime chief and creator of ABC's Sunday morning, political show, "This Week," abruptly resigned yesterday. Dorrance Smith, who along with newsman David Brinkley pioneered the Sunday morning political show...

BACK IN THESING OF THINGS

I T'S been 30 years since Lana Cantrell made headlines as a sultry pop star, appeared naked on her swan-song album and was featured at Playboy nightclubs around the nation....

LIVELY 'CAMINO' STILL A CURIOSITY

THEATER REVIEW HARTFORD, Conn. - Since its debut on Broadway in 1953, "Camino Real" has always been seen as Tennessee Williams' most fascinating failure. It's a dream work set on...

TV TICKER

Taste test How much Greg Brady can you handle? Tolerance for the "Brady Bunch" character and his alter-ego Barry Williams will be tested over the next few days. Williams will...

BACK ON TV: SEINFELD'S SILENT PARTNER

'SEINFELD" co-creator Larry David is returning to TV with a little help from his friends. Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander each make separate appearances in David's new HBO special titled...

'MILLIONAIRE' IS A DAILY AFFAIR

PLANS are underway to turn the smash-hit game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" into a daily program in national syndication, The Post has learned. Disney-owned Buena Vista, which...

'TAXICAB' ONEHAIL OF A PLAY

"A lot of people see cab drivers as inanimate objects ... I wanted to whack passengers over the head so they realize they're human."- Gary Gere MANY a New Yorker...

DIVORCE LAW DOESN'T KNOW $5 FROM $5 MIL

PUBLIC opinion may not be on the side of Patricia Duff and Phyllis Redstone, but the law might well be. Both women have been accused of trying to gouge their...

MEET A UNIQUE TYPE OF SOCIALITE

YESTERDAY Camilla Parker Bowles attended an elite, eclectic luncheon at the Park Avenue home of Brooke Astor. The queen of New York society invited a group including Michael Douglas, Catherine...

'ROCKY' II: WITH A SEQUEL TO HIS LAST "PICTURE SHOW," CREATOR RICHARD O'BRIEN DOES THE TIME WARP, AGAIN

HAUL out those fishnets and dust off those stilettos - a sequel to the campy cult classic "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is in the works. Richard O'Brien, the eccentric...

'THIRD WATCH' LOOKS LIKE NYC

"Third Watch" Tonight at10 p.m., and Sunday at 8 p.m. on WNBC/Ch.4 THINGS move at warp speed in "Third Watch" but not quickly enough to keep us from realizing we've...

BUCHANAN'S INSIDIOUS BIGOTRY: POLITICS OF HATE BELIE HIS 'NICE GUY' IMAGE

ONE big difference between B movies and real life is that in real life some villains are likable and fun to be around. Patrick Buchanan fits this confusing category. He...

HILLARY, GUARD YOUR BACK; DEM REGULARS DON'T WANT THEIR PARTY DEVOTED TO HER AMBITIONS

Not a single leading New York Democrat stands to benefit substantially from Hillary's elevation to the U.S. Senate. DANIEL Patrick Moynihan will endorse the presidential candidacy of Bill Bradley this...

MUDSLIDES NEW WOE AS DEATH TOLL TOPS 2,000

Hopes faded for the survival of more than 2,600 people trapped in the rubble of Taiwan's earthquake yesterday after three powerful new aftershocks triggered mudslides and snarled rescue efforts. The...

'HUMAN SHIELD' L.I. OFFICER GETS MEDAL FOR SAVING WOMAN

Suffolk County hero cop Marlene Loos was honored yesterday for courageously shielding a civilian from bullets - after she'd been shot herself - in an attack by a berserk man....

BIDDER UP! BASEBALL GOODIES GO ON SALE

"This is the biggest baseball-memorabilia auction in history. This is going to be unbelievable."SOTHEBY'S MATTHEW WEIGMAN Looking to be fashionable this fall? Babe Ruth's underwear and pajamas might be your...

A FLASHBACK TO HER BAD OLD DIVA DAYS

Diana Ross' outburst at a London airport is a mirror image of her often rude, boorish and insulting behavior in the '60s and '70s, her biographer said. "What she did...

LAUNCHING A FITTING TRIBUTE:BOATS NAMED FOR SLAIN COPS

The NYPD Harbor Fleet yesterday dedicated its newest rescue launches on Randalls Island in memory of three city officers killed in the line of duty. As the widows of the...

IT'S TIME TO ERADICATE DIVA DEVIANCY

THE epidemic is growing like a cancer. As toxic as a Queens mosquito. As loathsome as Hillary Clinton in a swimsuit. The remedy to this scourge may sound harsh. But...

UNION MAY LOSE LIRR JOBS IN BID TO HIRE DISABLED

The Long Island Rail Road yesterday said it plans to boot 40 janitors at Penn Station and replace them with disabled and mentally ill people. In doing so, the LIRR...

PAT PUTS HILL IN VICE BY BACKING BRADLEY

HILLARY CLINTON is in a bit of a pickle thanks to Sen. Daniel P. Moynihan's endorsement today of Bill Bradley for president. For starters, it hikes the chance that Bradley...

HOSP WANTED RECORDS 'DOCTORED': DIETITIANS

Two nutritionists charge their bosses at Lincoln Hospital pressed them to fake medical records to hide shoddy patient care. Leslie Rosen and Linda DiBaggio have told Public Advocate Mark Green...

SEIZURES OF STUDENTS' WEAPONS JUMPS 24%

Weapons seizures in schools have risen sharply in the last school year, the mayor's annual management report says. It said the number of confiscated guns, knives and other dangerous objects...

RIKERS VISITORS JUST ASKING FOR TROUBLE

New York's dumbest criminals are showing up at the jailhouse door, just begging to be arrested, new crime figures show. From grannies with drugs in their bras to felons on...

BANK OF N.Y. BOSS: WE SLIPPED UP - ALLOWED A SUSPICIOUS $7.5B TO FLOW IN ACCTS.

Mistakes were made. That's what the Bank of New York chairman told Congress yesterday at hearings into allegations the Russian mob laundered vast sums of money through accounts at the...

MTA IN A SORRY STATE OVER NOT-SO-EZPASS

A top MTA official apologized yesterday for providing disastrous service to thousands ofE-ZPass users who couldn't access their accounts by phone or Internet because of technical glitches. "As a customer,...

LATINS MIFFED BY BADILLO TALK ON IMMIGRANTS

Newly appointed CUNY Chairman Herman Badillo yesterday got off on the wrong foot with fellow Hispanics when he said Mexican and Dominicans "do not have a history of education in...

PARKS BOSS EAT$ CROW OVER CONCERT; EXCLUSIVE

The Parks Department has been forced to give up $700,000 of the $1 million fee it got for Sheryl Crow's concert in Central Park, The Post has learned. Sources said...

DIANA ROSS IS 'BUST-ED' IN BRITAIN - AIRPORT PAT-DOWN LEADS TO TIT-FOR-TAT WITH GUARD

Supreme diva Diana Ross said last night she was scared and humiliated when a security guard patted down her breasts "and between my legs" while frisking the singer at London's...

SECOND AVE. SUBWAY'S A VERY DISTANT SECOND IN MTA'S PLAN$

Long Island Rail Road commuters are big winners in the MTA's new, five-year, $15 billion capital building program. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority proposes spending "well over" $1 billion to build...

JUDGE'S MOVE IN CASH CLASH - REVLON RON & DUFF REST EPIC CHILD-SUPPORT BATTLE

The final bell rang in the bruising child-support fight between billionaire Ron Perelman and multimillionaire Patricia Duff yesterday - and now both sides are waiting to see the judge's scorecard....

FBI AGENTS' TRIE-HOUSE SHOCKER

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department refused to probe allegations that President Clinton did favors for fat cats and barred the FBI from searching his pal Charlie Trie's house, FBI agents...

HIZZONER GIVE CITY - AND HIMSELF - AN A - JOB GROWTH, TOURISM UP

Mayor Giuliani, who's gearing up for a likely U.S. Senate run, announced yesterday that the Big Apple is shinier than ever - once again breaking its own records for safety,...

PLAYBOY LOSES IN SABLE WRANGLE

Playboy magazine, which went to the mat over its edition featuring wrestling siren Sable, lost by court decision yesterday. A judge ruled that the mag's October cover infringed on the...

BABY AMERIKAN SAYS KOSO-LONG TO U.S.

Baby Amerikan is now Baby Kosovo. The infant boy - whose birth inspired the nation as the first Albanian Kosovar born during a refugee exodus to the United States this...

FIRST LADY'S IN NO HURRY TO BE FIRST ONE IN THE RACE; EXCLUSIVE

First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to keep New Yorkers waiting - and probably won't announce until next year whether she will run for the U.S. Senate, The Post has...

LOCA-MOTIVATED FANS SCREAM FOR RICKY AT GARDEN

Fans went loco for heartthrob Ricky Martin last night, screaming and crying and offering to marry him. Everyone from teenyboppers to married mamas to gushing grannies was swept up in...

2 DEAD, 2 HURT IN E. SIDE SHOOTOUT

Two men were killed and two were wounded in a wild shootout that sent terrified passers-by ducking for cover on the East Side of Manhattan yesterday, police said. The victims...

U.N. TIMOR TROOPS' HANDS FULL WITH MILITIAS, SNIPERS

United Nations peacekeepers in East Timor clashed with Indonesian troops and militia members and came under sniper fire yesterday as the international force struggled to gain control of the bloodied...

FBI BLAMES JUSTICE FOR STRANGLING PREZ PROBE

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department refused to probe allegations that President Clinton did favors for fat cats and barred the FBI from searching his pal Charlie Trie"s house, FBI agents...

TROOPS HAVE HANDS FULL WITH BOTH SIDES IN TIMOR CONFLICT

Desperate to keep everything under control in East Timor yesterday, international peacekeeping troops stopped crowds of hungry refugees from looting a warehouse full of food, and continued to disarm pro-Indonesian...

GALVIN'S LAWYERS BLAST NYRA

Attorneys representing Dr. Michael Galvin in his long battle with NYRA stormed out of a hearing before closing arguments were presented yesterday, claiming NYRA has suppressed documents relevant to the...

LUNDMARK EYES NO. 2 SLOT

With eight days and four more exhibition matches to go before next Friday's opener in Edmonton: Jamie Lundmark, the precocious 18-year-old freshman, is making a late - if still very...

EURO CUPPERS CARRY HEAVY BAGGAGE

BROOKLINE, Mass. - Jose Maria Olazabal has won two Masters where the pressure of navigating the back nine on a Sunday at Augusta National can make even the steadiest of...

'OIL'S' WELL FOR SEHORN RETURN

Everybody's going to know exactly how far from being where I was to where I need to be really quickly."JASON SEHORN Now he knows how the Tin Man felt. "I'm...

TUNA FIGHTING SELF DOUBT AMONG JETS

They are professionals and millionaires and weaned on machismo, to never admit doubt or show uncertainty. But Bill Parcells is under no such obligation, and admitted yesterday that self-doubt is...

JETS GET THEIR SHOT AT SLOWING REDSKINS

JET NOTES As if the 0-2 Jets didn't have enough worries, now they find themselves preparing for Sunday's game with Washington and the hottest offense in football. The Redskins are...

OSCAR: I'LL OK MSG REMATCH ; WILL FIGHT TRINIDAD 'ANYWHERE, ANYTIME'

"I won't go as far as to say [Don King] paid anyone off, but I think his influence had something to do with the decision."OSCAR DE LA HOYA Oscar De...

JINTS PUT 'BAD DREAM' BEHIND 'EM

GIANT NOTES Jim Fassel called the Giants together, as usual, following yesterday's practice and gave what players said was an impassioned plea designed to motivate a team that is determined...

PAYNE IN THE GRASS: STEWART COULD BE EURO'S WORST NIGHTMARE

BROOKLINE, Mass. - He's a dead solid lock to be a Payne in the Europeans' arse at the highly-anticipated Ryder Cup this week. Payne Stewart, after a two-Ryder Cup absence...

BEVO OK AFTER KNEE SURGERY

Bevo, winner of Sunday's Futurity, is doing well after surgery on his left knee performed Tuesday at the New Jersey Equine Clinic. The injury, suffered during the race, ended his...

THE EUROPEAN JAMES GANG PLAYING POSSE

RYDER CUP NOTES BROOKLINE, Mass. - Another day of listening to the Europeans lament their status as underdogs for this week's Ryder Cup and the PGA of America and European...

HEAT'S ON LEITER TO BEAT MADDUX

ATLANTA - Facing John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux in successive games is enough to jar the Mets into a new-found respect for the wild card, as well as...

VG: EWING WOULD BE BONUS

Jeff Van Gundy has moved on. After three years of watching Patrick Ewing's body break down, the ultimate Ewing loyalist no longer clings to the belief the team needs a...

BOSS: BRIAN STILL MY GM

George Steinbrenner says Yankee GM Brian Cashman has not been demoted or lost any authority with the ascension of Mark Newman to the title of director of baseball operations. "That's...

MILBURY CLEANS UP LUONGO MESS

Upon learning, from reporters no less, that he was headed to Lowell of the AHL, 20-year-old phenom goaltender Roberto Luongo was summoned to the office of Islanders GM Mike Milbury...

CHIPPER & BRAVES AMAZE METS AGAIN : BOBBY V'S CRES DROPS 3 BEHIND IN HL EAST CHASE

ATLANTA - Ask the Mets about the wild-card today and they probably would say it is the best innovation baseball has made since outlawing the spitball. More and more it...

ROCKER: I HATE THE METS: PUMPED-UP CLOSER HAS NO LOVE FOR NY

ATLANTA -Turns out there was a very good reason Braves closer John Rocker was so pumped up in his team's 2-1 win over the Mets Tuesday night when he struck...

COX TURNS BRAVES INTO 8TH WONDERS

ATLANTA - Call it Catch 22. The top of the eighth inning last night at Turner Field was 22 minutes of baseball strategy. In the end, the Braves came up...

OH BOBBY! THE MAGIC'S MISSING

ATLANTA - It was a tale of three Bobbys and they all got what they wanted when the bases were loaded and Terry Mulholland was throwing his warmup tosses. Bobby...

IT'S SET-UP OR UPSET FOR YANKS: STANTON, NELLIE HOLD KEY TO TITLE REPEAT

ONE OF the greatest post-season pitching performers in major league history returned to his home field last night to the kind of tumultuous welcome reserved every day for mailmen, gasstation...

TURK TWEAKS KNEE; KENNY TO MISS TURN

MET NOTES ATLANTA - Turk Wendell injured his left knee Tuesday night and Bobby Valentine said he wasn't available to be used in last night's 5-2 loss to the Braves,...

BOBBY V FINDS OUT DOTEL'S NO RELIEF

ATLANTA - It was a situation slightly similar to Jay Payton getting thrown out at third base here last year. The Mets were victims of more rookie miscues last night...

BRAVES SHOW HOW TO DO IT IN CLUTCH

ATLANTA - So far this series the Mets have seen why the Braves have won seven straight division titles. They do all the little things right. That is the difference...

PATHETIC RERUN HAS FAMILIAR ENDING

ATLANTA - The names on the Braves' uniforms change, from Wohlers to Ligtenburg to Rocker, from Lopez to Perez, from Blauser to Weiss to Hernandez, from Galarraga to Simon, but...

MOTOR-MOUTH DUNSTON ADMIRES QUIET MATES

ATLANTA - Late September losses have a way of making a room grow silent. Silence breeds nervousness breeds more late September losses. There isn't a room big enough - not...