July 14, 2000

DUELING ANALYSTS MOUTHING OFF OVER ONE CHIP SHOT

WALL Street is usually a very polite place. But there was some trash talk going on between two analysts recently that had them sounding like rappers. The battle started out...

RITE AID'S NEW CEO IS SORRY HE SIGNED ON

If I'd only known ... Two days after Rite Aid announced that it was restating two years and $1 billion in earnings, its new chairman and CEO all but said...

LEHMAN'S BIG DEAL - SET TO BUY SG COWEN PRIVATE CLIENT UNIT

Lehman Brothers is close to inking a deal to buy SG Cowen's private client group, The Post has learned. The deal, which could be announced as early as Monday, would...

BREAKFAST OF WHAT? - PILLSBURY & GENERAL MILLS EYE MIXING IT UP

Pillsbury owner Diageo PLC and Wheaties maker General Mills may merge Pillsbury with General Mills, but Wall Streeters aren't sure they like the deal. "The combination lacks large and obvious...

JANUS' BAILEY REAPS $1.3B ON STILWELL'S SPINOFF DAY

Call Janus founder Thomas Bailey the $1.3 billion man. Kansas City Southern Industries, the railroad company that accidentally found itself in the money management business, officially completed its spin-off of...

IMAX SHOOTS FOR BIG SALE

A giant "For Sale" sign went up over IMAX Corp. yesterday. The giant-screen movie company called in Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Wasserstein, Perella & Co. as financial advisors to...

WARNER GETS WELCH BOOK FOR $7M

Warner has beat out HarperCollins to win publishing rights to Jack Welch's memoirs. Warner will pay $7 million for the rights to publish the memoirs of General Electric's CEO -...

MESSIER: DEAL'S ON, DILLER'S IN

The second full day of Herb Allen's summer camp for moguls picked up momentum as most of the heavyweights slowly trickled into the Sun Valley Lodge. Bill Gates, the sometime-richest...

'X'-EXCPETIONAL: GOOD-LOOKING 'MEN' WILL HAVE ITS COMIC BOOK FANS CHEERING

X-MEN i An entertaining adaptation of the classic comic book, boasting excellent special effects and sets. Starring Patrick Stewart, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Rebecca Romjin-Stamos and...

CHICKS AIN'T HICKS! - DALLAS DARLINGS NOT JUST WHISTLING DIXIE

THE Dixie Chicks are redefining what country music is, and expanding its audience in ways the Nashville good ol' boy establishment would never have dreamed of a decade ago. The...

KEEP THIS TURKEY IN THE DARK

DESPITE any number of speeded-up shots of nighttime traffic on the L.A. freeways, "Shadow Hours" is one of the most boring films of the year. A movie that purports to...

AFFRONT TO 'SENSES'

FAKE-sounding dialogue, some over-deliberate performances and five amazingly trite linked stories ensure that "The Five Senses" a somber, underlit film from Canadian writer-director Jeremy Podeswa, is almost comically portentous. It...

THE STARR REPORT

Jeff gets 'Fee' pass There's a motif framing Jeff Probst's work these days: Prizes and fire. The "Survivor" host is teaming with James Earl Jones for an independent movie, "Finders...

A HISTORY LESSON IN KENNEDYS 'CURSE'

"Kennedys: The Curseof Power" 9 p.m. tomorrow on History Channel ½ for normal people for tabloid junkies IF your idea of fine fiction is a cheesy supermarket tabloid, then "Kennedys:...

BLACK COMEDY FALLS FLAT, GOES BOOM

SOMETIMES a movie is less than the sum of its parts.There is a wonderful scene in "It's the Rage," in which Gary Sinise plays Morgan, a people-phobic computer billionaire -...

LATER, ALLIGATOR: 'WISDOM' MAKES NO SENSE

'THE Wisdom of Crocodiles" is this season's "Eye of the Beholder" - a stylish but incoherent British thriller turning up in theaters here only because its star went on to...

GRETCHEN:'SURVIVOR'NOT WORTHSURVIVING

NOW things on "Survivor" island are getting really nutty. Just as everyone's favorite to win "Survivor" gets booted off the island, there are signs that Rudy Boesch, the crabby, 72-year-old...

BUCKING TRENDS

ALMOST too creepy to be poignant, and generally funny only in an uncomfortable, squirm-in-your seat way, the indie dark comedy "Chuck & Buck" is still a remarkable and original achievement,...

'STAR WARS' PREQUEL GETS JIMMY SMITS

ACTOR Jimmy Smits is joining the cast of "Star Wars: Episode II," the film's official Web site announced yesterday. Smits is playing the role of Senator Bail Organa of the...

THROW OUT THE CLOWNS

A friend of mine was denied admittance to "Filao" when she arrived at 8 p.m. at Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park and discovered the one-ring, 75-minute circus show began at 7....

'FOLLIES' IS STILL A GO - PRODUCERS MULL SPRING OPENING ON BROADWAY

RUMORS were rife on Broadway this week that the Roundabout Theater Co. had canceled its much-anticipated revival of Stephen Sondheim and the late James Goldman's 1971 musical "Follies." That, I...

THE SONS OF THE FATHERS - GORE SHOULD TREAD CAREFULLY - HE'S A SCION, TOO

AL GORE loves cheap, ad-hominem shots - remember how he tried to suggest that Bill Bradley was somehow to blame for racial profiling because it "practically began" in Bradley's home...

BRATTON IS MULLING BID TO BECOME NEXT MAYOR

Former NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton has his eye on another top city job - mayor. Bratton told The Post he's been "testing the waters" for a 2001 run, meeting with...

ISRAELIS PUT SINGER 'CAT' OUT THE DOOR

Former pop star Cat Stevens was booted from Israel hours after he arrived - for giving money to a militant Islamic group on his last visit. Defense Ministry officials ordered...

NO GAS-PIPE LEAK AT BROOKLYN ROW HOUSES

A test of the gas pipes serving two Brooklyn row houses demolished in a huge explosion showed no leak, officials told The Post yesterday. Fire officials have said they suspect...

EX-NY. HONCHO'S RETURN HANGS IN BALANCE

Televised images of Philadelphia cops kicking an ex-con after a wild shootout and car chase presents a big hurdle for Police Commissioner John Timoney's potential return to head New York's...

SPRINT CHAMP'S RUN OF BAD LUCK

Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson made a mad dash through the streets of Rome after a gang of Italian Gypsies swiped his wallet containing $8,000. Pedestrians watched in amazement as the...

IT LOOKS LIKE KOCH IS HEDGING HIS BETS

IT'S getting hard to tell whom Ed Koch is rooting for in New York's Senate race. The Democratic former mayor has endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton - but he recently sent...

ED. BOARD MUM ON KID SEX ACTS

ARE the city's youngest public-school kids at risk of being sexually molested - by tiny kids their own age? Parents, principals and child psychologists have been calling all week. And...

EGAN REAPPOINTS O'CONNOR AIDES

Archbishop Edward Egan has appointed John Cardinal O'Connor's top aide as one of his chief leaders in the Archdiocese of New York. Monsignor Gregory Mustaciuolo, longtime secretary to the late...

CAMP DAVID NEIGHBORS: WE'VE SEEN THIS ALL BEFORE

THURMONT, Md. - The big excitement in this rustic old mountain town on the Maryland-Pennsylvania border is not the Mideast summit at Camp David - it's the Fireman's Carnival just...

MOYNIHAN EYES NEW PROF GIG

WASHINGTON - Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who recently put his upstate New York farmhouse on the market, is weighing a new job at Georgetown University. "It's just one of the...

NYPD'S NO. 2 GUY QUITS FOR CORPORATE JOB

The NYPD's second-highest ranking cop quit yesterday for a high-paying corporate job - passing up on a shot at succeeding Commissioner Howard Safir. First Deputy Commissioner Patrick Kelleher - who...

CON ED'S POWER DIP SHORTENS RUDY'S FUSE

Mayor Giuliani zapped Con Ed again yesterday after a brief power dip caused lights to flicker all over the Big Apple. "I don't know why lights have to blink on...

WHY IS 'DIZZY' DUFF IN A HOSP?

An ailing Patricia Duff checked herself into the hospital yesterday for exhaustion - but lawyers for billionaire ex-husband Ron Perelman suspect she might be playing hooky from their date in...

MANHATTAN MURDERS DROP

Manhattan is winning its war against drug lords - and the payoff is a plummeting homicide rate, the borough's top prosecutor said yesterday. In fact, the homicide rate in Manhattan...

RICK SCORES A HIT IN NEW CAMPAIGN AD BY HIS MISSUS

Senate candidate Rick Lazio's "better half" - wife Patricia - is going after Hillary Rodham Clinton in an unusual new commercial that hit the airwaves yesterday. "It's a shame Mrs....

MATA HARI HEADS OFF - FEMME FATALE'S SKULL SWIPED FROM MUSEUM

The mummified head of famed World War I spy Mata Hari has vanished from a Paris museum that displays the remains of notorious criminals. The missing head had been in...

EX-N.Y. HONCHO'S RETURN HANGS IN BALANCE

Televised images of Philadelphia cops kicking an ex-con after a wild shootout and car chase presents a big hurdle for Police Commissioner John Timoney's potential return to head New York's...

BRADLEY ENDORSES EX-FOE AL

WASHINGTON - Bill Bradley finally used the "e" word - as in "endorse" - to describe his support for his one-time Democratic presidential rival Al Gore. The two, who fought...

'HEALTHIER' KIDS STILL HOOKED ON CIGS, DRUGS

American kids are healthier than ever - except when it comes to risky behaviors like taking drugs, drinking booze and smoking, a government survey says. In addition, nearly 20 percent...

ARNOLD VACATIONS SCHWARZEN-NAKED

I'll be backside! That seemed to be the message Arnold Schwarzenegger was sending as he unabashedly bared his butt during a break at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port. The...

'DRUG' COLONEL GETS FIVE MONTHS

A Brooklyn federal judge sentenced a narcotics-fighting U.S. Army colonel to five months behind bars for the "betrayal of trust" he caused by not telling authorities his wife was laundering...

CREDIT-CARD CABS OFF TO A FAST START

The city's medallion taxi fleet entered the cash-free age yesterday when 50 cabs equipped to take credit cards hit the streets. They're expected to be joined by 250 more credit-card...

CLERK ADMITS STEALING DIARY IN MALCOLM X MURDER CASE

A Manhattan court clerk yesterday admitted swiping from an evidence safe the bloodstained, bullet-pocked diary Malcolm X had in his vest pocket when he was assassinated in 1965. The admission...

BUSH IS COUNTING ON HILL'S 'HELP' TO CARRY N.Y.

Republican George W. Bush says he thinks he can win New York - with Hillary Rodham Clinton's help. "I believe the Lazio-Mrs. Clinton race helps my chances, because I think...

ARAFAT EMBRACE STILL HAUNTS HILL

For the first time since entering the Senate race, Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday discussed in detail her embrace of Suha Arafat last year - saying it will be an issue...

BUSH FLYING WITHOUT A WINGMAN

PITTSBURGH - George W. Bush is a happy warrior on the campaign bus, though a bit preoccupied, as if something is flickering, churning away in the back of his mind....

VOLPE APPEAL MAY COST HIM, JUDGES HINT

Justin Volpe's bid to get time knocked off his prison term may have backfired yesterday - a panel of appeals-court judges implied they might actually increase the sentence for the...

FEDS PROBE BEATING BY PHILLY COPS - BUST MAY VIOLATE RIGHTS OF 'ONE-MAN CRIMEWAVE'

Federal prosecutors yesterday leapt into the controversy set off by the Philadelphia cops caught on TV beating and kicking a carjacking suspect who had shot at police and stolen a...

IT'S NIGHT & DAZE FOR THIS DEDICATED SUMMER-SCHOOLER

Meet Jill Vecchione of Brooklyn, the hardest-working student in summer school - she's attending classes dawn and dusk in Brooklyn and Manhattan. "I'm one of the most dedicated summer-school students...

WITNESSES: HE HAD EVERY REASON TO FLEE

PHILADELPHIA. THIS city is convulsing over the videotaped smackdown of carjacking suspect Thomas Jones, but some people here are recalling with horror the first beating they say cops administered. Bertha...

NEW EXAM INDEX TELLS WHO'S MAKING GRADE

State education officials yesterday unveiled a tougher system for grading schools based on how their students do on math and reading exams. The new "School Accountability Performance Index" phases out...

MOM SAW SON BEING BATTERED LIVE ON TV

PHILADELPHIA - Thomas Jones' mother watched the live video of police officers attacking a suspect Wednesday afternoon - without realizing the man being beaten and kicked was her son. "She...

HAWAII HOWIE'S NEW GAL ; FROLICS ON THE BEACH WITH A BLOND STUNNER

Howard Stern and his new sweetheart, on the balcony of their $6,500-a-day villa in Hawaii, "were hugging and kissing and had their arms around each other every minute. There's no...

EAST VILLAGE WAREHOUSE TUMBLES - ILLEGAL CONSTRUCTION EYED AS ANTIQUE TREASURES ARE LOST

A Manhattan warehouse chock-full of architectural treasures was ordered demolished last night after a partial collapse left a gaping two-story hole in the building. City officials were investigating whether illegal...

CLEAN UP THIS MESS! THOSE ARE MARK'S MARCHING ORDERS -- BUT IT WON'T BE EASY

IN 1991 Mark Messier came to New York to teach a young and energetic band of players how to win. Now, nine years later, Messier comes back to teach an...

GREAT EXPECTATIONS ARE FIRMLY ON YANKS

The front office has come through again. Now, the pressure is firmly on the Yankees to get to the World Series for the third straight season. The lineup needed muscle...

MIKE DOESN'T EVEN THINK ABOUT DUCKING MARTINEZ

BOSTON - It didn't take George Steinbrenner ordering his public relations staff to research the number of batters Pedro Martinez has hit this season (11) in comparison to Roger Clemens...

BOBBY V TO BOSS: STAY OUT OF PLAYERS' ARENA

MET NOTES BOSTON - Bobby Valentine shot back at The Boss before last night's game against the Red Sox. Valentine's message to George Steinbrenner - who said the Mets were...

COMING UP SHORT: MORA'S MISCUE MURDERS THE METS

Red Sox 4 Mets 3 BOSTON - Melvin Mora walked slowly off the field at Fenway Park last night as the Red Sox celebrated their 4-3, come-from-behind win over the...

BOMBERS SERVE NOTICE: GO AHEAD, TRY TO CATCH US

THE Yankees offered this simple direct message last night to the Mets, Mike Piazza, hitters who dive across the plate, the American League, small market teams and all of baseball....

FACING THE CHIN MUSIC: PIAZZA RETURNS AGAINST FIREBALLING MARTINEZ

BOSTON - At around 2 p.m. yesterday, not only did Mike Piazza do something he hadn't done since Saturday when he was beaned by Roger Clemens, he did something he...

BERNIE: ROCKET BEANING HARD TO FORGET

Obviously, Bernie Williams remembers Roger Clemens hitting him in the head because it's not every day a 95-mph fastball goes off in your ear. However, Williams doesn't recall many of...

PRESSURE MOUNTS ON YANKS: GREAT EXPECTATIONS AFTER NEAGLE DEAL

The front office has come through again. Now, the pressure is firmly on the uniforms to get the Yankees to the World Series for the third straight season. The lineup...

DRIVEN TO TEARS: MISTY MESSIER RETURNS TO CAPTAIN & REBUILD RANGERS

The emotions were raw and the tears were real. Mark Messier, Prince of the City, had arrived on Broadway for the Garden ceremony yesterday morning announcing his return home. And...

EL DUQUE NO CAN DO: GOPHER BALLS FATAL IN LOSS TO MARLINS

Marlins 11 Yankees 9 After watching the low-budget Marlins spank Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez last night at Yankee Stadium, Denny Neagle may be on the way up the Yankees' pitching...

BOBBY TO BOSS: QUIET DOWN!

MET NOTES BOSTON - Bobby Valentine shot back at The Boss before last night's 4-3 loss to the Red Sox. Valentine's message to George Steinbrenner - who said the Mets...

ELVIS IS ALIVE AND WELL

Elvis lives. And he is currently playing third base for the Staten Island Yankees. Elvis Corporan, that is. Corporan was a 31st-round pick for the Yanks in the June 1998...

SELECTIVE MEMORY: HOW QUICKLY MET FANS FORGET CHIPPER PLEAS

AS with most controversies in this town, the Roger Clemens- Mike Piazza hassle includes a surplus of fan and media hypocrisy. This past September, when Chipper Jones personally took charge...

ENJOY THE BUFFET!

FLUKE fishing continues to lead the pack for anglers along the north and south shores of Long Island, while tuna fishing appears to be picking up the slack for offshore...

GOLD RUSH BEGINS AT OLYMPIC TRIALS

SACRAMENTO - As many as 117 Olympic berths are on the line. More than 1,200 athletes with the grandest of dreams will compete in 39 events. And 10 world record...

LEMIEUX GOOD AS GONE

This ends that. Owner of the team for another 12 days, John McMullen told The Post yesterday that he doesn't think the Devils can keep Stanley Cup charm Claude Lemieux....

MCRAE LEAVES PROUD LEGACY

Since The Post broke the tragic news Tuesday about the shocking death of former Syracuse and Brooklyn Tech star Conrad McRae on Monday, many readers have called to express their...

SAMAKE MAKING BIG IMPRESSION

NET NOTES Veteran NBA journeyman Marty Conlon noticed the stride in his running. Nets center Evan Eschmeyer saw the timing. Point guard Stephon Marbury was impressed by the athleticism. And...

ANNIKA: WYKAGYL GOOD OPEN PREP

CLASSIC NOTES The JAL Big Apple Classic, played at Wykagyl Country Club, may not become a major on the LPGA Tour, but the players hope it will always be played...

BYRON LAYS DOWN LAW

It was merely the start of a mini-camp to determine players for a summer league roster. But new Nets coach Byron Scott wasted no time at all in stressing three...

JETS GUNG HO FOR CAMP GROH

For a club whose coach retired, whose best player got traded and whose quarterback missed almost all of last season with a ruptured Achilles tendon, the Jets sure have the...

PERFECT FILLY EYES SWEET 16 ; HALLOWED DREAMS A GODSEND

The dark bay filly's name is taken from the Lord's Prayer, and she runs with power and glory. In all 15 starts, at distances from 4½ to 6½ furlongs, Hallowed...

FRENCH PHANTOM AWOL

The Frederic Weis Watch continues. The 7-2 French phantom was again AWOL from the second day of the Knicks' summer-league workout camp at Fairfield University and the Knicks still had...

SHAREEF SYDNEY-BOUND

The Vancouver Grizzlies' Shareef Abdur-Rahim has been named to the USA Basketball team to compete in this summer's Olympic Games. Abdur-Rahim, who averaged a double-double this season for the Grizz,...

BELMONT FEATURES DASH & DERBY

There will be two simulcasts offered at Belmont Park tomorrow. After the live nine-race card, Belmont will offer wagering on the Grade 1 DeFrancis Dash from Laurel, followed by the...

THREE TIED IN BIG APPLE CLASSIC

On Wednesday, Allison Finney got to see a rehearsal for the soap opera, One Life to Live. Yesterday, she got off to a great start in the JAL Big Apple...

LIBERTY FACE TOUGH TEST VS. MIRACLE

Now they get tested. During the Liberty's four-game winning streak, three of the victories have come against sub .500 teams. Tonight the competition improves significantly, as the Liberty faces the...

BRIAN'S SONG CHANGING: KNICKS, N.Y. MAKE GRANT THINK TWICE ABOUT COMING EAST

Perhaps the Blazers should start to sweat. Amidst his first full day of his Knicks' recruiting trip, Portland's free agent power forward Brian Grant fell in love with Westchester, Knicks...

BERNIE: ROCKET BEANING IS DIFFICULT ONE TO FORGET

Obviously, Bernie Williams remembers Roger Clemens hitting him in the head because it's not every day a 95-mph fastball goes off in your ear. However, Williams doesn't recall many of...

SHANE KNOWS WHAT'S AHEAD

YANKEE NOTES The smile on Shane Spencer's face will be gone in about a month when he begins a strenuous rehabilitation program that he hopes has his right knee healthy...

BLAZERS HOT FOR LATRELL

According to two league GMs, the Blazers have counter-offered the Knicks by asking for Latrell Sprewell and unsigned Kurt Thomas in a sign-and-trade for power forward Brian Grant. Mark Bartlestein,...

NEWS NOT ALL BAD FOR PIAZZA

BOSTON - Like all of his teammates, Mike Piazza was upset with last night's 4-3, ninth-inning loss to the Red Sox. But there was good news for Piazza. He returned...

NO STOP FOR MORA AT SHORT

BOSTON -The Mets had won a game started by Pedro Martinez with magnificently played baseball. They had gotten an apparent win with Jay Payton's big night at the plate, defensive...

2ND HALF GETS OFF UGLY

ON this night it was the Yankees who got beaned. As you get ready to shine up another World Series trophy for the Yankees, consider this: The Marlins, who outlasted...