April 21, 2002

NEW JUNK BONDS ON A RECORD-SETTING RUN

Yield-hungry investors are pumping billions into junk bond funds while new high yield bond issues are looking to set a new 12-month record. For the ninth straight week, fresh funds...

CSFB'S TEAM PLAYER : BRIAN FINN WILL HELP RESHAPE WALL ST. POWERHOUSE

When Brian Finn left Credit Suisse First Boston five years ago, he never imagined he'd be coming back. But last month, the 41-year-old native New Yorker surprised everyone - including...

DOING WELL BY DOING GOOD

Investors have many different strategies: Some like to invest in local companies, others in high-growth firms and others prefer a socially-responsible method. The good news is that the different strategies...

LAUNCHING APOLLO : JAZZ LANDMARK TO BE $1B ENTERTAINMENT CENTER

The legendary Apollo Theater - birthplace of the jazz greats - is ready to cash in for a cool $1 billion. Abused for years, milked by charlatans and once in...

LOSING MIDAS TOUCH : SUPER CEO EXIT OFTEN HITS STOCK

New blood is good for business? Heir-apparently not. Last summer, The Post ran an article about the "new kids on the block" - a handful of men and one woman,...

BULL'S EYE

WEILL DUKES IT OUT WITH CITIGROUP SHAREHOLDERS Sandy Weill was a bit testy with investors at Citigroup's annual shareholder meeting last week. It's not clear why. Sure, there were protesters...

FUND READY TO PLACE BET ON TECH RETURN

IN 1995, 1996 and 1997 - all go-go years for the stock market - the Seligman Capital fund underperformed the broad market averages. Not surprisingly, in 1998, a new portfolio...

...MAKE IT MICHAEL DOUGLAS AS A GAY COP (HE'S STUNNING)

THE producers of "Will & Grace" say they picked up the phone one day and there was Michael Douglas on the other end telling them how much he enjoys their...

13 AND READY TO PARTY

The new movie "Rain" features a remarkedly candid scene in which a 13-year-old girl seduces a much older man. The girl, Janey, is played with great assurance by Alicia Fulford-Wierzbicki,...

SUCH A NICE (AND RICH 'BACHELOR') BOY : BUT HIS MOM DOESN'T LIKE WATCHING HIM DOING ALL THAT KISSING ON TV

FANS of "The Bachelor" have been smitten with the good manners of its star, Alex Michel - who's been searching for a wife on the ABC reality series for nearly...

STYLE & SUBSTANCE: SHAGGY

Producers of this year's World Music Awards were skeptical when they met with Shaggy - a.k.a. Mr. Lover Lover - about co-hosting tonight's show along with Jennifer Love Hewitt and...

EXTREME 'VULGAR' : DIRECTOR DEFENDS STOMACH-TURNING COMEDY

Bryan Johnson, high school buddy and protégé of New Jersey auteur Kevin Smith, is the first to admit that his new black comedy, "Vulgar," which depicts a male clown being...

WHAT I WATCH

SEAN PENN ACTOR "I WOULDN'T MAKE ANY APOLOGIES ABOUT "FRIENDS." EVERY EPISODE IS BETTER THAN MOST MOVIES I SEE. JUST AS IMPORTANT, MY DAUGHTER IS A FAN OF THE SHOW....

A CRITICAL POINT: HE SEES, SHE SEES

OK, so we know that when it comes to relationships, men are from Mars and women are from Venus. But what about the theater? Are certain shows gender-specific in their...

SAX IN THE CITY - IN A FIRST VISIT FROM HAVANA TO THE BIG APPLE

The soundtrack to the film "Buena Vista Social Club" brought unprecedented mainstream attention to the musical traditions of Cuba, selling 3 million copies worldwide in 1997 and snagging a Grammy...

YOU WON'T CATCH ME ON THE 'BABY HUNGER' BOAT

I've just about had enough of all the irritating books on motherhood. The latest, "Baby Hunger," is another that tells us childless women in our 30s that we've planned our...

THE FAB FIVE? SUPER FURRY ANIMALS GET BEATLES-LIKE KUDOS, PLUS SIR PAUL ON THE VEGGIES

'Rings Around the World," the latest disc from the Super Furry Animals, a pop-rock quintet from Wales that's drawn comparisons to The Fab Four, is an homage to B bands...

VERSED IN POETIC INJUSTICE

Of all the joys of spring - tulips abloom, bees abuzz, brooks ababble - none compares to sitting in a meadow reading a poem, especially if it's about girls from...

PUSHCART PRIZES: WE SCOUR THE CITY IN SEARCH OF THE BEST STREET FOOD

With their oversized umbrellas and curbside cookeries, sidewalk food vendors are a colorful part of the city's landscape - serving the hurried hungry a smorgasbord of food as diverse as...

TAKE A TRIP TO SWEDEN WITHOUT LEAVING THE BIG APPLE

Ready for vacation but can't take time off? At least you can feel as though you're abroad this week by checking out one of these restaurants' regional specialties - with...

YASSER, THAT'S HIS BABY TALKING

PLO leader Yasser Arafat's wife Suha announced from her posh pad in Paris that if she had a son, she would gladly see him martyred for the cause. Well hell,...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

An avid driver has clocked a whopping 2 million miles in his beloved 1966 Volvo. Irv Gordon, 61, a retired Philadelphia schoolteacher, bought the sporty, cherry-red Volvo P1800 for just...

OSAMA PLAYED WITH DAUGHTER AND CAMEL AS HE PLOTTED DEATH

While he plotted the deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history, Osama bin Laden played with his children and rode camels and his favorite horse. Before Sept. 11, the terror master...

BUSH'S RADIO ADDRESS

President Bush insisted yesterday that Colin Powell's mission to the Middle East had been a success - saying the secretary of state "made progress toward peace." In a radio address...

TALI-THUGS LEAVE A PAPER TRAIL

Pamphlets urging the Taliban to reorganize and carry out homicide bombings on U.S. forces appeared in eastern Afghanistan yesterday. The pamphlets, handwritten in the Pashto language, were left outside homes...

UPSTATE ROCKS! STRONG EARTHQUAKE SHAKES NORTHEAST FROM SLEEP

The East Coast felt more like California yesterday after an earthquake rattled dozens of cities and people awoke to the trembling of their homes. The 6:50 a.m. quake measured 5.1...

LESS BANG FOR DEREK'S BUCKS: FORBES

Say it ain't so - a new report pegs heartthrob Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter as one of the top 10 overpaid baseball players. The superstar infielder is in big-name company,...

FINGERS POINT AT 'HOSTILE' COPS IN DEATH OF EPILEPTIC

Outraged family and friends claim a 35-year-old Manhattan man suffering from an epileptic seizure died because New Jersey cops treated him like a criminal, using excessive force instead of giving...

LAST SALUTE FOR FIRE HERO

Hundreds of friends, family and a sea of New York's Bravest packed a Queens church yesterday to say goodbye to fallen fire Lt. Kevin Dowdell, remembering him as a "great...

STAB HORROR IN HELL'S KITCHEN

Two men were facing murder charges yesterday after they allegedly stabbed two assailants, one of them fatally, inside a Hell's Kitchen nightclub, police said. Victim Jose Diaz, 23, died at...

ANISTON 'RE-BUFFED' BY JUDGE

It looks like Jennifer Aniston has gotten herself into steamy water. The "Friends" star is facing the humiliation of having raunchy photographs of her discussed openly in court - after...

NEW GRUNGE DEATH IS ROCKING SEATTLE

Layne Staley, lead singer and guitarist for the grunge rock band Alice in Chains, was found dead in his Seattle apartment, law-enforcement officials said yesterday. Tests were needed to establish...

CHEERS & JEERS OVER N.Y. GRID GRABS

The Giants and Jets caused a stir at the NFL Draft yesterday - but for different reasons. While the Giants got cheers for trading up in the first round to...

STAR WARS: MOM DUELING *NSYNCER FOR SPACE TRIP

WASHINGTON - Pop star Lance Bass might be his fans' choice to be the next tourist space traveler, but a 40-year-old mom of two is trying to bump the *NSYNC...

GENTLE PRIEST IN PURGATORY : MOUNTING MOLEST CHARGES BESIEGE QNS. 'FATHER BUD'

FATHER James Smith, of St. Kevin Church in Flushing, had a nice life for a guy nearing 70 - a parish that loved him, a little house in Amityville, L.I.,...

STAB-SLAYING NEAR B'KLYN HOOP COURT

One Brooklyn youth was stabbed to death and another wounded in a dispute over money with three suspects who attacked them as they walked home from a basketball game early...

POPE'S WISDOM FOR PASTORS: STAY CELIBATE

In a stern message just days before he meets with U.S. cardinals to discuss the clergy sex-abuse scandal, Pope John Paul II yesterday said priests must keep celibate and avoid...

DEADLY DAY OF GUNPLAY

Three shootings in the city left one man dead and two injured yesterday, cops said. Omar Ramson, 29, was killed during a drug-related shooting in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, at around...

THE PEOPLE VS. ROBERT BLAKE: HOW DA TEAM MAY RAISE THE CURTAIN ON A VICIOUS SLAY PLOT

Actor Robert Blake is likely to be hit with murder charges by the Los Angeles district attorney tomorrow for allegedly killing his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, law-enforcement sources said. The...

3 BLOODS ARRESTED IN VILLAGE SHOOTING

Cops yesterday busted three more Bloods gang members - one of them a 17-year-old girl - in the horrifying Greenwich Village robbery that left a Brooklyn man fighting for his...

BROOKLYN GRANDMA, MOM SLAIN

A woman and her grown daughter were found slain in a Brooklyn apartment - the younger woman's three children standing besides the bodies, authorities said last night. Police said the...

TAUBMANS DEAL IN ART OF APPEAL

Alfred Taubman's family has made an emotional appeal to the judge who is about to sentence their patriarch - saying the towering art-world tycoon is now a broken, humiliated man....

TRAGIC SHOT IN THE ARM : CHEAP AFGHANI HEROIN BOOSTS N.Y. DRUG TRADE

Heroin from Afghanistan and Pakistan is being peddled in New York at increasingly lower prices in an attempt to infiltrate a market dominated by Colombian drug lords, The Post has...

TWO TOTS IN TRAGIC APARTMENT PLUNGE

One baby died and another was critically injured yesterday when they accidentally fell from fourth-story apartment windows in separate incidents in Manhattan, police said. In the first accident, Thomas Blas,...

N.Y.'S SIX-FIGURE OVERTIME KINGS

ALBANY - The overtime king of New York is an upstate prison guard who raked in an eye-popping $213,511 over the last three years, official state records show. Daniel Barber...

GRAHAM-COPYRIGHT TUSSLE PIROUETTES INTO COURT

The Capezio crowd will be holding its breath tomorrow when the curtain goes up on the landmark battle over the copyrights to the ballets of Martha Graham. Ron Protas, Graham's...

HEAR ONE RUDY SPEECH, YOU'VE HEARD 'EM ALL!

It can't be that he's hurting for material. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is one of the most sought-after speakers in the country, but he's reportedly raised eyebrows on the lecture...

HEAT'S ON 'PUSHY' SCHOOL-BOARD MEMBER

Schools Chancellor Harold Levy's office is investigating charges that a local Manhattan school-board member is barging into schools, disrupting classes and harassing administrators. The principals union calls District 6's Siegfried...

VICTORIA GOTTI

OK, let me make it official - I'm coming out of the closet! No, I am not a lesbian . . . merely wrinkle-free, by artificial means, and proud of...

VATICAN SEX TALKS WILL BE ALL WORK & SOME PRAY

The meeting between the pope and the American cardinals he summoned will be in one of the more ornate wings of the Vatican, but the historic conclave will be filled...

'WE WELCOME A U.N. PROBE' : ATTACK ON JENIN CAMP NO 'MASSACRE': ISRAELIS

Israel promised to cooperate with a U.N. mission to probe its alleged assault on the Jenin refugee camp, saying it had nothing to hide in the face of Palestinian accusations...

MAN SHOT IN ROW OVER GAL

A dispute over a woman's affections led to a shooting early yesterday near an Upper East Side bar that left a man wounded, police said. Gualberto Morales, 46, was wounded...

MAN KNIFED TO DEATH ON WEST SIDE

Two men were facing murder charges yesterday after they allegedly stabbed two assailants, one of them fatally, inside a Hell's Kitchen nightclub, police said. The suspects were captured by police...

HAMMERIN' HANK'S MARK LOOKS SAFE

BEFORE the 2000 season, Ken Griffey was definitely going to break Hank Aaron's all-time homer record. Two years of damage to both Griffey's body and reputation later it is possible...

KEENAN OUT, SO FETISOV MAY BE SLATS' MAN

APPARENTLY the Panthers did not miss the bonus payment owed Mike Keenan for finishing 28th overall. Because still under contract to Florida, Keenan was denied permission to speak to the...

FORE! IT'S ALMOST TEE TIME

LOCAL GOLF Grab the magic marker and pull out your calendar. There's a bunch of good golf coming our way. All 40,000-plus tickets to the U.S. Open at Bethpage are...

HOW METS HOOKED 1ST THEIR FIRST WIN

The man who pitched the Mets to their most important victory was not Tom Seaver or Jerry Koosman, or Doc Gooden or Bobby Ojeda, or Al Leiter or Mike Hampton....

SHARK ATTACKS AREN'T ON RISE

THE waters off New Jersey and New York won't see sharks for another six weeks, yet the toothy critters are already making headlines. NBC's "Today Show" has already used the...

DEBUSSCHERE: WITH LOTTERY, YOU NEVER KNOW

Dave DeBusschere has heard the allegation - that NBA commissioner David Stern rigged the 1985 Patrick Ewing lottery. "I've heard that so many times," DeBusschere said. "I'll tell you, I'm...

NBA JUSTICE AIN'T SO FINE

NOTHING like having a prudently premeditated penalty plan to plunk into practice whenever the need suddenly arises, Baretta always says. Unless, of course, you're the Knicks and Clippers, whose elite...

BRING BACK LARRY NOW! : REHIRING ROBINSON COULD SAVE DEVILS

IT should be perfectly clear by now that it is time for Lou Lamoriello to slip into his pinstripe suit and make the one move that will give his Disheveleds...

HARRINGTON NOT LION: HE'S HAPPY TO BE IN DETROIT

Joey Harrington was hardly even paying attention to the NFL Draft yesterday when something caught his attention. "I was just talking to my agent and he told me they were...

SCOTT'S TEAM NEEDS SHOT OF CONFIDENCE

WITHOUT question tomorrow's Game 2 of their best-of-five series with the Pacers is a must-win for the Nets. But just as important as tomorrow's game will be today's practice, where...

DON'T GET TOO EXCITED, GIANT FANS

THE Giants didn't win the Super Bowl yesterday. But it sure seemed that way to the Big Blue gallery at the NFL draft yesterday inside the Garden. "Shock-ey, Shock-ey, Shock-ey,"...

SIZE MATTERS DOMINATE FIRST ROUND

The 2002 NFL Draft was more Meryl Streep than Jennifer Lopez - not sexy, but no less effective. Although quarterbacks David Carr and Joey Harrington highlighted the first and third...

'CRAZY' ARTEST PUTS ON SHOW OF FORCE

Ron Artest ripped the ball from Todd MacCulloch, banging into him and sending the Nets' 7-footer crashing to the floor late in the second quarter. Later, during a 1:29 span...

RAGING FEVER TAKES BIG A'S BED O' ROSES

The 4-year-old filly Raging Fever won for the fourth time in her last five starts, and ninth from 13 overall, when she led from the break to take yesterday's Grade...

O'NEAL'S HOT HAND BURNS NETS

Jermaine O'Neal really expected a crowd. But instead, he saw single coverage in the first half. "I've always said if guys play me one-on-one, I'm going to make them pay."...

HOME-GROAN LOSS :INDY DULLS NETS' EDGE IN OPENER

GAME 1 Pacers89 Nets83 Here it was at last, the start of the playoffs. The Nets felt right at home. Hey, they were home playing before, naturally, a non-sellout crowd....

LILLY MORE COMFORTABLE IN SPOT LIGHT

In late April of 2001, when the Yankees gave Ted Lilly the chance to be the fifth starter, Joe Torre saw the pressure Lilly placed upon himself. It weighed down...

YANKS TURN BLUE IN 10TH : BOMBERS RALLY IN 9TH, FALL SHORT TO JAYS

10 INNINGS Blue Jays5 Yankees4 They didn't hit for much of the game. Nor did they field very well. Outside of Ted Lilly's wonderful performance, the pitching wasn't good. And...

A GORY END TO THE GLORY?

All that the Devils are facing is the End of an Era. If they can't pull off winning 4-of-5, it would be time for a Devils housecleaning, if only Lou...

JAY GIVES WAY TO HOT TIMO

MET NOTES MONTREAL - Once again yesterday, Jay Payton was out of the starting lineup. The only difference was manager Bobby Valentine isn't throw bouquets at Payton's feet anymore. The...

AMAZIN' MISTAKES HOLD METS DOWN

MONTREAL - Call it the "Sunflower Seed Hangover." For the second game in less than 24 hours, the Mets distilled a loss from a combination of freak defensive plays, baserunning...

ALREADY HALFWAY OUT

TORONTO - The Islanders weren't strangled the way they were in the first game of this series, and in fact, did some squeezing of their own around the necks of...

WAITING FOR GREATNESS : GIAMBI MISSED GOLDEN MOMENT

LET'S STATE right up front that yesterday's 5-4, 10-inning Yankee loss to the Blue Jays was not Jason Giambi's fault alone. This defeat was created in oh so many ways....

BOMBERS HAND IT TO JAYS; YANKS FALL IN 10TH AFTER GIAMBI WHIFFS WITH BASES JUICED

10 INNINGS Blue Jays5 Yankees4 Christmas in April. That's how the Yankees treated the Blue Jays yesterday at Yankee Stadium where they gave away multiple gifts on the way to...

LILLY LOOKS IN BLOOM TO TORRE

Andy Pettitte's cranky elbow lands him on the DL, the Yankees have to feel very good about what they saw from Ted Lilly yesterday. Filling in for Pettitte against the...

YASHIN MUST GET OUT OF CORSON'S SHADOW

TORONTO - Peter Laviolette asked a team that had looked like it was playing its first playoff game in eight years in Game 1 whether it had come to Toronto...

BERNIE'S BAT'S A BIG SHOT IN ARM

In the first inning, Bernie Williams extended his arms and smoothly sent his first homer of the season over the right field wall. In the ninth, he spanked a game-tying...

JINTS GET SHOCKEY

There really is nothing more Giant fans need to know about Jeremy Shockey than this comment he made yesterday: "I know in my first year I want to dominate and...

TOP PICK'S FIRST 'PRESSURE' LANDS ON TEAMMATE ELLIS

The Jets' drafting of defensive end Bryan Thomas in the first round yesterday, along with the free-agent signing of former Bucs' defensive end Steve White earlier this offseason, has to...

JEREMY CONJURES VISIONS OF FRANCIS

While working with the Patriots in the late 1970s, Marv Sunderland, the Giants' director of player personnel, got an up-close look at Russ Francis. Yesterday, Sunderland mentioned newly-signed Jeremy Shockey...

SACKS AND THE CITY : JETS' FIRST CHOICE IS QB KILLER FROM UAB

Sure, the Jets need another top-level cornerback on their roster. And yes, they're alarmingly thin at defensive tackle. But as yesterday's NFL Draft unfolded before their eyes, the Jets' brass...

KAY RIPS DOLAN FROM A DISTANCE

THE YES vs. Cablevision fiasco - the late Super John Williamson used to verbally confuse "fiasco" with "Picasso" - has underscored and bold-faced the hideously conflicted interests among local sports...

YANKEE ARMS IN A SLING : PITCHING WOES ARE CAUSE FOR CONCERN

ROGER CLEMENS already has two losses, one more than he had on Sept. 24 last season while on his way to winning the AL Cy Young award. Mariano Rivera already...

JETS: NO DOUBTING THOMAS

The Jets threw their green-clad draftnik fans a bit of a curveball yesterday when they made Alabama-Birmingham defensive end Bryan Thomas their first-round pick in the NFL Draft. When his...

THE INSIDERS: THE POST TAKES YOU BEHIND THE LOCKER-ROOM DOORS

OH, YES... IT'S 'GODZILLA' & HE COULD BE BOMBER "Godzilla" could be coming to a network near you soon, the first step in a plan that would bring him to...

U.S. OPEN COURSE GURU SAYS BETHPAGE IS A ... TIGER TRACK

AS ONE of the game's most talented, imaginative and respected golf-course architects, Rees Jones knows his golf. Specifically, Jones, who's been nicknamed the "Open Doctor" for his six restorations of...