April 25, 2002

HERE'S THE REASON FEDERAL MOGUL IS MAD AT ICAHN

WHY is Federal-Mogul annoyed about the seemingly good news that it is settling litigation in a huge asbestos suit? Because the Southfield, Mich. company isn't a part of the deal....

LICKED LIPPER IS LIQUIDATING HIS FUNDS

Kenneth Lipper looks to be slowly exiting the asset management business. The former deputy mayor of New York City, who started managing money through Lipper & Co. in 1986, has...

STUFF KICKS OFF ITS SHOES

Readers of Stuff magazine can now buy Stuff-brand stuff. The magazine, known for featuring scantily-clad bodacious beauties on its cover, will introduce its own brand of limited edition skateboarding shoes....

TENNANT CONDEMED BY JURY OF HIS PEERS

Although Alfred Taubman faces prison in the art auction price-fixing scandal, his indicted partner-in-crime Sir Anthony Tennant remains free in his own living hell. In Sir Anthony's blue-blood world in...

IT'S RUDY VS. SPITZER IN MERRILL CONFLICTS MESS

Wall Street has hired a secret weapon - former mayor-turned high-powered consultant Rudy Giuliani. Merrill Lynch signed on the tough-talking former prosecutor to help battle threats of criminal charges from...

KARZAI'S TOPPER IS A POPPER

Gucci's Tom Ford called him the chicest man in the world - and apparently his fellow countrymen agree. Afghanistan's populace is making Afghan leader Hamid Karzai's signature hat the hottest...

MORT LOSES ANDERSEN AS TENANT

Mort Zuckerman got hit with an economic blow yesterday after indicted accounting firm Arthur Andersen formally backed out of a deal to be the anchor tenant in his new Times...

MANSION'S 'GATSBY' HISTORY CALLED 'WISHFUL THINKING'

IT all sounds very impressive, but is it true? A mansion said to have inspired F. Scott Fitzgerald's description of Daisy Buchanan's mansion in "The Great Gatsby" is up for...

DODGEBALL GAME SHOW

THE most controversial playground game in America - dodgeball - appears headed to TV. Game show producers are pitching a variation on the get-even kid sport called "Ultimate Dodgeball" in...

NO QUIBBLE, THE WINNER IS 'TIBBLE'

3 DARK TALES At 45 Bleecker, 45 Bleecker St., at Lafayette Street. Call Ticketmaster, (212) 307-4100. Through June 9. ------------ '3 Dark Tales" is an English mime show - but...

TURBULENT PILOTS

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS ------- WHEN you consider the critical bashing that the Stone Temple Pilots have taken since they formed at the height of grunge - not to mention lead...

STARR REPORT

Book her: Ripa to announce her new club Kelly Ripa is expected to officially launch her book club on this morning's "Live with Regis & Kelly," Post media reporter Keith...

MILLIONAIRE-LESS: JENNINGS FACES PAY CHOP

ABC anchor Peter Jennings has reportedly been asked to slash his salary by 25 percent as he renegotiates his $10 million-a-year contract. ABC News management told Jennings, whose contract expires...

A BITTER END FOR LADY IN THE RED GLASSES

A TEARY Sally Jessy Raphael donned her signature red glasses for the last time yesterday and taped the final episode of her talk show - ending nearly 20 years on...

A YUK A MINUTE

NEW Yorkers always appreciate a good laugh or two - and the 10th annual Toyota Comedy Festival, which will roll into town June 11-15, promises to deliver. Bill Cosby, who's...

ASHANTI HOLDS ONTO TOP SPOT

ASHANTI (inset), R&B's newest superstar, crowned the Top 200 album charts for the fourth week straight, as her debut self-titled album sold over 190,000 copies and the total copies sold...

CANNES POSTS SKED

A new Adam Sandler comedy is one of only three American films competing for the top prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival, which released its schedule yesterday. "Punch-Drunk Love,"...

YOU ONLY HAVE TO LIKE RAYMOND

"Everybody Loves Ray- mond: The First Six Years" Sunday night at 8 on Ch. 2 EVERYBODY loves "Raymond" but me. I guess that makes me some kind of a nut....

MILLIONAIRESS; VIEIRA OFFERED BIG BUCKS TO STAY AT ABC, BUT THERE'S NO DEAL YET

THE search for Bryant Gumbel's "Early Show" replacement will have to begin again - because Meredith Vieira has apparently been lured into staying at ABC by a big money offer....

PAULA'S NOT STAYING IDOL - P.92; BACHELORETTE THRILLER

IT'S Florida-recount close - but a poll of more than 2,000 Post readers are picking honey-haired Trista over sweet Amanda on tonight's season finale "The Bachelor." Our exclusive web poll...

MOMS: WE'RE UNAPPRECIATED (AND OUR HUSBANDS ARE LAZY)

Rodney Dangerfield gets no respect - and, apparently, neither do American mothers. A new survey by Family Circle magazine has found that moms across the country are disturbed at how...

HE SNOOZES, HE LOSES - PICKAX KILLER MISSED GETAWAY FLIGHT: COPS

Cops say the 21-year-old killer who buried a pickax in his boss' skull slept so soundly after the grisly slaying he missed his plane to Finland - and freedom. Deep-sleeping...

GOLISANO'S GOAL - OUST PATAKI? SAVING HIS PARTY COMES FIRST

AFTER four years of virtual hibernation, upstate billionaire Tom Golisano has awoken from his deep sleep, finally caught on to what Mike Bloomberg accomplished last November and decided to once...

TRAGEDY FUELS WAR VS. GAS LINE

THE worst thing Paul Wasserman could imagine in this life has already happened. On Feb. 3, days after taking her first steps, his jolly 14-month-old daughter, Juliette, died in his...

RUDY, JUDI EYE EAST SIDE PAD

Rudy Giuliani, with the help of his gal pal, Judi Nathan, has found his dream home. Real-estate sources told The Post the ex-mayor has put in a bid for a...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

A Baltimore school has honored 507 students - for merely being good. Officials pulled the teens out of class at North Carroll HS on Tuesday for a surprise assembly to...

EMBOLDENED BY ITS SUCCESS IN KEEPING A PRIVATE FIRM FROM TAKING OVER SUPERVISION

Emboldened by its success in keeping a private firm from taking over supervision of the Ground Zero excavation, a city union is seeking to chase an outside engineering consultant off...

WTC HERO 'ALWAYS AVAILABLE TO OTHERS'

A hero firefighter killed while saving lives at the World Trade Center - just two days before the birth of his fourth child - was remembered yesterday as a "fantastic...

HERO DOG HAS HIS DAY - COPS HONOR PA PUP KILLED AT TRADE CENTER

He didn't tote a Glock, and he never once put in for overtime. But Sirius, the only K-9 to die on 9/11, was just as much a part of the...

PALESTINIAN SNIPER SHOT DEAD AT NATIVITY CHURCH

JERUSALEM - Gunfire at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity killed a Palestinian sniper and wounded an Israeli soldier and a second Palestinian yesterday - while negotiators met next door in...

CUOMO AND CARL TRADE BARBS OVER 9/11 REMARKS

Carl McCall and Andrew Cuomo were poison pen pals yesterday - with supporters of each candidate exchanging harshly worded letters calling on the other to quit the Democratic race for...

REBUILD BOSS: 'EVERYBODY HAS THE FINAL SAY'

The head of the downtown rebuilding agency yesterday insisted his board has equal say in what gets built at Ground Zero - a day after the Port Authority said it...

ANNUAL ENGLISH TEST FOR IMMIGRANT KIDS

ALBANY - Immigrant students will be required to take a revamped language test as early as next spring so the state can monitor how well their schools are teaching English....

PARTY COP SAYS GRAY LOOKED TO BE SOBER

The disgraced ex-cop charged with fatally running down a family in Brooklyn while drunk looked sober enough to drive, a friend who spent seven hours drinking with him before the...

TENSIONS OVER THE MIDDLE EAST YESTERDAY SPILLED INTO THE CITY COUNCIL.

Tensions over the Middle East yesterday spilled into the City Council. On the same day that City Council Speaker Gifford Miller called for a show of solidarity with Israel, a...

SUZY'S CUE TO LEAVE - EX-GE CHIEF'S GAL PAL QUITS HARVARD BIZ MAG AMID NEW REVELATIONS

She gained a captain of industry but lost her job. Suzy Wetlaufer resigned yesterday as an editor of the prestigious Harvard Business Review in the flap over her romance with...

MIKE NOW SUPPORTS TRANSGENDER RIGHTS

Mayor Michael Bloomberg broke with fellow Republicans yesterday and threw his weight behind a proposal to include transgender people as a protected group under the city's human-rights law. "In the...

ONLY CIVILITY SINKS IN BOAT 'RAM'

A police boat and two Coast Guard craft, including a 47-foot vessel, responded to an emergency call of one boat ramming another off Long Island - only to find two...

'IT'S A VERY COMMON ERROR'

The drug-dispensing mistake that sent Denise Rogers into a manic frenzy has been made many times before, an industry watchdog told The Post. "It's a very common error; we've a...

RX FOR DISASTER - PHARMACY MISTAKE MADE WOMAN SUICIDAL

She just wanted to get some sleep. Instead, a Westchester woman's botched drug prescription triggered a dangerous, near-suicidal spiral. The drama began when Denise Rogers, a one-time New York City...

QNS. STAB VICTIM'S DYING WORDS: 'I LOVE YOU, MOM'

A Queens mechanic was brutally stabbed in his car yesterday morning, but managed to return home and utter the words, "I love you" - before dying at the feet of...

HIGHWAY 'HOSTAGE' HELL - TRUCKER'S 'PRISONER' DESCRIBES HORROR TRIP

Katina Shaddix says life with her beefy boyfriend, trucker Shannon Jones, was a highway to hell. The 24-year-old Alabama woman says Jones, 26, brutally beat her and held her hostage...

L.I. BISHOP TAKES HIS OWN STRONG POSITION

Long Island's tough-talking Catholic bishop said he will immediately fire and try to defrock any child-molesting priest he catches - a dramatic change to his diocese's long-standing sex-abuse policy. The...

HEARTLESS SEPT. 11 'FRAUDSTER' GIVES UP

A New Jersey woman who allegedly tried to scam charity money out of the World Trade Center tragedy by posing as her sister and filing a death certificate in her...

MORE DROPOUTS THAN GRADS IN FLUNKATHON

More than 40 percent of the city's high schools flunked last year, producing more students who dropped out or failed to graduate than received their diplomas. This was the case...

IT ISN'T WHAT THEY SAY - IT'S WHAT THEY DO

BEFORE setting out for Rome last week, several American cardinals telegraphed through the media that Catholics back home shouldn't set their hopes high for the papal summit's outcome. That may...

PREZ TREADS FINE LINE IN TALKS WITH SAUDIS

TODAY'S huddle between President Bush and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah at the president's Texas ranch shapes up as a real test of guts. Bush wants the Saudis to stand up...

SABBATH BURGLARS TARGETED JEWS: COPS

A highly organized crew of burglars was busted yesterday in the robberies of Jewish-owned warehouses on the Sabbath. The ruthless gang - which stole more than $5 million in goods...

BUSH DUELS DASCHLE IN DAKOTA

WASHINGTON - President Bush took the battle for control of the Senate to the South Dakota home turf of Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle yesterday. Bush stumped for Republican Rep....

A QUICKER BOOT FOR PREDATORS - U.S. CATHOLIC LEADERS TAKE 1ST ACTION AT ROME CONFAB

American Catholic leaders finished an unprecedented conference in Rome by calling for national standards for attacking the problem of child sex abuse by priests - and for quicker action on...

ESCAPED PERP RECAPTURED: COPS

A 24-year-old suspect fled from police custody at a Brooklyn hospital yesterday - only to surrender several hours later. Daequan White, of Jersey City, was taken to Long Island College...

GWB TO GET A PAINT JOB

For the first time since the George Washington Bridge opened in 1931, its two towers will be completely stripped to the steel and repainted. The mammoth, three-year, $54 million project...

STUNT DUO WILL TESTIFY AS 'HIT MEN' VS. BLAKE

LOS ANGELES - Two veteran stuntmen will testify that accused killer Robert Blake recruited them to carry out a murder-for-hire plot to whack his wife, the actor's own defense team...

VILLAGE PEOPLE ARE FED UP WITH RIFF-RAFF

Greenwich Village residents, fearful of crime and angry at finding drug dealers, prostitutes and human feces on their doorsteps, spoke out last night at a meeting with neighborhood cops. "We...

TERROR ALERT FOR MALLS AND SUPERMARKETS

WASHINGTON - The FBI has told all field agents to be on the alert for terrorist strikes at stores, shopping centers and supermarkets, an FBI official said yesterday. But the...

SUZY'S CUE TO LEAVE - EX-GE CHIEF'S GAL PAL QUITS BIZ MAG AMID NEW REVELATIONS

Quits second time.She gained a captain of industry but lost her job. Suzy Wetlaufer resigned yesterday as an editor of the prestigious Harvard Business Review in the flap over her...

BUBBA STAR ATTRACTION AT APOLLO FUND-RAISER

It was political showtime at The Apollo last night as former President Bill Clinton and king of pop Michael Jackson joined up to help raise $2.7 million for Democratic campaigns...

CLINTON HUNTED BIN LADEN

Former President Bill Clinton yesterday said he did everything in his power to hunt for Osama bin Laden - including launching covert operations that have not been made public. "I...

L.I. POLICE: ONLY ONE COP FIRED AT SLAIN STUDENT

Suffolk police insisted yesterday that only one cop fired his gun during the drug raid Friday that killed college student José Colon. Police say Colon died from a bullet from...

'TORCH' LEAD FLICKERS IN JERSEY POLL

WASHINGTON - Sen. Robert Torricelli is losing ground in his re-election bid and all three of his little-known Republican challengers are closing the gap, a New Jersey poll shows. The...

A QUICKER BOOT FOR PREDATORS: U.S. CATHOLIC LEADERS TAKE 1ST ACTION AT ROME CONFAB

America's Catholic leaders in Rome finished an unprecedented conference by calling for national standards for attacking the problem of child sex abuse by priests - and for quicker action on...

BILL PLAYS HEALER AT DEM RALLY FOR VOTERS

Former President Bill Clinton was the star attraction at a rowdy voter-registration rally yesterday at New York University where he tried to play peacemaker for the city's fractured Democratic Party....

HUGE NEW $$ HOLE IN STATE BUDGET

ALBANY - An unexpected revenue shortfall of up to $700 million threw efforts to reach a new state budget agreement off track late yesterday, officials said. The shortfall - resulting...

SILVER TIES $$ DEAL TO BLOOMY PLEDGE

ALBANY - Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver late last night said he would not agree to a final state budget without a guarantee first from Mayor Bloomberg that the city won't...

DEVILS TUMBLE INTO 3-2 HOLE

RALEIGH - They were less than two minutes from heading home, ready to advance. Now, the Devils are on the verge of going home in April. "Slipped away? I think...

ZEBRA'S CALL WAS STRICTLY FOR THE BIRDS

IT was a ridiculous call. The NHL people can argue rulebook language frontways and sideways, the latter of which is where Bryan McCabe was when he was tripping Shawn Bates...

INJURIES PINCH METS: THINNED BENCH LEADS TO DEMISE

Cardinals 4 Mets 2 Like a cornered gunslinger trying to save his last two bullets, Bobby Valentine called Mark Johnson back to the dugout in the seventh inning of a...

LEAFS TANGLED IN WEBB

Steve Webb is a marked man. As this best-of-seven series continues tomorrow in his hometown of Toronto, the No. 20 on his back will be replaced with a bull's-eye. Webb,...

'HARLAN' WORKS LIKE A CHAMP

Harlan's Holiday, the likely favorite for the May 4 Kentucky Derby after back-to-back victories in the Florida Derby and Blue Grass, cemented his position yesterday with a bullet five-furlong workout...

NEW ISLANDERS ILLUMINATING OLD COLISEUM

WHEN it opened in 1972, Nassau Coliseum was as unremarkable as Ernie Hicke, as utilitarian as Gerry Hart. It was, as it remains, your basic, government-financed bowl, like so many...

BRIGGS VOWS 1ST ROUND KO

Shannon Briggs was on time and on cue. "Come Saturday night for a knockout," bellowed the Brooklyn heavyweight as he left the Theater in the Garden. "A first round knockout."...

BURE ASKED GM TO COACH

RALEIGH - If Pavel Bure placed an unsolicited call to Mike Keenan on Friday to suggest that the Florida coach sound out Ranger GM Glen Sather about returning to Broadway,...

DISHING OUT THE DOUGH ; GETTING YANKS ON DIRECTV EXPENSIVE & PAINFUL

THE sign outside the major electronics chain store was big and inviting: YES! WE HAVE THE YANKEES! The men behind the counter were friendly and helpful and brimming with optimism....

GAELS BLOW PAST MOUNTAINEERS

H.S. BASEBALL: Iona Prep 8 - The Mount 1 John Fitzpatrick wasn't very impressed with Andrew Perrino when the two were juniors last season at Iona Prep. "He didn't seem...

HATTEN WINS THE HAGGERTY

Marcus Hatten never has been content with success, which is why the St. John's guard has a chance to be remembered as one of the great players in school history....

JEFFERSON NO. 2 ROOKIE

Jason Kidd congratulated Richard Jefferson after yesterday's practice, cracking, "I voted for you." "And I voted for you," Jefferson said back to Kidd. Jefferson, the Nets' sixth man, was yesterday...

O'NEAL STOMPS ON NET TACTICS

Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal took more slaps at the Nets and Sports Illustrated cover boy Kenyon Martin yesterday. "Nobody on that team can check me 1 on 1," said O'Neal, whose...

YANKS FOR NOTHING! A'S FANS GIVE IT TO 'BENEDICT' GIAMBI

OAKLAND - No matter where he sat Tuesday night at the Coliseum John Giambi heard 40,360 voices boo his older son, Jason. Sitting with his wife, Jeannie, John Giambi felt...

TORRE NOT WORRIED ABOUT MO

YANKEE NOTES OAKLAND - Nobody is about to confuse him with Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams but Mariano Rivera's lack of command Tuesday night was alarming. In order to post his...

JETS' TOP PICK IN DAD'S IMAGE

For the last 26 years, Stanley Thomas has been behind the wheel of his car on the road by 5 a.m. to make his daily 50-mile drive to work at...

LAYDEN, CHANEY SET TO VIEW MING WORKOUT

Knicks GM Scott Layden and Don Chaney will head to Chicago on Wednesday to watch a private workout by Chinese 7-6 center Yao Ming. A select number of teams are...

CEDENO FOLLY CONTINUES

It's less than four weeks into the season, just 21 games into what was supposed to be Roger Cedeno's triumphant return to the Mets, and the left fielder has been...

PIAZZA'S FEELING 'BIT BETTER'

MET NOTES As last night's loss showed, the Mets can ill afford to lose Mike Piazza for more than a few days. The nine-time All-Star catcher, who was out of...

PUNCHLESS DEVILS ARE ON THE ROPES

RALEIGH - They have played 299 games these last three seasons, 299 games the last 31 months, and in order for the Devils to even reach the second round of...

NO EXCUSE FOR AMAZIN'S SPRING SLUMBER

THE Mets did not look right again last night, and only some of it was because of injuries. Sure, Timo Perez, Rey Ordonez and Mike Piazza were scratched due to...

SHOT HEARD 'ROUND ISLE ; BATES' PENALTY SCORE GETS ISLANDERS EVEN

Islanders 4Maple Leafs 3 Just when you thought the Islanders had lost a flair for the dramatic, they magically tied their best-of-seven playoff series with the Maple Leafs, 2-2, last...

A BOO-TIFUL THING: JASON ANSWERS JEERS WITH 2 HITS, 3 RBIS

Yankees 8A's 5 OAKLAND - The more he's booed, the better Jason Giambi hits. At this rate the Yankees will pay A's fans to jeer today. With the largest regular-season...

VANCE PSYCHED FOR DUTY : MIKE'S FILL-IN HAS A POINT TO PROVE

With Mike Piazza's left hamstring strained and the night-time weather at Shea cold and windy, the Mets had no intention of gambling with their franchise slugger's health. So last night's...

FOR METS, 'STRETCH DRIVE' STARTS NOW

THE Braves all but begged a rival to take the NL East away from them last year. But the Phillies and, especially, the Marlins were too immature to seize the...

ON THIS NIGHT, THERE WAS NO PLACE LIKE HOME

NOT that we have seen Alexei Yashin score a playoff goal, then set up a game winner, there is even reason to hope that in our lifetime we will see...

METS ALL STRUNG OUT: PIAZZA, TIMO IDLED BY HURTIN' HAMMIES

The injuries are the same, but the impact is completely different. The Mets can live without Timo Perez, insulting as that may sound. Losing Mike Piazza would be devastating. Piazza...

NO TRADE OF DUQUE A BLESSING

YANKEE NOTES OAKLAND - The Yankees insist they never were close to trading Orlando Hernandez. Not when they re-signed Sterling Hitchcock for two years and $12 million. Not when George...

AILIN' ANKLE KICKS SYKORA TO SIDELINE

RALEIGH - While the Hurricanes were making the only move they could, changing goalies to Kevin Weekes in midstream, the Devils have some major personnel problems of their own. Their...

STEVENS DESERVES 'CANES' FULL WRATH

RALEIGH - While the Light Breeze was attempting to deal with the psychological ramifications of having Arturs Irbe pulled in successive Game 3 and 4 losses at the Meadowlands, and...

MCEWING IS READY IF NEEDED

MET NOTES Super Joe McEwing might have to live up to his nickname the next game or two, flying around at two different positions at once. McEwing, who is the...