July 9, 2003

INSURANCE SPAT OVER STUY-TOWN

THE genteel competition between insurance giants Prudential and Met Life is under unusual strain after the recent sale of Douglas Elliman to the Dottie Herman-led residential powerhouse now known as...

EARLY BIRDS GET BEST TEE TIMES

SUN VALLEY, Idaho - This ski village slowly came to life yesterday. With the Allen & Co. conference set to kick off with an opening barbecue last night, attendees slowly...

ON CREDIT WATCH - SEC PROBE MAY FORCE OVERHAUL AT RATING FIRMS

Regulation of the nation's rating agencies may soon change dramatically, as the SEC finishes a review of those agencies and how they are governed. The SEC - which has put...

BILLY MARTIN'S WESTERN BOUTIQUES A HIT IN JAPAN

The Yankees have Hideki Matsui. Now Japan may get Billy Martin. The chain of boutiques that bears the late Yankee manager's name is in talks to begin selling its Western-styled...

YESTERDAY'S NEWS - DESPERATE MORT DRAGS ENQUIRER EDITOR OUT OF RETIREMENT

DAILY News Publisher Mort Zuckerman has turned to deposed National Enquirer Editor-in-Chief Iain Calder to try to jump-start the beleaguered daily. Last Wednesday, he summoned News Editor-in-Chief Edward Kosner, Executive...

SEX & THE CYNIC

CONFUSION OF GENDERS [Half a star] A study in indecision. In French with English subtitles. Running time: 94 minutes. Not rated (language, full frontal nudity, sex scenes). At the Quad,...

BIOPIC ON BRAZILIAN LEGEND KIND OF A DRAG

MADAME SATA [] Disappointing drag queen biopic from Brazil. In Portuguese with English subtitles. Running time: 105 minutes. Not rated (explicit sexual content). At the Film Forum, Houston Street west...

2ND ACT A WINNER - BRAVO AND OLÉ TO PLACIDO DOMINGO'S PAMPANO

PAMPANO [ 1/2] 209 E. 49TH ST. AT THIRD AVENUE (212) 751-4545 ----- PAMPANO lays on a sizzling summer surprise. It braves the perilous shoals of "modern Mexican seafood" -...

RECIPES THAT WILL PAN OUT - ONE-POT WONDERS FOR COOKS ON THE GO

IT'S already in your kitchen, right under the stove or hanging on the pot rack. It doesn't require assembly or plugging in. And it's all you need - besides a...

DECAMP DUE TO RENT ROW

CAMPAGNA will be moving uptown a bit sooner than planned - after marshals closed the restaurant last week during lunch. "I had a rent dispute with the landlord and he...

ANY WAY YOU SLICE IT, NICK'S IS UPPER CRUST

NICK'S FAMILY-STYLE RESTAURANT AND PIZZERIA [ 1/2] 1814 SECOND AVE. (AT 94TH STREET) (212) 987-5700 ----- BETTER bring your appetite to Nick's - you probably haven't seen platters this size...

OSBOURNES GET ANOTHER SEASON

WHO the [bleep!] would have guessed it?"The Osbournes" are returning for yet another season. In a surprising move, MTV announced yesterday that there will be yet another season of 20...

BEN WANTS 'OUT' - PLAYWRIGHT FIELDING AFFLECK MOVIE OFFER

HOLLYWOOD is calling on "Take Me Out," Richard Greenberg's Tony Award-winning Broadway play about a gay baseball player who comes out of the closet. Ben Affleck is first among several...

STARR REPORT

Only if you can bear it . . . Some more, er, "news" on the Ashton Kutcher-Demi Moore front. A spokesperson for Kutcher, 25 - who's now dating Moore, 40...

HOW ROMANTIC - 'MILLIONAIRE'-MISTAKE BRIDE DARVA MARRIES AGAIN - THIS TIME FOR LOVE

RICK Rockwell says he has no regrets that his "ex-wife" Darva Conger has remarried. And, unlike their marriage - which was aired live on Fox on Feb. 15, 2000, and...

BRINI'S NATIONAL BREAKOUT

MANHATTAN public- access queen Brini Maxwell is going national. The self-styled "Martha Stewart of Chelsea," whose colorful "Brini Maxwell Show" on local cable has gained a devoted following since its...

THE SMOKING GUN.COM GOING PRIME TIME

LOS ANGELES - The dishy Intenet site thesmokinggun.com is getting its own TV show. It will become a regular part of Court TV's new prime-time celebrity law show, "Hollywood At...

GAY CHANNEL SHELVED

PLANS for an all-gay cable network on hold. The proposed channel, tentatively to be called Outlet, was envisioned as a 24-hour operation to have launched last spring. Word of the...

THE SWASH BUCKLES - 'PIRATES' SINKS UNDER IT OWN WEIGHT

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN [] Way too much of a good thing. Running time: 143 minutes. Rated PG-13 (action adventure violence). At the E Walk, the Union Square, City Cinemas...

4 FOUND DEAD AT JERSEY HOME

Police in Magnolia, N.J., yesterday found the badly decomposed body of a man, a woman and two children who died in an apparent murder-suicide. Camden County prosecutors said the man...

CHENEY'S TICKER IS TIP-TOP

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney, who has had four eart attacks, got a clean bill of health yesterday after his yearly physical exam. Cheney's high-tech pacemaker, which turns on...

POWERBALL TIX TOO HOT TO HANDLE

The country has come down with a new case of Powerball fever, but symptoms were mild in tony Greenwich, Conn., just over the New York border. The jackpot in tonight's...

CITY COP IS A TRUE-BLUE HERO

OFFICER TIRZAH GONZALEZ - Finest Medal nominee ---- New York City Police Officer Tirzah Gonzalez spent about nine months digging through a landfill for body parts after the World Trade...

L.I. WIDOW SCAMMED OUT OF 80G

A heartless scam artist bilked a cancer-stricken elderly Long Island widow out of her $80,000 life savings in a bogus investment scheme, and then lied that the records of her...

CHAIN-GRAB SUBWAY KILLER GETS 50 YEARS

A Manhattan judge sent a murderous thief to prison for at least 50 years yesterday for the fatal subway shooting of a UPS worker. The victim, hard-working Haitian immigrant Nixon...

B'KLYN HOSP'S DRUGS VANISH

Is anyone minding the drugstore at Kings County Hospital? Large quantities of noncontrolled drugs at Brooklyn's largest public hospital - including insulin, penicillin and birth-control pills - are unaccounted for,...

... OR A NEW CARTER?

CONSIDER: The former governor of a small state, little known on the national scene, becomes the first Democratic candidate in the presidential race, runs as an anti-Washington outsider on an...

TAXI STAND TURNING INTO GRAND CAFE

A taxi stand outside Grand Central Terminal - closed off after 9/11 because of heightened security - will become an outdoor café this summer, officials said yesterday. The Metropolitan Transportation...

UNITED STATES INTENSIFIED THE HUNT FOR SADDAM HUSSEIN

The United States intensified the hunt for Saddam Hussein yesterday following tantalizing clues indicating the ex-dictator survived the war and may be leading the resistance to coalition forces. Military officials...

WHISTLEBLOW COP SUES FOR $1.25M

A veteran cop is suing his bosses for $1.25 million, claiming he's being retaliated against for blowing the whistle on dangerous toxic hazards under a Bronx stationhouse. Sgt. Angelo Ruotolo,...

DEADLINE EXTENDED FOR 9/11 CLAIMS

ALBANY - Families of those who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks will have an additional six months to file wrongful-death lawsuits under a law signed yesterday by Gov. Pataki....

TAKE HEART, AMERICA: CHENEY'S GOT A TIP-TOP TICKER

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney, who has had four heart attacks, got a clean bill of health yesterday after his yearly doctor's exam. Cheney's high-tech pacemaker, which turns on...

KERIK OFFERS BOUNTY - $2,500 FOR INFO ON IRAQ HIT-SQUAD GOONS

WASHINGTON - Former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik yesterday offered $2,500 rewards for information leading to the arrests of pro-Saddam killers - as seven more Americans were wounded in...

RUTGERS GETS 'F' FOR PUTTING ANTI-SEMITISM 101 ON THE SCHEDULE

IT WILL be big. And ugly. And in New Jersey. The nation's third college - and the first on the East Coast - to harbor a national anti-Israel hate-fest, featuring...

$250M LOTTO TIX TOO HOT TO HANDLE

The country has come down with a new case of Powerball fever, but symptoms were mild in tony Greenwich, Conn., just over the New York border. In years past, local...

KOBE'S 'VICTIM' OFFERS EVIDENCE

Kobe Bryant's alleged sex-assault victim provided cops with physical evidence that's being examined to determine whether she was attacked by the NBA star, authorities said yesterday. The victim, whom police...

ABU THREATENS TO QUIT OVER ARAFAT MEDDLING

JERUSALEM - Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Mazen, facing fierce Palestinian criticism for not being tough enough with Israel, quit one key post yesterday and threatened to resign as prime minister...

BOB DYLAN 'BORROWS' LYRICS

Bob Dylan's literary reputation was blowin' in the wind yesterday after a Japanese writer said more than a dozen passages from one of his novels had been lifted by the...

BUSH RIPS 'CRIME' OF SLAVERY ON AFRICA VISIT

President Bush yesterday denounced slavery as "one of the greatest crimes of history" as he capped the first stop on his African trip by standing on Senegal's Goree Island, where...

AIRLINE WITCH DOCTOR ON TRIAL

A witch doctor who claims to bring patients good luck by furnishing them with pet cats and scrubbing their homes with ammonia went on trial yesterday for allegedly sneaking the...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

BROOKLYN * A pistol-packing thug shot and killed a teen on an East New York street yesterday after they got into an argument over a girl, police said. Kelvin Little,...

PARKS BOSS WARNS POOL GROPERS

Calling them "knuckleheads" and "abusers," Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe said people who try whirlpooling in city pools this summer will be caught and punished. "We take it very seriously," Benepe...

SCHOOLS BOSS VOWS HE'LL PROBE 'SEX TESTS'

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is investigating claims that two Washington Heights schoolgirls were forced to undertake tests for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases before they could return to class, The...

KIDS LIVE LARGE - 1 IN 4 CITY SCHOOLCHILDREN OBESE: SURVEY

A "shocking" survey by the city Health Department yesterday showed that 43 percent of schoolkids are overweight or obese. Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden released a survey of 3,000 schoolchildren that...

9/11 PANEL CRITICIZES BUSH

The Bush administration is not fully cooperating with a federal commission probing the Sept. 11 attacks, the leaders of the bipartisan panel said yesterday. The commission's chair, former GOP New...

DAVIS FOES: WE GOT THE NAMES

Opponents of California Gov. Gray Davis yesterday claimed to have more than enough signatures to force a recall vote. If true, it could trigger an Arnold Schwarzenegger bid for the...

'MATRIX' TEEN TIME WARPED - 'BLOODBATH PLOTTER' THINKS HE'S 12: DAD

The accused ringleader of a botched plot to pull off a 2,000-bullet bloodbath turns 19 next month - but thinks of himself as just 12, his father said yesterday. "My...

SLAY SUSPECT FIGHTS EXTRADITION

The University of Wisconsin student busted in New York after allegedly gunning down three men to avoid paying a gambling debt will fight extradition back to the Badger State. Meng-Ju...

$3M BID LIKELY ON SCHOOLS MANSION

The cash-starved city could add $3 million to its coffers when it puts the stunning, century-old chancellor's residence in historic Brooklyn Heights on the block, real-estate experts said yesterday. The...

PERVY DOC SOCKED FOR $3.5 MILLION

The "animal" of a doctor who sexually assaulted a sedated patient must pay his victim $3.5 million in damages, a Manhattan judge ruled yesterday. "The court believes there should be...

HAMPTONS DIARY

A HEARING about Southampton Town's controversial proposed takeover of the popular Poxabogue par-three golf course and driving range in Sagaponack had to be canceled yesterday because the local weekly neglected...

LEAKY LIVINGSTON - MIKE GETS[[ SOAKED IN $45M SALE

Mayor Bloomberg finally unloaded the infamous Board of Education building to a Brooklyn developer yesterday, but it was the languishing landmark that dumped on the mayor in the end. As...

COP IN BUMP-AND-ROB DRAMA

A carload of armed thugs who have been robbing motorists after bumping into their vehicles picked the wrong target early yesterday: an off-duty cop who pulled out his weapon and...

JET-CRASH MIRACLE TOT

A 3-year-old boy was the lone survivor of the horrific plane crash that killed 116 in Sudan yesterday. The boy - Mohammed el-Fateh Osman - lost a leg and suffered...

DEM BIG HITS SPEED BUMP

All the political connections in the world couldn't help Brooklyn powerbroker Ravi Batra on Monday night when cops pulled him over on the Belt Parkway. In addition to being slapped...

'SHEET' ESCAPEES CAUGHT

State police have caught the two killers who escaped from an upstate maximum-security prison by shimmying down a rope made out of sheets. Details were sketchy, but the murderers -...

WAR WITH WIFE SAVED MY LIFE - MISSED DEATH FLIGHT; MY STRIFE WITH WIFE SAVES LIFE IN CRASH

John Moutopoulos' marital problems saved his life. The Bellmore, L.I., man (right) had been scheduled to join neighbor Robert Hecker and two friends on a fatal Sunday-afternoon flight to Montauk...

W'CHESTER WOMAN HAS SARS

A 42-year-old woman who had recently visited Toronto has become Westchester County's third SARS sufferer, officials said. The woman, whose name is being withheld, developed the classic symptoms of severe...

TRAGIC DETECTIVE HAILED

Detective Dermot Brennan was remembered as the finest of the finest last night as more than 500 mourners gathered in Bay Ridge to bid farewell to the brave cop from...

8,400 MORE KIDS IN SUMMER CLASS

About 8,400 more students are required to attend summer school this year because they flunked and were denied promotion, according to figures released by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's office. That's...

U.S. NABS BAGHDAD SPY LINKED TO ATTA

The U.S. military has arrested the mysterious, high-ranking Iraqi spy who allegedly huddled with Sept. 11 mastermind Mohamed Atta in Prague just months before the terror attacks. Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim...

PRINCIPAL HUNTED IN CALIF. KIN MASSACRE

Police are looking for a local school administrator in the central California city of Bakersfield in connection with the fatal shooting of his ex-wife, her mother and three children. All...

JET-CRASH MIRACLE KID

A 3-year-old boy was the lone survivor of the horrific plane crash that killed 116 in Sudan yesterday. The boy - Mohammed el-Fateh Osman - lost his leg and suffered...

DISABLED KID MISSING ON E. SIDE

Police scoured the Upper East Side last night for a severely disabled 9-year-old Queens girl reported missing from a day care center. The girl, Stephanie Ramos, of Springfield Gardens, cannot...

50 YEARS FOR 2000 SUBWAY MURDER

A Manhattan judge sent a murdering thief to prison for at least 50 years yesterday for the fatal subway shooting of a UPS worker. The victim, hardworking Haitian immigrant Nixon...

BOB DYLAN 'BORROWS' SOME LYRICS

Bob Dylan's literary reputation was blowin' in the wind yesterday after a Japanese writer said more than a dozen passages from one of his novels had been lifted by the...

SCHOOL BIG SOUGHT IN FAMILY SLAY

Police are looking for a local school administrator in the central California city of Bakersfield in connection with the fatal shooting of his ex-wife, her mother and three children. All...

KLEIN PROBES CLAIMS OF 'SEX-TEST' SCHOOLGIRLS

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is investigating claims that two Washington Heights schoolgirls were forced to undertake tests for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases before they could return to class, The...

9/11 $CAM ON WIDOW

A heartless scam artist bilked a cancer-stricken elderly Long Island widow out of her $80,000 life savings in a bogus investment scheme, and then lied that the records of her...

'KITTY LITTER' WITCH DOCTOR IS FEDS' PET PEEVE

A witch doctor who claims to bring patients good luck by furnishing them with pet cats and scrubbing their homes with ammonia went on trial yesterday for allegedly sneaking the...

KLEIN VOWS TO PROBE CLAIMS OF 'SEX-TEST' SCHOOLGIRLS

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein is investigating claims that two Washington Heights schoolgirls were forced to undertake tests for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases before they could return to class, The...

250M LOTTO TIX TOO HOT TO HANDLE

The country has come down with a new case of Powerball fever, but symptoms were mild in tony Greenwich, Conn., just over the New York border. In years past, local...

RELIEF'S IN SIGHT, NEW YORK, SO KEEP YOUR COOL

The sizzle is about to fizzle - at least for a day. Weather forecasters say hot-and-bothered New Yorkers struggling against 90-plus-degree heat this past week need to hang in for...

WHISTLEBLOW COP SUING FOR $1.25M

A veteran NYPD cop is suing his bosses for $1.25 million, claiming he's being retaliated against for blowing the whistle on dangerous toxic hazards under a Bronx stationhouse. Sgt. Angelo...

YANKS HUNT FOR SADDAM IN DOWNTOWN BAGHDAD

WASHINGTON - The United States intensified the hunt for Saddam Hussein yesterday following tantalizing new clues indicating the ex-dictator survived the war and may be leading the resistance to coalition...

FLOYD STAYS UPBEAT DESPITE SORE WRIST

MET NOTES Cliff Floyd vowed to avoid the DL yesterday, although he will miss a few more games with a sore right wrist and could receive a cortisone shot before...

BERNIE'S READY TO RETURN TONIGHT

YANKEE NOTES CLEVELAND - Bernie Williams is ready to help the Yankees. "I feel I can compete," Williams said last night after finishing a five-game rehab stint with Trenton [Double-A]...

SOURCE: MARLINS, METS DISCUSS BENITEZ TRADE

Is Armando Benitez headed south? That's a question, not a joke. According to major-league sources, the Mets and Marlins are involved in trade discussions, presumably involving Benitez. Florida's bullpen was...

LULL AFTER STORM - DEPLETED BOMBERS HELD TO ONE HIT

Indians 4 - Yankees 0 CLEVELAND - Slop followed more slop from Billy Traber, and it had nothing to do with the heavy pre-game rain that delayed the game for...

WHO OPENED GEORGICA POND?

THE East End has become a hotbed of media activity the past week and while many are more concerned with shark sightings than celebrity sightings, all anyone seems to talk...

REAL DEAL: LAMPE GETS SUMMER OK

Light the Lampe. He will play. The Knicks received terrific news yesterday as Real Madrid granted 7-foot teen sensation Maciej Lampe permission to play for the Knicks' summer-league team, sources...

CAMPBELL ENTRY HEADS BIG M PACE

The Jim Campbell-trained entry of Whatanartist and Armbro Animate drew posts four and six, respectively, and has been made the 9-5 favorite for Saturday's $1 million Meadowlands Pace. Whatanartist's 1:49...

CHIPPER SAYS FANS HURT SHEA

Chipper Jones said all the boos and bile he receives from the Flushing faithful help him play better, that the negative energy makes Shea a fun place to play ....

METS REALLY DO CARE - WIVES HELP DEAL WITH LOSSES

THEY see that stoic look. They hear that monotone delivery. They search for fire but find ice. Then they take a mournful glance at the standings and see the Mets...

SHORT-HANDED - YANKS SIT JETER, SORIANO AFTER PLUNKINGS BY PEDRO

CLEVELAND - The sting of Pedro Martinez hitting Alfonso Soriano and Derek Jeter remained strong last night at Jacobs Field where neither stud infielder was in Joe Torre's starting lineup....

FRANCO CAN'T STAY OUT OF ARM'S WAY

MET NOTES John Franco was sidelined again last night with a swollen lower left forearm that has been aggravating him since the team's last road trip. "He doesn't even know...

THORN MAY ADD KIDD INDUCEMENT

Jason Kidd is back in New Jersey, Jermaine O'Neal is not going to visit San Antonio - although P.J. Brown did - and Nets president Rod Thorn spent the day...

D.L. IDEA HURTS FLOYD - WON'T SIT DOWN THROUGH BREAK TO LET WRIST HEAL

"By the weekend, I'll be playing. It feels better already." -CLIFF FLOYD --- Battle-tough Cliff Floyd vowed to avoid the disabled list yesterday, although he will miss a few more...

SJU NAMING LACROSSE COACH

The upheaval caused by cutting six varsity sports in a university-wide restructuring plan last winter still pains the St. John's athletic community. So when St. John's introduces Rick Sowell today...

STRAWBERRY LAUGHS OFF DEATH RUMOR

CLEVELAND - Contrary to a rumor that originated yesterday on Wall Street, Darryl Strawberry is alive and well. Word that the former Met and Yankee slugger had been found dead...

PEDRO AIMS BRUSHBACK AT BOSS

CLEVELAND - After reading that George Steinbrenner said Major League Baseball should investigate Pedro Martinez hitting Alfonso Soriano and Derek Jeter, the Red Sox right-hander fired back yesterday at The...

REYNOLDS ANOTHER BAD RAP

There have been many indictments of fired GM Steve Phillips throughout this disappointing season, but few were as glaring and damning as watching Shane Reynolds - a pitcher he let...

REYES' CONFIDENCE KEY TO METS' FUTURE

IF a visit by the Braves on Visor Night still left 28,297 seats empty at Shea last night, the same organization that once brought you The Mercury Mets is far...

BRAVES SQUASH ROACH

Braves 5 - Mets 3 Jason Roach was a 20th-round draft pick by the Mets who rose to the big leagues as a converted third baseman. So it was comforting...

DUCKS LIKELY TO GET SERGEI

As sands through the free agent hour glass: While the Rangers are keeping their pulse on the situation, it's probably more accurate to depict the Blueshirts as bystanders in the...

ANGOLA NATIVE IS ONE HAPPY CAMPER

Most of the players at the adidas ABCD basketball camp at Fairleigh Dickinson in Teaneck say it has been a dream of theirs to attend it since virtually the time...