July 2, 2005

U.N. LOOKING AT OFFICES ON LEX. AVE.

The United Nations has its eye on a two-building complex just two blocks from its digs on First Avenue but may have to wait until September to wrap up a...

GM'S EMPLOYEE DISCOUNTS DRIVE 41% SALES GAIN

GM trounced all other carmakers in June, as its "employee discounts for everyone" promotion fueled a 41 percent increase in sales. It was the No. 1 carmaker's best monthly sales...

TUNING IN TO TV - MILLIONS STAYING HOME TO WATCH NEW SHOWS

Television executives have already figured out they can attract more viewers during the summer by offering new shows rather than a schedule full of repeats. Now, there appears to be...

GUESSIN' GEFFEN

DAVID Geffen is as rich as a Rockefeller - so why shouldn't he live like one? Sources say the DreamWorks SKG co-founder is going to contract on the former co-op...

TAKE A FLIER

Fishs Eddy 889 Broadway at 19th Street (212) 420-9020 Sale: through July 16 Open: Sun., 11 a.m.-8 p.m./Mon.-Sat., 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Airline tableware and flatware - which were banned from...

UP A CRAZY RIVER - YOU WON'T CATCH THIS EX-PYTHONER AT 'SPAMALOT' CAST PARTY

MICHAEL Palin fans nearly rioted over newspaper reports that TV's most popular world-traveler was retiring. There was only one problem: It wasn't true. "I'll take a breather for a year...

A GAY COUPLE WON YANKED SERIES

IN the end, the neighbors on ABC's controvercial reality show, "Welcome to the Neighborhood" rolled out the welcome mat for a white, gay couple and their young, adopted black son,...

CINEMA UNDER STARS - AL FRESCO FILM FESTS PUT BIG SCREENS IN OUTDOOR SCENES; BRING YOUR OWN BLANKET

THE rooftop of the Old American Can Factory is littered with beat-up folding chairs, blankets and wine bottles. It's five floors up from the nearby Gowanus Canal and Brooklyn's Third...

ARE WE THERE YET? - TAKING THE TRAUMA OUT OF FAMILY VACATION

Kyle McCarthy will never forget her family's first trip to Miami. Her 5-year-old had his first carrot juice at a chic café, climbed into the car - and proceeded to...

WE'VE GOT GAME

SPY VS. SPY Format: Xbox Multiplayer: Yes. Rated: Teen (crude humor, cartoon violence) What's it about: An update on the original game, starring Mad magazine's cone-faced spies. Pick your spy...

DNA CLEARS SPIDEY RAPE SUSPECT

The sex offender who cops said was the prime suspect in the string of "Spider-Man" rapes on the Upper East and West sides was cleared of the attacks after DNA...

JUGHEADS IN 'ROUGH-UP' ROB

Cops are looking to put the freeze on two masked bandits who robbed a Long Island gas-station attendant and attacked him with a jug of car coolant. The bizarre beating...

CITY'S TAP WATER GOES OFF THE BOIL

The city lifted a "boil water" advisory yesterday, saying the drinking water is safe for everyone. Two parasites - Giardia and cryptosporidium - had been detected in the water from...

CHUCK FLEXES DEM MUSCLE ON SUCCESSOR

WASHINGTON - Sen. Charles Schumer is grabbing the Democratic bullhorn and taking center stage in the looming fight over President Bush's pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day...

L.I. COPS DEFUSE FIREWORKS RINGS

In a pre-Fourth of July fireworks crackdown, Suffolk County cops busted four major black-market dealers, including one who'd stored explosives with the "potential to kill" across the street from a...

FRANKS FOR THE MEMORIES: CHAMP RETURNS

It's come to this: America's best hope in the 90th annual July 4 hot-dog-eating contest at Coney Island is for four-time champion Takeru Kobayashi to break his own record and...

'JUNIOR' GOTTI TAPES WON'T AIR

Prison tapes of John "Junior" Gotti talking trash about his father's disloyal crime family and saying he'd rather be a "Latin King" cannot be used by prosecutors in the mob...

CITY STALLS ON SCHOOL BUS TESTS

The city Department of Education has failed to police bus companies with shoddy safety inspection records, fiscal watchdogs charge. An audit of school bus safety ordered by city Comptroller William...

SHE BROKE THE GLASS CEILING AND BUILT A BLOC

In one of Sandra Day O'Connor's first acts after being appointed to the Supreme Court, she made sure that the "Mr. Justice" nameplate on her door was replaced with the...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

BROOKLYN * Police in Canarsie are trying to unravel the mystery behind the death of a man whose handcuffed body was found in the back seat of a car yesterday...

HILL JOINING MIKE IN FINAL OLYMPIC SPRINT

Mayor Bloomberg grabbed a political gold medal yesterday when he announced that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is joining him in Singapore to present New York's bid for the 2012 Olympic...

'SUPREME' BATTLE IS ON - BUSH GETS FIRST COURT PICK AS O'CONNOR QUITS

WASHINGTON - Sandra Day O'Connor - the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court - announced yesterday she's stepping down, setting the stage for a bruising political showdown....

'SCUM' RAP FOR JUROR - FACES JAIL FOR INSULT

A prospective juror is facing prospective jail time - for calling a defendant a "scumbag." "I have interviewed upwards of 15,000 prospective jurors and have never seen such an inappropriate,...

HAMPTONS DIARY

NOT everyone minds the cooler ocean temps off Hamptons beaches this summer - a handful of sharks have been sighted, forcing East End swimmers out of the surf over the...

ARUBA GOV'T IN MUDDLE ON SLAY RAP

Three young men held in the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway in Aruba may be hit with murder charges as soon as Monday, the island's chief government spokesman said yesterday....

BAT MAN'S BUDDY SAYS - THE VICIOUS ATTACK WAS SICKENING

A teen involved in the vicious Howard Beach bias attack said he was sickened when Gotti family confidante Nicholas Minucci slammed a baseball bat into a black man's head. Frankie...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

The winner in an online auction to have lunch with investment guru Warren Buffett has paid $351,100 for the opportunity to dine with the "Oracle of Omaha." The money goes...

FLAMING FRUIT STAND - 5 HURT AS CON ED TRANSFORMER BLOWS

A transformer explosion sent flames shooting 20 feet into the air outside a Brooklyn produce market yesterday, injuring five people, including a seriously burned woman and a nun whose veil...

GIRL WINS DOG FIGHT - GETS CUSTODY

He's Rocco, not Taco. A dog-eat-dog custody battle over a Chihuahua ended yesterday when a state judge ordered the pooch returned to its original owners - a Long Island family...

MTA FUNDING DERAILED AMID ALBANY POLITICS

ALBANY - Legislative leaders yesterday vetoed a $17.9 billion MTA capital plan - even as an aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said the No. 7 subway expansion to the...

DOC $OCKED IN DEATH OF SCHAAP

A Manhattan doctor has to pay the family of Dick Schaap $1.95 million after a jury determined yesterday that shoddy medical care led to the famed sports journalist's death. Schaap,...

PUNK'S HATE MADE SIKH FLEE U.S.

An America-loving Sikh allegedly attacked by Howard Beach bias-beating suspect Nicholas Minucci on Sept. 11 was so shaken he fled the United States for a year, his family told The...

GRUESOME FIND IN QUEENS APT.

The body of a 77-year-old woman who had been dead for at least a month was found by cops in her Queens apartment - and one of her two live-in...

HOLIDAY HANG-UP - LIRR TRAGEDY HALTS PENN STATION TRAVEL

Thousands of commuters were stranded at Penn Station last night - at the very start of their holiday weekend - after a Long Island Rail Road train struck and killed...

POT BUST HITS HOME ON S.I.

A Sanitation Department supervisor was busted yesterday after cops found more than 85 pounds of marijuana while checking a report of a burglar in his Staten Island house, police said....

FROSTY TRIP FOR MIKE, FREDDY

LOS ANGELES - Mayor Bloomberg and rival Fernando Ferrer parlayed their political clout into one-on-one meetings with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa yesterday after his inauguration. The mayor and former Bronx...

TORRE MAY START STURTZE TUESDAY

YANKEE NOTES DETROIT - With Kevin Brown not ready to come off the disabled list, and the Yankees' only other option being the promotion journeyman Aaron Small from Triple-A Columbus...

BELTRAN'S READY TO START RUNNING

THE rumor that Carlos Beltran averaged 37 stolen bases the last four seasons finally has a leg to stand on. Five days ago, a doctor drained 8 ccs of fluid...

PINCH CLINCH - ANDERSON, WOODWARD BAIL OUT BULLPEN

Mets 7 - Marlins 6 When Willie Randolph lost Doug Mientkiewicz, Kazuo Matsui and even Miguel Cairo to injuries, he knew he could replace them with Marlon Anderson and Chris...

FUNNY CIDE SEEKS REVIVAL IN SUBURBAN

They can never take Funny Cide's Kentucky Derby trophy away from him, but it's about time for the 5-year-old pride of the New York breeding program to step it up...

FRANK GETS TO WORK - MAKES QUICK PITCH TO ABDUR-RAHIM

The phone rang and was answered in the Atlanta home of Shareef Abdur-Rahim. No, he couldn't come to the phone, the female voice stated. "Coach Lawrence Frank of the New...

ANNIKA SURVIVES - BIRDIE SAVES ROUND AS HIGH SEEDS FLOP

Survival of the fittest begins today at the Women's World Match Play Championship. Survival of the finest nearly didn't get there at all. Carnage continued yesterday, leaving Annika Sorenstam gratefully...

PIONEER STRECK LEADS WAY ON ISLAND

COMMERCE BANK CLASSIC A golf pioneer and two of the best-known personalities on the Champions Tour sit atop the leaderboard in the Commerce Bank Classic at Eisenhower Park following yesterday's...

TALK OF TOWN - SHEFFIELD TRADE TIRADE CONCERNS OTHER TEAMS

DETROIT - It never ends for Gary Sheffield. One day after Sheffield was hit with a two-game suspension and fined $2,000 by MLB's top cop Bob Watson for bumping an...

BAD DAYS FOR LEITER

Al Leiter walked into the visiting clubhouse at Sheawith a new look yesterday afternoon, courtesy of his Upper East Side barber. "Maybe it's a good-luck haircut," he said before last...

CASTOFFS GENERATE INTEREST

YANKEE NOTES DETROIT - When Mike Stanton and Paul Quantrill were designated for assignment, it was assumed the veteran relievers wouldn't draw interest on the trade market because teams would...

CLIFF THRIVING - FLOYD ON PACE TO BREAK METS' HR RECORD

When you look at the pace Cliff Floyd is on, it becomes pretty clear the Mets' left fielder is on track to have the best season of his career. Floyd...

NO BULL! - STURTZE MAY GO FROM 'PEN TO START

DETROIT - With Kevin Brown not ready to come off the DL and their only other option promoting journeyman Aaron Small from Triple-A to start Tuesday against the Orioles, the...

RANDOLPH WON'T PUSH FOR STARS

MET NOTES Willie Randolph said he believes Cliff Floyd and Pedro Martinez deserve All-Star consideration. But the Mets manager said he does not plan to call Cardinals manager Tony La...

CENTERING ON KWAME - WIZ FREE AGENT FITS ISIAH'S BILL

Isiah Thomas has a new mantra: youth and size. Those watchwords will lead the Knicks in pursuit of 6-11 Kwame Brown, who became a restricted free agent yesterday. On Thomas'...

ORATORY SUFFERS FRACTURE

After Oratory won the Peter Pan Stakes by 4 3/4 lengths in stakes-record time May 28, many questioned the decision of owner Sheikh Mohammed to skip the Belmont Stakes and...

TALK OF TOWN - SHEFF TRADE TIRADE WORRIES OTHER TEAMS

DETROIT - It never ends for Gary Sheffield. One day after Sheffield was hit with a two-game suspension and fined $2,000 by MLB's top cop Bob Watson for bumping an...

NETS' FRANK MAKES PITCH TO SHAREEF

The phone rang and was answered in the Atlanta home of Shareef Abdur-Rahim. No, he couldn't come to the phone, the female voice stated. "Coach Lawrence Frank of the New...

PIRATES LOOKING TO BUY OUT ORR

The July 4 weekend may not shape up as a holiday for Seton Hall coach Louis Orr. Sources told The Post that several influential boosters and members of the board...

BIG PROBLEMS - YANKEES SEE UNIT GET ROCKED AGAIN

Tigers 10 - Yankees 2 DETROIT - If Randy Johnson isn't ailing, and he says he isn't, the Yankees are in deeper stew than anybody imagined. Because if Johnson is...

BIG PROBLEMS - YANKS SEE UNIT PUNISHED AGAIN

Tigers 10 - Yankees 2 DETROIT - Randy Johnson said his putrid performance last night was due to poor location. Joe Torre said Johnson was not able to locate his...