NEWS LITE : FIRST LADY IN WAITING?

Forrest Gump as President Clinton? Emma Thompson as Hillary? Word is that Tom Hanks and Thompson are top picks to play the first couple in a new movie based on Anonymous' best seller ``Primary Colors.''

Thompson's agent in London said Tuesday that Thompson was negotiating with director Mike Nichols, but would not commit herself until seeing the final script.

Suspicious MO on `NYPD Blue'

Is there a curse on the women of ``NYPD Blue?'' Sure is starting to look that way . . . we've had colds that lasted longer than some of the actresses on ABC's testosterone-pulsing cop drama. First out the door was Sherry Stringfield, who played good cop David Caruso's ex (she found greener fields at ``ER''). Amy Brenneman, another Caruso love interest, was written out in year two. This season, voluptuous secretary Donna Abandando, played by Gail O'Grady, was written out - she's expected to star in a Fox sitcom. DA Sylvia Costas, who's played by Sharon Lawrence, won't be seen in many episodes in the forthcoming season because she, too, is signed up for other shows. Most recent to go - Justine Miceli, who played Detective Adrienne Lesniak. No word from the ``Blue'' folks as to why.

D.C. cabbies heat up over

AC request

Sure, it's hot and muggy. It's July and steaming Washington cabbies say that doesn't give tourists the right to demand air conditioning.

``It's too expensive to just drive around with your AC on all the time,'' fumed Winston Perry, who was among two dozen taxi drivers who staged a protest Tuesday outside the D.C. Taxi Commission.

Back in January, the commission approved a 70-cent-a-ride rate increase to offset higher gas prices. On Tuesday, the panel was supposed to decide whether passengers could demand cooled cabs and whether to allow another increase because of the extra gas consumption air conditioning causes.

The cabbies contend that air conditioning can cost $3 to $5 a day.

``A lot of drivers will turn on their air if a passenger asks us to,'' said Perry, a 26-year veteran driver, ``but I know I don't keep mine all day because you could burn up a tank of gas driving in stop-and-go traffic.''

``If they ask, I'll turn it on if the temperature is 80 degrees or more and it's humid,'' said cabbie Squire Stepton, a 14-year part-time driver. ``But so many people, especially downtown, take short trips, that by the time the AC gets going good, they're where they want to go.''

The taxi commission's chairman, Novell Sullivan, said he sympathized with the drivers ``but 19 million visitors come to Washington every year, mostly during the summer.''

``Often, cab drivers are visitors' first contacts in the city . . . and if they're forced to ride in hot or dirty vehicles, it makes a bad impression.''

Of men and mincemeat  Princeton Architectural Press describes ``Stud,'' its new collection of essays, as exploring the ``fabrication of masculine identities at specific sites and at precise moments in history.''

Simply said: What makes a man a man? For one thing, an electric knife, a rare domestic appliance designed to be used by a man and introduced in 1963. ``Romps through a roast,'' said a 1965 Ronson ad, quoted in Ellen Lupton's essay. ``Zips through a Porterhouse. And it looks terrific on the table, too. Makes any man a Michelangelo at mealtime.''

The makers of standard cutlery weren't about to take that lying down. ``We still believe there's something grand about carving,'' said an ad for Carvel Hall. ``It takes a simple chore like civvying up a roast and turns it into a small but gala performance. It is, indeed, a man's only chance to shine during a meal.''

The whole gadget was reflective of gender turmoil. ``Although it was designed for a ritual that signified male domestic leadership,'' writes Lupton, ``the intrusive presence of the buzzing electric knife in the formal dining room signaled uncertainties in the hierarchy of the household.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1 -- 2) Emma Thompson is the leading candidate to play Hillary Clinton.

(3) Are these ``NYPD Blue'' tough guys scaring off their leading ladies?