NEWS LITE : NAMES IN THE NEWS GAY D.C. POWER COUPLE SPLITS UP.

After more than a decade as Washington's most prominent and influential gay couple, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts and his partner, Herb Moses, have separated.

Frank, 58, said Friday that the reason for the breakup ``is nobody's business,'' but that the two split amicably.

``They provided the definition for how elected couples can serve public life with dignity and authenticity,'' said Kerry Lobel, executive director for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Moses, 41, recently left an executive position at the Federal National Mortgage Association to open a pottery studio.

He was the first partner of an openly gay member of Congress to receive spousal-access privileges through the Capitol, although the decision was controversial.

``I know I speak for most members when I state that the only Moses we like to hear about on this House floor is our Moses of Exodus, Moses the lawgiver, Moses of the Ten Commandments,'' former Rep. Bob Dornan of California told the House in 1996.

Film writer not in it just for the money

Sherman Alexie knows that other up-and-comers in the movie business have said it before, but he really means it: He doesn't care about money.

``Money is the root of all evil. It's a cliche, but it's a true cliche,'' said Alexie, the 31-year-old writer and producer of ``Smoke Signals,'' a new film by and about Indians that was honored at this year's Sundance Film Festival by other independent filmmakers.

``Every producer, actor and writer in Hollywood has sat on couches like this one at the beginning of careers and told reporters the same thing I'm telling you now. And then you interview them a year later and they've got the BMW, they've got the big house and they're making `Godzilla,' '' he said in Friday's Washington Post. ``It's not going to happen to me.''

Clooney rhapsodic over latest movie

George Clooney has finally found a movie that needs no apologies.

``No one is expecting this movie to make a billion dollars,'' Clooney said of ``Out of Sight,'' in which he plays a bank robber who falls for a federal marshal. The film opened last weekend and debuted at No. 3.

``We'd just like to get some good word-of-mouth and hang around for a while,'' he said. ``I tell you, though, it's awfully nice sitting here talking to you about a movie that I can unabashedly say I love.''

Clooney's string of so-so flicks - including ``From Dusk Till Dawn,'' ``One Fine Day,'' ``Batman & Robin'' and ``The Peacemaker'' - has failed to give him the acclaim he receives from his role on NBC's ``ER.''

``All those movies were good breaks, especially considering where I was coming from,'' Clooney said. ``And yeah, if I had been better, they probably would have been better, too.''

Ice cream company gets its dig in about tunneling

Irritated that the nation's biggest public works project has made downtown traffic as slow as fudge sauce, Boston motorists can cool down by snacking on a few scoops of the Big Dig.

Ice cream maker Brigham's Inc. is making some cold cash by advertising a dessert with the nickname of the $11.6 billion Central Artery-Third Harbor Tunnel project.

The ice cream chain has a Big Dig dish on its menu: a four-scoop $4.99 sundae with crumbled cookies, walnuts, hot fudge and peanut butter sauce.

Flag staff keeps banner flying in Washington

Hand over hand, William Warley hoists an American flag up a rooftop pole at the U.S. Capitol. It flaps in the breeze for a few seconds and then Warley runs it back down, folds it and boxes it.

Hand over hand - up, then down. Fold. Box. Repeat.

Since the program started in 1937, more than 2.4 million flags have been flown over the Capitol and then sold or given away as souvenirs. Each comes with a certificate marking the date that it flew in the Capitol breeze - however briefly - and the name of the person for whom it was flown.

``We just send it up, let it blow three or four seconds and then bring it down,'' said Warley, one of several workers who together hoist an average of 250 to 300 flags a day except in rain or snow. ``This is priority, so if we're doing another job and emergency (orders for) flags come up, we have to stop what we're doing and come do this.''

The banner year was 1991, when 154,224 flags were flown. Maybe Americans were feeling patriotic because of the Persian Gulf War. Nobody knows for sure.

The biggest single day for flag-flying was July 4, 1976, the U.S. bicentennial.

``We did 10,471 that day,'' said Christine Benza, who has worked in the flag office for 38 years. ``We worked round the clock to make sure all those flags were flown.''

Is it fun?

``Not really,'' said Warley, who works on various projects around the Capitol.

Especially not on a day last month when flags around the nation were flying at half-staff to mark the death of former Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona. No disrespect to Goldwater, but his death made Warley's job more difficult.

He had to run each flag all the way to the top, back down halfway in memory of Goldwater, back up to the top and then back down. That's flag-raising protocol.

``That's what you've got to do,'' he said. ``That's my job.''

The flag-waving operation began after a member of Congress asked for one of the flags that had flown over the Capitol and was being replaced due to wear. Word got around.

Soon, the rising number of requests for flags prompted Congress to begin flying smaller flags, furnished by members or constituents, from special poles erected on the Capitol's roof.

Prices range from $6.94 for a 3-by-5-foot nylon flag to $18.75 for a 5-by-8-foot cotton flag. There also is a $3.30 flag-waving fee and various shipping costs.

News Lite is compiled from Daily News staff and wire reports.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) FRANK

(2) Capitol staffers fly American flags which are then offered for sale.

Associated Press