NEW YORK - Former CBS3 anchor Alycia Lane wants to work again in Philadelphia - but for another station.

"She thinks she could beat her old station" in the ratings, her attorney, Paul R. Rosen, said yesterday, after a New York City court hearing put her a step closer to closure. No local stations, though, seem to be in hiring mode.

Lane, 35, no longer faces the felony assault charge filed Dec. 16 after a middle-of-the-night encounter with a plainclothes police officer on a Manhattan street. CBS3 fired her from her $700,000-a-year job two weeks later.

Lane, who has steadfastly maintained her innocence, now faces less serious counts of harassment and obstruction of governmental administration. Both will be dropped in six months if she stays out of trouble, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Dina Douglas said. Lane did not plead guilty, and her record will not carry a conviction.

Prosecutor Mike Greenman said the felony charge was dropped because the scratches the plainclothes officer sustained were not serious enough to support the charge.

Lane agreed to one day's community service, which she already has performed. She volunteers with Project HOME, the Philadelphia advocacy group for the homeless.

After Douglas approved the deal, Lane's boyfriend, Chris Booker - seated next to her in the harshly lit courtroom - clasped her hand.

Lane's criminal attorney, David Smith, said he agreed to the deal to speed the judicial process and "avoid the public spectacle of further proceedings." He said he expected that Lane would have been cleared at trial; yesterday's agreement offered the same outcome.

"This matter has ended completely," Smith said.

Lane had ducked photographers by entering the courthouse through a side door with Booker; her parents, Marlin and Petrita Lane; her agent, Greg Willinger; and two longtime friends, former TV reporter Trish Bergin and publicist Matthew Hiltzik.

But after the hearing, she faced the throng, appearing in front of cameras for the first time in 10 weeks.

"I'm so glad it is over," said Lane, demure in a black Moschino suit and matching Louboutin stilettos. "I'm looking forward to moving on with my life."

Rosen said Lane had been fielding "so many offers [of work] . . . it's just a matter of time."

Her life probably will not include CBS3, where she had worked for four years, coanchoring the prime-time news.

Lane hired Rosen the day after she was fired, and he has been preparing a civil case against CBS.

After he filed papers in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, an attorney for CBS countered by persuading a judge to move the case to U.S. District Court in New York. Rosen said he will file motions today to remand the case back to Philadelphia.

Lane had about 31/2 years left on her contract.

In a statement, CBS3 announced: "As we have said previously, we made a decision in January that was not based solely on the New York incident of Dec. 16 but rather on a series of judgments made by Alycia when she was working at CBS3. As we did then, we continue to wish her the best in all of her future endeavors."

Lane, in effect, was the reporter who became the story. She appeared twice on camera with "Dr. Phil" McGraw to address her two failed marriages, in a move that the station encouraged but friends and certain colleagues viewed as misguided.

Exposed, Lane found her way onto the radar of the New York Post.

In May 2006, the Post's Page Six column reported that she was seen in photos with Prince Albert of Monaco, "her arms cozily wrapped around the royal" while dancing. She insisted to the paper that nothing happened.

Exactly one year later, Lane hit the Post again after the wife of TV sportscaster Rich Eisen confronted her by e-mail for sending saucy vacation photos to him. The photos never surfaced, helping add to the story's legend.

Last summer, after she declined to address rumors that she was dating a New York anchorman, the Post staked out her Washington Square condo to photograph them.

The final straw came at 2 a.m. Dec. 16, when she was in a cab with Booker, Sirius Satellite Radio executive Ross Zapin, and Zapin's wife, Melissa. Their cab was behind a car being driven erratically in Lower Manhattan.

When both vehicles stopped at a light, Zapin got out to confront the car's occupants. The police report, which did not name Zapin, says the car's three occupants identified themselves as police officers and ordered the man back to the cab.

Lane stepped out of the cab and approached the officers with a camera. The police report also alleged that Lane used a slur against the female officer. She was arrested and spent much of the day in a lockup.

KYW enjoyed healthy ratings while she was paired at 6 and 11 p.m. with Larry Mendte. The station's Eyewitness News is a solid No. 2 in town behind Action News on WPVI (6ABC).

Since Lane's departure, KYW has maintained its ratings as Mendte has paired with anchor Susan Barnett, who is considered a front-runner for a permanent spot.

Lane also has put her condo on the market for $1.35 million, though friends say she wants to stay in the area.