CITYWIDE

FIREFIGHTERS’ UNION ENDORSES BUSH

The union representing the city’s 8,600 firefighters endorsed President Bush last night, bolstering the Bush campaign’s efforts to focus the nation’s attention on his leadership following the September 11 attacks. Firefighters chanted “four more years” as Mr. Bush and first lady Laura Bush arrived last night at a community center for Italian Americans in Queens, about a half-hour’s drive from midtown Manhattan, where the president will accept the Republican Party’s nomination tonight.

Video of Mr. Bush accepting the endorsement of the Uniformed Firefighters Association was shown at Madison Square Garden as delegates cheered. Mr. Bush embraced the firefighters and said the endorsement, nearly three years after he visited the World Trade Center rubble, was especially meaningful “because the truth of the matter is the inspiration I received from the firefighters on that site is something I’ll never forget.”

– Associated Press

MAYOR WON’T JOIN BUSH FOR FIREHOUSE VISIT

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is in a contract dispute with the firefighters’ union, said he didn’t have the time to join President Bush on his scheduled visit to firehouses yesterday evening. The situation was a made-to-order pickle for the Republican mayor as host of his party’s national convention this week. First, his relationship with firefighters could not be much worse. Members of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, along with the police union, have trailed Mr. Bloomberg at his public events for weeks and have demonstrated outside his house at 1 a.m. to demand new contracts. And, Mr. Bloomberg, a moderate Republican, faces re-election in a little more than a year in a heavily Democratic city in which Mr. Bush is unpopular.

– Associated Press

SEPTEMBER 11 FAMILIES WANT ASHES REMOVED

Family members of World Trade Center victims rallied at ground zero yesterday to urge the city to remove the ashen remains of their loved ones from a landfill mound where debris was sorted after the terrorist attack.

“We are tired of being ignored by elected officials,” said Diane Horning of Scotch Plains, N.J., whose son, Matthew, was killed in the September 11, 2001, attack. “We are here to send our message out to the entire nation and to the international community that this indignity against the dead will not be tolerated.”

Ms. Horning’s group, WTC Families for Proper Burial, has collected 47,000 signatures to press for a more dignified resting place for the remains particles. The group was formed after the city announced plans to develop Staten Island’s Fresh Kills landfill, where trade center debris was taken, into the city’s largest park.

– Associated Press

NEW YORK-BOUND FLIGHT DIVERTS TO PITTSBURGH

IMPERIAL, Pa. -An American Airlines flight from Chicago to New York City was diverted to Pittsburgh because of a bomb threat written on a tray table, authorities said yesterday. American Airlines Flight 346 from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to LaGuardia Airport was diverted after the plane’s captain was alerted to a “security concern,” said a spokeswoman for the airline, Jacquie Young.

The threat was found written on the tray table at about 9:15 p.m. Tuesday, said a Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman, Amy Von Walter. The 130 passengers and crew of five were evacuated without incident.

– Associated Press

REGION

NUCLEAR PLANT IS SHUT DOWN

BUCHANAN – The Indian Point 2 Nuclear Power Plant was shut down yesterday morning after a malfunction was detected in a valve that regulates the flow of water into one of its four steam generators. There was no release of radioactivity, Entergy Nuclear Northeast, operator of Indian Point 2 and Indian Point 3, said in a release.

Indian Point 3 continues to operate at full power. Indian Point 2 was shut down after control room operators detected a problem.

The plant has operated without interruption for 382 straight days following last summer’s blackout.

Indian Point 2 was expected to return to full service by the weekend.

– Associated Press