New York Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

LONG ISLAND
PLAYHOUSE FACES FINES FOR LETTING ACTORS SMOKE
A Long Island community playhouse staging the musical “Cabaret” has received a warning from the county health department: If actors light up on stage the theater risks being fined – again. The Bellport Gateway Playhouse already has been slapped with a $500 fine for its actors lighting up in a performance of the musical “Fosse” last week, in violation of a state ban on smoking in public places. The show’s producer, Paul Allan, told Newsday he plans to fight the law, as it applies to theater, as a violation of free speech. Mr. Allan said the theater might be a public place, but the stage is not. He noted that “Cabaret,” a show about the decadent club life in pre-Nazi Germany, can display drinking onstage, but not smoking. The state Clean Indoor Air Act went into effect in July 2003 and bans tobacco from nearly all indoor public venues. In New York City, theaters can apply for tobacco waivers for individual productions, according to Actors’ Equity Association. There are no such waiver provisions for the rest of the state. Other Long Island theaters have gotten around the state’s no-smoking policy by having actors carry the cigarettes but not light them, as was done at the Broad Hollow Theater in East Islip last year. Other theater productions have actors light up briefly before stubbing them out. Bob Morcerf, the county health department’s investigator, said a complaint was filed last week by a woman who said her asthmatic husband became sick during the “Fosse” performance.
– Associated Press
CITYWIDE
UNION AND CITY MEET FOR CONTRACT TALKS
Late last month, Mayor Bloomberg said he was “optimistic” there would be a contract with the teachers before the beginning of the school year or maybe shortly afterward. After a negotiation session yesterday, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, said that wasn’t going to happen, but she said “it appears that all sides are finally ready to bargain.” She said there is still a long way to go – especially when it comes to economic issues – but she said, “The city took a position that represents a substantial departure from the position that they had previously.” Yesterday’s negotiation session was the first since July 19. The teachers have been working without a contract for two years. A spokesman for the mayor, Jordan Barowitz, declined to comment.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
STATE SCORES CITY SCHOOLS FOR LACK OF PROGRESS
Almost 120 New York City schools that don’t classify for federal poverty money didn’t make adequate yearly academic progress, the State Education Department said yesterday. The department found that 119 city schools didn’t make adequate progress on English and math tests. That’s less than last year, when 123 schools made the list. Although the schools did not make academic progress, the students can’t transfer to more successful schools or receive special tutoring. Those are options provided to students at poor schools that haven’t made adequate yearly progress. As the state announced last week, there are 345 poor schools in New York City that did not make adequate yearly progress. A spokesman for the city’s Department of Education, Keith Kalb, said, “We remain pleased and confident that our schools are heading in the right direction.”
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
TWINS MAY WALK BY CHRISTMAS
Carl and Clarence Aguirre, the 2-year-old twins who were joined at the head until a month ago, should be walking by Christmas, their pediatrician said yesterday. “That’s the promise I made to their mother, and it’s looking good,” said Dr. Robert Marion at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. “It could be Halloween, the way things are going.” Dr. Marion visited with the boys as they returned to the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore for a routine scan to check on the wound from their operation and to look for any signs of brain swelling or scar tissue.
– Associated Press