STATEWIDE

SCHUMER SAYS CITY IS VULNERABLE TO TERROR ATTACKS

Senator Schumer gave the federal government a “C” yesterday on its effort to protect New York from another terrorist attack and said the city is still dangerously vulnerable. The senator released a report ranking the federal government in nine categories, including ports, trucks, water supply, and border security. Grades ranged from “F” in chemical plant security and homeland-security funding to “B minus” in air security. The first, he said, affected 110 hazardous materials facilities where chemical were stored. Inadequate cargo screening and airlines ill-equipped to defend against shoulder-fired missiles, he said, marred the latter. Though he credited the federal government for its security contribution during the Republican National Convention, he said “the Feds still aren’t giving us enough support, enough attention, or enough money.” “The bottom line is that we are far safer than we were three years ago today, but not nearly as safe as we could be or should be,” he said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CITYWIDE

COUNCIL SPEAKER PROPOSES STRICTER GUN LAWS

City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and several others announced yesterday that they were proposing new legislation with stricter penalties for gun violators. Mr. Miller, along with Council Member David Yassky and the head of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, also urged President Bush to take action to ensure that the federal assault weapons ban, which is due to expire today, is reinstated. That law bans the sale of 19 types of semiautomatic assault weapons and is part of the larger Brady Bill, which was signed in 1994. The proposed city legislation would, among other things, confiscate guns from those convicted of illegal possession and sale of firearms and ban violators from obtaining a city firearms license.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MANHATTAN

CARDINAL SPEAKS ON WORKERS’ RIGHTS

Archbishop of New York Edward Cardinal Egan gave a sermon on protecting the rights of workers in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, at yesterday’s mass at cathedral of Saint Patrick. “The crusade for justice must always keep in mind those who are hurting the most,” said the cardinal, recalling Chinese workers in the garment industry who were neglected by charity that had been directed to communities located below Canal Street. “The Chinese Staff and Workers Organization came to the Catholic Charities who sent social workers north of Canal Street to assist over 1,000 Chinese families” with $1.5 million in donations, he said to the audience of some 2,500 people. Recalling the “needs of the stranger,” Cardinal Egan also remembered how restaurant workers, many of whom were Hispanic or Asian, were left without jobs following the terrorist attacks. “After the tragedy, the crime of September 11, 2001, the Catholic Charities found out that many restaurant workers had died and others had lost jobs,” the cardinal said. In response, Catholic Charities raised $1.7 million in aid.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

FONDA, OTHERS ATTEND WOMEN’S RIGHTS CONFERENCE

Actresses Jane Fonda and Sally Field, “Vagina Monologues” playwright Eve Ensler, and the Afghan woman who whose life was threatened when she denounced the warlords who hold de facto power in her country, Malalai Joya, gathered over the weekend for a conference on women and power. Ms. Joya, visiting America for the first time, drew death threats when as a delegate to Afghanistan’s constitutional council last year she issued a stinging rebuke of powerful armed faction leaders at the gathering, calling them “criminals.” The weekend-long Women and Power Conference was sponsored by the Omega Institute, a holistic health center, and Ensler’s V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and children.

– Associated Press