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.

The New York Sun
NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

MANHATTAN


INSURANCE COMPANIES PAY MORE THAN HALF OF 9/11 CLAIMS


Insurance companies played the largest role in compensating people and businesses hurt by the September 11 attacks, paying slightly more than half of the $38.1 billion in benefits, according to a study released yesterday. The results raise questions about the future role of insurance companies in response to any attack, said Lloyd Dixon, who co-authored the study for the Rand Institute for Civil Justice.


“It points out the hole that would be created if we don’t have terrorism insurance,” said Mr. Dixon. “What if the insurers weren’t there the next time?”


A federal guarantee protecting companies against major financial losses in the event of another attack is set to expire at the end of 2005, and some in Congress are pressing for an extension now to keep premiums down. The 173-page report found that insurers paid about $19.6 billion to private entities, while the government gave $15.8 billion or 42%, and charities $2.7 billion, or 7%.


The majority of that went to New York City businesses, which received $23.3 billion, according to Rand. Three out of every four dollars that went to businesses came from insurance companies.


– Associated Press


CITYWIDE


COUNCIL COMMITTEE APPROVES SCHOOL CAMERAS


A City Council committee passed three bills yesterday aimed at improving school safety by installing security cameras and mandating better reporting of violent incidents.


The council’s public safety committee originally planned to mandate security cameras in every public school. The bill it passed yesterday allows the Department of Education and the Police Department to decide where to install cameras. During a hearing, representatives from the NYPD and DOE acknowledged that security cameras deter violence, but said that many schools will not get them because funding is not available.


Rose Albanese-DePinto said the city is installing cameras in all new schools, but conceded that about only 25% of others would get the cameras. By the end of the year, 200 of the city’s more than 1,300 schools are scheduled to have camera surveillance systems. The city has $119.9 million allocated to install surveillance systems in another 200 schools over the next five years.


The committee passed two other bills. One requires schools and police to report all violent and disruptive incidents. The other requires that they report the number of school safety agents at every public school on a quarterly basis.


– Staff Reporter of the Sun


HEARING TODAY ON SHORTAGE OF TOILET PAPER IN SCHOOLS


The Department of Education bought $747,000 worth of toilet paper, $521,000 worth of paper towels, and $73,000 worth of hand soap last year – but in the view of the City Council member who leads the Committee on Education, that might not be enough.


The council member, Eva Moskowitz, is holding a hearing today about the apparent paucity of paper towels, toilet paper, and soap in New York City public schools. She wants to find out how schools stock those basic goods and how the supplies make it into soap dispensers and paper holders throughout the five boroughs.


“I shouldn’t have to have a hearing on this topic,” she said yesterday in a telephone interview. “At some level, it’s ridiculous that I am having a hearing. On the other hand, it’s necessary because there is a shortage of toilet paper, soap, and paper towels in bathrooms in New York City public schools.”


Ms. Moskowitz said she’s fielded hundreds of questions in the past few years about the scarcity of bathroom supplies. She said it’s a complaint that arises at every parent-teacher association and school-related town-hall meeting she attends. She said she doesn’t know whether the problem is that schools aren’t receiving shipments or that the shipments are arriving but the supplies are sitting in closets, but she said one thing is clear: The supplies aren’t getting to the children who need them.


– Staff Reporter of the Sun


FLU SHOT SHORTAGE HAS INCREASED DEMAND


The shortage of flu vaccine has caused an increase in demand for it, health officials say. The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Immunization Hotline has been swamped. It receives 7,000 calls a day, compared to 7,000 calls a week in 2003. In October alone the hotline received 71,000 calls, compared to 24,000 calls through the entire flu season last year. Everybody wants to be vaccinated, now that there’s suddenly none to be had, the department’s deputy commissioner, Dr. Isaac Weisfuse, said in testimony before the combined Council committees on health, aging, and senior centers.


“In previous flu seasons, the primary focus of the health department’s flu vaccination program was convincing the public to get the flu shot,” Dr. Weisfuse said at the hearing. Last year the department struggled to get 66% of adults over the age of 65 vaccinated, a modest improvement from 52% in 1998.


– Staff Reporter of the Sun


POLICE BLOTTER


WOMAN IS ACCUSED OF KILLING FATHER WITH A HAMMER


A Queens woman is accused of beating her father to death with a hammer and disappearing on an overnight cocaine binge after throwing a blanket over the corpse and dropping her daughter off at school, according to the office of Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. Laura Martin, 43, of Long Island City, allegedly beat John Martin, 67, in the head with a hammer in their apartment at the Ravenswood Housing Development Wednesday evening, according to police and a spokeswoman for the Queens district attorney. Ms. Martin’s 5-year-old daughter was in the apartment at the time of the killing, though it was not known if she was in the living room where the murder occurred.


Ms. Martin told investigators she beat her father because he grabbed her arm and threatened to hit her with a glass bottle, said a spokeswoman for the district attorney. Ms. Martin allegedly smoked cocaine for several hours after the killing then went to sleep. At 7 a.m. Thursday, Ms. Martin allegedly cleaned up the murder weapon then covered her father’s body with a blanket and put a plastic bag over his head. Ms. Martin dropped her daughter off at school, then went on an overnight cocaine binge, according to the DA’s office.


Francis Gibbon, Ms. Martin’s lawyer, said she was acting in self-defense. “At the time she was being attacked, and it’s my understanding that this is not the first time,” said Mr. Gibbon. “She might have been battered by her father. I would hope that there is no rush to judgment.”


Ms. Martin was arraigned Sunday on charges of second-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence, criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, and endangering the welfare of a child. Her daughter is in the care of relatives.


– Staff Reporter of the Sun

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

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.


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