MANHATTAN

RNC PROTESTERS FILE CLAIMS AGAINST CITY AT LAST MINUTE

More than 300 people who accuse the city of falsely arresting them during the Republican National Convention in August rushed to file notices of claim against the city on Wednesday. In an unexpected move, the National Lawyer’s Guild submitted the claims to the comptroller’s office which, to that point, had only fielded about 48 notices of claim against the city related to the RNC. The rush to file came because by law those who seek to make a claim must do so within 90 days of the incident. They have a year to file an actual lawsuit. It is unclear whether there is any overlap between the new influx of claims and those that had been filed previously, a spokesperson for the comptroller’s office said.

Earlier this week, lawyers filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court seeking to have certified as a class-action lawsuit the claims of the nearly 2,000 people who allege their constitutional rights were violated when they were arrested or detained by police. That lawsuit seeks unspecified amounts for physical and mental anguish. In a statement released early this week, Deputy Police Commissioner Paul J. Browne said police acted lawfully in making the arrests. “Those who broke the law are still complaining that they were inconvenienced by arrest, and their advocates continue to make false allegations about conditions at the pier,” Mr. Browne said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

RESTAURANT OWNERS CHARGED WITH OFFERING BRIBES TO INSPECTORS

Six restaurant operators – including the owner of an Italian restaurant in Manhattan – have been charged with offering bribes to agents posing as health inspectors, authorities said. Campagnola Restaurant on First Avenue, where a meal can cost $80 a person, was among the restaurants cited in the Department of Investigation sting. The restaurant’s owner, Salvatore Lombardi, allegedly offered agents $250 to overlook violations including uncovered meat dripping blood onto the floor, the DOI said Wednesday. He and the owners of five other establishments in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens had been arraigned on charges of felony bribery and could face up to seven years in prison if convicted, said a DOI spokeswoman, Emily Gest. The other restaurateurs charged were Yu Chen of King Food Restaurant in Manhattan; Mi Nam Kim of My Kitchen Restaurant in Brooklyn; Xi Wan Pan of Everfresh Joy Restaurant in Queens; Ju-Tae Lee of Top Hat Bagel Restaurant in Queens, and Barbara Piekarska-Rogalski of Cracovia Deli Restaurant in Queens. The operation began last December. Agents visited restaurants where health inspectors had reported being offered bribes in the past.

– Associated Press

COURT IS URGED TO UPHOLD CONVICTION OF STEWART

The government urged a federal appeals court to uphold the conviction of Martha Stewart, arguing that “overwhelming evidence” supported the guilty verdict against the celebrity homemaker. Stewart, serving a five-month sentence at a West Virginia prison, had argued to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that prosecutors improperly suggested at her trial that she was charged with insider trading.

She was charged only with lying about why she sold ImClone Systems Inc. stock in 2001. Federal prosecutors, in a 220-page brief filed late Wednesday with the appeals court, said they did not mislead the jury on the issue. “The only party relentlessly seeking to introduce the subject of insider trading was Stewart, not to rebut anything the Government was doing, but as part of a defense strategy,” the prosecutors wrote. The papers came one day after publicists for Stewart posted a Thanksgiving message from her on her Web site, saying she is “safe, fit and healthy” and being treated fairly at the federal women’s prison in Alderson, W. Va.

– Associated Press

ALBANY

LAWMAKERS FAIL TO OVERRIDE GOVERNOR’S VETO ON COLLEGE FUNDING

Many college students working a job through the holidays may want to put in a little overtime. The Senate last week failed to try to override Governor Pataki’s vetoes of $19 million in additional state aid to community colleges; $3.2 millions more for “equal opportunity programs;”$2 million for part-time students, and $2.2 million in Bundy Aid to private colleges. But the Republican-led Senate couldn’t attempt an override even if it wanted to. The Democrat-controlled Assembly two months ago failed by one vote to override the vetoes and under the Legislature’s rules, the Assembly must approve an override first. Although the Assembly was in Albany last week, it never went into public session where it could have tried again.

– Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

OFFICER SHOOTS PIT BULL AFTER ATTACK ON GIRL

An off-duty police officer shot a pit bull after it attacked a 7-year-old girl on a Brooklyn street corner yesterday. The girl was not seriously injured, police said. The girl was bitten at 2:07 p.m. at Linden Boulevard and Atkins Avenue in East New York, and taken to Brookdale Hospital, where she was treated and released. An off-duty officer assigned to the 63rd Precinct at Flatlands drove by at the time of the attack, stopped his car, and shot the dog, police said. Police would not say whether the dog was killed.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE OFFICER DIES

A police officer who fell from a roof last month while chasing a suspect has died. William Rivera, 35, had responded to a burglar alarm October 2 in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn. When he and a partner arrived, they followed a man running up to the building’s roof, police said. While searching the rooftop, Rivera slipped and fell about 20 feet to the ground. He broke both legs, injured his back, and had several surgeries, police said. After leaving the hospital, Rivera continued to recuperate at home. He suffered a seizure Wednesday and was taken to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. He had a 7-year-old daughter and was engaged to marry to another officer.

– Associated Press