CITYWIDE

COUNCIL COMMITTEE URGES CHANGE TO CRIMINAL PROCEDURE LAW

The City Council Committee on Immigration unanimously passed a resolution urging the State Assembly to amend criminal procedure law yesterday.

The change would require courts to advise defendants facing felony, misdemeanor, or violation charges that a guilty plea could result in deportation, exclusion from admission to America, or denial of naturalization.

“We’re asking people to give away their rights without knowing what their rights are,” said Council Member Kendall Stewart, the chair of the committee, in a statement. “People are taking pleas only to learn later that the punishments they agreed to are greater than what they anticipated.”

Under current state law, which will sunset next year if not extended, courts are only required to warn defendants facing felony charges of a guilty plea’s immigration consequences, even though misdemeanors and violations – from turnstile jumping to shoplifting – can also be deportable offenses.

“We cannot continue to falter in protecting the rights of immigrants by permitting a two-tier system of justice where immigrants are unaware and uninformed of the risk of deportation when plea-bargaining,” said Council Member Miguel Martinez, who introduced the resolution.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

NEWLY FILED COURT PAPERS DETAIL SHEIK’S WARNING

A Yemeni sheik accused of funneling millions of dollars to terrorist networks warned agents that “Allah will bring storms” to America because of his arrest, according to newly filed court papers. Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad made the remark last year after a German court ordered him extradited to America to face charges he helped finance Al Qaeda and Hamas, prosecutors said in the documents filed in U.S. District Court. The statement – spoken in English to agents bringing Mr. al-Moayad to New York from Frankfurt on November 16, 2003 – counter defense claims that he has no command of the language, prosecutors said.

“Allah is with me,” he allegedly told a detective. “I am Mohammed al-Moayad. Allah will bring storms to Germany and America.”

Prosecutors have previously alleged Mr. al-Moayad was overheard boasting about his relationship with Osama bin Laden, saying in Arabic that Mr. bin Laden “tells me that I’m his sheik.”

The new documents, filed late Friday, offer details of Mr. al-Moayad’s conversations with an undercover FBI operative posing as an American Muslim eager to donate $2.5 million to terrorist causes.

– Associated Press

OLYMPIC ORGANIZERS RESERVE AD SPACE

The city’s Olympic organizers have reserved 600,000 billboards, subway signs, and other advertising space in preparation for a potential 2012 Summer Games as part of a huge marketing plan.

NYC2012, which is coordinating New York’s bid for the games, made deals with nine billboard companies, several city agencies, and public authorities – which altogether control 95% of outdoor advertising venues. The agreements, made last month, came soon after Mayor Bloomberg created a special board to stifle marketing from advertisers who are not official sponsors of the Olympics.

“We’re not just talking about protecting the interests of the sponsors, but ensuring that the people of New York can even get the Olympics,” said the city’s commissioner of consumer affairs, Gretchen Dykstra.

The International Olympic Committee requires all candidate cities to provide guarantees that advertising space will be available for Olympic sponsors.

New York is one of five cities vying for the 2012 Olympics. The other cities are London, Madrid, Moscow, and Paris. The IOC will select a host city on July 6, 2005, in Singapore.

– Associated Press

QUEENS

TWO QUEENS POLITICIANS AT ODDS ON PALESTINIAN ARAB ISSUE

Reps. Gary Ackerman and Anthony Weiner have a lot in common. They’re both Jewish Democrats representing Queens who are strong supporters of Israel. But in the uncertainty brought about by the November 11 death of Yasser Arafat, the two disagree on exactly how America should try to re-energize peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Late last week, Mr. Ackerman and Mr. Weiner began circulating what’s known as “Dear Colleague” letters, each taking opposing positions on the question of renewed aid for the Palestinian Authority.

Mr. Ackerman’s letter called the death of Arafat “a new opportunity for genuine Palestinian political reform along the lines called for by President Bush in June 2002.”

Mr. Weiner, by contrast, urged other members of Congress “to join me in demanding that no aid be sent until the violence ends.”

The government has signaled it will likely send $20 million to the Palestinian Authority, the same amount given in 2003.

– Associated Press

WESTCHESTER

POLICE ARREST HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT IN BOMB THREAT

Police arrested a Scarsdale high school freshman yesterday after he sent e-mail messages to the Superintendent of Scarsdale Schools, Michael V. McGill, allegedly threatening to plant three bombs in the school. Police withheld the student’s name because of his age. The student’s attempts were thwarted hours after the Scarsdale police were notified mid-day yesterday by the Scarsdale Board of Education. An investigation by the Westchester County District Attorney’s High Tech Crimes bureau identified the student, who sent the e-mail through a Hotmail account.

– Special to the Sun

STATEN ISLAND

FIREFIGHTER HIT BY CHAIR SUES CITY

A firefighter critically hurt on New Year’s Eve when he was hit in the face with a steel chair sued the city yesterday for $100 million, saying his colleagues worked harder to conceal their use of alcohol than to save his life. Firefighter Robert Walsh, a resident of Hazlet, N.J., portrayed the Staten Island firehouse where he worked as a place where alcohol flowed freely and the bosses not only knew it but sometimes paid for it and drank it themselves. That environment set the stage for firefighter Michael Silvestri to create his own “sangria” mix in a large pot in the firehouse kitchen, get drunk, get angry and smash Mr. Walsh over the head when he got angry at something Mr. Walsh said, the suit alleged.

Mr. Walsh suffered a broken jaw, a broken nose, and brain and spinal injuries when Mr. Silvestri allegedly hit him in the face with a steel chair.

Afterwards, fellow firefighters declined to summon an ambulance, treat his injuries or notify police as part of a cover-up of the use of alcohol, Mr. Walsh said.

– Associated Press

REGION

DOZENS ARRESTED IN CREDIT CARD FRAUD RING

More than two dozen suspects have been arrested in a credit theft ring that operated in New York and New Jersey, the Hudson County prosecutor announced yesterday.

Prosecutor Edward J. DeFazio said the ring involved the theft of credit card numbers, which were used to create counterfeit credit cards and matching alternative identification with fictitious names. The bogus cards were used to purchase merchandise that was then “fenced,” or resold for cash, at half the original cost.

Some purchases from high-end retailers were returned to the retailer for cash, Mr. DeFazio said. Credit accounts of victims were often “maxed out” in one day, before the victims realized their card number had been stolen, he said.

“Unfortunately, at various auto dealers and car rental establishments, there are corrupt people in the credit departments who get the information on people and then use it to get their credit cards,” Mr. DeFazio said.

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

STATE SHIFTS SOME MEDICAID COSTS TO COUNTIES

The state has shifted $1.4 million in Medicaid costs to counties to pay for respite care for caregivers of disabled New Yorkers. The shift was contained in the 2004-05 state budget approved by Governor Pataki and the state Legislature in August.

The respite care program for 8,800 caregivers to people with mental retardation or developmental disabilities had cost the state about $14.4 million. Under the changes approved in Albany, that state cost will slip to just more than $10 million, with the counties picking up $1.4 million and the state becoming eligible for $3 million in federal funding for the rest.

The state Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities said the cost shift should be viewed in the context of the 2004-05 state budget providing $49 million overall in Medicaid savings for county taxpayers.

The director of intergovernmental services at the state Association of Counties, Kenneth Crannell, said the $1.4 million is a “very small amount” considering that counties and New York City will pay about $6 billion this year for Medicaid. But Mr. Crannell said the shift to already fiscally stressed counties comes at a bad time and continues to send the wrong message to local governments.

– Associated Press