CITYWIDE

FERRY COMPANY OWNER APPEALS FOR A TAKEOVER

The president of NY Waterway said in the most blunt terms yet that the struggling ferry company would collapse without a government takeover. “Our accounts payable are continuing to mount, we have no cash reserves left and we may go out of business any day,” the company’s owner, Arthur Imperatore Jr., testified at a City Council hearing. “Immediate steps must be taken to insure a public takeover of our operations to maintain” services, he said.

The 18-year-old company runs ferries between New Jersey and Manhattan that carry 30,000 riders daily. It announced major service cuts several and layoffs several weeks ago, and has said in the past that, without government assistance, it would be forced to close by mid-January. Until now, however, its appeal has focused more on assistance than a takeover.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CITY WORKER STOLE IDENTITIES OF THOUSANDS

A city employee who aided a scheme to steal the identities of thousands of people to obtain tax refunds that cheated the government of $7 million was convicted yesterday of unlawfully transferring personal information. Veronica Harrison, 46, of Queens faces up to 15 years in prison when she is sentenced on March 11.

Ms. Harrison, a clerk at the Human Resources Administration in Manhattan, illegally transferred the personal identifying information of more than 16,000 individuals so that fraudulent tax returns could be filed with the Internal Revenue Service, the government said. Her arrest came during a probe into identity theft and tax fraud that previously resulted in the convictions of more than 20 other defendants.

– Associated Press

MANHATTAN

SPITZER HOLDS FUND-RAISING LUNCHEON

Just two days after announcing he would run for governor in 2006, Eliot Spitzer jumped into the fund-raising fray at a luncheon yesterday expected to bring in at least $2 million for his campaign.

Mr. Spitzer, the state attorney general, was introduced by actress Glenn Close and his wife, Silda, before an overflow crowd of 1,100 at the Sheraton New York, where tickets were a minimum of $1,000 per plate. He called for change in how state government works, saying that New York State once represented opportunity but has now “lost its way.”

– Associated Press

DIAMONDS FETCH $9 MILLION AT AUCTION

A cache of 822 diamonds seized from fugitive financier Martin Frankel sold for nearly $9 million during a two-day auction that ended yesterday. The largest gem in the sale, a 15.67-carat round brilliant diamond as big as a nickel, sold for $297,500 to an Internet bidder. The money, $8,931,800 in all, goes to pay restitution to Frankel’s victims.

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

POWELL SAYS HE WON’T RUN FOR OFFICE, DESPITE POLL

Secretary of State Powell said yesterday he will not run for statewide office in New York, even though a recent poll shows him favored in a hypothetical matchup in the governor’s race.

“I’m not going to be running for office even in my beloved home state of New York, as flattering as that poll might be,” Mr. Powell said when asked about Wednesday’s poll from the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. The poll showed Mr. Powell leading Democrat Eliot Spitzer, the state’s attorney general, 47% to 42%. The same poll found Governor Pataki trailing Mr. Spitzer in a matchup for the 2006 race, 38% to 50%. Rep. Vito Fossella, a Staten Island Republican, has been urging Mr. Powell to wage a different campaign in 2006: challenging Senator Clinton.

– Associated Press

UPSTATE

JUDGE ISSUES PERMANENT INJUNCTION ON GAY MARRIAGES

A state judge has made permanent an injunction keeping officials of the upstate village of New Paltz from performing same-sex marriages. Village trustees had been temporary prohibited from performing gay weddings since this summer. The order by state Supreme Court Justice Michael Kavanagh on November 30 makes the injunction permanent. The order does not apply to New Paltz Mayor Jason West, who is already permanently enjoined from performing gay marriages. In the West case, Judge Kavanagh ruled that the mayor was obligated to comply with state law. The judge said his rationale in this case for enjoining other village officials was the same.

– Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

ONE DEAD IN STABBING AT BRONX TERMINAL MARKET

A Bronx man approached officers responding to a 911 call at the Bronx Terminal Market yesterday with a bloodstained shirt and told them that he had just stabbed a man. The officers placed the man under arrest at the scene, and when his victim was pronounced dead at 7:07 a.m., the man was charged with murder, police said. According to police, the fatal fight began as a dispute between two drivers at W. 151st Street and Cromwell Avenue. The suspect, whom police identified as Uduma Okechukwu, 39, stabbed the victim once in the neck and four times in the back, police said. A knife was recovered from the scene. The victim, whom police identified as John Okoro, 44, of the Bronx, was taken to Lincoln Hospital in critical condition, and was pronounced dead on arrival.

– Special to the Sun

FATHER AND DAUGHTER FOUND DEAD IN BRONX APARTMENT

A woman returned to her Bronx apartment after a short hiatus yesterday morning and found her 60-year-old husband and 3-month-old daughter both dead, police said.

The father, Craig Denton, of 730 East 228th St., suffered from the HIV/AIDS virus and was discovered in his bed by police investigating the scene. The infant daughter, Cierra Denton, was found in her crib. Police detectives believe Denton had died from a medical complication and, without her father to feed and take care of her, the daughter eventually passed away from dehydration or malnutrition.

– Staff Reporter for the Sun

POLICE IDENTIFY BURGLARY SUSPECT

Police identified a suspect yesterday in a string of five burglaries of Brooklyn homes in the past three months, and are asking for the public’s assistance in apprehending the man. The suspect, whom police identified as Donneer Legree, 25, is described as a black male, 6-feet-5-inches tall, weighing 220 pounds. Investigators linked Mr. Legree to the burglary spree using fingerprint and DNA evidence. According to police, Mr. Legree entered the five homes in Brownsville, Bedford-Stuyvesant, East Flatbush, and Bensonhurst in the afternoon and morning while the residents were out of the house at work. The burglaries took place between September 17 and November 7. Police are asking anyone with information about the crimes to call 800-577-TIPS.

– Special to the Sun