CITYWIDE

THOMPSON RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT SCHOOLS BUDGET

The city comptroller, William Thompson Jr., took aim yesterday at Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, saying any chancellor who had overshot his budget by more than $150 million would have a lot of answer for.

“I think that there are many questions that are outstanding about the Department of Education,” he told The New York Sun in an interview. “I am troubled by their overspending the last fiscal year, and I know that any chancellor in the past who overspent a budget like that would probably have real problems with his board.”

Figures from the comptroller’s office put the total of over-budget spending at $155.9 million. Nearly half that amount came from unanticipated expenditures on special education, and about 60% of that spending was attributed to “accounting realignments” related to Mayor Bloomberg’s takeover of the public school system.

“We have been recognizing more expenditures because there were two separate accounting systems, one for the board because it was independent and one for the city,” said the chief financial officer for the Department of Education, Bruce Feig. “We have a one-time cleanup to use the same rules as the city system. The other things were contract services for special education. This was a mandated service. In the rest of the state the county is responsible for special education for 4-year-olds.That was a significant piece of the expenditures.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

COUNCIL MEMBERS ASK FOR ADDITIONAL GIFTED PROGRAMS

Members of the City Council demanded added gifted and talented programs yesterday at a news conference. “Children learn at different levels,” Council Speaker Gifford Miller said. “While it’s critical to support programs for those with special needs, it’s equally important to offer enrichment programs and advanced placement courses to those who learn at an accelerated rate.”

Council Member Lewis Fidler introduced a bill that would expand gifted and talented programs at the city’s public schools. It would require each school district in the five boroughs to dedicate at least 10%of its classroom seats to gifted programs – including Advanced Placement, honors, and enrichment.

This fall, the Department of Education convened a “think tank” to comprehensively evaluate gifted and talented programs across the city. The group is expected to report back to the deputy chancellor for teaching and learning next year.

Yesterday, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein said the council members who spoke out yesterday were just trying to “score political points.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

SYNAGOGUE FILES COURT BRIEF IN CONTRACEPTIVES CASE

Agudath Israel of America announced yesterday that it has filed an amicus curiae brief in support of religious organizations across the country that oppose laws forcing employers to include contraceptives in employee health benefits.

The prescription birth control methods are in direct opposition to many religious beliefs about reproduction and abortion, and while exemptions have been afforded to some religious organizations, they should apply across the board, the brief states.

The general counsel of Agudath Israel, David Zwiebel, said the brief was filed in response to what he called a “dangerous trend” of legislators moving toward allowing “hard-core religious organizations to maintain their religious standards” but not allowing religion-sponsored social-service programs to maintain the same standards.

According to the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, women of reproductive age pay 68% more out-of-pocket costs for health care than men of the same age. Much of this difference is related to reproductive health care costs. To close this gap, the New York State Legislature passed the Women’s Health and Wellness Act in 2002, which requires that all group health insurance plans that include prescription drugs must cover prescription contraceptives. Recognizing that many religious groups oppose contraception, the act makes an exemption for religious organizations that satisfy certain criteria.

– Special to the Sun

MANHATTAN

GALLERY OWNER PLEADS GUILT Y TO SELLING FORGERIES

The owner and manager of a lower Manhattan art gallery pleaded guilty yesterday to charges that they sold forgeries of paintings by artists such as Marc Chagall and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The pleas to conspiracy charges came in a case involving the sale of $7 million in forged paintings that were so intricately detailed they were almost indistinguishable from the originals.

Ely Sakhai, 52, owner of the Exclusive Art gallery, agreed to pay $12.5 million and to forfeit 11 paintings as part of a plea deal, according to court papers. He also agreed to be sentenced to a prison term of between three and four years. Without the deal, he could have faced up to 20 years in prison.

– Associated Press

FORMER HEAD OF JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION CHARGED

The former president of the culinary James Beard Foundation, who resigned amid allegations that hundreds of thousands of dollars of foundation money was missing, was arraigned yesterday on charges of stealing large sums for his personal use. Leonard F. Pickell, 50, of Howell Township, N.J., pleaded not guilty to an indictment that charges him with second-degree grand larceny – stealing at least $50,000 – and criminal possession of a forged instrument. Assistant Attorney General Johanna Sullivan told Justice James Yates: “He came into our office and confessed to taking over $90,000.” She said Mr. Pickell may have stolen more than $1 million, which would make the crime first-degree grand larceny.

– Associated Press

POSTAL WORKER KNEW HE WAS TALKING WITH TERRORISTS

A prosecutor went on the offensive yesterday against a U.S. postal worker accused of plotting to murder and kidnap people overseas, demanding his opinions about terrorism and martyrs. The probing elicited answers from Ahmed Abdel Sattar that showed he knew he was talking between 1998 and 2002 with top leaders of an Egyptian terrorist group that sought to replace the Egyptian government with Islamic rule.

Mr. Sattar faces the most serious charges in a case that revolves around Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind Egyptian cleric serving a life prison term for conspiring to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and to blow up New York landmarks. Manhattan civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart and Arabic interpreter Mohamed Yousry also are charged in the case with providing material support to terrorists. If convicted, they could face about 20 years in prison; Mr. Sattar could face life.

– Associated Press

SECOND HOME DEPOT OPENS

Home Depot is opening its second store in Manhattan today. The big-box retailer’s newest store, a luxury version of its store at 23rd Street in the Flatiron District, will take up the entire cellar in the building at Third Avenue and 59th Street, where Bloomberg LP has its headquarters.

The 100,000-square-foot store by Greenberg Farrow Architects will include a stage set by design company Jack Morton Worldwide inside the lobby made to look like an apartment filled with retail items from the store.

“We call it ‘urban theater,’ and it is meant to make people say, ‘What’s going on in there?’ when they walk by, and when they realize it’s a Home Depot they’ll go down the escalator to visit the store,” said the project manager at Greenberg Farrow, James Bry. “It will be almost like walking inside a Macy’s Christmas window.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

LONG ISLAND

PELOSI CONVICTED OF KILLING AMMON

A Long Island electrician was convicted yesterday of bludgeoning to death his girlfriend’s estranged millionaire husband while he slept in his $10 million mansion.

Capping an eight-week trial filled with tales of adultery and family betrayal, a jury found 41-year-old Daniel Pelosi guilty of murdering investment banker Theodore Ammon in East Hampton in 2001. Ammon was beaten more than 30 times in the head.

Pelosi married Ammon’s widow, Generosa, three months after the slaying, although they later split. He received $2 million in a postnuptial agreement but spent every penny on his defense. Generosa Ammon died of cancer last year.

Pelosi faces 25 years to life at sentencing January 25.

As the verdict was read, he closed his eyes and sat down with his hands on his face.

“This has to be the most difficult day of his life,” defense attorney Gerald Shargel said. “He was optimistic up to the last moment.” Mr. Shargel added that Pelosi will appeal.

– Associated Press