CITYWIDE

FIELDS TALKS OF MAYORAL RUN

Has she or hasn’t she? There was some confusion last night whether the Manhattan borough president, C. Virginia Fields, had made official what many people have been taking for granted for months: that she was going to challenge Mayor Bloomberg for the city’s top office in November.

Some analysts said she had formally announced her intention to run on NY1’s “Inside City Hall” television program last night as she discussed a potential candidacy. But her press secretary, Charles Walker, said that the announcement was not official. “This is something she is looking at seriously,” he said, “but she didn’t make any formal announcement.” He said she has not, for example, filed any papers that would make her an official candidate.

Ms. Fields was the first African-American woman elected to the City Council from Manhattan in 1989 and served two four-year terms before running for Manhattan Borough President in 1997. She earned her undergraduate degree at Knoxville College and has a Masters degree from Indiana University.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MARTHA STEWART CRITICIZES ‘BAD FOOD’ IN PRISON

Martha Stewart, in a Christmas message posted on her personal Web site, called yesterday for sentencing reform and took a swipe at the “bad food” in prison.

Stewart, who is roughly halfway through a five-month sentence for lying about a stock sale, urged fans to think about the women she has met in prison who are “devoid of care, devoid of love, devoid of family.”

She suggested Americans should push for reforms in federal sentencing guidelines for nonviolent first-time offenders and particularly for drug offenders, who she said would be better served by rehabilitation than prison.

Stewart, who built a billion-dollar empire in homemaking, reported that her job at the federal prison camp in Alderson, W. Va., has been cleaning, including sweeping, vacuuming, and raking leaves.

“I have had time to think, time to write, time to exercise, time to not eat the bad food, and time to walk and contemplate the future,” she said.

Earlier this month, her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, announced Stewart would host a daytime talk show with a live studio audience beginning this fall.

– Associated Press

BROOKLYN FATHER ABDUCTS CHILDREN DURING VISIT

KILLINGLY, Conn. – A Brooklyn man who was captured halfway across the state several hours after abducting his three children from social workers in Willimantic was ordered held on $100,000 bond yesterday. Jeffrey Yeaw, 37, was belligerent in his appearance in Danielson Superior Court yesterday and uttered obscenities as he was brought into the courtroom.

State police issued an Amber Alert Tuesday evening after Mr. Yeaw, who was on a supervised visit with the children at a Department of Children and Families office in Willimantic, sped off with them. Hours later, police found Mr. Yeaw and the children, Ezekiel, Jesseniah, and Rhienna, in Middlebury.

He was arrested about 10:25 p.m. at the home of acquaintances, Middlebury Police Chief Patrick Bona said. The incident prompted the governor, M. Jodi Rell, to order DCF yesterday to review its contracts with private security firms and consider options for strengthening security at the agency’s field offices.

– Associated Press

MANHATTAN

GOTTI BROTHER CONVICTED OF ORDERING KILLING OF GRAVANO

The older brother of notorious mob boss John Gotti was convicted yesterday of ordering a failed hit on Mafia turncoat Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano as payback for his damning testimony against the one-time “Teflon Don.”

The verdict against Peter Gotti by an anonymous jury capped a trial that featured testimony from several informants who followed Gravano’s lead out of the mob, and the airing of videotaped prison conversations between the Gotti brothers. The jury, which also convicted Peter Gotti of racketeering conspiracy, deliberated over four days before returning the verdict. The bespectacled Gotti shook his head slightly when convicted of the Gravano conspiracy, but otherwise looked straight ahead.

“We’re stunned,” said Gotti’s lawyer, Joseph Bondi, promising to appeal. “It’s devastation.”

Co-defendant Thomas “Huck” Carbonaro, a reputed mob captain, was also convicted of racketeering conspiracy and a separate murder count, but acquitted of lesser charges.

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

WALL STREET BONUSES TO BOOST TAX REVENUE

Wall Street bonuses that give a substantial boost to state and city tax revenues increased to a projected $15.9 billion this year despite declining profits, state Comptroller Alan Hevesi announced yesterday.

The bonus estimate averages $100,400 per Wall Street financial services employee and will exceed last year’s total of $15.8 billion. The bonus average approaches the record high of $101,000 per employee paid in 2000, at the end of Wall Street’s most recent boom.

For taxpayers, the bonuses will mean $1.2 billion in state tax revenues and $264.9 million for New York City government, Mr. Hevesi said. The increased bonuses come despite a decline in profits from last year.

Profits dropped 22% to $13 billion, Mr. Hevesi said. He noted, however, that this year’s estimate would be the fourth-highest profit in history. Wall Street revenue rose 4.6% this year due primarily to more mergers and acquisitions that offset trading losses, Mr. Hevesi said.

“Wall Street still had a very good year,” Mr. Hevesi said. “This would be the second best year on record of bonuses.”

About 158,000 securities industries employees received bonuses this year.

– Associated Press

ALBANY

CONSERVATIVE STUDENT GROUP FIGHTS FOR EQUAL RIGHTS ON CAMPUS

A nationwide conservative group that extolls the virtues of the banned DDT pesticide and says free enterprise is the answer to many consumer and environmental issues is fighting what it calls “viewpoint discrimination” on a state campus.

The New York Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow faces a January 14 court hearing in federal court in Utica as the first public step of its lawsuit against the Student Association of the University of Albany.

The conservative group’s New York chapter seeks to secure a spot on a student referendum that could lead to funding through student fees similar to the New York Public Interest Research Group.

The suit is a direct challenge to what the group argues is a common practice of funding left-leaning groups despite a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring “viewpoint neutral” program funding.

“The lawsuit filed is to seek redress of this failure and to protect University of Albany students from viewpoint discrimination,” according to the announcement by New York Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow.

The New York chapter claims the student association provides Nypirg, a public policy advocate that supports environmental measures, with $106,000 in funding from mandatory student fees. The New York Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow claims the student association has been denied an automatic spot on the same referendum that could lead to equal funding.

– Associated Press

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ISSUES SUBPOENAS TO THRUWAY OFFICIALS

An Assembly committee issued subpoenas yesterday to top officials at a state authority who acknowledged intentionally withholding documents from investigators.

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky said yesterday that he subpoenaed Thruway Authority Chairman John Buono, Executive Director Michael Fleischer, General Counsel Sharon O’Conor, and Michael Flynn.

Mr. Brodsky seeks to compel them to appear at another hearing next Wednesday and to produce the documents.

Mr. Brodsky said no documents were provided Tuesday as promised in the officials’ testimony under oath during a hearing. Some documents were provided yesterday, but they didn’t comply with his demand, Mr. Brodsky said.

The committee had been investigating the steering of a contract to a developer for the rights to build along the 500-mile state canal system for $30,000. After investigations by the attorney general and inspector general, the contract was rescinded.

Thruway Authority spokesman Dan Gilbert said the review and removal of personal information including phone numbers and Social Security numbers is taking longer than expected.

He said he wasn’t sure if editing was done when the same records were provided to Governor Pataki’s office in recent days by the authority, which is supposed to be independent. Mr. Gilbert said Mr. Brodsky approved the elimination of the personal data, but Mr. Brodsky denied that.

Mr. Gilbert said three boxes of records were provided to Mr. Brodsky yesterday.

– Associated Press