STATEWIDE

CHANCELLOR RETRACTS REQUEST FOR PAID LEAVE

The chancellor of the State University of New York, Robert King, withdrew his request yesterday to take a paid six-month sabbatical to give speeches, take college courses, and “recharge my inner batteries.”

Mr. King told the SUNY Board of Trustees of his decision at a special meeting called to consider the request. Board members at SUNY headquarters in Albany heard Mr. King during a teleconference hookup from New York City.

“The challenges that are facing the university at this time, ranging from our budget request to the adoption of our proposed tuition policy, are more important right now than the sabbatical I had hoped to take,” Mr. King told the board.

Mr. King is paid $250,000 a year plus a $90,000 annual housing allowance, and he has a car and driver. He was appointed by the Board of Trustees in December 1999.

“I don’t think it was a mistake to ask for it,” Mr. King told reporters. He said criticism of the request didn’t lead to yesterday’s withdrawal and that he wasn’t pressured by Governor Pataki, his former boss, who appoints SUNY board members. “I didn’t see it as anything out of the ordinary.”

– Associated Press

MANHATTAN

TWO DOZEN SCHOOLCHILDREN FALL ON ESCALATOR AT MOVIE THEATER

More than two dozen schoolchildren were treated for minor injuries at an Upper West Side movie theater after 70 children fell down an escalator, according to the fire department. The children, ages 6 to 11, were riding an escalator at the Loews movie theater on Broadway at 68th Street at 11:30 a.m. When the escalator stopped suddenly, the children fell on the stairs, according to a Fire Department spokesman.

Twelve children were taken to Cornell University Hospital, where they were treated for minor injuries. Another 14 were treated at the scene and released.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

RECORDS OF WWII-ERA BANK ACCOUNTS POSTED ONLINE

Records of more than 3,000 World War II-era Swiss bank accounts were published on the Internet yesterday as part of an effort to return hundreds of millions of dollars to Nazi victims or their descendants. The publication was the result of a settlement reached in June between the banks and Nazi victims. The banks’ refusal to release the records had angered Holocaust survivors and infuriated a federal judge overseeing the case. “It marks a last chance to repay what is owed, a last chance to repay a debt that goes back over half a century,” said the executive vice president of the court-appointed tribunal that oversees disbursement of the funds, Gideon Taylor.

Survivors and their descendants will be able to examine a list of accounts opened before and during the Nazi era at Credit Suisse, UBS AG, and other Swiss banks. The list of names was posted to the Web site of the tribunal overseeing the distribution of the funds -www.crt-ii.org. Survivors or their heirs have six months to file a claim.

– Associated Press

ALBANY

PATAKI REACHES $12M SETTLEMENT OVER 1971 ATTICA RIOT

Governor Pataki has reached a $12 million settlement with surviving state workers and the relatives of 11 employees killed during the 1971 riot at Attica state prison, a lawyer for the victims confirmed last night. A $2 million payment would be included in the settlement for the survivors’ group, the Forgotten Victims of Attica, with the allocation of $10 million more over the next five years to the state employees involved in the riot or their survivors, the group’s lawyer, Gary Horton, said.

“There is language that acknowledges the suffering of the people in this group,” Mr. Horton told the Associated Press. “I think it is good closure. … My group is satisfied and they’re happy to see a resolution.”

Mr. Pataki will include the settlement in the 2005-06 executive budget he will propose to the state Legislature on Tuesday. It is subject to approval by state lawmakers.

– Associated Press

CITYWIDE

EDUCATION COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN CHALLENGES BLOOMBERG, PATAKI

The chairman of the State Assembly’s education committee, Steven Sanders, said yesterday that it’s time for the mayor and the governor to stop posturing about education financing.

“It would be tragic to lose yet another school year to this irresponsibility,” Mr. Sanders testified at a hearing convened by the City Council’s Campaign for Fiscal Equity Commission. He called the continuing political posturing by both politicians and their failure to communicate “the No. 1 major stumbling block” preventing a resolution, since the Legislature needs the governor to be on board with its financing plan before it can meet the court mandate and send more money to the city’s public school system. Mr. Sanders said the city’s insistence that it shouldn’t have to pay any of the increased education costs is unrealistic – as is the governor’s insistence that the city only needs about half of the $5.6 billion recommended by the court-appointed special referees in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case. “Bloomberg and Pataki are galaxies apart,” he said. “Either they’re not communicating or they’re not communicating in the same language.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MAYORS’ WAGER HINGES ON JETS-STEELERS OUTCOME

The AFC Division playoff game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Jets has the mayors of the rival cities making a friendly wager. If the Jets win on Saturday, Mayor Bloomberg gets some Heinz sauces, some Pittsburgh beer (in “a one-of-a-kind aluminum bottle,” apparently), some sports gear, and “A Basket of Pittsburgh.”

Mayor Murphy of Pittsburgh, if the Steelers win, looks to get the better end of the deal. He gets Brooklyn Lager, two dozen Nathan’s hot dogs with all the trimmings, and World Famous Veniero’s Italian cookies.

The Jets are the underdog team, so Mayor Bloomberg may be looking for just the right spot for his “one-of-a-kind aluminum” beer bottle now.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

LEAD PAINT LAW MEETS RESISTANCE

The city’s lead paint law is not being embraced. City Council Member Bill Perkins, a Democrat of Manhattan, and community housing advocates criticized the city yesterday for refusing to defend the law in court against several landlords who are challenging it.

Mr. Perkins said two of the plaintiffs with pending suits, which will be heard today at the New York Appellate Division, also own properties where children have been poisoned with lead paint.

“It is a law of the city and the mayor does not have the option and should not have the option to pick and choose which laws of the city he’s going to enforce,” said an attorney, Matthew Chachere. The city corporation counsel, Michael Cardozo, said in a statement that it would be “inappropriate” for the city to defend the law “given our office’s extensive involvement in advising the administration and the agencies in their opposition to the proposed lead paint law during the process leading to the law’s enactment.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

ROBBER BEATS NUN, THEN STEALS HER CAR, POLICE SAY

An armed robber punched a 69-year-old nun several times in the face and then pistol-whipped her in the head before stealing her car at a Queens intersection early yesterday morning, police said. The nun, identified only as Sister Margaret, was parked at the intersection of Midland Parkway and Dalny Road in her grey 2000 Nissan Sentra at about 7 a.m. when the suspect, whom police described as a black male in his 20s wearing a multicolored hat, approached with a silver handgun.

After the incident, the nun was taken to Booth Memorial Hospital and received stitches for a facial laceration.

Police are also investigating the possibility that the suspect could also be responsible for the rape and robbery of a 34-year-old woman on Dalny Road at about the same time early Wednesday morning.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun