CITYWIDE

PANEL DEBATES FUNDING OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS

The teachers union president, the research director for the Citizens Budget Commission, and education scholars debated yesterday about how the dispute over funding public education in New York City should be resolved. In the panel discussion hosted by the Manhattan Institute, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, said the city deserves the $5.6 billion a court-appointed panel recommended, and said it should be spent on hiring qualified teachers and creating smaller class sizes, early childhood education, and improved facilities. She sparred with Jay Greene of the Manhattan Institute who recommended a system of merit pay for teachers whose students’ test scores improve.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MANHATTAN

MORGENTHAU PICKS UP SUPPORT IN FIRST PRIMARY SINCE 1985

The state Democratic Party threw its weight behind Manhattan’s district attorney Robert Morgenthau last night in his bid for re-election. Mr. Morgenthau, who is 85 and has held his position since 1974, is facing Democrat Leslie Crocker Snyder, 62, a former State Supreme Court justice. Both candidates spoke last night at the Teamsters Local 237 headquarters in Manhattan before the party voted to back the veteran prosecutor. Ms. Snyder, who had been trying to get the party’s support, has raised nearly $900,000 for her campaign, roughly the same amount that Mr. Morgenthau has in his campaign account. Mr. Morgenthau has not faced a primary challenge since 1985.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

QUEENS

NONPROFIT DIRECTOR PLEADS GUILTY TO STEALING

The former director of a recreational after-school program for public school students pled guilty to stealing $69,000 from his own nonprofit. He used the money to purchase illegal drugs including cocaine, the Queens district attorney, Richard Brown, said yesterday. The former director, James Ciccone, 41, of Staten Island, pled guilty to writing bogus checks to phantom employees at the Sports and Arts School Foundation, a nonprofit based in Long Island City that offers after-school programs like chess, basketball, judo, and other activities at numerous public schools throughout the city.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

STATEWIDE

LAWMAKER PROPOSES THAT SCHOOLS WEIGH CHILDREN

Kids’ report cards could include reading, writing, and weigh-ins, if a state lawmaker gets his way. A bill being introduced by Assemblyman Felix Ortiz would require schools to provide parents information on their child’s weight every year along with their grades. The brief health reports, which could also be sent alongside report cards, would show where kids stand relative to others on the body-mass index, or BMI, a height-to-weight ratio used to define underweight, overweight, or obese children.

– Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

POLICE SEARCH FOR ROBBER WHO TOOK MORE THAN $50K IN CASH

Police are looking for a Bronx robber who stole a large amount of cash from a payroll deliveryman early yesterday, police said. Just before the 42-year-old deliveryman made his regular morning payroll drop-off at 1120 Grand Concourse in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx yesterday, a thief with a gun accosted him, detectives said. Police said that the deliveryman, who has not been named, was forced into a second-floor elevator where the armed crook demanded his money. No one was hurt, but the robber made away with more than $50,000 in cash.

– Special to the Sun

Please send story tips to crimetips@nysun.com, or call 212-619-2262.