CITYWIDE

MAYOR PLANS TO WINE AND DINE IOC MEMBERS

Mayor Bloomberg will appear today to announce the city’s plans to woo 13 members of the International Olympic Committee in an event on the Intrepid aircraft carrier, a stone’s throw from the neighborhood he would like to transform for the Games.

The officials will tour New York for three days and on February 23 will be wined and dined as Mr. Bloomberg and the 2012 Games committee seek to convince the group that all other possible Olympics venues pale in comparison with New York.

There will be horse-drawn carriages, drinks at the Plaza, dinner at Mr. Bloomberg’s townhouse, and visits by guests including real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump. The group will then retreat to the new Jazz at Lincoln Center concert hall where they will listen to jazz greats while gazing at Fifth Avenue and Central Park through the building’s glass facade.

Organizers declined to say how much the event will cost. The focus on February 23, as a day of presenting everything New York, is a result of new IOC rules that prohibit cities to give gifts to IOC members. The IOC allows would-be hosts to treat the visitors to a single night of entertainment.

“The mayor always enjoys his role as a salesman for New York City, and all his efforts will be well within the IOC rules,” said a Bloomberg spokeswoman, Jennifer Falk. The buzz around the Olympics is that New York is in second place for the Games, behind Paris. The IOC members have already visited Madrid and London. The committee will visit Moscow after New York and then will select the winner by secret ballot on July 6.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

UPSTATE

GUNMAN FIRES ON CROWD IN SHOPPING MALL

KINGSTON – A lone gunman opened fire with an assault rifle yesterday inside a crowded mall in upstate New York, wounding two people before running out of ammunition and being subdued by employees, authorities said.

The gunman began shooting inside the Hudson Valley Mall shortly after 3 p.m. in Kingston, nearly 90 miles north of the city. The 24-year-old gunman went into a Best Buy store and started firing. When he ran out of ammunition, he was captured by mall employees, police said. Police did not identify the suspect and said earlier reports that the weapon was an AK-47 were incorrect. State Police Captain Wayne Olson said investigators did not know the exact number of shots fired but he said it was a “significant number of rounds.” He did not know if the weapon, which he characterized as an assault-type rifle, was purchased legally. The suspect, who was from the nearby Saugerties area, was expected be arraigned last night or Monday on felony charges of assault and reckless endangerment.

– Associated Press

ALBANY

BAR ASSOCIATION SEEKS NO-FAULT DIVORCE LAW

New York would be added to the long list of states with “no-fault” divorce, if a lawyers group gets its way.

The state Bar Association says New York is the only state lacking some version of a no-fault divorce law, in which a spouse suing for divorce does not have to prove their partner did something wrong.

Though efforts to make divorce easier in New York have failed in the past, the attorneys are making a new push to put a no-fault law on the books. Proponents say contested cases under the current system can extend bad marriages, encourage dishonest court testimony, and can be invasive for couples.

“It causes such misery,” said a Manhattan attorney, Harold A. Mayerson. “I have to sit here with clients all the time … and I have to say, ‘I’m sorry, but I have to be a bit voyeuristic in your life. What’s your sex life like? Did you sleep with this guy in the last year? If you didn’t, why not?’ Who wants that?”

Grounds for divorce in New York currently require one of the spouses to be found “at fault” of serious misconduct like adultery, abandonment, or cruel and inhuman treatment. However, couples who reach consent agreements can be granted a divorce after living apart for a year.

– Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

FATHER CHARGED IN CRASH THAT KILLED DAUGHTER, OFFICER

A father was arrested and charged with killing his daughter and a police officer in a car accident after the girl’s 19th birthday party. Police say he was driving under the influence of alcohol and failed to yield at a stop sign before the accident at the Brooklyn intersection. At about 5:35 a.m. yesterday, police said 39-year-old Gary Wilkerson, who was driving a Ford Excursion, was taking his daughter, Shannay Branch, and her friends home from her birthday party when he smashed into the police officer’s Honda Civic.

After the accident, police said Mr. Wilkerson fled the scene on foot, leaving the officer, 27-year-old Jehova Delgado, a beat cop with the 75th Precinct in East New York, and his daughter, Branch, both dead behind him. Police officials said detectives later found Mr. Wilkerson at Brookdale Hospital. He faces eight charges, including two counts of manslaughter, operating a vehicle while impaired by alcohol, leaving the scene of an accident, reckless endangerment, and driving without a license.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

RESTAURANT EMPLOYEE ARRESTED IN MURDER

An employee at a Hell’s Kitchen chicken restaurant was arrested and charged with murder yesterday, after he allegedly stabbed a 16-year-old and two others during a private, after-hours birthday party early yesterday morning, police said.

Gabriel Cezares, a 20-year-old from Queens who worked at an outlet of the chicken restaurant chain Pluck U., at 768 Ninth Avenue, was charged with murder in the second degree after a verbal argument spilled out of the restaurant and into the street and turned into a knife fight at about 3:45 a.m.

Police said Mr. Cezares used a knife to fatally stab at least one guest at the party, Michael Ruocco, 27, of Manhattan, who was pronounced dead after being rushed to St. Vincent’s Hospital. Another party guest, a 16-year-old whose name was not released by the authorities, was stabbed in the chest and back. A third guest, who is 30 and whose name was also not released, attempted to break up the fight and was slashed in the face.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

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