BROOKLYN

RATNER SIGNS DEAL TO BUILD NETS ARENA

Plans for a new basketball arena in Brooklyn moved a step closer to being realized yestersday when Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki signed an agreement with the site developer for the city and the state to each pay $100 million for the project.

The $2.5 billion project includes the arena, which will be designed by celebrity architect Frank Gehry, 4,000 mixed-income housing units, and commercial and retail space.

The developer, Forest City Ratner Cos., will build above the Atlantic Yards at the busy intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues. The president and chief executive of Forest City Ratner, Bruce Ratner, owns the New Jersey Nets basketball team, which he said he hopes to move to Brooklyn for the 2007-08 season.

The project is expected to create 12,000 construction jobs and 8,500 permanent jobs, the mayor’s office said.

– Associated Press

MANHATTAN

COLUMBIA TASK FORCE MISSES DEADLINE

The special faculty committee that Columbia University president Lee Bollinger appointed last year to investigate complaints against anti-Israel professors has missed its deadline.

A member of the committee, Ira Katznelson, a professor of political science and history, stated in a letter to Mr. Bollinger that the committee would not complete its work for another three weeks. “Despite frequent meetings, some three each week, this goal has not proved possible,” Mr. Katznelson stated.

When Mr. Bollinger first announced the creation of the committee, prompted by a series of accusations from Jewish students against professors in the department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, he stated that he expected it to release a report on its investigation by the end of February. Mr. Katznelson stated the committee would draft its report during the university’s spring break, from March 14 to 18, and would release its findings by the end of the following week.

In his letter, Mr. Katznelson said the committee has met with 50 students, faculty members, and administrators. The committee has come under some criticism from students and faculty members who have accused its members of bias. Two of its members, vice provost for diversity initiatives Jean Howard and comparative literature professor Farah Jasmine Griffin, signed in 2002 a divestment petition against Israel.

Many of the public figures who have criticized Columbia for its handling of the controversy will be speaking on campus on Sunday in an event organized by faculty members. Among the scheduled speakers are: City Council Speaker and mayoral hopeful Gifford Miller, the New Republic editor in chief Martin Peretz, and Rep. Jerrold Nadler. Israeli minister Natan Sharansky is expected to talk about Columbia via a satellite video-feed.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CITYWIDE

THROW AWAY YOUR NEW YORK PRESS, WEINER SAYS

Congressman and mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner yesterday urged New Yorkers to trash the most current issue of the New York Press, which published a list of the “52 funniest things about the upcoming death of the pope.”

Calling the article in the free weekly “vile,” Mr. Weiner accused the New York Press of anti-Catholic bigotry. In an interview with The New York Sun, he said he isn’t suggesting people raid the New York Press’s sidewalk boxes and dump stacks of papers, but that readers should throw out the one copy they remove from a pile.

“The point we are trying to make is that this newspaper is overpriced,” Mr. Weiner said.

Promoted on the newspaper’s cover, the list ridiculed the ill Pope John Paul II with profane jokes about his sickness, his body, and the prospect of his death. It was written by contributing editor Matt Taibbi, who also writes for Rolling Stone magazine. No. 35 in the list reads: “Doctor applies fingers to neck to check expiring Pope’s pulse. Pope’s ear falls off.” Topping the list at no.1 is: “Throw a marble at dead Pope’s head, Bonk!”

The editor of the New York Press, Jeff Kayen, said he was “happy to run” the list, which Mr. Taibbi submitted to editors on Saturday. In defending the list, Mr. Kayen said he found about 20% of the items funny. The remainder, he said were “so-so,” “in bad taste,” or made him “cringe.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

‘THE GATES’ GENERATED $254M IN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY, MAYOR SAYS

“The Gates” art installation in Central Park generated $254 million in extra economic activity during the two weeks it graced the park, according to city figures.

The initial totals indicated that more than 4 million visitors came to Central Park to see 26-miles of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s iron and saffron archways in the park. The full economic impact of “The Gates” was felt not only in areas surrounding Central Park, but in hotels, restaurants, and cultural institutions across the city, Mayor Bloomberg told reporters yesterday.

The Central Park Conservancy’s attendance count found a substantial increase from the approximately 750,000 visits the park usually received during the same two-week period in a typical February and about 1.5 million visitors for “The Gates” were from out of town – an estimated 300,000 of those were international visitors. Usually 13% of tourists are from outside the country, but during the Gates, the international share increased to almost 20%.

“The Gates” drew visitors during what is traditionally the slowest month for New York City’s tourism industry.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MAJORITY OF VOTERS SUPPORT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE, POLL SHOWS

A majority of New York City voters would support a law allowing gay marriage, according to a poll released yesterday.

But by a slim margin, they also back Mayor Bloomberg’s decision to appeal a recent court ruling supporting same-sex unions, the Quinnipiac University Poll found. In the poll, 51% of respondents said they favored legalizing gay marriage, while 40% were opposed. White voters were much more likely to back the law than black voters – 61% of whites wanted the law, compared with just 36% of blacks.

By a margin of 49% to 44%, voters said they agreed with Mr. Bloomberg’s strategy of appealing a state Supreme Court decision last month that the state’s refusal to grant marriage licenses to gays was unconstitutional.

– Associated Press

SUPERINTENDENT FINED $1,000 BY CONFLICTS BOARD

The city’s Conflicts of Interest Board announced yesterday that a local instructional superintendent was fined $1,000 for helping his brother get a job.

The local instructional superintendent, Eduardo Genao, forwarded his brother’s resume to all principals in his region, Region 2, last August, even though he oversaw 10 of the principals.

Mr. Genao’s attempt to help his high-school-educated brother get a job as a school aide violated one of the chancellor’s regulations, which prohibits Department of Education employees from hiring or supervising relatives.

Right away, one of the principals who received the message complained to Mr. Genao’s supervisor about the e-mail, and Mr. Genao tried to recall the unread messages. Four days after the incident, Mr. Genao turned himself in to the Department of Education at the advice of his lawyers.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

STATEWIDE

COURT SUSPENDS KUSHNER’S LICENSE TO PRACTICE LAW

A midlevel state appeals court yesterday suspended the New York law license of a major Democratic Party contributor who pleaded guilty last year to witness-tampering and tax charges.

Charles B. Kushner will be prohibited from practicing law in New York under the decision by the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court. The motion to suspend Kushner’s license was made by the state’s Committee on Professional Standards.

Kushner will be sentenced Friday in federal court in New Jersey for using a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law who was a witness in a federal probe that focused on Kushner’s donations and business.

Kushner pleaded guilty in August to the witness tampering charge. In doing so, he also admitted sending a tape of the seduction to the man’s wife – Kushner’s sister.

– Associated Press