BROOKLYN

STUDENT ACCIDENTALLY SHOOTS HIMSELF IN LEG

A high school student accidentally shot himself in the leg inside an elite Bensonhurst high school late yesterday morning, police said.

As he sat in his English class at noon, a 15-year-old student at New Utrecht High School playing with a gun hidden in his knapsack shot himself in the leg, police said. Because the school does not have a track record of violent incidents, the building was not equipped with metal detectors or scanners, Keith Kalb, a Department of Education spokesman, said. After the gun went off, police said that a 17-year-old classmate tried to hide the weapon for his friend, but was caught as he tried to stash the gun. Pending a hearing, both students could face suspension or expulsion from the school, officials said.

– Special to the Sun

SANITATION WORKER WOUNDED IN GUNFIGHT CROSSFIRE

Caught in the crossfire of a violent dispute, a sanitation worker was shot yesterday as he hauled trash from a Brooklyn street corner, police said.

Nothing was out of the ordinary as Larry Wilford, 46, began one of his usual routes in Brownsville yesterday morning. But when Mr. Wilford, who has worked for the Sanitation Department for eight years, got out of his truck at Marion Street and Patchen Avenue, he found himself in the middle of a hail of gunfire coming from both sides of the street, police said.

Mr. Wilford was shot once in the stomach and was treated at Kings County Hospital yesterday, where he also received a bedside visit from Mayor Bloomberg. Another man on the scene was shot in the leg, however, police said that he was being questioned on suspicion that he was directly involved in the shootings.

– Special to the Sun

THE BRONX

NEW ADDITION IS FIRST PHASE IN HOSPITAL FACE-LIFT

Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx opened a new $173 million addition yesterday that includes an emergency room and a nine-story tower equipped with 344 hospital beds. The new structure is the first step in a $246 million renovation initiative that will upgrade the aging hospital, which was built in 1955. The project was funded through bonds issued by the state’s Dormitory Authority.

“The new facility puts Jacobi among the most technologically advanced hospitals, public or private, in the country,” Mayor Bloomberg told a crowd gathered yesterday in the building’s lobby. The 36,000-square-foot emergency department at Jacobi is about twice the size of the hospital’s old one.

Dozens of hospital employees and elected officials, including the Bronx borough president, Aldopho Carion Jr., attended yesterday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

ALBANY

COMMITTEES AGREE ON BUDGET COMPROMISES

Two of the eight legislative committees that have been wrestling with Governor Pataki’s $105 billion spending plan for the coming fiscal year agreed on compromises yesterday.

The conclusion of talks by the committees on Agriculture, Environment, and Housing and Public Protection means that one-fourth of the legislative negotiations are complete with less than two weeks to go before the April 1 budget deadline. State lawmakers have not passed a budget deadline since 1985.

Once all eight committees have reached agreement on how much to spend, the two legislative chambers will pass budget bills and then present them to Mr. Pataki. The governor will either accept or veto the bills. The chambers could also ask Mr. Pataki to resubmit his budget with different language.

The governor said yesterday he is pleased with the progress in the Legislature but concerned that all eight committees had not concluded talks. Calling education and health care the most contentious issues, Mr. Pataki said he was hopeful the Legislature will complete its work sometime today. Legislative leaders have cancelled two public meetings with Mr. Pataki over the past three days. Mr. Pataki said the talks were cancelled to free up time for staffs to negotiate.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun