CITYWIDE

COUNCIL CRITICIZES MTA ON EMERGENCY SUBWAY ACCESS

A token booth clerk could have been the lifesaving link between emergency responders and German Cabrera after he was shot in the chest on a Manhattan subway platform late last month. Instead, the 26-year-old lay bleeding as police frantically searched for a way through the shuttered turnstiles and floor-to-ceiling revolving gates.

This highly-publicized scenario, and growing concern over the 164 proposed token booth closures, prompted City Council to hold a hearing yesterday to address questions about first-responder access to the transit system during emergencies. Testimony from police, fire, and transit officials, however, sparked criticism from council members who expressed disapproval of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s “cold calculations” which they said favor cost-saving personnel cuts at the expense of rider safety.

Following the Cabrera subway slaying, the MTA issued Metrocards to all emergency responders to ease subway access, Lois Tendler, director of government and community relations for the MTA, said. And a program to install a uniform lock-and-key system that would allow both transit police and firefighters access to gated subway entrances was already under way, Ms. Tendler said.

– Special to the Sun

SEXUAL ASSAULT RESPONSE PROGRAM TO EXPAND

The city said yesterday it planned to equip three hospitals in Brooklyn – and all city-run hospitals by this fall – with special response teams to treat sexual assault victims.

The program, described by city officials as a success after it was rolled out in three Bronx hospitals a year ago, includes specially trained forensic examiners and rape crisis counselors.

The idea is to quickly connect sex-assault victims to medical help and counseling, and to encourage them to cooperate with law enforcement in hopes of prosecuting their attackers.

All 11 city-run hospitals will have the teams, called sexual assault response teams, or SARTs, in place by fall, the mayor said.

City officials pointed to promising statistics: Since the Bronx program was launched in April 2004, 91% of sexual assault victims were examined within an hour of arriving at the hospital – up from 63% in 2003.

Robert Johnson, the Bronx district attorney, said it was too early to tell whether the program had bolstered the number of sex-assault convictions.

The Bloomberg administration said the Brooklyn teams would cost $450,000 and said it would cost $800,000 more to expand the program citywide. Some of the cost is being covered by a Department of Justice grant.

– Associated Press

CITY UNVEILS FOOD SAFETY AWARD FOR RESTAURANTS

First came the Zagat Survey, then Time Out New York’s “Best Picks.” Now New York restaurant owners will by vying for a new food service honor: the Golden Apple.

The award, offered by the city’s health department for excellence in food safety, was presented to nine restaurants yesterday at a ceremony hosted by the city’s health commissioner, Thomas Frieden, and Charles Hunt, executive vice president of the New York State Restaurant Association. Each honoree received a certificate of excellence and storefront decal recognizing outstanding achievements in cleanliness and quality assurance, as well as a tour of Churrascaria Plataforma restaurant, which hosted the event.

The health department believes the award will act as an incentive to raise the bar on food safety throughout the city and help reduce the number of fines and inspection violations. The city plans to present the Golden Apple on an ongoing basis to restaurants that meet the highest standards of food safety. Restaurants eligible for the award must first meet rigorous inspection requirements and complete a food protection course.

– Special to the Sun

MANHATTAN

HOAXERS VISIT FEMALE RABBI ORDINATION ANNIVERSARY LECTURE

The Jewish Theological Seminary marked the 25th anniversary of the ordination of female rabbis this week with a lecture on its campus featuring the first woman to receive rabbinic ordination from the seminary, Amy Eilberg.

Some pranksters from the radical feminist group Jewish Women Watching had other ideas for the occasion, distributing a phony press release before the Tuesday event stating, “JTS will use this historic event to unveil its plan to achieve gender and sexual equity in all ranks of the Conservative movement, with a commitment to achieving full egalitarianism by the year 2010.”

The press release, sent using an e-mail address similar to the one used by the seminary, claimed that the seminary would begin ordaining gay and lesbian rabbis, and would guarantee equal pay for men and women rabbis by 2010.

The seminary’s communications director, Elise Dowell, confirmed that the email was a “complete hoax.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

THE BRONX

MAN CONVICTED OF MURDERING RETIREE IN PARK

A Bronx thief who lurked in the park shadows for his victims was convicted yesterday in the stabbing death of an elderly retiree, the Bronx district attorney’s office said yesterday.

As Carl Dunat passed through a heavily wooded section of Pelham Bay Park on September 10, Andre Jon-Hope, 24, emerged from the trees and tried to rob him, police said. But the 71-year-old retired high-school teacher struggled, prompting Jon-Hope to brutally beat and stab the man in the abdomen with a screwdriver, then leave him for dead. Hours later, Jon-Hope attacked another man in the park, stealing a cell phone, a watch, and cash. Using calls traced back to the stolen cell phone, however, police said they were able to track down Jon-Hope only two days later. According to a plea agreement, Jon-Hope will be sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

– Special to the Sun

BROOKLYN

WIFE OF SLAIN HOSPITAL POLICEMAN CONFESSES

A two-year hunt for suspects in the grisly beating and slaying of a Brooklyn hospital cop came to a partial end yesterday after the officer’s teenage wife confessed to aiding in the murder, authorities said.

Lory Scott, 19, of Queens, had been married to the hospital police officer, Nubian Knight, 37, for only three months when homicide detectives from the 79th Precinct found the officer’s badly-beaten corpse in his Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment shortly before Christmas 2003.

After not showing up for his post at Kings County Hospital, where he had been working security for 13 years, Knight’s body was discovered half-naked in his bed, with a pair of handcuffs dangling from the headboard.

An autopsy later revealed that Knight died as the result of repeated blows to the head with a blunt object, which shattered parts of his skull. His throat had also been slashed with a sharp object.

Contrary to published reports at the time, police said yesterday that Knight did not operate a Web site that promoted a gay-sex enterprise.

Police said the motive for the crime was an expensive life insurance policy that Knight had taken out in his own name shortly before his murder. In interviews with police, court documents show Scott told detectives that she helped a relative carry out the brutal killing. Police said yesterday they are trying to locate Scott’s relative in connection with the killing. A court-appointed attorney for Scott could not immediately be reached for comment.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

ALBANY

LAWMAKERS PASS TRANSPORTATION SPENDING BILLS

The Legislature passed bills authorizing $35.8 billion in transportation spending to be split evenly between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and upstate road and bridge work. Lawmakers also approved a $2.9 billion bond act as part of the plan that will be put to voters in a November referendum. Governor Pataki said he has not decided whether to support the new borrowing.

Lawmakers are on track to pass a budget by the April 1 deadline for the first time since 1984, with education and health bills scheduled for passage today. Mr. Pataki said late yesterday he is concerned the Legislature will pass a budget without his input but is holding out hope for a last-minute negotiation on several key issues. He cited Medicaid spending, transportation, and economic development as points of contention.

“I think we’re very close on principles,” Mr. Pataki said. “It’s just working out the details.”

Some Democrats in the Assembly voiced alarm over the amount of new borrowing included in the transportation package, but the plan sailed through by a vote of 132 to 13. Assemblyman William Parment, a Democrat from Chautauqua County, chided his colleagues for asking taxpayers to approve another $12 billion in debt. Mr. Parment’s rejection of the bill was a rare departure from the majority position. The Senate vote was unanimous.

Mr. Pataki said he is still negotiating with legislators on an increase in the New York City sales tax that passed through both chambers yesterday. If changes in approved bills are agreed to, the governor would have to resubmit parts of his budget and another legislative bill would have to be passed to reflect the change.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun