WESTCHESTER

BRONXVILLE WOMAN KILLED IN FIRE NEAR MIAMI UNIVERSITY

OXFORD, Ohio – Fire ripped through a two-story, brick house near the Miami University campus, killing three students, injuring two others and forcing one person to jump to safety from a second-story window.

School spokesman Richard Little said it was the deadliest fire involving the university since a student died in an off-campus blaze in 1994. “This is as severe as anything we’ve ever dealt with,” he said.

Investigators believe the fire early Sunday was accidental and may have started in a recreation room downstairs. Police said that when they arrived at the house, occupied by 11 people, they saw flames in the first- and second-story windows.

“Nobody understood what was happening until we saw the huge flames coming from the house,” said Muna Osman, 21, a Miami student who lives next door. “It was terrible, just terrible. The smoke was thick and white, and it just covered everything.”

Among the dead was Kathryn Welling, 21, of Bronxville, who along with Julia Turnbull of Milford, Ohio, died of carbon monoxide poisoning. The cause of death for the third victim, Stephen Smith, 22, of Bethesda, Md., had not been determined, said the coroner for Butler County, Richard Burkhardt. All three bodies were burned beyond recognition, he said.

Turnbull and Welling were found in second-floor bedrooms, Fire Chief Len Endress said. Smith was found near the front door.

– Associated Press

MANHATTAN

LOCAL SOLDIER AMONG DEAD IN HELICOPTER CRASH

David Ayala, 24, of Manhattan, was among the eight soldiers killed in last week’s helicopter crash in Afghanistan, the Department of Defense announced yesterday. Also released were the names of six soldiers who are still missing. The soldiers were killed or became unaccounted for April 6 when their CH-47 helicopter crashed during a severe sandstorm in Ghanzi, Afghanistan, while heading to the Bagram Air Base after a routine mission.

Ayala, a Chief Warrant Officer, was a Chinook CH-47 D helicopter pilot. A military spokeswoman couldn’t confirm if he was piloting the helicopter during the crash. Ayala was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment, 12th Aviation Brigade, based in Giebelstadt, Germany. He joined the Army in September 1998.

– Special to the Sun

BROOKLYN

CYCLISTS RALLY FOR SAFETY AFTER ACTIVIST INJURED

Following a serious injury to a well-known local bicycling advocate, a campaign for safe bridge access is gaining steam. On the evening of March 29, an organizer with Transportation Alternatives, Noah Budnick, was hit in downtown Brooklyn while investigating solutions to the dangerous bicycle entrance to the Manhattan Bridge. Although that bridge has both a bike path and a pedestrian path, many of the heavily trafficked approaching streets, where Mr. Budnick was hit, have no bike path.

The number of cyclists using East River bridge crossings has more than doubled since 2000, according to Transportation Alternatives. The group is calling for safe access to accommodate the increasing flow of bicycle riders.

Cyclists joined City Council Member David Yassky and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz at a rally last night at downtown Brooklyn.

“The City of New York should set the standard for having safe, defined, cycling routes that encourage this popular, healthy, inexpensive form of transportation – rather than lagging behind as is currently the case,” Mr. Markowitz said. “Noah has been a tireless advocate for increasing cyclists’ safety and, unfortunately, his injury, and those of other cyclists demonstrate that we have a long way to go.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CITYWIDE

EDUCATION DEPT. DENOUNCES COUNCIL PLANS FOR CFE FUNDS

A commission created by the City Council to set priorities for spending new education funds released a report yesterday, calling for higher pay for teachers and more accountability.

Almost immediately, the Department of Education, which has its own plan for spending new money promised to the city by the judge in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case, dismissed some of the recommendations.

“While this report supports many of our recommendations and recognizes that the current compensation system for teachers is broken, which we have long pointed out, it also proposes another layer of politically controlled bureaucracy, which would take education in precisely the wrong direction and is inconsistent with the court’s decision on the importance of mayoral control and accountability,” the chancellor’s press secretary, Jerry Russo, said.

The City Council speaker, Gifford Miller, who appointed the commissioners last year and announced their findings yesterday, said he hoped the administration would take the proposals seriously and said he and his Council colleagues would continue to lobby at Albany to convince legislators and Governor Pataki to grant New York City billions of extra education dollars.

The teachers’ union president, Randi Weingarten, came to City Hall for the commission’s announcement and called the findings “profound.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MAYOR REACHES ANOTHER AGREEMENT WITH A MUNICIPAL UNION

Mayor Bloomberg reached another contract agreement with a municipal union yesterday, adhering to the bargaining pattern he set more than a year ago with District Council 37. The city announced that it had reached a tentative pact with more than 8,000 Teamsters – ranging from attorneys to cooks – after three years of negotiations.

The new, 40-month contract with Local 237 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, covers the period from April 2002 to August 2005. It calls for a 3% raise retroactive to April 1, 2003, a 1.75% raise backdated to April 1, 2004, and a onetime $1,000 cash payment per employee upon ratification.

An additional 1% increase may be paid during the third year of the contract if workers agree to changes that may include reduced sick leave. The union agreed to certain concessions, including lower salaries for workers hired on or after April 1, 2005, and an extension of the contract through August. Mr. Bloomberg has said that any raises above the 3% threshold set during the DC-37 negotiations will have to be paid for in productivity enhancements. This contract does that by starting new workers out at lower salaries for the first two years of their union employment.

The agreement covers municipal employees including school safety officers, taxi and limousine inspectors, attorneys, cooks, hospital and campus police, bridge operators, and health educators, the union said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

SHOPPERS CAN REPORT PASSOVER PRICE GOUGING

New Yorkers shopping for Passover should be on the lookout for price gouging, as the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs continues its initiative to protect consumers from being overcharged on Kosher-for-Passover items. Shoppers who think they may be paying more for holiday groceries are encouraged to call 311 or file a complaint online at www.nyc.gov/consumers. Department of Consumer Affairs inspectors will investigate any complaints received now through May 1.

The Consumer Affairs department announced the renewal of the crackdown yesterday at the Supersol Kosher Supermarket at the Upper West Side.

– Special to the Sun