MANHATTAN

STUDENT SHOT TRYING TO FOIL ROBBERY

A 24-year-old student at the New School University was shot three times in an Upper West Side apartment yesterday morning as he tried to wrestle away a gun from a man who had tried to rob his girlfriend at gunpoint, the police said.

Shortly before noon yesterday morning, the man’s girlfriend, whose identity was not released, was coming home to her apartment at 8 W. 108th St. when an armed robber, described as being in his 20s and wearing a black shirt and bandanna around his forehead, followed her up the stairs to her apartment on the fourth floor of the five-story building.

As the woman got out her keys in front of her apartment door, police said the man brandished a gun and asked her who was inside the residence. Police said that she told the attacker there were two men inside, her boyfriend and a roommate.

The woman was then forced at gunpoint to open her apartment door, and the attacker demanded cash from her boyfriend, who had been sleeping on a couch in the living room. After handing over cash, credit cards, and the PIN number to his ATM card, police said the boyfriend and the gunman wrestled for control of the gun and rolled around the floor of the apartment. Three shots were fired, all striking the New School student, who was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital and was in stable condition. The robber fled the scene, police said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MANZANO RUNNING FOR BOROUGH PRESIDENT

Another name was added to the crowded race for Manhattan Borough President yesterday. At a news conference at City Hall, a leader from the renowned McManus Democratic Club, Carlos Manzano made his candidacy official.

Mr. Manzano, a Colombia-born immigrant who worked his way through Queens College and is a now a Democratic state committee member, told a group of about 40 supporters that his top priority would be security and emergency preparedness. He cited affordable housing, economic development, health care, immigration, civil rights, and other issues as priorities, but will mainly focus his campaign around homeland security matters.

Mr. Manzano, who has raised $233,763 for his bid for the office, outlined a five-point plan which centers on coordinating community-based groups with police to make Manhattan more secure. Mr. Manzano is one of eight candidates vying for the office, vacated by C. Virginia Fields because of term limits. Ms. Fields is running in the Democratic mayoral primary.

In February, City Council Member Eva Moskowitz declared her intention to run for borough president. Others running for the job are Assemblymen Scott Stringer, Adriano Espaillat, and Keith Wright; Council Members Margarita Lopez and William Perkins, and a lawyer and a District 2 school board member, Brian Eller.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

ALBANY

DECISION TO NOT RENEW LEASE MAY COST SOME STATE JOBS

A plan to move a state Labor Department office out of a Manhattan building could cost 150 agency workers their jobs or force them to move upstate, according to a published report.

The New York Daily News reported yesterday the Manhattan-based state workers have been given the choice of becoming jobless as of April 27, or moving to Labor Department offices upstate.

Jennifer Meicht, a spokeswoman for Governor Pataki, said the Manhattan office is one of several call centers the Labor Department operates around the state to handle telephone queries about unemployment claims. After a $10 million reduction in federal unemployment insurance funds forced the Labor Department to cut costs, the agency decided not to renew the Manhattan lease, Ms. Meicht said. Labor Department call centers at Endicott and Troy will be asked to absorb the displaced city workers, she said.

– Associated Press

LABOR UNION BACKS ANDREW CUOMO FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL

Andrew Cuomo – who upset many Democrats when he abruptly quit New York’s 2002 gubernatorial campaign – has received the endorsement of an influential labor union for the 2006 race for attorney general.

The endorsement by the 1199 SEIU, which represents hospital workers, was reported by the New York Times yesterday. Though union officials said a formal announcement would be forthcoming, they acknowledged the decision to back Mr. Cuomo had “leaked out,” the newspaper said.

Mr. Cuomo spoke Friday at a meeting of the union’s executive council and “gave a barnstormer of a speech,” the Times reported, citing an anonymous meeting attendee. Mr. Cuomo, the son of Governor Cuomo and a former federal housing secretary in the Clinton administration, is eyeing the attorney general’s post being vacated by Eliot Spitzer who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.

A Siena poll in February found Mr. Cuomo and Mark Green, the former New York City public advocate, leading the pack of Spitzer wannabes with 19% and 17% support, respectively, among potential Democratic voters.

Others mentioned as possible Democratic candidates for attorney general include: Assemblymen Michael Gianaris and Richard Brodsky; Sean Maloney, a lawyer who worked as an aide to President Clinton, and Denise O’Donnell, the former United States attorney for the Western District of New York.

Possible GOP contenders include Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, and state Senator Michael Balboni of Long Island.

– Associated Press

CITYWIDE

INTERNATIONAL TOURIST NUMBERS HAVE NOT REBOUNDED SINCE 9/11

While the number of Americans visiting New York City has shot up in recent years, the level of international tourists coming to New York City has failed to rebound since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The city hosted about 5.2 million international visitors in 2004, down 32% from 2000 when a record of 6.8 million foreign travelers came to the city, Crain’s New York Business reported. Between 2001 and 2004, the total number of visitors has increased to 38.7 million from 35.2 million. The decrease in international tourists, who spend more than domestic tourists, means the city has lost out on about $1 billion in tourism spending each year since 2000, Crain’s reported in its April 18-24 issue. Potential international visitors remain wary about their security in the city since the terrorists attacks, the newspaper reported.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun