CITYWIDE

JENNINGS MAKES LAST-DITCH EFFORT TO AVOID PUNISHMENT

City Council Member Allan Jennings Jr. launched a last-ditch effort yesterday to urge his colleagues to vote against punishing him for substantiated sexual harassment complaints made by two of his female subordinates. The council is expected to vote today on five recommended punishments that the body’s Standards and Ethics committee voted for last week.

The committee substantiated complaints from two women who accused Mr. Jennings of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior. The committee wants the council to suspend Mr. Jennings from his committee assignments, fine him $5,000, send him to anger management classes, and monitor his behavior toward his staff. Mr. Jennings and other members will have a chance to address the council before the vote today in what could be a fiery meeting.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

COUNCIL WANTS MAYOR TO PROBE TRAPPED DELIVERYMAN INFORMATION

Members of the city council will call upon Mayor Bloomberg to investigate and possibly sanction the police officers responsible for telling reporters that a man found in a broken elevator April 5 was an illegal immigrant.

Ming Kuang Chen, who lives in the city but is from the Fujian Province in southeastern China, feared that his immigration status would force him into deportation proceedings. Members of the city council criticized the mayor for not investigating the incident, saying that disclosing an immigrant’s status who has not broken the law violates the mayor’s own executive order. In 2003, the mayor enacted Executive Order 41, which protects confidential information, including a person’s immigration status, sexual orientation, and whether they are a witness to a crime, a victim of domestic violence, or a recipient of welfare. The mayor criticized the disclosure of Mr. Chen’s immigration status but has not launched an investigation.

– Special to the Sun

COMPUTERIZED L TRAINS POSTPONED UNTIL 2006

Riders of the L train will endure more than another year of delays. New York City Transit authorities said yesterday that the computerized train scheduled to make its debut this summer will not be ready for passengers until at least August 2006. The delays are due to problems testing the trains and the newness of the technology, which allows computers to run the signals that control the flow of trains on the track, officials said.

– Special to the Sun

KLEIN STRIVING FOR AUTOMATIC FIRING OF TEACHERS IN SEX SCANDALS

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein told principals yesterday that he is working with Albany lawmakers to craft legislation that would allow the Department of Education to automatically fire teachers who have been found to be sexually involved with their students. In Mr. Klein’s weekly newsletter to principals, he wrote that he is working with Albany to create a law that would “mandate the dismissal of any employee who is found by the Special Commissioner of Investigation to have engaged in sexual activity with a student.”

The president of the teachers’ union, Randi Weingarten, said she has proposed streamlining the process of firing teachers who have sexual relationships with students in contract negotiations.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CRIME BLOTTER

SHOWER DISPUTE LEADS TO CROWN HEIGHTS STABBING DEATH A Brooklyn man was stabbed to death by his roommate in a dispute over who could use the shower first, police said.

At about 7 p.m. on Monday, police responded to 911 calls from an apartment building at Crown Heights where they found a 43-year-old man suffering from numerous stab wounds to his chest. He later died as the result of the wounds.

Before noon yesterday, Brooklyn homicide detectives arrested the man’s roommate, Richard Anderson, also 43. He is charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Mr. Anderson’s attorney could not be reached for comment.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CANARSIE PASTOR ARRESTED ON SEX ABUSE CHARGES

The pastor of a Brooklyn church was arrested yesterday and charged with sexually abusing and molesting three underage members from his congregation, the police said.

Donald Jean, 35, the pastor of the Soul Restoration Assembly of the Churches, was arrested on Monday after a 13-year-old boy complained to police about being sexually abused on several occasions during trips to the pastor’s Canarsie home after school. Two other underage parishioners had also filed complaints of sexual abuse, police said. Mr. Jean was charged with six counts of sodomy in the first, second, and third degrees, and 12 counts of sexual abuse.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MAN ARRESTED FOR BOMB THREAT AGAINST FEDERAL JUDGE

A threatening letter laced with coffee creamer and containing a bomb threat against a Brooklyn judge could land one Queens man in prison for up to 10 years, officials said yesterday.

Federal authorities arrested Wazir Khan, 19, at his home yesterday morning after he allegedly threatened to kill Brooklyn federal judge Raymond Dearie. Mr. Kahn’s mother, Bibi Asgar, had pled guilty to credit-card fraud before Judge Dearie on Monday. Over the past two weeks, Mr. Khan allegedly sent at least three anonymous letters to the Brooklyn courthouse where Mr. Dearie worked, the first of which contained a white powder later found to be coffee creamer, law enforcement officials said. The letters threatened to kill Mr. Dearie “just like Atlanta,” an apparent reference to last month’s murder of a judge in his courtroom, law enforcement sources said. Mr. Khan also boasted in the letters that he had already smuggled a gun into the court building for that purpose. Authorities were able to track down the source of the threats after Mr. Khan made two telephone calls to 911 claiming to have placed a bomb inside Judge Dearie’s courtroom.

– Special to the Sun