THE BRONX

MAN NEAR DEATH AFTER BLEACH ATTACK BY COMMON-LAW WIFE

A Bronx woman is facing potential murder charges after she doused her common-law husband with bleach cleaning detergent yesterday during a domestic dispute, police said. At about 1:30 a.m. yesterday, the woman, Stephanie Lawrence, had allegedly splashed her husband in the face and body with the bleach inside their apartment in Morris Heights. The husband, whose name was not released by the authorities yesterday, ingested some of the bleach through his mouth and nose, the police said. Emergency workers rushed the man to Bronx Lebanon Hospital where he was listed in stable condition. Yesterday afternoon, police said the detergent had traveled into his lungs, and doctors changed his medical status from serious to critical condition. Police said yesterday that the man was considered likely to die. Ms. Lawrence was charged yesterday with assault in the first degree. Should her husband die, prosecutors would upgrade those charges to murder. She was being held in custody by police yesterday and was not available for comment. The couple had a turbulent past, police said, noting that 17 domestic incident reports had been filed in recent years.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CITYWIDE

FREE NICOTINE-PATCH KIT OFFER CAUSES SPIKE IN 311 CALLS

Four days after the health department launched its nicotine-patch giveaway campaign, the city’s information hotline, 311, has been ringing off the hook with callers eager to kick their smoking habits. According to a report released yesterday by the health department, more than 28,000 callers have used the hotline to request a free Nicotine-patch kit. An $8 million donation from Pfizer, the manufacturer of the smoking cessation product, provided the city with 45,000 patch kits, worth $150 each, officials said. The health department has made the kits available to New York City residents, 18 years and older, by calling 311. All callers who wish to receive the six-week supply of the nicotine patch must meet eligibility requirements – such as proof of age and residency. New Jersey and Long Island residents are not eligible for the program. Eligible smokers who call 311 will be mailed instructions on how to use the six week supply of patches, health-department literature on how to quit smoking, and Pfizer’s “Know Your Health” brochure, which details how people who are trying to quit smoking can receive personalized online support. Health department officials said they will contact program participants by phone after they receive their patches to offer support and advice on kicking a smoking habit. A similar program in 2003 exhausted a supply of 35,000 patch kits in six weeks, but the rate of distribution was slowed by busy signals and congested phone lines. This year’s campaign has caused the daily number of calls to 311, which averages about 35,000 per day, to jump more than 25%, according to yesterday’s report released by the health department.

– Special to the Sun

ALBANY

PATAKI, HEVESI PROPOSE BENEFITS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES

Governor Pataki and the state comptroller, Alan Hevesi, unveiled legislation yesterday to extend benefits to the families of public employees who are killed while on active military duty. The proposed legislation would provide the same health insurance and other survivors’ benefits that families would receive if the National Guard member or Reservist died while working as a state or municipal employee. “When state employees make the ultimate sacrifice for our country, their grieving families should not also face financial loss,” Mr. Hevesi said. Following the combat death in Iraq of National Guardsman Christian Engeldrum in November, Mr. Pataki signed a bill granting his survivors the benefits they’d have received if he died in his regular job as a New York City firefighter. A spokesman for Mr. Pataki, Todd Alhart, said the legislation is meant to do that for others. Earlier “Patriot Plan” measures have raised the pay rate for New York military personnel on active duty to $125 a day from $100, extended tuition benefits to veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, outlawed job and housing discrimination against military personnel, and provided military families with benefits ranging from permission to break auto leases to free tuition for relatives of soldiers killed or severely wounded in action.

– Associated Press

TRI-STATE

REPORT POINTS TO POORLY GUARDED TERROR TARGETS IN NEW JERSEY

A chemical plant and other industrial manufacturers in a two-mile stretch of northern New Jersey are poorly guarded by security officials and pose as terrorist targets that could endanger 12 million people within 14-mile radius, the New York Times reported last night on its Web site. The reason for the lack of security, the according to the article, is a combination of Homeland Security cuts to New Jersey’s counterterrorism budget, and successful opposition of more stringent legislation on chemical manufacturers by industry lobbyists. While federal officials have expressed concerns about the industrial sections of New Jersey since before September 11, 2001, the Times Web site reported that state officials have not yet been adequately able to protect the facilities or secure counterterrorism funds. Last year, the Department of Homeland Security cut more than one-third of the state of New Jersey’s counterterrorism budget – to $60 million from $99 million. “We put more resources into securing the average large bank in Manhattan than we do for the entire security of Port Newark,” a former Coast Guard commander and now security analyst for the Council of Foreign Relations, Stephen Flynn, told the Times. “That’s just irresponsible.” While the security of the chemical plants rests with local law enforcement in New Jersey and with company owners, the New York Police Department has been in regular contact with the chemical plants as part of a program which enlists private corporations to report irregular behavior to law enforcement, a former counterterrorism official told the newspaper.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun