BROOKLYN

MYSTERIOUS SUBSTANCE CAUSES EMERGENCY ROOM QUARANTINE

Part of the emergency room at a hospital in Bushwick was quarantined last night after a person walked in complaining of flu-like symptoms after opening an envelope with a suspicious white powder inside.

Around 10 p.m., a 24-year-old woman, along with her husband and brother, who had also been exposed to the powder, arrived at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center’s emergency room. Only the woman complained of symptoms, police said.

The emergency room was closed down shortly afterward and emergency vehicles were diverted to other hospitals nearby. Police performed standard procedures to contain any chemical from spreading outside the facility, including decontaminating the emergency room. Witnesses said they saw officials in hazardous materials suits on the scene. The substance was isolated and transferred to the Department of Health for further analysis, police said. When questioned, a doctor at the facility was reported to have announced that there were no signs of anthrax exposure, according to a broadcast news outlet.

The unidentified woman, her husband, and brother were kept in isolation and were expected to be released last night, officials said. The woman told police that she had received the envelope containing the powder in the mail several days earlier.

– Special to the Sun

MANHATTAN

CLINTON COVE OPENS ALONG HUDSON RIVER PARK

Mayor Bloomberg and members of the Hudson River Park community cut the ribbon on a new waterfront park yesterday, Clinton Cove.

The $12.5 million project is part of the 550-acre waterfront park Mr. Bloomberg promised to create when he came into office, intending it to run uninterrupted from Battery Place all the way up the Hudson River to 59th Street. Clinton Cove, at 56th Street and the West Side Highway, occupies a site that was formerly a municipal concrete plant. The new park space features a boathouse, grassy knolls, and art installations.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

ALBANY

ASSEMBLY MOVES TOWARD HARSHER PENALTIES FOR SEX CRIMES

Responding to charges from Governor Pataki and the state Senate that it is soft on sex offenders, the state Assembly advanced legislation that would stiffen penalties for sexual crimes.

The legislative package passed yesterday would eliminate the statute of limitations for first-degree rape and child sexual abuse in cases where DNA evidence is produced, authorize lifetime registration for all sex offenders, and expand community notification of past sex offenders. The Assembly said it would also hold hearings on civil commitment legislation. The Senate and Mr. Pataki, joined by the district attorney of Westchester County, Jeanine Pirro, pressured the lower chamber in recent weeks to pass a bill that would confine dangerous sex offenders for life. So-called civil confinement legislation has passed in the Senate by overwhelming majorities, but never made it to the floor of the Assembly for a vote.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

COURT: AGENCY CAN’T TIP OFF SUBJECTS OF RECORD SEARCH

A court has ordered a state agency to end its 30-year practice of allowing the subjects of Freedom of Information Law requests to help decide what public records should be released.

The state Racing and Wagering Board’s policy of allowing entities such as the New York Racing Association to prescreen requests made under the state’s FOI law dates back to as early as 1975. The Racing and Wagering Board repealed the rule Wednesday, effective in coming weeks, the board’s assistant counsel, Mark Stuart, said. But he said the board stopped the prescreening last year after a Supreme Court judge struck the practice down.

In that case, the Daily Racing Form newspaper in 2002 sought records under FOIL regarding Catskill Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation, a public agency.

Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group said government must adhere not just to the letter of open government laws, but also to their spirit.

“Obviously it’s not Governor Pataki’s fault the agency is operating this way, but clearly there needs to be a review of the FOIL practices of the executive branch,” Mr. Horner said. “The Pataki administration has been regularly criticized for its FOIL practices and maybe this will be a wake-up call where the governor demands a top-to-bottom review of its FOIL practices.”

A spokesman for Mr. Pataki, Kevin Quinn, said he sees no need for a review because the policy clearly predates the governor’s tenure. “We’re always encouraging agencies to fully comply with the law,” Mr. Quinn said.

– Associated Press

STATEN ISLAND

BRAWLING NEW YEAR’S EVE FIREMAN IS FIRED

The fire department fired Michael Silvestri yesterday for getting into a fight on New Year’s Eve 2003 that left another firefighter seriously injured, fire department officials said yesterday.

The termination follows a decision made by an administrative judge to fire Mr. Silvestri for throwing a chair at Robert Walsh during a drunken brawl inside the Tottenville firehouse on Staten Island, which at the time was known as “Southern Comfort.” The fight was apparently over Elvis Presley’s birth date and overtime issues. Mr. Silvestri’s lawyer told the administrative judge that the firefighter was suffering from a stress disorder related to the September 11, 2001, attacks. Mr. Silvestri faces criminal charges, including two counts of assault and one count of criminal possession of a weapon that could result in up to 25 years in prison, if convicted. Meanwhile, Mr. Walsh has sued the city for $100 million.

– Special to the Sun

CITYWIDE

FORMER HOUSING OFFICIAL PLEADS GUILTY ON BRIBERY CHARGE

A former official with the city’s housing authority pled guilty to soliciting and receiving a bribe from a company that did business with the city, the city’s Department of Investigation announced yesterday.

Kirk Elyakin, a former deputy director in the risk finance division of the New York City Housing Authority, pled guilty in a federal court in Brooklyn for taking part in a scheme that allegedly helped an Atlanta-based company win a three-year, $7.8 million contract with the city. Elyakin allegedly suggested the firm, Crawford and Company, purchase goods and services from another business where a relative of his worked. Shortly thereafter, Crawford allegedly purchased $32,150 in services, allowing for the relative to make a commission of $4,800.

If convicted, Elyakin could face 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. As part of his plea, Elyakin will pay $4,800 in restitution, the commissioner of the Department of Investigation, Rose Hearn, said.

– Special to the Sun