BROOKLYN

GIRL CHARGED WITH MURDER PLEADS NOT GUILTY

The 9-year-old girl arrested Monday and charged with fatally stabbing her 11-year-old friend pleaded not guilty yesterday in a Brooklyn Family Court. The charges, brought by the city’s corporation counsel, the agency responsible for juvenile prosecutions, include manslaughter, assault in the first degree, and possession of a weapon. Judge Jane Pearl kept the girl, who was with her mother in court yesterday, in custody. The case returns to court June 17, at which time the girl may have the option to plea bargain or go to trial. If convicted, the 9-year-old girl would face a maximum 18 months in an institution, after which she will be evaluated and possibly held for a year at a time until her 18th birthday.

– Special to the Sun

CITYWIDE

SCHUMER: 9/11 AID SHOULD BE REINSTATED

Senator Schumer, a Democrat, said yesterday that $125 million in aid for workers who suffered injuries or lost jobs as a result of time spent working at ground zero has been cut from President Bush’s budget and should be reinstated. The money was part of the more than $20 billion aid package the city was given to help rebuild in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. A spokesman for the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, Scott Milburn, said the money has been funneled back into the Treasury because 90% of the claims have been settled using less than $50 million of the original $175 million earmarked. “The needs were not as large as initially feared,” Mr. Milburn said. Mr. Schumer, standing yesterday with the union presidents of the AFL-CIO and United Fire Officers Association, said workers still require physical and mental health treatment the funds were intended to cover. He added that when the money was allocated, an agreement was reached that would allow money not used for workers’ compensation to be redirected toward other related uses.

– Special to the Sun

IBO SAYS MAYOR’S CITY WASTE PLAN WILL INCREASE COST IN SHORT-TERM

The city’s Independent Budget Office issued a report yesterday stating that Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to dispose of city waste would increase costs in the short-term by $100 million a year. The increased cost of disposing waste would make recycling a more competitive option waste management. The report added, however, that in the long run the mayor’s Comprehensive Solid Waste Management Plan could potentially reduce costs by hundreds of millions of dollars if fees the city pays to ship garbage do not grow considerably. The plan, currently under review by the City Council, is in response to the closing of the Fresh Kills landfill in 1997, the city’s main repository for the 3.5 million tons of garbage it collects annually. The current method of shipping garbage out of the city by tractor trailer is a major reason the Department of Sanitation’s budget will break the $1 billion mark. The plan calls on the use of rail freight and ocean-going barges to ship garbage to more distant and inexpensive sites. Short-term costs of around $400 million would come from capital costs associated with opening and refurbishing old transfer stations that would be used to compress garbage and transfer it for long-distance shipping.

– Special to the Sun

NEW POLICE WATCHDOG TOUTS COOPERATION WITH COMMISSIONER

The newly appointed chairman of the mayor’s Commission to Combat Police Corruption, Michael Armstrong, said yesterday that he felt the embattled police watchdog would not have trouble obtaining information from the police department because of a strong relationship with the police commissioner, Raymond Kelly.

Mr. Armstrong takes the place of former federal prosecutor Mark Pomerantz, who testified at a recent City Hall hearing that without prosecutorial discretion, the anti-corruption agency was ineffective and could not compel police officials to disclose information. As a result, several reports were delayed or terminated, Mr. Pomerantz testified before leaving the voluntary post. The chief spokesman for the police department, Paul Browne, applauded Mayor Bloomberg’s decision yesterday to appoint Mr. Armstrong, the noted criminal attorney and former Queens district attorney, who also served as chief legal counsel to the famed Knapp commission, which exposed widespread police corruption in the early 1970s.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun