STATEWIDE

STATE TO RECEIVE $16.5 BILLION IN TRANSPORTATION DOLLARS

Congress is poised to give New York some $16.5 billion in highway and transit dollars over the next six years, helping to rebuild roads everywhere from a new Yankee Stadium site to the Peace Bridge outside Buffalo.

More than $10 billion for roads and nearly $6.5 billion for transit in New York are part of a deal struck by House and Senate negotiators, lawmakers said yesterday. Senator Clinton, a Democrat of New York, and Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, a Republican of New York, were part of the negotiating team whose final proposal is scheduled for a late-night vote in the House.

New York’s lawmakers were quick to tout the billions of dollars overall for New York and specific multimillion-dollar projects sprinkled throughout the state.

Rep. Jose Serrano, a Democrat of New York, trumpeted $10 million in the bill to make repairs to the Grand Concourse near the proposed site of a new Yankee Stadium, as well as $3 million to help pay for a new Metro-North station near the proposed stadium. The bill also pumps $25 million into the Buffalo-area Peace Bridge linking America and Canada.

– Associated Press

AFTER TWO FAILURES, INDIAN POINT SIRENS TO GET BACKUP POWER

The owner of the Indian Point nuclear plants, prodded by politicians and two recent power failures, said yesterday it will install backup power for the 156 sirens that are meant to warn nearby residents of an emergency. Twenty of the sirens were out of order after a thunderstorm Wednesday night, and the entire system was down for nearly six hours July 19 when power was lost to a signal transmitter.

The Westchester county executive, Andrew Spano, has been demanding a backup, and Senator Clinton recently inserted a provision into the pending Nuclear Security Act of 2005 that would require it. The president of Entergy Nuclear Northeast, the owner of the plant in Buchanan, Mike Kansler, said, “We are simply not satisfied with the equipment and agree with Senator Clinton and other government officials that the public deserves better.” Mrs. Clinton called the announcement an “important change” and added, “It’s the right thing to do for the safety and security of the people who live around the plant.”

– Associated Press

SIX KILLED WHEN CAR HITS DUMP TRUCK

The 25-year-old camp counselor who smashed a car into a dump truck, killing herself and five campers, had a suspended license at the time of the crash, according records reviewed by police yesterday. The victims, who ranged in age from 12 to 25, were attending the Atlanta Dance Camp in this largely rural area about 80 miles northwest of New York City. The victims were headed to a nearby lake shortly before noon Wednesday when the car crashed on Route 17B in Mongaup Falls.

Detective Don Starner of the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department said computer records show the driver, Irina Mironova of Miami Beach, had a suspended Florida license. Detective Jason Gorr said Mironova had received a summons in Florida for driving in excess of 100 mph. Gorr said the license had not been reinstated. Just minutes before the crash occurred, deputies also received a 911 call that a small gray car with Florida license plates – probably her 1994 Toyota Corolla – was driving erratically and passing other vehicles on the highway, Sheriff Daniel Hogue said.

– Associated Press

STATE SENATE LEADER CALLS FOR MORATORIUM ON USE OF EMINENT DOMAIN

At a rally on the steps of City Hall yesterday, a State Senate leader, David Paterson, a Democrat, along with a small gathering of Harlem civic leaders and three City Council members, called for a state-wide blanket moratorium on the use of eminent domain following the recent Supreme Court decision that is widely interpreted as expanding the law’s reach.

In a thinly veiled attack on Columbia University’s planned expansion in Harlem, Mr. Paterson, whose district encompasses Central Harlem, said a moratorium would allow the state Legislature to convene, deliberate the Court’s decision, and take measures to prevent a “gold rush” of eminent domain use across the state.

The City Council majority leader, Bill Perkins, who is now running for Manhattan borough president, said he would introduce a council resolution to support the moratorium. Mr. Perkins accused Columbia of using the threat of eminent domain as a weapon in negotiations with the area’s small businesses and residents. Council Member Letitia James, of Brooklyn, an opponent of the proposed development of Atlantic Yards, accused the developer, Bruce Ratner, of using eminent domain as a form of coercion and said she expected the proposed moratorium to slow his project.

– Special to the Sun

QUEENS

CORPSE FOUND IN HOUSE BEING SHOWN BY REAL ESTATE AGENT

A real estate agent showing off a model home in Queens found a dead naked man inside the house yesterday, police officials said.

The 29-year-old man, whose name police didn’t release yesterday, appeared to be the victim of “tremendous blunt trauma to the head,” police said. The body was found lying facedown in a pool of blood at the house, located on 166th Street in the Jamaica section of Queens, police said.

– Special to the Sun

CITYWIDE

BLOOMBERG SAYS SPENDING CUTS PAID OFF

Mayor Bloomberg testified yes terday that New York City made tough financial decisions in 2001 – and said it paid off. “Following 9/11, it was clear that city government was going to have to do more with less,” he said, in comments to the state’s Financial Control Board. “In response, we have cut city tax levy spending by $3.6 billion. Yet today, the quality of services is better, our economic prospects are brighter, and the promise of opportunity for all in our city is greater than it was four years ago.” He said the A+ bond rating the city received in May from Standard & Poor’s – New York’s highest rating ever – is evidence of the good job his administration has done. At the annual Financial Control Board meeting, the state comptroller, Alan Hevesi, said “kudos to the mayor” for the improved state of the city’s finances. The city comptroller, William Thompson Jr., said the city’s $50.2 billion budget for fiscal year 2006 appears to be balanced, but he said problems might crop up in later years. “One time revenues in fiscal year 2005 are not expected to recur, and this will produce budget gaps in later years,” he said. “The city must devise a sustainable plan over the long term to address the disparity between revenues and expenses.” He suggested the creation of a “rainy-day fund.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

BRONX

HOMELESS MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO STABBING ANOTHER IN FIGHT OVER LITTER

A 40-year-old homeless man pleaded guilty to stabbing another homeless man during a dispute over litter near a Bronx construction site where one of them regularly slept, prosecutors said yesterday. Romero Anderson admitted wounding 48-year-old Ronald Brown, who had been spending his nights at the site with his two dogs, the Bronx district attorney’s office said in a news release. Prosecutors said the July 14 argument began when Mr. Brown, who was using a knife to open and mix cans of dog food for his pets, reprimanded Anderson for leaving a container of stale Chinese food in the area. They said that when Mr. Brown put down the knife Anderson used it to stab him.

Mr. Brown underwent surgery to repair damage to his heart and remained hospitalized in good condition. Anderson, who initially was charged with attempted murder, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in a deal with prosecutors.

He previously served prison time for a 1993 attempted robbery conviction and a 1985 attempted burglary conviction and was scheduled to be sentenced on August 10 as a persistent violent felony offender. He faces 12 years to life in prison.

– Associated Press