CITYWIDE

TERROR MANUAL MAY JUSTIFY POLICE’S RANDOM SUBWAY SEARCHES

An Al Qaeda training manual advising terrorists to avoid police checkpoints gives the city some justification for its random searches of bags entering the transit system, a city lawyer told a judge who will decide if the searches are constitutional.

“When confronted with uncertainty, terrorists will often change their plans or abandon their targets for those that present less risk of detection and failure,” lawyer Gail Donoghue wrote to U.S. District Judge Richard Berman as she argued at a Wednesday hearing that the city was on solid legal ground when it began the searches three weeks ago.The New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit last week to stop the searches, saying most entrances to the city’s 468 subway stations had no checkpoints, meaning people who didn’t want to be searched could enter the system elsewhere and leaving some innocent riders subjected to pointless and unconstitutional invasions of privacy. But in a letter to the judge, Ms. Donoghue said the searches have the potential to discover explosives and can act as a deterrent by creating a constant risk of detection.

– Associated Press

SCHOOL SUPERVISORS, ADMINISTRATORS BACK FERRER

Picking up the fifth labor-union endorsement of his campaign, the Democratic mayoral front-runner, Fernando Ferrer, received the backing of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators yesterday. The principals and administrators union boasts a membership of more than 10,000 throughout the city and represents an additional 6,400 retired educators and their spouses.

Mr. Ferrer received the organization’s endorsement at a press conference on the steps of City Hall, where he was praised by the CSA’s president, Jill Levy, for his record on education and for having a “comprehensive plan” to end the city’s “dropout crisis.” Last month Mr. Ferrer unveiled his proposal to graduate an additional 50,000 high school students over the four years of a Ferrer mayoralty, promising a free laptop computer to every city high school student as a means of achieving his goal.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

WEINGARTEN URGES BOYCOTT OF WAL-MART FOR SCHOOL SUPPLIES

United Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten is urging New York City parents shopping for their children’s back-to-school supplies to boycott Wal-Mart stores. Wal-Mart does not have any locations in the five boroughs, but has suburban locations.

The union leader is joining the president of the New York City Central Labor Council, Brian McLaughlin, in a protest of Wal-Mart on Hudson Street today, one of dozens of protests against the retail giant across the nation. Ms. Weingarten and other critics of the chain say Wal-Mart treats its employees poorly by offering low wages and accuses the company of shifting health care costs to taxpayers. Wal-Mart employees are not unionized.

Wal-Mart officials say the company in 2004 paid $1.4 billion in state and local taxes and $4.1 billion in federal income taxes. Officials also claim that they would not be able to employ 1.2 million people in America if conditions for employees were so poor. Wal-Mart is considering possible sites for its first store in the city in each of the five boroughs.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

LONG ISLAND

HEVESI: COMPANY MANAGING JONES BEACH GAVE AWAY $4.7M

The company hired by the state to manage the Tommy Hilfiger Jones Beach Theater gave away $4.7 million in tickets without any record of who or why those tickets were given away, the state comptroller, Alan Hevesi, said yesterday in an audit it released.

While the subsidiary of Clear Channel hired by the state’s park department to manage the 15,200 seat outdoor theater complied with most of the financial provisions of the contract, other financial controls stipulated in the contract were not in place. The auditor said the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation did not effectively monitor the company, Beach Concerts, Incorporated. The lack of controls could affect the $3 million in revenue earned by the state, since Beach Concerts Incorporated, must pay the state $5 for every ticket if more than 400,000 are sold during the May to September season. Auditors also noted that theater managers could have sold free tickets for personal gain.

– Special to the Sun

SURF’S UP ON LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD Surfers can now board the Long Island Rail Road with their surfboard, the railroad said yesterday after relaxing a ban on carrying a surfboard on the train. A rule banning surfboards from the commuter railroad had been strictly enforced during the summer, which has seen a spike in railroad-riding beachgoers this summer. Complaints from angry surfers, though, led the railroad to loosen the rule, a spokesman, Sam Zambuto, said. Surfers are now allowed to bring their board on trains, as long as the cars are not crowded. Conductors may ask surfers to move or wait for the next train if the board poses a danger. Favorite Long Island beach destinations served by the railroad include Long Beach and Jones Beach. No such ban exists in the subway, which is used by many surfers who take the A train to surf the Rockaways, where city officials opened a designated surfing area in April.

– Special to the Sun

BROOKLYN

HIKIND HEADS TO GAZA STRIP

A Democratic state assemblyman from Boro Park, Dov Hikind, arrived in the Gaza Strip yesterday, one week before the Israeli Defense Forces are expected to forcibly remove Jewish settlers who remain in the territory.

The IDF will begin evacuating 8,500 Jewish settlers from Gaza on Monday. Any settlers who have not left by next Wednesday will be evicted from their homes.

“I am going to stay as long as I can,” Mr. Hikind told The New York Sun in a phone interview from Neve Dekalim, the largest Jewish settlement in Gaza. Some settlers have pledged to resist evacuation, raising the specter of violent clashes between Jewish civilians and the IDF. But Mr. Hikind told the Sun, “In no way do I have any intention, on any level, to interfere with anything.”

“I am interested in showing solidarity, and I am interested in being a witness to this horrible tragedy that seems to be unfolding,” Mr. Hikind said. He added that Prime Minister Sharon’s plan to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza “is a victory for terrorism.”

Mr. Hikind brought fellow elected officials to Gaza in both of his two previous trips to the territory this year, but now he is not being accompanied by other American politicians. “I am here to be with amazing people and wonderful friends,” he said.

– Special to the Sun

MAN SHOT TO DEATH

A 23-year-old Hispanic male was shot to death yesterday afternoon in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. He was waiting with his brother and another male in front of a building at the corner of 70th Street and Bay Ridge when a livery car pulled up in front of the building, according to police. A passenger got out of the car and started shooting at the three men, who fled in different directions.

The unidentified suspect chased one of the men, Luis Gonzalez, for a block, police said. He caught up with him at 70th Street and shot him in the chest, then fled the scene. Gonzalez, a Bay Ridge resident, was taken to Lutheran Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

– Special to the Sun