STATEWIDE

EX-SCHOOLS CHIEF ADMITS STEALING MILLIONS

The former Roslyn schools chief, Frank Tassone, pleaded guilty yesterday to grand larceny charges for what the state comptroller has called the “most extraordinary theft” from a school system “in American history.” Tassone, 58, of Manhattan, entered the plea before a Nassau County judge, Alan Honorof, admitting that he took millions in taxpayer money to finance a lavish lifestyle that included European jaunts on the supersonic Concorde. As part of the deal with prosecutors, the former schools superintendent pleaded guilty to one count each of first- and second-degree grand larceny.

– Associated Press

JUDGE GRANTS ‘JUNIOR’ GOTTI’S RELEASE ON $7 MILLION BOND

The jailed son of late mob boss John Gotti neared freedom yesterday after a judge agreed to release him on $7 million bond, less than a week after declaring a mistrial on the bulk of his racketeering case. Under bail conditions approved by the U.S. district judge, Shira Scheindlin, John A. “Junior” Gotti would be released from a federal lockup in Lower Manhattan, but remain under house arrest in his home on Long Island until a possible retrial early next year.

– Associated Press

STATE SIGNS $2 BILLION CONTRACT FOR EMERGENCY RADIO SERVICE

The state yesterday announced it signed its contract for a fiercely debated $2 billion radio communications system designed to allow emergency and public service crews to talk to each other during natural disasters and terrorist attacks. M/ACOM, a business unit of Tyco Electronics, will design, build, operate, and maintain the Statewide Wireless Network. It will be paid $2 billion over 20 years to provide a statewide system for emergency and public service crews.

– Associated Press

CITYWIDE

CITY, UFT TO RESUME NEGOTIATIONS ON CONTRACT TODAY

The city and the United Federation of Teachers returned to the bargaining table yesterday to hash out a contract for the city’s 83,000 public school teachers who have been working without a contract since 2003. No compromise was reached in the hour-long session, but both parties are expected to resume negotiations today. They last met in October 2004. Mayor Bloomberg said he believed there could be contract “in a couple of weeks” and urged both sides to use the recommendations of a state arbitration panel. After the meeting, the teachers’ union president, Randi Weingarten, said there had been a “full and frank” discussion but was not certain what the outcome would be. “We are not viewing the fact-finders’ recommendations in the same way, though we agreed to use the report as a path to a contract,” Ms. Weingarten said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

COMMISSION APPROVES MORE RESTRICTIVE ZONING FOR FAR WEST VILLAGE

The City Planning Commission yesterday unanimously approved more restrictive zoning for portions of the far West Village. The changes must be approved by the City Council to take effect. The vote was a victory for area residents and preservationists who say that large-scale development is threatening their neighborhood’s character. The commission did not agree to downscale two large incoming developments, the Superior Ink building on West Street and the Whitehall Storage facility on Charles Street, as neighbors advocated.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

BLOOMBERG, CORRECTION OFFICERS AGREE ON TENTATIVE CONTRACT

Mayor Bloomberg yesterday announced a tentative contract agreement with the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association. The settlement is consistent with the city’s pattern for collective bargaining, which was set by the largest city union, District Council 37, and followed by the police union. The president of the union, Norman Seabrook, said the tentative contract, which provides a 5% increase retroactive to February 1, 2003; another 5% increase on February 1, 2004; salary reductions for new officers, and fewer leave days, was the best he could get for his members given the circumstances under which he was negotiating. Mr. Seabrook said his union had not yet considered which candidate to endorse in this year’s mayor race.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

REPORT: GAS PRICES SEND COMMUTERS TO THE RAILS

High gas prices have led to an increase in riders on the city’s commuter railroads, an industry group, the American Public Transportation Association reported yesterday. The association said Metro-North Railroad saw its largest increase in riders in nearly four years with a 4% surge this year through August, while the number of riders on PATH trains increased by 2% or 1.1 million rides during the fiscal year ending June 30.

– Special to the Sun

FBI INVESTIGATING RACIST HATE MAIL TO JETER

Yankee superstar Derek Jeter has received a threatening letter reportedly warning him to stop dating white women or “he’ll be shot or set on fire.” Special agent Scott Wilson, speaking by phone from Cleveland, confirmed the FBI’s probe yesterday, saying “we have an ongoing open investigation into racially threatening letters to Jeter and others across the country.” He declined to comment further. The New York Police Department has also investigated the matter.

– Associated Press

PARENTS TO PROTEST OPENING OF HALFWAY HOUSE NEAR MIDDLE SCHOOLS

A group of parents and neighbors will gather in front the city Department of Education today to protest the opening of a halfway house across the street from two middle schools in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. The halfway house, scheduled to open this month or next month, is operated by the Doe Fund and will serve about 40 males. A block president who founded an organization called the Coalition of United of Parents to Protect Our Children, David Grinage, said, “We are not protesting that it’s in the neighborhood – we understand the individuals have to come back into the community. It’s the proximity to the schools that concerns us.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

DOCTOROFF TO APPEAR AT HE ARING ON AIDING KATRINA VICTIMS

The deputy mayor, Daniel Doctoroff, will travel to Washington tomorrow to appear before a Senate finance committee exploring various tax programs to assist the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Mr. Doctoroff will testify on New York City’s experience rebuilding after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, according to a spokeswoman for the Empire State Development Corporation, Janel Patterson. Ms. Patterson said the city and the state have already engaged in several discussions over structuring federal relief with the staff of the Senate finance committee.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

WEINER ANNOUNCES $250,000 IN FUNDING FOR PEDESTRIAN SAFETY

Fresh off his failed bid for mayor, Rep. Anthony Weiner appeared at a Bronx school yesterday to announce $250,000 in federal funding to bolster pedestrian safety. The grant was secured as part of the massive $286.5 billion transportation bill the president signed last month. The money has been earmarked for the area around P.S. 194, a K-8 school plagued by traffic congestion since it opened in 2003. “Crossing the street, particularly around some public schools, is a full-contact sport,” Mr. Weiner said.

– Special to the Sun

BROOKLYN

JUDGE ADDS 2 MISDEMEANORS TO FELONIES FACING NORMAN

Judge Martin Marcus added two misdemeanors to the four felonies facing Assemblyman Clarence Norman Jr., yesterday, giving jurors a potential middle ground between convicting the defendant of a felony and finding him not guilty. Today, the jury is expected to decide whether the Brooklyn political boss is guilty on two counts of falsifying business records in the first degree and two in the second, and two counts of violating election law by accepting contributions in excess of the legal limit. The felonies carry a maximum four-year prison sentence.

– Special to the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

REPORT: ACCUSATIONS OF ABUSE BY POLICE ON THE RISE

More civilians have been complaining about abuse by police officers this year compared to last, a recently released report said. And the number of allegations increased at a much faster rate than the number of complaints. For the first eight months of the year, there were 4,502 complaints filed against police officers, which included 13,713 allegations, according to the data from the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board. The number of complaints increased 7.9% from last year at the same point in the year, the statistics indicated, and allegations rose 16%.The board substantiated more allegations this year, a 6.9% increase, the report said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

ALLEGED MURDER-SUICIDE AT BROOKLYN SALON

A Brooklyn man allegedly shot his ex-girlfriend and then himself yesterday morning in the back room of the beauty salon in Park Slope where she worked. Police said that the man, Jose Peguero, of Brooklyn Heights, had been waiting at Delores Beauty Salon at 318 11th St. when 43-year-old Vinicia Baez, of East New York, showed up for work yesterday morning. He asked to speak to her, police said, and although she had a customer waiting, she brought him into a back room to talk. Peguero then allegedly shot Baez, then himself. Peguero was dead when police arrived on the scene, and Baez died at Methodist Hospital.

– Special to the Sun