New York Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
ALBANY
DANIELS TELLS LOCAL GOP LEADERS HE’S RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR
The former secretary of state, Randy Daniels, is telling local Republican leaders that he’s running for governor and has a stronger foundation than his counterparts to revive a “diminished” party, according to a letter to county GOP chairmen. “I want to make my intentions very clear: I plan to run for governor!” Mr. Daniels wrote county Republican chairmen last week in the letter obtained yesterday. Mr. Daniels wrote that he wouldn’t be able to attend today’s round of meetings in Syracuse between statewide candidates and area county chairmen. Mr. Daniels said he will be in Asia on private business.
– Associated Press
CLINTON EXPECTS OPPOSITION TO SPEND HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS
Senator Clinton has told potential financial backers that opponents of her 2006 re-election effort “will raise and spend hundreds of millions of dollars against me.” In the 2000 race, Mayor Giuliani, who left the campaign to fight prostate cancer, and eventual GOP nominee Rick Lazio spent more than $61 million against her. Mrs. Clinton spent $41 million, making it the most expensive Senate race ever.
The claim of far higher spending this time around comes in a letter signed by the former first lady pressing for donations before this Friday’s cutoff for reporting campaign contributions to the Federal Election Commission for public reports due October 15.
– Associated Press
CITYWIDE
JEWISH MEMORIAL SERVICE HONORS 9/11 VICTIMS
With prayers, speeches, and music, a group of Jewish men and women led a remembrance of the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks yesterday, the day in the Hebrew calendar corresponding to the attacks’ fourth anniversary. The 30 mostly Orthodox Jews from Baruch College and Chabad of Downtown NYC used the memorial service to offer a hopeful message: Goodness could result, and has resulted, from the evil witnessed that day, from people giving blood to a renewal of charity work. Such memorials “serve as inspiration to us, that we should never forget,” a 20-year-old Baruch student, Michael Gutmann, said.
– Associated Press
MAYOR’S OFFICE: MTA SHOULD CONSIDER REVERSING PLANNED HIKE
Mayor Bloomberg’s top spokesman said yesterday that the MTA should consider reversing the planned fare hike a day after the state comptroller, Alan Hevesi, said the MTA’s budget surplus was expected to be even higher than originally admitted. “In light of the surplus, the MTA needs to assess whether the next fare hike is necessary,” Mr. Bloomberg’s communications director, Edward Skyler, said.
On Monday, Mr. Hevesi said the MTA budget surplus was approaching about $928 million for the year, mostly from a windfall in revenue the authority received from real estate transaction fees.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
NAZI-HUNTER WIESENTHAL MEMORIALIZED
The celebrated Nazi-hunter, Simon Wiesenthal, was remembered yesterday at a memorial service at the Fifth Avenue Synagogue in New York. Wiesenthal, whose body was flown to Israel for burial last Friday, was 96 years old when he died on Tuesday, September 20. A Holocaust survivor himself, Wiesenthal gathered and prepared evidence on Nazi atrocities. His work reportedly helped bring 1,100 Nazi war criminals to justice and was pivotal to the capture of Adolf Eichmann in 1960. Memorial services for Wiesenthal have already been held in Vienna, Los Angeles, and Toronto.
– Special to the Sun
NUMBER OF WOULD-BE OFFICERS DROPS
Fewer people are signing up to join the ranks of the New York Police Department, newly released data shows. Bearing in mind that the period to sign up was 30 days shorter this year, 21,236 people applied for next month’s examination, police said, compared with 35,000 who signed up for the test last October 23. The drop in filers comes shortly after the department dramatically decreased the salary of new recruits to $25,100, starting in January 2006.
After the pay cuts were announced in July, Mayor Bloomberg and the police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, spoke about the potential for future recruitment challenges. The number of applicants has fluctuated greatly over the last couple of years. Prior to 2003, the number of candidates peaked at 29,021 for the October 26, 2002, exam, police statistics indicate. The greatest dip was for the June 21, 2003, exam with only 3,323 applicants.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
TEACHERS PROTEST OUTSIDE CHANCELLOR’S MEETING WITH PARENTS
The United Federation of Teachers is stepping up their attack this week as they continue to hash out a contract with the city. Dozens of teachers protested outside P.S. 75 on the Upper West Side last night where the schools chancellor, Joel Klein, was attending a parent council meeting.
Today, a rally in Queens is planned and the union president, Randi Weingarten, is expected to meet with the Democratic mayoral candidate, Fernando Ferrer. The UFT has threatened either to go on strike or endorse Mr. Ferrer if the contract is not settled by early October. The teachers have been working without a contract since 2003. Negotiations are scheduled to resume tomorrow.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
STATEWIDE
ENERGY COMPANIES SEEK NEW POWER PLANT LAW
Energy officials said yesterday that electricity and natural gas prices will rise by as much as 35% this winter and called on state leaders to allow more power plants to be built to increase competition. The state’s power plant siting law, which allows new power plants to be built, expired three years ago. Disagreements among Governor Pataki, a Republican, the Republican-led state Senate, and the Democrat-led Assembly have led to a stalemate in passing a new law.
– Associated Press
PROBE AROUND NIAGARA FALLS MAYOR WIDENS
A federal investigation centered around the Niagara Falls mayor, Vince Anello, appears to have widened in recent weeks, with the issuance of grand jury subpoenas for credit card records and financial disclosure statements. Earlier, the Buffalo grand jury sought the first term mayor’s campaign finance forms and subpoenaed two Niagara County elections commissioners to testify. Mr. Anello has been criticized for accepting a $40,000 no-interest loan in 2003 from a company controlled by the wife of a developer who does business in the city. Two installments of the loan came while Mr. Anello was running for mayor and the third shortly after Election Day.
– Associated Press
TRISTATE
MAN CONVICTED IN NEW JERSEY STUDENT’S SHOOTING DEATH
The self-styled leader of a gang of wannabe thugs was convicted yesterday of murdering a college student who ran afoul of the would-be gangsters during a night of partying in New York.John Guica, 21, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life for his role in the deadly attack on Mark Fisher, a 19-year-old sophomore at Fairfield University in Connecticut. A second jury is independently weighing the fate of Antonio Russo, 19, who is charged with firing the fatal shot. The jury deliberated for less than a day before convicting Guica of murder and robbery charges in the attack on Fisher.
– Associated Press
POLICE BLOTTER
WILD CAR CHASE, GUNFIRE AFTER ATTEMPTED ROBBERY
Police went on a wild car chase after two male suspects who fled the scene of an attempted gunpoint robbery at a Midtown jewelry store, the authorities said. Police recounted the following story: At 1:50 p.m. yesterday, the suspects held up the owner of Fossner Timepieces Clock Shop at 1057 Second Ave., which is close to 56th Street. A passerby flagged a sergeant and a police officer down, and police rushed into the antique watch store.
As the officers started to arrest one of the suspects, his accomplice told them if they didn’t back off, he would shoot the owner. The suspect was holding a gun to the man’s head. At some point during the stickup, the employee was allegedly pistol-whipped. The officers backed out, followed by the suspects, who left empty-handed. There was a shootout at the scene between police and the suspects, but reportedly no one was injured. Police chased the suspects – who were driving a blue pickup truck – southbound on the FDR Drive. Police said they found the suspects’ truck abandoned on Montgomery and Henry streets. A bulletproof vest with bullet fragments was inside the truck. Police also recovered an automatic weapon and another bulletproof vest on 49th Street on the drive. As of last night, police were searching for the suspects.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
OFFICERS INJURED IN CAR CRASH
Two police officers were injured last night when their squad car crashed into another vehicle as they responded to another officer’s call for help in East New York. The accident occurred at the corner of Linden Boulevard and Pennsylvania Avenue shortly before 8 p.m. The officers’ injuries were not life threatening, a police spokesman said. The officers, whose names were not released, were taken to Jamaica Hospital, where they were expected to be treated and released.
– Special to the Sun