STATEWIDE

GE, EPA STRIKE NEW DEAL ON HUDSON RIVER DREDGING

The government and General Electric Company struck a deal yesterday on dredging PCB-contaminated sediment from New York’s Hudson River, hastening a Superfund cleanup that could cost $500 million or more. The deal announced by the Environmental Protection Agency means that dredging should begin in the spring of 2007 on a 40-mile stretch of river north of Albany, N.Y. The news was greeted as a partial victory by environmental groups because some contended the deal still helps GE avoid the largest share of cleanup costs. The agreement calls on GE to pay the government up to $78 million of the EPA’s bill, in addition to some $37 million already paid. The company said it has spent about $100 million in preparation work for the dredging, and the deal commits it to an additional $100 million to $150 million of work.

– Associated Press

MTA EMPLOYEE FINED $2,000 FOR UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR

The New York State Ethics Commission has fined a Metropolitan Transportation Authority employee $2,000 for accepting tickets to a fund-raising event from a company that does business with the authority, the commission said yesterday. The fine against a special assistant to the authority, Robert Rubenfeld, is part of a sweep of at least 14 officials who have been charged with violating code of conduct rules for accepting tickets from MTA vendors to galas organized in 2002 by Friends of New York Transit Museum, a nonprofit group that supports the museum.

– Special to the Sun

BOARD OF REGENTS CALLS FOR $1.3B INCREASE IN SCHOOL AID

The New York State Board of Regents yesterday recommended a $1.3 billion increase in state school aid next year with $706 million going to city schools. The total statewide increase over the next four years would be $6.3 billion, with 61.4% of the money going to the city in the 2009-2010 school year. School aid is now more than $15 billion a year. The Regents also proposed an increase of $99 million to boost the state’s “universal pre-Kindergarten” program to provide schooling for all four-year-olds across the state.

– Special to the Sun

CITYWIDE

U.N. RENOVATION COST BALLOONS TO $1.5B

The cost of the United Nations’ planned renovation has risen to $1.5 billion from $1.2 billion, U.N. officials in charge of the project said yesterday. Assuming the world body sticks to the refurbishment plans adopted years ago, higher costs for “swing space” and construction, plus inflation, would yield the $300 million increase, the U.N.’s undersecretary-general for management, Christopher Burnham, said. Mr. Burnham cautioned, however, that the world body is completely revising its renovation plans. The new executive director of the Capital Master Plan, as the United Nations calls the project, Fritz Reuter, has been given 60 days to review the project for potential cost savings and will return to the world body on November 7 with a new proposal.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CAMPAIGN CORNER

CANDIDATE PASSING OUT ‘SMOKE BLOOMBERG’ LIGHTERS

A long-shot Libertarian Party candidate for mayor, Audrey Silk, is trying to fire up her campaign. Ms. Silk, a vocal opponent of the smoking ban Mayor Bloomberg won in 2002, is passing out cigarette lighters with the phrases “Smoke Bloomberg in ’05” and “End Prohibition” in red letters. Ms. Silk, who headed a group called Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment, has only raised about $2,000 for her mayoral bid – not much of a match for Mr. Bloomberg’s millions. She is calling on him to repeal the smoking ban, which his administration considers a major accomplishment, and contends that he is distorting facts about how well restaurants and bars are doing in a post-smoking ban New York.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun