MANHATTAN

PLAZA’S EX-OWNER TO BUY BACK PORTION OF PROPERTY

The former owner of the Plaza Hotel, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, has agreed to buy back part of the property for as much as $500 million to build a new 150-room hotel, according to a report in Crain’s. The owner of the Plaza, Elad Properties, declined comment. Elad is currently renovating the Central Park South icon so that it will include a mix of residential condominiums, long-term stay hotel condominiums, retail space, and a traditional 150-room hotel. The $350 million overhaul is expected to be complete in late 2006. Prince Alwaleed, a member of the Saudi royal family and one of the richest men in the world, sold the Plaza for $675 million in August 2004. He was part of a group that purchased the Plaza from Donald Trump for $325 million in 1995. The sale must receive approval from the state attorney general’s office, according to the report.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

FORMER OWNER WALKS INTO BARBERSHOP AND OPENS FIRE, KILLING ONE

One man died and three others were injured yesterday after a former owner of the Franklin and Ernesto Barbershop in Harlem walked into the shop and opened fire on its current owners, police said. Eddie Espinal, 40, was arrested near the scene and was later charged with second-degree murder in the death of Julio Ernesto Flipo, 25. Mr. Espinal, who was also charged with three counts of assault, had previously owned the barbershop at 1577 St. Nicholas Ave., but lost the business in a rent dispute, a police spokesman said. The Franklin and Ernesto Barbershop is owned by Flipo and Rodney Franklin, who was in critical condition last night at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Two other victims were in stable condition, police said. Outside the barbershop last night, friends of Flipo and Mr. Franklin gathered, shaken by news of the shooting. Sileni Hernandez, 33, described Flipo as a “very hard-working man” who had cut her son’s hair for more than nine years. “I am shocked. I am outraged,” she said.

– Special to the Sun

CITYWIDE

ANTI-SMOKING GROUP DEMANDS FERRER RETURN $36,000 IN CONTRIBUTIONS

An anti-smoking group called the Tobacco Free Kids Fund demanded yesterday that the Democratic mayoral nominee, Fernando Ferrer, return roughly $36,000 in campaign contributions from “individuals with tobacco interests.” The group is closely aligned with Mayor Bloomberg and was a strong supporter of the smoking ban the mayor pushed three years ago. In April, the group released a similar analysis and singled out Mr. Ferrer for accepting the same amount of money. Last January, Mr. Ferrer told The New York Sun that, if elected, he would not overturn the mayor’s smoking ban. Though it was the group that was demanding action from Mr. Ferrer, a campaign spokesman for the mayor sent the information to reporters by e-mail. Mr. Bloomberg has spent nearly $50 million on his re-election campaign to date, but frequently points out that he is not beholden to special interests because he finances his campaign himself. Yesterday, Mr. Ferrer said he had no plans to return the contributions. He has said in the past that donations have no influence over his positions.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

ALBANY

DANIELS GETS EXPOSURE FROM OLD AGENCY IN GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN

Randy Daniels, New York’s former secretary of state, has received some extra exposure for his campaign for governor from his old agency. Although Mr. Daniels made it clear to the public and press that his last day as secretary of state was September 23, the State Department continued to carry Mr. Daniels’s picture in some ideal photos for a campaign on the state Web site. In the top photo, Mr. Daniels was working with a dog and its trainer as the dog went through disaster search training. Below that were two more photos of Mr. Daniels – one of him carrying an American flag while walking with veterans and Boy Scouts at a Westchester cemetery on Memorial Day, the other of him alone, placing another American flag on the grave of a Civil War veteran in Albany. In those photos, the department updated the site to refer to Mr. Daniels as “former secretary of state.”

– Associated Press