ALBANY

COURT DENIES ATTORNEY FEES IN FOIL CASE

Documents sought under the state’s Freedom of Information Law must be of significant interest to the public to justify the state paying the attorney fees to get those records, the state’s highest court ruled yesterday. The Court of Appeals also ruled that legal fees can be paid under the state Equal Access to Justice Act only in cases where other laws do not provide the funding. Advocates for open government viewed the ruling as a setback.

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

ASSEMBLY MEMBER PUSHES TO ELIMINATE TAX ON SOME CHILDREN’S BOOKS

A state Assembly member, Vincent Ignizio, launched a campaign yesterday to eliminate the sales tax on books sold to children at school book fairs. “It’s my belief that we should be encouraging children to read, not discouraging them, which is what a tax does,” Mr. Ignizio told The New York Sun. “The state is paying billions and billions of dollars to increase literacy among children, and we’re cutting against that by taxing children’s books.” He said that the bill would lessen an unfair burden on lower income students, adding that some PTA members have “taken the law into their own hands” and already stopped collecting the tax.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CITYWIDE

COUNCIL MEMBER WITHDRAWS SIDEWALK STANDS BILLS

Faced with waning support and increasingly vocal community protest, a City Council member, John Liu, withdrew two bills relating to the fruit-and-flower stands outside greengrocers and other storefront extensions onto the sidewalk. The first would have required an on-site investigation of each stand before the Department of Transportation could renew its license. The second, introduced to stem the flow of complaints against the first, would have created a task force to examine the effects of such regulation. A council member, Oliver Koppell, one of the original bill’s leading opponents, told The New York Sun that it passed because “the City Council is not used to voting against anything that comes before it,” but that support had faded when members “took another look after the mayor vetoed the bill and the business activists had a chance to get in touch with their councilmen.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

RALLY HELD IN SUPPORT OF TWO WHO FOUGHT POLICE

As two men charged with becoming belligerent in the face of police questioning head to Queens County Criminal Court for a second hearing today, Council Member John Liu and some of his constituents are holding a rally to support them. “We’re trying to put some pressure on the legal system and make sure they get justice,” Mr. Liu’s legislative director, John Choe, said. On July 13 at 11 p.m. Insu Lee, 33, and Mohyung Lee, 39, double-parked in front of 143-29 Barclay Ave., the office of the district attorney said. A police officer began writing a summons for the driver of the vehicle when Insu Lee punched the officer in the face, causing bleeding and bruising, the district attorney’s office said. He also allegedly resisted arrest. At that time, Mohyung Lee allegedly jumped on the back of the other officer, and he also resisted arrest. The Lees, who are not related to each other, first appeared in court in August. Mr. Liu contends that the two were actually the victims of verbal and physical abuse at the hands of the undercover officers, who failed to identify themselves. The council member’s allegations are being investigated by the district attorney’s integrity bureau, the director of communications for the Queens district attorney, Kevin Ryan, said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

TEMPERS FLARE AT MEETING OVER LIBRARY CLOSING IN W. VILLAGE

West Village residents’ tempers flared at a meeting on October 18 over plans to close the Jefferson Market Library for at least 18 months to make various renovations, including moving the research room from the basement to make room for a young adult area. “It was such an angry crowd,” a former City Council member, Carol Greitzer, said. Led by Community Board 2’s Institutions Committee, the meeting included the committee chairman, Bob Rinaolo, and the director and chief executive of branch libraries for the New York Public Library, Susan Kent.

Residents expressed concern over not having been consulted about the proposed changes. A West Village resident, Fredda Seidenbaum, said research should be done on how many teenagers live in the neighborhood and use the library. “It makes me very happy that the people at the Jefferson Market Library care so much and feel so strongly about their library,” Ms. Kent told The New York Sun. Ms. Kent told meeting attendees that the library would reduce the size of the young adult area and look at conducting the renovation in stages so that it wouldn’t have to close.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

FAULT Y WIRING LIKELY CAUSED SUBWAY FIRE

Faulty wiring in a light socket was the likely cause of an electrical fire in a subway storage room Friday that disrupted service for hundreds of thousands of commuters during the morning rush, New York City Transit Authority officials said yesterday. The fire started at about 8:05 a.m., forcing power to be shut down on seven subway lines after passengers were shuttled to the nearest subway platforms. While the room where the fire originated was equipped with a smoke alarm, it was not furnished with materials that slow fires from spreading.

– Special to the Sun

OFFICIALS HOPE TO EQUIP BUSES WITH VEHICLE-LOCATING TECHNOLOGY

Transit officials hope to equip vehicle-locating technology on buses that pick up disabled riders. Customers of the service, who must schedule the service ahead of time, often complain that the service is late, while transit officials report a high rate of last-minute cancellations and no-shows. The $16.3 million project, if it is approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board, will make dispatchers aware of the location of 1,329 vehicles and help the New York City Transit Authority measure the efficiency and reliability of the service.

– Special to the Sun

JUDGE UPHOLDS VERDICT AGAINST LAW YER IN TERRORISM CASE

The First Amendment provides no refuge for a civil rights lawyer, Lynne Stewart, who said she was unfairly convicted of providing material support to terrorists for publicly releasing the message of a notorious jailed terrorist, a judge said yesterday.

– Associated Press

BROOKLYN

DIVIDED JEWISH COMMUNITY TAKES TO THE STREETS

The Police Department said it called in extra officers to help deal with a divided Jewish community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that took to the streets, snarling traffic and crowding streets. It was not immediately clear exactly what the people were doing outside, but police said about 2,000 people jammed the street.

One person had his face slapped, but no arrests were made. At about 9 a.m. yesterday, the warring factions of the Satmar chasidim spilled out onto Rodney Street in the wake of a recent state Supreme Court decision about leadership of the Yetev Lev synagogue in Williamsburg, the Satmars’ headquarters, and a congregation in Orange County, N.Y.

The struggle stems from a long-fought battle between two brothers, Rabbis Aaron and Zalman Teitelbaum, over who would succeed their father, Grand Rabbi Moses Teitelbaum, as leader of the Satmars. A Brooklyn Supreme Court judge, Melvin Barasch, ruled Friday that Zalman Teitelbaum can remain chief rabbi of the Williamsburg contingent and Aaron Teitelbaum can head the Orange County group, but ultimately the decision is in their father’s hands, according to published reports.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun