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.

POLICE BLOTTER
POLICE ARREST 28 ALLEGED MEMBERS OF BLOODS GANG
Police officers have arrested 28 members of the Bloods gang who allegedly were running an $800,000-a-year drug ring in the Bronx. The sting, announced yesterday by the police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, and the Bronx district attorney, Robert Johnson, stemmed from a yearlong investigation into the ring by the Police Department’s Bronx gang squad. Mr. Kelly said yesterday’s arrests, which included that of the alleged ringleader, Dwayne “Dime” Thompson, brought down the entire hierarchy of the drug ring operating in and around the Diego-Beekman housing complex. The gang, whose members allegedly wore customized football jerseys and belt buckles, also is suspected of involvement in a December 2003 shooting, as well as a stabbing earlier this year. In yesterday’s raid, officers seized more than $10,000 in cash, two loaded handguns, and various amounts of crack cocaine, heroin, and marijuana.
– Special to the Sun
CITYWIDE
NEW YORK BIDS TO KEEP 9/11 AID THAT SOME IN WASHINGTON WANT BACK
New York City fire officials came to Congress yesterday to urge lawmakers not to take back $125 million in aid money for the attacks on September 11, 2001, saying the money is still desperately needed to help treat thousands of sick ground zero workers. The New York fire commissioner, Nicholas Scoppetta, and police and fire officials visited the offices of key House lawmakers hoping to convince them not to rescind the aid meant to cover workers compensation claims. After the 2001 terror attacks, President Bush pledged $20 billion in aid to help rebuild New York.
– Associated Press
LMDC ANNOUNCES GRANT TO FIND NEW HOME FOR DRAWING CENTER
The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation announced a $10 million grant yesterday to find a new downtown home for the Drawing Center, the SoHo art gallery that in August dropped its plans to move to ground zero after family members of victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks complained that its content was offensive. The state agency also said they will begin to accept applications for the first round of $35 million cultural grants to be awarded in 2006.The LMDC board of directors appointed five members to the Cultural Fund Advisory Committee, which will sift through applications and recommend grant recipients. The committee members include the chairman of the New York State Council on the Arts, Richard Schwartz; the commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Kate Levin; the executive director of the Queens Museum of Art, Tom Finkelpearl; the director of Global Philanthropy for Merrill Lynch, Eddie Bayardelle, and the senior vice president and director of corporate and public affairs for the CIT Group, Anita Contini.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
KLEIN PROPOSES SCHOOL WITH THREE-HOUR DAY
The schools chancellor, Joel Klein, is interested in seeing a school in New York where students attend class for just three hours a day with half the number of teachers regular city schools have. The idea was proposed yesterday by the head of the private Edison Schools Company, Chris Whittle, during a luncheon on education sponsored by the Week magazine. Students would spend the other three hours a day doing independent study. “I want him to pilot that school, I think that would be a great thing,” Mr. Klein said. Mr. Whittle, whose company runs schools in about 25 states, suggested the idea in his new book, “Crash Course: Imagining a Better Future for Public Education.” The president of the teachers’ union, Randi Weingarten, said later in a telephone interview that she couldn’t imagine a school functioning with half as many teachers.
– Staff Reporter of the Sun
IN THE COURTS
FOUR TEENS INDICTED IN DEADLY STABBING
Four teenagers have been indicted for stabbing four students – and killing one – in an after-school brawl on the East Side in late September, the Manhattan district attorney, Robert Morgenthau, said yesterday. The accused range in age from 16 to 19 and were not students at the School for the Physical City, the high school at 55 E. 25th St. where the September 30 stabbing took place. Shareef Lesane, 15, died as a result of the attack, and three other students suffered moderate to serious injuries. Prosecutors say Javon Chavis, Robert Jack, David McKay, and Jason Procope showed up at the school to confront students who they thought were mocking and teasing Mr. Procope’s cousin, who is a student at the high school. They brought knives, the prosecutors say, and waited until 3 p.m., when school let out. After a shouting match, a fistfight ensued, at which point the defendants allegedly took out their knives and began stabbing the students. The defendants, who pleaded not guilty yesterday, face nine counts of manslaughter and assault charges.
– Special to the Sun
BROOKLYN
TILLARY STREET BIKE PATH TO BE BUILT
A new two-way bike path will be built this month on Tillary Street in downtown Brooklyn to accommodate a surge in bike use, city officials announced yesterday. A number of bicycle fatalities earlier this year prompted bike activists to complain that not enough bike lanes or paths existed in areas heavily trafficked by bicyclists. The new path will make it easier for both walkers and bicyclists to get to downtown Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Bridge, but it comes at the cost of 20 parking spaces dedicated to court operations.
– Special to the Sun