STATEWIDE

FASO CHALLENGES SPITZER TO TAKE STAND ON PATAKI BILL

The 2006 governor’s race appeared to be in full swing yesterday as GOP candidate John Faso challenged the state attorney general and Democratic front-runner, Eliot Spitzer, to take a stand on a bill proposed by Governor Pataki to change the state’s workers’ compensation system. Mr. Faso, a former minority leader in the Assembly, said he supported reforming the system, which he said has been driving jobs and businesses out of the state because of its high costs. Mr. Pataki introduced a bill earlier this month that he says would reduce costs for businesses and increase benefits to injured workers. The governor’s proposal also seeks to save money by speeding up the processing of claims and changing the criteria and duration of some benefits.

– Special to the Sun

SIX NAVY MEMBERS AMONG THOSE CHARGED IN MARRIAGE SCAM

Six U.S. Navy crew members looking for quick and profitable marriages to illegal aliens face federal charges after they were among 10 people caught in an FBI sting operation targeting the sham unions, prosecutors said yesterday. The six, assigned to the USS Eisenhower in Norfolk, Va., were arrested after the FBI learned that a Baltimore man, Kenneth Adam Howard, 26, was recruiting men and women to enter sham marriages in New York, according to a complaint in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Mr. Howard, who was among those charged with conspiracy, offered to provide people to marry illegal aliens at a cost of $3,000 to $4,000 a marriage, the complaint said. His lawyer, James Keneally, declined to comment after a U.S. magistrate judge, Michael Dolinger, set bail at $200,000. The six Navy members and a former seaman who had been assigned to the USS Eisenhower came in recent weeks to New York, where they thought they were meeting illegal aliens from Egypt, Russia, South America, and Europe, the complaint said.

– Associated Press

CHALLENGE LIKELY TO ORDINATION OF GAY PRESBYTERIAN MINISTER

A Presbyterian congregation in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., has ordained a gay man who refuses to embrace celibacy despite the denomination’s ban on sexually active homosexuals joining the clergy. A complaint over the action is likely to be filed with a regional panel in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which is among several Protestant denominations embroiled in a bitter debate over what role gays should have in their churches. Raymond Bagnuolo, of White Plains, was ordained Sunday at South Presbyterian Church in Dobbs Ferry and is serving as pastor of the Palisades Presbyterian Church in Palisades.

During the ceremony, when asked if he would abide by the church’s constitution, the Reverend Bagnuolo said yes, except for a measure that says ministers must practice fidelity if married and chastity if single. The measure, an amendment approved in 1997 to exclude sexually active homosexuals from the ministry, has split the church and has been defied several times with other ordinations, which are usually followed by formal complaints that sometimes lead to discipline. Rev. Bagnuolo’s ordination “raises the heat,” said the Reverend Jerry Van Marter, news director of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

– Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

MAN STABS WOMAN, HANGS SELF WITH ELECTRICAL CORD

A Bronx man fatally stabbed a woman in her bedroom before committing suicide by hanging himself with an electrical cord in the kitchen, police said. Police discovered the gruesome scene in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx after the woman’s daughter called police from Ohio because she had not heard from her mother and asked authorities to check in on her, police said. Justina Gyaabim, 59, was found yesterday morning lying face up on her bed at 9 Fordham Hill Oval, with multiple stab wounds. The man, identified as Francis Mensah, 53, had no prior criminal record and police yesterday said they could not identify a motive for the killing.

– Special to the Sun

STATEN ISLAND GIRL STRUCK IN CROSSWALK

A 12-year-old girl was hit by a car at the intersection of Birchard Avenue and Willowbrook Road in the New Dorp section of Staten Island yesterday morning as she crossed the street to catch a school bus, police said. The girl, identified as Dilane Sandrakumar, was in critical condition last night at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Staten Island. Police said she was crossing the street alone when the car struck her.

The driver of the car, a 41-year-old man, whom police declined to identify, remained at the scene of the accident and was later arrested. The man, who was driving with expired auto insurance, was charged with failure to stop for a school bus and failure to obey a traffic signal.

– Special to the Sun

IN THE COURTS

RAP MOGUL SET FOR TRIAL IN FEDERAL MONEY-LAUNDERING CASE

When a brash Queens DJ named Irving Lorenzo decided to dub himself “Irv Gotti” and start a music label called Murder Incorporated in the late 1990s, he claimed it was all about selling records. The formula worked: Records by stars like Ashanti and Ja Rule sold in the millions, turning Mr. Lorenzo into a rap mogul.

The problem, according to federal authorities, was that his gangster persona wasn’t mere hype. Mr. Lorenzo, 34, and his brother Christopher, 38, were scheduled to go on trial today, accused of laundering drug money for a notorious crack kingpin.

The racketeering case in federal court in Brooklyn mixes elements of corporate scandal – Murder Incorporated is partly owned by Def Jam, a subsidiary of Universal Music – with inside glimpses of feuds in the rap world. Prosecutors say that the kingpin, Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff, was allowed to secretly funnel more than $1 million in drug money into Murder Incorporated’s coffers in exchange for being the label’s protector and enforcer. They hope to introduce evidence that the Lorenzos knew about an alleged plot by Mr. McGriff to assassinate rapper 50 Cent.

– Associated Press