MANHATTAN

CONSTRUCTION OF SECOND AVE. SUBWAY LINE COULD BEGIN NEXT YEAR

Construction of a long-planned subway line along Second Avenue could begin as early as next year, now that the city’s transit agency has voted to commission final designs of a first segment. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority yesterday endorsed spending $150 million on designs for a subway route stretching over more than 30 blocks of Second Avenue. The project would be completed no earlier than 2012 and would cost an estimated $3.8 billion.

– Associated Press

HIGH LINE ACQUIRED BY CITY

The High Line, an abandoned, elevated train track that runs from the meatpacking district north to the Hudson Yards on the West Side, was acquired by the city this month, the mayor announced yesterday. The property was donated to the city by CSX Transportation. With about $85 million in city, state, and federal funds, the rail viaduct will now be converted into a public trail and park. Construction is scheduled to begin next year, with the first completed sections to open in 2008.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

IN THE COURTS

HEAD OF LOCAL POLITICAL CLUB TAKES STAND IN NORMAN TRIAL

The head of the Thurgood Marshall Political Club, Fred Taylor, faced tough questions from the defense as the second corruption trial of Brooklyn’s former Democratic leader, Clarence Norman Jr., was held yesterday in state Supreme Court. Mr. Taylor cosigned the $5,000 check, made out as a political contribution to the Committee to Re-Elect Assemblyman Clarence Norman Jr., which was later deposited by Norman into a personal bank account. Norman is charged by the prosecution with stealing the money in a three-count indictment that includes grand larceny in the third degree. The defense attorney, Edward Rappaport, argued the check was a reimbursement – channeled through Mr. Taylor’s Thurgood Marshall group – for a personal loan provided by Norman in connection with the failed mayoral campaign of Alan Hevesi. Norman currently awaits sentencing at the end of this month for two counts of violating election law, and two counts of falsifying business records. He was convicted in September on the charges.

– Special to the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

MAN FATALLY SHOT AT QUEENS COFFEE SHOP

A man was fatally shot in broad daylight at a Queens coffee shop yesterday morning, and police were searching for the unidentified assailant last night. Omar Castro, 47, of 40th Street in Sunnyside, was shot multiple times at the New Post Coffee Shop at 40-01 40th St., according to police, who responded to the shots, which were fired around 6:30 a.m. Castro was dead when police arrived. His body was taken to the morgue for an autopsy shortly thereafter, police said.

The dispute first broke out in front of the victim’s home, according to news reports. The shooter then chased Castro down the block into the coffee shop, where he shot him, published accounts said. Police would confirm only that Castro was found dead in the restaurant. The shooter subsequently escaped on foot. As of last night, no one had been arrested in connection with the crime, police said.

– Special to the Sun