MANHATTAN

MAN STRUCK AND KILLED BY SUBWAY TRAIN

An unidentified black man was struck and killed by a southbound no.6 subway train yesterday morning, police said. The man was on the tracks about 100 feet north of the 77th Street station when the southbound train hit him, killing him instantly. Police do not suspect any criminal behavior, but said they are investigating the incident, which occurred around 9 a.m. New York City Transit officials suspended local subway service between Grand Central and 125th Street until 10:43 a.m.

– Special to the Sun

KROLL NAMED HEAD OF JOHN JAY COLLEGE FOUNDATION

A renowned security expert and the founder of Kroll Incorporated has been named to head the foundation of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the City University of New York announced yesterday. Jules Kroll founded Kroll Associates in 1972, and the firm has grown to become a world leader in risk consulting and investigating. The company went public in 1997 and was bought last year for $1.9 billion by Marsh & McClennan Companies Incorporated.

– Special to the Sun

SLAIN STRIPPER TOLD PARENTS SHE WAS IN OFF-BROADWAY SHOW

Catherine Woods never caught up with her dream. Police are now trying to catch up with her killer. Woods, 21, was an aspiring dancer from Ohio who came to New York three years ago with hopes of beating the odds and making a splash on Broadway. Instead, unknown to her family and friends, she wound up working as a topless dancer with the stage name “Ava” in the months before her brutal stabbing death last weekend. Her double life was exposed after her Sunday slaying in a second-floor apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, delivering a double shock to the Woods family. Her father, John Woods, director of the Ohio State University marching band, came to New York to claim his daughter’s body.

– Associated Press

CITYWIDE

CAMERAS TO BE INSTALLED IN BODEGAS IN HIGH CRIME AREAS

Surveillance cameras will be installed in more than 200 bodegas in high crime areas around the city, Senator Schumer is set to announce today. The cameras, along with other theft deterrent equipment, are part of a pilot Department of Justice program dubbed “Operation Safe Store,” designed to counter an increase in assaults at city bodegas. New York will get $375,000 from the program, and the cameras will be linked via closed-circuit television to the Police Department. Mr. Schumer will unveil the cameras today at a bodega in Washington Heights, along with local bodega owners, police officers, and the president of the Bodega Association, Jose Fernandez.

– Special to the Sun

STRIKING NYU GRADUATE STUDENTS RALLY

Striking New York University graduate students and supporters rallied in Washington Square Park yesterday to demand that the university negotiate a union contract and then tried to present their demands to the NYU president, John Sexton. “I don’t want to be a part of a community where unions are busted,” an undergraduate who is supporting the strike, Erin Keskeny, said. “I want to be part of a community that respects collective voices.” The graduate students have been on strike since November 8. On Monday, Mr. Sexton said they must return to work by next week or lose stipends of at least $19,000 a year.

– Associated Press

ALBANY

JUDICIARY SUBMITS BUDGET REQUEST FOR FISCAL YEAR 2006-07

The state’s top judge says her colleagues deserve a raise. The state’s judicial branch yesterday submitted its $1.96 billion budget proposal to the governor and Legislature for the fiscal year 2006-2007.The request, a 7.1% increase over the current budget, includes $69.5 million for judicial raises. The proposal was submitted by the chief administrative judge, Jonathan Lippman, and approved by the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals. The chief judge, Judith Kaye, said New York judges have gone without a pay hike longer than judges in any other state or federal court in the nation. The last time New York judges got a raise was in 1999.Governor Pataki proposed raising the judiciary’s pay earlier this year, but lawmakers balked.

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

FASO URGES GOP TO STICK TO TIMELINE

A Republican gubernatorial hopeful, John Faso, is urging the party leadership to stick to its plan to select a candidate at its meeting in Albany on December 12.The plan to pick a consensus choice nearly a year before the 2006 election has drawn criticism from another candidate, billionaire Thomas Golisano, and from some party officials, including the state Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno. Some view it as a way for the state GOP chairman, Stephen Minarik, to bolster the chances of his pick, the former Massachusetts governor, William Weld. Mr. Faso, a former Republican Assembly leader, has expressed confidence that he will get enough support from county chairmen in Albany. “It is critically important that the Republican Party have a consensus candidate to rally around heading into 2006 – one that also will attract the support of the Conservative Party,” Mr. Faso said in a statement.

– Special to the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

MAN ARRESTED FOR KILLING DOG

A Manhattan man was arrested yesterday and charged with beating an acquaintance’s dog to death, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Conor Dohnert, 18, surrendered to ASPCA special agents around 9:20 a.m., and is being charged with aggravated animal cruelty, a felony punishable by up to two years in prison, ASPCA spokesman Joseph Pentangelo, said. The ASPCA reported yesterday that the pet owner found her 12-pound Terrier mix comatose and bleeding that evening, and rushed her to a veterinarian, who found evidence of gross trauma, including multiple broken ribs and lung contusions. The dog died around 5 a.m. the next morning, the ASPCA said. So far this year, the ASPCA has made 55 animal abuse-related arrests.

– Special to the Sun

ATTEMPTED KIDNAPPER IN BRONX THWARTED

A man who attempted to abduct a 5-year-old girl from a Bronx school yesterday was thwarted, but escaped capture, police said. A middle-aged Hispanic man wearing a red plaid jacket and a red backpack entered P.S.33 on Jerome Avenue around 3:15 p.m., and went to the cafeteria where he grabbed the girl’s arm, saying he was her father, police said. According to police, the girl cried out, alerting a school aide. Police said the man then retreated, saying he had made a mistake. As of last night, police had not identified the man, and were trying to determine how he gained entry to the school.

– Special to the Sun