ALBANY

SPITZER CHIDES LOBBYING COMMISSION FOR DELAYING ENFORCEMENT

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said yesterday the state’s lobbying watchdog should resign if he delays enforcement of one of Albany’s biggest reforms – a new law to rein in lobbying on lucrative state contracts.

Lobbying chief David Grandeau called Mr. Spitzer’s comments “irrational” and said the lobbying commission – with representatives of the governor and legislative leaders – decided to educate lobbyists before enforcing the new law, which is effective January 1.

Mr. Grandeau also said the commission wants to delay enforcement so its advisory board can develop ways to implement the law. That board was only recently appointed in-full by the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, Governor Pataki, and the Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno. Mr. Spitzer called the commission’s plan “ridiculous.”

– Associated Press

IN THE COURTS

NORMAN JURY DELIBERATING

Jurors deliberated on corruption charges against a former Assembly member, Clarence Norman Jr., yesterday in state Supreme Court in Brooklyn, asking Judge Martin Marcus to have legal definitions and transcripts of Norman’s own testimony read back to them. Norman, who was convicted on felony charges of seeking illegal campaign contributions in September, is charged with grand larceny for depositing a $5,000 check to his re-election campaign into his personal bank account. He also faces two more indictments. The jury began deliberating Wednesday afternoon and was scheduled to resume Friday morning.

– Special to the Sun

MANHATTAN

BLOOMBERG, PATAKI, SILVER HERALD OPENING OF VERIZON HQ

Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Pataki, and State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver yesterday heralded the opening of Verizon’s headquarters in Lower Manhattan as yet another sign of downtown’s rebirth in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Before the attack on the World Trade Center, Verizon had some offices in a building at the northwest corner of the site, but its headquarters were based in Midtown. Yesterday the communications company announced that it was moving 1,500 jobs downtown from Midtown to the newly restored historic building.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

TRISTATE

PORT AUTHORITY BOARD APPROVES $5B BUDGET FOR 2006

The Port Authority’s Board of Commissioners yesterday approved a $5 billion budget for 2006 that includes a record increase in security spending but does not call for a fare hike before 2007.The budget also provides funding for 340 new PATH trains, airport upgrades, and continued work on the World Trade Center transportation hub. The $616 million in security funds is a 163% increase from 2000. The budget for the region’s airports, run by the New York-New Jersey agency, will fund the new JetBlue terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport, as well as the renovation of Terminal B at Newark Liberty International Airport.

– Special to the Sun

CITYWIDE

HUNDREDS OF HOME HEALTH CARE AIDES LAUNCH STRIKE

Hundreds of home health care aides began a four-day strike yesterday by picketing in front of the headquarters of their employer, People Care Home Health Agency, on West 32nd Street. The workers who walked off the job are demanding improved health benefits and a significant pay increase from People Care, which contends that its wages are “competitive with the rest of the industry in New York City.” Though the union said more than 1,100 aides had gone on strike, a company spokesman, Fred Winters, said only about 200 of its 1,200 workers did not show up for work yesterday. He said all of People Care’s patients were being cared for, despite the walkout.

– Special to the Sun

AMERICAN WORLDWIDE OFFERS CREDIT TO PHONE CARD CUSTOMERS

American Worldwide Telecom, the company that distributes the prepaid phone cards that has recently been accused of fraud, announced yesterday that it would offer credits to customers who did not receive the amount of talk time advertised on the cards. The company will provide a toll-free number that customers can call. If the number of minutes remaining on a card does not match the number the card’s advertising led them to believe there would be, the company will credit the difference.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

COUNCIL VOTES TO SUSPEND ALTERNATIVE SIDE PARKING ON DIWALI

The City Council voted to override a veto by Mayor Bloomberg to include the Hindu holiday of Diwali as one of the days when alternate side parking is suspended. It is the first Hindu holiday to warrant the suspension of alternate side parking.

– Special to the Sun

BILL INTRODUCED TO FORCE BOARD MEMBERS TO FILE DISCLOSURE FORMS

City Council Member Gail Brewer introduced legislation yesterday that would force community board members to file annual disclosure statements in order to avoid conflicts of interests with companies seeking commercial permits. Community board members are subject to conflicts of interest laws but are not yet required to file financial disclosure forms.

– Special to the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

MAN STABS AUNT, SETS HER HOME ON FIRE

A Brooklyn man stabbed his aunt and then set fire to her Queens home Wednesday, police said. Anthony Copeland, 37, of Porter Avenue in Brooklyn, allegedly stabbed his 62-year-old aunt several times just before midnight on Wednesday in her home on Sanders Place in Jamaica, police said. He then set fire to the house and fled, said police, who arrested him several hours later. Firefighters got the blaze under control around 1 a.m., but the three-story, multiple-family home sustained extensive damages, said fire officials. The woman, who has not been identified, was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where she was listen in serious but stable condition, police said. Fire officials said two other residents and two firefighters were taken to the hospital for fire-related injuries. Mr. Copeland was charged with attempted murder, police said.

– Special to the Sun

SIX EXPOSED TO HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

Emergency services responded to two separate sites where people were exposed to hazardous materials yesterday. One exposure occurred at a Brooklyn high school and the other at a Bronx community college, fire officials said. The Fire Department was called to Franklin K. Lane High School on Jamaica Avenue in Brooklyn around 9:08 a.m., after four unidentified individuals were burned by an unidentified hazardous chemical, fire marshals said.

One person was taken to Brookdale Hospital and two others were taken to Jamaica Hospital, fire marshals said. Fire marshals also responded to a hazardous materials incident at Bronx Community College on West 181st Street and University Avenue yesterday around 11:15 a.m., fire officials said. Two men complaining of throat irritation were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital, fire officials said.

– Special to the Sun