CITYWIDE

BOB GRANT TO AIR FINAL SHOW THIS MONTH

Talk radio pioneer and archconservative Bob Grant will air his final show on radio station WOR next month. The station is replacing Mr. Grant, who was consistently rated one of the most popular afternoon radio personalities, with chef Rocco DiSpirito, the star of the reality television show “The Restaurant.” Mr. Grant had been a staple of the city’s talk radio diet since 1970, when he brought his contrarianism to a show on WMCA. Never shying away from speaking his mind, Mr. Grant was fired in 1996 from WABC for making an insensitive remark about the death of the commerce secretary, Ron Brown. Mr. Grant is known for his signature gravelly voice and signing off his shows by saying: “Your influence counts, use it.”

– Special to the Sun

INVESTIGATION OF OFFICERS MAY EXCEED STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS

The current investigation of police officers accused of misconduct during the Republican National Convention in September 2004 may exceed the statute of limitations for investigating and disciplining officers, according to a civil rights advocate. At an open meeting of the Civilian Complaint Review Board yesterday, the associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, Christopher Dunn, said that even if investigators gain access this week to officers who have not yet been interviewed by the agency, it may be to late. “It’s pretty much guaranteed the clock will run out,” Mr. Dunn said. CCRB chair Hector Gonzalez refused to comment, but a spokesman for the agency, Andrew Case, confirmed that CCRB investigators have not completed all police interviews related to convention-related complaints.

– Special to the Sun

BRODSKY GRILLS GARGANO ON JAVITS EXPANSION PROJECT

At a hearing yesterday, Assemblyman Richard Brodsky grilled the president of the Empire State Development Corporation, Charles Gargano, over what he called the slow progress of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center expansion project. Mr. Brodsky, who heads the Assembly’s Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions and is running for state attorney general, said he subpoenaed Mr. Gargano last week after the ESDC did not produce timely answers to his questions. Mr. Brodsky haggled with Mr. Gargano over several issues, including the cost of the project, estimated to be between $1.4 billion and $1.7 billion. While Mr. Gargano said it would be a challenge to complete the expansion under the existing budget, Mr. Brodsky said the development corporation’s budget was in the right “ballpark.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

RESTAURANT OWNERS SAY OVERHAUL OF NOISE CODE WOULD BE TOO COSTLY

Nightclub and restaurant owners told the City Council yesterday that a proposed overhaul to the city’s 30-year-old noise code would be too expensive for business owners and set subjective standards. The opposition centered on the term “plainly audible,” which the Bloomberg administration has proposed using as a key measure in determining whether the volume from nightclubs, blaring air conditioners, construction, and cars breaks the law. The proposal will also require Mister Softee trucks to stop playing their jingle when parked. Perhaps more significantly the code will restrict when construction can be done, when garbage can be picked up, and when dog barking breaks the law.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

BROOKLYN

STUDY: HUNDREDS OF DAY CARE CENTERS IN DANGER OF BEING SHUT DOWN

A new child care study released yesterday found that up to 84% of home-based day care centers in Brooklyn’s poorest neighborhoods are at risk of being shut down. The Pratt Center for Community Development studied 227 centers that serve 1,700 children in the Red Hook, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and East New York sections of Brooklyn. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene issued 550 violations over the past year – 73 centers have voluntarily closed down because they couldn’t comply with the regulation. Operators of centers in attached homes and public housing projects have been hit hardest by the regulation. Yesterday, home day care operators organized by Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, gathered at Kwame’s Day Care Center in Bedford-Stuyvesant to call on the city and state to stop the closings. A spokesman for the state Office of Children and Family Services, which is responsible for creating day care policies, said an update of the regulation was issued last month and inspectors will revisit all 550 centers.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun