CITYWIDE

MAYOR FILLS TOP COMMUNICATIONS JOBS

Mayor Bloomberg filled two top slots on his communications team yesterday – his latest round of second-term rearrangements. For communications director, Mr. Bloomberg tapped James Anderson, an associate commissioner at the city’s Department of Homeless Services who heads several operations including media relations. Mr. Anderson also serves as a senior policy adviser to the department’s commissioner, Linda Gibbs. The Republican mayor’s new press secretary will be Stuart Loeser, the former spokesman for Senator Schumer, a Democrat of New York, who served as Mr. Bloomberg’s spokesman during his re-election campaign.

– Associated Press

MARTHA STEWART’S DAUGHTER CALLS FOR BAN OF HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES

Martha Stewart’s daughter and “Apprentice” co-star, Alexis Stewart, has written Mayor Bloomberg a letter urging him to support a citywide ban on horse-drawn carriages. In a letter written on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Alexis Stewart said she was upset by a recent accident involving a horse that ran into vehicular traffic while pulling a carriage home from Central Park. The carriage driver was seriously injured.

The horse, which hit a car, was euthanized. “As evidenced by this catastrophe,” Ms. Stewart wrote in the letter, dated Tuesday, “horse-drawn carriages aren’t just cruel to the horses who are forced to work long hours in extreme weather conditions while walking on hard pavement and inhaling exhaust fumes all day long; they are equally dangerous to riders, drivers, pedestrians and motorists.”

– Associated Press

RANDALLS ISLAND WATER PARK PLAN CLEARS HURDLE

Randalls Island could go underwater. The city’s Franchise and Concession Review Committee voted yesterday to clear negotiations for a proposed $168 million water park on the island below the Triborough Bridge.

The committee still must sign off on any agreement reached between the city Department of Parks and Recreation and the would-be developer, the New York based Aquatic Development Group. Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, a proponent of the plan, said he was pleased with the news. “We’ve been working on a master plan for Randalls Island for probably the last 10 years, little by little, and this is the last piece,” he said. But opponents of the plan complained that it has expanded substantially since Mayor Giuliani proposed a 12-acre facility back in 1999. The current plan covers 26 acres of the island, including a 7-acre parcel for a year-round indoor beach club.

– Associated Press

IN THE COURTS

JUDGE RULES AGAINST SPORTS ILLUSTRATED MODEL IN UNDERWEAR FLAP

According to a recent Manhattan court ruling, not just anybody can call themselves a “sexy little thing.” Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Audrey Quock was blocked from launching her own line of panties emblazoned with the phrase “sexy little things” when a U.S. district judge, Harold Baer, ruled Tuesday that Victoria’s Secret could sue her for trademark infringement. Judge Baer said Victoria’s Secret appeared to acquire priority in the trademark use of “Sexy Little Things” because it had used the label on lingerie since July 28, 2004.

– Associated Press

HIGH SCHOOL ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL SENTENCED FOR SEX ABUSE

A former assistant principal who admitted sexually abusing teenage boys at a Manhattan high school and jumping bail was sentenced yesterday to four to 12 years in prison by a judge who said he betrayed the students’ trust. Juan Taveras, 42, pleaded guilty November 7, 2005, to 11 counts, including deviant sex act, forcible touching, attempted forcible touching, falsifying business records, and bail jumping, after he was involuntarily returned from the Dominican Republic.

A state Supreme Court justice, Rena Uviller, said the defendant had a duty to protect the schoolchildren. “The betrayal of trust here has been appalling,” she said. When Taveras was indicted, prosecutors said he had fondled, groped and sodomized at least seven male students between June 2003 and July 2004, when most of them worked in a jobs program at Norman Thomas High School on East 33rd Street near Park Avenue.

– Associated Press