ALBANY

PATAKI SIGNS BILL TO SUBSIDIZE ENERGY BILLS FOR LOW-INCOME FAMILIES

Governor Pataki yesterday announced new legislation that will use $100 million of state funding to provide subsidies to low-income families for their energy bills. The infusion of state money comes on the heels of decreases in federal funding to the program, the Home Energy Assistance Program, and skyrocketing energy costs. “With demand for HEAP assistance at an all-time high, this allocation will allow us to continue providing home heating assistance to those in need this winter heating season,” Mr. Pataki said in a statement. The additional money will allow the program to continue running until April 15. Last winter, 822,459 households received assistance through the regular program and another 143,374 got help through an emergency crisis program. HEAP provides grants from $40 to $400 depending on household’s income, expenses, and size. The program places special priority on households with people over the age of 60 or children under 6, because they are considered more vulnerable.

– Special to the Sun

CITYWIDE

MTA TAKES OVER JAMAICA BUS LINE TODAY

Starting at 12:01 a.m. this morning, the Jamaica Bus line began running buses with the Metropolitan Transport Authority logo painted on their sides. The line is the sixth bus line the authority has taken over in the last two months. The MTA has been in negotiations to bring the bus lines under its umbrella for several years. The process will conclude on February 28 when the seventh and last line,Triborough Coach, is taken over. The MTA has added about 125 new buses and renovated the existing fleet of buses owned by the private lines. MTA officials have already made smaller changes to the bus routes and operating procedures to make the line more efficient. Jamaica Bus and Triborough Coach were the first groups of transit employees to go on strike in December, a day before a system-wide strike put the city in a stranglehold. Now, as part of the MTA, the employees on these lines will be subject to Taylor law fines if they opt to strike again. They currently have no contract.

– Special to the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

DRUNK DRIVER INJURES CAB DRIVER, PASSENGER

Police arrested a drunk driver who crashed into a taxicab, seriously injuring its passenger, police said. Police arrested Harzem Sendogan, 29, the driver of the BMW that slammed into the taxi at the intersection of East 84th Street and First Avenue yesterday around 5:30 a.m. Police said that Mr. Sendogan was driving east on East 84th Street when he ran a red light and collided with a taxi traveling north on First Avenue. The impact ejected the female passenger from the side window of the taxi, which resulted in head injuries. She was taken to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition. The driver of the taxi was also taken to New York-Presbyterian with neck and back injuries, and was listed in stable condition.

– Special to the Sun

MAN FATALLY STABBED AT INDONESIAN CONSULATE

A man was stabbed to death in the Indonesian consulate yesterday morning, police said. The 35-year-old man, whom police did not identify because he is not an American citizen, was found in the basement of the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia on East 68th Street in Manhattan around 9:10 a.m. yesterday. According to police, the man suffered slash wounds to his left wrist and his chest. The knife used to attack him was still in his chest when he was found by one of two guards on duty, police said. The man’s visa had run out, he was staying at the consulate temporarily, and he was planning to return to Indonesia soon, police said.

– Special to the Sun

TRISTATE

OFFICIALS WONDER HOW WELFARE AGENCY OVERLOOKED ABUSE CLAIMS

TRENTON, N.J. – The embattled state Division of Youth and Family Services has come under more fire, this time for overlooking 13 allegations of child neglect that were called into its hot line. Between July and November 2004,call screeners wrote down the abuse complaints into reports that were later discovered in a cardboard box in the Trenton call center. The DYFS workers never entered the data into the agency’s computer system so the allegations weren’t investigated. Acting Human Services Commissioner Kevin Ryan told The Sunday Star-Ledger of Newark that workers tracked down the 13 children and confirmed they were fine. The complaints didn’t concern physical or sexual abuse and all involved allegations of neglect outside of the children’s homes. Mr. Ryan said the recent incident underscores the troubles at DYFS. The child welfare agency went through a series of scandals during which New Jersey children under supervision by the child welfare agency were killed or injured.

– Associated Press