CITYWIDE

CONGRESSMAN CALLS FOR SCREENING OF PEOPLE BOARDING HELICOPTERS

A congressman representing Queens and Brooklyn yesterday called on the Transportation Security Administration to screen all people boarding helicopters for weapons and explosives. “Since 9/11 the government has done too little to protect cities like New York from the threat of helicopter attacks, despite reports that terrorists have cased helicopters as instruments of destruction,” Rep. Anthony Weiners, a Democrat, said. The public appeal came after accounts in newspaper reports yesterday that a new helicopter service to John F. Kennedy International Airport would be offered from a Wall Street helipad. Federal security screeners will be at the helipad to check travelers, according to the reports. “We have to treat helicopters just like passenger jets,” he said.

– Special to the Sun

COUNCIL, SANITATION COMMITTEE TO EXAMINE WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN

The City Council will hold a hearing on Mayor Bloomberg’s trash management plan today as the Sanitation Committee holds a hearing on the administration’s proposal to create three waste-handling facilities in Manhattan.The project, dubbed the Solid Waste Management Plan, was proposed last year and generated opposition from the council speaker at the time, Gifford Miller. One of the planned facilities lies in Mr. Miller’s former district, and the mayor vetoed the council’s rejection of the proposal.The plan is likely to face renewed criticism today – a council statement on the hearing refers to the proposal as “seemingly unworkable,” citing unresolved legal issues surrounding the possible trash sites.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

STATEWIDE

PRESBYTERIAN MAKES LIST OF HOSPITALS WITH LOW MORTALITY RATES

New York-Presbyterian Hospital is the only New York City hospital that made the nationwide list of hospitals where patients have the lowest risk of death or serious complications. A health care analysis company, HealthGrades, said only seven New York State hospitals made the list.The states with the most hospitals with low mortality rates are Florida with 50 hospitals in the top tier, Ohio with 27, and California with 23. The list was based on reports from information gathered by the federal government on Medicare patients who were treated at more than 5,000 general-purpose hospitals for any of 26 health conditions, over a three-year period. The remaining New York State hospitals with low mortality rates are: Unity Health System Park Ridge Hospital, Ellis Hospital, Lutheran Medical Center, Northern Westchester Hospital, St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital Newburgh and Cornwall, and White Plains Hospital Center.

– Staff Reporter for the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

POLICE SEARCH FOR ALLEGED DUNKIN’ DONUTS SHOOTER

Police are looking for the man they believe shot and killed a Dunkin’ Donuts clerk in Harlem on Sunday. The suspect shot the clerk twice with a silver semiautomatic handgun around 1 p.m., before trying unsuccessfully to rob the store’s cash register and running off, police said.The clerk, identified by police as Sanjoy Kar, 25, died at the scene. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, speaking at an unrelated press conference yesterday, said police identified Kane based on a pattern of robberies in Manhattan, and said witnesses also identified the suspect.

– Special to the Sun

POLICE SEARCH FOR BUSTA RHYMES’S BODYGUARD’S KILLER

Police are investigating the shooting of a hip-hop mogul’s bodyguard in Brooklyn early Sunday morning. The security guard, Israel Ramirez, 29, was reportedly shot shortly after midnight outside of a Williamsburg, Brooklyn recording studio where rapper Busta Rhymes and several hundred others were filming a music video.

– Special to the Sun

SCHOOL BUS ACCIDENT INJURES FOUR, ONE CRITICALLY

A car accident involving a school bus injured four yesterday, including one person listed in critical condition last night, police said. The accident occurred around 3:30 p.m. on a service road off of Harlem River Drive in the Bronx, when the driver of a 2003 Nissan reportedly tried to turn in front of a school bus, which then hit the car, police said. The driver of the car was seriously injured and was listed in critical condition at Harlem Hospital as of last night. A female attendant on the bus suffered neck and back injuries, the front passenger of the Nissan fractured his leg, and the rear passenger of the Nissan was also injured, but police did not have details on his injuries. They were all listed in stable condition last night.The driver of the bus was not injured, and neither were two children, ages 4 and 3, who were the only other passengers at the time of the accident.

– Special to the Sun