BROOKLYN

BARRON TO CHALLENGE TOWNS FOR HIS SEAT IN CONGRESS

A City Council member of Brooklyn, Charles Barron, will challenge Rep. Edolphus Towns, a Democrat, for the congressional seat he has held since 1983. Mr. Barron, a Democrat first elected to the council in 2001, told The New York Sun yesterday that he is running because he thinks he can bring “new energy, new leadership, and a new vision” to Washington. He said Mr. Towns has been a “disaster” on national issues, and “missing in action” locally. Mr. Barron, a former Black Panther, is known as a radical on the Council who has made waves by hosting the president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, calling Thomas Jefferson a “white, slave-owning pedophile,” and pushing for slavery reparations. Mr. Barron said he plans to launch his campaign formally on Sunday in front of City Hall.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

QUEENS

LAWYER: RADISSON’S ATTEMPT TO EVICT KATRINA VICTIMS ILLEGAL

A lawyer involved in negotiations between Hurricane Katrina survivors and the Radisson Hotel at John F. Kennedy International Airport yesterday blasted the hotel for trying to evict seven families by changing hotel room locks over the weekend. The lawyer, Charles King, called the hotel’s actions illegal and possibly criminal, and said he alerted the police in case the Radisson tries to lock the families out. Federal aid for the families staying at the Radisson expired on Tuesday, and the hotel wanted them out so it could proceed with planned renovations. Mr. King, a Democrat running for state attorney general, earlier asked the hotel to pay each family $2,500 in exchange for checking out. About 25 families remain at the hotel, he said. In a statement, Radisson said the hotel is working with the city and community leaders to relocate the remaining families.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MTA ANNOUNCES $2M PROJECT TO EXPAND SUBWAY MAINTENANCE FACILITY

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority yesterday announced a $2 million project to expand a subway maintenance facility with clean energy with the New York Power Authority. Under the new deal, the facility in Corona, Queens, will be powered completely by a clean-energy 200-kilowatt fuel cell. The cell produces electricity using a “virtually emission-free chemical reaction,” transit officials said. The technology uses energy created during the combination of hydrogen and oxygen. Byproducts are mostly heat and water, officials said. “Though this is our first fuel cell installation, it represents another step in our continuing commitment to sustainable transit development in terms of its social, economic, and environmental impact,” the president of the MTA’s New York City Transit Authority, Lawrence Reuter, said in a statement. The Queens facility is undergoing a $207 million expansion to replace the outdated maintenance shop currently servicing the no. 7 line. The transit authority also uses solar power at its Gun Hill bus depot in the Bronx, the Maspeth Warehouse Facility in Queens, and the Jackie Gleason Bus Depot in Brooklyn.

– Special to the Sun

CITYWIDE

NEW YORK PRESS EDITORIAL TEAM RESIGNS AFTER CARTOONS ARE HELD

The editorial team at the New York Press resigned after the alternative weekly newspaper decided not to run the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that have set off a worldwide furor. The editor in chief, Harry Siegel, the managing editor, Tim Marchman, (who also writes for The New York Sun), the arts editor, Jonathan Leaf, and the city hall bureau staffer, Azi Paybarah, resigned Tuesday. The four were among the small number of Press employees who put out the paper with freelance contributors. On Tuesday, toward the end of the day, the editorial team was told that the cartoons would not run. Since the package would have included criticism of other newspapers for not running the cartoons, for the Press to do the same would have made the writers appear to be hypocrites, Mr. Paybarah said. There also was concern about editorial control, he said.

– Associated Press

SROLOVITZ APPOINTED AS DEAN OF YESHIVA

The chairman of Princeton University’s department of mechanical and aerospace engineering and one of the country’s top researchers of computational materials science, David Srolovitz, was appointed as the dean of Yeshiva College yesterday. His post will become effective in June.The vice president for academic affairs, Morton Lowengrub, said the appointment was central to Yeshiva University’s strategic plan. “Over the next five years, we are seeking to expand the undergraduate enrollment by 1,000, establish a more rigorous admissions process, and add an appropriate number of new faculty positions to maintain a low student faculty ratio. These and other measures will cement the university’s stature as a ‘top-tier’ research university,” he said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

DRIVER ARRESTED AFTER CRASHING, KILLING PASSENGER

An allegedly drunk driver was arrested yesterday after crashing into a light pole in Brooklyn, killing one passenger and putting another in critical condition, police officials said. The man, Ramchand Hansraj, 35, fled the scene, but detectives aided by analysts at the Real Time Crime Center were able to apprehend him later in the morning. He was charged with vehicular manslaughter, driving while intoxicated, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, and two charges of assault, police said. Additional charges are pending. Upon arriving at the scene, detectives from the highway accident investigations unit discovered the driver had fled and called in the car’s license plate to the Real Time Crime Center. Analysts there quickly discovered a second address listed for the suspect from a previous arrest for driving with a suspended license. Police arrested Mr. Hansraj at the location in Brooklyn. Names for the victims, both males, weren’t released yesterday, because their families were still being notified, police said.

– Special to the Sun

ALBANY

NARAL EXPECTED TO ENDORSE SPITZER FOR GOVERNOR TODAY

Abortion is emerging as a central issue for Democrats in the governor’s race, as the advocacy group NARAL Pro-Choice America is expected today to endorse the attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, for governor. Mr. Spitzer is also scheduled to deliver a speech in New York City on abortion policy today. Mr. Spitzer’s campaign refused to comment on the particulars of today’s speech. The group’s endorsement and Mr. Spitzer’s speech come just two days after Mr. Spitzer’s Democratic rival, Thomas Suozzi, the county executive of Nassau, announced his office would be giving $1 million in grant money to eight agencies in an effort to reduce the number of abortions taking place in the county and support women during pregnancy. His plan was criticized by NARAL, which released a statement accusing Mr. Suozzi of joining President Bush “in putting taxpayer dollars into programs that fall short of what our teens need.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun