CITYWIDE

FORMER SUDANESE SLAVE TO COMPLETE 300-MILE WALK

A Sudanese man who now works as a Coney Island lifeguard will complete a 300-mile walk today at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Simon Deng, who was enslaved in Sudan for 3 1/2 years, walked for 22 days to Washington from New York City to attract attention to what many observes call a genocide in Sudan and gain support for American action to stop it. Mr. Deng’s arrival in Washington is timed to coincide with the day that Congress votes on the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, which would recommit America to support the people of Sudan. Senator Clinton and other politicians will join Mr. Deng at a press conference at the Capitol.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

AT LEAST ONE THEATER PULLS TRAILER FOR ‘UNITED 93’

At least one New York City movie theater has pulled the trailer for “United 93,” which chronicles the hijacked United Airlines flight that crashed in Pennsylvania as part of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The AMC Loews Lincoln Square 12 theater in Manhattan made the decision after viewers complained they found it too upsetting.

– Associated Press

FIVE-YEAR STUDY ON PEDIATRIC DIABETES PREVENTION ANNOUNCED

A $5 million grant from the Starr Foundation will be used to test whether fitness activities and lessons in healthy eating can prevent Type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents, medical experts announced yesterday. The five-year study will involve 1,000 middle school students in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Nassau County, the president of the Academic Medicine Development Company, a consortium of New York State medical schools and research institutions, Maria Mitchell, said.

– Associated Press

DEL LABS’ FORMER CEO SUED IN SEXUAL HARASSMENT CASE

A former security employee for Del Laboratories Incorporated, maker of the Sally Hansen cosmetics products, has filed a lawsuit accusing the company’s former chairman and CEO of sexually harassing him and firing him after he complained. Stephen Dux, 45, of Westbury, Long Island, says in court papers the harassment started after he was temporarily assigned to be then-CEO Dan Wassong’s driver and went to his Carlyle Hotel apartment to pick him up on April 2, 2003. Mr. Dux, a 20-year veteran of the New York Police Department, says Mr. Wassong, 75, met him standing stark naked in the doorway and ordered him into the apartment.

– Associated Press

BILL TO BE INTRODUCED ON STRAY VOLTAGE INCIDENTS

The chairman of the City Council’s Transportation Committee is introducing a bill today aimed at holding utility companies accountable for stray voltage incidents and manhole cover explosions. The proposal from a council member, John Liu, would impose fines for the incidents and comes two days after a man was hospitalized with foot burns after jolted on a sidewalk in TriBeCa.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

ALBANY

STATE SENATOR LOSES STIPEND OVER ‘INAPPROPRIATE CONDUCT’

A state senator, Ada Smith, has been stripped of a $9,500 annual stipend and use of a Democratic Party car for her “consistent pattern of inappropriate conduct,” the Senate minority leader, David Paterson, said. Ms. Smith, a Queens Democrat, faces a misdemeanor charge of third-degree assault after she was accused of throwing hot coffee in the eyes of Jennifer Jackson of Albany, court documents said. Ms. Smith is slated to appear in Albany City Court on Thursday. She had denied any wrongdoing.

– Associated Press

SILVER: ‘IT MAY BE TIME’ FOR LAWMAKERS TO GET A RAISE

The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, said yesterday that it may be time to give state lawmakers a raise. “I would not be averse to it,” the Manhattan Democrat said. “I always believed that legislators have worked hard and I always believed that over the course of 10 years, it may be time.” However, Mr. Silver, whose party holds a 105-44 majority in the Assembly, was quick to point out that he has “had no discussions on the issue” with legislative colleagues this year.

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

DEPARTMENT OF TAXATION: SAME-SEX COUPLES CANNOT FILE TAXES JOINTLY

The New York Department of Taxation ruled yesterday that same-sex married couples who were wed outside of New York State cannot file their taxes jointly, a gay rights group, Lambda Legal, said. A staff attorney for Lambda Legal, Alphonso David, said in a statement: “The Department’s decision is short-sighted for a number of reasons, including the fact that some married same-sex couples would shoulder a heavier financial obligation to the state if their marital status were recognized for tax purposes.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

JUDGE ORDERS SCHOOL DISTRICT TO RETURN BRICKS THAT MENTION JESUS

A federal judge has ordered an upstate New York school district to return bricks inscribed with evangelical Christian messages to a high school walkway, concluding their removal violated the free speech rights of the people who paid for them. A U.S. district judge, Norman Mordue, ruled the bricks, with engravings like “Jesus Saves” and “Jesus Christ The Only Way!” didn’t constitute a Mexico Academy endorsement of that religious view.

– Associated Press

PATAKI APPOINTS WIFE OF LONGTIME AIDE TO STATE POST

ALBANY- The wife of a longtime aide to Governor Pataki yesterday was appointed by the governor to a $130,000-a-year state government post. Eileen Natoli, 55, will head the Governor’s Office of Regulatory Reform, charged with overhauling state regulations. Her husband, James Natoli, makes $161,000 a year as the state’s director of disaster preparedness and response.

– Associated Press

SUOZZI CITES MEDICAID WASTE IN NASSAU COUNTY

MINEOLA – More than $85,000 in Medicaid benefits was paid to HMOs for 47 residents who were already dead, according to a study released yesterday by the Nassau County executive, Thomas Suozzi, who has made Medicaid fraud a central issue in his bid to win the Democratic nomination for governor.

– Associated Press

LAWMAKERS PUSH FOR AIR CARGO SCREENING

Two New York lawmakers called for the passage of federal legislation that would require inspection for all cargo loaded onto passenger airplanes. Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Anthony Weiner expressed support for the Safe Skies Cargo Inspection Act, which would require the Department of Homeland Security to comply with a 100% screening policy for all cargo by 2008. Currently, the lawmakers said, almost none of the cargo transported on commercial flights is inspected for explosives.

– Special to the Sun

TRISTATE

POLL: CORZINE APPROVAL RATING SINKS

TRENTON, N.J. – Governor Corzine’s approval rating sank in March as he proposed a state budget laden with tax increases and aid cuts, according to a new poll out yesterday. The Fairleigh Dickinson/PublicMind poll found a near tripling in the number of voters who rate Mr. Corzine’s job performance “poor” and a near doubling in the number who have a “very unfavorable” view of the new governor, who took office in January. In the poll of 685 registered voters taken between March 27 and April 2, 36% disapproved of Mr. Corzine’s job performance, compared to 16% who disapproved in the March 8 survey. The poll has a sampling error margin of plus or minus four percentage points.

– Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

TEACHER ACCUSED OF ASSAULTING CHILD TURNS HIMSELF IN

A teacher at a Brooklyn school turned himself into police Monday for allegedly assaulting a student. Jerome Skrine, 47, who suspected a 10-year-old male tossed a belt buckle at him inside P.S. 109 last Wednesday, followed the child into the bathroom and chocked him, causing his head to thrash against the wall and his necklace to snap, the Brooklyn district attorney’s office said. Mr. Skrine, who was arraigned yesterday on charges including felony assault, was reassigned to a regional office pending the criminal and Department of Education investigations, a spokesman for the department, Keith Kalb, said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

HUNDREDS PROTEST BROOKLYN ARREST

Hundreds of chasidic Jews converged on the streets of Brooklyn last night after police said they arrested a Boro Park man for talking on his cell phone while driving. The incident began around 6:30 p.m. when officers tried to issue a ticket to the 75-year-old man, whom police did not identify last night. When the man refused to hand over his license and registration, two other individuals – who were also arrested – interceded on the man’s behalf, police said, prompting scores of others to protest the arrest. Last night, hundreds allegedly gathered in front of the 66th police precinct in Boro Park, where all three men were being held. As of last night, police did not disclose charges against them.

– Special to the Sun