CITYWIDE

METS TO UNVEIL DESIGN FOR STADIUM TODAY; YANKEES’ STADIUM OKAYED

In the latest salvo in the battle for the back pages, the New York Mets are set to unveil the design of their proposed stadium this morning, a day after the Yankees secured overwhelming City Council approval for their own new park. Mayor Bloomberg will appear with Mets officials at Shea Stadium for the announcement. The Yankees passed two hurdles yesterday, as officials finalized a community benefits package with the Bronx while land use proposals passed the full council as was widely expected. Council Members Helen Foster of the Bronx and Charles Barron of Brooklyn voted to reject the proposal across the board, while Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito of Manhattan voted down items that dealt with proposed parking structures. The $1.2 billion project has faced vocal community opposition over plans to build the stadium on Macombs Dam Park, but gained the backing of most elected officials. The 53,000-seat stadium is scheduled to open in 2009.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

STUDY FINDS ALARMING NUMBER OF OBESE TODDLERS

An alarming number of poor children in New York City are obese by age two, according to a new study. About one in four New York City children enrolled in the federal Head Start antipoverty program were found to be obese in a study released yesterday by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Administration for Children’s Services. An even larger number of toddlers are overweight. Of 16,000 city kids enrolled in the program, 40% are too heavy for their age, the city said.

– Associated Press

REPORT: VOTING RIGHTS ACT PROVISIONS VITAL TO ELECTIONS

The provisions of the federal Voting Rights Act that are set to expire next year have been vital for elections in New York and should be renewed, according to a report issued yesterday. Even though the law is applicable in only a few New York counties, the provisions “have addressed a breadth of voting rights issues in the city,” the report said. “Voting Rights in New York 1982-2006” was put out by RenewtheVRA.org, a coalition of groups pushing for the reauthorization.

– Associated Press

POLICE HORSES BEING EVICTED TO MAKE WAY FOR SPRAWLING PARK

These are uncertain times for J.J., Donny, Maverick, and the rest of their stablemates in a Manhattan barn. The 25 horses in Troop B of the New York City Police Department’s Mounted Unit stay on the ground floor of a structure along the West Side Highway at West 23rd Street, but officials who want to build a park in the neighborhood are planning to evict the animals.

– Associated Press

QUINN SAYS SHE WILL NOT BACK BILL GIVING IMMIGRANTS RIGHT TO VOTE

The City Council speaker, Christine Quinn, said yesterday she that will not support a bill that would give more than 1 million immigrants the right to vote in municipal elections. Backed by several immigrant groups, Council Members Charles Barron and Kendall Stewart introduced the proposal, titled the Voting Rights Restoration Act, at yesterday’s council meeting. It would allow documented non-citizens who have lived in the city for at least six months to vote.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

ALBANY

COST-CUTTING PROPOSAL IN BUDGET SAID TO FACE ‘TOUGH’ NEGOTIATIONS

The biggest cost-cutting proposal in the Legislature’s budget is facing “tough” negotiations that need to be resolved within days to fill a $325 million hole in the spending plan, a state senator, Dean Skelos, a Republican of Long Island, said yesterday. Senators took the unusual step of going public during closed-door negotiations to seek support for their Medicaid fraud proposal.

– Associated Press

SENATE LEADER, CANDIDATE FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR HOSPITALIZED

The state Senate minority leader, David Paterson, Eliot Spitzer’s choice to run for lieutenant governor on the Democratic ticket, was hospitalized for almost 12 hours yesterday after complaining of chest pains. The chief of cardiology at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany, Dr. Michael Martinelli, said the 51-year-old Manhattan Democrat was admitted about 1 a.m. and released at 12:30 p.m. “His chief complaint was chest pain,” Dr. Martinelli said in a statement issued by the hospital. “Several tests were performed including a CT scan, cardiovascular stress test, and echocardiogram. All cardiopulmonary tests were normal.”

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

DMV OFFERS NEW LICENSE PLATES FOR VETERANS OF RECENT CONFLICTS

“War on Terror Veteran” and “Persian Gulf Veteran” custom license plates are now being offered by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, Commissioner Nancy Naples said yesterday. The new plates, the latest editions to the more than 300 custom license plates available, are available for passenger and commercial vehicles.

– Associated Press

SUSPENDED STUDENT-RUN STATION RETURNS TO AIR UNDER NEW NAME

SYRACUSE – A former student-run television station at Syracuse University ordered to disband after featuring a show that made light of date rape, lynchings, and racism will return to the air under a new name. The new station called Citrus TV will be provisionally recognized by the university until September 15.

– Associated Press

FAMILY SAYS PILOT’S BODY WAS RECOVERED FROM CRASH

BETHLEHEM – The body of an Army helicopter pilot killed in Iraq was recovered from the crash site, a family spokesman said yesterday after an Internet video showed insurgents dragging the burning body of what they said was an American pilot across the ground. James and Mary Ellen Moshier expect to have a funeral for Captain Timothy Moshier next Wednesday at a church in his hometown, just outside Albany, the spokesman said.

– Associated Press

MUSLIM NETWORK EXPANDS TO MORE THAN 1 MILLION HOMES

BUFFALO – A first-of-its-kind Muslim-American television network launched a year ago has gone from being a premium pay channel to a basic-cable offering on several cable and satellite systems, broadening its reach from 10,000 to more than 1 million American homes. Bridges TV, featuring Muslim-American lifestyle and cultural programming, also has been approved by the Canadian Radio & Television Commission to start broadcasting in Canada.

– Associated Press

SUFFOLK COUNTY OKAYS DOMESTIC PARTNER REGISTRY

HAUPPAUGE – Long Island’s only openly gay elected official declared “a great political and personal victory” yesterday following the approval of a domestic partner registry by the Suffolk County Legislature. “This bill goes a long way toward providing a little peace of mind for committed, same-sex couples,” the majority leader of the Suffolk Legislature, Jon Cooper, said.

– Associated Press

IN THE COURTS

JURY BEGINS DELIBERATIONS IN ‘MAFIA COPS’ TRIAL

A federal jury in Brooklyn finished its first day of deliberations yesterday in the case of two highly decorated ex-NYPD detectives accused of eight slayings while allegedly on the payroll of a Luchese family underboss. No verdict was reached. Louis Eppolito, 57, and Steven Caracappa, 64, were accused of racketeering conspiracy after prosecutors charged that they betrayed their badges by leading a double life. While on the police force, authorities said, they were also on the payroll of Luchese underboss Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso” for $4,000 a month.

– Associated Press

ARAB BANK SAYS SUITS IT FACES NOT ABOUT ‘FIGHTING TERRORISM’

The Arab Bank filed a letter with the federal court in Brooklyn claiming the lawsuits it faces from victims of Hamas terror attacks in Israel have nothing to do with the ongoing war on terror. “This case is not about governments or institutions fighting terrorism,” two lawyers for the bank, wrote. “It is about private plaintiffs, most of whom have never set foot in the United States, taking advantage of a civil tort system to try to obtain compensation from an available and politically unpopular defendant.” Arab Bank faces several lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn beginning in 2004 by the victims of Hamas terror attacks and their families. Lawyers for the American and Israeli victims allege that Arab Bank encouraged terrorism by opening up bank accounts for the relatives of suicide bombers and other terrorists. Last year, federal regulators suspended a portion of the bank’s operation in New York following an investigation into how it monitored the transactions it processed. “These families do hope to accomplish a lot more than recovering money,” a lawyer for one of the groups of victims, Mark Werbner, said. “This is about sending a message to banks everywhere that they will be held accountable if they knowingly do business with terror groups.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

THREE ARCHDIOCESE OF N.Y. FOOD PURCHASERS ADMIT KICKBACK ROLES

The former chief executive of the food purchasing arm of the Archdiocese of New York and two other people pleaded guilty yesterday to roles in a kickback conspiracy that generated $2 million from vendors.

– Associated Press