CITYWIDE

NO SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS BETWEEN DOORMEN UNION, MANAGEMENT

Negotiators for the union representing 28,000 apartment building employees and real estate management reported little progress in contract talks yesterday as the two sides face a union-imposed strike deadline at midnight. “Some progress has been made,” the president of the Realty Advisory Board of Labor Relations, James Berg, said in a statement. “But we are still substantially apart on a number of issues of great importance to the owners of co-ops, condos, and rental buildings in New York City.” Board members and leaders of Local 32-BJ met into the evening last night, but a union spokesman, Matt Nerzig, said the two sides remain far apart. If a deal is not reached by tonight, tenants at 3,500 buildings across the city could lose the services of doormen, elevator operators, porters, and maintenance workers.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

GOTBAUM PUSHES CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP FOR RECREATION CENTERS

The city’s public advocate, Betsy Gotbaum, is proposing corporate sponsorship for recreation centers as a way to generate money for the city and keep the facilities accessible to low-income families at the same time. Ms. Gotbaum, a former Parks Department commissioner, said yesterday that the city should drop plans to charge fees at six recreation centers in poor communities and instead mount an “Adopt-A-Rec-Center” campaign. Citing a recent study by the Independent Budget Office, Ms. Gotbaum said her idea could generate more revenue than membership fees would. The IBO estimated the fees would bring in less than $1 million in 2007.The city began charging fees at 22 recreation centers in 2003.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

LAWMAKER: CARGO SHIP GROUNDING UNDERSCORES SECURITY RISKS

The grounding of a cargo ship in a narrow waterway off Staten Island last weekend dramatically underscored harbor security risks, including terrorism, that would arise if the city proceeds with plans to close down its last deepwater container port, a lawmaker said yesterday. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat, said the grounding of the freighter, New Deli Express, was the latest in a series of mishaps that show how vulnerable the Kill Van Kull is to being closed “either by intentional or unintentional acts.”

– Associated Press

ALL AMBULANCES, FIRE TRUCKS TO BE EQUIPPED WITH LOCATING SYSTEM

All city ambulances and fire trucks will be equipped with a high-tech satellite locating system by the end of the summer, Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday. The upgrades will allow dispatchers to track the real-time movements of ambulances and fire vehicles; they are an expansion of a successful pilot program that began last September in Staten Island and Brooklyn. The installations began on Monday, and by the end of the summer, more than 1,500 vehicles will have the technology at a cost of nearly $50 million.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

LANCE ARMSTRONG PREPARING TO RUN N.Y. MARATHON

ROME, Ga. – Look out, New York. Lance is ready to run. Lance Armstrong said yesterday that he plans to compete in the New York City Marathon on November 5. “We were looking at the Chicago Marathon, but a conflict arose with the date, and New York seems to fit our schedule better,” Mr. Armstrong said in a telephone interview.

– Associated Press

ST. MAARTEN DETAINS TWO IN BEATING OF GAY NEW YORK JOURNALISTS

Two men were arrested last week in connection with a tire iron attack on two gay tourists from New York, prosecutors said yesterday, after refusing for two days to confirm or deny local media reports to that effect. One of the two arrested men, neither of whom was identified, was still in detention, and more arrests were on the way, St. Maarten’s chief prosecutor, Taco Stein, said. “This guy is talking,” Mr. Stein said. “And according to the information he’s giving us, we expect to arrest at least three other men.”

– Associated Press

MANHATTAN

NYU TO ANNOUNCE KENNEDY WILL BE GRADUATION SPEAKER

New York University will announce today its graduation speaker as Justice Kennedy. The commencement will be the school’s 174th. On March 6, Supreme Court justices unanimously upheld the amendment that allows the government to withhold funding from any school that bans military recruiters. NYU, along with a host of other prestigious schools, is opposed to the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy toward homosexuals. They argued that the amendment interfered with their free speech. About 5,000 students are expected to graduate on May 11 in Washington Square Park.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

IN THE COURTS

TRIAL FOR SAN DIEGO MAN ACCUSED OF LYING ABOUT 9/11 HIJACKER

A San Diego student hampered the investigation into the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by lying about his associations with one of two hijackers he knew, a prosecutor told a jury at the start of a perjury trial yesterday. “He lied repeatedly,” an assistant U.S. attorney, Brendan McGuire, said of the 25-year-old defendant, Osama Awadallah. Mr. McGuire told the jury in U.S. District Court that Mr. Awadallah lied just days after the 2001 attacks, when investigators were trying to learn all they could about the terrorists and “every piece of information was important, every detail mattered.”

– Associated Press

SUSPECT ARRAIGNED IN SLAYING OF BRONX TODDLER A Bronx man was jailed without bail yesterday following his arraignment on murder charges for allegedly killing a 2-year-old boy with a stray bullet on Easter Sunday, authorities said. Nicholas Morris, who had surrendered on Monday after proclaiming his innocence, entered a plea of not guilty before Bronx Criminal Court Judge Ira Margulis, a spokesman for District Attorney Robert Johnson, Steven Reed, said.

– Associated Press

FAKE SAUDI PRINCESS RETURNED TO CITY FOR PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT

A Manhattan shopaholic, who pretended to be a Saudi Arabian princess while carrying out an insurance scam, reappeared in a New York courtroom yesterday following her arrest in Florida after a trip to a mall for shopping therapy. Antoinette Millard, 42, was arrested on a fugitive warrant while shopping at the St. Johns Town Center Mall in Jacksonville after security officials became suspicious that she was buying and returning expensive jewelry. A state Supreme Court justice, Renee White, unhappy that Ms. Millard was in Florida without her knowledge, seemed unsure whether the defendant knowingly violated her probation. She ordered Ms. Millard, who was returned to New York on Tuesday, jailed and gave Ms. Millard’s lawyer, John Arlia, a week to find another treatment program for her – within New York State.

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

WOUNDED VET GETS THE MAIL JOB HE FOUGHT FOR

BUFFALO – Although he was wounded in Iraq, National Guardsman Jason Lyon is cleared to return to combat if needed. And now he’s fit to deliver the mail. Mr. Lyon got word yesterday that he’s won his fight with the U.S. Postal Service to work as a mail carrier after first being rejected as unfit because of an ankle sprain he suffered in Iraq in 2004.

– Associated Press

ALBANY

PATAKI SAVORS HIS POST-SURGERY PIZZA AND BEER

Governor Pataki yesterday finally got that pizza and cold beer he’s been craving for weeks as he recovered from having his appendix removed in February. “I have always loved pizza, but when you can’t have it for a couple of months, it even tastes better,” Mr. Pataki said after taking the first bite of a cheese pizza at an Albany institution, the Fountain Restaurant. Mr. Pataki also had the first beer since his appendix was removed. Unlike the pizza, the beer was not from New York. Mr. Pataki said he was drinking Coors Light, a Colorado brew.

– Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

LIVERY CAB DRIVER FATALLY SHOT

A livery cab driver was found shot in the back of the head on Staten Island early yesterday morning, police said. The driver, identified as Kwami Appeagwe, 55, of 185 Park Hill Ave., was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said Appeagwe had picked up two passengers, who announced during the ride that they were going to rob him. They then shot him in the back of the head and fled the car at the corner of Vanderbilt and Tompkins avenues. No suspects were in custody as of last night.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MAN STABS TWO PEOPLE ON SUBWAY

A man stabbed two people on a Northbound no. C train last night, police officials said. The suspect, identified as Edward Murphy, 41, of the Bronx, was arrested by transit police after the two victims provided descriptions of the alleged assailant. Police said there was no clear motive, but that there may have been looks exchanged that escalated into an attack. The female victim, 23, was stabbed in the left shoulder, while the male victim, 22, was stabbed twice in the back, police said. Both were listed in stable condition at St. Vincent’s hospital. Mr. Murphy was charged with two counts of assault and criminal possession of a weapon. The knife used in the stabbing was recovered at the scene, police said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun