CITYWIDE

TRANSIT UNION SUES TO MAKE TRANSIT OFFICIALS ACCEPT CONTRACT

The union that represents the city bus and subway workers that went on a three-day walkout last December has asked a court to order transit officials to accept the now-approved contract that the union’s members rejected in January.

– Associated Press

EPA FINES CITY OVER CLOUDY WATER

New York City was fined $27,500 by the federal government yesterday for “cloudy” water in the city’s upstate supply system. In levying the fine, the Environmental Protection Agency said that the city’s Catskill/Delaware water has failed or nearly failed the “cloudy” standard four times, though the city said the issue was the opening of a gate on the evening of March 23 that dislodged sediment.

– Associated Press

PLAN TO EXPAND JAVITS GAINS STEAM

The $1.7 billion plan to expand the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center is gaining steam as it nears a final vote. The speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, said he was “inclined to support” the plan to expand, according to his spokesman. As a member of the Public Authority Control Board, Mr. Silver’s approval is required to pass the plan. Last year, the speaker’s no vote as a member of that board – a three-member panel that includes Governor Pataki and the Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno – killed the West Side stadium project. The speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, who has given her support to the Javits expansion, said yesterday that she had recently discussed the plan with Mr. Silver’s staff. Ms. Quinn met yesterday at City Hall Park with Rep. Jerrold Nadler and the president of Manhattan, Scott Stringer, to rally support for the expansion plan.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

OFFICER’S SON ON LIFE SUPPORT AFTER ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING

A New York City police officer’s son was on life support and listed in critical condition yesterday after accidentally shooting himself Sunday night, police said. Tyler Dunne, 10, came across his father’s .38 caliber handgun Sunday around 6:15 p.m. when he was looking for a toy in a basement closet inside the family’s Massapequa home, Nassau County police said. Tyler – who was home with his mother and younger sister at the time – accidentally shot himself in the head with the loaded gun, which was licensed to his father, Joseph Dunne, 38, police said.

– Special to the Sun

29 INDICTED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING

ALBANY – Twenty-nine people were indicted on narcotics trafficking charges yesterday by law enforcement officials who say they broke up a drug ring that operated between New York City and Albany. The charges, unsealed in state Supreme Court, allege that the defendants were part of an inter-city cocaine and crack network. More than three pounds of cocaine, valued at $150,000, were seized by investigators.

– Associated Press

MAN KILLED BY SUBWAY TRAIN AT KEW GARDENS STATION

A man was fatally hit by a subway train at a station in Queens yesterday morning. The man, who was not immediately identified, was struck at the Kew Gardens station, a spokesman for New York City Transit, James Anyansi, said.

– Associated Press

POLICE FIND DEAD MAN IN TRUNK

The body of a badly decomposed man was found in the trunk of a car in the Bronx yesterday, police said. Police said workers at a Bronx tow shop, J&S Recovery, on Westchester Avenue, found the body when they opened the trunk of an abandoned car that was towed there yesterday morning. The body was too badly decomposed to identify the victim, or assess his cause of death.

– Special to the Sun

QUEENS

QUEENS SOLDIER KILLED IN IRAQ

A 23-year-old soldier from Queens was among two servicemen killed when an improvised explosive device went off near their vehicle in Iraq, authorities said. Sergeant Jose Gomez, of the Corona section, died Friday in Baghdad, the Defense Department said.

– Associated Press

MANHATTAN

CUBAN DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST INVITED TO COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

A Cuban pro-democracy activist has been invited to receive an honorary degree at Columbia University’s commencement this month, the university said yesterday. Oswaldo Paya said he was honored by the invitation and hoped the Cuban government would let him travel to New York for the May 17 event.

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

SCHUMER TOUTS SHORT-TERM WITNESS PROTECTION

BUFFALO – Senator Schumer outlined a plan yesterday to give local prosecutors federal money to protect witnesses in criminal cases who are often scared off by threats, allowing criminals to go free. Legislation to be introduced by the New York Democrat next week would divide $90 million among law enforcement agencies nationwide to be used for things like police overtime, hotel rooms, or moving expenses requested by witnesses in exchange for their testimony.

– Associated Press

NEW YORK LEADS NATION IN WIRETAPS

New York again led the nation in criminal wiretaps in 2005, court officials said yesterday. State judges across the country approved 17% more wiretaps, while federal criminal wiretaps dropped 14% percent. Overall, court-approved wiretaps increased 4% to 1,773 in both state and federal investigations. Only one application was denied. The increase in 2005 was much smaller than the 2004 figures, which leaped 19%.

– Associated Press

TEACHERS UNION CRITICIZED FOR PUSHING RETIREMENT PLAN

ALBANY – The state’s largest teachers union gets $3 million a year from an investment company for recommending its members enroll in retirement plans with high fees that often eat into returns. The deal between New York State United Teachers and ING, the Dutch investment company, is among several such arrangements nationwide between unions and investment companies, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times. The state union has 525,000 members.

– Associated Press

SUOZZI WANTS $2.1 BILLION TAX CUT

The Nassau County executive, Thomas Suozzi, will outline a plan to cut $2.1 billion in property taxes today at Adelphi University on Long Island. Mr. Suozzi is challenging Eliot Spitzer for the Democratic nomination for governor.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

E-MAILS SHOW TENSION OVER ‘THREAT’ ACCUSATIONS AGAINST SPITZER

A stack of e-mails made public yesterday shed some light on a six-month-old conflict over accusations that the state attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, threatened a former top Wall Street executive. The e-mails from inside Mr. Spitzer’s office show an offer by Mr. Spitzer to meet with the former executive, John Whitehead, to discuss the matter.

– Associated Press

TRISTATE

SKAKEL DEFENSE IDENTIFIES TWO IMPLICATED IN MURDER

STAMFORD, Conn. – Attorneys for a Kennedy cousin, Michael Skakel, who is serving 20 years to life in prison for the 1975 murder of a Greenwich teenager, yesterday identified two men they say have been implicated in the killing. Skakel, a nephew of Ethel Kennedy, is seeking a new trial based on a claim by Gitano “Tony” Bryant, a cousin of basketball star Kobe Bryant, that two of his friends killed 15-year-old Martha Moxley. Skakel’s attorneys identified the two men in court papers as Adolf Hasbrouck of Bridgeport and Burt Tinsley of Portland, Ore.

– Associated Press

SENATORS VOICE OPPOSITION TO CORZINE’S SELF-SERVE GAS PROPOSAL

TRENTON, N.J. – Governor Corzine’s plan to see if self-service gasoline would cut fuel prices is hitting bumpy roads in the Legislature, with Democrats and Republicans on a key budget panel voicing opposition to the proposal yesterday. Mr. Corzine, a Democrat, last week said he would ask state lawmakers to quickly allow self-service gas pumping at New Jersey Turnpike gas stations and some local spots as a way to lessen skyrocketing gas prices.

– Associated Press

OFFICIAL WHO TOOK GIFTS RELIEVED OF DUTIES

HARTFORD, Conn. – Governor Rell stripped a top fraud investigator, Kristine Ragaglia, of her duties yesterday after learning that she testified to receiving many of the same gifts that toppled Governor Rowland’s administration.

– Associated Press

BIRD FLU STRAIN, NOT DANGEROUS TO PEOPLE, FOUND IN POULTRY MARKET

TRENTON, N.J. – A strain of bird flu not dangerous to people turned up at a live poultry market in South Jersey during routine testing last week and samples are undergoing further tests, the state Department of Agriculture said. Preliminary results from the National Veterinary Services laboratory showed the samples, taken from birds at a live poultry market in Camden County, did not have the N1 type of virus.

– Associated Press