MANHATTAN

ARTKRAFT TO HOLD AUCTION OF TIMES SQUARE ADVERTISEMENT

Artkraft Strauss, the company behind some of signature advertisements to hang in Times Square, is hoping to unload some of its antique signage at an auction on May 18. Portions of advertisements, which were once a part of Times Square, will be put up for sale Thursday by the Philadelphia-based auction house, Freeman’s. Offerings include a 1962 marquee sign from “The Sound of Music;” a 1990 model for the 65-foot-high Coke advertisement; and a mid-20th century pink flamingo made from neon tubing. Price estimates of the 73 lots range from $50 to $20,000.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

STATEWIDE

UNION WAGES $1 MILLION CAMPAIGN TO PASS SCHOOL BUDGETS

ALBANY – In one of the television ads, children playing with toy trains ask voters to protect their future after they’ve already lost arts, sports, and tutoring, because “if our school budget doesn’t pass, we’ll lose even more.” The $1 million campaign by the New York State United Teachers union is a response to what the union calls a serious threat of rejected budget votes statewide on Tuesday in districts outside large cities, despite record funding from Albany. The ads started running weeks after the Legislature and Governor Pataki approved a record increase in school operating aid – $1.3 billion – and billions more in construction aid. State operating aid to schools is now about $17 billion, or 84% higher than when Mr. Pataki took office in 1994.

– Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

WOMAN FATALLY SHOT DURING ROBBERY IN FLATBUSH

A woman was fatally shot inside her apartment during a robbery in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn yesterday, police officials said. The woman, identified as Tiesha Sargeant, 26, was shot once in the head, police said. She was declared dead at the scene by paramedics who were responding to a 911 call about shots fired in the area at about 1:30 a.m. yesterday morning. Police were questioning Sargeant’s boyfriend about the two men who allegedly held her down and shot her in the head. A weapon was recovered outside the apartment building at 144 Clarkson Ave.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

BRONX WOMAN SHOT AND KILLED AFTER DISPUTE

A young Bronx woman was shot and killed early yesterday morning after a dispute with an unidentified man, police officials said. Samantha Guzman, 18, of 2431 Barker Ave. in the Bronx, was shot in the right arm and the left hip at about 1:10 a.m. yesterday. She was taken to Lincoln Hospital, but was declared dead at 3:30 a.m. Sources said one man was in custody for his role in the shooting, but the investigation was still ongoing.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE: MANHATTAN WOMAN HEARS VOICE OF BURGLAR STUCK IN CHIMNEY

A burglar who got stuck in a chimney yesterday morning was rescued after a woman who lives in the building next door heard a voice coming from within the walls and called for help, police said. City emergency officials, who heard the whimpering, broke through the brick chimney of the residential building on the West Side of Manhattan and used ropes to pull out the man, who was arrested, police said. The man, about 5-foot-3 and 110 pounds and covered in soot and grime, was taken to a hospital as a precaution.

– Associated Press

TRISTATE

PERRIER, PUCK LEAD WAY AS CELEBRITY CHEFS FLOCK TO ATLANTIC CITY

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Haute cuisine? In these parts, a cheesesteak used to qualify. No more. Now, Georges Perrier is serving up his signature langostinos and clams with pancetta at Caesars Atlantic City Hotel Casino. Next month, Bobby Flay will open a surf-and-turf restaurant in the same building where Wolfgang Puck plans one of his California grilles and Michael Mina woos gamblers with his seafood specialties. Call it a feeding frenzy: Lured by casinos eager to one-up their rivals, celebrity chefs have turned their sights on Atlantic City, turning what was once seen as a culinary backwater into the new place to eat – and be seen eating.

– Associated Press

TURNPIKE TO ALLOW HYBRID CARS IN CAR POOL LANES STARING TODAY

TRENTON, N.J. – Drivers of fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles will be allowed to use the high occupancy vehicle lanes of the New Jersey Turnpike starting today. The move is meant to help offset rapidly rising gas prices and encourage consumers to be more fuel-efficient, state officials said. Hybrids run on a combination of gasoline and electricity from batteries and get more miles to the gallon than traditional vehicles.

– Associated Press