IN THE COURTS

LAWSUIT OVER WTC MEMORIAL CONSTRUCTION DISMISSED

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit by September 11, 2001, families seeking to stop construction of the World Trade Center memorial. A September 11 family group sued in March, saying that plans to build part of the memorial on the footprints of the twin towers would destroy what’s left of them. It accused the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the state agency in charge of the design, of breaking state law by failing to consult properly with it during a federal historic preservation review process.

– Associated Press

PROSECUTORS ATTACK CREDIBILITY OF DEFENDANT IN BOMB PLOT

Federal prosecutors sought yesterday to attack the credibility of a Pakistani immigrant accused of plotting to bomb a subway station by suggesting he was an angry young man who was prone to violence. Shahawar Matin Siraj, 23, had taken the witness stand in his own defense at his federal trial on Monday, testifying that he never had a violent thought before he met a paid police informer who inflamed his anger toward America. During cross-examination yesterday, prosecutor Marshall Miller challenged the defendant by citing conversations that took place before he met the informant in which he ranted about wanting to beat up or stab rivals.

– Associated Press

MOTHER CONVICTED OF MURDER IN BABY’S DEATH

A mother was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of her malnourished infant, months after the child’s father pleaded guilty in the case. Jovannie Florestal, 22, faces 25 years to life in prison in the death of 3-month-old Colesvintong, who died at the Hamilton Hotel shelter in Harlem in 2004.

– Associated Press

BANK SAYS IT IS NOT LIABLE FOR TERRORIST ATTACKS

A French bank claimed yesterday that handling accounts for an alleged Hamas front organization does not make it liable for more than a dozen terrorist attacks in Israel during the second intifada. During a hearing in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, the bank, Credit Lyonnais, sought to convince a judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought against it by the victims of 13 separate bombings and shootings. The bank had handled transactions for a Palestinian fund-raising organization, C.B.S.P., in France. The federal judge, Charles Sifton, will decide whether this lawsuit, and a related one against NatWest Bank, will proceed.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CITYWIDE

JUDGE GIVES TRANSIT UNION $2.5M PAYMENT PLAN FOR STRIKE FINES

A judge has ordered the union representing the city’s subway and bus workers to pay in monthly installments the $2.5 million in fines stemming from its December strike. The city yesterday said it would drop a lawsuit seeking additional damages.

– Associated Press

BARRON LEADS ‘LEADERSHIP MEETING’ THAT SUPPORTS RENT STRIKE

A Brooklyn City Council member, Charles Barron, led the first of what he called a “leadership meeting,” where public housing residents marched from 26 Federal Plaza to 250 Broadway, chanting, “They say rent hike, we say rent strike.” The group was protesting proposed increases in rents and fees at apartments run by the New York City Housing Authority. Mr. Barron explained he wanted residents to pay their rent, but not the proposed increases, which NYCHA said were necessary following a $168 million budget cut from the federal government this year.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

OFFICER ARRESTED ON SEXUAL ABUSE CHARGES

A police officer charged with forcibly touching a female relative was arrested late Monday night in Staten Island, police said. According to a complaint filed with the Staten Island district attorney, Hector Vargas, 36, allegedly touched a female relative inappropriately on at least two occasions. In July and November 2005, Mr. Vargas reportedly grabbed the relative’s breasts and buttocks, and made lewd comments to her, the complaint said. Mr. Vargas, who joined the Police Department in 1992 and works at the 70th precinct in Brooklyn, faces charges including forcible touching and third-degree sexual abuse, prosecutors said.

– Special to the Sun

MANAGER OF DRY CLEANING STORE STABBED DURING ROBBERY

The manager of a dry cleaning store in Midtown was stabbed yesterday during an early-morning robbery. Louie Luciano, 42, was working alone at Meurice Garment Care on East 57th Street around 7 a.m., and had just opened the store when his assailant walked in and approached the counter, police said. After engaging Mr. Luciano in idle conversation, the man pulled out a kitchen knife, and forced him to open the register and hand over about $600 cash, police said. Police said the robber then punched Mr. Luciano and stabbed him once in the abdomen. The suspect subsequently fled eastbound on 57th Street, then up Second Avenue, police said. As of yesterday, Mr. Luciano was listed in stable condition at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, police said.

– Special to the Sun

POLICE INVESTIGATE WHETHER DEAD BODY IS THAT OF MISSING STUDENT

Police are investigating whether the body of an unidentified man found floating in the East River yesterday is that of a missing Columbia University student. At around 1 p.m. yesterday, a 911 caller reported seeing a body floating near the South Street Seaport. The police’s Harbor Unit removed the body. Sources familiar with the investigation said the body might be that of Richard Ng, 22, who was last seen May 7 when he left his Morningside Heights dorm room around 9:30 p.m.

– Special to the Sun

MANHATTAN

NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY ANNOUNCES 2006-07 CULLMAN FELLOWS

The New York Public Library announced the eighth class of fellows for the library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. The 15 writers and artists were chosen from among 245 applicants from 22 countries who applied for the nine-month fellowship. The 2006-07 fellows, who represent a broad spectrum of academic and artistic accomplishment, will focus on works of research and fiction, among other creative projects. Some fellows and their projects include Farah Jasmine Griffin’s “Harlem Nocturne: Black Women Artists in New York, 1938-1948,” Nelson Alexander Smith’s “Dumbbell & Haunt: The Lives, History, and Poetics of a New York Tenement,” and Ben Katchor’s “Up from the Stacks,” a graphic novel set in the New York Public Library and its neighborhood.

– Special to the Sun

ALBANY

SENATOR: GIVE US MORE VOTING MACHINES FOR DISABLED

An influential state senator called yesterday for a federal judge to reject a plan the lawmaker said could leave New York’s disabled with too few fully accessible voting machines for this fall’s elections. The chairman of the Senate’s Elections Committee, John Flanagan, also said he was introducing legislation that would provide a $10 million infusion of state funds so counties could buy more accessible voting machines in time for the elections.

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

AUDIT: PUBLIC AUTHORITIES HAVE NOT MET JOB CREATION GOALS

Public authorities aimed at boosting the economy around the state have not met job creation goals, an audit conducted by the state comptroller, Alan Hevesi, found. Mr. Hevesi’s office studied projects supported by six Industrial Development Agencies, which offer tax breaks, low interest bonds, and other incentives to attract and retain local businesses. Only one-third of the projects met job creation goals, the audit found.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MAN ADMITS MEETING TEENAGER ONLINE AND KEEPING HER AS SEX SLAVE

ALBANY – A 71-year-old man admitted yesterday that he met a 15-year-old girl online and transported her across state lines to serve as his sex slave. Anthony Praias, of Kingston, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Albany to a one-count federal indictment charging him with taking a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in sex, a U.S. Attorney, Glenn Suddaby said.

– Associated Press

COUNTY FILES SUIT TO FORCE TAX COLLECTION FROM INDIANS

WATERLOO – Seneca County officials have filed a lawsuit against the state tax department to force the agency to collect taxes on tobacco and other products sold by Indian businesses. A county attorney, Steven Getman, said he filed the lawsuit Monday in state Supreme Court in Albany.

– Associated Press

TEENAGER CREATES DISTURBANCE AT BUFFALO AIRPORT

CHEEKTOWAGA – A teenager was charged with disorderly conduct after shouting “It’s time to die” while ripping off a backpack and reaching inside it at Buffalo Niagara International Airport, authorities said yesterday. Alif Chowdhury, 16, and his father, Ehsan Chowdhury, both of Garden City, N.Y., were outside the terminal prior to their scheduled flight to JFK International Airport about 9:30 p.m. Monday when passers-by became suspicious of the youth’s behavior and alerted airport police.

– Associated Press