ALBANY

COMMISSION WANTS MORE FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT OF PUBLIC AUTHORITIES

The financial dealings of public authorities that handle billions of dollars in public money would face greater scrutiny under a bill introduced in the state Legislature yesterday. There are more than 700 public authorities established in New York for purposes such as maintaining the Thruway and running mass transit in New York City. Public authorities and similar entities have been the subject of some of Albany’s biggest scandals in recent years. Poor management has been cited in audits and investigations at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Thruway Authority, the New York Power Authority, and the New York Racing Association.

– Associated Press

SCHUMER ASKS CHERTOFF TO EARMARK MORE FUNDING FOR NEW YORK

Senator Schumer called on the Department of Homeland Security yesterday to make up the funding cut it announced for New York last week from other pools of money. Mr. Schumer asked Homeland Security Secretary, Michael Chertoff, to earmark more money for New York when it makes decisions about three upcoming grant allocations. The allocations being considered are from the Port Security Grant Program, the Rail and Transit Security Grant Program, and the Buffer Zone Protection Plan, which funds protection of infrastructure and high-profile sites. The request comes a week after the Department of Homeland Security announced a 40% funding cut for New York this year. A spokesman for the agency, Jarrod Agen, could not say whether Mr. Chertoff had received the senator’s letter, but indicated that New York would get an automatic funding increase from the three other grants. “The funding for those separate grant programs is determined on an individual basis,” he said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CITYWIDE

PUBLISHER TO LAUNCH FREE PAPER FOR GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES

Just four weeks after the launch of Our Town Downtown, a free weekly aimed at families living below 28th street, local publishing conglomerate Manhattan Media will introduce a free monthly paper Monday for New York’s government employees. Manhattan Media president and chief executive officer, Tom Allon, says he hopes the paper’s in-depth coverage of insider New York politics will appeal to local elected leaders, their staff, lobbyists, good government groups, and agency heads. Mr. Allon said City Hall is modeled after Washington D.C. papers like Roll Call and the Hill, which target employees of the federal government. “I think a publication like that will probably do pretty well,” the political editor at Roll Call, Josh Kurtz, said.

– Special to the Sun

IN THE COURTS

MAN CONVICTED OF KILLING ARMY SERGEANT DURING FIGHT

The man prosecutors said shot and killed a U.S. Army sergeant and his brother in January 2005 was convicted of murder today, the Brooklyn District Attorney announced. Joseph Carrington, 24, was found guilty of second-degree attempted murder in the shooting of Sergeant Terrence Balkinsoon, 25, and his brother, Lawrence. Balkinsoon was home for a three-week leave when prosecutors said Carrington mistook him for someone else inside a Canarsie nightclub and shot him four times, and his brother eight times. Carrington will be sentenced June 27, and faces 50 years to life in prison.

– Special to the Sun

SUSPECT IN MOSQUE CASE REQUESTS BAIL, CITES MISTRANSLATIONS

ALBANY – A Muslim cleric awaiting trial in an FBI anti-terrorism sting has renewed his request for bail, his attorney arguing that translations of his private journals were misrepresented by prosecutors to make Yassin Aref appear dangerous. Bail was revoked last fall for Mr. Aref, imam of Masjid as-Salam in Albany. Codefendant Mohammed Hossain, an Albany pizzeria owner and mosque member, remains free on bond. They have denied allegations that they conspired to provide support to Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based group listed by the federal government as a terrorist organization. They were arrested in August 2004 after a yearlong investigation.

– Associated Press

FORMER STATE PRISON IMAM PLEADS GUILTY TO GUN CHARGE

The former head Islamic chaplain for the state prison system pleaded guilty yesterday to charges he had weapons in his apartment and accused the government of using the case as an excuse to raid his home to search for terrorism-related materials. The cleric, Warith Deen Umar, admitted he had the guns in a Bronx building he owns when he called police to the building in late December after a dispute with one of his tenants.

– Associated Press

MANHATTAN

ARTS CENTER PLANS AT WTC SITE QUESTIONED

A rebuilding agency yesterday added a year to the contract of an architect designing a performing arts center at the World Trade Center site, while a community leader warned that temporary plans to build on the arts center’s space would delay the project for years. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation extended a $4.6 million contract for architect Frank Gehry until June 2007. Mr. Gehry was hired in 2004 to design the arts center, which would house performance space for two city theater companies. It has no announced budget or opening date.

– Associated Press

BROOKLYN

ONE DEAD, AT LEAST TWO OTHERS SICK IN MENINGITIS OUTBREAK

A 46-year-old woman died of meningitis and at least two others living in her apartment building have become seriously ill with the disease, a city health department spokeswoman said yesterday. Another resident of the building in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn was seriously ill, but test results were still pending to determine whether the person had meningitis, the spokeswoman said.

– Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

ARCHDIOCESAN SEMINARY VANDALIZED WITH PENTAGRAMS, 666, MILTON

A few hours after the end of 6/6/06, vandals spray-painted satanic graffiti – including a quote from “Paradise Lost” – around an entrance to the New York Archdiocese’s seminary, officials said yesterday. Pentagrams, upside-down crosses, and the numbers “666” appeared in several spots between the main gate and the door to St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, the rector of the seminary, Monsignor Peter Finn, said. An excerpt from John Milton’s 17th-century masterpiece, the story of Satan’s rebellion against God, was sprayed on the entrance columns. On one column, the words “It is better to reign in hell” appeared; on the opposite column was written, “than to serve in heaven.”

– Associated Press

SEX ASSAULT AT BROOKLYN BEAUTY SALON

An employee at a Brooklyn beauty salon was seriously injured yesterday during a sexual assault that took place in the middle of the day. The incident occurred at roughly 1 p.m. yesterday inside the Sunset Park salon, which police did not name last night. The 30-year-old victim, who worked at the salon, was brought to the hospital in serious condition.

– Special to the Sun

STATEWIDE

SENATOR CLINTON CALLS COULTER REMARKS ABOUT 9/11 WIDOWS ‘VICIOUS’

WASHINGTON – Senator Clinton lashed out at Ann Coulter for a “vicious, mean-spirited attack” on a group of outspoken widows from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, whom the right-wing television pundit described as “self-obsessed” and enjoying their husbands’ deaths. Ms. Coulter writes in a new book, “Godless: The Church of Liberalism,” that a group of New Jersey widows whose husbands perished in the World Trade Center attacks “as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them.” She also writes, “I’ve never seen people enjoying their husbands’ deaths so much.” Mrs. Clinton, who has felt Ms. Coulter’s criticism over the years, responded yesterday. “Perhaps her book should have been called ‘Heartless,'” the senator said. “I know a lot of the widows and family members who lost loved ones on 9/11. They never wanted to be a member of a group that is defined by the tragedy of what happened.”

– Associated Press

TRISTATE

AFTER LEADING WAY FOR WOMEN IN JUDAISM, FIRST WOMAN RABBI RETIRES

TINTON FALLS, N.J. – The first American woman rabbi, Sally J. Priesand, arrived at Jewish seminary nearly 40 years ago determined to fulfill her dream to become a teacher of her faith. Many people thought she came for a different reason.”I think at first they thought I came to marry a rabbi rather than be one,” Rabbi Priesand said, chuckling as she sat in her synagogue office, a space decorated with awards she’s received since her 1972 ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. “So they didn’t take me all that seriously.” Now as she prepares to retire more than three decades later, Rabbi Priesand is widely seen as a role model who’s helped change contemporary Judaism. Since she was ordained in the Reform movement, nearly 1,000 women have become rabbis

– Associated Press