CITYWIDE

UNEMPLOYMENT RATE DROPS

The city’s unemployment rate dropped 5% last month, the lowest since 1988. According to the state Department of Labor, the city also saw an increase in the private payrolls between April 2005 and April 2006, with jobs being created in construction, movies, television broadcasting, and other businesses. Mayor Bloomberg said that 3.61 million New York City residents are now employed. Until May, the previous high was 3.59 million in February.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

BROOKLYN TEENAGER, STEPFATHER FOUND DEAD

The bodies of a Brooklyn teenager who had been stabbed and her stepfather, who was hanging from a rope in a closet, were found in their East New York apartment yesterday, police said. Police said Evalicia Rivera, 16, was found around 3:45 p.m. in her bedroom with multiple stab wounds when two family members stopped by to visit the Hemlock Street apartment. Her stepfather, Victor Vasquez, 44, was found hanging from a rope in the closet. Rivera’s shirt was torn open and it appeared she might have been sexually assaulted, police said.

– Special to the Sun

JEWELER ARRESTED ON MONEY LAUNDERING CHARGES

The jeweler known for putting diamonds on celebrities from Kanye West to Sir Elton John was arrested yesterday in connection with a multistate drug and money-laundering ring. Yakov Arabov, known throughout the hip-hop world as Jacob Arabo or “Jacob the Jeweler,” was arrested on money-laundering charges. Mr. Arabov, who appeared briefly in U.S. District Court in Manhattan after his arrest, did not want to comment, his lawyer, Daniel Gotlin, said.

– Associated Press

IN THE COURTS

HOMELESS MAN INDICTED IN WAREHOUSE FIRE

A homeless man was indicted yesterday on charges that he started a 10-alarm fire in an abandoned Brooklyn warehouse, the Brooklyn district attorney said. Leszek Kuczera, 59, was charged with burglary, arson, and criminal mischief, among other criminal charges, for his role in a May 2 fire that destroyed several warehouses within the Greenpoint Terminal Market. Meanwhile, the owners of the warehouse, Joshua Guttman and his son Jack, pleaded not guilty yesterday to various charges of environmental neglect stemming from their failure to make repairs needed on the abandoned building.

– Special to the Sun

CITY FACES LAWSUIT OVER SHUTTERED ART EXHIBIT

The city is facing a lawsuit over its decision to shutter a Brooklyn College art exhibit held at the Brooklyn War Memorial last month. The exhibition included sexually explicit works that a Parks Department official said waa inappropriate for family viewing. The students, represented by attorney Norman Siegel, filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the city yesterday in federal court in Brooklyn, claiming that the city violated their right to artistic expression by closing the exhibit.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY BOARD APPOINTS INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The Brooklyn Public Library Board of Trustees president, Thomas Amon, announced on Wednesday the appointment of Dionne Mack-Harvin as interim executive director of the Brooklyn Public Library. The appointment followed the resignation of the Brooklyn Public Library’s executive director, Ginnie Cooper. Ms. Cooper will officially leave her post at the end of June 2006 to serve as the District of Columbia Public Library’s executive director. Ms. Mack-Harvin will assume the interim position on July 7. Most recently, Ms. Mack-Harvin held the position of chief of staff at the library.

– Special to the Sun

ALBANY

LEGISLATURE AGREES TO EXPAND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION LAW

Government officials who wrongly deny or delay release of public records under the state Freedom of Information Law would be forced to pay attorney’s fees under a bill that gained final legislative approval yesterday.

– Associated Press

PATAKI SIGNS LAW AGAINST DISPLAY OF SWASTIKAS, CROSS BURNING

Those convicted of burning crosses or defacing property with Nazi swastikas will face tougher penalties under a law signed yesterday by Governor Pataki. Lawyers at the New York Civil Liberties Union and a professor at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law said they knew of no other state that had a similar law.

– Associated Press

CONGRESSMAN CHIDES SUOZZI FOR GOP BACKER’S COMMENT

The Democratic dean of New York’s congressional delegation told Democratic candidate for governor, Thomas Suozzi yesterday to denounce a Republican supporter who implied Washington Democrats are lunatics. Rep. Charles Rangel told Mr. Suozzi he should even withdraw the invitation of the Home Depot founder, Ken Langone, to Mr. Suozzi’s golf fund-raiser.

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

CLINTON MOVES TO BOOST MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT FOR VETERANS

WASHINGTON – Senator Clinton yesterday sought to boost community efforts to treat the mental wounds of American soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Mrs. Clinton is pushing an amendment that would expand community services to military men and women suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

– Associated Press