CITYWIDE

BOARD LOOKS AT SIZE OF DONATIONS FROM GROUPS WITH CITY CONTRACTS

The Campaign Finance Board released new data yesterday that provides a glimpse at how much pay-to-play politics influences city elections. The data shows that 22.3% of all donations in the 2005 election cycle and 27.5% of all donations in the 2001 election cycle – or $15.6 million – came from individuals or organizations that have contracts with the city. “I think it’s a pretty good snapshot shot of what goes on in this city,” the executive director of the Citizens Union, Dick Dadey, said. Mr. Dadey said it’s not surprising that there was a drop in donations between 2001 and 2005 because there were more open seats four years ago. The study, which was done by graduate students at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service, reviewed the city’s VENDEX database, which contains information about public contracts, and the listing of registered lobbyists.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MANHATTAN

QUINN WELCOMES DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF

The executive director of the state Democratic committee is leaving his post to join the City Council as a deputy chief of staff to Speaker Christine Quinn, the council announced yesterday. Rodney Capel will begin later this summer and will oversee the council’s federal and state legislative efforts, as well as the division that handles newsletters, training, and constituent outreach. His salary will be $145,000 a year. Mr. Capel is replacing Kevin Wardally, who left the council after nine years to join the consulting firm Bill Lynch Associates.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

JUNIOR’S BRINGS CHEESECAKES TO TIMES SQUARE

Times Square just got a little bit cheesier. Junior’s Restaurant, the famous Brooklyn eatery, is bringing its renowned cheesecakes to the crossroads of the world with the grand opening of a 300-seat outpost on Broadway and 45th Street. Mayor Bloomberg and the Manhattan president, Scott Stringer, helped cut the ribbon and sampled slices of cheesecake at the restaurant yesterday, each joking that the new Junior’s location would add inches to their waists.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

BROOKLYN

BOROUGH PRESIDENT UNDERGOES HOSPITAL PROCEDURE

The Brooklyn borough president, Marty Markowitz, had two stents inserted his arteries over the weekend after feeling some physical discomfort and checking himself into the hospital, his office said yesterday. Mr. Markowitz checked into Maimonides Medical Center on Saturday. After an evaluation, he underwent a procedure in which the stents, which are small tubes, were put into two of his arteries to help keep them open. His office said Mr. Markowitz was resting comfortably and was expected to leave the hospital today.

– Associated Press

DISTRIBUTION BOX FOR NEW YORK BLADE BURNED

A Park Slope distribution box for the New York Blade, a weekly gay and lesbian newspaper, was burned last Tuesday night in an apparent act of vandalism. The fire partially melted the box – located on the corner of Brooklyn’s Seventh Avenue and Third Street – and the clear plastic door was snapped from its hinges. Blade editor Trenton Straube called it an “isolated incident,” saying that he did not think the vandalism had anything to do with the paper’s subject matter.

– Special to the Sun

QUEENS

PARENTS DECLARE PARTIAL VICTORY IN CELL PHONE TRANSMITTER FIGHT

Parents at a Catholic school in Flushing, Queens, are declaring partial victory now that Sprint-Nextel is dismantling some cell phone transmitters on the school’s roof. Parents worried that potential radiation could endanger their children’s health. The parents and neighborhood lawmakers are vowing to continue their battle because there are still 17 of the original 23 cell transmitters on top of the St. Mel School. Sprint-Nextel owns three of the remaining transmitters, and the rest belong to T-Mobile – which is so far refusing to remove any of its transmission equipment. The City Council member who represents the neighborhood, Tony Avella, said he is considering legislation that would address where wireless phone companies could erect antennae.

– Special to the Sun

DELTA FLIGHT MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING AT JFK

A Delta Air Lines flight traveling from New York to Cincinnati made an emergency landing yesterday shortly after takeoff when the plane’s pilot had to shut down one of its two engines. Flight 806 left La Guardia Airport at about 3:15 p.m. and was to land in Cincinnati at 4:54 p.m. But it was diverted to John F. Kennedy International Airport, where the Boeing 757 landed without incident at 4:04 p.m., a Delta spokesman, Anthony Black, said.

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

STATE WON’T STOP FUNDING SHOCK THERAPY SCHOOL

ALBANY – The state won’t stop funding a school for disabled youths despite finding “skin shocks” – sometimes administered while students bathed – for offenses as minor as nagging, swearing, and sloppy appearance, the school reported yesterday. The decision in a state Education Department letter dated Friday means the state won’t interrupt the $50 million a year in funding it provides to the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Mass., until its review is complete. The school cares for about 150 autistic and disabled children from New York.

– Associated Press

IN THE COURTS

CIVIL RIGHTS LAWYER SEEKS GOVERNMENT DISCLOSURE ON EAVESDROPPING

Civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart, convicted of aiding terrorists last year, wants the federal government to disclose whether any warrantless or illegal electronic surveillance was conducted on her or anyone else in her case.

– Associated Press

RATNER DROPS SUIT AGAINST E-MAILER WHO ALLEGEDLY SENT SPOOF MESSAGE

Lawyers for the Atlantic Yards developer, Bruce Ratner, have dropped a lawsuit against an anonymous e-mailer who sent a spoof message several months ago. The e-mail was sent to a public supporter of Mr. Ratner’s project and appears to be written by Mr. Ratner. The e-mail, addressed to the Brooklyn Brewery president, Steve Hindy, stated that Mr. Ratner would not be purchasing beer from Mr. Hindy in the proposed arena that is part of the project.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

ARREST IN SHOOTING OF JERSEY MAN

A year to the day after a New Jersey man was shot and killed, police arrested his alleged shooter. Thomas Brown, 21, of the Bronx, was already incarcerated when police extradited him to the city yesterday from an upstate prison and charged him with second-degree murder in last year’s crime. Police said during the early morning hours of June 19, 2005, he shot Jarvis Bradford, 21, of Jersey City near the intersection of West 125th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Bradford died from a gunshot wound to the stomach at St. Luke’s Hospital. In November 2005, police arrested Giovanni Albarado, 25, whom they said drove the getaway car following the assault.

– Special to the Sun