ALBANY

LAWMAKERS APPROVE TEMPORARY RETIREMENT INCENTIVE PLAN

State lawmakers have approved a temporary retirement incentive plan for civilian state employees that would cost taxpayers between $8 million and $46 million, depending on how many people take advantage of it. The measure, which awaits Governor Pataki’s signature or veto, allows state and city civilian employees who are at least 55 years old and who have worked for at least 25 years, to retire without pension penalties and receive an annual pension equal to half of their maximum salaries. The bill would offer two 90-day windows – this year and next – for employees who meet the requirements to opt into the pension plan. Mr. Pataki approved a similar measure in 2002.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

SPITZER, FASO GIVE LEGISLATURE FAILING MARKS FOR 2006

COLONIE – The Democratic candidate for governor, Eliot Spitzer, accepted the endorsement of the state’s biggest union organization yesterday, then refused to detail his position on the many pro-union bills passed in the 2006 legislative session he said spent too much. “He’s trying to be all things to all people and you can’t do that in life or in politics,” said Republican designee John Faso after a tour of a 109-year-old manufacturing plant in Syracuse. Mr. Faso, trailing Mr. Spitzer in the polls, accused the Legislature of “craven excess” in the session that ended Friday.

– Associated Press

CITYWIDE

GROUP SEEKS TO BOOST NUMBER OF WOMEN, MINORITIES IN FILM BUSINESS

City Hall will oversee a group that seeks to boost the number of women and minorities who help bring New York City to the silver screen. The City Council speaker, Christine Quinn, said there are no target numbers for the program, but said that the group would also focus on training and helping women and minorities to become union members.

– Special to the Sun

IN THE COURTS

JURORS IN TRIAL OF EX-PIMCO CHIEF HEAR CLOSING ARGUMENTS

Jurors in the civil fraud case of the former Pimco Advisors Distributors chief executive officer, Stephen Treadway, heard closing arguments from the defense and the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. The defense team headed by Alan Levine argued that Mr. Treadway was not aware of a secret deal made between members of Pimco Equity Advisors and Canary Capital Partners that elevated the latter group to preferred customer status. Because Mr. Treadway was unaware about much of the secret deal, the defense argues, he cannot be liable for fraud, negligence, or recklessness in not alerting the Board of Trustees, of which he was the chairman. Pimco Equity Advisors’s former chief executive officer, Kenneth Corba, settled before the case for $200,000 and testified for the SEC against Mr. Treadway.

– Special to the Sun

KISS’S SIMMONS, FORMER GIRLFRIEND SETTLE DEFAMATION LAWSUIT Gene Simmons of the rock group KISS and a former girlfriend, Georgeann Walsh Ward, have settled a defamation lawsuit in which she said he made her sound like a “sex-addicted nymphomaniac” during a documentary shown on VH1.

– Associated Press

WOMAN CHARGED IN PROSTITUTION CASE NAMES EXECUTIVE CLIENTS

A Brazilian woman charged with running a high-end Manhattan brothel, Andrea Schwartz, claimed two prominent business executives as clients, according to court papers filed yesterday at her arraignment. Ms. Schwartz named the vice president and chief financial officer of Time Warner Inc., Wayne Pace, and the chief investment officer of Barrett Associates, Bob Voccola, as the executives.

– Associated Press

STATEWIDE

REPORT: INDIGENT-DEFENSE SYSTEM IN NEED OF REFORM

New York State’s indigent-defense system, which assigns free legal counsel to a majority of criminal defendants, is underfunded, without a set of competency standards, fractured among the state’s 62 counties, and in need of immediate reform, according to a report issued by the Commission on the Future of Indigent Defense Services. The report called primarily for an infusion of funds into the system and the creation of a statewide system rather than separate county systems. The New York Civil Liberties Union released its own statement supporting the commission’s recommendation and saying that if the governor and state Legislature do not act soon it will sue the state, in hopes that the courts will force them into action.

– Special to the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

FORTUNE TELLERS ARRESTED ON EXTORTION CHARGES Three Queens fortune tellers were arrested yesterday on charges of extortion and petty larceny, police officials said. The three women from Astoria, identified as Sabrina Martell, 42; Dorothy Miller, 53; and Rose Miller, 73, allegedly exploited an undercover agent for as much as $1,100 to remove her “evil spirits.” In New York, fortune tellers can only offer “psychic” services if they state that is for entertainment purposes only. The investigation sprang from complaints by two community members who said they had been defrauded, police said. The women were awaiting arraignment last night.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

BROOKLYN MAN ARRESTED IN FIREWORKS TRAFFICKING

A Brooklyn man was arrested for allegedly trafficking fireworks yesterday, police said. Roberto Rivera, 33, of Chestnut Street, was charged with unlawful dealing with fireworks after police seized 32 large boxes and 28 large plastic bags containing fireworks from his home. In a statement yesterday about the city’s crackdown on the illegal sale and possession of fireworks, the police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, said the department will increase its enforcement of fireworks laws leading up to July 4.

– Special to the Sun

FIREFIGHTER ACCUSED OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT TERMINATED

A firefighter accused of inappropriate sexual misconduct at a Bronx stationhouse in August 2004 was terminated yesterday, the Department of Investigations reported. The fire commissioner, Nicholas Scoppetta, dismissed Anthony Loscuito, one of three firefighters accused of having sexual contact with a female visitor to the Bronx stationhouse where they were working at the time. The two others accused of misconduct no longer work for the Fire Department. Christian Waugh was terminated in December 2004, and Tony Deluca resigned in October 2005.

– Special to the Sun