CITYWIDE

MAYOR LAUDS ATTORNEY’S OFFICE FOR INDICTING GUN TRAFFICKERS

Mayor Bloomberg praised the U.S.Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Virginia for their work in indicting 11 individuals for trafficking guns from Virginia to New York City. “I want to thank U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for his commitment to prioritizing the prosecution of gun trafficking across the nation and I want to thank U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg and his team for their dogged pursuit of this particular case,” he said. Last Saturday, 11 people were charged in Virginia for the scheme, which involved purchasing firearms from gun shops in Virginia and then dumping them in New York where they were sold for inflated prices. The indictment is a success for Mr. Bloomberg in his fight against the illegal selling of firearms. “This indictment sends a clear message: buy and sell guns illegally and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he said. Earlier this year, the mayor sued 15 gun dealers nationwide for being the source of 500 illegal weapons that had been recovered by the New York Police Department.

— Special to the Sun

NEW YORK, ATLANTA NAACP OFFICES GET SUSPICIOUS LETTERS

A letter containing a suspicious powder was sent to the Atlanta office of the NAACP, the fourth such letter sent in recent days to branches of the FBI or the civil rights group, including one in New York, FBI officials said yesterday. Threatening letters containing a suspicious powder were sent to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s offices in Baltimore and New York, and another letter believed to be similar was sent to the FBI’s field office in Norfolk, Va., said Stephen Emmitt, spokesman for the Atlanta field office of the FBI. He did not disclose whether the letter to the FBI branch contained powder.

— Associated Press

IN THE COURTS

JUDGE ALLOWS ABSENTEE FATHER TO COLLECT INHERITANCE

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — An absentee father has the same rights as other fathers in New Jersey to collect an inheritance from his late daughter, a state judge ruled yesterday. The decision came over the objections of the child’s mother, Rosa Rogiers, who argued that none of the money should go to the father, Ruben Martinez. The issue arose because their daughter, 22-year-old Jennifer Rogiers died in September without leaving a will. The young woman, who was born with disabilities from a spinal cord injury during birth that left her unable to walk and required tube feeding, got a $2.5 million medical malpractice settlement in 1989 which was used to pay for her care. Some $1.1 million remained, a lawyer for Rosa Rogiers, Jeffrey Bloom, said.

— Associated Press

DR. ELMO JOINS SUIT OVER ROYALTIES FOR RINGTONES

The man who recorded “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” has joined other performers in a lawsuit against Sony Music over royalties for downloaded music. One-hit-wonder Elmo Shropshire, a San Francisco veterinarian who tours as Dr. Elmo, joined a list of plaintiffs that already includes rockers Cheap Trick and the Allman Brothers Band. The lawsuit was originally filed in April, but a new version was lodged early this month to expand the types of downloaded tunes where the musicians say they are being shortchanged.

— Associated Press

MANHATTAN

BOARD LIKELY TO GIVE JAVITS EXPANSION PLAN STAMP OF APPROVAL

Today, the Public Authorities Control Board is expected to give final approval to the $1.7 billion plan to expand the Jabob K. Javits Convention Center. The state panel is made up of three voting members: Governor Pataki, the Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, and the speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver. Mr. Pataki and Mr. Bruno have long supported the plan, and Mr. Silver recently indicated he would approve it after weeks of mixed messages.The plan would expand the convention center by about 1.3 million square feet.The board of the MTA will meet today, and sources said they will likely discuss the city’s $500 million offer for much of the development rights of the Hudson rail yards, just south of the Javits center on the far West Side.The Bloomberg administration has asked the MTA to approve their offer this month, so it can move ahead with plans to finance $3 billion in infrastructure improvements in the area. Several critics, including the state attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, have said the offer is too low.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

LMDC TO DISBAND SHORTLY

The Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the state agency that has allocated nearly $3 billion in federal grants with the goal of rebuilding Lower Manhattan, will officially disband over the next few months. A rebuilding official said that the LMDC staff was told yesterday, although the breakup of the agency has been expected for sometime. For the last several months, the LMDC has taken a back seat to other city and state agencies and more direct involvement in the rebuilding effort by Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki. The oversight of projects around Lower Manhattan will be handed off to various city and state agencies, according to the rebuilding official. The World Trade Center Memorial Foundation is in charge of the construction of the memorial.The oversight of the demolition of the Deutsche Bank building, the badly damaged office tower just south of ground zero, will be transferred to the Lower Manhattan construction command center.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

STRINGER TO HELP SPRUCE UP MINISINK TOWN HOUSE TODAY

The president of Manhattan, Scott Stringer, will help paint and revitalize New York City’s Minisink Townhouse on Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem with local teenagers today to publicize a nonprofit, Publicolor, and a summer literacy immersion program. A 200-year-old charity will be the beneficiary of an effort that has painted almost 150 public buildings and helped thousands of people. Some 150,000 have benefited from the citywide efforts. Mr. Stringer will be joined by about 24 members of his staff.

— Special to the Sun

STATEWIDE

BOARD RULES WEIGHT CAUSED TOUR BOAT TO FLIP, KILLING 20

An upstate New York tour boat was dangerously unstable and should have carried only a quarter of the passengers on board when it capsized during a fall foliage tour in October, killing 20 elderly tourists, investigators said yesterday. Extra weight made the 40-foot Ethan Allen suddenly flip, most likely after it was struck by a wave from a passing boat or boats on Lake George in the Adirondacks, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board said. The October 2 accident — on a calm, sunny day — sparked changes in federal weight rules that could ultimately affect every commercial passenger boat in America. Officials finished their review months ahead of schedule in hopes of making safety changes quickly.

— Associated Press

POLICE: HORSE’S HEAD DUMPED IN COUNCIL MEMBER’S POOL

MIDDLETOWN — An upstate councilwoman found a severed horse’s head in her swimming pool yesterday, state police said. A Wawayanda council member, Gail Soro, and her husband had used the pool Monday night and the head was not in the water at that time. “There have been some prior instances of harassment directed toward her, more than likely as a result of her position on the Town Board,” Lieutenant Pierce Gallagher said.

— Associated Press

QUEENS

QUEENS NIGHTCLUB’S LIQUOR LICENSE SUSPENDED AFTER FATAL SHOOTING

A nightclub where a man was shot to death this month has lost its liquor license, state officials announced yesterday.On July 9,a bouncer working the door at Rapture Cocktail Lounge and Cafe in Queens shot a man and a boy during a confrontation, police said.The man died.The bouncer had not been licensed or registered with state officials, the State Liquor Authority said, so the club’s license was suspended, meaning no alcohol can be served or consumed there.

— Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

MAN KILLED BY HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER

A man was killed yesterday by a hit-andrun driver as he was crossing a Manhattan street, police said.The 54-year-old man — whose names was withheld last night pending family notification — was crossing East 28th Street at Third Avenue when the accident occurred shortly before 4 p.m., according to police. Police believe the man may have stepped outside the crosswalk when a black car with New York license plates struck him and then fled the scene. The man was taken to Bellevue Hospital and pronounced dead, police said.

— Special to the Sun

EX-OFFICIAL FOR STATE BANKING INDICTED

A former bank examiner and the heads of a check-cashing company were indicted yesterday on charges stemming from a $2 million bribery and money-laundering scheme, the Manhattan district attorney announced. Prosecutors said James Gass, 64, a former bank examiner for the New York State Banking Department, was charged with providing confidential information to five check-cashing operations, including Check Cashing, Inc., based in Springfield Gardens. In addition, the owner and president of that company, Louis Renzo, 49, and the company’s senior vice president, William DeRespino, 43, also a former NYSBD examiner, were charged. If convicted, each could face up to 15 years in prison.

— Special to the Sun