MANHATTAN

BATTERY PARK BOARD TO USE $130M TO CREATE AFFORDABLE HOUSING

After years of unfulfilled promises, the Battery Park City Authority Board will use $130 million to create more affordable housing in New York City. Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Pataki, and the city comptroller, William Thompson Jr., announced the final approval of the New York City Housing trust fund yesterday, a program that will create or preserve 4,300 affordable housing units.

— Special to the Sun

ALBANY

STUDY: PATAKI BIGGEST RECIPIENT OF POWER COMPANY CONTRIBUTIONS

Governor Pataki has been the biggest recipient of campaign contributions from power companies that are under scrutiny for recent blackouts in New York City, a study released yesterday shows. The New York chapter of Common Cause released a report showing Pataki, who has championed the deregulation of the state’s energy market, receiving $316,000 in campaign contributions from energy companies between 1999 and 2006.

— Associated Press

IN THE COURTS

FOX SETTLES HARASSMENT LAWSUIT

Fox News has settled a lawsuit with four women who claimed a company vice president sexually harassed them, creating a hostile workplace, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said yesterday. The settlement, submitted for approval in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, includes $225,000 for the four women, the EEOC said in a statement.

— Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

MAN INDICTED FOR REPORTING FALSE TERROR PLOT

A Brooklyn man was indicated yesterday for reporting a false terrorist plot, which he claimed would strike New York City’s subway system over the Fourth of July weekend, prosecutors said. The Manhattan district attorney charged Rimon Alkatri, 34, falsely reporting the incident, an offense punishable by up to seven years in prison. Prosecutors said Mr. Alkatri set off an international investigation when he called police and told them five Syrian nationals were planning to smuggle bombs onto trains in hollowed-out jewelry. Prosecutors said a police investigation cleared the suspects, but implicated Mr. Alkatri in the scheme after investigators discovered he previously had bitter business deals with them, and fabricated the plot.

— Special to the Sun

MAN CHARGED WITH MURDER AFTER TODDLER’S DEATH

A Bronx man who allegedly shook his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter so hard her brain hemorrhaged now faces murder charges, authorities said yesterday. Charges were upgraded against Paul Jimenez, 29, after the medical examiner’s office ruled the girl’s death a homicide. Police said Sharllene Marillo died without regaining consciousness on July 28 after spending several days at Montefiore Hospital.

— Special to the Sun