CITYWIDE

MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK TO EXPAND

The Museum of the City of New York is getting a $28 million makeover and expansion. The 74-year old building will get another 23,000 square feet of space, along with a new lobby, curatorial center, and climate-controlled collection spaces. Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council speaker, Christine Quinn, earmarked a combined $17 million in city money for the project. During a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg said that while attendance at the museum has been up significantly in recent years, the renovation “promises to propel this museum to even greater heights.”The first phase of the project is expected to be finished in 2008, and the full renovation, which will cost a total of $70 million, is set to be done by 2012. Rep. Charles Rangel, who represents the museum’s Upper Manhattan district, said, “This is the shot in the arm that East Harlem has needed for a long time.”The museum will stay open while it is under construction.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

TWO SENTENCED FOR 2003 POLICE KILLINGS ON STATEN ISLAND

Two men who had roles in the 2003 execution of two undercover police officers on Staten Island were sentenced in Brooklyn yesterday. One man, Paris Bullock, was sentenced to 25 years for retrieving and loading the gun that ultimately was used to murder detectives James Nemorin and Rodney Andrews. Another man, Michael Whitten, was sentenced to 27 years. Whitten had sold a gun to the two undercover officers on a previous occasion and had set up the March 2003 encounter that led to their deaths. The judge, Nicholas Garaufis, said life imprisonment was the appropriate sentence for both criminals, but that he would honor the terms of the plea agreement that prosecutors and defense attorney struck. The accused triggerman, Ronell Wilson, is scheduled for trial next month and faces the death penalty. Judge Garaufis yesterday also sentenced two other members of the gang that were involved in the murders.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

DECISION ON ASTOR COURT FILES IS DELAYED

A judge, after meeting privately yesterday with lawyers for the family of Brooke Astor, put off for a month a decision on a request by news organizations to reopen court files detailing a bitter squabble over the 104-year-old philanthropist’s care. The Associated Press, the Daily News, the New York Times, and the New York Post had argued in court papers filed Monday that records in the guardianship proceedings should be public. At a hearing in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, Justice John Stackhouse said he would give the Astor lawyers time to oppose the request in writing before making a final decision.

— Associated Press

DJ FILES $55M LAWSUIT AGAINST LIU

A week after a judge dismissed criminal charges against a former radio disc jockey who threatened a rival’s young daughter in sex-laced rants on the air, the DJ has filed a multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit against one of his harshest critics. DJ Star, whose real name is Troi Torain, accuses Council Member John Liu of defaming his reputation during the controversy last spring by labeling him a “pedophile” and demanding that he be fired, according to his $55 million civil lawsuit filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Mr. Torain was fired May 10 from WWPR-FM, or Power 105.1, then arrested after he threatened to sexually abuse and urinate on the 4-year-old daughter of Raashaun Casey, known as DJ Envy on WQHT-FM, or Hot 97.

— Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

PASSER-BY FATALLY SHOT NEAR BRONX DISPUTE

A Bronx man was shot dead late Tuesday night as he rode his bicycle past a street fight, police said. Israel Martinez, 36, of East 180th Street, was shot once in the thigh and died at St. Barnabas Hospital, police said. The shooting occurred around 10 p.m., when an ongoing dispute between two groups of people erupted near an intersection close to the victim’s home in the Fordham neighborhood. Police said investigators do not believe Martinez was the shooter’s intended target.

— Special to the Sun

BIKER DIES AFTER COLLISION WITH VAN

A Brooklyn man died Tuesday after his bicycle collided with a van, police said. The victim was riding near Church Avenue and Linden Boulevard in East Flatbush when the accident occurred. The man, whose name was not released pending family notification, was pronounced dead at Brookdale Hospital. Police do not suspect criminality. So far this year, police reported five bicycle fatalities, compared to 12 at this time last year.

— Special to the Sun

MAN DIES AFTER EAST RIVER JUMP

The body of a Manhattan man was pulled out of the East River yesterday, police said. Officials said Marshall Artis, 58, may have jumped intentionally after witnesses reported seeing him plunge into the water. According to police, his body was removed from the river near East 23rd Street yesterday morning, and he was pronounced dead at Bellevue Hospital shortly after 11 a.m.

— Special to the Sun

BREAK-IN AT QUEENS CHURCH

A Queens church was burglarized yesterday. Police said a suspect broke in and stole cash from the parish, and an employee of the St. Catherine and George Church on 33rd Street in Astoria reported the break-in shortly before 9 a.m. Police said several windows and benches inside the church were broken. The burglar fled with an unknown amount of cash, according to police.

— Special to the Sun

DECOMPOSED BODY FOUND IN EAST VILLAGE

The badly decomposed body of a Manhattan man was found Tuesday night after police said neighbors noticed a foul odor coming from his apartment. Edward Shipley, 64, was found dead inside his fourth-floor apartment on St. Marks Place in the East Village, police said. Neighbors piecing together his last days said they hadn’t seen him in three weeks. A spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office said an autopsy was inconclusive. Neighbors said Shipley was a retired cook who kept mostly to himself.

— Special to the Sun

STATEWIDE

HAMPTONS CHARITY ORGANIZER ARRESTED

GARDEN CITY — An organizer of a Hamptons charity event benefiting the victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001, was arrested at the party on fraud charges from a fugitive warrant in Colorado, the Suffolk County district attorney’s office said yesterday. Glenda Joy Chesshir, 46, was arrested at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday during the “Fourth Annual White Party Clam Bake” in Amagansett, a DA spokesman said. Ms. Chesshir is charged with four felony counts of fraud, allegedly for writing checks of $500 or more with insufficient funds.

— Associated Press

INDIAN POINT SIRENS GO OUT OF SERVICE

WHITE PLAINS — The sirens that would alert 300,000 people to an emergency at the Indian Point nuclear power plants were out of service for 6 1/2 hours yesterday while most residents slept. There was no emergency, and the 156 sirens in were back online by 6:35 a.m. But the outage, which officials said was caused by a computer malfunction and was unrelated to the region’s current heat and power problems, prompted criticism of Indian Point and demands for better backup of the trouble-plagued siren system.

— Associated Press

NASSAU COMPTROLLER QUESTIONS COUNTY FINANCES

GARDEN CITY — The Nassau County executive, Thomas Suozzi, has for months pointed to the turnaround of the county’s fiscal health under his tenure as one of the key reasons he’s seeking the Democratic nomination for governor. But yesterday, the county comptroller issued a dire warning, saying “the county’s financial trends are headed in the wrong direction” and urging an immediate budget review to locate additional savings.

— Associated Press