CITYWIDE

FLUSHING TENNIS COMPLEX RENAMED FOR BILLIE JEAN KING

The United States Tennis Association is renaming its tennis complex in Flushing for the legendary tennis player Billie Jean King. Ms. King, who is perhaps best known for defeating Bobby Riggs in the 1973 “Battle of the Sexes,” won 39 Grand Slam titles in her career. Yesterday, during a news conference at the tennis center, which is home to the U.S. Open, she was praised as both a force on the court and a trailblazer for women’s rights. Her defeat of Mr. Riggs was hailed as a major victory for women equality. Ms. King, who attended with her mother, said: “I can’t believe it. So rarely are women thought of in this way.” The name change will be made official during the opening ceremony of the Open later this month.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

CITY BREAKS GROUND ON HOUSING COMPLEX IN EAST NEW YORK

The city broke ground yesterday on an affordable housing complex in the East New York section of Brooklyn. The development will include 2,200 new homes for nearly 7,000 people. Built on a former landfill at a 227-acre site, the development will also include 125 units of housing for senior citizens, a retail complex, and a public school. The project is part of Mayor Bloomberg’s larger $7.5 billion, 10-year plan to build and refurbish 165,000 units of affordable housing. It is getting $30 million from the city for infrastructure costs and direct subsidies to help offset sticker price so that first-time homebuyers can afford it. Single-family homes will start at $158,300.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

QUINN AIMS TO INCREASE FOOD STAMP USAGE AT FARMERS’ MARKETS

The City Council speaker, Christine Quinn, launched a pilot project in Harlem yesterday aimed at increasing the use of food stamps at farmers’ markets. “Too many New Yorkers, including thousands of children, do not have access to fresh, healthy food,” she said. “The council is working to make nutritious food available to all New Yorkers, regardless of income, by allowing food stamps to be used to purchase the healthy food that is available at our farmers’ markets and to increase the number of farmers’ markets in high-need areas.” The council has set aside $81,000 for the project, which will equip four markets in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Harlem with electronic benefit card terminals that accept food stamps.

—Special to the Sun

9/11 MEMORIAL CONSTRUCTION TO RESUME AT GROUND ZERO

Construction on the September 11 memorial at ground zero will resume this month after several weeks of delays caused by a redesign to cut its price in half. Preliminary work on the “Reflecting Absence” memorial began in March and stopped in May after contractors said the cost was approaching $1 billion for the huge reflecting pools that will mark the destroyed World Trade Center towers’ footprints.The memorial and underground September 11 museum was redesigned, this time at a $510 million budget, and the two organizations in charge of building it yesterday awarded a $17 million contract to begin creating the foundations.

— Associated Press

JEWISH MUSEUM INVITES GIBSON FOR ‘JOURNEY OF UNDERSTANDING’

The Museum of Jewish Heritage has invited actor Mel Gibson for a visit as part of his “journey of understanding” following his anti-Semitic tirade during a California traffic stop. “I have followed with great interest the events of the past several days and take your recent public apology very seriously,” the museum;s director, David Marwell, said in his August 2 letter. “In that spirit, I would like to invite you to visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.”

— Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

MAN DIES IN CUSTODY AFTER ARREST

A 48-year-old man who had been arrested for assault died from an apparent heart attack while awaiting arraignment yesterday. Claude Neal died around 9 a.m. after complaining of chest pains, police said. He had been arrested in Jamaica, Queens, around 1:50 p.m. Wednesday for assault, and had been taken to Queens Central Booking where he awaiting arraignment when he died. Police said the medical examiner would determine the cause of death.

— Special to the Sun

BROOKLYN MAN CONVICTED OF MURDERING WOMAN

A Brooklyn man was convicted Wednesday of killing his ex-girlfriend’s mother and dog and slashing her cousin’s face, the Brooklyn district attorney announced yesterday. Pierre Carrenard, 36, was convicted of two counts of murder, aggravated cruelty to animals, and assault, among other charges. Prosecutors said that after Francois MacDaly broke up with Carrenard in 2005, he repeatedly harassed her, and on August 9, 2005, he stabbed Ms. MacDaly’s mother inside the older woman’s East Flatbush home. He also stabbed the family dog to death, and slashed Ms. MacDaly’s 16-year-old cousin when she showed up at the apartment to check on her aunt. Prosecutors said he initially fled to Florida, but was extradited back to Brooklyn. He will be sentenced August 17, and could face up to 25 years to life in prison.

— Special to the Sun

INFANT GRAZED BY BULLET A 6-month-old girl was grazed by a stray bullet that pierced the door of her Brooklyn apartment yesterday, police said. Police said the infant was sleeping inside a carriage at East 102nd Street in Canarsie when three bullets were fired into the apartment around 3:15 a.m. One bullet grazed the baby’s head, and she was taken to Brookdale Hospital in stable condition. As of last night, police did not know the cause of the initial fight, and had made no arrests.

— Special to the Sun

TWO SHOT IN BROOKLYN LOBBY

A man and woman were shot yesterday by unknown assailants as they stepped off an elevator in a Brooklyn apartment building, police said. Police did not identify the victims yesterday, but said they were both taken to Kings County Hospital in stable condition. The incident occurred around 2:30 p.m. in the lobby of a building on Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene. The woman, 47, was struck once in the thigh and the man, 24, was hit in the arm, police said. The victims heard shots, but could not describe a motive or their attacker to police.

— Special to the Sun

TRISTATE

TWO DEAD, TWO INJURED IN N.J. FIRE

BURLINGTON CITY, N.J. — Two people died and two were injured after a duplex in Burlington City caught fire yesterday morning, authorities said. Both of the housing units were destroyed in the fire that killed a 49-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman, police said. Authorities would not release their identities pending notification of their families. The two injured, a juvenile and an adult, were taken to a medical facility with smoke inhalation, authorities said. Firefighters reported to scene around 10 a.m.Thursday morning and it took 90 minutes to bring it under control. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

— Associated Press

MINOR LEAGUE ‘BRITNEY SPEARS NIGHT’ TO TEACH CHILD SAFETY

NEWARK, N.J. — To help parents with a serious topic, a minor league baseball team is using some humor to spread the message about keeping babies safe in vehicles. The Newark Bears on Friday will host “Britney Spears Baby Safety Night,” naming the event for the pop singer whose recent miscues with her baby received wide attention. Fans attending the 7:05 p.m. game will get information on baby car seat safety and a chance to win a free car seat from AAA. Fans who dress as a baby, bring a baby toy, or bring their baby — a child 4 and under — get in free.

— Associated Press

STATEWIDE

PATAKI REHIRES LONG’S DAUGHTER FOR STATE JOB

ALBANY — Governor Pataki, the lame-duck Republican eyeing a run for president, has rehired a daughter of the New York Conservative Party chairman, Michael Long, for a state job that is good for at least five years. Eileen Long-Chelales said yesterday that she will be paid $90,800 a year as a member of the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board through November 2011. She recently resigned as the regional administrator for the federal General Services Administration, a New York City-based post that paid her $142,000 a year.

— Associated Press

SUOZZI CAMPAIGN MAILING SHORTENS MAGAZINE QUOTATION

ALBANY — Is Thomas Suozzi the “perfect candidate for governor”? His latest campaign mailing to voters says so. But the magazine article quoted in that flier seems to tell a different story. The full quote from the New York magazine article is: “Meet Tom Suozzi, the perfect candidate for governor of New York in any other year than this one.” That last part is a reference to Eliot Spitzer, the other Democrat in the race. Mr. Spitzer has high approval ratings as attorney general, the Democratic Party’s support, and huge leads in the polls and fund-raising over Mr. Suozzi. The Suozzi ad carries only part of the sentence — “The perfect candidate for governor …” — under the magazine’s logo.

— Associated Press

THREE CHILDREN, FATHER DIE IN HOUSE FIRE

HOOSICK — Fire tore through a home in this rural town on the Vermont line, killing three children and their father, who had rushed back into the flames to try to save the youngsters, authorities said. The blaze broke out shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday in a two-story home.

— Associated Press