CITYWIDE

Weiner Backs Clark In Council Race

Rep. Anthony Weiner endorsed City Council Member Yvette Clark for Congress yesterday, giving her the backing of a prominent Democrat and likely 2009 mayoral candidate in a contentious race to represent Brooklyn’s 11th district. In the city’s most divided congressional campaign, Ms. Clarke is battling a fellow council member, David Yassky, a state senator, Carl Andrews, and Chris Owens, the son of the incumbent, Rep. Major Owens. “I think that Yvette Clarke is head and shoulders above her competition,” said Mr. Weiner, who represents parts of Brooklyn and Queens. He appeared with Ms. Clarke yesterday to announce proposals for improving Brooklyn’s schools. Mr. Weiner’s backing of Ms. Clarke raised eyebrows since he and Mr. Yassky both got their political starts as protégés of Senator Schumer. Mr. Yassky’s campaign said only that he was continuing to work on getting his message out to voters.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

Brooklyn Mother Charged In Kidnapping of Daughter

An 18-hour manhunt for a Brooklyn girl kidnapped by her mother during a supervised visit ended yesterday when the mother turned herself in, police said. Around 11:30 a.m., police said Deneen Peterkin, 41, returned 5-year-old Egypt Lewis to officials at the Administration for Children’s Services on Montague Street in Brooklyn, where Ms. Peterkin was last seen with the child Monday afternoon. Calls to ACS were not immediately returned, but sources familiar with the investigation indicated a caseworker overseeing the visit may have left the room to retrieve a MetroCard for Ms. Peterkin when she made off with the girl. The Brooklyn mother lost custody of her daughter due to possible mental health issues, sources said. After she turned herself in, Ms. Peterkin was charged with kidnapping, custodial interference, criminal contempt of a court order, and endangering the welfare of a child, police said. In an unrelated case, law enforcement officials said a Long Island woman kidnapped the 9-month-old son of her ex-girlfriend yesterday. The woman was apprehended on the Long Island Rail Road in Queens, and the child was unharmed, police said.

— Special to the Sun

STATEWIDE

Black Market Prescription Drug Ring Busted

MINEOLA — Eight people and six companies have been charged with operating a black-market prescription drug ring that allegedly took in tens of millions of dollars, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced yesterday. An indictment returned by a Nassau County grand jury alleges that between March 2002 and April 2005, the suspects illegally obtained prescription medications, including unused drugs and medications stolen from manufacturers, and sold them to wholesalers in New York, Utah, and Texas. Some of the wholesalers also are accused of selling the medications to retail outlets, Mr. Spitzer said in a statement.The diverted drugs were primarily expensive HIV/AIDS medications and medications stolen from the pharmaceutical manufacturer, Pfizer, Inc. The defendants were arraigned last week and Monday before Nassau County Court Judge John Kase.

— Associated Press

Cornell University Takes Stand Against Sudan

ITHACA — Cornell University officials took a stance Tuesday against genocide in Sudan, prohibiting the school from investing endowment assets into oil companies that operate in the African country.The school will also prohibit and halt all investments in companies that have obligations in the Sudanese government. Altogether Cornell is divesting itself of $12 million of investments in Sudan, spokesman Simeon Moss said.”Given that more than half of the Sudanese government’s revenues are derived from oil, the Cornell community is sending an unequivocal message to the oil companies about the impact of their own actions in this crisis,” Cornell President David Skorton said in a written statement. Rebel factions in Sudan are seeking to gain an advantage before peace comes to a region where more than 200,000 people have been killed since 2003 when ethnic African tribes revolted against the Arab-led Khartoum government.

— Associated Press