New York Desk

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

CITYWIDE

City Kicks Off Campaign To Boost Voter Turnout

City officials yesterday kicked off what they said was the largest ever campaign aimed at boosting the voter rolls for the November election. Voter Awareness Month will include more than 60 events across the five boroughs, including registration drives, public service announcements, and town-hall style candidate forums. The effort is targeted at young, women, traditionally underrepresented voters. Mayor Bloomberg and other officials appeared yesterday with Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain civil rights leader Medger Evers, and the family of Andrew Goodman, a New York-born activist who was murdered while registering blacks to vote in Mississippi in 1964. Mr. Bloomberg said voting “isn’t just a freedom. It is a responsibility.” He stopped short, however, of endorsing one suggestion – that the city fine residents who don’t vote.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

Carrión Named A ‘Rising Star’

Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión Jr.has been named one of the “true rising stars” of American politics by the Aspen Institute in Colorado, the nonpartisan think tank announced this week. Criteria included intellectual rigor and what the institute said is a willingness to solve public policy problems by transcending traditional partisan bounds. Mr. Carrión will convene in Aspen, Colo., later this fall with 23 other “rising stars.”The group will also travel to China and Russia. Reached yesterday in the city, Mr. Carrión, who is also vice president of both the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials and the County Executives of America, said he is flattered to have been honored. “It’s a great honor, and I think the honor of being called young is even bigger,” the 45-year-old former City Council member said.

—Special to the Sun

Bloomberg Supports September 11 Health Program

Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday he supports an effort to get nearly $2 billion in federal aid for sick ground zero workers, even if he still won’t concede their exposure to the toxic dust at the World Trade Center site made them sick.”People who worked on the site or the closer they were, the more symptoms they have that are very troublesome,” Mr. Bloomberg told reporters. “In a couple of cases those troublesome symptoms have turned into more than that.” Mr. Bloomberg, a Republican, said he supported an effort by Senator Clinton to get $1.9 billion in federal funds to treat thousands of ground zero workers, office workers and area residents who were exposed to asbestosladen dust and are sick. The city has fought lawsuits by workers seeking compensation for claims of ground zero-related sicknesses, but the mayor recently said the federal government should assume responsibility, since the September 11, 2001, attacks were a national crisis.

— Associated Press

STATEWIDE

Second Speeding Ticket For Pirro’s Husband

WHITE PLAINS — Another speeding ticket for Albert Pirro, another embarrassment for his wife, Jeanine, as she runs for state attorney general. Lobbyist Albert Pirro was pulled over yesterday morning in White Plains for driving his Mercedes-Benz 51 mph in a 25-mph zone near two schools, said Daniel Jackson, police Deputy Commissioner. The ticket came two weeks after Mr. Pirro reached a plea deal in traffic court in New Rochelle that let him keep his driver’s license. He had been charged with driving 98 mph in a 55-mph zone but pleaded guilty to just 74 mph. In the White Plains case, he has until September 27 to plead guilty or not guilty. Mr. Pirro’s wife, a former Westchester County district attorney, is the Republican candidate for state attorney general against Democrat Andrew Cuomo. Jeanine Pirro has often been embarrassed by her husband, including when he was convicted of tax fraud and when he acknowledged fathering an illegitimate child after they married. A Pirro campaign spokesman, John Gallagher, said, “We are not commenting.”

— Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

Police Shut Down Major Drug Operation in Queens

Following a seven-month investigation in response to community complaints about drug dealing and violent crime in several housing projects in Queens, police yesterday announced they had dismantled a $1 million a year crack cocaine, heroin, and marijuana-selling operation run by the notorious Crips gang. The investigations, Operation Sandstorm and Operation Undertow, resulted in indictments against 96 people, including a notorious gang leader called Jamel “Murder” Hamilton, police said.As many as 20 of the alleged drug dealers are still being sought by police. The drug dealing operated like a “retail sale business” in the housing projects, with toy cars used to smuggle dime bags of marijuana and in one instance, a child used to ferry drugs to a client in the lobby of a building, said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

Police Uncover Counterfeit Cache

Police arrested a Bronx teenager on counterfeiting charges after uncovering a cache of illicit CDs, DVDs, and burners yesterday, police said. Abdouraitamance Diallo, 19, was taken into custody after the police department’s organized crime bureau uncovered the illicit materials. Around 6:50 a.m., officers confiscated 23 computer towers containing 208 burners from a garage on Commonwealth Avenue in the Bronx, police said. Then, at 12:15 p.m., they recovered 40,000 discs – CDs and DVDs – from a location on West 37th Street in Manhattan, police said. Mr. Diallo, of Baychester Avenue, was present at the first location in the Bronx, police said. He was charged with trademark counterfeiting.

— Special to the Sun


The New York Sun

© 2024 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use