CITYWIDE

Council To Target Hunger

City Council members will head directly into their communities starting next week as part of the City Council’s speaker’s “Food Today, Healthy Tomorrow” campaign to enroll eligible New Yorkers for food stamps as part of a broad campaign to combat hunger in the five boroughs. The council speaker, Christine Quinn, has made curbing hunger a priority; she set a goal earlier this year of reducing the number of hungry New Yorkers by half by the end of 2009. More than 600,000 city residents are eligible under federal guidelines for food stamps but are not enrolled, the speaker said, leaving more than $1 billion in available federal aid untouched.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

Air America Being Sued

Financially embattled Air America Radio, which is fighting off bankruptcy, is being sued in New York State Supreme Court by one of its former ad salesman who accuses the talk-show network of laying him off even though his contract wasn’t set to expire until 2007. The plaintiff, Joe Kenavan, says in court papers that the left-leaning station didn’t give satisfactory reasons for dismissing him from his six-figure-salary job. Just days after Mr. Kenavan alleges that Air America improperly terminated him, star host Al Franken, whose salary is reportedly $2 million, told The Sun that he hasn’t been paid recently. Air America didn’t immediately return a phone call seeking comment last night.

— Special to the Sun

Few Disabled Make Use Of New Voting Machines

The new machines designed for disabled voters worked well during their first tryout at last week’s party primaries, but most of the voters who used them were not actually disabled, a City Council report says. The council surveyed more than a quarter of the 580 voters who used the specially designed system, and only 5% said they used the machines because they were disabled. Many respondents (26%) said they voted at the accessible poll sites because the locations were convenient to where they lived or worked, and others said they thought they were required to vote there, based on a Board of Elections mailing advertising the new machines. Lawmakers are planning to release the council’s report today, along with a set of recommendations for improving the system by Election Day in November. The ballot-marking devices permitted voting by touching a screen, “sipping” and “puffing” through a straw, or depressing a key or pedal.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

Mayor Announces Plans To Make Parade Safer

Ten months after two people were injured at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the city is devising new procedures aimed at keeping revelers safe from the jumbo floats that glide down the streets of Manhattan. Mayor Bloomberg announced new protocol for the parade yesterday that includes greater communication between city officials and Macy’s, an enhanced windtesting system at major intersections along the parade route, added training for personnel, and an annual review. Last year, a burst of wind caused the ropes of a giant M &M balloon to become entangled with a street pole near Times Square, pulling the fixture out of place and injuring two people.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

Vote Nears To Open Up City’s Cable Market

The near monopoly that Time Warner and Cablevision hold over Gotham’s cable television moved a step closer yesterday to ending. A City Council panel approved a measure that would give the mayor’s office the ability to negotiate with additional cable companies. Telecom giant Verizon has expressed interest in serving the city. “It’s a winwin situation for New Yorkers,” the council member who presides over the Zoning and Franchises subcommittee, Tony Avella of Queens, said. The landuse committee is set to hold a vote next week to send the measure to the full council, he said. In a statement, the commissioner of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, Paul Cosgrave, said the competition would mean better service for New Yorkers. Mayor Bloomberg has agreed not to participate in the cable franchise negotiations because his company, Bloomberg News runs cable stations.

— Special to the Sun

Sloan-Kettering Opens New Research Center

The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is holding a three-day series of events starting today to celebrate the opening of its new 23-story research center. The center, the first new research facility at the hospital since 1989, will be named for board member and publishing mogul Mortimer Zuckerman, who recently gave a $100 million donation. Mayor Bloomberg and cyclist Lance Armstrong, a cancer survivor, are scheduled to speak at the hospital today. The new research facility comes at the same time that the National Institutes of Health, the chief government financier for medical research, is scaling back funding.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

$48M Gift to Columbia

Retired cable TV magnate and philanthropist H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest has pledged up to $48 million to Columbia University, the school announced yesterday. The donation will help endow academic chairs and pay professors’ salaries, Columbia said. Mr. Lenfest, who graduated from Columbia’s Law School in 1958 and is a trustee of the university, to date has given more than $100 million to the university. Under the terms of his latest gift, Mr. Lenfest will match up to $48 million in donations by other philanthropists.

— Associated Press

STATEWIDE

Clinton’s Rival in Primary Refuses To Back Her

ALBANY — The anti-Iraq war activist who was crushed by Senator Rodham Clinton in last week’s Democratic Senate primary said yesterday he would not support her re-election bid and called on his supporters to vote against her. “I urge my supporters and the people who voted for me to vote their conscience,” said Jonathan Tasini. “Every vote that is not cast for the incumbent is a clear repudiation of an immoral war.” The reaction from the Clinton camp was curt: “Who cares?” said Howard Wolfson. Mr. Tasini did not endorse any specific candidate in the Senate race, which many see as a prelude to a 2008 White House run by the former first lady. Mrs. Clinton faces former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer, a conservative Republican, and Howie Hawkins, a Green Party contender, in the November election.

—Associated Press

Clinton Defends the Pope

WASHINGTON — Senator Clinton forcefully defended Pope Benedict XVI yesterday against a wave of Muslim criticism over a speech last week. When asked about the controversy prior to her speech at an American Cancer Society event, Mrs. Clinton said the pope’s follow-up statement should have been enough to settle the matter. “It’s just outrageous and offensive that people would be threatening violence against him based on what he said, especially when there is so much they should be working on together,” Mrs. Clinton said. The pope’s remarks angered much of the Muslim world with a speech that cited a Medieval text that characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as “evil and inhuman,” particularly “his command to spread by the sword the faith.” He later said he was “deeply sorry” if Muslims were offended.

— Associated Press