CITYWIDE

City To Toss Old Laws

New Yorkers will soon have fewer rules to break. The City Council is scheduled to pass a bill this week wiping away about a half dozen antiquated rules, including a regulation that made it illegal to wash a sidewalk with a hose and another that required those who want to be tour guides to provide three personal recommendations and a letter from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene declaring them disease free. Council Member David Yassky, chairman of the Small Business Committee, said the rules put too much burden on small businesses. In the case of the hose, businesses are required to keep the front of their establishments clean, but under existing law can be fined for washing down the area with a hose. Last year the council was considering a bill to get rid of decades-old rules that outlawed VCR and DVD players in homes — the latter was a throwback to a 1937 statue against operating motion picture projector at home. Those items never passed and are not included in this legislation.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

Bloomberg Panel To Back Property Tax Exemptions

A panel created by Mayor Bloomberg eight months ago is poised to back a continuation of property tax exemptions that many thought it would nix, according to a report in Crain’s New York Business. Observers thought the panel of city commissioners, developers, and housing advocates would recommend the end of 421-a tax exemptions for the majority of Manhattan and high-end parts of Brooklyn where development does not need incentives, but it seems to be ready to recommend keeping the exemptions city-wide. According to Crain’s, the task force is likely to recommend increasing the amount that developers must contribute to affordable housing to qualify for the tax break. It is also said to be considering a cap so that properties of a certain price would not qualify for the exemption.The city’s budget office is reportedly against keeping the tax breaks for parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

STATEWIDE

City Officer Charged In Colleague’s Death

EAST MEADOW — A rookie New York City police officer was arraigned on vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving charges on Saturday while still in the hospital after a one-car crash that killed a fellow off-duty rookie. Danielle Baymack, 22, pleaded not guilty to the charges. Nassau County police say Ms. Baymack, from Queens, was driving westbound at about 4:30 a.m. in Wantagh when her vehicle left the roadway, hit a guardrail, then a road sign, before coming to rest facing eastbound. Marlene Rivera, 24, the passenger in the front seat, was taken to Nassau University Medical Center. She was declared dead around 5 a.m. Ms. Baymack was arrested at the scene of the crash on Sunrise Highway near the Wantagh Parkway overpass. Both women were July graduates of the New York Police Academy. They were assigned to the 103rd Precinct in Queens.

— Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

Dead Infant Found In S.I. Playground

The badly decomposed body of an infant was found near a playground in the St. George section of Staten Island yesterday, police officials said. Authorities were notified after a man flagged down a fire department truck down to complain about a terrible smell coming from the Lopez Plaza Playground. Firefighters found a black trashcan and notified the police. The infant wasn’t identified yesterday, nor was it determined whether the body was that of a girl or a boy. The medical examiner is set to determine the infant’s cause of death today.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

Teenager Stabbed On Staten Island

A teenager was fatally stabbed in the St. George section of Staten Island early yesterday morning, police officials said. Robert D’Amato, 17, was found with a single stab wound to the chest outside Thompson Street and Bay Street at 2:15 a.m. He was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital, but pronounced dead an hour later. No arrests were made as of yesterday evening.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

Two Men Killed In Bronx Incidents

Two men were killed in separate incidents in the Bronx early yesterday morning, police officials said. At about 5:30 a.m., Michael Wilson, 46, was stabbed multiple times in the chest inside an apartment at 26 Mount Hope Place in the University Heights section of the Bronx, police said. He was pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital. Police arrested Jeffrey Williams, 47, on charges of murder. At 7:24 a.m., Simroy Spencer, 62, was beaten to death by his nephew inside an apartment at 2010 Bruckner Boulevard in Soundview section of the Bronx, police officials said. The nephew, Alrick Hemmings, 31, was arrested, but hadn’t been charged last night, police said.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun