CITYWIDE

Cleaner Water Brings Wood-Eating Critters To Local Waterways

The city’s floating Waterfront Museum was springing leak after leak, and the holes were getting so bad that they couldn’t be plugged anymore. Captain David Sharps sent the antique wooden barge upriver for repairs, then discovered another big problem when he went looking for the dock. It was gone. Practically the entire pier had fallen into the water. The museum and pier had fallen victim to wood-eating critters called shipworms and gribbles — bothersome creatures that have been flourishing around New York City in recent years because of improved water quality. “As the river gets cleaner, it’s easier for things to live in it,” Chris Martin of the Hudson River Park Trust said of the return of the tiny mollusks and crustaceans. Many of the region’s older waterside structures — from the South Street Seaport to the Jersey City waterfront — have had to be expensively refitted or abandoned entirely. The fact that these creatures have been thriving in New York is quite a turnaround. The water was once so filthy that early 20th-century sailors could be sure their wooden boats would be safe from such threats.But, experts say shipworms began returning to the region in the 1990s. Earlier this year, scientists found evidence of two shipworms near the wooden supports of the Tappan Zee Bridge. For now, the Hudson River Park Trust are taking steps to maintain many of the original piers along Manhattan’s coastline. That fallen-in dock has since been abandoned, and the Waterfront Museum now sits at a structure of stone and steel.

— Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

Men Killed in Two Separate Bronx Incidents

Two men were shot and killed in separate incidents in the Bronx late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, police officials said. At about 9 p.m. on Saturday, Steven Riveria, 29, was shot multiple times while sitting in a car in front of 2122 Watson Ave., police said. Police arrested one man, who was carrying a handgun, Clifton Minton, 20. At about 12:39 a.m., two men were shot at the corner of Creston Avenue and 183rd Street. One of the men, Vericio Vega, 22, died at the hospital from a gunshot wound to his chest. The other man, who wasn’t identified, was in stable condition with a bullet wound to the arm. No arrests had been made as of last night.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

STATEWIDE

Clinton, Former Bills Star Team Up

BUFFALO — Not long ago, Republicans were courting former Buffalo Bills star Jim Kelly to run against Democratic Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. But yesterday, the Hall of Fame quarterback and the former first lady teamed up to fight for legislation that would increase screening for potentially fatal diseases in newborns.”To me, it doesn’t matter if they’re Democrat or Republican when it comes to children,” said Mr. Kelly, whose son Hunter died last year from Krabbe disease. “She (Clinton) has made a difference for so many people, not only in New York, but across the country.” Mrs. Clinton introduced bipartisan legislation, the SHINE Act, that would help establish a federal standard for newborn screening. Mrs. Clinton said that while New York screens for 44 diseases, some states screen for less than 10. Mr. Kelly said New York was the first state to test for Krabbe disease, but the test wasn’t available when his son was born in 1997. Mr. Kelly and his wife, Jill, established the Hunter’s Hope Foundation when their son was diagnosed with Krabbe four months after he was born. The foundation has raised millions of dollars for research.

— Associated Press

State Gives $2M For Housing Help After Floods

ALBANY — Three months after severe flooding chased hundreds of families from homes and caused 12 upstate counties to declare a disaster, the state is giving $2 million to eight of those counties for temporary housing aid and living expenses. The Governor’s Office for Small Cities announced the move yesterday. The money will be divided among more than 850 affected households in Broome, Delaware, Herkimer, Montgomery, Oneida, Otsego, Sullivan and Tioga counties. Each county will get $250,000 for low and moderate income households. The money is part of the state’s $35 million disaster relief program announced shortly after the late June floods swept through the Southern Tier and the Mohawk Valley.

— Associated Press

TRISTATE

Corzine, Lautenberg Rally Behind Menendez

NEWARK, N.J. — A day after a published report identified a jailed North Jersey political boss as a source of negative information in Tom Kean Jr.’s U.S. Senate campaign, the state’s most prominent Democrats slammed the Republican for using a convicted felon to orchestrate a sleaze campaign against his opponent. Governor Corzine and Senator Lautenberg yesterday rallied behind Democratic Senator Menendez, who’s locked in an increasingly bitter battle against Mr. Kean for New Jersey’s open U.S. Senate seat. Mr. Corzine and Mr. Lautenberg called on Mr. Kean to pull the campaign out of the gutter and to start debating important issues. Mr. Corzine called Mr. Kean’s attack against Mr. Menendez “an unprecedented low in political campaigns in New Jersey and maybe anywhere in the country.” He also said he was “surprised and distressed” that the son of respected former governor Tom Kean Sr. would stoop to such lows. Mr. Corzine called Mr. Kean’s latest move”one more in a series of shameless campaign tactics,” and noted, “not all Republicans do this. There are a lot of classy individuals” in the opposing party. Mr. Menendez, 52, represented Hudson County in the U.S. House of Representatives for 13 years before being appointed to the Senate in January to finish Mr. Corzine’s term. With five weeks to go until Election Day, the Menendez-Kean race is in a dead heat, according to recent independent polls.

— Associated Press