CITYWIDE

Weiner Seeks Funding For COPS Program

Rep. Anthony Weiner, who represents parts of Queens and Brooklyn, is criticizing the White House and the Republican Congress for nixing a Clinton-era federal program called COPS in Schools that funds about 50 police officers for schools in New York City’s 1,200 public schools. Outside Washington Irving High School yesterday afternoon — a school near Union Square that requires students to pass through metal detectors — Mr. Weiner proposed legislation that would make $350 million available in federal grants to municipalities that would boost the number of officers the program funds by 154 in New York City and about 2,000 nationwide. Congressional budgets haven’t included funds for the program since 2005, a spokesman for the Community Oriented Policing Services office of the Department of Justice, David Buchanan, said. The White House did not return phone calls Sunday seeking comment.

— Special to the Sun

Bloomberg Seeks Support of Anti-Gun Initiative in Queens

Mayor Bloomberg called upon members of one of the largest black churches in the city to get behind his crusade against illegal guns yesterday, saying a disproportionate number of New Yorkers killed by gun violence are African American. “We have to do something and I need your support,” Mr. Bloomberg told members of the Greater Allen A.M.E Cathedral in Queens.”We’ve got to stand up and say no more, we’re not going to take it. We’ve got to get guns off our streets.” Mr. Bloomberg’s appearance at the church, which is run by one of his closest political allies, Reverend Floyd Flake, was his first since the Sunday after winning re-election last year. The mayor also told the congregation the state should change current law and clear the way for doctors to automatically test patients for HIV and AIDS. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adopted that as a new policy a few weeks ago. The measure is, however, expected to face opposition in New York state, which passed a law in the 1980s that would preclude it from automatic testing.

—Staff Reporter of the Sun

STATEWIDE

Schumer Says Food Supply Is At Risk

Senator Schumer said yesterday the three deaths from spinach tainted with E. coli and the recall of 5,200 pounds of ground beef that may be contaminated with the same strain of the bacteria are clear signs “to get our food safety house in order.” Mr. Schumer said federal efforts to monitor the food supply are hampered because of jurisdictional tangles and a lack of funding at the Food and Drug Administration, the agency with oversight of non-meat food products. He is co-sponsoring legislation, authored by Senator Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, and co-sponsored by Senator Clinton, to create a new unified Food Safety Agency. Under current law, the United States Department of Agriculture has the responsibility of protecting the nation’s meat and poultry supply, while the FDA has oversight over fruits, vegetables, and other food products. Mr. Schumer said he would push to overhaul federal oversight of the food supply in response to the E. coli outbreak. The Food Safety Act would make one new federal agency responsible for food safety monitoring. The legislation would require food producers to code their products so that those products can be quickly traced in the event of a food-borne illness outbreak. It would also require that food processing plants have procedures in place to prevent and reduce food contamination, require regular inspection of domestic food facilities with frequency based on risk, and give the FDA recall authority.

— Associated Press

Flight 93 Memorial Board To Hold Meetings

The government board charged with planning a permanent memorial to the victims of Flight 93 will hold meetings in New York and San Francisco next year in an effort to engage people from other parts of the country. United Airlines Flight 93 was en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when it was hijacked on September 11, 2001, and crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pa. The Flight 93 Federal Advisory Commission voted Saturday to hold quarterly conferences in San Francisco on April 28, 2007, and New York on October 27, 2007. The other two meetings will be held January 27 and July 28 in Somerset, N.J. where the talks usually take place. The commission also approved a planning oversight committee that will help determine the exhibits included at the memorial. Congress passed the Flight 93 Memorial Act, which established a national park to honor the victims. The permanent memorial is being planned for a 1,700-acre site in Shanksville at an estimated cost of $58 million. A temporary memorial that includes a 10-foot-tall chain-link fence stuffed with American flags, firefighters’ helmets, yellow ribbons and drawings from children has been erected near the crash site, which is not open to the public.

— Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

Man Shot in Brooklyn

A man was fatally shot in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn early yesterday morning, police officials said. Officers responding to a 911 call found Curtis White, 49, lying dead in front of his home at 10 Amboy St. He was shot in the chest. Police made no arrests last night, and no descriptions were given for suspects.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

Fisherman Missing Off Breezy Point

Police divers and aviation units were searching the waters off Breezy Point in the Rockaway peninsula in Queens for the body of a 21-year-old fisherman last night after he disappeared from the boat, police officials said. He apparently fell overboard while fishing, police said. The man was not identified last night.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

Man Makes Fatal Leap

A 22-year-old man fell to his death after trying to leap between two buildings in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, police officials said. The man, identified as Alexander Vauvel, was attending a party on the roof of 460 Prospect Place. He tried to leap onto the roof of 462 Prospect Place, but fell into an alleyway, where he was pronounced dead.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

Karaoke Turns Deadly In Queens

A 21-year-old man was fatally assaulted at a karaoke restaurant in the Flushing section of Queens early yesterday morning, police officials said. Two men were assaulted by a group of men after a verbal argument at the establishment, located at 157 Northern Boulevard. One of the members of the group allegedly hit Junghwa Lee, 25, in the head with a baseball bat, killing him. The man’s 21-year-old friend was also attacked, but he was in stable condition last night.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun