CITYWIDE

Summer Power Failure Is Investigated

The state Public Service Commission at hearings yesterday told community members affected by a widespread summer blackout that a team of several dozen utility officials are investigating the summer’s power outages. The 10-day power failure provoked outrage in the northwest pocket of Queens. Business appears to have returned to normal along Ditmars Boulevard, a main Astoria thoroughfare that had been dotted with closed businesses and street-side generators when the area was plunged into darkness for 10 days in July affecting an estimated 100,000 people. Local politicians and community activists have blamed the utility, Consolidated Edison, for neglecting the borough — allegations the state commission is examining.

— Special to the Sun

City Council Republican Takes On Limbaugh

The Republican leader of the City Council yesterday criticized a conservative radio host, Rush Limbaugh, for his comments suggesting that actor Michael J. Fox was exaggerating or faking the effects of Parkinson’s disease in a political TV advertisement. “Why people listen to this fool is beyond me,” Council Member James Oddo said of Mr. Limbaugh as he stood in the council chamber at City Hall. Mr. Oddo, who represents Staten Island, is one of three Republicans on the 51-member council and frequently opposes laws and resolutions passed by the liberal body. His diatribe earned a standing ovation from Charles Barron, who is considered the council’s most radical member.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

Pedestrians Killed In Two Accidents

Two pedestrians were killed in separate traffic accidents yesterday, police said. Around 12:30 p.m., an Algonquin Hotel employee, Pedro Vasquez Rodriguez, 56, of Davidson Avenue, Bronx, was struck while crossing West 44th Street at Sixth Avenue, half a block from the hotel, when a truck struck him and crushed his head under its wheels. Police said no criminality was suspected. In an earlier accident, around 11:10 a.m., police said a woman crossing 65th Street in Bensonhurst was hit by a truck. The woman was pronounced dead at Maimonides Hospital.

— Special to the Sun

IN THE COURTS

‘Hate Crime’ Indictment in Plumb Beach Murder

Three men accused of murdering a gay man in Brooklyn were indicted on hate crime charges yesterday, after prosecutors said they targeted the victim because of his sexual orientation. The defendants met 28-year-old Michael Sandy in an online gay chat room on October 8, then lured him to Plumb Beach for a sexual encounter, the Brooklyn district attorney said. After the men attempted to beat and rob him, Sandy stumbled into the Belt Parkway and was struck by oncoming traffic. He died October 13 after his family removed him from life support. Yesterday, prosecutors indicted John Fox, 19, Ilya Shurov, 20, and Anthony Fortunato, 20, on charges of seconddegree murder as a hate crime.

— Special to the Sun

Fake Patient Bilks Elderly Man of $208K

A New Jersey woman was indicted yesterday for posing as a nurse and cheating an 81-year-old man out of $208,300, the Manhattan district attorney announced. Prosecutors said Janet Costello, 31, posed as a visiting nurse and convinced the victim to give her money for supposed breast cancer surgery, chemotherapy, and medical insurance between September 2005 and March 2006. According to prosecutors, in one instance the man gave her $42,000 for surgery, but Ms. Costello bought herself a 2006 Hummer instead. The woman does not have cancer and is not a nurse, prosecutors said. Prosecutors charged Ms. Costello with second- and third-degree grand larceny. If convicted, she could face up to 22 years in prison.

— Special to the Sun