CITYWIDE

Clinton’s Focus Has Already Shifted Past Election

Senator Clinton is so far ahead in the polls that she’s looking right passed next week’s election. Mrs. Clinton said yesterday that when Congress reconvenes she will propose a bill to crack down on identity theft. The bill, she said, would stop “electronic muggers” from preying on the finances and credit ratings of unknowing victims. Her proposal calls for civil damages for companies that have security breaches and mandates that credit card issuers verify the age of applicants so that they can find those who steal Social Security numbers from children. At a news conference in Lower Manhattan, Mrs. Clinton said the rules for getting a credit card are so lax that she and her friends were even able to get credit cards in the name of two dogs many years ago as an experiment. The senator also made an appearance at a Brooklyn church yesterday. At the event she didn’t even mention next week’s election, but got a standing ovation. Her Republican challenger, John Spencer, campaigned with Governor Pataki in Westchester County yesterday.

—Staff Reporter of the Sun

Funding Cuts Have Hurt City’s Workforce Programs

The city’s system for helping the working poor find jobs is under funded and lacks coordination, according to a report released yesterday by a City Council member representing the Upper West Side, Gale Brewer. The report examined the city’s Workforce 1 program, finding that funding cuts on the federal and local level in recent years have undermined its effectiveness. Ms. Brewer also said the city needed to make the job-finding and training services more accessible to New Yorkers. She suggested enhancing the system’s online component and adding language classes for residents who don’t speak English. Following the release last month of a report by the mayor’s Commission on Economic Opportunity, the Bloomberg administration is also working on programs to increase aid for low-income New Yorkers.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

FDNY Reports Rise In Minority Applicants

The Fire Department’s drive to get a more diverse applicant pool is paying off, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta announced. Mr. Scoppetta said Saturday that more than 20,000 people have applied to take the test to become a firefighter, and 35% of them are from minority groups. “The results are impressive,” Mr. Scoppetta said. Applicants have until November 3 to sign up for the test, which is given every four years. The federal government is investigating the FDNY for possible discrimination in its hiring practices. Of the FDNY’s 11,600 uniformed members, there are about 620 Hispanics, or 5%, and about 330 blacks — fewer than 3%. The department has just 30 women members and about 70 Asians.

— Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

Murder-Suicide În Brooklyn

Police are investigating what they described as a murder-suicide, after the bodies of a man and woman were found on a Brooklyn sidewalk yesterday. Police identified the two as Karen, 44, and Ioannis, 48, Skellas. According to police, investigators said they believe the man, of Eighth Avenue in Brooklyn, shot the woman in the head outside her East 2nd Street residence in Gravesend. Police said he then turned the shotgun on himself. The couple were reportedly going through a messy divorce, those familiar with the case said. Neighbors said they heard several shots around 12:50 p.m. Officers responding to a 911 call discovered the bodies – and a weapon – shortly afterward, police said. Last night, it was unclear what precipitated the shooting.

— Special to the Sun

Bronx Woman Struck, Killed in Riverdale

A Bronx woman was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver yesterday, police said. Police said around 2:35 p.m., the victim was struck by a car traveling southbound on the service road of the Henry Hudson Parkway in Riverdale. Police said Rachael Levy, of Shefflin Avenue in Eastchester, was pronounced dead at the scene. An investigation is ongoing.

— Special to the Sun