CITYWIDE

Six Months Later, Rescued Cat ‘Molly’ Is Attracting Attention

She’s not stuck in a wall anymore, but Molly the cat is as curious as ever, and still considerably famous. Six months after the black cat was rescued from the innards of a Greenwich Village building, her guardians say she’s adjusting well to her freedom and getting visits from tourists and celebrity-hounds. Molly, now 18 months old, spent 14 days in April trapped in the walls of the 157-year-old building, which houses Myers of Keswick, the British specialty foods deli where Molly lives. Rescuers used drills, miniature cameras, and a raw fish to lure Molly out. A pet psychic even tried to help, and the drama got international attention. In the end, a volunteer pulled the cat from a crawl space after rescuers drilled and hammered-out bricks in the cellar. Enough people have stopped by Myers of Keswick to see Molly since that Ben Allen, a deli employee, said he’s considering printing Tshirts that declare “I met Molly at Myers.””She’s just fine,” said Mr. Allen, 34. “If she was older, 14 days in a hole would have finished her off, but she was young enough to bounce back from anything.” The building, pockmarked from holes Molly’s rescuers created trying to find her, has been repaired thanks to more than $1,000 in donations to a fund created in her name. Molly’s adventures may not be over. Mr. Allen said that at least once he caught her peering in the same hole she entered before her 14-day ordeal.

— Associated Press

Clinton Daughter Takes New Job at Hedge Fund

Chelsea Clinton has started working for Avenue Capital Group, a hedge fund that manages about $12 billion in assets, the agency that represents Ms. Clinton confirmed Saturday. New York-based Avenue Capital specializes in trading in distressed debt, or debt of companies that are nearing or have filed for bankruptcy. Ms. Clinton, 26, had been working as a consultant for McKinsey & Co. since 2003, reportedly for a six-figure salary. She received a master’s degree from Oxford University after graduating from Stanford University in 2001. Details, such as when she started work at Avenue Capital, her exact role and salary, were not released by the representing agency, Rubenstein Associates. Ms. Clinton shouldn’t have to worry about the political leanings of Avenue Capital’s top executives. Federal records indicate Avenue Capital founders Marc Lasry and Sonia Gardner have donated thousands of dollars to Democratic lawmakers, including Ms. Clinton’s mother, Senator Clinton, as well as to Democratic campaign committees. Spokesmen for Chelsea Clinton’s father, President Clinton, and her mother declined to comment Saturday. Messages left with Avenue Capital were not immediately returned.

— Associated Press

POLICE BLOTTER

One Dead, Three Injured After Club Fight Uptown

A Bronx man was stabbed to death, and three others injured, after a dispute at an Upper Manhattan lounge early yesterday, police said. According to police, the fight broke out inside a lounge on Dyckman Street in Inwood around 4:15 a.m.,then spilled outside where the victims were stabbed and injured. Among the victims, police identified Jose Orroyo, 24, of Cambreleng Avenue in the Bronx, who was stabbed twice and pronounced dead at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. Police said an 18-year-old man was stabbed in the stomach, and a 27-year-old man was stabbed once on the left side of his back. A 26-year-old woman was punched in the face, and had cuts on her back and head, police said. As of last night, police said an investigation was ongoing.

— Special to the Sun

Man Found Dead In Queens Basement

The beaten and partially decomposed body of a Queens man was found inside the basement of his home Saturday, police said. According to police, the 57-year-old victim appeared to have been beaten, suffering blunt force trauma to the head. He was discovered around 5:45 p.m. inside his 96th Street residence in Ozone Park. According to police, officers were dispatched after family members reported the man missing. As of yesterday, police did not identify the victim pending the Medical Examiner’s investigation.

— Special to the Sun

Police: Minivan Driver Had Seizure, Causing Fatal Accident

The driver of a careening minivan that caused a fatal, multi-car accident in Queens on Saturday lost control after suffering a seizure while at the wheel, police said yesterday. The accident killed three and injured seven others, according to police. Police said the 43-year-old driver of a Ford Windstar was heading south on Springfield Boulevard when he struck several cars stopped at a red light near 143 Street in South Jamaica. Three passengers in a Dodge Neon were killed, including Jesse Rutledge, Sr., 80, his son Jesse Rutledge, Jr., 47, and Zetteleen Smith, 24. Police reported seven others injured, including the 43-year-old driver, and his sons, ages 3 and 11. According to police, the boys were removed from the van, which flipped over after striking the other cars.

— Special to the Sun

IN THE COURTS

Federal Charges Urged After Alleged Beating Of Muslim Man

The alleged hate-crime beating of a Pakistani man by a group of Jewish teenagers has rattled the city’s Muslim community and spurred calls for a federal investigation by an advocacy group. “It’s an indication of the kind of thing that we’re seeing as a growing phenomenon, tied to a sharp rise in the anti-Muslim sentiment in our society,” Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, said of the Brooklyn case. Prosecutors have charged five teens with hate crimes in what they describe as a brutal beating of the 24-year-old Muslim man, Shahid Amber, last weekend. Mr. Amber says he was eating ice cream outside a Dunkin’ Donuts near his home last Sunday night when a group of 10 to 15 youth wearing yarmulkes began taunting him, calling him a “terrorist.” He says he tried to ignore them, but they came over, and one knocked his ice cream out of his hand. “As I was cleaning my face, I noticed a punch coming at my face with brass knuckles on it.” The five defendants — Yitzi Horowitz, 15, David Brach, 15,Yossi Friedman, 17, Shulomi Bitton, 16, and Benjamin Wasserman, 16, all from Brooklyn — have been charged as adults with several crimes, including menacing and assault as a hate crime. However, Irit Bitton, mother of Shulomi Bitton, told the Daily News that her son was not biased. “My son was just standing over there and he did not touch anybody,” she said. “He’s a sensitive boy. He wouldn’t even kill a fly.” The advocacy group has urged federal charges against Mr. Amber’s accused attackers. “I think intervention by the Justice Department would send a strong message that anti-Muslim attacks would not be tolerated in America,” Mr. Hooper said.

— Associated Press