Hospital Closures Report: May Cause Delays in Care

In the midst of proposal that will likely close five city hospitals, the city comptroller released a report yesterday focusing on the effects closures will have on emergency services at nearby hospitals. The report suggests that closures could lead to influxes of patients at hospitals, slower turnaround times for ambulances, and reduced primary care for New Yorkers. According to the state comptroller, William Thompson, the state proposal primarily focuses on inpatient care, and gives little attention to emergency services. The report recommends that the New York City Emergency Medical Service publish a separate public analysis of the impact closures will have on emergency services. Governor-elect Spitzer supports the proposal to close the hospitals that will likely pass state legislature in January,2007.

— Special to the Sun

Union Runs Ad Defending Officers In Fatal Shooting

A police union representing four of the five officers involved in the shooting of Sean Bell took out a full-page newspaper advertisement on Thursday, asking the public to “withhold judgment” pending a complete investigation. “While it is important to acknowledge the tragic events of November 25, 2006 in Jamaica, Queens, it is equally important to separate fact from fiction and to set the record straight,” the Detectives’ Endowment Association said in the advertisement, which ran on page 41 of the New York Daily News. Similar radio spots will run through Friday, the union’s president, Michael Palladino, told the Associated Press.

— Special to the Sun

Bloomberg Defends Wall Street Bonuses

Mayor Bloomberg defended the record-high bonuses Wall Street doled out this month and said it makes no sense to cap them as some have proposed. “Why would you want to cap them?” he said, adding that the bonuses are “good news for this city” because the recipients are paying taxes and helping to keep the economy strong by buying things here. He said he wished the bonuses on all New Yorkers and noted that the big money makers also the most philanthropic. “That is where the big money comes from” for public projects, Bloomberg said.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun

21 Club Owner Dies at 99

Jerry Berns, the one-time affable host to New York’s rich and famous during a half-century connection with the renowned 21 Club, died yesterday, restaurant officials said. He was 99. Berns — or Mr. Jerry, as he was known — became one of the familiar faces at the celebrated club, grinning, shaking hands, and making certain that friends as well as strangers were treated royally. “He was a goodwill ambassador,” the general manager of the club, Bryan McGuire, said. “Over the 50 years that he was associated with the 21, he met more people than most people could meet in ten lifetimes.”

— Associated Press