POLICE BLOTTER

Woman’s Body Found Inside Burning Home

A Brooklyn woman was found strangled and burned inside her East Flatbush apartment yesterday, police said. Firefighters discovered the body of Marie Bontemps, 47, around 2 a.m. yesterday, when they were responding to a residential fire on Troy Avenue. After quenching the flames, firefighters found the woman’s body inside the basement apartment where she lived, police said. The death has been classified as a homicide.

— Special to the Sun

Two Men Robbed, One Shot Outside Nightclub

Two men were robbed and one was shot in the leg after exiting a Chelsea nightclub early yesterday morning, police said. Police said two suspects, Eric Harding, 36, and Patrick Day, 38, both of Brooklyn, were arrested hours later on assault and robbery charges when their car collided with another in Midtown.

— Special to the Sun

String of Robberies Hits Queens Neighborhood

Police are investigating a string of at least eight robberies near Flushing Meadow Park in Queens. In the most recent case, police said a man was walking near the park around 6:40 p.m. on Monday night, when he was badly beaten and robbed by two suspects who fled on bicycles. Police said they believe the same suspects are responsible for similar assaults and robberies near the park over the past month.

— Special to the Sun

IN THE COURTS

Hospital Sues Panel In Bid To Avoid Shutdown

Cabrini Medical Center is suing the state commission that recommended closing the Manhattan hospital as part of a plan to restructure the state’s health care system. The 474-bed hospital claims that the New York State Commission on Healthcare Facilities in the 21st Century violated New York’s open meetings and administrative procedure acts and contends that the law creating the commission was invalid under the state constitution.

— Associated Press

Legal Group ‘Approves’ Of Candidates for Judge

The New York City Bar Association is saying that each of the seven candidates eligible for an opening on the state’s highest court is qualified for the job. One of Governor-elect Spitzer’s first official acts as governor will be to pick an associate justice to replace a retiring judge, Albert Rosenblatt, to the Court of Appeals. Mr. Spitzer is bound to choose from seven candidates who have been screened by a state commission. The city bar’s executive committee gave a rating of “approved” to each candidate yesterday.

— Staff Reporter of the Sun