WLIU: NYC Area News (2009-11-06)

AP-NYC-Right Now,1731

Latest news, sports, business and entertainment:

NYC MAYOR
AP NewsBreak: NYC mayor's Dem foe might run again

NEW YORK (AP) - The Democrat who came within 50,000 votes of
unseating billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg tells The
Associated Press that he's open to running again.
William Thompson Jr. also says he's not bitter that some
Democrats deserted his campaign when it seemed like a long shot.
Thompson said in an interview with the AP that he isn't ruling
out any option for his next step. That includes running for mayor
in 2013 or even a run for Congress.
The one thing he definitely won't do? Work in the Bloomberg
administration.
Thompson says his spending for this campaign will probably total
about $9 million, after all the bills have been paid.
Bloomberg likely spent more than 10 times that.

KERIK INVESTIGATION
Ex-NYC police commissioner Kerik pleads guilty

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) - Former New York City police
Commissioner Bernard Kerik (KEHR'-ihk) has pleaded guilty to lying
to the White House and says he'll also admit tax crimes.
Kerik made his first of an expected eight pleas on Thursday.
The plea bargain includes the prosecution's suggestion that the
crimes are punishable by 27 to 33 months in prison.
Thursday's pleads were designed to resolve three pending federal
criminal trials.
Kerik nearly became the U.S. Homeland Security chief in 2004.
The lies to the White House occurred during the Homeland Security
vetting process.
As commissioner, Kerik won praise nationwide for his steadiness
after 9/11.
The first of his trials had been scheduled to start Monday in
White Plains, N.Y.

MANHATTAN PROSECUTOR
Next Manhattan DA taps wide-ranging advisers

NEW YORK (AP) - A noted sex-crimes prosecutor,
wrongful-conviction experts and a former judge are among dozens of
people advising Manhattan's next district attorney on the first
changeover in the prominent prosecutor's office in 35 years.
Newly elected D.A. Cy Vance said Thursday his wide-ranging
transition team will make suggestions about such campaign
priorities as preventing wrongful convictions and assigning
prosecutors to neighborhoods to sharpen focus on crime patterns.
The 37-member group includes former jail commissioners, a
seminary professor, union officials, state Commission on Public
Integrity Chairman Michael Cherkasky and former sex crimes
prosecutor Linda Fairstein, now a best-selling novelist.
Vance was elected Tuesday to replace retiring incumbent Robert
Morgenthau.

TEACHER-LEWD MESSAGES
NY man accused of sending minors lewd messages

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) - A former New York City teacher sentenced to
prison for sending lewd computer messages to minors is facing the
same accusations on Long Island.
Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice says Bradley
Dieffenbacher ( DEE'-fen-bah-kehr) was arraigned Thursday on
charges of sending lewd instant messages to minors from a computer
at his Long Island job. His Legal Aid lawyer's name was not
immediately available. He is due back in court Nov. 12.
Dieffenbacher was sentenced to up to six years in prison for
violating probation in May, 2009, after his former employer told
authorities about the messages.
The 34-year-old former math teacher had been on probation since
his 2008 guilty plea to exchanging lewd instant messages with eight
boys from his Queens school.

DELIVERYMAN ROBBERIES
NYPD arrests suspect who posed as deliveryman

NEW YORK (AP) - Police have arrested a suspect they say posed as
a deliveryman to rob Manhattan apartments.
William Rodriguez is in police custody Thursday after a hot line
tip led police to him. He's been charged in three of the robberies
and is believed by the NYPD to be behind four others.
Police say the thief would grab boxes delivered to other
addresses and use them to force his way into homes. Once inside,
he'd tie up the victims, all women, and make off with cell phones,
laptops, jewelry and cash. All but one were uninjured. One woman
suffered a cut on her lip.
The robberies took place between October 9 and this week. It
wasn't clear whether the suspect had a lawyer and there's no phone
listing for him.

NYC TRANSIT HEAD
MTA names new head of NYC Transit

NEW YORK (AP) - The chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority says the new head of the agency that runs New York City's
buses and subways will be Thomas Prendergast.
MTA Chairman Jay Walder said Thursday that Prendergast will
start as president of New York City Transit on Dec. 1.
He was head of the Vancouver transit system, which Walder says
is one of the most sophisticated in the world.
Prendergast previously served as president of the Long Island
Rail Road and was senior vice president of subways for NYC Transit.
The former NYC Transit head resigned Wednesday amid a leadership
shakeup at the MTA.

MATTRESS FOUNDER-SON
Judge says NY murder suspect incompetent

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) - A judge has ruled that a Long Island man
accused of murdering his mother is not mentally fit to stand trial.
Eduardo Barragan, the son of businessman who founded the
1800Mattress.com company, was sent to a secure psychiatric facility
following Thursday's hearing in Nassau County Court in Mineola.
Authorities say Barragan beat 65-year-old Kay Barragan to death
in May following an argument at their Searingtown home.
Nassau County Judge David Sullivan said Barragan had been
examined by two psychiatrists, both of whom determined he is
mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Kay Barragan loaned her husband Napoleon $2,000 to start his
mattress company in 1976. The company filed for bankruptcy earlier
this year.
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Information from: Newsday, http://www.newsday.com

YANKEES-LETTERMAN
Jeter, Pettitte, Posada appear on 'Letterman'

NEW YORK (AP) - Andy Pettitte says on the "Late Show with David
Letterman" that winning the World Series is especially gratifying
in New York, where missing out on a championship is considered a
failure.
Pettitte and Yankees teammates Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada
appeared on the show Thursday night, a day after capturing the
franchise's 27th title. World Series MVP Hideki Matsui later joined
them on stage, carrying the championship trophy.
Pettitte says he's close to retirement and that pitching one
more season "would probably be good," because he wants to spend
more time with his kids. Jeter jokes Pettitte has been saying that
for about six straight years.

GIRARDI AIDS MOTORIST
Girardi stops to aid motorist after bagging Series

EASTCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - Yankees manager Joe Girardi capped a
victorious night by helping a car crash victim in suburban New
York.
Police say Girardi pulled over to help after a woman lost
control on a Westchester County parkway and crashed into a wall
around 2:30 a.m. Thursday.
That was just hours after Girardi's team claimed a World Series
victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Girardi tells WFAN-AM that he was "really concerned" because
of damage to the woman's car. He says he had his wife call 911,
then approached the mangled vehicle.
The woman had only cuts, and police arrived in minutes.
Girardi said she had no idea who he was.
Officer Kathleen Cristiano said seeing Girardi at the accident
scene later "was totally surreal."

WORLD SERIES-RATINGS
World Series ratings rebound from '08 record low

NEW YORK (AP) - World Series television ratings bounced back
from last year's record lows.
The Yankees' six-game victory over the Phillies on Fox averaged
an 11.7 rating and 19 share. That's the highest since a 15.8/26 in
2004, when the Red Sox swept the Cardinals to end an 86-year
championship drought.
It's up 39 percent from the record-low 8.4/14 for the 2008
Phillies-Rays series. Fox said Thursday that was the biggest
one-year increase ever.
Game 6 on Wednesday night earned a 13.4/22.
The rating is the percentage of households with televisions
tuned to a program. The share is the percentage of homes watching
among those with TVs in use at the time.

YANKEE PARADE FLOATS
NJ company constructs Yankees' parade floats

CLIFTON, N.J. (AP) - Inside a New Jersey warehouse, a dozen
floats that will transport the World Series champion New York
Yankees through lower Manhattan on Friday have been quickly taking
shape.
Fourteen workers at Bond Parade Floats in Clifton were putting
on the finishing touches late Thursday afternoon.
Owner Robert DeVito said the Yankees' ticker tape parade will be
his fifth since purchasing the Clifton company in 1983.
It's held New York City's parade contract since 1995 and also
prepared floats for the 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000 Yankees
championship teams.
The Bronx Bombers won their 27th championship Wednesday night.

KNICKS-LEBRON VISITS
Knicks set for LeBron's only visit this season

GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) - LeBron James is coming to town, and New
York is throwing a parade - for the World Series champion Yankees.
But by Friday night, Broadway will belong to the King.
This season's NBA schedule sends James and the Cleveland
Cavaliers to Madison Square Garden only once, which should be good
news for the Knicks.
He had 50 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in his last
2007-08 trip, then finished with 52 points and 11 assists last
February. James scored only 26 in the first matchup last season,
but that was only because he sat out the fourth quarter of a
blowout.
Knicks fans hope it's the last time he plays at the Garden as a
visitor. James can become a free agent on July 1 and New York has
cleared enough cap space to make a run at him.

TV-THE ONION
No, really: Onion, Comedy Central team on TV pilot

NEW YORK (AP) - ESPN had better watch its back.
Comedy Central has ordered a pilot from the satirical news
magazine The Onion.
The prospective half-hour scripted series will be based on The
Onion's Sports Network, an online video series that parodies sports
shows - especially those on ESPN.
Onion News Network director Will Graham says in a statement to
expect "the most intense sports coverage humanity has yet
witnessed."
A spokeswoman for Comedy Central says the pilot constitutes the
first collaboration between the two comedy institutions.
The Onion, founded in Madison, Wis., was long famous for its
mock headlines when it launched the "ONN" in 2007. That's its
online video department.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-11-06-09 0331EST