WLIU: New York Statewide News (2010-01-22)

AP-NYS--Right Now,1040

Latest New York news, sports, business and entertainment:

CRASH-TROOPER KILLED
NY state trooper died driving from job at school

MORRIS, N.Y. (AP) - State police officials say the first female
trooper to die while on duty was driving a cruiser back to the
Oneonta barracks from her assignment at a local school when she was
killed in a collision.
Police said 31-year-old Trooper Jill Mattice (muh-TYCE') was
traveling east on State Route 23 when she collided with the
westbound tractor-trailer Wednesday afternoon in the Otsego County
town of Morris.
Trooper say it was a side-impact collision, but the wreck
remains under investigation.
At a press conference Thursday, troopers said Mattice drifted
into the oncoming lane and that the driver of the truck was not at
fault.
The Cheektowaga native was a six-year veteran and had worked as
a school resource officer the past two years. She was married with
no children.

ATTACKS-LACKAWANNA
'Lackawanna Six' suspect in Yemen gets US lawyer

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - A Yemeni-American terror suspect now has a
lawyer to represent him against 6-year-old charges that he trained
with al-Qaida alongside the "Lackawanna Six."
But it's no guarantee he will ever face trial in the United
States.
Federal prosecutors say Jaber Elbaneh, who's in custody in
Yemen, asked for an American lawyer during a recent visit from U.S.
government officials.
A federal judge in Buffalo has assigned attorney James Grable
Jr., of Buffalo and told federal prosecutors to facilitate
communication between the two while Elbaneh is outside western New
York, where he once lived.
The judge also granted the government's request to unseal the
2003 indictment charging Elbaneh with contributing funds and
services to Osama bin Laden up until a month before the Sept. 11,
2001, terror attacks.
Elbaneh worked at a Buffalo cheese plant before leaving the
country.

UNEMPLOYMENT-NY
NY unemployment rate at 9 percent

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York state's unemployment rate rose to 9
percent in December, up from 8.6 percent in November and matching a
26-year-high.
The state labor department says New York City's jobless rate was
10.6 percent in December, up from 10 percent a month before. The
latest figures released Thursday show the number of unemployed New
Yorkers climbed to 868,600 in December, compared to 832,200 in
November. In December, the state lost 3,100 private sector jobs,
bringing to 263,500 jobs lost since the state went into recession
in 2008.
Outside New York City, the lowest rate in December - 5.3 percent
- was in Tompkins County. The highest rate was in 11.2 percent in
Hamilton County.

GOVERNOR'S RACE
Paterson willing to run in a primary against Cuomo

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York Gov. David Paterson said Thursday
he's prepared to run in a primary against anyone -- including the
more popular and better funded Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in
this year's governor's race.
In past months, Paterson has often noted that he wouldn't seek
election to the job he inherited after Eliot Spitzer resigned if
the public or other Democrats signaled he shouldn't run.
But days after campaign records showed he had a fifth of the
funds that Cuomo has and still trails him by a wide margin in the
polls, Paterson said he'd welcome a primary.
A Siena College poll released this week found Paterson's
approval rating rising for the third straight month, with 38
percent of registered voters having a favorable view of him.
That's up 11 points from October when Paterson started fighting
with the Legislature to cut spending.

ALBANY ETHICS
GOP says it may not help override ethics veto

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The Senate's Republican minority said
Thursday it might side with Democratic Gov. David Paterson and
block an attempt by ruling Democrats to override a veto of an
ethics bill the governor says is too weak.
Shortly after the Legislature passed its ethics bill, Paterson
announced he would veto it and sought to negotiate. No meetings
were planned as of Thursday. It was the latest clash between
Paterson and lawmakers in an increasingly contentious Capitol.
A Senate Democratic majority spokesman said Democrats ran on a
platform of reform in 2008, when they took the majority from
Republicans after decades of GOP control.

HUDSON PCBS
GE, EPA note higher PCB levels in Hudson dredging

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - General Electric says Hudson River dredging
released almost 25 times more PCBs into the water than expected.
The company is calling for changes in performance standards before
the massive Superfund cleanup resumes.
GE and the federal Environmental Protection Agency each released
draft evaluations Thursday of last year's dredging of PCB "hot
spots" north of Albany.
The dredging was a test run for the far larger Phase 2 of the
cleanup, which regulators want to start in 2011. The second phase
of dredging would represent about 90 percent of the cleanup and
could take five years.
Both GE and the EPA suggested changes for Phase 2 in their
preliminary reports, which are a key step in modifying the dredging
project.
Dredge crews hired by GE last year found greater concentrations
of PCBs than expected. Only 10 of 18 areas targeted for dredging in
the Fort Edward area were completed.

BUYING LAND
NY closing on 3 land deals despite moratorium plan

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The Paterson administration is completing
deals to buy the last two undeveloped Finger Lakes, 1,220 acres in
the Catskills and conservation rights to 89,000 acres of Adirondack
timberlands.
But the state is halting other purchases of wilderness and open
space in New York.
The Department of Environmental Conservation said Thursday
current dedicated funds will be used to buy 3-mile long Canadice
Lake and 7-mile-long Hemlock Lake. The two lakes south of Rochester
provide the city with water.
The state will also close on the Big Indian parcel by Belleayre
Ski Center in the Catskills and an easement on former Finch Pruyn
timberlands mainly in the central Adirondacks.
Gov. David Paterson has proposed a moratorium on land buys in
his budget plan for the fiscal year starting April 1.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-01-22-10 0331EST