WLIU: NYC Area News (2009-11-23)

AP-NYC--Right Now,1451

Latest New York news, sports, business and entertainment:

POLICE SHOOTING
ME: Teen killed by NYC police was shot 11 times

NEW YORK (AP) - New York City's medical examiner's office says a
teenager killed by police following a chase was shot 11 times.
Medical examiner spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said Sunday that
18-year-old Dashawn Vasconcellos died of multiple gunshot wounds to
the torso, neck and extremities.
Police shot and killed the teenager late Saturday after they say
he pointed a gun at officers and refused orders to drop it. The
suspect did not fire his weapon.
In 2008, a judge acquitted three police officers in the fatal
shooting of Sean Bell, an unarmed man killed in a 50-shot barrage
on his wedding day.
Ten years ago, 22-year-old Amadou Diallo was killed when he was
struck 19 times by bullets fired by police officers. The officers
were acquitted in the shooting.

FOOD EMERGENCIES
Study: NYC food emergencies up 21 percent

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The recession may be easing, yet the urgent
need to feed New York's hungry is still sharp.
A new report from the New York City Coalition Against Hunger
says the number of people seeking emergency food assistance in New
York City is up almost 21 percent over last year. At the same time,
agencies were better able to meet that demand despite the shaky
economy.
Agencies in New York and around the state have been able to help
more people with a boost from federal stimulus funds.
The report released Monday found that 51 percent of the agencies
responding to the survey reported an increase in federal Emergency
Food Assistance Program funding. The recovery bill included an
extra $2.3 million in funding for New York City this year.

SEPT 11 TRIAL-DEFENDANTS
Lawyer: 9/11 defendants seek platform for views

NEW YORK (AP) - A lawyer for one of the five men facing trial
for the Sept. 11 attacks says the men plan to plead not guilty and
use the trial venue to express their political views.
Attorney Scott Fenstermaker says his client Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali
and the others will not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but
will tell the jury "why they did it."
He said that the men will explain "their assessment of American
foreign policy."
Fenstermaker met with Ali last week at the U.S. prison at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He has not spoken with the others but said
the men have discussed the trial among themselves.
The Justice Department announced earlier this month that the men
would face a civilian federal trial in a New York City courthouse.
The department did not immediately respond to a call seeking
comment.

HOMES BURN
4-alarm fire in Bronx declared under control

NEW YORK (AP) - Officials say four firefighters sustained minor
injuries and another person has been hospitalized for smoke
inhalation at the site of a four-alarm fire in the Bronx that
engulfed at least four houses.
A fire official said early Monday the blaze on Findlay Avenue
was declared under control shortly after midnight, three hours
after the first call.
More than 200 firefighters responded to the fire. Fire marshals
will investigate the cause of the blaze.
The officials says the fire started in one house and spread to
adjacent buildings.

SUBWAY STABBING
Victim in fatal NYC subway stabbing identified

NEW YORK (AP) - A subway passenger stabbed to death in a dispute
over a seat has been identified as 36-year-old Dwight Johnson of
Brooklyn.
Johnson was pronounced dead at the midtown Manhattan station
where the train stopped after the attack at about 2 a.m. Saturday.
Thirty-seven-year-old Gerardo Sanchez of the Bronx was charged
with murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the slaying on
the northbound "D" train.
Sanchez had not yet been arraigned on the charges as of Sunday
afternoon.
Police said Sanchez was standing over the bloodied victim when
the train doors opened at the Seventh Avenue station.

NY STATE BUDGET-PATERSON
NY gov to lawmakers: Put the people first
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York's Gov. David Paterson is telling
lawmakers they should put the people first, not powerful special
interests - and deal with the state's $3.2 billion deficit.
Paterson is releasing a letter to all 212 lawmakers that says
the warnings to the state are clear if the Legislature doesn't act.
He is holding out hope for cooperation in the coming days.
Last week, Paterson said he could require lawmakers to be in
Albany during the Thanksgiving holiday if they don't broker deals
to cut spending and save New York cash.

RHODES SCHOLARS-NY
NY Rhodes Scholar worked on malaria prevention

NEW YORK (AP) - A Swarthmore College graduate from suburban New
York who helped fight malaria in Uganda has been named a Rhodes
Scholar.
Mark Dlugash is one of 32 winners announced Sunday for the
scholarships that provide all expenses for two or three years of
study at the University of Oxford in England.
The 23-year-old Dlugash graduated from Swarthmore in 2008 and
lives in the Larchmont, N.Y., north of New York City.
He spent a summer helping to secure bed nets for children in
Uganda to protect them from mosquitoes that carry malaria.
Dlugash also worked with a Philadelphia nonprofit organization
helping refugees apply for political asylum.
He plans to study forced migration at Oxford.

RI-BISHOP-CUOMO
NY's Cuomo no stranger to church-state friction

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo (KWOH-moh)
says church leaders should be cautious about pressuring Catholic
politicians over issues such as abortion because people might not
vote for someone they think is guided by religion.
Cuomo's comments come as Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy spars
with a bishop over his public stance on moral issues including
abortion. Kennedy says Bishop Thomas Tobin has asked him not to
receive communion.
In 1984, Cuomo delivered a speech at the University of Notre
Dame saying Catholic lawmakers shouldn't be pressured by church
leaders to work for anti-abortion legislation.
He tells The Associated Press that asking Catholic leaders to
force their faith on everybody they represent would alienate
people.

AIRPORT QUAGMIRE
Holidays will again test NYC air travel bottleneck

NEW YORK (AP) - Fewer people are expected to fly this holiday
season. But travelers shouldn't expect a full reprieve from the
horrid flight delays of Thanksgivings past, especially if they are
headed to New York City.
Despite some recent improvements, the Big Apple's three major
airports continue to make up the worst air travel bottleneck in the
country.
Newark, LaGuardia and Kennedy ranked first, second and third
worst in on-time arrivals among major U.S. airports for the first
nine months of the year.
About a third of all flights into Newark and LaGuardia have come
in late this year, with things just a little better at JFK.
Aviation officials have been working on the problem for two
years.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY
NY saves $3.1 million in energy efficiency program

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Turning off lights, turning down the heat
and buying with an eye toward energy efficiency is saving New York
more than $3.1 million so far this fiscal year.
The energy efficiency program for state offices was aimed at
promoting the idea publicly. But the payoff halfway through the
fiscal year is also a boost for the cash-strapped state.
State General Services Commissioner John Egan says the savings
include a new natural gas contract and retrofitting more state
buildings to be more energy efficient.
Halfway through the fiscal year, Egan says the state's energy
bill is down 5.15 percent compared to the first half of last year
and down more than 13 percent from 2007.

100-PROOF TURKEY
NYC bar: We ID for our 100-proof Thanksgiving bird

NEW YORK (AP) - You'll need to be 21 to take a bite out of this
Thanksgiving turkey.
New York City tavern owner Paul Hurley said he'll unveil what he
is calling the nation's first 100-proof turkey on Monday.
A spokesman for the owner of O'Casey's Tavern in Midtown
Manhattan says that the bird is infused with fruit-flavored and
100-proof Georgi vodka for three days before being cooked.
The flavors of vodka include peach, raspberry, cherry and apple.
The gravy is also laced with the distilled liquor.
Out of concern for the danger of drinking-and-driving, the
tavern is offering free taxi ride home to anyone who orders the
turkey.
It wasn't immediately clear how much it will cost to have some
of the boozy bird.

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

AP-NY-11-23-09 0331EST