WLIU: Metropolitan Area News (2007-08-27)

AP-NYC--Right Now,1659

Latest New York metro news, sports, business and entertainment:

DEUTSCHE BANK-FIRE
Repair work resumes at ground zero tower after fire, accident

NEW YORK (AP) - Several streets around the Deutsche (DOY-chuh)
Bank building are closed to traffic until further notice.
Debris removal, scaffold repair and installation of netting that
was burned in the August 18th fire at the building resumed this
weekend.
All work was stopped at the tower on Thursday after a piece of
equipment fell and injured two firefighters on the ground.
The building's owner says no workers on the job are from the
John Galt subcontractor. Galt was dropped from the building's
cleanup and demolition last week for safety violations.
Residents whose homes face the partially demolished tower should
close their windows until the work is finished.

SCHOOL ENROLLMENT
NYC opens centers for elementary, middle, high school
enrollment

NEW YORK (AP) - The New York City Department of Education says
students can begin registering today for fall classes.
The agency is opening 15 temporary registration centers today to
enroll new and returning high school, elementary and middle school
students who do not have a zoned school.
Zoned schools draw children from their immediate geographic
region. Students at those schools can register for classes
beginning September 4th.
Enrollment staff at the registration centers are expected to be
available to help students and their parents complete registration.
The Department of Education says interpretation services will be
offered at the centers.

HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS
Lawmakers, emergency responders plan LI hurricane Town Hall
meeting

PATCHOGUE, N.Y. (AP) - Long Island lawmakers and emergency
responders plan to hold a Town Hall meeting today to discuss how
residents can prepare for future hurricanes.
Members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and New York
State Emergency Management Office are expected to participate and
answer questions. The meeting at the Patchogue (Pat-CHAHG) Fire
Department is open to the public.
The last major New York-area hurricane was the Long Island
Express of 1938, which swept up the Eastern seaboard. Seven-hundred
people died.

FATAL CRASH
Driver dies eight hours after crash

HOLBROOK, N.Y. (AP) - A Holbrook, Long Island man who crashed on
Broadway Avenue early yesterday has died from his injuries. Suffolk
County Police say Daniel Johns lost control of his Cadillac, jumped
the curb and hit a tree. The crash was at 4:24 a.m. Sunday.
Johns was transported to Stony Brook University Medical Center
where he died about eight hours later.
Police say Johns may have been speeding before the crash.

NYACK PARKING
Nyack to change parking meters rules - it's going to cost you

NYACK, N.Y. (AP) - Nyack is changing it's parking times - it's
going to cost you more. Beginning September 4th, the parking meters
will be in effect until 9 p.m. Currently the meters stop collecting
quarters at 6 p.m. The price of an hour will jump from 25 cents to
50 cents. And it will be one-dollar an hour in busy sections of
Broadway and Main Street.
The Nyack Parking Authority and the village board decided to
increase the hours to encourage turnover and free up parking spots
in the busy evening hours. Under the new policy, drivers will pay
for meters from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, instead
of the current schedule of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The change in hours was one of several recommendations made in a
Nyack parking study released in January.
The village also dropped two hours of enforcement in the morning
because the study showed there was no turnover problem before 11
a.m.
Mayor John Shields was not in favor of extending the parking
meters to the night-time - when Nyack gets a lot of visitors to
restaurants and nightclubs.
There willl be a three month transition period - so no tickets
will be given until January. Instead of tickets - reminder cards
will be placed in windshields telling drivers the meters are still
in effect.

ANTI-SEMITIC VANDALISM
Nassau Police investigate anti-semitic vandalism in Plainview

PLAINVIEW, N.Y. (AP) - Nassau County police are investigating
anti-Semetic vandalism in Plainview. Police say sometime between 9
p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday, someone used red spray paint to
mark up signs, bleacher seats and a slide with a swastika,
anti-Semitic slurs and racial slurs at an Oyster Bay Town park at
Lindsay Street and Sally Lane.
Detectives photographed the graffiti and by yesterday town
workers had repaired the damage.
Nassau Police ask anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers
at 1-800-244-TIPS.

HOMELESS SLAYING
Arrest in killing of homeless man last year

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) - Suffolk police have arrested a
Copiague man and charged him with the June 2006 slaying of a
homeless man. Police say 24-year-old Jaudon Bunn is being held
without bail after being arraigned Saturday on second degree murder
charges.
Police say Bunn fired multiple shots into a B-M-W that was
parked at an apartment complex on Great Neck Road in North
Amityville, back on JJune 16th, 2006.
A homeless man - 24-year-old Glenn Jamison - was shot as he sat
in the front passenger seat.
Two other people were in the car. One of them was injured.
Prosecutors say Bunn's palm print was found on the BMW. Police
arrested Bunn as he stood on a street corner in Amityville on
Friday.

PUTNAM PARAMEDICS
Putnam legislators to reconsider funding paramedics

CARMEL, N.Y. (AP) - Some Putnam County legislators say they may
have made a mistake in canceling paramedics for the last two months
of this year. The Advanced Life Support - or A-L-S - service
provided by Empire Ambulance Company says it needs 160-thousand
dollars to finish out the year. The Putnam Legislature voted two
weeks ago not to approve the money, and to cancel the service.
However more than 250 doctors and nurses at the Putnam Hospital
Center sent a petition to the legislature saying the advanced life
support is a necessary life saving program that goes beyond
politics.
Legislator Regina Morini - who voted against the ambulance money
- says she's changing her mind. She rode with paramedics Friday
night. She said she never realized the difference between the paid
paramedics and the volunteer ambulance e-m-t's.
She says in several cases the paramedic assumed control at the
scene, administered I-Vs and did other advanced life support that
the E-M-T couldn't do.
The legislators meet at 7 p.m. tonight to consider the extra
funding.
Empire Ambulance says it needs 160-thousand dollars to finish
the last two months of this year. It also asked for 985-thousand
dollars for 2008. The county had budgeted 485-thousand for the
A-L-S service in 2007.

MAN FOUND
Police: Dead man found floating in the Harlem River

NEW YORK (AP) - New York City police have removed a dead man
from the Harlem River.
Police say they got a call yesterday about a man floating in the
river near East 139th Street and Harlem River Drive.
Upon arrival, emergency responders found the man and pronounced
him dead.
The medical examiner's office will determine the cause of death.
Police say there was no visible trauma on the man's body. He was
not identified.

MISSING PILOT
Police: Pilot, plane missing on LI since yesterday; searches
conducted

EAST MORICHES, N.Y. (AP) - Searches continue for a pilot missing
on Long Island his plane failed to land at Francis S. Gabreski
Airport in Westhampton Beach.
Police say Kennworth Eaton has been missing since he took off in
his Piper aircraft Saturday afternoon for a test flight from
Spadaro Airport in East Moriches. He was supposed to land at 2 p.m.
at 1/4 airport, but did not. The 76-year-old is considered an
experienced pilot.
An air and water search for the pilot and his plane were
unsuccessful.
Detectives are requesting anyone with information about the
plane or Eaton to contact the Missing Persons Section at
631-852-6040.

HOME INVASION
Bound man falls out window after Spring Valley home invasion

SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. (AP) - A Rockland County man has been tied
up during a home invasion and has plunged from a second-story
window. Police say his three masked attackers got away.
They say the 26-year-old resident jumped, fell or was thrown
from the Spring Valley apartment by his attackers around 1:40
yesterday morning. He suffered head injuries and broken ribs and is
being treated at a hospital.
Relatives say he was home alone watching TV when the attackers
sneaked in.
Investigators are trying to determine if anything was stolen
from the man's home.

WEST NILE VIRUS
Manhattan cemetery to be sprayed with pesticide for mosquitoes

NEW YORK (AP) - A Manhattan cemetery is being sprayed with
pesticide to combat mosquitoes and cut the risk of West Nile virus.
The health department says it will be spraying from trucks in
Trinity Cemetery in Washington Heights from tonight into tomorrow
morning.
The West Nile virus generally causes flu-like symptoms. It has
been detected in mosquitoes in several boroughs this year. But no
human cases have been identified.

SIDEWALK FALLS
Sidewalk trip-and-fall claims down in NYC

NEW YORK (AP) - The number of trip-and-fall claims filed against
New York City has dropped in recent years, possibly because a new
law made property owners responsible for sidewalks instead of the
city.
A preliminary report from the city comptroller's office says
there were 2,536 claims filed against the city in fiscal year 2007
for personal injuries related to broken sidewalks.
That's compared to 2,729 such claims filed in fiscal year 2006,
2,876 in fiscal year 2005 and 3,229 in fiscal year 2004.
City officials attribute the decline to a 2003 law that made
property owners responsible for maintaining the sidewalks in front
of their buildings.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-08-27-07 0756EDT