The New York City Central Labor Council announced yesterday that the city's largest union, 1199/S.E.I.U., had rejoined the labor council, the coordinating body for the city's unions. Brian McLaughlin, the council's president, said that 1199's move would make the council more effective in lobbying City Hall, in political campaigns and in backing unions in labor disputes. Five years ago, 1199, a health care union with 170,000 members in the city, quit the council, partly to save dues money. Its parent, the Service Employees International Union, led a four-union walkout of the national A.F.L.-C.I.O. last summer, but the service employees want to maintain strong local ties with the labor movement.Steven Greenhouse (NYT)þþBRONX: 'ANIMAL HOUSE' FIREFIGHTER RESIGNS A firefighter who was suspended after he and two others were accused of having sex with a woman while on duty in a Bronx firehouse nicknamed the ÿAnimal Houseÿ has resigned, the Fire Department said yesterday. The firefighter, Tony J. DeLuca, 35, of Ladder Company 33, resigned on Friday. He was a nine-year veteran of the department. Another firefighter was fired after the scandal and has sued to reclaim his job; a third faces an administrative hearing in November.(AP) þþMANHATTAN: CABBY RETURNS SENATOR'S WALLET A city cabdriver tracked down Senator Frank R. Lautenberg and returned his wallet after the New Jersey Democrat dropped it in a cab on Sunday. The senator said he was so engrossed in a conversation with the driver, Carlos Andrade, about the Chicago White Sox that he did not notice his wallet falling to the floor. Mr. Andrade tracked down the senator's chief of staff in Washington, who contacted Mr. Lautenberg, above. The senator gave Mr. Andrade $100 and a card with a note for his 8-month-old daughter: ÿYour daddy is a very honest, good citizen, and I appreciate it so much.ÿ(AP)þþWEIGHT LIMITS ON BRIDGE ENFORCED The Metropolitan Transportation Authority began enforcing a weight limit yesterday on tractor-trailers and other heavy trucks on the Throgs Neck Bridge, which connects the Bronx and Queens. Alarmed by a growing number of tiny cracks in the steel deck structures on either side of the main span, the authority sought to begin enforcing a long-ignored 80,000-pound weight limit on Oct. 1. Trucking companies filed a lawsuit. Late Friday, a State Supreme Court judge allowed the authority, for now, to enforce a 105,000-pound limit and require the trucks to drive in the two center lanes and under 30 miles per hour. The authority is still arguing in court that it has the right to enforce the 80,000-pound limit.Sewell Chan (NYT) þþMANHATTAN: ZIP CODES NEEDED FOR SOME METROCARDS To prevent credit card fraud, New York City Transit is expanding a pilot program today that requires customers using a credit card at MetroCard vending machines to enter the ZIP code of the credit card's billing address. The practice, which was tested in June at two subway stations, will be expanded to 120 Manhattan stations by the end of January. The program relies on an address-verification system that is used by many gas stations, online vendors and other retailers. Sewell Chan (NYT)þþNEW JERSEYþþJERSEY CITY: WORK TO BEGIN ON TUNNEL APPROACH Construction is scheduled to begin today on Route 139, the New Jersey approach to the Holland Tunnel, state transportation officials said yesterday. The $225 million project will rebuild the 12th Street and 14th Street viaducts in Jersey City. Traffic over the bridges averages over 100,000 vehicles a day, state officials said. The 12th Street viaduct is more than 80 years old and the one on 14th Street more than 50 years old, officials said. Major traffic problems are not expected during the first stage of the project, scheduled to last through next spring. The entire project is expected to be finished in 2010.(NYT)þþWEEHAWKEN: LIGHT-RAIL EXTENSION TO OPEN New Jersey Transit will start running light-rail trains to Port Imperial in Weehawken on weekends beginning Saturday, its executive director, George D. Warrington, said yesterday. The extension is a step toward connecting the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system from Bayonne to North Bergen. The last segment of the line, through a tunnel under the Palisades to stations in Union City and North Bergen, is scheduled to open in January. Until then, trains will run every 15 minutes on Saturdays and Sundays between Port Imperial and Hoboken Terminal, with a fare of $1.75 each way.Patrick McGeehan (NYT)þþ
Source: NY Times
