Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that he would urge his four representatives on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board to ratify the labor settlement reached with transit workers when the board meets on Jan. 25. Gov. George E. Pataki has criticized a side agreement that will give union members $131.7 million if Albany officials block a provision that would reimburse 20,000 workers for some pension contributions made before 2001.SEWELL CHAN (NYT)þþWHITE PLAINS: WESTCHESTER TO GET EMPIRE STATE GAMES Westchester County will be host of the 2007 Empire State Summer Games, Gov. George E. Pataki announced yesterday. It will be the first time the games, scheduled for July 24 to 29, take place in Westchester. About 6,000 athletes compete in 27 Olympic-style events during the games, according to a statement from the governor's office. More than 20,000 visitors usually attend. The events will take place at Iona College, Manhattanville College, the College of New Rochelle, the State University at Purchase, and Pace University.(NYT)þþMANHATTAN: CARRIAGE DRIVER REMAINS IN CRITICAL CONDITION It was unclear yesterday what caused a horse to bolt down Ninth Avenue on Monday night, throwing its driver from the carriage and crashing into a car. The driver remained in critical condition last night at St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan, a spokeswoman said. The horse, which had a broken leg, had to be killed, the police said. On a rainy evening when few tourists were taking carriage rides around Central Park, and the driver, Carmelo Vargas, was steering the horse and empty carriage to a stable at 538 West 38th Street, the horse suddenly grew agitated and dashed away, throwing Mr. Vargas from the carriage and crashing into a station wagon at Ninth Avenue and 50th Street. The vehicle's driver and his son were injured, the police said.FERNANDA SANTOS (NYT)þþNEW EMPIRE ZONES DESIGNATED Chinatown, the Lower East Side and parts of Nassau and Livingston Counties were designated Empire Zones yesterday, meaning that eligible companies can receive exemptions or credits on sales tax, property tax and business tax, principally for job creation. Segments of Chinatown like the garment industry have lost 40 to 50 percent of their employment, said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. He announced the zones after signing a memorandum of understanding with Gov. George E. Pataki and Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority leader. The 72 existing zones were created by the governor's office. The new zones are the first to be designated by the legislative leaders and the governor.DAVID W. DUNLAP (NYT)þþBROOKLYN: GUNMAN KILLS MAN IN STORE A 45-year-old man was fatally shot at a clothing store in Brownsville yesterday, the police said. The man, identified by the police as Amadou Sawou of Prospect Place, was working at a jeans store on Belmont Avenue, when a gunman shot him once in the chest about 4:30 p.m. Mr. Sawou was taken to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. No arrests had been made last night. Issa Gadio, the owner of a tailor shop next door, said that Mr. Sawou had only worked at the store, Jacks Sports Wear, for about a week. MICHELLE O'DONNELL (NYT)þþMANHATTAN: SHOOTING VICTIM DIES A man who was shot in the head on Saturday died on Monday at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, the police said yesterday. The victim, Andre Warren, 19, of West 141st Street, was found in the lobby of 201 West 93rd Street, the police said.AL BAKER (NYT)þþQUEENS: WOMAN CHARGED WITH HITTING OFFICER A Flushing woman, Denise Messner, 28, was arraigned yesterday on charges including assault, reckless driving and driving under the influence of alcohol after an accident on New Year's Day in which a police officer was seriously injured. The Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, said that the woman's car struck Officer John Walsh on the Long Island Expressway about 1:20 a.m. on Jan. 1. Officer Walsh, who was arresting another person for driving under the influence of alcohol when he was hit, required surgery to his leg.(NYT)þþQUEENS: GUILTY PLEA IN KILLING AT SUBWAY STATION A teenager from Far Rockaway pleaded guilty yesterday to the 2003 fatal shooting of a 21-year-old man on a subway platform, said the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown. The teenager, Raymond Burney, 19, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree and faces 25 years in prison at his sentencing in two weeks. A second defendant, Mark Ebanks, also 19, pleaded guilty in July to robbery and was expected to be sentenced to 20 years in prison later this month. Both were 17 when they approached Shamel Garrett on an A train at the Beach 36th Street station on Nov. 28, 2003, and shot him in the back during a robbery, Mr. Brown said. The police found Mr. Garrett's chain with a diamond-studded medallion that said ÿPray for Usÿ broken on the platform. MICHELLE O'DONNELL (NYT)þþNEW JERSEYþþTRENTON: SERIAL KILLER'S SENTENCING DELAYED Sentencing for Charles Cullen, left, a nurse who has admitted murdering 29 patients in two states, has been delayed so investigators can continue looking into possible other cases in two New Jersey counties, the authorities said yesterday. He was scheduled to be sentenced to life in prison for each of 22 murders in New Jersey, but the authorities said that investigators in Essex and Morris Counties needed more time to determine if he killed more people there. No new date has been scheduled.(AP)þþTRENTON: CORZINE NAMES FIRST CABINET CHOICES Governor-elect Jon S. Corzine nominated the first two members of his cabinet yesterday, two weeks before he is to take office. Mr. Corzine named Nina Mitchell Wells as secretary of state and renamed Maj. Gen. Glenn K. Reith as head of military and veterans' affairs. The nominations require approval by the State Senate. Ms. Wells, of Livingston, is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School and a former vice president of Schering-Plough.(AP)þþ
Source: NY Times
