The Metro Section

2003-11-06T12:40:00.000-05:00

El Diario fronts City health officials warning against use of the "herbal medicine" Litargirio yesterday; it is a supposed remedy that actually contains high levels of lead. The Post fronts the first public appearance of Andrew J. Barberi Assistant Captain Michael Gansas yesterday; he is expected to attend hearings on the ferry crash today. The Daily News' top local story is touted as an exclusive on poor grammar in curriculum guides distributed this week. The Times runs a group of stories on the fallout of Tuesday's election.

Litargirio is Dominican-made powder used as a cure for, in the Times' words, "everything from body odor to foot fungus." The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene surveyed eight botanicas in Washington Heights and the Bronx, and found litargirio for sale in five of them. The Times surveyed 15 such stores in Washington Heights yesterday, and found all of the stores claiming not to have sold the powder.

Gansas has been avoiding meetings with investigators ever since the crash more than three weeks ago, and his lawyers had repeatedly asserted that he would not comply with a judge's order that he appear yesterday, leaving all in surprise when he did show. The judge ordered him to appear today at the investigation being led by the National Transportation Safety Board. The Post runs a picture of Gansas heading back from the appearance in a subway and has what appears to be Gansas' only statement to any press thus far, saying, "I'm praying for a lot of people." Federal Judge Frederic Block wanted Gansas to testify during his appearance yesterday, but his lawyers refused; it is not known if he will testify today or if he will invoke his Fifth-Amendment privilege.

The Times lets you know where it's headed with its story on Democrats' plans for 2005 in the lead sentence that declares, "Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg suffered a bruising defeat over his proposal for nonpartisan elections." The story goes on to say, "The mayor tried to deflect any suggestion that the vote on nonpartisan elections was a kind of referendum on his stewardship." Suggestions made by the lead sentence, perhaps? State Democratic Chair Denny Farrell joined other leading Democrats to unveil a countdown to the end of Bloomberg's tenure, with yesterday leaving Bloomberg 787 days. Democrats generally are viewing the vote on the referendum as an overwhelming rejection of Bloomberg, and the Times and Daily News are swallowing that angle whole -- rather ironic in the Daily News' case, since they actually endorsed Bloomberg's ballot initiative. All of the papers note that former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer -- who ran for the Democratic mayoral nomination in 2001 -- filed papers for the 2005 election yesterday. Other potential candidates for the 2005 race include Democrats Gifford Miller, Bill Thompson and Anthony Weiner, and possibly a Republican or two to run against Bloomberg in the primary, with former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik the most-rumored possibility. A "News Analysis" by Michael Cooper seems to concede for a moment that the Democratic victory isn't reflective of general City sentiment:

Some political analysts — and privately, some Democrats — speculated that the light turnout helped defeat the measure, because only the most devoted voters showed up. Those voters tend to be Democrats, and tend to vote in Democratic primaries.

But that does last only a moment, as Cooper goes on to write, "The defeat of the measure dealt a serious political humiliation to the mayor." The third Times story, by Mike McIntire, ventures a journey into the world of objective reality and plays the story pretty straight, noting that a majority of New Yorkers polled actually wanted the abolition of party primaries, but that the specifics of the extremely low voter turnout determined the result. Meanwhile the Daily News has an exclusive on Rudy Giuliani being urged to run for governor in 2006.

None of the papers seems to have gotten around to covering the court appearance of Brooklyn firehouse protesters yesterday.

The Times does have a story on the grossly-undercovered restaurant-employees strike, noting that one restaurant, La Caravelle, still has yet to complete a deal.

Hoy's website shows no Thursday edition.

Today's Happenings, Tomorrow's News
*8:30 a.m. -- NYC Planning Commission Chair Amanda Burden discusses the plans for revitalizing business districts and neighborhoods, including the West Side, Greenpoint/Williamsburg and downtown Brooklyn, at a Crain's breakfast forum
*9 a.m. -- WomenMatter launches initiative to address low voter turnout among women
*10 a.m. -- Port Authority, Clean Energy, BP and KeySpan host grand opening of a new compressed natural gas fueling location; BP Connect at LaGuardia Airport
*11 a.m. -- State comptroller releases study on the fiscal benefits of improved access to emergency contraception
*11 a.m. -- City Council speaker Gifford Miller and council members announce new provisions to the lead abatement bill; Steps of city hall.
*12:45 p.m. -- Council Member David Yassky introduces proposals to reform the City's judicial selection process
*4 p.m. -- Fire Department Lieutenant Girard Owens holds a press conference explaining why he sent back the medal he was given for his rescue efforts at the twin towers on Sept. 11.

Read a roundup of Thursday's national newspapers in "Today's Papers" at Slate.

2003-11-05T09:02:00.000-05:00

"Party On!" says the cover of Newsday, as voters overwhelmingly rejected the non-partisan elections ballot initiative yesterday, voting 70-30 against it; all of the papers play it as a major disappointment for the Mayor, with the Times calling the vote a "stinging defeat for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg." All of the papers make hay of Bloomberg's having spent $2 million on the proposal, which is mostly a reflection of the reporters' inability to comprehend a multi-billionaire's perspective on money. Working Families Party candidate Letitia James beat brother of the slain James Davis, Democrat Geoffrey Davis, by a 76-19 margin, the first-ever victory by someone running only on the decade-and-a-half-old-WFP line, and the first win by any third-party candidate for City Council since 1977. Meanwhile, the much-contested judeship races saw Democrats winning overwhelmingly in Brooklyn, where WFP candidates were seeking victory over what has been reported to be a corrupt Democrat-controlled system; WFP candidates came in third behind Republicans in the Democrats' trouncing. Dan Donovan became the first Republican to win election as Staten Island's District Attorney.

Everyone goes high with -- and the Post makes its cover of -- the revelation yesterday by a mate on the Andrew J. Barberi that Assistant Captain Richard Smith was piloting the ship while "standing erect during the entire incident." The mate, Robert Rush, told investigators that he was alone with Smith in the ferry's wheelhouse; the City's lawyer told reporters that Rush said, "that nothing unusual transpired in the approximately 90 seconds before the crash." Reports on the ferry crash thus far had assumed the veracity of Smith's claim that he had slumped over the controls because he hadn't taken his blood-pressure medication. Missing aspect of the story: the Post reports that Smith was tested for alcohol and narcotics soon after crash and came up negative -- what do those tests reveal regarding his blood-pressure medication? Captain Michael Gansas is not expected to appear at hearings today.

There was a lot of big local sports news yesterday, as beloved former Yankees first-baseman Don Mattingly was hired to be the team's new hitting coach, widely viewed as a move to prepare him to eventually replace manager Joe Torre; Rangers player Mark Messier became hockey's all-time second-highest career scorer, moving ahead Gordie Howe and a slot behind Wayne Gretzky; former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy returned to the New York area for the first time as coach of the Houston Rockets, who beat the Nets, 86-75.

Everybody plays up Governor Pataki's nomination of a major campaign donor to the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals. Robert S. Smith and his wife have, according to the Times, donated $60,000 to Pataki's campaigns and $51,000 to the Republican State Committee since 1999 alone. The headlines are predictably skeptical: Times "Pataki Puts Nonjudge on Court of Appeals," Daily News "Gov taps donor chum for spot on top bench," Post "GOV TAPS DONOR FOR TOP COURT."

The Daily News has the story on Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's announcement yesterday that, "The city plans to open 10 new 'early college' high schools on City University of New York campuses in an attempt to boost graduation rates and college attendance."

Today's Happenings, Tomorrow's News
*9:30 a.m. -- Memorial service for Madame Chiang Kai-Shek
*9:30 a.m. -- Court appearance for seven community activists arrested during protest against the closing of Engine Co. 212
*10 a.m. -- Ribbon cutting for CUNY's Center for Higher Education
*10:30 a.m. -- Seniors protest reductions in the Meals-On-Wheels program
*11 a.m. -- Business and labor leaders launch New York Affordable Reliable Electricity Alliance
*1:30 p.m. -- NYC health commissioner speaks about the dangers of litargirio, an imported home remedy used primarily within the Dominican community

Read a roundup of Wednesday's national newspapers in "Today's Papers" at Slate.

2003-11-04T10:45:00.000-05:00

Developments in the Rosie O'Donnell/Gruner & Jahr lawsuit make the cover of the Daily News and Post. The Times leads with the already well-covered story of lawyers advertising to get ferry victims signed as clients, while Newsday's lead addresses critical comments Mayor Bloomberg made about Rudy Giuliani in a Vanity Fair interview that goes on sale tomorrow.

Former Rosie magazine editor Susan Toepfer testified yesterday that O'Donnell had objected to a draft cover showing O'Donnell posing with two actresses from "The Sopranos." Toepfer testified that O'Donnell had explained her objection by saying, "As a lesbian, I'm uncomfortable being on a magazine cover holding another woman or touching another woman," a characterization that O'Donnell denied to reporters, saying she never even used the term, "As a lesbian..." Toepfer testified that O'Donnell further objected to the cover by saying, "I'm not Oprah. I don't want to be on the cover and see my fat effing body!" Interestingly, the Daily News omits the Oprah reference. O'Donnell had said she would not be appearing on any covers when interviewing Toepfer for the editor's job. The lawsuit is meant to settle $100+ million claims going in both directions for breach of contract issues relating to the failure of the magazine.

Nobody at the New York Times reads the New York Sun, Newsday or Daily News, apparently; if they did, they'd at least get their late stories out sooner. The Times' lead covering lawyers' advertising for ferry victims to sign up for lawsuits comes nearly two weeks after the Sun and Newsday covered the story, and nearly a week after the Daily News had it. The Times story offers little by way of more information, and, oddly, spends about half its words finding out whether lawyers can advertise for clients at all -- even though lawyers' advertisements have been all over television for more than two decades.

Mayor Bloomberg's interview with Vanity Fair makes all the tabloids. Bloomberg told the magazine, ""You forget that every single decision [in the Giuliani administration], everybody, every story, everything was always couched in terms of race...That's not true anymore." He also pegged Giuliani as a micro-manager, saying "He made all the decisions, particularly when it came to police and fire...Rudy wanted to be the PC [police commissioner]. Rudy wanted to be the fire commissioner. He rushed to the fires. My attitude is ... to pick people and let them do it." The mayor's spokesperson said "No one should infer any criticism of Mayor Giuliani in any of those statements." Other issues discussed in the interview were second-hand smoke, which Bloomberg said causes as many deaths each year as 9/11 did, leading to wonder why it doesn't receive equivalent press (cancer doesn't receive as much press as 9/11), and Senator Chuck Schumer, whom Bloomberg says used his entire term to focus on re-election.

The Mayor and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein yesterday unveiled a $13.1B plan for school construction, making all the English-language papers. Newsday details the plan:

$4.6 billion to break up struggling schools into smaller ones, create 50 charter schools and add resources such as science labs; $4.5 billion to fix deteriorating schools and equipment; and $4 billion to build 76 new schools, enough to start phasing out portable classroom trailers and reduce class sizes in grades K-3

It is a five-year plan to be launched July 1, 2004, and relies upon Bloomberg's expectation of $6.5B from the state as part of the result from last year's Court of Appeals decision that found New York City schools get less money from the State than they deserve; Governor Pataki was non-committal about the plan when questioned by reporters yesterday, though he has long indicated that he doesn't expect any money that the City may win to be delivered any time soon, that it may take years for the State to begin delivering any money. Teachers' union President Randi Weingarten was skeptical of the plan, issuing a statement that said, ""This is not really a $13 billion program — it's a $6 billion city capital plan with another $6 billion wish list from Albany."

A Bronx public defender had no law license when he handled thousands of clients over six years of work, the Daily News has found, which would likely mean many retrials. The Post covers a political blow-up between the comptroller's and mayor's offices over a misleading press release from the comptroller's office claiming a large increase in the City's budget; the Post also runs an Associated Press report on the State's banning over-the-counter sales of ephedra. The Times covers an analysis of the nation's hospitals that find New York State's hospitals to be in the worst financial shape, noting, "Critics, including Wall Street analysts, politicans and scholarly researchers, have argued over the years that the city has more hospitals than it can support and that they are inefficient, and that a little winnowing might be a healthy thing."

Of course, today is election day, with the non-partisan elections ballot initiative and the race for James Davis' former seat in the City Council the main stories.

Today's Happenings, Tomorrow's News
*All Day -- Election Day
*11 a.m. -- U.S. House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation holds hearing on the Staten Island ferry accident
*12:15 p.m. -- Chancellors Joel Klien and Matthew Goldstein announce grant creation of 10 new early college high schools

Read a roundup of Tuesday's national newspapers in "Today's Papers" at Slate

2003-11-03T10:03:00.000-05:00

The New York City Marathon went off without a hitch yesterday, with Kenyans Martin Lel and Margaret Okayo winning the men's and women's sections, respectively; apparently, the men's race was exciting up to the last half-mile, when Lel pulled away from reigning champ and fellow Kenyan Rodgers Rop. P Diddy finished the marathon in just under 4 hours, 15 minutes. The print edition of the Times has a special Marathon section that includes the entire race results, but online the Gray Lady is a bit skimpy: while it does separate out a few marathon stories for special treatment, the promised list of results simply points to the marathon's official site. The most interesting story on the marathon is in the Post, which describes a marathon-related marriage proposal. Hoy is non-plussed by the race, covering the story with the headline, "Streets Closed For Marathon."

Another major sports story was the football game between the Jets and Giants, which had been referred to as a must-win for both teams with woeful records; the Giants eked out a 31-28 win with a field goal in overtime.

As everybody notes, 2/3 train service was expected to return to normal in time for this morning's rush hour, and NY1 is reporting that it has. Repairs took a day or so longer than originally expected, as the extent of damages to the communications system had been underestimated immediately after Friday's fire.

The Daily News and Post weigh in for and against the non-partisan elections ballot initiative, reversing their standard affiliations. The liberal Daily News digs in against Democratic bosses like Brooklyn's Clarence Norman and Queens' Thomas Manton, saying that non-partisan elections would ensure such individuals no longer have so much control. The Post becomes about the only GOP-favoring institution to go against Bloomberg's proposal, utilizing the rather unique argument that non-partisan elections would further reduce Republicans' chance to win; the editorial mentions that "wannabes of all political stripes would compete in a single race, as they did recently in California's recall election," but seems to ignore that a Republican won in California. El Diario runs its weekly English-language editorial opposing the ballot initiative and another endorsing the Working Families Party re-election campaign of Judge Margarita Lopez-Torres, who is running against the Brooklyn Democratic machine of Clarence Norman. The Times reiterates its opposition to non-partisan elections, as well as its positions on all the other questions on tomorrow's ballots.

Pissing off Democratic leaders on the eve of tomorrow's election isn't the Daily News' only scrooginess on display today; its top metro story complains that Christmas season already seems to be beginning, with decorations up all over town somewhat earlier than previous years. The Post's big story today is its big increase in circulation, a hefty 10.6 percent for the six months that ended September 30th, for six consecutive six-month increases of more than 10 percent.

The Times runs a story by Michael Cooper noting the irony that Bloomberg's non-partisan elections ballot initiative is, ironically enough, shaping up to be a rather partisan battle. The Post reports on Democratic allegations that the ballot initiative is part of a horse trade that Bloomberg is making with the Independence Party in exchange for an endorsement. The Times also covers former mayor David Dinkins' endorsement yesterday of Working Families Party Council Candidate Letitia James, just the latest Democratic endorsement of James over Democrat Geoffrey Davis -- the brother of the murdered James Davis -- who has squandered most of the support he originally had by running an often-odd campaign. Davis received a slight rebuke yesterday from Senator Hillary Clinton and Congressman Charlie Rangel for seeming to say in his literature that he was endorsed by them. Clinton and Rangel issued a statement that read, "We have not endorsed any of the candidates in this race," a far cry from the tongue-lashing indicated by the Post's headline, "HILL AND RANGEL SLAM DAVIS FOR USING THEIR PIX." Davis seems still to be in denial about their support, speaking to the Post about a picture of himself and Clinton together, "She had her arms around me...What is that? What does that mean?"

Hoy compiles a rundown of races in largely-Hispanic districts, in all of which Democrats are expected to win easily. Hoy also mentions the beginning of Puerto Rican Heritage Month in New York.

The Daily News reveals a plan by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein to use private firms to build new charter schools, as opposed to using the more-expensive School Construction Authority, something that has labor leaders worried. The proposal is expected to be part of Klein's five-year capital plan, which is to be announced today, and seeks to spend roughly $240 per square foot in construction costs, as opposed to the $315 PSQ that using the SCA would cost.

Newsday runs a feature on the split allegiances of New York's Democratic Congressional Delegation among the various presidential candidates. While none have joined Georgia's Democratic Senator Zell Miller in endorsing President Bush, there is still a lot of competition. John Kerry and Wesley Clark have accumulated the most support.

Today's Happenings, Tomorrow's News
*8 a.m. -- Avaya CEO, Verizon CEO, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz discuss the state of corporate America
*9:30 a.m. -- PETA members protest a preview of ``Bravehearts: Men in Skirts'' to persuade Jean Paul Gaultier to stop designing with fur
*10 a.m. -- Press conference welcoming Paganini's famous violin Il Cannone back to the United States to be played by Regina Carter at Lincoln Center
*10:15 a.m. -- The last redbird subway train makes its last trip before being retired
*10:30 a.m. -- A restaurant displays its special dinner menu in the former home of J.P. Morgan to kick off the Alliance for Downtown New York's weeklong prix-fixe dinner at 50 restaurants below Chambers Street
*12:00 PM -- Public advocate Betsy Gotbaum and City Council members announce the restoration of food stamp eligibility to immigrant children
*1:30 p.m. -- Jack Black and Kyle Glass, of the band Tenacious D, announce their plan to begin a 45-day fast

Read a roundup of Monday's national newspapers in "Today's Papers" at Slate.

2003-11-02T11:29:00.000-05:00

The Times leads with a feature on the New Jersey family that allegedly starved its male children, and gives big play to an investigation of lead levels in City children; the Daily News fronts a look at the lives of three individuals who were "pillars" of their communities and have been charged with sexual abuse of children; Newsday does a cover feature about Lazaro Burt, who spent a decade in prison for a crime he didn't commit before being released last year, and is now back in prison being charged with a recent shooting; El Diario's cover follows a protest yesterday against the rape and murder of women in the cities of Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico.

The Post's cover is the culmination of four weeks spent with P. Diddy during his training for the marathon. It lists the "Best Moment: Scoring $78,000 from 'Bennifer'" and "Worst Moment: The excruciating pain in my right knee." In other marathon news, the Times headline calls today a "Lovely Day to Watch (Maybe Not Race)," with the story noting that warm weather may make it difficult for many non-professional runners, though that shouldn't do much to the leader board because, "As usual, Kenyan runners are expected to dominate." The Daily News runs a feature on a 92-year-old Sikh running in today's marathon, his sixth in the past three years.

The Times' starvation story finds that the couple responsible for the adopted children received $30,000 annually from New Jersey, and that a lack of regulation of their home-schooling, as well as the fact that the sole person responsible for keeping track of the kids was a first-year social worker with "nearly triple the number of cases that she should have had," contributed to the case's being left undiscovered. Neighbors, friends, fellow churchgoers and community leaders of the Jacksons all express some form of befuddlement at what was allegedly going one. The Times' lead story reveals that lead paint in apartments isn't the only -- or perhaps even the main -- problem facing children's health. Lead paint was also used to paint fire escapes and above-ground subway structures, which dominate many neighborhoods in Upper Manhattan and the other boroughs. Experts are paraphrased, "The existence of outdoor lead...is not surprising in an old urban environment, nor should it be a cause for immediate alarm; any threat to children from outdoor lead can often be reduced by simple measures like having them wash their hands after they have played outside or making them take their shoes off indoors." The Times sent its own researchers and "found lead concentrations on sidewalks ranging from 341 micrograms to more than 12,000 micrograms per square foot," under elevated rails in parts of Queens and Brooklyn. The MTA is already removing some of the lead paint, having completed its work on the 7 line and already begun work on the 4 and J lines. Also mentioned is a bill that has languished for well over a year in the City council that seeks changes to lead-paint laws, including reducing the amount of lead in children's blood, as the Times notes, "reduc[ing] the threshold for more severe lead poisoning cases to 15 micrograms per deciliter in blood from 20."

The Daily News provides a picture of the lives of William Burgess, John Dexter, Israel Kestenbaum, Nelson Pardo and James Irwin. The group includes a rabbi, a sergeant, and a principal -- most were fathers. All used the Internet to arrange virtual trysts, and the article finds a study that notes, "suspects arrested in Internet stings have higher social status and less deviant backgrounds than other sex offenders."

Lazaro Burt was released in September, 2002, having spent a decade in prison for a crime he did not commit, after being convicted at the age of 20. By his estimation, he was attacked with a weapon anywhere between a dozen or thirty times while in prison. Burt's mother died 15 days before his release, and he had little money or job opportunities upon being released. He unsuccessfully interviewed for numerous low-level jobs, and lived off of a few hundred dollars per month in welfare and food stamps. Less than a year after he was released, he was arrested for allegedly shooting someone he knew him and pointed him out as the shooter. Burt is asserting he's innocent.

Protesters at the Mexican Consulate yesterday wore black in a mock-funeral activity that was replicated in other cities around the United States; they carried Spanish signs with slogans like "no more violence against women." They argue that Mexican police authorities are not being given the power to properly cut down on the violence. El Diario also runs a feature on Margarita Lopez, a councilmember representing the Lower East Side, who complains that there is a lack of low-income housing in her district.

The only Staten Island Ferry stories today are in the Daily News and Post. The Post gets unnamed captains to assert that problematic piloting was common on the Andrew J. Barbieri; one lodged a complaint "several weeks ago...directed at a longstanding practice of ferry pilots staying in separate wheelhouses - which are about 150 feet apart on opposite ends of the bridge - as they alternate taking the helm. " The Post sources claim that the one who lodged the complaint was, "told to get lost," by bosses within the ferry system, whom the captains also allege were very much aware of the practice and that it violated Department of Transportation rules. The Daily News has its own exclusive, that Captain Michael Gansas, who has thus far avoided interviews with Transportation officials, has been ordered to appear in court Wednesday and his lawyer says Gansas won't, which may lead to jail time; his lawyer claims her presence should be sufficient.

The Times takes note of four other ballot initiatives that will be decided Tuesday, two each from the City and State,

The state referendums are straightforward proposals to amend the state Constitution. One would repeal debt limitations for school districts in 57 small cities. The other would allow municipalities to exclude sewer debt from their borrowing limits for another decade.
The less-publicized ballot initiatives for the city revolve around broad policy questions. The first would overhaul how the city buys its $9 billion in goods and services each year. The second would strengthen enforcement of the city's consumer and ethics laws and the integrity of its administrative tribunals.

The Times also devotes space today to the non-partisan elections ballot initiative, keeping tabs on the aggressive campaigning on either side, and makes the good move of noting Democratic expenditures on the campaign: around $400,000. Meantime, the Daily News notes that the turnout that will decide the non-partisan initiative on Tuesday is expected to be around 12.5%, ironic because one of Bloomberg's main arguments for the initiative is that elections are decided by too few people in poor-turnout party primaries.

In short takes, a taxi driver jumped the curb and hit a doorman at 720 Park Avenue, killing the 62-year-old, and the 2/3 line is expected to remain out of commission until at least tonight or tomorrow morning, following Friday's fire. The Times runs an editorial touting its charity fund and calling for donations.

Hoy has no Sunday edition.

Today's Happenings, Tomorrow's News
*All Day -- The marathon, and numerous rallies against the non-partisan ballot initiative.
*8:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. -- More than 400 educators attend Reading Reform Foundation of New York's annual conference on teaching
*11 a.m. to 3 p.m. -- Stern College for Women celebrates 50th anniversary with Family Day
*12:00 PM -- Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer and other Democrats endorse Margarita Lopez Torres for state Supreme Court, bucking the Brooklyn Democrats.
*1 p.m. -- Former New York City Mayor David Dinkins announces his support for Working Families Party candidate Letitia James for City Council, against Democrat Geoffrey Davis

Read a roundup of Sunday's national newspapers in "Today's Papers" at Slate.

2003-11-01T23:22:00.000-05:00

The papers are all about the Mayor today, highlighting his role in three prominent stories. Bloomberg was succesful in recruiting sponsors to keep East River bridges alight, had his non-partisan elections ballot proposal attacked in a new piece of campaign literature, and responded to complaints about the City's sponsorship deal with Snapple. Beyond Hizzoner's world, a report on noise pollution in the City is receiving a lot of play, a fire interrupted subway service, and a Long Island woman has had her murder conviction vacated.

Four sponsors (River Cafe, Travelex, Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, and the International Gemological Institute) ponied up a total of $160,000, split equally, to keep the bridges' decorative "necklace lights" glowing for the next two years. The River Cafe's owner tells the Times, "The Brooklyn Bridge, the jewel of New York, now has its magic back." The Post is the only paper to mention when the lights will return, Wednesday night. The Daily News puts the move into a larger context of recent moves Bloomberg has made that may strengthen him in polls, including talk of possibly repealing the 18.5% property-tax hike and the administration's re-hiring of laid-off sanitation workers and corrections officers.

The Post and Daily News notice a New York State Democrats-funded mailing that plays up the punims of Bloomberg, Arnold Schwarzenegger and President Bush, asserting that, "When Republicans don't like the outcome, they change the rules of the game...Mayor Bloomberg's plan to eliminate Democratic party primaries may be good for Republicans, but it's bad for democracy." The Post notes that this sole piece of Democratic literature is going up against six from the Bloomberg-financed pro-initiative team. Interestingly, while all the papers have made a point of noting Bloomberg's spending on the initiative for the past year, no paper inquires as to Democrats' spending on this mailing, their largest-budget maneuver.

On the Snapple front, Bloomberg responded to a report from the Comptroller's office on Thursday which claimed that Snapple's sponsorship deal announced this summer may not have been entirely on the up and up. Bloomberg spoke out on his weekly radio show, saying "It's the politicians who want to control everything â€” whatever. I don't know what's going on. Look, the Snapple deal is a great deal for the city." Bloomberg also attacked the businesses criticizing the deal, saying, "There are some soreheads, I think, who didn't submit a bid because they didn't want to, or didn't think they could make any money, or didn't have the sales, or didn't have any good products, or got lousy advice. They should go take a look at their own salesmen."

The City Council issued (but has not yet placed on its website) a report yesterday stating that subway noise levels can be harmful to hearing. It found that noise levels within the loudest subway location, by the 4/5/6 at Union Square, can reach 98.3 decibels, while noise at an intersection near Kennedy Airport reached only 84.5 decibels. The next-loudest track was the 7 train at Queens Plaza, which reaches 90.7 decibels. The National Institutes of Health says prolonged exposure to more than 90 decibels can cause hearing damage.

The Times, Newsday, the Daily News and El Diario are on top of a subway fire on the 2/3 line that broke out near 110th Street yesterday morning. The MTA says at least 500,000 commuters were affected by the fire.

A Long Island woman convicted in 1997 of murdering an ex-boyfriend has had her conviction thrown out because she wasn't allowed to present a rape-trauma-syndrome defense at trial.
In the latest Staten Island Ferry developments, the Times does an investigation of, "1,500 Coast Guard safety records over the last 25 years," and finds that "dozens of accidents that injured hundreds...were often attributed to human error â€” chiefly what investigators called inattentiveness, poor judgment or negligence by crew members." Moreso, "Taken together, the investigations suggest that the deadly crash last month of the Andrew J. Barberi, which killed 10 passengers, was less than a complete surprise."

Meanwhile, the City has hired the Global Maritime and Transportation School to investigate and then make safety recommendations concerning the ferry system, expecting to deliver them in a month.

Hoy has no Saturday edition.

Today's Happenings, Tomorrow's News
*8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. -- The High-Rise Counterterrorism Preparedness Conference, sponsored by International Association for Counterterrorism & Security Professionals
*9:30 a.m. -- Office of Emergency Management Commissioner John Odernatt kicks off Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) pilot program
*10 a.m. -- Sen. Charles Schumer welcomes President of Taiwan, Chen Shui-Bian, to New York and announces his membership in the newly-formed U.S. Senate Taiwan Caucus
*10:45 a.m. -- Sen. Charles Schumer releases results of new study showing that New York is facing nursing shortage that could hurt health care and medical treatment in the city
*11 a.m. -- Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and talk show host Curtis Sliwa headline rally for Dan Donovan, Republican candidate for Staten Island district attorney

Read a roundup of Saturday's national newspapers in "Today's Papers" at Slate.

2003-08-19T05:21:00.000-04:00