Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:06:29 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Sarah Garland :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Sarah+Garland istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/citizenship-backlog-could-thwart-would-be-voters/80229/ Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST As the federal citizenship agency and the FBI say they are picking up the pace to eliminate a backlog of citizenship applications, immigrants anticipating decisions on petitions they filed months, and in many cases years, earlier shouldn't necessarily be resting easier. Some lawyers who handle naturalization cases say U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services adjudicators appear to be more eager to reject citizenship applications of late, meaning some of those aiming to be citizens in time to... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/police-say-dogfighting-ring-broken-in-a-bronx/80047/ Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Police have raided a building that housed an illegal dogfighting ring in a central residential section of the Bronx. Officials said seven people were arrested and 16 dogs were rescued over the weekend. At least one of the dogs was seriously injured, police said. The dogs were kept in filthy kennels in the basement of a three-story building at 108 E. 179th St. in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx, according to officials. Police said the dogs were forced to fight inside a 9-square-foot ring... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/police-department-is-urged-to-reconsider-on-stun/79842/ Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST A new proposal to increase the number of stun guns in police hands is hitting a series of public relations hurdles, with a Brooklyn man dying this week after being shocked by a Taser and Amnesty International warning the police department to reconsider. Since 2001, more than 300 people — including the Brooklyn man who was shocked by Suffolk County police officers Monday — have died after the guns were used on them, a statement Amnesty International sent yesterday to New York reporters said... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-buildings-lighted-cooled-as-new-yorkers-told/79746/ Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST As New Yorkers sweltered during the fourth day of a heat wave and city officials urged residents to conserve energy, the air was extra cool and the lights burned bright in at least two city-run buildings. No hearings were scheduled, but more than a dozen lightbulbs glowed in the empty City Council chambers, while chandeliers twinkled in the hallways of City Hall even while the sunlight was pouring through the windows. In one corner of the building, a seven-bulb chandelier illuminated a locked... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/police-use-of-stun-guns-may-increase/79680/ Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The New York City Police Department could expand greatly its use of electric stun guns, as Commissioner Raymond Kelly said yesterday he is prepared to accept recommendations from a new report spurred by the 2006 Sean Bell shooting. The report, by a nonpartisan, California-based think tank, RAND Corp., was commissioned last year by Mr. Kelly to examine police firearms training. RELATED: Report: Evaluation of the New York City Police Department Firearm Training and Firearm-Discharge Review... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/multiple-subway-lines-affected-by-brooklyn-power/79565/ Mon, 9 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST A power outage shut down two subway lines in Brooklyn yesterday amid a heat wave in New York City. A Con Edison official said the outage originated at a smoking manhole at the intersection of Smith and Dean streets in downtown Brooklyn. The 2, 3, 4, F, and G trains were affected by the loss of power, which hit just after 5 p.m. The F and G were shut down completely in sections, while the other trains were slowed. No passengers were reported stuck in the trains. The electrical outage affected... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/private-firms-hired-for-safety-sweep-of-cranes/79457/ Fri, 6 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The city paid nearly a quarter of a million dollars to private inspectors this spring for a "safety sweep" of the city's tower cranes that ended days before the installation of a crane that collapsed last week and killed two people. The private inspectors were paid $235,000 for assisting the Buildings Department's understaffed crane inspection unit during the sweep — which lasted less than a month — after a fatal crane collapse in March killed seven people. The crane that collapsed last Friday... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/machete-drawn-in-holland-tunnel-confrontation/79460/ Fri, 6 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Two angry drivers drew a knife and a machete in a confrontation with each other in traffic near the entrance of the Holland Tunnel in New Jersey yesterday morning, officials said. A Port Authority spokesman, Steve Coleman, said one driver cut off the other driver under the covered roadway on Route 139. The driver who was cut off jumped out of his car with a small knife, halting traffic, Mr. Coleman said. In response, the other driver also stopped and pulled out "a large machete." Then, "the guy... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/knife-machete-drawn-in-holland-tunnel-row/79403/ Thu, 5 Jun 2008 11:47:28 EST Two angry drivers drew a knife and a machete in a confrontation with each other in traffic near the entrance of the Holland Tunnel in New Jersey this morning, officials said. A Port Authority spokesman, Steve Coleman, said one driver cut off the other driver under the covered roadway on Route 139. The driver who was cut off jumped out of his car with a small knife, halting traffic, Mr. Coleman said. In response, the other driver also stopped and pulled out "a large machete." Then, "the guy with... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/sex-offenders-could-be-tracked-by-signals-from/79360/ Thu, 5 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST A domestic violence offender released from custody after agreeing to a plea deal recently spent a morning circling through Northeast Queens. Then, he accelerated onto the Long Island Expressway, a route that brought him closer to where his victim works and lives. Not too close, though: He knew not to venture anywhere nearer her neighborhood because police and prosecutors were watching his every move via the Global Positioning System strapped to his ankle. He kept driving — on to a job interview... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/injured-queens-woman-rescued-from-bug-infested/79164/ Tue, 3 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST An elderly woman was carried out of her bedbug-infested Queens home by paramedics in isolation suits after she was found immobilized yesterday morning, fire officials said. The superintendent of the building, Shawn Reeder, identified the woman as Ann Kenny, and said she had fallen last Tuesday night in her home, which was crawling with the tiny bugs. It was unclear how she had been injured, officials said. "She had been laying on the floor," Mr. Reeder said. EMS paramedics who responded were... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/questions-surround-crane-accident/79060/ Mon, 2 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST After a weekend hiatus in the wake of the city's second fatal crane accident this year, more than two dozen tower cranes will get back to the tasks of lifting and lowering today, even as officials and residents seek answers about what went wrong. Some Manhattan residents whose daily routines put them in the paths of cranes dangling heavy loads over the city's sidewalks reacted skeptically to reassurances from the Bloomberg administration that the most recent accident appeared to be a fluke and... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/police-injure-man-suspected-of-drive-by-shooting/78969/ Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Police officers shot and injured a man they said was responsible for a drive-by shooting in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn last night, officials said. According to an official account, the man had been driving a red Ford Windstar with North Carolina plates along Patchen Avenue when he fired at a 32-year-old woman on the sidewalk. Two police officers and a sergeant in a patrol car who witnessed the shooting then gave chase. They followed the Windstar more than six blocks until it... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/immigration-foes-will-search-for-common-ground/78948/ Fri, 30 May 2008 00:00:00 EST A debate over whether local law enforcement should enforce federal immigration laws is among the emotionally rife questions about illegal immigrants that will stir up New York City's relatively placid immigration politics next week. At a conference on Monday organized by John Jay College of Criminal Justice's Center on Media, Crime, and Justice, proponents of using police to round up illegal immigrants will face off against advocates of giving illegal immigrants official identification cards... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/civilian-complaint-review-board-rule-change-riles/78849/ Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 EST A rule change to improve efficiency at the Civilian Complaint Review Board has some advocates criticizing the agency for trying to speed the process of reviewing complaints against police at the "expense of justice." Although the rule change has not yet been approved, the director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition, Michael Meyers, sent a scathing letter to the board's chairman demanding to know why the board would want to "curtail its responsibility." A spokesman for the Civilian Complaint... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/police-pinpoint-origin-of-a-harlem-shooting/78836/ Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Police officials say they have linked a shooting at one of Harlem's busiest intersections this week to an ongoing dispute between two groups of young people who live 20 blocks north of the area. The incident was one of five during the course of one night that left 10 people injured and the neighborhood reeling. Six teenagers were hurt in the shooting at 125th Street and Lenox Avenue on Monday, and police said they had found new evidence to suggest the incident stemmed from simmering tensions... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/harlem-struggles-to-recover-from-a-rash/78730/ Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Harlem is recovering from a shooting in the heart of its business district that left six teenagers injured and the neighborhood struggling to hold onto a fledgling image of prosperity and safety. Separate shootings elsewhere in the area on the same night left four others hurt and residents rattled. Jackie Rowe-Adams, a lifelong Harlem resident who lost two of her sons to gun violence in the neighborhood in separate incidents years ago, said the shootings over the holiday weekend had her worried... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/former-stock-trader-indicted-for-stealing-money/77378/ Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 EST A former New York stock trader has been indicted for allegedly stealing millions of dollars from his friends by convincing them he would invest their money for them. The trader, David Holzer, is accused of persuading six of his friends to entrust him with millions of their own money that he promised to invest in real estate and stocks, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office. One of his alleged victims, a wealthy financial adviser, gave him $12 million for investment in upstate... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-state-divided-over-homeland-security-funds/77380/ Fri, 23 May 2008 00:00:00 EST New York has battled for years for more money from the federal government to combat terrorism, but questions are now arising about how that money is being spent. While state and local leaders have shown a mostly united front in their efforts to get more of the terrorism dollars doled out by the Department of Homeland Security, back home, divisions have grown over who gets the money, and for what. Some officials complain that the state is shaving off millions of the city's grant money from the... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/threat-of-another-riot-in-crown-heights/76856/ Thu, 22 May 2008 00:00:00 EST As politicians from around the city gather in Crown Heights today to decry rising racial tensions there, some black and Jewish residents there say elected officials are overreacting. The rally is the third such news conference to call for calm in response to two assaults involving black and Jewish youth that have some public officials warning of the potential for riots like those that wracked the neighborhood in 1991. Yet most of the culprits — both black and Jewish — are too young to remember... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-unions-rush-to-match-salary-bump-won-by/76777/ Wed, 21 May 2008 00:00:00 EST The city's uniformed unions are already clamoring for raises to match the major salary bump given police this week in what is likely to be a blow to the city's already tight budget. The president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, Stephen Cassidy, said he would go back to rework his union's 2006 contract, a move that could spark other unions to do the same. "We expect to do it. The mayor has the money. He's already acknowledged it's going to cost the city more," Mr. Cassidy said... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/raise-for-police-is-new-hit-to-budget/76651/ Tue, 20 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Police officers will get a raise, while the city's budget will take a worse hit than expected, following a decision by the state Public Employment Relations Board. The board's decision, increasing starting salaries for police officers to $35,881 from $25,100 and providing a 9.73% retroactive raise covering two years, will cost the city $50 million a year more than it had budgeted. If other uniformed employees, including firefighters, sanitation workers, and corrections officers, seek to... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/teenager-is-shot-in-far-rockaway/76660/ Tue, 20 May 2008 00:00:00 EST A second teenager was fatally shot in the head in Far Rockaway yesterday, just a few blocks from where a 15-year-old girl died and five other men were injured in gunfire over the weekend. The body of the 16-year-old boy, Tyrese Johnson, was found yesterday near the same corner where five men were shot in a hail of bullets on Sunday. The shooting occurred just steps from where Brandon Bethea was also gunned down as she danced at a party outside of her old apartment building on Redfern Avenue... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/six-are-shot-over-weekend-in-far-rockaway/76642/ Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 EST A 15-year-old girl was shot in the head while visiting an apartment building where she used to live in Far Rockaway, Queens, police officials said yesterday. Police are investigating whether the girl, identified by officials as Brandon Bethea, was targeted or the victim of stray gunfire. Officials said the gun appeared to have been fired at least several feet away from where she was standing outside of a building in a public housing project on Redfern Avenue at around 11 p.m. on Saturday. In a... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/anti-china-marcher-brings-long-distance-message/76589/ Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 EST The idea of walking 500 miles to Washington, D.C., from Boston to protest human rights abuses in China came to political dissident Yang Jianli as he was sitting in a prison cell in China, unsure if he would ever be released. After five years, he was, and now Mr. Yang is making good on his promise to march down the East Coast to remind Americans and his fellow Chinese immigrants that many dissidents are locked up in China without hope of ever getting out. In white sneakers and a T-shirt printed... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/report-immigrants-assimilating-more-rapidly-in-ny/76273/ Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 EST With minorities in America increasing so fast that they are expected to account for more than 50% of the country's population sometime in the next 50 years, a new report being released today shows that immigrants are assimilating faster than those who came in the last big wave a century ago — especially immigrants living in New York City. The Manhattan Institute report, which examined the cultural, political, and civic assimilation of immigrants during the past century, found that, against... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/sean-bell-protesters-slow-city-sharpton-paterson/76030/ Thu, 8 May 2008 00:00:00 EST The Reverend Al Sharpton is meeting with Governor Paterson today after as many as 200 people were arrested in protests in support of Sean Bell that clogged the major gateways into Manhattan yesterday. Rev. Sharpton will be appealing to Mr. Paterson's activist past following a day that echoed protests the governor participated in a decade ago. So far, Mr. Paterson has been relatively quiet about the Bell verdict. He was arrested while protesting during the Amadou Diallo trial, a case that has... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/amid-sean-bell-protests-those-seeking-change-eye/75972/ Wed, 7 May 2008 00:00:00 EST The city's attention is trained on the Reverend Al Sharpton today as he leads a series of protests sparked by the acquittal of three detectives who shot and killed an unarmed black man, but upstate, another man has become a focus for those seeking change in the wake of the Sean Bell verdict: Governor Paterson. Black elected officials critical of how justice is meted out when police are accused of wrongdoing have seen a chance for long-awaited change with Mr. Paterson's recent rise to the... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/huge-rally-chinas-count-is-questioned/75847/ Tue, 6 May 2008 00:00:00 EST A gathering in support of the Chinese government in downtown Manhattan that China's official news agency termed a "huge rally" was anything but, observers are saying. Anti-China activists and impartial bystanders were among those who disputed the Chinese estimate that 10,000 people attended the rally on Sunday afternoon, putting the number at much less. Members of the Tibetan Youth Congress of New York and New Jersey who watched the rally and are critical of the Chinese government said they... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/police-stop-and-frisk-data-may-be-issue-at-bell/75859/ Tue, 6 May 2008 00:00:00 EST New numbers showing that the police department has been stopping and frisking civilians — the majority of them minorities — at an increased clip in recent months could fuel anger at protests and "pray-ins" planned around the city tomorrow in response to the verdict in the Sean Bell trial. The number of people stopped by police in the first quarter of 2008 rose by more than 35,000 versus the last quarter of 2007, to 145,098, new statistics released to the City Council by the police department... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/immigrants-riled-by-irish-push-for-special-status/75790/ Mon, 5 May 2008 00:00:00 EST An effort by the Irish to secure a special immigration deal solely for illegal immigrants from Ireland isn't sitting well with some of their former partners in the fight for an overhaul of federal immigration policy. Although immigrant organizations officially have refrained from criticizing the Irish, many rank-and-file Hispanic immigrants — who say their families have been hit hardest by deportations — are saying they are shocked that the Irish are quietly working for a separate pact with... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/burglary-suspect-is-killed-with-his-own-gun/75792/ Mon, 5 May 2008 00:00:00 EST A suspected burglar was killed with his own gun as he was struggling with police in Midtown early yesterday, police officials said. The man was apparently holding a gun that was encased inside a dark sock, and it discharged as police officers were wrestling with him in a small room on the rooftop of a building, according to an account by a police source. The man was hit in the head once and died soon after. Officials said police responded to a call from a commercial high-rise at around 3:30 a.m... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/day-of-shouting-marching-in-name-of-multiple/75702/ Fri, 2 May 2008 00:00:00 EST A hodgepodge of causes brought hundreds of New Yorkers out into the streets to shout and march on the day workers' rights are celebrated around the world. They shouted about affordable housing, deportations, worker rights, and Sean Bell — and sometimes all of the above. In the largest march down Broadway yesterday, flags from around the world waved above the crowd along with posters protesting the recent deportations of thousands of immigrants and the acquittal of three NYPD detectives accused... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/coalition-launches-protests-against-verdict/75611/ Thu, 1 May 2008 00:00:00 EST A "street organizing" coalition that briefly blocked rush hour traffic in front of Madison Square Garden yesterday evening to protest the acquittal of three detectives in the shooting of Sean Bell said the demonstration was the beginning of disruptions planned for the city. Members of the groups said that besides being "very loud and chaotic," they wanted to urge the comedian Chris Rock, who was performing at the arena, and other black celebrities to join in the protests against the verdict... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/ahern-will-ask-congress-to-act-on-irish/75527/ Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST The prime minister of Ireland today is appearing before a joint session of Congress to make a plea on behalf of illegal Irish immigrants after disclosing that he has spent the past several months wrangling with individual members for a special visa deal. The taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, said his administration has been holding "detailed" conversations with the Bush administration and lawmakers, including senators Schumer and Kennedy, about the possibility of increasing the number of visas for Irish... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/lawmakers-use-pressure-tactics-in-wake-of-bell/75446/ Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Federal legislation could follow the acquittal of three detectives who fatally shot an unarmed black man in Queens last year, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of Manhattan is suggesting. Mr. Nadler was among eight members of the House of Representatives who joined the Reverend Al Sharpton in a visit to the site of the shooting yesterday afternoon in an effort to pressure the Department of Justice to bring federal charges against the detectives. "We will be moving on all avenues, in all lanes, to seek... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/paterson-is-the-new-focus-of-activists-in-bell/75365/ Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Civil rights groups are aiming to rouse the activist side of Governor Paterson this week in the aftermath of a not guilty verdict for three detectives who killed an unarmed black man, Sean Bell. Doubting that federal prosecutors will bring new civil rights charges against the detectives, the activists are resting their hopes for action on the former state senator from Harlem, who once protested alongside them after the 1999 shooting of another unarmed black man, Amadou Diallo. Mr. Paterson was... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/immigrants-sending-food-home/75354/ Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST A world food supply crisis is leading some African immigrants in the city to send packages of food to family members back home facing rising food prices and empty shelves at the market. Immigrants from Mali and Senegal in particular have found boxes of rice, sugar, and tomato paste are more appreciated than cash among relatives in their home countries, where the weak dollar now buys less and shortages have driven up the price of staples, particularly rice. The crisis comes as farmers have begun... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/use-wisely-the-blessings-of-freedom/74996/ Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST The Catholic faithful have much to do in the wake of the visit to America by Pope Benedict XVI, who encouraged hopefulness but also challenged his flock to take up the work of healing a church battered by the fallout from the clergy sex abuse scandal, the dearth of men and women becoming priests and nuns, and the loss of parishes and parochial schools as church membership contracts. The tasks he set out for Catholic followers on his first visit to America in his new role as the bishop of Rome... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/at-crossroads-benedict-calls-for-increased-faith/74946/ Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Pope Benedict XVI will arrive in New York Friday for the final leg of a trip to America in which he has been working to heal damage caused by the sexual abuse scandal and address what he called a crisis of truth and faith in Catholic education. Yesterday, he expressed sorrow for problems he called divisive and harmful, but called repeatedly for his flock to embrace hope and the church, and to become more Catholic, not less. "Who can deny that the present moment is a crossroads, not only for the... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/pope-praises-democracy-focuses-on-unity/74867/ Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Pope Benedict XVI is weighing in on the perennial debate about the role of religion in American politics, appearing at the White House yesterday with President Bush to cite both President Washington and the Declaration of Independence in making the case that, as the pontiff put it, "America's quest for freedom has been guided by the conviction that the principles governing political and social life are intimately linked to a moral order based on the dominion of God the Creator." The pope... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/bronx-detour-could-prove-edifying-for-benedict/74785/ Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Strung across the front of the St. Rita of Cascia Church rectory in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx this week is a banner with Pope Benedict XVI's image superimposed over a photo of the church's squat, one-story sanctuary. Behind the pope's raised arms are immaculate white-washed walls and a red-tiled roof, which could give the impression he is visiting a church in one of the Latin American countries that St. Rita's mostly Hispanic parishioners call home, not an especially rough corner of... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/burma-refugees-relaunch-lives-in-new-york-city/74648/ Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Groups of Burmese refugees — most of them from the Karen ethnic minority that has been the target of Burmese military oppression for decades — have been arriving nearly every day in recent months to start new lives in the city, according to aid workers. On a recent evening, the arrivals gate at John F. Kennedy International Airport was in its usual state of chaos as women in African headdresses and paunchy men in cowboy hats swirled around a group of Burmese refugees huddled in a corner... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/columbia-professor-takes-on-overhaul-of-core/74659/ Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Columbia University has taken the next step in its plan to add new multicultural classes to its core curriculum, the great books undergraduate program. The university announced it would spend $50 million on a project to enhance the core curriculum's multicultural offerings last fall, shortly after students conducted a week-long hunger strike to protest the weakness of the classes. Now Columbia is assigning a young professor of Western civilization, Roosevelt Montas, 34, to direct the effort. It... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/alternative-to-confinement-puts-sex-offender/74541/ Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST The state attorney general's office pressed a judge to commit a serial sex offender to an institution, but instead the judge, Willam Wetzel, set him free, and two weeks later, the man — who had reportedly been arrested 52 times, 29 of them for sexual abuse — was caught and charged with rubbing up against a female college student on the Lexington Avenue subway line. Under state law passed last year, the man arrested this week could have been confined to an institution instead of being released... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-colombians-lean-republican-over-trade-issue/74448/ Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST Some immigrants in New York City's Little Colombia may be changing their vote to Republican this year as a result of the Democratic candidates' opposition to a free trade agreement with Colombia. Although only a small slice of the electorate, Colombian immigrants in Queens are backing away in particular from Senator Clinton, a candidate who only a few months ago they ardently, and almost unanimously, supported. Even those who are against the deal are switching their allegiance — to Senator... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/business/vodka-brand-apologizes-for-mexico-map-ad/74364/ Wed, 9 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST An ad for Absolut Vodka that may have been intended as a good-natured jab on behalf of Mexicans at America's contentious immigration debate has unleashed a firestorm of criticism that has led the company to apologize. The ad, featuring a map of 19th-century North America when most of the western half of the continent was under Mexico's control, was supposed to recall a "more ideal" time for Mexicans, thousands of whom now cross the American border each year in search of work. It ran only in... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/columbia-students-death-raises-questions/74362/ Tue, 8 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST The death of a Columbia University student after he was chased into traffic during an assault near the campus has some students wondering how the school will deal with safety issues as it prepares to expand further north into Harlem. The student, Minghui Yu, was hit by a car on 122nd Street and Broadway after being attacked, prompting the university's president, Lee Bollinger, to remind students this weekend that the campus is in one of the safest police precincts in the city. The northern... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/14-year-old-boy-charged-with-manslaughter/74248/ Mon, 7 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST A 14-year-old boy is under arrest and another two boys were questioned yesterday in the death of a Columbia University graduate student who ran into the path of an oncoming car as he was being assaulted near the school. The student, Minghui Yu, 24, had just escorted his girlfriend, Chao Sun, home to her apartment after the two had made dinner together, according to a friend of the couple. The walk back would have taken less than five minutes, but Yu didn't make it halfway before he was attacked... SARAH GARLAND http://www.nysun.com/new-york/first-papal-visit-to-an-american-synagogue-is-set/74197/ Fri, 4 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EST The pope will visit an Upper East Side synagogue led by a Holocaust survivor during his visit to the city this month, in what will be only the third papal visit to a synagogue in history, and the first in America. Pope Benedict XVI is visiting the Park East Synagogue on East 68th Street the evening of April 18. "We're a small, small part of the program, but a significant one," the spiritual leader of the synagogue, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, said yesterday during a phone interview. Rabbi Schneier...