CITYWIDE

SCHUMER SAYS CITY SCHOOLS OWED $1.1 BILLION

The Bush administration is shortchanging schools in New York City, Westchester, and Long Island by more than a billion dollars, Senator Schumer said yesterday as students geared up for the start of the school year.

“There’s not enough money for our kids,” Mr. Schumer said at a press conference outside William J. O’Shea Junior High School on the Upper West Side. “At a time when our schools are short of money, at a time when our property taxes have gone up here and in the suburbs, this is a disgrace.”

According to the report, some $1.1 billion – $538 million earmarked under the No Child Left Behind Act and $573 million from the Individuals with Disabilities and Education Act – is owed to the city and suburbs by the federal government, which pledged a total of $2.2 billion this year to New York’s schools. If the government lived up to its pledges, Mr. Schumer said, $914 million would flow into New York City schools, and Long Island and Westchester schools would receive more than $180 million. The U.S. Department of Education did not return a call seeking comment.

Briget Rein, a second-grade teacher at P.S. 109 in Brooklyn, said she spends about $1,000 annually from her own pocket supplying her classroom with such basics as paper. “How are we suppose to implement these programs if the materials aren’t there?” she said.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

JERRY LEWIS HONORS NEW YORK ATTORNEY

An attorney in the New York City Law Department, Michael J. Wasser,, was given the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s top national honor during the Jerry Lewis Telethon yesterday. Mr. Wasser, 30, was presented with the MDA’s 2005 National Personal Achievement Award for his efforts as a disabilities activist.

Mr. Wasser has Becker Muscular Dystrophy, a genetic disorder characterized by progressive weakness and muscle wasting in the limb and trunk muscles. As the first student with a disability allowed to participate in many educational programs in the New York City schools, he encouraged other students with disabilities to get involved and pursue their rights.

MDA is a voluntary health agency working to defeat more than 40 neuromuscular diseases through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services, and far-reaching professional and public health education.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

PROGRAM TO HELP CHILDREN OF 9/11 VICTIMS TO BE UNVEILED

The Child and Adolescent Trauma Recovery Program at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and the WTC Family Center at the South Nassau Communities Hospital will unveil a joint initiative today aimed at helping the children of World Trade Center victims cope with long-term losses.

A 40-painting collection of artwork created over the past three years by children of the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks, “Seasons of Grief,” will also be unveiled tomorrow by the WTC Family Center, at the Terrapin Chelsea Art Gallery.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

WESTCHESTER COUNTY

THREE DIE AFTER TRACTOR TRAILER HITS STALLED CAR

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. – A Long Island mother, father, and teenage daughter were killed when their car stalled on the Tappan Zee bridge yesterday morning and was struck from behind by a tractor trailer, causing it to burst into flames, state police said. The tractor trailer’s driver was injured.

Angela Nash, 44, was driving a 1998 Mercedes-Benz southbound on the bridge with her husband, Kevin Nash,46,and their daughter, Reina Nash,16,inside.Their car became disabled in the right lane.

The driver of the 2005 Freightliner became distracted by a passing motorist and did not see the disabled Mercedes, police said. He hit the back of the car, causing the gas tank to rupture and ignite. The car was engulfed in flames, and all three passengers, from West Hampton, were severely burned and died at scene, police said.

The driver of the tractor trailer, Ralph Heims, 41, of Manchester, Iowa, was treated at a hospital for a broken finger and sprained wrist and was released. No charges were filed against him.

– Associated Press