CITYWIDE

LAWMAKERS OPPOSE FEDERAL MONEY FOR GROUND ZERO PLANS

Republican lawmakers from New York yesterday threatened to bring Congress into the growing controversy about designs for the World Trade Center site. Questioning the use of billions of dollars in federal money for the project, Rep. John Sweeney said, “There may be a need for Congress now to clarify its position on what that $2.5 billion was supposed to be for.” Some September 11 family members say current plans for an International Freedom Center would overshadow plans for a memorial to the 2,749 victims of the 2001 terror attack and would include exhibits on slavery, the Holocaust, and the history of freedom that would be inappropriate for the site.

– Associated Press

ICE-CREAM SHOP OWNER FOUND GUILT Y OF FUNNELING MONEY OVERSEAS

A Yemeni immigrant ice-cream shop owner was found guilty yesterday of illegally funneling $21.9 million overseas in a case stemming from a major terrorism investigation. Abad Elfgeeh, 50, was accused of transmitting money around the world without a license from bank accounts linked to his tiny storefront in Brooklyn. Elfgeeh was not charged with any terrorism-related crime although prosecutors said his business was used by a Yemeni cleric convicted earlier this year of a scheme to fund Al Qaeda and the Palestinian Arab terrorist group Hamas.

– Associated Press

FORMER TALIBAN DIPLOMAT SENTENCED IN TAX FRAUD CASE

A former envoy for Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership who pleaded guilty to cheating on his taxes and lying on a bank loan application has been sentenced to two months behind bars. Noorullah Zadran, once a top spokesman for the Taliban in America, pleaded guilty on June 17 to federal charges in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Besides the two months’ imprisonment, he was ordered Tuesday to pay a $5,000 fine and a $200 special assessment and serve three years of supervised release, the U.S. Department of Justice said yesterday.

– Associated Press

BRONX

TERMINAL MARKET TENANTS REFUSE TO PAY RENT TO LANDLORD

In an attempt to produce a better relocation plan, a group of current Bronx Terminal Market tenants gathered on the steps of City Hall yesterday, refusing to pay rent to their new landlord, the Related Companies – the developer that is seeking to build a $394 million shopping-mall complex on the market site. The city is leasing the market to Related, which could begin construction on the mall next year, pending land-use approvals. The city has said the project will deliver thousands of jobs and help develop one of the city’s most blighted neighborhoods, but critics have charged that it represents a raw deal for the tenants, and a sweetheart deal for Related.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

STATEWIDE

GOP CHAIRMAN SAYS CANDIDATES PROMISE NO PRIMARIES

New York’s state Republican Party chairman said yesterday the current candidates for the 2006 nominations for governor and to take on Senator Clinton have all pledged not to wage primaries if they aren’t selected by party leaders. Several of the candidates said that was not true. Stephen Minarik said any primaries, which suck up valuable time and money, could kill GOP chances of beating Mrs. Clinton and the likely Democratic candidate for governor, the state attorney general, Eliot Spitzer.

– Associated Press

TRISTATE

STANDOFF WITH POLICE ENDS PEACEFULLY IN JERSEY CITY

A man who took a store owner hostage and kept police at bay for more than six hours surrendered peacefully last night, a few hours after the hostage escaped with the help of a police negotiator. Authorities said the hostage taker – whose identity was not immediately released – and another man tried to rob A & E Jewelry, a store on busy Sip Avenue near the Journal Square PATH station, at about 2 p.m.

– Associated Press