REAL-TIME NEWS

Round-the-clock headlines from Staten Island

Staten Island family sues, claiming Christmas tree ornament sparked fire

by Staten Island Advance

Tuesday October 07, 2008, 6:07 PM

A Dongan Hills family claims the Snowflake On/Off Touch Control ornament sparked a fire that caused injuries and damaged their home.

The holidays are fast approaching, but for one Staten Island family, Christmastime will never be the same.

Almost three years ago, on Jan. 3, 2006, Michael and Karen Triglianos' Dongan Hills Avenue in the borough's Dongan Hills section home went up in flames, forcing Mrs. Triglianos and her daughter, Allison, then 12, to jump to safety from a second-floor window. Both survived, but were injured.

The cause wasn't a lit cigarette or smoldering ember, the Triglianos' allege, but a Christmas tree ornament purchased just two weeks earlier. Specifically, a defective "Touch Control" snowflake, which was supposed to control the lights on their real Christmas tree, but instead, set it ablaze.

Post a comment | View comments (8)

Staten Island Bank Stocks

by Staten Island Advance

Tuesday October 07, 2008, 5:49 PM

The following are today's closing prices and share activity for seven Island banks trading stock on the New York Stock Exchange, Over The Counter and Nasdaq markets:

TD Commerce, (TD) Close: $49.75, down $4.35 cents
New York Community Bank, (NYB) Close: $15.01, down 87 cents
Northfield Bancorp, (NFBK) Close: $11.70, down 38 cents
Victory State Bank, (VSBN) Close: $10.30, down $1.26
Sovereign Bancorp, (SOV) Close: $4.77, down 85 cents
Hudson City Bancorp, (HCBK) Close: $16.50, down $2.04 cents
Washington Mutual, (WM) This stock has been delisted from the NYSE. It continues to be traded on the "pink sheets" under the symbol WAMUQ for pennies a share.

Post a comment | View comments (0)

Stocks tumble as Wall Street worries about financials

by Associated Press

Tuesday October 07, 2008, 5:31 PM

The misery worsened on Wall Street today, with stocks piling on losses late in the session and bringing the two-day decline in the Dow Jones industrials to more than 875 points amid escalating worries about credit markets and the financial sector.

The Dow lost more than 500 points and all the major indexes slid more than 5 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index saw its first close below 1,000 in five years.

Post a comment | View comments (0)

1,612 attend job fair on Staten Island

by Staten Island Advance

Tuesday October 07, 2008, 4:07 PM

Advance photo/Frank J. JohnsHundreds of job seekers line up outside the Cromwell Center in Tompkinsville.

At exactly 7:48 this morning, Harold Schlipstein, 45, of Staten Island's Dongan Hills section, was the first person to arrive at today's job fair held inside the Cromwell Center in Tompkinsville.

"I got here early because I know how long the lines can get. I know it gets crowded," says Schlipstein.

As he predicted, by 10 a.m., when the doors opened for the job fair, more than 200 people of all ages, educational backgrounds and career experience were lined-up outside the center, waiting to get in. By the close of the fair, 1,612 people had registered to meet with recruiters from high-profile businesses in a variety of industries.

Post a comment | View comments (1)

Gov. David Paterson launches political Web site

by The Associated Press

Tuesday October 07, 2008, 2:52 PM

Gov. David Paterson has remained relatively quiet about any intentions he as on running for governor again in Albany, but did launch a new political Web site. (Associated Press)

New York Gov. David Paterson, who is careful to hold back saying he will run for election in 2010 to the office thrust upon him by Eliot Spitzer's disgrace, is launching a political Web site.

The site, attributed to the Paterson for Governor committee, pitches New York's first black and first blind governor on the basis of the character he's shown facing a financial firestorm since he took office March 17. That's when Spitzer resigned after being named in a federal prostitution investigation.

Post a comment | View comments (0)

Reports of shots fired in Staten Island's Mariners Harbor section

by Staten Island Advance

Tuesday October 07, 2008, 2:51 PM

Police are responding to Staten Island's Mariners Harbor section, after reports that one male fired a gun at another.

The incident occurred on Harbor Loop. Both men involved fled the scene.

The man who fired the gun shot is wearing white pants, a green shirt and a red top, according to police radio transmissions.

Post a comment | View comments (9)

Verrazano toll plaza construction wraps up today

by Staten Island Advance

Tuesday October 07, 2008, 2:41 PM

MTA Bridges and TunnelsThe Brooklyn-bound side of the Lily Pond toll plaza shows off new striping, following the completion of work on both sides of the plaza.

Work on the Lily Pond Avenue overpass that forms the toll plaza of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge was finished today after a two-year-long, $18 million rehabilitation project.

The work involved shifting traffic patterns around the plaza, while the 420-foot-wide bridge was removed and replaced in segments. The overpass was also reinforced, with new bearings installed to bring the structure up to the city's seismic code, and its electrical components were replaced.

The original toll plaza had dated back to 1964 when the Verrazano was opened to traffic.

"As always, we appreciate the patience of our customers during this major, necessary rehabilitation, which will ensure the roadway's long-term safe and efficient use for our 190,000 daily customers," said David Moretti, the acting president of MTA Bridges and Tunnels, which operates the Verrazano.

The contractor was El Sol, of Maspeth, Queens.

Post a comment | View comments (7)