NEW YORK -- The city Economic Development Corp. spent $300,000 on items including pricey hotel suites, expensive dinners and sports utility vehicles described as ``questionable'' by Comptroller William Thompson in an audit Thursday. Most of the expenses occurred during the Giuliani administration or involved officials appointed by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, including Catherine Giuliani, a relative through marriage.
The EDC is responsible for attracting business and generating economic development for the city. Many of the expenses appear to fall outside that description, according to the audit, including $29,355 for golf caps and T-shirts emblazoned with ``Office of the Mayor'' and $7,000 for a farewell dinner for Catherine Giuliani, formerly the EDC chief of staff.
-- Associated Press
PATAKI TOUTS REVISED SUPERFUND PROGRAM
ALBANY -- The Superfund program is back in business following a retooling that will ultimately be good for both the environment and the economy, Gov. George Pataki predicted Thursday.The cleanup program for chemically contaminated sites had run out of money and been in limbo for the past two years as the governor and the Legislature bickered over cleanup standards and other issues.
The program now includes provisions for the cleanup of brownfields, the mostly abandoned, mostly urban properties that cannot be redeveloped until toxic contamination is corrected.
State officials said that up to $120 million a year will be available to the Superfund program, to be generated through state borrowing and industry fees. Separately, a $33 million Oil Spill Program will be funded through industry fees.
-- Associated Press
SYRACUSE DIOCESE PLANS BACKGROUND CHECKS
SYRACUSE -- The Roman Catholic Diocese of Syracuse will conduct criminal background checks on at least 12,000 priests, employees and lay volunteers as part of a new policy announced Thursday for guarding against sexual abuse of minors. The new policy also requires diocese personnel and volunteers who have contact with children to undergo training and sign a 10-element code of conduct.
The new policy was developed over a year and a half and was mandated by the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, which was adopted in November by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to address clergy sexual abuse in the church.
The Syracuse diocese, which covers a seven-county area in upstate New York, has permanently removed eight priests from ministry because of credible allegations of sexual abuse of minors.
-- Associated Press
TWO GROUPS IN TALKS TO REOPEN CHOCOLATE PLANT
FULTON -- Two private investment groups looking to revive chocolate production in the former Nestle chocolate factory met Thursday to discuss how they can work together. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer led the meeting between Island Capital Ventures, which has agreed to spend nearly $6.4 million to manufacture low-carbohydrate chocolate bars, and Lion Capital Management, a group of West African investors who want to start a bulk chocolate operation in the idled factory.
Meanwhile, Nestle USA has agreed to give local officials an extension until Dec. 15 to work out a takeover agreement, said L. Michael Treadwell, executive director of Operation Oswego County.
Nestle closed its 103-year-old plant -- the oldest chocolate factory in America -- in May, leaving more than 475 people without jobs.
-- Associated Press
