Sunday News

• Public service announcements not getting message across

  Breast cancer specialists were alarmed last year when research from the National Cancer Institute revealed mammography use had dropped so sharply that doctors feared a rise in invasive cancers.

• Gang activity plagues Long Island despite crackdowns

  It was around midnight one steamy Saturday when two gang members with the street names Clown and Baldy were cruising Freeport, looking for someone to kill.

• Ellis Henican: Obama travels this weekend to show world he's ready

  Travel, they say, is broadening, and Barack Obama is on an exciting trip.

• Rick Brand: With a big war chest, Levy's at a crossroads

  When Steve Levy first won his county legislature seat in 1985, he spent $5,000 and a lot of shoe leather walking the district.

• Kin: Woman in murder-suicide left violent relationship

  They were anything but perfect for each other.

• WAR UPDATE

  After intense U.S. assaults, al-Qaida may be considering shifting focus to its original home base in Afghanistan, where American casualties are running higher than in Iraq, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said yesterday. "We do think that there is some assessment ongoing as to the continued viability of al-Qaida's fight in Iraq," Gen. David Petraeus told The Associated Press in an interview at his office at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Whatever the result, Petraeus said no one should expect al-Qaida to give up entirely in Iraq. "They're not going to abandon Iraq. They're not going to write it off. None of that," he said. "But what they certainly may do is start to provide some of those resources that would have come to Iraq to Pakistan, possibly Afghanistan." He said there are signs foreign fighters recruited by al-Qaida to battle in Iraq are being diverted to largely ungoverned areas in Pakistan from which the fighters can cross into Afghanistan. U.S. officials have pressed Pakistan for more than a year to halt cross-border infiltration. It remains a major worry for the war in Afghanistan and for Pakistan's stability.

• Obama begins Mideast, Europe trip in Afghanistan

  KABUL, Afghanistan - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama got his first look at deteriorating conditions in war-torn Afghanistan yesterday, meeting U.S. military commanders and local officials and touring part of the country by helicopter on the first day of a highly anticipated visit to the Middle East and Europe that drew a fresh rebuke from Republican rival John McCain.

• Fundraiser for wounded soldier draws big support

  At the beer garden behind the Plattdeutsche Park Restaurant in Franklin Square, family, friends and total strangers greeted Christopher Levi, the once gravely wounded Army corporal who returned to Long Island yesterday for a fundraiser in his honor.

• Joye Brown: Jellyfish real pain for Long Island Sound swimmers

  Not long after Holger Fietkau fired his starter's gun to send a wave of swimmers off on a 5K race in Huntington Bay last Sunday, a jellyfish undulated brazenly into view.

• Lloyd Kraus, WWII veteran and businessman, dies

  Lloyd Kraus, a decorated World War II veteran who went on to became a major in the Army Reserve and built several successful local businesses during Long Island's suburban boom era, has died. He was 93.

• At 100 years old, nun has earned her optimism

  Sister Mary Loyola Engel still remembers watching lamplighters come down the streets of Manhattan to ignite the street lights at night before there was electricity.

• Suffolk police commissioner defends officers in Lazo case

  Suffolk Police Commissioner Richard Dormer, in an internal department memo, again defended officers' actions in subduing Kenny Lazo, saying they used "the minimum force necessary" in a violent struggle during a roadside arrest.

• McCartney cameo at Shea takes fans back to '60s shows

  When Paul McCartney walked onstage toward the end of Billy Joel's concert at Shea Stadium, Rosalia Rosen felt the exhilaration she had experienced at the 1966 Beatles show in the same venue.

• Iran refuses to halt uranium enrichment

  GENEVA - A U.S. decision to bend policy and sit down with Iran at nuclear talks fizzled yesterday, with Iran stonewalling Washington and five other world powers on their call to freeze uranium enrichment.

• WORLD & NATION UPDATE: ABROAD

  A helicopter carrying the Rev. Sun Myung Moon crashed into a mountainside in South Korea yesterday as it attempted an emergency landing, injuring the founder of the Unification Church and 15 others, officials said. Moon, 88, was slightly injured in the crash, a hospital official said. Members of Moon's family, including his wife, were also hurt, and one person suffered a serious back injury, fire official Kim Wu-jong said. The S-92 helicopter was carrying 16 people when it crashed and burst into flames, the transportation ministry said. Moon and the others were treated at the church-affiliated Cheongshim Hospital in Gapyeong, about 37 miles northeast of Seoul, hospital official Park Sung-kwon said. Moon's condition was not serious, Park said.

• WORLD & NATION UPDATE: AT HOME

  Cooler weather has allowed fire crews to corral most of the wildfires across California, but a handful of stubborn, hard-to-reach mountain blazes yesterday were still keeping residents from their homes. Firefighters were trying to stop a fire in the Shasta Trinity National Forest from spreading to the rural town of Junction City, where an evacuation order was issued for some residents on Friday. The blaze was 45 percent contained. All but 38 of the more than 2,000 fires sparked after a lighting storm on June 20 have been extinguished around the state.

• Poll: Tomato scare over but has taken toll

  WASHINGTON - The tomato scare may be over, but it has taken a toll - it's cost the industry an estimated $100 million and left millions of people with a new wariness about the safety of everyday foods.

• McCain raises money in Hamptons

  In his second fundraising trip to Long Island in two months, John McCain visited the Hamptons yesterday, buzzing in and out of New York City by helicopter, as he sought to catch up with his rival Barack Obama, who has a commanding lead in campaign funds.

• Hempstead Bay searched for operator of Jet Ski

  A police recovery team swept Hempstead Bay with a sonar scanner for the operator of a Jet Ski found abandoned early yesterday morning without finding anyone, Nassau police said.

• YOUR COMMUNITY WATCHDOG: Plainview senior citizen says uneven sidewalks are hazard

  I live at a senior housing complex in Plainview. We're having a lot of problems with the sidewalks nearby on Old Country Road. I spoke to everybody in the Town of Oyster Bay and nobody has come to check. I fell on the sidewalk by a funeral parlor and got a black eye. We are seniors and we can't walk anywhere because the sidewalks are pulled up because of the trees (see video at newsday.com/watchdog). I have to walk in the gutter. Our people here are falling and we can't even walk to the stores.

• Beachgoers return to Zach's Bay after shark caught

  Sunbathers and swimmers - but fewer of them - returned to Zach's Bay yesterday, watched over by more lifeguards after a young shark was plucked from the waters there Friday.

• YOUR COMMUNITY WATCHDOG: Trucks illegally park on Garden City street

  I am writing you for help with the illegal

• Crash victim's sister feels sorry for unlicensed teen driver

  The sister of a Brooklyn motorcyclist critically injured when an unlicensed teenager improperly turned his car in front of him - killing the teen's own mother - said yesterday that she harbors no enmity toward the 17-year-old.

• YOUR COMMUNITY WATCHDOG: Brookhaven Town not mowing medians

  I'm frustrated with the Town of Brookhaven's maintenance of our neighborhood. The town is supposed to take care of the medians on Waltess Road and St. Joseph Avenue in Ronkonkoma, but homeowners have been mowing them for years. I'm also seeking an update on renovations at Waltess Estates Park.

• Rebels: Credit us for blast killing 10 Indian soldiers

  SRINAGAR, India - A bomb exploded near an army convoy in Indian Kashmir yesterday, killing at least 10 soldiers and wounding 14 others, a police official said.

• Search off beach continues for missing Queens girl

  Despite a search involving divers, boats and helicopters, rescue crews were unable yesterday to locate a Queens girl who went missing Friday in the waters off Rockaway Beach.

• Tropical Storm Cristobal looms off Southeast coast

  CHARLESTON, S.C. - Tropical Storm Cristobal, the first tropical storm to menace the Southeast seaboard this hurricane season, sent outer bands of intermittent rain lashing the eastern Carolinas yesterday as forecasters predicted it could dump several inches in some areas of drought-stricken North Carolina.

• THIS DATE IN HISTORY

  1810: Colombia declared independence from Spain.

• SHOOTING AT GREENPORT RESTAURANT

  A Bronx man shot a rival twice in the stomach yesterday after an altercation at a Greenport restaurant, Southold police said. Equan Sanders, 27, of 152nd Street, had fought with a 29-year-old Bellport man with whom he had an ongoing feud, at Rhumb Line Restaurant, police said. In the altercation, Sanders drew a handgun, fired and fled the restaurant. The owner chased Sanders and attracted the attention of an officer on foot patrol, who arrested Sanders shortly after 2 a.m., police said. "He made a foot pursuit on this gentleman and was able to catch him," Det. Steve Harned said of the officer. Sanders was charged with first-degree assault, criminal possession of a controlled substance, and marijuana possession. Police said they found a .22-caliber handgun near the restaurant that they believe was used in the shooting. Harned said the name of the wounded man is being withheld because investigators haven't been able to speak with him since he's been in surgery. Harned said the man likely would survive.

• Cops: Sayville man drives car into bay

  A man who had been drinking beer for hours drove his car into a bay on the way to work, Suffolk police said yesterday. Christopher Olsen, 20, was driving to Patchogue early yesterday morning when he sped his 1999 Mazda Protegé through a guardrail and into the Great South Bay off Cedar Avenue, said Sgt. Brian Thornton of Suffolk's Fifth Precinct. "He just got out of his car and started walking to work," Thornton said. Olsen works as dockmaster at the Sandspit Marina on nearby Brightwood Street. He told his friends there what happened, then returned to the crash scene, Thornton said. Officers administered several tests for intoxication; Olsen failed all of them, Thornton said. "He had been drinking all day," Thornton said Olsen told officers. Charges against Olsen include driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest, police said. Olsen, of Brook Street in Sayville, was released from jail on his own recognizance, according to online court records. He could not be immediately reached for comment.

• Bonkers over Batman at the box office

  LOS ANGELES - Batman's joust with the Joker has set another box office record.

• 3 teens charged in arson attempt

  Three teens have been arrested on charges that, last September, they tossed homemade firebombs at a West Hempstead home and boat where a former girlfriend of one of them lives, Nassau police said yesterday. The devices went out and did not damage the Cornwell Avenue home when they were thrown Sept. 7 about 11:30 p.m., police said. Police charged the ex-boyfriend, Steven Cruz, 19, of Sagamore Road, Island Park; Marcus Spocinski, 17, of Colony Drive, Baldwin; and Joseph Torres, 18, of Maple Avenue, Uniondale; with attempted arson. Spocinski and Torres are also charged with criminal possession of a weapon. Cruz was arraigned Friday on $200,000 bond, $100,000 cash bail, online court records show.

• Purse-snatching suspect held

  Cops have arrested a suspected serial purse snatcher in a spree of robberies in Nassau, they said. Brian Nestor, of Greenlawn, was first arrested Thursday afternoon after he knocked over a 46-year-old woman and dragged her while trying to steal her pocketbook outside the Massapequa Park post office on Park Boulevard, police said. The woman managed to break free; witnesses tackled Nestor and held him until cops came, police said. Nestor, of Wyckoff Street, was later charged in connection with three similar robberies: one on July 9 on Plandome Road in Manhasset, and two on July 10, on North Manhattan Avenue in North Massapequa and then on Rockaway Avenue in Hewlett.

• COPS SEEK TO ID INJURED WOMAN

  Suffolk police are trying to identify a woman who was seriously injured in a hit-and-run in Bay Shore early yesterday, authorities said. The woman, wearing a "#1 Mom" gold necklace, was crossing West Main Street around 3:30 a.m. when she was struck by a car, police said. Detectives don't know who hit her or in which direction the vehicle fled, police said. The woman was in critical condition at Southside Hospital, a police spokeswoman said. They described her as in her mid-40s, about 5-foot-6, thin, and with short dark hair. She was wearing denim shorts and a white shirt. Police are asking anyone who might be able to help them identify her to call 631-854-8352.

• Oceanside bank robbed

  A man robbed the Roslyn Savings Bank in Oceanside yesterday by passing a teller a threatening note demanding cash, Nassau police said. The robber, who wore a blue hat, sunglasses and a T-shirt, fled the branch at 3140 Long Beach Rd. on foot and was seen walking west on Perkins Avenue. None of the eight employees or the one customer in the bank was injured, police said. Detectives asked anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 800-244-TIPS.