New York briefs: Paying tickets online

Website to help

fight city tickets

What's almost as bad as getting a parking ticket? How about the time-consuming trip it sometimes takes to fight it in court? Trying to cut down on that frustration, city officials said MondayMonday that suspected scofflaws will be able to dispute tickets online.

Similar to when a ticket is contested in person or by mail, the drivers can plea-bargain for a reduced fine online.

The program isn't just for parking or red light camera tickets; it includes many violations under the Environmental Control Board, including failure to recycle, improper disposal or having an unleashed dog.

The control board gets about 250,000 tickets contested annually.To apply for an online hearing for a parking ticket, go to nycserv.nyc.gov. For ECB fines, go to www.nyc.gov/html/ecb.

-- amNewYork

Jury selection in case of Deutsche Bank fire

A judge estimates it will take four months to hear a manslaughter trial in the deaths of two firefighters in a condemned Ground Zero building.

Jury selection started Monday. The trial stems from the August 2007 fire at the former Deutsche Bank building. A construction foreman, two supervisors and a company that employed two of the men have pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say the men didn't fix, and covered up a broken water pipe. The men call themselves scapegoats. -- APMore oppose naming bridge for Koch

The anti-Koch movement is gaining steam.

Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer is the latest to join the chorus of those opposed to the renaming of the Queensboro Bridge after former Mayor Ed Koch.

While Koch's service to the city is honorable, said Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside), "my love for the borough that I was born in and have lived my entire life is far greater." The Queensboro, also known as the 59th Street Bridge, is located in Van Bramer's Queens district.

Spokesmen for three other Queens councilmen confirmed their opposition. They join Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria), who is leading the charge against the renaming. Vallone promised vocal objections when the full city council takes up the measure, as early as Wednesday, after its expected passage today in a council committee vote.

Koch, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, has said he'll accept what the council decides. -- amNewYork

More charges against cops accused in rape

Two police officers made four visits over three hours to the apartment of a woman they are charged with raping when she needed help, prosecutors said Monday as they filed additional charges.

Already fighting charges of rape, burglary and misconduct, officers Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata pleaded not guilty to the additional counts of burglary, misconduct and falsifying business records.

Moreno is accused of raping the drunken, semiconscious woman while Mata acted as a lookout in December 2008. They deny the allegations.

The reason for a trial delay became clear when prosecutors said Monday they found that surveillance cameras captured the officers entering the woman's building four times, not three.

The officers' lawyers said the new allegation of a fourth and final visit should fuel doubt about authorities' account of the events. If convicted, the officers face up to 25 years in prison. -- APTeens held in fatal mugging of woman

Three New York City teens have been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of a woman who was trying to keep muggers from taking her cell phone, full of her husband's romantic texts.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Monday that Ian Green, 17, Tiyquon Hodges, 16, and Corey Brown, 16, have been charged with robbery and weapon possession after they were busted on an unrelated robbery.

Brown said Rabia Mohammed, 23, was shot while walking with her husband in Queens last week. The suspects were held without bail.-- AP