The Record, Bergen County, NJ

Disputed Son of Sam Items in Safekeeping

NEW YORK Items that belonged to David Berkowitz, the imprisoned Son of Sam killer who terrorized New York for 13 months in the 1970s, were assigned to a lawyer for safekeeping Monday until a judge decides who owns them now. Berkowitz, serving six 25-years-to-life sentences for killing six people and wounding seven others in 1976 and 1977, said in a lawsuit that he loaned the documents, letters, photos and other items to his former lawyer, Hugo R. Harmatz, and now wants them back.

New Yorkers Aren't Bullish On a Hillary Clinton Presidential Run Most in Poll Say She's Unlikely to Win

ALBANY, N.Y. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is in strong shape for reelection in New York this year, but most voters in her adopted state think it is unlikely the former first lady could win a 2008 presidential race, a statewide poll reported Monday. And, 51 percent of those voters told Marist College's Institute for Public Opinion that Clinton, "because of who she is," would be treated more harshly than other candidates in a 2008 presidential campaign.

Senators From N.J. Will Vote Against Alito ; Say Court Nominee Could Take Nation Backward

Sen. Robert Menendez said Monday he will vote against West Caldwell resident Samuel Alito's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court because Alito would "jeopardize decades of progress in protecting individual rights and freedoms." "It's not where you come from that matters, it's where you will take the nation," and that's backward on voting rights, workplace discrimination and equal access to schools and government programs, Menendez said in his first floor speech since being appointed 12 days a...

Abandoned Baby Found; Suspected Mom Arrested

JERSEY CITY Police have arrested a woman who is believed to have abandoned her newborn boy early Monday in an apartment house hallway. A nurse at Christ Hospital in Jersey City contacted police after a patient at the hospital claimed she had dropped off her baby at a police precinct, said Stan Eason, a Jersey City police spokesman.

Woman's Abuse Case Reversed On Appeal ; Repressed Memories Key to $750,000 Win

NEWARK A woman awarded $750,000 after a trial during which she accused her uncle of sexually abusing her as a child will have to head back to court if she wants to see the money, a state appeals panel ruled Monday. The appeals court reversed a lower court's decision that allowed the woman, who supposedly relied on repressed memories, to testify she had been sexually abused years earlier.

Morning Gloom

Unwanted Stowaway Is Stuck On Ship ; Ivory Coast Sent Him Back to U.S.

CAMDEN A young man flown back to Africa after he stowed away on a ship amid a load of cocoa beans was returned to the same vessel in the United States because no nation would accept him. The man, identified on his French passport as Charles Philippe Zata, arrived in Camden on Jan. 20 on the Trubezh, which had sailed from the Ivory Coast. When he was found, authorities put him on a plane back to the West African nation.

Cop's Family to Sue State for $10m ; Open Drawbridge Claimed 2 Officers

NEWARK The family of a Jersey City police officer killed when his emergency vehicle plunged from an open drawbridge Christmas night plans to sue the state for $10 million, attorneys said Monday. The estate of Officer Robert Nguyen mailed a letter of intent to sue to the state Attorney General's office on Monday, said Steven Blader, a lawyer for Nguyen's estate and family.

Farber: I'll Be a Corruption Buster ; First Hispanic Ag Is Confirmed, Sworn In

State Attorney General Zulima Farber, fresh off a rocky confirmation vote Monday, had a quick response for what her first priority would be: public corruption. Farber, 61, the first Hispanic to become attorney general in New Jersey, promised that within a year people would be able to "hold me accountable" by judging her record on public corruption cases and other prosecutions.

Corrections

Because of production errors, the Highest Money Market Yield in Sunday's business section and the Best North Jersey Rates chart in Friday's editions contained incorrect rate information. * * *

People in the News

Razzie nominations Bad sequels and remakes tortured movie audiences last year, and they provided a smorgasbord for the Razzies, an Academy Awards spoof that pays heed to the worst in Hollywood.

Boy, 4, Found Dead in Squalid Apartment ; Mother, Boyfriend Questioned About Injuries

NEW YORK Around his Bronx neighborhood, 4-year-old Quachon Brown was all smiles. But his mood must have turned to dread upon returning home. The family's cramped two-bedroom apartment was filthy and roach- infested. The place lacked heat, a broken window let in the cold winter air and there was no food in the refrigerator. He and four other children slept in the same dirty bedroom, police said.

Playwright Wendy Wasserstein Dies at 55 ; Eloquent Voice for a Generation of American Women

Wendy Wasserstein, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who turned the concerns of her generation's women into laughter-laced dramatic art, died of cancer Monday in New York. She was 55 and had been in a long battle with lymphoma, said her longtime friend, Lincoln Center Theatre artistic director Andre Bishop. Wasserstein plumbed her own life and the lives of her bright Mount Holyoke College classmates for her first New York success, "Uncommon Women and Others." Then, as she and they began t...

Union Address Critical for Bush ; Approval Ratings, Gop Control Hang On Agenda

WASHINGTON President Bush faces one of the most daunting political challenges of his career tonight when he kicks off a pivotal midterm-election year with his State of the Union address. He must frame the year's coming debate in a way that will lead Americans to stay the course with his Republican Party running the government, at a time when polls show that voters are in a sour mood and restless for change.

Diocese Caught Off Guard by Furor ; Will Revisit Policy On Rogue Ex-Priests

The Paterson Diocese, facing questions about why a defrocked priest and admitted child molester is living quietly and unsupervised in a residential neighborhood, promised Monday to review the matter and consider whether it needs to take additional steps to monitor rogue ex-priests. "I believe we do have a moral obligation to look into this," said the Rev. James T. Mahoney, the vicar general and No. 2 official in the Roman Catholic diocese. "I know of no family that would be comfortable with a...

Recognize Israel or Lose Foreign Aid, Hamas Told

LONDON A Palestinian government led by the Islamic militant movement Hamas must renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist if it is to receive badly needed overseas financial aid, U.S. and other international donors said Monday. "I think we are all saying exactly the same thing, that there are choices now confronting Hamas and we will see what they do," said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Medicaid Penalty Looms ; Seniors Racing to Beat Gift Restrictions in Bill

A bill that Congress could approve Thursday has sent some senior citizens scrambling to lawyers' offices to improve their chances of qualifying for Medicaid nursing home coverage, just in case they need it. "I can't keep up with the amount of people running in here trying to beat deadline," said Peggy Sheahan Knee, an "elder law" specialist in Hackensack.

Around the World

John Paul miracle claim scrutinized ROME A nun's apparently inexplicable recovery in France from Parkinson's disease, the same affliction suffered by Pope John Paul II, looks promising as the miracle needed to beatify the late pontiff, a Polish cleric said.

Birth Defects Hit 8m Yearly ; March of Dimes Cites Hidden Global Epidemic

WASHINGTON About 8 million children worldwide are born every year with serious birth defects, many of them dying before age 5 in a toll largely hidden from view, the March of Dimes says. Most birth defects occur in poor countries, where babies can languish with problems easily fixed or even prevented in wealthier nations, according to research released Monday by the organization.

Senator Denies Saying Homosexuals Are 'Fruits' ; Quoted Biblical Passage in Interview

WASHINGTON Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, a potential presidential candidate, said Monday he meant no offense to homosexuals when he used the word "fruits" in a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine. In a lengthy profile titled "God's Senator," the magazine quotes the Kansas Republican as criticizing countries such as Sweden that allow civil unions between same-sex couples.