Union leaders OK NYC transit deal
New York - The executive board for the city’s transit workers union approved a tentative new contract late Tuesday, five days after it ended a paralyzing bus and subway strike that stranded millions of commuters.
The tentative contract, announced by union President Roger Toussaint, would give workers a 10.9 percent pay raise over three years and require them to contribute to their health care plans. It still must be approved by 33,700 members of the Transport Workers Union.
Toussaint said the contract provided “for a host of other provisions that will go a long way to help in improving the relations” between transit workers and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg applauded both sides for hammering out the agreement and thanked New Yorkers “for their patience and cooperation during a very difficult three days.”
The union’s contract expired Dec. 16. Union leaders called the strike Dec. 20 when talks became deadlocked over wages, pensions and health care benefits. Transit workers returned to work without a contract three days later.
Motorist beaten after honking at youths
Milwaukee At least 15 young people dragged a motorist out of his car and kicked and punched him after he honked his horn to get them to move out of the street, police said.
The 50-year-old man was in critical condition with head injuries Tuesday, and it was unclear whether he would survive, police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said.
Schwartz said the man was driving alone on the city’s north side late Monday when he honked at the group of young people, about 16 to 23 years old, in the middle of the street. They surrounded the vehicle and attacked the man, she said.
“They left him for dead, and when we showed up he was lying in the street,” she said.
No immediate arrests were made.
Detroit listeners sue their NPR station
Detroit Hell hath no fury like that of a scorned National Public Radio fan – especially in Detroit, where listeners angry at recent programming changes have gone to court, charging the city’s NPR station with fraud.
The fury in Detroit over program changes at WDET-FM has listeners claiming they were tricked into contributing money to the station during a pledge drive while station operators were secretly planning to junk locally produced programming and replace it with national talk and public affairs shows.
A class-action lawsuit was filed last week in Wayne County Circuit Court.
“This is a public radio station, and their decision just completely disregarded the public and the community that is loyal to the station and financially supports it,” said Kevin Ernst, the lawyer representing a group of listeners.
“People contributed for those local programs, not national programs,” Ernst said.
Ernst said the listeners want the return of the eclectic, daytime music programs the station canceled as of Dec. 13. And if they can’t get that, they want the money they gave in the fall pledge drive.
‘Sausage king’ dies at San Quentin Prison
San Francisco Self-proclaimed “sausage king” Stuart Alexander died Tuesday at San Quentin Prison while on death row for killing three meat inspectors.
Alexander, 44, was under a suicide watch at the time.
The cause of death was not immediately known, but Sgt. Eric Messick said there were no signs of suicide or foul play. An autopsy was planned.
Messick said Alexander’s mental health had deteriorated after he was sentenced to death in February for the 2000 shooting deaths at his factory in San Leandro.
The slayings were captured on the factory’s surveillance videotape, which was shown to the jury at the trial. Alexander’s lawyers contended that he snapped and killed the inspectors after months of harassment. They argued for a voluntary manslaughter conviction.