FEDERAL AGENCIES CHALLENGED ON INDIAN POINT /> Local officials are asking the federal government for internal data on how it concluded that the Indian Point nuclear power plant's public evacuation plan was sound. The county executives of Westchester and Rockland have filed Freedom of Information requests with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The federal approvals have angered the local residents and the county governments that have refused to certify the evacuation plan for the plant, in Buchanan, N.Y.

Yilu Zhao (NYT)

BROOKLYN: JUDGE FACES MORE SEVERE CHARGE Criminal charges against Justice Gerald P. Garson of State Supreme Court were raised yesterday to include bribe-receiving, three months after he was indicted on charges of accepting gifts from a lawyer in return for preferential treatment. Justice Garson, 71, left, was indicted yesterday on one count of third-degree bribe-receiving. The new charge carries a maximum seven-year sentence. The six counts of the previous charge each carry a penalty of up to four years in jail. Prosecutors said the lawyer, Paul Siminovsky, plied Justice Garson with meals, cigars and cash, and in return, the judge advised him on how best to try matrimonial cases before him. Justice Garson's lawyer, Ronald P. Fischetti, said it was nonsense to describe the relationship between the judge and Mr. Siminovsky as criminal. Andy Newman (NYT)

MANHATTAN: RULING ON BARRIERS IN CHINATOWN A state judge has ruled that the New York Police Department must take the first steps toward removing security barricades that have angered Chinatown residents, but it stopped short of ordering the reopening of the street. The barricades, north on Park Row from Frankfort Street to Chatham Square, helped protect nearby police headquarters after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. But Chinatown residents complained they were not consulted about the street closing and were unable to invite family members or friends to their homes. In a decision Monday, Justice Walter B. Tolub of State Supreme Court in Manhattan ordered the department to have an independent agency conduct an environmental analysis of traffic congestion and pollution. Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said yesterday that the department was studying the ruling, but that "obviously we'll do whatever the court directs us to do." Faiza Akhtar (NYT)

CENTRAL ISLIP: NASSAU REDISTRICTING IS UPHELD A federal judge has upheld the remapping of the Nassau County Legislature's districts by its Democratic majority. A lawsuit filed by the Republicans called the changes politically motivated to benefit the Democrats. It challenged the districts as odd-shaped with unequal populations and divided communities. In a decision dated July 31 and made public yesterday, Judge Denis R. Hurley of Federal District Court said that "redistricting is essentially a political and legislative process," but ruled that the new districts were within federal law. Bruce Lambert (NYT)