*A Nassau County police officer was hospitalized in serious condition after he was rear-ended on the shoulder of the Long Island Expressway. The driver was charged with DWI.

*Construction at the future Goldman Sachs tower was stopped after a steel plank falls 18 stories onto a baseball field where children were playing.

*Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that the city would spend $5.3 million to hire 63 more construction safety inspectors

*A new study released today finds that escalators and elevators in the city subway system are unreliable. According to a study by the New York Times, the subway system’s 169 escalators averaged 68 breakdowns or repair calls each last year.

*More New Jersey residents are finding themselves unable to pay their utility bills. The state Board of Public Utilities says more than 175,000 people in the state had their electricity shut off last year. That’s up by 15 percent over 2006.

*The old Heiden Hotel in Fallsburg was destroyed by fire on Saturday night. The old hotel was vacant and not in use at the time of the fire.        

*More than 60 percent of New Jersey’s likely voters disapprove of the way Gov. Jon Corzine is handling the state’s finances, a poll found, according to a report in the Record.

*TRI-STATE WEATHER: The day starts off with partly sunny skies and temperatures in the low 60s, according to the National Weather Service. The winds begin kicking up around lunchtime with gusts up to 20 mph. There is a slight chance of showers in the afternoon.

*BALTIMORE ― It’s one of the toughest and most dangerous jobs you could possibly have, and now city leaders hope that new training could reduce some of the risks for Baltimore’s finest. A new program is being called unprecedented in the department’s history. Unprecedented because for the first time, an entire shift of officers in one precinct has been sent to training at the same time. More than 30 officers assigned to the same shift out of the northern precinct recently completed a new, one-month training class.

*FREDERICK, Md. – State police say a trooper was injured when his cruiser ran off Interstate 70 and hit a tree. It happened around 12:15 a.m. Sunday on eastbound Interstate 70 near Mount Tabor Road. Police say Trooper Adam Thomas from the Westminster barracks lost control of the cruiser when he tried to swerve around two deer in his path

*Baltimore Area Weather: Today: Mostly Sunny, High 67, Low 52. Tuesday: Rain, High 59, Low 49

*Baltimore Gas Prices: Cheapest: $3.75 Reisterstown Road & Clarks Lane
most Expensive: $3.85 Reisterstown Rd & Northern Pkwy

(YW-MD03 / YWN Desk)