*A New York City lawyer has sued Delta Air Lines Inc. for nearly $1 million, claiming the company’s incompetent and rude employees made his 80-year-old mother’s birthday trip to South America a stressful, costly horror.

*A former corporate lawyer at a major international law firm in Manhattan was arrested Tuesday on charges he stole $1.3 million from a client escrow account, law enforcement officials said.

*Newark firefighters were battling a blaze this morning in the partially demolished remains of the former Pabst Brewery, authorities said. The fire in the six-story building, on South Orange Avenue near the Garden State Parkway, was reported at about 8 a.m., said Newark Fire Chief Michael Lalor. It began in the lower floor and spread to the upper floors, he said. (Star-Ledger)

*NY State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is trying to put the brakes on the MTA’s policy of giving board members free E-ZPasses for life. A Daily News report yesterday revealed that 60 past and present board members get the free tags, with some receiving several of them. The MTA says it’s a way of saying thank you to board members who serve without pay. But Cuomo’s office says the practice is illegal, as board members voluntarily serve without salary or any form of compensation.

*A Paterson, NJ fire captain is serving a one-year prison term in Pennsylvania for his third drunken driving offense, yet continues to pull a 24-hour shift at a firehouse almost 70 miles away, according to a report in the Herald News. The report said Capt. Thomas Alala, 42, reported to Northampton County Prison in Easton, Pa., on Friday. But on Monday, he was back at work in Paterson. Under the terms of a work release program, he is allowed to leave prison for 72 hours each week so he can continue working.

*Riders and drivers who go around crossing gates at NJ Transit train stations could receive a $54 summons starting next month, according to a report in the Asbury Park Press. The report said NJ Transit and state Division of Highway Traffic Safety officials are deploying the summons together with an educational program in an effort to keep riders and drivers safe. The program starts next month and includes key stations in the Shore area.

*Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson lowered its admission price to $49.99 from $59.99 to attract customers squeezed by high gasoline prices and a slow economy, a company official said Tuesday, according to a report in the Asbury Park Press. The report said the 16 percent price cut is temporary and will be re-evaluated throughout the summer.

*TRI-STATE WEATHER: A cool but mostly sunny day is predicted today. It will not get past 70 degrees, but a shiny sun will make the cooler temperatures feel delightful, according to the National Weather Service.

*BALTIMORE, Md. — Saying former police commissioner Kevin Clark must “face the consequences of his own actions,” the city filed a memo opposing the dismissed official’s writ seeking reinstatement to his job. Clark filed a writ of mandamus earlier this month seeking reinstatement to the commissioner’s job, from which he was fired by then-Mayor Martin O’Malley in November 2004. But Chief Solicitor Matthew Nayden, in a motion for summary judgment filed on Tuesday, wrote that Clark’s stint as commissioner was “sadly rendered ineffective by a public scandal.”

*BALTIMORE — The new head of the FBI’s Baltimore field office said that fighting terrorism will remain the bureau’s top priority in the city. Amy Jo Lyons notes that the Baltimore area is home to potential terrorist targets, including a major port, an international airport and a large train station. Other priorities for Lyons, 47, include
rooting out public corruption and cracking down on street gangs such as MS-13, the Bloods and the Crips.

*SILVER SPRING, Md. — Montgomery County police say a Silver Spring store manager was shot to death during a robbery. It happened just after 4 p.m. Tuesday at the store called Variedades Jenny on University Boulevard East near Piney Branch Road. When officers arrived at the store, they found the body of the 53-year-old man identified by relatives as Jorge Vallatoro. Relatives say Vallatoro had moved with his family from El Salvador and his daughter bought the store for him to manage. Minutes after the shooting, two men carjacked a Comcast cable bucket truck nearby. It was found less than a mile away in a residential neighborhood in the Langley Park area of Prince George’s County.

*WASHINGTON, Dc. — Local children studying the Holocaust meet living history as a survivor of the Nazi death camps comes to their school. Author and human rights activist Elie Wiesel talked with fourth, fifth and sixth graders at the Jewish Primary Day School in Northwest. “I suspect this is something they are going to remember for a lifetime,” says Sharon Freundel with the school.

*Baltimore Shkia: 8:24

*Baltimore Weather: Today – Cloudy with a slight chance of showers early this morning, then sunny this afternoon. Highs near 70. Chance of rain 20 percent. Tonight – Clear. Lows in the mid 50s downtown…upper 40s in the suburbs.

(YW-MD03 / YWN Desk)