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Relying on an antiquated provision of the New York City Charter, a civil rights lawyer filed papers in State Supreme Court on Friday requesting a judicial hearing on City Council spending practices that have recently come under intense scrutiny. The hearing, known as a summary inquiry, would not determine guilt or innocence, but would merely lay out the facts surrounding the case for public review. Federal prosecutors have been examining a longtime Council practice in which members appropriate discretionary funds to nonexistent organizations and channel the funds to other programs without mayoral approval. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Reports on the beating of Shafqat Chugtai of New York City, editor of the Urdu-language newspaper serving Pakistani immigrants. Arrest of a prominent Pakistani, Zakir Siddiqui, in connection with the beating; Accusations against Siddiqui that were voiced in Chugtai's newspaper `Sada-E-Pakistan.'

The article focuses on New York City socialite and philanthropist Brooke Russell Kuser Marshall Astor. According to the author, Astor is at the center of a bitter intergenerational dispute that has become public. The author reviews how one of Astor's grandsons, Philip Marshall, has accused her son of mistreating her. Excerpts from court papers filed by Marshall are included.

Reports that Charles Schwartz, in prison for the assault on Abner Louima, filed legal papers on February 4, 2002 asserting that prison authorities in Brooklyn, New York City are holding him in inhumane conditions.

Reports New York City is rescinding more than $800,000 in contracts with the Council of Jewish Organizations (COJO). COJO official Paul Chernick accused of stealing funds; COJO expecting similar cancellations of state and Federal contracts; Prosecution papers naming State Assemblyman Dov Hikind of Brooklyn as a recipient of stolen funds; Comments of attorney George Meissner.