ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – Gov. David Paterson said Wednesday that developers of an Islamic cultural center that would include a mosque near ground zero have rejected his offer to help them find a different site.While in Manhattan, Paterson said the group apparently wants to remain with its current plans to build near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.The mosque, to be located two blocks from ground zero, would be part of a 13-story, $100 million Islamic center that would feature a 500-seat auditorium, a swimming pool and a gym. It’s a project of the Cordoba Initiative, an advocacy group that promotes improved relations between Islam and the West. Critics are suspicious of who will fund the project, and developers haven’t released their sources of capital. Opponents also say the religion that fueled the hatred in the terrorists shouldn’t be displayed so near the site.

NEW YORK (AP) – No fed-up worker has ever said “I’ve had it” quite like Steven Slater. Prosecutors say the JetBlue flight attendant flipped out over a fight with an agitated traveler Monday, cursing over the intercom before grabbing some beer from the plane’s galley and making a grand exit down the emergency slide at Kennedy Airport. He has been charged with felonies but elevated to folk-hero status by thousands who shrugged off allegations that Slater endangered others and praised him for his take-this-job-and-shove-it moment. Slater, whose father was an airline pilot, wore a slight smile Tuesday as he was led into a state court in Queens to be arraigned on charges of criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and trespassing, counts that carry a maximum penalty of seven years in prison. The judge set his bail at $2,500. Sentiment online appeared to fall in Slater’s court. By early Tuesday afternoon, more than 20,000 people had declared themselves supporters of Slater on Facebook, and the number was growing by thousands every hour. At least one fan set up a legal fund on his behalf.

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – The parole hearing for John Lennon’s killer has been postponed for a month.Mark David Chapman was scheduled to be interviewed this week at Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York. A spokesman for the Division of Parole now says Chapman was told Tuesday that his interview has been rescheduled for early September. The parole board says it’s awaiting more information so that it has a complete record. It didn’t specify what.The 55-year-old Chapman has been denied parole five times and has appeared before the board every two years since 2000. He’s serving a sentence of 20 years to life for shooting Lennon four times outside the ex-Beatle’s Manhattan apartment building in 1980.

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) – An ex-convict was jailed on a charge that he harassed a nurse who laughed at his plan to name his newborn after late mob boss John Gotti. John Keinath allegedly told the nurse back in March he would strangle her for laughing at him. He was charged with felony harassment and had been free awaiting trial, but on Monday, a Snohomish County Superior Court judge ordered him held on $1 million bail. The Herald of Everett reported that according to prosecutors, Keinath spent the past few months trying to trick people at Stevens Hospital into giving him the nurse’s identity, and he finally learned it. That led to concerns about her safety. Keinath was arrested late last week after being chased around by local police and U.S. marshals. His previous convictions include a drive-by shooting and assaulting someone with a piece of pipe.

That’s one of the footwear facts found in a major new study of women’s shoe buying habits. The survey, commissioned by the insurance company  gocompare.com found that the typical woman owns about 19 pairs of shoes including three pairs of high heels, three pairs of boots, two pairs of comfortable work shoes and six pairs of flip-flops, flats, sandals or wedges. The average female buys seven pairs of shoes a year, with the most desired labels being Jimmy Choo, Christian Louboutin and Manolo Blahnik. Four in 10 women confess they judge another women by her shoes. And 25 percent of the women surveyed say they keep their shoe purchases secret from their men because they “wouldn’t understand.” (National Enquirer)