The city's former chief crane inspector apologized at his sentencing Wednesday for taking bribes to fake inspection and licensing exam results and said other inspectors didn't deserve the notoriety he brought them.

James Delayo was sentenced in Manhattan state Supreme Court to two to six years in prison for taking more than $10,000 in payoffs.

"I'd like to apologize to the city in general for letting them down ... and to my family especially and the Buildings Department who do a difficult job and don't get recognition," Delayo said.

Looking gaunt and often coughing, the 61-year-old Delayo commended other inspectors for the difficult and important work they do, saying, "They don't deserve the bad publicity I brought them."

The charges against Delayo — filed in 2008 — stemmed from a crackdown on corruption in the construction industry that began after two deadly crane collapses that killed nine people.

Justice Thomas Farber said imposing the sentence was difficult because of Delayo's work supervising the crane operations at ground zero after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Corliss' lawyer, Mark Jay Heller, says the stunt jumper had already promised to avoid the building unless invited back. An Empire State Building spokeswoman didn't immediately return a call for comment Tuesday evening.

Corliss was the host of a Discovery Channel program called "Stunt Junkies" when he tried to parachute from the 86th-floor observation deck of the 102-story landmark in April 2006. Security guards stopped him.

It's a simple matter of math: Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court has complicated the government's effort to force the tobacco industry to cough up nearly $300 billion.

If confirmed by the Senate as a justice, Kagan would have to sit out high court review of the government's decade-old racketeering lawsuit against cigarette makers. That's because she already has taken sides as solicitor general, signing the Obama administration's Supreme Court brief in the case — an automatic disqualifier.

Kagan is expected to step aside from 11 of the 24 cases the court has so far agreed to hear beginning in October.

Without her, the government and anti-tobacco advocates could find it difficult, if not impossible, to find a fifth vote to allow the government to seek $280 billion of past tobacco profits and $14 billion for a national campaign to curb smoking.

The justices are expected to consider whether to take up the tobacco lawsuit at their private conference on June 24. If they decide to go ahead, they would hear argument in the fall or winter.

Judge Victoria Chaney met with lawyers in closed session regarding new claims of witness tampering, then took the bench to abruptly announce there had been threats to her and to witnesses in radio addresses in Nicaragua.

She said she was notifying the judicial protective unit.

"This appears to be flagrant witness tampering," she said. "I have even more grave concerns about witness safety than I did before."

Chaney didn't reveal the source of the threats, and transcripts of the broadcasts haven't been released. She did say the tampering didn't appear to involve plaintiff's attorney Steve Condie.

The Supreme Court won't hear arguments that Hillary Rodham Clinton is ineligible to be secretary of state.

The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group.

The Constitution says no member of Congress can be appointed to a government post if that job's pay was increased during the lawmaker's current term. Clinton was serving as New York senator when the secretary of state's salary was raised to its current level of $191,300.

Congress lowered the salary so that Clinton could take the position.

Judicial Watch says the congressional fix doesn't change the fact that Clinton's appointment was illegal.

Five partners have left Neal Gerber & Eisenberg to start their own law firm counseling trade associations, charitable groups and other non-profits.

The group is led by Jed Mandel, who chaired Neal Gerber's practice group focused on associations and non-profit organizations. In a statement, Mandel suggested that the group left partly due to client concerns about rates.
"As a boutique firm with a focused concentration, we can be more nimble in anticipating and responding to client needs," Mandel said in a statement. "We can also be even more efficient, from a cost standpoint, in delivering the specific services our clients require."

The lawyers joining him at Chicago Law Partners are Susan Carlson, Timothy French, Kimberly Pendo and Lisa Stegink. Their office is at 333 W. Wacker Drive.