Metro BRIEFINGS

STILL SUBMERGED: A 4-knot current delayed an attempt to lift a woodencraft from the bottom of the Chicago River over the weekend. TheRachel Carson Scuba Corps had planned to try Sunday to raise theunidentified craft that corps members discovered a year ago. ButPaul Knutson, corps president, said the group would add eight airbags with three backups to the four air bags already in place.Knutson said the lift also was delayed in response to a U.S. ArmyCorps of Engineers requirement that an Army representative be presentto ensure navigation safety. Six divers will try again Aug. 26. MORTGAGE COMPANY ACCUSED: A Chicago mortgage company was accusedMonday of using deceptive practices to generate business by mailingnotices to Chicago area residents that led them to believe a lien hadbeen placed on their homes. Illinois Attorney General Roland Burrisfiled suit in Cook County Circuit Court alleging notices directedhomeowners to call for information but that they instead receivedsales pitches for refinancing mortgages. A manager of City &Suburban Mortgage Ltd., 5151 N. Harlem, had no comment. BRIBERY CHARGES: A South Side man with a history of charges ofimpersonating government officials has been arrested on charges ofsoliciting bribes from businesses while posing as a city licenseinspector. David Gooden, 36, is charged with bribery and forgery forallegedly demanding $150 from the owner of a North Side auto repairshop in exchange for providing a business license. Inspector GeneralAlexander Vroustouris said the arrest was Gooden's third forimpersonating city officials. GAMING BOARD CHIEF QUITS: The Illinois Gaming Board's first and onlyadministrator, Mort Friedman, said Monday he will quit Aug. 31,opening a key gambling oversight job just as the state's lastauthorized riverboat license is expected to be handed out. Friedmanwould not discuss his plans. Mike Lawrence, Gov. Edgar's spokesman,said the Gaming Board will decide on the successor, but he was surethe governor would "be involved." An Aug. 23 hearing is scheduled onrequests to put riverboat gambling at proposed sites in Lake County,Elgin, West Dundee and Moline. ROBBERY SUSPECT NABBED: Chicago police officers Monday nabbed asuspect minutes after a $600 robbery at a Loop bank, an FBI spokesmansaid. The suspect, Derrick R. Davis, 35, of the 7900 block of SouthMaryland, was charged with one count of bank robbery. According toan FBI release, a man entered the First Nationwide Bank at 99 W.Washington about 10 a.m., gave a teller a note demanding money andsaying he had a gun and a bomb. The teller hit a silent alarm andgave the robber $606, according to the FBI. Two patrol officersacross the street heard a police radio description of the robber andarrested Davis on the street without incident. CORRECTION: In a Sunday story on staffing custodial workers inChicago public schools, it was reported that a night differential iscommon in private industry. In fact, it is common only in someindustries and appears not to be a general rule, according to theChicagoland Chamber of Commerce. Also, it was reported that theissue of custodian staffing in the schools is a contractual matter.In fact, the contract does not specifically address that issue, butsome argue that the matter needs to be negotiated as a change in pastpractice.