Manhattan

NEW YORK - Two calliope hummingbirds, each one-tenth of an ounce and 2,000 miles off course, are attracting hundreds of people to Fort Tryon Park at the northern tip of Manhattan. The tiny birds are also inspiring debates over the virtues of compassionate interference with nature vs. steely-hearted but scientifically correct Darwinism. The birds ought to be sipping nectar in the Mexican sun by now. Ordinarily, they summer in British Columbia and migrate through the Rockies into Mexico.

COLLEGE PARK -- Five days after an emotional Maryland basketball team learned its place in the postseason was in the less-prestigious National Invitation Tournament, disappointment still lingered at Comcast Center. Maryland coach Gary Williams said yesterday that today's 11 a.m. home game against Manhattan will not fill the void of missing the NCAA tournament, and part of his challenge is getting his team excited to play in this one. Manhattan @Maryland NIT, today, 11 a.m., ESPN, 1300 AM, 105.7 FM Line: Maryland by 12 1/2

Manhattan entered last night's game at Loyola sporting a nine-game winning streak and the most prolific offense in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Before an intimate gathering at Reitz Arena, however, the host Greyhounds made the Jaspers struggle for their points, but couldn't produce enough of their own in falling, 61-56. After trailing by as many as 20 in the second half, Loyola used a furious 27-9 run, capped by three-pointers by sophomores Lindbergh Chatman and B.J. Davis in the final 32 seconds, to cut the lead to 58-56 with 10 seconds left.

This was the type of game Loyola has made a habit of losing in recent years. The Greyhounds took a 16-point lead early in the second half, and then slowly began watching it dwindle. Turnovers, missed shots and free throws let Manhattan creep back into the game. The two-time defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion sliced the Loyola lead to three with 1:59 left, and the Greyhounds looked ready to fold. But new coach Jimmy Patsos had challenged his team at a meeting Friday night to look for reasons why they lose so much.

NEW YORK -- The Manhattan district attorney said yesterday that he had given federal prosecutors evidence that a Venezuelan banking family may have illegally funneled campaign contributions to the Democratic Party during the 1992 election.The contributions, of roughly $92,000, are listed in Federal Election Commission records as coming in 1992 from a Miami lawyer for the bankers, Charles Intriago, and a member of the banking family, Jorge Castro Barredo, who is a U.S. citizen.But in a hearing in Manhattan Supreme Court last year, prosecutors said they had evidence that the Americans had been reimbursed by companies controlled by the Castro family in Venezuela.

The healthier the Loyola basketball team becomes, the more success it has.Yesterday provided another example when the Greyhounds won for the fourth time in five games, pressing Manhattan into submission, 78-55, in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference matchup at Reitz Arena.It was a game that had Loyola coach Brian Ellerbe worried after his team's ferocious defense in the final four minutes of the first half produced a 10-0 run and a 37-25 cushion at the break."That scares the heck out of you because it's kind of hard to keep your composure when you have a big lead," said Ellerbe.

Loyola College's soccer team didn't get much of a test from Manhattan yesterday, but the Greyhounds did accomplish something in their 4-0 win over the Jaspers at Curley Field."

NEW YORK - A shortfall in riders between Hoboken and Manhattan has left the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey paying $1.14 million a month in federal disaster funds to NY Waterway for a ferry service that operates at less than half capacity. Since March, the Weehawken company has been paid $551 per boat per hour to provide enough vessels, captains, deckhands, and other personnel to carry the 60,000 riders a day who used the PATH train routes that were destroyed when the World Trade Center collapsed, Port Authority and company officials said.

NEW YORK - The United Nations will need to make a decision on its temporary office space before the end of this year, officials said at a news briefing yesterday. The world body wants to start renovating its dilapidated headquarters in 2007, so it can't wait on the state Legislature to approve its previous plans to build temporary office space at Robert Moses Playground across the street from its current location. A report released Tuesday said that one site in downtown Brooklyn and another in Manhattan would meet the United Nations' specifications for temporary space.

NEW YORK - The owner of a Midtown Manhattan hotel operated by Marriott International filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday, contending that Marriott's hotel-management practices forced the move. The owner, 866 3rd Next Generation Hotel, a New York limited liability company, said in an accompanying affidavit that Marriott had engaged in mismanagement and commercial bribery and taken kickbacks while managing the Courtyard New York Manhattan/Midtown East on Third Avenue. In the affidavit, the owner said its "financial collapse is largely attributable to Marriott International's repeated breaches of its fiduciary duties, mismanagement and malfeasance."