NTSB says pilot error caused fatal 2011 East River helicopter crash

Pilot error caused an October 2011 East River helicopter crash that killed three overseas visitors, the National Transportation Safety Board said today.

Probers found that the Bell Ranger chopper was as much as 261 pounds too heavy when it lifted off from the East 34th Street Heliport, and say pilot Paul Dudley underestimated his passengers’ weights.

Dudley’s miscalculations led to a phenomenon called “loss of tail rotor effectiveness,” which caused the chopper to spin out of control and crash.

Dudley, the manager of Linden Airport in New Jersey, disputes the NTSB findings.

“We strongly disagree with the conclusions in the report, which are based on conjecture and estimates and that lead to questionable conclusions,” he said.

“You don’t go 30 years of flying without an accident by being careless.”

In 2006, Dudley made an emergency landing of a Cessna 172 in Calvert Vaux Park in Brooklyn.

The chopper crash victims were Helen Tamaki, 43 and her partner Sonia Marra, 40, both of Sydney, Australia, and Marra’s mother, Harriet Nicholson, 60, a British national who lived in Portugal.

Nicholson’s husband Paul and Dudley both survived without serious injury.

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Cardinal Timothy Dolan longshot as oddsmakers peg favorites to replace Pope Benedict XVI

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan is a longshot at the holy book to become Catholicism’s new world leader and first American pope.

Offshore oddsmakers have pegged Peter Turkson and Angelo Scola as slight favorites in a wide-open race to replace Pope Benedict XVI, who retired today in the first papal resignation in nearly 600 years.

Ghanaian Cardinal Turkson is nearly a 5-to-2 choice, according to various offshore bookies. Turkson’s papal hopes are pinned on conventional wisdom that cardinals want to pick a new leader from outside Europe, in a nod to the church’s new world growth.

G.N.Miller/New York Post

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan.

But several Italian cardinals, playing with home-field advantage, could just as easily emerge on top when a new man is picked, according to oddsmakers.

Archbishop of Milan Scola is a little more than a 5-to-2 selection, while Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone [5-to-1 consensus] and Archbishop of Genoa Angelo Bagnasco [9-to-1] are also in the mix.

Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet appears to be the third pick in most virtual sportsbooks, hovering at about 4-to-1.

Cardinal Dolan, the popular, jovial leader of Big Apple Catholics, is a longshot with odds anywhere between 10-to-1 and 25-to-1.

No American has ever been pope.

Even though Turkson has emerged as the gambling favorite, oddsmakers are struggling to peg the next most likely challengers.

For example, Bagnasco is a 5-to-1 pick at British book William Hill but a 12-to-1 longshot at BetUs.com.

Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze is a hot 4-to-1 selection at BetUs.com but a 25-to-1 dog at Bovada.lv.

“Anytime you are dealing with non-sports related odds, it’s always difficult as we are setting these odds based on what so-called experts are saying about each candidate,” said Bovada.lv sportsbook manager Kevin Bradley.

“We will monitor how each candidate is bet and that is why you will see some movement in these odds.”

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Bernanke defends Fed's low-interest-rate policies

WASHINGTON — Facing criticism from Republican lawmakers, Chairman Ben Bernanke stood behind the Federal Reserve's low-interest-rate policies Wednesday and sought to reassure members of Congress that the central bank has a handle on the risks.

In his second day of testimony on Capitol Hill, Bernanke told members of the House Financial Services Committee that the bond purchases are needed to boost a still-weak economy and that they have helped create jobs for average Americans.

The bond purchases are intended to lower long-term interest rates. That encourages more borrowing and spending, which generates growth.

AP

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill today.

Still, Republicans said the bond purchases could generate higher inflation.

"We have gone too far in monetary policy and the monetary easing and it is in this member's opinion time to pull back," said Rep. Gary Miller, R-Calif.

Bernanke said the Fed is weighing the costs and the benefits.

"We plan to have a continual discussion and review of both the costs and the benefits and try to make sure that we are taking the right steps given those costs and benefits," Bernanke told the House panel.

Bernanke's remarks during his semiannual monetary report to Congress largely repeated comments made a day earlier to a Senate panel.

The Fed chairman made clear that the Fed's low-interest-rate policies are giving crucial support to an economy still burdened by high unemployment. He also acknowledged the risks of keeping rates low indefinitely. But he expressed confidence that such risks pose little threat now and gave no signal that the Fed might shift away from those policies.

The aggressive program to buy $85 billion a month in Treasurys and mortgage bonds had kept borrowing costs low, he said. And that, in turn, has helped strengthen sectors such as housing and autos, he said.

Bernanke rejected a suggestion by Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif., that the Fed's policies were mainly helping the federal government with its borrowing needs and big banks and foreign governments.

"This is very much focused at the average American citizen," Bernanke said. "Our estimates are that we've helped create many private-sector jobs. ... People are able to buy houses at very low mortgage rates, refinancing at low mortgage rates. People are able to get car loans at low rates."

The low borrowing rates have boosted demand, Bernanke said, and that has helped to lift home prices, making home owners feel more financially secure.

"In a lot of dimensions, we have, I think, benefited Main Street and that's certainly our objective," Bernanke said.

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Carrie Fisher hospitalized after strange cruise performance: report

Carrie Fisher was hospitalized briefly after a strange, off-key performance she delivered aboard a Caribbean cruise, according to published reports today.

Fisher was treated for her bipolar condition, according to celebrity Web site TMZ.com, citing the actress' publicist.

"There was a medical incident related to Carrie Fisher’s bipolar disorder,” the rep said. “She went to the hospital briefly to adjust her medication and is feeling much better now."

The iconic “Star Wars” actress has openly discussed her battles with addiction and bipolar disorder.

Video surfaced last week of Fisher on a cruise ship, belting out a rambling, off-key standard. Her dog is on stage, where the pooch relieved himself.

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Facebook agrees to remove some Newtown pages

HARTFORD, Conn. — Facebook has agreed to remove some so-called tribute pages related to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting over concerns they're being used to exploit the tragedy, US Sen. Richard Blumenthal said Monday.

Echoing complaints already brought by some Sandy Hook families, Blumenthal and fellow Connecticut Democrats US Sen. Chris Murphy and US Rep. Elizabeth Esty requested the removal of offending pages in a letter to Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg Monday morning.

The lawmakers said some pages purportedly set up to honor the victims of the Dec. 14 shooting in Newtown have been used to exploit or harass the victims' families and could be used as vehicles for financial fraud.

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A sign at Sandy Hook Elementary School one day after a gunman killed 20 students and six adults at the school.

The lawmakers also said the pages also appear to violate Facebook's own terms of use, which prohibit users from creating accounts for anyone other than themselves.

In the letter, the lawmakers said they know of more than 100 pages dedicated just one of the victims, slain teacher Victoria Soto.

Some of those contain postings from conspiracy theorists who claim the shootings were staged, and that Soto and others were actors.

"Certainly there have been many, too many, of these pages that are intimidating or harassing or exploitive," Blumenthal said. "I'm pleased that Facebook has responded positively."

The lawmakers said Facebook also had received complaints from Soto's family and the family of Kaitlin Roig, a first-grade teacher who survived the shooting and has been credited with saving the lives of her students by locking the class in a small bathroom and barricading the door.

A Facebook page titled "Kaitlin Roig is a Hero" contains numerous well-wishes but also prompted abusive posts, such as one that reads, "Congratulations Kaitlin or whatever your name is.. Now you're famous and got to meet the 'President.' You ought to be ashamed of yourself."

Blumenthal said his office received a phone call Monday from Facebook officials saying they would begin removing the pages immediately.

Facebook did not immediately reply to an email request for comment.

There has been one fraud arrest already connected to a Sandy Hook Facebook posting.

Nouel Alba, a 37-year-old New York City woman, is accused of using her Facebook account, telephone calls and text messages to seek donations for what she called a "funeral fund." She allegedly told one donor that she had to enter the scene of the mass shooting in Newtown to identify her nephew, according to the criminal complaint. Jury selection in her trial has been scheduled for March.

Blumenthal said they are not asking that all Sandy Hook-related tribute or donation pages be removed, just the ones that are not authorized by the families.

"Facebook needs to follow its own rules, and enforce those rules," Blumenthal said.

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Man commits suicide by leaping in front of Manhattan subway train

A suicidal man died after jumping in front of a subway train in Manhattan this morning, police said.

The unidentified victim was near the edge of the platform at Eighth Avenue and West 23rd Street in Chelsea around 9:30 a.m. as the E train neared the station, sources said. He stepped back about 10 feet before taking a running leap just before the train arrived, sources added.

The MTA suspended C trains and rerouted E trains below 53rd Street and Fifth Avenue for about two hours after the incident.

kconley@nypost.com

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Most charges dismissed against ex-Blackwater execs

RALEIGH, NC — The federal prosecution of five former employees of the private security firm Blackwater has crumbled after the defendants said they were acting at the behest of the CIA in giving an assault rifle, a shotgun and three pistols to King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Federal prosecutors indicted former Blackwater president Gary Jackson and four others on a long list of felony firearms violations in 2010. Charges against three of the defendants were dropped Thursday.

Jackson and former Blackwater vice president William Matthews pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges related to record keeping violations, resulting in $5,000 fines and no jail time.

The government's case unraveled after defense lawyers produced two retired CIA officials who said they knew about the weapons presented to Abdullah during a 2005 visit to Blackwater's compound.

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Former NY governor David Paterson to teach at Harlem medical school

Former New York governor David Paterson has a new post: teaching medical students about health care policy.

Touro College says Paterson is joining the faculty at its College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dean Dr. Robert Goldberg said Thursday that Paterson's insight on the health care system and public policy will help students "be prepared to advocate for their patients."

Plans also call for Paterson to help the institution with community relations, advocacy and pursuing grants.

Paterson spoke at the school's opening in 2007. It's in Harlem, where he lives.

WireImage

David Paterson

A longtime state senator, the Democrat was elected lieutenant governor in 2006. He became governor after Eliot Spitzer's resignation in 2008 and left office when the term ended in 2010.

Paterson later hosted a radio show for a time on WOR-AM.

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Postal Service to launch 'Rain Heat & Snow' clothing line

On the heels of announcing the end of Saturday mail delivery, the US Postal Service said Tuesday it plans to launch a new line of clothing and accessories next year.

The cash-strapped agency has signed a license agreement with Wahconah Group, a Cleveland-based fashion apparel company, to support its new "Rain Heat & Snow" brand, Postal Service corporate licensing manager Steven Mills said in a news release.

“This agreement will put the Postal Service on the cutting edge of functional fashion,” Mills said. “The main focus will be to produce Rain Heat & Snow apparel and accessories using technology to create ‘smart apparel’ — also known as wearable electronics.”

The Postal Service plans to establish a showroom in New York City's garment district to showcase its new products, which will be available initially only for men, the news release states.

The goal of the new product line, according to Mills, is to eventually sell Rain Heat & Snow products "in premier department and specialty stores."

To read more, go to Fox News

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Blade runner nearly shot friend days before attack on stunner girlfriend

Gun-loving “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius nearly shot a friend two weeks before allegedly blowing away his gorgeous gal pal, according to published reports today.

Pistorius, in jail since the Valentine Day’s slaying of stunner Reeva Steenkamp, accidentally shot one round at the foot of boxer Kevin Lerena, while they dined with friends at a swanky Johannesburg restaurant, the fighter told Beeld newspaper.

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Lerena said Pistorius mishandled the weapon and it fired one round that nearly hit his foot.

“I got a huge fright, because the bullet hit the ground just centimeters from my foot. I must emphasize that the gun belonged to one of Pistorius’ friends,” Lerena told the newspaper.

“Oscar just wanted to look at the gun, and it sort of snagged on his pants, releasing the safety catch. A shot went off. I wouldn’t call him negligent, it was just an accident. He apologized to me for days afterwards.”

Steenkamp’s funeral is set for tomorrow, as a court weighs Pistorius’ bail application.

She was shot four times early Thursday morning inside the Olympian’s home near Pretoria.

The beautiful FHM mag pinup Steenkamp was a law school grad and outspoken advocate for victims of domestic violence.

Pistorius became an international hero this summer and after running in the London Olympics on two prosthetic legs.

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Obama golfing with Tiger Woods in Florida

WASHINGTON – President Obama was working on his golf game today, playing with none other than the sport's most famous player, Tiger Woods.

The two played at the Floridian Golf and Yacht Club in Palm City, Fla., where Obama was spending a President's Day weekend vacation, according to Golf World writer Tim Rosaforte.

"The President is arriving at The Floridian range. Awaiting is Tiger Woods and club owner Jim Crane. Historic day in golf. Their first round," Rosaforte said on Twitter. Crane is also the owner of the Houston Astros.

Obama spent time on the links over the weekend with Woods’ coach Butch Harmon but the game with Woods was unexpected.

The White House

Obama and Tiger Woods at the White House in 2009.

The two met each other when the president invited Woods to the White House in 2009. But today is the first time they played together. Obama has become an avid golfer since becoming president, racking up 100 rounds played during his time at the White House.

Woods is the most successful golfer of all time, having been named the PGA Player of the Year a record ten times. In 2009 and 2010 his career suffered after revelations about extramarital affairs.

Obama flew aboard Air Force One to Florida to play golf, after delivering a speech in Chicago on Firday. The first lady and the two Obama daughters are skiing in Colorado.

On Saturday, Obama played golf with Chicago friend Eric Whitaker, White House trip director Marvin Nicholson, outgoing US trade representative Ron Kirk and Houston businessman Tony Chase.

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Woman wounded by stray bullet in the Bronx

A woman was wounded by a stray bullet in the Bronx, authorities said.

An unknown gunman shot the victim, 51, in the right side of her stomach about 9:40 p.m. in front of the Soundview Houses on Seward Avenue near Noble Avenue, cops said.

Investigators do not believe she was the intended target.

EMS rushed her to Jacobi Hospital, where she is expected to survive, authorities said.

No arrests have been made.

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Chapman out of Herbalife

Robert Chapman, one of the first and most vociferous Herbalife bulls, has exited his entire stake in the embattled weight-loss and nutritional supplements company, he said today.

The Los Angeles hedgie told The Post he has either sold or hedged out of his entire position.

The investor said he still believes in Herbalife but thinks the shares — which have bounced between $46 and $26 over the last two months — could come under some pressure in the near term.

The $4.4 billion company has operated for most of its 33 years far out of the media spotlight but has been in the headlines since Dec. 19, when activist investor Bill Ackman made a $1 billion short bet against it, calling the company a “pyramid scheme.”

The company strongly refuted that charge.

Ackman foe Carl Icahn yesterday publicly revealed that he has taken a 13 percent stake in Herbalife — saying he didn’t believe in Ackman’s claims. “This is a boxing match, and you always want to bet on the guy who just got punched,” Chapman told The Post, referring to the Icahn-Ackman smackdown.

Chapman said the timing of the majority of Icahn’s Herbalife purchases — after the much-publicized TV debate with Ackman — tells him there is a “grudge component” to Icahn’s investment.

Herbalife shares jumped 17 percent early today, to $44.94, on news of the Icahn buy.

“The stock has overreacted to [the Icahn] news,” Chapman said.

Herbalife shares has sold off a bit after the robust opening and were up 7.4 percent in early-afternoon trading.

Chapman said that while he does not agree with activist Ackman that the company is a fraud, he said, “I expect that [the claim] will attract the attention of regulators some day, and I do not want to be long the day before a significant regulator has commenced an investigation of the company. That being said, I am extremely confident that the results of any such investigation will be benign and will vindicate Herbalife’s business model.”

Chapman recently visited Herbalife “quick response centers” and nutrition clubs in the Philippines on a due diligence tour of the company’s Asian operations and said “the results were extremely bullish.”

Chapman first commented on his latest Herbalife moves on Bloomberg TV this afternoon.

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Grand jury refuses to indict NYPD cop who gunned down National Guardsman during traffic stop

Seth Gottfried

The traffic stop in October that left National Guardsman Noel Polanco dead.

A Queens grand jury today declined to indict a NYPD cop who gunned down an unarmed National Guardsman last year, The Post has learned.

The jury returned a no true bill in the case against ESU cop Hassan Hamdy, who shot Noel Polanco in October during a traffic stop on the Grand Central Parkway, a law-enforcement source said.

Hamdy, with the Emergency Services Unit, pulled over Polanco on Oct. 4, and claimed the 22-year-old Guardsman reached to the floor of the car despite his warnings to keep his hands on the wheel, sources previously said. The elite detective feared for his life, the sources said.

Ellis Kaplan

Hassan Hamdy

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Noel Polanco

But Polanco's companion in the car said that Polanco kept his hands on the wheel the whole time.

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Alleged Baldwin 'stalker' mulling plea deal in harassment case

Steven Hirsch

Genevieve Sabourin at Manhattan Criminal Court today.

He's having a baby, and maybe losing a stalker.

A plea deal is on the table for the shapely French Canadian blonde accused of sending creepy emails and texts to Alec Baldwin after a one-night-stand dinner date in 2010.

Genevieve Sabourin breezed in and out of Manhattan Criminal Court today for a tete-a-tete between her lawyers and prosecutors, and left hopeful that the misdemeanor stalking and harassment case would be resolved before a judge when the case is reconvened tomorrow morning.

"I'm totally innocent, since day one, and I've said it loud and clear," the perky model and actress told reporters as she left court. "So there's no reason for me being here after nearly a year."

Asked if the deal involved any jail time, her lawyer, Rick Pasecreta, said, "If that's the case something's very wrong with the system."

Sabourin had been arrested in April, 2012, after sending Baldwin a series of emails and text messages in which she told him she loved him, wanted to have his baby, and needed cash. Sabourin allegedly freaked out Baldwin's soon-to-be wife, Hilaria, by turning up at Baldwin's Manhattan apartment; Sabourin was arrested at Lincoln Center, having turned up in the audience of an event in which Baldwin was appearing.

Sabourin was arrested a second time, last November, for allegedly violating an order of protection by continuing to Tweet about Hilaria, Baldwin, and "my INJUSTICE," and having notifications of the Tweets forwarded to Hilaria's Twitter name and account.

Asked if she had anything to say about Hilaria's pregnancy, Sabourin started to answer, but was hushed by her lawyer. "Don't comment about them because they might arrest you again," he warned.

"We want to resolve this," the lawyer explained. "She's wanted to resolve this from the very beginning. She doesn't think she should have been a part of this from the very beginning. And for the last two months we're doing everything we can to try to resolve this."

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Brooklyn teen shot by cops was firing blanks at friend

The teenage gunman shot by police in Brooklyn yesterday was firing blanks, police said.

Gino Mercado, 16, and his cohort James Capeles, 22, were both arrested on charges of criminal possession of a weapon and attempted assault on a police officer after they were nabbed yesterday for shooting a gun loaded with blank cartridges, police said.

“Mercado is the one with a fully operational Ruger 22 caliber revolver, that we subsequently learned was using...blanks,” Browne said.

The two were on the roof of a building on Atlantic Avenue in Brownsville where Mercado was firing the gun around 9:35 p.m., police said.

Responding officers heard the shots when they were canvassing the area and went onto the roof of a nearby building, said NYPD spokesman Paul Browne.

A 32-year-old sergeant and a 26-year-old officer, quickly spotted the men one building away and repeatedly asked the teen to drop the weapon, police said

Instead, Mercado turned toward the cops with the gun still in his hand and the cops opened fire.

"The sergeant sees Mercado turning with a gun in his hand towards the officers, Mercado tells police that he's turning to throw the gun down the hatch, that he's about to throw it away," Browne said.

The sergeant fired one shot and the officer fired twice -- all three bullets struck the victim -- once in his right shoulder, once in the left forearm and once in his right ankle, police said.

The gun and several shell casings were recovered in the backyard of the building, police said.

Capeles was taken into custody at the scene and Mercado was treated and released from Brookdale Hospital, police said.

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Medal of Honor bestowed upon Army Afghanistan hero

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has bestowed the Medal of Honor upon an Army veteran for his courageous leadership during a daylong firefight in Afghanistan.

Obama presented the medal to former Staff Sgt. Clinton Romesha on Monday in a White House ceremony attended by the military's top leaders and former Medal of Honor recipients.

Obama recounted in detail the dramatic 2009 battle at an outpost in the mountains near the Pakistan border where U.S. troops were far outnumbered. Romesha was peppered with shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade but fought through his wounds.

AP

President Obama bestows the Medal of Honor on retired Staff Sgt. Clinton Romesha for conspicuous gallantry, Monday, Feb. 11, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington.

Guests at the ceremony wept as Obama read the names of eight Americans who died in the firefight. Obama says U.S. troops fight courageously for freedom, for their country and for their families, but also to keep their fellow troops safe.

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State of Union to focus on economy

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will focus his State of the Union address on boosting job creation and economic growth at a time of high unemployment, underscoring the degree to which the economy could threaten his ability to pursue second-term priorities such as gun control, immigration policy and climate change.

Obama also may use Tuesday's prime-time address before a joint session of Congress to announce the next steps for concluding the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Obama's State of the Union marks his second high-profile speech to the nation in about three weeks, after his inaugural address Jan. 21 that opened his second term. White House aides see the two speeches as complementary, with Tuesday's address aimed at providing specifics to back up some of the Inauguration Day's lofty liberal rhetoric.

The president previewed the address during a meeting Thursday with House Democrats and said he would speak "about making sure that we're focused on job creation here in the United States of America." Obama said he would try to accomplish that by calling for improvements in education, boosting clean energy production, and reducing the deficit in ways that don't burden the middle class, the poor or the elderly.

While those priorities may be cheered by some Democrats, they're certain to be met with skepticism or outright opposition from many congressional Republicans, especially in the GOP-controlled House. The parties are at odds over ways to reduce the deficit. Republicans favor spending cuts; Obama prefers a combination of spending cuts and increasing tax revenue.

The president said he would address taxes and looming across-the-board budget cuts, known as the sequester, in the speech. The White House and Congress have pushed back the automatic cuts once, and Obama wants to do it again in order to create an opening for a larger deficit reduction deal.

"I am prepared, eager and anxious to do a big deal, a big package that ends this governance by crisis where every two weeks or every two months or every six months we are threatening this hard-won recovery," he said last week.

The economy has rebounded significantly from the depths of the recession and has taken a back seat for Obama since he won re-election in November. He's instead focused on campaigns to overhaul the nation's patchwork immigration laws and enact stricter gun control measures following the massacre of 20 schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., in December.

The president also raised expectations for action this year on climate change after devoting a significant amount of time to the issue in his address at the inauguration.

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Brooklyn teacher's aide pleads guilty to producing child porn

A teacher’s aide pleaded guilty today to producing a homemade child porn film inside a New York City grammar school.

Taleek Brooks, who worked at PS 243 in Crown Heights, admitted that he had produced a video of a student entrusted to his care while the child was engaged in explicit sexual activity.

"I was responsible for the filming of a minor masturbating," Brooks told Brooklyn federal Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann.

Brooks, 42, also conceded that he sent digital files over the Internet via a file sharing Web site to an undercover FBI agent, saying the files included another pornographic video showing an adult sexually assaulting a child.

Facebook

Taleek Brooks.

He will face from 15 to 50 years in prison when he is sentenced this summer, according to a plea agreement with Brooklyn federal prosecutors.

Brooks was on the staff at the Brooklyn public school - also referred to as "The Weeksville School" - for nearly two decades until FBI agents arrested him early last year.

The feds discovered more than 1,000 digital files of children as young as 10 posing in explicit photos during a search of his house.

Those developments prompted an aggressive FBI probe and eventually led investigators to believe that Brooks was molesting school children entrusted to his care, after they found child porn videos on his computer hard drive that were filmed inside several classrooms.

Agents interviewed teachers, school staff, parents, and children, in an effort to determine the extent of Brooks' alleged damage.

City Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott also visited the elementary school, and the school's principal called the molestation allegations “deeply troubling news."

The former school staffer is still awaiting trial in separate criminal case leveled by the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, charging him with two counts of sexual contact with a child and one count of endangering the welfare of a minor.

Brooks, who earned $37,000 a year as a teacher's aide, was assigned to a small, special-education classroom with one teacher and 12 kids at the school.

A disquieting photograph posted on Brooks’ blog on the elementary school's Web site showed him dressed as the Easter Bunny and surrounded by young children in a playground.

The blog was taken down after his arrest.

mmaddux@nypost.com

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Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano charged with illegal solicitation and expenditure of campaign funds

Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano's political opposition has submitted a criminal complaint to the state Attorney General and the Board of Elections - charging Mangano with illegal solicitation and expenditure of campaign funds.

Nassau County Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs filed the complaint saying Mangano's campaign collected more than $70,000 in corporate contributions, many of which were made by firms doing business with Nassau County.

The complaint alleges that Deputy County Executive Rob Walker solicited the money through the Hicksville Republican Club. Jacobs says that Walker and Mangano violated campaign finance contribution limits by illegally contributing funds to support Mangano's reelection campaign.

Events included hosting a fundraiser in a $200,000 luxury box at Met Life Stadium and a golf fundraiser at Disney World. Jacobs said Mangano also had a September 2012 Bruce Springsteen fundraiser at MetLife Stadium.

"Mangano and Walker are enjoying their 'Glory Days' in a luxury suite purchased with a pile of illegal campaign cash," said Jacobs.

But Mangano's spokesman shot back: "The only campaign Jay Jacobs knows is one of mudslinging and slander," said Brian Nevin

"All campaign contributions were properly reported and the campaign will take the necessary steps to address any contributions that exceeded the cap."

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