Divorced parents in legal battle over Autumn Pasquale's gravestone

Three months after a 12-year-old New Jersey girl was killed, her divorced parents are in a court battle over control of a memorial fund and headstone for the girl's grave.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday is the latest publicly visible fissure in the family after Autumn Pasquale's disappearance that, at first, united the couple and an entire community in a search for the girl, who went for a bike ride on Oct. 20 and was never seen alive again by her family.

Forty-eight hours after 200 enforcement officers and hundreds more volunteers began searching, the girl's body was found stuffed in a recycling bin several blocks from her home in the small town of Clayton, 25 miles south of Philadelphia.

AP

Autumn Pasquale, 12, of Clayton, NJ, was last seen alive while riding her bike on October 12, 2012.

Donations rolled in for a reward for an arrest in the case. After two teenage brothers were charged with murder, money came in for her funeral and other purposes. In all, donations totaled at least $100,000.

In the suit, the girl's mother, Jennifer Cornwell, says her ex-husband, Anthony Pasquale, took Cornwell's name off the memorial fund bank account that they had agreed to control together to pay for their daughter's funeral, legal expenses and help with the college education for their two surviving children. She also says her ex-husband has refused to consult her on what the girl's headstone should say.

Cornwell is asking a judge to split the memorial fund so that each parent can have partial control and to bar Pasquale from completing the headstone design without Cornwell's input.

About the only thing the lawyers for the parents agree on is how sad it is that the saga has come to this.

"It's just disappointing and curious," said Douglas Long, a lawyer for Pasquale. "That's about it."

"This is a very sad situation," said Robert Feltoon, the lawyer for Cornwell.

Court filings lay out acrimony between the girls' parents: Cornwell moved out in 2002 when her children were 4, 3, and 1 years old. Though the parents legally had joint custody, they spent most of their time living with their father. The couple were divorced in 2005, seven years after they married.

Cornwell says her ex-husband did not inform her that their middle daughter was missing until two hours after police were called on Oct. 20.

Pasquale says his ex-wife picked up items left at a funeral home by mourners without his permission. She contends he said it would be OK. He also says she was wrong to withhold money from a fundraiser from the fund. She says the money — a $15,500 check plus unspecified cash — is in a safe-deposit box where she placed it after learning she no longer had control of the bank account.

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Chris Brown likely faked community service: DA

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles prosecutors are asking a judge to order Chris Brown to redo his community service because of significant discrepancies in records submitted to a court.

Deputy District Attorney Mary Murray writes in a motion filed Tuesday that the records submitted by Richmond, Va., police to prove the R&B singer performed six-months of community labor are "at best sloppy documentation and at worst fraudulent reporting."

Brown was allowed to perform his community labor sentence for the 2009 beating of Rihanna in his home state of Virginia. Richmond police submitted paperwork last year indicating Brown had completed his sentence, but the logs showed the singer performing double shifts in the city and at a day care center where his mother once worked.

Splash News

Chris Brown is seen performing a hard day of his community service clearing weeds in Richmond, Virginia 2009. Los Angeles prosecutors are now casting doubt over the records of his work.

Richmond Police spokesman Gene Lepley had no immediate comment, and a phone message for Brown's attorney wasn't immediately returned.

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'Cannibal cop' pal indicted on kidnapping-conspiracy charge

An alleged co-conspirator in the notorious "cannibal cop" case has been indicted on a kidnapping-conspiracy charge, the feds announced today.

Michael Van Hise, an auto mechanic from New Jersey, is accused of using email to scheme with NYPD cop Gilberto Valle on Feb. 28 of last year "about kidnapping an identified woman (the 'Victim') in exchange for United States currency," according to his Manhattan federal court indictment.

Two days later, on March 1, Valle "was present on the block in Manhattan on which the Victim's apartment building is located," the indictment says.

'Cannibal Cop' Gilberto Valle

The feds have alleged that Valle, 28, was conducting surveillance of the woman, who lives on the Upper East Side and last week was referred to in court papers as "Ms. F."

Van Hise, 22, is one of three people with whom Valle allegedly plotted over the Internet to kidnap, rape, torture, cook and eat women.

Neither of the other two -- including someone who used the online nickname "Moody Blues" and claimed to be a butcher in India -- have been charged.

Valle contends that his all of his online writings were merely expressions of "dark" sexual fantasies, and lawyers for both him and Van Hise have accused the feds of arresting Van Hise to try and keep him from testifying on Valle's behalf.

Jury selection for Valle's trial is scheduled to begin Friday, with opening statements set for Feb. 25.

Both he and Van Hise face up to life in prison if convicted.

Van Hise's lawyers didn't immediately return a request for comment.

bruce.golding@nypost.com

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Deadly deserts

Ralph Peters

Violence in Allah’s name in northern Africa won’t end in my lifetime — and probably not in yours. The core question is: To what extent can the savagery be contained?

From the Atlantic coastline to the Suez Canal, struggling governments, impoverished populations and frankly backward societies struggle to find paths to modernization and to compete in a ruthless global economy. Religious fanatics for whom progress is a betrayal of faith hope to block development.

Still, if the only conflict was between Islamist terrorists and those who want civilized lives, the situation could be managed over time. But that struggle forms only one level in a layer cake of clashing visions and outright civil wars bedeviling a vast region. Much larger than Europe, the zone of contention encompasses the Maghreb, the countries touching the Mediterranean, and the Sahel, the bitterly poor states stretching down across desert wastes to the African savannah.

AFP/Getty Images

Figthers of the Islamic group Ansar Dine

The Sahel is the front line not only between the world of Islam and Christian-animist cultures in Africa’s heart, but between Arabs and light-skinned tribes in the north, and blacks to the south. No area in the world so explicitly illustrates the late, great Samuel Huntington’s concept of “the clash of civilizations.”

If racial and religious differences were not challenge enough, in the Maghreb the factions and interest groups are still more complicated. We view Egypt as locked in a contest between Islamists and “our guys,” Egyptians seeking new freedoms. But Egypt’s identity struggle is far more complex, involving social liberals, moderate Muslims, stern conservative Muslims (such as the Muslim Brotherhood) and outright fanatics. The military forms another constituency, while the business community defends its selfish interests. Then there are the supporters of the old Mubarak regime, the masses of educated-but-unemployed youth and the bitterly poor peasants.

Atop all that there’s the question of whether the values cherished by Arab societies can adapt to a globalized world.

The path to Egypt’s future will not be smooth — yet Egypt’s chances are better than those of many of its neighbors. Consider a few key countries in the region:

Mali

Viva la France! (Never thought I’d write that in The Post.) Contrary to a lot of media nonsense, the effective French intervention in Mali demonstrates that not every military response to Islamist terror has to become another Afghanistan: The French are welcome.

As extremists invariably do, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its allies rapidly alienated their fellow Muslims — after hijacking a local uprising. The local version of Islam is far more humane and tolerant than the Wahhabi cult imposed by Islamist fanatics. To the foreign extremists, the Malian love of Sufi mysticism, ancient shrines and their own centuries of religious scholarship are all hateful — as is the Malian genius for music that’s pleased listeners around the world.

Have a comment on this PostOpinion column? Send it in to LETTERS@NYPOST.COM!

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Thousands mourn death of George W. Bush's dog Barney on Facebook

DALLAS — Thousands have offered their condolences via Facebook over the death of Barney, President George W. Bush's beloved black Scottish terrier.

Bush and his wife, Laura, released a statement Friday saying their famous 12-year-old pooch had died after suffering from lymphatic cancer.

"Barney was by my side during our eight years in the White House," Bush said. "He never discussed politics and was always a faithful friend. Laura and I will miss our pal."

The statement was reposted on the former president's Facebook page and had drawn more than 31,000 comments by Saturday morning, all expressing sympathy for the family's loss. The Facebook page also shared a 64-photo gallery of Barney, including George W. Bush's oil painting of the dog. That post had garnered another 8,600 comments.

REUTERS

George W. Bush and Barney in 2003

Barney became an Internet sensation in 2002, when a tiny video camera on his collar offered viewers a dog-level holiday tour of the White House — shuffling from room to room and menacing the Christmas tree. The video drew 24 million online tourists the first day.

Public access to the White House was more restricted in the aftermath of Sept. 11, so first lady Laura Bush sent Barney out to prowl the building with the camera. Barney Cam's 4.5-minute video tour of the mansion decorations was such a hit that his movies became an annual feature for the rest of Bush's presidency.

Later videos later included Miss Beazley, the Bush family's other Scottish terrier, and high-profile cameos by country singer Alan Jackson and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

A burial is planned at the former president's ranch in Central Texas, where Bush says Barney, "a fierce armadillo hunter," loved to accompany him while fishing for bass.

Barney politely greeted heads of state, queens and prime ministers but "guarded the South Lawn entrance of the White House as if he were a Secret Service agent," Bush added.

Barney was the continuation of a Bush family tradition of presidential dogs begun by Millie, the springer spaniel brought to the White House by President George H.W. Bush and his first lady Barbara Bush.

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Energy Secretary Chu steps down after Solyndra scandal

WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who won a Nobel Prize in physics but came under questioning for his handling of a solar energy loan, is stepping down.

Chu offered his resignation to President Barack Obama in a letter Friday. He said he will stay on at least until the end of February and may stay until a successor is confirmed.

Chu's departure had been widely expected and follows announcements by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, that they are leaving.

The White House said no decisions have been made on replacements for any of the environment and energy jobs but said Obama's priorities will remain unchanged. Potential replacements for Chu include former North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and former Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Obama said in a statement Friday that Chu brought a "unique understanding of both the urgent challenge presented by climate change and the tremendous opportunity that clean energy represents for our economy."

During his tenure, Chu helped move the country toward energy independence, Obama said, citing Energy Department programs to boost renewable energy such as wind and solar power.

"Thanks to Steve, we also expanded support for our brightest engineers and entrepreneurs as they pursue groundbreaking innovations that could transform our energy future," Obama said.

Chu, a former director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, had little political experience before taking the energy post in 2009.

He drew fire from congressional Republicans who criticized his handling of a $528 million federal loan to solar panel maker Solyndra, which later went bankrupt, laying off its 1,100 workers. Republicans said Chu and other Energy Department officials missed many warning signs about problems at Solyndra and compounded them by approving a restructuring of the loan even after problems were discovered.

Solyndra was the first renewable-energy company to receive a loan guarantee under the 2009 stimulus law, and the Obama administration frequently promoted the company as a model for its clean energy program. Chu attended a 2009 groundbreaking when the loan was announced, and Obama visited the company's Fremont, Calif., headquarters the next year.

The company's implosion in 2011 and revelations that the administration hurried a review of the loan in time for the groundbreaking become an embarrassment for Chu and Obama and a rallying cry for GOP critics of the administration's green energy program.

Lawmakers also criticized Chu for approving the plan to restructure Solyndra's debt so that two private investors moved ahead of taxpayers for repayment in case of default.

Chu defended the Solyndra loan during a sometimes testy hearing in late 2011. While calling the ultimate outcome "regrettable," Chu said the loan was subject to "proper, rigorous scrutiny and healthy debate" before it was approved in 2009.

"While we are disappointed in the outcome of this particular loan, we support Congress' mandate to finance the deployment of innovative technologies and believe that our portfolio of loans does so responsibly," Chu said.

The White House said Chu retained Obama's confidence, but Chu was widely expected to leave following Obama's re-election last fall.

In a letter to Energy Department employees, Chu said he was proud of his tenure and cited dozens of accomplishments, including doubling the production of renewable energy from wind and solar power. Installations of small solar electric, or photovoltaic, systems have nearly doubled in each of the last three years, he said, while fully 42 percent of new energy capacity in the U.S. last year was from wind —more than any other energy source, Chu said.

"I came with dreams and am leaving with a set of accomplishments that we should all be proud of," he said.

One of his accomplishments was something that Chu rarely talked about: Obama repeatedly credits Chu with helping to plug the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Chu and a team of engineers helped devised an interim solution before a replacement well permanently plugged the leak, which spewed more than 200 million gallons of oil in the worst offshore oil disaster in the country's history.

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DA shot and killed outside courthouse in Texas

KAUFMAN, Texas — An assistant district attorney was shot and killed Thursday morning near the North Texas county courthouse where he worked, and authorities said they were searching for two suspects.

The shooting occurred just before 9 a.m. outside the Kaufman County Courthouse annex, which is across the street from the main county courthouse about 33 miles southeast of Dallas. Officials didn't immediately indicate any motive for the shooting.

Kaufman Independent School District Superintendent Todd Williams said all schools in the district were placed in lockdown as authorities searched for the suspects, and officials eventually decided to close the buildings for the day.

AP

Law enforcement officers investigate the scene of a shooting in downtown Kaufman, Texas where a prosecutor was shot and killed.

The name of the prosecutor was not immediately announced, pending notification of family.

Local law enforcement officials decried the shooting as an attack on the criminal justice system.

"We understand that we may come into contact with violent people but this is the next level," Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes said Thursday at a news conference.

Kaufman Police Chief Chris Aulbaugh said the shooting would have a major impact on the town and the county.

"Any loss of life, especially someone out there protecting the community, would have that effect," he said.

Calls to the district attorney's office Thursday were not immediately returned.

Investigators gathered in a parking lot adjacent to the annex where the prosecutor was shot. Yellow tape and law enforcement vehicles blocked the area from spectators.

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WATCH: Dramatic NYPD helicopter rescue of ship captain who suffered heart attack

The NYPD saved the life of an Egyptian captain who had a heart attack on a ship yesterday, police said.

Captain Aly Akl, 60, went into cardiac arrest shortly before 9:45 p.m. on a commercial cargo ship called the Grey Shark, which was anchored in New York Harbor between the Verrazano Bridge and the Staten Island ferry terminal.

Detective Robert Brager, an ESU tactical medic, rushed with NYPD Harbor to the boat.

He worked to stabilize Akl while waiting for NYPD Aviation to airlift him.

Police lowered a rescue basket from a helicopter onto the deck, and secured the captain inside.

They then used a hook to pull the detective up as well.

They rushed Akl to Staten Island University North Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.

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Father of ad exec killed in elevator suing repair company

The father of the Midtown executive who was killed in a gruesome elevator accident is suing the lift repair company over his daughter's death.

Alex Hart is suing Transel Elevator and Electric over the December, 2011 death of his daughter Suzanne, who was going to work at her advertising firm when the under-repair elevator suddenly rose as she stepped into it.

The suit, filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court, claims that repairmen failed to re-enable a safety circuit after doing repairs. It also says that the workers did not post signs saying the elevator was being worked on; did not contact the Department of Buildings to inspect the lift before it was put back in service; and left a "jumper wire" in the elevator bypassing its safety circuit.

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Suzanne Hart

Transel employees Michael Hill, David O'Neill, Jason Torzilli, Robert Schroeder, Efrain Cardona and Transel co-owner John Fichera are all named in the suit, as well as Cushman & Wakefield, management of the Madison Avenue building.

"We don't have a comment at this point," said Robert Pitney, a Transel spokesman.

The suit comes after a February report by the city that found the workers did not follow safety protocols. The report led to the suspension of Transel's license over 23 violations.

City inspectors from January to October 2012 cracked down on elevator violations, issuing 753 of the most serious fines -- compared with 515 during that period in 2011.

A spokesman for Cushman & Wakefield did not immediately comment.

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Alleged check-dodging tourist settles beef with Smith & Wollensky - pal vows boycott

Italy is saying basta! to Smith & Wollensky, the pal of an accused tab-dodging tourist huffed this morning, after the misdemeanor case was disposed of in a Manhattan court.

"In Italy, no one will go to Smith & Wollensky again!" the pal, who gave his name only as Mario, announced to reporters in a courtroom hallway after the brief proceeding this morning.

Tourist Graziano Graziussi — charged with theft of services last week after he forgot his wallet back at his hotel and couldn't pay his $208 bill — was less committal.

"I will think about it," the Naples-based lawyer said, when asked if he'd ever eat another steak at the renowned Third Avenue meat mecca.

REUTERS

While the friend of an accused tab-dodging tourist is vowing to boycott Smith & Wollensky, Graziano Graziussi said he was just glad to have it settled.

"It's done — of course I'm happy," he told reporters after paying a total $219.21 in restitution and surcharges.

Graziussi has insisted that he'd have been willing to leave his iPhone behind as collateral, and just needed to fetch his wallet. But cops threw him in jail overnight.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, asked about the international incident during a press conference last week, noted that Graziussi had been carrying $118 on him when he claimed poverty, and "simply did not want to pay."

Not so, Graziussi countered today.

“I am always the one to pay for everybody, which is unfortunately true,“ he said as he left court.

In fact, five years ago during another trip to New York, he went to a hot dog vendor at Sixth Avenue, and tried to pay with a $50 bill -- the smallest bill he had on him, Graziussi told reporters.

The dog vendor couldn't make change, and said don't worry about it, Graziussi said.

"I went back there the following day [to pay] and he could not believe his eyes," he said.

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Erika Edwards told Graziussi that the misdemeanor theft of services case will be dismissed and sealed if he is not rearrested for six months.

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Bill de Blasio announces he's running for NYC mayor

New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has announced he's running for mayor.

The public advocate announced his run Sunday outside his home in Brooklyn's Park Slope.

The 51-year-old candidate says that means he'll conduct what he calls a "true citywide campaign" — starting Monday in all five boroughs.

The election to replace outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg is in November.

De Blasio says the billionaire mayor's policies have been good for some, but many middle-class New Yorkers "have been ignored or priced out."

REUTERS

Bill de Blasio hugs his wife Chirlane McCray after announcing his candidacy for mayor.

The field of candidates includes City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Bill Thompson, a former city comptroller — both Democrats — and Republican Joe Lhota, former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

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Ex-Senator Huntley will cop to mail fraud; pol still faces charges in $30G charity 'sham'

Former New York state Sen. Shirley Huntley is planning to plead guilty to mail fraud charges in a new federal case leveled against her, The Post has learned.

The Queens Democrat is expected to admit that she used funds from a non-profit organization to benefit herself and family members, a source said.

The embattled ex-legislator was indicted originally on Aug. 27 by state authorities on charges that she falsified documents to conceal the fact that her niece and an aide allegedly siphoned $30,000 from a sham charity she created. She pleaded not guilty to those state charges.

Ellis Kaplan

Former Sen. Shirley Huntley.

But Brooklyn federal prosecutors working in the US Attorney's Office's public corruption unit quietly opened a mail fraud case against Huntley — and now she is poised to surrender to authorities soon with the intention of entering a guilty plea, sources said.

A spokesman for the US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn declined to comment on the case against Huntley.

Several months ago, Huntley was bounced out of office by voters who rejected her in a Democratic primary vote.

The Queens lawmaker was trounced by Councilman James Sanders, who got 4,979 votes, or 57 percent of the tally, to 3,477 votes, or 40 percent, for Huntley, records show.

On her way out the door, Huntley paused long enough as a lame-duck legislator, however, to showered loyal staffers with lucrative pay raises.

The Queens Democrat promoted several pet staffers and granted them salary hikes, records show.

mmaddux@nypost.com

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No charges against 2nd person in Texas college shooting

HOUSTON — Authorities say they don't expect to file charges against a 25-year-old man who was involved in an argument that escalated into gunfire at a Houston-area community college.

The two men who were arguing and a bystander were shot in the incident Tuesday outside the library at the North Harris County campus of Lone Star College.

Authorities have charged 22-year-old Carlton Berry with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Harris County Sheriff's Office spokesman Thomas Gilliland said Wednesday the other man, identified in court records as Jody Neal, did not have a weapon.

AP

Ana Leal, left, embraces Lone Star College student Sabrina Cuellar after she was evacuated and picked up by her mother yesterday.

Gilliland says investigators are still determining what prompted argument between Berry and Neal.

Court records have identified a maintenance worker who was also shot as 69-year-old Bobby Cliburn.

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High court: former Manhattan DA busted for felony pot sales

A former Manhattan assistant district attorney has been indicted for felony pot sales -- the very kind of crime he once prosecuted.

David Leung, 44, had been busted during a September buy and bust operation on East 9th Street. Leung was allegedly selling high grade weed through a delivery service.

He declined comment today as he left Manhattan Criminal Court, where he was informed of the indictment.

He's accused of selling to an undercover an envelope containing two bags of marijuana for $200. Cops with Narcotics Borough Manhattan South found another "two large bags" of marijuana in his trunk, according to the charges against him.

Steven Hirsch

Former Manhattan prosecutor David Leung.

Leung had worked at the Manhattan DA's office from 1994 to 2003, since going into private practice and moving to West End, Ind.

He remains free without bail; he is due to be arraigned on the new indictment on February 19.

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Group holds gun control march and rally in NYC

UPI

Children join the hundreds who gather for the "One Million Moms For Gun Control" rally held at City Hall today.

A gun control group formed in the wake of last month's massacre at a Connecticut elementary school marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall on Monday to call on Congress to follow New York's lead and enact stricter limits on weapons and ammunition purchases.

One Million Moms for Gun Control said the event was inspired by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s message of nonviolence.

A cabbie drove by beeping his car's horn and flashing a peace sign as some 400 marchers from the city's five boroughs and several other states, including Michigan, Minnesota and Florida, crossed the bridge.

Valerie Wright of Manhattan said she would have felt "negligent" if she didn't attend.

"Even though we just passed legislation here, it's more far reaching than just our state," she said.

Wright said it was important to be counted in the call for similar laws nationwide. "Sometimes showing up is the best thing you can do," she said.

Jennifer Edwards, from Ann Arbor, Mich., said she was not against guns, but wants a nationwide ban on military-style guns.

"If the man at Sandy Hook had a regular gun instead of an assault weapon, half of those children would be alive," she said of the Newtown, Conn., tragedy. "You can never stop people from doing crazy things, but if you can minimize it, if you can save one life, isn't it worth it?"

One Million Moms for Gun Control wants Congress to pass President Barack Obama's sweeping gun control proposals. Those include a ban on assault weapons and large magazines and closing loopholes that allow some gun sales without background checks. The group also is pushing for boundaries on how much ammunition can be purchased and limits on the scope of concealed weapons laws.

Last week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the nation's toughest assault weapon and magazine restrictions.

The rally began with the rendition of "26 Names" by Tony-nominated actress Montego Glover. The song is a recitation of the Newtown victims' names set to music by Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown. Twenty first-graders and six school officials were killed in the shootings last month at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

It ended with comments from Shannon Watts, the group's founder, thanking those who marched through the frigid morning and imploring them to keep the pressure on to get national laws passed.

An Indianapolis resident, Watts said she was inspired by the Sandy Hook shootings to act. Using social media, word has spread so that in just a few weeks more than 75 chapters formed, including the one in Brooklyn that sponsored the event.

Watts said she envisions the group modeling itself after Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and hopes to lead a fight nationwide with rallies planned for next week in Washington and other cities.

"It's going to be a steady drip," she said. "We are not going to give up."

She acknowledged that others have fought the issue before, but said that the elementary school shooting was a turning point.

"This is a new generation of moms," she said.

Indeed, many in the crowd said they were galvanized by Newtown. Rachael Dubin, of Brooklyn, said she had never been involved in previous efforts to enact stricter gun laws, but the shootings were too close to home for the mother of a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old.

"It's the 5-year-old that really made what happened in Newtown so jarring," she said. "I think there absolutely needs to be national legislation, and I hope it's tougher than what was done in New York state."

The newcomers to the cause were joined by those who have been calling for stricter gun laws for years.

Jackie Rowe Adams, founder of Harlem Mothers SAVE (Stop Another Violent End), has buried two children because of gun violence.

"We can't bring our kids back, but we can certainly continue to do prevention, to do education and to do what we can to end the violence," she boomed at the rally.

Johnnymae Robinson lost her son in 1999, and marched in the Mother's Day rally in Washington in 2000 that was dubbed the "Million Mom March." She thought the strength of that effort would produce a bigger effect, she said, and hoped the momentum building now will produce some change.

Several members of the City Council, state Assembly and Senate joined the rally. Among them was Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, who has long called for stricter gun laws. He called the event a manifestation of the growing momentum for change. The commissioner said tighter laws on assault weapons are a start, but also added that handguns are used in most of the crimes within the city — most of them brought into New York illegally.

"We need a national policy to address that," he said.

Bennett Windheim of Manhattan brought his wife and son.

"This is a signal in support of what the president wants to do and sends a signal to legislators across the country that there's support for the president's initiatives."

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Lady Gaga to perform at inaugural ball

WASHINGTON — Watch out Beyonce and Katy Perry. There's another diva set to perform during the inauguration festivities — Lady Gaga.

A person familiar with the inauguration tells The Associated Press that the pop star will perform at Tuesday's ball for White House staffers. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because that person wasn't authorized to publicly reveal the information.

The staff ball is typically a private affair. During the last inauguration festivities, Jay-Z reportedly performed at it.

According to one attendee, Jay-Z rapped a riff on one of his hit songs, "99 Problems but George Bush Ain't One," to the delight of the throngs of young staffers who worked to elect Obama in 2008.

AP

Lady Gaga

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2007 transcripts show Fed officials underestimated approaching financial crisis

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials in 2007 underestimated the scope of the approaching financial crisis and how it would tip the U.S. economy into the worst recession since the Great Depression, transcripts of the Fed's policy meetings that year show.

The meetings occurred as the country was on the brink of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. As the year went on, Fed officials shifted their focus away from the risk of inflation as they slowly began to recognize the severity of the crisis.

During 2007, the Fed began to cut interest rates and took extraordinary steps to ease credit and shore up confidence in the banking system. Throughout the year, the housing crisis deepened. Banks and hedge funds that had invested big in subprime mortgages were left with worthless assets as foreclosures rose. The damage reached the top echelons of Wall Street.

REUTERS

Ben Bernanke

At the Fed's Oct. 30 policy meeting, Janet Yellen, then-president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, said the economy faced increased risks. But she hardly predicted anything dire.

"I think the most likely outcome is that the economy will move forward toward a soft landing," she said.

Chairman Ben Bernanke noted that housing was "very weak" and manufacturing was slowing.

"But expect for those sectors, there is a good bit of momentum in the economy," he said. Bernanke did acknowledge that there was "an unusual amount of uncertainty" surrounding the Fed's economic forecasts.

"In the aggregate data, there is yet no clear sign of a spillover from housing," Bernanke said in summing up the views of the committee.

By December, the economy had plunged into the recession, which would last until June 2009. Five years later, the economy has yet to fully recover.

The Fed did take action in 2007, although investors seemed to think it waited too long. Markets were disappointed when the Fed refused to cut interest rate cuts at its Aug. 7 meeting. After the meeting, the Fed issued a statement declaring that the threats to growth had only "increased somewhat."

At the meeting, various Fed officials signaled their belief that the biggest threat facing the economy was inflation — not slower growth, the transcripts show.

Days later, BNP Paribas, France's largest bank, announced that it was suspending withdrawals from three investment funds, a move that jolted financial markets around the world.

On Aug. 10, the Fed held the first of three emergency conference calls to discuss the emerging crisis. The committee announced that it would pump billions of dollars into financial markets to try and calm turmoil on Wall Street and ease the tightening of credit.

One week later, the Fed called an emergency meeting to cut the discount rate on loans to banks.

Then in September, the Fed cut its key short-term interest rate for the first time since June 25, 2003. The Fed would cut the rate two more times in 2007 as the financial crisis worsened.

Still, the transcripts showed the central bank struggled through the year to develop a clear sense of how serious the unfolding crisis could be and what harm it might do to the U.S. economy.

At the Fed's final meeting of that year in December, the central bank's staff presented an economic forecast for 2008 that proved to be overly optimistic.

And despite concerns about the lending market and the quality of loans — particularly in real estate — Bernanke predicted that no major bank would fail.

"The result of this is that, although I do not expect insolvency or near insolvency among major financial institutions, they are certainly going to become more cautious."

In March 2008, investment banking giant Bear Stearns was rescued with the help of Fed support. In the fall, mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the government and the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 set off a full-blown financial panic.

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Flu activity high in all regions of NJ

TRENTON, NJ — The New Jersey Health Department says flu activity is now high in all regions of the state.

But Health Commissioner Mary O'Dowd said Wednesday that the flu vaccine has shown to be "a very good match" for the various strains that have been circulating in the state.

Three of the state's five regions had reported moderate flu activity last week, but the number of cases in those areas has increased in recent days.

O'Dowd says those who get the flu should stay home for at least 24 hours after their fever is gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine, except to get medical care.

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Facebook unveils social search feature

AP

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park today.

MENLO PARK, Calif. —Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a new search feature on Tuesday in the company's first staged event at its Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters since its May initial public offering.

Called "graph search," the new service lets users search their social connections for information about people, interests, photos and places. It'll help users who want to scroll through all the photos their friends took in Paris or search for the favorite TV shows of all their friends who happen to be doctors.

Until now, Facebook users were unable to search for friends who live in a certain town or like a particular movie. With the new feature, people can search for friends who, say, live in Boston who also like "Zero Dark Thirty".

Zuckerberg says the search feature is "privacy aware," which means users can only search for content that has been shared with them.

Facebook is stressing that graph search will be made available to users very slowly, beginning Tuesday. Though the company has focused on refining its mobile product for much of last year, the search feature will only be available on Facebook's website for now.

Zuckerberg hinted last fall that a search feature was in the works in his first post-IPO public interview.

Facebook's stock slid 50 cents to $30.45 following the announcement. It's still down nearly 20 percent from its IPO price of $38.

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Peacenik Russel Simmons wants unarmed mediators in schools

Hip hop mogul Russell Simmons called for funding for unarmed peacekeepers in schools during a press conference on City Hall's steps today saying, "when underserved communities are at risk, you're all at risk."

The hip hop mogul joined NYC Council members Leroy Comrie, Ruben Wills, Jumaane Williams and Terrie Williams along with NYC nonprofit Life Camp founder Erica Ford to draw attention to gun violence in the black community where he says the issue is being ignored.

"No matter how much we scream it seems that our calls aren't answered," Simmons said.

WireImage

Russell Simmons speaking at City Hall.

"The recent Sandy Hook incident put gun violence in the forefront but there's a Sandy Hook every weekend in Chicago."

Citing a bloody weekend in Chicago when 56 young people were shot, Simmons argued that the story was dismissed because it happened in a minority community.

"The Sandy Hook incident and other incidents like it are important and have brought this discussion to the forefront, but still it seems that these kids are left out."

Simmons asked for funding for nonprofit organizations like Life Camp, Man Up and I Love My Life that promote peace through unarmed patrol officers and offer counseling to emotionally troubled people.

"It's real national problem," Simmons said.

"We have the peacekeepers in 25 cities and they're just getting started but they need funding as well. We have to fund these programs. All of our underserved communities are at risk and that means you're at risk."

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