William Farrington
Police investigating the scene where a woman was found dead
A young woman was found dead near Union Square this morning, cops said.
The 23-year-old was discovered by a passerby around 7:30 a.m. near 14th Street and Union Square East, authorities said.
Cops are investigating whether she died of a drug overdose, according to a police source.
Her name was not released pending family notification.
Supermodel Chrissy Teigen has taken to Twitter to respond to Page Six's exclusive report that her fiancé John Legend cheated on her by smooching a mystery woman on Friday night.
"Just read John cheated on me and in the uber-credible Post. I'm just heartbroken as it's definitely not typical post bull[bleep]," she wrote this morning.
But the outspoken Sports Illustrated swimsuit babe then added, "The @nypost is normally so kind to me. And I am normally not the one to use the term [bleep] rag so I guess we're both a little off today," and "Gonna buy a parrot for the sole reason of it [bleeping] on the post every day. Also the singing and companionship."
Getty Images for Time Inc
Chrissy Teigen and John Legend attend the PEOPLE/TIME Party the night before The White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 26, 2013 in Washington, DC.
SEE THE RACEY SIDE OF CHRISSY TEIGEN
Page Six reported that Legend was at hotspot Acme on Friday night partying with male pals, where he struck up a conversation with "two pretty girls in their late 20s, one blond and one brunette" at the next table.
After "chatting all night," a witness said the blonde got up to go to the bathroom after 1 a.m., and "John followed her."
Sources said that the "Green Light" singer pulled the lady into the bathroom, and later overheard her telling her friend that she and Legend shared "a steamy make-out session." But she wound up moving on to talking to another "hot guy."
Legend and Teigen were seen at a screening of "The Great Gatsby" Tuesday night, "beaming and happy and holding hands," spies said.
FOX via Getty Images
Judges Mariah Carey, Randy Jackson, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban onstage at FOX's "American Idol" Season 12 Top Three Live Performance Show yesterday in Hollywood. All four judges are set to be axed from the show as ratings have continued their long decline.
"American Idol" is pushing the reset button on their judging panel.
New judges Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban won't be back next season if Fox has their way, and even original judge Randy Jackson's head is on the chopping block, according to The Wrap.
"All four are gone," a show insider said. "They feel they've lost their core audience and they want it back."
Viewership for Fox's genre-defining singing competition show have been in steady decline and the show's ratings are already down 22 percent this season with the show hitting a record low last week when it attracted just 11 million viewers. At it's peak in 2007, the show was pulling in 30 million viewers a week.
The first of the four judges to go will definitely be Mariah Carey, who is making a reported $18M for the current season of "Idol," according to E! Online.
The fate of the other three judges is less certain as Fox will only make decisions based on who they can get to replace them.
The two charred corpses found in a fire-ravaged Bronx apartment yesterday were apparently butchered, a law enforcement source told The Post.
"Both victims appear to have been stabbed multiple times," the source said, adding that the case looks like a homicide, but the medical examiner's office will make the final determination.
The blaze touched off at 11:04 a.m. yesterday in a basement apartment at a Story Avenue building in Castle Hill, causing 12 units and 60 firefighters to race to the scene, officials said.
Within an hour, fire crews knocked down the blaze only to make a grisly discovery in the bedroom — the bodies of two unidentified men in their 20's, sources said.
Robert Kalfus
Bodies found at a home blaze in The Bronx yesterday were apparently stabbed multiple times, law enforcement sources told the Post.
One of them had apparently suffered trauma to the chest or head, one source said.
Neighbors told The Post they heard "loud banging" that sounded "like someone was fighting" in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Neighbors also said three men, all aged under 30, had moved into apartment 1E just two weeks ago.
A nearby resident Keith Mussington, 29, who saw the body of one of the men outside the building, said it appeared he had been shot.
"I was on my way to the barber shop and I saw the body," he said. "The cops were just putting a blue sheet over him and I saw blood seeping from the top of his head. It looked very suspicious - it looked like it could have been a gunshot wound. This area is very quiet and safe. Everyone knows each other here. People are saying that two men were beaten inside of the apartment."
Next door neighbor Kim Williams said "I heard a lot of loud banging against the walls" in the early hours of the morning.
"It sound(ed) like someone was fighting next door and the banging wouldn't stop," she added. "They were three young men who just moved in. I was extremely worried because I have my seven-month-old grandson, my daughter and my dog all in the house. My daughter was shaken up because she woke up and her whole bedroom was cloudy with smoke."
Her daughter, Tasi Lee, 20, said she initially thought the smell of smoke "was actually the radiator," until she saw "that it was cloudy."
"I realized that the smell was a fire," she said. "I opened up the front door and I saw all the neighbors outside. I didn't really know them - I just spoke to one of the guys who moved in. I would say 'Hi' when I saw them but I would just keep on moving."
An armed carjacker caused mayhem in Queens this morning, after he stole a car near Fresh Direct and then tried to pull off three other carjackings, cops said.
Police said he is still on the loose, and believed to be on foot now.
The suspect took the first car about 9:40 a.m. in Hunter's Point on Borden Avenue near 25th Street, authorities said. Cops in riot gear were seen entering 25-20 Borden Avenue with a canine unit.
The second car was taken about 10 a.m. on Thompson Avenue and Hunters Point Avenue.
He also made two failed attempts to steal vehicles nearby, including a van.
Police said he appears to be armed with a gun, but it might be fake. No shots have been fired.
AP
The signatures of Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew in Sept. 2011 (top) and on the 2013 annual report for the Financial Stability Oversight Council (bottom)
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew's loopy signature is showing signs of improvement as he gets ready to affix his "Jacob Lew" to the nation's currency.
President Barack Obama joked in January when he nominated Lew for the Treasury post that he had never noticed before how illegible Lew's signature was. Lew served as Obama's chief of staff and also as director of the Office of Management and Budget before taking the Treasury job.
Lew's scrawl consisted of a series of loops that bore no resemblance to his name.
"Jack assured me that he is going to work to make at least one letter legible in order not to debase our currency," the president said during the White House ceremony where he announced the nomination.
After just two months in the Treasury job, there are signs Lew's practice is paying off. All the letters of Lew's last name could be made out in his signature on the annual report of the Financial Stability Council, which came out in late April.
Lew is still a long way from winning any penmanship honors, but Treasury officials say stay tuned. Lew still has time for more improvement before his name goes on the nation's currency. That is expected to occur later this year.
McDonald's says it wants to speak directly to a man widely quoted in accounts of the discovery of three women who were being held captive in a Cleveland home this week.
Charles Ramsey, who lives in the neighborhood where the women were found, noted in an interview with a local TV station that he was eating McDonald's when the scene unfolded Monday. He also made note of his meal in a 911 call. Both the interview and the 911 call went viral online.
Danya Proud, a spokeswoman for McDonald's, said Wednesday that the company is trying to reach out to Ramsey through its local franchisee. She said the company wanted to speak with Ramsey directly given the sensitivity of the situation, rather than communicating with him through the media.
AP Photo/The Plain Dealer, Scott Shaw
Charles Ramsey
"This is a very tragic situation and we can't lose sight of that," she said.
Proud declined to say whether McDonald's planned to offer him any type of reward.
On Tuesday, the world's biggest hamburger company had said on Twitter: "We salute the courage of Ohio kidnap victims & respect their privacy. Way to go Charles Ramsey — we'll be in touch."
McDonald's Corp. based in Oak Brook, Ill., has more than 34,000 locations around the world.
BOSTON — A Worcester, Mass., police spokesman says the department has been reluctantly dragged into the efforts to find a burial plot for dead Boston Marathon suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and a deal for the state prisons department to take the body has fallen through.
Sgt. Kerry Hazelhurst said Wednesday a deal to bury the body at a prison site was reached on Monday, then "dissolved" on Tuesday. He said efforts to contact state officials since then have gone unanswered.
State corrections officials did not immediately return a message.
Hazelhurst says Worcester police are wasting precious resources providing security at the funeral parlor where the body is being kept. He said sending the body to Russia is "not an option."
AP Photo/The Lowell Sun
Tamerlan Tsarnaev
Hazelhurst said: "We are not barbarians. We bury the dead."
AOL Inc. said Wednesday that its first-quarter net income jumped 23 percent, helped by an increase in global advertising revenue.
But the profit fell short of Wall Street predictions and AOL shares slumped nearly 10 percent in early trading.
The New York-based internet company earned $25.9 million, or 32 cents per share, for the three months ended March 31, up from $21.1 million, or 22 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2012. Excluding one-time items, the company said it posted an adjusted profit of 41 cents per share.
Revenue rose 2 percent to $583.3 million from $529.4 million.
Reuters
Tim Armstrong
Analysts, on average, expected earnings of 44 cents per share on $542.6 million in revenue, according to FactSet.
AOL split from Time Warner Inc. in 2009 and has been trying to increase revenue ever since by shedding unprofitable businesses and buying popular sites such as the Huffington Post and the technology blog TechCrunch.
The company said its advertising revenue increased 9 percent to $359.2 million, helped by higher display and search revenue, but that was mostly offset by a 9 percent drop in subscription revenue to $165.8 million.
Shares of AOL, based in New York, fell $4 to $37.42.
AP
The front porch of Amanda Berry's home is decorated with balloons and signs on today ahead of her homecoming.
Amanda Berry is home.
The Cleveland kidnapping victim walked into her sister's house this morning, to cheers of a hundred neighbors and well-wishers.
The porch of sister Beth Serrano's house was decorated with flowers, stuffed animals, balloons and a banner: "Welcome Home Amanda!"
A caravan of police and FBI agents escorted Berry to Serrano's home.
Berry had told cops she wanted to make public statement, but changed her mind once she got inside Serrano's house.
"I am so happy to have Amanda and her daughter home," a teary-eyed Serrano told reporters and neighbors outside her house.
"At this time, our family would request privacy so my sister, my niece and I can have time to recover. We appreciate all you have done for us the past 10 years."
Serrano's West 129th Street house is the Berry home in Cleveland.
Sadly, Berry's mom passed away during her captivity. Her dad now lives Eastern Tennessee and is recovering from surgery, so he couldn't immediately make it back to Cleveland for the joyous reunion.
Berry, now 27, was snatched a day before her 17th birthday in 2003 and now has a 6-year-old baby daughter, Jocelyn.
One of the law enforcement officers carried Berry's daughter into the house, as they all entered through a back door.
It's presumed one of Berry's sadistic captors is the biological father of that little girl, who had been raised in captivity until Monday afternoon.
That's when Jocelyn's courageous mom decided to bolt - and fortunately found neighbor Charles Ramsey, who helped break open her door to freedom.
Cleveland police Cmdr. Thomas McCartney recalled cops digging up a city lot a year ago, looking for bodies of the missing women.
"Yes, I was somewhat disappointed [bodies were not found]," McCartney said.
"But I was also relieved because it kept hope alive. And I said some day Amanda will come home and somebody is going to be there to give her a big hug. That day is today."
Berry, Michelle Knight, 32, and Gina DeJesus, 23, were treated as sex slaves — kept chained and taped in separate rooms, sources told the local ABC affiliate.
The women were starved, repeatedly raped and kept imprisoned in a dilapidated, white-clapboard home with chains mounted to the ceiling before finally escaping.
Berry wrapped up her shift at Burger King on April 21, 2003 — the eve of her 17th birthday — and called her sister to tell her she'd catch a ride home.
She never showed up.
"I didn't know where to go from there," her mother, Louwana Miller, told Fox News in 2005, a year before her death.
Berry had been a student in the gifted program at John Marshall HS until she left for online homeschooling.
She liked reading and shopping and talked about becoming a clothing designer.
A few days after Berry disappeared, Miller got a call from her cellphone.
"It's this guy and he's telling me that Amanda is with him," Miller said in 2005. "She's all right and he wants her to be his wife."
AP
Amanda Berry, right, hugs her sister Beth Serrano Monday.
The desperate mother begged the creep to let her talk to Berry.
"I'll have her home in a few days," he lied, and hung up.
A few minutes later, the man called again.
"He said Mandy was going to be his wife," Miller said. "He wanted to marry her. Mandy wanted to be with him."
"And he hung up, and that's the last I've heard of that."
FBI / Splash News
Amanda Berry before her abduction.
David Rosenzweig
The new Lay's potato chips flavors: Sriracha, Cheesy Garlic Bread and Chicken & Waffles.
Earlier this year Lay's' "Do Us A Flavor" contest unleashed three oddball flavors of potato chips onto the world and had the people decide which one they liked best.
Today Lay's announced the winner: Cheesy Garlic Bread, which will now go on sale nationwide for the rest of 2013.
When the Post reviewed the three Lay's contest flavors — Chicken & Waffles, Cheesy Garlic Bread and finally Sriracha, a Thai chili sauce — Cheesey Garlic Bread came in second with a score of four out a possible ten points. Sriracha was the winner of the Post's taste test with nine out of ten points while Chicken & Waffles brought up the rear with three out of ten points.
AP
Lay's Cheesy Garlic Bread flavored potato chips.
Mother of three Karen Weber-Mendham from Land O' Lakes, Wisconsin entered the Cheesey Garlic Bread flavor into Lay's' contest and she will receive $1 million in grand prize money or one percent of her flavor's 2013 net sales (whichever is higher). The two runner-up finalists will each win $50,000 in prize money.
Lay's has run the "Do Us A Flavor" contest all over the world with people suggesting flavors like Mastana Mango, Walkie Talkie Chicken, Caesar Salad, Chilli & Chocolate, Late Night Kebob and even Cajun Squirrel.
LOS ANGELES — "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis was found guilty Monday of misdemeanor counts of assault and false imprisonment stemming from a dispute with three women after a night out at a Hollywood club in 2011.
Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich said in a statement that after a two-week trial, a jury convicted the 40-year-old Francis of three counts of false imprisonment, one count of assault causing great bodily injury and one count of dissuading a witness. He faces a maximum of five years in prison. A hearing to schedule his sentencing was set for Wednesday.
FilmMagic
Heather McDonald and Joe Francis attend the party during happier times for the launch of her book "My Inappropriate Life" at The Emerson Theatre on February 13, 2013 in Hollywood, California. Francis was found guilty of misdemeanor counts of assault and false imprisonment yesterday.
Francis met the three women as they celebrated a college graduation at a the Supper Club in Hollywood on Jan. 29, 2011, took one of them by the hand as he left and took her to his limo, and the other two followed thinking Francis was giving them a ride to their car, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Francis took the women to his home and a dispute broke out when he tried to separate one from the other two, with Francis grabbing one of the women by the hair and throat and slammed her head into the floor.
After an investigation, the district attorney declined to file felony charges in the case and referred it to the city attorney, who filed the misdemeanor charges.
Previous phone numbers for Francis were disconnected, and neither he nor his attorneys could immediately be reached for comment.
Francis' company, GGW Brands LLC, filed for bankruptcy in February after years of legal troubles, listing more than $16 million in disputed claims.
Homeowner and alleged suspect Ariel Castro is currently in police custody after three women who have been missing for nearly ten years and a child escaped his Cleveland home.
Ariel Castro, who was arrested yesterday after three women who had been missing for nearly a decade escaped from his Ohio home, kept a creepy, vaguely religious-themed Facebook page.
On May 2, Castro posted the message "miracles really do happen, God is good :)"
He had also shared a photo on April 22, stating that "a real woman will not use their child as a weapon to hurt the father when the relationship breaks down. Do not lose site of the fact that it is the child that suffers."
OFFICIALS PROBING OHIO HOME AFTER 3 WOMEN MISSING FOR 10 YEARS, GIRL FOUND ALIVE
On Feb. 22, he appears to have commented on a Facebook photo of his son, "A Father's Love for his Children is like none other."
The site shows he didn't join Facebook until February.
Officials in Cleveland said today that Castro was at one time employed as a bus driver.
He was investigated by Ohio's Child and Family Services after he was accused of leaving a child on a bus during a lunch break.
Officials said today that investigators found no criminal intent at the time of the incident and he was not charged.
Castro's uncle said today in an interview with CNN that the only job he knew Ariel had was driving a bus.
As the public reacts to the stunning news of the discovery of three missing women in Ohio, former abduction victim Jaycee Dugard has a message for America.
Dugard, who spent 18 years being held captive by Philip and Nancy Garrido after being kidnapped in 1991, says the three women found yesterday in an Ohio home need time to recover and reassimiliate into society.
OFFICIALS PROBING OHIO HOME AFTER 3 WOMEN MISSING FOR 10 YEARS, GIRL FOUND ALIVE
"These individuals need the opportunity to heal and connect back into the world. This isn't who they are. It is only what happened to them," Dugard told People Magazine in a statement. "The human spirit is incredibly resilient. More then ever this reaffirms we should never give up hope."
Jaycee Dugard.
Authorities discovered Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight in a home near Cleveland on Monday. It is believed that a 6-year-old girl who was found with the victims Berry's daughter, officials in Ohio said today. Dugard has two children that were fathered by Garrido while she was held captive.
Getty Images
One of the photos handed out by the FBI of Georgina DeJesus.
Maybe he should have called dad for an interview.
The son of a man arrested in connection to the decade-long kidnapping of three Cleveland women, was once an aspiring journalist who penned a newspaper story about one of the snatchings, according to broadcast reports.
Ariel "Anthony" Castro wrote a 2004 piece for the Plain Press weekly newspaper about the kidnapping of Gina DeJesus, then 14, according to WKYC-TV.
The younger Castro wrote how residents of the west Cleveland neighborhood, where DeJesus lived, were shaken by her disappearance.
Anthony Castro went under the byline "Ariel Castro." He was a journalism student at Bowling Green State University when he wrote the Plain Press article.
Anthony Castro is the son of suspected kidnapper Ariel Castro.
Castro even quoted DeJesus' mom, Nancy Ruiz, and chronicled the massive community efforts to find Gina.
"People are really looking for my daughter," Ruiz was quoted as saying in Castro's piece.
The writer added: "On Cleveland's west side, it is difficult to go any length of time without seeing Gina's picture on telephone poles, in windows, or on cars along the busy streets."
WKYC reported that Plain Press editor Chuck Hoven confirmed that Castro was a college student at the time and was writing the story for a class assignment.
Bowling Green told The Post Castro graduated with a degree in print journalism in 2004. According to his LinkedIn page, he currently works as a customer service rep for The Arlington Bank in Columbus Ohio.
James Jorden
OPERA REVIEW
DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES
Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center; 212-362-6000. Next performance Thursday, also Saturday May 11. Running time: 190 minutes, one intermission.
The most sensuous sounds at the Met this week come from an opera with nary a love duet.
In "Dialogues des Carmélites" — Francis Poulenc's 1957 melodrama about an order of nuns martyred during the French Revolution — the music's voluptuous sweetness depicts the sisters' intense religious faith.
The piece also boasts one of opera's most spine-tingling finales, when the Carmelites march to the scaffold, their soaring hymn punctuated by the grisly swoosh of the guillotine.
This revival also offers a chance to savor John Dexter's exquisitely spare 1977 production, set on a stage-spanning cross-shaped platform hovering in a mysterious black void.
So powerful are the work and the staging that Saturday's merely solid performances felt satisfying. Strongest of the singers was Elizabeth Bishop as the fanatical nun Mother Marie, her muscular mezzo confidently leaping to the part's many high B-flats.
More workmanlike were Felicity Palmer, expertly deploying a husk of a mezzo in the agonizing death scene of the order's prioress, and Patricia Racette as her successor, chirping blandly in Madame Lidoine's Puccini-like arias.
In the central role of Blanche, Isabel Leonard flaunted a velvety mezzo with high C's most sopranos would envy. However, her coolly poised stage presence made nonsense of the character, a troubled girl who flees to the convent to avoid the stress of daily life.
The real star of the afternoon, though, was the indomitable Met orchestra under Louis Langrée's precise baton. During a part of the season dominated by Wagner's bombastic "Ring" cycle, they mustered the nuance necessary to make this silken score glow.
That feat felt almost as miraculous as the tale of faith recounted in Poulenc's delectable opera.
WORCESTER, Mass. — Prosecutors and defense lawyers filed a joint court motion Monday asking a judge to release one of the friends of Boston Marathon suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from federal custody while awaiting trial.
Robel Phillipos, 19, was charged last week with lying to investigators looking into the April 15 bombings. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth student faces a maximum of eight years in prison if convicted.
Authorities say he lied to investigators about visiting Tsarnaev's dorm room three days after the bombings.
Both sides said in the court motion that they agree to allow Phillipos to be released under strict conditions, including home confinement and monitoring with an electronic bracelet, along with a $100,000 bond.
AP
This courtroom sketch shows defendant Robel Phillipos appearing in front of Federal Magistrate Marianne Bowler at the Moakley Federal Courthouse in Boston, Mass. on Wednesday, May 1, 2013.
A magistrate judge is expected to consider the request during a hearing Monday afternoon.
Tsarnaev's older brother, Tamerlan, was killed after a gunbattle with police four days after the bombings.
A funeral director trying to find a cemetery to take Tamerlan Tsarnaev's body pledged to ask the city of Cambridge to allow him to be buried in a city-owned cemetery because the brothers lived in Cambridge for the last decade.
But Cambridge City Manager Robert Healy said he is urging Tsarnaev's family not to make the request.
"The difficult and stressful efforts of the citizens of the City of Cambridge to return to a peaceful life would be adversely impacted by the turmoil, protests, and wide spread media presence at such an interment," Healy said in a statement Sunday.
Healey said the families who have loved ones interred at the cemetery also deserve to have their deceased family members rest in peace. He said federal agencies should take the lead in the burial.
Worcester funeral director Peter Stefan said hasn't been able to find a cemetery in Massachusetts willing to accept Tsarnaev's remains. He said if Cambridge turns him down, he will seek help from state officials. Stefan said Monday that he is looking outside of Massachusetts and does not think Russia will take the body.
Phillipos is accused of lying to investigators about visiting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's college dorm room on April 18, three days after the bombings. Two other friends were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice by taking a backpack with fireworks and a laptop from Tsarnaev's dorm room. All four had studied at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Defense attorneys for Phillipos said in court documents their client had nothing to do with the deadly bombings and isn't a flight risk.
The Tsarnaev brothers are accused of carrying out the bombings using pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails, ball bearings and metal shards. The attack killed three people and injured more than 260 others near the marathon's finish line.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured and remains in a prison hospital. He has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and faces a potential death sentence if convicted.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, of Montgomery Village, Md., and three of his friends met with Stefan on Sunday to wash and shroud Tsarnaev's body according to Muslim tradition.
Tsarni told reporters that he is arranging for Tsarnaev's burial because religion and tradition call for his nephew to be buried. He would like him buried in Massachusetts because he's lived in the state for the last decade, he said.
"I'm dealing with logistics. A dead person must be buried," he said.
He said he was grateful to Stefan for agreeing to arrange the burial and to his friends for accompanying him to Massachusetts to aid with the funeral.
"These are my friends who feel for me ... as I do understand no one wants to associate their names with such evil events," he said.
Tsarnaev, who had appeared in surveillance photos wearing a black cap, was identified by authorities as Suspect No. 1.
The state medical examiner ruled that Tsarnaev died from gunshot wounds and blunt trauma to his head and torso, and authorities have said his brother ran him over in a chaotic getaway attempt.
Tsarni has denounced the acts his nephews are accused of committing and has said they brought shame to the family and the entire Chechen ethnicity. The brothers are ethnic Chechens from Russia who came to the United States about a decade ago with their parents. Both parents returned to Dagestan last year.
Tsarni said Sunday that he hopes to eventually see Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at his prison hospital.
"This is another person left all to himself," he said.
A prisoner sparked a manhunt in Harlem this morning after he escaped from a cop car, authorities said.
Police from the 30th precinct had arrested the man for grand larceny and had him in handcuffs when he escaped from the back of a cop car on 145th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, police sources said.
There is a large cop presence in Harlem searching for him, including helicopters.
Cops are investigating whether he fled into the subway, and an MTA spokeswoman said the 145th station was shut down about 10:55 a.m.
There is no A and C subway service between 59th Street and 168th Street, and no B trains between Brighton Beach and 14th Street station.
The D train is also not running between the 34th Street station at Herald Street, and the 161st Street stop, according to the MTA.
A crane collapsed at a Canarsie construction site, trapping a worker beneath the bucket, a spokesman for the FDNY said.
The accident happened around 11:10 a.m. today and rescuers are still trying to extricate the victim, the spokesman added.
It was not immediately clear what cause the accident or how badly the worker was injured.
kconley@nypost.com
Kim Kardashian may have secured her invite to tonight's Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute Gala, buttering up host Anna Wintour the night before the big event.
Us Weekly reports that the pregnant reality star, with baby daddy Kanye West in tow, was snapped heading into the Vogue Editor's apartment for dinner on Sunday.
She was dressed to impress the fashion icon, Instagramming a photo of herself in a black form-fitting dress with red-and-white flower decal.
"Prada kinda night! Style by rushkabergman BigLove," she captioned.
The overexposed E! personality was reportedly banned from the fashion's foremost event last year. Wintour is known for handpicking each name on the event's guest list, and in the past she has not approved Kardashian to attend.
Jackson Lee /Splash News
Kim Kardashian is glowing while out and about with Kanye West for dinner in NYC <P> Pictured: Kanye West, Kim Kardashian <B>Ref: SPL537860 050513 </B><BR/> Picture by: Jackson Lee /Splash News<BR/> </P><P> <B>Splash News and Pictures</B><BR/> Los Angeles: 310-821-2666<BR/> New York: 212-619-2666<BR/> London: 870-934-2666<BR/> photodesk@splashnews.com<BR/> </P>
As The Post's Alexa reported last week, this year's ball is co-hosted by Wintour along with Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci, Moda Operandi founder Lauren Santo Domingo and actress Rooney Mara.
Sources said that Tisci pushed organizers for his close friend West to entertain. The hip-hop star said he would only attend if Kardashian was extended an invite. As of press time, he is rumored to be performing.
Kardashian has received an invitation, but it's unclear whether she'll go, sources added. The mom-to-be is already seven months pregnant and is treading lightly after suffering a miscarriage scare in March.
"It's so late in the pregnancy, it's all up in the air," said a Kardashian friend. But another sniffed, "This is her dream to go. But if she does go, the news headlines will be Kim's belly climbing up those Met stairs."
SAN MATEO, Calif. — A limousine traveling on a major bridge in the San Francisco area burst into flames, killing five female passengers who were trapped inside and injuring four others who escaped, authorities said Sunday.
The limo was carrying nine female passengers and a male driver when it caught fire late Saturday on the San Mateo bridge, California Highway Patrol officer Art Montiel told The Associated Press.
Five occupants became trapped, while four others suffered injuries but managed to get out after the vehicle came to a stop on the bridge, the patrol said. The driver escaped uninjured.
Montiel said that the victims were all in their 30s. Authorities said the names of the dead would be released once families have been notified.
The blaze occurred around 10 p.m. on westbound lanes of the bridge, which connects San Mateo and Alameda counties, about 20 miles southeast of San Francisco.
The patrol said that smoke started coming out of the rear of the limo, and the driver pulled over as the vehicle quickly became engulfed in flames. Officers were trying to determine the cause of the blaze, which wasn't the result of an accident.
"We have no idea right now where they were going or where they were coming from," CHP officer Amelia Jack told KGO-TV.
Two of the women who escaped were taken to Stanford Hospital and the two others were taken to Valley Medical Center in San Jose. All four are being treated for smoke inhalation and burns.
The westbound lanes of the bridge were closed as officers investigated the cause of the deadly fire, but the patrol said one lane of traffic reopened early Sunday.
TOKYO — Former New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui received the People's Honor Award from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at an elaborate ceremony at Tokyo Dome on Sunday.
Matsui and his former manager with the Yomiuri Giants, Shigeo Nagashima, received the award, which is bestowed on those who have made significant achievements in their careers and are beloved by the public.
"I played for excellent teams, with excellent teammates, for excellent managers in front of excellent fans," Matsui said. "I did my best to lift up, even a little bit, the game of baseball that is so beloved by the people of Japan."
AFP/Getty Images
Hideki Matsui holds a golden bat presented by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a ceremony at the Tokyo Dome.
Late Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda created the award in 1977. Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh, the first recipient, took part in Sunday's ceremony.
Matsui played seven seasons for the Yankees, and was the MVP of the 2009 World Series, before finishing his career with a season each for the Los Angeles Angels, the Oakland Athletics and the Tampa Bay Rays.
Other recipients of the award include film director Akira Kurosawa and Japan's women's national soccer team that won the World Cup in 2011.
LOS ANGELES — Iron Man is a bigger golden boy than ever with a $175.3 million opening weekend at the domestic box office for the superhero's latest sequel.
According to studio estimates Sunday, "Iron Man 3" had the second-biggest debut ever, behind the $207.4 million start last year for "The Avengers," which teamed him with other Marvel Comics heroes.
Opening a week earlier overseas, "Iron Man 3" has hauled in $504.8 million internationally, giving the blockbuster a worldwide total of $680.1 million.
The film shot past the $312 million international total for "Iron Man 2" in its entire theatrical run.
AP
A scene from "Iron Man 3"
"Iron Man 3" far outpaced the franchise's first two movies. "Iron Man" launched the series with a $98.6 million domestic debut in 2008, while 2010's "Iron Man 2" opened with $128.1 million.
Christopher Sadowski
Police on the scene of the accident
NEWARK — Two people were killed when a car overturned on a northern New Jersey highway, trapping both victims inside.
State police say the accident occurred just before midnight Saturday on Route 78 in Newark, though the cause of the crash remains under investigation.
The car driven by 27-year-old Diego Ayoso of Kearny was eastbound on the highway when it spun out of control near milemarker 57, rammed a barrier and crossed over into the express lanes. The car then struck a concrete and metal fence in the median, overturned and eventually ended up in the eastbound local lanes.
Ayoso and his 44-year-old passenger, Celinda Cuichta of East Brunswick, were both pronounced dead at the scene around 12:35 a.m. Sunday.
No other vehicles were involved in the accident.
VICTORALCORN.COM
Maria Cepparo being led out of the police station today
A Long Island woman went out drinking, while leaving her four kids -- one with special needs -- behind in an illegally parked car, authorities said today.
Maria Cepparo, 40, was throwing them back at Momo's Sports Bar and Grill in Holbrook, as her 13-year-old son, 8-year-old son and twin 6-year-old daughters were left outside in a 2012 Ford Focus early this morning, police said.
And to make matters worse, her 13-year-old is autistic and the unheated, unlocked car was parked in a fire zone, cops said.
The kids were taken to their grandmother. The Bay Shore resident Cepparo was booked on suspicion of endangering the welfare of a child.
She's expected to be arraigned today in Central Islip.
This Sunday will mark the 40th anniversary of Secretariat's Kentucky Derby victory en route to his stunning Triple Crown performance. Plenty of Classic races have been run since, but if you ask his rider Ron Turcotte about those days leading up to the coveted race, they vividly return to his memory, but lost in time is the fact there were many hectic and worrisome days leading up to the first Saturday in May for the then- 31-year-old rider.
""It sure doesn't feel like it's been forty years. It's like the legend grows. He was the gift that keeps on giving. It's been forty years and all his legends are still intact."
Secretariat was headed to the Derby just a year after his Meadow Stable captured the Roses with Riva Ridge in 1972. Turcotte returned with a Derby win on his resume, and now had claim to another hopeful, a big red colt who watched planes fly overhead, loved to eat and effortlessly ran increasingly faster as the distance lasted when given the chance.
After winning the Bay Shore and the Gotham, the then-later scheduled Wood Memorial on April 21 would be the final prep race before departing for Kentucky. A disappointing third-place finish in that race won by his stablemate Angle Light, put the big red colt's future in doubt and gave Turcotte plenty to question in the next two weeks.
"When I went to the gate in the Wood, he went through the gate doors before the race," Turcotte said. "He never did that before, and I've never seen it written anywhere or talked about since. He broke through. I pulled him up, and just brought him around easy, then he went back into the stall good. He put his head in there and then I just turned him loose. We broke all right, and I let him go. I pulled him a bit and he threw his head up in the air. I tried again, same thing. I didn't know what the heck was wrong."
Rumors spread that Big Red was hurt. Was he suffering from knee problems? Bone chips? His trainer Lucien Laurin was blamed as being an incompetent trainer. Turcotte himself was blamed for the ride. The trainer, jockey and owner Penny Tweedy, known affectionately as Team Secretariat, was collectively at a loss for reason.
Big Red walked in the shedrow at his Belmont barn for the next two days before heading to Louisville that Monday where he returned to the track at Churchill Downs that Wednesday and Thursday and galloped under exercise rider Charlie Davis. Unbeknownst to Turcotte, the answer to the thousands of questions surrounding the upset was found when Dr. Manuel Gilman, the veterinarian, looked for the colt's tattoo number stamped inside his upper lip earlier that morning when he was to run in the Wood.
"That Friday after I worked him in 1:12 I didn't like the way he worked," Turcotte said. "I asked Dr. Gilman, about him. He said 'well the abscess came to a head.' I said what abscess? He said there was an abscess in his mouth. Then I said thank God, you just solved my problem. It was an abscess! The following week, I find that Charlie Davis had known about it. The groom Eddie Sweat knew. When you put the bridle on him he threw his head up. After that week, he started eating good again. He came back to himself. Davis and Sweat, they weren't at liberty to tell anybody. I didn't want to put them in trouble. I didn't tell the owner or trainer. That's how it was done. You learn to say nothing sometimes. It was different then.
"I was not worried about the Wood after I knew about the abscess. When I went back to work the next time, Charlie and Sweat said the horse was doing better. He worked 58 flat that day. They [the clockers] said 58 and two, but I thought, no, it was 58. I told Charlie, 'I think were in the same place we were last year on the first Saturday in May'. When the Derby came, I just took it easy the first part, just let him gallop the first mile, which was the instructions Lucien gave me. He took off. He was back."
Backed by a loyal fan base, Secretariat was sent off as the 3-2 favorite and broke from post 10. He went on to win by 2 1/2 lengths and set the record for the 1 ¹/‚„ miles in 1:59.2/5. The split times would reveal that Big Red ran each quarter mile in a faster time as the race continued to the finish line. Turcotte was again in the winners' circle donning the blue and white silks and fittingly his teammate was draped in a blanket of roses.
"I told a friend of mine at the time, 'Secretariat's going to win,' " Turcotte said. "He says, 'No, I think Sham.' I just told him I think you're wrong. When I told him I was going to win, I just couldn't tell him the reason why. Dr. Gilman wasn't at liberty to say anything then either. He was working for the Association (NYRA). He had the confidentiality to the owner and trainer. It's a shame the people didn't know anything about the abscess until after the Derby. After that race, I thought we were a cinch for the Preakness.
"It goes to show you that you need to have a horse that is versatile and tough to make all three of the races. You need the right team to be successful, the right trainer, the right owner and the right rider. They all have to stick together."
aaffrunti@nypost.com
Jonathan Lehman
While pitchers continue to shuffle to the shelf in The Bronx, two of the Yankees' high-end, upper-level right-handers made progress this week in the early stages of their minor league seasons.
Brett Marshall, the organization's No. 6 prospect in Baseball America's rankings, sputtered through his first four Triple-A starts for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, compiling a 7.36 ERA and 14 walks (with 19 strikeouts) in 18 1/3 innings. The sinker-baller, a 23-year-old Texas native, said the key to a turn-the-corner outing Thursday, when he hung up seven shutout frames at Gwinnett, was getting back to the basics of his go-to pitch.
"The past few starts I was trying to force ground balls, instead of believing that the ground balls would come on their own," he said, according to milb.com. "I was focusing more on just commanding my fastball until my pitching coach [Scott Aldred] said I should throw the sinker more. I'm getting my confidence in it again, so that's definitely a good thing."
Jose Ramirez, who turned the head of none other than Mariano Rivera in spring training with a high-90s fastball and severe changeup, had his Double-A debut delayed nearly a month by injury, then came out of the bullpen in his first appearance for Trenton last week. In his first start Wednesday, the 23-year-old Dominican yielded just one hit (and one unearned run) in five innings while striking six and walking one.Mets April misfits Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Josh Edgin continued to struggle after changes of scenery. Nieuwenhuis, playing regular center field for Triple-A Las Vegas, produced a .200 average (.371 slugging) and 11 strikeouts in his first eight games.
Edgin, the lefty reliever demoted all the way to Double-A, was tuned up for three runs in his second chance for Binghamton on Thursday. The damage came on a home run by Tigers prospect Tyler Collins — a lefty.
***Top Yankees prospect Mason Williams was 5-for-23 with a home run in the six games following his April 25 arrest in Florida for DUI. The center fielder appears to have avoided team suspension over the incident, in which his blood alcohol content was reportedly under the legal limit.
***Williams' Single-A Tampa teammate, Robert Refsnyder, a fifth-round draft pick last year after leading Arizona to the national title and earning Most Outstanding Player honors at the College World Series, has not stopped hitting after meriting a rapid promotion from Low-A Charleston. In 13 games before the bump, the second baseman had an eye-popping slash line of .370/.452/.481 (average/on-base/slugging) with seven stolen bases. In his first 13 games with Tampa, he was even better: .380/.508/.540 with 10 walks against seven strikeouts.
jlehman@nypost.com
A man died yesterday in a tragic elevator mishap at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, authorities said.
Inunion Tursunov, 25, got stuck between floors when power went out shortly before 10:30 p.m. at the Flushing Avenue site, according to police.
Cops were called for a person stuck in the elevator, but police sources say Tursunov tried to escape on his own.
He managed to open both sets of elevator doors, but fell about four or five stories through a gap, said sources, who added that darkness may have contributed to the fall.
Tursunov died shortly after at Brooklyn Hospital.
The Bensonhurst resident worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire Warren Buffett says he spends plenty of time thinking about the future of his company after he is gone.
But the 82-year-old investor told Berkshire Hathaway shareholders Saturday that he's confident that the conglomerate will continue to thrive.
Buffett says the leaders of Berkshire's roughly 80 subsidiaries and all the operating companies would reject a leader that tried to change the way the Omaha-based company works.
Buffett leads Berkshire with a tiny staff of roughly two dozen at its headquarters, and he largely lets the CEOs of all Berkshire's subsidiaries make all the operating decisions.
REUTERS
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett watches Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates prepare to throw a newspaper in a competition just before Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting in Omaha today.
Buffett says Berkshire's board knows who it would pick as CEO if he died tonight, but the top candidates could change over time.
Buffett has no plans to retire.
Before facing questions from a crowd of more than 30,000, Buffett started Saturday being mobbed by fans at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting.
Shareholders again treated the 82-year-old investor like a rock star.
Admirers held their cell phones and iPads in the air as they surrounded Buffett in the meeting's 200,000-square-foot exhibit hall. A pack of security guards created a buffer around Buffett as he visited displays selling Berkshire's See's Candy, explaining BNSF railroad's virtues and highlighting some of the company's other 80-plus subsidiaries.
Andy Paullin, drove to Omaha from Milwaukee, Wis., on Friday for attend the meeting and learn from Buffett and Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, just as he has done nearly every year since 2007.
"It's exciting to be here and listen to these guys," he said. "I can't believe more people aren't interested."
At the See's booth, Buffett got a lesson in making hand-dipped bonbons. Then See's manufacturing manager Steve Powell got Buffett to autograph his white uniform coat, demonstrating that employees are nearly as excited about meeting Buffett as shareholders.
"He was right there. Why not? It's Mr. Buffett," said Powell, explaining why he asked for the autograph. "He's wonderful."
Powell said he'll probably frame the coat and display it at work when he returns to California.
The Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting began humbly in 1982 with a crowd of 15 in an insurance company cafeteria. It has been growing steadily just as the company's stock price rose to become the most-expensive in the U.S., reaching $162,904 for a Class A share on Friday.
Buffett will sit on stage with his 89-year-old business partner, Munger, to answer questions from shareholders, journalists and financial analysts for six hours.
Amaury Fernandez and his best friend Rick Cabrera traveled to the meeting from Miami because Fernandez is interested in investing and admires Buffett and Munger.
"They are two of the most remarkable men I've ever learned about," Fernandez said. "We don't know how much longer these gentlemen are going to be alive."
Jim Weber, CEO of Berkshire's Brooks Running company, said he has been reading Buffett's annual letters to shareholders since the 1980s — long before Brooks became part of Berkshire. Weber had even attended four Berkshire annual meetings before Brooks was acquired in 2006 along with Russell Athletic.
"If you're in the business world, it's a bucket list item. There's no other annual meeting like it," Weber said.
AP
This gerbil is among the rodents competing in an annual pageant in Bedford, Mass. today
BEDFORD, Mass. — Ever think your gerbil could do more in life than its cage in your living room will allow?
Dozens of gerbils are scurrying to New England this weekend in the hopes of squeaking out a victory in an annual pageant held by the American Gerbil Society.
The competition in Bedford, Mass., will feature agility demonstrations where the gerbils must overcome various obstacles and race to the end of a course. The small rodents vie for coveted ribbons based on body type and agility.
The show draws gerbil enthusiasts from around the country.
Fourteen-year-old Sarah Kaden from Bordentown, N.J., thinks gerbils have great personalities. She says, "Even though they are so little, they are very different from each other and they smell a lot less than my brother's hamsters."
ATLANTA — A lawyer for Reese Witherspoon says the actress has pleaded no contest to a disorderly conduct charge resulting from a heated confrontation with a state trooper in Atlanta.
Municipal Court of Atlanta Deputy Solicitor Ronda Graham said in a statement Friday that Witherspoon entered the plea and paid a $100 fine, resolving the case.
Meanwhile, a dash-cam video of Reese Witherspoon's recent disorderly-conduct arrest provides a rare glimpse of one of Hollywood's best-known actresses unfiltered as she, after "one too many" glasses of wine, takes on a no-nonsense Georgia state trooper following her husband's traffic stop.
BOXER/bauergriffinonline.com
Reese Witherspoon
In video of the April 19 early-morning incident in Atlanta, posted Thursday by TMZ, the 37-year-old actress seeks to intercede as her husband is being administered a field sobriety test by the trooper.
Trooper First Class J. Pyland tells Witherspoon to stay in the couple's vehicle no fewer than five times. For her part, Witherspoon is equally determined to get out and engage him, even at one point feigning to be pregnant and saying she needs to use the bathroom.
When the trooper starts to arrest her, she lets loose. The 5-foot-1 Witherspoon turns to yell at him while being handcuffed and accuses the trooper of harassment, at one point prompting him to warn her, "You fight me, I promise you ..."
Witherspoon's husband, Hollywood agent Jim Toth, mostly observes the exchange, but tries to calm her after the trooper's warning about resisting arrest.
TMZ posted the video from the trooper's vehicle hours after Witherspoon appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" to apologize for her behavior.
In her first sit-down interview about the arrest, the Oscar-winning actress and mother of three said she had "one too many" glasses of wine, and panicked after she and her husband were pulled over.
"I have no idea what I was saying that night," she said. "I literally panicked. I said all kinds of crazy things. I told them I was pregnant. I'm not pregnant."
The police report states Witherspoon asked the trooper, "Do you know my name?" and added, "You're about to find out who I am."
The dash-cam video shows the situation quickly escalating. In one video clip, the trooper appears to be examining Toth when Witherspoon, out of view, starts to get out of her vehicle.
"Ma'am, get back in that car," the trooper tells her.
She apologizes, and asks if she can say something. "No ma'am," he says, "get back in that car. I'm not going to repeat myself again."
Later, when Witherspoon continues to try to intervene, the trooper handcuffs her.
"You better not arrest me! Are you kidding me?" she asks.
"Nope," he responds.
She protests again, "I'm an American citizen!" The trooper leans toward her and says he told her to stay in the car.
She repeats "This is beyond!" She turns to yell at the trooper as he's handcuffing her and he raises his chin and warns her against resisting arrest.
As Witherspoon is taken out of view, she can be heard asking, "Do you know my name sir?" When he says he doesn't need to, she asks, "You don't need to know my name?" He says "Not quite yet," and she adds, "Oh really. OK, you're about to find out who I am."
The trooper responds, "That's fine. I'm not real worried about you, ma'am. I done told you how things worked. You want to get out and get up in my investigation, that's OK."
As the trooper returns to Toth, he tells him, "I tried"
Toth says "I'm sorry," and the trooper adds, "I absolutely 100 percent tried."
Toth then tries to put some distance between him and his wife's outburst.
"I had nothing to do with that," Toth tells the trooper.
"I know," he responds.
Toth was charged with drunken driving and is due in court May 23. Witherspoon faces a May 22 court hearing on the disorderly conduct charge.
Shortly after her jail release, the star of hit movies such as "Walk The Line," "Legally Blonde," "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Election" issued a statement saying there was "no excuse" for her behavior.
"I was disrespectful to the officer who was just doing his job. The words I used that night definitely do not reflect who I am. I have nothing but respect for the police and I am very sorry for my behavior."
Two lawyers for Witherspoon, one in Los Angeles and one in Atlanta, did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press seeking comment Thursday.
"There are so many lessons learned," she told ABC on Thursday.
"When a police officer tells you to stay in the car, you stay in the car," she said. "I learned that for sure. I learned a lot."
A Chinese man who worked for NASA was arrested by the FBI right before he got on a flight from Washington D.C. to Beijing in March because the feds suspected he was a spy, but all they found on his laptop was illegal porn.
Bo Jiang, 31, plead to a misdemeanor charge of violating NASA computer rules yesterday after he illegally downloaded copyrighted pornographic films and images onto his NASA laptop, according to Businessweek.
As part of his plea deal Jiang must now leave the US in the next 48 hours.
Things could have been so much worse for Jiang, who was fired in January for taking his NASA issued laptop on a vacation to China.
Normally that wouldn't have been a problem, but Jiang was one of the 281 foreign nationals employed by NASA who were designated as security threats.
This designation meant that when he took the vacation to China with his NASA laptop and external hard drive, he violated the agency's security regulations for which he was fired on January 11.
Later the FBI opened an investigation into Jiango for possibly violating the Arms Control Export Act.
Luckily for Jiang, he was arrested without having anything illegal in his possession, other than the porn.
With AP.
AP
Clay Buchholz in start vs. Blue Jays.
Red Sox manager John Farrell is vehemently defending Clay Buchholz after recent allegations suggest that the star righty has been throwing a spitball.
Former Minnesota Twins pitcher and current Blue Jays broadcaster Jack Morris alleged that Buchholz was throwing a spitball during the Red Sox's 10-1 win over Toronto on Wednesday night.
"I found out because the guys on the video camera showed it to me right after the game," Morris said. "I didn't see it during the game. They showed it to me and said, 'What do you think of this?' and I said, 'Well, he's throwing a spitter. Cause that's what it is."
According to a report on ESPNBoston.com, Buchholz and Farrell denied Morris' claim, saying that the only foreign substance that finds its way onto the baseball is rosin and water.
"Loading up with what, rosin?" Buchholz said. "I get wet from my hair. Are they talking about the stains on my shirt? There probably are stains on my shirt, because I've been wearing the same shirt for the last three years.
"He's got rosin on his arm," said Farrell, visibly annoyed on Thursday night. "He's not loading up; he's got rosin on his arm. As soon as someone pitches well or does well, they're cheating."
Buchholz is 7-0 with a 1.01 ERA and has struck out 47 batters in 44.2 innings for the Red Sox this season, getting off to one of the hottest starts of any pitcher in baseball and rebounding significantly from a disappointing 2012, where he went 11-8 with a 4.56 ERA.
Despite not having any proof of Buchholz throwing a spitter, Morris remains adamant that the 28-year-old is cheating.
"It was all over his forearm, all over the lower part of his T-shirt, it's all in his hair," Morris said. "I can't prove anything. I can't prove anything.
"Funny thing, the way the game is played today. In our generation, every player, every coach would have seen it, the umpire would have gone out and made him change, made him stop and that changes everything. Or else they throw him out of the game. So what kind of bugs all of us is nothing is done here."
Morris won 254 games during his career and pitched one of the all-time best games in baseball history, winning Game 7 of the 1991 World Series by hurling a 1-0, complete game shutout to beat the Braves.
Morris, who pitched against another alleged spitballer in Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry, confronted Boston catchers David Ross and Jarrod Saltalamacchia about Buchholz.
"I went up to Salty and I told him," Morris said. "He said, 'It's dry in Boston, and I've seen him put water all over his pants.' I said, 'Salty this isn't my first [expletive] rodeo.' He didn't know what to say to that, so we ended the conversation right there."
Saltalamacchia denied Morris' claim as well.
"I know for a fact he's not doing anything illegal, as far as making his ball move more or cutting the ball to make it do this, that's ridiculous," Saltalamacchia said. "With Buch, anyone who's been around him knows his ball does what it does, but he's not doing anything different than last year or the year before."
Buchholz was also targeted by another Blue Jays media personality.
Former MLB pitcher Dirk Hayhurst said on a Toronto radio show that Buchholz was "absolutely" cheating.
Most spitballs will come in looking like a fastball before the bottom falls out and the pitch dives in the zone much later than a traditional sinker.
"Look at the pitches. Fastball at 94 that goes like that," Morris said, his hand darting swiftly down and away. "One game I tried it in the bullpen and that's why I know."
Morris also warned that he would be on the lookout for other spitballers in the majors.
"But I'll be looking,'' he said. "I'll be looking. You warn all your boys I'll be looking.''
asulla-heffinger@nypost.com
BOSTON — The lawyer overseeing the Boston Marathon bombings victims' fund says the families of three people who died could each receive more than $1 million.
Kenneth Feinberg says he plans to unveil a tentative compensation proposal on Monday in advance of meetings with victims.
Feinberg, the Massachusetts native who oversaw the 9/11 compensation fund, tells The Boston Globe victims who lost more than one limb in the April 15 attack would receive a similar amount, while those who lost a single limb would probably receive close to $1 million each.
People who suffered other physical injuries would receive smaller amounts based on the extent of their injuries and the length of their hospital stay.
The One Fund had more than $28 million as of Friday.
LITTLE CHUTE, Wis. — Nestle Pizza Co. of Little Chute is recalling four frozen-pizza products that might be contaminated with plastic fragments.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the following products are subject to recall:
— California Pizza Kitchen Limited Edition Grilled Chicken with Cabernet Sauce.
— DiGiorno Crispy Flatbread Pizza Tuscan Style Chicken.
— DiGiorno pizzeria! Bianca/White Pizza.
— California Pizza Kitchen Crispy Thin Crust White.
The USDA says one consumer reported a chipped tooth after biting into one of the California Pizza Kitchen products. The problem was apparently related to the spinach in the pizza, so the company is recalling other pizza products that used the same lot of spinach.
The fragments are of clear, brittle plastic with sharp edges.
Consumers can contact Nestlé USA Consumer Services at 800-456-4394 or nestlepizza(at)casupport.com.
OMAHA, Neb. — Billionaire Warren Buffett says a key part of why he is optimistic about the nation's economic future is that America has begun to unleash the potential of women.
Buffett wrote an editorial for Fortune magazine about the role of women that appeared online on Thursday.
Buffett says most of America's prosperity was created using only about 50 percent of its talent — the men. So he's confident the country will prosper as more and more women excel in the workforce.
Buffett plans to discuss the topic at an event at the University of Nebraska at Omaha's business college at 11 a.m. Central Thursday that will be broadcast online at Fortune.com.
He is getting ready to face more than 30,000 Berkshire Hathaway shareholders this weekend.
After famously removing all his tweets, Kanye West has returned to the social media platform with a single post: "June Eighteen."
The rapper deleted his entire Twitter presence back in October 2012, so his new tweet could mean something big.
There's already rampant speculation about what the cryptic message might mean. Could it be the release of his new music? A tour? Or baby mama Kim Kardashian's due date?
West could be dropping an album on that date, as he's been holed up in Paris working on his sixth studio album. But June 18 could perhaps be the baby's birthday. Page Six reported in April that Kardashian might not be telling the truth about her due date.
Kanye West returns to Twitter and posts a single date
The pregnant reality star said on the "Today" show in January that her and West's bundle of joy is due in July, but sources told us it's actually earlier. During a baby shower for fashion stylist Monica Rose at Bagatelle LA, Kim was overheard saying she's due in mid-June.
Perhaps a delay announcing the birth gives her a chance to enjoy private time with the newborn.
AP
Cranes work adjacent to the spire on top of One World Trade Center, Wednesday.
The final pieces of the spire that will top One World Trade Center — and make it soar to a symbolic 1,776 feet when fully installed — are scheduled to be raised up to the building's roof.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says the pieces are scheduled to be lifted to a temporary work platform on Thursday morning. They will be installed at a later date.
The 408-foot spire will serve as a world-class broadcast antenna.
The new tower is at the northwest corner of the World Trade Center site, which is well on its way to reconstruction with the 72-story Four World Trade Center and other buildings.
The raising of the pieces was originally scheduled for Monday, but was postponed because of weather issues.
Lou Lumenick
Blog: MoviesMOVIE REVIEW
THE ICEMAN
Michael Shannon can't thaw out not-so-hot crime biopic 'The Iceman'
Excuse the pun, but it's hard to warm up to "The Iceman,'' a sketchy, flatly directed biopic based on one of the most compelling true crime stories out of New Jersey from the lengthy period when I lived and worked in the Garden State.
You know something's wrong when an intense, distinctive actor like Michael Shannon ("Take Shelter'') can only achieve isolated moments to break out in this saga of Richard Kuklinski, a suburban Jersey mob hit man who rubbed out more than 100 victims in two decades.
Kuklinski, arrested in 1986, was interviewed behind bars for a vastly more compelling HBO documentary in 1992 — the source for the thin script by Morgan Land and director Ariel Vromen, along with a 1993 book by Anthony Bruno.
The subject was nicknamed "The Iceman'' not for his impassive mien but for his MO of freezing bodies in an ice-cream truck and thawing them out to confuse detectives about when his victims were killed. He also eluded detection by using cyanide spray when not resorting to far more grisly methods of murder.
Millennium Entertainment
Michael Shannon in "The Iceman"
The filmmakers don't make much of these fascinating details, instead focusing on the divide between Kuklinski's remorseless activities and his other life as a devoted family man. He's got a wife (a fine Winona Ryder), who gradually becomes suspicious about the financial sources of their rapidly improving lifestyle, and two young daughters (McKaley Miller and Megan Sherrill) on whom he dotes.
It's an approach that might have worked if the actors had better material. There are only some half-hearted flashbacks to the Iceman's youth to explain his double life — as well as his aversion to killing women and children that's revealed relatively late in the game.
If you have a fairly high tolerance for graphic violence, this film is watchable because of its fine cast, including Ray Liotta as a Gambino family associate who provides a more lucrative career path for Kuklinski when he's laid off from a job editing porno films. (He tells the wife he's dubbing Disney cartoons.)
An almost unrecognizable Chris Evans plays another employer of Kuklinski's services, James Franco turns up for a single-scene tour de force as a victim pleading with Kuklinski for his life, and Stephen Dorff has a nice cameo as Kuklinski's long-incarcerated brother (a rapist and killer).
"The Iceman'' has its compensations, and the period details aren't bad for a low-budget picture. But the overall effect tends to be as chilly and monotonous as Shannon's demeanor as Kuklinski — a real disappointment.
Follow @LouLumenick on Twitter for the latest movie news and reviews.
Lou Lumenick
Blog: MoviesMOVIE REVIEW
LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED
Stirred, not shaken. In English, Danish and Italian, with English subtitles. Running time: 116 minutes. Rated R (brief sexuality, nudity, profanity). At the Lincoln Plaza and the Sunshine.
Pierce Brosnan plays a middle-aged businessman who finds love on a picturesque, sun-dappled Mediterranean island where he's arrived for a wedding in "Love Is All You Need." But rest assured, he does not bellow songs again in a film that's quite a bit less silly than "Mamma Mia!"
Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier, who won a foreign-language feature Oscar for the very dramatic "In a Better World," doesn't stint on the scenery, schmaltz or laughs in this classy romantic comedy. She mixes in just enough poignancy and honest emotion to make it a perfect date movie, at least for older couples.
Heading for the same wedding on the Amalfi Coast is Ida (Trine Dyrholm, star of "In a Better World"). She's a Danish breast-cancer survivor dumped by her boorish husband (Kim Bodnia) for his sluttish secretary (Christiane Schaumburg-Müller) who our heroine discovers having sex with him when she comes home early from a doctor's appointment.
Ida and Brosnan's character — a grouchy British widower named Philip who operates a produce empire out of Stockholm — meet cute at the airport when he berates her for backing into his car.
The two quickly discover they are respectively the mother of the bride (Molly Blixt-Egelind) and the father of the groom (Sebastian Jessen), who had somehow never met before.
Arriving for the festivities at a vast Italian estate owned by Philip, Ida receives an icy reception from the sister of Philip's late wife (a very funny Paprika Steen) who has helped raise his daughter.
The snobby sister-in-law isn't happy when the oblivious Philip — who she has secretly lusted after — begins warming up to Ida after he discovers her skinny dipping without the wig disguising her bald head.
Doane Gregory
Pierce Brosnan and Trine Dyrholm in "Love Is All You Need"
The comic complications begin to pile up with the arrival of Ida's estranged husband, who has further humiliated her by bringing along his crass new girlfriend.
Meanwhile, the bridegroom's penchant for sunbathing with a hunky vineyard worker and the bride's sexual frustration makes you wonder if this wedding will come off at all.
Erstwhile James Bond Brosnan hasn't been so relaxed on-screen in years, and Dyrholm provides depth to a character who makes all sorts of excuses for her hubby, much to the concern of her touchingly protective soldier son (Micky Skeel Hansen).
"Love Is All You Need" is entirely predictable, and that's OK in a film as lovingly made, well acted and enjoyable as this. But somebody should have told the director that using Dean Martin singing "That's Amore" on the soundtrack (as she does several times here) passed its expiration date around the time of "Moonstruck" a quarter-century ago.
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Snap! Snap! It's your paparazzi for the day.
Celeb 4 A Day charges up to $3,000 for clients to basque in flashing lights and giant cameras as paparazzi take photos of them in L.A., New York and San Francisco.
Enough people crave the star-like attention that founder Tania Roberts sees her business grow 15 percent a year. And since starting her company (the first of its kind) in 2007, she now competes against dozens of other paparazzi-for-hire ventures.
Credit: Celeb4ADay
The paparazzi take this girl by "surprise."
The Post interviews Tania Roberts for the low down on her "show biz":
What's the weirdest reason someone hired your paparazzi?
In LA, we had a guy who wanted us to paparazzi him on Venice Beach at 11AM so he could trick his friend into thinking he slept with Lindsay Lohan the night before. It worked... for a few minutes!
Do you get repeat customers?
Sometimes. We used to have a kid in L.A. who would hire us every time he went on a date with a new girl. He'd do that about once a month. We would have paparazzi photograph him as he got out of his car and walked to the restaurant. He was a 17-year-old kid from Bel Air.
How did you think of this paparazzi-for-hire idea?
I was watching Entertainment Tonight, and I saw someone being chased by photographers. I thought, "I wonder what that's like?" Then, "I'm sure not the only one... Wait, I could do that! I know a bunch of photographers."
I built my website, and I had people calling within two weeks.
Credit: Celeb4ADay
Tania Roberts, founder of Celeb4ADay, takes a selfie for her website.
How is business going?
Great.
How many clients have you had since you started?
A lot. We do about four people a week in New York. We do anywhere from 2 to 4 in L.A. And in San Francisco, we offer it there, but not a lot of people do it there.
I think it's popular in L.A. because, you know, it's Hollywood. People visit, and they want to experience a piece of Hollywood and celebrity life. In New York, I think it's really fun for people to take advantage of a city where you can do almost anything. My business just offers a very unique service.
How much do you charge?
Pricing ranges from $550 up to $3,000.
What kind of people ask for your services the most?
Most of our clients are between the ages of 25 to 35. They've grown up with the celebrity culture and want to participate in it.
Eighty percent of our market is someone hiring us as a surprise for someone else—birthdays, bachelorette parties, that kind of stuff. Anything that can be turned into a surprise, we've done it. We've even photographed a 70-year-old guy at 8 AM on the golf course as a surprise for his birthday. He was surprised, but by the end, slightly irritated with his brother. But he had fun with it.
Celeb4ADay
A girl "shields" herself from the Celeb4ADay paparazzi for hire.
How much money are you making?
Let's just say, enough to live in New York City comfortably. I'm doing well.
Where do you see your business going from here?
Growing. We've grown 10 to 15 percent a year.
What do you hope to accomplish with your venture?
Right now, I'm really comfortable with where I'm at. I don't want to make the mistake of expanding too rapidly into more cities. I'd love to expand to some other cities eventually though. Miami is first on my list. Vegas would be good too. Party cities.
How do you like the business overall?
It's great. I'm always one of paparazzi for jobs here in New york. I didn't get a degree in photography to be a personal paparazzi, but it's fun to make someone feel special for 30 minutes or so.
The mother of the three-year-old Bronx girl that was found dead this week has been charged with assault and reckless endangerment, along with her live-in boyfriend, authorities said.
Police sources said Sherika Stewart, 22, and boyfriend Leon Walters, 25, made statements on video to the Bronx District Attorney that they hit the girl and caused some of her injuries before she died in their Riverdale apartment.
Walters had told cops initially that he had been watching Ahnya Louis-Hardy, 3, when the girl tumbled down the stairs and passed out in their apartment on Manhattan College Parkway, police sources said.
Her body had bruises on it, and she died shortly after at Montefiore Hospital, sources added.
An initial autopsy by the city's medical examiner was inconclusive. The cause of death is pending further study, a spokeswoman said.
The Administration for Children's Services is also investigating the tragedy, authorities said.
Walters has prior arrests for assault and marijuana possession, a law-enforcement source said.
SYRACUSE — One of two brothers accused of conning a man out of a winning $5 million scratch-off ticket was found guilty Wednesday of possessing the stolen ticket, but the pair was acquitted of conspiring to cheat him.
Onondaga County Court Judge Joseph Fahey found 35-year-old Andy Ashkar guilty of possession of stolen property. Fahey cleared Ashkar and his 37-year-old brother, Nayel, of conspiracy charges.
Their nonjury trial ended Friday.
Police and lottery officials said the Ashkar brothers convinced Robert Miles that the ticket was worth only $5,000 when Miles bought it in 2006. Authorities say the brothers paid Miles $4,000, took a $1,000 handling fee, then waited until the ticket was about to expire before trying to claim the jackpot in 2012.
REUTERS
Cards for lottery customers to pick their own numbers are stacked on a rack at a store where people buy tickets for the Powerball lottery in New York.
Andy Ashkar testified on the final day of the trial that he went to his father's store for lunch on Oct. 27, 2006, and bought the winning ticket, which cost $20, while he was there.
"I scratched it on the customer side of the counter," Ashkar said, then handed it to his father. "He scanned it. He said, 'Shut up!' He didn't want anyone to know."
Ashkar said he planned to go to the lottery office that day, then changed his mind, called his brother and went to his parents' home.
"I was hesitant. I wanted to do it the right way," said Ashkar, who was unemployed and receiving public assistance at the time. "I didn't want it to have a negative impact on my family."
Andy Ashkar said he waited nearly six years because he was worried for his family's safety. Their convenience store, the Green Ale Market, is located in a crime-ridden neighborhood.
Defense attorney Robert Durr focused his closing arguments on the credibility of the witnesses called by the prosecution. He said they could have made up the story in the hopes Miles would reward them.
Prosecution witness Ramon Rosario testified that he saw Miles buy and scratch the ticket. Before closing arguments, the defense produced federal grand jury testimony from Rosario in a similar case in which Rosario had taken payment from drug dealers in exchange for his help.
"There was no wrongful taking of that ticket. Nobody can place him (Miles) where he scratched the ticket," Durr said. "If he had made a complaint, things could have been done."
Durr reiterated that there still was no proof the winning ticket was ever stolen. Miles testified earlier in the weeklong trial that Andy Ashkar had taken the ticket from him. Miles said he wasn't thinking clearly that day because he had been high on crack cocaine the night before. He said he never got a receipt.
Andy Ashkar faces one to three years in prison when he is sentenced May 29.
The Ashkars' father, Nayef, owns the store that sold the ticket and is charged with conspiracy. He has a separate trial scheduled for September.
DALLAS — The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum has opened to the public, with the 43rd president greeting 43 schoolchildren who were its first visitors.
The library and museum, along with Bush's policy institute, are housed in the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. The center was dedicated last week during a ceremony that featured Bush, President Barack Obama, and former Presidents Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, who is Bush's father.
Library and museum spokesman John Orrell says the 43 students from the Dallas-Fort Worth area were chosen by their superintendents to be the first visitors to the museum Wednesday.
AP
Former President George W. Bush walks into the oval office replica at the Bush Presidential Library as he surprises 43 Dallas-Fort Worth school children who were the first official guest of the museum on its opening day.
The museum includes exhibits on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and other historical events. There is also a replica of the Oval Office.
AP
Medical workers aid those injured in the Boston Marathon terror attack.
Authorities detained three more suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing, cops said.
The Boston Police Department this morning tweeted, "three additional suspects taken into custody in Marathon bombing case. Details to follow."
The Boston Globe reported the three people in custody were college students.
The three knew Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, through UMass Dartmouth, and were arrested for aiding him after the bombing, the Globe said.
PHOTOS: 2 BLASTS HIT BOSTON MARATHON
The identities of the new suspects were not immediately released.
A spokesman for the Boston PD would only confirm that the tweet was authentic. They later tweeted that there was not a threat to public safety.
The last month's bombing killed three and maimed scores others. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was charged in the attack. His brother and accomplice, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed in a firefight with cops.
Three people were killed and more than 260 injured on April 15 when two bombs exploded near the finish line.
AP
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, left, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19.
Suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev died after a gunfight with police several days later. His brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was captured and lies in a hospital prison.
Both are Russian natives who lived for several years in the US. They are accused of using a weapon of mass destruction.
Meanwhile, relatives of Tamerlan will claim his body now that his wife has agreed to release it, an uncle said as officials in both Washington and Russia deepened their investigations into him and his ties.
The body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, has been at the medical examiner's office in Massachusetts since he died after a gunfight with authorities more than a week ago.
Amato DeLuca, the Rhode Island attorney for his widow, Katherine Russell, said Tuesday that his client had just learned that the medical examiner was ready to release Tsarnaev's body and that she wants it released to his side of the family.
Police said Tsarnaev ran out of ammunition before Dzhokhar dragged his body under a vehicle while fleeing the scene. His cause of death has been determined but will not be made public until his remains are claimed.
"Of course, family members will take possession of the body," uncle Ruslan Tsarni of Maryland told The Associated Press on Tuesday night. "We'll do it. We will do it. A family is a family."
He would not elaborate. Tsarnaev's parents are still in Russia, but he has other relatives on his side of the family in the US, including Tsarni.
With AP
