Man, 60, dies in B’klyn fire

A man died and three firefighters were injured yesterday in a Borough Park apartment blaze, officials and witnesses said.

Rescuers tried to revive Wai-Hung Li, 60, at the scene on New Utrecht Avenue. But Li was rushed to a hospital after the 2 p.m. fire and pronounced dead.

A resident of the building was horrified.

“I saw the guy when they carried him [out.] His head was all black and burned. I couldn’t really see who he was — his head was black, his head was on fire,” said the man, who declined to give his name.

FDNY Deputy Chief Richard Howe said, “The fire was contained to one apartment. That was the apartment where the victim was found. We found him unconscious in his study.”

The building is home to a medical lab and clothing store which were both damaged from the two-alarm fire.

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Ed. big is a class clown

Forget the city’s standardized tests — skip school!

That’s the shocking advice publicly offered by Lisa Nielsen, 44, a high-ranking city Department of Education official recently promoted to the newly created, six-figure position of “director of digital literacy and citizenship.”

In her spare time, Nielsen is an administrator of the Facebook group Opt Out of State Standardized Tests — New York, which promotes boycotting the very same standardized tests her agency administers.

“More and more parents are speaking out and standing up for their parental rights by opting their children out of standardized tests,” she wrote last week on her blog, “The Innovative Educator: Way Out of the Box!”

Lisa Nielsen

On Friday, she recommended that teachers assign students who opt out to other activities, including reading, writing and drawing — or taking a snooze.

“The test might just be a perfect time to catch some zzz’s,” she wrote.

On Thursday, she blogged that kids would learn more by cutting class on exam day instead of being “sentenced to sit and start [sic] into space.”

Instead, Nielsen — co-author of “Teaching Generation Text: Using Cellphones to Enhance Learning” — recommends that parents or volunteers plan group activities and “put together a fun pass book for testing days with discounts to local zoos, museums, theater, etc.”

She adds, “They’ll all be empty since most young people will be locked up taking tests.”

Blasting the powers-that-be and their “ineffective measures,” the Las Vegas-born Nielsen referenced Occupy Wall Street in another post.

“These protesters aren’t occupying the real culprit behind the unfair economic system that benefits the rich and corporations at the expense of the rest of us . . . our public schools,” she blogged. “Occupy Wall Streeters: It’s time to change direction . . . Occupy those schools.”

On Facebook, she urges people to sign a petition to Gov. Cuomo to “End High Stakes Testing,” started by Carol Burris, a “fearless principal” in Rockville Centre, LI.

Nielsen also agrees with critics who denounce the Common Core — national standards New York has adopted that spell out what kids should know and when — as a scheme to enrich testing companies.

The newly minted DOE executive also advocates for home schooling, saying people she knows who were taught at home “seemed to be really smart, passionate, successful and satisfied with their lives. All that and they never had to be tortured in an algebra, history, science or English class!”

Nielsen said she has been developing teacher-training materials since starting her DOE job in September.

“We show teachers how to use social media, like Facebook, Twitter, blogs and Wikis,” she told The Hechinger Report, an education news Web site.

“We give teachers a ‘digital makeover’ so that they can control how they want to be seen online. And finally, they get practice creating their own social-media page or group,” she said.

She said the DOE created her post after issuing guidelines for teachers on the proper use of social media and how to avoid getting into trouble.

According to a DOE job description, the position came with a salary of up to $170,000.

She last worked as director of technology innovation, earning $117,929 a year, 2010 records show.

She has worked on and off for the DOE since 1997 in a variety of jobs, including teacher, librarian, reading coach and teacher trainer.

The DOE would not say whether it had been aware of her rebellious views when they named her to the new post.

“The department is always open to working with people with different ideas,” said spokeswoman Erin Hughes.

susan.edelman@nypost.com

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A ‘cold’ treat to eat

Finally, a fun way to fight the flu.

A small-batch ice-cream company claims to have scooped up a cure for the worst epidemic in years — a bold new flavor called “Influenza Sorbet.”

The virus-soothing treat — made by Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams — blends Maker’s Mark bourbon, lemon and cayenne pepper to mimic an old family flu remedy.

The dessert, which sells for $12 a pint, includes ginger and honey.

Owner Jeni Britton Bauer, who operates Manhattan ice-cream trucks, says it eases sore throats and clears up nasal passages.

“I’ve had people tell me it’s the only thing that makes them feel better. It actually does have a physical effect,” she said.

That’s likely due to a secret ingredient: a small dose of pectin, which is found in cough drops, Bauer said. “It coats your throat. It’s just what some people need,” she said.

The snack might be medicinal — but it sure doesn’t taste like meds. The flavor is like a whiskey sour with a spicy kick, Bauer said.

The new treat comes after the state last week declared a health emergency, noting that the number of flu cases had more than quadrupled — from 4,404 to 19,128 — in the past year.

Cases this week have since spiked to more than 23,500 — and many elderly New Yorkers have been hospitalized. That’s exactly why some flu experts say we should be lining up for shots — not scoops.

“It’s cute but I’d like to see the science behind it,” said Doris Bucher, who helped develop this year’s flu vaccine with a team of scientists at New York Medical College. She added, “It might spice you up or knock you out — but it’s no vaccine,” she said.

But others say it’s hitting New York just in time.

“It’s seasonal brilliance [for anyone] with an itchy throat,” wrote a reviewer with the food-and-drink blog thekitchn.com.

New Yorkers can buy the sorbet online. The Ohio-based company delivers in packs with dry ice.

Jeni’s began producing the flu-fighting sorbet in 2004 — but kept it a secret, stashed on the bottom shelf for sick regulars for years.

“We didn’t really tell anyone about it — we didn’t think it was marketable,” Bauer said.

But after this year’s flu crisis hit, she opted to share it nationally — and start a marketing effort.

Orders have spiked dramatically in the past two weeks, she said.

“It’s not a miracle. It’s an at-home remedy — like chicken soup,” she said.

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B'klyn teen dialed 911 more than 400 times for fake emergencies: police

A Brooklyn teen dialed 911 more than 400 times to phone in fake emergencies, police said yesterday.

Dean Whylie, 16, disguised his voice as a girl when he made 404 calls reporting non-existent incidents, starting on May 26 of last year, police added.

“He reported police officers needing assistance, shots fired, motor vehicle accidents and disputes,” a police source said.

Whylie allegedly used two phones that weren’t yet activated, but were set up for emergency calls only — which made it difficult to trace the hundreds of fake reports, police said.

At least 329 bogus incidents were reported at locations in the 70 Precinct, which includes Kensington, cops added. Other fake calls reported crimes in Borough Park and other parts of southern Brooklyn, according to police.

Investigators finally traced cell phone pings to the teen’s home on East 22nd Street in Ditmas Park, where he made his last call Monday, police said.

The teen gave no explanation as to why he made the prank calls, cops said.

He was arrested Tuesday afternoon and charged with reckless endangerment, criminal impersonation, obstruction of governmental administration, filing false reports and criminal nuisance, police said.

One of the two phones — which had been used to dial 186 bogus calls — was recovered, cops added.

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Hellish strike for classy kids

Thousands of plucky New York children trudged to class through sleet and freezing rain yesterday as unionized yellow-bus drivers brought school transportation to a halt with a strike that will make life hell for families across the city.

“It’s hurting the kids,” said 23-year-old mom Erika Rivera, who had to miss work and borrow a car to take her niece to PS 36 in The Bronx. “And it’s hurting all of the parents who have to find a way to get their kids to school.”

The work stoppage left more than 113,200 city schoolkids without buses, forcing parents to scramble to find any way they could get their children to class. Some dug into their pockets to pay for subways, taxis and dollar vans — othets even propped their kids on the backs of bicycles for a treacherous ride.

Upper West Side dad Martin Wallace hoarded five elementary- school kids — including his 5-year-old son, Bruno — onto the 1 train to PS 84 on West 92nd Street.

“I like the school bus, it’s not packed,” Bruno said outside school.

Wallace said, “The inconvenience is that I have to make the trip [with them] rather than just wait at the bus stop.”

The strike — which affected roughly 75 percent of students who are eligible for school bus service — hit the disabled hardest. Many of them aren’t able to use public transportation or regular vehicles to travel.

“It’s impossible for Jessica to get there without it; no bus, no school,” Maria Sanmartin said of her 6-year-old daughter, who has cerebral palsy.

The 46-year-old Sunnyside mom worries about the physical and speech therapy her daughter is missing — and will miss — by being unable to get to PS 58 in Maspeth, Queens.

“She has too many problems for there to be no school bus,” said Sanmartin. “She likes going to school, and she loves riding the bus.”

Attendance was down 2.8 percent yesterday compared with the rest of the month, meaning at least 25,000 students were out. For the severely disabled, attendance dropped by 41 percent.

At City Hall, Mayor Bloomberg said he has no plans of meeting with leaders of Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union over the removal of job protections from recently bid-out contracts because bus drivers and matrons work for private bus companies rather than for the city.

Asked about whether he’ll take certain steps to ensure the strike doesn’t last as long as the prior one in 1979 — 14 weeks — Bloomberg said he’d encourage the union to hold talks with the bus companies.

“I hope this does not last a long time,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “It’s not going to last more than June — because that’s the end of the school year.”

Union leaders, who insist the decades-old protections must be reinstated into the bus-company bids, said Hizzoner’s decision would ensure yellow buses remain off the roads.

“We remain willing to come to the table to work towards an agreement, and we urge the mayor to adopt a similar attitude,” said Amalgamated Transit Union Mike Cordiello, president of Local 1181.

More than 125 special-education buses were unable to leave their Staten Island depot yesterday because, while the drivers belong to a nonstriking union, the matrons were on the picket lines.

NYPD sources said roughly 1,800 union members stocked picket lines at bus depots across the city. There were no arrests or vandalism reported.

Additional reporting by Sabrina Ford, Kevin Fasick, Lorena Mongelli,Georgett Roberts and Matthew Abrahams

yoav.gonen@nypost.com

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Dad of Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz blames government for suicide

Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz’s heartbroken dad yesterday blamed the US government for his son’s suicide in an emotional eulogy at the young man’s funeral.

“Aaron did not commit suicide — he was killed by the government. And [the Massachusetts Institute of Technology] betrayed all its basic principles” in helping the feds, said grieving dad Robert Swartz to 200 mourners packing Central Avenue Synagogue in Highland Park, Ill.

“Aaron did something that wasn’t illegal and was destroyed by it,’’ Robert added. “He could have done so much more.”

Aaron, 26, hanged himself Friday in his Brooklyn apartment amid charges that he had illegally hacked into millions of archived MIT documents.

John Smierciak

SUICIDAL GENIUS: Aaron Swartz died Friday in Brooklyn. Girlfriend Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman (above) yesterday was among 200 mourners at his funeral.

Aaron Swartz

As the feds bore down in a case that many experts considered basically much ado about nothing, Aaron became so tormented that he finally “fell into the pain,’’ said his weeping girlfriend, Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman.

“Aaron wanted so bad to change the world. He believed you had to see the world for how it really was to change it,” she told mourners through tears.

“With this [upcoming] trial and everything he was facing the last two years, I think [Aaron] fell into the pain.

“I love him, I miss him and I’ve learned so much from him,” she said.

Mourners included Aaron’s stricken mother, Susan, and two younger brothers, Noah and Ben.

Also attending the service were members of the hacktivist group Anonymous — which offered its own defiant “tribute” yesterday.

The group hacked into two Web sites run by MIT — where Aaron had been studying ethics when he infiltrated its computer systems — to post an “in memoriam.’’

“The situation Aaron found himself in highlights the injustice of US computer-crime laws, particularly their punishment regimes,” Anonymous wrote.

Aaron had planned to post the MIT documents on the Web as a statement in favor of freedom of information. He faced decades behind bars and millions of dollars in fines.

He killed himself two days after his lawyer had futilely tried for a second time to negotiate a no-jail plea deal with prosecutors. But the government’s lawyers had insisted Aaron do at least six months behind bars.

Assistant US Attorney Steve Heymann in Boston was leading the probe. It was revealed yesterday that he also was the prosecutor pushing the 2008 hacking case against Jonathan James, 24, who wound up committing suicide, too.

Heymann could not be reached for comment.

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VOTE for the worst liar in history

Lance Armstrong’s lies weren’t the first to lead to a stunning crash. Here is a list of the rest of history’s 10 all-time greatest liars, a rogues gallery of devious dissemblers who can all be enshrined in the forked tongue Hall of Shame.

AFP/Getty Images


RICHARD NIXON — You know when a guy says “I am not a crook,” watch out. “Tricky Dick” Nixon took presidential perfidy to new heights, when he went on TV on August 15, 1973 and said “I had no prior knowledge of the Watergate break-in.” A year later, he resigned.

AP



BERNIE MADOFF — He was more of a Ponzi King than the scam’s inventor, Charles Ponzi. Madoff pretended to be one of the most savvy investors in New York, but his firm was a bogus house of cards that wound up costing his investors $50 billion when it collapsed. Now Bernie cooling his heels in prison.

Spencer A. Burnett

TAWANA BRAWLEY — Her lie set racial tensions in New York to boiling in the 1980s. The Dutchess County teen falsely claimed to have been abducted and raped by a group of men, including a cop and a prosecutor. In 1988, a grand jury found her story was a horrific hoax.

AP

JOHN EDWARDS — A slick haircut doesn’t mean you’re honest. The clean-cut Edwards went from possible President to loathed liar when — after two years of denials — he admitted in 2010 to siring a love child with mistress Rielle Hunter while his wife, Elizabeth, was dying of cancer.

AP

MILLI VANILLI — Their album may have been called “Girl You Know It’s True, ” but it was really a big lie. The “musical” duo of Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, became laughing stocks in 1990 when they had to return their Grammy for best new artist after it was revealed they did not actually sing the songs on the album.

AP

ANTHONY WEINER — Sure, you were “hacked” Mr. Weiner. When a picture of the Queens Congressman’s “member” wound up on the internet he tried to claim he got shafted — by a hacker to stole the picture and put it on line. Later it was revealed that he actually sent the pic to a young woman who was not his wife. He finally admitted “I have not been honest,” and short time later resigned.

AP

PETE ROSE — He was known as “Charlie Hustle.” It was an appropriate nickname. Baseball’s all time hit leader denied for years that he ever gambled on baseball, even though he was banned from the game in 1989. Then in 2004, he admitted he did place bets on the national passtime, and even bet on his own team, the Cincinnati Reds “every night.”

AP

MARION JONES — She lost her golds on the track, but still takes top honors for lying. The disgraced track star had the five medals she won in the 2000 Summer Olympics stripped for doping, charges she initially denied. She was later sentenced to six months in jail for lying to federal prosecutors who were probing use of steroids.

PINOCCHIO — History’s all time greatest liar, this little wooden “boy” wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him. His fibs were so devious that they actually made his nose grow, making him the forerunner of all politicians throughout history.

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Lady Gaga Bares her gun rack

Does she have a license to pack all that heat?

Lady Gaga brazenly gave a whole new meaning to the term “gun rack” this weekend when the provocative pop star wore an “assault rifle” bra during a show in Canada — despite the sensitive debate over such weapons gripping the US in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting.

Gaga looked like a musical gun moll as she strolled on stage in Vancouver wearing the outrageous outfit, which is likely to draw even more fashion criticism than the infamous “meat dress” she wore to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards.

Gaga wore the gun bra Friday — just a day after Vice President Joe Biden met with Congress and the NRA over curbing gun violence after the elementary-school massacre in Newtown, Conn., which left 20 kids dead.

R Chiang / Splash News

WHAT BAZOOKAS! Lady Gaga debuts a new bra in Canada over the weekend — just don’t be rude and ask her what caliber she’s packing.

It also comes about a year after Gaga gave a New Year’s Eve smooch to major gun opponent Mayor Bloomberg, who said of the moment: “You have no idea how cool my daughter thinks I am right now.”

Not everyone yesterday still thought the “gun”-toting Gaga was cool for her latest outfit.

“I suppose when you haven’t enough talent to keep people’s attention, you get a gun bra,” said one wag named ReggieP on Twitter.

Despite the apparent firepower of Gaga’s bosom, the guns were just plastic models and were far less likely to cause harm than the singer’s fashion sense in general.

No stranger to controversy, Gaga’s dress made of meat upset PETA and arch-rival Sharon Osbourne, who was angered by the backlash from Lady Gaga fans.

“I am calling you a bully because you have 32 million followers hanging on your every word and you are criticizing Kelly [Osbourne],” Sharon wrote, asking: “Are you so desperate that you needed to make this public?”

Sharon later said: ‘I thought that Gaga was a main campaigner against bullying.”

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Stop the in‘vanity’!

Phoebe Baker Hyde is the author of “The Beauty Experiment” (Lifelong Books), which chronicles the 13 months she spent without makeup, grooming or new clothes.

I pictured myself sexy at my husband’s office party in my far-too-expensive crimson dress, red lips and high-heeled shoes.

But the photographs told another story.

I was not sexy, but shaggy. Not red hot, but hangdog. My outfit was ill-fitting and too loud in a sea of corporate black. My jewelry, makeup and shoes all fought for attention. I myself was lost.

I was not the woman or role model I wanted to be. I was at war with myself and the world around me.

NY Post: Tamara Beckwith

LESS IS MORPH: After 13 months of drastic cutbacks in her style routine, Phoebe Baker Hyde has an increased love of self — and a new book, “The Beauty Experiment.”

So in February 2007, I embarked on an experiment. I swore off Beauty and all her trappings: makeup, new clothes, salon haircuts, jewelry, the works. And I did this for the next 13 months of my life.

The stirrings of change began in 2006 when I had my first child. To hide the pounds, I wore a spandex corset for five hours a day. To fight the exhausted-mom look, I bought thicker foundation and wore brighter lipstick.

2005 when my husband, John, an accountant, was transferred from San Francisco to Hong Kong. The next year, I had my first child.

I found myself in a foreign land — where everyone dressed up even to go to the supermarket — with a new child and baby weight that refused to budge.

But I still hated what I saw in the mirror.

After the red-dress fiasco, I decided to purge myself of the powders, blushes, lipsticks, nail polishes, and even the scales and vanity mirrors that had become so central to my life.

My supportive husband, John, helped me put together a concrete plan. I could use sunscreen and moisturizer, as well as shampoo, a comb and a dab of hair gel. But I would throw out my razors and let my hair grow in all places except my face and lower legs. (My husband wasn’t so thrilled about this at first.)

I would only wear clothes I already owned. No more shopping. I could wear my wedding band and a watch, but the 38 pairs of earrings had to go back in the jewelry box.

The hardest part was saying goodbye to my long, strawberry-blond hair — my favorite feature. A barber, the same my husband frequented, chopped off 14 inches and cut it into a simple, men’s haircut.

“It’s not that bad,” John said when he saw me.

Not exactly a glowing review.

I focused on my dark roots, big nose and weak chin. Without my hair, I felt plain — not ugly, per se, but unbeautiful, unremarkable, uninteresting.

For the first month, I carried around this sense of Plain Jane-ness. I avoided meet-ups, especially in places where I was expected to dress up. My eyes were lost without eyeliner and my lips were wan and thin without lipstick.

Most of my friends were supportive. But some women took my new look as an affront. One well-coiffed ex-pat mother snubbed me. My lack of mascara seemed to her an act of defiance. Part of me felt a little superior, refusing to play the beauty game.

But one day, a few months in, I cracked.

After my one bathing suit nearly disintegrated, I bought — gasp! — a $70 replacement. Strangely, I no longer focused on how bad my body looked; in fact, I kind of liked what I saw in the mirror.

I returned to my experiment with renewed purpose. I honed my beauty regime: shower, comb hair, apply deodorant, slather SPF 30 moisturizer on my body, dress, done. Now it took me 16 minutes to get ready (almost as fast as my husband).

Something had switched inside of me.

I noticed a change in my inner voice. She had become softer and less judgmental, of me and the women around me. Bad-hair days meant nothing to me. My face without makeup said “face,” not hideous problem.

I kept track of the incredible amount of hours I had saved by not obsessing over my appearance. This was more time that I could spend on being a better mother, and a better partner. I realized I was no longer the princess, no longer the bride, and no longer the beauty the whole world wanted — and I was not filled with rage over this.

I ended my experiment 13 months in, but the discoveries have stayed with me.

I use makeup sparingly. I keep my hair short and shop out of purpose and need.

My beauty routine rounds out to about 10 minutes, quicker even than during the height of my experiment. All of this has given me a buoyant undercurrent of calm and well-being that can’t be faked with concealer.

Now when I look in the mirror, I don’t see wrinkles, anxiety, zits or exhaustion.

Instead, I see a face, a person, a personality, a life.

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NYPD Daily Blotter

Queens

***

Police have identified a suspect in the snatching of eight smartphones right out of users’ hands in Long Island City and Astoria, authorities said.

Cops would like to question Karim Morle (above), 19, in a series of robberies where a thief approached the smartphone user from behind, police said.

The heists began at about 9:25 p.m. on Aug. 1 in a stairwell at the Court Square subway station at 44th Drive and 21st Street.

The crook most recently struck in Astoria at about 3:15 p.m. on Sept. 20 at 35th Avenue and 28th Street, cops said.

Staten Island

***

A fleeing bank robber was arrested in Elm Park after she additionally threatened a bank teller and a security guard with a knife, authorities said.

Beth Lyons, 49, entered the TD branch on Forest Avenue near Crystal Avenue just before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday and passed a note to a teller, according to court documents.

“Just money, don’t make me hurt you. $100, $50 and $20’s,” the note read.

When the teller hesitated, the impatient robber flashed a knife and began threatening the employee.

“Don’t you understand? Read the note, hurry up. I’m gonna shoot you; you have five seconds,” Lyons said, according to the court papers.

The teller forked over an unknown sum of cash, and the fleeing thief flashed the knife at the security guard, court papers state.

The guard flagged down a cop, who placed a hostile Lyons under arrest, court papers state.

Lyons was charged with robbery, criminal possession of a weapon and resisting arrest, records state.

Brooklyn

***

Quick-thinking detectives caught an armed robber in Cobble Hill, cops reported at a 76th Precinct community-council meeting.

Tyshawn Warren, 27, and Kevin White, 33, allegedly approached a 29-year-old woman at about 4:10 p.m. Monday at a Chase ATM on Smith Street near Warren Street.

They grabbed her arm and pushed a loaded .380-caliber semiautomatic into her ribs, according to law-enforcement sources.

They allegedly instructed her to withdraw cash from her account, but detectives working nearby on a different case intervened and arrested them, community-affairs officers added at the meeting.

Crack cocaine and pot were found allegedly in the suspects’ possession.

Warren was charged with weapons possession, attempted robbery, menacing and criminal possession of a controlled substance, records show.

White was hit with charges of attempted robbery, weapons possession and unlawful possession of marijuana.

The Bronx

***

A heavy-handed crook smashed his way into eight cars at a garage in Pelham Bay, law-enforcement sources said.

According to the sources and witnesses, the suspect pictured above broke into an indoor private garage on Barker Avenue near Waring Avenue at about 2:40 a.m. Sunday, and began breaking into vehicles.

He allegedly took multiple items from the cars, sources said.

The suspect was described as in his 50s and sporting a goatee, sources added.

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Man gunned down in Bed-Stuy

A man was gunned down in Bedford-Stuyvesant Thursday night, according to police.

The man, described by cops as a white male in his 30s, was shot in the torso near the corner of Macon Street and Throop Avenue at around 9:30 p.m., authorities said.

He was transported to Kings County Hospital where he later died.

Police are still investigating. No arrests have been made.

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LI travel agent shoved to his death in Brooklyn robbery: police

A Long Island travel agent who showed up at a South Slope, Brooklyn address to buy a car wound up dead when he was shoved to the ground and smashed his head in an apparent robbery, law enforcement sources said this morning.

Jesus Morales, 67, of Merrick, LI, was discovered lying with head injuries at 260 18th street at around 7:15 p.m. yesterday.

Morales was rushed by EMS to Lutheran Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

Cops are calling the incident a robbery, though it was unclear what was taken.

According to family, Morales owns a travel agency in the neighborhood.

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911 calls bare Colo. movie ordeal

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — Chilling 911 calls that captured the sound of bullets flying — and a young teen weeping over the body of her dead 6-year-old cousin — were replayed at a pretrial hearing in the “Dark Knight’’ massacre yesterday.

Panicked moviegoer Kevin Quinonez was the first to call 911 that night, shouting, “There’s some guy . . . after us!’’ amid the gunfire.

“You can hear at least 30 shots in the background,’’ testified Aurora, Colo., Police Detective Randy Hansen of the 27-second call from Quinonez, who survived.

The second wrenching call came from a sobbing 13-year-old relative of both Veronica Moser-Sullivan, 6, who died in the bloodbath, and the dead girl’s mom, who was left paralyzed.

EPA

DEVIL’S LAIR: Police break into “Dark Knight” shooter James Holmes’ booby-trapped apartment July 20.

AFP/Getty Images

James Holmes

“My two cousins, they’re sitting on the floor . . . one of them” is not breathing, the stricken teen said.

As the operator tried to give her instructions on CPR, the child replied, “I can’t hear . . . I’m so sorry.’’

A judge has been holding hearings, as required, to determine whether there is enough evidence to bring James Holmes, now 25, to trial.

FBI and ATF agents revealed the lengths to which Holmes went to allegedly set a massive booby trap for police back at his apartment.

His sick plan included three jars of homemade napalm and the chemical thermite, which burns so intensely that water can’t put it out.

He put a boom box in a white trash bag outside a Dumpster and rigged it to play 40 minutes of white noise and then blast music, so someone would come over. Holmes wanted a would-be victim to see the remote-control car he placed atop it and start jiggling its controls, which would trigger the explosives, officials said. A man did find the boombox but didn’t trigger the bomb.

It also was revealed that Holmes had actually intended to go into the theater next to the one he entered.

Additional reporting by Kate Sheehy

jennifer.bain@nypost.com

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Two struck by Chinatown bus

William Miller

Two pedestrians were struck Monday night by a Brooklyn-bound Fung Wah line bus just as it was pulling onto the Manhattan Bridge.

The accident happened at around 11 p.m. in the crosswalk at Canal Street and Bowery, across the street from the Chinatown bus company’s office, cops said.The victims are in stable condition. The driver of the bus is not expected to be charged, cops said.

It is unclear if the bus was carrying passengers at the time of the accident.

The accident snagged traffic across Canal Street for at least two hours, holding up a fleet of massive high-end yachts fresh from the New York Boat Show at the Javits Center.

"You have to have an even temper driving these huge, oversized trucks through New York City, but I can tell you, the first thing I thought about was the poor guy driving that bus,” said Brian Christensen, 51, of Florida, who was towing an $800,000, 50 foot-Prestige 500 yacht to Staten Island. “It’s crazy driving down here. People just jump right out."

Additional reporting by Natasha Velez

William Miller

Anchors a-wait: The accident left yachts from a boat show stuck in traffic near the Manhattan Bridge.

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B'klyn man struck, killed while riding unregistered dirt bike

William Miller

Police officers inspect the dirt bike Paul Carthy was riding when he was struck and killed Sunday.

A 24-year-old Brooklyn man on an unregistered dirt bike was killed in an accident in front of Kings County Hospital yesterday.

Paul Carthy, of Brownsville, was riding his Kawasaki eastbound on Clark Avenue just after 9 p.m. when a Nissan Altima struck him as it entered the hospital’s parking lot.

In addition to the bike being unregistered, he did not have a license, police said. No criminality is suspected.

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NY state a $9B lotto winner

More New Yorkers than ever are in it to win it.

Officials say Empire State gamblers plunked down a record $9.1 billion on lottery games in 2012.

That’s up a billion dollars from the previous year.

The high total is partly linked to a big increase in New York’s sale of tickets in the multistate Powerball and Mega Millions games. There were some huge Powerball jackpots last year, including a November $587 million prize.

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NYPD Daily Blotter

Brooklyn

***

Police busted a gunman who wounded a foe in Crown Heights, authorities said.

Khalif Abdullah, 22, for undisclosed reasons began threatening the victim at Troy Avenue and Pacific Street on Dec. 1 at 3:20 a.m., according to court documents.

He then unleashed a barrage of bullets, striking the victim in the stomach, back and arm, court records state.

The victim underwent surgery, court records show.

Abdullah was arrested Wednesday and held on $100,000 bail, records show.

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Two cousins were arrested after threatening to set a man alight in Midwood, authorities said.

Alexande Okoh, 44, and Yauheni Brychou, 32, allegedly approached the victim sitting in his car on Bay Parkway and 63rd Street at about 4 p.m. Tuesday and accused him of hitting their vehicle, a law- enforcement source said.

Okoh allegedly punched the man in the face and took his car keys as Brychou snatched the victim’s wallet, the source added.

Okoh doused the victim with an unknown liquid and snarled, “Give me a match. I’m going to light him on fire,” court papers state.

The victim, 26, fled and called 911, and the suspects were busted.

Queens

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Cops are looking for the suspect pictured at right in connection with a phone-snatching spree in Forest Hills, authorities said.

On Dec. 20 the teen thief robbed a 42-year-old man at 6:05 p.m. at Yellowstone Boulevard and 67th Avenue and then a 39-year-old woman at 8 p.m. on Yellowstone Boulevard, police said.

On Christmas Day the suspect grabbed a 27-year-old woman’s phone at 6:30 p.m. on Queens Boulevard, police said.

His next three heists took place on Dec. 28, 29 and 31, police said.

Most recently, he targeted a 54-year-old woman on Queens Boulevard at 6:55 p.m. Wednesday, police said.

Staten Island

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A man busted for drunken driving in Great Kills had a whopping 13 empty beer cans in his car, authorities said.

When a cop stopped Thomas Kelly, 50, on Amboy Road near Lindenwood Road at about 7 p.m. Wednesday, the suspect was reeking of alcohol and his speech was slurred, court papers state.

When asked to step out of the car, he nearly fell over, according to a law-enforcement source.

Although Kelly refused to take a Breathalyzer test, the cop spotted the discarded cans and cuffed him, authorities added.

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A detective with a troubled past is in hot water again.

Richard Palase, 47, was arrested yesterday for slashing the tires of a pal’s sedan in Rossville at about 5 a.m. Wednesday, authorities said.

He allegedly caused more than $250 in damage to the 2011 Lincoln MKZ.

He was cuffed and charged with criminal mischief, records show.

Palase had been arrested by federal authorities in 2011 for allegedly running an illegal gambling ring that ran high-stakes poker games.

Police did not respond to a request for comment on Palase’s status with the department.

The Bronx

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An anonymous tip led cops to a grenade in a building in Kingsbridge yesterday, authorities said.

The explosive was found in the basement of a building near West 238th Street and Waldo Avenue at 3 p.m., police said.

The grenade was detonated at an NYPD training facility at Rodman’s Neck, police added.

Cops are investigating, but no arrests have been made.

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Statement by NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly

At 7:32 p.m., a lieutenant and three police officers assigned to Transit District 34 were in plainclothes on patrol in two separate cars of a Manhattan-bound ‘N’ train here in Brooklyn. Officers Michael Levay and Lukasz Kozicki observed an individual moving from the second car to the third in violation of transit regulations.

As the train approached the Fort Hamilton Parkway station at 62nd Street, the subject sat down toward the front of the third car. The officers approached, and asked him for identification with the intention of removing him from the train as it came to a stop. The male stood up as if to comply with the officers, and appeared to reach for his wallet.

Paul Martinka

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly responds after three officers were injured Thursday.

Instead, he pulled a 9-millimeter Taurus handgun from his waistband and opened fire. Officer Kozicki, 32, was struck three times; once in each of his upper thighs and once in the groin.

A witness said that the gunman appeared to notice the officer’s bullet-resistant vest, and, as a result, aimed low before he fired.

Although shot in the lower back protected by his vest, Officer Levay, 27, returned fire, striking his assailant, killing him.

A passenger on the same car sustained a graze wound to the leg during the gun fight.

Fortunately no one else was injured, as passengers ran onto the platform when the gunfire erupted.

An hour earlier in the Bronx, as the Mayor said, at 6:30 p.m., Police Officer Juan Pichardo was working off-duty at his family’s car dealership when two men, one of them armed with a Bryco .380 handgun, entered the location. Two accomplices waited outside in a getaway car.

After the two feigned interest in buying a red Altima that was parked near the dealership office, one of them produced the gun and forced Officer Pichardo and a second dealership employee on to the floor in the small back office. They began to ransack the office, looking for cash and the safe, all the while brandishing the weapon in Officer Pichardo’s face.

A few minutes after the robbery, Officer Pichardo stood up and grabbed the gunman, who fired, striking the officer in the right thigh. Despite being wounded, Officer Pichardo and the other employee wrestled the gunman to the ground and disarmed him. The gunman’s accomplice fled with the two others in the getaway car, a white Impala with Oregon license plates.

Officer Pichardo held the gunman for responding officers, who recognized the gunman as a member of a Bronx robbery crew who they had been looking for. A short distance away, at 183rd Street and Katonah Avenue, police stopped the getaway car and its three occupants, placing them under arrest.

As both of these incidents illustrate, the historic crime reductions that New Yorkers enjoy come at a price. As the Mayor said, a dozen police officers were shot last year. And now three more, in the first three days of the new year. So thank God, that the doctors at Lutheran and Jacobi did their usual work, and all of these officers will recover.

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Obama signs cliff deal, $633B defense bill

HONOLULU — President Obama has signed a bill that boosts taxes on the wealthiest Americans, while preserving tax cuts for most American households.

The bill, which averts a looming fiscal cliff that had threatened to plunge the nation back into recession, also extends expiring jobless benefits, prevents cuts in Medicare reimbursements to doctors and delays for two months billions of dollars in across-the-board spending cuts in defense and domestic programs.

The GOP-run House approved the measure by a 257-167 vote late Tuesday, nearly 24 hours after the Democratic-led Senate passed it 89-8.

Obama also signed a $633 billion defense bill for next year that tightens penalties on Iran and bolsters security at diplomatic missions worldwide after the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Obama had threatened to veto the measure because of a number of concerns, including limits on his authority to transfer terrorist suspects from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for one year.

But Obama said that although he continued to oppose certain sections of the bill, "the need to renew critical defense authorities and funding was too great to ignore."

The bill includes cuts in defense spending that the president and congressional Republicans agreed to in August 2011, along with the end of the war in Iraq and the drawdown of American forces in Afghanistan.

Obama, who is vacationing in Hawaii, signed the bills using an autopen, a mechanical device that copies his signature.

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NY area lawmakers furious after House GOP scraps vote on Sandy aid

WASHINGTON — New York area-lawmakers in both parties erupted in anger late Tuesday night after learning the House Republican leadership decided to allow the current term of Congress to end without holding a vote on aid for victims of Superstorm Sandy.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said he was told by the office of Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia that Speaker John Boehner of Ohio had decided to abandon a vote this session.

Cantor, who sets the House schedule, did not immediately comment. House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland told reporters that just before Tuesday evening's vote on "fiscal cliff" legislation, Cantor told him that he was "99.9 percent confident that this bill would be on the floor, and that's what he wanted."

A spokesman for Boehner, Michael Steel said, "The speaker is committed to getting this bill passed this month."

In remarks on the House floor, King called the decision "absolutely inexcusable, absolutely indefensible. We cannot just walk away from our responsibilities."

The Senate approved a $60.4 billion measure Friday to help with recovery from the October storm that devastated parts of New York, New Jersey and nearby states. The House Appropriations Committee has drafted a smaller, $27 billion measure, and a vote had been expected before Congress' term ends Thursday at noon.

More than $2 billion in federal funds has been spent so far on relief efforts for 11 states and the District of Columbia struck by the storm, one of the worst ever to hit the Northeast. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund still has about $4.3 billion, enough to pay for recovery efforts into early spring, according to officials. The unspent FEMA money can only be used for emergency services, said Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J.

New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, District of Columbia, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, New Hampshire, Delaware, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are receiving federal aid.

Sandy was blamed for at least 120 deaths and battered coastline areas from North Carolina to Maine. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut were the hardest hit states and suffered high winds, flooding and storm surges. The storm damaged or destroyed more than 72,000 homes and businesses in New Jersey. In New York, 305,000 housing units were damaged or destroyed and more than 265,000 businesses were affected.

"This is an absolute disgrace and the speaker should hang his head in shame," said Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.

"I'm here tonight saying to myself for the first time that I'm not proud of the decision my team has made," said Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y. "It is the wrong decision, and I' m going to be respectful and ask that the speaker reconsider his decision. Because it's not about politics, it's about human lives."

"I truly feel betrayed this evening," said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y.

"We need to be there for all those in need now after Hurricane Sandy," said Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y.

The House Democratic leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, said she didn't know whether a decision has been made and added, "We cannot leave here doing nothing. That would be a disgrace."

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