Obama speech sets stage for looming policy fights

AFP/Getty Images

People attend the 57th Presidential Inauguration today.

WASHINGTON — President Obama has prepared a second inaugural address that broadly lays out his vision for the country's future, setting the stage for looming debates over taxes, guns, immigration and other issues while leaving the details for another day.

The speech, slated right after Obama takes an oath to "faithfully execute the office of the president of the United States" Monday on the Capitol's west front, includes no new policy, aides say. Rather, the president plans to use the moment as it traditionally has been in most of the 56 previous inaugurations — to talk about founding American values and their importance to the country's success today.

AFP/Getty Images

President Obama leaves St. John's Church today.

OBAMA PREPS FOR 2ND SWEARING-NI WITH AM CHURCH SERVICE

PHOTOS: OBAMA'S SECOND INAUGURATION

But his words come at the start of a second term with no shortage of tough battles. Obama may in some way reference the Connecticut elementary school shooting that pushed gun control to the top of his agenda. He may also speak of a need to tackle comprehensive immigration reform, another second-term priority, and a need to bring U.S. troops home from Afghanistan.

White House advisers see the inaugural speech as the opening opportunity for the president to discuss his second-term agenda, but in broad terms. The next major opportunity will be at the State of the Union address Feb. 12, when aides say Obama will discuss specific policy proposals.

Obama adviser David Axelrod told "CBS This Morning" that in the speech, Obama "will be speaking about values and principles, not so much about programs and prescriptions."

Senior adviser Robert Gibbs told CBS Obama will use his address to communicate that "we're going to move beyond what has paralyzed this town for so long."

He said Obama wants members of both parties to "lay aside their partisanship" to solve protracted problems like budget, taxes and spending, gun violence, and immigration. Gibbs, who formerly was Obama's press secretary, said the president will tell the country that much is possible "if we sit down long enough and work together and talk together."

"I think he feels very comfortable with what he's got ... and understands the moment that he and the country are in, and is anxious to get started," Gibbs said.

Inaugural addresses are not typically partisan, and White House aides say Obama doesn't intend to call out his political opponents. But they say he will stand up for his values and vision that were supported by the majority of voters in the November election.

Obama's prepared text notes that spirited debate is a hallmark of a vibrant democracy, aides say, but that the country's leaders can't let disagreement prevent them from finding common ground to move the country forward. The president also plans to encourage Americans to continue making their voices heard to shape the debate as policy is made, aides said.

The inauguration gives Obama the chance to command global attention at a level that's rare even for the leader of the free world.

Aides say he has been working on the speech since early December, and he clearly has an eye toward his place in history. He invited presidential historians to the White House and chose to take his oath on Bibles owned by Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.

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Teenage boy shoots five people dead in New Mexico home

ALBUQUERQUE, NM — Authorities in New Mexico say a teenage boy has fatally shot two adults and three children inside an Albuquerque home.

The boy has been booked on murder and other charges.

Bernalillo County sheriff's spokesman Aaron Williamson says the boy's motive and connection to the five victims aren't immediately unknown.

Williamson says investigators who received a report of the shooting Saturday night are trying to determine whether the victims were related.

The victims' identities haven't been released.

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Man found dead after fire in abandoned building in Queens

A man was killed in a Queens fire early today, police said.

The blaze erupted about 12:55 a.m. in an abandoned building on 120th Street near Liberty Avenue in Richmond Hill, authorities said.

The unidentified man was found in a detached garage in the back of the building at about 1:30 a.m., after the fire was extinguished.

A police source said homeless people are known to take shelter in the building.

The city medical examiner will determine the cause of death.

Sixty firefighters battled the blaze. Fire marshals are investigating the cause, according to an FDNY spokesman.

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John Galliano invited to return to fashion two years after anti-Semitic rant

John Galliano has been invited to return to fashion for the first time since an anti-Semitic rant at a Paris cafe was captured on video.

Oscar de la Renta invited Galliano to spend time in his studio over the next three weeks, according to a statement released Friday by de la Renta's company.

Galliano was dismissed as creative director of Christian Dior and left his own label two years ago after his rant went viral. A French court also convicted him on two other complaints of anti-Semitic behavior.

In a statement, Galliano said he is an alcoholic and has been in recovery for the past two years.

AP

John Galliano

"Several years prior to my sobriety, I descended into the madness of the disease. I said and did things which hurt others, especially members of the Jewish community. I have expressed my sorrow privately and publicly for the pain which I have caused and I continue to do so," he said. "I remain committed to making amends to those I have hurt."

De la Renta said he has known Galliano for years and is "a great admirer of his talent."

"He has worked long and hard on his recovery and I'm happy to give him the opportunity to reimmerse himself in the world of fashion and reacclimate in an environment where he has been so creative," de la Renta said in a statement.

The statement did not elaborate on what role if any Galliano might play in de la Renta's business. Galliano said he was grateful and humbled by the invitation.

The saga of Galliano's undoing began with run-ins at a Paris watering hole where fellow diners contended the designer showered them with a litany of racist and anti-Semitic insults. Video posted online showed an inebriated Galliano slurring "I love Hitler," among other incendiary remarks.

Although Galliano's remarks would not be punishable in the U.S., France has strict laws aimed at curbing anti-Semitic and racist language. The laws were enacted in the decades following the Holocaust.

Galliano's extravagant, theatrical collections drew inspiration from far-flung cultures like Kenya's Massai people and the geishas of Japan and his proud rooster-like post-fashion show strut had long been a thing of legend.

Galliano's own namesake label, now designed by Bill Gaytten, was presenting its menswear collection in Paris on Friday.

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Good catch! Cops deliver baby at Yankee Stadium subway station

Richard Garcia

Cops and EMT personnel assist in the delivery of a baby at a transit district 11 police station near the Yankee Stadium train stop.

Special delivery!

Cops helped deliver a healthy baby boy this morning in a Bronx subway station, authorities said.

Tamika Snipe, 21, was on her way to the doctor when her water broke sometime after 10 a.m. near the Yankee Stadium stop on the 4-train, police said.

"She had some pain. The contractions got worse, so she got off the train. A woman came in and said the woman's water broke and she was in labor,” said NYPD Lt. Sylvia Mendoza, 32.

Chad Rachman

The officers brought the woman to the transit district 11 police station inside of the 161st station and called an ambulance, cops said.

"The mother said the baby was coming. She felt the head coming out. Two female officers assisted the mother, took off her pants and shoes and the baby was crowning," Mendoza said.

The lieutenant stayed on the line with EMS and relayed verbal directions to the delivering officers.

Baby Maxwell was born at 10:25 a.m. -- minutes before the ambulance arrived.

"I was very happy to see the baby cry. His color was perfect," said a relieved Mendoza.

Both mom and baby were taken to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in stable condition, police said.

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Mobster nabbed in massive bust was given big break when facing prison in 2012

One of the dozens of people rounded up today in a mob-related waste carting industry shakedown scheme is a mobster who last year was given a big break as he faced prison for threatening to maim a debtor.

Scott Fappiano, 51, a mob associate who has been linked to both the Gambino and Colombo crime families, allegedly broke his promise to go straight and went right back to his Mafia extortion tactics only days after a federal judge placed him on probation. He will be charged in Manhattan federal court later today for allegedly extorting "protection" payments from a trash hauler, an indictment says.

Gregory P. Mango

Scott Fappiano.

Before he was placed on probation in January 2012, Fappiano apologized to the victim of the earlier loansharking extortion and said he was sorry for his bad decisions.

His contrition and tragic personal saga played a major role in the judge's decision last year to place Fappiano on three years probation, ordering him to pay a $40,000 fine, and hand over $2,000 in forfeiture to the government.

At the time, Brooklyn federal Judge Kiyo Matsumoto said that Fappiano's previous experience -- as an innocent man wrongly convicted who had endured the horrors of prison -- played a "very significant" role in her decision to not send Fappiano back to prison.

Fappiano was just 23 years old when he was wrongly convicted of raping an NYPD officer’s wife and imprisoned after a trial in Brooklyn Supreme Court back in 1985. He spent two decades behind bars before he was exonerated through DNA evidence that cleared him of the sexual assault.

Last year at his sentencing on the mob loansharking extortion. Fappiano recounted some of the chilling ordeals he underwent during his years in jail.

While serving time in New York's state prison system, his face was crushed with a pipe, his was cut with a razor blade, and he was stabbed in the back with an icepick.

Once Fappiano saw a man burn to death in prison after being doused with gasoline and set afire.

To escape such dangers, Fappiano says he voluntarily spent eight years in solitary confinement.

Since being exonerated six years ago, Fappiano has grappled with problems of substance abuse directly linked to his wrongful conviction, his attorney said last year.

“In the years following his release, Mr. Fappiano struggled with alcohol and drugs in a misguided attempt at self-medicating for the severe anxiety and post-traumatic stress from which he was suffering,” his lawyer, Harlan J. Protass, wrote to the judge last year.

Following a DUI arrest in New Jersey in 2010, Fappiano has tried to confront these substance abuse problems and is wrestling to conquer them, his attorney insisted.

In 2011, the wiseguy checked himself into a long-term residential drug and alcohol treatment facility in Queens and spent six months as an in-patient there.

Since leaving re-hab, Fappiano has started a new regimen -- participating in weekly counseling sessions and attending Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous meetings, his attorney said.

But last year federal prosecutors say that since his release from prison six years ago after being cleared of the sexual assault, Fappiano was quick to resume his association with mobsters.

"He schemed with members and associates of the Colombo family to assault the ex-husband of his current wife, to commit a violent armed robbery, and to distribute marijuana," Brooklyn Assistant US Attorney Liz Geddes wrote in 2012.

Last year, Fappiano pleaded guilty to participating in the earlier mob loansharking extortion plot after the FBI captured the wiseguy discussing his debt collection methods with the help of a government informant wearing a hidden "wire" tape recorder.

"I want to be diplomatic," Fappiano said about pressuring the debtor to repay a loan.

If "it gets to the point where he may have to get his f--ing leg broken... I’ll make sure I’m in court somewhere or doing a deposition," Fappiano said, according to a transcript filed with court documents.

As he awaited sentencing last year, the feds voiced their skepticism about his vow to keep clean and said they were not convinced that the wiseguy will permanently leave his mob activities and forego a life of crime.

After Fappiano's arrest today - if the new waste hauling shakedown charges leveled against him are to be believed - it would seem to suggest that following his vow last year to go straight he waited only days before breaking his promise and resuming his alleged extortion activities, a mob expert told The Post.

mmaddux@nypost.com

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Newtown shooting survivors record song for charity

Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

Ingrid Michaelson accompanied by children from Newtown, Conn. and Sandy Hook Elementary school perform "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on ABC's "Good Morning America" today.

Children who survived last month's shooting rampage at Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School have recorded a version of "Over the Rainbow" to raise money for charity.

Twenty-one children from Newtown, Conn., performed the song Tuesday with singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson on ABC's "Good Morning America." Most of them are current and former students of the school, where 20 first-graders and six staff members were killed.

David McGlynn

Musician Ingrid Michaelson talking to children from Sandy Hook Elementary today.

They recorded "Over the Rainbow" on Monday at the Fairfield, Conn., home of Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, two former members of the Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club rock bands. Copies went on sale Tuesday on Amazon and iTunes, with proceeds benefiting the United Way of Western Connecticut and the Newtown Youth Academy.

Kayla Verga, 10, said she was singing for a friend, 6-year-old Jessica Rekos, who was killed in the massacre.

"Singing the song makes me feel like she's with me and she's beside me, singing along with me," Kayla told "GMA."

Another girl, 10-year-old Sandy Hook student Jane Shearin, added, "I really want to be kind to the people who have lost their loved ones and help them to recover from their sorrow."

Gunman Adam Lanza went on a shooting spree with a semiautomatic rifle in the school on Dec. 14 after having killed his mother at their home in Newtown. He fatally shot himself as police arrived at the school. It's still unclear what motivated the attack.

The Sandy Hook children have returned to classes in a neighboring town at a building renamed for their old school. Newtown officials and residents have begun discussing what to do with the school where the shootings occurred.

Some parents of children killed in the massacre spoke out on Monday, calling for a national dialogue to help prevent similar tragedies.

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Coroner releases new report on Natalie Wood death based on questions about bruises on body

LOS ANGELES — A newly released report shows coroner's officials amended Natalie Wood's death certificate based on unanswered questions about bruises on her upper body but were lacking several pieces of evidence and could only determine that she drowned under undetermined circumstances more than 30 years ago.

Los Angeles County coroner's officials state in an 10-page addendum to Wood's autopsy report that some of the bruises may have occurred before she went into the water and drowned, but that could not be definitively determined.

Officials reviewed Wood's case after Los Angeles sheriff's investigators renewed their inquiry into her November 1981 drowning in late 2011. Wood's death certificate was amended last year to change her cause of death from drowning to "drowning and other undetermined factors" and the report released Monday details the reasons for the alteration.

AP

Natalie Wood

Wood was on a yacht off Catalina Island with husband Robert Wagner and co-star Christopher Walken on Thanksgiving weekend in 1981 before somehow ending up in the water. A dinghy that was attached to the boat was found along the island's shoreline, but investigators could not locate it to review it last year.

Several of the original coroner's investigators who worked on the case were re-interviewed, and attempted to test some items taken during the investigation into Wood's death and an autopsy, but could not be located.

"The location of the bruises, the multiplicity of the bruises, lack of head trauma, or facial bruising support bruising having occurred prior to entry in the water," the report states. "Since there are unanswered questions and limited additional evidence available for evaluation, it is opined by this Medical Examiner that the manner of death should be left as undetermined," Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran wrote in the report completed in June.

The report was released Monday after sheriff's officials released a security hold.

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said the agency has known about the findings in the newly released autopsy report for several months and it does not change the status of the investigation, which remains open. He said Wagner is not considered a suspect in Wood's death.

Wood was nominated for three Academy Awards during her lifetime. Her death stunned the world and has remained one of Hollywood's most enduring mysteries. The original detective on the case, Wagner and Walken have all said they considered her death an accident.

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Second JetBlue bird strike in as many days at JFK

A JetBlue flight to the Bahamas returned to JFK Airport this morning after a bird struck the plane, representatives for the company said.

Flight 721 departed around 10 a.m. and was hit by a bird about an hour later, officials added.

It did not appear to be a direct hit to the engine or windshield but the pilot turned around as a precaution, a company spokeswoman said.

The plane landed safely and was undergoing inspections with 125 passengers aboard.

It was not immediately clear when the flight to Nassau will depart again.

This was the second JetBlue flight that had to return to JFK after getting hit by a bird in as many days. Yesterday, a Dominican Republic-bound flight had to go back to the airport after the pilot reported problems to the controllers on the ground.

kconley@nypost.com

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Reddit co-founder commits suicide

The Internet genius behind the popular Web site Reddit.com committed suicide at his Red Hook home yesterday, according to law-enforcement sources and friends who publicly identified him.

Officers found Aaron Swartz unconscious at 9:30 a.m. Police are investigating whether he passed away after hanging himself, but the medical examiner will determine the cause of death, said law-enforcement sources.

Swartz reportedly co-founded Reddit and helped draft an early version of the RSS format, a “Web feed” that syndicates popular headlines.

Friends say he was a prolific intellectual and a kid at heart, who had long suffered from depression.

“We have lost someone today who had more work to do — and who made the world a better place,” his pal Cory Doctorow wrote on the blog Biong Boing.

Swartz was arrested in 2011 for allegedly downloading academic journals with the intent to distribute them. He pleaded not guilty in September.

He also founded the policy-centric Web site DemandProgress.com and was an avid activist.

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ABC set designer shot dead in Bed-Stuy

A former Brooklyn café owner who now works on the set of a TV cooking show was shot dead last night in an apparent robbery attempt, the man’s friends and authorities said.

The victim,Ivan Giovanettina, 41, was gunned down just after 9:30 pm on Macon Street in Bedford-Stuyvessant, authorities said.

Witnesses said Giovanettina was approached by two men, and at one point he was seen running after the men. There was a gunshot, Giovanettina fell to the ground and the men ran away, according to witnesses.

Cops arrived to find Giovanettina bleeding from a gunshot wound to the stomach. He was rushed to Kings County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

No arrests have been made.

Giovanettina once owned a Bed-Stuy coffee shop, Blu York Café, friends said. He now works as a scene designer on the set of ABC’s daytime cooking talk show, “The Chew,” his roommates told The Post.

"We are shocked and saddened to learn of Ivan Giovanettina's untimely death,” ABC said in a statement. “He was a beloved member of our team and we extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends."

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Herbalife defends itself against Ackman's claims

Herbalife came out swinging Thursday against claims made by hedge fund manager Bill Ackman that the business amounts to a pyramid scheme.

A series of executives looked to refute Ackman's allegations during an analyst and investor meeting, laying out everything from how the business operates to who its customers are.

Critics have questioned the company's business model, which uses a network of distributors to sell its nutritional supplements and weight-loss products in more than 80 countries.

The defense put forth Thursday comes a few weeks after Pershing Square Capital's Ackman alleged Herbalife Ltd. was a pyramid scheme and that he was shorting the stock. Short-sellers make money when the shares they're betting against decline.

Under a pyramid scheme, a company makes most of its money by recruiting new salespeople, rather than on the products that they sell.Aside from Ackman, Greenlight Capital's David Einhorn had also raised concerns about Herbalife's business in May.

Herbalife President Desmond Walsh said Thursday that over its 32-year history, only one court has ruled that the company runs an illegal pyramid scheme. The ruling, which occurred in Belgium, is being appealed.

Walsh said that ruling has not hurt Herbalife's business in the country. He also balked at Ackman's claims that Herbalife uses a "pop-and-drop" approach to the markets it serves. This alleges Herbalife enters a market, makes money as fast as it can and then pulls out and moves on to new markets. Walsh said this is not true and that much of Herbalife's growth is coming from markets it has served for more than 10 years.

Herbalife Chief Operating Officer Richard Goudis looked to debunk Ackman's claim that Herbalife is not a product company. The executive said that the Herbalife invested $44 million into research and development, technical infrastructure and other areas to support its products last year.

Goudis also said Ackman's claim that Herbalife's shakes are more expensive than its rivals was caused by the hedge fund manager using a price-per-serving measurement that the company does not feel is accurate, and argued that Herbalife's shakes are competitively priced against rivals like GNC.

In defense against claims that Herbalife has few customers outside its distributor network, Walsh said the company has functioned primarily as a business-to-business seller and had not tracked its retail customer base.

To dispel Ackman's claims, Herbalife hired Lieberman Research to study its customers. A representative of the firm said that two of the studies, which were conducted among a sample of 2,000 adults over the age of 18, found that more than 5 million households purchased Herbalife products in the past three months.

Walsh added that 31 percent of Herbalife's orders in the U.S. were directly sent to non-distributor customers in 2012.

Herbalife, which is incorporated in the Cayman Islands and based in Los Angeles, also maintained that it complies with the appropriate Federal Trade Commission standards and that its financial disclosures meet guidelines of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Thursday meeting comes one day after Herbalife announced that well-known investor Dan Loeb's Third Point LLC purchased 8.9 million shares in the company. This amounts to an 8.2 percent stake.

Third Point's stake in Herbalife, a vote of confidence the business, was disclosed in a regulatory filing Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal also reported Wednesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an inquiry into Herbalife. The Journal cited an unidentified person familiar with the matter. Representatives for the SEC and Herbalife both declined to comment.

Herbalife's stock hit a low of $24.24 in late December as a result of Ackman's allegations, their lowest point since July 2010. Shares have lost close to half their value since the end of April.

The company's stock rose 96 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $40.91 in midday trading.

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Biden meets with gun-safety, victims groups; set to sit down with gun owners, NRA and Wal-Mart on Thursday

WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden is hearing personal stories of gun violence from representatives of victims groups and gun-safety organizations as he works on the Obama administration's response to the shooting at a Connecticut elementary school.

Biden's meeting Wednesday is part of a series he's holding this week to build consensus around proposals to curb gun violence after the Dec. 14 shooting in Newtown, Conn., in which 20 school children were killed.

He told participants that he and President Barack Obama are determined to act.

Participants included the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence and groups from Arizona, Illinois and Wisconsin. Also present were two survivors of the Virginia Tech shooting.

UPI

Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder meet with representatives of gun violence victims groups and gun safety organizations.

Obama has asked Biden to deliver policy proposal by the end of the month.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will join talks at the White House on Thursday.

On Thursday, Biden will meet with the National Rifle Association and other gun-owner groups. Meetings with representatives from the video-game and entertainment industries are also planned.

Wal-Mart said it previously had not planned to attend the meeting because of its senior leaders' schedule and had spoken in advance with the Vice President's office to share its perspective.

"We underestimated the expectation to attend the meeting on Thursday in person, so we are sending an appropriate representative to participate," company spokesman David Tovar said in a statement Wednesday. "We take this issue very seriously and are committed staying engaged in this discussion as the administration and Congress work toward a consensus on the right path forward."

The world's largest retailer said it has had ongoing conversations with the Obama administration, Congress, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office, sportsmen groups, suppliers and others. The company said it has tried to strike the right balance between serving hunters and sportsmen and ensuring that it sells firearms responsibly.

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Ex-councilman Seabrook sentenced to 5 years in jail for misdirecting funds

Disgraced former City Councilman Larry Seabrook was slapped with a five-year jail sentence this morning after he was convicted of misdirecting hundreds of thousands of dollars for community projects to his girlfriend and family.

The Bronx Democrat, who will have to turn himself in by March 8, avoided a fine but will have to pay $619,715 restitution.

He was convicted of nine of 12 counts of conspiracy and fraud in a trial last summer in Manhattan federal court. The conviction came a year after another jury deadlocked on fraud charges.

“Councilman Larry Seabrook sacrificed the public trust on the altar of greed. He was a flagrant and serial abuser of City Council discretionary funds in a far too familiar New York tale of corruption," US attorney Preet Bharara said today in a statement.

Natan Dvir

Larry Seabrook last summer

"Today’s sentence finally vindicates the interests of the constituents whose trust he so casually violated by his fraud. We remain committed to making those who are corrupted by power pay the price, and the public can expect more arrests of politicians who have not learned this lesson.”

Prosecutors had asked for 7 to 9 years in prison. Before he was arrested, Seabrook also had served as an assemblyman and state senator.

Seabrook diverted money from 2002 through 2009 after directing more than $2 million of funds to nonprofit organizations that he controlled but weren’t doing legitimate work.

With Post wire services

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EXCLUSIVE: Hurricane aftermath sends Mandee and Annie Sez into Chap. 11

Hurricane Sandy blew these stores into bankruptcy.

The company that operates Mandee and Annie Sez declared Chapter 11 last night, saying it can’t pay the bills because its insurance companies won’t cough up the cash owed from millions in hurricane-related claims, The Post has learned.

“If the insurance companies had been working with us through the process, we wouldn’t be in this position,” Alan Mandelbaum, the CEO of Big M. Inc, told The Post this morning. “We’re very disappointed. We were making significant progress.”

New Jersey-based Big M plans to keep its 129 stores open through the reorganization process while fighting for reimbursement from insurance carriers, totaling more than $6 million. There are no immediate plans to cut any of Big M’s 1,200 jobs.

Big M had been making a comeback through most of 2012 and was on track to turning a $1.9 million profit – a dramatic improvement from its $8 million loss the previous year, executives said. Then the monster hurricane hit, forcing Big M to shut its corporate offices and distribution center in Totowa, NJ, for a week. Sandy also caused major disruptions in sales and inventory heading into the retailer’s critical Christmas season.

josh.margolin@nypost.com

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NY legislators say gun-safety measures will be a priority for state government

ALBANY — Several state senators say new gun safety measures will be a priority when they return to Albany this week following the school shooting in Connecticut that left 20 children dead.

Senate Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Sen. Catharine Young, a Republican from Olean, say any legislative agreement should include a stronger version of Kendra's Law, authorizing court-ordered mental health treatment for individuals who won't seek help but are deemed to be a safety threat.

Sen. Jeff Klein, a Bronx Democrat who heads the Independent Democratic Conference, says after meeting with Gov. Andrew Cuomo they are in agreement they need "to do everything possible to ban assault weapons in New York," as well as ban high-capacity magazines and make sure people with serious mental health issues don't possess guns.

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Bernie Madoff's brother Peter sells Park Avenue apartment ahead of prison sentence

Prison-bound Peter Madoff — brother of famous ponzi schemer Bernie — sold his posh Park Avenue home for $4.6 million yesterday, sources said.

Madoff, who is headed to federal prison in February, moved out of the luxury sixth-floor pad and into a smaller one-bedroom unit in Battery Park City with his wife.

“Only now are they starting to feel the ramifications of what happened," the source said.

Madoff, who bought the place for $4.1 million in 2004, admitted earlier this year he knew about his brother’s plan to scam investors out of millions of dollars. He pleaded guilty to fraud in June.

AFP/Getty Images

Peter Madoff

The couple's two-bedroom home at 975 Park Avenue sold for less than its asking price, which was $4.75 million. All of the cash went to federal marshals.

A lawyer from Chicago is now moving into Madoff’s old digs.

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Drunk passenger taped to seat during JFK-bound flight after ranting plane was 'going to crash'

Andy Ellwood via Tumblr

Passenger Andy Ellwood was taped to his seat after ranting the Iceland-to-JFK flight was "going to crash."

An unruly passenger who got drunk and belligerent on a Kennedy Airport-bound intercontinental flight yesterday was subdued by passengers and taped to his seat the rest of the way, according to witness reports.

The passenger, who was on a flight from Iceland, “drank all of his duty-free liquor on the flight,” tried to “choke the woman next to him” and was “screaming the plane was going to crash,” according to passenger Andy Ellwood, who snapped the man’s photo and posted it to his blog.

The meltdown — in which the man also spat on several passengers — began when there were about two hours left on the flight, according to Icelandic news outlet Mbl.is.

The man, whose name has not been released, was arrested at JFK.

Meanwhile, a pilot scheduled to helm a flight from Minneapolis to LaGuardia today was yanked before takeoff on suspicion of being drunk, a report says.

A pilot was removed from New York-bound American Eagle Flight 4590 and taken into custody at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on suspicion of being under the influence of alcohol.

Airport spokesman Pat Hogan confirms MSP Airport police took the pilot into custody at 7:19 a.m. ET.

The pilot failed a breathalyzer at the scene, but was taken to Fairview Southdale hospital to test for blood alcohol content.

"American Eagle has a well-established substance abuse policy that is designed to put the safety of our customers and employees first," the airline said in a statement. "We are cooperating with authorities and conducting a full internal investigation. The pilot will be withheld from service pending the outcome of the investigation."

The plane was delayed for about three hours before leaving for New York at about 8:50 a.m. It was estimated to arrive shortly after noon.

To read more, go to MyFoxNY.com.

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Ex-SAC Capital hedge-fund manager Martoma pleads not guilty to insider-trading charges

A former hedge fund portfolio manager has pleaded not guilty to insider trading charges after authorities said he persuaded a medical professor to leak secret data from an Alzheimer's disease drug trial.

Mathew Martoma appeared Thursday in federal court in Manhattan. He remains free on bail.

Martoma is charged with engineering a record-setting inside trade scheme that earned more than a quarter-billion dollars in illegal profits.

He was arrested in November at his $2 million Palm Beach County, Fla., home on securities fraud and conspiracy charges.

He is a former portfolio manager at an affiliate of the Stamford, Conn.-based firm owned by Steven A. Cohen.

REUTERS

Mathew Martoma in November

Martoma is the fourth person associated with SAC Capital to be arrested on insider trading charges in the past four years.

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Open house being held for Sandy Hook students ahead of Thursday's return to class

REUTERS

A school bus passes angel paintings seen along the route to the Chalk Hill School Wednesday where the Sandy Hook Elementary School children will begin to attend classes in Monroe.

MONROE, Conn. — The children who escaped last month's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown were welcomed Wednesday to a school in a neighboring town that was overhauled specially for them.

The open house at the former Chalk Hill School in Monroe marks the students' first time in a formal classroom setting since the massacre on Dec. 14, when a gunman killed 20 of their fellow classmates and six educators. Classes are starting for the Sandy Hook students on Thursday.

The road leading to the school in a rural, largely residential neighborhood was lined with signs greeting the students, saying "Welcome Sandy Hook Elementary School" and "Welcome. You are in our prayers." Several police cars were parked outside the school.

Teams of workers, many of them volunteers, prepared the former Chalk Hill middle school with fresh paint and new furniture and even raised bathroom floors so the smaller elementary school students can reach the toilets. The students' desks, backpacks and other belongings that were left behind following the shooting were taken to the new school to make them feel at home.

Counselors say it's important for children to get back to a normal routine and for teachers and parents to offer sensitive reassurances.

When classes start on Thursday, schools Superintendent Janet Robinson said teachers will try to make it as normal a school day as possible for the children.

"We want to get back to teaching and learning," she said. "We will obviously take time out from the academics for any conversations that need to take place, and there will be a lot of support there. All in all, we want the kids to reconnect with their friends and classroom teachers, and I think that's going to be the healthiest thing."

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