Fiscal cliff deal, approved by Senate, runs into opposition in House

WASHINGTON – A Senate-passed bill to keep the country from going off the fiscal cliff ran into trouble in the House today, as Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor came out against the deal.

"I do not support the bill,” Cantor said as he left a closed closed-door meeting of Republicans about the deal negotiated between Vice President Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

The Senate passed the deal by a wide margin just after 2 AM today, two hours after the country technically went over the fiscal cliff, when tax hikes and billions of spending cuts took effect.

With just hours left to try to act on the deal before financial markets open Wednesday morning, the House had yet to even schedule a vote.

“The Speaker and Leader laid out options to the members and listened to feedback,” said Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck. “The lack of spending cuts in the Senate bill was a universal concern amongst members in today’s meeting.”

“Conversations with members will continue throughout the afternoon on the path forward,” Buck said.

Rank and file Republicans complained about the deal’s lack of spending cuts.

“I’d be very surprised if the House passed what the Senate passed in the middle of the night – very surprised,” said Rep Steve King (R-Iowa) told the Post.

“I would be shocked if the bill doesn’t go back to the Senate” with spending cuts, said Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.).

Any changes made by the House would have to be matched by the Senate, and could scuttle the deal. But Republicans also cautioned against putting “poison pills” into the deal.

House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tried to hold House Republicans’ feet to the fire.

“Our Speaker has said when the Senate acts, we will have a vote in the House," she said. "That is what he said, that is what we expect, that is what the American people deserve…a straight up-or-down vote."

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Somber farewell for man pushed to his death in subway

Friends of the hardworking, humble immigrant shoved to his death last week in front of the 7 train by a Muslim-hating madwoman today gathered for an emotional farewell in Queens at the Coppola-Migliore funeral home in Flushing.

Sunando Sen, 36, was remember as a man of “quiet strength” by Lorcan Otway, a lawyer and longtime friend, who noted that Sen years ago left Bangladesh to escape oppression, and was involved in human rights issues here, helping Hindus.

Sen’s mentally ill alleged killer, Erika Menendez, 31, has told cops she pushed Sen because she hates Muslims and Hindus.

Matthew McDermott

Farewell for subway push victim Sunando Sen.

“He didn’t have a hateful bone in his body,” Otway said of Sen. “He approached everything with a calmness. The remarkable man he was should teach us a lesson. I wish people could know the greater loss to the community.”

Sen’s body, wrapped in cloth and covered with flowers, lay in a blue-grey casket. Sarker and others recited traditional prayers, chanted and burned incense. They put bananas and rice in his casket, followed by yogurt and milk – a sendoff ritual meant to give Sen what he needs as he travels into the next world, friends said.

Sen had no family here, and his parents in India have died. But he fashioned a family from the friends he made in New York, said Bidyut Sarker Sen’s boss at the Manhattan print shop where he’d worked for 15 years.

"I feel like I lost a family member. The neighborhood, the shop, was his family,” said Sarker, who helped pay for Sen’s burial. “Customers are coming in and crying. "

Sen, whom friends said had recently opened his own printing shop on Amsterdam Avenue, was “a gentleman” and exceptionally smart. He got a scholarship to New York University and earned a master’s degree in economics, and was trying for a PhD at Columbia before dropping out because he couldn’t afford it, friends said.

Sen taught himself graphic design, Sarker said, and was “extraordinarily talented,” Otway noted.

“He was working well below his education,” Otway said.

Sen’s body was cremated at a cemetery after the ceremony.

Meanwhile yesterday, police said they were called by Erika Menendez’s family members at least five times prior to last Thursday’s train-shoving because Menendez had gone off her prescribed meds.

Menendez is being held without bail. She has replaced her court-appointed lawyer Queens lawyer Joseph DeFelice. He did not return calls.

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MetroNorth train hits car, halting Connecticut service

REDDING, Conn. — Metro North train service has been suspended on the Danbury line following a train accident involving a car.

A Metro North spokesman said the train struck a car in Redding on Sunday afternoon. The train had no passengers and there was no information about whether there were injuries involving the car.

Bus service will ferry passengers between Danbury and South Norwalk.

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Bronx mom in Newtown 'scam' also solicited funds claiming they were for Hurricane Sandy relief

MyFOXCT

Alleged scammer Nouel Alba leaves Hartford Ct. Federal court after making $50K bail.

The Bronx mom accused of posing as the aunt of Newtown massacre victim Noah Pozner to collect bogus charity donations also solicited funds she claimed were for Hurricane Sandy relief, The Post found.

Nouel Alba -- out on $50,000 bond in the alleged Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting scam – set up at least two organizations in the wake of the devastating October superstorm and asked folks to send money for victims to her personal PayPal account or home address.

Sources said yesterday that New York law enforcement is “aware” of Alba’s post-storm solicitations.

Just days after Hurricane Sandy, Facebook pages, Web sites and blogs sprung up on the Internet, listing Alba’s personal gmail account and Clason Point home on Beach Avenue as contacts.

One group – the NYC Hurricane Relief Fund – claimed to be “a registered charity” whose “founder [has] been funded by the Alba family,” and whose home served as “a drop off location and distribution center.” The charity vowed to find clothing, kitchen appliances, mattresses, furniture and shelter for devastated Sandy families, and claimed “we assign someone to manage each family to ensure that they receive most of the things they need to get back on their feet.”

“100 % of all proceeds goes toward these families,” boasted the site. It provided a tax-ID number that does not show up in state or IRS record databases.

Another charity, Operation Hurricane Sandy Relief for Teachers and Students, ostensibly collected money, backpacks and school supplies. Alba also personally set up an Amazon “wish list” for donated school items, her online footprint shows.

All of the Alba-connected hurricane relief sites have been disabled but cached versions remain online.

Connecticut authorities said yesterday that Alba used Facebook, the phone and texts to solicit donations for a “funeral fund” for her “nephew” Noah after the Newtown bloodbath that killed the little boy, 19 of his classmates and 6 educators.

Alba asked that funds be sent via her personal PayPal account or direct bank deposit, according to a federal complaint against her.

The twisted Alba, 36, even told prospective donors that she had to enter Sandy Hook Elementary School after the bloodbath and identify her “nephew” for police — and said the child had “11 gun shots in his little body.”

Noah’s family has said Alba is no relation.

Alba allegedly sent out her first calls for cash within hours of the shooting.

The next day, she said in an online posting that a funeral fund had been set up “for my brother and families,” according to the complaint in Hartford federal court.

Alba allegedly claimed in a text to one mark that she met President Obama with other family members and he “hugged us even cried [sic] with us.”

Several people were duped into giving donations, the complaint says, although she refunded them before her arrest. Alba was charged with lying to federal agents and released on a $50,000 bond.

She has denied setting up the Newtown donation sites and claims she was framed by Facebook enemies, the feds said.

“I thought it was a really rotten thing to do and I am glad she got caught,” said Rabbi Shaul Praver of Congregation Adath Israel of Newton, a friend of the Pozner family.

Additional reporting by Doug Auer

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UFT won't sign new teacher evaluation agreement without wage increase guarantee, city officials claim

The teachers’ union has refused to sign a long-awaited agreement with the city on a new teacher evaluation system unless it gets a guarantee of wage increases in the next contract, Department of Education officials charged today.

They claim the union also sought to derail talks on the rating system, which started in April, by mandating that the city confirm how many schools it will close next year first, according to a complaint filed by the DOE.

uft

In a letter to the state Public Employee Relations Board, DOE officials said the union recently refused to negotiate details of the evaluations at all until questions of how it would be implemented were answered first — which they claim violates state bargaining law.

Following an email by UFT President Michael Mulgrew outlining that “ultimatum,” the union canceled meetings on December 18 and 19, the DOE claims.

The agency has until Jan. 17 to get its evaluation system approved by the State Education Department or else it will forfeit $250 million in state education aid.

“We remain prepared to negotiate all outstanding issues required to get to an agreement on teacher evaluation, but, unfortunately, Mr. Mulgrew’s failure to bargain in good faith and insistence on including issues unrelated to teacher evaluation is unacceptable and illegal,” Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said in a statement.

Mulgrew said his union has been waiting since last week for the DOE to schedule a meeting on the roll-out and implementation of the evaluations, which he insisted is fair game in the bargaining talks.

In its filing today, the DOE called it putting the cart before the horse.

“The idea that this is not a subject of bargaining is ludicrous,” Mulgrew told The Post. “I’m sitting in downtown Manhattan, my phone’s not ringing and it’s up to them to set up the meeting.”

He said he’s prioritizing talks on the roll-out of the system because the DOE had already botched initial preparations, such as by not providing the proper training.

Asked whether his union was seeking promises of future wage increases in the current talks, Mulgrew declined to say.

“I’m not negotiating in public,” he said.

The most recent teachers’ union contract expired in October 2009, although its terms have remained in effect ever since.

Talks on a subsequent contract stalled largely because the city said it couldn’t match the pattern of raises given to other public employees — of 4 percent annually — after the economy soured in 2009.

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Repairs underway for collapsed wall in Chelsea building

Repairs are underway on a landmarked Chelsea building that was evacuated when part of a structural wall fell to the sidewalk.

The seven-story building at 655 Sixth Avenue was emptied on Tuesday night when the wall failed on the building’s West 20th Street side.

Workers began constructing a sidewalk bridge around the collapsed area today. They don’t expect to start working on the structure itself until tomorrow.

Residents of the wing of the building that fronts on West 20th Street were barred from returning to their homes.

Apartments and businesses on the Sixth Avenue side of the building were allowed back inside yesterday morning. The building, which dates to 1875, has retail on its first floor and condos upstairs.

R. Umar Abbasi

655 Sixth Avenue.

“The building won’t fall. They don’t build buildings like this anymore,” said Maurice Laboz, 75, a real estate developer who has lived in the building’s penthouse for five years.

No one was injured by the collapse.

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Affleck won't run for Kerry's Senate seat

BOSTON -- Ben Affleck is taking his name off the list of possible candidates for U.S. Sen. John Kerry's seat, which would be open if the Democratic senator from Massachusetts is confirmed as secretary of state.

Affleck says in a Monday posting on his Facebook page that while he loves the political process, he will not be running for public office.

Speculation about the Cambridge, Mass., native rose slightly when he did not completely rule out a Senate bid during an appearance on CBS' Face The Nation on Sunday.

In his Facebook posting, Affleck says he would continue working with the Eastern Congo Initiative, a nonprofit organization that helps direct humanitarian aid to the war-torn region, and for other causes.

Getty Images

John Kerry (left) and Ben Affleck.

Affleck says Kerry would make a great secretary of state.

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Outer borough metered cabs head to NY's highest court

This cab fight is going straight to the top.

The city has received permission to bypass the Appellate Division and go directly to the state's highest court -- the Court of Appeals -- to try to overturn a lower court ruling blocking a new class of 18,000 taxis that would be allowed to pick up street hails outside Manhattan.

"We are very grateful that this important case can move forward far more quickly..." said Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo.

Still, it may be a while before there's a decision in the high-stakes case.

Michael Woloz, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, said he expects that the high court won't hear oral arguments before April or May.

Alamy

A woman hails a cab in Manhattan.

"It really was a mutual decision," he said of the speeded-up schedule.

"We were all going to end up at the Court of Appeals any way."

The city has a lot riding on the outcome.

As part of his proposal to expand metered cab service to Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, Staten Island and northern Manhattan, Mayor Bloomberg also got to sell 2,000 more yellow cab medallions.

The sale was expected to haul in $1.46 billion over three years.

Both the taxi expansion and the medallion sale were approved by Albany.

But the taxi industry sued. In August State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ruled it was unconstitutional for the state Legislature to green light the mayor's plan without a "home rule" message from the City Council.

As a result, the mayor decided to remove the anticipated medallion revenue from this year's budget.

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Obama joins mourners at memorial service for late Sen. Inouye in Hawaii

AFP/Getty Images

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama stand in respect as the casket carrying the late Senator Daniel Inouye is carried past at the National Memorial Cremetary of the Pacific in Honolulu.

HONOLULU — President Barack Obama, Gov. Neil Abercrombie and other dignitaries attended a memorial service for the late Sen. Daniel Inouye on Sunday.

A 19-gun cannon salute was fired as Inouye's coffin arrived for the service at Honolulu's National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, the final resting place to thousands of World War II veterans. More than 400 members of the storied Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team — of which Inouye was a part — are buried at the site.

REUTERS

President Barack Obama hugs Irene Hirano Inouye, widow of the late U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, after she receives the flag that draped his casket at the memorial service at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

EPA

Senator Daniel Inouye died at the age of 88 Dec. 17. He was first Japanese-American elected to both houses of Congress and the second-longest serving senator in US history.

Several cabinet secretaries and a number of senators also attended the service, including fellow Hawaii Democrat Daniel Akaka and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

"Daniel was the best senator among us all," Reid told those assembled. "Whenever we needed a noble man to lean on, we turned to Sen. Dan Inouye. He was fearless."

The 88-year-old Inouye died of respiratory complications on Dec. 17.

He was the first Japanese-American elected to both houses of Congress and the second-longest serving senator in U.S. history.

The past week has been marked by tributes and honors for Inouye, with services held in Washington and in Hawaii. He lay in state at both the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Thursday and the Hawaii state Capitol on Saturday.

Inouye was a high school senior in Honolulu on Dec. 7, 1941, when he watched dozens of Japanese planes fly toward Pearl Harbor and other Oahu military bases to begin a bombing that changed the course of world events.

He volunteered for a special U.S. Army unit of Japanese-Americans and lost his right arm in a battle with Germans in Italy. That scratched his dream of becoming a surgeon and went to law school and into politics instead.

He became known as an economic power in his home state as part of the Senate Appropriations Committee, where he steered federal money toward Hawaii to build roads, schools and housing.

Obama eulogized Inouye during a service at Washington's National Cathedral on Friday, saying that Inouye's presence during the Watergate hearings helped show him what could be possible in his own life.

The president arrived early Saturday in Honolulu for his annual Christmas family vacation.

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Staten Island man killed in early-morning house fire

A Staten Island man was killed when an early-morning fire swept through his home, police and relatives said.

Jameek Champagne, 23, died in the third-floor attic of the home on Osgood Avenue in Clifton. His brother and grandfather escaped the blaze uninjured.

A neighbor reported the blaze after seeing flames erupt from the house at about 5:40 a.m. He banged on the door in a frantic effort to awaken its residents.

The fire was extinguished about an hour after it started, according to an FDNY spokesman. Fire marshals are investigating what caused it.

About ten cars full of grief-stricken relatives and friends came to the scene to mourn Champagne. His devastated girlfriend said that the two had a newborn girl and a 1-year-old boy.

G.N.Miller/New York Post

The Staten Island house after it was damaged by the fire

“We’re just trying to find out how this happened,” Champagne's uncle said, weeping.

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VIDEO SHOCKER: Brute attacks woman in elevator

Police released shocking video today of a woman being pummeled in a Bronx robbery.

A suspect followed the 57-year-old victim into an elevator of a Washington Avenue building in Claremont about 9:25 a.m. yesterday, then got out one floor before the victim's floor, cops said.

When the door opened, she was face to face with the brute, who began punching her, authorities said.

The assault was captured on surveillance camera.

The thief took her purse, then ran off.

Police say the suspect is in his late teens, 5-foot-11, and thin. He wore a black Polo jacket and sweatpants, as well as a black hat with a red stripe during the attack.

Anyone with information should call Crimestoppers at 1.800.577.TIPS (8477).

This latest outrage comes just 10 days after another brute beat down an elderly woman in the elevator of her Meatpacking District building, stealing the heirloom wedding ring given her by her husband.

Yvonne Sherwell-Demakopoulos, 85, said she pleaded with the thug not to take the wedding ring, but the cold-hearted mugger snatched it anyway,

Cops arrested homeless ex-con 33-year-old Freddie Keitt in the case. He is charged with assault, unlawful imprisonment and robbery, and is being held on $5,000 bail.

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Spring-ing to life

The much sought-after 529 Broadway, a two-story building on the northwest corner of Spring Street in the middle of a busy shopping district, has been sold for $150 million to Jeff Sutton, Joe Sitt, the Adjmi family and Bobby Cayre’s Aurora Capital.

The 22,500-square-feet property, the subject of an off-market bidding war, will be emptied and razed. A new building of about 40,000 square feet will be built on the site, sources said.

Vornado, Ivesco and Crown Acquisitions lost out in the bidding.

Goldstone Realty was the seller and the deal closed today.

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Mom left school gunman Adam Lanza alone for days before school massacre: report

AP

A police cruiser sits in the driveway as crime scene tape surrounds the home of Nancy and Adam Lanza.

Mass murderer Adam Lanza spent two and half days home alone with his mom’s arsenal of weapons, giving him plenty of time to hatch one of America’s worst school shootings, according to broadcast report today.

Before Lanza slaughtered 20 kids and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on Friday, he killed mom -- an avid gun collector -- Nancy Lanza in their home that morning.

MORE THAN 1,000 MOURNERS SAY GOODBYE TO HERO TEACHER

KILLER'S BASEMENT HIS EERIE LAIR OF VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES

27 DEAD, INCLUDING 27 CHILDREN IN SANDY HOOK SHOOTING

Nancy Lanza had just arrived home early Thursday evening, following a two-night getaway to Bretton Woods, NH, according to Headline News.

She checked into the Omni Mount Washington Resort at 12:10 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 11, and checked out at 12:27 p.m. on Thursday, HLN said.

It’s 290 miles — nearly a five-hour drive — between Bretton Woods, NH, and Newtown, Conn.

Lanza had visited Bretton Woods before and had always driven herself there, according to HLN.

She had chatted with friends during her two nights in New Hampshire and appeared to be in good spirits, the cable news network reported.

Nancy Lanza often took mini-vacations by herself, friends said. She trusted leaving Adam alone, but didn't want him cooking, so she always prepared all his meals before her trips.

Yesterday, it was reported that Adam Lanza studied photos of guns and obliterated virtual victims in violent video games for hours on end, alone in his windowless basement den.

The unhinged Sandy Hook Elementary School gunman was enthralled by blood-splattering, shoot-’em-up electronic games, which he played in the basement of his mother’s spacious $1.6 million home in Newtown, Conn., according to a person familiar with the layout.

Lanza, 20, especially liked “Call of Duty” — a wartime role-playing game where participants use high-powered assault rifles, machine guns and other weapons to slaughter scores of people, according to a published report.

And the basement walls were covered with military- and weaponry-themed posters, said one of the home’s few visitors.

“It was a beautiful house but he lived in the basement. I always thought that was strange,” said plumber Peter Wlasuk, who did work on the house and saw Lanza’s subterranean lair, The Sun newspaper of Britain reported.

“They had one poster of every piece of military equipment the US ever made,” Wlasuk said.

“The kids could tell you about guns they had never seen from the 40s, 50s and 60s,” the plumber said of Lanza and his older brother, Ryan, who had also lived in the basement before moving away for college.

Once Ryan moved out, “Adam then moved down there. The boys were fans of the military. They had posters all over the wall in the basement,” the plumber said.

“The kids who play these games know all about them. I’m not blaming the games for what happened. But they see a picture of a historical gun and say ‘I’ve used that on Call Of Duty.’”

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Nelson takes top editor slot at Time Inc.

Time Inc. named Martha Nelson as editor-in-chief, marking the first time in the publishing company’s 90-year history that a woman has held the top editorial spot.

CEO Laura Lang broke the news to staffers in an internal memo, although the move had been widely anticipated.

“Over the past year, I have come to appreciate Martha’s intellect, creativity, sense of humor and her directness,” Lang wrote in the memo. “Her insights have been very valuable to me as we chart our course for the future.”

Nelson was given a big ovation when she was introduced to the managing editors late Tuesday afternoon as the new EIC.

She succeeds John Huey, a 22-year Time Inc. veteran who earlier had announced his intention to retire at year-end. He is going to take a fellowship at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.

Nelson had been the launch editor of InStyle and People StyleWatch, two titles that helped the company broaden its appeal beyond its male-centric readership to women.

Like all leaders of legacy media companies, Nelson will grapple with declining print revenue and positioning the company for a digital future.

“I believe in the power of print, but we have to move to greater integrate the print and editorial staffs,” Nelson said in an interview. “We’re far down the path, we have a huge digital reach, but we still have a long way to go, figuring out mobile. I don’t think we’ve cracked the code on what the next generation of tablets can be.”

Nelson is also bringing Dan Okrent, a respected Time Inc. veteran, out of retirement to be an interim corporate editor.

Earlier in his career, he was the managing editor of Life magazine and the boss of Pathfinder, Time Inc.’s first big foray into the digital world. More recently, he served as the New York Times’ first public editor.

Nelson declined to comment on the rumored cutbacks that are said to be looming at Time Inc. for early next year.

Nelson was Huey’s No. 2 as Time Inc.’s editorial director, overseeing 17 magazines and websites in the Style and Entertainment Group.

She is the ninth editor-in-chief of the company founded by Henry Luce in 1922, when he launched Time.

kkelly@nypost.com

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Family of slain 6-year-old Dylan Hockley releases statement

Dylan Hockley.

The family of Dylan Hockley, one of the 20 students slain in the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school last week, released a statement earlier today.

The full statement, obtained by NBC Connecticut, can be read below.

We want to give sincere thanks and appreciation to the emergency services and first responders who helped everyone on Friday, December 14. It was an impossible day for us, but even in our grief we cannot comprehend what other people may have experienced.

The support of our beautiful community and from family, friends and people around the world has been overwhelming and we are humbled. We feel the love and comfort that people are sending and this gives our family strength. We thank everyone for their support, which we will continue to need as we begin this long journey of healing.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the other families who have also been affected by this tragedy. We are forever bound together and hope we can support and find solace with each other. Sandy Hook and Newtown have warmly welcomed us since we moved here two years ago from England. We specifically chose Sandy Hook for the community and the elementary school. We do not and shall never regret this choice. Our boys have flourished here and our family’s happiness has been limitless.

We cannot speak highly enough of Dawn Hochsprung and Mary Sherlach, exceptional women who knew both our children and who specifically helped us navigate Dylan’s special education needs. Dylan’s teacher, Vicki Soto, was warm and funny and Dylan loved her dearly. We take great comfort in knowing that Dylan was not alone when he died, but was wrapped in the arms of his amazing aide, Anne Marie Murphy. Dylan loved Mrs. Murphy so much and pointed at her picture on our refrigerator every day. Though our hearts break for Dylan, they are also filled with love for these and the other beautiful women who all selflessly died trying to save our children.

Everyone who met Dylan fell in love with him. His beaming smile would light up any room and his laugh was the sweetest music. He loved to cuddle, play tag every morning at the bus stop with our neighbors, bounce on the trampoline, play computer games, watch movies, the color purple, seeing the moon and eating his favorite foods, especially chocolate. He was learning to read and was so proud when he read us a new book every day. He adored his big brother Jake, his best friend and role model.

There are no words that can express our feeling of loss. We will always be a family of four, as though Dylan is no longer physically with us, he is forever in our hearts and minds. We love you Mister D, our special gorgeous angel.

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Man fires 50 shots at Calif. mall parking lot, sending crowds running for cover — then 'just gives up'; no one hurt

AP

Orange County Sheriff deputies at the Fashion Island mall in Newport Beach, Calif., where a man fired some 50 rounds — hitting no one — just a day after the Newtown massacre

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — A suspect who fired about 50 shots in the parking lot of a crowded Southern California shopping mall, sending shoppers sprinting for safety, was cooperative when officers took him into custody, authorities said Sunday.

Witnesses said people ran, screaming and ducking for cover, when 42-year-old Marcos Gurrola fired into the air and onto the ground Saturday afternoon near the Macy's department store at the open-air Fashion Island mall in Newport Beach.

AP

Suspect Marcos Gurrola gave up without a fight after causing mall panic.

He paused to reload several times, police said.

Then Gurrola put the gun down and offered no resistance when bicycle officers arrested him around 4:30 p.m., said Lt. John Lewis.

"He just gave up," Lewis said.

Investigators have no motive, Lewis said.

Gurrola, of Garden Grove, was charged with shooting at an inhabited dwelling. He was being held Sunday on $250,000 bail. Police recovered a handgun and ammunition.

Officials said one person suffered a minor injury while running away, and was treated at the scene.

The gunfire caused panic, coming a day after a gunman killed 26 children and adults at a Connecticut elementary school, and days after a deadly mall shooting in Oregon.

The mall, near Pacific Coast Highway in the heart of Newport Beach, was crowded with holiday shoppers and the parking lot was full. Many people ran into stores, a movie theater and other businesses.

"It's a miracle nobody got injured," said Sven Maric, who said he was celebrating his wife's birthday at a restaurant patio about 50 yards away. "The bullets had to land somewhere, and he shot so many."

Some stores voluntarily closed their doors and kept shoppers inside while police investigated.

Bret McGaughey, 22, of Laguna Beach, said he was with his mom in the Apple store when shoppers ran to the rear of the store as employees locked the front entrance. He estimated that up to 100 people stayed in the back of the store for about 30 minutes until Apple employees announced that police said it was safe to reopen the doors.

Gurrola is a licensed security guard whose firearm permit expired in 2001, according to the Orange County Register, which cited state records.

Gurrola doesn't appear to have a criminal record, the newspaper said.

A telephone number for a Marcos Gurrola was disconnected.

On Tuesday, a gunman at an Oregon shopping mall killed two people and wounded a third amid a holiday crowd estimated at 10,000 people. Clackamas County authorities are still trying to determine why the gunman opened fire before killing himself.

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Domino's founder sues federal government over mandatory contraception coverage in Obamacare

DETROIT — The founder of Domino's Pizza is suing the federal government over mandatory contraception coverage in the health care law.

Tom Monaghan, a devout Roman Catholic, says contraception isn't health care but a "gravely immoral" practice.

He filed a lawsuit Friday in federal court. It also lists as a plaintiff Domino's Farms, a Michigan office park complex that Monaghan owns.

Monaghan offers health insurance that excludes contraception and abortion for employees. The new federal law requires employers to offer insurance including contraception coverage or risk fines.

AP

Domino's pizza founder Tom Monaghan in 1996

Monaghan says the law violates his rights, and is asking a judge to strike down the mandate. There are similar lawsuits pending nationwide.

A message left Saturday for Monaghan's attorney, Richard Thompson, was not immediately returned.

The government says the contraception mandate benefits women.

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Gunman's rampage took only minutes, cop radio calls reveal

AFP/Getty Images

State Police inspect the area near Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Judging by the radio calls, it took only a few minutes for a gunman to snuff out the lives of 20 Newtown school children and six adults.

The first word of the horrifying Newtown school shooting went out over the town’s police radio at 9:36 this morning.

Two minutes later, a dispatcher reported the gunshots had stopped.

UP TO 27 PEOPLE SHOT DEAD AT SCHOOL

“Sandy Hook School. Caller is indicating she thinks there’s someone shooting in the building,” a Newtown dispatcher radioed in the town’s first report of the killings.

Less than a minute later, the dispatcher radioed:

“Units responding to the Sandy Hook School. The front glass has been broken in front of the school They are unsure why ...

“All units, the individual I have on the phone said he is continuing to hear what he believes to be gunfire."

Amid the confusing situation, officers can be heard reporting a possible second shooter headed for the rear of the school.

“The shooting appears to have stopped,” the dispatcher radioed at 9:38 a.m. “There is silence at this time. The school is in lockdown.”

Moments later, an officer apparently at the scene is heard saying: “They’re coming at me through this wood.”

“This is it,” said another.

And after that, at 9:46 a.m., as police searched the school, someone who could not hide the emotion in his voice radioed these haunting words: “I’ve got bodies here. Need ambulances.”

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FDNY hunk cleared of felony assault in trial against glamorous transsexual girlfriend

Steven Hirsch

Fireman Taylor Murphy was found guily of two non violent counts in his trial. He cried in court after the partial verdict.

He didn't choke her. He didn't tamper with her testimony. But he did assault her -- a little.

A Manhattan jury has reached a final, though mixed, verdict in the bizarre War of the Hoses assault trial in Manhattan, acquitting an FDNY calendar hunk of the most serious charge against him -- felony strangulation of his glamorous, bottle-blonde, pre-op transsexual girlfriend.

Beefy Taylor Murphy, 28 -- a former "Mr. March" -- smiled and rubbed tears of joy from his face after the jury forewoman pronounced him not guilty of felony strangulation, which could have put him in prison for up to seven years.

Fiery Claudia Charriez, 31, an admitted escort who still advertised herself at $400-an-hour, had accused Murphy of clutching her throat with his massive hands as they fought on their bed at a Midtown hotel last August, squeezing with enough force to cause physical injury and stupor or loss of consciousness.

Ultimately, jurors had only a photograph of a small pale pink blotch on Charriez's neck as forensic proof -- along with her own word from three days on the witness stand, during which Murphy's lawyer had repeatedly confronted her with inconsistencies and apparent lies.

Steven Hirsch

Claudia Charriez.

Murphy was convicted of one felony count of criminal contempt, for violating an order of protection by calling, texting and emailing Charriez more than 1,000 times in the five months after his arrest.

He was cleared of witness tampering, and convicted of misdemeanor criminal contempt, misdemeanor assault and criminal mischief, for smashing Charriez's cell phone.

Not a single firefighter had come to court to support him throughout the week-long trial -- save his own brother, a retired smoke-eater, and his father, a retired deputy chief who took the stand for his son. Murphy said he'd wanted it that way -- to keep the department from being tainted by the "drama."

"I had to step away from the department," he said. "When you're burning in a fire, you don't want to call everyone in to save you, because they're gonna get burned too," he said. "I didn't want them to burn too."

Murphy said he hopes the conviction on criminal contempt -- a nonviolent felony -- won't prevent him from going back on active duty as a firefighter. Defense lawyer Jason Berland said

As for Charriez, he insisted he only dated her for two months -- until he found out that she was an escort and had a "venereal disease," as jurors in the case were told. He tried to remain her friend, he said, but her jealousy over his other relationships consumed her, he said.

"I wish the best for her," he said as he left court. "I wish she gets a sense of reality. I wish she leaves me alone."

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Alleged parent killer thinks DNA evidence is 'funny,' pleads not guilty

The Queens drug addict accused of killing both his parents 15 months apart callously tried to claim that DNA evidence against him was nothing more than a remnant of his doting mom’s affection for him, prosecutors said.

“Funny that you found DNA now, where did you find it — under her fingernails? My mother likes to run her fingers through my hair,” cocky alleged killer Gregory Cucchiara told detectives as they questioned him in the murder of his mother, Guisepina.

The chilling statement was read in Queens Supreme Court today as Cucchiara, 36, pleaded not guilty to killing both Guisepina, 66, in May 2011 and his father, Carmelo, 77, in August 2012.

Ellis Kaplan

Gregory Cuccchiara

Cucchiara — whose lengthy rap sheet includes DWI and disorderly conduct convictions — made the comment about his mother while in custody for killing his dad.

In court today, Cucchiara’s lawyer, Michael Anastsiou, entered the guilty pleas on his behalf in front of several weeping and disgusted family members.

The alleged killer scowled at his relatives as Assistant District Attorney Patrick O’Connor read from Cucchiara’s oral and written police statements.

Cucchiara claimed he’d gone out for a beer and come back to find his mom dead — and tried to pin his father’s death on his brother-in-law.

“I went to purchase beer on Bell Boulevard, and when I came back my mother was dead,” Cucchiara said. “I tried to give her CPR. Our relationship was good, I had nothing to do with her death.”

As for his father’s death, Cucchiara claimed his sister’s husband was the likely killer.

“My brother-in-law watches a lot of ‘CSI’ and knows how to make things look as though they may not really be,” Cucchiara said.

He also told detectives that has father was ill, and “suffering to the point of sudden death.”

That claim was refuted by family friend Michael Ronemus, who said the family was “unaware of any sickness.”

Guisepina Cucchiara was found drowned in a bathtub in the family’s Bayside manse on May 25, 2011. The medical examiner said she died of submersion of her head followed by blunt force trauma to the skull.

Her son continued to live in the family home after the murder.

Carmelo Cucchiara — who had told family members he was afraid of his son and moved into an Astoria apartment — was found dead there on August 21.

Cops found a blood splattered pillow, and the ME said the older man died of asphyxia from obstruction of the nose and mouth.

Gregory Cucchiara was arrested Nov. 13 and is being held without bail on Rikers Island, records show.

In court today, judge Kenneth C. Holder holder denied the accused killer’s bid for bail, citing a history of bench warrants.

Lawyer Anastasiou argued that his client was indicted by a “prejudice grand jury.”

Cucchiara was also indicted for assault against a police lieutenant and detective during an interrogation the day he was arrested.

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