Joe Paterno's family issues report challenging FBI findings

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — A new report commissioned by Joe Paterno's family challenges the conclusion by former FBI director Louis Freeh that the late Penn State coach conspired to conceal child sex abuse allegations against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

An executive summary of the critique, released Sunday, said the "observations" of Paterno by Freeh in July were unfounded. Former US Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, one of the experts assembled by the family's lawyer to review the report Freeh compiled for Penn State, called that document fundamentally flawed and incomplete.

AFP/Getty Images

Joe Paterno

A lack of factual support for the Freeh report's "inaccurate and unfounded findings related to Mr. Paterno and its numerous process-oriented deficiencies was a rush to injustice and calls into question" the report's credibility, Thornburgh was quoted as saying in the report.

The family released what it billed as an exhaustive response to Freeh's work, based on independent analyses, on the website paterno.com.

"We conclude that the observations as to Joe Paterno in the Freeh report are unfounded, and have done a disservice not only to Joe Paterno and the university community," the family's report said, "but also to the victims of Jerry Sandusky and the critical mission of educating the public on the dangers of child sexual victimization."

Freeh's findings also implicated former administrators including university president Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley and retired vice president Gary Schultz. Less than two weeks after the Freeh report was released in July, the NCAA acted with uncharacteristic speed in levying massive sanctions against the football program for the scandal.

"Taking into account the available witness statements and evidence, it is more reasonable to conclude that, in order to avoid the consequences of bad publicity, the most powerful leaders at Penn State University — Messrs. Spanier, Schultz, Paterno and Curley — repeatedly concealed critical facts relating to Sandusky's child abuse" from authorities, trustees and the university community, Freeh wrote in releasing the report.

The former administrators have vehemently denied the allegations. So, too, has Paterno's family, though it reserved more extensive comment until its own report was complete.

The counter-offensive began in earnest this weekend. The family's findings said that Paterno:

— Never asked or told anyone not to investigate an allegation against Sandusky 12 years ago Saturday, Feb. 9, 2001.

— Never asked or told former administrators not to report the 2001 allegation.

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City recovering from snowstorm that dumped roughly a foot of powder on NY, NJ

REUTERS

A man operates a snow plow in New York on Saturday.

New Yorkers have started digging themselves out from the blizzard that hit the city overnight.

The snow had stopped in Manhattan by early Saturday morning, but other areas saw more than two feet of powder and significant power outages.

Some spots on eastern Long Island got as much as 30 inches.

FOLLOW @NYPMETRO ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST ON THE STORM

Totals in New Jersey ranged from 5-15 inches, with the highest snowfalls spread across the northern part of the state while other areas were spared.

The National Weather Service reports River Vale in northern Bergen County got 15 inches. West Milford, Hillsdale and Scotch Plains all got more than a foot of snow. Cedar Grove residents woke up to about 10 inches of snow Saturday morning.

Newark had been projected to get up to a foot of snow or possibly more but received about 5 or 6 inches. About 5 inches fell on Jersey City and about 6 inches fell at Newark Airport.

More than 28 inches of snow had fallen on central Connecticut by early Saturday, and areas of southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire notched 2 feet or more of snow — with more falling.

Meanwhile, the snow total in Central Park was 11.4 inches by 8 a.m.

"We think we're in great shape. We were lucky...Looks like we've dodged a bullet," Mayor Bloomberg said at a Saturday morning press conference in Queens.

Bloomberg said all city streets will be cleared of snow by the end of Saturday and that all primary, most secondary and "60 percent" of tertiary streets have already been plowed.

Bloomberg said New York City can offer equipment and manpower if other communities need help with snow removal.

Bloomberg gave a briefing at a sanitation garage in Queens. He said the Sanitation Department has deployed 2,200 pieces of equipment and will have every street plowed by the end of the day.

New Jersey Transit resumed bus service north of Interstate 195 as of 7 a.m. Saturday, including service into New York's Port Authority Bus Terminal.

NJ Transit suspended all northern bus service Friday evening due to treacherous driving conditions.

Rail service on the Morris & Essex, Montclair-Boonton and Midtown Direct lines remains suspended from Friday but officials were taking steps to expedite the restoration of service once inspections were conducted.

More than 5,300 flights through Saturday were still cancelled, though and JFK and LaGuardia airports in New York are still closed, as is Boston's Logan Airport.

But, Newark Airport is scheduled to reopen at 8:30 a.m. Saturday after being closed overnight, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

REUTERS

A woman takes a photo of a snow man that was erected at the fountain at Lincoln Center during New York Fashion Week on Friday.

At least five deaths were being blamed on the storm, three in Canada and two in upstate New York. In southern Ontario, an 80-year-old woman collapsed while shoveling her driveway and two men were killed in car crashes. In New York, a 74-year-old man died after being struck by a car in Poughkeepsie; the driver said she lost control in the snowy conditions, police said.

A 23-year-old man in Germantown, NY has died after he went off the edge of a roadway while plowing his driveway with a farm tractor in Columbia County, state police said.

Troopers say the accident happened shortly after 9 p.m. Friday, about 35 miles south of Albany. The National Weather Service says about 7.5 inches of snow has accumulated in that area overnight. The tractor rolled down a 15-foot embankment.

The man was pronounced dead at Columbia Memorial Hospital. His name hasn't been released.

More than 650,000 people across the Northeast were without power this morning, with most of the outages occurring in New England.

New York City has suffered surprisingly few power outages during the snowstorm that raged overnight, but eastern Long Island is a different story.

Wendy Lang of National Grid says there are about 10,000 customers without electricity this morning on the island, most in hard-hit eastern Suffolk County.

She says they can get most customers back on line within 24 hours if crews can reach them.

Long Island got the heaviest snow, according to the National Weather Service, which said 30.3 inches fell on Upton and several towns topped two feet.

Con Edison spokesman Mike Clendenin says the city has just 317 customers out, 206 in Brooklyn. No outages were reported in Westchester County.

In New Jersey, the state's two largest utilities were reporting minimal outages as of Saturday morning.

Public Service Electric & Gas says it had 16 customer outages as of 5:30 a.m. Saturday. At one point 2,200 customers in Elizabeth were affected, but PSE&G says they were restored Friday night. Jersey Central Power & Light, the state's second-largest utility, reports 16 outages at 7 a.m.

It's a far cry from the 2.7 million customers left in the dark after Superstorm Sandy last October, or a similar number affected by a snowstorm in October 2011.

Forecasters said wind gusts exceeding 75 mph could cause more widespread power outages and whip the snow into fearsome drifts.

On Saturday, Connecticut Gov. Malloy ordered all roads closed until further notice, saying that stalled or abandoned vehicles will only slow the recovery process. The storm dumped more than 2 feet of snow over much of the state.

State police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance says drivers and even some troopers have been getting stuck on the snow-covered highways. He said a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle and killed Friday night in Prospect.

Vance said troopers are still out responding to calls but it's imperative that people stay off the roads.

In New York City, there will be delayed openings at public libraries in all five boroughs. Most will be open from noon until 5 p.m.

With Post Staff

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City Council to probe rising school bus costs at hearing

The City Council is set to tackle skyrocketing school bus costs at a hearing today in a bid to explain why the number of routes has ballooned over the past decade — even though ridership plunged dramatically.

Since 2000, the number of students getting yellow bus service plummeted by nearly 30,000 — to 139,000 last year.

Yet the number of routes jumped from 5,400 to more than 6,700 — nearly doubling overall yellow bus costs to a whopping $1 billion.

The many factors that have driven up yellow bus costs include:

• The Department of Education added nearly 300 routes for summer school busing in 2000 and 700 routes for a new extended school day in 2005

Reuters

• Bus companies have gotten an average payout increase of 3.1 percent each year since 2001 — plus an additional 5.5 percent bump in 2005

• Between 2009 and 2012, bus drivers and matrons got annual raises of 1 percent, 2 percent, 3 percent and 4 percent from the bus contractors Much of the cost spike has come from special education busing, where routing is more complicated because of limits on how long some kids can stay on a bus.

The city put an average of nearly 17 special education kids on each yellow bus in 2000, but last year that figure was just 12 kids per bus, according to DOE data.

The bus workers’ union — which has been on strike since Jan. 16 because the city removed employee protection clauses from newly-bid contracts — has cited poor routing as one of the main problems.

An independent consulting firm had the same concerns in 2007.

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9 luxury cars stolen from NY dealership

Police are looking for the thieves who took off in nine Mercedes-Benz vehicles from the parking lot of a suburban New York dealership.

New Rochelle police say the cars were worth a total of $800,000.

They say the suspects entered the lot after breaking the lock on a fence of Pepe Luxury Cars. They then allegedly found the keys to the cars and drove off.

Police believe the vehicles were stolen sometime between Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

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Cops: Mom pulled gun at Conn. Chuck E. Cheese's

NEWINGTON, Conn. — A Connecticut mother has posted bail after being charged with pulling a gun and threatening another woman at a Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant.

Police say 30-year-old Tawana Bourne brandished a .380-caliber handgun and chambered a round during an argument at the children's game and pizza restaurant in Newington on Monday night. Police say both women were at the restaurant with their children.

Restaurant workers called police, who charged Bourne with reckless endangerment, risk of injury to children, threatening and breach of peace. She was freed after posting $50,000 bail and was ordered to appear in New Britain Superior Court on Feb. 19.

Bourne declined to comment.

Chuck E. Cheese's released a statement saying weapons are banned in its restaurants and managers are evaluating security.'

Newington is about 45 miles from Newtown, Conn., the site of the Sandy Hook School massacre that left six educators and 20 students dead.

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WATCH: American dies after Mexican tiger act goes terribly wrong

An American tiger trainer was killed at a circus in northern Mexico Saturday when one of the tigers he was performing with mauled him.

Alexander Crispin, 35, was circling two tigers as part his act for the Circo Suarez when one of the two tigers he was working with leaped off its perch and attacked him.

The tiger pulled Crispin to the ground and attacked his neck, according to SDPnoticias.com.

Crispin was taken to a local Red Cross hospital where he received treatment but later died after going into hypovolemic shock due to extreme blood loss.

Tiger attacks against humans are extremely rare in the wild, although their have been a number of high profile attacks involving stage tigers and their trainers.

The most famous of these occurred in October 2003 when Roy Horn, of the famous Siegfried & Roy Las Vegas show, was attacked by a 7-year-old white tiger named Montecore during one of the duo's performances.

Horn was in critical condition for several weeks after he suffered massive blood loss and a stroke, but eventually recovered.

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Director in Conn. for movie about school shooting

RIDGEFIELD, Conn. — A film director is coming to Connecticut to prepare for a made-for-TV movie about the Newtown school shooting.

Jonathan Bucari tells News 12 Connecticut that he's planning to be in Ridgefield on Monday to get ready for the project.

Ridgefield is about 20 miles southwest of Newtown, where a gunman killed 20 first-graders, six educators and himself on Dec. 14 after fatally shooting his mother at their home in Newtown.

Bucari says he picked Ridgefield because he didn't want to upset Newtown residents so soon after the killings, and Ridgefield has a similar look and feel to Newtown.

AFP/Getty Images

Balloons hang on a sign at the entrance to Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Connecticut.

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Deadly deserts

Ralph Peters

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

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

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

AFP/Getty Images

Figthers of the Islamic group Ansar Dine

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

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

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

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

Mali

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

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

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

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Elderly SI man fatally struck while crossing the street near his home

An elderly man was struck and killed crossing the street near his home in Staten Island, police said.

Bujar Hasimja, 72, and a woman, 64, were walking across Jefferson Avenue near Mason Avenue in Dongan Hills when a gray Nissan Armada making a left turn hit them about 7:30 p.m. yesterday, cops said.

EMS rushed the two pedestrians to Staten Island University Hospital, but Hasimja did not survive, authorities said. The woman was listed in stable condition.

The driver stayed on the scene, and no criminality is suspected, police added.

Hasimja lived near the scene of the accident.

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British prosecutors won't press charges against royal hoax DJs

LONDON — British prosecutors said Friday they will not press charges against two Australian DJs over the royal hoax call that preceded a nurse's suicide.

Two Australian DJs impersonated Queen Elizabeth II and her son, Prince Charles, as they phoned London's King Edward VII hospital in December to ask about the condition of the Duchess of Cambridge, formerly Kate Middleton, who had been hospitalized for treatment of acute morning sickness stemming from her pregnancy.

Nurse Jacintha Saldanha, who put the call through to a colleague who in turn described the details of Kate's condition, was found hanged in her room three days after the prank was broadcast across the world.

REUTERS

Mel Greig and Michael Christian

Prosecutors on Friday said there was no evidence to support a charge of manslaughter, and despite "some evidence" to warrant further investigation of offenses under Britain's Data Protection Act and Malicious Communications Act, any potential prosecution would not be in the public interest.

The Crown Prosecution Service said that decision was taken because it isn't possible to extradite from Australia for those potential offenses, and because "however misguided, the telephone call was intended as a harmless prank."

DJs Michael Christian and Mel Greig —apologized after Saldanha's death in emotional interviews on Australian television, saying they never expected their call would be put through.

The radio show behind the call, the "Hot 30" program, was taken off air following Saldanha's death and later canceled.

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Qns. creep busted after he exposed self to two young girls: cops

Police arrested the sicko who allegedly exposed himself to two young girls who he followed on their walk to school in Queens.

Dagoberto Amaya, 32, trailed the 12 and 13 year old as they were walking on Bowne Street in Flushing on Monday at 7:40 a.m., police said.

The creep tried to strike up a conversation with the youngsters, exposed himself to them and then ran off, police said.

Amaya was busted yesterday on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and public lewdness, police said.

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Gabrielle Giffords, NRA official to testify at gun-control hearing before Senate Judiciary Committee

WASHINGTON — Wounded former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was appearing as an unscheduled witness Wednesday at the year's first congressional hearing on curbing gun violence, adding drama to a session that was already slated to hear from a top official of the National Rifle Association.

Giffords, an Arizona Democrat who suffered a severe head wound in a 2011 Tucson shooting spree that killed six people, was not expected to take questions, according to a Senate aide who revealed the details only on condition of anonymity because they had not been announced.

AFP/Getty Images

Gabrielle Giffords in May

The dramatic juxtaposition between the NRA and a famous shooting victim set the stage for the hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose own members are divided in a microcosm of the debate that gun limits will face on their way through Congress. The hearing is a response to the Dec. 14 shooting rampage that killed 20 first-graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and transformed gun control into a top-tier issue in the capital.

"The time has come to change course," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., one of Congress' leading gun-control advocates, said Tuesday. "And the time has come to make people safe."

Feinstein, a Judiciary Committee member, has already introduced her own legislation banning assault weapons and magazines of more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he would listen to proposals and agreed that reviewing the issue was timely.

"But I'm a strong supporter of the Second Amendment," he said Tuesday, citing the constitutional provision that describes the right to bear arms, "and I don't intend to change."

The chairman of the panel, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said little Tuesday about the direction his committee's legislation might take. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., indicated that whatever the committee produced wouldn't necessarily be the final product, saying the package would be debated by the full Senate and senators would be allowed to propose "whatever amendments they want that deal with this issue."

Despite the horrific Newtown slayings, it remains unclear whether those advocating limits on gun availability will be able to overcome resistance by the NRA and lawmakers from states where gun ownership abounds. Question marks include not just many Republicans but also Democratic senators facing re-election in red-leaning states in 2014. They include Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.

Knowing that television cameras would beam images of the hearing nationally, both sides were drumming up supporters to attend Wednesday's session.

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Soldier describes Afghan firefight against Taliban after helmet cam video goes viral

The gripping video has been seen by more than 23 million people on YouTube and the soldier behind the helmet cam is speaking out.

Pfc. Ted Daniels was fighting Taliban forces in Kunar, Afghanistan when his team came under fire in the remote province, according to CBS News.

On the video, Daniels can be heard telling his team that he was "moving down."

WARNING: GRAPHIC LANGUAGE

The soldier said that he purposely made himself a target to protect the seven other men in his unit, according to the report.

"You know, tactically, it was not a sound thing to do. But I also remember Murphy's Laws of Combat. If it's stupid, but works, it isn't stupid," Daniels told the station.

With the firefight raging around him, Daniels is seen continuing his downward trek.

On the video, Daniels is heard crying out "I'm hit - help me!" after his gun was shot out of his hand.

"It was almost like if you took an aluminum baseball bat and hit a metal pole with it," Daniels said. "That's what my hand felt like. I was actually afraid at first to look down at my hand, wanted to make sure I still had all my fingers and everything else."

Daniels was peppered with fragments after shots hit nearby rocks. Then his camera battery died.

Daniels said he then ran down the hill to rejoin his unit.

"A round had hit the corner of my eye protection," Daniels said. "They blew right off of my face. And I had another round skip off the side of my Kevlar helmet."

Daniels said it was a mistake that the video ended up going viral online but that, in the end, "We made it. We made it, you know. We all made it out and we all made it to fight another day. It felt good."

In an interview with the Washington Post, Daniels said he had a difficult time watching the video at first.

“I don’t know if I held it together, but I tried to,” he told the Post. “I put my a-- on the line for other guys. I still functioned even though I was scared to death.”

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NY, NJ face light snow, sleet and freezing rain

Wear the snow boots and bring the umbrella!

Winter Storm Luna is expected to bring steady snow that will change over to mixed sleet and freezing rain today as temps rise following last week's bitter blast.

The city could see up to an inch of storm by this afternoon.

Temps are expected to be in the low- to mid-30s today but it will only feel like 22 in most parts of the area.

Motorists in New York and New Jersey could face slippery driving conditions Monday.

The National Weather Service is predicting light snow will fall over much of NJ late in the morning.

Getty Images

People play in the snow at the Winter Jam in Central Park over the weekend.

Forecasters say as much as an inch is possible before it changes into freezing rain and sleet. Forecasters say the precipitation should become all rain by the evening.

Ice on top of the snow could make driving difficult, especially on untreated roads.

Snow and ice are reported on roads in southwestern New York as the story expected to bring several inches of snow before tapering off with freezing drizzle during the evening.

Some schools are closed or delaying opening Monday morning ahead of the storm.

The National Weather Service says eastern and central New York can expect from 1 to 4 inches of snow topped with a thin coat of ice as the front moves from the southwest to northeast by late morning. Forecasters say snow totals could reach 3 to 6 inches in the Adirondacks.

Less than an inch of snow was expected in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls area, with a couple of inches forecast for around Rochester and 3 to 5 inches east of Lake Ontario.

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245 people dead in Brazil nightclub fire

BRASILIA, Brazil — A fire swept through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing at least 245 people and leaving at least 200 injured, police and firefighters said.

Police Maj. Cleberson Braida told local news media that the 245 bodies were brought for identification to a gymnasium in the city of Santa Maria.

That toll would make it one of the deadliest nightclub fires more than a decade.

The cause of the fire is not yet known, officials said. Officials earlier put the death toll at 180.

Civil Police and regional government spokesman Marcelo Arigoni told Radio Gaucha earlier that the total number of victims is still unclear and there may be hundreds injured,

EPA

Rescue workers tend to victims outside Kiss nightclub in Brazil.

The newspaper Diario de Santa Maria reported that the fire started at around 2 a.m. at the Kiss nightclub in the city at the southern tip of Brazil, near the borders with Argentina and Uruguay.

Rodrigo Moura, whom the paper identified as a security guard at the club, said it was at its maximum capacity of between 1,000 and 2,000, and partygoers were pushing and shoving to escape.

Ezekiel Corte Real, 23, was quoted by the paper as saying that he helped people to escape. "I just got out because I'm very strong," he said.

"Sad Sunday", tweeted Tarso Genro, the governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. He said all possible action was being taken and that he would be in the city later in the day.

Santa Maria is a major university city with a population of around a quarter of a million.

A welding accident reportedly set off a Dec. 25, 2000, fire at a club in Luoyang, China, killing 309.

At least 194 people died at an overcrowded working-class nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2004.

A blaze at the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm, Russia, broke out on Dec. 5, 2009, when an indoor fireworks display ignited a plastic ceiling decorated with branches, killing 152

A nightclub fire in the U.S. state of Rhode Island in 2003 killed 100 people after pyrotechnics used as a stage prop by the 1980s rock band Great White set ablaze cheap soundproofing foam on the walls and ceiling.

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Henry Kravis and vineyard owner in art feud

It seemed like the perfect arrangement for a Manhattan billionaire and his fat-cat friend.

They had admired a set of three abstract paintings depicting a skull and hairy testicles and decided to buy it — and share custody.

For five years, billionaire Henry Kravis and Napa Valley vineyard owner Donald Bryant happily shuttled the Jasper Johns masterpieces between their Manhattan apartments.

In 2008, they bought the set called “Tantric Detail” for tens of millions of dollars from a Chelsea gallery, and it spent the first year at Bryant’s luxurious East 72nd Street duplex.

Clint Spaulding/PatrickMcMullan.com

The Bryants

FilmMagic

The Kravises

HOW’S IT HANGING? Donald Bryant is allegedly keeping this Jasper Johns from Henry and Marie-Josée Kravis.

The next year, Bryant sent the triptych eight blocks to Park Avenue for a year with Kravis and his economist wife, Marie-Josée.

And so it went until 2012, when Bryant refused to yank the paintings from his wall.

He’s balking, Kravis claims, at having to continue schlepping the works between their homes — and at their agreement to eventually give the paintings to the Museum of Modern Art.

“Mr. Bryant continues to hold the artworks hostage,” Kravis fumed in a new lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.

He claims Bryant reneged on “the promised gift of the art works to MoMA.”

Bryant whines it’s a burden to shuttle the pieces to Kravis’ 26-room abode by the agreed-upon drop-off time.

The Kravises don’t believe it.

“This so-called ‘issue’ is nothing more than a pretext,” the suit charges. “It served as an excuse for Mr. Bryant’s unjustifiable refusal to honor his obligation to transfer the artworks to Mr. and Mrs. Kravis by the mutually agreed date of Jan. 14, 2013.”

When the Kravises tried to claim the modernist paintings for their home in January, Bryant canceled delivery and demanded a new sharing agreement, the suit alleges.

“How could he even think that he could get away with this?” gasped art expert Michael Amy.

“These are classic Jasper Johns. It’s a loss because the public does not have access to the work of a major master.”

He said a close look will reveal a penis hidden in the painting.

“The shaft is actually masked by the crosshatches,” he said.

Johns, famous for his American flag paintings, sold the works from his private collection and helped broker the gift to MoMA, the suit says.

Mrs. Kravis, president of MoMA’s board, is also a part-owner of the painting. Her husband is the 92nd richest person in America with a $4 billion net worth, according to Forbes.

Bryant’s personal art collection includes a Picasso nude, a Jackson Pollock and a de Kooning that mixes images of testicles, bananas and tongues.

Bryant’s St. Louis company caters to other rich execs, and cabernets from his family winery are a popular if pricey vintage.

MoMA declined to comment, and Bryant did not respond to messages seeking comment.

jmarsh@nypost.com

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Egyptians protest in Tahrir Square on second anniversary of revolution

CAIRO — Two years after Egypt's revolution began, the country's schism was on display Friday as the mainly liberal and secular opposition held giant rallies saying the goals of the pro-democracy uprising have not been met and denouncing Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

Thousands of protesters filled Cairo's central Tahrir Square, where the January 2011 uprising was born, and the area outside the presidential palace in the city's Heliopolis district. Throughout these places, the iconic Arab Spring chants of "Erha! Erhal!" or "leave, leave" and "the people want to topple the regime" rang out.

AP

Skirmishes break out between protesters and security forces near Tahrir Square today.

The protesters are using the anniversary to stage a show of strength in a bid to force Morsi to amend a disputed constitution drafted by his Islamist allies. They are also demanding freedom of expression and the independence of the judiciary.

Smaller crowds also gathered in central squares in the Mediterranean cities of Alexandria and Port Said as well as the Nile Delta city of Mehalla and Suez at the southern entrance of the Suez Canal.

Clashes broke out for a second day on some sidestreets near Tahrir and police fired tear gas to disperse the young men throwing stones. There were also clashes in Alexandria.

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood supporters opted not to mark the anniversary on the streets, arguing that they will honor the occasion with acts of public service, like treating the sick and planting trees, a tactic dismissed by the opposition as a public relations stunt ahead of parliamentary elections expected in April.

The Brotherhood's ultraconservative allies known as Salafis also said they would stay off the streets to avoid clashes.

The anniversary of the revolution comes as Egypt faces a new phase in its upheaval: Ruling Islamists trying to push through their agenda, an opposition trying to break their lock on power, and an economy in free-fall that threatens to fuel public discontent.

At the heart of the country's political divide is a disputed constitution drafted by Morsi's allies without the participation of liberals or minority Christians, what the opposition sees as a bid by Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood to take control of all state institutions and the president's meddling in the judiciary.

"I am asking everyone to go out and demonstrate to show that the revolution must be completed and that the revolution must continue," opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei said in a televised message posted on his party's website. "There must be a constitution for all Egyptians. A constitution that every one of us sees himself in it," said the Nobel peace Laureate and former head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, IAEA.

New militia-like groups opposed to the Islamists have declared in video messages posted on social networks this week their intention to defend the opposition protesters if attacked. At least 10 people were killed and hundreds injured when Morsi's supporters descended upon protesters camped outside his palace in December, starting clashes that lasted for hours with firebombs, swords, knifes and firearms.

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100 live, more than 60 dead cats found in upstate NY home

WRIGHT — Authorities say they've seized about 100 live cats from a rural upstate New York home where more than 60 felines were found dead.

Local media outlets report that a raid by police and animal welfare organizations found cats living in deplorable conditions at a home in the Schoharie County town of Wright, 20 miles west of Albany.

Workers at the Animal Shelter of Schoharie Valley say 67 cats were found dead. The rescued animals have been taken to the shelter.

There was no information on any charges and no names have been released. The Schoharie County Sheriff's Office is holding a news conference Thursday morning to discuss the case.

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Te'o tells Couric he briefly lied about girlfriend

REUTERS

ABC's Katie Couric interviews Note Dame football star Manti Te'o and his parents, Brian and Ottilia Te'o during an exclusive taped interview in New York.

Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o has told Katie Couric that he briefly lied about his online girlfriend after discovering she didn't exist, while maintaining that he had no part in creating the hoax.

Pressed by Couric to admit that he was in on the deception, Te'o said he believed that his girlfriend Lennay Kekua had died of cancer and didn't lie about it until December.

"Katie, put yourself in my situation. I, my whole world told me that she died on Sept. 12. Everybody knew that. This girl, who I committed myself to, died on Sept. 12," Te'o said in an interview to air Thursday on Couric's syndicated talk show. A segment of the interview with Te'o and his parents was broadcast Wednesday on "Good Morning America."

The Heisman Trophy runner-up said he only learned of the hoax when he received a phone call in December from a woman saying she was Kekua.

"Now I get a phone call on Dec. 6, saying that she's alive and then I'm going be put on national TV two days later. And to ask me about the same question. You know, what would you do?" Te'o said.

An Associated Press review of news coverage found that the Heisman Trophy runner-up talked about his doomed love in a Web interview on Dec. 8 and again in a newspaper interview published Dec. 10.

Te'o's father defended his son when Couric pointed out that many people don't believe the Irish star, suspecting he used the situation for personal gain.

"People can speculate about what they think he is. I've known him 21 years of his life. And he's not a liar. He's a kid," Brian Te'o said with tears in his eyes.

On Tuesday, the woman whose photo was used as the "face" of the Twitter account of Te'o's supposed girlfriend says the man allegedly behind the hoax confessed and apologized to her.

Diane O'Meara told NBC's "Today" show that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo used pictures of her without her knowledge in creating a fake woman called Lennay Kekua.

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Accused family killing NM teen was suicidal and homicidal, annoyed with mother: statement

ALBUQUERQUE, NM — The New Mexico teenager accused of fatally shooting his parents and three younger siblings told authorities he was annoyed with his mother and had been having homicidal and suicidal thoughts, according to a probable cause statement.

Nehemiah Griego, 15, was arrested following the shootings Saturday at a home in a rural area southwest of Albuquerque where he lived with his family. He remained in custody on charges of murder and child abuse resulting in death.

Bernalillo County Sheriff Dan Houston plans to hold a news conference Tuesday morning, and the teen could make his first court appearance in the next day or two.

AP

A bouquet of flowers adorns the entrance to the home where Nehemiah Griego allegedly shot his parents and three siblings.

A sheriff's detective questioned the teen Saturday night. The statement detailed their conversation.

The teen allegedly told the detective that he took a .22-caliber rifle from his parents' closet around midnight Saturday and shot his mother in the head while his younger brother slept next to her.

Griego told the detective that his brother did not believe him that their mother was dead so he showed his mother's bloody face to his brother and then shot him, according to the statement.

He's accused of then shooting his two young sisters in their room. He retrieved an AR-15 rifle from his parents' closet and waited in a downstairs bathroom for his father to come home. The statement said he shot his father multiple times after he passed the bathroom doorway.

The teen said he reloaded the guns so "he could drive to a populated area to murder more people," according to the statement. His plan, the statement said, was to "shoot people at random and eventually be killed while exchanging gunfire with law enforcement."

Sheriff's spokesman Deputy Aaron Williamson said Monday he couldn't immediately comment on the document.

Detectives have spent two days collecting evidence and trying to piece together what led to the violence.

"There's no other way to say it, except that we have a horrific crime scene down there that we are working on," Houston said Sunday.

On Monday afternoon, the metal gate at the home's entrance was shut, a small bouquet of purple flowers was on the top of the gate and at each side sat religious signs, including one that read: "Jesus is the reason for the season."

The sheriff's office identified the victims as Greg Griego, 51, his wife Sarah Griego, 40, and three of their children: a 9-year-old boy, Zephania Griego, and daughters Jael Griego, 5, and Angelina Griego, 2. All appeared to have gunshot wounds to the head.

Greg Griego was a pastor who had once served at Calvary, one of Albuquerque's largest Christian churches. He was also well-known throughout the law enforcement community for his work as a voluntary chaplain.

Neighbor Terry Wootan described Greg Griego as a man with a big heart. The two sometimes chatted at the mailbox and waved when passing by. Wootan said Griego told him about his time in California when he was involved in gangs and how he turned his life around and found God.

"What he wanted to do was help people, and he would never quit," Wootan said.

The pastor's death has shocked the community, including the Albuquerque Fire Department and the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he volunteered his spiritual guidance.

A records check by the Children, Youth and Families Department indicated no trouble with the family and that Nehemiah Griego had never been in trouble with the law.

"This youth had no history with the juvenile justice system," agency spokesman Bob Tafoya said Monday.

Williamson confirmed there was no history of any emergency calls to the home in the recent past.

Neighbors said they saw the first police cars and ambulances arrive at the home Saturday night. The road was blocked and word of the shootings began to make its way through the neighborhood.

According to the probable cause statement, Nehemiah Griego told his girlfriend at Calvary that his family was dead and that he placed the two rifles in the family van as protection before driving to the church.

At the church, he was called into the pastor's office after his girlfriend's grandmother began asking questions about the youth's account, the detective's statement said. It was previously reported that a person at the church called 911, but the statement did not address that.

After being taken to the sheriff's office for questioning, Nehemiah Griego changed his story, according to the statement.

The statement said he was asked if he had told anyone else about killing his family. He allegedly told the detective that he had taken a picture of his dead mother and sent it to his girlfriend.

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