Shel biz as usual

ALBANY — Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver yesterday defended his decision to be featured as the “honored guest” at a fund-raiser for the chairman of a legislative ethics panel reviewing Silver’s hush settlement of Vito Lopez’s alleged sexual harassment of young staffers.

“The speaker, as leader of the Democratic conference, routinely allows members to use his name for fund-raising purposes,” his spokesman, Michael Whyland, told The Post.

The fund-raiser next week is for Assemblyman Charles Lavine (D-LI), who notes on the invite that he chairs the Assembly Ethics Committee, one of two legislative committees weighing possible sanctions against Lopez and Silver.

NY Post: Chad Rachman

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver

The same committee must also decide whether to release a report by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, the state’s ethics watchdog, on the case.

Staten Island DA Dan Donovan, the appointed special prosecutor for the case, has asked the committees not to release JCOPE’s report until his team concludes its criminal investigations.

Silver approved a $103,800 “confidential” Assembly payment to settle harassment claims that two female staffers had brought against Lopez.

Silver later stripped Lopez of his leadership duties and called for him to resign after a separate ethics probe concluded that Lopez groped and abused two other female staffers.

Government-watchdog groups say the timing of the fund-raiser is suspect and gives the appearance that Lavine, rather than being an independent monitor, is beholden to Silver.

“The fact that it’s just business as usual is not the standard we want applied,” said Susan Lerner of Common Cause New York. “There is a pervasive culture in Albany that upsets most New Yorkers, that their elected representatives don’t see this as a problem.”

Lerner said her group is closely watching the Lopez case to see if the creation of JCOPE was an adequate measure for enforcing government ethics.

“We have concern that it’s not sufficiently removed from [Silver’s] appointed control,” she said.

Silver’s spokesman insisted the fund-raising has nothing to do with the investigation.

“We’re confident that the commission has found no legal or ethical violation by Speaker Silver or his staff,” Whyland said.

Silver said he hadn’t seen the report. By law, it would have been released to him had he been the target of the investigation, sources told The Post.

bdefalco@nypost.com

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Mt. Sinai & Continuum announce merger plans

Mount Sinai Medical Center and Continuum Health Partners announced a tentative merger agreement in a bid to control costs and provide more extensive medical care to patients.

The proposed marriage of two Manhattan medical behemoths comes amid continuing pressure on hospitals to comply with ObamaCare and adapt to other market forces sweeping the industry.

City residents have endured several hospital closures in recent years — most notably St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village.

In Brooklyn, Long Island College Hospital is on the chopping block.

Mount Sinai is a specialty/research hospital on the Upper East Side with its own medical school and is considered financially sound.

Continuum is largely a community-hospital network that includes Beth Israel, St. Luke’s and Roosevelt hospitals and the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary. One industry insider described Continuum’s financial condition as “fragile.”

Continuum had conducted merger talks with NYU Langone Medical Center, but NYU broke off the talks last year when it got wind that Continuum was also in discussions with Mount Sinai.

In announcing a “memorandum of understanding,” hospital officials described the merger as a good fit of two entities providing a complement of services.

“The combination will create more economies of scale, increase efficiencies and expand access to advanced primary and specialty care throughout this citywide network,” said Sinai CEO Dr. Kenneth Davis.

Continuum CEO Stanley Brezenoff added, “This collaboration makes available an extraordinary range of resources for the provision of compassionate, state-of-the-art care for patients. In joining with Mount Sinai, we will further enhance our ability to provide the full spectrum of outstanding care to the population we serve.”

Continuum doctors would become part of Mount Sinai’s Medical School faculty, and the merger presents opportunities to bolster research, officials said. Beth Israel, for example specializes in treatment of substance abuse and psychiatric disorders.

“If you are bigger, you have more bargaining power when you negotiate rates with insurance companies and contracts with labor unions. And you can negotiate better prices for food services and laundry,” said David Sandman, senior vice president of the New York State Health Foundation.

He said the merger provides an opportunity to eliminate duplicative services and more easily route patients to proper care.

Under ObamaCare, he said, hospitals will have to do a better job of providing clinical treatment rather than more expensive, in-patient surgical care.

“The emphasis is on primary care and keeping people out of the hospital,” Sandman said.

ccampanile@nypost.com

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Bronx mother-murder suspect posed with mom's severed head: sources

The twisted Bronx man who allegedly killed his mother and chopped up her body reveled in the slaying by snapping a picture of himself holding her severed head, sources told The Post yesterday.

Bahsid McLean, 23, pulled out a cellphone camera, posed in front of a bathroom mirror and snapped the gruesome photo of himself smirking while holding his mother’s head under his arm like a trophy, the sources said.

Then McLean and a buddy stuffed his mom’s head in a bag, packed away the rest of her mutilated body, and dumped the parts with the neighborhood trash — in several locations, cops said.

Robert Kalfus

JUST SICK: Bahsid McLean cut off mom Tanya Byrd’s

head and held it to take a picture, sources said.

Tanya Byrd aka Tanya Mclean

One of the four bags holding the remains of Tanya Byrd, 45, a home health aide and devoted mother of three, was found in Morrisania early Tuesday morning by a father and son walking their dog.

Her body parts were wrapped in plastic, with some stuffed in luggage, cops said.

Detectives were already disgusted by details of the case: the brutal bedroom stabbing, the blood drained in the bathroom, and the body hacked with a brand-new power saw.

“He’s definitely sick,” a law-enforcement source said. “It’s a ghoulish act. This guy is so mentally defective to do that. That’s pretty outrageous. That’s hardcore s--t.”

Byrd was killed probably late Sunday night or early Monday morning in her Westchester Avenue home, sources said. McLean asked a friend, William Harris, 26, to help him get rid of the body, sources said.

Surveillance video picked up the two men in a Third Avenue hardware store in The Bronx, where they bought a power saw with cash, sources said.

A blade and a box were found in the apartment McLean shared with his mother; the saw was found in Harris’ home, sources said.

McLean was charged last night with second-degree murder, police said. Both men were charged with hindering prosecution and unlawful dissection of a human body. They blamed each other for Byrd’s death.

Cops said McLean killed Byrd because she “wanted him to grow up and move out and be a man.”

Additional reporting by Matt McNulty

jschram@nypost.com

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Horror as hot air balloon catches fire in Egypt, killing 18 foreigners

LUXOR, Egypt — A hot air balloon flying over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field on Tuesday, killing at least 18 foreign tourists, a security official said.

It was one of the worst accidents involving tourists in Egypt and likely to push the key tourism industry deeper into recession. The casualties included French, British, Japanese nationals and nine tourists from Hong Kong, the official said.

Three survivors of the crash — two tourists and one Egyptian — were taken to a local hospital.

According to the Egyptian security official, the balloon carrying at least 20 tourists was flying over Luxor when it caught fire, which triggered an explosion in its gas canister, then plunged at least 300 meters (1,000 feet) from the sky.

It crashed into a sugar cane field outside al-Dhabaa village just west of Luxor, 320 miles south of Cairo, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Bodies of the dead tourists were scattered across the field around the remnants of the balloon. An Associated Press reporter at the crash site counted eight bodies as they were put into body bags and taken away. The security official said all 18 bodies have been recovered.

The official said foul play has been ruled out. He also said initial reports of 19 dead were revised to 18 as confusion is common in the aftermath of such accidents.

In Hong Kong, a travel agency said nine of the tourists that were aboard the balloon were natives of the semiautonomous Chinese city. It did not say whether all nine were killed. The information was posted on the agency's website.

In Paris, a diplomatic official said French tourists were among those involved in the accident, but would give no details on how many, or whether French citizens were among those killed.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to be publicly named according to government policy, the official said French authorities were working with their Egyptian counterparts to clarify what happened. French media reports said 2 French tourists were among the dead but the official wouldn't confirm that.

Hot air ballooning, usually at sunrise over the famed Karnak and Luxor temples as well as the Valley of the Kings, is a popular pastime for tourists visiting Luxor.

The site of the accident has seen past crashes. In 2009, 16 tourists were injured when their balloon struck a cellphone transmission tower. A year earlier, seven tourists were injured in a similar crash.

Egypt's tourism industry has been decimated since the 18-day uprising in 2011 against autocrat leader Hosni Mubarak and the political turmoil that followed and continues to this day.

Luxor's hotels are currently about 25 percent full in what is supposed to be the peak of the winter season.

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Lawrence floored by Best Actress win; 'Argo,' Daniel Day-Lewis also take home Oscars

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Actress Jennifer Lawrence stumbles as she walks on stage to accept the award for best actress in a leading role for "Silver Linings Playbook" during Sunday's Oscars ceremony.

It was the rise and fall and rise of a great young star.

Twenty-two-year-old “Silver Linings Playbook” star Jennifer Lawrence won the Oscar for Best Actress last night — but then took an embarrassing header on her way to accept her statue.

FilmMagic

Daniel Day-Lewis

John Shearer/Invision/AP

Anne Hathaway

Getty Images

Actor-producer-director Ben Affleck, winner of the Best Picture award for "Argo."

Lawrence sprawled on the stage steps at the Dolby Theatre after tripping over her flowing gown. It was another award-show faux pas — after her dress slipped on her way to accept a Screen Actor’s Guild award last month.

“Les Misérables” star Hugh Jackman tried to sprint to the rescue, but the red-faced beauty pulled herself up and made it up the steps.

“That’s really embarrassing,” she said, trying to make a joke of the tumble as she accepted her award. “You guys are just standing up because you feel bad that I fell,” she said to a standing ovation.

PHOTOS: OSCARS RED CARPET LOOKS

BEST ACTRESS BASKS IN GLOW

The 85th Academy Awards’ biggest prize, Best Picture, went to Ben Affleck’s “Argo. The Iran hostage thriller also won Best Adapted Screenplay and Film Editing. Affleck, one of the movie’s producers, had been snubbed in the Best Director category.

As he took the Best Picture award, he was magnanimous.

“You have to work harder than you think you possibly can, and you can’t hold grudges,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter how you get knocked down in life because that’s going to happen,” he added. “All that matters is that you gotta get up.”

In a surprise twist, the Best Picture award was presented to “Argo” by First Lady Michelle Obama, who opened the envelope via satellite from the White House.

“These nine movies took us back in time and all around the world,” she said of the nominees. “They taught us that love can endure against all odds.”

“Lincoln” star Daniel Day-Lewis made history by becoming the first person to win three Best Actor Oscars.

As he accepted the award from Meryl Streep — who won Best Actress last year playing British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher — Day-Lewis turned his acceptance speech into a comedy routine.

“It’s funny, because three years ago, we agreed to do this swap. I had actually been committed to play Margaret Thatcher,” he quipped, adding: “Meryl was [director] Steven’s [Spielberg] first choice for Lincoln . . . I’d like to see that version.”

Ang Lee took home the directing prize for his magical lost-at-sea tale, “Life of Pi.”

The native of Taiwan poked fun at the fakery of Hollywood acceptance speeches. After thanking his lawyer and agent, he bluntly joked, “I have to do that.”

Anne Hathaway took home her first career Oscar last night, winning for Best Supporting Actress in “Les Misérables.”

The award for Best Supporting Actor went to Christoph Waltz for his role as a bounty hunter in the Quentin Tarantino flick “Django Unchained.”

Tarantino later won for Best Original Screenplay.

Oscar had a rare tie last night with “Skyfall” and “Zero Dark Thirty” sharing sound-editing honors. It was the first tie since 1994.

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Oscar Pistorius's brother Carl faces homicide charges in 2010 car crash: report

Getty Images

Carl Pistorius, older brother of tarnished athlete Oscar, faces homicide charges in a 2010 car crash, according to reports.

Oscar Pistorius’s older brother Carl also faces homicide charges in South Africa over a 2010 car crash, it was reported today.

Carl Pistorius allegedly struck and killed a female biker in the daytime crash, his lawyer told eNCA news, a South African TV channel.

Prosecutors accused Carl Pistorius of driving recklessly in the accident.

But his lawyer, Kenneth Oldwage, denies the charges and told the TV channel that Carl Pistorius was not drunk.

Oldwage says the woman died because she drove into Carl Pistorius’s car.

Carl Pistorius is charged with culpable homicide, a lesser charge than the premeditated murder case against his brother.

The charge carries a possible 15-year prison term.

Carl’s trial was supposed to begin on Thursday, the same day his Olympian brother was freed on bail.

But the case was postponed until next month.

Word of another Pistorius homicide case shocked South Africa.

“Looks like Carl & Oscar will keep each company in jail,” tweeted Johannesburg resident Rebecca Chiedza Goba.

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$3M ‘faux’ Pollock suit

A California woman says the painting she bought for $3.1 million at an Upper East Side gallery is nothing but a bunch of worthless splatters.

Frances Hamilton White filed suit in Manhattan federal court against the former Knoedler Gallery, claiming it sold phony art to unsuspecting buyers.

The suit says she bought a painting purportedly by Jackson Pollock called “Untitled 1949” in 2000.

White tried to sell the painting in 2011 through Christie’s, but the auction house said it wasn’t authentic.

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All ‘hail’ the Oscar winners

And the Oscar goes to “Lincoln” . . . at least according to city taxi riders.

The historical drama won Best Picture in a monthlong survey of New York City taxi riders, officials said yesterday.

“Lincoln” — heavily favored for Sunday night’s Oscars — scored 25 percent of the votes for Best Picture.

The other winners were:

* Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln,” 43 percent.

* Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty,” 33 percent.

* Best Director: Steven Spielberg, “Lincoln,” 42 percent.

* Best Animated Feature Film: “Brave,” 35 percent.

This is the first year the Taxi and Limousine Commission has asked riders to weigh in with their picks for the Oscars.

Tony DiMaio/startraksphoto.com

Jessica Chastain

Commissioner David Yassky said it was done to engage passengers during rides.

“There are few things that New York City loves more than its movies and its taxicabs,” he said.“People really enjoyed the combination of the two in this survey.”

Yassky, a known movie buff, said he agrees with the survey’s winners.

“The customer is always right!” he tweeted after the results were announced.

Almost 100,000 taxi riders took part in the survey, which popped up on TV screens in the backs of yellow cabs.

That’s far more than the nearly 6,000 people who vote for the real winners.

However, not all of the taxi-survey respondents answered every question. For Best Picture, 27,681 people voted.

jennifer.fermino@nypost.com

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Man struck, killed by NYPD cruiser in Queens accident

Seth Gottfried

An unidentified victim was struck and killed by a police trooper in Queens this morning.

A man was struck and killed by an NYPD cruiser in an early-morning Queens crash, police said.

The accident happened at about 12:45 a.m., at the intersection of 10th Street and 40th Avenue.

The two officers inside the cruiser were responding to a 911 call and the man was trying to cross the street at the time of the accident, police said.

The vehicle remained at the scene hours after the crash, the windshield cracked as the victim’s body lay nearby.

There’s no word on the victim’s identity – or if the officers or man could have done anything to avoid the crash. The officers were not seriously injured, and police are continuing to investigate.

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Witness heard 'non-stop shouting' from Pistorius home before fatal shooting

REUTERS

Oscar Pistorius stands in the dock during a break in court proceedings at the Pretoria Magistrates court in South Africa today.

PRETORIA, South Africa —

A witness heard "non-stop shouting" coming from the home of Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius shortly before his girlfriend was shot dead, the lead detective in the murder investigation said on Wednesday.

Warrant officer Hilton Botha, a detective with 24 years on the force, also told the Pretoria magistrates court that Pistorius' girlfriend, model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp, was hit by three bullets, in the head, elbow and hip.

Pistorius, a double amputee known as the "Blade Runner", broke down in tears as Botha presented his testimony.

BLADE RUNNER'S HARROWING TALE OF HOW HE DID IT

PROSTHETIC STRAP-ONS KEY TO 'MURDER' RAP

ANGUISH, OUTRAGE AT REEVA FUNERAL

The shooting has stunned South Africa and the millions around the world who saw the track glory of the athlete, who had no lower legs, as an inspiring tale of triumph over adversity.

Steenkamp was in a locked toilet adjoining Pistorius' bathroom when she was shot in the early hours of Thursday last week. Botha said the angle at which the shots were fired through the door suggested the shooter had aimed specifically to hit somebody on the toilet.

Botha, who arrived at the scene at 4:15 local time to find Steenkamp dead at the bottom of the stairs, also said police had found unlicensed .38 ammunition in Pistorius' house in an upmarket gated compound north of Pretoria.

In an additional revelation Wednesday, police said they found two boxes of testosterone and needles in the Pistorius' bedroom.

Pistorius' defense lawyer, Barry Roux, said the substance found in the bedroom was a "herbal remedy" not a steroid and not a banned substance.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel said police are not saying that Pistorius used the substance, simply that it was found in his bedroom.

In an affidavit delivered on Tuesday, Pistorius said he used to sleep with a 9-mm pistol under his bed and had grabbed it when he awoke in the middle of the night thinking an intruder had climbed through his bathroom window and entered the toilet.

The 26-year-old then described how he fired into the door in a blind panic, in the belief the intruder was lurking in the toilet.

He said he and Steenkamp, 30, had been asleep in bed before he woke up.

In contrast, Nel painted a picture of a premeditated killing, a crime which carries a life sentence in South Africa. "If I arm myself, walk a distance and murder a person, that is premeditated," he told the packed courtroom on Tuesday.

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Pistorius charged with murdering girlfriend; prosecutor says he planned to use 'intruder' story all along

Getty Images

Oscar Pistorius's sister Aimee Pistorius arrives for her brother's bail hearing at the Pretoria Magistrate Court, South Africa.

PRETORIA, South Africa — Olympian Oscar Pistorius fired into the door of a small bathroom where his girlfriend was cowering after a shouting match on Valentine's Day, hitting her three times, a South African prosecutor said Tuesday as he charged the sports icon with premeditated murder.

Pistorius sobbed softly as his lawyer insisted that Reeva Steenkamp's shooting was an accident.

"She couldn't go anywhere. You can run nowhere," prosecutor Gerrie Nel said at a bail hearing.

Gallo Images/startraksphoto.com

Oscar Pistorius, charged with murder.

Nel said the killing was premeditated because Pistorius had planned to say that he thought he was shooting an intruder. "It was all part of the preplanning. Why would a burglar lock himself inside the bathroom?" Nel said.

The shooting death has shocked South Africans and many around the world who idolized Pistorius for overcoming adversity to become a sports champion, competing in the London Olympics last year in track besides being a Paralympian. Steenkamp, 29, was a model and law graduate who made her debut on a South African reality TV program on Saturday, two days after her death..

Nel said the couple had had a shouting match and Steenkamp fled to the bathroom, down a seven-meter (yard) passage from the bedroom, and locked herself in. He said the 26-year-old Pistorius got up from bed and had to put on his prosthetic legs to reach the toilet door.

Nel told the court the door was broken open after the shots were fired. Pistorius' lawyer insisted there was no evidence to substantiate a murder charge.

"Was it to kill her, or was it to get her out?" defense attorney Barry Roux asked the court, referring to the browken-down door. "We submit it is not even murder. There is no concession this is a murder."

Pistorius, who had appeared grim and solemn at the start of the hearing, broke down and sobbed softly with his head in his hands as his lawyer argued that he had mistaken Steenkamp for a burglar. The shooting in the early hours of Feb. 14 came after neighbors had heard a loud argument and then gunshots, police have said. The couple had been dating for only about three months.

As details emerged at the dramatic court hearing in the capital, Steenkamp's body was being cremated Tuesday at a memorial service in the south-caost port city of Port Elizabeth. The family said members had arrived from around the world. Six pallbearers carried her coffin, draped with a white cloth and covered in white flowers, into the church for the private service.

June Steenkamp, the mother, said the family wants answers.

"Why? Why my little girl? Why did this happen? Why did he do this?" she said in an interview published Monday in The Times newspaper.

At the court, Nel said the killing was premeditated because Pistorius had planned to say that he thought he was shooting an intruder, and had told that story to his sister, Aimee.

"It was all part of the preplanning. Why would a burglar lock himself inside the bathroom?" Nel asked. The shooting happened at Pistorius' home in a guarded and gated community in a luxury suburb of Pretoria.

Roux, in arguing that Pistorius should be freed on bail, he said there were no other charges outstanding against the double-amputee who last year became the first double-amputee track athlete to run at the Olympics.

Legal experts say it could take months for the case to be tried.

Pistorius, in a gray suit and tie, nodded after the chief magistrate asked if he was well. And he nodded his appreciation when his brother, Carl, pressed his shoulder in support. Journalists jammed into the courtroom, which was full with almost 100 people, including Pistorius' father, Henke, and sister Aimee.

In an email to The Associated Press on Monday, Pistorius' longtime track coach — who was yet to comment — said he believes the killing was an accident.

"I pray that we can all, in time, come through this challenging situation following the accident and I am looking forward to the day I can get my boy back on the track," Ampie Louw wrote in his statement. "I am still in shock following the heart-breaking events that occurred last week and my thoughts and prayers are with both of the families involved."

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Alec fast & slur-ious

Baldwin had first been approached by a Post reporter while walking his dogs outside his East 10th Street pad at around 10:50 a.m. He was asked for comment on a lawsuit against his wife, Hilaria, involving her work as a yoga instructor.

The “30 Rock’’ star grabbed the reporter, Tara Palmeri, by her arm and told her, “I want you to choke to death,” Palmeri told police, for whom she played an audiotape of the conversation.

G.N.Miller/New York Post

Alec Baldwin is caught in a photograph during a verbal spat with The Post's Tara Palmeri. According to Palmeri, who recorded the confrontation, Baldwin told her "I want you to choke to death."

Actor Alec Baldwin allegedly called a black Post photographer a racial epithet, a “crackhead’’ and a “drug dealer’’ during a confrontation on an East Village street yesterday morning, prompting police to intervene.

He then called G.N. Miller — a decorated retired detective with the NYPD’s Organized Crime Control Bureau and a staff photographer for The Post — a “coon, a drug dealer,’’ Miller’s police statement said.

At one point, Miller showed Baldwin ID to prove he’s a retired NYPD cop, which Baldwin dismissed as “fake.”

Cops were called, and Miller, 56, and Baldwin, 54, both filed harassment claims against each other.

Minutes later, Baldwin ranted on Twitter.

“Thank u 2 NYPD officers who came to my home 2day so that I could file a formal complaint against NY Post “photographer’’ who assaulted me,’’ he tweeted.

In another post, Baldwin referred to Miller, for unknown reasons, as “Ralston,” writing, “Moments after I tweet about the Post, Ralston, the ex-crackhead ‘photographer’ shows up at my door w 1 of Murdoch’s nieces in tow.”

He added, “Ralston claims he’s ex NYPD!! That can’t be!!! Ex NYPD don’t become crackhead, ex jailhouse paparazzi!”

The actor eventually removed most of the posts.

Miller also said the actor bumped him in the chest during their tete-a-tete, although Baldwin told cops the photographer “pushed into him,’’ according to the actor’s complaint.

Baldwin said he “asked [Miller] to keep his distance,’’ the complaint said.

But Miller said Baldwin was the one getting “too aggressive,’’ so he showed him his retired-cop ID.

Baldwin called the ID a “fake’’ and added Miller was a “crackhead” and a “drug dealer” who “just got out of jail,” Miller said.

Baldwin also made “disparaging remarks’’ about Miller’s mother, the photographer said.

As oblivious pedestrians walked by, Baldwin told him to “suck my d--k,” Miller said.

Baldwin also walked up to random people — including a dad pushing his child in a stroller — and told them Miller was an ex-con and drug dealer, Miller said.

“He was saying some serious racist stuff,” Miller said. “He said some choice words about my mother, and he was telling people in the street that I’m a drug dealer.

“He could have said a lot of other stuff. But he used all of the stereotypes associated with black people.”

Miller worked for the NYPD for nearly 15 years, spending most of his time in narcotics.

Although both men made police reports, it’s a case of he said-he said because the incident did not happen in the presence of a police officer.

Neither police complaint will go any further, except in possible civil action.

Baldwin’s spokesman, Matthew Hiltzik, called Miller’s accusations “completely false.’’

Baldwin, through Hiltzik, denied making the racist remarks, adding, “That’s one of the most outrageous things I’ve heard in my life.’’

But Baldwin has a history of making inappropriate comments to photographers.

Last June, the day before his wedding, Baldwin shouted to a black photographer on the street, “You gotta back up there Rodney.”

The photographer’s name wasn’t Rodney.

leonard.greene@nypost.com

Alec Baldwin hit Twitter to blast a Post fotog and reporter who were following up on a Post story (right) about a lawsuit involving his wife.

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Girlfriend’s eerie last message

Just two days after her shocking murder, stunning model Reeva Steenkamp delivered a haunting prerecorded message about leaving a positive message in life that was aired during yesterday’s premiere of her reality show.

“I think the way that you go out, not just your journey in life, but the way that you go out to make your exit is so important,” the 29-year-old girlfriend of “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius says in a minute-long video that was released before “Tropika Island of Treasure” aired on South African television.

In the show, celebrities and regular Joes compete in adrenaline-filled challenges for a shot at $113,000. Participants are eliminated each week.

AP

FINAL TRIBUTE: Reeva Steenkamp appeared in a recorded message on South African TV.

“You either made an impact in a positive way or a negative way,” the cover girl says between shots of her kissing and swimming with dolphins during filming in Jamaica.

“But just maintain integrity, maintain class, and just always be true to yourself.”

Steenkamp’s poignant message was recorded months before she was shot dead on Valentine’s Day at the Pretoria mansion of Pistorius, 26, the Olympian double amputee who has been charged with her murder.

At the end of the video, she seems to speak almost directly to her anguished family and friends — although she’s talking about leaving Jamaica.

“And I’m going to miss you all so much,” she says. “I love you very, very much.”

Steenkamp was looking forward to yesterday’s premiere of “Tropika Island” and had asked her family to follow along.

“Reeva would’ve liked us to watch it,” the budding model’s uncle, Mike Steenkamp, told People. “She indicated that before the tragedy.”

Producers of the show said not airing the premiere would have been an “injustice” to her memory.

“Everyone is sending people that knew her among the family and friends just the most beautiful tweets,” said Sarit Tomlinson, Steenkamp’s publicist.

“You’ll be able to get a sense a little bit of who she was,” Tomlinson added of the show. “She’s just such an incredible, compassionate human being.”

Additional reporting by Khanya Mbanjwa in Pretoria, South Africa

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Gloves come off in Dem mayoral war

The mayoral race is turning vicious between Democrats Bill Thompson and Christine Quinn.

In his harshest statement yet, Thompson trashed Quinn — the City Council speaker — for presiding over the council during a budgetary scandal, as well as her flip-flop on term limits.

“There has been a pattern of questions surrounding Christine Quinn’s entire tenure as speaker,” Thompson told The Post. “From the phantom member-items scandal, to breaking her word to voters and throwing out term limits, to endorsements that are potentially tied to Speaker Quinn’s actions on legislation, this is a troubling trail that reeks of cynical, old-fashioned politics.”

He was responding to a specific question about an endorsement Quinn received this week from the Mason Tenders District Council — a union she sided with when she passed a controversial bill on reporting requirements last year. The bill requires substantially more reporting from developers that have city contracts.

Thompson — who narrowly lost to Mayor Bloomberg in 2009 — opposed that legislation.

The Mason Tenders pushed for the bill, which Bloomberg vetoed. Quinn and the council in turn overrode the mayor’s veto.

Mayoral contender Bill de Blasio, the public advocate, declined to comment on the connection between Quinn and the Mason Tenders.

Thompson’s attack hits Quinn on a particularly vulnerable issue: the so-called slush-fund scandal, which involved a federal probe into the longstanding practice of stashing away taxpayer money in phantom accounts to later fund pet projects.

Quinn was cleared in the initial probe, but the feds are still investigating abuse of the funds by individual council members under her watch. Thompson was comptroller during the member -item scandal.

For her part, Quinn said she was proud of the Mason Tenders endorsement. AndUnion President Mike McGuire defended the endorsement and took a shot at Thompson.

“We endorsed Chris because she has the best record and best ideas to help middle-class New Yorkers,” McGuire said. “We did not endorse Bill Thompson because his accomplishments just don’t measure up.”

Thompson’s ramped up criticism of Quinn comes as a new New York 1/Marist College survey showed the council speaker as the clear front-runner in the Democratic primary contest for mayor. The poll showed Quinn with 37 percent to 13 percent for Thompson, 12 percent for Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and 9 percent for current city Comptroller John Liu.

Thompson insiders claim the early polls ignore the support that Thompson, who is African-American, will receive in the black and Latino communities on primary day.

sgoldenberg@nypost.com

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Olympian Oscar Pistorius weeps during court appearance over girlfriend's death

AP

Oscar Pistorius weeps in court in Pretoria, South Africa Friday.

PRETORIA, South Africa — Prosecutors say they will pursue a premeditated murder charge against Oscar Pistorius as the Paralympic superstar openly wept in court Friday after being charged with shooting his girlfriend to death.

Pistorius was formally charged at Pretoria Magistrate's Court with one count of murder.

Reeva Steenkamp, a model and budding reality TV show participant, was shot and killed at Pistorius' upmarket home in an eastern suburb of the South African capital in the predawn hours of Thursday, sending the country reeling.

Pistorius stood with his face in his hands as he broke down in tears on his first court appearance.

The magistrate delayed Pistorius' bail hearing until next Tuesday and Wednesday and ruled that the 26-year-old Pistorius would be held at a Pretoria police station until then.

Pistorius' father, Henke, was in the court as was his brother Carl, sister Aimee and other supporters of the 26-year-old double-amputee athlete.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Reeva Steenkamp

Police said Friday an autopsy on the body of the victim was taking place. Lt. Col. Katlego Mogale said the results of the autopsy would not be published.

More than 100 people packed into Courtroom C at Pretoria Magistrate's Court, including dozens of photographers and videographers.

The Paralympian and Olympic athlete was earlier seen leaving a police station, his jacket completely covering his head as he got into a police vehicle.

He was holding what appeared to be a white handkerchief in one hand as he was led by officers to a police van outside the Boschkop Police Station in eastern Pretoria, where he had been questioned on Thursday and had spent the night in custody.

Police said the victim was shot four times at Pistorius' villa in a gated community. Officers found a 9 mm pistol inside the home and arrested Pistorius on a murder charge.

Pistorius made history at the London Olympics last year when he became the first double-amputee track athlete to compete at any games. He didn't win a medal but did make the semifinals of the 400 meters and the final of the 4X400 relay, propelling the world's best-known Paralympian to the level of an international track star.

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Track star Oscar Pistorius charged with murder in model girlfriend's shooting death

REUTERS

South Africa's Oscar Pistorius was one of the most inspirational athletes in the 2012 London Olympics.

South African track star Oscar Pistorius — who became an Olympic legend by becoming the first person to race on prosthetic legs — was arrested on murder charges in the shooting death of his girlfriend, stunning model Reeva Steenkamp, police said.

"FHM" cover model Reeva Steenkamp died in the shooting, her talent management firm told the Associated Press.

Pistorius apparently shot his girlfriend in the head and arm, although the circumstances surrounding the incident were unclear, Johannesburg’s Talk Radio 702 reported. He may have mistaken her for a burglar.

AP

Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp attend an awards ceremony in 2012.

Steenkamp hinted at a Valentine's Day surprise on Twitter the day before her death, writing "What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow???"

Pistorius, 26, is expected to appear in court later today.

According to Sky News, South African police are opposing any bail application by Pistorius - and police said there have been previous incidents of "a domestic nature" reported at the home.

The track icon, who races wearing carbon fiber prosthetic blades after he was born without a fibula in both legs, was the first double amputee to run in the Olympics and reached the semifinals of the 400 meters in the 2012 London Games.

Known by the nickname “Blade Runner,” Pistorius was one of the most heart-warming stories of the London Olympics.

South Africa's Sports Confederation and Olympic committee released a statement saying they had been "inundated" with requests for comment, but were not in a position to give out any details of the shooting.

"SASCOC, like the rest of the public, knows no more than what is in the public domain, which is there has been an alleged fatal shooting on the basis of a mistaken identity and an apparent assumption of a burglary," the South African Olympic committee said. "The organization is in no position to comment on the incident other than to say our deepest sympathy and condolences have been expressed to the families of all concerned."

SACOC said it would be inappropriate to comment because of the ongoing police investigation.

South Africa has some of the world’s highest rates of violent crime and some home-owners carry weapons to defend themselves against intruders.

AP and Reuters contributed to this report

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Police find charred body in burned cabin where rogue cop Christopher Dorner was holed up; police think it's him

The manhunt for a former Los Angeles police officer suspected of going on a killing spree converged Tuesday on a mountain cabin where authorities believe he barricaded himself inside, engaged in a shootout that killed a deputy and then never emerged as the home went up in flames.

A single gunshot was heard from within. San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Jodi Miller said Tuesday night that a charred body was found inside the burned-out cabin.

Investigators will use forensic tests to determine if the body belongs to Christopher Dorner. If the results are positive, the search for the most wanted man in America over the last week will have ended the way he had expected — death, with the police pursuing him. He is believed to have killed at least four people.

KABC; Inset: Splash News

HELLFIRE: Flames consume the Big Bear Lake, Calif., cabin where fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner was holed up yesterday during a police siege.

Thousands of officers had been on the hunt for the former Navy reservist since police said he launched a campaign to exact revenge against the Los Angeles Police Department for his firing. They say he threatened to bring "warfare" to officers and their families, spreading fear and setting off a search for him across the Southwest and Mexico.

"Enough is enough. It's time for you to turn yourself in. It's time to stop the bloodshed," LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith said at a news conference held outside police headquarters in Los Angeles, a starkly different atmosphere than last week when Dorner was on the loose and officials briefed the news media under heavy security in an underground hallway.

A short time after Smith spoke Tuesday, smoke began to rise from the cabin in the snow-covered woods near Big Bear Lake, a resort town about 80 miles east of Los Angeles. Flames then engulfed the building — images that were broadcast on live television around the world. TV helicopters showed the fire burning freely with no apparent effort to extinguish it.

"We have reason to believe that it is him," said San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Cynthia Bachman, adding that she didn't know how the fire started. She noted there was gunfire between the person in the cabin and officers around the home before the blaze began.

Earlier, there were conflicting reports about whether a body had been found inside shortly after the fire, with both the Los Angeles and San Bernardino authorities disputing the find in separate news conferences. But an official later told the AP a body had been seen in the rubble. The official requested anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.

Until Tuesday, authorities didn't know whether Dorner was still near Big Bear Lake, where they found his burned-out pickup last week.

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North Korea conducts third controversial nuke test, using smallest A-bomb yet

REUTERS

A monitor at the Japan Meteorological Agency's earthquake and tsunami observations division shows ground motion data from the nuclear test in North Korea.

PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korea conducted a nuclear test at an underground site in the remote northeast Tuesday, taking an important step toward its goal of building a bomb small enough to be fitted on a missile that could reach United States.

North Korea made clear that the explosion of its third atomic device — which it claimed was smaller than the ones in its previous two tests — was a warning to what it considers a hostile United States. Its actions drew immediate condemnation from Washington, the U.N. and others. Even its only major ally, China, voiced opposition.

"The test was conducted in a safe and perfect way on a high level, with the use of a smaller and light A-bomb, unlike the previous ones, yet with great explosive power," North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said.

It was a defiant response to U.N. orders to shut down atomic activity or face more sanctions and international isolation, as well as a direct message from young leader Kim Jong Un to the United States, Pyongyang's No. 1 enemy since the 1950-53 Korean War.

KCNA said the test is aimed at coping with "the ferocious hostile act of the U.S." That's a reference to what Pyongyang said was Washington's attempts to block its right to launch satellites. North Korea was punished by U.N. sanctions after a December launch of a rocket that the U.N. and Washington called a cover for a banned missile test. Pyongyang said it was a peaceful satellite launch.

The timing was significant. The test in an underground tunnel came hours before President Barack Obama was scheduled to give his State of the Union speech, a major, nationally televised address.

Obama said in a statement Tuesday that the test is "a highly provocative act" and promised to "continue to take steps necessary to defend ourselves and our allies."

The test also comes only days before the Saturday birthday of Kim Jong Un's father, late leader Kim Jong Il, whose memory North Korean propaganda has repeatedly linked to the country's nuclear ambitions. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, and in late February South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye will be inaugurated.

North Korea is estimated to have enough weaponized plutonium for four to eight bombs, according to American nuclear scientist Siegfried Hecker.

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JoePa is innocent: kin probe

The family of the late Penn State football coach Joe Paterno released the findings of their own investigation into the Jerry Sandusky child-molestation scandal yesterday — and it exonerated Paterno while blasting an earlier report by former FBI Director Louis Freeh as “fundamentally flawed.”

More than six months after Freeh’s July 2012 report accused Paterno and others of covering up Sandusky’s child abuse, the family’s report, conducted by former US Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, concluded there was no conspiracy.

“Mr. Freeh irresponsibly blamed Joe Paterno in this scandal,” wrote Paterno family attorney Wick Sollers.

He accused Freeh of “offering a flawed, one-sided viewpoint” and ripped him for not interviewing Paterno.

Freeh retorted that he stood by his conclusions and specifically said Paterno refused to meet with him while still finding time to grant interviews to a newspaper reporter and his biographer before his death in January 2012 at age 85.

Freeh called the family’s report “self-serving.”

Critique of the Freeh Report by

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Police: 4 wounded in shooting on Bourbon Street in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS — Four people were shot on the French Quarter's iconic Bourbon Street, sending people running as revelers partied Saturday night amid the countdown to Mardi Gras, police and bystanders said. But the party was back in full force hours later as crowds returned afterward.

Two males and two females were wounded just before 9:30 p.m. time, New Orleans police spokesman Frank B. Robertson said. He reported that one male was in critical condition and had undergone surgery, while the other three were in stable condition. He did not release their ages.

Robertson said detectives were working to identify a suspect and determine a motive. A police statement said the shooting occurred on the French Quarter street, but did not provide the exact location where the shots were fired. He said he had no additional information immediately.

"They're just piecing together what happened," he added. Subsequent messages left with police seeking more information were not immediately returned.

The streets were crawling with bar-hopping throngs taking in the last weekend before Fat Tuesday, the enormous party that engulfs New Orleans each year with parades, gaudy floats and merrymakers tossing trinkets and beads to the crowds.

Bourbon Street street is home to strip clubs, watering holes and second-floor balconies lined by people who throw beads to revelers below each Mardi Gras season. The street often gets so crowded that officers have to control the crowds on horseback.

Patrick Clay, 21, an LSU student, told The Times-Picayune he was standing on the corner of Bourbon Street when suddenly he saw a crowd running and people screaming that there was a shooting.

"Everyone immediately started running and the cops immediately started running toward where people were running from," Clay said. "I was with a group of about seven people and at that point we all just kind of grasped hands and made our way through the crowd as soon as possible."

Afterward, police moved in to investigate. Many revelers said they stayed hunkered down in bars and other establishments until police cleared them to move freely.

WWL-TV reported that police had obtained surveillance video from one of the establishments as part of the investigation.

"We don't know what happened but they shut down the entire block for an hour," Peter Manabani, an employee at the Rat's Hole bar, told AP as loud music thumped in the background. He said the block reopened shortly before midnight and his establishment was again thronged entering the early hours.

Early Sunday there were no signs a shooting had occurred, as revelers had returned to party mode, packing the block anew amid a heavy police presence. Many milled about, wearing beads, drinking and carousing.

"It's scary. We heard about the shooting in the cab ride down here and almost turned around but it's our first Mardi Gras and we wanted to be here," said Ashley Holleran, 19, of Allendale, N.J., visiting with a friend from New York.

Laura Gonzalez, 21, of Baytown, Texas, said it was also her first Mardi Gras and she spent some time in the Fat Catz Bar nearby as police investigated the shooting. She said the bar quickly locked its doors soon after the shooting and wouldn't let anyone in or out while police kept the crime scene clear of throngs.

Asked if it was frightening, she responded: "Not really. We were just locked in a bar and we weren't going to let this one incident wreck our party."

Parades rolled all day Saturday but none on Bourbon Street because the streets are too narrow. One of the biggest Mardi Gras parades, the Krewe of Endymion, rolled down Canal Street and just skirted Bourbon Street a few hours before the shooting. Typically, once the parades end, partygoers head to the French Quarter.

The lifeblood tourism trade is vital to New Orleans and Mardis Gras is one of the city's signature events, along with Jazz Fest and major sporting events such as the recent Super Bowl. Yet decades-old problems persist and New Orleans remains plagued by violent crime, including gun violence that soared after Hurricane Katrina clobbered the city in 2005.

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