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NEW YORK (AP) - Beyonce and Madonna have been added as
performers to tonight's multi-network "Hope for Haiti Now"
telethon, and Denzel Washington, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and
former President Bill Clinton are among the participants.
A statement released Thursday said Beyonce would perform from
London, and Madonna from New York City. The list of musical
performers already includes such heavyweights as Bruce Springsteen,
Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake and
Keith Urban.
The two-hour telethon will start at 8 p.m. and be shown on all
the major networks and a host of other channels. It will be
broadcast from New York, London, Los Angeles and Haiti.
DiCaprio announced he was donating $1 million to the
Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund, the relief effort led by former Presidents
Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

PEDESTRIAN FATAL
NYC man pleads guilty in fatal hit and run

NEW YORK (AP) - A New York City man is facing a maximum of 15
years in prison for drunkenly mowing down two pedestrians while
speeding in a stolen car.
Kenneth Guyear (GOO'-yeer) pleaded guilty to manslaughter
Thursday in the February, 2009 deaths of 16-year-old Robert Ogle
and 20-year-old Alex Paul in Middle Village, Queens.
Prosecutors say the 28-year-old Guyear had just stolen a car
that had been left idling with its keys in the ignition when he
struck the two pedestrians.
Police say tests results showed Guyear's blood alcohol level was
above the legal limit.
A telephone call to Guyear's attorney, Scott Bookstein, was not
immediately returned.
Sentencing is set for Feb. 23.

POLICE-ASSAULT
Trial begins for NYC cops charged in sex attack

NEW YORK (AP) - Lawyers defending three police officers charged
in a subway station baton sex attack case portrayed the accuser as
a scammer who made up the story to get money from the city.
In opening statements Thursday, defense lawyer John Patton said
former tattoo parlor employee Michael Mineo was not sodomized by a
police baton and there was no evidence to prove Mineo's statements
that he was attacked with it in 2008. going to make a claim," said
Patton, who represents Officer Richard Kern.
One of the officers is charged with aggravated sexual abuse and
assault and the other two are accused of covering up the attack.
All three have pleaded not guilty.

NY SUSPECT PUNCHED
2 NYPD officers suspended for beating suspect

NEW YORK (AP) - New York Police Department officials say two
patrolmen were suspended after a video surfaced showing them
beating a handcuffed suspect during an undercover drug operation.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said he decided to suspend
John Cicero and William Green as soon as he saw the video shot by a
witness looking out an apartment window in the Bronx on January
5th.
Kelly said that two sergeants supervising the officers, Junior
Carela and Phillip Connor, were put on desk duty pending the
outcome of internal affairs and Bronx District Attorney's office
investigations.
The video shows Cicero and Green bending down to punch the
suspect, Jonathan Baez, who was handcuffed and face down on the
ground.

FDNY-DISCRIMINATION SUIT
Remedies ordered in NYC black firefighter case

NEW YORK (AP) - A federal judge has ordered the city to revamp
hiring practices he says kept blacks out of the New York City fire
department.
Judge Nicholas Garaufis said in written ruling on Thursday that
the FDNY must develop a new exam for applicants. He also said about
7,400 applicants who took a discriminatory test are eligible to
file claims.
The order follows a decision by the judge earlier this month
that found the fire department had intentionally discriminated
against blacks. The FNDY has about 350 black firefighters out of
11,500 total.
City officials said they were reviewing the document.

FLIGHT DIVERTED
Jet diverts to Philly over teen passenger's prayer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A Jewish teenager trying to pray on a New
York-to-Kentucky flight caused a scare Thursday when he pulled out
a set of small boxes containing holy scrolls, leading the captain
to divert the flight to Philadelphia.
When the commuter plane landed, it was greeted by police,
bomb-sniffing dogs and federal agents.
Philadelphia police day the 17-year-old on US Airways Express
Flight 3079 was using tefillin, a set of small boxes containing
biblical passages that are attached to leather straps.
When used in prayer, one box is strapped to the arm while the
other box is placed on the head.
The teen from White Plains, N.Y., explained the ritual after
being questioned by crew members of the flight, which had left
LaGuardia Airport around 7:30 a.m. headed for Louisville.
But airline officials say crew members "did not receive a clear
response" when they talked with the teen.

PLANE SPLASHDOWN-AUCTION
Hudson River miracle plane to be auctioned

NEW YORK (AP) - For sale: One severely water-damaged jet, hero
not included.
The banged-up US Airways plane that Capt. Chesley Sullenberger
deftly landed on the Hudson River a year ago after a flock of geese
disabled its engines is being auctioned off.
Insurance firm Chartis, which is holding the online auction,
describes the Airbus A320, minus its two engines, as having severe
water damage throughout the airframe and impact damage to its
underside.
Bidding on the plane, currently being held on a lot in Kearny,
N.J., continues until March 27.

HAITI-NY ARCHBISHOP
NY archbishop Haiti-bound for colleague's funeral

NEW YORK (AP) - New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan is traveling
to Haiti for the funeral of the Haitian archbishop killed in last
week's earthquake.
The New York archdiocese said Thursday that Dolan will also meet
with workers from Catholic Relief Services.
Haiti's archbishop, Joseph Serge Miot, was killed when the Jan.
12 earthquake collapsed the cathedral in Port-au-Prince. His
funeral is scheduled for Saturday.
The archdiocese says Dolan will travel Friday on a donated
private jet with supplies for earthquake victims. He is expected
back in New York on Sunday.
On Thursday night, Dolan participated in a Mass for victims of
the earthquake. The Mass was at St. Joseph's Church in the heavily
Haitian populated village of Spring Valley.

TAX SHELTER SENTENCE
2 ex-Ernst & Young partners sentenced to prison

NEW YORK (AP) - Two former partners of the accounting firm Ernst
& Young each have been sentenced in New York to more than two years
in prison after they were convicted of criminal tax shelter
charges.
Robert Coplan and Martin Nissenbaum were sentenced Thursday in
federal court in Manhattan. Coplan was sentenced to three years in
prison while Nissenbaum received a 2-and-a-half year prison term.
They were among four defendants convicted last May of
conspiracy, tax evasion and other charges related to the design,
marketing and implementation of tax shelters sold by Ernst & Young.
Prosecutors said the tax shelters generated billions of dollars
in paper tax losses that were used to offset actual income. Tax
shelters are used by wealthy individuals to eliminate, reduce or
defer tax liabilities on annual income.

RARE URN
Rare urn debuts at NYC's Winter Antiques Show

NEW YORK (AP) - A rare 7-ton solid marble vase designed by the
sculptor who created Rockefeller Center's "Prometheus" and carved
by artisans in New York City's South Bronx has had its first public
display.
American sculptor Paul Manship's 9-foot-tall artwork "Urn" was
installed in 1916 on a private estate in Ohio. It is on display at
the 56th Winter Antiques Show in New York City. The show runs until
Jan. 31.
Alice Duncan, director of Manhattan's Gerald Peters Gallery,
which owns the urn, says its ties to the artists who created
several city landmarks make it worth its $6 million price.
The Piccirilli brothers, best known for the massive statue of
Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.,
carved the urn from pink Tennessee marble.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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