Quinn: Squeeze on city’s middle class

The new millennium has been a bust for the middle class in New York City, according to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Quinn, a Democratic candidate for mayor, today will unveil a today that will highlight the increased costs for middle-class New Yorkers since 2001, a time frame that overlaps Mayor Bloomberg’s tenure.

But she was careful yesterday not to criticize Bloomberg, her political ally, whose third term she helped orchestrate in 2008 after he insisted his fiscal know-how could shepherd the city through the national recession.

The report makes clear that middle-class unemployment tripled to 6.2 percent since 2008; rental costs went up by 6.2 percent and condo prices increased by 47 percent since 2001; and median income for the middle class.

The report was compiled by Quinn’s finance officials.

“This is a national trend, which New York City is impacted by,” Quinn said in an attempt to avoid laying any blame at Bloomberg’s feet.

Still, she said, there are ways the city can raise employment and wages within the middle class, which the study defines as a family of four making between $66,000 and $198,000.

She declined to offer specifics, which she will release today in the speech — her final State of the City address as council speaker.

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Police: 3 wounded in shooting on Bourbon Street in New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS — Police say three people have been shot on crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans as revelers were partying during Mardi Gras.

New Orleans police spokesman Frank B. Robertson said two males and a female were shot just before 9:30 p.m. local time. He says one person is in critical condition and the other two are in stable condition. He did not release their ages.

Robertson says detectives are working vigorously to identify a suspect and determine a motive. He did not have any other details.

The streets were crawling with bar-hopping revelers as they celebrate the weekend before Fat Tuesday.

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Spit hits the fan in teach suit

A tenured Queens math teacher confessed that he spit on a rowdy student — only because the pupil shoved chewed gum into his mouth, according to a new lawsuit.

David Pecararo, a 29-year veteran teacher and an outspoken union leader, was pulled from the classroom after a video caught him arguing and spitting on a student last February.

Pecararo hit the Department of Education with a lawsuit for threatening his termination from Beach Channel HS and leaking the video to YouTube, documents show.

Pecararo insists the student “engaged in severe misbehavior,” which he says explains the spitting spat, according to court papers.

The student allegedly put a wad of gum on the teacher’s rear end, then forced it into his mouth, causing Pecararo “to spit it out immediately.”

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CIA pick the drone ranger

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s pick to run the CIA defended the administration’s extensive use of drones to kill terrorists abroad — as senators overseeing his confirmation pushed for answers about the killings.

“What we were trying to do in this administration is to take every measure possible to protect the lives of American citizens whether it be abroad or the United States,” said John Brennan, considered the architect of the drone program as Obama’s top national security adviser.

Brennan appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday just hours after the White House relented and handed over a Justice Department memo to lawmakers outlining the basis of the authority to kill American citizens abroad.

AERIAL ASSAULT: CIA nominee John Brennan, at his Senate confirmation hearing yesterday, comes out strongly for the Obama administration’s use of unmanned drones (inset) to take out terrorists.

Members of the anti-war group “Code Pink” disrupted the hearing several times at the outset, as one protester called Brennan a “traitor to democracy.” Chairman Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) stopped the hearing and had Capitol Police eject the protesters.

Brennan, who spent 25 years at the CIA, managed to dodge a series of efforts to wrestle new details about the program.

Citing one US citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, killed by a drone strike in Yemen, Brennan said al-Awlaki was an al Qaeda leader tied to at least three attacks planned or carried out on US soil, including the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, that left 13 dead.

“He was intimately involved in activities to kill innocent men, women and children, mostly Americans,” Brennan said.

When Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked Brennan whether he’d provide a list of “any and all countries” where the CIA had used its “lethal authorities,” Brennan responded, “If I were to be confirmed as director of CIA, I would get back to you.”

But Brennan balked at the suggestion of establishing a court-like system to approve drone strikes. He said defending American lives was “inherently an executive-branch function.”

Years after 9/11, the hearings shed new light on the effort to go after Osama bin Laden even before the 2001 terror attacks. Brennan defended his decision to advise against a hit on bin Laden in 1998.

“Based on what I had known at the time, I didn’t think that it was a worthwhile operation and it didn’t have a chance of success,” Brennan said under questioning from Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) about whether he now “regrets” counseling against an operation to go after bin Laden.

Brennan also raised questions during his testimony about statements from top Bush-administration CIA officials that “enhanced interrogation techniques” helped the CIA identify bin Laden’s courier, a tactic that eventually led to bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan and the operation that killed the terror leader in 2011.

Brennan said he needed to review a 6,000-page Senate report on interrogation practices to reach a judgment.

“I don’t know what the facts are or the truth is. I really need to look at that,” Brennan said.

He said there were many things in the Senate report on enhanced interrogation that he found “very concerning and disturbing.”

Brennan called waterboarding “reprehensible” and “something that should not be done,” although he said such techniques during the Bush administration saved lives.

Brennan also acknowledged, “I did not take steps to stop the CIA’s use of those techniques. I was not in the chain of command of that program.”

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NYPD Daily Blotter

Manhattan

Police are looking for a well-dressed bandit who robbed an Upper East Side bank, authorities said.

The suspect (pictured) went into the Valley National Bank on Third Avenue at East 88th Street at around 3:40 p.m. Jan. 28 and passed a demand note along with a plastic bag to the teller, police said.

The teller filled the bag with an unknown amount of cash, and the suspect fled. He was wearing a tan trench coat, a dark-blue hat and sunglasses.

***

Cops are still hunting for a robber who apparently timed his heist at a Midtown bank more than four months ago, authorities said.

The suspect (above) went into the Valley National Bank on Third Avenue at East 88th Street at around 3:40 p.m. Jan. 28 and passed a demand note along with a plastic bag to the teller, police said.

The suspect (above) walked into the Bank of America branch on West 42nd Street at Sixth Avenue at 5 p.m. Sept. 27 as the teller was counting out cash. He grabbed her hand and demanded she fork over the dough, police said. She did so, and the man made his getaway.

The suspect (pictured) walked into the Bank of America branch on West 42nd Street at Sixth Avenue at 5 p.m. Sept. 27 as the teller was counting out cash. He grabbed her hand and demanded she fork over the dough, police said. She did so, and the man made his getaway.

Staten Island

A driver was busted in Old Town after trying to flee from police, authorities said.

A detective tried to pull over Luan Husic, 20, for driving recklessly, but Husic ignored him and made a U-turn on McClean Avenue near Lampert Boulevard, court papers claim.

He then blew through a red light and three stop signs, authorities said.

When police arrested him on the corner of Old Town Road and Albright Street, he refused to exit his car and tried putting his hands under him to avoid being cuffed, the records say.

Then, when police finally subdued him, they searched his vehicle and allegedly found painkillers.

Husic was charged with reckless driving, unlawful fleeing of a police officer in a motor vehicle, resisting arrest, and criminal possession of a controlled substance, a spokesman for DA Dan Donovan said.

The Bronx

An unidentified man was shot to death in a Morrisania housing project yesterday, authorities said.

A passer-by spotted the body in the 13th-floor stairwell of 3073 Park Ave. in the Morrisania Air Rights Houses at 1:52 a.m., cops said.

The victim, who was wearing a heavy winter coat, had been shot twice in the head.

It was not immediately known what motivated the murder, cops said.

Brooklyn

A gang leader apprehended in Pennsylvania was extradited to New York for an attempted murder in Red Hook, cops said at a 76th Precinct Community Council meeting.

Calvin Stallworth, 24, allegedly shot a man on Lorraine Street near Hicks Street last March after he skipped parole in Pennsylvania, cops said.

Stallworth is a known member of a Bloods off-shoot known as the Mad Dogs, which controls parts of the Red Hook Houses, and his return to Brooklyn led to a spike in violence, authorities said.

Stallworth was charged with attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon, according to court papers.

***

A man was arrested after he threatened a cop with a knife in Sunset Park, police sources said.

Nestor Arreaga, 21, allegedly menaced the officer on the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and 47th Street at about 2:10 a.m. Jan. 26, sources said.

It was not immediately known what sparked the incident, but the cop was not hurt.

Arreaga was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, menacing, and harassment, records show.

Queens

Police yesterday released video of the thug they say slashed three men in a Jamaica subway station this week.

The suspect approached the three victims on the platform of the Jamaica Center Station at Parsons Boulevard and Archer Avenue at 3:30 p.m., Monday, cops said.

He stabbed an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old, each in the torso, and a 17-year-old in the leg, police said.

All three victims were taken to Jamaica Hospital, where each was in stable condition.

They told varying stories about what prompted the attack, so the motive is still unclear, sources said.

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Valentine ‘be mine’ gold mine

Cupid is making a comeback.

Nearly one out of four Americans — 23 percent — will spend more on this Valentine’s Day than they did last year.

Altogether, 82 percent said they would shell out at least as much as when they celebrated the most romantic day of the year in 2012, a survey by CreditDonkey found.

For men, that means an average of $84.39. Women expect to spend only $48.13.

A dinner date remains the most popular way of celebrating Feb. 14. Nearly two-thirds — 65 percent — said they planned to take their significant other out for a meal.

Also popular this year are giving chocolates (38 percent) and that old standby, flowers (37 percent).

But if you’re in a Valentine’s rut, consider some non-traditional gifts. Nearly one out of three men — but only 6 percent of women — said they wanted to receive electronics.

The survey found slightly more men want to receive a gift card, but women are nearly twice as likely to give one.

And while almost no men — just 2 percent — said they wanted to receive jewelry or flowers, 31 percent of women said they are hoping for bling and 41 percent said they want flowers.

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Schumer: Give us ‘Liberty’!

WASHINGTON — Sen. Charles Schumer demanded yesterday that the Interior Department provide a date for when the Statue of Liberty will reopen after the site sustained damage in Hurricane Sandy.

“The Statue of Liberty is still shuttered more than three months after Sandy . . . New Yorkers need to know that the end is in sight,” Schumer said. “Lady Liberty cannot be allowed to languish any longer.”

Sandy damaged Liberty Island’s docks and promenade and impaired electrical, wastewater-treatment and security-screening systems. About 400 employees have been laid off due to the closure, Schumer said.

Interior Department spokeswoman Jessica Kershaw said yesterday the landmark will reopen “as soon as it’s safe . . . and not a single second later.”

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Highway Patrol: 8 dead in Calif. tour bus crash

AP

Emergency personnel assist victims at the scene of a bus crash near Forest Falls, Calif. Sunday.

YUCAIPA, Calif. — The California Highway Patrol says eight people were killed in a collision involving a tour bus and two other vehicles.

CHP Officer Mario Lopez says eight are confirmed dead and many more are injured in the mountain highway crash about 80 miles east of Los Angeles near the town of Forest Falls.

Lopez says the collision included the tour bus, a pickup truck pulling a trailer and a sedan.

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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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Con Ed worker injured by explosion on UWS

A Con Ed worker was injured when a small electrical explosion burned his face and arms as he worked inside a tony Upper West Side apartment building, authorities said.

The explosion sent the unidentified Con Ed worker and one other injured person to New York Presbyterian Hospital/Cornell Medical Center in stable condition at about 12:50 p.m., the FDNY said.

The Con Ed worker suffered a flash burn to his face with first and second degree burns to his arms, neck and hands while working on a service box, Bob McGee, a spokesman for Con Ed said.

The other victim was burned on his hands, neck and face, FDNY officials said.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the second victim was a resident in the Windermere – an upscale building on West 92 Street and West End Avenue – but a Con Ed spokesman confirmed there was only one worker injured.

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Getting snippy at DHS vid

WASHINGTON — Don’t bring scissors to a gunfight!

Americans from coast to coast were up in arms yesterday after the Department of Homeland Security recommended brandishing scissors to fend off crazed gunmen.

Homeland Security dished out that infuriating advice in an instructional video posted on its Web site just a month after the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., The Post first reported.

“When scissors can shoot, we might consider it!” raged Connecticut resident Hercy Lord, 70.

“This is the dumbest idea ever — scissors. Fight power with power. Equal force!”

The nearly four-minute video, titled “Options for Consideration,” also advises that people who get caught in an “active shooter” situation should run away, hide under a desk or take cover out of the line of fire.

“Use scissors and crawl under a desk while some maniac is shooting up the place?” fumed Steve Becker of East Meadow, LI, who said he thinks more New Yorkers should be allowed to get concealed carry permits.

“When will the Secret Service be giving up their guns for a pair of scissors? Maybe they can carry a Swiss Army knife, which would give them a pair of scissors and a knife to defend the president with,” he added.

Department of Homeland Security officials defended the video but refused to say how much it cost.

“DHS aims to enhance preparedness through a ‘whole community’ approach by providing training, products and resources to a broad range of stakeholders on issues such as active shooter awareness, incident response and workplace violence,” said spokesman Nicole Stickel.

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Berry nice but...

You’ll have to wait just a little longer for this comeback-Berry.

BlackBerry’s last hope to maintain mobile relevance won’t hit US stores until March — still weeks away for a device that has faced many delays.

Not exactly the best way to ignite marketing momentum, it would seem.

Executives of the smartphone maker brought their roadshow to New York City yesterday, and showed off two new phones designed to reinvigorate the flagging brand.

The phones — one with a classic BlackBerry qwerty keyboard and the other with an iPhone-like screen — run on a brand new BB10 operating system more than two years in the making.

AP

BlackBerry unveiled two long-awaited smartphones yesterday, and here is how one model, the Z10 (above), stacks up against the iPhone 5.

During that time, the company fell from controlling about 20 percent of the worldwide mobile market to less than 5 percent, according to IDC.

With its full touch screen, the Z10 model, due in March, is BlackBerry’s answer to the iPhone.

The Q10 — due sometime after March — keeps the traditional keyboard experience that users mostly associate with BlackBerry.

“They’re trying, and they have a shot with a good product launch,” said analyst Colin Gillis of BGC Partners. “I just wish you could buy it in the US tomorrow — but you can’t.”

Wall Street and wireless carriers — hoping for a third viable alternative to Apple and Android phones — saw shares in the BlackBerry maker jump 4.4 percent as their 10 a.m. unveiling approached.

As CEO Thorsten Heins began to show off the phones, the shares turned around and were down 4 percent.

So much for instant reaction. Hours later, at the close, shares of Research in Motion — which will change its corporate name to BlackBerry — were down 12 percent, to $13.78.

Still, the Z10 received some good reviews and instilled some hope that BlackBerry could maintain its No. 3 smartphone position.

BlackBerry, to be sure, still has 79 million users.

At yesterday’s event, some of the brand’s most faithful customers, developers and employees were on hand for the launch — but even they were not ready to declare the company reborn.

A BlackBerry distributor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said everyone from carriers to consumers was concerned that the latest mobile devices were too late to draw back users who have moved on to iPhones or Google Android phones.

In most areas, with its touch experience, 70,000 apps, and access to movies and music, the Z10 puts BlackBerry back in the conversation.

And in at least some areas, the Z10 moves the conversation forward, with easy multitasking allowing users to swipe from one action to the next and back.

The touch keyboard won praise from critics, and the Near Field Communications chip allows for some new ways to share content with other BlackBerry 10 users.

“The keyboard is the No. 1 attribute for a lot of people, but the Q10 model — when is that available, April?” Gillis said.

By then talk will turn to Google’s latest Android and new iPhones, Gillis said.

gsloane@nypost.com

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House of shards: Street bonus woes slam NY housing market

Wall Street’s bonus blues are holding back Big Apple home prices.

While the housing market is on the mend and every other major metro area is on the upswing, New York stands out as the sole city to see an annual price decline, according to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller index released yesterday.

Home prices in the New York area were down 1.2 percent in November compared to a year ago — the only decline out of the 20 metro areas tracked by the closely watched index.

By comparison, home prices on average were up 5.1 percent from a year ago nationwide.

David Blitzer, chairman of S&P’s Index Committee, singled out the city’s shrinking financial sector as one reason it is lagging the rest of the country.

“Financial services is not in the best shape, and that has put a damper on the home prices and how people view job growth,” said Blitzer.

In fact, Wall Street bonuses have been shrinking ever since the financial meltdown.

Bonuses paid out this year are expected to decline, after falling 13.5 percent last year for work done in 2011.

“If it’s a good year for bonuses, it’s a good year for people selling real estate,” Blitzer said.

And for at least some of the well-heeled Gucci loafer set, who typically drive real-estate values in the city, bonuses could be off as much as 35 percent, according to Wall Street recruiters.

The office of New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’ estimates that the Street’s base salaries fell 9.5 percent to $362,000 last year, from $400,000.

Job growth in the Big Apple also has been relatively flat, with just about 500 jobs added in the securities sector over the past year, according to the Independent Budget Office.

That follows several rounds of deep cuts across the securities industry since the financial meltdown.

During the height of the crisis, some 140,000 jobs were lost, IBO data shows.

New York home prices held up far better than those in other major metro areas during the crisis, and the city wasn’t nearly as hard-hit as financially overheated areas like Phoenix and Atlanta, a spokeswoman with Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office noted.

The index does not factor in co-ops and condos and covers territory including Long Island, Westchester and Northern New Jersey.

Median home prices within the city’s five boroughs stand at $445,000 and $380,000 in the broader New York metro area, while national median is closer to $175,000, according to Moody’s Analytics data.

Pay within the five boroughs on average is $61,0000 and $68,000 in the broader New York area, while the national average is $53,000. according to Moody’s.

New York’s housing market is very sensitive to the metro economy, said Michael Zoller, an economist at Moody’s Analytics.

“If the metro economy isn’t producing high-paying jobs, nobody’s going to be able to pay high real-estate prices,” Zoller aid.

mark.decambre@nypost.com

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Ex-NYCiSchool principal in Regents test cheat

The former principal of the high-performing NYCiSchool improperly allowed one of her teachers to re-grade and raise scores on high school Regents exams, school investigators found.

She was among nearly 100 educators — including 17 principals, 61 teachers, seven assistant principals and nine other staffers — who have been implicated in cheating probes by the city Department of Education since 2006, according to documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act filing.

It took the Department of Education nearly 18 months to comply with The Post’s request for cheating cases confirmed by its internal investigative arm, the Office of Special Investigations — in violation of the rules governing public access to documents.

Among the recent cases, NYCiSchool principal Alisa Berger let teacher Susan Herzog re-grade the June 2010 Living Environment Regents exam by herself after they had already been graded.

Herzog said she raised the scores given to students for certain questions after clarifying proper procedures with the State Education Department.

Berger told The Post that student scores were both raised and lowered, but that no students’ grade was changed from failing to passing.

“Did I make a procedural mistake? I did. Was it cheating? Absolutely not,” said Berger, who unrelatedly left the downtown school last year.

Among the biggest cases of cheating, teachers at Hillcrest HS in Queens were found to have bumped up the scores of 255 students on the English Regents exams back in 2006.

The case was never made public and no teachers were punished because the re-scoring practice, known as “scrubbing,” wasn’t technically prohibited.

In another case, Manhattan teacher Iris Ventura helped several classrooms of 8th graders with the state’s high-stakes math exams — at the request of MS 322 principal Erica Zigelman, investigators found.

Despite the DOE’s stated no tolerance policy for cheating, they were both let off with letters of reprimand.

In 2011, Ventura was caught cheating again — this time telling four 7th graders to check their answers on the state math exams, probers found.

She was again let off with a letter in her file, and has since resigned, according to the DOE.

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The NBA is ‘net’ amused

A diehard Knick fan from Brooklyn is crying foul over the NBA’s treatment of his loyalist Web site, Knicklyn.

Amid the hype around his Manhattan team’s rivalry with the new Brooklyn Nets, Mike Sorisi, 26, created an online fan base for Knicks loyalists such as himself who live in Brooklyn, home to its first new major-league sports team in more than 50 years.

Sorisi coined the term “Knicklyn” to represent fans whose loyalty may be divided between the Knicks, one of the league’s original franchises, and the Nets in Brooklyn, one of the city’s most pride-filled boroughs.

GO TEAMS: A fan has created this Knicklyn gear.

Sorisi designed a clever logo to go with the moniker and started selling hats and stickers.

Days later, the NBA unleased a full-court press ordering him to cease and desist, claiming trademark infringement, he said.

“I kind of feel like I’m being bullied,” Sorisi said. “I’m one person operating this thing, and I need to sell goods to cover my costs.”

The NBA said Sorisi’s use of the word “Knick” is a trademark infringement, as is his logo which features a basketball that is similar to the Nets’ design.

The NBA threw its first elbow just days after Sorisi’s site went live.

“I was shocked at how fast I was contacted,” Sorisi said.

But there it was in his inbox, a missive from the National Bullies Association ordering him to shut down sales — or else.

“Your unauthorized use of NBA Intellectual Property is an attempt to capitalize on the fame and goodwill of NBA Intellectual Property — including the ‘Knicks’ name and the ‘Nets’ logo,” the league told Sorisi in the e-mail.

The note warned him to stop selling his popular hats and stickers and deliver any unsold products to the NBA.

But Sorisi said the charge is an air ball.

“They don’t own a trademark on circles,” Sorisi said. “There’s a Knickerbocker Avenue that runs through Brooklyn. They don’t own that word.”

The issue, he said, is representing fans in a unique market.

“ ‘Knicklyn’ has provided an identity for many fans like myself whose loyalty remains with the New York Knicks despite having a Brooklyn address,” Sorisi said. “Brooklyn is my home. New York is my team.”

An NBA rep said in a statement, “We have been in direct communication with the owner of the site to singularly address the sale of unlicensed merchandise using NBA trademarks, which violates league and team intellectual-property rights.

“There has been no demand for compensation or for the shutdown of his Web site.”

leonard.greene@nypost.com

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The week's winners and losers

WINNERS

REED HASTINGS

Netflix CEO finds himself leading the hottest company on the Street, gaining a jawdropping 67% last week.

MARY JOWHITE

Exprosecutor is nominated to be the new SEC chief.

HOWARD SCHULTZ

Mmm . . . Starbucks CEO savors toasty 13% rise in quarterly profit

LOSERS

TIM COOK

Cold week? Apple CEO saw stock lose roughly $70B in value in two trading days.

SEAN EGAN

SEC bars his EganJones service from rating government securities; the firm had downgraded US in July 2011.

RON JOHNSON

JCPenney boss has new pricing scheme showing savings, but it’s not a sale pricing.

REUTERS

Reed Hastings

REUTERS

Tim Cook

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Mayor: Bus-stop it!

Mayor Bloomberg brokered a sit-down between striking bus drivers and their bosses — but the factions say it’s pointless unless the city joins them at the table.

Union reps and bus owners are planning to meet at Gracie Mansion Monday, but they said the city should be there, since its new contracts are the main sticking point.

“The best way for this strike to end is with Local 1181, Mayor Bloomberg and the city’s bus companies in one room, talking candidly and in good faith,” said union boss Michael Cordiello. “Until that happens, the strike goes on.”

STRIKE OUT: A dwindling turnout of striking school-bus workers braves the cold yesterday in Red Hook —as Mayor Bloomberg rejected calls for the city to intervene in negotiations with job-security promises.

But the mayor — who has maintained that the issue is between private companies and their employees — will not have a rep there to help hammer out an agreement, a spokeswoman said. “The union is striking over the issue of employee protections. That is not something that the city can include in the contracts, and they and the bus companies must negotiate over that matter,” she said.

Bloomberg reiterated his stance yesterday on his weekly radio show. “It’s a private company that employs private-sector workers. They’ve got to negotiate something,” Bloomberg said.

“I’m sorry the people are out on strike. But they have a right to do it . . . I can’t take sides in this.”

The union is striking because it wants the city to reinstate a provision it stripped from a bid request for new contracts that ensures its workers keep their jobs regardless of which company gets the gig.

“We have been negotiating regularly with the unions over the last two weeks. But the dispute isn’t between us and the union. The dispute is between the union and the city over job protection,” said a spokeswoman for the companies.

The union claims it wanted to meet yesterday but the bus owners put it off until Monday.

One bus company, Pioneer Transportation Corp., sent a letter to union employees yesterday asking them to take pay cuts so it could submit lower bids for future contracts — in the event that the employee protections aren’t reinstated by the city.

Companies with unionized workers fear they’ll be undercut in the bidding by new companies whose employees aren’t paid union wages.

Striking workers in Brooklyn agreed the mayor needs to step up and get involved.

“Tell the mayor to fix it. He shouldn’t stay out of it,” said Marlyn Rose, 27, a bus matron for seven years.

The strike began on Jan. 16 and is the first one since 1979.

Only 2,689 routes were running in the city yesterday, out of about 7,700, the Department of Education said.

Additional reporting by Georgett Roberts

david.seifman@nypost.com

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Mayor Bloomberg blasted at candidates forum

William Miller

New York City mayoral hopeful Joseph Lhota at at a Thursday forum discussion.

It looks like Mayor Bloomberg is in for a very long campaign year.

The mayor got battered last night at a forum in the East New York section of Brooklyn that featured Republican contender Joe Lhota in his first appearance with other candidates.

The former MTA chairman offered carefully constructed responses to questions that focused on affordable housing before a packed audience at the St. Paul Community Baptist Church.

But most of his Democratic rivals, as well as Republican hopeful Tom Allon, unloaded at just about every opportunity at Bloomberg.

"It's quite possible Mayor Bloomberg does not know what mold is," mocked Comptroller John Liu when the questioning turned to the city's response to super-storm Sandy.

All six candidates agreed the city hasn't done enough to help residents still struggling to recover.

"This is a city administration that wanted to run a marathon while people were just moving into shelters and unfortunately bodies were still being found," said former Comptroller Bill Thompson.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is closest the the mayor of all those running, said mold removal should have been included in the "rapid repairs" program initiated by the city after a homeowner from Gerritsen Beach said hundreds of homes there might be lost due to spreading contamination.

Bloomberg has said that he doesn't intend to respond to every single issue raised by his would-be successors.

But Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson felt compelled to tweet last night, "Reality check-- Bloomberg at 65-23 (per cent in polls) on Hurricane Sandy performance."

The harshest attacks on the mayor came during a discussion of the Housing Authority and its embattled chairman, John Rhea.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio charged that the agency can't function well "if the mayor doesn't care about people who live in public housing. There's an old colorful Sicilian expression that says the head stinks from the head down."

Longshot GOP hopeful Tom Allon went him one better by describing Rhea as the "Cathie Black" of housing, a stinging reference to the schools chancellor appointed by the mayor who lasted 96 days.

There's not much political downside for the Democratic candidates hammering away at Bloomberg before the primary, where the electorate tends to lean to the left and the mayor is an easy target.

The one place where Bloomberg got some credit was his ambitious program to build or rehabilitate 165,000 housing units before he leaves office, the largest such project in the nation.

Every candidate pledged to keep that pace of 15,000 added apartments a year. None explained how they'd paid for them.

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Brute who mugged 98-year-old man arrested: cops

Cops arrested the brute who mugged a 98 year-old man on West 21 Street near Mermaid Avenue on January 15, police said.

Bruce Lewis, 49, followed the victim into the elevator and waited until the man reached his apartment door before attacking him, cops said.

Lewis threw the defenseless man to the ground and punched him in the face before walking off with money he snatched from his pocket, cops said.

He was charged with robbery and assault, cops said.

This wasn’t his first run-in with the law. Lewis has a long rap sheet dating back to the 1980s with several robberies, burglaries and an assault charge in 1983, cops said.

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‘Lennay’ gal rips scammer

The woman whose photo was used to dupe Manti Te’o said yesterday that the accused mastermind behind the plot called to apologize — but it’s too little, too late.

“Ronaiah [Tuiasosopo] has called and not only confessed, but he has also apologized,” Diane O’Meara told NBC’s “Today” show.

“I don’t think there’s anything he could say to me that would fix this.”

O’Meara unwittingly became the face behind “Lennay Kekua,” Te’o’s fake online girlfriend whose “death” from leukemia turned the Notre Dame grid star into an inspirational story this past season.

Diane O'Meara

O’Meara has never met Te’o, and said she and Tuiasosopo are not close despite being high-school classmates and Facebook friends.

“The past five years, [Tuiasosopo] has literally been stalking my Facebook and stealing my photos,’’ O’Meara said.

O’Meara, a LA marketing executive, told “Today,” “It’s very bizarre, and it’s a very twisted and confusing scenario.”

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