$300k in wine stolen from famed Napa Valley restaurant

Vino, vidi, vici!

Some sticky-fingered wine snobs broke into a California eatery dubbed the "best restaurant in the world," stealing only the most expensive bottles, including some worth $15,000 a pop.

In all, they lifted 76 bottles valued at a total of $300,000 from The French Laundry restaurant in the Napa Valley town of Yountville north of San Francisco, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The restaurant's owner, Thomas Keller, who also runs Per Se in Hell's Kitchen, bemoaned the loss of his valuable vino.

"Specific wines of specific value were stolen," Keller tweeted about the Christmas Day heist, asking for help from anyone with possible info to spill.

"We ave complete trust in the authorities leading the investigation & welcome any information our community may have."

The haul included three bottles from the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti winery in Burgundy, France, worth at least $15,000 each.

After Christmas Eve, the establishment closed its doors for six months to ­undergo renovations.

The restaurant is one of only 13 in the United States to receive a coveted three-star rating from Michelin and was called "the best restaurant in the world, ­period!" by chef Anthony Bourdain.

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No. 15 St. John’s kicks off Big East slate against rival Seton Hall

Now we truly find out about St. John's.

Are the Johnnies really this good, No. 15 in the nation good? Are they 11-1 good? Capable of beating anyone in the nation good?

The season begins for real Wednesday at noon, when the Red Storm visit the Prudential Center to take on Seton Hall, off to an impressive start of its own, to kick off the Big East conference season. That's followed by two more interesting tests at the Garden, Butler Saturday afternoon and No. 6 Villanova on Tuesday.

"I'm pleased with the development of our team yet we realize we have to continue to improve," St. John's coach Steve Lavin said Tuesday.

St. John's — off to its best start since 1985-86 — isn't talking big so far this year. The Johnnies, winners of seven straight games, are letting their impressive play do the talking. The ranking hasn't gone to their heads. Since breaking into the top 25, in fact, they have played even better, winning their last five games by an average of 18.2 points.

"They're arguably the best team in the Big East right now," Seton Hall coach Kevin Willard said. "I love the way St. John's is playing as a team, both offensively and defensively."

While young and inexperienced Seton Hall (10-2) will be without star freshman Isaiah Whitehead (broken foot) — the McDonald's All-American from Coney Island who picked Seton Hall over St. John's — and have looked overmatched against their top two opponents, No. 16 Wichita State and Georgia, the Red Storm aren't taking them lightly. Said Lavin, "If we don't execute at a high level we will be shellacked again."

"We know it's going to be a tough game," St. John's senior D'Angelo Harrison said. "They're right up the street, so with all the talk since Big East media day, we just want to go in there and get the 'W.' "

Though that may be a stretch, it's hard to argue with anything Lavin has said or done this season. Senior forward Sir'Dominic Pointer and junior forward Chris Obekpa have taken major leaps after being pushed in the offseason coming off down years. Senior Jamal Branch has provided a steadying hand at point guard since replacing talented though inconsistent sophomore Rysheed Jordan in the starting lineup.

Jordan, too, has provided glimpses of his immense talent off the bench, scoring 25 points in a rout of Fordham.

"Jamal and Rysheed give us a terrific playmaking and shot-making tandem," Lavin said.

Not only is St. John's not taking bows for its big start, the only loss, a seven-point setback to No. 7 Gonzaga at the Garden, still stings.

"After the Preseason NIT, we let one of the top teams in the country slip away," Harrison said, referring to the loss to Gonzaga. "We were right there and we should've had that one. We should be 12-0 but we let that slip away. It gave us fire for the next few games until now."

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Accused slasher of ‘Mob Wives’ beau surrenders to cops

Rodolfo "Rudy" LopezPhoto: NYPD

A man accused of slashing the face of a "Mob Wives" star's boyfriend has turned himself in, police said.

Rodolfo "Rudy" Lopez — who allegedly sliced "Mob Wife" Natalie Guercio's beau on Sunday in Brooklyn — was jolted after catching a glimpse of himself on a TV news segment, a law-enforcement source said.

Lopez, 35, of Jersey City, surrendered to cops at the 94th Precinct in Williamsburg on Tuesday. He is charged with felony assault, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon.

Lopez allegedly slashed the curvy reality star's boyfriend, London Rene, 37, outside the trendy Club Output on Wythe Avenue near North 12th Street, leaving him with gashes requiring more than 250 stitches.

On Sunday, Guercio posted pictures of Rene's bloody face at Woodhull Hospital on social media.

Lopez and Rene are believed to be acquaintances.

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Donovan favored to succeed Grimm in Congress

Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan — the prosecutor in the controversial Eric Garner chokehold case — on Tuesday all but declared his candidacy to succeed soon-to-resign Rep. Michael Grimm.

In a statement, Donovan said he was "very seriously considering" running.

The congressman announced his resignation effective next Monday after pleading guilty to federal tax-evasion charges.

Donovan immediately became the favorite — and was endorsed by fellow Republicans, including former Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari and City Council GOP leader Vincent Ignizio.

Molinari even said he would run Donovan's campaign because Donovan "can't lose." In the 1990s, the DA served as Molinari's chief-of-staff at Borough Hall.

Republican Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis has also expressed an interest in running.

On the Democratic side, former Rep. Mike McMahon, who was defeated by Grimm in 2010, is eyeing a return. Assemblyman Mike Cusick was also being mentioned as a possible contender.

But strategists said it would be difficult for any Democrat to take on Donovan, despite a firestorm of criticism that he did not obtain a grand-jury indictment against the officer in the Garner case.

"Donovan is going to be hard to beat. His profile matches the district. This is a very pro-police district," said political consultant Hank Sheinkopf.

Grimm offered his resignation after getting a phone call from GOP House Speaker John Boehner on Monday.

It will be up to Gov. Cuomo to set a date for a special election.

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Daily Blotter

Bronx

Police are looking for a thug who beat and tried to rob an elderly man on a Bedford Park street. The assailant grabbed the 67-year-old victim from behind and threw him to the ground on Briggs Avenue near East 197th Street last Saturday at about 2:20 p.m. in an attack which was caught on surveillance video. The thug then punched the man several times as he lay helpless on the ground before hurling him against a parked car and attempting to take his belongings, cops said. A second suspect in a red hooded sweatshirt, who acted as lookout, can be seen in the video before fleeing with the attacker. The men ran off empty handed and the victim was taken to Montefiore Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition, cops said.

Brooklyn

A man from Prospect-Lefferts Gardens who was shot while seated in his idling minivan earlier this month has died, authorities said. Calvin George, 43, was sitting in his Honda Odyssey on Rogers Avenue near Lenox Road at about 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 15, when a gunman walked up to the window and shot him in the neck, cops said. George, who lived on the block, succumbed to his injuries Monday at Downstate Hospital, officials said. The shooter, believed to be about 5-foot-9, was last seen wearing a brown jacket and black pants. Investigators have yet to identify a motive in the slaying.

Manhattan

A brute grabbed a 45-year-old woman and attacked her with a beer bottle outside a jail in Washington Heights on Christmas morning, police said. A video of the assault shows the suspect dragging the woman on a sidewalk outside the Edgecombe Correctional Facility on West 163rd Street and Edgecombe Avenue at about 7:50 a.m., cops said. He then cracked a beer bottle over her head and continued to hit her with it, police said. The victim fled to safety in the jail and alerted authorities, cops said. She was taken to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in stable condition, authorities said. The suspect, described as a 6-foot-1 man in his 40s, was last seen wearing black jeans, boots and a black jacket.

This man is suspected of breaking into a luxury Midtown hotel room where a 79-year-old woman was sleeping and emptying her purse, police said. The suspect entered The New York Palace on Madison Avenue on Nov. 19 at about 11:45 p.m., cops said. The burglar went through the woman's bag and took $100 in cash, a credit card, and jewelry, cops said. The suspect, believed to be in his mid-20s, was caught on elevator security surveillance wearing black dress shoes, a black overcoat and blue jeans, cops said.

Queens

Cops have arrested two suspects in the fatal shooting of a romantic rival in Richmond Hill on Christmas Day, police sources said. Abu Quick, 23, and Jamar Alexander, 25, allegedly gunned down 20-year-old James Bryant near 126th Street and 89th Avenue just before 2:35 p.m., authorities said. First responders rushed Bryant to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead from a single gunshot to the neck. Police sources said it's believed Bryant had been feuding with Quick and Alexander over a woman. Quick and Alexander were arrested Monday, and charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

Staten Island

A Port Richmond man drunkenly slammed into the rear of another car, according to a Criminal Court complaint. Seth Wolchok, 43, was standing near the driver's side door of his 2004 Chevy Malibu at Clove Road and Fairway Lane when police arrived on Dec. 23 at about 9:15 p.m., law-enforcement sources said. The keys were in the ignition and officers saw rear-end damage to a gray Ford SUV, cops said. "I was driving and I didn't realize that she had her signal on to make a left," Wolchok said. He had bloodshot eyes and was slurring his speech, cops said. Wolchok was charged with driving while intoxicated and driving while ability impaired, the documents state.

A senior citizen admittedly downed six shots of vodka in a Mariners Harbor bar before getting into a car crash and fleeing the scene, law-enforcement sources said. Verner Garrison, 74, crashed into a white Ford at the corner of Forest Avenue and Harbor Road last Friday at about 7 p.m., injuring the driver, a Criminal Court complaint states. Garrison ran off, but was caught nearby.
"I was driving from my buddy's bar," Garrison told cops, according to court papers. Garrison was charged with driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident.

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Father and son in lawsuit over Juice Press stores

Stop the juice presses!

A war over fruit and vegetable drinks is under way in the Big Apple, with a father and son in a legal rhubarb over their competing health stores.

Marcus Antebi, 45, who founded the celebrity-magnet Juice Press stores mushrooming around the metropolitan area, complains in court papers that his dad, David, is displaying competing signs and serving unapproved menu items at the father's Upper East Side Juice Press franchise.

Marcus says he expanded the company to 25 stores, selling healthy beverages such as the $11 Doctor Green Juice. In 2011, he brought his retired dad into the fold with his own franchise.

David sued his son in October over an outpost he planned to open in Florida.

The rift widened when David, 72, hung a sign in the window of his Third Avenue store boasting: "We are the only independently owned and operated Juice Press store in the chain. We hope you will continue to purchase all your juices, smoothies and food from us."

Marcus' company is now countersuing to force David to take down the sign — and remove unapproved items from his menu, including the Chia Fireball juice and the Apple Cobbler.

David called the countersuit "a phony defense,'' insisting, "It's a simple sign thanking our customers.''

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Elderly man in critical condition after almost drowning in Jacuzzi

An elderly man nearly drowned Sunday in a Jacuzzi at a Queens spa.

A group of women taking pictures spotted the man, in his 70s, alone and unconscious in the 3-foot-deep outdoor Jacuzzi at the Spa Castle in College Point. He was rushed to Flushing Hospital in critical condition.

"The Jacuzzi was bubbly and there was lots of steam," said witness Mariah Garcia, 20. "So it was hard for anyone to see him. He was underwater, face-down."

Spa Castle's new Manhattan unit was cited in a lawsuit brought by neighbors at a Park Avenue condo who complained about nudity.

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Man accused of threatening cop was her personal trainer

A Brooklyn man accused of targeting a cop with a chilling threat that mirrored one posted by the killer who assassinated two NYPD officers was not some random dumbbell — he was the officer's personal trainer, The Post has learned.

The day after Ismaaiyl Brinsley murdered two police officers after writing on Instagram, "They Take 1 Of Ours….. Let's Take 2 of Theirs," Clifton Jean-Pierre sent NYPD drug cop Katrina Weekes and eight other people a text message that read, "FOR EVERY ONE THEY KILL, WE KILL TWO," court papers state.

Unlike Brinsley, Jean-Pierre, 36, knew his target, meeting Weekes months before at Blink Fitness in Flatbush, where he had recruited her as a client, law-enforcement sources said.

From April through June, he trained her twice a week, learning she was a cop, sources said.

Weekes called Jean-Pierre about the text, and he replied he "doesn't care" and "did mean it," sources said, adding he began bawling and hung up.

When Weekes called back, Jean-Pierre claimed that she wasn't the one he was targeting but that if she wanted to be his first, she could be, law-enforcement sources said.

The alleged threats sparked a major NYPD response, with snipers sent to Weekes' precinct, the 77th, and several others in Brooklyn, court papers say.

Jean-Pierre, who, court records say, kidnapped and stabbed a man, was busted Dec. 23 and arraigned the next day on terroristic-threat and harassment raps and held on $100,000 bail. He is slated to be in Brooklyn Criminal Court Monday.

In the kidnapping case, Jean-Pierre and five others forced a man into a car at gunpoint and snatched his debit card and $465 in cash, court papers say.

The thugs beat and stabbed him, forcing him in the trunk after failing to withdraw any money with his debit card, court papers and sources say.

The crew dropped him off in a Suffolk County alley after trying in vain to extract a ransom, law-enforcement sources said.

Jean-Pierre, who advertises "total body" workouts, pleaded guilty to kidnapping in 2006 and did six years in prison before he was paroled in late 2012.

The lawyer who represented him at his arraignment didn't return a call for comment.

Meanwhile, cops are investigating threats by a man overheard saying Brinsley "killed the wrong cops" and, "Two white cops should've been killed," law-enforcement sources said.

The alleged threat echoes one that cops say Elvin Payamps, of Queens, made last week. He was being held on $500,000 bail.

Nine men have been arrested for threatening police since cops Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos were killed on Dec. 20.

Additional reporting by Larry Celona

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Secretive club holds city’s oldest continuous liquor license

They've been pouring it on — legally — since Prohibition ended.

The city's oldest liquor license belongs to an Upper East Side club, a spirited review of state booze permits reveals.

The private Harmonie Club at 4 E. 60th St. has the city's oldest continuous liquor license.

The secretive club — which once counted Mayor Bloomberg as a member — was founded in 1852, but its license dates back to 1933, since all permits were null and void during Prohibition between 1920 and 1933, data shows.

Although Nathan's is best known for its hot dogs and gluttonous Fourth of July eating contest, the Coney Island institution has New York's oldest beer license, dating back to 1934, according to state records pored over by Pratt Institute Professor Ben Wellington.

Nearly all of New York's oldest watering holes have changed ownership over the years, and new proprietors often get their own license, so the data do not reveal which bar is the city's oldest.

" You always hear about this place or that place being the absolute oldest," Wellington said, explaining his motive for this study.

"But I found that places have changed hands, so places you think were the oldest really didn't make it."

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Daily Blotter

A man was shot four times in Mott Haven — and lived, authorities said Sunday. The 20-year-old victim was feuding with a group of four or five men on Brook Avenue near East 147th Street at about 2 a.m. Saturday when one of the men lost his cool and pulled out a gun, according to police. The shooter blasted the victim four times in the torso and right leg, and the group fled, law-enforcement sources said. Despite his wounds, the victim was in stable condition at Lincoln Medical Center. The motivation for the shooting was not known, police said.

Police on Sunday were trying to identify the gunman who opened fire on the Sheale Deli Grocery in Foxhurst. The thug, about 18 years old, fired two rounds into the bodega on Prospect Avenue near East 166th Street at around 9 p.m. Friday, according to authorities. The bullets struck the front door and a wall, but missed workers and customers inside the store, police added.
The gunman was caught on surveillance video wearing a black Arizona Diamondbacks baseball cap, a black jacket and black jeans, according to cops.

Brooklyn

A masked bandit robbed an East New York deli at gunpoint, police said Sunday. The crook, dressed head-to-toe in black, walked into the Franciely Grocery on Glenmore Avenue near New Jersey Avenue at about 5:05 p.m. Saturday, pointed his gun at a worker and demanded cash, according to law-enforcement authorities. The clerk forked over about $400 and the thief fled, authorities said. The worker was not injured. The crook is in his 20s and stands about 6-foot-1, cops said.

A teen was shot during a basketball game in a Crown Heights housing development, officials said Sunday. The 18-year-old victim was part of a large group hanging out on the court in NYCHA's Kingsborough Houses near Bergen Street at about 10:15 p.m. Saturday when a tussle broke out, police said. During the fracas, someone pulled out a gun and opened fire, hitting the victim in the stomach, according to cops. The teen was rushed to Brookdale Hospital in stable condition. The group scattered and the gunman is still at large, police said.

Staten Island

A fraudster withdrew hundreds of dollars from a woman's bank account, authorities said Sunday. The thief used the 20-year-old victim's ATM card to siphon $800 from her account at a Chase branch in lower Manhattan at 7:50 p.m. on Oct. 25, cops said. It's not clear how the crook came into possession of the victim's card, although it's not believed they are known to each other, according to police sources. The thief was caught on surveillance video at the bank wearing a dark hoodie with a white, heart-shaped logo on the front.

Queens

A teen is clinging to life after being shot in the head in South Ozone Park, police said Sunday. The 18-year-old was in a fight with another man outside a home on 140th Street near 133rd Avenue at about 2:30 p.m. Saturday, cops said. As the argument escalated, the shooter whipped out a gun and pumped a bullet into the teen's head, police said. The gunman ran off, leaving the critically injured victim on the ground. He was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital. The thug was wearing a red sweater and blue jeans, cops said.

Manhattan

He's no Santa Claus. A crook broke into a Hell's Kitchen apartment using a ladder he propped up against a neighboring church, and then attacked an elderly woman inside, cops said Sunday. The daredevil thief made his way onto a fifth-floor balcony of the building on West 57th Street near Ninth Avenue at about 5 p.m. Saturday, and let himself in, according to police. Once inside the apartment, he confronted the 75-year-old and 78-year-old tenants, and demanded money, according to cops. The plucky 78-year-old woman tried to fight off the home invader, but the creep overtook her, punching and kicking her before fleeing with about $300, police sources said. She was not seriously injured. The thug, about 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds, was wearing a brown skullcap, cops said.

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Port Authority staffers double salary with overtime

Some 131 Port Authority staffers worked so much overtime that they doubled their salaries in the first nine months of the year, records reveal.

Of that total, 13 PA police officers reportedly worked an average of 46 hours of overtime each week and are on pace by year's end to earn more than PA Executive Director Pat Foye, whose salary is $289,000.

The agency's highest paid worker, Officer Morris Cofield, collected $172,579 in overtime through September in addition to his $90,000 salary by working an estimated 59 extra hours each week, the Record of Hackensack reported.

PA Commissioner Kenneth Lipper, who proposed linking raises for department heads who curbed OT payments, recently said "the whole system needs a top-to-bottom overhaul."

State legislatures in New York and New Jersey unanimously passed bills that would crack down on political patronage among Port Authority appointees, require board members to promise loyalty to the authority instead of the governors and require meetings and records be open to the public.

Neither Gov. Cuomo nor Gov. Chris Christie had signed off on the bill as of Friday.

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Shoppers hit the stores for after Christmas returns and bargains

Season's leavings!

Department store crowds ditched unwanted Christmas presents on Friday — while others flocked to eBay to rid themselves of ugly sweaters, gaudy watches and out-of-style coats.

One in three Americans expect to toss back at least one gift this holiday season, according to a consumer survey by RetailMeNot.com.

At a Marshalls in Harlem, Loza Beyene, 45, was among the mobs of shoppers exchanging unwanted presents on Friday, the second-busiest shopping day of the year.

"I didn't like it," said the mom, holding up a cheap-looking multicolored blouse her daughter, Gabriella Zelenke, 17, and Zelenke's grandmother bought her from Marshalls.

"This is cheap. I wanted something more expensive. I like brand names — Michael Kors, Anne Klein, Diesel. I wanted something I can show off and say, 'Look what my daughter gave me,' " said Beyene, who planned to trade in the rejected shirt for a wallet.

From the break of dawn Friday, crowds queued outside department stores ready to trade in unwanted presents and snatch up heavily discounted merchandise.

"I'm excited! I came here early [6:30 a.m.] because the cheapest goes the fastest," said Ibsen Cunha, 27, visiting New York from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on his honeymoon.

"We came with one [suitcase] and we need to buy at least four more," the gleeful Macy's shopper revealed.

Door-buster sales at Macy's had also attracted Devon Kelly, 50, a property manager from Queens.

He bought deeply discounted Christmas presents for friends he hadn't seen yet and exchanged his sister's unwanted boots for a cheaper — and hopefully better — pair.

"I saved $27 on that. I'm feeling great! I have money going back into my account," Kelly bragged.

Some jilted gift-givers are less than pleased to see their presents rejected.

Terrence Murray, 26, of Harlem balked when his girlfriend wanted to return the stocking-stuffer hairbrush he bought her.

"When she said she was going to return it, I said no because it is a gift. You shouldn't be picky."

Murray later caved and took his girlfriend to get their money back.

"It is Christmas, and I want her to be happy. But I let her do the dirty work and return it!"

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Cheetah’s owner stiffed his strippers: suit

A strip-club owner is getting sued for grabbing his dancer's tips for himself.

Two ex-strippers at Cheetah's Gentlemen's Club & Restaurant in Times Square slapped Sam Zherka — who is already under indictment for lying on a loan application — with a class-action lawsuit in Manhattan federal court on Friday, claiming he denied his dancers legal wages.

Following the blueprint of similar suits that have recently brought in multimillion paydays for plaintiffs, the ex-strippers allege Cheetah's is breaking the law by classifying dancers as independent contractors — not in-house employees — to avoid paying minimum wage and overtime.

The jiggle joint's entertainers are also illegally forced to shell out "house fees" to perform and aren't reimbursed for mandatory clothing expenses, the suit says.

Justin Swartz, who represents the dancers, said thousands of strippers who strutted their stuff at Cheetah's over the past six years are eligible to join the class-action lawsuit.

Prosecutors say Zherka allegedly made off with more than $146 million in loans from three banks between 2005 and 2010 by lying on applications. He's also charged with participating in a decade-long tax-fraud scheme, threatening a potential government witness in April 2012 and other crimes.

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Cubans eye $2M reward for ratting out cop-killer

HAVANA, Cuba — Cop-killer Joanne Chesimard may hold a special place in Fidel Castro's heart — but ordinary Cubans eyeing a $2 million reward would rat her out in a heartbeat, several told The Post.

"A Cuban would sell out his mother for that kind of money. Money is what talks," declared Carlos, a Havana merchant.

"A Cuban will sell you out for 5 pesos. Imagine $2 million," added Juan, a hotel worker in the capital.

Few Cubans interviewed even knew Chesimard was in the country — and those who did were clueless about the $2 million reward posted by the New Jersey State Police and the FBI.

Chesimard, 67, a Black Panther and member of the Black Liberation Army, was convicted in the 1973 murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster during a shootout on the Jersey Turnpike.

She was sent to prison but busted out in 1979 with help from other black militants, and has lived in Cuba since 1984.

Frank, a cabdriver, told The Post that plenty of his countrymen would turn in Chesimard — who is also known as Assata Shakur, and is the aunt of the late rapper Tupac Shakur.

"There are a lot of dissidents that live here that would. I'm not surprised that's she being hidden," he said.

One local named Nelson was so interested when told about Chesimard and the bounty on her head he started his own search.

A day later he told The Post: "I spoke to many people. No one knows where she is. Only people high up in government know."

None of those who spoke wanted their last names used.

"You have to understand the Cubans — they have to be very careful of what they say. Because the agents, they're everywhere and they are very good at what they do," Frank, the cab driver, said.

New Jersey cops were hopeful Chesimard would be brought to justice following President Obama's announcement earlier this month that he intends to normalize relations with the country.

"We view any changes in relations with Cuba as an opportunity to bring her back to the United States to finish her sentence for the murder of a New Jersey state trooper," State Police Superintendent Colonel Rick Fuentes said.

Additional US reporting by Bob Fredericks and Geoff Earle

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Moscow college launches DNA databank project

There are no biblical floods in the forecast, but Russian scientists plan to build the Noah's Ark of modern biology — complete with DNA samples from every creature on earth.

To create the epic time capsule, Russia's Moscow State University scored $194 million in grant money — the country's largest fund for science ever — to freeze and store the genetic goodies for possible use in the future, the TASS Russian News Agency reported.

"If it's realized, this will be a leap in Russian history as the first nation to create an actual Noah's Ark of sorts," said Viktor Sadivnichy, of MSU. "It will involve the creation of a depository — a databank for the storing of every living thing on Earth, including not only living, but disappearing and extinct organisms . . . This is the challenge we have set for ourselves," he said.

He added, "It will enable us to cryogenically freeze and store various cellular materials, which can then reproduce. It will also contain information systems. Not everything needs to
be kept in a Petri dish."

The program's target date for operation is 2018, Sadivnichy said. It will be stocked with biological materials from all of the university's branches, including the Botanical Garden, the Anthropological Museum, the Zoological Museum and others.

All of the departments will be tasked with collecting materials.

The university hopes the project excites younger generations of scientists, Sadivnichy said.

It's not the first time scientists abroad have floated ideas centering on the classic Noah's Ark Bible tale.

In 2004, the Zoological Society of London and ­Nottingham University launched a Frozen Ark project to preserve all endangered life forms to prepare for "sixth mass extinction" — in which animals disappear from the earth at a high rate.

The project, which was the first of its kind, was inspired by the theory that scientists will someday use cloning technologies to revive extinct species.

In the Bible, Noah builds a gigantic ark to save his family and all of the world's ­animals from a great flood.

The Russian project — which will require much less carpentry — will be located in the Research and Technology Valley wing of the university.

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What’s New On VOD: ‘Gone Girl’ And More

The weekend is here, the holidays are almost over, and you finally have some down time. Time to check out what's just been added to Vudu, iTunes, and other on-demand platforms as awards season gets underway.

WATCH FIRST: Gone Girl

Now you can watch the David Fincher thriller starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike from the comfort of home before awards season is in full swing. Anne Dunne (Pike) vanishes from her home after what looks like a homicide, leaving her husband, Nick (Affleck), in a whirlwind of confusion and blame. As tensions mount between Nick and authorities, the question grows more pressing: did he do it? [Watch Gone Girl on iTunes]

WATCH NEXT: The Drop

See James Gandolfini in his final film role alongside Tom Hardy. Bob (Hardy) finds himself in the middle of a robbery gone wrong, forcing him to pay his Cousin Marv (Gandolfini) a favor. [Watch The Drop on Vudu]

FOR THE KIDDIES: The Boxtrolls

An orphan raised by Boxtrolls, or cave-dwelling trash collectors, must help save his make-shift family from an evil exterminator. [Watch The Boxtrolls on iTunes]

Popular titles added earlier this month:

Annabelle
Atlas Shrugged
The Babadook
Black or White
Boyhood
The Canal
The Captive
The Color of Time
Comet
Currency
Dying of the Light
The Equalizer
Free the Nipple
Get On Up
Goodbye to All That
The Good Lie
The Guest
The Hundred-Foot Journey
I Origins
The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness
Levitated Mass
Magic in the Moonlight
The Maze Runner
Men, Women, and Children
Miss Meadows
Potential Inertia
The Skeleton Twins
A Small Section of the World
Son of a Gun
Subterranean
Tell
This Is Where I Leave You
The Trip to Italy
Trovadores
Tusk
U2: Films of Innocence
A Walk Among the Tombstones

Feeling overwhelmed by all that the world of streaming has to offer? Enter Decider Streamline. It's our weekly video that will feature our top five picks for what you should be streaming this week.

Like what you see? Follow Decider on Facebook and Twitter to join the conversation, and sign up for our email newsletters to be the first to know about streaming movies and TV news!

Photos: Everett Collection

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Takeoff delayed after man brings fireworks on plane

A packed, Atlanta-bound jet taxiing for take off at La Guardia Airport Thursday evening had to turn back to the gate after officials learned a passenger had illegal fireworks in his checked luggage.

The TSA discovered the contraband but inexplicably waited until the jet left the gate before notifying Port Authority cops, a law-enforcement official said.

"It appears to be TSA incompetence,'' the official said.

The passenger, Emmanuel Alexis Jr., was taken into custody and allegedly told cops he was going to use the fireworks for a celebration in Haiti, his final destination.

Then he asked stunned officers, "What about my other'' luggage?

Cops opened at least one additional bag and said they discovered other fireworks that had also been overlooked by the TSA.

Officials said the cache was so large, they believe it was destined for resale.

Passenger Casey Kreher recalled that the jet had to be evacuated and "swept," but despite the two-hour delay, everyone was "surprisingly congenial.''

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Love triangle turns deadly in shootout

A love triangle turned deadly in Queens on Christmas day, leaving a 20-year-old man fatally shot on a busy Richmond Hill street corner, police said.

James A. Bryant, 20, of Queens, was shot in the neck by his rival — whose name was not immediately released — at the corner of 126th Street and 89th Avenue at just after 2:30 p.m.

The two had argued earlier in the day about a woman, police said. The shooter was still at large early Friday.

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Woman raped and robbed on Christmas morning

First he wished her a merry Christmas.

A depraved, violent thug made small talk with a 51-year-old woman at a secluded Bronx bus stop early Christmas morning– even wishing her "Merry Christmas" — and then bludgeoned and raped her, police sources told The Post.

By early Friday morning, police were still looking for the suspect, a man in his 30's who approached his victim on Boston Road near Pelham Parkway in the pre-dawn darkness at 6:20 a.m.

After making his holiday greeting, he punched the woman in the face and dragged her into a secluded area, raping her before fleeing with her pocketbook.

The woman was taken to Jacobi Hospital for minor injuries.

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Taylor Swift’s top 15 Instagrams of 2014

One look at Taylor Swift's Instagram and it's obvious she's had a killer 2014: spending time with famous friends, climbing the charts with "1989" and really getting into her Polaroid camera. Here, her top 15 Instagrams of the year:

Feb. 11: Taylor's team gathered together for the chopping of her now-iconic blond lob, a hair transformation that cemented her status as a style icon for the rest of the year.

Haircut.

A video posted by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Feb 2, 2014 at 3:01pm PST

March 5: Taylor and model twin Karlie Kloss took quite possibly the most fashionable trip to Big Sur, Calif., documenting their friendship in filtered photos.

May 5: Taylor and Karlie touched up their looks before making a stunning entrance on the red carpet at the 2014 Met Gala.

May 13: The Lena/Taylor (Laylor? Tena?) friendship got even better with this birthday wish from Taylor showing the two having a picnic.

June 18: Taylor added to her inner circle in a major way — in the form of her new cat, Olivia Benson.

 
July 4: Taylor hosted the ultimate Fourth of July party at her home in Rhode Island, complete with stars Emma Stone, Lena Dunham, Ingrid Michaelson and Jaime King.

Family portrait.

A photo posted by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Jul 7, 2014 at 8:38am PDT

July 19: Settling into her New York life, Taylor earned her wings in Soho.

Sept. 27: Taylor questioned if she's related to Swedish DJ Avicii after recognizing major similarities.

Oct. 11: The "1989" secret sessions began, with Taylor giving fans an exclusive listen to her new album and an inside look at her Nashville, NYC, LA and Rhode Island homes (with another session in London). Mass quantities of Insta-worthy Polaroids followed quickly.

Oct. 21: Taylor revealed the true extent of her cat obsession by slipping on this purr-fect robe on a plane.

Oct. 31: Swift's album, "1989," debuted this week, and so did her whirlwind (and worldwide) publicity tour. Still, she found a moment to dress as a pegacorn on Halloween.

Nov. 5: Taylor shared the ultimate flashback.

Dec. 2: Taylor took over the Victoria's Secret fashion show for the second year in a row, joining Ariana Grande, Ed Sheeran and Hozier.

Dec. 12: Taylor took a walk down memory lane.

Dec. 13: Taylor wrapped up her year on Instagram with one of the best: a snap from her 25th birthday party, which included Karlie Kloss, Haim, Jay Z, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake and Sam Smith after the Z100 Jingle Ball — you know, just your typical get-together.

Here's to a 2015 full of more fabulous friends, fashion and cats — all of the cats please, Taylor.

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State taxpayers to cover $2.4M in Bruno criminal defense costs

Former state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno should check his stocking for a generous $2.4 million gift from the state after beating federal corruption charges in May.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman begrudgingly approved the reimbursement Wednesday after determining state employees are entitled to reimbursement for their legal costs, if the charges are connected to their government duties.

"The state is constrained to reimburse the eligible expenditures made on Mr. Bruno's behalf by his campaign committee, because the Public Officers Law makes it a 'duty' of the state to reimburse all eligible expenditures, regardless of who incurs the expenditure," Chief Deputy Attorney General Harlan Levy wrote in a letter to state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.

Bruno's attorneys were joyous.

"It's a merry Christmas!" said Bruno lawyer E. Stewart Jones. "I'm delighted that we have reached this point, even though it is six months later than it should have been."

Jones said he had not been expecting the state to pay up before Election Day.

"People would complain about it," he said. "The timing is a political decision. The obligation to pay is obviously legal."

Schneiderman spokesman Matt Mittenthal said resolving payment with Bruno's attorneys was a complicated process and denied that politics played any role.

A DiNapoli spokeswoman said the comptroller will audit the expenses.

After his retirement, the veteran Republican lawmaker was convicted in 2009 on charges that he collected more than $3 million in fees from companies seeking state contracts, grants and pension-fund business.

He spent more than five years fighting the charges, and his conviction was overturned.

He survived a second indictment when a jury dismissed charges that he received $20,000 a month in consulting fees from a telecommunications firm in exchange for favorable treatment in Albany.

He called on the state to pay his legal costs after that decision.

"I want what is legally, lawfully due me, and I hope Eric Schneiderman . . . is just fair and objective and not in any way political — and I don't expect that of him," he told The Post's Fred Dicker in a radio interview.

A source close to Bruno said the former senator is "pleased with the finding, which was not unexpected because the law on this matter is very clear."

Bruno's happy ending is in contrast to other cases of state corruption.

Former Assembly members Eric Stevenson and Gabriela Rosa were convicted in bribery and marriage- fraud scams.

Former Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith of Queens faces a federal trial for allegedly attempting to bribe his way onto the GOP ballot for mayor in 2013.

Queens Assemblyman William Scarborough was charged with allegedly swiping $40,000 in travel reimbursements, and Sens. Greg Ball and George Maziarz chose not to seek re-election amid accusations they used campaign cash to pay for vacations and personal expenses.

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Mother saves cancer-stricken daughter’s life with new kidney

An adorable little girl's mom gave her a very special present this year — a part of herself, literally.

Little Madison Rivera, 3, received a lifesaving kidney from her mother, Ashley, after being diagnosed with a rare cancer — and now, the child will finally be able to stay home after unwrapping her Christmas gifts instead of rushing off to the hospital for near-daily dialysis.

"This is the first Christmas we can relax," Ashley Peralta told The Post. "She's really happy to put cookies and milk on the table for Santa.

"Before, we could have Christmas, but then we had to go to the hospital for a test or for dialysis," Peralta said.

The Harlem mom said she first noticed that something might be wrong with Madison, then 16 months old, in January 2013, when she spotted a "huge bump" on her right side.

Peralta brought her to hre pediatrician, who recommended a sonogram and blood work.

"It was heartbreaking," the 25-year-old mom said when she found out her baby girl had cancer.

Madison was diagnosed with a rare Wilms tumor growing on her kidney, and it required aggressive chemotherapy.

Madison and Ashley in the hospital.Photo: Ashley Peralta

She went for weekly chemo sessions at the Kravis Children's Hospital at Mount Sinai for 12 weeks.

"I had my second daughter the day after Madison had her first round of chemo," Peralta recalled of the difficult time in the family's life.

But to fully rid Madison of the cancer, the doctors said she needed to have two surgeries — one in May 2013, to remove her right kidney and half her left, as well as a second procedure, in October 2013, to remove the rest of her left kidney.

She then started dialysis three times a week for more than a year.

This past Oct. 7, Madison finally got to stop her 12-hour dialysis drips thanks to her mom, who donated her left kidney to save her daughter's life.

"I just knew I was going to do it," Peralta said.

Dr. Jeffrey Saland, the head of pediatric nephrology at Kravis, called Madison "a real magnet. She brings people to her, and everyone wants to help her."

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Public transit tops list of the most depressing jobs

Cut bus drivers and subway conductors some slack — folks in public transit are more depressed than those in any other job, a new study has found.

Researchers determined the frequency of depression of workers in 55 jobs, and published the results in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epistemology.

Public-transit workers are down in the dumps more than anyone else, with a rate of depression at 16.2 percent, according to the study.

Those working in real estate are nearly just as sad, with a depression rate of just under 16 percent, the study found.

Next in the depression line are social workers, manufacturing employees and those in personal services, legal services and publishing.

The researchers, who analyzed data involving 214,000 workers throughout western Pennsylvania, found that the jobs with the highest rates of depression tend to "require frequent or difficult interactions with the public or clients," and have "low levels of physical activity," according to an analysis of the study published by The Atlantic.

That might explain why, surprisingly, highway-construction workers and coal miners are among the happiest people.

The other lowest depression rates involved those in "amusement and recreation services," the study said.

This included industries involving sports, fitness and the performing arts.

They had a depression rate of 6.9 percent.

And air-travel employees had a depression rating of a little over 8 percent.

Jobs more in the middle of the pack included truckers, human-resource managers, restaurant and auto-repair workers, teachers, engineers and health-care employees.

The study's authors are from the Cincinnati Veterans Administration Medical Center, the University of Cincinnati and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

They say it's important to identify which workers are the most depressed because of the vast amount of productivity that's lost to mental-health concerns.

Another study, published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, found that $83 billion in productivity is lost each year to depression.

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Cops receive threats dialed into precincts, cellphones

Cops around the city are being tormented by maniacal threats phoned into station houses and messaged directly to their cellphones.

Four people were arrested for making terroristic threats, and cops were investigating 40 other incidents after the murders of two officers in Brooklyn last Saturday, law-enforcement sources said.

A deranged man allegedly phoned the Downtown Brooklyn precinct of slain Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos Wednesday and identified himself as their killer, Ismaayil Brinsley, who committed suicide after killing the cops.

Tyrone Melville, 41, called the 84th Precinct station house and asked to speak with Ramos, sources said. He allegedly asked if they could "take the bullets out of the cop's head so he [Melville] could kill more cops," a sources said.

On Tuesday, a disturbing incident took place when nine cops from the 77th Precinct in Crown Heights received a text message that said "for every one they kill, we will kill two," according to the sources.

One officer called back and reached Pliston Jean-Pierre, 36. He was allegedly drunk and warned the cop, "You're not the one, but you can be the first," sources said.

Both Melville and Jean-Pierre were arrested and charged with making terrorist threats.

The other two people arrested had made threats on Facebook.

Engine Company 222 moved out of their firehouse during a threat to neighboring 79th Precinct.Photo: Paul Martinka

Meanwhile, New York's Bravest deserted the city's Finest on Wednesday by abandoning a Brooklyn firehouse next door to a police station that has been the target of a recent threats.

A firetruck and about 25 firefighters assigned to Engine Co. 222 moved out of its headquarters adjacent to the NYPD's 81st Precinct building in Bedford-Stuyvesant, the FDNY confirmed.

The police station house t has been threatened by the notorious, Baltimore-based Black Guerrilla Family gang.

"There are no threats against the Fire Department," FDNY spokesman Jim Long said. "It's just that the precinct and firehouse are adjacent to each other. We're just doing this out of an abundance of caution.

Long said the decision was made solely by the FDNY, and wasn't based on a recommendation from the NYPD.

Two Emergency Service Unit cops wearing helmets and body armor — and armed with assault rifles — stood guard Wednesday outside the 81st, where the entrance was surrounded by metal barricades.

Security was also beefed up at the 79th Precinct Tuesday night after a confidential informant told cops about overhearing that the Black Guerrilla Family was plotting to "shoot it out" with officers there.

At Midnight Mass for Christmas, Timothy Cardinal Egan directly addressed Mayor de Blasio, who was there with Gov. Cuomo.

Acknowledging the turmoil in the city, Dolan said, "I suppose that's why you're here, Mayor de Blasio, as we face tensions and divisions in our beloved city, as you and so many other leaders try your best to invite us to dialogue, to listen instead of shouting."

Additional reporting by Khristina Narizhnaya and Matt McNulty

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Plane passenger tossed after angry reaction to ‘Merry Christmas’

Bah, humbug!

A passenger was tossed off a plane at La Guardia Airport on Tuesday after flipping out — because airline workers wished him a merry Christmas.

The man was waiting to board American Airlines Flight 1140 to Dallas when a cheerful gate agent began welcoming everyone with the Yuletide greeting while checking boarding passes.

The grumpy passenger, who appeared to be traveling alone, barked at the woman, "You shouldn't say that because not everyone celebrates Christmas."

The agent replied, "Well, what should I say then?"

"Don't say, 'Merry Christmas!' " the man shouted before brushing past her.

Once on the plane, he was warmly greeted by a flight attendant who also wished him a "merry Christmas." That was the last straw.

"Don't say, 'Merry Christmas!' " the man raged before lecturing the attendants and the pilot about their faux pas.

The crew tried to calm the unidentified man, but he refused to back down and continued hectoring them.

He was escorted off the plane as other fliers burst into cheers and applause.

American Airlines did not return a request for comment.

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Vick on desire of being a Jet in 2015: ‘I couldn’t say right now’

Michael Vick is unsure of his own future, and Geno Smith's.

The Jets backup quarterback said he would like to keep playing in 2015, but he does not sound like he is clamoring for a second season with the Jets. His contract is up at the end of the year.

"I don't know," Vick said when asked if he'd like to stay with Gang Green. "I couldn't say right now. I'd have to talk to my agent and see what's the best situation for me. Obviously, this organization has to do what's best for them. I really can't say right now, but hopefully I have a chance to play somewhere and continue to give that effort."

Vick, 34, started three games for the Jets in the middle of the season before the team switched back to Smith. Vick said he's not ready to just be a backup.

"I still feel like I can start," he said. "I still feel like I can play at a high level, like I said. I think with the right talent around me and good structure I feel like I can win some games.

"I still feel like I have a lot left in the tank. I can't say it's five years worth, but maybe it's a good solid two. I'm just going to train for that, get ready for that and set my mind-set. If it doesn't happen and I have to grind my way back up to a starting position, then that's what it will be. I think at the end of the day my mind-set is to just continue to play football. I love the game. I want to continue to play until it's all out of me."

Vick spent this year mentoring Smith, who has struggled. The Jets face a decision on moving forward with Smith or moving on. Vick said he did not know how he would evaluate Smith if asked by management.

"I wouldn't know. Honestly, I wouldn't know," he said. "Hopefully, whoever is doing the evaluations can see what they need to see. … There's some room for improvement. There is with all of us in this locker room."

After saying that, Vick added: "Don't misconstrue that."

He then praised Smith.

"I think Geno has a lot of potential to be a great quarterback in this league," he said. "For some guys it takes more time. There's a lot of different moving parts that goes along with a quarterback being successful."

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Christmas Eve travelers may get ‘gift’ of flooded roads, air delays

New Yorkers traveling on Christmas Eve could face flooded roads and air delays due to heavy rain.

The city will get about two to three inches, an AccuWeather spokesman said. There will be light rain Wednesday morning that will intensify in the afternoon and evening — just as people try to get away for the holiday.

A Port Authority spokesman said travelers should call their airlines before leaving home, and then leave extra time to get to the airport.

Subways and buses will be on a weekday schedule Christmas Eve, and a Sunday schedule on Christmas.

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How Devon Kennard’s father helped him become an NFL pro

A son's journey into adulthood and the pursuit of his professional dreams is always an emotional ride for the parents.

There is always hope. There are always expectations — some unrealistic, some more open to the potential of shortcomings.

Derek Kennard could have been that stereotypical dad that was too hard on his kid, setting the bar far too high, because — after all — he'd been there and done that.

But he wasn't. Derek Kennard wasn't that kind of dad.

And that cannot have done anything but help his youngest son, Devon, make it all way to starting linebacker for the Giants as a rookie.

"I encouraged my kids to do whatever it was they wanted to do," Derek Kennard told The Post. "I didn't try to push them. They made that determination on their own.''

"I've always wanted my dad to just be a dad,'' Devon said.

As a result of Derek's parenting, both of his sons, his oldest, Derek Jr. and Devon, opted to follow their old man's footsteps — straight to the NFL, where Derek played for 134 games in 11 years as a guard. Derek Jr. made a go of the NFL, but he was unable to stick with the Colts so he moved on.

For Devon, the Giants hope the journey only has just begun, that the 4.5 sacks in the last four games are only an appetizer to main course.

Devon, who cherishes the memory of being hoisted on his father's shoulders after the Cowboys won the Super Bowl in 1996, is chasing what his father got out of the NFL: A long productive career and a ring.

"When [the Cowboys] won that Super Bowl, that's one of the only memories I really have from when my dad played,'' Devon said. "And being on my dad's shoulders is something I always have looked back on and I hope to have when I have a kid one day.''

Derek saw Devon play an NFL game in person for the first time two weeks ago, when the Giants beat the Redskins at MetLife Stadium. While roaming the sideline during pregame warm-ups, he said hello to former Giants great linebacker Harry Carson, who told him, "God damn, Kennard, why the hell did you hit me so hard? Damn, man, I remember seeing those eyes inside that cage.''

Derek Kennard joked former Dallas defensive teammates Charles Haley and Leon Lett "thought I was a defensive lineman trapped inside an offensive lineman's body.''

Derek Kennard played in the NFL for 11 years as a guard.Photo: AP

Derek is living vicariously through Devon now, because Devon is the defensive player Derek always wanted to be.

More than he loves to reminisce, Derek Kennard's passion is imparting wisdom to Devon as weaves through the early routes of his NFL journey.

"I just told him how to be a pro," Derek said, "that being a pro is taking care of your body, getting your workouts in, paying attention in the film room, understanding how things work and understanding your role with the team as a team player. I told him that it's nice to be the first in and last out.''

Derek often uses examples of his playing days to illustrate points to his son.

"I learned work ethic from him and I learned from mistakes that's he's told me about that he felt he made; that set a precedent in my life,'' Devon said.

"Of course it does bring me back to my playing days watching [Devon] play,'' Derek said. "I think there are traits that he takes after me on the field. He's soft-spoken, cordial and polite off the field … and then there is a time to turn that switch on and get after it. He's got that fire in his belly. He loves to get after it. I get emotional when I watch him.''

Indeed, a son's journey through the father's eyes is an emotional one — for father and son.

When I was a kid growing up in Connecticut, the moment my father walked into the house from his commute up the New Haven Line from his job in the city, I was at the front door boxing my brother out — like Dennis Rodman in the paint for the Bulls — so I could rip The New York Post out of his hands and devour it.

At that age, I always knew exactly what I wanted to do, where I wanted to be. Once I was finally fortunate enough to make it to The Post, my father, filled with pride, bought The Post religiously, right up until the day he died three years ago in Florida.

For Derek Kennard, who lives in Arizona and has a full-time job that does not allow him to travel to all of Devon's games, DirectTV is what those newsstands down in Florida were to my father: His way of tracking his son's journey and keeping the lifeline of pride alive.

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Knicks’ Amar’e Stoudemire hoping to play on Christmas

Amar'e Stoudemire was given a recovery day Tuesday following his two recovery games.

Knicks fans probably would like a recovery season. But there is a method to the inactivity for Stoudemire.

The Knicks are hopeful his mini-vacation will translate into the same kind of production the 32-year-old forward has given them thus far. Stoudemire has been a rare bright spot through the dreadful first 30 games.

"My body was starting to feel like it needed some rest," he said, explaining the decision to sit out the team's losses to the Raptors and Suns. "So I was able to take advantage of those two games, and now we've got a few days of practice that we can kind of somewhat sharpen up on and be ready for the Christmas game."

Stoudemire, who has appeared in 27 of 30 games after failing to play in more than 65 contests the past three seasons, is averaging 13.4 points and a team-high 7.4 rebounds in 26.6 minutes per game. He didn't practice on Tuesday, but he sounded hopeful of returning on Thursday, though coach Derek Fisher wouldn't commit to him playing against the Wizards.

"The season is a grind, and Amar'e has been asked to do a lot this first quarter of the season with the injuries and the guys out," Fisher said. "We had a big uptick in minutes, and we had to kind of calibrate that and get back to a place where we want to make sure Amar'e can play every night. Playing 30-plus, almost 40 minutes, some nights is just not the best thing, I think. We're just trying to be smart, not because of anything in particular, but doing right by him."

If the Knicks are going to make anything of this season, they will need to get Stoudemire fresh. The recent time off should only help, he said, though he admitted it was difficult to sit on the bench as the losing continued.

"It's just a matter of staying strong with your decision," Stoudemire said. "It's not easy with what we have as far as games winning, so it's tough to sit out. But for the longevity of the career and the season, we got to be smart about it.

"I've been able to play at a high level. So I feel good about that. But I'm just getting started. Progress will continue to get better. I'm still getting stronger and stronger so I feel like there's more to come the second half of the year."

---

Andrea Bargnani (calf strain) and Cleanthony Early (knee) didn't practice and are long shots to play Christmas Day.

Bargnani has yet to play in a game this season, battling an assortment of injuries. Early, the team's second-round pick, underwent knee surgery on Nov. 18 and is inching closer to returning.

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Rams coach Jeff Fisher: Giants to blame for melee

Rams coach Jeff Fisher said his team did not instigate what turned into a wild second-quarter brawl in Sunday' s 37-27 win at St. Louis. He pinned the blame on the way the Giants responded after receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was thrown down out of bounds by Rams linebacker Alec Ogletree.

"I think it would be good if they looked themselves in the mirror,'' Fisher told reporters in St. Louis.

Fisher said he would be surprised if any of his players got fined or disciplined for their actions leading up to or in the brawl. One of his players, defensive end William Hayes, was ejected along with two Giants, Preston Parker and Damontre Moore.

Fisher accused Beckham of pulling Ogletree down by grabbing his facemask. Replays seem to indicate it was Ogletree who, with a pile-driver move, knocked Beckham down well out of bounds, the hit that sparked the brawl.

"When you look at it really close, Odell has [Ogletree's] facemask and he's pulling him out of bounds, so it's hard for [Ogletree] to let up.'' Fisher said.

Giants safety Antrel Rolle said it was "very unfortunate that it had to come down to that'' but had no problem with the response from the Giants.

"In a time like that, honestly, it's like you're in a playground and you see someone hit your little brother,'' Rolle said. "We're all professionals and told to keep our cool but let's be honest, what are you really gonna do? Odell, he's our guy, we're gonna protect him, those who wear a Giants uniform are gonna protect him. In my eyes, I salute Preston, I salute Damontre Moore. They did what they had to do for their brothers.''

---

Should Beckham tone down his post-touchdown celebrations?

"Absolutely not,'' Rolle said Tuesday on his weekly WFAN spot.

Beckham was hit with a 15-yard taunting penalty for spinning the ball in the end zone in the first quarter of Sunday's win.

"I think he's done what he's been doing since he's been in the league, since he's been scoring touchdowns. That celebration penalty in my eyes was absolutely absurd,'' Rolle said. "He didn't do anything he hasn't done every other week after scoring touchdowns. In my eyes he doesn't need to change a thing at all.''

---

So, how did Eli Manning do in his first season learning and trying to master a brand new offense?

With one game remaining, Manning is completing a career-high 64.1 percent of his passes, and his quarterback rating of 93.5 also represents a career high. With 29 touchdown passes, he is just two shy of his career high of 31, set in 2010. Manning has thrown 13 interceptions, which would be the second-lowest full-season total of his career. He was intercepted just 10 times in 2008.

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Hedgies go private ahead of possible Uber IPO

A savvy hedgie who set up a fund solely to invest in China's Alibaba before its blockbuster IPO this year is making a similar bet on Uber Technologies.

Paul Hudson of Glade Brook Capital Partners, who created a $250 million fund to buy private shares of Alibaba, has joined other alums from Julian Robertson's Tiger Global — Lone Pine Capital and Valiant Capital Management — in financing the car-hailing app in its private stage before it goes public.

By getting in at a low cost when tech companies are private, the hedgies stand to reap a big gain if the firms go public at high valuations.

Stock in Alibaba, the biggest IPO in history, jumped 38 percent in its first day to nearly $94.

Glade Brook's new Uber fund was first reported by Institutional Investor's Alpha.

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Community Board calls for redesign of One Vanderbilt

Modal Trigger

Rendering of One Vanderbuilt

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates

Rendering of One Vanderbuilt

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates

Rendering of One Vanderbuilt

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates

Rendering of One Vanderbuilt

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates

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Manhattan Community Boards 5 and 6 have introduced a new dimension to the boards' supposedly "advisory" role involving land-use issues: they're trying to redesign a proposed new 67-story office building.

Last week, the boards rejected SL Green's plan to put up One Vanderbilt, which is now wending its way through the city's seven-month Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, which began on Nov. 17.

Their objections? They want for some reason to move the 1.3 million-square-foot skyscraper's public lobby — in effect, a new entrance hall for Grand Central Terminal next door — from its presently planned site on Vanderbilt Avenue at East 43rd Street to Madison Avenue and 43rd.

And they insist that the tower, which has been designed to receive LEED "gold" environmental certification, be upgraded to "platinum" — an issue that's far outside the boards' purview. It's also absurd given that to make such a change would require re-engineering much of the project.

The boards apparently regard a $1 billion project that was years in planning as a Lego toy where blocks can be moved around without cost or consequence.

The boards' demands are recommendations only. One Vanderbilt enjoys preliminary support from the city Planning Dept. and Mayor de Blasio. It's enthusiastically backed by the Real Estate Board of New York, every local business and civic organization and various labor unions.

It's also been tentatively (although not yet conclusively) blessed by Councilmember Dan Garodnick (D-Manhattan), who represents the district and whose support is indispensable. It was Garodnick who held up former Mayor Michael Bloomberg's effort to rezone all of East Midtown in the last year of his term.

Even so, the community boards' resounding "no" to the entire project unless its demands are met illustrates board interference in a proposed, worthy new project at its most extreme.

One Vanderbilt would be the linchpin of a smaller-scale rezoning that would apply only to Vanderbilt Avenue's five blocks. But it would finally begin to address the problem of the district's increasing obsolescence under old, 1961 zoning rules — most of the area's buildings are 60 or more years old and antiquated for modern office use.

If the rezoning is approved, developers could avail themselves of a special permit to put up larger structures on Vanderbilt than are currently permitted.

But it would hardly be automatic. Each proposal would have to go through ULURP, and a developer would have to pay for the additional floor area and height — either by committing its own money to public amenities at the city's discretion, and/or by purchasing air rights from neighboring landlords.

At One Vanderbilt, SL Green has pledged to pay $210 million for transit and pedestrian upgrades around the project and inside Grand Central Terminal itself.

Meanwhile, TD Bank has signed on as an anchor office tenant with 200,000 square feet. The new tower could not be fully occupied until all the promised public improvements are completed.

One would think that the prospect of all the improvements SL Green is promising — including new underground corridors, a public plaza on Vanderbilt Avenue and platform widenings — would be enough to win over community board members who are supposed to have their communities' interests at heart.

Locals and transit users alike have complained for years about dangerous overcrowding inside the terminal and the subway station that is part of it.

The project's next ULURP hurdle is Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who won't get to vote on it — that's up to the City Council — but whose views may carry great weight with some councilmembers.

It remains to be seen whether she will appreciate the benefits One Vanderbilt would bring to one of Manhattan's most iconic, but crowd-strained, locations — or yield to community board activists who could delay the project long enough to kill it.

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Scores dancers share remedies for ailing Atlantic City

Unless something is done very soon, this gambling town in southern New Jersey will have a new name: Atlantic Shoddy.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that AC needed to become more like Las Vegas — an adult playground where "What happens here, stays here."

The problem with AC is that nothing happens there. It wasn't always so, but whatever experiences you have there today will probably be a story you can tell at the dinner table.

I suggested that AC turn up the heat. Bring in burlesque shows, cabarets, gentlemen's clubs, bawdy comics, pyrotechnics — you know, the stuff that would prompt people to make a trip to the ends of the Earth or, at least, to the end of New Jersey.

I also said AC needed a gimmick to distinguish itself from all the newer competitor casinos that are popping up in neighboring states and throughout the country. There are now 60 casinos on the East Coast alone and that number grows by the month.

My marketing trick: Legalize marijuana for use inside, and around, the casinos for customers who are willing to spend the night.

The column caught the attention of the management of Scores, the most upscale gentlemen's club in the country and the only one in an Atlantic City casino.

That's why I was sitting down in AC last Friday pow-wowing (and I do mean wow!) with Gia, Harley, Marilyn, Jamie Lynn, Azara and Symphony, who are featured entertainers at Scores $40-million facility in the Taj Mahal, the hotel/casino that was rescued from doom last weekend by some spare change from billionaire Carl Icahn.

(Yeah, guys, I know. This was a tough assignment! Maybe next time you can join me.)

So, girls, what is wrong with Atlantic City?

"They should make Atlantic City a place where you can come and have fun. Have a release from your stressful life, from your kids," said Harley, a beautiful brunette who has been stripping — that is, entertaining — for years.

"A place to come and have fun without getting into trouble," she added.

Ah, who would have thought of that? Grownups deserve some time away from the kiddies. Brilliant!
As to my idea on marijuana, the girls gave that a big "duh." Of course it should be allowed.

"Nowadays, marijuana is being legalized everywhere," said Symphony, a tall, beautiful African American woman. "Eighty-percent of the Atlantic City boardwalk is already 21 and over," she said, so there's little chance kids will be getting pot.

So that you know, the management of Scores and I invited New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to our meeting with the dancers. Christie was off somewhere talking about pipelines, or Russia, or something that won't get people into Jersey casinos and save jobs.

But I sympathize. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to run for president in 2016 and hanging out with Gia, Harley, Marilyn, Jamie Lynn, Azara and Symphony — while their assets were hanging out — will probably hurt my chances.

It seems the only boobs Christie is willing to be near are his staffers who organize traffic jams.

I also personally invited Taj savior Icahn, who pumped $20 million more into the place. Icahn chuckled and said, "That sounds like fun." But no dice. He was too busy.

But that's the point — fun! Ever since Hurricane Sandy destroyed Atlantic City's buzz more than its facilities, many people have forgotten about this town.

And with 8,000 casino and municipal workers being laid off recently and more cutbacks likely to come, it's hard to find the money for an advertising campaign to get the buzz back up.

"Atlantic City needs more kinds of nightlife. Every week it should have some type of big-name entertainment. We need to bring Vegas east," said Mark Yackow, the chief operating officer of Scores Atlantic City.

A number of other casinos around the world have asked Scores to open a club on their premises.

There's one other thing you need to know about the restrictions that New Jersey has put on Scores in AC.

This complaint comes from me and not management, which sounds thrilled to be the only strip club in a casino. In Scores, the dancers need to wear pasties. Anyplace else in the state, girls can be completely naked if there's no booze.

People wonder why a supposedly sophisticated place like AC has relatively puritanical standards. "We get a lot of questions from people," said Jamie Lynn, a petite blonde in her 30s.

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North Korea web crash may be hack reprisal

North Korea got a taste of its own medicine Monday when its limited Internet access was cut off just days after the United States accused it of being behind the massive hack attack of Sony Pictures.

The hermit kingdom — which has four official networks connecting the country to the Internet, all of which route through China — began experiencing intermittent problems Sunday before going completely dark a day later.

"They are totally offline," said Doug Madory, director of Internet analysis at Dyn Research in Hanover, NH. "I don't know that someone is launching a cyberattack against North Korea, but this isn't normal for them. This is not like anything I've seen before."

President Obama had denounced the "cybervandalism" after US authorities pinned blame for the Sony attack on North Korea. He vowed to respond, but it was unclear when that would happen — or if there is any link between the president's promise and North Korea's 'Net crash.

Some key Web sites were back online late Tuesday.

North Korea has denied any responsibility for the Sony hack, conducted by a group calling itself the Guardians of Peace.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said she could not confirm the cyberattack on North Korea and declined to say what steps would be taken in response to the Sony hack.

"We are considering a range of options in response," Harf told reporters. "Some will be seen. Some may not be seen."

Only a few thousand people have access to the Internet in North Korea. Compared with its four Internet networks, the United States has more than 152,000, according to Dyn Research.

The Sony attack was a massive breach that led to the leak of employees' personal information and a flood of embarrassing e-mails, prompting the company to cancel the Christmas release of the movie "The Interview," which lampooned an assassination plot against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

North Korea, meanwhile, ramped up the rhetoric with a threat Sunday night against the White House and the United States.

"Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole US mainland, the cesspool of terrorism, by far surpassing the 'symmetric counteraction' declared by Obama," the country's Policy Department said in a statement .

Additional reporting by Geoff Earle

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Daily Blotter

Staten Island

A knife-wielding man broke into his mother's Mariners Harbor apartment and held her and her two other children hostage before trying to set the building on fire, law-enforcement sources said Monday. Johnny Gore, 32, smashed a vestibule window in his 53-year-old mom's first-floor apartment on Richmond Terrace near Holland Avenue and climbed inside at around 10 p.m. Saturday, court records show. Police arrived a short time later and found Gore with his head out the window allegedly yelling, "I'm not coming out alive! I have a weapon! She's not coming out, and you're not coming in!" Gore then allegedly tried to light the vestibule on fire, forcing the terrified mom to guide her other two children out of a window at the rear of the house. Several cops then barged into the apartment and subdued Gore with a Taser before cuffing him. The officers found a knife and a container of crack cocaine in his pocket, records show. Gore was charged with burglary, reckless endangerment, possession of a weapon and possession of a controlled substance. He also violated an order of protection issued in 2012 to stay away from his mother, authorities said. Gore previously did time in state prison for attempted assault, the sources said.

Cops arrested a Staten Island man hours after a fatal stabbing in Port Richmond early Sunday, police said. Sergio Carreto, 26, was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon after he stabbed Durrell Finley, also 26, in the stomach at Harrison Avenue and Faber Street, cops said. Sources said Finley and another man had gotten into a fist fight, and the foe then called in Carreto to attack Finley. Finley was rushed to Richmond University Medical Center, where he died from his injuries.

An off-duty firefighter was busted after cops saw him drunkenly crash his car in Great Kills before trying to drive away from the scene, authorities said Monday. Smoke-eater Michael Mancuso, 29, was driving his 2015 Hyundai Sonata down Ainsworth Avenue at around 3 a.m. Sunday when he suddenly drifted off the road and slammed into a pole at Durant Avenue, officials said. Two cops witnessed the crash and then watched as Mancuso allegedly continued on for a few more blocks before pulling him over, sources said. The officers noticed that the firefighter reeked of booze and was slurring his words, court records show. He was cuffed and refused to take a blood-alcohol test at a Staten Island police station, the sources said. Mancuso was charged with driving while intoxicated and driving while impaired, court records show.

A drunken woman smashed her car into a utility pole in Great Kills, law-enforcement sources said Monday. Amanda Gallo was driving her 2013 Kia Soul down Nelson Avenue at around 12:30 a.m. Friday when she allegedly lost control of the vehicle and hit the pole near David Street, the sources said. Police arrived and discovered Gallo uninjured, but noticed she appeared to be drunk, the sources said. She refused a sobriety test and was charged with driving while intoxicated and driving while ability impaired.

Brooklyn

A man was critically injured by a gunman in Flatbush early Monday, cops said. The man was shot in the chest during a dispute at Nostrand and Lefferts avenues shortly after 3 a.m., police said. He was rushed to Kings County Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

A teenage girl was found dead in her bed by her mother in their Sheepshead Bay home Monday morning, law-enforcement sources said. The 16-year-old's mother discovered her daughter unconscious in her bed just before 8:45 a.m., according to authorities. The girl was pronounced dead at the scene. Cops say they are waiting to notify the rest of the girl's family before releasing her name.

Two thugs beat up and robbed a Chinese-food delivery man outside a Fort Greene housing project, police said Monday. The victim was called to make a delivery at the Fort Greene Houses between Myrtle and Park avenues at around 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 13, when the attackers struck, authorities said. The creeps approached as the victim was walking toward the building and asked how much the food cost, cops said. As the victim started to show him the receipt, one of the assailants knocked him to the ground and the pair tried to steal the food. But the victim fought off the men, and they fled.

Manhattan

Cops are looking for a man who stabbed a straphanger in the leg during an argument aboard a 6 train in Gramercy. The 31-year-old victim was stabbed as the train pulled into Union Square station just before 5 p.m. Sunday, according to authorities. The victim stumbled onto the platform and was taken to Bellevue Hospital. Witnesses told police they saw the thug flee the train after the stabbing.

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The city’s worst high schools for dropouts

DeWitt Clinton HS in The Bronx is top in the city — for school dropouts.

The troubled school lost 238 students from the class of 2014, which has about 950 students total, according to data released by the state Department of Education. Those kids began as freshmen.

Herbert H. Lehman HS in The Bronx shed 163 students, John Adams HS in Queens lost 156 teens, Fort Hamilton HS in Brooklyn lost 127 students, and Richmond Hill HS in Queens dropped 124 students from the class of 2014 in the last four years.

DeWitt, Lehman, Adams and Richmond Hill all earned spots on the city's list of poorly performing schools, which face reorganization and closure if they do not improve over the next three years.

Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña said teachers who do not help students succeed could be moved.

"I believe in a chance, but I don't believe in many chances," Fariña told reporters on Thursday. "There's got to be a time when we say enough is enough."

The school with the highest dropout rate was the Lower East Side Preparatory HS, with a staggering 37 percent of its students dropping out. But it is a "second-chance" school that focuses on students who have already dropped out and are there to give it one more shot.

DeWitt Clinton students stood by principal Santiago Taveras, a former deputy chancellor, who has been trying to fix the school since September 2013.

"Before the principal, the school was worse," said sophomore Alyssa Wade, 15.

Taveras declined to comment. The UFT did not return calls seeking comment.

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Grinch swipes beloved holiday decoration

The spirit of Christmas eluded this Mercedes-driving grump who stole a Staten Island family's prized ornament.

Security cameras outside the New Dorp home of Christina Fischetti-Smith captured footage of a woman in a hoodie pulling up in a black luxury sedan this past Thursday night.

The thief untethered the Christmas-themed rocking horse — which is topped with a teddy bear — and struggled to carry it away.

She first tried to cram it into her car's back seat.

When that failed, she placed the horse in the trunk — but couldn't get the door closed.

So she drove off with the trunk open and her loot still visible.

Fischetti-Smith and her husband pored over hours of middle-of-the-night footage from the camera Friday but discovered that the horsey heist actually occurred just after 8 p.m.

Fischetti-Smith posted the video on Facebook and it has been shared more than 1,000 times.

"She [the thief] must have seen it other day. She didn't slow down. She knew to stop right there," Fischetti-Smith told The Post on Sunday.

But Fischetti-Smith said she's now embarrassed at how much attention she has attracted, especially in light of Saturday's murder of two Brooklyn cops.

"This seems like a waste of news considering what happened a short time ago," she wrote on Facebook. "Please pray for the officers that lost their lives today and the men and women who go out everyday to protect us."

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How to spot a real Cuban cigar from a fake one

HAVANA — It's the equivalent of buying a Gucci bag on Canal Street.

Vendors who fill Havana's streets selling black-market cigars to unsuspecting tourists are salivating over President Obama's decision to try to normalize relations with Cuba.

American stogie lovers may be salivating at the thought of a good Cuban cigar. But buyer beware: With a box of 25 high-end Cohibas selling for more than $500 in Havana, some may fall for the too-good-to-be-true offers at half that price being offered by workers from the Cohiba tobacco factories.

"You wouldn't buy a Rolex on the streets; you'd go to an authorized store," warned an official state vendor in the Melia Havana Hotel, who asked not to be named. "There is no doubt about it that they will be fake if you buy them on the streets. And there's no way you can tell if they're real or fake."

The Post was approached twice in Old Havana by two friendly Cubans — both with the same story.

"There is one day per month where Raul [Castro] gives tobacco workers a break on boxes of cigars," one seller said. "I can get them for you at half the price of the hotel."

A hotel maid, working for a black-market distributor, made the same pitch, and provided an insider's look at a market where the discounted cigars were sold.

The cigars looked, smelled and tasted the same as the real thing, and even had an authentic Cohiba wrapper.

The one thing missing? An official state seal.

An official dealer at the Hotel Inglaterra in downtown Havana explained that the black-market dealers work in the factory but they're collecting the scraps and rolling them at home.

The cigars burn evenly, but experts say that is not a mark of authenticity. So, to the cigar novice, it's nearly impossible to tell the difference.

"The entire cigar needs to be hard when you squeeze. There can be no soft spots," she said. "Because they're rolling them at home, there can be bacteria in them."

Under new regulations, tourists would be allowed to bring back $100 worth of tobacco, which, according to experts, amounts to about four good Cuban cigars.

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Education commish wants a stop to limiting charter schools

State Education Commissioner John King is going out with a bang — recommending that Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature totally scrap restrictions on how many charter schools can open in New York.

"The cap shouldn't be an obstacle to opening high-quality schools," King, who is stepping down as New York's schools' chief to take a post in the Obama administration, told The Post. "One solution could be eliminating the cap completely."

Under state law, no more than 460 charter schools can operate throughout the state. But New York City, where most of the charter schools are located, is bumping up against its portion of the cap.

Most of the demand for charters is downstate, not upstate; 231 charters are operating or have been approved for the city. Under the cap, only 25 slots remain for the city despite pent-up parental demand.

Outside the city, 132 new charters can still open.

At the very least, King said, Albany could rearrange the cap to allow more charter schools to open in the city.

"Overall, charter schools have much to contribute to education in New York state and New York City in particular," King said.

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Judge OKs garnishment of crooked ex-pol’s pension

A federal judge has green-lighted the government to seize $22,000 in state pension funds from disgraced ex-Assemblyman Eric Stevenson — money he's yet to pay taxpayers back following his bribery conviction.

The Bronx Democrat  — who was convicted in January of helping four Bronx developers fast-track adult day-care-center projects by proposing legislation to block their competition — was ordered in May to immediately forfeit $22,000 he pocketed in bribes as part of the scheme when sentenced to three years behind bars.

Chief Manhattan federal Judge Loretta Preska in a ruling last week backed US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara's request to garnish Stevenson's pension and settle a $22,000 judgement that is seven months delinquent and "remains fully unpaid."

Although pols have historically been able to keep their pensions after being convicted of felonies, Bharara in 2013 began a campaign to go after the pensions of disgraced politicians who failed to forfeit their ill-gotten gains after they were convicted.

Ex-Councilman Miguel Martinez (D-Manhattan) in August became the first to buckle to the lawman. He agreed to forfeit $106,000 in pension benefits to pay off a forfeiture order related to his 2009 conviction on corruption charges.

Stevenson, who throughout his trial claimed he was struggling financially, is fighting to keep his pension. He filed legal papers Thursday saying he's appealing Preska's forfeiture order and has previously claimed federal courts don't have oversight over state pensions.

Other convicted pols in danger of having pensions garnished under Bharara's campaign include ex-Councilman Larry Seabrook (D-Bronx) and former state Sen. Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens).

Prosecutors said Stevenson made two down payments totaling $2,900 on a 2003 Jaguar within four days after he allegedly pocketed a $10,000 cash bribe on Sept. 7, 2012.

After one hearing, Stevenson rode off from Manhattan federal court in a shiny black Mercedes-Benz sedan — after telling a judge he didn't have enough money to defend himself against bribery charges.

To convict Stevenson, the feds used damning audio tapes and the word of Sigfredo Gonzalez, a former political operative with a long rap sheet, who agreed to wear a wire to avoid significant jail time.

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Executed cops were loyal to their family and the badge

One was a newlywed, the other a dad of two sons who had just celebrated his 40th birthday a week ago.

Portraits emerged of the two ­officers slain in a senseless Brooklyn ambush Saturday — men who were liked and respected in their Downtown Brooklyn precinct and beloved at home.

Officer Rafael Ramos and Officer Wenjian Liu died side-by-side after being shot point-blank in the head by a gunman who hours earlier had railed online about wanting to take two cops' lives in revenge for the police-involved deaths of Eric Garner in Staten Island and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

Ramos was the older partner. Raised in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, he lived close to his childhood home.

He and his wife raised two sons, the eldest now attending college in Maine.

The youngest, Jaden, was just 13, and accompanied his mother Saturday to Woodhull Hospital upon hearing the tragic news.

"This is the worst day of my life,'' the young teen posted on Facebook.''

In a second post he said, "Today I had to say bye to my father.

Officer Wenjian LiuPhoto: NYPD

Officer Rafael RamosPhoto: NYPD

"He was there for me every day of my life, he was the best father I could ask for.

"It's horrible that someone gets shot dead just for being a police officer. Everyone says they hate cops, but they are the people they call for help.

"I will always love you and I will never forget you. RIP Dad,'' the grief-stricken boy wrote.

Juan Rodriguez, president of the 75th precinct community council, was a longtime friend of Ramos from the neighborhood.

"He was a good guy. He was a religious man. He was not only a police officer,'' Rodriguez said of his friend.

"This guy was in the community. He was a community guy. He'd go to the church with his family. He'd go to the pizzeria. A regular father.

"You wouldn't even know he was a police officer because he wasn't the type of guy to be flashing around, 'Hey, I'm a cop.' You wouldn't even know it.''

Rodriguez said his pal became a police officer "because he wanted to serve the people.

"That was his passion; that's what he loved doing.''

He said Ramos was deeply religious, and four years ago had considered becoming one of the clergymen on call for cops.

But he eventually decided to join the NYPD as a school safety officer and managed to work his way up to becoming a cop.

"I know when he was out there he was doing his job as a police officer and also as a religious man,'' Rodriguez said, his voice breaking.

"His family is very hurt.''

A colleague of Ramos, who asked that his name not be printed, described the slain officer as "a nice guy, willing to do whatever he had to, whatever he was told to do.

This is the worst day of my life… Today I had to say bye to my father. - Officer Ramos' son Jaden on Facebook

"He was still new, eager, and willing to work harder than this city deserves."

Liu, 32, also of Brooklyn, had married his sweetheart just two months before his death.

Liu's wife, too, rushed to Woodhull after learning of her husband's assassination.

Insiders described her as virtually paralyzed with grief.

Although shunned by most of the hundreds of cops who kept vigil at the hospital, Mayor de Blasio did manage to approach the two families.

"We met the parents of Officer Liu, the woman he recently married," the mayor said.

"We met the wife of Officer Ramos. We met his 13-year-old son, who couldn't comprehend what happened to his father," the mayor said.

He described both officers as "heroes."

Additional reporting by Laura Italiano

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Dear John: Cash in pension after losing job?

Dear John: I am 58 years old and currently unemployed. I have been in the banking industry for the past 34 years. I lost my job in June.

While I have savings to last me through next July, I have debt that I would like to pay off. I am considering cashing in one of my pension plans with my previous employer. I know cashing in a pension is probably never a good idea unless you roll over, but I would like your advice on my situation.

I have a conventional pension plan worth $185,000 I am looking to cash in. I also have 401(k) plans that I will not touch totaling about $225,000.

Cashing in the $185,000 will allow me to pay off my mortgage, credit-card debt and private loans totaling about $60,000.

I am also saddled with student loans for my two daughters of about $40,000. Interest on the credit cards run about 9 percent and the mortgage is at 5 percent but only has 2 ½ years left to pay off. The private loan is no-interest, but the student debt is costing me 8 percent.

Payments for this debt total about $2,600 per month. These payments are eating up my savings, but I will still last until July.

Employment prospects do not look good. If I can pay off, I would be free of those payments and might possibly find a lower-paying job and not have to worry about the debt.

My salary in my banking career was in the mid-six figures — good money.

Even after cashing in, I would still have my 401(k) and my Social Security to live on when I reach 62. My wife will have hers at 62 as well.

She only has a small pension due her, which will pay about $150 per month. All of these incomes add up to about $4,700 per month once I formally retire. With no debt, I think am OK.

If I did not cash in the $185,000, that would give me another $1,500 per month. I do not believe I will have to pay any penalty to cash in as I was over 55 when I became unemployed.

I do not want to cash everything in and just live on Social Security alone, or work for the rest of my life. I'd like to find a job I can live with, even at a greatly reduced salary, and not have to worry about bills.

Please let me know your thoughts on my issue. Thanks for your time. Mike

Dear Mike: Ah, the Golden Years! Aren't they great?

I asked Scott Brewster, a certified financial planner in Brooklyn, to opine on your situation.

"Sorry to hear," says Brewster, who is a member of the Financial Planning Association. "It must be very stressful after 34 years in the banking industry to lose one's job making mid-six figures and struggle to find another job."

Brewster doesn't think that cashing in your pension early is the solution you need.

"You probably are correct that since you were separated from service after age 55 you might not be hit with the 10 percent penalty on withdrawing your pension money," he says. If the funds were in an Individual Retirement Account, the early withdrawal penalty would apply until the age of 59 ¹/₂ .

But Brewster warns that "you will get taxed on the withdrawal, and $185,000 cashed in might only leave you with $110,000 after taxes. Not only that, you would be reducing your retirement nest egg by close to 50 percent."

He says the real issue is that you are struggling to find work and even with your loans paid off, you are going from making a mid-six-figure income to just looking to get by in a few years on Social Security and a 401(k) that is about equal to what you made in one year while working.

"My action plan for you," says Brewster, "would be to make getting another job your No. 1 priority. Working on finding your next job eight hours a day is not enough. You need to put in overtime securing your next job so that you not only avoid cashing in your pension but are in a position to keep saving more for retirement and pay off your debts from your income."

Mike, (this is John speaking) you and I know that the job market stinks and that you are at an age and salary level when employers think they can get a better deal with someone younger.

So you need to make prospective employers know that you don't have what they call "salary demands." You have, instead, salary suggestions. And that you are very flexible.

And you need to connect anyone from your previous job who might be able to help you find work. Beg them if that's what it takes.

"If you work long and hard all the way until next July when your savings will run out, and you do not find a new job, then you can — without guilt — pull money from your pension, because then you have tried everything you possibly could to not do so," says Brewster.

And even then, Brewster says, he would only pull out what you need to make the minimum loan payments and keep working at the job hunt. "And yes, it is a hunt. You have killed it for a long time, and you need to go back out and continue to kill it," he says.

"With 34 years of experience under your belt, don't sell yourself short. This period of unemployment will pass, and if you throw all your energy into getting to the other side, you will be stronger for it and will have your pension still intact along with your 401(k)," Brewster says.

Both he and I wish you the best of luck. Stay optimistic and smile when you interview. Prospective employers like to hire happy people.

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