Teen accused of making threats against his school

  Eyewitness NewsMASSAPEQUA PARK -- A Long Island teenager is facing charges he made threats against his high school.

Nassau County Police say 17-year-old Ryan Bernhardt was overheard making threats inside a bagel store near Massapequa High School on Tuesday.

Witnesses told police he said he "wanted to bomb the school and be a terrorist," as well as other threating comments.

He was charged with making a terrorist threat, which is a felony. It was not known if he has an attorney.

He had no weapons in his possession, nor were any found in his home.

He was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday.

High school principal Barbara Williams posted a letter on the school website saying all threats are taken very seriously. She added Bernhardt faces school sanctions, as well as criminal charges.

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Protest against Upper East Side trash transfer station

  Eyewitness NewsNEW YORK (WABC) -- A rally was held Saturday to protest plans for a trash transfer facility on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

Lawmakers and community activists are speaking out against the plans to establish a new city Department of Sanitation marine garbage transfer station.

It would be built along the East River at 91st Street in Manhattan.

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and State Senator Liz Kreuger are among those who say the station would attract birds and create a hazard for airliners.

They claim aviation experts say the city is violating FAA rules prohibiting the building of large garbage facilities within five miles of major airports.

The city says the station's opponents are just trying to scare people.

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Judge rules maid's suit against Strauss-Kahn can proceed

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund, is arraigned Monday, May 16, 2011, at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York. ( (AP Photo/Emmanuel Dunand, Pool))

  JENNIFER PELTZNEW YORK -- A hotel maid's sexual assault lawsuit against Dominique Strauss-Kahn can go forward to trial, a judge ruled Tuesday, rebuffing the former International Monetary Fund leader's diplomatic-immunity claim.

Bronx state Supreme Court Justice Douglas McKeon's ruling kept alive the civil case that emerged from a May 2011 hotel-room encounter that also spurred now-dismissed criminal charges against Strauss-Kahn, then a French presidential hopeful. The episode was the first in a series of allegations about his sexual conduct that sank his political career.

The housekeeper, Nafissatou Diallo, 33, said Strauss-Kahn, 63, tried to rape her when she arrived to clean his Manhattan hotel suite. Strauss-Kahn has denied doing anything violent during the encounter.

Prosecutors dropped related criminal charges last summer, saying they had developed doubts about her trustworthiness because she had lied about her background and her actions right after the alleged attack. She has insisted she told the truth about what happened in the encounter itself.

McKeon invoked an American sports metaphor in striking down the French diplomat's argument that he is immune from the lawsuit.

"Mr. Strauss-Kahn throws (legally speaking, that is) his own version of a 'Hail Mary' pass by asserting that once he was arrested and confined to a New York home as a condition of bail" he was covered by a treaty allowing departing diplomats reasonable time to leave the country before their immunity expires, even though he already had resigned his IMF post, McKeon wrote.

Strauss-Kahn didn't assert immunity from the criminal prosecution, and he resigned his IMF job days after his arrest. The lawsuit was filed about three months later.

That "may seem like an unfair result to some, but it's the result the law compels," Strauss-Kahn attorney lawyer Amit P. Mehta said at a hearing in March.

They pointed to a 1947 United Nations agreement that afforded the privilege to heads of "specialized agencies," including the International Monetary Fund. Although the United States didn't sign that agreement, Strauss-Kahn's attorneys said it has gained such broad acceptance elsewhere that it has become what's known as "customary international law."

But Diallo's lawyers said the immunity claim is off base. They stressed that the U.S. didn't join in the 1947 agreement, and that an IMF spokesman said shortly after Strauss-Kahn's arrest that he didn't have immunity because he was on personal business during his encounter with Diallo. Strauss-Kahn was visiting his daughter in New York.

"Dominique Strauss-Kahn thinks he's above the law," one of Diallo's lawyers, Kenneth P. Thompson, said after the March hearing.

McKeon's decision to allow the case to proceed was first reported by The New York Post.

Diallo's lawyers issued a statement calling the ruling "well-reasoned and articulate."

"We have said all along that Strauss Kahn's desperate plea for immunity was a tactic designed to delay these proceedings and we now look forward to holding him accountable for the brutal sexual assault that he committed," they wrote.

Strauss-Kahn's attorneys had no immediate comment on the ruling.

The Associated Press generally doesn't name people who report being sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Diallo has done.

After Strauss-Kahn's arrest in New York, a French writer came forward to say Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her during a 2003 interview. Paris prosecutors said that accusation was too old to try, but French authorities have pursued an unrelated allegation that he was involved in a hotel prostitution ring including prominent city figures and police in Lille.

In March, he was handed preliminary charges, which mean authorities have reason to believe a crime was committed but allow more time for investigation.

His French lawyer said the married Strauss-Kahn engaged in "libertine" acts but did nothing legally wrong and is being unfairly targeted for his extramarital sex life.

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Fighting against bank fees

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Thousands of people recently joined credit unions after the uproar Bank of America created with its new debit card fee. Public outcry prompted Bank of America to reverse its decision, but other bank fees are on the rise.

The majority of banks now charge a fee for non-interest checking accounts. Two years ago, most of those accounts were free. Overdraft charges and ATM fees are also at record highs.

And banks are adding other fees. For example, Bank of America now charges e-bank customers $8.95 a month to use a teller. PNC & US Bank charge $25 to close an account open less than six months.

Consumer Reports says that you can fight back. If you're hit with a fee, ask your bank to waive it. If that doesn't work, threaten to move your account.

If you decide to make a move, Consumer Reports says consider a big credit union.

Fees for basic checking at major credit unions are 42 percent lower on average than at big banks. They used to just serve small groups, but that's changed. Now it's pretty easy to find one you can join.

Before changing banks, check to see if your bank charges a closing fee. Make sure all outstanding checks are paid and switch over automatic deposits and bill payments.

Consumer Reports says you can also find lower fees at community banks and online banks. In order to get a handle on a bank's fees and rates, check out its website.

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Thousands rally against proposed firehouse closings

Web produced by Bill King, Eyewitness NewsNEW YORK (WABC) -- Thousands of firefighters and community members took to the streets Friday to protest Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to close 20 firehouses.

The march began at Engine 205 in Brooklyn Heights and culminated with a rally outside City Hall.

With just four weeks to go until the fire companies could be shuttered, firefighters organized their biggest protest yet.

More than 1,000 firefighters marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall, where they joined up with 5,000 others to rally against the proposed closings, which critics say could affect response times in every borough.

"It will put lives in jeopardy because it will extend the response time of the FDNY," Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said.

Markowitz has called the proposed cuts an outrage, as eight of the 20 fire companies on the chopping block are in his borough. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has said that according to his analysis, response times in 18 neighborhoods would rise above the national standard of four minutes.

"Under a plan like this, more lives would be lost," de Blasio said. "It's also fundamentally unfair to say to people in some neighborhoods, you get less. You know, just grin and bear it."

The Uniformed Firefighters Association took out this newspaper ad to announce the rally. It depicts the mayor dressed as the grim reaper. But Bloomberg has insisted the closings, which would save the city about $55 million, won't put anyone in danger.

He's suggested that fewer firefighters are needed because buildings are now safer, and he's pointed out that even though six firehouses closed in 2003, response times and fire deaths are at a new low.

City officials stress the list is preliminary and that no final decision has been made. The budget for fiscal 2012, which begins July 1, is still being negotiated between the City Council and the mayor.

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