QUEENS, NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) — A Queens, New York man on Monday was sentenced to 18 years in prison for violently shaking his infant son and causing his death, prosecutors said.

Saul Cortez, 25, pleaded guilty last month to second-degree manslaughter and first-degree assault before the Queens Supreme Court. The defendant admitted that on April 5, 2010, he was home alone with his two-year-old daughter and his eight-month -old son.

That night, the three were at Cortez’ Rockaway Beach Boulevard residence when he became frustrated and angry because the infant son was crying. Cortez repeatedly shook the toddler and forcefully and repeatedly punched him in the back.

When his wife returned home, Cortez was on the phone calling for help and the baby was unresponsive, limp and not breathing. The toddler was admitted to Schneider Children’s Hospital (now Cohen Children’s Medical Center) and diagnosed with Shaken Baby Syndrome.

“Shaken Baby Syndrome is the leading cause of child abuse deaths each year. Its victims are innocent and helpless children, often injured by those charged to protect them,” said Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “There are many solutions to deal with a crying baby – shaking is not one of them.”

Subsequent tests revealed that the 8-month-old boy sustained brain injury, subdural bleeding, retinal hemorrhages, laceration to the liver and healing and acute rib fractures.

“In this particular case, the defendant’s actions denied his own son the chance to live out his life. Under the circumstances, the lengthy prison sentence imposed today is more than warranted,” the District Attorney added.

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NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) — The New York Times on Thursday announced that Biller Keller will step down from his position as Executive Editor and will be succeeded by Jill Abramson, making her the newspaper’s first female in that role.

Keller has been executive editor of The New York Times since mid-2003, and the announcement came as a surprise. “Bill came to me several weeks ago and told me that he felt the time had come for him to step down from the role of executive editor,” said Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman of The New York Times Company and publisher of The New York Times.

Sulzberger said he accepted Keller’s decision with ‘mixed emotions,’ but noted that Keller will continue as a writer for both The New York Times Magazine and The Time’s new Sunday opinion and news section. “I’m truly grateful for the outstanding job he has done leading our newsroom for the past eight years, and I’m delighted we’re not losing him,” the chairman added.

Abramson has been managing editor of The New York Times for about eight year, and Keller often referred to her as “my sidekick.” In one interview in New York Magazine in 2006, Keller described his relationship with Abramson as being like a marriage. “It’s harder to see straight when you’re in it. Like any marriage, we have our occasional spats,” Keller said.

“Without question, Jill is the best person to succeed Bill in the role of executive editor. With him, she steered the newsroom through one of the most challenging periods in recent history, both economically and culturally,” Sulzberger said. “Over the past year, she has immersed herself in our digital strategy and led the effort to fully integrate the newsroom. This Web integration has made us a better news organization, able to maintain our high journalistic standards while adjusting our approach to the dissemination of news.”

Keller, in a statement, said it has been a privilege to work for The New York Times. “It’s been a privilege to work alongside the world’s finest journalists during these exhilarating years of tumult and transformation. I wanted to move on when the newsroom felt strong in its journalism and secure in its future. It feels that way now, and with Jill as executive editor, it could not be in better hands,” Keller said.

Abramson said she is grateful for the opportunity to lead the editorial direction of The New York Times. “It’s a dream job for any journalist and one that I am deeply honored to be asked to serve in. I have deep affection for this institution and for my many talented colleagues, and I look forward to all that lies ahead,” she said.

Keller will step down as executive editor on September 6.

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NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday said its managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has submitted his resignation amid allegations of sexual assault.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, has been IMF’s managing director since November 2007 and previously served as France’s Finance and Economy Minister between June 1997 and November 1999. He was also seen as a possible presidential candidate in next year’s presidential elections in France.

According to the allegations, Strauss-Kahn forced a 32-year-old hotel maid at the Sofitel New York Hotel to perform oral sex on him twice before engaging in anal sexual conduct with her. He also grabbed the victim’s breasts and vaginal area.

The previously powerful politician is facing seven charges, including two counts of Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree and one count of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree. He currently remains at the Rikers Island jail complex in New York City

In a statement, the IMF on Thursday said Strauss-Kahn has informed the executive board through a letter of his intention to resign as managing director with immediate effect.

“It is with infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present to the Executive Board my resignation from my post of Managing Director of the IMF,” Strauss-Kahn said. “I think at this time first of my wife – whom I love more than anything – of my children, of my family, of my friends.”

“To all, I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me,” Strauss-Kahn said in the letter. “I want to protect this institution which I have served with honor and devotion, and especially – especially – I want to devote all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence.”

Earlier this week, the IMF appointed John Lipsky as Acting Managing Director. Thursday’s statement said Lipsky will remain in the position while IMF’s Executive Board selects a permanent replacement.

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NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday said its managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has submitted his resignation amid allegations of sexual assault.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, has been IMF’s managing director since November 2007 and previously served as France’s Finance and Economy Minister between June 1997 and November 1999. He was also seen as a possible presidential candidate in next year’s presidential elections in France.

According to the allegations, Strauss-Kahn forced a 32-year-old hotel maid at the Sofitel New York Hotel to perform oral sex on him twice before engaging in anal sexual conduct with her. He also grabbed the victim’s breasts and vaginal area.

The previously powerful politician is facing seven charges, including two counts of Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree and one count of Sexual Abuse in the First Degree. He currently remains at the Rikers Island jail complex in New York City

In a statement, the IMF on Thursday said Strauss-Kahn has informed the executive board through a letter of his intention to resign as managing director with immediate effect.

“It is with infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present to the Executive Board my resignation from my post of Managing Director of the IMF,” Strauss-Kahn said. “I think at this time first of my wife – whom I love more than anything – of my children, of my family, of my friends.”

“To all, I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me,” Strauss-Kahn said in the letter. “I want to protect this institution which I have served with honor and devotion, and especially – especially – I want to devote all my strength, all my time, and all my energy to proving my innocence.”

Earlier this week, the IMF appointed John Lipsky as Acting Managing Director. Thursday’s statement said Lipsky will remain in the position while IMF’s Executive Board selects a permanent replacement.

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CHICAGO (BNO NEWS) — United Airlines on Wednesday apologized for accidentally assigning flight numbers 93 and 175 to future flights. Both flight numbers were used as part of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Airline spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said United Airlines inadvertently applied flight numbers 93 and 175 as code-share flights onto Continental-operated flights. “We made that schedule update late Monday evening and we noticed it and immediately pulled those flights from the schedule early this morning,” he said.

Flight 93 was supposed to travel between Houston and San Jose, California, while Flight 175 was to fly between Boston and Newark. On September 11, 2001, Flight 93 was scheduled to fly from Newark to San Francisco while Flight 175 was supposed to fly from Boston to Los Angeles.

Johnson said there were no flights which actually operated with those flight numbers. “Those flights were available for sale at some future point [..] but no flights have operated. Because we’re talking about a 36 hour period or so, from Monday to this morning when they were for sale. No flights actually operated,” the spokesman said.

United Airlines said it regrets the error and apologized. “I believe the computer assigned those flight numbers. We should not have allowed that to happen,” Johnson said. “We already have permanently stopped using those flight numbers. This was an totally inadvertent error. Those flights are permanently out of use.”

It is common policy among most airlines around the world to permanently retire the flight numbers of planes which were involved in a fatal incident. United Airlines, however, still operates flight numbers 608, 624, and 823 even though they were involved in fatal plane crashes between 1947 and 1964.

On September 11, 2001, nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes before crashing two of them into the World Trade Center in New York and another into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The fourth, United Flight 93, crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed.

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CHICAGO (BNO NEWS) — United Airlines on Wednesday apologized for accidentally assigning flight numbers 93 and 175 to future flights. Both flight numbers were used as part of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Airline spokesman Rahsaan Johnson said United Airlines inadvertently applied flight numbers 93 and 175 as code-share flights onto Continental-operated flights. “We made that schedule update late Monday evening and we noticed it and immediately pulled those flights from the schedule early this morning,” he said.

Flight 93 was supposed to travel between Houston and San Jose, California, while Flight 175 was to fly between Boston and Newark. On September 11, 2001, Flight 93 was scheduled to fly from Newark to San Francisco while Flight 175 was supposed to fly from Boston to Los Angeles.

Johnson said there were no flights which actually operated with those flight numbers. “Those flights were available for sale at some future point [..] but no flights have operated. Because we’re talking about a 36 hour period or so, from Monday to this morning when they were for sale. No flights actually operated,” the spokesman said.

United Airlines said it regrets the error and apologized. “I believe the computer assigned those flight numbers. We should not have allowed that to happen,” Johnson said. “We already have permanently stopped using those flight numbers. This was an totally inadvertent error. Those flights are permanently out of use.”

It is common policy among most airlines around the world to permanently retire the flight numbers of planes which were involved in a fatal incident. United Airlines, however, still operates flight numbers 608, 624, and 823 even though they were involved in fatal plane crashes between 1947 and 1964.

On September 11, 2001, nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes before crashing two of them into the World Trade Center in New York and another into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The fourth, United Flight 93, crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed.

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NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) — Former New York State Senator Vincent Leibell III on Friday was sentenced to more than a year in prison on obstruction of justice and tax charges, prosecutors said.

Leibell, 64, was sentenced to 21 months in prison for obstructing a federal investigation into his extortion of cash payments from lawyers working in Putnam County, New York, and for failing to report on his income tax returns tens of thousands of dollars in cash payments he had received from those lawyers.

“Today’s sentencing of former Senator Vincent Leibell ends a sad chapter in the history of Putnam County. It should serve as a sobering reminder to all public officials throughout New York State that no one is above the law,” said Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

According to the evidence, Leibell, unlawfully extorted cash payments from attorneys doing business in Putnam County, where he resides. The former senator demanded and received money from a lawyer in exchange for millions of dollars in New York state senate member item grants.

Leibell sponsored the grants as a state senator for the benefit of a Putnam County-based not-for-profit organization. In April 2010, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) launched an investigation on the Senator’s activities.

The defendant became aware of the investigation in late April 2010 and met with the attorney involved to discuss their alibi when questioned by federal agents. Leibell directed him to lie on the cash payments and withdrawals.

Leibell was also convicted for filing false federal income tax returns with the IRS for the tax years 2003 through 2006. He failed to report approximately $43,000 from this period.

On December 3, 2010, Leibell resigned his New York state senate seat. He was scheduled to be sworn in as Putnam County executive on January 1, 2011. The former Senator was also ordered to pay a $4,000 fine and to serve three years of supervised release.

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ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) — Two small planes crashed in a wooded area of Orange County, New York on Monday afternoon, state police said, but few details were immediately available.

A spokesman for Troop F of the New York State Police said the accidents happened at around 3 p.m. local time in a wooded area off County Road 12 in New Hampton. The wreckages are about 0.5 mile (0.8 kilometer) apart, and one of them is on fire.

It was not immediately known how many people were on board the small aircraft, and it was not known if the accidents were the result of a mid-air collision.

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SUFFOLK COUNTY, NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) — Four people were injured on early Saturday morning when a gunman opened fire at a nightclub on Long Island in New York, police said.

The shooting happened at around 3.31 a.m. local time at the Oxygen nightclub in Rocky Point, a hamlet in Suffolk County on the North Shore of Long Island. Police responded after a person at the club called 911.

Suffolk County police said officers arrived at the scene a short while later and found three women with gunshot wounds. Another victim, a man, was taken by a friend to John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson before police arrived.

The three women, two of whom were shot in the leg and the other who was shot in the foot, were transported to Stony Brook University Medical Center by Rocky Point Ambulance. The man, who was shot in the leg and his torso was grazed with a bullet, was later also transfered to Stony Brook University Medical Center.

Suffolk County Police Seventh Squad detectives are investigating the incident, but no arrests were made as of Saturday afternoon. The motive for the shooting is also still unknown.

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DALLAS (BNO NEWS) — New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on early Monday morning released the following statement on the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

“After September 11, 2001, we gave our word as Americans that we would stop at nothing to capture or kill Osama bin Laden. After the contribution of millions, including so many who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, we have kept that word.

“The killing of Osama bin Laden does not lessen the suffering that New Yorkers and Americans experienced at his hands, but it is a critically important victory for our nation – and a tribute to the millions of men and women in our armed forces and elsewhere who have fought so hard for our nation.

“New Yorkers have waited nearly ten years for this news. It is my hope that it will bring some closure and comfort to all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001.”

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