The dance video superimposes different photos of Kim's face over the heads of dancers in a variety of different video clips.

North Korea is reportedly outraged over a new viral video that mocks the country's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un by showing him dancing to the beat of a Chinese pop song.

The dance video superimposes different photos of Kim's face over the heads of dancers and kung fu fighters in a variety of video clips.

According to National Public Radio quoting South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper, "the North feels the clip, which shows Kim dancing and Kung-Fu fighting, 'seriously compromises Kim's dignity and authority.'"

North Korea reportedly asked China to stop the video from spreading, but "Beijng was unable to oblige."

In the video, Kim's face appears on the bodies of dancers breaking it down in the street, on the hamsters from the Kia Soul commercials, and on a pirouetting dancer in a studio, among others.

The Supreme Leader sometimes appears in the video with a smiling Barack Obama, who kicks and pummels him in a few scenes. The heads of other world leaders, including Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, also guest star.

The video is titled "Fat Guy Number 3," according to the Irish Independent. The accompanying song is a Chinese pop hit called "Little Apple" by the Chopsticks Brothers.

YouTube is blocked in China, but the original video appeared on the video-sharing site Tencent, where it has more than 55 million views, according to the Independent.

It is actually a series of GIF images created by a man named Zhang who has over 190,000 followers on Weibo, China's version of Facebook.

It is not the first indignity that has outraged North Korea and its leader this year. In June, actors Seth Rogen and James Franco were officially condemned by Kim for their new film, "The Interview," in which the comedy pair team up to assassinate Kim.

Fitzpatrick said Gov. Andrew Cuomo's top aide never directed him away from any investigations.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said today no one from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office ever directed him to stop any investigation while he was co-chair of a commission to target political corruption in Albany.

There was a time when top Cuomo aide Larry Schwartz did indicate that a subpoena to Buying Time - an ad buying firm used by Cuomo - could prove embarrassing to the governor, Fitzpatrick said this afternoon.

But neither Schwartz nor anyone else directed Fitzpatrick to hold up that subpoena, Fitzpatrick said today, and it ultimately was served.

"He didn't direct me to do anything," Fitzpatrick said today of his conversation with Schwartz.

Fitzpatrick's work on the Moreland Commission was part of a three-month investigation published today by The New York Times. The newspaper looked at whether Cuomo, who created the commission to expose weak campaign finance laws and shore up ethical behavior in Albany, had interfered with its investigations.

Fitzpatrick, on the whole, did not take any issue with the Times' reporting. He said the anecdotes and quotes in the story, including his, were fair. "Apparently they had some good sources," he said this afternoon. The report relies on some unnamed sources, emails (including ones from Fitzpatrick) and interviews to paint a picture that the Cuomo administration was following every step of the Moreland Commisison's actions.

Cuomo, a Democrat, formed the Moreland Commission with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in July 2013 and named Fitzpatrick as one of three co-chairs. The commission issued a series of recommendations to strengthen anti-bribery laws and shore up campaign finance rules in December. Some of those recommendations - but not all - were adopted in the 2014-15 state budget. Cuomo then disbanded the Moreland Commission.

Fitzpatrick said the commission's investigations never showed anything that called the governor's conduct into question.

Cuomo's office responded to the Times' report with a 13-page memo that repeatedly argues the governor did not interfere with the Moreland Commission's actions. Cuomo first launched the commission as an "independent" panel, free to look into any office or campaign account, including the governor's. Later, the governor argued his staff's interactions with the commission were proper because it was the governor's creation.

Fitzpatrick agrees with that. Had something come up in the panel's inquiries that involved the governor, Fitzpatrick said today, "it would have put the commission in a tough spot. It was his commission. But it just didn't happen. And it wasn't because anyone ordered me not to look into it."

Rather, Fitzpatrick said, it was the commission itself that sometimes went too far in aiming its investigatory powers toward campaign committees for all parties in an effort to appear bi-partisan.

"I'm not interested in being bi-partisan," said Fitzpatrick, a Republican, adding he was only interested in going after behavior that exposed weak political campaign finance laws and possible corruption.

That happened in an initial inquiry into Buying Time, Fitzpatrick said.

The commission was looking to see if a campaign committee for the Senate Republicans had steered money toward the state's Independence Party to use for campaign ads. If that were true, it would be illegal, Fitzpatrick said.

So the commission planned to send out a subpoena to another ad agency - not Buying Time, Fitzpatrick said - but that didn't happen. Fitzpatrick said he was surprised to learn that the subpoena instead went to Buying Time - the outfit Cuomo used. Fitzpatrick said he learned about the subpoena through Schwartz.

At the time, Fitzpatrick said he agreed with Schwartz that the investigation into the Senate GOP's spending was aimed at the wrong ad company. But he also said today he didn't agree with Schwartz's reaction that the governor could be embarrassed by an inquiry into the company.

That disagreement was highlighted in the Times' story by quoting an email from Fitzpatrick to another co-chair of the commission.

From the Times: "The 2d Floor (Larry) needs to understand this is an INDEPENDENT commission and needs to be treated as such," (Fitzpatrick) wrote, referring to Mr. Schwartz and to the location of the governor's office in the Capitol. He added that "everything we discuss does not need to be fed back to Floor 2."

"I am not wasting 15 months of my quickly shortening life to write some silly report that Lewis and Clark couldn't find in five years!" Mr. Fitzpatrick wrote.

Ultimately, though, Buying Time was also served, Fitzpatrick said today during a phone interview with syracuse.com.

"So it wasn't like Larry Schwartz ever directed me to subpoena or not to subpoena Buying Time," Fitzpatrick said.

All of those records were turned over to federal prosecutor Preet Bharara, Fitzpatrick said.

"I'm about Moreland'd out," Fitzpatrick said.

Contact Teri Weaver anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-470-2274

The board meets Thursday to discuss its diversity plan.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - At least 25 percent of the jobs that flow from the coming $300 million renovation of Syracuse schools should go to city residents, according to community activists who are pressing the Joint Schools Construction Board to adopt that goal.

The JSCB will conduct a public hearing at 9 a.m. Thursday at city hall to discuss its "diversity plan,'' a document that spells out hiring goals for the next phase of school construction. Representatives from a coalition of community groups will be there to advocate hiring city residents.

The board's draft diversity plan requires hiring minorities for at least 10 percent of the jobs and women for at least 10 percent, among other goals.

The Urban Jobs Task Force, a coalition of community groups and activists, will ask the board to amend the plan by adding a goal that 25 percent of all jobs go to residents of the school district. Of those city residents, at least 15 percent should be trained and placed in the jobs by workforce development agencies, and 5 percent should be first-year apprentices, the task force argues.

Aggie Lane, a task force member, said the group will send about a dozen speakers to Thursday's public hearing. The group has also tried, without success, to pressure COR Development Co. to negotiate hiring targets in return for public subsidies of the company's Syracuse Inner Harbor development.

The seven-member Joint Schools Construction Board is laying the groundwork for a second phase of state-funded school renovations that is expected to total $300 million. During the first phase, which is nearly complete, four schools were fully renovated at a cost of about $151 million.

Contact Tim Knauss anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3023

Interested in the job training? Find out how to apply.

DeWitt, N.Y. - A group of Syracuse-area foundations and New York state are pooling nearly $1 million to pay for training to help employ local people in health care and other skills jobs, according to CenterStateCEO.

This "work train" program will help train workers for certified nursing aide positions at facilities like Loretto's The Nottingham, where the announcement was made. Other training for different workplaces will follow as part of the three-year program, according to CenterState.

Already, Loretto is using the program to fill 100 jobs at the Cottages at Garden Grove, its new facility in Cicero. A class for that training starts later this month; Loretto hopes to have those positions filled by September.

The money will come from the United Way of CNY, Allyn Foundation, Gifford Foundation, CNY Community Foundation, Reisman Foundation and St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation. New York already awarded an "opportunity agenda" grant toward the project in 2013 for $100,000.

Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy was at the Nottingham for the announcement.

Want to apply for these training spots? Here's how, according to Centerstate:

Those interested in training and employment opportunities through Work Train should email Danielle Szabo or call 315-569-4824.

The first group of trainees for the Loretto positions will start July 28, with additional groups beginning over the next few months. So there will be ongoing opportunities for people to get involved in the program.

Other opportunities in the future will include job training in manufacturing, hospitality, transportation and logistics, and warehousing.

Contact Teri Weaver anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-470-2274

Sierra Leone's top doctor fighting the world's deadliest Ebola outbreak has fallen ill with the virus.

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone -- Sierra Leone's health minister confirms that the doctor in charge of battling the current Ebola outbreak has himself become ill with the deadly disease.

Minister of Health and Sanitation Miatta Kargbo issued a statement Tuesday saying that Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan has a confirmed case of Ebola.

The minister described the stricken doctor as a national hero for the sacrifices he has made during the current outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever.

The minister said the doctor is now on his way to a Doctors Without Borders treatment center in Sierra Leone's eastern Kailahun District.

More than 500 people have died in the current Ebola outbreak in three West African countries: Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.

The fire occurred just before 4 p.m. at Solvents & Petroleum Service, at 1405 Brewerton Road in Mattydale, Onondaga County 911 said.

The fire occurred just before 4 p.m. at Solvents & Petroleum Service, at 1405 Brewerton Road in Mattydale, Onondaga County 911 said.

A fire was reported in the roof-line of a partisan. One person was taken by NAVAC Ambulance to the hospital with burns. It was not clear not serious that person's injuries were.

Solvents & Petroleum Service is a chemical distribution and waste management company. It also handles dry cleaning supplies and glycol services. The family-owned business is more than 65 years old.

Officials could not confirm reports that there had also been an explosion at the scene.

Check back for more information as it becomes available.

Fly out of Syracuse on Allegiant and JetBlue in August and your golf bag flies for free.

Syracuse, N.Y. — Flying out of Syracuse for a golfing trip will be a little cheaper than usual in August.

Under a special promotion, anyone flying from Syracuse Hancock International Airport on participating airlines will not have to pay the usual fees the airlines charge to bring a golf bag along. The two participating airlines are Allegiant and JetBlue.

Airport Executive Director Christina Callahan said the airport will pick up the tab, up to $75, for the golf bag, or oversized bag, fee charged by the airlines during August.

View full sizeSyracuse Hancock International Airport's website is touting a promotion in which travelers don't have to pay the usual fees for golf bags in August on flights from the airport on participating airline.  

The promotion is limited to one golf bag per ticketed passenger and does not include other checked or carry-on bags. It is limited to flights from Syracuse and does not include return flights. Golf bags must weigh no more than 40 pounds.

Callahan said the promotion is the first of several the airport is planning to encourage people to use the airport more often. Future promotions may include such things as discounted parking rates, she said.

The Syracuse Regional Airport Authority, which recently took over airport operations from the city, is hoping that increased passenger traffic will help lure more airlines to Syracuse.

"If there is more traffic flying in and out of the airport, that's additional demand, and when we talk to airlines, we can tell them that demand is up," Callahan said.

The authority estimates that the golf bag promotion will cost it $15,000 — $9,000 to cover fees for an estimated 120 golf bags and $6,000 to advertise the promotion. The money is coming from revenues generated by the airport, not from tax dollars, Callahan said. By law, money generated by the airport must be kept there.

The golf bag promotion was made available to all airlines at the airport. Callahan said she is hoping more airlines will participate in future promotions.

Instructions on how to take advantage of the golf bag promotion are available on the airport's website, flysyracuse.com.

Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148

A welding torch likely ignited glycol fumes, causing a small explosion at an industrial facility, which burned a welder and knocked him from a ladder.

MATTYDALE, N.Y. - Officials suspect a welding torch ignited glycol fumes, causing a small explosion at an industrial facility, which burned a welder and knocked him from a ladder.

An NVAC ambulance took the worker, whose name was not immediately available, to Upstate Medical Center. Mattydale Fire Department Chief Brian Falise described the injuries as "significant," though they did not appear life threatening.

The man had been welding a large tank in one of the buildings housing Solvents & Petroleum Service on Brewerton Road, said company owner Phil Jakes-Johnson. He had been working as a contractor. The plant handles glycol - a key ingredient in antifreeze - which Jakes-Johnson said may have caused the small explosion.

"This is my nightmare coming true," said Jakes-Johnson, adding that he was thankful the accident was not more severe.

The Mattydale Fire Department conducts biannual inspections of the facility, said Jakes-Johnson, which offers chemical distribution and waste management services.

The Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had arrived Wednesday afternoon to begin an investigation into the incident.

Just days before the father and son were to return home to Indiana, the trip turned tragic when their plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean

Just days before the father and son were to return home to Indiana, the trip turned tragic when their plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean shortly after leaving Pago Pago in American Samoa on Tuesday night. The body of 17-year-old Haris Suleman was recovered, but crews were still searching Wednesday for the father, Babar Suleman.

The Sulemans left the state on June 19 in hopes of setting the record for the fastest circumnavigation around the world in a single-engine airplane with the youngest pilot in command to do so.

For more than a month, the trip was everything they'd hoped for, with visits to the pyramids and rides on camels in Egypt, a family reunion in Pakistan and much more. Even food poisoning and delays that meant they wouldn't complete the trip in their intended 30 days couldn't dilute the teen's enthusiasm as he saw Europe, Africa, Asia and the South Pacific.

"There is so much beauty and culture in each country that I couldn't possibly witness all that I want to," Haris Suleman told The Indianapolis Star in an email recently.

The teen's sister, Hiba Suleman, said her father and brother had undergone training to learn how to handle an ocean landing and wore protective immersion suits when flying over water. She said it was unusual for them to take off at night but didn't know whether that contributed to the crash.

"With a trip like this, there's always a risk, and they did prepare for that risk. You can plan all you want, but sometimes things just don't happen the way you planned," she said at a news conference Wednesday in Plainfield, Indiana, where the family lives.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has an inspector in American Samoa who will be looking into this accident. National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Terry Williams said the agency will work with local authorities on the investigation, but he couldn't confirm if NTSB will send its own investigator to the territory.

U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Melissa McKenzie said witnesses reported seeing the single-engine Hawker Beechcraft go down about a mile from shore shortly after taking off from Pago Pago International Airport. The plane was headed to Honolulu.

"It's a tragedy of immense proportions," family friend Azhar Khan told reporters.

Haris, who had just completed his junior year of high school, had been flying with his father since age 8 and in June acquired his pilot's license and instrument rating, which authorized him to fly an aircraft over oceans.

The trip was also raising money for the Citizens Foundation, a nonprofit that builds schools in Pakistan. The organization has built 1,000 schools for boys and girls in Pakistan, and Khan said the father-son team had raised about $500,000, nearly enough to build three more.

Hiba Suleman said the cause was dear to her father, who left Pakistan in 1983. She said the family had been involved with the foundation for the last seven years and wanted to raise money to promote education and women's rights in her parents' homeland.

She said the trip had been a dream of her father's for years and that her brother was excited to join in and pursue the record. He planned to be the pilot in command except in an emergency.

Haris acknowledged the risks.

"Why does any explorer undertake the necessary risks in order to accomplish their dream?" he wrote in a July 15 blog for the Huffington Post. "Because that person has a drive, they have a focus, and they have a need to explore that dream."

  Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse man plans to sue city police, claiming officers brutalized him after he called 911 to break up a dispute outside his residence. Alonzo Grant returned home from work at 7:30 p.m. one Saturday night. He found his adult daughter in a verbal argument with a woman who lived nearby. Things escalated, so he called...

Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse man plans to sue city police, claiming officers brutalized him after he called 911 to break up a dispute outside his residence.

Alonzo Grant returned home from work at 7:30 p.m. one Saturday night. He found his adult daughter in a verbal argument with a woman who lived nearby. Things escalated, so he called police to calm things down, his lawyer said.

But by the time police arrived, his daughter had left. Grant told an officer the dispute was over, then walked back into his house, said Syracuse lawyer Jesse Ryder.

The officer entered the residence, the lawyer said, and told Grant to go outside and talk to another officer.

Alonzo Grant's lawyers provided this photo of injuries Grant suffered in a June 28 encounter with police.Provided photo 

As Grant walked down the front steps, he claims the officer charged him without warning, grabbed him in a bear hug and flung him over a railing before putting him in a chokehold as another officer struck him repeatedly with his fist.

Related link: A witness captured a portion of the arrest in a video posted on YouTube (contains adult language)

Grant, 51, of 105 Hudson St., suffered a concussion, broken nose and cut lip in the June 28 incident at his residence, said Charles Bonner, a San Francisco-area civil rights attorney also working on his behalf. The incident left Grant traumatized.

He was charged with resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and harassing and annoying police. He spent a night in the county jail for what Bonner says were "false" charges.

Grant's lawyers believe that police figured he was causing trouble and decided to subdue him. In fact, Grant was not part of the dispute and did not resist in any way, his lawyers said.

Bonner called on Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick to dismiss the charges against Grant. The case was adjourned today in City Court so the DA's office could decide how to proceed. Prosecutors declined comment.

Grant is a 30-year employee of St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center who works seven days a week and has been married for the past 28 years. He has no criminal record, his lawyers said.

Lawyers provided this photo of Alonzo Grant after an altercation with Syracuse police.Provided photo 

Syracuse police declined comment for this story, as is custom for cases with pending court action. They have not released the police statements.

Grant's lawyers also refused to release the police statements, but acknowledged that they tell a much different story. The police version, they said, includes fabrications.

According to Grant's lawyers, those include:

• Police say that Grant took responsibility and said he couldn't stop fighting with police. Grant denies saying that.

• Police say they interviewed Grant's wife. She says they never talked to her.

• Police say Grant refused to be placed in handcuffs. Grant says he was being held in such a position it was impossible to comply.

Grant has filed a complaint with the city's Citizen Review Board and will file a federal civil rights lawsuit claiming police brutality.

No one mentioned race during an afternoon news conference, though the NAACP's local chapter president, Preston Fagan, spoke in favor of Grant's case.

Grant is black. One police officer is described as white and the other black.

The local New York Civil Liberties Union executive director Barrie Gewanter said Grant's case is another reason Syracuse police need a much more detailed use of force policy.

In essence, the current policy simply states that police can use the force necessary to carry out their legal duties. The policy needs to be much more specific to avoid situations that lead to police brutality, Gewanter said.

Grant declined to talk to media outside the courthouse. But the civil rights lawyer characterized what happened as "excessive police brutality."

"This is not who we are in America," Bonner said. "This is Nazi Germany kind of style. We have policies and procedures that we have to follow under the Constitution."

The town board also voted to begin the search process to hire a new town assessor for 2015. Brad Brennan will retire in December.

Cicero, NY -- The Cicero Town Board voted Wednesday night to extend the town assessor's contract to cover March 14 to Dec. 31, 2014.

But members of the town board and town officials disagree on the meaning of the vote.

The town board approved a two-year agreement in 2012 to share an assessor with the town of Salina, but the issue of the contract's expiration date was recently called into question.

Former Cicero Supervisor Judy Boyke alerted the town board at an April board meeting that Town Assessor Brad Brennan's contract was expired. Brennan's contract, which was posted on the town's website, stated that his contract ended in March 2014.

A couple weeks after the meeting, the contract was removed from the town's website and replaced with a contract that stated that Brennan's contract expired on Dec. 31, 2014, Boyke said.

Cicero Town Supervisor Jessica Zambrano said the contract that stated that Brennan's end date was March 2014 was incorrect and that Brennan's contract is still valid until the end of the year.

"When I discovered the wrong contract was on the website, I put up the right one," Zambrano said.

At Wednesday's board meeting, the town board was asked to vote on extending Brennan's contract until Dec. 31 or to immediately start a search for a new assessor.

Zambrano said the board did not have to vote on the agenda item because the current contract is still valid until the end of the year and therefore there is no reason to vote.

Town Attorney Neil Germain said he agreed with Zambrano.

"To my knowledge the contract is valid," Germain said. Germain said the vote to extend the contract simply reiterates the terms and conditions of the existing contract.

Board Member Mike Becallo disagrees. He said that by the board voting to extend the contract, it proves that the previous contract was expired.

Cicero resident Robert George has accused town officials of falsifying the contract to change the end date without board approval.

George filed a complaint with the town on July 15 regarding the assessor's contract. In his complaint, George asked the town board to investigate any wrongdoings by Zambrano or former Town Supervisor Jim Corl Jr., involving the assessor's contract.

Zambrano said she hopes the vote will put the issue to rest and the town can move forward. George said the vote doesn't change the fact that the contract was, in his opinion, illegally changed.

The board also voted to begin the search process to hire a new town assessor for 2015. Brennan has announced that he will retire at the end of the year, Zambrano said. It is unclear if the town will search for a full-time assessor or seek another shared services agreement with the town of Salina.

Sarah Moses covers the northern suburbs of Onondaga County and Oswego County. Contact Sarah at smoses@syracuse.com or 470-2298. Follow @SarahMoses315

Roughly 80 people engaged in a bitter argument over a proposal to house immigrant children facing deportation at a site in Syracuse.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A meeting to discuss housing migrant children awaiting deportation in the city's North Side was supposed to be civil.

Common Councilor Jake Barrett, who hosted the meeting Wednesday night, asked the roughly 80 people at the meeting to respect and not interrupt each other. But almost as soon as it began, the meeting devolved into a repeat of last week's vitriolic protests.

News broke two weeks ago that federal officials were assessing the 10-acre former Maria Regina College campus as a potential site to shelter some of the thousands of unaccompanied Central American children who have entered the country and are awaiting deportation hearings.

Protestors a week ago engaged in dueling demonstrations outside the campus.

"We've heard some stories some rumors about what's going to happen up the street here," Barrett said during a short presentation. "This is not a program that's designed for long-term care for children."

Though he was interrupted by the audience several times, Barrett continued. He said most of the children would be between the ages of 12 and 18 and be from Central America. They would stay at the site an estimated 30 to 35 days.

Any children housed in Syracuse would also likely not be allowed beyond the site's secured perimeter, Barrett said.

"Nothing I have read has said they will have lives outside that gate," he said.

A woman interrupted Barrett and asked if there would be armed guards to keep the children from escaping. Barrett said he didn't know.

During the question and answer session, a woman who said she had lived on the North Side for decades said her property taxes had quadrupled over the years and that she was against the site because she didn't want to pay more taxes to pay for it.

"My tax dollars do not welcome them," she said to roaring applause.

Barrett said that the federal government would pay for housing the children and that city property taxes would not be affected.

People listen at a meeting Wednesday to discuss a possible site to house immigrant children. About 80 people attended the meeting. Ken Sturtz | ksturtz@syracuse.com 

A man rose and said that while he had concerns about the cost of housing the children, the city had a chance to present itself as welcoming to immigrants.

"This community has an opportunity to take a step forward ... from a humanitarian perspective."

"Who is going to buy my house with this place next door?" a woman shouted from her seat. Another woman shouted from the other side of the room that the site would make it easier to sell her home because it would bring jobs into the community, a sentiment that Barrett supported. Several people began arguing over whether the site would help or hurt the area's economy.

"I am dismayed that we are not taking care of our people here," another woman said. She said she sees people begging for food on the streets in Syracuse and suggested using the site to help those people.

She was cheered and shouted down at the same time.

A man who said he had lived on the North Side for more than 30 years told the audience that the property in question was for sale or lease. He said he was worried that if the federal government bought the property, it would turn it into a long-term site to house people facing deportation.

The decorum diminished as the meeting wore on.

One woman stood and yelled that she couldn't get benefits when she had cancer, although she worked two jobs the whole time. She said it wasn't fair that the children housed at the site would get benefits.

"They come here from the other side of the world," she said. "How about doing something with your own people for a change."

A man said that the United States has a constitutional obligation to protect it's borders and the real issue was border security. Groups of people moaned, booed and cheered aloud as the man spoke.

"It's not about children. Don't let them pull you into that smokescreen," he said. "It's about U.S. sovereignty."

Another man spoke about being an immigrant himself and in support of housing the children in Syracuse. Several people began arguing around him about whether the discussion was about immigration or other issues. The man said he was at the protest last week.

"I've never seen so much anger at a protest before in my life."

Another man rose and asked how many people in attendance had an ancestor come through Ellis Island. Scores of hands shot up.

"Nothing has changed in 150 years people."

 

Our humidity will continue to remain low across the region and temperatures Thursday won't reach beyond the mid 70s.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- It will be cooler Thursday and we can expect a breeze, but we will have sunny and clear weather across Central New York.

Our humidity will continue to remain low across the region and temperatures Thursday won't reach beyond the mid 70s.

Temperatures will be around 80 degrees on Friday. Mainly dry weather is expected Saturday with temperatures pushing above 80 degrees, Time Warner Cable News said.

The National Weather Service said there was a chance that scattered rain and thunderstorms would push into Central New York late Saturday and into Sunday. Temperatures will be in the 80s on Sunday.

Your Forecast

• Thursday: Sunny and clear. Northwest winds up to 10 mph. Highs in the mid 70s. Lows in the low 50s.
  
• Friday: Sunny and clear with west winds up to 5 mph. Highs near 80. Lows in the mid 50s.
  
• Saturday: Sunny and pleasant. Cloudy with a chance of rain and thunderstorms in the evening. Highs in the low 80s. Lows in the mid 60s.
  
• Sunday: Rain and thunderstorms very likely during the day and evening. Highs in the low 80s. Lows in the mid 60s.
  
• Monday: Cloudy with a 50/50 chance of rain and thunderstorms during the day and evening. Highs near 80. Lows near 60.

You can also follow us on Facebook or visit http://www.syracuse.com/weather/ for more on the weather.

To send in weather info, or especially photos: Use the Twitter or Instagram hashtag: #cnyweather Also, please let us know where the images are located.

Lufthansa and Air Berlin extended their cancelations through Thursday and Air France said it was suspending its flights "until further notice."

BERLIN -- Air France and Germany's two largest airlines on Wednesday canceled more flights to Tel Aviv because of safety concerns amid the fighting between Israel and Hamas.

Lufthansa and Air Berlin extended their cancelations through Thursday and Air France said it was suspending its flights "until further notice."

The European Aviation Safety Agency late Tuesday said it "strongly recommends" that airlines refrain from operating flights to and from Tel Aviv. It said it would "monitor the situation and advise on any update as the situation develops."

EASA acted after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration prohibited American-based airlines from flying to the airport following a Hamas rocket explosion nearby. The FAA dropped the ban just before midnight Wednesday.

Lufthansa said its decision applies also to its subsidiaries Germanwings, Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Brussels Airlines. In all, 20 flights from Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich, Zurich, Vienna and Brussels were cancelled for Thursday.

The airline initially had suspended flights for 36 hours through the end of Wednesday. Those cancelations were extended because "at the current time there is no sufficiently reliable new information that would justify a resumption of air operations," Lufthansa said.

Air Berlin said it is continuing to evaluate the situation to determine whether further cancelations are necessary.

KLM, Alitalia and Scandinavian Airlines were among other European airlines that also canceled flights Tuesday and Wednesday. Polish airline LOT said it would suspend flights to Israel through July 28. Iberia said it had cancelled its Wednesday night and Thursday morning flights to Tel Aviv, and UK-based budget airline easyJet cancelled its Thursday services between its European bases and Tel Aviv.

British Airways, however, said Wednesday it hasn't canceled any of its twice-a-day Tel Aviv flights and had no immediate plans to do so.

A spokesman stressed that British Airways wouldn't fly to Israel if it thought it was unsafe, adding that "each airline draws its own conclusion" on safety.

Aviation security expert Chris Yates said British Airways would have assessed the situation with input from the intelligence services and ultimately concluded there was an acceptable level of risk. He said this may be because the rockets from Gaza "are fairly rudimentary and can't be targeted easily at planes in flight."

Yates said other airlines might have cancelled flights fearing the possibility that rockets could strike their plane on approach or take off, but that Israel's Iron Dome defense system makes that very unlikely.

Syracuse police said the robbery occurred around 4:50 p.m. in the 300 block of Hudson Street.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A 14-year-old boy was robbed by three people at gunpoint Wednesday.

Syracuse police said the robbery occurred around 4:50 p.m. in the 300 block of Hudson Street.

Police said three people got out of a gray Dodge Durango and one of them was armed with a handgun. They stole the boy's orange and black miniature motorbike.

The 14-year-old knew one of the robbery suspects, police said. The boy identified the suspect as Tyshaun Martinez, 26, of 738 W. Onondaga St. #1. Officers went to Martinez's home and found him. He was arrested after a positive "show up identification," police said.

Martinez is charged with first-degree robbery. He is being held at the Onondaga County jail pending arraignment in Syracuse City Criminal Court Thursday.

Police said the other two suspects in the robbery were teen who have not yet been identified. The handgun and motorbike haven't been found.

Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call Syracuse police at 315-442-5222.

The robbery occurred at about 10:30 a.m. in the 600 block of Glenwood Avenue.

The robbery occurred at about 10:30 a.m. in the 600 block of Glenwood Avenue.

Police said a 16-year-old boy was walking home Wednesday from Corcoran High School when two males tried to steal his cell phone.

The males threatened the 16-year-old with a Taser.

The Boy fought with the males and during the struggle for the phone, it fell to the ground, police said. The back cover of the phone came off. The males stole the phone cover and ran away.

Police said the victim was familiar with one of the males that robbed him: Lamory Graham, of 316 Hawley Ave., Syracuse. Graham is accused of threatening the boy with a Taser.

Graham, 16, is charged with first-degree robbery, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree menacing.

The victim was not injured during this robbery. Anyone with information on the robbery is asked to contact Syracuse police at 315-442-5222.

What the Michael Brady family did in two minutes will reinforce your faith in humanity.

A Central New York family turned one donation into two to help medical research and feed dozens of hungry families.

It started when Michael Brady of Fayetteville bid $1,300 at a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation fundraiser at the Kallet Theater in Pulaski for a two-minute shopping spree at the Tops Friendly Market. He won the bid, then turned around and Friday donated it to the Food Bank of Central New York.

Brady said he saw the donation as a way to pay it forward.

"The community has been good to me and I'm just grateful to be in a position to donate the shopping spree," he said. "It was a great event."

Brady's 14-year-old son Philip has juvenile diabetes and the original donation at an auction at a JDRF fundraiser supports that group's efforts to find a cure for diabetes, Brady said.

He had thought about giving the whole shopping spree to one needy family, until a friend suggested a donation to the food pantry would help more families, Brady said.

The Food Bank was thrilled, said Lynn Hy, director of philanthropy at the Food Bank of Central New York, which serves 11 counties Central and Northern New York. The $1,574 worth of staples collected went to the Pulaski Community Food Cupboard.

"It was so generous of them," she said.

Then Tops helped to make the shopping spree go further. Normally, the store limits people who win shopping sprees to taking only three of any one item, she said. Since it was for the food pantry, the store allowed her and Philip Brady to grab cases of items as they raced through the aisles Friday morning, Hy said.

Store employees staged the aisles so that food pantry staples, such as cases of pasta, cereal, canned vegetables and tuna fish, were in easy grabbing distance, she said.

The final bill: $1,574 worth of staples that were immediately dropped off at the Pulaski Community Food Cupboard.

Contact Charley Hannagan by voice or text at 315-470-2161, by email, on Facebook at Neighbors West or on Twitter @charleypost.

A flight operated by Air Algerie carrying 110 passengers and a crew of six has disappeared from the radar on a flight from Burkina Faso to Algiers.

The logo of the Air Algerie company office, at the Opera avenue in Paris Thursday July 24, 2014. Remy de la Mauviniere | The Associated Press 

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -- An Air Algerie flight carrying 116 people from Burkina Faso to Algeria's capital disappeared from radar early Thursday over northern Mali, the plane's owner and a French government official said.

Air navigation services lost track of the MD-83 about 50 minutes after takeoff from Ougadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, at 0155 GMT (9:55 p.m. EDT Wednesday), the official Algerian news agency APS said.

That means the plane had been missing for hours before the news was made public. It wasn't immediately clear why airline or government officials didn't make it public earlier.

Air Algerie Flight 5017 was being operated by Spanish airline Swiftair, the company said in a statement. The Spanish pilots' union said the plane belonged to Swiftair and it was operated by a Spanish crew.

French Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier said the plane vanished over northern Mali. He spoke Thursday from a crisis center set up in the French Foreign Ministry.

The flight path of the plane from Ouagadougou to Algiers wasn't immediately clear. Ougadougou is in a nearly straight line south of Algiers, passing over Mali where unrest continues in the north.

Northern Mali fell under control of ethnic Tuareg separatists and then al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremists following a military coup in 2012. A French-led intervention last year scattered the extremists, but the Tuaregs have pushed back against the authority of the Bamako-based government.

A senior French official said it seems unlikely that fighters in Mali had the kind of weaponry that could shoot down a plane.

The official, not authorized to speak publicly, said on condition of anonymity that they primarily have shoulder-fired weapons -- not enough to hit a passenger plane flying at cruising altitude.

Swiftair, a private Spanish airline, said the plane carrying 110 passengers and six crew left Burkina Faso for Algiers at 0117 GMT Thursday (9:17 p.m. EDT Wednesday), but had not arrived at the scheduled time of 0510 GMT (1:10 a.m. EDT Thursday). The nationalities of the passengers weren't immediately clear.

Swiftair said it has not been possible to make contact with the plane and was trying to ascertain what had happened. It said the crew included two pilots and four cabin staff.

"In keeping with procedures, Air Algerie has launched its emergency plan," APS quoted the airline as saying.

The MD-83 is part of a series of long-range jets built since the early 1980s by McDonnell Douglas, a U.S. plane maker now owned by Boeing Co.

The town board voted in April to conduct an investigation of Supervisor Jessica Zambrano's relationship with a member of the town's engineering firm.

Cicero, NY -- The Cicero Town Board voted Wednesday night to set a special meeting to discuss the ethics investigation into Supervisor Jessica Zambrano's relationship with a member of the town's engineering firm.

The town board voted on April 23 to solicit proposals for an independent attorney and certified public accountant to conduct an investigation of Zambrano's relationship with Douglas Wickman, a senior principal at C&S Companies.

Zambrano acknowledges she is involved in a romantic relationship and shares a residence with Wickman, but said she has nothing to hide and welcomes the investigation.

The town set out a solicitation for proposals after the April meeting, but did not received any written proposals.

"We made a referendum that we were going to conduct an investigation and we need to do that," said Board Member Mike Becallo.

Becallo said the board needs to put out another call for proposals. Cicero Deputy Supervisor Tim Burtis said the first call for proposals was not an official Request for Proposals, also known as an RFP.

Neil Germain, the town's attorney, said it would cost about $4,500 for his office to draft RFPs to solicit an independent attorney and certified public accountant to conduct the investigation.

Some town board members are concerned about spending the money and want the state to take over the investigation.

Burtis and town board members Mark Venesky and Vernon Conway sent a letter to the state Comptroller's Office in May asking for the state to investigate the situation. Becallo also sent a letter to the state in June.

The board is still waiting for an official response from the state, Venesky said.

The town board voted Wednesday night to set a special town board meeting for 7 p.m. Aug. 13 at Cicero Town Hall. If the board has not heard from the state by that date, the town board will discuss moving forward with its own investigation.

Germain said the $4,500 for the RFPs would only be the start of the money spent to fund this investigation. A state investigation would not cost the town money.

Robert George, a Cicero resident, sparked the investigation by calling for Zambrano's resignation on April 9. George alleged that Zambrano voted to select C&S companies as the town engineer after she took the position of supervisor and that she has personally signed the contract designating the company as the the town's engineer firm. Zambrano should have abstained from the vote due to a conflict of interest, George said.

George filed an ethics complaint against Zambrano with the town and the state.

The town is also in the process of reviving its ethics board, which would typically handle these investigations.

Cicero Town Hall is located at 8236 Brewerton Road, in Cicero.

Sarah Moses covers the northern suburbs of Onondaga County and Oswego County. Contact Sarah at smoses@syracuse.com or 470-2298. Follow @SarahMoses315

In other news, New York's bond rating improved, the state is collecting data on LGBT residents and the "Late Show" will stay in New York City.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Good (after Moreland) morning. Let's get to it:

Could the fallout from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's staff's actions during Moreland Commission investigations jeopardize his 37-point lead over Republican Rob Astorino?

It would be a seismic shift in the state's political landscape, as Astorino has little name recognition, few dollars and is struggling to get key Republican leaders to take on his cause to unseat Cuomo.

Still, the story from The New York Times prompted calls from frequent Cuomo critics (but no loyal Democrats, including the state Senate minority leader) for the governor to come clean and explain his involvement with the commission's work.

A Moreland Commission has the authority to investigate the executive side of Albany government: the governor and the state agencies he runs. But last summer, the 25 members of this anti-corruption commission were deputized as state attorneys general to expand their authority into the legislative (and therefore state lawmaker) branch of government. Does that mean Cuomo and his staff could face different legal issues for involving themselves in the commission's work?

Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick said Wednesday no one, including top Cuomo aide Larry Schwartz, ever told him not to subpoena anyone during his tenure as a co-chair of the Moreland Commission.

Preet Bharara, the federal prosecutor now in possession of the Moreland Commission's work, reiterated his plan to continue to investigate political campaign accounts and possible corrupt behavior by politicians.

Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy said he wasn't involved in the Moreland Commission's work. "I will keep my thoughts to myself," the outgoing No. 2 in Albany said.

The Schwartz, Phil Reisman writes, is with Cuomo.

Astorino, meanwhile, vowed to show a copy of Wednesday's New York Times to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

And, the public payroll kicker: five Moreland staffers are still getting paid, including its executive director (who the Times said fed Schwartz information about investigations) at a salary of $175,000.

Thomas Kaplan, one of the reporters who worked on the Times' story, was on The Rachel Maddow Show talking about the story.

Just one more: Looking for one story that sums up the Moreland story from yesterday? Read this.

Cuomo got some good news Wednesday: the state's financing rating received a boost from Standard & Poor's, its highest since 1972.

New York agencies will begin collecting data (from those who want to share) to better track lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, the first public health effort of its kind in any state.

School districts will get a sneak peek at math and English standardized test results early, and the public will get to see half (not the normal 25 percent) of the questions the state asked on the tests.

Stephen Colbert and the "Late Show" are staying in New York City -- with as much as $16 million of state taxpayer money over the next five years. That's a lot of laughs.

SUNY ESF and Onondaga Community College are seeking a $20 million state grant to help build a research center near the Syracuse Inner Harbor.

Some, including county legislators, are calling for a slow-down to plans to build an amphitheater on the western shores of Onondaga Lake.

Put down that cat -- or it could cost you a $1,000 fine.

The New York State Fair is just one month away.

Tweet of the Day

So I live in the sort of state where the governor starts an anti-corruption task force and then corrupts it. http://t.co/wYGdAnX2A2

— Christine Slocum (@ChristineLSloc) July 24, 2014

Contact Teri Weaver anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-470-2274