Three Russian citizens were charged Monday in connection with a Cold War-style Russian spy ring that spoke in code, passed messages concealed in bags and magazines, and tried to recruit people with ties to an unnamed New York City university, authorities said.

NEW YORK -- Three Russian citizens were charged Monday in connection with a Cold War-style Russian spy ring that spoke in code, passed messages concealed in bags and magazines, and tried to recruit people with ties to an unnamed New York City university, authorities said.

The defendants were directed by Russian authorities to gather sensitive economic intelligence on potential U.S. sanctions against Russian banks and efforts here to develop alternative energy resources, according to a complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan.

Prosecutors say one defendant, Yevgeny Buryakov, posed as an employee in the Manhattan branch of a Russian bank. He was arrested on Monday in the Bronx, where he lived with his Russian wife and two children.

At an initial court appearance, Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Fee portrayed Buryakov as a professional spy skilled at duplicity.

"His life here, your honor, really is a deception," the prosecutor said.

Buryakov, 39, arrived in the United States in 2010 and had a work visa. His lawyer, Sabrina Shroff, lost an argument for bail after a magistrate judge agreed with the government that he had an incentive to flee since his cover was blown.

The two others named in the complaint, Igor Sporyshev and Victor Podobnyy -- described as Buryakov's handler -- held low-level diplomatic positions. They were protected from prosecution because of their diplomatic status and are believed to have returned to Russia.

Between March 2012 through as recently as mid-September 2014, the FBI observed Buryakov and Sporyshev meeting 48 times in outdoor settings, the complaint says. Several of the meetings "involved Buryakov passing a bag, magazine or slip of paper to Sporyshev," it says.

In intercepted telephone calls made to set up the meetings, the pair spoke about sharing tickets to movies or sporting events, or needing to deliver items like books or hats but were never observed doing that, the complaint says.

They also "discussed their attempts to recruit U.S. residents, including several individuals employed by major companies, and several young women with ties to a major university located in New York City," it says.

The investigation recalled a 2010 case resulting in the arrest of 10 covert agents who infiltrated suburban America using fake names. All 10 pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to conspiracy charges and were ordered out of the country as part of a spy swap for four people convicted of betraying Moscow to the West.

The case was announced Monday by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and FBI officials.

The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Foreign Intelligence Service could not immediately be reached for comment on the case. Alexey Zaytsev, spokesman for Russia's U.N. Mission, said: "We don't have any comment now."

The new case demonstrates "our firm commitment to combating attempts by covert agents to illegally gather intelligence and recruit spies within the United States," Holder said in a statement.

Bharara added that the charges "make it clear that -- more than two decades after the presumptive end of the Cold War -- Russian spies continue to seek to operate in our midst."

The governor also urged all other drivers affected by the extreme winter storm to stay off the roads as the snowstorm intensifies and the travel conditions worsen.

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Some state employees have been told to stay home from work Tuesday as an extreme winter storm approaches.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo directed non-essential state employees affected by Winter Storm Juno to stay off the roads -- and not report to work. State employees who stay home will not lose accruals, which are similar to vacation or time off credits, according to the governor's office.

State offices in Bronx, Dutchess, Kings, Nassau, New York, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, Ulster and Westchester counties will be closed on Tuesday. Anyone with an appointment at those state offices should call to reschedule.

The governor also urged all other commuters to stay off the roads as the storm intensifies and travel conditions worsen. A storm-related travel ban will go into effect on all roads in 13 counties including New York City and Long Island at 11 p.m. Monday. New York City's subway system and commuter rails also will shut down Monday night. Only authorized emergency vehicles will be allowed on the closed roads after that point. A violation of the travel ban can include fines up to $300 and a misdemeanor charge, according to the governor's website.

How are people in Juno's path battling the blizzard? Here's a look at reactions on social media so far.

How are you dealing with the storm?

Share your survival tips, snow-day activities and blizzard stories in the comments.

Assembly Democrats are expected to meet again Tuesday to begin talks about picking a new speaker.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Assembly Democrats have lost confidence in Speaker Sheldon Silver and are asking him to step down as he faces federal corruption charges, multiple news outlets reported Monday night.

The decision came after a five-hour, closed-door meeting among the Assembly Democrats while Silver, D-Manhattan, waited in his Albany office. The Buffalo News reported he was defying efforts to oust him.

The lawmakers emerged with a consensus that Silver should be out -- but no decision on his replacement. That discussion will continue Tuesday at noon.

Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry, a leader in the chamber, said many lawmakers now believe Silver would face "great difficulty" if he remained as speaker, the Associated Press reported.

.@donnalupardo: "There is a very strong opinion that (Sheldon Silver) should, in fact, step down."

— Jon Campbell (@JonCampbellGAN) January 27, 2015

Last week, dozens of Democratic Assembly lawmakers stood behind Silver, who is facing five counts of corruption charges. On Sunday, Silver put together a plan to have five Assembly members take over his duties temporarily as he fought the charges, which he has denied.

By Monday, that plan collapsed as more individual lawmakers -- including Assemblyman Al Stirpe, D-Cicero -- began calling on Silver to permanently concede the powerful position he's held since 1994.

Assemb Amy Paulin said Speaker Silver has lost the confidence of the Democratic conference. Closed door talks are scheduled to resume Tues.

— Michael Gormley (@GormleyAlbany) January 27, 2015

The Manhattan Democrat was arrested Thursday and faces charges that he took nearly $4 million in payoffs and kickbacks.

Silver has said he expects to be vindicated. He has offered to temporarily cede power to top lawmakers to give him time to fight the charges.

.@DeborahJGlick confirms: No decision on Speaker Silver tonight. "We'll be back tomorrow," she says.

— Jon Campbell (@JonCampbellGAN) January 27, 2015

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

Passengers were taken off Flight 321 to Palm Beach, Florida, at about 9 p.m. Monday

BOSTON -- A JetBlue Airways plane returned to the gate before takeoff on Monday after an unspecified threat, but nothing hazardous was found, state police said.

Authorities have been investigating other hoax threats against airlines, five since Saturday.

Passengers were taken off Flight 321 to Palm Beach, Florida, at about 9 p.m. Monday, police spokesman David Procopio said. Troopers with search dogs swept the aircraft and about 100 pieces of luggage, he said.

"Information known by law enforcement prior to the search suggested the threat was not credible," Procopio said. "The aircraft was nonetheless carefully examined per security protocols."

He said no further information about the nature of the threat was being released because of an ongoing investigation into the source.

He said the flight, scheduled to be among the last leaving Boston ahead of the Northeast snowstorm, was canceled and the 135 passengers will be rebooked. However, Logan Airport wasn't expected to resume flights before Wednesday and the airport was preparing hundreds of cots for passengers stranded.

New York-based JetBlue Airways Corp. also believed the threat wasn't credible, spokesman Sebastian White said, but "the safety of our customers is our first priority." He said the airline is cooperating with law enforcement.

An FBI spokeswoman in Los Angeles said earlier Monday the agency was investigating hoax threats Sunday against two flights at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, operated by JetBlue and SkyWest, and a Los Angeles-bound Delta Air Lines jet diverted to Dallas-Fort Worth.

Hoax bomb threats also targeted a Southwest Airlines flight and a Delta flight bound for Atlanta on Saturday. It's unclear if the hoaxes are connected.

The Boston FBI did not immediately return a message seeking comment Monday night.

A house at 319 state Route 104A in the town of Oswego caught fire.

OSWEGO, N.Y. -- Volunteer firefighters are on the scene of a house fire early Tuesday in the town of Oswego, authorities said.

Someone called the Oswego County 911 Center at 11:56 p.m. Monday to report the fire at 319 state Route 104A in the town of Oswego. Smoke and flames were visible, officials said.

No injuries have been reported.

Town of Oswego, Hannibal, Minetto and Granby volunteer firefighters, and Oswego County sheriff's deputies are at the scene. Menter Ambulance is on stand-by. The fire is on state Route 104A, near the intersection of Chapel Road.

The government gave up on its effort to force New York Times reporter James Risen to reveal his sources -- and ultimately didn't need him to win a conviction.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A former CIA officer was convicted Monday of leaking details of a covert mission to derail Iran's nuclear program in a case that, until the eve of the trial, was as much about the journalist who published the leaks as it was the accused leaker.

The government gave up on its effort to force New York Times reporter James Risen to reveal his sources -- and ultimately didn't need him to win a conviction.

Jurors convicted Jeffrey Sterling, 47, of O'Fallon, Missouri, of all nine counts he faced in federal court.

At issue in the two-week trial: Who told Risen about the mission, one that former national security adviser Condoleezza Rice testified was among the government's most closely held secrets during her tenure as well as one of its best chances to derail Iran's nuclear-weapons ambitions?

The case was delayed for years as prosecutors fought to force Risen to divulge his sources. Risen eventually lost his legal battle to quash a government subpoena, though prosecutors ultimately decided not to call him to testify once it became clear he would not reveal those sources even if jailed for contempt of court and free-press advocates lobbied on Risen's behalf.

Prosecutors had acknowledged a lack of direct evidence against Sterling but said the circumstantial evidence against him was overwhelming. Defense lawyers had said the evidence showed that Capitol Hill staffers who had been briefed on the classified operation were more likely the source of the leak.

Following the verdict, defense lawyer Edward MacMahon said he was disappointed but "we still believe in Jeffrey's innocence." He said the defense will pursue every available legal option to get the jury's verdict overturned.

Sterling will have the option to appeal his case after he is sentenced in April. Motions to dismiss the case on various legal grounds are also still pending in front of the trial judge, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema.

The classified operation at the heart of the trial involved using a CIA asset nicknamed Merlin, who had been a Russian nuclear engineer, to foist deliberately flawed nuclear-weapons blueprints on the Iranians, hoping they would spend years trying to develop parts that had no hope of ever working.

Risen's 2006 book, "State of War," describes the mission as hopelessly botched, and possibly backfiring by giving the Iranians blueprints that could be useful to them if they sorted out the good information from the errors.

Throughout the trial, numerous CIA officers testified that they had deemed the program a success, even though the Iranians never followed up with Merlin to get additional blueprints he had offered to them as part of the ruse.

In his closing arguments, prosecutor Eric Olshan said the chapter of Risen's book seemed to be clearly written from Sterling's perspective as Merlin's case handler. The book describes the handler's misgivings about the operation while others at the CIA push the plan through despite its risks.

Furthermore, Sterling believed he had been mistreated and was angry that the agency refused to settle his racial discrimination complaint, Olshan said.

Risen had written about that complaint, and he was known to have a relationship with Sterling. The two exchanged dozens of phone calls and emails, Olshan said.

But defense lawyers said the government had no evidence that Risen and Sterling talked about anything classified in those phone calls and emails. The government failed to obtain Risen's records to see who else he may have contacted.

Defense attorney Barry Pollack said Risen first got wind of the operation in early 2003, within weeks of Sterling reporting his misgivings to staffers at a Senate intelligence committee -- a channel that Sterling was legally allowed to pursue. Pollack said it makes more sense that a Hill staffer leaked to Risen.

Just before lunch on Monday -- the jurors' third day of deliberations, they sent a note to the judge saying they could not reach a unanimous verdict on some counts. But after the judge urged them to keep talking, they delivered guilty verdicts later in the afternoon.

Jurors declined to comment leaving the courthouse.

Lucy Dalglish, dean of the University of Maryland's journalism school and former director of the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press, said she was not surprised by the verdict. She called it groundbreaking in the sense that it showed how prosecutors are willing to pursue such cases without reporters' cooperation.

"They're going to use this case to terrify federal employees. They're going to use this case to teach the intelligence community a lesson" about the consequences of leaks, she said.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Dana Boente, in a written statement, described Sterling as "a disgruntled former CIA employee" and said the leak "was illegal and went against Mr. Sterling's professional commitments to the CIA."

"Mr. Sterling's vindictive and careless choices ultimately led us here today and to this unanimous verdict."

Risen did not return a call and email seeking comment.

Early Tuesday, forecasters downgraded most of their numbers, saying New England would fare the worst, but even then not as bad as expected.

NEW YORK -- Tens of millions of people along the East Coast hunkered down for a storm that for most failed to live up to predictions that it would be one of the worst they'd ever seen.

Forecasters originally said the storm could bring 1 to 3 feet of snow and punishing hurricane-force winds. But early Tuesday, they downgraded most of those numbers, saying New England would fare the worst, but even then not as bad as expected.

Bruce Sullivan of the National Weather Service said Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, could get the most snow, about 2 feet. New York could see 10 inches to 20 inches, Hartford, Connecticut, 1 to 2 feet, and Philadelphia and central New Jersey about 6 inches.

The National Weather Service over the weekend had issued a blizzard warning for a 250-mile swath of the region, meaning heavy, blowing snow and potential whiteout conditions.

On Monday, life abruptly stopped across the region as officials ordered workers to go home early, banned travel, closed bridges and tunnels, and assembled their biggest plowing crews.

"When you wake up in the morning, it is going to look like a blizzard," said Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, echoing the concern of many government leaders.

Light snow fell steadily early Tuesday in midtown Manhattan as a few municipal trucks rumbled down empty streets. The city had an almost eerie, post 9/11 feel to it: No airplanes in the sky. An unexpected quiet.

More than 7,700 flights in and out of the Northeast were canceled, and many of them may not take off again until Wednesday. Schools and businesses let out early. Government offices closed. Shoppers stocking up on food jammed supermarkets and elbowed one another for what was left. Broadway stages went dark.

Mayor Bill de Blasio urged New Yorkers to go home and stay there, adding: "People have to make smart decisions from this point on."

Commuters like Sameer Navi, 27, of Long Island, were following the advice.

Navi, who works for Citigroup in Manhattan, said he takes the Long Island Rail Road every day and left work early Monday after warnings by local officials to get home before the brunt of the storm. "I did leave earlier than usual," he said.

In New Jersey, plows and salt spreaders remained at work on the roads Monday night in Ocean County, one of the coastal areas that was expected to be among the hardest hit. There was a coating of snow on the roads but hardly any vehicles were traveling on them, as residents seemed content to stay indoors and monitor the storm in comfort.

Most businesses in the area had gone dark, including some convenience stores and gas stations.

Earlier in the day, Nicole Coelho, a nanny from Lyndhurst, New Jersey, stocked up on macaroni and cheese, frozen pizzas and milk at a supermarket.

"I'm going to make sure to charge up my cellphone, and I have a good book I haven't gotten around to reading yet," she said.

Ben Shickel went grocery shopping in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and found shelves had been cleaned out.

"We're used to these big snowstorms in New England, but 2 to 3 feet all at once and 50 to 60 mph winds? That's a different story," he said.

Last minute shoppers filed into the Jersey City ShopRite Monday evening, looking to stock up before the brunt of the storm hit. "I heard it's supposed to be snowing for two days straight, so we plan on staying inside and munching," said 18-year old Christian Waiters, who serves in the military.

On Wall Street, however, the New York Stock Exchange stayed open and said it would operate normally Tuesday as well.

Coastal residents braced for a powerful storm surge and the possibility of damaging flooding and beach erosion, particularly in New Jersey and on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Officials in New Jersey shore towns warned people to move their cars off the streets and away from the water.

Utility companies across the region put additional crews on standby to deal with anticipated power outages.

New York Assembly Speaker Silver declined to speculate on his chances of keeping the position he has held for two decades.

By DAVID KLEPPER and MICHAEL VIRTANEN
Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Control of the state Assembly hung in the balance Monday night as longtime Speaker Sheldon Silver fought to keep his grip on power amid mounting calls for his resignation following federal corruption charges.

Democrats in the Assembly huddled for several hours in the Capitol but left without deciding Silver's fate. They plan to return Tuesday for more closed-door talks in the hopes of ending the intrigue roiling the Capitol that threatens to disrupt the ongoing legislative session.

"Folks have raised real concerns," said Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, D-Rochester, who said he didn't know if Silver would resign.

Silver said Monday night that he expects to be exonerated. He has offered to temporarily cede power to top lawmakers, an idea that hasn't convinced an increasing number of lawmakers who say his continued leadership is a distraction and a black mark. They vowed to push for a vote to replace him if he refused to resign.

Queens Democrat Jeffrion Aubry, a senior member of the chamber's majority conference, said there is growing consensus that the cloud over Silver poses "a great difficulty for him to continue to operate."

Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, was taken into custody Thursday morning by the FBI and was released later in the day on $200,000 bail. He faces five counts, including conspiracy and bribery, charges his attorney has called "meritless," and is accused of using his position to obtain millions of dollars in kickbacks masked as legitimate income.

Silver declined to speculate on his chances of keeping the position he has held for two decades.

"I'm still the speaker," he said. When reporters asked about the chances he would keep his position, he said "I'm not a betting person. I don't deal with chances."

Silver, 70, has led the Democratic majority for 21 years and is considered one of the most powerful politicians in the state. He has the second-longest tenure of any speaker in the United States, and his party holds more than two-thirds of the 150-seat Assembly.

The Assembly balked at Silver's proposal to tap five senior colleagues to temporarily handle his duties: Morelle and Assembly members Herman "Denny" Farrell, of Manhattan; Joseph Lentol, of Brooklyn; Carl Heastie, of the Bronx; and Catherine Nolan, of Queens.

After a briefing earlier on the snowstorm in the Northeast, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo questioned how such an arrangement would work.

"Management by committee, I've never been a fan of," he said.

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin said a 17-member bloc of Democrats from the Hudson Valley and Long Island agrees that Silver should step down. They were not proposing a replacement as speaker, only that Morelle temporarily fill in.

"It's the only thing we have to keep this institution on an even keel. And that's our priority," said Paulin, a legislator for 14 years from Westchester County. "We will be calling on the speaker to step aside so there can be a transition."

Assemblyman Keith Wright, mentioned as a possible contender for speaker, is the highest-profile Democrat to publicly call for Silver's ouster. Wright, of Harlem, is a former chairman of the state's Democratic Party.

"Based upon the extraordinarily disturbing events from last week, revelations and charges that will reverberate for months if not years to come, Sheldon Silver must resign as speaker immediately," Wright said in an email.

The criminal complaint said there was probable cause to believe that Silver obtained about $4 million in payments characterized as attorney referral fees through the corrupt use of his official position as one of the state's most powerful politicians.

___

Associated Press writer Deepti Hajela in New York City contributed to this report.

In a 53-39 vote, the Senate blocked an attempt by Republican leaders to wind down debate.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Democrats temporarily stalled progress Monday on a bill to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, the top priority of the Republican-controlled Congress.

In a 53-39 vote, the Senate blocked an attempt by Republican leaders to wind down debate. That's short of the 60 votes needed.

The vote caps a partisan dispute -- which had the Senate working into the early hours last Friday -- over the time granted to consider amendments on the bill.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to move to pass the bipartisan legislation, which has 60 sponsors, including six Democrats. But Democrats argued they needed more time to offer and debate their additions.

"Senator McConnell promised Democrats an open amendment process and a full-throated debate on the Keystone pipeline, and we are holding him to that promise," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement.

President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill if it reaches his desk.

Some Democrats who two months ago supported a bill approving the pipeline, including one of the bill's current sponsors, helped filibuster the move to limit debate.

Newhouse joins Whitman School as second SU school to partner with online provider 2U

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Several hundred more students a year could soon be pursuing a master's degree from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

The school is launching it first-ever online digital media master's degree, aiming to enroll several hundred students. For a school that now enrolls some 260 master's and doctoral students a year, the impact could be significant, offering a financial boon for the school.

Currently the school receives some 750 to 1,000 applications each year for 250 spots in its residential master's degree program on campus, according to the school's website.

The first class online cohort will start in July. Registration is now open.

Anthony Rotolophoto provided 

Rotolo, 34, a native of Rome, is something of a celebrity on campus and beyond. He has taught a course on Star Trek, and is currently teaching a free, non-credit course on Doctor Who, a kind of hybrid massive open online course, or MOOC. Rotolo's Newhouse profile describes him as "a technologist and futurist ... a leading expert on digital technologies, including social media and 3-D printing." He has spoken on technology at the United States Senate, NASA's Johnson Space Center, the South by Southwest Interactive Festival and the Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas.

The Doctor Who class, or #WhoClass on Twitter, has some 200 students who attend weekly, half of whom are not SU students, Rotolo said. Another 3,000 are registered to take it online. As a free class, it is a kind of marketing sampler of what Newhouse could offer in its full, paid version graduate program, said Rotolo.

"It gives a taste of what we can do," he said.

David Rubin, former dean of Newhouse, will co-teach the First Amendment Law course in the online program.

"I think it will clearly extend the Newhouse brand to people who cannot or choose not to enroll for the residential program," he said. "If the program is of high quality, it will enhance the brand. If not, it won't. We intend that it will."

For the new graduate program, Newhouse is partnering with 2U, Inc., a publicly traded provider of online programs.

SU's Martin J. Whitman School of Management began partnering this month with 2U, offering an online MBA degree program. Whitman's new MBA with 2U has a first class of 108.

SU's online graduate programs charge the same tuition or more than the on-campus rate of $1,341 per credit. Whitman charges the same. Newhouse's rate will be $1,818 per credit, or $60,000 for the 33 credit-hour degree.

There's no semester-long housing cost and no on-campus fees for technology or health services. But there will be travel and lodging costs for Newhouse's program, which will require two long weekends a year, one at Syracuse and one in another city, likely New York, said Rotolo.

The Newhouse program will operate in 11-week sessions, in which students can take one or two classes. New students can start during any of those sessions, Rotolo said. Newhouse faculty will teach all the classes. Students will be required to log in at least once a week at a specific time to participate in a real-time class.

All classes, whether focusing on multimedia storytelling, social media or digital communications systems, will have a "huge digital emphasis," said Rotolo.

2U incorporated in 2008. SU is one of 12 schools it works with, which includes the University of Southrn California, Northwestern University, Georgetown University and Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, where SU's Chancellor Kent Syverud was dean before coming to SU.

The company helps market the online programs, recruit students, develop content and provide support to faculty and students. It also facilitates in-program field placements, student immersions and other student enrichment experiences, according to a company report. The company estimates the average time from a student's initial enrollment to graduation is roughly 2.5 years. Eighty-two percent of students who began in any 2U program have graduated or are still pursuing their degree.

The company has incurred significant net losses since its inception, with an accumulated deficit of $124.8 million as of Sept. 30, 2014, according to a report.

"We will need to generate and sustain increased revenue levels in future periods to become profitable, and, even if we do, we may not be able to maintain or increase our level of profitability," the company wrote in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The Newhouse program will be 2U's first graduate offering in digital media.

Contact Dave Tobin anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3277

Among the leaders to attend are the presidents of Germany and Austria.

OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) -- When the Soviet army entered Auschwitz exactly 70 years ago, finding piles of corpses and prisoners close to death, a Russian soldier took a small and hungry 11-year-old girl into his arms and rocked her tenderly, tears coming to his eyes.

In this Saturday, Jan. 24, 2015 photo Paula Lebovics, an 81-year-old Holocaust survivor points to a photo showing herself as a child and other children at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp pictured after the camp was liberated by the Soviet Red Army, at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, in Warsaw.Alik Keplicz | The Associated Press 

That girl, today the 81-year-old Paula Lebovics, doesn't know who that soldier was, but still feels enormous gratitude to him and the other Soviet soldiers who liberated the camp on Jan. 27, 1945.

To her, it is a shame that Russian President Vladimir Putin won't be among other European leaders Tuesday on the anniversary of the death camp's liberation, his absence coming amid a deep chill between Russia and the West over the Kremlin's actions in Ukraine.

"He should be there," said Lebovics, who traveled from her home in Encino, California, back to the land of her birth for the ceremonies. "They were our liberators."

Another survivor, Eva Mozes Kor, said she will not miss Putin "but I do believe that from a moral and historical perspective he should be here." Kor compared Putin to Adolf Hitler, "grabbing land here and grabbing land there to see what he can get away with."

Among the leaders to attend are the presidents of Germany and Austria, the perpetrator nations that have spent decades atoning for their sins, as well as French President Francois Hollande and others. The U.S. is sending a delegation led by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

Before going to Poland for the ceremonies, German President Joachim Gauck told Parliament in Berlin that the lessons of the crimes of Auschwitz were "woven into the texture of our national identity."

From the "guilt and shame and remorse" of the Nazi genocide, modern Germany has emerged to become a champion of human rights and equality, he said.

"We did that as we returned to the rule and dignity of law," he said. "We did it as we developed empathy for the victims. And today we do it as we oppose all forms of exclusion and violence and offer a safe home to all those who are fleeing persecution, war and terror."

People take a part in a memorial ceremony marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day in the Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Moscow at Poklonnaya Gora in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015.Alexander Zemlianichenko | The Associated Press 

Poland apparently snubbed Putin, though officials won't admit that openly. The organizers, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum and the International Auschwitz Council, opted for a form of protocol this year which avoided direct invitations by Poland's president to his foreign counterparts. The organizers instead simply asked countries that are donors to Auschwitz, including Russia, whom they planned to send. Poland's Foreign Ministry says Putin could have attended if he wished.

The public spat comes at a low point in relations between Russia and the West, following Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and its support for the rebel forces battling Kiev's troops in the eastern Ukraine. Poland has been one of Europe's most vocal voices in condemning Russia's actions in Ukraine, which has plunged the continent into one of the worst East-West crises since the end of the Cold War.

The Russian delegation will be led by Sergei Ivanov, Putin's chief of staff.

Some other Holocaust survivors, asked Monday at Auschwitz about who should represent Russia, didn't want to discuss the matter, saying it was a time to honor Holocaust victims, not enter into political polemics. Some reacted emotionally at the mention of the conflict in Ukraine, remembering how Ukrainians helped the Nazis kill Jews during the war.

Not all Soviet actions were heroic: there were also cases of Soviet soldiers who raped Jewish women who survived death camps after the war.

"A lot of people have bad memories from that (the liberation), but I have good ones. I am very grateful," Lebovics said.

Natan Grossmann, a survivor who now lives in Munich, also feels Putin should have been invited.

"They put their lives on the line to free us. They lost their lives and we should honor them," Grossmann said.

At the United Nations, commemorations planned for Tuesday, which is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, were canceled because of a snowstorm in New York.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin had been scheduled to speak along with the head of Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev. It has tentatively been rescheduled for Wednesday, depending on the weather.

Some of the information that led to New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's arrest came from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's now-defunct Moreland Commission.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Some of the work started by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's now defunct anti-corruption Moreland Commission led to last week's arrest of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, according to federal prosecutors.

How much? That is unclear at this point.

"The only person who knows for sure is the federal prosecutor," said Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua. "So far, he hasn't shared it."

Cuomo disbanded the Moreland Commission in March, just months after its co-chair, Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, said it had uncovered unspecified criminal activity and not long after it had subpoenaed records from Silver and from the law firm from which Silver allegedly received millions of dollars that he failed to reveal in state financial disclosure records.

At that time, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara publicly criticized the governor for halting the Moreland Commission's work, calling it a "premature end" that was "difficult to understand."

On Thursday, Bharara and the FBI filed a 35-page criminal complaint against Silver filled with charges about bribes and secret earnings but without witness statements, supporting documents and a more-detailed timeline about who discovered what, and when.

In fact, the government's investigation into Silver started in June 2013, according to the complaint, one month before Cuomo first formed the Moreland Commission.

A few days after Cuomo dismantled the Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, Bharara requested and received files and documents from panel. That data included the commission's work in investigating legislators' outside income.

"We had been looking at Speaker Silver's outside income for some period of time, and then merged our investigation with new material that we got from the Moreland Commission," Bharara said at a news conference following Silver's arrest.

Some of the documents and leads Bharara received from the Moreland Commission "are reflected in this complaint," the legal papers against Silver read.

The five counts against Silver, 70, accuse him of hiding kickbacks and bribes under the guise of private-sector attorney fees for legal work he never did. Investigators searched court records back to 2002 and found no instance where Silver represented any client in a legal matter. They say he collected more than $6 million in legal payments from two law firms during the same time. Silver was required by state law to disclose the income, but he only clearly disclosed payments from one of the law firms.

Did the Moreland Commission uncover any evidence of Silver's alleged illegal conduct? Should it have continued to investigate Silver, brought charges against the speaker or referred a case against him for prosecution?

Fitzpatrick, one of three people who headed up the commission, has declined since Silver's arrest to comment on the Moreland Commission's investigation of the speaker. Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney, also a member of the panel, did not return a phone call seeking comment.

At a news conference after Silver's arrest, Bharara was asked if Cuomo bears any blame for the Moreland Commission's failure to discover or to make public the secret payments to Silver.

"I've made my view about the shutting down of the Moreland Commission clear. That's all I'll say," Bharara said.

Assemblyman Will Barclay, R-Pulaski, said he's not convinced that the work from Moreland factored into the investigation by federal prosecutors. He thinks that a new requirement to disclose legislators' private income played a bigger role. "I think one of the real catalysts was disclosing income," Barclay said Monday. "We always had to disclose it, but it never was made public."

Silver has denied any wrongdoing. He pleaded not guilty last week and was released on $200,000 bail. He's due back in court on Feb. 23.

Here's a timeline of the Moreland Commission and the investigation into Silver, according to the federal prosecutor's complaint, press conferences and news reports during the past 18 months:

June 2013: Federal prosecutors launch a grand jury investigation into the outside income of Silver.

July 2, 2013: Cuomo creates the Moreland Commission, a panel with subpoena power to examine New York's weak campaign finance laws, propose changes and investigate any suspected wrongdoing, including earnings associated with lawmakers' outside incomes.

August 29, 2013: The commission sends a letter to lawmakers earning more than $20,000 in outside income requesting information about that income. Many lawmakers, including Silver, do not comply.

September-October 2013: Cuomo faces questions about whether his administration is interfering with the Moreland Commission.

November 2013: Fitzpatrick says publicly that the commission has uncovered illegal activity, though he doesn't specify what it is or whether it involves lawmakers. That same month, lawmakers, including Silver, fight request from the commission to disclose more information about their private-sector incomes. The commission subpoenas employers of any state lawmaker with an outside income of more than $20,000. That includes Weitz & Luxenberg, the law firm paying Silver. The subpoena requests records concerning "clients advised or represented by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and a general description of the services provided by the (speaker)...," the complaint says.

December 2013: The commission releases its initial report, which includes worries about potential political kickbacks or money earned for no-show jobs. The report does not make any specific allegations against any specific lawmaker. Also early this month, Silver leads the Assembly (while Sens. Jeff Klein and Dean Skelos do the same in the Senate) to file a motion in State Supreme Court to quash the legal request. Weitz & Luxenberg also files its own motion to quash the subpoena.

Feb. 25, 2014: Silver says at a press conference that the Moreland Commission was "engaged in a fishing expedition to intimidate legislators" and had exceeded its mandate. Fitzpatrick calls it the dumbest thing he's ever heard.

March 29, 2014: Cuomo announces, as a part of budget negotiations, that he would dismantle the Moreland Commission. Lawmakers agree to pass the Public Trust Act, a new set of laws that would increase penalties for bribery and make small changes to the state's campaign finance laws. The new act did not change how lawmakers would disclose their private incomes going forward. "Silver and his Assembly staff were key participants in these negotiations and prior discussions of these issues, including advocating against the Moreland Commission's formation and continued existence and arguing against limits to legislators' outside income and related disclosure requirements."

April 10, 2014: Bharara requests and receives the Moreland Commission's files and documents, including documents related to its investigation of legislators' outside income. "Certain of these documents and leads contained therein are reflected in this complaint."

April 22, 2014: Attorney General Eric Schneiderman files a letter in state Supreme Court withdrawing the subpoenas related to outside income and requesting that any pending motions be dismissed.

July 2014: The New York Times publishes a lengthy story saying the Cuomo administration interfered with investigations by the panel. Parts of the story already were reported by the New York Daily News and City and State. But this detailed accounting - along with Cuomo's lengthy denial of any interference - renews discussion about the Moreland Commission's findings. Cuomo, his top aide and Fitzpatrick deny the accusations of interference.

December 2014: Silver acknowledges he's earning money from a second law firm not found on his public disclosure notices.

Jan. 22, 2015: Silver is charged with five counts involving political corruption. He faces 100 years in prison. He denies all charges.

January 2015: Bharara continues to investigate lawmakers.

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

School districts across Central New York are starting to prepare their 2015-16 budgets and bracing to see how much state aid they will receive this year.

NORTH SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- School districts across Central New York are starting to prepare their 2015-16 budgets and bracing to see how much state aid they will receive this year.

Liverpool Central School District Superintendent Mark Potter said many districts may have tough decisions to make if the state makes cuts to school funding.

"Many school districts will be forced to eliminate programs and jobs, and ultimately raise taxes," he said in a message to community members. "The balance between providing students with the best education possible while also keeping taxpayers in mind when making financial decisions has become more and more difficult each year."

A community forum to discuss state aid will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 5 at the North Syracuse Junior High School, 5353 W. Taft Road, North Syracuse. The forum called "Our Schools Remain at Risk," is open to all parents, students, educators and community members.

Rick Timbs, executive director of the Statewide School Finance Consortium, will host the forum, which is sponsored by the Central New York School Boards Association and the Onondaga-Cortland-Madison and Oswego County BOCES.

Timbs will discuss state aid in an easy-to-understand format that will illustrate how CNY school districts have been impacted by Albany's distribution of state aid. The forum will also discuss the state's "Gap Elimination Adjustment," a formula the state put in place to limit the amount of aid schools receive in order to balance the state budget. The association says the adjustment has prevented districts across the state from receiving billions of dollars they would otherwise have received over the past five years.

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

Not really of course, but one fun loving Boston resident has donned a Yeti costume and taken to the streets.

While the Blizzard of 2015 turned out to be less of a Snowmageddon and more of a Snor'easter in some areas, New England, and particularly Boston, were hit with heavy snow overnight.

So heavy, in fact, that it brought a Yeti straight out of myth and onto the streets of Boston.

Not really of course, but one fun loving Somerville, Mass. resident decided to throw on a Yeti costume and venture out into the snow storm, NECN reported.

Tweeting under the handle @BostonYeti2015 the unidentified person dressed as an abominable snowman shared several photos while walking around McGrath Highway, Somerville, and several other areas. He was first spotted in the area late Monday night as snow began to blanket the region, according to Boston Magazine:

The Boston Yeti enjoying #blizzardof2015 #Snowmageddon2015 #juno2015 pic.twitter.com/3uwTQ1gOZg

— Boston Yeti 2015 (@BostonYeti2015) January 27, 2015

Boston Yeti trying to hail cab on McGrath Highway in #Somerville #juno2015 #blizzardof2015 #BostonYeti2015 pic.twitter.com/jsaazfXoqP

— Boston Yeti 2015 (@BostonYeti2015) January 27, 2015

@JoeDunn8 School closings also due to multiple #BostonYeti2015 sightings #Snowmageddon2015 #blizzardof2015 #juno2015 pic.twitter.com/ewdBTnBWMY

— Boston Yeti 2015 (@BostonYeti2015) January 27, 2015

He mostly seems to just love being out in the snow, but he wants to send a message about safety during the storm as well:

#BostonYeti2015 loves the snow, but wants everyone to be safe #blizzardof2015 #snowmageddon2015 #juno2015 #yetisafety pic.twitter.com/BojgWimnSt

— Boston Yeti 2015 (@BostonYeti2015) January 27, 2015

The identity of the person beneath the costume is a mystery, but NECN reported that the Twitter handle showed up on Monday, so it was likely created specifically for this storm.

The Yeti told ABC News that it was "raised and educated by the woods."

In mythology, the Yeti or abominable snowman is a sort of cryptid cousin of North America's Bigfoot or Sasquatch. The Yeti is believed to reside in the Himalaya Mountains.

Yetis have been known to turn up in snow storm's in the past. One was sighted in Washington, D.C. last year too:

Just saw a yeti in DuPont Circle. #DCliving pic.twitter.com/e6AkHq6eIx

— Melaina Lewis (@melaina_lewis) March 3, 2014

Users of PCs and Facebook's mobile app reported they lost access in Asia, the United States, Australia and the U.K.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Facebook said the outage that made its social media sites inaccessible worldwide for about an hour Tuesday was self-inflicted.

Users of PCs and Facebook's mobile app reported they lost access in Asia, the United States, Australia and the U.K. Facebook-owned Instagram was also inaccessible.

Facebook said the disruption was caused by a technical change and wasn't a cyberattack. "This was not the result of a third party attack but instead occurred after we introduced a change that affected our configuration systems," its statement said.

The temporary loss of service may be Facebook's biggest outage since Sept. 24, 2010, when it was down for about 2.5 hours.

On its website for developers, Facebook said the "major outage" lasted one hour.

The outage occurred at midday in Asia, and after Facebook was restored, some users reported that the site was loading slowly or not functioning fully.

Lizard Squad, a group notorious for attention-seeking antics online, claimed responsibility on Twitter for the outages.

Guillermo Lafuente, security consultant at MWR InfoSecurity, said a technical fault was more plausible. A denial-of-service attack would have made the sites unreachable rather than accessible with an error message displayed, he said. Facebook's use of multiple data centers also meant an attack on one would have affected one region, while this outage was worldwide.

Also, restoring service would be a matter of reversing the technical changes, which matched with the brevity of the outage, LaFuente said.

Facebook has about 1.35 billion active users and Instagram has some 300 million. The outage came a day ahead of Facebook reporting its quarterly earnings.

Lizard Squad on Monday claimed it had defaced the Malaysia Airlines website and would release data from the airline. Its previous hacking claims have been mostly aimed at gaming or media companies.

The College Fair, which is free and open to the public, will be held at Liverpool Public Library.

LIVERPOOL, N.Y. -- The Liverpool Public Library is hosting a free college fair from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in the Carman Community Room.

The college fair, which is free and open to the public, will feature representatives from 17 public and private colleges and universities. The representatives will be available to answer questions and provide information about their school.

Mini-seminars will be held on college topics such as: financial aid, writing a great college essay and more. There will also be organizations available to assist in navigating the college process.

School representatives will be from: Alfred State; Cayuga Community College; Colgate University; ITT Technical Institute; Keuka College; Le Moyne College; Onondaga Community College; St. Bonaventure University; St. Elizabeth College of Nursing; State University of New York at Binghamton; State University of New York at Morrisville; State University of New York at Oswego; Syracuse University; Tompkins Cortland Community College; University College at Syracuse University; Utica College and Wells College

The following topics will be presented in break-out sessions in the Sargent Meeting Room at the library:

• 11:30 a.m.: Aaerik Radley, of Edge Federal Credit Union: "Finding Money That Saves You Money"
• 12:30 p.m.: Doreen Holekamp, of Liverpool High School: "How to Write a Good College Essay"
• 1:45 p.m.: Kate Bellefeuille, director of financial aid at OCC: "FAFSA, 529 Savings Plan, Pell Grants and Work Study"

The fair is targeted for high school students and their parents, but all ages are welcome to attend. For more information, contact the library at 457-0310 or visit the library's website.

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

The feds are developing a data network that shows where cars are in real-time, using license plate information.

The Justice Department is building a nationwide network that uses license plate data to track drivers in real-time, according to a report today by the Wall Street Journal.

Related story: Big data uses the little guy to track drivers across the nation

According to the Wall Street Journal story, the DEA started the license plate tracking program to hunt down suspected drug dealers, and seize cash and cars. But it's been expanded nationwide and is being used, in real time, by local police agencies for other purposes.

The Onondaga County Sheriff's office and other local law enforcement agencies are already using license plate data.

Contact Marnie Eisenstadt anytime: email | twitter | 315-470-2246.

Syracuse is rated better than Buffalo, New York City, Rochester and Yonkers.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The Syracuse City School District is ranked near the bottom of 90 cities in a national study released today of returns on spending for public school education.

WalletHub, a social media company that compares and analyzes financial products, ranked Syracuse 82nd out of 90 cities. Rochester was dead last.

WalletHub divided each city's aggregated standardized test scores in reading and math for grades 4 and 8 by its total education spending per capita. It then statistically adjusted its analysis to consider poverty rate and median household income, the percentage of children in single-parent families and the percentage of households that do not speak English as their first language.

Syracuse is one of the largest and poorest districts in New York.

Within the adjusted rankings are other mitigating factors affecting performance, noted Eric A. Houck, an associate professor of education at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Some cities are located within larger districts, such as Raleigh (22 in the adjusted ranking) being in the Wake County School District. That provides Raleigh with a wider tax base and geographic diversity, he said.

David Charles Nice, a professor of political science at Washington State University, observed the WalletHub study did not control for parental background, such as income and education levels.

"If children come to school with more stresses and problems in their lives (poverty, poorly educated parents, few learning resources at home, crime-ridden neighborhoods, parents who are divorced or have substance abuse problems, etc.) they will tend to have more trouble doing well at school, even if the schools are decently financed," he said. "Where parents and schools work together, we often see better results than where they fight with each other."

He suggested communities look at indicators in addition to test results to assess how their district is performing such as:

• samples of student writing and work on other subjects


• surveys with local businesses to indicate how well students are being prepared for the work force


• student performance on college entrance exams and tracking student success in college and vocational-technical schools


• factoring in the proportion of students with special needs, such as learning disabilities, that require more resources in order to get good results.

Contact Dave Tobin anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3277

Bergdahl is accused of deserting his post five years before a controversial POW exchange.

U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl will be charged with desertion, according to multiple reports.

Bergdahl, who was held as a prisoner of war in Afghanistan for five years, could face charges as early as within a week, senior defense officials told NBC.

He was released by the Taliban last year in a controversial exchange for the release of five Afghan detainees at Gurantanamo Bay. His hometown of Hailey, Idaho, celebrated the deal, but President Obama was criticized for not giving Congress 30 days of notice for the prisoner release.

According to Fox News, the deal was also scrutinized after fellow soldiers accused Bergdahl of deserting his post on a base in Afghanistan in 2009.

Retired Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer told the cable news network that Bergdahl's attorney has been given a "charge sheet," explaining which aspects of the military justice code he allegedly violated.

A senior official told NBC his actions may be worse than AWOL (absent without leave), because he allegedly left "in the middle of a combat zone, potentially putting the lives of his fellows soldiers at risk."

If charged and found guilty, Reuters reports Bergdahl could be forced to pay back the hundreds of thousands of dollars he accumulated while held captive, and give up future benefits. A court martial could also lead to imprisonment, or at the very least a dishonorable discharge from the Army.