North Florida private killed in Afghanistan




















A Florida soldier who was on his first deployment to Afghanistan was killed this weekend in an explosion, the Pentagon said Monday.

Army Pfc. Markie T. Sims, 20, of Citra, north of Ocala, died Saturday in Panjwal, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device, according to a Defense Department statement.

A combat engineer by training, Sims joined the military in November 2011, trained at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and was assigned to his first duty station at Joint Base Lewis-McChord with the 38th Engineer Company, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. It was not immediately known how long he had been in Afghanistan.





His remains were being returned to the U.S. on Monday, New Year’s Eve, at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.





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A New Year's Tradition: Dick Clark Rocks On

New Year's Eve will never quite be the same without the faithful presence of the beloved, late Dick Clark to ring in the New Year, and we're looking back at the rich life of the entertainment icon whose legacy lives on. Watch the video!

Pics: Legend Dick Clark & Music's Biggest Names

Despite overcoming a devastating stroke, Dick seemed in good health and full of good humor when America saw him welcome in 2012 from Times Square in New York City on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, complete with a kiss for his wife Carrie. But on April 18, Dick died of a massive heart attack at 82, and we all mourned the loss of "The World's Oldest Teenager."

"There's no great secret to staying young inside your head," said the timeless American Bandstand host in a 1990 interview with ET. "I didn't realize 'til I was older how significant that is, because I do run into people my own age who I feel are older than they have to be, only because they've let it happen. If you don't let it happen inside your head, you're much better off."

Video: Dick Clark's Top 'American Bandstand' Moments

This year will mark the first time Ryan Seacreast is hosting Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on ABC without his friend and mentor, but we know that Dick will be there to watch the ball drop in spirit to welcome 2013. We miss you, Dick.

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Jackson family members won't be prosecuted in fight with Michael's kids: report









None of the Jackson family members will be prosecuted over their violent scuffle in July outside the home of family matriarch Katherine Jackson, according to an online report.

The case is now closed because no one from the Jackson family would speak to cops, according to TMZ.

Singer Janet Jackson allegedly slapped her teenage niece Paris and called her a “spoiled bitch” after she tweeted about her missing guardian and grandmother, Katherine. Security footage shows Janet and her brother Randy approaching the 14-year-old girl and trying to snatch her cell phone away.




Paris had been on Twitter for days, demanding the whereabouts of her grandmother.

“9 days and counting . . . so help me god i will make whoever did this pay,” tweeted Paris.

Janet, Randy and Jermaine confronted Paris and her brother Prince, and tried to take away their cell phones.

“This is our house. Not the Jackson family house. Get the f--k out!” Paris allegedly told her aunt and uncles, TMZ reported.

There was subsequently a physical confrontation between Randy and Jermaine on one side, and Trent on the other. Cops rushed to the scene.










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Florida recovery picks up the pace




















A Federal Reserve index shows a big improvement for Florida’s economy.

Each month, the Fed’s Philadelphia bank issues state-by-state indices that combine wage, employment and manufacturing data. And while most states have been improving since 2009, Florida’s index for October saw the biggest jump in seven years.

The so-called coincident index by the Philadelphia Fed tracks overall job growth, unemployment, average hours worked in the manufacturing industry and wage levels. The four indicators are combined into a single index, which the Fed says should roughly match growth in each state’s economic output.





For October, the most recent index available, Florida’s coincident score grew by three-tenths of a percent. That would amount to an economy growing at 3.5 percent per year. It was the largest monthly increase since September 2005, when the Florida index grew by slightly more than three-tenths of a percentage point. The biggest dip came in January 2009, when Florida’s “Philly Fed” index dropped by almost two percentage points in a single month.

DOUGLAS HANKS





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Manhunt continues for Miami man suspected of killing ex-girlfriend




















Miami police detectives on Sunday were still looking for the man suspected of killing his ex-girlfriend outside a Little Havana drugstore Friday afternoon.

Investigators said Ifrain Quintana is armed and extremely dangerous. Quintana is believed to be driving a 2001 Blue Ford Explorer with a Florida tag.

Quintana is wanted for questioning in the daylight shooting of Ariadna Gonzalez Campa, 42.





Police said Quintana confronted Gonzalez on Friday afternoon along Southwest Fifth Street and Eighth Avenue, taunted her then shot her multiple times in front of La Milagrosa drugstore.

Among those urging him to turn himself in is his mother, Katileydi Quintana, who on Saturday made an emotional plea on Miami Herald’s newspaper CBS4 for him to come forward.

“Turn yourself in,” she told him over the phone. “Call me.”

He said Quintana acted out of jealousy and Quintana’s mother agreed.

“You did it out for love. For love...” Katileydi Quintana said.

Quintana said her son needs psychiatric help.

Gonzalez’s 19-year-old son waited for word about his mother shortly after she was rushed to the Jackson Memorial Hospital. The young man broke down on the sidewalk when police told him his mom didn’t make it.

“I want justice for the man who did this,” he told CBS 4

Anyone who sees the suspect or has information about the shooting should call Crime Stoppers at 305- 471-8477.





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Golden Globes Flashback: Alec Baldwin 2007

Alec Baldwin was known as a film actor until undertaking debatably the best role of his career on television as "Jack Donaghy" on 30 Rock. After decades in the industry, he experienced immediate, tangible success through the show and was stunned by it all.

While he had previously been nominated for awards, including both Oscar and Golden Globes nominations for his 2003 film The Cooler, Baldwin had yet to win a major individual award for his acting until the Tina-Fey-created comedy series came along.


VIDEO: Alec Baldwin Jokes About Photog Controversy

The first season of 30 Rock premiered in the fall of 2006 and Baldwin was nominated a few months later for a Golden Globes for Best Actor. With Season 1 winding down, he was granted the award, his first of this magnitude, in January at the 2007 Golden Globes.

"I never really think of myself of someone that's going to walk in and [win the award]," he says to ET's former co-host Mary Hart after winning the award. "Meryl [Streep] walks in and wins the award. There's people that just have that role; they have that gravitational field...To win this, I am shocked. I am truly, truly shocked."


PIC: Photographer Alleges Alec Baldwin Punched Him

Although he was shocked to receive the award, Baldwin admits that he believed the show had a chance to succeed due to the various positive elements that comprised 30 Rock. Not only did the show reap accolades for Baldwin, but it also provided him with a new lifestyle that he enjoyed.

"I love the people and I love the scripts and I love the opportunity but I also love the lifestyle," he says. "In the past when I did movies, there was a thing that was thrilling to me twenty years ago, and that was I didn't know where I was going to be four months from now...and now I know exactly where I'm going to be four months from now, and I need that. I want that."


VIDEO: Alec Baldwin Takes on Santa

Baldwin has been able to maintain a stable lifestyle of filming 30 Rock for seven years now and awards have become a predictable facet of his life as well. After winning for Season 1, he has gone on to win two more individual awards, receiving a nomination in every year since 2007.

The 54-year-old actor will have a chance to add yet another Best Actor Golden Globe to his collection, as he has once again been nomination for 30 Rock's final season.

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'The Hobbit' stays atop box office for third week

LOS ANGELES — "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" continues to rule them all at the box office, staying on top for a third-straight week with nearly $33 million.

The Warner Bros. fantasy epic from director Peter Jackson, based on the J.R.R. Tolkien novel, has made $222.7 million domestically alone.

Two big holiday movies — and potential awards contenders — also had strong openings. Quentin Tarantino's spaghetti Western-blaxploitation mash-up "Django Unchained" came in second place for the weekend with $30.7 million. The Weinstein Co. revenge epic, starring Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz, has earned $64 million since its Christmas Day opening.




James Fisher



Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins in "The Hobbit"



And in third place with $28 million was the sweeping, all-singing "Les Miserables." The Universal Pictures musical starring Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway has made $67.5 million since debuting on Christmas.

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Port strike for east and gulf coasts averted for 30 days, talks continue




















A looming longshoremen’s strike set for midnight Saturday, which threatened havoc at 15 ports along the eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast, has been averted for at least a month.

The two sides, the International Longshoreman’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, announced Friday morning they would continue to negotiate after a couple of days of tense mediation.

After eight months of talks the sides went their separate ways Dec. 18. But talks picked up again this week in response to pressure from port directors, retail federations, even the White House.





The longshoremen, a group of 14,650 workers, some who operate the giant gantry cranes at the nation’s ports, threatened to walk out on contract talks early Sunday morning if the U.S. Maritime Alliance didn’t back off its demand that the union stop receiving royalties, or bonuses, for each container leaving or loaded onto a ship. In many cases those bonuses allow longshoremen to double their salaries to more than $100,000 a year.

Port directors throughout the nation have expressed concern that a strike would virtually halt economic activity throughout the country. It would affect mostly non-perishable goods like clothing and televisions. PortMiami does close to $20 billion a year in container business.

The longshoremen’s contract actually expired at the end of September, but the sides agreed to continue talks for 90 days.





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Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift Have Double Date Ski Trip

Best friends Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez reportedly put their romantic relationships to the test out on the slopes during a Park City, Utah double-date trip earlier this month.


Swift, 22, and One Direction heartthrob Harry Styles, 18, along with Gomez, 20, and her on-again, off-again beau Justin Bieber, 18, were spotted at The Canyons resort for an athletic pre-Christmas weekend, People.com reports. Gomez posted a silly Instagram pic of she and Swift in the back of a car on Dec. 16. 


RELATED: Swift & Styles Caught Kissing!

While in Park City, Styles and Swift hit the slopes on skis while Bieber snowboarded down
the mountain. Gomez was reportedly not so adventurous, taking a ski
lesson first.
The couples are said to have kept cozy at The Colony's rental homes. Swift and her new boyfriend were also seen having lunch at Red Pine Lodge.


What do you think about these young couples? Will they last until spring? Let us know, below.

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Victim of brutal subway shove ID'd after attacked caught fleeing on tape








Sunando Sen, 46

Sunando Sen, 46



The victim of last night’s senseless and deadly subway shove has been identified as a hardworking native of Calcutta, India, who loved music and had recently started his own business.

Sunando Sen, 46, was pushed into the path of an oncoming 7-train at the elevated 40th Street station around 8 p.m. by a mumbling madwoman who remains on the loose.

“I think she’s crazy,” said Sen’s stunned and saddened roommate Ar Suman, 33, a taxi driver. “I can’t believe this right now.”

After quietly creeping up behind Sen and shoving him to his death, the portly perp then fled down the station’s stairs onto Queens Boulevard.




The victim had been looking westbound as the subway was approaching from the east, said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Sunando Sen, 46

Kendall Rodriguez


Emergency workers at the 40th Street station, where Sunado Sen died after allegedly being pushed in front of an oncoming train.



“We’re still investigating. There were some witnesses on the platform. We’re getting some hotline tips,” Kelly added.

“We’re reasonably confident that we’ll identify the suspect. We are properly deployed in transit areas.”

Kelly said investigators were able to identify Sen using “information on his person and info called in.”

Cops found Sen’s laptop and wallet at the scene, a law enforcement source previously said. Sen’s mangled body was wedged underneath the second car.

Despite last night’s random attack being the second such nightmare to unfold on the city’s subway lines in the last month, Mayor Bloomberg assured residents that the city’s vast underground transportation network system is still safe.

“It’s the safest big transit system in the world...5.5 million people use it everyday. Cameras wouldn’t prevent what happened yesterday.”

The killer was recorded on surveillance footage from a nearby pizzeria running down 40th Street.

“I don’t know if there’s a way to prevent it. There’s always going to be a deranged person. But two is too many,” he said.

On Dec. 3, drifter Naeem Davis, 30, allegedly shoved Queens dad Ki Suk Han, 58, into the path of a Q train at the 49th Street station in Manhattan. Davis is being held on murder charges.

“ Our prayers go out to the families in these cases,” said Bloomberg. “It’s a rare occurrence and shouldn’t change our lifestyle. Everybody should exercise caution...you are so much safer here than anyway else.”

The mayor’s words were little comfort to Sen’s roommates who recalled him as a “quiet man” who “loved music” and “worked seven days a week.”

“I feel very much shocked,” said Suman.

Suman said that Sen — who was single and had no kids — had just opened a copy shop on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

“My heart is broken because this guy was so nice and quiet,” added Sen’s other roommate, MD Khan, 33, a taxi driver.










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Port strike for east and gulf coasts averted for 30 days, talks continue




















A looming longshoremen’s strike set for midnight Saturday, which threatened havoc at 15 ports along the eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast, has been averted for at least a month.

The two sides, the International Longshoreman’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, announced Friday morning they would continue to negotiate after a couple of days of tense mediation.

After eight months of talks the sides went their separate ways Dec. 18. But talks picked up again this week in response to pressure from port directors, retail federations, even the White House.





The longshoremen, a group of 14,650 workers, some who operate the giant gantry cranes at the nation’s ports, threatened to walk out on contract talks early Sunday morning if the U.S. Maritime Alliance didn’t back off its demand that the union stop receiving royalties, or bonuses, for each container leaving or loaded onto a ship. In many cases those bonuses allow longshoremen to double their salaries to more than $100,000 a year.

Port directors throughout the nation have expressed concern that a strike would virtually halt economic activity throughout the country. It would affect mostly non-perishable goods like clothing and televisions. PortMiami does close to $20 billion a year in container business.

The longshoremen’s contract actually expired at the end of September, but the sides agreed to continue talks for 90 days.





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Crime Watch: New computer for Christmas? Use it safely




















Last week I received several emails from readers who wanted me to write again about computer safety since many got a computer for Christmas. Therefore, I pulled some information from one of our crime prevention partners, The National Crime Prevention Council, and here are tips you need to take seriously whether you are a senior or a parent:

• Use anti-virus software and keep it up-to-date. The software is designed to protect your computer against known viruses but, with new viruses emerging daily, anti-virus programs need regular updates. Check with the website of your anti-virus software company to see sample descriptions of viruses and to get regular updates for your software. I do updates on my computer every other day.

• Don’t open emails or attachments from unknown sources. Be suspicious of any unexpected email attachments even if they appear to be from someone you know. Should you receive a suspicious email, the best thing to do is to delete the entire message, including any attachment.





• Protect your computer from Internet intruders by using firewalls. These create a protective wall between your computer and the outside world. They come in two forms, software firewalls that run on your personal computer and hardware firewalls that protect a number of computers at the same time. Firewalls also ensure that unauthorized persons can’t gain access to your computer while you’re connected to the Internet.

• Use hard-to-guess passwords. Mix upper case, lower case, numbers or other characters, and make sure your passwords are at least eight characters long. Don’t share your password and don’t use the same password in more than one place. Don’t use your maiden name or the names of your mother, your children or your spouse’s family. Those are easy to figure out.

• Disconnect your computer from the Internet when not in use. This lessens the chance that someone will be able to access your computer. Also, if you haven’t kept your anti-virus software up to date or don’t have a firewall in place, someone could infect your computer or use it to harm someone else on the Internet.

• Check your security on a regular basis. You should evaluate your computer security at least twice a year.

• Back up your computer data on a thumb drive, just in case we have a hurricane, you can take it with you. There is nothing worse than losing pictures, information and work when a computer crashes.

Last, I want to remind all parents, if you gave a computer to your child, no matter what age, please make sure that the computer is somewhere you can see it.

In closing, I want to wish everyone a blessed 2013, I wish you the best of health and happiness!

With that said, I must remind everyone that there are crazy people out there that like to shoot guns into the air, a deadly habit, therefore the first shot fired you hear please call the police immediately. You might think it’s fire crackers, but it may not be so please stay away from windows or outside at midnight. Remember what goes up must come down, and that is when people get hurt.

Have a great week!





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Police using Twitter to offer virtual ridealongs






SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Riding side by side as a police officer answers a call for help or investigates a brutal crime during a ridealong gives citizens an up close look at the gritty and sometimes dangerous situations officers can experience on the job.


But a new approach to informing the public about what officers do is taking hold at police departments across the United States and Canada 7/8— one that is far less dangerous for citizens but, police say, just as informative.






With virtual ridealongs on Twitter, or tweetalongs, curious citizens just need a computer or smartphone for a glimpse into law enforcement officers‘ daily routines.


Tweetalongs typically are scheduled for a set number of hours, with an officer — or a designated tweeter like the department’s public information officer— posting regular updates to Twitter about what they are seeing as they perform their normal on-duty routine. The tweets, which also include photos and links to videos of the officers, can encompass an array of activities — everything from an officer responding to a homicide to a noise complaint.


Police departments say virtual ridealongs reach a wider range of people at once and help add transparency to the job.


“People spend hard-earned money on taxes to allow the government to provide services. That’s police, fire, water, streets, the whole works, and there should be a way for those government agencies to let the public know what they’re getting for their money,” said Steve Allender, chief of the Rapid City Police Department in South Dakota, which started offering tweetalongs several months ago after watching departments like those in Seattle, Kansas City, Mo., and Las Vegas do so.


On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Tarah Heupel, the public information officer for the Rapid City Police Department, rode alongside Street Crimes Officer Ron Terviel as he patrolled Rapid City. Heupel posted regular updates every few minutes about what Terviel was doing, including the officer citing a woman for public intoxication, responding to a call of three teenagers attempting to steal cough syrup and body spray from a store and locating a man who ran from the scene of an accident. Photos were included in some of the tweets.


Michael Taddesse, a 34-year-old university career specialist in Arlington, Texas, has done several ridealongs with police and regularly follows multiple departments that conduct tweetalongs.


“I think the only way to effectively combat crime is to have a community that is engaged and understands what’s going on,” he said.


Ridealongs where “you’re out in the elements” are very different than sitting behind a computer during a tweetalong and the level of danger is “dramatically decreased,” he said. But in both instances, the passenger gains new information about the call, what laws may or may not have been broken and what transpires, he added.


For police departments, tweetalongs are just one more way to connect directly with a community through social media.


More than 92 percent of police departments use social media, according to a survey of 600 agencies in 48 states conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s Center for Social Media. And Nancy Kolb, senior program manager for IACP, called tweetalongs a “growing trend” among departments of all sizes.


There is no set protocol and departments are free to conduct the tweetalong how they see fit, she said.


In Ontario, Canada, the Niagara Regional Police Service conducted their first virtual ridealong in August over a busy eight-hour Friday night shift. The police department‘s followers were able to see a tweet whenever the police unit was dispatched to one of the more than 140,000 calls received that night.


Richard Gadreau, the social media officer for the police department, said officers routinely take people out on real ridealongs, but there is a waiting list and preference is given to people interested in becoming an officer.


With tweetalongs, many calls also mean many tweets. Kolb said departments are cognizant of cluttering peoples’ Twitter feeds.


That’s why the Rapid City Police Department decided to create a separate account for the tweetalong, Allender said.


Kolb also said officers are careful not to tweet personal or sensitive information. Officers typically do not tweet child abuse or domestic abuse cases, and they usually only tweet about a call after they leave the scene to protect officers and callers.


But Allender, the chief of police in Rapid City, said tweetalongs also show some of the more outrageous calls police deal with on a regular basis — like the kid who breaks out the window of a police car while the officer is standing on the sidewalk.


“Real life is funnier than any comedy show out there and not to make fun of people, embarrass them or humiliate them, but people do funny things,” Allender said. “… I mean, that guy deserves a little bit of ridicule, and everyone who would be watching would agree. That’s just good clean fun to me.”


___


Follow Kristi Eaton on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kristieaton


Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Tarantino Details 'Killer' 'Django' Trilogy Cap

Quentin Tarantino is riding high on the solid box office, critical acclaim and, of course, controversy over his new gunslinging slavery epic Django Unchained, and now he's revealing details of the planned trilogy cap to Django and Inglourious Basterds,potentially called Killer Crow, that would incorporate characters from Basterds -- and surely court more controversy.

Pics: New Pics: Jamie & Leo Smolder in 'Django'

In a new interview with The Root, Tarantino explains, "My original idea for Inglourious Basterds way back when was that this [would be] a huge story that included the [smaller] story that you saw in the film, but also followed a bunch of black troops, and they had been f--ked over by the American military and kind of go apes--t. They basically -- the way Lt. Aldo Raines (played by Brad Pitt) and the Basterds are having an "Apache resistance" -- [the] black troops go on an Apache warpath and kill a bunch of white soldiers and white officers on a military base and are just making a warpath to Switzerland."

"I was going to do it as a miniseries, and that was going to be one of the big storylines. When I decided to try to turn it into a movie, that was a section I had to take out to help tame my material," he continues. "I have most of that written. It's ready to go; I just have to write the second half of it. … That would be the third of the trilogy. It would be [connected to] Inglourious Basterds, too, because Inglourious Basterds are in it, but it is about the soldiers. It would be called Killer Crow or something like that – [set] in '44. It would be after Normandy."

Video: 'Django' Ugliness Required for Hero's Journey

There's no word yet on whether or not Pitt, Eli Roth, B.J. Novak, Omar Doom and the rest of their Basterds characters actually appear in the film since the script has yet to be completed – and Tarantino's next project to roll in front of cameras could very well be a 1930s-set gangster drama – but it's pretty exciting to contemplate a Basterds reunion, with new characters no doubt descended from the ones of Django Unchained.

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Man busted for DUI after driving on Alcoholic Anonymous co-founder's lawn








DORSET, Vt. — Vermont State Police say a man faces a drunken driving charge after driving onto the lawn of a historic home once owned by the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Police say 55-year-old Donald Blood III of Marlborough, Mass., was ordered to appear in court in Bennington on Jan. 14.

Police say Blood thought he was driving into a parking lot, but actually it was the lawn of the Wilson House, built in 1852 in Dorset, the birthplace of AA co-founder Bill Wilson.

The Wilson House's website describes it as a "place of sanctuary where people can come to give thanks to God for their new lives."



It still hosts several AA meetings each week.










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Outdoorsy fun for the New Year’s holiday




















So, as Miss Ella once sang, What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?

Many of you, of course, will ring in 2013 with champagne and dancing at one of the clubs in Miami Beach or downtown Miami — and many of these same people will wake up with a hangover Tuesday only to wonder why they spent $2,000 to be in the same space as R&B/hip-hop act Drake and a DJ at the Fontainebleau or depressed that they spent $1,500 for a VIP table at the Catalina’s Studio 54 party to hear ’70s disco when they could have played Donna, Gloria and the Village People at any old time on iTunes for a few houseguests.

Clubbing not your thing? Good thing you live in South Florida, where going outside generally makes sense at this time of year. Here are some suggestions for activities, with an accent on the great outdoors and even a little fitness thrown in for good measure.





King Mango Strut

The annual spoof of the Orange Bowl Parade — or whatever some politician wants to call it now, as in ‘La Gran Naranja’ — has been “putting the ‘nut’ back in ‘Coconut Grove’ since 1981,” its ads tout. This time around, being an election year should provide plenty of fodder, and not just the silliness going on in West Kendall and Brickell, where some people are still waiting to cast a vote in the presidential race. (Obama won, go home.) The snarky parade pokes good-natured fun at the people and things behind the events that made the news snap during the year. This year’s grand marshal will be Clint Eastwood’s chair, fresh from the Republican National Convention.

This year’s parade takes place at 2 p.m. Sunday in downtown Coconut Grove on the corner of Commodore Plaza and Main Highway. The wacky participants turn left onto Main Highway and then left onto Grand Avenue at CocoWalk. Get comfy along the street and prepare to giggle. Call the Mango Hotline at 305-582-0955 for information.

The orange rises

You can go traditional and watch the ball rise in downtown Miami at the Bayfront Park Amphitheater New Year’s shindig, La Gran Naranja. The free event features music and the midnight countdown for the climb of the Big Orange along the side of the Hotel InterContinental, followed by fireworks. Be there at 301 N. Biscayne Blvd. Call 305-358-7550.

Just want the fireworks part? Miami Beach’s New Year’s Eve Party offers a free fireworks celebration at midnight on the beach near Ocean Drive and Eighth Street, if you can tear yourself away from Carl Cox at Mansion and Calvin Harris at Liv. Call 305-673-7400.

Bike It

Shark Valley, on the Tamiami Trail about 35 miles into the Everglades, is a real South Florida experience. Cycle amid gators — and we’re not talking the University of Florida variety. Alligators, wading birds and turtles frolic freely in the greenery along the 15-mile round-trip bike path. A multilevel observation at the midpoint offers a nice break spot for a boxed lunch or photo ops. There are no shortcuts, but you can opt for a tram tour. Call 305-221-8776.

Other leisurely bike rides around town include the shaded 13 or so miles of the Old Cutler Trail in South Miami, and you can pop over to Pinecrest Gardens for the Sunday Green Market, one of South Florida’s best farmers markets. North Dade residents aren’t too far from the restored Hollywood Beach Broadwalk for some nice ocean views while cycling or strolling.





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Ouch, Charlie! YouTube Sensation Kids Talk Christmas Toys






The infamous “Charlie Bit My Finger” video has surpassed half a billion views on YouTube — not bad for a 56-second clip of a one-year-old kid biting his older brother’s finger.


Charlie and Harry, now six and eight, returned to the web earlier this year with a new series through Viral Studios. The mini-episodes focus on the boys and their younger brother, Jasper, as they talk about toys, viral videos and — of course — biting things.






[More from Mashable: 8 Festive Christmas Tumblrs, Presented by Santa Dogs]


Mashable sat down for a Skype interview with the three boys last week. Unfortunately, the Internet connection wasn’t the greatest — Harry twice referred to me as a “man made out of boxes” because of the spotty video quality — but they were still able to talk about what toys they were most excited about this holiday season. Check ‘em out below:


[More from Mashable: Now and Then: 10 Awesome Past and Present Pics]


Charlie’s Pick: Playmobil Large Pirate Ship


Price: $ 95.50


Image courtesy of Playmobil


Harry’s Pick: Thomas & Friends Take-n-Play The Great Quarry Climb


Price: $ 19.99


Image courtesy of Fisher-Price


Jasper’s Pick: Turbo Snake Remote Control


Price: £38.45 (only available in the U.K.)


Image courtesy of Amazon


You can catch all the episodes on the “Charlie Bit Me!” series on their YouTube page. Which toys or gadgets did you score this year? Tell us below.


BONUS: 10 Gifts for People You Hate


1. 50 Used Toilet Paper Rolls


Price: $ 19.99 Mother Earth appreciates a little holiday upcycling. Your mother-in-law, on the other hand, may not. Cheaper DIY alternative: Your own toilet paper rolls.


Click here to view this gallery.


Image courtesy of Viral Studios


This story originally published on Mashable here.


Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Ryan Murphy Adopts Son

Ryan Murphy had a very merry announcement this holiday season: he's a father!

According to E! News, Murphy and partner David Miller welcomed a son into their family recently, with the couple announcing their new addition on Christmas Eve to friends and family via email.


RELATED - Ryan Murphy Named One of 2012's Most Important Celebrities

The announcement revealed the boy, named Logan Phineas Miller Murphy, was born December 24, 2012 9:47 a.m.

Earlier this year, Murphy opened up to Vogue about his desire to become a father. "I thought if I don't do this ... I'm 46 ... I will really, really regret it," he said, adding, "I want the kid to be bold."

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Small fire reported at WTC site

FDNY crews have responded to a report of a small fire at the World Trade Center site.

The report of a fire in a tool shed came in at about 11:30 a.m. today.

An FDNY spokesman said firefighters were still on the scene, but it appeared the fire didn't spread far.

There were no reports of injuries.




@FDNYIncidents via Twitter




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Miami Dade College to launch a Social Entrepreneurship Academy




















Miami Dade College is launching a Social Entrepreneurship Academy, which aims to teach people about how to start a socially entrepreneurial business, how to market a “green” business and how to embrace a lifestyle that values sustainability and social responsibility, among other offerings.

Future non-credit classes will also include topics such as Socially Responsible Investing, Affordable Housing Development and Tactical Urbanism. In addition to the courses, which will cost $235, the academy will offer networking opportunities, mentorship, a business plan contest and internship opportunities, MDC said.

An Open House will take place at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 7 at the InterAmerican Campus, 627 SW 27th Ave., Room 401, where prospective students can meet instructors and learn more about the program. For more information about the classes, contact Karina Johnson at 305-237-6587 or kjohnso6@mdc.edu. For information about the academy, call Corinna Moebius at 786-564-2662.





Nancy Dahlberg





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Ronald Poppo, victim of causeway attack, finds peace but not healing in special care




















When Ronald Poppo was a kid in the 1950s and ’60s, a family Christmas in Brooklyn meant wind-up model trains circling the tree, Italian dinners of lasagna and stuffed squid, and, because Dec. 25 was also his father’s birthday, ricotta-filled cassata cake.

There was always music, because the Poppos have musical talent. Ronnie, as his older sister and two older brothers called him, played the violin as a child and guitar as a teenager.

And there was church, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, as their mother was a devout Baptist.





An aunt brought Christmas presents, recalled Ronald’s sister, Antoinette Poppo, who still lives in New York.

“We were poor, but we didn’t know we were poor,’’ she said.

It’s hard to say when Ronald Poppo last enjoyed childhood Christmas memories, had a merry — or even comfortable — Christmas. After vanishing from the family in the early 1970s, he encamped on the gritty streets of Miami, an inebriated vagrant drifting ever further from the mainstream.

His last known home was the concrete stairwell of a tourist-attraction parking garage.

He surfaced again May 26 as the hapless victim in one of South Florida’s most sensational, blood-drenched crimes. That day, a naked, crazed, 31-year-old Rudy Eugene attacked 65-year-old Poppo on the MacArthur Causeway, stripping away his clothes then gnawing on Poppo’s face, leaving him mutilated and blind.

Police shot and killed Eugene about 18 minutes into the assault.

Through news of the event, Poppo’s stunned siblings learned he’d been alive all along, and people from his past began to emerge with snippets of information about his life before he disappeared onto the streets.

Following intensive medical treatment at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Poppo moved to Jackson Memorial Perdue Medical Center, an 11-acre, 163-bed nursing home/rehab facility in South Miami-Dade, its halls now cheerily decked with holiday decorations.

He has refused all interview requests since the incident, and apart from allowing doctors to hold a news conference in June, he hasn’t authorized his treating physicians to talk about his medical condition.

Jackson officials closely guard his privacy.

Photos displayed at the June news conference showed Poppo’s face as a mass of clots and raw tissue, his eye sockets hidden under flaps of skin, his nose gone, his cheeks and forehead partially so. Doctors had to remove one mangled eyeball but at the time hoped to save the other, and at least some sight.

They weren’t able to.

His sister says that when they talk, brother Ronnie doesn’t mention the attack, the past, or how he spends his time. But he did recently say that he likes his accommodations and the people who care for him.

“He says they take him outside and walk him around the place,’’ Antoinette Poppo said. “He’s glad to be there. ... He doesn’t really talk much at all. He says, ‘Take care of yourself.’ It’s so sad he can’t see, and has to depend on other people.’’

He told her that “his face hasn’t healed yet,’’ but that he doesn’t want more surgery because “it’s going to hurt.’’

If so inclined, Poppo could have participated in all sorts of Christmas festivities at Perdue, where well-wishers from The Cocoplum and Cutler Ridge Women’s Clubs, the Soroptimist Club of Coral Gables, the Grupo de Kendall, Bethel Baptist Church, and the Teddy Bear Club brought gifts for residents including shampoo, batteries, home-made goodies — and teddy bears.





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Jessica Simpson Pregnant With Second Child

After weeks of speculation, Jessica Simpson has confirmed that she is pregnant with her second child!


PHOTO - Does Jessica Look Pregnant?

This morning she Tweeted, "Merry Christmas from my family to yours," along with a photo of daughter Maxwell sitting above a message written in the sand. It read: "Big Sis."


VIDEO - Jessica on Reaching 50 Pound Weight Loss Goal

Simpson, who gave birth to Maxwell on May 1, has been spotted wearing lots of loose clothing in recent weeks as rumors swirled that she was pregnant again.

This will be the second child for Simpson and her fiance, Eric Johnson.

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Upstate NY madman left chilling suicide note before torching town and luring firefighters to death








William H. Spengler Jr.A house burns after Spengler set fire to it.

William H. Spengler Jr.



A homicidal maniac -- bent to “do what I like doing best: killing people" -- left a chilling suicide note before torching his neighborhood and murdering two firefighters, police said today.

Ex-con William Spengler Jr., a loser mama’s boy who once spent 17 years in prison for beating his grandmother to death, penned a murderous three-page missive, telling the world why he turned a quiet lakeside neighborhood into hell on earth.

“I still have to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down and do what I like doing best: killing people,” Spengler wrote his suicide note, made public by police.




Spengler, 62, set his home -- in the tight-knit, upstate town of Webster, just outside Rochester -- ablaze early yesterday morning to lure volunteer firefighters to the scene. The gutless killer then methodically shot four of those fireman, two fatally, before blowing his brains out.

"There was no motive in the note...there were some ramblings in there, said Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering told reporters this morning. “There was intelligence information that we obtained that our investigators need to follow up on. It spoke mainly that he intended to burn his neighborhood down and kill as many people as possible."

Four whiskey bottles, filled with gasoline, were found unspent against his house, law enforcement sources told WHEC-TV.

UPSTATE MADMAN SETS BLAZE TO LURE FIREFIGHTERS TO DEATH

Spengler ignited his deadly blaze with a flare gun that was recovered at the scene, the local NBC affiliate reported.

The sadistic killer was found with a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver, Mossman 12-gauge shotgun and a Bushman semi-automatic AR-15 rifle with 30-shot magazine, police said. Crazed gunman Adam Lanza used the same make of Bushman rifle in the tragic Newtown, CT shooting earlier this month.

As a convicted felon, Spengler had no legal right to possess guns so cops want to trace those weapons.

William H. Spengler Jr.A house burns after Spengler set fire to it.

REUTERS

A house burns after Spengler set fire to it.



Police are exploring connections Spengler and his late mom, Arline, had to the West Webster Fire Department, officials said.

Spengler first torched his family’s home on Lake Road, where Irondequoit Bay meets Lake Ontario, at around 5:45 a.m. — then lay in wait for his unsuspecting prey.

Crouched like a sniper and armed with a rifle and a handgun, Spengler targeted responding firefighters from behind an earthen berm that gave him a clear shot, said Pickering.

“He took a position of cover to be a sniper to shoot the first responders . . . It does appear it was a trap that was set,’’ a grim-faced Pickering said.

It’s unclear why Spengler targeted the men, although he was having personal problems.

He lived with a sister he hated, neighbors said, in the same house where he had fatally bludgeoned his 92-year-old grandmother with a hammer in 1980.

The sister, Cheryl, 67, is missing, and cops, fearing the worst, will search the house for her remains.

"This sister is the only one who is unaccounted for and we're chasing down leads trying to locate her. As time goes down and we don't locate her, just like any criminal investigation would lend itself to perhaps foul play had occurred with the sister,” Pickering said.

Spengler’s beloved mother, Arline died in October. In her obituary, donations were directed to the “West Webster Firemen’s Association (Ambulance Fund).’’ It wasn’t immediately clear why.

"As far as motive, all kinds of speculation, and truthfully, we do not know. They're trying to draw a nexus, I know, between the donations of the mother to the fire department. There could be a nexus to 33 years ago when Webster police arrested him for murdering his grandmother,” Pickering said.

“We are aware of it and trying to figure out the connection,” said a source with the sheriff’s office.

One of Spengler’s victims yesterday, 43-year-old Michael Chiapperini, was a volunteer with the West Webster Fire District and a lieutenant in the town’s police department, where he also served as a media liaison.

The selfless Chiapperini, who spent 20 years as cop, had spent time in Suffolk County last month, volunteering for Hurricane Sandy cleanup duty, officials said.

He had just been named a local “Firefighter of the Year.”

He is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son who also worked with the volunteer fire department.

The other man killed was volunteer Tomasz Kaczowka, a 19-year-old 911 dispatcher and a community-college student with dreams of becoming a full-time firefighter.

“These people get up in the middle of the night to fight fires,” said Chief Pickering, choking back tears. “They don’t expect to be shot and killed.”

Two more volunteer firefighters, Joseph Hofstetter and Theodore Scardino, were wounded by bullets. A cop suffered injuries from shrapnel. All three were expected to survive.

Hofstetter, who also works full time for the Rochester Fire Department, was hit in the pelvis and the bullet lodged in his spine. Scardino was hit in the chest and knee.

The firefighters had to fall back after shots were first fired, allowing flames from Spengler’s home to spread to neighboring houses.

Spengler then traded shots with officers who arrived with an armored truck they used to remove the injured, as well as people living nearby.

He was chased on foot from his perch, then killed himself before he could be subdued, cops said.

Four houses burned to the ground and four more were damaged by the time the blaze was brought under control.

Dozens of people had to be evacuated from the smoldering area on Christmas Eve.

During the gunfight, emergency radio communications captured someone frantically saying he “could see the muzzle flash coming at [him],” as Spengler fired.

The audio, posted on the Web site RadioReference.com, also had someone reporting, “Firefighters are down!” and saying, “Got to be rifle or shotgun — high-powered . . . semi or fully auto.”

It would have been illegal for Spengler, as a convicted felon, to possess any firearm at all.

Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn said he couldn’t help thinking about the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., and other mass shootings in recent years.

“It’s sad to see this is becoming more commonplace . . . across the nation,” O’Flynn said.

At West Webster Fire Station 1, there were 20 bouquets on a bench in front. Another bouquet had roses with three gold-and-white ribbons saying, “May they rest in peace,” “In the line of duty,” and, “In memory of our fallen brothers.”

Gov. Cuomo asked New Yorkers to pray for the firefighters’ families, victimized by this “senseless act of violence.”

Last December, a 15-year-old boy doused his home in Webster with gasoline and set it ablaze, killing his father and two brothers, ages 12 and 16.










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Miami: We’re still busiest cruise port




















Florida’s ports are steaming bow-to-bow in the race to be the world’s businest cruise ship port.

Though some publications have reported Port Canaveral in the lead with 3,761,056 million for its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, PortMiami officials Monday said they had hosted 3,774,452 passengers during the same period, putting it slightly ahead. Fort Lauderdale’s PortEverglades reported 3,689,000 passengers for the period, putting it slightly behind the others in third place.

“We’re all very close,’’ said Paula Musto, PortMiami spokeswoman.





PortMiami has slipped below its previous high of 4 million plus passengers because of changing ship deployments, she said. That number is expected to again cruise past 4 million in 2013 as several new ships homeport in Miami.

Jane Wooldridge





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South Florida Christians immerse themselves in the spirit




















In the days leading up to Christmas, Brenda Lans, a Miami law-firm administrative assistant, sang religious carols with other Lutherans to harried travelers at Miami International Airport.

Jorge Rollo, an office manager, oversaw the sprawling Gift of Bethlehem tableau on the grounds of St. John Neumann Catholic Church in southwest Miami-Dade.

Teenage siblings Coraliz and Dennis Morales shivered in the chilly darkness outside Faith Presbyterian Church in Pembroke Pines as characters in a Living Nativity.





Count them all among the Christians who believe that taking religion public during the late-December shopping frenzy helps make “Keep Christ in Christmas’’ and “Jesus is the Reason for the Season’’ more than bumper-sticker slogans.

Whether in small groups — the Rev. David Imhoff of Grace Lutheran Church in Miami Springs called his 13 carolers a “flash mob for Jesus’’ — or casts of hundreds like the Gift of Bethlehem, the activities become missions for the faithful.

“On a spiritual level, it was so rewarding,’’ said Lans, 55, who isn’t in a church choir and described her singing contribution as “backup noise’’ to those with good voices. “It’s good to get back to the old traditions of caroling which give you the true meaning of Christmas...I felt uplifted doing that.’’

Another caroler, Elizabeth Maldonado, said that singing “Away in the Manger,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” and “Silent Night” for TSA agents, travelers and rental-car agents fulfills an obligation to evangelize, but in a way that doesn’t put people off.

“That’s the greatest commission, to go spread the Gospel,’’ said Maldonado, 53, who sang with her husband, George Sr., 52, and son George Jr., 13.

“Jesus commanded us to do that...Christmas is about the birth of our Savior, but some forget and some have not been told,’’ she said. “The only way to reach them is through love, not to criticize. You can’t push God into their lives, but you can show Him by your actions.’’

Coraliz, an 18-year-old Flanagan High School student, said she was freezing on Friday night when she spent two hours as a shepherd in the Living Nativity scene, as traffic whizzed by on Taft Street, but she didn’t mind.

“Advent is really special,’’ she said. “It’s a time when you honor Christ and thank Him for everything he has done for you, and you have to remember that this day of Christmas is the day that He brought His son to save us. As a Christian, that’s the biggest day of the year. I think it’s really easy to forget what we’re celebrating, and it reminds people what the point is.’’

“We get so wrapped up in Santa and shopping and parties, which are all wonderful, but in reality, this is the birth of the man who gave way to our salvation, and that’s to be celebrated,’’ said Rollo. He called the Gift of Bethlehem, which recreated life in the town where Jesus was born — right down to the lepers, horses, and open-fire bread bakers — “a celebration of our faith and spirituality, and that 2,000 years ago, Mary and Joseph put their faith in God and had this baby.’’





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Mariah Carey All I Want For Christmas Is You Covers

While never an underperformer, it's safe to say that Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You became infinitely more popular following it's rousing inclusion in 2003's Love Actually.


PHOTOS - Sexy Celebrity Santas

Since Olivia Olson smashed the song in Richard Curtis' new holiday classic, it's been covered everywhere from Glee to the Today show -- even Mariah herself has re-released a version she recorded with Justin Bieber.


PHOTOS - Stars Sit on Santa's Lap

But which cover is king? Take a listen to all the options below and then weigh in on which version of All I Want For Christmas Is You is the biggest gift of all!


Mariah Carey's 1994 Original


Shania Twain's 1998 Cover


Olivia Olson's Cover From Love Actually


Miley Cyrus' 2007 Cover


John Mayer's 2008 Cover


Amber Riley's 2011 Glee Cover


Mariah Carey & Justin Bieber's 2011 Deut


Mariah Carey's 2012 Late Night Acoustic Cover


Carly Rose Sonenclar's 2012 X Factor Cover


Demi Lovato's 2012 Christmas in Washington Cover


WHICH IS YOUR FAVORITE? VOTE BELOW!

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Gunman dead after killing 2 firefighters, 3 others wounded at scene of blaze near Rochester








@jgermano1 via Twitter


Jamie Germano tweeted this photo: "Fire on Lake Rd in Webster where firefighter were shot at upon arrival."



A sadistic gunman killed two firefighters and wounded three other first responders in western New York this morning after setting a blaze to lure victims into shooting range, officials said.

The murderer traded gunfire with cops and was eventually killed -- though it wasn’t immediately clear if officers brought him down, or if he committed suicide, said Webster police chief Gerald Pickering.

“It does appear it was a trap that was set for ... first responders,” Pickering said. “Causative reasons, we don’t have at this time.”




The fire, near the Lake Ontario shore just east of Rochester, broke out at 191 Lake Road at 5:45 a.m., and quickly spread to two more houses and a car, officials said.

Firefighters had to fall back after shots were fired, and flames eventually spread to seven more houses, officials said. Four houses were burned down and four were damaged by the time all flames were brought under control.

Pickering choked back tears as he revealed names of the two fatally wounded victims.

One of the fallen firefighters, 43-year-old Michael Chiapperini, was a volunteer -- his day job was a lieutenant in Webster’s police department, officials said.

The other tragically killed Bravest Tomasz Kaczowka, who was a Monroe County 911 dispatcher, officials said.

“These people get up in the middle of the night to fight fires,” said Pickering. “They don't expect to be shot and killed.”

Two of Webster's Bravest, who were shot and wounded, are in guarded condition at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, officials said. They were identified as volunteer firefighters Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino.

One of them was reportedly shot through the hip and was in surgery this morning. He's expected to survive.

John Ritter, a police officer from nearby Greece, was wounded by flying shrapnel after responding in his private car, officials said.

Ritter was headed to work when he saw fire trucks and followed along, before his truck was hit twice with gunfire.










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Lawyer takes child-support practice on the road




















Her clients know her as “the child support lady with the cool truck.”

Chantale Suttle thinks that’s a pretty good description of her and her months-old business, DADvocacy.

For almost 20 years, she’s dealt with child support issues. In law school at the University of Miami, she interned in the child support office, and she went on to handle child support issues as a prosecutor, defense attorney and magistrate judge.





These days, she helps dads navigate the child support system from her mobile office: a bulletproof truck, wrapped with a photo of a man’s muscular, crossed arms, complete with a soundproof consultation room, sports magazines, sodas — and free diapers.

“We do not want to be fancy, golf-playing, mahogany-office kind of lawyers. I’m just a lady you come talk to about child support,” said 42-year old Suttle.

And for teen dads, she does it for free.

“I feel that’s when I can help them the most, and I feel that’s where being part of the child support system can be the most damaging to his future because of the credit bureau reporting,” Suttle said.

Older dads can get help for a flat fee.

Suttle drives the converted 22-passenger van herself. When it’s not parked outside of the child support courthouse at in Downtown Miami, Suttle motors throughout the county to speak at community events.

On a recent evening, the DADvocacy van was parked outside of the Girl Power community center, on Seventh Avenue just off I-95 in Miami. There, Fatherz in the Hood — an organization that provides training and resources for dads — organized an information session for parents frustrated with the child support system.

Suttle stood in front of a semi-circle of seated dads, both young and old, and schooled them about the child support system so that they, hopefully, would not have to see her for services.

Florida’s child support court is different from family court, where parents sort out divorce and domestic violence issues, she explained. Child support court deals only with issues related to collecting child support, which goes often goes directly to the state for social programs — not the mother.

Child support is based on “time-sharing” between parents, and fathers who spend more time with their kids may pay less child support.

“This system is supposed to reward good dads who spend time with their kids,” she told the Fatherz in the Hood group. “On this, we are light-years away from any other state.”

The dads at Fatherz in the Hood chuckled when, using an online calculator, Suttle showed them a huge drop in the amount of child support a dad would have to pay just by spending more overnight time with his kids. In one scenario, the mother actually ended up owing the father child support.

“Any of you know moms paying child support?” an amazed participant asked.

The dads shook their heads, “No.”

Another eye-opening bit of information that Suttle shares with all of her clients — whether they hire her or not — is how to use the Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts online filing system to check on their own cases’ status and any upcoming hearings. Her truck has a hotspot with internet access to check this information on the road, and she also checks to make sure she doesn’t have a conflict in the case — such as having ruled on any issues involving the mother while she served in her other legal roles.





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Two customers killed in grocery store hold-up in Palm Beach




















Two customers at a grocery store in Delray Beach were shot and killed Sunday morning when two men burst in and began spraying bullets from semi-automatic handguns at employees and customers, police said.

One of the homicide victims was found dead at Community Market, 945 W. Atlantic Ave., in Palm Beach and the other died 90 minutes later at Delray Medical Center, according to Delray police. Neither has been identified.

Responding to a 5:57 a.m. call of a shooting, officers were told that two armed men, both with bandanas over their faces, entered the store and immediately opened fire. After the two customers were hit, the gunmen demanded cash from the register and pistol whipped an employee as he attempted to open the register, said police.





To read the entire Sun Sentinel story, click here.





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Video games and shooting: Is the NRA right?






After a week of silence following the Sandy Hook school shooting that killed 20 first graders and six staff in Newtown, Conn., the National Rifle Association blamed the entertainment industry – specifically the producers of violent video games for inciting what has become a pattern of gun violence in the United States.


In describing the industry, NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre said, “There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people.”






Mr. LaPierre faulted the news media for failing to report on “vicious, violent video games” such as “Grand Theft Auto,” “Mortal Kombat,” and “Splatterhouse” as egregious examples. He also singled out “Kindergarten Killer,” a free, fairly obscure online game.


“How come my research department could find it and all of yours either couldn’t or didn’t want anyone to know you had found it?” he asked reporters.


Recommended: Second Amendment Quiz


Most academic research, as well as studies by the FBI and the US Secret Service, examining the link between violent video games and incident of violence does not support the gun lobby’s charge.


For example, a 2008 report by researchers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital funded by the US Department of Justice found that violent video games may increase bullying or physical fighting in schools, but not mass gun violence.


“It’s clear that the ‘big fears’ bandied about in the press – that violent video games make children significantly more violent in the real world; that they will engage in the illegal, immoral, sexist and violent acts they see in some of these games – are not supported by the current research, at least in such a simplistic form,” the report states.


Joan Saab, director of the visual and cultural studies program at the University of Rochester in New York, says the gaming industry should share in the blame for promoting military weaponry to young people, but adds that the popularity of such games reflect the “larger culture we live in, which is heavily militarized,” in the midst of lengthy combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Ms. Saab says that the NRA’s call for armed guards in schools would make that kind of military culture more pervasive for children.


“If there are more armed guards in schools, kids are exposed to more guns. That’s when fantasy and reality aren’t blurred. When there are guns in schools, it becomes real life and the day-to-day environment becomes more dangerous than the game,” she says. In Newtown, as in Aurora, Colo. and the sites of other mass shootings, the gunman was outfitted in military-style dress.


By blaming video games for gun violence, the NRA also puts itself in a vulnerable position because, as Mother Jones reports, the company partnered with gaming producer Cave Entertainment in 2006 for “NRA Gun Club,” a PlayStation 2 game that allows users to fire over 100 different brand-name handguns.


LaPierre did not specify if Congress should move forward in regulating the gaming industry, perhaps because previous attempts were not successful.


A US Supreme Court ruling in 2011 struck down a California law that made it a crime to sell or rent what it classified as violent video games to minors. The ruling said the law, signed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) in 2005, violates First Amendment protections.


In the wake of Sandy Hook, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller introduced a bill that calls for the National Academy of Sciences to examine the possible links between violent video games and violent incidents caused by children.


Overall, gun-based video games do not wholly represent total gaming industry sales, according to data from VGChartz, a UK-based research firm that tracks gaming sales. In 2011, for example, just seven of the top 20 best-selling games in the US involve warfare simulation. The other titles – “Just Dance 3,” “Kinect Adventures!” “New Super Mario Bros. Wii,” “Madden NFL 12,” and “Pokemon Black/White” – are designed around sports, dance, and children’s cartoon characters.


All of the games LaPierre mentions are more than 15 years old, with some dating back to the 1980s, with their popularity waning. For example, total unit sales in the US for the “Mortal Kombat” franchise dropped 70 percent in 2012, compared to the previous year total. The game debuted in 1992.


Gaming experts say that the majority of the games LaPierre cited do not portray gun violence – “Mortal Kombat” involves hand-to-hand combat, for example. They say they do not understand why he did not single out “first person shooter” games such as blockbuster franchises like the “Call of Duty” series, which is based on simulated gun action and is considered one of the most hyper-violent on the market. In fact, according to news reports, the game was also a favorite of Adam Lanza, the Newtown gunman who spent hours at home playing it.


“Some of those games [LaPierre mentions] are older than the [Newtown] shooter,” who was 20, says Christopher Grant, editor-in-chief of Polygon.com, an online site based in New York City that covers gaming news and trends. “I have no idea why he chose them. My theory is he didn’t want to pick anything too modern [such as ‘Call of Duty’ or ‘Doom’] that might overlap unfavorably with something their own members might enjoy.”


“Call of Duty” is known as a favorite of the military and is often credited for driving up recruitment. Activision Blizzard, the company behind “Call of Duty,” has donated thousands of copies to the US Navy; the company also created a non-profit foundation to help returning US military veterans.


According to the NPD Group, a global market research firm, retail gaming sales in the US plummeted 20 percent in the first eight months of 2012 compared to the same time period the previous year, a trend that follows years of declining sales. Between 2008 and 2011, total sales of industry software and hardware dropped 20.5 percent. According to the gaming industry website Gamasutra, 2012 sales are expected to be the lowest since 2006.


The sales drop is representative of major shifts in the gaming industry, which is slowly moving away from console-based games to those that are played via smartphones, digital tablets, and online through social networks.


The change has produced a new type of gamer: They are generally older, more ethnically and economically diverse, and they feed their gaming appetite in smaller bites and on-the-go, as opposed to the traditional gamer profile of a few years ago, which tended to be young males playing for hours in one sitting.


The Entertainment Software Association, an industry trade group based in Washington, reports that the average gamer today is 30 years old, the most frequent game purchaser is 35 years old, and that almost half (47 percent) of all gamers are women.


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Buzzmakers: New X Factor and Miss Universe Winners

What had ET readers buzzing this week?

1. 'The X Factor' Crowns A Winner!

And the $5 million recording contract goes to…

Tate Stevens! The 37-year-old country crooner beat out runner-up 13-year-old Carly Rose Sonenclar for the top prize Thursday night. 35 million votes were cast Wednesday to determine victory for L.A. Reid's mentee.

Near tears, the Raymore, Missouri native thanked his fans for their overwhelming support.

"This is the best day of my life," said an emotional Stevens.

Girl group Fifth Harmony, mentored by Simon Cowell, placed third in the competition. Earlier in the night, the holiday themed finale saw performances by One Direction and Pitbull.

Auditions for an all-new season of The X Factor USA have already begun online. In-person auditions will start on March 6, 2013 in Los Angeles.

The celebrity judging panel has yet to be announced, but L.A. Reid has already taken himself out of the running. Spears has expressed interest in returning to the show for season three, but nothing has been confirmed.

2. Miss Universe 2012 Crowned

Beauties from 89 countries strutted their stuff Wednesday night in pursuit of the Miss Universe crown, but only one woman would earn the coveted title.

In the end a panel of ten celebrity judges, including Cee Lo Green and U.S. Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings, appointed Miss USA Olivia Culpo the winner.

The 20-year-old Rhode Island native beat out Miss Brazil (Gabriela Markus) Miss Philippines (Janine Tugonon), Miss Mexico (Irene Sofía Esser Quintero), and Miss Australia (Renae Ayris) for the distinction.

Culpo follows in the footsteps of Miss Angola, Leila Lopes, who earned the crown in 2011.

The two-hour show was broadcast live from Las Vegas with musical acts One Direction and Train lending their talents to the annual extravaganza.

3. Exclusive: Arsenio on His Late Night TV Return

Break out the Woof! Woof! fist pump: Arsenio Hall is coming back to late night TV in the Fall of 2013 after a 17-year break from the game, and only ET is behind the scenes with the timeless talk show host as he shoots his first-ever promo for The Arsenio Hall Show!

"[This is] the first time America will see anything on television about the show," says Arsenio. "Instead of a commercial where I do something like say, 'I'm baaaaack' -- and everybody's, 'Ugh' -- they've come up with a real, unique, creative angle that -- actually, I looked at dailies, and it scared me. I looked at the dailies and I frightened myself."

The trailer-length promo from CBS Television Distribution pays homage to horror movies and begins airing today on all Arsenio Hall Show affiliate stations, kicking off the campaign for the new late night syndicated talk show that will be seen all across the country next year.

"I'm real excited about this; so many things have changed in pop culture since I left the air," says Arsenio about his return to late night. "I can't wait."

The Arsenio Hall Show premieres on 9/9/13. Look for much more with Arsenio between now and then, only on ET!

4. Claire Danes Gives Birth

It's a boy!

Homeland star Claire Danes and her husband Hugh Dancy welcomed their very first child together on Monday, December 17, her rep confirms to People Magazine.

The proud parents named their bouncing baby boy Cyrus Michael Christopher Dancy.

Danes, 33, wed Dancy, 37, in 2009 after two years of dating.

5. President Obama is Time's Person of the Year

For 2012, Time Magazine has selected President Barack Obama as their Person of the Year.

"For finding and forging a new majority, for turning weakness into opportunity and for seeking, amid great adversity, to create a more perfect union, Barack Obama is Time's 2012 Person of the Year," Time's Managing Editor Richzard Stengel explained.

He also cited both of the president's re-elections, snagging over 50 percent of the popular vote, as one reason he received this honor.

This is the second year Time has tapped Obama as their Person of the Year -- he previously was selected in 2008 for becoming the first black president of the United States.

Time previously named the eight finalists for 2012's Person of the Year. They included: Bill and Hillary Clinton, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Malala Yousafzai (the Pakistani girl who was shot by the Taliban for her crusade for better girls' education), Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and the three scientists who discovered the Higgs Boson particle.

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NYC starts new program for mentally ill defendants








New York City is making a new effort to channel mentally ill people who get arrested into treatment instead of jail, if they don't need to be there.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the initiative on his weekly radio show Sunday.

Bloomberg says the effort will start next year and set out to work with 3,000 people annually.

Expert teams will assess the defendants' mental health needs, likelihood of showing up in court and potential for re-offending. The teams will make recommendations to judges about what psychological services and supervision are appropriate.



Some special mental-health-focused courts around the city have similar aims.

City officials say the mentally ill often can't post bail and so generally end up in jail twice as long as other inmates facing similar charges.










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Time’s up for holiday shopping procrastinators




















Last minute shoppers like Josette Tyne are in luck this year.

With a long weekend before Christmas, retailers want to make it easier for procrastinators to finish their gift buying. Macy’s for the first time is keeping all its stores open around the clock from Friday until Sunday at midnight. Toys “R” Us and Walmart Supercenters will be open non-stop until Christmas Eve.

Even those retailers skipping the all nighter still have added extended hours often as late as 11 pm or midnight. Coupled with a flurry of last minute promotions, they hope to lure shoppers, many of whom have been largely sitting on the sidelines since Black Friday.





Tyne, 33, just starting her shopping this week at Aventura Mall, armed with a list of about two dozen people and the presents they wanted. The list would have been longer if the Fort Lauderdale resident hadn’t limited it to the kids in her family.

“I’ll probably be shopping every day from now till Sunday,” said Tyne, as she wheeled the youngest of her three boys around H&M in a stroller before heading on to Game Stop, Urban Outfitters and BCBG. “Whatever catches my eye. Luckily the kids usually like everything I get. I’m the awesome Auntie.”

A Consumer Reports Poll released earlier this week found that with just five shopping days left until Christmas, a whopping 68 percent of shoppers — a projected 132 million Americans — have yet to finish their holiday shopping.

With an early Thanksgiving leaving an extra week until Christmas and a long weekend before Tuesday’s holiday, shoppers have felt little need to rush. They also haven’t found December deals to be quite as compelling as the November sales.

Based on disappointing sales trends earlier this month, ShopperTrak said Wednesday it was cutting its holiday sales forecast. The company, which counts foot traffic and its own proprietary sales numbers from 40,000 retail outlets across the country, now expects a 2.5 percent sales increase to $257.7 billion, down from the 3.3 percent growth it initially predicted. The National Retail Federation is sticking with its prediction of a 4.1 percent sales increase.

Online sales trends are more encouraging, up 13 percent to $35 billion from Nov. 1 through Dec. 16, according to comScore, an online research firm. But that pace is below the forecast of 17 percent for the season.

“It’s coming down to the wire,” said David Bassuk, managing director and co-head of the retail practice at AlixPartners, a global consulting firm. “It’s going to require retailers to be more aggressive with their promotions than they were hoping heading into the weekend.”

While the economy is certainly in a better position than it was during the recession, many consumers still feel uneasy this year about their financial future. Some are worried about the U.S. job market and others fear the stalemate between Congress and the White House over federal “fiscal cliff’’ that could lead to tax increases and less disposable income for shoppers.

That was the case for Latonya Jones, on the hunt for bargains at Aventura Mall, coupon-loaded iPad in hand.

“I wasn’t going to buy anything this year, because I wanted to save money,” said Jones, 39, of Miami Gardens, who was shopping with her daughter Richelle, 12, this week in Macy’s. “But then I changed my mind.”





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On Saturday, Bay of Pigs invasion veterans mark 50 years since their release




















In the days before Christmas 50 years ago this weekend, 1,113 Bay of Pigs fighters captured by Fidel Castro’s forces and imprisoned for 20 months were finally released to a heroes’ welcome in Miami.

The first planeload of POWs arrived at Homestead Air Force Base on Dec. 23, 1962. Gaunt and betrayed by the John F. Kennedy administration, members of the proud Brigade 2506 were bused to Miami’s Dinner Key Auditorium, where waiting relatives engulfed them with hugs at a massive reunion that made front-page news. Five days later, JFK and his wife Jackie would be at the Orange Bowl to welcome them, too.

On Saturday, the 50th anniversary of those pivotal days will be observed as surviving brigade members — now in their 70s and 80s — hold a and 11 a.m. Mass and reunion at the Bay of Pigs Museum in Little Havana.





The release of the men was the one bright spot in the disastrous April 1961 CIA-backed invasion to overthrow the two-year old Castro government. Yet the fighters’ return also sent the somber message that exiles would not reclaim Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis that October had set the course of U.S.-Cuba relations until today.

Back then, it was sinking in: The Cuban exile community was in Miami to stay.

A defeated Jose Andreu, now 76, the first brigade member to sign up for the invasion, was among those who arrived home that bittersweet day.

“My wife to-be was there to meet me, along with my sister and my father,” Andreu said. “I remember a lot of hugging and crying.”

Among the young people waiting at the auditorium that day in 1962 was a teen-aged Ninoska Perez Castellon, there with her family to welcome her brothers and uncle, all brigade members.

“I remember being in that packed auditorium ... I can truly say as a child I viewed those men as my first heroes. I still do,” said Perez-Castellon, who grew up to become one of Miami’s most influential radio personalities.

Perez and her family still have black-and-white snapshots of the joyful reunion, showing her late grandmother proudly hugging her son.

The behind-the-scenes negotiations that finally led to the release of the brigadistas 50 years ago this week were the stuff of Hollywood movies. They involved months of haggling with Castro by everyone from a former first lady to a high-profile diplomatic negotiator who led the group that finally succeeded — a group of the prisoners’ mothers, wives and fathers who made up the Cuban Families Committee.

Their effort resulted in a now-forgotten 7,857 exodus of Cuban refugees, many relatives of the brigadistas, who arrived in cargo ships at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale from December 1962 to July 1963.

Two women in the committee played key roles — one in Cuba, motivated by a mother’s love; the other in Miami, seeking to free her husband.

Havana socialite, Berta Barreto, whose oldest son, Alberto Oms Barreto, had been captured during the invasion, made the initial contact with Castro and promised that the ransom he had set for the men would be paid. Years later, her second son, Pablo Perez-Cisneros Barreto, wrote the definitive book on the negotiations called After the Bay of Pigs, soon to be published in Spanish. “What my mother and the others managed to do, with no experience in high-level negotiating, was extraordinary,” Perez-Cisneros Barreto said.





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Analysis: Apple’s swoon exposes risk lurking in mutual funds






NEW YORK (Reuters) – The nearly 28 percent decline in shares of Apple Inc since mid-September isn’t just painful to individual shareholders. It’s also being felt by investors who chased hot mutual funds that loaded up on Apple as the stock raced to a record $ 705 per share.


Apple makes up 10 percent or more of assets in 117 out of the 1,119 funds that own its shares, according to data from Lipper, a Thomson Reuters company. Those big stakes have contributed positively to each fund’s annual performance to date, with Apple still up about 32 percent for the year. It was trading at $ 527.73 soon after the opening on Friday.






But that year-to-date outcome may not accurately reflect the performance of the funds for individual investors. All told, approximately $ 4.5 billion has been added to funds with overweight stakes in Apple this year, according to Morningstar data. The majority of these dollars were invested after March and after Apple first exceeded $ 600 per share – meaning many investors have been riding down with the decline.


The $ 302 million Matthew 25 fund, for instance, holds 17.4 percent of its assets in Apple, according to Lipper. The fund’s 31.9 percent gain through Thursday makes it one of the top performing funds for the year.


Most of its Apple shares were bought years ago at a bargain basement price of about $ 125 per share. But $ 158.9 million of the fund’s assets – or 53 percent – were invested after the end of March, when Apple was trading near $ 615 per share, according to Morningstar data.


For those investors that bought after March, all that concentration in Apple hasn’t led to a stellar gain but rather a drag on the portfolio. Someone who invested in Matthew 25 in early April has seen the value of the fund’s Apple stake fall about 19 percent, while someone who invested at the beginning of September has watched that outsized Apple stake drop 27.2 percent.


In turn, the majority of the fund’s investors have reaped a much more modest performance than its year-end numbers suggest. Since the end of March, the fund has gained 6.7 percent, according to Morningstar data, far less than its 31 percent year-to-date gain and about two percentage points more than the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index.


Since, September the fund is down nearly 3 percent through Thursday’s close, compared with a 1.1 percent decline in the S&P 500 in that period.


The impact of Apple’s falling stock price shows some of the drawbacks of portfolio concentration, experts say. These stakes can leave the funds overexposed to the ups and downs of one company – counter to what most mutual funds are supposed to do for investors.


“Any time you get over 10 percent of the portfolio in one company it’s a red flag,” said Michel Herbst, director of active fund research at Morningstar. Many fund managers do have risk management rules that prevent them from devoting more than 5 percent to 6 percent of their portfolio to any one stock, he said.


Then again, some funds purposely invest in just a few stocks. Mark Mulholland, the portfolio manager of the Matthew 25 fund, said that taking concentrated positions in companies is the only way to beat an index over longer periods of time.


‘RIGHT-SIZING’ PORTFOLIOS


Along with concerns about iPhone sales in China and tax-motivated selling among people who want to avoid potentially higher capital gains taxes in 2013, the wide fund ownership of Apple may be a factor in the size of the stock’s recent declines, fund managers said. In addition, with so many funds already heavily invested in the high-priced stock, there may be fewer marginal buyers available to push prices up again when shares begin to dip.


“The stock didn’t go from $ 700 to $ 520 because people didn’t like the new iPad. It’s become a favorite short of hedge funds because they know they can get in on this,” said Mark Spellman, a portfolio manager of the $ 300 million Value Line Income and Growth fund with a small position in Apple.


Short interest in the stock rose to 20.6 million shares at the end of November from 15.1 million shares at the end of September, according to Nasdaq.


“Some of my competitors have 12 percent of their assets in Apple, which I think is ludicrous”, said Spellman, who said the company is no longer trading on its fundamentals.


Sandy Villere, who has a 2.5 percent weighting of Apple in his $ 276 million Villere Balanced fund, said that some mutual fund managers are selling shares because of the over-weighting.


“Right now many people who did take huge overweight positions are right-sizing their portfolios to get it in line with their regular weightings,” he said.


Still, some bullish investors see the stock’s recent declines as a buying opportunity.


Mulholland, the Matthew 25 portfolio manager, continues to say that shares should be priced at over $ 1,000 per share based on his valuation of the company at 10 times enterprise value divided by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). Apple trades at about 7 times that figure now.


Wall Street analysts’ average price target as of Thursday is $ 742.56, according to Thomson Reuters data. But Mulholland is happy to be more bullish than his peers.


“I’m glad that I’m able to get it at these prices,” he said.


(Reporting By David Randall; Editing by Jennifer Merritt)


Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Buzzmakers: New X Factor and Miss Universe Winners

What had ET readers buzzing this week?

1. 'The X Factor' Crowns A Winner!

And the $5 million recording contract goes to…

Tate Stevens! The 37-year-old country crooner beat out runner-up 13-year-old Carly Rose Sonenclar for the top prize Thursday night. 35 million votes were cast Wednesday to determine victory for L.A. Reid's mentee.

Near tears, the Raymore, Missouri native thanked his fans for their overwhelming support.

"This is the best day of my life," said an emotional Stevens.

Girl group Fifth Harmony, mentored by Simon Cowell, placed third in the competition. Earlier in the night, the holiday themed finale saw performances by One Direction and Pitbull.

Auditions for an all-new season of The X Factor USA have already begun online. In-person auditions will start on March 6, 2013 in Los Angeles.

The celebrity judging panel has yet to be announced, but L.A. Reid has already taken himself out of the running. Spears has expressed interest in returning to the show for season three, but nothing has been confirmed.

2. Miss Universe 2012 Crowned

Beauties from 89 countries strutted their stuff Wednesday night in pursuit of the Miss Universe crown, but only one woman would earn the coveted title.

In the end a panel of ten celebrity judges, including Cee Lo Green and U.S. Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings, appointed Miss USA Olivia Culpo the winner.

The 20-year-old Rhode Island native beat out Miss Brazil (Gabriela Markus) Miss Philippines (Janine Tugonon), Miss Mexico (Irene Sofía Esser Quintero), and Miss Australia (Renae Ayris) for the distinction.

Culpo follows in the footsteps of Miss Angola, Leila Lopes, who earned the crown in 2011.

The two-hour show was broadcast live from Las Vegas with musical acts One Direction and Train lending their talents to the annual extravaganza.

3. Exclusive: Arsenio on His Late Night TV Return

Break out the Woof! Woof! fist pump: Arsenio Hall is coming back to late night TV in the Fall of 2013 after a 17-year break from the game, and only ET is behind the scenes with the timeless talk show host as he shoots his first-ever promo for The Arsenio Hall Show!

"[This is] the first time America will see anything on television about the show," says Arsenio. "Instead of a commercial where I do something like say, 'I'm baaaaack' -- and everybody's, 'Ugh' -- they've come up with a real, unique, creative angle that -- actually, I looked at dailies, and it scared me. I looked at the dailies and I frightened myself."

The trailer-length promo from CBS Television Distribution pays homage to horror movies and begins airing today on all Arsenio Hall Show affiliate stations, kicking off the campaign for the new late night syndicated talk show that will be seen all across the country next year.

"I'm real excited about this; so many things have changed in pop culture since I left the air," says Arsenio about his return to late night. "I can't wait."

The Arsenio Hall Show premieres on 9/9/13. Look for much more with Arsenio between now and then, only on ET!

4. Claire Danes Gives Birth

It's a boy!

Homeland star Claire Danes and her husband Hugh Dancy welcomed their very first child together on Monday, December 17, her rep confirms to People Magazine.

The proud parents named their bouncing baby boy Cyrus Michael Christopher Dancy.

Danes, 33, wed Dancy, 37, in 2009 after two years of dating.

5. President Obama is Time's Person of the Year

For 2012, Time Magazine has selected President Barack Obama as their Person of the Year.

"For finding and forging a new majority, for turning weakness into opportunity and for seeking, amid great adversity, to create a more perfect union, Barack Obama is Time's 2012 Person of the Year," Time's Managing Editor Richzard Stengel explained.

He also cited both of the president's re-elections, snagging over 50 percent of the popular vote, as one reason he received this honor.

This is the second year Time has tapped Obama as their Person of the Year -- he previously was selected in 2008 for becoming the first black president of the United States.

Time previously named the eight finalists for 2012's Person of the Year. They included: Bill and Hillary Clinton, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Malala Yousafzai (the Pakistani girl who was shot by the Taliban for her crusade for better girls' education), Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer, Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and the three scientists who discovered the Higgs Boson particle.

Read More..