Liberty City gun buyback trades groceries, Heat tickets for weapons




















Residents will have two more chances to trade in their guns.

Jan. 26: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. at St. John Baptist Church, 1328 N.W. Third Ave.

Feb. 2: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at San Juan Bosco Church, 1301 W. Flagler St.





Miamians flocked to Liberty City to trade their guns for supermarket gift cards and Miami Heat tickets on Saturday.

Miami Police and Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado held a gun buyback at Jordan Grove Baptist Church to try to stop gun violence.

“What we’re doing here, we’re beating the odds,” Regalado said. “If one incident is avoided, it’s worth it.”

In the first hour of the event, police reclaimed about 50 weapons, mostly hunting rifles and small-caliber handguns.

Bob Bravo, 46, drove from Hialeah to give up the rifle he bought nine years ago for deer hunting in Georgia.

He said the trigger was getting too sensitive, and he’d had a few close calls when the gun went off when he didn’t want it to.

“I figure God’s telling me to get rid of it before I have an accident,” he said.

Bravo hoped to get a Walmart gift card in exchange for the rifle, but since it wasn’t working properly, police determined his weapon was only worth a $25 certificate to Winn-Dixie.

But a handful of people returned high-powered rifles and assault weapons.

“This,” said Miami police spokesman Sgt. Freddie Cruz, holding up a sawed-off shotgun, “could cut a person in half. This is exactly what we’re trying to keep off the streets.”

Douglas Cook, a pastor at Jordan Grove Baptist Church, brought his father’s 75-year-old hunting rifle to the buyback to set a good example.

As a young boy growing up on a farm in Savannah, Ga., Cook used to use the rifle to shoot rabbits and small birds.

Cook said his father raised 12 boys and five girls, and nobody touched the rifle without permission.

“But young people aren’t that way now,” he said.

Every couple of weeks, gun violence results in funerals at Jordan Grove. Cook and his congregation are desperate to get the guns off the street.

“We need to stop this,” he said.

Regalado said hosting the buyback at a church, with pastors overseeing, reassures people that they won’t get in trouble for having the weapons they’re returning.

At the buyback, people were allowed to return any type of unloaded gun, no questions asked.

Returned guns will be taken to the Miami Police Department and, if possible, tested to see if the weapons were involved in any crimes, Cruz said. Those not tied to crimes will be destroyed.

“They are not circulated onto the streets,” he said.

Instead of cash rewards, people were given a choice of $25 or $50 gift certificates to Walmart or Winn-Dixie, or 300-level Miami Heat tickets, depending on the value and number of the weapons.

Each person who returned an assault rifle was given two 100-level tickets to a March Miami Heat game.

Dade Medical College and Padron Cigars each bought $5,000 worth of gift certificates and basketball tickets, which they donated to the police department for the buyback, Regalado said.

Myrtle Boyd got in line at 10:30 a.m. to turn in the .22 caliber handgun she’s had for more than 45 years.

Boyd, 82, bought the gun when she was living by herself on Northwest 56th Street in Liberty City. She said she felt safer with it.

But now she has grandchildren in the house, and she feels the children would be safer without it.

Besides, she said, “I’m too old. I don’t want it.”





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Dotcom says new site legal, no revenge for Megaupload saga






AUCKLAND (Reuters) – Kim Dotcom, founder of outlawed file-sharing website Megaupload, said his new “cyberlocker” was not revenge on U.S. authorities who planned a raid on his home, closed Megaupload and charged him with online piracy for which he faces jail if found guilty.


Dotcom said his new offering, Mega.co.nz, which will launch on Sunday even as he and three colleagues await extradition from New Zealand to the United States, complied with the law and warned that attempts to take it down would be futile.






“This is not some kind of finger to the U.S. government or to Hollywood,” Dotcom told Reuters at his sprawling estate in the bucolic hills of Coatesville, just outside Auckland, New Zealand, a country known more for sheep, rugby and the Hobbit than flamboyant tech tycoons.


“Legally, there’s just nothing there that could be used to shut us down. This site is just as legitimate and has the right to exist as Dropbox, Boxnet and other competitors,” he said, referring to other popular cloud storage services.


His lawyer, Ira Rothken, added that launching the site was compliant with the terms of Dotcom’s bail conditions. U.S. prosecutors argue that Dotcom in a statement said he had no intention of starting a new internet business until his extradition was resolved.


CODES AND KEYS


Dotcom said Mega was a different beast to Megaupload, as the new site enables users to control exactly which users can access uploaded files, in contrast to its predecessor, which allowed users to search files, some of which contained copyrighted content allegedly without permission.


A sophisticated encryption system will allow users to encode their files before they upload them on to the site’s servers, which Dotcom said were located in New Zealand and overseas.


Each file will then be issued a unique, sophisticated decryption key which only the file holder will control, allowing them to share the file as they choose.


As a result, the site’s operators would have no access to the files, which they say would strip them from any possible liability for knowingly enabling users to distribute copyright-infringing content, which Washington says is illegal.


“Even if we wanted to, we can’t go into your file and snoop and see what you have in there,” the burly Dotcom said.


Dotcom said Mega would comply with orders from copyright holders to remove infringing material, which will afford it the “safe harbor” legal provision, which minimizes liability on the condition that a party acted in good faith to comply.


But some legal experts say it may be difficult to claim the protection if they do not know what users have stored.


The Motion Pictures Association of America said encrypting files alone would not protect Dotcom from liability.


“We’ll reserve final judgment until we have a chance to analyze the new project,” a spokesman told Reuters. “But given Kim Dotcom’s history, count us as skeptical.”


The German national, who also goes by Kim Schmitz, expects huge interest in its first month of operation, which would be a far cry from when Megaupload went live in 2005.


“I would be surprised if we had less than one million users,” Dotcom said.


A YEAR ON


Mega’s launch starts the next chapter of the Dotcom narrative, dotted with previous cyber crime-related arrests and whose twists and turns have been scrutinized by all facets of the entertainment industry, from film studios and record labels to internet service companies and teenage gamers.


The copyright infringement case, billed as the largest to date given that Megaupload in its heyday commanded around four percent of global online traffic, could set a precedent for internet liability laws and depending on its outcome, may force entertainment companies to rethink their distribution methods.


A year on, the extradition hearing has been delayed until August, complicated by illegal arrest warrants and the New Zealand government’s admission that it had illegally spied on Dotcom, who has residency status in the country.


Last January, New Zealand’s elite special tactics forces landed by helicopter at dawn in the grounds of Dotcom’s mansion, worth roughly NZ$ 30 million ($ 25.05 million) and featuring a servants’ wing, hedge maze and life-size statues of giraffes and a rhinoceros, to arrest him and his colleagues at the request of the FBI.


Police armed with semi-automatic weapons found Dotcom cowering alone in a panic room in the attic, while outside, a convoy of police cars and vans pulled up in the driveway. Around 70 officers took part in the raid.


They left with computers, files and some of Dotcom’s fleet of Rolls-Royces, Mercedes and a vintage pink Cadillac tricked with personalized license plates screaming “HACKER”, “EVIL”, and “MAFIA”.


“Every time you hear a helicopter, you automatically think, ‘Oh, another raid’, so it’s something that stays with you for a long time,” said Dotcom, who says he and his wife still panic when they hear sudden, loud noises in the house.


Dotcom was coy about the details of the launch party as builders put the finishing touches to a festival-sized concert stage in the mansion’s grounds, while two helicopters circled overhead.


But if the impromptu, Willy Wonka-styled ice cream social he threw in Auckland earlier in the week is any indication, the party could be a more wholesome affair compared with the well-documented soirees of Dotcom’s past, where nightclubs, hot tubs and scantily clad women were a common fixture.


“I had to grow up, you know, I was a big baby,” he said. “Big baby with too much money usually leads to baby craziness.


“I am going to be more of a person that wants to help to make things better and help internet innovation to take off without all these restrictions by governments. That is going to be my primary goal if this business is successful.”


($ 1 = NZ$ 1.2)


(Editing by Daniel Magnowski and Nick Macfie)


Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Buzzmakers: Golden Globes Glamour and Jennifer Lawrence's Butt

1. Jennifer Lawrence: That's Not My Flabby Butt!

Jennifer Lawrence has been silent long enough! The Silver Linings Playbook actress showed up on the Late Show With David Letterman this week to both clarify her Meryl Streep comments during her Golden Globes acceptance speech, and set the record straight on a photoshopped pic of her bikini backside.

The actress is convinced that the paparazzi put a much older butt on her body while she was in Hawaii, telling Letterman as he held up the photo, "It's not my butt and I will not take responsibility for it. It's a 90-year-old butt that's been photoshopped onto my body, and is posing as my butt."

Causing roars of laughter in the audience, The Hunger Games beauty, 22, admits she's not the most photogenic person and she does have some "bloat" at times, but wants everyone to take away from her Late Show appearance Tuesday night that this is not her butt.

Lawrence also felt the need to address her Streep joke while at the Globes. The actress revealed that she was merely quoting Bette Midler in First Wives Club when she said Sunday night, "Look what it says, 'I beat Meryl.'"

"I had no idea Lindsay Lohan would take to the Twitterverse," she joked with Letterman. "Well, first of all it's Meryl Streep. You can't offend Meryl Streep."

2. Golden Globes Fashion Tops & Flops

Which star at the Golden Globes had the best dress, and which ones just looked like a hot mess? You decide!

Click through our gallery and vote here!

3. LeAnn Rimes Talks Infidelity & Her Ex

No topic was off limits when LeAnn Rimes sat down exclusively with ET's Nancy O'Dell.

The country superstar, whose controversial relationship with husband Eddie Cibrian has become both a blessing and a curse, tells Nancy her upcoming album Spitfire was born unexpectedly during her extra-marital affair with Eddie. In fact, a handful of infidelity themed tracks included in the album were initially written about a friend of hers while LeAnn was married to her ex, Dean Sheremet.

"What Have I Done is one of the first songs that I wrote for the record, before anything was actually starting to happen," said LeAnn. "It was written about a friend of mine, but I didn't realize I was writing it for myself at the time... It was my subconscious talking and I didn't know yet."

Speaking on the feelings that sparked her and Eddie's infamous affair, LeAnn acknowledged that her then husband had heard the troubling track and perhaps knew she would soon be led astray.

"He actually heard the song when I wrote it and, actually, he knew what it was about before I did," she reveals. "He knew I was feeling feelings. I'm not sure what those were that he knew."

Sighed LeAnn, "It's a very complicated situation."

When asked if she ever worries whether her husband Eddie would ever cheat on her, LeAnn admits that she does.

"I would be ignorant to say, and everyone else would think I am a liar if I didn't say yes, and I have at times," said LeAnn, going on to reveal that Eddie has had the same concerns about her.

"Speaking for him, I would actually say that's creeped into his [mind]…I think we've been very honest and open with that to each other and our conversations about it have only made me understand how much he actually cares, as much as I do, about being faithful to each other."

4. Mindy McCready's Boyfriend Dies from Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound

More details into the death of Mindy McCready's boyfriend and father of her child David Wilson, who was found dead on January 13 at his Arkansas home, have surfaced.

McCready's rep, Kat Atwood, told People.com that Wilson suffered "a self-inflicted gunshot wound," adding, "Now they're working on funeral arrangements and figuring out where to go from here."

Following the news of her boyfriend's death, the country crooner was reportedly alone for the first 24 hours with her children. "Her family drove up from Florida," Atwood told the website. "I'm not exactly sure when they got there, but her personal friends arrived late last night."

"David was my soulmate," McCready, 37, said in a statement about the late singer-songwriter. "He was a precious gift from God to all of us and, yesterday, he returned home and is now with his mother and father. David loved and was loved. Those who knew and loved him will miss him; those who did know David missed the opportunity to know a truly loving and gifted man."

McCready and Wilson had been together for about two years, and share a 9-month-old son named Zayne (McCready has an older son Zander with country singer Billy McKnight).

5. Jessica Simpson on New Pregnancy: Eric Keeps Knocking Me Up!

Jessica Simpson told Jay Leno on Tuesday night's Tonight Show that she "needs to keep her legs closed" after getting pregnant twice and missing two planned wedding dates.

Wearing a leopard minidress that showed off her growing baby bump, the mommy-to-be admitted that she and her fiancé of two years Eric Johnson are planning to get married if they can quit having children. "We've had two different wedding dates, but he keeps knocking me up," Simpson, 32, joked. "We're doing it very backwards, I know. ... I'll just keep my legs crossed, I guess, this time."

The Weight Watchers spokeswoman, who reportedly lost 60 pounds after giving birth to daughter Maxwell this past year, revealed that this was not a planned pregnancy, telling Leno, "Apparently it was a part of God's plan for my life. I was extremely shocked because I was going through a lot of hormonal changes, trying to get back to the old, vibrant Jessica. You know, it was kind of like a one-night stand. And it happened, all over again!"

Simpson spilled the news on Tuesday that she'll be starring in a NBC show inspired by her life. The once Newlywed reality star quipped that the show will be about "a girl who keeps getting pregnant."

"We don't have a name yet," she confessed to Leno. "We're just now in the process of casting everyone, doing the pilot. I will be playing myself but we'll have actors playing Eric and my dad. That'll be funny."

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Man aims gun at speaker in Bulgaria, captured before shots fired








AFP/Getty Images


A man points a pistol at the leader of the Turkish minority Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) party Ahmed Dogan during his speech at a national party conference in Sofia, Bulgaria.



SOFIA, Bulgaria — Bulgarian police detained a man after he pointed a gas pistol at an ethnic Turkish party leader as he was delivering a speech at a party caucus in the capital Saturday. No shots were fired.

The video from the Saturday event in Sofia shows the man climbing the podium where Ahmed Dogan, the leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, was speaking, and pointing the gun to his face.




Dogan struck the man before he could pull the trigger, while other delegates wrestled the assailant to the ground. TV footage showed several people punching, kicking and stomping on the man when he was on the ground.

Police arrested him and took him to a hospital. It wasn't immediately clear if he sustained serious injuries, or how he got past security to enter the hall with nearly 3,000 people attending.

EPA


The speaker grabs the gunman before he could fire a shot.



Eventually, the attacker was identified by police as 25-year-old Oktai Enimehmedov, a Bulgarian national and ethnic Turk, from the coastal city of Burgas. He was carrying the gas pistol and two knives. A gas pistol is a non-lethal weapon used for self-defense, but experts say when fired from close range it can cause life-threatening injuries.

Interior Minister Tsvevtan Tsvetanov told journalists that the assailant had a criminal record for drugs possession, robberies and hooliganism.

The liberal MRF party mainly represents ethnic Turks and other Muslims in Bulgaria, who make up 12 percent of its 7.3-million population.

EPA


Delegates beat and kick the gunman after he's wrestled to the ground.



The conference had to elect a new leader to succeed Dogan, who is one of the Balkan country's most influential political figures. The 58-year-old has been at the helm of the party since founding it in 1990.

Lyutvi Mestan, who was expected to become the new party leader, said "the true reason for the assault was the language of hatred and confrontation."

Saturday's assault was the gravest attack on a politician in post-communist Bulgaria after the 1996 killing of ex-prime Minister Andrei Lukanov.

AFP/Getty Images


Bulgarian security officers with the bloodied gunman after he was subdued.












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Miami-Dade sees first hiring drop since 2010




















Miami-Dade ended 2012 with its first overall job loss in more than two years as sharp drops in construction, healthcare and government jobs wiped out other gains.

The sectors all share one key funding source — tax dollars — as ongoing squeezes in government budgets force cutbacks in hospitals, infrastructure projects and basic municipal staffing. Miami-Dade lost nearly 5,000 local government jobs in December compared to the year before. Its hospital and construction sectors were both down almost 2,000 jobs each. Miami-Dade last saw its overall payroll number decline in June 2010.

Along with a hiring loss, Miami-Dade reported a sharp increase in people describing themselves as unemployed. Miami-Dade’s unemployment rate went from 8.4 percent in November to 8.8 percent in December, the sharpest increase since the recession was still underway in 2009.





Miami-Dade’s new job numbers were easily the most discouraging data set in Florida’s latest employment report. Florida reported an unemployment rate of 8 percent for December, down from 8.1 percent in November even though hiring is down for the year. And Broward recorded its second month of job gains, up about 5,000 positions.

Construction and government hiring have been rocky for years in South Florida, but the decline in the healthcare could mark a new, disturbing milestone for Miami-Dade’s economy. Before the end of 2012, Miami-Dade hospitals hadn’t reported a net job loss for 56 months. The losses follow significant layoffs at both the University of Miami medical school and the Jackson hospital system.

Miami-Dade’s 8.8 percent unemployment rate is still significantly lower than where it was a year ago, when unemployment sat at 10.2 percent in December 2011. Monthly employment reports also subject to revisions, so the hiring picture could look much better in a month. Still, Miami-Dade’s increase of four-tenths of percentage point in the unemployment rate is the fastest growth since April 2009, two months before the 2007-09 recession officially ended.

Of all the local job markets, only Miami-Dade receives a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate on the same day as the statewide report. The smaller markets’ raw rates aren’t considered as reliable.

Broward’s raw unemployment rate was 6.7 percent in December, down from 7 percent in November.





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Jackson Health System leaders fire off memos on UM




















A little known children’s program at Jackson Memorial Hospital run by University of Miami doctors has sparked two contentious memos to the county’s political leaders.

Speaking about the pediatric bone marrow transplant program, Marcos Lapciuc, the Jackson board chairman, fired off an email late Thursday to the mayor and county commissioners complaining about UM “wishing to cease” providing such services at Jackson.

Jackson Chief Executive Carlos Migoya quickly responded with a “clarifying” memo to the politicians that “we have every indication” that UM will continue to providing such services at Jackson,” but might also provide those services elsewhere. Migoya added that, if UM also undertook such services at another hospital, it would “clearly raise a host of complex issues.”





In his memo, Lapciuc complained that UM’s “maneuver will affect our most vulnerable population -- our children. This is clearly a violation of the bilateral duties and obligations that the University of Miami has under its annual operating agreement with Jackson.”

Lapciuc said Jackson’s board has “a fiduciary duty to protect and enforce all binding obligations” between Jackson and its vendors. “If this issue is not promptly addressed, then I will consider a range of options to present to the ... board.”

Both the medical school and Jackson have been struggling to overcome financial problems. UM so far has refused to say what it plans to do. When board members raised the issue earlier this week, UM spokeswoman Christine Morris said only that “we continuously work with our expert doctors and leadership at Jackson to make sure that our patients get the best possible care.”

Bone marrow transplant can be a crucial, life-saving treatment. UM doctors working at Jackson do about 10 to 20 of them each year on children, said Jackson spokesman Edwin O’Dell.

What concerns board members is that, as with any operating room procedure, staff needs to do quite a few each year in order to remain competent and hone their skills. If a program’s annual number of procedures gets too low, the state could withdraw certification.

Joaquin del Cueto, a veteran Jackson board member, told The Herald Thursday that the small program is symbolic of larger tensions between UM and Jackson. When UM purchased the 560-bed Cedars Medical Center, across the street from Jackson Memorial, in 2007, there was an understanding that UM pediatric services and transplants would remain services performed at Jackson, del Cueto said.

Earlier this week, a Jackson attorney told the board that there was nothing in the agreements with UM in which UM promised to keep transplants exclusively at Jackson.

Nevertheless, board members thought they had an understanding. Joe Arriola called the UM possibility of taking the pediatric program elsewhere “a stab in the back to our feelings,” to which fellow board member Darryl Sharpton added, “not to our feelings: Our viability.”

Board member del Cueto told The Herald that the spreading of the bone marrow program is “not in our best interests” because “we’ve invested millions of dollars to be the regional provider of transplant services” and Jackson has developed “highly trained professionals,” nurses and others, to do the procedures..

Del Cueto said he believes that Jackson’s basic operating agreement with UM requires UM to support the Jackson transplant program. He said he understands that Migoya is trying to calm the waters, to keep negotiations open with UM, but “I can’t sit by quietly” while UM is undermining Jackson.

In his memo to county commissioners, Migoya said, “We are continuing conversations with university leaders to find solutions that address both institutions’ long-term goals.” He said that UM has provided no notice that it plans to terminate these pediatric procedures at Jackson, but if it did, that “could be viewed” as a violation of the Jackson and UM signed agreements.

“Our professional recommendation is to continue our conversations with university leaders,” Migoya wrote.





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Morrisons to launch online kitchenware business






LONDON (Reuters) – Britain‘s fourth largest supermarket group Wm Morrison said on Friday it would extend its online presence in the spring with the launch of a kitchenware website in partnership with specialist Lakeland.


The joint venture will be Morrisons‘ third fully transactional website following the launch of wine website MorrisonsCellar.com in November and the purchase of baby care retailer Kiddicare.com in 2011.






“We believe the future for retailing many non-food products is online rather than in supermarkets,” said Chief Executive Dalton Philips.


Unlike the other grocers that make up Britain’s so called “big four” – market leader Tesco, Wal-Mart’s Asda and J Sainsbury – Morrisons does not have a website for the home delivery of food.


Earlier this month Morrisons posted a weak Christmas trading update that it partly attributed to its lack of an online food offer.


The firm is researching the possibility and plans to say more when it publishes full year results in March. Most analysts expect it to launch a trial this year.


(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Kate Holton)


Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Emma Stone Sexy W Magazine Cover

Emma Stone dons nothing but a black bra and a completely off-the-shoulder leather jacket for the February cover of W Magazine, in what's easily the steamiest pic yet of the 24-year-old starlet.

Shot by famous photographer Juergen Teller -- famous for his iconic Marc Jacobs ads -- who worked closely with W's Editor at Large Lynn Hirschberg, Emma sports little to no makeup and brunette roots for the jarring cover. The Gangster Squad star is featured in the magazine's Best Performances issue, in which she talks about what movie makes her cry, how she has to try hard not to be funny and about her scene-stealing Oscars presentation last year with Ben Stiller.

Pics: The Amazing Emma Stone's Best 'Spider-Man' Looks

"The end of City Lights makes me cry every time I see it -- when Charlie Chaplin walks by the shop window and the once blind girl brings him a flower and pins it to his lapel," she says about the film that always starts the water works. "She's always thought that he was a millionaire, but he was really a tramp. She feels his hand and says, 'You?' And he nods. He says, 'You can see now?' And she says, 'Yes, I can see now.' They cut back to his face, and he lights up like you’ve never seen. That last line -- 'Yes, I can see now' -- has so many meanings. It's echoed in every great romantic movie since then and in every great moment of life."

Known for her incredible comedic timing, Emma shares that it's actually "exhilarating" to work on projects where she doesn't have to play up her natural inclination to make everything a joke.

"In real life, sometimes it's uncomfortable for me not to go for the joke. I've been looking at that in myself lately," she reflects. "Often, joking for me is a way of diffusing the awkwardness of a situation, so it's kind of exhilarating to be a part of projects where there's nothing funny or lighthearted."

Video: Andrew & Emma's Spidey Screen Test

As for her memorable Oscars on-stage moment with Ben Stiller, where they presented the best visual effects award, she reveals that many people thought her memorably hilarious performance could only mean one thing -- that she was drunk!

" ... A lot of people thought it was something else: When I came offstage, they were saying, 'You were so drunk!' And I wasn't. Not until after…"

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Ex-New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin charged with bribery, fraud








NEW ORLEANS — Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was indicted Friday on charges that he used his office for personal gain, accepting payoffs, free trips and gratuities from contractors while the city was struggling to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

The charges against Nagin are the outgrowth of a City Hall corruption investigation that already has resulted in guilty pleas by two former city officials and two businessmen and a prison sentence for a former city vendor.

The federal indictment accuses Nagin of accepting more than $160,000 in bribes and truckloads of free granite for his family business in exchange for promoting the interests of a local businessman who secured millions of dollars in city contract work after the 2005 hurricane. The businessman, Frank Fradella, pleaded guilty in June to bribery conspiracy and securities-fraud charges and has been cooperating with federal authorities.





Getty Images



Ray Nagin





Nagin, 56, also is charged with accepting at least $60,000 in payoffs from another businessman, Rodney Williams, for his help in securing city contracts for architectural, engineering and management services work. Williams, who was president of Three Fold Consultants LLC, pleaded guilty Dec. 5 to a conspiracy charge.

The indictment also accuses Nagin of getting free private jet and limousine services to New York from an unidentified businessman. Nagin is accused of agreeing to wave tax penalties that the businessman owed to the city on a delinquent tax bill in 2006.

In 2010, Greg Meffert, a former technology official and deputy mayor under Nagin, pleaded guilty to charges he took bribes and kickbacks in exchange for steering city contracts to businessman Mark St. Pierre. Anthony Jones, who served as the city's chief technology officer in Nagin's administration, also pleaded guilty to taking payoffs.

Meffert cooperated with the government in its case against St. Pierre, who was convicted in May 2011 of charges that include conspiracy, bribery and money laundering.

Nagin, a former cable television executive, was a political novice before being elected to his first term as mayor in 2002, buoyed by strong support from white voters. He cast himself a reform-minded progressive who wasn't bound by party affiliations, as he snubbed fellow Democrat Kathleen Blanco and endorsed Republican Bobby Jindal's unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 2003.

Katrina elevated Nagin to the national stage, where he gained a reputation for colorful and sometimes cringe-inducing rhetoric.

During a radio interview broadcast in the storm's early aftermath, he angrily pleaded with federal officials to "get every doggone Greyhound bus line in the country and get their asses moving to New Orleans." In January 2006, he apologized for a Martin Luther King Day speech in which he predicted New Orleans would be a "chocolate city" and asserted that "God was mad at America."

Strong support from black voters helped Nagin win re-election in 2006 despite widespread criticism of his post-Katrina leadership. But the glacial pace of rebuilding, a surge in violent crime and the budding City Hall corruption investigation chipped away at Nagin's popularity during his second term.

Nagin could not seek a third consecutive term because of term limits. Mitch Landrieu, who ran against Nagin in 2006, succeeded him in 2010.

Aaron Bennett, a businessman awaiting sentencing in a separate bribery case, told The Times-Picayune that he introduced Nagin to Fradella specifically to help the mayor get Home Depot granite installation work for a business that he and his sons founded. Fradella's company received millions of dollars in city contracts for repair work at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and in the French Quarter after Katrina, the newspaper reported.

Some of the allegations in the indictment have been the subject of state ethics complaints. In April 2010, the Louisiana Board of Ethics charged Nagin with two possible violations of state ethics law.

One charge involves Nagin's "use of a credit card and/or gifts" from St. Pierre and his technology firm, NetMethods, while the company was working for the city. NetMethods paid for Nagin and his family to travel to Jamaica in 2005 and to Hawaii in 2004, according to newspaper reports.

In the other charge, the Ethics Board says Stone Age LLC, the Nagin family's business, was compensated for installation services provided to Home Depot while the home improvement retailer was negotiating tax breaks from the city.

Nagin has largely steered clear of the political arena since he left office. On his Twitter account, he describes his current occupations as author, public speaker and "green energy entrepreneur." He wrote a self-published memoir called "Katrina's Secrets: Storms After the Storm."

Nagin's attorney, Robert Jenkins, didn't immediately return cellphone calls seeking comment on the indictment.










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Venture investments decline in 2012




















NEW YORK (AP) – A new study shows that funding for business startups declined in 2012, the first time that's happened in three years, as venture capitalists spent less money on fewer deals.

Capital-intense sectors like clean technology and life sciences were among the hardest hit, according to the MoneyTree study released Friday. It was conducted by PriceWaterHouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data from Thomson Reuters.

In all of 2012 startup investments fell 10 percent to $26.52 billion from $29.46 billion. There were 3,698 deals completed, down 6 percent from 3,937 in 2011. Venture investments also declined 13 percent in the final quarter of the year, to $6.4 billion from $7.38 billion a year earlier, though the number of deals was the same in both quarters at 968.





In Florida, the drop was much steeper. In 2012, investments fell 41 percent to $202.9 million, compared to $346.3 million in 2011. There were 34 deals in Florida in 2012, compared to 55 in 2011.

“General economic uncertainty continues to hinder capital investments, and venture capitalists are no different,” said Tracy T. Lefteroff, global managing partner of the venture capital practice at PwC U.S. “As the number of new funds being raised continues to shrink, venture capitalists are being more discriminating with where they're willing to place new bets. At the same time, they're holding on to reserves to continue to support the companies already in their portfolio.”

By industry, software remained the largest investment sector last year, the report found, with $8.27 billion invested into 1,266 deals. That's up from $7.51 billion invested in 1,176 deals in 2011.

San Francisco's SquareTrade Inc., which provides electronics warranties, landed the biggest round of funding in 2012 – $238 million from Bain Capital. Mobile payments startup Square Inc. was in second place with $200 million secured from Citi Ventures and others.

Nancy Dahlberg of the Miami Herald contributed to this report.





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Bioethics commission meets at UM to consider testing anthrax vaccine on children




















In “Dark Zephyr,” fictional terrorists released a cloud of anthrax on San Francisco. Adults were successfully vaccinated, but doctors didn’t know the safe dosage to give children.

Fortunately this was just a practice exercise in emergency response in 2011. But the realization that modern medicine had no protocol to protect children from a deadly bacterial pathogen prompted U.S. Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius to ask the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues to consider the ethics of using healthy children in anthrax vaccine research.

The discussion has taken the 13-person commission a full year. The central question is to find the balance between the hypothetical risk of not knowing how to treat children in an anthrax bioterrorism attack and the real risk to healthy children who would participate in a study.





The commission, composed of leaders in medicine, social policy and law, met at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine this week for the last of four sessions to publicly ponder these ethical issues. The UM Ethics Program has long been identified by the World Health Organization as one of the six global “Collaborating Centres for Bioethics.”

Amy Gutmann, the commission’s chair, reminded participants the commission’s role is advisory only. “The question we must address is whether the U.S. Government could ethically support a pediatric [anthrax vaccine] study under any circumstance,” Gutmann said. “We will not render a final decision as to whether a particular study should move forward. Nor are we working to justify any particular protocol or outcome.”

An existing vaccine is routinely administered to adults in the military and other fields to protect against anthrax spores that are deadly if inhaled. Before the vaccine can be ethically researched with children, new trials in young adults should occur, said Col. Nelson Michael, director of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program and member of the commission. These studies would administer lower doses of the vaccine to determine the safest dosage in 18- to 20-year old adults.

Such studies would not be efficacy studies, however, which have been done in animals. Researchers would never infect humans with anthrax for a study, according to Michael, who is an expert in vaccine research.

“It would be completely unethical to conduct an anthrax challenge trial in humans,” Michael said.

The issues surrounding this research question are unprecedented in bioethics for a few reasons, according to Lisa Lee, the director of the commission’s staff. First, testing an anthrax vaccine on healthy children is unlike other pediatric research because research subjects will enjoy no direct benefit, as would, for example, a child with cancer who could be saved by previously untested treatment.

Second, anthrax is not a naturally occurring disease, and the probability of an attack is “unknowable.’’ The capability to use anthrax as a biological weapon is widely acknowledged, since letters infected with anthrax spores were sent to politicians and media outlets in 2001, killing five people. (A 2010 FBI investigation blamed the attacks on an Army scientist who helped develop the anthrax vaccine and later committed suicide.) Security analysts have presented their interpretation of the likelihood of a bioterrorism attack, but even the best intelligence cannot put a percentage on the chance that terrorists will unleash anthrax on American cities.





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Drew Barrymore Reveals Her Favorite Red Carpet Look

In a new interview with People, Drew Barrymore is revealing her favorite beauty red carpet moment of all time -- and the choice is surprising to say the least.

Drew chose her much-criticized look at the Los Angeles premiere of her HBO film Grey Gardens, where she rocked voluminous blonde locks and retro makeup.

Pics: The Top 10 Celebrity Collections

"We did this big blonde hair for the L.A. premiere of Grey Gardens. Giant big blonde hair with very '60s makeup. I had more hair in my head than I knew what to do with," she recalls.

She also lists her tanned appearance at the Music and Lyrics premiere in Los Angeles as one of her favorite looks.

"I had this black Roberto Cavalli halter dress and big gold hoop earrings. My hair was in a very tight bun and my makeup was very bronzy and natural," she explains.

Video: Drew Barrymore Opens Up About Motherhood

Clearly, Drew prefers her more polarizing looks, listing her "blonde hair, black tips" phase as her favorite hair color ever.

"This is 100 percent easy," she says of the choice. "I could only have it for so long because of my Cover Girl contract so I just had to chop it all off. Happiest time ever."

As for her surprising choice for recently launching a makeup line at mass retailer Walmart, called Flower, Drew hopes it will be a "game change."

"I banged my head against the wall trying to figure out how to do things different. We're doing prestige formulas at mass. That's what people deserve. I spent as much of my time testing pigments and shades as I did fighting price points. We didn't put money into marketing, we're putting everything into the formulas and therefore into people's hands," she says. "That's what excites me and gives me butterflies."

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'Dear Abby' advice columnist dead at 94

MINNEAPOLIS — Pauline Friedman Phillips, who under the name of Abigail Van Buren wrote the long-running "Dear Abby" advice column, has died. She was 94.

Publicist Gene Willis of Universal Uclick says Phillips died Wednesday after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.

By the time her family revealed she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2002, her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, who had helped her mother with the Dear Abby column for years, was its sole author.

Phillips' column competed for decades with the advice column of Ann Landers, written by her twin sister, Esther Friedman Lederer. Their relationship was stormy in their early adult years, but later they regained the close relationship they had growing up in Sioux City, Iowa.




REUTERS



Advice columnist Dear Abby, also known as Pauline Phillips, poses after her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled in February 2001.



Landers died in June 2002.

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Florida led nation in 2012 foreclosure activity




















Florida posted the highest foreclosure rate in the nation in 2012, eclipsing Nevada for the first time, according to RealtyTrac.

In Florida, 3.11 percent, or one in every 32 homes, received some sort of foreclosure filing last year, the California-based data firm said.

Much of the rising foreclosure activity represents loans that soured a long time ago, rather than a major new round of defaults.





Foreclosure activity in Florida rose 53.5 percent in 2012 from a year earlier, as lenders stepped up activity after a long hiatus during the robo-signing controversy. With the settlement last spring between 49 state attorneys general and five large banks, lenders now have clearer guidelines on how they can press foreclosures.

“With the Miami numbers we’re seeing the expected rise off the artificially low numbers in 2011 as lenders pushed through foreclosures delayed by questions surrounding proper foreclosure documents and procedures,” Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac, said in an email.

While the rising number of bank-owned sales of homes creates a headwind for the housing market, the inventory of homes for sale has been so tight that those distressed sales haven’t proved, at least so far, to be the onerous “other shoe” that many had predicted.

The Miami Association of Realtors next week is expected to report the county posted record home sales for 2012, beating a record year in 2011. Median home and condo prices in Miami-Dade are posting consistent gains, instilling confidence that the housing recovery is on strong footing.

Realtors insist they don’t expect the continued, or even accelerated, flow of distressed properties into the market to derail that housing recovery in Florida.

In many cases, professional investors are in the wings to snap up distressed property as soon as it becomes available, making it tough for the average home buyer to get a shot at the properties.

“A lot of investors are buying at the courthouse,” said Liza E. Mendez, a broker and owner of Petro Realty International in Hialeah.

“Everyone talks about the shadow inventory,” said Francisco Angulo, a Coldwell Banker agent and regional coordinator to South America for the National Association of Realtors. “Well, there are shadow buyers to go with that shadow inventory.”

The surge in foreclosure activity in Florida came as half the states saw increases in foreclosure activity and half saw declines. Most of the increases occurred in “judicial” states, those that handle foreclosures in protracted court proceedings rather than the quicker administrative processes.

“2012 was the year of the judicial foreclosure, with foreclosure activity increasing from 2011 in 20 of the 26 states that primarily use the judicial process, and a judicial state — Florida — posting the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate for the first time since the housing crisis began,” Blomquist said.

Twenty percent of the nation’s foreclosure activity centered on Florida last year, with some 305,766 properties in some stage of foreclosure or owned by a bank. California ranked second with 14 percent of the total, followed by Illinois, which had 9 percent. Ohio and New York each had 5 percent.

Florida had eight of the 20 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rate, including Miami at No. 5 in the nation; Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, at No. 6; and Orlando at No. 8, RealtyTrac reported.

Within Florida, Miami-Dade County ranked second only to Okeechobee County in foreclosure activity during 2012. Foreclosure activity in Miami-Dade was up 56 percent in 2012 to 44,284 foreclosure filings.

In tallying foreclosure filings, RealtyTrac includes default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, thus a single property will log multiple events over the course of a foreclosure proceeding.

Broward had 25,935 foreclosure filings of all sorts in 2012, marking a 26.4 percent increase from a year earlier, RealtyTrac data show.





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Driver in Rickenbacker Causeway cyclist death to be sentenced




















A motorist who killed cyclist Aaron Cohen in a hit-and-run crash on the Rickenbacker Causeway will learn his fate Wednesday.

A Miami-Dade judge on Wednesday afternoon will sentence Michele Traverso, 26, who earlier pleaded guilty for the crash that killed Cohen last February.

The fatality, and a similar hit-and-run wreck in 2010, has renewed calls for increased safety for cyclists and joggers on the popular causeway. Fellow cyclists staged a memorial ride and erected a billboard overlooking Interstate 95 in Cohen’s honor.





Members of Miami’s avid cycling community are expected to be on hand for the 1 p.m. sentencing.

Traverso, driving on a suspended license, struck Cohen and cycling partner Enda Walsh as the two rode in the northbound lanes near the crest of the bridge. Traverso surrendered to police 18 hours after the crash.

Though there were reports of Traverso drinking in Coconut Grove that night, investigators could not prove that his blood alcohol content level was above the legal limit because of the delay in turning himself in.

Traverso pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident involving a death, leaving the scene of an accident with great bodily harm, and driving with a suspended license. He also pleaded guilty to earlier cocaine possession charge.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Thomas could sentence him to as little as 22.8 months in prison, and as much as 35 years behind bars.

In May, Thomas told Cohen’s widow, Patricia Cohen, that he would be unlikely to deliver the maximum sentence, although he could consider “20 or 25 years” after hearing from her and Traverso’s own family at a possible sentencing.

The Cohen family is suing Traverso and his father, who owned the car.





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“GameStick” and NVIDIA “Project SHIELD” Consoles-in-a-Controller on Their Way






Both GameStick and NVIDIA’s Project Shield are upcoming game consoles the size of a game controller, which can hook up to a larger display. Both are powered by Android, Google‘s open-source operating system that’s normally used on smartphones and tablets. And both have working hardware prototypes already. But one is a $ 99 Kickstarter project by an indie group, while the other has the backing of two major companies in the PC gaming world — and will probably be a lot more expensive when it comes out.


Here’s a look at two upcoming TV game consoles that you’ll be able to fit in your pocket or handbag.






GameStick: Exactly what it sounds like


Imagine a tiny, rectangular game controller, sort of like a Wii Remote with more buttons and twin analog sticks. On one side is a plastic bump, that when you pull it off it becomes this gadget the size of a USB memory stick that plugs into a TV’s HDMI port. That’s GameStick, and with 19 days left to go in its Kickstarter fund-raiser it’s managed to raise more than three times the $ 100,000 its creators asked for.


GameStick will have 8 GB of flash memory, and a processor capable of handling modern AAA Android games like Shadowgun, plus 1080p video. If you don’t like the controller it comes with, you’ll be able to connect up to four of your own via Bluetooth, or even use your Android or iOS smartphone or tablet as a controller.


Project SHIELD: A controller that can stop bullets


Maybe it can’t literally serve as a shield. But at about the size of the original Xbox’s controller, the “portable” console NVIDIA showed off at this year’s CES sure looks like it can. It’s powered by a next-generation Tegra 4 processor, and features its own built-in 5-inch multitouch screen for gaming on the go. But it can also connect to a TV, and can even stream PC games via Steam’s Big Picture mode, which was designed for controller games.


A not-so-silver lining?


GameStick’s biggest weakness may be its developer support. Its Kickstarter page mentions the hundreds of thousands of Android games out there, but most of those are only on Google Play, which (unlike most of the rest of Android) is proprietary to Google. Time will tell whether its creators can get enough developers to write games for the platform by the time of its planned April launch, or enough gamers to buy games they might already have on their tablets.


In contrast, between full support for the Google Play store and PC game streaming from Steam, Project SHIELD will have thousands and thousands of games, and there will be no need to repurchase titles you’ve already bought from either store. There’s no word from NVIDIA yet, though, on how much its game console will cost or even when it will launch.


Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.


Linux/Open Source News Headlines – Yahoo! News




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Diff'rent Strokes Star Conrad Bain Dies

Conrad Bain, best known for playing Philip Drummond on Diff'rent Strokes, has passed away. He was 89 years old.

Bain died Monday night in his hometown of Livermore, CA, of natural causes, The Washington Post reports.

Related: Gary Coleman's 'Diff'rent Strokes' Co-Stars React to His Death

Bain's television credits include the 1972 series Maude, and guest star appearances on The Facts of Life and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, in which he reprose his iconic Mr. Drummond role. The show that made him famous -- Diff'rent Strokes -- debuted in 1978 and lasted eight seasons.

Related: 'Diff'rent Strokes' Star Todd Bridges & Wife Split

He has three sons and one daughter with wife Monica Sloan, who passed away in 2009. He is also survived by his twin brother Bonar Bain.

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Cops hunt sicko wanted in Williamsburg sexual assault








Cops are looking for the sicko, caught on surveillance video, who sexually assaulted a woman in a Williamsburg subway station, authorities said.

The 22-year-old victim can be seen on the video walking thru the turnstyle at the Lorimer stop of the L-train Sunday at 2:35 a.m. The suspect, wearing a red hoodie, follows just behind her.

As the victim was walking up the stairs to leave the station, the creep grabbed her groin and tried to force off her tights, police sources said.

The two tussled for a little while at which point the perp grabbed her cell phone and fled, police said.



The suspect is believed to be in his 30’s, about 5-foot-9 and weighs around 185 pounds, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).










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Miami Dolphins bill would bring state money to aging stadiums




















A bill drafted by the Miami Dolphins would give Florida sports teams $3 million a year in state money to improve older stadiums, provided the owner pays for at least half the cost of a major renovation.

Under the law, the stadium would need to be 20 years old and the team willing to put in at least $125 million for a $250 million renovation. That’s less than the $400 million redo of Sun Life Stadium that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross proposed this week, which he hopes will win state approval thanks to his offer to fund at least $200 million of the effort to modernize the 1987 facility.

Miami-Dade and Florida would fund the rest through a mix of county hotel taxes and state general funds set aside for stadiums. Sun Life currently receives $2 million a year through the program, and the Dolphins want to create a new category that would give them an additional $3 million.





While the Miami Marlins and Miami Heat both play in stadiums subsidized by county hotel taxes, the Dolphins receive no local dollars. The bill would change that by allowing Miami-Dade to increase the tax charged at mainland hotels to 7 percent from 6 percent, and eliminate the current rule that limits the money to publicly owned stadiums. Sun Life Stadium, in Miami Gardens, is privately owned but sits on county land.

The bill pits enthusiasm for one of Florida’s most popular sports teams against a lean budget climate and lingering backlash against the 2009 deal that had Miami and Miami-Dade borrow about $485 million to build a new ballpark for the Marlins. Ross also must navigate a Republican-led Legislature that has twice rebuffed his requests for public dollars.

“I would be surprised if that bill even got a hearing in committee,” said Mike Fasano, a Republican representative from the Tampa area and a critic of tax-funded sports deals. “I’m a big Dolphin fan, and have been for years. But with all due respect, we’ve got people who are struggling throughout this state right now . .. The last thing we should be doing is giving a professional sports team or facility additional tax dollars.”

While the bill would open up the $3 million subsidy to other the teams, the Dolphins see it as unlikely that another owner would be willing to put up as much money for renovations as Ross, a billionaire real estate developer.

If the bill were enacted today, any stadium opened before 1993 would be eligible for the money, provided it could show the proposed renovation would generate an additional $3 million in sales taxes.

Ross and his backers are pitching the renovation as a boon to tourism, with Sun Life a magnet for the Super Bowl, national college football games and other major events. The National Football League is considering South Florida and San Francisco for the 2016 Super Bowl, and the Dolphins say approval of renovation funding is crucial to winning the bid.

Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, who sponsored the Senate bill, said the funding makes sense because when Sun Life hosts a Super Bowl, the entire state benefits from both tourism dollars and publicity.

“It’s a small price to pay for economic development, and for all the shine we get from major sporting events,” said Braynon, whose district includes Sun Life. Rep. Eduardo “Eddy” Gonzalez, R-Hialeah, is the sponsor on the House side.





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FAMU abruptly cancels plans to name new band director




















Florida A&M University abruptly canceled plans to name a new Marching 100 band director Tuesday morning, leaving an auditorium full of curious students, faculty and media wondering why the school couldn’t agree on a contract with the remaining finalist.

"Somehow they did not meet the negotiation process and they will not be able to name a candidate," university spokeswoman Sharon Saunders said.

The announcement is certain to draw nationwide scrutiny as the Marching 100 attempts to rebuild after the 2011 hazing death of drum major Robert Champion. The group is on suspension but could return as early as the fall.





The university has refused to say which of four finalists was offered the job, though Saunders said the person is in Tallahassee meeting with school officials to seal the deal.

Saunders said she didn’t know what specifically had hampered contract negotiations other than it had to do with concerns about the role of the band director in light of recent efforts to reorganize the band.

The school is in the process of hiring additional staff to create more oversight. Also, the position of band director has been separated from the position of music department chair.

FAMU announced Monday afternoon that the news conference would happen Tuesday morning. Band members have been buzzing about who got the job.

Many hoped Shelby Chipman, the associate director of bands who had been groomed for years to assume the top position, would be selected. But others suggested North Carolina Central University band director Jorim Reid, a former Marching 100 drum major, was offered the job.

Dontay Douglas, a senior from Miami who served as band president during the 2009 and 2010 marching seasons, said he has nothing against Reid but feels Chipman is the most qualified.

"He’s studied under legends in the world of music in this nation," Douglas said.

Former state Sen. Al Lawson, a longtime FAMU supporter, said overlooking Chipman would mean Interim President Larry Robinson and other university leaders had caved to outside pressure.

Chipman’s resume is full of accolades, Lawson said, and he should not be penalized for being on the Marching 100 staff at the time of Champion’s death.

"You should not let the politics of the band situation prevent a person of his caliber from getting the job," Lawson said.





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Justin Bartha The New Normal Interview

Save for Burt and Kurt Hummel, creating empathetic families has never been Ryan Murphy's strong suit. In fact, he's built an incredibly successful empire on the backs of the dysfunctional McNamara, Harmon and McQueen/McPherson clans. But with The New Normal, Murphy and co-EP Ali Adler have presented one of the most adorable blending broods currently on TV, reminding the world that it truly does take a village.

In tonight's all-new episode, titled Stay-At-Home Dad, that fact is hammered home in both Brian and David as each believes he could trade in his career for a permanent position driving carpool. ETonline caught up with star Justin Bartha to talk about this episode (one of his favorites yet), what it means to be part of a show like The New Normal and why he signed up in the first place.


ETonline: The evolution of the show, and its characters, has been great to watch. What have you thought of the season so far?


Justin Bartha: The first season of a TV show is very hard, and in trying to speak objectively, I think we started off on a high note. It's very hard to get your footing so fast. There's a lot of early episodes that I think are really great television. As everyone gets to know these characters and how they relate to each other, we're settling into something that feels like a family, which I think every show tries to obtain.


RELATED - Ryan Murphy Makes ET's Entertainers Of the Year List


ETonline: What have you enjoyed learning about David as the season progresses?


Bartha: On a TV show, since you get a chance to sit with a character for a long slow burn, there's a certain point where you start thinking as the character, and your point of view changes as the character's point of view changes. The heart of our show is the way this group of people connect and how their points of views change as the characters get to know each other, so that's been the biggest enjoyment for me. David's evolution is such a living thing, and because the other actors are so talented, everything is changing week to week because of what the actors are doing with their characters.


ETonline: I've loved the flashbacks we've seen of Brian and David's pre-pilot lives. How helpful has it been to have a tangible reference point like that?


Bartha: Oh my god, it's absolutely invaluable. Those are some of the most fun things to shoot because the show is about how all these characters from different backgrounds and points of view relate to each other and evolve over this short amount of time. In the episodes coming up, you'll see snippets of them as children, which really helps the audience fill in the pieces of who these people are. And for the viewers stuck on the sexuality aspects, those moments really show how everyone is the same at their core.


RELATED - 6 Best New Shows of 2013


ETonline: There was so much controversy around the show before it actually premiered, now that The Million Moms have marched away, what kinds of reactions have you gotten from fans?


Bartha: The fans have been overwhelming generous and nice. Because of how strong the writing is and how talented this cast is, the material is handled with such respect, so I think the fans are responding because it's kind of a fresh take on what a half-hour comedy is. We didn't want to do the usual sitcom, obviously you can't get away from certain aspects of that, but we wanted to have a different vibe, and I think people are responding to that fresh take while also loving the characters.


ETonline: Would you have been interested in doing a more traditional sitcom?


Bartha: The one thing we all talked about before I even signed on to do the show is that we all [Ryan Murphy, Ali Adler, Andrew Rannells] very much wanted to portray a couple in the most realistic way possible. That includes intellectually, comically, sexually. Everything has to be on the table because the only way people will care about the characters is if they seem authentic. It was a concerted effort to do that, and that's part of the journey -- not everything is funny all the time, you can't always have characters hanging out and making quips. And if they are, they're probably hiding something. We wanted to be as real as possible, and if it's grounded in that reality, even if it's uncomfortable for some people, hopefully it will transcend the usually throwaway entertainment you see on other channels.


ETonline: What can you tease about tonight's episode?


Bartha: For me, this is very much the epitome of what our show is trying to say. I love this episode. You'll see a jumping off point to the guys as fathers, and for whatever fantasy you have about what it's like to be a parent, actually being a parent is nothing like that. It's not to be taken lightly, and they both feel they have what it takes, in different ways, to quit their lives and just be a dad. Brian and David both have these fantasies and they get a chance to practice with Shania. You'll see how they both take on the responsibility of actually being a father and if they have what it takes.


ETonline: Speaking of Bebe Wood [who plays Shania], I am astounded by her performance every week. How cool is it to see such a young actor bring so much to the table?


Bartha: What's interesting about Bebe is you forget she's a child. There are very rare moments on set where she acts like a little kid. Sometimes Andrew and I will turn to one another and say, "Oh yeah, she is a child!" You honestly forget because she's so fantastic -- she's my favorite actress right now. She's such a fun person to be in a scene with and she's genuinely funny. A lot of times, especially with kid actors, they're just reciting lines and those become funny because a kid is saying it. Bebe has the unique ability to actually make something funny. I don't even know how that works. It's so much fun to watch.


The New Normal
airs Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. on NBC.

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Lohan pleads not guilty for allegedly lying to Calif. cops, new court dates set

Lindsay Lohan pleaded not guilty today to charges she allegedly lied to cops and drove recklessly in California over the summer.

The “Mean Girls” star was not in court this morning and entered her “not guilty” statement through defense lawyer Shawn Holley.

LA County Superior Court Commissioner Jane Godfrey set Lohan’s trial for March 1, with a pretrial hearing on Jan. 30. Godfrey ordered Lohan to appear in court on Jan. 30.

This prosecution has put Lohan on the hook for a possible probation violation, which could send her to jail. The probation matter was set for a hearing on Feb. 27.




Splash News



Lindsay Lohan




INFphoto.com



Lawyer Shawn Holley today in Calif. court.



Holley represented the actress in court despite published reports she’s been fired. Godfrey asked Holley twice in court to confirm she’s still -- and will continue to be -- Lohan’s lawyer.

Holley answered “yes.” But outside court, pressed by reporters if she’d still be Lohan’s mouthpiece by Jan. 30, a seemingly flip Holley said “who knows?”

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Global entrepreneurship nonprofit Endeavor coming to Miami




















Flawless execution helped propel Argentine Marcos Galperin’s e-auction site, Mercado Libre, above the competition to become a $3.8 billion company. Some 50,000 small businesses now use it to market their wares.

Leila Velez and Heloísa Helena Assis, cousins who grew up in the slums of Rio, started with one product and one salon. Today their company, Beleza Natural, operates 24 salons that bring in $75 million in revenues, employs 1,500 people and has an eye on U.S expansion.

Both were powered, in part, by Endeavor, a global nonprofit that selects, mentors, supports and accelerates high-impact entrepreneurs in metropolitan areas of 16 countries — and, soon, in Miami.





Endeavor and its local supporter, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, announced Tuesday that Knight is providing Endeavor with $2 million in grant funding over five years for Endeavor’s first U.S. expansion. Endeavor’s Miami office could ultimately service dozens of local entrepreneurs, but first a local board needs to be assembled, a managing director hired and offices set up.

Beginning late this year, South Florida’s innovators will be able to apply to become Endeavor Entrepreneurs, connecting them to a global network of mentors and advisors who can help grow their ventures. “We think this is a cornerstone of making Miami more of a place where ideas are built,” said Matt Haggman, Miami program director for the Knight Foundation, which has made entrepreneurship a key focus of its Miami program.

The announcement is an important milestone in Miami’s efforts to accelerate an entrepreneurial ecosystem, which has been gaining momentum, said Haggman, who led the effort for Knight, its largest investment in entrepreneurship to date. Accelerators, incubators and co-working spaces have been opening up, including Launch Pad Tech, which is receiving $1.5 million in public funding and opens for its first class next week. Last month, the first ever Innovate MIA week attracted hundreds of entrepreneurs, investors and other supporters to a packed schedule of daily events, which included the Americas Venture Capital Conference and Endeavor’s International Selection Panel.

“Miami is almost the perfect seeding ground for Endeavor,” said Peter Kellner, co-founder of Endeavor and now an Endeavor board member, an investor and South Florida resident who began discussing the project with Haggman in the spring. “There are commitments from large institutions like Knight, FIU, UM, there is capital, there are people that are interested in making things happen, there are already clusters of activity like accelerators and incubators. That’s where Endeavor thrives.”

Endeavor selects and works primarily with companies from a wide range of industries that are already earning $500,000 to $15 million in annual revenue and ready for the next stage: explosive growth.

“While the vast majority of small businesses employ two or three people, Endeavor businesses employ an average of 237,” said Endeavor co-founder and CEO Linda Rottenberg.

Launched in 1998 and headquartered in New York City, Endeavor now operates throughout Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia and supports more than 750 entrepreneurs who are chosen in a rigorous selection process.





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Miami police sergeant takes stand, denies accusations in federal corruption trial




















A Miami police sergeant who headed a drug-fighting squad testified in his federal corruption trial Monday, denying ever planting drugs on a suspect or stealing drugs and money from dope dealers.

Sgt. Raul Iglesias, 40, accused of being a dirty cop, also denied ever asking detectives in his unit for “throw-down dope’’ to plant on the suspect in a downtown Miami parking lot in early 2010.

“Absolutely not,’’ Iglesias testified, disputing the recent testimony of two detectives who accused him of asking them for throw-down drugs. “That’s a ridiculous statement.’’





Iglesias further testified that he never told a third detective that it was OK to pay confidential informants with drugs. That detective testified that he did that once in 2010, with Iglesias sitting by his side in an unmarked police vehicle, but Iglesias denied that the confidential informant was paid with a small amount of cocaine.

“I have no knowledge that he ever paid [the informant] with drugs,’’ Iglesias testified during direct examination as the first defense witness. The government rested its case on Friday.

Iglesias, who is scheduled to continue testifying, faces nine counts of conspiracy to possess cocaine, violating suspects’ civil rights, obstruction of justice and making false statements. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.





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Come for a Tour of China’s Unlicensed ‘World of Warcraft’ Theme Park






World of Warcraft Theme Park


Image credit Francesca Timbers


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Changzhou, China is home to a bizzarre world of rides, food and fun: A World of Warcraft-style theme park that’s completely unlicensed by Blizzard, maker of the Warcraft series.


The park opened in the summer of last year. It reportedly cost $ 48 million to build and is “pretty huge,” according to Reddit user Francesca Timbers who originally posted these pictures republished here with permission.


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“I thought it was great,” posted Timbers. “A lot of the rides used 4-D and special effects, which I hand’t experienced much of before. There was a good roller coaster with loops, where you are lying horizontally, face forward, like you are flying. That was my favourite ride. The water log ride (‘splash of monster blood’) was pretty good too.”


Another weird tidbit: Some rides have a “happiness index,” showing, we believe, the intensity of the ride.


While most of the park is Warcraft-flavored, one section is dedicated to another Blizzard favorite: Starcraft.


For the rest of Timbers’ pictures and more details about her trip to the utterly weird theme park, visit her Reddit thread. Would you book a trip to China to get out to this theme park?


Images courtesy Francesca Timbers


This story originally published on Mashable here.


Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News




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Mindy Kaling TCA Interview 2013

Life after The Office has treated Mindy Kaling well.

The multi-talented actress not only stars in her own show The Mindy Project, she is also the creator as well as a producer and a writer on the Fox series.

ET caught up with Mindy in Pasadena at the TCA Winter Press Tour to talk about what it's like balancing all those roles.


More TCA: 'PLL' Preview: Making Sense Out of Tragedy

"Writing and acting actually makes it a little bit easier, because I have a direct line to the writer," Mindy said.However, she added that it's hard to "stop thinking about being a producer when I'm on stage, and just kind of giving myself over to the part."

Luckily, the Emmy-nominated actress doesn't feel spread too thin.

"I don't think of them as two different roles anymore... I feel both at the same time."

Mindy also dished on some guest stars she'd like to score for the show.

"I love Danny McBride, and I love Reese Witherspoon," Mindy said. "They're both so funny, and they're both such good actors. I just think they would be a lot of fun to have on set."


See Also: 'Arrested Development' Cast Talks Their Comeback

As far as guest stars we can expect to see this season, Mindy dropped one name.

"We have some good guest stars. Seth Rogen is coming to do an episode."

Mindy's pretty excited about that one-- and fans of the pairing will get a chance to see it again this summer, on a bigger screen.

"Seth I love. I'm in his movie [This is the End, out in June]."


The Mindy Project
airs Tuesday nights on Fox. To see more of our TCA interview with Mindy, see the video above.

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NEW DETAILS: 'Drunk' Belcher shot girlfriend 9 times before suicide








Murderous football player Jovan Belcher was drunk out of his mind when he fired nine fatal shots into the mother of his child, autopsy results revealed today.

The Kansas Chiefs linebacker killed baby mamma Kasandra Perkins on Dec. 1, before driving to the team’s practice facility and blowing his brains out in front of coach Romeo Crennel and GM Scott Pioli.

The Long Island native Belcher, 25, had a blood-alcohol level of .17, twice the legal limit for driving in Missouri, according to the Jackson County Medical Examiner.

Perkins, 22, was shot in the neck, chest, abdomen, hip, back, leg and hand, the ME’s report showed. The two had fought at their home, before Belcher killed her and sped away to commit suicide at team headquarters.





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Kasandra Perkins and Jovan Belcher





The West Babylon HS alum and Perkins had an infant daughter Zoey. Their families are fighting for custody of the orphaned tot.

With Post Wire Services










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.CO sets sights on changing ‘the fabric of the Internet’




















For the millions of people who equate the Web with .com, . CO Internet is out to change that mindset.

The Miami company that manages and markets the .co domain is already making impressive gains — more than 1.4 million in 200 countries have hung their businesses, blogs, personal projects or dreams on a .co virtual shingle. Still, that’s just a tiny fraction of industry titan VeriSign’s 105 million .com registrants.

“We want to change the fabric of the Internet,” Juan Diego Calle, founder and CEO of .CO Internet, said during an interview in .CO’s Brickell office. “We can only make that happen not by changing what happened in the last 25 years of the Web, which is owned by .com. We want to change the next 25.”





About 2½ years after the launch of .CO Internet, .co — the country code of Colombia — continues to be one of the fastest-growing Internet domains in the world and grew by 24 percent in 2012. .CO Internet is profitable and is projecting to bring in more than $25 million in revenues this year, the company said. The early success of .CO Internet, with operations in Miami and Colombia, is powered by passion and perseverance.

Calle moved to Miami from Colombia at age 15 with his family. He started several businesses, including one he sold in 2005 providing seed capital for what would come next. “I can’t say I ever sat still.” When he learned Colombia would be commercializing the country's .co domain extension in late 2006, he said it hit him like a lightning bolt.

With the right strategy and by “marketing the hell out of it,” the entrepreneur believed .co could solve a huge problem in the market — vanishing Internet domain names. If you’ve tried to nab a new .com address lately, you can relate — it’s difficult to find one that hasn’t been snatched up.

Calle thought that by appealing to the hearts and minds of the entrepreneur, .co could go where .info, .biz, .net or .me had never gone before. But first he needed the right team.

One of this first stops: The Big Apple, to visit Nicolai Bezsonoff, who had been an advisor and shareholder in Calle’s TeRespondo.com, a sort of Ask Jeeves for the Latin American market that was sold to Yahoo in 2005. At the time, Bezsonoff was the director of technology and operations at Citigroup.

“We went out for coffee, he started pitching me on a napkin. I said ‘really dude you want me to leave a big job at Citigroup for this?’ ” said Bezsonoff. “But he kept showing me the numbers … Later, that napkin was on my desk and it was one of those boring days and I kept looking at it and thought maybe I should.” He would become .CO’s chief operating officer.

Lori Anne Wardi, a lawyer and serial entrepreneur who was working at a venture capital firm at the time, became vice president in charge of brand strategy, business development and global communications. “She’s the heart and soul of the company,” said Calle. Eduardo Santoyo, based in Bogota, would become corporate vice president over policy and be the liaison with the Colombian government. “Some would say it was overkill talent but I needed the best. ... When you have a big dream, you have to think big and hire the right people,” Calle said.





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Cyclist killed by hit-and-run driver on Ives Dairy Road




















State troopers are looking for a driver in a hit-and-run crash that killed a cyclist on Ives Dairy Road in north Miami-Dade County early Sunday.

The cyclist was riding west on Ives Dairy Road near Northeast 13th Court around 3:41 a.m. when the rider was struck and killed by a black Dodge Charger also traveling westbound.

Eyewitnesses to the crash followed the car and obtained a partial license tag number, the Florida Highway Patrol said.





Troopers have not yet released the name of the dead cyclist.





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Women pry open door to video game industry’s boys’ club






SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – When video game developer Brenda Brathwaite Romero started her career in the 1980s, she could count the number of female developers in the industry on one hand.


Today, many “Women in Games” roundtables she attends are filled to capacity with new faces. The 46-year-old, sometimes referred to as the longest-serving woman in the video game arena, jokes that these days one can even encounter long lines for the ladies’ room at the Game Developers Conference, one of the industry’s largest gatherings.






“Over the years, greatly helped by the social and mobile boom, there have been many, many women coming into game development,” Brathwaite Romero said.


With women comprising just over 1 in 10 in the video game workforce, the industry has a reputation for being among the most testosterone-fueled of the traditionally male-dominated technology sector. But thanks to the mobile revolution, industry executives say that’s changing.


With smartphones going mainstream and delivering gaming to a new, broader population, publishers and developers are keen to tap an audience beyond young males. And, not surprisingly, as women have explored a growing range of mobile games on Facebook or other platforms, they have discovered the allure of working in the industry.


The number of women hired by game companies has tripled since 2009, according to recruiting firm VonChurch, based on over 350 placements it has made in digital gaming firms like CrowdStar and GREE.


In 1989, when veteran games designer Sheri Graner Ray started out, women made up less than 3 percent of the workforce. That’s now up to 11 percent.


“In 20 years, it’s not a lot of growth,” said Graner Ray, who has worked at leading companies like Electronic Arts and Sony Online Entertainment. But she agrees that number will rise as more women assert themselves in the industry, educational programs take hold, and mobile games continue to flourish.


Some of the first engineers at mobile games maker Pocket Gems were women, and though that wasn’t intentional when the company was founded in 2009, it proved instrumental to success, said Chief Executive Ben Liu.


Pocket Gems, best known as a maker of family-friendly mobile games like its popular “Tap” series, recently launched “Campus Life”, where players can build and run a college sorority, to target a female audience.


“I’ve worked at other, different game companies and I’ve been on floors where it’s only guys,” Liu said. “Our aspiration is to create games that are mass market and accessible to all people, and having that representative base of employees helps us keep true to that.”


DEBAUCHERY ‘WAY, WAY DOWN’


Gaming still conjures up images of young men glued to flickering screens for hours on end, fueled by energy drinks and waging online battles unto death in such “shooters” as “Call of Duty” or tactical war games like “Starcraft.”


But the advent of affordable smartphones and tablets and the burgeoning world of social media has drawn in a whole new world of gamers. Individuals who had never been tempted to plunk down hundreds of dollars to buy a gaming console found themselves enticed by a whole new genre of games.


These days, gaming might just as easily mean launching attacks on pigs in “Angry Birds” or slicing produce with swiping motions in “Fruit Ninja” — games that have mass appeal.


“Mobile is still the Wild West and it’s founded on this idea of inclusion, because everyone has these mobile devices and everyone wants to play,” said game content designer Elizabeth Sampat, who works at social game company Storm8.


That’s partly why more than half of America’s social and mobile gamers are women, according to research firm EEDAR, while they comprise just 30 percent of those who play hard-core violent games like Microsoft’s “Halo 4″ on game consoles.


Erin McCarty, 24, grew up playing such fare. She went to engineering school at Carnegie Mellon University, with a goal toward working in the video game industry.


Today she’s the only female engineer in a seven-member team crafting multiplayer-shooter game “Realm of the Mad God” at social and mobile game company Kabam that targets male gamers.


But far from feeling different, McCarty considers herself just another coder at Kabam, where women make up just a fifth of the payroll.


“I’m around guys a lot and they are always people that I’m happy to work with,” McCarty said.


Brathwaite Romero recalls how her male coworkers on the team that created the mature-rated “Playboy: The Mansion” game with nude characters that was published in 2005, were wholly professional.


“I’ve fortunately not experienced the level of misogyny that I’ve heard other people experience,” Brathwaite Romero said.


“Some of the debauchery that was evident in the early days of the industry, like meetings at strip clubs, having strippers at your party, that sort of stuff has gone down way, way down from where it used to be.”


DANCING GIRLS AND SEXISM


That’s not to say the industry doesn’t have a ways to go.


First, there’s a 27 percent gap in average incomes, with women making $ 68,062 versus men at $ 86,418, according to Game Developer Magazine’s 2011 annual salary survey.


Women in the game industry are underrepresented in software engineering and top-level management, reflecting a similar trend in the broader technology sector, industry executives say.


VonChurch found engineering positions were skewed more toward men in their placements since 2009. Female engineers made up 21 percent from the pool of women it placed, while over half of the men it placed were hired in engineering positions.


Then there are the occasional throwbacks to the male-dominated 1980s and 1990s. Gameloft created a stir a few weeks ago after a holiday party at its Montreal studio ran amok.


The studio, which makes games for devices like Apple Inc’s iPhone, hired a burlesque dance troupe that featured scantily clad women in body paint. By the end of the evening, several dancers began to discard their bathing suits, according to a person with knowledge of the event, who asked not be named.


The dancers were expelled from the event “as soon as their misconduct was brought to light,” Gameloft said in a statement.


Over a month ago, a tweet from a male gaming professional — “Why are there so few women in gaming?” — ignited a top-trending Twitter conversation under the #1reasonwhy hashtag, that quickly morphed into a now infamous discussion of discrimination and sexism in the workplace.


“I was told I’d be remembered not on my own merits, but by who I was or was assumed to be sleeping with,” Seattle-based pen and paper game designer Lillian Cohen-Moore, who goes by @lilyorit, tweeted.


Gaming conventions can bring out the worst in attendees, said several women gaming professionals. While not a pure work environment, they are a forum for professionals from across the industry to convene to talk shop and do business.


Cohen-Moore, 28, said she was appalled to see men at the annual Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle groping women working as costumed characters when she worked there last year.


“I’ve been leery about transitioning into video games because the culture over there is a lot more blatant and active in how many sex trolls they have,” she said.


Brathwaite Romero, who is married to industry legend and “Doom” creator John Romero, also recounts a jarring instance at last summer’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, the industry’s biggest gathering.


“I was discussing a potential contract with somebody and the guy right next to me is talking about — to quote him — ‘the tits and ass’ on this particular model. And he’s going on and on and on about this,” she said. “This is wrong.”


Sampat said in some workplaces, though not at her current employer Storm8, women are often expected to tolerate off-color jokes – of which they’re often the target.


Before stepping into an interview at an online game company a couple of years ago, Sampat said a female human resources employee told her: “It’s my job to make sure that all potential candidates can, you know, take a joke.”


“I couldn’t help but wonder if she asked the white male programmer who came in before me whether he could take a joke too,” Sampat said.


Women outside the United States find similar challenges. Alisa Chumachenko, CEO and founder of Game Insight, a fast-growing mobile and social company in Russia, thinks having more women in senior and more diverse roles will help. Her company of 450 employees has three other women in high-level positions, but she wishes she knew more women in gaming.


“We need to really look at the women who have become movers and shakers in this industry,” the veteran games designer Graner Ray said, “and claim them and hold them up and say: ‘Here’s where we are, here’s what we can do. Pay attention to us.’”


(Editing by Edwin Chan and Leslie Adler)


Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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