Miami-Dade police officer convicted in lewdness case

A Miami-Dade police officer, who routinely stopped women drivers without cause and engaged in lewd conversations, was convicted in federal court Friday.

Prabhainjana Dwivedi, a seven-year veteran, was found guilty on six of seven counts of depriving people of their civil rights. He was found not guilty on the seventh count involving an undercover police officer.

Following the ruling, U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez immediately remanded Dwivedi back into custody pending sentencing scheduled for sometime in April, according to prosecutor Karen Gilbert. The trial began Monday.

Dwivedi faces up to a year in prison for each count.

A grand jury indicted Dwivedi after he was arrested by FBI agents Sept. 5 at Miami-Dade police headquarters.

Dwivedi, 33, was charged after an investigation into complaints filed for stops made in May and June of 2011 in which he detained “numerous women” for “unreasonable” length of time “without probable cause, reasonable suspicion or other lawful authority to conduct a stop,” a criminal complaint said.

None of the questionable stops were ever listed on his daily reports or called into dispatch.

According to the complaint, Dwivedi who worked overnight patrolling an area from Key Biscayne to Jackson Memorial Hospital, stopped a 24-year-old bartender who was driving from South Beach to Broward County on her way home from work at about 5:30 a.m. on June 25, 2011, in the area of the Golden Glades interchange.

The bartender, identified as M.F., was accused by Dwivedi of driving under the influence. Pleading her innocence, she requested to have a sobriety test performed. Her request was refused.

Noticing a child’s safety seat in the back seat, Dwivedi threatened M.F. that she would lose custody of her son if she were to be arrested on DUI charges, the criminal complaint said. Then the conversation turned sexual.

According to the complaint, Dwivedi, began to inquire about her surgically enhanced breasts and asked “if she had any scars or incisions from the surgery.”

Dwivedi then asked to see the scars. M.F. obeyed, lifting her shirt and exposing her breasts.

According to the complaint written by FBI special agent Susan Funk, “M.F. stated that Dwivedi did not touch her breast.”

, Dwivedi then allowed her to drive home, but said he would follow her to make sure she got safely home. Once at M.F.’s residence, Dwivedi said he was thirsty and asked for a glass of water. Once inside her home, he lingered for an hour speaking of his personal life.

In the end, Dwivedi left without ever reporting anything to dispatch or making any notes of the stop in his daily reports, the criminal complaint said.

A month earlier, Dwivedi made another questionable stop.

According to the complaint, Dwivedi stopped a19-year-old woman at 2:20 a.m. on May 27, 2011, on her way home from a nightclub with two friends. The woman, identified, as A.R., was informed the traffic stop was a result of a failure to turn on her headlights.

Dwivedi also claimed she was driving under the influence, but A.R. disputed the accusation.

A.R. was instructed to sit in the back seat of his marked cruiser and then Dwivedi “instructed A.R. to lower the zipper on the front of her dress down past her breasts to her mid-stomach” according to the complaint.

An hour and 20 minutes later, A.R. was on her way home without any citation and Dwivedi again made no mention or note of the stop, the complaint said.

Miami Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this report.

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Buzzmakers: David Beckham Strips and Miley Cyrus Loves Her Hair

What had ET readers buzzing this week?

1. David Beckham Strips Down to His Skivvies

He may have a new job with the Paris Saint-Germain team but David Beckham is still finding time to strip down for his American fans. The overwhelmingly good-looking soccer dad shared photos from his new underwear line that he, of course, is modeling. Posting not one, but two shirtless shots, Beckham wrote on his Facebook page: "Here are a few campaign shots from my latest H&M range."

Click here for a closer look at the fashionisto's sexy photos!

2. Miley Cyrus: I'll Never Have Long Hair Again

Though Miley Cyrus' super-short 'do definitely has its fair share of haters, according to Miley herself, she has no intentions of growing it out -- ever.

"You will never see me with long hair again!," she tells E! News. "My fiancé [Liam Hemsworth] loves it…It's so easy and [I] don't need to wash it. It looks better grungy and not washing it."

And clearly, she doesn't miss her formerly long locks "in any way."

"I feel like I had bun every day of my life," she says, referring to her often-copied topknot. "I hated the extensions hair -- that's sewn into your head. It's creepy."

Miley first debuted the drastic cut in August, and seems to be cutting her hair even shorter progressively.

3. Stars Flock to Super Bowl XLVII

Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson kicked off the Super Bowl Sunday with stunning renditions of the national anthem and America the Beautiful (respectively).

Check out the pics here!

4. Designer: Beyonce Was 'Losing Weight Every Day'

One of the most anticipated events at this year's Super Bowl was Beyonce's performance during the halftime show and ET spoke exclusively to the superstar's costume designer about her rigorous rehearsals and how much work went into her various outfits.

"When a performer is working so vigorously, they're shrinking constantly, and so she was losing weight every day," fashion designer Rubin Singer told ET. "So we had to keep taking it in and taking it in and taking it in and doing tweaks and changes."

Singer said he was based in New Orleans all last week preparing for Beyonce's Super Bowl performance and that a team of 14 people put about 200 man hours into producing and tweaking the costumes. "When you have the dress rehearsals and you actually get to see the footage the next day, or that night, and you see all the little nuances that you need to change," he said.

In addition to Beyonce's costumes, Singer also created the outfits for former Destiny's Child band member Michelle Williams as well as the jackets for the show's 120 backup dancers.

5. Jennifer Love Hewitt Debuts Lingerie Music Video

Jennifer Love Hewitt's Lifetime series The Client List is known for pushing the envelope with racy story lines and revealing wardrobe. In advance of the show's upcoming second season, we've got a sneak peek of a sexy new music video in which Jennifer sings, struts and strips down to lingerie!

"I had a dream about it in the middle of the night," Jennifer explains about how the video came about. She said she loves the song -- I'm a Woman from the Broadway play Smokey Joe's Cafe -- and thought it would be fun to do something burlesque-oriented "to shake things up a bit."

In the show, Jennifer plays a Texas single mother who secretly also provides sexual favors for money at a day spa. She said one of the things she's most proud of about the show is that she feels it portrays the subject matter in a way that is not degrading to women. "I feel like we've been able to take an unconventional story line and make it female empowerment in some weird way."

Watch the video for scenes from the steamy music video and also to hear Jennifer talk about getting in shape for the shoot and then splurging at the end.

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Michelle Obama, friends and family remember inaugural performer shot dead

CHICAGO — Hundreds of mourners and dignitaries including first lady Michelle Obama stood and applauded the family of a 15-year-old Chicago girl for their strength Saturday, a week and a half after her death brought national attention to the city's staggering gun violence.

A funeral service was held Saturday for Hadiya Pendleton, a band majorette who was shot and killed on Jan. 29, just a few days after performing for events surrounding President Barack Obama's inauguration. Police say Pendleton was an innocent victim in a gang-related shooting.

Michelle Obama met privately with the family and accompanied the girl's mother to the open casket at the front of a packed South Side church just before the start of the service.

Obama, who grew up on Chicago's South Side, put her arm around Cleopatra Pendleton and patted her back. The woman threw her head back and wailed as the lid of her daughter's flower-strewn casket was closed.

Moments later, the hundreds in attendance rose to their feet to begin the service with a round of applause "to the strength of this family." Then, the choir began to sing so loud the floor shook.

Some of Illinois' most recognizable politicians and clergy were also in attendance, including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Father Michael Pfleger. But Pendleton's family says her Saturday funeral service was not about politics — it was about remembering a girl who loved to dance, who once appeared in an anti-gang video.

"Everything is about Hadiya," said Shatira Wilks, one of Pendleton's cousins and a family spokeswoman.

None of the dignitaries was slated to speak during the service, which was officiated by the teen's pastor, the Rev. Courtney Maxwell, and the Rev. Eric Thomas, the pastor of the Greater Harvest Baptist Church, where the service was held. The teen's brother was also expected to speak, and the musical group that Pendleton was a member of will perform.

Pendleton was shot and killed while she talked with friends after school at a park not far from the Obamas' home in the Kenwood neighborhood. Police have said the shooting appears to be a case of mistaken identity involving gang members who believed the park was their territory. No charges have been filed.

Pendleton's death brought new attention to Chicago's homicide rate and the national debate over gun violence. Pendleton's slaying came in a January that was the city's deadliest in a decade. In 2012, Chicago recorded 506 homicides.

Earlier Saturday morning, a line of hundreds stretched from the church as mourners filed past Pendleton's casket. A woman who walked in with the girl's family sobbed loudly while organ and piano music played.

A glossy, eight-page funeral program included photos of Pendleton and details about her life, including her favorite foods — cheeseburgers, fig cookies, Chinese and ice cream — and the numerous school organizations she was involved in, and said she wanted to major in pharmacology and journalism in college.

The program also included a copy of a handwritten note from President Obama addressed to the girl's family.

"Michelle and I just wanted you to know how heartbroken we are to have heard about Hadiya's passing," it reads. "We know that no words from us can soothe the pain, but rest assured that we are praying for you, and that we will continue to work as hard as we can to end this senseless violence. God bless, Barack Obama."

Other dignitaries at the service were Gov. Pat Quinn, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett — all of whom are from Chicago.

Quinn mentioned Pendleton's death in his State of the State address earlier this week as he called for a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.

"There are no words in the English language . or any language . to relieve the pain of parents who lose a child," said Quinn, who said he spoke with Pendleton's family two days before his speech.

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IRS dealt a setback on tax preparer regulations

To help combat fraud by tax preparers, the Internal Revenue Service created the “Registered Tax Return Preparer” program. Then just before the tax season got under way, the agency was told by a federal judge that it doesn’t have the authority to regulate the hundreds of thousands of tax preparers covered under the program.

Although some tax-return preparers are licensed by their states or enrolled to practice before the IRS, many don’t have to pass a government or professionally mandated competency test to prepare a federal return. When the IRS issued its last “dirty dozen” tax scams, return preparer fraud was third on the list.

“Tax return preparers sometimes alter return information without their clients’ knowledge or consent in an attempt to obtain improperly inflated refunds or to divert refunds for their personal benefit,” wrote Nina E. Olson, the national taxpayer advocate, in her most recent report to Congress. “Often, the refunds are directed to an account in the preparer’s control.”

In other instances, preparers lure clients by promising large refunds even before reviewing their tax information.

The IRS program would have required any individual who is compensated for preparing or assisting in the preparation of a return to obtain a preparer tax identification number, pass a qualifying exam and complete annual continuing-education requirements.

Three independent tax preparers joined the Institute for Justice in challenging the IRS’ authority to create the program. Recently, Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled against the agency.

Said Dan Alban, the lead attorney on the case: “The licensing requirements harmed the ability of mom and pop operations to compete with big tax preparation firms. Two of the three plaintiffs would have been put out of business because of the cost of complying with the regulations.”

The ruling now means tax return preparers who would have been covered by the program are not required to complete competency testing or secure continuing education, the IRS said. However, all paid preparers are still required to have a preparer tax identification number.

There are tax professionals — attorneys, certified public accountants and enrolled agents — who were exempt from the program but are licensed by state or federal authorities and are subject to censure, suspension or disbarment from practice before the IRS in the event of wrongdoing. The ruling does not affect the regulatory requirements for these professionals.

Still hoping to continue with the regulatory program, the IRS asked the court to delay the ruling pending its appeal. The motion was denied.

“The IRS continues to have confidence in the scope of its authority to administer this program and is working with the Department of Justice to address all options, including a planned appeal,” the agency said in a statement.

In response to the lawsuit, the IRS said it has established 250 testing centers, that the program has cost more than $50 million to roll out, and nearly 100,000 preparers have registered to take the competency test.

When the IRS first announced the program, I was in favor of licensing preparers. Though many tax professionals do their jobs well, there are enough unscrupulous preparers to warrant some changes. Olson, the national taxpayer advocate, has recommended that Congress enact a federal registration, examination, certification and enforcement program for unenrolled tax-return preparers. “Creating a class of certified return preparers is a very positive step toward combating fraud,” she said in her report.

But perhaps Judge Boasberg has it right. He said his ruling doesn’t require the IRS to dismantle the registration scheme.

The IRS “may choose to retain the testing centers and some staff, as it is possible that some preparers may wish to take the exam or continuing education even if not required to,” Boasberg said in his decision. “Such voluntarily obtained credentials might distinguish them from other preparers.”

And some preparers might still take the exam in case his ruling is reversed on appeal, “just as the IRS may similarly decide it is financially more prudent not to shutter the centers in hopes of an appellate victory or congressional action,” Boasberg wrote.

“We have no opposition to preparers going through the program voluntarily,” Alban said. “If you are in the market looking for a new tax preparer, there could be value in selecting one with the registered tax return preparer certification. Keeping it voluntary allows consumers to decide what’s important rather than the IRS.”

I see great service to consumers in the IRS preparer program. So until things are settled, Boasberg offers a good compromise.

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Police seek help finding Super Bowl Sunday shooter

Three gunmen open fired in front of a Miami Gardens home on Super Bowl Sunday, killing Brandon Bryant, a local promoter, and injuring his father and brother.

At a press conference Friday morning, police released graphic footage of the shooting.

From a red four-door sedan, gunfire can be seen coming from the passenger-side back-seat window. The car stops and the driver, dressed in dark orange or red, jumps out with a gun and disappears from the screen. The passenger slides over to the driver seat and also begins to fire. As the driver returns to the car, the passenger exits with a long barreled gun and continues to shoot before he too gets back in the car, and they drive off.

In all, police say they are looking for three gunmen.

Miami Gardens police and Bryant’s family at Friday’s press conference asked for the community to come forward with any tips about the shooting.

“We believe that someone out there has information that can help bring closure to this family and bring these violent individuals to justice,” said Police Chief Matthew Boyd

Bryant and his family were at a Super Bowl barbecue watching the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers face off in New Orleans. Witnesses told police at least 30 shots rang out near the home on the 2300 block of Northwest 204th Street

Police say one of the victims remains in the hospital, but declined to say which one. Police would not release their names or a motive for Sunday night’s shootings.

A Miami Gardens pastor who has spoken publicly about the prevalent no-snitching culture pleaded with Miami Gardens residents to break the cycle.

“Remember today is their day, tomorrow could be your day,” he said.

Bryant’s family describe the 25-year-old as a beloved member of their family who had an entrepreneurial spirit.

He ran a marketing and artist-development firm that worked with local hip-hop artists. He was the father of two young boys, ages 15 months and 4 months.

“It’s very difficult for us right now to endure this,” said Nina Packer, Bryant’s aunt and the family’s spokesperson.

“As lifelong members of this community, this has got to stop,” she said. “This is a problem”

Police ask anyone with information to contact Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers anonymously at 305-471-8477 or Miami Garden Police at 305-474-4673.

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'Nemo' storms Twitter

As a massive blizzard is set to hit New York, the jokesters on Twitter have already taken the golden opportunity to mix the title character from Disney/Pixar's "Finding Nemo" with weather-related humor.

The storm, nickednamed "Nemo" by the Weather Channel, is no laughing matter -- winds could reach 75 mph and over two feet of snow could accumulate in some places.

BLIZZARD NEMO COULD BRING HEAVY WINDS AND A FOOT OF SNOW TO NYC

Such conditions could bring down power lines with authorities fearing widespread power outages, but apparently the Twitterverse is unafraid of such disaster scenarios, including its own @nemoflakes Twitter account.

Some of the better lines the account has spawned include: "The only reason I'm dumping 3 feet of snow on New England is because .... Tom Brady. #nemo" and "I went from a movie star to making the front page headline. #fishproblems."

Below we've pulled together some of the best blizzard Nemo memes making their way through Twitter right now.

@AndrewLucksHead via Twitter

@ItsStormNemo via Twitter

everythingiskrystalclear via Tumblr

@samkille via Twitter

@ItsStormNemo via Twitter

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Sign up for Feb. 21 Miami Herald Small Business Forum

Prepare your best pitch for the Miami Herald’s Small Business Forum, Feb. 21 at the south campus of our sponsor, Florida International University.

In addition to how-to panels and inspirational stories from successful entrepreneurs, our annual small business forum will include interactive opportunities with experts to learn about financing options and polish your personal and business brands.

During our finance panel, audience volunteers will be invited to explain their financing needs to the group. During our box-lunch session, they will be invited to pitch their business or personal brand to our coaches.

Those who prefer just to listen will be treated to a keynote address by Alberto Perlman, co-founder of the global fitness craze Zumba. Panels include success stories from the local entrepreneurs who founded Sedano’s, Jennifer’s Homemade and ReStockIt.com; finance tips from experts in small business loans, venture capital, angel investments and traditional bank loans; and insiders in the burgeoning South Florida tech start-up scene.

Plus, it’s a real bargain. $25 includes the half-day seminar, continental breakfast and a box lunch.

Register here.

Program

8 a.m.

Registration and continental breakfast, provided by Bill Hansen Catering

8:30 a.m. Welcome

Host: David Suarez, president and CEO, Interactive Training Solutions, LLC

•  Jerry Haar, PhD, associate dean & director, FIU Eugenio Pino and Family Global

Entrepreneurship Center

•  Alice Horn, executive director, Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE South Florida)

•  Jane Wooldridge, Business editor, The Miami Herald

Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge Overview:

•  Nancy Dahlberg, Business Plan Challenge coordinator, The Miami Herald

8:45 a.m. Session I – Success Stories

Moderator: Jerry Haar, PhD, associate dean & director, FIU Eugenio Pino and Family Global

Entrepreneurship Center

Speakers:

•  Jennifer Behar, founder, Jennifer’s Homemade

•  Matt Kuttler, co-president of ReStockIt.com

•  Javier Herrán, chief marketing officer, Sedano’s Supermarkets

10 a.m. Session II – All about Tech

Moderator: Jane Wooldridge, Business editor, The Miami Herald

Speakers

•  Susan Amat, founder, Launch Pad Tech

•  Nancy Borkowski, executive director, Health Management Programs, Chapman Graduate School of

Business, Florida International University

•  Mark Slaughter, CEO, Cohealo.com

•  Chris Fleck, vice president of mobility solutions at Citrix and a director of the South Florida Tech Alliance

11:15 a.m. Keynote

Speaker: Alberto Perlman, CEO and co-founder of Zumba® Fitness

Introduction: Jane Wooldridge, business editor, The Miami Herald

11:45 a.m. Session III – Show me the money: Financing your small business

An interactive session featuring audience volunteers who will be invited to make a short investment pitch before a panel, including experts in microlending, SBA loans, traditional bank loans, venture capital and angel investing. Audience volunteers should come prepared with a two-minute presentation that includes details about current backing, how much money they are seeking and a brief synosis of ow that money would be used.

Moderator: Melissa Krinzman, founder and managing director, Venture Architects

Panelists:

•  Marjorie Weber, chairman, SCORE of Miami-Dade

•  Cornell Crews, Jr., program director, Partners for Self Employment

•  Darius G. Nevin, co-founder, G3 Capital Partners, a mid-market and early-stage investment company

•  Boris Hirmas Said, chairman of the board, Tres Mares S.A. (Santiago, Chile) and entrepreneur in

residence at the Eugenio Pino and Family Global Entrepreneurship Center

1 p.m. Lunch session - Polish your Pitch, Brighten Your Personal Brand

An interactive session featuring audience volunteers who will be invited to make short pitches about their businesses and themselves. Audience volunteers should come prepared with a two-minute presentation.

Coaches: Melissa Krinzman of Venture Architects and Michelle Villalobos of Mivista Consulting

advise audience volunteers on how to best pitch themselves and their products.

Box lunch provided by Bill Hansen Catering

All speakers confirmed unless otherwise noted. Agenda is subject to change without notice .

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Sweetwater officer hurt in crash with school bus

A Miami-Dade school bus driver may be ticketed for an accident that left a Sweetwater police officer hospitalized Thursday morning.

According to Sweetwater police chief Roberto Fulgueira, the school bus was making a “three point” turn in the parking lot of a McDonald’s restaurant at Southwest 112th Avenue and 152nd Street in South Miami-Dade.

During the turn, the driver backed into the roadway and into the path of the police car.

Fulgueira said the officer had “nowhere to go” and could not avoid hitting the back of the bus.

The officer, a corporal who has worked for at Sweetwater for four years, was not at fault, according to Fulgueira.

The bus driver will likely be ticketed.

The officer was cut by flying windshield glass and also had a minor injury to his arm caused by the airbag that inflated.

He was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital in stable condition.

The school bus driver wasn’t hurt and there were no students on the bus.

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Ginnifer Goodwin Once Upon A Time Interview Listerine 21 Day Challenge

For Ginnifer Goodwin, joining the cast of Once Upon A Time has resulted in more happy endings than she could have dreamed of. Not only is the fantastic fantasy series one of ABC's biggest hits, but the show's popularity has allowed Goodwin to use her celebrity status to bring attention to worthy causes. Like she did on February 5 by helping Listerine kick off their 21 Day Challenge!

To help Americans develop better oral hygiene, and improve access to dental care for children in need, Listerine donated $21,000 after Goodwin's "swish," and will continue to donate every time someone signs up for the challenge on Facebook!

ETonline caught up with Goodwin to talk about this mighty cause and this even mightier season of Once Upon A Time (particularly what you can expect from the introduction of Snow White's mother)!

ETonline: How'd you come to partner with Listerine?

Ginnifer Goodwin: I made some friends at Listerine and they taught me a little bit about oral care. That half of adults suffer from oral disease, that the number one chronic disease among children is oral disease, that we're only taking care of 25% of our mouths when brushing alone and there are more germs in your mouth than there are people on the planet.

ETonline: Well that's a terrifying statistic.

Goodwin: Oh yeah, I immediately had the heebie jeebies when they told me that. So then they offered to donate $21,000 to Oral Health America for my first swish of the Listerine 21 Day Challenge. The thinking is it takes 21 days to form a habit and implementing that into a morning and evening routine, one can assume it will become a lifetime commitment. It's quick, easy, and inexpensive -- plus you prevent so many problems. I really couldn't turn down such a generous offer.

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ETonline: What does it mean to you to have reached a place professionally where you're able to raise so much money simply by rinsing your mouth with Listerine?

Goodwin: It's incredibly humbling, and I'm glad you're bringing it up because it's important for me to remember. A lot of times, I think that what I do for a living has no integrity. Once Upon A Time has changed that to a certain extent because the reaction we get from children out in the world is so fulfilling, I can not even articulate it. There's nothing like being greeted as Snow White by a hyperventilating child versus Ginnifer Goodwin. It makes me feel like Santa Claus. But often times, I feel like I'm so blessed, it's not fair. That what I'm doing is not contributing to the good of the world. That acting is self-centered and elitist in many way, so to be able to participate in something that gives back is so important to me. That's where I really get my rocks off. I like partnering with companies that have really accessible, really easy changes we can all make that create a difference.

ETonline: When you initially signed on to Once Upon A Time, did you, in any way, anticipate it could be as successful, creatively fulfilling and resonant with fans as it has been?

Goodwin: I never dreamed our numbers would be what they are. I knew the show would be special and I knew it was risky, so I knew it would be creatively fulfilling. And I knew I would be a geeky fan of it and that even if it only had a tiny niche audience, I would be jealous watching the show if I wasn't on it. So I knew I had to be a part of it so I wasn't green with envy every Sunday.

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ETonline: Is that what fuels which projects you sign on for?

Goodwin: Sometimes. There's always a different reason. Sometimes I make very selfish choices; like I did Once Upon A Time for my inner 8-year-old and my hypothetical future child. I've done some movies because I would regret them if I didn't, but other projects I've done because they've scared me or if I felt I needed to do a big romantic comedy to help me professionally. Then I'll take a teeny movie when I need to work on myself and become a better actor.

ETonline: I've really loved this season ... except maybe for the pink sweater-set Snow was stuck in for so many weeks.

Goodwin: Oh my god! Thank you so much for hating it with me! I truly kept joking, except I was serious, that I desperately wanted to have an actual bonfire where I burned that freaking costume. Even the costume department despised it in the end. Thank God my character had some off-camera makeover.

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ETonline: Now that she and Charming have their memories back, what's the next hurdle in their relationship?

Goodwin: Thus far, based on what we've filmed, it’s the first time they're realizing that an obstacle could be self-created as opposed to it coming from an external source because he wants to go back and she wants to stay. They're struggling right now with whether or not this particular obstacle is surmountable. Selfishly I hope that Snow White and Prince Charming end up living happily ever after -- I'm not quite sure what our version of Snow White stands for if she's not going to get that.

ETonline: Snow's mother also becomes a major player in the show, via flashbacks, over the coming weeks. What excites you about that storyline?

Goodwin: Snow White has some mother issues, and they have affected her self-definition. I think it's going to be very exciting for the audience to see what has impacted Snow White in her past and that will effect how we feel about Snow White's relationship with her own daughter. And, totally unrelated to actual storylines, I'm excited for the incredible guest stars we have coming up. Like Lesley Nichol from Downton Abbey! Mrs. Pattmore joined our cast!!!! I freaked the fudge out all over her.

ETonline: You better hope your shows stay in adjacent timeslots. I worry about you should OUAT and Downton overlap on Sunday nights.

Goodwin: Yeah, no. I won't ever let that happen. I will throw myself on the grave of Walt Disney and beg for that to never happen.

For more info on Listerine's 21 Day Challenge, click here! Once Upon A Time airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

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787 battery approval should be reconsidered: NTSB

AP

This slide shown on a video screen during a news conference at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) today shows a comparison of an exemplar battery with the Japan Airlines Boeing 787 battery.

WASHINGTON — The government should reassess its safety approval of the Boeing 787 lithium ion batteries, the nation's top accident investigator said Thursday.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman said the board's investigation of last month's battery fire in a Japan Airlines 787 "Dreamliner" while it was parked in Boston shows the fire started with multiple short-circuits in one of the battery's eight cells. That created an uncontrolled chemical reaction known as "thermal runaway" and spread to the rest of the cells, she said.

That's at odds with what Boeing told the Federal Aviation Administration when the agency was working to certify the innovative aircraft for flight, Hersman said. The manufacturer asserted its testing showed that any short circuiting could be contained within a single cell, preventing thermal runaway and fire, she said.

Boeing's testing also showed the batteries were likely to cause smoke in only 1 in 10 million flight hours, she said. But the Boston fire was followed nine days later by a smoking battery in an All Nippon Airways plane that made an emergency landing in Japan.

The 787, Boeing's newest and most technologically advanced plane, has recorded less than 100,000 flight hours, Hersman noted.

The same day as the ANA emergency landing, FAA officials ordered the only U.S. carrier with 787s — United Airlines, which has six of the planes — to ground them. Aviation authorities in other countries swiftly followed suit. In all, 50 planes operated by seven airlines in six countries are grounded.

The groundings have become a nightmare for the company, which has about 800 Dreamliner orders from airlines around the world.

The 787 is the first airliner to make extensive use of lithium batteries. Aircraft makers view the batteries, which are lighter and can store more energy than other types of batteries of an equivalent size, as an important way to save on fuel costs. The Airbus A350, expected to be ready next year, will also make extensive use of lithium ion batteries. Manufacturers are also looking to retrofit existing planes, replacing other types of batteries with lithium ion.

But lithium batteries are more likely to short circuit and start a fire than other batteries if they are damaged, if there is a manufacturing flaw or if they are exposed to excessive heat.

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Miami startup that turns text to video receives $1 million in seed funding

Guide, a new technology startup based in Miami, announced Tuesday it has closed a $1 million round of seed funding from investors including the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Sapient Corp., MTV founder Bob Pitman, actor and producer Omar Epps, and early Google employee Steve Schimmel. The Knight Foundation is supporting Guide through its new early-stage venture fund, the Knight Enterprise Fund.

Led by CEO and founder Freddie Laker and COO Leslie Bradshaw, Guide’s team of seven is focused on turning online news, social streams and blogs into video for users who may be cooking, exercising, commuting or getting ready in the morning. The free application offers consumers a selection of about 20 “anchors” — including a dog, a robot and an anime character — that will read the article and present the accompanying photos, pull-out information and video clips in its video presentation. Revenue drivers for Guide could include in-app purchases, advertising-based anchors and customizations from publishers, said Laker, a former vice president at SapientNitro.

Laker and his team plan to launch a public beta next month, which they plan to do with a splash at the huge technology conference South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, Texas.

Read more about Guide here on the Starting Gate blog. Follow Nancy Dahlberg on Twitter @ndahlberg

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Judge OK’s plan for gay man, lesbian couple to be legal parents of young daughter

A Miami-Dade circuit judge has approved a private adoption allowing three people — a gay man and a married lesbian couple — to be the legal parents of their 23-month-old daughter.

“We’re creating entirely new concepts of families. If you have two women seeking to be listed as Parent One and Parent Two, that does not exclude listing a man as father,” said Miami family lawyer Karyn J. Begin, who represented dad Massimiliano “Massimo” Gerina in a two-year paternity case involving lesbian friends who had his baby.

Maria Italiano and Cher Filippazzo, who married in Connecticut, and their attorney, Kenneth Kaplan, declined to be interviewed.

The women, according to Begin, are longtime partners who unsuccessfully attempted to become pregnant through professional fertility clinics.

Instead of giving up, they decided to try again at home and approached Gerina about fathering a child.

“They asked me,” Gerina said. “I was flattered by it. I thought what a great opportunity for me to have a baby.”

A single Bay Harbor Islands hair stylist, Gerina explained why he desires children: “It’s nature — the same reason a woman wants to be a mother.”

Gerina grew up Cagliari, Italy, where he never thought he could become a father. Eight years ago, though, he moved to South Florida and encountered many gay parents raising children.

“It’s not unusual here. Where I am from it’s unusual. I grew up with the mentality that it would never happen,” he said. “When I moved here, I saw gay couples, lesbian couples having families.”

On only a verbal agreement, Gerina gave the women his sperm and Italiano conceived. The lesbians planned for Filippazzo to later adopt the baby and they would both raise the child.

Florida law specifies that sperm donors have no legal rights in artificial inseminations. Thus the hitch: Gerina says he considered himself a parent, not simply a donor. The women, he claimed, “wanted a father for the baby, not just the sperm.”

Two weeks after insemination, Italiano learned she was pregnant. About seven months later, the women called Gerina and asked him to sign a contract.

“When they gave me the paper to sign that I had to give up all my rights to the baby, I didn’t,” he said.

Gerina began to ponder the legal consequences of siring a child. He hired Begin and presented the women with papers of his own.

“My papers said I would have parental rights, a visitation schedule,” he said. “They hated it. They said this wasn’t what they wanted. I said, ‘Now that you’re already pregnant, you should have thought about that before.’ ”

Their daughter, Emma, was born March 10, 2011. “The paternity lawsuit was filed right after the birth of the child,” Begin said.

The three parents feuded in court for nearly two years. A trial was set for Jan. 31, 2013.

A week before trial, Gerina, Italiano, Filippazzo and their attorneys settled the case privately.

Before posing for photos with the three parents and Emma, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Antonio Marin approved the settlement and the court adoption clerk submitted paperwork for Emma’s new birth certificate:

• Birth mother Italiano, a retail saleswoman, received “sole parental responsibility,” Begin said.

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Jenny McCarthy New Talk Show Interview

While Jenny McCarthy has been acting since 1994, she's undoubtedly found bigger success when being herself. Whether it was as the host of MTV's Singled Out or the author of nine hugely successful novels, her intoxicating blend of no-holds-barred honesty and hilarious histrionics has earned her a loyal legion of fans.

Now, McCarthy hopes to dazzle her devotees with a new VH1 late night talk show, The Jenny McCarthy Show, premiering Friday at 10:30 p.m. But how will she stand out in the overcrowded marketplace? That was just one of the questions I posed when Jenny McCarthy rang me up for a chat!

ETonline: What excites you about this show?

Jenny McCarthy: I'm excited that it's actually different from everything else you've seen. If I were to compare it to anything, I'd say it's like Hugh Hefner's Playboy After Dark, which was a cool after-hours party. I've got a bartender, I've got go-go dancers, there's no script, there's no pre-interviews and the celebrities are in deep sh*t when I start asking questions. It's going to be really off the beaten path from what they're used to. I'm excited for people to see what I've worked so hard to attain at this stage in my life in terms of wisdom and life experiences.

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ETonline: Given your various books and columns, it feels like your fans have really been on that journey alongside you. Was that intentional?

McCarthy: Yeah. It was important for me to always be honest and out there. I feel like right from the get-go I made a point to stay true to who I am, to be honest, to be the girl who doesn't take herself too seriously and I always stuck with that even through the hard times when I wanted to be private. That brought me to where I am now, and I hold true to who I am to this day.

ETonline: You'll be talking about celebrities on your show. What's your take on the current state of celebrity?

McCarthy: I can tell you this, when I first moved out to LA I was hanging around a lot of Playmates and I really had to make a decision as to whether I wanted to keep going in this party-going world or stay focused on what I wanted. After a year, I purposely got into a relationship with a much older guy -- he was 45 when I was 21 -- because I wanted to stay home and not be distracted and get into the problems like Lindsay Lohan has. I mean, the same scene was there, we just didn't have the omnipresence of cameras. I knew back then that I would be tempted like everyone else, but I was going to stay home and watch Wheel of Fortune with my old man boyfriend until I could get a grip on what I was going to do.

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ETonline: When you look at the late night market, it's never been more competitive. How do you deliver on the promise of "different?"

McCarthy: A talk show is difficult because the formula is always the same: there's a host and there's guests. Really what you can change is only so much. So, I don't have any pre-interviews, which forces real conversation. Then, I have the guests out there for the entire 30 minutes. We have a pre-party, so it's a total party for 2 hours. I wanted go-go dancers. There are no sexy girls on TV anymore. What happened to the trampoline girls from The Man Show? I also have a very sexy man DJ and a very sexy man bartender right next to me, so I am pleasing all sexes and preferences.

ETonline: So you'll be drinking during the show?

McCarthy: Heavily, yes of course.

ETonline: Are you concerned about keeping yourself composed, or are you hoping to wake up and not remember the previous night's show?

McCarthy: [laughs] I'm kind of hoping that eventually does happen because it will be hilarious. But I also have to be sharp because when you're hosting a show, there's a lot of multi-tasking that needs to be done. All systems need to be working, but I am Irish and young and I like a cocktail.

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ETonline: Most people have a long list of the booze they can no longer drink after bad experiences. What are yours?

McCarthy: Bacardi was the first thing I was ever peer pressured into drinking when I was in 8th grade and threw up for 2 days, so I've never been able to drink that again. I've also discovered I'm allergic to beer and wine, so Vodka is kind of my only choice right now.

ETonline: Who are some of your dream guests?

McCarthy: To give you an example of the kind of oddity I want, a dream show would be Rebel Wilson and Tim Tebow. Me and Rebel and Tim Tebow would be a classic half-hour of television as we drink and play games.

ETonline: Besides oddity, what do you want people to get from your show?

McCarthy: 30 minutes of release. A relatable, entertaining time that doesn't make you feel like you need to take a shower afterwards. Just a good fun party that you're given VIP access to.

The Jenny McCarthy Show premieres February 8 at 10:30 p.m.

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MTA unveils interactive subway map

Now you can get up close and personal with New York subways.

The MTA rolled out an online interactive map today that’ll allow users to zoom in, or fade back, on an image of the system.

Before, users could only pull up a fixed PDF image. That option is still available.

“The subway map is one of the most popular tools we provide on our Web site, and we want to make it as easy and convenient as possible for visitors to the city and New Yorkers alike to get the most out of the map online,” said MTA spokesman Paul Fleuranges.

MTA.info

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Can’t find time for play? Try scheduling it

If your resolutions for 2013 include achieving a better work-life balance, your calendar holds the key to your success.

But, to pull off your goals, you’re going to need to turn the traditional way of thinking upside down.

Most people schedule their work commitments on their calendars and squeeze in family, friends and fun around it. Instead, schedule your work around your personal life, say Michelle Villalobos and Jessica Kizorek, speakers, personal branding consultants and co-creators of Make Them Beg, a professional self development program. For example, they suggest you block out gym time, reading for pleasure time, coaching your kid time and date night. Even a person with almost no flexibility in his or her work schedule can block out 15 minutes for a walk rather than eating lunch at their desks.

“You have to plan for play. Otherwise work expands and there’s no time for play,” Kizorek says. Today, it’s easy to stay a little later at the office or work through lunch because there’s always more to do. Using your calendar effectively can help you with boundaries.

Villalobos says once you put “play” into your schedule, it helps to get people who are important in your life to keep you committed. For example, she blocks out three hours twice a week on her calendar to paint. She has asked her boyfriend to help her stick to that schedule.

Realistically, there will be times when you have to reschedule a fun activity because of work demands. “At least you know what you missed so if you don’t do it, you move it to another day,” Villalobos says.

If you’re in a relationship, experts advise letting your partner participate in creating your calendar. A friend of mine sends his spouse an electronic invite to his poker night signaling that she has the night free to schedule her own fun activity.

Scheduling everything may seem rigid. “That’s the opposite,” Villalobos insists. “By putting things on your calendar, you can focus on what you need to do in the moment. It allows you to be far more present.”

With more people converting to electronic calendars or hovering between paper and online options, how we coordinate our schedules is in flux. But for balance, it’s often better to track personal and professional in one place.

Sharon Teitelbaum, a Boston-based work-life coach, says to calendar all important life events including birthdays. It may sound like common sense to calendar your son’s birthday, but people forget and schedule business travel, she has found. She also advises putting work events in your calendar as far in advance as possible and tasks that lead up to them. “You don’t want to agree to host a dinner party the weekend before a work retreat.”

For many busy people, the traditional way of scheduling needs to change from calendaring a due date to creating a timeline. If you have a big project you need to have completed by Feb. 15, Teitelbaum says break it into weekly tasks leading up to that date. “People vastly underestimate how long things take and the number of interruptions they have to contend with,” she says.

Julie Morgenstern, who created the Balanced Life Planner for Delray Beach-based specialty retailer Levenger, says that even on a daily basis people don’t plan realistically. “By bravely recognizing the limits of each day and how long each to-do on your list will take, we can see in advance what will or won’t fit into our calendar, and become more strategic,” she said.

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Miami Gardens fights ‘no snitching’ code after string of murders

The Sunday school teachers at New Beginning Missionary Baptist Church in Miami Gardens are well-versed in Biblical tales such as the Good Samaritan or Noah’s Ark.

But this year, a police officer will preach to the youngest members of the flock, telling them about a contemporary version of the Golden Rule: to respect their neighbors and their neighborhood, and to report wrongdoing rather than uphold the informal no-snitching code.

In a city that saw 25 people killed last year — grandfathers, mothers, fathers, a college-bound freshman — city leaders and community elders have not only been grappling with how to stem the violence, but how to shift a pervasive culture of not cooperating with police.

So far, this year, three people have been killed in Miami Gardens — a man killed on New Year’s Day, a 15-year-old boy who was shot multiple times and a man killed Sunday night after a Super Bowl party.

At New Beginning, a working class congregation, the head pastor is hoping to start small, with a monthly visit from a Miami Gardens police officer.

“It is very necessary,” said senior pastor Eric Readon, of his nontraditional approach. “It’s not just about preaching Jesus, we need to change our methods to get to these kids. We need to save them before they go in the wrong direction.”

Even as overall crime rates have steadily declined in Miami-Dade County’s third largest city — and Florida’s largest predominately black city —Miami Gardens is burdened with a high murder rate per capita.

In the past five years, Miami Gardens has ranked among the top Miami-Dade cities with the highest murder rates per 100,000 residents. In 2011, the city was second in murders per capita in the county, with 24 murders. First was nearby Opa-locka, according to statistics compiled by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. By comparison, Hialeah, which is roughly double the size of Miami Gardens’ population of 110,000, had four murders in 2011 and seven in 2012, according to records.

Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert, a lifelong resident, said his city, as with many communities, is not immune to crime.

“We won’t allow an entire community of people to be identified by the horrible actions of a small minority of people,” said Gilbert. “Most of the people in Miami Gardens are great decent people. This isn’t a bad area because some bad things happen here.”

And so clergy members called for an end to the violence at a press conference, police hosted meetings with local crime watch groups and at an all-night prayer vigil last month, pastors and city leaders memorialized the victims killed in the city last year.

Among the casualties:

An eight-month pregnant mother who succumbed to her injuries after being shot on her boyfriend’s porch. The unborn baby did not survive.

A Carol City high school football player who was gunned down while he sat in a car in front of his friend’s house. On the same day, blocks away, a 26-year old woman was walking on the sidewalk when she was approached from behind and was shot several times in the head and torso.

A local car wash owner was killed while trying to stop a robbery; a corrections officer was shot dead in front of his home.

Lost are the days when neighbors bought into the idea, “I am my brother’s keeper,” said Bishop Sylvester Sampson, whose son-in-law, Andrew Johnson, the corrections officer, was fatally shot near Northwest 211th Street and Northwest 27th Avenue in his driveway.

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Nashville Sneak Peek Clip Elevator Hookup

Coming hot on the heels of their best episode to date, Nashville is turning up the heat even further this Wednesday with a brand new episode that forces Rayna to confront her feelings for Deacon -- and ETonline has a sneak peek of all the between-floors action!

RELATED - TV's 5 Hottest Elevator Hook-Ups

In I've Been Down That Road Before, Rayna is thrown for a loop now that Deacon has joined Juliette's band and can't help but think that maybe he'd be better off in her bed! Especially after the two share a steamy kiss in the elevator! WATCH!

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Nashville airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on ABC.

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Slain sniper was penning new 'gun history' book

FORT WORTH, Texas — A publisher says a former top Navy SEAL sniper and best-selling author who was fatally shot at the weekend had a second book in the works.

Sharyn Rosenblum says Chris Kyle was working on "American Gun: A History of the U.S. in Ten Firearms" with co-author William Doyle. Rosenblum is a spokeswoman for publisher William Morrow.

Kyle's book, "American Sniper," written with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice, was released last January. As of Tuesday morning, "American Sniper" was Amazon's No. 1 seller.

Rosenblum says no release date has been set for the new book.

AP

Chris Kyle, a former Navy SEAL and author of the book 'American Sniper'.

Kyle left the Navy in 2009 after four tours of duty in Iraq, where he earned a reputation as one of the military's most lethal snipers.

Eddie Ray Routh has been charged in Kyle's killing Saturday.

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Cutting edge tech from Swiss Army

The Victorinox Swiss Army Jetsetter looks like a traditional pocket knife the company is famous for, but instead of the knife you get a pocket full of storage.

A foldout and detachable USB 2.0 flash drive is among the features in the mini tool kit, which includes a ball point pen, bottle opener, Phillips screwdriver, tweezers and scissors in the 16 GB model I tested out.

The detachable flash drive is Windows- and Mac-friendly, although it comes loaded with Mac-friendly security software to protect your data stored on the device.

It’s available in capacities of 8 GB black ($39.95), 16 GB red ($49.99) and 32 GB silver ($99.99). There are a few different features in each, with the 32 GB model having a LED mini light, for example.

Details: www.swissarmy.com

A great find

Kensington’s Proximo Fob and Tag Kit creates a wireless (Bluetooth) monitoring system between your keys, accessories and an iPhone (4S or 5) that will alert you if they are separated.

I tried the starter kit ($59.99), which includes a fob, tag, keyring and has a screen driver to open the hardware and insert the included CR2032 lithium coin batteries, along with a key ring.

The fob attaches to the key ring and after you have it linked with the free Kensington Proximo app, anytime the devices are separated an alarm sounds. If your phone is within range but you can’t find it, press a button.

It’s easy to think of this as a monitoring device for your expensive smartphone but it also works in reverse once everything is linked up. With your phone in your pocket or purse, it can alert you that you have left your keys behind.

can be placed in a computer bag or attached to anything (or anyone) that you want alarmed. But unlike the fob, it’s only one direction; the app will find it but you can’t use it to find your phone.

The Proximo App Dashboard tracks up to five items with a single fob and up to four tags. Additional tags cost $24.99 each.

If you get out of range between the devices, an app lets you tap a button to let you know where your device was last seen and even pulls up a map with a specific address.

Details: www.Kensington.com

Sound investment

RadioShack’s Auvio expanding Bluetooth speaker ($39.99) is as simple and useful as a gadget can be. Just twist open the speaker, pair it with your device via Bluetooth and you’ll be amazed at how much better the sound is than the built-in speaker on your smartphone or tablet.

A rechargeable battery is built in for up to eight hours of use and can be powered up in two hours with a USB charge using the included cable.

It is 2.5 inches in diameter, just over 3-inches tall when expanded and about 2.5 inches when closed.

Another choice, with a bigger size (2.8-by-6.5-by-2.9 inches) but much better sound is the brick-shaped Auvio Portable Speaker ($79.99).

Both speakers have aux-in ports to connect to non-Bluetooth devices.

Details: www.radioshack.com

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Two die in crash in North Key Largo

Two people from Florida's West Coast area died Monday morning in a single-vehicle crash at Card Sound Road and State Road 905 in North Key Largo, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office and Florida Highway Patrol.

Troopers said Lakeland resident Joshua Patchell, 29, was driving a 205 GMC north on 905 with Brittany McLeod, 25, from Brandon riding as a passenger around 12:20 a.m.

"For unknown reasons, after traveling through a curve in the road, [he] proceeded to travel right and onto the shoulder," Trooper David Riso wrote in a report. " He then overcorrected back into the northbound lane, then found himself "back towards the same shoulder."

The GMC hit a tree line while still heading north and became airborne, then struck a tree. The auto "continued forward, overturning" and ended up on the northbound shoulder upside down.

Troopers didn't say who found the crash site and are investigating more.

The two deaths apparently are the first two auto fatalities in the Keys this year.

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BlackBerry shares jump after Bernstein upgrades stock

TORONTO (Reuters) – Shares of BlackBerry rose more than 8 percent in on Monday after Bernstein Research said it was upgrading the stock to “outperform” after last week’s launch of the company’s new line of BlackBerry 10 smartphones.

The brokerage firm, which has not had an “outperform” rating on the stock for more than three years, also lifted its price target to $ 22 from $ 12, saying it has grown much more confident about the success of the smartphones, powered by the new BlackBerry 10 operating system.

Shares of BlackBerry, which is in the process of changing its legal name from Research In Motion, rose 8.9 percent to $ 14.18 in early Nasdaq trading. BlackBerry’s Toronto-listed shares were up 9.1 percent at C$ 14.21 at 10:30 EST.

The stock began trading under the “BBRY” symbol on Nasdaq on Monday and under the “BB” symbol on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The stock used to trade as “RIMM” on the Nasdaq and “RIM” on the TSX.

“We upgrade BlackBerry to outperform today as we believe BB 10 is set for a strong launch,” Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu said in a note to clients. “Even if the long-term prospects for the platform are very uncertain, we believe all is in place for BlackBerry 10 to enjoy a great debut.”

BlackBerry, a one-time pioneer in the smartphone industry, has ceded market share in recent years to the likes of Apple’s iPhone, Samsung’s Galaxy line and a slew of devices powered by Google Inc’s market-leading Android operating system.

In a make-or-break move to regain market share and return to profit, BlackBerry introduced its new line of smartphones to much fanfare on Wednesday. However, its stock fell more than 10 percent following the launch as investors were disappointed that the new smartphones will only go on sale in mid-March in the crucial U.S. market.

“The strength of this launch is overlooked by investors, creating strong opportunity to buy BlackBerry,” said Ferragu, adding that he expects strong initial corporate demand for the new devices.

“We believe BlackBerry should trade in the $ 20-$ 25 range once a decent launch for Blackberry 10 and a stabilized trajectory for fiscal year 2014 are priced in,” he said.

BlackBerry unveiled both a touch-screen device and a physical-keyboard device last week. While the traditional keyboard model only goes on sale in April, the touch-screen device is already on sale in the United Kingdom and hits store shelves in Canada this week.

Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry said the U.S. launch was delayed until mid-March because U.S. wireless carriers have a longer testing phase than carriers in other countries. The devices, which are set to retail for C$ 599 ($ 600) in Canada, are currently attracting bids of more than $ 1,000 each on auction site ebay.com.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn; and Peter Galloway)

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Celeste and Jesse Forever Deleted Scene

For Celeste and Jesse Forever, the first screenplay from beloved Parks and Recreation star Rashida Jones, she tapped some of her famous friends to help bring this unique lovestory to life.

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Not only does Andy Samberg play her titular best friend/ex-boyfriend, but Elijah Wood, Ari Graynor, Chris Messina, Emma Roberts, Eric Christian Olsen and a mute Chris Pine round out Celeste's cinematic circle of friends.

VIDEO - Amy Poehler Slays in Super Bowl Spot

ETonline scored an exclusive deleted scene off the DVD that, much like HBO's sensational Girls, reveals the inherent intimacy of female friendships.

Celeste and Jesse Forever hits DVD on February 5, click here to pre-order!

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Texas couple rent fancy Manhattan condo to 'revolving door of complete strangers': lawsuit

A Texas couple turned a designer Manhattan condo into a virtual flophouse by renting their unit to transient, hard partying guests, a new lawsuit alleges.

Robert and Marilyn Blodgett, of Houston, have allegedly used 3K "as a vacation rental property,” drawing a “revolving door of complete strangers,” despite repeated cease and desist demands from the condo board of 340 E. 23rd Street, the Manhattan Supreme Court suit states.

The couple owns a vacation website called Luxe VR, which markets high-end properties across the U.S. to travelers for stays of a few days to many weeks.

At least 27 tourists have bedded down in 3K since August 2011, but it was recent guest Malcolm Kee, who sent residents into a tizzy, according to court documents.

Kee, in his mid-twenties, checked in on Jan. 14, allegedly threw three ragging parties, invited friends who threatened and cursed out building staff, and still hasn't checked out, the lawsuit claims.

Attempts to curb Kee's alleged bad behavior have proven unsuccessful. “Much to the horror of the residents of neighboring unit 3L, Kee, his travel companion, or one of his party guests responded in a retaliatory manner by defacing 3L’s doorway with an obscene depiction of male genitalia,” court papers claim.

“It’s amazing to me that you could be in this luxury condo building and pay millions of dollars for your apartment and right next door you have some crazy person,” said the condo board’s attorney, Steven Sladkus.

For $299 a night tourists “can experience living like a real Manhattanite,” a website for the rental boasts, adding that the address is a short walk to “famous restaurants and bars and Third and First Avenue.”

The board of the Gramercy Condominium, by celebrity designer Phillippe Starck, wants to shut down the illegal hotel and unspecified monetary damages.

Sladkus said the practice of renting out units on a short-term basis has proliferated in the past year.

“Unfortunately there’s a big trend lately for people renting out their condo units on a short-term basis,” said Sladkus. The practice “not only violates most building’s bylaws, but also violates the Multiple Dwelling Law that says essentially you can’t have paying guests for less than 30 days.”

Sladkus said the unit’s owners, the Blodgetts, have completely ignored three requests to stop the rentals. The Blodgetts did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment.

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Bright spots in Latin America despite global economic uncertainty

There are bright spots as Latin American and Caribbean economies begin the year but the uncertain health of the U.S. economy, the lingering financial crisis in Europe and more sluggish growth in China are casting shadows over the region.

A decade ago, dim prospects in those major markets would have delivered a knock-out punch in the region, but this year Latin American and Caribbean economies are expected to grow by 3.5 percent and average 3.9 percent growth in 2014 and 2015, according to a World Bank forecast. The United Nations’ Economic Commission has a slightly more sanguine forecast of 3.8 percent growth in 2013.

Both are better than the 2.4 percent growth the World Bank is forecasting for the global economy and the mere 1.3 percent increase it is predicting for high-income countries.

The U.S. economy grew by 2.2 percent in 2012. But the economy shrank 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter and the first quarter of 2013 also could be sluggish..

“That creates a soggy start for 2013 in Latin America,’’ said David Malpass, president of Encima Global, a New York economic consulting and research firm.

With a recession in Japan, even slower growth expected in Europe than in the United States, and questions about whether the dip in the Chinese economy has bottomed out and whether the United States will be making sharp cuts in defense spending and other federal programs come March 1, Latin American and Caribbean nations can’t really depend on the industrialized world to spur growth.

The region must look inward and undertake structural reforms that will allow growth from domestic factors, said Malpass, who was in Miami in January for an event organized by the University of Miami’s Center for Hemispheric Policy.

Panama’s $5.25 billion investment in expansion of the Panama Canal is an example of the inward focus that will pay off down the road, said Malpass. By 2015, Panama plans to have completed two new sets of locks on the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the canal and the deepening and widening of existing channels to accommodate the so-called Post-Panamax ships too big to traverse the current locks.

“It’s a difficult period but a period where developing countries are growing solidly but not as quickly as they might otherwise want to,’’ said Andrew Burns, the lead author of the World Bank’s annual Global Economic Trends report.

That means they should focus on investment in infrastructure and healthcare, structural policies, regulatory reforms and improvements in governance that will pay future dividends down the road, Burns said.

Such economic reforms, plus high commodity prices enjoyed by countries with fertile fields and mineral wealth, helped the region move beyond the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 far more quickly than it did when it was so dependent on economic cycles in the rest of the world.

Economic growth slowed in Latin America and the Caribbean from 4.3 percent in 2011 to an estimated 3 percent but that was still better than the 1.3 percent growth high-income countries managed in 2012, according to The World Bank.

China will continue to play a major role in Latin America and the Caribbean this year but whether the slowdown in China has reached its low point is subject to debate. But it’s relative. Slow growth in China would be brisk growth elsewhere. China says its gross domestic product grew 7.8 percent in 2012, the most tepid growth in 13 years and a comedown from 9.3 percent growth in 2011.

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Insane City: Read excerpt from Dave Barry’s new book

After a block and a half they came to the Clevelander, a legendary South Beach bar bearing no resemblance to anything that has ever existed in Cleveland. On a small stage next to the packed bar a woman wearing a basically invisible bikini was writhing to inhumanly loud pounding music. Nearby, beneath a sign that said D.J. BOOGA WOOGA was a man wearing black lace-up boots and a purple thong held up by orange suspenders. He was shouting into a microphone: “LAST CALL FOR THE MISS HOT AMATEUR BOD CONTEST! LADIES COME ON UP! FIRST PRIZE IS ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS! COME ON LADIES! LET’S SEE WHAT YOU GOT!”

Standing near the DJ were a dozen young women wearing garments that, if all of them were combined, might have provided enough fabric to make a sock.

“We should stop here,” said Kevin.

“No we shouldn’t,” said Seth. “We need to get to the Ritz.”

“We can’t get to the Ritz,” said Kevin. “Admit it. We tried, and we failed.”

“Plus,” said Marty, “they don’t have Miss Hot Amateur Bod at the Ritz, not to mention D.J. Booga Wooga.”

Seth looked back out at Ocean Drive. Still no taxis.

“Maybe there’s a bus to Key Biscayne,” said Big Steve.

“Shut up, Steve,” said Kevin.

“Come on, Seth,” said Marty. “One drink.”

“OK,” said Seth, dragging his suitcase toward the bar. “One drink.”

* * *

Three hours later, they were on their fifth pitcher of margaritas. The pitchers were $50 apiece, plus a generous tip for Vicki the bartender, with whom Kevin had fallen deeply in love. Kevin was also in love with Cyndi Friend Gonzalez, an outgoing young woman who had finished fourth in the Miss Hot Amateur Bod competition, and who was wearing a dress made from roughly one square inch of some extremely stretchy material. At Kevin’s invitation, Cyndi had joined the Groom Posse at the bar; she had in turn been joined by a friend of hers, a large bald man named Duane.

The posse was not thrilled about Duane, but nobody told him to leave, because in addition to being large, he had an 11-foot Burmese albino python named Blossom draped over his shoulders. Duane made his living collecting tips from tourists who wanted to have their pictures taken with Blossom. He’d been doing this for eight years and considered himself a professional. He also considered himself an ambassador for Miami, and upon learning that Seth was about to get married, he had appointed himself as tour guide.

“This is my town,” he said. “ ¿Se hablo españolo? You need weed? Oxy?”

“I think we’re good,” said Seth.

Duane brandished Blossom. “You want to hold her? No charge for the groom, man.”

“Maybe later,” said Seth, leaning back to avoid Blossom’s flicking tongue.

“Just say the word,” said Duane, pouring Seth and himself another glass from the pitcher, finishing it. Kevin waved to Vicki for another.

The Clevelander was now very crowded and making far more noise than the entire state of Nebraska. The sea-salted night air was warm and sticky and thick with the aromas of spilled beer and cigar smoke and Axe body spray and billowing clouds of do-me perfume worn by women who were not wearing a whole lot else. Seth was staring at one of these women, wondering how she sat down in that dress and hoping she would attempt to do so soon, when he realized that Big Steve was shouting something into his ear, trying to be heard over the all-obliterating boom-boom issuing from the coffin-sized speakers of D.J. Booga Wooga.

“WHAT?” said Seth.

“THE HOTEL!” said Big Steve. He held up his phone so Seth could see the time: 9:30. Seth frowned. He swiveled toward Marty, grabbing the bar to keep from falling off the stool.

“MARTY.”

“WHAT?”

“WE NEED TO GET TO THE HOTEL!”

“WHAT?”

“THE HOTEL!”

Marty frowned deeply for several seconds, processing this concept, then said, “WHAT?”

“Never mind,” said Seth. Realizing it was time to take matters into his own hands, he turned away from Marty and slid smoothly off the stool. He continued sliding smoothly until he found himself on all fours under the bar. He decided to remain that way for a bit, collecting his thoughts.

He’d been down there a while and had yet to collect any when he became vaguely aware of voices shouting above him in the thumping din. He heard his name, and realized that the voices belonged to Marty, Big Steve and Kevin, who, apparently unaware that he was under the bar, were trying to figure out where he was.

“Hey!” said Seth. “Down here!”

They didn’t hear him. Their voices were louder now, and more concerned.

“Hey!” Seth repeated, again going unheard. He thought about attempting to stand up, but at the moment that didn’t seem to be a good idea, or even possible. He decided to collect his thoughts some more and soon fell asleep with his back against the bar.

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Adorable Tots: Celebs and their Cute Kids!

Jessica Simpson

They grow up so fast! Jessica Simpson shared an adorable pic of her daughter Maxwell standing up on Feb. 1, 2013, tweeting: "My lil dollface is 9 months today!"

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Deadly deserts

Ralph Peters

Violence in Allah’s name in northern Africa won’t end in my lifetime — and probably not in yours. The core question is: To what extent can the savagery be contained?

From the Atlantic coastline to the Suez Canal, struggling governments, impoverished populations and frankly backward societies struggle to find paths to modernization and to compete in a ruthless global economy. Religious fanatics for whom progress is a betrayal of faith hope to block development.

Still, if the only conflict was between Islamist terrorists and those who want civilized lives, the situation could be managed over time. But that struggle forms only one level in a layer cake of clashing visions and outright civil wars bedeviling a vast region. Much larger than Europe, the zone of contention encompasses the Maghreb, the countries touching the Mediterranean, and the Sahel, the bitterly poor states stretching down across desert wastes to the African savannah.

AFP/Getty Images

Figthers of the Islamic group Ansar Dine

The Sahel is the front line not only between the world of Islam and Christian-animist cultures in Africa’s heart, but between Arabs and light-skinned tribes in the north, and blacks to the south. No area in the world so explicitly illustrates the late, great Samuel Huntington’s concept of “the clash of civilizations.”

If racial and religious differences were not challenge enough, in the Maghreb the factions and interest groups are still more complicated. We view Egypt as locked in a contest between Islamists and “our guys,” Egyptians seeking new freedoms. But Egypt’s identity struggle is far more complex, involving social liberals, moderate Muslims, stern conservative Muslims (such as the Muslim Brotherhood) and outright fanatics. The military forms another constituency, while the business community defends its selfish interests. Then there are the supporters of the old Mubarak regime, the masses of educated-but-unemployed youth and the bitterly poor peasants.

Atop all that there’s the question of whether the values cherished by Arab societies can adapt to a globalized world.

The path to Egypt’s future will not be smooth — yet Egypt’s chances are better than those of many of its neighbors. Consider a few key countries in the region:

Mali

Viva la France! (Never thought I’d write that in The Post.) Contrary to a lot of media nonsense, the effective French intervention in Mali demonstrates that not every military response to Islamist terror has to become another Afghanistan: The French are welcome.

As extremists invariably do, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its allies rapidly alienated their fellow Muslims — after hijacking a local uprising. The local version of Islam is far more humane and tolerant than the Wahhabi cult imposed by Islamist fanatics. To the foreign extremists, the Malian love of Sufi mysticism, ancient shrines and their own centuries of religious scholarship are all hateful — as is the Malian genius for music that’s pleased listeners around the world.

Have a comment on this PostOpinion column? Send it in to LETTERS@NYPOST.COM!

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Hollywood cardiologist’s ties with St. Jude sales rep raises red flags

Mark Sabbota, a Hollywood cardiologist, regularly implants $5,000 pacemakers in patients at Memorial hospitals in South Broward — generating, last year alone, more than a half-million dollars in sales for a manufacturer called St. Jude Medical.

Sabbota, public records show, also happens to be partners with a St. Jude sales rep in two corporations that run frozen yogurt shops.

What’s yogurt got to do with healthcare?

Perhaps nothing. Perhaps a lot. The question is connected to an on-going lobbying battle in Washington over a pending disclosure policy intended to more clearly reveal financial ties between physicians and the healthcare industry — often-murky relationships that have produced a long history of whistle-blower lawsuits, federal investigations and fines.

Sabbota, in a brief interview, adamantly denied any conflict of interest. “There has been no wrongdoing at all,” he said.

Memorial spokeswoman Kerting Baldwin also said the hospital saw no problem with the yogurt arrangement. As a “community” doctor, not a staff employee, Baldwin said Sabbota can select from a list of pacemakers approved by the hospital but has no say over what companies made the list.

“As for why he prefers to use St. Jude, I won’t speak for him,’’ she said. “You’d have to ask him that.”

But several medical ethics experts said such relationships fall in a gray area. They raise what Kenneth Goodman, bioethics director at the University of Miami, called “red flags” about whether the doctor’s motivation in choosing a device “is something other than the best interests of the patient.”

“Maybe it’s just a good business arrangement that has nothing to do with the devices he chooses,” said Charles D. Rosen, a California physician who is co-founder of the Association for Medical Ethics. “But the issue is public disclosure and transparency. You as a patient should have the right to know about a doctor’s financial relationships with companies.”

Concerns about the relationship between doctors and healthcare companies have been simmering for years. Americans are so suspicious of doctors’ connections that, in a 2008 Pew Charitable Trusts survey, 86 percent of patients said doctors should not be allowed to get free dinners from drug makers and 70 percent said doctors shouldn’t even be allowed to get free notepads and pens.

The 2010 Affordable Care Act includes a provision intended to address some aspects of these often-cozy relationships. Starting Jan. 1, healthcare companies were supposed to publicly post how much they were paying doctors. But that provision has been held up in the White House by intense lobbying.

“I don’t know why the hold-up, except the intense opposition of the industry,” Rosen said. His group, including members of the Harvard Medical School and Cleveland Clinic, wrote a letter to the Obama administration last month protesting the delay.

The group complains that the healthcare industry is trying to soften the rules so that foreign subsidiaries and doctors engaged in clinical trials wouldn’t have to reveal payments. But even if the disclosure rules are implemented, a side deal like Sabbota’s yogurt company would not have to be revealed under the new law, Rosen said.

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