Police investigating ‘suspicious’ death of elderly woman in Miami home

Police are investigating details surrounding the death of an elderly woman found inside her home near midtown Miami.

Shortly after 4 p.m. Friday, Miami Police officers went to the home of Carmen Diaz, 78, whose adult son decided to visit her after not hearing from her in a few days, according to a news release. When he arrived, he found Diaz dead inside her home of 50 years at 120 NW 34 St.

Miami Police spokeswoman Kenia Reyes said although the death appeared “somewhat suspicious,” the department isn’t releasing details until the county medical examiner determines the cause of death.

WSVN-Channel 7 reported that the adult son found Diaz’s house ransacked and her body wrapped in a blanket in her bathroom.

Police confirmed the house was in disarray, but wouldn’t say if there had been a burglary.

The Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner is currently investigating the scene.

This article will be updated as more information becomes available.

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Twitter, Washington Post targeted by hackers

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Social media giant Twitter is among the latest U.S. companies to acknowledge that it is among a growing list of victims of Internet security attacks, saying that hackers may have gained access to information on 250,000 of its more than 200 million active users. And now, The Washington Post is joining the chorus, saying that it discovered that it was the target of a sophisticated cyberattack in 2011.

Twitter said a blog post on Friday it detected attempts to gain access to its user data earlier in the week. It shut down one attack moments after it was detected.

But Twitter discovered that the attackers may have stolen user names, email addresses and encrypted passwords belonging to 250,000 users they describe as ‘a very small percentage of our users.”

Nonetheless, the company reset the pilfered passwords and sent emails advising the affected users.

The online attack comes on the heels of recent hacks into the computer systems of U.S. media and technology companies, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Both American newspapers reported this week that their computer systems had been infiltrated by China-based hackers, likely to monitor media coverage the Chinese government deems important.

On Friday, The Washington Post disclosed in an article published on its website that it was the target of a sophisticated cyberattack, which was discovered in 2011. The company’s spokeswoman, Kris Coratti, didn’t offer any details including the duration of the attack or the origins. But according to sources that the paper quoted, who it said spoke on condition of anonymity, the intruders gained access as early as 2008 or 2009.

The cyberattack was first reported by an independent cybersecurity blog on Friday.

“Like other companies in the news recently, we face cybersecurity threats,” Coratti was quoted as saying. “We have a number of security measures in place to guard against cyberattacks on an ongoing basis.”

According to Coratti’s comments made to the newspaper, the company worked with security company Mandiant to “detect, investigate and remediate the situation promptly at the end of 2011.”

Coratti couldn’t be reached immediately for comment by The Associated Press.

China has been accused of mounting a widespread, aggressive cyber-spying campaign for several years, trying to steal classified information and corporate secrets and to intimidate critics. The Chinese foreign ministry could not be reached for comment Saturday, but the Chinese government has said those accusations are baseless and that China itself is a victim of cyber-attacks.

“Chinese law forbids hacking and any other actions that damage Internet security,” the Chinese Defense Ministry recently said. “The Chinese military has never supported any hacking activities.”

Twitter’s director of information security, Bob Lord, said in the blog that the attack “was not the work of amateurs, and we do not believe it was an isolated incident.”

“The attackers were extremely sophisticated, and we believe other companies and organizations have also been recently similarly attacked,” Lord said. “For that reason we felt that it was important to publicize this attack while we still gather information, and we are helping government and federal law enforcement in their effort to find and prosecute these attackers to make the Internet safer for all users.”

One expert said that the Twitter hack probably happened after an employee’s home or work computer was compromised through vulnerabilities in Java, a commonly used computing language whose weaknesses have been well publicized.

Ashkan Soltani, an independent privacy and security researcher, said such a move would give attackers “a toehold” in Twitter’s internal network, potentially allowing them either to sniff out user information as it traveled across the company’s system or break into specific areas, such as the authentication servers that process users’ passwords.

The relatively small number of users affected suggested either that attackers weren’t on the network long or that they were only able to compromise a subset of the company’s servers, Soltani said.

Twitter is generally used to broadcast messages to the public, so the hacking might not immediately have yielded any important secrets. But the stolen credentials could be used to eavesdrop on private messages or track which Internet address a user is posting from.

That might be useful, for example, for an authoritarian regime trying to keep tabs on a journalist’s movements.

“More realistically, someone could use that as an entry point into another service,” Soltani said, noting that since few people bother using different passwords for different services, a password stolen from Twitter might be just as handy for reading a journalist’s emails.

___

AP reporters Anne D’Innocenzio in New York, Raphael Satter in London and Didi Tang in Beijing contributed to this report.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Buzzmakers: SAG Winners Pics and Nicole Kidman Explains Jimmy Kimmel Lap Dance

What had ET readers buzzing this week?

1. PICS: SAG Winners with their Statues!

Some of Hollywood's biggest stars gathered Sunday night to honor acting achievements at the 2013 Screen Actors Guild Awards. Anne Hathaway -- winner of the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Les Misérables -- kicks off our gallery of the stars accepting their handsome statuettes!

Click here for all the pics!

2. Nicole Kidman on Her Lap Dance for Jimmy Kimmel

Nicole Kidman raised eyebrows during Matt Damon's Jimmy Kimmel Live! takeover when she greeted Kimmel -- who was strapped to a chair -- with a lap dance. On the SAG Awards red carpet, the Oscar winner explained the move to Nancy O'Dell.

Kidman described the dance as "impromptu," saying that she was just following the lead of another one of the night's guests.

"Robin Williams had done it before, so I thought, 'Well, why not?'" Kidman explained.

For years Kimmel has had a running joke where he ends every episode by apologizing to Matt Damon for running out of time for him. On last week's special episode of the late-night show -- nine years in the making -- Damon recruited some friends (which included Andy Garcia, Sheryl Crow, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Robert DeNiro, Sarah Silverman, Demi Moore and Oprah Winfrey.

3. Top-Earning 'American Idol' Alums

American Idol is in the business of making music stars, and in turn, has made lots of money for some of their contestants. Forbes released their list of the top-earning Idol alums of 2012 a few names on this list are sure to surprise you.

Click here for the entire list!

4. Jennifer Lawrence Suffers Wardrobe Malfunction

It seemed like disaster for Jennifer Lawrence when her dress came apart just as she was called up to accept the award for Best Actress during the 2013 SAG Awards.

The Silver Linings Playbook star's apparent wardrobe malfunction caught the eye of both Marion Cotillard and Nicole Kidman, whose reaction to the getup coming apart at the seams was caught on camera. No disaster, here, though -- it turns out the dress was designed that way! A source close to designer Dior told ET that the dress did not rip -- that it was made with different layers of tulle and satin.

This minor outfit hitch comes after it was announced that Lawrence, 22, has walking pneumonia, making this one of the best and worst weeks for the award-winning actress.

5. Kris Jenner Lands Talk Show

Are you ready for a daily dose of Kris Jenner?

The TV personality will test the talk show waters this summer when Fox premieres a preview episode of Kris, a one-hour entertainment talk show. "This is something I have wanted to do all my life so it's definitely a dream come true," Jenner said in a statement! "I can't wait for this new adventure to begin and look forward to working alongside Twentieth Television and the Fox Television Stations."

Kris will be rolled out in a similar fashion to how Bethenny Frankel's talk show was last summer, with the network testing the waters to see if there's an audience appetite for more of this famous family. According to a press release, the show will "offer daytime viewers a daily jolt of celebrity guests, fashion & beauty trends; plus a mix of lifestyle topics -- all through the distinctive and unpredictable perspective of Kris Jenner. Filmed in Los Angeles, CA, the pop culture driven talk show will bring a cool blast of fun and high energy to summer television."

The trial run of Kris will launch this summer, with the program available on select Fox-owned stations in markets, including New York and Los Angeles.

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Thousands mourn death of George W. Bush's dog Barney on Facebook

DALLAS — Thousands have offered their condolences via Facebook over the death of Barney, President George W. Bush's beloved black Scottish terrier.

Bush and his wife, Laura, released a statement Friday saying their famous 12-year-old pooch had died after suffering from lymphatic cancer.

"Barney was by my side during our eight years in the White House," Bush said. "He never discussed politics and was always a faithful friend. Laura and I will miss our pal."

The statement was reposted on the former president's Facebook page and had drawn more than 31,000 comments by Saturday morning, all expressing sympathy for the family's loss. The Facebook page also shared a 64-photo gallery of Barney, including George W. Bush's oil painting of the dog. That post had garnered another 8,600 comments.

REUTERS

George W. Bush and Barney in 2003

Barney became an Internet sensation in 2002, when a tiny video camera on his collar offered viewers a dog-level holiday tour of the White House — shuffling from room to room and menacing the Christmas tree. The video drew 24 million online tourists the first day.

Public access to the White House was more restricted in the aftermath of Sept. 11, so first lady Laura Bush sent Barney out to prowl the building with the camera. Barney Cam's 4.5-minute video tour of the mansion decorations was such a hit that his movies became an annual feature for the rest of Bush's presidency.

Later videos later included Miss Beazley, the Bush family's other Scottish terrier, and high-profile cameos by country singer Alan Jackson and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

A burial is planned at the former president's ranch in Central Texas, where Bush says Barney, "a fierce armadillo hunter," loved to accompany him while fishing for bass.

Barney politely greeted heads of state, queens and prime ministers but "guarded the South Lawn entrance of the White House as if he were a Secret Service agent," Bush added.

Barney was the continuation of a Bush family tradition of presidential dogs begun by Millie, the springer spaniel brought to the White House by President George H.W. Bush and his first lady Barbara Bush.

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Miami Beach hotels seek more political clout

When Miami Beach wanted local hotels to scale-back their popular rooftop parties and bars, Alexander Tachmes fought back.

An attorney who has represented Beach hotels on a myriad of issues, he “cobbled” together a group of his hotelier clients and went before the city commission to ask them to curb the proposed rules.

The hotels won.

It was a learning experience, said Tachmes, who came to believe that the Beach needed a permanent group of industry heavyweights to take political action in the face of restrictive city policies.

With that in mind, Miami Beach’s hotel industry is taking on a decidedly political tone by reviving a previously-formed electioneering organization, just in time for election season on the sandbar.

The group is called Hospitality for a Better Miami Beach, and as an Electioneering Communication Organization (ECO), it can raise unlimited money to run ads, send fliers and make telephone calls about political issues. They’ve also created Miami Beach Hospitality Coalition, which Tachmes said will soon be registered as a non-profit.

Behind the organizations are Tachmes and big-name hoteliers Mike Palma, Executive Vice President of Hospitality for Brio Investment Group (which owns the Clevelander) and the Perry South Beach Hotel General Manager Tim Nardi.

“Political clout is something that will help to further the goals of the industry,” Tachmes said.

Hotels already have their interests represented by the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association and the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. But the association is tax-funded and the visitor’s bureau is tax-exempt, so neither can raise or spend money for political purposes.

Stuart Blumberg, who headed the hotel association for 15 years, thinks the industry has enough clout without having to wade into politics.

“You’re getting a group of hoteliers who’ve decided they want a voice in government. And that’s dangerous,” he said of the ECO.

An outspoken leader, Blumberg often took political stances and faced elected officials — and he often found success.

Blumberg led the charge to exempt pool decks and outdoor patios from a constitutional amendment banning smoking, and pushed to delay the start of the school year so that Florida teens could continue working at local hotels. At a farewell gathering after Blumberg announced his retirement, he didn’t hesitate to take a shot at then-Gov. Charlie Crist, calling him out on a proposed tax increase on car rentals.

“We were able to accomplish a lot of things because we weren’t tarnished by, ‘Yeah, I supported that guy or that guy,’” Blumberg said. “You stand and fall on the merits of an issue.”

Citing the huge impact the tourism industry has on Florida, he added: “We don’t need to spend money to win influence.”

According to state figures, the tourism industry has a $67.3 billion economic impact on Florida.

In Miami-Dade, the accommodation industry accounts for 3 percent of the county’s 1 million non-farm jobs, or about 27,000 positions. The industry also contributes about $1 billion in income a year in Miami-Dade, or about 2 percent of total wages.

With a November election in Miami Beach — in which a majority of the city’s commission seats up for grabs — now is the time to translate economic importance into political prominence, said Palma.

In a city where resident-activists are vocal and plentiful, and where residents are often at odds with party-seeking tourists, Palma said city leaders lately have tilted more in favor of residents rather than businesses

Added Tachmes: “The residents of the city benefit by having a thriving hotel industry...all we want is a seat at the table.”

The electioneering committee was registered last year and is currently not active, according to state records.

Tachmes said the group is in the process of recruiting members — whom he would not name — and creating a board, at which time the group will be re-opened. Members are planning to interview candidates to decide who to support in the upcoming elections.

Wendy Kallergis, president and CEO of the hotel association, pointed out that many of the ECO members are also members of her organization. She doesn’t think the new group will be a competitor.

“We’re not able to do some of the things they can do,” she said. “I think it’s going to strengthen the voice on the Beach.”

Miami Herald staff writer Douglas Hanks contributed to this report.

Follow @Cveiga on Twitter.

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National Urban League to hold 2015 conference in Fort Lauderdale

The National Urban League announced today that Fort Lauderdale edged out nine other cities to attract its 2015 conference.

“There were some strong cities and affiliates,” Rhonda Spears Bell, the senior vice president for the National urban League said Friday during a news conference held at the Urban League of Broward County’s headquarters. “But everything seemed to line up for Fort Lauderdale.”

The organization currently holds a mid-winter conference in Fort Lauderdale every year.

“It’s time to bring the big game,” Bell said.

In the past, the national conference has attracted well known guests such as Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

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This Week’s Social Media Power Rankings: The Return of Swatch

The social media sphere is an increasingly noisy place, especially for brands. But hiding somewhere in the static are strong signals from companies reaching their customers in innovative ways. The Social Business Index from the Dachis Group provides a (free) real-time ranking of more than 30,000 global brands based on their social performance. Every week we’re taking a tally of who’s getting heard, what they’re saying, and why it matters.

RELATED: This Week’s Social Media Power Rankings: Cisco Has a Warrior

As you can see, there wasn’t much movement in the top 10. But if you look at number 17, you’ll see Diageo had the biggest jump this week. If that name doesn’t sound familiar, it’s the company that owns more familiar brands like Guiness, Johnnie Walker and Ketel One. So props to them and our livers—now let’s look at what happened outside the top 20:

RELATED: This Week’s Social Media Power Rankings: Cheers to Heineken

“Cisco’s rise in the Social Business Index this week was supported by the social efforts behind ‘the world’s largest classroom.’” Lizzie Steen of the Dachis Group told us. What she’s referring to is the  The Cisco Networking Academy— a public/private program that provides technology and career education to more than four million students across 10,000 academies in 165 countries.  And that sounds serious, but as Steen points out, part of its success is there’s an emphasis on fun. Steen writes: 

Two engineers, Ian and Dan, set up two servers and decorated them with flower lights while studying for their certification from Cisco. The photo received more than 1,200 likes and 186 shares from the the site’s 460 thousand fans.  Overall, the CNA page has balanced a dense subject matter with a collaborative and fun posts, making the learning process more global and human.

Swatch proved that it’s never too early to start prepping for Valentine’s Day.  As the Dachis Group’s Joe Pinaire points out, their very popular True Love (has nothing to hide) campaign and its new A la Folie watch contributed to Swatch’s boost this week. “From Taiwan to Chile, the brand has leveraged countless regional Facebook presences to let their fans know the clock is ticking on the seasonal special,” Pinaire told us. “And fans have taken to this messaging, as the brand’s bevy of original and creative photo content has garnered love from around the globe,” he added. That photo content was specified and regionalized for their fans,  featuring pictures of a Spanish store floor redesign promoting the watch and the watch thriving in the hustle of Vienna city-life and the new O’Hare airport store. “Swatch also launched a Twitter contest using their global handle (@swatch), encouraging Belgian, Dutch, English, Spanish, and Swiss fans to declare their #TrueLove (because it has nothing to hide–right?) in exchange for a chance to win the seasonal watch and a travel voucher.” And if there’s something people love more than Valentine’s Day, it’s a free contest.

So, no cheating, but do you know how many Facebook fans Intel and its Ultrabooks have? Over 16.5 million. That also means a lot of social media juice. “Last week, the Ultrabook took in the sights in New York City and Paris. In New York, an Ultrabook posed within view of the inimitable Empire State Building with the caption, ‘Empire State of Mind’, showing off its amazing form factor and the Intel i7 chip that powers it,” the Dachis Group’s Charles Lim told us.  The photo generated more than 130 thousand likes, 1,600 comments and six thousand shares—it’s a photo of a computer people.  Lim explains:

Like car lovers, electronics enthusiasts react positively to photos of gear that they already own or would like to own. This is because electronics, like cars, are aspirational and functional and inspire lust and passion.  It also helped that the photo was a shout-out to the cultural hub of America.  …

These posts are well tuned to a global brand campaign that appeals the traveler, gets local voices involved, inspires contests and instills the notion that the Ultrabook can go anywhere you go.

Methodology: A project of the Dachis Group, a social business professional services group, the Social Business Index analyzes the conversations on social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and others. The index, which currently covers approximately 25,0000 companies and 27,000 brands, detects behaviors and activities exhibited by these companies and analyzes their execution and effectiveness at driving outcomes such as brand awareness, brand love, mind share, and advocacy. The Atlantic Wire takes a snapshot of the rankings at the end of the day on Sundays.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Revenge Sacrifice Sneak Peek Clip

The second season of Revenge has been building towards The Amanda sinking and claiming at least one life -- and when the sudsy ABC series returns on February 10, the doomed voyage commences.

RELATED - 2012's Best Shows

This morning, I received a Shamu-cam straight from "Nolan Ross" and it contained a very exciting video file labeled "Confidential: For Your Eyes Only." But I've decided to risk Emily's wrath by sharing the sneak peek with you right now!

PHOTOS - Revenge Cast Glams It Up in Elle Magazine

Accompanying the flashdrive was a note on NOLCORP stationary. It read:

Ems -

Or should I start referring to you as The Thorne Identity? (ed note: YES!)

Watch this. It's the whale cam video file that goes KA-BOOM! Literally. It self destructs after you watch it. Be extremely careful when activating, and whatever you do, DO NOT let it fall into the wrong hands.

Yours in Revenge,

N

I can trust you, right?

Revenge airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on ABC.

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Energy Secretary Chu steps down after Solyndra scandal

WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who won a Nobel Prize in physics but came under questioning for his handling of a solar energy loan, is stepping down.

Chu offered his resignation to President Barack Obama in a letter Friday. He said he will stay on at least until the end of February and may stay until a successor is confirmed.

Chu's departure had been widely expected and follows announcements by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, that they are leaving.

The White House said no decisions have been made on replacements for any of the environment and energy jobs but said Obama's priorities will remain unchanged. Potential replacements for Chu include former North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and former Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Obama said in a statement Friday that Chu brought a "unique understanding of both the urgent challenge presented by climate change and the tremendous opportunity that clean energy represents for our economy."

During his tenure, Chu helped move the country toward energy independence, Obama said, citing Energy Department programs to boost renewable energy such as wind and solar power.

"Thanks to Steve, we also expanded support for our brightest engineers and entrepreneurs as they pursue groundbreaking innovations that could transform our energy future," Obama said.

Chu, a former director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, had little political experience before taking the energy post in 2009.

He drew fire from congressional Republicans who criticized his handling of a $528 million federal loan to solar panel maker Solyndra, which later went bankrupt, laying off its 1,100 workers. Republicans said Chu and other Energy Department officials missed many warning signs about problems at Solyndra and compounded them by approving a restructuring of the loan even after problems were discovered.

Solyndra was the first renewable-energy company to receive a loan guarantee under the 2009 stimulus law, and the Obama administration frequently promoted the company as a model for its clean energy program. Chu attended a 2009 groundbreaking when the loan was announced, and Obama visited the company's Fremont, Calif., headquarters the next year.

The company's implosion in 2011 and revelations that the administration hurried a review of the loan in time for the groundbreaking become an embarrassment for Chu and Obama and a rallying cry for GOP critics of the administration's green energy program.

Lawmakers also criticized Chu for approving the plan to restructure Solyndra's debt so that two private investors moved ahead of taxpayers for repayment in case of default.

Chu defended the Solyndra loan during a sometimes testy hearing in late 2011. While calling the ultimate outcome "regrettable," Chu said the loan was subject to "proper, rigorous scrutiny and healthy debate" before it was approved in 2009.

"While we are disappointed in the outcome of this particular loan, we support Congress' mandate to finance the deployment of innovative technologies and believe that our portfolio of loans does so responsibly," Chu said.

The White House said Chu retained Obama's confidence, but Chu was widely expected to leave following Obama's re-election last fall.

In a letter to Energy Department employees, Chu said he was proud of his tenure and cited dozens of accomplishments, including doubling the production of renewable energy from wind and solar power. Installations of small solar electric, or photovoltaic, systems have nearly doubled in each of the last three years, he said, while fully 42 percent of new energy capacity in the U.S. last year was from wind —more than any other energy source, Chu said.

"I came with dreams and am leaving with a set of accomplishments that we should all be proud of," he said.

One of his accomplishments was something that Chu rarely talked about: Obama repeatedly credits Chu with helping to plug the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Chu and a team of engineers helped devised an interim solution before a replacement well permanently plugged the leak, which spewed more than 200 million gallons of oil in the worst offshore oil disaster in the country's history.

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Mompreneur jumps into the ‘Shark Tank’

It all started with a 4 a.m. email nearly a year ago: “Do you think a baby bib could change the world? I do...”

Then Susie Taylor included a link to her website, bibbitec.com, and off it went to Shark Tank, the popular ABC television show where entrepreneurs pitch their companies to investors on the show — and by extension, 7 million viewers.

Four months later, as the “mompreneur” was leaving her Biscayne Park home to pick up her kids from school, she got a call from the show asking her to pitch on the spot. Driving with her phone on her shoulder, she told the Bibbitec story.

Shark Tank bit. After a few more back and forths, her segment was filmed last summer.

Friday night, Taylor is scheduled to be on the show pitching Bibbitec’s main product, “The Ultimate Bib,” a patented generously sized, stain-resistant and fast-drying child’s bib made in the USA — Hialeah, to be exact. Bibbitec’s $30 bib can be a burp cloth, changing pad, breast feeding shield, full body bib, place mat, art smock and more, Taylor says.

We won’t be getting any details on what happens Friday night when she and her husband, Stephen Taylor, get into the tank with Daymond John, Mark Cuban and the other celebrity sharks; Taylor has been contractually sworn to secrecy. But whatever the outcome, she believes it will be worth it for the marketing pop.

Taylor was inspired to create her bib after a long and very messy plane ride with her two young sons and started Bibbitec in 2008. She and her team — her husband is CFO, her sister, Heather McCabe, handles sales and marketing, her uncle, Richard Page, is in charge of production, and her aunt, Marcia Kreitman, advises on design — have expanded the line to include The Ultimate Smock for older children and the Ultimate Mini for babies. Coming soon: a smock for adults.

Taylor already got a taste of what a national TV show appearance can do for sales. In September, Bibbitec’s sales jumped 40 percent after she was on an ABC World News "Made in America" segment. “Within 30 seconds, we started getting sales from all over the country and they didn’t even mention our name on the air,” Taylor says. She said that confirmed her belief that a Shark Tank appearance would be worth it.

Plus, Taylor has been hooked on Shark Tank since the first time she watched it in 2008 as she was developing her product. Trained in theater, she admits she didn’t know much about business and learned from the show. She would practice how she would answer the questions.

“I’m all about empowering women who are sitting on the couch watching, because that’s what I was four years ago,” says Taylor. “All I wanted to do was to be on Shark Tank because I believed if I got on Shark Tank the world will see what I am trying to do and that’s all I need. I know it’s a great product.”

Will that theater training come in handy Friday night? Stay tuned. Shark Tank airs at 9 p.m. on ABC and Taylor hopes viewers will join in on Twitter using the hashtag #sharkbib.

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Another Miami police officer criminally charged with extortion

A Miami police officer who recently resigned while under investigation surrendered to authorities Thursday on criminal charges stemming from an FBI investigation. He became the second officer charged with involvement in an alleged protection racket for a sports-betting ring operating out of a Liberty City barbershop.

Harold James, an eight-year veteran, is charged with two counts of extortion involving providing protection for “the cashing of fraudulent checks’’ in exchange for cash payments, according to court records.

He is scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court Thursday afternoon. Prosecutors are seeking to seize $800 from James that they say he pocketed from the alleged protection racket in 2012.

James became the second Miami officer criminally charged in as many days. In an unrelated case, authorities arrested Officer Luis Hernandez, 27, Wednesday and charged him with armed kidnapping and sexual battery by a law enforcement officer. Also Wednesday, the department fired an officer, Reynaldo Goyos, for shooting and killing an unarmed motorist two years ago.

In federal court, James is charged by criminal “information,’’ a sign that he is cooperating with authorities and will eventually plead guilty to limit any prison sentence.

James last worked in the Model City neighborhood before he resigned in November, city records show. He generally received above-average performance evaluations, and he received nine commendations over his career. James was reprimanded seven times, mostly for traffic accidents or failing to appear for court hearings, records show.

Earlier this month, fellow Miami Officer Nathaniel Dauphin became the first of several cops swept up in the broad anti-corruption dragnet of the city’s embattled police department.

Dauphin, 41, allegedly helped organize the protection racket for the Liberty City sports-betting operation. He pleaded not guilty to a single charge of extortion conspiracy, alleging that he “protected and facilitated illegal activity — gambling — in exchange for receipts of cash payments.’’

Dauphin, a police officer since 1996, was allegedly paid $5,000, according to the charge. The government filed papers to seize that money from him. Dauphin also was charged by “criminal information.’’ He was released from custody on a $100,000 bond.

James and Dauphin are among at least 10 Miami police officers expected to soon face federal criminal charges or internal discipline related to the protection scheme and other criminal activity, The Miami Herald has learned.

Seven of the officers under scrutiny, including James, have already resigned or been relieved of duty in recent weeks, according to sources close to the probe.

The FBI, which has been working with Miami internal affairs investigators since the gambling operation was shut down in March 2012, is expected to make more arrests.

The targeted officers, who worked in the Model City substation, are suspected of providing off-the-books protection and frequenting the Player’s Choice Barber Shop, 6301 NW Sixth Ave.

Also relieved of duty are officers Malinsky Bazile, 27, Vital Frederick, 26, and Angel Mercado, 29, who are suspected of other criminal activity unrelated to the alleged protection racket. All continue to receive pay while the investigation continues.

In December, The Herald reported that 31-year-old officer Lashunda Hodge was relieved of duty with pay as part of the protection-detail probe.

At least three other Miami officers are facing scrutiny in connection with the protection scheme: Hodge’s roommate, Kenya Crocker, 39; Dauphin’s girlfriend, Carol Vargas, 39, and Darryl Bryant, 51, according to sources familiar with the case.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

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Apple loses a U.S. appeals bid in Samsung patent fight

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Thursday rejected Apple Inc‘s request to revive its bid for a sales ban on Samsung‘s Galaxy Nexus smartphone, dashing the iPhone maker’s attempt to recover crucial leverage in the global patent wars.

Apple had asked the full Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., to revisit a decision in October by a three-judge panel of the same court. The panel rejected Apple’s request to impose a sales ban on Samsung’s Nexus smartphone ahead of a trial set for March 2014.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment. A Samsung representative could not immediately be reached.

The fight in appeals court comes after Apple won a $ 1.05 billion verdict last year against Samsung in a U.S. District Court in California. The same trial judge will preside over the legal battle surrounding the Nexus phone, which involves a patent not included in the earlier trial.

The fight has been widely viewed as a proxy war between Apple and Google Inc. Samsung’s hot-selling Galaxy smartphones and tablets run on Google’s Android operating system, which Apple’s late co-founder, Steve Jobs, once denounced as a “stolen product.”

In its October ruling against Apple, the appeals court raised the bar for potentially market-crippling injunctions on product sales based on narrow patents for phone features. The legal precedent puts Samsung in a much stronger position by allowing its products to remain on store shelves while it fights a global patent battle against Apple over smartphone technology.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, in San Jose, California, who has presided over much of the Apple/Samsung litigation in the United States, cited the appeals’ court decision in a December order rejecting Apple’s request for permanent sales bans on several Samsung phones. Apple has appealed Koh’s ruling.

Apple wanted the full Federal Circuit of Appeals, made up of nine active judges, to reverse the earlier ruling. But in a brief order on Thursday, the court rejected Apple’s request without detailed explanation or any published dissents.

Several experts had believed that Apple faced long odds, as the legal issues in play were not considered controversial enough to spur full court review.

Apple could still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, the high court has made it more difficult for patent plaintiffs to secure sales injunctions in recent years.

The case in the Federal Circuit is Apple Inc. vs Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, 12-1507.

(Reporting By Dan Levine; Editing by John Wallace, Grant McCool and Leslie Adler)

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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New Jack Ryan Pic

The new Jack Ryan reboot doesn't hit theaters this Christmas, but that hasn't stopped Paramount from teasing us with new pics from the movie starring Chris Pine in the title role.

Pics: 13 Must-See Movies of 2013

The pic, courtesy of USA Today, features Pine and co-star Kevin Costner, who plays a CIA vet who recruits Ryan, an injured Marine, to work as a high-level analyst, teaching him that his intellect is his most potent weapon.

"It's always a bit overwhelming," Pine tells the newspaper of taking on yet another franchise character after Star Trek's Captain Kirk. "What I do know is my job is to do my best to bring whatever new colors I have to these franchises."

The Jack Ryan storyline finds the Moscow-based Ryan discovering a terrorist plot to collapse America's economy, putting his love (played by Keira Knightley) in jeopardy. Kenneth Branagh plays the film's villain and also directs. The origin story from screenwriter David Koepp will be the first Jack Ryan film not based on a previous Tom Clancy book.

"We take the fundamentals of the myth of Jack Ryan and do an original film that was never a book," says Pine. "We're making our own story in a modern-day 2013."

The CIA analyst character has been portrayed by three actors in the past: Alec Baldwin in 1984's The Hunt for Red October, Harrison Ford in 1987's Patriot Games and 1989's Clear and Present Danger and Ben Affleck in 1991's The Sum of All Fears.

Video: 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Stars Take on Warp Speed Round

"He doesn't drive great cars, he doesn't know five different martial arts," says Pine. "He works in the CIA, but he's a normal guy with a normal wife thrown into these extraordinary circumstances."

Jack Ryan hits theaters December 25.

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DA shot and killed outside courthouse in Texas

KAUFMAN, Texas — An assistant district attorney was shot and killed Thursday morning near the North Texas county courthouse where he worked, and authorities said they were searching for two suspects.

The shooting occurred just before 9 a.m. outside the Kaufman County Courthouse annex, which is across the street from the main county courthouse about 33 miles southeast of Dallas. Officials didn't immediately indicate any motive for the shooting.

Kaufman Independent School District Superintendent Todd Williams said all schools in the district were placed in lockdown as authorities searched for the suspects, and officials eventually decided to close the buildings for the day.

AP

Law enforcement officers investigate the scene of a shooting in downtown Kaufman, Texas where a prosecutor was shot and killed.

The name of the prosecutor was not immediately announced, pending notification of family.

Local law enforcement officials decried the shooting as an attack on the criminal justice system.

"We understand that we may come into contact with violent people but this is the next level," Kaufman County Sheriff David Byrnes said Thursday at a news conference.

Kaufman Police Chief Chris Aulbaugh said the shooting would have a major impact on the town and the county.

"Any loss of life, especially someone out there protecting the community, would have that effect," he said.

Calls to the district attorney's office Thursday were not immediately returned.

Investigators gathered in a parking lot adjacent to the annex where the prosecutor was shot. Yellow tape and law enforcement vehicles blocked the area from spectators.

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Mompreneur jumps into the ‘Shark Tank’

It all started with a 4 a.m. email nearly a year ago: “Do you think a baby bib could change the world? I do...”

Then Susie Taylor included a link to her website, bibbitec.com, and off it went to Shark Tank, the popular ABC television show where entrepreneurs pitch their companies to investors on the show — and by extension, 7 million viewers.

Four months later, as the “mompreneur” was leaving her Biscayne Park home to pick up her kids from school, she got a call from the show asking her to pitch on the spot. Driving with her phone on her shoulder, she told the Bibbitec story.

Shark Tank bit. After a few more back and forths, her segment was filmed last summer.

Friday night, Taylor is scheduled to be on the show pitching Bibbitec’s main product, “The Ultimate Bib,” a patented generously sized, stain-resistant and fast-drying child’s bib made in the USA — Hialeah, to be exact. Bibbitec’s $30 bib can be a burp cloth, changing pad, breast feeding shield, full body bib, place mat, art smock and more, Taylor says.

We won’t be getting any details on what happens Friday night when she and her husband, Stephen Taylor, get into the tank with Daymond John, Mark Cuban and the other celebrity sharks; Taylor has been contractually sworn to secrecy. But whatever the outcome, she believes it will be worth it for the marketing pop.

Taylor was inspired to create her bib after a long and very messy plane ride with her two young sons and started Bibbitec in 2008. She and her team — her husband is CFO, her sister, Heather McCabe, handles sales and marketing, her uncle, Richard Page, is in charge of production, and her aunt, Marcia Kreitman, advises on design — have expanded the line to include The Ultimate Smock for older children and the Ultimate Mini for babies. Coming soon: a smock for adults.

Taylor already got a taste of what a national TV show appearance can do for sales. In September, Bibbitec’s sales jumped 40 percent after she was on an ABC World News "Made in America" segment. “Within 30 seconds, we started getting sales from all over the country and they didn’t even mention our name on the air,” Taylor says. She said that confirmed her belief that a Shark Tank appearance would be worth it.

Plus, Taylor has been hooked on Shark Tank since the first time she watched it in 2008 as she was developing her product. Trained in theater, she admits she didn’t know much about business and learned from the show. She would practice how she would answer the questions.

“I’m all about empowering women who are sitting on the couch watching, because that’s what I was four years ago,” says Taylor. “All I wanted to do was to be on Shark Tank because I believed if I got on Shark Tank the world will see what I am trying to do and that’s all I need. I know it’s a great product.”

Will that theater training come in handy Friday night? Stay tuned. Shark Tank airs at 9 p.m. on ABC and Taylor hopes viewers will join in on Twitter using the hashtag #sharkbib.

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Miami police officer fired for shooting of unarmed man in Little Haiti

In an unusual move, Miami police on Wednesday announced it has fired an officer for the questionable shooting of an unarmed motorist.

In a brief statement, the department said Officer Reynaldo Goyos,who has been on the force for seven-years, “has been terminated because his discharge of firearm on February 10, 2011 was found to be unjustified by the Department. “

Killed in the police shooting was Travis McNeil, 28, who was in a car and was unarmed.

The firing is a surprise because in June, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office cleared Goyos of any criminal act in the fatal shooting of McNeil. They said the shooting was legally justified because McNeil, reached down into his car during the traffic stop at 11 p.m. and Goyos believed he was reaching for a weapon.

In the press release, the department said: “This termination is based strictly upon a violation of Miami police’s “Deadly Force Policy,”

McNeil and his 30-year-old cousin Kareem Williams, who was also shot, had been pulled over by an unmarked police unit after they left the “Take One Lounge.” According to family, McNeill died of a gunshot wound to the head.

Kareem was wounded by the officer in the arm, back and abdomen.

But no weapon was found in McNeil’s car, only the cell phone that had fallen from his lap, the state attorney’s office said in its report.

Prosecutors found that a manslaughter prosecution wasn’t likely to succeed because the state couldn’t disprove that Goyos wasn’t in fear for his life at the time of the shooting.

The shooting angered many activists and was the last of seven deadly police shootings of black men in Miami’s inner city in just seven months.

All of the shootings happened under the watch of former police chief Miguel Exposito and all but two of the men were armed, according to the Herald.

The department said the case is now closed.

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The Z10 is a good first step, but BlackBerry still has to fix its app problem

BlackBerry, a.k.a., the Company Formerly Known as RIM, made good with its first two BlackBerry 10 smartphones on Wednesday. While the new devices are far from perfect, they will at the very least make long-suffering BlackBerry fans very happy and should provide a needed boost to a company in desperate need of growth. That said, BlackBerry still has a major problem that it will have to fix if it ever hopes to lure Android and iOS users away from their devices — it needs to improve the quality of apps that are available on its platform.

[More from BGR: BlackBerry Z10 review]

BlackBerry has done its best to spin its app situation as a positive, touting the roughly 70,000 apps that will be available for BlackBerry 10 at its launch. This number sounds impressive until you realize that the vast majority of these apps are ported from Android or from the BlackBerry Playbook. Even worse for the company, earlier reviews have indicated that many of these apps don’t at all function well, especially since a good portion of them were ported over from Android 2.3 Gingerbread or earlier.

[More from BGR: BlackBerry Q10 preview]

This is obviously not a sustainable situation for BlackBerry in the long term, and to the company’s credit it did announce some very important apps that are being developed directly for the BlackBerry 10 platform, including Skype, WhatsApp and the Angry Birds franchise. But there is a glaring absence that should give pause to anyone feeling optimistic about the platform’s ability to attract top developers in the future: Instagram.

Yes, Instagram is just one app, but it’s also one of the most popular in the world and it’s owned by Facebook (FB), the social networking giant that BlackBerry supposedly has a close partnership with. If BlackBerry can’t convince one of its close partners to develop an app that’s ready in time for its big platform launch, then it really calls into question how much clout the company will have with smaller developers that may not have the resources to build for more than two platforms.

And BlackBerry’s ability to attract the smaller developers is crucial to its future success because we’ve all seen mobile apps that come out of nowhere on iOS and Android and suddenly take the world by storm. If BlackBerry is constantly rushing around trying to get upstart app developers to make native BlackBerry 10 apps months after those developers have hit it big on other platforms, it will put the company at a perpetual disadvantage. This is a problem that BlackBerry desperately needs to fix by the time its next smartphones roll out.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Rachael vs. Guy Celebrity Cook Off Exclusive Clip

The competition on Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off is heating up, and in this exclusive clip from the hit Food Network show, Sister Act star Kathy Najimy is definitely feeling the pressure -- and possibly succumbs to it.

"I'm feeling very nervous about the Béchamel Sauce because I've never done it for 100 people before," Najimy says, while quickly whipping up the famous white sauce. "The scary ingredient for me in the sauce is the flour."

Video: Guy Fieri's Hometown Tour

And clearly, something goes awry when the sauce starts to take on a doughy consistency.

"How am I going to explain to Rachael [Ray] that I made a muffin?," she worries.

Video: ET Goes Backstage wtih Nancy O'Dellon the 'The Rachael Ray Show'

Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off, in which the last celeb standing (who's mentored either by Rachael Ray or Guy Fieri) wins a cash donation towards the charity of his or her choice, airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Food Network.

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WATCH: Dramatic NYPD helicopter rescue of ship captain who suffered heart attack

The NYPD saved the life of an Egyptian captain who had a heart attack on a ship yesterday, police said.

Captain Aly Akl, 60, went into cardiac arrest shortly before 9:45 p.m. on a commercial cargo ship called the Grey Shark, which was anchored in New York Harbor between the Verrazano Bridge and the Staten Island ferry terminal.

Detective Robert Brager, an ESU tactical medic, rushed with NYPD Harbor to the boat.

He worked to stabilize Akl while waiting for NYPD Aviation to airlift him.

Police lowered a rescue basket from a helicopter onto the deck, and secured the captain inside.

They then used a hook to pull the detective up as well.

They rushed Akl to Staten Island University North Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition.

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TotalBank on Wednesday reported $43 million in fourth quarter earnings, which included a one-time tax benefit of $41million. The results compared to a loss of $358,000 in the fourth quarter of 2011.

For the full year, the bank earned $52.5 million, an increase of $48.3 million from 2011.

Miami-based TotalBank has $2.3 billion in assets and 19 branches in Miami-Dade County. In 2012 the bank said it opened two branches in Pinecrest and West Miami, and it plans to build two additional locations in Doral.

INA PAIVA CORDLE

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Study: Medicaid expansion may save state money

Florida would save money over the next decade — not lose billions as Gov. Rick Scott has argued — by accepting Medicaid expansion under federal healthcare reforms, according to a detailed economic study.

Miami-Dade legislators and healthcare industry leaders, getting together on Monday, heard about the report by Georgetown University — the most positive yet on a highly debated provision of what is often called Obamacare.

Jack Hoadley, a senior researcher with the Georgetown Health Policy Institute, said the study was the first to calculate spin-off savings in other state programs if Florida accepted the expansion, which over the next 10 years could bring $26 billion in federal funds to provide insurance to an estimated 815,000 to 1.3 million Florida residents who are now uninsured.

In Miami-Dade, expansion would cover an additional 150,000 to 225,000, according to the Georgetown projections. That reduction in the uninsured would bring huge relief to the county’s hospitals, which by federal law must treat anyone who comes to the emergency room, regardless of ability to pay.

The top-level meeting, at the United Way of Miami-Dade headquarters, was convened by United Way, Health Council of South Florida and Health Foundation of South Florida.

At the very least, the Georgetown findings and other recent analyses have some critics reconsidering opposition to the 2010 Affordable Health Care Act.

State Sen. Rene Garcia, R-Hialeah, who previously was an “absolute no” vote against Medicaid expansion, said after the meeting that he was now “open to the thought” that expansion makes sense.

State Rep. Eddy Gonzalez, R-Hialeah, said he was still concerned about the debt-ridden feds’ ability to fund Medicaid over the long term, but “we are looking at all the options.”

Estimates about the real costs of expansion have varied wildly based on the law, which requires the federal government to pay all costs of the expansion for the first three years. Starting in 2017, the state will start paying a small share, which will reach 10 percent of the expansion costs for 2020 and beyond.

Gov. Scott, who has long been critical of Obamacare, contended in December that expansion would cost Florida taxpayers more than $26 billion over 10 years. Opponents and healthcare experts criticized that estimate as way too high, and earlier this month the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration gave a much lower estimate of $3 billion for the decade.

That was lower even than a report by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, a Washington research group, which in November estimated that expansion would cover an additional 1.2 million residents at a cost to the state of $5.4 billion over 10 years.

Georgetown’s Hoadley said Monday that the Kaiser study used only rough data for all 50 states, while the Georgetown study, funded by two Florida nonprofit foundations, looked in detail at how Medicaid expansion would save money in other areas. The Georgetown study found that the state would have to spend less for safety-net hospitals such as Jackson Health System, mental-health and substance-abuse programs and the medically needy program.

Hoadley said the savings calculations were “a very cautious estimate.”

The Georgetown report projected that the state would save $300 million in 2014, the first year of Medicaid expansion, and $100 million in 2020, when the state would be paying for 10 percent of the expansion costs.

The Georgetown study found that expansion was especially important in Florida, where almost one in three — 30 percent — of nonelderly adults are uninsured, compared to 18 percent nationwide.

In South Florida, the figures are even higher for uninsured non-elderly adults: 57 percent in Hialeah, 50 percent in the city of Miami, 48.5 percent in Deerfield Beach and 31.2 percent in Kendall.

Hospitals strongly support the expansion. On Monday, Phillis Oeters, an executive with Baptist Health South Florida, told legislators that hospitals have already seen their Medicare and Medicaid payments reduced greatly in other areas.

“Enough is enough,” she said. “Hospitals can’t take it anymore.”

A study done for the Florida Hospital Association estimated that the infusion of federal funds from Obamacare would add 56,000 jobs to the state.

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Mary J. Blige Talks Beyonce Super Bowl Performance

Mary J. Blige was one of the performers at Friday's Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival, where the topic quickly turned to Beyonce's highly anticipated Super Bowl performance this Sunday.

Mary, who herself performed at the Super Bowl in 2001 alongside 'N Sync, Britney Spears and Nelly for one of the most memorable halftime shows ever, has nothing but high hopes for Beyonce's big performance.

Pics: Inside Beyonce's Super Bowl Rehearsals!

"I don't need to give Beyonce any advice, she's going to do her thing," she tells The Trend on Zappos Couture. "Beyonce's amazing and she's gonna do what she does."

However, Mary does admit that there's nothing quite like performing at the Super Bowl.

"[It's different] because there's millions and millions of people watching you on television, and in the arena. I mean it's crazy. The energy's crazy," she remembers about the experience.

Video: Alicia Keys Dishes on Her Super Bowl Surprise

Beyonce was also on the mind of her fellow performer Michael Bolton, who defended her vigorously in light of the lip-sync controversy surrounding her inauguration performance.

"The Beyonce thing ... Nobody should judge this because you don't know any of the conditions that took place and what transpired leading up to it," he says. "And at these kinds of events, people don't know what hearing is on stage, let alone singing in front of tens of millions of people around the world. What I heard is, there was no time for rehearsal and I thought she was phenomenal. And I know that was her voice. And I couldn't tell you right now -- and I still couldn't tell you -- whether she was live or not. If that was lip-syncing, that would be the best lip-syncing I've ever seen."

Click the video to hear Mary's thoughts on Beyonce and the Super Bowl.

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Father of ad exec killed in elevator suing repair company

The father of the Midtown executive who was killed in a gruesome elevator accident is suing the lift repair company over his daughter's death.

Alex Hart is suing Transel Elevator and Electric over the December, 2011 death of his daughter Suzanne, who was going to work at her advertising firm when the under-repair elevator suddenly rose as she stepped into it.

The suit, filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court, claims that repairmen failed to re-enable a safety circuit after doing repairs. It also says that the workers did not post signs saying the elevator was being worked on; did not contact the Department of Buildings to inspect the lift before it was put back in service; and left a "jumper wire" in the elevator bypassing its safety circuit.

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Suzanne Hart

Transel employees Michael Hill, David O'Neill, Jason Torzilli, Robert Schroeder, Efrain Cardona and Transel co-owner John Fichera are all named in the suit, as well as Cushman & Wakefield, management of the Madison Avenue building.

"We don't have a comment at this point," said Robert Pitney, a Transel spokesman.

The suit comes after a February report by the city that found the workers did not follow safety protocols. The report led to the suspension of Transel's license over 23 violations.

City inspectors from January to October 2012 cracked down on elevator violations, issuing 753 of the most serious fines -- compared with 515 during that period in 2011.

A spokesman for Cushman & Wakefield did not immediately comment.

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Consumer confidence takes a dip in Florida

Florida can’t quite get in a good mood about the economy.

The latest consumer-confidence numbers from the University of Florida extend the overall trend of consumers inching away from their recessionary blues from several years ago. But the most recent numbers show a decline from the fall. In January, the parts of the survey that measure anxiety over personal finances took a turn for the worse, just as payroll taxes went higher.

The UF survey didn’t show the kind of plunge revealed by a similar poll of consumers nationwide. The Conference Board’s confidence index dropped to its lowest level since November 2011. The UF survey is about where it was in August.

Higher payroll taxes are taking a toll on consumers’ willingness to spend freely, analysts said. On Jan. 1, Congress and the White House let expire a temporary waiver on a 2 percent tax used to fund Social Security payments. The restored tax took an instant hit on paychecks across the country, which were issued at roughly the same time as the surveys were taken.

The pinched paychecks may help explain the biggest decliner in the UF survey. While the overall index dropped by about 3 percent, there was an 8 percent drop in the component that measures respondents’ outlook toward their finances a year from now.

DOUGLAS HANKS

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Miami Heat’s LeBron James at White House event: “Mama, I made it!”

Out of uniform and looking dapper, Miami Heat players were honored Monday at the White House by President Barack Obama, a basketball fan who gushed over the play of team stars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

In the packed East Room of the White House just before 2 p.m., Obama recapped the team’s road to victory in last year’s NBA championship, as 25 players, Coach Erik Spoelstra and team owner Micky Arison stood behind him.

He singled out James’ performance during Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, describing it “as one of the best in basketball history.”

He also kidded Wade about his outfit, a gray suit worn with stylish-sneakers

At one point, James asked the president if he could say a few words.

“Hey, it’s your world, man,” the president answered.

James praised his team and expressed excitement at being at the White House.

“Mama, I made it!” he said.

Miami Herald staff writer Luisa Yanez contributed to this report.

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Crucial, long-overdue BlackBerry makeover arrives

TORONTO (AP) — The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedy browser, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone, the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company.

Thorsten Heins, chief executive of Research In Motion Ltd., will reveal the first phone with the new BlackBerry 10 system in New York on Wednesday. Repeated delays have left the once-pioneering BlackBerry an afterthought in the shadow of Apple’s trend-setting iPhone and Google’s Android-driven devices.

Now, there’s some optimism. Previews of the software have gotten favorable reviews on blogs. Financial analysts are starting to see some slight room for a comeback. RIM‘s stock has nearly tripled to about $ 16.30 from a nine-year low in September, though it’s still nearly 90 percent below its 2008 peak of $ 147.

Most analysts consider a BlackBerry 10 success to be crucial for the company’s long-term viability.

“The old models are becoming obsolete quickly,” BGC Financial analyst Colin Gillis said. “There is still a big user base but it’s going to rotate off. The question is: Where do they rotate to?”

The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, has been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people. Corporate information-technology managers like the phones because they’re relatively secure and easy to manage.

The BlackBerry has also crossed over to consumers. President Barack Obama couldn’t bear to part with it when he took office. Oprah Winfrey declared it one of her “favorite things.” People got so addicted that the device was nicknamed “the CrackBerry.”

But when the iPhone came out in 2007, it showed that phones can do much more than email and phone calls. They can play games, music and movies. Android came along to offer even more choices. Though IT managers still love BlackBerrys, employees were bringing their own devices to the workplace — a trend Heins acknowledged RIM was slow to adapt to.

Suddenly, the BlackBerry looked ancient.

Even as BlackBerry sales continued to grow in many parts of the world, many BlackBerry users in North America switched to iPhones and Android devices. BlackBerry’s worldwide subscriber based peaked at 80 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 1, before dropping to 79 million in the most-recent quarter. In the U.S., according to research firm IDC, shipments of BlackBerry phones plummeted from 46 percent of the market in 2008 to 2 percent in 2012.

RIM promised a new system to catch up, using technology it got through its 2010 purchase of QNX Software Systems. RIM initially said BlackBerry 10 would come by early 2012, but then the company changed that to late 2012. A few months later, that date was pushed further, to early 2013, missing the lucrative holiday season. The holdup helped wipe out more than $ 70 billion in shareholder wealth and 5,000 jobs.

Although executives have been providing a glimpse at some of BlackBerry 10′s new features for months, Heins will finally showcase a complete system at Wednesday’s event. Devices will go on sale soon after that.

RIM redesigned the system to embrace the multimedia, apps and touch-screen experience prevalent today.

“Historically there have been areas that have not been our strongest points,” Rick Costanzo, RIM’s executive vice president of global sales, said in an interview. “Not only have we caught up, but we may even be better than some of the competition now.”

Costanzo said “no one else can touch” what RIM’s new system offers.

The new operating system promises better multitasking than either the iPhone or Android. Simply swipe a finger across the phone’s display screen to switch to another program.

All emails and notifications from such applications as Twitter and Facebook go to the BlackBerry Hub, a nerve center accessible with a finger swipe even if you have another application open. One can peek into it and open an email, or return to the previous application without opening the email.

“You are not going in and out of applications; you’re flowing through applications with one simple gesture of your finger,” Costanzo said. “You can leave applications running. You can effortlessly flow between them. So that’s completely unique to us.”

That said, multitasking will be limited and won’t allow for extensive use of apps side by side, as is typically permitted on traditional computers. If you’re watching a video, it will still run while you check for email. But it will pause if you decide to open an email and resume when you are done.

The BlackBerry’s touch-screen keyboard promises to learn a user’s writing style and suggest words and phrases to complete, going beyond typo corrections offered by rivals. See the one you want, and flick it up to the message area. Costanzo said that “BlackBerry offers the best keyboard, period.”

Gus Papageorgiou, a Scotiabank financial analyst who has tried it out, agreed with that assessment and said the keyboard even learns and adjusts to your thumb placements.

The first BlackBerry 10 phone will have only a touch screen. RIM has said it will release a version with a physical keyboard soon after that. That’s an area RIM has excelled at, and it’s one reason many BlackBerry users have remained loyal despite temptations to switch.

Another distinguishing feature will be the BlackBerry Balance, which allows two personas on the same device. Businesses can keep their data secure without forcing employees to get a second device for personal use. For instance, IT managers can prevent personal apps from running inside corporate firewalls, but those managers won’t have access to personal data on the device.

With Balance, “you can just switch from work to personal mode,” Papageorgiou said. “I think that is something that will attract a lot of people.”

RIM is also claiming that the BlackBerry 10′s browser will be speedy, even faster than browsers for laptop and desktop computers. According to Papageorgiou, early, independent tests between the BlackBerry 10 and the iPhone support that claim.

Regardless of BlackBerry 10′s advances, though, the new system will face a key shortcoming: It won’t have as many apps written by outside companies and individuals as the iPhone and Android. RIM has said it plans to launch BlackBerry 10 with more than 70,000 apps, including those developed for RIM’s PlayBook tablet, first released in 2011. Even so, that’s just a tenth of what the iPhone and Android offer. Papageorgiou said the initial group will include the most popular ones such as Twitter and Facebook. But RIM will have to persuade others to make a BlackBerry version, when they are already struggling to keep up with both the iPhone and Android.

Like many analysts, Papageorgiou recently upgraded RIM’s stock, but cautions that longtime BlackBerry users will have to get used to a whole new operating system.

He said RIM can be successful if about a third of current subscribers upgrade and if the company can get 4 million new users overseas, especially in countries where the BlackBerry has remained popular. IDC said smartphone shipments grew 44 percent in 2012. If those trends continue, it will be possible for the BlackBerry to grow even if iPhone and Android users don’t switch.

“This doesn’t have to be the best smartphone on the planet to be a success for RIM,” he said. “I think the big question though is, if it fails, is it just too late? Are the other two ecosystems just so advanced that no one can catch up? That’s a big risk.”

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Seven Psychopaths Deleted Scene

A stare from Christopher Walken is worth a thousand words. The eccentric veteran star stands by while Colin Farrell and Sam Rockwell hash it out in this exclusive deleted scene from the Seven Psychopaths Blu-ray, in stores starting tomorrow. Watch the video!

Pics: Six Most Devastating TV Deaths

In Bruges writer-director Martin McDonagh rounds up usual suspects Farrell, Walken and Rockwell alongside Woody Harrelson, Tom Waits, Olga Kurylenko, Abbie Cornish and Željko Ivanek for this twisted comedy about a struggling screenwriter (Farrell) who inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends (Walken and Rockwell) kidnap a gangster's (Harrelson) beloved Shih Tzu.

Video: The 'Seven Psychopaths' Happy Accident

Bonus features on the Seven Psychopaths Blu-ray and DVD include deleted scenes, multiple behind-the-scenes featurettes and UltraViolet digital copy.

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Alleged check-dodging tourist settles beef with Smith & Wollensky - pal vows boycott

Italy is saying basta! to Smith & Wollensky, the pal of an accused tab-dodging tourist huffed this morning, after the misdemeanor case was disposed of in a Manhattan court.

"In Italy, no one will go to Smith & Wollensky again!" the pal, who gave his name only as Mario, announced to reporters in a courtroom hallway after the brief proceeding this morning.

Tourist Graziano Graziussi — charged with theft of services last week after he forgot his wallet back at his hotel and couldn't pay his $208 bill — was less committal.

"I will think about it," the Naples-based lawyer said, when asked if he'd ever eat another steak at the renowned Third Avenue meat mecca.

REUTERS

While the friend of an accused tab-dodging tourist is vowing to boycott Smith & Wollensky, Graziano Graziussi said he was just glad to have it settled.

"It's done — of course I'm happy," he told reporters after paying a total $219.21 in restitution and surcharges.

Graziussi has insisted that he'd have been willing to leave his iPhone behind as collateral, and just needed to fetch his wallet. But cops threw him in jail overnight.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, asked about the international incident during a press conference last week, noted that Graziussi had been carrying $118 on him when he claimed poverty, and "simply did not want to pay."

Not so, Graziussi countered today.

“I am always the one to pay for everybody, which is unfortunately true,“ he said as he left court.

In fact, five years ago during another trip to New York, he went to a hot dog vendor at Sixth Avenue, and tried to pay with a $50 bill -- the smallest bill he had on him, Graziussi told reporters.

The dog vendor couldn't make change, and said don't worry about it, Graziussi said.

"I went back there the following day [to pay] and he could not believe his eyes," he said.

Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Erika Edwards told Graziussi that the misdemeanor theft of services case will be dismissed and sealed if he is not rearrested for six months.

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Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge opens for entries

Entrepreneurs, please don’t let the name of our contest scare you.

As we launch our 15th annual Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge today, we are putting out our annual call for entries. But we aren’t looking for long, laboriously detailed business plans. Quite the contrary.

More and more, today’s investors in very early stage companies want to see a succinct presentation of your concept and how you plan to turn it into a success. We do, too.

If you have a business idea or an operating startup that is less than two years old, you can enter the Challenge, our annual celebration of South Florida entrepreneurship. Sponsored by the Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center at Florida International University, our contest has three tracks — a Community Track, open to all South Floridians; an FIU Track, open to students and alumni of that university; and a High School Track, co-sponsored by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship.

Your entry may be up to three pages and you may attach one additional page for a photo, rendering, diagram or spreadsheet if you wish. Think of it as a meaty executive summary. Experts in all aspects of entrepreneurship — serial entrepreneurs, executives, investors, advisors and finance specialists (see judge bios on MiamiHerald.com/challenge) — will judge your short plan. In doing so, they will be looking at your product or service’s value to the customer, market opportunity, business model, management team and your marketing and financial strategies. See the rules on page 22, which also include tips on preparing your entry.

Your entry is due by 11:59 p.m. March 11. Entries should be sent to challenge@miamiherald.com, fiuchallenge@miamiherald.com or highschoolchallenge@miamiherald.com.

Don’t worry, we’re here to help!

“Frame your business from your customer’s perspective and not yours. Rather than diving into a detailed explanation of your product or service, a more compelling way to tell your business story is to clearly share the problem that you are solving for your customers and how your business is different, better, faster, cooler, cheaper, smarter,” says Melissa Krinzman, managing director of Venture Architects and a veteran Challenge judge.

On Feb 26 at 6:30 p.m. at Miami Dade College, we’ll host a free Business Plan Bootcamp, where you can bring your working plan with you for advice from experts, including Krinzman. Find the sign-up link on MiamiHerald.com/challenge.

And each week in Business Monday and on MiamiHerald.com/challenge, we’ll be bringing you advice and answering your questions. You can post your questions on the Q&A on MiamiHerald.com/challenge or email your questions to me at ndahlberg@miamiherald.com. Follow @ndahlberg on Twitter.

The top six finalists in the Community and FIU Tracks will present their 90-second elevator pitches for our popular video contest. Last year our People’s Pick contest drew more than 18,000 votes.

On May 6, in a special section of Business Monday, we will profile the winners — the judges’ top three selections in each track plus the People’s Pick winners. Along the way, we will unveil semifinalists and finalists to keep the suspense building.

Today, though, we are looking back on the entrepreneurial journeys of our 2012 winners. Funding was a nearly universal challenge, and many faced setbacks in developing their platforms. Throughout the entry period, we’ll also look back on other winners from the past 14 years.

Show us what you’ve got. Let’s make this the best Challenge yet.

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ING Miami Marathon winner Luis Carlos Rivero Gonzalez inspired by father’s murder

Guatemala’s Luis Carlos Rivero Gonzalez has been a professional runner for more than two years — mainly at distances of ten to 21 kilometers – but he had never raced 26.2 miles until Sunday’s ING Miami Marathon.

Toeing the front of the starting line with about a dozen elite marathoners from Africa, South America, Europe and the U.S., the 26-year-old law student ran away from them and never saw them again until after he broke the tape in Bayfront Park in 2:26:14 – two minutes ahead of runner-up David Kipkoech Tuwei, 29, of Kenya (2:28:15) and third-place Tesfaye Girma Bekele, 30, of Ethiopia (2:28:22).

“Yeah, I had expectations of winning,” Rivero Gonzalez said through a translator. “It felt good to be able to represent my country in the marathon. My dream is to be in the Olympics. I’m going to fight to reach that goal.”

He collected $2,000, plus a colorful race medal. Tuwei and Bekele won $1,000 and $500, respectively.

Rivero Gonzalez said as a child, he ran with his dad — a lawyer in the town of San Marcos. But five years ago, his father was killed by “criminals,” and it spurred him to train harder in his dad’s honor.

Rivero Gonzalez admitted when questioned by reporters that his coach falsified his best marathon time as 2:23:08 on his application for elite runner status for the ING.

Top runners get to start at the front of the pack, along with other perks.

With 25,000 runners in the marathon and half-marathon lined up in front of AmericanAirlines Arena for the pre-dawn start, Gonzalez did not want to be slowed by the huge crowd. The strategy worked; runner-up Tuwei said he didn’t have the leader in sight for long after the starting gun.

Women’s marathon winner Mariska Postma Kramer of the Netherlands – had been registered as an elite competitor for the half-marathon, but decided at the last minute Saturday to enter the double-distance race instead.

It turned out to be a good decision, as the 38-year-old professional runner cruised to a 2:46:07 victory in her first Miami race – more than two minutes in front of runner-up Tezata Desaign Dengersa ofTurkey and Ethiopia (2:48:43).

Third-place Kir Selert of Brooklyn, N.Y. finished in 2:57:32.

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Exclusive: JJ Abrams Confirms Bradley Cooper in Talks For Lance Armstrong Biopic

Shortly after Bradley Cooper expressed interest (publicly) in portraying disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong in J.J. Abrams'upcoming biopic about the athlete, the producer/director confirmed to ET exclusively that he is indeed in talks with Cooper for the role.

Pics: Stars Take On Real-Life Roles

When asked about Cooper's interest in tackling the part backstage at the Producers Guild Awards in Los Angeles, Abrams told ET's Christina McLarty "[Cooper] sent me an email and we've been talking."

Said Cooper to BBC News on January 22, "I would be interested in [playing Armstrong]. I think he's fascinating. What a fascinating character."

Paramount Pictures & Bad Robot (J.J. Abram's production company) secured the rights to Cycle of Lies: The Fall of Lance Armstrong, a book proposal penned by Juliet Macur, in mid-January just after Armstrong admitted publicly to doping during all seven Tour de France wins. The author, a sports reporter from The New York Times, has covered the athlete over the span of a decade throughout Armstrong's struggle with cancer, years of doping allegations and ensuing lawsuits.

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Bill de Blasio announces he's running for NYC mayor

New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has announced he's running for mayor.

The public advocate announced his run Sunday outside his home in Brooklyn's Park Slope.

The 51-year-old candidate says that means he'll conduct what he calls a "true citywide campaign" — starting Monday in all five boroughs.

The election to replace outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg is in November.

De Blasio says the billionaire mayor's policies have been good for some, but many middle-class New Yorkers "have been ignored or priced out."

REUTERS

Bill de Blasio hugs his wife Chirlane McCray after announcing his candidacy for mayor.

The field of candidates includes City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Bill Thompson, a former city comptroller — both Democrats — and Republican Joe Lhota, former chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

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Miami Lakes company growing its brand of skin care products

For decades, Vivant Skin Care has formulated creams, serums, cleansers and tonics to treat such dermatological conditions as acne, aging and hyperpigmentation.

Family owned and linked to Dr. James E. Fulton, who co-developed the anti-aging formula Retin-A, the company built its reputation with medically tested therapies aimed at improving skin.

Now, like a complexion that has undergone the metamorphosis of time, Vivant is altering its manufacturing and sales structure and adding products, emerging from the economic downturn with a new plan for the future.

“Now we’re stabilized and looking forward to growth,” said Fulton’s daughter, Chief Executive, Kelly Fulton-Kendrick.

Founded in 1990, Vivant produces a line of 30 skin care products, all formulated in-house, and priced from $15 to $100. The products target both females and males, ages 13 and up.

“Our target market is people who have serious skin care problems and need solutions,” Fulton-Kendrick said. “Vitamin A is the best for affecting change in the skin.”

The clinical skin care products, packaged simply in white bottles and amber glass containers, have remained the company’s mainstay, as the business has transformed.

In mid-2011, Vivant decided to adjust its sales structure, to sell, for the first time, to online retailers like DermStore.com, SkinCareRX.com and amazon.com, as well as to make its products available on its own website, vivantskincare.com. It was a major change in course after more than 20 years of having its products sold only at spas and doctors’ offices.

“So now, we’re a mix of wholesale to skin care professionals and Internet retailers, and we’re selling directly to consumers through our own website,” Fulton-Kendrick said.

Mike Nelson, marketing manager at SkinCareRx.com, said Vivant, which it has sold since November, has “done very well for a new brand to our site,” surpassing some brands that have been on its site for over a year. He declined to provide figures.

SkinCareRX took on only 5 percent of the brands that approached it last year, he said, and had undertaken a rigorous review of Vivant.

“They have a good loyalty base and get great reviews,” Nelson said.

Along with changes in its sales system, in January 2012, Vivant moved from Medley to Miami Lakes, doubling its space to 11,000 square feet to accommodate manufacturing, which it brought in house to reduce costs. It had outsourced manufacturing to a lab in Costa Mesa, Calif., that it had previously owned and later sold.

Inside its warehouse space in a commercial business complex, a small staff handles manufacturing, shipping and packaging. All orders are taken by customer service and fulfilled onsite. A room used as an educational center allows vendors and aestheticians to learn about the products.

Martina Echeveria, international trade specialist at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Miami U.S. Export Assistance Center, who is helping Vivant get a distributor in the Dominican Republic, said she recently nominated the company for a South Florida Manufacturer of the Year award. The awards are given by the South Florida Manufacturers Association.

“Their products are good and 100 percent U.S. made,” she said.

At Vivant’s offices, a lab area is used by Dr. Fulton for research and development. He also maintains a practice at Flores Dermatology in South Miami.

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