Brownsville resident wins historic preservation award

A warm Friends and Neighbors salute to our very own Enid Pinkney, who in November was awarded the Peter H. Brink Award for Individual Achievement in Historic Preservation at the National Preservation Conference in Spokane, Wash.

Pinkney, who was selected from among nominees from throughout the United States, said, "I proudly received the award, but I realize that I could not have achieved anything without the help of the community. I owe a debt of gratitude for the various historic preservation projects that the community helped me to promote. I accept the lovely award, which I cherish, on your [the community’s] behalf.”

Pinkney was nominated by Jorge Hernandez, the national vice president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and was presented with the award at the event. Hernandez lives in Coral Gables. Pinkney and her husband Frank, live in the Brownsville area.

And speaking of awards...

Tracy Wilson Mourning, founder of Honey Shine Inc., will be the keynote speaker at the annual Thelma Gibson Awards and Installation Luncheon to be at 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 25, at the Biltmore Hotel, 1200 Anastasia Ave. in Coral Gables.

Sponsored by the Women’s Chamber of Commerce, the program will also feature special remarks from Justice Peggy A. Quince of the Supreme Court of Florida. Quince will install the chamber’s new president, Nordis D. Alvarez, and the new board of directors of the organization. Awards will be presented to individuals who have made significant contributions to the advancement of women in the Miami-Dade community.

Mourning will speak from the event’s theme, "Lift as You Climb," and will encourage attendees to reach behind and lend a hand to the women coming up behind on the ladder of success.

Tickets to the event are $65 for members and $75 for guests. For tickets and more information on how to become a sponsor, call Alvarez at 305-982-3328 or email her at: NAlvarez@totalbank.com. You may also go to www.WomensChamberofCommerce.org for more information.

Gold-medal winner

Congratulations are also in order for Asiya Korepanova, a University of Miami Frost School of Music student, who last week was named First Prize Gold Medal Winner in the 2012 Wideman International Piano Competition in Shreveport, La. Korepanova performed Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16.

Korepanova has played the piano since she was 4, and currently studies with Santiago Rodriguez at the Frost School of Music, where she is a keyboard performance major.

For her excellent effort, Korepanova earned a $5,000 in prize money as well as the William Peyton Shehee and Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee Award. As the gold medal winner, Korepanova will have the opportunity to perform at numerous venues around the United States next year, including performances with the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, the Northwest Florida Symphony and the South Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

The competition is named in honor of the late Nena Plant Wideman, a former member of the Centenary college faculty and noted piano instructor, who spearheaded the first competition. the competition was named in her honor after her death in 1983.

Art Exhibit

The annual Kuumba Kwanzaa Art Exhibit is now on display in the Amadlozi Gallery at the African Heritage Cultural Arts Center, 2166 NW 62nd St. in Liberty City. It will run through Jan. 21. and is open to the community.

For more information email Gene Tinnie at dinizulu7@gmail.com

Honoring black leaders

The Rev. Eric H. Jones, mayor of West Park, invites the community to the 2013 Gala honoring Broward County’s black elected officials and the Community Service Honorees, to be at 4 p.m. Thursday in the commission chambers of West Park City Hall, 9965 S. State Rd. 7 (441 and Pembroke Road).

The gala will be hosted by West Park Vice Mayor Felicia M. Brunson.

It’s free and reservations are not required. For additional information send an email to: Caroline Rucker at carolineh@aol.com.

Christmas story told through music

The Advent and Christmas season will be ushered in with a little taste of Great Britain, when Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic Church and School at 6600 Miami Lakeway, presents the English classic, "Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols," at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the church sanctuary.

The program is a Christmas service that celebrates the birth of Jesus through nine short readings from the biblical books of Genesis, the prophets, and the gospels, and are combined with music and congregational singing of Christmas songs and carols. The readings tell the story of the "Fall of Humanity", the "Promise of the Messiah", and the "Birth of Jesus."

The church’s Children’s Choir, musicians, dancers, Glee Club and other students will perform with their teachers, church parishioners and the church’s Adult Choir directed by Sister Helene Kloss.

It’s free and open to the community. Call 305-362-5315 for more information or go to, www.oollnet.com.

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Riveting Details Emerge from CT School Rampage

As morning turned to afternoon on Friday, further details continued to emerge from Newtown, CT, a tight-knit community shaken by a massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School that took the lives of innocent students and teachers, in addition to the gunman, reportedly identified as Adam Lanza.

RELATED: President Fights Tears as He Addresses Nation

As President Barack Obama touched on in his tear-jerking press conference, this is not the first time the nation has witnessed a tragedy of this kind. The recent mass shooting at an Aurora, CO movie theater is just one instance of such violence. Columbine High School and Virginia Tech also resonate as prime examples.

Hollywood's biggest stars were quick to react to the news on Twitter and made an outcry for stricter gun control regulations.

Watch the video for ET's complete coverage of today's biggest headline.

RELATED: Celebs Tweet Reactions to CT School Shooting

Read More..

It’s been a pretty good year

Terry Keenan

2012. On Wall Street it has been a year marked less by excited cries of “buy!” and “sell!” than by sighs of “ho-hum!”

But behind the respectable, though not heart-stopping, 7 percent return for the Dow Jones industrials this year, there are reasons for cheer for investors as we head into 2013.

Here’s a list, worth checking twice, as we close out the year.

2012 brought some much needed housecleaning to the corner office: From Yahoo! to Avon to Citigroup, the boards of some of America’s worst-run companies finally woke up and shook up the status quo by installing new CEOs.

Bold-faced scandals didn’t have legs: Sure, big bad bets by the so-called London Whale at JPMorgan left the bank with egg on its face and billions in losses this summer. It also cost the talented Ina Drew her job.

But deft management of the crisis by JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon kept the whale from enveloping his reputation and that of the rest of the firm. As a result, JPMorgan stock has been a stellar performer on the year, up nearly 30 percent.

The presidential election didn’t roil the markets: Time will tell what the long-term impact of the November results will have on Americans’ bottom line. But for this year, at least, the most contentious and misread election season in decades didn’t derail investors.

Housing showed signs of life: Those investors who ignored all the statistical noise on housing and just looked around their neighborhoods were richly rewarded if they took a bullish bet on the home front in 2012. The prize for the best-performing exchange-traded fund of the year goes to the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction Index, which is up nearly 70 percent. Not bad.

Europe didn’t implode: Despite tear gas in the streets and a tip into recession, the European Monetary Union held together in 2012. Indeed, in another example of how it pays to be a contrarian, the FTS index of Europe’s 300 biggest stocks had a banner year, up 13 percent or about twice the gains of the Dow here in the US.

And there you have it: some reasons 2012 wasn’t such a bad year after all on Wall Street. Let’s hope 2013 brings more of the same.

terrykkeenan@gmail.com

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Miami in spotlight at AVCC, other entrepreneurship events

Entrepreneurs from around the world took the stage during this packed week of entrepreneurship events in Miami: Florida International University’s Americas Venture Capital Conference (known as AVCC), HackDay, Wayra’s Global DemoDay and Endeavor’s International Selection Panel.

The events, all part of the first Innovate MIA week, also put the spotlight on Miami as it continues to try to develop into a technology hub for the Americas.

“While I like art, I absolutely love what is happening today... The time has come to become a tech hub in Miami,” said Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez, who kicked off the venture capital conference on Thursday. He told the audience of 450 investors and entrepreneurs about the county’s $1 million investment in the Launch Pad Tech Accelerator in downtown Miami.

“I have no doubt that this gathering today will produce new ideas and new business ventures that will put our community on a fast track to becoming a center for innovative, tech-driven entrepreneurship,” Gimenez said.

Brad Feld, an early-stage investor and a founder of TechStars, cautioned that won’t happen overnight. Building a startup community can take five, 10, even 15 years, and those leading the effort, who should be entrepreneurs themselves, need to take the long-term view, he told the audience via video. “You can create very powerful entrepreneurial ecosystems in any city... I’ve spent some time in Miami, I think you are off to a great start.”

Throughout the two-day AVCC at the JW Brickell Marriott, as well as the Endeavor and Wayra events, entrepreneurs from around the world pitched their companies, hoping to persuade investors to part with some of their green.

And in some cases, the entrepreneurs could win money, too. During the venture capital conference, 29 companies —including eight from South Florida such as itMD, which connects doctors, patients and imaging facilities to facilitate easy access of records — competed for more than $50,000 in cash and prizes through short “elevator’’ pitches. Each took questions from the judges, then demoed their products or services in the conference “Hot Zone,” a room adjoining the ballroom. Some companies like oLyfe, a platform to organize what people share online, are hoping to raise funds for expansion into Latin America. Others like Ideame, a trilingual crowdfunding platform, were laser focused on pan-Latin American opportunities.

Winning the grand prize of $15,000 in cash and art was Trapezoid Digital Security of Miami, which provides hardware-based security solutions for enterprise and cloud environments. Fotopigeon of Tampa, a photo-sharing and printing service targeting the military and prison niches, scored two prizes.

The conference offered opportunities to hear formal presentations on current trends — among them the surge of start-ups in Brazil; the importance of mobile apps and overheated company valuations — and informal opportunities to connect with fellow entrepreneurs.

Speakers included Gaston Legorburu of SapientNitro, Albert Santalo of CareCloud and Juan Diego Calle of .Co Internet, all South Florida entrepreneurs. Jerry Haar, executive director of FIU’s Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center, which produced the conference with a host of sponsors, said the organizers worked hard to make the conference relevant to both the local and Latin American audience, with panels on funding and recruiting for startups, for instance.

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Miami photographer sentenced to 10 years in child-porn case

A Miami-area photographer who secretly videotaped children while they changed clothes in his home studio was sentenced in federal court Friday to 10 years in prison.

Diego Tobias Matrajt, 37, pleaded guilty in September to distribution and possession of child pornography.

Last February, Matrajt distributed 10 images of child pornography to an undercover agent by using a peer-to-peer file sharing program, according to court records.

In April, FBI agents did a search of his home and computers, uncovering 26 video images of boys and girls changing clothes alone in a guest bedroom with their genitalia exposed, records show.

Matrajt admitted surreptitiously video recording children under the age of 12 as they changed clothes in the guest bedroom during photo shoots.

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Riveting Details Emerge from CT School Rampage

As morning turned to afternoon on Friday, further details continued to emerge from Newtown, CT, a tight-knit community shaken by a massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School that took the lives of innocent students and teachers, in addition to the gunman, reportedly identified as Adam Lanza.

RELATED: President Fights Tears as He Addresses Nation

As President Barack Obama touched on in his tear-jerking press conference, this is not the first time the nation has witnessed a tragedy of this kind. The recent mass shooting at an Aurora, CO movie theater is just one instance of such violence. Columbine High School and Virginia Tech also resonate as prime examples.

Hollywood's biggest stars were quick to react to the news on Twitter and made an outcry for stricter gun control regulations.

Watch the video for ET's complete coverage of today's biggest headline.

RELATED: Celebs Tweet Reactions to CT School Shooting

Read More..

Pot, gays & change

Jacob Sullum

The US Supreme Court this month agreed for the first time to take on the issue of gay marriage. No matter how it rules, polling data suggest it is only a matter of time before legal recognition of same-sex unions is the norm throughout the country.

Something similar is happening with marijuana, which became legal in Washington last week and in Colorado on Monday. With both pot and gay marriage, familiarity is breeding tolerance.

The cases before the high court deal with popular reactions against gay marriage: the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that barred the federal government from recognizing state-licensed gay marriages, and Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot initiative that amended California’s Constitution to eliminate same-sex couples’ right to marry, which the state Supreme Court had recognized that year.

But something interesting happened after those measures passed: Surveys now indicate that most Americans support gay marriage.

The turnaround was remarkably fast. A 1996 Gallup poll found that 27 percent of Americans thought same-sex marriages should be “recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages”; by last year, that number had nearly doubled. Recent surveys by ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN also put support for gay marriage above 50 percent.

Striking generational differences mean these numbers will continue to rise. In a CBS News poll last month, 72 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds supported gay marriage, compared to 53 percent of 30- to 44-year-olds, 44 percent of 45- to 64-year-olds and 33 percent of respondents who were 65 or older.

The consequences could be seen in last month’s election results. For the first time ever, gay marriage was legalized by popular referendum — not in one state, but in three: Maine, Maryland and Washington. Voters in a fourth state, Minnesota, rejected an initiative that would have amended the state Constitution to prohibit gay marriage (which is already banned there by statute).

On the same day, voters in Colorado and Washington approved ballot measures aimed at legalizing the cultivation, possession and sale of marijuana for recreational use. The initiatives won by surprisingly healthy margins of about 10 points in both states, in contrast with a California legalization measure that lost by 7 points two years ago.

Nationwide support for marijuana legalization, like nationwide support for gay marriage, has increased dramatically, although not quite as swiftly, rising from 12 percent in a 1969 Gallup poll to a record 50 percent last year. While support for legalization dipped a bit during the anti-pot backlash of the Just Say No era, it began rising again in the ’90s. Public Policy Polling recently put it at 58 percent, the highest level ever recorded.

Again there are clear age-related differences, reflecting different levels of experience with marijuana. In the CBS News survey, support for legalization was 54 percent among 18- to 29-year-olds, 53 percent among 30- to 44-year-olds, 46 percent among 45- to 64-year-olds and 30 percent among those of retirement age.

Just as an individual’s attitude toward gay people depends to a large extent on how many he knows (or realizes he knows), his attitude toward pot smokers (in particular, about whether they should be treated like criminals) is apt to be influenced by his personal experience with them. Americans younger than 65, even if they’ve never smoked pot, probably know people who have, and that kind of firsthand knowledge provides an important reality check on the government’s anti-pot propaganda.

Another clear pattern in both of these areas: Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to oppose legalizing gay marriage and marijuana. Yet Republicans are also more likely to oppose federal interference with state policy choices. In light of the Defense of Marriage Act’s disregard for state marriage laws and the Obama administration’s threats to prevent Colorado and Washington from allowing marijuana sales, now is put-up-or-shut-up time for the GOP’s avowed federalists.

Twitter: @jacobsullum

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

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Miami in spotlight at AVCC, other entrepreneurship events

Entrepreneurs from around the world took the stage during this packed week of entrepreneurship events in Miami: Florida International University’s Americas Venture Capital Conference (known as AVCC), HackDay, Wayra’s Global DemoDay and Endeavor’s International Selection Panel.

The events, all part of the first Innovate MIA week, also put the spotlight on Miami as it continues to try to develop into a technology hub for the Americas.

“While I like art, I absolutely love what is happening today... The time has come to become a tech hub in Miami,” said Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez, who kicked off the venture capital conference on Thursday. He told the audience of 450 investors and entrepreneurs about the county’s $1 million investment in the Launch Pad Tech Accelerator in downtown Miami.

“I have no doubt that this gathering today will produce new ideas and new business ventures that will put our community on a fast track to becoming a center for innovative, tech-driven entrepreneurship,” Gimenez said.

Brad Feld, an early-stage investor and a founder of TechStars, cautioned that won’t happen overnight. Building a startup community can take five, 10, even 15 years, and those leading the effort, who should be entrepreneurs themselves, need to take the long-term view, he told the audience via video. “You can create very powerful entrepreneurial ecosystems in any city... I’ve spent some time in Miami, I think you are off to a great start.”

Throughout the two-day AVCC at the JW Brickell Marriott, as well as the Endeavor and Wayra events, entrepreneurs from around the world pitched their companies, hoping to persuade investors to part with some of their green.

And in some cases, the entrepreneurs could win money, too. During the venture capital conference, 29 companies —including eight from South Florida such as itMD, which connects doctors, patients and imaging facilities to facilitate easy access of records — competed for more than $50,000 in cash and prizes through short “elevator’’ pitches. Each took questions from the judges, then demoed their products or services in the conference “Hot Zone,” a room adjoining the ballroom. Some companies like oLyfe, a platform to organize what people share online, are hoping to raise funds for expansion into Latin America. Others like Ideame, a trilingual crowdfunding platform, were laser focused on pan-Latin American opportunities.

Winning the grand prize of $15,000 in cash and art was Trapezoid Digital Security of Miami, which provides hardware-based security solutions for enterprise and cloud environments. Fotopigeon of Tampa, a photo-sharing and printing service targeting the military and prison niches, scored two prizes.

The conference offered opportunities to hear formal presentations on current trends — among them the surge of start-ups in Brazil; the importance of mobile apps and overheated company valuations — and informal opportunities to connect with fellow entrepreneurs.

Speakers included Gaston Legorburu of SapientNitro, Albert Santalo of CareCloud and Juan Diego Calle of .Co Internet, all South Florida entrepreneurs. Jerry Haar, executive director of FIU’s Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center, which produced the conference with a host of sponsors, said the organizers worked hard to make the conference relevant to both the local and Latin American audience, with panels on funding and recruiting for startups, for instance.

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Clemency board grants full pardon to wrongfully convicted man

TALLAHASSEE --
After a wrongful murder conviction that put him behind bars for 27 years, William Michael Dillon received formal forgiveness from the state Thursday.

Dillon, who was awarded a $1.3 million settlement by the state in March, stood before Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet and recounted how far his life has come since he was released from a maximum security prison four years ago, exonerated by DNA evidence.

Clemency hearings, in which elected officials grant pardons and rule on whether to restore civil rights for convicted felons, are usually somber, even tearful. But Dillon’s testimony was upbeat, drawing smiles from an audience of freed felons waiting for their own opportunity to ask for the legal system’s fullest measure of forgiveness.

In Dillon’s case, his civil rights — the ability to sit on a jury, own guns, hold public office and vote — were returned after he was exonerated. But for him, the pardon he was granted Thursday was the real vindication.

“It’s a great, great, great day to be here...” Dillon said, a silver necklace of a soaring bald eagle draped over his blue tie. “Now my life is good, I’m moving on, and I’m definitely going to make a positive impact from here on out.”

Dillon was 21 years old in 1981 when law enforcement officers approached him at a Brevard County gas station to ask him about James Dvorak, who had been beaten to death in a wooded area nearby.

Dillon worked two jobs — as a bowling alley mechanic and construction worker. And he spent his free time chasing pretty girls and trying to figure out what to do with his life. Innocent and unconcerned, he answered officers’ questions.

But the interrogation resulted in an arrest and a deeply flawed investigation that was later discredited.

Dillon’s full pardon Thursday was a foregone conclusion.

Scott apologized on behalf of the state when he signed a claims bill during an emotional March ceremony. Attorney General Pam Bondi, after Thursday’s hearing, said she was pleased to give the pardon.

“I hope he can go on with his life and be a productive citizen,” she said.

Dillon has big plans for the rest of his life, many of them colored by his desire to fix a flawed justice system.

He the focus of a documentary on the Discovery Channel’s I Didn’t Do It, which first aired Monday and is scheduled for another run Sunday.

He’s written 600 pages for a book about his life. And he performs in an all-exoneree band.

He recently joined the board of the Innocence Project of Florida, which advocates for the exoneration of wrongfully convicted inmates.

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Adorable Tots: Celebs and their Cute Kids!

Jack Osbourne & Lisa Stelly

Jack Osbourne and wife Lisa Stelly recently introduced their eight-month-old daughter Pearl to St. Nick for the very first time.

"What a doll," Lisa wrote on her blog alongside the adorable snap. "She wasn't totally stoked on him but she managed to squeeze out a smirk for the camera."

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Shuffle Board

Yahoo!’s board is getting a full Loeb-otomy.

Activist investor Dan Loeb completed his boardroom overhaul yesterday with the appointment of a fourth Yahoo! director. PayPal co-founder Max Levchin was named to the board, while two holdouts from the old guard, Brad Smith and David Kenney, will depart.

The changes come seven months after Loeb, the head of New York hedge fund ThirdPoint, settled his bitter proxy fight with the Web portal in exchange for the right to appoint his slate of directors.

The latest board shake-up adds another friendly face for CEO Marissa Mayer, who also got her position thanks to Loeb’s bare-knuckled brawling. Mayer worked at Google with Levchin, who sold his startup Slide to the search giant. He is also the chairman of Yelp.

Getty Images for TechCrunch/AOL

Yahoo!’s new boss and new mother Marissa Mayer is being joined on the board by fellow Google alum Max Levchin, a successful tech entrepreneur, as the corporate family takes on the look of

a tech leader.

“Max is someone I’ve admired throughout my career for his phenomenal sense for great products and keen focus on user experiences,” Mayer said in a statement.

The changes are another break from the past dysfunction that had plagued Yahoo! as it churned its way through executives.

Former CEO Scott Thompson, who was hired after the ouster of Carol Bartz, was pushed out earlier this year after Loeb uncovered a discrepancy in his resumé.

The embarrassment was Loeb’s victory. He won a seat on the board, along with two seats for directors of his choosing. He had been looking for a fourth director to implement his plan of returning Yahoo! to its Internet roots.

“This breaks the cycle,” said Colin Gillis, an analyst with BGC Partners. “Yahoo!’s problems were top-down from the board.”

Much of the old board is gone, including co-founder Jerry Yang and ex-chairman Roy Bostock, who both left this year.

Loeb has made a fortune on Yahoo! since September 2011, when he first bought a 5.15 percent stake for about $825 million. That stake has grown to 6.5 percent and is worth almost $1.2 billion.

“It’s a hard road still, but Yahoo! was trading as a distressed asset and now it has bumped up off those levels,” Gillis said. “The direction is the right way.”

Investor confidence is on the rise, in part due to Mayer’s leadership and Loeb’s show of support. He continues to buy shares, and last month added 3 million, pushing his stake to more than 75 million shares.

Meanwhile, Mayer is making her own moves, installing Henrique De Castro as operating chief. He is focused on running Yahoo!’s advertising business.

Mayer has been concentrating on software, including a recent e-mail redesign and a new Flickr, the company’s answer to Facebook’s popular photo-sharing service Instagram.

But the biggest changes are yet to come with an overhaul of the Yahoo! homepage, which is expected to bring a whole new look to the most popular Web portal.

Ryan Jacob of the Jacob Internet Fund said that Yahoo! ’s stock moves, including the selling of part of its 40 percent stake in China’s Alibaba, have made it one of his fund’s top holdings.

“It’s taken a long time, but we are finally seeing some of the value being appreciated,” Jacob said. “We’ve had to be very patient with this one.”

gsloane@nypost.com

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Wynwood co-working center funded by Knight Foundation, angel investors

The LAB Miami announced Thursday it will open a 10,000-square-foot co-working center in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and local angel investors are investing $650,000.

As Miami’s startup community continues to grow, The LAB Miami said its “work-learn campus” will offer an in-house mentor network that will include investors and serial entrepreneurs, said Wifredo Fernandez, co-founder of The LAB Miami with Danny Lafuente and Elisa Rodriguez-Vila.

The LAB Miami, now in a 720-square-foot space in the same neighborhood, turned a Goldman building at 400 NW 26th Street into an artsy, modern space that can support 300 members, including tech startups, programmers, designers, investors, nonprofits, artists and academics.

In addition to offering space to work, the new co-working space plans to offer courses and workshops in business and technology — including a startup school and code school — as well as art, design and education, Fernandez said. It will be a welcoming space for traveling Latin Americans, too. “We want this to be a community center for entrepreneurs,” said Fernandez, explaining that the mix of activities and workshops will be structured by the needs of the LAB’s members.

While the Knight Foundation’s Miami office has sponsored many entrepreneurship events in the past four months, this is the foundation’s largest investment announced so far in its efforts to help accelerate entrepreneurship in Miami, said the Knight Foundation’s Miami program director, Matt Haggman. The Knight Foundation’s Miami office, which made accelerating entrepreneurship one of its key areas of focus this year, is investing $250,000 with the rest of the funding coming from a group of investors lead by Marco Giberti, Faquiry Diaz-Cala, Boris Hirmas Said and Daniel Echavarria.

“This is an important part of our strategy,” said Haggman. “Entrepreneurs need places to gather, connect and learn.”

The LAB Miami has already hosted several events, including HackDay and Wayra DemoDay earlier this week, and the co-working space plans to open for membership in January.

Co-working space will start at $200 a month to use the communal tables, and private offices that will accommodate up to six are also available. The LAB will also offer “Connect” memberships for $40 a month, which allows members who do not need co-working space to participate in events. In addition, there will be phone booths, classrooms, flexible meeting spaces, a lounge area, a kitchen, a “pop-up shop” for local fashion, art or technology products, a shower for those who bike to work and an outside garden with native landscaping.

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‘Jewish Spirituality’ lecture series to start Dec. 16

Temple Israel of Greater Miami will kick off its Jewish Spirituality Series on Sunday with Rabbi Arthur Green, who was named one of the "top 50 rabbis in America for 2012," by Newsweek Magazine.

Green will speak on the topic, "Spirituality for a New Era."

A highly respected scholar, teacher and expert in the field of contemporary Jewish spirituality, Green is rector of Hebrew College Rabbinical School and professor emeritus at Brandeis University. He also is the author of several books, including Radical Judaism: Rethinking god and Tradition. His most recent book is titled Hasidic Spirituality for a New Era.

The event will start at 9:30 a.m. with a light breakfast followed at 10 a.m. by the program, at which time Green will engage participants in an open conversation about the future and how each person can play a more active role shaping it.

The series will continue on Jan 22, when Nathan Katz, who arranged for the Dalai Lama to come to Miami three times, will speak on "Contemporary Global Spirituality."

According to a press release from the temple, more and more Americans describe themselves as "spiritual but not religious." In his lecture, Katz will focus on the question, "What is spirituality, and can it truly be separated from religion?"

The author of 15 books, including Who Are the Jews of India, a National Jewish Book Award finalist, and his recent memoir, Spiritual Journey Home, Katz is a Florida International University research professor in the School of International and Public Affairs, the Bhagwan Mahavir professor of Jain Studies, academic director of the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, and director of the Program in the Study of Spirituality, which is a co-sponsor of the series.

Rabbi Rami Shapiro, an award-wining author, poet, educator and the founding rabbi of Temple Beth Or in Miami, will close out the series on March 1, with the topic, "Amazing Chesed."

According to the press release, many Jews do not believe that grace is a central concept in Judaism, and an essential element in living "Jewishly." Shapiro disagrees and will draw from many facets of Jewish wisdom to answer that question in the affirmative.

Shapiro is recognized as one of the most creative figures in contemporary American Judaism and his prayers are included in worship services across the denominational spectrum of American congregations.

Admission to the series is free and open the public, and will be held in the Wolfson Auditorium at Temple Israel, 137 NE 19th St.

For more information call the temple at 305-573-5900 or email info@templeisrael.net.

New dean

Warm congratulations to the Very Rev. Douglas Wm. McCaleb, who recently was elected the new dean of the Episcopal North Dade Deanery.

McCaleb, the spiritual leader at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral at 464 NE 16th St., was elected at the 43rd Annual Diocesan Convention.

The Diocese of Southeast Florida is composed of six deaneries, divided geographically for both administrative purposes and for representation on the diocese’s Executive Board. McCaleb is the executive head of the deanery, which is responsible for the planning and financial aspects of the deanery, as well as being responsible for the study of the needs and opportunities of the church and to evaluate diocesan programs. In his position of leadership, McCaleb will also delegate the necessary authority and responsibility to carry out such work.

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New Flickr iPhone app to compete with Instagram and Twitter with 16 filters

Hot on the heels of its email redesign, Yahoo (YHOO) announced on Wednesday that it has completely redesigned the Flickr iPhone app. The new app borrows heavily from Instagram and focuses on what makes Flickr special: photos and communities. Yahoo’s new Flickr app also includes 16 filters with their own fancy names to go head-on with Instagram and Twitter’s recently updated app that added eight filters. Users can now access the Flickr app with numerous accounts including Facebook (FB) and Google (GOOG) and photos can be shared to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or via email. The new Flickr app is available for free on iPhone but to our disappointment, there isn’t an iPad-optimized version.

Ellis Hamburger from The Verge penned an interesting editorial on how Twitter misses the mark by simply adding filters to its app without having the close community that makes Instagram so addictive. Led by CEO Marissa Mayer, Yahoo seems aware that mobile apps thrive on the communities that sprout up. The new Flickr app’s emphasis on how the images are displayed and shared in visually appealing and digestible thumbnails suggests Yahoo finally understands mobile.

Get more from BGR.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Barbara Walters Names Most Fascinating Person of 2012

Who topped the list this year?

Tonight, Barbara Walters crowned General David Petraeus as her Most Fascinating person of 2012.

"David Petraeus was not chosen this year for his war record or his exemplary service to his country," said Walters. "This is about military honor, colliding with sex and lies in the digital age."

The former head of the CIA stepped down in November after an extramarital affair was discovered with his biographer Paula Broadwell.
Petraeus, 60, was also given the number one spot in 2010. 

VIDEO: One Direction on What They Look for in a Girl 

Additionally, the legendary journalist sat down with Argo actor/director Ben Affleck, British-Irish boy band One Direction, Olympic gymnast Gabrielle Douglas, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, 50 Shades of Grey author E.L. James, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Prince Harry and Honey Boo Boo were also featured on the list but not interviewed.

This is Walters' 20th season highlighting some of the year's biggest names in entertainment, sports and popular culture.

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Schmidt: Apple lags

Google’s Android is extending its lead over Apple in the mobile-software market at a rate that compares with Microsoft’s expansion in desktop software in the 1990s, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said. Android snared 72 percent of the market in the third quarter, while Apple had 14 percent, according to research by Gartner.

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Lennar to borrow $1.7 billion from Chinese bank

Miami-based Lennar Corp. has gotten approval on $1.7 billion in loans from China Development Bank to fund the development and construction of two major projects in San Francisco, according to a person familiar with the transaction.

The contract, set to close by Dec. 31 subject to various conditions, would mark the first U.S. loan by the big state-owned Chinese bank. One condition — tagged the “Chinese component”— is that China Railway Construction Corp. be included as a general contracting partner in the project, the person said.

Closing by year’s end is crucial because of new tax rules set to take effect, the person added.

The agreement, first reported in The Wall Street Journal, would provide funding for the first six years of what is envisioned to be a 20-year project.

The loan agreement, reached Dec. 7 after Lennar officials met in China with bank officials, provides for $1 billion in financing to a partnership led by Lennar to redevelop Hunters Point Shipyard-Candlestick Point, a site in southeast San Francisco spanning more than 700 acres, the person said. Plans for the mixed-use community call for nearly 12,000 residential units on the site. Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2013.

Under the pact, the Chinese bank would provide another $700 million to a partnership of Lennar, Stockbridge Capital Group and Wilson Meany, a real estate investment and development firm, to redevelop Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Islands in San Francisco Bay. Some 8,000 units of housing are planned for the mixed-use project on 535 acres. The U.S. Navy is set to turn over the first parcel of land to the development company in late 2013.

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Parents of students at Broward school warned of Legionnaires’ Disease exposure

Parents of students at Olsen Middle School in Dania Beach were being informed on Tuesday that their children may have been exposed to someone diagnosed with Legionnaires’ Disease, Broward School District officials said.

The person with Legionnaires’ Disease was not a student, district spokeswoman Nadine Drew said. They did not say if the infected person was a teacher.

Automated ‘robo-calls’ were made to the telephones of Olsen Middle School parents that explained how the district was working with the Broward Health Department

To read the entire Sun Sentinel story click here.

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Facebook helps FBI bust cybercriminals blamed for $850 million losses

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Investigators led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and aided by Facebook Inc, have busted an international criminal ring that infected 11 million computers around the world and caused more than $ 850 million in total losses in one of the largest cybercrime hauls in history.

The FBI, working in concert with the world’s largest social network and several international law enforcement agencies, arrested 10 people it says infected computers with “Yahos” malicious software, then stole credit card, bank and other personal information.

Facebook’s security team assisted the FBI after “Yahos” targeted its users from 2010 to October 2012, the U.S. federal agency said in a statement on its website. The social network helped identify the criminals and spot affected accounts, it said.

Its “security systems were able to detect affected accounts and provide tools to remove these threats,” the FBI said.

According to the agency, which worked also with the U.S. Department of Justice, the accused hackers employed the “Butterfly Botnet”. Botnets are networks of compromised computers that can be used in a variety of cyberattacks on personal computers.

The FBI said it nabbed 10 people from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, New Zealand, Peru, the United Kingdom, and the United States, executed numerous search warrants and conducted a raft of interviews.

It estimated the total losses from their activities at more than $ 850 million, without elaborating.

Hard data is tough to come by, but experts say cybercrime is on the rise around the world as PC and mobile computing become more prevalent and as more and more financial transactions shift online, leaving law enforcement, cybersecurity professionals and targeted corporations increasingly hard-pressed to spot and ward off attacks.

(Reporting By Edwin Chan; Editing by Matt Driskill)

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Bids galore for Sony Bldg.

Lois Weiss

BETWEEN THE BRICKS

Among the bidders lining up for the Sony Building at 550 Madison Ave. are two other companies with ties to Japan: the Rockefeller Group, owned by Mitsubishi Estate; and Mitsui Fudosan America.

Vornado Realty Trust and Boston Properties are among the suitors as well, according to Real Estate Alert, while we hear there are teams of pension funds and some high net worth individuals circling the iconic tower, also known as the Chippendale Building.

Locals throwing their hats into the ring include Harry Macklowe and Steven Witkoff, along with investors from the Middle East and Israel, China, Russia and Europe.

According to Real Estate Alert, offers to the marketers — Douglas Harmon and his team at Eastdil Secured — are coming in at more than $850 million and, depending on Sony’s leaseback terms, could top $1 billion.

No one returned requests for comment.

***

When we were last upstairs at Windows of the World in the North Tower for a Building Congress luncheon on April 30, 2001, we went outside to the observatory and stood in awe of the enormous antenna.

The next time we saw the antenna, on Aug. 11, 2006, it was inside the artifact hanger at JFK — burnt, bent and in pieces. One of those pieces will be on display at the 9/11 Museum, according to a spokesperson.

Yesterday, we spent a chilly morning in the Durst Organization’s water taxi trailing a barge ferrying nine of the 18 new antenna pieces from the Port of Newark to Pier 25 near Battery Park City.

It was amazing to see the barge, pushed by the able tugboat Ann Moran, move past the Statue of Liberty with the Empire State Building and the otherwise topped-out 1 World Trade Center and 4 World Trade Center in the background.

We could feel the excitement in the harbor as lucky tourist boats and the Staten Island ferry floated by while every helicopter, tugboat and Coast Guard boat buzzed the area for a look.

The antenna pieces will be lifted one a day, weather permitting, to the top of 1 World Trade Center until the 408 foot-tall mast reaches the sky at nearly 1,776 feet — give or take an inch or so.

***

Besides the altruistic reasons for getting people back in their homes as soon as possible, the city is pushing hard for repairs on Sandy-damaged homes and buildings because the taxable status date is coming up on Saturday, Jan. 5.

To ensure your valuation is lowered for the Jan. 15 tentative property-tax roll, you can find a new form online at the Finance Department to document the damage and mail it to the agency. Finance says it is also using damage found by the Department of Buildings and aerial photography.

Assessors will also take walk-ins at the outer-borough offices, Dec. 18 through Dec. 20, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with later hours to be announced. Bring clear photos of the damage, plus insurance and FEMA documents.

The agency will also consider this information through Feb. 1 for Classes 1 and 2, and until April 15 for Class 4. The final roll is published on May 25.

To maintain your legal rights, you must also file a formal application with Finance for correction by the Tax Commission by Friday, March 1 for all but Class 1 homes, which have until March 15.

Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has introduced a bill that would allow owners whose homes have lost at least half their value due to Sandy to apply for property-tax assessment reductions according to a sliding scale.

For a 100 percent loss, the taxable assessed value would be reduced to zero — but don’t forget that vacant land also has a value and is taxed.

Additionally, the city council has just passed a law to give red-tagged homes and apartment buildings deemed unsafe until April 1 to pay their second-half tax bills without any interest.

But remember, you will then have two bills to pay at that time for both January and April.

***

The building known as the King of Greene at 72-76 Greene St. between Spring and Broome streets sold last night for $41.5 million. The price equates to $1,186 a square foot for the 35,000 square-foot building.

New owner L3 Capital buys retail, but sources said this is the three partners’ biggest city bet so far and is based on finding a new anchor for the temporary Apple store that is now vacant. There are also some offices and rent-stabilized residential tenants.

The sole broker, Adelaide Polsinelli of Eastern Consolidated, declined comment.

Lois@BetweentheBricks.com

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With spam, it’s better not to give or receive

Q. Recently I’ve been unable to send emails from my home email address. In addition, my incoming email contains several notices of undeliverable emails that I didn’t send that are addressed to people I don’t know. I suspect that my computer is infected by some malicious software and is being used to send spam email — and that those that are undeliverable are being returned. What should I do?

Joseph Campbell Burnsville, Minn.

I agree that your PC has been taken over by hackers and is being used to send spam.

The fact that you aren’t able to send emails from your home account supports this theory, since it indicates that your Internet service provider believes you are spamming and has temporarily blocked your ability to send email to anyone.

I suggest you download and run the free version of security program Malwarebytes (go to www.tinyurl.com/cwbd73f and click “free download.”) If that doesn’t work, try Windows System Restore to eliminate recently installed software (see www.tinyurl.com/y9q9apj and www.tinyurl.com/ykgps6.) Then call your Internet service provider; explain what happened and what you’ve done to fix it. If your PC is clean, you’ll be allowed to send email again.Q. I’ve recently received a lot of spam, including some that appear to be from people I know — except that the messages come from the wrong email address. How does a spammer use a familiar name with a fake email address and send it to me?

Also, is there a way to find out the identity of the people who send spam emails? I’ve read that the email address of the sender is not always accurate.

Ginger Bramlett Rockwall, Texas

The bogus email that appeared to be from your friend, but came from the wrong email address, is from a spammer who is trying to trick you into opening the email.

Why did this happen? Your friend’s email may have been hacked and his or her address book stolen, providing the spammer with a host of addresses where an email bearing your friend’s name might be opened by the recipient.

It’s hard to find out who actually sent spam, because originating email addresses are easy to fake.

I suggest you send these emails to your spam filter so that you and others may be spared at least some spam in the future. In addition, your Internet service provider allows you to block spam that comes from a specific domain name — the part of the email address that follows the symbol, such as Yahoo.com. See www.tinyurl.com/cxmq4m7.

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Grant will help Miami-Dade communities become more age-friendly

Thanks to a national grant aimed at helping communities prepare for an increasingly graying population, Miami-Dade will launch a series of programs to make neighborhoods more age-friendly.

The Pfizer Foundation along with Grantmakers in Aging , a national association of funding groups, have awarded a $150,000 grant to the Health Foundation of South Florida. The Health Foundation, in turn, will contribute an additional $30,000 to the effort while working with five local partners to target improvements in transportation, community design, park programs and older adult employment.

Peter Wood, the foundation’s vice president of community and investment, says the eight-month grant is an acknowledgement of his organization’s already established efforts to make Miami-Dade a welcoming place to grow old. Since 2008, the foundation’s Healthy Aging Regional Collaborative Initiative has spent $7.5 million to increase the region’s attention to healthy aging. Several programs — from chronic disease self-management classes to physical activity initiatives at parks — have encouraged 22,000 older adults to stay healthy and fit, according to the foundation.

As part of the grant, the Health Foundation will partner with the Alliance for Aging, Miami-Dade parks, the county’s Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources, ReServe Miami (an organization that matches older professionals with nonprofits that need them) and the Urban Health Partnership.

“This grant will help us build on what we’ve already started,” Wood said. “We can now work with partners to help older adults age in place, which is what they prefer, close to family.”

The Health Foundation is one of only five foundations receiving one of the grants. Other agencies include nonprofits in Atlanta, Indiana, the Kansas City area and Phoenix. Each group is expected to come up with a percentage of matching funds.

In the past few years, as America has grown older, more non-profits and government agencies have focused on making communities accessible to older adults to help them stay at home instead of in nursing homes or long-term facilities. Efforts usually involve physical changes in living spaces and public spaces, such as making public transportation more accessible and designing homes and neighborhoods for an older population. Other initiatives have included creating cultural and outdoor activities and volunteering options for older adults.

But elder advocates warn that cities are not doing enough to prepare for the challenges —and opportunities — of this silver tsunami. Forty million people are 65 and older in the U.S. today and that number is projected to more than double to 89 million by 2050, as the giant baby boomer generation ages and people live longer. More than 800,000 residents of Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties are 60 and over.

“A larger portion of our society is going to be composed of older adults,” says Martha Pelaez, director of the foundation’s Healthy Aging Initiative and a consultant on aging. “We have to prepare, and this grant allows us to look at the bigger picture.”

The grant will go toward:

• Reviewing the countywide master plan to make it safer for older adults to age in place, including planning for age-friendly land use and community design.

•  Helping develop an action plan with the county parks department to meet the specialized needs of older adults in specific communities. The county has identified a dozen parks to offer programs, including a Walk for Life fitness program, a self-directed FitZone and Vita Course Exercise routine that incorporates equipment at each park and health and fitness workshops.

•  Encouraging employers to increase hiring, retaining and training older adults. This will include workshops to identify how the skills and experience of older adults can meet the needs of local large businesses.

•  Developing “mobility planning” by designing more biking, walking and public transit options at the neighborhood level for older adults.

The Health Foundation has teamed up with other local organizations before to promote healthy aging. The foundation and county park system brought fitness programs to parks including a Walk with Ease Program and a bilingual Matter of Balance class to help reduce falls.

In tough times, says Kevin Kirwin, assistant director of operations for the park system, “the development and implementation of the programs would not be possible without the Pfizer grant and the partnership with the Health Foundation.”

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Massive HP conference draws 10,000 attendees to ogle products, speakers, presentations

By Suzy Hansen

More than 10,000 customers, partners and attendees flocked to the Hewlett-Packard Discover conference in Frankfurt, Germany, this week to learn about HP’s latest products, exchange ideas, swap business cards and basically examine whether HP can improve the way their companies are run. The event was held at Messe Frankfurt, one of the world’s largest trade exhibition sites.

CEO Meg Whitman acknowledged in her speech on Tuesday that HP has gone through some rough times this past year. HP’s stock price has been nearly halved during her tenure. Whitman, however, pointed out that HP has $ 120 billion in revenue and is the 10th-largest company in the United States. In Q4, HP has generated $ 4.1 billion in cash flow.

“We are the No. 1 or No. 2 provider in almost every market,” Whitman told the crowd in Frankfurt.

Whitman emphasized  executives’ increasing concerns about security and said that it will be addressed by “a new approach”: HP’s security portfolio, with Autonomy and Vertica, which helps “analyze and understand the context of these events.” Executive Vice President of Enterprise Dave Donatelli spoke about converged infrastructure, or bringing together server, network and storage; their software-defined data centers; and their new servers, which “change the way servers have been defined.” George Kadifa, executive vice president of software, said 94 of the top 100 companies use HP software. HP is the sixth-largest software company in the world, with 16,000 employees in 70 countries, Kadifa added.

Also at the conference was Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks and an old friend of Whitman’s from their Disney days, who roused the crowd with a fun speech about his long relationship with HP. Katzenberg showed an old video of himself onstage with a lion, which nearly mauled him. This time, he appeared onstage with a guy in a lion suit. The lesson was to learn from past mistakes and move on.

“If I am smart enough to say ‘scalable multicorps processing,’ I am smart enough to not put myself onstage with a real lion again,” he joked.

The Discover conference is a key vehicle for HP to show off products it’s offering in the coming year. Among them were the latest ProLiant and Integrity servers, the 3PAR StoreServ 7000 and the StoreAll and StoreOnce storage systems. At the HP Labs section of the conference, attendees could learn about the cloud infrastructure or test HP’s new ElitePad 900.

Throughout the three-day event, which saw attendance grow by 30 percent this year, attendees wandered the enormous halls, milling around displays, watching videos, listening to speeches and participating in workshops. People gathered on clustered couches and chatted with new acquaintances, frequently stopping to plug in their various devices and recharge themselves with coffee. With people coming from all over the world, you could hear many languages spoken, from Arabic to French to the most bewildering of them all: the language of technology. Despite the large crowds, it was hard not to notice there were very few women among the thousands in attendance. In fact, when asked about this phenomenon, one female HP employee said, “Trust me, you aren’t the first person who has come up to me asking about this.”

Indeed, the Discover conference was like a forest of men in suits. The few women stood out like rays of sunlight. 

Regardless of their presence at this conference, women are making big strides in information technology. Among the leaders are HP CEO Whitman, who also led eBay; Carly Fiorina, who ran HP before Whitman; Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer; and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Were the women at the Discover conference surprised by the low female turnout?

“No, for IT this is standard,” said Stefanie, a 30-year-old product manager from Germany. “Many are afraid of all the technical stuff, and you have to prove that you are capable of it. You get more women in retail and distribution but not in high-tech areas, at least not in Europe. In America there are more women in management positions and in general.”

Americans might assume that Europe, with its generous social programs that include free daycare, enables more women to ascend the corporate ladder. But that still doesn’t mean that a woman trying to balance a high-tech career and a family is always accepted in European society.

“There is still a lot of emphasis on the family,” Stefanie said. “It’s easier to move up in the U.S., where there is a culture of ‘having it all.’ It’s quite a fight to get there here.”

Still, the IT industry might seem inhospitable to women. Could this male-dominated profession be male-dominant because women have a hard time breaking in?

Stefanie disagreed. “No, they actually like working with women,” she said. “They want to.”

One male conference attendee, who asked not to be named, was less certain.

“There’s a lot of ego and testosterone,” he said. “It can’t be easy” for women.

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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AutoNation: Back in the fast lane with expansion, higher sales

Despite an agonizingly slow economic recovery, the country’s largest auto retailer, Fort Lauderdale-based AutoNation, is thriving again as demand for vehicles expands.

The company, one of Florida’s largest, is posting increasingly strong profits and revenues. Just last week, in a sign of confidence, Autonation announced a major acquisition — buying six large auto stores in Texas — that will add about 700 employees to its national payroll of 19,400.

In announcing the deal Tuesday, which is expected to provide AutoNation with $575 million in additional revenues next year, the company’s CEO and chairman, Mike Jackson, expressed optimism about the prospects for continued growth in vehicle sales.

“You want to know what I’m thinking, look at what I do,” Jackson told viewers on CNBC’s Squawk Box program.

No information was released on the cost of the transactions, but in recent years auto dealerships sometimes sold for three to five times revenue, which would represent a significant investment for the company.

Tough times

To be sure, AutoNation has struggled through some tough times. It was battered by the Great Recession, which depressed sales and pushed the company into a $1.2 billion loss four years ago. As sales began to improve in 2010 and 2011, it was blindsided by a shortage of Japanese-made cars last year after the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 shut down Japanese manufacturers of some essential components.

Since then, however, AutoNation has rebounded. Unit sales, revenues and profits all performed well in the first three quarters of this year, and the company expects new vehicle sales to continue their recovery nationwide, rising to the mid-14 million units this year, up from about 12.7 million in 2011. In the third quarter of 2012, AutoNation’s new car unit sales grew by 21 percent over the same period in 2011, doing better than an estimated 15 percent increase industry wide. November’s sales of new vehicles increased by 21 percent over November 2011 .

The big dealerships acquired sell Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen and Chrysler products in the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth markets. They are expected to sell 14,000 new and used autos this year, and will add substantially to AutoNation’s future sales.

“We are in the right industry at the right time,” Jackson said during an interview. “The recovery in new vehicle sales is being driven by replacement demand,” added Jackson, who has 42 years of experience in the auto business. “The average age of the light vehicle fleet in the country has increased to 11 years, and even though cars and trucks last longer today, they can’t go on forever. About 12 to 13 million vehicles are scrapped every year and need to be replaced.”

Other factors are contributing to stronger demand for vehicles. “The population is growing, interest rates are low, there is ample credit available and manufacturers are producing a wide range of new models that offer attractive styling, power and greatly improved gas mileage,” said Jackson, who took over as AutoNation’s CEO in 1999. “Auto financing is more available than it has been in recent years. A little known fact is that people are more likely to default on a mortgage than on a vehicle loan.”

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U-Haul chase suspect appears in Miami-Dade court on Sunday

The suspect arrested in connection with Friday’s chase through the streets of Miami-Dade in a rental U-Haul truck appeared in front of judge Sunday morning.

Darrell Conyers, 45, made his first appearance in bond court.

Conyers faces a number of charges including grand theft, fraud and resisting arrest with violence.

During the hearing, the judge noted that the only charge before her was driving with a suspended license. For that she set bond at $2,000. Conyers will return to bond court at a later time for the additional charges.

Conyers was scheduled to appear in court on Saturday but was unable to do so because he was still in the hospital being treated for injuries he sustained at the end of the chase which apparently started as an attempted robbery at a tool shop on South Dixie Highway.

For 45-minutes the U-Haul truck weaved in and out of city streets, jumping on and off the Palmetto Expressway and headed in different directions along Southwest Eighth Street and Flagler Street.

The chase finally came to an end 12:45 p.m. next to Miami Senior High in Little Havana on Flagler Street and 26th Avenue.

When officers moved in to apprehend the driver, an unidentified Miami-Dade Police officer was injured when he was pinned between the U-Haul truck and a police vehicle. He was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital where he was treated for a broken leg.

Another Miami officer cut his hand from broken glass. Police say that happened when officers had to break the glass on the U-Haul truck to get the suspect out of it.

Police said Conyers has had previous run-ins with the law and has convictions for firearm violations, fleeing police and carjacking.

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Singer Jenni Rivera Feared Dead in Plane Crash

The remains of a private plane carrying singer Jenni Rivera have been found in Mexico with no survivors following a suspected crash. 

Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, Mexico's Secretary of Communications and Transportation, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that, on Sunday, officials found the remains of an airplane that was carrying the Mexican-American superstar and her entourage who were traveling from Monterrey to Toluca, Mexico.

Video: Remembering the Tragic Loss of Aaliyah

The small jet had been carrying seven passengers (Rivera included) and lost radio contact with the airport a few minutes after departing in the early hours of the morning following a concert, reports THR.

The singer's father and brother later confirmed to Telemundo that Rivera died in the crash.

With the sad news, Latin artists all over the world took to Twitter to express their heartbreak.

Gloria Estefan mourns, "Our deepest sympathy to the family & fans of @jennirivera & those that accompanied her on what was to be her last voyage. Rest in peace."

Ricky Martin says, "This is sad. A bit in shock. Much peace to your family." (Translated from Spanish)

Eva Longoria writes, "My heart breaks for the loss of Jenni Rivera & everyone on the plane. My prayers go out to her family. We lost a legend today."

William Levy tweets, "My heart goes out to the families. I wish them all the strength in the world." (Translated from Spanish)

Paulina Rubio mourns, "My friend! Why? There is no consolation. God help me!" (Translated from Spanish)

Pitbull writes, "I highly respected #JenniRivera 4 being a gr8 performer but more then tht being real & gr8 example 4 us all que dios la bendiga &may she RIP"

Rivera, 43, was currently a featured coach on The Voice Mexico. A California native, the singer earned several Latin Grammy nominations and recently signed on to star in an American sitcom with ABC titled Jenni.

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Business briefs

Robust China

China’s factory output and retail sales topped forecasts last month in signs that an economic recovery is accelerating, improvements that may pare a jobless rate newly estimated at almost double the official figure. Industrial production climbed 10.1 percent in November and retail sales jumped 14.9 percent.

Euro furor

Europe’s banks are calling for a review of tougher financial regulations on the eve of their adoption as the region sinks into a recession, dimming prospects of raising $621 billion in capital needed to meet the rules. Meanwhile, Greece is reported to be near a buyback of sovereign debt that will unlock aid from the IMF and the EU, a Greek official said.

Set-top set-to

Arris Group of Suwanee, Ga., and UK-based Pace Plc have made the most compelling bids for Google’s Motorola Home Business, which sells set-top boxes and equipment to cable-television providers, a source said.

Cheaper gas

The average price for regular gasoline fell 9.62 cents in the past three weeks to $3.3766 a gallon, according to a national survey.

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Back in the fast lane: AutoNation expanding again

Despite an agonizingly slow economic recovery, the country’s largest auto retailer, Fort Lauderdale-based AutoNation, is thriving again as demand for vehicles expands.

The company, one of Florida’s largest, is posting increasingly strong profits and revenues. Just last week, in a sign of confidence, Autonation announced a major acquisition — buying six large auto stores in Texas — that will add about 700 employees to its national payroll of 19,400.

In announcing the deal Tuesday, which is expected to provide AutoNation with $575 million in additional revenues next year, the company’s CEO and chairman, Mike Jackson, expressed optimism about the prospects for continued growth in vehicle sales.

“You want to know what I’m thinking, look at what I do,” Jackson told viewers on CNBC’s Squawk Box program.

No information was released on the cost of the transactions, but in recent years auto dealerships sometimes sold for three to five times revenue, which would represent a significant investment for the company.

Tough times

To be sure, AutoNation has struggled through some tough times. It was battered by the Great Recession, which depressed sales and pushed the company into a $1.2 billion loss four years ago. As sales began to improve in 2010 and 2011, it was blindsided by a shortage of Japanese-made cars last year after the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 shut down Japanese manufacturers of some essential components.

Since then, however, AutoNation has rebounded. Unit sales, revenues and profits all performed well in the first three quarters of this year, and the company expects new vehicle sales to continue their recovery nationwide, rising to the mid-14 million units this year, up from about 12.7 million in 2011. In the third quarter of 2012, AutoNation’s new car unit sales grew by 21 percent over the same period in 2011, doing better than an estimated 15 percent increase industry wide. November’s sales of new vehicles increased by 21 percent over November 2011 .

The big dealerships acquired sell Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen and Chrysler products in the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth markets. They are expected to sell 14,000 new and used autos this year, and will add substantially to AutoNation’s future sales.

“We are in the right industry at the right time,” Jackson said during an interview. “The recovery in new vehicle sales is being driven by replacement demand,” added Jackson, who has 42 years of experience in the auto business. “The average age of the light vehicle fleet in the country has increased to 11 years, and even though cars and trucks last longer today, they can’t go on forever. About 12 to 13 million vehicles are scrapped every year and need to be replaced.”

Other factors are contributing to stronger demand for vehicles. “The population is growing, interest rates are low, there is ample credit available and manufacturers are producing a wide range of new models that offer attractive styling, power and greatly improved gas mileage,” said Jackson, who took over as AutoNation’s CEO in 1999. “Auto financing is more available than it has been in recent years. A little known fact is that people are more likely to default on a mortgage than on a vehicle loan.”

Read More..