Former Miami Beach resident may be next Israeli ambassador to U.S.

Ron Dermer, a top adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and who has family ties to two former Miami Beach mayors, may soon become the next Israeli ambassador to the United States, according to reports in an Israeli newspaper.The daily Makor Rishon reported late Friday that the current ambassador, Michael Oren, plans to step down from his post in the spring...

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Makers of $99 Android-Powered Game Console Ship First 1,200 ‘Ouyas’

Like Nintendo’s Wii U game console, the Ouya (that’s “OOH-yuh”) has an unusual name and even more unusual hardware. The console is roughly the size of a Rubik’s cube, and is powered by Android, Google‘s open-source operating system that’s normally found on smartphones and tablets.Ouya’s makers, who are preparing the console for its commercial launch, encourage interested gamers to pop the case open...

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Uncle Sam’s sorry day of reckoning

Never mind New Year’s Eve — Monday is Debt Ceiling Day! According to the best guesstimate by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the federal government on Monday will reach its statutory borrowing limit of $16.4 trillion — or roughly 104 percent of America’s total economic output. A legal limit on federal debt was first enacted during World War I and has...

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Resources for South Florida small businesses

•  Florida Small Business Development Centers. Counseling and training at centers in South Florida and around the state, www.floridasbdc.org.•  SCORE Workshops, online training and free coaching at local branches, www.score.org, miamidade.score.org, browardscore.org, southbroward.score.org• Florida Women’s Business Center. Provides training, mentoring and...

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Miami-Dade camping law may clash with Supreme Court ruling

When Miami-Dade commissioners voted unanimously this month to ban overnight camping at “county facility property,” they opened the doors to debate about how police should apply the measure to homeless people.The action was a clear shot at the Occupy Wall Streeters who flooded public spaces, including outside County Hall, in the summer of 2011. In addition to making it illegal...

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Police offer ‘virtual ridealongs’ via Twitter

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Riding side by side as a police officer answers a call for help or investigates a brutal crime during a ridealong gives citizens an up close look at the gritty and sometimes dangerous situations officers can experience on the job.But a new social media approach to informing the public about what officers do is taking hold at police departments across the United States and...

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Wall Street cliff-hanger as markets gyrate

Wall Street rode a wild roller-coaster yesterday as it clung to hope that Washington’s fumbling team might get back into formation and punt their way out of the fiscal cliff crisis.Stocks nose-dived during the day over fears a budget deal was all but dead in the House, wiping nearly 150 points from the Dow Jones industrial average, and also dragging down...

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Drug overuse in cattle imperils human health

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Two children seriously injured in the Joplin, Mo., tornado in May 2011 showed up at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City suffering from antibiotic-resistant infections from dirt and debris in their wounds.Physicians tried different drugs, but at first nothing seemed to work.Blame the overuse of antibiotics in livestock, according to the doctors familiar...

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Man set on fire Christmas night, Miami-Dade police are investigating

A 44-year-old man was set on fire Christmas night at a gas station in central Miami-Dade County. He was burned over 75 percent of his body but remained alive Wednesday as his family pleaded for help in finding his attackers.It was a mystery why Darrell Brackett was set ablaze at the U-Gas station at 4700 NW 27th Ave. Miami-Dade police said they were treating the investigation...

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George H.W. Bush in intensive care

HOUSTON — Former President George H.W. Bush has been admitted to the intensive care unit at a Houston hospital "following a series of setbacks including a persistent fever," but he is alert and talking to medical staff, his spokesman said Wednesday.Jim McGrath, Bush's spokesman in Houston, said in a brief email that Bush was admitted to the ICU at Methodist...

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