Miami Police were investigating the murder of a male teenager in Liberty City early Saturday.
Marquis Bronson, 16, was shot near the intersection of 62nd Street and NW 11Tth Avenue, according to Miami Herald news partner CBS 4.
He was taken to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
This post will be updated as more information becomes available.
Alice Eve and Brooklyn Decker
ETonline has found the lookalikes to the stars and, as it turns out,
it's their Hollywood peers. Click the pics and let us know if you think
these celebs bear a resemblance to one another.
Youtube
Stills from the sick YouTube hit, which has since been taken down.
Another teen was busted for forcing a fight between two grade-school girls in the Bronx that was captured on YouTube video, authorities said.
The 14-year-old was charged as a juvenile with endangering the welfare of a child, cops said.
Sources said she may be the sister of the 6-year-old victim, but it was not immediately clear and the two had separate names.
One other older girl is still being sought in the case, authorities said.
Two other girls, 14 and 15, were previously charged with child endangerment, police said.
The disturbing video showed the two youngsters, 6 and 7, hitting each other and grabbing one another's hair at Poe Park on Jan. 3 as older girls giggle and egg them on.
The video has since been taken off of You Tube.
The fight may have stemmed from a feud between two older girls over candy, sources said.
The tea party governor now says he wants to expand Medicaid. The Republican Legislature isn’t as sure.
Hanging in the balance?
Access to health care for 1 million or more poor Floridians.
Billions of dollars in federal money.
The state budget, which — already — pumps $21 billion a year into care. Florida’s Medicaid system today serves more than 3 million people, about one in every six Floridians. The decision whether to expand the system by a full third will be made by men and women in suits in Tallahassee’s mural-filled chambers this spring.
But the impact is elsewhere, in children’s hospitals in Tampa and Miami, in doctors’ offices in New Port Richey and in the home of a woman who recently lost her full-time teaching job.
The Suddenly uninsured
This was not how she envisioned her 60s.
Jean Vincent dreamed of turning her five-bedroom home into a bed and breakfast. She painted murals on walls, created mosaics on floors and let her imagination guide the interior decorating. There is a “garden” room, a “bamboo” room and a “canopy” room.
In 2010, Vincent lost her full-time job teaching in Citra north of Ocala. Her mother became sick with cancer and needed around-the-clock care before dying in August. Then, doctors began prescribing Vincent costly medications to treat osteoporosis and early-onset diabetes.
“I started getting a little behind with my mortgage,” said Vincent, 61. “All of a sudden, I found out I had to have an emergency retina eye surgery.”
Today, Vincent is searching for roommates to move into her home and help pay the bills. She begs Gainesville’s Sante Fe Community College and City College to schedule her for as many classes as she can handle as an adjunct geography professor; this semester’s four is the most she’s ever had.
But her biggest worry? Not having comprehensive health care.
Vincent —who is too young for Medicare — is enrolled in CHOICES, a health services program the Alachua County government created for the uninsured. It covers preventative care like her flu shots and helps with her drug therapy. But if Vincent ever got so sick she needed to go to the hospital, she’d be on her own.
Under current Florida law, adults with no dependents are not eligible to participate in Medicaid no matter how little they make. Vincent’s four children are all grown, which means even as her income has dwindled she can’t become eligible for the health insurance program run jointly by the federal and state governments.
If Florida decides to expand the Medicaid system, people in Vincent’s position for the first time could be covered.
The expansion would allow any single adult making about $16,000 a year eligible for Medicaid.
On the matter, Vincent has become an activist. She joined with patient rights group Florida CHAIN and traveled to Tallahassee to lobby lawmakers.
“When I gave my testimony, that’s all I wanted them to do was see there were people out there that weren’t just trying to take advantage of the system,” she said.
This summer, she expects to only be assigned one class at Sante Fe. That will provide about $2,000 for her to live on for three months. Meanwhile, her retirement dreams are put on hold.
Boat owners looking to store their vessel now have a new option.
On Friday, Hallandale Beach welcomed its new $1.2 million, 30-slip marina at 101 Three Islands Blvd.
The public marina, which was paid for by the city, the Broward Boating Improvement Program and the Florida Inland Navigational District, offers 26 slips for annual rental, three for daily use and one for the Hallandale Beach Police Marine Unit.
Located midway between the Haulover Inlet and the inlet at Port Everglades, the marina is the southern-most public dockage in Broward County.
The cost for docking a boat — the marina can accommodate vessels from 20 feet to 60 feet and a maximum beam of 15 feet — is $15 per foot, per month, on an annual basis and $1.75 per foot, per day for the three transient slips. The fee includes electricity, water and Intranet Wi-Fi. A pump-out facility is available for use at an additional cost.
For more information on the Hallandale Beach City Marina, visit the Hallandale Beach Parks and Recreation Department page at www.cohb.org, or call 954-457-1653.
Oscar Sunday is quickly approaching, and the ET team is working around the clock to prepare for Hollywood's biggest night!
Nancy O'Dell, Brooke Anderson, Rocsi Diaz and Rob Marciano have their work cut out for them come February 24 as some 3,000 people are expected to grace the 500-foot red carpet at L.A.'s Dolby theater.
Pics: The 15 Best Oscar Dresses of All Time
With weeks of meetings, research and fittings leading up to the big event, our talented crew is often in need of a trusty pick-me-up.
This awards season, ET's red carpet (and the reporters covering it) run on Dunkin'.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A Northern California woman convicted of planting a severed finger in a bowl of Wendy's chili has been arrested again after police say she made up another tale, this one about a shooting involving her son.
The San Jose Mercury reports that Anna Ayala, the so-called Chili Finger Lady, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of being an accessory to a felony and filing a false police report.
Authorities say she told officers that her son, Guadalupe Reyes, had been shot in the ankle by two unknown people and gave them a detailed description of the assailants. They say she later acknowledged that Reyes had shot himself.
The 26-year-old Reyes, a convicted felon, was not supposed to be in possession of a gun.
Both are scheduled to be arraigned Friday.
A detailed survey shows that South Florida hospitals could lose $368 million over 10 years in federal budget cuts starting next Friday, if the sequestration program kicks in as scheduled.
The Florida Hospital Association, using data from the American Hospital Association, estimates that over the next decade, sequestration would cause Miami-Dade hospitals to lose $223.9 million and Broward facilities $144.4 million under the Congress-mandated budget cuts that hit virtually all federal programs unless Republicans and Democrats can work out a compromise.
The New York Times and other national news organizations are reporting that sequestration, unlike the New Year’s fiscal cliff, seems virtually certain to take place.
The law requires across-the-board spending cuts in domestic and defense programs, with certain exceptions. Because healthcare represents more than one in five dollars of the federal budget, it will be a huge target for cuts.
For hospitals and doctors, the major impact will be felt in Medicare cuts, which according to the budget law are limited to 2 percent of Medicare payments. Medicaid, food stamps and Social Security are exempted from cuts, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The FHA study calculates that over 10 years, Jackson Memorial Hospital stands to lose $30.6 million, Mount Sinai Medical Center on Miami Beach $27.3 million, Holy Cross in Fort Lauderdale $23.8 million and Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood $21.4 million.
“The problem with sequestration is that it just makes broad cuts across the board,” said Linda Quick, president of the South Florida Hospital and Healthcare Association. “The Affordable Care Act is looking at all sorts of intelligent ways to reduce costs,” including coordinated care that will stop duplicated tests and reduce hospital readmissions. “But sequestration takes an ax, and that doesn’t make any sense.”
FierceHealthcare, which produces trade publications, says sequestration cuts over the next decade will include $591 million from prescription drug benefits for seniors, $318 million from the Food and Drug Administration, $2.5 billion from the National Institutes of Health, $490 million from the Centers for Disease Control and $365 million from Indian Health Services.
The National Association of Community Health Centers estimates that 900,000 of its patients nationwide could lose care because of the cuts. The group said the cuts were “penny wise and pound foolish” because they would mean less preventive care while more and sicker patients would end up in emergency rooms.
Like the fiscal cliff, Republicans and Democrats agreed on a sequestration strategy, with the idea that the drastic measure would force the two sides to reach agreement on more deliberative budget adjustments. That hasn’t happened.
The White House reports that the law will mean that nondefense programs will be cut by 5 percent, defense programs by 8 percent. But since the first year’s cuts must be done over seven months, that means in 2013, nondefense programs need to be cut by 9 percent, defense programs by 13 percent.
Residents of multi-family apartment buildings in Miami Lakes Thursday night were advised to boil their water until further notice.
Town officials said during a preventative maintenance on a fire hydrant earlier in the day, a water pipe ruptured in the area of Northwest 64 Avenue and Miami Lakeway North.
Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department crews are on site to make repairs.
For now, a localized boil water order is being issued for two nearby multi-family apartment buildings.
For additional information, visit www.miamidade.gov/water.
Wiz Khalifa and fiancee Amber Rose welcomed their first child today.
PICS: Celebs and Their Kids
The proud 25-year-old papa (real name Cameron Jibril Thomaz) made the announcement via Twitter, writing, "Happy Birthday Sebastian 'The Bash' Taylor Thomaz!!! Everyone welcome this perfect young man into the world."
This news comes after yesterday's false alarm, when Amber went in for a doctor's appointment that became blown out of proportion.
"My due date isn't until Feb 24 & this is my first baby so he may come early, he may come late but either way he'll be here soon," Amber, 29, clarified on Wednesday.
The couple, who announced their engagement last year, are planning to hold off on a formal wedding ceremony until after Amber has a chance to drop the baby weight.
"If we have a daughter one day, [Amber] might wanna give the dress to our daughter, but if she's pregnant then she can't do that," Wiz explained to Hot 97's Angie Martinez in November.
These guys want to put their Brooklyn Bridge Park plans on a pedestal.
The developers tapped to bring a hotel and residential complex to Pier 1 near Old Fulton St are planning for a future Hurricane Sandy by raising both buildings up at least three feet to avoid the massive flood damage that devastated the surrounding DUMBO neighborhood during last October’s super-storm.
David Von Spreckelsen, a senior vice president at developer Toll Brothers, said the 159-apartment, 200-room hotel project — which would raise a $3.3 million chunk of the park’s $16 million annual maintenance budget — will now include additional steps and ramps leading to the main lobby and more masonry to ensure the building is above the site’s flood plain set by the feds.
Mechanical systems that normally are in basements will be moved to the roof. A basement will still be built but will be primarily used for parking.
“We want to make our building a structure that can survive any kind of storm,” said Von Spreckelsen, whose company is partnering with Starwood Capital Group in the development.
The development was supposed to break ground in February but is on hold until both Toll Brothers and Starwood complete the redesign.
Regina Myer, president of the city development corp. overseeing the 85-acre park’s construction, said she’s “comfortable” with the developers’ progress and confident that – despite the wrath of Sandy - the park would eventually be able to select a developer and move forward with other high-rise condo complexes planned for Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Heights and John Street in DUMBO.
Myer said the park suffered about $1 million in damage from Sandy – mostly lighting and other electrical work – that is nearly fixed, adding “the park did very well” considering parks citywide suffered a total of $750 million in damage.
However Cobble Hill Judi Francis said the storm proved just how bad a spot the waterfront park is to build more housing.
“The lesson of Sandy is it will happen again, and when it happens, it will be really bad for those residents who wind up buying condos there,” she said.
rcalder@nypost.com
Do your research, be sure to network, pick partners who have complementary skills and make sure your product is amazing.
Starting or growing a business can be daunting for an entrepreneur. So have a plan, give only a sliver of your business away to investors, know how much money you need and how you will spend it, and demonstrate your passion when searching for capital.
Experts doled out that advice and more at The Miami Herald’s Small Business Forum on Thursday at Florida International University.
About 100 attendees — budding entrepreneurs, small-business owners and others — gleaned tips and inspiration during a series of panel discussions.
Matt Kuttler, co-president of ReStockIt.com, started three businesses with his business partner, who started as his high school friend.
“The background is trust,” he said, advising entrepreneurs to choose someone with similar values, and to ask themselves: “Can I work with this person? Can I respect them?” In that way, though they have had disagreements, “Ultimately, the mutual respect brings us back,” Kuttler said
Before founding ReStockIt.com, which the partners sold four months ago to a Baltimore company, Kuttler did lots of research and networked with everyone he could, asking questions.
Know what you want and what you don’t want when searching for a venture, he counseled. For example, if you don’t want to work nights and weekends, don’t start a restaurant. And be aware that even though you can have a thriving personal life, you will always be thinking of your business.
Alberto Perlman, chief executive and co-founder of Zumba Fitness, energized attendees with his tale of starting and growing the Miami business, which combines exercise with entertainment. Zumba classes are now found in 140,000 locations in 186 countries, and the company has sold 12 million DVDs.
“One of the biggest business lessons of Zumba,” said Perlman, the keynote speaker, “is that the product has to be magical. It has to be amazing.”
Other lessons he offered: only give investors or licensees “a sliver of the business” —only what they need. Always “give people more value than what they are paying for.” And spend the money to hire “A” players.
To find financing for a small business or start-up, get help putting together a business plan and a loan application from organizations like SCORE and Partners for Self Employment, their executives said.
Marjorie Weber, Miami-Dade chapter chair of SCORE, advised being careful not to borrow short term if your needs are long term.
And when you are asked, “ ‘How much do you need,’ never answer with ‘How much can you give me,’ ” said Cornell Crews Jr., program director at Partners for Self Employment. “Always know how much you need and how you are going to spend it.”
When pitching to potential investors, do your homework to see what they are interested in, and make a good first impression, said Darius G. Nash, co-founder of G3 Capital Partners, a mid-market and early-state investment company.
“Image matters,” he said.
To present your business, frame it in terms of a problem and a solution, said Melissa Krinzman, founder and managing director of Venture Architects.
“If you don’t have a problem you are solving for your customer, you don’t really have a business,” she said.
What’s more, show your passion and commitment, said Boris Hirmas Said, chairman of Tres Mares.
“I love clever ideas; I love clever people,” he said.
And find someone who believes in you, because the road ahead may be bumpy, he said. “You don’t want people to pull the plug on you.”
Finally, expert coaches critiqued entrepreneurs’ pitches so they could shine.
Among the tips: begin with a provocative sentence to explain why your business solves a problem. Go from ‘why’ to ‘what’ to ‘how,’ to ‘who,’ and always ask for something — like an investment or advice. Also, offer what experience you and your team have in your field.
Speak directly into the microphone and take your hands out of your pocket.
“Showing your hands shows you have nothing to hide,” said Michelle Villalobos of Mivista Consulting.
And share your passion, said David Suarez of Interactive Training Solutions.
“If you can make your audience feel what you are feeling,” he said, “you have done most of your job.”
For a picture of the nation’s border struggles, look at the long lines and understaffed international-passenger checkpoints at Miami International Airport.
Up to 1,000 passengers in a single day have missed connecting flights at the airport — the busiest in the nation for international flights — because they’re held up at the Customs and Border Protection facility.
And the problem could get even worse next month because of looming federal budget cuts, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Wednesday after visiting the airport.
“Everything we are trying to do here — the additional staffing, overtime, technology…. will come to a screeching halt,” Napolitano said.
“It means not adding Customs officers, we’re going to be starting to furlough Customs officers,” she said. “Not adding overtime to cover peak periods, but eliminating overtime.”
If Congress comes up with a deal to avoid the cuts — under the so-called sequester — the agency either needs to shift resources to properly staff its Miami facility or get more money to hire more officers. One solution for getting more cash: Tapping Miami-Dade taxpayers to help foot the bill.
Absent a Congressional deal, however, Napolitano also warned that Transportation Security Administration officers might be furloughed as well, meaning travelers should arrive at busy airports like MIA an hour early and citizens re-entering the United States could wind up waiting twice as long to get back in the country.
U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia, a Miami Democrat, toured the airport with Napolitano and said earlier that the situation at the airport encapsulates what’s wrong with Congress as well as the entire immigration system.
“We’re having a big debate over fixing our borders in Mexico, but we can’t even get a rich Argentinian businessman through Customs on time because we don’t have the proper staffing,” Garcia said before the press conference.
Garcia noted that up to half of the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States overstayed their visas and probably flew into the country — they didn’t cross the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We have to focus on a broader solution,” Garcia said.
While he toured the airport with Napolitano and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Garcia noted that half of the 72 booths at the international-passenger checkpoint were unstaffed on Wednesday.
U.S. Rep. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, joined the tour at the airport, but she slipped away before cameras caught her with the Democrats. U.S. Rep. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, also a Miami Republican, met Napolitano earlier Wednesday at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale but couldn’t make the airport tour because he had engagements in the Naples area. Diaz-Balart called for more officers in South Florida.
After touring the facilities Wednesday, Napolitano pointed out that the lines are better now than in the past.
Almost as soon as the new $180 million facility opened in July, it was understaffed and plagued with long lines.
Gov. Rick Scott wrote to Napolitano in September and again on Wednesday, asking for more Customs and Border Protection staff. He said the long lines and missed flights were bad for Florida’s reputation and therefore its bottom line.
“CBP has not been able to meet the necessary staffing numbers in the new facility. As a result, customers, often numbering well over 1,000 daily, and their baggage are misconnected and must be re-booked on later flights, many leaving the next day,” Scott wrote.
During one 30-day study in February 2012, nearly 5,000 American Airlines customers missed their connecting flights as a direct result of delays in CBP processing.
Napolitano said she was able to provide a few more staff at peak times and that it helped alleviate some of the long lines.
The airport’s director, Jose Abreu, said wait times are down as are the incidence of missed flights. But up to 700 people daily can miss flights because they’re held up in lines, waiting to be processed by border officers.
To further shorten lines, Napolitano said, her agency would like to increase a pre-screening program for low-risk international travelers and hire more border officers in cooperation with local officials.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who met with Napolitano and the congressional members, said he’d be willing to try to pitch in county money to help.
Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chairwoman, said she and the other South Florida congressional members will try to pass legislation giving local governments the ability to help underwrite the costs of federal border officers.
But, she said, the looming federal budget cuts need to be handled quickly.
“Deep cuts to Customs and Border Protection operations will mean less staffing and even more frustrated passengers,” she said.
Having grown up in show business, Prince Michael proved to be a gifted interviewer as he conducted his first sit-down as an ET correspondent.
PICS: Bewitching Oz the Great & Powerful Posters
Michael Jackson's 16-year-old son impressed Oz the Great and Powerful stars James Franco and Zach Braff as well as director Sam Raimi with his confidence and competence on his first assignment.
"You're doing awesome," Braff gushed. "You're a natural."
Prince Michael returned the compliment, praising their work in the fantasy flick and getting Franco to shed some light on how he approached playing the lead role of Oscar Diggs, a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics.
"I saw that his particular transformation would allow for comedy," Franco explained. "Because he's a conman -- that would get him into a lot of awkward situations that could be played for comedy."
The movie imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum's beloved character from The Wizard of Oz. After Oscar Diggs (Franco) is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he first thinks he's hit the jackpot -- until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting.
Oz the Great and Powerful hits theaters March 8.
The USPS is putting their stamp on fashion.
Heavy duty coats, hats, jackets, footwear and clothing inspired by mail carriers will soon be hanging on the racks at premium department stores like Nordstrom, Macy’ s and Bloomingdale’s.
The cash-starved U.S. Postal Service partnered with Cleveland-based clothing company Wahconah Group to license it’s own line called “Rain, Heat & Snow” that is crafted to support electronics like iPods.
“We don’t want people to look like mailmen,” said Wahconah marketing chief Bob Carlston.
“We’re looking to incorporate iconic elements of their long and rich history of delivering the mail for us.”
Designers at Wahconah company are working closely on designs and sketches with the USPS, who will receive a small percentage of the sales. The inventory will be made in the U.S. with fabrics sourced from around the world including Italy, Mexico and Asia.
“We won’t be using stamps (for tagging),” Carlston said.
“Think of a Pea coat with really nice brass buttons from an old historic postal service uniform.”
An outerwear line for men will be introduced in Spring 2014. They’re also working on a women’s line.
The designs and price points are still undecided but Carlston predicts a premium wool Pea coat will retail for around $500.
“This agreement will put the Postal Service on the cutting edge of functional fashion,’ said Postal Service corporate licensing manager Steven Mills in a statement.
But some aren’t so sure that the Postal Service can pull it off.
“If it looks the price and you can see the quality and fashion in it - yes, I’d wear it,” said student Jesse Williams, 22.
“It is important that they (USPS) deliver what they are saying. And if it keeps me warm and dry, that’s a bonus.”
Barbie fans will get to step into a real-life Malibu Mansion starting next month at Sawgrass Mills.
The Sunrise mall will be the only place in the United States to feature the first life-sized replica of the Barbie Dreamhouse. Located in the Oasis section at Sawgrass, the Dreamhouse will feature pink elevators, an endless closet, a walk-in “glitterizer” and a dazzling “diamond” ring display. Girls will be able to enjoy this unique interactive experience, including LED touch screens where they can digitally try on Barbie’s fashions.
The only other Barbie Dreamhouse Experience will be located in Berlin, Germany.
“It is a real coup for Sawgrass Mills to get this first-ever global experience, which will only enhance our already successful mix of retail, dining and entertainment concepts,” said Luanne Lenberg, vice president and general manager of Sawgrass.
The original Barbie Dreamhouse debuted in 1962 and has been a popular place for girls to play house with their Barbie dolls
Admission to the Dreamhouse at Sawgrass will start at $14.95, with special packages available for groups, families of five and a VIP Megastar Experience. The Dreamhouse will run through the end of 2013. For more information and pricing, visit www.barbiedreamhouse.com.
An elderly Miami imam accused of contributing money to the Pakistani Taliban declared his innocence from the witness stand in federal court Tuesday, saying he despises the U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
Hafiz Khan, testifying during his trial in his native Pashto language through an interpreter, said the money he sent from Miami to Pakistan was meant for his family and a religious school known as a madrassa that he founded in the Swat Valley region decades ago.
Khan, 77, the frail former leader of the Flagler Mosque in Miami, tried to portray himself as a naturalized U.S. citizen who embraced his new country — contrary to the fiery anti-American and anti-Pakistan government figure captured on secret FBI recordings of his phone conversations before his arrest in 2011.
“We are innocent [of] these accusations,” Khan testified, speaking for himself and other family members charged in the material-support terrorism case.
Asked by one of his defense attorneys whether his madrassa for boys and girls catered to Taliban fighters, Khan said: “We have no connection to them whatsoever. We hate them.”
Later, Khan testified he was “totally against” the Taliban’s use of violence, such as beheadings and the destruction of property to impose extreme Islamic, or Sharia, law on people.
Khan also sought to clarify that his anti-Pakistan rhetoric was provoked by the government’s shutting down of his madrassa for safety concerns during a violent conflict with the Taliban in 2009.
In one FBI-recorded phone conversation, Khan was quoted saying: “They are such big motherf---ers for shutting down the education for the little kids.”
On the witness stand, he testified that if the United States took over Pakistan, “it would be good, because there would be law.”
Khan, who moved with his family to the United States in 1994, has been on trial since early January on four charges of providing material support to a terrorist organization. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison on each count.
The high-profile case has presented problems for prosecutors, who dropped charges against one of Khan’s sons for lack of evidence. U.S. District Judge Robert Scola also dismissed charges against another son, a Muslim cleric from Broward, during trial.
Prosecutors are expected to cross-examine Khan Wednesday.
His testimony came exactly one week after his defense team tried to take direct testimony from 11 witnesses in an Islamabad hotel, by transmitting the examination to the Miami courtroom through an Internet connection that mysteriously went silent in Pakistan. The signal was cut off, either because of a technical glitch or the Pakistan government’s intervention, during the testimony of a suspected Taliban soldier.
A suspected Taliban fighter named Noor Mohammed, who described himself as a street vendor with five children, had testified, “I never fought for the Taliban,” before the feed went dead.
He followed a Pakistani shopkeeper, Ali Rehman, a co-defendant in the Miami indictment against Khan. Rehman testified that he and Hafiz Khan did not supply thousands of dollars to the Taliban to aid its terrorist mission against U.S. interests overseas — that the money instead went to Khan’s relatives living in the Swat Valley.
The FBI opened the investigation after U.S. banks reported suspicious financial transactions between Khan’s accounts in the United States and Pakistan starting in spring 2008. With that evidence, authorities obtained a warrant to wiretap Khan’s phone conversations with relatives and associates here and in Pakistan. A confidential government informant was also deployed.
According to an indictment, Khan and to a lesser extent other Khan family members sent roughly $50,000 to the Taliban between 2008 and 2010.
The indictment said the family’s money helped back the Taliban’s purchase of guns and other resources for assaults on the Pakistan government and U.S. interests, including bombing attacks killing dozens of people in the Swat Valley and the attempted bombing in New York City’s Times Square.
The indictment does not tie Khan-family money to any specific acts of terrorism. But in recorded phone conversations, Khan praised the 2010 Times Square bombing plot as well as al Qaeda — and called for a global jihad.
Khan supported not only attacks on Pakistani officials and soldiers, but also civilians who backed the Pakistan government, according to the recordings.
In one recorded conversation, Khan complained: “Doesn’t one of them have the guts to do a suicide attack so they can teach them a lesson?”
The entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation was on hand at Creation Entertainment’s Grand Slam Convention: The Star Trek and Sci-Fi Summit in Burbank, CA last weekend, meeting fans, signing autographs, and otherwise "making it so," reminiscing about their time on the iconic space-faring adventure drama -- and LeVar Burton, who played the eye visor-sporting Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge, opened up to ET about his disappointment with the new Star Trek film franchise.
"J.J. [Abrams] [is] a very good director, he really is," he told ET. "He
directed the hell out of the first movie. I'm really interested to see
what he wants to talk about in his upcoming movie. [But] I'm
disappointed, quite frankly, that his timeline negates the existence of Next Gen. I think that's silly."
Exclusive Pics: 'Walking Dead' Stars Take Aim
Burton went on to talk about what initially drew him to Star Trek,
telling us, "I loved seeing people of color on TV when I was growing
up. It wasn't all that often, and I always have been a huge science
fiction fan, and so [when] [Star Trek creator] Gene Roddenberry's vision
of the future was one that included people that looked like me, [it]
was huge in terms of developing my self image as a young person."
'Star Trek' Stars Take on Warp Speed Round
Burton joined such notables as Sir Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, and Brent Spiner, who played Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William T. "Number One" Riker, and robotic Commander Data respectively, at the event, which was produced by Creation Entertainment, a company that hosts interactive film and television genre conventions throughout the year. For more information on upcoming Creation Entertainment events, CLICK HERE.
And for more from LeVar Burton, including an exciting announcement about beloved children's show Reading Rainbow's new mobile app, watch the video!
Famed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns today beat back an effort by the city to obtain raw footage and outtakes from his recent movie on the infamous "Central Park jogger" rape case.
A judge granted the PBS icon's request to quash a subpoena for the unused material on grounds that his production company, Florentine Films, is covered by the "reporter's privilege."
Manhattan Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis ruled that Florentine proved its "journalistic independence" when Burns' daughter and collaborator on the film, Sarah Burns, "presented specific facts demonstrating an intent to publish at the time newsgathering commenced."
Ellis also said city lawyers were "misleading" when they claimed that Ken Burns told the trade magazine Variety that the "purpose" of last year's "The Central Park Five" was to spur settlement of a $250 million civil-rights suit filed by the five men whose convictions were tossed in 2002.
"Burns does not indicate what the film's 'purpose' is, and the quoted portion by defendants mischaracterizes the quote and Ken Burns' position," Ellis wrote.
The city claimed that it needed what Burns left on the cutting-room floor to help defend itself against wrongful-conviction claims by Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Kharey Wise, Raymond Santana and Kevin Richardson, whose pending suit was filed 10 years ago.
Ellis said upcoming depositions "will provide full access fo the main plaintiffs" and give city lawyers "the opportunity to pose questions concerning contradictions in the edited film and elsewhere."
Executive Assistant Corporation Counsel for Public Safety Celeste Koeleveld said the city was "disappointed" and considering its options.
"While journalistic privilege under the law is very important, we firmly believe it did not apply here," Koeleveld said.
"This film is a one-sided advocacy piece that depicts the plaintiffs' version of events as undisputed fact. It is our view that we should be able to view the complete interviews, not just those portions that the filmmakers chose to include."
bruce.golding@nypost.com
Whether you want to slap a simple filter on your photo or get granular and change attributes like color levels and saturation, we’ve got a list of the Android apps you’ll want to use.
Snapseed
The good: With its unique gesture-based interface, this offers an incredible level of control over its effects and filters.
The bad: The tools and interface aren’t intuitive, so it could take a while to get familiarized. Also, the lack of a zoom function makes it difficult to see finer adjustments.
The cost: Free
The bottom line: If you’re a serious mobile photographer looking for an app with which to fine-tune your photos, Snapseed is your best choice.
Pixlr Express
The good: Offers more than 600 effects that all work well and are easy to use. Auto Fix and Focal Blur (tilt-shift) are particularly effective.
The bad: The app doesn’t warn you before backing out, which can result in lost work. A Recent Files picker upon launch would be nice.
The cost: Free
The bottom line: One of the most powerful Android apps in its category. Despite its minor flaws, it should be your go-to mobile photo editor.
The good: An excellent way to turn mundane images into cool-looking photos you can share with friends. Mapping features mean people can easily browse all your geotagged shots.
The bad: Photo Map features default to showing all your geotagged shots, which could be dangerous under some circumstances.
The cost: Free
The bottom line: If you like taking retro-looking shots and sharing them, Instagram is tough to beat. Mapping features and frequent updates to the app mean your pictures will have a longer browsing life span.
Photo Grid
The good: Offers a huge menu of grid templates and a dead-simple interface for combining photos into framed collages.
The bad: The app unfortunately doesn’t let you customize the thickness of collage borders or the level of curvature on rounded panels.
The cost: Free
The bottom line: Even though it’s missing a couple of nifty customization tools other collage apps have, Photo Grid’s simple interface and outstanding menu of predesigned grids make it the best collage app on the market.
The city of Miami’s civilian oversight agency will decide on Tuesday whether to exonerate the Miami police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man, DeCarlos Moore, in 2010.
The agency’s independent counsel has determined that Officer Joseph Marin’s use of deadly force was reasonable and did not violate city policy.
But community activists believe the Civilian Investigative Panel’s investigation is flawed, and say members of the public have been deliberately blocked from voicing their concerns. They plan to challenge the investigation’s findings on Tuesday.
“The CIP has failed to take a real and serious look at the DeCarlos Moore shooting,” said Nathaniel Wilcox, executive director of People United to Lead the Struggle for Equality, the community group known as PULSE. “Instead of protecting the community, they’ve been more concerned about protecting the police department.”
Marin has already been cleared of wrongdoing by state prosecutors. He was one of seven Miami police officers who fatally shot black men in 2010 and 2011. Five of the men, including Moore, were unarmed.
In 2011, a coalition of community groups including PULSE, the ACLU and the NAACP called on the Civilian Investigative Panel to conduct an independent review of each case. The CIP’s complaints subcommittee took up the Moore shooting earlier this month. The full panel will hear the case on Tuesday.
Jeanne Baker, who chairs the Miami ACLU police practices committee, said the coalition tried to distribute its own report on the Moore shooting to the 13-member civilian panel in advance of Tuesday’s meeting. The coalition also asked for the opportunity to address the panel before the vote.
But both requests were denied by CIP Chairman Thomas Cobitz.
“The ACLU is essentially being stonewalled,” Baker said.
Cobitz said the agenda was too long to include the additional documents, and that Baker and other members of the coalition will be able to speak during the public comment part of the meeting, which comes after the vote.
“We do listen to the coalition,” Cobitz said, noting that members have spoken on the issue at prior CIP hearings. “We know their concerns. But our job is to look at the facts and evaluate things using a procedure. We can’t just change our procedure because our friends want us to.”
Marin was a rookie officer when he shot and killed Moore. On the night of July 5, Marin and his field-trainings officer, Vionna Brown-Williams, pulled up behind Moore’s white Honda Accord on Northwest First Place in Overtown and ran the license plate through a national database. The computer said the vehicle might be stolen.
Before the officers could conduct a traffic stop, Moore, 36, pulled over and got out of his car, according to the CIP investigation. The officers got out of their patrol car and ordered Moore to put his hands up.
“Suddenly, and without explication, [Moore] turned away from Officer Marin and began hurriedly walking or running toward the drivers’ door of the Honda,” the CIP report concluded. “Mr. Moore reached into the drivers’ door as if to retrieve something… As Mr. Moore emerged, Officer Marin saw a shiny, metallic object in Mr. Moore’s hand.”
Marin fired a single bullet to the head, killing Moore.
Investigators later determined that the metallic object was a clump of rock cocaine wrapped in aluminum foil. Further complicating matters, the computer system had made a mistake: Moore’s car was not stolen.
In 2011, Miami-Dade state prosecutors concluded that Marin was justified in using lethal force.
“After a thorough review of all the facts, evidence and witness statements and studiously examining existing Florida statutes, it is our conclusion that the shooting death of DeCarlos Moore did not involve any criminal violation of Florida law,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said at the time.
But family members and community activists were dissatisfied with the findings, and called on the CIP to conduct an independent investigation.
Baker, of the ACLU, said she was disappointed with the CIP investigation because it did not address whether Marin had followed proper procedure in the events leading up to the shooting. She said the analysis also fails to address whether Marin had adhered to the department’s use-of-force policy.
“There is no indication in the recommendation that the CIP complaints committee has looked at the policy and procedure violations that we believe need investigation,” she said.
Cobitz said he did not doubt that Marin followed protocol.
“Was it reasonable for a police officer to want to question someone driving a vehicle that appeared to be stolen? Absolutely,” he said.
I recently caught up with Meagan Good and Laz Alonso -- stars of NBC's Deception -- at a lunch and roundtable discussion at the Four Season's Beverly Hills to chat about the prime time soap opera.
The series opens with the death of wealthy socialite and party girl Vivian Bowers of an apparent drug overdose. When FBI agent Will Moreno (Alonso) is convinced the death is a homicide, he enlists Detective Joanna Locasto (Good), Vivian's best friend 20 years ago, to uncover the dark secrets of the Bower family and clues about why her life was in danger.
PICS: Star Sightings
And while we are about halfway through the series with all 11 episodes in the can, there is no word yet on whether it will be returning for a second season. However, the two stars are keeping their "fingers crossed" and explain that there is a lot the fans can look forward to, including the identity of Vivian's killer.
Watch my interview with Meagan and Laz to find out what attracted them to the project and what we can expect for the rest of this season.
RELATED: 2013's Six Best New Shows
A new episode of Deception airs tonight at 10/9c on NBC.
A muscle-bound NFL lineman was busted at LaGuardia Airport today for packing a loaded .40 caliber Smith & Wesson pistol.
Da’Quan Bowers - a second-year defensive end for the Tampa bay Buccaneers - was arrested at 11 a.m. at a US Air ticket counter as he was about to board a plane for North Carolina.
Sources believe Bowers arrived in New York with the gun on Friday, and was carrying the piece and a clip with eight rounds in a carry-on bag.
“The two of them were in the same bag, under the law it’s considered a loaded gun,” the source said.
Bowers, a Tampa resident, was boarding a flight to North Carolina, with his unidentified girlfriend, who lives in Raleigh.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Da'Quan Bowers at practice for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The former Clemson All-American was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and was awaiting arraignment.
Bowers, 22, a South Carolina native, just completed his second NFL season in 2012.
For his career he has 38 tackles and 4.5 quarterback sacks.
Back in 2008, Open English, a company run from Miami that uses online courses to teach English in Latin America, had just a handful of students in Venezuela and three employees. Today the company has more than 50,000 students in 22 Latin American countries and some 2,000 employees.
To fund this meteoric expansion, the founders of Open English — Venezuelans Andrés Moreno and Wilmer Sarmiento and Moreno’s American wife, Nicolette — began with $700. Over the last six years, the partners have raised more than $55 million, mostly from private investment and venture capital firms.
Their formula for success? The founders rejected traditional English teaching methods in physical classrooms and developed a system that allows students to tune into live classes every hour of the day from their computers at home, in the office or at school, and learn from native English-speaking teachers who may be based anywhere. Courses stress practical conversations online and the company guarantees fluency after a one-year course, offering six additional months free if students fail to become fluent.
“We wanted to change the way people learn English,” said Andrés Moreno, the 30-year-old co-founder and CEO, who halted his training as a mechanical engineer and worked full-time at developing the company with his partners. “And we want students to achieve fluency. Traditionally, students have to drive to an English academy, waste time in traffic, and try to learn from a teacher who is not an native English speaker in a class with 20 students.”
Using the Internet, Open English offers classes usually with two or three students and a teacher, interactive videos, other learning aids and personal attention from coaches who phone students regularly to see how they are progressing.
Courses cost an average of $750 per year and students can opt for monthly payments. This is about one-fifth to one-third of what traditional schools charge for small classes or individual instructors, Andrés noted.
“We work at building confidence with our students and encourage them to practice speaking English as much as possible during classes,” said Nicolette Moreno, co-founder and chief product officer, who met Andrés in Venezuela while she was working there on a service project. “Students are taught to actively participate in conversations like a job interview, traveling and talking on a conference call,” said Nicolette, who previously lived in Los Angles, worked with non-profits to create environmentally friendly products and fight poverty in emerging markets, and was head equity trader at an asset management firm. “Students need to speak English in our classes, even though it is sometimes difficult. They learn through immersion.”
Open English has successfully tapped into an enormous, underserved market. Millions of people in Latin America want to learn English to advance in their jobs, work at multinational companies, travel or work overseas and understand the popular music, movies and TV shows they constantly hear in English. Many of them take English courses at public and private schools and learn little if any useful conversational English. While students at private schools for the upper middle class and wealthy often learn foreign languages extremely well from native English-speaking teachers, most people can’t afford these schools or courses designed for one or two students.
A dedication ceremony to honor late civil rights activist Jesse J. McCrary, Jr. will take place Friday at the Little River Post Office..
Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson and Area Vice President Jo Ann Feindt will be in attendance at the 2 p.m. event at the post office at the branch at 140 NE 84th St.
The public is invited to attend ceremony where a plaque honoring McCrary will be installed in the Post Office lobby.
McCray was born in 1937 in Blitchton, Florida, the son of a Baptist preacher. He eventually went on to attend FAMU, where he was a civil rights activist, organizing sit-ins in Tallahassee before graduating with a law degree.
He became the first African-American member of the Florida Cabinet since the end of Reconstruction. He was also Florida’s first assistant Attorney General.
He returned to private practice in 1979 and was active in the community in the 1980s and 1990s.
McCrary died in 2007.
Audiences agreed that it was a good weekend to die hard, as the fifth installment of the Die Hard franchise opened strong.
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A Good Day to Die Hard is expected to pull in $28.2 million over the four-day holiday, beating out last weekend's winner, Identity Thief ($27.6 million), and Safe Haven ($25.4 million.
This weekend is on pace to be the biggest international opening in the history of the 25-year-old Die Hard franchise, as it held the top box office spot in many of the 63 markets where it's been released.
Escape from Planet Earth had a harder time getting off the ground, garnering $20.5 million. Warm Bodies dropped to fifth place with $10.9 million.
Startraksphotos / Splash
Rihanna leaves a London nightclub worse for wear after bottle attack.
Bloody hell: Some lout in London crashed Rihanna's party.
The sultry singer was bloodied after a man threw a bottle at her during a night out at nightclub The Box, apparently enraged because of her decision to get back together with abusive ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, MediaTakeOut.com reported.
Rihanna stumbled and fell into a grate, slicing open her leg. Her assailant yelled something about Brown before hurling the bottle of soft drink Lucozade at the star, the site reported.
Brown infamously beat up Rihanna in 2009, and fans have never forgiven him. Apparently some of that anger has spilled over to Rihanna, after her decision to get back together with the hothead last month.
Brown and Rihanna raised eyebrows at last Sunday's Grammys when they smiled and snuggled throughout the ceremony, four years and a day after he sent her to the hospital on Feb. 8, 2009.
Earlier this month, Brown was accused of faking his way through the community service he got for the attack.
For years, Pablo Oliveira dreamed of buying a property to house his high-end linen and furniture rental company, Nuage Designs, which has created settings for such glamorous events as the weddings of Carrie Underwood and Chelsea Clinton.
A few months ago, that dream came true, when Oliveira purchased a warehouse across the street from his current Miami location. He is now renovating the loft-like space with the help of a $2.1 million, 25-year small business loan.
“It allows me to own my own space as opposed to renting, and that will decrease my costs for infrastructure and allow me to build equity with time,” said Oliveira, who secured a U.S. Small Business Administration-guaranteed loan from Wells Fargo.
For small businesses like Oliveira’s, a loan can be the critical key to growing a business, as well as the kindling to ignite an operation.
Take Harold Scott’s fledgling Great Scott Security, which manufactures window guards in Hollywood that can open quickly in case of need.
When he was 13, Scott’s stepfather perished in a Georgia house fire because he couldn’t escape through heavy window bars. Scott made it his mission to fix the problem.
“I promised myself I would dedicate all my time to working on a solution,” said Scott, 60.
Now retired from a 23-year career in the U.S. Justice Department, Scott recently secured a $7,500 microloan from Partners for Self Employment. He used it to buy a computer and pay for marketing and other business expenses for his quick-release window guards, which have met national, state and Miami-Dade County fire safety codes.
During the depths of the recession, business owners often griped that gaining access to capital was their biggest hurdle. Saddled with bad loans, many banks were wary of making new ones. At the same time, both the value of collateral and the creditworthiness of many borrowers tumbled.
Now, at last, banks are starting to open their pocketbooks again, experts say, though lending is still not on par with pre-recession levels.
“There is no question that small business borrowing declined as a result of the recession and has yet to recover to pre-crisis levels,” said Richard Brown, chief economist for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., via email. “According to the Federal Reserve, total loans to noncorporate businesses and farms stood at just under $3.8 trillion in September, which remains below the peak of about $4.1 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2008.”
Signs of Growth
In South Florida, more businesses are applying for loans and getting approvals from banks, according to lenders, officials at government agencies and leaders of organizations that help small business owners secure loans.
“Lenders are expressing a greater interest than they have in the past few years in terms of meeting the needs of the small business community,” said Marjorie Weber, Miami-Dade Chapter Chair of SCORE, which helps business owners put loan packages together and refers them to bankers.
Loan figures are indeed rising. During the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2012, SBA-guaranteed loans were up in both Miami-Dade and Broward counties, according to the SBA. In fiscal 2012, 449 loans were approved in Miami-Dade, totaling $213.3 million, up from 426 loans for $154.4 million in 2011. In Broward, 262 loans for $91.4 million were approved in fiscal 2012, compared to 257 loans for $102.4 million in 2011.
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