America’s Next Top Model brings its fierce style to Lauderdale

South Florida’s fiercest braved the rain Saturday for a chance to become America’s Next Top Model.

The CW network reality TV show hosted auditions at the Fort Lauderdale Art Institute, and for the first time welcomed male models to try out.

Miami Gardens resident Gregory Boudreaux, 24, was there with his best asset: his hair. His 6-inch afro sticks straight up into pointy peaks.

“I usually get casted because of my hair,” said Boudreaux, who works in a retail store setting up displays and has walked in some Miami Beach fashion shows.

Even the makeup artist took notice of his ‘do as she dabbed foundation under Boudreaux’s eyes.

“Your hair, oh my God,” said makeup artist Jude Andam. “It’s so angular. It looks... not real.”

More than 300 gorgeous guys and gals auditioned in Fort Lauderdale with the goal to land a spot on the show, created and hosted by supermodel Tyra Banks. On the show, in its 20th cycle, supermodel wanna-bes live together and compete through photo shoots in exotic locations. Past contestants have lived in New York and Los Angeles, and have traveled as far as China, Brazil and Italy for photo shoots.

One by one, models get booted off the show while the rest move closer to top prize: a modeling feature, $100,000 and partnerships with fashion companies to help launch a top-notch modeling career.

Judges on Saturday were looking for models between the ages 18 to 27. Women under 5’7” and men under 5’10” were cautioned to not apply.

A panel of industry experts will pick their local favorites and recommend them to the casting director. Viewers can also pick their favorite by voting online starting Jan. 7-14. The judges’ and viewers’ picks will be revealed in a spot inside the premiere of TV show Carrie Diaries 8 p.m. on Jan. 14 on SFL-TV, The CW.

Jeslie Mergal got her picture snapped for the viewer’s choice contest. Her nerves began to bubble up as she got closer to her short appearance in front of judges.

“Standing in line, it’s not that bad. But as you get closer, it gets worse and worse,” she admitted.

Mergal grew up in Hialeah but moved to Orlando in elementary school. She made the drive down to Fort Lauderdale with her father for two reasons: to audition for the show, and to celebrate her birthday with her grandmother in Hialeah Gardens. The nursing student turned 21 the same day.

The only thing standing in the way of a carefree birthday lunch with her family was a nerve-wracking stint in front of the judges.

Mergal took to the short, wooden platform that served as a catwalk, and introduced herself.

“Why do you want to be on America’s Next Top Model?” a judge asked.

It’s the same question every contestant gets — Mergal knew that. But up until moment before, she admitted she wasn’t sure how’d she answer.

“I know if you put me on the show, I’m going to win,” she answered to the judges. “I will make it: whether it’s here or somewhere else.”

Then she strutted up and down the short catwalk, and ended with a smile and her hands on her hips.

The whole ordeal — from signing up, to orientation, to hair and makeup, and finally, the audition — took about two hours.

“I can’t wait to get my callback,” Mergal said.

Follow @Cveiga on Twitter.

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We Salute the First Baby Senator

We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:

RELATED: Claire McCaskill and How to Attack the Opponent You’re Rooting For

Here’s our suggestion to improve the (already pretty hilarious) swearing-in process for U.S. Senators: Each new member of Congress must bring a cute baby.

RELATED: Rand Paul Doesn’t Want You to Go to Jail for Smoking Pot

RELATED: Larry David’s Two-Minute Guide to Etiquette

Apparently the BBC has decided to market a line of lunch boxes specifically made for hungry polar bears. They are still working out the kinks: 

RELATED: Homer Simpson, Fox News Pundit; Books After Dark

RELATED: Bo Obama Stays On Message; Sarah Palin Can See HBO in Her House

The Golden Globes will be bittersweet this year. Don’t get us wrong — we’re really excited to watch Amy Poehler and Tina Fey entertain us. But we’ll also be also really sad when this thing is over because it means the end of these promos:

And finally, it’s Friday. And it’s time to dance. Enjoy your weekend. 

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Cher Signs Development Deal with Logo

Logo just announced at The Television Critics Association in Pasadena, CA that the network has signed a development deal with the ultimate gay icon, Cher.

AUDIO - Listen to Cher's New Song

The show, which is in its earliest stages of development, would mark Cher's first regular TV gig since The Sonny and Cher Show ended in 1977.

While this could change before the show hits the air (if it actually does), Cher's Logo show is set to revolve around Hollywood in the 1960s.

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Man hit, killed by car in Bronx

A man was killed today crossing a busy Bronx street when he was struck by a car.

The unidentified 55-year-old man was crossing East Tremont Avenue near Mapes Avenue at around 1 p.m. when a 1995 Honda Accord hit the man. He was pronounced dead a short time later at St. Barnabus Hospital.

The 31-year-old driver remained at the scene and was also taken to St. Barnabus Hospital with a minor head wound.

Police are still investigating but said they do not suspect any criminality at this time.

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Needle reaches the inner groove for Spec’s

In the end, even the almighty Adele and Taylor Swift could not hold back the inevitable.

Spec’s, one of the last great record stores, will close its flagship location in Coral Gables on U.S.1, thus joining once-favored chains like Virgin, Tower and Peaches, locally and abroad, that have withered from Internet shopping.

With the closing, sometime in January after the merchandise is liquidated, 64 years of history becomes memory for countless people who discovered a love of music in the home Martin “Mike” Spector built in 1948 when U.S.1 was but a two-lane road.

The original store, which sold cameras alongside 78-rpm records, was a few blocks south on the highway in South Miami and is now an Einstein’s bagel spot. The present location, opened in 1953 in Coral Gables, lived through the bobby sox era, Beatlemania, disco, punk, hip hop/rap, grunge, electronic dance music and all the format changes including 12-inch vinyl, 45-rpm, reel to reel, 8-track, cassette, compact disc and mp3.

After the first music industry recession in the late 1970s, Spec’s still managed to double in size by breaking through the walls of two restaurants in 1980 on its north side. The original room on the south side of the building would house, first, Spec’s’ VHS movie rentals and sales — Saturday Night at Spec’s! — and, later, one of the most expansive collections of classical music in town.

“It’s the soundtrack of our lives,” said store manager Lennie Rohrbacher, who spent 23 years of his life working at Spec’s, from Clearwater to Coral Gables

Music sales

At its peak, the Spec’s chain grew to some 80 stores in Florida and Puerto Rico. In 1993, annual sales exceeded $70 million. Spec’s went public in 1985 and, in 1998, the Spectors sold to Camelot Music Group, which was acquired by Trans World Entertainment Corp.

Trans World, which did not return several telephone messages, shrewdly kept the Spec’s name attached to the flagship store as goodwill even though, technically, it operated under the company’s retail subsidiary, F.Y.E. (For Your Entertainment).

But those are the cold, hard business facts.

Spec’s was “not like another Eckerd’s,” a drug store chain that also slipped into oblivion amid changing times, said Rohrbacher. “This was part of the community, part of my life. It’s not another store going under.”

Indeed, Spec’s was, first and foremost, a community gathering spot to share a love of music. In the ‘70s and ‘80s Spec’s resembled a makeshift camp site where people would sleep overnight in the parking lot to get the best shot at concert tickets in a pre-Internet world. Spec’s, a hop-skip from the University of Miami’s music school, served as its own music education outlet thanks to a knowledgeable sales staff.

Music education

“The proximity to the UM is prime real estate. Not to have it there will really be different. Even if they didn’t have what I was looking for, the staff was knowledgeable and you were sort of tapping into this knowledge base of people who could turn you on to new music. That’s what I’ll miss about it and the community around the store,” said Margot Winick, an employee at the Coral Gables Spec’s in the mid-1980s when she was a freshman at the UM.

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Lamberti praises agency’s work to reduce hate crimes in last news conference as Broward sheriff

In his last news conference as Broward’s top cop, Sheriff Al Lamberti praised his agency’s efforts to reduce hate crimes in the county — a finding reflected in the 2011 Hate Crimes in Florida report issued by the state attorney general’s office this week.

But Lamberti, one of the most visible Republican elected officials in Broward, declined to say if he would ever run for office again, or to divulge many details about his plans once he steps down next week.

“Effective Tuesday, I’m going to be back where I was when I started: a citizen of Broward County,’’ said Lamberti, who was first elected sheriff in 2008 but lost to Democratic challenger Scott Israel by about 45,000 votes in November’s general election.

“I sacrificed ... a lot of time with my wife and my son,’’ he said. “So, I’m looking forward to catching up on lost time.’’

A 35-year veteran of the Broward Sheriff’s Office who began his law enforcement career working in the county jail, Lamberti rose through the ranks to be appointed sheriff by then-Gov. Charlie Crist in September 2007.

Broward voters elected Lamberti for an additional four years in 2008, choosing him over Israel, who is a former Fort Lauderdale police officer and North Bay Village police chief.

Lamberti took office at a time when the agency was in desperate need of stability after former Sheriff Ken Jenne went to prison on charges of fraud and tax evasion.

“I think we steadied the ship and got it going in the right direction,’’ Lamberti said, “and we accomplished a lot.’’

During Lamberti’s tenure, the sheriff took on Broward’s rampant pill mills and pushed to have lawmakers make attacking the homeless a hate crime — an accomplishment for which Lamberti expressed particular pride.

Flanked by local representatives of organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, the Pride Center and the Broward Coalition for the Homeless, Lamberti spoke Friday of the potent partnerships his agency forged with these groups and elected officials such as former Florida Rep. Ari Porth — who also was in attendance — to enact legislation in 2010 that made attacking the homeless a hate crime.

Lamberti said one of the first things he did as sheriff was to create a Hate Crimes Task Force, in response to annual state reports that found Broward led all Florida counties in hate crimes for several years.

“It has worked wonders,’’ Lamberti said of the task force, which is led by Capt. Richard Wierzbicki, who will be leaving the agency as well.

Ron Gunzburger, who has been named general counsel and senior advisor to the sheriff-elect, said BSO will continue to make it a priority to fight hate crimes.

“Sheriff Israel intends to keep the task force,’’ Gunzburger wrote in an email. “The sheriff sees hate crimes as serious incidents requiring prompt arrests and appropriate prosecutions.’’

Holding copies of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s latest hate crimes report, and another issued by the National Coalition for the Homeless citing Broward as a national leader in preventing hate crimes against the homeless, Lamberti presented them as evidence of the task force’s effectiveness.

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How BuzzFeed Is Betting on Hollywood, Long-Form Writing to Grow

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Last January, BuzzFeed, then an aggregator of memes and cat videos, secured a $ 15.5 million round of venture capital to beef up a craft that most traditional media was downsizing: journalism.

It hired dozens of reporters and editors, opened bureaus in Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles and became a must-read for political junkies during the 2012 presidential election.

On Thursday, the company took another step.

It added adding a fourth round of capital investment – this time worth $ 19.3 million. And it plans to expand in two major ways: literary, long-form journalism like the kind practiced by New York magazine and the New Yorker, and – with two former Los Angeles Times staffers newly on board – its Hollywood coverage.

BuzzFeed’s been on a roll. According to the privately held company‘s internal traffic numbers, the 8 million unique monthly visitors it drew in 2008 has swelled to 40 million, and revenue for 2012 may triple that of 2011, a spokeswoman for BuzzFeed told TheWrap.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal on Friday, Tom Gara reported that some analysts place the company’s valuation at $ 200 million and say that revenues may reach $ 40 million this year.

Most of BuzzFeed’s traffic currently comes from its odd mix of news and eccentricity on the homepage. Friday morning, spotlighted stories ranged from J.J. Abrams screening his new “Star Trek” for a dying fan and Sen. Tammy Baldwin talking about breaking the glass ceiling to: “How to Murder Your Friend’s Facebook Page” and “Here Are Some Elephants Eating Christmas Trees.”

But there’s no question things are changing.

The first thing CEO Jonah Peretti did with his 2012 investment cash was hire Ben Smith, a Politico veteran, as the site’s first editor-in-chief. Smith then kicked off a hiring spree of reporters and got to work. Already BuzzFeed is beginning to break stories and get quoted by aggregators.

McKay Coppins, the site’s political editor, embedded with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s campaign. John Stanton, a veteran reporter in Washington, was named BuzzFeed’s first D.C. bureau chief. Michael Hastings, the dogged journalist whose Rolling Stone exposé of Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s private disagreements with President Obama over Afghanistan led to his resignation, joined the team.

Then, less than a year into its political foray, the site hired former Spin magazine chief Steve Kandell to make the push for longform journalism.

It began with an experiment – a 7,118-word post from last October titled “Can You Die From a Nightmare?” that garnered more than 115,000 hits. Another in October titled “Making Mitt: The Myth of George Romney” drew nearly 130,000 views. This convinced Smith and his team that literary journalism had a niche in the viral news market.

Despite the internet school of thought that briefer is better, Kandell said he has no plans to restrict stories’ word counts.

“If someone has a story that has to be 10,000 words, I don’t know why that couldn’t be,” Kandell said.

“I don’t think people necessarily have a certain fatigue level when it gets to a certain length and people start trailing out.”

Kandell says he plans in the coming months to start publishing at least one long-form story a week and may even start packaging and selling the stories as Amazon Kindle singles or as audiobooks.

Kandell assembled a “Best of 2012″ post for his nascent section of the site. The stories ranged from the tale of BuzzFeed’s own political editor Coppins, a Mormon, watching attitudes toward his and Romney’s religion change throughout the campaign to an inside look at the “Dark World of Online Sugar Daddies.”

Plans are to cover more foreign policy and national security issues from a Washington-centered perspective – and to add Hollywood into the mix. The only hands-off topic, apparently, will be international news.

“We’ve played around with ways to make world news more sharable, just like every editor at every publication,” he said, noting that readers liked a roundup of Instagram photos of the civil war in Syria. “It’s really hard, it’s not something we want to jump into without really knowing what we’re doing.”

As for Hollywood, BuzzFeed hired Richard Rushfield, former entertainment editor of LATimes.com, and ex-Times television editor Kate Aurthur, also a former Daily Beast staffer, to jump-start its bureau.

Smith said he plans to forge a presence in Los Angeles second only to its flagship New York bureau. A Hollywood vertical is expected to launch on January 7.

To that end, the site is entering a crowded space – one dominated by publications like Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, TheWrap, Vulture and the Times – but Rushfield said he plans to cover entertainment through BuzzFeed’s social-web lens: If it’s irresistibly share-worthy, it’s publishable.

“We have a unique position, despite how crowded the beat is,” Rushfield told TheWrap, adding that they won’t be competing with trades over stories concerning studio executives and casting deals. “One of our advantages is that we are not going to be going after every single story that the trades are – we have more room to take the things that we think can be interesting. What BuzzFeed is about is writing news that will be of interest to the social web.”

Now the trick is to make all these editorial investments worthwhile financially.

Revenue growth from its advertising model has been climbing, chief operating officer Jon Steinberg told TheWrap.

Forgoing the usual banners and display ads, BuzzFeed offers its clients “branded content.” For example, Scope mouthwash sponsored a “listicle” on the most “courageous” mustaches.

To that end, the advertising team, which is made up of 20 people that report to Steinberg, works with brands from General Electric to Virgin Mobile to devise sharable pieces of content.

The ratio of advertorial to editorial content on the homepage is usually about one to every six or so stories,” he said.

Those branded-content headlines garner 10-20 times the click-through rates of blinking banner and display ads, Steinberg told TheWrap.

“You compare those ads in the 1950s to modern advertising, you realize how broken modern advertising is,” Steinberg said. “Most publishers and media companies say you can’t make money on modern advertising.”

But – though he declined to reveal exact numbers, as BuzzFeed is a private company – the model helped to increase revenue last year and has allowed the publication to focus solely on its advertising stream.

He said the company has no immediate plans to enter the conference business popular with online publications including the Business Insider, AllThingsD and TheWrap.

“This is our Google ad words,” Steinberg said of the innovative advertising tool that Google pioneered in the mid-2000s. “If we were Apple, this would be our manufacturing of great hardware products.”

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Michael Douglas and Matt Damon Talk Behind The Candelabra

Matt Damon has already revealed that he will reveal quite a lot of himself to play Scott Thorson in Behind the Candelabra, HBO's Liberace biopic. But Damon went more than skin deep today when he was joined by Michael Douglas in talking about the hotly anticipated project at The Television Critics Association in Pasadena, CA. A project that was over a decade in the making.

RELATED - Matt Damon Gets Naked For Liberace

Douglas admitted, "I can't believe this is true, but [director Steven Soderbergh & I] were doing Traffic 12 years ago, and somewhere early in the shoot, Steven said, 'Have you ever thought about Liberace?' That's how early the idea was going on." The project finally came together once Richard LaGravenese's screenplay came into the picture.

"You don't get this many chances to have a great script and a wonderful actor like Matt to work with," Douglas said, adding with a laugh, "We obviously worked together closely." And after watching Candelabra's trailer -- luxe looking and filled with passionate kissing, coupling and heartfelt emotions -- I can tell you that Douglas was speaking the truth.

PHOTOS - Matt & Michael Go Behind Liberace's Legacy

Getting to the truth of Liberace was of utmost importance to Douglas, who had only met the performer in passing. "I met him briefly two or three times when my father had a house in Palm Springs and Liberace had a house nearby. You couldn't miss his car. I never had an evening with him, but heard ... that he was an extraordinarily gracious guy."

Candelabra co-star Debbie Reynolds, however, had spent quite a lot of time with Liberace back in the day. Although Douglas wouldn't reveal the stories she shared with the room. "Most of Debbie's stories I really can't tell," he laughed. "She had some very spicy stuff to say.

VIDEO - Who Is Scott Thorson?

Aside from personal anecdotes, Douglas also worked from the tremendous amount of clips available of Liberace. "Those certainly give you a sense and idea [of who he was]," he said, adding that the key to his performance is repetition. "

"It's basically ... finding the balance between knowing you're not an impersonator and [finding] what makes you comfortable and [finding what] makes me attractive to Matt." Damon was quick to add he found Michael "very, very attractive" as Liberace.

Behind the Candelabra premieres later this year on HBO.

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Cops shoot B'klyn man toting gun

Cops shot a gun-toting man tonight in Brooklyn, police sources said.

The incident occurred at the Cypress Hills housing project in East New York at about 7 p.m., sources added.

The man was struck in the buttocks, the sources said.

The man was taken to Brookdale Hospital and is expected to live, the sources added.

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College championship won’t be easy money again

South Florida hotels should count their blessings from this weekend’s football bookings. The championship crowds won’t come this easily again.

With Notre Dame playing for its first national title in more than 20 years, demand is unusually high for both hotel rooms and tickets for Monday’s championship game against Alabama. The teams have two of the largest fan bases in the country, making this BCS game the biggest sports draw since the 2010 Super Bowl was held in Miami Gardens.

But if this game means an enviable match-up for the tourism industry, it also marks the end of South Florida’s automatic dibs on the championship every four years.

Next year will be the last time that college’s football championship rotates among the four cities that host major bowl games. In its place, college conferences will open up hosting duties to any community willing to bid on the championship game — a process bound to pit South Florida against larger subsidies and better stadiums offered by hungry rivals

“There are a lot of communities in the country that would love to host this event, like the Final Four and like the Super Bowl, ” said Michael Saks, COO of the Orange Bowl Committee, which organizes the BCS game when it comes to Miami Gardens.

This weekend’s BCS turnout should offer a tempting target for cities eager to wrest the game from its rotation among Pasadena, Calif. ( home to the Rose Bowl); Scottsdale, Arizona (Fiesta Bowl); New Orleans (Sugar Bowl); and Miami Gardens.

Turnout for Notre Dame alumni is so strong that organizers have set up a special hospitality tent off South Beach’s Ocean Drive. Notre Dame boosters have about 85 busses ready to bring in fans from as far away as Boca Raton for a 7 p.m. pep rally. “They’re thinking it could be 50,000 people,’’ said Graham Winick, of Miami Beach’s special-events division. “We’ve had multiple phone conversations.”

Alabama has its own pep rally at 4 p.m., but Winick wasn’t worried about that event. With Alabama playing for its third championship in four years, organizers are expecting a strong turn-out from the Crimson Tide but not a swarm.

Tickets for Monday’s game start at about $1,000, but sitting on the Notre Dame side of Sun Life Stadium costs about $500 more, said Michael Lipman, owner of the Tickets of America brokerage in Miami.

“The least expensive seats are being bought up by Alabama,’’ he said. “The lower bowl is going to have more Notre Dame fans, and the upper bowl is going to have more Alabama fans.”

Stubhub.com, the top ticket reselling site, said the BCS game is its best-selling event ever in terms of total sales volume. The average BCS ticket was going for $1,800 on the site midweek, up from the $1,200 price tag for the last two BCS games in 2012 and 2011, spokeswoman Shannon Barbara said.

At the Loews hotel in Miami Beach, all but a few of the 790 rooms are booked this weekend. The hotel’s eight poolside cabanas were also booked up at about $600 a day, giving guests access to the two-story apartments with showers, televisions and the option to order some fan-themed indulgences.

Fighting Irish supporters can drink a Pickled Irishman (Jameson’s Irish whisky and pickle juice) and eat Irish Nachos (waffle fries topped with Guinness-braised short ribs.) Fans of the Crimson Tide can order an Alabama Slammer (Southern Comfort, peach schnapps and sour mix) and Roll Tide ribs (soaked in “moonshine sauce.”)

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Prosecutors: Miami Police sergeant on trial did “wrong instead of right’’

Miami Police Sgt. Raul Iglesias chose to do “wrong instead of right” in 2010 when he took over an undercover squad fighting drug dealing in the inner-city, a prosecutor said during opening statements of a federal trial Thursday.

Iglesias planted cocaine on a suspect and stole drugs and money from street dealers, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ricardo Del Toro told a 12-person jury. He also lied to FBI agents when they questioned him.

“He abused his badge and his authority and he committed crimes,” Del Toro told jurors.

Iglesias, 40, was indicted in July on nine counts, including violating suspects’ civil rights, conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute, obstruction of justice and making false statements between January and May 2010. Iglesias, who was relieved of duty with pay in 2010, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

The two-week trial is expected to be tricky for prosecutors, who plan to put on the stand several undercover detectives who worked in Iglesias’ street unit to testify against the 18-year veteran cop. Moreover, it was apparent from the opening statements of Iglesias’s attorney, Rick Diaz, that he plans to put on a vigorous defense by attacking the government’s portrayal of his client as a corrupt supervisor.

Diaz said Iglesias was actually striving to clean up a dirty Crime Suppression Unit, and that several undercover officers turned against him because they didn’t want to play by his rules.

Some of the CSU officers reported Iglesias’s alleged misconduct to the Miami Police Department’s internal affairs section, which notified the FBI.

But Diaz warned jurors: “Perception is sometimes not reality,” saying that the prosecutor “sees it one way and I see it the other.” Diaz declared he will show his client “is not guilty of each and every” count in the indictment, adding that the government’s case was largely built on the “word of convicted felons.”

The indictment cited at least four dates when Iglesias allegedly stole or planted drugs, or lied to investigators.

On Jan. 27, 2010 — his first day on the job as the CSU supervisor — Iglesias allegedly ordered two of his officers to search a man identified in court documents only as “R.H.” He was identified in court Thursday as Rafael Hernandez, who has a criminal history.

When cocaine was not found on him, Iglesias allegedly asked his officers, Luis Valdes and Calvin Chalumeau, for some “throw-down dope” to plant on the suspect. But Valdes and Chalumeau, who are scheduled to testify Friday for the prosecution, refused to carry out Iglesias’s order, Del Toro said.

A third officer from a gang unit, identified only as “R.M.,” gave Iglesias some cocaine to plant on the suspect, according to the indictment. That officer was identified in court as Ricardo Martinez. In 2011, he pleaded guilty in a separate federal case to helping fence a shipment of about 10,000 stolen Bluetooth headsets with plans to sell them on the black market.

“This was the first day [on the job] to see if his officers were going to play ball,” Del Toro said.

But Diaz said that account was not true. The defense attorney said Valdes and Chalumeau “missed” the drugs during the search, and Iglesias later found them on the suspect before making the arrest.

On April 8, 2010, Iglesias also allegedly stole “money and property” from someone identified as “C.R.,” according to the indictment. His name is Carlos Rivera, who also has a criminal record.

But Diaz said he plans to call Rivera as a witness, and asserted he will testify that “nobody took money from him that day.”

Then on May 5, 2010, Iglesias and another CSU officer allegedly stole marijuana and cocaine from a drug dealer who operated out of an Allapattah window-tinting shop.

One of Iglesias’s detectives, Roberto Asanza, pointed the finger at his boss after FBI agents detained the officer, seizing 10 bags of cocaine and two bags of marijuana stolen from the tinting shop.

According to court documents, Asanza told agents that he and Iglesias used some of the stolen cocaine to pay off a confidential informant, identified as David Altoro in court records. Altoro had tipped them off to the drugs at the tint shop, which led to the arrest of a dealer, Luis Roman.

“Asanza admitted that he knew it was wrong to give drugs to the [informant], but that he was trying to build a rapport with the” informant, according to the criminal complaint for his arrest.

Asanza pleaded guilty last February to a minor drug charge of possessing a controlled substance, and was sentenced to one year of probation, court records show. The ex-Marine also gave up his law-enforcement certification. He is expected to testify for the government.

Twenty days after the May 5 bust at the tint shop, Iglesias allegedly lied when he told FBI agents that he did not know how much money was stashed in a shoebox seized that day as well.

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George Lucas Engaged to Girlfriend Mellody Hobson

Legendary filmmaker George Lucas will soon undertake a brand-new, epic endeavor: matrimony!

Related: George Lucas: 'I'm Retiring'

The Star Wars director will soon tie the knot with his longtime girlfriend Mellody Hobson, The Hollywood Reporter confirms. Lucas has been dating Hobson, a DreamWorks Animation chairman, since 2006.

This will be the second marriage for Lucas, 68, and the first for Hobson, 43.

Related: New 'Star Wars' Films in the Works

Lucas recently sold Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion in cash and stock to Disney. The first new Star Wars movie -- Star Wars: Episode 7 -- will be released in 2015.

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Off-duty cop shot in Bronx preventing apparent car dealership robbery

An off-duty police officer was shot in the leg tonight while preventing an attempted robbery in the Bronx , police sources said.

The officer interrupted a robbery crew of at least four men from sticking up a used car dealership he co-owned called "Boston Road Auto Mall"in Bronxwood around 6:32 p.m., sources said.

He ran after one of the perps, who was armed, and the two struggled for the gun after the suspect popped up from behind a parked car, according sources and a witness.

“He hid behind a car and the officer didn’t see him,” said Owen Durrant, 39, who works at nearby Winston Repairs.

Stephen Yang

Police investigate the shooting of a NYPD officer in the Bronx.

“He was at an angle where the cop couldn’t see him. Then he just jumped up and he shot him. This is crazy”.

The officer was hit in the leg, but managed to disarm the gunman and keep him pinned until backup arrived, sources added.

Responding cops collared the shooter and caught two other men, sources said. It was unclear if a fourth suspect was still on the lam.

The NYPD officer was rushed to Jacobi Hospital and is reported in stable condition, sources added.

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The return of the cranes: Miami-Dade construction projects on the horizon in 2013

The cranes are coming back to Miami.

The battered construction industry is going higher in the new year after showing strong signs of life in 2012. Will Miami feel more like Manhattan in a few years? It just might.

So far, there has been more talk than action, fewer shovels in the ground than grand announcements. Even so, construction is underway on a dozen new condominiums in Miami-Dade County — something that seemed beyond the realm of possibility not so long ago.

Commercial building is picking up, too, particularly in Miami’s hot new urban core.

The construction sector, which posted 62 consecutive months of job losses in Miami-Dade as of November 2012, is expected to finally begin adding jobs in 2013.

By far the centerpiece project to date is Brickell CityCentre, a $1.05 billion shopping and mixed-use project that broke ground in June 2012 and will span three blocks just west of Brickell Avenue to the south of the Miami River.

The 5-million-square-foot mega-project by developer Swire Properties will include a department store, luxury shops, restaurants, a hotel, office towers and condominiums. It is expected to be connected with bridges and covered walkways and to cement downtown Miami’s emerging image as a trendy place to work, live and play.

In Brickell alone, three new condominium projects already are under construction: Jorge Perez’s Related Group is building Millecento, a 42-story tower with 382 units, and MyBrickell, a smaller project with 28 stories and 192 units shoehorned onto a 0.4-acre site. Newgard Development Group is building BrickellHouse, a 46-story, 374-unit project.

More building, much more, is coming.

“We’re going to see a lot of cranes popping up in the first and second quarter, and a year from now, we’re going to see cranes all over the skyline,” said Tom Murphy Jr., chairman and CEO of Coastal Construction, a large Miami builder that is involved in various projects, from hotels to condominiums. “I believe we as a community — South Florida, especially Miami — will build more in the next 10 years than we did in the last 15.”

Among a long roster of projects, Coastal was tapped by developer DACRA for a major renovation project in the Design District, which in 2012 marked the arrival of luxury fashion retailers such as Cartier, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Celine, Christian Dior and Prada, adding a new dimension to an area already known for home furnishings and restaurants.

DACRA president and CEO Craig Robins has a broader plan to bring in 40 to 50 luxury brands to the Design District by 2014. The area will have a pedestrian promenade, rooftop gardens and public plazas, in keeping with Miami’s emerging urban scene.

The focus on commercial development in Miami’s urban core, is all about providing more services to cater to the new residents who want everything within walking distance.

Spanish developer Espacio USA will break ground in 2013 on the first phase of a $412 million mixed-use project at 1400 Biscayne Boulevard. Starting with one 103,000-square foot office tower, the project will eventually include retail shops and residential units.

“It’s becoming much more of a New York lifestyle, and we’ll continue to see that,” said Ron Shuffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors in Coral Gables.

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Scott Rothstein’s wife to plead guilty in jewelry coverup

The wife of Fort Lauderdale’s most infamous fraudster could soon be before a judge fighting for her own freedom.

Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein’s wife is scheduled to plead guilty on Feb. 1 to conspiring to hide more than $1 million in jewelry from federal authorities, one of her attorneys confirmed Wednesday.

Read the full story at Sun-Sentinel.com.

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Review: Nintendo’s TVii tops button-laden remotes

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nintendo‘s TV-watching tool for the new Wii U game console beats my regular remote control hands down.

Called TVii, the service transforms how you watch television in three key ways. It turns the touch-screen GamePad controller for the Wii U into a remote control for your TV and set-top box. It groups your favorite shows and sports teams together, whether it’s on live TV or an Internet video service such as Hulu Plus. And it offers water-cooler moments you can chat about on social media.

It takes some getting used to, and I had a lot of re-learning to do after years of using my thumb to channel surf. But once I did, I found the service an advance from the mass of buttons on most TV remote controls.

TVii comes free with the Wii U, although it didn’t become available in the U.S. until mid-December, about a month after the game machine’s debut.

One nice touch is that TVii gives you a way to search for shows over Internet video apps and live TV all in one place. I can then choose whether to watch it on the big TV or on my controller’s touch screen, which measures 6.2 inches diagonally.

Handling these different sources of video at once is a tall order, and Nintendo Co. does it pretty well. No one else has combined live and Web TV as seamlessly before. As the lines blur between the two, I would hope some of TVii’s advances are copied and improved upon by other gadget makers and TV signal providers.

For starters, TVii asks for your TV maker, your set-top box maker, your location and your TV provider (that could be an antenna). TVii then uses infrared codes to control your TV just like the old remote, and it can offer a traditional channel guide for live TV shows. TVii also asks for your favorite shows, sports teams and movies. This helps it create an easy-to-understand grouping of shows you might want to watch.

I appreciate the way TVii walked me through the setup process. It was refreshing, given the misfortune I recently had of trying to program the remote control that came with my cable set-top box, which is about as fun as doing your tax returns. TVii takes away the need to read folded-up instruction manuals that appear to be written by and for electronics hobbyists.

After the setup, TVii presents you with a series of icons for Favorites, TV, Movies, Sports and Search. A little avatar of your identity is in one corner, and tapping on it lets you adjust your favorites or go through the setup again. Each person in a household can have a different avatar and set of favorites.

In Favorites, your shows are listed with cover art, and you can swipe through the offerings. Tapping one, say, “The Mindy Project,” will pull up an episode list with pictures and brief summaries. Choosing an episode will bring up a range of options — the channel if it’s on live TV, or buttons for Hulu Plus or Amazon, where you can pay for monthly access or just one episode through the service’s app. (The free version of Hulu is blocked on gadgets, including the Wii U and tablet computers. Apple’s iTunes, unsurprisingly, isn’t integrated.) The option of clicking through to Netflix will be added some time in 2013.

One hiccup is that if you want to watch a show on live TV now, it asks if your TV’s input source is already set to the set-top box, rather than the Wii U or another gadget such as a DVD player. If it is, you tap “yes” and the channel changes. If not, you have to tap until the source switches to the right one and then tap “yes.” Still, there’s no need to go back to your TV’s remote control.

The other menu items for TV, Movies, Sports and Search operate pretty similarly. Eventually you’ll get a range of options to watch. In the case of sports, you’ll likely see several game possibilities, with the latest score showing up on each game icon.

As an alternative, you can resort to a physical TV button on the GamePad that brings up touch controls that mimic a simplified, standard remote.

Another option is using an altogether separate interface in which favorite channels and other controls are displayed graphically on a semi-circular wheel. It looks strange, and I wouldn’t recommend it.

Anyone who is frustrated by the jumble of cables and boxes that now surround TVs will see TVii’s appeal. My wife said she liked the ease of holding and touching the controller, rather than fiddling with the button-laden remote. One downside I can see with TVii is that you have to keep looking down to figure out what to watch. And you have to plug it in frequently, as the GamePad controller will die out after three to five hours of use.

TVii also offers a standard channel guide in which you can scroll up and down for programs on different channels or right and left for different times of day. A touch will change the channel to the program, which is nice.

For certain shows and sporting events, TVii will supply a running list of key events called “TV tags.” These descriptions of events, like the precise moment when Mindy’s Christmas party descends into chaos, are displayed on the GamePad’s screen, along with a screenshot. Tapping on one opens up a comment window, and an onscreen keyboard allows you to make a comment. For sports, you get a description of each play, such as the number of yards thrown in a pass, beside a graphic that gets updated.

Not many people have Wii U consoles yet, nor is everyone tuned to TVii. As a result, I found myself with only one or two commenters to share my thoughts with.

If you’ve connected TVii to Facebook and Twitter (again, some sign-up is involved), your comments will go out to your friends and followers, but the TV tag that you are commenting on won’t show up, so they might not know what you’re talking about. TVii adds the hashtag “NintendoTVii” to help readers take a guess.

In the end, TVii isn’t perfect.

It isn’t yet able to program your digital video recorder, although it will do so for TiVo DVRs by March. Sports are limited to pro and college basketball and football, and there’s no integration with fantasy sports leagues. And the battery life of the GamePad is short.

A review unit I was sent failed to take a charge and had to be replaced, although I haven’t found others who have had the same problem.

These irritations aside, Nintendo has given us a way to control the clutter of channels, apps and devices crowding around the TV. It’s relatively easy and intuitive and some updates are on the way. Considering the garble of the TV universe, that’s pretty good.

___

About TVii:

TVii turns the GamePad controller for the Wii U into a remote control that integrates your live TV and Internet video experience. The service is free, but you’ll need a Wii U game console, which starts at $ 300. You’ll also need to pay extra to use video services such as Hulu Plus, Amazon and Netflix.

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Lena Dunham Girls Emmys 2012

As the last of the Gangnam Style craze finally dies down, and after the long-awaited Mayan doomsday scenario failed to manifest, the year 2013 might seem a bit underwhelming. Thankfully, one major star from this past year is not poised to slow down one bit.

Lena Dunham, primarily known for her breakout HBO comedy Girls is something of a renaissance woman. It's one thing to be a part of a critically acclaimed show, but it's another thing entirely to produce, write, direct, and star in that show.

As we get ready to dive head-first into awards season, ET looks just a few months back to the 2012 Emmys where we caught up with Lena on her first major red carpet.

Before getting into her four Emmy nominations, ET asked Lena about her awards show fashion. Specifically, how she brought Williamsburg style to the Hollywood red carpet.

"That's a question we've been trying to tackle in the last few weeks," said Dunham. "I think it's about wearing something that sort of feels like your own and that sort of bridges the gap between...fashion and feeling like you're just wearing what you'd wear to get milk."

Comfort is indeed important. Still, it's not every day you'd shop for milk in the Prada dress that Lena was wearing.

See Also: What We Can Expect From 'Girls' Season Two Fashion

"This dress, I really loved. I both felt that I was wearing Queen Elizabeth's carpet and a T-shirt all at the same time."

While the hilarious TV star seemed to be poking a bit of fun at the fashion icon, she also confessed her adoration for the designer.

"Ms. Prada is one of my foremost artistic idols, so it's a pretty surreal experience just even referring to her as Ms. Prada."

And on her in vogue short haircut, Lena commented that it was a very functional cut, but was ultimately unlikely to follow in Jennifer Aniston's footsteps, and become the "new Rachel."

"I think that the Rachel was a pretty iconic moment we can't search to replicate. But I'm very happy if this haircut has inspired anyone. It requires a lot less maintenance and a lot less washing. I'm not an enthusiastic showerer so this is the thing for me."

See: Lena Dunham and other stars react to their Golden Globe nominations.

Girls follows up its multiple Emmy nominations with two for the Golden Globes, including one Best Actress in a TV Comedy or Musical nod for Lena. You can see if she wins at the Golden Globe Awards on January 13, which coincidentally is also the date for the second season premiere of Girls on HBO. If it weren't for DVR and/or HBOGO, that last sentence might have incited a minor panic.

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Man who allegedly hit 4 pedestrians at New Year's Eve party claims he was being chased by mob

He says it was all a wild Goose chase.

The alleged drunken driver who mowed down four pedestrians outside a Brooklyn club’s wild New Year’s Eve party claims he was fleeing a violent mob, angered that he accused them of stealing his bottles of pricey vodka, his attorney said today.

Staten Island carpenter Charles Amado, 34, was slapped with attempted murder charges at his Brooklyn criminal court arraignment for plowing through four fellow club-goers after the bar brawl spilled out onto a Bay Ridge sidewalk, prosecutors said.

Amado and his girlfriend, Andrea Jobity, 39, were partying at Lounge 93 when their bottle of expensive Grey Goose vodka was stolen right off their table. A bartender replaced the stolen booze, and then Amado caught somebody stealing that bottle, too, defense attorney Lance Lazzaro said.

The hijacked hooch sparked a fight and club security booted Amado, his girlfriend, and about 15 others outside, where the fight continued on 93rd Street at Third Avenue.

Jobity was punched in the face, the lawyer said.

“These people were coming after them with bats, bottles, you name it. So he took off in his car,” said Lazzaro. “Mr. Amado says that he would have been in a coma or dead if he had stuck around.”

Amado drove up onto the sidewalk and hit three pedestrians, then reversed and hit another, prosecutors said.

“Charles Amado and Andrea Jobity got into their car and drove headfirst into a crowd,” said ADA Theresa Shanahan. “Charles Amado then passed out and Andrea Jobity took the wheel. She reversed and hit more parked cars, then she passed out as well.”

Jobity was charged with driving while intoxicated and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. Both she and Amado posted bail and were released, Lazzaro said.

But one of the pedestrians struck by Amado’s car said she didn’t buy his explanation for the crazed driving.

“That’s bulls---. I understand you probably had a lot to drink, but why would you drive into people?” said Vanessa Encalada, 27. “Everybody was trying to run away and he just accelerated forward. He hit me and then he reversed back. I was bleeding.”

Encalada said a friend hit by Amado still hasn’t regained consciousness.

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Portion of Macy’s Flagler Street property in downtown Miami sold

A New York firm bought part of the Macy’s building in downtown Miami and is expected to acquire the rest. The next priority is negotiating a new lease to keep Macy’s as a tenant.

In a deal that could have implications for the future of downtown Miami’s anchor retail tenant, a New York real estate investment firm paid $15.55 million to acquire more than half the property that now houses Macy’s Flagler Street store.

The acquisition by Aetna Realty Group includes the 48,000 square feet of land that was leased to R.W. Burdine in 1917. Until the recent sale, the property was owned by 23 heirs of Richard and Harriet Ashby, who signed the initial 99-year lease with Burdine. The lease expires in 2016.

The Ashby family began taking steps to prepare the property at the intersection of Miami Avenue and Flagler Street for sale nearly four years ago, said Lewis R. Cohen, a GrayRobinson lawyer who represented the Ashby family in the transaction that closed on New Year’s Eve.

Over the years, Macy’s and its predecessor, Burdines, grew the site’s downtown presence well beyond the Ashby land, and the current building now extends another 30,000 square feet of land. Aetna has also made a commitment to purchase the remaining portion of the building, that is currently owned by Macy’s, Cohen said. But that deal hasn’t closed yet.

“That deal is a sure thing,” Cohen said. “They could not have closed with us without having an agreement with Macy’s completely nailed down.”

When Macy’s decided not to purchase the Ashby land itself, the owners soughta third-party that could control both pieces. The reason: Improvements made to the store over the years straddled both properties, such as elevators and escalators starting on one parcel and ending on another.

“Between the engineering difficulties of severing the properties and the legal issues involved, it would have been somewhere between extremely expensive and impossible” for different entities to share control, Cohen said.

Aetna was one of three bidders interested in the site, Cohen said. One of the other players was the Barlington Group, a Miami developer that in 2011 signed a deal with Macy’s to sub-lease 20,000 square feet of empty ground-floor space for a mix of restaurants and cafes.

Macy’s spokesman Jim Sluzewski said this transaction doesn’t impact Macy’s current lease. He declined to comment on any other pending transaction regarding the property the retailer owns in downtown Miami.

“It’s business as usual,” said Sluzewski, who also would not discuss Macy’s long-term plans for downtown Miami beyond the expiration of its lease. The company’s roots in downtown Miami date to 1898, when the first Burdines opened in a nearby downtown location.

Aetna and its local attorneys did not respond to calls Wednesday for comments.

But Cohen said Macy’s is in the process of finalizing a short-term deal with the new owners.

“They intend to stay for at least the foreseeable future,” Cohen said. “For a minimum of five years they’ll be there and possibly longer.”

Downtown scene

Macy’s long-term future on Flagler Street has been in doubt since 2007, when Macy’s Florida then-Chairwoman Julie Greiner took city leaders to task for the deplorable conditions in downtown and threatened that the retailer might leave.

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Possible future Israeli ambassador holds two countries in his heart

In Israel, he’s already known as “Bibi’s Brain:’’ Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s master strategist.

But Ron Dermer, 42-year-old Miami Beach native, now Israeli citizen — the son of one Miami Beach mayor and brother of another — could soon add an official title to his resume: Mr. Ambassador.

Dermer is reportedly Netanyahu’s choice for Israeli ambassador to the United States to replace Michael Oren, who plans to step down in the spring after four years.

A political conservative with close ties to powerful American Republicans, Dermer would become Israel’s top diplomat in the United States, a position requiring the ability to represent his country’s interests across U.S. party lines.

Netanyahu’s office hasn’t commented on the reports. A spokesman for the Israeli consulate in Miami could not confirm the possible appointment, nor could Dermer’s older brother, former Mayor David Dermer, who called any speculation “premature.’’ A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Washington told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the rumor was “baseless.’’ In any case, the Netanyahu government would have to survive a Parliamentary election later this month.

An Oxford-educated scholar-athlete who holds degrees in finance and management from the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton School, and who quarterbacked Israel’s flag football World Cup team three times, Dermer is known as smart, polished, and so competitive that “he wouldn’t let a 3-year-old beat him at Ping-Pong,” friend Tom Rose, former Jerusalem Post publisher, once said in an interview.

Dermer “cannot abide anybody being better at him than anything, particularly physically,” Rose said.

The mere speculation that Dermer might be named seemed to thrill South Florida politicians from both parties.

“It’s wonderful — one of our own being Israel’s ambassador to the U.S.,” said U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, who knows Dermer. “It is just terrific. He is American as apple pie yet Israeli at heart as well. It is a good fit. He is very much a proud Miami Beach guy — very proud of his hometown.”

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chairwoman, said she met Dermer as part of a Congressional delegation to Israel in 2010. Dermer was the staff person who sat next to Netanyahu as they discussed the peace process, she said.

“It was just neat to see someone reach the heights he has — he hails from South Florida and comes from a political family here,” she said. “It made the connection and conversations with the prime minister really just that much more warm and intimate.”

U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, said that the job Dermer holds now — working behind the scenes and with the White House — is very different from being ambassador to the United States, which would require him to directly address Americans in speeches and through the media.

“Ambassador to the U.S. is the most high-profile diplomatic position in Israel,” Klein said. “It requires a tremendous amount of savvy and style that Americans can relate to.”

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Thieves stole more than $1 million worth of Apple products during a New Years Eve heist

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Taylor Swift Harry Styles New Years Eve Kiss

Taylor Swift and Harry Styles had equally amazing 2012's, and they kissed good-bye to the preceding 365 days together in Times Square last night.

After singing on ABC's New Year's Rocking Eve, Swift and Styles braved the crowds to watch the ball drop. And to the hordes of fans who'd gathered to count down to midnight, "Haylor's" ensuing smooch ended up being more captivating than all the twinkling lights in the sky.

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Fiscal cliff deal, approved by Senate, runs into opposition in House

WASHINGTON – A Senate-passed bill to keep the country from going off the fiscal cliff ran into trouble in the House today, as Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor came out against the deal.

"I do not support the bill,” Cantor said as he left a closed closed-door meeting of Republicans about the deal negotiated between Vice President Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

The Senate passed the deal by a wide margin just after 2 AM today, two hours after the country technically went over the fiscal cliff, when tax hikes and billions of spending cuts took effect.

With just hours left to try to act on the deal before financial markets open Wednesday morning, the House had yet to even schedule a vote.

“The Speaker and Leader laid out options to the members and listened to feedback,” said Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck. “The lack of spending cuts in the Senate bill was a universal concern amongst members in today’s meeting.”

“Conversations with members will continue throughout the afternoon on the path forward,” Buck said.

Rank and file Republicans complained about the deal’s lack of spending cuts.

“I’d be very surprised if the House passed what the Senate passed in the middle of the night – very surprised,” said Rep Steve King (R-Iowa) told the Post.

“I would be shocked if the bill doesn’t go back to the Senate” with spending cuts, said Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.).

Any changes made by the House would have to be matched by the Senate, and could scuttle the deal. But Republicans also cautioned against putting “poison pills” into the deal.

House Democratic Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tried to hold House Republicans’ feet to the fire.

“Our Speaker has said when the Senate acts, we will have a vote in the House," she said. "That is what he said, that is what we expect, that is what the American people deserve…a straight up-or-down vote."

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Housing, jobs key to lifting S&P toward record

NEW YORK --
With it appearing that Washington lawmakers are working their way past the “fiscal cliff,” many analysts say that the outlook for stocks in 2013 is good, as a recovering housing market and an improving jobs outlook helps the economy maintain a slow, but steady recovery.

Reasonable returns in 2013 would send the S&P 500 toward, and possibly past, its record close of 1,565 reached in October 2007.

A mid-year rally in 2012 pushed stocks to their highest in more than four years. Both the Standard & Poor’s 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average posted strong gains in 2012. Those advances came despite uncertainty about the outcome of the presidential election and bouts of turmoil from Europe, where policy makers finally appear to be getting a grip on the region’s debt crisis.

“As you remove little bits of uncertainty, investors can then once again return to focusing on the fundamentals,” says Joseph Tanious, a global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Funds. “Corporate America is actually doing quite well.”

Although earnings growth of S&P 500 listed companies dipped as low as 0.8 percent in the summer, analysts are predicting that it will rebound to average 9.5 percent for 2013, according to data from S&P Capital IQ. Companies have also been hoarding cash. The amount of cash and cash-equivalents being held by companies listed in the S&P 500 climbed to an all-time high $1 trillion at the end of September, 65 percent more than five years ago, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Assuming a budget deal is reached in a reasonable amount of time, investors will be more comfortable owning stocks in 2013, allowing valuations to rise, says Tanious.

Stocks in the S&P 500 index are currently trading on a price-to-earnings multiple of about 13.5, compared with the average of 17.9 since 1988, according to S&P Capital IQ data. The ratio rises when investors are willing to pay more for a stock’s future earnings potential.

The stock market will also likely face less drag from the European debt crisis this year, said Steven Bulko, the chief investment officer at Lombard Odier Investment Managers. While policy makers in Europe have yet to come up with a comprehensive solution to the region’s woes, they appear to have a better handle on the region’s problems than they have for quite some time.

Stocks fell in the second quarter of 2012 as investors fretted that the euro region’s government debt crisis was about to engulf Spain and possibly Italy, increasing the chances of a dramatic slowdown in global economic growth.

“There is still some heavy lifting that needs to be done in Europe,” said Bulko. Now, though, “we are dealing with much more manageable risk than we have had in the past few years.”

Next year may also see an increase in mergers and acquisitions as companies seeks to make use of the cash on their balance sheets, says Jarred Kessler, global head of equities at broker Cantor Fitzgerald.

While the number of M&A deals has gradually crept higher in the past four years, the dollar value of the deals remains well short of the total reached five years ago. U.S. targeted acquisitions totaled $964 billion through Dec. 27, according to data tracking firm Dealogic. That’s slightly down from last year’s total of $1 trillion and about 40 percent lower than in 2007, when deals worth $1.6 trillion were struck.

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Peeping tom suspect nabbed at Forever21 store at Sawgrass Mills mall

A suspected “peeping tom” was arrested Sunday after he was caught with video of women trying on clothes at the Forever21 store at the Sawgrass Mills mall.

Andre Clements, 30, has been charged with video voyeurism and disorderly conduct, Sunrise police said.

A manager at the store became suspicious when Clements, 30, was caught loitering in the dressing rooms. Customers also complained about Clements.

The manager alerted mall security, who called Sunrise police. When police arrived, the manager found several large slits in the curtain which separated the fitting room Clements was in and the adjoining fitting room.

In Clements possession police found a Sony camcorder with videos of young women changing clothes.

Clements admitted taping the women just before police had arrived.

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Zynga carries out planned games shutdown, including “Petville”

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Social games publisher Zynga Inc confirmed on Monday that it has carried out 11 of the planned shutdowns of 13 game titles, with “Petville” being the latest game on which it pulled the plug.

Zynga in October said it would shut down 13 underperforming titles after warning that its revenues were slowing as gamers fled from its once-popular titles published on the Facebook platform in large numbers and sharply revised its full-year outlook.

The San Francisco-based company announced the “Petville” shutdown two weeks ago on its Facebook page. All the 11 shutdowns occurred in December.

The 11 titles shut down or closed to new players include role-playing game “Mafia Wars 2,” “Vampire Wars,” “ForestVille” and “FishVille.”

“In place of ‘PetVille,’ we encourage you to play other Zynga games like ‘Castleville,’ ‘Chefville,’ ‘Farmville 2,’ ‘Mafia Wars’ and ‘Yoville,’” the company told players on its ‘PetVille’ Facebook page. “PetVille” players were offered a one-time, complimentary bonus package for virtual goods in those games.

“Petville,” which lets users adopt virtual pets, has 7.5 million likes on Facebook but only 60,000 daily active users, according to AppData. About 1,260 users commented on the game’s Facebook page, some lamenting the game’s shutdown.

Zynga has said it is shifting focus to capture growth in mobile games. It also applied this month for a preliminary application to run real-money gambling games in Nevada.

Zynga is hoping that a lucrative real-money market could make up for declining revenue from games like “FarmVille” and other fading titles that still generate the bulk of its sales.

Zynga shares were up 1 percent at $ 2.36 in afternoon trade on Monday on the Nasdaq.

(Reporting By Malathi Nayak; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Somber farewell for man pushed to his death in subway

Friends of the hardworking, humble immigrant shoved to his death last week in front of the 7 train by a Muslim-hating madwoman today gathered for an emotional farewell in Queens at the Coppola-Migliore funeral home in Flushing.

Sunando Sen, 36, was remember as a man of “quiet strength” by Lorcan Otway, a lawyer and longtime friend, who noted that Sen years ago left Bangladesh to escape oppression, and was involved in human rights issues here, helping Hindus.

Sen’s mentally ill alleged killer, Erika Menendez, 31, has told cops she pushed Sen because she hates Muslims and Hindus.

Matthew McDermott

Farewell for subway push victim Sunando Sen.

“He didn’t have a hateful bone in his body,” Otway said of Sen. “He approached everything with a calmness. The remarkable man he was should teach us a lesson. I wish people could know the greater loss to the community.”

Sen’s body, wrapped in cloth and covered with flowers, lay in a blue-grey casket. Sarker and others recited traditional prayers, chanted and burned incense. They put bananas and rice in his casket, followed by yogurt and milk – a sendoff ritual meant to give Sen what he needs as he travels into the next world, friends said.

Sen had no family here, and his parents in India have died. But he fashioned a family from the friends he made in New York, said Bidyut Sarker Sen’s boss at the Manhattan print shop where he’d worked for 15 years.

"I feel like I lost a family member. The neighborhood, the shop, was his family,” said Sarker, who helped pay for Sen’s burial. “Customers are coming in and crying. "

Sen, whom friends said had recently opened his own printing shop on Amsterdam Avenue, was “a gentleman” and exceptionally smart. He got a scholarship to New York University and earned a master’s degree in economics, and was trying for a PhD at Columbia before dropping out because he couldn’t afford it, friends said.

Sen taught himself graphic design, Sarker said, and was “extraordinarily talented,” Otway noted.

“He was working well below his education,” Otway said.

Sen’s body was cremated at a cemetery after the ceremony.

Meanwhile yesterday, police said they were called by Erika Menendez’s family members at least five times prior to last Thursday’s train-shoving because Menendez had gone off her prescribed meds.

Menendez is being held without bail. She has replaced her court-appointed lawyer Queens lawyer Joseph DeFelice. He did not return calls.

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Florida colleges a bargain, says Kiplinger

Though Florida’s in-state tuition costs more than double what it did only a decade ago, many of the state’s public universities are still a good value, according to the latest annual “Best Values in Public Colleges” list compiled by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.

Florida schools have long fared well in the magazine’s rankings, with this year being no exception. Six of Florida’s 12 state schools made the top 100, with two — the University of Florida and New College of Florida in Sarasota — keeping their place in the top 10, though both schools slipped slightly from their spots a year ago.

UF landed at No. 3 in this year’s rankings, down from No. 2 last year. New College, meanwhile, slipped two spots from No. 5 to No. 7.

In the case of both schools, Kiplinger’s praised what it described as a combination of strong academics and relative affordability. Though Florida’s price of tuition keeps rising, it is still among the lowest in the country — 40th out of 50 states, according to the College Board.

Kiplinger’s also noted UF’s strong retention rate.

“Students stick around, with only 5 percent leaving after freshman year,” the magazine wrote. “And although Florida is a big school — with 16 colleges, more than 150 research centers and institutes, and the largest undergraduate enrollment in our top 10 — it’s still selective, with a 43 percent admittance rate.”

New College is the complete opposite of UF in terms of size (it enrolls less than 850 students) but Kiplinger’s found it also offers “solid academics” along with the lowest total cost of attendance — $16,181 — of any of the top 10 schools. That figure combines the $6,783 annual tuition and fees with other college expenses such as room and board.

Lower in the Kiplinger’s rankings, four other Florida schools were also recognized. Florida State University came in at No. 26, the University of Central Florida landed at No. 42, the University of South Florida was No. 57 and the University of North Florida was No. 64.

Braulio Colón, executive director of the Florida College Access Network, said Florida families looking for a tuition bargain shouldn’t limit their search to state universities. Florida’s community colleges, Colón said, are high-quality, cost about half as much as state universities, and boast a guaranteed-transfer agreement that is the envy of many other parts of the country. Students who earn an associate in arts degree from a Florida community college are guaranteed admission to a state university, though it may not be to the student’s preferred school.

Long term, Colón said, Florida must overhaul its student financial aid system if it wants to maintain college affordability. The state’s largest college aid program is Bright Futures scholarships — some of which are awarded to affluent families who could afford to pay for college on their own. Helping students with demonstrated need must become more of a priority, Colón said, or college costs could eventually spiral out of reach for some families.

“We are at a turning point, right now, as a state,” Colón said.

To see the Kiplinger list go to: http://www.kiplinger.com/reports/best-college-values/

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As 500th anniversary nears, cities vie for title of Ponce de Leon’s landing spot

ST. AUGUSTINE --
— Where did that most ambitious conquistador, Juan Ponce de Leon, wade ashore five centuries ago and name his prize "La Florida?" Inquiring minds all over our state would like to know, the sooner the better, for planning purposes.

With the big day approaching — the anniversary arrives on April 3, 2013 — what east-coast beach city gets to shoot off the fireworks? If King Juan Carlos I of Spain graces us with a visit, where will he and Gov. Rick Scott shake hands? This being Florida, where communities joust like 16th-century knights for tourist dollars, it’s important.

In a perfect world, someone would step forward, bow gallantly and unroll Ponce’s original log and answer all questions. Alas, the log has been lost to historians since before Shakespeare’s time.

Grab your sharpest rapier and don your shiniest armor. Load the blunderbuss and polish the shield. In a tale fit for the Bard, brace yourself for the Ponce wars.

For our purposes, think of the northeast Florida city of St. Augustine as the Capulets. Melbourne Beach, a few hours south, can serve as the Montagues.

Without evidence everyone can accept as gospel, folks from both cities can claim Ponce celebration rights.

Cities all over Florida have streets, schools and springs named after Ponce. But no place has celebrated the Spaniard as long as St. Augustine. Founded in 1565 by another famous conquistador, Pedro Menendez de Aviles, it’s North America’s oldest continuously inhabited city. In 2011, its reputation for Spanish colonial heritage brought in $669 million in tourism.

It’s always been mad about the mysterious dude who accompanied Christopher Columbus to the Indies on his 1493 voyage, battled natives, found gold, got filthy rich, became Puerto Rico’s first governor, lost his job, but somehow stayed in the good graces of Spain’s King Ferdinand I, who encouraged Ponce to do some more exploring.

He named the island he thought he had encountered "La Florida" because it was a verdant place. It was also around Easter, the feast of flowers in Spain.

St. Augustine’s best known tourist attraction, and one of Florida’s oldest, is named for the spring supposedly sought by Ponce, the Fountain of Youth. Florida’s first grand hotel, the Ponce de Leon, built by Standard Oil magnate Henry Flagler in 1888, is now part of the Flagler College campus. Finally, no town in North America boasts as many Ponce statues, three at the present, with another to be unveiled in April.

St. Augustine will be celebrating Viva 500 all year. But on anniversary day it will hold a re-enactment and a ceremony at the Cathedral Basilica. Santiago Baeza Benavides — the mayor of Ponce’s hometown in Spain — is bringing a replica of the font in which the conquistador was baptized in 1474.

Take that, Melbourne Beach.

About a year ago, a publicist for the St. Johns County Visitor and Convention Bureau headed for New York to drum up some national media buzz. On her "come to St. Augustine in 2013" visits with newspaper and magazine travel editors, Barbara Golden brought a secret weapon.

Ponce de Leon.

His real name is Chad Light. A doctoral history student at the University of Florida, he works at the Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park in St. Augustine. In addition to serious history pursuits, he entertains tourists by playing Ponce in re-enactments. He’s 46, muscular and swash-buckling handsome, with a Spaniard’s dark hair and eyes. He dresses like Ponce and answers visitor questions as Ponce in Spanish-inflected English. For the record, he also speaks perfect Castilian Spanish, thank you.

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Skyfall Passes One Billion Mark at Box Office

Skyfall is not only the highest grossing Bond film of all-time, it has just become the 14th film ever to earn more than one billion dollars at the box office.

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The 23rd Bond film crossed this milestone on December 30, with Sony vice chairman Jeff Blake saying, "To see a film connect with audiences is always gratifying, but the success of this film is nothing short of extraordinary. After 50 years of entertaining audiences all over the world, Skyfall is the most successful James Bond film of all time."

VIDEO - Daniel Craig Talks Skyfall & Showing Skin

Skyfall is the third film released in 2012 to earn more than one billion dollars; The Avengers ($1.51 billion) and The Dark Knight Rises ($1.08 billion) crossed the magic mark earlier this year.

Avatar remains the highest grossing film of all-time, with $2.7 billion, while James Cameron also holds the second spot as well thanks to Titanic's $2.1 billion. The Avengers swooped up third, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 worked its magic in fourth ($1.3 billion) and Transformers: Dark of the Moon ($1.3 billion) rounds out the top 5. Here are the remaining films to have crossed the billion dollar mark:

6. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.119 billion)

7. The Dark Knight Rises ($1.081 billion)

8. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($1.066 billion)

9. Toy Story 3 ($1.063 billion)

10. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($1.043 billion)

11. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace ($1.027 billion)

12. Alice in Wonderland ($1.024 billion)

13. The Dark Knight ($1.004 billion)

14. Skyfall ($1.000 billion)

Skyfall is expected to surpass several higher earning films as it has yet to open in China yet.

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Hillary Clinton admitted to hospital with blood clot following concussion

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has been admitted to a New York hospital after the discovery of a blood clot stemming from the concussion she sustained earlier this month.

Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines says her doctors discovered the clot during a follow-up exam Sunday. Reines says Clinton is being treated with anti-coagulants.

Clinton was admitted to New York-Presbyterian Hospital so doctors can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours.

Reines says doctors will continue to assess Clinton’s condition, “including other issues associated with her concussion.”

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Week brings startup launches, social media advice for 2013

Jared Kleinert, a South Florida entrepreneur, plans to soon launch Synergist, a platform that allow social entrepreneurs to meet potential co-founders online, collaborate and crowdfund their new projects. He also just launched AliveNDead, a blog about risk-taking, and he interns for a Silicon Valley startup.

And when he’s not doing all that, he’s going to class — he’s a junior at Spanish River High School in Boca Raton.

Lester Mapp is CEO and founder of the new Miami-based startup called designed by m. His team has just designed a sleek, ultra-thin aluminum iPhone bumper and launched the project on Kickstarter. After just a few days, Mapp is already more than a third of the way to his $20,000 fund-raising goal.

Read about both these entrepreneurs on The Starting Gate blog, where there’s also a post on the most pressing issues facing small businesses in the coming year — taxes, healthcare, lending and a skilled worker shortage, for starters.

And as you are ringing in the New Year, you may be resolving to beef up your business’ social media strategy. Susan Linning's guest post offers five top tips for boosting your social media effectiveness. Among them: Go beyond retweets and make your posts original, fun and personal (but not too personal.) Use visuals, too. Find this and other news, views and tools for entrepreneurs on the blog, which is at the bottom of MiamiHerald.com /business.

Follow me on Twitter @ndahlberg and Happy New Year to all.

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