Renewed fight begins for bill to ban texting and driving

TALLAHASSEE --
It was supposed to be a joyous occasion. Russell Hurd and his wife were waiting for his 26-year-old daughter Heather and her fiancé at Walt Disney World on Jan. 3, 2008, to meet with a wedding planner.

But the young couple never arrived.

Heather, who worked for the theme park, was killed, and her fiancé injured, in a nine-car crash caused by a 61-year-old tractor trailer driver who was distracted by his company’s electronic messaging device.

Margay Schee, of Ocala, was 13 when a truck driver talking on his cellphone hit her school bus, which was stopped with its flashers blinking. Margay was pinned under the seat, the bus caught fire, and she was trapped inside.

Steve Augello, of Spring Hill, started worrying when his 17-year-old daughter Allessandra was late getting home from a play rehearsal. Allessandra was hit head-on by a 19-year-old girl who was believed to be texting her boyfriend.

Three scenarios, same lethal outcome: victims killed by drivers distracted by cellphones, a problem outgoing U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has called a “deadly epidemic.”

Thirty-nine states ban text messaging for all drivers. Five states ban teens from texting while driving. Florida, on the other hand, is one of six states without a texting ban for drivers.

Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, and Rep. Doug Holder, R-Sarasota, have been sponsoring texting bans for years without success, but they’re pushing hard again this year.

Detert’s Senate bill passed its first committee stop and is moving up the legislative chain. Holder’s companion bill will be introduced early March. “I think this is the year that the Legislature is willing to move on it,” Detert said.

There’s strong support for a ban. The Florida sheriffs’ and police chiefs’ associations, the Florida League of Cities and a host of other groups support legislation to curb texting while driving.

A majority of 800 registered Florida voters — 71 percent — said last year that they supported a texting while driving ban in a Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald/Bay News 9 poll.

“The stars may be lining up for something bold here,” said Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, who voted for Detert’s bill but voiced concerns that it needed more teeth.

The proposal by Detert and Holder makes texting while driving a secondary offense, which means a driver caught messaging has to commit another offense, such as speeding or running a stop sign, before an officer can stop the driver.

Once stopped, a driver could receive two tickets, one for the infraction and one for texting. The fine would be $30 for a first-time texting offense, $60 if it occurs again within five years. Amendments would allow texting in hands-off high-tech cars and when a car is stopped at a red light or in a traffic jam.

More than 100,000 crashes a year involve drivers who are texting, according to the National Safety Council. When people text and drive, their eyes are down for an average of 4.6 seconds. At 55 miles per hour, that’s like “being blind” while driving the length of a football field, Detert said.

Other bills are also moving through the Legislature.

Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, is sponsoring legislation that would make texting or using a cellphone without a hands-free device a primary offense for drivers.

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Independent Spirit Award Winners 2013

The 2013 Film Independent Spirits Awards were handed out in Santa Monica, CA today and lots of Oscar frontrunners cemented their status by dominating in their categories once more.

Check out all the winners below:

Best Feature

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Bernie

Keep the Lights On

Moonrise Kingdom

Silver Linings Playbook

BEST FEMALE LEAD

Linda Cardellini, Return

Emayatzy Corinealdi, Middle of Nowhere

Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Smashed

BEST MALE LEAD

Jack Black, Bernie

Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook

John Hawkes, The Sessions

Thure Lindhardt, Keep the Lights On

Matthew McConaughey, Killer Joe

Wendell Pierce, Four

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE

Rosemarie DeWitt, Your Sister's Sister

Ann Dowd, Compliance

Helen Hunt, The Sessions

Brit Marling, Sound of My Voice

Lorraine Toussaint, Middle of Nowhere

BEST SUPPORTING MALE

Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike

David Oyelowo, Middle of Nowhere

Michael Pena, End of Watch

Sam Rockwell, Seven Psychopaths

Bruce Willis, Moonrise Kingdom

BEST DIRECTOR

Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom

Julia Loktev, The Loneliest Planet

David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook

Ira Sachs, Keep the Lights On

Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

BEST SCREENPLAY

Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom

Zoe Kazan, Ruby Sparks

Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths

David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook

Ira Sachs, Keep the Lights On

For the full list of winners, click here.

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Third arrest in video where little girls are forced to fight

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.

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The faces of Florida’s Medicaid system

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.

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Parents of missing Hallandale Beach baby formally charged

The parents of an infant who disappeared more than a year and a half ago were formally charged Friday in Broward County Circuit Court.

Brittney Sierra, 21, faces two counts of felony child neglect.

Calvin Melvin, 27, was charged with three felony counts of providing false information to police.

Each could face more charges if a Texas lab confirms that DNA from a tiny skeleton unearthed behind the couple’s former Hallandale Beach rental house in January matches their baby, Dontrell Melvin.

Dontrell, who would have turned 2 this month, had not been seen for nearly 18 months before police learned of his disappearance Jan 9.

At first, Melvin told Hallandale Beach Police that the child was with his family in Pompano Beach. But when police went there, they were told by the grandparents they didn’t have the child and hadn’t seen him.

During questioning by police, Melvin changed his story several times, investigators said. At one point, he told them he’d taken the baby to a fire station under Florida’s Safe Haven Law.

But police didn’t believe him and began questioning Sierra, as well. The couple, who have another child together, pointed their fingers at one another, police said.

Their answers led police to the backyard of their former rental home at 106 NW First Ave. It was there, tiny human remains were found in the ground.

Hallandale Beach Maj. Thomas Honan said until they have a solid DNA match — or a confession — there is nothing else police can do.

“The father is pointing fingers at the mother and the mother is pointing fingers at the father,” Honan said Friday. “All we have is the skeleton.”

Friday’s arraignment was standard — within 45 days from their arrest — Honan said.

Melvin remains in the Broward County Main Jail on a $151,000 bond, according to jail records. His charges stem from the times he changed his story while being interviewed by police. His court appointed attorney, Edward Hoeg, said Friday that he has filed a motion to reduce the bond. Melvin has entered a not guilty plea, his attorney said.

“We are going to fight these charges adamantly,” he said.

Sierra is being held at the North Broward Jail on $100,000 bond. Her charges were related to the two times Sierra had the opportunity to mention the missing baby to the Department of Children and Families, but failed to do so, Honan said.

DCF made contact with both Sierra and her mother, Renee Menendez, who was raising her four other children ranging in age from 8 to 11, more than 30 times, according to documents released in January.

It wasn’t until a hotline call Jan. 9 that police discovered the boy missing.

Sierras two other children — one of whom is an infant — were taken into state custody, as were Menendez’ four children.

There will be a dependency hearing related to Sierra’s children at 10 a.m. Monday at the Broward County Courthouse.

She has entered a written not guilty plea, according to her court appointed attorney, Dohn Williams Jr.

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Crime ring chief gets 7 years for illegal guns, motorcycle thefts

The kingpin in a massive ring that sold at least 13 illegal guns and stole scores of motorcycles off city streets is going to prison for at least 7 1/2 years.

Tiwane Paul, 31, had asked for less time, arguing through his lawyer that he'd had a tough childhood in his native Dominica.

But prosecutor Diana Florence countered that Paul "was a very, very smart and cunning person," and that hours of wiretaps demonstrated, "Mr. Paul was able to negotiate with people who were very difficult and, frankly, very scary."

Paul, who faces certain post-prison deportation back to his Caribbean homeland, ran his criminal enterprise with Selwyn Mills, 22, who has pleaded guilty and is serving a 5-to-9 year prison sentence.

Of the 33 people originally arrested in Paul's gang, one has been dismissed, 11 are awaiting trial, and the remainder have pleaded guilty.

The case made headlines last July, when prosecutors announced the cycle-snatchers had been caught in the act of reselling more than 50 high-end bikes, including a Dukati Monster and a Kawasaki Ninja.

The case was back in the news just two months later, when seven of the stolen bikes were re-stolen -- from an NYPD lot in the Bronx. The twice-stolen bikes have since been recovered.

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Ian Schrager joins forces with chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten for new Edition Hotel

Two of the best-known names in their respective fields — hotelier Ian Schrager and chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten — have teamed up for the Edition Hotel in Miami Beach, they told The Miami Herald Friday.

The partnership had not previously been officially announced, but the two were set to host a cocktail party Friday night at the site of the old Seville Beach hotel, 2901 Collins Ave.

On Friday at the sales pavilion for the Residences at the Miami Beach Edition, the duo chatted nonstop as they examined an elaborate model of the hotel and grounds.

“We just have a good time together,” Vongerichten said. “He’s excited, I’m excited.”

Vongerichten pointed out a lower-level area on the model building that he described as a grab-and-go food court with a deli, bakery, hot kitchen and raw bar. Schrager referred to it as an “updated Wolfie’s,” referring to the deli eight blocks south on Collins Avenue that closed in 2002.

“It’s not just for the people at the hotel, it’s for everybody,” said Schrager, whose launch of the Delano in 1995 helped bring new life to South Beach.

Plans at the Edition also call for a beach eatery and upscale-but-modern restaurant that Vongerichten said would be “chic and glamorous” and focused on local ingredients. He referred to that restaurant as the Matador Room, a nod to the hotel’s previous life.

Vongerichten said Schrager approached him about the project nearly six months ago; they have worked together since he opened the Pump Room restaurant at Schrager’s Public Chicago in late 2011.

Vongerichten is also behind the lauded J&G Grill at the St. Regis Bal Harbour, which opened in January 2012, but the Edition will be his first foray into Miami Beach.

“You always have to wait for the right project,” Vongerichten said.

A partnership between Schrager and Marriott International, the Edition brand includes one hotel in Istanbul. A site in London is set to debut in August, followed by Miami Beach in early 2014, possibly late in the first quarter. Other locations in New York and Bangkok are scheduled to come online in 2015.

Already years in the making, the Miami Beach project has been closely watched since Marriott bought the property in July 2010. Now, construction at the massive site is well underway, with cranes towering over the gutted existing buildings and a new tower. The finished product will include a hotel with about 250 rooms as well as 26 residences, nearly half of which are already sold. The property also features an ice skating rink, a bowling alley and historic outdoor details including a sundial and diving board.

“It’s a little bit like a bamboo shoot that sits there for 100 years, then all of a sudden it shoots up 50 feet in weeks,” Schrager said. “It’s coming to life.”

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Helen Snapp, WWII pilot, dies

Helen Wyatt Snapp did not want to be called a hero.

“The real heroes are the people who don’t come back” from combat, said the former WASP pilot.

Despite that humility, Snapp was recognized in South Florida and beyond for her contributions to aviation and for helping pave the way for women in flight.

Snapp died Jan. 20 at Memorial Hospital West in Pembroke Pines from complications after a hip fracture surgery. She was 94.

Snapp was born in Washington, D.C., and attended Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Va. During one summer break from school, she and her sister Evelyn began taking flying lessons.

Although she had a fear of heights, when World War II broke out, Snapp entered the Civilian Pilot Training program and became a licensed private pilot.

In 1942 she married Ira Benton Snapp, a lieutenant in Company B 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division of the U.S. Army during its campaigns in North Africa, Sicily and Italy.

It was while her husband was overseas that Snapp learned about the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) training program and began training in Sweetwater, Texas. She became one of the country’s first female military aircraft aviators.

When she graduated, she was sent to Camp Davis in North Carolina, where her duties included radar operations, aerial target towing and search light training. Later, she flew at Liberty Field in Fort Stewart, Ga. Her responsibility there was to fly planes that towed targets, at which male recruits would shoot live ammunition.

Snapp’s final task in active service was a top-secret mission with radio-controlled aircraft, that would later be packed with explosives and used as the first guided bombs.

She also piloted the B17 Memphis Belle, while traveling from Tampa to Jacksonville, when the plane was being used for War Bond promotions.

She was trained to fly both single and multiple-engine planes.

When WWII ended, Snapp returned to the Washington, D.C., area where she and her husband raised three sons. Simultaneously, she worked for the U.S. Post Office.

They moved to South Florida in 1984.

Snapp’s son Jeremy said his mother has served as a source of inspiration for him since he was a child.

“She participated in a piece of history and got to do a lot of things people normally don’t get to do … like fly fighter planes,” he said.

Besides her aviation career, Snapp was known for enjoying life and cherishing time with her family, friends and fellow pilots, he said.

If she saw any opportunity to connect with her contemporaries, she would take it, he said.

Snapp advocated for WASP pilots to be officially recognized as military members and spoke about the discrimination they felt at the time. Although they participated in military activities, they were considered civilians. Now, they are able to enjoy some military benefits, including using VA hospitals and the opportunity to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

“They were doing a man’s job, but they really were kind of played down,” said Suzette Rice, the president of the Wings Over Miami Air Museum, who became a friend of Snapp’s. Rice said Snapp and the other WASP pilots were trailblazers; they were considered civilian pilots, but now women in the military fight in active combat.

Snapp was proud to help make that recognition possible.

“That was the message Helen had,” Rice said. “She would say, ‘We were women doing a man’s job, and nobody had done it before.’”

Snapp and 175 other living members of the WASPs received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010. She was also active in women’s pilot association the Florida Gold Coast 99s and the Wings Over Miami Air Museum.

Ursula Davidson, a pilot and member of the Ninety-Nines, said she will most remember Snapp as a friend who “was always ready for an adventure.”

“She was a good role model about how to live your life,” Davidson said. “Just to keep doing what you like to do and not to be afraid.”

Snapp is survived by two of her sons, Jeremy and David. She was predeceased by her husband and son Ira Ben Snapp II.

There will be a memorial service for Snapp on at 11 a.m. March 2 at the Wings Over Miami Air Museum.

Her family has requested donations to the Wings Over Miami Museum or the Florida Gold Coast 99s in lieu of flowers.

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Adam Levine Talks Leaving Maroon 5

What with his coaching gig on The Voice, launching his own fragrance line and a recent stint on American Horror Story, it's only natural that Adam Levine's fans have been left to wonder if Maroon 5 will one day take a permanent backseat to his other career opportunities.   

Despite being open to dabbling in various solo projects, Levine says that in the end, he will always stay loyal to his trusty bandmates.

Hot Pics: Hollywood's Sexiest Men -- SHIRTLESS!

"If anything I'll probably make a record on my own with people doing some sort of interesting cover record or something like that, but it won't be me going solo," Levine told ET Canada's Natasha Gargiulo. "It'll be me doing something on my own and then returning to the band."

As for his recent foray into acting, Levine reveals that what started as a side project may very well grow one of his passions.

Related: Maroon 5 Reflects on 10 Years of Fame

"No one's going to say that guy sucks in that movie," said the star of sharing the big screen with Keira Knightley in the upcoming film, Can a Song Save Your Life?. "I'm really hard on myself so I knew that I would feel that gross feeling of like, 'Oh dude I'm never doing this again, I'm so bad.' And I wasn't. I didn't get that feeling."

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Developers want to raise proposed Brooklyn Bridge Park complex three feet to avoid massive flood damage

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

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National Hotel nears end of long renovation

A panel of frosted glass puts everything in perspective for Delphine Dray as she oversees a years-long, multi-million dollar renovation project at the National Hotel on Miami Beach.

“Chez Claude and Simone,” says the piece of glass stationed between the lobby and restaurant, a reference to Dray’s parents, who bought the hotel in 2007.

“Every time I am exhausted and I pass that glass, I remember why,” said Delphine Dray, who joined her father — a billionaire hotel developer and well-known art collector in France — to restore the hotel after the purchase.

After working with him for years, she is finishing the project alone. Claude Dray, 76, was killed in his Paris home in October of 2011, a shooting that remains under investigation.

In a recent interview and tour of the hotel’s renovations, which are nearly finished, Dray did not discuss her father’s death, which drew extensive media coverage in Europe. But she spoke about the evolution of the father-daughter working relationship, the family’s Art Deco obsession and the inspiration for the hotel’s new old-fashioned touches.

The National is hosting a cocktail party Friday night to give attendees a peek at the progress.

Dray grew up in a home surrounded by Art Deco detail; her parents constantly brought home finds from the flea market. By 2006, they had amassed a fortune in art and furniture, which they sold for $75 million at a Paris auction in 2006.

That sale funded the purchase of the National Hotel at 1677 Collins Ave., which the Drays discovered during a visit to Miami Beach.

After having lunch at the Delano next door, Dray said, “My dad came inside the hotel and fell in love.” The owner was not interested in selling, but Claude Dray persisted, closing the deal in early 2007. Her family also owns the Hôtel de Paris in Saint-Tropez, which reopened Thursday after a complete overhaul overseen by Dray’s mother and older sister.

Delphine Dray said she thought it would be exciting to work on the 1939 hotel with her father, so she moved with her family to South Florida. She quickly discovered challenges, including stringent historic preservation rules and frequent disagreements with her father.

“We did not have at all the same vision,” she said.

For example, she said: “I was preparing mojitos for the Winter Music Conference.” Her father, on the other hand, famously once unplugged a speaker during a party at the hotel because the loud music was disturbing his work.

“We were fighting because that is the way it is supposed to be,” she said. “Now, I understand that he was totally right.”

She described a vision, now her own, of a classic, cozy property that brings guests back to the 1940s.

Joined by her 10-year-old twin girls, Pearl and Swan, and 13-year-old son Chad, Dray pointed out a new telephone meant to look antique mounted on the wall near the elevators on a guest floor. She showed off the entertainment units she designed to resemble furniture that her parents collected. And she highlighted Art Deco flourishes around doorknobs and handles.

“It’s very important for us to have the details,” she said.

With those priorities in mind, she is overseeing the final phase of the renovation, an investment that general manager Jacques Roy said will top $10 million. In addition to the small details, the renovation includes heavier, less obvious work: new drywall in guest rooms, for example, and new windows to replace leaky ones.

Painting of the building’s exterior should be finished in the next two to three weeks, Roy said. Dray compared its earlier unfinished state to resembling “a horror movie — the family Addams.”

And the final couple of guest room floors, as well as the restoration of the original Martini Room, should be done by the end of April.

“At the end, I will be very proud,” Dray said.

The National’s renovation wraps up as nearby properties such as the SLS Hotel South Beach and Gale South Beach & Regent Hotel have been given new life. Jeff Lehman, general manager of The Betsy Hotel and chair of the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority, said the National has always been true to its roots. He managed the hotel for 10 years, including for a few months after Dray bought the property.

“I think historic preservation and the restoration of the hotels as they were built 70, 80 years ago is such a huge piece of our DNA,” he said. “It’s a lot of what sets us apart from any other destination on the planet.”

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Man set ablaze Christmas night dies; family files suit

A man who was doused in gasoline and set on fire at a gas station Christmas night died Friday after being in and out of a coma since then.

Darrell Brackett, 44, walked to the U-Gas Station at 4700 NW 27th Ave. shortly before midnight night while his girlfriend waited in their van. They were returning from dropping off family members after a Christmas gathering when they ran out of gas near Northwest 49th Street and 23rd Avenue.

Brackett made it to the gas station and paid for his gas.

While there, he encountered several drug dealers, according to the Brackett family’s attorney. They asked Brackett if he was interested in purchasing from them, and when he said no, they took offense, the attorney said.

They threw a lit cigarette at cigar on him, which in combination with the gasoline he had just purchased made him go up in flames.

Brackett ran into the street, where a woman passing by directed him to a median where he rolled on the ground in an attempt to put out the flames. “Why did they do this to me?” he asked at the time.

He was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he was treated in the burn center until he died Friday.

Although for the first part of his recovery Brackett was unable to communicate, he was doing well enough about three weeks ago that he could nod and use hand movements to speak with his family and Michaels. It was during those conversations they were able to learn better what happened that Christmas night.

Then, after that one week when he could communicate, Brackett took a turn for the worse, fell back into a coma and died.

Brackett’s mother, Bridgett Brackett, said her son would be remembered as “a people person.”

“Everybody loved him,” she said Wednesday. “He had a sweet personality and was just a fun-loving guy. Every time you saw him, he had a nice smile. He was a great child.”

Brackett’s family has filed a lawsuit against Urbieta Oil Inc. and HDEZ Oil Corp., which own and operate the U-Gas Station. Trial is scheduled for Aug. 12.

The family’s attorney, Todd Michaels of the Haggard Law Firm, a Coral Gables firm that specializes in personal injury cases, said the companies’ gas stations in South Florida have operated negligently for too long, without proper security measures in place.

The Haggard Law Firm previously represented the family of Trinard Snell, who was killed in 2009 while working at a Valero gas station in Liberty City. Snell’s family won a $5.7 million lawsuit in that case on Dec. 2 after expressing their concern that the station did not sufficiently protect its employees, according to Miami Herald news partner CBS4.

“There is a staggering amount of crime going on in these premises, and pretty much nothing going on in terms of security,” Michaels said. “Security can’t be something you put on the back burner . . . It’s happening too much that [gas stations] are throwing caution to the wind as far as securing their premises goes. People are being attacked and robbed.”

It is too early in litigation to determine how much the suit will amount to, but because of Brackett’s two months of medical bills, Michaels said the number will likely be high.

“The family just wants to see they achieve some sort of justice for him,” Michaels said.

Ignacio M. Urbieta, an attorney for Urbieta Oil Inc., said safety has always been the company’s top priority.

“The Haggard Law Firm alleged unsubstantiated facts about the incident and made dishonest statements disparaging our personal ethics,” Urbieta wrote in a statement to The Miami Herald. “We vehemently deny their version of events and will address their accusations at the appropriate time and place.”

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School janitor gets 20 years for raping 12yo student

A Brooklyn school janitor convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl in his middle school was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison today as his family sobbed in the back of the courtroom.

Ambiorix Rodriguez, 34, had sex with the girl in the basement and stairwell of the East Flatbush school but was busted when she told school officials.

Rodriguez did not force the girl to have sex but was charged with rape and other crimes because of her young age.

Prosecutors asked for a sentence of 74 years to life and read a statement from the victim’s aunt.

“She was and is still a child. How could you do this to her? How could you possibly think this is okay?” the aunt said.

Judge Sheryl Parker slammed Rodriguez before sentencing him.

“In this case the defendant repeatedly took advantage of a young girl in a place, her school, that should have been her safe haven.”

Parker also issued an order of protection forbidding Rodriguez to contact his victim for 75 years. Rodriguez, in grey prison sweats and hand cuffs, blew a kiss to his teary family when he walked into court, but did not turn to look at them when he was lead out.

jsaul@nypost.com

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Architectural advisory panel rejects design plans for Midtown Miami Walmart

Controversial efforts to build a Walmart in Midtown Miami hit an unexpected roadblock Wednesday when members of Miami’s architectural advisory panel rejected the latest version of the plan.

The unanimous vote to deny a permit application was unusual for the Urban Development Review Board, which functions as an advisory group to the city planning director, and rarely takes a hard stand against projects.

The response from Walmart was unusual, too.

The board offered Walmart a chance to rework its plans and return for a later hearing. But the Walmart team declined.

“We’re just at a point where the project is taking way too long,” Walmart attorney Alfredo Gonzalez said, adding that contractual obligations demand the project move forward immediately.

The Midtown Walmart project has garnered intense opposition from neighborhood activists, who worry the big-box store will destroy the character of the up-and-coming neighborhood. Proponents say the Walmart would create as many as 750 construction and retail jobs and be a source of fresh produce and affordable consumer goods.

Last month, to make its 156,000-square-foot store blend in better with the district, Walmart revised its plan to include an adjacent building with pedestrian-friendly, street-level shops. Zyscovich Architects, the firm that drew up the master plan for the Midtown district, is designing that portion of the project.

On Wednesday, members of the development review board sharply questioned whether the latest plans comply with two key features of the special zoning plan that governs development in Midtown. Like the city’s Miami 21 zoning code, which was written after the development of Midtown, the rules are meant to ensure that buildings in the district foster active pedestrian traffic and avoid blank walls and exposed parking garages.

One guideline calls for the top decks of parking garages to be screened or covered. Walmart’s plan for rooftop parking includes decorative planters but not a cover or screen.

“The code requires that you incorporate trellises or other design features to conceal the parking spaces,” Urban Development Review Board member Robert Behar said. The Walmart plan “needs to be more elaborate.”

A second rule requires “liners” — typically residential or commercial space — to conceal garages on principal streets like Midtown Boulevard and North Miami Avenue. If a garage doesn’t have liners above the ground floor, it’s supposed to be set back 85 feet from the street.

While Walmart’s plans show ground-floor retail stores, there are none on the second and third stories of the three-level garage. Those floors are instead covered with glass façades.

The garages are set back roughly 25 feet on Midtown Boulevard and 50 feet on North Miami Avenue.

Miami Assistant Planning Director Carmen Sanchez said she believes the Midtown regulations don’t specifically require occupied spaces in the upper stories, but just “an articulated building façade” like the glass panels Walmart has proposed.

But members of the panel said they read the code differently to require habitable space on the upper stories as well as the ground floors of garages.

“Either you include liner uses in the second or third level, or you set the building back 85 feet,” architect and developer Willy Bermello said.

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More state spending on roads, ports

TALLAHASSEE --
If you think there’s too much road construction now, just wait.

The state plans to increase transportation spending by 11 percent in an effort to boost jobs, build more roads, and get the state’s ports ready for the expansion of the Panama Canal. For motorists, that means navigating through more orange cones and thicker clouds of construction dust throughout the state.

Florida’s proposed $9.1 billion budget was released Tuesday. On tap in Tampa Bay, $420 million of additional lanes on Interstate 75 in Pasco, Hernando and Sumter counties; $27 million for the expansion of Bruce B. Downs Boulevard; and $69 million to add lanes on the Veterans Expressway in Hillsborough County. In South Florida, new construction would include $112 million for new lanes on I-75 in Broward County; $154 million to add lanes and reconstruct the Homestead extension of the Florida Turnpike and $25 million to add lanes and reconstruct State Road 823.

An unprecedented flood of money is getting steered to ports in an attempt to get them primed for the Panama Canal expansion, which should be completed in the next two years. The proposed budget includes $30.6 million for the Port of Miami, $26.7 million for the Port of Tampa, $19.5 million for the Port of Manatee and close to $100 million across the rest of the state.

“We’re leveraging what’s going to happen with post-Panama Canal expansion,” DOT Secretary Ananth Prasad recently told a House transportation committee. “Florida’s truly going to be the gateway to the Americas.”

Gov. Rick Scott was in Jacksonville on Tuesday to tout the proposed budget as an economic tool. He estimates the $917 million increase in spending from this year will help create 500,000 jobs, one third related to highway construction — employment opportunities that would be on line as he gets ready for re-election in 2014.

While Scott claimed credit for the budget, about two-thirds of it is the work of regional metropolitan planning organizations staffed with local elected officials, and port and airport authorities that he only partly controls through appointments. But the proposed transportation plan, which will be included in the larger $74 billion budget bill during the upcoming legislative session, reflects a consensus among lawmakers and local leaders that an increase in transportation spending will spark the economy.

“The construction industry was the most hurt by the recession,” said the chair of the House transportation appropriations committee, Rep. Ed Hooper, R-Clearwater. “So the industry will only be helped by more spending.”

In many ways, it’s an approach that’s a throwback to 20th century road politics, where highway construction was viewed as a job creator and a solution to gridlock. While other states have moved to road alternatives like transit and rail, Florida’s spending includes only about $400 million in direct spending on transit, or less than 5 percent. Scott is still remembered for rejecting $2.4 billion in federal dollars that would have paid for a high-speed rail link between Tampa and Orlando.

“You can’t construct enough highways to build our way out of congestion,” said Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, a Democrat. “Tampa Bay is the only area of our size without mobility options, be it light rail, bus rapid transit or high occupancy vehicle lanes. This puts us at a competitive disadvantage.”

Buckhorn said he and several other cities, such as St. Petersburg and Miami, will lobby the Legislature this year to get permission to ask voters for approval of light rail projects without having to appeal to county voters as well. In 2010, Hillsborough voters rejected a proposed light rail system in Tampa that city residents supported.

Scott sees roads as not just creating jobs, but accommodating growth for a state with a population of 19 million that’s projected to grow past 26 million by 2040.

To the chagrin of environmental activists, Scott has resurrected a project of toll roads that former Gov. Jeb Bush supported but his predecessor, Gov. Charlie Crist, rejected. The toll roads would be built in rural areas and help bring development to landlocked parts of the state.

“Under Crist, transportation dollars were spent in areas where there already was congestion, not where they thought growth would go,” said Charles Pattison, President of 1000 Friends of Florida. “The interesting thing about this budget is that the governor has put about $1 billion more than he did last year, and it’s going to one agency for roads. But are roads going to be the solution in 2040?”

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Mark Hamill on Star Wars VII, Sushi Girl & Spinoff Movies

Mark Hamill's new movie Sushi Girl hits DVD and Blu-ray this week, and while talking about the project, the Star Wars legend was more than happy to provide ETonline with an update on his involvement with the in-development Star Wars VII – and what he thinks of those planned spinoff movies…

"It's all very, very exciting and so unexpected," says Hamill. "I think that's the quality I like about it most – it's like getting a pair of pants out of the closet you haven't worn in three years and finding a $20 bill in the pocket. It's just so unexpected."

Pics: 'Star Wars' Young Han Solo Casting Ideas

First off, will he appear in Star Wars VII? "They're talking to us," he reveals. "George [Lucas] wanted to know whether we'd be interested. He did say that if we didn't want to do it, they wouldn't cast another actor in our parts – they would write us out. … I can tell you right away that we haven't signed any contracts. We're in the stage where they want us to go in and meet with Michael Arndt, who is the writer, and Kathleen Kennedy, who is going to run Lucasfilm. Both have had meetings set that were postponed -- on their end, not mine. They're more busy than I am."

Hamill, 61, says he's intrigued about where the new trilogy could go but says he knows nothing about the storyline: "I probably learn more from Entertainment Tonight than I do directly from Lucasfilm – like for instance, when George told us he wanted to do the next trilogy, he didn't tell us it was going to be done for Disney. He saved that little nugget, and I read it online like anybody else."

As for his thoughts about the next trilogy's tone, "I said to George that I wanted to go back to the way it was, in the sense that ours was much more carefree and lighthearted and humorous – in my opinion, anyway. And another thing I'd want to make sure of is are we going to have the whole gang back? Is Carrie and Harrison and Billy Dee and Tony Daniels, everybody that's around from the original [returning]? I want to make sure that everybody's on board here, rather than just one. I guess I'll have to tune into your show to figure out who's on board."

In terms of where we'll pick up with Luke Skywalker in Star Wars VII, "I'm assuming, because I haven't talked to the writers, that these movies would be about our offspring -- like my character would be sort of in the Obi-Wan range [as] an influential character. … When I found out [while making the original trilogy] that ultimate good news/bad news joke – the good news is there's a real attractive, hot girl in the universe; the bad news is she's your sister – I thought, 'Well, I'm going to wind up like Sir Alec [Guinness]. I'm going to be a lonely old hermit living out in some kind of desert igloo with a couple of robots.'"

Hamill concludes of the next movie, "I hope they find the right balance of CGI with practical effects. I love props, I love models, miniatures, matte paintings -- I'm sort of old school. I think if you go too far in the direction of CGI it winds up looking like just a giant a video game, and that's unfortunate. … If they listen to me at all, it'll be, 'Lighten up and go retro with the way it looks.'"

Related: J.J. Abrams to Direct New 'Star Wars' 

As for those confirmed stand-alone Star Wars films, which may follow the adventures of a young Han Solo, Boba Fett and Yoda, Hamill observes, "That's really smart. Then you're more like James Bond pictures, where they come out and it's not an investment of a three-movie arc. … It's so rich, that [Star Wars] universe, in terms of quirkiness and oddball [nature]. We would talk about that [on the original film's set]. We'd go like, 'That little band that's playing in the Cantina, what's their story?! I mean, are they a traveling band? Are they the house band? Who's their manager?' They didn't have names when we first were talking about them. Now they're called, like, Sy Snootles – they come up with names down the road when they have to name toys."

So what spinoff movie would Mark Hamill like to see? "Oh, I don't know, set it on the Wookiee planet -- although that might be prohibitively expensive with that many Wookiees," he says with some resignation. After a little more thought, he muses, "That's what I would love. You pick the most insignificant little [character] – there's this little hawk-beaked character that's somewhere in Jabba's palace, I can't even remember what function he served -- but that's what I would think. You pick something that almost nobody remembers or knows about -- and then have a movie about him! You could probably put about 500 different character's names on a big, giant dart board, throw a dart, and say, 'Okay, wherever it lands we've got to make him the central character.'"

After a hearty laugh, Hamill adds, "I hope we don't overstay our welcome."

In the gritty gangster flick Sushi Girl, out on DVD and Blu-ray now, Hamill plays against type as Crow, a wisecracking, sadistic criminal who is a bit light in the loafers and gets very creative with a set of chopsticks in order to get the answer he's looking for.
"My character gets his kicks inflicting pain on other people," explains Hamill of the powerful indie film that follows a group of gangsters who reunite for dinner -- fresh sushi atop a naked girl -- several years after a diamond heist gone wrong. "He can dish it out, but the minute he gets a little nick or bruise, he's a horrible baby – and I love that he's de facto comic relief [in the movie], because he's just so goofy."

He adds, "The kind of character roles I enjoy doing most I did on Broadway, whether I played the sleazy producer in Room Service or I played The Elephant Man or I played Mozart in [Amadeus] … Those were all complex character roles. Character roles only indicate that they're very different from who you are as a person, and for me, it's fun hiding behind characters that are so unlike who I am."

Related: Mark Hamill Tells New Stories from 'Star Wars'

Stay tuned to ETonline for more Star Wars and Mark Hamill news!

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Judge blocks city from Ken Burns film footage

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."

Burns said he, his daughter and her husband, David McMahon -- who also worked on the film -- "are grateful for this important decision; we feel the judge made exactly the right ruling."

"We are also mindful that this ruling goes far beyond our current situation; this adds a layer of important protection to journalists and filmmakers everywhere," Burns added.

"We recognize too that this attempt to subpoena our outtakes and notes only further delayed the nearly decade long efforts by the plaintiffs to seek redress. We hope this serves as a positive impetus to move that original suit to a resolution."

bruce.golding@nypost.com

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Best photo apps for Android devices

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.

Instagram

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.

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Pension reform plan put on hold

TALLAHASSEE --
House Speaker Will Weatherford’s push to close the state’s $136 billion pension system to new state employees is on hold.

A report released Friday was supposed to provide an estimate of how much the change would cost to pay out benefits to the employees currently in the system while switching new state employees into 401(k)-style retirement plans.

Instead, the report was deemed incomplete. Weatherford said Monday he wants the missing information before he can decide his next move, and that won’t be until at least March 1.

Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, has made ending pensions for new employees one his top priorities of the coming legislative session. He says change is needed because the state’s current pension — which has about 145,000 current and future beneficiaries — is unsustainable and will require a mammoth taxpayer bailout sometime in the future.

Unions oppose the move because they say it shifts costs and risks to workers.

A report released Friday by Milliman, a Virginia actuarial firm, concluded that closing the state’s pension system to future employees would endanger the benefits of those currently enrolled in the pension plan. The problem: Because Weatherford’s proposal would turn away new workers, the pension plan would be forced to rely on a shrinking payroll base on which contributions to retirees are made.

To make up the shortfall, either workers or taxpayers would chip in more, the report stated.

Weatherford said he wasn’t surprised that the $70,000 report, which he had ordered, concluded it would cost more money to reform Florida’s retirement system.

“We know that doesn’t come free,” Weatherford said.

But what the report didn’t include were costs associated with keeping the pension plan intact, making it difficult to compare costs between reform and status quo.

Weatherford said he didn’t know why that estimate wasn’t included.

“We do need, I believe, to have that baseline so that we can give the citizens of Florida and the Legislature all the information necessary to make a decision,” Weatherford said.

Ben Wolf, a spokesman for Florida’s Department of Management Services, said as soon as the report was received, state officials notified Milliman that the study was incomplete. He said another study, this one costing $25,000, will be sent to the state explaining how much the current pension system will cost.

So far, at least, Senate President Don Gaetz hasn’t publicly matched Weatherford’s enthusiasm in reforming the retirement system for state workers, teachers and college and local government employees.

The Senate is preoccupied instead with reforming smaller pension systems that are run separately by local governments. Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, who chairs the Senate committee that is handling pension reform, said he doesn’t see a pressing need to reform the state pension plan.

“With municipal pensions, there’s a legitimate need for reform,” Ring said. “But the Florida Retirement System is a completely different discussion because it’s difficult to define the urgency. I don’t believe moving to a 401(k) system is a bad thing. The challenge, however, and it’s a big however, is that it could be a bad thing in terms of how much it could cost to close down.”

Ring said he’s received little guidance from Gaetz on the issue.

“And that’s because he wants to wait for all actuarial reports to come out,” Ring said. “Ultimately, he’ll have to get engaged and give us some direction.”

But with the confusion over the Milliman report, that would have to wait.

Gaetz’s spokeswoman, Katie Betta, said in an e-mail he was reviewing the study and couldn’t comment.

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Newtown massacre gunman wanted to exceed Norway shooter's death toll

The gunman who carried out the Newtown school massacre was inspired by violent video games — and was trying to outdo a Norwegian mass murderer who killed 77 people, it was reported today.

Adam Lanza believed he was in ghoulish competition with Anders Breivik, who carried out a bloodbath at two locations in July 2011, law enforcement sources told CBS News.

Breivik, a paranoid ultra nationalist, fatally shot 69 people at a summer camp after murdering eight others in downtown Oslo.

Lanza wanted to exceed Breivik’s death toll, according to investigators.

He chose the Sandy Hook (Conn.) Elementary School because it was the “easiest target” with the “largest cluster of people,” two officials who have been briefed about the investigation said.

Lanza saw his victims as characters in a shooting video game and the higher the death toll, the better his “score.”

Investigators said they had found evidence that Lanza was obsessed with Breivik, who posted a bizarre extremists manifesto the day of his attacks.

Sources told CBS that investigators have also uncovered a “trove” of video games from Lanza’s basement.

He is believed to have spent much of his free time in a basement play room, with the windows blacked out, engaged in a kind of target practice on video games.

It was not disclosed which games he played. But Breivik boasted that he trained for his rampage by playing a war-simulation game named “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.”

He said he developed “target acquisition” by practised his aim using a “holographic aiming device” on the game, which he believed was being used to train combat soldiers.

Norwegian prosecutors also said Breivik played “World of Warcraft” an astounding average of six hours and 50 minutes a day for four months while he was preparing his attacks.

The fate of the two mass murderers turned out differently.

Lanza, 20, killed himself after slaying 20 children and six adults before police closed in.

But Breivik surrendered to police and is being held in a Norwegian jail on a 21-year sentence, the longest allowed in his country.

In his manifesto and afterward Breivik said he was inspired by Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, the Knights Templar of the Middle Ages, al Qaeda, “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, and Japanese “banzai” warriors.

He said he was motivated by fear of an Islamic takeover of Europe, a decline in Western values and the growth of Europe’s left-leaning political parties.

No manifesto or written explanation from Lanza of his rampage has been found.

Before his fatal spree he destroyed the hard drive on his computer, which may have kept some of the records of the games he played and who he played with.

But investigators are believed to be making progress in tracing Lanza’s on-line life.

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Open English expands across Latin America

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.

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Key West Lotto ticket wins $17 million jackpot

A Lotto ticket sold in Key West was the only one to match all six numbers in Saturday night’s drawing, and is worth $17 million, the Florida Lottery said Sunday.

Saturday’s numbers were 8, 21, 26, 27, 30 and 40. The winning ticket was sold at the Publix supermarket at 3316 N. Roosevelt Blvd. The jackpot for the next drawing, on Wednesday, will ratchet back down to $2 million.

In the multistate Powerball game, no one matched all six numbers: 15, 16, 46, 50, 58 and the Powerball, 29. The jackpot for Wednesday’s drawing will grow to $70 million.

Three Fantasy 5 tickets matched the five numbers drawn Saturday night: 11, 26, 33, 34 and 46. They were sold in Jupiter, Riverview and Altamonte Springs. Each of the winners will receive $94,037.57.

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A Good Day to Die Hard Bruce Willis Takes Over Box Office

Audiences agreed that it was a good weekend to die hard, as the fifth installment of the Die Hard franchise opened strong.

RELATED: New Blu-ray & DVD Releases

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.

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7 hurt when cab crashes into food cart crowd

Seven people were injured on West 34 Street and Eleventh Avenue when a cabbie plowed into a vehicle, jumped a curb and hit a small crowd of people near a food cart on the sidewalk, cops and witnesses said.

A witness said the cabby was stopped behind another vehicle in the eastbound lane at a light on 34th Street at around 5 p.m. when he suddenly “took off," Hanna Ramzey,25, a vendor, said.

"The cab first hit the car then the vendors, three customers and people on the corner,” he said.

"He [one vendor named Maged] was injured in his head and leg. And had blood from his nose. One man, his leg was twisted the wrong way. One woman was bleeding from the back of her head,” Ramzey added.

All the victims were taken to Bellevue Hospital with minor injuries, cops said.

Police sources said the yellow-cab driver is in police custody and charges were pending.

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Small business lending rebounds in South Florida

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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