Woman in yoga pose awoken by man masturbating next to her, lawsuit claims

She was finishing her workout; he was just starting his.

An Upper West Side woman in post yoga, meditative bliss was allegedly rudely awoken by a maintenance worker masturbating next to her mat, a new lawsuit claims.

Keiko Herskovitz, a regular yogi at Equinox's Pure Yoga on W. 77th Street, was in the corpse pose called shavasana, laying down with her eyes closed on Jan. 26, when she "heard someone walk into the room."

At first Herskovitz, 55, ignored the noise until "she felt that there was a person next to her, and she opened her eyes to find a Pure Yoga employee, a maintenance associate, about two feet away, masturbating," the suit alleges.

Herskovitz "confronted the maintenance employee and asked, 'what are you doing?!'" she recalls in the court papers. The man, described as a 19-year-old, "quickly covered himself with a yoga blanket and ran out of the room," the documents allege.

Herskovitz immediately told a manager about the encounter. The supervisor allegedly dismissed the accusation and said that the man "was a good employee," court papers state.

The yogi, who'd been stretching at the studio weekly for three years, reported the incident to the police. She later received an email from the studio noting the seriousness of the incident, but management "has not reported the offender to the police or has taken any action against the offender," Herskovitz claims in the suit.

Her attorney, Eric Creizman, is hiring a private investigator to determine if the maintenance worker “has been involved in additional incidents.”

Herskovitz is suing Related Companies, which owns Equinox, for unspecified damages.

Neither the yoga studio nor Related returned calls for comment.

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VIP storage service for clothes comes to South Florida

There’s hardly any woman alive who doesn’t complain about a lack of closet space.

Now space-challenged South Floridians who want to store clothes in a climate-controlled atmosphere can turn to the same service used by celebrities and designers.

Garde Robe believes it has the answer. The New York-based company expanded into South Florida this month, aiming to serve savvy fashionistas, multiple home owners and globetrotters. Think of Garde Robe as both relief for closet crowding and a personal valet service that delivers your clothes anywhere in the world.

“The same way you have art storage and wine storage, we’re the only company dedicated to protecting and preserving the works of art that stay behind your closet doors,” said Doug Greenberg, vice president of sales and marketing for Garde Robe.

“You can’t just store clothing by wrapping them up and then bringing them back when you need them. It’s museum-quality storage.”

But that comes with a price. Garde Robe’s minimum calls for a one-year contract at $350 per month, which includes storage for 50 items, 10 shoe boxes and a box of accessories.

This service includes one local delivery per month in the area of the Garde Robe facility; customers pay for shipping to other cities.

“It’s very labor intensive to properly care for textiles, and you can’t do it on the cheap,” Greenberg said. “We know that prices some people out of the market. It’s not a mass-market service.”

Garde Robe’s customers include socialite Ivanka Trump and supermodel Iman. The company also provides storage for the collections of top-name fashion designers such as Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera.

The concept was started in New York in 2001 by Kim Akhtar, then Dan Rather’s publicist and a Flamenco dancer. Akhtar needed extra closet space and figured others in New York had the same problem.

But it wasn’t until 2008, when Garde Robe expanded beyond New York. The company now has facilities in Southern California and Tokyo, with plans for London as well.

The South Florida expansion largely was driven by requests from existing clientele in other markets who have second homes here or are regular visitors. Locally, Garde Robe partnered with Rey’s Cleaner’s, a Miami company that specializes in the cleaning and care of luxury goods and specialty items. Rey’s is a licensee of Garde Robe and owns 70 percent of the South Florida business.

The company will provide pick-up and delivery to serve customers from Key West to North Palm Beach County and west to Naples and Tampa. All clothes will be stored at Rey’s facility northeast of Miami International Airport.

For the Garde Robe loft, Rey’s created a separate room that is climate- and humidity-controlled by an air purification system. Temperature remains a constant 70 degrees.

Clothes are all wrapped in acid-free tissue paper and placed in separate protective white bags.

While Rey’s and other dry cleaners have stored clothes for customers before, this takes it to another level, said Angel Suarez, Rey’s owner.

“This serves as a complement to what we are already doing,” Suarez said.

Linda Haugland has been a Garde Robe customer since 2007 in New York and still pays $1,300 a month for the storage service there. But she recently moved to Coral Gables and is eager to give Garde Robe some additional black-tie dresses and her husband’s extra suits to store for her in South Florida.

“It makes life so much easier not clogging my closet with stuff I don’t need every day,” Haugland said. “It’s definitely become part of my life.”

Every customer who stores clothes with Garde Robe gets their own cyber closet.

A few mouse clicks, and the customer can view pictures and descriptions of every item in storage so they can easily select the clothes they need for that special event or vacation.

If the Garde Robe member is in the same city, clothes can be delivered in 24 hours or less. Garde Robe will also pack and ship a member’s items anywhere in the world.

That ease of service appeals to customers like Margaret Luce. When she divested of her New York apartment two years ago and moved to Jupiter full-time, she put her winter clothes and some of her formal clothes in Garde Robe’s New York facility. Now whenever Luce travels to New York or Los Angeles, she doesn’t have to worry about packing luggage. She simply goes into her virtual closet, picks out the items she wants and has them delivered directly to her hotel room.

“Being a model, I travel a lot and this is so effortless,” Luce said. “They’ll send it to you wherever you are in the world. Everything arrives nice and clean and pressed. It’s almost like shopping all over again because everything seems brand new.”

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Engineers: South Florida bridges rated ‘deficient’ remain safe to use

Of the hundreds of bridges both big and small in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, only a handful are rated as “structurally deficient” — and engineers say none is in danger of collapsing or being shut down.

But the cost of maintaining, repairing and replacing aging local bridges over the next decade and a half will easily mount into many hundreds of millions of dollars at a time when the state, county and local government agencies responsible for their upkeep face the prospect of tight or shrinking capital funding.

Piecing together the money for even the most crucial repairs is already a constant scramble, highway and public-works engineers say. Their agencies often make millions of dollars worth of repairs to old and obsolete bridges to eke out several more years of use from them, pushing the dreaded date of even costlier full replacement into an uncertain future.

The good news, they say, is that regular bridge inspections carried out by the Florida Department of Transportation mean government engineers have a good handle on maintenance and repair needs, and that surprises like the Rickenbacker Causeway’s Bear Cut Bridge, which had to be partly closed last month after an analysis found unusually rapid structural deterioration, are likely to remain infrequent.

“We’re very proactive to make sure our investment in infrastructure is maintained,” said Gus Pego, FDOT district secretary in Miami.

Still, some of the already-known needs are daunting.

For instance, Miami-Dade public works engineers say they expect to have to replace all 12 bridges, including two drawbridges, on the historic Venetian Causeway, built in the 1920s. The rough cost projection is $110 million, although they are about to embark on a study with FDOT to determine the precise scope and timing of work. Most of the cost, they hope, will be covered by federal grant money.

And that’s after the county spent about $9 million in 2011 to repair spalling and reinforce the concrete pilings supporting some of the Venetian’s bridges.

Dade: $450 million

Miami-Dade, which owns and maintains 206 bridges, roughly projects the cost of rehabilitating or replacing them over the next 10 to 20 years at more than $450 million, though the its engineers caution that the estimate also includes a “wish list” of noncritical work.

Those figures, which include the Venetian, encompass only a portion of the bridges across the county, many of which are owned and maintained by FDOT or municipalities.

Aside from the westbound half of the Bear Cut Bridge, 10 bridges in Miami-Dade are rated by FDOT as structurally deficient, a label that covers a range of issues, including structural deterioration but also some purely functional elements like narrow lanes or inadequate sidewalks.

Bridges on the list include the Miami River drawbridges at Southwest First Street and at Miami Avenue, and the Broad Causeway bridge at that road’s eastern end.

13 Broward spans

In Broward, 13 bridges have the same rating, including the Sunrise Boulevard bridge over the Middle River in Fort Lauderdale.

The details that earn the structurally deficient classification are unavailable because, to protect security, inspection reports are exempt from review under the state’s public-records law.

Each bridge receives a “sufficiency rating” that specifies its overall condition. A sufficiency rating below a certain level means a bridge must be repaired within six years or, in the case of bridges determined to be dangerous, shut down or weight-restricted. None of the Miami-Dade or Broward bridges besides Bear Cut scores at those lowest levels.

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Take-Two delays launch of Grand Theft Auto V video game

(Reuters) – Take-Two Interactive Software Inc said on Thursday it has pushed back the launch of the latest game from its hit “Grand Theft Auto” franchise to September 17 from its previously announced release window of spring 2013.

Shares of Take-Two were down six percent at $ 12.31 in early afternoon trading on the Nasdaq.

The delay was to allow Take-Two’s Rockstar Games studio, which develops “Grand Theft Auto” games, additional development time, the video game company said.

“Grand Theft Auto V” will be released worldwide for Microsoft Corp‘s Xbox and Sony Corp‘s PlayStation3 game consoles on September 17, the company said.

The action-adventure game lets players complete criminal missions in urban settings. The franchise’s last title “Grand Theft Auto IV” has sold over 25 million units since its release in 2008.

Grand Theft Auto V is set in a fictional city inspired by present-day Southern California.

The delayed launch pushes earnings from Grand Theft Auto V sales from June to September, Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia said. The new title of the massively popular franchise has the potential to rake in close to $ 1 billion in retail sales and sell 15 to 20 million units, according to Bhatia.

“It adds to their development cost and it’s launching closer to what we think is going to be a period where new consoles will be coming out and there will be more competition from other titles,” Bhatia said.

The video game industry has been struggling to cope with flagging sales over the last year. Analysts say consumers are holding back from buying hardware and software as they wait for rumored next-generation versions of Sony Corp’s PlayStation and Microsoft Corp’s Xbox, expected later this year.

The delay could mean Take-Two is possibly creating a “cross-generation” title that could work on current and next-generation consoles, said analyst Mike Hickey of National Alliance Capital Markets.

“Remember, Xbox signed an exclusive deal with Rockstar at the beginning of the prior cycle for episodic content, and Sony provided exclusive resources for the completion of Grand Theft Auto IV,” Hickey said.

(Reporting by Malathi Nayak in San Francisco; Editing by Leslie Adler and Alden Bentley)

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Destiny's Child Rocks Super Bowl Halftime Show with Beyonce

After weeks of speculation, the moment fans have been waiting for finally arrived when Destiny's Child accompanied Beyonce on stage during her Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show.

PICS: Stars Flock to Super Bowl XLVII

The Superdome erupted at Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams' entrance when they accompanied Beyonce for their classic hits Bootyliscious, Independent Women and Single Ladies.

Prior to Kelly and Michelle's cameo, Beyonce belted out hits such as Love on Top and Crazy in Love.

VIDEO: Go Inside the Super Bowl's Hottest Parties

Beyonce's voice came through loud and clear over the background music, leaving no doubt as to whether or not she was singing live.

Destiny's Child's Super Bowl reunion comes after the release of their new album, Love Songs, which is a collection of the trio's most romantic tracks over the years, in addition to new songs like Nuclear.

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Deadly deserts

Ralph Peters

Violence in Allah’s name in northern Africa won’t end in my lifetime — and probably not in yours. The core question is: To what extent can the savagery be contained?

From the Atlantic coastline to the Suez Canal, struggling governments, impoverished populations and frankly backward societies struggle to find paths to modernization and to compete in a ruthless global economy. Religious fanatics for whom progress is a betrayal of faith hope to block development.

Still, if the only conflict was between Islamist terrorists and those who want civilized lives, the situation could be managed over time. But that struggle forms only one level in a layer cake of clashing visions and outright civil wars bedeviling a vast region. Much larger than Europe, the zone of contention encompasses the Maghreb, the countries touching the Mediterranean, and the Sahel, the bitterly poor states stretching down across desert wastes to the African savannah.

AFP/Getty Images

Figthers of the Islamic group Ansar Dine

The Sahel is the front line not only between the world of Islam and Christian-animist cultures in Africa’s heart, but between Arabs and light-skinned tribes in the north, and blacks to the south. No area in the world so explicitly illustrates the late, great Samuel Huntington’s concept of “the clash of civilizations.”

If racial and religious differences were not challenge enough, in the Maghreb the factions and interest groups are still more complicated. We view Egypt as locked in a contest between Islamists and “our guys,” Egyptians seeking new freedoms. But Egypt’s identity struggle is far more complex, involving social liberals, moderate Muslims, stern conservative Muslims (such as the Muslim Brotherhood) and outright fanatics. The military forms another constituency, while the business community defends its selfish interests. Then there are the supporters of the old Mubarak regime, the masses of educated-but-unemployed youth and the bitterly poor peasants.

Atop all that there’s the question of whether the values cherished by Arab societies can adapt to a globalized world.

The path to Egypt’s future will not be smooth — yet Egypt’s chances are better than those of many of its neighbors. Consider a few key countries in the region:

Mali

Viva la France! (Never thought I’d write that in The Post.) Contrary to a lot of media nonsense, the effective French intervention in Mali demonstrates that not every military response to Islamist terror has to become another Afghanistan: The French are welcome.

As extremists invariably do, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its allies rapidly alienated their fellow Muslims — after hijacking a local uprising. The local version of Islam is far more humane and tolerant than the Wahhabi cult imposed by Islamist fanatics. To the foreign extremists, the Malian love of Sufi mysticism, ancient shrines and their own centuries of religious scholarship are all hateful — as is the Malian genius for music that’s pleased listeners around the world.

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

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Digital Debrief: David Klock getting down to Business

David R. Klock took the helm of Florida International University’s College of Business as dean, on Oct. 1, after serving in a similar role at the University of Alabama-Birmingham’s School of Business.

A milkman’s son who earned a doctorate in finance, Klock’s career has spanned leadership positions in both academia and business.

Soon after he arrived at FIU, Klock began holding open forums for students, where he has laid out his priorities, including hiring more faculty members.

Eager to learn more about Klock, we sent him these questions, and he emailed his responses:

Q.You have an interesting background for an academician, in that you were chief executive and chairman of CompBenefits Corp. Please tell me about that entrepreneurial experience.

In 1980, while at the University of Central Florida, a former student asked my wife Phyllis and me to get involved in CompBenefits, a dental benefits company. It was barely a year old, with no full-time employees. We started as unpaid consultants. Our friends at the university thought we were crazy, but we saw potential.

By 1986, the company had grown substantially. My involvement as a consultant steadily increased, and in 1991, I resigned my position at UCF and went to work full-time as president of CompBenefits.

Just after I arrived in Atlanta, the chairman of the company told me he was selling the company. I said, “I just gave up my tenured position, and now you’re selling?” His response: “Oh, don’t worry, you and Phyllis will buy it. It’s $25 to $30 million, and you’ll find the money.” I thought he was joking, but sure enough, we did. When the deal was done, Phyllis and I were the only original shareholders left.

From there, the company took off. After several acquisitions, we went public in 1995. In 1998, with the company still thriving, the stock valuation hit a snag. Our original investment bankers came back to us and suggested we take the company private, which we did in 1999. We operated the company for six more years, growing with acquisitions, including Oral Health Services out of Miami and Vision Care Plan in Tampa, a new line of business for us. After five years as a private company, it was time to sell, and Humana emerged as the buyer in 2005. When the deal closed in 2006, we were providing benefits to just under 5 million members in 23 states, with over $350 million in revenue.

Q. You also have experience in the corporate world, serving as a director. Please tell me about that.

In addition to serving on the board of CompBenefits when I was chairman and CEO, I have served on several corporate boards. The first was Province Healthcare, a chain of rural hospitals based in Nashville. While I was dean of the business school at Cal Poly in Pomona, I was invited to be on the board of directors and chair the Special Litigation Committee of Cheesecake Factory. I’m now on the board of Mayer Electric, a $600+ million private company in electrical equipment distribution, based in Birmingham.

Q. Now that you are here, what are your academic goals at FIU’s College of Business?

Before I arrived at FIU, the college went through an intensive strategic planning process, and made a decision to focus on three thematic areas: healthcare, entrepreneurship and international business. Our primary mission is developing, nurturing and supporting world-class faculty dedicated to leading the institution in those themes.

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Gov. Rick Scott pushes “Finish in Four” tuition plan to save college students money

TALLAHASSEE --
Gov. Rick Scott’s push to keep tuition low includes a new twist submitted with his budget for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1. The governor’s idea: tuition should be the same when students graduate as when they start.

Scott has offered legislation that would hold tuition steady for four years for students entering a state university this fall or afterward. The governor did not highlight the bill during his press conference unveiling his proposed budget, but the proposal is in the package he’s sending to the Legislature.

And it sticks closely to something that Scott has pounded on now for months: his belief that an era of nearly annual tuition increases need to end.

“When I talk to universities, they know that we’ve got to hold the line on tuition, we’ve got to watch how we’re spending the money,” he said Thursday.

A summary packet about the budget handed out by the governor’s office makes the case for “Finish in Four,” which alludes to the hopes that the tuition guarantee will encourage students to finish their degree in four years to take advantage of the tuition freeze. Universities could also designate some degrees that they believe take longer than four years for a lengthier guarantee.

“The unpredictability of tuition increases makes it difficult for students and families to plan for the cost of higher education,” the packet reads.

Scott has also pushed state colleges to lower the cost of four-year degrees with a “challenge” to offer at least one degree at $10,000. Every college offering four-year degrees has agreed to be a part of that challenge, but not all have come up with how they will do it.

Sen. Bill Galvano, the Bradenton Republican who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education, said Friday that he wasn’t ready to take a position on the proposal. But when asked what an objection to the plan might be, he pointed to “unique challenges that students face that may make it impractical in certain circumstances” to finish in four years.

For example, jobs or other responsibilities could lengthen some students’ time at school — which would make them ineligible for the guarantee after four years.

Georgia recently experimented with a “Fixed for Four” program beginning in 2006, but abandoned it beginning with the 2009 freshman class, blaming it on budget cuts.

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FTC issues guidelines for mobile applications

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Trade Commission has issued a wide-reaching set of new guidelines for makers of mobile platforms and developers of applications for mobile telephones and tablets to safeguard users’ privacy.

The non-binding guidelines, published in a report on Friday, include the recommendation that companies should obtain consumers’ consent before including location tracking in software and applications, consider developing icons to depict the transmission of user data, and consider offering a “Do Not Track” mechanism for smartphone users.

The report also recommended that application developers have an easily accessible privacy policy, obtain consent before collecting and sharing sensitive information and consider participating in self-regulatory programs.

The FTC has been heightening its scrutiny of mobile devices, which are now the primary source of communication and Internet access for many users.

Among the companies who could be affected by the report are firms like Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

(Reporting By Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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Buzzmakers: SAG Winners Pics and Nicole Kidman Explains Jimmy Kimmel Lap Dance

What had ET readers buzzing this week?

1. PICS: SAG Winners with their Statues!

Some of Hollywood's biggest stars gathered Sunday night to honor acting achievements at the 2013 Screen Actors Guild Awards. Anne Hathaway -- winner of the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Les Misérables -- kicks off our gallery of the stars accepting their handsome statuettes!

Click here for all the pics!

2. Nicole Kidman on Her Lap Dance for Jimmy Kimmel

Nicole Kidman raised eyebrows during Matt Damon's Jimmy Kimmel Live! takeover when she greeted Kimmel -- who was strapped to a chair -- with a lap dance. On the SAG Awards red carpet, the Oscar winner explained the move to Nancy O'Dell.

Kidman described the dance as "impromptu," saying that she was just following the lead of another one of the night's guests.

"Robin Williams had done it before, so I thought, 'Well, why not?'" Kidman explained.

For years Kimmel has had a running joke where he ends every episode by apologizing to Matt Damon for running out of time for him. On last week's special episode of the late-night show -- nine years in the making -- Damon recruited some friends (which included Andy Garcia, Sheryl Crow, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Robert DeNiro, Sarah Silverman, Demi Moore and Oprah Winfrey.

3. Top-Earning 'American Idol' Alums

American Idol is in the business of making music stars, and in turn, has made lots of money for some of their contestants. Forbes released their list of the top-earning Idol alums of 2012 a few names on this list are sure to surprise you.

Click here for the entire list!

4. Jennifer Lawrence Suffers Wardrobe Malfunction

It seemed like disaster for Jennifer Lawrence when her dress came apart just as she was called up to accept the award for Best Actress during the 2013 SAG Awards.

The Silver Linings Playbook star's apparent wardrobe malfunction caught the eye of both Marion Cotillard and Nicole Kidman, whose reaction to the getup coming apart at the seams was caught on camera. No disaster, here, though -- it turns out the dress was designed that way! A source close to designer Dior told ET that the dress did not rip -- that it was made with different layers of tulle and satin.

This minor outfit hitch comes after it was announced that Lawrence, 22, has walking pneumonia, making this one of the best and worst weeks for the award-winning actress.

5. Kris Jenner Lands Talk Show

Are you ready for a daily dose of Kris Jenner?

The TV personality will test the talk show waters this summer when Fox premieres a preview episode of Kris, a one-hour entertainment talk show. "This is something I have wanted to do all my life so it's definitely a dream come true," Jenner said in a statement! "I can't wait for this new adventure to begin and look forward to working alongside Twentieth Television and the Fox Television Stations."

Kris will be rolled out in a similar fashion to how Bethenny Frankel's talk show was last summer, with the network testing the waters to see if there's an audience appetite for more of this famous family. According to a press release, the show will "offer daytime viewers a daily jolt of celebrity guests, fashion & beauty trends; plus a mix of lifestyle topics -- all through the distinctive and unpredictable perspective of Kris Jenner. Filmed in Los Angeles, CA, the pop culture driven talk show will bring a cool blast of fun and high energy to summer television."

The trial run of Kris will launch this summer, with the program available on select Fox-owned stations in markets, including New York and Los Angeles.

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