Brownsville resident wins historic preservation award

A warm Friends and Neighbors salute to our very own Enid Pinkney, who in November was awarded the Peter H. Brink Award for Individual Achievement in Historic Preservation at the National Preservation Conference in Spokane, Wash.Pinkney, who was selected from among nominees from throughout the United States, said, "I proudly received the award, but I realize that I could not...

Read More..

Riveting Details Emerge from CT School Rampage

As morning turned to afternoon on Friday, further details continued to emerge from Newtown, CT, a tight-knit community shaken by a massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School that took the lives of innocent students and teachers, in addition to the gunman, reportedly identified as Adam Lanza.RELATED: President Fights Tears as He Addresses NationAs President Barack Obama touched on in his tear-jerking...

Read More..

It’s been a pretty good year

Terry Keenan 2012. On Wall Street it has been a year marked less by excited cries of “buy!” and “sell!” than by sighs of “ho-hum!” But behind the respectable, though not heart-stopping, 7 percent return for the Dow Jones industrials this year, there are reasons for cheer for investors as we head into 2013. Here’s a list, worth checking...

Read More..

Miami photographer sentenced to 10 years in child-porn case

A Miami-area photographer who secretly videotaped children while they changed clothes in his home studio was sentenced in federal court Friday to 10 years in prison. Diego Tobias Matrajt, 37, pleaded guilty in September to distribution and possession of child pornography.Last February, Matrajt distributed 10 images of child pornography to an undercover agent by using a peer-to-peer...

Read More..

Riveting Details Emerge from CT School Rampage

As morning turned to afternoon on Friday, further details continued to emerge from Newtown, CT, a tight-knit community shaken by a massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School that took the lives of innocent students and teachers, in addition to the gunman, reportedly identified as Adam Lanza.RELATED: President Fights Tears as He Addresses NationAs President Barack Obama touched on in his tear-jerking...

Read More..

Pot, gays & change

Jacob Sullum The US Supreme Court this month agreed for the first time to take on the issue of gay marriage. No matter how it rules, polling data suggest it is only a matter of time before legal recognition of same-sex unions is the norm throughout the country.Something similar is happening with marijuana, which became legal in Washington...

Read More..

Miami in spotlight at AVCC, other entrepreneurship events

Entrepreneurs from around the world took the stage during this packed week of entrepreneurship events in Miami: Florida International University’s Americas Venture Capital Conference (known as AVCC), HackDay, Wayra’s Global DemoDay and Endeavor’s International Selection Panel.The events, all part of the first Innovate MIA week, also put the spotlight on Miami as it continues...

Read More..

Clemency board grants full pardon to wrongfully convicted man

TALLAHASSEE -- After a wrongful murder conviction that put him behind bars for 27 years, William Michael Dillon received formal forgiveness from the state Thursday.Dillon, who was awarded a $1.3 million settlement by the state in March, stood before Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet and recounted how far his life has come since he was released from a maximum security prison...

Read More..

Adorable Tots: Celebs and their Cute Kids!

Jack Osbourne & Lisa Stelly Jack Osbourne and wife Lisa Stelly recently introduced their eight-month-old daughter Pearl to St. Nick for the very first time."What a doll," Lisa wrote on her blog alongside the adorable snap. "She wasn't totally stoked on him but she managed to squeeze out a smirk for the camera." ...

Read More..

Shuffle Board

Yahoo!’s board is getting a full Loeb-otomy.Activist investor Dan Loeb completed his boardroom overhaul yesterday with the appointment of a fourth Yahoo! director. PayPal co-founder Max Levchin was named to the board, while two holdouts from the old guard, Brad Smith and David Kenney, will depart.The changes come seven months after Loeb, the head of New...

Read More..

Wynwood co-working center funded by Knight Foundation, angel investors

The LAB Miami announced Thursday it will open a 10,000-square-foot co-working center in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and local angel investors are investing $650,000.As Miami’s startup community continues to grow, The LAB Miami said its “work-learn campus” will offer an in-house mentor network that will include investors and...

Read More..

‘Jewish Spirituality’ lecture series to start Dec. 16

Temple Israel of Greater Miami will kick off its Jewish Spirituality Series on Sunday with Rabbi Arthur Green, who was named one of the "top 50 rabbis in America for 2012," by Newsweek Magazine.Green will speak on the topic, "Spirituality for a New Era."A highly respected scholar, teacher and expert in the field of contemporary Jewish spirituality, Green is rector of Hebrew...

Read More..

New Flickr iPhone app to compete with Instagram and Twitter with 16 filters

Hot on the heels of its email redesign, Yahoo (YHOO) announced on Wednesday that it has completely redesigned the Flickr iPhone app. The new app borrows heavily from Instagram and focuses on what makes Flickr special: photos and communities. Yahoo’s new Flickr app also includes 16 filters with their own fancy names to go head-on with Instagram and Twitter’s recently updated app that...

Read More..

Barbara Walters Names Most Fascinating Person of 2012

Who topped the list this year?Tonight, Barbara Walters crowned General David Petraeus as her Most Fascinating person of 2012."David Petraeus was not chosen this year for his war record or his exemplary service to his country," said Walters. "This is about military honor, colliding with sex and lies in the digital age."The former head of the CIA stepped down in November after an extramarital affair...

Read More..

Schmidt: Apple lags

Google’s Android is extending its lead over Apple in the mobile-software market at a rate that compares with Microsoft’s expansion in desktop software in the 1990s, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said. Android snared 72 percent of the market in the third quarter, while Apple had 14 percent, according to research by Gartner. ...

Read More..

Parents of students at Broward school warned of Legionnaires’ Disease exposure

Parents of students at Olsen Middle School in Dania Beach were being informed on Tuesday that their children may have been exposed to someone diagnosed with Legionnaires’ Disease, Broward School District officials said. The person with Legionnaires’ Disease was not a student, district spokeswoman Nadine Drew said. They did not say if the infected person was a teacher. Automated...

Read More..

Facebook helps FBI bust cybercriminals blamed for $850 million losses

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Investigators led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and aided by Facebook Inc, have busted an international criminal ring that infected 11 million computers around the world and caused more than $ 850 million in total losses in one of the largest cybercrime hauls in history.The FBI, working in concert with the world’s largest social network and several international...

Read More..

Bids galore for Sony Bldg.

Lois Weiss BETWEEN THE BRICKS Among the bidders lining up for the Sony Building at 550 Madison Ave. are two other companies with ties to Japan: the Rockefeller Group, owned by Mitsubishi Estate; and Mitsui Fudosan America. Vornado Realty Trust and Boston Properties are among the suitors as well, according to Real Estate Alert,...

Read More..

With spam, it’s better not to give or receive

Q. Recently I’ve been unable to send emails from my home email address. In addition, my incoming email contains several notices of undeliverable emails that I didn’t send that are addressed to people I don’t know. I suspect that my computer is infected by some malicious software and is being used to send spam email — and that those that are undeliverable are being returned....

Read More..

Grant will help Miami-Dade communities become more age-friendly

Thanks to a national grant aimed at helping communities prepare for an increasingly graying population, Miami-Dade will launch a series of programs to make neighborhoods more age-friendly. The Pfizer Foundation along with Grantmakers in Aging , a national association of funding groups, have awarded a $150,000 grant to the Health Foundation of South Florida. The Health Foundation,...

Read More..

AutoNation: Back in the fast lane with expansion, higher sales

Despite an agonizingly slow economic recovery, the country’s largest auto retailer, Fort Lauderdale-based AutoNation, is thriving again as demand for vehicles expands. The company, one of Florida’s largest, is posting increasingly strong profits and revenues. Just last week, in a sign of confidence, Autonation announced a major acquisition — buying six large auto stores in...

Read More..

U-Haul chase suspect appears in Miami-Dade court on Sunday

The suspect arrested in connection with Friday’s chase through the streets of Miami-Dade in a rental U-Haul truck appeared in front of judge Sunday morning. Darrell Conyers, 45, made his first appearance in bond court. Conyers faces a number of charges including grand theft, fraud and resisting arrest with violence. During the hearing, the judge noted...

Read More..

Ghana’s Mahama wins election – electoral body’s Facebook page

ACCRA (Reuters) – Ghana incumbent President John Dramani Mahama was elected to a new term with 50.7 percent of votes cast, according to results posted on the Electoral Commission‘s Facebook page on Sunday.It was not immediately possible to verify the results with an Electoral Commission official.Mahama, who became president in July after the death of ex-leader John Atta Mills, was facing top rival...

Read More..

Singer Jenni Rivera Feared Dead in Plane Crash

The remains of a private plane carrying singer Jenni Rivera have been found in Mexico with no survivors following a suspected crash. Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, Mexico's Secretary of Communications and Transportation, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that, on Sunday, officials found the remains of an airplane that was carrying the Mexican-American superstar and her entourage who were traveling from...

Read More..

Business briefs

Robust ChinaChina’s factory output and retail sales topped forecasts last month in signs that an economic recovery is accelerating, improvements that may pare a jobless rate newly estimated at almost double the official figure. Industrial production climbed 10.1 percent in November and retail sales jumped 14.9 percent.Euro furorEurope’s banks are calling...

Read More..

Back in the fast lane: AutoNation expanding again

Despite an agonizingly slow economic recovery, the country’s largest auto retailer, Fort Lauderdale-based AutoNation, is thriving again as demand for vehicles expands. The company, one of Florida’s largest, is posting increasingly strong profits and revenues. Just last week, in a sign of confidence, Autonation announced a major acquisition — buying six large auto stores in...

Read More..