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 ‘robo-calls’ were made to the telephones of Olsen Middle School parents that explained how the district was working with the Broward Health Department

To read the entire Sun Sentinel story click here.

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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 law enforcement agencies, arrested 10 people it says infected computers with “Yahos” malicious software, then stole credit card, bank and other personal information.

Facebook’s security team assisted the FBI after “Yahos” targeted its users from 2010 to October 2012, the U.S. federal agency said in a statement on its website. The social network helped identify the criminals and spot affected accounts, it said.

Its “security systems were able to detect affected accounts and provide tools to remove these threats,” the FBI said.

According to the agency, which worked also with the U.S. Department of Justice, the accused hackers employed the “Butterfly Botnet”. Botnets are networks of compromised computers that can be used in a variety of cyberattacks on personal computers.

The FBI said it nabbed 10 people from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, New Zealand, Peru, the United Kingdom, and the United States, executed numerous search warrants and conducted a raft of interviews.

It estimated the total losses from their activities at more than $ 850 million, without elaborating.

Hard data is tough to come by, but experts say cybercrime is on the rise around the world as PC and mobile computing become more prevalent and as more and more financial transactions shift online, leaving law enforcement, cybersecurity professionals and targeted corporations increasingly hard-pressed to spot and ward off attacks.

(Reporting By Edwin Chan; Editing by Matt Driskill)

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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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, while we hear there are teams of pension funds and some high net worth individuals circling the iconic tower, also known as the Chippendale Building.

Locals throwing their hats into the ring include Harry Macklowe and Steven Witkoff, along with investors from the Middle East and Israel, China, Russia and Europe.

According to Real Estate Alert, offers to the marketers — Douglas Harmon and his team at Eastdil Secured — are coming in at more than $850 million and, depending on Sony’s leaseback terms, could top $1 billion.

No one returned requests for comment.

***

When we were last upstairs at Windows of the World in the North Tower for a Building Congress luncheon on April 30, 2001, we went outside to the observatory and stood in awe of the enormous antenna.

The next time we saw the antenna, on Aug. 11, 2006, it was inside the artifact hanger at JFK — burnt, bent and in pieces. One of those pieces will be on display at the 9/11 Museum, according to a spokesperson.

Yesterday, we spent a chilly morning in the Durst Organization’s water taxi trailing a barge ferrying nine of the 18 new antenna pieces from the Port of Newark to Pier 25 near Battery Park City.

It was amazing to see the barge, pushed by the able tugboat Ann Moran, move past the Statue of Liberty with the Empire State Building and the otherwise topped-out 1 World Trade Center and 4 World Trade Center in the background.

We could feel the excitement in the harbor as lucky tourist boats and the Staten Island ferry floated by while every helicopter, tugboat and Coast Guard boat buzzed the area for a look.

The antenna pieces will be lifted one a day, weather permitting, to the top of 1 World Trade Center until the 408 foot-tall mast reaches the sky at nearly 1,776 feet — give or take an inch or so.

***

Besides the altruistic reasons for getting people back in their homes as soon as possible, the city is pushing hard for repairs on Sandy-damaged homes and buildings because the taxable status date is coming up on Saturday, Jan. 5.

To ensure your valuation is lowered for the Jan. 15 tentative property-tax roll, you can find a new form online at the Finance Department to document the damage and mail it to the agency. Finance says it is also using damage found by the Department of Buildings and aerial photography.

Assessors will also take walk-ins at the outer-borough offices, Dec. 18 through Dec. 20, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with later hours to be announced. Bring clear photos of the damage, plus insurance and FEMA documents.

The agency will also consider this information through Feb. 1 for Classes 1 and 2, and until April 15 for Class 4. The final roll is published on May 25.

To maintain your legal rights, you must also file a formal application with Finance for correction by the Tax Commission by Friday, March 1 for all but Class 1 homes, which have until March 15.

Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has introduced a bill that would allow owners whose homes have lost at least half their value due to Sandy to apply for property-tax assessment reductions according to a sliding scale.

For a 100 percent loss, the taxable assessed value would be reduced to zero — but don’t forget that vacant land also has a value and is taxed.

Additionally, the city council has just passed a law to give red-tagged homes and apartment buildings deemed unsafe until April 1 to pay their second-half tax bills without any interest.

But remember, you will then have two bills to pay at that time for both January and April.

***

The building known as the King of Greene at 72-76 Greene St. between Spring and Broome streets sold last night for $41.5 million. The price equates to $1,186 a square foot for the 35,000 square-foot building.

New owner L3 Capital buys retail, but sources said this is the three partners’ biggest city bet so far and is based on finding a new anchor for the temporary Apple store that is now vacant. There are also some offices and rent-stabilized residential tenants.

The sole broker, Adelaide Polsinelli of Eastern Consolidated, declined comment.

Lois@BetweentheBricks.com

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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. What should I do?

Joseph Campbell Burnsville, Minn.

I agree that your PC has been taken over by hackers and is being used to send spam.

The fact that you aren’t able to send emails from your home account supports this theory, since it indicates that your Internet service provider believes you are spamming and has temporarily blocked your ability to send email to anyone.

I suggest you download and run the free version of security program Malwarebytes (go to www.tinyurl.com/cwbd73f and click “free download.”) If that doesn’t work, try Windows System Restore to eliminate recently installed software (see www.tinyurl.com/y9q9apj and www.tinyurl.com/ykgps6.) Then call your Internet service provider; explain what happened and what you’ve done to fix it. If your PC is clean, you’ll be allowed to send email again.Q. I’ve recently received a lot of spam, including some that appear to be from people I know — except that the messages come from the wrong email address. How does a spammer use a familiar name with a fake email address and send it to me?

Also, is there a way to find out the identity of the people who send spam emails? I’ve read that the email address of the sender is not always accurate.

Ginger Bramlett Rockwall, Texas

The bogus email that appeared to be from your friend, but came from the wrong email address, is from a spammer who is trying to trick you into opening the email.

Why did this happen? Your friend’s email may have been hacked and his or her address book stolen, providing the spammer with a host of addresses where an email bearing your friend’s name might be opened by the recipient.

It’s hard to find out who actually sent spam, because originating email addresses are easy to fake.

I suggest you send these emails to your spam filter so that you and others may be spared at least some spam in the future. In addition, your Internet service provider allows you to block spam that comes from a specific domain name — the part of the email address that follows the symbol, such as Yahoo.com. See www.tinyurl.com/cxmq4m7.

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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, in turn, will contribute an additional $30,000 to the effort while working with five local partners to target improvements in transportation, community design, park programs and older adult employment.

Peter Wood, the foundation’s vice president of community and investment, says the eight-month grant is an acknowledgement of his organization’s already established efforts to make Miami-Dade a welcoming place to grow old. Since 2008, the foundation’s Healthy Aging Regional Collaborative Initiative has spent $7.5 million to increase the region’s attention to healthy aging. Several programs — from chronic disease self-management classes to physical activity initiatives at parks — have encouraged 22,000 older adults to stay healthy and fit, according to the foundation.

As part of the grant, the Health Foundation will partner with the Alliance for Aging, Miami-Dade parks, the county’s Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources, ReServe Miami (an organization that matches older professionals with nonprofits that need them) and the Urban Health Partnership.

“This grant will help us build on what we’ve already started,” Wood said. “We can now work with partners to help older adults age in place, which is what they prefer, close to family.”

The Health Foundation is one of only five foundations receiving one of the grants. Other agencies include nonprofits in Atlanta, Indiana, the Kansas City area and Phoenix. Each group is expected to come up with a percentage of matching funds.

In the past few years, as America has grown older, more non-profits and government agencies have focused on making communities accessible to older adults to help them stay at home instead of in nursing homes or long-term facilities. Efforts usually involve physical changes in living spaces and public spaces, such as making public transportation more accessible and designing homes and neighborhoods for an older population. Other initiatives have included creating cultural and outdoor activities and volunteering options for older adults.

But elder advocates warn that cities are not doing enough to prepare for the challenges —and opportunities — of this silver tsunami. Forty million people are 65 and older in the U.S. today and that number is projected to more than double to 89 million by 2050, as the giant baby boomer generation ages and people live longer. More than 800,000 residents of Miami-Dade, Broward and Monroe counties are 60 and over.

“A larger portion of our society is going to be composed of older adults,” says Martha Pelaez, director of the foundation’s Healthy Aging Initiative and a consultant on aging. “We have to prepare, and this grant allows us to look at the bigger picture.”

The grant will go toward:

• Reviewing the countywide master plan to make it safer for older adults to age in place, including planning for age-friendly land use and community design.

•  Helping develop an action plan with the county parks department to meet the specialized needs of older adults in specific communities. The county has identified a dozen parks to offer programs, including a Walk for Life fitness program, a self-directed FitZone and Vita Course Exercise routine that incorporates equipment at each park and health and fitness workshops.

•  Encouraging employers to increase hiring, retaining and training older adults. This will include workshops to identify how the skills and experience of older adults can meet the needs of local large businesses.

•  Developing “mobility planning” by designing more biking, walking and public transit options at the neighborhood level for older adults.

The Health Foundation has teamed up with other local organizations before to promote healthy aging. The foundation and county park system brought fitness programs to parks including a Walk with Ease Program and a bilingual Matter of Balance class to help reduce falls.

In tough times, says Kevin Kirwin, assistant director of operations for the park system, “the development and implementation of the programs would not be possible without the Pfizer grant and the partnership with the Health Foundation.”

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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 Texas — that will add about 700 employees to its national payroll of 19,400.

In announcing the deal Tuesday, which is expected to provide AutoNation with $575 million in additional revenues next year, the company’s CEO and chairman, Mike Jackson, expressed optimism about the prospects for continued growth in vehicle sales.

“You want to know what I’m thinking, look at what I do,” Jackson told viewers on CNBC’s Squawk Box program.

No information was released on the cost of the transactions, but in recent years auto dealerships sometimes sold for three to five times revenue, which would represent a significant investment for the company.

Tough times

To be sure, AutoNation has struggled through some tough times. It was battered by the Great Recession, which depressed sales and pushed the company into a $1.2 billion loss four years ago. As sales began to improve in 2010 and 2011, it was blindsided by a shortage of Japanese-made cars last year after the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 shut down Japanese manufacturers of some essential components.

Since then, however, AutoNation has rebounded. Unit sales, revenues and profits all performed well in the first three quarters of this year, and the company expects new vehicle sales to continue their recovery nationwide, rising to the mid-14 million units this year, up from about 12.7 million in 2011. In the third quarter of 2012, AutoNation’s new car unit sales grew by 21 percent over the same period in 2011, doing better than an estimated 15 percent increase industry wide. November’s sales of new vehicles increased by 21 percent over November 2011 .

The big dealerships acquired sell Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen and Chrysler products in the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth markets. They are expected to sell 14,000 new and used autos this year, and will add substantially to AutoNation’s future sales.

“We are in the right industry at the right time,” Jackson said during an interview. “The recovery in new vehicle sales is being driven by replacement demand,” added Jackson, who has 42 years of experience in the auto business. “The average age of the light vehicle fleet in the country has increased to 11 years, and even though cars and trucks last longer today, they can’t go on forever. About 12 to 13 million vehicles are scrapped every year and need to be replaced.”

Other factors are contributing to stronger demand for vehicles. “The population is growing, interest rates are low, there is ample credit available and manufacturers are producing a wide range of new models that offer attractive styling, power and greatly improved gas mileage,” said Jackson, who took over as AutoNation’s CEO in 1999. “Auto financing is more available than it has been in recent years. A little known fact is that people are more likely to default on a mortgage than on a vehicle loan.”

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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 that the only charge before her was driving with a suspended license. For that she set bond at $2,000. Conyers will return to bond court at a later time for the additional charges.

Conyers was scheduled to appear in court on Saturday but was unable to do so because he was still in the hospital being treated for injuries he sustained at the end of the chase which apparently started as an attempted robbery at a tool shop on South Dixie Highway.

For 45-minutes the U-Haul truck weaved in and out of city streets, jumping on and off the Palmetto Expressway and headed in different directions along Southwest Eighth Street and Flagler Street.

The chase finally came to an end 12:45 p.m. next to Miami Senior High in Little Havana on Flagler Street and 26th Avenue.

When officers moved in to apprehend the driver, an unidentified Miami-Dade Police officer was injured when he was pinned between the U-Haul truck and a police vehicle. He was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital where he was treated for a broken leg.

Another Miami officer cut his hand from broken glass. Police say that happened when officers had to break the glass on the U-Haul truck to get the suspect out of it.

Police said Conyers has had previous run-ins with the law and has convictions for firearm violations, fleeing police and carjacking.

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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 Nana Akufo-Addo – who took 47.4 percent of the vote, according to the Electoral Commission’s Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/ECGOVGH

(Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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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 Monterrey to Toluca, Mexico.

Video: Remembering the Tragic Loss of Aaliyah

The small jet had been carrying seven passengers (Rivera included) and lost radio contact with the airport a few minutes after departing in the early hours of the morning following a concert, reports THR.

The singer's father and brother later confirmed to Telemundo that Rivera died in the crash.

With the sad news, Latin artists all over the world took to Twitter to express their heartbreak.

Gloria Estefan mourns, "Our deepest sympathy to the family & fans of @jennirivera & those that accompanied her on what was to be her last voyage. Rest in peace."

Ricky Martin says, "This is sad. A bit in shock. Much peace to your family." (Translated from Spanish)

Eva Longoria writes, "My heart breaks for the loss of Jenni Rivera & everyone on the plane. My prayers go out to her family. We lost a legend today."

William Levy tweets, "My heart goes out to the families. I wish them all the strength in the world." (Translated from Spanish)

Paulina Rubio mourns, "My friend! Why? There is no consolation. God help me!" (Translated from Spanish)

Pitbull writes, "I highly respected #JenniRivera 4 being a gr8 performer but more then tht being real & gr8 example 4 us all que dios la bendiga &may she RIP"

Rivera, 43, was currently a featured coach on The Voice Mexico. A California native, the singer earned several Latin Grammy nominations and recently signed on to star in an American sitcom with ABC titled Jenni.

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Business briefs

Robust China

China’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 furor

Europe’s banks are calling for a review of tougher financial regulations on the eve of their adoption as the region sinks into a recession, dimming prospects of raising $621 billion in capital needed to meet the rules. Meanwhile, Greece is reported to be near a buyback of sovereign debt that will unlock aid from the IMF and the EU, a Greek official said.

Set-top set-to

Arris Group of Suwanee, Ga., and UK-based Pace Plc have made the most compelling bids for Google’s Motorola Home Business, which sells set-top boxes and equipment to cable-television providers, a source said.

Cheaper gas

The average price for regular gasoline fell 9.62 cents in the past three weeks to $3.3766 a gallon, according to a national survey.

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