Marie: a little girl’s death by bureaucratic callousness, medical neglect




















Even after Marie Freyre died alone in a nursing home 250 miles from the family that loved her, Marie’s mother had to fight to bring her home.

In March 2011, state child protection investigators took 14-year-old Marie from her mother, Doris Freyre, claiming Freyre’s own disabilities made it almost impossible for her to care for Marie, who suffered from seizures and severe cerebral palsy. A Tampa judge signed an order that Marie be returned to her mother, with in-home nursing care around the clock.

Florida healthcare administrators refused to pay for it, although in-home care can be demonstrably cheaper than care in an institution .





Child welfare workers ignored the order completely.

Two months later, Marie was strapped into an ambulance for a five hour trip to a Miami Gardens nursing home, as her mother begged futilely to go with her. Marie died 12 hours after she arrived.

“Since the state of Florida took custody of my daughter, I would like the state of Florida to bring me back my daughter,” Freyre said at a May 9 court hearing, 12 days after her daughter died.

“They kidnapped my daughter. She was murdered,” said Freyre, 59. “And I want my daughter back.”

The last days of Marie Freyre, chronicled in hundreds of pages of records reviewed by The Miami Herald, are a story of death by bureaucratic callousness and medical neglect. The episode sheds significant light on an ongoing dispute between Florida healthcare regulators and the U.S. Department of Justice. Though the state claims that the parents of severely disabled and medically fragile children have “choice” over where their children live and receive care, federal civil rights lawyers say Florida, by dint of a rigged funding system, has “systematically” force-fed sick children into nursing homes meant to care for adults — in violation of federal laws that prohibit discrimination against disabled people.

Doris Freyre had no choice.

Civil rights lawyers are asking the state to allow a federal judge to oversee Florida’s Medicaid program, which insures needy and disabled people. The program will pay as much as $506 a day — twice the rate for frail elders — to put a child like Marie in a nursing home, but refuses to cover lesser or similar amounts for in-home care.

Late Friday, state health regulators wrote their final letter to the Justice Department in response to a deadline. The state, they wrote, “is not in violation of any federal law” governing the medical care delivered to needy Floridians, and cannot “agree to the demand …that a federal court take over the management of Florida’s Medicaid service-delivery system.”

The nursing home industry has insisted that some children are so disabled or medically complex that their needs can best be met in a nursing home.

However, court records filed last week suggest children fare worse in nursing homes than in community settings.

Among children aged 3 or older, the death rate for medically fragile children in nursing homes is 50 percent higher than for children who receive care at home, according to a detailed analysis of state records filed in federal court by a Miami civil rights lawyer, Matthew Dietz, who first sued the state in an effort to free children from institutions. Kids three or older living at nursing homes are three times more likely to die than children who receive nursing care at a medical day care center during the day, but return at night to their parents.





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The Boy Genius Report: Microsoft is blowing it and RIM could too












Who would have thought a couple of years ago that Research In Motion (RIMM) would be on the ropes and Microsoft (MSFT) could be getting close? Well, me… but not many others. Microsoft’s latest strategy of trying to make a no compromise tablet has resulted in, you guessed it, compromise. It’s not as polished as an iPad, it’s more limited in almost every possible way, it’s slow, clunky, unresponsive at times, offers a worse display, weighs more, and is thicker. Plus it costs over $ 100 more when you factor in a Touch Cover or Type Cover keyboard. Plus, you can’t even run Windows applications even though you get the actual Windows desktop.


The best part is the Surface Pro. An even more expensive version of the Surface, an even thicker version of the Surface, and an even heavier version of the Surface, and you get a fan to cool your heating tablet when you’re doing your Excel speadsheets or when Outlook keeps freezing — oh my god why does it freeze so much when you’re typing — and you get half the battery life of the current Surface model.












There’s a very big issue with Microsoft’s strategy of no compromise, because time and time again this company fails to realize that the reason Apple (AAPL) is winning is because Apple choses to compromise.


Apple chooses to throw out the USB port, the DVD drive, the kickstand, the fan, the Intel processor. Apple understands that laptops are still useful but at this point in the game, the only use for a multitouch laptop should be in the trackpad. Microsoft is trying to introduce the Surface Pro as your new laptop, except it doesn’t work well is a variety of situations, especially on your lap. Plus, consumers don’t care, and with enterprises and large companies (and small companies) not rushing out to buy brand new computers or brand new software licenses for their employees and workstations due to cost, and the fact that more and more employees are bringing in their own laptops and also asking for Macs, Microsoft has a tremendous problem.


Compounding Windows 8′s failure is the fact that Microsoft is still not prepared for the consumerization of the enterprise world, Microsoft’s bread and butter, and the reason why Microsoft has $ 60 billion in cash. As Windows licenses erode and Office sales slow, Microsoft isn’t going to have another hugely profitable business to rely on — that’s why this is so scary.


Switching to RIM, the company is actually doing a lot of things right in my book. I respect that everyone there has been huddled up, focused on a single product and operating system and put all of their time into getting it as right as they can. Whether that means anything at all, we’ll soon see; RIM has probably been one of the worst players in the mobile space as far as execution is concerned but Thorsten Heins seems to have a better grasp on where the company can take advantage in different markets and at what price point, though RIM’s market share is declining so rapidly that not even BrickBreaker can save the company there.


I have two concerns from a very high level (in-depth thoughts at a later date) about BlackBerry 10 and the devices RIM is introducing on the hardware front. First off, going with a touch only phone first sends the wrong message to me. What is RIM’s biggest strength? Some would say email, some would say security, most would say the keyboard. Introducing a brand new operating system, with a brand new smartphone that doesn’t feature RIM’s fantastic keyboard feels like a marketing blunder. If there is one single reason BlackBerry owners (yes! they do still exist) still have a BlackBerry, it’s for the keyboard.


Yes, I know, there is a QWERTY BlackBerry 10 smartphone coming just a couple of weeks or months after the first touchscreen device, but these two should have been joined at the hip at the very minimum.


My other concern is RIM is already showing a break in the company’s focus by introducing two different screen sizes from the gate. The BlackBerry L-series will have a 1280 x 768 screen resolution and the BlackBerry N-series have a 720 x 720-pixel display. In my time playing with an N-series prototype, this square resolution felt incredibly awkward and it’s now two screen sizes that RIM’s developer community has to account for when making apps. Add this to the fact that RIM has enough trouble getting developers on board — of course Microsoft is having trouble there, too — and this feels like it’s not the most optimal scenario.  


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Bachelorette Ashley Hebert and JP Rosenbaum are Married

Ashley Hebert is a bachelorette no more!

The 28-year-old dentist and her construction manager fiancé J.P. Rosenbaum, 35, walked down the aisle on Saturday in Pasadena, California, reports People Magazine.

The ceremony, officiated by Bachelor and Bachelorette host Chris Harrison, was attended by familiar faces from the series including Ali Fedotowsky, Emily Maynard, and Jason and Molly Mesnick.

Video: 'Bachelorette' Ashley Hebert and Fiance J.P.'s Passionate PDA

Ashley and J.P.'s exchanging of vows will be televised December 16 on a two-hour special on ABC.

The season seven sweeties will be the second Bachelorette couple ever to televise their walk down the aisle, following in the footsteps of Trista and Ryan Sutter, who married in December 2003.

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Booked for the holidays








Hollywood Unseen

ACC Editions

Talk about your familiar faces in unfamiliar situations: Boris Karloff in monster garb and makeup for “Bride of Frankenstein” drinking a cup of tea, very civilized; W.C. Fields dressed for tennis; young Marilyn Monroe reading the LA phone book; Humphrey Bogart snapping a picture of his dog, Sluggy. While the photos in this fine collection might look candid, most were in fact shot by studio lensmen tasked with showing the “ordinary lives” of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Particularly popular: holiday-themed pictures they could give to magazines, like this Fourth of July look from Jayne Mansfield. Taken from the archive of the John Kobal Foundation, it’s filled with gorgeous pictures — long-hidden — of the gorgeous people from the Golden Age of Hollywood.




The Big New Yorker Book of Dogs

Random House

If you’re crazy about canines, bark yourself on the couch, grab a treat and crack open this volume. A James Thurber story leads off each of the book’s sections: “Good Dogs,” “Bad Dogs,” “Top Dogs” and “Underdogs.” And you can enjoy Roald Dahl on greyhound racing, Susan Orlean on Rin Tin Tin, and other rover revelations by the likes of E.B White, Roger Angell and Ogden Nash.

Art of the Dead

edited by Philip Cushway

Softskull Press

Almost as much as their music, the posters inspired by the Grateful Dead left their mark. Coming from the streets of San Francisco starting in 1965, they showed influences of Japanese wood blocks, the Belle Époch era, beatniks and acid-droppers. The five most-noted artists — Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, Wes Wilson and Victor Moscoso — are profiled and interviewed.

Elizabeth Taylor

A Shining Legacy on Film

by Cindy De La Hoz

Running Press

The violet-eyed beauty has been in the news of late, thanks to a cheesy cable flick with Lindsay Lohan as Liz. But here, you can get your fill of the real deal. Film historian De La Hoz goes through Taylor’s filmography, beginning with her part as a pudding-maker’s daughter in “There’s One Born Every Minute” (1942) and ending with the 2001 TV movie “These Old Broads.” For each film, we get photos, credits, review excerpts and off-screen tidbits. Liz’s love life also gets a nod, with a 10-page (naturally!) photo timeline.

Reporting the Revolutionary War

Before It Was History, It Was News

by Todd Andrlik

Sourcebooks

Newspaper archivist and historian Andrlik’s book gives us original reports from the Boston Tea Party in 1773. American papers at the time, such as the Boston Gazette and the Pennsylvania Journal (The New York Post didn’t start publishing till 1801), helped fan the flames of rebellion against the British. He reprints news from the Battle of Bunker Hill, the First Continental Congress and Valley Forge. Read all about it the way Americans did when it happened.









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Boat Show may block Miami’s 2016 Super Bowl bid




















This winter, the biggest NFL match-up in South Florida might be Super Bowl versus Boat Show.

As South Florida readies a bid for the 2016 Super Bowl, it must contend with a major potential conflict on the tourism calendar. The National Football League may move the Super Bowl to Presidents’ Day weekend, already home to the five-day Miami International Boat Show since the 1940s.

It’s a significant enough conflict that, in the past, local tourism officials have declined to pursue a Super Bowl if it fell on boat show weekend. But this time around they may have no choice. For the first time, the NFL is requiring that potential host cities agree to a Presidents’ Day weekend Super Bowl if they want to pursue the big game at all, said two people who have seen the NFL request for Super Bowl bids.





The NFL “invited South Florida [to bid] knowing there was going to be an issue with Presidents’ Day weekend and the boat show,” said Nicki Grossman, Broward’s tourism director. “In the past, South Florida has not responded to a Super Bowl date that included Presidents’ Day weekend. This package is different.”

South Florida vies with New Orleans as the top Super Bowl host, with government and tourism leaders touting the game as both a boon to the economy and a publicity bonanza. But the notion of accommodating both Super Bowl and boat show — not to mention a major arts festival in Coconut Grove — strikes some top tourism officials as a bad idea.

“There is not sufficient hotel inventory available in Miami that weekend to host a Super Bowl,” said William Talbert, president of the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We have taken a close look at that weekend, and it’s not physically possible in Miami to host Super Bowl during the Presidents’ Day weekend because of the boat show and the Coconut Grove Arts Festival. The hotel inventory is all being used for these two great events.”

His comments are at odds with the region’s top Super Bowl organizer and reflect the burden that the boat show may be to South Florida’s Super Bowl hopes for 2016 and 2017. The NFL invited Miami and San Francisco to bid for the 2016 Super Bowl by April 1, with the loser vying with Houston for the 2017 game. Talbert said the bid package states both decisions will be made in May.

For now, South Florida’s Super Bowl organizers face a largely hypothetical challenge, because the current NFL schedule has the Super Bowl occurring two weeks before Presidents’ Day weekend. The bid requirements for the ’16 and ’17 Super Bowls include three consecutive weekends as possibilities for the game, with the latest falling on the Presidents’ Day holiday.

Still, possible logistical hurdles may combine with political obstacles if the Miami Dolphins resume their push for a tax-funded renovation of Sun Life Stadium, the Super Bowl’s South Florida home.

Last year, the Dolphins proposed that Broward and Miami-Dade counties subsidize a $225 million renovation at Sun Life as a way to keep the region competitive for Super Bowls and other large events. The renovation includes a partial roof that would prevent the kind of drenching Super Bowl spectators suffered in 2007 when a rare February downpour hit Miami Gardens.





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Palmetto reopens to traffic after crane crash shuts down roadway




















A crane on top of a semi struck an overpass on the busy Palmetto Expressway Friday evening, creating a messy parking lot on one of South Florida’s busiest thoroughfares.

Traffic had to be diverted away in both directions on State Road 826 and Northwest 27th Avenue, causing major delays and detours during rush hour traffic.

The bobcat crane was sitting atop the tractor trailer traveling north on 27th Avenue when the accident occurred around 4:15 p.m. causing significant damage. Engineers from the state Department of Transportation were called out to inspect the overpass and determine the extent of the damage while crews worked to clean up the debris.





Later in the evening, after getting clearance from the structural engineers, the Florida Highway Patrol reopened the street, allowing traffic to flow again in both directions.

Around 8 p.m., FHP trooper Joe Sanchez, a spokesman for the patrol, gave the good news: “The Palmetto is open, thank God almighty.”

However, two lanes of Northwest 27th Avenue remained closed while crews worked into the night to repair the damage and finish the cleanup.

There were no injuries or reports of damage to any other vehicles.

“Our precaution is to get this open as quickly as possible,’’ Sanchez said. “But we have to be able to make sure it safe so cars don’t fall down onto 27th Avenue.”





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Growth Is all that matters








President Obama made a campaign-style trip to Pennsylvania yesterday, touting his initial offer in the so-called “fiscal cliff” negotiations with Congress: It’s a plan heavy on tax increases and light on spending cuts — and thus probably not to be taken totally at face value.

The White House proposes tax hikes of $1.6 trillion over 10 years on high-level income, capital gains and dividends plus limiting tax deductions — with a mere $400 billion in vague spending cuts to come at some later time.

The outline also includes $50 billion in new infrastructure spending and removing Congress’ role in raising the debt limit.





President Obama


President Obama





Republicans were having nothing to do with it.

No surprise.

This is all part of a high-stakes poker game — though one that places the entire US economy at risk.

If nothing is done by Dec. 31 — i.e., fiscal-cliff D-Day — the current-law combination of across-the-board income-tax hikes and dramatic, defense-heavy spending cuts will slam the brakes on an already slow recovery, likely generating another recession.

Look for much drama — and ultimately a “settlement,” of sorts.

It’s the nature of that deal that matters.

Any bargain that’s not predicated on policies that encourage job creation and economic growth could indeed be catastrophic.

A deal that relies too much on either higher taxes or spending cuts will also have a deleterious impact on the economy.

More significant, it will do nothing to alleviate unemployment that still lingers near an unacceptable 8 percent.

Fighting over just taxes and spending loses sight of the primary driver of a robust economy — growth, and the jobs that it produces.

More people working means more people making money, which in turn generates tax revenue — and less government spending in the form of benefits.

That formula worked during both the Reagan and Clinton recoveries.

With the 2012 campaign blessedly over, let’s hope Obama and congressional leaders keep that history in mind.



Have an opinion on this Post editorial? Send it in to LETTERS@NYPOST.COM!










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Argument in NW Miami-Dade ends with two men stabbed




















A fight between three men, including a pair of brothers, turned violent Thursday, ending with two people in the hospital, according to Miami-Dade police.

It began with a dispute shortly before 11:15 a.m. in the 1600 block of Northwest 118th Street, police said. A 60-year-old man got in a fight with his brother and another man. The dispute escalated until the 60-year-old stabbed the other two men, age 63 and 74. police said.

Both men were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, police said, where they were in critical condition.





The 60-year-old was apprehended.

None of the names of the men were released Tuesday. Police also did not mention what or if any charges would be filed against the 60-year-old.





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Reel life drama








Michael Steinberg, the SAC Capital Advisors portfolio manager named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a $62 million insider-trading scheme, once harbored Hollywood dreams.

But before the 40-year-old hedgie ever got to Tinseltown, the dream died in a nasty dispute with a college pal — who accused Steinberg in 2006 of violating financial rules and regulations, The Post has learned.

The accusations, vague and unsubstantiated, came as the friendship seemed to burn out.

In 2005, Steinberg paid former college roommate Adam Resnick $1,000 for his life story. Resnick had a gambling addiction that helped bring down a Chicago bank in 2002.




Steinberg aimed to produce a major motion picture, documentary or television mini series based on Resnick’s topsy-turvy life, according to a draft “settlement agreement” obtained by The Post.

Resnick spent 19 months in prison on fraud charges related to the bank failure.

Steinberg sought to sell back to Resnick his life story in 2006 for $101,500 after an apparent falling out between the producer and muse.

As part of a 2006 draft settlement agreement, Steinberg asked Resnick to recant statements he had made “concerning Steinberg’s ethics and alleged illegal conduct.”

Among the accusations he wanted Resnick to take back was that Steinberg “violated, either personally or professionally, any SEC, NASD or IRS regulations,” the document shows. Steinberg also asked Resnick to recant statements regarding his taxes, according to the unsigned agreement.

Resnick, reached by The Post, said he entered talks but never signed the agreement. He declined to comment on the nature of the accusations against Steinberg.

Steinberg’s lawyer on the settlement talks, Steven Riker, declined to comment. Steinberg’s current lawyer, Barry Berke, didn’t return a request for comment.

Fast-forward to today, and Steinberg’s own life has become the stuff of a Hollywood screenplay.

In September, Steinberg was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Anthony Chiasson and Todd Newman trial now unspooling in federal court.

That month, Steinberg’s former analyst at a unit of SAC, Jon Horvath, pleaded guilty to giving non-public stock tips on Dell and Nvidia to his boss to trade on between 2007 and 2009. That boss has been fingered as Steinberg.

Steinberg, on leave from SAC, hasn’t been charged with any wrongdoing.

Resnick, 32 years old when he was indicted for the bank fraud, has been back in the headlines again recently — this time for legit acts.

The 40-year-old blew the whistle on a nursing-home kickback scheme that forced Omnicare to fork over $98 million.

Resnick gave $2 million of the reward he received for his Omnicare action to Uncle Sam as restitution.










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California Pizza Kitchen brings prototype to Sawgrass Mills




















The restaurant chain that took barbecued chicken pizza mainstream is ready to push the culinary envelope again. How about a pizza topped with roasted Brussels sprouts and applewood smoked bacon or a Korean barbecue pizza with pork loin and spicy kimchee salad?

Innovative menu items are just one piece of what’s unique about California Pizza Kitchen’s new flagship restaurant unveiled Thursday at Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise. The first of its kind, the Sawgrass location aims to reinvigorate the brand that started in 1985 in Beverly Hills.

“The whole idea is about taking the best of what put us on the map and making it relevant for 2012 and beyond,” said G.J. Hart, who took over as chief executive officer of the chain just over a year ago. “Over the years the brand morphed from being a leader and it became a follower of food trends. We want to bring back the hip, cool feel.”





The changes are obvious from the moment you walk into the restaurant, which opens to the public Monday. The new look is all about focusing on the chain’s California roots. Very little of the bright yellow and chrome remains. The design is California-casual with earth tones and reclaimed wood everywhere from the walls to the floor and tables. An outdoor terrace with couches and fire pits is designed to encourage lingering. Large windows and glass doors let in lots of natural light and fold open to enjoy the weather.

Pizza is center stage with the kitchen designed so diners can watch the pizza makers at work. At the Sawgrass location — and by mid-2013 at all restaurants — pizzas will once again by hand-tossed. Currently the chain uses a pizza press to make the dough more uniform.

The new focus is on upping the culinary quotient across the board with dishes like a roasted beets and whipped goat cheese salad, plus a sweet pea carbonara featuring pea-filled pasta purses tossed with Italian pancetta and a Romano cream sauce. These are some of the unique items only on the Sawgrass menu, which also features a specialty menu of hand-crafted cocktails.

Chain-wide the company has actually slimmed the menu from more than 100 items to 74 in order to improve execution. But there are also more healthy choices like quinoa and arugula salad or a fire-roasted chile relleno stuffed with chicken, cheese, mushrooms, spinach and eggplant that dishes up at only 380 calories.

“As we grew, we didn’t keep up with the creativity on the menu and we tried to be all things to all people,” said Brian Sullivan, senior vice president of culinary innovation, who has been with the company for 24 years. “We’re always going to be pizza-centric. But we’ll continue to push the envelope with these specialty items that resonate with who we are. We don’t want items that you are going to see in other restaurants.”

The chain chose Sawgrass to unveil its new flagship location because of a combination of the area’s diverse demographic base and the influx of international visitors. South Florida has already been a strong market for the brand, which has seven locations in the tri-county area stretching from Coral Gables to Palm Beach Gardens.

The opening is the culmination of a new vision that began to take shape when Golden Gate Capital purchased California Pizza Kitchen in July 2011 for $470 million, taking the company private and bringing in Hart as the new chief executive.

“They saw a brand that was undervalued,” said Hart, who has an ownership stake in the chain. “This is an iconic brand with so much brand equity. If we can bring the excitement and enthusiasm back we’re only going to see it go up.”

Industry experts say the changes make sense because the brand still has a loyal following, although it has not kept pace with the competition.

“It’s a good time for them to go back to what were the fundamental things that made the brand so intriguing,” said Dennis Lombardi of WD Partners, a restaurant industry consultant. “The difficulty is going to be getting the word out to consumers that this is different. The devil is always in the details in these kind of evolutions.”

Based on consumer reaction, the plan is to take pieces of the Sunrise concept and introduce it into the chain’s other 268 existing restaurants. Some restaurants could be completely remodeled, but most will only get elements of the new prototype, which cost $2 million in Sunrise, Hart said. The company’s Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton locations could be strong candidates for remodeling next year or early 2014, he said.

Community and business leaders, who got a first look at the restaurant on Thursday, were impressed.

“This is phenomenal,” said Luanne Lenberg, general manager of Sawgrass Mills. “We’re so excited to have this caliber of restaurant and to be their test for the rest of the world.”





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Miami-Dade ethics board rebukes two city of Miami commissioners




















The county ethics commission dinged Miami Commissioner Frank Carollo this week for phoning the police chief after Carollo was pulled over for a traffic stop.

Separately, Miami Commission Vice Chairman Marc Sarnoff was reprimanded for not filing a gift disclosure when the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau paid his way to Brazil.

Sarnoff said his travels did not constitute a gift because he carried out public business. “I did everything I could do, including getting legal advice, to determine that the trip was not a gift,” he said.





Carollo denied wrongdoing in a response to the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust written by his attorney. He declined comment Wednesday.

The grievance against Carollo said that he called Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa during a traffic stop in Coconut Grove in August. Carollo was pulled over after attempting to drive his black Lexus around a stopped recycling truck. He called the chief, who called the district commander, who reached out to the officer making the traffic stop.

The officer let Carollo go with a warning.

In the written response to the ethics commission, Carollo’s attorney said the commissioner had never asked Orosa for special treatment. Rather, Carollo called the chief “to inquire ‘what the problem was’ since the circumstances seemed odd.”

The “odd circumstances” included another car stop in the area.

“Commissioner Carollo’s request for a status [report] was well within his authority to communicate with the police chief, and was not accompanied by any request to obtain any resolution of the vehicle stop,” attorney Benedict Kuehne wrote.

Kuehne added: “The officer made the very reasonable decision to issue no traffic citation because the circumstances did not warrant the issuance of a ticket.”

Orosa also told investigators that Carollo had not asked for any favors.

But the ethics commission concluded that Carollo “clearly intended to use his influence with the police chief to avoid a traffic citation.”

“There was no legitimate reason for Carollo to call the chief of police other than to put into motion a chain of events that Carollo hoped would extricate him from a traffic situation that ordinary citizens find themselves in every day,” the ethics commission wrote.

The complaint against Sarnoff involved a trip he and his wife took to Brazil in April.

The pair went to watch the yachts in the Volvo Ocean Race depart Itajai for Miami, the next port of call. Sarnoff also travelled to Rio and Sao Paulo, with the Convention & Visitors Bureau footing the bill for his travel, lodging and meals.

Sarnoff did not disclose the trip as a gift, nor did he disclose that the Volvo Ocean Race had reimbursed him for his wife’s roundtrip airfare.

Sarnoff said he was acting on advice from Miami City Attorney Julie O. Bru. In a legal opinion, Bru said disclosure was unnecessary because the trip did not constitute a gift, but rather city business.

“I never held this secret,” Sarnoff said. “I did everything I was supposed to do. I talked about it openly.” He described the trip as “105 percent work.”

As for Teresa Sarnoff’s travel expenses, Marc Sarnoff said they, too, were incurred during “official” city business.

“The commissioner was unquestionably assisted in his official duties by Ms. Sarnoff and he quite honestly believed that Ms. Sarnoff was conducting city business,” Sarnoff’s attorney, John Dellagloria, wrote in a response to the ethics commission’s findings.

The ethics commission has said that elected officials don’t have to declare tickets to local events they attend for professional reasons. But according to the final report on the Sarnoff case, “all-expense paid trips to distant and exotic locales deserve different consideration since the grandiose scale of the gift creates a larger appearance of impropriety.”

The ethics commission will send a letter to Sarnoff suggesting he report his wife’s travel expenses as a gift. Another letter will be sent to the Miami city attorney to clarify when business trips must be reported as gifts.

The two complaints were filed last month by blogger Al Crespo.

Sarnoff also took a trip to China this year, where he watched the Miami Heat play a preseason game against the Los Angeles Clippers. In October, Sarnoff said the Heat paid for his flight and hotel. On Wednesday, he said the Shanghai Sports Bureau paid for him and his wife.

He now plans to declare that trip as a gift, he said.





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New Knight joust








A bidding war for Knight Capital is heating up.

The broker-dealer that was on the brink of extinction four months ago is slated to get a second offer — this one from Virtu Financial — today or tomorrow, sources familiar with the situation told The Post.

A Virtu offer to purchase the Wall Street trading firm run by CEO Tom Joyce would come as a rival offer from Getco Holding Co. — said to be a $3.50-a-share cash and stock bid — values Knight at roughly $1 billion.

Getco’s bid and Virtu’s pending all-cash offer helped pump Knight’s stock up 15.2 percent yesterday, to $3.42.





It’s unknown whether Tom Joyce will survive as head of embattled Knight Capital, which has attracted two bids.

Bloomberg



It’s unknown whether Tom Joyce will survive as head of embattled Knight Capital, which has attracted two bids.





Shares of the embattled Jersey City, NJ, company are up more than 40 percent since news of a potential sale emerged.

Still, the broker-dealer’s shares are off 71 percent for the year after a technical snafu in its trading programs resulted in a massive $440 million loss.

The loss forced Joyce’s Knight to seek a white knight on Wall Street — which ended up being a Getco-led consortium.

Once the Virtu offer is submitted, Knight’s board will review both deals and make a decision by year end to either pursue a merger or remain an independent company, sources said.

Getco’s $3.50 offer translates into a relatively meager 2 percent premium to Knight’s $3.42 close.

Investors are hoping for a higher offer from Virtu.

The bid from Virtu will be $3 a share, according to reports. Shares are trading above that level, perhaps, because the Virtu offer has yet to be made official.

Although Virtu’s bid is lower, investors typically prefer the certainty of all-cash deals.

Joyce, a respected veteran among the Street equity trading houses, suffered an embarrassing fall from grace due to the trading glitch that made his firm vulnerable.

The broker-dealer is part owned by six investors, including Getco, brokerage firm Jefferies & Co., Blackstone Group, Stifel Nicolaus, TD Ameritrade and Stephens Inc.

mark.decambre@nypost.com










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Gift ideas for the techie on your list




















The holidays are coming fast, and if you’re like me, you’ve probably gotten very little of your gift shopping done.

Here are suggestions for a variety of gifts for the techie and the not-so-techie people on your list.

Some of these items can be found in stores and some are only available online, but you should be able to order them in time for Christmas or Hanukkah.





IOMEGA EZ MEDIA & BACKUP CENTER

What is it? A hard drive that lives on your home network so you can share files, store all your photos and music and back up your home computers. Works on Macintosh, Windows and Linux computers.

The EZ Media & Backup Center is available in 1-, 2- and 3-terabyte capacities. It is simple to set up. It lives next to your home router and plugs into the network via Ethernet.

Major features include a built-in iTunes server so your music is available to all connected computers, Time Machine support for easy Macintosh backups and Iomega’s Personal Cloud to access your data from any Internet connection.

It can also stream your video files to your TV if you’ve got a compatible streaming box or an Internet-connected TV.

Software for backing up Windows PCs is also included.

Who’s it for? Any family that wants central storage for their digital lives. This is a great home for your digital photo, music or video library.

What does it cost? One terabyte for $169.99, two terabytes for $209.99, three terabytes for $279.99.

Where can you get it? Online at www.iomega.com, Amazon, Best Buy, Apple store, Fry’s.

NETATMO URBAN WEATHER STATION

What is it? A wireless indoor/outdoor weather station that displays through an application on your Apple or Android mobile device.

There are two parts, one that lives in your house and one you place outside.

The indoor component plugs into the wall and monitors the temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, carbon dioxide level and even the sound level in decibels.

The outdoor module is battery-powered and measures temperature and humidity.

Once you connect the Netatmo to your home Wi-Fi network, you can download the free app and see your weather stats from anywhere.

Setup was easy enough, and you can set the app to notify you when carbon dioxide rises to levels that you should be warned about — which is great.

Who’s it for? Weather geeks and people who like to know what the temperature is without having to fire up a browser.

What does it cost? $179

Where can you get it? www.netatmo.com

3M LED ADVANCED LIGHT

What is it? 3M’s first foray into the home light bulb market is with the LED Advanced Light, which uses light-emitting diodes (LED) to produce 800 lumens (the light of a 60-watt bulb).

The Advanced Light has a life span of 25 years and costs just $1.63 per year if it’s turned on for three hours per day.

The bulb lights instantly and is dimmable.

It’s a little intimidating to start buying light bulbs that might outlive me, but my wallet approves.

Who’s it for? Anyone who wants to save money or wants a bulb that might not have to be changed until 2035.

What does it cost? $25

Where can you get it? Select Wal-Mart stores. For more information, go to www.3mlighting.com/LED.

STEM IZON 2.0 WI-FI VIDEO MONITOR

What is it? A small, wireless video camera that you can monitor remotely with an iOS device.





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Citizens leader criticize media coverage of firm’s problems




















Beleaguered by allegations of corporate misconduct and exorbitant executive spending, leaders at Citizens Property Insurance Corp. expressed outrage — at the media.

During a special hearing on Tuesday to address several corporate improprieties first reported by the Times/Herald, Citizens CEO Barry Gilway reserved some of his harshest criticism for news outlets that uncovered the laundry list of scandals at the state-run company.

“I am committed to making sure the reputations of innocent employees are appropriately protected,” said Gilway, claiming that reporters had defamed former Citizens employees accused of wrongdoing.





Gilway used words like “preposterous,” “absurd,” “pathetic,” and “shameful,” when discussing media coverage of the company’s internal troubles.

He defended his top officials — who have been beset by a laundry list of scandalous allegations in recent months, including questionable severance packages, sexual impropriety, and falsified documents.

The board largely voiced support of Gilway — who took the helm of the state-run insurer in June — and saved criticism for the media, the former CEO and a few “bad apple” employees.

In recent months, at least two top executives at Citizens have resigned and Gov. Rick Scott has called for two separate investigations into its top management.

Gilway stood by a claim that Citizens terminated internal investigators who discovered the misconduct as part of a company restructuring effort – not as retaliation for exposing the company’s dirty laundry.

Scott’s chief inspector general is looking into the terminations.

Gilway and board members acknowledged that Citizens needed to make some changes, and said the company is beginning to take “corrective action” to address the various scandals.

“We have a new day in this company,” said board chairman Carlos Lacasa. “And we will win back the credibility of the company in the eyes of the public.”

Lacasa also lashed out at the media, referring specifically to a recent editorial in the Palm Beach Post that branded Citizens a “corruption-ridden scam artist that threatens Florida’s economic recovery.”

Such media criticism of Citizens is “shameful” and “designed to incite the public,” he said.

Homeowners covered by Citizens have expressed outrage this year over the company’s unpopular home re-inspection program, an 11-percent rate hike and news that executives were spending upwards of $600 per night for luxury hotel rooms across the globe.

Scott’s inspector general is investigating such expenditures.

“The state of Florida gave them this blanket ability to pull in money from homeowners,” said Sharon Goessel, a 65-year-old from Palmetto Bay whose Citizens insurance rates are skyrocketing. “I want to be one of those executives at Citizens and go spend the night in a $580 hotel room.”

Sean Shaw, a former insurance consumer advocate who works for a law firm that represents insurance policyholders, blasted the board at Citizens and called for the resignation of top executives.

“Instead of spending time talking about fixing abuses of the public trust, the board seems more interested in blaming the media for finding out about it,” he said.

Some board members attacked Shaw, whose employer regularly battles Citizens in court, as someone who “has a direct financial stake” in seeing the company tarnished.

The board had less criticism for former employees and executives whose actions sullied Citizens’ reputation, including the underwriting executive who resigned after a sex scandal blew up and the Chief Administration Officer who resigned after several allegations of misconduct occurred within her unit.

Both received lucrative agreements worth tens of thousands of dollars after resigning, and Citizens helped the underwriting executive apply for unemployment compensation.

Gilway stopped short of criticizing the hefty severance agreements, but said a new policy will be drafted to clean up the process.

Citizens’ board also spent much of Tuesday’s meeting discussing the company’s preliminary budget for next year.

The company expects to shrink from about 1.5 million policies to 1.2 million policies by the end of 2013, advancing Gov. Rick Scott’s push to downsize the state-backed insurer.

“Unlike the private sector, that’s a good thing if we’re shrinking,” said Chief Financial Officer Sharon Binnun.

Toluse Olorunnipa can be reached at tolorunnipa@MiamiHerald.com or on Twitter at @ToluseO.





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Play Your Wii U Anywhere — Even on a Train












Wii U on a Train


No need for a TV set. If you plug the Wii U in, you can interact entirely with the GamePad. This is on a Japanese Shinkansen, a high-speed train.


Click here to view this gallery.












[More from Mashable: Nintendo Unveils Wii Mini for the Canucks]


Nintendo’s new Wii U console may have one real advantage over the competition: portability. Since you don’t need a television to play a good portion of the Wii U titles, gaming on the road is as easy as locating a power outlet.


Rocket News 24 tested the console’s mobility by taking a Wii U on a Japanese bullet train, which has power outlets at every seat. Thanks to that — and a little iPhone tethering magic — their staff was able to play New Super Mario Brothers U and Call of Duty Black Ops 2 while riding comfortably.


[More from Mashable: Wii U Sells 400,000 Units in First Week]


Check out Rocket News 24 to see more pictures and a full recount of their experience.


This story originally published on Mashable here.


Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News


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Dennis Quaid Runs Vegas

Dennis Quaid stars as Sheriff Ralph Lamb on the CBS drama Vegas and the actor dished to ET Canada about the romances and rivalries of the show.

PICS: What Happened in Vegas This Weekend

Inspired by the story of the real-life former Sheriff of Las Vegas, the show is set in the 1960s and follows Lamb as he battles notorious gangster Vincent Savino (Michael Chiklis), who's planning a Sin City take over.

In the midst of all the blood sport and gun play, there's also a budding love story between Lamb and Katherine O'Connell (Carrie-Anne Moss).

"The two characters have known each other all their lives," said Quaid. "There's already a relationship there, but where it's going to wind up ... Who knows?"

VIDEO: Vegas Hearkens Back to Sin City in the '60s

Watch the video for more. Vegas airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on CBS.

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Iran sitting prettier









headshot

John Bolton





Iran, unfortunately, has grown stronger from the recent Israel-Hamas hostilities.

Despite media concentration on last week’s cease-fire, the real focal point is still the invisible Middle Eastern struggle for strategic advantage. There, Iran was already gaining ground, as the International Atomic Energy Agency reported on Nov. 16: Tehran’s extensive nuclear program continues its rapid progress, and it is still stonewalling IAEA inspectors. There is no doubt where Iran is headed.

The mullahs’ priority isn’t the Israel-Palestinian relationship, but whether Israel has the will and the capability to attack Iran’s nuclear-weapons program. Thus, despite Hamas’ terrorist aggression, launching over 1,500 rockets against Israel’s civilian population, Tehran’s central concern was the small number of Fajr-5 missiles targeted on Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.





Getting set to shoot at Israeli jets: Iranian soldiers prep a new surface-to-air missile for launch in week-long war games this month.

EPA



Getting set to shoot at Israeli jets: Iranian soldiers prep a new surface-to-air missile for launch in week-long war games this month.





These launches confirm what has long been suspected, namely that Iran had armed Hamas (as it has armed Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon) with longer-range missiles. And the November clashes provided a combat environment for Iran to test-fire the Fajr-5s from Gaza.

True, Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system performed extremely well, a palpable reminder to Americans (especially to President Obama, a long-term opponent of national missile defense for the United States) of the importance of this capability. But Iran also learned a good deal about Iron Dome — and in the never-ceasing struggle between offense and defense, will be better prepared for having had this “dry run” against Israeli defenses.

How will Iran retaliate if its nuclear-weapons facilities are struck pre-emptively? It has several options, including closing the Strait of Hormuz or directly attacking Israel, but its most likely response is indirect. With terrorist allies in place in both Lebanon and Gaza, Tehran is in effect positioned behind Israeli lines, encircling the tiny country and making it much harder to defend.

The Israeli air force can’t be in three places at once, attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities while also trying to suppress missile attacks from both Lebanon’s Bekaa valley and Gaza. And given the inevitable losses Israel will suffer over Iran, Israel’s air assets could be stretched beyond their limits.

Thus, Iran’s ability to inflict unacceptable casualties on Israeli civilians via its terror proxies, all the while maintaining at least a shred of deniability for such attacks, is a powerful element in any Israeli government’s calculation whether to strike Iran pre-emptively.



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










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Shareholders approve sale of U.S. Century Bank




















A majority of U.S. Century Bank’s shareholders approved the Doral bank’s proposed sale to C1 Bank of St. Petersburg late Tuesday during a meeting at Florida International University despite dissension from some stockholders, including those who have filed suit against the bank and some of its directors and officers.

According to the terms of the deal, the bank’s 441 shareholders will receive $2.5 million from the sale, or about 1.7 cents on the dollar, from $150.1 million U.S. Century raised from multiple offerings since it was founded 10 years ago.

The sale agreement, which required approval from holders of 51 percent of the shares, still requires approval from federal banking regulators. Seventy-four shareholders attended Tuesday evening’s meeting.





The deal to sell U.S. Century to C1, reached Aug. 30, includes a proposed, renegotiated $6.27 million repayment to the federal government of $50.2 million in TARP funds. The U.S. Treasury Department must approve the proposed TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) repayment. According to documents, the deal also includes up to $400,000 to be paid by C1 to regulators should U.S. Century be fined over Bank Secrecy Act violations found in its recent regulatory examination.

The bank has said the sale is expected to be completed by year-end.

A group of shareholders has filed a “derivative action” suit, which seeks to recover money from the bank that allegedly resulted from the wrongdoing of the bank’s directors and officers.

The suit was filed Nov. 13 in Miami-Dade Circuit Court by brothers Carlos R. Silva and Jorge E. Silva, both Coral Gables attorneys and founding shareholders, and last week was amended to include several additional shareholders — including Shoma Group head Masoud Shojaee — totaling more than $10 million in original investments, said Coral Gables attorney Gonzalo Dorta who represents the shareholders who filed the suit against the bank and some of its current and former officers and directors. Among the defendants are Telemundo executive Jose Cancela, homebuilder Sergio Pino — who formerly owned U.S. Century’s headquarters building, and public affairs businessman and lobbyist Rodney Barreto.

“I feel terrible,” Carlos Silva said after the meeting. He estimated the losses that he and his brother sustained at $400,000. “We all lost a lot of money.”

“This bank was basically run by a group of individuals like it was their personal bank to finance their speculative real estate construction activity at the expense of others,” Dorta said before Tuesday’s meeting.

U.S. Century said in a statement that the bank is in the process of reviewing the suit and is “not at liberty to discuss it further until we have completed the review process and consulted with our legal counsel.”

U.S. Century was founded by a group of prominent, largely Cuban-American investors, many of whom are local business leaders, real estate developers and attorneys.

Among the issues raised in the lawsuit, the bank acknowledges that it has made loans to current and former directors, and a third of its 24 branches are leased from current or former directors.

Current and former directors of the bank hold a significant portion of the bank’s shares, several sources said.

U.S. Century has been struggling since the real estate downturn and recession. Founded in 2002, U.S. Century is operating under a June 2011 regulatory consent order mandating it to boost capital, reduce its bad loans and return to profitability, among other requirements. Last year, it hired Japanese investment bank Nomura Securities to try to raise at least $150 million in private equity funds.

C1, privately owned by four investors, including two Brazilians, is proposing to inject $100 million of fresh capital into the combined bank.

The deal would give the growing C1 Bank 24 branches in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and nearly $1.2 billion in assets.





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Survivor of flea-market police shooting is charged




















Two Miami men shot Sunday by Miami-Dade police outside a flea market were identified Monday, and the survivor was charged with battery.

Michael Nathaniel Parks, 21, faces charges of battery on a law-enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence. The second man, who had been driving the van the pair had been in, and who died at the scene, was identified as LeBron Warren, 23.

The shooting took place shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday at Flea Market USA, near Northwest 79th Street and 30th Avenue. Police said the victim of a nearby home-invasion robbery followed the robbers’ vehicle to the flea market and told police about it.





Officers found a van matching the description there, with Parks and Warren inside.

When officers approached, Warren put the van in reverse and accelerated toward them, hitting a police vehicle. Officers fired, and the van tried to get away, hitting other parked cars before it came to a stop, police said.

No officers were hurt.





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132 online counterfeit sites seized in Cyber Monday blitz












WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. and European authorities seized 132 domain names in a counterfeit goods crackdown linked to Cyber Monday, the online bargain day, the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.


ICE agents seized 101 domain names in the United States and 31 were taken over by officers in Britain, Romania, Belgium, France and Denmark and by Europol, the European Police Office, ICE Director John Morton said.












The sites, many linked to organized crime, were selling fake goods that ranged from National Football League jerseys and Nike Inc shoes to Adobe Systems Inc software, he said.


“There is much money to be made out there duping consumers and that is what is going on,” Morton said on a conference call.


Investigations are ongoing and more sites will be seized in coming days.


In the United States, 41 rights owners’ merchandise was being sold on the seized sites, Morton said.


ICE said in a statement that one U.S. arrest had been made.


The crackdown marks the third year that ICE has targeted websites selling counterfeit goods on Cyber Monday, the online shopping spree. It is the first time the agency has carried out the operation with European police.


The Cyber Monday seizures raise the total number of U.S. sites taken over to 1,630 since ICE began its anti-counterfeit campaign in June 2010.


PayPal accounts identified with the sites and holding a total of more than $ 175,000 are being targeted for seizure, the ICE statement said.


Morton put the scale of online piracy in the billions of dollars. Much of the online counterfeiting is in China and other parts of Asia, and U.S. authorities are working with China on the problem, he said.


(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Dan Grebler)


Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News


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Dancing with the Stars All Stars Finale Week Recap

Nine weeks of competition have led to this! 

Tonight, three competitors gave it their all during Monday's Dancing with the Stars finals, but only one will triumph tomorrow. Here's how the night went down:

Kelly Monaco and partner Val Chmerkovskiy hit the stage first to reprise their Paso Doble from week three, earning an impressive 29.5/30 points (9.5, 10, 10), 2.5 points higher than their previous go-around. Later the pair debuted a super-sized freestyle choreographed to Time of My Life, complete with Dirty Dancing's iconic lift, earning them 29.5 (10, 9.5, 10).

Video: Cheryl Burke Breaks Down the 'DWTS: All Stars' Finale

Melissa Rycroft and Tony Dovolani tackled their week-three Samba with gusto, improving their previous score of 27 by three points, earning a perfect thirty from the judges. Melissa and Tony followed up the dance with a risky, acrobatic freestyle which earned much praise from the panel as well as another unanimous round of tens.

Shawn Johnson and Derek Hough brought back their Quickstep from Iconic Dances Night to the displeasure of the judges, who believed the routine continued to break the rules as it did in week three, however they were ultimately awarded a half of a point more (27/30) in their cumulative score this time around. The US Olympic gymnastics team's Fierce Five took the stage with the duo as a surprise edition to Monday's final dance. Shawn and her pals closed the night with a spectacular show, earning the twosome a perfect thirty for their routine.

Tune in tomorrow night at 9/8c on ABC as the three perform one more dance during the two-hour extravaganza where one lucky couple will be awarded the blinged-out All-Stars mirror ball trophy.

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The ‘Demon’ guarding GOP principles









headshot

Rich Lowry





Listening to Democrats and the media, you could be forgiven for thinking the point of a deal over the looming “fiscal cliff” wouldn’t be to reduce the deficit so much as to reduce the influence of one man — Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform.

Known to one and all simply as Grover, he is the keeper of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge signed by almost all Republicans committing themselves not to raise taxes. For this offense, Grover is deemed the enemy of all that is right and just.

The pollster and ABC News commentator Matthew Dowd said on “This Week,” “Norquist is an impediment to good governing. The only good thing about Grover Norquist is that he was named after a character from Sesame Street.” Not everyone has been as juvenile, but Dowd captured the gleeful spirit of the anti-Norquist pile-on.




The idea that we’d have “good governing” only if more tax increases were thrown on top of poorly designed, out-of-control entitlements, wasteful subsidies, rotten schools and an ever-growing mess of regulation is fanciful. ObamaCare increased taxes by more than $500 billion, and our governing did not noticeably become better as a result.

Grover has three insights that are absolutely correct: 1) Revenues from tax increases will almost invariably be spent. Does anyone believe that if George W. Bush had not cut taxes early in his first term that the Tom DeLay and Nancy Pelosi Congresses wouldn’t have, in their collective wisdom, found ways to spend the additional revenues? 2) The typical structure of the Washington budget deal is tax increases now in exchange for promised spending cuts over time that don’t materialize. 3) The Republican brand is dependent on its status as the anti-tax party.

These aren’t alien beliefs foisted on the Republican Party, but represent GOP orthodoxy. Nonetheless, everyone acts as if Grover is the instrument of the party’s Babylonian captivity. If only the dastardly Norquist didn’t make Republicans say they won’t raise taxes — and put it in writing — the party could fulfill its role in the “good governing” of Washington, namely joining Democrats to raise taxes.

The proof of the supposed perversity of Grover’s influence is the widely cited hypothetical example of a Democratic offer to cut $10 in spending for every $1 in new tax dollars. In one presidential-primary debate, every Republican candidate indicated that he or she would oppose such a deal. Of course, it’s all academic because such a deal will never, ever be on offer.

Hypotheticals work both ways, or they should. What would Democrats be willing to accept in exchange for signing off on a premium-support plan for Medicare? Nothing.

The press isn’t scandalized by this particular intransigence. It isn’t a favorite topic on the Sunday shows whether the influence of AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, who opposes all meaningful spending cuts, will be broken in the Democratic Party. No one is outraged that the left is mustering a lobbying campaign to keep President Obama from giving anything on entitlements in the talks over the fiscal cliff.

But whenever a Republican says he won’t abide by Grover’s pledge, the media act like a choir of angels celebrating another saved soul. So far, it’s only the usual suspects in the party, although House Speaker John Boehner has signaled a willingness to raise more revenue if the president will cut entitlement spending.

What makes this time different than prior budget showdowns is that Republicans can remain technically compliant with the pledge by doing nothing, and taxes would still go up on everyone automatically at the end of the year. A deal, then, could make sense, depending on the parameters.

As the cliff approaches, all the pressure within Washington and within the media will be for Republicans simply to cave to the president. Grover will make it as painful as possible for them to do it, and should wear the resulting elite obloquy as a badge of honor.

comments.lowr@)nationalreview.com



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










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Shoppers welcome holiday sales by buying early, often — and online




















Shoppers swooped into stores in droves on Thanksgiving weekend, topping last year’s sales, as more retailers opened their doors earlier than ever on Thursday, luring bargain hunters away from eating another plate of turkey.

And now Cyber Monday is expected to set a record for online shopping this year, for those who prefer the Internet to the mall.

Spending per shopper nationwide averaged $423 — $25 more than last year — from Thursday to Sunday, while total spending increased nearly 13 percent, to an estimated $59.1 billion, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation.





“I think the only way to describe the Thanksgiving openings is to call it a huge win,” said Matthew Shay, the trade group’s president and chief executive. Shopping, he said, “has really become an extension of the day’s festivities.”

South Florida was no exception, as a flurry of stores, as well as several malls, opened on Thanksgiving. Thursday has seemingly become the new Black Thursday, taking a bite out of the old-fashioned kickoff day of the holiday, Black Friday.

“We had an excellent weekend,” said Humberto Maldonado, director of marketing for Dadeland Mall, which opened at midnight on Thursday. Sales figures are not yet in, but the overall trend was up from last year, he said Monday.

“It was really busy from midnight to 5 a.m., then it slowed, and picked up again at 7 a.m. or 8 a.m., and stayed busy all day on Friday,” Maldonado said.

Nationwide, about 35 million people visited stores and shopping websites Thursday, up from 29 million last year. More than double that number — 89 million, up from 86 million — shopped on Black Friday.

“There were more people shopping every single day of the weekend,” Shay said.

Topping off the weekend, Cyber Monday’s early results, tabulated at 3 p.m. Monday, showed that online shopping was up a whopping 25.6 percent compared with the same time period a year ago, according to figures by IBM Benchmark.

Nationwide, most of the weekend’s shoppers — roughly 58 percent — bought clothing and accessories. Another 38 percent bought electronics and 35 percent shelled out for toys, National Retail Federation figures show.

Retailers made an effort to lure people in, with updated mobile shopping applications for smartphones and tablets, and expanded shipping and layaway options.

Still, it remains to be seen whether increased sales over the Thanksgiving weekend will translate to higher sales throughout the holiday shopping season. Analysts have been predicting mediocre sales this year, nationwide, as shoppers remain uncertain about the broader economy. Overall holiday sales are expected to increase 4.1 percent from 2011, compared with sales growth of 5.6 percent last year, the National Retail Federation said.

However, Florida is expected to beat those figures. Buoyed in large part by tourists and snowbirds, the Florida Retail Federation is forecasting a 5.3 percent gain this year over last, to $58 billion, marking the highest percentage growth predicted since the recession. Pre-recession, retail sales peaked at $54.3 billion in 2006.

Christian Cutillo, 26, of Weston, hit Walmart, then Sears, Target and Old Navy after eating Thanksgiving dinner.

She began at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and by 3 a.m. Friday she had finished shopping for all 15 people on her list, mostly buying clothing and toys.





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Legislative leaders are ready to shelve a $5 million budget-tracking program




















Florida’s new legislative leadership team and the 44 new legislators who took the oath of office in Tallahassee last Tuesday pledged to keep close tabs on the state budget and weed out waste in government contracts.

"Let’s make sure we’re getting value received and the best price," said Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, shortly after being sworn in as the Senate’s new president.

But if history is a guide, few will master the task because access to budget information across numerous agency platforms is notoriously complicated and difficult to access.





That could change if a software program quietly developed by a former House budget staffer, licensed by the state Senate under former Senate president Mike Haridopolos, and financed with $5 million of taxpayer dollars, is launched instead of allowed to expire at the end of the year.

Knowledge is power in Tallahassee and the software program, Transparency 2.0, developed and patented by Spider Data Systems, has the power to level the budgetary knowledge game. It also packs another powerful punch: the potential to expose the secrets of government officials and lobbyists who trade in these transactions.

With the click of a mouse, legislators can track how much money lobbyists’ clients pull in from state business, and which items are tucked into the budget by legislative leaders behind closed doors. They can see in real time where every vacant job is kept, where 496 sole source contracts exist, and which contracts are automatically renewed.

The program easily cross-references budgetary, accounting, contracting and personnel data in real time. It shows how much the state and its contractors spend on travel, and on office supplies and which companies received favorable terms with one agency and less favorable terms with another. And, if the governor’s office puts it online as part of the requirements of a new transparency law, the public could access the information too.

But the state contract with Spider Data Systems is scheduled to expire Dec. 31 without the program ever being launched. The deadline comes even though $4.5 million of taxpayer money was spent on it, and Haridopolos, Gov. Rick Scott and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater each promised a more open budgeting and contracting process.

“It sounds like an orphan nobody wants,’’ Gaetz told the Herald/Times. He and three other senators were given a 40-minute demonstration of a beta tested version of Transparency 2.0 in September 2011, before all the Florida data was loaded into the system. Gaetz concluded: “the price was extraordinary and the product was underwhelming.”

Dan Krassner, director of Integrity Florida, a consumer watchdog organization, believes state officials owe it to the public to launch the web-based program.

“If $5 million of taxpayer money has been invested in a budget-tracking website, then it should see the light of day,’’ said Krassner, who has not seen the program in operation. “Budget tracking tools like this should be used by policy makers to eliminate wasteful spending. Disclosure is the key to accountability.”

Turf battles and distrust over the way Spider Data’s no-bid contract was handled by Steve MacNamara, the former chief of staff to Scott and Haridopolos, have muddied its acceptance by current legislative leaders.





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Oprah Winfrey Interviews Justin Bieber

Oprah Winfrey sat down with 18-year-old superstar Justin Bieber who, among other things, opened up about his two-year romance with actress/singer Selena Gomez.

Video: Oprah Cautions Bieber Against Marrying Young

While the interview had been pre-taped before Justin and Selena's relationship reportedly hit the rocks, the Biebs told Oprah he has all he could ever ask for in his former Disney star girlfriend.

"I am all about really genuine people and I feel like she's one of the most genuine people," he beamed on Sunday's episode of Oprah's Next Chapter." She has a good heart and I can talk to her about anything."

When grilled about the couple's frequent moments of PDA caught by the paparazzi, Justin shrugged with a smile, admitting they can't help it; they're "always just touching each other."

Video: Justin Bieber Stops Traffic to Confront Paparazzi

In keeping with the topic of his favorite things, Oprah asked the teen sensation what he couldn't live without.

Ever the techie, Bieber said his laptop and iPhone were among his most cherished possessions. His favorite shows are Smallville and Friends, his preferred cereals are Crunch Berries and frosted Mini-Wheats, and (Selena aside) his biggest girl crush remains fellow superstar Beyonce.

Oprah's Next Chapter airs Sundays on OWN.

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Chloe’s Soft Serve steps up to (Dylan’s) bar









Dylan’s Candy Bar has partnered with Chloe’s Soft Serve Fruit Co.

The frozen fruity treat will replace frozen yogurt in the café in Dylan’s flagship Upper East Side store.

“It’s a healthier alternative to frozen yogurt,” Dylan Lauren told Side Dish. “Dylan’s is all about enjoying treats in moderation. We are all for candy, sweets and ice cream but we also like having options for people who are into sugar free and low allergen products.”

Lauren tells Side Dish she is so focused on its Los Angeles opening and future Miami opening, along with the re-vamp of their Houston store, that they will not be opening a large pop-up shop in Bryant Park for the holidays like they did last year.




However, she is looking at opening other stores in major cosmopolitan areas like San Francisco, Washington, DC, Chicago, Toronto and Montreal.

“We want to conquer the world with candy,” Lauren quipped.

Chloe Epstein co-founded Chloe’s Soft Serve Fruit two years ago. She has two stand-alone stores in Manhattan — on the Upper East Side and her Union Square flagship — along with partnership deals where other stores sell her product, from Dylan’s to the Golden Pear Cafe in Southampton, LI.

The product is just fruit, water and organic cane sugar, making it-fat-free, allergen-free, gluten free and dairy-free.

“That is what distinguishes us from frozen yogurt and ice cream,” said Epstein, a former fro-yo fan who wanted to create a healthier alternative when she became pregnant and got concerned about what chemicals she was feeding herself and her baby.

***

WE HEAR . . . That Mihoko’s 21 Grams in the Flatiron district opened its new lounge, The French Room.

Owner Mihoko Kiyokawa is a classically trained ballerina and a former costume designer for the Tokyo opera, as well as an art collector and philanthropist.

She partnered with designer Bruno Borrione, a longtime collaborator of Philippe Starck.

jkeil@nypost.com










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Shifting tides of Panama real estate echo Miami trends




















PANAMA CITY, Panama — As a real estate agent shows off a model apartment — white leather sectional, stainless steel appliances, open concept, ocean views — in the 59-story Yacht Club Tower, and touts its fitness center and pool deck designed to mimic a ship floating on the sea, he makes a telling statement:

“We tried to emulate the Miami style in this building.”

Approaching this Central American capital from the air, the first thing a traveler notices is a skyline on steroids — gleaming towers jutting skyward like so many pickets on a fence. There’s even a Trump high-rise here — the sail-shaped 72-story Trump Ocean Club International Hotel & Tower. And it’s not uncommon for those active in Miami real estate and development circles to try their luck in Panama or move back and forth between the markets.





Although Miami is nearly 1,200 miles from Panama City, the real estate markets of the two cities share certain similarities. Both went through booms and overbuilding and then had way too many empty condominiums. Wealthy Latin American buyers were a salvation in both cities when traditional segments of the market fell off.

“Now that things are starting to pick up in the States, they are picking up here too. Now that there’s not as much economic uncertainty in the United States, people feel more confident about Panama too,’’ said Morris Hafeitz, general manger of Emporium Developers. He used to work in Miami as a project manager for Odebrecht, the Brazilian conglomerate.

Now Hafeitz is trying to sell Allure at the Park, a 50-story building Emporium developed in Panama City’s Bella Vista neighborhood. The building is chock full of amenities — gym, teenage game room, adult lounge, toddler playroom, pool, squash court and even miniature golf on the roof — but one of its main selling points is that it overlooks a park and two low-rise historic buildings. “In the heart of the city without the hassles of the city,’’ said Hafeitz.

During the boom, many buildings in central Panama City went up practically on top of each other. “In the beginning of the boom there were no regulations on density,’’ said Mauricio Saba, a project manager at Zoom Development in Panama City and another Miami real estate alum. “I have a friend who said he could watch his neighbor’s TV from his balcony.’’

Margarita Sanclemente, a Miami real estate broker with offices in Panama City and New York, has seen it all — the boom, the irrational building and the slowdown — and has stuck with the Panamanian market.

She first ventured into Panama in 2005. The Panamanian real estate market, which had been sluggish for more than a decade, was undergoing a rebirth and Americans, lured by low prices and the low cost of living, were snapping up properties.

The sweet spot was the 1,000 to 1,500-square-foot apartment, sans maid’s quarters, which appealed to retirees from Canada and the United States, she said.

That was back when Americans still believed you couldn’t go wrong with real estate. “Some of the buyers didn’t even see the units. We sold them by phone,’’ Sanclemente said. Condo prices at new buildings such as Destiny averaged $98 to $120 per square foot. She herself bought a 1,000 square foot, one bedroom condo for $123,000 back in 2005.





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