Requests for gun permits spikes in Florida

Nearly 800,000 people requested background checks so they could buy guns in Florida in 2012 — far more than in any recent year.

Statistics from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement show 797,970 background checks were requested last year — nearly 200,000 more than were requested in 2011 and more than double the number for 2004, the earliest year for which statistics were provided.

The numbers were already higher than usual in the first 10 months of 2012, but surged after President Barack Obama won re-election in November and skyrocketed in the days after the Dec. 14 mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 children and six adults.

The dramatic spike is likely fueled by fear that greater gun control laws may be passed after the Connecticut shooting.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with the national tragedy. It’s not the direct cause,” said Marion Hammer, the chief lobbyist for the National Rifle Association in Florida. “The direct cause is when politicians call for gun bans, that creates fear.”

In December alone, there were 131,103 background checks requested through the FDLE — the highest number the agency has recorded in any single month. That beat the previous record, set only a month earlier, when 84,745 background check requests were submitted in the same month that Obama was re-elected.

“The White House has made it clear that they’re going to push for gun bans,” Hammer said. “As long as people have money and guns are available, I would imagine people are going to keep buying.”

Whatever the exact cause, the most recent presidential election years do seem to have stoked fears of new restrictions on gun purchases.

FDLE numbers show that the number of gun background checks spiked significantly in November and December of 2008 as well, with nearly 64,000 requests during each of those months.

In 2007, the numbers were far less — 36,948 in November and 48,416 in December.

But the most recent numbers appear to show gun sales at an all-time high.

“The NRA is hard at work frightening people that Obama is going to take their guns,” said Art C. Hayhoe, executive director of the Florida Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. “Why would you think these guns won’t ultimately be a problem? If you’re going to have a place saturated with guns, why would anybody be surprised if there’s more gun violence?”

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said he doesn’t believe the increased sales are necessarily a cause for concern.

“I don’t know of any incidents that have taken place because of law-abiding citizens and responsible gun owners that have created a problem for us,” Gualtieri said.

The sheriff noted that most of the firearm-related crimes his agency deals with have to do with felons who have guns or guns that have been obtained illegally. Most gun owners are responsible with their weapons and purchase them through legal means, he said.

What would be of concern, the sheriff said, is if the surge in gun purchases is for assault rifles, and weapons bearing more power than what one might require for sporting or personal security. Some gun sellers have reported an uptick in sales of such high-powered weapons after the Connecticut shooting, but whether those sales are widespread is unclear.

“I think there is room for a good, solid discussion about what measures are appropriate and what policies we should set,” Gualtieri said. “This is a tough issue, and it’s an important issue.”

Dan Sullivan can be reached at dsullivan@tampabay.com or 727-893-8321.

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Google emerges from FTC probe relatively unscathed

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google has settled a U.S. government probe into its business practices without making any major concessions on how the company runs its Internet search engine, the world’s most influential gateway to digital information and commerce.

Thursday’s agreement with the Federal Trade Commission covers only some of the issues raised in a wide-ranging antitrust investigation that could have culminated in a regulatory crackdown that re-shapes Internet search, advertising and mobile computing.

But the FTC didn’t find any reason to impose radical changes, to the relief of Google and technology trade groups worried about overzealous regulation discouraging future innovation. The resolution disappointed consumer rights groups and Google rivals such as Microsoft Corp., which had lodged complaints with regulators in hopes of legal action that would split up or at least hobble the Internet’s most powerful company.

Google is still trying to settle a similar antitrust probe in Europe. A resolution to that case is expected to come within the next few weeks.

After a 19-month investigation, Google Inc. placated the FTC by agreeing to a consent decree that will require the company to charge “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” prices to license hundreds of patents deemed essential to the operations of mobile phones, tablet computers, laptops and video game players.

The requirement is meant to ensure that Google doesn’t use patents acquired in last year’s $ 12.4 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility to thwart competition from mobile devices running on software other than Google‘s Android system. The products vying against Android include Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad, Research in Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry and Microsoft‘s Windows software.

Google also promised to exclude, upon request, snippets copied from other websites in capsules of key information shown in response to search requests. The company had insisted the practice is legal under the fair-use provisions of U.S. copyright law. Nonetheless, even before the settlement, Google already had scaled back on the amount of cribbing, or “scraping,” of online content after business review site Yelp Inc. lodged one of the complaints that triggered the FTC investigation in 2011.

In another concession, Google pledged to adjust the online advertising system that generates most of its revenue so marketing campaigns can be more easily managed on rival networks.

Google, though, prevailed in the pivotal part of the investigation, which delved into complaints that the Internet search leader has been highlighting its own services on its influential results page while burying links to competing sites. For instance, requests for directions may turn up Google Maps first, queries for video might point to the company’s own site, YouTube, and searches for merchandise might route users to Google Shopping.

Although the FTC said it uncovered some obvious instances of bias in Google‘s results during the investigation, the agency’s five commissioners unanimously concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to take legal action.

“Undoubtedly, Google took aggressive actions to gain advantage over rival search providers,” said Beth Wilkinson, a former federal prosecutor that the FTC hired to help steer the investigation. “However, the FTC’s mission is to protect competition, and not individual competitors.”

Two consumer rights groups lashed out at the FTC for letting Google off too easily.

“The FTC had a long list of grievances against Google to choose from when deciding if they unfairly used their dominance to crush their competitors, yet they failed to use their authority for the betterment of the marketplace,” said Steve Pociask, president of the American Consumer Institute.

John Simpson of frequent Google critic Consumer Watchdog asserted: “The FTC rolled over for Google.”

David Wales, who was the FTC’s antitrust enforcement chief in 2008 and early 2009, said the agency had to balance its desire to prevent a powerful company from trampling the competition against the difficulty of proving wrongdoing in a rapidly changing Internet search market.

“This is a product of the FTC wanting to push the envelope of antitrust enforcement without risking the danger of losing a case in in court,” said Wales, who wasn’t involved with the case and is now a partner at the law firm Jones Day.

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said the outcome “is good for consumers, it is good for competition, it is good for innovation and it is the right thing to do.” Before reaching its conclusion, the FTC reviewed more than 9 million pages of documents submitted by Google and its rivals and grilled top Internet industry executives during sworn depositions.

The Computer & Communications Industry Association, a technology trade group, applauded the FTC for its handling of the high-profile case.

“This was a prudent decision by the FTC that shows that antitrust enforcement, in the hands of responsible regulators, is sufficiently adaptable to the realities of the Internet age,” said Ed Black, the group’s president.

The FTC has previously been criticized for not doing more to curb Google‘s power. Most notably, the FTC signed off on Google‘s $ 3.2 billion purchase of online advertising service DoubleClick in 2008 and its $ 681 million acquisition of mobile ad service AdMob in 2010. Google critics contend those deals gave the company too much control over the pricing of digital ads, which account for the bulk of Google‘s revenue.

If Google breaks any part of the agreement, Leibowitz said the FTC can fine the company up to $ 16,000 per violation. Last year, the FTC determined that Google broke an agreement governing Internet privacy, resulting in a $ 22.5 million fine, though the company didn’t acknowledge any wrongdoing.

Google‘s ability to protect its search recipe from government-imposed changes represents a major victory for a company that has always tried to portray itself as force for good. The Mountain View, Calif., company has portrayed its dominant search engine as a free service that is constantly tweaking its formula so that people get the information they desire more quickly and concisely.

“The conclusion is clear: Google‘s services are good for users and good for competition,” David Drummond, Google‘s top lawyer, wrote in a Thursday blog post.

Google‘s tactics also have been extremely lucrative. Although Google has branched into smartphones and many other fields since its founding in a Silicon Valley garage in 1998, Internet search and advertising remains its financial backbone. The intertwined services still generate more than 90 percent of Google‘s revenue, which now exceeds $ 50 billion annually.

Throughout the FTC investigation, Google executives also sought to debunk the notion that the company’s recommendations are the final word on the Internet. They pointed out that consumers easily could go to Microsoft‘s Bing, Yahoo or other services to search for information. “Competition is just a click away,” became as much of a Google mantra as the company’s official motto: “Don’t be evil.”

Microsoft cast the FTC’s investigation as a missed opportunity.

“The FTC’s overall resolution of this matter is weak and — frankly —unusual,” Dave Heiner, Microsoft‘s deputy general counsel, wrote on the company’s blog. “We are concerned that the FTC may not have obtained adequate relief even on the few subjects that Google has agreed to address.”

FairSearch, a group whose membership includes Microsoft, called the FTC’s settlement “disappointing and premature,” given that European regulators might be able to force Google to make more extensive changes.

“The FTC’s inaction on the core question of search bias will only embolden Google to act more aggressively to misuse its monopoly power to harm other innovators,” FairSearch asserted.

Yelp also criticized the FTC’s handling of the case, calling “it a missed opportunity to protect innovation in the Internet economy, and the consumers and businesses that rely upon it.”

Investors had already been anticipating Google would emerge from the inquiry relatively unscathed.

Google‘s stock rose 42 cents Thursday to close at $ 723.67. Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Wash., shed 37 cents, or 1.3 percent, to finish at $ 27.25.

In a research note Thursday, Macquarie Securities analyst Benjamin Schachter described the settlement as “the best possible outcome” for Google. “We believe that the terms of the agreement will have very limited negative financial or strategic implications for the company.” Schachter wrote.

___

AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay in New York contributed to this story.

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Celebrities Who Had Babies Before Marriage

Kim Kardashian and Jessica Simpson are just some of the stars bucking tradition and having children before they say "I do."

Video- Kim K. Exclusive: Pregnancy is Hard

Tomorrow on ET, we break down the celebrity couples who set to welcome their bundles of joy prior to making it official with their main squeeze.

Also Friday, the world's thinnest woman shares her heartbreaking story.

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Deal makes Vanderbeek sole owner of Devils

Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek has finally struck a deal to refinance the team’s debt and buy out his partners, ending months of wrangling over the cash-strapped club.

The agreement with lenders gives Vanderbeek two and a half years to stabilize the team’s finances and meet certain financial targets, or they have the right to remove him as owner, sources said.

He has a chance of hitting his targets but it is far from a sure thing, one source added. Much depends on the new collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and its players and if the team makes the playoffs. The Devils last year missed debt payments and the NHL had to advance the team money to keep it operating.

Vanderbeek is now sole owner after buying out Michael Gilfillan, who owned 47 percent, and Peter Simon, who owned the remaining 6 percent.

“Our future is now secure, and we can be confident of continued on-ice success,” Vanderbeek said.

While financial details weren’t disclosed, Vanderbeek personally put down much of the $20 million that went to pay overdue loans and get lenders to agree to a $160 million package that covers both the team and arena debt.

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The return of the cranes: Miami-Dade construction projects on the horizon in 2013

The cranes are coming back to Miami.

The battered construction industry is going higher in the new year after showing strong signs of life in 2012. Will Miami feel more like Manhattan in a few years? It just might.

So far, there has been more talk than action, fewer shovels in the ground than grand announcements. Even so, construction is underway on a dozen new condominiums in Miami-Dade County — something that seemed beyond the realm of possibility not so long ago.

Commercial building is picking up, too, particularly in Miami’s hot new urban core.

The construction sector, which posted 62 consecutive months of job losses in Miami-Dade as of November 2012, is expected to finally begin adding jobs in 2013.

By far the centerpiece project to date is Brickell CityCentre, a $1.05 billion shopping and mixed-use project that broke ground in June 2012 and will span three blocks just west of Brickell Avenue to the south of the Miami River.

The 5-million-square-foot mega-project by developer Swire Properties will include a department store, luxury shops, restaurants, a hotel, office towers and condominiums. It is expected to be connected with bridges and covered walkways and to cement downtown Miami’s emerging image as a trendy place to work, live and play.

In Brickell alone, three new condominium projects already are under construction: Jorge Perez’s Related Group is building Millecento, a 42-story tower with 382 units, and MyBrickell, a smaller project with 28 stories and 192 units shoehorned onto a 0.4-acre site. Newgard Development Group is building BrickellHouse, a 46-story, 374-unit project.

More building, much more, is coming.

“We’re going to see a lot of cranes popping up in the first and second quarter, and a year from now, we’re going to see cranes all over the skyline,” said Tom Murphy Jr., chairman and CEO of Coastal Construction, a large Miami builder that is involved in various projects, from hotels to condominiums. “I believe we as a community — South Florida, especially Miami — will build more in the next 10 years than we did in the last 15.”

Among a long roster of projects, Coastal was tapped by developer DACRA for a major renovation project in the Design District, which in 2012 marked the arrival of luxury fashion retailers such as Cartier, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Celine, Christian Dior and Prada, adding a new dimension to an area already known for home furnishings and restaurants.

DACRA president and CEO Craig Robins has a broader plan to bring in 40 to 50 luxury brands to the Design District by 2014. The area will have a pedestrian promenade, rooftop gardens and public plazas, in keeping with Miami’s emerging urban scene.

The focus on commercial development in Miami’s urban core, is all about providing more services to cater to the new residents who want everything within walking distance.

Spanish developer Espacio USA will break ground in 2013 on the first phase of a $412 million mixed-use project at 1400 Biscayne Boulevard. Starting with one 103,000-square foot office tower, the project will eventually include retail shops and residential units.

“It’s becoming much more of a New York lifestyle, and we’ll continue to see that,” said Ron Shuffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors in Coral Gables.

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New Year is a good time to count your blessings

The new year is a great time to look back and consider how blessed you are. I try to do that every day, but often in my life I am overwhelmed at the enormous blessings the Lord has bestowed on me.

No, I didn’t get a great big financial windfall last year. And I walk with a cane, because of painful arthritis in one of my knees. Still, I am blessed. I can still walk.

A few years ago, I was told by two doctors that I was going blind. But today, I can see without eyeglasses. So, every time I pass a patch of flowering weeds along the road, I say a silent "Thank you," to the Lord for allowing me to see His beautiful handiwork. I even get excited when I see my mango tree heavy with new blossoms, signifying a bumper crop (hopefully) of mangoes this season. And when I see a momma bird caring for her young, it brings a smile to my face.

Yes, I have a lot to be thankful for as I go into this new year. And so do you. This is even more evident in a letter I received a few months ago from local gospel recording artist Pat Jackson. She briefly told her touching story of survival and blessings and wanted to know if I wanted to interview her. I did, and still do. However, Jackson’s email doesn’t seem to work and the number she enclosed in her letter was missing one digit.

Jackson said she is a survivor of thyroid cancer. Her story is so touching for this and any time of the year, that I will share with you what she shared with me in her letter.

Jackson, 50, has been plagued with serious health issues nearly all her life, that included multiple cysts, benign tumors, diverticulitis, ruptured intestines, four major surgeries, during one of which she nearly bled to death, survived six car accidents and a stray bullet that came through her sister’s home.

She never knew her biological mother or father and spent her entire childhood as a foster child. "I was very fortunate and was able to live in the same [foster] home until I became an adult," she said.

"But," she added, "Today, I am cancer-free, even though doctors doubted that I would ever be able to speak or sing again. To God be the glory, for allowing me life and a second chance," she wrote. She has an album titled, Lord, I’m Still Standing.

What’s your "I am thankful for another year" story? Tell me in a few words and I may use them in a future column.

Email them to me at: bea.hines@gmail.com, or write to me at: Bea L. Hines, c/o The Miami Herald, 2000 NW 150th Ave., Suite 1105, Pembroke Pines, FL 33028.

‘Jews of Asia and Africa’

If you want to be in the class, "Jews of Asia and Africa," to be offered at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, Jan. 9-April 17, you have until Jan. 9, to register.

The class will be taught by FIU research professors Nathan Katz and Tudor Parfitt, and is open to both degree-seeking FIU students and community members interested in taking the class on a auditing basis.

Community members interested in auditing the class may enroll through the Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education at 305-576-4030, ext. 128, or carlaspector@cajemiami.org. The cost is $295. Students seeking credit may enroll in course REL 4312 through FIU.

The 12-week course will look at the Jewish experience beyond Florida, which has been the traditional focus of the museum. The class will also feature guest speakers to include a visiting member of Zimbabwe’s Lemba Jewish community, and will employ different methodologies, from genetic anthropology to participant/observation findings.

For more information, contact Katz at nathan.katz@fiu.edu.

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Judge rejects part of Apple App Store suit vs Amazon

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Wednesday rejected part of Apple Inc‘s lawsuit against Amazon.com Inc‘s use of the term App Store, ruling Apple cannot bring a false advertising claim against the online retailer.

U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton in Oakland, California, granted Amazon‘s motion for partial summary judgment, which only challenged Apple’s false advertising allegations. Apple leveled other claims against Amazon, including trademark infringement.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment, and an Amazon representative could not be reached immediately.

Amazon has stepped up competition against Apple in recent years, launching its cheaper Kindle tablet computer to go after the dominant iPad and trying to lure mobile application developers to its Kindle platform.

One of the first public clashes in their tussle was Apple’s 2011 lawsuit.

Apple accused Amazon of misusing what it calls its APP STORE to solicit developers for a mobile software download service. However, Amazon said its so-called Appstore has become so generic that its use could not constitute false advertising.

In a legal filing last year, Amazon added that even Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook and his predecessor, Steve Jobs, used the term to discuss rivals. Cook commented on “the number of app stores out there” and Jobs referred to the “four app stores on Android.”

In her ruling on Wednesday, Hamilton wrote that the mere use of “Appstore” by Amazon cannot be taken as a representation that its service is the same as Apple’s.

“Apple has failed to establish that Amazon made any false statement (express or implied) of fact that actually deceived or had the tendency to deceive a substantial segment of its audience,” Hamilton wrote.

A trial on Apple’s remaining claims is scheduled for August.

The case is Apple Inc v. Amazon.com Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 11-01327.

(Additional reporting by Alistair Barr in San Francisco; Editing by Tim Dobbyn and Jeffrey Benkoe)

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Celebrity Weight Loss Secrets

Which celebs are triumphing over the battle of the bulge?

Related: Five Celebrity Diet Tips for 2013 Resolutions

From Christina Aguilera to Kirstie Alley, ET breaks down the stars who are staying trim during the holidays.

Also Thursday, Julianne Hough reveals physical and mental abuse as a child. Plus, an exclusive first look at Jennifer Lopez's sexy spread in Bazaar magazine.

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Take that, Tina!

Andrew Sullivan, one of the most prolific and high-profile writers for the Daily Beast, is leaving the IAC/InterActiveCorp-owned news venture and starting his own subscription website.

Sullivan, who arrived from The Atlantic with much fanfare two years ago to write The Dish blog for Daily Beast Editor Tina Brown, said in a blog post that his contract ended on Dec. 31.

He and executive editors Patrick Appel and Chris Bodenner formed their own company, Dish Publishing LLC. On Feb. 1, they will begin charging readers an annual subscription rate of $19.99 for access to the site, andrewsullivan.com.

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Just days after Tina Brown steered Newsweek into an online-only existence, she’s lost one of her biggest draws at the Daily Beast: journalist Andrew Sullivan.

The site will eschew ad dollars because of “how distracting and intrusive it can be, and how it often slows down the page painfully,” Sullivan wrote. “We felt more and more that getting readers to pay a small amount for content was the only truly solid future for online journalism.”

He thanked Brown and IAC/InterActiveCorp Chairman Barry Diller for hosting the Dish site.

“We’re sad to see him go, but we’re excited for him as he goes off to try something new,” said a Daily Beast spokesman.

The move is seen as a blow to Brown, who supervised the last print edition of Newsweek, which was folded into the Daily Beast, and laid off about 60 people on the 270-person staff. She will begin publishing a paid digital-only version starting this Friday for $29.99 a year.

“Her biggest mistake from the beginning was merging Newsweek into the Daily Beast, rather than vice versa,” said Samir Husni, a professor who founded the Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi’s Meek School of Journalism. “She was willing to kill a brand that was 80 years old that every household in America knew for one that nobody knows.”

A spokesman for Daily Beast declined to comment.

kkelly@nypost.com

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Portion of Macy’s Flagler Street property in downtown Miami sold

A New York firm bought part of the Macy’s building in downtown Miami and is expected to acquire the rest. The next priority is negotiating a new lease to keep Macy’s as a tenant.

In a deal that could have implications for the future of downtown Miami’s anchor retail tenant, a New York real estate investment firm paid $15.55 million to acquire more than half the property that now houses Macy’s Flagler Street store.

The acquisition by Aetna Realty Group includes the 48,000 square feet of land that was leased to R.W. Burdine in 1917. Until the recent sale, the property was owned by 23 heirs of Richard and Harriet Ashby, who signed the initial 99-year lease with Burdine. The lease expires in 2016.

The Ashby family began taking steps to prepare the property at the intersection of Miami Avenue and Flagler Street for sale nearly four years ago, said Lewis R. Cohen, a GrayRobinson lawyer who represented the Ashby family in the transaction that closed on New Year’s Eve.

Over the years, Macy’s and its predecessor, Burdines, grew the site’s downtown presence well beyond the Ashby land, and the current building now extends another 30,000 square feet of land. Aetna has also made a commitment to purchase the remaining portion of the building, that is currently owned by Macy’s, Cohen said. But that deal hasn’t closed yet.

“That deal is a sure thing,” Cohen said. “They could not have closed with us without having an agreement with Macy’s completely nailed down.”

When Macy’s decided not to purchase the Ashby land itself, the owners soughta third-party that could control both pieces. The reason: Improvements made to the store over the years straddled both properties, such as elevators and escalators starting on one parcel and ending on another.

“Between the engineering difficulties of severing the properties and the legal issues involved, it would have been somewhere between extremely expensive and impossible” for different entities to share control, Cohen said.

Aetna was one of three bidders interested in the site, Cohen said. One of the other players was the Barlington Group, a Miami developer that in 2011 signed a deal with Macy’s to sub-lease 20,000 square feet of empty ground-floor space for a mix of restaurants and cafes.

Macy’s spokesman Jim Sluzewski said this transaction doesn’t impact Macy’s current lease. He declined to comment on any other pending transaction regarding the property the retailer owns in downtown Miami.

“It’s business as usual,” said Sluzewski, who also would not discuss Macy’s long-term plans for downtown Miami beyond the expiration of its lease. The company’s roots in downtown Miami date to 1898, when the first Burdines opened in a nearby downtown location.

Aetna and its local attorneys did not respond to calls Wednesday for comments.

But Cohen said Macy’s is in the process of finalizing a short-term deal with the new owners.

“They intend to stay for at least the foreseeable future,” Cohen said. “For a minimum of five years they’ll be there and possibly longer.”

Downtown scene

Macy’s long-term future on Flagler Street has been in doubt since 2007, when Macy’s Florida then-Chairwoman Julie Greiner took city leaders to task for the deplorable conditions in downtown and threatened that the retailer might leave.

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