Former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz pens book about reinventing the city

Former Miami mayors don’t usually write books anyone would want to publish, much less read.Then there’s Manny Diaz. Whether you admire him like many in Miami and across the country do, or excoriate him as some at home did, Diaz was hardly shy about embracing big plans and notions. And few would disagree that the city was a far different place when he exited City Hall in 2009...

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Stars Come Out For Restore The Shore Fundraiser

Celebrities from MTV and beyond came together Thursday night to lend their name to the network's Restore the Shore fundraiser in the wake of Superstorm Sandy's destruction of New Jersey's iconic Seaside Heights.Video: Tearful Snooki Witnesses Sandy's Devastation Stars from The Jersey Shore, Awkward, Teen Mom, The Real Housewives of New Jersey and Teen Wolf stepped up to man the phones for the special's...

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Watchdog groups question tourism agency’s CEO pick

TALLAHASSEE -- The day after the CEO of the state’s top tourism agency announced he was stepping down, board members quickly handpicked his replacement. There was only one problem. Picking Visit Florida’s chief marketing officer Will Seccombe to head the agency without doing a national search could upset the agency’s main funders — state legislators and Gov. Rick Scott.Visit...

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Concert tells tale of a ‘Tough Turkey’

Orchestra Miami will present a series of free family concerts, designed to introduce young children to classical music. At 7 p.m. Friday , the orchestra will perform "Tough Turkey in the Big City: A Thanksgiving Odyssey," by Bruce Adolphe and Louise Gikow at Miami Shores Presbyterian Church at 602 NE 96th St.At 1:30 p.m. Saturday the orchestra will bring the concert to the...

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RIM offers free voice calls over Wi-Fi with BBM

TORONTO (AP) — BlackBerry users will be able to make free voice calls over a Wi-Fi network using the popular BBM messaging service.Research In Motion Ltd. announced Wednesday that it’s adding the feature to BBM. Users will be able to switch back and forth from a text chat to a voice call. A split-screen option will let them talk and text at the same time. The...

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Ellen Throws Keira Knightley a Bridal Tea Party

In light of Keira Knightley's engagement to Klaxons keyboardist James Righton, Ellen DeGeneres has a refined surprise for British actress on her next show.PIC: Knightley 'Doesn't Mind' Going ToplessThe TV host throws Knightley a bridal tea party as a celebration of her upcoming wedding, which the Anna Karenina star admits she hasn't put much thought into."The problem is ever since [our engagement]...

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Met in fee-for-alll

There’s been a multimillion-dollar heist at the Met — and it’s being carried out by the museum itself, court papers charge.Two longtime Metropolitan Museum of Art members say they — and untold millions of others — were duped into paying for admission or memberships because the institution has done such a good job of hiding the fact that it’s supposed to...

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Steve Wozniak, Chris Hughes share tales with Coconut Grove audience

Co-founders from two of Silicon Valley’s most innovative companies gave a South Florida audience a glimpse into the early days of developing the technology that would reshape the world.Steve Wozniak, of Apple, and Chris Hughes, of Facebook, were back-to-back speakers for the three-day Americas Business Council’s Continuity Forum that wrapped up Wednesday at the Ritz-Carlton...

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Transit worker who was killed was walking on Metrorail tracks from disabled train

George Andrews, a Miami-Dade Transit employee who was killed Monday near the Earlington Heights station when a moving train struck him, was walking on the tracks after parking his train on a side track because it had been malfunctioning, the director of MDT, Ysela Llort, said Tuesday. “He had a train that was not functioning correctly and central control told him to park...

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Papa John’s falls on news of class-action suit

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Papa John‘s declined on Tuesday following news of class-action certification for a lawsuit that claims the pizza chain had unsolicited text messages sent to cell phones.THE SPARK: The lawsuit filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle claims Papa John‘s violated state and federal law when...

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‘8 Mile’ star gets off easy on beat rap

She’s at the top of the charts — and now she’s cleaning up her rap sheet, too.Songbird actress Taryn Manning, who played Eminem’s dysfunctional girlfriend in the 2002 movie “8 Mile,” agreed in a Manhattan courtroom yesterday to serve a day of community service to resolve charges that she pummeled her female assistant, Holli Hartman, 23, at the Dream Downtown...

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No touch screen? Stick with Windows 7

Q. I recently had to replace my 9-year-old Windows XP computer, and am having trouble adapting to Windows 7.What are the advantages, if any, for me to upgrade to Windows 8, which I’ve read has touch-screen capability and works with other equipment besides desktop computers? Since I don’t have a touch screen, I’m wondering if there is any point in upgrading.Peter Robinson...

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South Florida disaster team heads north to help after Sandy

The 52 colorful quilts were neatly folded into a red duffel bag and hand-carried to New York City on Monday, where a local fire department will distribute them to victims of Hurricane Sandy.The gifts from the East Sunrise Quilters Guild were brought north by nurse and educator Debra Hauss-DeJesse, one of 42 members of the South Florida Disaster Medical Assistance Team who...

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Lakers intrigued by chance to play for D’Antoni

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Pau Gasol got home from the game and read about it on Twitter, while Dwight Howard got a midnight message on his BlackBerry. They shared most Los Angeles Lakers fans’ mix of surprise, trepidation and anticipation.Just when everybody thought the Lakers were getting back together with Phil Jackson, they switched course in the middle...

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One Direction on What They Look for in a Girl

Ellen DeGeneres is holding her biggest outdoor concert ever with British pop sensation One Direction on Thursday, and we have an advance clip.RELATED: One Direction Plays Catch with Super Bowl ChampDuring the sit-down portion, the boys answer the crucial questions: Which members are single and what do they look for in a girl?"I like someone that's cute. Someone I can have a laugh with. And I also...

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SI cops’ killer eyed as too dumb for death

They say he’s too dumb to die for his heinous crimes.A federal judge has scheduled a series of hearings later this month for testimony about whether a man convicted of the execution-style murder of two undercover NYPD officers is mentally competent to face the death penalty — again.Ronell Wilson (pictured) has already been convicted of the point-blank shooting...

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Noven’s niche: The Miami company is key producer of transdermal patches

At the Noven Pharmaceuticals plant in southwest Miami, scientists and technicians use highly specialized machinery to blend prescription medications and adhesives to make layered transdermal patches that release precise quantities of drugs over time after being applied to a patient’s skin.Noven, a subsidiary of Japan’s Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical, has about 700 employees nationwide...

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Two more Cuban dissidents allege abuse by former prison official now living in Miami

Two more Cuban dissidents have alleged that they were abused personally or on the orders of a former Villa Clara provincial prison chief Crescencio Marino Rivero, who now lives in Miami. Rivero, 71, and his wife Juana Ferrer, both former officers in Cuba’s Interior Ministry and members of the ruling Communist Party, appear to have obtained their U.S. visas and residency without...

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Self-publishing industry explodes, brings rewards, challenges

The publishing world is being upended, and reinvented, by people like Hugh Howey, Ily Goyanes and Kristy Montee.They are part of a movement using the power of e-books and the Internet to lead publishing into a new frontier, and through the biggest upheaval of the industry since Guttenberg’s press.“It’s the Wild West,” Montee said. “It is literally changing at the speed of...

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Course to explore Jewish communities in Asia, Africa

Florida International University research professors Nathan Katz and Tudor Parfitt, considered to be the world’s leading authorities on Eastern Jewish communities, will explore the Jewish experience in Asia and Africa in a new, 13-week course to be offered at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, 301 Washington Ave. in Miami Beach.The course will look at the Jewish experience...

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Taiwan’s HTC settles patent disputes with Apple

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp. has settled with Apple Inc. on their outstanding patent disputes.In a joint statement Sunday, the two companies said they also signed a 10-year license agreement that will extend to current and future patents held by one other. Apple and HTC had battled patents...

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Buzzmakers: Brooke's Cancer Fight & World War Z

What had ET readers buzzing this week?1. It's Brad vs. Zombies in World War ZZombie attack!!! Brad Pitt plays a family man and United Nations employee who faces a deadly zombie pandemic in World War Z -- we gave you an exclusive first look and now we've got the intense trailer!Just when you thought that the zombie genre may be starting to generate less screams and more Zzzz's, World War Z arrives...

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Home leveled, other houses ablaze in Indianapolis explosion

INDIANAPOLIS — Authorities say a loud explosion has leveled a home in Indianapolis and set four others ablaze in a neighborhood, causing several injuries.Capt. Rita Burris with the Indiana Fire Department told The Associated Press that firefighters are still working to put out the flames after the explosion around 11 p.m. Saturday.She told AP early Sunday...

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Gov. Rick Scott may shift stance on health reform law

With the reelection of President Barack Obama, Florida’s Republican leaders are reconsidering their fervent opposition to federal healthcare reform, triggering a discussion that could have huge repercussions for South Florida.At stake is more than $6 billion in federal funding for Miami-Dade and Broward over the next decade and the possibility of health insurance for a large...

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