Florida colleges a bargain, says Kiplinger

Though Florida’s in-state tuition costs more than double what it did only a decade ago, many of the state’s public universities are still a good value, according to the latest annual “Best Values in Public Colleges” list compiled by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. Florida schools have long fared well in the magazine’s rankings, with this year being no exception. Six of Florida’s...

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Peeping tom suspect nabbed at Forever21 store at Sawgrass Mills mall

A suspected “peeping tom” was arrested Sunday after he was caught with video of women trying on clothes at the Forever21 store at the Sawgrass Mills mall. Andre Clements, 30, has been charged with video voyeurism and disorderly conduct, Sunrise police said. A manager at the store became suspicious when Clements, 30, was caught loitering in the dressing rooms. Customers...

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Movers roundup: Facebook, Best Buy

Among the stock activity stories for Monday, Dec. 31, from AP Business News:— Shares of Facebook Inc. rose after an analyst said advertising spending was picking up on the Internet social network and raised his rating on its stock.— Shares of Best Buy Co. rose on light volume as the struggling electronics retailer closed out a rocky year.— Shares of Duff & Phelps Corp. rose on news that the company...

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Here Come the Crazies

Here’s some scary news: The Cuomo administration is preparing to shove thousands of mentally ill New Yorkers out of supervised settings — where they can be forced to take their medication — into far less restrictive, far more dangerous “community housing.” This, despite two recent cases of people being fatally shoved from subway platforms — both allegedly...

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South Florida’s biggest business stories of 2012

For South Florida’s economy, 2012 centered on one main question: Would the recovery continue? The answer: Yes, and slowly.Housing values continue to climb, unemployment rates shrink, hiring grows and spending strengthens. And yet 2012 ends on the same general theme as 2011: Things are getting better, but at a slow enough pace that South Florida will have to wait at least...

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UM dean in running for Grammy award

After more than three decades in the music industry, Shelton “Shelly” Berg is a man who holds many titles: nationally-recognized jazz pianist, recording studio musician and arranger to artists such as Arturo Sandoval and Gloria Estefan. Not to mention dean of the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. Now Berg can add another distinction to the list: Grammy award nominee....

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Kobe Bryant Finally Joins Twitter — Kind Of

Long among the sports world’s biggest Twitter holdouts, Kobe Bryant has finally joined the social network. But he hasn’t opened an account, and won’t be around for long.Social savvy fans are being blessed with his presence thanks to Nike Basketball, which has turned over its account to Bryant since Tuesday.[More from Mashable: Avery Johnson’s Teenage Son Unloads on Twitter After NBA Firing]Nike Basketball,...

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Hillary Clinton Hospitalized for Blood Clot

Hillary Clinton was hospitalized in New York on Sunday after doctors discovered a blood clot. Pics: From the White House to the Altar: Chelsea Clinton Through the Years The 65-year-old Secretary of State's spokesman said the clot was found during a follow-up exam related to the concussion she sustained earlier this month when she fainted due to dehydration; Clinton was suffering from a stomach virus...

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Hold Brawley & Co. responsible

The Issue: Tawana Brawley, who accused innocent men of rape 25 years ago and is now resisting fines.***Tawana Brawley should pay what she owes to Steven Pagones (“Brawley’s Defiant Life in Hiding,” Dec. 23). After all, it was Brawley, with the feverish support of the Rev. Al Sharpton, Alton Maddox and C. Vernon Mason, who trashed the reputations of Pagones...

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Resources for South Florida small businesses

•  Florida Small Business Development Centers. Counseling and training at centers in South Florida and around the state, www.floridasbdc.org.•  SCORE Workshops, online training and free coaching at local branches, www.score.org, miamidade.score.org, browardscore.org, southbroward.score.org• Florida Women’s Business Center. Provides training, mentoring and...

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How Florida limits care for disabled kids

In a drab, cramped conference room in Doral, a 45-year-old single mother is fighting with the state to secure in-home nursing care for her severely disabled daughter — while the 10-year-old fights for her life.The mother sits across a wooden table from a state hearing officer who will decide whether health regulators were right to insist she get 18 hours each weekday of nursing...

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Buzzmakers: Kate Winslet's Wedding and Rider Strong's Engaged

What had ET readers buzzing this week?1. Kate Winslet Ties the Knot!Kate Winslet recently married her boyfriend Ned Rocknroll in a small, secret ceremony in New York.A rep for the 37-year-old Oscar winner tells ET, "I can confirm that Kate Winslet married Ned Rock'nRoll in NY earlier this month in a private ceremony attended by her two children and a very few friends and family." The rep added that...

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Forced diet at eateries

New York City’s restaurant industry slimmed down in 2012, ending the year with fewer openings and flat revenues, according to analysts and hospitality execs.“We had expected a better year coming out of the recession,” admitted a disappointed Jeremy Merrin, founder and president of Havana Central, the casual, full-service Cuban restaurants with Manhattan...

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Resources for South Florida small businesses

•  Florida Small Business Development Centers. Counseling and training at centers in South Florida and around the state, www.floridasbdc.org.•  SCORE Workshops, online training and free coaching at local branches, www.score.org, miamidade.score.org, browardscore.org, southbroward.score.org• Florida Women’s Business Center. Provides training, mentoring and...

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Former Miami Beach resident may be next Israeli ambassador to U.S.

Ron Dermer, a top adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and who has family ties to two former Miami Beach mayors, may soon become the next Israeli ambassador to the United States, according to reports in an Israeli newspaper.The daily Makor Rishon reported late Friday that the current ambassador, Michael Oren, plans to step down from his post in the spring...

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NYPD recruits sworn in at graduation ceremony

They came from all corners of the globe to join their brothers in blue.The NYPD recruits sworn in at a graduation ceremony in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center today were born in countries like Nigeria, South Korea, China, Albania, Pakistan, and Somalia — and speak 59 languages. Others came from less exotic locales like Brooklyn and Queens.The new class of 1,159...

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Drug overuse in cattle imperils human health

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Two children seriously injured in the Joplin, Mo., tornado in May 2011 showed up at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City suffering from antibiotic-resistant infections from dirt and debris in their wounds.Physicians tried different drugs, but at first nothing seemed to work.Blame the overuse of antibiotics in livestock, according to the doctors familiar...

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Relatives take to the streets for clues in the murder of Miami teen

The grieving parents of a slain 16-year-old boy took to the streets Thursday in an effort to find who killed the Miami Jackson Senior High 10th-grader.Bryan Herrera — who will be buried Friday — was shot to death days before Christmas while riding his bicycle in Allapattah. Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho helped Bryan’s parents hand out fliers Thursday....

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Inside Kate Winslet's Secret Wedding

We have new details about Kate Winslet's secret wedding to Ned Rocknroll! Who attended the nuptials? Did Kate's Titanic co-star Leonardo DiCaprio give her away? Watch the video to find out…Pics: Celebrity Weddings of 2012 Kate made her third trip down the aisle earlier this month in a small, private New York ceremony, and her spokesperson tells ET that it was attended "by her two children and a very...

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Over the cliff, cont’d

With the approaching fiscal cliff less than 100 hours away, things are getting awfully personal on Capitol Hill.Which means that the chances of reaching a deal to avoid expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts are approaching slim to none.And if they’re allowed to expire, it would trigger the largest tax hike in US history — meaning lots of pain and suffering,...

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Deadline to apply for free foreclosure case reviews is Monday

Florida residents who believe they suffered from shoddy foreclosure practices have through Monday to apply for a free case review that could net them up to $125,000 if wrongdoing is found.The program, which is overseen by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, began in November 2011 with an estimated 4 million eligibility letters mailed nationwide.As of late September,...

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Man set on fire Christmas night, Miami-Dade police are investigating

A 44-year-old man was set on fire Christmas night at a gas station in central Miami-Dade County. He was burned over 75 percent of body but remained alive Wednesday as his family pleaded for help in finding his attackers.It was a mystery why Darrell Brackett was set ablaze at the U-Gas station at 4700 NW 27th Ave. Miami-Dade police said they were treating the investigation...

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Analysis: Amazon’s Christmas faux pas shows risks in the cloud

(Reuters) – A Christmas Eve glitch traced to Amazon.com Inc that shuttered Netflix for users from Canada to South America highlights the risks that companies take when they move their datacenter operations to the cloud.While the high-profile failure – at least the third this year – may cause some Amazon Web Services customers to consider alternatives, it is unlikely to severely hurt a fast-growing...

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Kate Winslet Ties the Knot!

Kate Winslet recently married her boyfriend Ned Rocknroll in a small, secret ceremony in New York. A rep for the 37-year-old Oscar winner tells ET, "I can confirm that Kate Winslet married Ned Rock'nRoll in NY earlier this month in a private ceremony attended by her two children and a very few friends and family." The rep added that Kate and Ned got engaged over the summer.VIDEO: Kate Winslet's...

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George H.W. Bush in intensive care

HOUSTON — Former President George H.W. Bush has been admitted to the intensive care unit at a Houston hospital "following a series of setbacks including a persistent fever," but he is alert and talking to medical staff, his spokesman said Wednesday.Jim McGrath, Bush's spokesman in Houston, said in a brief email that Bush was admitted to the ICU at Methodist...

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Miami: We’re still busiest cruise port

Florida’s ports are steaming bow-to-bow in the race to be the world’s businest cruise ship port. Though some publications have reported Port Canaveral in the lead with 3,761,056 million for its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, PortMiami officials Monday said they had hosted 3,774,452 passengers during the same period, putting it slightly ahead. Fort Lauderdale’s PortEverglades...

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Lady Gaga Documentary Announced

The nearly 33 million Little Monsters who follow Lady Gaga on Twitter got a massive Christmas present this morning as the singer revealed she'll soon be coming to a theater near you! VIDEO - Lady Gaga Hosts Fame Picnic in Paris"Merry Christmas little monsters," Gaga wrote. "Terry Richardson is making a #LadyGagaMOVIE documenting my life, the creation of ARTPOP + you!""Thank you for being so patient...

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Christmas tornado causes damage from Louisiana to Alabama

NEW ORLEANS -- A Christmas Day twister outbreak left behind damage from Louisiana to Alabama while holiday travelers in the nation's much colder midsection battled sometimes treacherous driving conditions from freezing rain and blizzard conditions.In Mobile, Ala., a tornado or high winds damaged homes and knocked down power lines and large tree limbs in...

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Miami: We’re still busiest cruise port

Florida’s ports are steaming bow-to-bow in the race to be the world’s businest cruise ship port. Though some publications have reported Port Canaveral in the lead with 3,761,056 million for its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, PortMiami officials Monday said they had hosted 3,774,452 passengers during the same period, putting it slightly ahead. Fort Lauderdale’s PortEverglades...

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New generation of judges serving on federal bench in South Florida

For a fleeting moment this fall, U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. declared in jest that he wished he were “king of the world.” If he had such power, Scola said from the bench, he would deny a defense lawyer’s request to travel to Pakistan to question a group of defendants charged in a Miami terrorism case along with two Muslim clerics. Since the missing defendants...

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ET Exclusive: Jamie Foxx Opens His Home & Heart

Jamie Foxx may be the most eligible bachelor in Hollywood, and our own Nancy O'Dell is exclusively with the Oscar winner at his Santa Monica, CA home to talk about his career, his family and how he handles the media when there's a woman in his life.The star of the upcoming Django Unchained says the worst thing that can happen in a relationship is to go public with it: "I like to stay quiet with anyone...

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George H.W. Bush in hospital for Christmas

HOUSTON — Former President George H.W. Bush will spend Christmas with his wife and other family members in a Houston hospital after developing a fever and weakness following a monthlong, bronchitis-like cough, his spokesman said Monday.A hospital spokesman had said the 88-year-old ex-president would be released in time to spend the holiday at home, but...

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90-year-old real estate baron Jay Kislak is forever young

Real estate baron Jay I. Kislak discovered a Fountain of Youth of sorts that springs from an inquisitive and acquisitive mind.At 90, Kislak is wheeling and dealing in real estate, and he’s exploring history and art with the fervor of a man generations younger.The patriarch of The Kislak Organization marked 74 years in real estate this year, 59 spent in Miami. ...

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