Hollywood cardiologist’s ties with St. Jude sales rep raises red flags

Mark Sabbota, a Hollywood cardiologist, regularly implants $5,000 pacemakers in patients at Memorial hospitals in South Broward — generating, last year alone, more than a half-million dollars in sales for a manufacturer called St. Jude Medical. Sabbota, public records show, also happens to be partners with a St. Jude sales rep in two corporations that run frozen yogurt shops....

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Gov. Rick Scott pushes “Finish in Four” tuition plan to save college students money

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Rick Scott’s push to keep tuition low includes a new twist submitted with his budget for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1. The governor’s idea: tuition should be the same when students graduate as when they start.Scott has offered legislation that would hold tuition steady for four years for students entering a state university this fall or...

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Nebraska Lieutenant Governor Sheehy resigns over phone scandal

(Reuters) – Nebraska Lieutenant Governor Rick Sheehy, the leading candidate to replace the current governor in the next election, resigned on Saturday after a newspaper investigation raised questions about improper cell phone calls made to women.The Omaha World-Herald investigation found that the 53-year-old Republican made about 2,000 late-night calls to four women, other than his wife, on his state-issued...

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Buzzmakers: SAG Winners Pics and Nicole Kidman Explains Jimmy Kimmel Lap Dance

What had ET readers buzzing this week?1. PICS: SAG Winners with their Statues! Some of Hollywood's biggest stars gathered Sunday night to honor acting achievements at the 2013 Screen Actors Guild Awards. Anne Hathaway -- winner of the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Les Misérables -- kicks off our gallery of the stars accepting their handsome statuettes!Click...

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America's hunger games

For all the talk about our slow climb out of the worst recession since the Great Depression, this past week brought some alarming news: The unemployment rate climbed to 7.9 percent, and in the fourth quarter of 2012 the US economy shrunk again. Most distressing is the years-long trend that shows no sign of reversing: The middle class is disappearing. A...

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Healthcare experts see bumpy road ahead: “Shift happens”

The healthcare industry in South Florida, like the rest of the country, faces huge challenges in the year ahead as major federal reforms kick in, experts told about 700 people at a University of Miami conference on Friday.“We are at a critical time in health policy,” said Mark McClellan, former head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “There are going to be...

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At University of Miami, Justice Sonia Sotomayor gets real

From her days as a young girl in the Bronx being raised by her mother after the death of her father to becoming the first Hispanic on the highest judicial body in the country, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor told the story of her journey before a captivated audience at the University of Miami on Friday night.Sotomayor spoke with University of Miami President Donna...

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BlackBerry chooses more traditional route to drum up buzz over Super Bowl ad

TORONTO – After a week of massive hype for its new smartphones, BlackBerry has decided to remain secretive about its Super Bowl commercial in an effort to squeeze every bit of juice out of the pricey advertising campaign.The Waterloo, Ont.-based company, formerly known as Research In Motion (TSX:RIM), released a single frame of the 30-second TV spot on Friday, without any explanation of what it was,...

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Brandi Glanville Talks Plastic Surgery and Says She's Done Talking About Eddie Cibrian and LeAnn Rimes

Brandi Glanville's new tell-all, Drinking and Tweeting: And Other Brandi Blunders, is chock-full of juicy stories about her ex husband Eddie Cibrian, but The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star says that after promotion wraps on the book, she will no longer speak out about the actor and his wife LeAnn Rimes.Pics: LeAnn Rimes Defends Self with Teeny Weeny Bikini Photos "As soon the book tour is over,...

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9-year-old falls three stories in Bronx

A nine year-old child fell three stories from an apartment window on Featherbed Lane and Nelson Avenue at 6:30 p.m., cops said. "He was laying on the floor without a t-shirt on. He wasn't moving but he was crying for his mommy. He was crying 'mommy! mommy!' He was bleeding from the chest and he was almost naked,” Wanda Simonetti,59, a neighbor on the second...

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Mompreneur jumps into the ‘Shark Tank’

It all started with a 4 a.m. email nearly a year ago: “Do you think a baby bib could change the world? I do...”Then Susie Taylor included a link to her website, bibbitec.com, and off it went to Shark Tank, the popular ABC television show where entrepreneurs pitch their companies to investors on the show — and by extension, 7 million viewers.Four months later, as the “mompreneur”...

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Under fire, Miami-Dade nursing home closing its pediatric unit

A Miami Gardens nursing home linked to the deaths of two youngsters is closing its 60-bed children’s unit, the epicenter of a bitter dispute over Florida’s system of care for profoundly sick and disabled children.About a week ago, Golden Glades Nursing & Rehabilitation Center informed state health administrators of its plan to shut down the harshly criticized pediatric...

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BSkyB to offer sports channels online for daily fee

LONDON (Reuters) – BSkyB will offer its popular sports channels online for a daily fee, seeking new customers to offset slowing growth at its core pay-TV service amid sluggish consumer spending.Sky, Britain’s dominant pay-TV group which provides fixed-line telephony, TV and broadband to 10.7 million households, has adapted its strategy during the economic downturn after years of chasing new subscribers...

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E-Trade Baby Has the Time of His Life in Super Bowl Commercial

If this is how his life begins, we can't wait to see him in his prime!PICS: Inside Beyonce's Super Bowl Rehearsals! In the new E-Trade Super Bowl commercial, America's favorite talking toddler shows what an investor could do with all the money they could potentially save as an E-Trade client.Check out the hilarious clip above to see photos of the perennial infant balling out of control at hip nightclubs...

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Hagel was so bad ...

John Podhoretz ‘I’ve said many, many things over many, many years,” said Chuck Hagel, the president’s nominee for secretary of defense, in a Senate hearing yesterday. He was trying, for the umpteenth time during his testimony, to explain away another of the many, many impolitic statements that have come to light over the past couple...

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Mompreneur jumps into the ‘Shark Tank’

It all started with a 4 a.m. email nearly a year ago: “Do you think a baby bib could change the world? I do...”Then Susie Taylor included a link to her website, bibbitec.com, and off it went to Shark Tank, the popular ABC television show where entrepreneurs pitch their companies to investors on the show — and by extension, 7 million viewers.Four months later, as the “mompreneur”...

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Suspicious note on rental car at MIA leads to evacuation

A floor of the Miami International Airport rental car center was evacuated Wednesday after a report of a threatening note left on a rental car.Police spokesman Javier Baez said the note was found on a Hertz rental car at the Miami Intermodal Center, 3900 NW 25th St. Service on Metrorail’s Orange Line, which goes to the airport, was temporarily suspended, according to Miami...

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RIM rebrands as BlackBerry; launches nifty new devices

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Research In Motion Ltd on Wednesday unveiled the long-delayed line of smartphones it hopes will put it on the comeback trail, but it disappointed investors by saying U.S. sales of its all-new BlackBerry 10 devices will not start until March, sending its share price tumbling 12 percent.Chief Executive Thorsten Heins also announced that RIM was abandoning the name it has used since...

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First Look at Iron Man 3 Super Bowl Trailer

Tony Stark is back!ET was first to preview Iron Man 3's highly anticipated Super Bowl spot tonight, and just in case you missed it, you can watch the :10 second teaser right here!Pics: Stars on Set! Be sure to tune in Sunday for the full spot.In theaters May 3, 2013, Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds....

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Just sold!

ManhattanHARLEM $1,995,000111 Central Park NorthThree-bedroom, three-bath condo, 1,914 square feet, with glass balcony, floor-to-ceiling windows, walk-in closet, washer/dryer and Central Park views; building features doorman, parking, roof deck, gym and party room. Common charges $2,170, taxes $467. Asking price $1,995,000, on market 34 weeks. Brokers:...

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In later life, many Americans turn to ‘encore careers’

Don Causey was beginning to plan his retirement, selling off his profitable sporting newsletters when his life took a horrific turn. While on a safari on a long anticipated trip to Africa, a tree tumbled onto him, breaking his back. The process of getting a medical transport to take him from a remote village back to Miami proved arduous and costly. Today Causey’s back is...

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South Miami police supplier hires chief's son

The Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics said last week that the South Miami Police Department can continue to purchase equipment from Lou’s Police Distributors, a company that recently hired the police chief’s son. “The son has no direct or indirect financial ownership in the company and will not be involved in the local contract, or profit from it,” the commission on ethics...

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New BlackBerry to Be ‘Most Comprehensive in Mobile History’

RIM is finally ready with its answer to Apple’s iPhone and the many Android smartphones. After months of delays, RIM CEO Thorsten Heins, along with others from the company, will take the stage Wednesday in New York to unveil the final version of BlackBerry 10, the next version of RIM’s phone software, and the phones that will run it.“We expect tomorrow to really be the kickoff for the introduction...

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James Franco Disses Amazing Spider Man

It seems Spider-Man alum James Franco isn't too keen about the recent relaunch of the web-slinging franchise starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone.In an interview with MTV News, Franco (who played Peter Parker's frenemy Harry Osborn in the series) is asked to share his thoughts on director Marc Webb's follow up to Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy. His response was not exactly positive.Pics: Amazing...

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Ground Zero’s new face: No substitute for the twins

The Issue: The almost complete 1 World Trade Center at Ground Zero and its affect on the skyline.***If Steve Cuozzo thinks that freedom is singing at Ground Zero, he is seriously tone-deaf (“Freedom Sings,” PostScript, Jan. 27). If Cuozzo were really a part of the common rabble, he would never have written a column that tried to build the Freedom Tower...

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Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge opens for entries

Entrepreneurs, please don’t let the name of our contest scare you.As we launch our 15th annual Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge today, we are putting out our annual call for entries. But we aren’t looking for long, laboriously detailed business plans. Quite the contrary.More and more, today’s investors in very early stage companies want to see a succinct presentation...

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Lauderhill police investigating homicide; searching for suspect

Lauderhill police Monday night were investigating an apparent homicide.Details were sketchy, but police said just before 9 p.m. a woman was shot and killed on the 2800 block of Northwest 55th Avenue.The victim was dead at the scene. K-9 units were in the area searching for a possible suspect and a public information officer is now at the scene. This story...

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His cat, his lunch and a high five: Harper’s day chronicled on Twitter

OTTAWA – One of the cardinal rules of social media: no one cares what you had for lunch. Unless, perhaps, you’re the prime minister.The people behind Stephen Harper‘s Twitter account are using the first day of Parliament’s winter sitting to provide an intimate look at how the prime minister spends his day.The posts include a video of Harper’s ride to work, photos of breakfast with his cat Stanley...

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2013 SAGs: ET Crowns Best and Worst Dressed Star

Who took the top (and bottom) spot this year?Anne Hathaway, Kerry Washington, Jessica Chastain and Amanda Seyfried earned rave reviews for their fashionably flawless turns on the 2013 Screen Actor's Guild Award's red carpet on Sunday, but only one actress has the notable distinction of being crowned ET's best-dressed star.Pics: The SAG Awards Fashion Tops & Flops Click the video to see which lovely...

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NYC’s murder freeze

Murder took a break last week — New York enjoyed a 10-day stretch without a single homicide, a span that ended Saturday with a shooting in Queens at 6:03 p.m.Many chalked it up to the frigid temperatures that descended on the city. But it was even icier in the Midwest. And yet that didn’t stop Chicago from seeing 12 people murdered with guns over the same...

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Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge opens for entries

Entrepreneurs, please don’t let the name of our contest scare you.As we launch our 15th annual Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge today, we are putting out our annual call for entries. But we aren’t looking for long, laboriously detailed business plans. Quite the contrary.More and more, today’s investors in very early stage companies want to see a succinct presentation...

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Free-market conservative leads Gov. Rick Scott’s jobs agency

TALLAHASSEE -- The Department of Economic Opportunity is one of the most critical agencies in Gov. Rick Scott’s administration, and it has run through four directors — two permanent, two interim — since it launched 16 months ago.After the fleeting tenures of three bureaucrats and a banker, Scott’s handpicked director, Jesse Panuccio, began his term as the agency’s fifth director...

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