Restaurant royalty and SoBe style

For Miami restaurateurs, this is Showtime.With dozens of top toques — Bobby Flay, Todd English, Daniel Boloud and Masaharu Morimoto among the list — in town for the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, the pressure is on everywhere, from Michy’s to the new Catch Miami. The goal: Show everyone from around the country that Miami’s food scene has arrived on the national stage.Chef...

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The case of the phantom ballots: an electoral whodunit

The first phantom absentee ballot request hit the Miami-Dade elections website at 9:11 p.m. Saturday, July 7.The next one came at 9:14. Then 9:17. 9:22. 9:24. 9:25.Within 2½ weeks, 2,552 online requests arrived from voters who had not applied for absentee ballots. They streamed in much too quickly for real people to be filling them out. They originated from only a handful...

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Creep teach keeps his job

A lovesick Brooklyn teacher who stalked, assaulted and threatened another teacher for refusing to date him can keep his city job, The Post has learned. Salvatore Sparacino, 46, a gym teacher at It Takes a Village Academy HS in East Flatbush, vented his fury at a colleague when she spurned his romantic advances, according to testimony.“I’ll show you, you...

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Ian Schrager joins forces with chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten for new Edition Hotel

Two of the best-known names in their respective fields — hotelier Ian Schrager and chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten — have teamed up for the Edition Hotel in Miami Beach, they told The Miami Herald Friday.The partnership had not previously been officially announced, but the two were set to host a cocktail party Friday night at the site of the old Seville Beach hotel, 2901 Collins...

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Shots fired as Hialeah police attempt to stop a stolen vehicle, perimeter set up in search of suspects

A perimeter has been set up in Hialeah as police search for car thieves after shots were fired in an attempt to stop the vehicle.According to Hialeah police Sergeant Eddie Rodriguez, shots were fired as police approached a stolen blue mini-van in an attempt to make a stop. The occupants then fled and crashed into an occupied vehicle around the corner at East 6th Avenue. and...

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2013 Oscars Preview

Security is airtight at the Dolby Theater in the days leading up to Oscar Sunday, but ET has your ticket inside the heavily guarded streets of Hollywood as the Academy preps for the big day!Our Brooke Anderson even snagged a moment aside with host Seth MacFarlane where the funnyman revealed that nine-time emcee Billy Crystal was kind enough to give the newbie a few pointers. Despite the pep talk,...

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Pickup truck horror in Brooklyn: pedestrian crushed on cookie run

 William C Lopez/New York PostScene of the deadly accident in Brooklyn tonight.A Brooklyn woman was crushed to death by an out-of-control pickup tonight just seconds after she left a Brooklyn Heights cafe with a bag of cookies, cops and witnesses said.Martha Atwater, 48, had just paid for five horseshoe-shaped cookies and exited Bagel Cafe when the driver...

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National Hotel nears end of long renovation

A panel of frosted glass puts everything in perspective for Delphine Dray as she oversees a years-long, multi-million dollar renovation project at the National Hotel on Miami Beach.“Chez Claude and Simone,” says the piece of glass stationed between the lobby and restaurant, a reference to Dray’s parents, who bought the hotel in 2007. “Every time I am exhausted and I pass...

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Gas leak in Lauderdale-by-the Sea causes evacuation near A1A

More than 25 residents along a section of A1A have been evacuated due to a propane natural gas tank leak in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.A town spokesman said the leak is from an old, abandoned underground tank that began leaking Thursday, sending a smell of gas into the Palm Bay Club development at 5555 N. Ocean Blvd.“The abandoned tank was supposed to have been emptied, but it...

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2013 Oscar Preps

The Academy Awards are just three days away, and we're behind the scenes with celebrity Chef Wolfgang Puck and other taste makers to see just how the pros are preparing for Hollywood's biggest night, from the delicious food to the Green Room "oasis," décor and more. Roll out the Oscar red carpet!Pics: 2013 Oscar Presenters CLICK HERE to see this year's Official Governors Ball Menu.In addition to...

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Schools Fix Is In

Bob McManus So now it’s up to state Education Commissioner John King and his band of Albany bureaucrats to chum up an effective New York City teacher-evaluation system?With all due respect to the commissioner: Not bloody likely.And Gov. Cuomo, the architect of this latest scheme to coerce the United Federation of Teachers into doing...

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Caribbean cell phone company asks South Florida relatives to buy minutes for family back home

An Irish billionaire’s telecommunications company, which has revolutionized cell phone usage in some of the world’s poorest countries, is bringing it’s latest marketing pitch to South Florida.Digicel is tapping into South Florida’s close ties to Haiti and Jamaica in a campaign that asks families stateside to send minutes home.Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien has staked a claim...

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Police: Multiple people shot in Miami

Multiple people were shot Wednesday night in Miami near Southwest 24th Street and 26th Avenue, according to Miami police. The victims were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital.Police could not confirm how many people were shot or the extent of the injuries. This story will be updated as more information becomes available. ...

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Inside Robin Roberts First Day Back at Good Morning America

After 174 days away for treatment of a rare blood and marrow disorder, Robin Roberts made her triumphant return to Good Morning America on Wednesday, and only ET was invited behind the scenes of the emotional taping.ET cameras rolled as Roberts took her first steps back inside GMA's Times Square studio where, after a successful morning back, Rob Marciano sat down for a chat with the recovering host.Related:...

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Doling out dollars for downton

The Issue: The success of “Downton Abbey,” and whether it’s cause to end public funding of PBS. ***The editorial “Downton Abbey’s Welfare” (Feb. 16) is rather misleading.The American taxpayer in no way resembles Cora’s family, bailing out the Granthams and Downton Abbey. On the contrary, taxpayer dollars to public television amount to $1.35 per American,...

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Best photo apps for Android devices

Whether you want to slap a simple filter on your photo or get granular and change attributes like color levels and saturation, we’ve got a list of the Android apps you’ll want to use. Snapseed The good: With its unique gesture-based interface, this offers an incredible level of control over its effects and filters. The bad: The tools and interface aren’t...

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Cops, robbers and cameras

Hialeah deploys license-tag-reading cameras in its fight on crimeThe Hialeah Police Department is installing cameras at eight key intersections and equipping an undercover patrol with four high-definition cameras to snap photos of the license plates of thousands of vehicles a day — not to catch red-light runners but in a controversial attempt to stem the wave of robberies...

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Empire State of decline

Bob McManus Did Gov. Cuomo’s $2 billion millionaires’ tax hike of 15 months ago pinch off the public purse as a cash source for election-year spending sprees?So it would seem. Certainly nobody’s talking direct tax increases as New York’s two-year municipal/state election cycle proceeds.But that leaves the indirect route, a well-traveled...

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Open English expands across Latin America

Back in 2008, Open English, a company run from Miami that uses online courses to teach English in Latin America, had just a handful of students in Venezuela and three employees. Today the company has more than 50,000 students in 22 Latin American countries and some 2,000 employees.To fund this meteoric expansion, the founders of Open English — Venezuelans Andrés Moreno and...

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Inauguration poet Richard Blanco back in Miami for reading

The South Miami engineer who became the youngest poet to read at a presidential inauguration – and the first openly gay, as well as the first Hispanic to do so – is glad to be back home where his historic journey began.“I really, really missed Miami,” said Richard Blanco, 44, during a phone interview on Monday from his mother’s Miami home. He is visiting from his home in...

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Rihanna Unveils Her First Fashion Line

The Rihanna for River Island collection made its catwalk debut in London on Saturday, where the vibe felt more like a fun party than a fashion show.PICS: Hit or Miss?! "River Island is London-based and we had to do it here," Rihanna said over the thumping bass of hip-hop music. "It's home to the brand and this is where my opportunity was birthed and my relationship started with River Island right...

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Newtown massacre gunman wanted to exceed Norway shooter's death toll

The gunman who carried out the Newtown school massacre was inspired by violent video games — and was trying to outdo a Norwegian mass murderer who killed 77 people, it was reported today.Adam Lanza believed he was in ghoulish competition with Anders Breivik, who carried out a bloodbath at two locations in July 2011, law enforcement sources told CBS News.Breivik,...

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Small business lending rebounds in South Florida

For years, Pablo Oliveira dreamed of buying a property to house his high-end linen and furniture rental company, Nuage Designs, which has created settings for such glamorous events as the weddings of Carrie Underwood and Chelsea Clinton.A few months ago, that dream came true, when Oliveira purchased a warehouse across the street from his current Miami location. He is now...

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The builders of the Sen. Marco Rubio brand

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Marco Rubio is on a breathless rise, a testament to his political skill and demographic appeal that last week saw him delivering the Republican State of the Union response and appearing on the cover of Time as “The Republican Savior.”But behind the scenes is a relentless, methodical effort to build the Rubio brand, aided by a team of strategists and media...

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Mindy McCready Dies of Apparent Suicide

Sources confirm to ET that country music singer Mindy McCready has died. She was 37 years old.RELATED: Stars We LostAccording to a police report from the Cleburne County Sheriff's Office in Arkansas, deputies responded to a report of gun shots fired on Sunday afternoon. Upon arriving, officers reportedly found Mindy McCready's body on the front porch and pronounced her dead at the scene from what...

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A Mayor unplugged from reality

Mayor Bloomberg wants to double down on electric vehicles, but it’s a bad bet for New York.In his State of the City speech last week, Bloomberg said he wants to add 10,000 new electric-vehicle charging stations over the next seven years. To that end, he wants the City Council to amend building codes so that 20 percent of all new parking spaces must be “wired...

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