An alleged drug “queenpin” accuses Miami prosecutors of misconduct before her trial

Sandra Avila Beltrán, once known as the “Queen of the Pacific” in the Latin American drug trade, is accusing Miami prosecutors of lying about her role in cocaine shipments to the United States to persuade Mexican authorities to extradite her last year.

For Avila, a dark-haired beauty who stood out in a narco-trafficking world dominated by macho men, the misconduct accusation is a final bid to save her neck as she faces trial — or a possible plea deal — later this month.

Her defense lawyers are seeking to have a 2004 indictment dismissed, but it’s a likely long shot. If convicted of two conspiracy charges alleging drug importation and distribution, the 52-year-old Avila could spend the rest of her life in prison.

Her attorneys claim in a court filing that a federal prosecutor and drug agent were aware that signed declarations by codefendants — including Avila’s ex-boyfriend — were “riddled with falsehoods and misstatements.” Yet Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Morales submitted the evidence to Mexican authorities in 2010 to persuade them to extradite Avila, according to the defense lawyers, Stephen Ralls and Howard Schumacher.

Morales’ successor in the case, prosecutor Cynthia Wood, said in court papers the allegations against him were “false” and “without foundation.”

Avila’s reputation as the Queen of the Pacific was gained by her dominant role in the powerful Sinaloa cartel, her romantic relationship with a Colombian drug-trafficker and her influence over ocean supply routes.

Mexicans, along with the news media, have long been fascinated with Avila, who was arrested in her country in 2007. They constantly followed details of her taste for high fashion, gourmet food and beauty secrets. One rumor that made the rounds: A doctor visited her while she was jailed in Mexico to administer her Botox injections.

Last summer, a Mexican court and foreign secretary granted her extradition on the U.S. narco-trafficking indictment, which has alleged links to a cocaine deal in Chicago and a cocaine seizure in Manzanillo more than a decade ago.

Avila’s attorneys claim that Morales, the prosecutor, pressured her ex-boyfriend, Juan Diego Espinosa Ramirez, who was convicted in the same case, to sign a March 2010 declaration implicating her in the Chicago deal — without his defense attorney present. They said his declaration was instrumental in her extradition to the United States.

But according to Espinosa, “his declaration was not freely and voluntarily provided and he was denied the advice of counsel prior to signing the document,” Avila’s attorneys said in court papers.

Espinosa said in the declaration that Avila participated in a 100-kilo cocaine shipment with a trafficker named Juan Carlos Lopez Correa in 2001. And that after the cocaine was delivered to Chicago, Lopez Correa became responsible for the debt on the drug deal, he said.

On Sept. 14, 2001, federal agents intercepted a telephone call in which Espinosa, Avila and Lopez Correa allegedly discussed his outstanding payment. During the call, Espinosa asked Lopez Correa to pay for the shipment.

The current prosecutor in the case, Wood, pointed out that Espinosa’s declaration was similar to the factual statement he and his defense attorney signed in June 2009, when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine.

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When the latest layoff story is about you

It’s an odd feeling reading in the newspaper about losing your job. I didn’t learn about being fired in the newspaper but the story of losing my position was there. Why I lost my job (along with more than a dozen of my colleagues) was the lead story in the business section of The Miami Herald on Feb. 22. It even had a picture of me right next to the paragraph describing how we lost our jobs with the public television program Nightly Business Report.

What’s nice about sharing your employment woes with the entire community is the outpouring of support you get. I received dozens of emails from friends, fans and colleagues across the country, expressing sympathy and pledging to help any way they could. It is humbling to hear how you have impacted people’s lives, especially those you don’t know directly. The range of emotions you feel when you face a job loss can be overwhelming, but a short email or voicemail from an associate can lift your spirits, giving you the strength to press on. The medium of the messages does not matter. A tweet of support, LinkedIn endorsement or text message of sympathy fuels the encouragement to face the anxiety of joblessness.

After news of my job elimination was in the newspaper and blogosphere, there were compassionate glances from fellow parents on the sidelines of the kids’ weekend soccer games. I didn’t have to break the news — most had already read about it. A pedestrian on the sidewalk stopped me in mid-stride to express his disappointment. The inevitable questions came: What are you going to do? Will you stay? Do you have anything you’re working on?

I am lucky my employment status was on the business front page. Thousands of other people are treated as statistics. As a business journalist, I have been guilty of that. Company layoffs numbering in the dozens as ours did rarely demand attention. The cuts have to be in the thousands to have any hope of getting much media attention. Even then, it’s only a number. The names of those losing their jobs are known only to their HR departments, in order to fill out the paperwork. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the nature of job loss. Each job cut is a story that begins en masse in boardrooms and offices but plays out individually in kitchens and living rooms across America.

In January, there were more than 1,300 mass layoffs of U.S. workers. A mass layoff impacts at least 50 people from a single company. More than 134,000 individuals were involved in such action, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. My job loss and that of my colleagues won’t show up in February’s report. There were too few of us. Some of us will appear in other employment data, but we will be just statistics. Each of those statistics has groceries to buy, bills to pay and hope for a new opportunity.

In a $16 trillion economy, it’s understandable that we become statistics. The stakes are just too big to pick up the noise from any of our individual unemployment stories. The weekly and government reports I have spent my career reporting on don’t ask why. They don’t ask who. They only ask how many. It’s our friends and family and colleagues who ask, “How can I help?”

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Modern Family Stars Get Stuck in Crowded Elevator

No good deed goes unpunished.

PICS: Candid Celeb Sightings

While on their way to a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kansas City on Friday night, three stars of ABC's hit sitcom Modern Family were trapped in a crowded elevator for almost an hour, ABC News reports.

Julie Bowen, Eric Stonestreet and Jesse Tyler Ferguson took pictures together during the ordeal, which Ferguson posted to his Twitter account.

"This is us right now. 45 minutes stuck in this elevator," Ferguson wrote, captioning the snapshot from the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel's third floor.

The actors were an hour late to the event after the Kansas City Fire Department rescued them, but they maintained a good sense of humor about their plight, reportedly joking about the ordeal on stage.

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Smile! Polar bear cub debuts at Buffalo Zoo

AP

Behind bars, a 3-month-old polar bear cub 'mugs' for the cameras at the Buffalo Zoo.

BUFFALO — A smiling, playful 3-month-old polar bear cub has made its public debut at the Buffalo Zoo in western New York.

The fluffy white cub was introduced Friday as the zoo announced the next phase of fundraising for a new $18 million polar bear exhibit. About $4 million is still needed.

The Buffalo Zoo says it's one of only two zoos in North America to have polar bear births in 2012.

The cub is still too small to exhibit but she's visible via closed-circuit television at the zoo on weekday afternoons.

AP

The cub plays around with her keeper as she is introduced.

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AFFORDABLE CARE ACT DOESN’T COVER LONG-TERM CARE POLICIES

Starting next year, the Affordable Care Act will largely prohibit insurers who sell individual and small-group health policies from charging women higher premiums than men for the same coverage.

Long-term-care insurance, however, isn’t bound by that law, and the country’s largest provider of such coverage has announced it will begin setting its prices based on sex this spring.

“Gender pricing is good for insurance companies,” said Bonnie Burns, a policy specialist at California Health Advocates, a Medicare advocacy and education organization, “but it’s bad public policy and it’s bad for women.”

Genworth Financial says the new pricing reflects the fact that women receive two of every three claims dollars. The change will affect only women who buy new individual policies, or about 10 percent of all purchasers, according to the company. The new rates won’t be applied to existing policyholders or those who apply as a couple with their husbands.

“This change is being made now to reflect our actual claims experience and help stabilize pricing,” Genworth Financial spokesman Thomas Topinka said in an email.

Women’s premiums may increase by 20 to 40 percent under the new pricing policy, said Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. The average annual premium for a 55-year-old who qualified for preferred health discounts and bought between $165,000 and $200,000 of coverage was $1,720 last year, according to the association.

Experts say they expect other long-term-care insurers will soon follow suit.

Long-term-care insurance provides protection for people who need help with basic daily tasks such as bathing and dressing. It typically pays a set amount for a certain number of years — say, $150 daily for three years — for care provided in a nursing home, assisted living facility or at home. Never a very popular product with consumers, many of whom found it unaffordable, in recent years the industry has struggled and many carriers have raised premiums by double digits or left the market.

Consumer health advocates say they aren’t surprised that women’s claims for long-term-care insurance are higher than men’s.

Because women typically live longer than men, they frequently act as caregivers when their husbands need long-term care, advocates say, thus reducing the need for nursing help that insurance might otherwise pay for. Once a woman needs care, however, there may be no one left to provide it.

“Women live longer alone than men,” Burns said. “If you don’t have a live-in caregiver when you start needing this kind of care, you’re in big trouble.”

LuMarie Polivka-West knows the potential problems all too well. Polivka-West, 64, is the senior director of policy and program development for the Florida Health Care Association, a trade organization for nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

About 15 years ago, she bought a long-term-care policy. The company went out of business after five years, and she let her policy lapse rather than switch to another plan with higher premiums and less comprehensive coverage. But she’s reconsidering that decision. Polivka-West’s husband is four years older than she is. Her mother died of Alzheimer’s disease at age 89 after struggling with it for eight years. What if a similar fate awaits her?

Polivka-West thinks insurers shouldn’t be allowed to charge her more just because she’s a woman.

“The Affordable Care Act recognized the gender bias in health insurance,” she said. “The same (rules) should apply to long-term-care insurance.”

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Fabiola Santiago: In Spain, the truth starts to come out about Paya “accident”

At long last, Angel Carromero has broken his silence from the confines of his negotiated parole status in Spain.

He was the woozy-eyed Spanish political activist seen from Havana on a prosecutorial videotape issuing an unconvincing mea culpa that he was driving too fast, that he was at fault for the deaths of two prominent Cuban dissidents in a car crash last summer.

Carromero’s “trial” for the deaths of Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero was Cuban political theater at its best, a closed-door concoction to cover up wrongdoing — state-sponsored murder? — a tactic Cubans in exile know too well.

With Carromero now back in his homeland, the light of truth — tenuous but illuminating — has begun to shine on the deaths of human rights champion Payá and Cepero, the young activist who accompanied the respected leader on a trip across the island to spread the message of peaceful, democratic change.

The car crash in which Payá and Cepero lost their lives on July 22 was no accident, Carromero told Payá’s family in Spain this week. Another vehicle rammed the car Carromero was driving and forced it off the road, he said.

While Payá and Cepero, the ones seriously hurt, were left in the car, men in a third car took away Carromero and Swedish politician Jens Aron Modig, another human rights activist accompanying them.

“We don’t know what happened to my father and [Cepero] … but hours later they were both dead,” Payá’s daughter, Rosa María, told El Nuevo Herald after her conversation with Carromero.

The Cuban government contends that Payá died instantly and that Cepero died a few hours later in a Bayamo hospital. But they have refused to allow anyone to see the autopsy reports.

Modig, at first detained along with Carromero, was allowed to return to Stockholm after Carromero issued his mea culpa. He has remained silent as the Spanish government negotiated Carromero’s return to Spain to serve out his Cuban sentence.

In Cuban custody, the only way to survive is to outsmart the jailers. Carromero and Modig did what they had to to secure their way out of Cuba.

But it’s time now to speak up and tell the truth — and for the governments of the European Union, Latin America and the United States to push for an international investigation of the car crash and its aftermath.

In a parliamentary hearing Thursday, Spanish government leaders admitted under pressure that they’re in a tenuous situation with Cuba because four Spanish citizens remain in Cuban prisons and they’re negotiating those releases as well. It sounded almost like an admission of blackmail.

Payá and Cepero deserve justice.

Both men had been accosted by pro-government mobs, were constantly followed by state security, and had been repeatedly threatened. In fact, Payá didn’t make trips outside of Havana because of the danger, but in the Europeans’ company he felt a measure of safety.

A state-sponsored murder is a serious charge, but this is nothing new for a government with a record of dealing violently with the peaceful opposition.

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Ellen DeGeneres Pens Open Letter to Supreme Court to Pass Prop 8 for Gay Marriage

With a touch of her trademark humor, Ellen DeGeneres tackles a very serious topic close to the talk show host's heart: gay marriage.

In an open letter posted to her website, Ellen reaches out to members of the Supreme Court, who will soon decide the fate of same-sex couples who wish to wed.

Pics: 'Amazing Race' Stars Cheer Up Bullied Gay Fan

"Portia and I have been married for 4 years and they have been the happiest of my life," she blogs of her longtime partner Portia De Rossi. "And in those 4 years, I don't think we hurt anyone else's marriage. I asked all of my neighbors and they say they're fine."

Ellen, who tied the knot in 2008 during a brief period when gay marriage was legal in California, now urges the powers that be to open their heart and extend the privilege to every gay couple.

"I hope the Supreme Court will do the right thing, and let everyone enjoy the same rights," Ellen writes. "It's going to help keep families together. It's going to make kids feel better about who they are. And it is time."

Related: Neil Patrick Harris: I Knew I was Gay at 6

In closing the comedian writes, "In the words of Benjamin Franklin, 'We're here, we're queer, get over it.'"

Read Ellen's entire plea to the supreme court here.

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Internet bubble millionaire goes from dot.com to drug con: Jennifer Sultan gets 4 years in scheme

This dot.com millionaire has now gone from penthouse to poorhouse to Big House.

A Manhattan judge wrote the latest chapter in the riches-to-rags story of pretty Jennifer Sultan today -- promising her a four-year prison sentence as she pleaded guilty to gun conspiracy and drug sales.

"Yes," Sultan, a 38-year-old recovering pain killer addict, answered sadly, when asked by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Edward McLaughlin if she'd sold felony weight oxycodone to an undercover cop last spring.

Asked if she'd joined in a conspiracy that sold loaded, operable firearms, Sultan gave a slight smile as she sat at the defense table, her waist-length brown hair hanging forward over one shoulder.

Steven Hirsch

Jennifer Sultan at court today. The dot.com millionaire got four years in gun and drug scheme.

"Yes. Reluctantly," she said.

Sultan has been held since her arrest last summer for the same Queens-based drug-and-gun-gang conspiracy that ensnared convicted NYPD gun thief Nicholas Mina.

She was caught sending text messages to the ring's leader last June saying she had a .357 Magnum "toy" -- meaning a gun -- for sale for $850, according to the indictment against her.

She was also caught on wiretaps asking about firearm prices, and talking about a prior occasion when a gun she gave the ring to sell turned out to be inoperable.

"She's come 180 degrees from when I met her," after her arrest, her lawyer, Frank Rothman, said after court.

"She was unfocused, distracted, drug addicted," he said. "And she is now alert, oriented, and ready to get back to what she does best -- holistic healing," he said of Sultan, a trained acupuncturist.

With good behavior and factoring time she's already served, Sultan could be released in under two years, he said.

When Sultan was just 25, she and a boyfriend built one of the first Internet companies to offer live event streaming on the Web, selling it for $70 million.

By two years ago, she filed for personal bankruptcy. The 6,000-foot East 17th Street loft she shared with her ex-boyfriend is for sale for $6 million; Sultan's share of any sale would not cover her debts, her lawyer has argued.

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Don’t get too personal on LinkedIn

Have you ever received a request to connect on LinkedIn from someone you didn’t know or couldn’t remember?

A few weeks ago, Josh Turner encountered this situation. The online request to connect came from a businessman on the opposite coast of the United States. It came with a short introduction that ended with “Let’s go Blues!” a reference to Turner’s favorite hockey team in St. Louis that he had mentioned in his profile. “It was a personal connection … that’s building rapport.”

LinkedIn is known for being the professional social network where members expect you to keep buttoned-down behavior and network online like you would at a business event. With more than 200 million registered users, the site facilitates interaction as a way to boost your stature, gain a potential customer or rub elbows with a future boss.

But unlike most other social networking sites, LinkedIn is all about business — and you need to take special care that you act accordingly. As in any workplace, the right amount of personal information sharing could be the foot in the door, say experts. The wrong amount could slam it closed.

“Anyone in business needs a professional online presence,’’ says Vanessa McGovern, the VP of Business Development for the Global Institute for Travel Entrepreneurs and a consultant to business owners on how to use LinkedIn. But they should also heed LinkedIn etiquette or risk sending the wrong messages.

One of the biggest mistakes, McGovern says is getting too personal — or not personal enough.

Sending a request to connect blindly equates to cold calling and likely will lead nowhere. Instead, it should come with a personal note, an explanation of who you are, where you met, or how the connection can benefit both parties, McGovern explains.

Your profile should get a little personal, too, she says. “Talk about yourself in the first person and add a personal flair — your goals, your passion … make yourself seem human.”

Beyond that, keep your LinkedIn posts, invitations, comments and photos professional, McGovern says.

If you had a hard day at the office or your child just won an award, you may want to share it with your personal network elsewhere — but not on LinkedIn.

“This is not Facebook. Only share what you would share at a professional networking event,” she says.

Another etiquette pitfall on LinkedIn is the hit and run — making a connection and not following up.

At least once a week, Ari Rollnick, a principal in kabookaboo, an integrated marketing agency in Coral Gables, gets a request to connect with someone on LinkedIn that he has never met or heard of before. The person will have no connections in common and share no information about why they want to build a rapport.

“I won’t accept. That’s a lost opportunity for them,” Rollnick says.

He approaches it differently. When Rollnick graduated from Emory with an MBA in 2001, he had a good idea that his classmates would excel in the business world. Now, Rollnick wanted to find out just where they went and reestablish a connection.

With a few clicks, he tracked down dozens of them on LinkedIn, requested a connection, and was back on their radar. Then came the follow-up — letting them know through emails, phone calls and posts that he was creating a two-way street for business exchange. “Rather than make that connection and disappearing , I let them know I wanted to open the door to conversation.”

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Second eastbound lane opens on Bear Cut Bridge leading to Key Biscayne

A second east-bound lane on the Bear Cut Bridge that connects Virginia Key to Key Biscayne has been opened, giving travelers heading to the village a second lane nearly two months after structural flaws nearly shut down the bridge.

Public works administrators said they reconfigured the roadway to make more room for the second lane. On Wednesday, the first day it was in use, they said vehicular and bike traffic flowed smoothly to and from Key Biscayne, on what used to be the eastbound-only lanes headed to Key Biscayne.

Two ad-hoc westbound lanes remain in place, next to a dedicated bicycle/pedestrian lane, along the north side of the bridge.

The bridge’s westbound lanes on the structure’s south side have been completely shut down since the Florida Department of Transportation raised concerns with the county about the condition of exposed steel beams and girders in early January. The westbound half of the bridge was built in 1944; its eastern counterpart is much younger, built in 1983 in concrete-encased beams.

Though alternate planning has been underway for well over a month, county and Key Biscayne leaders are still concerned about the March 18 opening of the two-week Sony Open tennis tournament at the Crandon Park Tennis Center on Key Biscayne.

A month ago, hoping to speed up repairs, county commissioners waived the usual competitive bidding process, giving firms two weeks instead of the usual six to bid on the repair work. The repair job is still expected to take almost a year, and cost close to $31 million.

To finance the plan the county will issue bonds which will be paid off with toll receipts. Commissioners voted last month to raise the toll for cars to $1.75 from $1.50.

A casualty of the Bear Cut repair plan will be the Crandon Park Marina boat launch, which will shut down for two weeks from March 18-31, as the bridge undergoes repairs. Alternate county launch sites are no where near Key Biscayne.

The locations are: Herbert Hoover Marina at Homestead Bayfront Park, 9698 SW 328th St., Black Point Marina, 24775 SW 87th Ave., Matheson Hammock Marina, 9610 Old Cutler Rd., Pelican Harbor Marina, 1275 NE 79th St., and Bill Bird Marina at Haulover Park, 10800 Collins Ave.

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EXCLUSIVE: General Hospital Star Genie Francis Visits The Chew

'General Hospital' Star Visits 'The Chew'

Soap star Genie Francis (General Hospital, The Young and the Restless) is appearing on tomorrow's episode of The Chew and we have an exclusive first look! Click through the photos to get a glimpse of the actress chopping it up with co-hosts Mario Batali, Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly and Daphne Oz. The Chew airs weekdays at 1 pm ET/12 pm PT on ABC.

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Read the heartbreaking impact statement read by the Figoski girls

Pool Photo

Below is the impact statement read in Brooklyn Supreme Court today by the four daughters of NYPD Det. Peter Figoski at the sentencing of his killer, Lamont Pride. The one joint statement was read in court, with each daughter taking a portion.

CHRISTINE FIGOSKI, 21:

On the evening of Sunday, December 11, my sisters and I went to bed with the worries of your average teenage girl. We were worried about studying for upcoming college final exams, and high school tests, and looking forward to going home for the Christmas holiday and having the family together.

We all got our normal “Night, I love you” text from Daddy, and only a few hours after, my sisters and I were faced with the tragedy that would impact the rest of our lives. The next events that happened that morning are events that will haunt us for the rest of our lives.

We were awoken by my Mom in a panic after hearing that Daddy had been in an accident. We were startled and from that moment on everything seemed to get worse.

We all came to the hospital to “Hope” and “Pray” that our Dad would pull through. Our Father was shot in the face, and still breathing at that moment, and even though as bad as his condition was, we still thought just somehow he would survive. Nothing at that moment felt real and till this day, it still doesn’t.

Two of us arrived at the hospital to see the grim faces of family members and the sad faces of hundreds of police officers that were lined up throughout the hospital.

The next several hours were some of the hardest of our lives as we were told that our Father died as a result of a gunshot to the face. We spiraled into the confusion of having to deal with the hard reality of having to prepare with life without our Dad.

CORINNE FIGOSKI, 15:

Our dad was our world, our everything. He was our hero, protector, role model and our best friend. He always made everything better. And not at one moment would any of us realize what it would be like without a father, it’s more than anyone could ever imagine. Everything our Dad did was for us. He was always trying his hardest to make us the best people we could be.

Now a day's “Promise” is just a word. When people say, “I promise everything will get better, and it’s going to be OK,” it’s just a lie to us.Nothing will ever be the same again and we will never feel the way we used to.

We lay in bed for hours in the dark at night, thinking about every possible thing that has changed in our lives since December 12, 2011. Sometimes we want to believe that this world is hell and there is another peaceful world where our dad is now. I’m not sure if we are depressed, but we are constantly angry and sad, but we continue to put smiles on our faces and laugh and joke with one another like our Father would want. But inside we are numb, and broken. We find it so hard to be happy, sometimes we forget how to feel. The past is better than it is now, and the future is less resolved. When our father died, a part of us died inside. We realize that once you’re broken in certain ways, they couldn’t ever be fixed now, no matter how hard you try.

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Cab drivers stage protest at Fort Lauderdale airport over safety cameras

A morning protest at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport by taxi drivers upset with technology installed into their cabs that monitors problem driving ended with two drivers being arrested, and several passengers looking for other modes of transportation.

“We have to stand up for our rights,” said Davincy Metayer, 50, who has been driving a cab for 15 years and works for Yellow Cab. “We can’t make a living like this.”

As news of the protest traveled, taxi drivers across Broward County gathered at the airport about 8 a.m., but refused to pick up fares from the dispatcher.

Although the protest was peaceful, police arrived after 10 a.m. when two taxi drivers blocked the entrance to the lot on Perimeter Road, said Broward Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Keyla Concepcion. Tow trucks were called to move the vehicles, and when the trucks arrived, the drivers laid in front of the trucks blocking them from removing their cars.

“There is no problem with peaceful protests, but blocking the way of traffic for the cab drivers who don’t want to participate created a problem,” she said.

Those drivers were arrested, but their names and the charges they face are unknown.

John Camillo, president and CEO of B&L Service Inc., which operates Yellow Cab of Broward County, said the protests originated from two drivers who became unhappy after the company installed DriveCam technology in all 547 of its cars.

The DriveCam cameras are equipped with a GPS device, video recorder and cell modem that transmit information to DriveCam.com. They were installed in the Yellow Cab cars at the beginning of February after a test group used them in December.

They detect deceleration and braking, excessive acceleration, going around corners at high speeds, going quickly over speed bumps and other problematic “events.” Video of these events is transmitted to professionals at DriveCam, who analyze it and identify risky driving.

One of the upset drivers was involved in a rear-end accident and two more events that indicated he was not paying attention, Camillo said. Despite going through Yellow Cab’s free internal coaching sessions, he was not showing signs of improvement. That’s when Camillo suggested he attend a National Safety Council class, which costs $100, as an alternative to giving up his job at Yellow Cab.

But the driver became incensed, Camillo said.

The other unhappy driver also has a spotty driving history, including a time when he covered up his in-car camera and “threw his keys on the table,” Camillo said.

Camillo said the technology and services for DriveCam will cost his company almost half a million dollars each year. But it’s all in the name of public safety.

“I’m guilty of wanting them to be safe drivers, to go home to their families and not be hurt, and not having them hurt other people,” Camillo said. “I’m guilty of all those things.”

But drivers have a different account.

“We can’t even use our brakes,” said Wilson Charles, 38, who recently completed the 8-hour National Safety Council class.

Ithamar Matador, who took part in Wednesday’s protest, said he one of two cab drivers who were brought into the Yellow Cab office Tuesday after his red light activated. He said he was taking a fare from the airport when he slammed on his breaks after a car cut in front of him, avoiding an accident.

He was given two options; “They told me I can either pay $100 for the course or hand over my keys.”

“I handed over my keys,” said Matador, 38, who has been driving a cab since 2003, adding that with that kind of light system he, and other drivers, would be called in every week. “I can’t afford that.”

Some cab drivers pay as much as $585 a week to drive their cab, they said. They also have to pay $3.50 per fare from the airport, which is up from $2 last year, they said. They also have to pay $1 for every time someone pays with a credit card.

Most drivers say they work seven days a week and about 15 to 18 hours a day. After all the fees, they say there is little left for them to take care of their families.

Greg Meyer, the spokesman for the airport, said Wednesday’s protest did not have a huge impact on travelers.

Instead of the cabs being dispatched from the holding lot, they were sent directly to the airport Meyer said. He said normal service returned at about 1 p.m.

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Ex-con who shot parole officer was having 'a terrible month': lawyer

The Brooklyn ex-con who blasted his parole officer only attacked because he was “in the grips of extreme emotional distress,” his defense attorney said during the trial’s opening yesterday.

Robert Morales, 52, shot his parole officer Sam Salters in the shoulder in 2010 because he said his new parole officer’s demands were ruining his life.

“It was a terrible, terrible month,” defense attorney John Stella said in Brooklyn Supreme Court, referring to the time Morales reported to Salters.

“It was the worst month in the life of a guy who has been in more correctional facilities than you can count on two hands.”

Gregory P. Mango

Robert Morales is being re-tried for shooting Samuel Salters, his parole officer.

This is Morales’ retrial after his first trial ended in a mistrial last year.

Stella even laid some blame on Salters, who spent months in the hospital after the attack.

“Sam Salters treated him in a manner that he had never been treated by anyone in the correctional system.”

Stella argued that Morales is guilty only of aggravated assault of an officer, while prosecutors made the case for attempted aggravated murder.

“He shot him at point-blank range with full intent to kill him,” said Brooklyn assistant district attorney Lew Lieberman. “There is no extreme emotional distress defense here.”

In 1979 Morales was sentenced to 25 years to life for setting a fire that killed an 8-year-old boy.

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EEOC files discrimination suit against transportation firm

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Tuesday that it filed a lawsuit against Prestige Transportation Service for hiring discrimination.

According to the suit, Prestige refused to hire black applicants for employment, discriminated against a black employee and retaliated against three employees for opposing race discrimination and/or filing a discrimination charge with the EEOC.

The lawsuit also says that Prestige unlawfully destroyed or failed to keep records and documents related to employment applications, personnel records, and documents regarding rates of pay and other terms of compensation.

Prestige, based in Miami, primarily transports crew members of airlines between airports and their hotels. Executives could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.

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Temporary ban on Fla. welfare drug testing upheld

TALLAHASSEE --
A federal appeals court upheld the temporary ban on Florida’s drug-testing for welfare recipients Tuesday, saying that a lawsuit challenging the program had a good chance of succeeding.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta sided with a lower court decision, stating that Florida failed to show that the drug testing plan was so critical that the Fourth Amendment, which bars unreasonable searches by the government, should be suspended.

The decision — which did not weigh in on the case’s ultimate constitutionality question — is the latest setback in Gov. Rick Scott’s controversial drug testing push. In 2011,Scott and the Florida Legislature instituted a program for drug-testing all recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Luis Lebron, a single-father and TANF applicant who refused to take the test on constitutional grounds, filed a lawsuit with help from the American Civil Liberties Union.

In authoring the court’s opinion, Judge Rosemary Barkett said that Florida had not proven that its drug-testing program serves a “special” or “immediate” need, or that it even protected children in families with substance abuse.

“There is nothing so special or immediate about the government’s interest in ensuring that TANF recipients are drug free so as to warrant suspension of the Fourth Amendment,” Barkett wrote. “The only known and shared characteristic of the individuals who would be subjected to Florida’s mandatory drug testing program is that they are financially needy families with children.”

Scott immediately vowed to appeal the decision and take his fight to the Supreme Court.

“The court’s ruling today is disturbing," he said in a statement. "Welfare is 100 percent about helping children. Welfare is taxpayer money to help people looking for jobs who have children. Drug use by anyone with children looking for a job is totally destructive. This is fundamentally about protecting the well-being of Florida families.”

The appeals court relied on a similar case in Georgia, which struck down a program requiring political candidates to take drug tests. That case found that Georgia did not show that there was a drug problem among elected officials, and the law was mostly “symbolic.”

In rejecting Florida’s appeal to the lower court’s preliminary injunction, a trio of federal judges took a similar position.

“The state has presented no evidence that simply because an applicant for TANF benefits is having financial problems, he is also drug addicted or prone to fraudulent and neglectful behavior,” Barkett wrote on behalf of the court.

The ACLU’s associate legal director Maria Kayanan said the ruling was a vindication for struggling families who apply for government assistance.

"The state of Florida can’t treat an entire segment of our community like suspected criminals simply because they are poor and are trying to get temporary assistance from the government to support their families,” said Kayanan, who was lead counsel on the case.

Florida also passed a law last year requiring drug testing for all state workers, but that issue is also tangled in constitutional challenges and litigation. A district court found the state worker testing plan unconstitutional, and Scott appealed. The appeals court is scheduled to hear arguments on that case next month.

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Stars Stay Peppy Through Wee Hours of Oscar Night

For those fortunate enough to be invited, Oscar Sunday is an all-day, non-stop event. ET caught up with the stars to get their tips on making it through the madness while maintaining their energy.

PICS: Awards Season Fashion

"This is just fun," said Academy Award winner Halle Berry. "I see all my friends and peers."

"You just gotta enjoy it and then have a good dinner at the Governor's Ball, because you probably haven't eaten today," said Oscar nominee Queen Latifah. "And then we hit the after parties."

John Leguizamo named caffeine as a primary source for his energy.

"It's a long night," the actor admitted. "But you get jacked up meeting all your heroes."

From the People's Choice Awards to the 85th Academy Awards, this awards season, ET's red carpet runs on Dunkin'.

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'Tanning mom' won't face charges

AP

'Tanning mom' Patricia Krentcil

TRENTON, N.J. — A grand jury in New Jersey has decided to let a woman who became an overnight sensation as "the tanning mom" bronze away in peace.

Prosecutors in Newark said Tuesday a grand jury refused to indict Patricia Krentcil on a charge she took her young daughter into a tanning booth with her. New Jersey state law bans children under 14 from using tanning salons.

The 44-year-old Nutley woman was arrested last April and charged with child endangerment for allegedly bringing her then-5-year-old daughter into a tanning booth.

Police became involved after school officials noticed burns on Krentcil's daughter's legs. Krentcil said that her daughter's burn came from the sun on an unusually warm day and that she would never take the girl into a tanning booth.

The arrest generated wide publicity partly because of Krentcil's deep tan and professed love of tanning salons. Her instant fame even extended to a toy company making a "tanoerexic" action figure based on her.

The arrest and subsequent media frenzy also brought unwanted attention to the northern New Jersey tanning salon that Krentcil had frequented, and the salon incurred fines unrelated to the allegation against Krentcil.

A message left Tuesday for Krentcil's attorney was not immediately returned.

Prosecutors said the case is over.

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Miami medicine goes digital

About 10 years ago, Dr. Fleur Sack quit her practice as a family physician to become a hospital department head. Spurring her decision was the need to switch from paper records to electronic ones to keep her private practice profitable. “At that time, it would have cost about $50,000,” Dr. Sack recalled. “It was too expensive and it was too overwhelming.”

But times and technologies changed, and last year, Dr. Sack left her hospital job to restart her medical practice with an affordable system for managing electronic patient records. She agreed to a $5,000 setup fee and a subscription fee of $500 per month for the system. Her investment also qualified her for subsidy money, which the federal government pays in installments, and to date, her subsidy income has paid for the setup fee and about two years of monthly fees. “So far, I’ve got my check for $18,000,” she said. “There’s a total of $44,000 that I can get.”

That kind of cash flow is one reason why so-called EHR software systems for electronic health records have been among the hottest-selling commercial products in the world of information technology. EHR system development is a growth industry in South Florida, too. Life sciences and biotechnology are among the high growth-potential sectors identified by the Beacon Council-led One Community One Goal economic development initiative unveiled in 2012; already, the University of Miami has opened a Health Science Technology Park while Florida International University has launched a healthcare informatics and management systems program in its graduate school of business.

For many young businesses in the area’s IT industry, government incentives are paving the way. The federal government is pushing doctors and hospitals to use electronic health records to cut wasteful spending and improve patient care while protecting patient privacy — sending digital information via encrypted systems, for example, rather than regular email.

Under a 2009 federal law known as the HITECH Act, maximum incentive payments for buying such systems range up to $44,000 for doctors with Medicare patients and up to $63,750 for doctors with Medicaid patients. Hospitals are eligible for larger incentive payments for becoming more paperless. The subsidy program isn’t permanent; eligible professionals must begin receiving payments by 2016. But by then, the federal government will be penalizing doctors and hospitals that take Medicare or Medicaid money without making meaningful use of electronic health records.

“What the government did is, they incentivized, and now they’re going to penalize,” said Andrew Carricarte, president and CEO of IOS Health Systems in Miami, one of the largest South Florida-based vendors of online software service for physician practices. He said insurance companies also may start penalizing physicians for failing to adopt electronic health records because “the commercial payers always follow Medicare and Medicaid.”

It’s all part of the growth story at IOS Health Systems, which has more than 2,000 physicians across the nation using its online EHR system. Carricarte said many of the company’s customers buy their second EHR system from IOS after their first one flopped. “Almost 40 percent of our sales come from customers who had systems and are now switching over to something else,” he said.

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A year in, a space for sharks and stars is taking form at Miami’s new Museum of Science

Standing in the busy construction site that will become the $275 million Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science by 2015, it’s hard to imagine that sharks will one day swim in a space now filled with cranes, rebar and dust.

Slightly easier to visualize is the 70-foot-tall planetarium dome, just starting to emerge as a circle of steel jutting diagonally from the ground.

“It takes a lot of time on the foundation,” said Gillian Thomas, the museum’s president and CEO. “But then it pops out of the ground and goes fast.”

A year after breaking ground at 1075 Biscayne Blvd., the underground parking garage is finished and the main entrance is rising. In addition to the planetarium and Gulf Stream-inspired aquarium, the 250,000-square-foot complex will include a rooftop garden, outdoor energy playground, exhibition space and an eyeful of Biscayne Bay.

“We’ve oriented the whole thing for the views,” said Thomas during a tour of the site earlier this month. “You’re never far away from content, but you’re never far way from a great view and fresh air.”

Science museums of the past were erected as seemingly impenetrable temples of knowledge with imposing columns and great staircases, Thomas said. The new five-story building, designed by the firm of British architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw adjacent to the construction site of a the county’s new art museum, is going for an open, inviting feel.

“We asked the architect to make a friendly building where you can see what’s going on inside,” said Thomas, wearing a silver construction helmet bearing the words “The Future Begins Here.”

The next chapter of the museum’s future begins in 2015, though exactly when is still unknown. Thomas said she wants to make it through one more (hopefully uneventful) hurricane season before locking in a date.

So far, the museum has raised $70 million in addition to $165 million from Miami-Dade County bonds, bringing it close to the immediate goal of $275 million needed for the project’s completion. The museum would like to raise an addition $25 million for transitional costs.

One of its fundraising events, the annual Galaxy Gala — with individual tickets priced at $500 — and $100-a-person Big Bang after-party, will be held March 9 at the JW Marriott Marquis.

Thomas said the museum’s progress has added momentum to the efforts.

“As we get more visits going, that will help us to finalize a number of supporters that we have out there,” she said. “It’s definitely making it easier to attract attention.”

The neighboring Miami Art Museum, to be called the Pérez Art Museum Miami when it opens in December, has noticed the same thing.

With construction about 80 percent finished, the art museum has raised $175.5 million of its $220 million goal, including $100 million from county bonds.

Earlier this month, Miami art collectors Debra and Dennis Scholl announced the donation of about 300 artworks to the museum. That gift followed the December announcement of a $5 million commitment from Miguel “Mike” Fernandez, chairman of private equity firm MBF Healthcare Partners.

“I think things have been significantly different in the last six months even,” said Leann Standish, the art museum’s deputy director for external affairs. At least once a month, the staff gives a tour to potential contributors to the museum’s capital campaign. “Certainly the donor conversations are much more exciting.”

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Stars Without Makeup!

Katie Holmes

February 25, 2013

A bare-faced Katie Holmes is snapped chatting on her cell phone while on a stroll in New York City on February 25.

ALSO IN THIS GALLERY:

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Chinatown hubby accused of attacking wife with meat clever kept at Bellevue -- same hosp as wife

The Chinatown husband who allegedly tried to end his marriage with a meat cleaver is being kept under observation at the psychiatric prison of Bellevue hospital -- the same hospital where his wife is also recovering.

Ming Duang Huang, 28, allegedly repeatedly hacked at his 24-year-old wife, Jinyia You, outside Fong's Trading at 74 Canal Street on Sunday.

The attack was halted by two heroic firefighters from nearby Engine Co. 9, Ladder Co. 6, who pulled Huang off of the cowering wife and threw him against a fence.

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Why Mr Smith ... er ... Mr. Sternad didn’t go to Washington

L amar Will Take Us Far.

The catchy slogan of the congressional candidate who called himself Lamar Sternad was the earliest indication of a campaign of deception. His first name isn’t Lamar.

But Justin Lamar Sternad’s slogan was spot-on in one regard.

Of the hundreds of no-name political neophytes who mount quixotic bids for office in Miami, Sternad went further than them all: The 10th floor of a federal justice building.

There in open court Friday, Sternad was formally accused of violating three federal laws stemming from his suspicious campaign finances, which were uncovered in an investigation by The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald.

Sternad earned the distinction of running a truly far-out campaign, one of the most-cynical, scandalous and strange South Florida has ever seen.

His campaign involved false federal campaign finance reports, at least $81,486 in secret checks and cash (much of it in $100 bills stuffed in envelopes), a bad boy of Miami politics, and a femme fatale of a campaign consultant, Ana Alliegro.

Alliegro’s whereabouts are unclear to the public. She skipped out on talking with the FBI in September.

Her close friend, former U.S. Rep. David Rivera, is the feds’ ultimate target.

The Miami Republican, who denies wrongdoing, is suspected by investigators and accused by campaign vendors of helping secretly back Sternad to undermine a rival, Joe Garcia, in the Democratic primary for the 26th Congressional District, 26, which stretches from West Miami-Dade to Key West.

Garcia’s now a congressman.

Sternad’s now a defendant. He’s cooperating with the feds.

Alliegro and Rivera aren’t named in Sternad’s federal charging document, which lists nameless “co-conspirators.”

But without Alliegro, it could be a challenge to prosecute Rivera.

Coincidentally, Sternad launched his masquerade of a campaign on the holiday that celebrates disguises: Halloween. In a letter dated Oct. 31, 2011, he notified the state of his intention to run.

Was he a plant, a ringer for Rivera, from the get-go? Or was he like so many other folks with no political experience who decide to run for office in the hope of making a Mr.-Smith-Goes-to-Washington difference?

“I’m running for Congress because right now there’s a high discontent with the recycling of establishment politicians,” Sternad said in a May interview with CBS4’s Elliot Rodriguez.

Days later, he started receiving the unreported cash that would be his downfall, federal records show.

During the CBS4 interview, the Democratic Sternad pointedly avoided criticizing the Republican congressman, saying it would be “pretty pretentious or arrogant of me to start going after David Rivera’s jugular like one of the other candidates, Joe Garcia’s doing. He’s mud-slinging.”

Sternad went on to call Garcia a “three-time loser.”

On Friday, it was clear Sternad lost big.

Wearing a gray polo shirt, Sternad was the only of the defendants not dressed in a tan jail jumper. He never said a word.

It’s unclear when Sternad first wound up on a crash-course with the justice system — that is, when he first came into contact with Alliegro, his de facto campaign manager.

Under one version of events (and there are a few) she happened to wander into the Wyndham Garden South Beach hotel where she (unintentionally?) ran into Sternad, who worked at the hotel. They got to talking.

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South Beach Wine & Food Festival changes Miami's culinary scene, impacts economy

For Miami restaurateurs, this is Showtime.

With dozens of top chefs — 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 Michelle Bernstein’s staff whipped up dishes designed to impress guests at Michy’s — like foie gras, oxtail and apple tarte tatin — while she juggled menus for multiple events. Bernstein kept her cellphone handy to make sure any chef friends could get a table, even though her namesake restaurant was sold out.

As always, Joe’s Stone Crab was a must-do stop for many, including Paula Deen and New York restaurateur Danny Meyer. Aussie Chef Curtis Stone attracted a string of admirers as he ate his way around town, with stops at Prime 112, Pubbelly Sushi and Puerto Sagua. Khong River House and Yardbird Southern Table & Bar hosted Meyer, The Food Network’s Anne Burrell and Chef Anita Lo.

Michael’s Genuine was another hot spot.

“This is kind of our coming out party for Khong and it’s our chance to knock it out of the park and wow people,” said John Kunkel, owner of Khong and Yardbird.

Prime 112 owner Myles Chefetz admits he’s a fanatic about checking plates when they come back from a chef’s table. And he’s always on the lookout for the table ordering 20 different items, because that’s usually a restaurateur doing research.

“If you have Jean-Gorges or Bobby Flay eating at your restaurant, you want to make sure he has a great experience,” Chefetz said. “You want to put your best foot forward because you know you’re going to get scrutinized.”

The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival is not just a forum for impressing the culinary elite. It’s among the top three tourist draws for Miami restaurants and hotels. In its 12th year, the festival draws more than 60,000 people to Miami Beach for a weekend of decadence, featuring more than 50 events spread over four days.

It is neck and neck with two of the area’s other most prominent weekends: Art Basel and Presidents’ Day (which coincides with the Miami International Boat Show).

There’s the immediate economic impact, of course, but the festival has made its mark in other ways: helping transform Miami’s food scene from a cultural wasteland to one of the country’s hot spots, one where top chefs all want to set up shop.

“Twelve years ago I don’t know if you could even name five really good restaurants. Now, you can’t think of where you want to eat because there are so many good restaurants,” said Lee Brian Schrager, festival founder and vice president of communications for Southern Wine & Spirits, its host. “What the festival can take credit for is introducing the culinary world to the great talent down here, and really highlighting South Florida as a great dining destination.”

There has been plenty of indulgence to go around. Flay finally broke his losing streak and took home top honors at the Burger Bash with his award-winning crunchified green chili burger. At the Q, barbecue lovers had their choice of Al Roker’s lamb ribs with baked beans or Geoffrey Zakarian’s smoked tagarashi crusted tuna, among other offerings.

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Jenna Dewan-Tatum Reveals Baby News on the Oscars Red Carpet!

Some of the most revealing celebrity news comes from the red carpet and ET's Nancy O'Dell got breaking baby Sunday night from one of this year's most glamorous Oscars couples, Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan-Tatum!

While walking the red carpet at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Jenna told Nancy that although she and her husband Channing are planning to be surprised regarding the sex of their unborn baby, she is hoping for a girl!

PICS: Stars Tweet on Oscar Day

During an interview with the couple, Dewan-Tatum referred to the baby as a "she" and then playfully admitted that she is hoping for a girl. Tatum chimes in stating, "she's willing it to be a girl."

Channing and Jenna -- who married in 2009 in Malibu -- met on the set of their hit
film Step Up in 2006. In November, the recently crowned "Sexiest Man Alive" told
People magazine that he wanted at least three kids with his dancer/actress wife.

RELATED: Channing and Jenna Expecting First Child!

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Death of ex-Post employee 'suspicious'

The death of a former New York Post employee whose body was found in her Cobble Hill apartment Friday is being investigated as suspicious, sources said.

Elizabeth Borst, 55, was found on her kitchen floor after her husband, Gaetano Lisco, called neighbors and asked them to check on the victim because he couldn't reach her.

Although Borst's death has not been ruled a homicide, the autopsy on her was inconclusive, and the victim had several unexplained injuries, sources said.

Borst suffered broken ribs, a broken wrist, a ruptured spleen and a gash to her head, sources said. Toxicology reports have not been completed.

The victim called cops on her husband for a domestic dispute March 4, 2010 but no one was injured, records show. He was grilled by detectives after she was found dead but released.

kconley@nypost.com

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