The Minority Chamber of Commerce will hold an “Expedited Job Fair” Tuesday, Feb. 5, in Sweetwater.
The event is advertised as having immediate openings to fill, including positions for sales executives, warehouse workers and managers. The free event will be held at the Minority Chamber of Commerce Convention Center at 10720 West Flagler St. in Sweetwater. It begins at 11 a.m. and runs through 3 p.m.
An operative in the Santiesteban family’s alleged marijuana growhouse ring pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring to kidnap a rival gang member, admitting he witnessed the man’s murder after the target stole 50 pounds of pot from the Miami-Dade clan.
Juan Felipe Castaneda’s plea agreement signaled a major development in the federal government’s crackdown on one of South Florida’s largest suspected growhouse operations. The ring is accused of running a distribution network stretching to New York.
Castaneda admitted he collaborated with alleged ringleader Derrick Santiesteban, accused shooter Norge Manduley and other members of the syndicate in June 2009, when they kidnapped Fidel Ruz Moreno after carjacking his Chevy van.
While en route to one of the Santiesteban’s grow houses in southwest Miami-Dade, Castaneda said in a court statement that he witnessed Manduley struggle with Ruz in the back of the van and then shoot him with a revolver.
After Ruz’s body was tossed out into the street, Castaneda said he saw Manduley “approach [the] prone body and repeatedly strike [Ruz] about the head with the butt of revolver that Manduley was wielding,” according to a statement filed with the plea agreement in Miami federal court.
Castaneda, a growhouse caretaker who fled the area last June when FBI agents arrested most of the 16 Santiesteban-syndicate members, is the first defendant to plead guilty to the main charge of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 1,000 marijuana plants. He also pleaded guilty to the kidnapping conspiracy.
In April, he faces a minimum-mandatory sentence of 10 years for the drug charge and up to life in prison for the kidnapping. His cooperation with prosecutors William Athas and Pat Sullivan could help them put pressure on other defendants to cut plea deals, according to the plea agreement.
The Ruz kidnapping and slaying — along with the possibility of a second, unrelated homicide, as well as suspicions that a Miami-Dade police officer was working with the Santiesteban clan — elevated the case beyond a routine pot-trafficking investigation.
At a detention hearing, Athas and Sullivan described Derrick Santiesteban, the lead defendant in the case, as the “mastermind behind the [Ruz] kidnapping.”
Investigators are zeroing in on a Miami-Dade officer who is suspected of playing a role in the family’s alleged drug syndicate. The officer, Roderick Silva, worked patrol in the Hammocks area of West Kendall. He was suspended with pay in June 2009, records show. He is the brother of another of the Santiestebans’ accused growhouse caretakers, David Silva.
Homicide detectives are also trying to determine whether an unsolved April 2006 slaying of a teenager in West Kendall is linked to an alleged Santiesteban growhouse in the area.
After going to visit a girlfriend near Southwest 172nd Terrace and 153rd Place, Angelo Lopera, 17, was attacked and shot multiple times. Investigators believe Lopera may have been killed because he was mistakenly suspected of visiting the neighborhood to steal harvested marijuana plants from the Santiestebans’ house at 17231 SW 153rd Pl., according to sources familiar with the probe.
The Santiesteban indictment was built around a dozen cooperating witnesses, most of whom were involved in the family’s alleged drug organization and have or will be separately charged, court records show.
The case was spearheaded by Miami-Dade police homicide detective Rich Raphael and FBI agent Michael Gualtieiri, working as part of a federal drug task force. Court records show the task force cultivated the witnesses, including two who were present during the Ruz kidnapping and eventually identified Manduley as the shooter.
Last July, Manduley was sentenced to 10 years in state prison after pleading guilty to weapons charges involving a domestic dispute with his ex-girlfriend in 2010. Manduley shot a .357 revolver twice into the air while threatening the ex-girlfriend and three other people.
NEW YORK (AP) — Beyonce’s splashy show, a freak power outage, and —oh, yeah— a captivating game of football combined to generate a record 24.1 million posts on Twitter during Sunday night’s Super Bowl.
That’s up from 13.7 million last year — and that doesn’t even include chatter surrounding the ads.
Twitter said in a late Sunday blog post that about half of the more than 50 national TV spots that aired during the game included a “hashtag,” a word or phrase preceded by a number sign that’s used to organize subjects on the short messaging site. During last year’s game, only one in five ads included one. Brands ranging from Oreo to Tide and Budweiser, meanwhile, captured online buzz by linking the blackout to their brands in humorous tweets.
Super Bowl XLVII, like the London Summer Olympics and the U.S. presidential election, was yet another moment in which Twitter became the platform for millions of people to share quick reactions and participate in a massive, public conversation. Though it’s not as popular as Facebook Inc. or its buttoned-up cousin LinkedIn Corp., Twitter’s surging popularity during big events is a testament to its reach and utility. The question is whether these moments can translate into revenue for the 7-year-old company.
The company makes money by charging advertisers to promote individual tweets, accounts or trends designed to spark a conversation. Research firm eMarketer estimates that Twitter will book advertising revenue of $ 545.2 million this year, up 89 percent from 2012. Next year, worldwide ad revenue is expected to hit $ 807.5 million, a 48 percent increase from 2013.
Tweetable events such as the 34-minute Super Bowl power outage are ripe with marketing potential, provided that brands act quickly.
“It’s really clear right now that Twitter has a lock on real-time conversation on the Internet,” says eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson.
To capitalize on this, Twitter has to show advertisers that it pays to promote their tweets — even though fans are likely to spread the catchiest slogans on their own, free of charge.
That’s what happened with a certain cream-filled cookie on Sunday.
It took Oreo’s marketers roughly 10 minutes after the power went out to tweet a picture of an Oreo cookie in the half-dark with the words: “You can still dunk in the dark.” As of Monday afternoon, the image had been shared on Twitter more than 15,000 times. Tide followed suit with the slogan “we can’t get your blackout. But we can get your stains out” with more limited success. The message was re-tweeted about 1,300 times. Calvin Klein, meanwhile, tweeted a video of a shirtless, chiseled male model doing crunches “since the lights are still out…”
Such “real-time marketing” is still in its infancy, but Williamson expects this to change, as more companies develop the ability to respond to events immediately.”
“To do what Oreo did actually takes a lot of pre-planning,” she says.
Laurie Guzzinati, spokeswoman for Oreo owner Mondelez says the power outage was a natural moment to engage consumers. The cookie’s TV ad had a planned social media component asking people to follow Oreo on Twitter and post photos on Instagram. The company had set up a “social media command center” that included people from Oreo’s brand team, the ad agency 360i and other partners whose job was to follow the Super Bowl and interact with fans on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere.
Mondelez likely spent the going rate of as much as $ 4 million on its Super Bowl television spot. But Guzzinati says the company didn’t pay Twitter anything for the “dunk in the dark” picture. Still, Twitter says advertisers moved quickly following the outage.
Matt McGee, editor-in-chief of the blog Marketing Land, counted 26 Twitter mentions in the 52 national spots that aired during the game. Facebook, meanwhile, got only four shout-outs, while Google Plus walked away with zero (though Google Inc.’s YouTube scored one mention from Hyundai).
“When it comes to second-screen advertising, it’s Twitter’s world now and there’s no close second place,” McGee wrote in a blog post late Sunday night. “Last year, brands split their focus on Twitter and Facebook with eight mentions each. This year, brands recognize that Twitter is where they need to try to attract the online conversation around one of the world’s biggest events.”
David Berkowitz, vice president of emerging media at 360i, which worked on the Oreo campaign, says Twitter has done a good job tying itself into major television events.
“If you look at (Twitter’s) trending topics any day especially during prime time or major events, they’re heavily fueled by television,” he says. “So TV is responsible for Twitter’s growth in general.”
He thinks Twitter has done a better job than other social media sites like Tumblr and Pinterest in proving it’s the place to be when it comes to talking about big events online.
“A large part of it right now is just showing this is where the conversation is happening and building their brand around that,” he says. “Even with other very successful social media sites, no one is better at conversation than Twitter.”
__
AP Retail Writer Mae Anderson contributed to this story.
Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Bruce Willis is back for his fifth Die Hard movie as veteran cop John McClane, and the junket for A Good Day to Die Hard proved to be the perfect opportunity to show Bruce some old footage of himself during our on-set interview for 1990's Die Hard 2: Die Harder.
Pics: 13 Must-See Movies for 2013
"This should be on your show, this is terrific," Bruce told ET's Christina McLarty with a laugh. "Holy mackerel."
In the vintage ET interview, we asked Bruce if he would do another one, and he replied, "Another Die Hard? I don't think so. I was trying to get them to kill me in this one. I wanted my character to be killed off in this one, but they wouldn't let me do it. … I don't think so, but who knows? Ask me a couple years from now."
"Well, it's very tongue-in-cheek, but that is totally adorable," said Bruce with a sly grin. "I was very glib in those days."
Video: Bruce Willis Unveils Massive 'Die Hard' Mural
In theaters February 14, A Good Day to Die Hard finds Bruce's John McClane in Russia, fighting alongside his son (Jai Courtney), who turns out to be a CIA operative working to prevent a nuclear-weapons heist.
Asked if he has any special Valentine's Day plans, Bruce jokes, "My wife wants to take me [to the movie]. She's always in charge of Valentine's Day. ... It's a heck of a date movie."
There was blood on his badge.
Chilling photos of slain Brooklyn cop Peter Figoski’s blood-stained shield and uniform were revealed in the first-degree murder trial of his killer today – bringing tears to the hero cop’s mom as she watched from the courtroom gallery.
Career criminal Lamont Pride, 28, shot Figoski once in the face when the decorated cop and father-of-four responded to a call at the East New York apartment where Pride and four other thugs were robbing a drug dealer.
Pride remained motionless as his deadly handiwork was projected onto courtroom screens.
The crime scene photos showed how Figoski’s blood soaked his bulletproof vest and uniform and spattered his shield after the December 2011 shooting.
While the slain cop’s mother became emotional over the gruesome photos, all four of his daughters stayed away from Brooklyn Supreme Court for the first time since the trial opened last month.
“When I opened the door, I saw the police officer laying on the floor with his legs up in the air,” testified Carlos Feliciano, 52, owner of the building where Figoski was gunned down.
“Was he moving?” asked assistant district attorney Howard Jackson.
“No,” Feliciano answered.
Prosecutors have said that Feliciano’s nephew, Nelson Morales, 28, picked out the drug dealer who rented his uncle’s ratty basement apartment as an easy stick-up target.
Feliciano said he called the cops after the violence downstairs woke him up.
“I heard people yelling, ‘Give it! Give me the money!” said Feliciano.
He added that when cops arrived he pointed them downstairs and told them to be careful.
After the shooting Feliciano’s nephew Morales and another crook even pretended they weren’t robbers and were trying to help the beat-up dealer.
“I asked him what the hell you doing down there? He was the last person in the world I expected to see down there,” Feliciano testified he said when investigators brought his nephew into his apartment.
In other testimony, a NYPD detective said he caught getaway driver Michael Velez by tracking his cell phone to a Bushwick apartment.
Pride has admitted he shot Figoski but claims the gun went off accidentally as he tried to escape. He faces life in prison without parole.
Getaway driver Velez, Pride’s co-defendant, faces second-degree murder charges in the same trial – and could get 25 years to life.
Morales and fellow thug Kevin Santos, 31, will face trial later this year. Another robber, Ariel Tejada, 23, flipped on the other crooks and is expected to testify tomorrow in exchange for an 18-year-sentence.
Pride’s trial is expected to close Wednesday.
jsaul@nypost.com
David R. Klock took the helm of Florida International University’s College of Business as dean, on Oct. 1, after serving in a similar role at the University of Alabama-Birmingham’s School of Business.
A milkman’s son who earned a doctorate in finance, Klock’s career has spanned leadership positions in both academia and business.
Soon after he arrived at FIU, Klock began holding open forums for students, where he has laid out his priorities, including hiring more faculty members.
Eager to learn more about Klock, we sent him these questions, and he emailed his responses:
Q.You have an interesting background for an academician, in that you were chief executive and chairman of CompBenefits Corp. Please tell me about that entrepreneurial experience.
In 1980, while at the University of Central Florida, a former student asked my wife Phyllis and me to get involved in CompBenefits, a dental benefits company. It was barely a year old, with no full-time employees. We started as unpaid consultants. Our friends at the university thought we were crazy, but we saw potential.
By 1986, the company had grown substantially. My involvement as a consultant steadily increased, and in 1991, I resigned my position at UCF and went to work full-time as president of CompBenefits.
Just after I arrived in Atlanta, the chairman of the company told me he was selling the company. I said, “I just gave up my tenured position, and now you’re selling?” His response: “Oh, don’t worry, you and Phyllis will buy it. It’s $25 to $30 million, and you’ll find the money.” I thought he was joking, but sure enough, we did. When the deal was done, Phyllis and I were the only original shareholders left.
From there, the company took off. After several acquisitions, we went public in 1995. In 1998, with the company still thriving, the stock valuation hit a snag. Our original investment bankers came back to us and suggested we take the company private, which we did in 1999. We operated the company for six more years, growing with acquisitions, including Oral Health Services out of Miami and Vision Care Plan in Tampa, a new line of business for us. After five years as a private company, it was time to sell, and Humana emerged as the buyer in 2005. When the deal closed in 2006, we were providing benefits to just under 5 million members in 23 states, with over $350 million in revenue.
Q. You also have experience in the corporate world, serving as a director. Please tell me about that.
In addition to serving on the board of CompBenefits when I was chairman and CEO, I have served on several corporate boards. The first was Province Healthcare, a chain of rural hospitals based in Nashville. While I was dean of the business school at Cal Poly in Pomona, I was invited to be on the board of directors and chair the Special Litigation Committee of Cheesecake Factory. I’m now on the board of Mayer Electric, a $600+ million private company in electrical equipment distribution, based in Birmingham.
Q. Now that you are here, what are your academic goals at FIU’s College of Business?
Before I arrived at FIU, the college went through an intensive strategic planning process, and made a decision to focus on three thematic areas: healthcare, entrepreneurship and international business. Our primary mission is developing, nurturing and supporting world-class faculty dedicated to leading the institution in those themes.
A female giraffe at Zoo Miami took a nasty tumble Sunday afternoon fleeing the unwanted advances of a suitor.
The accident played out within view of patrons watching the animals in the public feeding area.
Zoo officials said Kita, one of six giraffes at the zoo, tried to avoid the unidentified suitor and ran into a rocky area to get away, but fell down. The 29-year-old female was then unable to pick herself back up.
“She got caught up in the rocks and went down in a bad position,” said Ron Magil, Zoo Miami spokesman.
Some patrons thought Kita, who is 7-feet tall and weighs 1,500 pounds, had broken one her thin legs in the fall.
Magil said it took nearly a dozen staff members to lift the giraffe, as concerned patrons watched the rescue.
“We were able to put some straps on her to help her stand,” Magil said. No bones were broke, he said.
Veterinarians will be monitoring Kita, but say they believe she did not suffer a serious injury.
“She should be fine,” he said.
Back in June, Kita made news when she gave birth to a male calf named Titan, the 46th giraffe born at the Zoo Miami.
The new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone won’t be out for weeks, but you can already get your hands on it via eBay for about $ 1,500.
BlackBerry — the company formerly known as Research In Motion (RIM) — announced the new smartphone at an event earlier this week and handed out samples to guests and members of the press in attendance. It didn’t take long for the Z10, which could potentially turn around the struggling company, to pop up on eBay.
[More from Mashable: BlackBerry’s Secret Weapon: Women]
One page notes “this particular device was given to all attendees of the Jan. 30, 2013 product launch.”
[More from Mashable: Don’t Hold Your Breath for More BlackBerry Tablets]
BlackBerry didn’t tell attendees what they can or can’t do with the device, which comes unlocked, according to the listing, and without a SIM card.
Four units are currently being sold on eBay, with bids starting at $ 800 and rising quickly. The auction for the one going for $ 1,500, which has eight bids so far, will end this afternoon.
Images by Mashable and via eBay, eBay
Click here to view the gallery: BlackBerry Z10 Review
This story originally published on Mashable here.
Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News
ET correspondent and Ravens fan Rocsi Diaz seemed out numbered over the weekend in terms of her football affiliation, which sparked a little friendly competition with Jenny McCarthy.
RELATED: Super Bowl Star Pics
As a 49ers fan, Jenny agreed to a wager: the loser has to buy the other dinner and drinks when they get back to Los Angeles.
"Girls night out," said Jenny. "You go out with my posse if I win and I go out with your posse if you win."
"And you cannot stop until the other person says the night is over!" Rocsi added.
Rocsi and Jenny were able to make things interesting during the day, but it wasn't until night fall when the action really got rolling.
DIRECTV's Super Saturday Night party has earned the title of biggest pre-Super Bowl bash for good reason. Fans (which included big name stars such as Jon Cryer and Peter Facinelli) were ecstatic about Justin Timberlake's return to the stage after a six-year concert hiatus.
VIDEO: Justin Timberlake Performs New Music
"I want to see if he's bringing sexy back," said Peter.
Check out the video to see who your favorite celebs are rooting for to win the big game.
Ralph Peters
Violence in Allah’s name in northern Africa won’t end in my lifetime — and probably not in yours. The core question is: To what extent can the savagery be contained?
From the Atlantic coastline to the Suez Canal, struggling governments, impoverished populations and frankly backward societies struggle to find paths to modernization and to compete in a ruthless global economy. Religious fanatics for whom progress is a betrayal of faith hope to block development.
Still, if the only conflict was between Islamist terrorists and those who want civilized lives, the situation could be managed over time. But that struggle forms only one level in a layer cake of clashing visions and outright civil wars bedeviling a vast region. Much larger than Europe, the zone of contention encompasses the Maghreb, the countries touching the Mediterranean, and the Sahel, the bitterly poor states stretching down across desert wastes to the African savannah.
AFP/Getty Images
Figthers of the Islamic group Ansar Dine
The Sahel is the front line not only between the world of Islam and Christian-animist cultures in Africa’s heart, but between Arabs and light-skinned tribes in the north, and blacks to the south. No area in the world so explicitly illustrates the late, great Samuel Huntington’s concept of “the clash of civilizations.”
If racial and religious differences were not challenge enough, in the Maghreb the factions and interest groups are still more complicated. We view Egypt as locked in a contest between Islamists and “our guys,” Egyptians seeking new freedoms. But Egypt’s identity struggle is far more complex, involving social liberals, moderate Muslims, stern conservative Muslims (such as the Muslim Brotherhood) and outright fanatics. The military forms another constituency, while the business community defends its selfish interests. Then there are the supporters of the old Mubarak regime, the masses of educated-but-unemployed youth and the bitterly poor peasants.
Atop all that there’s the question of whether the values cherished by Arab societies can adapt to a globalized world.
The path to Egypt’s future will not be smooth — yet Egypt’s chances are better than those of many of its neighbors. Consider a few key countries in the region:
Mali
Viva la France! (Never thought I’d write that in The Post.) Contrary to a lot of media nonsense, the effective French intervention in Mali demonstrates that not every military response to Islamist terror has to become another Afghanistan: The French are welcome.
As extremists invariably do, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its allies rapidly alienated their fellow Muslims — after hijacking a local uprising. The local version of Islam is far more humane and tolerant than the Wahhabi cult imposed by Islamist fanatics. To the foreign extremists, the Malian love of Sufi mysticism, ancient shrines and their own centuries of religious scholarship are all hateful — as is the Malian genius for music that’s pleased listeners around the world.
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