School janitor gets 20 years for raping 12yo student

A Brooklyn school janitor convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl in his middle school was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison today as his family sobbed in the back of the courtroom.

Ambiorix Rodriguez, 34, had sex with the girl in the basement and stairwell of the East Flatbush school but was busted when she told school officials.

Rodriguez did not force the girl to have sex but was charged with rape and other crimes because of her young age.

Prosecutors asked for a sentence of 74 years to life and read a statement from the victim’s aunt.

“She was and is still a child. How could you do this to her? How could you possibly think this is okay?” the aunt said.

Judge Sheryl Parker slammed Rodriguez before sentencing him.

“In this case the defendant repeatedly took advantage of a young girl in a place, her school, that should have been her safe haven.”

Parker also issued an order of protection forbidding Rodriguez to contact his victim for 75 years. Rodriguez, in grey prison sweats and hand cuffs, blew a kiss to his teary family when he walked into court, but did not turn to look at them when he was lead out.

jsaul@nypost.com

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Shooting incident underway in west Miami-Dade; public warned to stay out of area

Miami-Dade police are working an incident in west Miami-Dade of a report of shots being fired by a suspect, who may have set his home on fire.

Details were sketchy at 8 p.m., but police said there is a person shooting in the area along Southwest 154th Avenue and 57th Street, near Miller Road.

There were also reports of a hopuse fire at 15415 SW 57th St.

There are no reports of anyone injured at this time.

Police are advising the public to stay away.

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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 intuitive, so it could take a while to get familiarized. Also, the lack of a zoom function makes it difficult to see finer adjustments.

The cost: Free

The bottom line: If you’re a serious mobile photographer looking for an app with which to fine-tune your photos, Snapseed is your best choice.

Pixlr Express

The good: Offers more than 600 effects that all work well and are easy to use. Auto Fix and Focal Blur (tilt-shift) are particularly effective.

The bad: The app doesn’t warn you before backing out, which can result in lost work. A Recent Files picker upon launch would be nice.

The cost: Free

The bottom line: One of the most powerful Android apps in its category. Despite its minor flaws, it should be your go-to mobile photo editor.

Instagram

The good: An excellent way to turn mundane images into cool-looking photos you can share with friends. Mapping features mean people can easily browse all your geotagged shots.

The bad: Photo Map features default to showing all your geotagged shots, which could be dangerous under some circumstances.

The cost: Free

The bottom line: If you like taking retro-looking shots and sharing them, Instagram is tough to beat. Mapping features and frequent updates to the app mean your pictures will have a longer browsing life span.

Photo Grid

The good: Offers a huge menu of grid templates and a dead-simple interface for combining photos into framed collages.

The bad: The app unfortunately doesn’t let you customize the thickness of collage borders or the level of curvature on rounded panels.

The cost: Free

The bottom line: Even though it’s missing a couple of nifty customization tools other collage apps have, Photo Grid’s simple interface and outstanding menu of predesigned grids make it the best collage app on the market.

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Heidi Klum Re-Creates Anne Bancroft The Graduate Carl's Jr Commercial

Heidi Klum reenacts Anne Bancroft's famous Mrs. Robinson character from The Graduate in a new Carl's Jr. commercial, and she did a good job of staying in character through her interview with ET's Rob Marciano.

PICS: Candid Celeb Sightings

For the TV ad, Heidi's advances are directed towards a hamburger, but Rob also got an opportunity to step in for Dustin Hoffman once the cameras stopped rolling.

"Have you ever been seduced by an older woman?" Heidi asked the ET co-host.

"Not successfully, but if she'd looked like you that may have changed," Rob answered.

Heidi joins a long list of sexy celebs to sell burgers for Carl's Jr composed of Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, Kate Upton and model Nina Agdal.

Watch the video for more.

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Judge blocks city from Ken Burns film footage

Famed documentary filmmaker Ken Burns today beat back an effort by the city to obtain raw footage and outtakes from his recent movie on the infamous "Central Park jogger" rape case.

A judge granted the PBS icon's request to quash a subpoena for the unused material on grounds that his production company, Florentine Films, is covered by the "reporter's privilege."

Manhattan Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis ruled that Florentine proved its "journalistic independence" when Burns' daughter and collaborator on the film, Sarah Burns, "presented specific facts demonstrating an intent to publish at the time newsgathering commenced."

Ellis also said city lawyers were "misleading" when they claimed that Ken Burns told the trade magazine Variety that the "purpose" of last year's "The Central Park Five" was to spur settlement of a $250 million civil-rights suit filed by the five men whose convictions were tossed in 2002.

"Burns does not indicate what the film's 'purpose' is, and the quoted portion by defendants mischaracterizes the quote and Ken Burns' position," Ellis wrote.

The city claimed that it needed what Burns left on the cutting-room floor to help defend itself against wrongful-conviction claims by Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Kharey Wise, Raymond Santana and Kevin Richardson, whose pending suit was filed 10 years ago.

Ellis said upcoming depositions "will provide full access fo the main plaintiffs" and give city lawyers "the opportunity to pose questions concerning contradictions in the edited film and elsewhere."

Executive Assistant Corporation Counsel for Public Safety Celeste Koeleveld said the city was "disappointed" and considering its options.

"While journalistic privilege under the law is very important, we firmly believe it did not apply here," Koeleveld said.

"This film is a one-sided advocacy piece that depicts the plaintiffs' version of events as undisputed fact. It is our view that we should be able to view the complete interviews, not just those portions that the filmmakers chose to include."

Burns said he, his daughter and her husband, David McMahon -- who also worked on the film -- "are grateful for this important decision; we feel the judge made exactly the right ruling."

"We are also mindful that this ruling goes far beyond our current situation; this adds a layer of important protection to journalists and filmmakers everywhere," Burns added.

"We recognize too that this attempt to subpoena our outtakes and notes only further delayed the nearly decade long efforts by the plaintiffs to seek redress. We hope this serves as a positive impetus to move that original suit to a resolution."

bruce.golding@nypost.com

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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 Wilmer Sarmiento and Moreno’s American wife, Nicolette — began with $700. Over the last six years, the partners have raised more than $55 million, mostly from private investment and venture capital firms.

Their formula for success? The founders rejected traditional English teaching methods in physical classrooms and developed a system that allows students to tune into live classes every hour of the day from their computers at home, in the office or at school, and learn from native English-speaking teachers who may be based anywhere. Courses stress practical conversations online and the company guarantees fluency after a one-year course, offering six additional months free if students fail to become fluent.

“We wanted to change the way people learn English,” said Andrés Moreno, the 30-year-old co-founder and CEO, who halted his training as a mechanical engineer and worked full-time at developing the company with his partners. “And we want students to achieve fluency. Traditionally, students have to drive to an English academy, waste time in traffic, and try to learn from a teacher who is not an native English speaker in a class with 20 students.”

Using the Internet, Open English offers classes usually with two or three students and a teacher, interactive videos, other learning aids and personal attention from coaches who phone students regularly to see how they are progressing.

Courses cost an average of $750 per year and students can opt for monthly payments. This is about one-fifth to one-third of what traditional schools charge for small classes or individual instructors, Andrés noted.

“We work at building confidence with our students and encourage them to practice speaking English as much as possible during classes,” said Nicolette Moreno, co-founder and chief product officer, who met Andrés in Venezuela while she was working there on a service project. “Students are taught to actively participate in conversations like a job interview, traveling and talking on a conference call,” said Nicolette, who previously lived in Los Angles, worked with non-profits to create environmentally friendly products and fight poverty in emerging markets, and was head equity trader at an asset management firm. “Students need to speak English in our classes, even though it is sometimes difficult. They learn through immersion.”

Open English has successfully tapped into an enormous, underserved market. Millions of people in Latin America want to learn English to advance in their jobs, work at multinational companies, travel or work overseas and understand the popular music, movies and TV shows they constantly hear in English. Many of them take English courses at public and private schools and learn little if any useful conversational English. While students at private schools for the upper middle class and wealthy often learn foreign languages extremely well from native English-speaking teachers, most people can’t afford these schools or courses designed for one or two students.

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Pension reform plan put on hold

TALLAHASSEE --
House Speaker Will Weatherford’s push to close the state’s $136 billion pension system to new state employees is on hold.

A report released Friday was supposed to provide an estimate of how much the change would cost to pay out benefits to the employees currently in the system while switching new state employees into 401(k)-style retirement plans.

Instead, the report was deemed incomplete. Weatherford said Monday he wants the missing information before he can decide his next move, and that won’t be until at least March 1.

Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, has made ending pensions for new employees one his top priorities of the coming legislative session. He says change is needed because the state’s current pension — which has about 145,000 current and future beneficiaries — is unsustainable and will require a mammoth taxpayer bailout sometime in the future.

Unions oppose the move because they say it shifts costs and risks to workers.

A report released Friday by Milliman, a Virginia actuarial firm, concluded that closing the state’s pension system to future employees would endanger the benefits of those currently enrolled in the pension plan. The problem: Because Weatherford’s proposal would turn away new workers, the pension plan would be forced to rely on a shrinking payroll base on which contributions to retirees are made.

To make up the shortfall, either workers or taxpayers would chip in more, the report stated.

Weatherford said he wasn’t surprised that the $70,000 report, which he had ordered, concluded it would cost more money to reform Florida’s retirement system.

“We know that doesn’t come free,” Weatherford said.

But what the report didn’t include were costs associated with keeping the pension plan intact, making it difficult to compare costs between reform and status quo.

Weatherford said he didn’t know why that estimate wasn’t included.

“We do need, I believe, to have that baseline so that we can give the citizens of Florida and the Legislature all the information necessary to make a decision,” Weatherford said.

Ben Wolf, a spokesman for Florida’s Department of Management Services, said as soon as the report was received, state officials notified Milliman that the study was incomplete. He said another study, this one costing $25,000, will be sent to the state explaining how much the current pension system will cost.

So far, at least, Senate President Don Gaetz hasn’t publicly matched Weatherford’s enthusiasm in reforming the retirement system for state workers, teachers and college and local government employees.

The Senate is preoccupied instead with reforming smaller pension systems that are run separately by local governments. Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, who chairs the Senate committee that is handling pension reform, said he doesn’t see a pressing need to reform the state pension plan.

“With municipal pensions, there’s a legitimate need for reform,” Ring said. “But the Florida Retirement System is a completely different discussion because it’s difficult to define the urgency. I don’t believe moving to a 401(k) system is a bad thing. The challenge, however, and it’s a big however, is that it could be a bad thing in terms of how much it could cost to close down.”

Ring said he’s received little guidance from Gaetz on the issue.

“And that’s because he wants to wait for all actuarial reports to come out,” Ring said. “Ultimately, he’ll have to get engaged and give us some direction.”

But with the confusion over the Milliman report, that would have to wait.

Gaetz’s spokeswoman, Katie Betta, said in an e-mail he was reviewing the study and couldn’t comment.

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Dr. Drew: Mindy McCready Won't Be the Last Celebrity Rehab Patient to Die

In the wake of troubled country singer Mindy McCready's apparent suicide, Dr. Drew Pinsky is tackling criticism in regards to his Celebrity Rehab series, where McCready appeared as a patient, and urging more diligent care for those with addiction issues.

McCready, 37, was one of nine stars who sought help from Pinsky in season three and ultimately the third to die from their demons (as well as the fifth patient death in the show's history).

Related: Country Music Stars Mourn Mindy McCready's Death

Speaking on the disturbing trend, Pinsky acknowledged that McCready, like others who are or have been under his care, are deeply troubled and in need of continual treatment.

"I'm certain she's not the last [to lose their life to the disease]," Pinsky told ET's Rob Marciano on Monday, just one day after McCready passed away from a reported self-inflicted gunshot wound. The singer originally sought treatment from him for alcohol and prescription drug abuse.

He adds, "If somebody has a deadly disease that requires chronic treatment… [and] are not, everyday, involved in that treatment, their life is in danger today."

Pinsky also points out that it has been years since he has been tasked to care for the troubled star. In light of the recent tragedy, Pinsky condemns the inaction of those medical professionals responsible for treating the troubled star.

"What's awful to me is that she was allowed to go home where there was a firearm," he said.

Related: Mindy McCready Denies Killing Boyfriend

McCready was pronounced dead Sunday afternoon after sheriff's deputies were called to her Arkansas home after gun shots were reported. Officers reportedly found Mindy McCready's body on the front porch of the home.

McCready had attempted suicide in the past, having been hospitalized in 2008 after she cut her wrists and took several pills. Her passing follows the shooting death of boyfriend David Wilson on January 13.

A public memorial will be held in Nashville in the coming days for Mindy McCready following the singer's apparent suicide on Sunday.

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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, a paranoid ultra nationalist, fatally shot 69 people at a summer camp after murdering eight others in downtown Oslo.

Lanza wanted to exceed Breivik’s death toll, according to investigators.

He chose the Sandy Hook (Conn.) Elementary School because it was the “easiest target” with the “largest cluster of people,” two officials who have been briefed about the investigation said.

Lanza saw his victims as characters in a shooting video game and the higher the death toll, the better his “score.”

Investigators said they had found evidence that Lanza was obsessed with Breivik, who posted a bizarre extremists manifesto the day of his attacks.

Sources told CBS that investigators have also uncovered a “trove” of video games from Lanza’s basement.

He is believed to have spent much of his free time in a basement play room, with the windows blacked out, engaged in a kind of target practice on video games.

It was not disclosed which games he played. But Breivik boasted that he trained for his rampage by playing a war-simulation game named “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.”

He said he developed “target acquisition” by practised his aim using a “holographic aiming device” on the game, which he believed was being used to train combat soldiers.

Norwegian prosecutors also said Breivik played “World of Warcraft” an astounding average of six hours and 50 minutes a day for four months while he was preparing his attacks.

The fate of the two mass murderers turned out differently.

Lanza, 20, killed himself after slaying 20 children and six adults before police closed in.

But Breivik surrendered to police and is being held in a Norwegian jail on a 21-year sentence, the longest allowed in his country.

In his manifesto and afterward Breivik said he was inspired by Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, the Knights Templar of the Middle Ages, al Qaeda, “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, and Japanese “banzai” warriors.

He said he was motivated by fear of an Islamic takeover of Europe, a decline in Western values and the growth of Europe’s left-leaning political parties.

No manifesto or written explanation from Lanza of his rampage has been found.

Before his fatal spree he destroyed the hard drive on his computer, which may have kept some of the records of the games he played and who he played with.

But investigators are believed to be making progress in tracing Lanza’s on-line life.

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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 renovating the loft-like space with the help of a $2.1 million, 25-year small business loan.

“It allows me to own my own space as opposed to renting, and that will decrease my costs for infrastructure and allow me to build equity with time,” said Oliveira, who secured a U.S. Small Business Administration-guaranteed loan from Wells Fargo.

For small businesses like Oliveira’s, a loan can be the critical key to growing a business, as well as the kindling to ignite an operation.

Take Harold Scott’s fledgling Great Scott Security, which manufactures window guards in Hollywood that can open quickly in case of need.

When he was 13, Scott’s stepfather perished in a Georgia house fire because he couldn’t escape through heavy window bars. Scott made it his mission to fix the problem.

“I promised myself I would dedicate all my time to working on a solution,” said Scott, 60.

Now retired from a 23-year career in the U.S. Justice Department, Scott recently secured a $7,500 microloan from Partners for Self Employment. He used it to buy a computer and pay for marketing and other business expenses for his quick-release window guards, which have met national, state and Miami-Dade County fire safety codes.

During the depths of the recession, business owners often griped that gaining access to capital was their biggest hurdle. Saddled with bad loans, many banks were wary of making new ones. At the same time, both the value of collateral and the creditworthiness of many borrowers tumbled.

Now, at last, banks are starting to open their pocketbooks again, experts say, though lending is still not on par with pre-recession levels.

“There is no question that small business borrowing declined as a result of the recession and has yet to recover to pre-crisis levels,” said Richard Brown, chief economist for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., via email. “According to the Federal Reserve, total loans to noncorporate businesses and farms stood at just under $3.8 trillion in September, which remains below the peak of about $4.1 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2008.”

Signs of Growth

In South Florida, more businesses are applying for loans and getting approvals from banks, according to lenders, officials at government agencies and leaders of organizations that help small business owners secure loans.

“Lenders are expressing a greater interest than they have in the past few years in terms of meeting the needs of the small business community,” said Marjorie Weber, Miami-Dade Chapter Chair of SCORE, which helps business owners put loan packages together and refers them to bankers.

Loan figures are indeed rising. During the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2012, SBA-guaranteed loans were up in both Miami-Dade and Broward counties, according to the SBA. In fiscal 2012, 449 loans were approved in Miami-Dade, totaling $213.3 million, up from 426 loans for $154.4 million in 2011. In Broward, 262 loans for $91.4 million were approved in fiscal 2012, compared to 257 loans for $102.4 million in 2011.

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