Gun makers, violent film and video creators benefit aplenty from tax breaks in Florida

TALLAHASSEE -- What do violent video games, gory movies and high-powered assault weapons have in common? They have all been blamed for tragic mass shootings, including last month’s at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. — and are all subsidized by Florida taxpayers.With Florida’s tax code more business-friendly in recent years, economic incentives and tax breaks...

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Nintendo’s Wii U problems turn into a crisis

In just a week, the problems Nintendo’s (NTDOY) new home console is facing have cascaded into something sinister. The traditional post-New Year slump hit Nintendo’s home market in the week ending January 12 and exposed cruelly how weak the consumer interest in Wii U truly is. According to Famitsu, Wii U sales slumped from a pace of 70,000 per week to just 21,000. The ancient PlayStation 3 sold the...

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Manti Teo ESPN Interview on Lennay Kekua

Given the worldwide attention given to Manti Te'o and his fake girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, since it was inevitable the football star would break his silence sooner rather than later. Last night, Te'o sat down for an off-camera interview with ESPN's Jeremy Schaap, where he admitted to lyng about actually meeting Kekua because he believed his friends, family and coaches would think he was "crazy" for...

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Lady Gaga to perform at inaugural ball

WASHINGTON — Watch out Beyonce and Katy Perry. There's another diva set to perform during the inauguration festivities — Lady Gaga.A person familiar with the inauguration tells The Associated Press that the pop star will perform at Tuesday's ball for White House staffers. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because that person wasn't authorized to...

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Miami-Dade considering support for Dolphins’ tax plan

The issue of tax-funded sports stadiums will soon be back on the Miami-Dade County Commission’s agenda.Commissioner Barbara Jordan is slated to introduce a resolution Wednesday backing the Miami Dolphins’ plan to use a state subsidy and local hotel taxes to fund about half of a $400 million renovation of Sun Life Stadium. The resolution urges Florida lawmakers to pass a bill...

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Gov. Rick Scott's staff ordered to testify in Carletha Cole trial

TALLAHASSEE -- Several current and former employees in the administration of Gov. Rick Scott are being ordered by a judge to testify in a sensational criminal case that centers on allegations of illegal taping.It is still unclear whether Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll will be forced to answer questions in the criminal case against her former aide that has also included allegations...

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With an air kiss or empty hug, Te’oing is Twitter craze

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Manti Te’o, the Notre Dame linebacker entangled in a girlfriend hoax that gives a whole new meaning to the term “air kiss,” is inspiring a new fad racing through social media: Te’oing.An avalanche of pictures of people hugging empty chairs or puckering up to an otherwise empty room were posted to Twitter with the hashtag #Te’oing days after the college football star’s story about...

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Amanda Seyfried 'Lovelace' Clip

A brunette and freckled Amanda Seyfried portrays notorious '70s adult film star Linda Lovelace in an upcoming biopic, and we have an exclusive clip from the movie featuring one of her early photo shoots…Pics: First Look at Amanda Seyfried as Porn Star Lovelace In ETonline's Lovelace clip, Linda sits down for the photo shoot in a revealing bathing suit. The photographer (played by Wes Bentley) asks...

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Suing the spies who loved us — Women in Britain file suit against real-life 007s

APSean Connery as James Bond in a scene from the 1963 film, "From Russia With Love."Now that's a sexy suit!A judge in Britain has decided that a group of women can sue the spies they slept with.The High Court judge compared the group to the women of James Bond — a character known as much for his antics in bed as his heroics in the spy game, The Daily Mail...

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Coconut Grove Village Council comes out against trolley project

The Coconut Grove Village Council on Thursday joined the chorus of opposition to a new trolley-bus fueling and maintenance garage now under construction on Douglas Road in the predominantly black West Grove.Meanwhile, West Grove residents have lined up lawyers to fight the project, and a University of Miami law professor is asking federal authorities to assist the residents...

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Bioethics commission meets at UM to consider testing anthrax vaccine on children

In “Dark Zephyr,” fictional terrorists released a cloud of anthrax on San Francisco. Adults were successfully vaccinated, but doctors didn’t know the safe dosage to give children. Fortunately this was just a practice exercise in emergency response in 2011. But the realization that modern medicine had no protocol to protect children from a deadly bacterial pathogen prompted...

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Amazon holiday results to show sales tax impact

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Acting as a tax collector may have hurt Amazon.com, Inc’s holiday sales analysts and industry executives said, but they expect to know more when the internet retailer reports its fourth-quarter results on January 29.Best Buy Co., an archrival of Amazon in consumer electronics, saw holiday online sales increase in three states where Amazon started collecting sales tax ahead...

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Advice Columnist Pauline Friedman Phillips 'Dear Abby' Dies

Longtime newspaper advice columnist Pauline Friedman Phillips -- who wrote Dear Abby under the name Abigail Van Buren -- has died at age 94. Her publicist confirmed to the Associated Press that Phillips died Wednesday after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.PICS: Star SightingsSince her family revealed in 2002 that Phillips had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, her daughter, Jeanne Phillips (pictured...

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Breaking God: Former Roman Catholic priest busted for selling meth to feds

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — A former Roman Catholic priest is among five people who have been indicted by a federal grand jury in an alleged drug operation involving shipments of methamphetamine to Connecticut from California.Federal prosecutors said Kevin Wallin, 61, former pastor at St. Augustine's parish in Bridgeport, received the shipments and sold methamphetamine...

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JM Family Enterprises and Baptist Health South Florida make FORTUNE’s list of best companies

Two South Florida companies made the ranking on FORTUNE magazine's 2013 list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America, released on Thursday.Diversified automotive company JM Family Enterprises, based in Deerfield Beach, was ranked No. 32, marking its 15th consecutive year on the list. Two-thirds of the company’s score is based on responses to an anonymous survey...

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Facebook search to generate revenue, no rival to Google: analysts

(Reuters) – Facebook Inc’s new search tool has strong potential to generate revenue for the social networking company, though it is unlikely to challenge Google Inc as the world’s dominant search engine, Wall Street analysts said on Wednesday.Facebook’s “graph search” tool, rolled out on Tuesday, lets its more than 1 billion users trawl their network of friends to find everything from restaurants...

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Beyonce GQ Cover Shoot BRoll

Earlier this week, ETonline revealed that Beyonce had been named Miss Millennium in the February issue of GQ and now we've got some behind-the-scenes video of her steamy photoshoot! PHOTO - Beyonce Debuts Her Incredible Post-Baby BodyTitled Home Alone with Miss. Millennium, the video chronicles Terry Richardson's sexy shoot with the new mom (although you'd never know it judging from her bangin' bod)! VIDEO...

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Geriatric Colombo underboss must see out 8 year sentence: court

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Miami Dolphins bill would bring state money to aging stadiums

A bill drafted by the Miami Dolphins would give Florida sports teams $3 million a year in state money to improve older stadiums, provided the owner pays for at least half the cost of a major renovation. Under the law, the stadium would need to be 20 years old and the team willing to put in at least $125 million for a $250 million renovation. That’s less than the $400 million...

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Gov. Scott scolded by legislative black caucus

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Rick Scott heard a litany of complaints Tuesday from the Legislative Black Caucus, on matters ranging from judicial appointments to civil rights for ex-felons. Throughout an hour-long discussion, the Republican governor held his ground in the face of grievances from Democratic lawmakers.Criticized for making only a handful of black appointments to the...

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Apple supplier sees big Q4 boost, likely a good sign for iPhone 5 demand

Shares of Apple (AAPL) have been hit hard over the last few days. Investors continue to worry about the company’s profit margins, demand for its popular line of smartphones and tablets, and its future endeavors. With upcoming competition from Research in Motion (RIMM) and Microsoft (MSFT), and an ongoing battle with Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system, analysts fear that Apple’s mobile dominance...

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Zooey Deschanel TCA Winter Press Tour Interview 2013

Season two of Fox's New Girl has so far taken audiences deeper into the weird lives of star Zooey Deschanel and her three roommates (and model best friend), while teasing but not quite pursuing a possible love-connection between Zooey's character Jess, and the ever-cynical Nick Miller, played by Jake Johnson. Also from TCA: 2013's Six Best New Shows The pair is seemingly always exchanging undeniable...

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318 FDNY 'probies' sworn in

After years of court battles, the city today swore in its first class of probationary firefighters since 2008.Mayor Bloomberg told the 318 "probies” that they made up “our most diverse class ever … a class as diverse as the communities you serve.”Some 42 percent of the class is black, Hispanic or Asian, compared with the 35 percent minority members in the...

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Coral Gables culinary students learn the art of sushi making

Christian Rivas is still years away from becoming a professional sushi chef, but his hand-crafted California roll looks good enough to serve professionally.“The hard part was getting the roll to be in good shape,” Christian, a 16-year-old junior at Coral Gables Senior High, said of his first attempt. The Gables student was one of about 30 who stood in rapt attention inside...

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Miami police sergeant takes stand, denies accusations in federal corruption trial

A Miami police sergeant who headed a drug-fighting squad testified in his federal corruption trial Monday, denying ever planting drugs on a suspect or stealing drugs and money from dope dealers.Sgt. Raul Iglesias, 40, accused of being a dirty cop, also denied ever asking detectives in his unit for “throw-down dope’’ to plant on the suspect in a downtown Miami parking lot...

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Facebook shares rise in buildup to mystery event, earnings

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc’s stock opened on Monday above $ 32 for the first time since July as anticipation about upcoming products and financial results underscored Wall Street’s renewed confidence in the online social network.Facebook will on Tuesday host its first major press event at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, since its troubled initial public offering in May, triggering...

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Five Things You Don't Know About Jodie Foster

This Hollywood A-lister's moving and revealing speech at last night's Golden Globes turned out to be one of the most talked about moments of the show. Here are five things you probably don't know about actress/director/producer Jodie Foster.1. Began her career at age 3 appearing in several commercials -- most notably for the sunblock company Coppertone -- and made her first credited TV appearance...

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Brookfield Office Properties starts long-awaited Manhattan West deck

Steve Cuozzo After six years of promises, Brookfield Office Properties has finally started to build a deck over the exposed Amtrak rail yard for its planned Manhattan West development project.The platform is a long-awaited breakthrough in Mayor Bloomberg’s dream to create a vast new Hudson Yards District in the once-forlorn far West...

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.CO sets sights on changing ‘the fabric of the Internet’

For the millions of people who equate the Web with .com, . CO Internet is out to change that mindset.The Miami company that manages and markets the .co domain is already making impressive gains — more than 1.4 million in 200 countries have hung their businesses, blogs, personal projects or dreams on a .co virtual shingle. Still, that’s just a tiny fraction of industry titan...

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Cyclist killed by hit-and-run driver on Ives Dairy Road

State troopers are looking for a driver in a hit-and-run crash that killed a cyclist on Ives Dairy Road in north Miami-Dade County early Sunday. The cyclist was riding west on Ives Dairy Road near Northeast 13th Court around 3:41 a.m. when the rider was struck and killed by a black Dodge Charger also traveling westbound. Eyewitnesses to the crash followed the car and obtained...

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Johnson’s tweet about Trestman landing NFL job creates buzz in football circles

Marc Trestman remains the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes, at least for now.Former NFL head coach Jimmy Johnson got the football world — north and south of the border — buzzing Friday when he strongly suggested Trestman was heading to Chicago to become the Bears‘ head coach.“Looks like 2 of my guys getting NFL jobs..Chud Cleveland and my QB coach at U Trestman to Chicago,” tweeted Johnson, now...

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