Stone-crab season suffers in the Keys

Despite rocketing prices for stone-crab claws, many Florida Keys commercial fishermen have nearly given up on the season only 2 months old.

"We may see record prices but also record pain," said Gary Graves, general manager of Keys Fisheries in Marathon. "Prices don't mean anything if you can't catch anything."

Harvests since shortly after the season opening Oct. 15 have been "as bad as I can remember during my 45 years in the business," Graves said. "It's just bleak."

Keys Fisheries, one of the state's leading wholesalers for stone crabs, has laid off half of its production staff, maybe 20 people, Graves said.

"We hate to do it to our people but we're probably not finished," he said. "Right now, a big day for us is 1,000 pounds [of claws]. It should be around 15,000 pounds. We're doing nothing."

Keys Fisheries has raised its dockside prices paid to fishermen several times to encourage fishermen to keep their traps in the water.

Graves said it costs a fisherman about $1,200 in fuel, labor and other expenses to make a day's trip. The fish house's current prices are $9 per pound for medium-size claws and $17 per pound for the coveted jumbos.

"Our wholesale sales prices are higher than that and retail is through the roof," Graves said. "But we can't fill the orders we have."

A Marathon community group recently canceled the organization's annual stone crab feast for members because no claws were to be found.

The season runs until May 15.

Last season, Monroe County produced about 1.1 million pounds of legal-size claws, accounting for a large portion of Florida's total 2.67 million-pound harvest worth an estimated $23.6 million to the commercial fleet.

About 1,000 people statewide are licensed to fish traps for stone crabs. Only the claws are kept. Historically, stone-crab harvests have topped three million pounds of claws.

"The last two years were good and the recruitment looked normal," Graves said. "The first round of trap pulling was fine but it went downhill from there — like falling off a cliff."

Fishermen and researchers are baffled.

"Blame it on global warming, blame it on BP [Deepwater Horizon oil spill], blame it on Mother Nature," Graves said. "Everybody's got an idea but nobody can say why. It's probably a combination of a bunch of things."

News reports from stone-crab fleets farther up the Florida Gulf Coast suggest an octopus population explosion. Crabs are a favorite food of octopus, which are smart enough to get into traps.

"We've seen more octopus in the 6- to 8-pound range, which is abnormal," Graves said. State experts have suggested warm winters may have triggered the octopus boom.

"Things could turn around," Graves said, "but realistically the chances of it happening this season are slim."

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Grinch stops traffic in Keys with a police radar gun

The Grinch was out in full force in the Keys, but he wasn't stealing Christmas.

Instead, he was checking traffic speeds through the school zone at Stanley Switlik Elementary School around mile marker 49 in Marathon. Speeders going no more than 5 mph over the 20 mph limit got the option of a ticket or an onion. Obviously, most opt for the onion.

Chief Lou Caputo, third in line at the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, played the role of the Grinch, handing out about 10 onions.

He has been donning the outfit — while operating a radar gun — this time of year since 2000.

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Xbox SmartGlass updated with second-screen ESPN and NBA Game Time app experiences

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Kristen Stewart I Apologize To Everyone For Making Them So Angry

Getting noticed in Hollywood is the toughest task facing every fledgling actor and every A-lister will tell you countless stories about the times they almost quit the business. Kristen Stewart did just that during a new interview with Newsweek, recounting the make or break audition that ultimately put her on the path to stardom.

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After being discovered during a school play, Stewart and her mother (Jules Mann-Stewart) drove from audition to audition with no luck. "I decided a year after not getting any commercials, 'F*ck it. I won't make my mom drive around Los Angeles anymore,'" Stewart says.

"I also got so nervous for every single audition. I was just dying. I had one appointment left and my mom said, 'Have a little integrity and go to your last one.' And it was The Safety of Objects. If I hadn't gotten that, I would have been done."

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One wonders if Stewart wished her cinematic journey ended all those years ago, as her high profile status led to one of the most memorable celebrity scandals of 2012. "It's not a terrible thing if you're either loved or hated," she says now, 5-months removed from the situation. "But honestly, I don't care 'cause it doesn't keep me from doing my sh*t. And I apologize to everyone for making them so angry. It was not my intention."

In the end, Stewart says she learned a lot from that experience -- particularly not to let the public dictate decisions made in her personal life. "It's a little annoying having to be so compartmentalized," she says. "I go from box to box to box. But I'm going out a lot more now. I was starting to get closed off and self-conscious, and I'm trudging forth into the world more often."

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With Bella Swan and all those heartbreak headlines behind her, Stewart is endlessly excited about what the future holds. "The only relief when it comes to Twilight is that the story is done. I start every project to finish the motherfu*ker, and to extend that [mentality] over a five-year period adapting all of these treasured moments over four books, it was constantly worrying. But as long as people's perspective of me doesn't keep me from doing what I want to do, it doesn't matter."

For more from Kristen Stewart's Newsweek interview, click here!

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Court rejects hearing for final appeal for rape-trial cop

He's out of appeals -- but he's still trying to stay out of Rikers.

The highest court in the state has declined to hear the appeal of Kenneth Moreno, the disgraced East Village ex-cop tried in last year's notorious "Rape Cops" trial -- meaning both he and his former partner are now due to turn themselves in and head to Rikers on their official misconduct sentences on Thursday, Dec. 20.

But Moreno is planning a last-ditch stay-out-of-jail effort, his appeals lawyer tells the Post.

"I am presently preparing a habeas corpus writ that's going to federal court," the lawyer, Stephen Preziosi, said this morning. "I will be asking a federal judge for a stay of the sentence -- So it's not over."

Steven Hirsch

KENNETH MORENO

The writ will argue that constitutional violations during the "Rape Cops" trial -- including Moreno's longstanding accusations that the lead prosecutor improperly instructed the jury on the law -- warrant the overturning of his conviction, the lawyer said.

"That's a violation of his due process," the lawyer said. "The other thing is the insufficiency of the evidence for a conviction on official misconduct," he said.

Both Moreno and his ex-partner, Franklin Mata, had been acquitted in May, 2011 of raping a drunken young fashion executive who they'd been dispatched to help into her East 13th Street apartment.

But both were convicted of three counts each of official misconduct -- one for each time the pair were caught on surveillance video using the woman's keys to re-enter her apartment.

Mata, who prosecutors said played a more minor role of lookout, has been sentenced to serve 60 days jail, meaning 40 days with good behavior. He has exhausted his appeals and will be turning himself in, said his lawyer, Edward Mandery.

Moreno, a married father of two who prosecutors accused as the actual rapist, has been sentenced to serve one year, meaning closer to eight months with good behavior.

"Look, regardless of the outcome of the appeal we're grateful that justice was for the most part done in this case," said Moreno's trial lawyer, Joseph Tacopino.

"Ken would have been serving upward of 25 years if he had been convicted of the top charges, so we're grateful that this jury -- and they were truly remarkable -- saw through all the rhetoric."

Moreno had challenged his conviction on every level possible, starting with the trial judge, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro, and then hitting the state Appellate Division.

Both Carro and a panel of appellate judges rejected his arguments that the evidence of misconduct was legally insufficient and that prosecutors misstated the law in summations.

In asking the Court of Appeals to reconsider the same arguments, Moreno had added an extra issue -- complaining in papers this month that a one year sentence was too much, given that Mata had only got 60 days for the same charge.

"Absurd," prosecutors argued in opposing papers. Moreno was clearly the leader in the misconduct, motivated by his "romantic" interests in the woman, they argued. The latest decision rejecting Moreno's application for permission to appeal was issued by Court of Appeals Judge Victoria Graffeo.

Moreno's latest bid for freedom will be filed either tomorrow or Thursday morning -- right on his deadline for surrender, Preziosi said. Asked if Moreno understood the very strong possibility that he'll have to surrender on Thursday regardless, the lawyer added, "We understand that is a possibility."

Mata, meanwhile, is resigned to beginning his jail stint, his lawyer said.

"My client was accused of some very serious crimes, and he was acquitted by a highly competent jury who heard all the evidence," Mandery said. "This last step will bring some closure to the case and allow Frank to move on with his life."

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Pipeline Brickell, a new co-working space, reaches 70% occupancy

Pipeline Brickell, the shared workspace at 1101 Brickell Avenue that opened last month, announced it has reached 70 percent occupancy and is now home to dozens of startups, established companies and professionals. Company founders Todd Oretsky and Philippe Houdard said members of the 14,000-square-foot high-design co-working center include The Founder’s Institute, the world's largest startup accelerator; Pininfarina, an Italian-based design firm with clients including Ferrari and Maserati; Virgin Unite, a non-profit foundation founded by Richard Branson for the venture capital conglomerate Virgin Group; LearnerNation, a provider of interactive learning tools; and GuestBooker, a New York-based firm that specializes in booking high-profile talent on national TV networks. Pipeline Brickell, one of a wave of co-working spaces already opened or planned for Miami, also offers its members classes, workshops and networking events and has been hosting programs for community organizations.

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Rilya Wilson legal guardian testifying in murder trial

The lover of the woman charged in the murder of foster child Rilya Wilson is on the stand Monday morning.

Pamela Graham, who was also the child’s legal guardian, is so far the most high-profile witness to appear in the 4-week-old murder trial of Geralyn Graham. The two are not related.

Geralyn Graham, 66, is on trial for the death of the 5-year-old foster child whose disappearance a decade ago roiled the state’s child welfare agency and led to a series of reforms. Rilya’s body has never been found.

Charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated child abuse, Geralyn Graham faces life in prison if convicted.

Born to a drug-addicted woman, Rilya was under the supervision of the Florida Department of Children and Families nearly her entire life. In 2000, the agency placed her in the home of Pamela and Geralyn Graham, who were already caring for Rilya’s little sister.

Because a case worker failed to properly supervise the child for more than a year, DCF did not realize Rilya was missing until April 2002. Geralyn Graham has long insisted that a DCF employee, in January 2001, whisked Rilya away for mental health treatment, never to return.

Graham was not indicted for murder until 2005 after she allegedly confessed to a cellmate that she smothered the girl and dumped her body in a South Miami-Dade waterway. The cellmate, Robin Lunceford, may testify this week.

With no body, eyewitnesses to the slaying or confession, Miami-Dade prosecutors have spent weeks weaving a circumstantial case portraying Geralyn Graham as a lying, manipulative caregiver who gave multiple stories of how Rilya disappeared and appeared unconcerned that DCF supposedly took the child and never returned her.

Defense lawyers have laid blame on the DCF case worker who failed to properly supervise the child, and pointed to a lack of forensic evidence and questioned whether the child is even dead.

Pamela Graham, 48, agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, pleading guilty to child neglect and child abuse with no harm.

Prosecutors say that Pamela Graham, who was the legal custodian of the child, was cowered into lying by her dominating lover.

In her sworn statement, Pamela Graham told police that Geralyn never revealed to her what happened to the child, but forced her to lie to authorities.

“We were up like all night and I just kept asking her, and I was crying because I didn’t know what to do,” she said in a statement, adding: “I kept telling her that I was responsible for this child, and, you know . . . that eventually someone was probably going to come out [to check on Rilya], and then what? That’s when she told me, you know, just tell them someone from DCF came.”

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Homeland Finale Interview Alex Gansa Howard Gordon

Last night's season two finale of Homeland was not only hugely important for the characters, but the show itself since the last string of episodes drew a significant amount of criticism from fans and critics alike. Could one episode re-write all those wrongs?

The answer is yes. And no.

While there were massive strides in the right direction (including the literal and figurative bomb that functioned as a min-reset button for many of the surviving characters), this morning has found countless critics citing Carrie's episode ending decision as one more mistake in a string of bad choices. Personally, I love that season three will be simultaneously about Carrie's public hunt for fugitive Brody and private hunt for the person who seemingly framed him.

To find out what else season three could look like, and look back on the impact of season two, Homeland executive producers Alex Gansa and Howard Gordon were joined by exiting star David Harewood (R.I.P. David Estes) on a conference call with reporters to talk about the past, present and future of the Emmy-winning series.

Question: What was the thrust of the final season?

Alex Gansa: It was just getting to the moment where Nazir and Walden were dead, and there was this deluded possibility that Carrie and Brody could have a happy ending. Last season ended with Carrie as the only one who believed Brody was guilty and this season ends with Carrie being the only one believes Brody is innocent. That was the rough architecture for the year.

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Question: Who moved Brody's car in front of the memorial service?

Gansa: We do have our ever-present mole who could have been responsible for moving the car in front of the auditorium. The investigators are going to believe that Brody was in that car when it exploded [and] he might be considered the one who moved it. If Brody was in his car when that bomb exploded, there's a good chance there would be nothing left of him. He would be incinerated to ash. Those are the possibilities running around in our heads.

Question: Should we believe that Brody is innocent?

Gansa: A lot of people have told me they still have a glimmer of doubt about Brody. If you watch his behavior throughout the finale, it's a little uncertain. Don't forget he was willing to blow himself up in the first season – this very well may have been a suicide play. It's up to you to interpret. We deliberately left the door open a little bit for that possibility. The ambivalence about Brody has been present since the pilot. His motivations and his allegiance have been called into question over and over again. I don't think you can end that definitely. I'm sure Carrie will have a moment or two of doubt next season if he was convincing in his arguments.

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Question: What can you tease about season three?

Gansa: Carrie has promised Brody she is going to clear his name. Brody does have a head start of a few days. He is privy to Carrie's best contacts. Brody has the benefit of that network. There is [also] the aftermath of what we consider the next 9/11, how the country responds to that and how the intelligence agency is going to pick itself off the ground and start functioning again. They're all open questions for us right now. I think Howard [Gordon] and me and the writing staff had a much clearer picture of what the first two seasons would be than we do about the third season. [Brody's] involvement and his family's involvement is very much up in the air with what happened in the finale.

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Question: Can you ever envision a time when Homeland won't be about Carrie and/or Brody?

Gansa: I think that it's an open question, but inevitably that's going to happen. If you look at these two seasons, we've told a significant part of [the Carrie & Brody] story. If there's a chapter 3, it's going to have to be a reinvention of some kind. Carrie and Saul trying to keep the world safe.

Question: One of the biggest criticisms of the season involved Brody's involvement with Walden's death, and the lack of surveillance and follow-up from the C.I.A. -- can you explain why his phonecalls were no longer being monitored?

Gansa: Brody had delivered to the CIA all the info he knew about Nazir and the impending attack. Indeed all his information is correct; all the network except for Nazir was all rolled up. The assumption of the CIA was that his role was done. There was nothing more he knew. They had mistakenly stopped monitoring his movements and his phones.

Question: And why wasn't Brody questioned about Walden's death?

Gansa: There were no marks on Walden's body – this is a man who was known to have a bad heart. He died of the heart attack. Brody was in the room [and] got to play a death scene with him but was completely innocent in the eyes of the world. Indeed [he] ran to call for help and the paramedics saw that he had a heart attack. If there had been any trace of foul play ... but there wasn't, [so] there was no need for an interrogation or a debrief.

Question: Dana Brody's hit-and-run storyline was also the subject of some fan ire. What were you going for with that?

Howard Gordon: There was a deeper plan for it that morphed halfway through the season. Really it was about Dana’s degradation. It was about the emotional separation between Brody and Dana, which was such a strong part of last season. We always knew we wanted to erode that this year. It was as much about a loss of innocence for this character we think is extraordinary.

Gansa: It was meant to not only deliver to Dana, this lesson in how the world works, but it was also meant to characterize Walden as a villain in the piece. This was a man who was willing to subvert the law and not see justice come to pass and give a real sense of what he might be like as a president.

Homeland season one is now available on DVD and season two can be seen on Showtime on Demand.

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Mom had final say over gunman's upbringing after divorce

STAMFORD, Conn. — When the parents of Connecticut school shooter Adam Lanza divorced, the settlement left his mother with a comfortable income and the comfort of knowing that the boy in her care would have his education paid for and his medical insurance covered.

If there was bitterness and anger between Nancy and Peter Lanza, it is not described in court papers. And there was no mention of any lingering mental health or medical issues for the then-teenage boy, nothing that could even hint at the horror he would unleash three years later.

Adam Lanza shot his mother in the head with a rifle Friday, then headed to Sandy Hook Elementary School armed with her high-power rifle, two handguns and enough ammunition to kill nearly every child in the building, authorities said. He killed 20 students and six adults before police arrived and he shot himself.

The Lanzas married in June 1981 in Kingston, NH. But the documents show Adam lived his whole life at the home in Newtown where his mother was found dead in her pajamas, on her bed.

Nancy Lanza filed for divorce in 2009 and the documents suggest little argument. The couple agreed to split up their jewelry, clothes and family photos. Adam would live with his mother, the couple agreed, and they agreed to talk about the important decisions.

If it turned out they couldn't agree on something related to Adam's upbringing, Nancy Lanza "shall make the final decision," according to the Sept. 24, 2009, settlement approved by Judge Stanley Novak.

There is nothing in the file that discusses the relationship's underlying problems. The file simply says the marriage "has broken down irretrievably and there is no possibility of getting back together."

Nancy Lanza, received $289,800 in alimony this year. It was to continue until December 2023, with slight increases each year for cost of living.

As part of the divorce, Nancy Lanza was ordered to attend a parenting education program. The provider, Family Centers Inc., certified that she completed the program on June 3 and June 10, 2009. The document says only that Lanza "satisfactorily completed the program."

Authorities pored over computer, cellphone and credit card records trying to piece together the Lanza family's days leading up to the shooting. Peter Lanza, in a statement this weekend, said that like everyone else, he could not comprehend what had unfolded.

"We too are asking why," he said. "We have cooperated fully with law enforcement and will continue to do so. Like so many of you, we are saddened, but struggling to make sense of what has transpired."

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Ryder CEO Greg Swienton retiring, COO getting promoted

Trucking giant Ryder will get a new CEO in two weeks, as the Miami-Dade company announces the retirement of Gregory Swienton and the promotion of current COO Robert Sanchez to the top job.

Ryder, which leases commercial trucks and manages supply operations for companies around the world, saw revenues and profits increase this year, but has also been cutting costs and selling part of its fleet to combat slowing sales. Swienton, 63, joined Ryder as president in 1999 and was promoted to CEO a year later. Sanchez, 47, will become the company’s fifth CEO since its founding in 1933 by a Miami Beach construction worker named Jim Ryder.

Sanchez becomes CEO on January 1, and Swienton will retain the title of chairman of the board until Ryder’s annual meeting in May, when that title will pass to Sanchez, too, the company said in a press release issued Monday morning.

A 19-year veteran at Ryder, Sanchez has served as head of the company’s largest division, global fleet management solutions, and as chief financial officer.

E. Follin Smith, an independent director on the board, said in a statement in the company press release: “We sincerely thank Greg Swienton for leading Ryder to an improved sustainable business model, significantly enhanced financial performance, and an organization-wide commitment to business integrity.”

Ryder stock dropped 1.5 percent Monday, to $48.81 a share.

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