Miami Dolphins slam Norman Braman, Marlins Park deal

The Miami Dolphins ramped up their public campaign for a tax-funded stadium renovation this week, buying full-page ads against their top critic and trying to distance the plan from the unpopular Marlins deal.

The team bought an ad in Tuesday’s Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald knocking auto magnate Norman Braman’s criticism of the Sun Life Stadium deal, which would have Florida and Miami-Dade split the costs with owner Stephen Ross for a $400 million renovation. The Dolphins would pay at least $201 million, with taxpayers using state funds and a higher Miami-Dade hotel tax to pay $199 million.

In a fact sheet sent to media Tuesday morning, the Dolphins listed ways their deal differs from the 2009 Marlins deal. First: Ross, a billionaire real estate developer, would use private dollars to fund at least 51 percent of the Sun Life effort, compared to less than 25 percent from Marlins owner Jeff Loria. Second, Sun Life helps the economy more than the Marlins park does.

“Just because the Marlins did a bad deal doesn’t mean we should oppose a good deal where at least a majority of the cost is paid from private sources and more than 4,000 local jobs are created during construction alone,” the fact sheet states. And while the Dolphins’ Miami Gardens stadium has hosted two Super Bowls since 2007 and is in the running for the 2016 game, “Marlins Stadium does not generate the ability to attract world-class sports events -- other than a World Series from time to time depending on the success of the team.”

NFL teams play eight home games a year if they don’t make the playoffs, while baseball teams have 81.

Miami and Miami-Dade built the Marlins a $640 million stadium at the site of the Dolphins’ old home at the Orange Bowl in Little Havana. The Marlins contributed about $120 million and agreed to pay between $2.5 million and $4.9 million a year for 35 years to pay back $35 million of debt the county borrowed for the stadium. As a publicly owned stadium, the Marlins ballpark pays no property taxes. Most of the public money came from Miami-Dade hotel taxes, along with $50 million of debt tied to the county’s general fund.

Sun Life is privately owned and pays $3 million a year in property taxes to Miami-Dade. It currently receives $2 million a year from Florida’ s stadium program, a subsidy tied to converting the football venue to baseball in the 1990s when the Marlins played there. The Dolphins also paid for a second full-page ad with quotes from leading hoteliers in Miami-Dade endorsing the stadium plan. Among them: Donald Trump, whose company recently purchased the Doral golf resort. “Steve Ross’ commitment to modernize Sun Life Stadium -- while covering most of the construction costs -- is the right thing for Miami-Dade,’’ the ad quotes Trump as saying.

Also on Tuesday, Ross and team CEO Mike Dee sent a letter to Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and county commissioners requesting negotiations over the stadium deal. The letter said the deal Ross unveiled last week is a “baseline for debate” and asked for talks. The letter also urged the commission to adopt a resolution proposed by Commissioner Barbara Jordan endorsing the state bill that would allow taxes for Sun Life. The resolution is on the agenda for Wednesday’s commission meeting.

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Judge refuses to throw out charges in Miami-Dade absentee ballot case

A Miami-Dade judge ruled Wednesday he will not throw out Miami-Dade County’s ordinance governing the collection of absentee ballots.

Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch said Sergio Robaina, who is accused of illegally collecting absentee ballots for elderly voters, cannot claim his constitutional rights were violated because of the 2011 ordinance outlawing possession of more than two absentee ballots.

The reason: Those voters whose ballots Robaina collected would have to be the ones to go to court.

“Sergio Robaina cannot demand their rights to vote,” Hirsch wrote in a 15-page order released Wednesday. “Sergio Robaina cannot assert their rights to vote.”

Prosecutors say Robaina illegally collected the absentee ballots, and filled out two against the wishes of two voters, one of them a woman with dementia. Robaina has long insisted he was just helping elderly citizens who could not deliver their absentee ballots themselves.

Robaina is charged with two misdemeanor counts of violating the ordinance, and two felony counts of voter fraud. On Wednesday, the judge denied a move by Robaina’s lawyers to throw out the two misdemeanor charges.

Two years ago, in an effort to crack down on perceived election fraud, the Miami-Dade County Commission passed the ordinance that outlawed the possession of more than two absentees ballots, making it a misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail or a fine of up to $1,000.

This past election season, as allegations of absentee ballot fraud arose in Miami-Dade, police used the ordinance as a probable-cause stepping stone to investigate felony charges of voter fraud.

Robaina’s charges stem from a case involving 164 absentee ballots dropped off at a post office by an aide to Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban Bovo, who is not accused of wrongdoing.

Robain, the uncle of former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina, has blamed a Bovo aide who is now a key witness against him.

In a motion to dismiss the misdemeanor charges, Robaina’s lawyers claimed the ordinance is fundamentally unfair because it applies only in Miami-Dade, while some ballots include races for districts that stretch into neighboring counties.

They also said the ordinance violates a citizen’s right to vote, free speech and the right to assemble.

“It cuts off a certain class of voters, for the most part elderly Hispanics who probably live in the Sweetwater area who are accustomed to having confidence in certain people and they talk to them about how to vote,” defense lawyer Joseph Klock told the judge during a hearing last week.

Oren Rosenthal, an assistant county attorney, argued that the commission had every right to enact the ordinance under state law. He also said the ordinance “cuts off a class of fraud that has been proven unique in Miami-Dade County over the years.”

In Wednesday’s order, the judge acknowledged that absentee ballot fraud is a problem unique to Miami-Dade. He also noted that the relationship between voters and absentee-ballot brokers is not protected by law and that county commission has the right to legislate how the ballots are collected.

“Such a determination was well within the competence of the commission, as the legislative power of the county, to make,” Hirsch wrote.

The judge also suggested that the ordinance does not violate voters’ constitutional rights because they can also use the U.S. Postal Service mail carriers to pick up ballots.

And, “friends of Mr. Robaina remain free to invite him over for café y pastelitos to discuss the pros and cons of each electoral choice before filling out ballots,” Hirsch wrote.

Defense lawyer Thomas Cobitz said his client will consider an appeal of Hirsch’s ruling because it honed in on Robaina not having standing to make his claim.

“Obviously, we’re not happy with the outcome,” Cobitz said after Wednesday’s brief court hearing. “Obviously, he’s the smartest judge in the building, but at first blush, it looks like he ruled on a small issue.”

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Google Earnings Reveal Beginnings of a Facebook Problem on Search Revenue

Google beat Wall Street expectations with its fourth-quarter revenues of $ 14.42 billion, but the value of its ads continue to decline, an especially tricky problem with the company’s new search competition from Facebook. Google’s average cost-per-click decreased 6 percent from one year ago, meaning each ad it runs on its biggest business has less value than it did a year ago, continuing a fairly troubling trend for the search giant. It still managed to keep up its paid clicks by getting more and more people to use Google.

RELATED: Google Is Trying to Fix Its Targeted Ad Attitude Problem

Google has managed to offset the decline in click value with that kind of growth for almost a year now, but Facebook’s new Graph Search has the potential to offer users more personalized social-search results — and that could mean higher value for the ads next to them. How much longer can Google can maintain its delicate balance by sheer market power remains to be seen. The company is trying desperately to change its fate with a push for more Google+ integration, which would put advertisers closer to more personal Googling. But so far that hasn’t worked, if the earnings report is any indication. Google’s bet on volume will surely face a test from Facebook’s gamble on the future of social search, no matter what the rival CEOs are saying.

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Adam Levine Saturday Night Live Promos

Is Adam Levine being held hostage by Saturday Night Live star Bobby Moynihan?

In the promos for this weekend's NBC sketch show, The Voice judge, 33, is seen tied to a chair and being forced to agree with the SNL funny guy and his sub-par singing voice.

Other promos include a "The More You Know" spoof about a "sober uncle," and two other jokes about Levine's singing show.

RELATED: Jennifer Lawrence's 5 Funniest SNL Moments

The Maroon 5 frontman will host alongside musical guest Kendrick Lamar on Jan. 26.

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New WTC security chief says it will 'take a community to protect this complex'

The new chief of security at the 16-acre World Trade Center is a veteran of the Secret Service who was responsible for internal White House safety.

The Port Authority hired Long Island native Doug Farber to run the system that will soon protect the nation’s top terror target.

“It’s not without its challenges for sure,” Farber, 38, said in an interview, just months before 1 WTC is slated to open.

“It’s going to take a community to protect this complex,” he said.

Farber, who started early this month, will be paid $180,000 per year to run a military-grade security system that will protect tens of thousands of workers — as well as the streets and train lines that run alongside WTC.

Warzer Jaff

Doug Farber

“It’s impossible to eliminate threat altogether,” said Farber, who has guarded and chauffeured a host of world leaders and members of three First Families. “But it’s about managing threat.”

Farber was based in New York on 9/11 coordinating Secret Service arrangements for the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly that was only days away.

When terrorists struck, he raced downtown to help.

Now, more than 11 years later, he still keeps a piece of the Twin Towers – where the Secret Service had its field office – on a plaque close to his desk. It’s a reminder of what happens when things go wrong in his business of security, intelligence and secret counter-measures.

Farber replaced Lou Barani, who was fired last June because of questions about his dealings with WTC security vendors.

But the Port Authority security chief whose legend looms largest at Ground Zero is the late John O’Neill, the onetime FBI counter-intel boss who was killed in the 9/11 attacks.

Farber also inherits a particularly delicate spot at the intersection of turf battles among the NYPD, the Port Authority, City Hall, the governors of both New York and New Jersey and the federal government.

“The real nightmare is the ongoing thing about who is in charge,” said Jan Gilhooly, a former top official with the Secret Service and now a member of the New York-New Jersey Waterfront Commission.

“Doug is going to need the wisdom of Solomon. That’s why a lot people said ‘I don’t want this job. I don’t want to be in the middle of this.’ But Doug is the perfect fit. He’s learned how to navigate and get along with everybody.”

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Miami Dolphins slam Norman Braman, Marlins Park deal

The Miami Dolphins ramped up their public campaign for a tax-funded stadium renovation this week, buying full-page ads against their top critic and trying to distance the plan from the unpopular Marlins deal.

The team bought an ad in Tuesday’s Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald knocking auto magnate Norman Braman’s criticism of the Sun Life Stadium deal, which would have Florida and Miami-Dade split the costs with owner Stephen Ross for a $400 million renovation. The Dolphins would pay at least $201 million, with taxpayers using state funds and a higher Miami-Dade hotel tax to pay $199 million.

In a fact sheet sent to media Tuesday morning, the Dolphins listed ways their deal differs from the 2009 Marlins deal. First: Ross, a billionaire real estate developer, would use private dollars to fund at least 51 percent of the Sun Life effort, compared to less than 25 percent from Marlins owner Jeff Loria. Second, Sun Life helps the economy more than the Marlins park does.

“Just because the Marlins did a bad deal doesn’t mean we should oppose a good deal where at least a majority of the cost is paid from private sources and more than 4,000 local jobs are created during construction alone,” the fact sheet states. And while the Dolphins’ Miami Gardens stadium has hosted two Super Bowls since 2007 and is in the running for the 2016 game, “Marlins Stadium does not generate the ability to attract world-class sports events -- other than a World Series from time to time depending on the success of the team.”

NFL teams play eight home games a year if they don’t make the playoffs, while baseball teams have 81.

Miami and Miami-Dade built the Marlins a $640 million stadium at the site of the Dolphins’ old home at the Orange Bowl in Little Havana. The Marlins contributed about $120 million and agreed to pay between $2.5 million and $4.9 million a year for 35 years to pay back $35 million of debt the county borrowed for the stadium. As a publicly owned stadium, the Marlins ballpark pays no property taxes. Most of the public money came from Miami-Dade hotel taxes, along with $50 million of debt tied to the county’s general fund.

Sun Life is privately owned and pays $3 million a year in property taxes to Miami-Dade. It currently receives $2 million a year from Florida’ s stadium program, a subsidy tied to converting the football venue to baseball in the 1990s when the Marlins played there. The Dolphins also paid for a second full-page ad with quotes from leading hoteliers in Miami-Dade endorsing the stadium plan. Among them: Donald Trump, whose company recently purchased the Doral golf resort. “Steve Ross’ commitment to modernize Sun Life Stadium -- while covering most of the construction costs -- is the right thing for Miami-Dade,’’ the ad quotes Trump as saying.

Also on Tuesday, Ross and team CEO Mike Dee sent a letter to Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and county commissioners requesting negotiations over the stadium deal. The letter said the deal Ross unveiled last week is a “baseline for debate” and asked for talks. The letter also urged the commission to adopt a resolution proposed by Commissioner Barbara Jordan endorsing the state bill that would allow taxes for Sun Life. The resolution is on the agenda for Wednesday’s commission meeting.

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Some AT&T customers experienced U-verse outages in South Florida

Some AT&T customers in South Florida and in other U.S. markets were without their U-verse service Monday night and into Tuesday morning.

Sheri Felipe, who works at her Hollywood home as a graphic designer, said her Internet service went out about 9:30 p.m. Monday and did not return until about 8 a.m. Tuesday.

“It’s working – for now,” she said about 10:15 a.m. Tuesday.

Dantes Gutierrez, a pharmacy technician who lives in Kendall, said his U-verse Internet service was not working Tuesday morning. “It seems to be a monthly problem,” he said.

“A team of engineers and technicians are working to resolve the issue, and we apologize for any inconvenience to our customers,” Kelly Lane Starling, an AT&T spokeswoman for South Florida, said in an email.

No further details were immediately available about the reason for the outage or when all customer’s service would be restored. U-verse service includes broadband Internet service, as well as phone and TV services.

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Canada wants RIM organic growth, may have to review handset sale

OTTAWA (Reuters) – The Canadian government wants BlackBerry maker Research in Motion to continue to be a global leader and grow organically, and Ottawa may have to review a future sale of its handset business, Industry Minister Christian Paradis said on Tuesday.

“We hope to see RIM remain a global leader and player, and make sure it grows organically,” Paradis told Reuters by phone from Germany, where he is meeting with industrial leaders.

He also said the government did not intend at present to open up Canada’s telecommunications sector further to foreign investment.

(Reporting by Randall Palmer Editing by W Simon)

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The Wanted I Found You Music Video

After a couple of tantalizing sneak peaks, the wait is finally over -- The Wanted just premiered the official, full-length video for I Found You, off their upcoming album Third Strike.

The Wanted boys -- Max George, Nathan Sykes, Tom Parker, Jay McGuiness and Siva Kaneswaran -- are in fine form in their latest offering, where they cause some serious fan pandemonium worthy of The Beatles era.

Video: The Wanted Give Final Tease of 'I Found You' Video

Tune in to ET tonight to catch the video's broadcast premiere!

Related: Lindsay Lohan and The Wanted's Max George's PDA-Filled Weekend

Third Strike is scheduled to be released later this year.

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Hasidic counselor Nechemya Weberman gets 103 years in child sex-abuse case

Gregory P. Mango

Nechemya Weberman.

Nechemya Weberman, the prominent Hasidic counselor convicted of sexually abusing a young girl, was sentenced today to 103 years in prison for his heinous crimes.

Weberman is now doomed to die behind bars for his years-long abuse of a now-18-year-old woman. She was only 12 when the abuse began.

The kiddie-sex fiend was found guilty on all 59 counts of abuse by a Brooklyn jury in December. He’s been in jail ever since, awaiting today’s sentencing.

Weberman’s trial tore apart the incredibly private Satmar Hasidic sect, pitting the defendant’s fierce loyalists against the victim’s supporters who claimed the community turned a blind eye to abuse.

The victim sobbed while telling the court how Weberman stole her teenage years.

“I clearly remember how I would look in the mirror and saw a girl who didn’t want to live in her own skin,” she said.

“A girl who couldn’t sleep at night because of the gruesome abuse that had been done to her body. A sad girl who wished so badly she could live a normal teenage life but instead was victimized by a 54-year-old man who forced her to perform sickening acts, again and again, for his sadistic pleasure.”

Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes said the trial and 103-year sentence showed his prosecutors can win justice for victims, even if insular communities want it "swept under the rug."

“If there is one message to take away from this case it is that this office will pursue the evil of sexual abuse of a child no matter where it occurs in this county. We must protect our children from sexual predators," Hynes said.

"The abuse of a child cannot be swept under the rug or dealt with by insular groups believing only they know what is best for their community. In this case it took the courage of a young woman to drive home the point that justice can only be achieved through the involvement of civil authorities charged with protecting all the people."

The abuse went from 2007 to 2010, prosecutors said, as the girl was forced into sex acts that happened mostly in Weberman's office.

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