Joe Martinez says he’ll challenge Joe Garcia




















Joe Martinez, the former Miami-Dade Commission chairman who lost his bid to become county mayor last year, said Friday that he intends to run against U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia in 2014.

“I’m meeting with different people and feeling them out, seeing what the level of support will be there,” Martinez told The Miami Herald shortly after announcing his intentions on Facebook. He wants to get in the race, Martinez said, “to shake it up.”

Martinez’s name has been floated in political circles in connection with the 26th Congressional District since Garcia, a Democrat, defeated incumbent Republican Rep. David Rivera in November. The district extends from Kendall to Key West.





Cites experience

Martinez, a Republican, said he sees himself as a pragmatist in tune with residents’ needs after his 12 years on the County Commission, including two terms as chairman. In his first term, former Mayor Carlos Alvarez campaigned for a strong-mayor referendum. In his second, Alvarez was recalled.

Both times, Martinez said, he helped lead the county. “It actually ran really smoothly,” Martinez said.

He gave up his seat last year to unsuccessfully challenge Mayor Carlos Gimenez. Martinez said Friday that he has since opened a public relations and business development consulting firm.

Focused on duties

Garcia’s chief of staff, Jeffrey Garcia (no relation), said that the congressman “is focused on doing the work that the people sent him here to do.”

“There’ll be plenty of time for politics later,” he added.

Martinez, conceding that “it’s too early to tell” how well Garcia will do as a freshman congressman, said he’s committed to running in two years.

“I’ve survived Miami-Dade politics,” he said. “What’s Washington?”





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Oscars Flashback: Drew Barrymore 1983

Considering that Drew Barrymore turns 38 today, it's fascinating to think that she attended her first Oscars thirty years ago. At the 1983 Oscars, the charming, young actress is adorable as ever as she is interviewed on the red carpet.

Although she had won a Young Artist Award for best actress for her performance in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Barrymore didn't receive a nomination for an individual award at her first Oscars despite the majority consensus that she should have.


VIDEO: Drew Barrymore Opens Up About Motherhood

However, the film, her second feature in her young acting career, was nominated for Best Picture at that year's Academy Awards.

With her sweet and sassy personality, 8-year-old Barrymore arrives to Hollywood's biggest celebration wearing a hot pink dress designed by her "momma" with a bow in her hair and a pearl necklace that was given to her by E.T. director Steven Spielberg.

"I don't know if it will win, but I'm hoping so much!" she says enthusiastically of the Oscar-nominated film.


VIDEO: Oscars Flashback '86: 10-Year-Old Angelina Jolie

Also nominated that April evening was the film's director, Spielberg, for whom she reveals she voted in addition to voting for the film. As for the Best Actress category, which was loaded with talented actresses Meryl Streep, Julie Andrews, and Jessica Lange, Barrymore wasn't too interested.

"I'm not nominated," she replies with a smile when asked about her vote for Best Actress.

Two years later, Barrymore received her first major awards show nomination at the Golden Globes for the 1984 film Irreconcilable Differences. Despite more Globes nominations over the years, she has never been nominated for an Oscar.


VIDEO: Oscars Flashback '83: Pregnant Meryl Wins Actress

However, twenty-seven years after her first Oscars, Barrymore won her first major awards (Golden Globes, SAG Awards) for Grey Gardens.

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Pope Benedict said in August strength was diminishing; Vatican says conclave to elect next pope might start before March 15








BERLIN — Pope Benedict XVI said last August that his strength was diminishing and "not much more" could be expected from him as pontiff, according to a German journalist who interviewed him for a 2010 book in which Benedict said popes should in some circumstances consider resigning.

Journalist Peter Seewald recalled in an article for German weekly Focus published Saturday asking Benedict during a meeting last August at the pontiff's summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, what more could be expected of him and his papacy.

Seewald said Benedict replied: "From me? From me, not much more. I am an old man and my strength is running out. And I think what I have done is enough."





AFP/Getty Images



Pope Benedict XVI today





Asked whether he was considering resignation, Seewald said that Benedict responded: "That depends to what extent my physical strength will compel me to."

Benedict announced on Monday that he would resign Feb. 28, making him the first pope to step down in nearly 600 years.

The announcement stunned the world, but the pope had laid the groundwork for a possible resignation when Seewald interviewed him for his 2010 book, "Light of the World."

"If a pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right, and under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign," the book quoted Benedict as saying. He stressed, however, that resignation was not an option to escape a particular burden, such as the scandal over sexual abuse by clerics.

In Saturday's article, Seewald recalled asking the pope in August how badly the scandal over leaks of papal documents, in which the pope's ex-butler was convicted of aggravated theft, had affected him.

It "is not as though I were somehow falling into a kind of desperation or world-weariness — it is simply incomprehensible to me," Benedict said, according to Seewald.

Benedict said the affair had not thrown him off his stride or made him tired of his office, "because I think this can always happen," Seewald added.

Meanwhile, the Vatican raised the possibility Saturday that the conclave to elect the next pope might start sooner than March 15, the earliest date possible under current rules that require a 15-20 day waiting period after the papacy becomes vacant.

Vatican spokesman The Rev. Federico Lombardi said that the Vatican rules on papal succession are open to interpretation and that "this is a question that people are discussing."

"It is possible that church authorities can prepare a proposal to be taken up by the cardinals on the first day after the papal vacancy" to move up the start of conclave, Lombardi said.

He explained that the 15-20 day rule is in place to allow time for the arrival of "all those (cardinals) who are absent" to take part in the conclave in the usual circumstances of convening after a pope dies. But in this case, the cardinals already know that this pontificate will end on Feb. 28 with the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and therefore can get to Rome in plenty of time to take part in the conclave, Lombardi said.

The date of the conclave's start is important because Holy Week begins March 24, with Palm Sunday Mass followed by Easter Sunday on March 31. In order to have a new pope in place in time for the most solemn liturgical period on the church calendar, he would need to be installed as pope by Sunday, March 17. Given the tight time-frame, speculation has mounted that some sort of arrangement would be made to start the conclave earlier than a strict reading of the law would allow.

Questions about the start of the conclave have swirled ever since Benedict announced that he would retire. As a result, his decision has created a host of questions about how the Vatican will proceed, given that its procedures for the so-called "sede vacante" — or vacant seat — period between papacies won't begin with a pope's death.

Lombardi also gave more details about Benedict's final audiences and plans for retirement, saying already 35,000 people have requested tickets for his final general audience to be held in St. Peter's Square on Feb. 27. He said Benedict would spend about two months in the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome immediately after his abdication, to allow enough time for renovations to be completed on his retirement home — a converted monastery inside the Vatican walls.

That means Benedict would be expected to return to the Vatican, no longer as pope, around the end of April or beginning of May, Lombardi said.

He was asked if and when the pope would meet with his successor and whether he would participate in his installation Mass; like many open questions about the end of Benedict's papacy, both issues simply haven't yet been resolved, Lombardi said.










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Sign up for Feb. 21 Miami Herald Small Business Forum




















Prepare your best pitch for the Miami Herald’s Small Business Forum, Feb. 21 at the south campus of our sponsor, Florida International University.

In addition to how-to panels and inspirational stories from successful entrepreneurs, our annual small business forum will include interactive opportunities with experts to learn about financing options and polish your personal and business brands.

During our finance panel, audience volunteers will be invited to explain their financing needs to the group. During our box-lunch session, they will be invited to pitch their business or personal brand to our coaches.





Those who prefer just to listen will be treated to a keynote address by Alberto Perlman, co-founder of the global fitness craze Zumba. Panels include success stories from the local entrepreneurs who founded Sedano’s, Jennifer’s Homemade and ReStockIt.com; finance tips from experts in small business loans, venture capital, angel investments and traditional bank loans; and insiders in the burgeoning South Florida tech start-up scene.

Plus, it’s a real bargain. $25 includes the half-day seminar, continental breakfast and a box lunch.

Register here.

Program

8 a.m.

Registration and continental breakfast, provided by Bill Hansen Catering

8:30 a.m. Welcome

Host: David Suarez, president and CEO, Interactive Training Solutions, LLC

•  Jerry Haar, PhD, associate dean & director, FIU Eugenio Pino and Family Global

Entrepreneurship Center

•  Alice Horn, executive director, Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE South Florida)

•  Jane Wooldridge, Business editor, The Miami Herald

Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge Overview:

•  Nancy Dahlberg, Business Plan Challenge coordinator, The Miami Herald

8:45 a.m. Session I – Success Stories

Moderator: Jerry Haar, PhD, associate dean & director, FIU Eugenio Pino and Family Global

Entrepreneurship Center

Speakers:

•  Jennifer Behar, founder, Jennifer’s Homemade

•  Matt Kuttler, co-president of ReStockIt.com

•  Javier Herrán, chief marketing officer, Sedano’s Supermarkets

10 a.m. Session II – All about Tech

Moderator: Jane Wooldridge, Business editor, The Miami Herald

Speakers

•  Susan Amat, founder, Launch Pad Tech

•  Nancy Borkowski, executive director, Health Management Programs, Chapman Graduate School of

Business, Florida International University

•  Chris Fleck, vice president of mobility solutions at Citrix and a director of the South Florida Tech Alliance

•  Charles Irizarry, co-founder and director of product architecture, Rokk3r Labs

11:15 a.m. Keynote

Speaker: Alberto Perlman, CEO and co-founder of Zumba® Fitness

Introduction: Jane Wooldridge, business editor, The Miami Herald

11:45 a.m. Session III – Show me the money: Financing your small business

An interactive session featuring audience volunteers who will be invited to make a short investment pitch before a panel, including experts in microlending, SBA loans, traditional bank loans, venture capital and angel investing. Audience volunteers should come prepared with a two-minute presentation that includes details about current backing, how much money they are seeking and a brief synosis of ow that money would be used.





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Little Havana families stuck in crumbling condos




















The owners of condominiums in the Havana Palms complex in Little Havana feel as if they are living aboard the Titanic. Everything is sinking.

“We’re afraid to walk in our own living rooms, to step into the bathroom, to gain weight, because our floors sink deeper every day,” said Mario Pineda, 53.

At the peak of the real estate bubble, between 2006 and 2009, about 20 neighbors bought condominiums in the renovated complex in the 900 block of Southwest Second Street. Some paid almost $190,000 — a fair price, they believed, for a piece of the American Dream.





From the outside, the condos looked lovely. Inside, there were tile floors, freshly painted walls and newly appointed bathrooms.

But there were problems.

Several neighbors said that they noticed cracks in their walls shortly after they moved in, and said the cracks seemed to have been covered up with plaster.

As time passed, cracks in the walls of Andrés Sergio Alvarez’s condo spread from the floor to the ceiling.

His neighbor, Juana Blandón, said she fears her bathroom will collapse because the floor is cracked right down the middle. She has her bathtub propped up with a pair of wooden planks.

Mario and Genny Pineda live in terror because their apartment is on the second floor. They avoid walking in the middle of the living room because the floor tiles are loose and sink with every step.

Over time, the problems got worse.

On Jan. 10, the Reyna and Jesús Garcia’s living room floor collapsed. The family, with two teenage daughters, has since moved to a rental apartment.

“Luckily, that happened at midnight, so nobody was hurt,” said Reyna García as she pointed to the rotten floor boards in the middle of the living room.

Not long after, the city of Miami declared the buildings a danger to the community. Municipal inspectors told the homeowners they had 30 days to make the repairs necessary to comply with the city codes.

“The building is uninhabitable,” said Mariano Fernández, director of the Department of Construction. “There are structural problems and health problems.”

The company that sold the condominiums was Montara Land V LLC, formed in May 2005 by lawyer Anibal Duarte-Viera and real estate agent Gabriel de la Campa. Miami-Dade County records indicate that Montara Land V borrowed $2.775 million to buy the complex, which was built in 1946.

“We bought that property as investors,” Duarte-Viera said.

By October 2006, Montara Land V had converted the apartments into condominiums under the name Havana Palms, and put them up for sale. Duarte-Viera said he had hired a company to manage the building and remembers doing some repairs, though he could not give details.

The condominiums’ buyers aspired to a typical middle-class life. They remember the big red signs outside the complex, announcing the possibility of obtaining financing through Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami.

Some received a loan from the county; others, a subsidy from the city for new property owners who will remain in their homes for several years.

“Everybody was excited at seeing this pretty place, one that we could buy with the help of the government,” said Reyna García, 39.

The new homeowners had to make monthly maintenance payments of $166 to $220. According to the homeowners, those payments were collected through Duarte-Viera’s and De la Campa’s company.





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Kate Gosselin, Kendra Wilkinson to Wife Swap

Kate Gosselin will take on the life of a former Playboy bunny! The mother-of-eight is set to appear with Kendra Wilkinson on Celebrity Wife Swap where the two will live a day in the other's shoes.

The reality stars will be the first to appear on ABC's new show, airing Feb. 26.

Gosselin, 37, will live with Wilkinson's former NFL husband Hank Baskett and their son Hank, 3, while Wilkinson, 27, will learn what it's like to be a single mother firsthand when she moves in with Gosselin's eight kids (twins Cara and Mady, 12, and sextuplets Aaden, Collin, Joel, Leah, Alexis and Hannah, 8). We wonder if her ex Jon Gosselin will drop by the house while the Playboy model is looking after the kids.


Who would you rather trade lives with: Gosselin or Wilkinson? Let us know, below.

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Funeral is held for SI mom killed in Turkey








A New Yorker killed while vacationing alone in Turkey is being remembered as a good-hearted and joyful person.

A funeral was being held Friday on Staten Island for Sarai Sierra, a mother of two.

The service began with a prayer and "Amazing Grace" played by pipers from the transit system. Sierra's husband is a bus driver.

Her body was found Feb. 2 in Istanbul, 12 days after she disappeared. Police say she suffered a fatal blow to the head.

The 33-year-old went to Turkey to explore her hobby, photography. A friend who was supposed to join her canceled for financial reasons.







Sarai Sierra





Turkish authorities and the FBI are investigating her death. No arrests have been made.










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In Key West, women earn more than men




















Key West is one of just four cities in the United States where the median income for women exceeds that of men, according to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The American Community Survey, which goes beyond population figures and analyzes comparative social, economic and educational data, found that nationwide, men older than 16 working full-time and year-round earn an average of $47,233.

The same group of women on average earns around 78 percent of that, $37,199.





But it's different in Key West; Sebring, Fla.,; Madera, Calif.; and Fort Payne, Ala., according to survey data from 2011, the most recent figures released.

In the Southernmost City, women on average earn $33,956 while men earn $31,716.

Tiffany Horton, director of sales at the Ocean Key Resort and Spa and formerly the revenue manager for the Marriot Beachside, pointed to Key West's hospitality-driven economy as an explanation.

"I think it's a great area of success for women because of their compassion and their motherly instinct," she said. "In hospitality, sales and the hotel industry, you have to relate to so many different people and understand different personalities and work with them."

In Sebring, total earnings for both groups are slightly less but women still out-earn men, taking in an average of $28,677 compared to $27,094.

Jodi Weinhofer, executive director of the Lodging Association of the Florida Keys and Key West, noted there are many high-level female executives and managers in Key West's hospitality industry, as well as numerous female guesthouse owners.

"I do think the hospitality industry is somewhat blind to men and women," she said. "In hospitality, it doesn't matter who you are. Across the board, it's all about performance."

Catherine Hill, director of research for the American Association of University Women, said of the comparative pay levels, "The big issue is what type of industries you have in that city."

"Every industry has its own drivers in terms of where you see higher wages, lower wages, more equality, and food service or hospitality is one of those," she said. "There's also such a thing as a culture. In some communities, you see a much more level playing field."





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Feds catch convicted Miami lawyer-banker on lam for 27 years in Mexico




















Back in the 1980s, Miami lawyer Manuel Lopez-Castro was convicted of racketeering charges for helping a marijuana ring flush with cash buy a majority interest in Sunshine State Bank during the heyday of drug trafficking and money laundering in South Florida.

But rather than surrender to start his 27-year prison sentence in early 1986, Lopez-Castro fled to Mexico and eventually dropped the “Castro” in his last name when he obtained a fraudulent Mexican birth certificate, authorities say.

This week, the feds finally caught up with the longtime fugitive.





Mexican police arrested Lopez-Castro, 61, during a traffic stop in Cancun Tuesday, when he jumped out of his vehicle and ran. He didn’t get far. Mexican authorities officially deported Lopez-Castro and turned him over to U.S. Marshals Wednesday for the flight to Miami.

On Thursday afternoon, Lopez-Castro will be in Miami federal court where he was convicted at trial in October 1985.

Lopez-Castro was convicted of helping a marijuana smuggler buy a majority share of the South Miami bank. According to an indictment, the lawyer acted as a Sunshine State official who assisted the bank’s executives, co-defendants Ray and Rafael Corona, in laundering drug profits.

Lopez-Castro failed to show up on Jan. 30, 1986, at a federal prison in Tallahassee. That’s when the lawyer, disbarred after his conviction, was to begin serving his sentence.

Then-U.S. District Judge James W. Kehoe signed a warrant for Lopez-Castro’s arrest. He had been free on bonds totaling $260,000 while he appealed his conviction.

Lopez-Castro’s parents had pledged their home as part of the collateral for the bonds. Castro had surrendered his U.S. passport when the bonds were set. He had been known to travel frequently to Costa Rica and Panama.

Federal agents searched Lopez-Castro’s home at 8100 Old Cutler Rd. for information about his disappearance. The property was valued at $350,000.

At trial, Lopez-Castro’s wife, Paulette, sat through nearly every day of the proceedings. She also vanished, according to a Miami Herald story at the time. The couple had two children, Manuel, 2, and Natalia, 6.

After the lengthy trial, the federal jury convicted Lopez-Castro and one other man, acquitted a third defendant and failed to reach a verdict on the two main defendants charged with helping the marijuana smuggler buy his way into the South Miami bank.

The jury deadlocked in their deliberations of Ray Corona, former board chairman of Sunshine State Bank, and his father, Rafael Corona, the bank’s former managing director. But they were retried in 1986, convicted and sentenced to prison for 20 and 5 years, respectively.

Both Coronas were charged with taking $2 million from Jose Antonio Fernandez, known on the street as La Mentirita or “The Little Liar,” and using the money to buy the Sunshine State Bank in May 1978. Fernandez’s interest in the bank was concealed; on paper, the bank was purchased by the wife of a Panamanian money launderer.

In the first trial, jurors failed to resolve the case against the Coronas because they apparently did not believe the testimony of the government’s star witness, Fernandez. Before trial, he had pleaded guilty to smuggling some 600,000 pounds of marijuana into the United States in 1977-84.

Fernandez told the jury how he filled shopping bags with cash and gave the money to the Coronas to buy Sunshine State Bank, and then asked them to conceal his ownership of it.

The Coronas agreed, Fernandez said, in exchange for stock and their being named officers of the bank.

Prosecutors marshaled volumes of evidence and carefully explained to the jury how the Coronas negotiated with Fernandez, paid for the bank with drug profits, then celebrated with champagne when the bank purchase was approved by regulators.

But Ray Corona, 37, and Rafael Corona, 64, who testified in their defense, told jurors that they were duped by Fernandez.

Fernandez was sentenced to 50 years in prison on narcotics charges, but later had his sentence reduced based on his cooperation with prosecutors.

The jury convicted Lopez-Castro and Gerardo Jorge Guevara, 42. Both assisted with Fernandez’s ownership of Sunshine State Bank, the jury found. The jury convicted them of numerous racketeering and fraud charges.

The jury acquitted William Vaughn, 64, who directed a company described as a “front” by government investigators, who said it was used to launder Fernandez’s drug profits.





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Justin Timberlake Suit and Tie Music Video David Fincher

A week after Justin Timberlake dropped the lyric video for Suit & Tie, he's released the full music video -- directed by David Fincher!


VIDEO - Watch Justin Perform New Songs

"Here it is ... All pressed up in black and white," he Tweeted along with the link to the B&W video that features JT rocking the old school mic right.


LISTEN - Which Justin Released The Better Song?

He's also rocking some very sexy dance moves. So what are you waiting for, press play!

Justin's new album, The 20/20 Experience, hits shelves on March 19.

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Jury takes 17 minutes to convict former limo owner of killing baby mama








It took a Manhattan jury only a lightning-fast 17 minutes yesterday to convict a former limo owner from Orlando, Fla. of shooting his baby mama dead as she slept in her Jefferson Houses bedroom in 2009.

Edward Demirdjian, 57, slaughtered pretty Sherra Morgenstern so he could keep custody of their toddler daughter and cash in on a $250,000 insurance policy, lead prosecutor Shanda Strain had argued.

The stately, white-haired murderer had gone to trial despite the steep hill of evidence against him, including cell phone tower records showing he had travelled up the East Coast from Florida on the day of the murder.



Two shell casings recovered from the hair of her decomposing corpse matched Demirdjian's gun perfectly, according to testimony.

Then there was the victim's close friend, who took the stand to recount to jurors how Demirdjian once told her, "Before she ever gets the baby back, she'll be dead -- I'll kill her."

Demirdjian faces a maximum of 25 to life when he is sentenced on April 23 by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon.










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American Airlines, US Airways announce merger




















After a nearly yearlong courtship, the union became official Thursday: American Airlines and US Airways have formally announced plans to merge.

An early morning announcement by the airlines confirmed reports widely circulated after boards of both companies approved the merger late Wednesday.

The move brings stability to one of Miami-Dade County’s largest private employers more than a year after the airline and its parent company filed for bankruptcy protection, leaving the fate of thousands of employees — and the largest carrier at Miami International Airport — in question.





According to the Thursday announcement, the deal was approved unanimously by the boards of both companies, creating the world’s biggest airline with implied market value of nearly $11 billion, based on the Wednesday closing price of US Airways stock. The airline will have close to 100,000 employees, 1,500 aircraft, $38.7 billion in combined revenue.

The deal must be approved by American’s bankruptcy judge and antitrust regulators, but no major hurdles are expected. The process is expected to take about six months, according to a letter sent to employees Thursday by American CEO Tom Horton.

Travelers won’t notice immediate changes. The new airline will be called American Airlines. It likely will be months before the frequent-flier programs are merged, and possibly years before the two airlines are fully combined. The new airline will be a member of the oneWorld airlines frequent flier alliance.

And for Miami travelers, it’s unlikely that much will change at any point. American and regional carrier American Eagle handled 68 percent of traffic at the airport last year, while US Airways accounted for just 2 percent. American boasts 328 flights to 114 destinations from Miami.

“We don’t expect any substantial changes at MIA if the merger occurs because our traffic is largely driven by the strength of the Miami market and not the airlines serving it,” said airport spokesman Greg Chin.

American has said for more than a year that its long-term plan calls for increasing departures at key hubs, including Miami, by 20 percent. That pledge has already started to materialize; in recent months, the airline has added new service to Asuncion, Paraguay and Roatán, Honduras.

During its bankruptcy restructuring, about 400 American employees lost jobs, leaving American and its regional carrier, American Eagle, with 9,894 employees in Miami-Dade County and 43 in Fort Lauderdale. US Airways has few employees in the area.

“It really isn’t going to affect Miami in a very major way anytime soon,” said Michael Boyd, an aviation consultant in Evergreen, Colo. “Only because US Airways isn’t a big player in South Florida.”

At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, American and US Airways combined would still only be the fifth-largest airline after Southwest, Spirit, JetBlue and Delta, a spokesman said. The two airlines have little overlap in routes from Fort Lauderdale.

Despite the lack of major changes, Boyd said the merger would be a good development for Miami.

“It should be positive for the employees and it should be positive for the communities that the airlines serve,” he said.

Robert Herbst, an independent airline analyst and consultant, said US Airways will add a “significant amount” of destinations in the Northeast, including Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.





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Key West’s ‘Scrub Club’ reportedly scrubbing debit cards of adult-entertainment clients




















Key West has a long-held reputation as an anything-goes party town that tolerates -- and in many cases facilitates -- an array of bawdy pastimes.

A stroll down Duval Street yields strip clubs, clothing-optional bars and establishments catering to alternative lifestyles. But the Adult Entertainment Club, formerly and colloquially known as the Scrub Club, at 1221 Duval is different.

In the 765-day period between Jan. 1, 2011, and this past Feb. 4, Key West police logged 301 calls related to the Adult Entertainment Club -- that's a call every 2.5 days, a staggering number for an 800-square-foot place in a neighborhood otherwise populated by cafes, wine shops, boutiques and art galleries.





The main complaint: Unauthorized use of customers' debit or credit cards, often to the tune of thousands of dollars.

The club's website, signs and brochures offer scantily clad women available for "bachelor parties, fantasy and fetish shows, nude snorkeling, nude parasailing [and] divorce parties." It offers "free shuttle and 24/7 escort service."

But the voluminous police reports, along with a long trail of Internet posts, message-board threads and complaints with the Better Business Bureau of Southeast Florida and the Caribbean, paint a far different picture of what goes on inside. But barring specific complaints, the Key West Police Department has no plan to take a closer look.

The pattern is usually the same:

It's late at night and an intoxicated man steps inside, where he pays an entrance fee, usually more than $100. That begins a conversation with one of the female employees, described on the business website as "classy and sophisticated," leading to a private room.

From there, it's not clear what goes on other than the price goes up, the man supplies his debit card and personal identification number to the woman -- he's generally nude at this point -- and she leaves the room. Later on, the man notices unauthorized charges on his card and contacts police.

Case in point: On Feb. 4 around 2 a.m., a Russian tourist who told police "he had been drinking" went into the club and agreed to pay $100, according to a report prepared by Officer David Fraga.

"While in the club [the tourist] said he gave his ATM card to one of the employees along with his PIN." Four hours later, "He saw there was a total amount of about $2,500 charged on his card."

Fraga told the man to "go to the business and fill out a complaint form for the issue."

A few days earlier, on Jan. 31, a man from St. Johns, Fla., called police to report that on Jan. 26, when he was in town visiting, he went into the Adult Entertainment Club and "agreed to pay $200 with one of the females working on this date for sex," according to a report prepared by Officer Tricia Milliken.

He also said he agreed to tip the female $100 prior to the services being rendered and gave her his Visa debit card and PIN. He "stated he expected sex from the female and she would not give him what he expected, so he got dressed and left the establishment."

When he returned to St. Johns, he said he realized his card was charged $1,000, not $100. Milliken provided him with a case number.

Police spokeswoman Alyson Crean said the department has heard the Adult Entertainment Club is about more than just "entertainment," but that the department focuses its attention on higher-priority initiatives like dealing with aggressive vagrants drinking and panhandling on city streets, and quelling drug dealing.

"We do not get complaints of prostitution," she said via e-mail. "Certainly there are intimations and innuendoes that this activity may be occurring. That being said, without any complaints, there are other, higher priorities set by the community and by the department."

"Look at the issue of vagrancy and panhandling. A task force made up of business owners, residents and even the mayor has told the department that the community will not tolerate certain behaviors, and we have four quality-of-life officers dedicated to seeing that priority is addressed."

"Getting drug dealers off the streets is another issue that the community has made very clear is a top priority for our city. Same thing with reducing incidents of burglary. So in those terms, I would answer that there is no specific enforcement strategy for this business."

The city's Code Compliance Department has been more proactive, fining the business $500 last year after investigating offsite promotional and solicitation activity. Basically, club employees would park their advertisement-emblazoned vehicle in other parts of Old Town and hand out brochures for the business in violation of code.





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Stars Without Makeup!



Kate Upton







Two-time Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover girl Kate Upton proved she looks just as amazing without any makeup, as she made her way through JFK Airport in New York City.








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11 injured in Harlem bus accident








A car crashed head-on with a stopped MTA bus this morning after it collided with another car -- injuring 11 people, authorities said.

The M10 bus was at a bus stop at 6:45 a.m. on Broadway and West 135th Street when an SUV came at the bus head on, the MTA said.

A livery cab was heading north down Broadway and when it tried to make a U-turn it clipped an SUV, witnesses and MTA said.

“I was headed north and I was making a U-turn. The Jeep was going north, after that I don’t know what happened,” said Amadou Barry, 64, the driver of the Lincoln Towncar.







An SUV was clipped by a livery cab that tried to make a u-turn on Frederick Douglas Blvd and W. 135th Street. The SUV then crashed head-on into a bus that was sitting in the bus stop.





The SUV lost control and collided with the stopped bus.

“The cab hit the other car and it ran into the bus. A couple of people in front of the bus went flying,” said a 13-year-old boy who was on the bus.

In total 11 people had non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to area hospitals, including St. Lukes Hospital, Harlem Hospital and Mount Sinai Hospital, fire officials said.

Five of those sustained serious injuries and six had minor injuries, the FDNY said.










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Marriott skyscraper coming to old Miami Arena site?




















Is a massive new skyscraper coming to the site of the old Miami Arena?

Two of the city’s top real estate blogs caused a stir Tuesday when they shared an architect’s video rendering of a huge tower called the Marriott at MWC. The video posted on YouTube by Nichols Brosch’s Igor Reyes was a computer-generated aerial shot of a potential mixed-use complex superimposed on the site. The land is owned by the developers of the proposed Miami World Center, a stretch of lots last recently positioned as a possible home to a Las Vegas Sands casino.

ExMiami .org posted the video first, followed by Curbed Miami, at miami.curbed.com. “If this is an actual thing, and not just an architect's dream, then this is biiiiig news,” Curbed wrote. Shortly after the posts, the Reyes video was made private. Nichols Brosch did not immediately respond to an interview request.





Representatives of the Miami World Center group, which includes Art Falcone and Nitin Mitwani, declined to comment, a spokeswoman said. The old arena site was turned into a park and then sold to the Miami World Center group last year. Marriott spokesman John Wolf said Tuesday: “We are always interested in development opportunities. It would be premature to comment any further.”

DOUGLAS HANKS





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Woman gets 55 years in Rilya Wilson foster-child abuse case




















Geralyn Graham was sentenced to 55 years in prison Tuesday in the Rilya Wilson kidnapping ad abuse case.

The Kendall woman, 67, was convicted by jury last month in a case that roiled Florida’s child welfare agency, which was supposed to monitor the child. The body of Rilya, who was 4 years old when she vanished, has never been found.

Graham got 30 years for kidnapping and 25 years for aggravated child abuse.





"One can only be inherently evil to inflict that type of pain and torment on an innocent child,” Circuit Court Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez said. “Rilya Wilson deserved nothing less than a loving, caring, nurturing environment. Instead she lived in fear and suffered in a house of torture, torment and abuse."

Tinkler Mendez could have sentenced Graham to as much as life in prison.

Prosecutors believe Graham smothered Rilya, a foster child, with a pillow, disposed of her body near water in South Miami-Dade, then spent years telling conflicting versions of what happened to the child. Jurors, by an 11-1 vote, deadlocked on a count of first-degree murder.

The jury convicted her of kidnapping, two counts of aggravated child abuse and one of child abuse.

The case was significant for the Florida Department of Children & Families, which did not notice the girl was missing for 15 months. Graham told investigators that a mystery DCF worker whisked the child away for mental health treatment.

Graham was later arrested for and convicted of fraud. Based on incriminating statements from her domestic partner, Graham was then charged with aggravated child abuse of Rilya.

Her partner, Pamela Graham, no relation, agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of child neglect.

Pamela Graham, a meek shell of a woman, testified at trial that Geralyn Graham would bind the child’s hands to the bed railing with plastic “flex cuffs” and confine Rilya in a laundry room for hours.

A friend of the pair told police that Graham borrowed a dog cage to put Rilya in when she misbehaved, although no could say they saw the child in there as punishment.

Acquaintances also testified that Graham gave conflicting stories about what happened to the girl — to some, she claimed the girl was on a road trip with a “Spanish lady” friend.

A grand jury indicted Geralyn Graham in 2005 after she allegedly confessed in detail to inmate Robin Lunceford, who testified at trial over four days. Two other inmates also testified that Graham, while behind bars, suggested she killed the child.





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Elijah Wood Maniac Trailer

When I chatted with Elijah Wood last July, the actor excitedly spoke about the Maniac re-imagining he was fronting and now you can see the fruits of his murderous labor in this just released red band (ie: violent) trailer.

The film casts Wood as Frank, the owner of a mannequin shop develops a dangerous obsession with a young artist, and adopts a unique perspective on the traditional slasher. Literally.


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"A majority of the film is from my point of view," Wood told me. As for the acting challenges that presented, he relished every single one. "It was like playing a character in three different movements. The character was comprised of my voice and we re-recorded all the dialogue from the film in a booth, so I knew a significant portion of the character would be created in that environment in terms of atmosphere, his presence and him vocally. The second was arms and hands in frame – trying to navigate around a moving camera. The third was ultimately the camera operator. Our Director of Photography was effectively me. He stood where my character would during filming. Often we worked together and every scene was choreographed. It was so interesting."


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In the end, all the behind-the-scenes choreography was worth it, as Wood says, "I think the film we ended up making was quite different than the film we intended to make. It ended up far more beautiful and artistic than we imagined … while also brutal. I mean, I do scalp women in it."

Check out the trailer and see if you agree with Wood.


Maniac
opens later this year.

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Man mines Mars


NASA's Mars Curiosity next to the tiny hole it drilled in the surface of the red planet. The hole, drilled in the white area near the bottom of the photo above is 1.6 centimeters across and 2 centimeters deep.

For the first time ever human beings have drilled into a planet other than Earth, and you can see the fruits of that labor in an amazing panoramic shot from NASA's Mars Curiosity rover.

On Feb. 8, the rover drilled a hole barely big enough to hold the tip of your pinkie finger into a rock nicknamed "John Klein," according to Wired.




EPA



A close-up of the hole drilled by the Mars Curiosity rover.



This is the most complicated operation the rover has completed to date.

The rock the rover drilled into is in an area called the Yellowknife Bay that scientists believe was repeatedly flooded with water in the past.

The tiny 1.6 centimeter across hole is a test in preparation for the rover's big time drilling operation when it will drill 5 cm into Mars' surface in order to analyze the planet's interior.

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U.S. Century to OK details of new deal




















U.S. Century Bank is expected to sign off on Monday on its letter of intent — the framework for a plan to recapitalize the bank.

Under the deal, a local group of investors, led by Jimmy Tate of Tate Capital and Sergio Rok of Rok Enterprises, will bring in fresh capital and wipe out the Doral bank’s bad loans, while allowing it to operate independently.

The investor group is expected to inject $50 million in capital into the bank, becoming majority owners. In addition, the group will pay about $90 million to buy certain loans, including all $98 million of U.S. Century’s non-performing loans, said U.S. Century President and Chief Executive Carlos J. Dávila. The deal would also provide for a negotiated amount to be paid to the federal government to repay U.S. Century’s $50.2 million in TARP funds.





A definitive agreement, based on the letter of intent, is expected next month. Pending shareholder and regulatory approval, the deal could be completed by mid-year, Dávila said.





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Former state GOP chairman Jim Greer pleads guilty to theft




















Former Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer pleaded guilty Monday morning to four charges of grand theft, avoiding trial in a case that could have potentially embarrassed former Gov. Charlie Crist and much of the state’s Republican elite.

Greer stood next to his lawyer Damon Chase a little before 10:30 a.m. and entered four separate guilty pleas as part of a last-minute deal with prosecutors. Jury selection had been expected to begin this morning.

“Sometimes clearing your name is not as important as taking care of your family,” Chase said.





Greer declined to comment as he left the courtroom.

As part of the deal, Greer faces a maximum of 42.6 months in prison. Sentencing is scheduled March 27.

A trial threatened to expose inner workings and potentially sordid details of the Republican Party of Florida as well as is top leaders past and present.

The case centered around Greer’s creation of a company to handle fundraising duties for the state GOP, Victory Strategies. Greer diverted about $200,000 in party funds to Victory Strategies but contended Republican leaders — including Crist — knew about the arrangement and approved of it.

Crist, who likely would have been called to testify during the trial, denies knowing about the fundraising arrangement.

Others who had been expected to testify include House Speaker Dean Cannon, former Senate President Mike Haridopolos, former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, state Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine and a long list of other GOP notables.

Though Greer and Chase had said the case would go to trial, talks of a plea deal have been in the works for weeks.

Greer is still suing the state GOP in an effort to collect $130,000 he was promised when he agreed to resign as chairman in 2010.





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Kerry Washington Channing Tatum Independent Spirit Awards Presenters Exclusive

Given their host (Joel McHale, Rainn Wilson, Seth Rogen, John Waters, Andy Samberg) and nominee track record, The Film Independent Spirit Awards have long been one of my favorite award shows -- and don't even get me started on the sublime singing!


RELATED - Who's Presenting at The Oscars

This year's ceremony is set to be their most star-studded to date. Not only are Jennifer Lawrence, Matthew McConaughey, Bruce Willis nominated, but ETonline can exclusively reveal that Kerry Washington, Channing Tatum, Kyle MacLachlan and Zachary Booth will be presenters on the big night!

McConaughey earned one of his two 2013 nominations for Tatum's movie, Magic Mike, while Booth's insanely good indie, Keep The Lights On, scored nods for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Male Lead.


RELATED - 2013 Spirit Award Nominations

MacLachlan has been a Spirit Awards staple since Blue Velvet dominated the 1987 ceremony and Washington was nominated for Best Female Lead for 2002's Lift.

The 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards air February 23 at 10 p.m. on IFC.

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Giants player Diehl pleads guilty to drunk driving after smashing into 2 parked cars last summer








Ellis Kaplan


David Diehl pleaded guilty today to driving while drunk after watching a soccer match in the city last summer.



A boozy NFL offensive lineman pleaded guilty this morning to drunk driving after a soccer match last summer.

David Diehl, 31, dodged up to a year in jail when he admitted to a Queens judge that he drove a black BMW into two parked cars on 31st Street in Astoria on June 10.

"Did you drive a car while you were intoxicated?"asked Queens Criminal Court Judge Suzanne Melendez.

"Yes ma'am," replied a hulking, well-dressed Diehl who sported a light gray suit and lavender collared shirt.




The Giants player plead guilty to aggravated DWI and impaired driving.

"My client will continue in the NFL DWI treatment program," said his attorney Gary Certain.

Over a six-month-period, Diehl is not allowed to drive or apply for a driver's license in New Jersey — where he lives.

"You understand you're not allowed to drive, right?" the judge asked.

"Yes, I do your honor," he replied.

"Sir, please don't drink and drive. Look what happened here, you could have been seriously hurt," the judge said before allowing Diehl to be excused from court for his compliance hearings.

After he completes two drunk driving programs — one where he is on a panel — and pays $1,200 in restitution fees to the owners of the cars, he will be formally sentenced to a 90 day conditional discharge.

Diehl's blood alcohol content was "well above the New York State legal limit" at .182, prosecutors said.

Diehl will also have to wear a SCRAM bracelet for 90 days.










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Green cards for sale at a South Beach hotel: Competition is on for EB5 investment visas




















If David Hart gets his way, South Beach’s 42-room Astor Hotel will be on a hiring spree this year as it adds concierge service, a roof-top pool, an all-night diner, spa and private-car service available 24 hours a day.

New hires will be crucial to Hart’s business plan, since foreign investors have agreed to pay about $50,000 for each job created by the Art Deco boutique.

The Miami immigration lawyer specializes in arranging visas for wealthy foreign citizens under a special program that trades green cards for investment dollars. Businesses get the money and must use it to boost payroll. The minimum investment is $500,000 to add at least 10 jobs to the economy. That puts the pressure on Hart and his partners at the Astor to beef up payroll dramatically, with plans to take a hotel with roughly 20 employees to one with as many as 100 workers.





“My primary responsibility is to make something happen here over the next two years that will create the jobs we need,’’ Hart said a few steps away from a nearly empty restaurant on a recent weekday morning. “It’s all going to be transformed.”

Though established in the 1990s, the “EB5” visas soared in popularity during the recession as developers sought foreign cash to replace dried-up credit markets in the United States.

Chinese investors dominate the transactions, accounting for about 65 percent of the nearly 9,000 EB5 visas granted since 2006. South Korea finishes a distant second at 12 percent and the United Kingdom holds the third-place slot at 3 percent. If Latin America and the Caribbean were one country, they would rank No. 4 on the list, with 231 EB5 visas granted, or about 3 percent of the total.

Competition has gotten stiffer for the deep-pocketed foreign investors willing to pay for green cards. The University of Miami’s bio-science research park near the Jackson hospital system raised $20 million from 40 foreign investors under the EB5 program, most of them from Asia. The money went into the park’s first building; visa brokers are waiting to see if the second building will proceed so they can offer a new pool of potential green-card sales.

In Hollywood, the stalled $131 million Margaritaville resort had hoped to raise about $75 million from EB5 investors before ditching that plan last year to pursue more traditional financing. A retail complex by developer Jeff Berkowitz in Coral Gables also launched a program to raise $50 million in EB5 money for the project, Gables Station. Hart worked with other EB5 investors to back pizza restaurants in Miami and South Beach. A limestone mine in Martin County also was backed by EB5 dollars.

This year, the city of Miami itself is expected to get into the business by setting up an EB5 program to raise foreign cash for a range of city businesses and developments. The first would be the tallest building in the city — developer Tibor Hollo’s planned 85-story apartment tower, the Panorama, in downtown Miami.

With a construction cost of about $700 million, Miami’s debut EB5 venture hopes to raise about $100 million from foreign investors, said Laura Reiff, the Greenberg Traurig lawyer in Virginia working with Miami on the EB5 effort. “This is a marquis project,’’ she said.

The arrangement is a novel one for Miami, with the city planning to help a private developer raise funds overseas for a new high-rise. And it would allow Hollo and future participants to tout the city of Miami’s endorsement when competing with other Miami-area projects for EB5 dollars. “We will have the benefit of the brand of the city of Miami,’’ said Mikki Canton, the $6,000-a-month city consultant heading Miami’s EB5 effort. “A lot of these others are privately owned and they won’t have that brand.”





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Chris Brown Car Collision

ET has learned that Chris Brown was involved in a solo, non-injury traffic collision in Beverly Hills at noon today, blaming the paparazzi for losing control of his Porsche and colliding with a wall.


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A statement from Lieutenant Lincoln Hoshino of the Beverly Hills police details the incident: "On February 9, 2013 at approximately 12:03 p.m., entertainer Chris Brown was involved in a solo, non-injury traffic collision in the 600 Block Bedford Drive/Camden Drive alley. Mr. Brown was the driver of the vehicle and collided with a wall. Brown stated that he was being chased by paparazzi causing him to lose control of his vehicle. Brown's Black Porsche was towed from the scene at his request."


Related: Rihanna Accompanies Chris Brown to Court

Earlier this week, Brown visited an L.A. courthouse with girlfriend Rihanna on to oppose a motion to revoke his probation stemming from his 2009 assault on Rihanna. Prosecutors claim Brown did not show sufficient evidence that he completed his required community labor sentence. 

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Man killed inside no-tell motel in Queens








A man was killed inside of a no-tell motel yesterday in Queens, authorities said.

Joseph Benzinger, 54, was discovered by an employee of the Crown Motor Inn off Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst at 11:30 p.m. laying on the floor in one of the rooms, police said.

It was not immediately known how the Middle Village man died, police said.

The city’s medical examiner will determine the cause of death, cops said.

No arrests have been made.











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Mega mansion frenzy: Buyer snaps up Pat Riley’s $16M home to level it, rebuild




















Miami Heat President Pat Riley sold his spectacular bayfront mansion in gated Gables Estates for $16.8 million last March.

The 12,856-square-foot Mediterranean-style dream house at 180 Arvida Parkway has a theater, wine cellar, library, and a sprawling pool with waterfalls and an aqua bar.

But that’s all coming down.





Turns out the lure was the lot: a rare fingertip of prime land, nearly two acres, jutting into the turquoise waters of Biscayne Bay.

In December, the buyer — listed as 180 Arvida LLC represented by Miami attorney Mark Hasner — presented the city of Coral Gables with plans to tear down the home, built in 1991, and erect an even grander estate along the 900 linear feet of bayfront.

“Most people would move in and be perfectly happy, but clients are looking for perfection — really good stuff,” said Jorge Uribe, a senior vice president at One Sotheby’s International Realty, who wasn’t involved but sold an even bigger trophy property last year: a $39.4 million estate at 14 Indian Creek Dr., in Indian Creek Village, dubbed “Miami’s Billionaire Bunker” by Forbes magazine.

“The trend in the last several years is a demand for very high-quality product. People are looking for really good locations, really good materials, and they’re willing to pay for it,” Uribe said.

Miami’s ultra-luxury market is on fire. Prices for the fanciest single-family homes and condominiums have soared to levels never before seen in the area, fueled by strong foreign demand and renewed interest from New Yorkers and others in the Northeast.

With Miami’s global image burnished by Art Basel Miami Beach and the debut of other cultural and entertainment venues, the city is emerging as an even greater magnet for the world’s super-rich.

In January, a penthouse at the Setai Resort & Residences on Miami Beach fetched $27 million, a new high for a Miami-Dade condominium. “Every building we do business in is at its highest price of all time,” said Mark Zilbert, president of Zilbert International Realty, which represented the buyer in the Setai deal.

Last August, a sleek, new home, built on spec at 3 Indian Creek Dr., sold for $47 million, a record high for a Miami-Dade residence. The buyer, whose identity has not been revealed, is Russian.

“People are realizing how valuable the bay waterfront is,” said Oren Alexander, co-founder of the Alexander Group at Douglas Elliman Real Estate, who co-listed the 3 Indian Creek property with The Jills team at Coldwell Banker and represented the buyer for the home. His father, Shlomy Alexander, developed the property with partner Felix Cohen.

Shlomy Alexander is working on two more extravagant spec homes — one at 30 Indian Creek Dr. and a second that is set to break ground shortly at 252 Bal Bay Dr. in Bal Harbour, his son said. Plans envision a tropical modern-style project that fuses the indoors and outdoors — a concept popular in Brazil.

The elder Alexander recently traveled to Italy to shop for exclusive stone for the projects, said the son.

“It’s really trending to the ultra-luxury. All sorts of exotic materials — exotic woods, exotic marbles, exotic stones,” said Sean Murphy, an executive vice president at Coastal Construction, a major builder of luxury hotels and condominiums that also has erected some of the most extravagant mansions in the region. “Everything is so exotic.”





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