A man was gunned down execution-style in The Bronx this morning while sitting in a parked car, authorities said.
The 24-year-old victim was found sitting in the passenger seat of a Cadillac CTS on Boston Road near Waring Avenue at 1:40 a.m., police said.
He was shot in the head and neck and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
It was not immediately known if the victim, who is from upstate New York, has a criminal history, cops said.
CHICAGO --
Tribune Co., which owns the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, announced it is emerging after more than four years of bankruptcy.
Tribune said late Sunday the reorganized media company begins Monday with new ownership – the senior creditors – and a new board of directors: Bruce Karsh, Ken Liang, Peter Murphy, Ross Levinsohn, Craig A. Jacobson, Peter Liguori, and Eddy Hartenstein.
“Tribune will emerge from the bankruptcy process as a multimedia company with a great mix of profitable assets, strong brands in major markets and a much-improved capital structure,” said Hartenstein, Tribune’s chief executive officer.
Senior creditors Oaktree Capital Management, Angelo, Gordon & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. will control the new company. The Chicago Tribune reported late Sunday that Liguori, a former TV executive at Discovery and Fox, is expected to be named chief executive of the reorganized Tribune Co.
Tribune, which was founded in 1847, publishes some of the best-known newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun and the Chicago Tribune. It also owns WGN in Chicago and 22 other television stations, as well as the WGN radio station. The Tribune’s report Sunday said that the new owners expect to sell all of the company’s assets.
Tribune Co. sought bankruptcy protection in 2008, less than a year after billionaire developer Sam Zell led an $8 billion leveraged buyout that left the company with $13 billion in debt.
Well, here we are, dear Friends and Neighbors, on the eve of another new year. So much happened to us in 2012 — some good and some bad. But through it all, by the grace of God, we made it to the end of the "old" year.
When I was a young woman, I made a new year’s resolution every year. The new year brings with it that kind of fresh-start magic.
To many of us, the new year really does mean having a second chance; a fresh start; a new beginning, another opportunity to do something that matters, to touch someone’s life in a positive way, and to do random acts of kindness.
I thought about the random-acts-of-kindness thing when, on Christmas day while in Washington, where my granddaughter Afra was appearing in My Fair Lady at the -Arena Stage Theater, I stumbled upon the perfect opportunity. Afra and I, and her mother Mary Anne, were on our way to have Christmas dinner with their longtime friends who live in Maryland. (A Radio City Music Hall Rockette since 2004, Afra had suffered with tendonitis in her right knee and decided to take this season off to let it heal.)
We got to the Metro station and found it practically empty. We headed for a bench where a man and woman were sitting and Afra motioned for me to take a seat. I spoke to the two individuals and wished them a Merry Christmas. A few minutes later, the woman who had been sitting on the bench moved away. She looked a bit uncomfortable. A few seconds later, I understood why. The young man seemed to be mentally challenged and needed to talk to someone about something that happened earlier at the facility where he lived.
Apparently there had been an argument with a caregiver at the facility, and he got upset and yelled at her. When I asked what was the matter, he started crying, "I yelled at her ... I didn’t mean to do it ... I was in a hurry to get to the station."
I touched his shoulder and tried to comfort him. "I’m sure she is not angry with you. She understood you were eager to get the train to spend Christmas with your mother." He stopped crying and told me his name was Gabriel. He asked my name. I told him and introduced him to my granddaughter and her mother, who were looking in disbelief at the two of us. Their eyes seemed to say, "Doesn’t Grandma know she is in a strange city and this man is a stranger who could be very dangerous?"
I did know. But somehow, this didn’t seem like a dangerous situation. Something in my heart said this was a chance to do a random act of kindness. I followed my heart. By the time our train came, Gabriel was smiling.
"I like you," he said. "You are a nice lady."
I reached out and offered a hug. He responded and soon my granddaughter and her mother were hugging him too. It was a wonderful feeling. Gabriel repeated our names over and over, pointing to each of us, so as not to forget them.
In a few minutes, we were at our stop. We said goodbye to our new friend and got off the train. We waved at him as the train pulled away. We didn’t say much about the incident, just smiled knowingly at each other. We knew we had just reached out to another soul who needed to be comforted and by doing so, we had spread a little Christmas cheer.
So, as I write this last column of 2012, I don’t have a list of new year resolutions. What I do have is a determination to live one day at a time, and try to live my life by reaching out to more Gabriels and offering comfort and spreading cheer and good will wherever I can. It may not be in the form of a hug. It just might be a warm smile, a "How do you do?", or "You look nice today". I learned from the Metro Station incident that it doesn’t take much to make somebody’s day. Just be kind. Make it a part of your everyday routine. No resolution is needed. Just do it.
And have a wonderful and healthy New Year!
Arts in the Gardens
Arts at St. Johns will kick off the New Year with the SALA Arts Social at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 15 at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens, 2000 Convention Center Dr. SALA is an acronym for Social Action, Local Arts, and is a multi-disciplinary, multi-sensory arts event featuring music, dance, the visual arts, refreshments, drinks, interactive DJ music, networking and a silent auction.
The artists include Tiffany “Hanan” Madera performing Mid-Eastern dance; DJ Madame Turk, who will mix new and old dance club music and Afro/Latin and Brazilian beats.
The visual arts will include a group show by the Artist Colony, a Miami artist collaborative. There will also be a selection of paintings, graphics and assemblages donated for the silent auction by Carol Hoffman-Guzman and her husband Robert Guzman. Carol is the founding director of Arts at St. Johns. She and her husband have been collecting local and emerging artists for over 40 years.
The event celebrates 12 years of SALA presenting performances and art at Arts at St. Johns. According to Hoffman-Guzman, SALA’s name was chosen because it is reflects Arts at St. Johns’ vision to present local artists and art forms and t use the arts to build community, nurture dialogue about social issues and seek to bring about change through the arts.
Tickets to the event are $75 each at the door or online at www.artsatstjohns.com or by calling Hoffman-Guzman at 305-613-2325.
A huge blow was dealt to the music industry and the world on February 11 when Whitney Houston was pronounced dead at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. She was 48 years old.
PICS: Remembering the Life of Whitney Houston
The six-time Grammy winner -- often referred to as the "Queen of Pop" or simply "The Voice" -- was found nude in a bathtub, lying in "extremely hot water," according to the coroner's report.
The report attributes the cause of death to drowning, and effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use.
On the day of her death, The Recording Academy released a statement, calling Whitney, "one of the world's greatest pop singers of all time who leaves behind a robust musical soundtrack spanning the past three decades. Her powerful voice graced many memorable and award-winning songs. A light has been dimmed in our music community today, and we extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends, fans and all who have been touched by her beautiful voice."
SANAA, Yemen — Al Qaeda's branch in Yemen has announced that it will pay tens of thousands of dollars to anyone who kills the US ambassador in Sanaa or an American soldier in the country.
An audio produced by the group's media arm, the al-Malahem Foundation, and posted on militant websites Saturday said it offered three kilograms of gold, worth $160,000, for killing the ambassador.
The group said it will pay 5 million Yemeni riyals ($23,000) to anyone who kills an American soldier inside Yemen.
It did not say how the bounty could be collected, but said the offer is valid for six months.
The bounties were set to "inspire and encourage our Muslim nation for jihad," the statement said.
Washington considers al Qaeda in Yemen to be the group's most dangerous branch.
Road closures on Interstate 595 continued Friday morning to repair damage from a eastbound crane colliding with a powerline around Hiatus Road at about 5:30 p.m. the previous day.
The powerline snapped in half and came across I-595, forcing closure of the eastbound lanes, Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Chris Fletcher said.
The lanes were reopened at 10:40 p.m. Thursday but around 6:30 a.m. Friday, Florida Power and Light closed down the 595 to State Road 84 ramp and the eastbound exit to Hiatus to replace and repair the line.
It was unknown when the repair work would be completed.
A few vehicles collided with the downed powerline but there were no reports of injuries.
Many might be surprised to learn that the castle housing the Crawley family on the award-winning series Downton Abbey is in fact real, and has been home to a line of royals since 1679.
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Lady Fiona and Lord George Carnarvon live in the now world-famous Victorian estate called Highclere Castle, which boasts more than 50 bedrooms, six entertaining rooms and 35,000 sq. feet of living space.
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Redesigned in the 19th century by Sir Charles Barry, the historic British residence is regarded as one of the finest Victorian mansions in England.
Watch the video for a sneak peek at Castles On Camera: Royal Residences on TV, which gives viewers a look inside the incredible site and tells the story behind its role in Downton Abbey, the UK miniseries created by Julian Fellowes.
The show, premiering on HGTV January 4, also explores the childhood home of Princess Diana.
LOS ANGELES — FBI files on Marilyn Monroe that could not be located earlier this year have been found and re-issued, revealing the names of some of the movie star's acquaintances who drew concern from government officials and her own entourage.
The files had previously been heavily redacted, but more details are now public in a version of the file recently obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act. The updated files reveal that some in Monroe's inner circle were concerned about her association with Frederick Vanderbilt Field, who was disinherited from his wealthy family over his leftist views.
AP
Marilyn Monroe
The FBI's files on Monroe show the extent the agency was monitoring the actress for ties to communism in the years before her death in August 1962. A trip to Mexico earlier that year to shop for furniture brought her in contact with Field, who was living in the country with his wife in self-imposed exile. Informants reported to the FBI that a "mutual infatuation" had developed between Field and Monroe, which caused concern among some in her inner circle, including her therapist, the files state.
"This situation caused considerable dismay among Miss Monroe's entourage and also among the (American Communist Group in Mexico)," the file states. It includes references to an interior decorator who worked with Monroe's analyst reporting her connection to Field to the doctor.
Field's autobiography devotes an entire chapter to Monroe's Mexico trip, "An Indian Summer Interlude." He mentions that he and his wife accompanied Monroe on shopping trips and meals and he only mentions politics once in a passage on their dinnertime conversations.
"She talked mostly about herself and some of the people who had been or still were important to her," Field wrote in "From Right to Left." ''She told us about her strong feelings for civil rights, for black equality, as well as her admiration for what was being done in China, her anger at red-baiting and McCarthyism and her hatred of (FBI director) J. Edgar Hoover."
Under Hoover's watch, the FBI kept tabs on the political and social lives of many celebrities, including Frank Sinatra, Charlie Chaplin and Monroe's ex-husband Arthur Miller. The bureau has also been involved in numerous investigations about crimes against celebrities, including threats against Elizabeth Taylor, an extortion case involving Clark Gable and more recently, trying to solve who killed rapper Notorious B.I.G.
The AP had sought the removal of redactions from Monroe's FBI files earlier this year as part of a series of stories on the 50th anniversary of Monroe's death. The FBI had reported that it had transferred the files to a National Archives facility in Maryland, but archivists said the documents had not been received. A few months after requesting details on the transfer, the FBI released an updated version of the files that eliminate dozens of redactions.
In 2013, small business owners will contend with many of the same issues that made it hard to run their companies during the past 12 months.
They’re also heading into the new year with a lot of uncertainty. It’s unlikely that negotiations in Congress will resolve all of lawmakers’ disagreements over tax and budget issues that affect small businesses. And there are still many questions about the implications of the healthcare law for small companies.
That points to continued caution — and perhaps slow hiring — among the nation’s small companies.
“Uncertainty is the bane of every small business,” says Scott Shane, a professor of entrepreneurship at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland. “Their only rational response is to pull in their horns and slow down.”
Small businesses aren’t likely to get much encouragement from the economy. It’s expected to grow by no more than 3 percent in 2013, according to the Federal Reserve. That’s a moderate pace, better than the 1.7 percent that the economy grew during the first three quarters of 2012. But it’s also far from robust.
Here’s a look at some of the issues facing small businesses in the coming year:
TAXES
Lawmakers are still haggling over what’s called the fiscal cliff, the combination of billions of dollars in tax increases and budget cuts. Even if Congress reaches an agreement, small business owners won’t have the certainty they need, according to Todd McCracken, president of the National Small Business Association, a group that lobbies on behalf of small companies.
“It almost surely won’t be comprehensive enough that we won’t be revisiting it next year,” McCracken says. He’s concerned that there’ll be another fiscal cliff in six months — which would mean more negotiations and more uncertainty.
Many small business owners are worried about their personal tax rates. Sole proprietors, partners and owners of what are called S corporations, all report the income from their businesses on their individual Form 1040 returns. That means their companies are in effect taxed at personal rates, which can be higher than corporate rates.
One of the most important tax provisions for small businesses, what’s known as the Section 179 deduction, will shrink to $25,000 next year from $125,000 in 2012. The deduction, which applies to equipment purchases, was $500,000 in 2011. Congress can increase the deduction at any time, even after 2013 has begun. But for the time being, business owners can’t count on getting a big break.
“It’s a huge change for companies planning on making investments,” McCracken says.
It’s not known if Congress will extend the 2 percentage point payroll tax cut that workers have had for two years. If it doesn’t, consumers will have less money in their paychecks to spend, and that is likely to affect retailers and any other small businesses that sell directly to the public.
HEALTHCARE
Healthcare has been another source of uncertainty for small business owners. The new year will bring some, but probably not all, of the answers to questions about how the new healthcare law will affect them. Many will have to devote some time to understanding the law — or hire someone to help them do it.
A Miami-Dade man who was set on fire at a gas station Christmas night remains in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital Thursday morning, hospital spokesman Edwin O’Dell told The Miami Herald.
Miami-Dade police did not have any new updates into the investigation of why Darrell Brackett, 44, was set on fire at the U-Gas station at 4700 NW 27th Ave.
Brackett’s mother Bridgett Brackett said that relatives hope to distribute flyers this afternoon at the gas station to help police search for tips. She had not received any updates from the hospital or police early Thursday morning.
Police “are out there canvassing the neighborhood -- going door to door trying to see if anybody saw anything,” Brackett said.
On Christmas night, Brackett and his girlfriend had a cookout at their home in Miami-Dade county, his mother said. Then, they took their guests home and after dropping them off, Brackett and his girlfriend ran out of gas near Northwest 49th Street and 23rd Avenue. Brackett walked to the U-Gas where he paid for gas and walked over to the pump.
The events that then unfolded were not clear to police Wednesday except that they got calls about a man on fire running in the street. Bridgett Brackett said a woman who spotted her son rushed to help him and got him to roll on the ground in the dirt of the median, which extinguished the flames. Brackett’s mother said her son told her he had asked some men a question and said to his rescuer repeatedly “They didn’t have to do this to me.”
Bridgett said that when she saw her son the first night he was admitted to the hospital “he was moving around, moving his head, he was trying to open his eyes. I told him I was there.” On Wednesday he was in “excruciating pain” so the doctors put him in a medically-induced coma so they could change his bandages.
“I talked to him yesterday,” she said Thursday. “He could hear but didn’t respond.”
He has third-degree burns over 75 percent of his body and no skin on much of his body -- he was wearing cut-off jeans which saved the skin on his thighs, she said.
Bridgett said that a doctor told her it will be a long recovery.
“He is going to have to have a lot of surgeries,” she said. “He has no skin left on his body to do a skin graph. They are going to have to find an alternative way of doing a skin graph. ... The first three days is a critical time for him right now. .... After three days or so we will see what the prognosis is going to be long term and short term.”
Darrell Brackett works for his girlfriend’s uncle’s lawn service as the uncle’s “right hand man” as a gardener and driver, his mother said. A fun-loving man, he grew up in Liberty City and graduated from Miami Northwestern High School.
On the surface, Bridgett appears calm though she says she is grieving on the inside.
“God has spoken to me and told me to leave it in his hands,” she said. “I have a certain peace about me now. When I am by myself I cry. I have to be strong. There were times last night I cried and I prayed. ... I know God can work miracles.”
Detectives ask anyone with information to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
Miami Herald news partner WFOR-CBS4 contributed to this report.
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