Celebs Tweet Reactions to CT School Shooting

There was breaking news this morning out of Newtown, Connecticut when at least one gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School. CBS News is reporting that a minimum of 27 people were killed in this massacre, including an estimated 18 young children.

A state police spokesperson just held a press conference to assure concerned citizens that "the scene is secure" and "the shooter is deceased inside the building." President Obama has been briefed on the horrific situation and offered his condolences to the victims and community. Three additional victims are being treated at Danbury Hospital. The hospital released a statement reading, "Our hearts and prayers are extended to everyone involved in this terrible tragedy."

As word spread about the tragedy, Twitter exploded with reactions from celebrities, many of them parents themselves.

Alyssa Milano: What the f*** is wrong with people?

Hilary Duff: Oh my.I am shocked.Heartbroken.Devastating news about this elementary school shooting. What is wrong w/ people?Praying hard 4 these family's

Mandy Moore: Absolutely devastating news this morning. There are no words.Thoughts, prayers and love to all in #Newtown.

Lisa Ling: Why are we still not seriously talking about gun control? Bless the families of those lost in Conn. My God.

Mia Farrow: #PrayForNewtown. Gun control is no longer debatable- it's not a 'conversation'- It's a moral mandate. '

Maria Shriver: My heart is breaking as this story unfolds. Let's start a #circleofprayer for the children and their families. Just yesterday, I wrote about the joy of becoming a mother. Right now so many mothers and fathers are in indescribable pain. Please say a prayer for the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown...

Russell Simmons: prayers for the children, families and faculty of Sandy Hook Elementary School and the people of Newtown. my heart is broken.

Courteney Cox: Praying for Sandy Hook

Ali Fedotowsky: The shooting at Sandy Hook elementary is so heartbreaking. Children? It just doesn't make any sense. My heart goes out to the families.

Steve Carell: Pray for Sandy Hook, Newtown CT.

Bethenny Frankel: Oh my goodness. There has been a shooting at a school. I had no idea. This is so tragic. Poor babies!

Maksim Chmerkovskiy: University, high school, movie theater, and now ELEMENTARY school?!? What's next Kindergarten? WTF is wrong with people?!? I hate the "my heart is with" this and "my prayers go out" that... We ALL need to get fucking angry and DO something more than 'feel sad'....to unload a weapon on small children!!!!

Piers Morgan: I can't bear this. It's just beyond comprehension that anyone would do this in an elementary school. Those poor children. Don't just mourn these poor dead children America - get angry and do something to stop these senseless shootings happening.

Hilaria Baldwin: These shootings need to stop what do we do? I cannot help but think back to where I was when people committed these heinous acts. Why do they have to be so cruel, sick, and heartless? Guns bring nothing but pain and heartbreak. Violent video games foster rage and troubled imaginations. Why are we so enamored with violence? My thoughts and prayers are with you all in Sandy Hook. Whether you are a victim of violence, trauma or loss, I am sending my love & support

Vinny Guadagnino: Praying for the Victims in the Connecticut school shooting. This is happening too much. 18 children dead

Randy Jackson: Thoughts and prayers go out to those in Connecticut

Chris Cuomo: #Newtown kids as young as grade k may have been involved. Kids told to close eyes while running out. Pray for the families. #Newton story not abt the #'s. The magnitude is so great because so many kids involved. Killing kids is the worst result of violence.

Sophia Bush: My heart aches for Connecticut ....

Chad Johnson: Just seeing my news feed on the Connecticut shooting, what is going on, prayers to the families and students involved.

Kyle Richards: Omg. Just hearing about the school shooting. In shock. So incredibly sad.

Gilles Marini: Enough f***ing violence. Enough. How could a man killed anyone? Even more a child. I'm crushed! #Connecticut elementary school

Jenna Ushkowitz: My heart goes out to all the Families and children affected by the CT shooting. When will the violence end?

Kevin Spacey: Just heard about the shooting in Connecticut. My thoughts go out to all who are dealing with this sad news.

Adrienne Maloof: Terrible terrible news about the shooting in Connecticut. Sending thoughts and prayers to everyone involved....

Kristin Cavallari: The fact that there was a shooting at an ELEMENTARY school makes me sick. My thoughts go out to all the families

Martina Navratilova: There is no proper time to talk gun control except now!

Holly Robinson Peete: I'm following #SandyHookElementary shooting reports like it's MY child's school #parentsworstnightmare…

Lisa Rinna: Horrible news I just heard about the shooting in CT at an elementary school how can we stop this violence?!

Sherri Shepherd: ABC is reporting the shooter was 24 armed w 4 weapons wearing a bullet proof vest.this makes no sense. @ an elementary school? #Sandyhook

Michael Urie: GUN CONTROL LEGISLATION NOW. #enough

Albie Manzo: Absolutely heartbreaking story coming out of CT, I will never understand how someone could do such a horrible thing.

Teresa Giudice: On days like this, we should hug our children just a little bit tighter.

Marlee Matlin: #PrayForNewtown Pray for the children teachers and families. Pray for some sense out of this madness. I am numb as the numbers of the dead - children and adults - keep ticking up. #PrayForNewtown

Christina Applegate: There are just no words. Only sorrow. We are all shedding tears today for those families.

Karina Smirnoff: We need to pray for all the families affected by the Newtown, CT school shooting. Absolutely devastating....

Hoda Kotb: #prayfornewtown

Brandi Glanville: I can not believe this school shooting, what is wrong with people!!!! My heart is breakking for the kids and families.

Ashley Hebert: My heart is broken for these children/families in Newton. This is unimaginable.

Caroline Manzo: school shooting in Connecticut is heartbreaking - poor little babies - may God be with them all

Kristin Chenoweth: Well im hearing about this shooting in CT. Praying. Sending prayers.

DJ Pauly D: My Prayers Go Out To Everyone Affected By This Horrible Shooting In Connecticut

Melissa Joan Hart: How could someone be so evil as to kill innocent children at school? God Bless and watch over those families and children that witnessed it!

KhloéKardashianOdom: To harm children who are defenseless is truly disgusting. I'm in disbelief. #PrayforNewtown my heart truly goes out to EVERYONE affected

Julie Benz: Please pray for the families and victims of the horrible tragedy in CT.

Lisa Gastineau: How could ANYONE harm KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN!! Beyond insane-saddest thing I've ever heard #pain #prayers

PHOTOS: Families Embrace Outside Sandy Hook Elementary School After Shooting

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History of mass shootings — Newtown among world's deadliest

A gunman at a Connecticut elementary school killed more than two dozen people, including children, on Friday. It is among the world's worst mass shootings. Here is a look at some others:

- Aug. 5, 2012: Army veteran Wade Michael Page kills five men and one woman and wounds three other people, including a police officer, before taking his own life at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin outside Milwaukee.

- July 20, 2012: Twelve people are killed when a gunman enters an Aurora, Colo., movie theater, releases a canister of gas and then opens fire during opening night of the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises." James Holmes, a 24-year-old former graduate student at the University of Colorado, has been charged in the deaths.

- March 11, 2012: Sixteen Afghan villagers, including nine children, are killed during a predawn attack in which Army prosecutors have charged Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, 39.

- July 22, 2011: Confessed mass killer Anders Behring Breivik kills 77 in Norway in twin attacks: a bombing in downtown Oslo and a shooting massacre at a youth camp outside the capital. The self-styled anti-Muslim militant admitted both attacks.

- Jan. 8, 2011: A gunman kills six people and wounds 13 others, including then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, in a shooting spree outside a grocery store in Tucson, Ariz. Doctors say Jared Lee Loughner, who has been charged in the deaths, suffers from schizophrenia.

- Nov. 5, 2009: Thirteen soldiers and civilians were killed and more than two dozen wounded when a gunman walked into the Soldier Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood, Texas, and opened fire. Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.

- April 30, 2009: Farda Gadyrov, 29, enters the prestigious Azerbaijan State Oil Academy in the capital, Baku, armed with an automatic pistol and clips. He kills 12 people before killing himself as police close in.

- March 10, 2009: Michael McLendon, 28, killed 10 people - including his mother, four other relatives, and the wife and child of a local sheriff's deputy - across two rural Alabama counties. He then killed himself.

- Sept. 23, 2008: Matti Saari, 22, walks into a vocational college in Kauhajoki, Finland, and opens fire, killing 10 people and burning their bodies with firebombs before shooting himself fatally in the head.

- Nov. 7, 2007: After revealing plans for his attack in YouTube postings, 18-year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen fires kills eight people at his high school in Tuusula, Finland.

- April 16, 2007: Seung-Hui Cho, 23, kills 32 people and himself on Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Va.

- April 26, 2002: Robert Steinhaeuser, 19, who had been expelled from school in Erfurt, Germany, kills 13 teachers, two former classmates and policeman, before committing suicide.

- April 20, 1999: Students Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, opened fire at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., killing 12 classmates and a teacher and wounding 26 others before killing themselves in the school's library.

- April 28, 1996: Martin Bryant, 29, bursts into cafeteria in seaside resort of Port Arthur in Tasmania, Australia, shooting 20 people to death. Driving away, he kills 15 others. He was captured and imprisoned.

- March 13, 1996: Thomas Hamilton, 43, kills 16 kindergarten children and their teacher in elementary school in Dunblane, Scotland, and then kills himself.

- Oct. 16, 1991: A deadly shooting rampage took place in Killeen, Texas, as George Hennard opened fire at a Luby's Cafeteria, killing 23 people before taking his own life. 20 others were wounded in the attack.

- June 18, 1990: James Edward Pough shoots people at random in a General Motors Acceptance Corp. office in Jacksonville, Fla., killing 10 and wounding four, before killing himself.

- Dec. 6, 1989: Marc Lepine, 25, bursts into Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique college, shooting at women he encounters, killing nine and then himself.

- Aug. 19, 1987: Michael Ryan, 27, kills 16 people in small market town of Hungerford, England, and then shoots himself dead after being cornered by police.

- July 12, 1976: Edward Charles Allaway, a custodian in the library of California State University, Fullerton, fatally shot seven fellow employees and wounded two others.

- Aug. 20, 1986: Pat Sherrill, 44, a postal worker who was about to be fired, shoots 14 people at a post office in Edmond, Okla. He then kills himself.

- July 18, 1984: James Oliver Huberty, an out-of-work security guard, kills 21 people in a McDonald's restaurant in San Ysidro, Calif. A police sharpshooter kills Huberty.

- Aug. 1, 1966: Charles Whitman opened fire from the clock tower at the University of Texas at Austin, killing 16 people and wounding 31.

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NBCUniversal bolsters Telemundo as US Latino market grows

Telemundo has long been like a remote Caribbean island, cut off from its sprawling media homeland.

NBCUniversal acquired the Spanish-language television network a decade ago for $2 billion but became discouraged by its seemingly limited prospects. But Comcast Corp.’s takeover of NBCUniversal last year may be building Telemundo a bridge to the mainland.

“Telemundo now has the full support of Comcast and NBCUniversal,” said Emilio Romano, a former Mexican airline chief executive who was hired a year ago to run Telemundo. “For them, Telemundo is clearly a diamond in the rough.”

The Miami-based network, which began in 1954 as a single Puerto Rico TV station, had long been viewed as an “East Coast” outlet infused with Caribbean flavor — not the right ingredients for the majority of U.S. Latinos, two-thirds of whom are from Mexico or are of Mexican descent.

Appealing to viewers with Central American heritage has become central to NBCUniversal’s campaign to grow Telemundo. But there’s a hitch: Telemundo’s rival, Univision Communications, has a lock on Mexico’s top-rated prime-time soap operas, plus contracts with top Mexican actors and the rights to some of the most popular Mexican soccer teams — making Univision the network of choice for most Mexican immigrants.

So Telemundo has had to shell out tens of millions of dollars to produce original programming to compete in the increasingly crowded field of Spanish-language television.

“They are a hungry No. 2,” said Carmen Baez, president of Latin America operations for advertising behemoth Omnicom Group. “It’s like that old Avis rental-car slogan: ‘We try harder.’ ”

Since Comcast took majority control of NBCUniversal in January 2011, it has installed new management at Telemundo and increased the operating budget. Last year Comcast agreed to spend about $600 million for the rights to broadcast the FIFA World Cup soccer tournaments in 2015 through 2022 — nearly double the amount that Univision currently pays.

The company increased Telemundo’s annual programming budget nearly 20 percent and steered more resources to local Telemundo stations.

“It’s a 360-degree programming strategy built around cultural relevance,” said Lauren Zalaznick, who oversees Telemundo as NBCUniversal’s chairman of entertainment and digital networks.

For example, because many Latino families watch television together, Telemundo licensed films from Walt Disney Co.’s Pixar Animation Studios, creator of such blockbusters as Toy Story and Cars, to build a Sunday night movie block. Telemundo has slowly bolstered its daytime schedule, sending its TV judge, Ana Maria Polo — who has been dubbed the “Latino Judge Judy” — on a road trip to Los Angeles and broadcasting more news from Mexico.

The company also has paid more attention to Mun2, its bilingual youth-oriented cable channel. This week the channel was dealt a devastating blow with the unexpected death of its reality show superstar, Jenni Rivera, in a plane crash in northern Mexico.

Telemundo draws an average of 1.2 million viewers in prime time, an increase of 5 percent over 2011 and 18 percent more than in 2010, according to ratings firm Nielsen. Univision’s ratings have held steady but its second broadcast network, TeleFutura, is down 5 percent this year.

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Miami Gardens rejects ‘Obama’ street — for now

Miami Gardens won’t be renaming US 441 after President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama. The busy thoroughfare is not worthy enough.

Anchored by a Wal-Mart and dozens of Caribbean restaurants, 441 will not bear the first couple’s names because it is too encumbered with other names, explained Councilman David Williams Jr.

The state road is also known as Northwest Second Avenue and State Road 7.

In order to rename a street in Miami Gardens, city rules require a unanimous council vote. Councilmen Williams and Rodney Harris cast the no votes.

Concerned that residents and the media would think Miami Gardens did not want to name a street after the Obamas, Mayor Oliver Gilbert assured that the city will consider another route for the president that is more suitable.

“Lord knows he’ s worthy,” said Gilbert. “We will name a road after him.

Nearby Opa-locka, and a few other cities in Florida have roads named after the president. But Miami Gardens would be the first to name a street after the president and his wife, said Councilman Erhabor Ighodaro, who proposed the renaming.

While the Obamas are left without a street in Miami Gardens for now, the council did approve a measure to rename Northwest 175 Street between 12th and 27th avenues after local pastor G. David Horton.

Horton is a pastor at Greater New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church and community activist. The majority of residents who attended Wednesday night’s meeting were parishioners and supporters of Horton’s.

Those who spoke on his behalf described Horton as a selfless and giving member of the community for more than 30 years.

“Dr. Horton is a man of honor,” said Joyce Jones, a member of Greater New Bethel.

A third proposal to consider renaming a portion of Northwest 199 Street after Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican political leader, was postponed for a later date.

The sudden street designations caused some in the audience to caution the council that other churches and members of the community may soon be asking City Hall to name streets after them.

“I feel that it is a floodgate that will open up,” said Ulysses Harvard, a former councilman who asked the council to create rules that would establish who can be nominated for a street renaming.

Miami Gardens considers all street renaming proposals on a case-by-case basis, but Mayor Gilbert told the audience: “Don’t you all go tell your pastors come and get a road. This is not that type of party.”

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Selling flak jackets in the cyberwars

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – When the Israeli army and Hamas trade virtual blows in cyberspace, or when hacker groups like Anonymous rise from the digital ether, or when WikiLeaks dumps a trove of classified documents, some see a lawless Internet.

But Matthew Prince, chief executive at CloudFlare, a little-known Internet start-up that serves some of the Web’s most controversial characters, sees a business opportunity.

Founded in 2010, CloudFlare markets itself as an Internet intermediary that shields websites from distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks, the crude but effective weapon that hackers use to bludgeon websites until they go dark. The 40-person company claims to route up to 5 percent of all Internet traffic through its global network.

Prince calls his company the “Switzerland” of cyberspace – assiduously neutral and open to all comers. But just as companies like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook have faced profound questions about the balance between free speech and openness on the Internet and national security and law enforcement concerns, CloudFlare‘s business has posed another thorny question: what kinds of services, if any, should an American company be allowed to offer designated terrorists and cyber criminals?

CloudFlare’s unusual position at the heart of this debate came to the fore last month, when the Israel Defense Forces sought help from CloudFlare after its website was struck by attackers based in Gaza. The IDF was turning to the same company that provides those services to Hamas and the al-Quds Brigades, according to publicly searchable domain information. Both Hamas and al-Quds, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, are designated by the United States as terrorist groups.

Under the USA Patriot Act, U.S. firms are forbidden from providing “material support” to groups deemed foreign terrorist organizations. But what constitutes material support – like many other facets of the law itself – has been subject to intense debate.

CloudFlare’s dealings have attracted heated criticism in the blogosphere from both Israelis and Palestinians, but Prince defended his company as a champion of free speech.

“Both sides have an absolute right to tell their story,” said Prince, a 38-year old former lawyer. “We’re not providing material support for anybody. We’re not sending money, or helping people arm themselves.”

Prince noted that his company only provides defensive capabilities that enable websites to stay online.

“We can’t be sitting in a role where we decide what is good or what is bad based on our own personal biases,” he said. “That’s a huge slippery slope.”

Many U.S. agencies are customers, but so is WikiLeaks, the whistle-blowing organization. CloudFlare has consulted for many Wall Street institutions, yet also protects Anonymous, the “hacktivist” group associated with the Occupy movement.

Prince‘s stance could be tested at a time when some lawmakers in the United States and Europe, armed with evidence that militant groups rely on the Web for critical operations and recruitment purposes, have pressured Internet companies to censor content or cut off customers.

Last month, conservative political lobbies, as well as seven lawmakers led by Ted Poe, a Republican from Texas, urged the FBI to shut down the Hamas Twitter account. The account remains active; Twitter declined to comment.

MATERIAL SUPPORT

Although it has never prosecuted an Internet company under the Patriot Act, the government’s use of the material support argument has steadily risen since 2006. Since September 11, 2001, more than 260 cases have been charged under the provision, according to Fordham Law School’s Terrorism Trends database.

Catherine Lotrionte, the director of Georgetown University’s Institute for Law, Science and Global Security and a former Central Intelligence Agency lawyer, argued that Internet companies should be more closely regulated.

“Material support includes web services,” Lotrionte said. “Denying them services makes it more costly for the terrorists. You’re cornering them.”

But others have warned that an aggressive government approach would have a chilling effect on free speech.

“We’re resurrecting the kind of broad-brush approaches we used in the McCarthy era,” said David Cole, who represented the Humanitarian Law Project, a non-profit organization that was charged by the Justice Department for teaching law to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is designated by the United States as a terrorist group. The group took its case to the Supreme Court but lost in 2010.

The material support law is vague and ill-crafted, to the point where basic telecom providers, for instance, could be found guilty by association if a terrorist logs onto the Web to plot an attack, Cole said.

In that case, he asked, “Do we really think that AT&T or Google should be held accountable?”

CloudFlare said it has not been contacted about its services by the U.S. government. Spokespeople for Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, told Reuters they contracted a cyber-security company in Gaza that out-sources work to foreign companies, but declined to comment further. The IDF confirmed it had hired CloudFlare, but declined to discuss “internal security” matters.

CloudFlare offers many of its services for free, but the company says websites seeking advanced protection and features can see their bill rise to more than $ 3,000 a month. Prince declined to discuss the business arrangements with specific customers.

While not yet profitable, CloudFlare has more than doubled its revenue in the past four months, according to Prince, and is picking up 3,000 new customers a month. The company has raked in more than $ 22 million from venture capital firms including New Enterprise Associates, Venrock and Pelion Venture Partners.

Prince, a Midwestern native with mussed brown hair who holds a law degree from the University of Chicago, said he has a track record of working on the right side of the law.

A decade ago, Prince provided free legal aid to Spamhaus, an international group that tracked email spammers and identity thieves. He went on to create Project Honey Pot, an open source spam-tracking endeavor that turned over findings to police.

Prince’s latest company, CloudFlare, has been hailed by groups such as the Committee to Protect Journalists for protecting speech. Another client, the World Economic Forum, named CloudFlare among its 2012 “technology pioneers” for its work. But it also owes its profile to its most controversial customers.

CloudFlare has hosted 4Chan, the online messaging community that spawned Anonymous. LulzSec, the hacker group best known for targeting Sony Corp, is another customer. And since last May, the company has propped up WikiLeaks after a vigilante hacker group crashed the document repository.

Last year, members of the hacker collective UgNazi, whose exploits include pilfering user account information from eBay and crashing the CIA.gov website, broke into Prince’s cell phone and email accounts.

“It was a personal affront,” Prince said. “But we never kicked them off either.”

Prince said CloudFlare would comply with a valid court order to remove a customer, but that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has never requested a takedown. The company has agreed to turn over information to authorities on “exceedingly rare” occasions, he acknowledged, declining to elaborate.

“Any company that doesn’t do that won’t be in business long,” Prince said. But in an email, he added: “We have a deep and abiding respect for our users’ privacy, disclose to our users whenever possible if we are ordered to turn over information and would fight an order that we believed was not proper.”

Juliannne Sohn, an FBI spokeswoman, declined to comment.

Michael Sussmann, a former Justice Department lawyer who prosecuted computer crimes, said U.S. law enforcement agencies may in fact prefer that the Web’s most wanted are parked behind CloudFlare rather than a foreign service over which they have no jurisdiction.

Federal investigators “want to gather information from as many sources as they can, and they’re happy to get it,” Sussmann said.

In an era of rampant cyber warfare, Prince acknowledged he is something of a war profiteer, but with a wrinkle.

“We’re not selling bullets,” he said. “We’re selling flak jackets.”

(Reporting By Gerry Shih in San Francisco and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; editing by Jonathan Weber and Claudia Parsons)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Jon Stewart Says Hugh Grant is Least Favorite Guest Ever

Looks like Hugh Grant, 52, and Jon Stewart, 50, won't be crossing paths again soon if Stewart can help it -- The Daily Show host revealed in a recent interview that not only is the British actor his least favorite guest ever, but that we won't be seeing him on his hit Comedy Central show ever again.

Grant appeared on The Daily Show in December of 2009 to promote his romantic comedy Did You Hear About the Morgans? opposite Sarah Jessica Parker, and though there were no signs of visible tension between the two during the televised interview, according to Stewart, Grant displayed diva-like behavior when he didn't like the clip provided by the film's publicist.

Video: Jon Stewart to R Patz: Kick Her to the Curb!

"He's giving everyone s*** the whole time, and he's a big pain in the a**," Stewart told Stephen Colbert in an interview for a fundraiser for the Montclair Film Festival in New Jersey. Grant reportedly complained, 'What is that clip? It's a terrible clip,' to which Stewart replied, "Well, then make a better f***ing movie."

He concluded that he would "never let" Grant back on The Daily Show.

Related: Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert Throw 'Sanity' Rally in D.C.

During the candid chat before a sold-out crowd, Stewart also admitted to nearly quitting the show when he took over for Craig Killborn in 1999.

"I walk in the door, into a room with the writers and producers, and the first thing they say is, 'This isn't some MTV bull****.' ... And then I was told not to change the jokes or improvise," he recalled about initially feeling unwelcome. "[I told my agent] get me the f*** out of this. These people are insane ... I had to be talked down from a moderately high cliff ... What I did not realize is, a lot of the people who worked there were a**holes."

Related: Lessons Learned From the Biggest Celebrity Sex Scandals

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Regulators agree to give FPL four-year rate deal

TALLAHASSEE The Public Service Commission on Thursday agreed to award Florida Power & Light a $358 million base rate request that includes a series of rate increases over four years and rejected a call from the public counsel that the company scale back its rates.

After a morning hearing discussing the nuts and bolts of a proposed settlement, the five-member commission appears on track to vote 4-1 to modify the settlement agreement presented by the company, and allow FPL to received guaranteed profits of between 9.5 to 11.5 percent through 2016.

The settlement is less than the $543 million the company originally sought in its first settlement offer, but the profit level – which would guarantee a midpoint return on equity of 10.5 percent – is higher than the 10 percent the PSC staff recommended in a draft recommendation.

Commissioner Eduardo Balbis, who supported giving the company the 10.5 percent return on equity, expressed interest in demanding that the company also make a concession to collect at least $10 million less from consumers in other areas. No other commissioners would agree

FPL, a regulated monopoly with 4.6 million customers in Florida, is currently making profits at about 11 percent, the most allowed under current law. But the company’s rate agreement ends in January and it has asked the PSC to allow it to collect more money from customers to pay back the costs of the Cape Canaveral power plant, scheduled to go into service in June.

The company has scheduled two other power plants to go online in 2014 and 2016 and has joined with its largest power users to offer up a settlement that will allow it the flexibility to raise its rates for those plants without PSC oversight, and the expensive and contested rate case that would come with it.

The decision by the PSC to approve much of the settlement effectively shuts down the argument of the Office of Public Counsel, the state agency that represents customers in rate cases. The public counsel has vigorously opposed the settlement deal and instead has argued that the company is making about $253 million more than it should and wants the PSC to lower FPL's rate of return and charge customers less money.

The PSC decision Thursday marks the first time the PSC has moved forward on a rate settlement without the public counsel’s consent.

J.R. Kelly, the state’s chief public counsel, told the Herald/Times that a ruling in favor of the proposed settlement could work against the public in future cases because it would give an incentive for utility companies in the future to do as FPL did and circumvent his office.

FPL side-stepped the public counsel when it entered into its agreement with Florida Industrial Power Users Group, the South Florida Hospital and Healthcare Association and the Federal Executive Agencies and announced the settlement just as the company’s rate case was scheduled to begin in August.

The groups represent about a half of one percent of FPL’s 4.6 million customers but use nearly half of all the electricity generated. Under the deal, they would get lower rates than regular residential customers.

This is also the first major rate case decided by this commission for FPL, the states’s largest utility, since the legislature unseated four members of the previous commission when it rejected most of a $1 billion rate increase request in 2009.

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Crime Watch: Be careful when giving to charities

Many of our neighbors in South Florida have fallen on hard times, and there are many organizations trying to help those with great needs such as food, school supplies, clothing and toys now for the holidays.

Well, we all need to be extra careful to make sure we are dealing with real charitable organizations and not phony solicitations, and many of you asked what to look for.

Let’s look at some of the techniques once again that are questionable — and in some cases, illegal. Prize offers: Potential donors are told that they have won a contest and are eligible for a prize — usually worthless — if they make a donation to a charity.

Chain letters: Unsolicited appeals, usually in the form of e-mails, ask potential donors not only to contribute to an organization but also to forward the e-mail to friends and family members.

Like- sounding names: Fraudulent charities take names that are very similar to those of high-profile charities that are known and trusted by the public.

Another scam that is very prevalent in our community during this time is that they will come to your door selling magazine or gift items in the name of a school or charity for the holidays . First of all, don’t let anyone in your house who is selling anything. Sometimes these people will come with small children, so that you assume it’s safe to let them in. Well unfortunately, some of these little kids cute as a button, will ask to use the restroom while they are in your home, they then go into the bedroom to take whatever they can put in their pockets. You don’t even notice it until they have left your home. So please again don’t let anyone into your home. If they refuse to leave, call the police and give the best description you can.

Here are ways you can prevent being a victim of charity fraud:

• Ask how your money will be used, such as what percentage will go to the actual programs versus the administrative and fundraising cost.

• Request written information that gives the full name, address and phone numbers of the organization, as well as a description of the programs it supports.

• Check out any charity you don’t know with the local charity registration office, Better Business Bureau or a charity watchdog group such as www.charitywatch.org, www.give.org, or www.guidestar.org.

• Don’t be fooled by a name that closely resembles the name of a respected and well-known charity.

• Ask for the charity’s tax-exempt letter indicating its IRS status. You can’t claim a tax-deductible donation if the charity does not have one.

• Never give cash. Make your contribution by check payable to the full name of the charity once you are certain it’s a charitable organization.

• Don’t give out your Social Security number. A charity does not need it in order for you to claim a tax deduction.

• Charity-related fraud should be reported to local law enforcement or the local postmaster. Complaints can also be filed online with the Better Business Bureau at www.bbb.org.

We all want to be helpful, but we need to make sure that we are helping those that truly are helping.

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Most Googled in 2012: Whitney, PSY, Sandy

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The world’s attention wavered between the tragic and the silly in 2012, and along the way, millions of people searched the Web to find out about a royal princess, the latest iPad, and a record-breaking skydiver.

Whitney Houston was the “top trending” search of the year, according to Google Inc.’s year-end “zeitgeist” report. Google‘s 12th annual roundup is “an in-depth look at the spirit of the times as seen through the billions of searches on Google over the past year,” the company said in a blog post Wednesday.

People around the globe searched en masse for news about Houston‘s accidental drowning in a bathtub just before she was to perform at a pre-Grammy Awards party in February.

Google defines topics as “trending” when they garner a high amount of traffic over a sustained period of time.

Korean rapper PSY’s “Gangnam Style” music video trotted into second spot, a testament to his self-deprecating giddy-up dance move. The video is approaching a billion views on YouTube.

Superstorm Sandy, the damaging storm that knocked out power and flooded parts of the East Coast in the midst of a U.S. presidential campaign, was third.

The next biggest trending searches globally were a pair of threes: the iPad 3 tablet from Apple Inc. and Diablo 3, a popular video game.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Kate Middleton, who made news with scandalous photos and a royal pregnancy; the 2012 Olympics in London; Amanda Todd, a Canadian teen who was found dead of an apparent suicide in October after being bullied online; Michael Clarke Duncan, the “Green Mile” actor who died of a heart attack in September at age 54; and “BBB12,” the 12th edition of “Big Brother Brasil,” a reality show featuring scantily clad men and women living together.

Some trending people, according to Google, were:

— Felix Baumgartner, an Austrian skydiver who became the first to break the sound barrier without a vehicle with a 24-mile plummet from Earth’s stratosphere;

— Jeremy Lin, the undrafted NBA star who exploded off the New York Knicks bench and sparked a wave of “Linsanity”;

— Morgan Freeman, the actor whose untimely death turned out not to be true.

The Internet also continued its rise as a popular tool for spreading addictive ideas and phrases known as “memes.” Remember LOL? If you don’t know what it means by now, someone may “Laugh Out Loud” at you.

This year, Facebook said its top memes included “TBH (To Be Honest),” ”YOLO (You Only Live Once),” ”SMH (Shake My Head).” Thanks to an endlessly fascinating U.S. presidential campaign, “Big Bird” made the list after Republican candidate Mitt Romney said he might consider cutting some funds for public broadcasting.

Yahoo said its own top-searched memes for the year included “Kony 2012,” a reference to the short film and campaign against Ugandan militia leader Joseph Kony; “stingray photobomb” for an unusual vacation snapshot that went viral; and “binders full of women,” another nod to Romney for his awkward description of his search for women cabinet members as Massachusetts’ governor.

And people were happy to pass on popular Twitter posts by retweeting them. According to Twitter, the year’s most popular retweets were President Barack Obama‘s “Four more years,” and Justin Bieber’s farewell to six-year-old fan Avalanna Routh, who died of a rare form of brain cancer: “RIP Avalanna. i love you”.

Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Alan Arkin 07 Oscars Flashback

Appearing in at least one film nearly every year since 1966, Alan Arkin's name has become virtually ubiquitous in Hollywood.

While his respected career has earned him a great deal of recognition, it wasn't until 2007 that Arkin actually took home an Oscar of his own. In fact, Arkin hadn't even been nominated for an Oscar since 1969, for his role in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

But 38 years later, Arkin would have his night. The long-awaited victory was thanks almost entirely to his moving performance as grandfather to Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine, whom Arkin called working with a "sheer delight."

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The film received four nominations that night, including Best Picture and one acting nod for Breslin, which she somehow didn't win, despite being unyieldingly adorable. It would however take home Best Original Screenplay, as well as Alan Arkin's Best Supporting Actor win.

Just don't tell Arkin he deserved it.

In the press room, Arkin joked morbidly that, "I think it's because of my age. Everybody thinks I'm gonna keel over in a year or two...they'll give me a little bonus."

Despite his statements, he couldn't fool ET, who got Arkin to later admit that he was choked up when finally accepting his Oscar.

"Yeah, I didn't expect it either," said Arkin in regards to the teary moment in his acceptance speech, adding, "I was moved."

With any luck, Arkin can repeat his Oscar magic with his supporting role in Argo with Ben Affleck when The 85th Annual Academy Awards air Sunday, February 24th, 2013 on ABC.

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For more moments from Arkin's big night, see the video above.

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