FDNY crews have responded to a report of a small fire at the World Trade Center site.
The report of a fire in a tool shed came in at about 11:30 a.m. today.
An FDNY spokesman said firefighters were still on the scene, but it appeared the fire didn't spread far.
There were no reports of injuries.
@FDNYIncidents via Twitter
Miami Dade College is launching a Social Entrepreneurship Academy, which aims to teach people about how to start a socially entrepreneurial business, how to market a “green” business and how to embrace a lifestyle that values sustainability and social responsibility, among other offerings.
Future non-credit classes will also include topics such as Socially Responsible Investing, Affordable Housing Development and Tactical Urbanism. In addition to the courses, which will cost $235, the academy will offer networking opportunities, mentorship, a business plan contest and internship opportunities, MDC said.
An Open House will take place at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 7 at the InterAmerican Campus, 627 SW 27th Ave., Room 401, where prospective students can meet instructors and learn more about the program. For more information about the classes, contact Karina Johnson at 305-237-6587 or kjohnso6@mdc.edu. For information about the academy, call Corinna Moebius at 786-564-2662.
Nancy Dahlberg
When Ronald Poppo was a kid in the 1950s and ’60s, a family Christmas in Brooklyn meant wind-up model trains circling the tree, Italian dinners of lasagna and stuffed squid, and, because Dec. 25 was also his father’s birthday, ricotta-filled cassata cake.
There was always music, because the Poppos have musical talent. Ronnie, as his older sister and two older brothers called him, played the violin as a child and guitar as a teenager.
And there was church, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, as their mother was a devout Baptist.
An aunt brought Christmas presents, recalled Ronald’s sister, Antoinette Poppo, who still lives in New York.
“We were poor, but we didn’t know we were poor,’’ she said.
It’s hard to say when Ronald Poppo last enjoyed childhood Christmas memories, had a merry — or even comfortable — Christmas. After vanishing from the family in the early 1970s, he encamped on the gritty streets of Miami, an inebriated vagrant drifting ever further from the mainstream.
His last known home was the concrete stairwell of a tourist-attraction parking garage.
He surfaced again May 26 as the hapless victim in one of South Florida’s most sensational, blood-drenched crimes. That day, a naked, crazed, 31-year-old Rudy Eugene attacked 65-year-old Poppo on the MacArthur Causeway, stripping away his clothes then gnawing on Poppo’s face, leaving him mutilated and blind.
Police shot and killed Eugene about 18 minutes into the assault.
Through news of the event, Poppo’s stunned siblings learned he’d been alive all along, and people from his past began to emerge with snippets of information about his life before he disappeared onto the streets.
Following intensive medical treatment at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Poppo moved to Jackson Memorial Perdue Medical Center, an 11-acre, 163-bed nursing home/rehab facility in South Miami-Dade, its halls now cheerily decked with holiday decorations.
He has refused all interview requests since the incident, and apart from allowing doctors to hold a news conference in June, he hasn’t authorized his treating physicians to talk about his medical condition.
Jackson officials closely guard his privacy.
Photos displayed at the June news conference showed Poppo’s face as a mass of clots and raw tissue, his eye sockets hidden under flaps of skin, his nose gone, his cheeks and forehead partially so. Doctors had to remove one mangled eyeball but at the time hoped to save the other, and at least some sight.
They weren’t able to.
His sister says that when they talk, brother Ronnie doesn’t mention the attack, the past, or how he spends his time. But he did recently say that he likes his accommodations and the people who care for him.
“He says they take him outside and walk him around the place,’’ Antoinette Poppo said. “He’s glad to be there. ... He doesn’t really talk much at all. He says, ‘Take care of yourself.’ It’s so sad he can’t see, and has to depend on other people.’’
He told her that “his face hasn’t healed yet,’’ but that he doesn’t want more surgery because “it’s going to hurt.’’
If so inclined, Poppo could have participated in all sorts of Christmas festivities at Perdue, where well-wishers from The Cocoplum and Cutler Ridge Women’s Clubs, the Soroptimist Club of Coral Gables, the Grupo de Kendall, Bethel Baptist Church, and the Teddy Bear Club brought gifts for residents including shampoo, batteries, home-made goodies — and teddy bears.
BEIJING (Reuters) – China may require internet users to register with their real names when signing up to network providers, state media said on Tuesday, extending a policy already in force with microblogs in a bid to curb what officials call rumors and vulgarity.
A law being discussed this week would mean people would have to present their government-issued identity cards when signing contracts for fixed line and mobile internet access, state-run newspapers said.
“The law should escort the development of the internet to protect people’s interest,” Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily said in a front page commentary, echoing similar calls carried in state media over the past week.
“Only that way can our internet be healthier, more cultured and safer.”
Many users say the restrictions are clearly aimed at further muzzling the often scathing, raucous – and perhaps most significantly, anonymous – online chatter in a country where the Internet offers a rare opportunity for open debate.
It could also prevent people from exposing corruption online if they fear retribution from officials, said some users.
It was unclear how the rules would be different from existing regulations as state media has provided only vague details and in practice customers have long had to present identity papers when signing contracts with internet providers.
Earlier this year, the government began forcing users of Sina Corp’s wildly successful Weibo microblogging platform to register their real names.
The government says such a system is needed to prevent people making malicious and anonymous accusations online and that many other countries already have such rules.
“It would also be the biggest step backwards since 1989,” wrote one indignant Weibo user, in apparent reference to the 1989 pro-democracy protests bloodily suppressed by the army.
Chinese internet users have long had to cope with extensive censorship, especially over politically sensitive topics like human rights, and popular foreign sites Facebook, Twitter and Google-owned YouTube are blocked.
Despite periodic calls for political reform, the ruling Communist Party has shown no sign of loosening its grip on power and brooks no dissent to its authority.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Huang Yan; Editing by Michael Perry)
Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News
After weeks of speculation, Jessica Simpson has confirmed that she is pregnant with her second child!
PHOTO - Does Jessica Look Pregnant?
This morning she Tweeted, "Merry Christmas from my family to yours," along with a photo of daughter Maxwell sitting above a message written in the sand. It read: "Big Sis."
VIDEO - Jessica on Reaching 50 Pound Weight Loss Goal
Simpson, who gave birth to Maxwell on May 1, has been spotted wearing lots of loose clothing in recent weeks as rumors swirled that she was pregnant again.
This will be the second child for Simpson and her fiance, Eric Johnson.
William H. Spengler Jr.
A homicidal maniac -- bent to “do what I like doing best: killing people" -- left a chilling suicide note before torching his neighborhood and murdering two firefighters, police said today.
Ex-con William Spengler Jr., a loser mama’s boy who once spent 17 years in prison for beating his grandmother to death, penned a murderous three-page missive, telling the world why he turned a quiet lakeside neighborhood into hell on earth.
“I still have to see how much of the neighborhood I can burn down and do what I like doing best: killing people,” Spengler wrote his suicide note, made public by police.
Spengler, 62, set his home -- in the tight-knit, upstate town of Webster, just outside Rochester -- ablaze early yesterday morning to lure volunteer firefighters to the scene. The gutless killer then methodically shot four of those fireman, two fatally, before blowing his brains out.
"There was no motive in the note...there were some ramblings in there, said Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering told reporters this morning. “There was intelligence information that we obtained that our investigators need to follow up on. It spoke mainly that he intended to burn his neighborhood down and kill as many people as possible."
Four whiskey bottles, filled with gasoline, were found unspent against his house, law enforcement sources told WHEC-TV.
UPSTATE MADMAN SETS BLAZE TO LURE FIREFIGHTERS TO DEATH
Spengler ignited his deadly blaze with a flare gun that was recovered at the scene, the local NBC affiliate reported.
The sadistic killer was found with a Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver, Mossman 12-gauge shotgun and a Bushman semi-automatic AR-15 rifle with 30-shot magazine, police said. Crazed gunman Adam Lanza used the same make of Bushman rifle in the tragic Newtown, CT shooting earlier this month.
As a convicted felon, Spengler had no legal right to possess guns so cops want to trace those weapons.
REUTERS
A house burns after Spengler set fire to it.
Police are exploring connections Spengler and his late mom, Arline, had to the West Webster Fire Department, officials said.
Spengler first torched his family’s home on Lake Road, where Irondequoit Bay meets Lake Ontario, at around 5:45 a.m. — then lay in wait for his unsuspecting prey.
Crouched like a sniper and armed with a rifle and a handgun, Spengler targeted responding firefighters from behind an earthen berm that gave him a clear shot, said Pickering.
“He took a position of cover to be a sniper to shoot the first responders . . . It does appear it was a trap that was set,’’ a grim-faced Pickering said.
It’s unclear why Spengler targeted the men, although he was having personal problems.
He lived with a sister he hated, neighbors said, in the same house where he had fatally bludgeoned his 92-year-old grandmother with a hammer in 1980.
The sister, Cheryl, 67, is missing, and cops, fearing the worst, will search the house for her remains.
"This sister is the only one who is unaccounted for and we're chasing down leads trying to locate her. As time goes down and we don't locate her, just like any criminal investigation would lend itself to perhaps foul play had occurred with the sister,” Pickering said.
Spengler’s beloved mother, Arline died in October. In her obituary, donations were directed to the “West Webster Firemen’s Association (Ambulance Fund).’’ It wasn’t immediately clear why.
"As far as motive, all kinds of speculation, and truthfully, we do not know. They're trying to draw a nexus, I know, between the donations of the mother to the fire department. There could be a nexus to 33 years ago when Webster police arrested him for murdering his grandmother,” Pickering said.
“We are aware of it and trying to figure out the connection,” said a source with the sheriff’s office.
One of Spengler’s victims yesterday, 43-year-old Michael Chiapperini, was a volunteer with the West Webster Fire District and a lieutenant in the town’s police department, where he also served as a media liaison.
The selfless Chiapperini, who spent 20 years as cop, had spent time in Suffolk County last month, volunteering for Hurricane Sandy cleanup duty, officials said.
He had just been named a local “Firefighter of the Year.”
He is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son who also worked with the volunteer fire department.
The other man killed was volunteer Tomasz Kaczowka, a 19-year-old 911 dispatcher and a community-college student with dreams of becoming a full-time firefighter.
“These people get up in the middle of the night to fight fires,” said Chief Pickering, choking back tears. “They don’t expect to be shot and killed.”
Two more volunteer firefighters, Joseph Hofstetter and Theodore Scardino, were wounded by bullets. A cop suffered injuries from shrapnel. All three were expected to survive.
Hofstetter, who also works full time for the Rochester Fire Department, was hit in the pelvis and the bullet lodged in his spine. Scardino was hit in the chest and knee.
The firefighters had to fall back after shots were first fired, allowing flames from Spengler’s home to spread to neighboring houses.
Spengler then traded shots with officers who arrived with an armored truck they used to remove the injured, as well as people living nearby.
He was chased on foot from his perch, then killed himself before he could be subdued, cops said.
Four houses burned to the ground and four more were damaged by the time the blaze was brought under control.
Dozens of people had to be evacuated from the smoldering area on Christmas Eve.
During the gunfight, emergency radio communications captured someone frantically saying he “could see the muzzle flash coming at [him],” as Spengler fired.
The audio, posted on the Web site RadioReference.com, also had someone reporting, “Firefighters are down!” and saying, “Got to be rifle or shotgun — high-powered . . . semi or fully auto.”
It would have been illegal for Spengler, as a convicted felon, to possess any firearm at all.
Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn said he couldn’t help thinking about the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., and other mass shootings in recent years.
“It’s sad to see this is becoming more commonplace . . . across the nation,” O’Flynn said.
At West Webster Fire Station 1, there were 20 bouquets on a bench in front. Another bouquet had roses with three gold-and-white ribbons saying, “May they rest in peace,” “In the line of duty,” and, “In memory of our fallen brothers.”
Gov. Cuomo asked New Yorkers to pray for the firefighters’ families, victimized by this “senseless act of violence.”
Last December, a 15-year-old boy doused his home in Webster with gasoline and set it ablaze, killing his father and two brothers, ages 12 and 16.
Florida’s ports are steaming bow-to-bow in the race to be the world’s businest cruise ship port.
Though some publications have reported Port Canaveral in the lead with 3,761,056 million for its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, PortMiami officials Monday said they had hosted 3,774,452 passengers during the same period, putting it slightly ahead. Fort Lauderdale’s PortEverglades reported 3,689,000 passengers for the period, putting it slightly behind the others in third place.
“We’re all very close,’’ said Paula Musto, PortMiami spokeswoman.
PortMiami has slipped below its previous high of 4 million plus passengers because of changing ship deployments, she said. That number is expected to again cruise past 4 million in 2013 as several new ships homeport in Miami.
Jane Wooldridge
In the days leading up to Christmas, Brenda Lans, a Miami law-firm administrative assistant, sang religious carols with other Lutherans to harried travelers at Miami International Airport.
Jorge Rollo, an office manager, oversaw the sprawling Gift of Bethlehem tableau on the grounds of St. John Neumann Catholic Church in southwest Miami-Dade.
Teenage siblings Coraliz and Dennis Morales shivered in the chilly darkness outside Faith Presbyterian Church in Pembroke Pines as characters in a Living Nativity.
Count them all among the Christians who believe that taking religion public during the late-December shopping frenzy helps make “Keep Christ in Christmas’’ and “Jesus is the Reason for the Season’’ more than bumper-sticker slogans.
Whether in small groups — the Rev. David Imhoff of Grace Lutheran Church in Miami Springs called his 13 carolers a “flash mob for Jesus’’ — or casts of hundreds like the Gift of Bethlehem, the activities become missions for the faithful.
“On a spiritual level, it was so rewarding,’’ said Lans, 55, who isn’t in a church choir and described her singing contribution as “backup noise’’ to those with good voices. “It’s good to get back to the old traditions of caroling which give you the true meaning of Christmas...I felt uplifted doing that.’’
Another caroler, Elizabeth Maldonado, said that singing “Away in the Manger,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” and “Silent Night” for TSA agents, travelers and rental-car agents fulfills an obligation to evangelize, but in a way that doesn’t put people off.
“That’s the greatest commission, to go spread the Gospel,’’ said Maldonado, 53, who sang with her husband, George Sr., 52, and son George Jr., 13.
“Jesus commanded us to do that...Christmas is about the birth of our Savior, but some forget and some have not been told,’’ she said. “The only way to reach them is through love, not to criticize. You can’t push God into their lives, but you can show Him by your actions.’’
Coraliz, an 18-year-old Flanagan High School student, said she was freezing on Friday night when she spent two hours as a shepherd in the Living Nativity scene, as traffic whizzed by on Taft Street, but she didn’t mind.
“Advent is really special,’’ she said. “It’s a time when you honor Christ and thank Him for everything he has done for you, and you have to remember that this day of Christmas is the day that He brought His son to save us. As a Christian, that’s the biggest day of the year. I think it’s really easy to forget what we’re celebrating, and it reminds people what the point is.’’
“We get so wrapped up in Santa and shopping and parties, which are all wonderful, but in reality, this is the birth of the man who gave way to our salvation, and that’s to be celebrated,’’ said Rollo. He called the Gift of Bethlehem, which recreated life in the town where Jesus was born — right down to the lepers, horses, and open-fire bread bakers — “a celebration of our faith and spirituality, and that 2,000 years ago, Mary and Joseph put their faith in God and had this baby.’’
While never an underperformer, it's safe to say that Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You became infinitely more popular following it's rousing inclusion in 2003's Love Actually.
PHOTOS - Sexy Celebrity Santas
Since Olivia Olson smashed the song in Richard Curtis' new holiday classic, it's been covered everywhere from Glee to the Today show -- even Mariah herself has re-released a version she recorded with Justin Bieber.
PHOTOS - Stars Sit on Santa's Lap
But which cover is king? Take a listen to all the options below and then weigh in on which version of All I Want For Christmas Is You is the biggest gift of all!
Mariah Carey's 1994 Original
Shania Twain's 1998 Cover
Olivia Olson's Cover From Love Actually
Miley Cyrus' 2007 Cover
John Mayer's 2008 Cover
Amber Riley's 2011 Glee Cover
Mariah Carey & Justin Bieber's 2011 Deut
Mariah Carey's 2012 Late Night Acoustic Cover
Carly Rose Sonenclar's 2012 X Factor Cover
Demi Lovato's 2012 Christmas in Washington Cover
WHICH IS YOUR FAVORITE? VOTE BELOW!
@jgermano1 via Twitter
Jamie Germano tweeted this photo: "Fire on Lake Rd in Webster where firefighter were shot at upon arrival."
A sadistic gunman killed two firefighters and wounded three other first responders in western New York this morning after setting a blaze to lure victims into shooting range, officials said.
The murderer traded gunfire with cops and was eventually killed -- though it wasn’t immediately clear if officers brought him down, or if he committed suicide, said Webster police chief Gerald Pickering.
“It does appear it was a trap that was set for ... first responders,” Pickering said. “Causative reasons, we don’t have at this time.”
The fire, near the Lake Ontario shore just east of Rochester, broke out at 191 Lake Road at 5:45 a.m., and quickly spread to two more houses and a car, officials said.
Firefighters had to fall back after shots were fired, and flames eventually spread to seven more houses, officials said. Four houses were burned down and four were damaged by the time all flames were brought under control.
Pickering choked back tears as he revealed names of the two fatally wounded victims.
One of the fallen firefighters, 43-year-old Michael Chiapperini, was a volunteer -- his day job was a lieutenant in Webster’s police department, officials said.
The other tragically killed Bravest Tomasz Kaczowka, who was a Monroe County 911 dispatcher, officials said.
“These people get up in the middle of the night to fight fires,” said Pickering. “They don't expect to be shot and killed.”
Two of Webster's Bravest, who were shot and wounded, are in guarded condition at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, officials said. They were identified as volunteer firefighters Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino.
One of them was reportedly shot through the hip and was in surgery this morning. He's expected to survive.
John Ritter, a police officer from nearby Greece, was wounded by flying shrapnel after responding in his private car, officials said.
Ritter was headed to work when he saw fire trucks and followed along, before his truck was hit twice with gunfire.
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