Miami Beach hotels seek more political clout

When Miami Beach wanted local hotels to scale-back their popular rooftop parties and bars, Alexander Tachmes fought back.

An attorney who has represented Beach hotels on a myriad of issues, he “cobbled” together a group of his hotelier clients and went before the city commission to ask them to curb the proposed rules.

The hotels won.

It was a learning experience, said Tachmes, who came to believe that the Beach needed a permanent group of industry heavyweights to take political action in the face of restrictive city policies.

With that in mind, Miami Beach’s hotel industry is taking on a decidedly political tone by reviving a previously-formed electioneering organization, just in time for election season on the sandbar.

The group is called Hospitality for a Better Miami Beach, and as an Electioneering Communication Organization (ECO), it can raise unlimited money to run ads, send fliers and make telephone calls about political issues. They’ve also created Miami Beach Hospitality Coalition, which Tachmes said will soon be registered as a non-profit.

Behind the organizations are Tachmes and big-name hoteliers Mike Palma, Executive Vice President of Hospitality for Brio Investment Group (which owns the Clevelander) and the Perry South Beach Hotel General Manager Tim Nardi.

“Political clout is something that will help to further the goals of the industry,” Tachmes said.

Hotels already have their interests represented by the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association and the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. But the association is tax-funded and the visitor’s bureau is tax-exempt, so neither can raise or spend money for political purposes.

Stuart Blumberg, who headed the hotel association for 15 years, thinks the industry has enough clout without having to wade into politics.

“You’re getting a group of hoteliers who’ve decided they want a voice in government. And that’s dangerous,” he said of the ECO.

An outspoken leader, Blumberg often took political stances and faced elected officials — and he often found success.

Blumberg led the charge to exempt pool decks and outdoor patios from a constitutional amendment banning smoking, and pushed to delay the start of the school year so that Florida teens could continue working at local hotels. At a farewell gathering after Blumberg announced his retirement, he didn’t hesitate to take a shot at then-Gov. Charlie Crist, calling him out on a proposed tax increase on car rentals.

“We were able to accomplish a lot of things because we weren’t tarnished by, ‘Yeah, I supported that guy or that guy,’” Blumberg said. “You stand and fall on the merits of an issue.”

Citing the huge impact the tourism industry has on Florida, he added: “We don’t need to spend money to win influence.”

According to state figures, the tourism industry has a $67.3 billion economic impact on Florida.

In Miami-Dade, the accommodation industry accounts for 3 percent of the county’s 1 million non-farm jobs, or about 27,000 positions. The industry also contributes about $1 billion in income a year in Miami-Dade, or about 2 percent of total wages.

With a November election in Miami Beach — in which a majority of the city’s commission seats up for grabs — now is the time to translate economic importance into political prominence, said Palma.

In a city where resident-activists are vocal and plentiful, and where residents are often at odds with party-seeking tourists, Palma said city leaders lately have tilted more in favor of residents rather than businesses

Added Tachmes: “The residents of the city benefit by having a thriving hotel industry...all we want is a seat at the table.”

The electioneering committee was registered last year and is currently not active, according to state records.

Tachmes said the group is in the process of recruiting members — whom he would not name — and creating a board, at which time the group will be re-opened. Members are planning to interview candidates to decide who to support in the upcoming elections.

Wendy Kallergis, president and CEO of the hotel association, pointed out that many of the ECO members are also members of her organization. She doesn’t think the new group will be a competitor.

“We’re not able to do some of the things they can do,” she said. “I think it’s going to strengthen the voice on the Beach.”

Miami Herald staff writer Douglas Hanks contributed to this report.

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National Urban League to hold 2015 conference in Fort Lauderdale

The National Urban League announced today that Fort Lauderdale edged out nine other cities to attract its 2015 conference.

“There were some strong cities and affiliates,” Rhonda Spears Bell, the senior vice president for the National urban League said Friday during a news conference held at the Urban League of Broward County’s headquarters. “But everything seemed to line up for Fort Lauderdale.”

The organization currently holds a mid-winter conference in Fort Lauderdale every year.

“It’s time to bring the big game,” Bell said.

In the past, the national conference has attracted well known guests such as Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.

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Google moves closer to resolving EU investigation

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Google has offered to take specific steps to allay competition regulators’ concerns about its business practices, in a major move towards ending a two-year investigation and avoiding billions of dollars in fines.

The European Commission said on Friday it had received detailed proposals from the world’s most popular search engine, which has been under investigation following complaints from more than a dozen companies, including Microsoft, that Google has used its market power to block rivals.

If the commission accepts the proposals under its settlement procedure, it would mean no fine and no finding of wrongdoing against Google.

Companies found to be in breach of EU rules can be fined as much as 10 percent of global turnover, which could mean up to $ 4 billion if there is no satisfactory resolution in Google’s case.

EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia told Reuters he had received Google’s submission, but declined to give details of the proposal.

“We are analyzing it,” he said.

Google spokesman Al Verney said the group continues to work cooperatively with the commission.

The company ranks first in Internet searching in Europe, with an 82 percent market share, versus 67 percent in the United States, according to research firm comScore.

Lobbying group ICOMP, whose members include complainants Microsoft, Foundem, Hot-map, Streetmap and Nextag, said any solution should include measures ensuring that rivals could compete on a level playing field with Google.

The FairSearch coalition, whose members include online travel agencies and complainants Expedia and TripAdvisor, said a third-party monitor should be appointed to ensure that Google lives up to any promises.

The commission, which acts as competition regulator in the 27-member European Union, is now expected to seek feedback from Google’s rivals and other interested parties, before launching an official market test.

Last month, Google won a major victory when U.S. antitrust regulators ended their investigation, saying the company had not manipulated its web search results to block rivals.

The commission has said Google may have favored its own search services over those of rivals, and copied travel and restaurant reviews from competing sites without permission.

The EU executive is also concerned the company may have put restrictions on advertisers and advertising to prevent them from moving their online campaigns to competing search engines.

(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Rex Merrifield and Hans-Juergen Peters)

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IM5 and Bella Thorne Cant Stay Away Music Video Premiere

IM5 have been making waves as America's next big boy band since 2011 and ETonline is proud to present the world premiere of their latest music video, Can't Stay Away, featuring Disney star Bella Thorne.

PHOTOS - Who Would you Rather Date?

In the music video, Bella has her hands full as she prowls the halls with Dana, Gabe, Will, Cole, and Dalton before inspiring a study hall dance party they simply Can't Stay Away from!

LISTEN - Justin Bieber Drops Breakup Song

Join in on the fun by watching the music video's world premiere above, and stay up-to-date with all things IM5 by visiting their official website and following the boys on Twitter!

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Energy Secretary Chu steps down after Solyndra scandal

WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who won a Nobel Prize in physics but came under questioning for his handling of a solar energy loan, is stepping down.

Chu offered his resignation to President Barack Obama in a letter Friday. He said he will stay on at least until the end of February and may stay until a successor is confirmed.

Chu's departure had been widely expected and follows announcements by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, that they are leaving.

The White House said no decisions have been made on replacements for any of the environment and energy jobs but said Obama's priorities will remain unchanged. Potential replacements for Chu include former North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm and former Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Obama said in a statement Friday that Chu brought a "unique understanding of both the urgent challenge presented by climate change and the tremendous opportunity that clean energy represents for our economy."

During his tenure, Chu helped move the country toward energy independence, Obama said, citing Energy Department programs to boost renewable energy such as wind and solar power.

"Thanks to Steve, we also expanded support for our brightest engineers and entrepreneurs as they pursue groundbreaking innovations that could transform our energy future," Obama said.

Chu, a former director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, had little political experience before taking the energy post in 2009.

He drew fire from congressional Republicans who criticized his handling of a $528 million federal loan to solar panel maker Solyndra, which later went bankrupt, laying off its 1,100 workers. Republicans said Chu and other Energy Department officials missed many warning signs about problems at Solyndra and compounded them by approving a restructuring of the loan even after problems were discovered.

Solyndra was the first renewable-energy company to receive a loan guarantee under the 2009 stimulus law, and the Obama administration frequently promoted the company as a model for its clean energy program. Chu attended a 2009 groundbreaking when the loan was announced, and Obama visited the company's Fremont, Calif., headquarters the next year.

The company's implosion in 2011 and revelations that the administration hurried a review of the loan in time for the groundbreaking become an embarrassment for Chu and Obama and a rallying cry for GOP critics of the administration's green energy program.

Lawmakers also criticized Chu for approving the plan to restructure Solyndra's debt so that two private investors moved ahead of taxpayers for repayment in case of default.

Chu defended the Solyndra loan during a sometimes testy hearing in late 2011. While calling the ultimate outcome "regrettable," Chu said the loan was subject to "proper, rigorous scrutiny and healthy debate" before it was approved in 2009.

"While we are disappointed in the outcome of this particular loan, we support Congress' mandate to finance the deployment of innovative technologies and believe that our portfolio of loans does so responsibly," Chu said.

The White House said Chu retained Obama's confidence, but Chu was widely expected to leave following Obama's re-election last fall.

In a letter to Energy Department employees, Chu said he was proud of his tenure and cited dozens of accomplishments, including doubling the production of renewable energy from wind and solar power. Installations of small solar electric, or photovoltaic, systems have nearly doubled in each of the last three years, he said, while fully 42 percent of new energy capacity in the U.S. last year was from wind —more than any other energy source, Chu said.

"I came with dreams and am leaving with a set of accomplishments that we should all be proud of," he said.

One of his accomplishments was something that Chu rarely talked about: Obama repeatedly credits Chu with helping to plug the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Chu and a team of engineers helped devised an interim solution before a replacement well permanently plugged the leak, which spewed more than 200 million gallons of oil in the worst offshore oil disaster in the country's history.

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Mompreneur jumps into the ‘Shark Tank’

It all started with a 4 a.m. email nearly a year ago: “Do you think a baby bib could change the world? I do...”

Then Susie Taylor included a link to her website, bibbitec.com, and off it went to Shark Tank, the popular ABC television show where entrepreneurs pitch their companies to investors on the show — and by extension, 7 million viewers.

Four months later, as the “mompreneur” was leaving her Biscayne Park home to pick up her kids from school, she got a call from the show asking her to pitch on the spot. Driving with her phone on her shoulder, she told the Bibbitec story.

Shark Tank bit. After a few more back and forths, her segment was filmed last summer.

Friday night, Taylor is scheduled to be on the show pitching Bibbitec’s main product, “The Ultimate Bib,” a patented generously sized, stain-resistant and fast-drying child’s bib made in the USA — Hialeah, to be exact. Bibbitec’s $30 bib can be a burp cloth, changing pad, breast feeding shield, full body bib, place mat, art smock and more, Taylor says.

We won’t be getting any details on what happens Friday night when she and her husband, Stephen Taylor, get into the tank with Daymond John, Mark Cuban and the other celebrity sharks; Taylor has been contractually sworn to secrecy. But whatever the outcome, she believes it will be worth it for the marketing pop.

Taylor was inspired to create her bib after a long and very messy plane ride with her two young sons and started Bibbitec in 2008. She and her team — her husband is CFO, her sister, Heather McCabe, handles sales and marketing, her uncle, Richard Page, is in charge of production, and her aunt, Marcia Kreitman, advises on design — have expanded the line to include The Ultimate Smock for older children and the Ultimate Mini for babies. Coming soon: a smock for adults.

Taylor already got a taste of what a national TV show appearance can do for sales. In September, Bibbitec’s sales jumped 40 percent after she was on an ABC World News "Made in America" segment. “Within 30 seconds, we started getting sales from all over the country and they didn’t even mention our name on the air,” Taylor says. She said that confirmed her belief that a Shark Tank appearance would be worth it.

Plus, Taylor has been hooked on Shark Tank since the first time she watched it in 2008 as she was developing her product. Trained in theater, she admits she didn’t know much about business and learned from the show. She would practice how she would answer the questions.

“I’m all about empowering women who are sitting on the couch watching, because that’s what I was four years ago,” says Taylor. “All I wanted to do was to be on Shark Tank because I believed if I got on Shark Tank the world will see what I am trying to do and that’s all I need. I know it’s a great product.”

Will that theater training come in handy Friday night? Stay tuned. Shark Tank airs at 9 p.m. on ABC and Taylor hopes viewers will join in on Twitter using the hashtag #sharkbib.

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Florida Supreme Court: Legislature — not Board of Governors — controls tuition rates

TALLAHASSEE --
The Florida Supreme Court unanimously rejected an argument that would have allowed the Board of Governors to set tuition rates without limits, saying the Legislature could restrain the board or even set the rates itself.

The ruling in the case, Graham v. Haridopolos, resolves a key question about the board’s power under the 2002 constitutional amendment that created the panel, replacing the Board of Regents. Former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham had argued that the BOG could set tuition rates without interference from lawmakers.

But writing for the majority, Justice Barbara Pariente said the Legislature’s authority to control how state money is spent was tied to the ability to raise money to pay for those expenses -- including tuition.

"Nothing within the language of article IX, section 7, of the Florida Constitution indicates an intent to transfer this quintessentially legislative power to the Board of Governors," Pariente wrote.

Her opinion was joined by Justices Peggy Quince, Jorge Labarga and James Perry. Chief Justice Ricky Polston and Justices Charles Canady and Fred Lewis agreed with the result of the decision but didn’t necessarily adopt its reasoning.

Labarga also wrote a brief concurring opinion that he said was meant to emphasize that the Legislature also faced limits on its authority.

"The power to attach contingencies to funds appropriated to the university system may not be employed to impair the constitutional authority of the Board to operate and manage the university system," he wrote.

The court case had been a flashpoint between the Legislature and the board, which was originally a part of the lawsuit but dropped out after reaching a separate deal with lawmakers.

The Legislature has granted the board more power in recent years, most notably through the state’s “differential tuition” law, which allows increases of up to 15 percent, but with a limit on how that money can be used.

The ruling also comes amid a renewed focus on tuition, with Gov. Rick Scott focusing on lowering the cost of higher education at the same time that some legislative leaders have endorsed the idea of allowing tuition to rise at research universities.

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The 7 most dedicated employees

You probably don’t want to forward this roster of tireless go-getters to your boss

Some people probably feel they deserve a medal for merely getting up and going to work every day, but only a few actually merit one. Take Deborah Ford, for example. This 64-year-old Detroit postal worker, who recently retired, didn’t use a single sick day in all of her 44 years on the job. Not a single one! For doctor’s appointments, she would take vacation days, and when she was feeling lousy she says she would just “shake it off.” At the end of her dedicated career, Ford had amassed a sick-leave balance of 4,508 hours. But before you give her the award for most dedicated employee, check out this lot:

1. Going the distance
Unless you work from home, chances are you endure a less-than-pleasant commute. But none is likely as arduous as that of Dave Givens. In 2006 the Mariposa, Calif., resident earned the unenviable award for “America’s Longest Commute” when tire company Midas set out to find the employee who trekked the most miles to work. From his ranch home in Mariposa, Givens drives 186 miles to his job at Cisco Systems, Inc., in San Jose. The electrical engineer has been making this 372-mile round trip, which equals a total of seven hours of driving, for 17 years. “I have a great job and my family loves the ranch where we live,” Givens said. “So this is the only solution.” His dedication to the horrendous commute earned Givens the grand prize of $ 10,000 and some much-needed gas money as well as an array of Midas maintenance services and products.

SEE ALSO: Today in business: 5 things you need to know

2. A life’s work
Rose Syracuse Richardone “just loves to work,” says Macy’s senior vice president Robin Hall of the 92-year-old employee. Richardone retired from Macy’s in September 2012 after working in a range of positions from her first job at the age of 17 in the accounts department — back when there weren’t credit cards and customers would set aside money in the in-store bank to pay for items — to her final position within the parade and entertainment group. To honor her 70th year with the company a few years ago, Macy’s management arranged for Richardone to cut the red ribbon that launched the iconic Thanksgiving parade. Had it not been for a broken hip, the diminutive employee might still be working today. “Life is good,” she said of her longevity. “You go on each day, you’re happy where you’re at. And people — bosses, supervisors, they appreciate you. And you stay.”

3. Hardest working unemployed man
You may not know Justin Knapp, but you’re likely familiar with his work. Knapp is a voluntary editor of the Wikipedia, and last April the 30-year-old became the first person to complete 1 million edits on the massive online, open-source encyclopedia. After coming across Wikipedia in 2003, Knapp registered as an editor in 2005 and now spends several hours per day combing, editing, and adding to Wikipedia articles. His edits can be as small as ensuring em dashes and en dashes are used properly or as substantial as building the most comprehensive George Orwell entry, which reportedly took about 100 hours. But Knapp relishes the work. “Editing these projects is relaxing and rewarding,” Knapp told Gizmodo. Knapp doesn’t get paid for his work, however plentiful, but he manages to get by financially with odd jobs while he pursues his nursing degree at Indiana University. Ultimately he feels his diligence is for the greater good. “Far be it for me to say that it’s an act of love to edit Wikipedia,” he said. “But I really do feel like that it helps other human beings. That makes me feel good — knowing that somehow I can be a small part of helping someone who I’ll never know.”

SEE ALSO: Today in business: 5 things you need to know

4. Dedicated volunteer
Don Moss is the “Energizer Bunny of volunteers.” As of 2010, the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center volunteer has clocked in more than 47,000 hours, setting a Guinness World Record for his time. For the last 28 years, Moss has worked at Wake Forest Monday through Thursday, 48 hours per week. The 63-year-old’s dedication is a personal one. In 1980, Moss was in a freak accident that landed him at Wake Forest Baptist where he spent three months in a coma with a major head injury. Doctors didn’t think he would make it and, after he woke up, specialists said he would never walk again. But Moss defied all expectations and now, after being encouraged to volunteer during his rehabilitation stint, he’s rarely idle. While working, Moss delivers letters to patients, helps out at the gift shop, and guides lost visitors to their destinations. And those free Fridays? Those are for his wife, he says: “That’s my honey-do list day.”

5. Hardest working mom
Dr. Helen Wright felt like she had it all — she loved her job as a headmistress at an exclusive British all-girls school, and she had time to enjoy her beautiful growing family. On February morning in 2010, when Wright was pregnant with her third child, she went into labor. Within an hour she had given birth to the baby, a girl named Jessica, and by lunchtime, Wright was back at work, her newborn in tow. This was nothing new for her. She had never taken maternity leave with any of her children. Her second child was born on a Friday; Wright was back at work by Monday. Given the ongoing can-women-have-it-all debate, Wright says she wants to be a role model for her students to show them that they too can have a career and a family, quite literally, in the same space. The rarely trodden path of bringing your baby to work is, Wright says, the option more women should consider. “Most women have a choice of taking maternity leave or going back to work and having their babies looked after. Why can’t there be a third way?”

SEE ALSO: Today in business: 5 things you need to know

6. Hardest working country
Do you feel like you work long hours? Well, here’s some food for thought: Employees in Asian countries have the highest proportion of employees who work more than 48 hours per week, which is considered “excessive.” Of those Asian countries, South Korea is the most overworked: According to data compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, South Koreans work a whopping 2,193 hours per year. Chile comes in second with 2,068 hours, which far exceeds the average for most developing countries, which is 1,718 hours annually. The United States is just below the average with 1,695 hours. Germany and the Netherlands remain on the low end of the scale with 1,408 hours and 1,377 hours per year, respectively. Tighter labor laws in developed countries, particularly Europe, have contributed to reduced working hours, so, you know, don’t feel too bad about it, you’re just playing by the rules.

7. Hardest working American town
Columbia, Mo., managed to keep its unemployment rate of 6.0 percent throughout the worst economic downturn since the Depression with the help of its robust health-care and education sectors. The town has six hospitals and the second highest number of hospital beds per capita in the country. It’s also home to the University of Missouri-Columbia, which employs some 8,000 people, as well as six other institutions of higher education. More than 80 percent of households are dual-income, and the city ranked second on likelihood to work on the weekends, according to data compiled by Parade magazine in 2012. 

SEE ALSO: Today in business: 5 things you need to know

Sources: BBC, Daily Mail, Gizmodo, Parade, The Stir, Yahoo

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Claire Holt The Vampire Diaries Interview 2013

Since making her Vampire Diaries debut in 2011's roaring 20s episode, The End of the Affair, Claire Holt has literally and figuratively sunk her teeth into Mystic Falls, emerging as one of the most-beloved and well-rounded characters on The CW's hit series.

And now that she character Rebekah has been undaggered (seemingly for the 100th time), her supporters are in for a bloody good time as the Original refuses to let anyone stand in the way of her locating "The Cure." Whether Rebekah actually wants to take said cure was the number one question I had for Holt when I telephoned the adorable Aussi yesterday for a chat about her fans, her fangs and her future!

ETonline: What have you thought about Rebekah's storyline this season?

Claire Holt: I feel really lucky as an actor because I get to go a lot of places with Rebekah. I get to explore her vulnerable side, I get to explore the mean girl/catty side of her and there's that inner conflict about whether she wants to be human or a vampire. I just love it all and am so grateful to the writers for giving me so much.

EXCLUSIVE PHOTO: Stefan Woos Rebekah, 80s-Style

ETonline: I think you've touched on one of the reasons fans love her so much: Rebekah struggles with being an eternal but having very human desires.

Holt: Absolutely. That provides a huge amount of inner turmoil for her because she loves parts of being a vampire -- the power, being able to control situations -- but she also wants to be a real girl and to have those experiences of going to a dance and being loved by a boy. She wants those things, and you really see that in tonight's episode when the dance gets cancelled and Stefan finds a charming way to make up for it. What he does really means a lot to her.

ETonline: What did you think when Julie Plec told you "Stefekah" would be revisited?

Holt: Listen, I love working with Paul Wesley. He's such a fine actor and such a fine human, so any time our characters get to interact, I'm happy. I'm always a little scared of the Stelena shippers, but I think it's fun. I always enjoyed the Ripper Stefan and I loved the dynamic they had in the 1920's episode. I think it brings out good things in both Stefan and Rebekah.

RELATED - Kat Graham Teases Bonnie's Powerful Change of Heart

ETonline: It has to be exciting for Rebekah to finally have him come to her since she's wanted this for a long time.

Holt: It's definitely exciting for her -- Rebekah loves to get her way, so having Stefan come to her was definitely fun for her. But deep down she knows whatever is going on right now is a mutually beneficial relationship -- they're hooking up, having fun, but they have a common goal. She's been in Mystic Falls for a while, she knows what's going on. We'll see if it really leads anywhere, but I think the fans have liked it.

ETonline: Sounds like Claire Holt might be a Rebekah/Matt 'shipper at heart...

Holt: [laughs] I'm a Rebekah anyone shipper. I'll hook up with anyone in Mystic Falls, because, I don't know if you've seen those guys, but they're pretty gorgeous. Listen, I like the idea of her and Matt -- I think it would have given her a more human experience, but she tried to kill him, so I'm not sure that's going to happen any time soon. I'd like to have someone love her. I think it's important.

VIDEO - Stephen Amell Talks Arrow, Abs and Eye-Makeup

ETonline: A moment ago you referenced the fans -- you've now been a part of TV's two most social shows (TVD and Pretty Little Liars). What's it been like to have such an in-depth relationship with your fans?

Holt: It's been amazing. I never had any concept of it before because I worked in Australia and the Twitter world didn't exist. Being on those shows and seeing the online support has been mind-blowing. It's a lot easier for us to feel personal connections with the fans, and vice versa -- plus, it's a lot easier to Tweet than respond to fan mail. I'm so grateful for all the fan support.

ETonline: Whether or not she decides to take the cure, how important is it to Rebekah to be the one to find it so she has the option whether to take the cute or not?

Holt: Very important. It's what is driving her at the moment. She'd convinced herself that she was a vampire and she'd never have the experiences she really wants of love and a family. So to now see this as an option is so important. I don't think Rebekah knows what she wants, but she wants to find it and she won't let anyone get in her way.

ETonline: What are you excited for fans to see in the coming weeks?

Holt: The dynamics between some of the characters is going to change. Especially with Rebekah, there's less of the mean girl dynamic as she shares more of a common goal with the other characters. I'm excited for the episodes where they go in search of the cure because a lot of the actors are together in those scenes -- there's lots of conflict but also a lot of getting along, which I think will be an interesting sight for the fans. As important as it is to have separate storylines, these upcoming episodes have us all on the hunt for the cure, and it's really fun to all be together like that.

ETonline: You may all be together, but it looks like your and Phoebe Tonkin made it through her guest arc without ever sharing a scene together! What's up with that?

Holt: I know! What is up with that? [laughs] I was devastated that we shared no scenes together, but I'm campaigning for us to get something together in the future. It's all about story on the show, so I don't know if Haley and Rebekah will ever cross paths, but I'll keep holding out hope!

The Vampire Diaries airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.

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57-year-old allegedly 'brutally murdered' his young baby mama while she slept: DA

"I will kill her," the white-haired ex-lover had vowed.

And when the corpse of young and pretty Sherra Morgenstern was finally found in her Second Avenue bed -- maggot-ridden, still in pajamas, and with two shell casings in her hair -- it was the ex-lover's handiwork, prosecutors told a Manhattan jury today, describing a callous, 2009 murder.

Edward Demirojian, 57, a former limousine owner from Orlando, Fla., is on trial for allegedly killing Morgenstern -- a woman half his age and the mother of his young child, Shakira -- in order to keep the child and collect on a $250,000 insurance policy.

Steven Hirsch

Edward Demirojian

"The defendant brutally murdered her inside her home, while she was asleep and helpless," Assistant District Attorney Shanda Strain told jurors in opening statements this morning.

The smell was horrid, the victim's mother, who discovered the body, told jurors this afternoon.

"It smelled like, uh, I would say like a dead smell," a tearful Sheila Morgenstern, 72, testified.

"Like rigor mortis," she said. "I saw my daughter laying there dead. And I screamed."

The couple's child, Shakira, was just three years old, and living with Demirojian in Orlando when cell tower records show he drove up to New York in July of 2009, the prosecutor told jurors in openings.

Morgenstern, who lived in Jefferson Houses in East Houses, had just announced her intent to move decisively to regain custody, the prosecutor said the evidence will show.

But Demirojian -- who is listening to testimony via an Arabic translator -- would stop at no ends to keep the child, the prosecutor said. In the trial's first testimony, the victim's best friend recounted a phone conversation with Demirojian from a year before the murder.

"He said, 'Before she ever gets the baby back, she'll be dead,' " the friend, Marva Puerto, said Demirojian told her. "'I'll kill her.' And behind that remark, he was, 'Ha, ha,' like it was a funny remark. A funny matter."

The .357-cal shell casings in Morgenstern's hair match Demirojian's registered handgun, and cell tower records show his phone moved up the Eastern Seaboard and arrived in Manhattan on the day of the murder, the prosecutor said.

Demirojian is further implicated by alibi lies he told family and cops, and by the $250,000 policy he'd been trying repeatedly to collect on, the prosecutor said.

But the defense contends that there are no forensics directly linking Demirojian to the murder.

"The evidence will show that no other forensic evidence was recovered from Sherra Morgenstern's apartment -- no DNA, no fingerprints, no hair or fiber," said defense lawyer Robert Weinstein.

The lawyer suggested that "many others" had access to Morgenstern's apartment. And the policy? It had been taken out by Morgenstern herself, he told jurors.

Testimony is expected to continue through next week.

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