Election reform, bridge repairs top Miami-Dade Commission agenda

Miami-Dade commissioners are expected Wednesday to urge the state legislature to allow Election Day voters to drop off their absentee ballots at their local precincts, and ask the mayor to identify funding to repair and upgrade the county’s 203 bridges.

Returning absentee ballots to local precincts was one of 13 recommendations in a report by an Election Advisory Group that needs local and state approval to become law. Now, absentee ballots can only be returned to election headquarters in Doral.

The advisory group, created after the embarrassing November presidential election saw people waiting in lines for up to six hours, also wants to change the name of absentee ballots to “Vote by Mail.”

Other recommended voting changes include expanding early voting days from eight to 14, including the last Sunday before an election; expanding the number of permissible voting sites; limiting ballot language on constitutional amendments to 75 words; and expanding the number of days elections supervisors are allowed to total and check votes from 15 to 20.

Commissioners are also expected Wednesday to urge Mayor Carlos Gimenez to identify funding sources to repair the county’s bridges. The county estimates that over the next two decades it will need as much as $450 million for repairs. The issue came to light in early January when the county was forced to close down the west-bound half of Bear Cut Bridge leading to Key Biscayne, after structural flaws were found.

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Witness heard 'non-stop shouting' from Pistorius home before fatal shooting

REUTERS

Oscar Pistorius stands in the dock during a break in court proceedings at the Pretoria Magistrates court in South Africa today.

PRETORIA, South Africa — A witness heard "non-stop shouting" coming from the home of Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius shortly before his girlfriend was shot dead, the lead detective in the murder investigation said on Wednesday.

Warrant officer Hilton Botha, a detective with 24 years on the force, also told the Pretoria magistrates court that Pistorius' girlfriend, model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp, was hit by three bullets, in the head, elbow and hip.

Pistorius, a double amputee known as the "Blade Runner," broke down in tears as Botha presented his testimony.

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The shooting has stunned South Africa and the millions around the world who saw the track glory of the athlete, who had no lower legs, as an inspiring tale of triumph over adversity.

Steenkamp was in a locked toilet adjoining Pistorius' bathroom when she was shot in the early hours of Thursday last week. Botha said the angle at which the shots were fired through the door suggested the shooter had aimed specifically to hit somebody on the toilet.

Botha, who arrived at the scene at 4:15 local time to find Steenkamp dead at the bottom of the stairs, also said police had found unlicensed .38 ammunition in Pistorius' house in an upmarket gated compound north of Pretoria.

In an additional revelation Wednesday, police said they found two boxes of testosterone and needles in the Pistorius' bedroom.

Police Detective Warrant Officer Hilton Botha claimed in Pistorius' bail hearing in a South African court that testosterone was found. Pistorius has been charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Botha said police made the discovery in the double-amputee runner and multiple Paralympic champion's upscale Pretoria house but offered no further details or explanation. State prosecutor Gerrie Nel also had to correct Botha when he initially called the substance "steroids."

Pistorius' lawyer, Barry Roux, said on questioning the detective, who was described as a 16-year police veteran, that it was not a banned substance and that police were trying to give the discovery a "negative connotation."

"It is an herbal remedy," Roux said. "It is not a steroid and it is not a banned substance."

Police "take every piece of evidence and try to extract the most possibly negative connotation and present it to the court," senior defense lawyer Roux said. The debate over the substance added another dramatic twist to a case that has already gripped the world's attention since Steenkamp's killing at Pistorius' home last Thursday.

It was not immediately clear what the substance was.

Prosecutor Nel also said that police were not saying that Pistorius was using the substance, only that it was discovered along with the needles in his bedroom.

Pistorius said Tuesday in a written affidavit and read in court by Roux that he mistakenly killed model Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day when he fired shots into a locked toilet door thinking she was a dangerous intruder.

The prosecution claims Pistorius intended to kill the 29-year-old Steenkamp after they had a fight.

International Paralympic Committee spokesman Craig Spence told The Associated Press soon after the substance claims that Pistorius — the world's most famous disabled athlete — was drug tested twice in London last year by the IPC, on Aug. 25 and Sept. 8. Both test results were negative, Spence said.

The Aug. 25 test was an out-of-competition test, and the Sept. 8 one in-competition, a day before the end of the London Paralympics.

With AP, Reuters

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Remote employees require care to feel like part of the team

Working from home, hundreds of miles away from your boss, may sound like a perk, but that’s not always the case.

Ken Condren remembers the moment when he experienced the frustration his remote employees face. He was working from home, participating in a conference call and heard a side conversation going on, but had no idea what was being said. “I felt so out of the loop,” Condren recalls.

Today, businesses want the talent they want – and are more willing to hire or retain someone to fill a job even if they live or move thousands of miles away. Yet even with a great number of employees working remotely, nobody wants to be that guy who doesn’t get the inside joke during a conference call.

When the success of a team depends on the people, and all the people are scattered, it’s the manager who must make sure relationships stay vital and productivity high. Getting the most out of remote workers takes a manager who knows how to motivate and communicate from a distance. “Virtual workers still need a personal connection,” says strategic business futurist Joyce Goia, president of The Herman Group. “They want camaraderie and to feel like they are part of a team.”

More managers are using technologies such as videoconferencing, instant messenger and other collaborative software to help make remote workers feel like they are “there” in the office. Not being able to speak face-to-face can quickly be solved with Skype, Face Time or simple VoIP systems.

Condren, vice president of technology at C3/CustomerContactChan-

nels in Plantation, uses Microsoft Lync to connect virtually with a team spread across geographies and time zones. Employees see a green light on their screen when a colleague is available, signaling it’s a good time to video chat or instant message. Instead of meeting in physical conference rooms, team members get together in a virtual work room where they can hold side conversations during conference calls or meet in advance to prepare for the call. “You lose the visibility of waving hands during an in person meeting, but we can build that with virtual workspaces.”

Beyond that, Condren says he holds weekly video conference calls with his staff to help his remote workers become better team players. He also sets aside 45 minutes to an hour each week to check in with his remote workers. “It’s a little extra effort to make sure they are giving me the updates that happen casually in the office.”

Condren says adapting to a virtual workforce has allowed him to hire talent in any geographic market with the skill set he wants. And he has been able to hire them at competitive salaries.

In the current economy, such flexibility can be critical for a company looking to attract top talent. CareerBuilder’s Jennifer Grasz says the recession has created a less transient workforce, making it difficult for workers to sell their homes and relocate. “Employers are turning to remote work opportunities to navigate the skills deficit.”

Even from a distance, managers say there are ways to hone in on remote workers who are having problems. Billie Williamson managed virtual teams as a partner for Ernst & Young and would focus on the tone of someone’s voice during a group conference call. She would even listen for silences. “Silence can mean consent, or it can mean the person you’re not hearing disagrees or is disengaged.” If she sensed a team member was lacking engagement, she would follow up immediately.

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North Miami police investigating fatal hit-and-run

Police were investigating a fatal hit-and-run in North Miami Monday night that left an elderly man dead.

The accident occurred around 7 p.m. when the victim was apparently crossing at the intersection of North Miami Avenue and Northwest 123rd Street and was struck and killed, said police spokesman Maj. Neal Cuevas.

The driver failed to stop. Police said there appeared to be no witnesses to the accident.

The body of the black male was discovered in the middle of North Miami Avenue, Cuevas said.

Police said the fleeing driver only left behind a hubcap and pieces of shattered glass.

The victim’s name has not been released awaiting notification of next of kin.

Earlier Monday, the Florida Highway Patrol sponsored a Hit-and-Run Awareness event. They revealed that last year there were 20,000 hit-and-run accidents in Miami-Dade and Broward.

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ET Interviews the Witches of Oz The Great and Powerful

Rachel Weisz, Mila Kunis and Michelle Williams transform into the naughty and nice witches of Oz The Great and Powerful, in theaters March 8, and the tantalizing threesome are opening up to ET about the fantasy roles!

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Oz also stars James Franco as Oscar Diggs, a small-time circus magician and flimflam man with dubious ethics. Hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he first thinks he’s hit the jackpot -- until he meets three witches, Theodora (Kunis), Evanora (Weisz) and Glinda (Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone's been expecting.

Video: Making the Wonderful World of 'Oz'

Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil and put his own magical talents to the test to transform himself not only into the great and powerful Wizard of Oz, but a better man as well.

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Kate reveals royal baby bump

EPA

Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, arrives at Hope House Tuesday.

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, debuted her baby bump today for the first time since being hospitalized for severe morning sickness in December.

The Duchess, wearing a grey print wrap dress that demurely revealed the future king or queen and black heels, visited Hope House in London today.

Meanwhile, an Italian magazine that published topless photos of Prince William's wife last year is reportedly printing new pictures of the pregnant duchess on a beach holiday in the Caribbean, provoking condemnation from royal officials.

St. James's Palace expressed disappointment Tuesday that the pictures may be published, saying it would amount to a "clear breach of the couple's right to privacy." It did not say whether officials would be prepared to take legal action against the gossip magazine.

The magazine, Chi, is said to be planning to publish the pictures Wednesday. The photos reportedly show Prince William's wife wearing a bikini and strolling on a beach with William on the island of Mustique.

Last September, the magazine — owned by former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi — published a 26-page special featuring topless photos of the duchess while she and William vacationed in the south of France.

AFP/Getty Images

The royal couple took legal action to halt the use of those intimate photos, but had only limited success. Although a French court ordered gossip magazine Closer to stop further publication of the pictures, they went on to be published in Chi, other publications across Europe, and on the Internet.

The royal couple was also in the news Tuesday after one of Britain's most celebrated authors launched a withering attack on the duchess, branding her a "shop-window mannequin" with a plastic smile whose only role in life is to breed.

In an unusually scathing public attack on a British royal, Hilary Mantel said the princess had no personality, a "perfect plastic smile" and appears to have been designed by a committee.

The writer's comments about the pregnant 31-year-old wife of second-in-line to the British throne Prince William sharply divided public opinion. Newspapers condemned Mantel's words as "venomous", "cruel" and "staggeringly rude", while supporters said it was a thoughtful analysis of the role of royal women over the centuries.

"I saw Kate becoming a jointed doll on which certain rags are hung," Mantel said in a lecture at the British Museum in London earlier this month in which she spoke about her changing views about the princess.

WireImage

The crowd wait to see the princess as she visits the Hope House, an Action on Addiction women's treatment center in London.

"She was a shop-window mannequin, with no personality of her own, entirely defined by what she wore. These days she is a mother-to-be, and draped in another set of threadbare attributions."

Mantel, who last year became the first Briton to twice win the coveted Man Booker prize for fiction, referred to the princess's severe morning sickness during the early stage of her pregnancy and said her role was to provide an heir.

"Once she gets over being sick, the press will find that she is radiant. They will find that this young woman's life until now was nothing, her only point and purpose being to give birth," Mantel said in the lecture organized by the London Review of Books on Feb. 4. The literary magazine reprinted the lecture on its Web site this week.

Mantel, 60, is best known for her historical novel "Wolf Hall", about the rise of blacksmith's son Thomas Cromwell to the pinnacle of power in King Henry VIII's court. Her follow-up "Bring Up the Bodies" recounted Anne Boleyn's fall from grace.

In her lecture, Mantel said the Duchess of Cambridge was "selected for her role ... because she was irreproachable", contrasting her with the "emotional incontinence" of William's late mother, Princess Diana.

"As painfully thin as anyone could wish, without quirks, without oddities, without the risk of the emergence of character. She appears precision-made, machine-made, so different from Diana," Mantel said.

The author's agent was not immediately available for comment. A St James's Palace spokeswoman had no comment.

Reaction on Twitter suggested Mantel had split public opinion. Royal commentator Robert Jobson said the "venomous attack" was "unfair and publicity-seeking". Others agreed with Mantel, saying she had elegantly articulated what many people had long thought about the royals.

The lecture looked at the "fascination with royalty" and the "regal body", examining the lives of royal women and the importance of providing an heir. Mantel compared that to the fuss made about pandas mating in captivity.

"Our current royal family doesn't have the difficulties in breeding that pandas do, but pandas and royal persons alike are expensive to conserve and ill-adapted to any modern environment," Mantel said. "But aren't they interesting? Aren't they nice to look at?

With AP and Reuters

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Open English expands across Latin America

Back in 2008, Open English, a company run from Miami that uses online courses to teach English in Latin America, had just a handful of students in Venezuela and three employees. Today the company has more than 50,000 students in 22 Latin American countries and some 2,000 employees.

To fund this meteoric expansion, the founders of Open English — Venezuelans Andrés Moreno and Wilmer Sarmiento and Moreno’s American wife, Nicolette — began with $700. Over the last six years, the partners have raised more than $55 million, mostly from private investment and venture capital firms.

Their formula for success? The founders rejected traditional English teaching methods in physical classrooms and developed a system that allows students to tune into live classes every hour of the day from their computers at home, in the office or at school, and learn from native English-speaking teachers who may be based anywhere. Courses stress practical conversations online and the company guarantees fluency after a one-year course, offering six additional months free if students fail to become fluent.

“We wanted to change the way people learn English,” said Andrés Moreno, the 30-year-old co-founder and CEO, who halted his training as a mechanical engineer and worked full-time at developing the company with his partners. “And we want students to achieve fluency. Traditionally, students have to drive to an English academy, waste time in traffic, and try to learn from a teacher who is not an native English speaker in a class with 20 students.”

Using the Internet, Open English offers classes usually with two or three students and a teacher, interactive videos, other learning aids and personal attention from coaches who phone students regularly to see how they are progressing.

Courses cost an average of $750 per year and students can opt for monthly payments. This is about one-fifth to one-third of what traditional schools charge for small classes or individual instructors, Andrés noted.

“We work at building confidence with our students and encourage them to practice speaking English as much as possible during classes,” said Nicolette Moreno, co-founder and chief product officer, who met Andrés in Venezuela while she was working there on a service project. “Students are taught to actively participate in conversations like a job interview, traveling and talking on a conference call,” said Nicolette, who previously lived in Los Angles, worked with non-profits to create environmentally friendly products and fight poverty in emerging markets, and was head equity trader at an asset management firm. “Students need to speak English in our classes, even though it is sometimes difficult. They learn through immersion.”

Open English has successfully tapped into an enormous, underserved market. Millions of people in Latin America want to learn English to advance in their jobs, work at multinational companies, travel or work overseas and understand the popular music, movies and TV shows they constantly hear in English. Many of them take English courses at public and private schools and learn little if any useful conversational English. While students at private schools for the upper middle class and wealthy often learn foreign languages extremely well from native English-speaking teachers, most people can’t afford these schools or courses designed for one or two students.

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The builders of the Sen. Marco Rubio brand

WASHINGTON --
Sen. Marco Rubio is on a breathless rise, a testament to his political skill and demographic appeal that last week saw him delivering the Republican State of the Union response and appearing on the cover of Time as “The Republican Savior.”

But behind the scenes is a relentless, methodical effort to build the Rubio brand, aided by a team of strategists and media handlers positioning the 41-year-old Floridian for an expected presidential run.

They include members of Rubio’s Senate staff and presidential campaign veterans who work for the political committee Rubio formed ostensibly to help elect other conservatives.

Instead the Reclaim America PAC has focused on consultants and building a national fundraising network. Last year, his PAC spent more than $1.7 million, with the vast majority going toward staff and fundraising, and about $110,000 going to other candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

“It connotes a machine, someone who is grooming his image for a jump to higher position,” said the center’s executive director Sheila Krumholz.

Rubio’s team plots policy and publicity moves, including his recent foray into the immigration debate. He was among eight senators working on a proposal, but Rubio took them by surprise — and ensured he would be front and center — with a Wall Street Journal piece laying out the framework before the group announced it.

The Rubio machine cultivates the image of a new breed of Republican, youthful, and as at ease talking about Tupac and the Miami Dolphins as talking about budget deficits. At the same time, advisors dole out nuggets to the news media, they aggressively contest even the smallest points in articles.

The political fascination with Rubio has made it easier for his team to build helpful story lines. When he first took office in the U.S. Senate, it was Rubio the humble, political star keeping his head down. That followed with periodic “major” policy rollouts — foreign policy, job creation, the middle class. When Rubio gives a speech, it’s invariably a “major” address. A young assistant is always there to record it on video and take photographs.

“It’s almost like he’s the Backstreet Boy of American politics, a Hollywood creation of what a model political candidate should be,” said Chris Ingram, a Republican communications consultant from Tampa who has been critical of Rubio. “He has to deliver on the hype but from a P.R. perspective, it’s textbook.”

And constant. Last week, Rubio issued 17 press releases. By comparison, former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, another potential 2016 candidate, released three.

Behind the scenes

Rubio’s political inner circle includes PAC employees Heath Thompson and Terry Sullivan, two operatives who made their names in South Carolina’s bare-knuckled political culture and are close with former Sen. Jim DeMint. The hyper-competitive Thompson is a college football fanatic more comfortable in a baseball cap than suit and tie.

For broad messaging strategy, there is the roguishly charming Todd Harris who knows practically everybody in the political media and is never shy about excoriating reporters.

The Senate staff includes Alberto Martinez, who goes back to Rubio’s days as speaker of the Florida House and can anticipate where critics might attack Rubio, and Alex Burgos, another Rubio campaign alum and true believer who pushes back at any hint of negativity in Rubio coverage.

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'Life Is But a Dream': Nick Cannon, Kevin Hart, More React to Beyonce's Documentary

This weekend was all about basketball in Houston as the NBA celebrated its All-Stars with festivities, but those in attendance weren't just talking about basketball. Beyonce, who was in attendance at Sunday night's All-Star game, premiered her documentary on Saturday, which was a buzzing topic before the game.

"It was very revealing," said Nick Cannon, who hosted most of the weekend's activities. "I like that an artist can tell their side of the story in their way without the media and all of that type of stuff. ...It's just cool to hear from that person and how they really feel."

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The documentary, entitled Life Is But a Dream, marks the singer's first extensive divulgence of her personal life in her more than fifteen years in the music industry. Revealing a peek into her private life will pay dividends to the already successful singer, says comedian Kevin Hart.

"I think with success there's a certain level of mystery that you want to be involved and I think the one thing that Beyonce has done that's great is...she has a private life and she keeps it separate, but the fans that have been Beyonce fans from Stage 1 want to know what's going on," he said. "...I think her letting them in just opens up a different type of fan base for her. It's huge."

VIDEO: A Sneak Peek at Beyonce's HBO Documentary

That curiosity about her personal life has piqued interest in the documentary not only from longtime fans but also from celebrities and Beyonce's friends. Entertainer La La Anthony, wife of New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, confessed that she ditched Saturday night's skills competition to watch the documentary.

"I have a confession: I didn't come to the slam dunk [contest] yesterday so I could stay back and watch it, and it was amazing," she said. "It was just so personal, so wonderful, so inspiring, and I was glad to watch it."

While the 4 singer revealed part of her personal life after years of keeping it well concealed, the documentary was only a short snippet of her life. Rapper Ludacris maintains that it's all part of a grander scheme.

VIDEO: New Clips: Beyonce on 'Oprah's Next Chapter'

"That's the thing. She leaves you anticipating what's going on, so that's why she keeps a lot of secrets and then she comes out with documentaries and certain interviews that everybody is captivated with because they want to know so much [about her]," he said.

Watch the video to see more reactions to Beyonce's Life Is But a Dream from Sunday's NBA All-Star game.

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Elevate their game

There’s a cool ride at Barclays Center that’s impressing even NBA players.

The Brooklyn Nets’ new home is the buzz of the league because of its one-of-a-kind $4 million elevator and parking system that transports team buses and players’ cars directly from the street to an area 2 1/2 stories underground.

“I’ve never seen nothing like this in an arena, man,” stunned Denver Nuggets forward Wilson Chandler recently told The Post after his first ride. “Just pulling up to it is just crazy. It’s very futuristic.”

NY Post: Chad Rachman

NIFTY SPIN MOVE: Brooklyn Nets star Kris Humphries strolls through the Barclays Center’s new underground garage, which has a rotating elevator system that places buses on a turntable that takes the vehicles to a parking spot. The subterranean sci-fi ride is the talk of the NBA for its James Bond-like arrival for visiting teams.

The vehicles first enter one of two, 14 1/2-foot by 81-foot freight elevators manned and gated outside the arena along Dean Street.

Then, once the ride down is complete, there’s little room for large vehicles to maneuver — so they cruise onto a steel-deck turntable which rotates them to an angle that allows the driver to pull out and park.

The massive turntable, which holds up to 100,000 pounds, can rotate 360 degrees within four minutes.

Daniel Brooks, who drives visiting team buses to the arena, said he can’t count how many players’ jaws have dropped after their Barclays Center parking experience.

“Their reaction is, ‘Are you serious?! This is bananas!’ ” he said.

The high-tech parking system is the brainchild of arena developer Bruce Ratner, who opted to include it rather than erect massive driving ramps typically used at other sports venues.

“New York City real estate is scarce,” and using the system instead of ramps freed up a lot of space, explained Robert Sanna, an exec at Forest City Ratner who headed the arena’s construction.

“You might have this in big warehouses, [but] it’s one-of-a-kind certainly in sports facilities,” Sanna said. “It’s the type of equipment you need in a tight urban site to get vehicles in and out of a building without backing up traffic.”

Nuggets coach George Karl was all smiles after his first spin.

“I like the idea. It’s a first,” said Karl, hours before Wednesday’s loss to the Nets, adding that his elevator experience felt more like a “submarine ride.”

As for the rest of the NBA, many players were in awe of the Nets’ new toy.

“I wish I would have thought about that when I built my house, because that’s some ‘007’ stuff,” Los Angeles Lakers forward Antawn Jamison told the sports blog Bleacher Report.

Superstar teammate Kobe Bryant said the system looks like it was “rigged by Willy Wonka,” while Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah called it “kind of trippy.”

“You hear so many different stories about it before you get here,” said Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade during the team’s first visit to Brooklyn last month.

“It’s cool because you don’t feel it moving.”

rcalder@nypost.com

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