Ferry passengers return to daily - and seated - commute

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Mayor Bloomberg inspects the damage after the commuter ferry slammed into Pier 11. A large hole can be seen in the front of the boat after the crash.

Commuters aboard the same ferry service that crashed one day earlier enjoyed a smooth — and seated-at-all-times — sail into Manhattan this morning.

Passengers returning to the Highlands-to-New York journey said they had no worries riding the Seastreak ferry and noticed virtually everyone stayed in their chairs until the craft came to complete stop in Manhattan.

Yesterday, an out-of-control ferry carrying more than 300 commuters slammed into a lower Manhattan dock , tossing terrified passengers like rag dolls into walls and down staircases and leaving 93 people injured.

Sun Media / Splash News

The damage to the Seastreak yesterday.

PHOTOS: SEASTREAK FERRY CRASHES INTO PIER 11

RIDER'S FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF FERRY CRASH

CAPTAINS WORRIED OVER PROPULSION SYSTEM

“Everyone remained seated at the end --normally people rush to get off first." said commuter Darren Srikumpol, 37, just after pulling into Pier 11.

Atlantic Highlands resident Julie Mahoney, 38, said she too noticed how passengers weren’t in such a rush to sprint off the boat.

“It [today’s commute] was very smooth, but at the end no one stood up or rushed to get off the boat, a first,” said Mahoney, adding that yesterday’s smash-up was the talk of this morning’s ride.

“There was a lot more chatter than usual because people were talking about it. When you take it everyday it's part of your daily commute. It's part of the reason I moved to Atlantic Highlands.”

Federal investigators are probing whether a mechanical failure caused the Seastreak Wall Street to crash into Pier 11 at about 8:45 a.m., sending 93 passengers to hospitals — two of them in critical condition — and ripping a giant gash in the ship’s bow.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash, which evoked memories of the horrific 2003 Staten Island Ferry wreck that killed 10 people and injured 59.

Passenger Michael Dean said he believes a slower exit off the boat will be the new normal.

“I think more people will stay in their seats from now on,” said Dean, who went flying yesterday but escaped virtually injury-free.

“I was gathering my stuff facing my chair. When we hit land, the crash lifted me up and threw me into a row in front of me. I was literally in the air. I got knocked around but I decided to see my own doctor in New Jersey to get checked out. I’m a bit stiff but I’m fine."

Commuters on board today chalked up yesterday’s violent docking as an aberration.

“I appreciate that the boat feels slower today, especially docking this morning,” commuter Sheila Carson, a Monmouth Beach resident and JPMorgan Chase attorney.

“Today is business as usual. We have jobs to do and the ferry is how we get there."

Dean, a 46-year-old financial analyst from Middletown, called yesterday’s crash a “freak accident.”

"I’m feeling no apprehension at all,” Dean said during his commute. “I think it was a freak accident. I think it was something mechanical. These crews are so professional. The crew and captain are great guys.”

Srikumpol said he has no beef with ferry operator despite yesterday’s crash.

He went as far as urging injured passengers to reconsider the lawsuits that will inevitably be filed.

“I hope they don't get sued,” he said. “This is a chance occurrence and I'd hate for this service to be shut off because of this litigious society.”

Additional reporting by David K. Li

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Unemployment claims on the rise in Miami-Dade

Miami-Dade County ended 2012 with more people joining the unemployment rolls than it did last year.

The late-year increase in first-time unemployment claims broke a trend of declining applications throughout most of 2012. First-time claims spiked about 15 percent in November and December, with about 17,500 new applications in all over those 60 days. That’s compared to 15,000 during the same time in 2011. For the entire year, claims were still down about 10 percent.

In Broward, overall claims were down 15 percent. In November and December, Broward residents applies for 10,200 first-time unemployment benefits, compared to about 10,500 in 2011 — a 3 percent drop.

DOUGLAS HANKS

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Mystery fish invades Keys waters from the Pacific

Deep-diving spearfishermen surfaced with a mystery last month south of Pacific Reef Light off North Key Largo.

"I was shocked when I saw it," Wayne Grammes said. "It’s an ugly-looking fish with a face on it that looks like a tripletail and a tail like a jewfish."

The 15-pound, 27-inch fish speared by Greg Caterino of Tavernier turned out to be a humpback grouper — a species native not to Pacific Reef but to the tropical Pacific Ocean off Asia.

"This is the equivalent of a hunter in North America finding a zebra," said Grammes, who was fishing Dec. 23 with Caterino.

"We’ve seen the successful marine invasion of lionfish," Reef Environmental Education Foundation Project Director Lad Akins said this week. "We certainly do not want to see it happen again with another Pacific species."

Akins, a renowned expert in fish identification, confirmed the speared fish was a humpback grouper. With an array of black spots, it’s also known as a panther grouper.

"This is not the first time these have been sighted in Florida," Akins said. "There have been five or six reported as far back as the 1980s, but all from different parts of the state."

"The juveniles are really popular in the aquarium trade," Akins said. "It’s quite likely that this is released fish."

Young humpback grouper sport a brilliant white color with an attractive spray of black spots. But they outgrow most privately owned saltwater tanks — and cast a hungry eye on other tank fish. "Just like lionfish, they are carnivores," Akins said.

At 27 inches, the humpback grouper was nearly as large as they grow, Akins said.

Caterino and Grammes, a Miami-Dade resident and frequent Keys diver, were searching a deep ledge about 95 feet down when they saw what appeared to be a black grouper. After it was taken, it was apparent that it was not something local, Grammes said.

The humpback grouper bears a passing similarity to the marbled grouper, a native species that is considered rare.

"This could be only the tip of the iceberg," Grammes said. "Who knows how many are down there? This was in an area where not many people go."

Lionfish gained a foothold in the U.S. and Caribbean largely due to their prolific breeding and venomous spines that fend off predators.

Humpback grouper could lack defenses needed to become established, Akins said, "but we really don’t know."

Due to the possibility of mistaking a humpback for a protected native species, Akins said, people seeing one should report its location to REEF rather than harvest it. To find out how, go to www.reef.org.

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Lawyers in Ohio football rape case want trial moved

(Reuters) – Attorneys for two Ohio teenage football players accused of raping a 16-year-old student have asked that the trial be moved because potential witnesses are afraid to come forward in defense of the boys, one of the lawyers said on Monday.

Walter Madison, the attorney for one of the accused rapists, Ma’lik Richmon, said social media efforts to bring the alleged rape into the national spotlight have led to an atmosphere of intimidation and coercion.

“This has a chilling effect on witnesses who could come forward to be part of this process so my client can get a fair and full proceeding,” he told Reuters. “So, we’re left without the opportunity to make our case. That’s pretty serious.”

Richmond and Trenton Mays, both 16 and members of the Steubenville High School football team, are charged with raping a 16-year-old fellow student at a party last August.

The two students are set to be tried as juveniles in February in Steubenville, a city of 19,000 about 40 miles west of Pittsburgh.

Madison said his client’s mother has had to change her cell phone number multiple times due to threats and harassment.

Last week, the online activist group Anonymous made public a picture allegedly of the rape victim, being carried by her wrists and ankles by two young men, and of a video that showed several other young men joking about an alleged assault.

Madison said that Richmond is not seen in the video.

A county sheriff under fire for how he has handled the high school rape investigation faced down a crowd of protestors on Saturday and said no new charges will be brought against anyone involved in the case.

Activists say there had been a cover-up by local officials to protect the integrity of the high school’s football program.

Meanwhile, a petition to the White House calling for the two rape suspects to be tried as adults reached 25,000 signatures Monday, the threshold required to receive a response from the Obama Administration.

Moving the case to the adult court system would allow for a jury trial and a more severe penalty, the petition says.

“This is a serious offense and this needs to be an example for everyone that this type of behavior should not, and will not be tolerated in our society,” it says.

The petition, created December 25, more than doubled its number of supporters overnight. It had 11,000 signatures on Sunday.

It was submitted to the White House through its online petition website, We The People. Now that it has the required 25,000 signatures, the Obama Administration will give an official statement at some point in the future. The petition has no legal impact.

(Editing by Paul Thomasch and Andrew Hay)

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Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson to Perform at Inauguration

President Barack Obama will have a Miss Independent and an Independent Women performer helping him celebrate the 57th Presidential Inauguration. Beyonce Knowles and Kelly Clarkson are scheduled to perform along with another music icon.

James Taylor will join the ladies on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 21, 2013 for the big event. "Vice President [Joe] Biden and I are honored to have these wonderfully talented musical artists perform at the Inaugural ceremony,” the president said in a statement on Wednesday. "Their music is often at the heart of the American story and speaks to folks across the country."

RELATED: Actors Who've Played Presidents

So, what will these ladies and gentleman be performing? Beyonce will take on the National Anthem, Clarkson will belt out My Country Tis of Thee while Taylor will sing America the Beautiful.

RELATED: Who Did the Stars Vote For?

According to the White House press statement, Obama was involved in selecting the singers for the ceremony. Other ceremonial participants include Myrlie Evers-Williams, who will give the invocation; Richard Blanco, who will serve as the Inaugural poet; and Reverend Louie Giglio, who will deliver the Benediction.

As you may recall, Beyonce performed Etta James' At Last during the first dance between Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball during the 2009 inauguration.

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Hurricane Sandy prevented total number of complaints filed against NYPD cops from rising last year

Hurricane Sandy prevented the total number of complaints filed against NYPD cops with the Civilian Complaint Review Board last year from rising for the first time since 2009, The Post has learned.

The total number of CCRB complaints in 2012 dipped just two percent over the previous year’s totals, the fourth time in five years that the total number of complaints against the city’s cops has fallen.

The two percent drop -- the smallest since numbers generally started heading downwards in 2007 -- translated into a scant 144 fewer cases in 2012 compared to 2011, from 5,964 complaints in 2011 compared to 5,820 last year.

But CCRB numbers were trending upwards in the second half of 2012, with increases posted in July, August, September and October .

Following the ravages of Sandy, the agency was ousted from its Lower Manhattan offices and forced to adopt a new phone number -- one that didn't hook up with the city's 311 information line -- after the storm.

Such factors meant that the CCRB took fewer complaints in November and December and all but guarantee that had Sandy not occurred, the complaint tally would have surely tipped upwards in 2012 for the first time since a slight increase was registered in 2009.

Overall, CCRB complaints have fallen 21 percent between 2007 (when they reached a record-high of 7,549) and 2011.

A spokeswoman for the CCRB declined to comment, as the agency is expected to provide further details about its year-end figures for 2012 at a monthly meeting scheduled for later this morning at CCRB’s new temporary headquarters at 209 Joralemon Street, in Brooklyn.

The CCRB allows members of the public to file complaints against cops that can include up to four separate allegations – those involving improper use of force; abuse of authority; discourtesy or offensive language – that might stem from a single confrontation.

The complaints are then investigated for further action by civilian investigators in a bid to see if they can be substantiated or deemed unfounded or, in some cases, cops are considered "exonerated.".

A breakdown of the categories of complaints from last year compared to 2011 shows that while the total number fell by two percent, the seriousness of the allegations increased by a slight margin.

For instance, the total number of complaints alleging discourtesy and offensive language fell by 243 and 18, respectively, between last year and 2011.

However, the allegations of force or abuse of authority -- more serious categories of police misconduct -- rose by 21 and 248, respectively.

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4 smartphones with standout features

These days, smartphones are almost all drawing from the same bag of tricks, and it can be hard to tell one from the next. If the average smartphone will do all the basic things you want it to, what does it take to be special? Here are four smartphones with unusual features that really make them stand out.

Nokia Lumia 920

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: This phone forges new Windows Phone ground with wireless-charging support and a highly sensitive screen you can use with gloves. Moreover, Nokia helps fill in Windows Phone OS gaps with a few missing features.

The bad: A thick, heavy build and slippery finish for some colors make the Lumia 920 harder to hold and carry, and the phone’s overhyped camera doesn’t have enough settings.

The cost: $99.99

The bottom line: Nokia’s Lumia 920 is heavy and thick, but if you want the most powerful, feature-rich Windows Phone smartphone available, this is it.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: Oodles of screen real estate make this terrific for videos, games, and reading, and its improved stylus aids productivity. A blazing quad-core processor, a great camera and strong battery life round out the advantages of this Android 4.1 phone.

The bad: The huge display makes it unwieldy to carry, and hiccups in the S Pen stylus and apps can slow you down. The pricey Note 2 isn’t a suitable tablet replacement across all categories.

The cost: $149.99 to $309.99

The bottom line: Samsung delivers a powerful, boundary-pushing device that gets a lot right. Yet its complicated features and high price raise questions about its purpose.

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: This Droid (Verizon) offers fast performance, a big, eye-popping screen and luxurious design. It also has great call quality, lots of storage, 4G data speeds, and unbeatable battery life.

The bad: The major weakness is a camera that produces subpar images. The phone is filled with Verizon bloatware as well.

The cost: $149.99 to $299.99

The bottom line: Motorola’s fast, stylish Droid Razr Maxx HD offers outstanding battery life, but its camera captures unimpressive images.

Samsung Galaxy Beam

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (Very good)

The good: An integrated pico projector, as well as a dual-core processor, 720p video capture and a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen.

The bad: The projection software needs some work, the 5-megapixel camera sometimes blurs indoor shots, and the Beam is thicker and heavier than many phones.

The cost: $474.49 to $839.99

The bottom line: Despite weak software, the Galaxy Beam’s bright projector pushes boundaries, and strong smartphone features make it a worthy standalone device.

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Police shoot, kill woman accused of holding knife to her boyfriend

A woman who was holding her boyfriend at knife point as their 3-year-old boy was in their home was shot to death by deputies in Lake Worth Tuesday morning.

Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies were called to the home in a duplex about 2:45 a.m. by the boyfriend who was frantic, saying she was going to kill him, sheriff’s spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.

“When we arrived she had him by the shirt with a knife in hand. We told her to put the knife down repeatedly. When she turned to stab him, we shot her. In an effort to save his life, we shot,” Barbera said.

Though deputies then ran to her assistance and called paramedics, the woman, who is 24, died from her injuries.

Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said Tuesday morning, “If the deputies had not taken the action they did she would have knifed him on the spot.”

Bradshaw said the 911 calls reveal the couple were in a “violent confrontation” and that the boyfriend was trying to get the child away from the boy’s mother. When deputies arrived, the woman let go of the child and came through the front door with her boyfriend, holding him by the shirt with one hand and a knife in the other.

“The deputies actions actually saved his life and probably, further down the road, the child’s life,” Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw said deputies had been called before to the duplex and that the couple has had previous problems. He did not release their names, but said the woman was 24-years-old and her boyfriend is about the same age. Bradshaw also said there are possible child abuse charges pending against the woman.

The boy will likely be placed with relatives, Bradshaw said.

This is the second shooting death of 2013 in Palm Beach County. A bartender at a Boca Raton restaurant was shot and killed in a robbery Friday, Jan. 4.

Rafael Rodriguez was bartending when the restaurant was robbed by several men. The robbers took personal items, including wallets, jewelry and cellphones from the victims. As the robbers were leaving, Rodriguez exchanged words with one of them. The robber fired at Rodriguez, striking him once. Rodriguez, 46, died at a local hospital after being shot once.

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Disney joins JAKKS, LA billionaire to bring toys to life

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Walt Disney toys are sold around the world. Now, children can find them in the cloud as well.

The media giant is teaming up with toy company JAKKS Pacific and Patrick Soon-Shiong, Los Angeles’ wealthiest person, on a new line of toys – with a nifty technological twist designed to link the goodies that kids lug home from the store with Disney’s stable of well-known animated characters.

“DreamPlay“, developed by Soon-Shiong’s NantWorks company, and JAKKS works via an app that can be downloaded on Apple Inc devices like the iPad, or smartphones and tablets running Google Inc Android software. When a device’s camera is trained on any toy specifically designed to work with DreamPlay, it triggers one of thousands of preset animations that appear on the device’s screen and seem to be unfolding in the real world.

With viewers’ eyes locked on the tablet or smartphone screen, fairies appear to glide in and out of buildings, animated critters start playing musical instruments, mythical characters prance on a toy piano’s keyboard.

Disney, which licensed its characters to DreamPlay, and its partners hope that children will take to the new approach, which is intended to extend and expand the life of the toy. But it remains to be seen if the concept will prove to be more than a novelty, and be able to arrest a child’s infamously short attention span.

The three will demo their concept on Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but Reuters got a sneak peak at the technology on Monday.

In a showroom in the 20th floor of a Santa Monica, Calif. building, visitors to JAKKS’ demonstration are treated to an animated version of Sebastian – the red Jamaican crab from Disney’s “Little Mermaid” movie – who pops up onscreen on an iPad seconds after the tablet’s camera is trained on a real-life set of toy bongo drums.

The animated crab pounces on the drums and proceeds to bang out a calypso song onscreen, with both Sebastian and the physical drum set appearing together as if the two shared the same cartoon.

REAL, VIRTUAL INTERACTION

DreamPlay allows not just Sebastian, but also Tinker Bell and a host of other well-loved Disney characters to “interact” virtually with specially made toys via image-recognition software. The software was developed by Soon-Shiong, a former cancer surgeon who created drugs to fight diabetes and breast cancer and then sold the companies that produced them for $ 8.6 billion.

Soon-Shiong teamed with JAKKS, a $ 678 million-a-year toy maker and licensee of toys based on the Princess line of dolls, Marvel action figures and other Disney toys, among others.

The technology works via the “cloud” – images and video clips stored on remote servers that are streamed to kids’ mobiles when the app recognizes a particular item.

“It’s a tremendous way to combine great technology and Disney’s magical story telling to extend the time a child can play with a toy,” said Bob Chapek, president of Disney’s consumer products unit. “Kids find out that playing with their toy doesn’t end when they get it home.”

Since taking over in 2011, Chapek has repositioned Disney’s consumer product unit to expand its use of technology with its toys. DreamPlay is the first of what Chapek says are other products that will twin technology with familiar Disney toys, although he won’t name them.

Down the road, Disney may explore new business models, including selling subscriptions to content created specifically to be used with a particular toy, said Chapek.

The market is hardly certain for a product that requires a child to hold up a phone or tablet, and peer through it to play with a toy that’s stationary. Will children want to see Rapunzel endlessly dancing on the keys of a piano or Rosetta, a fairy from Disney’s “Tinker Bell” movies, fly in and out of a cottage?

“The technology may be great, but no one has proven to me yet that a kid will sit in front of an iPhone or iPad instead of playing with a toy that’s right in front of him,” said Sean McGowan, a toy analyst with Needham & Co who downgraded JAKKS to hold in September along with other toy companies, and then downgraded JAKKS to underperform in October.

JAKKS intends to begin selling DreamPlay versions of toys from the Disney Princess line in October. It will then expand its offerings next year, with international sales starting in 2014, said Stephen Berman, JAKKS President and CEO.

DreamPlay toys will be “a couple of dollars” costlier than the regular version, he says.

Target stores and Toys R Us are among the U.S. retailers who will carry the DreamPlay line, Berman says. Top-Toy, the giant Nordic retailer, has also signed on, while Beijing Hualian Group, which operates supermarkets and department stores across China, is coming onboard as well.

“Kids don’t own iPhones or iPads but they all know how to use them,” says Berman. “Kids have so much more imagination than we do. Imagine recording a bunch of the videos and giving the kid an iPad to play with them on a trip to see the grandparents.”

JAKKS will ramp up marketing for the DreamPlay line, said Berman. DreamPlay toys will be prominently displayed at all the partner-retailers, he added, and shoppers will be encouraged to use their smartphones to view them.

Those that aim smartphones at a boxed Tinker Bell, for instance, may get a start as the fairy from “Peter Pan” literally soars out of the box, leaving an empty package behind.

“Technology can help people live better, work better, play better,” said Soon-Shiong as he showed off the line of toys. “This is the way they will play better.”

(Reporting By Ronald Grover; Edited By Edwin Chan)

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James Franco and Ashley Benson Parody Justin Bieber Selena Gomez

James Franco and rumored girlfriend Ashley Benson had some fun recently -- though it's at the expense of their Spring Breakers co-star Selena Gomez and her on-again/off-again boyfriend Justin Bieber.

In this video that originally appeared on Franco's WhoSay but he has since deleted, the 34-year-old mocks Justin's signature style -- down to the sideways hat, his [formerly] floppy hair and a baggy hoodie -- while parodying his mega-hit Boyfriend. For her part, Benson, 23, plays a sexy Selena, donning a long brunette wig and showing off some spectacularly racy dance moves.

Pic: James Franco Gets Handsy with Ashley Benson

Though this dig seems a little personal -- Benson reportedly dumped Bieber's pal Ryan Good for Franco after the two met on the set of Spring Breakers.

Video: Will 'Spring Breakers' Spark Controversy?

Although Franco denied dating Benson in a blog post on The Huffington Post in October, writing, "As for Gomez and Benson, those are Bieber's girls and I wouldn't dare tangle with the Biebs. I heard he wants to kick my a**. Yikes!," Benson recently posted a pic of the multi-talented star playfully groping her on New Year's Eve which she quickly deleted, sparking more rumors that the two are more than friends.

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