Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones running for reelection

Eight years have passed since Michelle Spence-Jones was elected to the Miami City Commission.

She isn’t willing to leave just yet.

Spence-Jones — who was charged with bribery and grand theft in 2009, suspended from office, acquitted and reinstated to her post — is seeking reelection, she announced Friday. She represents District 5, which includes Overtown, Little Haiti and Liberty City.

Whether Spence-Jones could run again has been the subject of much debate. The Miami city charter limits commissioners to two terms and Spence-Jones has twice won election. But City Attorney Julie O. Bru opined that Spence-Jones could run again because her second term was interrupted by the suspension.

“Our charter prohibits a commissioner or the mayor for running for reelection after that commissioner or mayor has served two consecutive terms,” Bru reaffirmed to Spence-Jones at a City Commission meeting Thursday. “You are eligible to seek reelection because you did not serve two full consecutive terms.”

Spence-Jones’s opponent isn’t buying it.

“The bottom line is, Michelle is term limited,” said the Rev. Richard P. Dunn II, who held the commission seat in Spence-Jones’s absence. “She received financial compensation for the time she was away and she was fully vested in the pension. Are the citizens of Miami going to pay her twice?”

Dunn plans to file a legal challenge “immediately,” he said.

Spence-Jones wants the additional term, she said, “to finish what I started.”

She pointed to the improvements she’s spearheaded along Northeast Second Avenue in Little Haiti. “We cleaned the place up, repainted many of the buildings and recreated a Caribbean feel by adding steeples,” she said.

The ultimate goal, Spence-Jones said, is to make Little Haiti a destination for tourists akin to Little Havana’s Calle Ocho. She has a similar vision for Overtown, which was once the cultural hub of Miami’s black community. To that end, Spence-Jones pushed for improvements to Northwest Third Avenue and provided grant money for local businesses.

“Now we’re going to move forward with a marketing campaign and build relationships with cruise lines and tour operators,” Spence-Jones said. “But these sorts of things take time.”

Other big projects are in the works.

Earlier this year, Spence-Jones pushed through a $50 million bond issue for improvements in Overtown — the largest investment the blighted community has seen in decades. The money will go toward affordable housing and some retail projects.

But Spence-Jones takes an equal amount of pride in some of her smaller initiatives, including a project that brought Hollywood director Robert Townsend to Overtown to film an independent movie. Students from the University of Miami and several local high schools had the opportunity to serve as interns. The film will debut this summer.

She plans to focus future efforts on Liberty City. She is already laying the groundwork for a program that will train residents to become laboratory technicians. A second program will help people with criminal records pursue careers in the automotive industry.

Spence-Jones’s tenure has been somewhat of a rollercoaster. After being elected to her second term, she was charged with bribery and grand theft in two separate cases and removed from office by then-Gov. Charlie Crist. Jurors later acquitted her of bribery, and prosecutors dropped the grand-theft charges.

A vindicated Spence-Jones returned to City Hall in August with newfound political heft.

Spence-Jones is now suing Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle and Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado, accusing them of conspiring to destroy her political career via the prosecutions. She declined to talk about the suit, saying only: “I’m going to let my lawyers fight that battle.”

She may have another legal fight ahead.

Dunn believes the city attorney’s opinion giving Spence-Jones the go-ahead to run again won’t withstand a legal challenge. He says Spence-Jones has served two consecutive terms because she was paid for two consecutive terms.

Dunn also criticized the city attorney, saying she likely felt pressured to give that opinion because Spence-Jones is her boss.

“If it stands up in a court of law, I will respect that,” said Dunn, who attended Thursday’s commission meeting and took notes on a legal pad. “But I’m not going to be whitewashed by a city attorney’s opinion that’s biased by her boss’s posturing position.”

Dunn, who also sat on the commission in the mid-‘90s after Commissioner Miller Dawkins was removed from office, pointed to his own accomplishments as a commissioner. He said he helped secure funding for Gibson Park,and quelled racial tensions after Miami police officers shot and killed seven black men in 2010 and 2011.

“Michelle Spence-Jones does not own that seat,” he said. “It’s owned by the people of District 5.”

No other candidates have announced they are running for the post.

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Notre Dame’s Te’o says had no part in forming hoax

Jan 24 (Reuters) – Notre Dame football player Manti Te‘o said he was the victim of an elaborate online hoax and denied in an interview broadcast on Thursday having had any part in the construction of the dramatic story of his dying girlfriend.

“No, I did not,” Te’o said in the interview with Katie Couric broadcast on the daytime talk show “Katie.” “I think what people don’t realize is that the same day that everybody else found out about this situation, I found out.”

The reported deaths of Te’o's grandmother and purported girlfriend, both on Sept. 12, and his response to the tragedies, were often repeated stories during Notre Dame‘s bid for a national championship last season. His grandmother did die that day.

Te’o, who was a finalist for college football’s highest individual honor for helping drive Notre Dame to an undefeated regular season, admitted he maintained the public deception after he learned the truth that she had never existed, but he did not do so for personal gain.

Couric asked Te’o to respond to several theories people have raised since the hoax was revealed, including that he might be gay and created the relationship to hide his sexual orientation.

“No, far from it,” Te’o said when asked by Couric if he were gay. “Far from that.”

Te’o sat with his hands often clasped and responded in a soft tone to Couric‘s questions, telling her he did not know if the Lennay Kekua story had supported his Heisman trophy candidacy.

It was his first on-camera interview since sports blog Deadspin.com broke the story on Jan. 16 that Kekua did not exist. Couric also interviewed his parents, Brian and Ottilia Te‘o, who defended their son.

Notre Dame, one of the most powerful institutions in U.S. collegiate athletics, held a news conference within hours of the Deadspin.com story to say that Te’o had been duped.

Te’o had told sports network ESPN in an off-camera interview on Friday that an acquaintance, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, had told him he was behind the hoax.

CONFESSED HOAX

Te’o said in the interview with Couric that Tuiasosopo, who he had spoken to twice before and had believed was Kekua‘s cousin, confessed the hoax to him on Jan. 16.

Te’o said he received a telephone call from the person claiming to be Kekua on Dec. 6 – two days before the Heisman presentation – and he wasn’t really certain she never existed until Tuiasosopo‘s confession to him.

“My whole reality was she was dead, and now all of the sudden she’s alive. At that time I didn’t know that it was just somebody’s prank.”

He went along with the Kekua story the day of the Heisman presentation, though he knew at a minimum that she was alive, and did not tell his parents until Christmas, he said.

“Part of me was saying that if you say she is alive what would everybody think? What are you going to tell everybody who follows you, who you inspire? What are you going to say? At that time, on Dec. 8, two days after I just found out she was alive, as a 21-year-old, I wasn’t ready for that.”

Te’o said he “wasn’t forthcoming” about the extent of his relationship with Kekua, that they had never met in person, but reporters did not ask him directly if they had met in person.

He said he was most sorry for having told his father he had seen Kekua in person when he was in Hawaii, a story that his father repeated to media when asked.

When asked why he wouldn’t simply want a girlfriend he could spend time with on campus, Te’o said he was drawn to Kekua because her background appeared similar to his own.

“What I went through was real,” Te’o said. “The feelings, the pain, the sorrow, that was all real. That is something I can’t fake.”

Te’o said he did not know how the hoax would affect his position in the National Football League draft.

“As far as my draft status, I hope and pray that good happens obviously, but as long as my family is OK, I can live with whatever happens,” he said. (Reporting by David Bailey; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Tim Dobbyn)

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Report: J.J. Abrams to Direct New 'Star Wars' Movie

Disney/ Andrew H. Walker/ Getty Images

The Force is with J.J. Abrams. The prolific producer/director has agreed to direct the next installment of the Star Wars franchise, confirms Walt Disney Studios.

Pics: Must-See Movies of 2013

"I've consistently been impressed with J.J. as a filmmaker and storyteller," said George Lucas of Abrams in an official statement. "He's an ideal choice to direct the new Star Wars film and the legacy couldn't be in better hands."

In October, it was announced that Disney had acquired Star Wars creator George Lucas' company Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion in cash and stock, in turn announcing that new Star Wars movies will be released. The first new Star Wars movie -- Star Wars: Episode 7 -- will be released in 2015 with Lucas serving as creative consultant. Kathleen Kennedy, who is the current co-chair of Lucasfilm, will become Lucasfilm's president and serve as executive producer on new Star Wars feature films.

Of course, Abrams successfully rebooted the Star Trek franchise in 2009, with his highly anticipated follow-up sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness, hitting theaters May 17.

Related: New 'Star Wars' Films in the Works

Said Abrams, "To be a part of the next chapter of the Star Wars saga, to collaborate with Kathy Kennedy and this remarkable group of people, is an absolute honor. I may be even more grateful to George Lucas now than I was as a kid."

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Mayor Bloomberg rejects calls to intervene in school-bus strike with job-security pledge

Mayor Bloomberg brokered a sit-down between striking bus drivers and their bosses — but the factions say it’s pointless unless the city joins them at the table.

Union reps and bus owners are planning to meet at Gracie Mansion Monday, but they said the city should be there, since its new contracts are the main sticking point.

“The best way for this strike to end is with Local 1181, Mayor Bloomberg and the city’s bus companies in one room, talking candidly and in good faith,” said union boss Michael Cordiello. “Until that happens, the strike goes on.”

Stefan Jeremiah

STRIKE OUT: A dwindling turnout of striking school-bus workers braves the cold yesterday in Red Hook —as Mayor Bloomberg rejected calls for the city to intervene in negotiations with job-security promises.

But the mayor — who has maintained that the issue is between private companies and their employees — will not have a rep there to help hammer out an agreement, a spokeswoman said. “The union is striking over the issue of employee protections. That is not something that the city can include in the contracts, and they and the bus companies must negotiate over that matter,” she said.

Bloomberg reiterated his stance yesterday on his weekly radio show. “It’s a private company that employs private-sector workers. They’ve got to negotiate something,” Bloomberg said.

“I’m sorry the people are out on strike. But they have a right to do it . . . I can’t take sides in this.”

The union is striking because it wants the city to reinstate a provision it stripped from a bid request for new contracts that ensures its workers keep their jobs regardless of which company gets the gig.

“We have been negotiating regularly with the unions over the last two weeks. But the dispute isn’t between us and the union. The dispute is between the union and the city over job protection,” said a spokeswoman for the companies.

The union claims it wanted to meet yesterday but the bus owners put it off until Monday.

One bus company, Pioneer Transportation Corp., sent a letter to union employees yesterday asking them to take pay cuts so it could submit lower bids for future contracts — in the event that the employee protections aren’t reinstated by the city.

Companies with unionized workers fear they’ll be undercut in the bidding by new companies whose employees aren’t paid union wages.

Striking workers in Brooklyn agreed the mayor needs to step up and get involved.

“Tell the mayor to fix it. He shouldn’t stay out of it,” said Marlyn Rose, 27, a bus matron for seven years.

The strike began on Jan. 16 and is the first one since 1979.

Only 2,689 routes were running in the city yesterday, out of about 7,700, the Department of Education said.

Additional reporting by Georgett Roberts

david.seifman@nypost.com

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Fed aims for a 6.5% jobless rate

Six and a half percent unemployment in America would mean almost 2.1 million more people working than today. At the rate the country has been creating new jobs each month, it would take more than a year to find work for that many people.

Keep 6.5 percent in mind this week when the Federal Reserve meets Tuesday and Wednesday to talk about its efforts to push interest rates down. The hope is that the cheap cash will spur on investment leading to job creation. After all, the central bank has promised to keep its target interest rate near zero as long as more than 6.5 percent of Americans in the workforce are without work. The Fed has put other conditions on maintaining its historically low interest rate such as low inflation, but official measures remain tame. So its job growth the Fed is looking for.

It won’t have to wait long for the latest update. On Friday the first jobs report of 2013 will be released. Hiring has been a slow grind but it has been positive.

Finding work in January, though, can be tricky. Winter weather, a hangover from the holidays and seasonal work ending can slow down hiring.

It will be months, maybe even a couple of years before the U.S. unemployment rate hits 6.5 percent. There is nothing magical about that number, but as long as the Federal Reserve has it in its sights, so should we.

Tom Hudson is anchor and managing editor of Nightly Business Report, produced by NBR Worldwide and distributed nationally by American Public Television. In South Florida, the show is broadcast at 7 p.m. weekdays on Channel 2. Follow him on Twitter, @HudsonNBR.

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Broward contractor accused of accepting bribe for Florida Keys roadwork

A Pompano Beach contractor has been charged by federal authorities with bribery for accepting money to steer a state Department of Transportation contract to a subcontractor working on traffic signals in the Florida Keys, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Ron Capobianco Jr., 40, is charged with committing bribery in connection with programs receiving federal funds. If convicted, he could get 10 years in prison. He had his first appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Seltzer Wednesday morning.

He is accused of accepting $4,000 for steering a $25,000 contract to a subcontractor. Prosecutors did not say who that subcontractor is or whether the subcontractor approached authorities or they approached the subcontractor.

Prosecutors say Capobianco worked as an engineering and inspection consultant at Miami's Metric Engineering Inc. DOT contracted with Metric to provide services including designing, inspecting and troubleshooting construction of roads, signs and traffic signals.

DOT considered Capobianco an expert on signalization and lighting construction, including the use of video cameras for traffic signalization and control. Prosecutors say that around 2009, DOT began its work in Marathon to improve traffic flow.

They say that around May 2009, an agent of the subcontractor offered to pay Capobianco $5,000 if the subcontractor could receive at least $25,000 to install video detection equipment. Capobianco reportedly agreed to the deal, enabling the subcontractor to make a significant profit.

The subcontractor's estimate was approved and subsequently paid by the state after the equipment was installed. Then around May 2009, Capobianco reportedly met with an agent of the subcontractor in Plantation in Broward County and was paid $4,000 in cash for his help getting the subcontractor the work.

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Amanda Seyfried Calls Mean Girls Her Best Work

Despite being fresh off an Oscar-nominated film (Les Miserables), Amanda Seyfried apparently holds a soft spot for her breakout film Mean Girls, calling it her "best work" to date.

"I was so innocent. I was so green," reflects Seyfried in an interview with Indiewire. "I still look back at Mean Girls as my best work."

Pics: Amanda Seyfried as Porn Star Lovelace

The 27-year-old star stole the show playing the lovably ditzy Karen Smith in the 2004 comedy. Interestingly enough, Seyfried had little confidence in her on-screen work at the time.

"I look back and I’m like, 'Really, I thought I was doing a terrible job.' But it was written so well and so wonderfully directed," says the actress. "Mark Waters (the director) made me look good; he made me funny. And Tina Fey wrote the coolest script of all time."

Now, quite a bit more assured in her abilities, Seyfried is gearing up to show off her chops (and much more) as '70s porn star Linda Lovelace in the new biopic Lovelace. When asked about her reservations in taking on such a risque role, the star says she felt surprisingly comfortable disrobing and simulating sexual acts on film.

Video: SJP Talks About Replacing Demi Moore in 'Lovelace'

"I don't know why I’m comfortable. Nudity: whatever! Sex: we all do it," Seyfried explains to Indiewire. "There's a time and a place to be naked. There's no part in this movie that makes me think, 'Oh, wow, she's naked.' She's a porn star! We simulated some scenes but there's no graphic content in this movie, at all. I mean the graphic stuff is when he's raping me on my wedding night. You see my skirt go up over my head when I’m being gang raped, but it's like, so perfectly done."

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Mayor Bloomberg blasted at candidates forum

William Miller

New York City mayoral hopeful Joseph Lhota at at a Thursday forum discussion.

It looks like Mayor Bloomberg is in for a very long campaign year.

The mayor got battered last night at a forum in the East New York section of Brooklyn that featured Republican contender Joe Lhota in his first appearance with other candidates.

The former MTA chairman offered carefully constructed responses to questions that focused on affordable housing before a packed audience at the St. Paul Community Baptist Church.

But most of his Democratic rivals, as well as Republican hopeful Tom Allon, unloaded at just about every opportunity at Bloomberg.

"It's quite possible Mayor Bloomberg does not know what mold is," mocked Comptroller John Liu when the questioning turned to the city's response to super-storm Sandy.

All six candidates agreed the city hasn't done enough to help residents still struggling to recover.

"This is a city administration that wanted to run a marathon while people were just moving into shelters and unfortunately bodies were still being found," said former Comptroller Bill Thompson.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who is closest the the mayor of all those running, said mold removal should have been included in the "rapid repairs" program initiated by the city after a homeowner from Gerritsen Beach said hundreds of homes there might be lost due to spreading contamination.

Bloomberg has said that he doesn't intend to respond to every single issue raised by his would-be successors.

But Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson felt compelled to tweet last night, "Reality check-- Bloomberg at 65-23 (per cent in polls) on Hurricane Sandy performance."

The harshest attacks on the mayor came during a discussion of the Housing Authority and its embattled chairman, John Rhea.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio charged that the agency can't function well "if the mayor doesn't care about people who live in public housing. There's an old colorful Sicilian expression that says the head stinks from the head down."

Longshot GOP hopeful Tom Allon went him one better by describing Rhea as the "Cathie Black" of housing, a stinging reference to the schools chancellor appointed by the mayor who lasted 96 days.

There's not much political downside for the Democratic candidates hammering away at Bloomberg before the primary, where the electorate tends to lean to the left and the mayor is an easy target.

The one place where Bloomberg got some credit was his ambitious program to build or rehabilitate 165,000 housing units before he leaves office, the largest such project in the nation.

Every candidate pledged to keep that pace of 15,000 added apartments a year. None explained how they'd paid for them.

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Lennar design accommodates multigenerational families

In some cases, it may be Grandma moving in with the family. Other times, it may be a recent college graduate returning to the nest.

For all sorts of reasons — financial, medical, personal — a rising number of Americans are moving into extended family households.

Spotting a niche in the growing trend, Lennar Corp. has launched a new concept tailor-made for multigenerational family living.

It’s basically a house within a house: a smaller living unit next to the main home designed to provide independence but also access to the rest of the family household.

“People are really loving the whole concept,” said Carlos Gonzalez, president of the southeast Florida division of Lennar, a Miami-based home-building giant. “We adapted to the market from a design standpoint.”

In Miami-Dade County, Lennar is selling various versions of multigenerational homes in three new developments in Doral, Kendall and Homestead.

Louis Moreno of Kendall and his wife, Danilza Velez, signed a contract for a large NextGen home in The Vineyards development in Homestead last October — even before the models had been built.

“We loved it,” said Moreno, a 45-year-old engineer.

Moreno said his mother-in-law will be able to use the new suite when she visits, as will his family members who frequently come to town from Puerto Rico. “This will provide them with more comfortable space and more privacy,” he said. He also plans to use it as a game room and entertainment area.

The two-story Zinfandel home Moreno picked has three bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms in the main home with a family room and two-car garage. In addition, it has an ample 789-square-foot suite with two bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchenette. The suite has its own garage, a separate front entrance and an internal door connecting to the main home.

The Zinfandel, which has 2,249 square feet of air-conditioned space in the main house, starts at $283,990 in the Homestead community at 128 SE 28th Ter., but a similar home in Kendall would run about $100,000 more, primarily because of higher land costs, Fernandez said. (In Doral, there is a NextGen home priced at $677,990.)

Some multigenerational models have suites as small as 489 square feet, but all have a separate entrance, a bedroom, a bathroom and some sort of kitchen space.

The idea takes various shapes. One option at the Kendall Square development at 16950 SW 90th St. is a Granny unit above a detached garage.

“Independence is the key word,” said Frank Fernandez, director of sales and marketing for the southeast Florida division.

Depending on local zoning rules, some homes can have full kitchens, others are restricted to kitchenettes with a microwave but no stove. Similarly, some municipalities permit the space to be used as a rental, others prohibit it.

The choice is proving popular. Fernandez said in The Vineyards development in Homestead, 10 of the 14 homes sold to date are NextGen. At Kendall Square, 35 of 107 sales are multigenerational, and at the Isles at Grand Bay development at 11301 NW 74th Street in Doral, five of 48 houses are.

Adapting homes for special needs, such as wheelchairs and safety railings, is done at cost, Fernandez said: “That is company policy.”

As one of the nation’s largest home builders, Lennar has been rebounding strongly from the housing crash. Last week, the builder, whose shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange, posted better than expected earnings for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Nov. 30, 2012.

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Nevin Shapiro’s lawyer said she did nothing wrong

Maria Elena Perez — the Miami criminal defense attorney for convicted Ponzi schemer and former University of Miami booster Nevin Shapiro — was thrust Wednesday into the harsh spotlight of the NCAA’s probe of UM’s athletic program.

“I haven’t broken any rules,” Perez, a 2000 UM law school graduate, told The Miami Herald. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

The NCAA acknowledged that its enforcement officers “improperly” obtained information by working too closely with Perez, whose client instigated the NCAA probe that has been going on for two years.

In saying so, the NCAA has, in effect, made her a part of the UM investigation.

Perez became Shapiro’s criminal defense lawyer soon after he was charged in April 2010 with orchestrating a $930 million investment scam. Shapiro, who used a portion of that money to make donations to UM and buy gifts for many of its star football players, would plead guilty to securities fraud and other charges. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

At the same time, Shapiro’s investment victims forced his Miami Beach-based company, Capitol Investments USA, Inc., into bankruptcy with a goal toward recovering millions of dollars in losses.

But Perez told The Herald she used the bankruptcy case for a different purpose: to gather evidence from major witnesses who might help her seek a lower prison sentence for Shapiro.

“I was exercising my due diligence as Nevin Shapiro’s criminal defense attorney,” she said.

Toward that end, she subpoenaed Sean Allen, a UM graduate and former assistant equipment manager for the Hurricanes’ football team, who worked briefly for Shapiro’s sports agency and later for the businessman himself. She also subpoenaed Jacksonville lawyer Michael Huyghue, who founded the sports agency and brought in Shapiro as a partner, who invested $1.5 million.

The NCAA investigators did not have the power to subpoena either man. But Perez did, as Shapiro’s lawyer.

After Perez grilled both men under oath, she shared the depositions with the NCAA, which says it paid her for those legal services.

That’s the crux of the problem: The NCAA now admits that its investigation is tainted by those two depositions — because the information was “improperly” obtained. So it has now ordered up an investigation of its investigation.

This was not her intention at all, Perez said.

“This was for Nevin Shapiro’s criminal case,” said Perez, who joined the Florida Bar in 2001 but has no disciplinary history. She pointed out that depositions are open to the public. Anybody, including the NCAA, could have gotten them as a public record.

While no NCAA enforcement officer attended her depositions, one official from the association did show up for other depositions taken by Miami lawyer Gary Freedman, the lead attorney for the trustee in Shapiro’s bankruptcy case.

NCAA official Michael Zonder sat in on the October 2012 deposition of civil attorney Marc Levinson, of the Miami firm Shook, Hardy & Bacon. Levinson had represented Shapiro in his investment in the sports agency known as Axcess, and in his other business affairs.

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