Sandy-struck Staten Island family gets ornaments from White House — 1000s still powerless








Most Christmas tree lights blink on and off — but incredibly, thousands of New Yorkers are still stuck completely in “off” since Hurricane Sandy.

But in the areas hardest hit, the lights are slowly coming back — each a symbol of hope.

In Rockaway Park, power was finally restored yesterday to a 70-unit apartment building.

Until now, the residents had only partial power provided by generators.

“Before, it was candles, flashlights and takeout food,’’ said Dennis Krecko, 57. “It was a nice Christmas present.

“I can live my life normally again,’’ he said. “I can use the microwave. I can heat something in the toaster.





STALWARTS: Debbie and Joe Ingenito (above) enjoy a makeshift tree yesterday outside their Staten Island home.

Matthew McDermott





STALWARTS: Debbie and Joe Ingenito (above) enjoy a makeshift tree yesterday outside their Staten Island home.




Next year, it will be inside and feature this ornament (above) from President Obama.


Next year, it will be inside and feature this ornament (above) from President Obama.




Meanwhile, Valerie and Dennis Krecko (above), of Rockaway Park, finallly have power back last night.

William Miller



Meanwhile, Valerie and Dennis Krecko (above), of Rockaway Park, finallly have power back last night.





“Life is slowing coming back to Rockaway.’’

His tree sports ornaments cut by a neighbor from pieces of the destroyed boardwalk. They say “Hope’’ on one side and “2012’’ on the other.

More than 1,000 Con Ed customers are without power in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. LIPA says some 8,100 homes in the Rockaways are so badly damaged, they still can’t accept electricity.

Meanwhile, Joe and Debbie Ingenito and their three children are among the lucky residents of Staten Island — their power is back and their lives have been brightened by President Obama’s gift of two ornaments for their tree.

After The Post wrote about the makeshift Christmas tree that Joe had erected on his sidewalk from a fallen spruce in front of his Sandy-ravaged New Dorp home, the commander-in-chief sought out the family and an aide delivered the special gifts.

“It’s an honor. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal,” said Joe, who decorated his 7-foot outdoor tree with debris salvaged after the storm.

He’s still improvising. The tree outside the home now sports a string of white lights, a mask, goggles, a worker’s glove, bells, a can of Goofy String, someone’s cap and a Hannah Montana bag.

Joe is saving the president’s two precious ornaments until next year, when the family’s tree, hopefully, will be back inside.

One depicts a Santa holding a big red bag outside the White House and reads, “I hear there are some kids in the White House this year.” The other is a vintage car with a driver and passenger wearing a top hat.

“The ornaments are beautiful, very authentic and detailed,” said Debbie, who keeps them in the velvet-lined boxes they came in for fear they would be stolen if they’re put on the tree outside.

She can’t wait until next year, when the family will put them “right at the top” of the tree.

“They will be passed down to the family,” said Debbie.

“When I go, they will go to my firstborn.”

A week after presenting the gifts, Obama gave the Ingenitos a shout-out.

“Today, if you go to Joseph’s street, you’ll see a lot of damage and debris scattered all over the block,” he said.

“But you’ll also see the top of that tree, standing tall in front of his house.” Additional reporting by Yoav Gonen and Joe Tacopino










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Miami: We’re still busiest cruise port




















Florida’s ports are steaming bow-to-bow in the race to be the world’s businest cruise ship port.

Though some publications have reported Port Canaveral in the lead with 3,761,056 million for its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, PortMiami officials Monday said they had hosted 3,774,452 passengers during the same period, putting it slightly ahead. Fort Lauderdale’s PortEverglades reported 3,689,000 passengers for the period, putting it slightly behind the others in third place.

“We’re all very close,’’ said Paula Musto, PortMiami spokeswoman.





PortMiami has slipped below its previous high of 4 million plus passengers because of changing ship deployments, she said. That number is expected to again cruise past 4 million in 2013 as several new ships homeport in Miami.

Jane Wooldridge





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New generation of judges serving on federal bench in South Florida




















For a fleeting moment this fall, U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola Jr. declared in jest that he wished he were “king of the world.”

If he had such power, Scola said from the bench, he would deny a defense lawyer’s request to travel to Pakistan to question a group of defendants charged in a Miami terrorism case along with two Muslim clerics. Since the missing defendants weren’t present, the judge considered them “fugitives.’’

But the judge let the defense team make the upcoming trip against fierce opposition from prosecutors, because case law allows such extraordinary depositions, he found.





Scola, a former Miami-Dade prosecutor and state circuit court judge, relishes his role as one of three new members on South Florida’s federal bench, which is experiencing a generational sea change as the result of several retirements and presidential appointments.

“I knew I wanted to be a judge when I was 10 years old; my father was a judge in Massachusetts,” Scola said, during a brief December interview wedged between verdicts in the South Beach “bar-girls” trial and the sentencing of a mental-health clinic director convicted of Medicare fraud.

Over the past few years, the federal court in the Southern District of Florida has seen the departure of four judges — Daniel T.K. Hurley, Paul C. Huck, Alan S. Gold and Patricia A. Seitz — who have gone on “senior” status, meaning they handle lighter caseloads. Another federal judge, Adalberto Jordan, was confirmed this year as a member of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

Those five vacancies, in one of the busiest federal districts for criminal and civil cases in the country, accounted for about one-third of all the positions on the federal bench in South Florida.

The retirements have generated coveted openings that have been filled by Scola, 57; Kathleen M. Williams, 56, a former Miami federal public defender; and Robin S. Rosenbaum, 46, a former Fort Lauderdale federal magistrate judge. Rosenbaum, also a one-time federal prosecutor, was sworn in as a new U.S. district judge Dec. 13.

“It’s pretty obvious that Robin is never going to make a decent living,” 11th Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus, for whom Rosenbaum once clerked, quipped about her public-service career during her investiture in Fort Lauderdale federal court.

But then Marcus struck a more serious note, describing federal district judges as the “crucible of justice” in the U.S. court system. “I have to say, Robin, this is work you were born to do,” he said.

Another recent nominee: Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William L. Thomas, a former assistant public defender in both the state and federal system. Thomas is scheduled for confirmation as a federal judge in 2013. If confirmed, he would become the first openly gay black man appointed to a federal judgeship in the nation.

Michael Caruso, the Miami federal public defender who replaced Williams in August, said the appointment of federal judges is in many ways a “president’s most enduring legacy.”

“All presidents strive to appoint smart, fair and hardworking lawyers,” Caruso said, commenting on the four nominated by President Barack Obama in South Florida. “President Obama, in addition to choosing women and men who share these traits, has chosen those who’ve been trial lawyers in the criminal justice system and who have devoted a significant portion of their career to public service.”





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Dozens of Android Games, Apps Discounted for Google Holiday Sale






The Google Play store — that’s the name of the Android “app store,” or the “Android Market” for those of you new to the change — is featuring dozens of game and app sales for Android smartphones and tablets. Well, actually, it’s not; you can see some of the discounted apps on the front page, but there’s no special section of the website or on-device market that says where the ones on sale are, or even how to find them. And the “Holiday Surprise” feature is only a handful of deals picked by Google itself.


Here’s a look at some of the major game publishers’ Android sales, along with discounted creativity apps and where to find more details.






Gameloft‘s “Android Christmas” sale


It may be too late for Hanukkah this year, but top-tier Android publisher Gameloft has put a dozen of its titles up for sale for Christmas just $ 0.99 . These games are normally in the $ 5-7 range, making them among Android’s priciest.


Besides its licensed games based on movies — like superhero films “The Dark Knight Rises” and “The Amazing Spider-Man,” and (inexplicably) “The Adventures of Tintin” — Gameloft is best known for creating mobile versions of popular PC and console games. Not in the sense that they are official ports, so much as that they’re remarkably similar, to the extent that they arguably could be official ports if the serial numbers were filed off. With that in mind, several of its Modern Combat (which are totally not Modern Warfare) and N.O.V.A. first-person shooters (which are totally not Halo) are included in the sale, although the most recent installment of the former — Modern Combat 4 — is not.


Superhero fans may also want to check out Marvel Games’ Avengers Initiative, which isn’t a Gameloft title but is also on sale for $ 0.99 .


Square-Enix’s “Winter of Mobile” sale


Best known for having invented the jRPG genre, Square-Enix has brought several of its most popular titles to Android, and most of them are discounted (from their extremely high launch prices) for the holidays.


Crystal Defender, Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy have all received numerous 1-star reviews on Google Play for technical issues, and reviewers complain that the titles haven’t been optimized for Android hardware. The Chaos Rings titles, however, fare much better with reviewers, and are much more steeply discounted as well, at $ 3.99 each compared to their usual price of $ 12.99. They’re ports of the iOS originals, which were Square-Enix’s first attempts at making “real” jRPGs for mobile devices.


SEGA’s Holiday Sale


SEGA’s games are on sale for the holidays across the board, on pretty much every platform. On Android, that mostly amounts to Sonic 4 (episodes 1 and 2) and Sonic CD, all of which are on sale for $ 0.99 . Strategy title Total War Battles and rollerblade platformer Jet Set Radio, meanwhile, are on sale for $ 1.99.


Creativity / productivity apps on sale


Android phones and tablets aren’t just for gaming. If you didn’t pick up Microsoft Office-compatible OfficeSuite Pro 6+ during Google‘s earlier $ 0.25 sale, it’s discounted to $ 0.99 now from its regular price of $ 14.99. Autodesk’s professional drawing apps, SketchBook Mobile and SketchBook Pro for Tablets, are $ 0.99 and $ 2.99 compared to $ 1.99 and $ 4.99 regularly, and the Jotter handwriting app — which requires a Samsung Galaxy Note — is half-off at $ 1.99.


Stay up to date


Many more Android games and apps are being discounted for the holidays. Apps such as (the aptly-named) AppSales can help keep you apprised of the latest additions. Meanwhile, the Android Police blog is maintaining an up-to-date “Enormous List” of all holiday sales.


Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.


Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Alone together: Grieving dad at Jesse’s grave








No father should have to spend Christmas Eve in a cemetery.

But it was the only place Neil Heslin could be with his 6-year-old son, who was among the 20 youngsters slain in the Newtown, Conn., massacre.

Heslin last saw his adored son, Jesse Lewis, Dec. 13, when the two went Christmas shopping.

“He was rambling on about how this was going to be the best Christmas ever. We got into the whole meaning of Christmas, about giving and not receiving,” Heslin recalled.

“I told him, ‘What makes it happy for me is giving to you and seeing you happy.’

“And the next day — that happened.”





SAD HOLIDAY: Neil Heslin yesterday visits the grave of his cherished 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis.

Douglas Healey





SAD HOLIDAY: Neil Heslin yesterday visits the grave of his cherished 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis.





Jesse died a hero. Witnesses said he’d been leading other children to safety when he was gunned down by Adam Lanza.

“I really looked forward to Christmas every year with him,” Heslin said at the Zoar Cemetery, where he and Jesse’s mom planted a rosebush and spruce tree on either side of their little boy’s grave.

“I won’t have any Christmas presents to wrap this year,” he said.

Although Jesse’s parents are no longer together, he used to see them both for the holiday. He’d spend Christmas Eve with his dad while his mom, Scarlett Lewis, finished last-minute shopping.

Then he’d spend Christmas Day with her.

His favorite Christmas decorations were 3-foot-tall wooden nutcrackers — nearly as tall as Jesse.

“He loved them,” his dad said. “He wanted to put them out for every holiday.”

On their last night together, Jesse was busy shopping for others.

“He picked out two Christmas ornaments for [his teacher], Ms. [Victoria] Soto [who was killed] . . . then he got one for his mom, one for his brother, J.T., and one for his best friend, Daniel,” Heslin said.

For Soto, Jesse picked a star and an apple. His mother and brother were to get snowflakes, and he chose a horse for Daniel, since the pals took riding lessons together.

“He bought them with his own money,” Heslin said proudly. “That was money he earned himself, doing odd jobs. He collected bottles too, and brought them to the redemption center.”

Jesse never got the chance to deliver the ornaments, so his dad did it for him.

And yesterday, he made sure his son wasn’t alone for the holiday, even though that meant sitting by his grave instead of by a Christmas tree.

“Boy, was he wrong about this being the best Christmas ever,” Heslin said.

bdefalco@nypost.com










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Miami: We’re still busiest cruise port




















Florida’s ports are steaming bow-to-bow in the race to be the world’s businest cruise ship port.

Though some publications have reported Port Canaveral in the lead with 3,761,056 million for its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, PortMiami officials Monday said they had hosted 3,774,452 passengers during the same period, putting it slightly ahead. Fort Lauderdale’s PortEverglades reported 3,689,000 passengers for the period, putting it slightly behind the others in third place.

“We’re all very close,’’ said Paula Musto, PortMiami spokeswoman.





PortMiami has slipped below its previous high of 4 million plus passengers because of changing ship deployments, she said. That number is expected to again cruise past 4 million in 2013 as several new ships homeport in Miami.

Jane Wooldridge





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Police: 16-year-old shot and killed while riding bicycle in Miami




















A 16-year-old boy was shot and killed while riding his bicycle in Miami over the weekend, and on Monday his family will ask for help finding the killer.

Bryan Herrera was riding his bike Saturday afternoon, going to a friend’s house, when he was shot, according to Miami police. He was struck once, near Northwest 11th Avenue and 39th Street in Allapattah, police said.

Officers found him a few minutes after 11 a.m., after receiving a call to 911 saying a person had been shot and appeared to be lifeless on the ground.





Bryan was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, police said, where he died. Sunday night, police said they had very little information describing the shooter.

Bryan’s family is scheduled to speak to reporters Monday at Miami police headquarters.

Investigators asked anyone with information to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers, anonymously, at 305-471-8477.





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RIM shares fall at the open after earnings






TORONTO (Reuters) – Research In Motion Ltd fell in early trading on Friday following the BlackBerry maker’s Thursday earnings announcement, when the company outlined plans to change the way it charges for services.


RIM, pushing to revive its fortunes with the launch of its new BlackBerry 10 devices next month, surprised investors when it said it plans to alter its service revenue model, a move that could put the high-margin business under pressure.






Shares fell 16.0 percent to $ 11.86 in early trading on the Nasdaq. Toronto-listed shares fell 15.8 percent to C$ 11.74.


(Reporting by Allison Martell; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)


Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Bethenny Frankel Separates From Husband of 2 Years

After two years of marriage, TV personality Bethenny Frankel and husband Jason Hoppy are separating.

"'It brings me great sadness to say that Jason and I are separating. This was an extremely difficult decision that as a woman and a mother, I have to accept as the best choice for our family. We have love and respect for one another and will continue to amicably co-parent our daughter who is and will always remain our first priority. This is an immensely painful and heartbreaking time for us," the former Real Housewives of New York City star's rep said in a statement.

Frankel, 42, also tweeted: "I am heartbroken. I am sad. We will work through this as a family."

In 2010, the couple were married and had their daughter, Bryn. Frankel and Hoppy's relationship was then documented in two reality TV shows, Bethenny Getting Married? and Bethenny Ever After...

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Afghan policewoman kills US adviser: police








KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan police official says an Afghan policewoman has killed an American adviser at the Kabul police headquarters.

Kabul's Deputy Police Chief Mohammad Daoud Amin says an investigation is under way to determine whether the killing Monday was intentional or accidental.

It was not known whether the victim was a military or civilian adviser. The NATO military command says it's looking into reports of the shooting but had no independent information.

At least 53 international troops have been killed by Afghan soldiers or police this year, and a number of other assaults are still under investigations. NATO forces, due to mostly withdraw from the country by 2014, have speeded up efforts to train and advise Afghan military and police units before the pullout.











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