Mild temperatures will continue into the weekend, with highs in the low-80s and lows in the mid-60s.
The weekend will remain partly cloudy, with a low chance of showers at 20 percent.
No advisories have been announced and wind will be low at 10 to 15 miles per hour each day.
Sen. Charles Schumer says New Yorkers who want to attend President Obama's second inauguration can enter a statewide online lottery for tickets.
Schumer says his office has set up a website to register, with a random drawing set for Dec. 14. The deadline to enter is Dec. 13 and the free tickets are provided only through congressional offices.
The ceremony will be Jan. 21, Martin Luther King Day, at the Capitol.
Schumer is chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.
WASHINGTON --
The Food and Drug Administration is investigating reports of 13 deaths possibly linked to so-called “energy shots” and cautioning consumers to talk to their doctors before they take them or other energy drinks.
The agency has received 92 reports that cite illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths after consumption of a product marketed as 5-Hour Energy. The FDA has also received reports that cited the highly caffeinated Monster Energy Drink in five deaths and one non-fatal heart attack.
Agency officials said the reports to the FDA from consumers, doctors and others don’t necessarily prove that the drinks caused the deaths or injuries, but said they are investigating each one.
In a statement, FDA officials said they will take action if they can link the deaths to consumption of the energy drink. Such action could include forcing the company to take the drinks, often found at convenience store checkout counters, off the market.
FDA spokeswoman Shelly Burgess said the agency is cautioning consumers that these “energy shots” or “energy drinks” are not alternatives to rest or sleep.
“If someone is thinking about taking one of these products, they should consult with their healthcare provider to ensure that there are no underlying or undiagnosed medical conditions that could worsen as a result of using them,” Burgess said.
The agency doesn’t individually regulate caffeinated drinks or supplements such as the energy shots but can take action if they are proven to do harm. Makers of caffeinated alcoholic drinks took those products off the market in 2010 after the FDA sent the companies warning letters saying that combinations of caffeine and alcohol in the drinks were a public health concern and could lead to alcohol poisoning, car accidents and assaults.
5-Hour Energy’s small size can also be dangerous to consumers with underlying conditions because it’s easier to take several of them or mix them with alcohol. Though it is liquid, the 5-Hour Energy “shot” is marketed not as a drink but as a dietary supplement. FDA regulations require supplement manufacturers themselves to be responsible for products’ safety.
A spokeswoman for the company that makes the product, Michigan-based Living Essentials, LLC, says 5-Hour Energy is a “compact-sized energy shot intended for busy adults — it is not an energy drink, nor marketed as a beverage.”
Elaine Lutz said the company is not aware of any deaths proven to have been caused by their product. She said the company’s website advises consumers to drink no more than two bottles of the shots per day, spaced several hours apart, and for new consumers to drink half a bottle to start.
The New York Times first reported that 13 deaths were linked to 5-Hour Energy.
A Florida man is in trouble after six cows were shot in the face in Flagler County.
Justin Deloach is responsible, according to the state attorney’s office.
Two of the six Bunnell cows were badly injured, according to WESH.com.
Deloach told authorities he fired into the air to scare the animals after the cows broke through a fence and ate his horse feed.
But the bullets hit the cows in the face, rump and ribs and bled all over the field.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported a 9 percent increase in third-quarter net income as the world's largest retailer continues to woo back shoppers by reemphasizing it has the lowest prices. But the company is seeing its momentum slow as it grapples with an uncertain global economy.
The Bentonville, Ark.-based discounter issued a fourth-quarter profit outlook that was below analysts' forecast. It also reported that revenue at stores open at least a year, a figure that measures growth in established stores, fell short of Wall Street estimates.
Wal-Mart is considered an economic bellwether because the retailer accounts for nearly 10 percent of nonautomotive retail spending in the US. The company's latest results underscore how its low- income shoppers continue to have a hard time stretching their dollars to the next pay day and count on rock-bottom prices.
"Current macroeconomic conditions continue to pressure our customers," said Charles Holley, Wal-Mart's chief financial officer in a statement. "The holiday season is predicted to be very competitive but we are well prepared to deliver on the value and low prices our customers expect."
Nevertheless, Wal-Mart has been able to turn around its U.S. business by fixing its mistakes it made in merchandising and pricing. It's hammering its low price message again after temporarily discounting select items. It's also returned thousands of items to its shelves after a campaign to reduce clutter in its stores backfired.
The company says Thursday it earned $3.63 billion, or $1.08 per share, in the quarter ended Oct. 31. That compares with $3.33 billion, or 96 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
Net sales, excluding Sam's Club membership fees, rose 3.4 percent to $113.2 million.
Analysts were expecting $1.07 per share on revenue of $114 billion.
Wal-Mart says revenue at stores opened at least a year rose 1.5 percent for its namesake U.S. business, below Wall Street's estimate of 1.8 percent. That's the division's fifth straight quarterly gain after posting nine straight quarters of declines. But the figure represents a slowdown from the 2.2 percent growth in the second quarter and a 2.6 percent increase in the first quarter.
For the entire US business, the measure rose 1.7 percent, including a 2.7 percent rise at Sam's Clubs.
Revenue for Wal-Mart's US business, which accounts for about 60 percent of the company's total business, rose 3.6 percent to $66.1 billion, while revenue at Sam's Club rose 4.7 percent to $13.9 billion. Revenue at its international division, which accounts for about a quarter of Wal-Mart's total revenue, rose 4.7 percent. That marked a slowdown from the previous quarter.
Wal-Mart narrowed its full year earnings guidance and issued a fourth-quarter profit outlook that's below analysts' forecasts.
It now expects earnings per share for the full year to be between $4.88 per share and $4.93 per share. It originally expected earnings per share of $4.83 to $4.93. For the fourth quarter, it expects earnings per share to be $1.53 per share and $1.58 per share. Analysts had expected $1.59 per share.
Wal-Mart's stock fell $2.28 per share, or more than 3 percent, to $69.03 in trading.
Co-founders from two of Silicon Valley’s most innovative companies gave a South Florida audience a glimpse into the early days of developing the technology that would reshape the world.
Steve Wozniak, of Apple, and Chris Hughes, of Facebook, were back-to-back speakers for the three-day Americas Business Council’s Continuity Forum that wrapped up Wednesday at the Ritz-Carlton in Coconut Grove.
The conference brought together innovators, activists, and thought leaders in entrepreneurship and philanthropy and also showcased 32 emerging social entrepreneurial ventures from around the Americas.
On Wednesday afternoon, both men relayed plenty of stories.
As a teenager, Wozniak used to hole up in his bedroom on the weekends, designing a computer on paper.
And he made a game of it — every weekend he would try to make a machine that would work just as well or better but cost a little less than the last design.
That engineering mentality to build things more efficiently as well as the desire to learn never left him, he told the audience. “I would buy my college books on a Friday and be halfway through before the first class on Monday.”
Then he met Steve Jobs, and began working with him on a variety of projects. “Steve Jobs was a hippie with no money. I was an engineer with no money. We had to think creatively. I designed projects for fun, and he would figure out how to make money,” Wozniak recalled as he told how he invented the Apple I and Apple II that started it all and the company’s ups and downs through the years. He called the iPhone the greatest product ever.
As one of the Facebook co-founders that lived in the famous Harvard dorm room, Chris Hughes said the movie The Social Network got a lot of things wrong.
“Our dorm wasn’t like a luxury condo, there was no sex in the bathroom, as far as I know. An alcohol-fueled hackathon, while it looked like a lot of fun, didn’t happen.”
Hughes told the real story of Facebook and described his roommate Mark Zuckerberg as “highly analytical and very skeptical of conventional wisdom.” What the movie did get right, Hughes told the crowd: “Facebook is the defining example of American ingenuity and entrepreneurship of the 21st century.” And at the core: “There’s a new universal respect for the entrepreneur.”
Hughes, now owner and publisher of The New Republic, also talked about his current passion: How to use mobile and social technologies to support serious long-form journalism into the 21st century.
“Conventional wisdom says this kind of journalism isn’t sustainable. Cynics say the golden age of journalism has past,” said Hughes.
Yet, over the past six months Hughes said it is the long, in-depth New Republic stories that have gone viral.
“Folks are reading just as much news today, if not more. ... We have an opportunity to deliver it across a limitless number of devices. [These trends] all come together to suggest … we are entering a true golden age of journalism.”
Follow Nancy Dahlberg on Twitter at @ndahlberg.
One man was killed and two wounded in a shooting in Miami that left a car pocked with bullet holes.
Miami police responded to a call reporting shots fired at about 11:50 p.m. Monday at the corner of Northwest 11th Place and 43rd Street where they found a Nissan Altima with three young males inside.
The car was “shot up numerous times,” said Officer Kenia Reyes, Miami police spokeswoman.
One of the victims died on the scene and the others were transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Unit. The second victim is listed in stable condition and the third was treated and released.
Several blocks away at Northwest 15th Avenue and 44th Street, police canvassed the area where they discovered gunshot casings. It’s not known yet if the incidents are related.
Reyes said the names of the victims are being withheld until the next of kin is notified.
Police have no suspects or motives so far and are asking anyone with information to call 305-471-TIPS (8477).
REUTERS
Gen. David Petraeus, with his wife Holly seated behind him
Former CIA Director David Petraeus has agreed to testify before the House and Senate intelligence committees, Fox News reported.
Prior to his abrupt resignation last week, Petraeus had been scheduled to testify this Thursday on the burgeoning controversy over the Libya terror attack.
Before the change of heart, Petraeus and his successor made a four-star farce of the military when they helped a woman whom a judge called mentally unstable in her bitter custody battle — less than two weeks after Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others were murdered in Libya, court records reveal.
Petraeus, head of the CIA during the Sept. 11 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, and Gen. John Allen, the top military commander in Afghanistan, each wrote glowing letters to a judge on behalf of Natalie Khawam. And both included their lofty title — General.
“Natalie clearly dotes on her son and goes to great lengths — and great expense — to spend quality time with him,” Petraeus gushed in his Sept. 20 letter, filed nine days after Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed at the consulate.
He wrote that he and his wife, Holly — whom he betrayed by having an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell — have known Khawam for about three years.
“We have, on many occasions, observed Natalie and her son . . . including when we hosted them . . . for Christmas dinner this past year,’’ he wrote.
“In each case, we have seen a very loving relationship.”
Allen was similarly sympathetic in his Sept. 22 letter to the court, saying, “Natalie clearly loves [her son] John and cherishes each and every opportunity she has to spend time with him.”
Court letters from Gens. Allen and Petraeus
Q. I recently had to replace my 9-year-old Windows XP computer, and am having trouble adapting to Windows 7.
What are the advantages, if any, for me to upgrade to Windows 8, which I’ve read has touch-screen capability and works with other equipment besides desktop computers? Since I don’t have a touch screen, I’m wondering if there is any point in upgrading.
Peter Robinson Chaska, Minn.
Different versions of Windows 8 are being offered on PCs, tablet computers and smartphones. But in every case the new operating system is primarily aimed at people who are using touch-sensitive screens.
So unless you’re planning to buy a touch-screen device in connection with upgrading to Windows 8, you’re probably better off continuing to use Windows 7. By most accounts, using the touch-screen-oriented Windows 8 with a mouse and keyboard is more difficult than using previous Windows versions with a mouse and keyboard.
In addition, if you find the changes in Windows 7 to be challenging, I suspect you won’t enjoy the more radical changes embodied in Windows 8 (i.e., much different start screen.)
I’m not saying you should never upgrade to Windows 8; just let Microsoft deal with some of these usability issues first.Q. I disagree with your warning to never click the unsubscribe link to put a stop to spam emails. Totally inundated with spam, I began unsubscribing and cut my spam down from more than 50 a day to one or two.
Some spam senders were more difficult to shake than others. I threatened a nonexistent Florida corporation that I would go to their state attorney general’s office, but never heard from them again. I gave a dental company a taste of their own medicine until they finally stopped sending me email. Others just took me off their lists pronto. It has been well worth the effort.
Deborah Gray Mitchell North Miami
Your strategy will work with legitimate companies and with spammers who can be located and threatened with legal action.
Unfortunately, most spam producers are neither legitimate nor traceable. When you respond to their emails, you confirm that yours is a working email address, and therefore fair game.
At the same time, you’ve essentially challenged some spammers to a duel, a risky business because they know your email address. Make sure you have a strong email password to prevent tampering.
Congratulations on your success, but I can’t recommend your approach to others.
PINELLAS PARK --
The fire was all around Dan Jensen.
He could see it. He could smell it. He could hear it.
It was close enough to touch. It was burning down his neighbor's house. It was creeping toward Jensen's own fence 10 feet away, and he started spraying the fire with his hose.
Police ordered Jensen to get back, and he complied.
But after a few minutes passed without firefighters arriving, a frustrated Jensen stepped forward and leaned down to grab the skinny gray garden hose once again.
That's when he heard the order.
"Hit 'em! Take him down! Tase him!"
Within moments, Jensen was on the ground. He felt electric.
"It was all over me," Jensen said. "Crawling all over me."
The 42-year-old commercial fisherman is still struggling to comprehend exactly how things deteriorated so quickly Thursday. He said he doesn't understand why police shot him with a Taser that night as he tried to battle a house fire at 3420 Beechwood Ter. N.
Jensen's family, friends and neighbors have been quick to defend him and accuse police of crossing a line.
"It was wrong," he said. "There's no way around it. … I was fighting a fire. I wasn't fighting police. I thought they were here to help me. Instead, they hurt me."
Police said they can sympathize with the stress Jensen was under. But they said he put himself and officers in danger when he refused to back down from fighting the fire.
Pinellas Park Capt. Sanfield Forseth told the Tampa Bay Times authorities could have even charged Jensen with obstruction, but decided against it.
Jensen's attorney, Heidi Imhof, said she believes authorities are trying to deflect attention from their actions that night. She called the Taser use "excessive force."
"They can't just Taser anyone," she said. "He's an unarmed person on his private property trying to fight a fire."
Imhof said the officers had other options. They could have yanked Jensen away, she said, or just turned off the water.
The agency's policy says officers must issue a warning before using a Taser, "except when such warning could provide a tactical advantage to the subject."
Imhof said her client was never warned.
Jensen said he's "disappointed" in police.
He said that when they arrived on the scene, they told him to back off and let insurance take care of it. He did for a few minutes but grew impatient and irate. He picked up the hose again because he thought firefighters weren't getting there soon enough.
Officials told the Times it took six minutes for fire fighters to respond.
"That's my home," Jensen said Monday, his voice breaking. "That's my family."
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