Florida schools buy emergency toilets for extended lockdowns

TRINITY -- The Seven Spring Middle School eighth-graders warily eyed the white plastic bucket.Is it for carrying cleaning supplies? Moving mulch?Then they noticed the black plastic seat on top. Their eyebrows raised, their noses crinkled, as it dawned on them that this was a portable toilet, designed for use during emergency lockdowns in classrooms without restrooms. ...

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Rock stars die young more than others, solo stars twice as likely to do so: study

LONDON — Rock 'n' roll will never die — but it's a hazardous occupation.A new study confirms that rock and pop musicians die prematurely more often than the general population, and an early death is twice as likely for solo musicians as for members of bands.Researchers from Liverpool John Moores University studied 1,489 rock and pop stars who became famous...

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Survey shows better lending climate

Most Miami-Dade businesses believe they have easier access to borrowed money amid a slowly improving economy.That’s one result from a recent survey of executives by Miami’s Bilzin Sumberg law firm. The online survey of about 200 top executives was conducted during the second half of 2012. Nearly 60 percent of respondents said they thought the financing environment had improved...

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Stone-crab season suffers in the Keys

Despite rocketing prices for stone-crab claws, many Florida Keys commercial fishermen have nearly given up on the season only 2 months old."We may see record prices but also record pain," said Gary Graves, general manager of Keys Fisheries in Marathon. "Prices don't mean anything if you can't catch anything."Harvests since shortly after the season opening Oct. 15 have been...

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg donating $500 million in stock to Silicon Valley charity

SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday he is donating nearly $ 500 million in stock to a Silicon Valley charity with the aim of funding health and education issues.Zuckerberg donated 18 million Facebook shares, valued at $ 498.8 million based on their Tuesday closing price. The beneficiary is the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a non-profit that works with donors to allocate...

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Record setting weekend for New Jersey's gun buyback program in wake of Newtown massacre

APGuns cover tables at a press conference in New Jersey where Camden, NJ Mayor Dana Redd and New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa announced a record breaking weekend for the state's gun buyback program.CAMDEN, NJ — Residents of New Jersey's most impoverished and murder-prone city turned in a record number of weapons in a recent gun buyback program,...

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Stone-crab season suffers in the Keys

Despite rocketing prices for stone-crab claws, many Florida Keys commercial fishermen have nearly given up on the season only 2 months old."We may see record prices but also record pain," said Gary Graves, general manager of Keys Fisheries in Marathon. "Prices don't mean anything if you can't catch anything."Harvests since shortly after the season opening Oct. 15 have been...

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Miami owner of mental health chain pleads guilty to stealing millions from Medicare

Kept behind bars because of fears he might flee to Cuba, Armando “Manny” Gonzalez has pleaded guilty to stealing tens of millions of dollars from Medicare by fraudulently billing the taxpayer-funded program through a mental health chain in Miami and North Carolina.Gonzalez, 50, a convicted cocaine trafficker who joined the Medicare rackets in the mid-2000 era, had opened...

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Iran leader gets the clicks with Facebook rumor

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Facebook page purportedly created by Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attracted nearly 10,000 followers on Tuesday although the site’s content and style raise serious questions about its authenticity.Iranian authorities had no immediate comment on the site, which apparently went online last week but only recently gained prominence among social media...

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Westchester County won't host gun show

Westchester County will not host a gun show early next year in the wake of the massacre in Newtown, Conn.County Executive Rob Astorino said it would be inappropriate for the county to hold the event.Former County Executive Andrew Spano had banned the show after the 1999 Columbine school shootings in Colorado. The ban remained in effect for more than a decade.Astorino...

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