More New Yorkers than ever are in it to win it.
Officials say Empire State gamblers plunked down a record $9.1 billion on lottery games in 2012.
That’s up a billion dollars from the previous year.
The high total is partly linked to a big increase in New York’s sale of tickets in the multistate Powerball and Mega Millions games. There were some huge Powerball jackpots last year, including a November $587 million prize.
For that blind first date, a half-century ago, the young doctor, Phillip Frost, showed up at Patricia Orr’s family house in suburban New York, with an unusual gift: a miniature mushroom garden.
In the 50 years since, Frost, the son of a shoe store owner, has gone on to amass a fortune of $2.4 billion, according to Forbes magazine, becoming the 188th wealthiest man in the United States by developing and selling pharmaceutical companies. Along the way, he and Patricia have become major philanthropists in Miami-Dade County and they’ve signed a pledge to give away at least $1 billion more.
“He’s a relentless guy,” says Miami banker Bill Allen, who’s know him for more than 40 years. “He’s not afraid to take risks. ... He knows the intimate details of the chemistry of products, and he’s the kind of guy who can examine 50 deals while eating a sandwich.”
CNBC’s Jim Cramer recently praised Frost’s “incredible track record” for developing companies, calling Frost’s latest endeavor, OPKO Health, a “very risky” investment while noting it could offer huge gains under Obamacare.
But back in 1962, Patricia’s first impression was that Phil Frost was a bit of a nerd, finishing his medical internship with a strong interest in research — including mushrooms. She figured an academic career loomed.
“My mother was very impressed,” recalls Patricia, not so much by the M.D. behind Frost’s name but by the gift, something more serious than the usual flowers or candy. Serious was fine with Patricia, who was living at home while working toward a master’s degree in education at Columbia University. For their first date, they listened to a classical music concert.
Frost’s rise to riches may seem highly distinctive, but in an odd coincidence he has much in common with another prominent Miamian. Frost, 76, and car dealer Norman Braman, 80, both frequently appear on the Forbes list of wealthiest Americans. Both grew up in Philadelphia — Frost the son of a man who sold shoes, Braman son of a barber. Both are Jewish, well-known art collectors and philanthropists.
“He’s an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur,” says Braman. “We have a lot in common, coming from very poor families. But he went to Central High (a public school for exceptional students) and I was not qualified to go there.”
There are other differences. While Braman is voluble and highly visible in the causes he supports, Frost tends to be a reticent, almost shy speaker, given to careful pauses.
‘Lucky chances’
Told that a former colleague had called Frost “lucky,” Frost thought for a long moment. He could have cited many national business stories about his business acumen. Instead, he responded crisply: “I’ll be satisfied with lucky. I benefited from chance meetings.”
Frost spent his first years living above the shoe shop within an Italian market in South Philly. His two brothers were 15 and 16 years older. “I was an afterthought.”
The family was religiously observant, and Frost recalls his father singing him songs in Yiddish when he was small. He lived at home while attending the University of Pennsylvania, except for a year abroad in France. He took many science courses, but his major was French literature.
First there was the woman who sat down in the middle of the gallery and spilled her drink on the floor. Then there was another woman who snuck into the gallery’s parking garage, her pants halfway pulled down, desperately looking for a bathroom.
But what made Pan American Art Projects Director Janda Wetherington decide to stop participating in Wynwood’s Second Saturday Art Walks was when someone spilled wine onto a $15,000 painting, then bailed before anyone noticed.
“By that point, we had already stopped offering wine or water to people who came into the gallery, and we even had someone guarding the door to make sure no one brought any food or drink inside,” Wetherington said. But even that tactic failed. “That’s when we started opening earlier in the afternoon on Second Saturdays and close by 8 p.m. at the latest.”
The monthly art walks, which are held the second Saturday of each month, draw thousands of young people and usually wind up as boisterous block parties. On Tuesday, ARTtuesdays/MIAMI will present a panel discussion titled “What’s Next for the Wynwood Art Galleries?” at Books & Books in Coral Gables to explore whether the neighborhood’s increasingly bustling nightlife, combined with the large number of empty warehouse spaces and a lack of a geographical center, may have a negative impact on the galleries.
“Wynwood now has an international profile,” says Helen Kohen, the art historian and critic who will moderate the panel. “It’s been written about a lot. All the people who come to Art Basel have been to Wynwood for various reasons. So here Miami finally has developed a viable arts center, and it seems to be imploding.”
Wedged between 20th and 36th streets, just east of I-95, Wynwood’s Art District is currently home to more than 70 museums, galleries and collections. One of the neighborhood’s most popular attractions are the Wynwood Walls, giant murals that line the streets painted by renowned graffiti artists. There is even a movie theater, O Cinema, that specializes in art film fare.
But the neighborhood is also dotted by vacant warehouses, industrial businesses and eyesore buildings that get in the way of the intended art village vibe.
Fredric Snitzer, one of the few Miami gallerists invited to exhibit at Art Basel Miami Beach, says he doesn’t even bother to open on Second Saturdays any more. He is also pessimistic about the future of Wynwood as a thriving art district, even though he was one of the area’s pioneers (his gallery opened in 1977).
“I don’t know what is going to happen here,” he says. “One of the initial aspirations I had for the neighborhood is that there were so many beautiful kinds of raw spaces that perhaps serious galleries from out-of-town would come in and there would be a Chelsea or SoHo feel — a cluster of galleries showing solid work.
“But there are too many buildings spread out over too large of an area. The neighborhood is sprawling and it still has quite a bit of a crime problem. If it was smaller, the city could control it. But now, there’s a gallery over here and a restaurant a mile away over there. I don’t have the aspirations I used to have about the neighborhood any more.’’
Susan P. Kelley, director of the Kelley Roy Gallery, says that because her gallery is not located on NW Second Avenue — ground zero for the Second Saturday parties — she has been spared a lot of the chaos.
“We don’t get the herds; we get to cultivate our audience to come to us,” she says. “But the tide has shifted dramatically. We used to serve wine, and we stopped that two years ago because kids would come in, pick up the glasses of wine and leave. One of the purposes of a gallery is to provide entertainment to people. Not everyone is a buyer. But you still want them to come to enjoy the art and learn and have their minds expanded. Just not to the point where it isn’t respected.’’
Kelley says that “very little” art is sold on Second Saturdays, and points out that an increasing number of art dealers are holding their openings via invitation on Thursday or Friday nights instead.
But other gallery owners say Second Saturdays are an effective way to entice younger people to pay attention to art.
“People in the art world are constantly complaining that contemporary art doesn’t have a modern audience, and this is one way to fix that,” says Nina Johnson-Milweski, director of Gallery Diet. On Second Saturdays, she extends opening hours to 9 p.m. from her usual 5 p.m. closing time.
“Part of my interest in running a gallery isn’t just for the business: It’s also for the cultural benefit of the city as a whole. A lot of people who live in Miami aren’t even aware of the art scene here.”
A never-before-seen photograph featuring the late Princess Diana has been made public in the weeks before the rare pic is set to go up for auction.
The black-and-white snapshot displaying a "not to be published" marking shows a teenage Diana lounging next to an until-now mystery pal, reportedly dating back to 1981.
Pics: Remembering Diana 15 Years After Her Death
"The young man was Adam Russell, the great-grandson of former prime minister Stanley Baldwin," Andrew Morton, Diana's biographer, revealed to the U.K.'s Guardian. Through his investigation, the writer discovered the context of the photograph was not intimate, as it appears at first glance. Apparently the twosome had been injured while skiing and simply kept each other company for the afternoon.
Now that's not to say the young man didn't escape Diana's charms.
Related: Naomi Watts Talks Princess Diana Movie - Exclusive
"Adam was somewhat smitten," adds Morton. "But absolutely nothing happened."
Brooklyn
***
Police busted a gunman who wounded a foe in Crown Heights, authorities said.
Khalif Abdullah, 22, for undisclosed reasons began threatening the victim at Troy Avenue and Pacific Street on Dec. 1 at 3:20 a.m., according to court documents.
He then unleashed a barrage of bullets, striking the victim in the stomach, back and arm, court records state.
The victim underwent surgery, court records show.
Abdullah was arrested Wednesday and held on $100,000 bail, records show.
***
Two cousins were arrested after threatening to set a man alight in Midwood, authorities said.
Alexande Okoh, 44, and Yauheni Brychou, 32, allegedly approached the victim sitting in his car on Bay Parkway and 63rd Street at about 4 p.m. Tuesday and accused him of hitting their vehicle, a law- enforcement source said.
Okoh allegedly punched the man in the face and took his car keys as Brychou snatched the victim’s wallet, the source added.
Okoh doused the victim with an unknown liquid and snarled, “Give me a match. I’m going to light him on fire,” court papers state.
The victim, 26, fled and called 911, and the suspects were busted.
Queens
***
Cops are looking for the suspect pictured at right in connection with a phone-snatching spree in Forest Hills, authorities said.
On Dec. 20 the teen thief robbed a 42-year-old man at 6:05 p.m. at Yellowstone Boulevard and 67th Avenue and then a 39-year-old woman at 8 p.m. on Yellowstone Boulevard, police said.
On Christmas Day the suspect grabbed a 27-year-old woman’s phone at 6:30 p.m. on Queens Boulevard, police said.
His next three heists took place on Dec. 28, 29 and 31, police said.
Most recently, he targeted a 54-year-old woman on Queens Boulevard at 6:55 p.m. Wednesday, police said.
Staten Island
***
A man busted for drunken driving in Great Kills had a whopping 13 empty beer cans in his car, authorities said.
When a cop stopped Thomas Kelly, 50, on Amboy Road near Lindenwood Road at about 7 p.m. Wednesday, the suspect was reeking of alcohol and his speech was slurred, court papers state.
When asked to step out of the car, he nearly fell over, according to a law-enforcement source.
Although Kelly refused to take a Breathalyzer test, the cop spotted the discarded cans and cuffed him, authorities added.
***
A detective with a troubled past is in hot water again.
Richard Palase, 47, was arrested yesterday for slashing the tires of a pal’s sedan in Rossville at about 5 a.m. Wednesday, authorities said.
He allegedly caused more than $250 in damage to the 2011 Lincoln MKZ.
He was cuffed and charged with criminal mischief, records show.
Palase had been arrested by federal authorities in 2011 for allegedly running an illegal gambling ring that ran high-stakes poker games.
Police did not respond to a request for comment on Palase’s status with the department.
The Bronx
***
An anonymous tip led cops to a grenade in a building in Kingsbridge yesterday, authorities said.
The explosive was found in the basement of a building near West 238th Street and Waldo Avenue at 3 p.m., police said.
The grenade was detonated at an NYPD training facility at Rodman’s Neck, police added.
Cops are investigating, but no arrests have been made.
In the end, even the almighty Adele and Taylor Swift could not hold back the inevitable.
Spec’s, one of the last great record stores, will close its flagship location in Coral Gables on U.S.1, thus joining once-favored chains like Virgin, Tower and Peaches, locally and abroad, that have withered from Internet shopping.
With the closing, sometime in January after the merchandise is liquidated, 64 years of history becomes memory for countless people who discovered a love of music in the home Martin “Mike” Spector built in 1948 when U.S.1 was but a two-lane road.
The original store, which sold cameras alongside 78-rpm records, was a few blocks south on the highway in South Miami and is now an Einstein’s bagel spot. The present location, opened in 1953 in Coral Gables, lived through the bobby sox era, Beatlemania, disco, punk, hip hop/rap, grunge, electronic dance music and all the format changes including 12-inch vinyl, 45-rpm, reel to reel, 8-track, cassette, compact disc and mp3.
After the first music industry recession in the late 1970s, Spec’s still managed to double in size by breaking through the walls of two restaurants in 1980 on its north side. The original room on the south side of the building would house, first, Spec’s’ VHS movie rentals and sales — Saturday Night at Spec’s! — and, later, one of the most expansive collections of classical music in town.
“It’s the soundtrack of our lives,” said store manager Lennie Rohrbacher, who spent 23 years of his life working at Spec’s, from Clearwater to Coral Gables
Music sales
At its peak, the Spec’s chain grew to some 80 stores in Florida and Puerto Rico. In 1993, annual sales exceeded $70 million. Spec’s went public in 1985 and, in 1998, the Spectors sold to Camelot Music Group, which was acquired by Trans World Entertainment Corp.
Trans World, which did not return several telephone messages, shrewdly kept the Spec’s name attached to the flagship store as goodwill even though, technically, it operated under the company’s retail subsidiary, F.Y.E. (For Your Entertainment).
But those are the cold, hard business facts.
Spec’s was “not like another Eckerd’s,” a drug store chain that also slipped into oblivion amid changing times, said Rohrbacher. “This was part of the community, part of my life. It’s not another store going under.”
Indeed, Spec’s was, first and foremost, a community gathering spot to share a love of music. In the ‘70s and ‘80s Spec’s resembled a makeshift camp site where people would sleep overnight in the parking lot to get the best shot at concert tickets in a pre-Internet world. Spec’s, a hop-skip from the University of Miami’s music school, served as its own music education outlet thanks to a knowledgeable sales staff.
Music education
“The proximity to the UM is prime real estate. Not to have it there will really be different. Even if they didn’t have what I was looking for, the staff was knowledgeable and you were sort of tapping into this knowledge base of people who could turn you on to new music. That’s what I’ll miss about it and the community around the store,” said Margot Winick, an employee at the Coral Gables Spec’s in the mid-1980s when she was a freshman at the UM.
Nearly 800,000 people requested background checks so they could buy guns in Florida in 2012 — far more than in any recent year.
Statistics from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement show 797,970 background checks were requested last year — nearly 200,000 more than were requested in 2011 and more than double the number for 2004, the earliest year for which statistics were provided.
The numbers were already higher than usual in the first 10 months of 2012, but surged after President Barack Obama won re-election in November and skyrocketed in the days after the Dec. 14 mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 children and six adults.
The dramatic spike is likely fueled by fear that greater gun control laws may be passed after the Connecticut shooting.
“I don’t think it has anything to do with the national tragedy. It’s not the direct cause,” said Marion Hammer, the chief lobbyist for the National Rifle Association in Florida. “The direct cause is when politicians call for gun bans, that creates fear.”
In December alone, there were 131,103 background checks requested through the FDLE — the highest number the agency has recorded in any single month. That beat the previous record, set only a month earlier, when 84,745 background check requests were submitted in the same month that Obama was re-elected.
“The White House has made it clear that they’re going to push for gun bans,” Hammer said. “As long as people have money and guns are available, I would imagine people are going to keep buying.”
Whatever the exact cause, the most recent presidential election years do seem to have stoked fears of new restrictions on gun purchases.
FDLE numbers show that the number of gun background checks spiked significantly in November and December of 2008 as well, with nearly 64,000 requests during each of those months.
In 2007, the numbers were far less — 36,948 in November and 48,416 in December.
But the most recent numbers appear to show gun sales at an all-time high.
“The NRA is hard at work frightening people that Obama is going to take their guns,” said Art C. Hayhoe, executive director of the Florida Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. “Why would you think these guns won’t ultimately be a problem? If you’re going to have a place saturated with guns, why would anybody be surprised if there’s more gun violence?”
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said he doesn’t believe the increased sales are necessarily a cause for concern.
“I don’t know of any incidents that have taken place because of law-abiding citizens and responsible gun owners that have created a problem for us,” Gualtieri said.
The sheriff noted that most of the firearm-related crimes his agency deals with have to do with felons who have guns or guns that have been obtained illegally. Most gun owners are responsible with their weapons and purchase them through legal means, he said.
What would be of concern, the sheriff said, is if the surge in gun purchases is for assault rifles, and weapons bearing more power than what one might require for sporting or personal security. Some gun sellers have reported an uptick in sales of such high-powered weapons after the Connecticut shooting, but whether those sales are widespread is unclear.
“I think there is room for a good, solid discussion about what measures are appropriate and what policies we should set,” Gualtieri said. “This is a tough issue, and it’s an important issue.”
Dan Sullivan can be reached at dsullivan@tampabay.com or 727-893-8321.
From Annie Hall to Morning Glory, Diane Keaton has fascinated fans for decades with her quirky, wonderful characters. Off screen, the 66-year-old legend elicits her charms with a revolutionary style all her own.
Pics: Worn Out? Stars Step Out in Same Style
Join us as we look back at Diane's best and most iconic looks over the years!
At 7:32 p.m., a lieutenant and three police officers assigned to Transit District 34 were in plainclothes on patrol in two separate cars of a Manhattan-bound ‘N’ train here in Brooklyn. Officers Michael Levay and Lukasz Kozicki observed an individual moving from the second car to the third in violation of transit regulations.
As the train approached the Fort Hamilton Parkway station at 62nd Street, the subject sat down toward the front of the third car. The officers approached, and asked him for identification with the intention of removing him from the train as it came to a stop. The male stood up as if to comply with the officers, and appeared to reach for his wallet.
Paul Martinka
NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly responds after three officers were injured Thursday.
Instead, he pulled a 9-millimeter Taurus handgun from his waistband and opened fire. Officer Kozicki, 32, was struck three times; once in each of his upper thighs and once in the groin.
A witness said that the gunman appeared to notice the officer’s bullet-resistant vest, and, as a result, aimed low before he fired.
Although shot in the lower back protected by his vest, Officer Levay, 27, returned fire, striking his assailant, killing him.
A passenger on the same car sustained a graze wound to the leg during the gun fight.
Fortunately no one else was injured, as passengers ran onto the platform when the gunfire erupted.
An hour earlier in the Bronx, as the Mayor said, at 6:30 p.m., Police Officer Juan Pichardo was working off-duty at his family’s car dealership when two men, one of them armed with a Bryco .380 handgun, entered the location. Two accomplices waited outside in a getaway car.
After the two feigned interest in buying a red Altima that was parked near the dealership office, one of them produced the gun and forced Officer Pichardo and a second dealership employee on to the floor in the small back office. They began to ransack the office, looking for cash and the safe, all the while brandishing the weapon in Officer Pichardo’s face.
A few minutes after the robbery, Officer Pichardo stood up and grabbed the gunman, who fired, striking the officer in the right thigh. Despite being wounded, Officer Pichardo and the other employee wrestled the gunman to the ground and disarmed him. The gunman’s accomplice fled with the two others in the getaway car, a white Impala with Oregon license plates.
Officer Pichardo held the gunman for responding officers, who recognized the gunman as a member of a Bronx robbery crew who they had been looking for. A short distance away, at 183rd Street and Katonah Avenue, police stopped the getaway car and its three occupants, placing them under arrest.
As both of these incidents illustrate, the historic crime reductions that New Yorkers enjoy come at a price. As the Mayor said, a dozen police officers were shot last year. And now three more, in the first three days of the new year. So thank God, that the doctors at Lutheran and Jacobi did their usual work, and all of these officers will recover.
The cranes are coming back to Miami.
The battered construction industry is going higher in the new year after showing strong signs of life in 2012. Will Miami feel more like Manhattan in a few years? It just might.
So far, there has been more talk than action, fewer shovels in the ground than grand announcements. Even so, construction is underway on a dozen new condominiums in Miami-Dade County — something that seemed beyond the realm of possibility not so long ago.
Commercial building is picking up, too, particularly in Miami’s hot new urban core.
The construction sector, which posted 62 consecutive months of job losses in Miami-Dade as of November 2012, is expected to finally begin adding jobs in 2013.
By far the centerpiece project to date is Brickell CityCentre, a $1.05 billion shopping and mixed-use project that broke ground in June 2012 and will span three blocks just west of Brickell Avenue to the south of the Miami River.
The 5-million-square-foot mega-project by developer Swire Properties will include a department store, luxury shops, restaurants, a hotel, office towers and condominiums. It is expected to be connected with bridges and covered walkways and to cement downtown Miami’s emerging image as a trendy place to work, live and play.
In Brickell alone, three new condominium projects already are under construction: Jorge Perez’s Related Group is building Millecento, a 42-story tower with 382 units, and MyBrickell, a smaller project with 28 stories and 192 units shoehorned onto a 0.4-acre site. Newgard Development Group is building BrickellHouse, a 46-story, 374-unit project.
More building, much more, is coming.
“We’re going to see a lot of cranes popping up in the first and second quarter, and a year from now, we’re going to see cranes all over the skyline,” said Tom Murphy Jr., chairman and CEO of Coastal Construction, a large Miami builder that is involved in various projects, from hotels to condominiums. “I believe we as a community — South Florida, especially Miami — will build more in the next 10 years than we did in the last 15.”
Among a long roster of projects, Coastal was tapped by developer DACRA for a major renovation project in the Design District, which in 2012 marked the arrival of luxury fashion retailers such as Cartier, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Celine, Christian Dior and Prada, adding a new dimension to an area already known for home furnishings and restaurants.
DACRA president and CEO Craig Robins has a broader plan to bring in 40 to 50 luxury brands to the Design District by 2014. The area will have a pedestrian promenade, rooftop gardens and public plazas, in keeping with Miami’s emerging urban scene.
The focus on commercial development in Miami’s urban core, is all about providing more services to cater to the new residents who want everything within walking distance.
Spanish developer Espacio USA will break ground in 2013 on the first phase of a $412 million mixed-use project at 1400 Biscayne Boulevard. Starting with one 103,000-square foot office tower, the project will eventually include retail shops and residential units.
“It’s becoming much more of a New York lifestyle, and we’ll continue to see that,” said Ron Shuffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors in Coral Gables.
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