Gov. Rick Scott's ex-dog Reagan bit mansion employee, records show

TALLAHASSEE --
Reagan, the now famous dog that once belonged to Gov. Rick Scott, was banished from the Governor’s Mansion after biting an employee who moved his water bowl.

“The governor and first lady love dogs and they had to make a hard decision when it was clear that Reagan was very anxious around lots of different people,’’ Scott spokeswoman Melissa Sellers said.

The dog bite occurred while the governor was in Orlando on Jan 7, 2011, just three days after Scott took office, according to an incident report released by Scott’s office late last week. Mansion grounds employee Jennifer Kinsey was arranging flowers in the mansion when Reagan bit her on the right hand, according to an incident report made by her supervisor for the Department of Management Services. The report noted that the injury was not serious and required no medical treatment.

Scott introduced the yellow Labrador to Facebook readers on Sept. 7, 2010, shortly after he won the Republican nomination and before his election in November 2010. Facebook friends chose the name Reagan from a list of three choices suggested by the campaign and applauded the candidate’s decision to adopt a rescue dog.

After the bite report, Sellers said Scott flew Reagan back to Naples on his private jet and returned the dog to All Pets Grooming and Boarding, a Collier County groomer. Owner Kelly Normand has refused to comment. Last week WTSP-Channel 10 said she told them that Reagan’s name has now been changed to Pluto and he lives on a horse ranch in Collier County, but no one at the grooming business would confirm the report.

“The family decided that the best decision for the dog and all those who visit (the Governor’s Mansion) would be to have the grooming business find Reagan a more appropriate home with less people and activity,’’ Sellers said. “It was a hard choice that sometimes pet owners have to make.”

The Scotts have since adopted Tallee, a calmer, gentler 7-year-old yellow Lab.

Earlier this month when first asked about the disappearance of Reagan and the appearance of Tallee, the governor’s current and former staff repeatedly refused to respond. When directly asked about it a few days later, Scott said he returned the dog to prior owners because it barked a lot and frightened mansion staffers, including photographer Eric Tournay. He said the dog never bit anyone. Sellers said Scott was out of town and did not recall the incident when he talked to reporters.

Tournay has since denied being frightened by Reagan, noting that he has owned several pit bulls.

Sellers, communications director for the governor since September, was not working for Scott during the campaign or the state when Reagan was adopted and returned. She said she was not aware of the dog’s return until the Tampa Bay Times reported it. She then asked First Lady Ann Scott about the dog.

A Times story about the dog sparked an outcry from animal lovers, who were critical of Scott for promoting the adoption during the campaign and getting rid of Reagan as soon as he was elected.

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Few blacks appoint to judgeships by Gov. Rick Scott

TALLAHASSEE --
Gov. Rick Scott is on pace to appoint fewer African-Americans to judgeships in Florida than either of his two

predecessors, Charlie Crist and Jeb Bush.

In his two years as governor, Scott has appointed 91 judges. Six are black, including the reappointments of three judges who handle only

cases involving benefits to injured workers.

Scott has appointed two African-Americans to the circuit court bench, both in Miami-Dade County, and has appointed a black county judge in Jacksonville.

In a state as diverse as Florida, racial and ethnic diversity in the court system has been a concern for decades, and it erupted anew last

week in the state Capitol.

At a roundtable meeting with black legislators, Scott defended his appointments in the face of criticism that his record is “appalling.”

“There’s a sentiment in the black legal community that we need not apply because we don’t think like you,” Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St.

Petersburg, told the governor.

Unmoved, Scott said he’s limited in his choices by the lists of finalists he gets from local judicial nominating commissions or JNCs,

which screen judicial candidates and can recommend up to six candidates for each court vacancy.

Scott said he’s trying to improve diversity on the judicial panels but also emphasized that he won’t appoint activist judges.

“If an applicant — I don’t care who they are — believes in judicial activism, I’m not going to appoint them,” Scott told the black legislators’ group.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush also opposed activist judges and sought “interpreters of law, not creators,” as he said in 2004. But one of

every 10 judges Bush appointed was African-American.

Scott’s immediate predecessor, Crist, who served one four-year term, appointed 15 black judges, five in the first half and 10 in the second

including James Perry, a justice of the Florida Supreme Court.

Statistically, 6.6 percent of Scott’s judicial choices are black at the midway point of his term, compared to 8.3 percent for the term of

Crist, governor from 2007-2011, and 10 percent for Bush, who served the previous eight years. African-Americans make up 16.5 percent of Florida’s population according to the Census.

Scott has appointed proportionally more women and Hispanics to judgeships than Crist, and about the same as Bush.

For four decades, Florida judicial vacancies have been filled through a system known as merit retention, which replaced a system in which

governors could pick the candidates of their choice. It was designed to lessen political influence and improve the caliber of legal talent

on the bench.

Scott’s new chief legal adviser, Pete Antonacci, a veteran of four decades in state legal and political circles, said nominating panels

continue to be controlled by local political forces and bar groups and that Scott is at “the end of a pipeline” dominated by local politics.

“If people are believing that the system is a politics-pure zone, they’re wrong,” Antonacci said. “It all occurs inside the bubble of

the bar.”

By law, Scott has a free hand in making five of nine appointments to each of 26 judicial nominating commissions. He must pick the other

four from lists of three names for each vacancy, submitted by the Florida Bar, which Scott can reject without explanation.

Just last week, Scott asked the Florida Bar for new names for JNC vacancies in the Pinellas-Pasco circuit and in the Gainesville area.

Scott has appointed more judges in Miami-Dade than in any other county. Of Scott’s 21 selections in the state’s largest county, 13 are white (seven women and six men), six are Hispanic and two are African-American: Rodney Smith and Eric Hendon. In four instances in Miami-Dade, Scott chose white judges to replace Hispanics.

All three of Scott’s judicial appointments in Hillsborough are white; two men and a woman.

“We have a dynamic pool of African-American attorneys in Hillsborough County,” said Tampa lawyer Cory Person, president of the George Edgecomb Bar Association, a black lawyers’ group. “Gov. Scott’s record does not suggest a real effort to attract and appoint minority candidates.”

Scott has filled six of nine seats on Hillsborough’s judicial nominating panel; none is African-American. All seven Scott appointees

to judicial panels in Miami-Dade and Broward are white or Hispanic, according to the governor’s office.

To date, Scott has not appointed any judges in the Sixth Judicial Circuit for Pinellas and Pasco counties.

Tampa Bay Times researcher Natalie Watson contributed to this report.

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Gun makers, violent film and video creators benefit aplenty from tax breaks in Florida

TALLAHASSEE --
What do violent video games, gory movies and high-powered assault weapons have in common?

They have all been blamed for tragic mass shootings, including last month’s at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. — and are all subsidized by Florida taxpayers.

With Florida’s tax code more business-friendly in recent years, economic incentives and tax breaks have flowed to companies and industries currently under fire for their roles in America’s gun violence.

Meanwhile, the state has cut funding for mental healthcare and school safety programs, two areas at the forefront of the national gun control debate.

While it has become more difficult and expensive to access mental health care in Florida, it is getting easier and cheaper to obtain high-powered weapons. Last year, the Legislature cut the cost of obtaining a weapons license by $5, and a string of gun-friendly measures has boosted the number of concealed firearms carriers past 1 million.

As the White House, Congress and states across the country look at new measures for curbing gun violence, Florida’s tax code and budgeting measures could be having the opposite effect.

“I think the state of Florida has a role to play in preventing gun violence and in gun regulation,” said Sunrise mayor Mike Ryan, who has pushed for gun control but acknowledged that the controversial companies receiving tax breaks are all helping to create jobs in the state. “When you get to the issue of assault weapons, you get to a thornier issue.”

Nationally, Florida ranks 49th in mental health funding, and first in gun ownership. The state has been a trailblazer in providing lucrative tax incentives to a smorgasbord of companies in return for promises to create jobs.

In 2012, a tough budget year when the Legislature cut funding for school safety by $1.8 million and Gov. Rick Scott vetoed $5.7 million for mental health programs, lawmakers were able to find more than $10 million for economic incentives that went to violent film productions, bloody video games and gun manufacturers.

In South Florida, that meant millions of fewer dollars for mentally ill prisoners, while movie-maker Michael Bay received $4.2 million in tax breaks to produce Pain & Gain, an action film about South Beach bodybuilders who become violent criminals.

Tax breaks for gun dealers

The Legislature and powerful business groups are pushing to boost the state’s manufacturing industry, a sector that includes makers of military-style weapons.

At least three gun makers have been on the receiving end of lucrative tax break deals aimed at spurring job creation. Colt Manufacturing Co. was approved for a $1.6 million deal in December 2011, after it opted to open a new regional headquarters in Osceola County, bringing 63 jobs. Scott hailed the tax credit program as a “clear message that Florida is both open for business and a defender of our right to bear arms.”

More tax breaks for gun makers would soon follow.

Kel Tec CNC, a Cocoa Beach company that manufactured the handgun used in the controversial Trayvon Martin shooting last year, received nearly $15,000 in taxpayer cash to train its employees. The company, which also makes the types of high-powered assault weapons used in recent mass shootings, did not have to create any new jobs in return for the money. Repeated efforts to reach company officials were unsuccessful.

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Gov. Rick Scott's staff ordered to testify in Carletha Cole trial

TALLAHASSEE --
Several current and former employees in the administration of Gov. Rick Scott are being ordered by a judge to testify in a sensational criminal case that centers on allegations of illegal taping.

It is still unclear whether Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll will be forced to answer questions in the criminal case against her former aide that has also included allegations of improper relationships in Carroll’s office.

Carletha Cole, who was fired last year, was arrested in 2011 and accused of giving a reporter a secret recording containing a conversation between Cole and Carroll’s chief of staff. Cole has not been charged with making the recording — nor have prosecutors said exactly when the recording was made.

Circuit Judge Frank Sheffield initially ruled that Carroll must answer questions from lawyers representing Cole. But then he changed his mind at the urging of Scott’s top lawyer. Sheffield said Carroll would be questioned last and only if Cole’s lawyers could show her testimony was needed.

Sheffield, however, made it clear that questions of Scott administration employees will be limited to illegal taping and whether or not top officials working for the governor had ordered widespread taping as alleged by Cole.

The judge said lawyers could not ask Carroll or anyone else about the lieutenant governor’s sexual preference or whether or not the her office was the "absolute worst place in the world to work."

"We are not going to try the lieutenant governor’s office," Sheffield said.

Cole’s attorneys have asserted that their client was being set up because she witnessed unprofessional behavior by Carroll and other employees, including walking in on Carroll and a female aide in a "compromising position." Carroll, who is a former Navy officer and married, has called the allegations "false and absurd."

Attorney Stephen Webster in court on Friday suggested other employees in Carroll’s office placed recordings on Cole’s computer and she assumed they were public records. A spokesman for the governor’s office has previously denied that there was a widespread policy of taping people.

It is against Florida law to record someone without consent, but there have been legal questions about recordings made in public buildings. Cole is charged with a third-degree felony and could face up to five years in prison.

The current and former employees who were ordered to answer questions include Carroll’s travel aide Beatriz Ramos, former chief of staff Steve MacNamara, and former chief of staff Mike Prendergast.

The Scott administration last year had tried to get the judge to shield both Ramos and Carroll from answering any questions but Sheffield denied the request.

Pete Antonacci, a former prosecutor and now general counsel for Scott, repeated the request on Friday and said that as an elected official that Carroll was "special" and she should not be subjected to questioning.

"It’s very clear from what the prosecutors said that she had no role," Antonacci told the judge.

Sheffield shot back that she "is not special" and that she and anyone else should be subject to questioning since the criminal case could result in Cole going to prison. But the judge then agreed to Antonacci’s request that Carroll’s deposition be delayed.

Sheffield on Friday also turned down requests for a long list of records and documents sought by Cole’s attorneys, including surveillance tapes, emails, calendars and phone logs of various administration employees. He did agree to allow some travel records and calendars of Carroll’s chief of staff to be turned over.

The tape recording at the center of the criminal case was placed on the website of The Florida Times-Union. On it John Konkus, the chief of staff for Carroll, can be heard saying that MacNamara, is afraid of Carroll. Konkus also complained that Scott "is not leading."

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Bioethics commission meets at UM to consider testing anthrax vaccine on children

In “Dark Zephyr,” fictional terrorists released a cloud of anthrax on San Francisco. Adults were successfully vaccinated, but doctors didn’t know the safe dosage to give children.

Fortunately this was just a practice exercise in emergency response in 2011. But the realization that modern medicine had no protocol to protect children from a deadly bacterial pathogen prompted U.S. Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius to ask the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues to consider the ethics of using healthy children in anthrax vaccine research.

The discussion has taken the 13-person commission a full year. The central question is to find the balance between the hypothetical risk of not knowing how to treat children in an anthrax bioterrorism attack and the real risk to healthy children who would participate in a study.

The commission, composed of leaders in medicine, social policy and law, met at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine this week for the last of four sessions to publicly ponder these ethical issues. The UM Ethics Program has long been identified by the World Health Organization as one of the six global “Collaborating Centres for Bioethics.”

Amy Gutmann, the commission’s chair, reminded participants the commission’s role is advisory only. “The question we must address is whether the U.S. Government could ethically support a pediatric [anthrax vaccine] study under any circumstance,” Gutmann said. “We will not render a final decision as to whether a particular study should move forward. Nor are we working to justify any particular protocol or outcome.”

An existing vaccine is routinely administered to adults in the military and other fields to protect against anthrax spores that are deadly if inhaled. Before the vaccine can be ethically researched with children, new trials in young adults should occur, said Col. Nelson Michael, director of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program and member of the commission. These studies would administer lower doses of the vaccine to determine the safest dosage in 18- to 20-year old adults.

Such studies would not be efficacy studies, however, which have been done in animals. Researchers would never infect humans with anthrax for a study, according to Michael, who is an expert in vaccine research.

“It would be completely unethical to conduct an anthrax challenge trial in humans,” Michael said.

The issues surrounding this research question are unprecedented in bioethics for a few reasons, according to Lisa Lee, the director of the commission’s staff. First, testing an anthrax vaccine on healthy children is unlike other pediatric research because research subjects will enjoy no direct benefit, as would, for example, a child with cancer who could be saved by previously untested treatment.

Second, anthrax is not a naturally occurring disease, and the probability of an attack is “unknowable.’’ The capability to use anthrax as a biological weapon is widely acknowledged, since letters infected with anthrax spores were sent to politicians and media outlets in 2001, killing five people. (A 2010 FBI investigation blamed the attacks on an Army scientist who helped develop the anthrax vaccine and later committed suicide.) Security analysts have presented their interpretation of the likelihood of a bioterrorism attack, but even the best intelligence cannot put a percentage on the chance that terrorists will unleash anthrax on American cities.

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Driver in Rickenbacker Causeway cyclist death to be sentenced

A motorist who killed cyclist Aaron Cohen in a hit-and-run crash on the Rickenbacker Causeway will learn his fate Wednesday.

A Miami-Dade judge on Wednesday afternoon will sentence Michele Traverso, 26, who earlier pleaded guilty for the crash that killed Cohen last February.

The fatality, and a similar hit-and-run wreck in 2010, has renewed calls for increased safety for cyclists and joggers on the popular causeway. Fellow cyclists staged a memorial ride and erected a billboard overlooking Interstate 95 in Cohen’s honor.

Members of Miami’s avid cycling community are expected to be on hand for the 1 p.m. sentencing.

Traverso, driving on a suspended license, struck Cohen and cycling partner Enda Walsh as the two rode in the northbound lanes near the crest of the bridge. Traverso surrendered to police 18 hours after the crash.

Though there were reports of Traverso drinking in Coconut Grove that night, investigators could not prove that his blood alcohol content level was above the legal limit because of the delay in turning himself in.

Traverso pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident involving a death, leaving the scene of an accident with great bodily harm, and driving with a suspended license. He also pleaded guilty to earlier cocaine possession charge.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Thomas could sentence him to as little as 22.8 months in prison, and as much as 35 years behind bars.

In May, Thomas told Cohen’s widow, Patricia Cohen, that he would be unlikely to deliver the maximum sentence, although he could consider “20 or 25 years” after hearing from her and Traverso’s own family at a possible sentencing.

The Cohen family is suing Traverso and his father, who owned the car.

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Gov. Scott scolded by legislative black caucus

TALLAHASSEE --
Gov. Rick Scott heard a litany of complaints Tuesday from the Legislative Black Caucus, on matters ranging from judicial appointments to civil rights for ex-felons. Throughout an hour-long discussion, the Republican governor held his ground in the face of grievances from Democratic lawmakers.

Criticized for making only a handful of black appointments to the judiciary, Scott said he’s limited to the choices given him by nominating panels and won’t appoint judges who believe in “judicial activism.” He said 6.5 percent of his judges are African-American (Florida’s black population is more than twice that). But Scott broke the tension by pointing out that he has appointed the wives of Reps. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, and Joe Gibbons, D-Hallandale Beach, to state boards.

Faulted for signing a flawed election law that cut back the days of early voting, Scott said: “We’ve got to make changes, I agree. I didn’t have anything to do with passing it.” Scott’s administration, however, did spend more than $500,000 in legal fees last year successfully defending the law against numerous legal challenges.

Black lawmakers make up about one-fifth of the Legislature’s membership. They remain angry at Scott for one of his first decisions as governor: He and the three Republican Cabinet members imposed a five-year waiting period after ex-felons leave prison before they can apply for restoration of their civil rights.

“Once you’re out as a felon, you should spend time making sure you’re doing the right thing before you get your rights back,” Scott told the group, seated around a large square table.

The meeting ended with a plea that Scott appoint a task force to look at disparities in sentencing that affect young black men. Scott did not directly respond to the request.

“It’s deja vu all over again from last year,” said Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, as the session ended. “He’s still stuck on judicial activism. He wants everyone to think like him. He wants to run the state like a corporation, like it’s Florida, Inc. He’s not flexible on a lot of things.”

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Miami police sergeant takes stand, denies accusations in federal corruption trial

A Miami police sergeant who headed a drug-fighting squad testified in his federal corruption trial Monday, denying ever planting drugs on a suspect or stealing drugs and money from dope dealers.

Sgt. Raul Iglesias, 40, accused of being a dirty cop, also denied ever asking detectives in his unit for “throw-down dope’’ to plant on the suspect in a downtown Miami parking lot in early 2010.

“Absolutely not,’’ Iglesias testified, disputing the recent testimony of two detectives who accused him of asking them for throw-down drugs. “That’s a ridiculous statement.’’

Iglesias further testified that he never told a third detective that it was OK to pay confidential informants with drugs. That detective testified that he did that once in 2010, with Iglesias sitting by his side in an unmarked police vehicle, but Iglesias denied that the confidential informant was paid with a small amount of cocaine.

“I have no knowledge that he ever paid [the informant] with drugs,’’ Iglesias testified during direct examination as the first defense witness. The government rested its case on Friday.

Iglesias, who is scheduled to continue testifying, faces nine counts of conspiracy to possess cocaine, violating suspects’ civil rights, obstruction of justice and making false statements. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

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Cyclist killed by hit-and-run driver on Ives Dairy Road

State troopers are looking for a driver in a hit-and-run crash that killed a cyclist on Ives Dairy Road in north Miami-Dade County early Sunday.

The cyclist was riding west on Ives Dairy Road near Northeast 13th Court around 3:41 a.m. when the rider was struck and killed by a black Dodge Charger also traveling westbound.

Eyewitnesses to the crash followed the car and obtained a partial license tag number, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Troopers have not yet released the name of the dead cyclist.

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Controversial trolley garage in West Grove violates zoning code, experts say

A controversial trolley garage being built in Miami’s predominantly black West Grove neighborhood violates the Miami 21 zoning code, the ambitious blueprint designed two years ago to give order to the sometimes haphazard and inconsistent development in the city, according to the University of Miami’s Center for Ethics and Public Service.

The garage, the center argues, should be considered industrial, not commercial as suggested by the city, and therefore not allowed.

“Industrial use includes government-operated,” Zach Lipshultz, a fellow at the center’s Environmental Justice Clinic, explained at a meeting of the Ministerial Alliance Saturday. “The question we’re raising is in defining that government-operated facility. Why is it deemed a commercial establishment?”

Residents have been fighting to stop the 12-bay garage being built in the 3300 block of Douglas Road because it will back up against a single-family, residential neighborhood. The garage is part of a deal Astor Development struck with the city of Coral Gables to swap land. Astor wants to build a luxury 7-story apartment, office and retail center on Le Jeune Road where the Gables’ current trolley garage sits.

Last week residents started an online petition and Saturday held a rally at the site. About 30 people, far fewer than organizers hoped for, chanted and held signs, including one that read, “Don’t throw your trash in our neighborhood.”

In recent weeks, the residents have been sparring with City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who brokered a deal with Astor to give $250,000 to improve football fields at nearby Armbrister Park to garner support. Sarnoff argues the zoning code permitted the garage and tied the city’s hands. So he tried to make the best of a bad situation.

When he met with the Alliance, a group of 15 ministers working in the West Grove area, the group asked the UM law school center to look into it. Center director Anthony Alfieri also sits on its board.

At the meeting Saturday, about 40 people attended, including Miami planning director Francisco Garcia, Sarnoff, ministers, residents and football coaches.

“There’s no need for me to shove anything down anyone’s throat,” Sarnoff told the group. “I could have kept my fingerprints off this and there would be no benefit at all.”

Garcia explained that under the code, auto-related commercial uses are allowed.

“This particular trolley depot, under our code, is not an industrial use,” he said. “The kind of work is so minor, it’s essentially the same as would happen in any other car garage.”

But Lipshultz, who had help from UM’s architecture school, found that “government vehicle maintenance facilities” are considered an industrial use under Miami 21. And industrial uses are not allowed in the area.

Garcia conceded that zoning can be open to interpretation and ambiguous.

“Some areas are very clear cut and straightforward,” he said. “Then there’s a broad middle. This falls into the broad middle.”

Garcia told the group he would look into the finding and “if we’ve made mistakes, we’re happy to own up to it and learn from it.”

In addition to looking at legal issues, Lipshultz also investigated health hazards and found solid evidence linking health hazards to diesel exhaust. The World Health Organization, he said, recently reclassified diesel emissions as a major carcinogen. If the garage is built, he said, it should be monitored for toxic emissions.

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South Florida man charged with brewing moonshine in his backyard

Authorities say they have arrested a 23-year-old man who has been distilling and selling moonshine at his Lantana home.

Daniel David Pawa is in the Palm Beach County Jail this morning facing charges including possessing moonshine, conspiracy to violate beverage laws and possessing a fire arm, according to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Department officials say Pawa was arrested early this morning in Lantana by agents from their Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco. The address of Pawa’s West Palm Beach home, where authorities say he was cooking the alcohol, was not immediately available.

Authorities did say that undercover agents had bought more than 40 gallons of moonshine from Pawa. When they searched his home they found a moonshine still, liquor bottles, a hydrometer, mason jars and a .45 caliber gun.

Possession of the gun is the most serious charge, a second degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines. Pawa faces four other charges, all third-degree felonies that could earn him up to five years in prison and/or up to a $5,000 fine for each should he be found guilty.

The West Palm Beach and Lantana police departments assisted with the arrest and securing the home. The address where Pawa was arrested was also not immediately available.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad responded to scene when a grenade was found during the search, according

to the department.

Authorities are still looking for two other individuals they believe were in on the moonshining operation.

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Plan to add 100 Miami police officers wins city commission support

The Miami City Commission will move forward with a plan to expand its police department by 100 officers.

The additional personnel will boost the department’s ranks to 1,244 sworn officers, and better align the ratio of police to residents in Miami with cities like Baltimore, Atlanta and Memphis.

“If we are ever going to become the great city that we claim we are going to become, we need to do at a minimum what Philadelphia does,” said Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, noting that Philadelphia employs 4.3 officers for every 1,000 citizens, compared to the 2.6 officers for every 1,000 citizens in Miami.

While the commission did not take an official vote, a majority of members and Mayor Tomás Regalado expressed support for the initiative, and City Manager Johnny Martinez said he would begin work on a detailed strategy for police hiring.

“The number one priority should be policing,” Commissioner Francis Suarez said. “It’s a critical need in the city.”

Sarnoff, who pitched the idea in his first official act as commission chairman, wants to go further, adding 300 officers over the next three years.

It won’t be easy. Miami is already 50 officers shy of the 1,144 officers covered by the budget. City officials blame the shortage on administrative hiccups between the police department and the city’s human relations department.

Making the bottleneck worse, Miami must adhere to special guidelines from the Department of Justice when recruiting new officers.

Regalado said that streamlining the process for hiring police might require a change to the city charter. If that is the case, he said, it would have to wait until the next election.

But Police Chief Manuel Orosa said the city could reasonably hire between 150 and 200 new officers in 2013 by adding a few additional police academy instructors.

“Parts of our city are becoming more vertical,” Orosa said. “You need more officers to cover the density.”

Orosa estimated that the salaries for 100 new officers would cost about $7.4 million a year. There would be additional costs for the officers’ uniforms, cars and fuel, he said.

The commission would need to formally approve the additional expenses.

After Thursday’s discussion, Regalado said he was committed to expanding the police department as quickly as possible.

Martinez, the city manager, offered a note of caution.

“We need to be very strategic,” he said. “It’s not just hiring 100 officers, it is hiring the right 100 officers.”

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Jack Lord’s future at UM unclear

Jack Lord “stepped down” last week as the No. 2 executive at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, but is he really leaving UM? That’s unclear a week after the announcement.

On the evening of Jan. 2, Dean Pascal Goldschmidt wrote a letter to faculty that Lord would no longer be chief operating officer, but gave no indication what Lord’s future would be.

The next morning, at 4:59 a.m., Richard Cole, chair of the pathology department, wrote an email to departmental colleagues that Lord, a pathologist by training, would join the department. “We are very proud to have Jack as a member of our faculty and are fortunate that Jack will remain a vital member of our department to help move our efforts forward. His expertise in health care delivery and management will continue to benefit the department and school.”

The following day, Jan. 4, The Herald asked Lord and UM public affairs department whether he was going to pathology. Spokeswoman Christine Morris emailed: “Responding on behalf of the institution and Dr. Lord, we have nothing else to say.”

On Wednesday, spokeswoman Lisa Worley said the email about Lord moving to pathology was “inaccurate. We are working on a transition with Dr. Lord, and it will be resolved in the near future.”

Meanwhile, a petition continues to circulate among faculty that decries “the failed leadership of Pascal Goldschmidt and Jack Lord. ... We want to make clear that the faculty has lost confidence in the ability of these men to lead the school.”

Many faculty are angry about the medical school laying off 900 full- and part-time employees -- cuts that were devised shortly after Lord took over as COO in the spring of 2012.

His salary is not public record, but his predecessor in the job, William Donelan, had a base salary in 2011 of $735,250, plus bonuses and other compensation for a total of $1.05 million, according to UM’s Form 990 filings with the Internal Revenue Service.

Before taking a job at UM, Lord and his wife pledged to give $5 million to the university.

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Man run over by construction equipment in Miami-Dade

A man died in a construction accident Tuesday in Southwest Miami-Dade.

The man, who hasn’t yet been identified by Miami-Dade police, died after he became trapped under a piece of Bobcat construction equipment at about 11:40 a.m. at 15351 SW 208th Ave.

This report will be updated as more information becomes available.

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Live at the BCS: Ocean Drive reopens to car traffic; crashes delaying I-95 traffic in Broward; rain chance 20 percent for game

SPORTS FIGURE IN THE HOUSE: Joe Theismann, former Notre Dame quarterback, is at Sun Life Stadium signing autographs and hanging out with fans. Theismann, who went on to play for the Washington Redskins before retiring after a horrific leg injury, predicted victory for his alma mater, 24-17. “That’s my story and I’m sticking with it,” he said.

IN MIAMI BEACH: The city remains crowded, said police spokeswoman Vivian Hernandez. "We have a lot of people out and about. I just left my office, and fans are out, walking off of Ocean Drive, Lincoln Road ... they’re both busy with fans," she said after 2 p.m. "They all have their team spirit, they either have Notre Dame or Alabama gear on. They’re here for the teams." More Beach officers are on the streets than usual. "They’re in their designated areas. They’re there for the ’just in case.’ As of now we’ve had no issues, the fans have been great and enjoyed the city. We want people to come to our city and enjoy themselves and for us to keep them safe." By Monday afternoon, Ocean Drive was reopened to regular traffic after a fan event on Sunday. Hernandez gave a few safety tips: "If you don’t know the area, go out in numbers. Ask an officer, be mindful of not having your purse toward the back, the regular safety tips. More importantly, enjoy the game and enjoy the city."

FATHER OF A PLAYER: Arturo Martinez of Pinecrest is the father of walk-on football player from Notre Dame who overcame cancer and was featured on the front page of Sunday’s Miami Herald. Martinez pulled into the West parking lot of Sun Life Stadium. He said the weather is beautiful, with just a couple of clouds hovering. "There are wall-to-wall people everywhere, and we’re still six hours to kickoff,’’ Martinez said. "A lot of people setting up for their tailgates, a lot of excitement, music playing everywhere. A lot of joy for all of us to be here.’’ Martinez said Sunday’s article "brought everyone out of the woodwork, and I wish I was technologically prepared to respond to these wonderful well-wishers. We were overwhelmed by the story.’’

THE WEATHER: Now that Big Game Day is here, will the weather cooperate? Forecasters think so. Rain chance is 20 percent chance Monday night, with partly cloudy skies and a possibility of isolated showers, according to the National Weather Service. Highs of 80 during the day will cool to 72 at night. Kickoff for the BCS championship is 8:30 p.m. at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens. The forecast will be similar through the workweek, with highs in the low-80s and lows in the low-70s. Winds will pick up Tuesday night, with gusts 18-25 mph.

THE TRAFFIC: Several crashes are delaying traffic in Broward County. Delays are reported on southbound I95 at Oakland Park Boulevard and the northbound I-95 ramp to Sunrise Boulevard. In Miami-Dade, a crash is blocking lanes on Northwest 57th Avenue at State Road 826.

THE STORES: Fans are hungry. And they’re doing something about it. A Publix north of downtown Miami was packed during the lunch hour with Alabama and Notre Dame fans buying sandwiches, chips and beer for their tailgating pleasure. It wasn’t hard to spot them: Alabama fans wore red, Notre Dame fans were in blue.

THE ALABAMA BAR: Mike “Dawg” Arnold, general manager at Alabama Jacks near the Keys, said not much of the staff is from Alabama, but the original owner of the restaurant was. His nickname was "Alabama Jack." Said Arnold: “It’s been a blast. I think [the Alabama fans are] coming here for good luck. In the last three days, I’ll say it’s been for every one Irish fan, we had 100 Alabama fans. We’ve had a blast with it. All the fans have had a great time." The bar won’t be hosting a watch party because the hours are 11 to 7 p.m. The games starts at 8:30. Instead, there will be a party offsite for the staff.

This article will be updated as more information is available.

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For Canes fans, BCS national title game is like the Pick Your Poison Bowl

The college football national championship game might as well be the “Pick Your Poison Bowl” for Miami Hurricanes fans.

It’s tough for many to decide who they dislike more playing for all the glory on their team’s home turf: The Alabama Crimson Tide or the Notre Dame Fighting Irish?

Notre Dame, a long-hated rival, whipped the struggling Hurricanes this year. Alabama, which dismantled the Hurricanes and denied them a repeat national championship in the 1993 Sugar Bowl, would repeat as the nation’s top team if it wins Monday at Sun Life Stadium.

“My TV won’t be able to turn to that particular channel. I won’t watch,” said Randall “Thrill” Hill, one of the greatest University of Miami receivers who played during the height of the rivalry against Notre Dame from 1987 to 1991.

“If I had to have one of those two teams win – oh my goodness, I can’t believe I’m saying this – it would have to be Notre Dame,” Hill said.

Hill said it’s less about loving the Irish and more about seriously disliking Alabama’s head coach, Nick Saban, who – despite his denials -- took the job in 2006 after a disappointing tenure leading the Miami Dolphins.

“I’m a fan of my community,” Hill said. “And I just do not like the way Saban, with his attitude and personality, came down here and left the South Florida area.”

Saban’s Dolphins legacy – or infamy – haunted him as soon as he landed Wednesday at Miami International Airport, where reporters hit him up with questions about his time in South Florida.

“I made my comments about all that,” he said, occasionally referring to himself in the third person. “We really love South Florida. We have a lot of great relationships here.”

The Crimson Tide’s football-operations director, Joe Pannunzio, coached at UM until 2011. And its offensive line coach, Jeff Stoutland, held the same post at the University of Miami, where he was named interim coach in 2010, when the Hurricanes lost in the Sun Bowl to Notre Dame.

“I know these guys,” said Don Bailey Jr. a UM center from 1979-1982. “It’s real simple for me: I’m not rooting for Notre Dame.”

Bailey remembers that, before playing against Notre Dame, he and his roommate, a linebacker, were dissed during a hotel elevator ride by a few hulking players from South Bend.

“They asked us if we were in the Miami band,” Bailey chuckles. “From that day forward, it made it real easy for me to root against Notre Dame.”

One of the Hurricanes most die-hard fans, Liberty City rapper-turned-football-coach Luther Campbell, said he isn’t conflicted.

“I root against Notre Dame. I hate them,” he said.

“Notre Dame is treated like someone special, like they’re bigger than anybody else, bigger than anything in college football,” he said. “’They have their own network contract. They’re not affiliated with any conference and they still get to go to the national championship game, all they have to do is go undefeated. They could play cookie-cutter teams and go undefeated. That’s the pope’s team. I like the pope. But I’m not ok with Notre Dame.”

Also, as a coach for Northwestern High School, Campbell has a special bond with Alabama’s star receiver, Amari Cooper, a Northwestern graduate who wanted to play for the Hurricanes at one point.

For filmmaker Billy Corben, who directed “The U” documentary about the Hurricanes, the national-title game can be summed up as two sappy movies about each of the storied programs: “It’s Rudy vs. Forrest Gump.”

“As a filmmaker, a story teller, it’s a lot easier to paint Alabama as the bad guys. Notre Dame is the underdog,” he said. “Ultimately, I’d enjoy an Alabama loss more.”

But there’s not much to enjoy, Corben said, likening the title game to an election. He wants a third party.

“If the national title game was a presidential race,” he said, “I’d vote for Gary Johnson to play.”

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In Miami’s Wynwood district, the party has overtaken the art

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.”

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Miami foodies eagerly await Trader Joe’s in Pinecrest

Trader Joe’s grocery store’s whimsical ambiance charmed Kimberly Kurzweilt when she visited one in Los Angeles. Like a child in a candy store, she was attracted to the artisan cheese section, the “inexpensive wine,” and “the variety.” Now she can’t wait to have one close to home in Pinecrest.

If it all goes as planned, the new Trader Joe’s in Pinecrest will be swarming with employees wearing off-beat Hawaiian shirts sometime this year. Known for its specialty and organic foods at prices below those of other specialty grocers, Trader Joe’s has local foodies awaiting an opening date with cultish anticipation.

“The prices are always great,” Kurzweilt said. “The ambience is funky, ‘hippi-ish’ and retro in a good way.”

The California grocery chain is working with local officials to prepare for an opening this year at 9205 S. Dixie Hwy. Construction should begin early this year. There are no plans to demolish the 13,800 square feet building that used to house a Barnes & Noble bookstore, instead it will be remodeled, Pinecrest Planning Director Stephen Olmsted said.

“They submitted site plans in December and we already reviewed them,” Olmsted said. “Once the drawings are approved and building permits are issued construction will begin. I don’t anticipate any problems in the permitting process. It should be fairly soon.”

Jeannette Golindano can’t wait. When she moved to Miami in August from Charlotte, N.C., she missed the store, so she began to drive to the Trader Joe’s in Naples once a month to do her grocery shopping.

“It was during a friendly conversation with the cashier that we were told about Trader Joe’s opening in Miami in 2013,” Golindano said. “I can’t explain to you with words how we reacted to the news. Now, we can’t wait.”

Golindano began a petition on Facebook to get a Trader Joe’s in Miami. One of the Facebook fan pages she set up has more than 1,000 followers. Besides Naples, the chain also has stores in Gainesville and Sarasota, which opened last year, and another is planned for Tallahassee.

Fans usually flood in on opening day. The Naples Daily News reported that hours before the store’s opening last February, hundreds waited in a line that snaked around the entire back of the shopping center. Some people traveled from other cities and stood in line as early as 5:30 a.m.

Pinecrest officials believe parking won’t be an issue. The city requires the store to provide at least 56 parking spaces – and the store is planning to have 89, Olmsted said.

The store in Pinecrest is projected to generate about 70 jobs. The management team will come from existing stores around the country. As soon as the team is set, they will be hiring for “crew positions” to run registers, stock shelves, merchandise products, and chat with customers. The “Now Hiring” banner or sign will be placed outside of the store about one to two months before it opens.

According to the company website, the store will also have a food donation program coordinator. In 2010, Trader Joe’s donated more than 25 million pounds of food – that’s equal to almost 656 truckloads of food or 20 million meals, the company claims.

Bejamin Gutierrez, an architect who enjoys cooking for his family of five in Pinecrest, said he is looking forward to the opening. He said every one in the store in New York’s Upper West Side “was always friendly” and willing to offer samples of the food.

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South Florida’s Little Moscow has lots to offer

The unfamiliar-sounding names can be seen along a stretch of Collins Avenue and East Hallandale Beach Boulevard: Matryoshka Deli Food, Tatiana Club & Restaurant, Kirova Ballet Academy. The owners of these businesses are Russian-speaking professionals catering to Russian-speaking customers.

Welcome to South Florida’s Little Moscow.

Among the most famous of so-called Russian residents in this region are NHL player Pavel Bure and tennis player Anna Kournikova, who own luxury waterfront villas on nearby Miami Beach.

But those who live in the district that stretches from Sunny Isles to Hallandale Beach, could hardly be called “Russian.” They consist of more than 20 nationalities: Ukranians, Belorusians, Jews, Lithuanians, Latvians, Moldavians, Uzbeks and Chechens, to name a few. The only thing that unites all of these people is the Russian language.

Russian speakers began to emigrate during former Soviet Union times when many were fleeing for political and social reasons. Among those relocating to South Florida was a significant Jewish population. Immigrants of the 1970-’80s adopted the United States as their new homeland, so they spent much of their time trying to adjust themselves and their children to American traditions, culture and way of life.

The second wave of Russian immigration came after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. For many, the desire to relocate was for economic reasons.

“These people didn’t ruin their Russian connection — they kept on developing businesses and investing in Russia while staying in Miami,” writes Vera Kishinevski in her book Russian Immigrants in the United States: Adapting to American Culture (New Americans).

The author adds that many of the immigrants from that era still call Russia their home and follow Russian news, politics and the economy. Many also hire Russian teachers for their children.

At the Russian-named shops, cafes and bars that dot the bilingual Sunny Isles/Hallandale Beach district, customers can find just about any service in Russian faster than in English. Lawyers, doctors, hair stylists, tourism managers and journalists are ready fulfill the needs of Russian-speaking clients.

Janna Kirova, founder of Kirova Ballet Academy of Miami, has spent about 10 years teaching classical Russian ballet to American, Russian and Hispanic children. A professional dancer trained at the prestigious Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia, Kirova said she can’t imagine herself without endless ballet classes. She teaches Russian-style choreography to her 200 students.

“Ballet is undoubtedly one of Russia’s symbols,” Kirova said. “As opposed to other arts, it’s been cultivating in our country throughout its whole history, even in the Soviet times. So it’s literally our natural way to express feelings in motion.”

“When I watched a ballet performance for the first time in my childhood, I was fascinated by its airy beauty and symbolism,” she said. “Ballet has become my way of life, my language and my love.” While Kirova’s dance academy has survived, other businesses in the Russian-speaking district have struggled, and a few have closed over the years.

Matryoshka Deli Food, which opened in November 2012, has become a popular gathering spot for Russian-speakers in Sunny Isles Beach. According to store owner Tatyana Pugachova, “It is a supermarket and bistro with traditional Russian food and with the high level of service that the Americans are used to.”

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Naked man arrested after choking family dog

A barking dog woke a homeowner out of his early morning sleep Wednesday. When he grabbed his gun and went to check, he found a naked man choking the family pet.

When the victim tried to intercede, the culprit quickly turned around and began biting the man, according to Miami Police.

Fearing for his life, the victim shot the man, while family members called police.

The culprit continued to fight with officers who arrived on the scene.

The subject finally was taken into custody and transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center to be treated for a gunshot wound.

The victim was treated for his injuries.

Police charged the man, who refused to give his name, with burglary with an assault, resisting arrest with violence, lewd and lascivious behavior and animal cruelty.

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