Shonda Rhimes Talks Katherine Heigl Greys Anatomy Emmy Snub

Shonda Rhimes and her Scandal star Kerry Washington are the focus of Sunday's all-new episode of Oprah's Next Chapter, and in addition to talking about the importance of their addictive Thursday night series, Rhimes looks back on one of her more frustrating professional moments.


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In 2008, Katherine Heigl notoriously pulled her name from Emmy contention, saying that she didn't feel the material she was given that year warranted consideration. "On some level, it stung," Rhimes tells Oprah Winfrey. "But on some level I was not surprised. When people show you who they are, believe them. I carry that with me a lot. It has served me well."


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Winfrey then goes on to ask Rhimes what accomplishment she's most proud of. "I'm most proud of the fact that I have figured out how to exist as both a creative person and artist and a businesswoman and a manager," she says.

"Because those two things do not go together. For a long time I really had a hard time with the idea that I was supposed to be this person who lived inside her head and created things, but also managed a bunch of people and had to lead a group of people."

Rhimes adds, "But those two things came together, and I'm really proud of how that works now."

Check out a sneak peek clip and tune in to Oprah's Next Chapter every Sunday at 9 p.m. on OWN.

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Supreme Court will hear gay marriage cases








WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will take up California's ban on same-sex marriage, a case that could give the justices the chance to rule on whether gay Americans have the same constitutional right to marry as heterosexuals.

The justices said Monday they will review a federal appeals court ruling that struck down the state's gay marriage ban, though on narrow grounds. The San Francisco-based appeals court said the state could not take away the same-sex marriage right that had been granted by California's Supreme Court.

The court also will decide whether Congress can deprive legally married gay couples of federal benefits otherwise available to married people. A provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act limits a range of health and pension benefits, as well as favorable tax treatment, to heterosexual couples.











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High-flying Miami businessman charged with fraud




















Claudio Osorio once boasted that he climbed the world’s iconic mountains: Fuji, Kilimanjaro and the Matterhorn.

But the jet-setting Venezuelan-born entrepreneur has now taken the steepest fall of his life. On Friday, Osorio, along with his business partner, Craig Stanley Toll, were arrested as part of a 23-count federal indictment charging them with bilking investors out of $40 million.

Osorio and Toll, the principals of a failed business venture, InnoVida Holdings, are also charged with defrauding the federal government out of $10 million in loans they were given to help finance construction of a Haitian factory to build homes for hurricane victims.





Osorio built his company in 2005, selling it to investors as a cutting-edge producer of fiber-composite panels that could build affordable housing and post-disaster shelter in developing countries. His business model entailed forming joint ventures all over the world.

He splashed his wealth in Miami social circles and soon was hobnobbing with a who’s who of rich, famous and politically connected people, many of whom he lured into investing in his company under false pretences, authorities allege.

Osorio filed for bankruptcy last year and his $12 million Star Island mansion was auctioned off. As part of his Chapter 11 filing, the embattled entrepreneur promised to repay creditors and investors $50 million. The company, which once had former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush as a board member, was shut down last year, and its formula for building the resin-structured housing was sold to a Brazilian firm.

Miami businessman Chris Korge and Chicago Bulls star Carlos Boozer were among the investors accusing Osorio of using lies, fraud and theft to prop up his and his wife’s lavish lifestyle, not to invest in his company.

His wife, Amarilis, is not charged in the indictment.





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Genting abandons gambling petition drive




















In a major shift in strategy, the Genting Group, the Malaysian-based casino giant, told legislative leaders this week that it will stop a petition drive to get a casino amendment on the 2014 ballot, leaving it to lawmakers to decide the future of gambling in Florida.

“We are not going forward with a petition drive effort and there have not been any petitions gathered,’’ said Brian Ballard, a lobbyist for Genting, after meeting with legislative leaders. “The approach the Legislature is taking with this — a thoughtful analysis — we think makes absolute sense and we want to be a constructive player in it.”

Genting led a failed effort earlier this year to bring destination resort-style casino gambling to Florida. The measure never made it out of a House committee and was loaded down with provisions in the Senate before it was declared dead.





During the past election cycle, Genting created a political committee — New Jobs and Revenue For Florida — and spent money on voter petition consultants, constitutional scholars and pollsters in an effort to set the stage for a constitutional amendment to make casinos legal. The goal was to have it go before voters in 2014.

As Florida’s legislative leaders changed strategy on the gambling issue, the company decided it would take a less aggressive strategy.

House Speaker Will Weatherford and Senate President Don Gaetz, both of whom are vocal opponents of expanding gambling, have each said it was time to put gaming regulation on center stage in the next two years. Their plans also include renegotiating — a year earlier than scheduled — the revenue-sharing compact with the Seminole Tribe, which now brings the state $233 million a year.

“We currently have a lot of gambling in the state of Florida, but we have to take a very holistic view,” said Weatherford, a Wesley Chapel Republican, told the Herald/Times earlier this year. “There needs to be clarity and direction as to where the state is going,” he added, and the tribal compact will “very likely” be part of that.

Gaetz created a Gaming Committee, intended to deal with the issue exclusively for the first time in recent legislative history. He named Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, to be the committee’s chairman.

Genting had spent more than $905,000 this election cycle gearing up for a possible petition drive. It hired Nation Voter Outreach, a Nevada-based political consulting firm that specializes in organizing signature drives. It hired constitutional scholar, Bruce Rogow, of Fort Lauderdale, to work on amendment language and paid political consultant and pollster Tony Fabrizio to devise a political strategy.

Ballard said the company has abandoned those plans because the next two years provides “a good opportunity to look at all aspects of the regulatory and strategic environment.”

A pivotal player in the debate will the Broward-based Seminole Tribe, the owner of the Hard Rock Casinos in Hollywood and Tampa, and five other casinos in Florida. Its agreement with the state gives the Seminoles the exclusive right to offer blackjack and other table games in Miami-Dade and Broward counties through 2015 in exchange for annual payments to state and local governments.

Legislators imposed the expiration date when they ratified the compact in 2010 to give the state time to take a comprehensive look at Florida’s gambling laws.

Genting wants to build a gambling resort on land now occupied by the Miami Herald Building near downtown Miami. Genting paid Herald parent McClatchy Co. $236 million for the 13.9-acre site in 2011.





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'GMA' Team Joins Robin Roberts to Deck the Halls

As Robin Roberts continues her recovery at home from a bone marrow transplant, her Good Morning America colleagues paid her a visit after Thursday's broadcast to help her get into the holiday spirit!

The GMA team -- including George Stephanopoulos, Josh Elliott, Sam Champion and Lara Spencer -- all wore Santa hats as they delivered plenty of holiday decorations to Robin's apartment and helped her deck the halls.

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As shown in the photo, Robin handed out pairs of her favorite frog slippers for the anchor team to wear for the occasion.

Robin recently gave her first extensive interview since undergoing a bone marrow transplant in September in an attempt to combat Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a rare blood disorder that she contracted after undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

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Christie reunites with Obama at White House to ask for more Sandy aid

WASHINGTON — New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie is reuniting with President Barack Obama for the first time since the pair teamed up in response to Superstorm Sandy.

Christie made an unannounced visit Thursday to the White House, where he met with Obama to press for $83 billion in extra disaster aid for his state plus New York and Connecticut.

Obama is expected to ask Congress for about $50 billion in additional emergency aid for 11 states struck by the late October storm.

Christie made a similar pitch to a fellow Republican, House Speaker John Boehner, later at the Capitol.




AP



New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie walks to a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington.



The New Jersey governor might seek the presidency himself in 2016. His warm praise of Obama's handling of the storm so close to last month's election drew fire some fellow Republicans.

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Scott names counsel to head jobless agency




















— Gov. Rick Scott turned to his top lawyer to take over the state’s jobs agency after the executive director abruptly resigned amid questions about jobless benefits he received before he was hired.

Scott on Thursday named Jesse Panuccio, the governor’s general counsel, to replace Hunting Deutsch. Deutsch quit earlier this week after about eight months on the job.

Panuccio becomes the third person to take over the Department of Economic Opportunity, which was created a year ago at the urging of Scott. The agency — which was formed from parts of several former agencies — handles economic development and runs the state’s unemployment compensation system.





Scott’s decision to turn to another administration official to lead the agency marks a dramatic shift from the governor’s first year in office, when he tried to attract people outside of government to take top posts.

Panuccio has been involved in many high-profile battles of the Scott administration, including appearing in court to argue in favor of Scott’s push to drug-test welfare recipients. Panuccio also recently unsuccessfully tried to get a judge to shield Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll from being questioned in a criminal case involving one of her former aides.

“Jesse’s unparalleled work ethic and intellectual capacity will be a much-needed catalyst for progress,” Scott said in a statement. “Jesse has skillfully represented our office and the people of Florida in important legal cases over the last two years, and we are excited to have him devote his energy and skill to another vital part of state government.”

Scott, just back from a trade mission to Colombia, also appointed outgoing State Attorney Peter Antonacci of West Palm Beach to replace Panuccio as his general counsel. Antonacci is a former statewide prosecutor and deputy attorney general. He also represented former governors in impeachment trials against local election supervisors.

Panuccio will start his new position on Jan. 8.

The changes follow Deutsch’s decision to resign on Tuesday after questions were raised about unemployment compensation he received from September 2009 through May 2011. That period included a time he was traveling in Europe and presumably unavailable to work in Florida as required.

Deutsch maintained he had met eligibility requirements, but some Republican state senators raised questions about how he could get benefits while traveling abroad. Deutsch could have had a rough time getting confirmed by the state Senate if he had remained in the job.

He had spent more than 30 years in the banking industry up to 2009. But the bank that employed him failed and was seized by federal regulators that year.

Deutsch has acknowledged he received a severance payment from the bank, but he has said he cannot discuss it due to a confidentiality agreement. He was out of work until he was hired this past April to his $140,000-a-year post. Despite a gap in Deutsch’s résumé, a spokeswoman for Scott said that the governor was unaware that Deutsch had applied for and received jobless benefits.

The maximum amount of benefits that Deutsch would have been eligible to receive was $275 a week.

Deutsch himself replaced the first head of the agency, Doug Darling, who was forced to resign by the Scott administration right before he was scheduled to have his first confirmation hearing.





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State ethics commission: State Rep. Erik Fresen may have failed to disclose personal finances




















The Florida Ethics Commission announced Wednesday it has found probable cause that state Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, failed to properly disclose his annual net worth, assets, and liabilities from 2008 to 2011.

Fresen called the allegations “baseless and pointless.”

The commission’s next step is to determine whether Fresen violated state ethics laws by failing to properly report his income and liabilities on his annual state disclosure forms. That process could take several weeks.





Fresen’s finances have been the subject of several reports, including in the Miami Herald, and became an issue in his successful primary campaign against opponent Amory Bodin.

Fresen said Wednesday the charges were filed against him by an aide to Bodin and he considers them "nothing but a textbook political attack" and he expects to fight the charges. He said the probable cause findings "deal with technicalities and not substantive issues."

"I’m confident that it will be dismissed and we will be responding to it as the process dictates,’’ Fresen said. "It’s baseless and pointless."

Fresen, a land-use consultant, has been dogged by questions about his personal finances since 2008, when a lender filed a foreclosure suit against him, his wife and his mother. He reported a $357,000 net worth in 2011, according to documents posted on the web site of Integrity Florida, a Tallahassee-based government watchdog group.

Prior to the Republican primary in August, the Herald reported that a mortgage company filed suit against Fresen after he failed to make payments in May 2008.

Fresen says the lender tried to double-bill him for $14,000 in property taxes on the house, taxes he said he paid at closing when he bought the house in 2006. (The home was actually purchased by Fresen’s mother, who transferred the deed to Fresen and his wife a month later, records show.) He says the bank sued after he refused to pay the extra amount.

“They would not accept anything but the total amount,” said Fresen, who calls the lawsuit a “legal nightmare.” Fresen said in court papers that he tried to “cure” the default before the foreclosure suit was filed in 2008.

In 2009, a judge ordered the sale of Fresen’s house to pay off a $641,000 judgment, court records show. But in February 2010 — only days before the scheduled sale — the judge rescinded the order because the bank had failed to notify other parties with claims against Fresen and his mother, records show.

No new sale date was ever set, though the foreclosure suit is still pending, court records show.

Fresen said the case has been slowed because the mortgage has been transferred among several banks, but he’s confident the case will be settled soon.

“I can more than cover my mortgage,” Fresen said. “I’m willing to pay whatever must be paid.”

The mortgage, however, does not appear as a debt listed in Fresen’s financial disclosure forms filed with the state. A Miami woman has filed an ethics complaint against Fresen saying he failed to disclose both the mortgage and the foreclosure suit, records show.

Fresen said he doesn’t believe he’s obligated to list the mortgage among his debts because it’s effectively suspended — he says he hasn’t paid the mortgage company in months. “They’re not billing anything,” he said.

Property records and court records show that the mortgage on Fresen’s home is in his mother’s name, not his own. But Fresen says he is responsible for the mortgage, and it appears on his credit report.

Fresen is also facing a $29,199 lien filed by the IRS in May 2011 for taxes owed from 2004 and 2007, records show. Fresen said the 2007 portion of the lien also stems from taxes levied on the money at the heart of the mortgage dispute, and said his accountant is still trying to learn the source of the 2004 tax bill.

In addition, Fresen is trying to remove a $10,000 lien filed on his house by the Miami-Dade Building Department for a code-enforcement violation. The lien was filed over a pool fence erected without obtaining a final permit. Fresen said the contractor was supposed to obtain the final permit and never did; the contractor called the county last week to renew the permit, records show.





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'In Vogue' Fashionistas Buzz About Kate Middleton's Baby

The world's most influential fashion magazine and the creative forces behind it took center stage at The Met in New York Tuesday night for the premiere of HBO's In Vogue: The Editor's Eye, and the stars and fashion's top designers were buzzing about the pregnant Kate Middleton and her maternity fashion possibilities. Watch the video!

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Joining Vogue commander Anna Wintour were fashionable celebs Sarah Jessica Parker, Dianna Agron and Christina Ricci alongside former model Carol Alt and such fashion icons as Vera Wang, Donna Karan, Marchesa's Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig, Derek Lam and Zac Posen.

Video: Inside Vera Wang's Star-Studded Fashion Show

Coinciding with the 120th anniversary of the trendsetting publication, In Vogue: The Editor's Eye -- from filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato -- mines the fashion mag's extensive archives to study some of the world's most influential fashion images as conceived by the magazine's iconic fashion editors. The documentary features behind-the-scenes interviews with celebrated Vogue subjects, industry icons and designers.

In Vogue: The Editor's Eye debuts Thursday, December 6 at 9pm on HBO.

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Dark Knight shooter's school records released








The University of Colorado at Denver on Wednesday released thousands of documents that may relate to the man accused in the Colorado theater shootings, but much of the material appeared to be heavily redacted.

More than 2,000 records were released after news organizations, including The Associated Press, requested them to learn about James Holmes' year at the school. But a significant number appeared to be entirely redacted by the school.

The university cited federal laws that bar the release of academic or medical information.

Holmes was a graduate student in neuroscience at the school before the July 20 shooting. He is accused of opening fire inside a suburban Aurora theater during a showing of "The Dark Knight Rises." Twelve people were killed and 58 others were injured.





Getty Images



James Holmes





Holmes is charged with multiple first-degree murder and attempted murder counts. He has not entered a plea and won't do so until after a weeklong preliminary hearing in which prosecutors present evidence supporting the charges. That hearing is scheduled to begin Jan. 7. A motions hearing in the case is set for Monday.

The documents shed little new light on how the school handled Holmes, who, according to his attorneys, suffers from a mental illness.

He allegedly began stockpiling firearms and ammunition while taking classes in the spring. In June, prosecutors say, he made threats to a professor, and he filed withdrawal papers June 10 after failing a year-end final exam. The next day he saw his school psychiatrist, who tried to report him to a campus security committee, according to Holmes' lawyers.

Four days after the attack, campus police chief Doug Abraham said at a news conference that campus police had no information on Holmes. The school has since declined to answer detailed questions about Holmes' behavior, citing a gag order that remains in effect and federal privacy laws that limit the amount of medical and academic information it can disclose.

Those laws also limited the number of documents released Wednesday. At the request of defense attorneys, about 100 emails between Holmes and his family and friends were withheld because they are not covered under Colorado's Open Records Act.

The remaining documents were released only after a lengthy court battle.

In the days after the shooting, the Arapahoe County District Attorney's office asked Judge William B. Sylvester to bar the university from releasing records requested by numerous media organizations. Prosecutors argued that the information could jeopardize Holmes' right to a fair trial. Sylvester agreed, but amended his order last month to allow the release after media organizations objected in court.










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