Conn. Dem disgrace: Call for resignation after pol tells girl, 17, 'I got a snake sitting under my desk here'

HARTFORD, Conn. — The chairman of Connecticut's Republican Party is calling for a Democratic state lawmaker to resign over what was taken as a lewd remark to a teenage girl.

State Rep. Ernest Hewett already has been stripped of his leadership title for the reference he made to "a snake" under his desk at last week's budget hearing. He has said his remark came out wrong and he understood how it could be misconstrued.

Republican Party chairman Jerry Labriola said Friday that the remark was "a disgrace and an embarrassment."

The 17-year-old girl had been testifying in support of funding for the Connecticut Science Center's youth programs which helped her get over a fear of snakes. Hewett said: "If you're bashful I got a snake sitting under my desk here."

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Florida class-action case takes aim at Citizens’ reinspection program

Thousands of Florida homeowners buffeted by higher windstorm premiums have sued state-run Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to recover potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in “back-door” rate increases driven by “arbitrary” reinspections of their residences.

The proposed class-action lawsuit, filed in Broward Circuit Wednesday, aims to halt Citizens’ reinspection program, claiming it has illegally stripped discounts from homeowners who had earned them under a 2007 inspection program approved by the Florida Legislature. Their original inspections were supposed to be valid for five years.

But in 2010, Citizens violated the due-process rights of homeowners, who had submitted official inspection forms, by arbitrarily reinspecting their properties to boost lost revenue that the agency could not generate lawfully through premium hikes, the suit said.

Lawyers who filed the suit, whose class representative is a Broward homeowner, said Citizens violated the due-process rights of its policyholders, costing each higher premiums averaging upwards of $1,000 — and possibly more — a year.

The collective cost to homeowners throughout Florida exceeds more than $100 million, said attorney Todd Stabinksi, whose Miami law firm, Stabinksi & Funt, filed the suit with Farmer, Jaffe of Fort Lauderdale and Kula & Samson of Aventura. They gathered Thursday for a press conference outside the West Broward County Courthouse in Plantation.

“Citizens got the benefit of lowering their risks, but Citizens’ policyholders did not get the benefit of lower premiums,” Stabinski said. “It should have been a mutually beneficial bargain.”

Consumer advocates have accused Citizens of using the reinspection program to impose “massive” rate hikes on homeowners. Citizens has denied the charge, saying that it is simply trying to get accurate information about the homes it insures.

“Since at least 2010, Citizens has used a wind mitigation reinspection program to systemtically deprive policy holders of legitimate wind mitigation credits,” said a nonprofit group, Florida Association for Insurance Reform, which praised the legal action.

A spokesperson for Citizens said the company has been operating under the law, and that the reinspections came after regulators changed the mitigation criteria. “Our position is Citizens’ reinspections were conducted under statutory authority afforded any insurer to verify, at the insurer’s expense, the accuracy of inspection reports submitted for a mitigation discount,” said spokesman Michael Peltier.

Discontent has been widespread among Citizens’ policyholders, who spent large sums of money on roof, window and other upgrades to earn windstorm mitigation discounts while protecting their homes against potential hurricane damage. In response, Citizens unveiled major changes to its home reinspection program last August, after consumers expressed outrage over media reports about a staggering $137 million in premium increases generated by the unpopular program.

Under its new plans, homeowners who lose insurance discounts because of a reinspection can receive a second inspection free of charge. They will have new tools to dispute the findings of the first reinspection. That decision could impact more than 200,000 property owners, who have already seen their premiums go up by an average of about $800 after the initial reinspection.

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Driver gets 6 years for hit-run death of 11-year-old

A Miami-Dade County judge on Thursday sentenced a driver for the 2009 hit-and-run death of an 11-year-old girl to six years in prison, plus eight years of probation.

Harvey Abraham, 37, was convicted in November of fleeing the scene where he struck and killed Ashley Nicole Valdes as she crossed a West Kendall street on Jan. 8, 2009.

He was arrested after a citizen who had been following the case saw Abraham’s Ford F-150 outside a South Miami auto body shop. Abraham took the truck to the shop and filed an insurance claim after the crash, saying he was the victim.

On Thursday, Judge Thomas J. Rebull decried Abraham’s decision to flee the scene.

“Mr. Abraham, if you had just stopped, even if there was nothing you could do to help Ashley Valdez, I can’t imagine you would be facing what you are facing,” he said.

Abraham received six years in prison plus four years of reporting probation for leaving the scene of an accident involving death. For tampering with evidence by attempting to have his truck repaired, he received an additional four years of probation.

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White Collar Season 4 Finale Exclusive Clip

All season long White Collar fans have watched Neal, Peter, Mozzie and Jones race to find Ellen's Empire State Building box -- and in Tuesday's season finale, the chase finally climaxes.

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But with the newly installed F.B.I. chief seemingly on Senator Pratt's payroll, the boys are forced to race against one more enemy during In The Wind, an episode creator Jeff Eastin calls intense.

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"I'm really excited about our finale, it's big this year," Eastin told ETonline. "We shot it in The Empire State Building, up on the 103rd floor, which is the secret top deck that only celebrities can see. It's pretty intense. We got to shoot Neal and Sara up there, for good reasons -- it starts out as part of the con they're running, but it ends with the two of them up there and it's really beautiful and emotional. We can always come back to those two if we want, but it's also a fantastic summation of their relationship."

Watch ETonline's exclusive clip from the White Collar season finale, and tune in Tuesday at 10 p.m. on USA to see the whole affair!

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Feds hunt for 3 LI sex offenders gone missing after Hurricane Sandy

US Marshals are searching for several Suffolk County sex offenders who disappeared after Hurricane Sandy.

The federal law-enforcement agency launched Operation Shore Restore in December to track down offenders who were displaced during the superstorm, authorities said.

“These local agencies during the Hurricane were pretty taxed,” said Charlie Dunne, the US Marshal for the Eastern District of New York. “So marshals want to come in and help other law-enforcement get a handle on where these sex offenders are.”

There are about 1000 individuals on Suffolk County, and marshals focused on 500 offenders in the operation.

Authorities found 450 of the offenders living in their registered homes, while forty had relocated because of the storm. They were found living with family members, in hotels, or even in homeless shelters because their residences were damaged in the storm.

“There were ten we felt had absconded as a result of the hurricane, and left,” said Dunne.

Seven so far have been located and arrested, but three have not been found yet.

It was not immediately released how serious the crimes were that the offenders had been convicted of before they were released.

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Don’t get too personal on LinkedIn

Have you ever received a request to connect on LinkedIn from someone you didn’t know or couldn’t remember?

A few weeks ago, Josh Turner encountered this situation. The online request to connect came from a businessman on the opposite coast of the United States. It came with a short introduction that ended with “Let’s go Blues!” a reference to Turner’s favorite hockey team in St. Louis that he had mentioned in his profile. “It was a personal connection … that’s building rapport.”

LinkedIn is known for being the professional social network where members expect you to keep buttoned-down behavior and network online like you would at a business event. With more than 200 million registered users, the site facilitates interaction as a way to boost your stature, gain a potential customer or rub elbows with a future boss.

But unlike most other social networking sites, LinkedIn is all about business — and you need to take special care that you act accordingly. As in any workplace, the right amount of personal information sharing could be the foot in the door, say experts. The wrong amount could slam it closed.

“Anyone in business needs a professional online presence,’’ says Vanessa McGovern, the VP of Business Development for the Global Institute for Travel Entrepreneurs and a consultant to business owners on how to use LinkedIn. But they should also heed LinkedIn etiquette or risk sending the wrong messages.

One of the biggest mistakes, McGovern says is getting too personal — or not personal enough.

Sending a request to connect blindly equates to cold calling and likely will lead nowhere. Instead, it should come with a personal note, an explanation of who you are, where you met, or how the connection can benefit both parties, McGovern explains.

Your profile should get a little personal, too, she says. “Talk about yourself in the first person and add a personal flair — your goals, your passion … make yourself seem human.”

Beyond that, keep your LinkedIn posts, invitations, comments and photos professional, McGovern says.

If you had a hard day at the office or your child just won an award, you may want to share it with your personal network elsewhere — but not on LinkedIn.

“This is not Facebook. Only share what you would share at a professional networking event,” she says.

Another etiquette pitfall on LinkedIn is the hit and run — making a connection and not following up.

At least once a week, Ari Rollnick, a principal in kabookaboo, an integrated marketing agency in Coral Gables, gets a request to connect with someone on LinkedIn that he has never met or heard of before. The person will have no connections in common and share no information about why they want to build a rapport.

“I won’t accept. That’s a lost opportunity for them,” Rollnick says.

He approaches it differently. When Rollnick graduated from Emory with an MBA in 2001, he had a good idea that his classmates would excel in the business world. Now, Rollnick wanted to find out just where they went and reestablish a connection.

With a few clicks, he tracked down dozens of them on LinkedIn, requested a connection, and was back on their radar. Then came the follow-up — letting them know through emails, phone calls and posts that he was creating a two-way street for business exchange. “Rather than make that connection and disappearing , I let them know I wanted to open the door to conversation.”

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Broward government executive drops outs of Miami Beach city manager race

Monica Cepero has dropped out of Miami Beach’s search for a city manager.

Currently an assistant to the Broward County administrator, Cepero was one of three finalists being considered for the job.

In a letter emailed to city commissioners at about 11 p.m. on Tuesday, Cepero wrote: “The nature of this process has made it clear to me that this position is not the right one for me, at this time.”

Miami Beach has been without a city manager since July 2012, when former City Manager Jorge Gonzalez was forced to resign amid corruption scandals — though he was never implicated in any, and actually reported some of the shenanigans himself to law enforcement.

The city conducted a nationwide search for a new top administrator, which is when Cepero applied for the position. But commissioners were unhappy with the candidates brought forward by a headhunter, and added their own to the mix.

“She may be questioning the commission’s seriousness in finalizing this process,” Vice Mayor Michael Góngora said.

Cepero called the search for a new city manager “protracted” and noted in her letter that she was the only finalist who had been involved in the search from the beginning. The other two finalists — former Miami-Dade County commissioner and current Doral City Attorney Jimmy Morales, and longtime City of Miami administrator Frank Rollason — were handpicked by commissioners to be considered for the position.

Cepero did not return a phone call for comment.

Miami Beach Commissioner Jerry Libbin was reluctant to speculate about why Cepero has withdrawn her name from the process.

“I tend to take people at face value. There’s no reason for me to think there’s anything more or anything less,” than what’s included in her letter, Libbin said.

Góngora and Libbin are running for mayor in the November election.

Cepero also wrote that other municipalities have contacted her for city manager positions during the Miami Beach search, but that the other job offers didn’t affect her decision.

“My decision to withdraw is based on my evaluation of a mutual fit with the organization,” she wrote.

Follow @Cveiga on Twitter.

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Nicole Kidman & Mia Wasikowska Talk 'Stoker'

Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode form an uncomfortable family trio in the new thriller Stoker, in theaters Friday, and they tell ET's Chris Jacobs that despite the creepy subject matter, making the film in Tennessee was a delight and proved to be a family bonding opportunity.

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The new film from Oldboy director Chan-wook Park, Stoker finds adolescent India (Wasikowska) emotionally adrift after the death of her father (Dermot Mulroney) and clashing with her unstable mother (Kidman). When her mysterious and charming Uncle Charlie (Goode) comes to live with them, she comes to suspect he has ulterior motives, yet becomes increasingly infatuated with him.

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Keep watching the video to see Nicole blush when asked about her racy lap dance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

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Veteran journalist Bob Woodward slams Obama's budget cut 'madness'

Journalist Bob Woodward on Wednesday criticized Barack Obama's handling of the automatic U.S. budget cuts set to take effect this week, calling the president's decision to hold back on military deployments "madness."

His comments continued what has become a running dispute between Woodward, perhaps the country's best-known print journalist, and the Democratic White House over who is responsible for the across-the-board cuts scheduled to begin on Friday.

Last week, Woodward published an opinion piece in the Washington Post - where he is an associate editor - saying the administration was "wrong" to blame the cuts on Republicans.

AP

Former Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward.

That drew retorts from White House press secretary Jay Carney, who in posts on Twitter and later in comments to reporters blamed the budget stalemate on Republican opposition to including increased revenues in any deal to replace the cuts.

The $85 billion across-the-board budget cuts were mandated by Congress and the White House as part of the August 2011 deal to avoid a government default. The reductions are split between defense spending and domestic programs.

Woodward, who first gained fame in the 1970s from exposing the Watergate scandal during the administration of President Richard Nixon, wrote a detailed account in his 2012 book, "The Price of Politics," of the August 2011 deal that led to the cuts.

On Wednesday he attacked Obama for drawing national security into the budget debate.

"So we now have the president going out (saying) 'Because of this piece of paper and this agreement, I can't do what I need to do to protect the country.' That's a kind of madness that I haven't seen in a long time," Woodward told MSNBC on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Obama warned of threats to Navy readiness in a visit to the Newport News Shipbuilding shipyard in Virginia, where maintenance to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has been delayed by the budget crisis.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon said it was delaying deployment of another carrier, the USS Harry Truman, to the Middle East because of funding.

Obama's decision to drag the military into the budget fight likely would not have happened in previous administrations, Republican or Democratic, Woodward added on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.

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Drivers line up for $2.27 gas at the Finish Line in Sweetwater

Hundreds of cars were backed up for more than four blocks waiting for gas Wednesday at the Finish Line in Sweetwater.

Drawing the crowd: a special promotion at the gas station and convenience store on 109th Avenue and West Flagler Street.

Drivers started lining up at 5 a.m. to pay a cash price of $2.27 per gallon, close to a 50 percent savings.

The promotion was part of the “14 Days of Neighborly Love,” an event hosted by Miami-Dade Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz. It started on Valentine’s Day and ended Wednesday.

Miami-Dade residents were able to take advantage of other services and goods at a discount or for free, such as tax preparation, marriage counseling, car washes, and free SunPass transponders.

Finish Line owner Tony Cuevas and Roly Ramirez, owner of Doral Collision Center and Exclusive motoring, sponsored the $2.27 gas on the event’s opening and closing day.

“We’re very grateful for the success that we have,” Ramirez said. “I always give back in some way or another.”

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