Van Myers, former president of Wometco, dies at 95

Sylvan “Van” Myers spent 44 years at Wometco, rising through the ranks, first to head the data division, later as executive vice president of bottling, vending and food service operations and finally as president and CEO of the company.

After retiring in 1984, Myers devoted himself to the South Florida community and working to improve people’s lives, said son Bruce Myers.

“I think he was a role model, a leader,” Bruce Myers said. “He would’ve made a good politician, but people like that don’t want to run for office.”

An avid sports fan, devoted father and husband of 72 years to wife Jane, Myers died Tuesday. He was 95.

Born in Norfolk, Va., in 1917, Myers’ father wanted him to join him in the family’s mattress company. But Myers had bigger plans and left home for Harvard University.

It was there that an acquaintance gave Myers the phone number for a young woman, a senior in high school. Jane and Van began dating, eventually marrying in 1940.

But the honeymoon was short — Myers soon went into the Navy and served as a lieutenant during World War II. He was assigned to an amphibious craft in Okinawa.

After the war, he returned briefly to Boston, but was soon contacted by Mitchell Wolfson, the co-founder of Wometco Enterprises, a prominent Miami-based entertainment company that founded WTVJ, Miami’s first television station.

Myers followed Wolfson down to Miami in 1946 and never left.

At Wometco, he was a born leader. He rarely raised his voice, said his son, but he had a quality that made people follow him.

“He’s just the type of person you would want to be around and work for,” Bruce Myers said.

When Wolfson died in 1983, Myers became president and CEO, responsible for overseeing its sale to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

Although his presidency was brief, he made sure to stick around long enough to advocate for his former employees, his son said.

By the time Kohlberg Kravis Roberts took over the company in 1984, Wometco’s assets included 45 movie theaters, three TV stations, 47 cable TV systems, the Miami Seaquarium, the Citrus Tower and one of the largest Coca-Cola bottlers in the nation

Ever concerned with giving back to the city and the people he loved, Myers remained on several community boards in his retirement, including WPBT-Channel 2 and The Family Counseling Service. He was a founding member of Feeding South Florida and an original board member of the Mitchell Wolfson Foundation, of which he was a member when he died.

“He was literally the soul of decency, in my estimation,” said Dave Lawrence, a former publisher of The Miami Herald and founder of The Children’s Trust. His warm sense of humor and his thoughtfulness made him a good leader and a great friend, Lawrence said.

Myers was a tireless sports fan, often taking his two children to see the Miami Dolphins, the Miami Heat and the University of Miami Hurricanes. Another weekly family activity, during his time at Wometco, was Friday screenings of movies the company wanted to show at its theaters.

Well into his 90s, Myers still insisted on going somewhere outside his home every day. He had an endless reading list, as a longtime member of the Book of the Month Club, and he was interested in every subject.

In addition to his wife Jane and son Bruce, Myers is survived by daughter Catherine Myers and sister Valerie Rothschild.

There will be a celebration of his life at 1 p.m. Feb. 23 at the Coral Gables Country Club, 997 N. Greenway Dr.

In lieu of flowers, Myers’ family requests that donations be made to WPBT-Channel 2 or Feeding South Florida.

Read More..

Dolphins take stadium pitch to Miami Gardens

The Miami Dolphins took their Sun Life Stadium renovations pitch on the road Thursday, highlighting support from a county commissioner and the mayor of Miami Gardens, the team’s hometown for 26 years.

The politicians’ backing carries weight in the city that perhaps knows the Dolphins best.

But that neighborly history also has made some people in Miami Gardens skeptical about the team’s promises of economic benefits from the planned $400 million in renovations, about of half of which would be funded by taxes.

Miami-Dade Commissioner Barbara Jordan, Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert and Dolphins CEO Mike Dee stressed that upgrading the stadium to attract more international soccer games and concerts during the football offseason would employ more locals, bring customers to the city’s shops and restaurants, and spur development on vacant parcels nearby.

“When people come to a Super Bowl or a national championship in Miami Gardens, they eat on Brickell, and they sleep on South Beach. And they shop in our stores. They support our businesses,” Gilbert said. “That’s what this is about.”

He called the Dolphins “our largest taxpayer and a vital community partner.” The team sponsors some of the city’s biggest events, including the annual Jazz in the Gardens festival.

But that has not done much to assuage the concerns of others in the city, who say Miami Gardens has received little payoff from being home to the stadium.

“I’m a Dolphins fan, but I have to say, very honestly, there has not been an incredible windfall to this community,” said former City Councilman André Williams.

Williams said the city should draw up a marketing plan to lure sports fans and event-goers to nearby businesses, to ensure that any deal to receive county taxes makes sense.

The Dolphins’ proposed financing plan relies on a new annual $3 million state subsidy and a hike of county mainland hotel taxes to 7 percent from 6 percent.

The state money could go instead to public services, Jordan acknowledged Thursday.

“Those dollars do go to schools, and to roads and highways,” she said. But other teams receive state subsidies from sales-tax revenue they help generate, and the Dolphins deserve more of that money, she added.

“It’s bringing our money back to our community — I don’t see a problem with that,” she said.

On Monday, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, whom commissioners tasked with negotiating with the team, announced that the Dolphins had reversed their position and agreed to put a potential deal for tax dollars to a public vote — before May 22, when NFL owners will award the 2016 and ’17 Super Bowls.

As part of its campaign to drum up support, the team held Thursday’s news conference at the Betty T. Ferguson Recreational Complex in Miami Gardens, down the street from the stadium.

Dolphins players and coaches sometimes volunteer at the complex, Jordan said. But there was irony to the location: Ferguson, a former county commissioner, burst onto the political scene leading the opposition to the stadium.

Ten-year-old Miami Gardens, the county’s third-largest city, didn’t exist at the time. Instead, Ferguson rallied residents from the Crestview and Rolling Oaks communities. A homeowners association filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the county, arguing building the facility would break up middle-class black neighborhoods.

Read More..

Jessica Chastain's Retro-Modern Style

ET caught up with Zero Dark Thirty star Jessica Chastain at the Calvin Klein Collection fashion show in New York City on Thursday, getting the Academy Award nominee to dish on her red carpet style and what she might be wearing to the Oscars.

PICS: Stars at New York Fashion Week

"I think my sense of style is all about embracing silhouettes from the past, especially feminine silhouettes, and making it modern," the actress said. "I love the actresses of the 1940s and '50s and '60s, and I think Calvin Klein does do that."

This style inspired the dress that Chastain wore to the Golden Globes, where she took home the statuette for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama.

"[Women's Creative Director of Calvin Klein] Francisco [Costa] designed my Golden Globes dress and I really felt it was like Rita Hayworth -- the silhouette -- but he made it very modern and striking and interesting," said Chastain.

Olivia Wilde voiced a similar perspective, saying, "Francisco always comes up with something really modern and really cool while maintaining that chic simplicity ... It's not over-the-top and that's why it's always timeless."

As for what Chastain has in mind for the Oscar red carpet, she told us, "I'll probably wear color. I won't be the wallflower at the Oscars -- that's for sure."

Watch the video for more.

Read More..

Designer rapist Anand Jon has 48 sex-attack counts dropped, still faces 54 years

Manhattan prosecutors have dropped almost their entire case against a notorious California fashion designer-turned-serial rapist, allowing him to plead guilty to just a single sex-attack count in what was once a twelve-victim, 49-count indictment.

Under a plea taken in Manhattan Supreme Court today, Anand Jon -- whose designs have been worn by Paris Hilton, Oprah Winfrey and Janet Jackson -- admitted only to forcing oral sex on one adult, aspiring female model.

On April 2, Jon will be sentenced to the five years he has already served in California; he still has 54 years-to-life remaining on that sentence, which covers his convictions on casting-couch sex assaults involving 16 women and girls.

AP

Fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander in LA court in 2008.

He still faces additional similar charges in Texas, prosecutors said.

ADA Maxine Rosenthal told a judge that the deal was accepted, "to spare the victims from having to testify at multiple proceedings" and in consideration of his lengthy sentence in California.

Jon lawyers called the deal a victory, and said that some of the materials turned over by Manhattan prosecutors as part of the pre-trial process here will be extremely valuable as he continues work on his California appeal.

"We've accomplished what we wanted, which was to obtain records," said Jon lawyer Kimberly Summers.

Jon's appeal argues that he had ineffective counsel in California; the Manhattan documents indicate that the CA lawyers never obtained vital police documents and correspondence showing his accusers were squaring their stories among themselves and with civil lawyers, Summers said.

The designer - who has appeared on America's Next Top Model - didn't let prison hurt his style. He appeared in court in a dapper Mandarin collared grey suit and freshly cut hair.

"Considering that the initial 49 charges included allegations of rape, drugging and mafia death threats, the settlement of one conviction involving Mr. Alexander's giving oral sex to an adult female is acceptable," defense lawyer Angelyn Gates said in a written statement.

Read More..

American Airlines, US Airways announce merger

After a nearly yearlong courtship, the union became official Thursday: American Airlines and US Airways have formally announced plans to merge.

An early morning announcement by the airlines confirmed reports widely circulated after boards of both companies approved the merger late Wednesday.

The move brings stability to one of Miami-Dade County’s largest private employers more than a year after the airline and its parent company filed for bankruptcy protection, leaving the fate of thousands of employees — and the largest carrier at Miami International Airport — in question.

According to the Thursday announcement, the deal was approved unanimously by the boards of both companies, creating the world’s biggest airline with implied market value of nearly $11 billion, based on the Wednesday closing price of US Airways stock. The airline will have close to 100,000 employees, 1,500 aircraft, $38.7 billion in combined revenue.

The deal must be approved by American’s bankruptcy judge and antitrust regulators, but no major hurdles are expected. The process is expected to take about six months, according to a letter sent to employees Thursday by American CEO Tom Horton.

Travelers won’t notice immediate changes. The new airline will be called American Airlines. It likely will be months before the frequent-flier programs are merged, and possibly years before the two airlines are fully combined. The new airline will be a member of the oneWorld airlines frequent flier alliance.

And for Miami travelers, it’s unlikely that much will change at any point. American and regional carrier American Eagle handled 68 percent of traffic at the airport last year, while US Airways accounted for just 2 percent. American boasts 328 flights to 114 destinations from Miami.

“We don’t expect any substantial changes at MIA if the merger occurs because our traffic is largely driven by the strength of the Miami market and not the airlines serving it,” said airport spokesman Greg Chin.

American has said for more than a year that its long-term plan calls for increasing departures at key hubs, including Miami, by 20 percent. That pledge has already started to materialize; in recent months, the airline has added new service to Asuncion, Paraguay and Roatán, Honduras.

During its bankruptcy restructuring, about 400 American employees lost jobs, leaving American and its regional carrier, American Eagle, with 9,894 employees in Miami-Dade County and 43 in Fort Lauderdale. US Airways has few employees in the area.

“It really isn’t going to affect Miami in a very major way anytime soon,” said Michael Boyd, an aviation consultant in Evergreen, Colo. “Only because US Airways isn’t a big player in South Florida.”

At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, American and US Airways combined would still only be the fifth-largest airline after Southwest, Spirit, JetBlue and Delta, a spokesman said. The two airlines have little overlap in routes from Fort Lauderdale.

Despite the lack of major changes, Boyd said the merger would be a good development for Miami.

“It should be positive for the employees and it should be positive for the communities that the airlines serve,” he said.

Robert Herbst, an independent airline analyst and consultant, said US Airways will add a “significant amount” of destinations in the Northeast, including Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Read More..

Was that Che in Beach hotel? Not any longer

Gus Exposito, 51, of Davie, couldn’t believe what he saw in the marble walls of South Beach’s W Hotel: a larger-than-life framed photograph of what looked like communist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

“He was a mass murderer, killed thousands of Cubans execution-style,” Exposito wrote in an email, comparing the long-dead Fidel Castro pal to Adolf Hitler or the Ku Klux Klan. “I spoke to the manager and he referred to it as art!”

A hotel employee said complaints started almost as soon as the photo, about seven feet tall, went up last week. It came down Tuesday.

“We did it as a matter of respect and sensitivity toward the local community,” hotel manager Damien O’Connor said. “We are sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused.”

The man in the photo looks a little different from the iconic image of Che Guevara taken by Alberto Díaz “Korda” Gutiérrez in 1959. Is this a younger Che or someone dressed like Che? Or perhaps a post-modern self-portrait of artist Gavin Turk?

In The Guardian, a London newspaper, Turk said he made a photo of himself posed as Che to advertise an exhibition: “It was quite a degraded, grainy image, so I could photograph myself in such a way that you wouldn’t recognize that it was me and not, in fact, Che. You only need key elements of the photo — the beret, the long hair, the position of the eyes (as with classical icons, looking up and to the right), a bit of beard — to make it function as a symbol.”

But it sure looks like Che.

The image is common enough, and enough time has passed since the 1959 revolution, that not every Cuban-American is outraged. Asked about the idea of hanging a Che poster in a South Florida hotel, a regular Miami Herald reader named Mario Iglesias said it’s time to grow up.

“I think the Cuban-American community has to mature and learn that the right to put up a picture of Che is the very reason we find Castro and Che so repugnant — because they would act to quash opposing speech,” he wrote in an email. “It is the very result of being in favor of a free society that there will be holocaust survivors who have to tolerate Nazi marches and Cuban-Americans have to recognize that not protesting a Che poster is not the same as supporting Castro.”

For Exposito, though, the right to post a Che picture doesn’t translate into a good reason to display it. It seemed to ruin his night out.

“We went to dinner with my wife and two couples at Mr. Chow and after dinner we took a walk to the rear to smoke a cigar, and — bang — there it was. We could not believe our eyes!” he wrote.

El Nuevo Herald Staff Writer Juan Carlos Chavez contributed to this report.

Read More..

Stacy Keibler's Valentine's Day Plans with Clooney

Stacy Keibler kept a tight lid on what she and beau George Clooney will be up to on Valentine's Day, but she may have left some hints as she gave ET a sneak peek of her new reality competition show, Supermarket Superstar.

PICS: Surprising Celebrity Hookups

Supermarket Superstar, premiering later this year on Lifetime, gives contestants a chance to get their food creation onto supermarket shelves.

"This is the American dream -- if you have a recipe, look what you can become," said Keibler, showing off some grocery store shelves from the set.

As for Keibler and Clooney's recipe for stirring up romance on Valentine's Day, don't be surprised if it's a low-key celebration involving lots of food.

"I love to cook and I love to eat," said Keibler. "[Clooney and I] cook well together."

Watch the video for more.

Read More..

Bloomberg plans pilot program to collect and compost food waste

In an ambitious and dramatic move to boost a dismal recycling rate, the Bloomberg Administration intends for the first time to collect and compost food waste starting with a pilot program on Staten Island.

Officials said Mayor Bloomberg will announce the initiative tomorrow in his 12th and final State of the City address at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

If the program for single-family homes in the smallest borough works, it'll be expanded citywide -- diverting about 20 percent of the garbage from the waste stream of the nation's largest metropolis. Other cities, such as San Francisco and Seattle, already turn leftovers into fertilizer.

"The administration seems to recognize it needs to polish up its record on recycling to keep up an overall impressive record on environmental and sustainable issues," said Eric Goldstein, senior attorney of the National Resources Defense Council.

"Recycling has been the soft spot....This can mark a real turning point in returning New York to a leadership role."

The city's recycling rate hovers around 15 percent, less than half the national average. When Bloomberg took office in 2002, it was 19 percent.

The mayor has pledged to double the recycling rate by 2017, which Goldstein said would not only save the environment but also save taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. The city spends more than $300 million to ship 10,800 tons of trash each day to landfills. The cost goes up almost every year.

Officials on Staten Island -- many of whom took part in the fight to shut the enormous Fresh Kills landfill during the Giuliani Administration -- reacted warily.

"I think most people are not going to like it," predicted Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro. "I doubt if it's going to be successful."

As someone with experience in the recycling business, Molinari said he's worried that bins for food scraps will quickly vanish after the first collection.

"The DS (Department of Sanitation) truck comes, takes off the cover and dumps the garbage. That's the end of the pail and the end of the cover," he said.

City officials said the administration would supply rigid containers with locked tops that would be collected separately, probably starting in the spring.

"It'll be foolproof," vowed one official.

City Councilman James Oddo (R-S.I.) said he was concerned that his constituents would start getting fined if they mistakenly mix organic and regular garbage.

But officials offered reassurances on that front as well, saying there would be no fines during the pilot period.

To round out his recycling package, the mayor confirmed the worst fear of take-out joints -- he's going to ask the City Council to make New York the first major East Coast city to ban Styrofoam.

An estimated 20,000 tons of the nearly-indestructible stuff enters the waste stream each year.

Finally, the mayor wants to amend the Building Code so that 20 percent of the spaces in all new parking garages are wired for electric vehicles, creating an estimated 10,00 such spots in seven years. The city also plans to set up two sites for 30-minute electric car charge-ups, one in Seward Park for the public and another at Con Ed headquarters on Irving Place for taxi fleets.

Bloomberg's announcement will come on a propitious day, both Valentine's Day and his 71st birthday.

Read More..

Now owned by top executives, Cruise Planners on course toward continued growth

With a background in travel and present-day focus on raising her two small children, Lori Jahner set out to find work she enjoyed that would give her the flexibility she needed.

The 33-year-old from Aurora, Colo. decided on Cruise Planners — American Express Travel, a home-based travel agent network headquartered in Coral Springs.

“They have so much training to offer, ongoing education, and the branded name alone is so reputable and distinctive,” Jahner said. “Out of all the ones that I kind of looked into, this is the one that was standing out. More or less, it’s just the perfect opportunity so that I can do what I love, which is raising my kids but also selling travel.”

She has plenty of company. More than 850 franchise owners around the country are actively selling travel through Cruise Planners after paying startup costs that range from zero to $9,995. Those costs cover initial and continued training, marketing and advertising programs, a website, accounting and customer management software and support from the home office.

Fueled by everyone from stay-at-home moms to firefighters and retirees, the number of franchisees has grown by 14 percent annually for the last few years.

That has not gone unnoticed by cruise lines, who welcome more voices pitching their product.

“I think they are very important,” said Camille Olivere, Norwegian Cruise Line’s senior vice president of sales in North America. “They’re big supporters of ours and they’re bringing new people into the industry — and that is something that we desperately need.”

Cruise Planners agents sold $156 million in travel and related services last year, a 16 percent increase over 2011 and 48 percent jump over 2009.

Confident in continued growth, top Cruise Planners executives bought the company late last year from Palm Beach Capital, the private equity firm that had been majority owner since 2007.

CEO Michelle Fee, who has always held a stake in the company and now owns 50 percent, said she and fellow owners chief financial officer Tom Kruszewski and chief operating officer Vicky Garcia did not want to risk Cruise Planners being taken over by another investment group that might try to make changes.

“We wanted to make sure that whatever we keep doing is in the best interest of the company,” said Kruszewski, 60.

Before, Fee said, agents often asked whether the investment company would try to sell or change Cruise Planners. She said the purchase sends a good message.

“It shows them that we’re in this with you,” said Fee, 50, who co-founded the company with two partners 19 years ago. Those partners retired in 2007.

The company has invested about $2 million in technology upgrades and equipment in the last few years, including a mobile reservations system for agents that was introduced about a year and a half ago, and a consumer mobile app for iPhones and Androids that should launch later this month.

“We just have to be cutting edge,” Fee said. “Travel is technology; we have to be there with the big guys. Not only are we matching them, but we want to be better.”

Janet Fernandez, who started her Crise Planners franchise, Cruise Impressions, last July after working in different parts of the cruise industry since 1998, said she is already taking advantage of the latest tech innovations.

Read More..

State to crackdown on tutoring contractors

Florida will crack down on tutoring contractors that defraud school districts and — for the first time — require criminal background checks for people who head tutoring firms under changes announced Tuesday by the state’s top education official.

Education Commissioner Tony Bennett issued a statement outlining a series of steps his department will take to rein in fraud and ensure that tens of millions of dollars in education funding steered to private tutoring firms is better spent.

“We must hold the businesses and their leaders responsible for proving that the dollars directed to tutoring ... produce the results intended,” Bennett said. “Our students deserve nothing less.”

The statement comes in response to a three-month investigation by the Tampa Bay Times, which found that lax state oversight has made subsidized tutoring a source of easy cash for criminals, cheaters and opportunists.

Besides screening owners of companies that offer the mandated instruction, the state also will work with lawmakers to cut the high costs of the program — the Times found that the average company charges more than $60 an hour per student — and create better ways to measure whether tutors are helping kids learn.

“We should know that our investment in our students is producing a return,” Bennett said.

The commissioner also said the education department will go after fraud and seek to recoup “misused state resources.”

The statement offered few details about how the Department of Education will accomplish these goals, and more specifics weren’t immediately available Tuesday afternoon.

The department office in charge of overseeing the tutoring program, known as supplemental educational services, has been affected in recent years by reorganizations and turnover.

Some companies have capitalized on weak oversight, the Times reported Sunday.

The newspaper found that a convicted rapist, a woman who served probation for child neglect and a fugitive were among the listed officers and directors of state-approved tutoring companies for poor kids in failing schools.

In at least 40 cases in the past few years, companies have faked enrollment forms or billed for tutoring that didn’t happen. And the program is rife with conflicts of interest, the Times found.

Federal education law originally required school districts to hire private tutoring companies for poor students in schools that failed to improve test scores, but Florida got a waiver from that law last February.

A month later, state lawmakers acted to require tutoring as part of a state law, quietly voting to keep the money for tutoring companies flowing. This school year, Florida set aside at least $50 million for private tutors. The money comes from federal Title I funds that districts otherwise would be free to spend in high-poverty schools.

The state requirement was included at the urging of tutoring industry lobbyists and Bennett’s predecessor, Gerard Robinson, who declined to discuss his support for the program.

H. Marlene O’Toole, chairwoman of the state House education committee, said she was ready to work with the education department to tighten oversight.

“It’s very discouraging when we have good programs to help young people, and we find someone, usually an adult, who will take advantage of this,” said O’Toole, R-Lady Lake.

District administrators across the state, including Hillsborough County schools Superintendent MaryEllen Elia, have decried the program, saying public schools could better spend the tax dollars by hiring more teachers or creating their own programs.

“I am encouraged by the Commissioner’s bold and immediate response to a very serious issue,” Elia said in a statement Tuesday. “Everyone who receives public dollars needs to be held accountable. The state needs to put safeguards in place and put the focus back on meeting the needs of children.”

Pinellas County schools Superintendent Mike Grego put it bluntly Monday in an interview with the Times editorial board.

“Right now we’re forced to do it,” Grego said of hiring private tutoring firms. “I want out.”

Tampa Bay Times staff writer Cara Fitzpatrick contributed to this report.

Read More..