A crazy, hazy tomato battle at Tobacco Road




















Here at Miami’s birthplace for blues and booze, there was a battle.

A melee of Corona-soaked revelry to rid a farm of its winter excess of tomatoes.

The crowd of university students, kickball leagues and business consultants stood around some 20,000 pounds of the vegetable-fruit behind the bar Tobacco Road on Saturday.





The concept, simple: launch as many tomatoes as your arms can wield. Wash it off at the nearby shower. Wash it down with more beer.

As South Florida shtick goes, this was the gold standard.

“You guys put your hands in position,” James Goll, who markets the festival, said through a megaphone. “Let’s fire it up.”

The throng responded with the jest of 20-year-olds, cheering, camera phones raised skyward. Two girls crouched beneath a table that doubled as a barricade.

“Get back,” Goll said. “Get back.”

As the fire truck unleashed its siren, he gave them the cue to go.

They launched toward the red dunes. The stench of fermenting tomatoes wafted in the air.

Among them was couple Chris Gunn and Ginny Cannon, both lasted a few minutes until they ambled back out.

“Mayhem,” Gunn said of the first few minutes.

He kissed Cannon on the face and they both walked back into the multitude.

The red haze was at least 20-feet deep. They threw tomatoes until it turned into slush and it stuck like paste on bodies and faces.

TV crews had their fill of the camera-ready goodness.

A man who only identified himself as Jack, survived all of 30 seconds until the fun turned against him.

“I got nailed with a tomato,” he said. holding an ice pack on his swollen eye.

Injuries do occur, Goll said. Since the festival began last year, there has not been anything serious.

“A lot of people just want to take out some aggression,” he said.

The free-for-all endured about 45 minutes until a fire truck washed away the mashed up mess.

They hosed down the asphalt until it formed a river of red out into the parking lot and onto SW 7th Street.

A day’s worth of fun gone down the drain.





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Independent Spirit Award Winners 2013

The 2013 Film Independent Spirits Awards were handed out in Santa Monica, CA today and lots of Oscar frontrunners cemented their status by dominating in their categories once more.

Check out all the winners below:


Best Feature


Beasts of the Southern Wild

Bernie

Keep the Lights On

Moonrise Kingdom

Silver Linings Playbook


BEST FEMALE LEAD


Linda Cardellini, Return

Emayatzy Corinealdi, Middle of Nowhere

Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook


Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Smashed


BEST MALE LEAD


Jack Black, Bernie

Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook

John Hawkes, The Sessions


Thure Lindhardt, Keep the Lights On

Matthew McConaughey, Killer Joe

Wendell Pierce, Four


BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE


Rosemarie DeWitt, Your Sister's Sister

Ann Dowd, Compliance

Helen Hunt, The Sessions


Brit Marling, Sound of My Voice

Lorraine Toussaint, Middle of Nowhere


BEST SUPPORTING MALE


Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike


David Oyelowo, Middle of Nowhere

Michael Pena, End of Watch

Sam Rockwell, Seven Psychopaths

Bruce Willis, Moonrise Kingdom


BEST DIRECTOR


Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom

Julia Loktev, The Loneliest Planet

David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook


Ira Sachs, Keep the Lights On

Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild


BEST SCREENPLAY


Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom

Zoe Kazan, Ruby Sparks

Martin McDonagh, Seven Psychopaths

David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook


Ira Sachs, Keep the Lights On

For the full list of winners, click here.

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Third arrest in video where little girls are forced to fight








Youtube


Stills from the sick YouTube hit, which has since been taken down.



Another teen was busted for forcing a fight between two grade-school girls in the Bronx that was captured on YouTube video, authorities said.

The 14-year-old was charged as a juvenile with endangering the welfare of a child, cops said.

Sources said she may be the sister of the 6-year-old victim, but it was not immediately clear and the two had separate names.

One other older girl is still being sought in the case, authorities said.

Two other girls, 14 and 15, were previously charged with child endangerment, police said.



The disturbing video showed the two youngsters, 6 and 7, hitting each other and grabbing one another's hair at Poe Park on Jan. 3 as older girls giggle and egg them on.

The video has since been taken off of You Tube.

The fight may have stemmed from a feud between two older girls over candy, sources said.










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The faces of Florida’s Medicaid system




















The tea party governor now says he wants to expand Medicaid. The Republican Legislature isn’t as sure.

Hanging in the balance?

Access to health care for 1 million or more poor Floridians.





Billions of dollars in federal money.

The state budget, which — already — pumps $21 billion a year into care. Florida’s Medicaid system today serves more than 3 million people, about one in every six Floridians. The decision whether to expand the system by a full third will be made by men and women in suits in Tallahassee’s mural-filled chambers this spring.

But the impact is elsewhere, in children’s hospitals in Tampa and Miami, in doctors’ offices in New Port Richey and in the home of a woman who recently lost her full-time teaching job.

The Suddenly uninsured

This was not how she envisioned her 60s.

Jean Vincent dreamed of turning her five-bedroom home into a bed and breakfast. She painted murals on walls, created mosaics on floors and let her imagination guide the interior decorating. There is a “garden” room, a “bamboo” room and a “canopy” room.

In 2010, Vincent lost her full-time job teaching in Citra north of Ocala. Her mother became sick with cancer and needed around-the-clock care before dying in August. Then, doctors began prescribing Vincent costly medications to treat osteoporosis and early-onset diabetes.

“I started getting a little behind with my mortgage,” said Vincent, 61. “All of a sudden, I found out I had to have an emergency retina eye surgery.”

Today, Vincent is searching for roommates to move into her home and help pay the bills. She begs Gainesville’s Sante Fe Community College and City College to schedule her for as many classes as she can handle as an adjunct geography professor; this semester’s four is the most she’s ever had.

But her biggest worry? Not having comprehensive health care.

Vincent —who is too young for Medicare — is enrolled in CHOICES, a health services program the Alachua County government created for the uninsured. It covers preventative care like her flu shots and helps with her drug therapy. But if Vincent ever got so sick she needed to go to the hospital, she’d be on her own.

Under current Florida law, adults with no dependents are not eligible to participate in Medicaid no matter how little they make. Vincent’s four children are all grown, which means even as her income has dwindled she can’t become eligible for the health insurance program run jointly by the federal and state governments.

If Florida decides to expand the Medicaid system, people in Vincent’s position for the first time could be covered.

The expansion would allow any single adult making about $16,000 a year eligible for Medicaid.

On the matter, Vincent has become an activist. She joined with patient rights group Florida CHAIN and traveled to Tallahassee to lobby lawmakers.

“When I gave my testimony, that’s all I wanted them to do was see there were people out there that weren’t just trying to take advantage of the system,” she said.

This summer, she expects to only be assigned one class at Sante Fe. That will provide about $2,000 for her to live on for three months. Meanwhile, her retirement dreams are put on hold.





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Parents of missing Hallandale Beach baby formally charged




















The parents of an infant who disappeared more than a year and a half ago were formally charged Friday in Broward County Circuit Court.

Brittney Sierra, 21, faces two counts of felony child neglect.

Calvin Melvin, 27, was charged with three felony counts of providing false information to police.





Each could face more charges if a Texas lab confirms that DNA from a tiny skeleton unearthed behind the couple’s former Hallandale Beach rental house in January matches their baby, Dontrell Melvin.

Dontrell, who would have turned 2 this month, had not been seen for nearly 18 months before police learned of his disappearance Jan 9.

At first, Melvin told Hallandale Beach Police that the child was with his family in Pompano Beach. But when police went there, they were told by the grandparents they didn’t have the child and hadn’t seen him.

During questioning by police, Melvin changed his story several times, investigators said. At one point, he told them he’d taken the baby to a fire station under Florida’s Safe Haven Law.

But police didn’t believe him and began questioning Sierra, as well. The couple, who have another child together, pointed their fingers at one another, police said.

Their answers led police to the backyard of their former rental home at 106 NW First Ave. It was there, tiny human remains were found in the ground.

Hallandale Beach Maj. Thomas Honan said until they have a solid DNA match — or a confession — there is nothing else police can do.

“The father is pointing fingers at the mother and the mother is pointing fingers at the father,” Honan said Friday. “All we have is the skeleton.”

Friday’s arraignment was standard — within 45 days from their arrest — Honan said.

Melvin remains in the Broward County Main Jail on a $151,000 bond, according to jail records. His charges stem from the times he changed his story while being interviewed by police. His court appointed attorney, Edward Hoeg, said Friday that he has filed a motion to reduce the bond. Melvin has entered a not guilty plea, his attorney said.

“We are going to fight these charges adamantly,” he said.

Sierra is being held at the North Broward Jail on $100,000 bond. Her charges were related to the two times Sierra had the opportunity to mention the missing baby to the Department of Children and Families, but failed to do so, Honan said.

DCF made contact with both Sierra and her mother, Renee Menendez, who was raising her four other children ranging in age from 8 to 11, more than 30 times, according to documents released in January.

It wasn’t until a hotline call Jan. 9 that police discovered the boy missing.

Sierras two other children — one of whom is an infant — were taken into state custody, as were Menendez’ four children.

There will be a dependency hearing related to Sierra’s children at 10 a.m. Monday at the Broward County Courthouse.

She has entered a written not guilty plea, according to her court appointed attorney, Dohn Williams Jr.





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Joan Rivers and Melissa Rivers Oscar Fashion Police Preview

The Academy Awards red carpet represents the ultimate in Hollywood fashion, but just because stars like Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain will wear the best of the best, that doesn't mean that Joan and Melissa Rivers aren't sharpening their claws…. Meow!

Pics: The 15 Oscars Dresses of All Time

Joan and Melissa are all fired up for their E! Oscar Fashion Police special on Monday, and from Jennifer and Jessica to Kerry Washington and Naomi Watts, they're giving ET a preview of what's in store – both positive and negative. Look out!

Related: Get ETonline's Complete Oscar Coverage

Watch the video as they also set their sights on paparazzi favorites, including Kim Kardashian.

You can also look for the feisty pair on Joan and Melissa: Joan Knows Best, premiering Saturday night on WE tv.

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Crime ring chief gets 7 years for illegal guns, motorcycle thefts








The kingpin in a massive ring that sold at least 13 illegal guns and stole scores of motorcycles off city streets is going to prison for at least 7 1/2 years.

Tiwane Paul, 31, had asked for less time, arguing through his lawyer that he'd had a tough childhood in his native Dominica.

But prosecutor Diana Florence countered that Paul "was a very, very smart and cunning person," and that hours of wiretaps demonstrated, "Mr. Paul was able to negotiate with people who were very difficult and, frankly, very scary."

Paul, who faces certain post-prison deportation back to his Caribbean homeland, ran his criminal enterprise with Selwyn Mills, 22, who has pleaded guilty and is serving a 5-to-9 year prison sentence.




Of the 33 people originally arrested in Paul's gang, one has been dismissed, 11 are awaiting trial, and the remainder have pleaded guilty.

The case made headlines last July, when prosecutors announced the cycle-snatchers had been caught in the act of reselling more than 50 high-end bikes, including a Dukati Monster and a Kawasaki Ninja.

The case was back in the news just two months later, when seven of the stolen bikes were re-stolen -- from an NYPD lot in the Bronx. The twice-stolen bikes have since been recovered.










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Ian Schrager joins forces with chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten for new Edition Hotel




















Two of the best-known names in their respective fields — hotelier Ian Schrager and chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten — have teamed up for the Edition Hotel in Miami Beach, they told The Miami Herald Friday.

The partnership had not previously been officially announced, but the two were set to host a cocktail party Friday night at the site of the old Seville Beach hotel, 2901 Collins Ave.

On Friday at the sales pavilion for the Residences at the Miami Beach Edition, the duo chatted nonstop as they examined an elaborate model of the hotel and grounds.





“We just have a good time together,” Vongerichten said. “He’s excited, I’m excited.”

Vongerichten pointed out a lower-level area on the model building that he described as a grab-and-go food court with a deli, bakery, hot kitchen and raw bar. Schrager referred to it as an “updated Wolfie’s,” referring to the deli eight blocks south on Collins Avenue that closed in 2002.

“It’s not just for the people at the hotel, it’s for everybody,” said Schrager, whose launch of the Delano in 1995 helped bring new life to South Beach.

Plans at the Edition also call for a beach eatery and upscale-but-modern restaurant that Vongerichten said would be “chic and glamorous” and focused on local ingredients. He referred to that restaurant as the Matador Room, a nod to the hotel’s previous life.

Vongerichten said Schrager approached him about the project nearly six months ago; they have worked together since he opened the Pump Room restaurant at Schrager’s Public Chicago in late 2011.

Vongerichten is also behind the lauded J&G Grill at the St. Regis Bal Harbour, which opened in January 2012, but the Edition will be his first foray into Miami Beach.

“You always have to wait for the right project,” Vongerichten said.

A partnership between Schrager and Marriott International, the Edition brand includes one hotel in Istanbul. A site in London is set to debut in August, followed by Miami Beach in early 2014, possibly late in the first quarter. Other locations in New York and Bangkok are scheduled to come online in 2015.

Already years in the making, the Miami Beach project has been closely watched since Marriott bought the property in July 2010. Now, construction at the massive site is well underway, with cranes towering over the gutted existing buildings and a new tower. The finished product will include a hotel with about 250 rooms as well as 26 residences, nearly half of which are already sold. The property also features an ice skating rink, a bowling alley and historic outdoor details including a sundial and diving board.

“It’s a little bit like a bamboo shoot that sits there for 100 years, then all of a sudden it shoots up 50 feet in weeks,” Schrager said. “It’s coming to life.”





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‘Dangerous dog’ ordinance passed in Pembroke Pines




















An ordinance in Pembroke Pines aimed at constraining the behavior of dogs who brutally assault other dogs and humans passed unanimously late Wednesday, in response to two dog attacks that occurred in the city last December.

The nuanced regulations would require a dog owner to pay a fine and up to $750 in “dangerous dog” registration fees if a dog was determined to be “dangerous” by an independent veterinarian. The new ordinance also requires the dog to wear a muzzle and restricts running at large in public spaces.

Owners of a “dangerous dog’’ are also required to submit a copy of an insurance policy in the amount of no less than $300,000.








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Developers want to raise proposed Brooklyn Bridge Park complex three feet to avoid massive flood damage









These guys want to put their Brooklyn Bridge Park plans on a pedestal.

The developers tapped to bring a hotel and residential complex to Pier 1 near Old Fulton St are planning for a future Hurricane Sandy by raising both buildings up at least three feet to avoid the massive flood damage that devastated the surrounding DUMBO neighborhood during last October’s super-storm.

David Von Spreckelsen, a senior vice president at developer Toll Brothers, said the 159-apartment, 200-room hotel project — which would raise a $3.3 million chunk of the park’s $16 million annual maintenance budget — will now include additional steps and ramps leading to the main lobby and more masonry to ensure the building is above the site’s flood plain set by the feds.




Mechanical systems that normally are in basements will be moved to the roof. A basement will still be built but will be primarily used for parking.

“We want to make our building a structure that can survive any kind of storm,” said Von Spreckelsen, whose company is partnering with Starwood Capital Group in the development.

The development was supposed to break ground in February but is on hold until both Toll Brothers and Starwood complete the redesign.

Regina Myer, president of the city development corp. overseeing the 85-acre park’s construction, said she’s “comfortable” with the developers’ progress and confident that – despite the wrath of Sandy - the park would eventually be able to select a developer and move forward with other high-rise condo complexes planned for Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn Heights and John Street in DUMBO.

Myer said the park suffered about $1 million in damage from Sandy – mostly lighting and other electrical work – that is nearly fixed, adding “the park did very well” considering parks citywide suffered a total of $750 million in damage.

However Cobble Hill Judi Francis said the storm proved just how bad a spot the waterfront park is to build more housing.

“The lesson of Sandy is it will happen again, and when it happens, it will be really bad for those residents who wind up buying condos there,” she said.

rcalder@nypost.com










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