‘Chokers’ wild!

Now they’ve both been acquitted of throttling transsexuals.

Kinky FDNY hunk Taylor Murphy, who successfully fought off felony strangulation charges brought by his jealous, blond, pre-op transsexual ex-girlfriend, is now dating another woman wannabe with a far more serious strangulation on her rap sheet.

Brunette pre-op transsexual Wanda Batista, 32, was all smiling and supportive of Murphy as she walked arm-in-arm with him at Manhattan Supreme Court last week, batting her eyelashes and calling him her “giant teddy bear.”

But in December 2004, the towering Batista was tried on charges she had fatally choked her transsexual pimp — and in a bizarre karmic twist, Batista was acquitted by a Brooklyn jury, just as her beefy fireman would be in Manhattan eight years later.

Steven Hirsch

NICE PAIR: Taylor Murphy, cleared of choking one transsexual lover, leaves court with another, Wanda Batista, who was acquitted of a strangle slay.

“The motive was money,” a law-enforcement source told The Post of the 2004 case. “They went there to rob her and ended up killing her,” the source said of victim Paola Matos, 31, a post-op transsexual who was found dead in the bedroom of her Bay Ridge apartment brothel.

“Police believed she was the killer — just the jury didn’t believe it,” the source said of Batista, who was a 24-year-old admitted prostitute at the time she was charged with choking Matos with her hands in a dispute over $4,000 Batista had allegedly made turning tricks but had failed to turn over to the doomed madam.

Batista — whose first name then was Fernando — fled to Puerto Rico after the killing, but was arrested there and brought back for trial, the source said. Jurors acquitted her of murder but hung on a charge of manslaughter. The case was not retried.

Last week, in the audience at her hunky hose-handler’s own choking trial — he was acquitted of the nonfatal assault against Claudia Charriez, 31 — Batista turned ashen, then waved her hand dismissively when asked by a reporter about her old strangulation rap.

Batista — who, like Charriez, has an active escort ad online, hers under the name Vanity Bucci — declined to comment.

Murphy was acquitted Thursday of choking Charriez in their Midtown hotel-room bed, but convicted of felony criminal contempt for contacting her in more than 1,000 phone calls, texts and e-mails, in violation of an order of protection.

He is due to be sentenced Feb. 20 by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice A. Kirke Bartley, and faces anywhere from no jail time to four years in prison.

dauer@nypost.com

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Sperm whale dies off Pompano Beach coast

The carcass of a 40-foot sperm whale that apparently died as it neared the shore off of Pompano Beach on Sunday afternoon later drifted back out to sea, ending a drama that had drawn the attention of beachgoers and scientists alike.

The whale was spotted about noon offshore near the 600 block of North Ocean Boulevard, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.

Read the full story at Sun-Sentinel.com.

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iPad shipments could reach 100 million in 2013

Apple (AAPL) sold 42.8 million iPad tablets into channels through the first three quarters of 2012 and the most recent estimates suggest the company could ship 26 million more iPads during the holiday quarter. If Apple does manage to hit that record, total iPad shipments on the year would reach 68.8 million units. As impressive as that would be, however, DisplaySearch analyst David Hsieh thinks 2013 iPad sales could climb as high as 100 million units as iPad mini demand explodes.

[More from BGR: Has the iPhone peaked? Apple’s iPhone 4S seen outselling iPhone 5]

In 2012, Hsieh estimates that 9.7-inch iPad panel shipments — that is, shipments of iPad displays from suppliers to Apple’s manufacturing partners —  will have totaled 70 million units, including 23 million iPad 2 displays and 47 million third- and fourth-generation iPad panels. He also believes Apple’s suppliers will ship 13.6 million iPad mini displays by the end of the year.

[More from BGR: Sony’s PlayStation 4 could lose to the next Xbox before it’s even released]

Next year, however, the analyst sees Apple hitting a major milestone.

“In 2013, it is likely that Apple will adjust its product portfolio to meet the strong demand for the iPad mini,” Hsieh wrote in a post on DisplaySearch’s blog. ”We believe that Apple is targeting total iPad shipments of 100 million in 2013, half accounted for by the iPad mini, and 40 million new iPad and 10 million iPad 2, as production continues at least until the middle of 2013.”

DisplaySearch estimates that more than 170 million tablets will ship in 2013 and Apple’s iPad will account for 60% of the market.

This article was originally published by BGR

Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Five years after the recession, a slow recovery plods on

Five years ago this month, the Great Recession began. Which leads to this question: How much longer until South Florida can erase the damage?

Officially, the recession ended in June 2009. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the national economy began contracting in December 2007 and did not grow again for 19 months. Using taxable sales figures, it’s probably safe to say South Florida experienced a longer downturn. Overall spending contracted for the first time in South Florida in March 2007 and didn’t post a year-over-year gain until February 2010.

“Miami was at the forefront of the housing boom and bust,’’ said Karl Kuykendall, an economist who follows South Florida for IHS Global Insight. “It’s no surprise Miami was early into the recession and somewhat late coming out.”

But whatever the actual duration of the downturn, it doesn’t take much math to realize the economy still feels shaky. South Florida lost its first net job in more than two years in October, when a tiny decline of 300 payroll slots interrupted 26 months of consistent expansion. The upcoming November report out Friday will show whether the losing streak continues.

And while unemployment is off near-record highs set in April 2010, more than 180,000 South Floridians were listed as officially out of work in the last count. That’s almost 90 percent more than the 98,000 people listed as out of work in the first month of the recession.

Tourism posted an early recovery, particularly in Miami-Dade, where foreign visitors helped hotels shake-off a sharp drop in U.S. vacationers and business travelers. But the recession lingers in Broward’s tourism industry, which is just now retiring past records.

Housing suffered the most dramatic crash throughout the recession and was also the last of the major indicators to begin its recovery. The Case-Shiller real estate index pegs May 2006 as the peak of the bubble in South Florida. Although each neighborhood is different, the average South Florida house worth $200,000 that month would have fallen down to $97,600 by the time the market hit bottom just over a year ago, in November 2011.

Values have recovered 9 percent since then, meaning the same house should be worth just over $105,0000. That’s a loss of 47 percent over six years.

Recovering from that kind of crash takes time, and five years clearly isn’t enough. To give a hint of the progress underway, Business Monday checked into businesses and residents on the frontlines of the recovery. The reports follow:

Housing

After fending off a foreclosure and battling to get out from under an onerous option ARM mortgage, Marie and Wilson Destin recently worked out a loan modification on their 4-bedroom, 2-bathroom house near Miami Lakes.

With the help of Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida, a nonprofit agency that helps people navigate the Byzantine home financing landscape, the Destins cut their monthly mortgage payment to $1,500 from $1,900 under a new fixed-rate loan.

In 2006, when the housing market was booming, the Haitian-American couple had taken out an option ARM loan on the property, which they had owned for several years.

“Somebody came to the house and approached me with an option ARM loan,’’ said Wilson Destin. “They said I would pay less.’’

The option ARM — which has triggered financial woes for thousands of homeowners during the downturn — allowed for flexible payments and negative amortization, practically encouraging people to defer payments.

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Beloved daughter, taken by a monster

Andrea Peyser

IN NEWTON, CONN.

Her eyes. I’ll remember those beautiful eyes as long as I breathe.

Like practically every little girl, Emilie Parker loved pink. She adored rainbows and ribbons and fishing with her daddy in the river running behind their house.

But mostly, she enjoyed doting and fussing over her two little sisters, Samantha and Madeline, who came into the world, improbably, after Emilie’s birth.

Kind and wise beyond her years, with gorgeous, long, blond hair, Emilie was like a little mommy, a close family friend told me. Yet it’s Emilie’s blue eyes, so full of joy and wonder and excitement, that will haunt me until I leave this earth.

AP

TORN APART: Alissa and Robbie Parker with daughters Samantha, Madeline and Emilie (far right).

AP

The grieving parents in shock after the massacre that left Emilie dead.

Those eyes look up at you from the side of her father, Robbie, on a Facebook page created by friends Brad Schultz and Alan Prothero. Those eyes gaze happily on her little sisters.

It’s hard to believe she is gone. For Emilie was among the littlest victims of madman Adam Lanza.

On Friday morning, Lanza, 20, shot his mother in the face, killing her in their house. He drove her car to Sandy Hook Elementary School, arriving as Emilie’s class was just settling down,

Clad in black, Lanza forced his way into the school, State Police Lt. Paul Vance revealed yesterday. He killed the principal and a staffer.

Then he strolled into the little girl’s classroom, taking aim with his mom’s guns at the small, vulnerable pupils.

And he opened fire.

When he was done, 20 children were dead, along with six adults. Plus one crazed gunman.

Before she could enjoy Christmas, or again smell the fish she so loved catching, Emilie died.

She was 6 years old.

Near Emilie’s classroom, another drama was playing out. First-grade teacher Kaitlin Roig heard the gunshots, saw the blood. She knew what was coming.

She stuffed her students into a tiny bathroom and told them to be quiet. Then she said something she’d never before uttered to her young charges.

She told them, “I love you so much.’’

Roig started to cry at the memory.

“I thought we were all going to die,” she told ABC.

“I wanted it to be the last thing they heard — not gunfire in the hall.”

But Roig’s kids didn’t die. Others were not so lucky.

Emilie’s parents, Robbie and Alissa Parker, tried for a long while to have children. “Finally, they were blessed’’ with Emilie, family friend Brooke Prothero told me. Two baby girls followed.

The Parkers had moved to Connecticut from Utah more than a year ago so Robbie could study to be a physician’s assistant.

On the day of the shooting, like so many parents, the Parkers were frantic. They waited all day for word. None came.

Brooke’s husband, Alan, received texts in Utah. “We can’t find her. We still can’t find her.”

Finally, two minutes before 3 p.m., word came. Emilie had died. Her parents already knew.

Yesterday, the Parkers were still waiting. Waiting for Emilie’s tiny remains. Waiting to find out how she died. Please, God, let it have been quick.

They also needed to figure out how to explain to two little sisters that Emilie was never coming home.

“Robbie is a fine man,” said Alan Prothero. “He’s a good father. An educated individual. He believes in God. Right now, he has the weight of the world on his shoulders.”

As for Alissa, “She’s a mom who just lost her baby. There’s not much to say.’’

In Sandy Hook, people wait for healing that may never come.

Parents, hug your children extra tight. The monsters are real.

apeyser@nypost.com

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7-year-old in critical condition after accident

Police were investigating an accident involving a 7-year-old who was struck by a vehicle in a Lauderhill neighborhood late Saturday, Lauderhill Police spokesman Rick Rocco said.

The vehicle and its driver, who has not yet been identified, remained on scene after the incident near the intersection of Northwest 27th Court and 56th Avenue.

The child was transported to Broward Health Medical Center in critical condition immediately after the incident, police said.

Details of the accident were not immediately available.

This post will be updated as we receive more information.

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U.S. gun website sued for alleged ties to slayings

CHICAGO (Reuters) – A prominent U.S. gun control group on Wednesday sued a gun auction website it says is linked to a mass shooting at a Wisconsin spa in October and the stalker slaying of a woman near Chicago in 2011.

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence alleges that the design of armslist.com facilitates illegal online sales to unlawful gun buyers with no background checks, and enables users to evade laws that permit private sellers to sell guns only to residents of their own state.

“We as a nation are better than an anonymous Internet gun market where killers and criminals can easily get guns,” said Jonathan Lowy, the Brady Center’s Legal Action Project Director, in a statement.

The wrongful death lawsuit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of the family of Jitka Vesel, 36, an immigrant from the Czech Republic who was shot and killed last year by Demetry Smirnov, a stalker.

The suit, which the Brady Center says is the first of its kind, alleges that Smirnov illegally bought the gun from a private seller he located through armslist.com.

Vesel was killed in the parking lot of the Chicago-area Czechoslovak Heritage Museum, where she was a volunteer preparing for a celebration in memory of Czech-American Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak.

Cermak was slain with a handgun during an attempted assassination of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933.

A representative for website owner Armslist, LLC was not immediately available for comment. The company is based in Noble, Oklahoma, according to public records.

The website includes a “terms of use” page on which users must promise they are age 18 or older and will not use the site for illegal purposes.

The Brady Center said that the case does not infringe on the Second Amendment right to bear arms, noting that 74 percent of National Rifle Association members believe that no guns should be sold without a criminal background check.

A representative for the NRA was not immediately available for comment.

Radcliffe Haughton, who killed his estranged wife and two other women and wounded four others before killing himself in a shooting in a Milwaukee suburb on October 21, also got his weapon through armslist.com, according to Wisconsin officials.

Haughton, who was under a restraining order for domestic violence, avoided a background check through a “lethal loophole” by buying a gun through the website, according to a letter to Armslist sent by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Wisconsin U.S. Representative Gwen Moore on October 26.

Sales conducted over the Internet also have been linked to mass killings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University. In 1999 eBay announced it was prohibiting online gun sales, according to the Brady Center lawsuit.

Craigslist did the same in 2007. Amazon.com and Google AdWords also prohibits the listing of firearms for sale, the suit says.

An undercover investigation of online gun sales by New York City last year found that 62 percent of private gun sellers agreed to sell a firearm to a buyer who said he probably could not pass a background check.

(Reporting By Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Greg McCune and Xavier Briand)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Riveting Details Emerge from CT School Rampage

As morning turned to afternoon on Friday, further details continued to emerge from Newtown, CT, a tight-knit community shaken by a massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School that took the lives of innocent students and teachers, in addition to the gunman, reportedly identified as Adam Lanza.

RELATED: President Fights Tears as He Addresses Nation

As President Barack Obama touched on in his tear-jerking press conference, this is not the first time the nation has witnessed a tragedy of this kind. The recent mass shooting at an Aurora, CO movie theater is just one instance of such violence. Columbine High School and Virginia Tech also resonate as prime examples.

Hollywood's biggest stars were quick to react to the news on Twitter and made an outcry for stricter gun control regulations.

Watch the video for ET's complete coverage of today's biggest headline.

RELATED: Celebs Tweet Reactions to CT School Shooting

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Miami in spotlight at AVCC, other entrepreneurship events

Entrepreneurs from around the world took the stage during this packed week of entrepreneurship events in Miami: Florida International University’s Americas Venture Capital Conference (known as AVCC), HackDay, Wayra’s Global DemoDay and Endeavor’s International Selection Panel.

The events, all part of the first Innovate MIA week, also put the spotlight on Miami as it continues to try to develop into a technology hub for the Americas.

“While I like art, I absolutely love what is happening today... The time has come to become a tech hub in Miami,” said Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez, who kicked off the venture capital conference on Thursday. He told the audience of 450 investors and entrepreneurs about the county’s $1 million investment in the Launch Pad Tech Accelerator in downtown Miami.

“I have no doubt that this gathering today will produce new ideas and new business ventures that will put our community on a fast track to becoming a center for innovative, tech-driven entrepreneurship,” Gimenez said.

Brad Feld, an early-stage investor and a founder of TechStars, cautioned that won’t happen overnight. Building a startup community can take five, 10, even 15 years, and those leading the effort, who should be entrepreneurs themselves, need to take the long-term view, he told the audience via video. “You can create very powerful entrepreneurial ecosystems in any city... I’ve spent some time in Miami, I think you are off to a great start.”

Throughout the two-day AVCC at the JW Brickell Marriott, as well as the Endeavor and Wayra events, entrepreneurs from around the world pitched their companies, hoping to persuade investors to part with some of their green.

And in some cases, the entrepreneurs could win money, too. During the venture capital conference, 29 companies —including eight from South Florida such as itMD, which connects doctors, patients and imaging facilities to facilitate easy access of records — competed for more than $50,000 in cash and prizes through short “elevator’’ pitches. Each took questions from the judges, then demoed their products or services in the conference “Hot Zone,” a room adjoining the ballroom. Some companies like oLyfe, a platform to organize what people share online, are hoping to raise funds for expansion into Latin America. Others like Ideame, a trilingual crowdfunding platform, were laser focused on pan-Latin American opportunities.

Winning the grand prize of $15,000 in cash and art was Trapezoid Digital Security of Miami, which provides hardware-based security solutions for enterprise and cloud environments. Fotopigeon of Tampa, a photo-sharing and printing service targeting the military and prison niches, scored two prizes.

The conference offered opportunities to hear formal presentations on current trends — among them the surge of start-ups in Brazil; the importance of mobile apps and overheated company valuations — and informal opportunities to connect with fellow entrepreneurs.

Speakers included Gaston Legorburu of SapientNitro, Albert Santalo of CareCloud and Juan Diego Calle of .Co Internet, all South Florida entrepreneurs. Jerry Haar, executive director of FIU’s Pino Global Entrepreneurship Center, which produced the conference with a host of sponsors, said the organizers worked hard to make the conference relevant to both the local and Latin American audience, with panels on funding and recruiting for startups, for instance.

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Two dead after shooting at Las Vegas hotel: police

LAS VEGAS — Police say a man and woman are dead after a murder-suicide shooting at a hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.

Las Vegas Police Lt. Ray Steiber says a man shot a woman at about 8:30 p.m. Friday at the Excalibur hotel-casino. The man then shot and killed himself.

Steiber says the woman was transported to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

He says the circumstances of the shooting are under investigation.

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