Cool weather will continue Saturday in South Florida with breezy conditions and low temperatures dipping below 70. Highs will be in the mid-70s.
On Sunday, forecasters expect the start of a warming trend, with highs near 80 and a low of about 70.
Monday will bring more breezes and partly sunny skies, with a high of 79 degrees and a 20 percent chance of rain after 8 a.m.
For up-to-date forecasts and maps, click here.
Walmart is kicking off Black Friday shopping earlier than ever this year, opening stores at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.
“In addition to offering amazing low prices on the season’s top gifts, Walmart is taking the historic step to ensure wishlist items like the Apple iPad2 are available for customers during a special one-hour event on Thanksgiving,” the world’s largest retailer said in a statement today.
“We know it’s frustrating for customers to shop on Black Friday and not get the items they want,” said Duncan Mac Naughton, chief merchandising and marketing officer, Walmart U.S. “This year, for the first time ever, customers that shop during Walmart’s one-hour event will be guaranteed to have three of the most popular items under their tree at a great low price.”
Other retailers will also be opening earlier, including Sears at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, moved up from 4 a.m. on Black Friday last year. Kmart will be open Thanksgiving Day 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., then it will close and reopen 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. Macy’s, Kohl’s and Best Buy open at midnight; Toys R Us hasn’t announced its plans. Advice on how to snag the best deals.
To help convince folks to head out to the store after dinner, Walmart said it will guarantee that customers who are inside the store and in line between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. can get these deals:
Apple iPad ®2 16GB with Wi-Fi – $ 399 plus get a $ 75 Walmart Gift Card
Emerson ® 32 720p LCD TV – $ 148
LG ® Blu-ray™ Player – $ 38
“If any of these items happen to sell out before 11 p.m. local time, Walmart will offer a Guarantee Card for the item which must be paid for by midnight and registered online. The product will then be shipped to the store where it was purchased for the customer to pick up before Christmas,” the retailer said.
A few of the top items available in store, while supplies last, include:
8 p.m. on November 22: Gifts for the Entire Family – Toys, Gaming, Home and Apparel
Xbox 360 ® 4GB + SkyLanders ™ Bundle – $ 149
Wii ™ Console- $ 89
More than 100 video games priced at $ 10, $ 15 or $ 25 each
Top Toys of the Season: Leappad ® 1.0 Learning Tablet ($ 65) and Furby ® ($ 45)
Razor ® Accelerator 12-Volt Electric Scooter – $ 79
Fisher Price Power Wheels ® Jeep ® Wrangler 6-Volt Ride Ons (Hot Wheels ® and Barbie ®) – $ 89 each
Licensed Boys’ and Girls’ 2-Piece Sleep Set – $ 4.50 each
Mens and Ladies Denim – $ 9.50 each
Home appliances such as a Crock Pot ® 6-Quart Slow Cooker and Mr. Coffee ® Programmable 12-Cup Coffee Maker – $ 9.44 each
Shark ® Steam Pocket Mop and Ninja ® Pulse Blender – $ 39 each
Fashion Dolls such as Barbie ®, Bratz ™ and Disney ® Princess – $ 5 each
Hundreds of DVD and Blu-ray movies such as Brave, The Amazing Spiderman, Hunger Game ranging from $ 1.96 to $ 9.96 each
Better Homes and Gardens ® 700-Thread Count Sheet Set – $ 19.96
48″ Air-Powered Hockey Table – $ 29.86
14′ Trampoline with Enclosure and Bonus Flash Light Zone – $ 159
10 p.m. on November 22: The BIG Event – Brand Name Electronics
Vizio ® 60″ 720p LED Smart TV with built in Wi-Fi – $ 688
Samsung ® 43″ 720p 600Hz Class Plasma HDTV – $ 378
HP ® 15.6″ Laptop with 4GB and 320GB hard drive – $ 279
Nikon ® D3000 Digital Camera with Lens Kit – $ 449
Samsung ® Smart ST195 Digital Camera – $ 99
Beats by Dr. Dre ® Headphones – $ 179.95
Nook ® Color ™ 8GB Tablet – $ 99
Virgin Mobile ® 3G/4G Hotspot – $ 39.88
5 a.m. on Nov. 23: Caffeine Not Needed – Great Savings on Gifts from Jewelry to Tires
Sharp ® 70″ 1080p 120Hz HDTV – $ 1,798
Acer ® 13.3″ Ultrabook ™ with 4GB and 320GB solid state drive – $ 499
$ 100 Walmart gift card with the purchase of select smartphones such as the Samsung ® Galaxy S III, Droid RAZR M by Motorola ® and HTC ® One X
Goodyear Tires ranging from $ 59 – $ 99 each
Forever Bride 1/3 -Carat T.W. Diamond Ring in 10K Gold – $ 198
Stanley ® 6-Drawer Rolling Tool Cabinet with 85-Piece Mechanic Tool Set – $ 99
Singer ® Sew Mate 5400 60-Stitch Sewing Machine – $ 99.97
5? Pre-Lit Harrison Christmas Tree – $ 20
Better Homes and Gardens Deluxe Recliner – $ 199
Black Friday Specials & More Online:
Samsung 50″ Class LED 1080p 60Hz HDTV – $ 698
Ematic 7″ Tablet Android 4.0 1GHz, 4GB – $ 49
Dsi XL Ultimate Bundle – $ 129
Razor A Kick Scooter, Multiple Colors – $ 25
Also Read
Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Christopher Sadowski
Emergency crews help one of the workers burned in a Midtown restaurant fire Friday.
A fire erupted at a Midtown sushi restaurant last night after a worker haphazardly carried gasoline in soy sauce containers, sources said.
“I was pouring a round of Jack Daniels,” said ENO restaurant bartender Adele Mackenzie. “The next thing I know the bus boy was on fire.”
Mackenzie said that 10 Upstate New York tree trimmers who were in town for hurricane Sandy relief efforts and who happened to be eating at ENO, tackled the busboy to put out the flames.
In addition to the busboy, the chef and a server were also burned in the 10 p.m. blaze. The three workers were taken to Cornell Burn Center for 1st and 2nd degree burns, according to witnesses and fire officials .
Sources said the fire started as a worker carried two 5-gallon sauce containers filled with gasoline from the basement into the kitchen. Somehow, the fuel spilled on the kitchen floor and ignited, according to Deputy Chief Thomas McKavanagh.
Christopher Sadowski
A firefighter carries the 5-gallon sauce containers that sources say sparked the fire.
Can you launch a company for $100?
Books & Books, the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce, Florida International University and The LAB Miami have teamed up to host The $100 Startup Competition. Inspired by the bestselling book by Chris Guillebeau, the contest challenges South Florida entrepreneurs to enter their ideas for businesses that can be launched with just $100.
To enter, applicants must complete a short questionnaire; be ready to produce your mission statement in 140 characters or less. Finalists will be invited to pitch their $100 startup ideas in a public event on Small Business Saturday, Nov. 24, at Books & Books in Coral Gables. A panel of judges will fund the most promising ventures and additional prizes will be awarded.
The deadline to apply is Sunday, Nov. 18 at 11:59 p.m. Apply at http://100dollarstartup.co/
After a doozy of an Election Day, Miami-Dade County officials finished their vote tally Thursday, following an around-the-clock tabulation of tens of thousands of absentee ballots and a few thousand provisional ballots.
Mayor Carlos Gimenez also pledged to uncover what went wrong Tuesday, by asking four Miami-Dade commissioners to join a task force that will examine the long lines and frustrating delays that plagued polling places in different parts of the county.
“We need to put it in context,” Gimenez told The Miami Herald. “I believe that there are different operational issues at those precincts.”
Gimenez sent letters to Commissioners Lynda Bell, Sally Heyman, Dennis Moss and Rebeca Sosa, asking them to form part of the group and identify other community leaders who could participate. The mayor chose them for their ethnic and political diversity, and because lines in some of their areas were excessively long.
The group will conduct a precinct-by-precinct review of what happened and make recommendations to the county — including some to relay to Gov. Rick Scott and state lawmakers regarding early voting.
Gimenez said he hopes to convene the group a week from Monday, after the supervisor of elections has completed a traditional post-election briefing. The group will first learn about election laws and what wiggle room the county has to propose changes.
The advisory group, which the mayor said won’t be too large, will dig into why there were lengthy lines during early voting — despite fewer people voting early than in 2008 — and at many precincts on Election Day, despite turnout being only 8 percent higher.
Commissioners welcomed the challenge.
“We could always stand for improvement, and we will,” Heyman said at a commission meeting Thursday.
Another commissioner not taking part, Javier Souto, also chimed in.
“Democracy is alive and well, and it worked — it worked very well,” he said. “The system got a little bit, uh, difficult at times.’’
As commissioners met at County Hall, Miami-Dade’s absentee ballot count came to a merciful end.
Elections workers counted a final batch of 500 absentees Thursday morning after pulling their second all-nighter. They finished about 40 hours after the polls closed.
Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections Penelope Townsley fended off criticism that the county’s election was less than perfect.
“Generally, I think Miami-Dade County conducted a very good election,” Townsley told reporters at the elections office in Doral, as she deflected questions about long lines and delays at the polls. “Am I embarrassed or disappointed by some of the things that happened? Absolutely. But I have to focus on simply getting it right.”
The last-minute surge of some 54,000 absentees cast up until the closing of the polls on Election Day caused an extraordinary delay in tabulating the final results. Elections workers counted about 31,750 absentee votes on Wednesday and Thursday alone.
In total, Miami-Dade voters cast more than 242,000 absentee ballots. Officials said Thursday they could not provide information on the number of rejected absentees.
Townsley made note of the fact that Miami-Dade, the state’s largest county, finished ahead of three other big Florida counties — Broward, Palm Beach and Duval. They were still tabulating their absentees Thursday afternoon.
NEW YORK (AP) — A research firm says U.S. retail sales of new video game hardware, software and accessories fell 25 percent in October.
The drop marks the 11th straight month of declining sales for physical game products. Many gamers are waiting for big holiday releases such as Activision Blizzard Inc.‘s “Call of Duty: Black Ops II.”
The NPD Group said Thursday that sales fell to $ 755.5 million from $ 1 billion a year earlier.
Sales of video games themselves, excluding PC titles, fell 25 percent to $ 432.6 million. Sales of hardware such as Microsoft’s Xbox 360 fell 37 percent to $ 187.3 million. Sales of accessories, meanwhile, grew 5 percent to $ 135.6 million.
NPD estimates that retail sales account for about half of all video game spending. The rest is downloads, apps and the like.
Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News
"[It's] definitely a good night for me," beamed Justin Bieber on the red carpet of this year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in NYC.
"It's an 18-year-old's dream …to be able to see all these models," said the teen phenom who, along with Rihanna and Bruno Mars, took to the stage November 7 to serenade VS Angels as they strut their stuff on the catwalk.
Video: Inside Victoria's Secret's Fashion Show Casting
The annual show, which airs December 4 at 10 p.m. on CBS, was the first major event in New York City since superstorm Sandy.
World-famous Victoria's Secret Angels Miranda Kerr, Alessandra Ambrosio, Adriana Lima, Doutzen Kroes, Candice Swanepoel, Erin Heatherton, Lily Aldridge, and Lindsay Ellingson will take center stage at the sexy event.
DCPI
Javier Perez is charged in an August murder in The Bronx, police said.
A fifth man was charged yesterday for gunning down a Bronx man and injuring another man back in August, police said.
Javier Perez, 22, was slapped with murder, attempted murder, gang assault, and weapon possession for fatally shooting Adrian Garcia, 25, and wounding his 20-year old nephew during an argument that turned violent between the victims and five men on Aug. 26 at the Pelham Houses in Morris Park , police added.
Perez was apprehend last month when he stepped off an Amtrak train in West Palm Beach, Fla., police said.
The four other suspects -- Charles “Boogie” Dennis, 29, Earl Gregory, 24, Shoendale Jarrett, 24 and Richard Quijano, 22 -- were collared back in September and October in connection with the incident and charged with murder and attempted murder, police added.
Feeding South Florida needed a fresh way to raise awareness about hunger. Enter the graffiti artists.
With a wall in the hip Wynwood neighborhood now devoted to the cause, the Pembroke Park-based organization has become a prime example of the lengths nonprofits are going to as need grows, traditional support shrinks and competition for dollars heats up.
“In the past, we did things very traditionally,” said Diana Brooks, an advertising company owner who became the organization’s board chair in July. “We said, ‘How can we think outside the box and really make some noise?’”
Along with the Wynwood mural, Feeding South Florida launched a Halloween-themed campaign on email and social media featuring scary images, “scarier” facts about hunger — and a link to donate money. The effort brought in more than $5,000 in three days,Brooks said, and drew interest from people who wanted to know more about the organization.
As some avenues of support for the organization’s mission have decreased, Brooks said standing out among the crowd has become essential. And nonprofits are under increasing scrutiny from donors who want to make sure they’re giving to the groups that will best maximize their money.“When you have over 10,000 nonprofits fighting for the same bucket, you have to get a lot more creative in other revenue streams,” Brooks said.
Charitable giving in America took a dive in 2008 and 2009, about 13 percent combined, said Tim Seiler, a professor of philanthropic studies and director of The Fund Raising School at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy. For the past two years, the trend reversed, but the increases have been tiny.
“Those increases are a positive indicator that suggest that people want to be generous to the degree that they can even when times are tough,” Seiler said.
Still, he said, experts predict it will take another four or five years for giving to reach pre-recession levels.
With funding cuts a way of life, many organizations are trying to offset the growing demands on their resources by new fundraising avenues. 2-1-1 Broward, a 24-hour resource that provides information on health and human services as well as crisis counseling, started the Non-Profit Academy Awards in 2011 to raise money and reward deserving organizations in the county.
“There is actually a red carpet,” said president and CEO Sheila Smith. “We actually had live gold painted statues.”
The event drew about 700 people at the beginning of this year, 100 more than its first outing. Put on with the help of several sponsors, it has become the single biggest annual fundraising event for the organization, which has a $1.8 million budget.
“It certainly increased our awareness among potential donors in a big way,” Smith said.
The Miami Foundation, which creates charitable funds for donors based on their interests, is trying to stir up interest with a new initiative called Give Miami Day. On Dec. 12, from midnight to midnight, donors will be able to choose from a long list of participating nonprofits online that they can research and support. The foundation will have a matching program in place.
“We’re just encouraging people to look at philanthropy differently and not necessarily think you have to subscribe to the same old ways of raising money,” said communications officer Matthew Beatty. “Obviously, you’re going to have to make more of an impact and stand out a little bit more if you trying to raise money in a difficult economy.”
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