5 reasons Charlie Crist should (and shouldn’t) run for Florida governor

It was the biggest piece of thoroughly unsurprising news in months: Charlie Crist is becoming a Democrat. The next expectation is Crist will announce a campaign for Florida governor. He’s tanned, rested and ready after two years at a high-profile law firm and anyone who follows his career has a hard time picturing Crist out of public life forever. But the Florida Republicans’ prince-turned-pariah is no lock to win a Democratic primary against the likes of Alex Sink, let alone a general election against Gov. Rick Scott, who can pour tens of millions of his own money into a reelection campaign. A Crist candidacy has pros and cons. Here are five reasons why the former governor should run again and five reasons why he shouldn’t.

FIVE REASONS HE SHOULD

RUN FOR GOVERNOR

1. Democrats need a winner. Tired of losing, Florida Democrats are so hungry for some real influence in state government that they will cut Crist slack for his blatant opportunism and overlook some of his more strident conservative stands.

Yes, President Barack Obama won Florida twice in a row, but Democrats have lost the past four gubernatorial races and now hold just one of six statewide offices. The ultimate prize for party-building and fundraising is the Governor’s Mansion, and Democrats only have to see how relentlessly the Florida GOP has attacked Crist for months to realize how seriously it views him as a threat.

A sizable chunk of the Democratic primary electorate won’t trust Crist, so the more crowded the primary, the better for him. So far, it looks like a crowd with potential contenders including former Chief Financial Officer Sink, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, former state Sen. Nan Rich of Broward County, state Sen. Jeremy Ring of Broward and former Miami-Dade Commissioner Jimmy Morales. But all would have to spend millions to become known statewide.

2. The Democratic coalition. Trial lawyers and teachers are two critical groups to bankroll a statewide campaign, and Crist is uniquely positioned to win over both. He works for one of the state’s most prominent trial lawyers, John “For the People” Morgan, and teachers praised Crist even when he was a Republican governor for vetoing a controversial teacher merit pay bill.

Crist also has wide support in the party’s most loyal constituency, African-Americans. They appreciated his outreach and his expansion of the attorney general’s power to prosecute civil rights cases and a decision, overturned by Scott and others, to make it easier for ex-felons to regain their civil rights so they could vote.

3. Obama. Crist has to be the president’s favorite Florida politician. He was one of the few Republicans to enthusiastically endorse Obama’s $700 billion stimulus package, and Crist was all over Florida this election season stumping for Obama. He raised between $100,000 and $200,000 for the president’s reelection campaign and spoke at the Democratic National Convention. At the moment, “the hug” looks pretty good.

And Sink? Right after her narrow loss to Scott in 2010, she told POLITICO the “tone deaf” Obama administration was to blame for her loss. “They got a huge wake-up call two days ago, but unfortunately they took a lot of Democrats down with them,” Sink said.

Obama and senior political advisor David Axelrod have lavishly praised Crist, and it’s likely they would be eager to help him win America’s biggest battleground state. Another big Crist fan: Bill Clinton, whose wife may be keen on having a Democrat lead Florida heading into 2016.

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Google+ app for Android updated with new photo-sharing features, emoticons, GIFs and more

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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.

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Domino's founder sues federal government over mandatory contraception coverage in Obamacare

DETROIT — The founder of Domino's Pizza is suing the federal government over mandatory contraception coverage in the health care law.

Tom Monaghan, a devout Roman Catholic, says contraception isn't health care but a "gravely immoral" practice.

He filed a lawsuit Friday in federal court. It also lists as a plaintiff Domino's Farms, a Michigan office park complex that Monaghan owns.

Monaghan offers health insurance that excludes contraception and abortion for employees. The new federal law requires employers to offer insurance including contraception coverage or risk fines.

AP

Domino's pizza founder Tom Monaghan in 1996

Monaghan says the law violates his rights, and is asking a judge to strike down the mandate. There are similar lawsuits pending nationwide.

A message left Saturday for Monaghan's attorney, Richard Thompson, was not immediately returned.

The government says the contraception mandate benefits women.

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Florida lawmakers to look into FPL settlement

TALLAHASSEE --
The approval of a utility rate settlement opposed by the state’s consumer advocate is likely to come under scrutiny by the Florida Supreme Court and Legislature.

Public Counsel J.R. Kelly said Friday that he probably will appeal the deal between Florida Power & Light Co. and groups representing industrial, health care and federal government customers.

The agreement that won approval Thursday from the Public Service Commission will raise base rates for all customers. That includes nearly $10 for the typical residential customer over a four-year span.

Kelly contends state law requires that his office be part of any such settlement, but the commission and FPL disagree.

At least two lawmakers say they expect to pursue legislation to remove any doubt that the public counsel’s participation is required.

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Sony’s PlayStation 4 could lose to the next Xbox before it’s even released

I love all game consoles equally. My Xbox 360 is used equally as much as my PlayStation 3. The Wii — oh, I’ll just leave it at that. The current generation of consoles is all but over — 10-year life cycle be damned — and new consoles are rumored to be coming next fall. If not next fall, then in 2014. Whatever is the case, Sony (SNE) can’t afford to lag in third place again. Sure, the Xbox 360 and PS3 are neck-in-neck in global lifetime sales, and the Xbox 360 did have a one year head start, but coming off the disappointing PS Vita, “confidence is less high” that Sony will deliver a console next year in time to compete with Microsoft (MSFT), according to Kotaku.

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

I want a new console just as much as any other gamer. There’s a reason people are still pouncing on those Wii U consoles and flipping them on eBay. Six years is unusually long for a console to still be kicking around.

[More from BGR: Apple execs said to be ‘seething’ over Google Maps praise]

According to the well-informed Stephen Totilo, Editor-in-Chief of Kotaku, the game blog that first broke news on the next-gen Xbox, Microsoft’s “Durango” is ”on the mark” and “Sony appears to inspire less confidence…due to the on-and-off troubles of the PlayStation 3 and the struggles of the Vita vs. how much lost confidence is due to any problems looming for PS4.“

Totilo says “confidence is high that the next Xbox will be out in time for next Christmas” and confidence is low that the PS4 will be right there on store shelves next to it.

The “on-and-off troubles of the PlayStation 3″ Totilo is referring to is the anchor that’s weighed the console down since launch: tougher development due to the Cell processor and less available RAM – 256MB vs. 512MB in the Xbox 360.

In the months before the PS3′s launch in 2006, Sony said the console would be the most powerful console ever created, and here we are six years later and multi-platform games on the console consistently end up being buggier and uglier than on the Xbox 360 in many cases. Cases in point: Skyrim, Mass Effect 3 and Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

Sony’s in a rut right now. It has the chops to build beautiful and powerful hardware that’s a developer’s dream (ex: PS Vita), but at the same time, it’s always launching after the competition nowadays.

If Sony’s learned any lessons in the last half a decade, it better apply them to the PS4. The console needs to offer next-level processing and graphics. It needs to be backward-compatible with PS3 games and play Blu-ray discs. It should be small and quiet. It should have a strong online platform, support a greater array of apps and most importantly be easy for developers to program for.

Game exclusives will always be important, but now that games are million-dollar productions, multi-platform will be where developers hope to reap back their costs.

With Microsoft said to be preparing an “Xbox 720″ and an “Xbox Lite,” Sony can’t make the mistake of launching late or pricing the console too high. A launch in spring of 2014 would mean Sony will miss Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the two biggest shopping days of the year that bring in massive sales.  Ceding sales and market share to Microsoft and Nintendo by launching late would be disastrous.

The PS3 screwed up too many times. At this point, the PS4 needs to be perfect out of the door.

This article was originally published by BGR

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President Obama Fights Tears as He Addresses Nation

President Barack Obama addressed the nation moments ago to respond to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. Having trouble composing his raw emotions, the president wiped tears streaming down his face.

He said, "I offered Governor Malloy my condolences on behalf of the nation" and vowed to give the community "every resource" they need to recover.

RELATED: Celebs Tweet Reactions to CT School Shooting

Referencing other mass shootings making headlines, President Obama said, "We've endured too many of these tragedies in the last few years. Each time I hear the news, I react not as a president, but as a parent. That was especially true today. There's not a parent in America who doesn't feel the same overwhelming grief as I do. The majority of those who died today are children……they had their entire lives ahead of them- birthdays, graduations weddings, kids of their own."

Tonight, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will be extra grateful to embrace their two daughters, Sasha and Malia. "[We'll] hug our children a little tighter and tell them that we love them," he proclaimed. "For as blessed as [some victim's families] are to have their children home tonight, they know their innocence has been taken."

He calls for all of America to "extend a hand to those in need…in the hard days to come."

VIDEO: Parent of Columbine victim: 'You can't get past the pain'

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Emotional Obama on school shooting: Child victims 'had their entire lives ahead of them'

REUTERS

President Obama speaks about the shooting.

WASHINGTON – President Obama today wiped away tears and got a lump in his throat as he gave voice to America’s pain and anguish in the wake of a horrific shooting rampage in a Connecticut elementary school.

"The majority of those who died today were children, beautiful little kids between the ages of five and ten years old," said Obama, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

The choked-up president took a long pause to regain his composure before he continued his address from the White House.

"They had their entire lives ahead of them, birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own,” said Obama.

In response to the unthinkable tragedy that left 20 children and six adults dead, Obama promised “meaningful” action to combat gun violence.

“Our hearts are broken for the parents of the survivors as well, for as blessed as they are to have their children home tonight, they know that their children's innocence has been torn away from them,” said the president.

He added a person note.

“This evening, Michelle and I will do what I know every parent in America will do, which is hug our children a little tighter,” he said. “And we’ll tell them that we love them and we’ll remind each other of how deeply we love we another.”

“But there are families in Connecticut that cannot do that. And they need us now,” he said.

smiller@nypost.com

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NBCUniversal bolsters Telemundo as US Latino market grows

Telemundo has long been like a remote Caribbean island, cut off from its sprawling media homeland.

NBCUniversal acquired the Spanish-language television network a decade ago for $2 billion but became discouraged by its seemingly limited prospects. But Comcast Corp.’s takeover of NBCUniversal last year may be building Telemundo a bridge to the mainland.

“Telemundo now has the full support of Comcast and NBCUniversal,” said Emilio Romano, a former Mexican airline chief executive who was hired a year ago to run Telemundo. “For them, Telemundo is clearly a diamond in the rough.”

The Miami-based network, which began in 1954 as a single Puerto Rico TV station, had long been viewed as an “East Coast” outlet infused with Caribbean flavor — not the right ingredients for the majority of U.S. Latinos, two-thirds of whom are from Mexico or are of Mexican descent.

Appealing to viewers with Central American heritage has become central to NBCUniversal’s campaign to grow Telemundo. But there’s a hitch: Telemundo’s rival, Univision Communications, has a lock on Mexico’s top-rated prime-time soap operas, plus contracts with top Mexican actors and the rights to some of the most popular Mexican soccer teams — making Univision the network of choice for most Mexican immigrants.

So Telemundo has had to shell out tens of millions of dollars to produce original programming to compete in the increasingly crowded field of Spanish-language television.

“They are a hungry No. 2,” said Carmen Baez, president of Latin America operations for advertising behemoth Omnicom Group. “It’s like that old Avis rental-car slogan: ‘We try harder.’ ”

Since Comcast took majority control of NBCUniversal in January 2011, it has installed new management at Telemundo and increased the operating budget. Last year Comcast agreed to spend about $600 million for the rights to broadcast the FIFA World Cup soccer tournaments in 2015 through 2022 — nearly double the amount that Univision currently pays.

The company increased Telemundo’s annual programming budget nearly 20 percent and steered more resources to local Telemundo stations.

“It’s a 360-degree programming strategy built around cultural relevance,” said Lauren Zalaznick, who oversees Telemundo as NBCUniversal’s chairman of entertainment and digital networks.

For example, because many Latino families watch television together, Telemundo licensed films from Walt Disney Co.’s Pixar Animation Studios, creator of such blockbusters as Toy Story and Cars, to build a Sunday night movie block. Telemundo has slowly bolstered its daytime schedule, sending its TV judge, Ana Maria Polo — who has been dubbed the “Latino Judge Judy” — on a road trip to Los Angeles and broadcasting more news from Mexico.

The company also has paid more attention to Mun2, its bilingual youth-oriented cable channel. This week the channel was dealt a devastating blow with the unexpected death of its reality show superstar, Jenni Rivera, in a plane crash in northern Mexico.

Telemundo draws an average of 1.2 million viewers in prime time, an increase of 5 percent over 2011 and 18 percent more than in 2010, according to ratings firm Nielsen. Univision’s ratings have held steady but its second broadcast network, TeleFutura, is down 5 percent this year.

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Jackson Health System chairman says UM relationship has caused ‘irreparable harm’

Planning for a closed-door meeting next week to discussion strategic planning, board chairman Marcos Lapciuc said Thursday that the Jackson Health System needs to reconsider its future because it is currently “misaligned with our academic partner,” the University of Miami.

Lapciuc said that the UM relationship in recent years has “created irreparable harm” to Jackson and has “hurt the poor” that Jackson serves.

He said that Jackson needs to continue working with UM’s medical school in areas where UM wants to partner, such as the transplant program, but needs to find other opportunities now that UM is emphasizing the needs of its own 560-bed University of Miami Hospital, which is across the street from Jackson Memorial.

Lapciuc noted that many hospital chains are aggressively buying physician practices, preparing to form accountable care organizations that are emphasized in the Affordable Care Act, but “these are expensive acquisitions” that will be hard for Jackson to afford at present.

Lapciuc’s remarks came during the board’s monthly committee day. On Wednesday, the board will hold a strategic planning session with an open meeting followed by an hour-and-half closed session to discuss plans that the board doesn’t want competitors to know about.

Such closed sessions of public hospitals are permitted under a special exception to the state’s Sunshine Laws.

In other business Thursday, Chief Financial Officer Mark Knight reported that the system showed a surplus of $2 million in November, but cash on hand was an ultra-low 8.78 days, because anticipated payments from the state had yet to arrive. The benchmark for financially stable public hospitals is 174.8 days of cash, according to Jackson’s financial report.

Net patient revenue was $81.7 million for the month, up from $69 million in November 2011 — primarily because many more patients were qualifying for Medicaid, meaning lower numbers of uninsured, nonpaying patients, Knight said.

Jackson’s efforts on collecting from insurers continues to improve. Insurers are now paying the system on an average of 45.36 days after being billed – better than the national benchmark of 45.9 days.

Duane Fitch, a hospital consultant for Jackson’s unions, noted that with such success it made no sense for Jackson to pursue out-sourcing of its business office operations. “If it’s not broke, why fix it?”

Chief Executive Carlos Migoya said Jackson was just exploring the possibility of out-sourcing and had made no decision.

Migoya told the board that federal regulators were demanding 12 actions to fix problems in the Medicare portion of the Jackson Health Plan. One action required: Stop immediately requiring authorization of emergency room visits. Jackson executives said they’re working to comply.

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