Man commits suicide by leaping in front of Manhattan subway train

G.N.Miller/New York Post

A train at the Manhattan subway stop where a man jumped to his death today.

A suicidal man died after jumping in front of a subway train in Manhattan this morning, police said.

The unidentified victim was near the edge of the platform at Eighth Avenue and West 23rd Street in Chelsea around 9:30 a.m. as the E train neared the station, sources said. He stepped back about 10 feet before taking a running leap just before the train arrived, sources added.

The MTA suspended C trains and rerouted E trains below 53rd Street and Fifth Avenue for about two hours after the incident.

kconley@nypost.com

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South Beach Wine & Food Festival changes Miami's culinary scene, impacts economy

For Miami restaurateurs, this is Showtime.

With dozens of top chefs — Bobby Flay, Todd English, Daniel Boloud and Masaharu Morimoto among the list — in town for the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, the pressure is on everywhere, from Michy’s to the new Catch Miami. The goal: Show everyone from around the country that Miami’s food scene has arrived on the national stage.

Chef Michelle Bernstein’s staff whipped up dishes designed to impress guests at Michy’s — like foie gras, oxtail and apple tarte tatin — while she juggled menus for multiple events. Bernstein kept her cellphone handy to make sure any chef friends could get a table, even though her namesake restaurant was sold out.

As always, Joe’s Stone Crab was a must-do stop for many, including Paula Deen and New York restaurateur Danny Meyer. Aussie Chef Curtis Stone attracted a string of admirers as he ate his way around town, with stops at Prime 112, Pubbelly Sushi and Puerto Sagua. Khong River House and Yardbird Southern Table & Bar hosted Meyer, The Food Network’s Anne Burrell and Chef Anita Lo.

Michael’s Genuine was another hot spot.

“This is kind of our coming out party for Khong and it’s our chance to knock it out of the park and wow people,” said John Kunkel, owner of Khong and Yardbird.

Prime 112 owner Myles Chefetz admits he’s a fanatic about checking plates when they come back from a chef’s table. And he’s always on the lookout for the table ordering 20 different items, because that’s usually a restaurateur doing research.

“If you have Jean-Gorges or Bobby Flay eating at your restaurant, you want to make sure he has a great experience,” Chefetz said. “You want to put your best foot forward because you know you’re going to get scrutinized.”

The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival is not just a forum for impressing the culinary elite. It’s among the top three tourist draws for Miami restaurants and hotels. In its 12th year, the festival draws more than 60,000 people to Miami Beach for a weekend of decadence, featuring more than 50 events spread over four days.

It is neck and neck with two of the area’s other most prominent weekends: Art Basel and Presidents’ Day (which coincides with the Miami International Boat Show).

There’s the immediate economic impact, of course, but the festival has made its mark in other ways: helping transform Miami’s food scene from a cultural wasteland to one of the country’s hot spots, one where top chefs all want to set up shop.

“Twelve years ago I don’t know if you could even name five really good restaurants. Now, you can’t think of where you want to eat because there are so many good restaurants,” said Lee Brian Schrager, festival founder and vice president of communications for Southern Wine & Spirits, its host. “What the festival can take credit for is introducing the culinary world to the great talent down here, and really highlighting South Florida as a great dining destination.”

There has been plenty of indulgence to go around. Flay finally broke his losing streak and took home top honors at the Burger Bash with his award-winning crunchified green chili burger. At the Q, barbecue lovers had their choice of Al Roker’s lamb ribs with baked beans or Geoffrey Zakarian’s smoked tagarashi crusted tuna, among other offerings.

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Wish Book donations brighten the lives of more than 800 people

Payton Petty, a vivacious 4-year-old boy who lives in Fort Lauderdale with his father, a disabled block mason, and grandmother, was born with the rare condition keratitis, a disorder that scars the corneas. Sometimes he can make out shapes and colors. But his eyes can be so inflamed, he often keeps them closed to ward off the pain that arrives with even the tiniest bit of light.

The Miami Herald told Payton’s story in January as part of The Herald’s 2012 Wish Book campaign. The Pettys received home repairs, including a bedroom makeover and window treatment to deflect light and minimize the pain from WorldCause Foundation, a Fort Lauderdale-based nonprofit humanitarian organization. The Foundation arranged a visit to Rooms to Go in Oakland Park, where Payton gravitated to a retro, red-and- white butterfly chair, among other pieces.

Readers kicked in money for an iPad, vision devices and Braille story books. One donor particularly wanted to help because he, too, is blind.

“The generosity of the readers was exceptional, especially in light of economic uncertainties that loomed toward the end of 2012,” said Wish Book coordinator Roberta DiPietro. The December tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, where 20 children and six adults were slain in a mass shooting, diverted attention.

And yet Wish Book, managed by Miami Herald Charities, still raised $325,000 and received more than $140,000 in good and services, on par with previous years, DiPietro reported. More than 800 people had some or all of their needs met due to the generosity of Miami Herald readers.

“Many items could not be valued, including a donation of a kidney,” she said.

When Zelanda Larragoity was nominated for Wish Book, which has run in the newspaper for 31 years, readers learned the 46-year-old hadn’t been able to work since 2010 after doctors discovered her kidneys had stopped functioning properly.

So, three readers offered to donate a kidney — t o a complete stranger.

Jackson Memorial Hospital, where Larragoity has been on a waiting list since July 2011, screened the candidates. One kidney passed the first test. The potential donor is now undergoing other tests to determine compatibility with Larragoity.

Whatever the outcome, Larragoity was touched. She told The Herald in January that she felt victorious “just knowing that people care like that.”

People do care.

Maria and Fred Foyo opened their hearts to the Wong family of Cutler Bay after they read how the family had adopted seven special needs children. Readers met one of them, Daniel, 19, who was born with cerebral palsy and quadriplegia. He needed a vehicle with a power lift so the Wongs could transport him to his doctors’ appointments.

The Foyos donated their handicap-accessible family van to the Wongs. About two months before Daniel’s story ran in January, the Foyos lost their little boy, Joey, who was 12.

Joey’s ailment stymied the experts who couldn’t quite call it cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis. They were just able to offer a vague term. “Muscular disorder,” neurologists told the Foyos.

“Joey was one of the most special kids alive,” Maria and Fred Foyo shared with Wish Book staff. “He was smart, witty, friendly, and most of all, always happy. At school, he was top of his class and very popular among his peers. Thanks to this van, Joey’s last two years were memorable. We were able to take him everywhere including a long trip to Pennsylvania to watch one of his brothers play football. We know that Joey would want someone else to have the opportunity to have the freedom he had thanks to this van. He loved riding it, and listening to music on the radio. We hope that it brings as much happiness to the Wong family as it did to us and our little boy.”

Joey died in October from unexpected complications.

“We wish to keep Joey’s legacy alive by being of help to others in his same predicament,” the Foyos said. The family wanted people to know of Joey and their gift — to inspire others to grant wishes.

And don’t forget Moises Brutus, 22, who lost his lower legs and left hand in a 2010 motorcycle accident. An anonymous donor gave him a 2013 Suzuki Kizashi so he could attend school at Miami Dade College, where he’s pursuing a degree in chemistry. The vehicle was outfitted with special controls so Brutus can operate the car with his artificial limbs.

Mack Cycle in South Miami donated an expensive training bicycle and heart monitor, among other goods, so that Brutus can follow his dream to compete in the 2016 Paralympics in Brazil.

“The things that stick out are that people are so giving,” said DiPietro.

Follow @HowardCohen on Twitter.

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Double Take Celebrity Lookalikes

Alice Eve and Brooklyn Decker

ETonline has found the lookalikes to the stars and, as it turns out,
it's their Hollywood peers. Click the pics and let us know if you think
these celebs bear a resemblance to one another.

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Bank moves to foreclose on Kiss guitarist

YORKTOWN — One of the founding members of the rock band Kiss is in danger of losing a New York home to foreclosure.

The Journal News newspaper reports that a bank initiated foreclosure proceedings on Feb. 15 on a Yorktown property owned by former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley.

The three-bedroom house is in a wooded area off the Taconic State Parkway north of New York City.

U.S. Bank National Association said in a court filing that Frehley stopped paying his mortgage in 2011. The Yorktown tax receiver's office also lists liens for thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes on the house.

UPI

Playing the blues: Guitarist singer Ace Frehley is in danger of losing his New York home.

Frehley was with Kiss in its 1970s heyday, performing in heavy makeup as a character known as the "Spaceman."

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South Florida hospitals could lose $368 million from sequestration

A detailed survey shows that South Florida hospitals could lose $368 million over 10 years in federal budget cuts starting next Friday, if the sequestration program kicks in as scheduled.

The Florida Hospital Association, using data from the American Hospital Association, estimates that over the next decade, sequestration would cause Miami-Dade hospitals to lose $223.9 million and Broward facilities $144.4 million under the Congress-mandated budget cuts that hit virtually all federal programs unless Republicans and Democrats can work out a compromise.

The New York Times and other national news organizations are reporting that sequestration, unlike the New Year’s fiscal cliff, seems virtually certain to take place.

The law requires across-the-board spending cuts in domestic and defense programs, with certain exceptions. Because healthcare represents more than one in five dollars of the federal budget, it will be a huge target for cuts.

For hospitals and doctors, the major impact will be felt in Medicare cuts, which according to the budget law are limited to 2 percent of Medicare payments. Medicaid, food stamps and Social Security are exempted from cuts, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

The FHA study calculates that over 10 years, Jackson Memorial Hospital stands to lose $30.6 million, Mount Sinai Medical Center on Miami Beach $27.3 million, Holy Cross in Fort Lauderdale $23.8 million and Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood $21.4 million.

“The problem with sequestration is that it just makes broad cuts across the board,” said Linda Quick, president of the South Florida Hospital and Healthcare Association. “The Affordable Care Act is looking at all sorts of intelligent ways to reduce costs,” including coordinated care that will stop duplicated tests and reduce hospital readmissions. “But sequestration takes an ax, and that doesn’t make any sense.”

FierceHealthcare, which produces trade publications, says sequestration cuts over the next decade will include $591 million from prescription drug benefits for seniors, $318 million from the Food and Drug Administration, $2.5 billion from the National Institutes of Health, $490 million from the Centers for Disease Control and $365 million from Indian Health Services.

The National Association of Community Health Centers estimates that 900,000 of its patients nationwide could lose care because of the cuts. The group said the cuts were “penny wise and pound foolish” because they would mean less preventive care while more and sicker patients would end up in emergency rooms.

Like the fiscal cliff, Republicans and Democrats agreed on a sequestration strategy, with the idea that the drastic measure would force the two sides to reach agreement on more deliberative budget adjustments. That hasn’t happened.

The White House reports that the law will mean that nondefense programs will be cut by 5 percent, defense programs by 8 percent. But since the first year’s cuts must be done over seven months, that means in 2013, nondefense programs need to be cut by 9 percent, defense programs by 13 percent.

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New witness comes forward in South Beach ‘party princess’ hit-and-run case

About a week after self-described “party princess” Karlie Tomica, 20, was charged with DUI manslaughter in a hit-and-run that killed a South Beach chef, another witness has come forward to offer gruesome details about what happened on them morning of the tragedy. And he encourages the other witnesses who were there — and there were others, he said — to do the same.

Security guard Roosevelt Johnson Jr., 24, was working at the Shelborne Hotel in South Beach on the night shift.

He had just finished giving a guest directions to a nearby restaurant when he heard and saw the accident that killed chef Stefano Riccioletti, 49, who worked at the Shore Club.

His account helps answer questions after the tragedy: Was Riccioletti standing in the street? Did he walk into Tomica’s lane?

“No,” Johnson said to both.

“He was not jaywalking,” Johnson said. “He was not standing in the street, or in the car’s path.”

Tomica has pleaded not guilty and is under house arrest. The part-time bartender has moved back to her parents’ home in Port St. Lucie. Her next hearing in Miami-Dade court is Wednesday.

Before the sun rose on Jan. 28, Riccioletti was walking at the edge of road construction on Collins Avenue and 18th Street. That’s when Tomica, driving north on Collins and appearing to lose control of her car, swerved and hit him, Johnson said.

Riccioletti was dragged up Collins Avenue and landed in the Shelborne hotel’s driveway. That’s where Johnson, who also is a security guard for The Miami Herald, was standing.

Riccioletti’s body bounced three times hard and rolled “like a test dummy,” Johnson said.

At that point, Tomica screeched the brakes and slowed down significantly, but never completely stopped, Johnson said. She zoomed off again, and began to be followed by “Good Samaritan” witness Jairo Fuentes.

Johnson ran inside to call 911. He was on the phone with a dispatcher for about a minute, then went back outside to where a police officer had already come to Riccioletti’s side.

The officer administered CPR but stopped when he realized it was too late.

“He’s gone,” Johnson recalls the officer saying.

Paramedics arrived and attempted to revive Riccioletti.

Johnson remembers the event clearly, down to what Riccioletti was wearing (a gray hooded sweater, red short, shorts and tennis shoes), because the event flashes in his mind so often, he said.

“Half the time, I close my eyes, and it replays,” he said.

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Denise Richards House Tour

Denise Richards recently gave ET's Nancy O'Dell a personal tour of her home for her upcoming appearance on HGTV's Celebrities At Home, letting our cameras in to her intricately designed, spacious pad.

Richards' home is indicative of her personal tastes, including her super-feminine approach to design. Plush leopard seats, constant bedazzling and corset-inspired chairs in her closet are just some of the items you'll find in her swanky house.

Video: Denise Richards Defends Skinny Photos

An example of her dedication to detail?

She even replaced all her couch's buttons with crystals to make it "more unique to [her] personality."

"I bedazzled everything," she laughs. "Like I said -- everywhere I could put it, I did."

Related: Richards Says Working with Sheen Was 'Awkward'

Check out the video to see Richards' "sexy" entertainment room, wine room and closet, and to see why she might even be getting into a little trouble with Nancy regarding where she placed Nancy's Christmas gift to her!

Celebrities At Home airs Thursdays at 8.p.m./7 c on HGTV.

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Blame Barney! Researchers say character causing kids to think T. rex stood tall — beast really walked like a bird

Getting it right: 'Jurassic Park' depicts T-rex walking like a bird, rather than upright, as had been believed.

Here's a test of your dinosaur knowledge: Did Tyrannosaurus rex stand upright, with its tail on the ground?

The answer: No. But a lot of young people seem to think so, and the authors of a study are blaming toys like Barney and other pop influences for that misconception.

Scientists used to think T. rex stood tall, but they abandoned that idea decades ago. Now, the ferocious dinosaur is depicted in a bird-like posture, tail in the air and head pitched forward of its two massive legs.

The change led major museums to update their T. rex displays, study authors said, and popular books have largely gotten the posture right since around 1990. So did the "Jurassic Park" movies.

But when the researchers asked college students and children to draw a T. rex, most gave it an upright posture instead. Why? They'd soaked up the wrong idea from toys like Barney, games and other pop culture items, the researchers conclude.

"It doesn't matter what they see in science books or even in 'Jurassic Park,'" says Warren Allmon, a paleontology professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and an author of the study.

AP

No love for Barney from scientists, who say the kids show character is leading kids to cling to an outdated view of how Tyrannosaurus Rex really stood.The model outside the Museum of Science in Boston (right) isn't helping, either.

It struck him when he saw a box of dinosaur chicken nuggets at a grocery store.

"What they grew up with on their pajamas and their macaroni and wallpaper and everything else is the tail-dragging posture," he said.

If the explanation is correct, Allmon said, it's a sobering reminder of how people can get wrong ideas about science. The study will be published in the Journal of Geoscience Education.

The authors examined 316 T. rex drawings made by students at Ithaca College and children who visited an Ithaca museum. Most of the college students weren't science majors.

Seventy-two percent of the college students and 63 percent of the children drew T. rex as being too upright. Because the sample isn't representative of the general population, the results don't necessarily apply to young people in general.

When the authors looked at other depictions of T. rex, they found the obsolete standing posture remains in pop culture items like toys, games, cookie cutters, clothing, comics and movies.

Mark Norell, a prominent paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York who didn't participate in the study, said he doesn't know if the upright-posture myth is as widespread as the new study indicates.

But he said it makes sense that children's first impressions of T. rex can persist. If they don't study dinosaurs later, "that's what they're stuck with."

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Register for our free Business Plan Bootcamp

Whether you are planning to enter the Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge or just want to refine your short business plan, The Miami Herald’s free Business Plan Bootcamp on Tuesday can help.

Melissa Krinzman, a veteran Business Plan Challenge judge and managing director of Venture Architects, will be leading a panel of experts who will give you advice on crafting a short business plan aimed at grabbing the attention of investors — or judges.

If you are entering the Challenge, we encourage you to bring your entry with you because the panel will critique critical sections of the short plan.

Panelists include:

•  Richard Ginsburg, co-founder of G3 Capital Partners, a mid-market and early stage investment company.

•  Steven McKean, founder and CEO of Acceller, a Miami-based tech company, and a Challenge judge.

•  Mike Tomas, CEO of Miami-based Bioheart, president of ASTRI Group and a Challenge judge.

Time, date, place: 6:30 p.m. Feb. 26, Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus Auditorium, Room 1261, Building 1, 2nd floor. (Please note: There is no food or drink allowed in the auditorium, and no food will be served.)

To register: It’s free, but please register here.

Parking: Free parking at the MDC garage at 500 NE 2nd Avenue. It is important to note that the entrances are on NE 5th and 6th Streets.

You do not have to enter the Business Plan Challenge to attend our free boot camp, but we hope you will. The Challenge deadline is March 11. Find the rules and more information on MiamiHerald.com/challenge.

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