The record breaking sale was for a 5 bedroom, 7 and a half bath penthouse with three floors, 25 foot ceilings (a foot for every million), and views of both the ocean and the city, depending on your mood.

The condo covers the 40, 41, and 42 story of The Continuum at 100 South Pointe Drive.

GALLERY: Record Sale: $25M Condo Sold In Miami Beach

The buyer is an Italian who is staying hush-hush, but who has been to Miami a number of times. The broker who represented the buyer, Julian Johnston of Sterling Equity Realty, said the buyer plans to gut the condo and make it over with his own vision, according to CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald.

The condo as not even for sale when the buyer sought it out, attracted by the high ceilings.

The previous record for condo sale prices in Miami-Dade was the $21.5 million reached in January for a penthouse at the Setai.

For freelancer Joshua Warren, finding a steady stream of income wasn’t always easy.

“It was very hit or miss, it was a lot of word of mouth,” explained Warren.

This is a common problem for the 42 million independent workers in this country.

“We expect that number to grow year after year because, essentially, people are working by putting together projects and gigs and jobs,” said Sara Horowitz with the Freelancers Union.

According to Horowitz there are an increasing number of organizations and web sites that are offering perks and resources to freelancers.

“We want to make sure that people get the same kinds of protections that traditional employees get,” she said.

That’s why the Freelancers Union offers cost-effective retirement plans, as well as dental, disability, and life insurance.

If you’re looking for affordable healthcare, sites like Elance and oDesk offer access to discounted rates.

“They could also go to their Chamber of Commerce and see if there are any kinds of group plans,” said Horowitz.

If you’re job searching, a number of sites advertise freelance jobs and work to help you build a profile. Many, like oDesk, also have feedback systems in place.

After each job they’ll get rated based on skills, quality, deadlines, communication, and cooperation, enabling them to build an online reputation,” explained oDesk CEO Gary Swart.

“I started out on oDesk at $15 an hour and now it’s up to $95 an hour and that is directly driven by the demand,” said freelancer Joshua Warren.

These sites also act as virtual workspaces, complete with things like time sheets, status reports and digital to-do lists. Some even make sure you see a payday. In fact Swart said, “We guarantee payment whether we collect it from the employer or not.”

Other perks include tax help, networking, webinars and product discounts.

“Everything from gym memberships to office supplies to car rentals. People are getting 20, 30-percent off,” said Horowitz.

Joshua has been so successful; he’s turned his one-man show into a growing business.

“It’s allowed me not only to find more clients, but also to find employees and contractors that work for us,” said Joshua.

Membership to the freelancers union is free. The organization is actively pushing for things like unemployment insurance, payment protection, and fair taxation. Web sites like oDesk and Elance are also free, but take a portion of the money that you earn.

RELATED LINKS:

www.odesk.com

www.elance.com

www.freelancersunion.org

http://www.freelancer.com/

The retired Marine said it ran about $150 to $200 over the summer. That’s when the salesman told Lixie, ”He said it could bring our electric bills down below that $150…ah, to  about $100 he told us…it could bring our bills down to about $100 a month.”

How’d the company say it would cut his electric bills? For $1,500, they’d install a Kvar power optimizer. The Kvar unit is promoted as a “power factor optimizer” that makes electric motors run more efficiently, using less electricity.

To make the deal even better, Fran was told he could finance the bill with no payments for a full year. Shortly after signing the contract, the family says a local electrician arrived to wire up their Kvar energy-saving box.

Fran says it didn’t cut his bill. “It hasn’t done anything, all it does it stay up there and leave the little light on,” said Lixie.

Fran even found his electric bills are even higher now than before the Kvar was installed.

What about that “Year of no payments?” He told Sunshine that shortly after the box arrived, so too did the bills. After several harassing phone calls from the finance company, he finally told them the energy saver didn’t work and he wasn’t paying for it.

Fran remembered the call. “They said you signed, you got a bill and we don’t, we already gave the money to the company, State Energy.”

State Energy Conservation bases its’ local offices in a  Ft. Lauderdale business plaza.  Lou Banos, a salesman for the company, told Sunshine when he showed up at the office of the company, that a Kvar box saves him money every month and he insisted its a money saver for his customer too.

“I’ve cut people’s bills in half, reducing their bills,” explained Banos.

He said the company never promoted savings of 50%… only up to 25%. And Kvar’s own website advertises savings of just 6 to 10% for regular residential customers.

What about cutting Fran’s electric bill way down to just $100 a month? Banos explained, “I don’t know who that gentleman was, but we have never told anybody to say such a thing. I it’s stated right here..up to 25%. To tell someone it might, it might save them 10% on their bill, kind of under-promising with what the manufacturer is suggesting. We don’t make this up.” Kvar’s boss says the Lixie’s were  “absolutely duped” because the energy savers retail for about $400 and cost about another $100 to install. He’s now in contact with the family to figure out why the Kvar box didn’t save them any money.

The head of State Energy Conservation said he’ll  give the family a refund and remove the Kvar box, a product he told Sunshine, they don’t sell any more.

The family did finally get its’ money back. Both State Energy Conservation and Kvars’ manufacturer said they have plenty of satisfied customers.

While Kvar insisted it’s energy saver can cut monthly residential electric bills by about 6 to 10%, FP&L says those kind of power modifiers don’t work. It says the best way of saving money on electric bills is turning down your hot water heater so it works less and turning up your a-c thermostat so it doesn’t use as much electricity.

For Energy Saving Tips Check Out These Links

http://www.energysavers.gov/tips/

http://www.fpl.com/residential/energy_saving/programs/index.shtml

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips/tips_redirect.html

http://energystar.supportportal.com/link/portal/23002/23018/Article/14738/Can-Power-Factor-Correction-Devices-sometimes-called-Amp-Reduction-Units-or-kVAR-earn-the-ENERGY-STAR-label-Do-they-really-save-as-much-money-as-they-claim

After Tuesday and Wednesday’s torrential rains, many got stuck on flooded streets thinking they could make it.

They thought wrong.

The key to avoid getting stuck is not to drive through deep water in the first place or allow it to get up to the level of your engine.

If, however, you get stuck in deep water and stall out, don’t try to restart the engine without first getting it checked out by a mechanic or you could make the situation even worse.

“When the level of water gets above the air filter it gets sucked up and does what’s called a hydrolock to the engine. It’s pretty bad, costing up in the thousands (to repair),” .said Chris Barres of Maroone Chevrolet.

If you were one of those people got stuck on a flooded road, you could soon be facing big bucks to get back in the drivers’ seat and get your engine running normally again.

That’s because newer cars and trucks are increasingly dependent on electronics and circuit boards to make them run better and get better fuel mileage. But it turns out water and circuit boards don’t mix. The newer the vehicle, the more prone it is to water damage.

So what can you do to minimize damage and not be hit with even higher repair bills?

If you drove through high water and the engine stalled out, don’t restart it. Have it towed to a garage to be checked out by a competent mechanic.

If you’re lucky, you may just need to have the spark plugs changed, replace all the filters and operating fluids that may have been contaminated by high water.

If the engine was “hydrolocked”, sucked up a lot of water and kept running before finally stopping, it may have suffered serious internal damage.

Luckily, most water related problems can be fixed for just a few hundred bucks.

“Those repairs can cost $300-$500 opposed to an entire engine that can cost $6000-$8000,” said Barres.

Water damage is not covered by most new car warranties. But it may be covered under your car insurance policy.

If you think your car’s engine may be seriously damaged and require extensive repairs, contact your insurance agent before having any work done and save all your towing or garage bills which may also be covered by your insurance.

More and more critical consumers have reported that they have received phone calls from companies who monitor their online reviews and have been asked to take down their negative comments but the angry tone has some customers on the defensive.

For Eric Winick, it all began when he left a mixed online review about a restaurant. He raved about the food, but said he grew frustrated that it took an hour to be served.

“I said in the review that they had taken a ridiculously long time to bring the food,” Winick said.

He was even more alarmed when he received an email from the restaurant’s owner which asked him to take it down.

“He said that something along the lines of ‘We’re trying to make a go of it in this area, we all have families to feed’ and sort of trying to prey on my sympathies a little bit.”

Many businesses around the country are reaching out to customers who leave bad reviews and they are not always trying to make amends. In an extreme example, an Atlanta restaurant launched Facebook and Twitter campaigns identifying a customer who left a bad review and the food fight went viral.

Social media expert Patrick O’Malley said that the effect of the web posts can make or break a company’s reputation.

“A single person can now go home and get on Facebook and tell 500 or 1000 people what they think of your restaurant,” O’Malley said.

The impact is immense. A Harvard Business School study found that even a one star increase on a businesses’ rating on the online review site Yelp led to a five to nine percent boost in revenue for independent restaurants.

“In the last few years, it has changed the way we have done business,” said Zalmi Duchman, the founder of FreshDiet.com.

He is among business owners who have requested to remove bad reviews and he explains to customers how damaging negative comments can be. He said sometimes it’s effective.

“We’ve found in the past the faster you react to the customer the better chance you’re going to have to get that customer to remove their negative review because they see you take their comments and their feedback seriously,” Duchman said.

Online review site Urban Spoon said it actually encourages businesses and reviewers to connect and warns customers many companies take what they type very seriously.

“For a small business their business is an extension of who they are. There’s a real emotional connection to that,” Kara Nortman, of Urban Spoon.

For Winick, he responded to the restaurant and indicated that he wouldn’t remove his review. The business apologized for reaching out, but didn’t offer any incentive for him to return and give them another chance.

“I thought it was a waste of time, frankly, on the part of the restaurant to do that,” Winick said.

Friday was a big day for company founder Mark Zuckerberg, and his right-hand-woman, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.

Many credit Sandberg with Facebook’s continued business success, but before she was COO, she was a student at North Miami Beach Senior High School.

“I was really a serious geek in high school,” Sandberg said in a recent interview with AOL “Makers”.

That may be how Sandberg remembers her high school days, but her best friends recall a bright, charismatic woman they knew would be successful. Though, even they admit they never could have imagined where her career would lead her.

“You don’t think about the future so much,” said Elise Scheck Bonwitt. The Miami-Dade attorney has known Sandberg for more than 25 years. “We were in high school. We had a good time. We worked hard. We had fun.”

Bonwitt is part of Sandberg’s inner circle, a group made up of seven women who’ve been through it all, from graduations, reunions, weddings and childbirths.

‘We get together about once a year”, Bonwitt said from her North Miami Beach neighborhood Friday, after Facebook ended its first day as a publically traded company. “We email each other all the time. Whenever she’s in town, we all get together.”

Sandberg joined Facebook in 2008. Before that, she built Google’s ad business. Her lucrative career is one her friends didn’t exactly see her pursuing.

“I would have not necessarily predicted a tech field in her future,” Bonwitt said. “But I guess way back then we didn’t even have computers, so it’s nothing we could have ever even predicted.”

No one could have predicted Facebook’s meteoric rise, either. Sandberg has said she is glad to be part of it all.

“I have aspirations to do something that matters,” Sandberg told Fortune. “And right now, I don’t think there’s much I could do that would matter more than Facebook.”

No matter what she does, her six friends from South Florida will be there cheering her on.

“I’m proud of Sheryl, very proud,” Bonwitt said. “She deserves everything she has.”

More than 550 million shares were traded on Facebook’s first day as a public company.

Sandberg owned nearly 2 million of those shares.

After an anxiety-filled half-hour delay, its stock began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market for the first time as investors were finally able to put a dollar value on the company that turned online social networking into a global cultural phenomenon.

At the closing bell, the stock ended trading flat at $38.23.  That means Facebook is worth about $104 billion, more than Amazon.com, McDonalds and storied Silicon Valley icons Hewlett-Packard and Cisco.

But as many people looked for a big first-day pop in Facebook’s share price, the single-digit increase was somewhat of a letdown.

“It wasn’t quite as exciting as it could have been,” said Nick Einhorn, an analyst with IPO advisory firm Renaissance Capital. “But I don’t think we should view it as a failure.”

Indeed, the small jump in price could be seen as an indication that Facebook and the investment banks that arranged the initial public offering priced the stock in an appropriate range. It’s also a supply and demand issue. Facebook offered nearly 20 percent of its available stock in the IPO, so there was enough to meet demand. In comparison, Google offered just 7.2 percent of its stock when it went public in 2004 — and rose 18 percent on day one.

To IPOdesktop’s Francis Gaskins, it means mom-and-pop investors are becoming “much more educated and careful” about not buying into hype. And he said that the banks taking Facebook public have learned from the 10 IPOs of social media companies in the past year and are better able to gauge how much stock to make available in an initial offering.

It might not have been possible for the social network to live up to the hype that led up to its IPO. It’s Facebook, after all, a place where people are emotionally invested in endless online diversions and rekindled friendships, an endless depository of baby photos, favorite songs and fleeting memories.

“It’s probably one of the first times there has been an IPO where everyone sort of has a stake in the outcome,” said Gartner analyst Brian Blau. While most Facebook users won’t see a penny from the offering, they are all intimately familiar with the company.

Earlier Friday, the company’s 28-year-old CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, smiled as he rang the opening bell from Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Surrounded by cheering Facebook employees and wearing his signature hoodie, he pushed the button that signals the opening of the stock market in New York. The morning’s events followed an all-night “hackathon” at the company, where engineers stayed up coding software and conjuring up new ideas for Facebook and its 900 million users.

“Right now this all seems like a big deal. Going public is an important milestone in our history. But here’s the thing, our mission isn’t to be a public company. Our mission is to make the world more open and connected,” Zuckerberg said. “In the past eight years, all of you out there have built the largest community in the history of the world. You’ve done amazing things that we never would have dreamed of and I can’t wait to see what you guys all do going forward.”

Afterward, employees tried to get back to business as usual, building the company under immense new pressure to meet shareholders’ expectations. To remind everyone not to get caught up in the hoopla, Facebook’s employees were given t-shirts that read “Stay focused & keep hacking.”

On Thursday, Facebook and the investment bankers settled on a price of $38 per share. The company and its early investors raised $16 billion in the offering, which valued Facebook at $104 billion. That makes Facebook the most valuable U.S. company to ever go public.

Now, the stock market will begin assigning a dollar value to Facebook that will rise and fall with investor whims. It will be subject to broad economic forces and held accountable for profit it earns —or loses— from one quarter to the next.

But Facebook is one a rare companies whose IPO transcends Wall Street’s money lust. It is a cultural touchstone for the way technology reshapes our lives. Since its start as a scrappy network for college students, Facebook has come to define social networking by getting people around the world to share everything from photos of their pets to their deepest thoughts.

It has done so while becoming one of the few profitable Internet companies to go public recently. It had net income of $205 million in the first three months of 2012, on revenue of $1.06 billion. In all of 2011, it earned $1 billion, up from $606 million a year earlier. That’s a far cry from 2007, when it posted a net loss of $138 million and revenue of $153 million. The company makes most of its money from advertising. It also takes a cut from the money people spend on virtual items in Facebook games such as “FarmVille.”

Facebook’s public debut marks a new milestone in the history of the Internet. In 1995, Netscape Communications’ IPO gave people their first chance to invest in a company whose graphical Web browser made the Internet more engaging and easier to navigate. Its hotly anticipated IPO lit the fuse that ignited the dot-com boom. That explosion of entrepreneurial activity and investment culminated five years later in a devastating bust that obliterated the notion that the Internet had hatched a “new economy”.

It took Google’s IPO in 2004 to prove that an Internet company with a disruptive idea could be profitable. In the process, the Internet search leader is forcing other industries to adapt to a new order where people have come to expect to be able to find just about anything they want by entering a few words into a box on any device with an Internet connection.

Facebook’s IPO heralds a new phase of the Internet’s evolution. This social era makes connections among people as important as Google’s massive index of Web links. Still, the IPO will raise new pressures for Facebook to generate more revenue, perhaps by digging further into the trove of revealing information that people share on the network to sell even more targeted ads.

The IPO almost certainly will enrich other up-and-coming entrepreneurs as Zuckerberg uses the company’s cash and stock to buy other startups in an effort to being in other talented engineers and promising technology. That’s what has been doing for years. Since it went public in 2004, Google has spent $10.2 billion buying nearly 200 other companies. Those figures don’t include Google’s still-pending $12.5 billion acquisition of cellphone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., which is still awaiting regulatory approval in China.

Zuckerberg’s biggest deal so far came when he agreed to buy Instagram, a maker of a popular mobile app for photos, for $1 billion. Because most of the deal is being paid for in stock, Instagram is already getting richer. Based on the $38 price for Facebook’s stock, Instagram is in line to receive nearly $1.2 billion.

Though Zuckerberg rang the Nasdaq opening bell from California, people outside the stock market in Times Square snapped photos of a big blue Facebook sign that lit up the building. Some of them used their smart phones to check in to the Nasdaq on Facebook. Frederick Nolde, who was visiting from Richmond, Va., said he bought 100 shares through the online brokerage eTrade.

He thinks the company is worth $100 billion. “I think Google is a good comparison and it’s worth $200 to 300 billion. The real question is how they do in mobile. If they can figure that out they’ll do well.”

In Menlo Park, some mourned the one that got away. Venture capitalist Mark Siegel visited Facebook’s headquarters to ponder. Like many of his fellow tech startup investors with offices a short drive from Facebook on Silicon Valley’s famed Sand Hill Road, Siegel said he had chances to back Facebook early on but didn’t.

He said at the time, when competing social networks like Friendster and MySpace still had clout, it wasn’t clear that Facebook would come out on top.

“In hindsight, any price would have been a good price to pay,” said Siegel, a managing director at Menlo Ventures.

There’s still time. Bruno del Ama, the CEO of asset management firm Global X Funds, is waiting until Thursday, to get in on Facebook.

“On the first day you see a tremendous amount of volatility,” he said. In three days, short-sellers will be able to sell the stock, he added, so by day five, investors should see more stability. Global X has a fund focused on social media stocks, and del Ama expects “significant growth” in the sector in the coming decade. Facebook, right now, is the crown jewel of the space. And it’s likely here to stay, by virtue of its position.

“Once companies have built a network, it’s really difficult to displace them,” del Ama said, adding that while massive companies such as Google are trying to compete with Facebook — and may have better technology — “we care about where our friends are.”

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Locally, Broward County’s unemployment rate dropped from 7.5 to 7.2 percent month-over-month. Broward currently has 70,551 residents on unemployment insurance. One year ago, Broward’s unemployment rate was 8.8 percent.

In Miami-Dade County, the unemployment rate in April remained steady from March at 9 percent. Miami-Dade has 115,563 workers on unemployment insurance in April. Last year, Miami-Dade’s unemployment rate in April was 12.2 percent.

Monroe County continued to pace the state with an unemployment rate of 4.8 percent. Just 2,269 people in Monroe County are on unemployment insurance. Monroe’s unemployment rate has dropped 3.2 percent year over year.

The numbers present a problem for both Democrats and Republicans.

Governor Rick Scott and other Republicans will tout the dropping unemployment rate as proof their policies are working. However, by doing that, they are also admitting the nation’s economy as a whole is improving, contrary to their attacks on President Barack Obama.

Democrats will try to hammer away saying the numbers don’t reflect the true unemployment picture because it only includes workers currently on unemployment insurance. But, by making that argument, Democrats are admitting that the overall national unemployment numbers are not as good as earlier reported.

The Thursday conference call didn’t involve a vote, but several options for how to get more customers to not have Citizens insurance were discussed. The primary discussion surrounded a possible 30 percent increase in new policies.

Overall, new policy premiums would rise by 41.7 percent on average and non-coastal policies would see rates rise an average of 24 percent.

The thinking behind raising the rates is that by making it more expensive, less people will come to Citizens and instead seek out private insurance. Citizens is backed by Florida taxpayers. The flaw is that even as the plans are being discussed, more insurance companies are leaving the state.

The plan to push more people either off of Citizens or deterring them from coming to Citizens is being pushed hard by Governor Rick Scott.

Among the other options discussed Thursday was increasing new business rates by no more than 10 percent and increasing renewal rates by no more than 10 percent of the previous rate. By law, Citizens can’t raise rates for customers more than 10 percent in a year.

Florida chief financial officers and other key state officials said the Legislature intended for the 10 percent maximum hike to apply to all customers.

Some board members chose to blame the media for the outrage over proposed rate hikes.

“For my money, I won’t support rate increases as 60 to 90 percent rate increase in a single policy,” said board member John Rollins. “It’s simply not going to happen. The headlines focusing on dramatic rate hikes; these are not productive and there are three or four layers of checks and balances.”

But, if Citizens chooses to hike rates on new customers by upwards of 30 percent, it could result in some customers paying up to 90 percent more than neighbors who are long-standing Citizens customers.

The next meeting will be June 7th at 9 a.m. in Jacksonville and it will be open to the public. A final vote is not expected until mid-July. Any potential rate hikes would likely take place at the beginning of next year.

Citizens’ latest plan would involve uncapping rates for new customers, according to the Miami Herald. That means in some places, including South Florida, some homeowners may end up paying twice as much as their neighbors for the same coverage.

Citizens has repeatedly made claims that it is one major hurricane away from being insolvent, despite having billions in reserve thanks to several years without a hurricane hitting the Sunshine State.

But Citizens has been limited in price increases since the Florida Legislature put into place a 2009 law that caps any rate increases to 10-percent. So, Citizens has been actively trying to find ways around the law, according to the Herald.

Citizens said uncapping rates would bring in about $100 million in additional revenue each year with an average premium increase of 30.5 percent for new customers, according to the Herald.

Florida governor Rick Scott has asked Citizens to find ways to make it more self-sufficient and not have Florida taxpayers be the financial backer of the insurance of last resort for most homeowners.

Citizens has become the largest insurer in the state as private insurance companies left the state in droves rather than insuring some of the most high-risk property in the state. Scott would prefer if most homeowners went to private insurance companies instead of Citizens.

Without significant regulation or cost controls, homeowners are left in the lurch as private insurance companies leave and Citizens continues raising rates for new customers.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Miami Herald contributed to this report.)

“We’ve saved tons and tons,” said Chantay who has been able to cut down her phone, cable, utility and insurance bills.

She’s also saved on credit card and bank fees just by calling the companies and asking for a better deal.

“I reminded them of our credit scores,” Chantay explained. “I reminded them of our loyalty.”

Finance Guru Mitchell Weiss said it certainly can’t hurt to ‘check -in’ every couple of months with the companies you use.

Weiss said it costs companies more to lose a customer than to offer better deals to their existing ones.

“It costs money to get them. It costs money to keep them. Why would you want to turn that over to a competitor,” advised Weiss.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Review all your monthly bills and try calling each company. The phone is the most effective way to negotiate.

• Have two to three months worth of past bills when you call so you know what you’re paying.

“Be a great customer,” said personal finance administrator Roblee Hoffman. “A great customer is one who has been with a company for a fair number of years and pays their bill on or before the due date and pays the full balance.”

• Research what the competition is offering.

• If you can’t negotiate with a customer service rep, ask for the customer retention department or the president’s office.

Chantay said knowing what a company’s competition is offering is key to negotiating.

“It’s worth the time and it’s worth your money,” said Chantay.

Many credit card companies and banks say they welcome customers to review their services and bills.

Some cell phone providers will also review bills and suggest cheaper plans if you don’t use all your data or talk time.

The county will continue fighting other companies who haven’t opened their checkbooks.

Nobody was budging in the battle, so letting Travelocity buy their way out of the suit apparently made sense to the Broward commission.

Even now, nobody is giving an inch.

“This settlement is not an admission of liability by Travelocity for past or future taxes, nor is it an admission by the county that anything less than the full amount of the assessment was due and owing,” said the agreement, which is posted on the Broward County Commission website.

“This settlement is based on the parties’ common desire to compromise this dispute and is not an indication that either side agrees with the other side’s view of the facts or law.”

With the Travelocity settlement worked out, Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis on Monday set an Oct. 29 trial date in the case, which continues against other firms such as Expedia and Orbitz.

Brick and mortar hotels must pay the tourist development tax to support advertising, tourism infrastructure and other projects, but online travel companies have rejected that claim. Counties claim they are losing tens of millions of dollars, and in Florida, 17 banded together to sue.

Leon County Circuit Judge James Shelfer ruled last month in favor of the online-travel industry, saying state lawmakers had not made clear that the companies are required to pay the disputed taxes. Attorneys for the counties last week filed formal notice that they would appeal Shelfer’s ruling to the 1st District Court of Appeal.

Broward has filed a separate case, and judge Lewis said he plans to move forward despite judge Shelfer’s decision.

The travel companies say if they lose, customers could pay more for hotel deals online.

“It’s about anyone who has ever loved and lost and wondered what could have been,” she said.

But like many authors, she learned writing a book can be easy compared to getting it published. Rochelle wrote letters to many publishing companies with high hopes for a book deal.

“It’s almost like matchmaking,” she said. “It’s a very difficult process.”

When a local book club read the story and have a positive response, Rochelle started thinking about other options.

“Self publishing started to emerge and I was like absolutely no way I will ever do this. I poo-pooed it,” she said. “I want to be a rock star and I wanted to have it published in the traditional way. But I realized it wasn’t going to happen that way.”

She went online to Amazon.com’s self publishing website called Createspace, and with a few clicks – including using the picture she took of the street she grew up on as the cover – Rochelle created her book and became a published author overnight.

“I controlled everything that was happening,” Rochelle said. “I controlled my cover, my pricing, where it was, where to go. I eliminated the middleman.”

Thanks to digital technology and the emergence of all-digital E-books, theself publishing trend is growing.

In 2006 there were around 51,000 authors who self published books. By the end of 2010  that number had exploded to more than 133 thousand.

Those writers keep more of their earnings. For example, createspace offers writers as much as 70% of revenue on digital books, depending on the retail price. By comparison, traditional publishers typically pay their authors 25% of net sales and even less on print books.

The cost for a DIY book is flexible and depends on how much you want. Extended promotion and detailed editing costs more, for example, but you can create your book for between $1 thousand and $3 thousand.

Weinstein’s “What We Leave Behind” is available in soft cover for $14.99 and as an ebook for $9.99.

Her book has been on the homepage of createspace.com as a hot seller and she checks those sales daily.

“When I first did research in self publishing what I was told was statistically that a self published author sells 150 books a year.They figure it’s your friends and your family and that’s it.

“I’m now a little over 2 months and 750 books and I’m starting press and publicity today” said Rochelle.

You can find “What We Leave Behind” locally at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, Turnberry Hotel and online at  Amazon.Com and other e-book sites.

For more info on self publishing;

http://www.top10tag.com/top-10-self-publishing-services/

JP Morgan Chase’s losses came from the highly speculative and very risky derivatives market. Those were the same type of investments that caused the financial meltdown in 2008, triggering the Great Recession the world still hasn’t been able to shake.

The massive loss provoked discussion in Washington and on Wall Street over whether the very industry that had to be bailed out by taxpayers during the waning months of the Bush administration was back to taking unnecessary risks with the money of the taxpayers.

The Securities and Exchange Commission opened up an investigation into the loss immediately.

It also sparked more discussion about the Volcker Rule, which prohibits big banks from taking large risks, and brought back the discussion of a need to further regulate Wall Street.

JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has led the charge against any regulation of Wall Street, consistently arguing the bankers can regulate themselves.

The losses were traced to a trader in London nicknamed the “London Whale.” The Whale managed the bets from the company’s office in London.

Former Clinton administration Secretary of Labor Robert Reich said in an op-ed for the Christian Science Monitor, “JP Morgan’s exposure is so large that it can’t dump these bad bets without affecting the market and losing even more money.”

In Friday trading, JP Morgan’s stock was hammered, losing nearly 10 percent of its value. Other large banks were similarly shelled as JP Morgan was the supposed leader of the banking industry.

The biggest question is what do the bank’s massive losses mean to its customers?

Maria Ferreia of Dade Federal Credit Union said banks usually only have one way to make up for their losses.

“They will have to make it up,” Ferreia said. “And more than likely, there will be fees and charges passed down to customers. So consumers will feel it in terms of extra charges and costs down the road ultimately.”

Dimon, JP’s CEO, was paid $41.99 million last year and has made $140.92 million over the last five years, according to Forbes.com.

Consider Annie Pace Scranton and her friend Chris Crater, both are avid Facebook users, but when it comes to when to click the “Like” button their opinions vary.

“My like is hard to get. When I like, I want it to really mean something,” Crater said.

Scranton said she clicks the “Like” button with more frequency.

“And I would say that I like things probably about once an hour. Is that too much?”

Not at all for the advertisers who have created pages for their products with the hopes of growing the number of “fans” who “Like” them.

Bart Steiner, CEO of the marketing firm Bulbstorm, said companies recognize the power of the “thumbs up” because it increases the list of potential customers who are often rewarded for their click.

“Liking has become the 21st century bumper sticker. It’s kind of your way to show your identity and say, ‘Hey I like this brand’, ” Steiner said. “Virtually every brand that’s been on Facebook for a while has done some kind of sweepstakes.”

Those sweepstakes include everything from luxury vacations and fine jewelry to high-tech electronics for simply clicking “Like.”

“Offers, discounts or access to unique information or you can give your feedback to a brand for the first time and have them really be able to listen to it,” Steiner said.

But there are potential drawbacks of over-clicking.

“Consumer beware, when you “Like” a brand, you might be used as part of an advertising campaign,” Steiner said.

It means that a sign of support, such as a simple Facebook “Like,” may appear in a brand sponsored ad for all to see. In some cases, Facebook has developed a new product called sponsored stories where a person’s picture and name could appear on top of an ad.

“The data shows that very often those can be two or more times as effective as an advertising medium. Because by putting my likeness there, they’ve essentially given my endorsement,” Steiner said.

Craig Spiezle of the Online Trust Alliance said privacy is also an issue because many of these “likes” are connected to apps that ask for personal information.

“How is that data being used? How can you delete it? How long is it kept? And perhaps one of the most important things, who’s it shared with?” Spiezle said.

For added protection, experts say, read before you click especially the privacy policies.

“They may not be set or optimized for privacy settings by default,” Spiezle said.

For the friends who are at odds over how often they click “Like,” there’s one thing they can agree on.

“Facebook rules,” Scranton said.

Facebook said they respect customer privacy and while you may not be able to opt-out of the “sponsored stories” ad campaigns, you can check your Facebook activity log to ensure the ads are shared with a limited number of people.

Congress has until the end of the month to either extend the current Flood Insurance program or pass a revamped law that most likely will include rate increases. If lawmakers fail to do either, the program will grind to a halt and with it the writing of mortgages in flood danger areas like South Florida. where more than a quarter million policies are in force.

The US House has already passed a bill that raises premiums in some areas and cuts them in others, part of an effort to set premiums based on risk. The Senate is considering its own plan, but both plans will likely include new flood maps and new rates.

The National Flood Insurance Program is $18 billion in debt.

Whatever the feds do will have a major impact in Florida, and specifically South Florida, which has a large part of the state’s 2.1 million flood insurance polices. Almost 40 percent of the nation’s 5.6 million flood insurance policies are written in the Sunshine State.

On top of any possible rate increase, new customers may see a net increase in flood insurance costs because FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency that runs the program, is demanding Florida insurance agents stop offering rebates of up to 15 percent to people who buy a new flood insurance policy.

The rebates come out of the commission an agent is paid to sell the policy, effectively cutting their profit so they can attract the business.

The policy is legal in Florida but against the law in most of the US, and FEMA said it believes people drop policies, then buy new ones to take advantage of that rebate, a practice called churning.

While insurance agents have been told to end the practice or risk losing the right to sell the insurance, some Florida agents are putting together a petition drive in an effort to get FEMA to reconsider.

The net result is that South Florida homeowners are likely to pay more, but it’s too early to know how much. Shopping around is not an option, because homeowners policies don’t offer flood insurance. Only the feds insure against flood damage.

The retailer announced Wednesday it plans to phase out the products this spring. Target will also stop selling Kindle accessories like covers and chargers.

Target is not saying why the Kindle is disappearing from shelves at its more than 1,700 stores and its website.

Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said the decision to stop selling Kindles this spring came after an “ongoing review” of Target’s merchandise that evaluates quality and prices of the chain’s offerings.

The move coincides with the discounter’s plan to create mini shops of Apple Inc. products in 25 of its stores this year.

Snyder declined to comment further about its partnership with Apple, only saying, “We will continue to offer our guests a full assortment of e-readers and supporting accessories.”

The Kindle was an apparent hit for Target. The company started selling Kindles two years ago and last year, the company said the newly launched Kindle Fire was Target’s best-selling tablet on Black Friday.

Target will still sell other e-readers, including the Barnes and Noble Nook.

Target’s decision to phase out the Kindle is also occurring as the retailer, along with other major merchants, are trying to fight a growing practice called “showrooming.” That’s when shoppers, armed with smart phones, browse products in physical stores and then shop online for a better price. Earlier this year, Target sent out a letter to vendors asking for help in developing exclusive merchandise and matching rivals’ online prices.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Spirit Air currently charges $45 for a carry-on bag. But as of November 6, customers who wait to pay the fee at the gate will pay $100. The fee will apply to any bag that has to be placed in the overhead bin.

The price for a carry-on bag paid for at an airport kiosk will increase from $40 to $50.

Spirit said larger pieces of luggage checked at the airport will cost between $8 and $10 more, while the fee for bags checked online will rise by between $2 and $5. Spirit will also increase a handful of other fees by between $2 and $10.

Spirit is one of only two airlines that charge for carry-on bags, the other being Allegiant Airlines.

In the first fiscal quarter, Spirit’s average revenue from fees per passengers on a round-trip flight was more than $100 for the first time in the company’s history.

Spirit frequently offers fares as low as $9, but when all the fees for various other things are added to the cost of the ticket, the $9 fare is long gone.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

The grants were made possible by the Affordable Care Act. Community leaders estimate the money will help them serve more than 41,000 new patients, according to the health department statement.

State leaders and Gov. Rick Scott turned down more than a hundred million dollars in grants which were tied to the federal health care law which the state is challenging in court.

Borinquen Health Care Center, Inc., which was awarded more than $4.2 million, serves 27,000 patients in Miami every year, up from 13,000 four years ago. The majority of patients don’t have health insurance.

“It doesn’t matter to me (where the money is coming from),” said Borinquen CEO Bob Linder. “We’re there for those who need to be served. These moneys are tremendous opportunities for us that we can expand our services.”

Linder says the demand for health care services has increased in the downturned economy as the unemployed and underemployed struggle to find health insurance. The organization has 13 locations, including five schools centers, and serves about 3,000 Haitians a month. The grant money will allow the center to expand from 18 to 32 exam rooms, modernize its x-ray machines, add more dental chairs and add hurricane impact windows.

The medical home model, where patients go to one location for regular health care, can better coordinate care for the patients they know and are monitoring over time, in theory. Proponents say it also saves money by diverting patients from making emergency room visits for less serious issues.

Borinquen has an ER diversion program with three local hospitals.

Scott’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment about Tuesday’s $21 million grant announcement.

Scott and the Republican-led Legislature have rejected or declined to pursue more than $106 million in federal grant money and returned another $4.5 million for programs linked to federal health care initiatives, including cancer prevention, leading critics to say he is putting his conservative agenda ahead of residents’ needs.

“Hundreds of millions of dollars are going to other states that rightly should be going to Florida because we deserve to have our fair share of what our taxpayers send up to Washington,” said Democratic Sen. Nan Rich.

“One after the other, we either don’t apply or turn back grant money that rightfully belongs to the taxpayers of Florida.”

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

FPL last month projected that a residential customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a month would see a $2.48 increase next year. But in a filing Friday with the Florida Public Service Commission, the utility projected that a 1,000-kilowatt hour bill will increase by $1.41 a month, or about 1.5 percent.

FPL’s projection looks at various costs that show up on customers’ bills, including base rates, fuel costs and nuclear-power projects. FPL and other utilities have benefited from relatively low costs of natural gas, which is used to fuel power plants.

FPL also filed a document Friday indicating it will seek to pass along $150.7 million in nuclear-project costs to customers in 2013. About $130 million of that total would go toward upgrade projects at existing plants.

The remainder would go toward trying to get licenses for two planned reactors at the company’s Turkey Point complex in Miami-Dade County.

Such costs for the future reactors have been highly controversial, in part because there is no guarantee FPL will ever build the project.

The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.

The college sophomore is looking at almost $100,000 in debt come graduation time.

“My parents both lost their jobs before I went to school, so I needed the loans and in some cases I think that it’s necessary,” said LeDonne.

Unless rates are frozen, today’s 3.4% loans will climb to 6.8% in about 9 weeks. That’s expected to boost borrowers’ costs by about $1000.

But canceling the rate hike will cost the U.S. Treasury about $6-billion dollars.

During campus visits this week, President Obama pushed lawmakers to take action. And early Friday afternoon, House lawmakers did.

The Republican lead bill passed almost along party lines, 215-195.

It freezes rates and pays for the cuts by eliminating a preventive care fund in President Obama’s health care law.

Rep. James Langevin, D-RI, opposes the bill.

“It is unconscionable that Republican leadership is forcing us to choose between education and health care,” said Lengevin.

The president warned he’d veto the GOP bill saying it will hurt women who need preventative care. The house speaker accused Democrats of picking a campaign fight.

“Nobody wants to see student loan interest rates go up. People want to politicize this because it’s an election year, but my God, do we have to fight about everything?” said Speaker of the House John Boehner.

Campaign watchers say the real battle may be for the youth vote which was a key to the President’s election back in 2008.

“Money is money and it’s very tight right now so hopefully… Congress gets it right,” said Calise Belin, a Howard University freshman.

Freezing student loans is expected to remain a major campaign issue for both parties.

The Senate is expected to debate the issue early next month, where the democratic majority wants to pay for a rate freeze by raising taxes on anyone making more than $250,000 a year.

That’s expected to be bitterly opposed by House Republicans as the July 1st deadline gets closer every day.

The magazine used ratings on location, food, shopping, cleanliness, staff communication, check in, baggage handling and Wi-Fi rank each airport.

MIA came in 10th.

In describing the airport’s best features, the magazine wrote “If you’re landing here to party at South Beach, you won’t have to travel too far; the airport is ranked sixth for location. And after those late nights, you can recover with a treatment at one of the airport’s No. 3-rated spas before heading home.”

The airport, however, got dinged for baggage handling, check in and the security process.

Airport officials said they had a record-breaking year for passenger traffic in 2011 and surged to a new record in the first quarter of 2012 with the most passengers ever during that period. More than 10.2 million travelers passed through MIA in the first three months of the year for an increase of 9.5 percent over the same period last year.

In the last two quarters, MIA has overtaken New York’s JFK Airport as the U.S. airport with the most international flights. According to a preliminary report from Airports Council International, MIA was also the 18th busiest passenger airport worldwide for the month of January, moving up from 26th in calendar year 2011.

Rounding out Travel and Leisure’s Top Ten:

9. Denver International Airport (Colorado)
8. Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Washington)
7. McCarran International Airport (Las Vegas)
6. Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (Maryland)
5. San Francisco International Airport (California)
4. Orlando International Airport (Florida)
3. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (Michigan)
2. Charlotte Douglas International Airport (North Carolina)

1. Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (Minnesota)

The state’s insurer of last resort says rates are too low to build up badly needed reserves to be used if a major storm strikes, but Citizens has been hobbled by state law which caps annual rate increases at 10%.

Citizens had hoped to get around that by sharply raising the rates for new policies, which when renewed would be capped at at 10 percent raise, but at a much higher starting rate.

“In plain language, a new policy is not subject to the cap,” said Citizens Chairman Carlos Lacasa.

Dan Sumner, Citizens general counsel, defended the insurer’s proposal, saying the Legislature’s underlying intent was for Citizens to become less a player in the property insurance market, which cannot happen as long as the rates remain artificially low – because industry officials say private insurers are less willing to enter the market.

Sumner said residential rates are 43 percent of what they should be. Commercial rates are even less adequate, falling about 75 percent short.

The Citizens board was set to raise rates Thursday at its Tampa meeting, but word of the plan brought a huge outcry, and caused the board to back down on an immediate increase as opposed to a study regarding what rates should be next year.

Thursday’s action brought applause from Sean Shaw, a former Florida insurance consumer advocate who now works with a law firm that represents homeowners.

“Citizens thought they could slide this outrageous rate hike through without policyholders or lawmakers noticing – and they were wrong,” Shaw said.

“You can get all the rhetoric that you want, but the private companies are not coming back to some areas of this state, they’re just not,” said Sen. Mike Fasano said, R-New Port Richey. “Study or no study, if this is pushed or approved you will hurt our economy.”

Lawmakers in 2006 froze Citizens rates following the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, which prompted a surge in claims and led some companies to leave the state, pushing more customers into Citizens.

In 2010, the Legislature, under the leadership of Senate President Jeff Atwater, agreed to cap premium hikes at 10 percent, a level far below what industry officials said was necessary to bring the rates up to private competitors.

In a letter to the board, Atwater said the recommendation went beyond the scope of the 2010 legislation. OIR also said it would look closely at any request, but has yet to see a formal rate request.

The News Service of Florida Contributed To This Story.

The portable pools can range in size from a typical inflatable kiddie pool to much larger models. They typically require less maintenance, but they pose risks.

“Portable pools have become more affordable, but they hold thousands of gallons of water,” said CPSC Chairwoman Inez Tenenbaum. “And so parents need to know they need to take the same type of steps to save lives if they’re going to use a portable pool.”

The CPSC said owners need to plan to do the following:

• Empty small kiddie pools after every use, and have a place to store them out of the child’s reach.
• Larger portable pools should be equipped with a cover and the ladder on the pool should not be attached when the pool isn’t in use.
• Parents should learn CPR and other life-saving skills in case of an emergency

“Children can drown in a very small amount of water,” Chairwoman Tenenbaum said. “That’s why children should never be unattended in a pool, no matter how small.”

The CPSC also advised that parents should warn neighbors if they are planning on installing a portable pool this summer.

The new command center is part of a national program approved by Congress after the September 11th terrorist attacks to encourage private companies to improve disaster planning. AT&T’s command center was the first company in the country to be certified by the Department of Homeland Security.

AT&T’s Florida President, Marshall Criser, took CBSMiami on an inside look at its command center including its latest back-up technology to keep it’s phones and data lines running in the worst conditions possible.

“We basically are taking our teams who respond to these types of events whether it’s a weather event or some other event and we go out in the local community and we drill and we make sure the equiptment works the way we expect it to work,” Criser said. “We make sure our people are comfortable with what they are supposed to do. It’s planning, it’s preparation, and then you practice and you get ready.”

Most local AT&T customers CBSMiami spoke with like the idea of improved emergency planning. But some still remember AT&T’s dead cell phones and poor service during South Floridas’ active hurricane seasons several years ago.

“You never know how many people are going to use the cell phone towers or if they’ll have enough capacity. In the past, it hasn’t worked out,” according to Hollywood AT&T Customer Elliot Satz.

Coral Gables’ Rick Danger agreed, adding, “They’ve done a lot to improve their infrastructure, but we’ll just have to wait to see.”

AT&T said it’s spent about $2.8 billion dollars strengthening its telecommunications system in South Florida to be better prepared for bad weather. But will it be enough to keep the all the regions’ cell phones, laptops, and iPads working the next time a strong storm targets South Florida?

That’s the $64,000 question as hurricane season begins June 1.

The March unemployment rate was 1.7 percent lower than last year, but it still lagged far behind the national unemployment rate of 8.2 percent through March. The difficulty of celebrating the unemployment rate drop is its unknown how many people just lost their benefits or how many people just left the workforce.

Based on numbers from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, the Florida unemployment rate is mirroring the job growth nationally.

Politically, it poses a tough question for Republicans targeting President Barack Obama on his jobs record. If jobs have grown in the states and the unemployment rate has dropped over the last three years, it undercuts Mitt Romney’s primary argument against President Obama.

But governors want to tout their success on the jobs front, which means Republican governors will have to pitch the job growth as completely separate from the national numbers, even if they mirror them exactly.

Locally, Broward County saw its unemployment rate continue to fall in March. Broward County ended March with a 7.5 percent unemployment rate, down 0.4 percent from February and down 1.6 percent from last year.

Based on Broward’s numbers, there are 73,961 workers looking for work in the county.

In Miami-Dade County, the unemployment rate continued tumbling to 9 percent in March. The unemployment rate in Miami-Dade dropped 0.7 percent from February and was nearly three percent less than it was in March 2011.

Monroe County was nearing ideal unemployment rates in March. Monroe had an unemployment rate of 5.1 percent in March, which was a drop of 0.3 percent from February. The jobless numbers have dropped more than one percent from March 2011.

For more than 100 days this summer, the Summer Savings Pass will give parents and kids the chance to enjoy four main South Florida attractions for $55 for adults and $45 for children ages three through 12.

The pass includes unlimited visits from May 14 through September 30 to the Lion Country Safari, Miami Seaquarium, Museum of Science and Discovery and Zoo Miami.

With only one price, you can go on unlimited safaris at the Lion Country Safari and explore the wildlife of the Gir Forest in India and the Serengeti Plains in east Africa without ever leaving South Florida.

If the sea is more of your thing, you can learn about the stingrays, manatees and dolphins and watch them make a splash in their natural habitat at the Miami Seaquarium.

You can explore the wonders of science at the Museum of Science and Discovery at their mineral, rocket, and aviation exhibits.

At Zoo Miami you can watch monkeys swing from branch to branch and gaze at giraffes as they stretch their necks out to reach for leaves on the trees.

With regular tickets ringing in at almost $40 for adults and $30 for kids at some of the attractions, the Summer Savings Pass is an affordable way to enjoy the summer.

You can pre-print a ticket information form here and bring it to the ticket kiosk at any of the attractions and buy the pass there.

Ticket holders can upgrade to a season pass at these attractions for an additional $30 for adults and $20 for children ages three through 12.

Smartphone user April Tucker is one person who is used to losing her phone.

“I have lost it traveling. I have put it down,” said April Tucker who is nervous about mobile banking. ”Just having it on your phone is just an additional way for someone to hack into your information.”

A recent experiment gives her cause for concern. The computer software company Symantec intentionally lost 50 phones in four cities around the United States. Special software was installed to track the phones and what people did with them.

In half the cases, the finder tried to return the cell but not before doing a little snooping

“People looked at private pictures, they tried to access a banking account, logging into a person’s bank,” said Kevin Haley of Symantec.

Forty three percent of people actually tried to access banking apps and 57% went into the saved password file.

“You don’t want people to be able to get right into the phone,” said Doug Johnson of the American Bankers Association’s Risk Management Unit who feels it is safe to bank on your phone as long as you take steps like setting up a password.  Then, create different passwords for each mobile account that is tied to your phone.

If all else fails, there are also a lot of new special software and apps to protect you if your phone goes missing.

“There’s also some other great technology out there that would let you remotely wipe all your personal information and business information off that phone,” said Haley.

There is even a feature called Scream.

“The scream feature is going to make your phone let out a loud noise, a scream, so you can identify where you’ve left it,” said Haley.

If you don’t have extras, Johnson offers advice in case you lose your phone.

“You misplaced your phone, you believe you haven’t taken proper measures, contact your financial institution,” said Johnson.

The ABA Points out the tech and financial industries have learned a great deal of phone safety by using the lessons they learned with on line banking protections.

Filers are already getting two extra days this year. Tax Day is normally April 15, but because that was a Sunday this year, the deadline was pushed back. Usually, that means taxes are due the next business day.

But federal offices were closed on Monday in the District of Columbia to observe Emancipation Day, so the federal filing deadline was set as April 17th.

That means uou have until midnight Tuesday night to postmark or e-file your returns.

The IRS is expected to take in more than 145-million returns, 9 million of which are from Floridians.

If you can’t file in time, be sure to file a form 4868 for a six month extension, but it’ll only give you more time to file, not to pay.

If you’re going to file the old fashioned way, be aware that South Florida post offices will not be open until midnight like they used to be.

The Miami Processing and Distribution Center, at 2200 Northwest 72nd Ave., will have two pickup times, at 9 p.m. and at midnight.

In Broward, the Fort Lauderdale Processing and Distribution Center, at 1900 W. Oakland Park Boulevard, will be open until 9, while the Pembroke Pines center, at 16000 Pines Boulevard, will stay open until 7:30.

Most Miami-Dade and Broward post office locations will close their doors between 5 and 7:30 p.m. Mail deposited at these locations by the scheduled closing will receive the all-important April 17 postmark.

Still need help? Click here for CBSMiami.com/taxes.

A new kind of potato chip can give you the same buzz you’d get from energy drinks and they look and crunch the like any other chip.

In addition to potato’s salt and spices, they have B vitamins, caffeine and taurine, an ingredient commonly found in energy drinks.

“I think they’re trying to target the young those who are athletic or wish to be,” said Jo Ann Hattner, a nutritionist who is surprised to hear of yet another energy product.

Hattner questions whether coating potato chips with energy supplements really give you much of a boost.

“It’s what I call an image food. 70 milligrams of caffeine is really not that much, you might get that in a shot of espresso,” said Hattner.

With espresso you’d get fewer calories. The Arma energy chips, for example, come with 70 milligrams of caffeine and 290 calories. Compare that to a can of Red bull which has 80 milligrams for 110 calories. A shot of espresso offers the same boost with only 5 calories. So gram for gram, if you are watching your weight, this product may not be for you.

“We strive for whole foods as much as possible that would give the most energy over a sustained period of time,” said personal trainer Elizabeth Bachrad.

But just because they’re not for the health conscious doesn’t mean they are not for people looking for a tasty treat with a bit of a boost.

However, the product is not recommended for pregnant women and children.

The IRS’ service center in Plantation has been busy for the past few weeks as Tuesdays’ midnight deadline approaches. It turns out one of the biggest problems this year facing taxpayers is Refund ID fraud. Refund ID fraud hits taxpayers because they find out after the fact that somebody else has already filed for their tax refunds and ripped off their identification.

Tax refund theft is a national epidemic that’s expected to exceed last year. Harvey tried filing his tax return a few days ago and found out somebody else used his ID to fill-out a bogus return and steal his refund.

Tax refund fraud is expected to be cost more than the $6 billion in losses last year.

“It’s kinda scary, you hear about this stuff all the time but when it happens to you you’re like wow,” Harvey said, “this stuff really works.”

The IRS said it’s trying to crack down on identity thieves and has already changed the way it processes tax returns.

“We’ve implemented new ID theft filters when the returns come in,” said Mike Dobzinski of the IRS. “We’ve enhanced our staff and additional personnel for responses to get the information they need and last but not least, prosecuted the individuals responsible for refund fraud.”

If you think your tax ID’s been stolen, contact the IRS immediately to file an identity theft affidavit: Form 140-39. Also, contact your bank and credit card companies and double check all your bank and credit card statements for any possible unauthorized charges.

Some local victims complained it’s impossible to get the IRS to say when it’ll send out their legitimate refunds.

“They just don’t want to put out the money. They don’t want to spend the time to investigate,” said Miramar’s Margarita Quire, who thinks she’s been scammed. “It all comes back to us, the consumer, and that’s wrong because when we owe them we have to pay up or we go to jail.”

Some local victims complained the IRS still won’t say when it’ll send out their legitimate refunds. Despite all the last-minute problems, if you still can’t make this years’ April 17th midnight deadline, you’ll need a Form 4868 for an extension.

But the IRS said that’s just for an extension to file your return and you still have to include any estimated payments to avoid extra interest charges or penalties.

Remember, if you haven’t already filed your taxes, you only have until Tuesday night at 11:59 or you have to file an extension.

For more information from the Federal Trade Commission on fighting ID theft, click here.

On Saturday, the Dole Food Co. said that its fresh vegetables division has recalled 756 cases of their Seven Lettuces salad. The bags are stamped with a use-by date of April 11, 2012, UPC code 71430 01057 and product codes 0577N089112A and 0577N089112B.

The product code and use-by date are located in the upper right-hand corner of the package, while the UPC code is on the back of the package, below the barcode.

In addition to Florida, the salads were also distributed in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Dole said that it’s coordinating with regulatory officials and that no illnesses have been reported.

The company said the bags were recalled, because a random sample tested by the State of New York came back positive for salmonella. No other Dole salads are included in the recall.

Consumers should throw out the recalled bags. Dole said it’s also contacting retailers to make sure the bags in question are not available for sale.

The most common symptoms of salmonella are diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever within eight to 72 hours of eating the contaminated food. The illness can be severe or even life-threatening for infants, older people, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems.

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

The company responsible for the tuna in question is Moon Marine USA Corp of California, also known as MMI. Its recalled 58,828 pounds of frozen raw yellofin tuna that labeled as Nakaochi Scrape AA or AAA that was sold to grocery stores and restaurants.

The yellofin tuna isn’t available for individual customers to buy, but it may be used by restaurants and grocery stores to make sushi, sashimi, ceviche, and similar dishes. Many of the people who got sick reported eating raw tuna in sushi such as “spicy tuna.”

Reports of illnesses caused by salmonell bareilly have mainly come from the Eastern Seaboard and the South. The Food and Drug Administration said 116 illnesses have been reported. But, there is a 30 day lag time between when people become sick and when health officials are notified.

The raw yellowfin tuna product may have passed through several distributors before reaching the restaurant and grocery market and may not be clearly labeled.

The most common symptoms of salmonella are diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever within eight to 72 hours of eating the contaminated food. The illness can be severe or even life-threatening for infants, older people, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems.

The FDA recommended that people be cautious about eating raw seafood, inquire about the source and “when in doubt, don’t eat it.”

(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2012 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

They are using the daily deal sites for health and medical related deals.

In fact, new numbers show in 2011 consumers spent as much as $230 million on deals in the health and medical category. CBS4 caught up with Stephen Fox saving money at the dentist.

“It is definitely worth it because you save a lot of money,” said Stephen Fox.

Like so many south Floridians, Fox, a graduate student from St Thomas law school in Miami Gardens, has medical needs.

“I am in that strange window. I am not working full time. I am not on any group health coverage. I am too old to be under my parents,” said Fox who headed to Living Social and found a deal at the Miami Center for Cosmetic and Implant Dentistry.

For $35, he received a consultation, exam, x-rays and a teeth cleaning all for an 85 percent savings.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Fox. “I thought it was a great deal and chance to get into see the dentist after a couple of years.”

According to the Center’s for Disease Control and Prevention, 46 million Americans under the age of 65 have no health insurance and have to pay out of pocket even for the basic medical attention.

“They get it at a significantly reduced price and they are able to know exactly where they stand with their mouth and have a clean mouth afterward,” said Dr. Jan Zeigler of Miami Center for Cosmetic and Implant Dentistry.

A great idea right? Dealradar.com seems to find the numbers to support that, the daily deal comparison site found an increase in medical related deals in 2011

• Eye care went from 82 to 207 in 2011.
• Skin treatment started at 298 and went to 1393 in 2011
• Dental grew from 764 to 4,429.
• Weight Loss started 2011 at 80 and grew to 2888.

South Florida daily deal Expert Natalie McNeal, who operates her site www.thefrugalista.com shared a warning to keep you from falling into the daily deal trap.

“These are great deals but you need to watch out because you can end up spending so much money on things you don’t need that it defeats the purpose and you end up spending more money than saving,” said McNeal.

For Dr Zeigler, the idea behind his deal was to bring a smile to his patients

“We’re in some very challenging times. I figured it was my opportunity to give back to the community,” said Dr. Zeigler whose idea is really making a difference.

“I just think it is a great opportunity for people like me who are on the fringe,” Fox said. “And they don’t normally put their dental health on the highest priority but it is something important you should take care of.”

Patients at Memorial Hospitals in Broward County may have been the latest victims of tax identity theft.

Two employees were fired and are under criminal investigation by federal agencies for trying to steal patient information, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

According to the hospital, just fewer than 10,000 patients may have had their identities exposed by the employees. The information was stolen during 2011 and early 2012 when hospital staff discovered the crime, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Memorial Hospitals is mailing letters to those who may have been exposed. If you believe you have been affected but do not receive a letter by April 25, 2012, you can call 1-877-643-2062, Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM.

South Florida is the nation’s leader in identity theft with roughly 324 cases per 100,000 people, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Nationwide, the losses to tax identity fraud approached $6 billion.

“They told me it would take up to 3 years to get my refund,” said tax refund victim Joan Rubinstein. “Every time I called the IRS, I was frustrated because I wasn’t getting an answer. They would look into it. Then they’ll call me back in two months, or I should call them back in two months and I was just getting more and more angry.”

Based on the growing problem in South Florida and around the country, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz introduced legislation that would strengthen penalties for identity thieves.

Wasserman Schultz found that under current law, local police and victims can’t find out who filed the phony returns because federal law protects the criminals.

“The law bizarrely protects the people who filed the return,” Wasserman Schultz said. “So you as an individual can’t get the information from the IRS if somebody fraudulently files your return because the privacy laws protect the person who filed the return even if it’s not you.”

Wasserman Schultz’s proposal is called the “Stop It Act.”

Besides stiffening penalties for ID thieves, it will also expand the definition of an ID theft victim to include businesses and organizations that have had their ID stolen for phishing schemes looking to acquire customer data.

The items were seized or forfeited to the IRS, Secret Service, and U.S. Customs by people who broke the law or didn’t pay their federal income taxes.

They included Coach handbags, rare wine, iPads, computers and cameras.  There were vast rolls of fabric, a washer dryer, water cooler and water softener machine along with generators and portable air conditioners. Even a baby grand piano.

Some of the items were brand new like large screen TV’s and a room full of luxurious furniture meant for a home theater.

Paul Parker said he will bid on some of the items.

“I have an anniversary coming up,” said Parker. “It looks like some of the jewelry is brand new.”

Like many meandering through the vast warehouse off Sample Road, Parker wondered about the origin of some of the items.

“Does the history come with the purchase?” he quipped.

Maria Fay spent a lot of time at the jewelry counter viewing gold coins and diamond bracelets and earrings.

“I’m not into the big stuff, computers and TV’s.  I don’t need them.  But I like the jewelry and the coins,” she said.

The auction is strictly online and you must register to participate.

You can find out more information by going to the auction operator:  www.ricklevin.com

The bidding starts Friday, April 13th and will run through Tuesday, April 17.

All of the proceeds go to the U.S. Treasury’s Asset Forfeiture Fund to support law enforcement agencies.

It’s a story of a local boy and a South Beach taco stand that made it big by offering fresh ingredients at affordable family pricing.

The “Lime Empire” started back in 2004 off Alton Road in South Beach.

Despite the success and opening several new locations nationwide, it still offers local deliveries using lime-green bicycles.

Who’s the man behind the Lime?

It’s Miami Beach’s John Kunkle. He built his “Lime-Fresh” empire one franchise at time. It’s grown to 16 stores stretching from South Beach to Washington, D.C.

“It’s amazing, I mean I started literally as a dishwasher when I was a teenager and it’s an amazing opportunity and Lime has definitely been my baby as every restaurant has been to me, every concept. To see this chain to continue, to be on the board still operating our founding store, just makes it that much sweeter for me,” said Kunkle.

As part of the deal, Limes’ founder joins Ruby Tuesday’s Board of Directors and will retain control over his original SoBe location.

Local customers aren’t surprised his formula for success is going national.

Still, Coral Gables customer Phillip Mervis is nervous.

“The food’s great, it’s always fresh, I just hope they can maintain the quality outside the Miami area,” said Mervis.

Kunkle wants to reassure his customers that nothing’s going to change

“The same people who served you a burrito last week will be serving you this week. The same produce vendors who delivered stuff locally are still delivering thru the back door. So we’re excited to continue on the same path,” said Kunkle.

Under new ownership, the Lime chain is expected to expand dramatically over the next 2 years.

Under Ruby Tuesday’s ownership, Lime Fresh is expected to open possibly as many as 50 new locations across the country over the next two years.

The IIHS focused on the system known as Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children, or LATCH. The system was originally designed with standard hardware to make car seat installation easier. Even with the LATCH system, the installation of a car seat is still problematic.

“Installing a child restraint isn’t always as simple as a couple of clicks and you’re done,” says Anne McCartt, the Institute’s senior vice president for research and one of the report’s authors. “Sometimes parents blame themselves when they struggle with LATCH, but oftentimes the problem lies with the vehicle, not the user.”

The IIHS found that only seven vehicles out of 98 analyzed had a LATCH system in the middle of a second-row seat, which is the safest place for children to travel. In addition, the lower anchors for the system were visible on just 36 of the 98 cars studied.

IIHS researchers looked at three factors in making their determinations: Depth, Clearance, and Force. Depth referred to how deep in the seat the anchors were. Clearance refers to nothing obstructing access to the anchors. Researchers said force was based on using less than 40 pounds of force during installation.

Several 20111 models did meet all of the easy-installation criteria including:

• Audi A4 Quattro
• Cadillac Escalade
• Chevrolet Equinox LT
• Chevrolet Silverado 1500 crew cab
• Chevrolet Suburban LT
• Chevrolet Tahoe LS
• Chrysler Town & Country (2010)
• Dodge Caliber Mainstreet
• Dodge Grand Caravan Crew
• Dodge Ram 1500 crew cab
• Ford Escape XLT
• Ford F-150 SuperCrew Cab
• GMC Sierra 1500 crew cab SLE
• Honda Pilot EX-L
• Kia Sedona LX
• Land Rover Range Rover Sport
• Mercedes-Benz C300
• Mercedes-Benz E350
• Mitsubishi Eclipse coupe GS
• Mitsubishi Lancer ES
• Toyota Tacoma extended cab

On the other hand, researchers found several 2011 models that didn’t meet any easy-installation criteria including:

• Buick Enclave CX
• Chevrolet Impala LT
• Dodge Avenger Express
• Ford Flex SEL
• Ford Taurus Limited
• Hyundai Sonata Limited
• Toyota Sienna XLE

On Monday, the will formally launch their Parkmobile app which will allow beach foes to use their cell phones to pay for parking at all city-owned lots and garages.

Those interested can download the Parkmobile app on their smart phones (iPhone, Android, Windows 7, or Blackberry), register online at www.parkmobile.com or call a toll-free 1-877-727-5714 to set up their account.

After setting up their account, customers can immediately start using the system with their registered mobile phone. They can also select the option to receive text message alerts and reminders.

Registered customers who use the system within the next 30 days will be automatically entered into a drawing to win a free iPad from Parkmobile.

According to theHill.com, analysts believe that prices may have peaked in the last few weeks. According to AAA, gas prices have declined over the last five days. That’s the first decline in prices seen since December 2011.

“What this could potentially mean for motorists is that prices could take a bit of a breather or they might fall,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at gasbuddy.com told The Hill.

For President Barack Obama, any drop in the gas prices will be welcome news to his re-election campaign. Republicans have sought to blame Obama for the high gasoline prices saying he hasn’t done enough to expand domestic production.

However, analysts agree that the President has very little ability to do anything to lower the gas prices. Instead it’s controlled by speculators in the oil markets and any sort of world tensions in the major oil producing regions.

For example, analysts say that if tensions with Iran continue to escalate, it will only serve to exacerbate the current gas prices.

A report issued by the Energy Information Administration said gas prices may not drop significantly just yet. The report predicted $3.95 a gallon gas peaking in May at $4 a gallon nationally.