Brooklyn Recovery Fund dishes out $250,000 in grants to boost Sandy victims

A fund set up to support Brooklyn's recovery from Hurricane Sandy has awarded its first round of grants totaling $250,000 to 26 neighborhood organizations. Launched by the Brooklyn Community Foundation with support from the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President, the Brooklyn Recovery Fund raised $1.5 million in less...

Read More..

Small Business Saturday: the anti-Black Friday

Don’t want to brave the Black Friday craziness? You can get a head start on your holiday shopping, snag some deals and support local merchants by participating in Small Business Saturday.Nestled between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday is focused on promoting small business owners nationwide. Since it was started in 2010 by American Express, the promotional...

Read More..

Former foster children give thanks for Casa Valentina

Every holiday season for the last six years, Lynn Hausmann hosts a Thanksgiving gathering for Casa Valentina, the residential and life skills program for youth aging out of foster care.It’s what you do, she says, for the people you love.“It’s simple — we are family,” says Hausmann, a member of the organization’s board of directors. “This is about opening your heart and home.”...

Read More..

Republic Wireless Now Offering $19/Month Unlimited Smartphone Service to All

Prepaid wireless carrier Republic Wireless has been offering its $ 19 per month, unlimited everything, prepaid smartphone plan since about this time last year. At the time, though, there were a few catches; you had to buy a very low-end smartphone from them, you had to use its Hybrid Calling technology for most of your calls, and you could only get in...

Read More..

Lindsay Lohan Explains Why She Cancelled on Barbara Walters

Lindsay Lohan is opening up about the now-infamous cancellation of her pre-arranged sit down with Barbara Walters.The actress stopped by for an interview with Tonight Show host Jay Leno on Tuesday, who pressed Lohan on the drama surrounding herself and the veteran news woman.Related: Walters on Lohan: 'She Has A Lot of Problems'"It's all good. I spoke to all the people that she works with," she said,...

Read More..

Best Buy shares drop 13% as company swings to a third-quarter loss

The discount on Best Buy’s stock keeps getting deeper.Shares of the struggling electronics chain tumbled 13 percent yesterday, hitting their lowest levels in a decade as the retailer swung to a loss on a steeper-than-expected sales decline.The stock drop, which left Best Buy shares down 49 percent on the year at $11.96, likely cut the price for a leveraged...

Read More..

Hottest tech products of fall 2012

Every year we roll out our fall list of the products getting the most attention from readers, and every year it ends up being a list dominated by phones. But not this year. No, this time you guys are spicing things up with a surprising mix of products. Here’s what’s getting your attention right now. Sony Vaio Tap 20 Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (Very good) ...

Read More..

Women convicted of Medicare fraud at Fort Lauderdale therapy clinic

Two women who held senior positions with a Fort Lauderdale mental health clinic escaped convictions when a jury deadlocked on Medicare fraud charges against them.The second time around, Lydia Ward and Nichole Eckert were not as lucky.A Miami federal jury in Miami found them guilty last week of conspiring to defraud the taxpayer-funded Medicare program in the nation’s largest...

Read More..

Ryan Eggold: Next Taylor Swift Break-up Song?

Fresh off an appearance at Sunday night's American Music Awards, Ryan Eggold had one girl on his mind, Taylor Swift.Fierce & Fabulous: The 2012 AMA Red Carpet Fashion"I'm just hoping to meet Taylor Swift," he confessed of his crush at the Rolling Stone After Party in Hollywood. The 90210 actor would do just about anything to sweep her off her feet. The 11-time AMA winner is synonymous with penning...

Read More..

FBI: 4 Calif. men charged in alleged terror plot, planned to join al-Qaeda

LOS ANGELES — Four Southern California men have been charged with plotting to kill Americans and destroy U.S. targets overseas by joining al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, federal officials said Monday.The defendants, including a man who served in the U.S. Air Force, were arrested for plotting to bomb military bases and government facilities, and...

Read More..