South Florida hotels enjoyed a strong October

South Florida hotels enjoyed a strong October, as growing demand for rooms helped boost nightly rates.A new Smith Travel report showed the typical room in Broward County generated 9 percent more revenue per night than did it did in October 2011. For Miami-Dade, the gain in revenue-per-room (known as “revpar” in the lodging industry) was 8 percent. Improvements in two fronts...

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Pembroke Pines hosts winter camp for special needs kids

The City of Pembroke Pines is accepting registration for its two-week Winter Camp for special needs children ages 6 through 14.Participants will engage in indoor and outdoor activities, games, arts and crafts, and other activities.Participants must be independent in toileting skills and be able to administer, with supervision, their own medications. The...

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Online gaming firms urge EU to open up markets

LONDON (Reuters) – Online gaming companies have accused Belgium and Greece of keeping them out of their markets illegally and urged European competition authorities to take action.A long-running dispute over licenses in Belgium made headlines last week when Belgian authorities questioned one of the co-chief executives of bwin.party, the world’s largest...

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Justin Bieber Wins Big at American Music Awardss

Justin Bieber gave an emotional thank you to his mom, Pattie Mallette, who stood on stage with the pop star as he accepted Artist of the Year, his third award of the evening, at the culmination of the 40th annual American Music Awards Sunday in Los Angeles. The Biebs, who brought his mother along as his date for the show, took home the first and the last award of the night, (Favorite Pop/Rock...

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Twinkies likely to survive as Hostess heads to bankruptcy court

DETROIT — Twinkie lovers, relax.The tasty cream-filled golden spongecakes are likely to survive, even though their maker will be sold in bankruptcy court.Hostess Brands Inc., baker of Wonder Bread as well as Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Ho Ho's, will be in a New York bankruptcy courtroom Monday to start the process of selling itself.The company, weighed down...

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South Florida guide to corporate gift giving

Holiday gifts to clients and colleagues can help you strengthen both business relationships and your brand. While flashing your logo at holiday time seemed insensitive back when droves of people didn’t have jobs, manufacturers — several based in South Florida — have responded with more creative ways to include branding on some very usable products that people can actually...

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Interfaith Thanksgiving service planned for Wednesday night

Members of various faiths in Coral Gables will come together at 7 p.m. Wednesday in a spirit of unity for the annual Thanksgiving Eve Interfaith Worship Service hosted by Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ, 3010 De Soto Blvd., across the street from the Biltmore Hotel.The Rev. Dr. Laurinda Hafner, senior pastor of the church said, "We invite everyone - no...

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Buzzmakers: Lindsay Lohan Comes Clean & Janeane Marries

What had ET readers buzzing this week?1. Janeane Garofalo: I Didn't Know I was Married!Sometimes what happens in Vegas actually does stay in Vegas -- at least for two decades. Funny girl Janeane Garofalo is claiming she's been married for 20 years, and didn't even know it!The Reality Bites actress told the New York Post that she and Big Bang Theory producer Rob Cohen decided to wed at a Las Vegas...

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TV guy in the ‘cast’

He made it through 27 days of “Survivor” in the jungles of Africa, but a Manhattan marathoner barely made it out of his brother’s wedding alive.Charlie Herschel, 33, an Ironman racer who was the 10th of 18 contestants booted from “Survivor: Gabon” back in 2008, claims unwelcome buffoonery by one of his brother’s groomsmen left him seriously injured.Herschel...

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Panama Canal’s $5 billion makeover could be boon for South Florida

PANAMA CITY, Panama -- Huge yellow dump trucks resemble Tonka toys in a sand pile as they haul tons of rust-colored dirt and basalt rock from a 56-foot gash in the earth that will become a new access channel in the $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal.The trucks keep rumbling up muddy terraced slopes as a quick-moving storm blurs the horizon. The rain chases away workers...

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