Transit worker who was killed was walking on Metrorail tracks from disabled train

George Andrews, a Miami-Dade Transit employee who was killed Monday near the Earlington Heights station when a moving train struck him, was walking on the tracks after parking his train on a side track because it had been malfunctioning, the director of MDT, Ysela Llort, said Tuesday.

“He had a train that was not functioning correctly and central control told him to park the train in what we call a pocket, north of Earlington Heights. He then was walking back to the station and was 30 yards from the station.”

Llort declined to give further details saying the case is still under police investigation. Miami-Dade police detectives, who are investigating the incident, said they will not provide all details until the investigation is completed.

Jeffrey Mitchell, vice president of the Transport Workers Union Local 291, which represents Metrorail operators, said walking on the track after parking a disabled train is normal procedure for MDT. What is unclear, he added, is why the train hit Andrews while he walked on the track.

A train operator who parks a train on a side track and then begins to walk on the track must advise his position to central control and technicians there must warn all trains, said Mitchell.

"The problem is that the trains are not like cars," said Mitchell. "The operator of the train that hit him may have seen him on the track, and may have applied the brakes immediately, but the train does not stop immediately."

Llort's explanation of the incident departs from the original explanation released by county police.

“According to investigators, the decedent, a Miami-Dade County Transit employee, was working on the Metrorail tracks when he was struck by the moving train. He died on the scene,” the police statement said Monday.

According to Llort, Andrews was operating a Green Line train between Dadeland South station and Palmetto station when the tragedy occurred.

Llort said Andrews was a highly valued employee of MDT. He was 47 and would have turned 48 on Friday. His family could not be reached Tuesday.

“He was a very beloved family member, and very well thought of by the transit family,” said Llort. “This is a tragedy to the transit family and we are in mourning.

Llort said she had ordered that every employee receives counseling if desired.

Andrews began working as bus operator trainee on Nov. 23, 1987, said Llort. Then he became a Metrorail operator full time in the summer of 2003.

Metrorail has two routes, the Green Line from Dadeland South to Palmetto station and the Orange Line from Dadeland South to Miami International Airport (MIA).

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Turn out lights on LIPA boss

Now LIPA’s chief has something in common with thousands of Long Island residents — they’re out of power.

Interim CEO Mike Hervey — who still has 45,000 total customers without electricity after Hurricane Sandy — will step down at the end of this year.

“On behalf of the Board of Trustees I have accepted his resignation, with regret,” said LIPA Chairman Howard Steinberg.

Hervey resigned the same day Gov. Cuomo authorized a commission to “investigate the response, preparation, and management of New York’s power utility companies with major storms hitting the state over the past two years, including Hurricanes Sandy and Irene, and Tropical Storm Lee,” according to a statement from the governor. The commission can issue subpoenas and examine witnesses under oath.

AP

LIVING IN THE DARK AGES: Virginia Portella lugs a cart full of groceries up to her third-floor apartment in Brooklyn’s Red Hook Houses yesterday as the elevator remains out and residents are forced to live without electricity more than two weeks after Hurricane Sandy struck.

LIPA customers aren’t the only ones still in the dark.

Neighborhoods and buildings across the region are still without electricity 16 days after Sandy struck and utility companies are sticking some of the blame on powerless residents.

About 424,000 customers in the Rockaways, Gerritsen Beach, Red Hook, Staten Island, the Lower East Side, Midland Beach, Coney Island, Nassau, Suffolk and New Jersey still need juice, utility officials said yesterday.

About 39,000 of those outages, mostly Con Ed and LIPA customers, could get power, but an electrician needs to inspect their home equipment first.

It’s a slow and confusing process.

Richard Aloi, 57, a Staten Island landlord, had power restored to two of his Midland Avenue buildings yesterday, but not before he shelled out $400 to have an electrician inspect four meters that he said were not even touched by water.

“They’re afraid to get sued — they misled me on everything!” Aloi said.

In Manhattan, Knickerbocker Village residents are still freezing as they wait for electricity to get turned back on after flooding in the basement.

“Some days it’s warmer outside than it is in the house,” said Debbie Felice, 43, an MTA station supervisor, who lives in the Lower East Side facility.

“It’s like we’ve been forgotten about over here. It’s tough trying to get up and go to work when it’s freezing in the house and there’s no hot water, there’s no heat. I still have no electricity in the apartment either. It’s terrible.”

Con Ed has 4,000 customers waiting to have their homes inspected.

And those numbers grow considerably when Con Ed factors in affected public housing complexes where a “customer” can be hundreds of residents.

As of Sunday, 30,000 New York City Housing Authority residents didn’t have power — though that number has dropped since then.

Still, a Con Ed executive declared yesterday, “We essentially have power up in all areas.

“The only issues that exist now is if customers are able to take the power from us,” spokesman Bob McGee said.

As for LIPA, 10,000 people in Nassau and Suffolk still have outages, and another 35,000 in the Rockaways, Nassau and Suffolk need inspections.

And in New Jersey, only 78 percent of 1.7 million PSE&G customers have power restored — 375,000 remain in the dark due to downed lines.

Mayor Bloomberg yesterday said the city will open seven centers in Far Rockaway, Gravesend, Coney Island, Staten Island, Red Hook, Breezy Point and Throggs Neck-Pelham to connect residents and businesses with financial, health, environmental, nutritional, FEMA and residential services.

“There are a lot of residents who are going to be without power for a long time. Rather than complain about it or even write about it, we’re trying to do something about it,” Bloomberg said.

As for NYCHA houses, he said they “see the finish line” for power.

And Council Speaker Christine Quinn proposed a $20 billion initiative to protect the city from storm surges, with a sea wall, bulkheads, dunes, wetlands and floodgates.

In other developments:

* Bloomberg said gas rationing will go on for at least five more days.

* The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel opened one lane for cars.

* Alternate-side-of-the-street parking regulations will be reinstated in most areas.

* Nassau County police are investigating an assault of a Florida utility worker — here to help Sandy relief efforts — who was beaten outside an East Meadow restaurant as he got out of his truck.

Tomorrow, President Obama will visit many areas without power, such as Staten Island, the Rockaways and Nassau.

“He should definitely come [here],” said Brenda Pratt, 49, of Coney Island. “This is a disaster. He should look at what Sandy did to us. I gave him my vote, I want to see him.

Additional reporting by David Seifman, Sally Goldenberg, Liz Sadler and Kieran Crowley

leonard.greene@nypost.com

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No touch screen? Stick with Windows 7

Q. I recently had to replace my 9-year-old Windows XP computer, and am having trouble adapting to Windows 7.

What are the advantages, if any, for me to upgrade to Windows 8, which I’ve read has touch-screen capability and works with other equipment besides desktop computers? Since I don’t have a touch screen, I’m wondering if there is any point in upgrading.

Peter Robinson Chaska, Minn.

Different versions of Windows 8 are being offered on PCs, tablet computers and smartphones. But in every case the new operating system is primarily aimed at people who are using touch-sensitive screens.

So unless you’re planning to buy a touch-screen device in connection with upgrading to Windows 8, you’re probably better off continuing to use Windows 7. By most accounts, using the touch-screen-oriented Windows 8 with a mouse and keyboard is more difficult than using previous Windows versions with a mouse and keyboard.

In addition, if you find the changes in Windows 7 to be challenging, I suspect you won’t enjoy the more radical changes embodied in Windows 8 (i.e., much different start screen.)

I’m not saying you should never upgrade to Windows 8; just let Microsoft deal with some of these usability issues first.Q. I disagree with your warning to never click the unsubscribe link to put a stop to spam emails. Totally inundated with spam, I began unsubscribing and cut my spam down from more than 50 a day to one or two.

Some spam senders were more difficult to shake than others. I threatened a nonexistent Florida corporation that I would go to their state attorney general’s office, but never heard from them again. I gave a dental company a taste of their own medicine until they finally stopped sending me email. Others just took me off their lists pronto. It has been well worth the effort.

Deborah Gray Mitchell North Miami

Your strategy will work with legitimate companies and with spammers who can be located and threatened with legal action.

Unfortunately, most spam producers are neither legitimate nor traceable. When you respond to their emails, you confirm that yours is a working email address, and therefore fair game.

At the same time, you’ve essentially challenged some spammers to a duel, a risky business because they know your email address. Make sure you have a strong email password to prevent tampering.

Congratulations on your success, but I can’t recommend your approach to others.

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Miami police: Two found shot inside a car

Two people were found shot in a car early Tuesday morning, according to Miami police.

Investigators are at the shooting at Northwest 11th Avenue and 43rd Street.

This article will be updated as more information becomes available.

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Belize wants to quiz anti-computer virus guru McAfee in murder probe

BELIZE CITY (Reuters) – Police in Belize want to question U.S. anti-computer virus software pioneer John McAfee in connection with the murder of a neighbor he had been quarrelling with, but they say he remains a person of interest at this time and is not a suspect.

McAfee, who invented the anti-virus software that bears his name, has homes and businesses in Belize, and is believed to have settled in the country sometime around 2010.

“He is a person of interest at this time,” said Marco Vidal, head of Belize’s police Gang Suppression Unit. “It goes a bit beyond that, not just being a neighbor.”

Police officers were looking for the software engineer, said Miguel Segura, the assistant commissioner of police.

Asked if McAfee was a suspect, he said: “At this point, no. Our job … is to get all the evidence beyond reasonable doubt that Mr A is the one that killed Mr B.”

“He (McAfee) … can assist the investigation, so there is no arrest warrant for the fellow,” added Segura, who heads the Criminal Investigation Branch.

McAfee’s neighbor, Gregory Viant Faull, a 52-year-old American, was found on Sunday lying dead in a pool of blood after apparently being shot in the head.

McAfee has been embroiled in controversy in Belize before.

His premises were raided in May after he was accused of holding firearms, though most were found to be licensed. The final outcome of the case is pending.

McAfee also owns a security company in Belize as well as several properties and an ecological enterprise.

Reuters was unable to contact McAfee on Monday.

Segura said McAfee had been at odds with Faull for some time. He accused his neighbor of poisoning his dogs earlier this year and filed an official complaint.

“There was some conflict there between (them) … prior to the death of the gentleman,” Segura said. “But those dogs didn’t have a post mortem to see if the toxicology would confirm what type of poison, if any.”

McAfee previously accused the police Gang Suppression Unit of killing his dogs during the May raid.

McAfee was one of Silicon Valley’s first entrepreneurs to amass a fortune by building a business off the Internet.

The former Lockheed systems consultant started McAfee Associates in 1989, initially distributing its anti-virus software as “shareware” on Internet bulletin boards.

He took the company public in 1992 and left two years later following accusations that he had hyped the arrival of a virus known as Michelango, which turned out to be a dud, to scare computer users into buying his company’s products.

(Reporting by Simon Gardner and Gabriel Stargardter in Mexico City and Jim Finkle; Editing by Kieran Murray and Todd Eastham)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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One Direction on What They Look for in a Girl

Ellen DeGeneres is holding her biggest outdoor concert ever with British pop sensation One Direction on Thursday, and we have an advance clip.

RELATED: One Direction Plays Catch with Super Bowl Champ

During the sit-down portion, the boys answer the crucial questions: Which members are single and what do they look for in a girl?

"I like someone that's cute. Someone I can have a laugh with. And I also like people that are American. And you all qualify," said Niall Horan, 19, sending the crowd of teenage girls into frenzy.

Tune in to The Ellen DeGeneres Show November 15 for the full interview and concert. The band's sophomore studio album Take Me Home is available now.

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Lance is Livingwrong: Taunting photo as bike dope quits cancer post

Take them down and box them up, Lance.

Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong tweeted a brazen photo of himself on Saturday lying next to his seven ill-gained Tour de France victory jerseys — tokens of titles that were ultimately stripped from him due to doping allegations.

“Back in Austin and just layin’ around,” he wrote to his nearly 4 million followers, thumbing his nose at investigators and his critics.

And it was revealed yesterday that he quietly resigned from the board of his Livestrong cancer-fighting charity on Nov. 4 — completely severing ties with the organization he founded.

Armstrong stepped down as chairman on Oct. 17, but clung to a seat on its board of directors.

But his successor as chairman, Jeff Garvey, announced yesterday that Armstrong made the decision to spare Livestrong — best known for its distinctive yellow bracelets — from more ugly fallout from his cheating scandal.

Garvey said Armstrong “was instrumental in changing the way the world views people affected by cancer.”

Livestrong spokeswoman Katherine McLane said Armstrong, a cancer survivor, “remains the inspiration” and is still its largest donor with nearly $7 million over the years.

She said Armstrong has not completely cut ties with Livestrong, which he founded 15 years ago. But “his visibility will be reduced,” she told Agence France Presse.

Last month, the US Anti-Doping Agency ordered Armstrong banned from the sport for life.

Then the International Cycling Union — which had initially supported him — agreed to wipe out Armstrong’s record seven Tour de France victories.

Commercial sponsors like Nike and Anheuser-Busch bailed out on Armstrong in droves.

He hasn’t commented publicly on the scathing Anti-Doping Agency report, which said he helped run “the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.”

The report included statements from 11 former teammates who testified against Armstrong.

The report drew new praise — and Armstrong drew criticism — from French Sports Minister Valérie Fourneyron yesterday.

The agency’s “exceptional” work “led to the fall of a man who pretended to be the world’s best cyclist — but, in fact, was nothing but the biggest cheat,” Fourneyron told reporters in Paris.

Fourneyron denounced Armstrong’s tweeted photo as “a further provocation, without any doubt.”

The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, John Fahey, said despite all the attention given to Armstrong, the scandal indicates there is a much bigger problem with sports cheating.

“Do I feel we’re winning the fight? The answer is no,” Fahey said. “I think what [the] Armstrong [case] tells me is, bubbling away below the surface there are still problems that could surface at any time.”

“Are we cleaner?” he said. “Look, this is a fight sadly that will never be won.”

andy.soltis@nypost.com

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Two more Cuban dissidents allege abuse by former prison official now living in Miami

Two more Cuban dissidents have alleged that they were abused personally or on the orders of a former Villa Clara provincial prison chief Crescencio Marino Rivero, who now lives in Miami.

Rivero, 71, and his wife Juana Ferrer, both former officers in Cuba’s Interior Ministry and members of the ruling Communist Party, appear to have obtained their U.S. visas and residency without revealing their activities on behalf of the Cuban government.

Wilfredo Allen, one of the two Miami lawyers who referred the allegations against Rivero to U.S. prosecutors two weeks ago, has asked for the start of deportation procedures against the couple. Rivero has denied committing any abuses.

Arturo Conde Zamora said he was 12 or 13 years old and was being held in a reformatory when Rivero hit him with a stick two or three times on his back and legs. Rivero was in charge of the lockup in the Villa Clara village of Maleza.

“He beat me with a stick and then threw me into a cell,” Conde, now 47, told El Nuevo Herald by telephone from his home in the Villa Clara town of Placetas. “He tied me up with a rope and left me in a tapiada” – a cell with a solid steel door instead of bars.

Rivero has been identified as provincial head of youth reformatories and reeducation programs in the 1980s before he was promoted to head Villa Clara’s overall prison system.

Conde said he was sent to a reformatory for chronic school skipping, and was beaten by Rivero and two or three reformatory “re-educators” in 1981 or 1982 because he had fought with one of the other 100 or so youths in the Maleza lockup.

A decade later, Conde added, he was serving a new prison term in the maximum security Alambrada de Manacas prison in Villa Clara when Rivero turned up there following a clash between prisoners and guards.

“Not even 30 minutes later, they brought in dogs to attack the prisoners.” Conde was bitten on the thigh, he said.

Another Placetas dissident, Jorge Luis García Pérez, known as Antunez, said he never saw Rivero personally abuse prisoners. “Officers of that rank don’t have to,” he said, because they can order guards to abuse the inmates.

Antunez alleged that on Feb. 19, 1991, while serving a 5 ½-year sentence for “enemy propaganda” at the La Pendiente prison in Villa Clara, he was taken to see Rivero for his refusal to wear prison uniforms — a type of protest used by many political prisoners.

“Look, you black counterrevolutionary, we’re not going to allow that here,” Antunez, who is black, quoted Rivero as telling him.

Rivero told the guards “take him to the cell and if he takes off his clothes, bust his head,” the dissident added in a phone interview with El Nuevo Herald. Antunez said he did try to take off his clothes and got such a beating that he remembers the exact date.

Antunez and Conde’s allegations, and similar previous accusations against Rivero by three other dissidents, could not be independently confirmed. Rivero did not return an El Nuevo Herald call to his phone last week, and his daughter said he would not speak to the newspaper because his previous comments to other journalists were “distorted.”

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Top 5 Apps Your Kids Will Love This Week

Chris Crowell is a veteran kindergarten teacher and contributing editor to Children’s Technology Review, a web-based archive of articles and reviews on apps, technology toys and video games. Download a free issue of CTR here.

[More from Mashable: 4 Tips for Finding a Job in Your Niche]

Spot the Dot

$ 3.99 Ages 3-up Overall rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars Why we like it: Spot the Dot turns a children’s book into a lively, engaging experience. Based on the book by David Carter, Spot the Dot is a “needle in the haystack” or “I Spy” type of app, where the same item — a small colored dot, is hidden in nine screens. Need to know: On some pages the dot is hidden in a moving illustration, and the dot moves around, extending the utility of this app, despite the limited number of pages. This is a great app for a group of children to play together. Ease of use: 9/10 Educational: 10/10 Entertaining: 9/10

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: Scientists Use Their Braaaaains to Find Perfect Product Tester [SUNDAY COMICS]]

If you’re getting in the mood for the holiday season, A Charlie Brown Christmas is one app that both kids and nostalgic parents are sure to enjoy. And while you’re sharing, why not stretch your brain and see if you remember those isosceles triangles and quadrilaterals as well as your kids do. Those are just some of the apps in store for you this week!

The folks at Children’s Technology Review shared with us these five top apps from their comprehensive monthly database of kid-tested reviews. The site covers everything from math and counting to reading and phonics.

Check back next week for more Top Kids Apps from Children’s Technology Review.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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BBC says its news chief, her deputy have 'stepped aside'

LONDON — The BBC says its news chief and her deputy have 'stepped aside' while the broadcaster deals with the fallout from a child abuse scandal that forced its director-general to resign.

Helen Boaden, the BBC's director of news and current affairs, and her deputy, Steve Mitchell, have handed over their responsibilities to others for the time being, BBC media correspondent Torin Douglas said Monday.

There was no formal announcement from the corporation.

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