Biden meets with gun-safety, victims groups; set to sit down with gun owners, NRA and Wal-Mart on Thursday

WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden is hearing personal stories of gun violence from representatives of victims groups and gun-safety organizations as he works on the Obama administration's response to the shooting at a Connecticut elementary school.

Biden's meeting Wednesday is part of a series he's holding this week to build consensus around proposals to curb gun violence after the Dec. 14 shooting in Newtown, Conn., in which 20 school children were killed.

He told participants that he and President Barack Obama are determined to act.

Participants included the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence and groups from Arizona, Illinois and Wisconsin. Also present were two survivors of the Virginia Tech shooting.

UPI

Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder meet with representatives of gun violence victims groups and gun safety organizations.

Obama has asked Biden to deliver policy proposal by the end of the month.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will join talks at the White House on Thursday.

On Thursday, Biden will meet with the National Rifle Association and other gun-owner groups. Meetings with representatives from the video-game and entertainment industries are also planned.

Wal-Mart said it previously had not planned to attend the meeting because of its senior leaders' schedule and had spoken in advance with the Vice President's office to share its perspective.

"We underestimated the expectation to attend the meeting on Thursday in person, so we are sending an appropriate representative to participate," company spokesman David Tovar said in a statement Wednesday. "We take this issue very seriously and are committed staying engaged in this discussion as the administration and Congress work toward a consensus on the right path forward."

The world's largest retailer said it has had ongoing conversations with the Obama administration, Congress, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office, sportsmen groups, suppliers and others. The company said it has tried to strike the right balance between serving hunters and sportsmen and ensuring that it sells firearms responsibly.

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4 smartphones with standout features

These days, smartphones are almost all drawing from the same bag of tricks, and it can be hard to tell one from the next. If the average smartphone will do all the basic things you want it to, what does it take to be special? Here are four smartphones with unusual features that really make them stand out.

Nokia Lumia 920

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: This phone forges new Windows Phone ground with wireless-charging support and a highly sensitive screen you can use with gloves. Moreover, Nokia helps fill in Windows Phone OS gaps with a few missing features.

The bad: A thick, heavy build and slippery finish for some colors make the Lumia 920 harder to hold and carry, and the phone’s overhyped camera doesn’t have enough settings.

The cost: $99.99

The bottom line: Nokia’s Lumia 920 is heavy and thick, but if you want the most powerful, feature-rich Windows Phone smartphone available, this is it.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: Oodles of screen real estate make this terrific for videos, games, and reading, and its improved stylus aids productivity. A blazing quad-core processor, a great camera and strong battery life round out the advantages of this Android 4.1 phone.

The bad: The huge display makes it unwieldy to carry, and hiccups in the S Pen stylus and apps can slow you down. The pricey Note 2 isn’t a suitable tablet replacement across all categories.

The cost: $149.99 to $309.99

The bottom line: Samsung delivers a powerful, boundary-pushing device that gets a lot right. Yet its complicated features and high price raise questions about its purpose.

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: This Droid (Verizon) offers fast performance, a big, eye-popping screen and luxurious design. It also has great call quality, lots of storage, 4G data speeds, and unbeatable battery life.

The bad: The major weakness is a camera that produces subpar images. The phone is filled with Verizon bloatware as well.

The cost: $149.99 to $299.99

The bottom line: Motorola’s fast, stylish Droid Razr Maxx HD offers outstanding battery life, but its camera captures unimpressive images.

Samsung Galaxy Beam

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (Very good)

The good: An integrated pico projector, as well as a dual-core processor, 720p video capture and a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen.

The bad: The projection software needs some work, the 5-megapixel camera sometimes blurs indoor shots, and the Beam is thicker and heavier than many phones.

The cost: $474.49 to $839.99

The bottom line: Despite weak software, the Galaxy Beam’s bright projector pushes boundaries, and strong smartphone features make it a worthy standalone device.

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Scott Israel is sworn in as Broward sheriff

As several thousand people looked on inside the Faith Center of Sunrise, new Broward Sheriff Scott Israel was introduced at Tuesday’s swearing-in ceremony to a standing ovation.

It’s one of the most powerful elected post in the county, overseeing about 5,500 employees and a $670 million budget.

The BSO Honor Guard and a pipe and drum corps led the procession on stage. Israel’s triplets, 16-year-old Blair, Blake and Brett, led the “Pledge of Allegiance.’’

Israel, a Democrat, takes the reins from form Sheriff Al Lamberti, a Republican, who served in the post since first being appointed by then-Gov. Charlie Crist in 2007. Lambert won over challenger Israel in 2008, but in the most recent election, Israel handily ousted the incumbent. Lamberti has not said what his future plans include.

Even before taking office, Israel set to work changing things at BSO. In December, his transition team sent emails to 28 high-ranking employees telling them they would be out once Israel took over. Many top officials had already announced they would be leaving, including BSO spokesman Jim Leljedal, attorney Judith Levine and Undersheriff Tom Wheeler. Emails from Israel’s transition team to BSO show that Israel has sought information about every aspect of the agency, including budget forecasts, contracts for everything from garbage collection to lobbying, statistics about the race of employees and even about the protocol for military casket arrivals.

Beyond staff changes, it is not yet clear how Israel, a 56-year-old former Fort Lauderdale police captain and North Bay Village police chief — will change BSO.

But Israel’s senior command staff includes many who played key roles in his campaign, including his new general counsel, Ron Gunzburger, son of County Commissioner Sue Gunzburger, and Lisa Castillo, who worked on Israel’s campaign. The name of her husband, Pembroke Pines Commissioner Angelo Castillo, is also being bandied about as having a role in the Israel administration.

Israel, his wife Susan and their teenage triplets live in Parkland.

Miami Herald staff writer Amy Sherman contributed to this report.

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Jessica Chastain Talks Oscars at Mama Screening

Jessica Chastain is an Oscar nom favorite heading into Thursday morning's Academy Award nominations announcement, thanks to her critically acclaimed performance in Zero Dark Thirty, and it turns out she'll probably also set an Oscar first -- receiving the amazing honor while 30,000 feet up in the air!

Jessica will be flying Thursday morning during the announcement, but says she will resist the urge to use the plane's Wi-Fi to check on her nomination.

Video: Jessica Chastain Talks Top-Secret 'Zero Dark Thirty' Shoot

"I'm not gonna go online -- it would be too embarrassing to be online, looking at people looking over my shoulder," she jokes. "But I am probably going to be looking at the stewardesses and everyone, to see if they are extra nice to me or [if they] are giving me the sympathy look, like 'Awwww....'"

In her new horror flick Mama, Jessica plays a woman who gets way more than she bargained for by taking in her two young nieces who were left alone in the forest for five years. She tells ET at the film's New York screening that what makes the film so scary is the "powerful force" that a mother has.

"Well, when you think about the scariest animal in the animal kingdom, it's usually like a mama protecting her young cubs. Nobody wants to mess with a mama grizzly bear -- they're very dangerous," she explains. "There have been mothers known to lift cars off of their children. It's this powerful force that a mother has -- and when that is harnessed for good it's a wonderful thing, but when it's harnessed for bad, it's not so great and it's very scary."

Pics: Stars Without Makeup -- Jessica Chastain

Her co-star, Game of Thrones' Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, had nothing but praise for his It-Girl co-star.

"She's brilliant," he gushes. "She's one of the best actresses around. It makes it so easy because you just react to what she does -- and you know, try not to drag her down to my level."

Check out the video to hear what scares Coster-Waldeau in real life, and how his young co-stars Megan Charpentier and Isabelle Nelisse feel about playing such scary characters.

Mama, produced by Guillermo del Toro of Pan's Labyrinth fame, hits theaters January 18.

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Ex-councilman Seabrook sentenced to 5 years in jail for misdirecting funds

Disgraced former City Councilman Larry Seabrook was slapped with a five-year jail sentence this morning after he was convicted of misdirecting hundreds of thousands of dollars for community projects to his girlfriend and family.

The Bronx Democrat, who will have to turn himself in by March 8, avoided a fine but will have to pay $619,715 restitution.

He was convicted of nine of 12 counts of conspiracy and fraud in a trial last summer in Manhattan federal court. The conviction came a year after another jury deadlocked on fraud charges.

“Councilman Larry Seabrook sacrificed the public trust on the altar of greed. He was a flagrant and serial abuser of City Council discretionary funds in a far too familiar New York tale of corruption," US attorney Preet Bharara said today in a statement.

Natan Dvir

Larry Seabrook last summer

"Today’s sentence finally vindicates the interests of the constituents whose trust he so casually violated by his fraud. We remain committed to making those who are corrupted by power pay the price, and the public can expect more arrests of politicians who have not learned this lesson.”

Prosecutors had asked for 7 to 9 years in prison. Before he was arrested, Seabrook also had served as an assemblyman and state senator.

Seabrook diverted money from 2002 through 2009 after directing more than $2 million of funds to nonprofit organizations that he controlled but weren’t doing legitimate work.

With Post wire services

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Jobs grow, wages dip

Wages in South Florida took a dip last summer, despite a spike in hiring.

New federal data show that while employment continues to grow in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, the average weekly wage dropped during the second quarter of 2012. In Broward, the weekly wage dropped .7 percent to $830 and in Miami-Dade it inched down .5 percent to $876, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The shift is tiny, and bucks an overall trend of rising wages in South Florida since the end of the 2007-09 recession. But the statistics also show South Florida underperforming most of the nation as the recovery gains traction. Of the ten largest counties in the country, only Miami-Dade saw wages decrease between the second quarter of 2011 and the second quarter of 2012.

Taking the broader pool of the 329 largest counties in the United States, Broward have 276th worse record in terms of wage gains for the second quarter of 2012, and Miami-Dade the 269th.

Both counties fared far better in terms of adding jobs, with employment up 2 percent in Broward and 2.3 percent in Miami-Dade. That put Broward in 122nd place in terms of employment growth among the large counties, and Miami-Dade in 98th place.

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BCS ticket prices falling (but so is the number of available seats)

Procrastination pays.

For those fans who waited until the last minute to buy tickets to Monday night’s national championship football game in South Florida, now’s the time to buy.

Ticket prices have fallen by about half since Dec. 1, when the University of Alabama clinched its spot in the title game. The average price is about $1,500 as of Monday morning, with the cheapest seats costing $865, according to the ticket-tracking services SeatGeek and TiqIQ.

But there are only about 2,200 to 3,000 tickets available from third-party brokers right now. So though the price could fall more, this is probably the best time to buy.

“We always see this: Prices are highest on the day of an announcement for the latest concert or a national title game,” said Will Flaherty, SeatGeek’s communications director for the ticket-tracking firm.

“Fans think: ‘Oh no, I need to act quickly and get the best price for my tickets.’ But that’s often one of the worst times to buy,” he said. “Ticket prices tend to fall when you get closer to game time.”’

Assuming a buyer times his purchase properly, Flaherty said tickets could go for as low as $700 (a little more than double the face value of the cheapest wholesale tickets). He said that the average overall ticket price for this event is about $1,700 — the most-expensive event since the 2007 Super Bowl in Miami.

“I’d recommend buying from online retailers who have some sort of guarantee that you will receive legit tickets and not fakes (safest way),” Chris Matcovich, TiqIQ’s data and communications director, said in an email.

“There maybe good deals on Craigslist and amongst scalpers outside the stadium, but doing that you run the risk of losing hundreds of dollars if the ticket is a fake,” he wrote. “If people do decide to buy from people outside the stadium, one way to protect yourself from buying fakes is by asking the seller to walk to the gate with you to make sure you get in.”

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Janel Parrish Pretty Little Liars 2013 Interview

January is shaping up to be a huge month for Janel Parrish, not only is she guest-starring on CBS' Hawaii Five-0, but ABC Family's white-hot Pretty Little Liars returns with a string of 12 new episodes!

Last we saw, Parrish's character Mona was relishing in the revelation that Toby was on her "A" Team and the season 3B premiere unleashes her back on Rosewood High as Mona 2.0 re-matriculates with the masses.

But is this new incarnation the result of a successful rehabilitation or simply the latest phase in Mona's masterplan? That's what I asked Janel Parrish when she rang up ETonline to talk all about the season premiere!

ETonline: What was your reaction to finding out Toby was the one working with Mona?

Janel Parrish: "Noooooooooo!" When I found out it was Toby, I was depressed because I really loved Toby! He was my favorite PLL boy. Thankfully 3B is more about finding out how and why Toby joined Mona on the A Team; it connects the dots a lot, so hopefully fans will get some answers come January.

VIDEO - Lucy Hale Talks Season 3B

ETonline: I was surprised this season starts with Mona back at Rosewood High.

Parrish: Yeah, that definitely surprised me as well, but it was exciting they let me go back to school to play a different side of Mona. She comes back and says she's all better now -- she's suddenly this good girl with this chaste image, but it's definitely going to be interesting to see how the girls reacts to Mona being so close to them again. I'm interested to see if the fans think Mona is better now or not.

ETonline: Mona faces a lot of haters when she returns, which she had to anticipate. So, should we assume there's another reason for her return?

Parrish: Mona has a reason for everything she does. She's a mastermind. She's incredibly smart, people constantly underestimate her and she takes advantage of that. I think you should always question her actions because she never does anything without a reason.

VIDEO - Adam Lambert Gets Glam on PLL

ETonline: Spencer refers to her as "Mona 2.0" -- how do you describe Mona 2.0?

Parrish: Mona 2.0 is seemingly humbled. There's a scene in the premiere where she admits to being bullied and tortured when she was Geeky Mona back in Junior High and almost blames the four main girls for her breakdown. That's the Mona 2.0 Spencer talks about. She's basically a totally different character now, but they still don't trust her because all the girls know what Mona is capable of. The first few episodes are about who believes that Mona's truly changed and who doesn't.

ETonline: Lucas also plays into the episode, and Mona's Rosewood return, in a big way. What can you say about those two?

Parrish: In the first episode, there's a little hint that Lucas is working for Mona -- fans will find out what that is and what it means for Poor Lucas. I mean, he's always in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think fans will have to decide if he means well or not, and what his ultimate agenda is as well.

ETonline: I felt like the Halloween episode marked a serious shift in the show's tone. It was easily the darkest episode of PLL ever. Does that darkening in tone continue throughout the season?

Parrish: We're constantly making the show darker and darker each season. Which I love, and I think what our fans love as well. This is the darkest season we've ever had, and it will only continue to get darker well into the finale, which offers up some interesting answers to some long-lasting questions. It's going to be a really unpredictable season for everybody.

Pretty Little Liars premieres January 8 at 8 p.m. on ABC Family.

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Kuwait sentences second man to jail for insulting emir: lawyer

DUBAI (Reuters) – A Kuwaiti court sentenced a man to two years in prison on Monday for insulting the country’s ruler on Twitter, his lawyer said, the second to be jailed for the offence in as many days.

The U.S.-allied Gulf Arab state has clamped down in recent months on political activists who have been using social media websites to criticize the government and the ruling family.

Kuwait has seen a series of protests, including one on Sunday night, organized by the opposition since the ruling emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, used emergency powers in October to change the voting system.

The court sentenced Ayyad al-Harbi, who has more than 13,000 followers on Twitter, to the prison term two months after his arrest and release on bail.

Harbi used his Twitter account to criticize the Kuwait government and the emir. He tweeted on Sunday: “Tomorrow morning is my trial’s verdict on charges of slander against the emir, spreading of false news.”

His lawyer, Mohammed al-Humidi, said Harbi would appeal against the verdict. “We’ve been taken by surprise because Kuwait has always been known internationally and in the Arab world as a democracy-loving country,” Humidi told Reuters by telephone. “People are used to democracy, but suddenly we see the constitution being undermined.”

On Sunday, Rashid Saleh al-Anzi was given two years in prison over a tweet that “stabbed the rights and powers of the emir”, according to the online newspaper Alaan. Anzi, who has 5,700 Twitter followers, was expected to appeal.

Kuwait, a U.S. ally and major oil producer, has been taking a firmer line on politically sensitive comments aired on the Internet.

In June 2012, a man was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was convicted of endangering state security by insulting the Prophet Mohammad and the Sunni Muslim rulers of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain on social media.

Two months later, authorities detained Sheikh Meshaal al-Malik Al-Sabah, a member of the ruling family, over remarks on Twitter in which he accused authorities of corruption and called for political reform, a rights activist said.

Public demonstrations about local issues are common in a state that allows the most dissent in the Gulf, and Kuwait has avoided Arab Spring-style mass unrest that has ousted four veteran Arab dictators in the past two years.

But tensions have risen between Kuwait’s hand-picked government, in which ruling family members hold the top posts, and the elected parliament and opposition groups.

(Reporting by Mahmoud Habboush; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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EXCLUSIVE: Hurricane aftermath sends Mandee and Annie Sez into Chap. 11

Hurricane Sandy blew these stores into bankruptcy.

The company that operates Mandee and Annie Sez declared Chapter 11 last night, saying it can’t pay the bills because its insurance companies won’t cough up the cash owed from millions in hurricane-related claims, The Post has learned.

“If the insurance companies had been working with us through the process, we wouldn’t be in this position,” Alan Mandelbaum, the CEO of Big M. Inc, told The Post this morning. “We’re very disappointed. We were making significant progress.”

New Jersey-based Big M plans to keep its 129 stores open through the reorganization process while fighting for reimbursement from insurance carriers, totaling more than $6 million. There are no immediate plans to cut any of Big M’s 1,200 jobs.

Big M had been making a comeback through most of 2012 and was on track to turning a $1.9 million profit – a dramatic improvement from its $8 million loss the previous year, executives said. Then the monster hurricane hit, forcing Big M to shut its corporate offices and distribution center in Totowa, NJ, for a week. Sandy also caused major disruptions in sales and inventory heading into the retailer’s critical Christmas season.

josh.margolin@nypost.com

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