MTV's 'Washington Heights' Elite: The actual Forged within the Heights' Renaissance along with Changing the landscape of Fact Television

From the network that gave us The Hills and Jersey Shore comes a demonstrate as opposed to any of its predecessors. Positive, MTV's Washington Heights follows a equivalent reality Television formula ¡§C documenting 6 mates who have been born and raised in Manhattan's northern-most neighborhood ¡§C but in contrast to Lauren Conrad and Co., J.P. and his buddies have heart, plus they dress in it just about as proudly because they put on their enjoy on the Heights.

For your cast of Washington Heights, this is not only a area the place they reside: it can be a culture, it can be a life style, and most importantly, it is property. J.P. and his good friends ¡§C Reyna, Frankie, Ludwin, Fred, Rico, Jimmy and Taylor ¡§C grew up during the Heights, only a couple of blocks far from each other. An aspiring rapper, J.P. (who goes through the moniker Audubon) conceived the thought for that docu-series 3 year before production.

"New York City has by no means been portrayed this genuine or this difficult," J.P. informed Celebuzz. "And it really is not HBO. It truly is not a film. There have been exhibits that glamorized the intercourse with the city, the clothing along with the clubs, but our display is about culture. That is what helps make it entirely unique. There is in no way been this significantly culture on Television prior to."

"The display has not taken off, and I truly feel like we have previously manufactured historical past just by becoming an all-Hispanic cast on tv," he extra. "And 3 from the 4 creators are Hispanic. I am proud of us previously!"

On the other hand, the docu-series does fall victim to a number of reality display tropes. From the 1st episode, and explosive fright involving Reyna and Eliza fractures the group for any vast majority of your season.

"It's like when you happen to be strolling down the street and there is usually somewhat Chihuahua barking in the Pit-bull," Rico joked of Reyna's feisty mindset.

The 2 have nonetheless to resolve their variations. ("Sometimes, she has that encounter and I just need to slap her," stated Reyna.) But based on the cast, that is not indicative of your complete series.

"That's the primary and final time a large battle occurred among us," mentioned J.P. "That messed up every little thing. I was not speaking to Jimmy for, like, 4 months just after that battle. That battle sucked. I dislike reliving that second, but matters happen?- I am glad we get that from the way in which during the initially episode so from the finish on the season, individuals could have forgotten about this. That is not what the demonstrate is about.

Rather, the series aims to highlight the Heights the way in which J.P. and his buddies see it: like a cultual Mecca.

"It's been an extended time coming," mentioned Frankie, a functionality poet. "People are often inspired by people today from comparable walks of lifestyle, so I cannot wait for men and women to check out what inspires us mainly because hopefully, it'll inspire them."

"We inspire one another to complete superior," additional Fred.

In advance of joining the cast, Fred, now an aspiring style designer, was doing work in property ¡§C and admittedly, he was miserable.

"I was not chasing my dreams, I was chasing what my mother and father desired me to undertake," he stated. "And when I'd hang out with J.P. as well as Ludwin, who was like, 'All I would like to do is paint,' I recognized that I ought to be going soon after my dreams precisely the same way they had been going immediately after theirs."

"I just could not see myself within a retail retailer or at a restaurant," extra Reyna, an aspiring singer. "I choose to wake up loving what I am carrying out."

"That's why I just lately quit my career," laughed Fred.

In element, that is the appeal of Washington Heights. It follows a group of optimistic youthful persons because they aspire for anything better than their conditions ?a no alcohol-induced fights, sloppy hook-ups or smush rooms needed. Within the Heights, these youngsters struggle with genuine issues. Jimmy virtually ended his promising baseball job offering medicines soon after his father was sent to prison; Ludwin feels suffocated by his girlfriend's insecurities; and J.P. see's his mother's economic struggles first-hand.

Meanwhile, MTV's other midseason reality series Buckwild ¡§C which follows a group of wild buddies in West Virginia ¡§C is additional with the identical in the network that turned GTL right into a home title. Some could possibly wonder in case the artistic renaissance represented in Washington Heights could also bring about a cultural shift for MTV; a single could only hope.

"You're likely to really feel like you are viewing mates," stated J.P. "You're not likely to truly feel like you happen to be viewing these folks which you can not recognize with. You will not be like, 'Who the hell are these folks?'"

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Countrywide influenza episode builds up

The nationwide flu epidemic is having worse from the day: On Wednesday, Boston -- that has a population of no less than 600,000 -- declared a public overall health emergency following the virus killed in excess of a dozen individuals.

No less than 3 extra states -- Montana, South Dakota and Arizona -- are now reporting widespread flu, bringing the complete to 44 states. As well as the CDC says the percentage of individuals likely to the hospital for remedy of flu signs has doubled previously month.

The emergency in Boston was declared right after confirmed circumstances of flu reached 700. There have been just 70 at this time final year. Across the state, 18 individuals have died.

"In the final two weeks alone we have doubled our quantity," mentioned Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the executive director with the Boston Public Wellness Commission. "So, if we carry on at this price to determine new instances, we'll have an explosion of flu while in the city of Boston. We seriously really need to get ahead of it at this time in time."

To complete that, officials are urging vaccination for everybody 6 months and older. Clinics will probably be offering free of charge shots this weekend.

Lehigh Valley Hospital in Pennsylvania is acquiring as lots of as a hundred sufferers every day with flu-like signs and symptoms. A tent is create to take care of the significantly less major circumstances.

"We will need a total working energetic emergency dept for your neighborhood," explained nurse Terry Burger, who's in charge of infection management. "And this just permits us to check out the sufferers which have been not as sick. So mild illness, mild injuries...see them speedily, then discharge them."

About 60 miles south in Chadds Ford, the whole Coan family members got the vaccine, but eight-year-old Alex came down using the flu anyway.

"You cough quite a bit," he stated, "kind of sneeze a little bit, lay in bed all day."

His mom Christine explained: "As a mom, I was really disappointed that he got the flu, mainly because I needed to battle him tooth and nail to acquire the flu shot."

In recent times, the vaccine continues to be about 60 to 70 % powerful at avoiding the flu. A short while ago, scientists found this year's vaccine isn't guarding against a particular strain.

Dr. William Shaffner, that is to the panel that decides what goes inside the vaccine, stated: "There is surely an influenza B strain that is to choose from, an added strain which is creating about ten % from the mischief. And that is not from the vaccine and that accounts for several of the influenza which is available."

The CDC informed CBS News this year's vaccine continues to be pretty well-matched on the strains which are in existence. Even if the flu vaccine isn't going to stop the flu, it could possibly even now end issues like pneumonia and also death.

As for how does this outbreak compares historically -- a great deal of people today will not recognize that the flu varies in intensity from year to year. In a few many years it is mild; it may very well be reasonable; or it will get to get extreme. The CDC informed CBS News that this can be a reasonable to significant season, but it is effectively inside of what is historically a assortment of typical.

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Swiss bank Wegelin to close after US tax evasion fine

Switzerland's oldest bank is to close permanently after pleading guilty in a New York court to helping Americans evade their taxes.

Wegelin, which was established in 1741, has also agreed to pay $57.8m (£36m; 44m euros) in fines to US authorities.

It said that once this was completed, it "will cease to operate as a bank".

The bank had admitted to allowing more than 100 American citizens to hide $1.2bn from the Internal Revenue Service for almost 10 years.

Wegelin, based in the small Swiss town of St Gallen, started in business 35 years before the US declaration of independence.

It becomes the first foreign bank to plead guilty to tax evasion charges in the US.

Other Swiss banks have in recent years moved to prevent US citizens from opening offshore accounts.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Usually when you cave in to the USA, you do it because you just want to get rid of it”

Dr Peter V KunzProfessor of economic law, the University of Bern

US Attorney Preet Bharara said: "The bank wilfully and aggressively jumped in to fill a void that was left when other Swiss banks abandoned the practice due to pressure from US law enforcement."

He added that it was a "watershed moment in our efforts to hold to account both the individuals and the banks - wherever they may be in the world - who are engaging in unlawful conduct that deprives the US Treasury of billions of dollars of tax revenue".

Otto Bruderer, a managing partner at the bank, admitted that Wegelin had sheltered US clients from tax between 2002 and 2010, and said it was aware that its conduct had been "wrong".

Mr Burderer's further admission that assisting tax evasion was common practice in Switzerland has caused huge concern among the Swiss banking community, according to the BBC's Switzerland correspondent, Imogen Foulkes.

"Some Swiss financial analysts are already speculating that Wegelin's $58m fine, which many had expected to be higher, was kept low by the US authorities in return for Wegelin clearly implicating the rest of the Swiss banking community in tax evasion," she said.

Inevitable demise

Wegelin effectively ceased to function as a Swiss bank almost a year ago.

US criminal accusations against three of its executives prompted the bank to sell off its core Swiss and other non-US businesses in January 2011.

The rushed sale protected Wegelin's non-US clients from the fall-out of any legal battle, and reflected fears that few clients would want to continue doing business with a bank being pursued by the US anyway.

The businesses were bought by Raiffeisen Bank, Switzerland's co-operative bank, which has since severed the few business ties that it had with the US.

The sale left Wegelin responsible only for its American clients, including those at the centre of the US authorities' probe.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Many believe the Swiss government is trying to square an impossible circle”

Imogen FoulkesBBC News, Geneva

Swiss banks' unease over Wegelin

Wegelin as an institution was then itself indicted by US authorities in February last year, and later declared a fugitive from justice when the bank's executives failed to appear in a US court.

The bank had vowed to fight the charges, claiming that because it only had branches in Switzerland, it was bound only by its home country's relaxed banking laws.

Its decision to cave in, and wind down its one remaining business, has made the bank's demise inevitable.

"Usually when you cave in to the USA, you do it because you just want to get rid of it," said Dr Peter V Kunz, an economic law professor at the University of Bern.

Having sold off all its non-US businesses, Mr Kunz believes the bank's partners would have been keen to end a potentially interminable legal dispute with the US in order to recover as much of the sale proceeds as possible from what had in effect become a shell company.

The desire to end the legal battle would have been given added pique by the fact that Wegelin's partners have personal financial liability for the bank.

'Aggressively pursuing'

Jeffrey Neiman, a former US federal prosecutor who was involved in a previous investigation into Swiss banks, said: "It is unclear whether the bank was required to turn over American client names who held secret Swiss bank accounts.

"What is clear is that the Justice Department is aggressively pursuing foreign banks who have helped Americans commit overseas tax evasion."

It remains to be seen whether US authorities will continue with, or drop, parallel charges against three Wegelin bankers, Michael Berlinka, Urs Frei and Roger Keller.

The decision to throw in the towel also marks a turnaround for Konrad Hummler, Wegelin's managing director since 1991, and one of the partners whose own personal finances were potentially at stake.

Mr Hummler, who is also chairman of the Swiss daily newspaper Neuer Zuercher Zeitung, has previously been unusually outspoken among Swiss bankers in calling for the country's authorities to block any disclosure of banking client details to the US authorities.

The Wegelin case comes four years after a far larger Swiss bank, UBS, agreed to pay a $780m fine to US authorities related to tax evasion charges. UBS also agreed to reveal the details of US account holders.

However, UBS neither pleaded nor was found guilty. Instead it and US prosecutors came to what is called a deferred prosecution agreement, with the fine being paid in exchange for the charges being dropped.

Switzerland's other major bank, Credit Suisse - with over a trillion dollars in total assets and another trillion in clients' money - remains under investigation by the US authorities, as does another high profile bank, Julius Baer, which is about a fifth of the size of Credit Suisse, as well as 11 other mainly local, cantonal banks.

Abandoning the hearth for Christmas

It's no miracle that Wendy Owan won't be stuck in highway traffic Christmas Day, carrying covered dishes to a family celebration in Brooklyn, New York.

The Queens resident made sure of it months ago.

Owan and her adult daughter will be leaving winter behind as they embark on the Carnival Miracle on Christmas Eve, setting sail for a seven-day cruise to Port Canaveral, followed by Nassau and Freeport in the Bahamas. They return New Year's Day.

"I've never cruised during the holidays before, but I am so looking forward to leaving all the stress behind for eight wonderfully relaxing days at sea," said Owan, the New York School of Urban Ministry's director of ministry services, who has been doing post-Sandy relief work for weeks. "The Miracle apparently has a dome of some sort that can enclose the pool. I'm hoping for snow so that I can sail away in the midst of it in the pool."The prospect of traveling to a relative's home for the holidays or hosting all of those relatives leaves some people running for the hills -- or the sea, or the nearest resort. When everyone's a guest, no one relative or family has to bear the burden of taking care of everyone else. And no one relative gets to decide whose holiday traditions will be followed during the holiday season.

About 84 million Americans say they plan to travel over the holidays this year, according to a recent American Express Travel Spending and Saving Tracker Survey. Many of them aren't traveling to anyone's home, say American Express travel agents.

Resorts and cruise lines are popular choices

"I have so many clients that are actually looking to get away during the holidays, with large resorts and cruise lines being among the most popular," said American Express Travel agent Debbie Wynne-Parry. "Some may want to take advantage of those extra holiday days off so they don't burn as many vacation days during the year. Others may want to get away from the inclement weather, not want to deal with the hassle of cooking and cleaning. And many people are even turning to holiday vacations in lieu of presents, especially in cases where the family's children are a bit older."

Relaxation is usually the name of the game for people looking to get away for the holidays.

"For a multigenerational family, a cruise is a great way to meet up on one place but not meet up on anyone's home turf," said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic. "There's less chance for family conflicts. You have your own space and time on a trip, but you can get together for dinner. You're not smooshed together all the time."

Five real-life wonderlands

Cruises are pricey, but ships do take care of meals and most decorations, leaving guests to decorate their room doors if they like.

But if you want to get rooms near each other, Brown advises booking for next year about nine months in advance. And buy travel insurance, she says, in case anyone gets sick or hurt in the meantime.

Land-based resorts also take care of the Christmas cheer and décor.

Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Virginia, tries to attend to every Christmas detail for its guests, many of whom come 15 to a group year after year. Some holiday packages even include a small Christmas tree in the suite, so children can still find Santa's presents under a tree by the fireplace. Other holiday touches include carolers greeting guests at the entrance, Saturday lunches with Santa and sleigh rides that end up by the firepit with s'mores.

"You can still wake up Christmas morning with a tree by the fireplace and breakfast in our dining room with a buffet prepared by our chef," said Allison Patterson, Kingsmill's events director. "It makes you feel like you're home for the holidays, but you don't have to make the beds or wash the dishes."

Everyone's on "neutral ground"

San Franciscan Debbie Dare doesn't look for a "traditional" East Coast snowy holiday for her Christmas celebration. She's looking for fun, kitsch, good Chinese food and poker with her mom for her Christmas celebration in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is "neutral ground (not going to any one's hometown of Los Angeles or San Francisco), it's bright and shiny (there's always something new, a restaurant, another tacky celebrity niche store), the Chinese food in their Chinatown is excellent, and there's constant entertainment as nothing ever closes in Vegas, even on Christmas," Dare wrote in an e-mail.

Eight hotels that do the holidays right

Her family members have even established their own "Christmas in Vegas" rituals. "My favorite thing is to sit next to my mom and play pai gow poker. She taught me how. I always ask her for advice, each and every hand, and she does her 'mmmmmm, not like that' or when looking at her own hand, 'Jeezus, I got nothing!' I'm nervous and happy at the same time."

That works for her six-member family, which doesn't include any small children. But if you're still traveling with small ones, you may want a more traditional Christmas.

Make a plan for Santa and his presents

That can be hard to do via airplane, because anything that Santa brings on Christmas Day must be lugged back whenever you depart. (Driving vacations make it easier if you have trunk space.) After all, what child wants to wait until their best presents are shipped back? Consider trading the non-Santa presents before or after your travels and bringing stockings so there are some presents to open on Christmas Day.

If the family includes Santa believers, American Express Travel's Wynne-Perry suggests having them write Santa a letter to tell him where you'll be during Christmas.

Consider adjoining or interconnecting rooms for more family time (if you want it).

If you enjoy them, stick to the same rituals on vacation as you would at home. Make any restaurant reservations well in advance. And be aware of any baggage that comes with some presents, like battery requirements or travel rules. (Airline security frowns on Daisy Red Ryder BB guns.)

Top U.S. travel spots for 2013

And talk to your children, says Eileen Gunn, founder of FamiliesGo!, a family travel website.

"When the kids are 2 or 3 years old, they'll go along with whatever you say," even that Santa came early or is coming later, Gunn said. "At 6 or 7, they start asking questions. It depends on your kids, their ages and their inquisitiveness."

Drama may follow you on vacation

And remember you can't completely escape the family drama if you're traveling with the family that causes the drama (including yourself).

"You're not leaving everything when you travel with family," saidPauline Wallin, a psychologist with a practice in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. "There's an initial settling-in period when everyone is nice to each other. The way you interact with family on neutral territory won't necessarily show up for the first 24 to 48 hours. After that, you become like your family is used to becoming. At least when it starts to grate on you (at a resort), you can retreat to the pool."

Just don't be surprised if Aunt Susie makes a comment about your weight or Uncle Harold teases you about not being married yet. "If you can predict this going to happen, why are you so surprised when it does?" asked Wallin. "Remember that Christmas Day is just 24 hours. You can get through 24 hours. People can hold it together when there's a time limit."