Required Reading

Middle Men

by Jim Gavin (Simon & Schuster)

The guys (mostly Southern Californians) in Gavin’s first story collection are not at the top of the heap. They are trying to at least achieve fine middle-class lives. With a sharp, witty eye, Gavin gives us a game-show assistant whose high-powered host sends him to steal his dog back from an ex-wife (“Elephant Doors”). There’s a one-hit-wonder screenwriter, who’s success was ethnic cop-buddy flick “Hyde & Sikh” (“Illuminati”). And in “Costello,” a father-and-son toilet-salesmen team.

Where the Cherry Tree Grew

The Story of Ferry Farm, George Washington’s Boyhood Home

by Philip Levy (St. Martin’s)

Levy asserts that a young George Washington never really chopped down a cherry tree, much less refused to lie about it. But the author did spend a decade researching and excavating the property, near Fredericksburg, Va., where Washington lived from age 6 to about 15. He recounts how the cherry-tree myth began; the sordid tale of how real-estate speculators tried to sell the grave of Washington’s mother; bloody Civil War battles on the property; and more recently, how Walmart tried to turn the farm into a mall.

The Soundtrack of My Life

by Clive Davis (Simon & Schuster)

Clive Davis has come pretty far for a kid from Crown Heights who lost both parents as a teen. As a top record exec, he found, signed, worked with and mentored the likes of Whitney Houston, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Barry Manilow, Simon and Garfunkel, Aerosmith, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson and many more. He recalls the first time he heard Houston sing, at Sweetwater’s in 1983 (he immediately offered her a contract); how he found out Simon and Garfunkel were breaking up; and a chance meeting with John Lennon at a coffee shop, where the ex-Beatle told him he was moving to the Dakota.

Washed Away

How the Great Flood of 1913, America’s Most Widespread Natural Disaster, Terrorized a Nation and Changed it Forever

by Geoff Williams (Pegasus)

One hundred years ago, there was no AccuWeather forecast or Doppler Radar or Weather Channel, so the people of Ohio, Indiana, their neighboring states — and even as far away as New Jersey, New York and Vermont — hardly knew what hit them. Tornadoes and a days-long deluge wreaked havoc. As many as 1,000 people died. In Omaha, Neb., alone, a March 23 twister killed 140. Williams brings the disaster back to life with tales of desperation and heroism that sadly sound so familiar today.

Doug Unplugged

by Dan Yaccarino (Knopf)

Take a break from your electronic and digital devices for this delightful picture book about a robot boy, Doug, whose robot parents plug him in every morning for his information download. Until one day, Doug — drawn a bit like Elroy Jetson — figures he can learn even more by unplugging and exploring the city. He takes the subway, sees pigeons, makes a friend and plays in the park and ends up sharing what he learned with his parents.

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Sign up for Feb. 21 Miami Herald Small Business Forum

Prepare your best pitch for the Miami Herald’s Small Business Forum, Feb. 21 at the south campus of our sponsor, Florida International University.

In addition to how-to panels and inspirational stories from successful entrepreneurs, our annual small business forum will include interactive opportunities with experts to learn about financing options and polish your personal and business brands.

During our finance panel, audience volunteers will be invited to explain their financing needs to the group. During our box-lunch session, they will be invited to pitch their business or personal brand to our coaches.

Those who prefer just to listen will be treated to a keynote address by Alberto Perlman, co-founder of the global fitness craze Zumba. Panels include success stories from the local entrepreneurs who founded Sedano’s, Jennifer’s Homemade and ReStockIt.com; finance tips from experts in small business loans, venture capital, angel investments and traditional bank loans; and insiders in the burgeoning South Florida tech start-up scene.

Plus, it’s a real bargain. $25 includes the half-day seminar, continental breakfast and a box lunch.

Register here.

Program

8 a.m.

Registration and continental breakfast, provided by Bill Hansen Catering

8:30 a.m. Welcome

Host: David Suarez, president and CEO, Interactive Training Solutions, LLC

•  Jerry Haar, PhD, associate dean & director, FIU Eugenio Pino and Family Global

Entrepreneurship Center

•  Alice Horn, executive director, Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE South Florida)

•  Jane Wooldridge, Business editor, The Miami Herald

Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge Overview:

•  Nancy Dahlberg, Business Plan Challenge coordinator, The Miami Herald

8:45 a.m. Session I – Success Stories

Moderator: Jerry Haar, PhD, associate dean & director, FIU Eugenio Pino and Family Global

Entrepreneurship Center

Speakers:

•  Jennifer Behar, founder, Jennifer’s Homemade

•  Matt Kuttler, co-president of ReStockIt.com

•  Javier Herrán, chief marketing officer, Sedano’s Supermarkets

10 a.m. Session II – All about Tech

Moderator: Jane Wooldridge, Business editor, The Miami Herald

Speakers

•  Susan Amat, founder, Launch Pad Tech

•  Nancy Borkowski, executive director, Health Management Programs, Chapman Graduate School of

Business, Florida International University

•  Chris Fleck, vice president of mobility solutions at Citrix and a director of the South Florida Tech Alliance

•  Charles Irizarry, co-founder and director of product architecture, Rokk3r Labs

11:15 a.m. Keynote

Speaker: Alberto Perlman, CEO and co-founder of Zumba® Fitness

Introduction: Jane Wooldridge, business editor, The Miami Herald

11:45 a.m. Session III – Show me the money: Financing your small business

An interactive session featuring audience volunteers who will be invited to make a short investment pitch before a panel, including experts in microlending, SBA loans, traditional bank loans, venture capital and angel investing. Audience volunteers should come prepared with a two-minute presentation that includes details about current backing, how much money they are seeking and a brief synosis of ow that money would be used.

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State’s flawed contracting process comes under fire

TALLAHASSEE --
In the last two years, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater has agreed to let the state lose $48 million.

That’s the amount of taxpayer money Atwater spent to settle dozens of bad contracts and grants that he said could have been avoided had the state done a better job cutting the deals.

“We could have built two elementary schools with that money,’’ said Atwater, a former Senate president whose office writes the checks.

In each case, the state concluded it was not going to get what it paid for, Atwater said. “So we said, ‘This is hogwash and you know it. ’ ”

Rather than taking the company to court, the state agreed to settle the contract at a loss.

With $50.4 billion of the state’s $70 billion budget spent on vendors this year, Florida is one of the largest buyers of goods and services in the Southeast, but its contract management is haphazard and inconsistent.

Now, Atwater, Gov. Rick Scott and his secretary of the Department of Management Services, Craig Nichols, are inching toward some improvements that will change the system.

Atwater is asking the Legislature for “pre-audit” authority to review contracts before they are completed to make sure the state is getting its money’s worth.

Nichols has published a guidebook for contract negotiators, including a set of uniform standards. His agency has increased the number of agencies using the state’s online purchasing program, MyFloridaMarketPlace, to get better discounts, and DMS is working to streamline the state’s patchwork of contract procedures.

Scott has urged his agency heads to attempt to re-negotiate their top contracts to produce savings, and he recommended spending $353,000 in his 2013-14 budget to hire four full-time people to train contract managers across the state.

The state’s contracting process has been the target of criticism for years, most recently from former Senate budget chairman JD Alexander who bashed state agencies for using different methods and even different codes to buy cars, lease buildings or purchase cell phones and computers.

In 2011, an independent group hired to review the state’s online purchasing program, the 10-year-old MyFloridaMarketPlace system, found that half of the eligible state contracts were covered by the program and that the system was “hampered by poor project governance, lack of standard procurement processes… uneven executive sponsorship and continued dependence on older shadow systems and workarounds.’’

An analysis by the Herald/Times found hundreds of contracts, known as evergreens, are given terms that allow them to automatically renew, with little or no standards. Other vendors get in the door as the lowest cost bidder, but the cost is allowed to balloon with budget amendments. Dozens of contracts have been on the books with the same vendor for more than 20 years.

One of the loudest critics has been the Koch brothers-funded Americans For Prosperity, which lists as its top legislative priority the increase in oversight and transparency of the state’s contracting process. The Republican Legislature and governor’s failure to properly police the state’s contracting system has earned the organization’s charge that the process “rewards cronyism and picking winners and losers.”

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'Escape from Planet Earth' Interview

Jessica Alba, Rob Corddry, William Shatner, Sofía Vergara and George Lopez are among the all-star voice cast creating laughs in the fast-paced, animated comedy-adventure Escape from Planet Earth, and they tell ET's Brooke Anderson that it's the perfect film for the whole family.

Pics: 13 Must-See Movies of 2013

In theaters now, the out-of-this-world 3D comedy is told from the alien point of view, following the misadventures of famed interplanetary astronaut Scorch Supernova from the Planet Baab and his buddies. Trapped by evil government forces on the distant "Dark Planet" (aka Earth) and tossed behind bars in Area 51, it's up to his nerdy brother Gary to navigate the third rock from the sun's strange customs and inhabitants in order to save him.

Video: Cosmic Comedy in 'Escape from Planet Earth' Premiere

The film also features the vocal talents of Brendan Fraser, Jane Lynch, Sarah Jessica Parker, Craig Robinson, Steve Zahn, Chris Parnell, Ricky Gervais and Jonathan Morgan Heit.

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Pull the Plug On Chuck Hagel

Linda Chavez

Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be secretary of defense is in trouble — as it should be. The former Republican senator has so much baggage, it is amazing that the administration hasn’t dumped him, as they did Susan Rice when her proposed nomination ran into trouble. Unfortunately, having won that battle, the GOP may be in weaker position to defeat another Obama nominee. And Rice, her misstatements about the attack on Benghazi notwithstanding, would have been a less dangerous cabinet member than Hagel.

Hagel has made clearly anti-Semitic statements before public forums time and again. If his target had been, say, blacks or Hispanics, he’d have been forced to withdraw. Just try that on for size.

Hagel: Nominee unable to answer even basic questions competently.

What if Hagel had been on record as declaring, “The black [or Latino] lobby intimidates a lot of people”? And then had publicly declared the Ku Klux Klan “legitimate”? What if the nominee had also been the one U.S. senator who refused to sign a letter criticizing the former apartheid government of South Africa for its racist treatment of blacks?

In fact, Hagel’s actions with respect to Jews have followed exactly this course. In 2006, Hagel said, “The Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people,” an accusation for which he could not produce a single example during his confirmation hearings. He has defended the murderous Iranian regime as “legitimate” — a regime whose leaders are committed to annihilating Israel and who deny the Holocaust.

And he’s opposed sanctions against Iran, even though the regime is a state sponsor of terrorism against the United States. Apparently he thinks Israel is a greater threat to the United States than Iran. In a speech at Rutgers University, Hagel accused the State Department of taking its orders from the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Lest anyone think his animus is toward Israel — not Jews — consider that he is the only US senator to have refused to sign a letter to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin asking him to take action against rising anti-Semitism in Russia.

Hagel’s office issue the lame excuse that the then senator had a “policy not to send letters to foreign heads of state regarding their domestic policy.” Really? Well then I guess we can expect President Obama’s nominee to remain silent on Syrian and North Korean “domestic policy” as these nations slaughter their citizens by gunning the down in the streets of Homs or Aleppo or killing them slowly in the gulags of Hoeryong?

Hagel would do himself and the president a big favor by stepping aside. His performance during his confirmation hearings was embarrassing. He seemed woefully ignorant of the president’s own policies toward a nuclear Iran.

At one point, he said, “I support the president’s strong position on containment,” suggesting the president believes a nuclear-armed Iran can be “contained” much as the Soviet Union was during the Cold War. But President Obama has not suggested he favors containment, which would be a green light to the Iranians to move ahead with their plans to develop nuclear weapons.

So Hagel later tried to correct the record, but in doing so, he made himself look like a fool. In fact, his inability to answer questions before the Senate committee alone should be enough to derail his nomination.

The president has a right to nominate his cabinet — but the Constitution doesn’t give him a blank check. The Senate also plays an important role in advising and consenting on presidential appointments.

President Obama may have thought he was extending an olive branch to Republicans by picking a former GOP-elected official for his defense secretary. But Hagel is a caricature of the Republican Party — a man whose personal prejudices (his anti-gay comments about a Clinton nominee seem to have been largely forgotten by his liberal backers) are cringe-inducing and who is as ill-informed as he is inarticulate.

The Senate will take up Hagel’s nomination later this month after Thursday’s threatened filibuster delayed the vote. That is, unless the president admits his mistake and pulls the nomination. The country would be better served if he did.

Have a comment on this PostOpinion column? Send it in to LETTERS@NYPOST.COM!

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Credit reports still not error-free

Lucky you if you’re one of the many consumers who recognize an error in your credit file and are able to successfully dispute it, get it removed and receive the credit rating you deserve.

But woe to those who find errors and still have trouble getting corrections from any of the three major credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian or TransUnion.

That’s the conclusion of a long-awaited study by the Federal Trade Commission on credit report accuracy.

Each credit bureau maintains files on more than 200 million consumers, which are used to create credit histories. The information is then used to create credit scores, which can affect consumers’ ability to get a credit card, a home loan, an apartment or even a job. The most widely used credit scoring system is FICO, which ranges from 300 to 850. The higher your FICO score, the better.

The FTC found that 26 percent of the 1,001 participants surveyed identified at least one potentially material error, such as a late or missed payment. When information was successfully disputed and modified, 13 percent of participants saw a change in their credit score.

Not all the errors resulted in a significant increase in a consumer’s credit score. But for 5.2 percent of participants, the errors were serious enough that it made them appear more risky and thus resulted in them having to pay more for products such as auto loans and insurance, the FTC said.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act gives consumers certain rights to dispute and challenge inaccurate information in their credit files. But if true errors remain on people’s reports even after they have challenged the information, the current dispute process is not serving consumers well, the FTC said in its report.

As often happens with such studies, people see what they want to see.

The Consumer Data Industry Association, a trade organization, said the FTC’s study proves that the vast majority of credit reports are error-free.

“The FTC’s research determined that 2.2 percent of all credit reports have an error that would increase the price a consumer would pay in the marketplace and that fully 88 percent of errors were the result of inaccurate information reported by lenders and other data sources to nationwide credit bureaus,” the association said in a statement.

The association is right. But when you talk about the millions of files being kept, there are still quite a number of people with incorrect information in their reports. The FTC concluded that the impact of errors on credit scores is generally modest (an average of an 11.8-point increase in score), but for some consumers, it can be large.

“Roughly 1 percent of the reports in the sample experienced a credit score increase of more than 50 points,” the report said.

Several consumer advocacy groups feel that this conclusion confirms their long-held concerns about the accuracy of credit reports.

Because the credit bureaus have become powerful gatekeepers, you ought to care about this issue even if you haven’t found errors in your report, said Edmund Mierzwinski, consumer program director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.

“If 5 percent of consumers overall have serious errors, that’s about 10 million adults. Sooner or later, it will happen to you,” he said.

Everyone with a stake in this issue urges consumers to take action by pulling their reports every year. Only about 44 million consumers per year, or about one in five, obtain copies of their files, according to another recent report. You have the right to get a free copy of each of your credit files once every 12 months. Just go to www.annuacreditreport.com, the only official site, to get them.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: The federal government needs to do more to monitor the systems the bureaus have in place to investigate a consumer’s complaint about an error. Far too often the furnishers of the data will just resend the incorrect information back to the bureaus.

Evan Hendricks, author of Credit Scores and Credit Reports: How The System Really Works, What You Can Do, has frequently testified in court cases and before Congress about the struggles people have in correcting their reports. Responding to the FTC survey, he said, “With FTC’s confirmation that credit report errors are all too common and harmful to consumers, it’s high time that credit reporting agencies overhaul their operations so they actually comply with the law and investigate consumers’ disputes, with actual human beings as investigators.”

Since consumers don’t control the flow of the data about them and yet this information is so vital to their credit lives, even the small percentage error rate the FTC found is unacceptable.

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Miami-Dade packed for weekend of events

Lured by sailboats and megayachts, urban street art and Romero Britto — and, of course, the lack of snow — thousands of visitors are expected to pour into Miami-Dade this holiday weekend.

The activities started Thursday morning with the opening day of the 72nd annual Progressive Miami International Boat Show at the Miami Beach Convention Center and the Yacht & Brokerage Show on the Indian Creek Waterway. Art Wynwood kicked off with a VIP preview Thursday night. And the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, in its 50th year, opens its gates on Saturday.

Combined, the events expect nearly 250,000 attendees over Presidents’ Day weekend — many of them from out of town.

“Presidents’ Day weekend is the busiest weekend here in South Florida,” said Nick Korniloff, founder and director of Art Wynwood. “It’s when the 30 five-star resorts are at the highest occupancy, when the Europeans and South Americans and Northeast residents come here. It’s a very diverse, well-cultured audience.”

Expecting similarities in audiences interested in yachts and art, Korniloff will have shuttles running between Art Wynwood in the Midtown Miami neighborhood and the Yacht & Brokerage Show near the Fontainebleau.

In its second year, the fair features 70 dealers from around the world, many representing urban street artists or selling Latin American and Asian art. That’s a jump from last year’s 53 dealers. Korniloff said he expects about 30,000 attendees this year, up from 25,000 at the inaugural event.

At the boat show, which includes locations in Miami Beach and downtown Miami, organizers anticipate more than 100,000 visitors. About 40 percent are from outside the state and a quarter of visitors are international, said Cathy Rick-Joule, show manager and vice president of the boat shows division for the National Marine Manufacturers Association.

“We’ve definitely seen a continued influence of Brazilians; you hear Portuguese spoken everywhere,” Rick-Joule said, adding that Russian, Chinese and Korean visitors have also been increasing.

Monty Trainer, president of the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, has been busy publicizing the 50th year of the event with pop artist Romero Britto, who designed this year’s festival poster and will attend at some points during the weekend.

“This is the best year for all our exposure,” Trainer said. “Romero Britto is going to be a big draw.”

The show will feature 380 artists this year, 30 more than last year, when about 118,000 people attended. Of those, nearly 40 percent were overnight visitors who came to town for the festival.

Trainer expects this year’s activities to draw a bigger crowd — with a caveat.

“If this weather holds up, we’re in business,” he said. “But if you get bad rain, all your promotions are out the window.”

On that front, the forecast is mixed. The National Weather Service calls for a 60 percent chance of rain in Miami on Friday, dropping to 20 percent for Saturday with a high near 77. Sunday should be sunny and cool, with a high only in the mid-60s. By Monday, the weather should be just about perfect for February: sunny and topping out around 74.

“When other folks unfortunately have it bad, we have it good,” said Rolando Aedo, chief marketing officer for the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. “I think the country as a whole, with the exception of us, has been experiencing severe weather. It bodes well for our hoteliers and frankly bodes well for our winter season. We’re hearing very, very good things.”

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Simon Baker Gets Star on Walk of Fame

Today was a very special Valentine's Day for Simon Baker, as he received the 2, 490th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

PICS: Candid Celeb Sightings

"It's about inspiration -- not for me, but for anyone else," said Baker when asked what the honor meant to him. "Nine out of ten people might walk across that star and not know who my name is, but someone might come along and it might inspire them."

As a young actor, Baker drew on the inspiration of those around him to gain the confidence needed to get to where he is today.

"Like a lot of young actors, I was filled with self-doubt," said The Mentalist star. "I was incredibly fortunate to meet people who believed in me more than I believed in myself."

Perhaps his biggest supporter was his wife Rebecca, whom he wed in 1998.

"My wife once gave me a card that said, 'Opportunity, having knocked, moves on.' And the most important opportunity that I took advantage of in my life was marrying her," Baker said before kissing his wife who was in attendance.

Click the video to hear what Naomi Watts had to say about her friend of more than 20 years.

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Slain SI mom remembered

Steven Sierra spoke about his “roller coaster” marriage with his wife Sarai as hundreds payed their last respects tonight to the Staten Island mom who was mysteriously slain on a solo trip to Europe.

“We were looking to grow old together,” the jilted husband said during the Valentine’s Day wake, choking up at times.

Sarai went missing on Feb 3 and it was later reported that she had been seeing a man identified as Tarkan K. Turkish newspapers said the man had sex with Sarai in a bar restroom before she disappeared.

“Despite the roller coaster that we'd been through in our marriage ... The love was truly so deep, so rooted, that we always made it through,” Steven said.

James Messerschmidt

Sarai Sierra's husband Steven at the wake.

Her two young sons, Sion and Silas, sat quietly on relatives’ laps at Christian Pentecostal Church while dad Steven — who proposed to his wife on Valentine’s Day fifteen years ago — met mourners near the closed white coffin bearing the 33-year-old Silver Lake mom’s remains.

Sierra’s friends and family smiled through tears as videos of Sarai — as a child with her dad, Dennis Jimenez, on the beach with Steven, and pregnant with her kids — played on large screens set up on either side of the church altar.

Before his wife was slain, Sierra poured his heart out on social media, indicating their marital strife.

“Don’t cheat in relationship [sic],” reads Steven Sierra’s Instagram posting dated Dec. 28.

FBI sources said Sierra had been seen with a “criminal element” before she disappeared. Investigators have questioned several people in her death and are reportedly looking for a homeless man in connection with the murder.

“It doesn’t sound like they’re describing the girl I know,” Carlo said.

“There’s been so many things said, and so many things untrue. If we would just stick to what actually happened, I think it would help, but unfortunately (there’s) a lot of innuendos and things.

Longtime family friend Danny Gonzalez said the community has rallied around the Sierra boys.

“They want to understand that out of sad stories, you have to find something positive in it,” Gonzalez said.

“The [boys] understand what happened, they’re receiving a lot of love from their family and friends.

Sierra will be buried Friday morning.

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American Airlines, US Airways announce merger

After a nearly yearlong courtship, the union became official Thursday: American Airlines and US Airways have formally announced plans to merge.

An early morning announcement by the airlines confirmed reports widely circulated after boards of both companies approved the merger late Wednesday.

The move brings stability to one of Miami-Dade County’s largest private employers more than a year after the airline and its parent company filed for bankruptcy protection, leaving the fate of thousands of employees — and the largest carrier at Miami International Airport — in question.

According to the Thursday announcement, the deal was approved unanimously by the boards of both companies, creating the world’s biggest airline with implied market value of nearly $11 billion, based on the Wednesday closing price of US Airways stock. The airline will have close to 100,000 employees, 1,500 aircraft, $38.7 billion in combined revenue.

The deal must be approved by American’s bankruptcy judge and antitrust regulators, but no major hurdles are expected. The process is expected to take about six months, according to a letter sent to employees Thursday by American CEO Tom Horton.

Travelers won’t notice immediate changes. The new airline will be called American Airlines. It likely will be months before the frequent-flier programs are merged, and possibly years before the two airlines are fully combined. The new airline will be a member of the oneWorld airlines frequent flier alliance.

And for Miami travelers, it’s unlikely that much will change at any point. American and regional carrier American Eagle handled 68 percent of traffic at the airport last year, while US Airways accounted for just 2 percent. American boasts 328 flights to 114 destinations from Miami.

“We don’t expect any substantial changes at MIA if the merger occurs because our traffic is largely driven by the strength of the Miami market and not the airlines serving it,” said airport spokesman Greg Chin.

American has said for more than a year that its long-term plan calls for increasing departures at key hubs, including Miami, by 20 percent. That pledge has already started to materialize; in recent months, the airline has added new service to Asuncion, Paraguay and Roatán, Honduras.

During its bankruptcy restructuring, about 400 American employees lost jobs, leaving American and its regional carrier, American Eagle, with 9,894 employees in Miami-Dade County and 43 in Fort Lauderdale. US Airways has few employees in the area.

“It really isn’t going to affect Miami in a very major way anytime soon,” said Michael Boyd, an aviation consultant in Evergreen, Colo. “Only because US Airways isn’t a big player in South Florida.”

At Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, American and US Airways combined would still only be the fifth-largest airline after Southwest, Spirit, JetBlue and Delta, a spokesman said. The two airlines have little overlap in routes from Fort Lauderdale.

Despite the lack of major changes, Boyd said the merger would be a good development for Miami.

“It should be positive for the employees and it should be positive for the communities that the airlines serve,” he said.

Robert Herbst, an independent airline analyst and consultant, said US Airways will add a “significant amount” of destinations in the Northeast, including Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

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