Carnival cruise ship in Gulf of Mexico to be towed after engine fire

A Carnival cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico with 3,000 passengers onboard will be towed to port after an engine fire Sunday morning left it drifting, a cruise line official said,

The fire occurs in the engine room of the Carnival Triumph, which is owned by the Miami-based company.

The fire left the ship with no propulsion, the cruise line says, CNN is reporting.

There were no injuries reported. Passengers and crew have food, water and electricity from generators. Another Carnival ship, the Elation, is transferring more food and drinks onto the Triumph

The cruise ship was in waters off the Yucatan Peninsula, heading back to Galveston, Tx., when the fire occurred, said Astevia Gonzalez from the Carnival Cruises family support team.

The ship's automatic fire extinguishing system kicked in and soon contained the blaze.

The fire still left the ship passengers and 1,000 crew members drifting about 150 miles off the Mexican coast, the cruise line said in a statement.

"The ship's technical crew has determined the vessel will need to be towed to port," Carnival said around 7:30 p.m. ET Sunday, CNN said. "A tugboat is en route to the ship's location and will tow the vessel to Progreso, Mexico, which is the closest port."

According to Gonzalez, the ship is expected to arrive in port Wednesday.

After they are towed to Progreso, those aboard the Carnival Triumph will be flown back to the United States at no cost to them, the cruise line said.

They will also get a full refund, credit that can be used toward a future trip and reimbursement for all expenses — except casino and gift shop purchases — for their current trip.

The vessel's next two departures, scheduled for Monday and Saturday, have been canceled. Those slated to be on those trips will get full refunds and discounts toward future cruises, the cruise line said.

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Up-Close with Grammy Stars The Lumineers at Clive Davis Bash

ET's Brooke Anderson was on the red carpet for Clive Davis' annual pre-Grammy bash and spoke to some of the industry's briggest stars, including one of the year's biggest phenomenons, the Grammy-nominated Lumineers!

"It feels pretty incredible. I mean we wrote music just to satisfy ourselves, so to be recognized at all is a huge honor for us," said Jeremiah Fraites of The Lumineers. When asked about what the band had planned for its Grammy performance, band mate Stelth Ulvang said the viewers would just have to tune in to find out. "We try to change it up every time, so we're still working on it."

PICS: Star Sightings

Jordin Sparks spoke to Brooke about the different tone of this year's party compared to 2012, when Whitney Houston passed away. "It's just crazy that it's been a year, but she (Whitney) would want everybody to have a good time and to be hear and celebrate music, because that is what she loved," Sparks said. "I'm happy to be here and to honor her in that way because I know she would want me to be here happy." 

This year's event -- sponsored by Davis and the Recording Academy -- honored Epic Records' Chairman and CEO Antonio L.A. Reid.

VIDEO: Flo Rida's Ready For His Big Grammy Moment

Watch the video for more interviews, including Kelsey Grammer on being a new dad again and Ryan Lochte on how he got in shape for his underwear ad!

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The true subway peril

Nicole Gelinas

The Transport Workers Union won a round last Thursday in its war with the MTA, when the TWU’s month-long campaign against subway-track deaths scored it a packed City Council hearing.

Lost in the drama was the fact that riding on the subways is one of the safest things you can do — and what little danger there is comes from the MTA’s crushing fiscal burden, an area where the TWU is far from innocent.

Frustrated after a year without a contract, the union has taken a novel approach to labor relations: telling customers that the MTA doesn’t care if you die.

Stefan Jeremiah

Slower trains would be longer waits: The backup at the Marcy Avenue stop in Williamsburg, after partial J and M service was restored after Sandy.

At the City Hall subway station, union members handed out “MetroCards” with a message: the “blood”-spattered cards warned “use at your risk” and featured a skeletal MTA exec dressed as the Grim Reaper.

The council ate it up. Transportation Committee Chairman James Vacca intoned, “The cost of doing business is $2.25, not your life. One death on our city’s subway tracks is one death too many.”

Councilfolk spent two hours grilling MTA brass on why they’re so heartless that they don’t take basic steps to save lives, ranging from slowing down trains to putting “life preserver” rope kits on platforms to spending billions to install barriers with sliding doors.

Councilwoman Liz Crowley of Queens left her understanding of physics at home, noting that slower passenger-car speed limits save lives. “These are rail cars,” one MTA official explained. That is, they’re heavy enough to kill even at lower speeds.

No one brought up the obvious: Riding the subway (or waiting for one) is pretty safe.

At first glance, it’s shocking to see that 55 people died last year in some kind of collision with a subway train.

But 291 people died in above-ground car and truck crashes crashes in the city, including 176 walkers and bikers. Nationwide, you’re about 71 times more likely (per mile traveled) to die in a car crash than a rail crash.

And the subway’s not getting more dangerous. While the death total has been as low as 34 in recent years, it was 55 in 2007, just like last year. Plus, it’s not clear that extraordinary measures would save many of these lives.

People may think that most subway deaths are “pushing” murders — but December’s two such crimes were the only two that year. In a 2009 academic article studying more than four years’ worth of New York subway deaths (211 total) two doctors found that 52 percent were suicides.

Sadly, the MTA could spend billions protecting these folk from themselves only to see them jump off the George Washington Bridge instead, as one woman did last week.

And of the victims who didn’t kill themselves, nearly half had an average of twice the legal driving limit of alcohol in their blood. Altogether, nearly two-thirds of the accident victims were on alcohol or mind-altering drugs.

To that end, the MTA noted last week that a disproportionate number of deaths occur between 9 p.m. and midnight, not at crowded rush hours.

This is common sense: Drunks do dumb things — fall, fight (which resulted in three falls last year, not including the two pushings) or think it’s wise to climb down to get a dropped iPhone.

Most telling: Of the 211 deaths the doctors studied, 83 percent were men, reflecting men’s greater risk-taking behavior.

Since these deaths are already largely avoidable, it’s hard to see what we gain by spending billions trying to avoid them — or by slowing down trains, adding to long commutes and creating more crowding on busy platforms.

Speaking of crowding: The biggest risk is that the MTA won’t have enough money to grow its transit system as ridership grows — cramming more people onto crowded lines like the Lex, or forcing frustrated riders into cars, where they face more danger.

And the MTA’s biggest money drain is its rising pension and health costs for its workers. Such costs will grow by 6.2 percent and 8.2 percent respectively at the subway and bus unit each year, reaching nearly $2.5 billion by 2016.

Too bad no city councilman mentioned that.

Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal.

Twitter: @nicolegelinas

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

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Green cards for sale at a South Beach hotel: Competition is on for EB5 investment visas

If David Hart gets his way, South Beach’s 42-room Astor Hotel will be on a hiring spree this year as it adds concierge service, a roof-top pool, an all-night diner, spa and private-car service available 24 hours a day.

New hires will be crucial to Hart’s business plan, since foreign investors have agreed to pay about $50,000 for each job created by the Art Deco boutique.

The Miami immigration lawyer specializes in arranging visas for wealthy foreign citizens under a special program that trades green cards for investment dollars. Businesses get the money and must use it to boost payroll. The minimum investment is $500,000 to add at least 10 jobs to the economy. That puts the pressure on Hart and his partners at the Astor to beef up payroll dramatically, with plans to take a hotel with roughly 20 employees to one with as many as 100 workers.

“My primary responsibility is to make something happen here over the next two years that will create the jobs we need,’’ Hart said a few steps away from a nearly empty restaurant on a recent weekday morning. “It’s all going to be transformed.”

Though established in the 1990s, the “EB5” visas soared in popularity during the recession as developers sought foreign cash to replace dried-up credit markets in the United States.

Chinese investors dominate the transactions, accounting for about 65 percent of the nearly 9,000 EB5 visas granted since 2006. South Korea finishes a distant second at 12 percent and the United Kingdom holds the third-place slot at 3 percent. If Latin America and the Caribbean were one country, they would rank No. 4 on the list, with 231 EB5 visas granted, or about 3 percent of the total.

Competition has gotten stiffer for the deep-pocketed foreign investors willing to pay for green cards. The University of Miami’s bio-science research park near the Jackson hospital system raised $20 million from 40 foreign investors under the EB5 program, most of them from Asia. The money went into the park’s first building; visa brokers are waiting to see if the second building will proceed so they can offer a new pool of potential green-card sales.

In Hollywood, the stalled $131 million Margaritaville resort had hoped to raise about $75 million from EB5 investors before ditching that plan last year to pursue more traditional financing. A retail complex by developer Jeff Berkowitz in Coral Gables also launched a program to raise $50 million in EB5 money for the project, Gables Station. Hart worked with other EB5 investors to back pizza restaurants in Miami and South Beach. A limestone mine in Martin County also was backed by EB5 dollars.

This year, the city of Miami itself is expected to get into the business by setting up an EB5 program to raise foreign cash for a range of city businesses and developments. The first would be the tallest building in the city — developer Tibor Hollo’s planned 85-story apartment tower, the Panorama, in downtown Miami.

With a construction cost of about $700 million, Miami’s debut EB5 venture hopes to raise about $100 million from foreign investors, said Laura Reiff, the Greenberg Traurig lawyer in Virginia working with Miami on the EB5 effort. “This is a marquis project,’’ she said.

The arrangement is a novel one for Miami, with the city planning to help a private developer raise funds overseas for a new high-rise. And it would allow Hollo and future participants to tout the city of Miami’s endorsement when competing with other Miami-area projects for EB5 dollars. “We will have the benefit of the brand of the city of Miami,’’ said Mikki Canton, the $6,000-a-month city consultant heading Miami’s EB5 effort. “A lot of these others are privately owned and they won’t have that brand.”

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Unscreened by state, firms cash in on Florida kids

First of two parts

When Yolanda Axson wasn’t watching, a pot of hot water spilled into a crib at her daycare in Orlando, scalding a 4-month-old boy.

She served probation for felony child neglect and then, barred from child care, found a less-regulated line of work. She started a company to earn tax dollars tutoring poor kids in Florida’s failing schools.

When state officials saw Axson’s name on an application for the government tutoring program, they didn’t hesitate. They stamped their approval, and her business, Busy BEE Services, went to work tutoring Florida’s neediest children.

The cost to taxpayers per student? At least $60 an hour.

Axson’s case points to a larger problem with mandated tutoring in Florida: The program pays public money to people with criminal records, and to cheaters and profiteers who operate virtually unchecked by state regulators.

In a three-month investigation, The Tampa Bay Times examined invoice records from 59 school districts, conducted dozens of interviews and reviewed thousands of pages of complaint reports, audits and other documents, and found:

•  Florida school districts spent at least $7 million last year on tutoring companies run by people with criminal records. Among those who have headed state-approved tutoring firms are a rapist, thieves and drug users.

•  In more than 40 cases across the state, tutoring companies have faked student sign-up sheets or billed for tutoring that never happened. Companies that overcharged for tutoring earned more than $10 million last year alone.

•  The program is riddled with conflicts of interest. In one county last year, more than 100 teachers moonlighted as tutors of their own students, flouting state ethics rules by positioning themselves to steer kids toward their secondary employers.

•  Dozens of tutoring firms have broken federal rules by luring impoverished kids to sign up with promises of bicycles, gift cards and computers. Others have sent school administrators on golf outings or sponsored retreats for district officials who administer tutoring contracts.

Despite uncovering millions of dollars in potential fraud and documenting flagrant violations, school districts almost never forward cases to law enforcement.

Florida’s Department of Education doesn’t screen backgrounds of the people who profit from subsidized tutoring, and it seldom cracks down on companies accused of improper billing, illegal marketing and low-quality tutoring.

After nearly a decade, Florida last year won a waiver from the federal law that requires private tutoring. The state was set to shut down the program when lobbyists for the tutoring industry stepped in. They convinced state lawmakers to keep the money flowing.

Florida has spent $192 million on private-tutoring firms in the past two years. The companies are paid at a dramatically higher rate than conventional public schools. In the 2009-10 school year, the most recent period for which numbers are available, the state spent $9,981 per student — about $11 an hour. Florida spent $58 an hour, more than five times as much, on tutoring.

Tutoring companies, many of which meet high standards and offer quality instruction, say they provide a needed service. But researchers disagree over whether government-funded tutoring is worth the money. Studies are inconclusive or contradictory.

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Chris Brown Car Collision

ET has learned that Chris Brown was involved in a solo, non-injury traffic collision in Beverly Hills at noon today, blaming the paparazzi for losing control of his Porsche and colliding with a wall.

Pics: Remembering Whitney Houston

A statement from Lieutenant Lincoln Hoshino of the Beverly Hills police details the incident: "On February 9, 2013 at approximately 12:03 p.m., entertainer Chris Brown was involved in a solo, non-injury traffic collision in the 600 Block Bedford Drive/Camden Drive alley. Mr. Brown was the driver of the vehicle and collided with a wall. Brown stated that he was being chased by paparazzi causing him to lose control of his vehicle. Brown's Black Porsche was towed from the scene at his request."

Related: Rihanna Accompanies Chris Brown to Court

Earlier this week, Brown visited an L.A. courthouse with girlfriend Rihanna on to oppose a motion to revoke his probation stemming from his 2009 assault on Rihanna. Prosecutors claim Brown did not show sufficient evidence that he completed his required community labor sentence. 

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Left’s misfire

The left’s incessant blaming of weapons and those who manufacture them for gun violence absolves those who pull the triggers and actually commit the crimes (“Moral Grandstanding,” George Will, PostOpinion, Feb. 4).

Because a large amount of gun violence is traced to gangs, that would seem a good place to start solving the problem.

President Obama’s executive orders did not address this issue. Rahm Emanuel as mayor of Chicago has also done nothing in this regard, and the murders there, especially among young minorities, continue like clockwork.

Yet liberal politicians continue to foment fear about legally licensed gun owners who live outside of urban areas.

Herb Eichen, Bayside

UMEZ’s mission

The Post’s editorial represents a new and reckless low in its campaign to discredit UMEZ (“NY’s Profitable ‘Nonprofits,’” Feb. 3).

It contains numerous inaccuracies and falsehoods, and most outrageously, hurls the baseless accusation of “graft” at an effective local-development corporation.

UMEZ has prudently invested over $230 million of public funds into the upper Manhattan economy, leveraged over $1 billion of private investment and created more than 8,000 jobs and one of the most successful urban revitalization initiatives.

Vital investments in Harlem USA, East River Plaza, Gotham Plaza, Best Yet Market, The Apollo, Studio Museum of Harlem, El Museo del Barrio, Museum of the City of New York and numerous small businesses, have helped transform Upper Manhattan.

Gov. Cuomo has modeled his regional approach to economic development based upon UMEZ’s success.

Sadly, The Post ignored these facts, and attempted to make a ridiculous categorical link between UMEZ and two former politicians outside of Manhattan.

Kenneth Knuckles, President and CEO, Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, Manhattan

Upstate waits...

Bob McManus scores a solid point about Gov. Cuomo’s poll-driven policies (“Cuomo’s Nixon Game,” PostOpinion, Feb. 8).

Cuomo does, in fact, have an upstate economic-development policy. So what if the policy is to bless the totally wretched and very sad-in-human-terms casino industry?

The governor has an environmental policy. So what if the “policy” is to study to death a job- and wealth-producing industry — natural-gas fracking — for our upstate economy?

I am convinced we can develop sound policies for leveraging our natural resources without wreaking environmental havoc and do so faster than the Egyptians built the pyramids.

John McMahon, Manhattan

Hungry for jobs

What’s so disgusting about this show is how it uses people to create entertainment, showcasing just how desperate they are to find work (“America’s Hunger Games,” Maureen Callahan, PostScript, Feb. 3).

The sadder reality is that the unemployment situation is very fixable.

Obama and most who have studied economics know this.

Our free-market economy is nothing more than people and companies making and selling products, and buyers purchasing what they want.

It’s only when government gets in the way that things go bad and the economy slows down.

D. Richardson, Bridgeport, Conn.

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Mega mansion frenzy: Buyer snaps up Pat Riley’s $16M home to level it, rebuild

Miami Heat President Pat Riley sold his spectacular bayfront mansion in gated Gables Estates for $16.8 million last March.

The 12,856-square-foot Mediterranean-style dream house at 180 Arvida Parkway has a theater, wine cellar, library, and a sprawling pool with waterfalls and an aqua bar.

But that’s all coming down.

Turns out the lure was the lot: a rare fingertip of prime land, nearly two acres, jutting into the turquoise waters of Biscayne Bay.

In December, the buyer — listed as 180 Arvida LLC represented by Miami attorney Mark Hasner — presented the city of Coral Gables with plans to tear down the home, built in 1991, and erect an even grander estate along the 900 linear feet of bayfront.

“Most people would move in and be perfectly happy, but clients are looking for perfection — really good stuff,” said Jorge Uribe, a senior vice president at One Sotheby’s International Realty, who wasn’t involved but sold an even bigger trophy property last year: a $39.4 million estate at 14 Indian Creek Dr., on Indian Creek Island in Miami Beach, dubbed “Miami’s Billionaire Bunker” by Forbes magazine.

“The trend in the last several years is a demand for very high-quality product. People are looking for really good locations, really good materials, and they’re willing to pay for it,” Uribe said.

Miami’s ultra-luxury market is on fire. Prices for the fanciest single-family homes and condominiums have soared to levels never before seen in the area, fueled by strong foreign demand and renewed interest from New Yorkers and others in the Northeast.

With Miami’s global image burnished by Art Basel Miami Beach and the debut of other cultural and entertainment venues, the city is emerging as an even greater magnet for the world’s super-rich.

In January, a penthouse at the Setai Resort & Residences on Miami Beach fetched $27 million, a new high for a Miami-Dade condominium. “Every building we do business in is at its highest price of all time,” said Mark Zilbert, president of Zilbert International Realty, which represented the buyer in the Setai deal.

Last August, a sleek, new home, built on spec at 3 Indian Creek Dr., sold for $47 million, a record high for a Miami-Dade residence. The buyer, whose identity has not been revealed, is Russian.

“People are realizing how valuable the bay waterfront is,” said Oren Alexander, co-founder of the Alexander Group at Douglas Elliman Real Estate, who co-listed the 3 Indian Creek property with The Jills team at Coldwell Banker and represented the buyer for the home. His father, Shlomy Alexander, developed the property with partner Felix Cohen.

Shlomy Alexander is working on two more extravagant spec homes — one at 30 Indian Creek Dr. and a second that is set to break ground shortly at 252 Bal Bay Dr. in Bal Harbour, his son said. Plans envision a tropical modern-style project that fuses the indoors and outdoors — a concept popular in Brazil.

The elder Alexander recently traveled to Italy to shop for exclusive stone for the projects, said the son.

“It’s really trending to the ultra-luxury. All sorts of exotic materials — exotic woods, exotic marbles, exotic stones,” said Sean Murphy, an executive vice president at Coastal Construction, a major builder of luxury hotels and condominiums that also has erected some of the most extravagant mansions in the region. “Everything is so exotic.”

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Red light camera opponents find questionable champion in Rep. Campbell

Opponents of red-light cameras could have found a better advocate for their cause than state Rep. Daphne Campbell, D-Miami, who is sponsoring a bill to outlaw the practice.

A Honda minivan registered to her husband, Hubert, has five red-light camera violations, according to records obtained by the Herald/Times from American Traffic Solutions, or ATS, a Scottsdale, Ariz. vendor that provides the cameras for most cities and counties in Florida.

Two of the tickets, a May 10, 2010, violation in North Miami and a July 16, 2010, violation in Hallandale Beach, remain uncollected.

A ticket costs $158. If unpaid, a traffic citation is issued and may result in the termination of the vehicle registration and suspension of the owner’s driver’s license.

ATS provided a photo of the Honda Odyssey minivan at one of the violations. It has a Campbell campaign sticker on it. Two videos show the minivan making reckless turns on red, one left and the other right.

When reached Friday night, Campbell explained she was filing the bill for her constituents.

“My constituents complained and the people are hurting,” Campbell said. “I promised them when I went to Tallahassee that I would repeal the red-light cameras.”

Asked about the five tickets, Campbell said she didn’t know about them. Or at least four of them. She said she did know about a ticket she received in the mail for an Oct. 22 Miami Gardens violation.

But she said she had no clue about the others.

“Something is definitely wrong,” Campbell said. “You are the one who just told me about it. This is news to me.”

Despite the video footage of the minivan blowing through the red lights, Campbell wasn’t buying it.

“It’s a lie,” she said. “That camera is a made up story. You can do anything with the computer now.”

ATS spokesman Charles Territo said it was unlikely Campbell wouldn’t have gotten notice of the tickets, and he vouched for the accuracy of his company’s records and the photographic evidence.

“I don’t know how she wouldn’t know, unless her husband didn’t tell her,” Territo said. “Someone there knows about them because three have been paid.”

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Inside the 55th Annual Grammy Awards Gift Lounge with LL Cool J

Sunday's Grammy Awards will feature LL Cool J's second turn as host for the big show, but even this seasoned professional gets a few butterflies now and again.

ET caught up with the NCIS: Los Angeles star in a free moment as he perused the Grammy Gift Lounge, presented by MTG, featuring signature headwear by New Era, Gibson guitars, Solstice sunglasses, M London handbags (courtesy of KeepAmerica.com) and Simone I. Smith Jewelry . Although LL exuded a calm, cool demeanor, inside he's a bit nervous about stepping onto the stage come Sunday.

Pics: The Best Grammy Gowns of All Time!

"Of course [I get nervous]," LL revealed, adding that fear isn't always a bad thing. "It feels good to know that it's a challenge that you accept and you can embrace."

So what's his strategy to combat his nerves?

Related: Stars Share Their Biggest Musical Influences

"You can't rehearse nerves," said LL, accepting an onset of the jitters this weekend. "You just gotta get out there and do what you gotta do."

Watch the video for more from LL, plus a sneak peek at the goodies in this year's gifting lounge! The 55th Annual Grammy Awards air Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBS.

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