INJURY-HOBBLED HEAT WINS AT BUZZER SPORTS, 5D A GUIDE TO HOLIDAY PRESENTS IN THE OFFICE 3 days to go! Holiday Shopping Edition Coming Thanksgiving Day BUSINESS MONDAY M O N D A Y , N O V E M B E R 2 4 , 2 014 | $ 1 . 0 0 | F I N A L E D I T I O N | M I A M I H E R A L D . C O M H1 REDISTRICTING Emails detail bid to tilt districts MONDAY FREEDOM MEDALS President Barack Obama bestows the Medal of Freedom on Isabel Allende, Ethel Kennedy, Meryl Streep and Stevie Wonder, among living recipients. Other honorees include a trio of men killed in Mississippi in the Freedom Summer of 1964 and the late dancer Alvin Ailey. ■ The communications between consultants reveal an effort to aid the GOP, but there is little indication lawmakers were directly influenced. BY MARC CAPUTO, KATHLEEN McGRORY AND MICHAEL VAN SICKLER their high-stakes mission: Get go-betweens to help circumvent Florida’s constituHerald/Times Staff Writers tional ban on gerrymanderThe Republican consul- ing. tants had to be hush-hush — The plot was spelled out “almost paranoid,” in the in a newly released batch of words of one — because of once-secret emails that show how the consultants surreptitiously drew congressional and state legislative maps. They then recruited seemingly independent citizens to submit them in an effort to strengthen the hand of Florida Republicans when the GOP-led Legislature redrew lawmaker districts in 2011. The year before, voters overwhelmingly amended the Florida Constitution to prohibit legislators from drawing legislative and congressional districts that favor or disfavor incumbents or political parties. Citing the new amendments, a coalition of voting-rights and liberal groups called the Fair Districts Coalition sued the Legislature over its maps. The emails, under court seal until this weekend, played a key role in a recent court victory to force the Legislature to redraw some of Florida’s congressional districts. The correspondence will take center stage in a related case challenging • TURN TO REDISTRICTING, 2A TUESDAY POPE ON THE ROAD Pope Francis addresses the European Parliament, then later in the week travels to Turkey for a visit with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. WEDNESDAY NEW MOVIES Parents, drop the kids at “The Penguins of Madagascar” and take in the R-rated “Horrible Bosses 2,” both opening early for the holiday weekend. MIAMI-DADE COUNTY BRONCOS 39, DOLPHINS 36 Levine Cava arrival shifts commission to the left FOURTH-QUARTER FIASCO FOR FINS ■ Democrats are counting on the newest commissioner, who is taking her seat after a life of social work, to help change the county’s direction. THURSDAY THANKSGIVING DAY BY DOUGLAS HANKS Officially, this day commemorates the first harvest feast celebrated by the Pilgrims and their Wampanoag hosts. But it has come to mean turkey, football, family time and shopping. [email protected] A bearded man at the far side of the intersection leans on crutches, holding a sign asking for help. His plight prompts a brief discourse on a frayed national safety net by Daniella Levine Cava. “Before Reagan, there were pro- LEVINE CAVA grams,” she says from the front seat of an aide’s car waiting at the red light. “What’s this guy going to do? This is probably a person who is down and out in all sorts of ways. The little bit of money people give him probably makes a big difference in his life.” The left wing of Miami-Dade’s political establishment has high expectations for Levine Cava, 59, as she begins her first full week as a county commissioner. A veteran of the county’s social-services network, she received significant backing from the Democratic Party and labor unions in her District 8 victory over conservative incumbent Lynda Bell. With the flip of Bell’s seat from red to blue, the officially nonpartisan commission now has six Republicans and six Democrats. Xavier WISH BOOK We open our season of neighbor-to-neighbor helping-hand stories with this year’s Miami Herald Wish Book coverage. FRIDAY TORTURE FINDINGS In Geneva, the United Nations Committee Against Torture reports its findings from this year’s hearings, including one that examined U.S. policy and practice. SATURDAY WHITE PARTY The White Party, a Care Resource benefit for South Florida’s HIV population, marks its 30th anniversary with a gala, 7 p.m. to midnight at the Pérez Art Museum Miami. Ticket holders only, 21 and over. CHARLES TRAINOR JR./MIAMI HERALD STAFF Dolphin Jared Odrick rushes Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning at Sports Authority Field in Denver on Sunday. The Dolphins led most of the way, but gave up 22 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. They scored again, but it was too little too late. Sports, 1D • TURN TO LEVINE CAVA, 2A SUNDAY HURRICANE SEASON MICHAEL BROWN SHOOTING Hurricane season is officially over. You can pack away those shutters, use that canned tuna for the kids’ lunches — and mute National Hurricane Center news alerts. Until next summer. Tensions rise as Ferguson awaits grand jury decision URUGUAY ELECTIONS Former President Tabare Vazquez faces off against opposition candidate Luis Lacalle Pou in a runoff to succeed Jose Mujica. sion, the waiting game looks like this: University students gather in a gym and rally for peace. Churches draw up plans for “safe spaces” — refuges during potential chaos. Fringe groups pass BY DAVID MONTGOMERY out fliers advocating for vaAND WESLEY LOWERY rious kinds of instigation if a Washington Post Service grand jury decides not to inST. LOUIS — In a region dict the police officer who bracing for another convul- 3 ½ months ago shot an un- ■ Whether or not Officer Darren Wilson is indicted for fatally shooting a black teen, police and protesters are ready with their plans. Connect with us Online: MiamiHerald.com/service Phone: 1-800-843-4372 Follow us on Facebook and Twitter Weather, 10B $299 for a birthday party for up to 20 kids 85 | 74 Partly sunny Page: Asection_f Pub. date: Monday, November 24 armed teenager. The grand jury’s decision, which for days authorities have signaled was imminent but has been slow to come, has left the St. Louis area in a bizarre holding pattern, with little agreement here about what will happen once it is made public. Eyes were trained on the past weekend as the decisive moment for a region Last user: cci Edition: 1st Section, zone: Nation/World, Herald that has been rocked by the shooting and the weeks of unrest, some of it violent, that immediately followed. But the grand jury was still deliberating. Exactly when it will reconvene is uncertain. It could be Monday, according to people knowledgeable about the deliberations who spoke on condition of anonymity because the grand jury operates in secret. Ed Magee, a spokesman for St. Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch, said his office would not confirm when the grand jury is meeting. “People are getting anxious, and this doesn’t help that,” said Tony Rice, a frequent protester who helps • TURN TO FERGUSON, 4A Inside today’s Herald Classifieds....19-27G Comics...............9B Deaths............4-5B Lottery ...............2B Last change at: 22:5:47 November 23 Movies................7B People ...............8A Puzzles...............8B Television ...........7B 112th year, No. 71 ©2014