I wrote last week about the 67 percent annual increase in first-time residential foreclosures in New York City in July. That's a sharp jump, no doubt. But compare it to Miami and Los Angeles, and it starts to pale.

In L.A., foreclosures jumped 249 percent annually to 5,982 in July, according to a report from research firm PropertyShark, which defines a first-time foreclosure as a property scheduled to have an initital auction take place during the month. In Miami, foreclosures were up 137 percent annually in July to 1,099.

The total number of first-time July foreclosures in New York was 338.

The Real Deal magazine this month launched a South Florida edition. The flagship New York edition has been around since March 2003; and much of the business side, including all of the production, of the South Florida edition, currently at 48 pages, will remain out of New York as well. (Full disclosure: I was an editor at the New York one for nearly two years.) The South Florida Real Deal has eight employees so far, including one salesperson.

As to whether this is the best time to launch a real estate magazine there, given South Florida's famously imploding housing market, Real Deal founder and publisher Amir Korangy emailed me this statement on Monday afternoon:  read more »

We cannot cede sovereignty over critical infrastructure like our ports. This is a job that America has to do.

Hillary is scheduled to attend the Jewish Community Relations Council's legislative breakfast this Sunday at the 92nd Street Y.