Email Author Jacob Bernstein

1999 Stories by Jacob Bernstein

• All About the Green

  published December 23, 1999

  It was just a few months ago that a couple of small-town mayors and one of Florida's most influential families found an innovative way to... More >>

• Homey Rollers

  published November 25, 1999

  Debra Flynn sits in the cool night air on the covered wooden porch that encircles her historic home. She is taking stock of her surroundings.... More >>

• Haul of Shame

  published November 11, 1999

  Across Hialeah in the early morning darkness of October 21, more than 125 people awoke with the same purpose and pulled themselves from bed. Drawn... More >>

• Miami in the Meantime

  published October 14, 1999

  Interstate 95 is at a standstill. Venezuelan businessman José Campos Cerrados stares angrily at the rain splattering on his windshield.... More >>

• Forcing Out HABDI

  published October 7, 1999

  Not long ago a group of politically connected builders seemed to have a lock on developing a commercial airport at the old Homestead Air Force... More >>

• Father Albert's Pulpit Show

  published September 16, 1999

  Outside the Grand Ballroom on the second floor of the Intercontinental-Miami Hotel, crystal chandeliers perched high above the hallway illuminate... More >>

• Mary's Lament

  published September 2, 1999

  It's 12:15 p.m. at Mary's Restaurant on NE Second Avenue. The only meal served here is lunch, so this should be the busiest time of day. Yet the... More >>

• Mission Impossible

  published August 19, 1999

  It is the waning afternoon hours of a special election day, July 29, and the scene at the Spanish-language radio station WQBA-AM (1140) is... More >>

• The City Imperial

  published July 29, 1999

  Time is running out. By December Coral Gables must vacate a yard where municipal vehicles are repaired... More >>

• The Bitterness of Sugar Hill

  published July 22, 1999

  This is the story of a runaway money train called Sugar Hill. Fueled by your federal tax dollars, it has gobbled cash -- almost three million... More >>

• Swamp and Circumstance

  published July 1, 1999

  The airboat zips along channels that weave their way across miles of saw grass. The destination is a tree island in the distance jutting from... More >>

• Crocodile Fears

  published June 17, 1999

  The fourth hole at Crandon Golf at Key Biscayne is particularly treacherous. There are brackish ponds surrounded by mangroves on both sides of the... More >>

• Last of a Dialing Breed

  published June 3, 1999

  The lights on the telephone silently flash red. The phone rests on a table in a soundproof room inside the radio station La Poderosa (WWFE-AM... More >>

• Shhhhh: Nature in Progress

  published May 13, 1999

  Imagine Biscayne National Park in 2019. Dozens of planes from an airport at the former Homestead Air Force Base rumble overhead each day. On... More >>

• Small Town, Big Hell

  published May 6, 1999

  Miami-Dade County's Eleventh Circuit Court Judge Eleanor Schockett grew testier by the minute. At the request of the Miami-Dade County Elections... More >>

• No Sale

  published April 29, 1999

  Almost six months after a state board approved purchase of the 8 1_2 Square Mile Area, the plan is as good as dead. Dexter Lehtinen, former U.S.... More >>

• Born to Lose

  published April 1, 1999

  About two dozen men and women are assembled around a conference-room table in a small building on the campus of the Southeast Fisheries Science... More >>

• Crude Motives

  published March 25, 1999

  Among the best ways to search for oil is the seismic shoot. To make one you drill a hole about 25-feet deep, insert 2.2 pounds of dynamite, and... More >>

• Home on the Glades

  published March 18, 1999

  Clutching reins in one hand, cigars in the other, the two horsemen ride at an easy gait. Three other riders trail a few paces back. The group is... More >>

• The Hoagland Files

  published March 11, 1999

  Sporting a Jimmy Johnson haircut and a bolo tie, Richard Hoagland gazes down at the Miami Circle from the Sheraton Hotel garage on Brickell... More >>

• Who's Afraid of Virginia Key?

  published March 4, 1999

  In 1995 Miami voters defeated a proposal to convert a sizable chunk of Virginia Key into an eco-campground. Few of the developers, city officials,... More >>

• Public Park As Political Feud

  published February 18, 1999

  Sixty-nine-year-old Francisco Hernandez is taking his daily walk in the early-morning stillness of Amelia Earhart Park, just outside Hialeah. He... More >>

• Trash and Cash

  published February 4, 1999

  Eric Bohnenblost backs up his truck until it's just touching the long, bulky trash bin. At the moment he's collecting debris from a window-screen... More >>

• An Age-Old Dispute

  published January 21, 1999

  Eunice Liberty is describing her recent police-assisted move to a nursing home: "They came and picked me up like a piece of lumber and threw me in... More >>