Alex Izaguirre

Sam Johnson Helped Groom Miami's Best NFL Stars

Alex IzaguirreLuther Campbell, the man whose booty-shaking madness made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Campbell remembers the man who helped him start the Liberty City Optimist Club for inner-city kids.In 1989, Sam Joh ... More >>

FAMU Is Not Penn State: Hazing Should Not Kill A Storied Program

Alex Izaguirre​Luther Campbell, the man whose booty-shaking madness made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Campbell comes to the defense of Florida's largest historically African-American university, which has been caug ... More >>

Tiger Woods Needs A Little Of That Earl Wisdom That Made Him Great

Alex Izaguirre​Luther Campbell, the man whose booty-shaking madness made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. In this special edition, Luke thinks Tiger Woods let Stevie Williams off easy.Tiger Woods could really use his dad right no ... More >>

Banana Republican Joins Miami Bloggers To Talk Politics

Alex Izaguirre​Want to know what it takes to cover the grimiest political landscape in America? Then join us at the Brickell Hampton Inn tomorrow morning. Banana Republican will be answering questions about Miami politics alongside bloggers Al Crespo (The Crespogram Report), Elaine de Valle (Polit ... More >>

Get Your Free Beach Towing VIP Decal Right Here

Become a member of Beach Towing's VIP list!​If you've ever had your car hitched by Beach Towing, this one's for you. For years, Banana Republican heard rumors that the notoriously treacherous company handed out special windshield decals to "very important people" that entitled these fine, upstandi ... More >>

Miami Could Be The First Wave In A Stripper Tsunami

Alex Izaguirre​Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness once made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke -- who is a candidate to replace more-boring-than-bread-pudding Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez -- explains ... More >>

A Dining Critic's 20 Resolutions For 2011

Alex Izaguirre​Another year gone by, another fifty or so restaurant reviews under the now-taut belt. While looking back over my life and work of the past twelve months, I can't help but note that imperfections abound. And so, resolutions to improve. For 2011, I vow:To not eat pork belly or a  ... More >>

Top Ten New Times Covers of the Year

​The peek out at you from practically every street corner in the city. They're sometimes the most talked about thing in town. They're our covers. In a feature on our art director Pam Shavalier earlier this year, the Society of Publications Designers said that our "creative, highly-original se ... More >>

Friday Food Funnies: Best Of

Alex IzaguirreThis used to be a regular Short Order feature, but it was suspended mainly because there simply aren't that many good jokes about eating, restaurants, or food. Surprising, but true. There are actually lots and lots of jokes about the subjects, but funny ones are far fewer. Our supply w ... More >>

Marco Rubio Should Get Fitted For A White Robe and Hood

Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness once made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke sizes up Senate candidates Charlie Crist, Kendrick Meek, and Marco Rubio.Alex Izaguirre​Rubio will probably go down in his ... More >>

Update: Tons of Contaminated Cheese Sold in Florida, Texas, California, New York

Alex Izaguirre​Yesterday I described what might have been the largest cheese bust in history. Eighty-five tons of the stuff, most of it contaminated with staph, was sold to at least 30 people. Today I learned some of the cheese made it out of Miami to Texas, California, and New York. The FDA has ... More >>

Biggest Cheese Bust in Memory in Miami

Alex Izaguirre​Two Hondurans were busted Monday for illegally selling diseased cheese to more than 30 people in Miami.The pair -- Francisca Josefina Lopez, 40, and Jorge Alexis Ochoa Lopez, 34 -- was nailed for importing $322,000 of the stuff from Nicaragua and then illegally reselling it. Mo ... More >>

Six Rat & Roach-Related Emergency Restaurant Closures So Far in March

toon by Alex Izaguirre​We hate to have to tell you this, but if six restaurants have been shut down for rats and roaches so far this month. How many do you think are getting away with it?How many plastic-smiling waitresses have you tipped while they knowingly handed you food that had been in a kit ... More >>

Miami-Dade Schools: More Than $2 Billion in Repairs Needed

Alex Izaguirre​Way too much attention these days is heaped upon paying teachers. Look deeply into the Miami-Dade County Public Schools budget and you'll see that a potentially more disastrous problem lies in the condition of the buildings where our kids study.Later today, on our website and in thi ... More >>

Personal Loans Outpace Campaign Contributions For Miami Special Election Candidates

By Alex Izaguirre​With less than a month to go in Miami's upcoming special election for the two city commission seats left open by the removal Michelle Spence-Jones and Angel Gonzalez, some of the candidates are relying on their own cash rather than hitting up people for campaign contributions.Mig ... More >>

Thank You for Your Paid Support

Recently dismissed ethics complaints against three lobbyists provide a glimpse into how By Alex Izaguirre​developers will pay off so-called community activists to win support for their projects.In finding that zoning lawyers Juan Mayol, Joseph Goldstein, and Richard Perez did in fact register ... More >>

Troubled Miami-Dade Agency Gets Revamped

Alex Izaguirre​Miami-Dade County commissioners are gearing up to revamp the Miami Metro Action Plan Trust, the social and economic redevelopment agency created in the wake of the racial riots that rocked the county during the '80s.On December 1, the commission will vote to reconstitute the trust i ... More >>

Another Teacher Who Cares About the Kids Gets Shafted

Alex Izaguirre​UPDATE: Ceresta Smith has gotten a temporary reprieve. Miami-Dade Public Schools administrators will not be asking the school board to suspend her today. Spokesman John Schuster says the school district is reviewing the matter.Miami-Dade County Public Schools is railroading another ... More >>

Faceless Blogger "Strawbuyer" Irks Prosecutor Kostrzewski

Alex Izaguirre​An anonymous Miami blogger dubbed the Strawbuyer has made an enemy out of a veteran state prosecutor.Since debuting on the web this past July, the author -- who writes with the acidic juvenile prose of a celebrity blogger -- has attacked the work of Bill Kostrzewski, a Miami-Da ... More >>

Regalado, Bower, and Robaina: Vote Against Them With Your Toenails

Alex Izaguirre​Tuesday is local Election Day. Turnout is sure to stink. Mayors in Miami, Miami Beach, and Hialeah are certain to be elected in landslides.This is odd, because the local economy is in its worst condition since 1989. Race relations are at a 20-year low. And government is cutting serv ... More >>

Inspector General Gets Busy Cracking Down on Small-Time Rackets

Alex Izaguirre​ This past Friday, Miami-Dade inspector general Christopher Mazzella announced his office had busted ex-schools police Sgt. Patricia Hobby stealing $2,841 in overtime she didn't work.To avoid jail time, Hobby agreed to resign from the schools police force, complete 150 hours of comm ... More >>

FPL Gets An Obama Stroke Job As Company Sets Out to Destroy National Park

Alex Izaguirre​Could there have been a more ruthless, diabolical, state utility monopolizer to receive $200 million in federal stimulus money than Florida Power & Light? I'm not the only one questioning the federal government's decision either.President Barack Obama announced FPL's stimulus bo ... More >>

UPDATED: Restaurant Owner Arrested in Los Angeles, Accused of Slaying His Unborn Child

Alex Izaguirre​ Two days ago, Los Angeles Police homicide detectives arrested Joshua Woodward, who teamed up with celebrity chef Govind Armstrong to bring their West Coast food offerings to South Beach via Table 8. The cops charged Woodward with the murder of his unborn child.According to an ... More >>

Friday Food Funnies: Girl Talk

Thanks to Alex Izaguirre for the cool new Friday Food Funnies graphic​Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about wine. ~Fran LebowitzIs Elizabeth Taylor fat? Her favorite food is seconds. ~Joan RiversMost turkeys taste better the day after; my moth ... More >>

Feds Dole Out $26 Million to City of Miami For Affordable Housing

Alex Izaguirre​The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sent affordable housing developers in Miami-Dade County an early Christmas present. This past October 16, HUD secretary Shaun Donovan announced 18 south Florida cities will receive $69 million for community development grants, hom ... More >>

Here's a Shocker: Cubans Are Growing Pot All Over the State

Alex Izaguirre​Yesterday the Orlando Sentinel published a report that Cuban immigrants who have recently arrived in the United States represent a vast majority of people getting busted for operating marijuana grow houses across the state.The article comes two years after my story on the same subje ... More >>

Miami Beach Candidate Oddy Segui Has a Check-Cashing Problem

Alex Izaguirre​There's just something odd about Oduardo "Oddy" Segui, a 40-year-old Cuban-American running against Miami Beach Commissioner Jerry Libbin.Not much has been written about the political newcomer. In an October 4 Miami Herald article, Segui informs reporter David Smiley that he o ... More >>

Intelligent Miamians Answer UN Leader's Call to Action

Alex Izaguirre​Just when I think all is lost in this chaotic, transient subtropical paradise I call home, some of my homies give me hope. They've demonstrated that Miami-Dade does have people who care about the world around them and are willing to raise awareness about making the world a better, s ... More >>

Millions in Car Allowances and Other Perks Safe From Budget Cuts

Alex Izaguirre​Tomorrow evening, Miami-Dade County Commissioners will finally set the budget for the upcoming year. We already know that Mayor Carlos Alvarez is proposing some seriously draconian cuts and will make good on his promise to lay of 1,700 employees, which does not bode well for south F ... More >>

Where in the World Does Katharine Cue Live?

Alex Izaguirre​Hialeah has long been known for voting shenanigans.First, in 1993, a judge ordered a new election after determining camps for both Mayor Raul Martinez and challenger Nilo Juri had participated in absentee ballot tampering. Twelve years later, federal HUD officials investigated then- ... More >>

Protect Your Neck at Miami-Dade Public Schools

Alex Izaguirre​It still amazes me how parents lull themselves into thinking that their children will be okay inside the Miami-Dade public school system, even at supposedly "safe havens" like Coral Gables Senior High, where one student stabbed a classmate to death earlier this morning.We live in a ... More >>

The Hialeah Champ and the Cuban Assassin Get It Done

Alex Izaguirre​ A steady downpour did not dampen the mood of the bloodthirsty crowd that came out to Dhafir Harris's back yard in Perrine this past Saturday. About 100 spectators saw ten bare-knuckles brawlers put on a gruesome show -- which even featured a main event cage rematch between Whi ... More >>

A Reformed Brawler Shoots for MMA Glory

Alex Izaguirre​ More than two decades ago, Rene Martinez satisfied his lust for violence by engaging in some serious gangbanging. Throughout his teenage and young adult years, the former leader of the Latin Syndicate racked up more than 21 arrests for, among other things, rumbling on the str ... More >>

Xavier Suarez's Son Rolling in Campaign Dough

Alex Izaguirre​ In this year's City of Miami elections, the theme is "Taking It Back to the Old School," considering Frank Carollo, brother of mercurial ex-Mayor Joe Carollo, is running for Joe Sanchez's seat. And then there is Francis Xavier Suarez, who  wants to replace Tomas Regalado on th ... More >>

Most County Executives Safe from Budget Cuts

Alex Izaguirre​UPDATE: Earlier this week, Miami-Dade County spokeswoman Vicki Mallette responded to my earlier report regarding executive salaries. I apologize to my readers for not posting her response sooner.She insisted that Alvarez is proposing in the budget a ten percent reduction to the coun ... More >>

Sean Casey Gets a Hand from a Top Gun

Alex Izaguirre​High-powered Miami media attorney Thomas Julin is helping Sean Casey's bid to expose another high-powered Miami lawyer. And Julin, a partner at Hunton & Williams, is representing the 35-year-old free of charge. Casey is serving a 12-year prison term for running do ... More >>

Anonymous Blogger Targets County Cop

Alex Izaguirre​What did Jorge Baluja do to elicit so much hatred? An anonymous blogger named the Straw Buyer has been dedicating a serious amount of bandwidth to bash and ridicule the Miami-Dade Police detective.Apparently, the Straw Buyer became fascinated with Baluja this past Oct ... More >>

When Joe Arriola Speaks, We Listen...Then Cackle With Incredulity

Alex Izaguirre ​ Ah how I miss Joe Arriola. The boisterous ex-city manager was always good for a laugh. So it was nice to see Arriola, who appears to have shed a few pounds, as a guest on WBPT's community talk show Issues this past July 24. During a 14-minute plus interview with host Helen F ... More >>

The Avenging Angel of North Bay Village is Back

Alex Izaguirre Early on in my ongoing tour of duty for New Times, I had the pleasure of telling the story of Fane Lozman, a Miami native who made a small fortune as a Chicago software engineer before coming home in 2003. That year Lozman settled into a nondescript houseboat off the waters of No ... More >>

Hey George! Who's On First?

Alex Izaguirre In case you missed it, during the early hours of July 1, the Miami-Dade County Commission approved a revision to the financing plan for the Marlins baseball stadium that is going to end up costing us $2.4 billion - a number that somehow eluded the intellectual prowess of financial gur ... More >>

Peel the Vote '09: Shock Jock for Commish

Alex Izaguirre He didn't win the mayor's seat in 2005, but Spanish-language radio host Enrique Santos is considering a second run at public office.The popular shock jock, who mans the morning show for La Kalle 98.3, is looking to join the already crowded race to take over Miami City Commissioner Joe ... More >>

Message to Pols: Give Taxpayers Back that Dirty Money

Alex Izaguirre Because I penned two posts on corrupt businessman Antonio Junior earlier this week, former New Times scribe Kirk Nielsen turned me on to an opinion piece he wrote for Poder magazine last year. My sometime wingman suggested that tainted political campaign contributions be re ... More >>

Take a Motorboat Ride and Save Some Breasts

Alex Izaguirre In my nocturnal travels, I've come across some very cool, easygoing, wonderful fellow Banana Republicans -- you know, us locals who can lay claim to being raised in Dade and are proud of it.  One of these chums is Maria Teresa Goobs, a gregarious local porn magazine editor wh ... More >>

South Dade Gangsters Thump All Day, Every Day

Alex Izaguirre Cigarette and Black-N-Mild smoke wafted throughout the already stifling hot warehouse at 19100 SW 106 Ave. in unincorporated Miami-Dade. It was shortly after 9 p.m. this past June 20 when more than 100 relatives, friends, and members of the street gang Latin Syndicate filed into Bad D ... More >>

Peel the Vote '09: Not That Carollo, But Still a Carollo

Alex Izaguirre In the crowded race to for the city commission seat being vacated by Joe Sanchez, perennial candidate Frank Carollo has amassed $95,275 in campaign . The guy's run before.Vitals: A 39-year-old certified public accountant with a perfectly symmetrical pompadour. Qualifications: Ra ... More >>

Soniko Celebrates its CD Release, Tomorrow Night at Transit Lounge

After their widely touted debut Kombustion, locally groomed rock group Soniko prepares to capitalize on the buzz they first generated five years ago with their long awaited sophomore release, Antidoto Parcial. On Kombustion the foursome received heavy acclaim for their churning brand of alt-rock. A ... More >>

The Big Donors in Miami Mayor's Race

Illustration by Alex Izaguirre In this week's print edition of Riptide, I wrote that none of the candidates in the Miami mayoral race will crack the $1 million benchmarks set by Manny Diaz in 2001 and 2005. Nevertheless, City Commissioners Tomas Regalado and Joe Sanchez are shoring up support with s ... More >>

Last Night: Fito Paez at Knight Concert Hall

If It’s for Free, It’s for Me

Bands on the rise show what they’ve got at White Room.

Attack of the Apes

MTV Español stars Sóniko want to take you to their planet