Collier County

Marissa Karp Murder: Father's Decade-Long Investigation Pays Off

Homestead UPS Worker Arrested for Stealing Christmas Gifts

There's only one person who is supposed to eat your cookies without explicit permission during the Christmas season and that's Santa. Not Shuwana.Shuwana Horne, a Homestead woman who worked at a UPS warehouse in Islamaroda, has been arrested for opening and eating an undelivered tin of cookies and p ... More >>

Two Florida Men Passed Around Joint While in the Back of Police Car

Vernon D. Jones, 21, and Jacques Saintil, 19, of East Naples were recently arrested on suspicion of a home burglary, and didn't seem too upset once they found themselves in the back of a police car. The two lit up some marijuana in the cruiser and discussed the robbery while passing the joint around ... More >>

Not Just Midtown: Walmart Has Plans to Expand All Over Miami-Dade

Plans to erect a giant Walmart smack dab in the middle of the Wynwood/Midtown area have garnered headlines, but that's just the tip of the iceberg for Walmart's plans for Miami-Dade. The controversial big-box chain is looking to add six more stores in Miami-Dade in the next two years.

Miami-Dade Police Lured Robbers to the Redland, Then Shot Them

Miami-Dade May Follow Sweetwater's Lead in Banning Fake Marijuana

The 14,000-person, Miami-Dade town of Sweetwater doesn't find itself in the news often, but it did get some headlines for being the first city in the entire nation to ban "fake marijuana," and boy do they love to brag about. In fact, apparently Miami-Dade is mulling over the possibility of a county- ... More >>

Miami-Dade Life Expectancy Has Skyrocketed: Women Will Live Six Years Longer Than Men

The average life expectancy of Miami-Dade citizens has skyrocketed in the past 20 years according to new data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. While, Miami women are expected to live six years longer than their male counterparts, men in the county have actually seen their life e ... More >>

Rick Santorum Tells Florida Audience Colleges Are Basically Evil Parts of a Vast Liberal Conspiracy

​Increasingly distant third place candidate Rick Santorum is desperately trying to jump start his campaign, so he's come out with a bold new attack on the Obama administration: college is evil."It's no wonder President Obama wants every kid to go college," Santorum told an audience in Naples, Flor ... More >>

After Joe Paterno: Enough Already With Child Sexual Abuse Hysteria UPDATED

With news this morning that Penn State coach Joe Paterno has died of lung cancer, I am reposting this column from last November. The scandal, it's now clear, killed the master at age 85.Enough already. This lunacy is past crazy.Joe Paterno, an icon of sport, was fired as coach of the Penn State foot ... More >>

Florida's Drunkest Cities? Not Miami, But Old People Meccas

​U.S. News and World Reports has unleashed a top ten list of America's drunkest cities. Florida dominates the list with whopping three cities on the top ten. Surely, Miami, America's nightlife capital, would make the list? Or perhaps Fort Liquordale or Ernest Hemingway's favorite booze-drenched is ... More >>

David Rivera Accused of Abusing Congressional Privilege With Medicare Mailer

Rivera's taxpayer funded flier​One of the perks in Congress is the right of "franking" -- no, it has nothing to do with Barney Frank, tequila shots and a dark alley. It's the ancient right to send constituents heaps of unwanted glossy fliers plastered with your grinning face at taxpayer expense. F ... More >>

Drunk Miami Man Steals BMW from Crash Scene on I-75

​Alligator Alley may be one of the country's most boring drives, unless, of course, you happen to be joy riding in a stolen BMW while drunk. That's what Miami resident Richard Jouel Abraham allegedly did yesterday, but now he's sitting in the slammer.

Ave Maria University: A Catholic project gone wrong

Immokalee Gang's Assault on Gay Men Sparks Hate Crime Probe

​Manuel Galan and Cirildo Soliz -- both young, gay and living in rural Collier County -- were walking in the center of Immokalee recently when a car pulled up and someone yelled, "Fucking fags!" Five or six young men jumped out and beat Galan and Soliz bloody while yelling homophobic slurs, police ... More >>

90-Year-Old Woman's Leg Amputated After Alligator Attack in SW Florida

​Ninety-year-old Margaret Webb was walking in her front yard in the sleepy, southern Collier County town of Copeland when an eight-foot alligator jumped out of a canal and tried to drag her into the water. She survived thanks to a good Samaritan, but one of Webb's legs was amputated as a result.

Marielena Stuart, Latest GOP Senate Candidate, Is So Catholic She Was Banned from Catholic College

​Because the race for Florida's Republican Senate nomination is wide open, there's room for just about anyone to get in the race. Heck, according to the latest Q poll, some guy named Mike McCallister is leading the pack. Anything is possible. So meet the latest entrant into the fray: Marielena Mon ... More >>

The Average Miamian Makes $36,357 Per Year

​The Federal Bureau of Economic Analysis has released its county-level estimates of per capita personal income (total personal income divided by population) for 2009, and apparently the people of Miami-Dade brought in $36,357 each on average. That's a much smaller figure than most of our neighbori ... More >>

Miami Men Charged with Grand Theft Cardboard in Naples

​Those prim and proper old folks over in Naples are always worried about those cretins from Miami-Dade traveling over Alligator Alley and coming to take their valuables. But apparently all Miami thieves want from Collier County is their precious, bountiful supply of cardboard. Yes, two Miami men h ... More >>

Nearly One in Five Florida Homes Are Empty

​Here's a staggering statistic from the continued fallout of Florida's real estate bust: 18 percent of homes in Florida, or nearly one in five, sit empty. That's a 62 percent increase in empty homes in the past ten years, and the surplus of inventory on the market ensures that home prices are ... More >>

Watch David Rivera Squirm Over Ethics Charges for Thirty Awkward Minutes

​Republican Rep. David Rivera is now under investigation by three separate agencies who are all looking into ethics charges involving his campaign finances. Perhaps no one told him, because he sure doesn't have anything to say about it. Since his district includes part of Collier County, Rivera de ... More >>

Three Florida Panthers Killed By Cars in Three Days

Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission photo by Dave Onorato​Florida panthers, the state animal of Florida and one of the most endangered mammals living in the United States, even by the largest estimates don't have a population of much more than 100 individuals. This weekend three breading-age big ... More >>

Miami-Dade Ranked 11th Healthiest County in Florida; #1 in Category That Takes Risky Sexy, Drinking into Account

​Well, here's something slightly counter-intuitive. Miami-Dade county is apparently the 11th healthiest out of Florida's 67 counties. What's more is that we ranked the healthiest in the state in "Health Behaviors," a category that takes into account smoking, binge drinking and risky sex.CountyHeal ... More >>

In a Democratic Wet Dream, We'd Belong to the State of the Everglades

​It's not exactly uncommon to hear someone floating around the political fantasy of South Florida becoming its own state. Not to say it'd ever actually happen, but c'mon, we all know the rest of Florida is holding us back. Well, a new political map that redraws the United States with the idea ... More >>

Record Number of Florida Panthers Hit by Vehicles in 2009

Let's hope none of the vehicles had this tag.​At this point, it's probably optimistic to say there are more than 100 Florida panthers left in the wild. Especially considering as many as 17 of them were killed by drivers last year, according to the Defenders of Wildlife. That eclipses 2007's r ... More >>

Prison Guard Gets Caught Trying to Smuggle Cocaine Into Everglades Correctional Institute

Everglades Correctional Officer Shamel Watson thought he was negotiating with an inmate's family member to smuggle in 1 lb of marijuana, 4 ounce of cocaine, and two cellphones to the inmate. Everglades Correctional Officer Shamel Watson is apparently stupid. When he went to go collect the contr ... More >>

Two Miami Men Picked Up for Pickup Hunting

A Deerhunter album cover, yeah.For some hunters, it is never really about the catch. It's about being one with nature, trekking through the wilderness, the thrill of the hunt, and the bond formed with your fellow hunters. For others, it really is just about killing things. So much so, that driving u ... More >>

Are You Ready for a Redistricting Rumble?

When Rep. Ron Klein isn't twiddling his thumbs wondering if he should enter the Senate race, he's already looking toward the likely redistricting ruckus set to take place after the 2010 census.  "Mario Diaz-Balart has already told me he and Lincoln will be all over the state legislature to make sur ... More >>

Under $2 Gas is Real and It's Sensational

Riptide was preparing to cross the Alligator Alley this past Wednesday to go and visit the familia in a horrible, horrible place known as Collier County. On the way we stopped to get gas somewhere way out in west Broward. We don't remember the name of the town - Weston? Miramar? Bumfuck? Baghdad? La ... More >>

Collier Newspaper Endorses Diaz-Balart, but Suggests He Take a Page Out of Garcia's Book

Live Blogging the Congressional Debate Double Header

Dozens of Dogs Die

A tale of 78 abused pets and two peculiar people.

Pearls Before Pigs

A haywire hunting trip in the Everglades for an elusive oinker.

Swamp Man

Glenn Wilsey reinvented himself around the lure of the alligator

Land Grab

We ask questions and a historic land battle is won

Messing With The Man

Three kids from suburban Miami found a clever way to relieve their boredom: They launched an attack on a police station

Wild and Crazy

Guess what happens when an eccentric ecologist and a couple of feisty backwoods boys claim that a rare Florida panther is on the attack

Politics & Parties & Power

How to campaign in the new House District 25? There's always Cuba.

The Big Cypress Deal

The cover story is conservation, but the Bush boys have their hands in the taxpayers' pockets again

Slaughter Alley

Big dead cats in the middle of the road -- lots of them

New World, Old Woes

The battle to restore funding for the New World School of the Arts is under way

Collision Course

On one side are politicians and influential business interests. On the other are environmentalists and some very wealthy private citizens. In the middle is Homestead Air Force Base. Dead ahead: An explosive confrontation.

Forcing Out HABDI

One of South Florida's oldest families is nearing a come-from-behind victory in the battle for the Homestead Air Base

Crocodile Fears

Golfers and fishermen beware! The endangered reptile is making a comeback.

Close Encounters of the Swamp Kind

If the customs and legends of Loop Road seem strange, you probably don't live there

Crude Motives

Members of the Collier family want to explore for oil in the nature preserve they helped create

Rich Thug, Poor Thug

How gangs overran a school in an affluent neighborhood. And how administrators reclaimed it.

Where Man Meets Mud

Behold the swamp buggy races, South Florida's oddest racing tradition, where the engines roar, the muck flies, and the vehicles sometimes sink

Our Garbage, Ourselves

Scaling Mount Trashmore, sorting through the clues to the mystery of everyday life