Miami-Dade School Board

Manuel Alonso-Poch Won't Fix Conflicts of Interest at His Charter School, New Audit Finds

Academy of Arts and Minds Hasn't Fixed Conflicts of Interest, School Board Auditor Says

Back in June, a Miami-Dade School Board audit skewered a Coconut Grove charter school's seemingly incestuous relationship with its founder and landlord, Manuel Alonso-Poch. Seven months later, school board auditor Jose Montes de Oca claims Academy of Arts and Minds has done next to nothing to addres ... More >>

Liberty City Elementary School Custodian Arrested For Plans to Prostitute 14-Year-Old Girl

Samuel Woodside, a custodian at Liberty City Elementary School, was arrested after allegedly making plans to transport a 14-year-old girl he met online from Louisiana to work as a prostitute in South Florida. That 14-year-old girl turned out to be an undercover cop.However, a parent at the school sa ... More >>

Michelle Obama's Planned Visit to a Miami Lakes High School Upsets Republican School Board Members

First Lady Michelle Obama is stopping into town tomorrow, and will be speaking to supporters of her husband's reelection campaign at Barbara Goleman Senior High in Miami Lakes. However, two members of the Miami-Dade School Board, both registered Republicans, are taking issues with the event."Don't t ... More >>

Diaz de La Portilla Brothers Set Their Sights On State Legislature

Tallahassee, be very afraid. If all goes according to their plan, not one, not two, but all three Diaz de la Portilla brothers will be members of the state Legislature come November. They're already one-third of the way there. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla did not draw a challenger for his state Senate ... More >>

Key Biscayne Paying County $9 Million to Send 1,100 Rich Kids to MAST Academy

Maritime and Science Technology (MAST) Academy is one of Miami's best public schools. Each year, the magnet on the Rickenbacker Causeway draws 560 inner-city and under-privileged kids from across Dade and turns them into aspiring doctors, scientists, and engineers. ;Now, however, cash-strapped Miami ... More >>

Mayor Tomás Regalado and Daughter Raquel Fined for Campaign Finance Violations

​The family that pays fines together, binds together, we guess.Both Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado and his daughter Raquel Regalado, a Miami-Dade School Board member, have been fined for sloppy bookkeeping during his 2009 campaign for office.

Troubled Woman Fatally Shot After Opening Fire on Miami-Dade Police

​At 3:30 this morning a Miami-Dade police shot and killed a 32-year-old woman after she started firing at officers, and shot one in the abdomen. Police responded to the scene after the woman was reported to have been making threats to herself and others. Update: The woman has been identified as&nb ... More >>

John L. Winn Sticks It to Miami Central and Miami Edison

Meet John L. Winn, destroyer of African-American public schools. ​Interim Florida Education Commissioner John L. Wynn's controversial plan to screw over the students at Miami Edison Senior High and Miami Central Senior High has to be stopped. The state's top education man is proposing that the sch ... More >>

What Went Down at Snapper's Between Luther Campbell, Carlos Gimenez and Homestead Councilman Jimmie Williams

Snapper's on Ives Dairy Road: Not your typical "Let's Make A Deal" venue.​In his most recent column, Luther Campbell claims that Homestead City Councilman Jimmie Williams III, who supports Carlos Gimenez for mayor, offered him a $40,000 appearance fee to show up at the elected official's soon-to-b ... More >>

Tomas Regalado Got Thousands in Free Tickets To Heat Games, Boxing Event

courtesy Al CrespoTomas Regalado and Sean Penn in a private box at a Heat game.​In Miami Beach, a storm is brewing over accusations that city officials strong-armed the New World Symphony to give them free tickets to concerts. But Beach leaders aren't the only politicians accepting free seats.Miam ... More >>

Frederica Wilson Recalls When the Mafia Threatened Her Son's Life

​Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, who owns perhaps the most stunning collection of hats since Isabella Blow, has finally landed on the cover of a magazine. Unfortunately for Anna Wintour, it wasn't on her Vogue magazine, but rather the Washington Post Magazine. Though the photo shoot cert ... More >>

Miami Springs Gym Teacher Accused of Having Sex with Teen on Campus

​Thirty-two-year-old Carlos Usatorres, a former full-time gym teacher at Miami Springs Middle School, was arrested last December on charges that he was having repeated sexual encounters in his office with a 13-year-old female student. The arrest has been kept quiet until now, but the attorney for ... More >>

Get Moving Mayor Regalado, Or I'll Take Your Job

​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 lays out his ideas to fix Miami's inner city neighborhoods. While it was nice to see Tony Crapp Jr., an African American ... More >>

Rumeal Robinson, Prison-Bound NBA Baller, Screwed Over a Miami Mom Too

​Rumeal Robinson, the onetime University of Michigan hero who spent six seasons in the NBA, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in federal prison Friday for masterminding a bank fraud. Even in the days leading up to his sentencing, the consummate huckster was trying to raise cash from old friend ... More >>

Julio Robaina: Dade's next mayor?

Friends Of WLRN Sitting On Six Million Dollars

​The philanthropy arm of PBS television affiliate and public radio station WLRN has incurred the wrath of some Miami-Dade School Board members. In his weekly edition of The Watchdog Report, Daniel Ricker reveals Friends of WLRN and Miami-Dade Public Schools, which owns the station's federal li ... More >>

Frederica Wilson's 25 Best Hats

Frederica Wilson was the winner of the Democratic primary in Florida District 17, and will almost certainly fill the vacancy left behind by Kendrick Meek in the next United States Congress. She is also a state legislator, mother, grandmother, founder of the 5000 Role Models program, former principal ... More >>

Election Day Races to Keep an Eye On

Will Bill McCollum and Kendrick Meek hold back the two millionaire candidates? Will Miami â€‹Mayor Tomas Regalado's blossoming political machine get his daughter a seat on the Miami-Dade School Board? Will Dorrin Rolle survive his scandalous year to win another term to the county commission? Wi ... More >>

Ex-Hialeah Police Chief Rolando Bolanos trashes Mayor Julio Robaina on Facebook

Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina Exposed on Facebook By Former Allies

City of HialeahJulio Robaina double-crossed two former allies who are now out to destroy him.​Last Wednesday, shortly before dawn, Rolando Bolaños logged on to his Facebook account to update his status regarding his favorite subject, Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina. The ex-Hialeah Police chief inform ... More >>

Political Vulture Ralph Arza Hovering Around Perla Tabares Hantman

​Even though Ralph Arza recently popped up at one of her fundraisers and at her campaign headquarters in Hialeah, Perla Tabares Hantman insists the disgraced former state representative is not working on her re-election campaign for Miami-Dade School Board. "He has no involvement as ... More >>

Indicted Builders Used Illegal Aliens To Build Classrooms

​Earlier this month, the Miami-Dade School Board's watchdog agency and federal immigration agents busted a family of south Miami-Dade builders using 20 undocumented immigrants to build new modular classrooms at Southside Elementary. According to a July 1 federal indictment, Luis Daniel, his son Ar ... More >>

Frederica Wilson is Proud of Banning "Simulated Sexual Intercourse" in Marching Bands

State Sen. Frederica Wilson is currently running to replace Kendrick Meek in his North Miami congressional district. Apparently she's going around telling everyone that she's banned "dirty dancing in our community." Now, last time we went out to a club, we're pretty sure that we saw lots of people d ... More >>

Spence-Jones Also-Rans Lobby Commissioners

​City commissioners will appoint someone today to fill Michelle Spence-Jones's empty District 5 seat. But the jockeying to replace the suspended commish was well under way Monday. David Chiverton and Dufirstson Neree, losing candidates in the election, made the rounds at city hall, pitching themse ... More >>

A Former Miami-Dade Public Schools Principal Avoids Criminal Charges

Inspector General investigators discovered former high school principal Donald Hoecheryl falsified documents to hide the fact he had spent more than $200,000 in taxpayer money for unauthorized teacher retreats to Hawk's Cay Resort in the Keys and three other hotels.​A two-year investigation by the ... 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 >>

Miami-Dade Schools To Adopt No Sexting in The Classroom Policy

via NerveThe Miami-Dade School Board took a long, hard look at the dangers of sexting last night. "Sexting" is one of those salacious topics the media has blown out of proportion because it sounds funny, and worries parents at the same time it secretly appeals to perves. It is basical ... More >>

State Sen. Frederica Wilson Hopes To Move Her Hat Collection to DC

Frederica Wilson and her extensive hat collection have pretty much done everything they can in Tallahassee. The Miami democrat has served in both houses of the State legislature, and now she's made it official that she'll be seeking the congressional seat Rep. Kendrick Meek is leaving behind in his ... More >>

Electorial Money Makers, Part I

With the election season wrapped up, Banana Republican sifted through federal campaign financial reports, including those of Barack Obama and John McCain, to see who got paid. We begin with the companies that made money working for Mario Diaz-Balart, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, t ... More >>

No Child Left To Die

Rudy's Out

School Board Wants Carvahlo to Replace Crew

Conflict of Interest for School Board Chair Agustin Barrera?

Scarface in Miami

Twenty-five years ago this month, the gangster epic caused a local stir.

Another No-Confidence Vote for Timoney

Even little old ladies don’t trust him

Bad Apple

Miami-Dade schools superintendent Rudy Crew has made many mistakes. Maybe too many.

Marta Perez Demands an Explanation

Fear? No, Evil

The battle continues

BEST REGGAE RADIO PROGRAM

DJ Ital-K versus WLRN

This Week's Day by Day Picks

The Great Elián Hoax

Did Demetrio Perez, Jr.'s Libre really produce this book?

Best Miami Herald Writer

Kathleen Krog