Myriam Marquez takes a closer look at why Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart changed his position on SCHIP. The bill this time included health coverage for legal immigrant children and didn't rely too heavily on tobacco taxes. [Herald]Ex-2 Live Crew frontman and local treasure Uncle Luke was arrested last night for failing to pay child support. [CBS4]The companies of R. Allen Stanford are under investigation for selling $8 billion worth of fraudulent CDs (the financial kind). The fraud directly affects th
Change may have come to Washington but the Bush era in all its absurd, truth-defying glory is alive and well in Miami's federal courthouse.Courtesy Wikimedia CommonsMiami's federal courthouse, where the Bush era lives onThis morning, the third case kicked off against six Miami men who are accused of plotting to blow up the Sears Tower and FBI offices. When they were arrested in 2006, now-disgraced wingut clown and then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez proudly trumpeted a victory against terrori
The judicial saga of men who came to be known as "The Liberty Six" reached what may be the beginning of the end today. After two mistrials, and a total bill that cost taxpayers over $10 million, five of the men were convicted. Another was acquitted. The men were charged with plotting with al Queda to blow up the Sear Tower in Chicago, FBI offices in North Miami Beach, and other buildings. Narseal Batiste was convicted for conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization
Just when you thought the saga of the "Liberty City Seven" was finally over, the five men who actually ended up with convictions are asking for either an acquittal or yet another retrial. The Seas of David group was originally arrested in June 2006 for suspicion that it was plotting with Al-Qaeda to blow up the Sears Tower, a Miami FBI office, and other targets. Trial #1, in 2007, ended with a finding of innocence for one suspect, while the jury couldn't reach a decision on the others. Tr
Just before 8 p.m. last night, two dozen protesters in white T-shirts stared at the hulking Federal Detention Center downtown and held their breath.
From one of the highest, slit-like windows cut into the massive concrete face, a pin-prick of light suddenly waved back and forth. The crowd erupted.
"That's Sunny!" Kobina Bantushango, one of the protest organizers, shouted into a megaphone. "We here for you man! We here for you!"
Behind the thick prison walls, watching the protest below, was Sta
An iPhone buzzes inside a Wynwood restaurant, and Naudimar Herrera's bright brown eyes light up when he sees the caller: the downtown Federal Detention Center.
Photo by Tim ElfrinkNaudimar Herrera in front of his parents' Midtown apartment.​"Patrick, what's up, my brother?" he barks into the phone. "You got to hang in there, man."
On the other end, Patrick Abraham sits in a prison cell that's mostly been his home for the past three years.Both men were arrested -- along with five others -- as
​U.S. District Court Judge Joan Leonard handed out the first sentence to a member of the Liberty City Seven. Burson Augustin will serve six years in prison. Significantly less than the 30 years prosecutors wanted. Leonard believed he played only a minor role.
Augustin was arrested in 2006, with six other men, on charges of cooperating with al Queda and making plans to blow up the Sears Tower and other federal building. Though, they denied actually supporting terrorism and merely wanted mone
