Social Policy

Miami community development expert Cecilia "C.C." Holloman's legacy is empty coffers

Tea Party Disappointed Rick Scott Hasn't Been a Bigger Tea Party Wingnut

Reality, or something sort of like it, has finally caught up to Gov. Rick Scott. The Tea Party activists that help elect him? They're apparently not so enamored of Scott any longer. The leaders of what remains of the movement are not too pleased with Scott's performance as governor thus far, even th ... More >>

Poll: Obama Will Crush Any Republican in Latino Vote, Unless Marco Rubio Is VP Nominee

​A new poll, commissioned by Fox News Latino, suggests that whichever Republican candidate emerges as the presidential nominee has very little hope of capturing the Hispanic vote. Seventy-three percent of Latino voters say they approve of Obama's job performance, and in head-to-head match ups ... More >>

Mitt Romney Thinks Rick Scott's Urine Test Laws are "an Excellent Idea"

​Should we just star calling him Governor Pee Cup? Because Rick Scott is now forever identified with spearheading laws that required people receiving welfare to take drug tests. Never mind the fact that the policy ended up costing the state money, or that the rate of positive tests was extremely l ... More >>

Superintendent Alberto Carvalho Turned Down a Job in the Obama Administration

Most local officials would jump at the chance to take their talents to Washington. Who wouldn't want national influence? Apparently not Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. He claims he turned down a job offer from Obama's secretary of education Arne Duncan.

Politics, Pandering, and Punch Lines

Most local officials would jump at the chance to take their talents to Washington. Who wouldn't want national influence? Apparently not Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. He claims he turned down a job offer from Obama's secretary of education Arne Duncan.

Daily Show Reporter Asks Rick Scott to Pee in a Cup

​You can bet that whoever let The Daily Show correspondent Aasif Mandvi into increasingly unpopular Gov. Rick Scott's press conference today is going to get a dressing down tonight. The comedian, who we're assuming is preparing an upcoming piece on Scott for the show, asked the governor to pee in ... More >>

Charles Hankerson, Former Miami Northwestern High Principal, Embroiled In Grade Changing Scandal

​A Miami-Dade Public Schools principal credited with turning around a storied inner city high school's academic performance is under investigation for illegally changing student grades. The allegation against Charles Hankerson is the latest black eye for Miami Northwestern High School, which earli ... More >>

Rick Scott Pays Just $360-a-year For His Taxpayer-Subsidized Health Insurance

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average health plan costs an American family $13,770 in premiums a year. Governor Rick Scott pays just $360 to insure himself and his wife thanks to a state Government plan he's enrolled in. Yep. the average American pays 38.25 percent more for their he ... More >>

12 South Florida Seniors Go Blind After Tainted Injections

​Twelve senior citizens in South Florida have lost their vision after being injected with tainted medication. The Department of Health claims a contaminated batch of medication and syringes was distributed to various medical clinics in the area.

Maná Drummer Alex González Talks Drama y Luz, Politics, and Latino Pride

Photo by Omar CruzManá drummer Alex González.​No Latin band has tugged as many heartstrings, quite as hard as the Mexican rock band Maná. In a 20-year reign, the Grammy Award-winning group has traveled all over the world, flooding arenas and selling out shows from Guadalajara to Berlin. ... More >>

Conservatives Outraged as Hispanic Republicans Water Down Florida's Arizona-style Immigration Bill

​Florida's so-called Arizona-style immigration bill, which Governor Rick Scott campaigned on, is looking less and less Arizona-style as it makes it way through the state legislature. Republican state Senator Anitere Flores, who had authored the original Senate version of the bill, helped approve a ... More >>

Obama Cordially Greets Jeb and Scott But Fails to Land Man-Hug

​Used to be when the president came to Florida, it was customary for our governor to man-hug him, but with Charlie Crist out of office, that tradition is long gone. During his quick day trip in Miami today, President Obama met both Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Jeb Bush and had cordial interacti ... More >>

President Obama and Jeb Bush to Make Joint Appearance at Miami High School

​Politics and publicity opportunities make strange bedfellows. President Barack Obama and former Gov. Jeb Bush will appear together this Friday at Miami Central High School. Obama will be in town for a Democratic fundraiser but will swing by the school with Bush to address ways to turn around low- ... More >>

Haitian deportation process is unfair

​Politics and publicity opportunities make strange bedfellows. President Barack Obama and former Gov. Jeb Bush will appear together this Friday at Miami Central High School. Obama will be in town for a Democratic fundraiser but will swing by the school with Bush to address ways to turn around low- ... More >>

Rick Scott really understands blacks

​Politics and publicity opportunities make strange bedfellows. President Barack Obama and former Gov. Jeb Bush will appear together this Friday at Miami Central High School. Obama will be in town for a Democratic fundraiser but will swing by the school with Bush to address ways to turn around low- ... More >>

Bill Filed to Drug Test Certain Welfare Recipients, But Does it Go Far Enough For Rick Scott?

​Among Governor Rick Scott's cavalcade of controversial ideas is a plan to drug test all recipients of welfare in the state. Now Republican legislators have filed a bill to carry out a version of the plan, but it would only require welfare recipients with a felony drug conviction in the past three ... More >>

Cuban Officials to Testify in Posada Carriles Trial

​In a highly unusual move, three officials from Cuba could take the stand as early as today in the trial of Luis Posada Carrilles, the Miami freedom fighter or terrorist, depending on which side of the Florida straits you live. The officials are expected to testify in federal court in West Te ... More >>

First Recent Case of Cholera Suspected in Miami-Dade

​Miami-Dade already has cases of hookworm and dengue fever, and now health officials are investigating the possibility that a man with cholera might have entered the county. According to the Miami Herald, a doctor traveling from Haiti arrived at Miami International Airport around 6 p.m. ... More >>

Alex Sink Runs Controversial Last Minute Ad on Miami Spanish Radio

Rick Scott first made waves in the Republican Primary by introducing the idea of Arizona-style immigration laws into the Florida campaign. Moving to the extreme right proved successful in the primary, but as he moved into the general election his campaign conveniently seems to have lessened its emph ... More >>

Forget Bedbugs, Miami Beach Has Hookworms

via WikiCommons​Chicago and New York are currently freaking out about silly little bedbugs. They've even hit the United Nations building. Miami Beach has far scarier infestation problems: hookworms! The parasitic pest borrow through people's skins before eventually finding their way into the small ... More >>

Florida immigration bill would give white folks a pass

via WikiCommons​Chicago and New York are currently freaking out about silly little bedbugs. They've even hit the United Nations building. Miami Beach has far scarier infestation problems: hookworms! The parasitic pest borrow through people's skins before eventually finding their way into the small ... More >>

Florida's Arizona-Style Immigration Bill Would Give Canadians, Europeans a Free Pass

Florida's new immigration bill would let guys like this off the hook, papers or not.​Florida state Rep. William Snyder, the slow-drawling ex-Miami-Dade Police officer who has drafted Tallahassee's version of the hotly debated Arizona immigration bill, is adamant that his law would not lead to raci ... More >>

Only a fraction of Mexicans get U.S. asylum

Florida's new immigration bill would let guys like this off the hook, papers or not.​Florida state Rep. William Snyder, the slow-drawling ex-Miami-Dade Police officer who has drafted Tallahassee's version of the hotly debated Arizona immigration bill, is adamant that his law would not lead to raci ... More >>

McCollum: Rekers Was "The Best Expert"

​Surprise! Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum still opposes gay adoption -- notwithstanding the spectacular downfall of his hand-picked anti-gay expert, George Alan Rekers. "I don't believe the gay family model is good for kids," McCollum said this week to the ... More >>

Suspected Case of Dengue Fever in Miami Beach Comes Back Negative

via Kitbag​Looks like we shouldn't be quite so worried about a third world disease roaring back into Miami-Dade yet (take that Tom Tancredo). Health officials reported yesterday that a case of Dengue Fever had popped up in a Miami Beach man, but now they say his test results have come back negativ ... More >>

Ronald Reagan immigration amnesty 25 years later

Today, amnesty is a dirty word. So what happened to the immigrants given a fresh start by Reagan in 1986?

What's a little marriage fraud between amigos?

It's a felony, sure, but in the absence of real immigration reform, some young, assimilated illegal immigrants see it as their best path to citizenship.

Rick Scott Has Business Connection with Mexican Playboy

Suddenly surging Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott has so, so much money we really can't expect him to know what he's done with it all. Though, surprisingly for a guy who's built a sizable portion of his platform around bringing Arizona's controversial immigration laws, that some see as ... More >>

Arizona-Style Immigration Rules Threatening In Miami, Advocates Warn

On Friday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed an immigration bill into law that would be the laughingstock of the nation if it weren't so damned disturbing. Advocates say cooperation between ICE and local cops scares South Florida immigrants.​Essentially, it legalizes racial profiling by allowi ... More >>

Mitt Romney Will Endorse Marco Rubio, Hopefully Won't Quote Castro While Doing So

​Ol' Mittens Romney will endorse Marco Rubio. The once, and probably future, presidential candidate was sitting on the sidelines of the Senate primary between Rubio and Gov. Charlie Crist, but has decided to side with Rubio after Crist vetoed an unpopular, but conservative-backed education bill.&n ... More >>

Is Jeb Bush Still in Charge of Florida?

​Jeb Bush left office four years ago, but Associated Press writer Martin Merzer thinks he may still be in charge of the state -- or at the very least still the most influential voice in the governing Republican party."He's become a legislative Wizard of Oz -- thunder and lightning and pulling the ... More >>

Obama Critic Rick Scott to Run for Governor, and Boy, Does He Have an Interesting Past

​Richard L. Scott, a businessman who lives in Naples, has thrown his hat into the ring for the Republican's gubernatorial nomination against Attorney General Bill McCollum and state Sen. Paula Dockery. Don't know anything about him? Here's some fun facts:He hates President Obama's health care refo ... More >>

Top Ten Thursdays: Top Ten Songs for Obama Haters

via rpof.orgJim Greer thinks censorship is very American.​All summer long I have gone shit-house-rat-crazy observing the likes of Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Karl Rove and the rest of The Right's evil elite dispense fear-mongering falsehoods in a desperate attempt to stop some much nee ... More >>

Kendrick Meek Opposes Using Federal Funds to Pay for Abortions

Rep. Kendrick Meek has joined a small group of house Democrats asking that any health-care reforms not lead to federal funding of abortion, according to the Washington Post. The possibility of taxpayer money being used to pay for abortions is becoming a hot-button issue in the health-care reform ... More >>

Architects of Gay Marriage Ban Need Money To Defend Florida from Evils of John & Kate

Once apon a time Jon & Kate Gosselin were folk heros in the pro-life movement for refusing to selectively reduce a few embryos after Kates invitro fertilization resulted in six fertilized eggs. Instead they chose to take their chances with having sextuplets, which t ... More >>

U.S. Won't Grant HIV-Positive Cuban Asylum

viaGive us your poor, your tired, but apparently not your HIV We don't have to familiarize any locals with the wet foot, dry foot policy, aka The Cuban Adjustment Act. Any Cuban who makes it to American soil is allowed to seek residency. Well, not any Cuban migrant. Not if that Cuban is HIV . & ... More >>

On Day 99, Obama Hires HIV Czar

A quick followup of sorts to our post Monday highlighting the Obama administration's inaction on HIV/AIDS during his first 100 days in office. Yesterday it was announced the president has chosen Dr. Eric Goosby to head PEPFAR. Goosby served in the Clinton administration as deputy director of the Nat ... More >>

Joe Garcia Follows in McCain's Celebrity Attack Ad Footsteps

A quick followup of sorts to our post Monday highlighting the Obama administration's inaction on HIV/AIDS during his first 100 days in office. Yesterday it was announced the president has chosen Dr. Eric Goosby to head PEPFAR. Goosby served in the Clinton administration as deputy director of the Nat ... More >>

Schoolhouse Rock!

The School of Rock kids aren’t just another brick in the wall.

Kid Stuff

Politics helped propel college dropout Carlos Manrique to the top of the educational ladder.

Unintended Consequences

After thirteen years in Miami, Omila Foufoune Cesaire faces deportation to the Haiti she fled in fear

Screwed If By Sea

Cruise lines throw workers overboard when it comes to providing urgent medical care.

BEST POLITICAL MISCALCULATION

Annie Betancourts anti-embargo gambit in the race for U.S. House District 25

Where Did All the People Go?

A once-thriving neighborhood is now a ghost town thanks to Miami's multimillion-dollar housing fiasco

Admitting Terror

The immigration service's own describe how America failed to protect its borders from the September 11 terrorists

His Sister's Keeper

Is Darrin McGillis a noble crusader for his late sister's kids, or a courtroom junkie who thrives on drama? Both, actually.

Cleaning Up Krome

Lawyers Tina Fassnacht and Stacy Taeuber are all-purpose advocates at the West Dade immigrant camp

Roe v. Wade v. Suarez

Thanks to Miami's mayor, January 22 is now officially pro-life and in your face

Whoppers!

Thanks to Miami's mayor, January 22 is now officially pro-life and in your face