Last month, Key West became the second locale in the country to ban sunscreens containing chemicals believed to harm coral reefs. Now, officials in Miami Beach and Surfside are considering passing bans of their own. During their meeting today, Beach commissioners will consider prohibiting the sale of sunscreens…
At the 1972 Democratic National Convention, a woman named Madeline Davis called for something new: The party, she said, should include gay rights in its platform. Davis, the first out lesbian delegate at a major party convention, declared that gay people were “here to put an end to our fears.”…
In March 2017, Massage Envy therapist David Egusquiza was arrested after a woman told police he had sexually assaulted her during a massage at the company’s Coral Gables location. But four months earlier, management at the spa had ignored another woman’s report of being assaulted by the same masseur, a new…
Last fall, retired Miami Police Sgt. Nestor Garcia dropped by the department’s Internal Affairs office to read up on a case filed against Capt. Javier Ortiz, the former police union leader known for exploits like harassing a citizen online, calling Tamir Rice a “thug,” and bragging about his lengthy IA…
In November 2016, 80 percent of Miami Beach residents voted to legalize medical marijuana. More than two years later, the city has only a single dispensary — and now one commissioner wants to prevent others from opening.
North Beach could become home to up to 624 “micro-units” — apartments as small as 375 square feet, or a little bigger than two parking spaces put together — as part of city commissioners’ latest plan to revitalize the sleepy area. During today’s Land Use and Development meeting, committee members approved…
It’s no secret the Miami area is in desperate need of affordable housing. The city often ranks among the worst for renters; research shows Miamians spend more of their incomes on housing than residents of any other U.S. city. Wages aren’t keeping up with housing prices. Meanwhile, the city has…
Behind bars, male inmates masturbating in front of female employees is so common, there’s a word for it: gunning. Ceneca Valdez, a counselor at Miami-Dade County’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, says she experienced it repeatedly on the job, along with vulgar comments and gestures. When she brought the problem…
In an absolutely staggering announcement, Jupiter Police today announced that billionaire and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is being charged with soliciting prostitution in Palm Beach County. Kraft is one of 25 people who have arrested as part of a huge sex-trafficking sting. The TC Palm yesterday reported that,…
By now, the havoc wreaked by opioids on communities across the United States — especially in white, rural areas — is well known. But particularly devastated have been Native American tribes, who have suffered the highest death rate from prescription opioid overdoses of any ethnic or racial group. The Miccosukee Tribe, based…
It was a strange case from the start: a prominent Florida State University law professor shot to death in broad daylight at his home in an upscale Tallahassee neighborhood. And over time, the 2014 murder of Dan Markel turned stranger still. Police quickly determined the killing wasn’t a robbery or…
Dr. Michael Salzhauer, AKA Dr. Miami, is best known for wacky antics like writing a children’s book about plastic surgery, live-streaming operations on Snapchat, and recording a surprisingly successful dance song called “Flawless.” But now the Bal Harbour plastic surgeon says he’s taking on a new role as…
Since its launch about a year and a half ago, the secret Facebook group Miami Beach Crime Prevention and Awareness has been lauded by city leaders for its efforts to fight crime. Despite a lean toward vigilantism and concerns from groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, the group has been awarded…
When Miami city officials decided to tear out grass along Brickell Avenue and replace it with artificial turf last fall, residents were not pleased. A days-long protest ensued, complete with “Save me! I will die soon” signs on trees the protesters said would be smothered by the fake sod. Now,…
In the five years since he was killed by Miami Beach Police while tagging an abandoned building, Israel “Reefa” Hernandez has returned to life in countless street tributes, a graphic novel, a skateboard line, and his own art. Now, the story of the 18-year-old, Colombia-born artist is headed to the…
Over the last year or so, money from the City of Miami’s Anti-Poverty Initiative has gone toward setting up college savings accounts for kindergarten students, helping low-income residents purchase vehicles to get to work, and funding the United Way’s Thanksgiving Drive. But Commissioner “Loco Joe” Carollo has his…
In late November, a woman showed up at the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station with a bizarre find: Two freshwater turtles that had been chained together. Attached to the chain was a bag packed with a cinnamon stick, two red voodoo dolls, and two photos of a couple.
Nothing says Miami like a boozy cruise on someone else’s million-dollar yacht. And thanks to the sharing industry’s foray into the boating world, chartering a yacht is now within reach for anyone with an internet connection and a credit card. But, as this week’s New Times feature reveals, many of…
When Cesar Meneses arrived at the marina and saw the yacht he’d chartered to celebrate his 24th birthday, he tried to cancel. As a Miami resident, he’d rented boats before. This one, a sleek, 91-foot yacht with its name, Miami Vice, spelled out on the stern in the font used…
A bizarre scene played out recently on Key West’s premier strip, Duval Street. Outside of Orogold — a store that hawks alleged age-defying cosmetic products — a line of protesters waved signs reading “RIP OFF SHOP.” Meanwhile, the store’s co-owner, Zohar Alon, stood his ground with a sign of his own,…
Over the months the Sun-Sentinel has been digging into the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, representatives for the Broward County School District have stonewalled the paper’s public records requests, ridiculed one of its reporters as “smelly” and “skanky,” and tried to have two more of its…
You might as well go ahead and buy one of those fancy stainless-steel straws. Over the past year or so, cities across the nation have taken steps to limit plastic straws and stirrers out of concern for the environment. Now Fort Lauderdale and Coral Gables are joining them.
