Two years ago, when Miami Beach commissioners wanted to reduce smoking on city beaches, they had only one option: asking nicely. Florida is one of a few states where municipalities cannot regulate tobacco use, so the commission created voluntary smoke-free areas at Fifth Street and 86th Street, where pastel-colored…
Except for a scattering of white-haired regulars, the grandstand overlooking the old dog track at the Palm Beach Kennel Club is almost empty on a cold-for-Florida December day. Wearing hearing aids and World War II veterans’ hats, a group of four long-timers holds court near the top of the stands…
It has really happened, Idiot!
A new study from the real estate website RentCafé found the average renter in Miami ends the holiday season $300 in debt.
For a brief, weird moment in 2017, the notorious Miami shark hunter Mark “the Shark” Quartiano and conservationists were on the same side. After a couple of local fisher-bros filmed themselves dragging a shark behind a boat until the poor fish was in tatters and then proudly sent the video to Quartiano, the infamous fisherman…
It’s all in a claims bill.
Hoping to pick up a tiny dead shark in a jar for someone special this Christmas? Or perhaps a baby alligator skull? You better not tarry! City commissioners in Miami Beach last week passed a resolution asking local merchants to stop selling these truly bizarre souvenirs ASAP. This was necessary…
In public spaces across Florida, at least 30 monuments pay tribute to Confederate soldiers. Many of the memorials glorify members of the renegade army that declared war on the United States as “uncrowned heroes” or “a noble band” and celebrating their “dauntless valor.” It would become illegal to remove any of those…
Ever since the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) announced plans to build a 15-story affordable-housing complex in downtown Fort Lauderdale, nearby residents have been up in arms. Many locals suggested the development belonged west of I-95 instead of across North Federal Highway from the upscale Rio Vista neighborhood. One person wrote on Next Door: “Dump em in the glades.”
On Thursday afternoon, a surprising message popped up in Sun Sentinel reporter Scott Travis’ Twitter inbox. “yo your fucking denver show was fucking raging i bought one of your fire shirts and someone stole that shit out my hand tryna send me some merch? gang” wrote someone with the handle @KSwizz93…
Among the general population, less than 1 percent of Americans are HIV positive. But for transgender women, the rate is astonishingly higher — almost 22 percent, or more than one in five. No one knows exactly why. Now, researchers at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine are looking…
Earlier this year, the Miami-Dade County School Board decided to consider installing sensors in school bathrooms to deal with what they called the epidemic of teens vaping on campus. The district is still researching that idea, but in the meantime has come up with a different solution: making kids sign…
Almost 40 years ago, a query came into the Action Line, a long-gone Miami Herald column that pretty much played the role Google does today, answering obscure questions and giving out advice. The writer, “M. Weisbaum” of Plantation, had heard that dog-racing tracks once employed monkeys as jockeys. “This is…
When Davie fire Lt. Richard Stroes heard that a Parkland dad was suing a gun manufacturer over his daughter’s death at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, he took to Facebook to vent his rage. The firefighter called Fred Guttenberg a “scumbag,” accusing him of trying to “profit” off the loss of…
At World Patent Marketing, every idea was a winner. The now-defunct Miami Beach-based scam invention company, which employed acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker as a paid advisory board member, greenlighted virtually everything it was pitched. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission found that sales reps were instructed to turn down an…
Gabriella Katia is a longtime model who’s made repeat appearances at Miami Swim Week. But that’s not why people are always stopping her on the street. It’s because of her pet monkeys. With boyfriend Matt Crown, Katia has two marmosets, Diddy Kong and Yeti Kong. The tiny primates have become…
All her life, dance has been a way of escape for Janet Jones. “When I danced,” she says, “everything would just flow out of me.” But when she was nearing the age of 30, the Miami native and former Heat dancer, believing it was time to grow up and get…
He became the face of Zoo Miami entirely by accident. A passionate, lifelong animal lover, Ron Magill was the assistant curator of reptiles the day in 1986 when the zoo was hosting a news conference about endangered crocodiles born in captivity. It was an extremely rare, exciting moment, but you…
When Satara Monroe tried to cash a paycheck at a local Wells Fargo, the teller called the cops on her. An hour-long police interrogation ended only when her boss drove to the Pompano Beach branch to personally verify the check was legitimate. Finally, two hours after walking through the bank’s…
The fraudulent Miami Beach company tied to acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker was being investigated by the FBI as recently as last summer — and might still be in the bureau’s crosshairs, potentially creating a conflict of interest. In a nine-paragraph July 10, 2017 letter obtained by New Times, FBI victim specialist Cinthia…
On Thursday, as a new batch of Broward County ballots was counted, the margins grew tighter in several key Florida races. Those slim margins illustrate the importance of every single vote — but at least one overseas voter in Broward says the county elections office botched her ballot, raising questions about whether it was counted at all.
Brenda Wilcox is a bigtime supporter of President Donald Trump who believes his election has saved America. She’s also a World Patent Marketing customer who lost $13,000 to the fraudulent company shuttered by the Federal Trade Commission. So she was disturbed to learn on Wednesday that the president tapped a…
