It’s D-Day at the Miami Herald and 42 will exit the newspaper. One motherin’ newsman is on this list — Phil Long, who covered hurricanes forever and was a tech guy before tech guys existed. Phil hustled at the Herald like no one I’ve ever known. Among the younger departures…
The US Conference of Mayors conference kicks off tomorrow in Miami, and Manny Diaz is stepping out. The Miami mayor — the conference’s leader this year — will talk about green initiatives. Barack Obama and the Billmeister will follow him. But Manny, whom Vanity Fair mag named one of the…
The bomb has dropped in the Herald newsroom. According to a story posted on the newspaper’s website, the newsroom will “lose about 60 positions, including some now vacant.” Overlooked in the bloodletting is that the International Edition, which has lots to do with the newspaper’s reputation, “will be outsourced to…
Our sister paper in Minnesota, City Pages, is reporting that state’s governor, Tim Pawlenty has flip-flopped on the trade embargo with Cuba. The reason: ambition. Pawlenty would like to become John McCain’s VP. The Repubnant Arizonan wants Miami Cubans’ support. So Pawlenty contradicted his own agriculture secretary, who recently and…
Last time the Investigative Reporters and Editors Conference was held in Miami in 1995, Miami New Times published a story called “The Incredible Shrinking Herald.” The lengthy piece, by then staff writer (and later Herald columnist) Jim DeFede, detailed closing of bureaus and numerous cutbacks at the paper. Well guess…
I’ve been glued to the tube and to my stadium seat for the last month or so, basking in the Marlins first place run. But I’m afraid it’s over. Starting pitching is the problem. And the bullpen to a lesser degree. Hey Justin Miller blew the save the other day…
The story went this way: Stuck at MIA en route to Houston, flyweight Miami Commissioner Johnny Winton gulped down 16 drinks — wine, whiskey, amaretto, and beer. Then he got loud. Delays stink, he carped. The airlines are worthless. A nervous gate attendant called the cops. When two very large…
The newest numbers from Editor and Publisher show Miami Herald circulation falling faster than virtually any other major American newspaper in the last six months. According to a story in today’s Editor and Publisher, the Herald numbers dropped 11 percent in daily circulation…and nine percent on Sundays. Ouch! It is…
Stone serious, the dapper elderly gentleman in gray slacks, a black and white tie, and a neatly pressed green shirt firmly gripped my shoulder from behind: “You’ll have to leave.” “Why?” “You can’t sell things in the mall.” “What makes you think I’m selling? “The T-shirts on your arm.” “We’re…
Last week Forbes magazine named Miami the cleanest city in America. Yeah, I scoffed too. And so did most people commenting on the Forbes.com article. The study gave the most weight to air pollution and ozone levels, followed by lesser factors like water quality and per-capita spending on cleanup and…
The City Beautiful pisses me off. Zoning laws are enforced in Coral Gables by nasty code enforcement guys who seem to have it out for anyone without a boatload of money or power. If you doubt it, witness this post on Coral Gables Confidential – a website populated by city…
Miami’s troubled Downtown Development Authority is on the verge of hiring a new leader— one who knows a little something about image, especially when it comes to streets and natural disasters. And that newbie will be assisted by a Miami city employee who now works for a city department where…
Yesterday’s *4-3 decision by the Florida School Board to update science standards was a long time coming. Most attention was understandably focused on the dust-up over evolution, but the larger picture of science education in Florida was just as scandalous as the absence of Charles Darwin. It was only a…
Three skulls lay in the dust beneath silvery buttonwood leaves. Two were covered in rotting flesh. One had been severed by a hacksaw. That was December. A month prior, a truck driver had swerved off the road to eviscerate an endangered key deer, spreading her organs over 30 yards of…
This morning on Northwest Seventh Avenue, Main Street Black Miami, guys with Vote Yes on Amendment 26 signs and T-shirts lined the road. One whom I questioned, 18-year old Mark James, said he was being paid $80 for the day to stand under a palm tree and wave the placards…
What do you get when you cross Dancing With the Stars, downtown Miami and Bollywood? The first-annual Bhangra Competition, that’s what. While salsa may be the dance and music of choice of the Magic City, the rest of the world has gotten hip to all things Punjab; Bhangra is the…
First there was the menacing claim broadcast on Spanish-language television that “someone might crack your head like a coconut.” Next came three death threats. Finally, as the peace loonies recently piloted their Dodge Ram pickup onto SW Eighth Street, an angry crowd composed mostly of Cuban exiles — spitting and…
It’s a big day for the South Florida courts today, what with the conviction of superpimp Arthur Vanmoor and sentencing of dirty-bomber, Jose Padilla, to 17 years. Vanmoor, who was profiled by New Times in 2004, once owned 90 percent of the escort businesses listed in the Fort Lauderdale phone…
Like many Miamians, I’m preparing for the ING Miami half marathon on January 27. Next year, I’l run the whole banana. That’s my pledge. This morning I did five miles — a tad more than my regular run. My feet hurt. My knees hurt. I’m an aging, friggin wimp. Nevertheless…
The beef began with a fish. Fueled by liquor, it ended with Miami New Times owner Mike Lacey launching a bottle at its editor Jim Mullin. “One of our sarcastic writers called [legendary newscaster] Ann Bishop ‘a bossy old trout’ in, I think, the first ‘Best of Miami’ issue,” Mullin…
Sweet God Almighty! I’m sorry, but this is the funniest fucking story ever — from beginning to end. Read it three times, people. It’s about a man who’s been running around the Florida panhandle abducting goats, “raping” them, and then strangling them to death. He’s no clumsy bumpkin, either. Apparently,…
Back in my days at the Miami Herald, I loved the guys at Tropic magazine. They drank heavily, played ping-pong in the office, and cracked all kinds of jokes — dirty and otherwise. In short, they were (I say, completely lacking in humility) the New Times of their day. Tom…
