It was just two years ago the Miami Herald and Miami-Dade State Attorney Kathy Fernandez Rundle were whacking Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez for violating the city’s charter. Yup, Mayor Loco #1 illegally tried to hire and fire employees, which is the city manager’s job. Now City Manager Donald Warshaw is…

When Janet Reno was forced to fly home to Miami last week to (unsuccessfully) mediate the surrender of pint-size video star Elian Gonzalez, the AG wasn’t the only one inconvenienced. Police sealed off blocks around the Miami Beach home of Sister Jeanne O’Laughlin, where the meeting was held. And several…

Remember Bob Rivard of the San Antonio Express-News? He’s the guy who beat a hasty retreat last October just as Miami Herald publisher Alberto Ibargüen was preparing to name him editor of our local rag. Well now Rivard really is a star. For the first time in its history, this…

County schools are supposed to teach our kids to do the right thing. And the best way to instruct is by example, right? So Miami-Dade school officials should be embarrassed and ashamed. Hell, they should be mortified by Riptide’s discovery that there has been no recycling program at 75 percent…

Look skyward. You may see an attack ad. Yes indeedy, the air war against State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, who’s up for election this fall, continues unabated. It began last month during protests about news hog Elian Gonzalez, when planes flew over the city tugging banners that read, in Spanish:…

Florida International University basketball coach Marcos “Shakey” Rodriguez resigned under pressure on Monday, less than two weeks after a story in these pages disclosed the unseemly histories of assistant coaches Jose Ramos and Bernard Wright, as well as Rodriguez himself. To wit, Ramos was booted from two basketball teams after…

A Riptidian quandary: If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, what do you call plagiarism? In a February 24 Miami Herald obituary of a long-time civil rights activist titled “Clennon King, Dauntless Activist,” staff writer Anabelle de Gale described a frightening sequence of events that followed King’s 1958 attempt…

Miami’s most xenophobic, small-minded law may finally go down. The board of the American Civil Liberties Union recently voted to support the efforts of Debbie Ohanian, the Starfish owner and famous masochist who set up last year’s riotous Los Van Van concert, in her effort to bring three Cuban bands…

“Herald Retreats from Spotlight” could have been the headline for a story that appeared on the Miami Herald’s Website February 6, disappeared for a week, then reappeared in the print edition February 13. The lengthy weekend piece by staff writer Tyler Bridges described Miami Mayor Joe Carollo’s “hunkering down” and…

Nat Wilcox is the nemesis of gay Miami. He’s shown up regularly at public meetings in recent weeks to badger officials into overturning the county’s gay-rights amendment. And he is the mouthpiece for a homophobic bunch called Families Strengthening Communities for the Good Life. But that’s not all. Wilcox also…

Remember Danny Couch, who was creamed in his 1995 run for Miami mayor? Well, he sure is lucky when it comes to cash. On December 5 the City of Miami Beach sent Couch, a midlevel public-works employee and union steward, the following correspondence: “Dear Mr. Couch: An error was made…

In search of cash for his Bicentennial Park boondoggle, Florida Marlins owner John Henry is readying a political trench war that may be the biggest in Florida history. He has hired at least ten lobbyists including former Secretary of State Jim Smith, former State Representative Miguel DeGrandy, former Alex Penelas…

The Herald’s November 28 “lunch with …” column about Lee Brian Schrager was typically fawning. This guy’s cool, right? Director of catering at the Hotel Inter-Continental. A South Beach “supercaterer” and “party king,” whom staff writer Lydia Martin obsequiously compared to a “rock star.” One thing the newspaper left out:…

Former Miami Commissioner J.L. Plummer may have been clobbered at the polls by Johnny Winton, but the seasoned pol isn’t leaving office empty-handed. Plummer will soon receive $30,000 per year retirement pay. Back in 1993 the city adopted a measure to give a $2500 annual pension to commissioners who served…

Radio Martí’s news director is out. And the story of his departure is a doozy. William Valdes, one of the most important opinion shapers at the U.S. government station that broadcasts to Cuba, was recently transferred to the wildly unpopular Television Martí. Why? Consider his background. Valdes was fired from…

Think things have been tough for former United Nations ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick lately, what with soul sister Elizabeth Dole dropping from the presidential race? Consider the problems of Kirkpatrick’s son, John, a Miami lawyer. The Florida Bar recently suspended junior for three months after he improperly withdrew $9535 from client…

The angry and affluent bayside dwellers of Miami Shores, who recently lost a battle to install guard gates, are striking back. After the council of the Village Beautiful quashed the keep-out-the-poor effort, the swells decided to throw a shindig. Or actually a countershindig. This Saturday night, October 16, when many…

Miami Mayor Joe Carollo’s response to his critics? Throw the bums, er, commissioners, out. On Purple-Heart hero/radio host Emilio Milian’s show Que Opina Usted? (What Do You Think?), which is broadcast on La Poderosa (WWFE-AM 670), thus spoke his vituperativeness: “If you want to improve the City of Miami, then…

For more than a decade the Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence (HOPE) has been fighting racism. If you discriminate, their lawyers will fry you. It’s been a good ride. But now, on the heels of a guilty plea by felonious employee Harriette Simmons for defrauding HOPE clients, a county audit…

The City of Miami Police Department is no stranger to racial rancor. Arthur McDuffie, William Lozano, and Leonardo Mercado are all names that bring to mind cop-related riots that for a decade made the Magic City synonymous with race-related violence. Now comes a new spin. Eleven black and Hispanic officers…

Mohamed Ibrahim wants to start a string of schools across Miami-Dade. Full-page ads of smiling kids have been running in the Herald’s “Neighbors” for months. Problem is, creditors say, Ibrahim won’t pay his bills. The tangle of bankruptcies and bad checks that helped the Egyptian-born entrepreneur open My Dream Coin…

It took more than a month and a razor-thin win at the county commission, but Teressa Cawley is out. Miami-Dade commissioners suspended dealings with their onetime financial advisor last week. The reason: The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Cawley of lying about bond work in 1993 and 1994. In…