In the lakeside tourist city of Granada, Nicaragua, visitors strolling along La Calle Libertad come upon a blue Colonial-style building with a small sign reading, “Salon La Libertad.” On a recent afternoon, a slim Cuban-American woman with short blond hair and intense blue eyes chats on her cell phone inside…

For weeks, the Miami Dolphins have been promising that the team won’t move forward with the $390 million renovation of Sun Life Stadium if the NFL doesn’t award the city a Super Bowl in 2015 or 2016. Well, the Dolphins caught a break.A couple of hours ago, during deliberations by…

There’s a new twist to the ol’ South Beach towing racket. At 17th Street and Lennox Avenue, just north of Lincoln Road, there’s a parking lot that looks identical to scores of other nearby city-run lots. To pay, there’s an electronic meter, just like all the city meters scattered around.But…

When it comes to war-mongering, President Barack Obama has at times put his predecessor, George W. Bush, to shame. Consider the commander-in-chief’s cold-hearted use of unmanned drones to fight America’s war on terror. He’s launched more than five times as many drone strikes than Bush did, according to the Seattle…

Throughout his embattled political career, David Rivera used his power to undermine Cuba’s communist government at every turn. The Cuban-American Republican was one of the staunchest hard-line crusaders against Fidel Castro’s regime. When he was a state legislator, he successfully championed a law that prohibited private colleges and universities from…

Dear punk-ass Miami Beach bike thief:On March 20, you rolled up on my ’80s Italian-made Univega road bike tied to a street post near the Raleigh Hotel on Collins Avenue. It had a dope iridescent purple-and-blue paint scheme, a chrome yoke, and neon-green hand grips. It took me close to…

Galata Inc., a Homestead social service agency that received a no-questions-asked $500,000 county grant in 2008 to pay off a mortgage, is now seeking private donations to help pay down another loan. In January, the Miami-Dade Inspector General’s Office criticized Galata officials for misusing $99,000 from the grant to pay…

Brad Stonesifer thought he’d found the perfect Ultra Music Festival party pad for himself and five pals. The 41-year-old electronic dance music aficionado from York, Pennsylvania, booked a four-night stay at the Residences at Bayside, directly across from Bayfront Park where his crew planned on enjoying the second weekend of…

Close to 1,000 former Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald staffers descended on One Herald Plaza Wednesday afternoon. Reporters. Advertising executives. Printing-press mechanics. Bookkeepers. Publishers. Janitors. They all came to pay their final respects to the place that has defined journalism in this city for the last 50 years. Sometime…

The bluesy track starts with eerie piano chords and a spooky fiddle. Then a deep, raspy voice croons, “They stole my money, they took my home. Left me on the street, to die alone. I live in paradise, so they say. Things shouldn’t be this way. Paaaaaiiinnn, pain and gain.”That’s…

Driving on Krome Avenue is a journey through old Florida’s last frontier — a place before suburban sprawl, crippling traffic congestion, and overdevelopment choked our wonderful, incredible ecosystem.Whenever Banana Republican has to hop from North Dade to South Dade, we take the two-lane road so we can enjoy the blissful…

At first Banana Republican was torn. We didn’t know whether to curse or congratulate a gaggle of Hialeah police officers who trampled an impromptu “Harlem Shake” video shoot. Do we side with the two dozen young shakers, including a man dressed in a banana suit, who gathered in front of…

This much is clear: Miami’s sewers are deteriorating, and millions of gallons of wastewater are polluting Biscayne Bay. The county has proposed a $1.5 billion fix, but one local environmental group has now filed suit in federal court to stop the plan.Key Biscayne resident Judi Koslen and the environmental group…