An assistant Miami fire chief who is on paid administrative leave while she awaits trial on federal mortgage fraud charges wants to get away for a while. The Straw Buyer reports the lawyer representing Veldora Arthur, who is paid $184,336 annually to oversee the fire department’s payroll, wants to travel…

North Bay Village’s mayor has a homestead problem. While claiming to reside in the small three-island city, Corina Esquijarosa has been receiving a $25,000 homestead exemption on an apartment she rents out to a man named Osmary Ramos. In order to get the tax break, Esquijarosa is required to live…

Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina’s political campaign contributed $350 to the Luis Posada Carilles defense fund. Last Friday, the 83-year-old Cuban American and ex-CIA operative was acquitted by an El Paso jury of 11 federal charges. He was accused of lying to federal agents about his alleged involvement in a string…

We’ve been seeing a lot of former North Miami mayor Kevin Burns in the news lately. Last week, he appeared on a WPLG news segment complaining about parking meters in downtown Miami. Burns told the reporter that he had been gypped out of $7 because he didn’t realize he had…

We’re gonna go ahead and take credit for James Cason’s victory in Coral Gables yesterday. Voters in the City Beautiful made the former state department official their mayor. He beat incumbent Don Slesnick and local attorney Thomas Korge. Despite a last-minute flyer declaring him a carpetbagger with a felon for…

Luther Campbell is in the mayor’s race. Now he just needs to settle on a campaign slogan. The high school football assistant coach and Miami New Times columnist was officially accepted by the Miami-Dade Elections Department as a candidate for county mayor. Campbell joins a field that includes former county…

Today, voters in Coral Gables will either give Don Slesnick a third term or elect a new mayor. Two city commission seats are also up for grabs in a city election that has seen all the candidates raise close to one million dollars combined.And unlike previous election seasons, this cycle…

As the tax season draws to a close this week, some of our more recognizable citizens are probably wondering if Uncle Sam will catch them cheating on their taxes again. Take Lil Wayne, who was just popped by the Internal Revenue Service for not paying his fair share in 2008…

This past Wednesday night, a couple dozen Miami-Dade voters gathered inside a back dining room of Town Kitchen & Bar in South Miami to hear New Times columnist Luther Campbell, county Commissioner Carlos Gimenez, and former state Rep. Marcelo Llorente talk about their platforms for Miami-Dade mayor.It was an intimate…

While Miami-Dade County residents paid higher property taxes last year, Hialeah Mayor and Miami-Dade County mayoral candidate Julio Robaina did not pay property taxes on a shopping center he owns in his city. In fact, it appears Robaina has avoided paying taxes on the building since 2006, when he and…

Maybe Ron Book is losing his touch. On Monday, Miami-Dade County commissioners denied Book’s request to lobby on behalf of a private client pushing a state bill the county is against. The ultra influential lobbyist represents Miami-Dade before the Florida Legislature. But he also works for the Florida Apartment Association,…

An assistant principal’s mistake led Miami Northwestern High to get graded a D instead of a C last year. But the state’s education commissioner won’t grant Miami-Dade Public Schools’ request to give Northwestern the higher grade. As a result, the students at the storied African-American school are being punished for…

Update: Ron Book tells Banana Republican that it was unfair to characterize his representation of municipal governments and private clients with competing interests as something bad. “I didn’t do anything nefarious or unethical,” he says. “Your story implies I did, and that is wrong.”Just call superlobbyist Ron Book the Waiver…

A muscular, scowling man sits at a dining room table. As he fiddles with a folding knife and puts bullets into a magazine clip, we hear his ominous voice: “Narcotics run Miami. Everyone bossing up trying to be the man and shit. But you know what they say: Don’t hate…

As Julio Robaina courts voters in his quest to become Miami-Dade County mayor, he’s promising to do away with the county commission’s discretionary funds: a chest of taxpayer money the 13 members may dole out to whomever and for whatever they want. How noble of Hialeah’s mayor — and hypocritical.During…

​Looks like Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina wants to rewrite history when it comes to his support for the Marlins’ stadium sweetheart deal. At last week’s Latin Builders Association sponsored mayoral debate, Robaina claimed the stadium didn’t get built in Hialeah because “it wasn’t a good deal for this community and…

The election season in the City Beautiful is entering the home stretch. Coral Gables voters will be casting their ballots for mayor and two city commissioners on April 12. The latest quarterly campaign finance reports show the candidates have raised a total of more than $685,000. City residents can meet…