Ronda Vangates was once caught up in one of the worst scandals of Rudy Crew’s tenure as Miami-Dade County Public Schools superintendent. Today, the 38-year-old school district bureaucrat is the anointed successor to board member Solomon Stinson, who has decided not to run for re-election. That’s politics in the nation’s…

The incoming president of the county firefighters union, Dominick Barbera, is demonstrating a terrible lack of ethics in his personal feud with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Herminio Lorenzo. This past December 9, sent Lorenzo an audaciously snarky letter mocking the chief’s proposal to require all county firefighters to report traffic…

With less than a month to go in Miami’s upcoming special election for the two city commission seats left open by the removal Michelle Spence-Jones and Angel Gonzalez, some of the candidates are relying on their own cash rather than hitting up people for campaign contributions.Miguel Gabela and Waldo Faura…

Recently dismissed ethics complaints against three lobbyists provide a glimpse into how developers will pay off so-called community activists to win support for their projects.In finding that zoning lawyers Juan Mayol, Joseph Goldstein, and Richard Perez did in fact register to lobby on behalf of their client Q2 — a group…

Milton Hirsch will take Barbara Carey-Shuler’s money, but he’ll hold off on her endorsement.​ And the 2010 Miami-Dade judicial candidate doesn’t want Angel Gonzalez giving him the thumbs-up either.Hirsch removed their names from the official endorsement list on his campaign website, electmiltonhirsch.com, on November 27, days after two Miami city commissioners…

A Miami-Dade jury has convicted Liberty City pastor Gaston Smith on one count of grand theft for looting more than $10,000 in grant money intended to help the poor.Yesterday, Banana Republican caught the tail end of closing arguments by Smith’s defense lawyer Larry Handfield and prosecutor Richard Scruggs. Both lawyers…

Click here to view photos from this event.Last night, Rakontur debuted an extended version of its upcoming ESPN documentary The U inside Overtown’s historic Lyric Theater. Among the local celebrities in attendance were former University of Miami football players Melvin Bratton, brothers Brian and Bennie Blades, Kelvin Harris, and Randall Hill,…

At this Thursday’s Miami city commission meeting, Mayor Tomás Regalado and Commission Chairman Marc Sarnoff will sponsor city legislation that would require elected officials and lobbyists to complete an ethics training course. No one is going to argue that ethics reform is long overdue at 3500 Pan American Dr.In fact,…

Late Friday, at 9:05 p.m., Miami-Dade Judge Beatrice Butchko dealt a serious blow to state prosecutors’ case against a popular pastor in Miami’s black community.Butchko ruled Assistant State Attorney Richard Scruggs cannot use digital recordings of two interviews with Rev. Gaston Smith. They were made months before the clergyman was indicted for…

Richard Scruggs is usually the guy asking people tough questions and getting witnesses to spill the beans. But today Miami-Dade’s veteran public corruption prosecutor was on the receiving end of an intense grilling. And he was not enjoying himself.It went down inside the courtroom of Judge Beatrice Butchko in the…

Already more than $2 billion over budget and more than three years behind schedule, Miami International Airport’s north terminal is about to suck more money from Miami-Dade County.This Friday, aviation department bureaucrats will ask the county commission’s airport and seaport committee to sign off on adding $46 million to a…

Last night, Banana Republican spoke with a political consultant who worked on Francis Suarez’s campaign who insisted the new commissioner did not have private discussions with his new colleagues about who to pick to replace Angel Gonzalez.The city commission — down to three members with the ouster of Gonzalez and…

Newly elected Miami City Commissioner Francis Suarez may have unwittingly scuttled plans to appoint a replacement for Angel Gonzalez, who last week resigned from the commission as part of his guilty plea deal with prosecutors.Commission Chairman Marc Sarnoff has called an emergency meeting for tomorrow to address the two commission…