On a recent Thursday about 1 p.m., Carlos Manrique is driving his white Hyundai SUV west on the Dolphin Expressway when he grins and compares himself to the founder of software giant Microsoft. “Look at Bill Gates,” he says. “He didn’t graduate college.” The 48-year-old uses this shaky logic to…

$50,000 News Flash! Cops Are Cranky Filed under: News Results from a Miami Police Department “work climate” study are in, and it suffices to say the men and women who patrol the streets aren’t too happy with the department’s top brass. According to the survey, 64 percent “of those who…

It happened in 1996. Mario Lavandeira Jr. can’t recall the exact date, but it was late in his senior year at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, the all-boys Catholic institution that relocated to Miami from Cuba in 1961 after alumnus Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista. Educators, parents, and students filled Belen’s…

Marketing Mayhem Filed under: Culture The DVD opens with a disclaimer: “These people are Hood Professionals; do not attempt these things at home or in your hood. Your ass might get shot.” Da Hood Gone Wild, Volume One is an hour’s worth of frenzied after-hours street brawls, beatings, and booty…

TV Guise Filed under: News For quite some time, Miami city Commissioner Marc Sarnoff has represented himself as the grandson of the late commercial radio and television pioneer “General” David Sarnoff. The Russian-American media executive rose through the ranks of the Radio Corporation of America, holding the title of chairman…

Dressed in a fire-engine-red short-sleeve button-down shirt and matching slacks, George Symonette leans back in the barber chair where he has clipped hair for more than a decade. The 65-year-old’s face tightens and his words come fast as he discusses city Commissioner Marc Sarnoff, who represents Coconut Grove and many…

Rappers’ Slight Filed under: Culture Despite reaching number one and generating the greatest one-week digital sales in Billboard history with his hit “Low,” Carol City native Flo Rida gave a recent free appearance at South Miami’s AMC Theatres Sunset Place that was a bit of a bust. The movie theater…

Shortly before 8 p.m., a revival-like atmosphere consumes the New Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Liberty City. More than three dozen supporters of Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones pack the pews. As TV news crews film, the guest of honor, wearing a heavenly blue seersucker pantsuit, enters to a rapturous gospel…

Counting the Down Filed under: News Nick Basquez pulled his van under an I-95 overpass in downtown Miami, where a dozen people lay sleeping in piles of rags. A man was sitting upright, staring at his hands. Suddenly he stood, wandered toward the van, and began jabbering incoherently. “Hey, papo,”…

The D-Train Leaves the Station Filed under: Sports That giant sucking sound? It was the now-familiar whoosh of baseball talent being slurped away from the Marlins. Everybody knows the biggest deal of the off-season was when the Fish front office traded the team’s two greatest players (and its only marquee…

Last March 31, Miami native Christopher Korge hosted more than 160 guests at his sprawling $2.6-million, seven-bedroom lakeside mansion in Pinecrest. They had paid $4,600 each to hear Korge’s neighbor, music mogul Timbaland, MC the event. By the end of the evening, the lawyer-turned-real-estate-developer had raked in at least $736,000…

Rudy for Prez! Filed under: Politics Miamians need a president who represents their values, who sees the world the way they do. For that reason, Riptide endorses Rudolph Giuliani. More than any other candidate, Giuliani understands and exemplifies the principles we hold dearest. Friendship: Giuliani came under fire over his…

In 1994, Rey Rubio and his pretty Puerto Rican wife Josefina bought a one-bedroom, one-bathroom shack at 19110 SW 128 Ct. in the Redland for $57,000. Since then, the couple has methodically transformed it into a three-bedroom, two-bathroom family spread accented with a beautiful stone-paved circular driveway. “The original structure…

Early in the day this past July 19, Luis Lázaro Lara Morejón left his sunny oceanside room at the Solymar hotel in Cancún to buy groceries at a small market nearby. The tall, heavy-set 30-year-old Cuban exile from Miami was accompanied by his pretty, young Mexican girlfriend, María Elena Carrillo…

This Land Is Their Mine Filed under: News Get ready for some major, and maybe environmentally lethal, limestone excavation near the Everglades. To the dismay of homeowner and eco-activists, five rock mining companies have filed for permits with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to extract limestone from more than…

How Alex Daoud Got His Groove Back Filed under: Politics This past Sunday night, former Miami Beach Mayor Alex Daoud proved he could still draw a crowd — and wow them with his wit and personality. About 100 people stopped by Books & Books in Coral Gables to listen to…

And the Band Played On Filed under: News On a recent Thursday, a tricked-out maroon car with chrome rims revved by a clutch of gatherers outside the boxy beige North Miami building that houses U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek’s office. “That’s not Rucy,” said Diane Lawrence, the group’s leader, laughing. Soon,…

Enrique Davila dedicated 23 years of his professional life to Mount Sinai Medical Center, the largest employer in Miami Beach. The 58-year-old Cuban-American oncologist was twice president of Mount Sinai’s medical staff. He sat on the executive committee of the hospital’s board of trustees for two years, and secured two…

Entering his senior year at William H. Turner Technical Arts High School, Miami Gardens teenager Julio Gonzalez was looking forward to his third-period AP Spanish class this past August 20. Since 2005, the course has been taught by a popular dreadlocked, gold-toothed educator named Patrick Williams, who is fluent in…

Doppelganger Goes Down Filed under: News When I wrote the tale of Thomas Barrett Stringer, a 42-year-old con man with a record of stealing identities and committing financial fraud (“My Doppelganger, the Debt Monger,” July 19), I didn’t expect law enforcement officials would ever nab him. After all, he once…

Another Bad Week for Timoney Filed under: News It’s been a bad week for Police Chief John Timoney. On Thursday the county’s ethics commission found he should have disclosed his free use of a Lexus SUV as a gift. The same day, the AFL-CIO union and the Alliance of Retired…

High Rollers on the High Seas Filed under: Flotsam From Miami Beach, the 228-foot Aquasino looks like a towering hotel with bright navy blue walls jutting from the water as if built onto a humongous concrete pylon. The gambling boat has embarked every night since August. I was supposed to…