As Miami-Dade County moves forward with its $12.6 billion plan to fix the aging water and sewer collection system, Federal Chief Judge Frederico Moreno yesterday awarded a significant victory to the Biscayne Bay Waterkeeper, an environmental group that claims the county proposal does not address sea-level rises and catastrophic storm…
A white ’80s Dodge Ram work van idles near the public boat ramp at Dinner Key Marina in Coconut Grove. The ride has no windows, giving it a Silence of the Lambs vibe. Strapped to the roof is a crude homemade sign that owner Eugene “Jobie” Steppe stenciled with a…
John Raimondo is a bit player in the 1999 epic three-part Miami New Times series “Pain & Gain,” which blockbuster Hollywood director Michael Bay turned into a passion project that hit theaters over two weeks ago. Starring Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, the film recounts the absurd dark…
Now that the debate about using public funds to fix up Sun-Life Stadium is over, there is an even much bigger public works project that should have Miami-Dade taxpayers especially concerned. For more than a year, officials for the water and sewer department have been working on a $1.5 billion…
It’s not gonna be easy to follow the dictatorial footsteps of North Miami Mayor Andre Pierre. Throughout his tenure as the city’s head cheese, Pierre had done just about everything to attract the kind of attention usually reserved for a small nation’s despot. His campaign manager was arrested for allegedly…
An otherwise mundane Monday afternoon at the Richard Gerstein Justice Building was interrupted by a fiery calamity. A maroon colored Jeep parked in the public lot underneath the State Road 836 overpass caught on fire, sending plumes of acrid black smoke onto the sidewalk and street facing the criminal court…
For the past month, Riptide had been pounding the drum about Tremont Towing snatching cars from a private parking lot on 17th Street at Lenox Avenue in South Beach. Multiple residents have lobbed a laundry list of allegations at the lot, including that it’s meter is deliberately similar to the…
How much can you get for a donated 2005 Toyota Prius previously owned by Miami-Dade County? A cool 8,200 bucks. Talk about a steal of a deal! Too much of a steal, according to the Miami-Dade Office of the Inspector General. And now it has cost a well-respected Cuban-American human…
Folks looking for a parking spot near Lincoln Road’s Regal South Beach movie theater need to stop using the private lot on 17th Street at Lenox Avenue. Because it’s becoming increasingly clear that’s the only surefire way to avoid getting your car hitched by Tremont Towing and having to pay…
How much can you get for a donated 2005 Toyota Prius previously owned by Miami-Dade County? A cool 8,200 bucks. Talk about a steal of a deal! Too much of a steal, according to the Miami-Dade Office of the Inspector General. And now it has cost a well-respected Cuban-American human…
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson scared? Pffft! The Rock isn’t supposed to fear anything. He’s climbed to the mountain top of Hollywood and he’s been king of the World Wide Entertainment professional wrestling circuit. I mean, he played the Tooth Fairy, for crissakes! What the heck would make the chiseled former…
Two months ago, six Hialeah Police officers stamped out a gathering of young folks attempting to shoot an impromptu street video of “Harlem Shake,” the popular Internet meme that went so viral even the Miami Heat players did their own version. When cops ordered the crowd to disperse on February…
A New York native with a smooth tongue and a disarming smile, Daniel Lugo was fresh from serving a 15-month federal prison stint for fraud when he landed at Sun Gym in 1992. He’d earned his prison time by snookering $71,200 from people who believed he could get loans from…
Michael Bay, Mark Wahlberg, and the Rock Talk Pain & Gain
What time is it? Booty Time! What time is it? Booty, booty time! But you better wrap it up before you have some fun, according to Miami hip-hop icon, community activist, and alternative weekly columnist Luther Campbell. As part of an endorsement deal with New York-based b Condoms, Uncle Luke…
Michael Bay reclines on a white lounge chair on a 14th-floor balcony at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Brickell Key. To the east, a sheet of piercing rain swallows Key Biscayne, thunder cracks overhead, and a lightning bolt shoots above the choppy waves. The sudden monsoon provides the perfect backdrop…
Growing up in a Nicaraguan household, I was introduced to hard liquor by my dad’s bottle of Johnnie Walker Red. Nicas love hanging out with Johnnie. He’s a smooth cat who’s been the master of concocting aromatic amber spirits since the 1800s. At the tender age of 13, I became…
Last week, Banana Republican warned readers about a private parking lot on 17th Street and Lennox Avenue on Miami Beach masquerading as a public lot. It’s even equipped with a meter that is identical to the ones used by the City of Miami Beach for street parking and public lots.Except…
David Rivera’s Missing Pal Ana Alliegro Found Hiding in Nicaragua
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jorge E. Cueto should have known better. On Tuesday, he angrily removed himself from a civil case challenging Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones’ third run for office. After ruling in favor of her opponent, Rev. Richard Dunn, that she could not run again, local media outlets reported that…
Back in February, Banana Republican tackled the thorniest, hot-button political issue of the moment: banning assault rifles. Even though I took an objective approach to the subject, a majority of comments in response to the cover story were full of invective and sabre rattling from gun enthusiasts from around the…
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…
