Not long ago, Miami Herald readers were greeted with an unexpected insert in their Sunday editions: DVDs of a movie that offended many folks who popped it into their Toshibas. No, not Mr. Woodcock. The film was Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West, a controversial documentary decried as anti-Islam…

Ever since Riptide saw the above photo in Jacob Katel’s Biscayne Bay StreetWorks collection in October we’ve been haunted by mystery. Who owns this blue truck, how did Jiffy Lube screw it up, and why in God’s name did they refuse to fix it?We were driving down NW 17th Avenue…

Yesterday, we informed you that the King Mango Strut- Coconut Grove’s irreverent, wacky, and somewhat inexplicable post-Christmas parade — might be no more after this year. The Man’s got them down.If so, it’s going out with a bang — or more of a peck, really. (What is it about certain…

If there’s one thing Riptide likes better than a juicy news tip, it’s quotably irate citizenry. So today, Christmas came early: Sabal Chase resident Mike Grant gave us both. Construction foreman Grant has noticed his local firehouse, Miami-Dade Station 9, one of the busiest in the county, has had its…

In a board room just above a fleet of Christmas-bowed Rolls Royces, Norman Braman is surrounded by evidence of his great success — framed photos of his meetings with Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford; a collage documenting his time as owner of the Philadelphia Eagles; a governor’s notice declaring January…

By now you’ve probably heard about Bernard Madoff, the scam artist who, by defrauding a bunch of banks and rich guys through a giant Ponzi scheme, cost the world $50 billion, essentially taking a steaming dump on the huge dump that already was our global economy.Among Madoff’s prey were the…

You may have heard of the Global Agreement- the ominously titled, outrageously ambitious $3 billion project that will basically solve all of Downtown Miami’s debt problems, put a new Marlins stadium in Little Havana, build of Port of Miami tunnel, and cure genital warts.  Okay, we threw that last one…

Remember when a copy of the DVD Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West — a film decried as Christian propaganda that seems to suggest Islam leads to terrorism — was included in a Sunday Herald? And we ripped the daily a new one for not initially explaining the controversial inclusion…

Despite the talk of rising unemployment, Riptide has found work for members of South Florida’s lighter-fluid-and-Drano-ingesting set. Coral Gables pharmaceutical outfit Catalyst is developing Vigabatrin, an anticonvulsive medication used in Europe to combat cocaine and meth addiction. The company touts it as the first effective addiction-killer for those drugs and…

Raul Regalado, the wide-eyed 25-year-old son of a Venezuelan textile executive, turns to a passenger as he pilots a $235,000 pumpkin-orange Lamborghini Gallardo south on Ocean Drive. “If I pick up a bitch,” he declares, his voice wheezing with excitement, “you need to get out!” He pushes a button controlling…

Visiting South Beach when you’re broke is like being left out of the world’s greatest party. There’s a financial slump, but it seems the Cristal-spraying, condo-living, Ferrari-squealing set still hasn’t gotten the memo. It’s like one big Lil Wayne video — and we’re sick of being the dolly grip. So…

Miami’s historic Coppertone Girl sign– a 50’s-era landmark that depicts the company’s logo of a terrier of some sort pulling down the bathing suit of a little girl, which somehow has something to do with sunblock, is being resurrected tonight. The sign was first planted on a building at NW…

You may have heard the shocking tale of Abraham Biggs, the 19-year old Broward College student who aired his own suicide via webcam in November. A tragedy, certainly. But this is the first online suicide we’ve heard of — not exactly a pandemic. Which makes the front-page headline on this…

Remember when America was so prosperous that we were debating ways of keeping our neighbors from breaking into our country to steal our crumbs? So much so that we were building a big fence- sort of like the Berlin Wall because that worked out so well for Germany?That was August-…

With our economy about as lively as cranberry jelly from a can, approximately 51 percent of Floridians are thankful Barack Obama’s Change® is on its way. Too bad it’ll come a few months too late for New Times’ favorite presidential-elect doppelganger. Last month, we introduced you to Gerardo Puisseaux (“Faux-bama!”…

We always assumed that when pro athletes are waiting around for a team to sign them, they pass the time by practicing “making it rain” techniques on their cats, or perhaps finally getting around to painting a watercolor portrait of themselves, shirtless, lying on the hood of a red Hummer…

It’s a shimmering silver worm of a skyscraper, featuring 80 stories rotating independently and elevators designed for taking your Ferrari right up to your apartment with you. File Italian architect David Fisher’s über-audacious proposal with the $1 billion Fountainebleau renovation as evidence that Miami developers are hoping to simply will…

“Sorry to interrupt, fellows, but could you point me towards the nearest Wings beachwear shop?” Riptide was walking by Collins and 14th St. in South Beach yesterday when we encountered a scene that took us right back to our city’s Cocaine Cowboys heyday. Two men, wearing woolly black ski masks…