Miami girls get a bad rap. The term conjures notions of strappy stilettos, skintight dresses, and cringe-worthy pronunciations of “supposedly.” “Just look it up on Google,” Ekaterina Juskowski suggests. “All you get are sexually charged images of women’s behinds and breasts in bathing suits.” Even though Juskowski wasn’t born in…
Gary Black is frustrated. The 33-year-old rapper has lived in Overtown almost his entire life and hates that Miami’s most historic black neighborhood has a bad reputation. Black admits he has seen Overtown at its worst. He grew up in the ’90s, when drugs and crime ravaged the streets. But…
For the past seven years, multiple employees at the taxpayer-funded CareerSource South Florida have maintained that their boss, who earns more than Mayor Carlos Gimenez, is a workplace bully. In complaints filed with the county, state, and federal government, they have accused executive director Roderick “Rick” Beasley of verbally abusing,…
A bizarre sight stopped passersby on rain-soaked Lincoln Road on Saturday. Forty people sat in a circle on the fake grass island in the pedestrian mall, silently staring into each others’ eyes. The participants were all joining a trend gaining steam in South Florida: “eye gazing,” a sort of social…
Just after 9:30 p.m. October 28, at least three masked intruders barged into a home in Keystone Point, an exclusive waterfront enclave in North Miami. The house’s owner, Naim (who declined to provide his last name for fear of retribution) was brushing his teeth when he was led with a…
Laura Pierre postponed college to work full-time at Chipotle, hoping to save up for higher education. But the 18-year-old Miamian says she’s realized that’s an impossible dream with Florida’s $8.05 per hour minimum wage. Her mother, a healthcare worker who also makes less than $10 an hour, relies on Pierre to…
Last November, Jose Trochez noticed he was going bald. He was only 25. Since it was no-shave November, he decided to completely shave his head and let his facial hair grow. Within weeks, a thick, curly, black beard sprouted off his chin. He preferred the new look, but noticed others stared…
Workplace conditions at a county office have come under scrutiny in recent months. An investigation by the federal government found that the executive director of CareerSource South Florida, a public agency that uses $70 million in state and federal funds to help local job seekers, had subjected female employees to…
On October 9, Angelic Valle strutted into the Johnny Rockets on Ocean Drive topless and laughing. Video uploaded on World Star Hip Hop show a group of men huddling around the 22-year-old from Kendall, egging her on and dousing her in water and ketchup. In the month since, the video…
In recent months, Miami-Dade mayor Carlos Gimenez has been facing mounting pressure from environmentalists to do more to prepare the county for the inevitable sea level rise. So far, Gimenez has listened. In September, he passed an almost $500,000-year budget to tackle sea level rise and a chief resiliency officer…
On October 9, Angelica Valle strutted into the Johnny Rockets on Ocean Drive topless and laughing. A man then created a barrier from management using chairs and tables. That’s when things really got crazy. As witnesses filmed, Valle then united her bikini bottom and “placed the steel chair leg into…
For the least seven years, numerous female employees have been reporting their prominent county boss and the work environment at his agency to the authorities — all to no avail. Then, in August, the federal government handed down a ruling after investigating allegations against CareerSource Souht Florida’s executive director Roderick…
In the video, a topless young woman laughs and dances as a crowd of leering men on Ocean Drive hoots and hollers, yelling for more. Then she obliges, twerking on the leg of a table before going completely nude, lying spread eagle in a booth as the men grope her…
At approximately 9 a.m. Saturday, Edgewater residents woke up to the roaring boom of another building demolition to make way for a much taller, luxury residential tower. It’s unclear what precautions were taken to notify residents (it’s believed that those living in the surrounding buildings were handed letters) but the…
Aylen Hidalgo says her supervisor has always been a stickler for clocking in on time and not leaving her desk or making personal calls. As a result, her job in finance at CareerSource South Florida, a county agency with a $70 million budget to help job seekers, has always been…
Last month, the nation rallied behind 14-year-old Ahmed Muhamed after he was arrested when school officials mistook his science project (a digital clock he built out of a pencil case) as bomb. The story mirrored Kiera Wilmot’s: a Florida teen who was arrested two years ago after conducting a volcano…
Three years ago, a female graduate student at the University of Miami accused her professor — the most prominent member of the philosophy department — of sexual harassment. Her case against Colin McGinn, a world-renowned author, grew into a contentious battle detailed by New Times earlier this year, with UM…
James Murley might have the most depressing and difficult job in the county. As chief resiliency officer, the 69-year-old government planner has to make sure that Miami literally doesn’t go under. It’s not going to be easy, with scores of scientists repeatedly finding that sea levels are climbing and a…
After seven years of filing complaints against their prominent county boss, Linda Pierre and other female employees finally found traction in August. An investigation by the federal government found that CareerSource South Florida executive director Rick Beasley subjected female employees to a “pattern of harassment, intimidation, exclusion, bullying…conditions due to…
In recent years, at least four employees at CareerSource South Florida filed complaints with the county about Roderick “Rick” Beasley, the executive director of a public agency that uses $70 million in state and federal funds to find employment for local job seekers. They alleged that Beasley — who earns…
Embattled CareerSource South Florida executive director Rick Beasley, already likely to face criticism week over alleged workplace bullying, has a new problem. Three current and former employees accuse him of religious discrimination. CareerSource, the largest operation of its type in Florida, uses $70 million in state and federal funds to connect local…
Fudakochi has always believed he was living on a different planet. The Overtown native didn’t talk for the first seven years of his life, and instead watched everything revolve past him like a movie. Then, as his mother tells it, on his seventh birthday he uttered his first word: “disappear.”…
