Despite Abuse Allegations, South Beach Classics Star Ted Vernon Back on TV
Court records paint an ugly picture of Vernon’s aggressive and often violent behavior.
Court records paint an ugly picture of Vernon’s aggressive and often violent behavior.
If you’ve lived in Florida long enough, you know neon-green iguanas are just part of the scenery — no different from an anti-abortion billboard or an O.J. Simpson sighting. But green iguanas are actually an invasive species. Earlier this month, state wildlife officials made national news after announcing that, yes, it is in fact perfectly legal to kill an iguana for setting foot on your land.
In 2016, an Illinois man named Jean Alexandre reached out to New Times with a pretty wild tip. The retired ob-gyn said he’d been ripped off by a North Miami real estate broker — and he was incredulous that the broker, Anis Blemur, had the gall to declare a run for Florida state senate.
In recent weeks, the for-profit shelter in Homestead that houses thousands of migrant children has come under fire from multiple directions. Lawyers released dozens of affidavits from kids inside the facility who described being lonely, terrified, and even suicidal. Multiple presidential candidates visited the detention center while in town for the Democratic debates, and some — notably Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren — called for the shelter to be shut down altogether after saying the children held there are being treated “like little prisoners.”
Since its inception, Senate Bill 168 was something critics said Florida never needed. The bill, which originated from an anti-immigrant extremist group, sought to force municipalities across the state to cooperate with federal immigration authorities and to ban towns from self-designating as sanctuary cities despite the fact no city in Florida does that. Nevertheless, state legislators passed the bill, and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law last month.
In May, Texas-based apartment developer Mill Creek Residential broke ground on a luxury tower in the Miami neighborhood of Edgewater. The 27-story Modera Biscayne Bay boasts a rooftop pool, digital package lockers, a Pilates studio, and “spectacular views of Biscayne Bay.” But during construction, the builders have been cited for polluting the very body of water the owners tout in promotional materials.
For years now, environmentalists have complained that the pumps Miami Beach uses to keep streets from flooding are polluting Biscayne Bay. Photos and videos from residents show plumes of dirty runoff being discharged into the water — and in one case, swallowed by a manatee.
Summer officially began less than a week ago, but temperatures in South Florida are already somewhere between oppressively smothering and absolutely boiling. Yesterday, the high reached 98 degrees, a record for Miami for that date.
As the planet heats up, the water surrounding Miami Beach is becoming warmer. And as temperatures rise, the Atlantic Ocean has turned into the perfect breeding ground for sargassum seaweed, a type of floating algae that’s now invaded coastlines in South Florida and the Caribbean.
June 26 and 27, a whopping 20 Democratic candidates for president will take the stage at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts just north of downtown Miami in the first debates of the 2020 election cycle. They will bicker, slam Donald Trump, and almost certainly embarrass themselves by…
If you spent Father’s Day emptying out your flooded car with a bucket, there’s more bad news this morning: Meteorologists with the National Weather Service are predicting even more rain and flooding. The Miami metro area is expected to get 1 to 2 more inches of rain today — and thunderstorms are in the forecast every day this week, until at least next Sunday.
Ever since the Julia Tuttle Causeway became an unwitting encampment for sex offenders more than a decade ago, Miami-Dade officials have been trying to shoo the group away from the rest of civilization.
Last month, Miami Beach’s internal auditing department completed a report vetting the city’s two major towing companies: Beach Towing and Tremont. The audit should be of great interest to residents and visitors, because the local towing industry has long been accused of malfeasance and general clownery. But the public might never see it.
This past Saturday night, business owners, politicians, and socialites rubbed elbows at the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce’s 97th-annual gala. The Dr. Seuss-themed shindig included a handful of performers dressed as iconic characters such as the Grinch and the Cat in the Hat.
Almost immediately, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle called for Hill to apologize. But instead of simply admitting he’d callously made light of anti-gay violence, Hill dug his heels in and repeatedly refused to say he was sorry.
Seconds after Katel took out his camera to start shooting — before he could even take a single picture — he says a Miami Police Department officer began yelling and coming toward him. After a short interaction, Katel says the officer put him in handcuffs and seized his phone and camera.
Ahead of this year’s Memorial Day weekend, Miami Beach recruited local artists of color to put together a series of exhibits specifically for black visitors in an attempt to reframe the Memorial Day narrative.
For the past several years, Miami Beach Police have been using automatic license-plate readers to scan each and every car traveling to the city over Memorial Day weekend — an effort known to cause bumper-to-bumper traffic on the MacArthur and Julia Tuttle Causeways.
Public records show Messam and his wife, Angela, have a lengthy history of financial problems, from tax liens, to a home foreclosure, to a lawsuit from a former employee at Messam’s construction business who says he wasn’t paid for his work. Together, the documents paint the clearest picture yet of the candidate’s money problems.
After two hours of public comment, commissioners ultimately voted five to two against even entertaining a conversation with Ultra’s leadership team. But more importantly, the discussion revealed Miami Beach’s own worst impulses when it comes to tourism, class, and race. Multiple hoteliers and commissioners spoke in favor of attracting elite, moneyed visitors — supposedly the “right” kind of tourist.
The reporting includes newly uncovered data about immigrant detainees at Krome Service Processing Center, an ICE facility at the western edge of Miami-Dade County.
When workers at the federal courthouse in Miami received a letter in the mail on May 10 saying there were explosives in the building, the note warned them the threat was serious.